Disclaimer, My wife owns my Heart, The bank owns my house, my boss owns my ass five days a week, and I do not own Harry Potter, if I did Dobby would have spent the entire seventh book riding Draco around like a pony.
FF7
Two weeks after their trip to Diagon Alley, Harry was practicing his violin on a Saturday afternoon when he heard the doorbell ring. A shouted "I've got it" echoed up the stairs from his cousin. Harry paused in his playing.
"Nope, I'm his cousin Dudley," He heard his cousin say to the guests. Presumably whoever it was they were here to see him. Harry started to put away his violin even before he heard Dudley say, "Please come in, I'll get him." If it were just the two of them in the house or even if it were just Jane or Remus around Dudley would have just yelled for Harry, but with guests in the house his mum would not be pleased if he yelled. He walked up the stairs to knock on Harry's door. Before he could finish knocking, Harry opened the door. "Harry, you've got guests, Mrs. Granger and her daughter Hermione. I didn't know you were having anybody over."
"Neither did I. I told you about Hermione, the girl I met in Diagon Alley, but I didn't know they were coming over today," Harry said. "Your Mom must have invited them over."
"She's cute, in a curly haired shy sort of way," He said giving Harry a smirk that tried and almost copied Sirius' smile.
"Shove off, her dad is about the scariest combination I can think of, a dentist and an ex Para," Harry said smiling, which just made his cousin smirk at him more. Harry moved past his cousin giving him a friendly shoulder check as he passed him to walk down the stairs.
Entering the Lounge he saw Mrs. Granger and Hermione. Hermione was dressed for riding in long boots and pants, her bangs still curly but the rest of her hair pulled back in a French braid that threatened to get out of control. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Granger, Hermione. Harry Potter, without a disguise, at your service," He said, inclining his head to each of them since they were already seated. "I apologize, I didn't realize the time, I was just practicing my violin and the hour must have gotten away from me. May I offer you tea?"
"No apology needed Harry. Your aunt and I had lunch the other day. She suggested that I bring Hermione over so that you could go riding together. We had agreed upon two and I realize we're actually a bit early. I wasn't sure how traffic would be." Mrs. Granger politely stated. "Don't bother with tea, I'm fairly certain we will be leaving when you Aunt arrives?"
Dudley stuck his head in, "Harry, if you're going riding you should change."
"You won't be joining?" Mrs. Granger asked. "Your mother said you are quite good on horseback."
Dudley blushed a little, "I'm okay I guess. Unfortunately I can't today, I've got football practice in another hour."
Harry looked to his cousin, "Thank you Dudley." Turning to his guests he asked, "If you will excuse me for a moment?" Jane Granger waved him off. He went back upstairs and quickly changed into riding pants and boots. Grabbing his jacket and helmet he went back downstairs. As he was coming back downstairs, he heard his aunt and uncle come in the front door. He overheard his aunt apologizing for being late and introducing his uncle. After a round of introductions, they showed the Granger women floo travel and explained firecalling. Harry had to come back and ferry each of them through but shortly they were at Douglas House. When he had guided his aunt through she apologized to him, "I'm sorry Harry, I asked Sophia if we could come over but I completely forgot to mention it to you, this is okay yes?" she asked looking him in the eye.
"Of course Aunt Petunia, they seem like nice enough people and I'm going to be spending the next seven years with her so getting to know her seems like a good idea," Harry answered giving his aunt a quick hug. "Besides, I've heard that muggleborn children don't have the easiest time making friends because of the weird things that happen around us magicals." Once the three ladies were through and after introductions to Sophia, Harry took Hermione's hand and led her down to the stables.
When they came in view of the stables, Harry could see that Tracey was there working on her dressage on her favorite gelding Pharaoh. Sirius had marked off a dressage arena sized space in the field behind the barn instead of building an arena because there was only one year until Tracy went to Hogwarts and if she didn't stick with dressage, it would be wasted expense and space. When they reached the barn, Harry called out, "Pferdie, can your saddle Mika for me and Sage for my guest?"
The house elf who kept the stable and paddock stuck his head out of the tack shed, "Yes young Harry, I will have them out in a few minutes."
"Harry, what was that?" Hermione asked trying to maintain a calm demeanor.
"Pferdie?" Harry asked looking at his new friend.
