Chapter 24
Harry wiped his brow as he finished off another line of runes across the base of the new Laurel's Peak house. It was getting unseasonably warm today, in a place that normally barely achieved a sunny day. Which would have been nice if he wasn't having to push to get the finishing touches on the general protections on the house.
"Almost done?" Remus asked, coming around the corner. It was peculiar to see him in shorts and a shirt, rather than the usual threadbare robes he favoured, much to Sirius' consternation.
Dobby had been keeping him company, humming some song from the wireless while weeding out one of the garden beds which separated the flat landing the house sat up with the slope below. Sensing a break the little guy popped away and returned with an ice cold pitcher of water and some glasses.
"Harry Potter sir must drink more water on hots days!" The elf commanded and he rolled his eyes, it was weird being mother hened by a wrinkly little creature that would do anything Harry asked. Still the water did look very refreshing.
"Thanks Dobby." Harry smiled and took a glass. "Another hour or two and I should have the whole foundation done." He replied after taking a deep drink.
"And then back to packing?" Remus asked expectantly.
"Don't you have pots to be practicing?" He asked in return, feeling the petulant teen he was. Remus just raised his eyebrow, not buying the act. Harry sighed. "I'll get started soon."
It was strange not wanting to go back to Hogwarts. Well, no that wasn't it, he just didn't want the summer to end. Between Daphne, flying on Buckbeak, quidditch, Daphne, learning some magic and Daphne, it was no exaggeration to say it had been the best summer of his life. Going back to school just wasn't at the top of his priorities.
"Will Sirius be taking me?" Harry asked. He hadn't seen his godfather much since the World Cup, or more precisely the attack on the World Cup. The man had been at the Ministry almost non-stop trying to pressure them to act against the perpetrators, whomever they were. The only one they actually did anything about was Alecto Carrow, who was now on the run, as the suspect that Harry had apparently pointed them towards. Sirius didn't think it enough and was making a nuisance of himself to try to get his way, demanding investigations of numerous old 'well respected' families. Apparently Director Bones had threatened to throw him back in Azkaban at least three times.
"Said he wouldn't miss it." The werewolf responded and Harry nodded.
"Harry?" A familiar voice called out and the Boy-Who-Lived jumped up, brushing his hands on his shorts, and shot off around the corner of the building, paying his former professor's chuckles no mind.
"Daphne?" He called in return, rounding the doorway to find her standing before the fireplace. She was wearing robes and had her hair in a plait down her back. Having become so used to seeing her in muggle attire it was a strange sight that he wasn't expecting. Having always visited her home in the few chances he had to see her over the summer it was very unexpected. He had actually wanted the house to be complete before inviting her, though that idea was clearly out of the question now. "What are you doing here?"
"We are going back to school tomorrow." She mumbled in reply and Harry knew what was coming, though he felt no desire to give voice to it. So, instead, he opted to avoid it entirely.
"Let me show you around." He offered, taking her by the hand, she held on but it wasn't the same excited grip he was used to.
He gave her a quick tour of the house, as there wasn't much to be seen. When they arrived at the Dawn Oak, however, her mood shifted instantly. She gripped his hand tightly and happiness worked itself not just across her face, but her entire posture.
"Oh she's just marvellous." The flora whisperer gasped, rushing over and dragging Harry along with her.
"She?" Harry asked. "Plants have genders?"
"Some do, though most don't, and none how we might understand them." She answered. She reached out a hand fervently before Harry could stop her, but to his surprise her hand landed upon the bark of the oak with no trouble. Had he done something wrong? The protections on the tree were the first he had put in place, maybe he had made a mistake. He made a note to test all wards in the future.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes? Why wouldn't I be?" She giggled slightly, an unusual behaviour from the girl he had come to know so much better over the summer. She was more often than not on the stern no-nonsense side, though he had seen her happy, excited, even exhilarated, but giddy and giggly were very new.
"Well…I put some wards around um her. Nobody should be able to touch her." He scratched at the back of his head.
"She wouldn't hurt me, or anyone who didn't mean harm." Harry frowned, that wasn't how anything worked here. The wards were meant to prevent anyone but him from approaching the tree.
"Are you saying it, she, is controlling the wards I placed?" He asked, quickly correcting himself. Daphne nodded emphatically and focused back on the tree again, pausing to listen, an exercise Harry had come to recognise well.
"She says you can trust her with them." Another pause. "And that she likes you."
"Um, well, I like her too." Harry was quite unsure how to respond to this. "You said she is a she…but isn't?"
"It's more a feeling, she feels like a mother in a way, wanting to protect and comfort and help. She is particularly attached to you, given you're something of a father to her." Another pause. "She also wants to thank you for giving her the chance to do so."
"She's welcome, I suppose? So she's not upset with me writing runes on her?" He asked, not considering such a problem before.
