Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; it's all J.K. Rowling. I do however, own this story's plot!
Chapter 14
Tedious Week I
~ Previously in Bonding Weekends Part II ~
Removing the chains, Hermione quickly checked the date before confirming that they had indeed gone back in time, a week back.
"Now, I've included an extra eight hours." Luna replied, as Egidio walked over to keep her steady on her feet. "You had best use this time to settle down and rest for the night because tomorrow is when we start working hard."
She nodded for Egidio to take her to her room and the rest of the guardians followed behind, Alandair bringing up the rear with the rest of Luna's baggage.
"Luna's right." Ginny said, "I'll see you all tomorrow morning."
Silence ensued before everyone dispersed to find their own rooms.
Tomorrow would be a long day.
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Several knocks at the door roused the sleepy couple from their sleep. However, staying half-awake and hearing no sounds for a few minutes, they took it as their cue to continue sleeping. After a couple of seconds of drifting near unconsciousness, another knock echoed in the room.
"Draco… you get it…" Harry whined, pulling the duvet above his head.
"No… it's too early…" Draco complained, following his boyfriend underneath the covers.
The two did not hear the door open and a few quite snickers.
"Ready Gred?"
"Ready Forge."
"Steady… and …"
"Aguamenti!"
A jet of clear water burst from the tip of Fred's wand, soaking the two teens, now screaming from the sudden frostiness of the rude awakening.
"Stupefy!"
"Ducklifors!"
A soft thud against the carpeted floor and loud quacks roused the boys from any further sleep. They sat on the bed merely looking dazed at the sight before them.
One twin was stunned while the other was gone, turned into a duck. That duck was currently sitting on the stunned twin, quacking angrily at the young teens. Finally processing what had happened, the Slytherin and Gryffindor burst out laughing, drawing attention from others down the hall.
"What's all the noise?"
"Isn't it a bit too early to get up?"
Neville had peeked his head into the doorway, still wearing his Gryffindor red and gold pajamas. Blaise stepped out from behind the Gryffindor and walked into the room, overstepping the stunned body and the angry duck. One hand reached up to ruffle his already messy hair and the other reached to cover his mouth from a yawn, while trying to blink away the blurriness from sleep. His pajamas were unbuttoned showing a bare chest with a nice six pack and his pajama bottom was hung low on those hips that had Harry gaping with his mouth wide open.
"Little lion, I think you're drooling." Pansy murmured from the doorway. She had on her sleep robes, tied delicately around the waste with slippers to match. Though the Slytherin was annoyed at being awoken at such an early time, which was only seven twenty in the morning, she could not help but smile at the sight of Harry hurrying to close his mouth to rid himself of further embarrassment.
"I think you should turn him back." Ginny yawned, before blinking rapidly to keep awake.
Harry chuckled weakly. "You don't know how do you?" The redhead asked.
Shaking his head, Harry admitted to not knowing the reversal spell. The duck quacked even louder and beat its wings into the air, as if rearing to attack.
"Immobulus." Blaise whispered, and the quacking stopped.
"Good, now I think we only have forty minutes to get ready before breakfast. I suggest we use this time wisely to start the day and not return to sleep." The olive-skinned teen replied, staring sharply at Harry who smiled weakly in return.
A small thud was heard from the doorway and everyone turned to see that Neville had fallen asleep standing up and was now kneeling against the doorway to hold himself up.
"Neville, wake up! We best get a move on before all the hot water is used." Ginny said, shaking the Gryffindor by his pajamas.
"Right… hot water." The teen mumbled before stumbling towards his room and shutting it behind him.
"Forty minutes." Blaise warned once more before shooing the girls to their rooms.
He stopped in front of the doorway, turned around and smiled at Harry. "Good morning." He greeted, before he closed the door behind him.
"That was eventful." Harry grumbled before he threw off the soaking sheets.
"Dobby!" Draco called and a loud resounding pop was heard.
"What can Dobby be doing for the young masters?"
"Could you put new sheets onto the bed, dry our pajamas after we remove them and dry the bed for us?"
"Of course, Dobby be doing it quick and easy!" And with a snap, everything was completely dry.
"Thank you. We'll leave the clothes in the hamper then." Draco said before ducking into the bathroom.
"Yes young master Malfoy." Dobby squeaked before disappearing with a pop.
"We should share the bathroom," Harry advised as he headed to the sink, "Since you take so long."
"I beg your pardon Potter. A Malfoy has to look his best every day, not scruffy like that bedhead of yours." Draco sniffed, as he stepped into the shower.
"Hey!" Harry cried out indignantly. "I'll have you know, I like it like this! It makes a statement!" he concluded boldly.
Draco poked his head from the showers and gave the Gryffindor a long look before quirking his eyebrow. "Really? That's all you can come up with?"
Harry turned to retort before his voice was stuck in his throat. He nearly died and gone to Heaven when he saw the water droplets clinging onto the ends of Draco's wet blonde hair. The water slipping and sliding down Draco's chest and over the ridges of his well-formed abs, no doubt received from all those Quidditch practices. Draco used his fingers to comb his damp hair back from his eyes and Harry nearly swallowed his tongue as he watched those muscles flex from the movement.
"Enjoying the show Potter?" Draco teased as he leaned against the shower's walls.
It snapped Harry out of his dreamy daze and with a brilliant flush, and a low sultry chuckle from Draco, Harry quickly turned back to the sink and grabbed his toothbrush. Slowly glimpsing up into the mirror, he caught Draco's striking silver eyes returning his look before he hastily looked down at the sink and brushed his teeth.
Merlin, was it getting hot in there.
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"Good morning Harry." Hermione chimed before elbowing the drowsy redhead by her side.
"'Morning Harry. Nice night?" The teen yawned, before making an effort to sit up straight.
"'Morning 'Mione. 'Morning Ron, nice night indeed."
The rest of the group trickled in as Harry and Draco made their way over to the two empty seats beside Blaise. Harry settled into the seat as Draco, like the gentleman he was, helped push it in for him. Smiling broadly at the blond, Harry thanked him for his gesture before turning to Blaise.
"Good morning Blaise. You didn't wait for my return greeting before." Harry said.
"Yes I know, but we were losing time. So I figured you'd greet me under less compact circumstances." Blaise replied.
"Ah yes, the whole Slytherins must look their best even at their worst thing, am I correct to assume such?" Harry said.
Draco snorted besides him in amusement. Blaise seemed to look amused as well.
"Yes… that is correct." He finished, before smiling at Harry and turning to greet the others.
"Where are the twins?" Remus wondered, noticing the two vacant spots at the table.
"I'll… go get them." Harry said, before rushing off.
He opened the bedroom door, quickly muttering, "Rennervate." Towards the stunned body and hoisted the frozen duck into his arms, muttering an incantation to unfreeze the duck but another to stun the duck afterwards.
"Merlin Harry…" George groaned, rubbing his the back of his head; surely a bump has formed as he dropped onto the carpeted ground.
