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Chapter Six: Prodigies and Furry Little Mutants

HarryPOV

"Hi Harry! Hi Mia!"

"Hey Neville," Harry greeted as he looked over to see Neville Longbottom standing in the entrance to the compartment he and Mia were currently sharing, with Luna Lovegood standing by his side. "Hello Luna, how are you?"

"Very well, thank you," Luna replied with her usual dreamy smile.

"Would you guys mind if we sat with you? The other compartments are a little full," Neville said, shifting his trunk beside him. Harry looked at Mia, who smiled back and nodded her head. The two of them invited Neville and Luna inside, and once they had their trunks and belongings on the luggafe rack over their heads, they took the seats directly across from them. Harry and Mia had only just settled together in the compartment, with Mia shamelessly tucked underneath his arm and Sapphire purring softly on her lap. Ron and Hermione had to go to a Prefects meeting once they had left King's Cross Station and then they would probably have to patrol around the train for a little while before they would be able to meet up. It was easier this year to get used to, and Harry was honestly happy at the arrival of Neville and Luna, liking the idea of having a compartment full of friends to talk to, instead of having to deal with the stares of their other school mates. The second they had gotten on the train, the whispers and looks immediately started, and Harry knew it was because of the article that had been printed in the Daily Prophet about him being the Chosen One. It was becoming an annoying habit, having to go through almost each school year with being stared out for one thing or another, but he was glad he could stop thinking about it for a while in the company of his friends and girlfriend.

"How are you feeling, Mia?" Luna asked, holding a copy of the Quibbler to her chest. "Have you made a full recovery?"

"Yes, a couple leftover scars but otherwise I'm all good to go," Mia replied. "How are things with the Quibbler?"

"Very well, Dad's helped me create more of the Spectrespec Glasses to go along with each copy of this month's edition for free," Luna told her happily.

"More of what?" Harry asked.

"They're special glasses that help people see things that are normally not seen," Luna explained. "They helped me see Mia's hand more clearly last year."

Harry frowned a bit at her words. So, that's how she found out Mia was hiding her scars. Almost out of instinct, Harry reached over and used his thumb to stroke the back of Mia's left hand, where the words "I must do as I'm told" had faded away into pale scars that were permanently cut into her skin, and were harder to see now unless you were looking for it or her hand was close enough for you to see. The thought of them made a small flare of anger swell up inside of him, but Harry just reminded himself that the person who made Mia do that was gone now, and although Mia was perfectly fine, the memory was not one he liked to linger on. Luna gave an extra pair of the Spectrespecs to Mia along with a copy of the Quibbler while Neville showed Harry the brand new wand his grandmother had bought for him over the summer. Mrs. Longbottom was very proud of Neville's actions the night they had fought in the Ministry, saying he was finally living up to his father. Neville told them he thinks it may have been one of the last ones that Ollivander sold before he went missing, and his store had been ransacked. No one had any idea where he could be, but no one was fool enough to believe it wasn't Death Eaters who had taken him, for who knows what. While he talked, Trevor, Neville's beloved pet frog, had leapt off of the seat and was making yet another escape attempt. Neville jumped off of his seat to try and grab Trevor from under the seats just as the compartment door opened to reveal a small group of fourth year girls, giggling and whispering to each other.

"Hi Harry," said the one at the front, a girl with silky black hair and dark eyes, smiling at him. "I'm Romilda Vane. We were wondering if maybe you would like to join us in our compartment for a while?"

"Er, no thanks, I'm fine," Harry replied, curious at the girls sudden bold request.

"Are you sure, we would love to hear about—"

"He said he's fine right here," Mia cut in with a calm smile, but with her eyes flashing in warning as she interlocked her fingers with Harry's. "Thank you. Would you girls mind closing the door when you leave?"

"Oh. Okay," Romilda said, her pinks slightly pink as she withdrew from the compartment and closed the door. Harry looked over to see Mia's fake smile fade away as she glowered after the group of girls, hearing the smallest huff blow from her nose. Harry couldn't help but grin at this and he squeezed her hand in reassurance.

