A/N - Sorry for the long wait! I've no clue why but this chapter simply didn't want to be written. Please let me know your thoughts! Does it suck? I feel like I could've done better but I just wanted to get this chapter over with. The good stuff is coming up soon.
August 2, 1996
Harry was in a foul mood as he descended the stairs, still holding his half-eaten breakfast. Hermione simply didn't know when to stop and shut her mouth. She would doggedly pursue any scrap of information that anyone was willing to part with and when they did, she still wasn't satisfied. Harry sometimes thought that even if Hermione became Minister, she still wouldn't be happy.
The issue was that no one ever stood up to her. They let her run over them with her words, berating them into submission. She was headstrong, certainly, and that was a good character trait to have. Even good things must be taken in moderation though.
Harry propped the breakfast tray against his hip and ran his hand along the wooden banister that ran the length of the stairwell. Did he regret just blurting things out? Sure, but Hermione would have found out eventually. It was highly hypocritical of her to be jealous of someone getting private lessons because a madman was gunning to kill them in his opinion.
Harry entered the kitchen and saw Mrs. Weasley doing the dishes in the sink, her back turned to Harry. He set the tray down on the kitchen table and Mrs. Weasley startled at the sound, turning around to see Harry sheepishly taking a seat.
"What's the matter, dear?" She asked.
"Nothing, Mrs. Weasley, I just had a small disagreement with Ron and Hermione." Harry shrugged and continued to eat the rest of his breakfast.
Mrs. Weasley shook her head, wisps of red hair escaping from her bun. It made her look like she had a halo when the sun shone through the window and hit her head just right. "I'm sorry. Ron is pretty obstinate, isn't he?" She gave him a smile in commiseration; she'd raised him for the past sixteen years after all.
"I've kind of gotten used to it." Harry laughed.
She clucked her tongue disapprovingly and finished the last dish, putting it away and joining Harry at the table. "Never mind Ron, dear. How has your summer been?"
"Fairly boring, actually." That wasn't even a lie, the exciting stuff hadn't started happening until his birthday a few days ago.
As if thinking about it had reminded Mrs. Weasley of it, she straightened up with an "Oh!" and pulled her wand out from the pocket of her apron, summoning a brightly wrapped package out from another room in the house. She deftly caught the bright red box before it hit her in the head and presented it to Harry.
"Almost forgot about this. Here you are, Harry. Happy birthday!"
Harry pulled the package closer to him, pushing his now empty breakfast tray out of the way. The box was decorated with a shining gold bow, no doubt a less than subtle reference to his House.
Harry tugged on the ribbon and it delicately fell off the package, leaving a seam of wrapping paper for Harry to pull on. He did so and revealed a box with the Quality Quidditch Supplies store's logo emblazoned on each side.
He opened the box and pulled out a very nice looking pair of Quidditch gloves that were made out of supple black leather. Harry delightedly examined the gloves, noting the raised designs on the center of the palm that would provide Harry with a better grip on the Snitch - providing he caught it.
"Thank you so much, Mrs. Weasley!"
"It was no problem, dear. We knew you were due for a new pair soon with the way you wear them down." Mrs. Weasley gave Harry a fond smile and rose from the table, collecting his breakfast tray and carrying it over to the sink.
The stairwell creaked above his head and Harry half-hoped it wasn't Ron and Hermione. He resolutely kept his head turned away from the doorway, fully aware that he was acting slightly childish, but there were only so many times either of them could put their foot in their mouth without Harry getting mad.
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Ron sitting down next to him and Hermione circled around the table to sit across from them.
"Mate," said Ron, "We're sorry." The tips of his ears were bright red, belying his embarrassment despite his cool demeanor. Hermione was no better; two red spots remained on her cheeks.
"No, I'm sorry." Hermione corrected. "I was out of line."
To Harry, it sounded like Hermione had been given a thorough talking-to by Ron - quite the reversal of roles - and was either properly contrite or was simply going through the motions. Whatever her motive, Harry decided to leave it alone. He didn't much fancy spending the next month fighting with his best friends.
