Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowlings (obviously a.k.a. common knowledge let alone sense.) We are only borrowing all the characters but reassembling them to our plots and devises. So if J.K. Rowlings like to borrow some she is allow to since we know she has all the plots all written out on five thousand books. Then again so do we, so welcome to our brand of insanity.
Pairing: Draco, Snape, Hermione; Black, Lupin, Harry; Ron, Neville, Cho (struck out)—this group falls; McGonagall, Dumbledore, Flamel
Note: Draco/Snape/Hermione is the true group; once the true group forms then all the others will fall into place; Hermione/Harry/Ron is the believed Golden Group.
Trinity Series
A Prologue
By Haereticus
Despite his voluntary resignation after the whole Peter Pettigrew/Sirius Black mix-up that had occurred at least four years ago, Remus Lupin had been kept on (without a choice, mind you) because Albus Dumbledore had "demanded" it and thus remained as the current DADA professor.
Well, he did return to become the current DADA professor only after "no one would apply for the position (for various reasons that included the mysterious disappearance of the first applicant)". This fact was greatly received by all of the students, but most of all by Harry Potter. Much to Harry's delight, and much to his great surprise when he heard the news, his dearly loved professor was returning. Of all of the professors that the golden boy had known, Lupin had been the one to whom he was actually drawn.
Even this was an understatement, which had Harry running after the closet-werewolf to throw himself against the older man and telling him that he "really felt good", in so many words, when he was around him. Moreover, these feelings that Harry harbored for the professor only increased over time, and only Hermione figured out that Lupin returned the boy's feelings. And where did Black figure into all of this after being described as "the marriage partner of professor Lupin", as Professor Snape put it ever so eloquently? Actually, very well, thankyouverymuch, as his attraction to James Potter had been carried over to the son (which was quite easy because Harry Jailbait Potter had genetically received the smashing good looks and charming appearances from both of his parents).
And here was Lupin now, walking along the walkway by the train. And do not think that this went unnoticed by Harry, who stood outside of the door to the train car talking to his best friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasely (who greatly improved over the past few years, much to the surprise of everyone, including the professors themselves).
Harry's blue eyes followed Lupin's form as he walked towards them, and opened wide as he stopped right next to him.
"Hello, Hermione and Ron," Lupin said amiably, greeting the oldest and the youngest Gryffindors first. "One more year to help you decide what path you want to travel after graduation."
Hermione responded cheerfully and quickly. "Oh, yes, Professor Lupin. I think that I would very much like to become a master in Ancient Runes. Or Herbology, maybe. Or Potions. But not Divination."
"Well, you certainly have many options open to you," Lupin replied, amused at Hermione's undaunted quest for knowledge. "And what about you, Ron? You certainly have come a long way since your third year."
Ron beamed proudly. "I have actually considered Transfiguration, sir. Or maybe Arithmancy," he answered, almost slightly smug from his recent improvement in the wizarding world.
"And I wish you the best of luck," replied the professor with reinforcing tones. He would gladly do anything that ensured the continuation on Ron's rather excellent performance.
"He-hello, Professor Lupin," Harry managed to say, nearly fainting from the close proximity to the extremely handsome man.
"And how are you today, Harry?" Lupin asked, smiling at Harry in such a way that made Harry's heart flutter.
Harry merely stood there speechless, mesmerized beyond belief.
A few moments passed when Hermione discreetly and gently nudged Harry. She cleared her throat to snap him out of his daze. "Ahem, Harry. Professor Lupin is talking to you," she said quietly. "Don't be rude."
Harry blinked a couple of times. "Oh. OH! I am terribly sorry, Professor Lupin," he replied, recovering from his momentary mental lapse. "I am very well, thank you." 'Especially now that I know that you are here…' he thought, almost turning red from the fact that he felt that way. He tried again and again to reason that it would never work. After all, Lupin had been friends with his father, which obviously meant that Lupin could have been his father. But desires were desires, and feelings were feelings, and there was no avoiding the fact that he was in love with him. So he reconciled himself to this fact and tried to behave in such a way that would not cause the object of his affection to become fired.
"There is no better way to start off a better way than that," Lupin replied warmly. "I know that you well do well in all of your classes. Good luck in Quidditch."
"Will you be sitting with us in our cabin?" Hermione asked, remembering that infamous journey at the start of their third year.
"I would, but I must discuss the matter of a new professor with Dumbledore." Lupin looked at Harry curiously. "One that might interest you, Harry. It seems as though he is considering Sirius Black for Rudiments of Incendiary Elements."
"Rudiments of Incendiary Elements?" Harry asked, slightly confused, while Ron merely had a blank look on his face.
Hermione's expression brightened considerably. "Rudiments of Incendiary Elements Is that not like Pyrotechnics? Really? They have actually added it to the curriculum?" she asked ecstatically. "I really must have to take that class. To think that I could have missed it!"
"Incendiary Elements? You mean things that blow up?" Ron looked at Hermione flatly. "And I thought that you were mental before," he quipped. "The entire school has officially lost it."
