Hey y'all! How's everyone doing? Here we are! The end of the first story in the unexpected magical vacation of Seth Sorenson. What a ride it has been. I'll leave my ranting and notes at the end of the chapter and just let you all dive into it. I hope you guys enjoy what I've got written out for you and thank you for sticking with me till the end of this installment!
Like always, I enjoy comments, in fact I thrive off of positive comments and love constructive critique ones cause it shows an author that their readers are actually paying attention and enjoying their work. Thanks for reading this story! Virtual hugs and cuddles to y'all.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything except any OC's that may come up, any world building that has not yet been officially stated by the books and any plot points/structures that have not been used in the books.
Warning: No beta, we die like Stingbulbs.
Epilogue: The Story is Only Just Beginning
XXXXXX
Seth leisurely made his way down the hall towards the infirmary. Ron and Hermione had already run up ahead, eager to see if Harry had finally awoken from his ordeal only three days ago. Everyone was still feverishly talking about it after the professors had revealed all that they were willing to about the third corridor and what lay within.
Many of the students began pestering them for answers, listening with bated breath as Ron, Hermione, and Seth told their side of the story. Then they were left eagerly anticipating for when the Boy Who Lived would awaken to regale them all with the tale of that epic showdown with the shade of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
Seth hummed to himself as numerous thoughts over the ordeal involving the sorcerer's stone began to crowd in his head. Thoughts that included numerous questions none of the professors had been able or willing to answer, especially Dumbledore.
How did Quirrell come in contact with the shade of Voldemort? How did he find out that the sorcerer's stone was going to be held in Hogwarts? Why did Nicholas Flamel decide to send the stone away and why to Hogwarts of all places? Wasn't that a dangerous risk, sending a coveted magical artifact to a place populated by students and a limited staff? And what was the point in having the Mirror of Erised transported to the school and used as one of the stone's protections? Was there even a point to this whole mess or was he just overthinking it?
"You should take care not to lose yourself in your thoughts, Mr. Sorenson. You might end up wandering off the road and losing track of where you are," Dumbledore's amused voice broke through his storm of thoughts.
"Professor Dumbledore," Seth said, blinking in surprise when he saw the wizened wizard standing before him. "What's up?"
"I suppose the ceiling at this moment, Mr. Sorenson," Dumbledore said, getting a chuckle out of Seth for the humorous response. "And what about you? How are you doing?"
He shrugged. "I'm good. Alive and all my limbs are still attached correctly so can't complain here."
"But do you wish to? Complain that is?" Dumbledore asked.
"Oh man, professor. That is definitely not a question you wanna be asking me unless you've got your schedule cleared up for the rest of the week," Seth jokingly responded.
"And yet it seems even if I give you all the time in the world to air out your grievances, you still would not have told me what it is that truly weighs heavily upon you," Dumbledore remarked in a manner meant to prod but make it seem like he wasn't prodding.
Seth could tell what the headmaster was trying to do and smiled wryly as he tried to get the other to take a hint and drop it. "Well a lot has happened. Can't blame me for being someone who has to process it all verbally."
"Of course not," Dumbledore said, shaking his head. But he was surprisingly a lot more stubborn than Seth gave him credit for as he continued to push. "And yet, I feel as if you and I are talking about two entirely different things, hmmm? Does it perhaps have something to do with what you saw in the mirror?"
Seth was unable to stop himself from flinching at the question.
Dumbledore smiled at him reassuringly to show he meant no malice in his questioning. "It would do you no good to continue to dwell on such thoughts. Surely Yeshe told you much the same?"
"Yeah, she did," Seth reluctantly admitted, rubbing at the back of his head irritably at being seen through so easily. "By the way, how did you end up getting involved in sanctuary business?"
"Now that is certainly an interesting story that I would love to tell you all about after you've completed what you've come to do," Dumbledore said with eyes twinkling in amusement.
"Oh shit, I mean shoot!" Seth exclaimed as he slapped himself on the forehead at the reminder of why he was even here in the first place. "You're right. We were gonna make sure Harry's alright."