"It's time for breakfast. I assume you and Fred have already gotten dressed and ready for the day before deciding to prank Draco and I, so let's get them before they start eating.
If Harry looked weird holding a duck in his arms, George didn't bother saying anything, just in case Harry decided to cast another charm on him, or have Draco do it in his stead.
"Ah George. There you are." Remus replied, noticing the redhead. "Come, it's time for breakfast."
"Where's Fred?" Sirius asked. "Is he behind you?" He leaned over to the right, trying to look beyond the dining room doorway.
"No actually. I thought he was already here." George answered.
"Look what I found!" Harry beamed. "I found a duck!"
"A duck? On my property?" Lucius questioned, eyeing the animal in the teen's arms.
"Yes! It was in my room when I went to get George!" Harry chirped.
"Leave that animal in the back, or better yet, give him to one of the house elves. I bet it would taste delicious for dinner." Lucius said.
Draco, Blaise, Ginny, and Pansy choked in laughter. Neville, although the boy had fallen asleep at the last minute, also held back from laughing as he knew who the duck was.
Lucius frowned. "I don't see what's so funny about having a stray animal roaming about my manor. It would be best to leave it outside or have it as food."
"Father, that's one of the Weasley twins you're currently speaking about."
The elder blonde looked perplexed before narrowing his eyes at the snickering children.
"Is there something I should know about?" he hissed.
"Do not blame me! It was Harry who threw the charm at him." Draco confessed.
"Thanks a lot Draco. You're my hero." Harry replied blandly.
"Is this true pup? Transfigured Fred into a duck did you?" Sirius smirked. "Thatta boy!" he encouraged.
"Not likely." Remus reprimanded, cuffing Sirius on the back of his head. "Now, hand him over." He ordered, opening his arms for the duck.
Harry offered the duck to the werewolf and Remus walked over to the empty seat and placed the duck down carefully. Quickly muttering a counter spell, Fred reverted back to human and glared annoyingly at Harry.
"You know, even if you knock me unconscious, I knew what you were about to do." He stated.
"Yes," Harry nodded, "But that will teach you to wake me up like that."
"Now now. No more pranks." Remus warned, "It's time to get serious now. There's no time for fun and games."
Nodding their heads, everyone quickly went to work piling food onto their plates once breakfast appeared onto the table.
"I'd recommend eating as little as possible, young ones." Egidio warned, before he piled some sausages onto his plate.
"Why's that?" Harry asked.
"You should heed his warning. Egidio does not warn others unless it's of importance." Tesia replied as she dribbled syrup over her pancakes.
The teens looked at each other warily before splitting the food on their plates into halves and then eating. Soon, everyone was finished and it was eight forty in the.
"Now, everyone will run laps around the manor." Tom ordered, pointing his finger towards the doorway.
"What?!" The teens exclaimed.
"That's not part of the plan!" Harry shouted.
"We have to run laps?!" Pansy shrieked.
"That's right. Laps. You know, what muggles do to exercise? And what Quidditch players do to boost their stamina?" Tom explained.
"I'm surprised you knew a muggle exercise." Harry quipped before prancing away under Tom's death glare.
"Tom, that means you too." Luna replied, walking forward and dragging the Dark Lord by the wrist.
"You will unhand me Miss Lovegood. I will do no such thing." He ordered, but his orders went unheard.
"Unhand me this instant!" Tom instructed, earning a piercing white swirly stare from the short Ravenclaw before him.
"You dare order me around?" she asked with a husky voice underlying the soft tinkling tone.
Tom looked stunned before narrowing his red eyes at her. "Yes, I dare say I do."
Quirking those blonde eyebrows, Luna's grip on Tom's wrist tightened before dragging the struggling wizard outside the manor against his will.
"You will unhand me and apologize for making me look like a child in front of my own followers." He commanded.
"As if you aren't a child yourself." Was the reply before Luna released her grip on his wrist. He gingerly felt the aching spots before realizing her iron grip had created red rings around it, as if bounding him to her.
Hissing in petulant angry, he healed the bruises and joined the rest of the teens, leaving the adults to stand on the sidelines.
"You best change your clothes." Macaire suggested, "It will not do to move in those outfits."
"These are the only things we've got." Pansy replied, standing akimbo. "Did you really think we'd dress in anything lesser?"
"No offense Weasleys, Hermione." She quickly added. Sometimes it was hard to remember that now, not everyone around her wore such high quality clothing.
"Could you change us into something then?" The twins asked. "That thing you did at Twilfitt and Tattings."
Macaire turned to look at Egidio, who gave him a brief nod.
"Very well. Boys on one side, girls to the other." He watched as they warily walked to their places. "Come on now. We haven't got all day." He rushed.
"Be warned. The outfit you are about to wear is for training."
"Training? I thought we were just exercising!" Ron moaned.
"In order to keep up in dueling, your stamina must be in tip top shape! That way you won't lose your breath when you're shouting spells at the opponent!" Remus shouted.
"Unless you want to get hit with a stray spell!" Sirius added.
"No!" The teens echoed, their volume hitting the animagus at full blast before their turned their attention on the white haired Guardian who was instructing them on where to run.
"Now, I took the liberty of scouting the area." He began.
"Without my permission Macaire? My, my. What invasive guests we have. Taking liberties where they have none." Lucius said.
"Don't be like that Lucius." Sirius scolded, "They're only doing what's best for the children."
"Do not speak to me as if I don't know what's best for my own child." He snapped. "I had a hand in raising him."
"And a good lad he turned out to be." Sirius nodded.
"Was that sarcasm?"
"No, I was merely stating the fact." Sirius shook his head as he shook hands in front of him in denial.
Lucius eyes him suspiciously before turning to look at the teens.
"Now, you see the entrance down there?" Macaire pointed in front of him.
The teens stretched their necks to spy Malfoy Manor gates a great distance from where they stood.
"Yes…" they answered warily.
"Good, good. Now, you see that garden in the back?" he motioned again for the teens to look. They nodded their heads.
"Good, good!" He repeated, clapping his hands.
"Now, I want you guys to run ten laps." He ordered, his expression now serious.
"Ten laps?!" the teens exclaimed.
"Ten laps while saying the spells you know out loud. It's to train your stamina and your breathing technique."
"Now, hand over your wands." Macaire ordered, placing a hand out in front of them.
Tom narrowed his eyes at the white haired guardian. "And what if we refuse?"
Macaire's eyes gleamed wickedly in the sunlight. "Then your punishment will be in the hands of the other three guardians."
He motioned to Egidio, Alandair and Tesia a few feet away from them. Egidio was standing with his legs apart, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes carefully studying each and every one of them – as if he was reading their physical body stats. Alandair had a sneer on his face – though it might be due to being unable to be beside his lover at night. So the second guardian was clearly in no mood to be defied. Tesia was rocking back and forth on her heels, a smirk widely present across her face with her eyes alight in childish excitement. Scarily, she seemed the most dangerous of them all.
