Ron Weasley, Boy Who Lived

by WriteShop

Harry Potter is a regular teen wizard. Except he still has his 'saving people' thing. And Ron, the Boy Who Lived, is still Ron. Lily and James are alive, Neville is a ward of the Potters & thinks he's the second coming of James Potter. And there is a marriage contract (gone wrong). Set during Fourth Year. (note: mild Ron bashing)

2. Tales of times past

[[Two years ago]]

"Look, Nev, you can't go beating up every Slytherin that acts like an arsehole. Otherwise you'll have to give a beat down to the whole house." Harry lectured his foster brother (well, technically Neville wasn't adopted – he was instead a ward of the Potters, so that he remained the Longbottom heir). The two twelve year-olds were sitting in the Gryffindor common room. It was just shy of curfew, and the room was almost empty – there were just a couple of upper years still awake, either studying or chatting quietly.

"I've got no problem with that. You didn't see that prat Crabbe: He had this little firsty's Potions homework and was tearing off little pieces of it and giggling. And you know how Snape scares the firsties."

"Not just the firsties," Harry admitted. "But there are better ways of handling it than with your fists."

"Yeah, but your father says.."

"I KNOW what my father says!" Harry sighed. He paused to gather his thoughts on how to best convince Neville to stay out of trouble at least for ONE week. Problem was Nev's serious hero worship of James Potter. He was still thinking when Ron Weasley, 'The-Boy-Who-Lived' burst into the Common Room.

"Guys, I need some help." He panted out. Several people looked questioningly at him, but nobody moved. He looked around desperately. Ever since entering Hogwarts, 'The-Boy-Who-Never-Let-You-Forget-About-It' had made much of his defeat of Voldemort as a baby. He had even developed a fan club of sorts.

Two fourth years that had just been putting away a chessboard looked up. "What's going on?" They were both groupies.

"It's Ginny - something happened to my sister. She went down to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and disappeared."

"Maybe she just had to go real bad?" Chortled a sixth year from the other side of the room.

"No, she's been acting strange all year. And I followed her down to the bathroom. When she went inside, I waited for a half hour, but when nobody came out, I took a peek inside, and it was empty! I need somebody to come help me look!"

"She'll turn up," said one of the groupies.

"And if she doesn't, you can get one of the teachers in the morning, but right now it's almost curfew!"

Oddly, none of Ron's fan club seemed inclined to volunteer to help at times like this.

Harry looked at Neville. Neville shrugged. "Let's go. We'll take a look."

"Thanks! You two are the best!" Ron turned and raced out of the common room, followed by the other two boys. "I tried to get George to help, but I couldn't get into Hufflepuff - I think they all went to bed already. And I saw Percy sneaking out earlier with Audrey, so who knows where he is - he certainly won't be back before dawn." Ron babbled.

The three boys soon found themselves in Moaning Myrtles bathroom. Well, technically, it was a public bathroom, but Myrtle, the most annoying ghost in all of Hogwarts, made using it impractical.

"There's got to be a secret exit somewhere around here." Ron pulled and pushed on the assorted fixtures in desperation. There was a thin layer of water on the floor from when Myrtle had dived into her toilet at the sight of two boys invading the girls bathroom.

Harry was tapping on the walls, trying to find one that sounded hollow.

"Harry, I'm going to go get a professor" Neville periodically had bouts of establishmentarianism that were at odds with his usual go-it-alone approach to solving all the social ills at Hogwarts. That penchant for solving things with his fists was also why most of the muggle-born students had started referring to him as 'Zorro'.

"Yeah, go for it. Ron and I will keep looking here." Harry turned to the redhead, "Are you certain she went in here?"

"Yes. I was following her all evening, ever since she wandered out of the common room, and she never even tried to hide. She just walked like she was in a daze. She first went up to the third floor and cast some spells up in an empty corridor before turning around and heading back down here."

"What did she cast?"

"I don't know!" Ron shrugged, "I was so worried about Ginny that I didn't think to check." Ron walked over to Harry. "What have you got there?" Harry was poking at the hot water knob on one of the sinks.

"This fixture - it looks different from all the others. The others are plain brass, but this one is shaped like snakes, and there is some writing along the base." He pointed to the inscription at the bottom of the brass fixture.

"Maybe the sink got busted and they had to buy a different one to replace it?" Ron shrugged indifferently, but then leaned over to read the inscription. "Ssas Hasa Shsisu," he read.

"What?" Harry asked in surprise. That surprise redoubled as the sink hit Ron on the chin, knocking him onto his rear end on the wet floor, as it lifted straight up to the ceiling, revealing a gaping hole in the wall.

"I think we have our secret entrance." Harry leaned in to take a look, ducking first one way, then the other so as not to block the light from the bathroom. "There is a tube or something going down. And it's coated in muck along the sides, but the bottom has been wiped clean." He turned to look at Ron. Ron looked at him. "So?"

"So?"

Harry sighed, "She's your sister. I thought you wanted to find her."

"Um, yeah, let's go!' Ron looked dubiously at the filthy opening.

Harry sighed again and threw himself feet first into the slide. He controlled his decent by pressing his feet against opposite sides of the tube, but soon the muck had coated his shoes and he lost control, finally flying out of the pipe like it was a gross water slide. He landed on a pile of muck and some sort of leathery stuff. He was just starting to stand up when Ron came flying after, smashing into him, bowling him over.

