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October 31, 1998

Saturday Morning

Life could never let him enjoy a peaceful week. Some being, deity, anything — one, if not all of them that existed, had some form of personal grudge against him. He was entirely convinced that was true on account of how unlucky he could be. Any problem that was dealt with, there'd always be at the minimum, one that would pop up to replace it. Harry liked to think that his 'Potter' luck made up for that considering where he currently was in life… it still didn't make him any less annoyed by how quickly something new would happen to take his time and prevent him from resting.

Vane… I should have known she'd try something, shouldn't I?

In the grand scheme of things, rumours in regards to his dating life and the occasional nasty note written on parchment before being posted to a wall were not all that bad. Voldemort was a rather extreme comparison to draw her to, so he figured Snape on his bad days or Umbridge was more accurate. They could be inconvenient, nasty people and while for the most part, it wouldn't cause any personal problems outside of a conversation with them or detention, they could seriously hurt your social time.

One could argue that Umbridge eventually went crazy or revealed her inner craziness and he'd agree. Vane wasn't to that point just yet, she was more of a nuisance with her attempted love potions and tales she'd spread about what she'd done with him the previous day. It was pretty funny to him that she'd willingly be the source of rumours that related to more sexual activities, considering how taboo that could be.

Harry snorted and shook his head. Delphini had seemed annoyed that he'd done anything with Vane before her, she couldn't care less about the traditions or stances that people had. Daphne was, understandably based on her personality, entirely disbelieving of anything that didn't come directly from him. Tracey, well, she lived to gossip and as such, was the reason that those stories made it back to him in the first place.

Vane would be given credit for her ability to embellish and play up an encounter, as bothersome as it was. When they'd 'accidentally' bumped into one another in the library and spoke for all of five seconds as a formality only a few days ago, it was spun into something completely different; they had snogged, nearly got caught and had to remove themselves before they were thrown out. The details were far more heated and intimate when Tracey told the story, but he didn't care.

"She's really gotten to you, it would seem," Daphne said, the girl moving towards him with confident, fluid-like gestures. "You're smart enough to know that this is exactly what she wants, right? If not, I suppose as a good friend of yours that I could help you handle your incredible love."

Harry scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Glad to know that you've found so much amusement in this even with her going after you. I would have figured she'd make some sort of list that you have, sort of like the one you have for Tracey since she has so many frequent blunders."

"Tracey's book exists for my sake more than hers. It allows me to remember her antics, if they've gotten worse or if she's finally improving," Daphne made a face, nearly a wince. "The findings are rather… troubling. Regardless, back to my original point for speaking with you, stop. Vane wants to prompt you into action by doing what she currently is."

"I know that. If I confront her, people will see it and Merlin knows then what she'd do or say. Somehow, I doubt it'd be very friendly unless it was an article that featured future children or my love life," Harry brought a hand up to his face, got it snug, then let out a long-lasting groan that he hoped would convey the pure, un-adultered emotion of annoyance.

Daphne's smirk at him was very much a reason to think he'd succeeded.

"How would you suggest I deal with her? Don't mention making her vanish either. I reckon I'd be the first person they'd check," Harry said, laughing when Daphne scowled at those words; he wasn't sure if it was because he thought she'd say something along those lines or if he'd correctly guessed what was going on inside of her head; either would be funny.

"We could beat her with kindness… is something Tracey would suggest. I'm far more in favour of warning her in such a way she'd be left too nervous to continue her harassment. That may not be something you're entirely comfortable with, however, and so I suppose I'll respect the kindness that lay within you."

"Thanks?" Harry shook his head. "How would you warn her? You don't think the threat of violence or even seriously said words would make her lash out? Vane, well, I don't think I need to say it but she does seem a bit lacking. That may not be the right word, but it's the best I can think of. You know what I mean, right?"

Daphne tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.

"Wicked, grand, great," Harry leaned back and clapped his hands together. "Where should we start, then?"

"With Tracey and Millicent. They'll have ideas that neither you nor I would have on account of our different upbringings and other such personal factors. If we worked together for that task of yours, I think we can handle one mental witch," Daphne crossed her arms when she finished speaking, the picture of confidence as a more devious grin came to her face.

Right then, Harry chided himself mentally.

You just asked a witch how she'd deal with another witch and the two have been at each other's throats since the start of the year, Harry sagged further into the couch. Great job, idiot. Am I going to go and make the two biggest blokes from Seventh Year fight, now?

