TWO
Making his way from Msaw Ætare up to Diagon alley took Harry nearly the whole stretch of knockturn, and was about a ten-minute walk. Harry was almost at the corner, when suddenly a huge person stepped out of Mr. Mulpepper's Apothecary in front of him. With no time to stop, Harry ran straight into Hagrid, who dropped the large can of slug repellent.
'Sorry sir.' Said Harry, picking up the can and handing to Hagrid.
'Watch where you're goin' then.' Hagrid said, and Harry nearly fell over again in shock. Hagrid, his big smiley friendly giant sounded as gruff and scary as his outer appearance suggested.
'Wh-what?'
'Move along then.' Hagrid said, pushing Harry slightly away from Diagon alley, the direction Hagrid set off in.
Harry stood in the middle of the street gaping for a good few minutes before he could process what had just happened. It shouldn't have been such a huge surprise really. Harry had seen the other side of all his light friends last year when he was sorted into Slytherin. In fact, the only person who hadn't judged Harry on it was Hermione, who disliked him because he was beating her in class, nothing to do with what house he was in. He was in his Harris Noir persona (having absolutely no intention of being dragged into the paper by Lockheart because he was Harry Potter), and was practically oozing dark magic. Of course it was because Harry was consciously projecting an aura, not because he had been practicing the dark arts, but to Hagrid, he was simply another dark wizard. After a moment he finally managed to collect himself, and started on his way again. He hadn't taken more than three steps when Lucius Malfoy stepped out in front of him from Borgin and Burkes, with Draco en tow. Harry hid an amused smirk as he stepped behind them to follow along.
'She's a menace father!'
'So you've mentioned.' Draco didn't seem to recognize his father's snub.
'She always has her mudblood hand waving around as if we couldn't-'
'Draco! What have I said about censoring your language.'
'Sorry father.' There was a pause in which Lucius slowed to nod at someone and Draco stopped to eye a cursed knife in the window of the necromancy shop Moribund's. 'I thought you said you were going to buy me a present.'
'I said I would buy you a racing broom.' Said Lucius.
'There's not much point. Bloody Potter's been on the team since last year. Everyone thinks he's so smart. Wonderful Potter with his scar, and his broomstick -'
'You have told me this at least a dozen times already,' said Lucius, with a quelling look at Draco. 'And I would remind you that it is not – prudent – to appear less than fond of Harry Potter.'
'I'm not!' Draco interrupted before Lucius could continue, '…not really.'
Lucius raised one highly manicured eyebrow. 'Jealous then.'
'I have no chance in making the team.' Said Draco.
'I've told you I can bu-'
'It wouldn't matter. You haven't seen him fly.' Draco interrupted again.
'Potter was always a decent enough flier I suppose.' Lucius mused.
'What? I thought he had never flown before?'
'James Potter, I mean.'
'Decent isn't a word that should be used in the same sentence as Potter… Harry that is. It doesn't even come close.' Draco sighed, 'Warrington might not want to play while his NEWT's are on. I'm okay at Chaser I guess.'
'He's really that good?' Lucius asked, actually pausing in his stride enough that Harry had to pretend to talk to a hag selling fingers so as not to catch up.
'He could play professional now and win.'
'Ah, yes. Well grades are an important part of getting a job in the ministry, and Quidditch takes up a lot of study time.'
'If that's a jab about Granger again – It's not my fault teachers have favorites!'
'I was referring to Warrington.'
Draco sulked for a long while, almost until they reached Diagon Alley. Harry stepped into The Spiny Serpent just before the corner, as he noticed Lucius had been aware of him dogging their steps.
GILDEROY LOCKHART
will be signing copies of his autobiography
MAGICAL ME
today 12:30 P.m. to 4:30 P.m.
Flourish and Blotts, Diagon Alley
Harry grimaced at the sign on the way past, but was pleased to see Mrs. Weasley and Ginny in line clutching several Hogwarts letters. After giving the Malfoys enough time to loose themselves in the crowd, Harry let his aura fade to a much weaker one before stepping into Diagon alley. In the crowds of people less of them looked oddly at a twelve year old by himself, and Harry slowly dropped the aura completely. After collecting a few last minute things from Zonko's and buying himself a late birthday present of some new Quidditch pads, he sighed to himself then headed across to brave the crowds in the book store.
