Title: Strings of Fate
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: Being raised only by his Aunt, Harry comes to Hogwarts not only knowing about the Wizarding World, but with a kind of training no one at the school is expecting.
A/N: I have decided that the Omake by LWJ2 at the end of Chapter 15 is now officially canon for this story.
Cho Chang was in hell. Ok, it was not literal Hell, with fire and brimstone and little guys in red pyjamas sticking pitchforks in her butt or anything. It was her own personal hell. The hell of being Harry Potter deprived. For over a month now. With Harry Potter's Injunction, everything had changed. Her Harry Potter books had magically locked themselves so she could not open them. Her signed photograph of Harry had turned his back and refused to look at her. She had been barred from all of the Harry Potter Fan Clubs. None of her old friends would talk to her and no one new would approach her.
She was an outcast. Hell even the Ghosts turned against her. Cho was now the primary target for Peeves and the Grey Lady had informed Professor Flitwick of her bullying of Luna, which had put her on academic probation and suspended from the Quidditch Team for a least six months, though the Captain had said not to expect an automatic return to the team when the ban was lifted.
With her social life basically destroyed, Cho no longer spent time in the Ravenclaw Common Room, instead she spent her time in her room either studying or reflecting on how she had landed in this situation. Her first reflex was to blame Loony Lovegood; then she had blamed Granger and Professor Flitwick. She had even briefly blamed Harry Potter, for about half a second. Eventually she had realised that the only person to blame for her current situation was herself. Of course, she had no idea what she could do about it. That would require more thought.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" The Bloody Baron asked.
Helena shot him a look before looking back down at the documents on her writing table.
"I have made up my mind, Ethelred. Remember how well it turned out the last time you tried to dissuade me?" Helena replied.
"No, I am not trying to dissuade you." The Baron replied. "It is just that the Death Day Celebration is the only time you can be yourself, rather than the persona you have cloaked yourself in. It is the same for all of us."
"So am I not allowed to let anyone see the real me? Is that what you are telling me?" Helena said, turning on The Baron.
"You know that's not what I meant." The Baron replied. "You know me better than that. I am just concerned that you will regret this later."
Helena turned away from The Baron and looked down at the photo of five students and herself.
"I feel I owe it to the girls, Ethelred." Helena said softly. "The girls were taken from them too early. The other watched her child grow, these three were deprived of that experience."
"Are you doing this because Potter resembles Him? Are the other two an afterthought?" The Baron asked.
"I owe it to the girls." Helena repeated.
Gliding over to the table, Helena gathered her concentration and picked up the three letters. Most of the time Ghosts were intangible, but with practice and a great deal of effort they could interact with solid objects. Delivering these invitations would leave her drained for a few hours. Writing them had left her so drained that she could not even move for over a day.
"Peeves, can you please open the door?" Helena asked.
"Of course, My Lady." Peeves said, opening the door.
Normally Peeves entering the Great Hall is a disruptive and flamboyant event, but this time the doors to the Great Hall opened and Peeves simply floated to the side. A hush came over the entire Hall at what followed the Poltergeist. The Grey Lady glided into the hall with the stern visage of The Bloody Baron a 'step' behind and to her left, with his hand resting on the sword at his belt.
It took a moment for most people to realise that the Grey Lady was actually holding letters in her ghostly hands. The only time anyone in the castle had seen a Ghost, with the exception of Peeves who was not technically a Ghost, interacting with a physical item was when the Grey Lady had gotten a signed Harry Potter photograph.
All eyes tracked the Ghostly pair as they went first to the Ravenclaw Table, then the Gryffindor Table, then to the Hufflepuff Table delivering the letters before sweeping out of the Hall, with Peeves closing the doors as he too exited the hall.
Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter all looked down at the elaborate but easily readable script on the invitation to the Death Day Celebrations on Halloween night. A personal invitation from Helena Ravenclaw, which indicated that the Ghost wished to, at some point during the night, discuss with them her experiences with her friends. Their mothers.
The end of October, and Halloween, was rapidly approaching when the first of the mini concerts was held on a Sunday. It was one of the few rare Autumn days in Scotland where the sun was shining and the temperature was mild, so the concert was held outside on the vast lawn in front of the Castle.
Almost a hundred students and staff were attending as spectators, seated in simple but comfortable chairs that the Professors had conjured. Harry, Hannah, Susan and Hermione were sitting in the crowd enjoying the concert. As the performances were exclusively instrumental classical music, Susan could not participate even if she wanted to, which in this instance she did not. They were the only members of their group of friends who attended the concert as spectators, though Daphne was performing on the piano.
Harry sat with Hermione on one side and Susan on the other, with Hannah sitting on Susan's other side. All of the performances were either individuals or small groups, like the string quartet, as there had not been enough time yet for larger groups to organise themselves. There was a string orchestra in the works but they had not had any time to practice yet. There was also a few woodwind and brass instrument players performing, giving hope that there might eventually be a full Hogwarts Symphony Orchestra.
Most of the performances were quite good. They were not musical prodigies, or as it was known around Hogwarts as 'Bones Level' or 'Diva Level', but there were no glaring errors or discordant notes and the music flowed instead of being jerky like beginners usually were. The performance that got the most applause was not one of the best but it was not one of the most 'ordinary' either. It was performed by a First Year Gryffindor, playing solo on the Clarinet.
For most of the concert, Harry sat with his eyes closed, simply enjoying listening to the music. Hannah watched in rapt fascination, having never really experienced music without a vocal component, now realising that the emotion of music can be conveyed without words.
Susan, like Harry, spent most of the concert with her eyes closed simply listening, though she was leaning into Harry's side and had her head resting on his shoulder. She did make note of a few of the performers, including Daphne, where she thought their playing style would complement her own singing style.
For Hermione, a large part of her was simply sitting and enjoying the concert, while another much smaller part was taking note of the styles, competencies and presence as performers of each of the participants and starting to compile 'dossiers' on each of them to see who was good enough to participate in the Indy Concert at the end of the year. The analytical part was a small part of her and it was not something she was consciously doing, it was just how Hermione's mind worked.
When the concert ended the crowd milled around to congratulate their favoured performers, with Susan pulling Daphne aside to discuss the possibility of a collaboration later in the year. As the students and staff made their way back up to the castle, a cold wind blew off the Black Lake, reminding them of the march of time and the approach of Winter.
TBC…