"I guess?" she answered.
"Pferdie's a house elf," James fed him a description that had apparently appeased his mother. "House elves are a magical race that creates a symbiotic bond with a magical family or place. They are the source of the legends of brownies and thrive and get energy when they are helping their family. An elf that does not have this positive connection generally only lives about forty years and has a hard time reproducing due to a limited amount of magic. A bonded elf can live to well over a hundred and has significantly more magic. One of the Potter elves, Harrison accompanied my great great uncle to the Crimea and still looks young."
"But bonded, like slaves or serfs?"
"Like a feudal oath yes, not slavery. In a traditional feudal society, the serfs owed fealty to the lord just as the lord owed allegiance to the king, but the lord had far more responsibilities to the serfs and for them. These types of bonds were originally mutually beneficial. The elves provide work for the magical family but, as I said, they live longer, have stronger magic, and can much more easily have a family. Just a point, if you suggested to most house elves that they should be quote "free", they would want to know why you wanted to take away their magic and shorten their lives. Not to mention limit their ability to have children" Harry wound down.
"Oh, I'll have to think about that." Hermione said pensively.
At this point Tracy rode up to where they were standing. "Good afternoon Harry. Who's your friend?"
"Hermione Granger, may I introduce Tracey Davis?" Harry said gesturing between them. "Hermione will be joining us at Hogwarts next fall. Her mom is having tea with my aunt and yours."
Tracey gracefully slid off of Pharaoh's back and offered her hand to Hermione. "It is a pleasure to meet you Hermione. That's a name from Shakespeare, right?"
"Yeah, tradition in my dad's family. My grand mum is Viola." Hermione said pleased to meet the blond girl.
"Tracey, we were going to ride the loop, would you care to join us?" Harry asked. Having decided that the four mile wooded path would be a nice ride to see how Hermione sat a horse.
"I'd be happy to." Tracey said smiling.
Pferdie led their horses out, looked at Hermione and made a couple of adjustments to the tack. Once they were mounted Harry let Tracey lead them off, Harry directed Hermione to follow. They were all riding close enough together to talk. Harry watched how Hermione rode and made a couple of small suggestions. She at first bristled at his suggestions until she realized that what he was suggesting made for a more comfortable ride. Harry thought that she could probably also sit a broom as well. They talked about school. Harry decided to explain about being a metamorph and how that meant even though his aunt had wanted him to, he could not attend mundane school.
"Even without the whole metamorph thing, that's why most of us magicals homeschool or have tutors. School is stressful, too many things happen around us that can't be explained." Tracey added to their conversation. "So Hermione, have you ever had accidental magic happen at school?"
"Yes, my very first year. I wanted to wear my yellow jumper for picture day but it was dirty so mom sent me to school in a blue one. By the time I made off from the car to the classroom, it had changed yellow." Hermione said with a wistful smile. "I know what you mean about unexplained stuff though, I'm kind of an outsider at my school. How about you Tracey?"
"Well, I'm tutored with Harry and a couple of others all who either know about magic like Dudley, Harry's cousin, or are magical. But two years ago, I knocked over and broke a glass and somehow I managed a reparo and drying charm because I fixed the glass and dried off the work that the water spilled on. Anything bigger than a color changing charm?" Tracey asked.
"Well I did light a bully's book bag on fire. Fortunately, she was the older sister of a girl in my class and had a pack of cigarettes and lighter on her, so they just assumed she had somehow lit it on fire herself," Hermione said showing some embarrassment, but looking like she was glad to be finally around people she could talk about these things with.
"Ah, another pyro. Harry watch out, someone might be more powerful than you." Tracey led them into a clearing where they dismounted by a stream.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, turning to Harry, "Have you lit things on fire before with accidental magic?"
"With Harry, it's not exactly accidental. Saviour of the wizarding world and all that." Tracey said.
"Hush Tracey," Harry said giving Tracey an annoyed look.
"Come on Harry, you know if her mom and your aunt are talking, she's probably going to be around us between now and September." Tracey said goading her friend.
