Chapter 37: Introducing Traditions

"You shouldn't worry about it," Snape declared, half perched on Charity's desk as she looked down at the pictures spread out in front of her. "You've made a good decision with each of them. Possibly better than some of my kids have."

"I doubt that," Charity sighed. "I worry about them-"

Their conversation was interrupted by a soft knocking on the door before it swung open to reveal Harry.

"Oh! Harry, honey, your meeting isn't for another ten minutes," Charity exclaimed, shuffling the papers on her desk into her folder before shoving them into a drawer.

He shifted from foot to foot in front of them before rushing out, "I'm really sorry about what I said the other night. I didn't mean any of it – you're my parents no matter what."

There was a beat of silence before tears swelled up in Charity's eyes and she made her way around the table, pulling him into a hug, "Oh honey, we know."

"It's nice to hear it from you anyway," Snape commented.

There was a moment of just silence, the two of them hugging and Snape watching from the desk with something fond in his expression before Charity turned, her chin still hooked over Harry's shoulder, "Are you coming over here or what?"

"What?" his eyebrows knitted together. "Why would I go over there?"

"Because your part of this family too Severus," Charity sighed, yanking on his leg. He went stumbling off the desk and towards the duo. They wasted no time in pulling him into a hug with them.

Even though he was scowling, Snape wrapped his arms tightly around the two, as if protecting them from some outside force.

"Okay, so welcome to your first mentor meeting!" Charity exclaimed, scooting herself onto her desk and looking at the two boys sitting in front of her. "We're only going to have a few of these to make sure you guys get along but afterward you won't have to come in any more okay?"

They both nodded.

"Okay then!" She clapped her hands together. "Harry," she gestured from the third year to the caramel haired boy next to him, "This is Cedric Diggory. He's going to be your mentor okay? Do you have any questions?"

"Yeah um..." Harry hummed and looked over at Cedric. "What exactly does a mentor do? I'm not used to all the customs of Hogwarts yet."

Cedric glanced up at her, waiting for her to nod, before saying, "Well, basically it means I'm here for you, at least until I graduate, no matter what you need. If you just want to talk about your everyday life or about what you want to do after school or if you need help with a certain spell, all of that's okay and some more too. The point is just for you to have someone you can talk to without all the pressures of the fact that you share a common friend or that you feel embarrassed about something."

Charity nodded as Cedric spoke. Once he finished she added, "That's the important thing to remember, Harry. Whenever you talk to Cedric it is a completely safe and free zone. The reason you guys were paired together is because you share similar values or personalities, something that will make you get along well so you'll feel safe sharing with him."

"I think I get it," Harry said slowly.

Cedric smiled at Harry, "I hope we can get along Harry."

Harry smiled back, giving a fast nod, "I hope we can too!"

Charity tapped the back of her heel against the desk, getting their attention, then said, "Why don't the two of you go out and talk for a while? You don't have to do anything too personal since you just met, just get to know each other."

"Are you okay with that Harry?"

The younger boy nodded as he stood up, "Yup! You can lead the way, you probably know more about the school than I do."

Cedric laughed as they left, "I'm not quite sure about that. I hear you have had quite an interesting two years."

Charity watched them leave with a smile, feeling as though maybe she didn't need to worry about the pairs she'd picked.

"You're my mentor?" Neville exclaimed, his mouth hitting the floor when he walked in to find Anthony already deep in conversation with Charity.

Anthony rounded on him, smiling widely, "Neville! Hey, bud."

"Anthony requested that you guys be paired together," Charity explained as Neville settled into his chair. "He said that you confided in him last year and that he would really like to continue that relationship with you. After I thought about it for a while, I figured this would work for you." She took in the look on Neville's face before saying, "Is it an issue for you?"

Neville shook his head, "No! I mean – It's easy for me to talk to Anthony." He pursed his lips together before saying, "It's just that – that Blaise and I are kind of um...going out now. And I used to have a tiny crush on Anthony and I'm not sure he'll be okay with it?"

"You had a crush on me?" Anthony asked, blinking several times.

Charity followed with, "I'll talk to Blaise about it when he comes in to meet his mentor, Neville. As longyou'reokay with Anthony being your mentor though, I think this would be a nice match for you."

"Shit, Nev were you just going to never talk to me, you little shit?"

"Language, Anthony," she drawled, glancing over at the fifth year.

Neville shuffled, trying to figure out who to address before nodding, "Having as Anthony is okay with me."

"You're not getting off this easy," Anthony accused as he stood up. "Professor, Neville and I are going to have a talk okay?"