Harry was immediately amused to find Mr. Weasley standing with Fred and George, but eyeing Hermione's parents excitedly. Hermione was standing with Dean and Neville, who were chatting with Ron. Harry couldn't hear them over all the noise, but was glad to see Hermione and Ron weren't jumping down each other's throats.
He was surprised how many people he recognized, now that he was looking, as there were quite a few Hogwarts students from various year groups. Harry snorted loudly to himself when he found himself checking out a girl in a gorgeous red dress only for her to start picking up first-year books for her daughter.
'Gods I'm going to be messed up by this.' He muttered to himself.
It was only a few minutes later when Lockheart started prattling on, and Harry had to forcibly drag himself away from the balcony where he'd been looking down at the signing table; the extreme urge to drop the very large Ten Thousand Runes and Translations off the edge and onto Lockheart's shiny hair became stronger and stronger by the minute. As Lockheart stood to announce he'd be teaching at Hogwarts (despite already knowing Harry felt a shiver of disgust go down his spine), Harry made his way to the front of the store, coming across Draco right as he ran into Ron.
'I see your mother is salivating over the celebrity, Weasley. I didn't realise your lot could sink any lower.'
'Shut up Malfoy!' Ah, thought Harry, Ronneverdidhavethequickestcome-backs.
'Oh, is that another Weasley?' Draco said as Ginny appeared carrying her caldron full of books. Harry started down the stairs, tucking the book on blood wards under his arm.
'At least our parents weren't so repulsed by their first child-'
'-that they didn't dare have another.' The twins said, popping up out of nowhere.
Mr. Weasley came around the corner of one isle at the same moment Mr. Malfoy stepped into the store. Harry placed himself next to a bookshelf right beside the two.
'What are you doing boys? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside.' Said Mr. Weasley, oblivious to the tension.
'Well, well, well – Arthur Weasley.' Lucius moved to stand behind Draco, a hand on each shoulder.
'Lucius.' Arthur nodded curtly.
'Busy time at the Ministry. I hear, All those raids… I hope they are paying you overtime?'
Lucius reached towards Ginny's caldron and Harry tensed… 'Obviously not.' But just before Lucius' hand got to her books the crowd around them broke into cheers. Lockheart had finished up, and with no Harry Potter to get side tracked on, he was making his way to the closest form of gossip available… an argument between two ministry employee's (any extra chance to make the news).
'Mr. Malfoy, what a pleasure!'
'Gilderoy Lockheart… my how you've changed.'
Much to Harry's delight Lockheart flushed for a moment, and behind the easy smile and laughing it off Harry could tell he was deeply uncomfortable and already regretting coming over. Harry was regretting it too, as Lucius was now showing no signs of having, or passing on a diary, and Mr. Weasley had already started herding his children out the door.
Harry watched Lucius like a hawk the whole time he was in the store, and even followed him out of it, slipping under his invisibility cloak and following the Malfoy's all the way until they met up with Narcissa and apperated out. Harry swore long and hard causing a young mother to put a hand over her toddler's ears and frown disapprovingly. Harry didn't care. Had Lucius given the diary to Ginny? Had he given it someone else? Or had he decided to keep it for now?
Walking up towards the bank Harry kicked a pebble aside with anger. Harry saw Hagrid look up from talking to Mrs. Weasley and spot him, giving Harry an angry scowl. Harry snarled back, causing Mrs. Weasley to jump in freight. Harry stormed up the stairs and into Gringotts, angry with himself, and only getting angrier because he'd just been a right prat and scared Mrs. Weasley as well for no fair reason.
Harris Noir slipped into the public bathrooms the bank had stepping into a stall and taking out his contacts, then running his hair under the taps and using a quick wandless drying charm. He pulled his fake glasses out of his pocket and concentrated for a moment pulling any last trace of the dark aura and letting his natural aura show. He stepped out of the stall and startled a little. He hadn't been in his Harry Potter form since the beginning of the holidays and he felt a bit odd in his own skin. He had grown quite a bit too. Sighing he grabbed some toilet paper, dampened it and wiped off the muggle make-up he had been using to hide his scar.
