"Really Sirius. Crying like you send away your firstborn?" Remus muttered as he and Dan grabbed Sirius by the shoulder and quickly dragged away the bawling man before he could make a bigger spectacle of himself. He was unaware that his last four words were picked up by a known gossip.
Once clear of the platform Remus turned towards Dan. "One moment. I'll sidealong him to Grimmauld Place." "Stay with him. We'll catch up the mundane way." Emma insisted strongly, worried that the man would do something rash. Remus gave a single nod and popped away with Sirius in tow.
He reappeared in front of the ancient Black mansion and he dragged Sirius bodily into it. Once inside he brought Sirius to the living room and deposited him on the couch. As Sirius still looked out of it, he delivered a stinging slap in the hopes to bring his friend back to reality.
"Gah." Sirius gasped upon being hit. "Ow… I deserved that." he added after a few moments. "What happened?" Remus asked gently as he sat down. "It… it just hit me all at once." Sirius replied lost. "Did I do a good job?" "A good job being a godfather for Harry?" Remus asked rhetorically. "I'd think so. I have been told you never really know you raised a child right until they are an adult."
"Heh… Sorry." Sirius mumbled. "I really made a show of myself didn't I?" "And you didn't even do it for a prank. I am disappointed." Remus said playfully, hoping to drag his friend out of the fey mood he had fallen into. Sirius barked out a laugh at Remus's comment. "Still it is going to be odd without Harry around here…" Remus clicked his tongue as he realised Sirius had based all his activities around Harry, first preparing a home for him to come home to and then look after the young man.
And now Sirius was effectively without goal now that Harry was a few months gone safely inside Hogwarts. 'I had not thought of this.' Remus admitted to himself. He expertly hid how much it annoyed him as he knew Sirius's Azkaban experience had damaged the man in odd ways.
"Come on Sirius. Up your feet and write a letter for Harry. He must be wondering what has happened. And a note about it for professor McGonagall and she'll let him know the moment he comes off the train that everything is alright." The werewolf said firmly. As he had expected Sirius pulled himself together and did as he was told.
Dan and Emma arrived as he did so and Remus quickly took a moment to explain what had happened. The suggestion that Sirius had to go to the equivalent of a wizard therapist was shot down by Remus as the man had seen a mind healer. "The mind if not something you put together like a broken vase." Emma insisted with an agreeing nod from her husband. "Not all the parts just smoothly slot back into place."
"You might be right." Remus admitted after a moment of thought as he watched Sirius send off the owl. "Do you need help?" Dan asked. "If you could keep his mind off the fact Harry isn't going to need him for a few months, I'll go to Saint Mungo's and arrange something." "Consider it done. I would love to hear more about Hogwarts." Emma agreed.
Harry and Mia had an intense stare off as their hands almost blurred with the speed they played exploding snaps. Neither was willing to give ground to their opponent. Cressida and Hermione had bailed out of the game after the two became rather intense about it and settled for their shared pastime, reading tomes of knowledge. Hermione had returned earlier from her prefect meeting and was upset Harry had not received a badge himself.
Harry thought that professor McGonagall was wise beyond her years for not giving him the prefect position. No matter how suited he looked for it on the surface.
A knock on the door distracted the two intense competitors. Harry recovered first but Mia was fast enough to avoid getting burned by the exploding snaps. Without anyone calling the knocker in the door slid open to reveal Daphne Greengrass and Tracy Davis. "Miss… Greengrass? Davis?" Harry asked the first name uncertainly as he did not have much contact with the Slytherin, he had seen the other on and off with Draco before the Campione business happened.
"I am glad you remembered Harry." Daphne said with an alluring smile that went past Harry's head. He shrugged "Hermione mentioned you before. She said you were the only one who could keep up with her in Runes. Why are you here?" Daphne leaned forward a bit and if Harry was not as polite and focused on her face he would have noticed that she revealed far more skin than a pureblood princess like her would usually do. "Oh I hoped we could talk."
"About what?" Harry wondered, confused as to why two virtual strangers would seek him out. As far he was aware Daphne belonged to the group of Slytherins he never really had contact with. It was clear that Daphne wasn't sure either as she visibly faltered. She tried to compose herself when Cressida swooped in verbally. "I must ask that you leave. I just received an urgent message from the Witenagemot."
