* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *
PART THREE
The Eighth Year
Chapter 4: House Unity
Once every student had entered the Great Hall, McGonagall stood up, and silence fell immediately. It was her first year as Headmistress, and Harry wondered if she felt nervous as she stood up there for the first time. If she did, it wasn't obvious. The Headmistress looked perfectly at ease as she stood in the spot Dumbledore had occupied for so long.
"Students of Hogwarts, welcome back," She said with a natural smile, "I have been informed that the first years are stuck on the lake with Professor Hagrid, so there will be a slight delay in the sorting."
A collective groan and much grumbling went through the hall at this news because, as usual, everybody was starving.
"However," McGonagall said, raising her voice slightly so that silence fell across the hall once more, "This gives me a perfect opportunity to address our new eighth year students."
Harry listened more intently than before as McGonagall carried on, "Eighth years, as you already know, you will be sharing a common room in the Eastern tower of the school. I understand that it may be difficult for certain pupils to overcome house barriers-"
Her eyes flitted briefly from Harry to Draco, who both noticed this and couldn't resist a small smile at the irony of it.
"-Nevertheless, I will not tolerate anything less than complete house unity in this common room."
Harry glanced around to gauge the reaction to this news at the Slytherin table. His eyes fell on Daphne Greengrass as Blaise Zabini tried to touch her leg. Without looking away from her conversation with Draco, she hexed him silently. Harry grinned.
"Potter is looking at you," Draco mumbled.
Daphne smirked, "Is he?" she asked.
She turned to look at the chosen one. He was indeed watching her. She smiled sweetly and winked, then turned back to Draco.
"That's just cruel," Tracey whispered across the table.
Harry's cheeks flushed back at the Gryffindor table, and he quickly looked away from the Slytherin table. He started up a conversation with Ron and had to try very hard not to look at the Slytherin table again that evening.
Shortly after McGonagall's speech, Hagrid entered the hall with some terrified but dry children. Several of them were glancing around the room in fear and others with excitement. Harry smiled as he remembered that feeling; he remembered exactly how he had felt walking into this hall. Something uncomfortable squirmed in his stomach as he remembered the first time he had seen Severus Snape. Harry understood now why he had stared, he had seen Lily Evans eyes, and he had become immersed in memories.
Harry watched the group of students walk to the front of the Great Hall, and again he found himself overthinking. When Harry had been sorted, there had been ten students in each house, which meant that his year group had consisted of forty students. Harry found himself wondering how many of those forty would return to school. He knew for a fact that Pansy and Crabbe were dead and that Goyle was in Azkaban, which lowered the number to 37, but that still meant that a possible seven Slytherins could return, yet he'd only seen six come off the train.
"Harry!"
Hermione's voice pulled Harry back to the present, "Huh?" He said, aware that he probably looked a little dazed as he looked at Hermione.
She seemed to be torn between scolding him and laughing, "You're missing the sorting," she said in amusement.
"Oh, right," Harry said as he watched a small redheaded child join the Gryffindor table, "Anyone we know?" he asked.
Hermione shook her head, "Not really. Sally's little sister Sarah was sorted into Gryffindor."
"Sally?" Harry asked.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Sally Smith, Harry, she's in our year and our house."
"Really?" Harry asked, how could he not have known that? It showed how little attention he had paid to girls in his school days.
"Yes!" Hermione hissed in disbelief, "Harry, I shared a dorm with her for six years!"
Harry was pretty sure that Hermione had never mentioned a Sally Smith to him in the many years he had known her, so they clearly weren't the best of friends. He had gone into a daze again, and Hermione was glaring at him, so he turned to the sorting to see, with surprise, that the last person was sitting on the three-legged stool.
Natasha Wilson became a Ravenclaw, and once again, McGonagall stood up to speak, "I have a few important notices that I would like to inform you all of before you become too full to take anything in."
Ron groaned, "I'd take it in better when I'm full than when I'm starving."
"Ron, shh!" Hermione hissed.
"This year, we have imposed some new school rules. Bullying or teasing anyone because of their house is now against the rules, and you will receive detention and lose house points if you are caught doing so," McGonagall said. Hermione nodded. Harry agreed with her.
