CHAPTER 6: Another Year
Harry walked down the halls to the library a touch frantic. The first week wasn't even over yet and already he had more homework than he'd ever had before. Snape in particular. It was almost like he was expressing his vindication through bookwork. When Dumbledore had announced that Slughorn was taking over for Snape, Harry had been shocked, to say the least. All that time he'd thought the man would be teaching defence. Snape finally getting his dream job had never been in the cards. But now that it had finally happened Snape had decided to do a flash review of everything they'd learned in the last six years. Which (as much as Harry hated to admit it) was very smart. With how scattered and useless the previous professors had been, except for Remus and arguable the Moody imposter, it was smart to figure out what exactly still needed to be taught. Of course thanks to Harry's efforts with the DA last year most of the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws were up to speed. The Slytherins were woefully behind, however. Snape had not been happy about that one. So here was Harry, rushing down the halls, hoping to get all the resources he needed for Snape's insane workbook. Honestly, who assigns 300 questions due Monday! As Harry turned a corner he ran directly into another student. Papers and books went flying, scattering around the entire hallway.
"Bullocks." Harry muttered under his breath "Sorry bout that! Should have been paying attention." the teen said as he gathered up his fallen textbooks.
"It's alright." Harry instantly dropped his books and looked up.
"Susan!" he cried before he forgot all about his papers and grasped her hands. "Bloody hell! I'm sorry, I wanted to come see you but everything has been so hectic."
"It's alright," Susan repeated with a sad smile.
"No." Harry insisted "It's not alright. I'm really sorry."
"For what?" Susan asked.
"About your family," Harry said sadly. Susan smiled.
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was talking to You-Know-Who in disguise."
"What?" Harry asked in confusion.
"Harry, " Susan began with a weak grin "The only person to blame for what happened is You-Know-Who."
"But if it hadn't been for me he wouldn't have been able to come back," Harry argued.
"And if he hadn't tried to kill you he wouldn't have needed to come back in the first place." Susan reminded with a chuckle. Then she sighed "It doesn't matter whose fault it is. What matters is how I move forward."
"And?" Harry asked. Susan was silent before she looked up with conviction.
"I'm going to become an animagus." she insisted "Before Christmas hols."
"Be-before Christmas hols!" Harry cried in alarm "that's only three and a half months!"
"I only need to keep the leaf under my tongue for 30 days." Susan reminded haughtily.
"But what if there aren't any thunderstorms?" Harry demanded
"In Scotland? In the fall?" Susan remarked reproachfully. Harry gawked at her. "It doesn't matter what you say Harry. I'm going to make it happen." the teen was silent as he looked into Susan's very determined face.
"Alright." he relented "I promised to be there when you transform for the first time. I'm not about to back out now."
"Thanks," Susan said with a smile.
"So you're staying with your uncle?"
"Yeah." Susan confirmed "Hedrian."
"Hedrian?" Harry confirmed in confusion. Susan rolled her eyes
"Apparently my grandmum was allergic to common names. So she named her children Elithabeth and Hedrian."
"Elithabeth?!" Harry confirmed even more incredulous. Susan's face slipped slightly.
"Elithabeth Sapphire Bones." She said quietly. Harry's eyes filled with empathy.
"I'm sorry." Susan's face darkened.
"Don't apologize. It's not your fault! It's his… V." She cleared her throat "it's Voldemort's." Harry gapped at her. "And he's going to keep hunting my family down until he gets to my aunt." She turned contemplative "That's why I need to get my animagus form down. That's the only way my aunt could have escaped."
"She did? Have you heard from her?" Harry asked with a grin.
"No." Susan said sternly "But I know. It's just a feeling you know."
"Right." Harry agreed. He looked at the blond girl a little closer. There were slight bags under her eyes and he could tell that she'd lost weight. But there was a fire behind her eyes. "So how's your uncle?"
"He's…." Susan began before trailing off, mouth still opened. After a few moments, she let out the rest of her breath with a nearly silent whining noise.
"That bad?" Harry began worriedly. Susan looked at him and saw Harry's face and balked.
"Oh! Oh no Harry he's not- he's really a wonderful man… it's just." she paused and sat up a little straighter. "My uncle is an Unspeakable."
