A pack of hyenas probably made less noise than the four preteens trying to sneak around the lake under the invisibility cloak. Lucy rolled her eyes repeatedly, but found herself thankful that no one else should be out of the castle. In this case, the noise wasn't too big of a deal but someone seeing them from one of the windows could be disastrous.
Blaise was the first to throw off the cloak, "We are never doing that again!"
Harry sneered, looking surprisingly like Draco, "I agree, I think a two person limit for the cloak from here on out."
Ignoring the dramatic boys, even as she encouraged herself that she had never been as dramatic as this Harry, Lucy looked around her. The edge of the grass rose up about six feet nearly straight above the edge of the lake. The quartet was standing on the muddy bank, half in swampy waters. With the ground rising up so sharply, and then the castle set even further back up on the hill, no one should be able to see them.
"Come on, it's this way," Blaise muttered, leading the way.
"How do you know where this is?" Hermione asked from the back of the group.
"Other people than just Lucy and the twins do go exploring in this castle, you know," Blaise drawled.
Lucy raised her eyebrows at him, until he admitted with a very put upon sigh, "Fine, if you must know, I was trying to escape Pansy Parkinson, and I slipped down that bank. I did do some exploring when I was trying to find a way back up."
"Pansy?"
"She's utterly insufferable. Mostly she has her sights set on Malfoy, but I think any pureblooded heir would suit her purposes," Blaise said.
"I've said it before, but we really are only twelve!" Hermione protested.
Blaise shrugged, "Pureblood logic is different from muggle customs."
Ahead of them, a giant metal drain screen rose up into the side of the bank. In the middle, a jagged square had been cut in the middle of the screen. It was much larger than any of the children standing in front of it. The entire drain appeared to be about ten feet tall, and the hole was close to seven. A slow trickle of dirty looking water flowed out into the lake.
"Last year that drain was covered all the way, the hole is new," Blaise said.
"Well, I think we found where the monster has been going into the school," Lucy said, stepping in front of Blaise deftly in order to lead the way into the drain pipe, "This is your last warning. You guys should really go back. I can handle this."
Blaise and Hermione shared disbelieving looks while Harry actually scoffed at the girl.
"You don't even know what you're about to face. Aren't you the one to tell me that there are some things Professor Dumbledore knows nothing about while Professor Sprout can handle with ease. How do you know you'll be able to handle the monster alone?" Hermione lectured, hands on her hips, curls rising in indignation."
"Do her curls always act like Medusa's snakes when she's angry?" Lucy barely heard Harry ask Blaise under his breath. Blaise nodded.
"In conclusion, we're coming with you," Hermione finished.
"Fine, but I'd better let Snape know where we're at," Lucy said.
"The slimy git?" Harry asked in surprise.
"He's not a git!" Lucy argued, Blaise nodding along.
Hermione shrugged at Harry's incredulous look, "He's the only teacher she trusts. The poor man ends up on a lot of our adventures."
"It is good to have adult backup, and like Hermione said, he's the only teacher in this school I really trust," Lucy punched her fist into her open palm.
"Why would you trust him? He's only ever looking out for himself," Harry argued.
"That's exactly why I trust him! He's always been completely honest, including being honest with his distaste for you. Just because he's a jerk doesn't mean he's not dependable," Lucy said.
"We're wasting time. How do you plan on telling him, and why did you wait until now?" Blaise asked.
Lucy smiled. She'd been waiting to reveal this trick. Plus, she loved to see her patronus since the angel transformation. If the light nature in her had positively affected anything, it was her patronus.
With a swish of her focus, though it looked like the wand for the sake of Harry and Hermione, a glowing white light started out of her hand.
It lit up the dusk, further and further, forming a corporal shape just as the light nearly became too much.
And corporal it was, the body solid in appearance, a brilliant white unlike any other patronus Lucy had ever seen, let alone the three second years with her. Their jaws had all dropped.
"What was that spell?" Hermione asked after Lucy had told the buck the message to tell Snape, and it had bounded off towards the castle.
"The patronus charm. No way Lucy should be able to do that. It's seventh year material at best; they teach it at the Auror academy," Blaise said.