"No need to be jealous, love," he said.

"Of her? Please," Mia countered, although her glower never left the door. "She's just a little too insistent for my taste."

Harry just shook his head fondly at her, feeling just a little pleased that other girls giving their attention to him rubbed Mia the wrong way, even though she doesn't want to admit it. He leaned in and gave her a tender peck on the cheek right over the small scar that was there, trying to tell her in his own way she had nothing to worry about. He only has eyes for her. Mia's lips twitched into a genuine smile, and Harry had the strongest urge to kiss them at that moment.

"Are we still doing D.A meetings this year?" Luna asked as she put on her own pair of glasses.

"No point now that we've got rid of Umbridge, is there?" Harry said.

"I liked the D.A," Neville said as he submerged for a moment, looking disappointed. "I learned loads from you, Harry."

"I enjoyed he meetings too," Luna added. "It was like having friends."

"We are your friends, Luna," Mia told her, seeming surprised that the younger Ravenclaw thought otherwise. "We can meet up once in a while to practice if you'd like, with you and Ginny having your O.W.L exams this year. I'd be happy to help however I can. If I can get help get Harry through exams I can do anything."

"Hey!" Harry interjected playfully, poking her in the side where she's ticklish and causing Mia to yelp.

"I would like that very much," Luna agreed with a soft, serene smile. "You're very kind, Mia Thatcher."

The next couple of hours went by smoothly between them all, just talking and laughing at the occasional joke here and there, while the gray buildings of the city started to fade away, transforming into the luscious green of the countryside and patches of sunlight streaming through the thick clouds overhead. Soon enough the topic came to all of the more advanced stages of magic they would be learning this year, which included Appiration as well as even a little bit of silent casting. Mia said that it takes a lot of practice, focus and power in order to cast silent spells, and not even the best wizards are able to do so, at least not all the time. The idea seemed very difficult, seeing as instead of just saying the spell, you have to really think it, almost feel it, in order for it to come forth from your wand and not backfire. Harry himself had yet to try any silent magic, and he wondered if there was a special class for it at school. Luna added in some of the other extra-curricular activities at Hogwarts, one of them being an art program, which immediately got Mia's attention, her head whipping over to look at the blonde girl.

"An art program?" Mia asked her, her eyes instantly lighting up at the thought.

"Yes, didn't you know? There's a class for Art as well as Muggle Art offered to third years and above," Luna explained, tilting her head to the side curiously. "Didn't you ever want to sign up? I know you love to draw."

"I—I honestly never realized," Mia admitted, her mouth slightly ajar. "I didn't want to take on too much, so I didn't bother looking at the extra-curricular classes. I wish I had known…"

"It may not be too late, love," Harry said. "McGonagall might allow you to make a slight change to your schedule, you usually have a free period."

"I hope so, it will be fascinating to learn about art in the wizarding world," Mia said, seeming close to bouncing in her seat from excitement, the smile on her face infectious. "Maybe I can learn how to make paintings move, or I'm sure Colin might now."

"He takes that class, I think," Neville told her thoughtfully with a grin. "I'm sure it'll make his day having class with you Mia, since you're Harry's girlfriend."

"I'll make sure to get Harry to sign a photo for him," Mia giggled, smirking wickedly at Harry and causing him to poke her in the side again just as the compartment door opened and the familiar faces of Ron and Hermione entered. They offered a hello to both Neville and Luna, and as they sat down, Harry saw Mia dig around in her satchel for a moment before taking out a chocolate frog and tossing it over to Ron—as was their tradition ever since first year—and he caught it effortlessly.

"Cheers, Mia," the redhead stated gratefully, ripping open the package as he turned to look at Harry. "Guess what? Malfoy's not doing prefect duty. He's just sitting in his compartment with the other Slytherins, we saw him when we passed."

"What did he do when he saw you?" Harry asked, sitting up straight and immediately interested.

"The usual," Ron replied, demonstrating a very rude hand gesture. "It's not like him to brush off scaring the first years, though."

