In case you didn't catch my 'housekeeping' at the end of year 3, here's an important message for the rest of the series.
From here on out, the Harry and John series will be split into two versions. One will be a Ron/Hermione endgame version, and another will be a John/Hermione version, just because I found the idea intriguing after one of my readers suggested it.
We often see Hermione paired off with people outside Ron who just don't make sense, like Draco Malfoy, other Weasleys, Sirius and Remus, and weirdest of all, Voldemort himself...
It was made apparent to me that John's character could actually work with her. I initially envisioned John's relationship with Hermione to be best friends, as with Harry and Hermione, but different. Sort of a more outright brother/sister relationship, but in all honesty, that reader was right. Given the right circumstances, John would probably fall for Hermione, and fall hard.
I will make a point of making those circumstances very apparent, and distinct from the Ron/Hermione version. And for the John/Hermione version, don't worry. Ron will not be neglected/thrown under the bus. He's my favourite character for a reason.
The two versions will be posted simultaneously, and don't worry, they won't be too drastically different in too many ways, which means the rate at which I upload them really shouldn't be adversely affected. They will be distinct from each other though.
I fully intend on making both versions fully believable, as neither will work quite like canon.
The Ron/Hermione version will be titled "Harry and John Potter year (insert year) v1" and the John/Hermione version will have identical titles, with a "v2" in place of the "v1".
This is v1.
Also, I absolutely prefer the film's way of presenting Harry's dream. It felt so much more threatening, and made Voldemort feel that much more ruthless. I don't think he'd be the type to waste his time talking to an ultimately inconsequential muggle like Frank Bryce.
The old Riddle house in Hangleton was absolutely not a place where any decent person would like to find themselves. The multiple murder in itself was bad enough, but the house looked like a real life depiction of a true haunted house.
But the elderly Frank Bryce, the gardener for the deceased Riddle family, still tended to the gardens, and in spite of the house itself being decrepit and foreboding, and Frank's bad leg (the carried effects of his wartime injuries). That being said, he never entered the house. Perhaps out of a respect for his old employers?
One night however, changed that record. Flickering lights could be seen on the top floor, and hushed whispers of the still awake residents of the old village were exchanging hushed, panicked whispers.
Frank though, suspected a more benign explanation than the rest of the village. He expected there to be a bunch of kids breaking in and messing around in there.
Grumbling to himself, he grabbed his cane and angrily strode towards the old house.
Upon reaching the source of the light, he began to hear hushed voices.
"Master, I was only suggesting... perhaps... if we were to do it... without the boy?" came a weak, shaky voice. It belonged to a short man with colourless hair and a missing finger.
"No! The boy is everything! It cannot be done without him! And it will be done!" replied another voice. This one was cold, high pitched, harsh and yet somehow... weak sounding. Something about that voice though... it simply commanded compliance, respect and fear.
"I will not disappoint you my lord." came the final voice. The man had straw-coloured hair, some freckles and a heavily lined face. He spoke with much more confidence than the first man.
Frank gave a silent jump when he saw something moving on the floor. He looked more closely to see an enormous green snake, at least twelve feet long, as thick as a man's thigh, and yet for whatever reason, it didn't react to his presence. It simply slithered towards the chair which likely contained the owner of the cold, and terrifying voice.
He then heard something he would never understand. Some form of hissing, but it seemed controlled... almost communicative.
"Nagini tells me that the old muggle caretaker is standing just outside the door." came the high-pitched voice.
The short, subservient man headed to the doorway and saw Frank immediately. Frank raised his arms in surrender.
"Stand aside Wormtail. I must give our guest a proper greeting. Avada Kerdavra!"
Frank Bryce fell to the floor in a heap, dead before he had stopped falling.
Approximately two hundred miles away, the boy involved in the discussions awoke with a start, feeling the scar on his forehead burning painfully.
Harry sat bolt upright immediately. He was dizzy, confused, and his scar burned hotly, and he immediately put his hand over it, in a futile attempt to deal with the pain.