"It is a hard spell, but I've always said adults make it seem harder than it really is. I bet I could teach all the fourth years if they really wanted to. Maybe even younger," Lucy said before turning back to the screen. Before they wasted any more time or the last of the daylight, she strode off into the tunnel.
Harry followed behind her without pause.
Blaise and Hermione paused for one second.
"Think this is what the rest of our life is going to be like now?" Hermione wondered before stepping into the tunnel.
"I'm a snake. A Slytherin. Not a bloody Gryffindor," Blaise complained to the air around him before following his two friends and the annoying Gryffindor.
Inside the tunnel, it suddenly didn't seem to matter how much sunlight there was outside, it was dark.
"Lumos," Lucy muttered and heard the other three copy her, Harry coming to walk beside her.
Down the tunnel the four walked, shoes becoming sodden.
Without warning, their pipe opened up to a merging of five smaller pipes. A small circular chamber had been constructed to hold the water before it was funneled down into the pipe Lucy had walked up.
Inside, she spotted Graham Montague laying on the floor with a ghostly form of Riddle standing over him. In the original timeline, the boy had been a Chaser for Slytherin, eventually replacing Flint as captain. Unlike Ginny, Lucy didn't feel too bad about Riddle stealing the boy's powers. Montague was the one shoved into a vanishing cabinet by the Twins, who led Draco to understanding its connection with the one in Burgin and Burkes and allowing Draco to later let Death Eaters into Hogwarts.
The ghost's eyes drift over her before alighting on Harry's form.
"Harry Potter, we meet at last," Riddle's voice echoed in the mostly empty pipe.
"Sorry, who are you?" Harry asked, not sounding sorry at all.
"Who am I? I am Tom Marvolo Riddle," the apparition said.
"Not ringing any bells," Harry picked at a piece of lint on his clothing, but Lucy noticed his bouncing foot.
"Let me see if my alias is more well known in the future," Riddle said. As in the original timeline he made the glowing letters of his name appear before rearranging them into I am Lord Voldemort.
"Voldemort! But, you're just a boy!" Hermione called out.
Riddle dismissed her, keeping his eyes on Harry, "We are similar you know. Montague has shared how you seek out power and authority in the school. You are a well known figure yourself. We could work together rather than this foolish fighting."
"I'm nothing like you! You killed my parents; you did horrible things! I don't even want attention; I'm just being forced to be at the center!" Harry said. Behind his back, he motioned for the others to go around him.
Sadly, the boy was not in Slytherin (regardless of if the house would have brought out the traits it desires), and Riddle caught the movement of his arm.
"Very well, I had to offer a joining, but I did not truly expect you to accept my generous offer. While you consider some more, I will allow your friends to meet my pet. I was quite upset to find my Basilisk loose in the forest. I suppose at your hands Potter. I was thoroughly surprised to hear that you also had Parseltongue," Riddle mused.
"He has Parseltongue because he's Indian! They had it first, long before Salazar Slytherin!" Blaise called out.
Riddle dismissed that with a wave of his hand, "Perhaps, perhaps not, but Salazar Slytherin used it in a far greater manner. Still, I wanted similar powers to the basilisk, so I had a loyal follower bring me in a Catoblepas," Riddle said.
"A what?" Harry asked, as the creature itself came out from the tunnel it had been standing in.
Lucy thought it looked like a water buffalo, but it had a huge head that hung down towards the ground.
"Catoblepas. Is Dumbledore still not teaching anything useful?" Riddle laughed aloud.
"They're relatives of the water buffalo, but magical. Its stare will turn a person to stone, and it's breath is poisonous!" Hermione called out.
Harry had moved closer to Riddle, the ghost distracted by his bragging and explanations of his power. Having heard most of it before, Lucy mostly tuned him out as she edged closer to the diary lying next to Montague.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hermione and Blaise send spells at the Catoblepas as it lumbered slowly towards them.
"I had not planned on taking all of Montague's powers tonight, but I think it can be done. I've had the entire year to slowly gather what I needed from him. Tonight, Harry, your bones and the bones of your little friends will join Montague's in this dirty little sewer," Riddle laughed.