"Maybe he preffered the Inquisitorial Squad?" Hermione suggested. "Being a prefect might not seem as fun to him now after that."

Harry hummed quietly at that, but otherwise didn't comment, his mind starting to go into overdrive with this information. It really wasn't like Malfoy at all to just neglect his duties of abusing his power, so what else was going through his mind. A part of Harry thought it may be connected with what he had concluded at the end of summer, but he knew what the others would think of it, and he wasn't going to start that argument again.

After Harry and the other had followed Malfoy down to Knockturn Alley while shopping, Harry's mind had instantly started racing with what the sneering Slytherin could have been up to, and what he has talked to Borgin about in the shop. Harry didn't like the satisfied expression on his face as he left the alley, and there was a nagging feeling that just wouldn't leave him alone about it. He probably figured Malfoy was just being Malfoy, but a smaller part wondered if it was something else. To his slight frustration, Ron and Hermione didn't seem to be as concerned with it as he was, saying more than likely it's nothing. Harry was sure that there were two objects that Malfoy wanted, one being broken and in need of fixing. The first thought would easily be that Malfoy may want to get revenge for having his father imprisoned in Azkaban, but then that led Harry to an incredible, insane and forboding idea—Malfoy had become a Death Eater to replace his father. As expected, the others weren't too sure of the idea, not even Mia. While she agreed with Harry that Malfoy was definitely up to something no good, she didn't believe he would go so far as to join Voldemort's group.

"He's only sixteen, Harry," Mia had said to him when he had vented to her out in the garden of Sirius' home. "I doubt Voldemort would recruit that young, and even though Malfoy's an arrogant, sleezy arse, I'm not sure if he would be stupid enough to join the Death Eaters."

"So you don't believe me either?" Harry had quipped.

"I think it's unlikely," Mia replied patiently with a frown. "But I'm not dismissing your ideas completely, either. In times like these, it's not a bad idea to have an open mind. But Harry, just make sure you're not digging for something that's not there."

Harry had more arguments to provide that his theory was right, but at the time, he was just thankful that Mia was listening and not riding it off as complete ridiculous. Malfoy's sudden change in behavior has Harry thinking there was something else on his mind, something important. But until he could find out, more, he was left with nothing but assumptions, unfortunately. Soon enough Harry was snapped out of his thoughts when the compartment door slid open again and a young girl walked in, looking rather flushed and holding three small scrolls of parchment in her hand. To his surprise, the girl told them she had been told to deliver them to him, Neville, and Mia. Once they all took their scrolls, the girl, her face scarlet upon catching sight of Harry, quickly left the compartment and fled down the corridor. Curious, Harry opened the scroll addressed to him and saw that it was an invitation.

Harry,

I would be delighted if you would join me for a bite of lunch in compartment C.

Sincerely,

Professor H.E.F Slughorn

"What is it?" Ron asked.

"It's an invitation to join Professor Slughorn for lunch," Mia answered.

"What do you think it's about?" Neville said nervously.

"Only one way to find out," Harry said, tucking his invitation in his pocket as he looked at Mia. "What do you say?"

Mia nodded and then the three of them stood to their feet to leave the compartment, promising the others they would be back as soon as they could. The corridors were packed with students going this way and that as the rain moved, so it took just a little time to maneuver their way down to compartment C, and Harry continued to ignore the stares he was receiving. They passed by some of their other friends, such as Jenna and Lucy, as well as Alex, and when they finally reached the compartment Harry saw that there were others there as well. There was a Slytherin boy in their year that Harry recognized, but couldn't remember his name, along with two seventh years Harry didn't know and, looking as though she honestly had no idea how she ended up there, Ginny. Ginny perked up at seeing them enter, but since she was next to the window, Harry, Mia and Neville couldn't sit next to her and were forced to take the last three remaining seats closest to the door. Slughorn himself stood up when they had entered, smiling jovially at Harry, his bald head gleaming in the afternoon sun and the gold buttons on his green waistcoat shining.

"Harry, m'boy!" he had greeted, shaking Harry's hand feverently. "Good to see you, good to see you! And you must be Mr. Longbottom!"

