Yay, it finally here, the sequel/ counter POV to when snakes fall do Lions stand aside
To any old readers welcome back and to any new ones just plain welcome. and I Hope you all enjoy this story.
Honestly this had been a bit of a sod to write in places but it's finally finished- starts sobbing in relief- and ready to be posted. as I said the story Is complete and I will post chapters as they are edited.
which brings me on to a posting schedule.
You know when I called the other fics in this Au Monsters? well it turns out I'm a Lying Liar who Lies. Those fics were mere minnows compared to this thing, honestly I don't want to tell you the word count in case you run away screaming. (^^)
Suffice it to say the posting schedule is likely to be every other day since the chapters are pretty big.
If you want to know the time line for this Au it's at the start of when Snakes fall do Lions stand aside. Its useful to know, but honestly I don't think any one will be to lost if they don't want to read it.
now that, that's all sorted lets get on with the fic. Enjoy
Tuesday 13th December
Harmony Potter was lounging in a squishy chair, in front of the fire in her parents chambers. Her legs were casually swung over the arm of the chair, while she repeatedly threw a plushie snitch in the air (She didn't know where it had come from, but she had a sneaking suspicion that it belonged to Padfoot); and she was doing what teenagers do best.
Complaining.
Her dad was no where in sight. He was Probably off doing something juvenile with Padfoot. She was sure of it.
Her mum on the other hand, was grading essays at her desk in the corner, and as far as Harmony could tell; only listening to her with half an ear.
"I just don't know what to do mum. Me and Hermione went to Gladrags the other day, and there's absolutely nothing there. At least nothing that would've fitted and looked good anyway. I mean I'm not massively bothered about what I wear; I'm not Pansy Parkinson after all, but I'll be damned if I wear something that's so froufrou and pink that I look like those things aunt Petunia puts over her toilet rolls".
(Harmony had only been to her aunts house once in her life, aged all of eight, but the experience was so horrifying she didn't think she'd ever forget it. Everything was just so twee and pink!)
Harmony felt an involuntary shudder race through her and she stopped throwing the toy.
She honestly wasn't sure which memory was more horrid; her aunts house in Surrey or that monstrosity of a dress.
The Gladrags gown danced it's way to the fore front of her mind and she screwed her face up in disgust, the gown was definitely worse; she didn't care if it was the only thing that would've fitted her, she wouldn't have been seen dead in the thing.
She'd looked through all the racks in the shop for anything that would fit her and had come up empty, in the end she'd given in and asked the sales witch if they had anything in her rather petite sizing.
With a snide look from the rather uppity woman, she'd been handed a mound of pink tulle, that was claiming to be a dress and told that that was all they had for someone of her.. Ahem.. underdeveloped stature.
With a bitchy smile the witch had wandered off, leaving her and Hermione gawking at the woman's audacity.
Harmony didn't know what exactly had got up the sale witches nose, but the woman had looked at her and Hermione like a pair of flea ridden cats long before Harmony had asked for assistance.
She'd looked at them like it, as soon as they'd entered the shop, infact.
Although Harmony will readily admit that she'd probably not helped matters by deliberately running her hands over every gown she could reach just to see the horrid woman twitch, it had all been rather fun in it's own way.
Of course when she'd started her little game she hadn't counted on the fact that she might need the woman's assistance at some stage.
Harmony was half convinced that the sales witch had deliberately handed her the awful dress just to be a cow.
As the woman had walked a way and left them to it, Harmony hadn't made any attempt what so ever to try the dress on; it was just too hideous to even contemplate wearing it.
If the woman's uncalled for attitude wasn't astonishing enough, when Harmony had attempted to put the monstrosity of a gown back on the sales rack, some apparently desperate girl had come over and snatched it from her hand before running off to the counter to purchase it.
She hadn't even looked at the tag to check the size.
She and Hermione had gawked after the girl, watching as she'd quickly paid and then fled the shop; as if Harmony might chase her down for the disgusting thing.
"I mean seriously, you should have seen the thing mum. It looked like it could have danced on it's own, the skirt was so big and it had these massive ruffled sleeve that would have made me look like I was growing feathers. I'd rather go to the ball naked, than wear something like that".
Lily answered her daughter distractedly, not even looking up from her grading. Her bright purple fountain pen scritching over the various essays she had in front of her.