"Fine, you're probably right." Turning towards Hermione, he looked down at the ground. Finding what he wanted, he bent to pick up a couple of twigs which he twisted and bent until he could expose some rough edges. "It's part of being a Metamorph. If I don't have conscious control of my magic, my face and hair cycle with my moods like this." Harry consciously rolled his hair through blond, brown, and pink before going back to his normal black. "It's kind of similar to a normal person not being able to control a blush. As much as Tracey has put me on the spot just now, my hair would probably be flowing through different colors. Because of that, I have had to learn very good control of my magic. I'm not to the point where I can just conjure fire, but…" He held out his palm with the shredded twig on it. Looking at it for a moment his eyes narrowed and the twig started to smoke and burst into flames. Before he could get burned, he dumped the lit twig in the stream. He dunked his hand for good measure. "The down side is I haven't figured out how to do it without being in contact with what I'm lighting." Okay that part was an exaggeration. His father had helped him figure out how to do it, he just couldn't do it reliably yet. "I've also got a pretty good wandless summoner which is useful when you leave your socks across the room." He said holding up his hand and causing a stick the size of a wand to shoot into his hand. "But these like so many other things," he said glaring at Tracey, "we would really prefer to keep secret."
"Magic, has so many secrets." Hermione said still looking with awe at Harry.
"It does, but some of them are such wonderful secrets." Tracey said smiling brightly.
They chatted for a few minutes more and then mounted up to head back to the barn. They dismounted and let the horses find their normal stalls. Pferdie shooed them out of his barn.
"Normally we have to deal with tack and help Pferdie groom the horses, but since you are here as a guest he'll take care of that." Tracey said leading her off chatting about hairstyles that work under the riding helmet. Harry followed behind thinking that both girls were pretty in their riding outfits. As they made their way up to the house, Hermione's eyes went wide when they were greeted by another house elf with a bootjack and slippers.
"Thank you Jess," Harry said taking the slippers after removing his boots.
"Not a problem young Potter," the house elf said. "Miss Davis, your aunt would like you to join them in the sunroom."
"Thank you Jess," Tracey said. Once they had all removed boots, they headed to the sunroom as requested. Tracey's aunt Sophia was there along with Aunt Petunia and Mrs. Granger. They women had stopped talking when the three youngsters came in.
"Did you enjoy your ride?" Jane Granger asked.
"Yes, Harry and Tracey were nice enough to keep to a pace I was comfortable with," Hermione answered. She turned to Mrs. Black and Mrs. Prewett, "It is so beautiful here, thank you for allowing me to visit." Harry suspected she was not sure which of them she owed thanks to.
"Certainly, Petunia asked us and we were more than happy to extend the invitation." Sophia Black answered.
"Hermione dear, how would you like to get some extra help with magic before you leave for Hogwarts?" her mother asked.
Harry looked at Hermione. She practically vibrated with energy as she said yes. It looked like her mum might well have asked if it would be okay to move Christmas a little sooner.
"Good, we want you to get the best out of your education. It would seem that although the school has a grand tradition, currently a couple of the subjects, namely history and potions, suffer from a less than inspiring teaching staff."
Harry missed the next thing that was said due to his dad laughing in his ear. "You know that's a bit distracting," Harry said sub-vocally, something he and his dad had worked on so they could speak with others around.
"Well yes, but from the things cousin Dora has said about Snape, calling him less than inspiring is rather charitable." His father said back keeping his voice at a low enough level that Harry could mostly follow the rest of the conversation
—"Mrs. Prewett has also said that Harry will be doing correspondence work on his mundane schooling and can arrange for you to receive the same work if you would like to."
"I could still attend university like daddy wants me to?" Hermione asked, a brilliant smile on her face.
"It will be harder, but yes, it may be possible," Aunt Petunia offered.
"That would be so wonderful." The little brunette was once again bouncing.
They talked about schedules and settled on times and soon it was time to return home. After they saw their guests off with another rib cracking hug from Hermione, Harry went to put his boots, which Jess had thankfully cleaned, and other riding gear away.
