AN: Heya! Here's another instalment, it's taking a little longer than usual because of all this school work that I have to get done (groan) and I have to admit that I did leave it till the last minute so it's my fault entirely.
Hprules: Thanks for the review and about Sara, well, I didn't realise that I made her immature it's just that I don't have a female relative or friend that age (but my male cousin is [rolls eyes]) so I wasn't sure how to make her act, sorry if she's a little too immature, lol, I'll try work on that, thanks for pointing it out to me AND thanks for being the first person to tell me something about my story that I could improve on, I appreciate the 'complaint', its something to improve on! Find anything else then just say! :p BTW, I'm giving something away here but Sara will be maturing much more quickly due to some... unfortunate circumstances later on in the series...
Torifire126: Thanx for the review! If you think of anything to say then do so! Lol.
Onto the awaiting chapter for you guys, I have a feeling that it'll be a bit shorter than usual though, for those of you who have actually bothered to read all odd twelve to fifteen pages of the other chapters...
Chapter 8 – Wills
"Morning." Charlene said perkily as she pecked Harry on the lips. Harry stood from the sofa in the common room and pulled her into a deeper kiss.
"Ick, I don't need that sight in the morning Big Brother." Sara complained from the side, Harry laughed and grinned into the kiss before he pulled back and turned to the raven-haired girl.
"Morning Sara." He said and let go of his girlfriend slightly so that his arm rested around her waist.
"Morning, um, I was wondering if you'd help me with some work tonight?" Sara asked, Harry nodded.
"Sure, what subject?" He asked.
"Potions."
"Ah, better ask Hermione then." Harry said quickly, Sara giggled slightly and rushed over to leave the common room with her friends to head down to breakfast.
"Ask me what?" Hermione asked as she approached the couple.
"Sara needs help with her potions." Charlene told the bushy haired girl, Hermione nodded with a small smile.
"I'd gladly help her." She replied.
"I knew you would." Harry said with a short chuckle.
"Morning guys." Ron greeted with a yawn as he joined the group.
"Sleep well?" Hermione asked, the redhead nodded his reply. "Then we had better make our way down to breakfast."
They walked whilst chatting amiably to the Hall and plonked themselves down when they got there.
"Morning guys." Neville greeted, Ginny nodded at them through her mouthful of food.
"Happy birthday Dean." Hermione said to the boy who sat next to Ginny.
"Thanks." He replied.
"Having a fun day so far?" Charlene asked happily, Dean nodded.
"Yeah, I got some presents from home and you guys of course." He replied, "Thanks."
"No problem." Harry told him again, as it wasn't, the twin's had sent them the prank items when Harry had asked, and he had gotten them extremely cheap with some prototypes thrown in for good measure.
"I can't wait to make my little sisters hair pink for the day." Dean added mischievously, they laughed happily at that and Ginny leant into his side.
"Sorry I couldn't get you much." She said softly, Dean shook his head and kissed her hair lightly.
"It's fine, I like the band though." He replied and showed the group the leather band on his wrist, much like the one Ginny made Harry for his birthday. Harry grinned and showed Dean his one.
"My birthday was in July." Harry said with a laugh, "You're really good at making these Gin." He added, to which the youngest Weasley blushed.
"Thanks." She replied.
"I'm so glad it's a Friday." Ron stated, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen over the friends.
"Yeah, double care of magical creatures." Harry said with a smile.
"I'm so glad Malfoy dropped that class." Hermione said wistfully, the group laughed again. Before anything else could be said screeching filled their ears.
"Posts here." Ron noted dully, Harry rolled his eyes at his friend and looked up in the sea of birds.
"There's Hedwig." He said as his snowy owl swooped down to him to drop a letter. Harry turned it over in his hands and noticed Remus' tidy scrawl.
Dear Harry,
I'm fine, the Full Moon took a bit out of me so I stayed home for a few days, I'm lucky Tonks isn't allowed back at work yet so she helped me look after the little devil.
Harry laughed as he read that, knowing that the 'little devil' would be Jake.
I might see you tonight,
Remus
"Remus says he's fine and will see us tonight." Harry told his friends, who nodded.
"I got letter's from my parents and muggle friends." Hermione said to them as she thanked the school owl.
