A Dangerous Game
1st September 2011
"Wake up"
"…"
"If you don't wake up now you will miss the train"
"…"
"If you don't wake up now you will feel the wrath of a werewolf" The reply was a snort from the teenager in front of him in bed.
"I will ring Sally; tell her that you miss her dearly, that you are sorry that you broke up with her, that you will gladly beg for forgiveness and how much you want her back…"
"…"
Remus Lupin watched as the teenager, with his eyes still closed, slowly raised his arm to his face, and gave him the finger.
"Suit yourself" He turned to leave, he stopped when he heard a long-suffering sigh and movement, and he turned back to the boy in bed. The teenager was leant against his headboard scowling at his 'Uncle'.
"That was cruel" the boy huffed. Remus grinned, he took pride in these moments, they did not come often and when they did come, it was usually as the boy had just woken up and was in a bitter mood.
"Harry, I have less of a fuss coping with my werewolf hangovers than I do with you every morning, so drastic situations call for drastic measures" Harry continued to scowl at him, Remus rolled his eyes and left his room.
"Stop being a little bitch and get ready, we are leaving in 20 minutes, I'll make you some toast" Remus called behind him as he descended the stairs. He heard a groan and heavy footfalls around his 'nephews' room. Chuckling slightly he placed two pieces of bread in the toaster and leant against the kitchen counter waiting for his nephew to arrive. Less than 10 minutes later, a thoroughly happier looking Harry Potter entered the kitchen wearing black slim jeans and a black hoodie, and picked up the toast.
They sat silently whilst he ate before he wiped his mouth with the tablecloth; Remus frowned and placed the plate in the dishwasher.
"You weren't actually going to ring my ex was you?" Harry asked closing the door on the dishwasher and looking up at his uncle in disbelief. Remus raised an eyebrow; he put on a small smile.
"Maybe" Harry rubbed his face in annoyance before spinning and ascending the stairs again to brush his teeth.
"Remind me again why you broke up with Sally? You had been dating for nearly 6 months, the longest you have ever dated someone so far and you both seemed very happy?" Remus called up the stairs; he pulled on some casual shoes, a coat and waited for his nephew.
"She asked something that scared me" Remus raised an eyebrow at that, Harry had faced many dangers in life that would make grown wizards wet themselves, this must have been bad.
"…and what did she ask?" There was silence for a minute, the sound of a running water before Harry appeared at the top of stairs ashen face.
"She…she asked if it would be ok to have children right after Hogwarts…" Remus raised both of his eyebrows in surprise.
"Christ"
"I know I jumped ship before she could start suggesting baby names" Harry pulled on his trust Docs and a green bomber jacket then headed towards the fireplace, Remus followed him.
"What did you say to her?" Harry picked up some floo powder and grabbed the handle of his trunk, which he had left next to the fireplace the night before; he stared at the fireplace for a moment.
"'Right, okay, bye' I left immediately after, I didn't look back" Harry smiled sheepishly; Remus sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"Did she text you?"
"Oh yes"
"When?" Harry stepped into the fireplace, the trunk at his side and turned to look at his uncle.
"About 5 minutes after I left, and then for the next day and a bit, every half hour before I replied with a very vague excuse which probably didn't help the situation….Platform 9 ¾!" Remus watched as Harry disappeared into green flame.
"Yes, vague replies usually don't help," Remus said to a now empty fireplace.
XxxxxxxxX
"You do realise she will probably confront you on the train," Remus said weaving in and out of parents and their children, following his nephew down the platform. Harry looked over his shoulder and grinned.
"That's why I will be sitting in a different compartment this time, further to the front" Remus nodded understanding his logic.
"What about Seamus, Dean, Neville and Ron?" He asked; they were good friends in and out of Hogwarts ever since first year.
"I sent Seamus an owl yesterday telling him my situation, his reply was simple and understanding" they had passed the entrance to the carriage Harry normally got on.
"Which was?" Remus smiled, he knew the Irish boy well, and a certain charm that had gotten him punched many times by many girls and women.
"'Fuck that, good call'" Remus laughed. They stopped two carriages away from the driver; Harry placed his trunk on the carriage entrance and turned to his uncle.
"You realise that this is Slytherin territory now?" Remus asked looking up and down the platform, spotting a few parents who he knew were Death Eaters. Harry shrugged.
"I can take care of myself; we both know that they," He gestured around them, "know that" Remus smiled and pulled him into a hug.
"I know that still be careful I don't want you ending up in Poppy's care within the first week like 3rd year" Harry pulled back and made a face.
