Harry Potter and the Little Fox

by Ivalice012

For years, Harry Potter's lived a neglected life at the Dursleys. But that all changes once he receives his Hogwarts letter, and meets a young witch at Madam Malkin's. [AU. Tonks is in Harry's year. Longfic with first six chapters featuring the first year. After that, the story will jump ahead, with references to the past on occasion.]

9. The Parselmouth

OK. No pressure. Harry opened the diary, dipped his quill, and started writing on the first page.

'Hello Voldemort. My name is Harry Potter. You tried to kill me over a decade ago but failed. I survived your Killing Curse as a baby.'

The words disappeared to be replaced by:

'And you were the one to find my diary. I've heard a lot about you, Harry Potter.'

"Hold on," said Tonks, standing beside Harry. "How does it know about you? We didn't write a thing!"

Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "Perhaps whoever left the diary in the bathroom did. See if you can uncover their identity."

Harry continued writing: 'I found your diary in a flooded bathroom. Looks like someone threw it away.'

'Yes, it took quite a while for that stupid little girl to break free of Lord Voldemort's control and stop trusting her diary. Where is she now?'

Harry paused before writing: 'Who?'

'You don't know? Well, I suppose that irksome pest is too ashamed to admit the truth. So, where do we go from here, Harry Potter? If both you and Dumbledore are in possession of my diary, then I see no reason to continue this conversation.'

'Really?' Harry wrote. 'Not wondering how I survived your Avada Kedavra?'

'Your words are bold. Can I assume that Dumbledore is with you? Yes, that may be the case. You would be far less defiant in the face of Lord Voldemort himself. This is but a mere diary.'

Shaking his head, Harry wrote: 'We already met at the end of last year. The real you is a wreck. You're barely alive. That's where all your power got you. You're in hiding.'

The diary remained blank for quite some time before responding.

'How did you survive my Killing Curse?'

'Who used this diary before me?'

'Albus Dumbledore, of course.'

'And before him?'

'That stupid girl.'

"This is going nowhere," Harry told Dumbledore, sighing. "I can't get him to tell me who threw it away."

Dumbledore nodded. "It is well-guarded, indeed. And the Basilisk?"

Harry dipped his quill yet again and continued to write: 'Guess what, diary? We found your Chamber of Secrets and are about to destroy the Basilisk.'

'Lies. Dumbledore's only guessed at the monster. And neither of you have any idea where the Chamber's located.'

'Bathroom sink where your Basilisk killed Myrtle Warren.'

Another pause before the diary responded.

'Stuck at the tap, then, I assume? Don't expect Lord Voldemort to give you the answer.'

'What if we're already inside?'

'Impossible. The entrance is well protected. Not even Dumbledore and his famous spellwork can get through.'

'But we're already in the tunnels. Actually wait, we're past the double-snake wall and in the Chamber. I can see a huge statue of Salazar Slytherin standing ahead.'

Their was a lengthy pause before the diary responded.

'Who else is travelling with you and Dumbledore?'

'Two teachers and a friend. And before you ask, I'm the one who's opened everything.'

'So you're a Parselmouth, then. Describe the Basilisk.'

'At least twenty-feet long. Bright-green skin. Big yellow eyes.'

'How did you get it out?'

Harry clenched his jaw as he tried to think up a lie. Satisfied, he wrote: 'I called it from its hiding place. Parseltongue did the trick.'

'Is that so? And where did it come from?'

'The statue,' Harry wrote, feeling an icy dread in his stomach. He had no idea whether his guesswork was good enough, and yet he felt strangely comfortable writing in the diary.

'As if the statue of Slytherin would obey a Gryffindor. You don't even know the passphrase, do you?'

Harry decided to tackle this issue head-on. After dipping his quill yet again in the refilled bottle, he wrote: 'Then give it to me and let's see who's right. I've already beaten you twice and will do it again.'

Again, the diary remained blank for quite some time before responding.

'Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four.'

"I've got it!" said Harry, grinning. He climbed out of his desk and stood between the high pillars. Then he looked up at the stone face of Slytherin, high above him in the half-darkness. "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four." Not really, though.

Tonks shook her head. "English."

Harry tried again and again. It took him several attempts to get the passphrase to come out in hissing noises.