When Harry staggered up again several minutes later, feeling woozy, he was alone. 'That prat left me behind'. Not that it was much of a surprise. Ron didn't have a good record of thinking of others. In the deathly silence of the room faint noises traveled easily, and Harry could hear the sound of voices raised in an argument from the far side of the room. Harry looked around. It looked like a cave that somebody had started converting into a giant hall, and then gave up on as too much work. There was an arched doorway at the far end with ornate bronze double doors (covered in a green patina), and there were some decorative panels around the slide that they had come down on, but the rest was filled with unfinished stone, stalagmites, and shreds of some sort of leather.

Harry cautiously made his way towards the archway – that was where the voices were coming from, through a small crack where the doors didn't completely seal. It took careful walking - the floor was covered in bones and rocks and other detritus hiding under the dust.

He was almost there when the yelling started, followed by a loud hissing. Harry pulled out his wand and ran to help. Ron might be an annoying idiot, but if he was in danger, Harry had to help him (it's just the way that he had been raised). He struggled to force open one of the immense doors - if it hadn't been jammed part way open, he would never have managed to get through. When if finally creaked open, he ran into an even larger chamber to see Ron Weasley fighting a giant eyeless snake with a sword, the sorting hat perched awkwardly on his head. Another boy, who looked to be a sixth or seventh year, stood off to the side, smirking as he watched.

At Smirking Boy's feet sprawled Ron's little sister, a small leather-bound book laying by her hand. Harry quickly assessed the situation: help fight the snake or check on Ginny. It was a no-brainer – not even he was that much of a hero. He ran over towards the little first year, but as he did a coil of the snake twitched towards her. Harry put on a burst of speed, scooping up the petite girl just before a coil of the serpent's body landed with enough force to crush bone on the spot where she had been a moment before. He then had to throw himself to the side, cushioning Ginny as the coil flexed sideways, almost smashing them both against the wall.

Harry staggered back up, leaving Ginny sheltered behind a stalagmite. With that size, and that crest... That thing was a Basilisk. Thank god its eyes had been plucked out, or he would have been petrified. Or worse.

His attention was drawn back from the serpent as the older teen spoke. "Oh, no need to worry about poor little Ginerva. She'll be dead soon enough one way or another." He smiled and gestured airily, picking up the book that had been laying by Ginny. Harry didn't recognize him, but he was dressed in Slytherin colors. He also looked like an arrogant prat.

So Harry did the only thing he could think of. He tackled him.

"Don't touch me!" Shrieked the older by as Harry's body went THROUGH the teen. It wasn't like he was a ghost – he had some substance, but it was mushy.

"How dare you touch me, you filth!" the boy was shivering in abject horror. The experience wasn't pleasant for Harry either. It was gross, like going face first through a giant pile of slimy mashed potatoes. But he recovered before the other boy, who was still hugging himself, appalled at the physical contact.

Harry grabbed the book and wrestled it away from the other boy. The Slytherin boy was older and bigger, but Harry was much more athletic, and he had experience roughhousing with his cousin.

"You punched me!" The older teen grabbed his nose with both hands.

"Um, yeah?" What else was he supposed to do when he wanted the larger boy to let go of something? And it had worked as well on the Slytherin as it did on Dudley. Harry was just trying to figure out what to do with the book when there was an animalistic shriek, and the giant snake flopped to the ground.

"Give me back the book!" Shrieked the Slytherin, still holding a hand to his nose, despite there not being anything wrong with it – he wasn't solid enough yet for Harry's fist to do any harm to him.

"Nope." Harry didn't know what the book was for, but it was very clear that this prat desperately wanted it. So just as clearly he wasn't going to get it. Harry held tight as a spell tried to whisk it from his hand.

"You want it so bad? Is it some sort of thingie for controlling that basilisk? Ruptura!" Harry aimed at the book, but it didn't so much as twitch.

"There is nothing you can do that will destroy that book."

"Harry, destroy the book! It's killing Ginny!" Harry looked up as Ron staggered over, a huge fang sticking out of his arm.

He collapsed almost on top of him. At the same time Fawkes flew down and started singing.

Harry yanked the basilisk fang from Ron's arm and stabbed it into the book.

FSHOOM!

Harry was blown onto his duff by the resulting explosion, as with an anguished wail the book exploded into loose pages.

"Huh. What do you know. Hagrid was right about Basilisk venom." And passed out.

\*/

[[now]]

"So, any luck getting rid of that marriage contract?" George Weasley asked as he slid a seat over to be next to Harry at the Gryffindor table. It was the end of the second week of school and the initial chaos was starting to wearing off as the students were all settling in to their studies. It was dinnertime and the tables were all overflowing with food. The firsties had gotten over being overwhelmed and where now taking advantage of the 'all you an eat & more' policy of the Hogwarts elves to pack in as much food as their stomachs could hold. Either casting spells used up a lot of calories, or the elves did something to the food to prevent rampant obesity. They definitely did something to it that made the students gorge themselves on weird foods like pumpkin juice and spotted dick. If any muggle crisps manufacturer found out about this, they would literally kill for the secret.

"No. We're still waiting to hear back from the Ministry" Harry shrugged as he replied to the misplaced 'Puff. George had been spending more and more time at the Gryffindor table lately, though not at his brother's end of it. He usually sat a couple of seats away from Ginny, so Harry figured he was here because of his Hufflepuff family loyalty or something.

"You know, if you get married before the contract activates, it's nulled." George took a sip of his pumping juice, "And I have a sister I could let you have. Cheap."

Harry glanced sharply at the usually timid Huffelpuff.

"You're joking, right?" Neville interrupted. Fortunately, Ginny had just left – she had snagged a couple of girls from the Gryffindor teammate for a pick up game of quidditch before it got too dark. They even took along the 'Claw's seeker, Cho Chang.