Lucy heard a gasp, and all heads turned towards Hermione where Lucy saw that the Catoblepas' breath formed a sick green cloud around her two friends who had turned to face the beast. Using the distraction, she ran the last several feet and poured the uncapped bottle of Basilisk venom onto the diary.
Riddle screamed in anger, and she saw the ghostly apparition fly towards her.
As it hit her, it felt like the angel within her reared to the very surface of her body. Without her doing anything, the angel magic judged Riddle and found him extremely dark. As the apparition tried to possess her, the angel magic was fighting him, attacking at the apparition for trying to possess something as light as herself.
It felt a bit like Riddle and the angel magic were playing a rough match of tug-of-war with her soul or magic.
It hurt.
A lot.
She spotted Harry jumping into the fight with the Catoblepas and being tossed aside by the thing's long, curving horns; Hermione and Blaise lying on the ground, but she felt unable to move in any way. The pain was so intense that she just laid there wishing to pass out.
From the other side of the room, she spotted Snape run into the room, black teaching robes billowing out behind him.
His wand was up in a second, flashing a bright light (not green) at the Catoblepas that sent the animal to the ground with blood running down its side.
Snape ran over to the children and gave the three by the animal all a small item from within his cloaks.
Then he came over to Lucy.
"What's wrong?" He asked her, wand moving in a diagnostic charm.
She stared up at him, teeth clenched together, "Vold-Voldemort."
"Yes, what did he do to you?" Snape demanded.
"Tried… to p-p-possess me," she finally got out through sheer determination alone.
"Why did you react like this then? Your magic levels are nearly depleted," Snape asked her.
"Creature inheritance," she said, and an understanding lit in Snape's eyes. He waved his wand, and Lucy felt the darkness of sleep reach up and grab her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Upon waking up, she was entirely unsurprised to see the white walls of Hogwarts infirmary around her. Hearing slight whispers, she held in the normal groan.
"Now my boy, what a courageous act you have performed," Dumbledore was congratulating someone who she had no doubt was Harry.
"I don't understand, sir. How did I end up here? Are the others alright?" Harry's voice sounded almost frantic, and Lucy's chest felt a bit warm.
"Everyone is quite alright. Snape accidentally got the message you had been sending to me and arrived at the nick of time. Luckily he is a potions master and carries some bezoars in those teaching robes. He administered them to Mr Zabini and Mrs Granger who will make a full recovery. After defeating the Catoblepas, he brought the five of you here," Dumbledore said.
"Montague, sir! He was being possessed!"
"Ahh, no need to get worked up. Yes, I heard what happened. I will be talking to his parents about the situation. The boy will go on suspension until he has proven himself," Dumbledore said.
Lucy wasn't surprised that Montague (a Slytherin) was put on suspension unlike Ginny who received absolutely no punishment in the original timeline.
"Our actions have natural consequences of course," Dumbledore continued, "Just like you have consequences for who you choose as your friends, my boy."
"Sir?" Harry sounded a bit confused.
"Oh I don't mean any insult of course! Those three did excellently in this situation. In the future though, perhaps you should stick with someone who has already proven to be a loyal and courageous friend," Dumbledore said gently.
"Like Ron?"
"Certainly, certainly. Young Ronald certainly proved himself last year, yes? Just something to dwell on. For now, I believe some rest is in order. You and your friends missed final exams, but we still have a few days for packing up, then the final feast. Rest now so you don't miss any more. And perhaps I could have one of these Chocolate frogs? Yes? Thank you, my boy! I will be seeing you then."
Lucy waited until she heard the infirmary door open and shut, then several minutes after that before jumping out of her bed.
The sudden movement made her a bit dizzy, and she was thankful that Harry must have had the same thought to check on her. He managed to just catch her as he came around the curtain.
"Careful!" he said as he lowered her back onto the bed, "Though there's that feeling again. What is that? It's like...I guess maybe peace? Every time I touch you."
"Don't worry about it," she grumbled, "Thanks for going along with Snape's cover story about you calling for him. At least I guess that was his idea. Wonder if Dumbledore was mad at Snape for supposedly intercepting the message."
"We'll have to check what exactly Snape told Dumbledore. I figured it was something like that and decided it was best to just go along with it," Harry settled onto the hospital bed next to Lucy, their shoulders lightly touching.