Harry Potter stepped out of the bathroom and made his way over to the tellers.
'I would like to make a withdrawal from my vault.'
Harry had a plan for his money. He only had access to his trust fund until he came of age (by which stage the Potter Vault would be emptied by his fa-… James Potter). Unfortunately for the remaining Potter's, the trust vault was set up in such a way that if he emptied it almost completely, then at the end of the financial period it would be re-filled to the original amount from the Potter vault. It only refilled once a year, however trust vaults were usually a lot smaller. Harry could only assume that his parents felt guilty for abandoning him, so made the vault much bigger assuming it was the only one he'd ever have access to. Instead, Harry had every intention of emptying it completely, minus a few knuts, every year, and moving the money into a separate vault; thus allowing the trust vault to be completely filled seven times before he was cut off. Dumbledore could probably get his hands on records of when withdrawals had been made, but not the amount. Harry had already been in to set up his alias vault, but didn't want any paper trails linking the two, so he had to withdraw all the coins manually, then would carry them to the branch in knockturn and deposit them manually. This also had the advantage of traveling in the carts twice – something Harry had come to treat as a great, long rollercoaster (much to the Goblin's amusement).
Coming out of the bank Harry subconsciously flattened his fringe over his scar. He couldn't keep his notice-me-not charm on it over the holidays as he couldn't do magic. His scar was soon pushed from his mind as a small set of hands grabbed him around the leg and pulled him sideways between Ollivanders and a bits-and-bobs store where Harry could see Percy Weasley reading Prefects Who Gained Power. He could remember Percy becoming Head of the Department of International Affairs only three years after the war ended (the youngest Head of Department ever), and couldn't help but sneer a little at Ron and the twins who was laughing at the title of Percy's book. The small hands around his leg were insistent however, and Harry looked down to see wide eyes looking up at him from between large floppy ears.
Dobby.
'I has been looking for you.' It hurt a little to see Dobby again after so much time. As much as having a small elf clinging to his leg annoyed Harry, he couldn't help but remember Dobby dying in his arms with Bellatrix's dagger sticking out of his chest. 'Mr. Harry Potter must not return to Hogwarts!'
'Hello.' Harry sighed internally, but smiled outwardly.
'Hogwarts will be in great danger!'
'Listen – what's your name?' Harry pretended.
'I is called Dobby Mr. Harry Potter Sir.'
'It's nice to meet you Dobby.'
Dobby's eyes went wide and he burst into tears. 'Harry Potter is too kind.'
'Right. You realise Dobby that if I don't return they will only come looking for me?'
'Harry Potter must not return! Harry Potter must be safe!' while Dobby was warning Harry he was wringing his hands over and over. Harry opened his mouth to continue with the pointless argument, but then stopped himself. There was very little he could do to stop Dobby from interfering, and he had been forgetting to use his Slytherin side.
'Harry ha- erm, I have to return Dobby. If I don't go through the barrier,' Harry slowed down and spoke the words slightly louder, 'then they will come and look for me.'
'Through the barrier… No, Harry Potter must not… Dobby will be sure… Dobby must keep Harry Potter safe.'
'I will be safe once I am through the barrier, and back with my friends.'
There, Harry had gotten them off topic. He had every intention of flooing to the platform, but hopefully this would put Dobby off the scent.
'Friends who don't even write to Harry Potter?'
'Eh, I don't mind if they didn't write.' Harry shrugged.
'But Harry Potter must-'
'I need to go now Dobby. I am meeting with some friends.' Harry lied. 'They will suspect if I don't show.' Then Harry wrenched his leg free and headed in to Gambol and Japes to look at the wet-start fireworks he remembered existed there. He could feel Dobby's eyes on him for a while, so hung around getting suspicious looks from the teller and Fred and George, who thought they were being subtle about following him around the shop. Eventually one of the Malfoy's must have called Dobby, so Harry slipped into a corner pulling on his invisibility cloak and changing his aura before heading back to knockturn alley. Harry was just impressed he'd gotten through the whole situation without Dobby ramming his head painfully into a wall or anything similar. He would make sure not to be seen as Harry Potter for the rest of the holidays.