It took him ten seconds to realize that he wasn't in the abandoned Riddle mansion. He wasn't watching Lord Voldemort murder an elderly man. He was in his own bed. He was sat in a comfortable room in a London house, surrounded by all of his school things, a few new posters and some random belongings he'd acquired over the last month or so of living with his and John's godfathers, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.
Did that dream actually mean something? The last time his scar had hurt like this, he was face to face with Voldemort himself. He sluggishly rolled out of bed and walked across the room to open his wardrobe for a look in the mirror. He saw the familiar form of the skinny, short fourteen year old boy that he was. His bright green eyes looked as confused as he actually was. His scar looked normal, but it was definitely stinging.
He could remember the dark room, the massive snake on the hearth rug, Peter Pettigrew, also known as Wormtail... but how? He was supposed to be in Azkaban. Harry looked out of the window to see that it was still dark out. It was likely about three in the morning. He would ask Sirius about it when everyone else was awake.
Sirius had been given his full pardon from the ministry of Magic, and had reclaimed his former job at the department of Magical Law enforcement. A very ironic turn of events given his stint in Azkaban.
Remus meanwhile, was still job hunting. As expected, given his lycanthropy, it was proving particularly difficult. However, for the first time in his adult life, it didn't mean that his living conditions had to suffer. Even the morning after his last transformation (though the wolfsbane potion helped), he looked to be in a great mood.
Delilah was driven to tears of happiness to see her beloved former teacher in such good spirits. She had settled into life away from the Dursleys as well as Harry himself had. It was particularly interesting given the fact that the year before, she would have dearly wanted to reconcile her abilities as a witch with Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley, her biological family. But now, she simply felt... free.
Surprisingly, the least visibly affected out of the three youngsters in the house was John. He simply took it all in his stride and lived his life as he usually would. The only difference was that Sirius and Remus didn't feel that keeping a tight leash on John was a good idea. Harry agreed - the tighter the noose, the more likely John would be to stick his middle finger in the face of the authority figure in question.
But all in all, John was the same as ever. Harry was absolutely shocked however, to see that he completely ignored every attractive girl their age they would see when out in London. Clearly his girlfriend, Katie Bell meant a great deal to him.
Harry made a mental note to himself to bring up his dream over breakfast. Sirius' access to ministry resources, particularly information and previous experience with dark magic in the first wizarding war would prove invaluable, as would Remus' vast knowledge of the realm of the dark arts.
The dark arts were after all, the source of his scar.
Harry rubbed his eyes and thought back to the dream again. Voldemort, Wormtail and the other man had been plotting something. Whatever it was, it referred to 'the boy', which was almost undoubtedly him. But what were they planning?
Harry tried to distract himself by looking out onto the street. Wilton Mews was the very picture of an upper class central London locale. Harry was delighted to hear that Sirius chose a muggle London house, and didn't regret feeling that delight. There was so much life in the city. But every time Harry would look at another part of the surrounding area, the dream would re-enter his mind.
His scar was hurting. Was Voldemort nearby? He half-expected to hear the swish of a cloak and footsteps outside his room, but shook those thoughts out of his head. Voldemort in Wilton Mews... that was absurd.
Get a grip Harry told himself. Voldemort isn't coming anywhere near here. Just talk to Sirius about it in the morning. Don't make a big deal of it. Can't have the Quidditch world cup trip turned into a bunch of worried inquiries about the damn scar.
Harry forced himself to calm down and climbed back into his bed. He managed to sleep calmly for the rest of the night.
Harry woke up again at eight in the morning, slightly later than usual, and after brushing his teeth, walked into the kitchen, where Sirius and Remus were teaching John and Delilah (with limited success) a recipe for pancakes which Remus had come up with.
"I put in too much sugar, didn't I? Hey Harry." said John.
"Good morning. The pancakes will be ready soon." said Remus, pleasantly.
"Morning everyone. Mind if I join?" Harry asked.
"Go ahead. Crack some eggs into that bowl." said Sirius, pointing towards an empty glass bowl.
Harry got to work on cracking the eggs, and decided to deliberately wait before bringing up his scar.
"So something weird happened this morning." said Harry.
"Oh?" Remus asked.
"Yeah... my scar hurt, and it woke me up at about three in the morning. Do curse scars always hurt years after you get them?" Harry asked.
