Hello, everybody! I thought that I uploaded this chapter, but obviously not. Well, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or plots or Teen Titan characters or plots. I do not own any text from Harry Potter books that will be seen scattered throughout some of these chapters.
Harry woke up to the door of Fred and George's old room being blasted open. He heard ruffling and sunlight was shining bright into his eyes. A second later, he felt a hand smack the top of his head.
"Wuzzgoinon?"
"Why didn't you tell us that you were here? We weren't expecting you until this morning?" Ron yelled, slapping him on the back some more. "Ron!" could be heard in the background.
"I just got back, you were already sleeping." Harry straightened his glasses, trying to wave the last bit of disorientation away.
"Well?" Ron's eyebrow furrowed.
"Well, what?" Harry stared on in confusion.
"Dumbledore! What did he talk to you about?" Ron sputtered nearly falling off the bed.
"Well, it's not like we had a party." Groaned the freshly awoken Raven, getting annoyed at all of the yelling.
"Who are you?!" Ron shouted, if not a bit rudely. "Ron, really!" Chastised not Hermione, but Harry.
"Until you can ask a bit more nicely, it's none of your concern." Raven bit out irritated.
"It bloody well is…"
"Please, I'm Hermione Granger, it's nice to meet you. Hermione offered kindly extending her hand out to Raven. An awkward silence spread amongst them for a short period of time.
"Raven." She bit out, contemplating whether she should be a bit nicer to this girl.
"How were your travels, anyway?" Hermione asked politely, at least she was trying to make her feel welcome. The corners of Raven's mouth lifted the slightest bit.
"…Interesting." Harry glanced at her, exasperated. Raven rolled her eyes. "Dumbledore's an odd guy, he mainly told us about this guy named Horace Slughorn that he was trying to recruit on his staff this year. He was saying that the guy liked to "collect" people that he felt had the potential to benefit his lifestyle. He apparently would try his hardest to make sure your reach some sort of social fame in your career so that way you can repay him for his hard work."
"I've never heard of Slughorn before. Hmmm." Hermione wondered over him.
"I have, my parents were taught by him back when they were in school. Reckon dad doesn't like him much though." Ron grumbled out, he was going to at least try to be nice for Harry's sake.
"Why not?" Harry eyebrows furrowed, curious. Slughorn didn't sit too well with him either.
"I wouldn't like spiders either." Raven muttered. Ron paled and glanced at her confused. Harry rolled his eyes at both of them.
"Reckon he's not interested in dad's interest in muggle items."
"I wonder how this one's going to be this year.-" Hermione said, inquisitively.
"He can't be worse than Umbridge," said a voice from the doorway. Ron's younger sister slouched into the room, looking irritable. "Hi, Harry."
"What's up with you?" Ron asked.
"It's her," said Ginny, plonking herself down on Harry's bed.
"She's driving me mad."
"What's she done now?" asked Hermione sympathetically.
"It's the way she talks to me-you'd think I was about three!"
"I know," said Hermione, dropping her voice. "She's so full of herself."
Harry was astonished to hear Hermione talking about Mrs. Weasley like this and could not blame Ron for saying angrily, "Can't you two lay off for five seconds?"
"Oh, that's right, defend her," snapped Ginny. "We all know you can't get enough of her."
This seemed an odd comment to make about Ron's mother. Starting to feel that he was missing something, Harry said, "Who are you-?"
But his question was answered before he could finish it. The bedroom door flew open again, and Harry instinctively yanked the bedcovers up to his chin so hard that Hermione and Ginny slid off the bed onto the floor.
A young woman was standing in the doorway, a woman of such breathtaking beauty that the room seemed to have become strangely airless. She was tall and willowy with long blonde hair and appeared to emanate a faint, silvery glow. To complete this vision of perfection, she was carrying a heavily laden breakfast tray.
"'arry," she said in a throaty voice. "Eet ' as been too long!"
As she swept over the threshold toward him, Mrs. Weasley was revealed, bobbing along in her wake, looking rather cross.
"There was no need to bring up the tray, I was just about to do it myself!"
"Eet was no trouble," said Fleur Delacour, setting the tray across Harry's knees and then swooping to kiss him on each cheek: He felt the places where her mouth had touched him burn.
I 'ave been longing to see 'im, You remember my seester, Gabrielle? She never stops talking about 'Arry Potter. She will be delighted to see you again."
"Oh…is she here too?" Harry croaked.
"No, no, silly boy," said Fleur with a tinkling laugh, "I mean next summer, when we-but do you not know?"
Her great blue eyes widened and she looked reproachfully at Mrs. Weasley, who said,
"We hadn't got around to telling him yet."
Fleur turned back to Harry, swinging her silvery sheet of hair so that it whipped Mrs. Weasley across the face.
"Bill and I are going to be married!"
"Oh," said Harry blankly. He could not help noticing how Mrs. Weasley, Hermione, and Ginny were all determinedly avoiding one another's gaze. "Wow. Er-congratulations!"
She swooped down upon him and kissed him again.
"Bill is very busy at ze moment, working very 'ard, and I only work part-time at Gringotts for my Eenglish, so he brought me 'ere for a few days to get to know 'is family properly. I was so pleased to 'ear you would be coming-zere isn't much to do 'ere, unless you like cooking and chickens! Well-enjoy your breakfast, 'Arry!"
