Harry Potter and the Weaver's Wizardry
Chapter 11
Classes began with a flurry of books and homework as those who had already finished, reviewed them and those who hadn't moved with an exaggerated haste in a bid to finish it all. September 2nd just happened to be a Saturday which gave them some much needed time to finish everything.
He spent his weekend in the Common Room with Susan, Hannah and Cedric, who was a prefect and Guard. He had some wool and was braiding them into a cord to act as a makeshift rope. He felt uneasy this year and not from life-threatening danger but he couldn't figure out why. So he prepared himself to be ready anytime. He also did requests from his friends as he enjoyed the looks on their faces when he was finished.
Monday classes began with the absolute joy that was Lockhart. Double Defense. First thing. When Harry read his timetable he slammed his head into the table, much to the sympathy of the other boys. The girls were squealing in joy however and movement could be heard early in the morning as they tried to look their best. Except for Susan. Bless her soul, Harry was so glad she wasn't like the others. What he didn't know was that she had her own celebrity that she got to see every day who paid attention to her.
Hermione, Padma, Hannah and Tracey all had the Lockhart Lovebug and could be heard gossiping and chattering all the time about Lockhart. It was enough to drive a guy mad. Poor Neville. His ears will never be the same again. That wasn't his first thought though. No, Harry's first thought was to cackle at him. They were friends like that.
By the time DADA finished for the first time, Harry was seriously considering asking Professor Sprout if he and Susan could just self-study for the year. Unfortunately it seemed like she also had the Lockhart Lovebug, if only a very, very mild form of it but not enough for it to affect her job performance. Must be the teeth Harry figured. They were far too white to be normal.
Harry had taken to looking up wizarding customs and history in his spare time to make sure he didn't commit any political mistakes since he had taken on his heir ring. He had also started writing to Madam Bones about what he had accidentally done on the train and hinting that he had interest in dating Susan in the next few years and wanted to make sure he went about it correctly. He also wrote to the Flamels asking for advice about his teenage years.
What he had received was a very long letter form of the talk that had him mortified and unable to look at any girl in the eye for days. Susan had been worried as he had avoided touching her and took her concerns to Cedric as a fellow Puff and older male. When he had asked Harry about it Harry showed him the letter he had received from the Flamels.
After Cedric got over his shock that he was writing to THE Nicholas Flamel and began reading he laughed and laughed and simply couldn't stop. When Susan confronted him later on he simply told her that Harry had received the Talk and let him be for now. He had also hinted at taking things slow to get him to readjust to her presence. Blushing cutely, she just nodded and fled to her room until she got herself back under control, remembering the time her auntie had sat her down and given her the witches version of the Talk.
The next few weeks saw Susan gently coaxing Harry back into physical contact with her. It started with pats on the back and gentle teasing of his hair when it looked particularly messy some days and by the time Halloween arrived she had progressed from touches to his arm back to holding his hand. Harry still had wide eyes and slight blushes every time it happened but he no longer shied away from her.
This came to the teasing disappoint from the rest of their close friends and genuine disappoint from the rest of the female contingent and even some of the younger males which disturbed Harry quite a bit. While he had understood that his joy in physical contact with Susan was natural, no one had taken the time to explain the more open clarifications to people's relationships.
There was one incident during the weeks of September and October that proved to be memorable to many of their friends and seniors. They had been sitting down at the Gryffindor table with the Council and Guard around them when an owl fluttered down in front of Susan, who took the letter off the owl and gave it some chicken that was being served for lunch. The owl finished eating with a grateful hoot before flying off to the Owlery for a rest.
She took one look at the opening sentence before turning on Harry.
"Why were you writing to my aunt Harry?"
"I wrote to your…." Harry had paused as he tried to remember when he had written to her aunt when the memory of what he wrote and the letter from the Flamels came crashing into his mind.
"I… er… that is… I need to go." That was all Harry managed to get out before he bolted away like a deer. Every single one of his friends chased after him, knowing that this would be something that they would regret if they missed it. Susan however took the moment to read the rest of her aunt's letter before blushing at what her aunt had written.
