I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.

The Family that Chooses You

Chapter 137 – Eye of N.E.W.T.

"What am I even looking at?" Harry asked.

The Gryffindor common room was full of floating-colored bubbles. They ranged in size, some as small as peas and others as large as Quaffles. They flew around, bumping into each other and the walls, occasionally exploding and showering the people beneath them in paint. Every so often the existing bubbles that collided with each other created different bubbles in a never-ending cycle of self-renewal.

"We don't know," Mirabelle said. "That's why we came and got you."

"Why didn't you get Hermione? She's better at this sort of thing than me," he said as he watched a large wobbly bubble turn into a dozen smaller ones.

"Because of him," Lyla sniffed, pointing at Ron.

Ron looked sheepish. "I might've begged them to not get Hermione, or any professors. I can still fix it."

"You said that over an hour ago," Mirabelle and Lyla shouted crossly. Most of the other inhabitants of the tower, the older students, looked equally as upset while the younger years looked delighted.

"Where did they even come from?" Harry resisted the urge to poke one. He narrowed his eyes, looking at one closely. He recognized a vague letter inside the bubble. "Ron, you didn't…"

"I mean, I was just trying to raise spirits with tests coming up and I thought this would be better than most things Fred and George make-"

"Don't lie! I heard you say that it hadn't been tested really!" Lyla said angrily.

"Okay, so yeah, it's more experimental but still-"

"Did you ask them how to stop this?" Harry interrupted. "Send them a letter?"

"Not yet because I wanted to prove I could stop it, but I don't think it's just my fault. Seamus did part of the casting and-"

"Oi! Don't blame me that your brothers' product didn't work!" Seamus shouted.

"This didn't happen until after you tried setting some on fire!" Ron shouted back.

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose. "Really? You picked now to do this? N.E.W.T.s and O.W.L.s start in a week! How do you expect people to study like this? I don't have time for this Ron!"

"I know! I can fix it!" Ron waved his wand and muttered an incantation. A bubble exploded and drenched him in multicolored paint, making him look like a clown had gotten sick on him. "Okay, maybe I can't fix it…"

Harry resisted the urge to bang his head on the wall. "Fine, you owe me for this." He grabbed a piece of parchment and drew a series of runes on it. Then he gently pressed it against a bubble, waiting for the runes to glow. When they stopped, he peeled the parchment off the bubble and looked at the words appearing on the parchment.

"What was that?" Lyla asked interested.

"A runic array. It helps you identify spells. Okay, be right back." He left the common room, grumbling. After a while he returned with Luna in tow.

"Oh, this looks rather lovely," Luna said as she looked around the common room. She watched one explode and turn two first years bright purple. "I can see why one wouldn't like it though."

"Hi Luna," Lyla said, hugging the older girl. "Are you here to help?"

Luna nodded. "Harry said he needed my help with arithmancy. At first I wondered why he did not ask Hermione," she shook her head at the multi-hued Ron, "but now I see why."

Harry was writing out a new series of runes on parchment and pressing them against a bubble, peeling them off as they identified the spells. Luna took them from him and laid them out with interested students clustering around them.

"What are you doing?" Mirabelle asked.

"Well I went to Professor Flitwck and asked, theoretically, how to stop this. He said, theoretically, it sounded like something changed the nature of the spells. Therefore they aren't acting like they should. I asked if setting it on fire would do it and he laughed and said yes." People glared at Seamus. "So he suggested that if I can figure out how they changed via arithmancy, then we can try to counter it. He also said a sufficiently powered Dispelling Spell can also usually undo most things but if I miss I'll dispel something important."

Luna was inspecting the spell lines. "So we are seeing what has changed and hopefully the spells all share a common line, which will make it a lot easier to undo at once. Otherwise we will have to do everything spell by spell and that would be very difficult and prone to failure." She pointed. "There. Fire changed the elemental state. Turned air to liquid. Also made everything a bit more unstable." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Though the entire spellwork is a little unstable."

"The twins did make it," Ron muttered.

"Right, so if we recast it to overwrite the elemental change?" Harry asked.

"We need the original bubble to do that." Luna looked up at the enormous cloud of bubbles. "Which I don't think is feasible right now."

Ron and Seamus began to edge away from their angry House-mates.

"You know how to do elemental transfiguration don't you?" Luna asked Harry.

"Sort of."

She smiled brightly. "Now is not the time for humble Harry. We need confident Harry. Or the Harry that accidentally does brilliant wandwork."

Harry laughed and blushed. "I mean, I have on a small scale, but nothing quite like this. What are you suggesting?" He thought for a few moments. "Oh. Change the bubbles from liquid back to air?"

