Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: Just a fluffy chapter before end of year craziness.
It was almost as crazy as the Weasleys getting ready to go back to Hogwarts as Harry, Tom, and Severus all attempted to track down everything to return. The problem was that Harry and Tom's things had spread between two houses, so they both had to keep flooing and apparating between the two to track down missing items. Severus had stayed away from Grimmauld as much as possible, but Tom had steadily spent more and more time with his son once the dogfathers knew of his existence, so he could be found in the library or Harry's room or the kitchen at random times over break. To Severus's horror, the guestroom at Spinner's End definitely had a couple Quidditch posters and several framed pictures of the Marauders (minus Wormtail), the Golden Trio, Charlie with random dragons, Luna amidst the thestrals, and even one picture that Severus could not remember having been taken of him, Tom, and Harry in his chambers at Hogwarts. The brat had officially moved in, and just like with his quarters at Hogwarts, he looked at the room with a mixture of frustration and happiness. His control over his life was slipping as Tom and Harry seemed to take over. He wasn't sure if he was irritated, scared, or extremely happy, and that frustrated him all the more.
Sirius and Remus just sat on the couch in the sitting room at Grimmauld enjoying the show as Tom and Harry ran around trying to figure out where they had left their book on blood magic or their best pair of shoes or their toothbrush. They were a little concerned that Harry wasn't sure where he'd left his toothbrush…maybe they needed to talk oral hygiene at some point. All in all, it was quite funny though.
Then came all the pets…P.C. didn't want to go back into his carrier over at Spinner's End. Nagini was complaining about having to be small again. Fortunately, Bella and Cissy were turtles, so they were already in a tank and easy. Hedwig seemed to give up on the crazy and just decided to fly on to Hogwarts with an indignant hoot at the irritable snake.
All in all, it was a miracle that Severus and Tom were able to floo back to Hogwarts on time and Harry was standing on Platform 9 ¾ before the train departed. "Now, pup, you be safe and have some fun ok?" Sirius said, pulling him into a hug. "Stay away from the Malfoys as much as possible and pull a couple pranks."
"Sure, Padfoot," Harry grinned. "The Ravenclaw ladies are getting a bit complacent. Luna and I might have to remind them not to mess with her or her things."
"Keep your ring on at all times, cub," Remus warned as he pulled Harry into a hug next. "Listen to Tom and Severus and write us every week. Floo call us if you just want to talk, any time."
Harry gave a sigh. "Fiiine. You both know I went from having absolutely no mail to having to write the two of you, Charlie, Mrs. Weasley, Keket, Marius, Ollivander, and Melinda. Hedwig is so busy that I end up using school owls to write to Keket in Egypt and Marius in Norway."
"Ah, poor baby has too many friends?" Sirius fake pouted in fake sympathy.
"Keket and Marius are more acquaintances than friends. Ollivander is just weird and more of a fan. The rest of you…I really don't know why you want me to write, but you seem to get irritated when I don't," Harry rolled his eyes at his godfather.
"We care, cub, that's why we want you to write," Remus said with a sigh. "So, suck it up and actually tell us what's going on in your letters."
"As long as you keep me updated on Order business and remember to add the jinxes I told you to your parchment," Harry warned.
"I blame your dad for how paranoid you are," Sirius said pushing him towards the rapidly filling train.
"It's not paranoia when everyone really is out to get you," Harry protested. "Constant Vigilance!" He mimicked Mad-Eye Moody.
"I find it very disturbing that you see Mad-Eye as a role model," Remus ruffled his hair as the teen finally made it onto the train.
"Be safe you two. Call me if you die!" Harry smirked at them before disappearing into the Hogwarts Express.
"Moony, is it concerning that I no longer find comments like that strange when Harry makes them?" Sirius shook his head at the door his pup had disappeared through.
"Padfoot, I don't even recognize our lives any more now that Harry has taken over," Remus patted him on the back. "I find it more concerning that the Dark Lord was looking for his missing pair of shoes in our library this morning."
"I find it concerning that I didn't even think that strange," Sirius agreed. "I think I need a vacation."
"Hmm, Tom said he's planning one for this summer," Remus nodded. "Don't know how he's going to make that happen since you know he's going to want to bring Severus along, but knowing him and Harry, you can bet on it happening."
"You know Remy, I'd kill to see Snape in a Hawaiian shirt," Sirius smirked as the train started pulling away and they both waved to their godson who was hanging out of a window and waving back as the train headed out.
"I think Lily and James should be summoned for that experience if it happened," Remus laughed. "Oh, Merlin, I need to buy a camera."
