Harry Potter and the Great Sacrifice
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, Bael, fifespice and Dreamer of Destiny! Also, much thanks to Dreamer of Destiny who had pointed out one major discrepancy about the time Sirius had spent in Azkaban, which has been changed. The age problem has also been addressed. The exact wording has been changed to 'close to 9 years later...' Finally, the last change I made was that it should have been 'Arithmancy' instead of 'Ancient Runes'. Sorry for the errors! With that, enjoy
-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --
Chapter 3 – Interesting Events
At Platform Nine and Three Quarters…
"Hey Harry, Sirius wanted me to pass you this message before you got on the train," Regulus told Harry just as the train wardens were giving the final call for passengers. "Take care and do write back regularly. Oh ya, don't you dare forget to uphold the Marauder's legacy." With that, Regulus gave a smirked before giving Harry a hug.
The moment they broke off the embrace, Harry started to run towards the closest entrance to the train and shouted back his reply, "Don't worry Dan, I'll write back weekly about the 'exciting things' I've done!" Dan McBlack was Regulus' cover and Harry's 'mysterious uncle'.
Harry made it into the train just as it was starting to move and waved back to Regulus as the train was picking up speed. When Regulus was finally out of sight, Harry then made a move to locate a seat in one of the compartments. Not wanting to conceal his identity anymore, Harry had used some of the magical gel he had to 'spice up' his hair and the infamous lightning bolt scar was clearly evident on his forehead. He walked confidently through the carriages as he tried to find a seat, though if he was honest with himself, he was feeling extremely nervous. After all, it was his first time meeting so many people of his age.
The first whispers started when he entered a carriage full of girls. Harry took a look around and not finding a seat, he immediately carried on to the next carriage, the girls there took a look at his physique (he did have lots of training, what with the duelling and Qudditch practices) and his scar before erupting into furious whispers. Trying hard to ignore them, he went on to the next carriage, and much to his relief, there was an empty seat beside a bushy-haired girl who was reading a book. To her left, a tall and lanky red-haired guy was speaking loudly about his adventures to a bunch of younger kids, though Harry had only managed to catch the words 'chamber', 'sister' and 'basilisk'. Oh wait, basilisk?
"Hey, did you just say basilisk?" Harry asked the red-haired guy curiously. He had read about how lethal they were and was interested to know more.
"That's right, I was telling them about… about…" the red-haired guy was about to continue when he saw the lightning-bolt scar. "Wait a minute, you're… you're Harry Potter!" His eyes became so wide that Harry was wondering whether it would pop out of his sockets.
That exclamation by the red-haired guy did, however, quietened everyone in the carriage. Once again, Harry felt a sense of déjà vu as everyone around him stared at his scar. Mustering the remnants of courage left in him, he managed to mutter a 'ya'.
Getting uncomfortable with the stares, he was about to made a move to leave the carriage when the bushy-haired girl to his left stood up and said to the red-haired guy in a disapproving manner, "Ron, you should know better than to stare at someone," before turning back to Harry and said, "Hi, I'm Hermione Granger and that rude boy over there is Ronald Weasley. We'll both be in third year this year. How about you?" There was an obvious emphasis on the word 'boy'.
Finally, someone with a bit more sense than others, Harry thought as he chuckled at the tone the girl in front of him had carried when she spoke about the red-haired guy.
"Well, as everyone seems to know already, I'm Harry Potter and I'll be in third-year too," he said smiling, before stretching out his hand to shake Hermione's. The awkward silence returned after that, and he felt obliged to break it, so he decided that the best course of action was to continue his previous line of inquiry.
"So, what was it about a basilisk? I've read about it somewhere before," Harry asked Ron, who was starting to recover from being awe-struck.
Ron puffed out his chest and said in a pompous voice, "I've defeated a basilisk last year and saved my sister from its evil hands."
"Defeat a basilisk? How's that possible?" Harry said, surprised. He learnt that basilisk skin was almost as tough or even tough than dragon skin, and that was saying something.