Neville nodded, looking rather nervous before Slughorn turned his attention to Mia.

"And you must be Miss Thatcher," he said, shaking her hand as well. "Such a great pleasure to meet you, my dear, a great pleasure indeed."

"Thank you sir, it's a pleasure to meet you as well," Mia said as they all took their seats.

"Good, good, now do we all know each other?" Slughorn asked, gesturing to the Slytherin by in their year. "Blaise Zabini is in your year, of course. This is Cormac McLaggen, perhaps you've come across each other? No? And this is gentleman here is Marcus Belby, not sure if you are acquainted with one another, and this charming young lady tells me she knows you!"

Ginny gave a aort of grimace from behind Slughorn's back, and Harry could see Mia smile in her direction, probably trying not to let out any giggles at the redhead's expression. McLaggen and Belby were the only ones to give them some sort of greeting, either raising their hand or offering a strained smile, while Zabini settled with a light glare. Slughorn happily expressed his eagerness to get the chance to meet them all in person, to get to know them a bit better, and instead of waiting for the lunch trolley he had packed his own lunch form the all to share. He reached into his black leather bag beside him and first pulled out a Pheasant to be passed around, offering some to Belby first.

"I was just telling Marcus I've had the pleasure of teaching his Uncle Damoncles," Slughorn said. "Outsanding wizard, outstanding, and his Order of Merlin well-desereved, indeed. Do you see much of your uncle, Marcus?"

"Not—not much of him, no," Belby replied with slight difficulty, hastily chewing and swallowing his piece of Pheasant before answering Slughorn.

"Well of course, I daresay he's busy," Slughorn said. "I doubt he invented the Wolfsbane Potion without considerably hard work!"

"I suppose. Er, he and my dad don't really get on very well at all, so I don't know too much about him," Belby admitted.

"Hmm, that is quite unfortunate, Slughorn murmured before he looked over at McLaggen. "Now you, Cormac, I happen to know you see a lot of your Uncle Tiberius, because he has a rather splendid picture of the two of you hunting nogtails in, I think, Norfolk?"

"Oh yeah, that was fun, that was," McLaggen answered. "We were with Bertie Higgs and Rufus Scrimgeour—this was before he became Minister, obviously—"

"Ah, you know Bertie and Rufus too," Slughorn asked, beaming as he now passed around a small plate of pies. It was just as Harry had suspected—Slughorn had invited them all here because they had some sort of connection to somebody well-known or influential, except maybe Ginny. No doubt that anyone Slughorn found interesting he would extend an invitation to join his club for the year. After McLaggen's interview, Slughorn spoke with Zabini, and also of his supposedly beaituful witch mother who had been married seven times, every one of her husband's dying mysteriously and leaving her a small fortune behind. Then it was Neville's turn, and both Harry and Mia grew uncomfortable as slughorn asked about Neville's parents, who had been talented Aurors who were tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange and other Death Eaters. When Slughorn was done speaking with him, Harry had a feeling that Slughorn was binding his time, waiting to see if Neville had inherited any of his parent's skill before making a decision about his potential. They allcontinued eating while Slughorn talked with them, and it wasn't long before Slughorn turned his attention to Mia.

"Well Miss Thatcher, I must say I've heard some wonderful things about you," Slughorn said, taking a bite into his roll.

"Really?" Mia said, surprised.

"Oh yes, when I had the pleasure of meeting Harry over the summer, he mentioned you, and your superb skills at potion making," he replied with a chipper smile. "And after corresponding with Professor Dumbledore, he was delighted in confirming the fact that you are something of a prodigy in the class."

Mia looked over at Harry while Slughorn talked, raising an eyebrow, and he gave her a sheepish, slightly guilty look. It was true, during their conversation in the house Slughorn had been hiding in, Harry couldn't help but mention Mia's amazing talent when it came to making potions, a response to when Slughorn stated he was surprised Harry's mother Lily was as good at magic as she was, considering she came from a Muggle background.

"Oh, I wouldn't say I'm a prodigy, sir," Mia explained. "I've always been fascinated by it, ever since I first started school. I'm sure there are others better than I am."

