Chapter 7

The floo roared green as Susan stepped out of the fireplace, Harry rushed to greet her, it had been almost an entire month since he had last seen one of his friends. He wrapped her up in a hug, she let out a gasp but was soon laughing. Harry heard some wolf whistles from one of his sisters, but he didn't mind.

He let go of her and took a good look at her, she had gotten a little bit taller unless he was remembering wrong, he had had to crane his neck down to kiss those lips last month… he wasn't going to doubt his memory now. He noticed Susan's eyes roaming over him, he had been pretty active this summer, Rosie had hardly let him rest.

"You look great Susan, did you do something with your hair?"

"Thanks I had the Salon mistress add in some colours for depth. I'm really happy with how it turned out, though it's a bit too dark to really notice." Susan looked around and finally seemed to remember they were not alone, she took a hurried step away from him and made her way over to his parents.

The floo burst to light again, revealing Jasmine's friend Angelina Johnson, she was tall with long black hair and very pretty. He gave her a wave which she mimicked and then greeted Jasmine. Harry's eyes fell on Susan once more, she was wearing a pretty floral dress and a thin cardigan over it.

"Thanks for having me over for the party, Mr and Mrs Potter, your house looks lovely." She said warmly. Harry eyed his father closely, he wouldn't put it past him to make a joke at Susan's expense. Luckily his mother took the lead and began to get Susan settled with a glass of butterbeer, his dad met his eyes and gave him a big grin.

This wasn't going to be an easy shared birthday party, due to Jasmine's… status, it wasn't very easy to have many strangers round. Things had gotten easier over the years, his mum used to joke that they almost never left home in those first few years, Uncle Sirius said that was the reason Rosie and Harry were born but he was always a git.

The floo burst to life once more, and out clattered a young witch in dragon hide boots, a mess of a robe and vibrant green hair. It was never easy to be sure when Nymphadora Tonks showed up, well until she fell over, but she had a few giveaways. Harry bounded forward to help her up, she took his offered hand gratefully.

"Wotcher Harry, what a fine little gentleman you are." She ruffled his already messy hair, then she let out a guffaw. "Ah old Bonesy niece is already here, no wonder you're being so polite." Harry didn't even get a chance to act indignant before Tonks took off to create havok.

Susan would survive Tonks he hoped, she was a junior auror after all, not like she could harass her bosses bosses niece all that much, right? Well it was Tonks, and she was very much like her cousin Sirius, maybe he had better stick close to Susan for a bit.

Uncle Lupin walked out next, followed shortly after by Percy Weasley and his younger sister, Harry couldn't remember her name, but Rosie had been talking about her all summer. They had become good friends since he had gone off to school last year.

Percy gave him a curt nod and ushered his sister towards Harry's parents, he didn't hang around for long before leaving the same way he had entered. Rosie and her friend were squeaking and bouncing around before Percy had even left, Harry smiled to see his sister having a real friend.

A hand gripped his shoulder and he looked up to see his uncle Lupin looking after Rosie too. "She's gotten so big so quick, you all have." He sounded sad, but Lupin never let it linger, he might not be as eager to act the fool as his dad or Sirius but he still had a mischievous streak.

"Your dad tells me you invited one of your girlfriends tonight." The man's grin was decidedly wolfish. "You should tell your old uncle how you managed to pull that one off." Harry didn't stomp off, Susan really did need him to keep these idiots at bay. His uncle's laughs followed him across the entrance hall.

"Your family is so lively, it's really nice to see."

"Yeah they sure are crazy, but hey you can't choose your family." Susan looked a bit sad while she looked around at everyone. "It hasn't always been like this though, after the war and all… Jasmine going to Hogwarts really helped, I think Mum and Dad forgot how to have fun."

Harry knew the war had been tough on most families, but the Bones' had gotten a really bad deal of it. They were prominent members of the fight against… him.

"Yeah, I was shocked Auntie let me come, she must really trust your dad." Her hair had some hints of brown underneath the blazing red hair he was so used to, he hadn't seen anything like it but it was very pretty.