"Um, sort of.." George looked around to make sure the redhead fireball in question hadn't walked back into the room for some reason before leaning in and whispering, "Now that Percy is out of the house, she's been driving me stark raving bonkers all summer. Her and Ron, they go at each other all day, every day. So can you take her? Please?"

"Sorry, no, old chap." Harry smirked. Ginny was a hoot, and they had been friends ever since the Basilisk incident, but she was one of the guys. Harry couldn't imagine dating her. Besides, if he ever so much as raised the topic with her, she'd pop him one in the nose (or worse).

And he was also pretty certain that George's claim wasn't true.

\*/

Ginny made a steep dive and passed the quaffle to Angeline, right past Cho's outstretched fingers, and the older chaser swooped in to score.

"And that's game." The girls had been playing 'KNEAZLE', and Angelina's goal had been the final 'E'

As they slowly flew down to the changing rooms, Angelina drifted over to Ginny, "So, do you think your brother likes me?"

"Which brother?" Ginny asked, startled.

"George. The one that sits next to us at every meal!" Angelina replied incredulously.

"That doesn't mean anything!" Ginny spluttered. She sat with Harry for meals, but it wasn't because she liked him! "He probably just likes hanging out with us because we're fun and vivacious," she replied quickly, feeling panicky.

"So he does like me?"

Ginny looked around for some way to escape this awful, awkward conversation. "I don't know. I guess? Maybe?"

"Great!" Angelina beamed at her before swooping down to the locker room.

\*/

"So what do we do about the Carrows?" Neville asked as he joined Harry at the side table in the Gryffindor room. It was out of the way, so a perfect place for plotting (and they were too low on the totem pole to get the good seats in front of the fire – those were reserved for the sixth and seventh years).

"Well, you know how they always wear green? How about we use a color changing charm to make their clothing brown."

"But they have their school robes on over jumpers and whatnot most of the time."

"So we do the robes." Harry wasn't one to give up easily.

"Nah, it won't show up as well against the dark colors. How about we sticking-charm a sign to their backs, like 'kick me'?"

"Or better, 'kiss me'?" Both boys chortled at the thought. The Carrow girls were so standoffish, that if a boy ever kissed one, her head would explode.

Harry froze, "Wait, I just had a bad thought."

"Yeah? that's why we're here!" Giggled Neville.

"No, I mean are we certain it's both sisters that are bullying Luna? And if it's not, how do we tell which sister is which?"

Neville gave a groan. "We need to do more research."

\*/

Sirius popped into Brighton. Literally. It was a beautiful day, if a little brisk - the sea wind was blowing strong today. He strolled down the street, pausing to pick up a muggle newspaper from a corner stand before walking to Remus' apartment - it was in a third floor walk up. After his abortive stint as a DADA professor, the Werewolf was now working as an editor for a muggle textbook company, which let him work from home most days.

"Hey, Sirius. It's good to see you! Come in. Do you want tea?" Remus offered as he let his old friend in.

"That would be wonderful," Sirius smiled. Remus always had a mellowing effect on those around him. Sirius never drank tea except when visiting Remus - he was a beer aficionado through and through. (James even stocked some of his favorite Spanish beers just for him. Other people might complain about them, but he thought the Iberian stuff was better than anything from Germany).

After some small talk over the cuppa, Sirius got to the meat of the visit. "Have there been any 'Death Eater' style attacks around here?" Brighton has a number of Wizards living happily mixed in with the muggles. It was just the sort of place that Death Eaters despised.

Remus scowled. Brighton was pretty far removed from London – culturally, not physically – so it was not unreasonable to assume that attacks could go unreported. "No, nothing like that. A wizard was accosted as he was leaving a gay bar, but that was just local ruffians."

"Was he ok?"

"Yeah – he was too drunk to apparate so he was walking home. A couple of guys roughed him up, but bystanders ran them off before they could inflict more than a couple of bruises. But it made the local paper." Remus paused, pressing his lips together. "I can ask Miles if he's heard anything – he talks to a lot more people." Miles was his roommate, and also a werewolf. He worked as an art agent, helping aspiring artists try to profit off of their work.

Sirius nodded. Miles was out, as always. He was always out when Sirius came by. Personally, he couldn't care if the two of them were boffing like bunnies, as long as they don't do it in front of him, but much of the pureblood wizarding community was even more horrified by homosexuality than they were of lycanthropy. Even James was a bit of a prig that way, so Sirius understood why Remus didn't want to have it get out. 'It's just too bad that he has to live all the way down here'.

\*/

"Oh, that's just wonderful," Neville proclaimed, looking blearily at his schedule. It was Monday morning and he was half slumped over his breakfast. If the one hand supporting his head slipped any further, he would face plant into his eggs. He had been up late last night following (stalking) Luna to see if either of the Carrows sisters (or anybody else) bullied her. But he had no luck. All that happened was that Luna spent several hours up in the owlery, digging through owl pellets.

"What's wonderful?" Harry glanced over at his step-brother – he had been watching Ron proclaim to all the the firsties how he had single-handedly driven Bellatrix Lestrange away from Hogwarts last year. No mention of how Harry had helped. Which was for the best. Harry didn't want to resurrect the rumors from last year. With his luck, people would start claiming that his marriage contract was with Bellatrix. He grimaced.

"We have potions first thing today!"

Harry rolled is eyes. "Yeah, it's the same schedule as last week. It hasn't magically changed. Besides, if you didn't burn your cauldron every class, Snape wouldn't hassle you. He's is a jerk, but he's fair."

"I can't help it – it's too much waiting, and I get bored." Neville paused, before adding, "And some of us don't get special tutoring."