"Mum wrote to me like usual." Ron complained, Hermione rolled her eyes and noticed Dean looking curiously at the letter in his hands, Ginny was staring too.
"That's the Gringott's seal." The redheaded girl noted, "Have you got an account there?" She asked her boyfriend curiously, he nodded.
"Not much in it though." Dean replied as he broke the seal. He scanned his eyes over the letter and started to shake slightly, Ginny noticed this and rubbed his arm reassuringly as she took the letter from him. She gasped softly.
"Dean, that's so much!" She exclaimed looking up at the dark skinned boy who had suddenly gone pale, "Dean?"
"He was a wizard." The teen in question muttered, my Mum never told me, she just said that he left us and now- now he's dead?"
Hermione, Ron, Neville, Harry and Charlene shared confused looks.
"What do you mean?" Ron dared to ask, Dean wordlessly handed the letter to the group and they each read over it.
Dear Mr D Thomas,
As you have legally become of age we at Gringotts are to inform you of the account left to you by your father Mr Jason Knightlin in his will.
The amount in this account at this moment is 60,115G 16S and 28K.
We expect you to come with this letter to receive your account key along with your current guardians whenever you see fit.
Yours sincerely,
Chief Goblin Lorenook"Bloody hell that's a lot!" Ron exclaimed so loudly that even those at the Slytherin turned to look at him.
"Shh Ron!" Hermione exclaimed. "What's wrong though Dean?" She asked carefully, instead of answering the black boy slammed his hands forcefully on the table and stood before leaving the room. Ginny plucked the letter from her brother's hands and was about to leave when Ron stopped her.
"Why's he so upset?" He asked, genuinely concerned, Ginny sighed.
"His birth father mysteriously disappeared one day when he was a baby and him and his mother hadn't heard from him since, now that Dean knows that his real father is dead... I think it's just a little hard for him." She explained, "Now I have to go make sure he's alright." With that said the girl left.
"She loves him." Charlene stated, Ron looked scandalised, "She does, it's so blatantly obvious."
"It takes longer than that to know if you love somebody." Ron stated with a not so strong voice, Hermione rolled her eyes, as did Harry.
"That's ridiculous mate, me and Charlene have been together for less time than them and look at us." Harry stated, Charlene gasped and turned to him with watery eyes.
"You love me?" She asked, Harry suddenly became self-conscious as he realised what he had said.
"Yes, I think so." He replied with a blush, Charlene smiled happily and kissed him.
"I think I love you too." She told him and they both blushed.
"Lets head back to Gryffindor Tower already." Harry suggested, Charlene nodded and the pair left hurriedly hand-in-hand.
"Those two are bloody terrible." Ron muttered to Neville, who laughed his reply.
As it turns out, Ron was right, the pair were terrible and were ten minutes late to class, though Hagrid only raised an eyebrow at Harry before carrying on his lesson.
Though one person who didn't turn up at all to the double period was Dean.
"Ginny!" Harry shouted after the redhead when he spotted her in the corridor during their lunch break.
"Hey Harry." Ginny replied, turning to face her elder friend, she looked around. "Where're the others?"
"They went to charms and Hermione headed to ADADA to talk to Lessi before class." Harry explained briefly, "Anyway, I just wanted to ask if Dean was alright? He wasn't in any of our morning classes."
"Yeah, well he went to speak to Professor Dumbledore." Ginny explained briefly, "I'd love to stay and chat but I have to get going."
"See you later then."
"Yeah, see you." Ginny said with a small smile and wave as she walked off towards Gryffindor Tower.
Harry walked with Seamus back to Gryffindor Tower after their double charms class that afternoon about Dean mainly.
"Why was that letter so important to him though?" Harry asked confusedly, Seamus sighed and shook his head.
"Ginny told you earlier about his Dad right?" He asked, Harry nodded, "Well I talked to him at lunch and Dumbledore said that his father was a student here 'round the same time as your parents, was good mates with them too."
"Really?" Harry asked, Seamus nodded.
"Apparently so." He replied, "Anyway, Dean plans on asking Professor Alston about it too."
"That'll be good, Lessi's really cool, she's told me a lot about my parents along with Remus." Harry said thoughtfully.
