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December 24, 1991
Tuesday Evening
Time had gone by since Harry had seen Clara, Cora, or any of the other Slytherin friends of his. It had started off well and nice, he'd come to know they were good people, , but most of their housemates weren't. He didn't know why so many of them cared if Clara and the others spent time with him. Hogwarts didn't have any rule against it and everybody was free to make their own friends, unlike in Muggle school — Draco and the older people seemed like Dudley, really.
Harry huffed and moved to the kitchen, rolling up his sleeves when he stood in front of the sink. He had to do the dishes now that they'd been soaking for an hour or so… to think he'd hoped that Clara or Cora would have come to save him. It was such a stupid hope to have, he knew they were his friends and all but they were only older by a couple of years. They couldn't speak for their parents and invite him over, especially if he was some loser that Muggles barely kept around.
I shouldn't have told Clara I lived with Muggles or that they're not the best with the way they treat me. I was stupid, I wanted friends and didn't know when to stop talking.
With a shake of his head, Harry tucked into the dishes and began his work. His hands would be all pruny by the time he would be done, the sausages would be stuck to the pans and while the sauce he'd made had been wicked good, it had been really messy. All in all, he would have his work cut out for him today. That was just like Potions class was- tons of work, with some potential to enjoy it but others had to ruin it for him.
About halfway through the dishes, there was a knock that sounded like it was at the back door, not the front. Harry immediately sought his wand in case it was Voldemort. He was sure that wasn't very likely, but he had heard all the stories about the Dark Lord, even if he'd supposedly killed him. It was nerve-racking to know that people who followed a murderer still existed without any problems in the Magical world.
"Harry, check the door," Aunt Petunia called, her face still mindlessly staring at the television while one of her hands was wrist-deep in a bowl of popcorn. "Quickly!"
The second time she spoke spurred him into action, and it only came because the person knocking was incredibly impatient. Whoever it was, they knocked every five seconds or so, each time with a different rhythm.
Right before the person was about to do it for the fourth time, Harry opened the door and saw them — he knew it was close on account of their knuckles tapping his chest. "Can I help… Clara?"
Clara smiled brightly at him, her arms pulling him into a hug before he could say much of anything. "Hi Cutie!" she pulled back once she'd had her tight hug with him, one that lasted nearly fifteen seconds. "I brought my parents here to help me get you back to our home, we'll go to Cora's for Christmas since mum and dad work."
Harry blinked a few times before he withdrew a little further into the home. Once he was inside enough to feel safe, he looked at the woman, then the man. The pair of them seemed stoic, with the woman barely having a softer look about her. Mainly, they looked at his ragged, ill-fitting clothes and the sopping, dirty nature of his sleeves.
"Oh, right," Clara said suddenly, rolling her eyes and then pulling him close again, enough so that she could point at the two older people while he was practically hugging her again. "Mum, dad, this is Harry Potter. Harry, these are my mum and dad."
The man nodded once and muttered something, looking past Harry at the television that Petunia was watching. He seemed very much enthralled by it, but his face didn't share explicitly what he was feeling regarding the Muggle creation. As for the woman, she paid no attention to the contents of the home and simply drew Harry and Clara closer to herself.
"It's nice to meet you, Harry. My daughter has told us a great deal about you, so if you would please gather your things, we'll take you to our home — it could be your new one in perpetuity too if you'd want that to happen. If not, I'm sure the Averys would love to have you live with them," Clara's mum's eyes drifted past him for all of three seconds, if that. "Anything to get you away from the Muggle side of things. You'd like that, wouldn't you dear?"
Harry looked at Clara, her pleading look was more than enough to have him nod once at her mum.
From that point on, the evening went by in a blur to the point that he figured magic was responsible for that just as much as it was responsible for him being saved from having to live with the Dursleys any longer. None of it felt real, none at all.
Not when he took his action figures, the few clothes he liked, and other meagre belongings of his and packed them in a trunk. Not when Clara hugged him again before having him place his hand in her mum's and finally, not when Harry was in a great big parlour room the size of forty, possibly even fifty cupboards.
"Clara, you'll be entrusted with his care, just like you wanted," Her mum said, the woman's eyes darting over to him for all of a few seconds with that small smile on her face. "If you need anything, Harry, please call for our elves, my husband, or myself."
"Thank you, Mrs Carrow," Harry said respectfully, his head and gaze on the woman's lower body.
"I completely forgot about that, didn't I?" Mrs Carrow said, shaking her head and huffing. "My name is Klover, so please call me by that going forward — you can call me Klove if you'd want just like Clara will respond to Claire. I'm afraid my husband, gone as he already is back to his work, would prefer Mister Carrow or something dull like that."