"I am glad to report that he is awake and completely recovered," Dumbledore helpfully offered.
Seth let out a sigh of relief. "That's awesome."
Dumbledore nodded. "Indeed. Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley are inside with him right now. No doubt eagerly waiting for you to arrive so that he may regale you all with the tale of his encounter with Quirrell, which by the way, I heard you suspected him to be the thief this entire time?"
"Well yeah," Seth said nonchalantly with a shrug, "I felt something off about him since the moment I saw him at the entrance ceremony and he just seemed sketchy from the start…"
Dumbledore hummed thoughtfully to himself. "Well then, I won't keep you any further. Even I know not to test the limits of Madam Pomfrey's patience. If you have any more troubling thoughts regarding the mirror, I hope you won't hesitate to come speak with me. My door is always open to the students even though it may not seem like it. Depending on the day, I am particularly fond of lemon drops and hot tamales."
Seth looked strangely at the smiling headmaster, slightly weirded out by the out of nowhere remark at the end. "Oookay…thanks professor. Have a nice day."
"And to you as well, Mr. Sorenson."
XXXXXX
Seth walked into the infirmary and saw Hermione and Ron talking with a conscious and healthy Harry who lay in an infirmary bed only a few rows away from the door.
"Hey there guys!" He called out to them, cutting their conversation short as their attention turned to his entry, "Glad to see you alive and kicking, Harry!"
"Hello Seth. Glad to be alive and kicking," Harry nodded in greeting.
"What took you so long?" Ron whined impatiently, "Harry wouldn't tell us anything until you got here."
"Just had a brief run in with Professor Dumbledore," Seth said nonchalantly.
"Did he need something?" Hermione asked in concern as her hands twitched in preparation to begin fretting again.
Seth waved off her concerns. "Nah. He just wanted to check in and make sure I wasn't suffering from any after effects from our encounter with the dragon. But I told him that I was 100 percent a-okay."
Hermione didn't look quite as reassured by his response but begrudgingly accepted his answer.
Ron eagerly leaned in towards Harry with anticipation now that there was nothing else to distract them all from what he'd been waiting three days for. "Great! Now come on, Harry. You gotta tell us everything. Everyone's been wondering. What really happened back there?"
Harry nodded and proceeded to give his friends a grandiose retelling of what happened after he passed through the potion fire trial without Hermione. He told them about how he entered a large hall with the Mirror of Erised placed right in the middle of it. How Quirrell showed up and revealed he'd been the mastermind of all the fiascos throughout the year and how he'd been trying to get a very suspicious and persistent Snape off his tracks.
Then he told them in as much gross detail as possible about the way the shadow of Voldemort possessed Quirrell as another face on the back of his bald head. Hermione grimaced while Ron and Seth were morbidly fascinated. He told them about the mirror somehow managing to give him the stone and how he was able to burn Quirrell to ashes with just his bare hands. Finally, he capped off his grand retelling with the conversation he had with Dumbledore about how he was able to perform such a feat.
"What's going to happen to the stone now?" Hermione asked.
Harry shrugged. "Dumbledore said Flamel was going to destroy it."
"So that's it then? The stone's gone and Flamel's just going to die?" Ron asked in bewilderment as if he could not understand how someone could just destroy something so amazing like that.
"Well the guy has been living for a very long time, over 600 years if I'm not mistaken. Immortality can get kind of lonely even with companions," Seth said matter of fact as something heavy seemed to weigh down on his shoulders, "You have to see your loved ones die and watch as life passes you by and the world continues to change all while time refuses to touch you."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all looked at him strangely and felt a bit disturbed by the weight behind his words. It was as if he were speaking from a place of experience even though such a thing was surely impossible. Regardless, he clearly had some issues on the subject of immortality.
"Are you alright?" Hermione asked in concern.
"Yeah? Why?" Seth responded, confused by her sudden concern.
"No reason," Ron answered a mite too quickly.
"Okay?" Seth said, eyeing them all suspiciously.
"Anyways," Harry said in an attempt to change the subject, "Dumbledore thinks that, what was it, to the well organized mind, death is the next great adventure."