"It's all right, let's just forget about it." He conceded. Ron nodded rapidly and Hermione took that as a cue to start rambling about O.W.L. scores.
The trio spent the next half-hour chatting about this and that. Harry was dimly aware of Mrs. Weasley leaving the kitchen at some point; he was too caught up in the sheer normality of listening to Ron complain about school and Hermione in turn nagging Ron about caring.
A sharp rap on the window above the sink caused all three to turn their heads toward the source of the noise. Four owls were hovering outside, causing Hermione to jump up and rush to open the window.
"Oh, these are probably our school supply lists!" She gasped.
The parliament of owls flew into the house and perched on the backs of the kitchen chairs. There was a bit of confusion when the trio tried to find their respective owls but a few minutes later, each student held an envelope in their hands. The ruckus had summoned Mrs. Weasley back into the kitchen and she had Ginny's letter.
"Ginny!" Ron's bellow caused all four owls to startle and take flight, swooping back out the open window.
"Ronald!" Ginny's answering yell echoed down the stairwell and soon after, an irritated Ginny Weasley stormed into the room.
"Heh, booklists are here?" Ron feebly waved his letter in answer to Ginny's glare. Mrs. Weasley gave Ginny her letter and settled down at the table to await the news.
Hermione huffed at their antics and tore into her own letter. Harry looked down at his; it looked and felt a bit bulkier than usual. He eased his finger along the seal and popped it open. A gleaming Quidditch Captain's badge tumbled out onto Harry's palm and he gaped at it in shock.
"Katie's been on the team just as long as I have!" He cried. Everyone else looked up at that, Ron whooping in glee once he caught sight of the badge.
"Harry, that's brilliant!" Harry barely had time to register the stylized Gryffindor lion decorating the red background before Ron snatched the badge out of his hand. "I haven't held one of these since Charlie was Captain!"
Harry honestly hadn't given a single thought to who would be Captain of the Gryffindor team this year. Angelina had graduated last year along with Alicia, George, and Fred. Although "graduated" might be stretching it for the twins, Harry supposed.
Did he even want to be Captain? If you had asked Harry a week ago, he would have given a resounding yes, but now? He would be starting N.E.W.T. classes, having private lessons with Dumbledore - probably lessons with the Reaper too - and dealing with whatever shit came with being a spirit elemental, not to mention the bloody Horcruxes. He simply wasn't sure if he wanted to add Captaining the Gryffindor team to that already heavy load.
"Hold up, Ron." Harry cautioned, taking his badge back. "I'm not sure if I'll be accepting the position."
Ron's jaw dropped and his eyes widened, looking for all the world like he had just taken a Pepper-Up potion. Harry was sure that steam would be coming out of his ears any second now.
"Not… taking the position?" squeaked Ron. "Mate, you've got to! Imagine how cool it would be to shove this in Malfoy's face. You can use the Prefect's bathroom too!"
"As nice as bathing in a swimming pool would be, I've already got a lot to be getting on with. Extra lessons and all. I'll still play, I just won't be Captain."
"Manifestation lessons?" Hermione asked. Ron's jaw finally snapped shut and he looked at Harry with questioning eyes. Both had forgotten to ask Harry about his manifestation after all the morning chaos.
"No, the lessons with Dumbledore I told you about. I didn't manifest." Harry sighed, knowing that he'd have to go through a dozen more explanations before it got around the whole school that Harry Potter wasn't an elemental.
"Come on mate, you can't leave me alone with McGonagall!" Ron groaned. McGonagall was the faculty supervisor for the students with a fire manifestation. Rumour had it that she was just as tough in her element lessons as she was in Transfiguration.
"There's four other elements I could've had." Harry pointed out. Ron just grumbled and waved the comment away.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Harry." Hermione sympathized. As a Muggleborn, she had been less likely to manifest and sure enough, the morning of her sixteenth birthday had been completely uneventful.
"It's not a big deal." Harry shrugged.
"Well… right." Hermione didn't seem to know what to make of Harry's easy acceptance of his situation and ducked her head back down to examine the parchment in her hands.