Charity watched with a smile as Anthony locked Neville in a headlock, whispering angrily while Neville waved his hands around in apology, both with fond smiles on their faces.

The door shut behind Blaise, echoing down the hallway, as he stepped outside with Sullivan.

"So what'd she want to talk to you about?" questioned the fifth year, his hands behind his head as he pushed off the wall.

Blaise shook his head, "Nothing really. My boyfriend got an old crush of his for a mentor and apparently he was worried about the way I'd react."

"You cool with it?"

Looking up at the ceiling as they started walking, Blaise answered, "Not really, but I'm not going to say anything about it. I trust Neville, and I'm assuming him saying yes to me meant he was over Anthony. Besides, he likes talking to him, it's easy for him to rant about plants and personal stuff that he feels uncomfortable talking to our housemates about."

"You're a better person than I am," the Hufflepuff laughed as he clapped a hand against Blaise's shoulder.

"Mhm? Is that even possible? I mean – you're a Hufflepuff."

Sullivan shook his head, "I think you have the wrong idea here. Being a Hufflepuff doesn't necessarily make me a saint. It means I do the right thing, that I put others before myself."

"People are always saying this kind of stuff," Blaise huffed out. "Why are all of you so sure your house means something no one else thinks it means?"

"Because it comes to you. One day, something will happen and you'll wake up knowing who you are and why you were sorted into your house," He glanced up at the ceiling in thought, then shrugged, "Maybe that's just me though. For all I know, everyone else is just hella smart and had shit figured out from the get go."

They walked in silence for a minute before Blaise asked, "Do you have a nickname or something? Sullivan is a mouthful."

"Yeah, my friends call me Sully."

Blaise spun around, holding his hand out for the other, "Then, I'm Blaise. Nice to meet you, Sully."

"I said my friends call me that, idiot. You aren't my friend quite yet, Zabini. You wanna go play a round of gobstones?"

A smile spread along Blaise's mouth, "Yeah. Sounds great."

Draco's heels slammed against the stone wall as he sipped at the juice in his hands.

"How'd you get this anyway?" he questioned, glancing over at Isobel.

Isobel MacDougel, fifth year Ravenclaw and Draco's mentor, shrugged as she sipped at her apple juice, "My mom posted it to me this morning. It's still fresh, luckily."

"Tastes good," he remarked. They lapsed into silence for a while before he drawled, "What are we supposed to talk about exactly?"

She hummed before saying, "I'm not really sure myself. With my mentor, I talk about the things I need to get off my chest and stuff like that. I think I've cried on her shoulder more than even my best friends."

"I'm not crying," he commented, glancing over at her.

"Please don't. We just met, it's weird if you do," she shot back. As an afterthought she added, "But come to me if you need anything okay? Third year...It can be rough. You're learning about yourself and your friends are learning about themselves and sometimes things clash. If you need anything, I'm here."

Draco nodded, "Will do."

"So I got the only girl?" questioned Draco, laying across the couch with his feet in Harry's lap. Neville sat on the floor, Blaise spread along his lap in a similar way and his shirt riding up from the way his stomach stretched.

"Apparently," Ron commented, laying in the arm chair with his head and feet thrown over the sides.

Blaise glanced over at him, his cheek cold against the carpet, "You never told us, who'd you get?"

"Roger Davies. He's a Ravenclaw," Ron answered, glancing over at them.

Draco pumped his fists into the air, "Ravenclaw mentors!"

"He's not that cool," Ron shot down.

Neville hummed, his hand resting on Blaise's stomach, "You don't really know him though. You just met."

"My mentor seems pretty cool," Harry commented absently.

"Invalid. You like anyone who's as good at Quidditch as you," Draco shot down, pushing his feet into Harry's thighs gently.

Harry rolled his eyes, "That's not true."

Before anyone could say anything else there was a slam as the door flew open and then shut. Hermione emerged from the doorway a minute later, gripping her bags tightly to her chest.

They took in her appearance, her eyes wide and her hair mussed as though she'd been running her hands through it, before Blaise's eyebrows knitted together and he questioned, "Hon, what's going on? Weren't you with your mentor?"

"Who is your mentor?"Draco followed with.

"F-Fred and George are my mentors," she breathed out.

There was a bang and snap as Ron fell from the chair, shouting out, "What?!"

A/n: this chapter took a little longer then normal, sorry about that!

With my starting drivers training though, it will probably stay a little slow.

Next Time: There's something about a death omen?