Harry cracked a grin at that, and then he instantly stiffened. It wasn't because the woman said anything, no, it was purely because she pulled him into a warm, comforting hug. She did it quickly, her arms not coming to a stop the entire time he was in them and by the time she pulled back to plant a kiss on his head, Harry was still processing the hug.
"He doesn't get hugged a lot mum," Clara said as she grabbed one of his smaller hands in both of her bigger ones. "Those Muggles don't pay him the kind of attention he deserves, they're like you say they are."
Klover… Klove, she looked at him from the exit of the parlour room with a curious expression on her face. He couldn't place the emotions, he wasn't very good with all that in the first place, but she eventually smiled at him again as she wrung her hands, her attention drifting eventually to her daughter.
"I told you they are, Claire. It doesn't matter much, not with Harry here now. He can stay with us as long as he'd like to and if that doesn't work out for him, we've got that friend of yours and her family. The Averys are good people — let me know if you need anything, okay baby? I'm going to go bake a treat for Harry, then I'm going over to see how your father is," Klover waved at Harry, her head swaying lightly to music that he didn't hear. "I'll see you for Christmas, maybe, probably, tomorrow at some point! Come to me before you go to bed tonight, it's nice having you here, Harry."
Like that, the older woman was gone and he was left looking at Clara, his right hand still encased by both of hers.
"Do your mum and dad like me?" He asked nervously, looking at the darkened doorway on account of no torch being near it.
Clara did one large nod in answer. "My dad doesn't have any problem with you. None at all, really. I'm sure you'll be like a second son to him eventually, but who really knows. He's always at work, doing Morgana only knows what," Clara shrugged, smiled and started to pull him to another door that he hadn't registered. "As for my mum, she's where I get my uniqueness, as Cora calls it. She and I can never sit still, or we get too bored. It's why she has a Potions Mastery, Charms Mastery, and a side business for plants to be used in potions. It took her a long time but she likes the split-time on everything… now come on, let's show you your room and then cuddle until you're about to fall asleep."
Harry didn't have the time to think about what he would reply with before he was out of the door and racing down a hallway so that he could keep up with Clara. That was sort of how the whole night had gone by though. They had come for him in the late hours of the night, whisked him away from his relatives, with only a minor spell used on Petunia since she saw them, and he was gone just like that.
It was weirdly easy, and another thing, he didn't feel guilty for leaving them. He didn't have to stay, they didn't want him in the first place… he was free. Well, he was mostly free, he just had to make up his mind as to where he wanted to live.
December 25, 1991
Wednesday Morning
"Good morning, good morning, good morning to you my hairy Harry friend!" Clara sang, waking him up with her pretty-sounding voice, a wicked thing to hear first thing in the morning.
He really meant that too, Clara had a great and pretty singing voice. It made him wonder why he hadn't ever heard her sing before. Come to think of it, there wasn't any art class at Hogwarts like in Muggle school. They did have a choir on one side, but that wasn't really a band, the latter of which Harry thought Clara would probably like more.
"You're awake, right?" Clara asked, rousing him from his thoughts thank to her face being only an inch or so away from his which was still resting half-hidden in the pillow.
Harry nodded, not finding words as he looked at Clara. Her face screamed that she was wide awake, there wasn't anything sad about her parents being gone either… she seemed happy, content, eager for Christmas. He felt horrible though, there hadn't been any chance for him to get her anything. It wasn't like Diagon Alley would be open right now either.
It was Christmas for go— Merlin's sake.
Too early in the morning for me to remember if it's god or Merlin.
"Happy Christmas," Harry finally said as he leaned up, barely brushing Clara's face with his as the girl pulled back.
"Happy Christmas, Harry!" Clara said with an ultra-wide smile, her arms encasing him in a tight hug that wasn't half as soft as her mother's. "It feels crazy having you here with me on Christmas morning. Absolutely barmy, just like half of my family."
"I hope that half includes you," He said with a laugh, teasing the older girl who reeled back with a cocked head and gasp.
"Me? You think I'm barmy?" Clara pouted, but that pout very quickly transformed into a grin as she raised her hands in a tickling gesture. "Good luck escaping from this, Harry Potter!"
That was all the warning he got before Clara dove at him, pinning him under her thanks to her larger size. If he thought that was bad too, her menacing giggling figure hovering above him as she tickled him so much that he thought he was going to start crying from laughing so hard was much worse.