"Anyone of the belief that Slytherin house is full of dark Wizards needs to drop this silly belief right away. It is not true, nor is it fair," The Slytherins looked smug for a moment until McGonagall finished her sentence.
"But the Slytherins must learn to stop believing themselves better than those in other houses because this is also not true or fair."
Most of the Slytherins didn't seem annoyed at being told they weren't better than anyone else. Draco seemed to find the idea vaguely amusing, and Theodore Nott looked outraged, but Harry was pretty sure it was in jest
"I have also been asked to inform you that products from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes are banned and that the forbidden forest is forbidden to all students under any circumstances," McGonagall looked directly at the trio, and Harry merely grinned. He was sure he had been in that forest more than any of his other classmates, but his resounding memories of it were of dying there earlier in the year.
"That is all. Now I am sure you are all famished; enjoy the feast!" McGonagall said. With a smile, she raised both of her arms, and the plates were suddenly piled high with food. Harry and Ron dove into the food like starved boys who hadn't been fed for months, and Hermione rolled her eyes in a long-suffering way in Ginny's direction.
"I 'orgot ow uch I loved 'Ogwarts ood!" Ron said through a large mouthful of food.
Hermione looked at him distastefully, "What?"
Harry swallowed his own mouthful and translated, "He said he forgot how much he loved Hogwarts food."
"That's disgusting, Ron," Hermione said. Then she turned on Harry, "How can you understand him?"
Harry merely shrugged, "I'm used to it."
"At least you have manners, Harry," Hermione said with a raised eyebrow.
This prompted Ron to swallow his large mouthful and exclaim, "Hey!"
Hermione tried not to snigger in amusement, and they all ate quietly for a while.
"It will be odd, won't it?" Ginny asked them out of the blue when the food eventually vanished and was replaced by the many mouth-watering desserts.
"What will be?" Harry asked as he scooped some treacle tart into a bowl.
"Not sharing a common room with you all," Ginny said casually, but Harry suspected it bothered her more than she was letting on. They had spent the entire summer as a foursome, and they had gotten quite used to it.
Harry smiled at her, "Hey, you can always visit our common room if you get bored of Gryffindor."
Ginny smiled, "Yeah, well…that might be cool. I bet your common room will have the best parties."
"Oh, I hope not," Hermione said nervously.
Ron rolled his eyes, "Live a little Hermione!" he said through a mouthful of trifle.
Ginny chuckled, but Harry could tell that she would miss them and he would miss her too. Whether they were together or not, she was still one of his best friends, and he didn't like to see his friends upset.
The hall was very loud as everyone ate and laughed and talked, so Harry barely heard the loud crack over the noise, but he did notice Kreacher appear next to him at the table.
The elf looked as well-groomed as he had when they'd left Grimmauld place with Regulus's locket around his neck, "Can I get you any extra helpings, Master Harry?" Kreacher asked, and Harry smiled fondly at the elf.
"I'm good, thanks Kreacher, but I'll tell you what you can do for me when you've got the time," Harry said with a smile at Ginny, "Can you find out if there's any way I can hoodwink the new eighth-year common room to let a seventh year in?"
Kreacher nodded eagerly, "Of course, Master Harry!" he squeaked and with another crack, he vanished.
"Aw, I love that elf," Harry said honestly as he turned back to his food in a better mood now than he had been in a long time, "He's really turned himself around lately."
Ginny shook her head in amusement, "I don't know whether to be flattered or disturbed that you're gonna miss me so much this year that you just sent your house-elf on a quest to hoodwink your common room so I can get in."
Hermione glared at Harry, "You should be disturbed, Gin," she assured the younger girl.
Ron shook his head, "Be flattered. Kreacher loves serving Harry, it makes him happy, and you should hear him brag to the other elves about how his Master is Harry Potter. It's not like he's making him slam his hands in oven doors, Mione."
Harry noticed the subtle jibe at Draco Malfoy and wondered how many more would slip into conversation over the next year. Still, he kept his mouth shut as Hermione got agitated over house-elves rights again.
"It's still not right, Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, "He's essentially a slave against his will!"
"But it's not against his will. He likes it!"
Harry rolled his eyes and muttered to Ginny as Ron and Hermione's bickering got louder, "Some things never change."