"Understand?" Macaire asked, turning back to face the Dark Lord.
Tom muttered underneath his breath before a brief blowing of the wind alerted him that his outfit had changed.
The Slytherins boys wore a black wife beater engraved with the Slytherin house emblem on the spot above the heart and green cotton sweatpants that had a silver snake wrapped around the right pant leg. The Gryffindor boys were also sporting a similar look, though they had on a white wife beater engraved with the Gryffindor house emblem on the spot above the heart and red cotton sweatpants that had a golden lion stitched from the right thigh down.
The Slytherin girls wore a silver sports bra with the Slytherin emblem engraved on the spot above the heart and a silver cotton sweatpants with a green snack running up the side of their left pant leg. The Gryffindor girls wore a red sports bra with the Gryffindor emblem engraved on the spot above the heart and a red cotton sweatpants with a golden lion stitched from the left thigh down.
Only Luna and Dudley seemed to the odd balls amongst the teams. Luna had her house colors perfectly portrayed in her outfit, with a blue sports bra engraved with the Ravenclaw house emblem and blue cotton sweatpants with a bronze eagle spread across her bum. Dudley was the only one wearing a gray hoodie with gray sweatpants.
And that was not the worst part. It was the only good thing about the outfit. All the teens had on ankle weights as well as wrist weights and waist weights. Ankle weights were accurately made up of two percent of each person's weight, wrist weights were one percent of each person's weight and the weights hanging around their waists made up three percent of each person's weight.
"Sorry." Macaire apologized. "I do not know what house you are in, but it will change accordingly once your house has been established."
"You mean we're going to be doing this during the year too?!" Ron squawked.
"Pull yourself together! We're trying to take Dumbledore down!" Neville said, and with his words, he rallied the rest of the group of teens – reminding them that they were doing this to take down the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
"And is that really what you're worried about Weasley?" Pansy shouted. "Do you not see the weights we're carrying?!"
"It will be a good measure of how well formed your stamina is." Egidio explained from several feet away. "That way when we add on more weights, it will really be considered training."
"This," Alandair motioned to their get up, "is just a warm up. Though, where we live, this is not considered much of a warm up." He sniffed.
"Hand over your wands." The white haired guardian repeated after his lover had stopped talking.
After several seconds of grumbling, the teens reluctantly placed their wands in Macaire's hands.
"Very good. Now, you have about ten minutes to run ten laps which consist of a good five miles." Macaire stated, clearly reading to begin the training.
"Ten minutes for ten laps?!" The teens shouted.
"You're right. Ten minutes is far too much, how about I drop it down to five minutes?"
The teens paled even more.
"Now you're just being unreasonable!" Theo argued.
"But we've never had to exercise before! Can't you give us some leeway?" Crystal pleaded.
Macaire looked amused with all the angst swirling around the teens. In fact, it seemed as if he relished in it, if those green eyes of his were to clue the teens into it.
"Very well. You have fifteen minutes. Only fifteen minutes." He repeated, interrupting the protests that were about to begin.
"You will have refreshments as you finish your last lap and a five minute cool down. So it would be best to stretch now before you pull a muscle later." He warned and immediately everyone set about stretching their arms, legs, muscles and any other part of the body they believed they would be using their muscles for.
Ten minutes later, Macaire had drawn them a starting line and had they lined up behind the white line.
"Ready… three… two… one…" He whistled and the teens sprinted down towards the entrance gates.
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"Severus…" The elder Malfoy began.
"What is it?" The wizard asked, turning to look towards the blonde.
"The Dark Lord will be most displeased when he has finished his… exercise." Lucius began, looking at the potions master from the corner of his eye.
"Do not worry. I have stocked up on potions to ease their pain. But I will not be distributing them whole to everyone. They will not build up the tolerance that way, so only a couple of drops in their refreshments will do." Severus replied, heading back towards the manor with a billowing of his black robes.
"Remus, Sirius, what do you think?" the blonde asked, after a few moments of silence.
"Think about what?" The wizards chorused.
The blonde continued after he watched the teens reach the gates.
"Which one will be the first to finish of course. No doubt it will be Draco. He's been practicing for Quidditch ever since he was just a child."
Sirius had this gleam in his eyes that Remus knew he wouldn't like.
"Harry will be the one to finish!" The animagus contradicted. "He's the world's youngest seeker in the century! He's had Oliver Wood training him for the past couple of years. He'll be done before any of them finish their lap."
Remus sighed. He knew this would happen, father and godfather playing favorites.
"Do you not think your Lord will finish first Lucius?" Remus asked.
"I am sad to say I do not believe that will happen. My Lord is anything but athletic. He has the mind of a strategic king, but not the body of an athlete." Lucius muttered quietly, knowing if Tom were to hear those words, he would not be thrilled.
"Well I think my Duddikins will be the first." Petunia replied in the small lapse of silence between the three men.
"Why do you think so?" Remus asked.
"He's been exercising since he was younger, mind you. When he was twelve to be precise. He did not exercise in that fat suit for nothing." Petunia said. "My Duddikins told me it got easier to exercise when the fat suit stopped becoming an obstacle in his movements."
"Still spoiling your child I see." Sirius bit out. He didn't like it when Petunia had turned on Lily for being the only magically gifted child when they were young, and he still couldn't believe the reason for her jealousy was due to the fact that she herself had lost her magic when she received it just a couple of months before Lily entered Hogwarts.
"You'd understand if you had a child of your own." Petunia retorted, instantly not enjoying the wizard's presence.
A flash of pain skirted across Sirius's face before it was gone in a flash. "Well, just so you know. In the Wizarding World, there is such thing as male pregnancies."
And with that last comment, the animagus turned his attention back towards the group of running teens, leaving Petunia to digest the new piece of information.
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"Stupefy."
"Expelliarmus."
"Wingardium Leviosa."
"Funny…" Hermione huffed, "… that you would pick that."
The group laughed at the blush growing on Ron's face.
"Well, it's no guess that," Ron took in a large breath, "Harry would choose Expelliarmus."
"Well, how about guessing Blaise's?" Harry asked, his breath at a near normal pace. He thanked Professor McGonagall, the Head of Gryffindor, who allowed him onto the Quidditch team first year and had Oliver Wood to train him for the past couple of years – not that he enjoyed it of course.
All heads turned to each other as they thought while spitting spells out from their mouths.
"Confundo?" Ginny guessed.
"Or how about Densaugeo?" Neville asked, laughing at the expression Hermione was sporting.
He knew he wasn't the only one who laughed. Everyone seemed to remember during third year where Draco threw that spell, hell bent on Harry receiving it when Hermione ended up being the target as the spell was rebounded. Her front two teeth grew past her collar before she had to run to Madam Pomfrey to get it shrunk.
"Draconifors?" Harry contributed, as they reached past the manor.
"No, that's something Draco would say." Pansy said, shaking her head.
"I don't hear any spells young ones!" Macaire cried after them when they neared the middle of the manor.
"Episkey!" Theo cried.
