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11. Letting go of the past
As time passes Harry begins to forget about the Stone. Slowly, gradually, as this timeline moves farther and farther from his past, he becomes more connected with the people around him, no longer comparing this Ron to the one who lives in his memory. Strangely, it was Ginny who started this process and it is because of her blush at sight of Neville that Harry decided, right there, on the platform, about to board the Express, that he must stop judging this world like his own. For a second, he was jealous, seeing Ginny ignore him so completely, but in the next instant he was happy and free, and he knew it was for the best. He wonders if she and Neville will end up together this time around.
Weeks pass, his first Quiddich game ending smoothly and effortlessly with Slytherin winning by 180 points. Harry cheers, and Flint praises his skill, and even Snape cracks a smile and says: "That was a good catch, Potter."
The party afterwards is unlike any he has ever been to. There are no Weasley twins to smuggle in Honeydukes products and Butterbeer, but instead Harry is greeted with delicious food prepared by the Hogwarts house-elves upon request. His housemates are suddenly friendlier, sixth years asking him to join in their conversations, and Harry is unexpectedly glad of the opportunity to talk to people closer to his own mental age. They are surprised by his attitude, but if any of them are suspicious they know to hide it well. Being a Slytherin is all about giving a good impression and house loyalty is often acted out no matter the true feelings.
The party is comprised of many little groups of people and he finds himself privy to such talk as would make his Father go for his wand. It comes mostly from the older students, some of whom remember the first war, and not a few of them talk wistfully of days when the Dark Lord was in power. They are not, however, all blindly following in their parents' footsteps. From several students Harry hears words like: "Not much choice, is there?" And "If I didn't hate Mudbloods, my father would disown me." It scares Harry, partly because he knows that one of the reasons for the Slytherins' rush to Voldemort's side when war broke out is the other houses' mistrust or outright hatred of them. Their reputation precedes them wherever they go and if they have little money few roads remain open. Here, in this common room, alliances are formed, and it is partly out of necessity that modern Slytherins become progressively more ambitious and sly.
"Harry?" Daphne comes to rest on the couch next to him.
"Yeah? What's up?"
"I think you might be right about Quirrel."
He is not expecting this and nearly chokes on the piece of cheesecake he is eating.
"Really? Why?"
"Well…" She considers: "At first, I just thought you had a point about him being almost too harmless looking, but then I noticed how he was muttering to himself this one time, and he does keep adjusting his turban rather, like he's afraid it'll fall off, and maybe he's just being nervous but I think it could be something else." She waits, looking at him expectantly as if trying to gauge his reaction.
"Exactly!" he says, and thinks: "Thank Merlin she's a Slytherin!" because this would never, and had never occurred to a student of another house. Daphne looks pleased with herself and asks:
"But what can we do about it? And anyway, do you really think Quirrell needs the philosopher's stone for, you know, him? For the Dark Lord?"
"Yeah, I think so. I mean, doesn't it make sense that Voldemort would want to regain his power?"
"Shhhhh, Harry, don't say the name! Are you stupid? Of course it makes sense, but that means saying his name is even more dangerous!"
"Oh come on! My dad says it, and my mom, and their friends, and Dumbledore too."
"Well, Dumbledore's the only person the Dark Lord ever feared, isn't he, and your parents are both aurors. You're just a kid." She looks at him pleadingly and Harry wants to strangle the man who first said "You-Know-Who".
…..
Fred looks over at George and grins when he sees the other twin holding his trunk in both hands. It took them a while to empty it out and even longer to find the boggart, but they know it was worth it.
The idea was his, but George figured out how to set the plan in motion, and it was he, in the end, who found the boggart lurking under the sink in Murtle's abandoned toilet. This is often how their pranks work, and it fills them with the usual excitement.
Of course, they never tried to prank Harry before. After he revealed that he knew the Marauders they teamed up, and now the whole school knows about the trio and fears it. Fred supposes Filch's greatest dream is to see them expelled, and on their part, they strive to come as close to fulfilling it as they can, without actually getting kicked out. Sometimes Fred wonders what it would take for Dumbles to give up on them.
There's a first time for everything though, and the twins feel that losing the Quiddich game and enduring Wood's great sulk for a week warrants a prank. Fred hopes Harry hasn't heard about boggarts, or at least about how to stop them. When they learned about them in Defense this year Fred loved the idea of "Ridikkulus", and this prank has the potential to be hilarious. He is only sorry they do not have a camera to capture this moment.
