"Was that really necessary?" Harry said with a content sigh as he leaned forward to rest his head on Marvalo's shoulder.
"Yes," Marvalo said unapologetically, "and don't act like you did not enjoy it," he said, smirking now as he looked down at Harry.
"Of course I enjoyed it ", Harry said with a snort "did all the sounds I made not prove that to you"
Marvalo snorted again. They stayed in silence.
Harry leaned forward to rest his head on Marvalo's shoulder with a content sigh. For a while, not talking as Harry listened to the scratching of Mavralos's quill against the parchment he was writing on. Harry basked in the presence of Marvalo as the man completed one meaningless ministry form after another. He found that he enjoyed these little moments when there was no one but them. Where he could have Marvalo all to himself.
He played around with that thought, him and Marvalo together. He wondered why Marvalo would tell his followers about them.
"So we are not to hide from your... minions then?" Harry finally said he could not understand why Marvalo would flaunt his relationship with a child. No matter what he told himself, to delude him, he knew that he would remain a child in the Death Eaters' eyes until proven otherwise. They would be wary of him. His mother and father were well known and feared in the ranks for a good reason. His godfathers were infamous.
His name was known, which made them wary, but it did not automatically earn him respect. He knew he would have to prove himself useful and he planned on it. He and Marvalo hadn't talked about their plans for after his NEWTS in detail.
"Of course, Hadrian, I am not ashamed". "They are my followers; their opinions on my life do not matter," Mavralo said curtly as he held Harry's chin.
"Alright," Harry said.
And that was that.
Hogwarts did not know when it had gained sentience. The castle knew it would be difficult, somehow. Most of the things it knew were known by those who lived here.
Many had lived here, throughout the centuries, on the grounds that the founders had built, primarily as a safe house. As a castle, high on the hills, surrounded by wards of all strengths, built by the greatest of their generation. who had utilized their brilliance in building a learning ground to help others?
The Founders of Hogwarts remembered the Founders. They had built her and provided her with the starting magic, the magic that had kept the base wards from their time alive to this day. Over the years, wards have been added, of course. Headmasters and headmistresses had come and gone like the tide, their minds brilliant and their loyalty shining. Helga would have been proud.
The houses were an ingenious system the founders had come up with. One that worked for them and that helped them teach the students to the best of their abilities. They used the characteristics of the students to sort them. Later, when the students got too many for them to do it themselves, they crafted the hat. A semi-sentient consciousness embedded in a hat. One that could look in your head but could not say what it had found there.
Godric Griffindor had been brave, a bit brash at times, but his courage had outshone his pear. He had faced most situations head-on and somehow came out on top. His chivalry and bravery had known no bounds. His students had been like him, never turning in the face of danger.
There were awful ones. Of course, there were always bad apples in a bunch, the bad came with the good. Hogwarts knew this too. Somehow.
Hogwarts knew a lot of things it shouldn't have.
Rowena Ravenclaw was said to be the smartest of them all. Except she wasn't. She was ingenious, creative, and brilliant. Yet she wasn't the smartest. She wanted to be ambitious from the day she was born. But being the smartest person in the room wasn't possible when you were surrounded by it. So she had to share her genius with students like here. Students who thought outside the box and came up with solutions their peers could barely fathom She wanted to teach students who were shunned for being different, for being themselves.
Helga Hufflepuff had taken them all in. She loved each student as her own and taught her all she knew. She had been proud of her students, no matter how good they were. She wanted them to work hard. They had been loyal to each other and were amazing team workers. She had been proud of every accomplishment, no matter how big or small.
Salazar Slytherin knew he was the best. Until he had met his friends, they had been the best of their century and, together, they would be great. His ambition was what had led them to their success. His idea for the school, to spread their knowledge, to spread it to those who deserved it, had set in motion years of their becoming well-known throughout the land. His students were like him. Ambition was a difficult trait to teach and nurture, sometimes it was fickle like a candle flame yet sometimes it burned bright and strong like a fireplace. And the thirst to be better and smarter was easily proven difficult to manage. Their cunning was unmatched and he would have been proud to say they were his students.
But with the good came the bad, and people who had utilized the power they had been gifted for evil. Relatively, Hogwarts knew there was no good or bad. They had committed these crimes for a reason. They had chosen their own path. It wasn't like Hogwarts could change that.
Hogwarts knew a great many things.
She still felt sorrow, sorrow for those bright minds going down in history as weak and easily broken. They had fought for what they believed in, but history was written by the victors.
History was skewed, and the views were biased and forgotten with prejudice over the years. But Hogwarts did not forget. It remembered, and Hogwarts wanted to set history right.
Luna set her now empty bowl of pudding down. She smiled and waved toward the Slytherin table as she saw Harry back in school again. She had missed his sulky presence at the Slytherin table in the mornings and his quiet company in the library.
She had known that they would fix it in the end, or perhaps it would fix itself, but the universe was infinite and the possibilities of things that could have taken place were infinite. That is to say, anything could have happened. She was glad that Lucius was alright though. She walked towards where Harry was sitting and was slowly eating nuts with his porridge as he and Blaise discussed some homework that Harry had completed.
It seemed that he had not taken a moment to recover, as usual, and had begun overworking himself yet again. She would have to ask him silly questions and take away his evening yet again, it seemed. Honestly, without her here, Harry would have burnt himself out by the third year. It was a wonder he was still up and running.
"Luna, hey," Harry said when he spotted her approaching their table.
"Har," Luna said, sitting beside Blaise, who had moved to make space for her.
The Slytherin table collectively looked at each other. then shrugged before going back to their food. She thought she was accepted due to her pureblood status. Or perhaps it was their fear of Harry's temper and his equally explosive magic. Although the explosions had died down, the temper still simmered at the surface.
"Hey, blondie," Blaise said as he spooned some honey onto his porridge.
"'ello," she murmured, taking a bite of her pancakes.
The flutter of wings was heard as owls flew to deliver the daily newspaper. Blaise whistled merrily as he undid the knot and put the sickles in the pouch that was attached to the other leg. The owl flew away with a hoot as Blaise unrolled the newspaper.
"Oh, shit, Harry," Blaise said as he shoved the newspaper under Harry's nose. The title had Harry blanching as he quickly gathered his things and nodded to Draco, who also looked paler than usual.
HADRIAN MALFOY, IN COURTSHIP WITH LORD SLYTHERIN?
Luna read as she glanced at the newspaper from where she sat at the table. It seems the dam has finally broken.