September first snuck up quickly after the trip to Diagon alley. Harry went back to Diagon twice to collect a few things, but spent the majority of his time in and around Msaw, even helping out a few mornings in the kitchens. Dalvin had been skeptical, but Harry had trained as a chef in his original timeline to get away from the magical world for a while after the war, so after an hour cutting onions to perfection when a messy job should have taken half the day, Harry was allowed to move on to other things, and in no time at all was multitasking like the regular staff. At 9 am Harry had his trunk packed and had sent Hadwin on ahead. Apep was comfortably around his middle, and he had checked out and said his goodbyes. He was looking like himself again, but had his hood up and was still leaking dark magic to feed his Harris Noir aura. Harry still hated using the floo. He could remain on his feet now, after years of practice, but would never manage a graceful landing.
'Kings Cross.' Harry threw the floo powder in and stepped into the fireplace. For one horrible moment he thought he hadn't fooled Dobby, but after only a little longer than usual the spinning slowed down and Harry stumbled out onto the platform. As soon as he was through he stepped away from the fireplace's and immediately began altering his aura. He had come out near the Malfoy's (typical), and Narcissa seemed to tense a little, and gave him a curious look as his Aura switched from very dark to very light. Harry just ignored her and stepped onto the train before she could take in too many details of his appearance. He moved quickly along the train and took up an empty compartment at the far end pulling his cloak off and pulling out the book on blood wards he had found while in Flourish and Blotts.
.:I do not like the spinning flame at all:. Apep complained after a moment to settle down. Harry had used the floo twice over the holidays, once to take a parcel to Bath for Dalvin, and one international trip to go and see a Quidditch match in Ballycastle between the Bats and the Pride of Portree. Both times Apep had traveled with him, however apparently snakes weren't meant to floo, and Apep remained dizzy for quite a while after getting out.
Harry chuckled. .:I could have left you at home this year:.
.:I almost think it would have been better for you to post me:.
.:You hate flying just as much!:.
Apep tightened a little around Harry's middle, but conceded. .:Worse. Snakes were not meant to fly:.
Harry was along until almost eleven, when his breath caught and his chest tightened. Luna was standing at his door.
'Do you mind if I sit here? Most of the other empty compartments are filled with berrytropes.'
'Sure.' Harry felt his voice break a little and went red. 'I'm Harry Potter, by the way.'
'Hello Harry Potter. I'm Luna Lovegood.' She held out her small hand for Harry to shake, and he did so, ignoring the flip-flop of his stomach.
'Erm, what is a berrytrope?' he asked after a moment of silence.
'A large invisible bubble that floats around until it finds a susceptible human to encase. They inhibit the natural flow of conversation.'
'Ah.' Harry nodded. 'I think I can inhibit the natural flow of a conversation enough on my own. Best avoid those.'
Luna gave him a surprisingly cold once over compared to her usual dreamy look, but after a moment she seemed to decide to sit anyway. She pulled out a Quibbler and began reading. Harry was still undecided about Luna's creatures (despite finding what he was relatively sure were actual Nargles), but he hadn't wanted to offend her, and wasn't even being sarcastic. There may not really be berrytropes, but he didn't mind considering the possibility. They sat in a silence that wasn't quite comfortable until the train pulled out of the station. Luna waved to her dad in an odd dance-like pattern before settling back into the Quibbler.
It was nearly ten minutes before anyone found them.
'Harry Potter you total arse!'
Harry looked up from the section he had been reading on using a mix of magical and muggle blood to weaken the wards around entry points.
'Lovely to see you too Miss Greengrass.' He replied sarcastically.
'Don't you Miss Greengrass me! You didn't reply to any of my letters!'
Harry was a little shocked for a moment before his brain caught up and he cursed silently to himself. Bloody Dobby. 'Ah, I didn't get any letters?'
'I wrote to you three times! I was starting to worry when Theodore mentioned he saw you in Diagon Alley, perfectly fine.'
