Chapter Seven: All Hallows Eve
Hogwarts – October 31st, 1997
It had taken Harry nearly an entire week to calm down after his confrontation with Ginny. Even after that amount of time, he still could not fathom what Ginny had been thinking to say such a thing. He'd been beyond angry well into his charms class and Professor Flitwick had actually sent him on an errand in order to prevent him from blowing a hole in the side of the castle.
Ginny had been avoiding him since then and while it was clear to his friends that his temper was perpetually set to a low simmer, no one had determined what exactly had happened between the two. Hermione had asked him a couple of times what was wrong, but just thinking about Ginny and what she'd said immediately put Harry out of any mood to talk.
Currently none of that mattered, however, as he had far more important things to worry about. Today was October 31st – Halloween. And while terrible things always seemed to happen on that day, this was the first time that he had something he truly cared and worried about.
Which is what had led Harry to be waiting in the Ravenclaw common room since well before breakfast.
"Hi, Harry!"
Harry looked up as both the boy and girl contingents of first-years made their way down their respective stairwells into the common room. His eyes lingered on Mackenzie's form a bit longer than the others, just to reassure himself that something horrible hadn't already happened.
"Good morning everyone. Did you all sleep well last night? Nothing exciting happen?"
A chorus of 'yes' and 'no' was the reply he received as the younger students attempted to answer both questions at once. As they all broke out into laughter, Mackenzie made her way out of the group and up to his side.
"Hi, Harry. What are you doing here?"
"I just thought I'd walk you lot down to breakfast this morning. Wouldn't want you getting lost." Harry said teasingly. Even so, he could tell that his excuse wasn't particularly believed and when the students began filing out of the common room door, he held Mackenzie back. "Hang on a sec."
Once they were relatively alone and most of the students had left for breakfast, Harry crouched down next to Mackenzie. He took a small paper-wrapped bundle out of his robe pocket and handed it to her. "Here, I want you to have this."
Mackenzie quickly unwrapped the paper to find a blue and bronze knitted beanie cap.
"Thank you, Harry."
"You're welcome. Now I need you to promise me that you'll wear this today and not take it off, okay?" Mackenzie nodded and quickly pulled the cap over her head, but Harry could easily read her confusion. He reached up and adjusted the beanie so it didn't fuss her hair too much. "Halloween has never been a great day for me, bad things tend to happen, so I want you to wear this for me. It's called a shield-hat and it will protect you from most minor curses and hexes."
Mackenzie now stood wide-eyed listening closely to his every word.
"I don't expect anything to happen to you, but knowing you have this on will make me feel better, okay?"
Another nod from Mackenzie saw Harry standing back up and leading her towards to common room door. "Good. Like I said, I'm sure everything will be fine."
After a few minutes walking side-by-side, Mackenzie looked up at the older student. "Is it because you're a hero?"
Harry staggered and nearly missed his next step. "A hero? Who told you I'm a hero?"
"That's what everyone says. And Samantha said that you saved the world from the Death Eaters." Mackenzie stated with the nonchalance only young children can achieve. "Is that why people want to hurt you?"
"I don't know about being a hero." Harry ran his hand distractedly through his hair as the pair continued their way to breakfast. "But yeah, there are people who supported the Death Eaters that might want to hurt me still."
Mackenzie made a noncommittal hum, clearly not changing her opinion on Harry's 'hero status'.
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Padma Patil had had just about enough of the Head Boy.
Don't get her wrong, Harry Potter was a surprisingly good Head Boy. For someone who hadn't connected with very many people for the majority of their time at Hogwarts, Harry was doing a remarkable job getting to know as many students as he could. And that wasn't even taking into account the fact that the first years were all quite taken with him.
Padma, like many people, had assumed that Harry was being given the Head Boy position simply because of his fame and role in the defeat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. His reluctance to take the position didn't do anything to inspire a lot of confidence in the amount of effort he was likely to put into the job, either.