Harry snorted, "You want to trade? You get to spend an extra hour a week with the slimy git, and I'll play exploding snap in the common room for you."

"Yeah, right!" Neville just slapped Harry on the back like he made a good joke. "But what's up with Luna ? She was hanging around the owlery all last night."

"Let's go ask." Harry figured this was a good chance to get Nev to talk with his crush, "Here, you ask her," Harry guided his step brother to the Ravenclaw table.

Neville stood awkwardly. How was he supposed to say without revealing that he had been following Luna around like some creepy stalker. She would end up thinking he was a pervert. Heck, all of the Ravenclaws would think that, because his oh-so-helpful socially-clueless step-brother had drawn the attention of the whole frigging TABLE!

Harry noticed that Neville was too shy, so it fell on him to start the conversation, "Hey, Luna, Neville was wondering what you were doing up in the owlery for so long yesterday."

The un-worldly Ravenclaw looked up in surprise that somebody was conversing with her, "I was dissecting owl pellets, to look for nargles."

"Why would nargles live in owl pellets?" Harry asked, confused, as Cho, who was seated nearby, rolled her eyes and motioned to Harry to not ask – it would just lead him down the rabbit hole to Luna's loony wonderland.

"They don't live there, silly, but nargles are about the right size to fall prey to hungry owls. Dissecting owl pellets is a good way to sample the local fauna."

"The local dead fauna," Harry corrected with a smirk. It sounded gross, though on consideration it was no worse than some of the stuff Snape had them do for Potions.

"How often.." Neville began before trailing off and hissing "Malfoy!" Harry looked up to see what the Longbottom was focusing on as Neville stomped over to where Draco was leaning over a cowering second year Hufflepuff girl. Harry sighed, "I'll talk to you later, Luna," and followed Zorro, er Neville.

"I'd like that," Luna smiled after Harry, but he was busy weaving his way between tables to reach ground zero before Neville exploded.

"All I am saying, my dear, is that it wouldn't hurt you to act more proper. You're a pureblood, and we have to set an example," Draco lectured the girl as she cringed behind her toast.

"Lay off, zit head!" Neville stormed over, his posture pure aggression.

Draco glanced up at the teacher's table and smirked, "Or what, Longbottom? Are you gunning for your first detention of the year?"

Before Neville could do or say anything, Harry grabbed his arm, "Not now."

"Five points from Gryffindor," Snape pronounced in a self satisfied fashion. McGonagall scowled but nodded in agreement.

Harry quickly looked around for any available distractions. "Come on, let's go keep The-Boy-Who-Makes-Shit-Up honest." He dragged Neville towards where Ron was still expositing to a pair of star struck first year boys (though possibly their glazed expressions were due to excessive exposure to toxic insecurity and not due to hero worship).

Ron wasn't exactly a friend but after the basilisk incident Harry had come to accept him. He was slightly defective, but his heart was in the right place.

Neville snorted, letting himself be redirected. "He's almost as bad as Malfoy."

"Nah, as long as Ginny isn't around to trigger him, he's tolerable." And he was ground zero for the Hogwarts rumor mill. Harry wasn't certain if his dad and others included him in adult conversations since he was the 'Boy Who Lived', or if he did actually make stuff up, but he always had interesting stories that he would share to impress his listeners (on the flip side, you would have to be nuts to trust 'the boy who blabbed' with any secret).

But the kids who gathered around him didn't seem to care - they reciprocated with their own tales. Today, Harry figured that they could listen in and maybe get a lead on what was going on with Luna.

"Dementors aren't that big a deal. I'll teach you to cast the Patroneus. Once your armed with that and some chocolate for emergencies, you'll be fine" Ron expounded.

\*/

[[last year]]

As Ron stumbled along the periphery of the Forbidden Forest in the dark, periodically glancing at the rough map clutched in his hand, a voice called out. "There you are."

Ron stopped, looking around frantically. "Where are you? You told me you would tell me who led Voldimort to kill my mother!"

A woman dressed in mismatched clothes stepped out from under a tree. Her hair was almost as wild as her eyes. She clutched a wand in her hand as she examined Ron, her head cocked at an angle like she had just been hanged, and a strange smile was fixed on her face. "Hello Weasley-poo. You came!"

"Yes, I came." Ron dropped the map, and nervously took his wand out. In retrospect, this might not have been such a good idea. Bellatrix claimed that she was wrongly imprisoned, and that she was never Lord Voldemort's follower, but what if she had lied?

"And you want the little rat that squeaked the prophecy to the Dark Lord?" She slowly began to circle. "Well, so do I. If it wasn't for him, the Dark Lord would still be here, with us, with me." Realizing that her voice was getting a tad shreaky, Bellatrix composed herself and gave a fake girlish laugh. "So, do you want to share?"

"What?" Ron looked confused.

"Stupefy!" The woman pronounced. Ron barely dodged out of the way. "Come, Ronnie-kins. I need you as bait," She cooed as she cast another stunner. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. And if I do, I'll kiss it and make it better!"

Ron dived for the rushes growing by the little brook, hoping that meager cover would hide him. It was dawning on him that come out here, without telling anybody about it (much less discussing and coming up with a plan) might not have been one of his smartest ideas.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" A spell sheared through a swath of the reeds. Ron ran down the stream, towards Hogwarts, trying to not touch any of the cattails growing in the boggy soil so as not let the crazy woman know where he was. The stream was tiny, but the ground all around it was soft and boggy and hard to run through. Ron's heart was hammering away - any minute now that woman would get tired of playing and just blow the whole area up or something.