"Oh Harry." She sighed in contentment, taking solace in knowing that he felt the same way she did.
"Why must you make things difficult?" She stood up from the table and waved the professors off who were looking worried at the fact that a student bolted and a herd followed him. She slowly walked out of the Hall as if she was a predator and was on the hunt. Which was remarkably accurate considering the way Harry had bolted.
She considered the different ways to track him down before simply deciding to follow the chaos that seemed to follow Harry around like a puppy. She heard falling suits of armor coming from the main staircase and made her way through. The sight of what lay before her caused her to stare in bafflement. Tapestries had fallen to the floor, their occupants screaming in outrage and pieces of armor scattered all over the hallway.
"How on earth did you manage to cause all this mess?" Her voice was like a barb and was sufficient enough to chastise everyone present, even Harry who was currently situated in a pod-like weaving that was strong enough to hold his weight, with strands connecting to every staircase railing on this floor landing and the next.
Harry looked over to her with wide eyes and had a gentle blush on his face that caused Daphne to coo over the sight before coughing and schooling her face when everyone stared at her.
"Umm hi?" The gentle murmur of Harry's voice brought the attention back to the soap opera of Susan and Harry but neither noticed as they were in their own world. So engrossed in the sight of each other that they didn't notice the professors or the rest of the school arriving either. The Council and Guard let the professors through but kept the rest of the students from interrupting as this was blackmail material worthy for years to come.
"Is it alright if I come up? It won't break and have you plummet down three flights of stairs will it?"
"It'll be fine." Harry reassured her. "They're infused with my magic right now and nigh on unbreakable. I suppose someone could if they tried hard enough but they would have to have magic stronger than mine so probably only the professors could at the moment."
She had just set her foot on one of the woollen ropes before Harry stopped her.
"Just a sec." he called out, motioning for her to get back onto the landing. What happened next took the breath of a lot of the older students as well as the professors' away. Closing his eyes gently in concentration he sent another wave of magic into the wool to strengthen his control over it before gently detaching ropes one by one and reapplying them somewhere else so that rather than being in the empty space between two floors, he was on a more stable web situated horizontally.
It was a wonderful sight as the different colored wool glowed with their appropriate color before weaving themselves back into a spiderweb pattern. He then sent a bolt of cloth that changed its dimensions until it made a path from Harry to Susan.
He smiled gently and pulled out two spools of silk that he sent down the path, acting as handrails and reassuring Susan that he wouldn't let her fall. Inviting her to sit next to him in his pod he waved his hand and a heat wave appeared around them and muffled their voices.
No one outside of the web could hear what they were saying but many of the purebloods could guess based the actions they took. The solemn way Susan talked and showed her letter. The way Harry had a gentle and hesitant smile on his face as he reached for her hand. The beaming grin on her face after he kissed her hand. The way she practically tackled him in joy.
When the drama had reached the tackle many girls gave dramatized wails while a few of the more dedicated (crazy) girls actually started wailing in despair. Fake tears of pride were wiped by the males and coins changed hands as the betting pool that had started when Harry had accidentally grabbed Susan's breasts, which were actual grounds for contracts to be written, came to a conclusion. To many who knew them it was inevitable but the only variable they had to calculate was when it would happen.
There was much debate over the specifics as just because they are entering a contract has no meaning on when they actually enter the contract. This could just be a period where they are testing the waters.
While they were debating the specifics of the Harry-Susan betting pool, the privacy wards dropped and the end of the pair's conversation could be heard by everyone.
"-The talk via a letter. I was so scarred by what I had read that I couldn't look at any girl in the eye for days." Mentally, Susan and many of the girls in the Guard and Council cursed whoever it was that sent him the Talk in a letter and destroying part Harry's innocence. Nicholas Flamel, who wrote the letter at Perenelle's insistence, had a massive sneezing fit that forced his wife to send him to bed.