Remus furrowed his eyebrows.
"They shouldn't do. Not unless it was a curse designed to debilitate you, but Voldemort was trying to kill you that night. I don't know Harry... this isn't a good sign." said Remus.
Sirius was staying quiet for a moment. Only when John and Delilah looked to him did he respond.
"I can't say I have any specific knowledge here. The only people who'd know would likely be unspeakables..." Sirius mused.
"They'd be what?" Delilah asked, curiously.
"Unspeakables. They're the ministry's workers at the department of mysteries. Their work is absolutely top-secret. They're legally bound to never talk about their work." Sirius explained.
"So... basically we have no way of knowing what's going on?" John asked.
"Not necessarily. I'll ask around at work tomorrow and see what I find." said Sirius.
"I'll write to some contacts who have strong understandings of curses." said Remus.
"Is there anything else you can tell us?" Sirius asked.
Harry hesitated for a moment. He was reluctant to mention the dream and make it appear as if he was losing his nerve.
"Well... it only started hurting after I had this... dream." said Harry.
The other four stared at him, silently urging him to continue.
"Well in this drea, there was this house. Voldemort was there. but I didn't see him. I just heard him. Weirder still was that Pettigrew was there too. And some other guy, probably a follower of his. They were saying that 'it cannot be done without the boy'. I've had enough experiences with Voldemort to know that he's talking about me." said Harry.
"Wormtail? How?" John asked.
Sirius froze for a moment. He looked at the table, where an owl had delivered his copy of the daily prophet in a parcel. He didn't hesitate to stride over to the table and rip the parcel open. Upon reading the front page headline, his eyes widened.
"WHAT?" He roared.
There was no mystery behind Sirius' reaction upon reading the headline.
PETER PETTIGREW ESCAPES FROM AZKABAN
The article went on to explain how Pettigrew's animagus powers were taken into account, and that his escape had the markings of assistance from someone inside the ministry itself, likely someone within the department of magical law enforcement. It also looked as if Pettigrew had escaped at least a week earlier, and that his cell had been inhabited with nothing but a regular brown rat the entire time.
"Brilliant... So the ministry's as incompetent as Fudge himself." Delilah remarked.
"Organizations are only as strong as their weakest link. Have to say though, I wish that the one in question wasn't a bloody governmental organization." Sirius grumbled.
"We should re-focus on the matter at hand though. Harry, what else did you see in the dream?" Remus asked.
"Well the guy who wasn't Voldemort or Pettigrew looked like he was going to be the one who was supposed to get to me and do whatever it was that Voldemort's planning. Thing is though, I didn't recognize his voice, and I couldn't see him." said Harry.
Remus inwardly cursed. Overall, they knew very little about whatever was going on.
"If this dream is anything to go by... well I have to say, don't stray out of the sight of people you know and trust. We don't know who this man is, where he is, or what he has access to." said Sirius, very seriously.
"I don't want to worry the Weasleys about this... is going to the Quidditch world cup still on?" Harry asked, anxiously.
"Absolutely. I know we can trust them." said Remus.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's only fair that you get to live your life the way you want to anyway." Sirius added.
That was absolutely true. So much of Harry's life was filled with circumstances out of his own control. Sometimes he felt like he had no agency.
Worse still was the fact that John, Hermione, Delilah and Ron felt the need to stand by him through thick and thin. He was grateful, but guilty that he put them through it all. No matter how much they insisted that they wanted to stick with Harry through anything, the guilt would always hit him.
There was no sign of Pettigrew for two weeks, nor was there any sign of Voldemort's play for Harry within that time span, and it had been all but forgotten, even though Sirius informed them that according to his colleagues, curse scars shouldn't do what Harry's was doing.
In fact, the only thing on their minds was the contents of the letter that Ron had sent the previous day.
Hey guys,
Dad got the tickets! Ireland vs. Bulgaria, Monday night. We've booked out some tents as well, and mum said she's getting our stuff from Diagon Alley while we're away. Bring your gringotts keys and give them to her before we head out. By the way, Fred and George have made a bunch of really... interesting stuff. I'll explain it all when you get here. John, I know you'll love it. Hermione arrived yesterday. I don't want to sound like a pig or anything but... she's looking good. Really good. It actually makes me a little nervous when I'm around her and it's just us two. John, please slap some sense into me when you arrive.
