AN: I hope everyone enjoys this chapter! It's probably the longest one I have so far. I could have kept writing, but I decided that I ended this chapter at a decent spot for now. As I said, I'm excited to start building the relationship between Snape and Harry. Hopefully; they'll have a lot of interactions in the upcoming chapter. Anyway, let me know what you thought of this chapter!
Enjoy!
"Do you have to go back to Hogwarts?" George whined along with his brother, who had taken the liberty to lean against Harry, pouting like a child.
"Can't you stay with us and help us invent more items for our shop?" Fred pouted, obviously teasing the younger wizard. Harry chuckled as the twins gave him their fake puppy dog eyes.
"How about me and Hermione sneak out during the weekends and come here to visit when we can?" The twins' puppy dog eyes vanished and were soon replaced by pleasing smirks.
"We would have to say-"
"-that we're so proud of you!"
The two gingers sighed, patting Harry's back as they said; "What a shame you couldn't have been in the same year as us." Harry laughed wholeheartedly, already imagining the shenanigans they would have gotten themselves into, and all the detentions for that matter.
Hell, all the skipped detentions, too.
"I could have helped you two with pranking Umbitch!" The twins snorted at the nickname and grinned. "We would have made an amazing trio."
"Can you imagine-" Fred began, with his brother suppressing a laugh, barely able to get the words out.
"all the gray hairs-" George chuckled, still trying to contain his laughter.
"-Snape would have?" They finished, ending with all three of them laughing at the idea.
"Merlin," Harry said through his laughter, almost doubled over. "That would have been spectacular! We would have probably caused McGonagall to retire by the end of our first year." The three all laughed harder at that, no doubt imaging the older witch's exasperation and migraines at dealing with the trio.
"Hermione might not have taken part in the pranks-"
"-but she would have come up with clever ideas!" The twins chuckled, getting Harry to imagine what that would have been like too. It immediately made him think of the Marauder's, who had been a quartet of pranksters, even if one of the members happened to betray them.
"That sounds like the Marauder's if you ask me." He laughed softly, ever grateful that the twins had given it to him in his third year. From what Sirius had told him, the creation of the map was mostly done by Remus, who had discovered the Homonculous charm.
"You know what we should do?" Fred grinned, rubbing his hands, followed by George chuckling.
"Create a map of Diagon Alley!" George grinned too, and Harry couldn't stop from humming.
"Damn, why didn't we think of this sooner?" The younger huffed in exasperation. He was leaving for Hogwarts tomorrow and to think that they could have saved themselves the trouble of constantly being on guard for the order. It would have allowed him to sneak around so much easier, and to stop checking his shoulder every five seconds.
"We can create one while you're at school," George suggested, knowing it would give them something else to invent while Harry and Hermione were gone.
"And you could add onto it when you come to visit on the weekends." Fred grinned, ruffling the already messy hair. Harry snorted and went to swat the hand away, trying to fix his unruly hair to the best of his abilities. "I'm sure Hermione would want to add all sorts of protection charms on it." Fred said as an afterthought, but everyone there agreed.
"I have a few charms I'd like to place on it, too." Harry added with a thoughtful look. "The map is also protected by a phrase. We could not only come up with one that only we would know but give a bit of a…sting to those who try to tamper with it." He smirked at the glint in the twins' eyes. They loved how vindictive he could be at times. "Nothing too harmful, though. Just enough to give a warning."
"That's why you're the best!" Fred smirks at the questioning look in those emerald eyes. "Georige, care to explain?"
"Not at all, Freddie!" George grinned as he also looked down at the younger wizard. "You're not one to explicitly harm someone for the Hell of it. You only hurt people if they give you reason too, and when they do," George smirked. "You're a force to be reckoned with, but even then, you don't like to hurt."
As much as Harry wanted to deny it, he knew the twins were ultimately right. Even after casting crucio on Bellatrix, it hadn't done much to her.
"In order to cause a lot of pain, you need to mean it." Harry said with a shrug, remembering her words. "If someone messed with me or my friends, then I'll hurt them," He paused, shrugging. "I like getting my point across and if they don't listen…then that's on them." Harry smirked; eyes dark as they promised a world of pain to anyone who hurt his friends over and over.
"Bloody Hell, Harry-"
"-Snape and Voldemort would be-"
"-shaking right now!"
Harry laughed at the imagery and shook his head.
"I don't know if they would shake. Tommy," Harry swore he heard an angry hiss in his mind. "would just try and convince me to join his side, as usual."
"Tommy.." George pondered, while his brother rubbed his chin in thought.
"Perhaps Voldie.." Fred paused and looked at his brother.
"Or." They said in unison, turning back to Harry with a gleam in their eyes. "Tom-Tom!"
Harry nearly doubled over for the second time that night, laughing loudly.
"Tom-Tom?" Harry asked, trying so hard to hold back his insistent laughter. "I've gotta call him that next time I see him!"
Back at Riddle Manor, the Dark Lord sneezed.