Harry gently raised the web until it was back to its original height before weaving the ropes into a staircase with the cloth acting as a carpet so that their steps didn't sink into air. He escorted Susan back onto solid ground before snapping his fingers and silently willing for the wool and cloth to reroll itself and with a wave of his hand brought the basket back to him.
It didn't take him long to finish packing and when he did, Susan took his hand and led him to their next class, the pair still oblivious to everyone who was watching them.
It eventually became time for the Halloween feast that Harry had displayed a not so keen interest in attending. He had managed to charm Susan into having dinner with him in the kitchens and ran the idea by Professor Sprout to ensure that they wouldn't be out of bounds during it which had been approved almost immediately when he lowered his head so that we was staring through his fringe with wide eyes. She caved soon after.
So when everyone started to move towards the Great Hall, it was a happy pair of 2nd years who made their way down to the kitchens and sat a faraway table in the corner. It seemed like the house elves knew the latest gossip as there was a small vases of roses with petals as dark as Susan's hair, while the candles were blazing a gentle emerald green that matched Harry's eyes.
As the house elves were about to bring them their food, Harry insisted that they make sure that the feast was ready first since that seemed like the larger job. The elf in charge of serving them widened his eyes and nodded and hurried back to the rest of the elf contingent where they were to send the food up at the Headmaster's signal.
"So was there any particular reason as to why you didn't want to eat at the feast with everyone else?" Susan was clearly hesitant about asking this question but felt that she needed him to answer for his own peace of mind. "Not that I don't enjoy your company or anything. I'm quite fond of it and don't intend to let it go any time soon." She light-heartedly joked, hoping to lessen the impact of her words.
"It's fine to ask. It's not a huge deal, not as much as last year anyway. I've made some good progress with my relatives so at least they aren't beating me anymore." Harry paused at the information that he had never told anyone and casually blurted out before forcing himself to relax. It was Susan. She's been by his side for over a year and he had even asked her aunt about courting her, in accordance with what he hoped had been correct customs otherwise he looked quite the fool.
"It's just sometimes I wish they were still here. Even now I wonder what it's like to receive a good morning every day or a kiss to the forehead at night."
She saw his struggle and gently muttered "Oh Harry" under her breath before taking his hand and rubbing circles in it with her thumb. "I understand completely. I feel the same way sometimes when Auntie is at work. You can't help but wonder what it would be like if it had been someone else that had lost their parents rather than us."
"What about Hannah and her family? You all seem rather close."
"We've practically grown up together. They're like the cousin, aunt and uncle Auntie would have been if my parents were alive and she wasn't so focused on her career." The last bit was said jokingly, as it was clear that Susan didn't wish for her aunt to change in any way. "She's my inspiration."
"So you want to be an auror when you grow up then?" Harry was inquisitive about what she wanted to do after Hogwarts which was in a decent 5 years.
"I'm not entirely sure if I want to be an auror. I wouldn't mind being a prosecutor or healer for the auror corps though. Something to help give back to the people who risk their lives to keep us safe." Her eyes blazed as she talked about her dreams and Harry was drawn to her even more.
"I want to be able to do something that involves fabric or clothing materials. It doesn't matter what it is. It could be a fashion designer, tapestry weaver or a magical light armorer. Just as long as I can feel the needles in my fingers, smell the scent of leather and cloth in the air and listen to the rhythm of the wool spinning in my ears." His eyes glazed over slightly as he reveled in the feel and hum of his magic. His control slipped for a moment and Susan and some of the surrounding elves listened to the tune of his magic and basked in what he felt all the time.
"Oh Merlin Harry! Is that what your magic sounds and feels like all the time? That's amazing. No wonder you can work wonders with it. It's literally in your magic." Harry merely grinned at her praise.
"I looked it up in the library. Long ago before there were wands or even staffs, wizards and witches had their magic more aligned to a more academic or ambient leaning. Academic mages slowly built up their reserves from what would be described as accidental magic in our time, while ambient mages draw their powers from whatever their magic aligns them to. In my case it's fabrics and working them into clothing and weavings."