Ron looked really impressed by that. "I always said he was off his rocker."
"And there are multiple religions and beliefs about life after death so I'm not surprised that someone as wise as Dumbledore would believe such a thing," Hermione smartly remarked.
Seth nodded along sagely in agreement.
Then the four of them spent some time filling in the others on what occurred when they were each separated at different points. Ron filled Seth in on the amazing yet nerve-wracking chess game that required him to sacrifice himself in order to allow Harry to checkmate the king. Hermione bashfully told them about the logic potion puzzle that had been in the room after and the genius behind the trick. Seth simply told them that he and the dragon only talked before the professors arrived. While Ron and Harry prodded him for more details about how he was able to just talk to a dragon, Hermione eyed him suspiciously as if she knew he wasn't telling the full story.
"Do you think he meant you to do it?" Ron asked out of left field. Upon the other three's questioning gazes, he continued. "You know, sending you your father's cloak and everything just so you could defeat You-Know-Who's shade?"
Seth frowned. "If that's true, that's really cold and calculating. Like the cold and calculating on the level of sociopathic narcissistic serial killers or a stupidly impressive game of 4D chess."
"What!" Hermione cried out, "That's terrible! You could've been killed!"
"No, I don't think it's true," Harry said, shaking his head and looking down at his hands thoughtfully, "Dumbledore's a funny man, isn't he? I think he wanted to give me a chance. You know I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try and do something and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don't think it was an accident he let me find out how the mirror worked. It's almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could."
Ron grimaced at the mention of Voldemort's name but nodded proudly at how amazing their headmaster was. "Yeah. Dumbledore's off his rocker all right."
"I don't know if that's something anyone should be proud of," Seth wryly remarked.
"Whatever," Ron waved off his remark dismissively. "Anyways, Harry, you've got to be up for the end of the year feast tomorrow. The points are all in and the House Cup winner will be announced then."
"No one has any idea who'll win because of how close the points got before the professors blacked out the count," Hermione said, crossing her arms with a grunt of frustration, "I tried doing all sort of calculations but it's highly likely I could be off from anywhere between ten to hundreds of points."
"I still can't believe you tried to keep track of and calculate every single point that's been given or lost after the black out," Seth said, shaking his head in disbelief.
Hermione blushed in embarrassment and looked away with a huff while the boys snickered at her over the top academic tendencies. Suddenly a barn owl flew in with a loud screech causing them all to look up as it dropped an envelope onto Harry's lap before flying back outside.
"Who's that from? Hagrid?" Ron asked.
Harry tentatively picked up the envelope and examined it but there was no message or sender identification. "No idea. Should I open it?"
"Of course you should," Ron eagerly said.
"But what if it's cursed or something?" Hermione fretted nervously, reaching out to take the envelope before it could potentially explode in Harry's face.
Ron blocked her off with his hands. "But what if it's not?"
Hermione frowned and pushed his hands away. "But what if-"
Seth snatched the envelope out of Harry's hands and opened it. He looked at them unimpressed when absolutely nothing happened. "There, problem solved."
Ron and Hermione ducked their heads sheepishly in apology while he handed the envelope back to Harry. Harry gratefully took it and pulled out its contents - a single photo of a beaming red haired girl with emerald green eyes. The photo was clearly non magical as the girl did not move from where she was sitting on a swing. She looked to be about 10 years old.
"What is it?" Ron asked as he leaned in to get a better look. He squinted at the photo in confusion. "A muggle photo of some random girl?"
Harry turned the photo and saw the name 'Lily Evans - Age 10' written on the back of it. Tears gathered in his eyes as he quickly flipped the photo back to really take in the childhood image of his mother. "No. It's a photo of my mom…"
"Oh! She's so pretty! You've even got her eyes," Hermione gushingly complimented.
Harry nodded with a trembling smile. "Yeah…I do…"
"But who sent it and why?" Hermione asked curiously, picking up the envelope and examining it for any identifying markers they might've missed.
"Can't be Hagrid. He already gave you a whole album of photos of your parents from their school days and after for Christmas," Ron said.