"No, not at all, she is thankful, as she knows one day she will be mother and protector to this entire valley. It's all she really wants to do." Daphne smiled and placed her cheek down on the bark, in a very tender moment that Harry had to look away from, feeling like he was intruding.
They moved on, visiting Buckbeak and Marigold, then the tent, where Dobby prepared a picnic for them. They are a late lunch on the slope overlooking the forest, mostly in silence.
"You asked, earlier, why I'm here." Daphne started, and he felt his ears heat up, anticipation worrying at him.
"You're here to break up with me?"
"What? No! No Harry, not break up." She exclaimed in shock.
"But we are going back to school, as you said."
"I don't want to break up with you Harry, I just, ugh." She flopped back onto the grassy slope behind them. "It's not fair."
Harry agreed though, he suspected, for perhaps not exactly the reasons she was feeling. Much in his life was unfair though, and it seemed just like him to pursue a relationship on trend. Still, he waited for her to continue, preferring that she drive this conversation.
"You know that if it were up to me…"
"How has Astoria been lately?" He enquired, having met the girl only a few brief times past the day Sirius and he had stayed for dinner.
"She's fine." Waving his question away, picking up his attempt at distraction. "I'm not looking to break up, I just, I just don't want us to be…public."
They were silent for a while, Harry looking over the forest, not wanting to look at her. He knew he would crack if he did.
"Will that work?" She asked, nervousness thick in her voice, and Harry cringed. Not looking wasn't doing much.
"I don't know honestly. This is my first relationship. I understand your position, I even know in some ways it would make things easier in my life also. But, I also won't lie and say I don't want to show you off more than anything. To live a normal life and be able to go to Hogsmeade or study or all the other normal things couples do."
"I think, when we are older, Astoria not being a second year, we will be able to. It's not forever." She was almost pleading and Harry's resolve cracked completely.
With a heavy sigh he fell down to lay beside her. "A secret relationship then?"
"Yeah…" She trailed off.
"You're lucky I'm good at secrets, found a whole chamber of them."
"Maybe I am here to break up." She amended.
The Hogwarts Express was just as red and wonderful as it always was, chuffing proudly at Platform 9 and ¾. It always brought a sense of contentment to Harry, his escape vehicle.
"Alright kiddo, this is where I leave you." Sirius said in farewell, pulling him in for a hug. Hedwig flapped and bleated in indignation at being suddenly jostled. Holding his godson at arm's length he grinned roguishly. "Do everything I would and wouldn't do…safely." The last added as a clear afterthought.
"I'm not sure you're meant to be encouraging, well everything."
"I said safely didn't I!" He protested. Harry smiled sadly.
"I'll miss you Sirius."
"I'll miss you to pup." He pulled Harry in for another hug. "But Christmas is around the corner. Learn, have fun, and if you get up to enough mischief maybe we will see each other before then!" He was a strange adult, though, most wizards seemed to grow up into strange adults. "Now away with you!"
With a final wave goodbye Harry boarded the train and started searching the cabins for Hermione or Neville. The Weasley's wouldn't arrive for another half hour most likely. He found Neville, a consummate early riser, in the second half of the train, reading a book on his favourite subject. Harry greeted him, stowed his luggage away and made sure to feed Hedwig a treat to apologise for the last hour.
Ten minutes later it was a put out Hermione Granger that found her fellow fourth year Gryffindors in cabin 8B of the Hogwarts Express. "Harry James Potter! I never! Are you defacing school property?!"
Harry looked up from where he had been crouched, carving away with his rune engraver, until the door had opened in his face. "Hello Hermione."
"You could be suspended for this Harry!" She stomped.
"A quick mending charm will do the trick." Harry nodded down to their feet where a roll of parchment was rolled out on the ground collecting dust from the wood.
"What are you doing anyway?" She asked, her tune changing immediately to that of easily recognisable academic interest.
"Came up with it while carving out muggle repelling wards over the summer. You'll see soon enough." He responded cryptically. It was always fun to keep Hermione in the dark…as long as it didn't draw out too long. "Now quit standing at the door and let me finish, or you will never find out."
Thankfully she complied, making small talk with the other occupant while Harry carved away. It took another interruption from two Weasleys joining them and the train to be underway for Harry to finally finish. Thankfully he could now use his wand and with a bow and a flamboyant tap on the door the runes glowed a blue light and activated.
He persevered through their badgering to know what he was doing. At some point Ginny grew bored and went to find her year mates. Ron and Neville also grew bored and started playing exploding snap, making the cabin smell of gunpowder. Hermione grew frustrated and attempted to decipher the runes herself. She did rather well at it too, as expected from Hermione. It wasn't until a familiar blonde head pushed his way through the moving students, and kept on going, that she worked it out.