The curious gleam in her eyes was unmistakable but Daphne relented with a nod. She closed the door as Harry turned towards Cressida wondering how she received that message. He then noticed that Hermione looked particularly thunderous out of the blue while Mia looked put out. Only Cressida was still holding her usual neutral expression that tended not to give away much.
"I can't believe she just tried that." Hermione growled. "I should have expected this. I suppose Harry's strong showing against the goblins made up the minds of a lot of the noble houses." Cressida noted academically. "What do you mean Cressida?" Harry asked as he was thoroughly confused by the byplay. "Well at least you know he is loyal, Hermione." Mia replied instead with an amused smile. "Wha?" Harry started to protest when he suddenly found his lips on Hermione's.
"Thick.. Oblivious… dense. One of those terms is more applicable." Cressida calmly observed and Harry knew he was being insulted. What escaped him was why he was being insulted. "That is a fair point. How did you get him to notice you Hermione?" Mia asked as Harry started to sputter that he had quite enough of this.
"I am starting to wonder myself." Hermione answered with a coy smile. She then leaned forward and cut off Harry's rising protest with a peck on his lips. Harry was now quite certain he missed something important. Especially when Hermione parked herself on his lap after the rather passionate kiss.
He decided to think about it later however. He now had to attend to his girlfriend on his lap. He however did not get a long time to enjoy her attention as an unwelcome presence soon made itself known. Without any warning Draco Malfoy flung open the door of the cabin. "Well well well, if it isn't Potty and his leeches."
"Are you truly insulting a Campione while in his presence?" Cressida asked after a moment of stunned silence. The look she gave Draco while doing so made it clear she had genuine doubts about his intelligence. "Pfff, Campione, Shampione. Potty here might have dazzled the plebes with his tricks. But a proper pureblood can see right through it."
Hermione was secretly surprised that instead of looking outraged or simply angered. Harry had the determined look she had seen when he was facing down the heretic god in the Black Lake. In a whisper of scraping steel the sword of Gryffindor was drawn. Draco tried to backpedal but was far too slow and he found himself with the sword's sharp edge at his throat.
"Don't move." Harry commanded as his wand moved and a simple spell pulled shut the door behind Malfoy. Someone on the other side tried to close it but Mia sprung into action and held it closed. "You.. .you cannot do this!" Malfoy protested. "Harry!" Hermione hissed at the same time. "Where is this confidence coming from Malfoy? And I do know it is not the undeserved prefect badge on your chest."
"Potter, you cannot threaten…:" the rest was cut off by a tap on the head from Mia. "He is a Campione. He could behead you here and the only complaint would be from the headmaster of making a mess of his train." The matter of fact tone struck Draco hard as his nervousness redoubled. His hand itched towards his wand only for Mia, who was holding the door shut with one hand, to grab it and throw it to Cressida.
"Talk Malfoy. I know your father's flunky Fudge is on the outs so your sudden bout of confidence is not coming from that corner." Harry demanded. "I don't know what you are talking about." Draco replied with a rising voice. "Draco, the only reason I am not making a small cut on your throat to make a point is that the basilisk poison would kill you. But accidents happen…" Harry finished with a threatening growl.
"You wouldn't dare." Draco snarled with more bravado than he felt. "The goblins thought the same, and they paid a heavy price for it. This is your last chance Malfoy." Draco took one good look into Harry Potter's eyes and saw none of the empathy or weakness he had perceived in the years before. He realised there was a real chance Potter would cut him with the Hogwarts relic, regardless if it was truly poisoned or not.
"There is nothing, I just saw through the lies Potter." Malfoy tried to growl out. His voice however was not cooperating and he sounded more like someone who had smoked too much. Harry rolled his eyes. "If you really think I would believe that you should have another talk with Buckbeak. Insult him while you are at it?"
Draco paled slightly at the reminder of the Hippogriff trying to slash him to pieces. Harry knew it was a false threat however as Sirius had rewarded the being with an island almost all for itself. The Blacks had claimed multiple islands in the Caribbean where the ministry would not look for Buckbeak, who was still wanted by the ministry. 'I really should have told them to stop searching for him.' Harry noted to himself before focusing back on Malfoy.