"Don't be so modest, Mia," Ginny piped up from her spot next to the window. "You're absolutely brilliant, you were making fifth-year potions when you were twelve."

"My, is that so?" Slughorn said, looking positively delighted at the prospect. "You seem to have quite the gift, Miss Thatcher, I will enjoy seeing your progress in school this year. And you are Muggleborn, is that correct? What is it your parents do for a living?"

"Well, my dad is an executive manager for a trading company in London," Mia answered. "And my mom is a realtor, she sells houses."

"Wonderful, I'm sure they must be very proud to have a uniquely talented daughter in their family," Slughorn praised. "And what are you hoping to do once you are done with school, my dear?"

"I'm planning on becoming a Potion's Master and come back to Hogwarts to teach one day. Until that happens, I'm going to be a potioneer for the Ministry or something on the side, that way I can keep creating my own potion mixtures, especially for institutes like St. Mungo's, to create better healing solutions," Mia replied.

"Excellent goals to have Miss Thatcher, and if you should ever have any questions, please feel free to come to me, I'd be more than happy to assist," Slughorn told her, smiling brightly before he looked over towards Harry. "And now, Harry Potter! Where to begin? I feel I barely scratched the surface when we met over the summer! 'The Chosen One,' they're calling you now! Of course, there had been rumors for years…I remember when—well, after that terrible night…Lily and James—and you survived, and the word was that you must have powers beyond the ordinary."

It was here that Blaise Zabini let out a cough that was obvious cover for his amused skepticism, earning a glare from both Mia and Ginny.

"Yeah Zabini, because you're so talented…at posing," Ginny snapped.

Slughorn merely chuckled at this, warning Zabini good-naturedly to be careful, since Ginny was very good at casting the Bat-Boogey Hex. Slughorn went on to speak of the stories that had been printed in the Daily Prophet over the summer, such as the fact that there was quite a disturbance at the Ministry of Magic, and that Harry was at the center of it all. Harry, seeing no way out of this without bluntly lying, just nodded his head but said nothing, the memories of that night not something he likes to recall, his body becoming slightly more tense. Mia, who was holding his hand, seemed to sense this and gave his hand a comforting squeeze. He let out a quiet breath, squeezing her hand in return as Slughorn went on to the other rumors that the newspaper seemed to spring up, such as the one about a certain prophecy pertaining to Harry and the Dark Lord. Both Ginny and Neville came in at that time, stating they never heard a prophecy that night at the Ministry, instantly coming to Harry's defense. Harry shot them each a subtle, grateful smile while Slughorn seemed disappointed that this rumor couldn't be confirmed. Soon enough he started to go off about other famous or influential wizards and witches he has taught over the years, all of them moving on to do great things in the world. Harry himself couldn't wait to get out of there, but he couldn't think of how to do so without being rude. So he just sat there with the others as Slughorn rambled on, the sky outside slowly getting darker and the countryside becoming more wild and thick with trees.

Thankfully, Slughorn seemed to take notice of the time and suggested they all head out to change into their school uniforms before they reached the station. He waved merrily at them all as they filed out of the compartment one by one, saying he would see them all at the feast. As they all went their separate ways in the corridor, Blaise Zabini shot Harry a filthy look, one he was only too happy to return.

"Well, that was…interesting," Ginny stated.

"I wouldn't really call it interesting," Mia countered with a slight frown. "I don't like how he seems to collect students with connections to someone famous, it makes me feel like a pawn in a game. How come you were invited for lunch, Ginny?"

"Slughorn caught me casting the Bat-Boogey Hex on Zacharias Smith, that annoying Hufflepuff from the D.A last year," Ginny replied with a small smirk. "He kept on pestering me about what had happened at the Ministry, and he wouldn't leave me along about it, so I hexed him to shut him up. Slughorn happened to by walking by at the time, and when he came into the compartment I thought I was going to get into trouble, but he ended up just inviting me for lunch. Crazy huh?"

"I'd say," Neville muttered.

