Chapter 16: Return to the home shore
"Severus!" a raspy, hissing voice called out suddenly.
The man in question nearly dropped the ancient tome he was currently reading and hurried to the source of the call.
"Yes, Master?" he asked as he bowed, his eyes cast downwards. He wouldn't dare to look at his Lord without being told to. The Dark Lord was rather easily irritated these days.
"I need your... skills... for a second resurrection ritual. I found that there was a small, but critical... flaw... with the timing of my first resurrection," Voldemort admitted, wheezing slightly as he seemed to struggle for air. Snape cringed lightly. The Dark Lord was generous with punishment for others when a mistake was made, and not particularly selective in who to receive it.
"Your wisdom knows no equal, my Lord. How may my insignificant skills serve you in this ritual?" he grovelled, carefully to paint himself as inferior to his master.
"Yes, yes, I know, Severus." The Dark Lord waved his hand in the air, his gesture flippant, dismissing the compliment as insignificant nuisance. "Since we now know that," he told his servant, pausing to take a deep breath, "Potter will be attending Hogwarts, I have already taken care of the preparations for that particular ritual - it will be perfect," the Dark Lord concluded. As he spoke, his face curled into a smirk of superiority before he ended in a raspy cackle. Severus carefully schooled his face into a stony mask of reverence at his master's 'brilliant plan'.
"Nothing less would to be expected from you, Master. Only fate and failures of your servants made your first try less than perfect," Snape replied devotedly, bowing deep but still wondering what exactly he had been called for.
"Stop grovelling, Severus. I need you to procure these ingredients," the Dark Lord snapped, but then he trailed off, his eyes glazing slightly at the thought of his plan, though he snapped back to attention and glared at his underling as if he were to blame. "And be prepared for this potion to be brewed at a moment's notice!" the Dark Lord hissed, handing Snape a roll of parchment, before continuing his monologue. "This time, I must make sure that Dumbledore doesn't interfere. Send for the boy! I have a mission for him..."
***August 27th, Grimmauld Place #12, about 10 o'clock***
"Ok, kids! We'll stay close together, both of you to the front and the Grangers in the middle," Tonks snapped at her charges. "Remus and I will take up the rear. I don't expect any problems, but remember your portkeys. If something happens, the Grangers jump first, then you kids and then us two. Don't linger around on the front steps, go straight in," Tonks gave the motivational speech in front of the fireplace.
She didn't exactly expect an incident to happen - as the elves had only to dispose of a meagre dozen or two Howlers over the last days, it seemed that their announcement had been taken well by the public.
On the other hand, all of them were rather nervous about their trip to the wizarding world, anyway, and she was a firm exponent of the 'better safe than sorry'- rule.
When she had received a round of acknowledging nods in return, she grabbed the Floo powder pot and held it out.
"Ok, Margret with me, Henry with Remus. Hold tight and keep your eyes closed. Take a step forward once the spinning stops or you will be thrown out of the receiving fireplace," Tonks reminded the two Muggles again about how to use a Floo properly. They had never before used a fireplace as a mode of travel and were understandably nervous about doing so.
"It would have been nice if somebody had told me that trick some time ago," Harry whispered under his breath, much to everyone's amusement, and only half in jest.
"And miss the show? Why should we have?" Remus chuckled with a broad grin. Harry smiled back and flipped him the two-fingered salute, provoking a mandatory retaliation.
After the necessary niceties had been exchanged, Harry's hair was returned to its normal unruly state and black colour, and Remus's tutu was transfigured back into his robes. Next, the teens grabbed some Floo powder and stepped into the fire, first Harry, and then Hermione.
Harry stepped out of the hearth with a firm step, rather proud to be able to exit with grace for once. Hermione was close behind him and gracefully took his offered hand as she niftily stepped over the grate and into the Leaky Cauldron.
While they waited in the full pub, Harry inconspicuously adjusted his battlewand in his waist holster across his belly. Henry had joked about him being a Texas Ranger when he first saw that thing. In order to hide it, Hermione and he had carved a lot of runes into the leather -which were charged by Harry - making the notice-me-not charms extremely strong, but he still was nervous if they would hold up against other people.
His other wand, which Lenny had redone to be crooked, too - since it would be stupid to have two wands so completely different in handling - was in a wrist holster under his left sleeve. Harry had chosen to keep it because his battlewand just didn't do 'subtle', and thus wasn't useful in normal life. Vaporizing the tea or slamming things into walls instead of heating and carefully levitating were just two examples of what this thing did. As long as the spell didn't use a figurative shipload of power, Harry looked like Neville in first year when using it. His regular wand was much more responsive, but most of the time, Harry just used wandless magic for small things nowadays, much to Hermione's barely suppressed envy.
Both of them took a few steps to the side, making room for the others to arrive and drawing the patrons' looks away from the fireplace. Of course, all eyes were riveted to them, following their every move in fascination of the most prominent couple these days. Normally, Harry would be uncomfortable with that, but today it turned out to be quite useful.
A few moments later, the adult wizards arrived, each holding tightly onto the Muggle they were transporting. They expertly took a step to avoid falling and separated smoothly from their charges, as to not draw too much attention to the double flooing. This would have pointed them out as Squibs or Muggles, and they didn't want to rise unneeded attention. To this end, the Grangers wore black robes, similar to the simple black robes Harry and Hermione had donned, so even if people would notice and find it strange, they would only figure them to be squibs.
With everyone assembled, Harry and Hermione led the way out to the Alley, all eyes following them. Both winced involuntary as they heard the noise in the pub jump an order of magnitude, even before the door fell shut completely.
Walking around, they once more marvelled at the sounds and sights of a place that had become dear to them when they young. Strolling along hand in hand, Hermione and Harry enjoyed the outing, although it meant more than just a bit more trouble for Tonks and Remus, trying their best to shield the kids from all the folk trying to get some curious glances at them. The Grangers were rather surprised at the amount of attention the kids received, they heard about Harry being famous, but this definitely proved it. Only the fact that they had two bodyguards around them kept people from asking for autographs.
Their first stop was - who would have expected it - the bookstore.