As he ran, a root caught his foot, sending him face first into a puddle. As he struggled back to his feet, trying not to lose his wand, he was almost overwhelmed by a sense of despair. At the same time a skim of frost formed on the the wet soil.

\*/

Harry had been following behind Ron. The prat had been acting strange all year. Harry would have assumed that it involved a girl, but the redheaded block head was clearly oblivious to the opposite gender – he didn't even notice that frizzy-haired know it all - Hermione - following him around everywhere like a lost puppy dog.

Neville, on the other hand, was convinced that it had something to do with Malfoy. But whatever it was, they agreed that Ron was probably in over his head, so they took turns keeping an eye on the idiot. And it was just his luck that Neville was asleep when Ron snuck down to the common room, looked around to check if there was anybody around, and snuck out the portrait hole. After curfew.

Harry had been sitting in a high-backed arm chair, reading in front of the fire (with the upper years all asleep, the prize chairs were fair game), and Ron hadn't see him on his way past.

So now here he was, watching his chum Ron standing in a clearing as a deranged looking witch circled him like a predator sizing up a between-meal snack.

And Harry didn't mean 'chum' as in friend, but as in 'shark food'.

'What would dad do?' Harry watched, uncertain. He knew what dad would do – he would go in there and bust heads and take care of business. But if Harry tried that, he would get his ass handed to him, even with the extra training dad and Sirius were giving him. It would be a very bad idea, even if it was the right thing to do.

But before Harry could convince himself to go do something stupid, the air grew chilly and his breath began to fog as he breathed out. The wild woman jerked and glanced around before running off, jumping over brambles in a crazed panic.

Ron lowered his wand, breathing a sigh of relief. But a split second later, there was a screech, and the air was filled with Dementors swooping down.

"E..Expecto Patronum!" Ron yelled, and miraculously, a yellow mist came from his wand tip, enveloping him in a shield.

Harry watched as the Dementors batted at the feeble protection. The little bubble of light barely covered all of him, and each time a Dementor swooped by it quivered like jello. Ron was getting more and more wild eyed, glancing around in the hopes of seeing a path to freedom.

Harry took a deep breath and thought of his happiest moments – playing quidditch with his dad, listening to uncle Sirius tell stories, "Expecto Patronum!"

A burst of light came from his wand, creating a broad shouldered stag that charged the Dementors, it's rack down.

As it entered the swarm, it swung its head back and forth, trying to gore any fear spawn that were too slow to dodge.

The Dementors gave way, leaving an open space around the Patroneus. Ron dropped his own spell and ran for the safety of Hogwarts and its wards.

\*/

[[now]]

"Thank Merlin that's over." Ron joined the Potter boys later that Monday as they walked from the Potions classroom to Transfiguration. He didn't so much walk with them as walk in the same general direction. And a pace or two ahead.

Harry shrugged, "it's not that bad"

"That's because your dad is so strict that you're used to it," Ron retaliated over his shoulder.

"Hey, don't compare Da to Snape!" Neville interjected, but he let it go, instead focusing on a mutual enemy. "I can't believe that Goyle is still messing with people's potions. Didn't he learn from that detention he got first week of school?"

"We're talking about Goyle. If he was capable of learning, he wouldn't be Goyle." Harry retorted.

"Whatever. I'll see you guys. I have to swing by my room to get my transfiguration text book," Ron pulled ahead.

Neville snorted, "He thinks he's too cool to walk with us." Which was fine with him – he could only take so much Ron before he had to puke.

"Excuse me, which way to first year charms?" As the were walking, the duo was accosted by a very confused first year boy in Hufflepuff robes. The Potters stopped and set him on the correct vector (though Harry had some doubt as to whether he would actually be able to find the Charms classroom – It was ALL the way on the other side of the castle).

Afterwards, Neville sighed, "Wait until the foreign students get here – it will be like this all the time. Though I guess that will still be better than last year, with the Dementors and the werewolves.

"There weren't any werewolves," Harry sighed, rehashing the old argument. At this point, he wasn't certain if Neville was serious or was just trolling him."The ministry just didn't want to admit that Belletrix had escaped from Azkaban."

"That's a conspiracy theory that the Ravenclaws were putting about. I bet there were Werewolves!" Neville replied truculently.

\*/

[[last year]]

"Did you hear?" Ginny's boots sprawled onto the bench in their train compartment, followed by the rest of the red-headed tomboy. "There are werewolves at Hogwarts!" Harry and Neville exchanged a look. They had just pulled out a deck of cards as they prepared for the trip into Hogwarts. They had taken the compartment at the back of the train, like last year – it was turning into 'their' compartment.

Harry looked over at the youngest Weasley, "where did you hear this?" That didn't sound right, and his dad always told him to check out any story that didn't pass the sniff test (So did Sirius, but he had been talking about girls at the time (right before he got smacked in the back of the head by Lily))

"Everybody is talking about it," Ginny replied. Even her brother, and he always knew stuff that nobody else did (which was just ONE of the annoying things about him).

"Yes, werewolves like to eat snorkacks" Luna added as she sat down next to Ginny..

Neville's smile became fixed. "Um, I'm going to go get some snacks." All of these uninvited guests were too much for him. Especially 'Loony'.

"The snack cart isn't out yet," Harry commented.

"I know, but I saw George when we were getting on." Last year, the elder (and more responsible) Weasley had started a sideline of selling snacks. He always had a large selection on him, and if he didn't have what you wanted, he could owl order it for you.

"So what's this about werewolves?" Harry asked.

"They are hunting Snorkacks."

Ginny gave Luna a frustrated look. "It's all over the train: a pack of werewolves were sighted in the Forbidden Forest, and the Minister of Magic is having Dementors stationed on the periphery, to keep them out of the school."