His bedroom was the smallest bedroom, but with a bunk bed over a desk and a window seat that had shelves under it, they had made the most of the space. The closet had been significantly expanded, although charmed so none of his muggle friends on the football team would notice anything. To them it seemed like a normal closet with built in bin-like drawers for his folded clothes. It was in actuality an expanded space that gave him a walk in closet. He remembered when Jane had offered to switch rooms with him two years ago when he was getting bigger and starting to chafe at lack of space for his stuff. He had refused thinking that would have been rude as she was an adult, but how he had wanted the extra space. Remus thankfully had offered the solution. He had seen the bunk bed over a desk design in a catalog and they had quickly obtained it. Harry remembered watching Remus doing the runes to expand the closet. The following year, with Alfred's approval, expanding Aunt Petunia's closet had been Harry and Dudley's birthday gift to her. Not that they had done the magic, just asked Remus to and played fetch and carry for him while he was working. Not to leave any members of the household out, Dudley and Jane each also got expansions to their closets and Remus got a date with Jane in the bargain. They dated on and off but didn't seem to be permanent. With the elimination for the need of a dresser and making the footprint of the desk and bed the same, he had plenty of room to practice violin, do his Tai Chi forms, and even work the basics of Savate. Mirrors hung on the closet door allowed him to watch his form and made the room appear bigger. Although for Savate, he usually worked in the shed behind the garage where he had a heavy bag.
When they contacted Remus about adding Hermione to their tutoring classes, he had offered to give her some one on one in potions and etiquette lessons to get her up to speed with the rest of the group. She took to it like a fish to water.
~FF~
It was a cold afternoon in early November when she went riding with Harry again. This time Tracey wasn't with them. Hermione had been quiet and not her usual talkative self.
"You lied to me when you talked about getting books that first day we met," Hermione said once they were out on the path through the forest.
"I don't believe so. I know we were being careful about revealing my identity where someone could hear, but I don't think I lied to you." Harry answered hoping he hadn't hurt his new friend.
"You said you were getting your supplies so you could start studying. You made it sound like you hadn't studied magic. Then, I come to find out that you've been studying magic for years and have this huge advantage over me." She said in a rush, looking like she was close to tears.
"I'm sorry Hermione, I did make it sound that way." Dad had said when dealing with a girl or woman, don't just say sorry, be sorry for something specific. It might not be the right thing but it shows you are listening and care about what they think. "The only Hogwarts subject that I've had more than passing lessons in is the herbalogy that Remus is helping you with and how the plants relate as potions ingredients. Yes I've had Latin, but that's not actually a Hogwarts subject even if most incantations are in dialects of Latin." Harry was under strict orders from James and Remus to keep James' wand a secret.
"But what about all the other magic you've studied?" Hermione asked. "Tracey got you to show off that wandless magic the first day we went riding."
"What I've studied isn't stuff they teach at Hogwarts and is necessary because of my ability." Harry tried to explain.
Hermione huffed and didn't say anything.
"Okay, I'll admit, I was trying to impress you a little bit with the wandless summoner," Hermione's eyes changed a little bit when he said he was trying to impress her, "but if Remus and my Godfather have their way, we'll all at least be able to summon our wands before we leave for Hogwarts." Harry rode up knee to knee with Hermione and directed his horse to stop, bringing hers to a stop as well. "Hermione, have you ever worn clothes that were itchy, stiff, and maybe too tight?"
"Yeah." Hermione answered looking puzzled and still a little upset at him.
"Well, until a little over a year ago when I could prove to my aunt and my godfather that I could control my form even in stressful or uncomfortable situations and that included getting hit with a football, anytime we wanted to go out in public I needed to be under a form hindering spell which feels like wearing a starched scratchy wool shirt that you've outgrown over your entire skin. My first year in football, the coaches thought I was just no good because it was distracting and my balance was weird." Harry paused hoping she believed him. "So the meditation and Tai Chi I do every day, the control exercises I do daily. Yes they have given me better control of my magic than normal for our age, but without them because of what I was born with, my magic would make my life very difficult. I'm sorry if I made you feel bad, I didn't mean to."
"It's okay Harry, I guess I didn't understand. I just suddenly felt like I wasn't going to be good enough and I've always been the smart one in any group." She said with a shy smile.
"Oh, I think you'll still be the smart one, just because a violinist can play music doesn't mean they can write it." Harry said reaching out and placing a hand on her arm. Her smile brightened. "Are we good?"
"Yeah, we're good," she said.
"So really, other than the herbalogy and potions ingredient prep, which Remus is helping you catch up on, we haven't actually studied anything covered at Hogwarts." Harry said. "I can't wait to get started next month." The parents had collectively decided that since it would be too cold and wet to comfortably do much outside that they would start on a primer of the Hogwarts subjects in December.