Within minutes, Hermione's arms were laden with books. Not only the books for sixth and seventh year for all of her subjects, but many more about various runic and arithmetic theoretical topics. While the Black Library contained dozens of volumes about advanced runes and wards so nasty that you could get sick from just reading what they'd do, it sorely lacked the basic theory needed to actually understand and apply them.
Harry first thought about only taking this year's books, but then also took some extras, about healing and household stuff, which he had missed in the Black Library, and some books on warding. In learning magic, he was always more interested in practical uses and deduced the theory from them. Working with runes proved that trait. When he - finally - knew a rune, like with spells, he could usually quickly deduct other uses for it when a quick fix was needed. Of course, Hermione always knew a better way to do so, as she tended to memorize patterns by rote and combined these patterns for the needed application, but this usually used twice as many runes for the same effect, while Harry's ideas had only a few runes, which weren't as spot on in their effect, but used less power.
Of course, he would be unable to do things like the shark ward Hermione had tried to design, yet; but both agreed that once Harry had a bit more instruction, his 'artistic' approach would make him surpass Hermione in that field one day, maybe even become a famous enchanter. Harry was very glad that he had found something he was good in that didn't include fighting. It didn't hurt that he was a walking runic battery, allowing him to charge new patterns all day long while not tiring from the effort. A normal enchanter managed a handful of projects a day, at most.
A few minutes later, Harry had left a fortune at the till and all books were packed and sent off with the help of Dobby. Harry had put his divination training to good use and had told him beforehand to wait for them at the shop, well aware of the amount of books Hermione would buy. Harry had been whispering something to the small guy before he disappeared, but Hermione didn't pay any attention to it, already engrossed in some other books she had noticed on her way out.
Ignoring the crowd in front of the store, most of them not even pretending to do window shopping instead of stalking them, they continued their tour. Remus proved very helpful in that endeavour. In the series of articles, he had been mentioned, and was probably the most widely known werewolf in Britain right now. When he took the lead and put a bodyguard-glare on, the crowd parted quickly.
Tonks took her assignment very serious, as well. Nobody came even close to Hermione's parents.
Evading the crowd, they took a quick stop at Madame Malkin's for robes, which Harry insisted to be of the better quality, and a slightly better cut for Hermione's, not completely for altruistic reasons. He certainly liked the way the cut brought out her astonishing figure, as he told her. Hermione considered him mad for finding her body shape to be at all attractive, but if he liked it, she would certainly not try to change his mind.
Although Fortescue's was just across the street they didn't want to stop there, since they knew about the possible vulnerabilities a visit there would present. Especially with all the bystanders hanging about, peeking into their cups. It showed the state that Voldemort was in, with no attacks happening to send the citizens into panic.
They briefly considered a stop at Gringotts, to look at the Grangers' new vault, but since the Goblins had confirmed the transfer of the bride price from the Black vault already, it seemed a needless exposure. Hermione still was in a quandary. At the one hand, she felt like she should be mad for essentially being sold off into marriage, but on the other hand, Harry insisted that she was worth ten times the usual sum and more.
In the end, the Grangers had managed to haggle Harry down to a 'local phone number' sum, which managed to get the Grangers set up for retirement in one swoop. Hermione chose to believe that this was the primary reason, and accepted the compliment, knowing that according to Tonks, the price was the most important thing to make the contract airtight. It also didn't escape her notice that this was also a blow into the face of purebloods, as even the Malfoys paid less than a fifth for a bride out of the House of Black. As bride price equaled status and value, it was a provocation, stating that she was worth five purebloods.
So instead, they continued down the street until they found the twin's shop. To be fair, it was impossible to overlook. The whole building was a gigantic display of flashing colours, and the windows contained goods that were bouncing, spinning - and Harry could have sworn that one of those hats had just eaten some kind of ball that rolled by. People all around were staring at the display, and even more were staring at a huge poster advertising something called U-NO-POO with a very bad joke at the Dark Lord's expense. Tonks found it hilarious.
When they entered, they found real pandemonium. Children were running around, yelling, parents either chasing after them, or just standing guard around the door, having given up ever catching their offspring. The shelves were packed, and two witches in garish pink robes were restocking them. Strike that, now those robes were an canary yellow with green polka dots that made your eyes protest against the abuse.
Over the racket, they could see the twins in the background. It was rather easy to spot them. As soon as your eyes watered, you could be sure they were in sight, along with the abomination they called robes they wore to work. As both of them were rather busy managing the shoppers, the group chose to take a look around and meet them later.
So they crossed the room, looking at the various tricks, sweets and trick wands, until they reached the less frequented part of the shop, with various games. Everyone grabbed boxes on occasion, reading the description on the back and putting them down again. Carefully, of course, as all of them knew that the twins' products always were implied to handle with care.
"Harry!" Fred suddenly called out from behind them. Hermione jumped and nearly dropped a box she was reading.
"Figures that you would like one of these," Fred chuckled as he picked it up and handed it back to her, with a short glimpse at the cover. At Harry's questioning eyebrow, Hermione's face gained a few shades of colour as she turned it around for him to see. Harry guffawed as he saw a picture of a girl and a man on a pirate ship.
"To our defence, we had these particular 'Patented Day-dreams in a box' in stock since early July. You want one, Hermione? Or is the reality enough?" Fred joked. "You can have that for free," he continued with a laugh when Hermione turned crimson, but held onto the box while nodding. Harry shook his head and gave his girlfriend a hug.
"Feel free to rummage about", Fred told them, before taking a hold of Harry's arm. "You might be interested in something at the back of the shop," he told him. "We have the first two Adventure Dreams ready for sale already, you should see how the people are all over them!" he crooned, and led Harry away, while Hermione continued to scan the 'girly' merchandise.
ooOOoo
After the couple had split to rummage a bit through the goods, a sudden cry of "Hermione!" sounded in the shop.
Turning around, Hermione saw Ron approaching quickly, a huge smile on his face. She called out for Harry and happily approached her red-haired friend, and hugged him. The hug was crushing, and to her surprise, it was part of a package. When they separated, Ron did something unexpected. He grabbed Hermione's head and kissed her, hard.
Petrified, Hermione stood ramrod still as Ron sucked on her face, slobbering all over her tightly closed lips, trying to gain entry. It took a second before her brain reconnected with reality and she pushed him away, wiping her face with her sleeve in disgust.