"There's one of them, it's almost like they were summoned by nothing but us saying their names," Daphne snorted once. "Tracey, do you think you have a half-elf down your family tree? It'd probably be a few generations ago, but I could see it."

Harry wasn't surprised that his conversation ended then. Ah well, it was best that he went and had a little peek around Hogwarts to see if Vane had been up to anything new recently. Merlin knew the girl was incredibly resourceful and energetic when it came to her attempts at dating him.

The Great Hall and the entire journey to it had, very strangely, been completely clean… of Vane or her work. Hogwarts would always have the occasional parchment or other forms of litter, but it got cleaned up nightly by the house-elves. Most of them had been at the Battle and before that, at Hogwarts for decades. He still felt like he owed them some form of thanks for everything they'd done to help 'their' wizards and witches.

Harry shook his head then, that small nostalgic smile on his face that he got when he spoke of those who'd moved on. Dobby, like many of his kind, considered their owners as family and the good families would do the same. Kreacher had become an uncle of sorts to Harry, as weird as that was. The elf was still a bit grouchy from time to time, but the wisdom he had as well as the experience with legal documents, well, it was surprising, to say the least

"You seem like you're a man on a mission," Came a voice from behind him, one that sounded a bit snarky and somewhat out of breath.

He turned to see the girl and snorted. "I am — good to see you too, by the way, Fay. Just coming back from a Quidditch practice?"

Fay nodded once gesturing to the sweat stain under her left arm. "That obvious?"

"I figured it was that or you'd been snogging in the grass," Harry pointed at her knees, the both of them painted in mud and stained by the grass. "Have a little tumble? Doesn't seem like it was too bad if you're still up and about."

"I…" Fay huffed and looked away, shaking her head. "I tripped while I was getting off of my broom. I've always been clumsy, you know that. Enough about me though, I heard your love problems were restarting. Is there anything I can do to help? What about Susan or Hannah? I'm sure the pair of them would love a crack at Vane now she's instigating you again."

Harry shook his head. "Nah, reckon that'd make things a bit worse than they already are and we definitely don't need that. Vane's actually the reason I'm down here right now too — well, that and the girls are having a bit of a chase in our common room. Daphne compared Tracey to a house-elf and she didn't take that too well."

"I can see it," Fay said thoughtfully, a shrug following when he looked more intently at her.

"Right… you haven't seen anything, right? I've looked around the common paths and didn't see any new nasty notes or badges. Vane could have gotten a bit smarter with them since her last warning from McGonagall. It's a wonder she hasn't hit her with more than detentions by now," Harry finished speaking and not a second after, a thoughtful look of his own showed up.

If I speak with McGonagall, I bet she'd help me deal with Vane in a more permanent way. It's not like people would pick her side over all the others, not if I throw my lot in with them… Kingsley was right, Narcissa's political lessons have rubbed off on me.

He definitely didn't want to throw around his name lightly, nor did he really want to do so at all, but that was the cost of being who he was. From the boy-who-lived to the man-who-won, he had conquered Voldemort twice and cemented his legend status… well, twice, obviously. That was great for the wizarding world since it meant continued freedom and the betterment of it now that he was interested in politics to some extent.

It was horrible for hi—

"McGonagall would listen, the board would go along with it too, they all love you. Some people though, the ones who hate you in their small minority and the other group that's always looking for problems, they'll see you kicking out a Battle of Hogwarts veteran. That wouldn't be great if you're planning any form of future with how tightly they're picking at you," Fay snapped her fingers and withdrew a slightly yellow-stained copy of the Prophet at that point. "I picked this up for you, figured you'd want to give it a read and all. It's pretty stupid, I don't think most people would believe a word of it, but it's still better to be warned, right?"

Harry furrowed his brow but nodded slowly as he took hold of the vaguely wet newspaper. He didn't mind the sweat, the team would hug, fist bump and jump in a huddle of celebration after every win. "The Boy who Forgives?" he asked, reading the title as he looked back at Fay. "What's wrong with this? I don't think it can be all that bad if the title's anything to go off of."

"The title's misleading, purposefully so. They want to get as many readers as they can, then they go off on tangent after tangent about you helping 'Death Eaters' or how you don't spend time with Ron and Hermione anymore. People don't know where they've gone, but you know Rita, she likes to speculate and coss people to second guess," Fay rolled her eyes and moved closer, to pat him on the shoulder. "You should buy them out or bring them to court. We both know you'd probably be able to do either if you wanted. Oh, that's right, your question… I don't think I've seen anything from Vane, I haven't even seen the girl around Hogwarts."