But Padma had been wholly incorrect in her assumptions. Not only was Harry putting in tremendous effort as a Heady Boy, but he was turning out to be great at it – certainly better than some of the head students they'd had in recent years. Padma wasn't even certain if she'd known who the head students were their first year. There was certainly no risk of the first years this year not knowing who Harry or she were.
Nevertheless, as great of a job as Harry was doing, he was completely out of control. He'd spent the entire day practically on a hair's trigger, wand in hand and ready to curse first, ask questions later. Padma could understand his concern – there'd been the troll attack on Halloween their first year, the first petrifaction attack their second, Sirius Black had broken into the school their third year, and his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire their fourth. And now he had Mackenzie to worry about as well.
But still, that didn't give him the right to walk around in a practical thundercloud of magic all day. The angry lightening-like sensation that crept up one's spine whenever he was in the area was frightening students and teachers alike. You could feel Harry long before you could see or hear him. Did that boy not realize how powerful he was? How strong his connection to magic was? The whole school felt like prey cowering underneath some enormous predator.
As Padma overheard yet another group of students discussing the day's tension wrought by Harry's ever-hovering magic, she decided that enough was enough. Someone needed to talk to Harry and it might as well be her. The wide-eyed professors were clearly not going to do it.
It only took a moment or two of thought before Padma decided on the place Harry was most likely to be found. The corridors were fairly empty as she made her way across the school – the Halloween feast had ended a short while ago and everyone had decided that a night off was warranted. Before long she was stepping into Ravenclaw tower and was immediately able to confirm that her prediction had been correct.
While many Ravenclaws tended toward quiet study, their common room was often just as boisterous as any of the other three. The common room possessed several built-in shelves filled with books, but there were also more than a few games and other activities to be found. The students were still children and teenagers after all.
The atmosphere that Padma stepped into, however, was greatly subdued from the norm. There were only half as many students in the common room as one might generally find early on a Friday evening, and those who were still present barely spoke above a whisper. There was also a certain nervous edge prevalent in the room – like the calm before a storm.
The cause, of course, was the very subject of Padma's search.
In one of the corners of the room at the base of the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories, the Head Boy sat in a large plush chair, wand resting in one hand and head bent over a large piece of aged parchment. Harry seemed completely oblivious to the general unease his tense presence was causing.
Padma made her way over towards her counterpart, barely catching the way Harry's eyes flicked up towards her for the briefest second before returning to the parchment in front of him.
"Harry, what are you doing?"
"I'm sitting in the Ravenclaw common room, Padma."
Padma suppressed a huff as she came up alongside Harry's chair. He was quick to fold up the parchment before she was able to get a good look at it.
"I can see that, Harry. What I'm wondering is, is there a reason you're terrifying all the students out of their wits?"
A look of confusion crossed Harry's face before he glanced around the common room. Those who were still present had all stopped what they'd been doing to watch the confrontation between the Head students. As Harry looked around, however, they were quick to look away and avoid making eye contact with him. A look of surprise took shape as yet another student dodged his glance and Harry finally took in the oppressive atmosphere in the Ravenclaw tower.
"Oh. I didn't… uh… I didn't realize I was scaring anyone. Is it because I've just been sitting here?"
Padma couldn't help rolling her eyes toward the ceiling at Harry's obliviousness. "No Harry, it's because you've been on edge all day and look like you're ready to curse everyone without warning."
"I've no idea what you're talking about." Harry defensively crossed his arms and glared up at Padma. After a moment of receiving her incredulous stare, however, he seemed to deflate and sink back into the chair. "Alright, I've been a little on edge. Halloween's never been a good day for me and I'm worried about… you know, Mackenzie."
Padma would have laughed if Harry hadn't been so serious – an almost forlorn expression on his face. It was adorable just how much he cared for his ward. "I know, Harry, but I'm sure everything will be fine. Where is she now?"
"She and the rest of the first year girls are up with some of the older girls in the fourth year dorms." Harry said with a bit of a sigh. It was obvious to Padma that he was exhausted.