"Better reason for inviting someone than because their mother is famous, or because their uncle—" Harry started, but he cut off his sentence as e stared at the back of Zabini's swiftly retreating back, an idea suddenly coming to him. Within minutes, Zabini will be back at the compartment where the rest of the sixth-year Slytherins will be sitting, including Malfoy. If he was able to slip inside unseen, Malfoy and his friends will never now he's there, never believing their conversation was being overheard. This could be his only chance to figure out exactly what Malfoy was up to, and prove to the others something was going on! He had his invisibility cloak on him, he couldn't miss out on it!

"I'll see you guys a little later," Harry said quickly, yanking his cloak from his bag.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Mia asked him in surprise. "Where are you going?"

"I'll explain later, I promise," Harry said, giving her a chaste kiss on her lips and muttering "love you," before he disappeared underneath the cloak and started following Zabini down the corridor.

MiaPOV

Mia watched as Harry disappeared underneath his cloak and she couldn't help but feel confused at his sudden behavior. Just what was going on through that boy's head? It's not that much longer before they reach Hogsmeade Station, they have less than an hour and he can't waste time going off on a last minute adventure on the train. A sigh escaped her lips and she shook her head, hoping that Harry knew what he was doing and that he would make his way back to their compartment in time. She started walking down the corridor with Ginny and Neville, and after a little while, Ginny went back to the compartment she was sitting in with Dean Thomas while Mia and Neville continued on.

"Where do you think Harry went?" Neville asked.

"Who knows with that boy," Mia answered. "I seriously don't know what I'm going to do with him."

Mia heard a soft chuckled and looked over to see Neville smiling in slight amusement at her.

"What?" she said.

"Nothing. It's just nice seeing you two so happy, even when you drive each other nuts," Neville replied with a shrug, his words so sincere that Mia couldn't help but smile back at him. It wasn't much longer before they came back to their compartment, where the others were sitting comfortably, with Hermione and Luna reading while Ron was snacking on some treats he had gotten from the trolley.

"Hey guys, we're back," Mia greeted as she and Neville entered.

"You were gone a while," Hermione stated as she closed the book that was in her lap. "Where's Harry?"

"He's starting our annual dangerous adventure early this year," Mia answered with a playful eye roll as she took her seat. "After our meeting with Slughorn he told us he would be back later, put his cloak on, and then ran off."

"I'm sure he has a good reason," Luna mused as she turned a page of her magazine.

"How was the meeting with Slughorn?" Ron said.

"Strange," Neville sighed. "He was asking out our families, or famous people we knew."

"He gives me the vibe of a collector," Mia added. "Probaby wants to see potentials for his club, but I don't think I'll join."

"How come?" Luna asked.

"Just don't like the feeling he gives me," Mia told her, crossing her arms over her chest. At that moment, Sapphire, who had been sleeping next to Hermione, jumped from her position onto the floor before jumping up right into Mia's lap, causing the brunette to smile as she used one of her hands to stroke her precious cat from her head to her tail. As she did, she couldn't help but notice that Sapphire was moving a bit differently as she made to lay down on Mia's legs, settling on her side rather than on her stomach, which was a little rounder that she remembered.

"Ron, you haven't been feeding Sapphire any snacks, have you?" Mia said, inspecting her pet closer.

"No, why would I?" Ron said.

"There's something different about her," Mia murmured slowly, tracing her fingers over her fur. "She seems a little more stout, and she did get sick before we left this morning for the train. Do you guys think she might have gotten into something she shouldn't have?"

"Don't worry Mia, she perfectly fine," Luna reassured her with another dreamy smile. "It's normal for this stage."

"What do you mean?" Hermione said.

"Isn't it obvious?" Luna said, staring at them all. "Sapphire is pregnant."

There was a moment of complete silence before Ron, scowling in exasperation and annoyance, turned to Crookshanks, who was resting lazily in his corner by the window.

"You just couldn't keep it to yourself could you?" he yelled at the cat. "Couldn't practice just a little self-control? Now this time next month our dormitories are going to be crawling with little furry mutants!"

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