"Ron! What are you doing?" She spat, while Harry approached them, looking fit to spit nails. Another quick look and a wave of her hand were enough to make Tonks stand down and spare Ron's life. Still, when Harry arrived, he hugged her close immediately and glared daggers at Ron.
Their redheaded friend took one look at them and switched into prat-mode, looking like he would blow up any second. "You're with Harry, aren't you?" he asked angrily, proving that he didn't read papers, except for the sports page. After all, their engagement had only been the headline for three days...
"How could you?" Ron yelled suddenly, and Harry instinctively shoved Hermione behind his back, shielding her. "You knew that I had feelings for her! What kind of friend are you?" he spat at Harry.
Harry was taking his friend's outburst with relative calm. It wasn't as if he didn't have any experience with that kind of behaviour. Usually, it was the best to just ignore it and carry on, and Ron would turn around at some point. Harry knew that Ron would need to speak one or two more things before his brain would reengage and make him back off or apologize. This time, Harry wasn't inclined to let it come this far. His patience had limits, and Ron had reached those. But as it seemed at the moment, Ron had already successfully exceeded those of Hermione, again.
"What? Do you think you got any claim on me? Didn't it occur to you that I might not be interested in you?" she yelled and stepped in front of Harry, her hands on her hip and a scowl on her face.
"That's not the point!" Ron yelled back, either missing or dismissing Hermione's point completely, and turning back to yell at Harry. "A real friend wouldn't steal a girl. I thought you were my friend, Harry!"
Hermione finally had enough. "He can't steal a girl you never had! I do not want anything from you, Ronald Weasley, and I never will. I'm not some kind of commodity you can reserve, trade or barter with other guys, I'm a human being. If you want to own something, try that!" she yelled, and threw some random box at Ron, hitting him on the head, before storming off, missing the spectacular iridescent forehead Ron now sported.
Harry fought down the urge to follow her immediately and instead waited a few seconds, just to be sure that Ron won't do something stupid - okay, even more stupid. Much to his relief, Ron just stood there for a few moments, sputtering in some powerless rage before he vanished into the crowd. Harry couldn't help but shake his head in disbelief at the behaviour of his friend as he went to look for his girl.
A few moments, and a discrete wave and point by Tonks later, he found Hermione a few aisles further, where she had met Ginny, next to some strange wiggling balls of fur. Both girls were petting one of those things, each, obviously the only thing those creatures were good for. When Harry approached, Ginny noticed him first and gave him a sad smile.
"I have heard you already met my jerk of a brother," she said with a sad voice, while Hermione's whatever that thing was named started squeaking instead of purring as she nearly petted that poor animal to death. Harry had pity with the poor thing and carefully took it away from Hermione and put it back into its perch, before he embraced his girlfriend, with Ginny patting her back.
"Yeah, he has a gift when it comes to say the most hurtful thing possible," Harry agreed. "So, how are you? Any news that a Dark Lord in the making should know?" he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Oh, right - Potter turning dark. You should pull the other one, Harry - it's got bells on it!" Ginny snorted. "Really - that's ridiculous! But just so you got something to blackmail me with - I'm with Dean; he's such a great guy! We started dating last term, and he was writing me every week," Ginny happily told them before turning serious, some old news for them, but Ginny couldn't know that the twins were in contact with Harry all the time.
"Mum tried to talk me out of it all summer, for some reason she thinks he's not right for me and I should pursue you instead," she admitted. At this admission, Hermione's head shot up, swivelling around to look at her best girlfriend in shock.
"Come on, don't be silly, Hermione," Ginny laughed. "While he's not too bad, after all the time we spent in the Burrow and in school, Harry seems more of a brother than anything else to me," Ginny said, tightening her hug on Hermione a bit. "And especially the fact that Mum wants to push me into dating him means it's never going to happen," she laughed with a glint of defiance in her eyes.
Hermione and Harry couldn't help to laugh at their rebellious friend, who once more grew serious.
"Speaking of mum, you better leave before my parents show up," she whispered at them while scanning the room. "We're just visiting here while they're getting some money from the vault. Hermione surely doesn't need another fight today, and especially mum is bound to yell at you two when she sees you. She burnt the newspaper with your announcement on the spot, I only heard about that later from Luna. Congratulations on that, by the way."
Harry smiled sadly at her, nodding to show his appreciation. "See you on the Express?" he asked, looking around in search for Hermione's parents. Tonks interpreted his glances correctly from her vantage point, and pointed towards the entrance, where Henry demonstrated some Muggle magic tricks from a shelf located there to Remus. He thanked her with a quick nod before returning his attention to the girls next to him.
"Yeah, see you at the Express. Keep a seat for me; I'll be arriving fashionably late, as usual," Ginny laughed and left, waving goodbye as Harry led Hermione away to their companions.
Tonks tailed them, and when they joined the group, Margret immediately noticed Hermione's expression. With discretion that only a woman could possess, Margret had Hermione whisked away a few paces and both were talking in hushed tones. Well, mostly hushed ones from her and more than a few hissed ones from Hermione.
"What happened?" Remus asked Harry in a hushed voice, trying not to agitate the girl even more.
"Nothing new - Ron's an asshole," Harry sighed as he warily eyed his girlfriend hissing in an extremely angry tone at her mother, telling her the story. He didn't have to hear her to know when exactly she hissed the name 'Ron'. Every time she did, she looked like somebody had caused her to be thrown out of the library. Come to think of it, Ron had actually managed that once, back in third year.
"What did he do now? I never saw her that angry before, not even when they weren't talking for weeks in third year," Remus asked while he had another wary glance at the girl. He could smell her anger from where he stood.
"He was of the opinion that since he wanted Hermione, I should have ignored her. And he didn't think her opinion in that matter counted, at least it sounded like that. I can't believe what a jerk he has become," Harry answered, and Remus winced. Tonks just shook her head in disgust. She found that Ron had gotten away lightly – they still hadn't found all the parts of the last guy who tried to pull that stunt with her. Although it is pretty sure that he'll never dance again.
"People do change, Harry. At least Ron is only a jealous prat: Peter was once a nice guy, too - and then he went and betrayed your parents. Give him some time; most guys are a bit unreasonable at your age, especially if it's about girls. He'll grow up, eventually," Remus said as he put his arm around Harry's shoulders.
