A/N: I promise to write longer chapters in the future. The face-claim to Alex is Charlie Gillispie.
The month seemed to go by quickly.
Harry was glad to help Tristan and Cypress with the homework load that they seemed to get piled on them.
It felt like Hogwarts was more like home than Privet Drive ever been, but Tristan felt a little homesick for Privet Drive.
It was the only home he had ever known, after all.
Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were practically the only parents he had ever known, despite them being his aunt and uncle. They raised him and his siblings after all, possibly screwing him up in the process.
Cypress and Harry were happy to shed the Muggle life, but Tristan felt torn over it. On one hand, he loved the wizarding word and learning magic, on the other hand, he just couldn't toss away Privet Drive. It shaped him, turned him into who he was. Regardless of the mistreatment he went through, it was home. However, Hogwarts was his home too. He had Cypress and Harry with him. What more could he possibly want? Maybe not being a Hufflepuff. Why did he have to be put in Hufflepuff? Why couldn't he have been put in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw?
It wasn't to say that he hated being a Hufflepuff, he liked it, but he'd rather be in a different House.
Apparently the Hufflepuffs were sport of looked down on, for not being as bold as Gryffindor, or ambitious like Slytherin, or even studious like Ravenclaw. They were the leftovers so they kind of got ignored or looked down on for being weak.
Malfoy took the time out of his schedule to mock him in the hallways whenever they crossed paths, 'Famous Tristan Potter a Hufflepuff, how pathetic.' It got worse during flying lessons when Malfoy started mocking him for wanting to stay firmly on the ground, because humans weren't created for being in the air. Abigail stayed firmly on the ground because Neville decided to stay put and not have a repeat of the first lesson.
Harry and Cypress enjoyed being in the air.
The bullying at the Muggle schools courtesy of Dudley's commands and the bullying at home from the Dursleys. It was almost like he never left Privet Drive, except he was learning magic.
The upside was that Professor Flitwick had pulled him to the side to discuss the wand that he had. Apparently he knew that aspen wands were strictly for dueling and Flitwick gave him some references to look at books for dueling. So he checked out the books from the library and started reading those books.
Harry had set up a sort of study group in the library for the first-year Ravenclaws, of course Harry made him and Cypress study to at times.
To be honest, Harry was a better teacher than Professor Quirrell at the moment. The smell of garlic in Professor Quirrell's turban was overpowering and distracting.
Harry was looking like he was planning something. It was a good idea to leave him alone when he goes into planning mode.
On Hallowe'en, the smell of baking pumpkin wafted in the corridors.
Tristan may not like pumpkin, but the smell was delicious.
He loved Hallowe'en, it was his favourite day after all. It was one of the reasons why he named Cypress's cat, Halloween. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon weren't big fans of the day, now he knew it was because of the whole magic thing. Cypress had gotten grounded because she wanted to dress up as a witch. Now he knew why.
He was excited for Charms, since they were going to do the Levitation Charm. Professor Flitwick used the charm to levitate Trevor the toad and made him fly round the classroom.
Since there was a limited amount of feathers, Professor Flitwick had them partner up.
Abigail and Neville partnered up, which wasn't a surprise.
Harry and Sue Li partnered up.
Tristan partnered up with Susan.
Hermione and Ron partnered up, which seemed like a disaster waiting to happen, because ever since Harry befriended Hermione, Ron and Hermione seemed to be at each other's throats.
"Remember, swish and flick," said Professor Flitwick. "We've been practising it. Saying the magic words properly is very important, too – never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."
It turned out to be very difficult, because the feather laid flat.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron shouted, and started waving his wand viciously at the feather.
"You're going to poke someone's eye out," said Hermione. "You're saying it wrong. It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, not Wingardium Levio-sa."
"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled at Hermione.
Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her robes, flicked her wand, and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The feather rose off the desk.
"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger had done it!"
Seamus started waving his wand at the feather, saying "Wingardium Leviosa," and did that one more time, which backfired causing a burst of light. Tristan turned back to see that Seamus's eyebrows were seared off, and soot seemed to cover his face. The feather had been burnt.
Everyone had turned to look at Seamus.
Harry looked to be stunned, "I think we're going to need another feather over here, Professor."
Professor Flitwick seemed amused, but flicked his wand to Vanish the feather away and created a new one.
At the end of class, Ron seemed to be in a foul mood.
Sue knocked into Harry's shoulder, "Harry, are we going to do the Levitating Charm for our study group after the Hallowe'en feast?"
"Yeah," replied Harry. "Spread the word to the others, please, Sue?"
Sue nodded and hurried off.
"I think she fancies you," Tristan said to Harry.
Cypress glared at the passing girls, "Who does?"