"Finite Incantatem!" Fred hollered.
"Incendio!"
"Expulso!" George shouted.
"Fiendfyre." Harry guessed, continuing on with the game.
The teens looked at him in shock.
"What? There's no harm in muttering spells without wands." Harry shrugged. "Besides, that's probably what Blaise was going to say. Right Blaise?"
The Gryffindor turned to look at the olive-skinned Slytherin with his big emerald gaze. Blaise smiled.
"Yes, I was about to say that."
"Are you saying that to please him?" Crystal asked, as she ran up to Blaise's right side.
Blaise turned to look at her. "Why, I would never lie to please someone." He looked out her outrageously before turning to grin at Harry.
"I lied." He whispered as if speaking about a conspiracy.
Harry grinned, earning Blaise a smack on the head from Crystal.
"Anyway Harry. You didn't know you could say spells wandlessly?" Crabbe asked, from behind.
"You can also do magic wordlessly too." Goyle added.
Harry looked surprised. "But I thought those were just rumors."
"No, if a wizard or a witch is strong enough, if their core is strong enough, they will be able to do magic wandlessly and wordlessly." Tom explained, from a few paces in front of the group.
"So you're saying you can do it." Harry shouted in return.
"Yes. Yes I can." Tom responded. "That is why I refuse to think of any spells at the moment."
"If you practiced Harry, I think you can succeed." Hermione encouraged. The others nodded.
"We might as well try together." Luna replied. Her running looked more like skipping on air.
"Dudley, why are you being so quiet?" Harry asked.
"I don't really know what you lot are talking about. I was a non-magic folk just a day ago."
"More like a couple of hours ago." Ginny amended.
"Don't worry. We'll teach you and soon you'll catch up to us." Neville said, trying to lift the teen's spirits.
Dudley sent him a surprised look, which Neville rolled his eyes at. "I can be nice if I want to." Neville laughed before facing forward.
"How many laps has it been?" Crabbe wheezed. His stamina was quickly draining, as was the group's, as they wasted more and more oxygen shouting out spells rather than containing the oxygen to waste less energy to run.
"Nine… and a half…" Goyle answered, sucking in as much oxygen as he could.
"Don't worry." Harry said, wiping the sweat off his brow. "Once we reach the Manor's entrance, we're done for the day."
"Hopefully." Ron grumbled.
Their legs felt like wet noodle, their arms felt like jello and their lungs felt like it was burning up in flames. Their faces were flushed red from the exercise and the sun that was beating down on them. No matter how much they were sweating, it did nothing to help cool their body down. But, no one dared to complain in case they were rewarded with more laps. They didn't even complain even when they were far far away from the four guardians, but something in them told them they would hear it anyway even from a far distance.
With a last spurt of their waning energy, the teen finally crossed the white line, dropping down onto the soft grass alongside the path they were running on. Loud intakes of air and huffing and puffing were heard. The adults only looked on in amusement.
Macaire walked up to them and smiled giddily.
"You were correct to change the time to fifteen minutes. You have past the ten-minute mark as you started your seventh lap. You barely just made it on time finishing your tenth lap. In fact, you arrived exactly on point."
"Just… on the… fifteen minute mark..?" Theo quickly gasped out the rest of his question, clutching his chest to breathe in the sweet, sweet air.
"Yes. However, this will change soon understand? This is merely a warm up to get your blood moving." Macaire assured passing out their wands, smiling at the looks of horror etched on the young ones' faces.
"Why… are we … doing this again?" Dudley asked, as he slouched over his bended knees.
"Did Sirius and Remus not explain to you properly?" Macaire cocked his head to the side in confusion.
"I did not think… stamina had anything… to do with casting spells!" Dudley insisted.
"Oh but it does. Without stamina, how can you hope to best a wizard who is much faster, much stronger, and much more powerful than you?"
"How do you… even know so much… about wizards and magic?" Hermione asked, her eyes looking up at the guardian curiously.
Macaire merely smiled at her question before walking away. Remus, Sirius, Lucius. Severus and Petunia took his place, each holding two cups of refreshments before having the rest levitated before them.
"Here you are. There's a muscle relaxant potion added to your drinks." Severus informed the teens, who greedily took the cups and drained it of its contents.
Murmuring thanks to the adults, the teens laid onto the grass breathing sighs of relief as they felt the potion working through their bloodstream. They continued staring up at the sky in silence. The adults left them alone to their break.
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"Draco won that race." Lucius concluded, as they left the teens alone.
Sirius snapped his head to the side with eyebrows furrowed in contemplation. Remus just thought Sirius was busy thinking up an argument to refute his lover's claim.
"Harry won." Sirius replied stubbornly. He gripped the cups he held tightly in contained anger. Lucius looked at him in amusement before with a frown. He had imagined that Sirius would throw the cups onto the ground and soon he would look at the trash with disdain, wondering how his lover could dare dirty his property in such a way.
"My Duddikins won." Petunia sniffed, crossing her arms across her chest. Though her stance looked quite ridiculous with the empty cups hanging from her hands.
Remus put his hand on his forehead and shook it with an exasperated sigh. These adults can really act like children. He quickly sent the cups towards the kitchen to be washed before the china could be discarded in a sudden burst of anger.
"Well, this argument is going nowhere." Petunia concluded.
"You're right, it isn't." Lucius sneered.
"That's why Remus should tell us who won the race." Sirius said, turning to his best friend.
"Technically, it wasn't a race. It was just an exercise regime that the Guardians formed without the teens' knowledge." Remus smartly informed them.
His explanation was met with blank stares before comprehension surfaced and then soon followed by anger.
"We were not talking about whether or not this was a training regime for them or not." Petunia said angrily.
"Just tell them Draco won." Lucius demanded.
"No! Harry won! Tell him Remus." Sirius said, waiting for his best friend to back up his claim.
Remus sighed once more before looking up at the arguing trio.
"Hermione won alright?" His declaration stunned the trio.
"Not the boys. Not Draco. Not Harry. Not Dudley. Hermione. Hermione Granger. The brunette witch that everyone has declared to be the brightest witch in Hogwarts, if not in a century." He pointed directly at the girl lying on the grass as he declared her the winner of the 'race', even though it was impolite to point.
"Okay? Now stop this insistent arguing. You sound like children." He calmly said, before turning his backs on their surprised looks and marched back into the manor.
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"Can you imagine doing this every single day? For the next forty weeks and three days?" Crabbe muttered.
"Did you have to remind us of the time we're spending during the summer, and to such a degree?" Goyle moaned.
"I thought you guys would better understand the direness of the situation." Crabbe shrugged.
"Oh, I don't think we have to imagine it." Harry replied, finally catching his breath.
"What do you mean Harry?" Ron asked warily. He hoped Harry was thinking about what he was thinking.
"Harry means to say that perhaps we will be doing such strenuous exercises for the rest of the summer vacation." Draco stated.
"Macaire did hint at continuing this during our school year." Blaise replied. "Unless you have forgotten it or had a momentary lapse?"