"I wouldn't pin my hopes on that happening in Ron's case, but let's try being optimistic," Harry told Remus as Hermione walked over, still at the brink of tears.
"Take me home!" she pleaded, and so he did. A second later, the portkey whisked them away, and he didn't stop at the stairs, instead he swooped her up and carried her through the door and directly up into their room.
It took them four hours to return, her face still blotched. Instead of an explanation, they just led all people to the study, to spend the last few days on the island, instead.
*** September 1st, London, King's cross ***
Being early at platform 9 ¾ made Harry discover a possible reason for the Weasleys to always be late. Except for the utter chaos that reigned at the Burrow as each child was packing his trunk at the last second. The pushing and shoving was horrible.
It made the early morning packing at the Burrow seem sedate and orderly in comparison. More than once, they were tempted to grab the elder Grangers and use their Portkey necklaces when someone appeared too close nearby.
All over the place were people talking and greeting each other, children were running around, trying to find their friends, mothers corralling younger children, and baggage trolleys were performing their own version of stock-car racing.
"Reminds me of Heathrow in summer," Henry remarked dryly, "just a bit quieter," he spoke over the occasional apparition pops or Portkey flashes that completed the ear-splitting din.
Remus and Tonks had just side-along apparated Hermione's parents onto Platform 9 ¾ while Hermione and Harry had pushed their trolleys through. Crookshanks was hissing and snarling angrily at the sudden noise waking him so rudely. He had been dealing with the shame of being in his carrier by sleeping trough the degrading process. Being awake did not improve his mood. He couldn't believe that his servants had really returned to that cold place. They were in a warm, sunny place, a place with fish! Fish swimming in water, waiting to be caught! Why on earth would anyone want to leave there?
Harry had cleverly avoided the trouble with an irritated familiar by sending Hedwig off to fly to Scotland on her own. It was the better deal for all persons concerned.
Walking to wards the train, with Tonks and Remus trying to create a path for them, there was the occasional stop-and-stare incident, which was to be expected after the article announcing their engagement. Harry had even finally managed to give Hermione an engagement ring.
He had originally planned to do that with a surprise visit to Gringotts on their last Diagon Alley visit, right after the visit to the twin's shop. He had even thought ahead and had sent Dobby there to make an appointment. But then, circumstances had led to meeting Ron, and this to Hermione crying, which had lead to their day of shopping cut short.
In the end he had to ask Dobby to inform the Goblins and to get him all rings present in his vaults for Hermione to choose at home, instead. The Goblins acknowledged his wishes, but charged him an hour for the appointment, anyway.
Out of the wide range of available rings - all out of the Black vault and twice checked for curses by Remus - Hermione had chosen a rather simple ring with a - relatively - small diamond on it, claiming that the other 'rocks' would look stupid on her small hands, and that she wouldn't want to be seen as gold-digger.
A 'modest' two carat was alright with her.
If looks were being interpreted correctly, Remus would have to top this feat to stay in Tonk's good graces. He was lucky that Harry was already resolved to help his 'uncle' out if came to this, eventually.
In fact, the ring pleased Hermione enough that she didn't shed too many tears over her beloved prefect badge. She had sent it back to McGonagall a few days ago, citing differences with the Headmaster and her class load as reasons for not being able to fill that position anymore. Of course, another reason was that she didn't want to make rounds with Ron while Harry was waiting for her in the common room. So yes, the ring gave her something to focus on, so that her hand didn't move to the place where the badge hung all too often.
Henry and Margret were meanwhile fascinated with the mass of strange clad wizards and witches around them. All those years, they had said goodbye in front of the charmed wall, and therefore only seen a hint at a small fraction of the wizarding world. But this was the real thing.
They pushed further through the crowd clogging the entrance area and into the clearer portions of the platform, nearer to the train itself. Henry was fascinated by the scarlet steam engine. Noticing the lack of coal and a water tower on the platform, he immediately was involved in a conversation with his daughter and wife about how that train actually worked and why no one ever had noticed it or the tracks leading to Hogwarts.
Hermione was of course more than eager to educate her father, and started pointing out things to him and her mother. Harry found himself quickly falling back behind them as his girlfriend, now betrothed, was nearly dragging her parents along and talking a mile a minute. Looking around, he couldn't keep from sighing.
"What's wrong, boss?" Tonks quipped from the side, still scanning the crowd like the professional she was. Remus turned around in wonder; he hadn't even picked up the bad mood Harry was in.
"Everything?" Harry responded rhetorically - and whiny. Knowing that this won't satisfy his lead bodyguard, he took a deep breath to continue. "The whole situation bothers me. I'd rather not have anything to do with the old coot, but without him, I have no clue how to deal with the coot that won't die. I'd love to see my friends again, but since Ron's turning out being an asshole, I'm not really tickled about that, anymore. This sucks, and it sucks double that I have no choice. Right now, only Hermione is keeping me going," he moped, and glared at Tonks as she nearly choked on a stifled laugh at his last words.
"Shut it, Dora - I'm not in the mood. Not at all, I'd rather just want to smash something badly," he growled. Tonks parried by briefly changing her face into that of Dumbledore, Snape and Ron in turn. "Yeah, any of them would be appreciated. I don't suppose you offer being a dummy for me?"
"Harry, Harry," Remus chided from her other side. "Dora might be clumsy, but she is no dummy."
When Tonks beamed at her man for that compliment, albeit backhanded, Remus couldn't resist teasing her. "Sloppy in writing," he added, starting to tick off items on his fingers, "messy in the house, useless in kitchen, bad taste in clothing, ouch!"
"Violent, too," Harry deadpanned after Tonks had cuffed Remus around the ear. Her steely you-will-be-next look found him immediately. Harry just smiled back at her innocently, blowing her a kiss.
"Only the fact that it would look unprofessional if I spank my boss is saving you right now," she hissed with her narrowed eyes trying to burn him to a crisp, but couldn't keep the facade up for very long, before all three of them started laughing.
ooOOoo
After killing time by chatting about various things of no consequence with Tonks, Harry found that it would be the right time for them to board the train, in order to find a compartment. The crowd was already slowly filtering into the train, and there were only so many compartments available.