"Then it must've been someone who knew your mother before she went to Hogwarts," Hermione deduced. "But who could that be and why would they send it anonymously?"
Seth hummed knowingly as he thought back to a conversation he had with a certain cantankerous potions master.
"Do you know Seth?" Hermione asked, having caught the knowing tone of his hum.
"Do I know? I'm not sure I do. I've got a theory but it could be wrong too. But it could be right. Who knows? I don't," he responded in a wishy washy way.
Hermione was very unimpressed by his answer, looking like she was close to grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him for proper responses. Ron looked very confused as he soundlessly repeated what Seth said in an attempt to get it to make sense. Meanwhile, Harry continued to look at the photo reverently as the three of them continued to try and puzzle out the mystery of the sender of the photo.
Soon the peace and normality that settled amongst them was shattered to pieces when Madam Pomfrey burst through her office door and shouted angrily at them.
"You've had over fifteen minutes. Now OUT!"
XXXXXX
The great hall was decked out in the colors of all four houses as students eagerly chatted in nervous anticipation for the reveal of the House Cup winner and the start of the end of year festivities.
Dumbledore stood from his chair and as he walked to the podium, the excited chatter died down. Everyone grew completely silent as the headmaster stood before them.
"Another year gone and I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast," he said with a voice that reverberated throughout the hall. "What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were in the beginning. You have a whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts."
Then he pointedly cleared his throat. "Now I understand that there is a house cup that needs awarding?"
All of the students cheered and clapped, shouting their excitement at the reveal and how the anticipation was driving them all insane.
Dumbledore smiled in amusement as he waited for the excitement to die back down. "Very well then, without further delay, here are the standings of this year's House Cup. And what a surprise it has turned out to be! The points stand thus-"
"In third place with three hundred and ninety two points…Hufflepuff!"
"In second place with four hundred and six points…Ravenclaw!"
"And…in a surprising turn of events, with four hundred and twenty three points…a tie for first place between Gryffindor and Slytherin!"
A storm of surprised exclamations and excited muttering broke out amongst the sea of students as the hall changed to reflect the tie in winners. Two large banners for Gryffindor and Syltherin unfurled near the professors' table. House colors of red, gold, silver, and green decorated the walls.
Dumbledore held a hand up for silence. "Indeed, this year has been quite exciting. Never before has the run for the House Cup been so close. Nor has there ever been a tie for the winner! So let us be sure to properly celebrate this momentous occasion!"
Everyone clapped along with his declaration because what else could they do in their states of bewilderment and disbelief.
"Now I apologize for continuing to delay you from indulging in our delectable feast but I have one more order of business to attend to tonight."
The noise died down as the entire hall became still and quiet as they waited for Dumbledore to drop another surprise upon them.
"In light of recent events, I would like to acknowledge a few of our students for their exceptional feats…"
Students began to mutter excitedly again as they all glanced over to the only four students the headmaster could be talking about.
"First to Mr. Ronal Weasley for the best played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years!"
Ron went red at the attention that had suddenly been placed on him as Gryffindor cheered wildly and the other houses clapped along. Percy could be heard telling the other prefects about how his youngest brother beat Professor McGonagall's enchanted chess set.
"Second to Miss Hermione Granger for the use of cool logic in the face of fire!"
Hermione buried her face in her hands, looking ready to burst to tears as she was complimented for her academic brilliance and vast knowledge. The Ravenclaw table looked especially envious at the reminder that she was given the opportunity to solve such a complex logic puzzle.
"Third to Mr. Harry Potter for pure nerve and outstanding courage in the face of a fear most would cower before!"
Tons of cheers erupted for Harry as all houses, barring most of Slytherin, roared at how the most famous figure of the modern century proved why he was so famous to begin with. Harry could only sheepishly smile and wave as he allowed their praises to wash over him like a warm blanket. Dumbledore raised his hand again and the room gradually fell silent.
"And finally to Mr. Seth Sorenson. Friends come in many different forms. Why, your worst enemy could become your most trusted ally! But only if you're willing to take that chance. It takes a special kind of courage to choose to be the first to extend a hand out in peace rather than lash out in hostility."