'He was in Diagon? Why didn't he say hello?'
'Oh I don't know, maybe because you didn't answer his letters either!'
'I didn't get any mail this holidays except my Hogwarts letter!' Harry pushed confusion into his tone. He really should have thought about this. He had only let his signature show at Privet Drive just long enough to let the Hogwarts letter through, but even if Dobby hadn't been stealing his mail, they letters wouldn't have sent because they would have needed to be addressed to Harris Noir.
'Maybe the Nargles took them.' Luna said in her calm way. Harry's lip quirked at Daphne's shocked look. It wasn't often someone broke through the ice queen's façade.
'Maybe.' Daphne finally answered diplomatically. 'But it could be something else, and it's quite worrying. You're sure you didn't receive any mail?'
'Are you sure you sent any?' Harry returned. Daphne frowned, still standing in the doorway. 'Would you like to sit?' Harry offered.
'I don't know how to steal someone's mail.' She sat, but her temper didn't abate.
'You best get right on that.' Harry smirked, 'What sort of professional criminal can't even steal some mail.'
'Shoosh you.'
Harry laughed, but then suddenly remembered this wasn't his Daphne, and as far as he could remember, they had only spoken a few times towards the end of the last year. His amusement fled.
'Not to be rude, but I thought you didn't like me?'
Daphne opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the door slamming sideways.
'Finally!' Blaise all but yelled, stomping into the compartment quickly followed by Theo. Theo looked less than pleased about being there. 'I have been looking all over for you.' He slumped down into the seat next to Luna.
'Blaise, Theo.' Harry nodded, 'Did you have a nice holiday?'
'You wouldn't know would you?' Theo said under his breath. Harry had already forgotten about the mail (it really wouldn't stick in his memory), but Daphne came to his rescue.
'He wasn't getting any of his mail.'
'What?'
Harry launched into his explanation again.
'It's not normal.'
Daphne was decisive. She could be cool and aloof (and Harry knew she had only developed this persona over her Hogwarts years until it was like speaking to two different people in public and in private), but she was always decisive. She had always had a fierce strength behind her beliefs that had often made Harry wonder in later years if she wouldn't have made it in Gryffindor. Harry felt awful. He was already playing it against her. He was determined to bring up Dobby, but didn't want anyone to suspect he did it on purpose. It probably wouldn't have mattered in the long run, but while he had a Slytherin side, he had been a Gryffindor for almost two decades, and his sly needed a bit of training. He knew he had to get it in now while his friends were more oblivious.
'Well we've established that; but it's not like unusual things don't happen to me all the time.'
'Name one thing.' Daphne demanded.
Harry looked at her for a long time, staring her down.
'What?' She was on the defensive.
'So there was this curse that everyone said you can't beat right…'
'That doesn't count!' she spluttered.
Harry cracked a grin.
'So it's perfectly normal to have your mail stolen.'
'It could be.'
'I'm not sure how I feel about this so called wizarding world.'
'Harry!' The way she said that reminded Harry forcefully of Hermione. 'Okay, so it is a bit strange, but I bet nothing else extraordinary happened over your holidays.'
'A house elf tried to kid knap me in Diagon alley.'
'…'
'What?' Harry mirrored her tone perfectly. She sent him a solid glare before shutting her eyes and pulling on her mask again. Harry felt pretty good about having it break loose for so long. It had taken him months of work in the last time-line.
'A house elf could have stolen your mail. Was it called Mia?'
Harry was caught off guard. 'No? Should it have been?'
'Or Bini?'
'No, it was-'
'hmm, how about Frou?'
'It-'
'Loo Loo?'
Harry opened his mouth.
'Terri? Limi? Noddy?'
'No he wa-'
'Dobby? Flopsy? Tria?'
'No!' Harry yelled, then his brain caught up. 'Wait… yes.'
'Ah, a Malfoy elf. Which one?'
'Dobby. He said his name was Dobby.'
'How odd.'