"Oh Harry, you shouldn't listen to Ron. He's always boasting about his 'wondrous deeds'," she said, rolling her eyes. "If not for Fawkes, both of us would have died long ago."
Hermione then went on to describe the events that had led to their fateful meeting with the basilisk, including the Chamber of Secrets and the Diary. Their adventure eventually came to an end when Dumbledore appeared to subdue the basilisk.
"You should have seen how awesome Professors Dumbledore was!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly. Harry noticed she always became keyed up when talking about magic. "He brandished his magic and struck the basilisk with magical fire. He then uttered a long and complicated spell that sent the Basilisk flying at the walls of the Chamber!"
Hermione continued relating the exciting events that had happened to them, including their first year encounter with Voldemort, with Ron adding a few of his comments here and there. By then, the second-years were tired of listening of the story, which they had heard of quite a few times before, and had left their carriage.
Harry was feeling quite happy then. He had made two friends who were obviously warm and helpful. They were currently discussing what house Harry would be in after he had told them that he had no idea where he would be sorted to. His friends assured him that he would definitely be sorted into Gryffindor like them, and he certainly hoped so. From what Regulus and Sirius had told him, his mum and dad were also in Gryffindor. At that moment, the carriage door opened and two red-heads popped out. They were obviously twins.
"Hey Ronnikins –" started one of them.
"– Someone told us that –"
"– a certain person, whom our little sister had a crush on, is right here –"
"– seating and talking with you. –"
"– And so, we're here to ask you –"
"– if that is true."
They took a look at Ron, who was turning red at the mention of his nickname, before turning their heads to look at who was beside him.
"Oh!" they said in unison. During their speech, Harry was staring amusedly at their interesting way of continuing one another's speech. He burst out laughing when they had finally made the connection by looking at his scar. They moved from the door and sat down on the empty seats.
"Well, anyway, he's Fred –"
"– and he's George –"
"– and we're pleased to meet you," they said it simultaneously once more.
After introducing themselves, they remained in the carriage for a while, talking about trying out some new pranks on some of the 'newbies' before leaving. Whereas Ron was looking excited, Hermione was shaking her head and showing her obvious displeasure at what they were doing. Harry, on the other hand, pretended to be disinterested. This is going to be more fun than I'd thought it'd be, Harry smirked inwardly. After all, pranking was one of his specialties, having been in the company of Sirius, one of the greatest pranksters in the history of Hogwarts, for quite a while now. He made a silent wish that they would prank him. They would never know what hit them, Harry thought, feeling amused.
Harry tried to ask Ron about his sister and what the twins meant about the 'crush', but Ron had pointedly ignored him about the questions and tried to steer him away from the topic, whereas Hermione was simply smiling knowingly but chose not to answer any of his questions either. Conceding defeat, Harry finally stopped asking, making a mental note to find out what this 'mystery' was all about. When they asked about his holidays, he gave them a condensed version of the story concocted by Dumbledore, Regulus and Sirius.
Of course, the conversation was soon shifted to Qudditch and Hermione went back to reading her book, all the while thinking about what kind of person Harry was. She had read a lot of books concerning his involvement in the downfall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and was very curious as to what he was in person. Hmmm, I guess I will just observe him for a while… though he made a pretty good first impression, I must say, Hermione smiled at the thought.
Ron, on the other hand, almost suffered a heart attack when he heard that Harry was playing for the Draconian Dragons as a reserve Chaser in the upcoming Qudditch World Cup.
"Blimey, Harry! That's totally wicked!" Ron said, his ears not believing what Harry had just said. For a moment, Harry had thought that Ron might even worship him on the spot.
"I try to please," Harry smiled, before showing him the letter sent to him by the Dragons. By then, Ron was almost suffocating from excitement for his friend, and Harry had to cast a Calming Charm on him to prevent any accident from happening. They started discussing Qudditch strategies and what tactics could be employed in certain situations. There was also a lot of mention about a Qudditch team called Chudley Cannons, so Harry reckoned it was Ron's favourite Qudditch team. Both of them were so engrossed in their conversation that they did not notice the door to their carriage opening.