He pulled on her arm and led her out of the center of attention, the kitchen was a little quieter. He gulped hard, and tried his best confident grin. His Dad had tried to teach him 'the look' "I'm sure that her thinking I'm dating Hannah helps though." he cupped her chin.

Susan grinned and looked around hastily, then pulled away. "Stop it," she giggled. "Anyone could just walk in."

True enough Jasmine and Angelina walked, at their shared grins Harry's face got hot. "We were going to go outside and mess with some of uncle Sirius' goodies, you want to come with us? Or are you… busy?" Jasmine asked.

Susan grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him along. "Yeah that sounds like fun, auntie never lets me get anything from his shop."

"Oh well you'll be in for a treat, he's always giving us bits and bobs from the shop." Jasmine said.

"If he ever shows up." Harry muttered.

Sirius was never one to be late to a party, but they had seen less of him than usual since returning from hogwarts. Harry could only remember seeing him once, and even that he had quickly left again after a quick chat with his parents.

"He's been busy, don't worry Harry, he wouldn't miss this for the world."

They reached a small shed in the back garden, Jasmine disappeared inside, Susan and Angelina were talking about Susans' hair. Harry could see Rosie and her friend playing on some brooms, not flying high enough to be dangerous but more than mum would usually like.

Jasmine came out with a small metal cannon, the size of a box of Bertie Botts, he gave a big grin. Jasmine shouted out for Tonks to come help her, and gave Susan a wink.

"This is a bat bogey cannon, instead of them flying out of their nose, the cannon fires massive bat bogeys at them." Harry explained to Angelina and Susan, they both seemed pretty amused.

Tonks appeared at the back door and Jasmine fired. Bogey's, a bit larger than a snitch, shot at her, flapping their wings for all their worth. The junior auror did not react in time to dodge them, her face was covered in the angry little things. Harry heard her yell angrily for a second before she pulled her wand out.

She waved her wand over her head and her spell hit the bogey's, but they only grew in size, they had gotten in her hair and all over her head. Jasmine was giggling like a lunatic and so was Rosie, Susan was laughing but looking a little bit concerned. Angelina clearly felt it was more disgusting than funny considering how she shuddered. Tonks slashed with her wand, and the bat bogey's collapsed to the ground. Her eyes fell on the four of them.

"You little shit's better run." And her wand was twirling, she rushed towards them firing off tickling jinxes. They screamed and ran, Harry pulled Susan along with him but quickly got him with a jinx. His butt felt like it was on fire with tickles. Jasmine's screech soon followed.

It took Harry a few minutes to gather his breath, his face was on fire and Susan watching over him didn't help, even if she had a pretty flush on her cheeks. Tonks approached with her wand sparking dangerously, and her hair was crazed and deep burning red.

"I've taken down far darker wizards than you little Slytherin, now beg for mercy and I might just grant it." She said playfully, she moved her wand closer and closer to him. "Fine if you insist…"

Harry climbed up and snatched her wand from her, "You'll have to catch me first, Nymphadora." He sprinted off for all he was worth, Tonks was way too clumsy to catch up, he hoped.

He reached Jasmine and handed her the wand, then he ran off again, Tonks wouldn't hesitate to get revenge before getting her wand back. Harry saw Jasmine look at the wand and the oncoming auror, then she yelped and took off running.

Before long even Rosie had gotten involved with keeping the wand from Tonks, their friends played along and Tonks never really went for them. She was more than eager enough to tackle Harry or Jasmine to the ground and tickle them a bit though, Harry would have at least one bruise in the morning.

A bark of laughter came from the back door, uncle Sirius was laughing while watching Tonks try and snatch her wand. "Really dearest cousin, if you can't handle these little brats then how will you survive old Mad-Eye."

Tonks pulled another wand out of her robe, and cast a quick 'accio' to get her wand back, she laughed at their expressions. "Always carry a spare wand, old Mad-Eye's nineteenth lesson, i think."

She shifted her face to look like a grizzled old man, figured it was the face of the famous auror Mad-Eye Moody. "Constant vigilance kids." She switched back to her regular face and grimaced. "Doesn't work as well without his creepy spinning eye."