"Alright, look. How about I go up and hang out with Mackenzie for a while and you head back to our rooms." Harry opened his mouth and Padma held up a hand to ward off whatever protest he'd been about to deliver. "No, listen. You need to relax a little or you're going to curse someone for sneezing. Go take a shower, have some tea, and once you've relaxed a bit, you can come back and tuck the first years into bed."
It didn't look as though Harry was all that sold on the idea, however Padma had plenty of experience staring down her twin sister. It wasn't long before Harry's shoulders slumped and he nodded in defeat.
"Alright, I'll go take a shower, but I'll only be gone for half an hour. And I'm coming right back here."
"That's fine. It will give everyone a chance to wind down a bit – yourself included."
Receiving a final shooing gesture from Padma, Harry stood and reluctantly left the Ravenclaw common room. As he made his way back to the head students' rooms on the third floor, he had to admit to himself that he'd probably gotten a bit more worked up than necessary over the course of the day. Nothing all that terrible had even happened on the last couple of Halloweens.
That didn't stop him from keeping an eye on the Marauder's Map as he walked down Hogwarts' central staircase, however.
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All right, I'll admit it, a shower is just what I needed.
Harry felt significantly better as he toweled his hair dry. He'd only been in the shower for a few minutes, but the warm water and steamy air had done wonders for his tense muscles. His shoulders in particular had been very tight.
Asking Dobby to keep an eye on Mackenzie for him also did wonders for his stress levels. Ever since the end of his second year, after watching Dobby defend him from a furious Lucius Malfoy, Harry found himself quietly respecting the power the little creatures could wield. Of course, Dobby's unique brand of fanaticism didn't hurt, either.
Harry quickly donned a set of comfortable trousers and casual robes. A flick of his wand dried his messy hair with a short burst of warm magic. He'd spent longer in the shower than he'd originally intended – the warm water easing the stress from his body with a simplicity that magic could never compete with – and the worry he'd felt throughout the day was beginning to creep back.
A murmured password and a glance at the Marauder's Map revealed that the girls had all dispersed from the Ravenclaw fourth-year dorm. Harry clutched the map tighter and began quickly scanning the rest of tower. His breath hitched and his unease skyrocketed as the first-year girls dorm displayed only three names – none of them Padma Patil or Mackenzie Williams. Eyes now darting around the map, Harry gripped the parchment hard enough to crinkle and distort the ink-drawn map of the castle.
Quickly abandoning searching the map, Harry left it to flutter to the floor as he raced out of his bed chambers, wand in hand and robes flapping around him. Somewhere deep in his mind he acknowledged the fact that his door to the heads' suite common area had flown open on its own and that he need to remain calm – that this was no time to panic. That part of his mind, however, was entirely dominated by the greater portion enthusiastically screaming that this was, in fact, the perfect time to panic.
His beeline towards the exit and over one of their study desks was interrupted mid-vault by the sight of his head girl counter-part relaxing in one of the chairs by the fire. Landing on his bare feet and skidding a bit, Harry quickly whirled about.
"Padma! She's gone! Mackenzie's gone!"
"Wha-..?" Padma had nearly started out of her chair when the door to Harry's room was ripped open and slammed against the stone wall. Her thought processes had all but screeched to a halt as Harry himself tore out of his room in a swirl of magical energy like some sort of eldritch tornado. "What are you–"
"Mackenzie! She's gone!" Harry didn't have time for this. Padma was just sitting there staring at him wide-eyed as though this wasn't an emergency. "Why did you leave her? I told you I would be right back! I can't…"
Harry's tirade was entirely derailed as he suddenly noticed a beanie-clad, dark brown-haired head poking up over the couch revealing a very familiar pair of concerned eyes. No longer paying any attention to his Head Girl counterpart as she attempted to pull herself together, Harry moved swiftly across the room in large, hurried strides.
"Mackenzie's right here, Harry. She wanted to see if you were feeling better and after you didn't come back right away, I suggested she come back here with me. I thought we might have a slumber party out here for the night – that way you can rest easy knowing she's fine."