"Remus? Remus Lupin?" Seamus inquired.
"Yeah, he's like a Godfather to me, well, a second one." Harry sad a little sadly as he thought of his deceased Godfather. "Hoobapeas." He said to the portrait of the Fat Lady, who opened to grant them access, Seamus was about to step in but was knocked back out of the entrance by Dean, who shot past them with Ginny following.
"Sorry, he's a little angry at the moment." The girl apologised before she took off after her boyfriend towards the owlery.
"No kidding." Seamus deadpanned; Harry smirked and shook his head, stepping in front of Seamus and into the Common Room. He approached the group of his friends.
"Hey." He greeted as he collapsed onto the sofa next to Charlene.
"Afternoon." Sara greeted from beside Hermione, who was checking over her work. "Hermione is just checking my original potions essay for me."
"Right." Harry muttered, Seamus fell down onto the floor next to Ron, who was attempting to hold Pig still so that he could attach a letter to the hyperactive owls leg.
"Might as well reply to Mum, Charms was a theory lesson." Ron said in explanation as to how he wrote so quickly.
"I have to write to Gran actually." Neville muttered to himself.
"Here, I have a spare quill you can use." Harry offered as he took his own quill and parchment out, "I'm gonna write to Tonks."
"Tell her I said hi." Hermione said as she looked up, "Sara, you missed out some of the ingredients for the Nail Colourant potion but apart from that it's fine." Sara looked thoughtfully at her work.
"Do you think he'll mind if I re-wrote it on paper with a ballpoint pen?" She asked in general which made the older teens laugh.
"He'd kill you." Charlene said with a grin.
"Ah, so I shouldn't?" Sara retorted, which made them all laugh again.
"Neville, at the beginning of term you said you'd met somebody." Ron suddenly said, Seamus grinned at the blushing roommate of his.
"Yeah Nevvie buddy, who is this gurly?" He asked in a teasing tone.
"That's what I'd like to know too." Harry stated, they all turned to Neville expectantly.
"Um... I... I have Herbology work that needs doing." He said quickly and shot up the boys' staircase.
"Neville!" Ron moaned.
"I reckon it's somebody from the DA." Seamus mused.
"He seems pretty close to Susan Bones." Hermione observed.
"They're just potions partners." Harry said, recalling the last few weeks when Neville had partnered with the confident Susan.
"Katie Bell?" Ron suggested, and then shook his own suggestion off.
"How about-"
Dean coming back into the room with Ginny cut off Seamus' suggestion and he sat down heavily on an armchair by the fire. Ginny set herself down in his lap and talked to him, but the boy didn't seem to be responding.
"Do you think they're having relationship problems?" Charlene asked curiously.
"No, he was saying last night how great it was going." Harry told her.
"It all started when he got that Gringott's letter." Hermione stated.
"Maybe he just needs time to adjust to finding out his father was a wizard? And that he's dead so he'll never have the chance to meet him." Harry suggested, "It was hard when I came into this world finding out that my parents were magical but I had a whole new world to distract me, he's found out that somebody he's grown up to believe didn't love him is dead."
"How did you know he's grown up to believe that?" Hermione asked, Harry shrugged.
"Guessed, but from what I gather he thought his father left him and his mother." He told her as the bushy haired girl looked at her watch.
"Oh no! Sorry, I'm late for a study group in the library, have to go." She said then got up to leave.
"Want me to go with you?" Ron asked without thinking, Hermione turned, slightly shocked at the offer, and then smiled.
"Sure, I'd like that Ron." She replied and Ron got up form his position on the floor and headed off.
"They are going to kiss." Seamus muttered.
"Finally." Harry replied with a roll of his eyes. "And that's a galleon for me from each of you guys."
The pair walked in a comfortable silence for a moment, Hermione ignored the tingles she felt up her arm as Ron's hand brushed hers.
"So..."
"So." Hermione replied.
"What's this study group for?" He asked.
"Just a general study group." Hermione replied.
"Oh."
"Why did you offer to walk me there?" Hermione asked, Ron stopped and noticed that they were in a frequently used corridor, people walking both ways, including teachers. He swallowed and took her hand in his, ignoring the warm feeling that travelled up his arm and through his body at the touch. He pulled her into the DADA classroom and sat her down on a desk.