"Well that would certainly gain the boys attention, though I wouldn't count on your father surviving the night if you do... or Severus for that matter".
Harmony could hear the Humour in her mums voice, and she got the sudden urge to throw the stuffed toy she was twiddling with at her mums head.
Her mum might be finding her inability to find a dress that didn't look like an engorged flamingo entertaining, but Harmony certainly wasn't; this was serious!.
"muuum, I'm serious what do I do?, there isn't another Hogsmead weekend before the day of the ball and that'll be too late for me to buy a dress and get it fitted".
Lily finally looked up from her work and gave her daughter a smug look.
"I told you while we were buying your school things that we needed to get you a gown for the ball. But you were quite adamant that you wouldn't need one, in fact I can remember exactly what you said when I made the suggestion; what do I need a bloody dress for mum! it's not like I'll be going to the blasted thing".
Harmony scowled at her mum, looking every inch the petulant teenager.
she hadn't appreciated the imitation her mother had just done of her, or that she'd pointed out that she'd had the opportunity to get a gown and wasted it
"yeah well, as a champion I've got no bloody fucking choice anymore have I?".
"Language Harmony!", Came Lily's admonishment, she knew James and Sirius would be a bad influence on her daughter.
Letting out a soft humph, Harmony threw the snitch across the room where it landed on the carpet with a soft thump before she crossed her arms over her chest; feeling rather put out by her mums logic.
Lily remembered this expression well from when she'd been a little girl, it was usually used on James or Sirius when Lily had put Harmony in time out; and Harmony had decided that time outs were stupid and that she wanted her toys or when she got a little older her training broom back.
Too Lily's consternation the look worked on James and Sirius every damn time.
Lily raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her daughters petulant display.
She could be so like her father at times, that Lily sometimes despaired. Unlike her husband and his best friend though, Lily refused to be swayed by her pouting daughter.
Most of the time Harmony knew she would't get anywhere by acting like a brat, sometimes though; like now, she needed reminding.
"and who's fault is it exactly; that you're in the tournament in the first place?".
"The twins", Harmony answered immediately, a butter wouldn't melt smile slapping it's self on her face.
"Try again young lady. They may have dared you to enter, but no one held a gun to your head and made you do it; you could have said No. Even if it did mean you'd loose face with that pair of trouble makers, the mess you're in at the moment is your fault entirely".
Harmony groaned. "Thanks mum, you really know how to cheer someone up".
She was already wallowing in misery over her lack of dress; her mother pointing out the fact that needing to go to the bloody ball in the first place was her own damn fault, wasn't helping her mood any.
Deciding that she didn't want to face her mums admonishment over something that was already making her feel rather miserable, one way or another; she pulled out the pillow that was tucked behind her back and attempted to smother herself with it.
If I hold it here long enough, maybe I'll suffocate and I won't need to go the ball at all.
A rather annoying voice that sounded suspiciously like her inner girl pointed out that if she didn't go to the ball she definitely wouldn't get her chance with Severus, Harmony decided to ignore the voice for the time being.
From behind her pillowy face mask, Harmony could hear the soft pad of socked feet walking over the stone floor, before the pillow was gently lifted of her face.
A waft of jasmine reached her nose; and Harmony found her self looking up in to the fondly twinkling eyes of her mum.
Harmony wasn't sure if it was wishful thinking or not, but she was sure her mum looked a little more sympathetic to her plight than she had a moment ago.
"Look what's done is done and I won't bring it up again; but it's no use wallowing Harmony. You're a Gryffindor; we thrive on action, not sitting around twiddling our thumbs waiting for a solution to show up".
Harmony felt like rolling her eyes at her mother but refrained; she knew it wouldn't gain her any points, certainly not after the attitude she already displayed to her mum that night.
"That's all very well and good mum, but what else can I do exactly?. I'm a fifteen year old witch stuck in a boarding school in the middle of Scotland. The only dress shop in miles, which as I said I've already looked in and found nothing, is situated in a village that I'm forbidden from entering until the next authorised weekend. Which is on the day of the ball!. What am I supposed to do? sneak out in the middle of the night and raid the place, and hope they might have something in the back?. I'm pretty sure Sirius might end up being called. I can just imagine the papers now, Hogwarts champion arrested for crimes against fashion!"