"She does not," replied Harry. "She's just eager to learn and prove herself to her parents."
The next class was DADA. Professor Quirrell seemed distracted by something and the way Harry was glaring at the professor was oddly distracting.
After lunch, was back-to-back Transfiguration, which was another lesson that Tristan loved.
After Transfiguration, Harry dragged him and Cypress into a short study session, before it was time for the Hallowe'en feast.
When it was time, they went to the Great Hall.
A thousand live bats was flying from the walls and ceiling, while a thousand more swooped over the tables like they were low black clouds. It was making the candles in the jack-o-lanterns stutter. It was oddly breath-taking to see.
So, he joined his friends at the Hufflepuff table.
"Where's Professor Quirrell?" asked Tristan's friend, Alexander Calloway.
Tristan looked at the table, seeing that the turban wearing professor wasn't there. He shrugged in response, "He's terrified of everything. Maybe the jack-o-lanterns scare him."
Susan giggled at that, "Probably. The bats probably scare him too."
Tristan smiled and nodded.
Everything seemed to go to bad when the Great Hall doors burst open and Professor Quirrell ran in, "Troll! Troll in the dungeon!"
Then the turban came off and there was a face on the back of his head. It looked like it had red eyes, no nose, and it was chalky white.
How bloody long was that on the back of their professor's head?
Professor Quirrell seemed to scream in agony and there was another high-pitched scream and something smoky-looking levitated off of Quirrell's body. It seemed to have a face and it just seemed to emit pure evil.
The thing seemed to search for something and then it seemed to go towards Cypress.
"You will not touch any of these children!"
Something warm seemed to go over the chill of evil that the thing emitted and the creature was pushed farther and farther out of the Great Hall.
Tristan looked at the ashy remains of their Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
Dumbledore stood up, "Tomorrow, I will explain the events of what transpired. Please follow your Head Boy and Girl to your common rooms where the feast will be continued. I will see about this troll problem. Please do enjoy your feast."
Cypress looked terrified because that thing went straight for her.
"Sir, may my brother and I please be with our sister?" Tristan asked Dumbledore over the chatter.
Professor Dumbledore seemed to smile, "You may."
Harry and Tristan went to Cypress who was trying hard not to get lost in the sea of Gryffindors.
Cypress went over and pulled them both into a hug. She was trembling.
"Let's hurry," said Harry. "I'd rather not wrestle a troll."
Tristan had a funny feeling that there was an 'again' somewhere in there. They hurried after the Gryffindors.
When they got to the common room, Percy was passing out golden plates. He seemed to falter at the sight of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.
"Relax, Dumbledore said that we can be here," replied Harry rather grumpily. "She's family and that thing seemed to go straight for her."
Percy seemed to understand the 'family' aspect and passed them plates.
Faye and Neville went up to Cypress to see if she was okay, while Harry broke off to be with Hermione and Ron, so Tristan went to stand with his brother.
Things seemed to be going fine, until Juniper the guinea pig just randomly appeared on Tristan's shoulder, startling him. Halloween the cat had joined his owner, who was by the fire.
"What was that thing anyway?" Cypress asked. "It was on the back of Quirrell's head all this time."
"I know," replied Harry. "It was probably You-Know-Who. It seemed to leech onto Quirrell."
"Well duh," replied Tristan. "It was attached to him. Just how did the turban unravel, though?"
Harry shrugged, "Maybe in his haste to tell us about the troll it went…askew. It just fell off because of gravity and weight."
Tristan nodded. That made sense.
Cypress agreed with what Harry said.
Professor McGonagall came in and told Harry and Tristan that it was time for them to return to their common rooms and escorted them to their common rooms.
"Weren't you terrified of the entire thing? You were practically stone-faced at the sight," Ernie Macmillan said to Tristan, when he got in the dormitory.
Tristan stroked Juniper, making her do the bubbling sound of contentment. He admitted, "I was." It was just that living with the Dursleys taught him to remain stone-faced because Dudley exploited weakness and fear. If someone screamed in pain after Dudley punched them, he would do it harder just to make them scream louder. It was just how Dudley rolled – er – worked with his bullying.
"It didn't seem like it," said Justin Finch-Fletchly. "You looked almost bored."
"Just because I didn't show it, it doesn't mean that I wasn't scared," replied Tristan. "I almost threw myself over the couch when Professor McGonagall walked out of the fireplace."
He closed the yellow bed curtains and got under the patchwork quilt. Juniper laid down on the pillow beside Tristan's head. He realised something,"Wait."
"What is it?" asked Alex.
"Who's going to teach Defence now that Quirrell is ashes?" asked Tristan.
"That's a very good question," said Alex.