"What?" Harry goggled, "My dad's an Auror. I think he would have mentioned something like that." Dementors were not to be trifled with. James Potter did his best to make his sons ready for the real world (Though Lily often rolled her eyes at what he considered 'real world' skills, and tried to fill in the gaps), so he had told them about the living weapon that was a Dementor.

"Maybe they are invisible Dementors," Luna asked, trying to be supportive of Ginny. She was her oldest friend, though their interests didn't much align anymore. But Ginny was still nice, like that time last year when she agreed to check for niffler dens when she was climbing the standing crag on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

"Well, the 'Boy Who Lived' will keep us safe," Ginny pronounced and jabbed a finger up dramatically. Partly because her brother WAS incredibly annoying, and partly because she had learned that making fun of him was an easy way to become part of the 'in' crowd.

"Hey, don't tease Ron," Harry replied, "He's a dork, but he means well."

"And his brother sells tasty treats" Neville threw a packet of chocolate frogs into Harry's lap.

Harry nodded, "we'll just have to see when we get there." Harry had learned not to trust rumor. You gathered information and acted on what you knew, with whatever tools you had. It was a rather pedestrian way to live, but it was what both his parents had drilled into him. Which was why Harry managed to do well in school despite not having any outstanding talent for magic or a genius intellect.

\*/

[[now]]

Fourth year transfiguration was... entertaining. McGonnegal had them pair up and practice the material from last year, as a review. Harry always liked how hands on her classes were. But that wasn't the amusing part - not that he didn't like Transfiguration. He did. It just wasn't his best subject - the amusing part was watching Ron and Hermione. Somehow, 'the Friz', as Harry secretly referred to her, had attached herself to the tall redhead and was now attempting to cram into his head everything that he had forgotten over the summer (Or possibly never learned at all). Whatever else you could say about the Friz, her knowledge about transfiguration (and everything else having to do with magic) was prodigious.

Ron's eyes had glazed over in the first five minutes. He was still nodding and smiling, but that was probably because he liked having a girl pay attention to him. He kept repeating the same mistakes over and over, and his hedgehog, which was supposed to turn into a tea pot, was beginning to look more and more like a spiky racing broom.

Much like Hermione's hair, as she kept pulling on it.

Harry had to repress a smile as he watched her antics.

"Lucky bloke," Neville muttered, taking a break. His hedgehog was now round and porcelain. He just needed one more spell to put the spout on.

"What, you want somebody bossing you around? And gushing over how your 'swish' is very 'swishy'?"

Neville frowned, "well, you wouldn't understand – you have that marriage contract as a fall back, but finding a girl is not so easy for us regular guys."

Harry elbowed Neville. "Yeah? Maybe I can set you up with Parkinson."

"Urp!" Neville pretended to throw up, "No thanks. Malfoy can keep that one."

"Boys! What is going on over there?" McGonagall glared from where she had been assisting Parvati.

The two boys quickly went back to work.

\*/

"Ok, I think we have enough people for a good match," Angelina looked around in surprise at the group on the quidditch pitch. Without Oliver Wood, it hadn't been clear what would become of the team, but she had managed to coral all of the Gryffindor team that hadn't graduated as well as the alternates for an intramural match. And it was a perfect day for quidditch – it was still early enough in the year so it wasn't too cold, but it was brisk enough to keep them from overheating.

"I've never played chaser before," Harry quipped, hefting his Nimbus 2000. They only had enough people for a half-team match – only two chasers per team, and no seekers.

"Hey, no complaining - you're the reason we're out here!" Angeline jabbed him with the end of her broom - Harry had prodded and prodded her until she had acquiesced and organized the game.

"If the team had been willing to listen to a lil' ol fourth year like me, I'd have done it myself." Harry shrugged self consciously before adding more seriously, "but we have some people who want to go professional after Hogwarts, so it's only fair that we help them keep their skills sharp and.."

"Can it, runt. I heard you the first time." Harry was actually almost the same height as the chaser, but the nickname dated back to when he joined the team as a firsty. "Everybody take your booms!" She blew her whistle and all the players kicked off into the air.

Harry and Katie were the chasers for red team, while Alicea and Ginny were blue team. All four raced to take control of the quaffle, but Ginny got there first, batting it out of Harry's grasping hand towards Alicia. As Harry turned to intercept, Ginny attempted to body check him him, but Harry was on a better broom and jinked up before she could connect.

"Oy, what are you trying to do? You're too small to pull that off!" Harry laughed as he wove around her.

"Yeah, leave doing damage to the Beaters!" Sloper made a hard pass at Harry, but Harry just rolled his broom so that the bludger wizzed over him before rolling back up to vertical without slowing.

The game was aggressive, if a little sloppy at times as some of the players hadn't had much practice since last season. Despite never having played chaser, Harry managed to do pretty well, quaffling several goals.

After an hour and a half, they called the match for team red, 32 to 28.

"Damn, are you one of those that's planning to go pro? You must have spent all summer practicing!" Katie bell was impressed. "You make a pretty decent chaser!"

"Nah, It's all just pure inborn talent," Harry smirked... Until Ginny rabbit punched him in the kidneys she walked past.

"Don't get too full of yourself. You're not the Boy Who Lived."

"That was uncalled for, Gin," Harry countered as he caught up to the redheaded firebrand.

"No, it was totally necessary. I can only put up with so much crap, and despite everything, Ron's my brother, so he gets to fill the tank first." Ginny had finally decided at the end of last year that family came before scoring social points.

Harry chortled and slapped her on the back. "I'll see you inside – I'm going to stop off at the locker room to get changed."