"I... Um Hermione."
"Yes?" Hermione asked, completely oblivious to what he was trying to say.
"I..." Ron faltered again and looked into her eyes, which were questioning and confused. He then did something completely unexpected to them both; he leant forward and kissed her soft red lips gently.
To say Hermione was shocked was an understatement and she did the only thing she could do; close her eyes and enjoy her first kiss. She was shocked as she felt his tongue run across her bottom lip but parted her lips to let him slip his tongue into her mouth. She unconsciously groaned into the kiss and let him explore her mouth before she fought against him, their tongues dancing.
"He hem." Ron flew backwards with wide eyes and the pair turned to face Alessandria. The DADA professor had a huge grin on her face, though the man behind was scowling, Snape.
"What do you think you are doing?" Snape hissed, Ron stuttered a little.
"I... We..."
"Don't worry Ron." Alessandria said with a grin, she looked between the two, "So are you a couple." They both blushed and avoided her eyes. "Well, I take that as a yes so I win the bet." She stated, Hermione looked up sharply, her face still as red as a beetroot though.
"Bet?" She asked.
"Yeah, I guessed fifteenth of October, Tonks said the seventeenth, um, Remus said the twelfth, Bill said in November sometime-"
"My brother bet on me and Hermione getting together!" Ron exclaimed accusingly, Alessandria laughed.
"They all did, so did your parents." She stated, "And I'm sure that your friends all did too. Anyway, I think you should be heading off to the library, where you're meant to be?"
"Oh no! I'm late!" Hemrione exclaimed, she jumped off of the desk and went out, Ron followed.
"I'm glad their finally together, took a while mind you." Alessandria said to Snape, who rolled his eyes.
"You and romances." He muttered to himself.
Later that evening, Hermione and Ron came back hand-in-hand, people from around the room came over and handed Harry money with annoyed looks or they laughed at the looks Ron and Hermione gave Harry.
"You actually betted on us!" Hermione exclaimed, Harry shrugged.
"Well, it was an entertaining way to get money." He said with a chuckle, wincing when Hermione hit him around the head. "Sorry." He said sarcastically, glaring at Hermione. Ron sat down on the last remaining seat on the sofas and pulled Hermione down onto his lap when she looked for somewhere to sit, causing them both to blush and the others to laugh at their red faces.
"So Dean, you look happier." Hermione commented to the boy who was sitting on the floor in front of Ginny, who was braiding small parts of the boys sheer black hair in boredom.
"Yeah, I am I suppose." Dean said with a sigh, "I just want to know more about my father, I thought that he'd left me until this morning."
"I heard that he was friends with Remus and my parents." Harry stated, Dean nodded.
"According to Dumbledore. He said he knows someone who could tell me a bit about him, apart from Professor Alston of course." Dean told him, "D'you know who?"
"Probably Remus, he comes to the school most nights to see Lessi, so we see him then." Harry explained.
"Will he be here tonight?" Dean asked, Harry shrugged.
"It was Full Moon a few nights ago and he said it took a lot out of him." He explained and then looked up at the chiming clock of the Common Room. "I had better get ready for Quidditch practice." He stated, then stood up and headed up to the dorms with the rest of the boys. The four boys opened their dorm room door and looked at each other schemeingly as they saw Neville sitting on his bed reading. The pudgy boy in question looked up with every right to worry.
"Neville mate." Seamus said, approaching his friends bed, he sat down next to Neville and put an arm over the suspicious boys shoulders, the other three approached also.
"Now, it has been five years now," Dean said,
"And you've never had anybody of romantic interest before," Harry continued,
"So we think you need to tell us who this poor girl is, don't you think guys?" Ron finished and the other boys nodded at Ron before looking to Neville for answers.
"Look, I don't want to tell you!" Neville exclaimed, "You'll make fun of me." He added quietly, making the others look confused.
"Neville, we wouldn't, seriously, it's not like it could be anybody like... Loony Lovegood or..." Ron trailed off at the colour Neville's face took, a red darker than any other.
"Luna!" Harry exclaimed, "You like Luna Lovegood!"