'How do you know the names of everyone's house elves? I recognize Frou as the Warrington elf, and isn't Bini Flint's uncle's?' Theo interrupted, suddenly taking an interest in the conversation. Blaise and Theo had been playing chess up until that point, with Luna commentating under her breath. Harry could barely hear her, and he was sitting closest to her, so he was pretty sure the others couldn't. Her comments about knights just wanting to dance had nearly sent him over the edge a few minutes earlier.
'Mia is a nice name. Is that your elf?' Luna asked Daphne. Daphne got that pained look on her face again, which appeared every time she looked at Luna.
'It is.'
'Is it short for Miamasusia?'
'Wh-'
'Anyway!' Harry interrupted. 'Dobby is a Malfoy elf you say?'
'Yes, so all you have to do is find-'
'Potter! Have a good holidays back with your muggles?' Draco walked in right on cue, making Harry suspect he'd secretly been hiding in the corridor waiting for the opportune moment. He always had had a thing with visiting Harry on the train. Harry ignored the taunt. He had to concentrate of not getting Dobby in trouble.
'I think your house elf is in love with me.'
Needless to say that wasn't how Draco, nor Daphne were expecting Harry to respond, and Draco spent a few moments to splutter before he could get out a normal sentence.
'It might be a dingletwap in disguise, they too enjoy doing cleaning.' Luna added, just as Draco calmed down enough to attempt to talk again.
Harry eyed Luna sideways for a moment, wondering for the thousandth time whether she truly believed in her creatures, or if she just enjoyed watching people's brains curling in on themselves.
'My house elf is not in love with you Potter!'
'I thought we were on first name basis Draco?' Harry smirked.
Draco looked pained for a moment before slumping into a chair. Greg and Vince stood awkwardly in the door way as there were no seats left.
'Why do you think my elf is in love with you?' Draco was resigned to the madness.
'Dobby seems to be under the impression that my regular correspondence are actually love letters addressed to him.'
Draco spluttered again, and out of the corner of his eye he could see Daphne's mask cracking again, and her left eye twitch a bit. Theo and Blaise had thrown away all decorum and were almost rolling on the ground laughing.
Draco glared. 'Is that why you didn't answer my letter?'
It was Harry's turn to gape.
'You wrote me a letter?' He honestly considered it for a moment, and wondered if he would have written back.
'Dobby!'
There was a small pop, then Dobby appeared in the middle of the compartment facing Draco, which put him with his back to Harry.
'Little Master sir called for Dobby?'
'Yes. Have you been stealing Po- Harry's mail?'
Even though his skin was already pale green, Harry could tell Dobby's face had drained.
'We know you're a little obsessed with me Dobby, but I would really like my mail back please.'
'Ob- obsessed?' Dobby spun to face Harry clearly horrified that he was there. It took Harry a moment to remember that Dobby had tried to stop him getting to the platform. 'You is here!' Dobby began wringing his ears.
'Ah yes. Sorry about that. I decided to floo.'
'TO FLOO!' Dobby was clearly panicking.
'Well I know that you were intended to block the barrier so we could meet each other again, but I really did want to catch the train.'
'But Harry Potter was meant to be with his weezies!'
'What is a weezie?' Luna, who had been reading the Quibbler suddenly sounded interested. Draco seemed to have forgotten she was there. He turned away from Dobby and looked Luna slowly up and down before wrinkling his nose.
'What is Loony doing here?' he demanded.
'Harry brought her.' Said Theo.
'I didn't bring her.' Harry started, but Draco interrupted.
'Of course not, you have better tastes. So why is she here?'
Harry actually growled, and his aura flared, causing all the Slytherin's to jump in shock. Dobby just looked up at Harry with awe.
'Harry Potter is a great wizard!'
Harry ignored it outwardly (but couldn't be happier – it was making his story about Dobby loving him look more plausible by the minute).
'Luna stays.' Was all Harry bit out in the end.
'I don't want to sit with-' Draco began.
'Then leave. But I want my mail first.'
There was an awkward silence, in which the Slytherin's all looked warily between Draco and Harry. In the end Draco looked away and sniffed.
'Fine. I'll put up with the trash for now.' Harry opened his mouth to argue but Draco talked over him. 'Dobby, give Harry his mail.'