"Right," Harry recalled with a nod "Those are the people who work in the department of mysteries right? He wasn't hurt by the death eater attack was he?"
"No." Susan said flatly "He was recovering."
"Recovering?" Harry asked nervously. Susan took a deep breath and huffed.
"He works in the time room." the girl gripped. Then she huffed again "Now keep in mind, Unspeakable isn't just a title. My uncle literally cannot speak about what he does at work. The ministry has layer upon layer of enchantments on him. His contract has all sorts of non-disclosure agreements and magically binding vows. He literally cannot utter a single word about what his job entails. It's supposed to be for security reasons. My parents were the same way. They couldn't talk about anything beyond what department they worked in. Dad was in records, while mum worked in the hall of prophecies. If they hadn't been on vacation the day of the attack they probably would have-" the girls trailed off, eyes going a touch dim. Then she shook herself. "So as for what my uncle DOES in the time room, I couldn't say and neither can he. But I CAN tell you that every month or so he has to take a few days to… reorient himself." Susan grumbled. Then she gave Harry a flat look "He once came home to inform me that he had to go to the train station immediately. That the show was almost sold out and President Lincoln would die without his intervention."
"President Lin- isn't he… the American president that ended slavery? In 1800 and something?" Harry said with a highly confused frown.
"Exactly," Susan said. Harry couldn't help it. He snorted. And slowly his snickering grew into full-blown laughter. Susan tried to give him a cross look but eventually, she started snickering alongside him. And there the pair sat, in that quiet little corridor, laughing. And the world didn't seem so hopeless for a little while.
Harry walked up to the door of the potions classroom with a silent groan. The large dog at his side whined a bit louder.
"What's wrong, Snuffles?" Hermione asked as she looked down at the dog curiously
"He and Slughorn didn't exactly… hit it off," Harry said. Hermione winced.
"Yes I suppose that would make things awkward." she agreed. Suddenly Ron stepped in between the pair looking cross.
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked in confusion, "I thought you failed."
"I got an E." Ron gripped, as though getting a surprisingly good potions mark was a death sentence "so Slug automatically added me to the class list. McGonagall cornered me and demanded to know why I wasn't heading to potions."
"Rotten luck mate," Harry said with a sympathetic smile. Ron then preceded to whine about all of the plans he'd had for his free period. This of course led to him and Hermione squabbling. Dudley would have gagged if he could hear them. Suddenly Harry snapped his fingers.
"That's what I forgot to do!" he shouted.
"Ah!" Slughorn suddenly cried through the doorway, making Harry jump. "A sudden inspiration is a wonderful thing, isn't it! What is it you'd forgotten?" he asked, even as the various students pushed past Harry and Slughorn into the empty classroom.
"Oh, I er." Harry began before clearing his throat "I forgot to send an owl to my cousin."
"Ah!" Slughorn said as his eyes began to glimmer. It wasn't like Dumbledore's twinkle, which was usually mirthful, but more of a hungry look that made Harry desperately want to take a subtle step back from the exuberant potions master. "I do wonder how he's doing. Tell him I asked after him won't you?"
"Sure," Harry said slowly. It was then that Slughorn seemed to realize they were the last people in the doorway. Then he spotted Harry's dog and jumped back.
"Oh!" Slughorn cried suddenly growing weary "I see your dog has joined you. Where does he go during your lectures?"
"Nowhere?" Harry said questioningly "he stays with me at all times, except for quidditch matches and going to the loo."
"Surely hed be much too much a distraction. I doubt Severus lets-"
"Professor Snape seems perfectly fine with him." Harry cut the man off, even as he gripped the dog's lead tighter. "I promise you Professor, all he does is lie at my feet. And occasionally sigh in boredom." Slughorn made a face, as though even that sounded intolerable. But eventually, he shook his head.