Harry glanced at the small paper in his hands, smirking at the recognizable penmanship as it gave him easy instructions. He had been able to occasionally see Hermione, but during the last few weeks of summer, she had to keep up appearances and stay with the Weasleys. In the past, she always showed up during the last weeks of summer to hang out, but if she were to suddenly quit, it would seem suspicious and out of character for her.
Luckily, she was a bright witch and had figured out a way to get to him before the Weasley clan tried.
Meet me at the platform at 9:50 You know the Weasleys are always running late.
They might get there an hour before the train was scheduled to leave, but Harry didn't care. It gave him time to talk to his friend, feeling bad that she had to deal with the Weasleys for two weeks. Not to mention, pissed off Weasleys for that matter. He had a feeling that Ron and the two women were complaining about him the entire time.
Once he applied a shrinking charm to his belongings and placed them in his pockets, he apparated to King's cross.
Not long after he did, arms enveloped him in a warm hug.
"Merlin, Harry. I've missed you." Hermione whispered, holding him tightly, and to Harry's observation, almost desperately. He returned the hug with a small smile, squeezing her reassuringly.
"I take it the Weasleys drove you up the wall?" His tone was innocent, earning a gentle push from his best friend.
"You don't know the half of it!" She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Molly kept going on and on about how you abandoned Ginny, and as for Ron…" She looked even more agitated then. "He was so rude! I can't think of one decent thing he said about you!"
"Mione, how about we talk more about this in the compartment? That way no one overhears." He could already feel a few eyes on them, and the last thing he wanted was for the Weasleys to decide to be on time for once. It seemed to calm the young witch down, but only barely.
"Right. I'm sorry, Harry. I've just had to deal with those comments for two weeks now." She quickly apologized as they made their way to the platform and then onto the fairly vacant express. The duo sat down opposite of each other and placed a secrecy charm on the compartment, then a simple alarm spell if anyone were to try and open the doors.
"That should work for now. If Ron or Ginny happens to get here early, I could cast one of my new spells on them." He smirked as Hermione lit up at the idea of a new spell to learn.
"You had a few when we last saw each other. How many do you have now?"
"I have twenty. I can show them to you when we get to Hogwarts. Some of them would be hard to demonstrate in the compartment." He explained, trying to think of one that he could show off. "There is one that I can teach you now, though. How about it?"
"You already know my answer." She was practically on the edge of her seat, eyes shining brightly. Chuckling, Harry waved his wand slowly, showing her the motions first.
"Tenebris." The entire compartment went dark- even the sunlight didn't penetrate through the windows. "It can be undone with a lumos, or" He waved his wand again. "Finite incantatem." And just like that, the light returned.
"That was brilliant!" She gasped, recalling the wand movement Harry had shown her. "Can I try?" She asked timidly and Harry smiled.
"I'd be insulted if you didn't." He grinned at her huff and watched as she tried to get the spell right. "You've almost got it. You need to make the wand movements a bit smaller and use your wrist less. Also, you need to envision the darkness. You have to see it in your mind." Hermione nodded as she took in those tips.
Not long after, the entire room was plunged into darkness again.
"There you go!" Harry said, pride evident in his voice. Not only was he proud to teach someone a spell, but he had taught his own spell. One that he had created. Hermione ended the charm the same way Harry did and smiled.
"How did you even manage to create these spells? How did you learn?" Harry paused, trying to form his thoughts into words.
"I've been into spell creation for a while. I remember always wanting to know how people went about creating new spells." He smiles a bit, thinking over all the inspiration Snape had given. "I finally got the push I needed from Snape's book."
"You were obsessed with that book last year. You were so enamored with the Half-Blood Prince. " Hermione giggled at the look her friend sent her, the tips of his ears turning pink. "I'm glad you were able to get inspiration from it, but I still think a lot of it came from you. You've always been talented." They both smirked at each other at that, chuckling.
They stopped when the charmed alarms went off.
Hermione quickly stood up and only pulled the door open partially, shieling Harry.
"Uh-hey, Hermione. Do you mind if Luna and I join you?" Neville asked, a bit red.
"Not at all." She happily opened the door fully, letting the two in.
"Hello, Harry." Luna sat beside her friend, looking at him. "You seem very different this year. Are you allowing yourself to be free now?" Neville watched in shock as Harry laughed.
"You've no idea. I even claimed all my lordships."
"Lordships, as in plural?" Neville asked with an eyebrow raised, sitting beside Hermione.
"Four to be exact." Harry shrugged. "The Goblins suggested I claim the ones that were unclaimed." He said as a means to explain, not wanting to go into detail.
"Are you trying to avoid Ron and Ginny?" He asked, receiving a fairly surprised look.
"What? I know I can be slow on the uptake, but I heard about the way Harry left the Order." Neville snickered. "Merlin, my granny was so proud of you! She detests Dumbledore and the Order after everything that happened." He explained.
"I didn't know she felt that way about Dumbledore," Harry said, growing more surprised by the moment. "You're not wrong though. We are avoiding Ron and Ginny."
"Ron especially." Hermione spat, her anger resurfacing. "He had the audacity to call Harry an attention-seeking traitor! And to top things off, he started calling him a slimy Slytherin! There's nothing wrong with being a Slytherin!"