Dobby looked utterly betrayed, but couldn't disobey a direct order, and pulled a huge pile of letters out from inside his pillowcase. As soon as Harry's had touched the letters Dobby disappeared with a sullen pop.
Draco stayed for a little while catching up with Theo and Blaise, but he kept raising Harry's hackles by insulting Luna. It was always subtle, and Luna seemed oblivious, but Harry remembered his friend mentioning that a passing comment of Harry's had been the nicest thing someone had ever said to her at Hogwarts. The little things may not appear to bother her, but it must all build up. Luna was amazing in Harry's eyes, and her oddities only made her more beautiful because she was so true to herself all the time. Eventually Draco took his leave, taking Greg and Vince with him, and soon after Daphne disappeared to search out Tracey or Millicent. Once they left conversation wound down and Harry buried himself in the book on blood wards again.
Once the trolley had come around there were more people walking about the train, and slowly their compartment got more and more frequent visitors. They were all Slytherin, and most of them gave Luna disparaging looks, but asked after the three boys' summers. The entire Slytherin Quidditch team had been through (Rebo staying for quite a while to annoy his brother), the new prefects came and introduced themselves and quite a few people who claimed to know Blaise. Harry was a bit wary, as when he'd left Hogwarts at the end of the previous year Slytherin had barely tolerated him, and then he'd lost ten points at the leaving feast loosing Slytherin the house cup. By the time they were about an hour away from Hogsmead Harry's curiosity finally won out.
'You sure seem to know a lot of people Blaise.' Harry commented without looking up from his book. The last few people to drop in had been giggling girls, and Harry had resorted to hiding behind his book as a cover.
'They aren't here to see me.' Blaise said, looking at Harry as if he were crazy. Harry returned the look.
'Almost every one of them has mentioned you or your mum.'
'My mother has links to many pure-blood families, and is a socialite. They are using me as an excuse to check in on you.'
Harry's jaw dropped and he sat gaping at Blaise for a long couple of minutes (until Luna mentioned something about Quirri-flies that liked to nest in lungs).
'But- But-…' Harry couldn't seem to find the words. Realising he was spluttering worse than Draco, and that Theo was laughing at his expense he snapped his jaw shut and let his brain catch up.
'Slytherin house hates me.'
'They did. But then Dumbledore took away those ten points at the end of the year.'
'Yes but he took them from me to increase the disdain for the boy-who-lived.'
'Yes. He tried to manipulate Slytherin house.'
It didn't take long for Harry to finally understand what had happened. When he did he suddenly burst out laughing. He couldn't stop for quite a while. Dumbledore had tried to out-sly the Slytherins, who were much more practiced in the art, and saw straight through his attempt at manipulation. Harry had every intention of climbing the Slytherin social ladder this time around, but he had never expected to get a boost from Dumbledore.
'Merlin, he's going to be livid when he realises what he's done.'
'Does the Headmaster not like you Harry Potter?' Luna suddenly spoke up. Harry was so used to her presence he kept forgetting she was there, and nearly jumped out of his skin.
'Yeah, something like that.'
'That's an odd way for him to go about his goals.'
Harry nodded absently, but Theo sat up and actually looked interested. 'What do you think his goals are?' He asked.
Luna let her Quibbler fall a little and looked Theo dead in the eye. 'He is secretly building up an army of chocolate frogs so he can take over the world and bring out a law to make it illegal to wear less than four clashing colours at any given time.'
Harry had never seen Theo look so shocked.
Luna drifted out of their compartment when the boys wanted to change into their robes, and disappeared further down the train, so the three boys got off the train on their own and made their way towards the carriages. They stepped through the Hogwarts gates only to step straight into the middle of a Weasley/Malfoy verbal embarrassment.
'Disappointed the school already has carriages Weasel? Your family could have earned a couple of knuts being pack-horses… There are certainly enough of you.'
'Shove off Malfoy.'
'Worried the carriages aren't going to be able to hold your weight under all that hair gel?' Seamus added in.