Anyway, hope your summer's been good. Bill and Charlie are here too, so you get to meet them finally.
See you soon,
Ron
Harry found himself discussing the section of the letter regarding Hermione with Delilah and John mere hours before the Weasleys were due to pick them up. Sirius was at work, and Remus was visiting Ted Tonks, an old friend of theirs. They'd already said their goodbyes, as they weren't likely to see them again for a long time. For some reason, Sirius told them to get dress robes, as something at Hogwarts was going to happen which would require dress robes.
"So... d'you think Ron fancies her? Or is he just caught off-guard by Hermione looking good or something?" Harry asked.
"By the sounds of things, he actually fancies her. I mean... he's getting nervous around her. It's not too difficult to figure out what that means in my eyes." said John.
"But you never got nervous around Katie." Delilah pointed out.
"Firstly, I'm not Ron. Secondly, the fact that Hermione's already such close friends with Ron probably means that he feels... I dunno, conflicted maybe about it all. Maybe even a bit guilty for looking at his friend like that." John mused.
"I know I would." Harry remarked.
"Besides, weren't you nervous around Antonio at first?" John asked.
"Well... slightly. But we can't all be unnaturally confident." Delilah replied.
"I know. That's partly why I said that I'm not Ron. He'll be reacting differently to everything to how I would." said John.
They came to a consensus that 'slapping some sense' into Ron wasn't the best course of action. They knew why Ron was asking John in particular for advice - his success with girls wasn't exactly a secret. But John decided that he would instead just play cupid, as out of character as it seemed for him.
Their discussion was interrupted by Mr. Weasley walking through the fireplace.
"Hello you three! Are you all packed?" he asked.
"Hi Mr. Weasley. Yeah, we're ready to go." said John.
"Excellent. After you." said Mr. Weasley, smiling.
Harry, Delilah and John promptly threw down floo powder and found themselves in the Wesley living room, and an assortment of red-haired people were to be found within it. Ron was sat at a table with Hermione, Fred and George, and two others who Harry, Delilah and John had never met were standing near the fireplace. They immediately knew who they were. Ron's oldest brothers, Bill and Charlie.
Charlie was built more like the twins, shorter and stockier than Bill, Percy and Ron. His arms were muscular, and when he said hello and shook hands with Harry, Harry could feel callouses, and saw a large, shiny burn on his left arm. He certainly looked like someone who worked with dragons.
They were surprised at Bill's appearance though. Having known that Bill was, like Percy, a head-boy at Hogwarts, had achieved twelve OWLS, and was overall, an academic god-send according to some of the teachers, they didn't expect what they saw. Bill had long hair tied back in a ponytail, had an earring with what looked like a fang on it, and wore boots that looked like leather, but on closer inspection, were shown to be dragonhide. In short, Bill was cool. Quite the opposite of Percy in fact.
When they greeted Ron, Hermione, Fred and George, Harry and John became acutely aware that Ron was right. Hermione was looking good.
John made a note to talk to Ron in private about it soon.
After saying hi to all of the other Weasleys, the three of them joined Ron, Hermione and Ginny in heading up to Ron's room.
"So, in your letter you were talking about something Fred and George were up to?" Harry asked.
Ginny and Ron laughed, but Hermione didn't.
"It's called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes." Hermione said without humour.
"Basically, we'd been hearing explosions coming from their room for ages, but we thought they just liked the noise. It turns out that they were inventing stuff." said Ginny.
"Some of... actually all of it is kind of dangerous, but really brilliant all the same. It's a bunch of joke stuff, like Zonko's. Mum found a list of all the stuff they have and a bunch of prices. They're planning on selling it at Hogwarts, to make a bit of money. Actually, they want to open up a joke shop when they're done with Hogwarts. Mum got furious, she wants them to get into the ministry like dad and Percy, but they don't want anything to do with it." Ron explained.
"Brilliant!" John laughed. "What sort of stuff have they made?"