The fours houses cheered and clapped, knowingly exactly what Dumbledore was trying to get at considering they'd fallen victim to Seth's schemes of breaking down house divides. Seth smiled cheekily and raised his cup of pumpkin juice up in cheers.
"While your achievements weren't quite enough to be properly awarded, I hope this acknowledgement will suffice," Dumbledore said as he spread his arms out in a grand gesture, "Now without further delay. Let the feast begin!"
Upon his declaration, all sorts of food appeared on the table. Everyone eagerly reached out and helped themselves but before anyone could dig in, Seth stood up from his seat. Everyone watched dumbfounded as he casually made his way over to the Slytherin table and plopped himself down right beside a gaping Draco. Even the professors were shocked by his actions.
Seth looked at them all and grinned. "What? We can totally share tables can't we? I mean since we both won the house cup and all."
For a moment, everyone continued to stare at him like an idiot while they processed what was happening before them. Some students tried to raise protests at the interhouse mixing during such an important event. But those protests died when other students began to follow his example.
The Weasley twins cheekily sidled up to a few of their Slytherin co-conspirators. Some young Ravenclaws huddled together with a few older Hufflepuffs who fretted over them like mother hens. A Slytherin girl made her way over to a Gryffindor boy and the two shyly held hands in front of their gaping friends.
By the time people began to pay attention to the feast again, there was still a clear divide amongst the houses but now there was a little bit of color sprinkled between. Seth smiled impishly in triumph as he took a bite of his shepherd's pie while Dumbledore raised his cup to him in salute.
XXXXXX
Exam results were released soon after the end of year feast. Harry and Ron surprisingly didn't do as bad as they thought they would, managing to scrape by and land solidly in the average without anything too terrible or exceptional. Hermione, of course, was the top of their year with Seth not too far behind her much to her ire and the other boys' awe.
Not long after, it was time to go. Wardrobes were emptied, trunks were packed tightly, and Neville's toad was found by the boy's toilets much to Ron's chagrin. The professors handed out notes warning the students not to use magic over the holidays as they crowded out of the castle. Seth silently laughed at this considering his particular circumstances.
The first years clambered back onto the boats that brought them to Hogwarts. They all watched as the castle slowly disappeared from view as they drifted away on the lake and towards the train station.
Everyone eagerly boarded the train and the subsequent ride back to London passed in a blur. They talked and laughed and ate sweets as the countryside steadily turned greener and tidier. They changed out of their robes and back into normal clothing as they got closer to non magical civilization.
After they disembarked the train and gathered their respective luggage, the four friends shared farewells with each other.
"You must come and stay this summer, all of you," Ron said as he clapped Harry cheerfully on the back, "I'll send you an owl."
"And you guys should come by my place in America," Seth offered with an easy grin, "Mi casa es su casa and all that jazz."
"Will I finally get some answers to the questions you refuse to respond to?" Hermione pointedly asked with an irritable glare.
He smiled cheekily at her. "Maybe."
She harrumphed at his noncommittal response but looked pleased nonetheless. "Then I'll be sure to take you up on your offer."
Harry laughed and gathered his friends together for a group hug. "Thanks guys! I'll be looking forward to it."
Goodbyes were shouted out to the four of them by various other students. Many of them were directed towards Harry who waved back good naturedly.
"Look at you, still famous Harry Potter," Ron said with a teasing grin.
"Not where I'm going, I promise you," he wryly remarked.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Hermione asked in concern as she looked for any sign of the horrid relatives Harry had ranted about during the train ride back, "From what you've told us, your family doesn't exactly seem to be of the good sort."
"Just say the word and I can help legally kidnap and adopt you into my family," Seth helpfully chimed in with a conspiratorial wink, "My grandparents are always looking for more kids to spoil."
Harry smiled gratefully to his friends but shook his head. "Thank but I think I'll actually be fine this time."
Just then Mrs. Weasley walked up behind them and gave Ron a crushing motherly bear hug from behind. "What a busy year it's been for you all!" She gave Ron a stern look as he tried to escape from her hold. "And you're lucky that your rule breaking actions lead to a positive outcome this time as I assure you, your punishment at home would've been much worse if it didn't."
