I was so tempted to quote The Princess Bride in this chapter: "Thank you so much for bringing up such a painful subject. While you're at it, why don't you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it." But I decided Hugo wouldn't be aware of 1980s muggle films so felt it would be a bit out of character (or...a lot out of character). But if you want to substitute it in when Hugo says "Thanks for reminding me, I had no idea." Be my guest!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Dear Hugo,
I hope your first week at Hogwarts is going well and that you're studying hard. Just because it's not O.W.L year it doesn't mean that you can slack off like your father did!
Has anything interesting happened at school yet? Have you gone down to visit Hagrid?
Our week has been good. Dad's training some trainee Aurors at the moment which I know he loves, even if he does moan about them. I'm doing fine at work; a very interesting case has come in about a wizard breaking the law under Section 12 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy. Rose is doing fantastic, she got the job! We're all so proud of her and I was hoping that you could send her an owl to congratulate her; it really is a big deal!
Love from
Mum and Dad.
"What's with the sour face?" Alex asked me as I put the letter down. It was breakfast on Tuesday about a week after term started. Beth and Alex were sitting opposite me, both eating their breakfast while I read my letter.
"Rose got the job." I told him.
"Ah," Alex nodded understandably. "I see what you mean."
"And I'm supposed to owl her and congratulate her because it's perfect, darling Rosie who is just so perfect that I should just write her a bloody song or something!"
"Write her a song?" Beth asked with a raised eyebrow over her morning cup of tea.
"Well it doesn't actually say that," I huffed, "but it's pretty damn close!"
"What does it actually say?" Alex asked.
"Hope you're studying hard...blah blah blah...Anything interesting happened?... blah blah blah...stuff about their week being good...blah blah blah...Rose is doing fantastic, she got the job! We're all so proud of her and I was hoping that you could send her an owl to congratulate her; it really is a big deal!" Even I could hear the bitterness lacing my voice.
"Well, you probably should congratulate her." Beth said.
"I know, but I don't like being told I have to!" I said.
"I can see that." Alex reasoned.
"Yeah," Beth agreed, "you never have liked doing what other people tell you to do."
"It's more the point that they don't think I'd have congratulated her by myself, if you know what I mean." I sighed. "Of course I would have congratulated her when I found out, I don't need the prompting."
"We know, mate." Alex said. "Maybe they're just making sure, you know. Rose is probably really stressed out about getting this new position and they probably think some encouragement might help her."
"That's a good point." Lily said, sliding into the seat next to me and picking up some toast.
"Where were you?" Alex asked, completely changing the topic of conversation.
"Oh I was talking to Harold Sloper about Quidditch tryouts." Lily said airily. Alex's face frowned slightly as turned back to his breakfast.
"Oh." He said. Harold Sloper was in the year below us, pretty crap Quidditch player but very enthusiastic about the sport. He also had a crush on Lily. Actually, a lot of guys had a crush on Lily. Don't really see why...although I am her cousin, which makes it different...but even so!
"Yeah, well we only really need a keeper and a chaser, seeing as Rose and Jack Thomas were the only ones that left last year. I could do a full team tryout but I don't really see why, it would cause a lot of hassle and the rest of the team performed really well last year."
"Robins only caught the snitch once." I reminded her.
"Yes, but it was her first year playing for the team, she has a lot of potential."
"If you say so." I shrugged.
The rest of breakfast passed with not much else happening. We ate, we talked and Alex held Lily's hand quite tightly when we left for first period Transfiguration.
At break the next day, Beth hung out with Smith. I don't know why, Alex, Lily and I are perfectly good company, but she did.
"What do you think they're talking about?" I asked Alex and Lily while standing on my tip-toes to see if I could see Beth and Smith on the other side of the courtyard.
"Does it matter?" Alex asked, turning away from his conversation with Lily.
"Of course it does!" I said, exasperatedly. "How else are we going to know if they're talking about Smith asking her out?"
"I thought you said you didn't mind if Beth went out with him." Lily raised her eyebrow at me.
"I didn't say that I didn't mind, I said she should be able to go out with Smith." I rolled my eyes. "If she wants to go out with him, I'm not going to stop her; it doesn't mean I have to like it."
"Well she's not going to go out with him." Lily said. "She's told us all that she doesn't like him like that."
"But how do we know that she's not just saying that so we stop bugging her?" I questioned.
"I'm with Lily," I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at Alex's words, "if she really did like Smith, she'd go out with him. When has she ever waited for other people's permission to do something?"
"True," I conceded, "but that doesn't mean he can't try and persuade her."
"We all know that won't happen." Lily said. "If you can't convince her to listen to the Weird Sisters, I doubt Smith will be able to convince her to date him."