"Hurry up and get in here, I've got someone for you to meet." Sirius called and he ducked back inside.

Tonks made to go inside but Jasmine grabbed her hand. "Tonks can you please do the Fudge face?" She fluttered her eyelashes and everything, Tonks grinned and lowered her face, when she looked up her face had turned into the exact twin of the minister for magic's. They laughed at her expression, she made the minister look even more silly than he managed.

"No Tonks, the other one."

Tonks… Fudge, well she frowned, then cast Susan a look. "Not a word to auntie okay?" At Susans nod Tonks grinned. "Gotta love Puff's." And she scrunched up her face. Well Fudge's face, her cheeks bulged and puffed with whatever effort she was doing. Frown lines made a mess of her forehead and her fists shook.

With a sigh she relaxed, Harry looked over her to see if anything had changed, it was weird seeing that face on a young woman's body. He heard some gasps and giggles and quickly looked back up. Sprouting on her forehead was a very tiny and shriveled penis.

"I call this one, the real Fudge. What do you think?" She said while grinning.

Susan was giggling like crazy while blushing, everyone else was a mixture of giggling and embarrassed. Jasmine nudged Angelina and whispered something, and both girls burst out laughing even harder. Tonks struck a few different poses before shifting back to her normal look.

"You know it wiggled everytime you did anything right?" Harry asked.

"I've heard from some sources that is what happens." she whispered back conspiratorially. Harry felt the heat return to his cheeks, Tonks grinned and winked at him then sauntered off towards the house. Susan was wiping tears from her eyes when Harry tried to escort her inside.

"I think auntie would really find that funny." She said as she calmed herself.

Tonks looked back with a grin. "Who do you think gave me the idea?" Susan gasped and Harry laughed at her face, he had never seen her so shocked. "Not a word remember, fellow Puff." And Tonks disappeared inside.

They quickly scrambled in after her, the adults had gathered in the kitchen and were clustered around Sirius and a pretty woman. She was clearly a few years younger than Sirius but they were clearly very inraptured with each other, Harry saw his dad clap Sirius on the shoulder.

"Oh kids, hey, well… erm, yeah so…" Uncle Sirius spluttered out. Harry had never seen his uncle lost for words, he was always so confident and cavalier, he saw his mum and dad laughing at him.

"You're Gwenog Jones." Rosie and her friend said at the same time.

"Ginny Gwenog Jones is at my house." Rosie said bouncing up and down while holding onto her friend.

Sirius seemed to find the words at last, he wrapped his hands around Gwenog's and pulled her forward. "This beautiful and fierce woman is Gwen, and we are officially dating." Sirius beamed at her as he said it, she seemed pretty happy too. Harry was pretty sure she was a quidditch player, but he didn't follow the teams as closely as his sisters.

Rosie walked up and shook Gwenog's hand and introduced herself, Jasmine followed soon after. So Harry did too, he grinned at his uncle who looked like an oversized rooster, Gwen had a firm handshake and a kind smile.

Harry's dad took a step forward and announced to the kids, "We have checked her for the usual stuff don't worry. No blackmail, no confundus charm, nothing at all."

"But we will find out what happened, don't worry kids." Lupin chimed in.

"Oh this is my punishment after the little incident against Puddlemere." Gwenog said with a sad look at Sirius.

Sirius just chuckled, he smacked both Lupin and his dad round the head and gave Gwen a kiss. After a few laughs some people cheered, Tonks even shot off some sparks to enhance the event.

Rosie pestered Gwen all night, with Ginny in tow, the girls were clearly big fans and Gwen didn't mind too much. His mum had tried to apologise a good few hundred times, meanwhile Sirius was strutting around the place, not that that was too out of the ordinary.

As the night wound down they all gathered outside to let off some muggle fireworks, it was pretty hard to apply notice-me-not charms to something that exploded so obviously. Harry and Jasmine cut into their shared cake, it was always like that but he never really minded, it was nice to share stuff with his sister.