Looking around, he found the Grangers standing near the pistons at the train's main wheels, Hermione pointing out various things, probably runes. Remus already stood inconspicuously nearby, watching over them. A small nod to Tonks was enough to make his intentions clear, and both started to walk over to them. With Tonks clearing a path for him, Harry leisurely followed, grinning at the surprise he had for Hermione, coming the start of classes.
He had nearly reached them when he was stopped by a well known voice behind him. It was drawling something that made Hermione and her parents gasp, Remus growl; Tonks grip her wand and Harry wishing that he had worn his rapier instead of stowing it in the trunk.
"What are those filthy Muggles doing over there? Don't you know that you are only allowed to bring one pet to Hogwarts, Potter?"
Malfoy, with his merry gang of junior Death Eaters chuckled as Harry froze mid-step. For a moment, Tonks played with the thought of interfering, just to blow the smirk of her idiot cousin's face. But being safe in the knowledge that Harry could deal with a dozen of his classmates with ease, and was in the proper mood to do so, she refrained from doing so.
In fact, she was kind of curious what Harry was able to do after the wringer she had dragged the children through. Of course, she had mocked them by calling it 'basic training' while she would have struggled to pull through it, herself.
Still, she stepped a bit to the side, shielding the Grangers in case it came to blows, and checking the surroundings. It could be a ruse, after all. Hermione and Remus did about the same, waiting how the situation would play out, but ready to guard Harry's back if needed.
ooOOoo
This was the moment Draco had been waiting for a few days already. When they had gotten a formal Gringotts letter addressed to Narcissa Malfoy, he first was at loss what kind of business these filthy Goblins would have with his mother. When she proclaimed that it came from the Family Line Management Office, his face brightened considerably as his mouth formed into a smirk. Wondering who of his huge family had keeled over and made them their heir, he waited as his mother opened the envelope.
When his mother read the letter, he was barely able to catch her when she blanched and fainted during the read. Placing her back onto the couch she had sat before the letter had arrived, he carefully approached the letter, not sure whether he was supposed to read it or not. Ok, he actually was insecure about if he was able to get away with it, no Malfoy cared much about privacy of correspondence. Well, other people's correspondence...
Bowing over the parchment, careful not to touch it, he scanned the letter, his eyes only lingered on some remarkable points.
… According to the wishes of Lord Potter-Black… That gave him a most painful stab to the heart. He had known from early age on that he was in line to become the next Lord Black. He only had to wait for the mongrel to die in Askaban for the deal to be perfect.
Trust that trice-dammed blood traitor Sirius Black to take what was rightfully his and give it to that Halfblood scar-head Potter. His father had spent a small fortune on his lawyers to find a way to overturn that will, but it was watertight. They tried to argument that a Halfblood couldn't be Head to an ancient House, but according to the by-laws, the only restriction on what person could be Head of House was that he had to be born to a wizard and a witch. Sadly, even though Potter would be deemed a Halfblood by having a Muggleborn bitch as mother nowadays, the ancient bylaws of House Black recognized him as pure enough.
… to inform you of the expulsion of a Bellatrix (Black) Lestrange from the Black family…
His first reaction was outrage at the injustice done. His second was a fearful wince when he realized the reaction of his aunt when she would hear that news. This would be a good time to be away from the mansion. Far away.
He read a bit further, into the actual statement of Potter, and came to a full stop. For a few long moments his breath ceased. He even forgot to blink. This couldn't be true. Potter couldn't be that brazen. Not even that jerk would be that suicidal stupid.
… forced to take these steps after Bellatrix had the audacity to attack me and my company with intent to harm in broad daylight. I would have been magnanimous to let this pass with a censure instead of expulsion, in the light of her fractured mental state, but looking into the bylaws, it turned out that the case was more serious than I had realized.
It is a well known fact that she has besmirched the honour of the House Black by committing multiple serious crimes as a member of a band of thugs, known as 'Death Eaters'.
While this is grave enough own its own, it's also not necessarily ground for expulsion.
But according to the horribly outdated section on appropriate blood status - which I will revise to abandon this as soon as I am of age - she also committed blood treason by prostrating herself to, and even allowed having herself branded like a farm animal by a lowly Halfblood, Tom Riddle Junior, who leads that criminal organisation under his pseudonym of 'Lord Voldemort', which mandates immediate expulsion.
Thusly, according to the current bylaws of House Black, I am regrettably obliged to expel her from the House Black.
May your gold always flow,
Lord Harry Potter-Black…
It was insane - the Dark Lord would flay him alive!
When it dawned on Draco that his family, as the messengers, would also have to bear the consequences, his eyes rolled up into his head as well, as he slumped into welcome oblivion.
ooOOoo
Draco made a satisfied chuckle at the successful baiting when Potter had finished his face-about and glared at them in turn. That chuckle slowly died when a literal wave of disdain washed over him, while all chatter in the imminent surroundings ceased.
It was the perfect glower.
The curl of the lips, the angle the head was held, the sheer unbelievably perfect mixture of scorn and hate in that cold, calculating look, delivered through eyes hard as emeralds, lit from behind with malice and power as his stare seemed to bore through them.
Snape would have killed to look half as menacing as Potter did now.
"Auror Tonks - has this child just dared to insult the family of my betrothed?" Harry pressed through his teeth.
Tonks needed a moment to reassess the situation. With a smile, she gave answer. "Yes, Lord Potter-Black. This was most definitely an insult." Malfoy flinched briefly when she addressed Harry by his title, but he kept on glowering at Harry for the perceived insult of being labelled a child by someone younger than him.
While his companions were clearly intimidated by Potter's poise, Draco was no person to back down. The concept of quitting while he still was behind - but also still alive - was an alien concept to him; either a Malfoy trait, or a result of inbreeding, but who cared. He was about to open his mouth to present the audience with another, probably as witty remark as his first had been, when he was interrupted.
"Am I right in the assumption that this gives me the right to chastise this spoilt brat properly?" Harry asked in the same voice, his anger sizzling just below the surface.
Draco's eyes widened even before Tonks replied sweetly,"Yes, Lord Potter-Black."