"My goodness," said Professor McGonagall, as Slytherin's stone mouth opened wider and wider to make a huge black hole. "I'm afraid I'll have to do this again, and for good reason."

She waved her wand and conjured blindfolds around Harry's and Tonks's eyes. They struggled at first but eventually settled.

"Not this time!" said Harry, raising his wand. He vanished the the blindfolds and stood with his arm over his eyes instead (Professor McGonagall was taken by surprise). "Maybe we should take its eyes out first."

"Precisely," said Dumbledore, as something was stirring inside the statue's mouth. "Fawkes, if you don't mind ..."

Harry heard something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber, just as Fawkes took flight. He considered using Parseltongue but then heard the Basilisk's evil voice.

"Defilers of Slytherin! Defenders of filth! I WILL TEAR YOU APART!"

Maybe I can distract it or something. "You really want to do this?" Harry asked in a hissing tone, while standing with his eyes covered. "I can speak, too!"

But Harry's words merely caused the Basilisk to hiss, "DIE!"

"Stop for the heir of Slytherin!"

The Basilisk ignored Harry and slithered forward. Then, all of a sudden, it gave a loud spitting-sound before swishing about and hissing furiously.

"You may look now," said Dumbledore, as the hissing reached its peak. And when Harry uncovered his eyes, he saw that Fawkes had taken out the Basilisk's great yellow ones. "Here it comes."

Although the bright-green serpent, thick as an oak trunk, wasn't as huge as Harry had thought, it was still as vicious as expected. The Basilisk spun around to face them. Blood was streaming from its eyes to the floor, and it was spitting in agony before darting ahead to strike.

BANG.

The Basilisk's great fangs bounced off of Dumbledore's Shield Charm. And when the serpent raised its head to strike again, it was met by scarlet Stunners from Harry and Tonks. Neither had any effect.

"Use your brains!" said Snape, readying his wand. "The Basilisk's hide is highly resistant to magic! Aim for the opened mouth at least!"

"Or better yet," said Professor McGonagall, waving her wand, "we may conjure up its weakness."

The Basilisk struck again, and bounced off of Dumbledore's Shield Charm. It hissed in a furious manner while readying its next strike, at which point Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall waved their wands.

What the –?

Harry blinked as two small stones lying ahead turned into two roosters. They jumped up and down and started crowing at the top of their lungs, echoing several times in the Chamber.

"This is mental!" said Tonks, laughing.

The Basilisk hissed louder than ever. It swished about in fury and agony, then struck its tail at the roosters. They dashed away and carried on crowing as loudly as they could, while the Basilisk struggled to slither back.

"False!" said the Basilisk. "The heir has already dealt with the true ones! I WILL RIP YOU APART!"

Despite being safe behind Dumbledore's invisible barrier, Harry still grabbed Tonks and pulled her back.

"This thing is out of its mind!" Harry said, holding Tonks from the side (she giggled). "It says the roosters are false."

Dumbledore nodded. "Indeed, but Professor McGonagall and I are fairly decent with our spells."

The roosters charged forward and crowed as much as they could (Harry and Tonks couldn't help laughing). The Basilisk retreated further and further before hissing loudly, then lunging forward. It caught the first rooster and ripped it to shreds before swallowing it (Professor McGonagall sighed).

"Time to end this circus show," said Snape, readying his wand. "Avada Kedavra!"

There was a jet of green light, which the Basilisk dodged. The Killing Curse hit a stone pillar far to the left, bursting into green flame.

What a clown, Harry thought, as he saw Snape seething at his missed shot.

Next, Dumbledore waved his wand a few times and duplicated his rooster thrice. The flock of four dashed in different directions and crowed louder and louder. Their echoes flooded the Chamber and caused the Basilisk to sway wildly while hissing out loud.

"VERMIN! PESTS! YOU WILL ALL DIE!"

Professor McGonagall added to the chaos by waving her wand as well. She Transfigured a loose stone to a rooster, then duplicated it into a half a dozen of them. The flock ran forward and crowed at full blast.

Shaking his head at the pandemonium, Snape raised his wand and took aim at the Basilisk. He yelped in disbelief as one of Dumbledore's roosters jumped onto his head and crowed out loud (Harry and Tonks guffawed).

"What nonsense?" Snape said, swiping overhead with his left hand. "GET OFF!"

And he blasted the rooster away with a spell.