He sees Harry walking down the corridor in their direction. The boy's face is impassive and calm and as Fred leaps out from behind a suit of armor he jumps just a little and Fred revels in the knowledge that he can startle Harry in this way.
"Hello, fellow prankster." He begins.
"We have something incredible to show you." George continues, stepping out of a secret passage to the right. Harry looks at them suspiciously before following, eyes darting from one to the other in hopes of finding a giveaway.
"Here." Fred says, and points to the trunk.
"This, is an object of great value-"
"That required a lot of hard work-"
"On our part."
"So we hope it produces-"
"The desired effect."
And with that, George flips open the lid. And the twins stare. They expected to see a zombie, or a spider, or perhaps McGonnagal, or maybe even a blood-soaked vampire, and to witness Harry's terror and feeble attempts at a "protego", followed by laughter when the twins dispelled the creature. What they did not expect was a man who looked very much like Harry's father, or perhaps an older Harry, judging by the eyes, thin and pale, with Neville's scar on his forehead, standing in front of them with a wand in his hand. Or Harry, with a look of unnatural calm, flicking his wand and casting "Ridikkulus", saying "Good-bye" as the figure turned into a clown and pushing the lid of the trunk down.
Harry looks at them, and Fred can see that he is more shaken than he lets on, but he just says:
"That wasn't very funny", and walks away, leaving Fred and George to stand in the corridor, the trunk on the floor between them, wondering what in the name of Merlin's dirty socks Harry has for a boggart.
…
Hermione runs up to the Slytherin table as soon as she finds Harry there, and she tries to ignore the curious looks the other students are giving her. One of the fifth years scowls at her but she scowls right back and comes up to Harry.
"Hi, Hermione", he says, turning round from his conversation with Marcus Flint.
"Hi." She leans forward and starts to whisper, her voice barely audible. "Ron and Neville were there when it happened, but I thought you ought to know, 'cause you're Hagrid's friend. I figured maybe you could talk him out of it, make him see sense. 'Cause you see, he hatched a dragon!"
Harry sighs, and Hermione is astonished to see that he is not surprised. His voice is exasperated as he relies:
"He should know how dangerous this is!"
"Yes, and Ron already got hurt helping to look after it, Norbert nearly bit his arm off. You've gotta persuade him to let Norbert go with Charlie, Ron's older brother, to live in Romania with other dragons. They're flying by tonight and Norbert must go with them."
"Yeah, I think I'll talk to him today after classes are over. Do you need help getting him to these people? I could give you my cloak…"
She is relieved, and, however puzzling Harry's reaction was, she cannot dwell on it now.
"Oh would you help, really? We have to give the dragon to them at midnight from the Astronomy tower, but Ron's in the Hospital Wing and Neville is, well, he can be rather clumsy. If you'd help me carry Norbert to the tower, that'd be perfect, and I'm sure Hagrid would be more willing to give it up if you were there."
Harry looks rather doubtful but nods, and she feels, for the first time this week, that things are going well. The feeling remains with her all through the day, through Hagrid's pleading and tearful good-byes, and through the long walk up under the Invisibility Cloak. It is strange and exciting to be out at night, when the hallways are dark and menacing and every suit of armor seems almost alive. When they reach the top, panting with exertion, Charlie and his friends are waiting, and as they hand Norbert over an owl swoops by and hoots loudly in Hermione's ear. In her joy, she hugs Harry for a second, and then they start down the stairs. They are nearly at the bottom when Harry swears and rushes up again, to return a minute later with his cloak wrapped around him.
"Oh, Harry, how awful! We could have been seen! But you really shouldn't say things like that." She admonishes, and can just see his grin in the gloomy corridor.
He walks her to the Griffindor tower and she is about to go in when something occurs to her.
"Hey Harry, about that thing with…Fluffy."
"Yeah?"
"I don't know if it's Quirrell, but do you really think it's for Voldemort? I mean, do you really believe he's alive?"
Harry looks uncomfortable and answers too quickly, causing alarm bells to go off in her head.
"I do think he's alive. I know Dumbledore does", he replies, and turns to go without so much as a good-bye. She looks at the space where his head, now invisible, used to be, and as she turns to go through the portrait hole she wonders what it is that makes him behave so oddly, and what secret, dark or not, he is hiding. Hermione Granger never let a problem go unsolved, and she is not about to start now. Determined to figure it out, she goes to bed with the notion of spending more time with Harry from now on.