He loved it and hated it at the same time, but really, Clara was wicked. He already knew that, but he was even more sold… Merlin, he felt horrible for not getting her anything yet. Harry had planned on asking a friend, Aster maybe, to take him to Diagon to get gifts for everybody. The fact that he hadn't gotten to do that, he felt like… like shite.
Sorry mum, sorry dad.
Harry knew swearing wasn't really needed, but he was just annoyed.
"What's wrong, Cutie?" Clara asked as she pulled back and sat on her legs, looking at him with a concerned expression on her face. "Did I tickle you too much? I'm sorry, I don't have any baby siblings to practise on — oh, I got it! You could tickle me if you want to, that would work, right? I could see where to tickle you since I'd learn… am I rambling again? I'm sorry."
Harry shook his head and hugged Clara, the action so sudden that it took her a whole second to return the gesture. "I just feel bad since I didn't get the chance to get you anything. Could you maybe take me to Diagon? We could be quick, wicked quick, I promise."
Clara made a part choked-up sound, part 'awe' sound and hugged him tighter, kissing the top of his head as she did so. "Don't apologise for that, Harry. You were with Muggles, mean ones, so there's no way you could've done anything for anybody. You're with us now, unfortunately for you since that means adhering to the cuddle tax, so you don't have to ever worry about that again."
"Cuddle tax?" Harry questioned as they got up, finally, moving to his dresser so Clara could help pick out his clothing for the day; she insisted, especially since she was the one that prepared his wardrobe this time around.
"Cuddle tax," Clara said again, nodding sympathetically as she forced a series of garments into his hands. "Once you officially decided to leave those Muggles to live with us or move in with Cora and the Averys, you became a subject to the lawful rule of cuddling. Since that occurs within the Avery home and the Carrow home and you're now going to be apart of either of them, you have to cuddle me for… an hour a day."
"One hour every day?" Harry asked, mouth agape as he looked up at Clara.
"I don't make the rules, that's my mum, so you'll have to take it up with her," Clara said with a shrug, kissing his forehead and messing his hair as she all but pushed him to the bathroom. "Go on and shower now, my favourite lil'Cutie. You have to get nice and clean, dressed up and then we'll go to Diagon really quick. Mum and dad would kill me for doing this too, so keep it a secret, okay?"
Harry nodded emphatically, he could keep that a secret for Clara. She was wicked and deserved as much as far as he was concerned. Merlin, it was partially for her that he wanted to make the trip in the first place, he still felt like sh- horrible for not getting her or Cora anything. The fact that the wicked big-sister that he'd come to see her as was willing to break rules and let him go where he wanted only made her wickered in his eyes.
Wickeder is still a word. I don't care what anybody says!
One quick — one hour — trip later and Harry was back in the Carrow home with Clara. He had only spent a few hundred Galleons… as far as she was concerned. In reality, he had dropped nearly one-thousand Galleons during that hour. The vast majority were spent on Cora, Clara and their families while the last couple of hundred were spent on their friends.
Everybody deserved something on Christmas, Harry figured. He got baskets mailed out to every single one of his friends from one sweets place, so he hoped those would arrive on time. The woman behind the counter was reputable, Clara had told him. His friend had said the older woman had been in that business for nearly a century and she looked it, so he trusted her.
He always trusted Clara and Cora, when it came down to it.
"Ready?" Clara asked with a grin, her hand still holding his as she escorted him right up to the Floo.
"Ready," Harry said back to her, smiling as he looked up at Clara's ever-present smiling face.
"I knew you were an awesome friend, but still, Harry. You didn't have to get all of us anything, especially not stuff worth a few hundred Galleons!" Clara kissed his forehead again, ruffling his hair too before sending him towards the entrance of the floo. "Remember what I said — Avery Manor, say it clearly and then throw down the powder. We don't need any accidents on Christmas, 'specially not to somebody so cute."
Harry felt his face heat up, thus, he hastily made his way over to the floo connection and took the powder he needed. "Avery Manor."
He said the words as clearly, consicely and quickly as possible. Clara's giggling was the last thing he heard too, so he figured he hadn't messed up. If he would have, a scream or something similar would have likely reached his ears before he was pulled away. That would have been horrible too, considering there wouldn't be any chance he could fix it before he was taken to some horrible, knockturne alley-looking building.
If that happened, I'd be dead… Cora and the others said as much when they didn't think I was listening.
Harry remembered then with a grin on his face that he still owed Clara for teaching him how to fake-sleep convincingly.
"Harry, it's great to see you," Cora's voice reached his ears a second before he was encased in a warm, tight hug from the girl. "Happy Christmas, by the way. Mum and dad are very excited to meet you, so I hope you'll forgive me if I hasten you over to them. I promise it won't take all that long, before you ask. I wouldn't risk my Harry time if I thought it'd go on for most of Christmas."