Dumbledore flicked his wand and had the roosters focus their efforts. The flock let out an almost reverberating amount of crowing in the Chamber. Further ahead, the Basilisk hissed and spat nonstop (almost screaming in agony) before toppling head-first to the stone floor.

"Is it –"

"Dead, yes," said Dumbledore, as Harry's mouth fell open. "It would have been a lot quicker with a real rooster, however."

At last, the roosters were vanished and the Chamber of Secrets regained its eerie silence. Professor McGonagall stepped forward and ran a few spells over the Basilisk.

"An ordinary one would have succumbed far quicker to our conjured flock," she said, looking somewhat impressed. "No doubt Slytherin had fortified his monster."

"Headmaster," said Snape, eyeing the Basilisk, "this creature may be of significant worth. Perhaps we should preserve it, or part of it."

Dumbledore surveyed the Basilisk. "I would prefer that we only take a few fangs and leave the rest to be incinerated."

"But –"

"I'm with Professor Dumbledore," said Harry, interrupting Snape. Serves him right. Bet Dumbledore's getting him back for being such a prat.

A muscle twitched unpleasantly at the corner of Snape's thin mouth as he glared at Harry. But with everyone else in favour of destroying the Basilisk, Snape stomped towards it in a foul mood. He slashed his wand and severed three fangs at once.

"What a creep," Tonks whispered to Harry, who nodded. "Hope this doesn't turn him back to his old ways."

Harry gripped his wand at his side. "If he does, we'd better be ready. Let's up our Stunners in the meantime."

Tonks frowned. "It's a bit hard to practise Stupefy when we're not using it on each other – or anyone, really. Hard to tell if it's getting good."

Once Snape had handed over the fangs (which Dumbledore placed in a conjured box), Dumbledore waved his wand and levitated the Basilisk's corpse high in the air. With a second wave of his wand, he sent a large stream of crimson and gold fire which enveloped the serpent. Unsurprisingly, the Basilisk's corpse lasted quite a while under fire, only slowly disintegrating once Dumbledore had put even more power into his spell. Harry and Tonks pinched their noses from the foul stench.

"Wow, talk about tough," said Harry, eyeing the now-empty spot in mid-air.

Dumbledore nodded. "Its magic is extraordinary. After all, neither Professor McGonagall nor I have been able to remove the petrifications with our spells."

Snape looked surlier than usual. "Can we at least explore every inch of this place? Surely that isn't too much to ask?"

Dumbledore agreed, and the group set off to examine whatever they could in the Chamber (Dumbledore repaired the burnt pillar). Harry had Professor McGonagall levitate him right up to Slytherin's opened mouth, where he climed into a slimy, dark tunnel.

Yeah, just what I thought.

Looking ahead, Harry observed the tunnel curving downwards with numerous branches at its sides. He considered levitating himself but was stopped by Fawkes, who was now fluttering ahead of him.

"What's up?" Harry asked, and Fawkes waved his long, golden tail feathers. "Want me to grab hold? OK, then."

Knowing that Fawkes could carry immensely heavy loads, Harry took hold of the strangely hot tail-feathers and was carried throughout the statue. They passed several chambers along the way but found nothing but darkness and dirt.

"Might as well go back," Harry said, when they reached the last chamber. "What a disappointment."

Fawkes returned Harry to Slytherin's mouth, then back to the Chamber's floor. Tonks ran up to Harry in an excited manner.

"And? What did you find?"

Harry sighed. "Load of nothing. Maybe Slytherin was just too selfish to pass on his secrets."

"Or Voldemort stole them," said Tonks, scowling. "At least it was worth a try, though."

Professor McGonagall shared their disappointment. "Not even a single old spellbook!" She kicked at a stone. "Nothing!"

After finishing their inspection, Dumbledore's group left the Chamber and sealed the wall behind them. Dumbledore conjured a large basket for the five of them to sit in, which was supported by ropes held by Fawkes. And while Snape remained surly throughout their return trip to Myrtle's bathroom, Harry felt a rush of excitement as he thought about the night's events. He couldn't believe that they'd destroyed Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk!

"Oh, and before I forget," said Professor McGonagall, when they climbed out of the basket in the bathroom, "sixty points to Gryffindor. If you can find whoever discarded that diary, I shall award them a significant amount of points."