"Well, well, well, what have we here? Potter, are you sure you want to mix with the Mudblood and the Weasel?" a blond-haired student wearing the badge of Slytherin on his robes said condescending and smirked. By then, he got the attention of Ron, Hermione and Harry, whose eyes started to flare up. Anyone who saw Harry then would have understood it as a danger sign, but that blond-haired kid chose to ignore it and continue speaking.
"Wouldn't you rather be in the company of purebloods like – "
Before he could finish what he was saying, Harry stood up and grabbed the wand bought from Ollivander's from his pocket, sending a Blasting Curse at the arrogant kid. The blond-haired kid flew across the carriage next to them and hit the door hard.
"NEVER, EVER, SPEAK ABOUT MY FRIENDS LIKE THAT!" Harry roared. Since young, Sirius had been very strict about the use of words such as Mudblood, and had explained to Harry its significance. He also told Harry that Voldemort was just among one of the many out in the society who believed in pureblood supremacy, which had eventually led the reign of terror led by Voldemort. Anything that was related to Voldemort obviously brought on Harry's ire as he remembered his parents demise at the scum's hands.
While the two stocky students who had entered with the blond-haired kid stood by dumbly, the arrogant kid stood up shakily and shouted, "How dare you! Filthy low-life, I'll let my father know about this, and you shall remember never to –"
"Petrificus Totalus!" another spell shot from Harry's wand and came into contact with the blond-haired kid, binding his body and effectively stopping him from saying what he had wanted. By then, the blond-haired kid started to feel slightly frightened, as an aura seemed to exude from Harry. Everyone who was near Harry could feel his anger coming out in waves and stepped back subconsciously.
"Let's go!" Harry said sharply, turning and returned to his carriage. All the bystanders watched on silently as Harry exited from their carriage in style. Before long, everyone started talking about the incident excitedly, and the rumours soon spread to everyone on the train.
"Serves Malfoy right," Ron said the moment the three of them were back in the safety of their carriage. Hermione looked at Harry worriedly, wondering what had triggered that explosive reaction from Harry. After all, they had just met him, so she did not know him very well.
"Don't worry, I won't bite," Harry said tiredly as he looked up at Hermione. Even with his weak Legilimency, he could pick up Hermione's thoughts.
"The reason why I was so angry at Malfoy was because he had used certain words I was sensitive too," Harry started to explain when he had calmed down. "My parents died because of some shitheads who believed in pureblood supremacy (A/N: Harry did not know about the prophecy yet.), and since then, I had led a life on the run." He said bitterly.
Hermione nodded her head in sympathy, understanding how difficult it would be for anyone who became famous in the wizarding world at the expense of one's parents. Ron just patted Harry's shoulders awkwardly and said, "Don't worry too much about it, mate."
After the awkward silence had passed, Hermione challenged Harry to a chess game to get his concentration away from the incident while Ron supervised both of them. Everything went on fine, and the only unpleasant interruption they had was from Percy, another brother of Ron, who was telling Harry off and something along the lines of not using offensive magic at students. It was obviously a futile effort on Percy's part as Harry ignored him throughout his lecture, instead choosing to concentrate on the chess game he was playing against Ron then. Other than that, their train ride was quite a peaceful one.
-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --
In the Great Hall a few hours later…
"… Winter, Zachary!"
Harry waited in anticipation as the last first-year boy went ahead to be sorted, and a moment later…
"SLYTHERIN!" the hat shouted.
The stocky boy walked proudly to the Slytherin amidst cheers, and finally, it was Harry's turn.
"And it is with great pleasure that I present Harry Potter, who has since returned to us after being in his mysterious uncle's care for the past few years," Dumbledore said while smiling.