Harry's face lighted up at the sudden descriptive word in the Muggle terminology. "Oh yeah, just like Pyrotechnics!" he exclaimed, absolutely not understanding Incendiary Elements but certainly knowing what Pyrotechnics were.
Ron gave Hermione a look that spoke that he felt she was mentally insane. "Honestly, a Muggle word called Pyrotechnics. Really. I am not surprised. Especially coming from you," he stated, referring to Hermione's quick temper and explosive activities in Hogwarts.
The once frizzy haired girl glared at him. "Oh shut up, Ron," she replied, momentarily forgetting that they were in the presence of a Hogwarts professor.
"Er, Professor Lupin is here," Harry whispered, his eyes still fixated on Lupin.
The girl, remembering this fact once Harry reminded her, was immediately embarrassed. "I am terribly sorry, Professor Lupin."
"School has not quite begun just yet, Miss Granger," Lupin replied, pretending to not have noticed their little scuffle. "However, I must be off, now. I believe that we are leaving shortly. Fortunately, it will not be long until we see each other again. (And let us just say that he does not know how true this will be…)."
"See you soon."
"Good-bye, Professor."
Harry merely stared after Lupin.
Seeing Harry's reduced brain function, Hermione nudged him once again, only a bit harder this time.
"Good-bye, Professor Lupin," Harry quickly said, continuing to stare after him as he walked away.
A few minutes passed with Hermione and Ron merely looking at Harry silently as he still stared after Lupin.
"You are so obvious, Harry," Hermione finally said, poking his arm.
"Seriously, though," Ron added, as they slowly began to make their way onto the train. "I cannot believe that you like him."
Harry turned around to look at Ron from the top of the stairs. "Shut up, Ron. I do not recall asking you for your opinion on my choice of person.
The female of the trio glanced at Harry with a knowing glance, "you mean people, in plural."
"What?" the red head exclaimed, obviously being blunt and not choosey with his words. "Who else would Harry be interested in besides Lupin? We've both seen him moon over the DADA professor." Then again, this was Ron that they were talking about; he didn't know the word subtle from a bumblebee's stinger.
A delicate snort came from Hermione while Harry flushed a deep crimson, making him look like Pinocchio with red paint for rosy cheeks. "Mione!" he whined pathetically, not wanting the other to reveal his deepest darkest desire.
One bushy eyebrow lifted up to look at her fallen compatriot. "Yes darling Harry?" she whispered sugary while retaining her calm composure.
"Stop acting cheeky, alright?" Harry burst out, not yet wanting Ron to know of his slightly even more queerish desires. Ron would never understand. At least he did not think that the redhead would, especially since that other person was his so-called god-father and the once-accused betrayer of the Potters.
Ron glanced back and forth at the two. "What are you two hiding?"
"Oh nothing." Hermione grins in smugness. "Just a few side benefits toward the personal study of NEWTs that we all have to face." Reverting back to school talk, she continued. "Besides, I do sincerely hope I end up sporting the Head girl status," diverting the talk and giving Harry a meaningful glance that spoke volumes of what he owed her.
Potter shifted his baby blue eyes feeling uncomfortable for Hermione's Slytherin like tendencies that seemed to pop up once in a while. Ron did not know how right he was when he stated in their first year that Hermione was indeed 'brilliant but scary.' He had been on the receiving end on how scary the supposed Gryffindor girl could be. Then again, he did always wonder what the sorting hat had said to Hermione let alone Ron when it was placed upon their heads. Did that idiotic bumbling hat sing a jig or debate with them on the choices of houses like it did with him? 'Such a malicious little hat, teasing me like that.'
Suddenly, the door opened and Malfoy stuck his head in with a smirk. "So Granger, are you still hanging out with these chumps?"
"Hey Malfoy, are you still trying to look manly when we all know you're so girly?" Hermione retorted just as quickly.
Draco raised his eyebrows. "Come to my room and see how girly I can be Granger." Wiggling his brow, he then sneered at the two inside the room. "As for you two, better watch out cause Draco-baby will be the Head boy to make your lives miserable. There won't be any foolish Weasely in charge while I am here, let alone one of the Persecuted manner."
Ron jump to his feet, "Sod off Malfoy! Percy was the best Head boy so you can just take a flying leap off the train."
"Percival is the word meaning high-status with non-commoners." Draco commented dryly, "but you commoners that try to appear high but obviously are low would name their children Percy in short, since it is obvious that your family would have been punished and executed if you call your children Percival!"
Wand at ready with a sudden jerk, Ron felt his hand shake with anger. "Shut up!"
Harry had to pull back Ron before causing a commotion. A sudden appearance of Snape beside Draco stopped them in their tracks. "Is there a problem here?" The Professor raised his arms to cross them over his chest in an intimidating manner. (Which actually didn't fool Hermione in the slightest.)
Draco glanced over at Snape. "Why not at all, Professor. I was just giving Weasely a history lesson on names; that is all."