"Clearly," Ginny laughed.
Before they knew it, the feast was over, and they were all leaving the hall en-route for their common rooms.
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville walked with Ginny and Luna out of the hall and through the entrance hall. They had a rough idea of where the Eastern Tower was, so they all walked up the marble staircase together into the grand staircase. Luna left them on the fifth floor then they parted ways with Ginny on the seventh floor. She went in one direction to Gryffindor Tower, and the others went along another corridor towards the Eastern Tower.
When they reached the top of the staircase within the tower, they emerged on a large landing with two doors. According to the signs, one was a bathroom, and the other was the eighth year common room.
The common room, however, wasn't accessed by a portrait and a password. Instead, there was a large wooden door. On it was a brass knocker that bore the Hogwarts crest. It reminded Harry very much of the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room.
The group of Slytherins were looking at the door in confusion when the trio reached the top of the stairs.
"How do we get in?" Ron asked, rather stupidly.
The blonde girl, who Harry didn't recognise, said, "We don't know. The door told us a riddle."
"Oh," Harry said, and he felt awkward when all eyes turned to him, "It will be like the Ravenclaw common room then, won't it? You have to answer the riddle right to get in; it's to make you learn."
Tracey, the dark-haired girl, raised an eyebrow at him, "Why have you been in the Ravenclaw common room, Potter?" She asked suggestively, and Harry blushed a deep red at the question.
"Well, what is the riddle?" Hermione asked a little impatiently.
A familiar voice filled the large landing at her question.
"A beggar's brother died, but the man who died had no brother. How could that be?"
"Is that Dumbledore's voice?" Harry asked in astonishment.
"Yeah, we thought it was too," Daphne said.
"But we've tried everything we can think of," Blaise said, "We thought it was because he was adopted…"
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Well, it's obvious, isn't it?"
"For all of us who aren't teenage geniuses, no," Theodore Nott said, but not unkindly, just with an amused smirk.
Hermione heard more voices on the stairs behind them and knew it would be a tight squeeze on this landing if they didn't get the door open soon, so she said, "The beggar was his sister."
"Correct!" Albus Dumbledore's voice said, and the door swung open. Curiously the trio followed the Slytherins into the room. In shape and size, it was the same as the Gryffindor common room. In décor, however, it was not. It was very homey with a large fire and lots of tables for studying, there were armchairs of all house colours and trappings on the walls of all the house crests and the Hogwarts crest. The room looked like a nice place to sit and relax or do homework. The view out of the window of the forbidden forest and the mountains beyond it was very picturesque. Harry looked around the common room that was now full of students in robes bearing four different crests. A sign on the notice board said that in total, there were 24 students in their year.
Harry knew that six of these were the Slytherins and that four of them were he, Hermione, Ron and Neville, but that left fourteen people to identify. A glance around gave Harry an idea of who he knew and who he didn't. He saw Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. However, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were not here because they had both died in the final battle. He didn't see Padma either, so he assumed that she hadn't wanted to come back because of the death of her sister and her best friend.
Harry recognised other former DA members, such as Ginny's ex-boyfriend Michael Corner and Terry Boot. Amongst the Hufflepuffs, Harry knew Hannah Abbott, Ernie MacMillan, Justin Finch-Fletchely, Susan Bones and Zacharias Smith. In fact, amongst everyone gathered in the common room, there were only five students that he didn't recognise, and they were all girls. So naturally, he asked Hermione.
"Hey Hermione," Harry said in a quiet voice, "Who are those two girls over there?"
Hermione followed his line of sight to where a blonde girl with heavy eye make-up and very bright blue eyes was talking to a girl with dark brown hair. They both looked familiar.
"Harry," said Hermione in exasperation, "That's the two Sally's. Sally Smith and Sally-Ann Perks, who gets called Annie. I shared a dorm with them, Parvati and Lavender. How can you not have seen them in the Gryffindor common room?"
Harry honestly didn't know the answer to that question; they had probably been in most of his classes too.
Instead of justifying himself, he asked about a tanned, pretty Ravenclaw girl that he didn't recognise.