Smiling nervously as everyone in the hall was either busy staring at him or whispering to their friends about the things they have heard about him on the train, Harry walked up with the grace and confidence taught by Regulus and Sirius. Once again, he thanked them inwardly for forcing him to take lessons on social etiquette and other miscellaneous stuff when he was young. As he was walking down the isle, he noticed Ron and Hermione waving to him from the Gryffindor table and acknowledged them with a smile.
Too soon, he had reached the stool with the hat on it. Picking it up with his hands slightly shaking, he placed it on his head, all the while wishing that it would send him to Gryffindor.
GRYFFINDOR! GRYFFINDOR! GRYFFINDOR!
Will you shut up about it and listen to what I have to say about you?
All right, that's much better. Interesting one… Slytherin would serve you well too, seeing that you can be cunning at times, and certainly are ambitious.
Harry shuddered at the thought of joining Slytherin but listened on silently as the Sorting Hat told him more about his personal qualities.
It will also do you good to join the Ravenclaws, for you are intelligent and witty. Hufflepuff would not be a bad choice either, for I've seen that you could be a very hardworking person at times, and certainly loyal to those you love.
However, seeing that you're so desperate to join the Gryffindors, and that you have the required bravery and courage… I shall send you to…
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat exclaimed.
With great relief, Harry muttered a word of thanks and left the Sorting Hat on the stool, making his way to the Gryffindor. There, Ron and Hermione had saved him a seat, and he was quite pleased – until he noticed something amiss.
Looks like the twins wanted to give the 'newbie' here some surprise, huh? Well, it's not gonna work… Harry grinned as he noticed that the seat was right next to Fred, or was it George? Even though he had made a silent promise not to use it on friends, the twins' thoughts were practically broadcasting it at him, thus he could pick up what they had in plan with his Legilimency and discovered their prank in time.
While walking towards his seat, the Headmaster began his customary speech to begin the feast. That worked perfectly to Harry's advantage as everyone's attention riveted back to Professor Dumbledore. He took out his wand discreetly from his sleeves and muttered the words "Finite Incantatem" at his seat, taking his time to walk to the chair. The moment he reached his seat, he could feel the eyes of the twins boring into him in gleeful expectation, but he did nothing to reveal that he knew what was going on, and greeted those around him whom he knew with a straight face.
One minute had passed. Professor Dumbledore ended his introductory speech.
Five minutes later, Harry looked up from his food and turned to face the twin on his right.
"Is there any reason why you're staring at me as though I'm some ghost?" Harry said innocently.
"Hm, don't you feel hot at all?" One of the twins asked worriedly, not answering Harry's question.
"Why would I be? The charms placed in the hall are keeping the temperature cool and nice."
"Are you sure there's nothing? No itch, no sudden rise of temperature?" By this time, the other twin who was seated across started to join the conversation too.
"I definitely feel fine. On the other hand, both of you don't SEEM fine," Harry said, before narrowing his eyes and asked suspiciously, "Is there anything I should know?"
"No, no –"
"Everything's fine."
"We're just worried that –"
"– you being a newcomer and all –"
"– would need some extra help and stuff."
"Yep, just brotherly concern –"
Brotherly concern my ass, Harry smirked inwardly as the twins continued talking.
"Nothing to worry about, indeed –"
"If there's nothing else –"
"– we will be tucking into our meal."
With that, they turned away from Harry and went back to their food, not before sharing a confused look.
"When my brothers start doing that," Ron whispered to Harry whom he was seated next to. "It's a sure sign that you have been picked for one of their experiments."
"Expect to be pranked in the near future, they don't usually fail in their pranks," Ron said empathically, thinking about the 'tortures' Harry would be subjected to. He understood it very well, as he used to be their guinea pig at home.
Harry only nodded his head absentmindedly as he begun thinking about the experiments he had with Regulus and Sirius, and of course, the many explosions that had accompanied some of them. I'll see what accessories I have access to when lessons start before making my move, Harry thought to himself, excitement building up as the numerous possibilities of what he could be doing fleeted across his mind.