"Mione." Harry reached to gently grab her hand, squeezing it. "Ron's a bloody idiot. If he wants to view me as such, let him. If he views me as a traitor for standing up for myself, let him. After all…" Hermione met his gaze and shook her head.
"Do you want them to know that part?" She asked. Neville looked at the two, eyes narrowed. Luna smiled softly, watching them.
"He was marked in a different way." Luna breathed out, causing the compartment to go silent. Harry swallowed hard and turned to face her, lips parted.
"Marked?" Neville practically squeaked. "You-you mean…" He glanced to Harry's left arm; eyes wide.
"What? No!" Harry pushed his sleeve up, showing the bare skin. "No dark mark, see?" He promised.
"His scar." Luna clarifies. "It's what combines the two. It's one of the reasons they can't fight anymore."
"Just how much do you know?" Harry wondered if she was a type of seer. It would make sense, given her ability to sprout out the most random of things. He could ask either Snape or Tom about
"It's not what I know, but when it's time to share." She smiled in her own, Luna way. Possibly a seer, then.
Harry just smiled back at her.
As they were nearing their destination, Hermione looked thoughtful.
"I am a little surprised that Ron and Ginny didn't manage to even find the cart, unless…" She gave Harry an inquisitive look. "You added another charm, didn't you?"
"Yep! I added a disillusionment charm after Luna and Neville joined us." He said with a pleased smirk.
"Damn, mate. You thought of everything to keep them out." Neville was impressed at all the knowledge Harry had on charms. "Flitwick might take you in as an apprentice." Harry smiled at the praise and flushed a bit.
"I don't know if I'm that talented. I only wanted to ensure that they couldn't find us." He tried to explain, still a little flushed. "I wouldn't mind being a teacher one day." Harry finally admitted, sighing a bit to himself. "I like teaching someone a new spell." He gave a small smile to Hermione, who smiled back.
"You would be a great teacher. You taught all of us how to conjure a patronus." Neville recalled, thinking back to the days of the DA. "You've always had the highest marks in defense."
"I've been thinking about it, but something just doesn't feel right when I think about teaching it." He admits. "Defense is good and all, but you still don't get a lot of experience with it. I think Hogwarts would be better off with an actual dueling class."
"I agree," Luna spoke up shyly, looking to the others. "I love defense and learning about all the creatures, but a dueling class would be more practical. There's only so much you can learn in defense."
"I think you would be a great dueling instructor." Hermione agrees. "The way you taught the DA made it a dueling class essentially."
"I wouldn't mind teaching advanced magic too. NEWT level at least." Even though he loved to teach spells, there was something rewarding about teaching difficult spells. Something that was reserved for the fifth years and up.
"Regardless of what you decide on, we got your back, mate," Neville said, patting his friend on the back. Luna gave a hum in agreement as she pulled out one of her father's articles.
"You'll always have support from us, Harry." The blond smiled, something bright in her eyes.
"Thanks. It doesn't matter much anyway. As long as Dumbledore is still Headmaster, there's no use in applying for a spot, or bringing up the idea of a dueling class." He sighed, waving his hand. "Besides; I want to continue my learning after Hogwarts. There's so much to learn in other countries…" Even though he did want to travel, there was the slight pang in his chest at the thought of leaving Hogwarts behind.
"Where do you want to travel?" Luna questioned with a tilt to her head.
"Honestly, I've no idea." Harry laughed to the amusement of everyone in the compartment. "I'm not even sure if I will travel, it's just something I've thought of recently. Ever since Bill told me about all the magic he learned in Egypt, I've wanted to go there."
"You're interested in all sorts of areas in magic, aren't you?" Neville pointed out with a chuckle. "I think it's really cool that you are. I wish I was dedicated to learning like you lot. I'm an average wizard at best."
"Don't say that, Nev." Harry looked at him with a small smile. "You're a great wizard. Remember what you did last year to Parkinson?" That smile turned into a smirk at the flush that blossomed over the other Gryffindor's face.
"What did he do?" Luna was interested now, intrigued by the blush that was darkening.
"Pansy made a crude remark about me," Hermione started to explain. "Neville overheard and cast a nasty pimple jinx, then a trip jinx as well." She smiled. "Caused her to fall right on her boils."
"And he did it so fast that no one caught him!" Harry added, giving his friend a thumbs up. "So, what was that about being only an 'average' wizard?" He pressed.
Neville chuckled and shook his head.
"Alright, alright. I concede defeat." He feigned a sigh still flushing darkly.
The four conversed a little while longer until the train finally stopped.
"Well, we're here." Harry hummed, mostly addressing Hermione and Neville. "Our last year as students."
"Don't remind me." Neville suddenly groaned. "All the NEWTs that are awaiting us. I'm not going to be doing anything other than studying to pass them all."
"It's not NEWTs I'm worried about." Harry sighed as they all got up and left the compartment, already dreading what was to come. He saw two sets of red hair coming their way and unleashed a groan of his own. "Here we go."