Harry wasn't really paying any attention to what Padma was saying – his mind had focused entirely on the young girl now wrapped in his arms. Draped over the back of the couch Mackenzie was sitting on, Harry buried his face into the blue-bronze beanie, attempting to calm his racing heart and surging adrenaline while mumbling quiet reassurances to himself into his ward's scalp.
For a few moments, nothing but the sound of Harry's heavy breathing and quiet mumbling filling the apartment. Eventually Mackenzie shifted slightly to look up at the older boy still embracing her tightly. "Are you okay, Harry?"
"I'm fine Mackenzie." Harry responded after a moment, finally getting himself under control. A wave of exhaustion came over him now that the perceived crisis was over and his mind began to process the rest of what Padma had said. If Harry were to be honest with himself, the idea of having Mackenzie spend the night in their rooms with himself and Padma on had sounded like the best idea he'd heard in a long time.
"I'm sorry for shouting at you, Padma. I'd thought Mackenzie was missing and I panicked." Harry winced a bit at the snort Padma made at that comment. "I think Mackenzie spending the night down here would be good."
It was a few minutes still before Harry released his hold on his ward. As he stepped around the couch and made room for himself on the cushions, Padma and Mackenzie resumed the conversation they'd been having before Harry interrupted. Although the pair spoke for another hour or so, if he'd been asked, Harry would not have been able to say what they'd even been talking about. The exhaustion of the long day filled with fear and anxiety had finally caught up to him.
As the time approached half-nine, the three decided that it was about time to get settled. A few cushioning charms on the stone floor and some conjured pillows and blankets and they were set for the night. Without much fanfare they got comfortable in their pajamas and burrowed under the warm blankets on the open floor. Mackenzie was set upon by a giggling fit at Harry's put-upon look when he ended up with a pink-frilly pillow.
As the fire slowly died down, Harry reached out and pulled Mackenzie against him, the young girl snuggling into his now bare chest as his arms wrapped around her. Harry was quick to fall asleep, reassured that, for the night at least, Mackenzie was perfectly safe from the demons of his past.
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Hermione Granger had had just about enough of the Head Boy.
Don't get her wrong, Harry had been doing a far better job as Head Boy without her than she'd expected him to. But if he thought that just because he had been made a Head student and she hadn't meant he could get away without talking to her, then he was sorely mistaken. He'd been in a foul mood for over two weeks now, and whenever she'd tried to bring it up with him, he simply got angry and said he didn't want to talk about it.
Well enough was enough. It was beyond time someone sat him down and forced him to talk about whatever was bothering him. It clearly had something to do with Ginny, seeing as the poor girl had also been acting strangely for the past couple of weeks. Every time Hermione tried to ask her about what was wrong, however, instead of getting angry Ginny would pale, mumble something about not wanting to talk about Harry, and then run off. If Hermione didn't know better, she would think that Ginny was actually afraid of Harry.
It was ridiculous, of course, but someone had to get to the bottom of it all. All truth be told, Hermione had been intending to confront Harry about this days ago, but they just didn't hang out and talk like they used to. Between prepping for their NEWTs, Harry's Quiddich practices, and her Prefect duties, there just wasn't as much time to get together as there used to be.
Of course there was also everything Harry was getting up to with his Head Boy duties. And that was the real crux of the matter.
Hermione was certainly not surprised, and had on some level expected, that Harry would be made head boy. Who else was there, really? And certainly after his defeat of You-Know-Who, the witches and wizards of Magical Britain would do anything for their second-time savior.
What she could not fathom, however, was that she herself had not been made Head Girl. She would never say that that Padma Patil was a poor choice for the position – from what Hermione knew, she was very intelligent, dedicated to her studies, and generally popular. But there was no way that she could do a better job of it than Hermione herself.
In hindsight, she'd probably overreacted a bit when she realized that she wasn't going to be made Head Girl. She'd congratulated Harry when he informed her about getting one of the Head positions along with Padma and then promptly left on her trip to retrieve her parents. Rather than inviting Harry and Ron along as she'd intended, she ended up traveling half-way around the world to Australia with Sturgis Podmore of all people.