-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --
At the staff table…
Dumbledore chuckled and said to the man beside him, "Harry has certainly inherited his father's interests in the art of pranking."
The man smiled and thought about the many times James had them planning a major prank on a certain Slytherin, and the subsequent many times they got caught in the act. Those were the good times.
"I agree, Albus. And when can I meet up with a certain dog?" the man muttered.
"We'll arrange a meeting as soon as possible. You have my assurance that he's trustworthy, Remus." Albus replied quietly while cutting his beef into smaller pieces.
"That's the problem I'm least afraid of. The fact that Harry turned out to be ok is more than enough proof of it. I just wanted to… apologize to him… and perhaps, catch up with one another."
"I understand how you feel. Don't worry about it too much," Dumbledore smiled and replied, his blue eyes twinkling as usual.
-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --
In the minds of two mischievous twins…
(In bold/italic: George. In italic: Fred)
Hey Gred, are you sure there's nothing wrong with the spell?
I'm very sure about it. Remember that we always test-proof our pranks before carrying them out?
Hm… then why was Harry unaffected? From our past experiments, he should be feeling very, VERY, hot.
Ya, you would be able to see the symptoms of heat exhaustion…
And more excitingly, the fainting part!
Yes… but it seems like we're missing something Forge.
Yes, we'd better find it out soon. I don't like the fact that our first prank of the year is having problems. Bad omen, you know, as though we might be facing more problems in the future.
I certainly hope not my brother. Now, let's plan our next prank on Harry…
Little did they know how true George's last statement was…
-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --
Back at the Gryffindor's table…
"Here's your schedule for your classes tomorrow," a stern lady said as she passed the students in Gryffindor their schedules for lessons. Harry recognized her as Professor McGonagall, the head of his house. When the three of them had gotten their schedules, they started comparing them.
"What subjects are you taking, Harry?" Hermione started asking as she looked through her schedule.
"Well, the compulsory ones and Arithmancy. Oh ya, I dropped Divination to take up Arithmancy, as seems like a useless subject to me." Harry replied, comparing his timetable with Ron while saying that.
"What? Are you out of your bonkers, Harry?" said a surprised Ron. "Arithmancy? Only bookworms take that subject." Harry just shrugged and replied, "My uncle told me it's useful in certain aspects of spellcasting."
Hermione, however, did not take that comment as well as Harry. "Who are you calling a bookworm, Ronald?" Her eyes flared up and one might have thought she was really angry then.
Ron gulped as he just realised what he had said, "Erm, I wasn't really thinking…"
"Glad you know that," Hermione said and smiled sweetly. Wow, talk about a 180 degree change! Girls are certainly weird, Harry shook his head as he witnessed his friends' reactions.
"Anyway, I've also dropped Divination for Arithmancy. Also I've managed to convince Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore to allow me to drop Herbology for Ancient Runes too, seeing that it was the only subject with the most number of periods in sync with Ancient Runes." Hermione continued. "So I will be taking extra lessons to catch up for those that I can't attend in Ancient Runes."
"I guess that means we will all be in the same class except during Divination and Herbology," Ron said brightly.
"Ya, and hopefully the professors will be good at teaching their stuff," Harry said.
"Most of them are good," Ron started as they walked back to their dormitories. And soon, they were discussing about the professors, who was good and who was not, though they seemed to discuss more about a certain Potions professor than any others.
Unknown to them, a rat had just sneaked out of Ron's bag and was making its way to the Forbidden Forest.
-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --
Author's Note: Really sorry for not including the Harry vs Snape part! I just realised how long this chapter would be if I had chose to include the lessons, hope you guys won't mind. As for pairings, I think that being in third year is too young an age to start having relationships, so I will hold off the pairings until fourth year. However, if you feel that 13 is a reasonable age, feel free to provide your reasons and I will see. :)
Next Chapter: Harry vs Hermione and Harry vs Snape! Haha, let's see who's the first to figure out what the Harry vs Hermione incident would be like. ;)