"I suppose that's true as well." I acknowledged. I never had gotten Beth to listen to the Weird Sisters. I don't see why, they're the best band in Wizarding History! They're not together anymore, obviously, but there music is incredible. I listen to it all the time on the Wireless. They've got their own channel, it's amazing. But Beth just doesn't like their music at all. I've said it before and I'll say it again: she's weird.
The bell rang from the castle and we trooped towards the Greenhouses for Herbology. Herbology was quickly becoming one of my favourite subjects actually; it was much more hands on (obviously) so it was a nice break from all the written work we had to do in other subjects. Plus, Professor Longbottom never gave out too much homework, which was always a bonus, especially with the workload we were getting. It was still Alex's least favourite subject, but, as the saying goes: you can't have everything in life.
That day in Herbology we were working with Snargaluffs. Seeing as Alex and Lily were always paired together, it gave me an opportunity to interrogate Beth about Smith.
"So how was Smith at break?" I asked in what I thought was a pretty casual voice.
"Good, I suppose." Beth shrugged, surveying the Snargaluff, looking for the best way to tackle it. "Why do you care?"
"Well, you know, he's your friend now." I explained. "I should be interested, right?"
"No, but I'll go along with it for now." Beth said suspiciously.
"Great, well it's good that he's good." I nodded, looking at the plant with Beth.
We started working on getting the pod from out of the Snargaluff at that point. Let me tell you, they're tough work. I won't be getting one of them for my house when I leave Hogwarts, that's for sure.
"Did he ask you out again?" I asked Beth once we'd recovered the first pod from the plant.
"Yeah, he did." Beth admitted, seeming quite unfazed by it. "I said no, though. I've told him before that I don't like him like that, I don't know why he thought I'd change my mind."
"Because he's an idiot?" I put in helpfully. Beth turned to look at me severely but the corners of her mouth twitched. I grinned.
Dear Rosie,
Congrats on getting the job!
Hugo
Don't think I was going to be too nice about it, I was still mad about being forced into congratulating her. Trust me, if Mum and Dad hadn't told me I had to, it would have been much longer and much more congratulatory. However, given the circumstances I felt justified in being short and sweet. They do say getting to the point is usually the best thing to do, so there you are.
As soon as I finished my letter I said goodbye to Alex, Lily and Beth in the common room and made my way up to the Owlery. It's always quite a nice walk; no one really goes in that direction unless going to the Owlery so it's always pretty quiet. Well, until someone interrupts your silence.
"Oi, Weasley!"
"Liam Smith, what do I owe the pleasure?" I said sarcastically, turning around again to face the blond haired prat.
"I thought you said you were going to tell Beth you didn't mind her going out with me?" He said angrily as he stalked up to me.
"I never said anything of the sort." I reminded him. "But it just so happens that I told her that she should go out with whoever she wants."
"You're lying." Smith spat at me.
"Seriously, I'm not." I smirked. "I told her that if she wanted to go out with you, she should."
"Then why wouldn't she?" He snarled.
"You're a piece of work, you know that, Smith? There are several very good reasons why she wouldn't go out with you."
"And just what are they?" Smith drawled.
"You really want me to give them to you? Okay, that is fine with me." I said. "First, you're a prat. Second, no sense of humour. Third, you're arrogant. Fourth-"
"Shut up, Weasley." Smith snapped.
"You asked the question." I shrugged, a smirk forming on my face. "I just gave you an answer."
"Those are what you think of me, not what Beth thinks of me." Smith retorted.
"Those are what everyone thinks of you." I told him. "Just take the hint, Smith. She doesn't want to go out with you."
With that I turned on my heels and walked up to the Owlery, still smirking, leaving Smith spluttering behind me.
"Okay Linus, you ready for a long flight?" I asked my owl once I made it to the Owlery. He hooted softly at me which I took as a 'Yes' and I attached my letter to Rose to his leg.
"Have a safe flight." I told him and he flew out of the window. "Perfect, darling Rose is sure to have a treat for you when you get there."
"All I'm saying," Alex said as we made our way up the boys' staircase on Thursday night, "is that if it came down to it, I reckon the Kestrels reserve team could smash the Cannons real team."
"That's insulting!" I told him. "The Cannons are just in a rough patch at the moment, they'll be out of it any day now."
"Hugo, they haven't won a game since before you were born." Alex reminded me.
"Thanks for reminding me, I had no idea." I said sarcastically. "But they'll turn around any day now."
"For that to happen, they'd have to actually have to get decent players." Alex said.
"They have decent players!" I said indignantly.
"If they have decent players then I'm a pygmy puff."
"It's funny, pygmy puffs are usually a lot smaller." I said, pushing opening the door to the dormitory.