"Mandy Brocklehurst. She was in our Transfiguration class, she's really good, she was second-best in the class," Hermione replied from where she was sitting in a scarlet armchair. Harry was perched on the arm of it as he glanced at an unknown Hufflepuff girl with shoulder-length blonde hair who was rather disturbingly sitting on Zacharias Smiths lap.
"Oh Harry, how can you not know these people? That's Megan Jones; she was in the DA, not to mention our Herbology class since 1st year!"
"Well, I'm sorry I didn't pay enough attention," Harry remarked. His eyes were then drawn to the Slytherins, who were standing in a tight-knit circle.
"Do you know anything about her?" Harry asked, "She's called Daphne Greengrass, right?"
Hermione smiled knowingly, "Yes, she is. She's very clever but also extremely sarcastic from what I know of her. Not to mention a complete flirt, I would steer clear if I were you."
Harry nodded thoughtfully, and Daphne turned to look at him. She grinned when she caught him, and Harry looked away sheepishly, much to Hermione's amusement. "
Harry cleared his throat and continued with his identification game, "Right, so the dark-haired girl. She's Tracey Davis, isn't she?"
"Uh-huh," Hermione replied calmly, "And the other Slytherin girl is Sadie Cauldwell. Her Dad wasn't a Death Eater, but he was coerced into joining during the war. It's terrible that he was given such a long sentence in Azkaban," She sighed, "She's lovely; she seems more like a Ravenclaw than a Slytherin, if I'm honest."
"How on Earth do you know all of that?" Harry asked in astonishment.
Hermione frowned, "Oh…well, she gets lonely sometimes because Daphne and Tracey are best friends, so she feels like an outsider. As I said, she's very intelligent, so we used to talk in the library. You know, when for whatever reason you and Ron weren't on speaking terms with me."
"Oh," Harry said, a little guiltily, "Well, she must be alright then if she was content talking to you even knowing Pansy hated you."
"It's hard to hate Pansy now, though," Hermione said with a sad little sigh, "Knowing what happened to her."
"I know," Harry agreed.
"Is there anyone else you don't recognise?" Hermione asked. Harry was unsure whether she was amused or exasperated at how little he knew of his own school year.
Harry shook his head as his eyes fell on Lilly, "No, but how I didn't notice her, I'll never know."
Hermione laughed, "Yes, Lilly is great. Very loud and a bit obnoxious for a Ravenclaw but lovely."
Lilly was currently talking to Neville and Susan Bones.
Harry frowned, "Hermione, would you say Neville has gotten hot?"
Hermione raised an eyebrow at him, "Uh…yes, I would. Is this why you broke up with Ginny?"
"What? No!" Harry exclaimed, "No, I just needed a girl to tell me because I'm a guy, so I don't notice these things."
Hermione smiled in amusement, "Yes, Harry, I would say that Neville is handsome these days. Why do you ask?"
"He's changed," Harry said with a shrug, "Lilly flirts with him, he slept with Ginny during the war, and he's flirting with Susan too."
"He and Susan did use to date, in fairness," Hermione pointed out. She yawned and added, "Merlin, I am exhausted. If you are quite done trying to work out who you went to school with for the last six years, I think I'll go to bed. You should do the same, Harry; you don't want to be late for your first lessons tomorrow."
"I know, I will," Harry said, hugging Hermione and bidding her goodnight as she climbed the girl's staircase to her new dorm.
"Want to check out the dorm situation then?" Harry asked Ron as he crossed the room.
Ron nodded and glanced cautiously at the staircase, "I really hope we aren't sharing with Malfoy."
"I doubt it," Harry said as they climbed the staircase and stopped at the first door they came to.
Ron grinned when he saw that the door was marked with the words;
"GRYFFINDOR BOYS."
Harry grinned too when he walked in. The room looked the same as their Gryffindor dorm. Even the beds were in the same place, and the trappings and décor were the same. Harry was glad that he and Ron would spend their last year sharing with Neville, Dean and Seamus again; it just felt right.
The two boys changed into their pyjamas and said goodnight to each other before getting into bed. As Harry shut the curtains on his four-poster, he smiled and closed his eyes. He fell asleep quickly that night, knowing that he was home once again and that this time it was going to be a peaceful, happy Voldemort free year.
* ~ TBC ~ *