Harry felt the colour leave his cheeks. What if that person turned out to be a Slytherin?

Dumbledore spoke before they left the bathroom. "In case you were wondering, you will both receive Special Awards for Services to the School." (Harry and Tonks beamed at each other.) "Harry, do let me know once you've found our diary's previous victim. We can meet in their Head of House's office shortly thereafter."

"I'll try," said Harry, fidgeting with his fingers. "Riddle said it's a 'little girl', so it should be one of us lower-years."

Dumbledore nodded (while Snape strode out the bathroom). "I wish you luck."

"Not so fast," said Professor McGonagall, as Harry and Tonks made to leave. "It's almost midnight, in case you weren't aware."

"And?" said Tonks, pushing her nose in the air. "We just solved the Chamber of Secrets mystery. We can go wherever we want, whenever we want."

Professor McGonagall gave a false cough. "I'm afraid that's not how it works. I shall take you to the Fat Lady's portrait."

Frowning, Harry and Tonks followed Professor McGonagall all the way up to the seventh floor. They spoke the password and climbed through the portrait hole to find an empty common room.

"Oh, wow." Tonks gave a shuddering yawn. "I could kip on the floor at this rate."

Harry steered Tonks towards the girls' dormitories' staircase (Tonks giggled). "Goodnight."

"Yeah, sure. Same to you."

They opened their doors and climbed the spiral staircases within.

---

The next morning, Harry and Tonks broke the news to the rest of their house in the common room. Everyone stood dumbfounded as Harry spoke of the Chamber, while there was much laughter at Tonks's Metamorphosing antics. She changed her hair to a spiky dark-brown and gave herself a beak-like nose as she mimicked the roosters (though she crowed in her own voice).

"I'm serious!" she said, speaking over the laughter. "There were loads of roosters all over the place –"

"Ten, actually."

"Shoosh!" Tonks told Harry, shooting him a glare (which only made him laugh). "You should've seen them go on and on and on and on until the big bad Basilisk fell over and died!"

Questions came pouring in from all sides. They ranged from Slytherin's magnificent secrets (which Harry dispelled), to the Chamber's entrance ("Myrtle's bathroom," said Harry), to even the size of the Basilisk ("HUUUUUGE!" said Tonks, holding her arms as wide as she can).

"Probably twenty to thirty feet, or so" Harry said, and Tonks rolled her eyes.

At breakfast, Harry saw many of the other houses' students looking at him in an odd manner (several Gryffindors did, too, but not as suspiciously), though he ignored it. He sat down and listened as Dumbledore announced that the Chamber of Secrets was no longer a threat. Dumbledore applauded Harry's and Tonks's efforts at uncovering the Basilisk, but failed to mention anything regarding the heir of Slytherin himself (Harry couldn't help noticing Ginny's pale-faced, anxious expression down the table).

Seriously?

"You know what?" Harry whispered to Tonks after breakfast, when they left the Great Hall. "I think I know who had the diary."

"Who?"

Their conversation was interrupted as Terry Boot, Anthony Goldstein, and a few other Ravenclaws cut in front of them at the marble staircase. They were joined by many Hufflepuffs and a dozen Slytherins as well, from different years.

"Potions is that way," Tonks told Boot, pointing to the narrow stone staircase to the left of the marble staircase. "We're trying to get to Transfiguration, upstairs."

"Is it true?" Goldstein asked Harry, ignoring Tonks. "Word is, you're a Parselmouth!"

Snape, Harry thought, feeling a sickening rush of hatred. "Yeah, so what?"

"'So what'?" said Malfoy, pushing to the front of his crowd. "Don't tell me you were the heir the whole time? That would explain why Dumbledore's keeping quiet about it!"

There was a murmur of agreement around the crowd.

"It has to be him!" said Goldstein, pointing at Harry. "Awfully convenient how you solved everything before it got way out of hand, isn't it?"

An older Ravenclaw girl agreed. "I could swear I heard that Basilisks are supposed to kill, not petrify."

Tonks let out a loud, frustrated groan. "That's because neither Colin nor Mrs Norris saw it directly! And Sir Nicholas is already dead!"

Malfoy snarled. "Is this your idea of a joke, Potter? Think you can ruin our legends so you can steal the House Cup?"