"No, I have not. But I wished it wasn't true." Ron groaned.
"According to my calculations –" Hermione began.
Two-thirds counterpart of the Golden Trio groaned in exasperation. How did Hermione even begin to do calculations at a time like this?!
She glared up at the sky, knowing that the boys would feel the glare anyway.
"According to my calculations," she began once more, "The distance from the gates to your garden is a good half mile. So if we do self exercising of our muscles, we should be able to decrease our time and increase our speed a good minute after a half a month to a month's worth of time."
"Only so little?" Crystal cried.
"Well, we've only begun to exercise. Draco, Harry and Blaise have done Quidditch practices since first and second year. Ron only started last year. Dudley has done it since –"
"Since I was twelve."
"Since he was twelve, and Crabbe and Goyle have done it as well no? Since third year? Or was it fourth?"
"Third." They chorused.
"Okay, so that leaves just Pansy, Crystal, Ginny, Neville and I."
"What about Tom?" Harry questioned.
"I haven't actually included the Dark Lord in my calculations Harry."
"Yeah, it's not like she went to school with him." Draco chortled before sobering up at the withering gaze Tom threw him.
"I apologize." He quickly said.
"I have done self-training, mind you."
"Even those years you were adrift?" Blaise asked smartly.
"Don't sass me Zabini. I may have made an unbreakable vow with Draco and Harry, but you were not included." He hissed, his eyes bleeding red.
"Oh, we might as well make one together, the four of us." Harry said, sitting up, wincing as his muscles protested with such movements.
"What? You want to make another Unbreakable Vow?" Tom hissed.
"Yes, yes I do. I've declared that both Blaise and Draco were courting me no? Plus, I have feelings for the both of them." He boldly declared, though his red cheeks were the only evidence of his embarrassment at publically declaring his feelings.
"But can we even touch you during this time?" Draco asked.
"We should be able to right Hermione?"
"I've read about Unbreakable vows, however, I have never read about courting laws. But I suppose it won't have any harmful or lingering effects of course. You're not sexually or affectionately touching Harry. It's just to make a vow. It should be fine."
"Ah, Granger and her logical answers." Crystal applauded.
"Hurry up and let's get this over with before I change my mind." Tom glared.
Intertwining their hands together, the quartet each tapped their wands onto the pile of hands before lifting them away.
"Do you, Tom Marvolo Riddle," Tom scowled at the full use of his muggle name, "promise to protect Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and I, Blaise Zabini?"
"I do."
"Do you, Tom Marvolo Riddle, promise to hand over Peter Pettigrew and Bellatrix Lestrange over to me, Harry Potter?"
Tom narrowed his eyes, but did not remove his hand from their pile.
"I do." He bit out.
"Do you, Tom Marvolo Riddle, promise to remove my mother's existence as soon as possible?" Draco asked.
"I do." Tom grinned sadistically.
"Do you, Tom Marvolo Riddle, promise to not harm all muggleborns who are willing to stay in the Wizarding World and learn our traditions?
"I do." Tom answered, surprised the question came from the Malfoy heir.
"Do you, Tom Marvolo Riddle, promise to overtake the Wizarding World with the sole idea to protect our traditions?
"I do."
"Do you, Tom Marvolo Riddle, promise to help us get rid of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore?"
"I do."
"Do you, Tom Marvolo Riddle, promise not to betray Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and I, Blaise Zabini?"
"I do."
"Do you, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, promise to not betray me?"
"We do."
Soon the swirling strands turned a blinding gold color before it disappeared.
"That was pretty easy." Hermione replied.
"It wasn't supposed to be difficult." Pansy stated.
"I did not enjoy you adding more requests Harry." Tom glared at the boy who returned his glare with big wide green puppy dog eyes.
"I'm sorry." Harry apologized, still looking at Tom through those innocent looking eyes.
"Fine. At least you all promised to not betray me. That is all I could ask for in our agreement." Tom replied.
"So, since we're all buddy-buddy, can we call you Tom?" Theo asked.
"Unless you wish to –" Tom glared hotly at the hand that covered his mouth.
"Of course you can. After all, you cannot call him Dark Lord or My Lord in public." Harry quickly reassured the group.
The Gryffindor pinned the Dark Lord with a look before Tom acquiesced and nodded.
"Do not use it too much." He hissed before getting up and heading towards the manor.
"I think we've rested long enough." Neville replied, getting up and dusting off the strands of grass from his sweatpants. He reached down and pulled up Dudley's raised hand before the two walked back as well.
The rest of the group grumbled at the quick break – which lasted a good fifteen minutes instead of five minutes. They were thankful the Guardians didn't rush them and so they begrudgingly walked back in as well.
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"Good now. Head over to the sun room." Lucius directed. "Two rooms down the hall.
The group arrived to see the adults lined up near the windows. The sunroom was transfigured to look like a miniature classroom, similar to that of the classrooms at Hogwarts.
"Sit down." Severus ordered and everyone hurriedly found their seats and kept silent, eyeing the potions master warily.
"You all will be taught a crash course for the first five years of schooling. I hope, for your sake, that you will be able to pass with flying colors." His onyx eyes narrowed at each and every one of them, though they skimmed over Hermione.
"You will learn the entire first year's workload in seven weeks' time." Severus informed them.
If the gapping mouths were any clue to their horror, Severus took no note of it. He continued on with their planned schedule, ignoring the expressions on their faces.
"We planned for eight weeks' time per year, seeing as how we have forty weeks and three days – two days now, since we're using up today to start. But the adults and I have agreed to push it into seven weeks. By the time these seven weeks are up, you will have memorized each and every one of the subjects you've studied in first year. Your last week will be spent taking exams as if you were a first year. So be prepared." He drawled, his eyes drilling into their heads.
Luna seemed to be the only one besides Hermione that was beaming in delight. The others were pale in fright and were possibly feverishly trying to recall all they knew back in first year.
"But Professor Snape," Luna called out, "We can do the entire year's workload in just five weeks!"
All heads snapped towards Luna in horror.
"What are you doing?!" Ron hissed.
"Are you trying to make us implode?" Crystal whispered harshly.
"No, no no." Luna giggled. "While the guardians and I were chanting a protection spell to help us go back to the proper time, I added a couple of extra spells on my own."
"And that was?" Neville asked, hoping the Ravenclaw would clarify everything before she was hated.
"I added the magic, strength, power, knowledge and a little more towards the protection spell. Because my magic is permanent in the enchantment, we're able to learn, comprehend, understand, memorize and recall twice, if not three times faster, better and efficiently than the average person can. Plus, with the magic, strength and power spell, we're able to do magic more efficiently and more better than the average wizard can." She explained.
"This includes and does not only fall into our physical strength category. Did you not noticed that the average person running ten laps in fifteen minutes in one go when never having to exercise would have done a lot worse than we would have?" She questioned with curiosity.
The group bellowed their thanks and happiness and cheer at the Ravenclaw. Hearing that they've improved even before starting the training had boosted their spirits.