"That's never a good sign," Came a new voice, one that was, weirdly, without its typical counterpart. "Hey Fay, Hi Harry. Wait, Fay, did you just come back from Quidditch or something?"

Fay nodded, grinning widely. "I did. You're not worried, are you?"

Susan looked the other girl up and down before she let out a very unlike herself snort mixed with giggling. "Worried, about you? Please, the only reason they let you play was because of how small you are — don't get angry, you clutz, you won't be able to reach me to pull my hair."

"That's udderly ridiculous, you big co—" Fay was stopped mid-sentence, but not by Harry or Susan.

There were half a dozen footsteps coming towards them. Whoever the group was, they were moving fast and the owners of them were heavy. All three of them, still seemingly nervous when it came to such sudden sounds at a high loudness, had frozen. Harry had even gone so far as to put a hand over his wand, but when the source of the noise revealed itself as three seventh year boys, they realised their concern was all for nought.

Voldemort wasn't back, his followers weren't invading Hogwarts again and they were safe.

"All these young people move so fast, huh?" Susan asked, trying for some levity with some success based on the smile that came to Harry and Fay's faces each.

"They're so full of energy," Fay agreed. "Do you think they're some of the ones who got put back into Hogwarts when the war was over? I don't recognise any of their faces."

Harry looked to Susan when Fay asked her questions. He wasn't really in the know when it came to that type of stuff and Fay… evidently, she wasn't either. She, Fay that is, was renown for being a solid Quidditch player and incredibly quick. He doubted he'd seen a quicker person in all of his time at Hogwarts, adults included. Susan, on the other hand, was a powerful witch with an affinity for gossip; there was nobody better than her when it came time for charismatic words to be had.

"All three of them are new and one of them is only free thanks to Harry," Susan said, snapping herself out of the momentary funk that'd come over her. "You're doing an awesome thing, helping out the people who weren't really his followers. My Aunt, Amelia, she'd be just as happy with you for being able to set aside personal stuff for their sake. It's crazy they were even potentially in trouble in the first place."

Fay agreed. "Cursing them in a common room is one thing — it didn't leave any lasting damage and let us get some pent up stress out before you say anything, Harry. Seriously though, the Wizengamot is just a bunch of old blokes who like to hear themselves speak and hope to stay relevant by way of their power. My parents never really cared for any of them. Say, Harry, when you eventually become the Minister, how about setting a limit for how much time you could sit in the Wizengamot?"

Susan nodded when he looked over at her, clearly curious if that was possible. He would set aside the 'I'm never going to run for Minister' speech for a later date. There was plenty of time for that and far less time for Vane if nobody had seen her for a good bit of time.

"You could do it two-thirds of those at a Wizengamot meeting passed it. I believe three-quarters of them have to be present for a vote too, so you'd have to pick a particular group of people, I suspect, if you'd want any chance of it working," Susan nodded a few seconds after she spoke, seemingly verifying the words she'd just said. "Thanks for bringing up the common room incident too, Fay. I'm sure we could reenact that if you'd like since you have such a good memory."

"Whatever day you're thinking of, I regret to inform you that I'm busy. Harry, Vane?" Fay switched the topic of the conversation very quickly back to its original purpose. Romilda Vane, the woman of his nightmares, was back on the table.

I could get help from the two of them since Daphne and Tracey ended up in that little fight of theirs. Susan and Fay, they'd offer about the same opinion, as much as the four might disagree with one another that they're alike, Harry nearly laughed but hid it before the two girls he was presently with, asked him about it, I'll set them up to become friends in another week or two.

"You two don't think another conversation with Vane will work, do you?" He asked, hoping they'd agree and that would be all that he needed to do for the girl to settle down.

Susan shook her head at the same time Fay laughed, it was ultimately the former that spoke. "Not in the slightest. If anything, I think it'd make her more likely to act up since that, in particular, got a response from you. Any attention in a girl's eyes — only ones as twisted as her — is good attention."

"Susan's right. If I didn't look at you and see all our Quidditch time where you acted like a big brother, I'd probably be interested in you," Fay said, nodding. "I don't think I'd Vane out, but I'd probably lock you in a classroom until you agreed to let me take you out somewhere. I'd pick the place since you'd get to look pretty at my side."

Harry blinked a few times at Fay's Delphini-like sentence, but he eventually shrugged. "Thanks, I guess. I'll take being called pretty over a stalker such as Vane, I suppose," he clapped his hands after that and, following a short couch to refocus himself, spoke agian. "So if a conversation won't work, what do you think my best course of action is? I've not got a clue, dealing with her isn't like dealing with Voldemort or his goons."