Harry laughed. "Good one, Malfoy! Must've taken you all night to think that one up, eh?"

The Hufflepuffs, including Justin Finch-Fletchley, also chimed in. They weren't sure what to believe, though many found it suspicious how Harry had failed to mention his rare ability.

"Who says he has to?" said Tonks, looking haughty. "Now shove off so we can get to class!"

The rest of the Great Hall came spilling out, including the other Gryffindors. Harry was relieved to see that his house still had his back, though Fred and George did it their way.

"Thanks for sparing us, heir!" said George, giving a quick bow as he passed.

Fred did so as well. "Let us know when it's round two!"

"Hey, that's enough!" said Percy, parting the crowd. "Breakfast is over, and classes are in order! Get moving!"

When the crowd dispersed, Tonks got the last word in as she yelled at Malfoy: "How can a Gryffindor be the heir of Slytherin, you moron?"

But the murmurs and glances continued to follow Harry until he reached Transfiguration. Annoyed, Harry took longer than he'd liked to turn his porcupine to a pincushion, though he still earned five points from Professor McGonagall.

"Potter," said Professor McGonagall when the bell rang, "I know you're upset over Snape, but perhaps it would be better if you could focus on your work instead."

Harry tightened his lips as he grabbed his bag. "I'm not throwing any tempers or anything, Professor. It's Snape who's acting like a sore loser after the Basilisk got burned. Or he's just being his usual self, I don't care."

Transfiguration was followed by break (with a free-period thereafter). Harry and Tonks went up to the second floor and stopped by Myrtle's bathroom for a quick chat (Myrtle complained about getting a lot of unwanted visitors these days), then spent their free period practising their Shield Charms.

Later that day, after dinner, Harry and Tonks decided to approach Ginny in private. Harry pulled her aside in the corridor outside their common room (she was even more anxious than usual). Then he asked her if she'd lost a diary recently.

"There's no need to be afraid," said Tonks. She rubbed her chin, then chuckled as she got an idea. "Think of me as ... your big sister!"

And with that, she screwed up her face and changed her shoulder-length brown hair to a waist-length shade of tomato red. Harry placed his palm on his forehead while standing beside her.

"That's so silly," he said, snorting with laughter. Then he looked at the horrified Ginny standing opposite him. "Look, you really don't have to be afraid. We know it's not your fault."

Ginny brought her hands to her mouth and said, in a trembling manner: "Wh - what did Riddle say about m - me? I – I wrote a lot in that diary, y - you know."

Harry nodded. "So did I, and he said you were a stupid little girl."

Ginny's eyes went wide. "You wrote a lot, too? But then, he didn't – he didn't t - take you over, too, d - did he?"

"Take me over?" Harry scratched his cheek. "Like what? Possession?"

Ginny covered her eyes as she started sobbing. She nodded and said that she couldn't even remember it.

"Actually," said Harry, feeling a wave of relief, "Professor McGonagall said she's willing to give whoever ditched the diary loads of points. Want to know why?"

Ginny carried on sobbing.

"Because whoever did it is very brave. Not everyone can break free of Voldemort."

The mention of Voldemort's name caused Ginny to flinch horribly. There were tears rolling down her freckled cheeks.

"So you see," said Harry, pushing on, "you won't be getting into trouble for whatever Riddle made you do. He made you kill all the roosters, right?"

Ginny nodded, while rubbing her eyes.

"Well, you should've seen it," Harry said, "the Basilisk's death, I mean. A whole lot of crazy chickens just running around and crowing. One even jumped on Snape's head."

Ginny gave a slight chuckle, but was still sobbing.

"So the diary possessed you, right?" Harry said, and Ginny nodded. "Maybe we should go see Professor McGonagall and get those points. Dumbledore might even want a word as well."

"D - Dumbledore?"

"Relax," said Tonks. "He'll probably want to find out how you got the diary in the first place." She creased her brows. "How did you get it anyway?"

Ginny shrugged. "I d - don't know. Think I've had it ever since going to the bookstore."

"Flourish and Blotts?" Tonks asked, and Ginny nodded. "There's no way they could've sold it there! I mean, it's a Dark Arts item straight from Voldemort himself!"

"Not to mention a Muggle diary," said Harry, baffled. Then he thought about Dobby and frowned. "This might be an odd question, but did you run into the Malfoys at any point?"