Right then, he had realized that Potter had not just stalled, but taken steps to justify his following actions. Legally, Potter was now allowed to use magic on them, while they would be in big trouble if they pulled a wand, as school wasn't in session, yet.
Potter's mouth curled into a satisfied sneer Draco's godfather would have been proud of as he replied with a single, silky word.
"Good."
With an almost satisfied sigh, Harry let loose of his just barely held in check magic. Immediately, his cloak started billowing on its own accord as the air became static, and within a few moments, the berth the audience had given them had almost doubled when people were nearly knocking each other over in order to get out of the immediate line of fire.
Draco was forced to correct his assessment of the situation. This wasn't anywhere close to like it was supposed to be. He should be the one with witty comments, angering Potter, who would only gnash his teeth and stare back angrily, but helpless. He had heard some laughable claims of fellow Death Eaters that Potter had grown impressively powerful over the summer, but Draco had been convinced that Potter had just been lucky in these encounters, and feats of others were attributed to him.
Faced with the sight of a seriously pissed Potter radiating magic like there was no tomorrow, his stunned disbelief petrified him long enough for the cowards in his entourage to buckle.
It all began with Pansy taking a step sideways, hiding behind her precious Draco. The fact that she hadn't baited Hermione even once spoke volumes about her level of intimidation by Potter's cold glare. She knew, beyond any doubt, that any insult she were able to utter would be a straight ticket to a world of pain.
Then, Crabbe slowly backed off, followed by Goyle, both proving to at least possess the basic instinct that tells an animal that there is a bigger predator than them present. Malfoy obviously lacked that necessary survival sense.
The breaking point was when Harry drew his wand in a quick and no-nonsense way.
Seeing that she had only Draco between her and Potter, and that the latter had currently no business with her, Pansy correctly summed up the situation and threw herself around and into the train. The retreat of a pack mate triggered the flight instincts of Crabbe and Goyle properly, leaving Draco as single recipient of Harry's death glare.
Standing alone without help wasn't Draco's preferred modus operandi, and so he made some hasty generic threats about "Potter getting his" and dashed off and into the train as if Beelzebub himself were nipping at his haunches. Harry continued to stare at the retreating boy's back for a few more seconds before he shook his head and rejoined the waiting group who had watched him deal with those thugs in that most impressive way, while the audience dissolved slowly.
"Oh damn, seems that Harry has inherited The Glare", Remus said with a smirk that betrayed his real mood. He would have loved to wipe the platform with that bigot bastard, but with his affliction, he couldn't afford to raise any stink.
"Huh?" - Tonks hooted as she turned to him, proving once again to be her elaborate self. Remus couldn't help but smile and shake his head at his girlfriend's antics.
"It was something James was famous for. He would walk at you with a look so contemptuous that you could practically see the white light, with your ancestors waving at the other end, beckoning you to join them. To this very day, only Severus had managed to at least partially imitate it. Of course he had ample opportunity to receive it, so he knows it best," Remus said and led all of them into a group chuckle, a mortified but happy Harry amidst them.
ooOOoo
Boarding the train, and both sighing about the thought that they used to board a ship in the warm Caribbean only days ago, Hermione and Harry dragged their trunks along the corridor in search of a compartment. They had considered featherlight charms or shrinking them, but as a side-effect of their daily fencing exercises, they were able to carry them with relative ease, and considered them as manageable and a kind of training utensil. They didn't want to become lazy, after all.
After they found an empty compartment in the middle, they stowed their trunks overhead and took a seat. In fact, they only took one seat as Hermione claimed Harry's lap and gave him the first snog he ever received on the Hogwarts Express. Five minutes later Harry quickly removed his hands from under Hermione's shirt and off her breasts, as Luna Lovegood wrestled her trunk in.
"Harry, there's no need to remove your hands from there for my sake - besides, I believe Hermione seemed to rather like them there," she said in her usual, dreamy voice, while she tried to lift her trunk up onto the stowage rack.
Both sat and stared at her with flaming red heads, completely flabbergasted with the casual way Luna had commented on something so embarrassing, until Harry became aware that Luna had already tried for the third time to lift it high enough, only to fall short a few inches, again, and exposing a lot of leg while stretching in her extremely short summer dress, which tried to make up for this shortcoming by adding more colours than necessary into the pattern. With a quick flick of his hand, he took control and levitated her trunk up.
"I see your hands don't only do magic on Hermione, Harry," Luna smiled at him, looking directly at his wandless hand. Harry flinched at his faux pas, while Hermione hectically tried to find a way to explain it away, opening her mouth to begin, but coming up with nothing and closing it, again, repeatedly. Luna just smiled serenely at her, shaking her head.
"You should stop that, Hermione, or Nargles might nest in your mouth. And don't worry; I doubt anybody would believe me, anyway, if I told someone. Oh, by the way, thank you," she giggled, before she stared at an interesting pattern on the seat cushions. She could have sworn that that pattern had been upside down a moment before.
"You're welcome. How has your summer been?" Harry asked to defuse the awkwardness as Hermione as elegantly as possible slid off his lap and snuggled into his side to join the conversation from a more appropriate position.
"Not as good as yours, I'm afraid. I haven't found anybody to snog with," Luna sadly began as she sat down in a gliding motion. "But considering that I've been looking for Snorkacks in the Swedish wilderness with Daddy, it's not really surprising. The few men there were much too old and hairy for my taste. But I already have a plan to rectify that. You two look great, by the way. Have you been on holiday together?" Luna babbled happily.
Hermione smiled at Harry. "Better, I moved in with Harry. He happens to have a beach villa we spent most of the last month in," she admitted cryptically. They had talked about what they would expose to their friends, and chose to tell less than the full truth, at least for now, in case that Snape or Dumbledore would probe their minds.
"Really? Here I was under the impression Surrey didn't have access to the ocean," Luna told them with a strange wink, as if she were talking about an inside joke. Hermione and Harry were startled and wanted to ask a follow-up question about what she meant, when the girls face became unfocused again. "The Glimpweeds must have manipulated my maps; they do this often - hello Neville!" Luna continued innocently, waving at the boy, as her train of thought gained momentum and then derailed, as usual. It didn't escape Hermione's notice that she unnecessarily leaned forward to wave at Neville, an action that made the boy nearly stumble over his trunk as her dress followed gravity's call.