"Harry, come on let's ride. We've been just sitting here. Mika and Sage are probably bored of us right now."
"Mika's pretty good about this," Harry said patting the mare on her neck. "But yeah, let's ride." With that he set off at a cantor leaving Hermione to catch up with him.
~FF~
Harry only saw Hermione once more in the month of November and things had been comfortable between the two of them. When the magical portion of the younger generation got together at the beginning of December, Harry could already see that Hermione was moving a little more fluidly which he assumed was due to her taking up Tai Chi. Harry had overheard Jane Granger on the phone with his mother, the day after they rode last, asking about recommendations for where Hermione could learn. He assumed that meant she was also probably practicing meditation techniques. Oh well, they already had one ultra-competitive girl in the group in the form of Daphne. It would be interesting to see how they interacted. Harry was bummed that Dudley wouldn't be getting a letter, Sirius had been able to get Professor McGonagall to confirm it before they started these classes. Dudley told him that he was okay with it and that he had talked to Sirius about it who had told him that the fact that he could ride a kid's training broom was probably because they were meant to be used by children with still developing magical cores. Dudley was taking typing and computer classes to get him better prepared for Smeltings.
In deference to Dudley taking afterschool classes and Hermione needing to go to her regular school classes they planned their magic lessons for weekday and Saturday afternoons. With five students and four magical teachers offering their specialties, their pupils progressed with ease. With the exception of potions and history where they basically gave them full tuition, they focused on things that were normally glossed over or not taught in normal classes. With the magical creativity of Remus and Sirius and Pauline's knowledge in Herbalogy, whose family's fortune was built on potions ingredients, they had a very well rounded group.
As Harry had suspected, Hermione and Daphne clashed for top spot in their academics to the point that their teachers had stopped issuing them grades on the few writing assignments they gave by mid-January and instead just provided written critique. Both girls pushed each other for who could get the spells they practiced right faster or who could brew the better potion. Since Harry was very good with his wand — and yes was getting extra wand training between Remus and his father — and Neville was great with potions due to his love of Herbalogy, neither girl was usually first at spells or had the best potion often, but it didn't stop them from continuously vying for first and pushing their classmates harder.
For history they had reading assignments and discussions, they studied the formation of the wizarding government in Britain and human political events since they knew Binns would go over the various goblin rebellions and treaties that followed. Since it affected them closely, they talked a lot about the twentieth century. When they got to talking about Dumbledore, Hermione couldn't understand why the others wouldn't think he was as great as he was.
"But I've read in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts about the defeat of Grindelwald and how he led a group that fought He-who-must-not-be-named. He's the greatest wizard of the twentieth century and we get to study at his school." Hermione said, obviously passionate about her idol.
"I'm glad Sirius isn't here," Remus said to Pauline.
"Definitely," she responded. "The girl doesn't need to have her ears blistered quite that much."
"Hermione," Remus started. "I know what those books say, but there are some things you have to take into account."
"Like what?" Hermione asked looking skeptical
"Well, let's start with Grindelwald," Remus said trying to figure out how to couch things. "There were thousands of other wizards who fought and died in the war against Grindelwald. It is estimated that as much as 20% of the British magical population died in the conflict and Professor Dumbledore was reluctant to join the fight until Grindelwald's forces were threatening our shores. So, yes, he did defeat Grindelwald but there are those who feel that many lives could have been saved if he had entered the fight earlier. If you think about the fact that Grindelwald's forces were supporting Hitler, it also could have meant fewer deaths on the mundane side of the line."
"Okay," Hermione didn't really look convinced.
"Do you know what happened to Sirius at the end of the war?" Remus asked calmly.
"No, it hasn't been discussed." Hermione said.
"I was a mess," They turned to see Sirius coming in the door. "I'd just lost my best friend and his wife, betrayed by another member of Dumbledore's group. I tried to catch Peter, the traitor. He started shooting spells. I had to fight him. Unfortunately, we were in the middle of a street at the time. He knew he couldn't win so he shouted, calling me the traitor. Then shot a spell into the street causing a gas explosion. It killed 12 people and sent me flying. There I was distraught and reeling. Apparently I was muttering about it being my fault. The next thing I knew I woke up in prison, and let me tell you a wizarding prison makes Dickens' description of Newgate sound like a five star resort." Hermione flinched.