"Fake wands that turn into weird stuff when you wave them, sweets that have ridiculous effects, like growing your tongue to massive sizes, stuff like that." said Ron.
"Harry, Delilah? Our bank account will be mysteriously losing money for the forseeable future." said John. The others laughed.
"So Fred and George aside, how was your summer?" Hermione asked.
"Great. Living in suburban Surrey was bloody boring, central London is incredible." John said enthusiastically.
"Isn't muggle London meant to be expensive?" Ron asked.
"Very expensive house prices, that's for sure. But Sirius inherited all of the Black family fortune. From what I gathered, the Black family were despicable, but they're richer than even the Malfoys and the Potters combined. He converted enough of it into a muggle bank account and we now have a six bedroom house in central London." Delilah explained.
Hermione did a double-take.
"Aren't they in excess of five-million pounds?" Hermione asked.
"Yep." John said, simply.
"Blimey. So you now have it pretty good then. And how are Sirius and Remus?" Ron asked.
"They're doing good. Remus is still job-hunting, but he's happy anyway. He always manages to find a way to keep himself busy. Sirius has loads of work to do almost all the time though, especially with Pettigrew escaping Azkaban whilst a Quidditch world cup is being held in Britain." Harry explained.
Before they could take the final flight of stairs upwards, Percy's head poked out from behind his door.
"Could you keep it down? Oh, hello there." said Percy upon noticing the guests.
"What's going on?" Ron asked.
"I have a report to write for work, and it's not easy with everyone thundering about the house." Percy said irritably.
"We're not thundering, we're just walking normally." Ron retorted.
"What are you working on?" Harry asked.
The look on Ron's face told Harry immediately that Ron wasn't remotely interested, but Percy's face lit up.
"A report for the Department of International Magical Cooperation. We're trying to standardize he thickness of cauldron bottoms. Some foreign imports are just too thin." Percy said.
"Revolutionary work right there." Ron quipped. The others had to refrain from laughing.
Percy blushed.
"Sneer now if you like Ron, but when you're purchasing a shoddy cauldron which begins to leak-" Percy began.
"Yeah, we get it. We'll try to keep it down." Ron interrupted, trying to avoid Percy's imminent tirade.
Percy huffed and slammed his door shut before Ron lead the others back upstairs.
Ron's room was largely the same as ever before, though now it had beanbags, courtesy of Sirius. It was a small change to Ron's orange-painted sanctuary, but a welcome one.
The six of them spent a further hour catching up, before they were all called back downstairs for dinner.
"We'll be eating dinner outside today, there simply isn't enough room for thirteen people." Mrs. Weasley said.
She was preparing a great number of dishes, and as usual, Harry found himself marvelling at how adept she was at cooking so many different things at once.
She picked up her wand to start having the dishes wash themselves, but it emitted a loud squeak and turned into a rubber mouse.
"NOT AGAIN! I TOLD YOU TWO NOT TO LEAVE THESE LYING AROUND!" Mrs. Weasley bellowed.
"One of Fred and George's Fake wands. Let's just bring the food outside." Ron said, looking warily at his livid mother.
After what must have felt like the nine millionth scolding for Fred and George, dinner was all set outside, and was generally an enjoyable affair. Eventually, the conversation turned to the upcoming Hogwarts year.
"Of course the department's very busy at the moment. After the world cup, there's another massive event to organize. The top secret one." Percy said, smugly.
"Oh, of course. In fact, this year you'll need dress robes." said Mr. Weasley.
"Dress robes? What for?" Ron asked.
"I'd rather not spoil everything. Suffice it to say that something big will be happening this year, and a particular Christmas event will mean that you will need them." Percy said cryptically.
"Christmas you say? Mind if I buy yours guys? I'd rather not think about getting you a Christmas present on Christmas eve and be forced to show up with a half eaten chocolate frog for each of you at the last minute." said John, smirking. He was referring to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Delilah, Ginny, Fred and George.
Everyone laughed, though that did sound like a good idea. John had a habit of forgetting things. He may not have been on Neville's level, but his forgetfulness wasn't to be trifled with.