He had finally managed to get a kiss from Susan just before she left, but it wasn't exactly what he had been hoping for, she said it was embarrassing with all his family there. Harry understood, but he would have to live with them teasing him about not getting a kiss now. And there was still at least another month until Hogwarts reopened.

Summer continued to pass at a trudge after the party, it seemed like the occasional owls from his friends were the only thing to look forward to. He had barely heard from Daphne Greengrass after the first week or so, Tracey Davis claimed that her family were pretty strict and liked to keep things very traditional.

Which usually meant some nonsense about pureblood customs, Harry tried not to let it bother him, her family was hardly evil unlike some others in Slytherin. It certainly wasn't easy to think one of his friends was firmly steeped in the same traditions that allowed… him… to take power.

He had thought she was mad about Hannah's little stunt when they left Hogwarts, but Tracey claimed she had barely spoken to her either, and they were almost inseparable at school. Harry had managed to arrange a time to meet up in Diagon Alley when they would all go shopping for their stuff.

So far only Daphne was the only one who hadn't replied, even Hermione and Neville had agreed to meet up. It was the idea of meeting up again that kept him going, dad was spending more and more time away from the house and his mum was helping Rosie prepare for Hogwarts like she had for him.

It was the last morning before leaving to go to Hogwarts when Harry joined his parents in the kitchen, they had been talking and his dad was still getting ready for work, as in trying to comb his hair. Their conversation died off when he walked in but it started back up before long.

"So Amelia is sending me and Dawlish off to help the department in Romania, so either she is starting to listen to me or she's bored of me." His dad said with a grin for Harry, Harry grinned back, from his dad's stories he was good at his job but he didn't exactly make things easy for Madam Bones.

"For how long, darling?" His mum asked while she was digging around in the fridge, when she pulled out some bacon.

"A few months, what with all the secrecy involved it'll be a long and slow process I'm afraid. But Bones wants us there for a reason, and that's good enough for me." His dad gave his wife a sad smile. "I'll miss you, but we have our mirrors to talk, and maybe I can see about having you come visit."

"And who's the new head of the department?" His mum asked.

"Mulciber." Was his dad's serious reply. "Old Bagman was livid, but then again we all were."

"Be careful out there James."

His dad just laughed, and gave a big yawn. His sisters came downstairs when the bacon had finished cooking, typical really, Harry had just finished setting the table for everyone too. The food was perfect, the best way to start the morning, and with that his dad zipped around the kitchen giving everyone kisses.

He paused at Rosie for a bit and gave her some extra attention, it pained his dad to miss seeing her go off to Hogwarts for the first time. Rosie had some tears on her cheeks when dad pulled away from her and rushed to the fireplace, Harry expected his dad was holding up just as well.

"It'll just be us four today so lets get there early this time okay?" His mum said, the kids murmured their agreement. He would miss his parents, but he was so ready to be off back at Hogwarts. Not being able to perform magic whenever he wanted was a miserable experience, he would have to make up for it big time.

His belongings were naturally already packed and so were Rosie's so they decided to spend the rest of the morning with their mum, after all they had two hours to kill. His mum was obviously sad, it would be the first time she would come back without any of her kids, so they tried to take her mind off of it.

He knew it was impossible though, she lived for her family, and this house would feel so empty with her alone. He resolved to call her through the mirrors more frequently, last year he had been reminded by an owl a few too many times.

They reached platform nine and three quarters with an hour to spare, there was nearly no crowd at all this early, and so the three of the potter kids found their own compartment and settled to wait. Rosie cried as she said goodbye to their mum, so they got her calmed and excited before too long.

After a while Harry saw a few of his friends, he saw Tracey and Daphne bustle through the crowd and enter the train not far from him, so he hugged his sisters goodbye and set off to find them again. He found them only five or six coaches down, they had clearly only just settled in as they were adjusting their hair and skirts.

"Hey, merlin's beard I've missed you two." He said as he walked in, he swung his trunk up into the overhead and then gave them a genuine smile. "It was a shame you missed us at Diagon Alley Daphne, we had a blast."