"Muuuum…" Ron whined as he desperately tried to wiggle out of her arms.
"Thanks for the fudge and the sweater, Mrs. Weasley," Harry graciously said.
Mrs. Weasley finally released her hold on Ron, much to his petulant grumbling, and smiled warmly at Harry. "It was nothing, dear."
Then Uncle Vernon walked over with a purpling face as his mustache twitched irritably. He seemed furious at the nerve of Harry for carrying an owl in a cage in the middle of a station full of ordinary people. Not too far away were Aunt Petunia and Dudley looking rather terrified at the very sight of the skinny bespectacled boy.
"Ready are you?" He stiffly said as his eyes darted distastefully across Harry's companions.
"You must be Harry's family," Mrs. Wealsey politely said as she artfully held in her anger over such a horrid man.
"In a manner of speaking," Uncle Vernon stiffly remarked before frowning at Harry in disapproval, "Hurry up boy. We haven't got all day."
Harry hung back for a bit as Uncle Vernon rushed to rejoin Aunt Petunia and Dudley. He watched in amusement as his relatives shuffled as far away from them and Mrs. Weasley as possible.
"Lovely man, isn't he," Mrs. Weasley sarcastically remarked before stepping away to allow the four friends their final farewells. "Take your time dears. I'll be waiting nearby with your brothers, Ron."
"See you over the summer then," Harry said.
"Hope you have a good holiday, Harry!" Hermione said as she looked uncertainly at Uncle Vernon, shocked that anyone could be so unpleasant.
Harry shook his head and grinned. "Don't I will," he said, meaning every word of it, "They don't know we're not allowed to use magic at home. I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer."
Seth shared a fist bump with him. "That's what I'm talking about."
Then a sharp whistle drew his attention and he turned to see Braecus and Kendra waving over at him nearby. He adjusted his backpack with a grin and placed his hand on his luggage trolley. "Whelp, see y'all after summer. Cheers!"
He saluted Harry, Ron, and Hermione in farewell and made his way over to where his sister and best friend were waiting.
"Man, have I got a story to tell you guys. But don't tell Grandpa cause he'll totally ground me till the next century."
"So it's just another year in the life of Seth Sorenson, eh?" Kendra sarcastically remarked with a fondly exasperated grin.
"Looking forward to the next?" Braecus asked.
Seth nodded eagerly. "Oh yeah. Maybe this time, I'll finally be able to kick back, relax, and properly enjoy my magical vacation."
Braecus laughed as Kendra began scolding Seth for calling his wizard education a magical vacation. Seth smiled as a sense of normality washed over him because as much as she would like to say otherwise, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was definitely a vacation and he couldn't wait to head back home to Fablehaven.
And that's all she wrote! Huzzah and thanks for sticking with me to the end of this story.
Now in regards to the changes that I've made, I always felt like the last minute points after Slytherin was already declared the winner was kind of a dick move. That's why I made it so that no one knows who the winner is until the very end and cause I really wanted some form of House unity to begin, I had Gryffindor and Slytherin tie in first place. It feels a bit more fitting, doesn't it (at least in the context of my story)? Especially since the Sorting Hat warns about the Houses needing to be unified later on and I wanted to lay the groundwork for that as well. Plus, I still feel like making an entire house of students out to be bullies and future death eaters just because their main attribute is cunning and their house just happened to have a lot of dark wizards from it is kind of mean.
Anyways, I hope the special announcements on what the Golden Four did wasn't too out of place because I felt like hey, they didn't quite do enough to get special service awards but a public acknowledgement should be enough yeah? Also, sorry that Neville didn't get his special little mention since he didn't even show up to stop the golden quartet from sneaking out. But don't you worry, he'll still have his time to shine.
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and the story. Thank you for taking the time to read it! I'm not too sure when I'll get Chamber of Secrets out but the plan is to have the first chapter done around summer this year so I hope you guys will continue to be patient with me and look forward to the next installment in Seth's magical vacation. See you all next time!