She nodded. "There are a lot of bubbles but that's all they are: bubbles. They only fill with paint when they burst. If you can transfigure them before they burst, you skip the paint part entirely."

Harry took out his wand. "Worth a try I guess." He traced the sign for liquid and then transformation, then the sign for air. He muttered the incantation and felt the wand warm. He rolled his wrist, creating a space to encompass all the bubbles. One by one the bubbles turned into air and dissolved, sending little showers of light onto the delighted students below. They cheered when the bubbles completely disappeared.

"Great idea Luna," Harry praised, hugging her with one arm and kissing the crown of her head.

She blushed prettily and hugged him back. "Good idea on the runic arrays and that was lovely wandwork. May I keep the parchments? They are very fascinating."

The other Gryffindors thanked Harry and Luna profusely. Ron breathed a big sigh of relief. "See? Told you lot it would get sorted. Hey, what, stop pushing me!"

Harry pushed him again. "You're going to give me every Wheeze you have on you. Come on."

"Percy never confiscated my stuff!"

"If he was here he would! Or you might not even had the bollocks to do it if he was still here. Come on, I'll give them back after exams. Otherwise I'm not coming back to help and I'll send Hermione AND Professor McGonagall."

"I thought we were mates," Ron muttered mutinously.

"We are and I'm doing this for your own good, now move it."

-0-

"Hermione, when was the last time you took a break?"

"Earlier."

"When?"

"When I ate the roast chicken you made for dinner."

"That was last night."

"Oh was it? That's odd-hey!" Hermione tried to grab her notes back, tugging on them. "Harry James Potter you give my notes back!"

"After you take a break."

"N.E.W.T.s are next week! I can't afford to take any breaks!"

"Hermione, I've seen you study all year, I've studied with you all year. We already finished reviewing the material once a month ago. If you didn't already review everything again in the time since, I'll eat Hedwig." Harry looked at a very angry puffed-up owl. "I'm not actually going to eat you, calm down."

"Harry, if I don't pass my tests I will lose all my applications and will not get into law school and will not become a solicitor and will not make things better for Muggleborns and everything I've ever tried to do will be for nothing!"

"Uncle Ted already wrote your letter of recommendation and he already accepted you as his apprentice despite your final grades."

"I refuse to succeed on nepotism!"

Harry sighed. "Alright, hard way it is then." He flicked his wand and Hermione screeched as several blankets attacked her, bundling her up securely. He moved her over to the couch and deposited her on it neatly and comfortably. Crookshanks leapt up on the struggling Hermione and curled up on her chest. Hedwig fluttered over and plumped down on her head, nesting in her bushy hair.

"Let me go! I'll get you for this Harry! If I fail everything you'll have to deal with the consequences and take care of me forever!"

"If, and that's a big if, it comes to that I'd be happy to," Harry said. He went into his room and came out with a small round mirror. He tapped it, watched his reflection disappear and he placed it on the side table, angling it at Hermione.

"Mum?" Hermione gasped, seeing Jean appear in the mirror.

"Hi honey! Surprise! Sirius is letting us borrow the mirror because we figured you need some help. Rather Harry might need some help with you."

"Mum!"

"Harry has our express permission to do this and whatever it takes to make you relax. Really honey, you don't want to over-exert yourself and become so anxious you do worse."

"But these tests are important!"

"Tests usually are and you will do wonderfully as always." Jean winked cheekily at Harry. "Thank you dear. And you have the recipe yes?"

"It's already in the oven," Harry said with a smile. "Your mum taught me how your family makes cottage pie and your favorite salad and dressing," he said to a confused Hermione.

"You're making my favorite?" she asked tearily.

"His idea," Jean said fondly. "Said he wanted to give you a taste of home and help you relax."

Harry went into the kitchen to give Hermione and her mum some privacy. He hummed softly, checking on the baking pie and giving the salad another stir. He was grateful for asking Sirius to lend the mirror and to get the recipe, he knew Hermione really needed the support. He was lucky to get his. Andromeda and Samantha had sent him encouraging letters and Sirius and Tonks sent him a funny postcard. Alicia sent him a guide a while back on how she approached her tests. She was also very tickled to hear how irate Hermione was when she learned Harry had those N.E.W.T.s books a year in advance, just like Alicia thought she would be.

Harry came back into the sitting room with a few pieces of bread. Hermione had calmed down a little, rolling her eyes at her mother's snickering. "Thank you, Harry," Jean said brightly when he walked into sight. "You give us a shout when Hermione is being unreasonable. We're so glad you live with her."

"Can't believe you don't trust me," Hermione grumbled.