With these words she turned gracefully and seemed to float out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her.
Mrs. Weasley made a noise that sounded like "tchah!"
"Mum hates her," said Ginny quietly.
"I do not hate her!" said Mrs. Weasley in a cross whisper. "I just think they've hurried into this engagement, that's all!"
"They've known each other a year," said Ron, who looked oddly groggy and was staring at the closed door.
"Well, that's not very long! I know why it's happened, of course. It's all this uncertainty with You-Know-Who coming back, people think they might be dead tomorrow, so they're rushing all sorts of decisions they'd normally take time over. It was the same last time he was so powerful, people eloping left, right, and center-"
"Including you and Dad," said Ginny slyly.
"Yes, well, your father and I were made for each other,
what was the point in waiting?" said Mrs. Weasley. "Whereas Bill and Fleur…well…what have they really got in common? He's a hardworking, down-to-earth sort of person, whereas she's-"
"A cow," said Ginny, nodding.
"But Bill's not that down-to-earth. He's a Curse-Breaker, isn't he, he likes a bit of adventure, a bit of glamour….I expect that's why he's gone for Phlegm."
"Stop calling her that, Ginny," said Mrs. Weasley sharply, as Harry and Hermione laughed. "Well, I'd better go on….Eat your eggs while they're warm, Harry."
Looking careworn, she left the room. Ron still seemed slightly punch-drunk; he was shaking his head experimentally like a dog trying to rid its ear of water.
"Don't you get used to her is she's staying in the same house?" Harry asked.
"Well, you do," said Ron, "but if she jumps out at you unexpectedly, like then…"
"It's pathetic," said Hermione furiously, striding away from Ron as far as she could go and turning to face him with her arms folded once she had reached the wall.
"You don't really want her around forever?" Ginny asked Ron incredulously. When he merely shrugged, she said, "Well, Mum's going to put a stop to it if she can, I bet you anything."
"How's she going to manage that?" asked Harry.
"She keeps trying to get Tonks round for dinner. I think she's hoping Bill will fall for Tonks instead. I hope he does, I'd much rather have her in the family."
I mean, Tonks is okay-looking when she isn't doing stupid things to her hair and her nose, but-"
"She's a damn sight nicer than Phlegm," said Ginny.
"And she's more intelligent, she's an Auror!" said Hermione from the corner.
"Fleur's not stupid, she was good enough to enter the Triwizard Tournament," said Harry.
"Not you as well!" said Hermione bitterly.
"I suppose you like the way Phlegm say ''Arry,' do you?" asked Ginny scornfully.
"No," said Harry, wishing he hadn't spoken, "I was just saying, Phlegm- I mean Fleur "
"What is the Triwizard Tournament?" Raven asked. Harry smiled thankfully at the change of subject.
"The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago, as a friendly competition between the tree largest European schools of wizardry -Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks.
The schools took it in turns to host the Tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be the most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities – until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the Tournament was discontinued. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money." Hermione repeated nearly verbatim from Dumbledore's speech two years ago.
"A death eater disguised as a well-known auror named Alastor or Mad-Eye Moody became the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in my fourth year at Hogwarts, and entered me into the competition. The thing is, once your name is chosen, you can't back out of the tournament; you have to compete. Knowing my luck, of course my name was chosen. I managed to get through the challenges and win, however we had a casualty named Cedric Diggory. The death eater in disguise managed to make the Triwizard cup a portkey, another wizarding way of travel, to a graveyard where Voldemort's father was buried. Cedric and I agreed to take the cup together and were both sent there, Voldemort killing him in the end and me barely escaping." Harry stared sadly into space. Raven could tell that this was uncomfortable for him, so she once again changed the subject.
"Can you tell anymore that I should know about this Hogwarts, so that I know what I am to expect?"
Hermione was also thankful for another topic, and willingly indulged, "Hogwarts is as you know a wizarding school that has levels1-7. When you first come, you are sorted into one of four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. This will be the house you stay in during the rest of your time at Hogwarts. You will sleep and spend your evening hours there. If you win enough points for your house, that house can win the house cup for that year (you can do this by answering questions in classes or helping out a teacher or other students). In level 5, you must complete Ordinary Wizarding Levels or O.W.L.s. Depending on how your fair on them, you are guided in the best career direction that your head of house opts for you. Since you are going to be starting in sixth year however, I'm not sure if you will be required to take it or not this year. That leads me to level 7. In this level, you will be required to take N.E.W.T.s or Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. Just from the name I don't think that I have to tell you about them. If you think of it in muggle terms, it is kind of like the SATs in wizarding form."
"What are the SATs?" Ron asked cluelessly. Hermione rolled her eyes, "I'll tell you later."
"They help you in any final career decision, before you graduate Hogwarts."
Hermione cut off when Mrs. Weasley called from downstairs, "Ginny, I need you to come down and give me a hand!"
"I'm talking to this lot!" Ginny exclaimed frustrated.
"Now Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley shouted, getting frustrated.
"Fine!" Ginny huffed, "She just doesn't want to deal with Phlegm by herself." Ginny trotted out of the room, flipping her hair akin to Fleur as she left.
Shortly, after the four discussed more about Hogwarts, Ginny briskly walked back into the room, stopping the rest of the conversation, "Mom says she wants you guys to come down so that we can get ready to go shop for school.
"Alright." They called together as she walked back down the stairs still huffing.