"We're all going to be alright though," Lucy said, smiling at Harry at the sudden realization. He grinned back.
"Yep, second year and second time facing Voldemort," Harry said, then paused, "I mean, that we can remember. I don't think my experience as a baby really counts. Can't believe some of the stuff he had said. Like about him being just a halfblood, not even a pureblood. Wonder if Malfoy knows that?"
Lucy shrugged, "Doubt it, but who knows?"
Harry narrowed his eyes at her, "I think you know a lot of stuff you aren't admitting to. You didn't even seem surprised by what Riddle was telling us."
She looked away, "I can't tell you here, too many ears listening. Maybe over the summer? I think it's about time for you to know anyway."
He nodded, "Alright, I can live with that. I'm holding you to it though."
Harry went back to his bed then. She thought it would take her a while to fall back asleep, but Lucy was out almost before her head hit the pillow.
When she awoke, she went to find her friends. Harry gave her a slight grin as she entered the curtains around Hermione's bed, but Blaise looked affronted.
"You're supposed to be some great scion of the Light side, and you didn't even know about the Patronus charm? Ridiculous," Blaise said in a way that suggested he was continuing an earlier conversation.
"Hey, I wasn't raised in the wizarding world. I only went there when I was seven. Well, almost eight really," Harry argued.
"Really, where were you before that?" Blaise asked.
"With my muggle aunt," Harry said, his face darkening at the mention of the Dursleys.
Blaise leaned forward, "What were they like?"
"Horrible!"
Blaise leaned back, eyebrows furrowed, "Aren't all light wizards supposed to be obsessed with muggles."
"Most muggles are like them, but my aunt and uncle and cousin are definitely horrible," Harry said.
Hermione's eyes slowly blinked open, her face squinted against the bright light of the room, "You all have horrible bedside manners."
"Hey, I didn't even say anything!" Lucy huffed as she sat on the edge of the bed by Hermione's feet.
Harry threw a pillow at the girl, while Hermione fake glared, "Guilty by association."
~~~~~~~~~~~~Break~~~~~~~~~~~
Two days later, three days before the end of the school year, Flitwick running after a pig that appeared to be dressed in a coat was Lucy's first sign that something was off.
"Out of the way! Watch out!" Flitwick yelled as he ran down the corridor, barely dodging students.
Dean Thomas was a tragic victim of the pig, getting shoved to the side by the thick stomach. He in turn took out Seamus during his fall. The two second years created a pile that several students rushing to class couldn't avoid.
"Pile up on the second floor corridor!" Lucy called out as groans filled the air.
She followed the chaos to the Great Hall where she saw Hagrid trying to corral another pig that was running down the professor's table. Professor Vector tried to duck out of the way of the running giant, but Lucy would swear to her death bed that Snape tossed the pudding in Hagrid's way on purpose, and then the half giant was sliding.
Up until he hit the ground, Hagrid's one foot slide on the pudding was like something from the figure skating olympics.
Sadly though, what goes gliding must eventually come to a stop, in this case with Hagrid nearly crushing Professor Vector.
Lucy put a hand over her mouth in horror while Colin Creevy hid behind his plate of pancakes.
At the last second, Professor Dumbledore waved his wand and Hagrid came to a floating stop above a terrified looking Professor Vector.
"So sorry, professor, not my intentions, just slipped you see and lost my balance," Hagrid rambled in his nervous manner.
"Now, now, no harm done, right Septima?" Dumbledore patted Hagrid's back lightly as he set the giant back onto his feet.
"Right, good catch, Albus," Professor Vector said, fixing her hair. If she still looked a little pale, no one said anything. The threat of death by tripping Hagrid was low, but never zero.
In the confusion, Lucy watched as the pig ran by the Hufflepuff table and out the doors of the Great Hall. At the closer glance, not only could Lucy see what appeared to be a dragon skin coat on the front two legs and back of the pig, but a large piece of parchment that said simply 2 stuck to the coat.
"What's going on?" Lucy asked Blaise when she made it to the Slytherin table.
"Hermione and the twins apparently, though I don't think most people know of Hermione's involvement," Blaise muttered lowly so the other students couldn't hear.