"We trust you to act like you do so again, we're glad Harry's there. We won't wish either of you luck because you will do well. Speak to you soon!" Jean waved merrily and then disappeared from the mirror, showing Hermione and Harry's reflections like a mirror normally would.

Harry lifted Hermione up a little, sitting on the couch and settling her back down over his lap, facing up. He held a piece of bread for her to bite into from her prone position. "See? Even your mum says you're overreacting."

"She always says I'm overreacting," Hermione muttered as she chewed rebelliously. "Overbearing parents and brother, just my luck."

Harry chuckled. "Who woke me up again in fourth year that one time?"

"The sun," she replied pertly. She turned shy. "Thanks, Harry. For putting up with me and taking care of me."

"You do the same for me," he said warmly.

-0-

Harry grinned at the finished product of the practical for the Charms N.E.W.T.s. He was tasked to do a combination of charms on an object and to show the best order to do them. He chose a statue of an owl and first cast a feather-light spell to make it as light as a feather. A color changing spell had the owl constantly look like a multi-hued rainbow that swirled and the Locomotor Charm helped it dance. A flying charm, not a levitation one, gave it flight instead of simply floating, and an anti-collision charm kept it from flying into things. Finally, a singing spell had the owl sing Hedwig's Lullaby as it flew around the room to the delight of the proctor and the wonder of the other students and proctors.

"Well isn't that a lovely combination?" Marchbanks praised. "Very well done and a thoughtful application of spells. If you changed the order of the dance and flight with the feather-light, the owl wouldn't be nearly as graceful. Nice variation on the Color Changing Charm. Instead of shifting colors, it's slowing changing hue and constantly in motion."

"Thank you, Ma'am," Harry said. "It's almost perfect. There's no bacon eating charm though."

Marchbanks laughed when Harry explained. "What would happen if you tried color changing your owl?"

"I probably would have less hair," he said with a smile. "She's rather fond of her feathers. A bit vain really."

"Just as well that you don't then." Marchbanks smiled. "Well done indeed, Mister Potter. I do hope you get used to seeing me, I requested to Proctor most of your practicals. I was impressed by your O.W.L.s and cannot wait to see what you do on your N.E.W.T.s. Today was an excellent start."

Herbology went well. It was not Harry's best subject but he did well enough and had grown to appreciate it more after fourth year. During his practical he was once again greeted by the biscuit-eating plant and surprisingly it seemed to recognize him. Luckily, he had some in his pocket and was happy to feed the plant. It was a variant of a Tentacula and Harry showed how to treat and care for it while describing many applications of materials harvestable from it.

The proctor had remarked how well the plant seemed to react to Harry. When Harry suggested biscuits being a reason, the proctor had laughed thinking he was kidding. Harry then answered a few more questions and showed how to harvest a few other plants and had left feeling pretty good about his performance.

He knew he did well in Potions. He was able to answer the written portion's questions comfortably, including a rather in-depth description of the Polyjuice Potion that he remembered fondly about. In fact, with the book Snape suggested years prior and Alicia's books, he felt very well prepared.

The practical was just as successful. Mentally swearing to buy Alicia the biggest chunk of chocolate he could find, he made a perfect Strengthening Solution. When he was tasked to brew a potion using an already matured solution, he had grinned and decided to make the variant of the Pepper Up that Percy sent him the recipe for last year. Marchbanks took one sip and was very impressed and almost annoyingly chipper.

Transfiguration went incredibly well in his opinion. The written portion was tricky but he thought he answered them with enough detail. He really did want to impress McGonagall and show her that her faith had not been misplaced. Not to mention her 'threat' of making him do his mastery with her despite the score he earned on the test was motivation enough. His experience as a Medic and his initial training with Andromeda helped him with the human transfiguration portion.

The practical was challenging but he felt accomplished. He was able to transfigure many objects into animals and back, then change one animal to another and back. At the end, when he was given free-reign to do something to impress Marchbanks, he was struck by inspiration. He turned the rock into a goblet and filled it with water. Then with some careful sign tracing and incantations, he transfigured the water into solid earth, into fire, into a thick fog, and then back to water.

As Marchbanks praised his elemental transfiguration, Harry decided he'd thank Ron later for the problem solving, Luna for the idea, and the twins for the opportunity.

-0-

"Whoa, what's going on?" Tracy asked, eyes round.

Harry pulled a lasagna out of the oven. "Daphne and Hermione are disagreeing about a rune translation." He winced at a particularly loud expletive from Daphne.

"I thought I was the only one that could make her curse like that," Tracy said, awed.