"You didn't!" She whispered excitedly.
"By the look of his face, he did." Ron responded for his friend. "What did he do?"
"You didn't see? Malfoy walked straight past us, he never does that!"
Harry shrugged and grinned brightly at his bushy haired friend. "Malfoy repelling ward."
"Brilliant!" Ron and Neville exclaimed together, though Ron then added. "Can you put it on the whole castle?" The redhead was forever reliable in his extreme dislike of Slytherins and Malfoy in particular.
"You can't just add to wards you know nothing about, especially not Hogwarts', which are some of the oldest in the country. You can't even add any inside." Hermione lectured and Harry could see a snide comment building in Ron so decided a distraction was in order.
"It makes it so a specific person or people won't notice a place or object. Got the idea from the map's designation function. Now we have a Malfoy free journey." They settled in for the journey, making a game of counting how many times Draco would pass them by, looking more and more perturbed as he did so. They counted four.
Harry spent much of the train ride reading his birthday present from Remus and avoiding Hermione's pining looks at the book. Space manipulation was horribly complicated and it seemed Hermione was right, more difficult spells relied more on mental gymnastics than a swish of a wand. In the case of changing the space in an area, or other forms such as apparition, it was about envisioning a space as different from what it is. This could be in size or two spaces occupying the same area as with his trunk, changing location which allowed for apparition and portkeys, or even direction, such as the prank Harry had suffered on his birthday.
The bigger the difference the less stable the change, and as the warning within the preface made clear, consequences of unstable space manipulation could be catastrophic. It was not a pleasant thought, being crushed into an area the size of his trunk along with all the other items within. Runes assisted in stability, powering and maintaining the spells as needed.
The book also made it clear that using much of the knowledge within the book would require registration with the Ministry. Something Remus had no chance of getting.
"Oi Harry, we are on our way to school, not there yet!" Ron interrupted with a light kick to his shins for attention. "There's plenty of time for that later, let's go see if we can find the trolley." Uncharitably Harry wondered briefly if the other boy had suggested he come hoping Harry would pay, but then chastised himself. Ron had been doing chores all summer and likely had some pocket money. So he passed the book to Hermione and followed both Neville and Ron into the hallway.
Students were running through the hallway catching up and making a nuisance of themselves. One of the carriages smelled strongly of a recent dungbomb attack. They finally found the trolley in the fourth carriage they passed through, with a crowd of students pointing and demanding purchases off the old witch. Harry didn't much feel like joining the free-for-all so hung back and left Ron to follow his stomach.
He was waiting, off to the side, leaning on the wall, when something collided with his back almost sending him sprawling. A shriek followed the impact and a heavy weight clung to him, panting slightly.
"Um, are you okay?" Harry asked the unidentified person who was holding on to his back.
"I think so, you're stronger than you look Potter." Harry used the wall to push himself erect, righting them both in the process, and turned around. Only to come face to face with the person he both least and most wanted to see.
Standing before him, watching, amused, was his secret girlfriend. She was already in her robes and had her dark red hair in a plait once more. She had a half smile, watching the interaction and discomfort of all parties involved.
Standing below him, stretching her back dramatically as though something had been pulled, was her best friend and cause of all the attention shifting from trolley, Tracey Davis.
"Did you walk into me backwards, Davis?" Harry asked, looking down at the Slytherin. Though Mrs Weasley had commented on his 'shooting up' over the summer. It was still weird how much shorter his female peers were getting.
"Might've." She shrugged.
"Right, well, good summer?" Harry asked, and knew instantly he had apparently made a mistake from the sharp look Daphne sent him and the inquisitive one her friend did.
"Can't complain Potter, can't complain."
"Good, see you round." He nodded and walked off stiffly to find Ron and Neville, hoping he had salvaged that situation.
The Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was as warm and inviting as he remembered. Gryffindor had received ten first years, a large batch this year. Then Dumbledore opened the feast. Despite the size and grandeur of the place, once filled with teachers, students and far too much food, it transformed into a raucous celebration.
The Headless Hunt charged overhead and Nearly Headless Nick once more bemoaned his exclusion. The Weasley twins replaced Lee Jordan's hands for paws, which backfired by the amount of attention he garnered from the females of the table. Students leaned over between tables to catch up with friends from other houses. And Harry, Hermione, Neville, Dean, Lavender, Parvati and Seamus all got to watch as Ron stuffed his face with as much food as he could as fast as he could.
Eventually dessert was served and when that concluded Dumbledore stood once more at his podium.
"Now that we are all fed and watered I have some announcements to make for the year." His voice carried through the hall and the entire school quietened. Harry knew many Slytherins held no love for the Headmaster, yet when he spoke, even they listened.
"As usual, the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students. Our fastidious caretaker has updated the list of banned items and you might find the list outside his office and within your common rooms."