"What exactly did they do?" Lucy asked.
"Set loose four pigs in Hogwarts. Each one is wearing a dragon skin coat to make it impervious to magic, and wearing a neat little tag labeling which number it is," Blaise said, speaking that part at a normal volume.
"The professors originally told the prefects to catch them. When they failed, the professors themselves set out after them," Draco added in, sliding the obnoxiously green binder towards Lucy, "Here's the records from this year. We figured you could review them and give it back at the start of next year. We used the fourth section to create a list of requested items for next year."
"I'll get those to you as soon as we get back," Lucy told the blonde.
"That's what we figured. No real sense trying to bring them in now with only three more days left," Draco agreed.
Blaise frowned at Lucy, "What are you into now?"
"Don't you worry your pretty little head about it," Lucy smiled at him as she grabbed some pieces of toast and went to walk out.
""Where are you going? You've only just got here," Blaise called after her.
"Things to do, places to see," Lucy called back at him.
She wandered her way down the corridor to the training room. Unlike earlier in the year, the numerous angels walking and lounging in the corridors no longer gave her hostile looks. For the most part, they ignored her, but a few gave her friendly nods of acknowledgement. In many ways this was actually more difficult, because she had to be careful not to be seen talking to something no one else in Hogwarts could see.
Even with her best efforts, she occasionally messed up, and would get weird looks from students when she would wave or say hello to a blank wall.
Slipping into the training room when the corridor was empty, she smiled up at Carver when he became visible walking in step beside her.
"Come, we need to talk to Fleecian," he told her.
The older angel was waiting for them near the back of the room, "She-angel."
She frowned, "Still not sure I like that nickname."
"I have good news for you. We have decided that you have progressed enough to probably not accidentally kill yourself with a dull sword," Fleecian continued as if she had said nothing.
"Backhanded compliments, I like it," Lucy nodded several times.
"This will be your first sword. It is made of iron. The edges have been slightly blunted. Be careful though, while not able to fillet your skin from your flesh, it is still sharper than your wooden sword," Fleecian handed her a sheathed sword.
She drew the handle to reveal a very plain weapon. Both sides were sharpened with a thin line down the middle separating the two. A rounded hilt led up to a thinner handle with a thin spiral going up it.
"Wow, thanks, dull iron with a spiral. I'll try not to kill anything," she muttered.
"No, we want you to kill the demons. Try not to kill anyone. And the spiral is there to create grip, help keep your hand from slipping off the handle. The design is that of the Macedonian army swords ," Fleecian said.
"Noted," she said, sheathing the sword before slipping the sheath onto her belt.
"When you have it in the sheath, the sheath and sword will be invisible to wizards," Carver told her.
"OK, that part is useful," she admitted. "Does that mean I can ditch the knife Hermione keeps nagging me to get rid of?"
"Definitely not. This is to add to your repertoire of ways to defend yourself, not replace another," Carver said.
She looked at Fleecian, "Will I see you during the summer for training?"
"No. I have been called back to heaven to train a new battalion," Fleecian said in a monotone.
"Wow a whole new battalion huh?" Lucy said, "Uh, well, thank you anyway. You're definitely a better teacher than Carver, if more emotionless than him."
"You are welcome, though it was simply my job," Fleecian said.
"Yeah, that I believe," Lucy said. Carver grinned at her over Fleecian's shoulder.
They trained for a while before Lucy went back into the corridors of Hogwarts. She spotted Hermione up ahead.
"Hermione! Wait up!" she called.
Her bushy haired friend turned around and gave Lucy a grin.
"Heard about your pig prank. That was great! How many have they caught?" Lucy asked as she got closer, careful to check no one was around to snitch on Hermione.
"Three of them," for some reason this sent Hermione into quite a fit of laughter.
"That's pretty good, only one more right?" Lucy said.
Hermione's sides heaved as she laughed, head thrown back, curls bouncing. Little tears leaked from the corners of her eyes.
"Uhm, are you alright?" Lucy asked.
Three….haha….only three," Hermione said.
"What?"
"We only...put three in Hogwarts," Hermione finally gasped out between laughs.