"That wasn't my fault, wrong place at the wrong time"
"You ended up with 3 broken ribs and a broken nose," Remus said scowling.
"An accident"
"They aimed for you"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes I saw the memory from one of the culprits"
"Minor banter amongst peers, I got 3 of the 6 of them if you remember, the last one without a wand and he was a 7th year"
"…it was a good right hook…" Harry smiled before smacking Remus on the back, he winced, the boy was strong.
"There you go, nothing to it, right better go, see you at Christmas, keep me updated on all thing nefarious in the world, and tell Sirius to get out more as he was very pasty when I saw him yesterday, I just wanted to polite and not tell him" Remus laughed. He gave Harry one last one armed hug before he jumped on board the train as it started to move. Remus waved at the train, in general, watching it leave the station.
"He'll be in trouble in no time," he said to himself
XxxxxxxxxX
Daphne Greengrass stomped out of her compartment with a huff. Malfoy decided to start acting like a Tosser in the first 5 minutes of the train this time and she had no time for it. She heard her best friend Tracey Davis swear loudly as she followed her down the carriage and into the second one.
"Jesus Christ, he's turned into more of an arsehole than last year and he was peaking the arsehole meter then" Daphne always found it amusing when her half-blood friend used muggle curses; she only used them in her presence when they were alone. She especially liked the blasphemous type. She nodded in agreement; Malfoy was part of Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad last year and even though he wasn't as bad with Slytherins, his parading around was funny for the first 30 seconds before everyone who wasn't in his group wanted to murder him.
"Hopefully he will tone it down since its NEWTS next year" Daphne commented as she stopped to see if there was any room in another compartment before moving on.
"Doubtful" she heard Tracey mumble. They stopped at the next compartment, it was empty bare a single person who was asleep.
"Hey look, its Potter," Tracey said surprised, Daphne was also quite surprised, no Gryffindor had ventured down her alone unless they were in a relationship…and they were both part of respectful Pureblood families.
"Shall we go in?" Her friend asked, Daphne was unsure; she looked up and down the carriage before sighing and opening the compartment.
"It's the best we can find,, " Daphne said in defeat, she put her Trunk above her and sat opposite the boy. Tracey sat next to her after doing the same; they both just looked at the Gryffindor Golden Boy for a few seconds.
"Has he grown again?" Tracey whispered Daphne tilted her head; he had, not by much since he was already quite tall, she guessed he would probably hit 6"1 when he stopped eventually. He, of course, towered both of them now anyway. She heard Tracey giggle and looked at her in confusion.
"He's pretty hot" Daphne rolled her eyes at her statement, as soon as Tracey become interested in boys she became very interested in "sizing up what's to offer" as she had put it.
"Tracey, he's Potter"
"So, I've talked to Megan and she said you should see what's under the clothes" Megan Jones was a Gryffindor half-blood that lived near Tracey, she had slept with Harry Potter a couple of times. Daphne had heard about all of those times from Tracey.
"No thanks, I'd rather not thank you," she said crossing her arms. Tracey laughed before opening a book and the compartment went quiet.
XxxxxxxxxX
"Has the trolley-lady gone past yet?" Daphne jumped, she looked up from the novel she was reading, Potter was awake and staring at her.
"Yep, about 3 minutes ago, " Tracey said next to her. He turned to her friend for a couple of seconds before springing to his feet.
"Shit" he ran out of the compartment, Daphne gazed out the doorway then at the spot where he sat.
"Well that was interesting; you don't suppose we should have woke him when she came to us?" Tracey said Daphne shook her head.
"It's his own fault for not being awake when she arrived" Daphne frowned then went back to her novel, for all of 2 minutes before Potter arrived back into the compartment with a handful of sweets. He fell back into his seat and opened the Pumpkin Pasty.
"So what brings the royalty of Gryffindor down our end of the train?" Tracey asked amused. Daphne put on a blank face. Potter raised a finger before swallowing and grinning at them. A mischievous grin promised humour would follow.
"Girl problems" he chuckled before taking another bite of the pasty, Tracey looked at Daphne with a surprised look. 'Girl problems?' she mouthed, Daphne just shrugged.
"I broke up with Sally Ann-Perks a week ago quite abruptly; she would be sitting with her friend, Ginny Weasley, who is dating my mate Dean Thomas, who would be sitting in my normal compartment," he explained. He wiped his mouth on the napkin it came with and leant back in his seat smiling at them.
"Why abruptly?" Daphne asked she wondered if it was because he was sleeping with someone else.
"She said the 'C' word for the not so distant future" Tracey blanched at that, but Daphne did not understand, she looked at her friend curiously.
"She wants children soon," her friend explained, Daphne cringed.