He laughed and returned the hug right when Cora made to pull away from him. "Happy Christmas, Cora. Thank you for everything, especially for letting me come here. I didn't want to come if it… if i-"
"You don't need to finish your sentence, Harry," Cora said with a shake of her head and a gentle kiss on each of his cheeks when she withdrew a few inches. "Clara isn't as intuitive as I am, but you probably already know that even if you don't exactly recognise the word. She means well, you know based on how much candy she sneaks you when the pair of you think I'm not listening — yes, I saw everything — but she isn't exactly perfect in recognising social queues. I know something's up and I won't pry, but you're always welcome here whenever you'd like."
"Thank you," He said softly, not trusting himself entirely; he felt like crying, but he didn't want to do that in front of Cora, Clara, the rest of their friends or family. Harry wouldn't want to ruin the day or make things weird for anybody and he knew crying would do exactly that. He had learned a lot.
"I'm here!" Clara exclaimed as she popped through, stumbling right into him and Cora, the former wrapping her arms around them both. "Group hug, I love you both."
Cora rolled her eyes, but she embraced the pair of them just like Clara was doing from behind.
It felt… nice.
Christmas felt the same too, at least until he realised that the Averys and Carrows wouldn't ever let him return to the Dursleys. All of the presents they got for him; rings, new clothes, books he was interested in, a wicked-fast broom — none of them compared to the gift of freedom. That was exactly what they gave him too, for he would never have to return to a place where he was abused, as they said, ever again.
For the first time in his life, he was free to choose his future and so he did; he would live with the Carrows and Averys each, with the two girls coming to be seen as sisterly figures. It was perfect, especially when he fell asleep between them after they got their gifts from him.
Matching necklaces to their eye-colours was a 'slick' move, Aster and Reinhard said before they left. If they meant slick by making the older girls cry, or at least get teary-eyed in the case of Cora, they were definitely right. He was right and proper slick before the night was done.
April 17, 1991
Wednesday Morning
Harry had seldom been with all six of his Slytherin friends in recent times. That was all thanks to their older housemates, the one's who were full of prejudice or hatred, some of that hatred being exclusively aimed at him. It didn't make sense, he didn't know what he'd done to deserve it other than somehow get Voldemort killed… most people would think that'd be a cause to celebrate too.
With how the man had stolen Harry's parents from him, he knew he was happy being the cause of his downfall. Most of his housemates like Ron Weasley or Katie Bell liked that too, even if he didn't know Ron very well or most of the other people in his year — it was all about quantity for Harry, except for when it came to the Slytherin people who looked out for him. They were his best friends right alongside the Quidditch teammates of his.
"Hey Harry, is everything alright?" Cora asked, one of her hands waving in front of his face as she looked at him with Clara right next to her. "You seem a bit off right now… not used to all five of us together anymore?"
He laughed and shook his head, reaching out to hug the pair of them. Clara immediately returned it and Cora very nearly did the same despite being far more reserved than her cousin was. He supposed that wasn't entirely surprising though, Cora and the Avery's seemed a bunch more normal than the Carrow's did. Clara's cousins, Flora and Hestia… the two of them were as unique as she and her mother were.
"It's wicked having you all here at once again. I didn't think it'd happen until next year or on the train because of those older students," Harry waved at Alisa, Reinhard, Aster and Mira. "Did we have any plans today? I know you usually like studying, Cora, or doing other stuff that doesn't have other people watching us, but I was thinking we could follow a few of my housemates? They're acting mad lately, I think they're up to something."
Cora regarded Clara for a few seemingly long-lasting seconds before she cocked her head at him and drew closer. "Mad how? I don't mind going people-watching as long as there's something that's worth finding out about. I suppose it'd give us a reason to test out everybody's disillusionment charms too."
"Awww, can't you do mine for me?" Clara whined, pouting her bottom lip out. "I never was any good at it no matter how many extra lessons you gave me. Harry here can't even cast it, you know that."
"Harry has that present he was given that only you and I know about, so as far as we're concerned, yes he can cast it," Cora looked over her shoulders at the rest of their friends, smiling at their conversations and oblivious nature. "In fact, not only can our friend Harry cast it, he's the best out of all of us at using it. That works well enough, so let's go find those curious friends of yours and put our spell usage to the test."
Cora didn't wait for a reply from him or Clara before she took off at a quick pace towards the other three, her speed forcing him and Clara each to jog after her until they were right beside her. At that point, the two had to walk just as fast as she did — Harry was still practically jogging on account of their height differential.