"But...but I thought they were numbered one to four?" Lucy asked.
"YES! We numbered them one, two, and four. The professors have been running through the school for hours trying to find the last one," Hermione said, losing her composure by the end of the sentence. Lucy found herself laughing along.
"That's bloody brilliant," she said, "I bet that was your idea?"
Hermione nodded, "Yes. Fred's idea was the pigs, and George came up with the dragon skin coats."
Lucy beamed, "I always knew you three would work well together."
The end of the school year came both too quickly and not quickly enough. While Hogwarts would always be a home to her, it was no longer her only home. She hated to be apart from her friends, but she also missed her parents and pseudo uncles.
At the end of the year feast, Dumbledore pulled his normal stunts for Gryffindor to win the House Cup. Most of the Hufflepuffs around Lucy grumbled.
"So much for any fairness in this school," Justin said.
Lucy couldn't help but agree. It had been cool when Dumbledore had done it for herself (or himself then?) but now it definitely screamed of favoritism.
"Least we won the Quidditch Cup!" Cedric cheered from the other side of Justin, leaning around the boy to slap Lucy on the back, "Thanks to you, Lucy!"
"Nah, you played most of the games. I only subbed into the one," she replied with a grin.
"No ones going to say anything about the Chasers? We certainly helped the situation," Alex complained.
Soon they were loaded onto the Hogwart's Express; her, Hermione, Neville, and Blaise in a compartment.
"Any big summer plans?" she asked them.
"My family's going to France for the holiday," Hermione said, nose stuck in one of her light readings.
"I have some work to do in the Longbottom greenhouses," Neville said, hands clenched around an end-of -year plant that Professor Sprout had given him. Lucy gave the plant dubious looks when a bright yellow puff of smoke periodically rose from the petals of the single flower on it. Neville pulled the plant protectively toward himself.
"Mother wants to spend some time in Greece," Blaise was drawing in a leather bound sketchbook, spread lazily on the entire left side bench by himself.
"Have you ever had a Greek stepfather before?" Lucy asked.
"Not yet," Blaise grinned at her, and Hermione looked up.
"You think your mother is looking for a new husband? I thought I sent her a condolence card this school year for her husband passing away?" Hermione questioned.
Neville shuddered as Blaise shrugged a single shoulder and dabbed at the charcoal on the paper, "I'm sure we're just going on a nice mother/son holiday. If there are plenty of eligible wizards around, that's no one's fault, eh?"
The compartment door slid open sharply and Harry followed it into the small space, Ron barely a step behind him.
"What're you drawing?" Ron demanded, grabbing the sketchbook from Blaise.
"Give that back!" Blaise was on his feet in an instance, Lucy springing from her seat to intercede.
"Here," Harry said, taking the sketchbook from Ron and giving it back before Lucy had to do anything. She caught a glimpse of a very accurate drawing of Hermione, Neville, and herself on the compartment bench before Blaise had snapped it shut.
"Why'd you do that mate?" Ron whined, "I just wanted a look."
"Don't worry about it. Anyway, I wanted to tell you to have a good summer or whatever it is you have," Harry said to them, turning towards Lucy.
Lucy marveled at how similar this version of Harry could be to Draco Malfoy before replying, "Yeah, same to you mate."
"You're not his mate," Ron complained.
Lucy and Hermione rolled their eyes.
"Alright, have a good summer barely constrained body of wrath," Lucy said to Harry before turning to Ron, "And weasel."
"Oy!"
"Alright, we're leaving," Harry grabbed Ron's shoulder and pulled the protesting ginger from the compartment.
"We are getting close to the station," Hermione noted.
"I'll write to all of you this summer, and maybe we can get together sometime," Lucy promised.
"I'd come to visit, but I think we'll be in France until just before school. Let's try to meet in Diagon Alley for school shopping though!" Hermione said.
"Other than Greece, I'm sure I'll spend most of the summer with you, as per our usual agreement. It would be nice to see you sometime Neville, too. Your wandwork has certainly improved this year," Blaise said to the shy boy.
Neville pulled the plant up a little bit until part of his face was covered, "You really think so? And you want to get together?"