Releasing another groan at this thought, Harmony pulled the pillow out of her mums hands, quite determined to give smothering herself another chance.
Lily smiled at her daughters dramatics, and gently pulled the pillow away from her daughter face again.
A pair of sulky, vibrant green eyes stared back at her.
"Or instead of becoming a felon in the name of fashion, you could just ask your mum to take you shopping after lessons end tomorrow".
The sulky look left Harmony eyes instantly and she lit up like a Christmas tree, before throwing her arms around her mum and hugging her tightly in gratitude.
Lily returned the gesture happily, she could never get enough hugs off her daughter and she received far fewer than she once did now that she was a teenager.
"Thank you soo much mum, You really don't know how thankful I am for this you know".
The thank you was muffled, because her daughters face was smushed just below her shoulder, but Lily heard it well enough.
The feeling of relief was short lived however and Harmony pulled away from her mum as a nagging thought entered her head.
"Are you sure you can take me off the grounds in the middle of the week though?. I don't want you getting in to trouble, not over something as stupid as a dress. No matter how much I need it".
Lily held her daughters face in her hands and gave her another fond look, Harmony might act petulant and pouty sometimes, but when it came down to it; her daughter always put everyone elses welfare before her own needs.
"Honey, I'd like to see anyone tell me I can't take my own daughter shopping, besides Minerva will approve".
Lily suddenly got a mischievous sparkle in her eyes.
"She wouldn't want her champion turning up starkers in front the others schools, it might give the wrong impression after all".
Harmony let out an indignant squawk.
She grabbed the pillow that had fallen on the floor when she'd hugged Lily and thwacked her mum squarely over the head with it for the comment.
Lily looked taken aback for a moment, before a smile graced her lips, never one to be out done she quickly grabbed another pillow and thwacked her daughter back.
It was this sight that James walked in on some Twenty minutes later.
The room was covered in feathers from where one of the pillows had burst in impact and Harmony and Lily were giggling and Laughing wildly; as they continued to bash each other with various throw pillows and somthing that looked suspiciously like a dog shaped draft excluder.
Where that had come from James had no idea.
"Oi, what's all this?, leaving your old man out of a full blown pillow fight, it's a disgrace!. I'll have you know I'm a champion pillow fighter".
Harmony glanced over at the doorway where her dad now stood.
Still giggling, she set down the pillow she'd been using moments before and started to brush feathers off her baggy green shirt.
"Hi dad, it wasn't planned I promise. Next time I'll remember to inform you well in advance of any pillow fights".
James sniffed slightly putting on a mock aristocratic air of indignation, "See that you do", before letting out a big grin and beckoning Harmony over for a hug.
Harmony stopped trying to brush feathers from her shirt and went willingly, with in seconds she was engulfed in her dads strong arms, and she was surrounded by the warm comforting smell of lime and musk.
She felt herself relax in to the hug instantly.
She may have been fifteen, but that didn't mean she loved her dads hugs any less, and while she might not ask for hugs off either of her parents like she once had; that didn't mean she was going to turn one down when it was freely offered.
"What are you doing in here any way fawn?, you're not normally down here on a school night, is something wrong".
Harmony could hear the instant that her dads voice went from warm and welcoming to tense and worried and held back a sigh, her dad was so very overprotective sometimes.
While she appreciated it in the abstract, actually living with it was becoming a little suffocating as she got older.
She didn't say this to him of course, she never wanted to disappoint her dad if she could help it and she had no desire to see the look on his face if she actually came out and voiced her thoughts.
"No, no, nothing wrong, just a small issue about the ball, mums sorted it now".
A small wooden white owl came out of the clock over the fire, and started to hoot the time.
It was nine o'clock; Harmony made a face.
"I better go, Hermione wanted to go over our potions notes before bed tonight, Professor Penwood said we'd have an exam in the morning and Hermione's worried about it for some reason. No idea why of course, I think she just likes to turn my brain in to goo every few days".
Harmony gave both her mum and her dad a quick kiss on their cheeks before she said goodnight.
Leaving behind her parents cosey quarters she started to head for Gryffindor tower.
I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, of my new story if you feel inclined please leave a review, I would like to know if this is any good (^^)
The next chapter should be up before sunday and that chapter is all Sev And Harmony
if you see any mistakes let me know.