After five minutes of talking and loitering, the plan to follow after Ron, Seamus and Dean was complete. Harry didn't feel great about it, but they were a bit too suspicious this morning. It had come out of the blue and tried as they might to hide it, they weren't any good at lying. That was good as far as he was concerned and it'd be better once he knew why they were all acting weird. He could help them or the Slytherins could help him in helping them.
Whatever worked so that his housemates didn't get in trouble. They were his friends, after all, and he hated seeing friends in a tight position.
"Stay close," Cora whispered, one of her hands holding his through the cloak while his other one was taken up by Clara, the girl equally as hidden as she could be against a set of logs while under the cover of that spell.
"Don't go fast," Clara called back to her cousin; he could hear the glare and annoyance in her voice.
Clara didn't like sitting on wood with ants, spiders and other stuff crawling about. Had they not heard a weird noise come from inside Hagrid's hut, there wasn't a doubt in his mind that they would've called off this little spying mission he'd given them. Instead, they were all in different spots around the hut trying to peak through the windows to see what had made the noise.
It wasn't working on account of their shortness, but eventually, Cora came up with a way to solve that while making sure nothing would be moved. If anything was moved and somebody spotted it, Ron and the others or Hagrid himself would get worried. Harry didn't want that and the Slytherin friends collectively didn't want any undue suspicion cast on them.
"Climb on me," Cora finally said, pulling on Harry's hand. "I mean, let me pick you up and hold me with your arms. I'll lean against the cabin so you're stable, alright?"
Harry nodded, winced, then spoke. "Alright," he echoed.
After another few seconds went by, Harry was up in the air and looking through the window; Ron, Dean and Seamus were in a semi-circle around Hagrid who was holding a lizard-like creature in a bundle of blankets. It looked weird, almost like…
Dragon. Hagrid has a bloody dragon and those lucky prats get to feed it.
"Down," Harry said, the eagerness and the shock of what he saw leaking into his voice. Merlin, it was a miracle he could get out the one word without any problems.
"What'd you find?" Cora asked quietly as she carefully lowered him to the ground and pulled Clara backwards with them, the three now moving away from the hut.
Harry swallowed and looked at the hut again. "Dragon. Hagrid has a baby dragon in blankets, they're all feeding it steak and other meat," he looked up at Cora when he took off his cloak and after the girl sent a bird call into the air, signalling the others to come back. "Should we tell anybody? Maybe we could go feed it too, pet it at the least. I've never seen a dragon…"
"No," Cora said quickly, pulling on Clara and Harry both as their friends started getting closer to them — the shimmering of the air nearby gave them away. "No, we can't go pet or feed the dragon, Harry. Those are dangerous creatures for a reason. Very intelligent, beautiful creatures, but they're still very dangerous."
"Should we tell your parents and mine then? Same for all the others?" Clara asked, producing sweets from out of nowhere or so it seemed as she offered a caramel to Harry.
"We should just keep an eye on them," Cora said with a shrug. "Who knows when it's helpful to have this kind of knowledge about the groundskeeper or our other students? I know they're your friends and all, Harry, but it's good to know this about them. We could help without them knowing it's us helping and if anything ever happened to them, something that made them Malfoy-like, we would have a way to fix that problem too. It's a good contingency to have."
"Continge-what?" Aster asked as he came up to the three of them with the rest of the group right behind him.
Harry nearly laughed with Clara when he saw Cora roll her eyes and rub at her temples. He would have, really, if the girl hadn't shaken her head.
"We'll tell you while we're walking, but Harry, we should wait and watch — nobody will know that we know," Cora wrapped an arm around his shoulders and then Clara matched that action, smiling down at him in a comforting manner.
I trust them, Harry thought as he returned the smile. They got me away from the Dursleys… I trust them.
May 9, 1991
Thursday Morning
"I thought we were just watching them?" Harry asked, confused as he blinked at Clara.
"We still are, we're just going to talk about it a bit. They have to hear us, and it's not like we're saying we know… you know?" Clara asked, blowing a bubble with her gum when she looked at him, one of her hands outstretched to play with his messy hair.
Cora huffed beside her. "That wasn't a good way to explain that, Clara," With her cousin chastized, Cora turned her attention over to Harry. "We're going to drop hints that we know since they've been acting weirder lately. One of them keeps going to the floor we're not supposed to be on and you said yourself how all three of them are speaking with Granger more than they ever did before. If something's going on, we should know so we can deal with it."
"Will the dragon get hurt?" Harry asked, swallowing nervously at the thought. "I don't want it to get hurt or anybody to get in trouble."