Tracey jumped up and gave him a hug that he eagerly returned, meanwhile Daphne slowly stood and gave him an almost distant hug of greeting. Harry tried not to look too disappointed, after all she wasn't exactly the most casual of people, she had been like this at the beginning of last year too.

Tracey however made up for Daphne's reserved attitude, and started talking about how much she missed them too. Harry didn't know much about her family, but clearly they allowed Tracey to actually have fun. Before long Neville and Hermione poked their heads in, they were just stopping by to catch up with their housemates, even if most of them were frustrating.

Susan and Hannah stayed long enough to share some stories, but even they eventually left to reconnect with their other friends. Harry had no idea how long they had been travelling for, but the witch who pushed the trolly had arrived and he fancied a few snacks. After stocking up on a few delicious treats he settled in for the long train ride to school.

It took Daphne a little while to shake herself out of her rigid persona but before long she was laughing with Tracey much like he remembered. As the girls talked about a trip Daphne had taken to Bulgaria with her family Harry heard a scraping on the door, he glanced at it and saw two small pieces of paper bumping into the door.

When he opened the door they both darted inside, and hovered inches away from his and Daphne's faces. They met each other's eyes and then plucked the papers out of the air, his was addressed to him, he hesitated before opening but saw that Daphne didn't.

He quickly opened it and read it. Harry Potter, your presence is expected in the first compartment. Yaxley. Harry had almost forgotten all about Yaxley and his offer of guidance, if that was what it was. Daphne had already begun explaining to Tracey about how they were expected, when Harry met her eye she ordered him to get out of the compartment so she could change. As he waited Tracey passed him out his Slytherin robes.

So Harry and Daphne made their way to the compartment closest to the driver, if the train even had a driver. As they knocked on the door it slid open, Harry noticed immediately that an older student was pointing his wand at the door, he was a seventh year unless he was very mistaken. He also had a badge on his robes that he could tell was only given to head boys.

Yaxley sat next to the head boy and nodded when they entered the compartment, and whatever conversation had been going on started back up. He sat beside Daphne, and due to the limited space in the compartment, he was pressed up against her leg. After a few minutes one more student entered, Alice Pucey, a now sixth year prefect, sat opposite him.

Harry felt very out of place among these students, he saw six sets of prefects badges and a head boy badge. If anything it gave him an idea of how high of an opinion these people would have of themselves, but it wasn't as if he and Daphne didn't have that too. Actually Daphne likely had a big enough ego for the both of them.

"Welcome Greengrass, Potter. Welcome back friends. Professor Snape has assured me we will have our usual room whenever we need it, the password is 'Perfection'." The boy with the Head Boy badge said in a deep voice, he sounded very self assured. Harry saw most of the others nod solemnly, he just waited, he could almost feel Daphne processing everything next to him.

She was born for this kind of behavior, well more likely she had been raised for it and taught it as carefully as most children learn quidditch. Yaxley shifted and Harry watched him, he had been careful to learn who in the house had, well dangerous, relatives. from what he remembered he was the only person here who had a parent who was very obviously connected to… him.

"Harry, Daphne, you both performed excellently on your exams, you are both very clearly outliers in your year. As such, you are welcome to join our weekly meetings and reap such rewards as that provides, however you will be expected to continue to excel and also bridge this childish divide with your peers." Yaxley said, his voice was as commanding and full of authority as ever.

"Thank you, Julian." The Head Boy said. "If either of you have any questions, Julian or Alice will help you. Our first meeting will be to decide where we wish to develop over the course of the year, obviously standards will be just as high this year as always."

Harry started to tune him out, not that he wasn't interested or on edge or anything, he just didn't see what the point was. It was almost like they really were a really unbalanced study group. Harry started to watch how each person reacted to what was said, more than what was said. It would be more important to learn how this group worked than hearing them waffle on.

The pair of third years looked more timid than anything, they seemed to duck away from eye contact from the older students, which gave Harry little hope. They would only act this way if there was a reason for it, and with someone like Yaxley involved Harry could see one reason.