The boy in question entered the compartment, stowed his trunk and seated himself next to Luna, while blushing furiously and trying to keep his eyes off her. Hermione could have sworn that Luna's smile got a bit less spacey and more devious for a moment. In no time all four were swapping stories - slightly edited in case of Harry and Hermione - of their holidays, and Harry had to promise everybody to invite them over next summer.
Of course, just before departure, Ginny finally showed up and joined them. Neville stood and stowed her trunk in the overhead space as Ron just stormed by without a word, glaring at Harry and Hermione.
Neville gave them a raised eyebrow at Ron's unusual behaviour, but received an elbow in the ribs from Luna before anybody else could answer.
"Neville, can't you see that he was bitten by a Wibbling Nerfgroper? Their bite is known to induce bouts of jealousy at friends who have better love lives. The reaction is stronger the more sexually active those couples are, which explains why Ron is such a prat to those two here. Really - and people say I don't pay attention," she said with a very Hermione-like eye-roll, and Neville nearly got a seizure from the coughing fit he developed. It didn't help his recovery that Luna leaned forward and smiled at him brightly as he was doubled over, giving him another good view of her assets while asking if she might get him something he wanted.
Meanwhile, Hermione had immediately flushed beet red while Harry nearly broke his neck by snapping his head around to face the girl who just babbled about them doing it like bunnies in polite company.
Ginny meanwhile had noted how neither of them denied Luna's claim. Hermione only needed one look at the petite redhead's sly smile to know that Ginny would pry all secrets out of her as soon as they arrived in Gryffindor tower, if not earlier.
Luna, as if she just had commented about the weather, now concentrated on Ginny, keeping the conversation flowing. "How does the shop of your brothers do? Father and I had some of their edible silly string cans with us on our expedition. It is perfect to lure Snorkacks into a trap. Too sad that they ate their way out of the spider webs we made from that string to catch them in. They were supposed to only eat the red sting and despise the blue one..."
The conversation in the compartment resumed after that, and everybody had a good time teasing each other and telling tales about their summer, and Hermione had to admit that their beach vacation had been outside of Britain to Ginny as the girl dug for gossip like a Niffler for Galleons. Being a bad liar, she had simply no chance against a girl that could make the twins spill their deepest secrets. Some very good laughs were had at Neville's expense when he had a story to tell about how he got his new cherry and unicorn hair wand and how much better he could handle this new one. Ginny, and surprisingly Luna both couldn't help to comment that this newfound skill with his wand might come handy with the witches. Naturally, Luna's comment was much more direct than Ginny's veiled hints, and especially Harry was howling with laughter at poor Neville's sputtering denials when Luna had asked him if he was trying to woo her by indicating his skill with his wand.
Of course, their engagement and Hermione's ring got their fair share of attention, as most Gryffindor and some other girls came by for a short visit to say hello, and used that occasion to take a shorter or longer look at the ring.
That procession came to an end after an hour or so, and finally, they were alone with their friends in their compartment. Their ride was undisturbed for about another hour before the door was slid open again. Harry had hoped that it would be the food trolley, but to his dismay, it was Draco, who probably hoped to take revenge for the humiliation received at the platform. Harry had expected it already, as the boy always came back for more after he got shot down. He just couldn't leave well enough alone, couldn't he?
"Oh, seems to be the trash compartment. All the garbage of Hogwarts, in one place," the blond boy snarled, as he loomed in the door - or at least tried to block the doorway most impressive, failing badly. Like always, his sneer came across like a pampered boy whining. He just couldn't hide his true inner core.
"Got a new script writer?" Hermione huffed, not really impressed, and continued to read her book that she didn't even bother lowering. She knew Harry would watch out for her.
"Shut up, Mudblood!" was the rather expected reply, showing that that writer hadn't delivered much useful material, yet.
Instead of a verbal answer, the back of a hand slapped into Draco's cheek and threw him back into his ever-present bodyguards, Crabbe and Goyle. Pansy had obviously decided that she wasn't taking part of the second round, a sign that there might be more than just air in the head of hers.
When Draco had blinked his way through the stars, his vision cleared to the sight of an enraged Harry standing in the door, glaring daggers at the still dizzy boy. He had moved so quick that it had caught everyone by surprise, especially Hermione, who had used him as backrest and had nearly fallen off the seat, squeaking loudly in surprise, when Harry had stood to hit Draco.
Harry wasn't surprised at all that Draco didn't take getting his deserved comeuppance like a man. Primarily because Draco wasn't a man, but a pampered brat, and secondly, because he had this strange notion that just by being born a Malfoy, he actually was worth something and should be treated with respect.
Naturally, as soon as Draco recovered slightly and knew he was outmatched, he went for his wand, but never got further than gripping the handle.
In another lightning-quick smooth move, honed in hours of draw-drills by Tonks, Harry had his wand out and trained on the face of the prone boy. For a long moment, you could see anger and fear battle in the face of Draco as the boy tried to calculate his odds.
When Harry finally chose to speak, he spoke in a very low voice, his hand shaking while he used all his willpower to not just blast that arrogant ass in the face.
"Try it, Malfoy! Make my day! I am tired of you and your stupidity. This was the last time you addressed Hermione that way, understood? You know to what I am entitled to as a Head of House, so don't cross me again or you won't like the results!"
Draco nearly jumped up at these words. "How dare you? If my father..." was all he could voice before a backhand slap, this time from Harry's left hand, threw him back into his bodyguards, again. Before any of the boys could react, Harry had his wand directly between the eyes of Draco, the tip glowing sickly pink.
"Shut up! Your Death Eater father can't help you here. The next time you step over the line, you will pay. For the last time - keep your bloody carcass away from me and my friends!" Harry roared before he slowly moved back, slammed the compartment door shut and spelled it to stay this way.
Puffing with anger, he waited for a few seconds, just in case that he had to teach that stupid jerk another lesson, but it seemed that Malfoy was satisfied with being humiliated twice in about as many hours and had left. With a long calming breath, Harry sheathed his wand in his wrist holster and then dropped into his seat, closing his eyes and taking a few more calming breaths, completely unaware of the looks his friends, and most importantly his girlfriend, were giving him.