Hermione shook her head slightly as she continued down the third-floor corridor to the Head students' suites. She had to focus – she wasn't going to let Harry dodge her this time.
It was just before eight o'clock in the morning when Hermione reached the appropriate door. She hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was too early – even for a Saturday. Upon hearing voices inside, however, she squared herself and loudly knocked on the wooden door three times.
"Come in!" The door unlocked as Harry's voice came from inside the apartment.
"Good morning, Harry, Padma." Hermione said as she let herself in. She closed the door behind her as her eyes swept the room. "I'm glad to see…."
Hermione's voice trailed off mid thought as she registered just who was in the apartment. Harry was seated on the floor, bare-chested underneath a casual robe and the lower half of his body covered by a large blanket. Sitting with him, however, was not Padma as she'd expected this early in the morning.
No, cuddling next to Harry looking at some leather-bound tome in his hands was an equally casually dressed Mackenzie Williams.
"Harry… what's… what's going on?" Hermione could barely articulate her jumbled thoughts. She'd noticed right away, even back in September, that Harry had been paying more attention to a particular Ravenclaw than any of the other first-years. She'd even had to explain to Ron and Ginny that Harry was more than likely interested in the girl from a romantic perspective.
But this. She'd never expected this.
It was clear from the large number of pillows and blankets spread out in front of the fireplace that the two had spent the night together. Hermione would never have thought that Harry would do something so… inappropriate. But the two were both in pajamas and….
Oh merlin. What do I do?
Before Hermione could pull herself together to say something or Harry ask her if she was alright – she had just frozen in his doorway mid-sentence, after all – the door to Padma's rooms opened and said girl stepped out braiding her hair.
"Alright, Mackenzie, the shower's all yours. Dobby's brought you some of… Oh, hello Hermione." Padma trailed off slightly awkwardly as she took in the odd atmosphere in the common room. Hermione was just standing staring open-mouthed while Harry looked back in mild concern, Mackenzie's head swiveling between the now three seventh years. Hands still wrapped in her hair, Padma timidly ventured further into the room. "Hermione, is everything okay?"
"Did she sleep here with you?" Snapped Hermione before flinching slightly. It wasn't really what she had meant to say, but it was certainly the thing in the forefront of her mind. She quickly wished she'd been more tactful, however, as Harry's face quickly formed into a scowl and even Padma's eyebrows creased into a frown.
Before Harry could say anything, Padma quickly headed-off the storm. "Mackenzie, why don't you hop into the shower while the three of us talk for a bit?"
Recognizing that she didn't really want to be anywhere near the suddenly stifling atmosphere, Mackenzie promptly climbed to hear feet and disappeared into Padma's rooms. Once the door had been shut, Padma turned her focus back to the other seventh-year girl. Again, she cut off what looked to be a brewing tirade from Harry.
"Hermione. I don't know what the problem is, as you clearly think there is one, but after how worried Harry was all day yesterday, I thought it appropriate that Mackenzie spend the night here with us where Harry could keep a direct eye on his ward."
The other two students' reactions were not quite what Padma'd expected. Harry's eyes widened significantly as his face began to pale while Hermione simply spluttered.
"Ward? His ward?" Hermione asked after finally controlling her surprise. "What does she mean 'you ward', Harry?"
"Ah, yeah, about that." Harry trailed off, running his hand through his hair as he looked away, not making eye contact with either girl. "I was going to tell you about that, but, I mean…."
"Wait, you mean you haven't told Hermione? I… Oh…." Padma looked quickly between the Head Boy and one of his best friends. "I'm sorry, Harry, I would have thought you'd told her."
"Yes, I would have thought that too, Harry."
Harry couldn't help but wince at the rising anger in Hermione's voice. "Look, I meant to, really Hermione… I just… I'm sorry."
Harry trailed off and shot his best friend a pleading look for understanding. The two just stared at each for a few moments before Hermione huffed. "So, when did this happen?"