Harry had assembled Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Luna together in the Gryffindor common room the night after returning to Hogwarts. After a couple curious glances, no one questioned Luna's presence in Gryffindor territory. Though it hadn't quite sunk in with the Ravenclaws yet for some reason, Gryffindor was very aware that if you messed with Luna Lovegood, then Harry's wrath would be swift and destructive. "What's up, mate? We starting up the DA again or something?" Ron asked since they had all been the original organizers.
Harry rolled his eyes and cast an extremely strong privacy ward around them, causing his friends to look at him appreciatively. "Oh please, Professor Shade is the best DADA professor we've had since we started at Hogwarts. I think we can leave the teaching to him. You agree, Hermione?"
Hermione was the resident genius, so her opinion was really all that mattered to the group in these regards. Harry might be farther along in his education and know a lot more magic than the rest, but that was only through a whole lot of hard work and having a live-in tutor in his brain for his whole life. "Yeah, I've learned so much this year so far. I really hope he can survive the curse and return for our NEWT year."
"So why are we all here, Harry?" Neville asked in confusion.
"First of all, I'm hurt that you all think we can't just hang out in the common room together," Harry started, a serious look on his face. "Let's all hang out more, ok? No diabolical plans or the end of the world or anything, just chatting or wizard's chess or something."
"You're the one that's always busy, Harry," Luna said in her dreamy way. "I understand why, but things will slow down a bit this year, right?"
"Yeah," Harry smiled at her kindly. "Sorry about that. Last year was really crazy. I mean we all had OWLs and then Voldemort was trying to invade my brain and all the extra classes with Snape."
"Have your classes ended?" Neville asked, knowing that Harry did still spend quite a bit of time with the potions professor for some reason.
"Yeah, but since he and Evan are dating, I still end up hanging out with him a lot," Harry shrugged. "He's not too bad once you get past the gruff exterior."
Ron looked at his friend like he had gone completely mental. "I knew you were friends with Shade…but Snape? Really mate. You sure he's not going to chop you up for potions ingredients at some point?"
Luna laughed a twinkling laugh that seemed to light up the room. Harry also noticed her spinning her family line ring with a fond smile. "I don't think Harry is in any danger," she added with a chuckle. "There actually was a purpose for this meeting though, wasn't there?"
Harry sighed, touching his own ring with fondness. "Yeah, but now there's two reasons because we will plan some more friends' hangout times. We only have each other here together for another year and a half, so let's make the best of it. But, yeah, I did ask you all here to talk about the Malfoys. I think they're planning something."
"Harry, really…" Hermione started with a sigh and a roll of her eyes. "All last term you were on about this. You have no evidence that Draco Malfoy is up to anything."
"Even if you don't believe Baby Malfoy is a Death Eater, Daddy Malfoy is definitely a Death Eater and is currently teaching us History of Magic," Harry told her sternly. "He's already tried to kill me twice, please tell me that warrants keeping an eye on him."
Neville chuckled at the new nickname for Draco. "Mum and Dad told me that he was definitely one of the Death Eaters in the last war," Neville added with a nod. "They told me to keep out of his way and to contact them immediately if I get any detentions with him."
"That's a good idea, Neville," Harry nodded in agreement. "That should go for the rest of you too. If you get a detention with him, maybe tell Evan or Snape though since your families don't have quite as much pull as Lord and Lady Longbottom."
Hermione's eyes had gotten large in shock as the implications of a detention with a Death Eater as a muggleborn started to sink in. "Can Shade or Snape help?"
Harry patted her hand comfortingly. "Snape diverted most of Umbridge's detentions last year and started the process to get her arrested. He'll definitely help, but make sure to go to him when you're all alone because he can't be seen helping a muggleborn and keep his position as a spy. I can always tell you the password to his chambers if you need it."
"How do you know the password to Snape's chambers?!" Ron squeaked.
Luna snickered in amusement since she had already gotten the secret out of Tom, he had a hard time saying no to his blonde friend even when Harry could stand up to her persuasion. "Snape has been trying to figure out how Evan and I always know his password this whole year, so I'm definitely not going to tell you until he figures it out," Harry smiled at Ron and stuck out his tongue.
"Do you have any idea what they're planning?" Neville asked Luna. The rest of Harry's friends had eventually figured out Luna was a seer by around the end of fifth year.
"I haven't seen anything yet," she said a bit spacey. "I'll tell you if I do though."
"We have three Marauder's Maps between us," Harry said. "I think we all keep an eye on the two in our spare time. Neville, I'll talk to Sirius and Remus about trying to get you a map too."