"Very well." he conceded before sweeping into the room with far less of a dramatic flair or domineering presence than Snape. "Good afternoon! Welcome to 6th-year potions!" Harry quickly tuned the man out as he went on a long tirade, introducing himself and listing all of his highly impressive accomplishments and credentials. As he sat down next to Ron he looked down at the tatty textbook in his seat and frowned. He looked over at Ron and saw a substantially less shabby book. He very quickly used Slughorn's unhealthy obsession with discussing his most famous previous students to pen a quick note
Mate why does my book look like it lost a fight with a lawnmower while your looks like its been read twice
Ron's face upon reading the note was suspiciously blank. Harry note was hastily passed back
Tough luck mate
Upon reading that Harry fumed. He dove across the table and tried to wrestle the book from Ron. Their scuffle got pretty heated until Slughorn cleared his throat loudly.
"Gentlemen?" he began with an indulgent but slightly unimpressed smirk "Might we continue with the lecture?" the pair looked back at one another before Harry huffed and released his grip on the book. Then he punched Ron for his smug look. And for being a wanker.
"Sorry sir." he finally muttered before looking down at the tatty book. As he flipped open the cover he frowned at the inscription on the inside.
This book is property of the Half-Blood Prince
Harry read it again and silently snorted. What a ponce. Then he shook his head and went back to actually listening to his professor's lecture.
Harry was still reading his tatty potions book. Hermione was watching him with a firm scowl. When Harry suddenly gave a laugh and turned the book sideways, squinting at something she growled and dove across the couch to grab it. Harry yelped.
"What was that for?!" he demanded. Hermione saw red.
"Don't be such a complete and utter prat Harry Potter! You cheated! You used the alternate instructions in potions and cheated!"
"I think your just mad cause I made a better potion than you." Harry said with a smirk. His smirk disappeared and he yelped as he quickly jumped over the arm of the sofa and crossed the room as Hermione roared in fury and tried to claw the book from his hands.
"At least tell me who wrote in it!" she demanded furiously.
"I don't know!" Harry said truthfully. Suddenly the book was wrenched from his hands as Snuffles grabbed it in his teeth. "Hey! Be careful!" Harry admonished even as Snuffles trotted over to Hermione and deposited it in her lap. she angrily threw opened the front cover. But upon reading the scrawled nickname she frowned.
"Half-blood Prince? What sort of ridiculous name is that?" she demanded. Snuffles made a noise and suddenly lay down with his chin on his paws. "Snuffles?" Hermione questioned. The dog seemed to be in deep thought. After a while, he huffed before licking his lips and whining. Obviously whatever he'd been thinking about hadn't led to anything. Harry took the opportunity to get his textbook back.
"As you can see!" he began, giving both of them a pointed look "there's nothing wrong with it. Just got some writing in it is all."
"Damn useful writing at that," Ron argued for the first time from one of the armchairs. "Think I could borrow it sometime Harry?"
"No." Harry said flatly. Ron face slakkened.
"Wot?" he said heartbroken.
"Shouldn't have been a prat this morning." Harry said smugly "Maybe then you could be the one with the awesome book instead yeah?" Ron's bitter scowl was capitalized with quiet muttering. Hermione stood again and folded her arms.
"It's still cheating." she snapped. Harry frowned before he straightened. He still had the perfect trump card to play to get Hermione off his back.
"Look. At the start of the year, Dumbledore said he needed me to get close to Slughorn. What better way than to be his star pupil?" Harry offered. Hermione opened her mouth to argue then deflated, though she was still scowling. Snuffles started to make those breath laughing noises that drew Hermione's ire. But in the end, she silently sat back down and returned to her own, unedited potions text. Harry meanwhile moved to the peace of his empty dorm and opened the book once again, eager to learn its secrets.
A/N: Be careful what you wish for Harry...
Also! A brief update! I'm feeling much better! My test results have come back and huzzah! I don't have the demon plague!
No ventilator for me!
As such, I thought I'd celebrate with an early update!
so here you go!
ILoveGeorgeEads: I think you're mixing up Amelia Bones with Delores Umbridge in Book/Movie seven...
In canon, it's Madame Bones that is killed and Susan's parents that live.
But in making Amelia and Susan more central characters I decided to pull an Uno reverse card on that situation.
Rori Potter: Luna is always such a joy to write, though I haven't quite planned out her future just yet.
some of the characters planned themselves out quite nicely.
Others will be interesting to watch evolve with time.
That's all for now! Thanks again for reading! I look forward to hearing from you all again!
Don't forget to keep on reading!
-TTC