He doubted that Buckbeak saw it as a step back however, clear skies, bountiful food to hunt. Harry was almost envious of the animal. "Now there is no Hagrid here to save you. And in case you haven't noticed I am going for the throat." Harry reminded Draco as he slightly withdrew his blade so he could be certain the other boy saw it.
Outside a person started shouting as Crabbe and Goyle were still pounding the door with the fists instead of magic. A glimmer of hope entered Draco's eyes. "Now start talking or somebody will soon start mopping up your blood." Harry warned even as he was uncertain if he could follow through to the threat. The glimmer died as Draco gulped. "Well, it was.." "The truth Draco." Harry said with a hard look that broke the last bit of resistance the Malfoy heir had.
"I'll talk. My father is looking up things for the Dark Lord, as he has returned." Draco squeaked. Harry glared at the other boy "What is he looking for?" "I don't know, we have the biggest collection of magical books." Draco boasted despite the situation he was in. "But we don't have it. So my father is looking elsewhere."
Harry took a step back and Mia shifted out of the way and opened the door to see someone with a prefect badge chewing out Crabbe and Goyle. "I think their handler is here." Harry commented dryly as he gave Malfoy a shove out of the cabin. The older prefect took one look at Harry, sword still in hand and decided to lay into Malfoy for his stupidity of picking a fight with a Campione.
Harry closed the door and couldn't help but ask. "Did the prefects get instructions on me?" he asked his girlfriend. Said girl looked a bit pale. "No… But he has returned! He confirmed it! Why aren't you worried?!" she demanded. "I doubt he is back in the flesh Hermione." Harry assured her as he sheathed his sword. "He is probably hitching a ride like he did in the first year. I am more worried about what he is researching."
Hermione blinked disbelievingly at the calmness Harry excluded. "How…" "He is a Campione Hermione." Cressida answered plainly. "I know, I am almost freaking out on how I am taking this news so calmly." Harry said dryly. "But we need to stay focused. Running around like headless chickens won't help anything. We don't know where he is."
Hermione couldn't fault his logic. This was not an issue she could solve by diving into the library. "So what do we do?" "The only thing we can do is let Headmaster Dumbledore know that Voldemort managed to find a new person to possess. The other thing we can do is bother the other students of known death eaters but I doubt the Headmaster will be happy with me threatening the Slytherins." Harry explained calmly.
He winced slightly afterwards as it hit him that the headmaster would not be impressed by his choice to use force to get the information he wanted. "Don't even think of making it plan B." Hermione added with a pointed glare. "I got it I got it" Harry repeated to assure her he would not do so. In his mind however it merely got demoted to plan C.
Despite the rumours Harry was certain would be floating up and down the train a few more people he had met in passing felt the need to draw their attention to themselves. That they were mostly of the female pureblood persuasion and wore their clothing a tad bit more revealing than they usually did, did not register with him.
As the train approached Hogsmeade he was kicked out of the cabin so that Hermione could change. As he waited he saw a blond girl walk down the hallway in Ravenclaw colours. Her almost silvery eyes gave him a piercing look. He blinked in confusion as she froze for a moment. The struggle she had with herself was visible and Harry started to wonder if she would spasm.
"Are you…" His words startled her back to reality and made her bolt away. Harry blinked at the sudden exit and checked the other side. The hallway was empty however so there was no explanation there. He looked down wondering if he had his fly open or something that could have startled the girl into running away.
"Weird." He noted to himself. The door opened showing that Hermione had finished. "I am done Harry." "Well then you'd all better get out so I can change." he paused tactically as Hermione looked surprised. "If I am not getting a free show, you three aren't getting one either." "Harry!"
'Maybe I shouldn't have listened so much to Sirius.' the Campione mused as his unamused girlfriend stomped past followed by a clearly amused Mia and Cressida. He swapped quickly and Hermione stomped back in and spent a few moments trying to give him a foul look before giving it up as a bad job, sitting down close by him.
"Maybe next year we can give each other a free show." she said she cuddled up to him, a blush heavy on her face. Harry processed those words and turned red himself.