Harry turned his attention to the two folded pieces of parchment that were still in the envelope. He set the badge down on the table and pulled the first one out. Unfolding it, Harry caught sight of the headline proclaiming it to be the Ordinary Wizarding Level Results.
Ordinary Wizarding Level Results
Harry James Potter has achieved:
Astronomy: A
Care of Magical Creatures: E
Charms: E
Defense Against the Dark Arts: O+
Divination: P
Herbology: E
History of Magic: D-
Potions: E+
Transfiguration: E
All in all, Harry was quite pleased with his scores. He had been expecting the failing score in History of Magic, considering that he'd collapsed in the middle of the exam. Divination was also not a surprise, Harry was willing to bet that only kids with true talent in Divination passed the O.W.L.
The one point of contention for him was his Potions score. He knew that Snape only allowed O students into his N.E.W.T class and his score was borderline. A Potions N.E.W.T score was required for just about every job he'd considered - aside from Professional Quidditch - even if he didn't want to be an Auror any more.
Harry highly doubted that Snape would allow him into his class if he directly asked. He didn't want to go to Dumbledore either, the man would probably strong-arm Snape into letting Harry take Potions and Snape didn't need any more reasons to hate Harry. Perhaps McGonagall? He would have to write to her anyway to turn down the Captaincy.
Harry took a quick glance at the second sheet of parchment, confirming that it was just the supply list. An arm was suddenly slung around Harry's shoulders and a freckled hand yanked the parchment with his O.W.L. scores away.
"Good job, Harry!" Ron said approvingly. "Bad luck about Potions though, I got an E too."
"Mhm," said Harry distractedly, now looking at the supply list. He was already planning out his letter to McGonagall in his head.
Ron shoved the stolen parchment back into Harry's hands and wandered off to bug Hermione. Harry didn't stick around to hear anything about her scores, he'd be very surprised if she got anything below an E. He plucked the Quidditch Captain badge back off the table and retreated to Fred and George's bedroom.
He got a happy hoot from Hedwig in greeting when he stepped into the room, she had evidently returned in the time he'd been downstairs. Harry grinned and gave her a few pets before dropping to the floor in front of his trunk. He undid the latch and lifted the lid, grimacing at the mess. He hadn't packed it all that neatly in the first place and he hadn't taken the time to look at it last night; it was somehow worse in the light of day.
He found a decently sized sheet of spare parchment and dug out an unbroken quill. A half-full ink pot was located in the far right corner behind a tangle of ties. Harry used an old Herbology textbook balanced on his knee as a makeshift desk and began to write:
Professor McGonagall,
I hope this letter finds you well. As you no doubt have noticed, I have enclosed the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain's badge in the envelope. While I appreciate the offer, I don't feel that I can devote enough of my attention to being Captain this year. Might I suggest appointing Katie Bell to the position instead? She has been on the team for the same amount of time that I have and she is a very dedicated player.
As to another matter, I received my O.W.L. results today and noticed that my Potions score was an E+. I realize that Professor Snape only accepts O students into his N.E.W.T. classes but I was wondering if an E+ is close enough to an O for him to accept me into his class. There is no love lost between the two of us, but I promise I would not antagonize him nor turn in any sub-par work if Professor Snape sees fit to grant me this opportunity. I am aware that this is likely a futile request, but Potions is a necessary class to take if I want to be considered for any job I'm interested in.
Regards,
Harry Potter
Harry read over the finished letter once more to make sure he was satisfied with it. Concluding that it was all right, he folded up the parchment and slid it into an envelope along with the Captain's badge. He sealed the flap with a blob of wax and let it cool.
Once the wax was cool, Harry scrawled Professor McGonagall's name on the outside of the envelope and stood up. Hedwig was already perched on top of her cage, ready to deliver a letter.
"Take this to Professor McGonagall, girl." Harry let Hedwig grasp the letter in her talons and she nipped at his hair before flying out the open window. Harry watched her until she disappeared from view and sighed before returning to the kitchen.