"Ok. And Harry, thanks for organizing this. It means a lot to me," Ginny waived.

\*/

"So what do you think about this Triwizard tournament thing?" George was eating with the Gryffindors. Again. And casting surreptitious glances at Angelina.

Harry shrugged, "don't really care. It sucks that we don't have quidditch this year, but other than that, it doesn't impact me." Neither did chatting with a sixth year from another House. Stuff like that happened. His mom claimed that it was because he was very mature. But Harry didn't take it to heart: she was his mother – she was contractually obligated to say stuff like that. He just figured it was because he wasn't cliquey.

"Well, I'm going to try out for it." George pronounced.

Harry looked up, surprised. "Are you certain you're the correct Weasley? For a moment I thought you were Ron."

"Hardy har har. I just don't want my Hogwarts career to be a big bland nothing when I look back on it."

"And the rumors of prize money don't hurt either," Harry smirked.

George scowled at the Gryffindor, "You know, that's pretty rude." George was sensitive about his family's poverty.

"Sorry, sorry," Harry held up his hands in defeat.

"Besides, I'm not going to trust to luck – I plan to lay some side bets, on who DOES get to be champion," George's frown morphed into a smirk with remarkable swiftness.

"Sorry chap. I'm not going to be betting on you or anybody else. It's not my thing." Harry was nothing if not consistent. He did his school work, he played quidditch (when he could), and otherwise he tried to avoided getting side tracked by adventures or shenanigans that the other boys might want him to join in on (though he failed at that spectacularly sometimes. exempli grati that time with the Basilisk and then that Bellatrix thing).

He glanced up towards were he was keeping an eye on Neville, as he was arguing with sixth year Slytherin. And except except when it involved Neville, but he was family.

Harry glanced at his watch. "And I have to go. I have 'remedial potions' with the slime lord."

\*/

[[last year]]

Harry's first day as a third year went about as expected, since Potions was first period. Whatever else you could say about Snape, he was very reliable.

He ignored the students as they filed in. Check

He waited until the bell rang before looking up from his papers with a glower. Check.

"Welcome to potions. You have all been here before, so you do not need any introduction. You will find ingredients on the desks, along with recipe for a calming drought. It is a second year potion. Let's see how much you forgot over the summer." He paused.

Ron tentatively held up his hand, "Um, you want us to make it?"

"Yes, Ronald, I want you to make it. Though given that most of you have probably not actually used your brains in the past two months, it is no doubt a forlorn hope. And this year, try not to destroy the classroom until at least October."

He assigned homework on the first day of class, and was rude to the students. Check and check.

Every year started the exact same way.

Class was actually ok. It really was a pretty easy potion, as long as you followed the instructions, and most students did fine, getting milky, slightly pinkish fluid. The difficulty was that you had to keep the cauldron at an even boil for a full 15 minutes.

"Neville!" Harry whispered as he poked his step brother. Potions was with the Slytherins, and Goyle had (again) done something to piss of Neville, so he was paying more attention to the Slytherin than to his potion.

"Mr. Potter. There is to be no talking. 5 points from Gryffindor," Snape smiled his typical predatory smile at Harry.

"Professor," Neville interrupted, "Goyle is throwing pieces of his excess ingredients into other peoples potions!"

"And an additional 5 point from Gryffindor for baseless accusations. I did not provide any excess ingredients," Snape snapped, but this time he was watching Goyle, who's face paled and he began to stir his potion quickly as if to offset the missing ingredients by vigorously mixing the rest. But the stirring just caused the potion to smoke, and moments later, burst into flame.

"Apparently not baseless. Ten point from Slytherin for wasting ingredients." Snape never awarded point, and he never returned points that he deducted. So it was a race to the bottom as everybody tried to lose the least points in his class. He turned back to Neville. "Two points from Griffindor for not collecting (the readily available) evidence to support your claims".

And he was a total prick.

As the students were handing in their potions, he turned to Harry, "Potter, see me after class."

The final minutes of the class period passed in dread and silence.

\*/

"Mr Potter," Snape held up Harry's potion, swirling it in the vial, "I would like you to sign up for remedial potions."

"What? Why? My potion is the exact same as everybody else's!" Harry was incensed. Snape was always an ass-hat, but he wasn't usually arbitrary.

"Exactly, Mr. Potter. I expect better."

"So because I'm average, I have to switch to remedial potions"

"No, the remedial potions class will be in addition to your regular class." At Harry confused look, Snape took the unusual step of explaining, "I was in school with your parents, and I know that your mother had exceptional talent at potions. I have no doubt that you are an extreme disappointment to her by only being 'average'. Now go to your next class, so that you are not a disappointment there as well."

Harry held his tongue. Yelling at Snape never tuned out well. But it was a good thing Neville wasn't here.

\*/

Neville was waiting for him outside the potions classroom, "So what was that about, mate?"

"I.. don't know. I think Snape just asked - well, more like told – me to sign up for advanced tutoring?" Harry knew that his parents and Snape had had some sort of history. But this was just plain weird.

Neville snorted in skepticism, "No, he probably just wants to assign you more busy work. He's a jerk that way." Neville idolized James, so he took his father's claims about Snape as the gospel truth. Harry was less certain. It seemed like Snape had mellowed in his old age (to a 13 year old, Snape was an old man), and wasn't as bad as his father remembered him being.

\*/

[[now, Remedial Potions]]

Snape held up the potion that Harry had turned in, swirling it gently. "This is.. acceptable."

It was a damn sight better than acceptable – it was textbook perfect, but Harry didn't say anything, just nodding his acceptance.