"They still pop up now and then. I think Snape might be an ambient cooking mage with a heavy focus on potions but don't tell him I said that. I have no way to prove it and would rather not have him on my case by accusing him of being a wonderful chef." Susan sniggered at the image of Snape in a frilly white apron and nearly lost herself to laughter before she could manage to tell Harry what she found so funny.
"I think there might be an ambient seer in the new batch of Ravenclaws as well. I've seen her with a faraway look sometimes and it fits with some of my research about the signs of ambient mages. Will you help me check if she can?"
"Look at you. Prince, Protector and now Patron. By the time you finish Hogwarts they're going to run out of words starting with P to add to your title." She teased, a beaming smile that told him how proud she was of him cutting through any hurt that could have been implied.
It was during a wonderful dessert of treacle tart and strawberry cheesecake that Harry passed on the warning that Dobby had given him during the holidays when he wasn't receiving mail but mentioned that he hadn't seen anything yet that could have been linked to the danger.
"Not even a hint? Are you sure that the elf was serious and not playing a joke?"
"I think I can tell when a crazy house elf is serious or not Sue." He teased back, a smile on his face. He rather enjoyed watching her tuck a single lock of hair behind her ear that kept escaping all through the meal. "Anyway it's getting late, we should head back to the Common Room and find out how the feast went."
Susan nodded in agreement and shoved the remaining half of her cheesecake into her mouth like a squirrel and smiled cutely at Harry with bulging cheeks. He just snorted at the sight, pressed his lips lightly against one of the bulging cheeks and pulled her along by the hand, looking back now and then to make sure she didn't choke on the cake.
She had a rather prominent blush that circled around the bulges as she slowly made her way through small chunks of cake, taking care to chew and swallow properly before she tripped and choked. When she had finally finished her last mouthful she joked about tripping and injuring herself via cheesecake.
When they entered the Common Room, they made their way to the couch in front of the fire and curled up together, sated by the full course meal and the warmth of the fire. It was an hour later when Harry woke up from the impromptu nap to the sound of the rest of Hufflepuff making its way into the Common Room in a panic.
"Mr Potter! Ms Bones! I'm so glad you're alright. Where were you an hour and a half ago?" Susan jerked upright from the shouting and smacked Harry in the chin, sending them both onto the couch again groaning in pain, Susan clutching the top of her head while Harry held his chin.
"In the kitchens with the house elves ma'am. Why? Did something happen?" Harry answered, rubbing his chin to get rid of some of the pain
"A message was written on the wall. It said that 'the Chamber of Secrets has been opened! Enemies of the Heir Beware!' Poor Mrs Norris. I've never seen Filch so distressed. The head master had summoned everyone back to the Great Hall while they checked to see if they could find what had petrified the cat."
" #$%."
"Language Mr Potter!"
"Sorry professor." Turning to Susan with a raised eyebrow.
"Think this could be the danger that Dobby warned us about." Susan's reply was so colourful that Harry had to take note of some of them and also had the added effect of causing Professor Sprout to blush at the insinuations.
"Life can't be simple with you at Hogwarts now can it Mr Potter?" Susan asked exasperated, as Hannah approached for gossip and reassurances that they were both fine.
"You know me. I aim to make life interesting no matter where I am." Harry shot back with a cheeky grin that made his smile more prominent with his eyes gently glowing. "Give me 7 months, I'll solve the issue no problem."
"We'll solve it Harry. I'm not letting all of my efforts in chasing you go to waste just because I wanted to play damsel in distress. No, we'll grab the Council and yes this includes Daphne, Tracey and Padma, stop putting off making more of these eye-gouging armbands, you know you want to, and we'll gather all the clues and solve it together your highness for we are Your Council." Susan ended the impromptu speech with a passionate salute and a gentle kiss to the cheek before she scampered off to bed leaving Harry gaping at her back on the couch spellbound at the sight.