Neville's eyes lit up at the possibility of getting his own map. He had been a bit jealous of the rest of them having one. "That's awesome, mate!"
Luna started rummaging in her bag and emerged with a deck of muggle cards. "Now that we've taken care of that. How about I teach you all the muggle card game of poker," she smiled at them all.
Harry and Hermione both groaned at the idea of playing poker with a seer. "Fine, should we invite Lavender over though, Ron?" Harry grimaced, not really liking Lavender, but knowing she was dating his friend.
"We broke up on the train back from break," Ron shuddered. "I never want to do that again!"
"Crap! I owe your brother money then," Harry wrinkled his nose as he took his cards from Luna.
"You were betting on my relationship?!" Ron asked indignantly, taking his own cards.
"Yeah, Charlie won," Harry shrugged. "Fred, George, and Ginny were in on it too."
"Why wasn't I asked to join?" Luna pouted.
"Luna, Love, the same reason this will probably be the one and only time we play poker with you," Harry smiled at her broadly.
"You all are no fun," she continued pouting and handed Hermione and Neville their cards.
"So, what is 'poker?'" Neville asked in wonder at the cards that didn't move or explode or anything fun.
Luna's eyes sparkled as she settled into her armchair more to explain.
It turned out that Lucius Malfoy was actually a fairly good History professor. His lessons were all very biased towards the pureblood elite, but if you could wade through all that crap, it was fairly interesting. Much better than Binns at any rate. Harry got a lot of amusement out of the fact that yet another Death Eater turned out to be a decent professor, even if he was planning to kill them all. Hey, Dad. Daddy Malfoy isn't too bad. Harry sent over the link after his second History of Magic class.
I never said he wasn't smart, just evil. Tom sent back. Any updates from the Scooby Gang on what he and Baby Malfoy are up to?
Don't call us that! I watch one episode of Scooby Doo at Grimmauld and you can't let it go!
Yep, Ron is Shaggy, Hermione is Velma, you are Fred unfortunately, Neville is Scooby, and Luna is definitely Scrappy Doo.
Who's Daphne then? And there is no way in hell that I'm Fred!
You can be Daphne then.
That's not any better!
Well, I never said my metaphor was perfect. Regardless, any updates?
I'm not letting this go! I'm not Fred! But, no, besides the fact they both go to the Room of Requirement a lot, we have nothing.
Why do they go there? Lucius has his own rooms? Tom sent a wave of confusion through the link.
No clue, but we can't get in when they're in there. Harry sent his own wave of confusion. We'll have to keep an eye on them. I'll ask Dobby if there's a way to figure out what they're doing in the room.
Movie night tonight? You got the memory?
Yep! We're on! You get the popcorn from the kitchens!
Ok, you're in charge of getting Fawkes on board then.
No worries. Harry laughed in amusement. Ever since we learned he isn't Dumbledore's familiar, he seems more and more willing to mess with the old man.
Snape pushed open Ebenezer's portrait and rolled his eyes at the familiar sight in front of him. Tom and Harry were on his couch, P.C. was curled up in Harry's lap, Nagini was on the floor by the fireplace, and a large bowl of something was sitting between the two men. "Don't you both have your own rooms? Do you ever go there?"
"Hey, Dad. Isn't your portrait guardian a knight?" Harry asked.
"I think it's a vampire actually with a castle in the background," Tom mused.
"I'm pretty sure it had a lake in the background," Harry added.
"Yes, yes, you never go to your own rooms. I get it," Snape smirked at them as he took off his teaching robes and put them on the peg behind the door. "What are you doing in here tonight?"
"Movie night," Harry told him simply and tilted the bowl to show that it was full of popcorn.
"Join us!" Tom smiled at him broadly and patted the couch.
Snape crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You would never get a television to work in Hogwarts around all the magic. Frankly, I'm surprised any electronics work around either of you. Your magical fields are swirling around you constantly," he said motioning his hand as it to highlight how far out their magical fields stretched.
Tom shrugged. "Harry just has to sit really far away from the TV Sirius has at Grimmauld, and I can't be in the same room with him, so I have to watch it through the link."
Harry motioned to a bowl sitting across from them on the coffee table. It was a pensieve. With a smirk, Harry waved a hand over it and a projection appeared above the bowl that looked like a muggle child's bedroom. "Where in Merlin's name did you get a pensieve?" Snape asked, worried they stole it from Dumbledore.
"We stole it from Dumbledore," Tom smiled and shrugged a shoulder.