"Wow, that's... unexpected." Ron stated.
"She's really nice." Neville stated confidently, despite his blush, "And she's different from all the other girls-"
"Don't we know." Ron muttered, Harry elbowed him in the ribs and motioned at Neville.
"She doesn't take the mick out of me because I'm not good at stuff and she's actually very smart." Neville finished.
"Well we don't doubt that." Harry said to Neville to cheer him up, "Anyways, we have Quidditch practice to get ready for."
The boys came back from Quidditch practice late and then headed to Alessandria's quarters, also taking Dean and Ginny with them, though Ginny had spent some of her evenings with the normal visitors too so she already knew Alessandria as a friend.
They knocked on the door as usual and waited for Alessandria to open it. Instead though, a woman with long black wavy hair and a heart shaped face opened it instead.
"Tonks!" Harry exclaimed and hugged her.
"Wotcher Harry!" She replied around a wince, "Be careful there, I've only been out of the hospital a few days, and my ribs didn't really fix properly. Thanks for the letter by the way." She moved back into the room and Harry was shocked to see Remus there also, he smiled tiredly at them all.
"Remus, are you alright?" Harry asked concernedly.
"I'm fine." Remus replied.
"You sure?" Harry asked, Remus smiled and shook his head with a laugh.
"I'm great Harry." He stated, "Now come take a seat already." The group sat on the floor and in the remaining chairs around the room, the girls sat near Jake to play with him as usual and the tiny boy gave them hugs. Jake reached out to Harry who picked him up.
"Hey Jake, how's your week been then?" Harry asked in a childish voice, Jake pointed at Dean instead with babyish curiosity.
"Remus, I'm sure you remember Dean from your time teaching here, or are you forgetting things already?" Alessandria said cheekily, Remus rolled his eyes at her with a chuckle.
"Yes I remember Dean, how are you?" He asked Dean.
"I'm okay." Dean replied a little shyly, he wasn't used to treating professors as friends.
"That's good." Remus said as he studied the boy, "I don't know why I never saw it before."
"Saw what Sir?" Dean asked, Remus waved off the sir comment.
"Just call me Remus. I don't see why I never saw the resemblance you have to your father." Remus explained, "Though I suppose it's not as obvious as the Harry and James one it's still there."
"Really?" Dean asked, Remus nodded.
"Your eyes and face, same structure." Remus stated.
"His nose isn't as flat as Jason's though." Alessandria said with a laugh.
"Oh leave the poor boy alone." Tonks complained, she reached forward and held her hand out, "Tonks, nice to meet you Dean, Ginny's told me a lot about you." She said with a cheeky wink at Ginny, who blushed bright red from Dean's lap.
"Hi." Dean replied as he shook the woman's hand and looked inquiringly at his girlfriend.
"Y'know Tonks, you look like you could be related to Harry and Sara when you have your hair like that." Hermione said thoughtfully, Tonks looked at the two young raven-haired kids, Sara had her hair down and like Tonks' hair it was quite long and wavy, though it didn't reach her waist like Tonks' hair did, it only went halfway down her back and was incredibly messy like usual, which was another thing that made Harry and her look alike.
"Harry and Sara aren't related though." Tonks said in confusion.
"No but he's my Honorary Big Brother." Sara explained, Tonks perked up.
"Mind if I join the little family then?" She asked.
"Nope." Harry stated.
"Always wanted a big sister." Sara continued, they laughed happily at that.
"Um... What other stuff can you tell me about my Dad?" Dean asked after a moments silence, Ginny's grip around his waist tightened and he unconsciously pulled her closer to him.
"Well, he was a nice guy." Alessandria stated, "He was a few years above us in Gryffindor I think." She turned to Remus who nodded.
"Four years above us." He affirmed, "If it weren't for him the name Marauder wouldn't have been given to us." He added with a wistful smile.
"Oh no, not that again." Alessandria said with a laugh.
"What?" Harry asked with a grin, he loved hearing stories about his parents.
"Well, it was our third year, and Jason was Head Boy-"
"Would've made a better one if you didn't disrupt him." Alessandria cut in.