Severus cleared his throats before drawing their attention upon himself.
"Remus, Sirius, Lucius, Tom and I will be your professors for the rest of the summer. The guardians will do their own job. Petunia and Dudley will be joining your lessons and we expect you to learn quickly, if what Miss Lovegood says is true."
"It is true!" she chirped.
"Very well then. I suppose we can push everything to five weeks. And after these five weeks, there will be a week's worth of examination. But mark my words, even with your enchantments, you're going to need to focus and study diligently." Severus's eyes narrowed to further imply the seriousness of the situation.
"Very well now. Here are your books. We took the liberty of withdrawing all Year 1 to Year 5 textbooks from your possessions. And yes, only your textbooks. We will provide parchment paper, quills and ink. Please do not fail us." He sneered.
The teens understood that he was by no means asking them politely but required them to do so.
"If you do not receive an O in each and every one of your assignments, practical and exams – well, I don't think you would want to know the consequences of your inability to learn."
With a wave of his wand, Snape had the required textbooks levitated to their desks.
"A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration?" Crabbe read.
"Yes, we will start with that." Lucius replied, strolling over to the black board. Giving the board a small tap with his wand, the chalk immediately jumped up and starting writing down their first lesson of the day.
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After one hour and forty-five minutes of Transfiguration, with Lucius as their professor, and given assignments to finish and hand in the next day. After this lesson, they were given a fifteen-minute break before jumping into the next lesson. The group moved onto another one hour and forty-five minutes of the History of Magic with Remus. The teens stayed awake perfectly well, considering it was not Professor Binns that was teaching them. Before finishing their History lesson, Remus happily assigned them a fifteen-inch paper on Uric the Oddball.
"I can't believe we're only done with two subjects and it's already one in the afternoon." Fred complained.
"I don't see why we have to do this. We're not even Hogwarts students anymore." George sulked.
"It's best to get your basic down pat. The elementary knowledge is the keys to your success." Remus explained, as they all walked towards the dining room for lunch.
"Master Malfoy! We made lunch as planned!" The house elves chirped.
"Thank you Sonia, Chip, Alaeya. You are dismissed." Lucius said, as he moved towards the head of the table.
The house elves bobbed their heads and disappeared. Sirius quickly moved to help Lucius into his seat while Severus helped Tom into his. Both Blaise and Draco pulled out the chair for Harry to sit, earning a beaming smile from the emerald-eyed teen, who blushed heavily under the Slytherins' attentions. Soon everyone was sitting in their seats and happily ate the food served to them.
"What's next after lunch?" Pansy asked.
"You will have an hour of lunch followed by an hour and forty-five minutes of Charms, an hour and forty-five minutes of Defense Against the Dark Arts. After that dinner will be served at precisely five thirty and end at seven. And that will be the end of the day.
"That's all?" Goyle asked.
"Yes, did you wish we push every subject onto you?" Sirius asked.
"No, not really." Crabbe replied, "We just thought you'd teach us more considering we have the enchantments."
"Even with enchantments, we cannot do such a thing." Remus said.
"Mind telling us what our schedules are for the rest of these next five weeks? So we're actually prepared?" Hermione asked.
"Very well." Tom nodded his head at Lucius to take control of the situation.
"Mondays and Wednesdays will be breakfast, your stamina training, Transfiguration, History of Magic, followed by lunch, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts and dinner. However, your stamina training and Defense Against the Dark Arts are an exception because you will be taking them every day. Tuesdays and Thursdays is as follows: breakfast, stamina training, Flying, Herbology, followed by the rest of the afternoon with Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Friday will be free study for the entire day, but this does not mean you shall not be self-studying." His eyes narrowed at all the teens and their smiles dropped like flies, although Hermione's, Draco's, Blaise's and Luna's stayed plastered on their faces.
"Your weekends," Lucius began and everyone groaned. "Your Saturdays will be dictated by stamina training, Defense Against the Dark Arts, lunch, Potions, dinner, a break and then Astronomy. However, your Sundays will be everything from Saturday, except for Potions. I'd also like to remind you that the four Guardians will be your teachers for Astronomy. Please do not feel happy that there is a large gap between Defense Against the Dark Arts and Astronomy. I hope you all will be putting the extra free time to good use. Seeing as how enchantments were provided to speed up your education, we're dutifully making sure that assignments are up to par."
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This was their third subject for the day – Charms.
"Ron! Don't tell me you forgot the wand movements for this spell." Hermione sternly stared at the redhead.
"It might have slipped my mind considering, I'VE NEVER USED IT AFTER FIRST YEAR." Ron said loudly.
"Mister Weasley." Lucius snapped. "Is there something you want to share with the rest of the class?"
"No sir." Ron mumbled, before turning to face his feather, which sat mockingly on the table in front of him.
"No? Then I suggest you get to it. You are now, currently, the only person in the class that has yet to levitate your feather."
Ron blushed crimson red when he saw that even Dudley and Petunia had mastered the spell and the wand movements before he did. He swiftly muttered the incantation and the feather wobbly rose up into the air before stabilizing along with the rest of the feathers.
Lucius nodded to everyone's accomplished feat before heading back towards the black board.
"Now, we'll be moving onto the Wand-Lighting Charm, which its incantation is –"
"Lumos sir." Hermione quickly answered, before Lucius nodded his head and moved on.
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"Now, for Defense Against the Dark Arts today. We'll be learning about how to cure werewolf bites." Tom said.
He seemed with be preening at the fact that he was now able to take upon the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, even though he wasn't at Hogwarts teaching everyone else.
Remus looked somewhat uncomfortable, yet he understood that the students must learn how to protect themselves if they were, Merlin forbid, ever bitten by a werewolf.
"Now, let's start at the basics. What is Lycanthropy?"
"Lycanthropy is when a person finds him or herself turning into a fearsome and deadly wolf upon the rise of the full moon." Hermione quickly answered.
"Good. Now, how can someone determine the difference between a werewolf and an actual wolf?"
"Ron?"
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"Why did he pick on me all the time?" The redhead frowned.
"It's because you had the audacity to roll your eyes and not pay attention to my lesson." Tom answered from behind him.
"How can you make us feel like children when you look the same age as us?" Ron mumbled.
"It's because I'm technically fifty years older than you all and I have the wisdom to prove it."
"Well, do you wish to have an actual young body rather than a glamour?" Harry asked, as they proceeded to the dining room for dinner.
Tom stopped short and everyone turned to look at him.
"Are you serious Harry? You would do that for me?" Tom whispered, his brown glamoured eyes clouding over.
"Yes, of course. We're a family now Tom. Families take care of one another."
"And Slytherins look out for one another." Draco added.
"Once a Slytherin, always a Slytherin." Blaise reminded him.
The Gryffindors nodded their approval before Hermione walked up and pulled Tom along.
"Don't worry Tom." She smiled. "If Harry says he'll do it, he'll do it. Gryffindor's Honor. Now come on, I'm starving."