"Daphne is basically the Pure-Blood version of Hermione," Harry joked as he pulled a second lasagna from the oven. "So they naturally know how to get on each other's nerves and cause those kind of responses."

Tracy giggled when Hermione shouted something rude. "It's funny that you're right. So who's more right between those two?"

"The bad thing is that they're both right. It depends on which rubric you use for the initial translation and the super bad thing is that both rubrics are basically the same except for one rune. Which is the base rune so even though everything else is the same, they have different meanings depending on the one you pick."

"Oh that's just rude," Tracy groaned. "How'd you think you did?"

"Okay I think. I always guess on most translations but I'm good at the writing of them and arrays."

Tracy peeked into the sitting room. "What's Luna doing?"

"Taking notes. She takes the test next year."

"She's also drawing them." Tracy laughed.

"Staying for dinner?" Harry asked.

"Yes please, those smell incredible." Tracy helped him carry salad and bread to the table. Hermione and Daphne were making wild gestures at each other and pointing at texts, arguing over the other. Luna was looking at them like a wildlife artist watching their art subject, making little sketches on her easel. When she saw Tracy and Harry walk over, she helped clear the table and clapped eagerly.

"Okay, the test is done," Harry said as he pushed the two arguing girls into sitting positions. "Let's just eat and relax for the rest of the night. We're almost done."

Hermione and Daphne began to eat but continued to glare at each. Luna took one bite and squeaked happily before she got up and skipped to Harry's room. She skipped back, carrying the candle and set it carefully down on the table. She took a tiny piece of lasagna and put in the oil well and lit the candle. "I thought Katie would like to join us," she said as she took a big bite.

Harry smiled fondly and hugged her. "Another great idea."

Her eyes sparkled. "I can't believe what happened in the common room would come in handy for your test."

"Me neither," he admitted.

"Are you going to thank Ron?" she asked.

"Yeah, by giving back the Wheezes after the tests are done and not telling his mum or Percy," he said dryly to their amusement.

"I still can't believe he did that," Hermione said with a mouth full of salad.

"I can," Daphne and Tracy said together.

"And we barely know him," Tracy finished to their laughter.

"How much more do you have to do?" Luna asked.

"We have Defense still," Harry said, pointing at the four of them.

"And we have Arithmancy too," Hermione said, pointing at herself and Daphne.

"Well, at least it's almost over," Luna said sympathetically. She looked down at her plate. Harry slid around and pulled her to his side when she sniffled a little.

"You're not getting rid of us," he said quietly.

She nodded. "It's only a year," she said softly. "I can handle a year."

"And Lyla and Mirabelle and Ginny will still be here too," Harry said encouragingly. "We'll write and I'll send food packages."

Luna smiled though her eyes were still a little watery. "That'll be nice."

Hermione and Daphne did not argue for the rest of dinner and the night and though the mood was a touch more somber than it was before, it was still very pleasant.

-0-

Marchbanks smiled as she watched the lioness prowl about, nuzzling Harry and carefully inspecting the surroundings. "Still as magnificent as ever, Mister Potter. Very well done. I see your skills at Defense has maintained a high quality." Her eyes twinkled. "Perhaps another mastery prospect?"

"Professor McGonagall has told you?" Harry grinned.

"Minnie and I are old friends, you know, because we're both old." Her eyes sparkled even more at Harry's laugh. "She was so proud of your scores and has told me her hopes."

"Is it true that she'll duel anyone who tries to apprentice me?"

"Oh yes. In fact, there were a few Transfiguration masters that were intrigued by your scores on your O.W.L.s. Good Transfiguration students are rare, compared to the other disciplines. A few put out inquiries and Minnie put out a blanket statement that if you were to do a Transfiguration mastery, no one save her would be your Mistress. 'And let any bampots just try their luck against me on the dueling field and that their seconds should bring a trowel to scoop them up.'"

Harry laughed again. "Professor McGonaMum is pretty scary, isn't she?"

Marchbanks hooted. "McGonaMum?! Thank you for this gift, Mister Potter. I am going to enjoy calling her that later." She wiped laughter-induced tears away. "And yes, she can be rather intimidating. I've seen her put more than a few in their place and that's not considering students. She'll be a stern Mistress but a good one. Her skills are in high demand. She gets many applications from mastery hopefuls. She's allowed to be very discerning."

"Oh wow."

"Wow, indeed." Marchbanks looked fondly at him. "I will have to come see you when you finish your mastery. With how you are now, I know you will be even more incredible in the future."

-0-

"Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." Hermione smiled at Harry's look of confusion. "Shakespeare."

"Bless you."

Hermione snorted and swatted him on the shoulder. "You know whom I'm referring to. It's a line from Macbeth, one of his plays. It's a scene where there are three witches around a cauldron brewing a potion."