"Therefore we will move on." Snape waved his wand at the blackboard, revealing instructions for what looked like a sixth year potion, judging from its complexity. "Prepare the ingredients ONLY, and call me to inspect them when you think you are done."

Harry couldn't hold back a small groan. At least next period was DADA. Defense had always been Harry's favorite subject, but old man Moody made it a blast (sometimes literally).

\*/

"Our time is almost up," Moody stumped into the middle of the classroom. There was just a few minutes left in the period. "So lets go back to fighting off the Imperio. Who wants to go first? Ms. Granger." He didn't wait for her to volunteer, casting the spell as soon as Hermione stood up. "Please dance."

Hermione stood awkwardly, not moving.

"Very good!" Moody ended the spell, "Explain how you fought off the Imperio?"

"I didn't sir," Hermione replied, "But I realized that you never specified when I had to dance. I took your command to mean that I should dance when I am in the privacy of my room, as it would be abnormal to dance in public."

"Exactly correct! Not the dancing in public – you can do that if want – but the reinterpreting the command into something that you are ok with doing."

Neville nudged Harry, whispering. "You think Granger will ever dance in public?"

Harry rolled his eyes, "Ask her out, if you're so curious." He felt a strange calm wash over him as Moody chose him as the next victim.

"Quiet!" the professor commanded.

Harry tried to resist, but the command made sense – his mother had drilled into him that you shouldn't talk in class. And he didn't want to go against his mother.

Several seconds passed before he felt the spell release as Moody cast on the next student.

Finally, class was over, and an emotionally drained cohort of students slumped out into the hallway. As they did, Neville's eyes snapped to a certain blond Ravenclaw who was skipping down the stairs, making sure to step on every other stair only.

Harry smirked when he noticed – Hermione would have to wait. Neville still only had eyes for one girl.

Neville frowned. Why was Luna barefoot?

\*/

Lunch on Friday before the arrival of the two other schools was nosier than usual as the students ate quickly before rushing out to catch their first glimpse of the exchange students. Luna was one of the few students not infected by the excitement. Instead she was eating quietly at the Ravenclaw table, enjoying the fact that the other girls were absent.

"Are you going to come out and greet our guests?" Ginny asked as she dropped into the seat next to her. After three years of mostly the same faces, this would be an exciting change of pace. A moment later, Neville joined her, sitting on Luna's other side.

Luna nodded as she cut a dainty piece off of her omelet. "Yes, but they are not scheduled to arrive for another 45 minutes. That is plenty of time to finish my meal. It is important to chew your food, for proper digestion." Her eyes skewed sideways, towards where Ron was inhaling his second serving of something – it was hard to tell what it had been before he had dumped an entire bottle of ketchup over it.

Ginny shrugged, "Yeah, but I want to get a good spot – I hear that Beauxbatton has a flying carriage!" Anything flying drew the youngest Weasley like a magnet. If she could, she would spend her entire life up in the air.

"You do not have to keep me company," Luna gestured to the empty plate in front of Ginny.

"Nah, It's ok. I asked Harry to save me a spot." It was bad manners to leave your friend to eat by all by themselves. But her leg bounced with nervous energy anyway.

Luna had never been very good with people. They said and did things that followed 'social conventions', which made no sense. All animals needed food, shelter and a supply of clean water. What did that have to do with what color blouse you wore?

"Um, Luna?" Neville asked tentatively, "You know if you need help with anything you can ask me or Harry, right?"

"Oy, what am I chopped liver?" Ginny interjected. "You need anything, you can come to me as well."

Luna nodded, "That is very kind. If I ever need assistance, I will keep that in mind."

"I mean.." Neville began before petering out – how do you ask a girl if she was being bullied? Especially a girl that you weren't really close friends with – he knew Luna through Ginny, and honestly, he was pants at talk to girls in general. And if (when) he did find out she was being bullied, what could he do? With a guy, he would hex him three way from Thursday or put a fist through his nose, but you couldn't do that to a girl. And despite hearing all the stories from Sirius, he and Harry hadn't really done much pranking. Not since first year, when they had tried to let Hagrid's dragon loose on the quidditch field.

That had ended as a disaster.

"Come on, Loony, finish up," Ginny whined, unable to keep it in any longer.

Luna smiled. Before Ginny had introduced her to the Potter boys, she had been expecting her years at Hogwarts to be much like what had come before – a little bit lonely and a lot confusing. But now.. she glanced at her friend casting anxious glances out the main door of the great hall. People were still confusing, but now it was in a good way.

\*/

'This could work,' Lily put down the Warding Review Letters – it was a fairly dense industry journal, intended for professional ward crafters, but Lily still had a subscription and kept up with innovations in the field even though she had dropped out of research when she got pregnant (she was working as an assistant principle at a muggle primary school now). She was at her desk in her greenhouse – she kept all her magical research notes down here.

She made a few more notations in her very compact, precise hand before reading over what she had written. 'Though this will cut ALL blood based contracts.' She frowned momentarily. It wasn't ideal, but it wasn't like she and James used that sort of magic for anything. The only example that she could think of off hand was the tapestry at Sirius's old house, and that didn't show Harry anyway as he was too far removed from the main Black line.

Modern wizards rarely utilized blood magic. It was so dangerous that the Ministry was considering outlawing it outright, except that there were some old families that had a lot invested (both magically and emotionally) in ancient blood magics.

\*/

Harry leaned back against the sun warmed rock as he watched the giant flying coach swoop down like a stately goose and land in front of the main Hogwarts gate. Neville was perched next to him and Ginny (as always) was almost bouncing as she stood on top of the slippery rock. 'This is going to be another good year.'