"Us disrupt him? More like the other way round!" Remus exclaimed to which Alessandria giggled and shook her head, "Anyways, we were just heading out for a late night prank and were under James' invisibility cloak-"
"I can't believe you all still fit under that in third year." Alessandria interrupted again.
"We hardly did, by fourth year Peter had to go in rat form." Remus told her, "Anyway, we were sneaking out-"
"Or trying to." Alessandria said, Remus looked down at her (she was leaning against him).
"Do you want to tell this?" He asked, Alessandria shrugged with a smile and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Go on." She said, the others laughed at Remus' face.
"So as I was saying, we were attempting to sneak out when Sirius tripped over Peter right after we got out of the portrait hole, unfortunately for us, Jason was coming round the corner and fell over Sirius and Peter, the invisibility cloak got stuck on his foot and dragged off of James' head, to say he was shocked was an understatement. He gave us all detentions and confiscated the cloak and map for a week. He also took the colourant potions we were going to use." Remus stated, then Alessandria laughed, interrupting him again, "The next morning we woke up like usual and took our showers," By now Alessandria had to cover her mouth to stop her giggles, "And went down to the hall for breakfast."
"The four boys all had bright red skin and golden hair." Alessandria stated with another giggle, the others started laughing, "And to make it worse, Jason had charmed them so that their clothes would turn invisible!"
"No!" Harry exclaimed with wide eyes before he started laughing again.
"Yes, but luckily he was nice enough to leave our underwear out of the spell." Remus explained.
"But he did charm your boxers to have little hearts on didn't he Rem?" Alessandria giggled, "I still have the photos of you and your golden boxers with burgundy hearts."
"Photos?" Hermione asked, Alessandria nodded and stood to get them, but Remus grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back onto the settee.
"Oh no you don't." He said as a blush rose to his cheeks, "Maybe another time in the far far future."
"Don't worry, I'll smuggle them to you." Alessandria mock whispered to them. "But they got the name Marauder's then when Jason announced to the whole school that it was his leaving present."
"Actually we got the name before hand I think, that's just when it was made known as that." Remus said thoughtfully, "He had been calling us Marauder's since we started the school."
"Well you were." Alessandria stated, Remus nodded thoughtfully.
"Didn't you date him?" He asked her, Alessandria looked shocked.
"You remember that?" She asked, Remus nodded. "I hardly did."
"You dated my Dad?" Dean asked.
"I dated Harry's Dad too, and Sirius, Peter I didn't, I didn't date guys that scum." Alessandria said with a scowl.
"She was a bit of a get around." Remus put in, Alessandria hit him.
"Was not." She said childishly, "I went out with them for three weeks at the most, the only one I dated more than that was you and that was from our fourth year Yule Ball till sometime after Lily and James died." Alessandria said seriously, looking up at him though he was avoiding her eyes. Alessandria sighed and looked down at Jake, she slowly got off of the settee and picked her son up. "I think it's time for bed Jakey." She said to the little boy who shook his head.
"No." He said, Alessandria laughed.
"Yes." She replied.
"I not go to bed!" Jake exclaimed, Alessandria laughed at his little pout.
"Remus, help me here." She asked, turning to Remus who chuckled and stood up. He took Jake from Alessandria and tickled him.
"How about we go back and see Molly at home yeah?" He asked, Jake nodded. "See you all tomorrow then."
"Bye Remus, Bye Jakey." Alessandria said and kissed Jake on the forehead.
"Night night Mummy." Jake said with a cute wave as Remus put the floo powder into the fireplace.
"Twelve Grimmauld Place!" He exclaimed and they were soon gone. The teens and Tonks stayed until it was way past Sara's curfew and nearing their own before they all left Alessandria to her marking the second years work.
"That was interesting." Dean said as he collapsed into a settee in the Common Room.
"Your welcome to go again." Harry offered, Dean nodded.
"I'd like that." He said with a grin and kissed Ginny happily, "Thanks for letting me come with tonight."
"No problem."
AN: Sorry it's not as long as usual! Don't shoot me! The Air Show is tomorrow so I won't be writing much else tomorrow as I'm babysitting too (groan). It might take longer than usual to update in the coming weeks as I have so much coursework that should've been done and wasn't and I go back to school on the first of September! Eek! Sorry guys! Please Review too!