Sensing Magic
by Teddylonglong

Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.

Harry stared at the old wizard in disdain. "And why might that be, sir?"

Dumbledore let out a deep sigh. "That, my dear boy, I will explain to you, when you're a few years older and able to understand the background of what I'll have to tell you."

Inwardly rolling his eyes at the headmaster, Harry rose from his chair. "Thank you, sir. Good night. Night, Fawkes." Without looking back, he swiftly left the office with Lucy and his father in tow, smirking when Severus mumbled something sounding like "Stubborn old coot" as soon as he closed the door behind them.

HP

A few days later, Arthur Weasley and Bellatrix Black were sitting in the kitchen at Grimmauld place sharing a bottle of muggle red wine. Sirius was still at work, and Amelia had already retired to bed.

"You look incredibly smug tonight," Arthur observed, casting her a questioning look.

Bella grinned. "Last night, I went out together with Marvolo," she admitted, causing Arthur to smirk.

'Of course, we all know that, considering that Sirius still doesn't trust you but has some of the Auror trainees observe your every move,' he thought in amusement. "And? Did you have a good time?"

Bella's face lit in apparent happiness. "He took me to the seaside on the Irish coast, where we had dinner in a beach restaurant. It was truly amazing. Talking to him, I realised that I still love him."

Arthur stared at the witch, who was only a couple of years younger than himself in shock.

"During the war, when we were both under the Imperius curse, I already had feelings for him, but I was too crazy for him to see me as a woman if you know what I mean. He was much older than me, too."

Arthur nodded.

"But now… He is so smart, but still very sensitive, and… Oh well, I know we only met twice after ten years, but I completely fell in love with him."

'We've been only living here for a few weeks. I'm surprised that she would admit such a thing to me,' Arthur thought in confusion, when a small voice from the back of his head told him, 'She is attractive indeed, even if not as beautiful as her sister.'

"What about you?" Arthur stared at her in shock.

"Perhaps, we could go on a double date with Marvolo and Narcissa one day?"

"Maybe, we could do that," Arthur replied, absentmindedly, while his thoughts went haywire. 'It must be the wine speaking. Due to her stay at Azkaban, she isn't used to drinking anymore,' he thought, however, knew better than to contradict the woman. "It's late, and I believe that it's time for me to go to bed if I don't want to fall asleep at work tomorrow."

Bella nodded. "G'night, Arthur."

"Good night, Bella."

HP

After discussing the matter with his parents, Minerva and the elves, Harry asked the elves to install what they called a snack box in each of the common rooms. The boxes were filled with all kinds of magical sweets, such as chocolate frogs, Bertie Botts Beans or liquorice wands.

If someone wanted to buy a package of sweets, they had to insert a Sickle, which was the price for one package of sweets, into a slot. They then had to tap a screen displaying the respective sweets to make their choice, and the box then spat out the sweets chosen.

Of course, Hermione was the first to question Harry how the box worked. "We have something similar in the muggle world, but it operates on electricity."

Harry smirked. "Professor Flitwick and one of the elder elves helped us charm the boxes. I think they're quite brilliant."

Several times a day, the elves filled the boxes again, unnoticed by the students, who only realised that the boxes never seemed to become empty.

HP

Two days after the elves had installed the boxes, Ronald visited his twin brothers at the Slytherin table during dinner.

"Do you have any idea how I could earn some money?"

The twins exchanged a glance, much to Harry's and Ginny's amusement, who were sitting opposite of the twins.

"How would we know…"

"… what ickle Roniekins could do?.."

"… We earn our money selling potions…"

"… but according to Professor Prince…"

"… you're an absolute dunderhead at it…"

"Why don't you ask Charlie?" Harry interrupted the twins' tirade. "Perhaps, he could use a student assistant to care for his many animals?"

Ronald nodded, eagerly. "That's it. I will ask him." With that, he turned around and headed to the high table to speak with his brother.

"Ronald!" Ginny's voice made the boy turn around instantly. "Don't go there during lunchtime. Go to see Charlie later on in private."

Nodding in apparent exasperation, Ronald seemingly grudgingly returned to the Hufflepuff table, causing Ginny to chuckle.

"Thanks Harry…"

"… for turning his attention away from us."

Harry sent them a glare that would have made his father proud. "Ah, that was mainly for all our safety. I wouldn't want him near Dad's private lab trying to brew anything."

"Can you imagine him feeding flobberworms though?" Ginny chuckled.

"Nope." The twins then began to make a spectacle of using a spoon trying to feed something invisible something incredibly disgusting, causing the whole Slytherin table to watch and laugh at their antics.

Only when Severus strode over to his house table to check what the matter was, everyone returned to their meals. 'I'll tell you tonight. It was funny,' Harry thought to his father, who returned an unobtrusive nod.

HP

Later in the evening, when Severus and Harry joined Regina in the living room, Harry explained about the twins' conversation with Ronald, making Severus roll his eyes. "You don't believe that I'd allow him as much as a foot into my private lab, do you?"

Harry and his mother exchanged a look of pure amusement, before Harry shook his head, grinning. "No, sir."

"By the way, Harry, there is something that we'd like to discuss with you. This summer, we wish to go on a family holiday. Only the four of us. Oh, right, five. Sorry, Lucy."

"I'd like that," Harry replied, seeing that his parents were both smiling. "I can still spend a week or two on the Isle of Elves, can't I?"

"Of course, you can. I shall ask Cicero, when your elf family is going to leave, and we'll choose a different time for our own holiday."

"Thank you." Harry felt relieved. Somehow, the Isle of Elves was like a second home to him, and he was already looking forward to spending time in Granny Anastasia's home. A holiday just with his parents, Felix and Lucy sounded good, too though. "Where are we going to go?" he suddenly remembered to ask.

"That's for us to know and for you to eventually find out." Severus smirked, causing Regina to playfully slap his arm.

tbc...

Thank you so very much for the kind reviews for the previous chapter.