Harry found himself surrounded by Slytherins who were jeering the boys on and supporting Draco, but when he came within sight of the carriages Harry's world had narrowed down to a tunnel vision focusing on the thestral. A passing thought had occurred, and he couldn't shake it. Why hadn't he been able to see the thestrals until after Cedric died? He had seen his mother die (supposedly, or at least someone die – after his talk with Voldemort the year before Harry had been coming up with a theory on the events of that night). He had also killed Quirrell with his bare hands. He had sort of expected to see them again, as he had seen too much death during his life in the first time-line, and the thestrals invisibility was related to mind magics. Harry's body was twelve, but his mind wasn't.
Harry had become completely focused on the thestral and become oblivious to the Feud going on between him and the row of carriages. As such he was completely unaware of the chaos and shock he caused when Blaise muttered 'Thestrals.' And Draco, seeing only Blaise and Harry could see them, had tactlessly demanded to know who they had seen die. Blaise had muttered something about step-father number four, but Harry had looked at Draco, hardly paying any attention and replied loud enough for several people around him to overhear.
'My mum. I remember Voldemort killing my mum.' Harry had then moved on quickly in his mind to a new train of thought about the possibilities of him having been stepped through the Weasley/Malfoy battle and into the nearest carriage obliviously, leaving a large group of students gaping at him. He remained oblivious until he was sitting at the Slytherin table and Daphne poked him hard in the ribs to get his attention.
'Ow! What was that for?'
'Do you realise what you've done?'
Harry stared blankly back at her.
'Why did you say you could remember your mum dying. No one can remember being one.'
Harry, having no recollection of any conversation between seeing the thestral and Daphne poking him didn't remember mentioning it at all, but didn't see a problem with answering.
'Well I do. I have dreams about it all the time.'
'You remember the Dark Lord ki-… You remember that night?' Daphne's voice turned to a harsh whisper and she sounded scared.
Harry suddenly realised there were a lot more ears than Daphne's listening in, and noticing how Slytherin was avoiding looking at him directly again.
'It can be relatively traumatizing having someone try and kill you. I don't really want to talk about Voldemort.' All around him people hissed as he said the name, but he was used to that, so he ignored as several people told him not to do it.
Thankfully professor McGonagall took that moment to arrive with the first years, and the hat began to sing. Harry was looking the first years over carefully. His mind wasn't straying too far from the Diary Horcrux at any given time, and he was pretty sure that if Lucius had given it to someone, it was almost definitely a first year; A child would be most susceptible to the Diary's influence and least likely to know to turn it in. He took note of the demeanor of all the students being sorted and filed it away ready to compare them a few months in to the school term for signs of stress. He remembered Ginny having signs of the flu and being especially upset after the writing went up on the wall.
Despite the fact that he didn't have any proof that the diary would even come to the school that year, he was confident it would. Over the last year he had noticed that even though he was changing lots of things, events that had happened before seemed to want to repeat themselves as closely as possible with the new changes. For that reason alone he would be watching Ginny closely.
He was amused to see that while all of the first years looked various states of nervous, Luna was looking perfectly content, if mildly interested in the hat. He would have paid good money to be able to hear the (long) conversation she had with the hat before she was placed in Ravenclaw. Harry had a very nervous few minutes while Ginny went under the hat. It was quite clear that she was arguing heavily with it, and Harry suspected she was trying to convince it to put her in Slytherin. Despite being a 'slimy snake', rumor had been passed to Harry on the train that she had been gossiping away about how she was finally going to meet her future husband this year. Harry had a brief moment of doubt where he suspected Ginny of using love potion on him in the last time-line, but quickly realised she would have thrown that back in his face during their nasty divorce if she had. It was with guilty relief that Harry heard the hat proclaim 'GRYFFINDOR', and he tried to ignore the sad looking glance that Ginny sent his way as she sat down between Percy and Ron.
It was at this point that Harry realised Gryffindor was far too quiet despite their clapping. It only took him a moment to find out why. The Weasley twins weren't there. Harry glanced up at the teacher's table. Snape was gone too. Harry's mind ran back over the conversation he'd had with Dobby on the train about being with his weezies.
'Oh bloody hell.' Harry swore under his breath. 'I really hope they don't get expelled.'