Snape glanced at them and sneered slightly. "Nevertheless, 20 points from Gryffindor for causing a commotion." He then jerked his head to the right at Draco. "I have some things to discuss with you Mr. Malfoy; please come with me." He then flew by the blonde Slytherin, his robes bellowing outward.
"See you later, Granger." Draco then smirked at Ron. "You're very luck that I didn't send you over the bend, Weasely. And Potter, you better keep a better hand on your pet: it is starting to foam in the mouth." Then smoothing his hair back he then walked away from the trio with a smirk plaster over his face.
The Golden Trio just glared at the door. Hermione had remained quiet through it all, but she was indeed surprised at such a sharp comeback of insults that Draco had for Ron's status. Then again, this was a first time in ages since the little snitch didn't call her Mudblood. Something was definitely wrong, or the little ferret had ingested some form of potions to turn him into a repugnant slug.
Ron steamed. "Well, we certainly know that this year will be worse compared to the others, but I am going to make sure to knock that stupid git off his broom during Quidditch."
"Now, Ron." Harry spoke evenly even though internally he agreed with his best friend. He noticed the protest on Ron's face. "I did not say that you couldn't; I am just saying that we should make it so it seems that you did not."
"Really you two." Folding her hands into her lap the brains of the group smirked slightly. "Such childish practices. Don't you two ever grow out of it?"
"Oh come on Mione." Harry took off his glasses and cleaned them with a piece of cloth. "I know that you have already come up with how we could do it."
"Yeah, Hermione. Help us out. Besides, we know that you are dying to, too. Malfoy was being a bigger git than usual."
Humming underneath her breath Hermione snorted, though highly entertained with the idea. "Let me think on it, but I seriously doubt that you two would have trouble on figuring out how to do your own pranks without getting nailed." She knew that this was completely false, even surprisingly for the Weasely boy.
"Hermione!"
"Mione!" The two boys whined pathetically.
"Now, now, you do realize that I am trying to be head girl. What sort of responsible person would I be if I helped you plan out a way to harm a student? Even if that certain boy does deserve it."
The two grumbled at how she was a spoil-sport, always playing by the god-forsaken rules.
"Better that then being expelled." Sticking her tongue out at the two, a slight smirk over her face at the resulting pouts. "It is indeed worse then that boggart that Professor Lupin let us practice on."
"Hermione, your worse fear is that dumb scroll with a grade letter 'D' on it." Harry complained.
Ron snorted. "It is such a pathetic fear."
"Remember even the littlest fear could break a person. Besides, at least I wasn't scared of those pathetic spiders that you are all squeamish about."
"But you weren't there in the forest! They were huge! Like this big!" Ron waved his arms to show how big the thing was in dimensions. "Even Harry can vouch for it."
Harry nodded his head in agreement.
"And looking into a mirror where an incredibly large reptile is staring at you like you are a dessert pie isn't?" the brains of the group retorted sarcastically at the implication that other fears and face-offs weren't as terrifying.
Slowly the two backed away from the slight rising female of their group. "Now Hermione, he did not exactly say that…" Harry began cautiously.
They knew how scary Hermione was when angered; in their sixth year Ron had made her so mad that she had cursed him with a hex that had his balls tugged up his ass into his fingers. It was a horrid sight, and worse off for Harry was the fact those balls had red hair dangling on them. As a result, he purposely cast a spell on himself that caused temporary blindness but had inadvertently added Hemlock where he should have added Clover, and subsequently remained without sight for six months instead of one, during which time Ron had turned back to normal. That meant that Harry went unnecessarily without sight for nearly four months. Fortunately for him was the fact that Lupin was there to help. (So really, how bad was it? Not at all.)
Hermione, in the most vengeful spirit, even enchanted them with the horrid song called, 'Ding O' Ling'. The implications toward the song were not lost and most of the Gryffindors couldn't keep their faces straight through it all when it started to jingle toward the beat of the song.
Then again half of the population of males in the common rooms was wincing every time, and it made them quite wary of pissing off the local know-it-all that also possessed a gifted skills in hexes, thanks to the dueling club that they had attended with the localized supervision of the DADA Professor.
Ron gulped while clutching onto Harry's robe. "Honestly Hermione, I didn't mean it in that sense."
"Ronald Weasely," Hermione raises her wand while scoffing at him, "if you step out of line I will make sure you regret it!" An evil gleam sparkled in her eyes that gave her a predatory look that scared the crap out of both Gryffindor males. "I even gotten permission from you're mother."
"Uh, yes, Hermione!" Ron spoke hastily in fear of the destruction of his precious bits.
Putting away her wand, she smirked at the sudden sigh of relief from both male figures in the cabin. "Very good." Then settling herself on the red plush settee of the cabin, she looked out of the increasingly graying sky. "Looks like it is going to rain…again."
"Hopefully that is all that it does," Harry replied as the whistle and bell sounded, signaling their departure.
"Well, here's to another interesting year," Ron quipped, closing the curtains to their cabin as the train started to move.
Hermione winces, "Yeah one full of troublesome dunderheads that won't listen to reason or rhymes or was that rhymes and reasons. Oh bother."