"We also have a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, I would like you all to welcome Alastor Moody." Dumbledore waved his hand to the side and Harry saw a large, heavily scarred man standing close to the entrance to the trophy room. He had wispy hair and wore a heavy trench coat rather than robes.
"Additionally, the annual house Quidditch Cup has been cancelled this year." The school burst into noise at this announcement, angry cries interrupting the Headmaster. "This is because, this year, Hogwarts will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament!" The indignation over quidditch was quickly forgotten, replaced by furious whispering.
"The Triwizard Tournament, Harry!" Ron exclaimed next to him, as though he was supposed to know what that was. "It hasn't been held in years!"
"Yes, yes, a great honour, we will be joined this year by the other competitors Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and the Durmstrang Institute as well as representatives from the Ministry of Magic. I am sure you will all aid me in making them welcome. On the 31st of October a Champion from each school shall be selected. Eternal glory awaits those selected, but be warned, the Triwizard Tournament is not for the unprepared, the champions will face great peril and hardship, many have died in the past. As such, it has been decided that only students of age will be eligible to compete." Another burst of complaints followed that decision, very audibly not just from Ron but the Weasley twins also. Harry was honestly grateful, he was not eligible and so whatever peril was in store was for someone else to deal with.
"Now, we are all fed and watered and I think it is time to sing the school song then off to bed. Filius, if you could?" The small Charms Professor jumped from his seat and brandished his wand as though it was a conductor's baton. What followed was a horrible off key menagerie of sound, loosely in sync with the Hogwarts song. Though it was decidedly less boisterous than years past. The twins seemed particularly unenthused.
The students then filed out after the first years and new prefects, but quickly took off past them, as is tradition, running through the halls to continue their final efforts at freedom before school and homework.
"Can you believe it, the Triwizard Tournament, eternal glory!" Ron complained, as they made their way past the Fat Lady. "And we can't even throw our names in the ring."
"Ron, you heard Dumbledore, people have died!" Ever sensible Hermione returned, clearly already tired of hearing about it. "It seems sensible to me."
"Or as sensible as wizards seem to get." Harry added. "Still pretty weird to have a tournament that could kill held by a school."
"Eternal glory!" Was the rebuttal. "You wouldn't understand Harry, everyone knows your name already." Harry grit his teeth at that remark. He wondered if this would forever be a sore spot between him and Ron. His friend was desperate for attention, feeling lost in a large family he considered unremarkable, too easily ignoring all the remarkable things about them. While Harry, as Ron well knew by now, despised his fame and more acutely the actual cause for it.
"Eternal glory is it? How many champions can you name? Or the people Dumbledore said died?" Harry bit back, losing his cool.
"Well, none." Ron replied, going a bit pale in the face of Harry's anger.
"Eternal anything usually means they are dead, Ron, dying in a spectacular fashion, in this case in front of friends, family and the whole bloody world it seems like. Pointless deaths for the entertainment of others. And let me tell you right now Ron, dying like that isn't glorious. It's cold, lonely and terrifying!" Harry was yelling now and he wasn't sure why. Everyone was staring and he wanted to leave.
"Harry…" Hermione started, her hand touching his arm, but he shrugged it off and stormed up the stairs to his bed, and did his best to slam the curtains shut.
He wasn't really sure why he was so angry. Ron's dismissal of his family and what he had and his covetous nature for Harry's fame and money without understanding the cost had always irked him. But it wasn't that, he was used to that. No, it was the idea of wanting to face death, of seeking that out. That was what was circulating in his mind.
Facing death down in the Chamber of Secrets, that was something he would never forget. He had thought he would die down there, and it wasn't glorious. He had killed an ancient giant magical creature, and all it had left him was feeling empty. He had felt better afterwards, but at the time, when he had accepted death, feeling he had little to live for and that was terrifying.
All he had had then was his friends, two people he had known for a short time, would probably miss him, but ultimately would move on. But now he had many more, Sirius, Daphne, Dobby, Remus.
Where once he largely lived day to day, looking forward to little and dreading having to return to the Dursleys. He now also had a future that he wanted, that he could see playing out before him, a future to live for. Making things with Remus, joking with Sirius, trying to find Dobby a lady elf, maybe travelling with his friends, whatever was happening with Daphne.
They had faced mortal danger just this summer, following the World Cup, and it hadn't been the same as facing the Dementors, or the Basilisk, or Voldemort. It had been frightening in a way Harry had not felt in those experiences and he was only realising why now, days later. Losing all of that for something so stupid as glory, the thought of that was the source of his anger, and more significantly, fear.
Sorry this is shorter and later than is probably desired. Also feels a little light on content tbh. I have been sick for a week and been otherwise busy causing a lack of motivation for this, so my apologies. I hope you have enjoyed it though and it's not too error ridden.