"Don't worry about that. Nobody's getting hurt and I can promise for a fact that nothing's going to happen to your friends in Gryffindor. We just need to know what's going on, Harry. Who knows, maybe you, them and us — all of us could work on this together," Cora smiled genuinely then, playing with his hair.
He couldn't help but lean into her attention just like he did with her mum, Clara or even Clara's mum in the rare instances she was feeling affectionate to that degree.
"You really think they would want to work with us? Hermione's smart and all, but Ron and the others don't like people from Slytherin," Harry warned his friends with an expressive look, hoping they'd understand how serious he was.
Cora and Clara looked at each other, then over to the other Slytherin friends of theirs who were milling about, and shrugged. "I don't think we have anything to worry about. Your friends, they'll work with us if they care about the dragon and if that means sharing their discovery on the floor we were explicitly told not to visit, they'll do that. Hermione especially, she wouldn't want to risk going up there herself, not if a bunch of snakes are willing to do it for her."
"She's been off lately, just like the rest of them…" Harry agreed before he nodded up at his friends. "Alright, let's go talk to them, I guess. You'll both be with me, right? We could talk with all of us together, if I'm with you and I'm friends with all of them, it'll work."
"Are you sure you'd like them to know that we're friends? I wouldn't want this to hurt their friendship with you, Harry. We wouldn't want them to do anything dumb either, like talking about seeing us with you," Cora finished with a look that turned sour like she worded something wrong.
She did, too. Harry caught on to her wording, how couldn't he? Cora made it sound like she didn't want people knowing they were friends even if they were his friends — he knew why, he wasn't stupid. It still hurt his feelings regardless, which he knew was childish… it just hurt to hear.
"I didn't mean it like that, Harry," Cora said with a shake of her head as she played with his hair.
"He knows," Clara said quickly, coming up to hug him from behind with a giggle. "It's all good, he knows we have to be careful thanks to a bunch of idiot upper-years. That will change eventually, when we're older, stronger and not told by our parents to play smart. When we're the older people who get to be the bosses, we can do whatever we want."
"I like the sound of that, but you know that's not entirely how it'll work, right?" Cora asked Clara, an amused expression on the former's face.
Clara waved her friend off. "Semantics or whatever that word is — point is, we'll basically have free range to do whatever we want in a year or two. Once that happens, we don't need to worry about who sees us with the little Lions, especially our favourite cub here."
Harry huffed at Clara for calling him a cub, but all that did was make the older girl coo at him and pull him closer to her for a hug. He couldn't scowl much after that, the contact was always something he enjoyed and the goofy expression on Clara's face only made it harder to be annoyed by her. She was wickedly awesome, after all.
"How are we going to have them talk to us?" Harry asked, his voice semi-muffled on account of Clara's excessive cuddling.
Cora cocked her head at him. "We'll confront them right before they make it to the top of the path. It won't be perfect but it'll keep people from seeing us with them if we can do it fast enough," Cora paused and moved her lips to one side of her mouth. "I guess we could have the others run blocking duty for us, that way it keeps Harry safe… I have a letter for him too, now that I think about it. You'll have to read it after this all goes down, Harry."
"Who wrote it for me?" Harry asked curiously, seemingly fine with the arrangement now that he knew everybody, including the dragon, would be alright.
"My father did, he said it was something you had to have. I expect it'll have you in a good mood if we end today poorly, so I'll save it for then, okay?" Cora smiled at him when she finished, going so far as to affectionately play with his already messed up hair. "Don't think that means I think today will go bad either, Harry. Those friends of yours may not like us very much thanks to the colour of our robes, but when they see how close we are to you, I think they'll understand. At the end of the day and using Clara's words, you're our little cutie."
"Lil'cutie," Clara corrected, fake-growling at Cora.
"Yeah. Awesome. That," Cora rolled her eyes and then turned serious when they heard a bird singing. "That's our signal, the others should be in their positions now, just as I planned — sorry for not including the two of you into that, but I didn't think it was all that important. You're both good to jump out and spend some time with Harry's Gryffindor friends, right?"
Clara pulled Harry slightly closer to her and nodded once. That was all the confidence he needed to do much the same. Thus, the three of them stepped out from behind the concealment they had moved to during the conversation of their speaking and Harry, as expected, fired off the opening greeting so that his friends from Gryffindor didn't think he was being held hostage by the Slytherin girls behind him; his sides, by the time they were all in position and his friends had stopped moving towards him.
"Hey Ron, Seamus, Dean," Harry said confidently, waving at the three with a smile on his face. "Could we talk for a little bit? Sorry if it's annoying you guys, it's just… it involves the thing, the one you just came from. You know what I mean, right?"