The rest of the sixth year boys were already in the dormitory when we got there. Jacob and Ethan were going over a Quidditch magazine that Josh had already finished with while Josh and Ben were debating the pros and cons of becoming Animagi.
"It sounds like a lot of work." Josh was saying. "And for what? Just so you can turn into a toad when you want to? I mean, it's a good party trick, sure, but is it really useful?"
"I'll have you know it's extremely useful." Ben countered. "Professor McGonagall wouldn't have become one if it was useless."
"Maybe she just likes cats." Josh pointed out. "Come on, apart from bragging rights, there's nothing useful about it."
"Au contraire," Ben said, "it shows that you're extremely good at Transfiguration. It's highly advanced and dangerous magic isn't it?"
"Yes." Josh admitted grudgingly.
"Well it shows that you're an extremely capable witch or wizard, meaning that you are in an excellent position to get a job." Ben concluded.
"All that work just to possibly have a better chance at getting a job?" Josh asked sceptically. "It seems like a rough deal to me. Anyway, there are other ways to show that you are an extremely capable wizard, which would probably take a lot less time."
"I have to say I'm with Josh on this one." I said as I sat down on Jacob's bed where Josh was sitting opposite Ben (who was his own bed). Alex sat down next to Ben.
"You people do not understand the complexities of magic!" Ben said exasperatedly. Josh and I shared a grin at Ben's expression.
"I agree with Ben, it'd be a talking point, wouldn't it?" Alex said. "Not many people can go, 'Oh, by the way, I can transform into a lion'."
"There haven't been any lion Animagi." I told him.
"That you know of." Alex said mysteriously.
"I've read a book about them, there haven't been any." I said.
"There haven't been any that are registered. There may well have been an unregistered lion Animagus." Alex pointed out.
"But what would be the point of becoming a lion?" Josh said. "How would that benefit your life in any way, besides being something to talk about? It's not like lions have a better life than us."
"Don't knock it till you've tried it." Alex shrugged. "For all we know, it could be amazing."
"Are you lot still talking about Animagi?" Jacob said as he and Ethan came over from where they had been reading the magazine.
"Yes, Josh and Hugo seem to think it's pointless!" Ben said indignantly.
"It sort of is." Ethan said.
"Who cares?" Jacob said before Ben could start his retort. "It's not like any of us are Animagi."
"Exactly," Ethan said. "But what would you guys like to be if you were an Animagus?"
"A lion." Ben said immediately. We all took one look at each other and burst out laughing.
It was about a month after term had begun and I was already behind on my homework. Honestly, I try really hard and I do all of it as soon as I can (well maybe not as soon as I can, but pretty close). There's just too much for me to do.
"It's your own fault for biting off more than you can chew." Beth had told me the other week.
I suppose she's sort of right. I really shouldn't have taken seven subjects. But hey, I've got to keep my options open! Professor Longbottom did say that if I wanted to work in the Department of Mysteries I'd need 7 N. E. W. Ts, so that's what I'm doing. I'm fully aware that I'm not actually looking into a career there, but I might change my mind between now and when I leave school, you never know.
Anyway, I was coming back from the library just before 9 o'clock seeing as we had to be back in the common room by then. And once again I found myself hearing a conversation that wasn't meant for my ears. I stopped walking and stayed silent as I didn't want to the two people around the corner to notice me.
"I don't know, Beth." Lily said. "I really like him, I really do, but he's just so jealous all the time."
"Lils, it's because he really likes you too." Beth explained. "He doesn't want you dumping him for someone else."
"I wouldn't do that." Lily insisted. "You know that, right?"
"Of course I do." Beth said. "But you can't expect Alex to think rationally, he's crazy about you and doesn't want you to leave him. His only other relationship was with Melanie, and we all know how that turned out."
"I know, I just wish he'd give me a bit more space." Lily sighed. "We've only been going out for a few months."
"That's quite a long time, Lily." Beth pointed out.
"I guess but I just feel that he likes me much more than I like him and it's causing him to become jealous. He's not possessive or anything but I like my space, I like being able to talk to guys without getting asked about it afterwards. It's as though he doesn't trust me or something."
"He trusts you." Beth said sincerely. "It's the guys you're talking to that he doesn't trust. I mean really Lils, you talked to Andrew Jordan yesterday."
"So? We're friends." Lily said. Their voices were getting fainter now, as they got further and further away.
"Everyone in the school knows he likes you, he's not exactly subtle." Beth said.
"It doesn't mean I like him back, I don't like him back. I like Alex."
"I know that and he knows that too, he'll get better." Beth said. "He probably just has to get used to the fact that half the guys in the school are in love with his girlfriend."