Ginny gasped. "Dad and Mr Malfoy had a Muggle fight in the bookstore!"

Tonks laughed. "A fistfight? With the 'wizarding culture' Lucius Malfoy?"

"Erm, I guess so, yes," Ginny looked down at her hands. "Why d'you ask? Did the Malfoys do this to me?"

Harry sighed. "There is a possibility, but we can't prove it."

"Think very carefully," said Tonks to Ginny. "Is there anything you can remember besides the fistfight? Did you see one of the Malfoys with the diary, perhaps?"

Ginny scratched her hair. "It was just Draco Malfoy and his dad, though. Their Mum was maybe at home or something." She paused for a moment. "Actually, I remember Mr Malfoy taking one of my books and making fun of it. He gave it back after the mad Muggle-fight."

I knew it. "That's it!" said Harry, punching his fist on his palm. "He must have snuck it in during the fight somehow! That diary can definitely fit in a book unnoticed!"

"But why?" said Ginny, looking bewildered. "Why would he do that?"

Tonks narrowed her eyes. "Because he's a Malfoy, that's what. They love to cause trouble."

Harry rubbed his chin. "I don't know. Smuggling Voldemort's items seems a bit more than just 'trouble', don't you think? Doesn't seem like standard Dark Arts stuff to me."

Either way, they succeeded in taking Ginny to Professor McGonagall's office and explaining whatever they could. Professor McGonagall awarded Ginny eighty points (to her bewilderment), then gave Harry and Tonks fifteen points each for solving the case. Gryffindor had now shot well ahead of Slytherin in the House Championship, though there were still five months left to compete.

Minutes later, Dumbledore was called and arrived via the local Floo Network. He discussed the issue of the Malfoys for a while, then came to the conclusion that Lucius Malfoy intended on framing Mr Weasley. By Dumbledore's estimation, Ginny was meant to be caught opening the Chamber of Secrets and harming Muggle-borns specifically, which would discredit Mr Weasley and his new Muggle Protection Act. Dumbledore apologised to Ginny that she had to hear all of this. But then he added that that was how the world sometimes worked.

"It's not all doom and gloom, though," Tonks told the wide-eyed Ginny. "Take Harry, for instance. He's got loads of problems with his Muggles and stuff, but he still makes the most of things – well, some things anyway."

Unfortunately, Dumbledore said that he was forced to destroy the diary. He added that despite the diary's value as evidence against Mr Malfoy, the Dark forces within it were simply too dangerous to be kept active or passed around the Ministry.

Harry creased his brows. "Are you sure? Who knows what else we could have learned from him?"

"It, Harry," said Dumbledore. "The diary was more of a tool than anything else."

"But can't you at least call Lucius Malfoy for a chat?" Tonks asked, and Dumbledore smiled.

"Why not wait for him to make the next move? Let us see what happens when word spreads of your heroic actions. No doubt Draco Malfoy has already mailed his parents."

In the meantime, however, Harry and Tonks continued their studies and urged their housemates to keep their rubies high in the hourglass. Hermione wholeheartedly agreed and was eager to discuss the Chamber of Secrets with Harry and Tonks, though she remained confused over the heir.

"Yeah, we're all confused," said Harry at a common-room table that night. He was unwilling to deal with the headache of trying to prove Voldemort's continued existence. "But we know that it wasn't any student or staff around here. Not even a visitor. It was just a ridiculous amount of Dark magic that Dumbledore dealt with in the end."

"I suppose that makes sense," said Hermione, chewing the tip of her quill. "But how in the world are you a Parselmouth?"

Harry sat back and held up his hands. "Hey, don't even go there. All I know is that I've always been able to do that, so ... maybe it's just something odd that's popped up somehow." Or not.

"He's Harry Potter anyway," said Tonks, pushing her nose in the air. "And don't believe any rubbish about him being Dark and stuff. That's nonsense!"

As for Ginny, although she was perfectly happy again, she was clearly annoyed by the concern (or whatever else) shown by her brothers. More than once, she stressed to either Ron, the twins, or even Percy that she was up to date with her work, and that she didn't need extra tuition or a bed at St Mungo's.

It was (relatively) smooth sailing for now, at least. Harry could only hope that the rest of the year would pass without another Voldemort-related incident.