"Good call Potter," Tracey said nodding; he laughed and turned to looking out of the window.
"Why come to the Slytherin part of the train?" Tracey asked.
"I knew she would start looking when I didn't turn up, so even if she knew I was here, she wouldn't want to enter the evil side of the train," he said smirking and looking at her from the corner of his eyes. Tracey snorted. They lapsed into silence again that lasted a while.
"I've heard a few things about you Potter" He turned and raised an eyebrow at her friend.
"What would those things be Davis?"
"My friend, Megan Jones, lives on the same street as me, we are quite close" He looked surprised before his face settled into a boyish grin.
"Good things I hope?"
"Oh yes"
"Good, well I can tell you now that Megan and I are good friends-"
"Very good friends from what I've been told"
"Yep" The compartment went quiet again and Potter fell back asleep.
Until Draco Malfoy showed up two hours later.
"Well look who it is," He said barging into the compartment, Potter somehow was still asleep and Malfoy had not noticed him yet.
"Miss Wand-up-her-Ass and the Half-Blood Whore" Draco sneered at them, his bodyguards grunted behind him.
"Piss off Malfoy," Tracey said scowling at him, she especially got angry whenever he spoke to her, it was never anything nice.
"Yes listen to Tracey for once and get lost"
He didn't listen and turned to Tracey, his face twisted into a malicious smile.
"I heard your filthy muggle primary school was set alight last week" Tracey stared at Malfoy in shock.
"How do you know?" she asked, Daphne, closed her eyes, she knew what was coming.
"The Dark Lord paid it a visit" He laughed, Tracey recoiled, two teachers had died in that blaze.
"Great, now piss off, " Daphne said pulling her wand out, Draco smirked.
"Oo, what are you going to do with that Greengrass? Tickle me?" He laughed stepping closer and pulling his own wand out.
"It's about time someone puts you in your place, no more back chatting to your superiors, especially those who hang around with whores like Davis here" Daphne and Tracey prepared themselves for what was about to happen.
However, that thought was mute as Malfoy and his cronies were thrown out of the compartment, slamming into the opposite wall, the door slammed shut. Daphne turned to look at Potter whose face was blank and whose wand was held casually on his lap facing the door. Malfoy tried to pry open the door, he was swearing loudly at Potter. The blind on the door dropped and they heard Draco stomp off. Turning to gaze at him with shock on their faces, Potter grunted.
"Dick"
Tracey was the first to snap out of the emotion and started laughing uncontrollably; Potter flicked his wrist, his wand vanishing up his sleeve and likely into a holster. He smirked at Tracey's reaction.
"Did…did you see his face?!" she snorted, Daphne hid her grin. Suddenly there was the announcement that they would be arriving at Hogsmeade station very soon. Both girls pulled there Hogwarts uniform out of their trunks and then looked at Potter.
"What?" he said innocently. Daphne rolled her eyes.
"Get out," she said, he sank deeper into his seater with a content look on his face.
"And pray tell why should I do that?" Daphne scowled
"You look cute when you scowl Greengrass" Daphne felt herself go pink, Tracey sniggered.
"Get. Out. Now" Daphne pointed at the door. He raised his hands in defence and slipped out of the door. They were midway through putting their uniform on when Potter poked his head in.
"Done yet?" his eyes lingered on her on eyes, she felt herself go even redder, and Tracey chuckled.
"Not yet darling," she said in a saucy voice that Daphne recognised as her best friend's flirtatious side. Harry's eyes flicked from Daphne's eyes to Tracey, he looked her up and down.
"Need any help?"
"Well actually-" Daphne slapped her friend's shoulder
"Tracey! Sod off Potter!" They both laughed at her and he disappeared once more.
"Only having a laugh Daph, don't get your knickers in a twist" she huffed as she put her tie on. A couple of minutes later they were both in there uniform so Tracey knocked on the door letting him back in. He grinned and got his uniform out from his Trunk. Daphne got up and headed for the door, as she stepped through she turned expecting her friend to follow her, but Tracey was still sat, she was watching Potter take his clothes off. He did not look remotely bothered that she was watching him.
"Tracey…" She said in an angry whisper. No reply, she glanced at Potter, who was topless. She caught herself staring; he was now unbuckling his belt. Tracey sighed, snapping herself out of her stupor. She grabbed her friend's robes and yanked her out of the compartment, slamming the door after her. She heard a boyish laugh come from the compartment.
"God, why did you do that, he clearly wasn't bothered?"
"We aren't perverts!"
"Well, you might not be…" Tracey grinned; Daphne gave her a disdainful look.