"But how is that his fault Mr. Black?" She asked now uncertain.
"It's not just that I woke up in prison, but that in the eight months I was in prison," Sirius said bitterly, "that 'great man' didn't raise a hand to get me freed or even make sure I got a trial to see if I was actually guilty. I fought for him and he washed his hands of me like tossing yesterday's paper in the rubbish bin."
"Sirius," Remus tried to interject.
"Then there's the fact that he'd, 'seen so much wasted life, so many regrettable deaths,'" Sirius mimicked Dumbledores' inflection with a vicious snarl on his face, "that he demanded that his Order of the Phoenix only use non-lethal means when capturing Death Eaters."
"But I've read some of the things he's said about everyone needing the chance for redemption. Surely you can agree with that?" Hermione asked. Harry knew this was not going to end well and steeled himself for where he was sure the conversation was going to go sooner or later. He looked at Neville, sure enough, Neville's face was set in a stoic mask.
"No, I don't. I think if we'd started putting them down permanently early on, we could have saved a lot of good people," Sirius said, his voice growing dark.
"How can you say that? Life is precious." Hermione said with conviction.
"Why are their lives more precious than the people whose lives they destroyed? Redemption is for those who are contrite. Those who truly seek forgiveness can be redeemed. Those followers of Voldemort chose their path, their victims did not."
"I've read that they used the imperius curse extensively." Hermione stated getting into debate mode. "Weren't they just as much victims as those targeted by his followers?"
"Most of those who claimed the imperious defense weren't under it or may have shown signs of it but their actions while supposedly under the curse matched their attitudes before and after." Sirius said building up a head of steam.
"I-", Hermione started but was cut off.
"What about their victims? Did they deserve a chance at redemption? Didn't Harry or Neville deserve a chance to be hugged and kissed goodnight by their mums?" Sirius said angrily.
Hermione burst into tears and fled the room. Sirius finally seemed to remember who he was dealing with, a child, an articulate and brilliant child, yes, but still a child. When the full impact of what he said hit him, he deflated. He wiped a hand over his eyes and looked at Harry and Neville, "I'm sorry."
"It's okay Sirius. I know it's a rough subject for you." Harry said getting up and giving Sirius a hug. He didn't know if the hug was more for him or for Sirius but he did know that he had tears on his cheek.
"I'm okay," Neville said eyes moist and jaw clenched.
Harry released his hug. "I'm going to go find Hermione. Neville you want to come?"
"Yeah," his friend said tightly.
Neville got up to follow Harry. Sirius placed a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye. "I'm sorry Neville, I had no right to bring you into that argument."
Harry paused in the doorway waiting for his friend.
Neville looked up at Sirius. "Sirius, it's okay. You at least said it because of outrage at the injustice of it. I've heard there are rumors that I'm a squib because of what I witnessed as a baby. I've heard people talk about sending my parents to a better place, meaning killing them. You care and you gave my family justice back then. We're okay." He placed his hand on Sirius' arm and gave a companionable squeeze. He then followed Harry out of the room.
"Well that went well," Harry heard Remus say.
Once they were around the corner out of ear shot, Harry paused. "Think you can manage a point me spell?"
"Yeah," Neville cast the locator spell and they quickly found Hermione in the barn. They were glad they had learned the warming charm as they walked across the yard. She was leaning against the rail sniffling and petting Sage who was nuzzling her hair.
"Hermione?" asked Neville.
"You guys must hate me. I'll go. I guess I'll see you in September," she said in a rush tears on her face.
"Hermione, we came to see if you were okay. We don't hate you," Neville answered quickly.
"But I was — and your parents — I didn't think." She hiccupped.
Neville shared a look with Harry. Without a word they walked over to their friend and each wrapped an arm around her.
"It's okay. It's not an easy subject," Harry said rubbing her back. "It gets even harder once you make it a personal subject."
"I'm sorry," She said again.
"It's okay," Neville said. "Just remember that we're not talking abstracts when we talk about the war. These are very real things and people on both sides of the subject have personally had hurts and hold a grudge."