"Hermione?" Luna asked tentatively after a few seconds of eying a definitely feral looking Hermione. "Should we leave the compartment for a while or do you intent to keep dressed while thanking Harry?"
Hermione didn't bother to answer before she pounced at Harry, lips first. Harry regretted her restraint, but only a little.
Luna dryly commented Hermione's technique, scribbling some notes about it onto the margins of a Quibbler she had perused before Draco interrupted. "For later reference," she told Ginny and a very uncomfortable Neville, while patting the latter's thigh amiably, causing a lot of the discomfort.
After a some time, Ginny produced a package of exploding snap cards and started dealing to Neville and Luna. It took three rounds before Hermione and Harry finally noticed the bangs.
ooOOoo
About halfway into the ride, a nervous girl - Harry thought he remembered her to be in third year or so - delivered two scrolls to Harry and Neville. Harry didn't expect any letters this early into the ride. He knew that Dumbledore would certainly cite him into the office as soon as possible to inquire about the engagement announcement in the Daily Prophet or Harry's notice of guardian change. Curious, he broke the seal while Neville already was reading his own letter.
"Do you know who this Slughorn fella is?" Ginny asked while reading over Neville's shoulder.
"No idea." Harry replied with a shrug. As one, everyone turned to look at Hermione.
Rolling with her eyes, Hermione lowered her book and straightened up. "Honestly, you people should read Hogwarts, a Historysometimes. He was Potions professor before Snape took over."
"All right, but why is he back at Hogwarts?" Neville asked.
"There is only one possible reason. He will take over Potions, again." Hermione told him with a frown. "But what does this mean for Snape?"
Harry stood and opened his trunk to retrieve his robes.
"Well, I think we will find out at this meeting, won't we, Neville?"
ooOOoo
"Snape's the new DADA instructor." Harry proclaimed with a frown when he came back from the meeting. Neville looked sick at the prospect of having Snape for his NEWT Defence course. If anyone noticed that Hermione didn't correct Harry that it were 'ProfessorSnape', they didn't comment it.
"That doesn't bode well for you," Ginny whispered in a very annoyed tone. "Snape will make Defence a nightmare, especially for you, Harry."
"Not really - we already made plans to test out early in this course since, to be frank, Hermione and I already perform at NEWT level in defence," he told her.
Neville had to snort at this. "Well, Hermione being far ahead of anyone doesn't surprise me, and if anyone has a sound motivation to do well in this class, then it's you, Harry."
"Right in one, Neville," Harry smiled. "So all we have left to do now is to find a way to do so in a manner most insulting for Snape. I just wait for the right opportunity. As we are talking about Snape, I think it will happen the first DADA class period."
No one contested that claim. Snape had never lasted five minutes without baiting Harry before.
"Will you continue the DA?" Luna asked. "I mean, you both started it last year because we had an incompetent teacher, and we know that Snape is the definition of a bad teacher," she said, speaking out loud what everyone else had thought already.
"I think the Wrackspurts nested in his head once when he was a child," she then added, ruining the serious impression she had given. Harry had a slight suspicion she did that on purpose.
"We might do that," Hermione granted. "It'll depend on our schedules, but we'll notify you. So, how was the party?"
Neville and Harry took a long look at each other and grinned broadly. Soon, they both were telling the tale of a man trying to woo the future elite and getting his foot into as many doors as possible.
ooOOoo
After a few more hours of a rather uneventful ride, they arrived at Hogsmeade and prepared to leave the train. To their surprise, there was a squad of Aurors patrolling the station. Harry didn't know them, except for one, who he thought to be Dawlish, one of the Aurors that tried and failed to arrest Dumbledore last year.
In the distance, he saw Hagrid herding the first years away, but continued to follow the mass of students towards the carriages. He was slightly surprised when Hermione suddenly stopped and stared when they cleared the station and got onto the open field where their transport was waiting. It took him a second to realize that she now was able to see the Thestrals pulling the carts.
Hermione quickly moved to stand beside one of the two magnificent beasts harnessed to the coach. She was mesmerized by these animals, their leathery skin, their powerful wings folded against their skeletal rump.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" Luna said as she joined her with a serene smile. "Most people are afraid of them, but I never have met nicer animals than those," she said as she let her hand glide over the closest animal's back, and scratching it a bit. The Thestral regarded her actions with a satisfied snort, and shook his slender neck.
Hermione was still a bit stunned, and only nodded absent-minded, but she only hesitated a moment before she quickly reached out to pet the Thestral as well for a moment before she hurried to climb into the carriage. Crookshanks was rather put off after having to witness his human petting another animal, and it took Hermione the entire ride to the castle to pet herself back into her familiar's good graces.
ooOOoo
When they arrived at the castle, they quickly entered the Great Hall, being prodded by Filch with some secrecy and dark detectors rather fiercely when they passed the entrance hall, and found some seats near the door, as far away as possible from the Head table. Ginny gave them a pained look, since Ron had Seamus and, most importantly, Dean sitting with him somewhere in the middle of the table. Hermione noticed her plight, and gave her a smile and a nod in Dean's direction. She received a dazzling smile in return before Ginny dashed off to sit next to her boyfriend. Hermione also smiled when Ron looked nauseous because of Ginny and Dean flirting next to him, but had to play nice in order not to lose his last friends. Neville sat opposite to them, a place that would become his during the year.
So, all in all, they attended a nice welcoming feast, including the rather long sorting. The only difference to prior years was that Ron sat far away, and did his best to ignore their presence. Thus, not only could they follow the sorting without complaints of hunger and annoying stomach sounds, they also were able to eat in peace, keeping light conversation between themselves and Neville, and without the sight of Ron's legendary table manners, which were already disgusting some first years further down the table.
Also, being that far away from the Head table, they were able to completely ignore the teachers and the Headmaster. Although Harry had assumed otherwise, Dumbledore refrained from citing Harry to the office on the first evening after concluding the feast and sending all the students into their dorms.
Up there, Hermione and Harry spent a few more hours talking to Ginny, Dean and Neville, while Ron had Seamus in a chess battle. One by one, the others made their excuses and went to bed, until only Harry and Hermione remained and planned Snape's humiliation before they had to face the hardest part of being back at Hogwarts.
Sleeping alone.