"So it's accurate?"

"Actually, I don't know. I'll have to look at the ingredients in the play again and see." She leaned against his back and rested her chin on his shoulder. "What are you brewing anyways?"

"A surprise," he said. "Something for us to enjoy after finishing everything."

"In your cauldron?" She raised an eyebrow. "No wonder everyone is here in our dorm." She sniffed the air. "It smells lovely and rich."

"It's from one of your cookbooks but I don't think you've had it, given your parents' unreasonable distaste for sweets. To be fair, I've never had it either but it looked like a lot of fun to make and it's a sharing food so I think it'll be fun."

"Well I'm excited then." She grunted and Harry almost stumbled into the stove as someone pushed into Hermione.

"What are we doing?" Luna asked, trying to peer around the both of them.

"Waiting for Harry to finish," Hermione said.

"And it looks ready, I think." He gave the cauldron a stir. "Mind helping me carry everything out?"

Daphne, Tracy, Ron, Ginny, Hannah, Susan, Mirabelle, Lyla, and Neville chatted with one another in the sitting room and they all turned to watch Harry carry the cauldron over. "That smells incredible," Daphne said. "What is it?"

"It's called chocolate fondue." Harry put the cauldron on the table over a conjured flame. "Everyone gets a fork and you dip things into the chocolate to eat." Hermione and Luna brought over trays of fruit and biscuits and marshmallows. "Careful, the chocolate is hot and don't double dip."

"That's an entire cauldron of melted chocolate?" Lyla asked, licking her lips.

"For all of us to share," Harry said amused. "If you tried to eat that by yourself, you'd get sick."

"Might be worth it though," Mirabelle said with a hungry expression.

"Girls are always mad for chocolate," Ron said, shaking his head.

"I remember the time you ate ten chocolate frogs one after the other and looked as green as a regular frog," Ginny sniped.

"I mean, I never said I wasn't mad for chocolate," Ron retorted to everyone's laughter.

Everyone eagerly grabbed a fork and dipped their preferred treat into the melted treat, blowing to cool it before eating.

"Why do Muggles have better food?" Daphne asked almost angrily. "First toasties, then hamburgers, then this?"

"Muggles can't eat this all the time," Susan said. "They'd be fat!"

"No, it definitely seems like a once in a while treat," Harry agreed.

"I've heard of it, but never had it," Hermione said indignantly. "My parents never allowed it. Said it's bad for your teeth. All that time, lost."

"Thanks for sharing it with us Harry," Hannah said as she ate a strawberry dripping with chocolate. "This is so good!"

"I thought it'd be a fun thing for us to as a celebration," Harry said bashfully at their thanks.

After a while, things had settled down. Ginny, Ron, Neville, Susan, and Hannah had left slowly, massaging their stomachs. Mirabelle and Lyla had drunk cups of the melted chocolate and passed out after feeling queasy. Harry put them on his bed. Tracy and Daphne and Hermione were dividing up the remainder, after Harry ladled out a cup for Luna. She sat cuddled against him, licking the chocolate off of a spoon.

He was feeling full and sleepy himself, head nodding. He jerked awake, feeling a Luna dab some chocolate on his cheek, grinning when she licked him. "Now I'm all sticky," he complained half-heartedly.

"I just wanted to see if it was as fun as Tracy made it sound," Luna said seriously.

Tracy choked, coughing while Daphne went scarlet. Hermione glared at the two Slytherins. "Really?! Don't sully chocolate like that! Not to mention corrupting poor innocent Luna!"

"You're just jealous you don't have someone to lick-" Tracy started.

"Oh sweet Circe, shut your mouth right now!" Daphne yelled.

Harry shook his head. "You know, I don't think you're as innocent as you like others to believe you are," he said to Luna.

Her eyes twinkled and she snuggled closer to him, happily eating her chocolate while the three witches yelled at each other.

-0-0-0-

slytherinsal - I'm glad it hit a nice nostalgic memory for you. Many congratulations on your many years together!

DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - Poor Harry, accidental expert. Thought you would like their alleged use of future favor.

yogibears - I'm glad, they are a lot of fun to write for and I think they have grown into fun distinct characters. I was cackling when I wrote the ending of the chapter and am glad you liked it.

Urgwaew - Harry sure has grown a lot hasn't he? I wanted communication to be a big theme in all the problems. So many things can be solved with open communication and honesty I think. So it was kind of nice to be able to tie his past learnings into the specific situations. It was rather satisfying how everything worked out. The ending of the chapter is one of my favorite absurd endings ever. Hope all is going well with you.