"He's right Hermione," they heard Sirius say. They looked up to see him standing inside the door. They hadn't heard him enter the barn. He smiled weakly holding up three jackets.
"I shouldn't have lost control like that and I really shouldn't have made it personal." He handed each of them their jackets. "I'm sorry," he said helping Hermione put on her jacket.
"It's okay, Mr. Black," she said turning and offering him a quick hug. Not one of her rib crackers, but a quick conciliatory hug. "My Mom and Dad are always telling me to be careful of believing what I read. Dad in particular is always harping on what the author's bias is."
Trying to lighten the mood, Neville interjected, "I mean, really, did you see the tripe written about Mr. Chameleon over here in Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts? So Harry, how did you smite the Dark Lord?"
"Well if I recall correctly, I smote him with my dirty nappy." Harry had read the supposed definitive account of him defeating the Dark Lord. "Extrodanariapoopum" he pretended to throw a dirty diaper. "Or something like that."
Sirius chuckled gruffly. No, it wasn't a funny matter but the way the wizarding world treated it and his godson was ridiculous. "Harry Potter and the Dirty Diaper. Did I miss one of the books in your collection?"
"Enough with the books please," Harry pleaded.
"But Harry, what will I get you for your birthday?" Sirius asked, reaching out and ruffling his hair.
"How about the new Nimbus that's coming out?" Harry asked.
"Maybe," Sirius smiled at his godson. "Come on you guys, let's get you back to the lesson I interrupted."
~FF~
The following weekend, Harry competed in his first tournament. He had a good sized cheering section with Petunia and Alfred, Dudley, Hermione and her parents, Neville and his gran, Remus was there with Jane Dorret, the Blacks and Tracey, the Greengrasses and several of Harry and Dudley's friends from football.
Harry was waiting for his cadre to be called for their second set of matches. He'd lost his first match and was sporting a bruise on his cheek and chest. He was annoyed he'd lost. He was fast and strong but the girl he'd fought was fast and strong and had three inches of reach on him. He kind of figured he was going to catch some grief for getting beaten by a girl, but he thought anyone who'd seen how lightning fast her Foette, that caught him in the face, had been wouldn't say a thing. He also knew that she was going to have a rougher time in the second round after the Chasse Bas he landed on her quad. He was watching the matches that were still going on in case he could pick up something about his opponent for the second round. Because the match ups hadn't been announced, he kind of needed to watch all the matches that were simultaneously going on. He heard Mike Timmons the goalie from their team chatting with Tracey
"So you go to that special school with Harry and Dudley?" Mike asked. "That seems like a really good program"
"Yes it is. Dudley got into Smeltings and Harry and I both got into the same public school, so I think we do pretty well." Tracey said.
"Big D's mentioned that you learn Latin," Mike said. "That seems pretty posh."
Harry was now distracted from watching the match. Mike was almost twelve and Harry knew from things he'd said that he was definitely noticing the female half of the species, of which Tracey was a fairly attractive member for her age range.
"Yes, our teachers say it can be useful later for medicine and law, but is generally a good basis for learning." Tracey said. Harry didn't know if she knew he was trying to chat her up but, really, with Sirius for an uncle he assumed she did.
"Yeah," Mike seemed to be searching for something to say. "Could you say something in Latin?"
There was a brief pause.
"Romani ite domum," She said. Harry didn't have to look up to know she had a mischievous grin on her face. He heard Remus and Mr. Granger chuckle.
Harry just groaned a little and went back to watching the match in the left ring. The boy in blue had an interesting weaving technique.
"I suppose you'd like me to have him write that one hundred times before dawn, lass?" Mr. Timmons asked.
"Huh?" Mike asked.
Harry didn't hear the explanation as the matches finished and he was called to join his cadre. He did better in his second match and he would have won on points but he didn't need to, he was able to land a combination that left his opponent stunned and unable to continue.
In his third match, he made a good accounting of himself but lost on points to another opponent who had the reach on him, something he told himself he would practice against since at this point most people were taller than him.
Because they were going to a muggle restaurant and inviting his friends from football, he unfortunately had to leave the bruise on his face alone. He was able to have everything healed but the color of the one on his ribs. Which was good because his female friends all gave him hugs before leaving and Daphne and Hermione both forgot to be gentle.