Seamus looked to either side of Harry, then he looked to Ron and shook his head. The two boys started whispering back and forth until Dean knocked their heads together using his larger stature. He looked nervous thanks to the two Slytherin friends Harry had brought, but he lacked the outright hostility that the other two boys had on their faces. If anything, that was a start as far as Harry was concerned.
He knew that if all three of them acted mean thanks to his other friends, they wouldn't have the chance to talk. It would be like Dudley and his hooligan friends trying to talk to the people Harry had successfully made friends of. There was a reason that didn't work and all of his Muggle friends ended up not being friends by the end of the year.
"We know what you mean," Dean said suddenly, nodding with a reserved look on his face as he answered for the three — Ron and Seamus still seemed angry, disgusted even. "Why the Slytherins, mate?"
"They're my friends just like you guys are," Harry said simply, furrowing his brows.
"You're friends with Slytherins?" Ron asked, his tone the most hostile Harry had ever heard. "They're bad, the lot of 'em. Mum says there isn't a witch or wizard alive that's bad and didn't come from Slytherin."
Seamus nodded once. "My mum says the same. Always the Slytherins that cause problems for the rest of the houses to clean up."
"Did either of your parents have friends in Slytherin, or are we going purely by second-hand stories?" Clara asked with her hands on her hips as she looked between the Gryffindor boys. "I can name a few people from Gryffindor who went evil, by the way. Do you want those names you silly lion cubs or should I tickle you until you move so we can talk?"
"Clara," Cora said, that one action enough to make Clara huff, cross her arms and stop speaking.
"Tickle us so that we move and talk in private… that's a barmy one, isn't it?" Dean asked, shaking his head as a look of comprehension flashed across his face. "Ron, Seamus, Harry's never been bad to us before, now has he? Why don't we do what they say, especially if they're his friends? We could use all the help we could get regarding those dragons. You know that as well as I do — you better not say something stupid and prejudiced either, remember who your friends are here, you ugly mugs."
Seamus laughed before trying and failing visibly to conceal his sense of lightness. Ron caved not soon after, avoiding eye contact but agreeing to move so that the group could speak. It didn't take long after that for the new group of six to make their way over to an area encased by bushes. Once that was all done and set up, it was very simple for the lot of them to speak in private regarding their mutual interest.
"We know about the dragon, we want to know about the plan you have for it," Cora said, crossing her arms as she looked between the three boys.
"How'd you find out 'bout it? Did you spy on us?" Ron's narrowed eyes and accusatory tone already said he thought that was what they'd done, but he wanted to hear it from them.
Harry, for his part, wanted to say that yes, they'd spied on them because they were very obviously up to something. He didn't like lying any more than most people did, but before he could open his mouth, Clara spoke. He half expected something goofy or non-threatening but trying to be to come from her mouth, but he was pleasantly surprised with how serious she took the situation.
"We were in Hagrids farm," Clara started, looking as innocent as she ever could. "We're allowed to help him, all of us, whenever we'd like. It's part of why he has such a large farm and really, we just wanted a couple of pumpkins. Hagrid had a few still growing in a small plot, I think thanks to magic, so we wanted to harvest a couple of them for a pie that we could try making ourselves. It's a wonder nobody else knows about the dragon with how loud you three were talking about it coming out of his hut… I guess the little sounds he made too before the door was closed also gave it away."
"I told you to hush up, idiots," Dean said with a groan as his head fell into his hands.
Ron went red while Seamus started babbling so fast that, speaking English in that accent of his as he was, made it impossible for them to understand what he was saying. Clara and Cora let that go on for nearly half a minute before Cora hushed them with a sharp 'shh' and started speaking.
"We're not here to ride your arses about it, we just want you to start telling us when stuff changes. If you need help with it, you can come to us or Harry," Cora patted him on the shoulder then, smiling as she pulled him into a hug from behind. "We're friends of his just like you are, so why not help one another, right? You can trust us too, we don't want to hurt him, he's our cute little Gryffindor friend — he actually spent Christmas with us, and no, he isn't cursed before any of you ask."
"We'll swear a vow on that," Clara said with a grin as she kissed Harry's cheeks, making the boys across from him, Dean included, start babbling.
Cora started to say that they wouldn't too, with Clara huffing and getting into it with her.
Harry didn't mind any of it all that much attention — the hug and kisses, he was sent into sensory overload.
June 6, 1991
Tuesday Morning
"Harry, Harry, slow down," Cora said, raising her hands as Clara's wrapped around him from behind to prevent him from moving away. "Repeat what you said, slowly. We didn't hear anything, not with you talking as fast as you were."