"Half the boys in the school are not in love with me." Lily scoffed.
"You want to bet on it?" Beth laughed. "Please, there's at least Alex, Sloper, Jordan..."
Beth probably continued talking but I couldn't hear anymore as they had walked out of my hearing range. That wasn't what bothered me. What bothered me was what Lily was saying. This was bad. This was really bad. This was really really bad.
Alex probably wouldn't get less jealous because, let's face it, he's liked Lily for almost four years now and now that he's finally got her, he doesn't want to lose her. I suppose it makes sense but he's just going to end up suffocating her! This is not good. This is bad. This is really bad. This is really really bad. They can't break up, alright? Because if they break up, Alex will be heart-broken and possibly never speak to Lily again; it will be the end of their friendship.
There's nothing I can do about it, though. I can't tell Alex that Lily is getting frustrated at his jealousy because I'm not sure how he'll react and it could potentially be really bad. I can't talk to Lily about it because I wasn't supposed to hear that conversation. I can't talk to Beth about it because, again, I wasn't supposed to hear that conversation and I had basically just heard her opinion on the subject. This was bad. This was really bad. This was really really bad.
Did I mention it was bad?
"Uh Hugo, you alright?" A voice came from behind me. "Because you've been standing there for at least a minute."
"What?" I turned around and saw Jacob there. "Yeah I'm fine, just, you know, thinking."
"Standing in the middle of the seventh floor corridor?" Jacob asked sceptically, grinning a little bit.
"Yeah, so maybe I was eavesdropping." I admitted grudgingly, Jacob laughed. "But who cares about the details?"
"The people you were eavesdropping?" Jacob suggested with a grin.
"Yeah, maybe." I grinned in return. "What were you doing out of the common room at this time? I didn't see you in the library."
"Detention." Jacob rolled his eyes. "Used magic in the Muggle Studies classroom."
"What spell did you use?" I asked.
"Accio." Jacob told me. "Apparently because Muggles don't have the convenience of the summoning charm, I'm not allowed to either while in that class."
"Why are you taking Muggle Studies again?" I asked him.
"I'd like to do something with Muggle relations." Jacob shrugged. "It's also pretty cool, when I'm not getting detention for using 'Accio'."
"Great." I said. "Have you ever thought-"
However I was cut off by the sound of running footsteps. Turning around I saw a girl who must have been no older than a second year running towards me and Jacob, two letters clutched in her hands.
"Excuse me?" the girl said breathlessly. "Are you Hugo Weasley?"
"Yeah, I am." I said, staring bewilderedly at the girl.
"I'm supposed to give you this." she thrust one of the letters into my hand. "Do you know where I might find Lily Potter?"
"Yeah, she just went down that corridor about five minutes ago, she'll be in the Gryffindor Common room." I said, still bewildered.
"Thanks!" she said and rushed off down the corridor.
"What does it say?" Jacob asked as I unfurled the letter.
Dear Mr Weasley,
I must ask that you come to my office immediately.
The password to my office is 'Animagus'.
Yours Sincerely,
Professor McGonagall.
"Well that's not very helpful." I said, wondering what on earth I could have done to make Professor McGonagall demand that I come to her office immediately. I couldn't think of anything.
"What does it say?" Jacob asked again.
"That I have to go to McGonagall's office immediately." I said, still looking questioningly at the letter in front of me. "Have you ever been summoned to her office?"
"No, I haven't." Jacob said, with the same expression on his face. "You'd probably better go though, if McGonagall wants you to."
"Yeah," I said, thinking of all the things that would warrant a trip to the Headmistress's office. "I'll see you later then."
"See you." Jacob said and he set back off for the Gryffindor Common room while I turned around and started making my way to the Stone Gargoyle that hid the entrance to McGonagall's office.
What on earth could McGonagall want? As far as I was aware I hadn't done anything illegal, or anything that was against school rules. I certainly haven't cheated on a test or copied someone else's homework. And anyway, those instances would be reported to my Head of House, not the Headmistress. What was going on?
"Hugo!" Lily's voice was a shout as she too ran towards me.
"Did your note say the same thing?" I asked her as she fell into step beside me.
"Well as I don't know what yours says..." Lily gave me a small smile. "It just said I had to go to Professor McGonagall's office immediately."
"Yeah, mine too." I said, frowning slightly. What could we both have done to merit this?
"Do you know what it's about?" Lily asked.
"No, you?"
"No idea." she admitted.
Author's note: Only one week to update? I'm getting better, readers, I'm getting better. Although I start school again tomorrow after a two week holiday which means I don't have as much time to write and I've got mock exams. And I'm still making excuses...but anyway.
Thanks for all your lovely reviews! I'm glad you're enjoying the fic.
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