She tugged Tom by the hand and they all arrived at the dining room where the table was filled with various foods. Lucius had just dismissed the house elves and they all sat down in their respective seats before eating dinner.
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"Can you believe the amount of homework we have?" Ron groaned.
"Oh Ronald, stop complaining. Without Luna's enchantments, we would've been worse off." Hermione sniffed, as she went back to her books.
"That reminds me. Luna, how did you do it?" Neville asked.
Luna only giggled in reply before continuing to read her upside down Transfiguration textbook.
"I don't think we'll ever get it out of her." Theo replied as he scrawled the answer to one of the questions onto parchment paper.
"Could you pass more parchment paper over?" Blaise asked.
"Yeah, fill up my ink jar please." Draco asked, handing over two more sheets of parchment paper to his best friend. Blaise filled it up and passed the blonde's ink jar back over. All the while, Harry was smiling at the both of them, both were busy with their work to notice anything else.
"Hey, did anyone get the answer for the question of whether or not Uric was truly dead when the Augureys started crying around him?" Goyle asked.
"He wasn't really dead, and trying to prove that he was a ghost ended up with him having a ten day long concussion when he tried to walk through a wall." Crabbe answered, scribbling down his Charms theory assignment.
"Anyone finished with Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Pansy asked.
"I'm done!" Harry cried, putting the parchment paper away and pulling the Transfiguration homework towards him.
"Give it here! I want to see if I got the werewolf differences correctly." Pansy said.
"It's fairly simple, especially since there's a picture of each side by side in the textbook." Harry said, as he slid his assignment over to the Slytherin.
"Okay, so for Transfiguration, we just have to understand and write about the alphabet, along with the transformation formula." Crystal said.
"It is influenced with bodyweight, the symbol being a, viciousness being v, wand power being w, concentration being c, and the unknown variable being z." Dudley stated.
"Would you please explain a little more on that?" Petunia tentatively asked. She felt awkward enough being in a class with children a third of her age.
"Of course, so bodyweight is …"
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"Harry, could you come with us for a second?" Draco asked, motioning to the Gryffindor with Blaise by his side.
Harry gave a look towards his friends before standing up. "Sure. Good night everyone."
Everyone repeated their "Good nights" to the trio before the three of them left the room.
"What's going on?" Harry asked, as he followed the Slytherins down the hall.
"Remember how we said we would court you properly?" Blaise said.
"Yes." Harry remembered.
"Well, we found some time during the day to get you your first gift."
Harry's eyes widened when they opened the door to his and Draco's bedroom.
Draco and Blaise retrieved the gift with a quick "Accio" and presented their gifts to Harry.
Draco's present was in a box wrapped with Slytherin green paper and a silver bow. Blaise's was wrapped with Slytherin silver paper with a green bow.
Harry took them both and opened them at the same time, so as to not seem like he preferred one Slytherin to the other.
"Oh…" he cooed, "These look amazing."
Draco had gifted him a gold necklace while Blaise gifted him a sterling bracelet.
"We knew you would prefer these over silver, considering Professor Lupin is a werewolf." Draco explained, when Harry reverently picked the two gifts up from their boxes.
"We've spelled them with protection charms. Just in case." Blaise added.
"Wow. These are probably the best presents I've ever received." Harry laughed, stroking the two with tears in his eyes.
"It's really beautiful." He whispered. "What does H.B.D. stand for? Happy Birthday?"
Draco laughed. "No, it's our first names put together as initials. I thought you'd like a reminder of the three of us. Plus, it copies and replays memories you want to keep." Draco shrugged.
"And the charms?" Harry asked.
"Like Draco's gift, this one is also made to be the same. It's so whichever memory you want to keep close to your heart, you can make a copy of it and place it in the charms. Of course, it's warded so only you can open and replay them." Blaise included.
"You're making my gift seem duller by the second Zabini." Draco replied dryly.
"Nonsense. I'm giving Harry the gift of memories with his family and friends while you're gifting him the memories of the three of us together." Blaise said, waving away Draco's claims.
"Thank you. I love them already." Harry smiled. "Could you put them on for me?"
The Slytherins smiled before attaching the accessories onto their Gryffindor.
Harry thanked them once more before they all went to bed.
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Ron groaned when the group met up for breakfast. "There was so much work to do yesterday."
"Oh come on Ron. Last night wasn't too bad." Hermione sighed.
"Yeah. We finished our assignments rather quickly." Harry agreed.
"You can't tell me there wasn't more work compared to what we had first year." The redhead argued.
"Nonsense. Compared to first year, we didn't have the enchantments and we have never even studied these subjects before." Ginny countered.
"So really Ron, we're getting a good deal." Neville replied.
"This is just review for us." The twins chimed.
"Review for you." Dudley muttered, before covering his mouth from a yawn.
"You were up the whole night?" Theo asked.
"Yeah." Dudley yawned once more. "I had to review everything before reading ahead and reviewing once more before I went to bed. It was about three am in the morning when I slept."
"The morning training will pick you right up." Draco said.
"Unless you slow down." Blaise chuckled darkly.
"Don't pick on Dudley." Harry reprimanded, raising his hands to rap them on the head.
"No touching Harry." Blaise reminded him, before skirting away from the Gryffindor.
"But this is not in any way sexual." Harry frowned.
"Yeah, he's only going for a beating." Pansy laughed; Crystal laughed along with her.
"Nevertheless," Draco cut in, "No contact is allowed for the next thirteen days."
"Oh right. It technically still counts even though we went back a week." Goyle said.
Blaise and Draco nodded their heads as the teens entered the dining room, said their morning greetings and ate breakfast.
"Harry, have you finished your assignments?" Remus asked.
"I did!" Harry enthusiastically replied, his arm reaching for another pancake.
"What's this pup?" Sirius asked, pulling attention to the bracelet at Harry's wrist.
"Oh, it's a present from Blaise." Harry smiled, "And this is a present from Draco." He pulled out the golden necklace for his friends to take a good look around before concealing the two gifts once more.
"It's beautiful." Lucius commented, nodding his head, approving his son's choice of the first day of gift.
"Yes. It is, isn't it?" Harry beamed, before going back to his breakfast.
"So what did Sirius get you Father?" Draco asked innocently.
The two wizards looked at one another before their cheeks tinted pink.
"Sirius has gifted me a book that I've wanted to read since I've known it was unavailable anywhere else."
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Sirius excused himself before heading towards his room. Leaving the rest of the older wizards to their discussion.
"I think we should increase the time and have no breaks. They're not going anywhere else except for the sunroom. Why should they get breaks?" Tom argued.
"It's to give them some space to relax before moving onto another subject." Remus replied. "They always got a good fifteen minutes at Hogwarts to move from one class to another. Might as well give them this."
"Reviewing before class starts is another way to spend their break." Egidio nodded in approval.
"Fine, I guess this discussion is over."
"Lucius, may I have a moment of your time?"