He slowed his breathing thanks to Cora coaching him to do so. She was patient with him, she always was, but he didn't need that right now. He couldn't stop her, obviously, but it was a waste of time and she had to know that.
"Ron, Seamus, Dean and Hermione are all chasing after Professor Snape but they said Professor Quill could be behind it too. They were watching them both, ever since we started helping with the, the… thing! When I went to the vault that day with Hagrid and the next dayi n the paper something was stolen from Gringotts, they said it was Professor Snape. That was why he was watching me recently, why my broom went all barmy like it did on the pitch. Hermione, she even confessed to setting Snape's robes on fire. They were going to stun me, but Dean told them not to. He said I could get help if they didn't come back in an hour, but I left as soon as they were gone" Harry took in a breath and continued. "They think Snape got injured which was why he was limping by some three-headed dog on the floor we're not supposed to be going in, on, I don't know. Can you come with me? I think they're still running up there now… please Cora, please Clara!"
"Harry," Cora said, raising a hand and rubbing at her temple with the other one. "You think your friends from Gryffindor found a Cerberus, one of the most dangerous creatures, let me add, in Hogwarts? If that's the case and they've gone to confront it on the suspicioun that Professor Snape and Professor Quill are 'dark' whilst going after something, what could any of us do? We could stop your friends by stunning them for their own safety, I suppose, but that'd be… hard to explain."
He shook his head and pulled on one hand from each of the older girls towards the stairs. "Please, please come with me! We can do something, anything. We just need to stop them before they get hurt — please Cora, please Clara."
Clara shrugged. "Okay, let's go see what they're doing and stop the cutie's friends from getting hurt. Coming Cora?"
Cora sighed and tilted her head at Clara, huffing when the other girl started pulling on her like Harry was.
"What're we getting ourselves into?" Cora asked, those being the last words as Harry led them in a sprint up the stairs until they made it to the floor they were explicitly banned from being on.
"Your friends are right outside that door and look no worse for wear," Cora whispered into his ear, her tone too hard for him to read. "We should get going before the Professor meant to patrol the floor comes. It wouldn't do for the three of us to be caught together, least of all you since it's Professor… ah, I nearly forgot about that."
Clara giggled quietly, poking Harry in the side in such a way that he nearly laughed from the ticklish spot. "Professor Snape's s'posed to be up here soon, Har-har. He can't be going after anything since he's the one monitoring everything."
"Clara's right, we should leav— what are they doing?" Cora huffed and looked at Harry in astonishment as his friends opened the door wide, revealing a giant three-headed dog just like they'd claimed to find.
"Oh, it looks so soft… do you think it likes steak?" Clara started forward one step. "I wanna pet it… it looks so, so, so fluffy."
"Stand still you dolt," Cora admonished as she yanked back her cousin and shot Harry a look that said; explain.
He grinned at her. "Believe me?" he then looked back at his friends, nearly bolting forward himself when he saw them sneak into the room as the dog moved in its sleep, the group opening up a hatch and sliding down it. "They need our help, we should g—"
"Nope," Clara said, hugging him tightly from behind to prevent him from moving as Cora's words dawned on her.
"No, Harry," Cora said firmly. "We're getting Professor Snape, and he'll take care of them. You've done enough and thanks to you, they're probably going to live. Come on, we should make some noise so he finds us faster. It could be the only way those friends of yours get out alive."
That was all the warning Harry needed to start yelling as he raced through the halls, the two older Slytherin girls trailing quietly behind him. He was screaming loud enough in a spot they weren't supposed to be that it only took a few minutes, five at the most, before Snape was on them. He sneered initially, then he looked a bit surprised to see Harry's company and finally, when they alerted him to the situation and why they were on the floor in the first place, a look of uncharacteristic concern flashed across his face.
They were ushered down as he bolted towards the doorway they had come from, and then the three were left to wait in his classroom. The time was agonizingly slow to the point that Harry fell asleep, and when he woke up to noise and the presence of Snape as well as Dumbledore, he saw grim faces.
He didn't bother to listen to whatever they said — Harry refused to hear anything, he just hid his face in Clara's chest until they were escorted to the medical wing. Harry fell asleep in Clara's arms while another person, Cora most likely, rubbed his back. Whatever happened to his friends, it was his fault.
I should've gone after them.
I should've left Clara and Cora to save them.
They were my friends, I didn't help them like I should've.
"Sleep, Cutie," Clara gently said, placing one last kiss on his forehead before he drifted off into the land of sleep.