"Honestly?" Fay asked, to which Harry gave a simple nod and motioned for her to say what she had on her mind.

"Don't be too inappropriate, my ears can't take it after hearing Neville and Luna," Susan said, whining ever so slightly as she let an exaggerated shiver go through her; he was lucky none of the other blokes were here when she did so, they'd all have gone nuts.

Fay waved Susan off with her middle finger just slightly out, an oops gesture made before she spoke. "If I were you, I'd set her up the same way she's trying to set you up. Give her some chocolates that have a sleeping draught in them, take her to the Hospital Ward and dump her off. Do that every time she thinks about you and eventually, she'll move on," Fay then snorted. "Give her a nudge towards Ron or some other bloke too, it's clear that you have your hands full already."

"What do you mean? Harry questioned curiously, not shooting down her idea immediately, despite how poor it was.

"Harry," Fay started, exasperated as she looked between Susan and herself. "Haven't you noticed something about most of your friends since you've come back to Hogwarts? Do I really need to point it out to you?"

Susan leaned over and flicked the girl with the tip of her pointer finger, then turned to Harry after wrinkling her nose at her own finger. "Fay's talking about how all of the people you spend any time with are, by and large, witches. I've heard the occasional rumour that you're sleeping with all three Slytherin girls, but it never gets far. There have been a few others too, like all of us are in some Harem of yours — the jealous boys that don't know how to speak to us are probably the ones that came up with that."

"Definitely. They're too nervous and no offence to you Harry, but I'm not the sharing type. I don't think most of your Slytherins are either, except for Tracey. She strikes me as the kind that'd love romantic drama," Fay shook her head. "You've picked some interesting new friends, that's for sure."

"Leave Vane to me and Hannah, we'll deal with her while you're doing the Ministry stuff," Susan suddenly said, poking him in the chest and looking at him with narrowed eyes. "I'll want the occasional breakfast with my friend as the cost for this. You spend too much time with Greengrass, Davis and Delpini. The last one isn't that bad, she's really ditzy and Tracey's… Tracey. Daphne's too much like a darker version of Hermione for my liking."

Harry agreed with the Hermione comparison, but Daphne wasn't 'dark', as stupid as the word was. Still, he figured he'd thank Susan for her help and soon enough, Hannah's too. "Thank you, I have no clue when it comes to dealing with crazy fangirls. You said it yourselves, if I speak with her, she gets what she wants but if I don't, my friends pay the price. It's a pretty shite situation, really."

"It'll be better soon, I'll see to that while you go off and have some Quidditch time with Fay," Susan said, pushing him towards the other girl. "Take her back to the pitch and have her shower before she comes to the common room. Think of that as my second price, she likes being dirty and sweaty too much."

Harry looked at Fay and she looked back at him, then the pair of them broke out into laughter. Sweat was sort of like a badge of honour, at least it felt that way. It meant you had worked yourself hard, improved your ability to play the game longer and at a higher level of play and most of all, that you loved what you were doing.

"Come on, Fay. We could fit in a bit of flying if you're game — thanks again, Susan. You lot have had my back for a pretty long time now," Harry leaned towards the other girl and gave her a peck on the cheek, one that earned him a sweet smile that showcased her freckles.

"You've had ours for longer, now get going," Susan swatted him and Fay each on the arse, sending them off with laughter towards the pitch.

Fay was still slightly out of breath, as was he, by the time they made their way back to the shared common room a good few hours later. Quidditch had been as fun as ever, the hours had gone by without any sense of time to the two in the air and it felt like it'd done him more good than he ever could have realised before doing it.

It was truly poor of him that he hadn't requested a waiver to play, especially since he figured he would've gotten one. He still could, that was an option, but it didn't feel right. Somebody else was the Seeker now, they had gone to the tryouts and earned it fairly. Harry wouldn't be any different than the people he was growing so annoyed with if he used his power to take that persons spot.

"Did you think I forgot, out of curiosity?" Fay suddenly asked as the two of them were a good two dozen feet from the common room entrance, still with a sheen on their skin from the shower they'd had.

Harry glanced at her curiously. "Forgot what?"

Fay grinned toothily, her teeth on display as they closed in on the door. "Open it for me since I'm the witch and you're proper?" she asked, ignoring his question as she stopped pointedly in front of the left door.