Sirius had returned from wherever he had been and his hands were nervously twitching behind his back.
Lucius got up and followed Sirius to the corner of the room, away from prying eyes.
"What is it?"
Sirius looked around nervously before finally looking up at Lucius.
"Well, I thought long and hard about what to give you as the first gift for courting you." The animagus began. "I have to admit, I didn't know what to think of. Nothing came to mind. You've got everything you could ever want, and we've dated for so long, known each other for even longer." Sirius paused here, feeling his nerves come back at full force.
"Yes, we have didn't we?" Lucius gave a small smile, which Sirius accepted as a sign to continue on with his speech.
"Well, yes." Sirius cleared his throat before continuing. "So I thought and I thought and I remembered before we were dating, you had a love of books. Not that you didn't still have a love for it while we were dating, but you probably still have it right now."
"Sirius, you're going off on a tangent." Lucius smiled at the animagus's nervousness.
"Right. Well. I remembered you said you wanted to read a specific book, one that was never in stores or sold anywhere. And, only my family had possessions of it since it was handed down generation after generation. And so, Lucius, my first courting gift to you is this book." Sirius revealed the hidden book from behind him and handed it to a stunned blonde.
"Sirius… is this –"
"Yeah. It took me awhile to find it in the Black Family Vault, but it was worth it."
Lucius grew teary eyes to look at the ebony haired wizard and stepped forward, only to step back.
"I really want to hug you, but I can't." He complained, his body tense and conflicted with what his heart wants and what his mind tells him not to do.
"I think a hug is acceptable. It is neither romantic nor flirtatious. Just merely a gesture as thanks –"
Lucius wrapped his arms around Sirius's shoulders and smiled. "Thank you." He whispered.
Sirius smiled down at the blonde in his arms and hugged him around the waist. "I'm glad you liked it."
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After breakfast, they did another ten laps within fifteen minutes. Macaire and the others were very proud of the progress they were making, even though they had only cut their time down by five seconds.
"Five seconds is still progress!" Macaire insisted when Alandair scoffed at the Guardian's praise.
"Now, go get your broomsticks. We will start with Flying for the day." Lucius announced. "And if you don't have a broom in hand, there are extra brooms in the storage house at the far end of the Quidditch field."
All the boys seemed to be jittery with anticipation about how the Malfoys' Quidditch field would look like – all of them except for the Slytherin boys of course.
"Come, you have five minutes to get your brooms and line up in two straight lines with the broomstick to your right." Remus stated, clapping his hands together and the teens made a mad dash for their broomsticks before quickly lining up.
"Now, as Madam Hooch has ordered in first year, put your right hand above your broom and say "Up"."
"Up." The teens shouted and immediately every broom flew straight into their hands, except for Neville, Hermione and Ron.
The three Gryffindors blushed heavily under the attention they were given when Sirius and Remus walked up to them to explain to them what they were doing wrong.
"Even flying uses magic." Remus began. "So take a deep breath, feel your inner magical core, let the magic slowly trickle through your body and say 'Up'."
The Gryffindors did as they were told and soon their brooms fly straight into their outstretched hands.
"Very well done." Remus praised, before he gave out another order. "Mount your brooms, gently kick off when I count to three, hover and then touch back down."
Flying was a huge success after Neville got over his flying scare ever since first year. And soon, everyone was zooming around in the air, with their 'professors' looking after them and telling them to adjust their positioning to increase their speed, or increase their balance and agility.
Next was Herbology and everyone was slowly getting through the explanations of the various plants. Neville on the other hand excelled and gladly helped to tutor the people around him.
"Neville, what is this?" Ginny asked, pointing to a picture in the textbook.
"That's a Venomous Tentacula. It can expel venom, grab living prey and its bite is deadly venomous. You can burn it up with the Incendio spell." Neville explained.
"Oh, okay." Ginny quickly went back to her parchment paper to jot down everything.
And soon Herbology passed. Lunch was a quiet meal as everything was engrossed in eating as much as they could before heading to the next subject, which was Potions.
"I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death." Snape drawled from the front of the darkly lit classroom. The potions master had magically drawn the curtains closed and had tightly shut the windows. The only light given off in the sunroom was the chandelier hanging from the ceiling and the hovering, magically summoned candles that were lit aflame.
"Do you repeat that to all your first year potions class?" Harry asked cheekily. Snape's eyes narrowed before he blatantly ignored that remark from his nephew.
"Now, for your first lesson. You will learn about all the ingredients and which ingredients go into which potions and why. We will be doing this for the entire week and before we start on the first potion, we will have a test. So you best have each and every detail memorized." He stated in a monotone as he slowly drifted his eyes from one teen to the next.
"Very well. Now, who can tell me what I would get if I added powdered root of Asphodel to an infusion of wormwood, Mister Potter?"
"Powdered root of Asphodel added to an infusion of wormwood with the addition of the Sopophorous bean's juice later in the process makes the Draught of the Living Dead." Harry smirked.
Severus gave a small twitch, which was the only indication that he was proud Harry had studied up on potions before entering the class.
"Mister Zabini, where would you look if I asked you to find me a Bezoar?"
"The stomach of a goat, sir."
"Very good. Mister Weasley, what is the difference between monkshood and Wolfsbane?"
Ron paled before stuttering out his answer, "N-None sir. They are the same p-plant and are also c-called Aconite."
Severus stared at Ron for several more seconds before nodding his head.
"Good. It was smart of you all to read ahead of class. Now, read the list of ingredients in the textbook and jot down their usages, their other names, their appearances and description of how to spot them. Lastly, point out which potions they are used in and how they are used for them."
Everyone looked at him and he stared them down. "Well? What are you waiting for? An invitation?" he snapped, before he turned around to sit at the desk.
The scratching of quills against parchment paper echoed throughout the silent sunroom. No one dared to look up from their paper or textbook, quickly copying down everything before the class ended.
"Now, you are to write about the following potions for tonight's assignment: Cure for Boils, the Forgetfulness Potion, Draught of the Living Dead, Wiggenweld Potion and the twelve uses of Dragon Blood - what are the ingredients and how to brew them. Be sure to be knowledgeable because we will start on them as soon as the week is over."
The class groaned, but Petunia was the only one that refrained from doing such a childish act. Although, her slight frown was the only thing that showed her displeasure.
"That is not to say that you should not review other potions as well. I will be questioning each and every one of you." Snape warned before he moved from the desk and made way for Tom to continue on with Defense Against the Dark Arts.
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Hey guys! So I figured I would put up what they would be studying for the first 5 weeks (5 days). I would put up the weekends in the next chapter, and possibly the day before Harry's birthday! :D So I hope you look forward to it. These two chapters will be pretty much basic information. I will speed it up for the next four years' schoolwork after Harry's birthday! (:
I used some of the quotes from J.K. Rowling's storybooks! Just because it worked so well for the chapter! :D So, I'm giving credit to J.K. Rowling's books!
I hope you guys enjoyed it, please review, comment, and criticize, whichever.