"Uh… just before the Hogwarts Express left– "
"What?! That was two months… and you didn't… I can't believe after all… you wouldn't tell…!" Harry winced again as Hermione stopped her near incoherence to close her eyes and take a deep breath.
The three stood in silence for a few moments attempting to come up with something to say to break the tense and awkward atmosphere. Suddenly a memory came back to Hermione of the train-ride to school.
"You said there was a situation with a first-year. That you had to take care of something. This was it, wasn't it?" Hermione watched as Harry hesitantly nodded his head. After another moment of tense silence, Hermione gave a great sigh before making her way to one of the armchairs near the fire. "Let me guess, she's an orphan?"
Given the emotional rollercoaster she'd ridden over the last ten minutes, Hermione couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips upon seeing Harry's head snap back towards here, his eyes wide in shock.
"How did you know…?"
Typical Harry.
With a snort, Hermione rolled her eyes and relaxed fully into the chair. "Really, Harry? I've known you too well for too long. Honestly I should have realized sooner that it would be something like this. Honestly I didn't know what to think. I thought that maybe you liked her romantically or something…."
Hermione stopped again as Harry's face changed rapidly back to a vicious scowl. "Yes, well, you weren't the only one."
Hermione's eyes narrowed in thought as Padma finally made her own way over to them, just as curious about Harry's mood swing as his best friend was.
Suddenly Hermione's eyes flew open. "Ginny! That's what happened with you and Ginny, isn't it?"
"Yes, Ginny!" Harry barked out, sneering the younger girl's name. "You won't believe what she said. She accused me of… she accused me of… she asked if I was shagging Mackenzie!"
Padma and Hermione both gasped, but only the later felt guilt begin to well in her stomach.
"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry. If I'd known…" Hermione took another deep breath as she looked at her furious best friend. "I'm sorry, Harry. That might have been my fault."
"What?!"
"Wait, hear me out!" Hermione quickly threw one hand up in a 'halting' motion. Waiting for Harry to nod, she began again softly. "Look at it from our perspective. It was clear you favored Mackenzie over the other first-years. Honestly - over all the other students, your friends included. We didn't know what to think! I told Ron and Ginny that I thought you might be attracted to her and that you were spending time with her so that when she was old enough to date, she'd think of you. I'd never thought that she might be your ward… although honestly I probably should have. It's much more in character for you."
Hermione finished with a huff, clearly displeased that she'd been so far off the mark.
"Can you forgive me Harry?"
Harry had wanted to repeatedly interrupt his best friend, but at the same time, he couldn't really fault her for her logic. He knew that he'd been spending more time with Mackenzie and her friends than his own friends, and he honestly didn't know what he'd think in their place. After a few more minutes he gave a great sigh and relaxed his crossed arms.
"If you can forgive me for not telling you about Mackenzie, I can forgive you for thinking the wrong thing, I guess."
Hermione's smile was equally relieved and exasperated.
"Deal."
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After a few more minutes chatting with Hermione and Padma, Harry excused himself to take a shower of his own. In light of that morning's revelations, Hermione was able to put her disquiet with the selection of the Head Girl aside and interrogated the Indian girl on everything she knew about one Mackenzie Williams.
She was able to interrogate the girl herself once she finished her shower and returned to the common room. All-in-all, Hermione found Mackenzie to be a sweet girl and entirely devoted to her new guardian. It wasn't all that surprising know that she understood just how devoted Harry was to her.
My nine-thirty the party was making their way down the central stair-case to the Great Hall for some breakfast. Hermione and Padma were chatting with Mackenzie on subjects she might be interested in taking her third year while Harry took up the rear, basking in the fact that nothing had gone wrong during Halloween.
Meeting Ted Tonks and Professor McGonagall waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs, however, quickly brought back a sense of dread for the Head Boy. Furthermore, their grim expressions ruined any semblance of a good mood Harry had been about to enjoy.
"Harry, something's come up."
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AN: Thank you for reading. Please feel free to provide feedback via review or PM.