"Fawkes helped," Harry added. "He shouldn't need it tonight anyway. He's at the ministry for some reason according to McGonagall."
"Ok…who's memory are we watching then?" Snape shook his head. The things those two got away with…
"Did you know Dean Thomas has seen The Princess Bride like 15 times and can recite the entire movie from memory," Harry smiled and motioned to the projection.
Now Snape was very worried. "How did you get the memory of an entire movie from Mr. Thomas?"
"Oh, don't worry so much, Sev," Harry laughed as he stroked a purring P.C. "I traded him the memory for an entire crate of chocolate frogs. He was well compensated."
Sneering at the nickname, Snape strode over and picked up the bowl of popcorn and settled onto the couch between them. "You'd better have put butter on this."
"Who in their right mind wouldn't?" Tom asked like he thought his boyfriend might have gone a little batty.
"You know…" Severus started as the projection showed the beginnings of the movie. "Flitwick has a strange fascination with the new Mortal Kombat movie, and he also has been really wanting a new dueling-grade wand holster."
Tom smirked. "I think we could make that happen…"
Harry chuckled as he grabbed a large handful of popcorn.
Dear Charlie,
Ron and Lavender finally broke up! Enclosed are your winnings since they broke up on the train ride back to Hogwarts. Gred and Forge are having a fit that you won the bet. I recommend writing them and rubbing it in a bit.
Hey, you get your mum to wear the ring? Things are fine here. Daddy Malfoy is actually a fairly decent professor. Still certain he's going to try to kill us all though. Dad and Sev haven't had any more luck than us students in trying to figure out what the plan is. Apparently, Voldemort is keeping things quiet on his end as well and hasn't told Sev anything in the meetings.
Dad and Sev are arguing again. Sev came back from a meeting having been crucio'd a few times and Dad is beyond worried. He really wants to remove Sev's Dark Mark and kill his evil version, which we still haven't figured out how to do yet. I keep telling Dad that he can't make the decision for Sev, and Sev seems intent on continuing to spy. They're at a bit of a stalemate.
What's going on at the reserve? Made any new friends in town?
Harry
Leader of the Scooby Gang
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Dear Harry,
I'm not sure what the Scooby Gang is, so you'll need to explain that to me at some point. And, yes, I actually have made some new friends in town. Andreea and Cristian are an older couple that you will absolutely love! Andreea is a veela and Cristian is a blood mage. They are like the Romanian grandparents I never had but always wanted. I mentioned that my best friend is a necromancer, and they've already decided that their guestroom is your room whenever you want to come visit. I have to admit, you'll never want to stay in my tent once you try Cristian's cozonac. It's a sweet bread that's amazing! He really is a great baker.
At the reserve, Norberta is going to have hatchlings again! If you visit in late summer or early fall, you may get to see them hatch. I know you have school then, but really, you have to come out to see the babies!
Thanks for sending my winnings. Now we just have to work on getting Ron and Hermione together. Hey, any ideas for who to set Luna up with? She needs someone really special to keep up with her. Mum is wearing the ring now. I had to tell her it was from me, and I got it at a market in Romania. I hated lying to her, but I think mentioning the Dark Lord charmed it so he could protect her wouldn't have gone over too well. Or, that the Dark Lord thinks of her as a mother-figure either. Hey, someday you're going to have to tell me how that all came about. What did mum do to win over Tom?
Tell Tom to stay strong and let Snape make his own decisions. He might not agree, but Snape's an adult and can take care of himself.
Charlie
Gained five pounds from Cristian's baking
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Dear Charlie,
Yes! I want to see the babies and meet your new friends! I promise, by this time next year, I will make sure to visit Romania! I can't believe this hasn't happened yet. I'll try not to get grounded for once when a break in school happens.
As for Ron and Hermione, I think that's moving along pretty well. I'm going to stay out of it because they seem to actually be heading that direction themselves. What do you think about Luna and Neville? I know you haven't actually met Neville yet, but he's really nice and brave and understanding. I think he and Luna might be good for each other.
Also, just so you know, Andreea and Cristian sent me a box of sweets. They are amazing! I mailed them back a thank you letter, but please tell them from me that I really, really like all the Romanian sweets they sent. I can't believe that you have such amazing friends over there in Romania. Hey, don't replace me, ok?
Harry
Floo call soon?
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Dear Harry,
I'll never replace you! How can you even ask that?! Floo call this Sunday at 7pm your time. Be there!
Charlie
I love you, you prat!
Up Next: The end of sixth year...