The fact that all the fifth years and on were prefects wasn't lost on him. These were the people who basically ran the house other than Professor Snape, Harry would have to figure out how they did that before long, though Daphne likely already knew. They had been left alone for most of their first year, but he knew she had found ways to learn things she had not right to learn under such loose confides.

Before long they were dismissed and sent back to their own compartments, Harry and Daphne quickly left with respectful 'thank you's' and they set off to their compartment. Tracey wasn't alone like Harry had feared, Susan and Hannah sat with Tracey while they ate Harry's sweets. They had the nerve to grin and wave when he entered.

"What was all that about?" Tracey asked.

"A whole lot of nothing." Daphne said levely. Harry nodded his agreement so Tracey just shrugged. "Give me some of those chocolate frogs, i'm starving." Daphne said without even a hint of shame.

Harry watched as his friends devoured his sweets in an astonishing time, Daphne grinned at him as she bit the head off a poor frog. After a while he was sent back out into the hall so Tracey could get changed into her robes, this time he noticed a few other boys waiting out in the corridor.

When the train came to a stop, they all made their way towards the enchanted carriages that led to the school, Harry noticed Hannah and Tracey staring past the banister ahead but not at the castle, almost where a horse would be. They must just be a lot hungrier than he would have thought.

It was a lot quicker to reach the castle by these carriages, those little boats had been awfully slow but he figured the view was better. There was a cold breeze which made both Tracey and Susan press themselves against him for whatever warmth they could get, Harry was even kind enough to wrap an arm around them.

He didn't have a smug grin whatever Daphne said, she was just jealous, he had enough sense not to tell her that of course. When Tracey and Susan thanked him however he felt his chest swell, it was always nice to be appreciated.

It didn't take long for the students to find seats at the house tables, Harry was sitting next to Crabbe and a surly fourth year, while Daphne and Tracey were together. The Sorting Hat sang a loud and aimless song about unity and the perils of division, meanwhile the students began to argue with their own stomachs.

Before long the sorting had begun, Harry had to wait for ages until his Rosie was called up, he applauded along with most of the school when she was placed in Gryffindor. Most of his housemates looked at him like he had sprouted a second head, Harry was pleased to see her friend Ginny had also been sorted into Gryffindor, Rosie was guaranteed at least one friend.

Harry dug into the food that eventually appeared in front of them all and tried to make small talk with Crabbe at the same time, his father might have been a death eater but he was far too ogreish to form an opinion. But apparently inter horse unity was important.

Harry had noticed Malfoy watching him, he sat a few spaces past Tracey and when he thought Harry wasn't looking glared at him. Harry was almost excited to put him in his place, he had been itching to do any kind of magic. There was nothing about Malfoy he missed, but he wouldn't mind letting loose on him.

When he settled into his four poster bed he let out a contented sigh, it felt amazing to be back. Classes started first thing the next day and his stomach was full, the only thing that could have made it better wasn't exactly on the cards yet. But if his dad was to be believed getting a girlfriend wasn't too hard.

AN: Hey, been a while, so i'm back and updating this story. took a little while to remember some points and places i wanted to go, this chapter was more character-y so not much actually happened. That'll change quickly, I'm really excited to get onto the next few chapters so expect more updates real soon. Also this one was a little bit shorter, but the cutoff makes more sense here rather than earlier or later.

I was toying with the idea of Harry dating a few girls first, I'm still not sure what I want, I really want that mix of light hearted fun of being young and foolish but also the crippling weight of endless peril Hogwarts seems to exude. I'm just thinking there's plenty of time for misery, why not some fun now?

I'm not sure if it's a good idea to show any POV's from the villains, i think some would help explain motives, but it's not necessary it would mostly be a fleshing out thing. As such I would rather try to avoid it, but if you think it would add to the story or would just like to see it more in the future let me know. (A certain book will be rearing its ugly head this year. Maybe I could have foreshadowed a few bit's better earlier, but I can go back or even add something to the next chapter if needed.)

As always Thank you so much for reading, much love and good night. :)