"Well it would certainly beat last year's effort." Hermione quipped. John had bought her a book which Hermione had already talked about having read. Needless to say, John was not listening when Hermione was talking about said book.
"I wouldn't mind." Ron shrugged.
"You'll be at the world cup though." Mrs. Weasley pointed out.
"It's OK. I'll just leave my Gringotts key with you. You're not exactly about to rob me." said John.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's eyes widened. Clearly they weren't expecting that much trust from John, but Harry, John and Delilah all knew that the Weasleys would never dream of taking advantage of the Potters' wealth. Mrs. Weasley wouldn't spend a single knut outside buying what was on the Hogwarts list and the dress robes.
"I'll write down the costs of each set and give it to you when you get back, alright?" Mrs. Weasley asked. She was intent on not abusing John's trust.
"Yeah, that's fine. Also, I don't mind how expensive they are, as long as they're not... I dunno, more than let's say... fifty galleons a set." said John.
"Oh I doubt I'll find many sets more expensive than that." Mrs. Weasley said.
"Perfect. That's a chunk of my Christmas present list sorted." said John.
"You know... that's lazy, thoughtful and clever at the same time." Delilah quipped.
John shrugged.
Before long though, the sun began to set, and Mrs. Weasley pointed out that they had to wake up extremely early in the morning to arrive on time at the world cup.
"If you want to have some space and actually explore the venue, then you should be leaving at the crack of dawn." said Mrs. Weasley.
"Explore the venue? So it's not just a stadium?" John asked.
"Hardly! It will almost look something like a portable village!" said Mr. Weasley laughing.
That in itself was an intriguing statement, and it was on everyone's minds when they walked back towards the house.
As they headed back into the house though, Delilah nudged John and Harry, and gave a pointed look towards Ron.
"What?" John asked, confused.
Delilah rolled her eyes, before pointing with her head at Hermione.
Harry narrowed his eyes in confusion.
"Oh for goodness sake." Delilah whispered under her breath. "Talk to Ron about... the letter." she said.
"Oh! Yeah, right, we'll get on that!" said John.
"Boys..." Delilah muttered.
Harry had the courtesy to let out a sheepish grin.
Sure enough, that evening, John brought up the topic of Hermione whilst he, Harry and Ron were in Ron's room with no one else to eavesdrop.
"So Ron... about the last letter you sent. What's going on with you and Hermione? I mean when I read it, I thought you just fancied her, but at dinner I could have sworn both of you are acting... differently around each other." said John.
Ron's ears went pink immediately.
"Wait... John's right?" Harry teased.
"It's been known to happen. But seriously Ron... what's going on?" John asked.
"I... dunno actually. I mean she's looking really good and all, but isn't there some sort of rule about not fancying your friends?" Ron asked.
"Not really. Besides, we were friends with Hermione before we all started thinking with our penises or vaginas." said John, bluntly.
"Lovely image. But John's right. Why don't you just talk to her? I'm pretty sure something's going on with Hermione too." said Harry.
"I don't see it. I'd rather wait for something more... concrete if you know what I mean. Besides, wouldn't she want someone with more brains?" Ron asked.
"OK... yeah she's really clever, but if she was specifically after someone as smart as her, she'd die a virgin." John replied.
Harry and Ron laughed.
"What do you mean by concrete though?" Harry asked.
"I dunno... just more of a sign than whatever you two have somehow spotted." said Ron.
John rolled his eyes.
"You didn't notice when she was playing with her hair whilst talking to you? I mean fine, you two weren't outright flirting, but come on... that's classic flirting behaviour!" said John.
"Girls are always playing with their hair." Ron said dismissively.
"Not during conversations." John pointed out.
Ron looked to Harry.
"I can't actually say. John's the Cassanova here." said Harry.
"John's the what?" Ron asked.
"This muggle who was famous because he had loads of success with women." said Harry.
"But I can't take your word for it just like that can I? I mean... let's say I started something up with Hermione. That'd be pretty different from what you've done with most girls outside of Katie." said Ron.
"Well that's true. But I doubt Hermione would want something like what I've done either." said John.
"I reckon you should just wait a bit, but not too long. You do need to talk to her." said Harry.
"Err... alright, if you say so." said Ron.