"Yes, you really have gotten better Neville!" Hermione agreed.
Lucy clapped him on the shoulder, "See, I said that new wand would help!"
"Well...uhm… yeah, I'll let you know when I can come over, uh, if you want?" Neville asked Blaise who nodded once sharply.
"Don't forget me! We'll have to get together extra to make up for these two going on all the vacations," Lucy told Neville who nodded back.
~~~~~~~~Break~~~~~~
Giggles escaped Lucy like stray butterflies as her father spun her around once before setting her on her feet. Enveloped by her mother's arms almost before her feet hit the ground, Lucy felt loved in a way she had never experienced in the original timeline.
"I missed you!" she told her parents, big grin up at them.
"We missed you too. Come on, there's some strange uncles who've missed you back at the manor," her mother said.
Walking into the brick maner, she saved a broad grin for Remus and Sirius, the two adopted uncles.
"Hi pup, how was school?" Sirius asked her.
"Good! Hufflepuff won the Quidditch Cup!" she told him.
"Wonderful!" They all said similar good congratulations to her as they walked towards the more casual parts of the manor instead of the grand foyer.
"And I faced Voldemort again," she added as she grabbed an apple off the counter and took a bite.
The adults paused their various actions and turned to her with varying looks of shock.
"Excuse me, young lady, but did you say you faced Voldemort again?" she reasoned that the calm in her father's voice could either be shock or false.
"Yep, but only his teenage form," she didn't clarify. She may have decided to tell them more than she had told adults in the original timeline, but that didn't mean she couldn't have fun during it.
"Sit down. Explain," her mother commanded her.
Around eating her apple, Lucy explained about Riddle, the diary, and the catoblepas.
"Some parts I knew but other things were surprises. Like, I had no idea about the catoblepas. Actually, I'm still not completely sure I understand what it was. And I really wish I knew what Snape had used to kill the creature. Seems like it could be useful," she mused.
"You don't want to use anything Snivellus used. Sure to be rotten," Sirius complained.
"Don't call him that!" Lucy snapped. Sirius pulled back, and she felt only a tiny spot of guilt. "He's a human being too, and he deserves respect. He's done a lot to help me, first of all, and even more to help Harry."
Sirius' put his eyes toward the ground, but there was a hardness around even as he said, "Sorry pup, I'll try not to say that around you."
Remus cut in, "Not to change the subject, but to change the subject, Sirius and I have a surprise for you, but we're not telling you until you go back to school."
Her face lit up, "You were hired as the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor?"
His mouth dropped open for the second time in an hour, "How did you know that?"
"I just did," she said smugly, "Wait you said you and Sirius? Is he coming along as your pet dog?"
"Yep!" Sirius popped the ending sound like popping chewing gum, "You are looking at Hogwarts next emotional support dog."
"I'm so excited!" Lucy yelled as she grabbed the two around their necks.
"Until school though, I just have the final custody hearing about Harry," Sirius said.
Lucy pulled back far enough to look into his face and see the worry in his eyes. She patted him on the cheek, feeling sharp stubble beneath her palm.
"Don't worry, they're sure to give him to you. With your funds, I think you hired the most expensive solicitor available. They'll bow to his demands," she said seriously, "But you need to sleep more. And take care of yourself. You're starting to look scruffier than Remus without chocolate."
"Hey!"
Author's Note:
And we are done with the second year!
Only five more books to go ~sweat drop~
I am feeling highly motivated to finally finish this story, hopefully by the end of 2022. This has been dragging on long enough. It is my hope to post a new chapter each week, but I can't promise anything. My work schedule is normally pretty light during the summer, and I already have an outline for the entire rest of the story. It's just a matter of fleshing out each chapter.
Thank you for all the reviews. I read each of them, and they truly do encourage me to post chapters sooner. In addition, there have been several times that the reviews and private messages have helped encourage me to come back to this story after a year (or longer) break. If you notice that longer than a week has gone by without an update, please feel free to shoot me a message and nag me. I know author's are different, but it helps push me along.
Thank you again. As always, constructive criticism is LOVED, and I try to incorporate as many of your suggestions as I can with the overall story arc.
In your review, throw in any omake ideas you'd like me to write out 😜