He was a bit weirded out then, especially since that wasn't all that Fay-like and earlier, she and Susan had both seemed a bit off, but he did as she asked and opened the door for the pair of them. Immediately upon doing so, he smelled a myriad of food and drinks that were very familiar with him for one reason or the other.

Daphne, Susan, Tracey, Neville… all of them were present, the entire group, with a cake and costumes worn. They didn't jump out at him, there were no sounds that played to surprise him, they were simply waiting with their eyes fixated on the door whilst talking lightly amongst themselves. That alone meant more to him than he thought they'd ever come to know and when the lot of them came over to greet the two new arrivals, costumes in hand with plates of food already made, he let out a large, genuine smile.

His stress was momentarily forgotten, the politics he'd gotten wrapped up into now pressed to the back of his mind and the fallen… they were more present than ever, just like the living.

November 1, 1998

Sunday Morning

Yesterday had been as perfect as any day had ever been in Harry's life, from the presence of all those he considered friends to them not letting on about Halloween in the first place. He had been so busy, so horribly busy, that he'd forgotten to honour the memory of his parents. It'd made him feel cruddy until Daphne, Delphini and Tracey — somewhat — spoke with him in the early hours of the morning and told him it was perfectly fine.

Wherever they were, which is a place he should know as Tracey pointed out, they were likely equally as happy for him as all of his friends were. There was no point in crying for them, they'd all be together again one day and when they said that, he'd had to look away, lest they see a few tears fall from his slightly drunken eyes.

As it was, hours later and in the afternoon, Harry was sat in the common room waiting for those who would join him. Most of his friends were already out, he recognised, but some would still be asleep and likely rising soon. He hoped that'd be the case, at least, as he'd gotten another owl that very morning that was sure to make a fair number of his friends happy.

Kingsley had responded about a recent change in plans, one that involved Harry's position and the future of the Wizengamot… a few of the members, at the very least. As it turned out, when Kingsley and Harry joined forces politically, their different groups of followers despite their mutual Phoenix membership proved pretty potent. Oh, he'd also gotten another letter from Andromeda, but that was a typical check-in type of one.

I really need to go and see them soon. I've been too busy, I hope she understands but I know Teddy won't.

Harry was roused from his errant thinking when he heard the girls' dorm door open. Daphne wasn't the first to exit as he suspected, instead, he was greeted by a smiling Delphini still dressed in her pyjamas. With Blaise always gone into the evening and Neville usually out with Luna, she felt pretty comfortable. He doubted her sense of modesty would've changed even had the entirety of their friend group been present if he were honest.

"Good morning, Harry," She said, smiling wider as she jumped over the arm of the couch and landed right snug up against him. "You seem like you're still tired, is everything alright?"

He nodded, yawning and stretching his arms, at which point she pulled one around her shoulders and he was pleased with yesterday to mind. "Everything's great. I've heard from Kingsley, Minister Shacklebolt I should say and from Andromeda. Andromeda is the guardian of my godson, I'm pretty sure I've mentioned her to you before but I don't really remember."

Delphini scrunched up her face before eventually shaking her head. "I don't remember either, my apologies. If I'm to be your girlfriend after this upcoming Hogsmeade weekend in nineteen days, I should do better," she leaned forward to look into his eyes, her hair still messy and her natural beauty on full display. "I've already made plans for our day together, for your reference. We'll be doing a Saturday."

"Are you going to tell me about our plans or are you keeping those a secret?" He asked, maintaining that eye contact as he looked at Delphini, realising her full beauty when she didn't use all the makeup that she typically did.

She looks really beautiful today… I wonder what Daphne looks like without her products on and hair done, Harry stopped and pondered briefly, his thoughts drifting to a bunch of the other witches that he spent his time with too. Blokes, they didn't really do much aside from a haircut and cologne, witches could completely change almost everything about their looks.

"Those will be secrets," Delphini said politely, her eyes darting up and down repeatedly until she huffed, hot air blowing and splashing against his face. "Could I kiss you now? I've been wondering what your lips taste like since I developed my crush on you — that's not too forward, I hope."

Harry snorted. "You? Forward?" he flicked his wrist and shook his head. "So long as you don't try to snog me right here in the middle of the common room, sure. I think a first kiss is fine if you really want to waste it on me."

"It most certainly wouldn't be a waste," Delphini said, no more words coming from her before she closed the distance in less than half a second, her lips awkwardly pressing against his whilst their noses brushed until she tilted her head down ever so slightly.

That contact went on a good bit of time, possibly ten seconds of awkwardness, until she eventually pulled back and stared at him. "Did we do it wrong, or is that not all that enjoyable?"