The Lion and the Badger
"What are you up to now, Harry?", Ron asked as they staggered up through the snow to the castle. It was the last night of the holidays, they had just apparated back and had a very close examination by Argus Filch and his secret detectors behind them. Ginny was still shrugging slightly, apparently the caretaker had learned that she had worked with George in the store during the summer, so he had checked her even more closely than the others.
Harry shrugged. "I think I'm moving in next summer," he said thoughtfully. "But for now, Tupsy will be able to cope on her own, she has endured the last seventeen years without me."
"I'm sure Kreacher won't like that," Hermione said with a ruffled forehead.
"No," Harry sighed. "I have no idea how to tell him."
In the last few days, they had scoured Potter Manor from top to bottom, from the boxes full of possessions of long-dead Potters to the full pantry in the basement, and found some interesting things. The house was welcoming, comfortably furnished and well maintained by Tupsy, but one thing couldn't be denied: just like Grimmauld Place Number Twelve, it was actually far too big to live there alone.
"Don't you think it's excessive to have two house elves?" Hermione asked critically, and Ron twisted his eyes annoyed.
"Honestly, Hermione, what is he supposed to do? Throw one of them out? They wouldn't survive that," he said dryly.
Luckily, they just passed Hagrid's hut and Grawp, whose sight smothered the looming S.P.E.W. sermon, as Hagrid's brother sat happily humming on a huge bench in front of his even bigger hut, dressed in a thick, colorful Winter coat and with a neon green bobble hat on his head.
"I don't believe it," Ron said weakly.
"Hermy!" Grawp said cheerfully.
"Hello, Grawp," Hermine said cautiously. "How, um, were your Christmas?"
- "HAGGER!" the giant shouted, so that they all started violently. "HERMY BACK!"
The door to Hagrid's hut swelled up and Fang cheerfully jumped on them, followed by his master.
"What were your Christmas like, Hagrid?" asked Harry, as he laboriously fended off Fang.
"Top," Hagrid said with a grin. "Thank you for this cookbook, Harry, there's some really great recipes in there."
Ginny giggled quietly and Hermione gave him a squeaky side view, because she knew with what ulterior motive Harry had given Hagrid a cookbook - they all knew his rock-hard biscuits.
"Do you want to come in for tea?", Hagrid asked kindly.
They shook their heads tiredly. "'Sorry, Hagrid, but we should get to the castle before it's quite bleak," Ron said. "Before McGonagall launches a search party."
"I'm coming along," Hagrid said. "'It's almost time for dinner anyway."
He went in briefly to fetch his moleskin coat, then he took Ginny and Hermione's suitcases and trotted up to the castle with them. Fang stayed behind with Grawp.
"What did you do during the holidays?", Hagrid asked.
"Harry inherited again," Ron said with a grin.
"Potter Manor," Harry added, explaining.
"Aah, yes," Hagrid muttered. "I've wondered what happened to it – I've never been there any more."
- "The Order used it as headquarters, right?", Harry asked.
"Yep," Hagrid confirmed. "We always met in Dumbledore's office at first, but then it became too noticeable that strangers were constantly coming to Hogwarts, and your grandfather then offered the house."
- "Were my grandparents also in the Order?"
Hagrid nodded. "Course."
They had now reached the entrance hall, where Professors Sprout, Slughorn, Flitwick and Dawlish sat very tired-looking behind a table. At their sight, Dawlish made four hooks on the list in front of him and rolled it together.
"You are the last Gryffindors," he proclaimed calmly, then nodded briefly to his three colleagues before heading out for dinner. Slughorn looked enviously after him. Hagrid said goodbye to them and they walked up the stairs towards Gryffindor Tower.
Arriving at the top, they found that once again an official-looking poster hung between all the papers on the black board (calls from first-years for certain chocolate frog cards, desperate pleas to look out for missing pets, and an extremely unflattering caricature of Professor Slughorn, albeit drawn in love for detail. On the poster there was a list of appointments for which the fifth and seventh years should come to Dawlish for vocational guidance. Harry had to think involuntarily about the memorable consultation at McGonagall three years ago, when she and Umbridge had screamed at each other for minutes, and grinned briefly. Hermione's face, however, collapsed.
"I still don't know what exactly I want to do," she said nervously.
"It's a consultation", Ron said, turning a blind eye. "So that's exactly what you need."
Hermione nevertheless rushed up the stairs to the girls' dormitories, presumably to memorize all the brochures she had collected in recent months. Ginny smiled, kissed Harry and followed her to calm her down. Ron shook his head as he walked up the stairs towards their own dormitory with Harry.
"She's just unbelievable," he snorted. "As if there's any job she can't do with her grades."
"Maybe that's the problem," Harry said. "If you can do anything, it's hard to make a decision."
The biting stench coming from their dormitory ended the discussion. As it turned out, Seamus' newly replenished stink bomb stock had not survived the transport to the castle unscathed, so that the entire Gryffindor tower stank terribly for two full days. This led on the one hand to the chronic emptiness of the common room and, on the other hand, to the fact that the last seventh-years finally mastered the head bubble charm. Another accompaniment to this incident was the sermon that Ginny gave Seamus at breakfast because he had bought from their rivals, "instead of buying Weasley products, as it should be for a decent Gryffindor! Damn, Finnigan, you've had it coming!"
Eventually, Seamus walked around with such a red head for a while that Ernie Macmillan asked him in herbology if he got a Crampus cactus for Christmas.
Harry finally had his appointment in Dawlish's office in his free period after lunch on the first Wednesday after the holidays. The defense teacher was waiting for him behind his desk and there was no one else who could take notes on a clipboard or disturb him with ridiculous chrms, as Harry noted with satisfaction.
"Sit down, Potter, sit down," Dawlish said, letting the stack of essays he was working on disappear with a wink of his wand. Instead, he pulled a folder from his top desk drawer, which read "Harry Potter" in McGonagall's no-frills.
"So then," Dawlish continued, swaying. "If I'm not mistaken, you have already decided on a career in the Aurore Office?"
"That's right, sir," Harry said, nodding eagerly.
"Of course I'm familiar with the special circumstances," Dawlish said, pulling out a note with Harry's marks. "You will no doubt be hired, but I recommend that you work on your marks, because the Auror training is not easy. Your defense work leaves nothing to be desired, and Professors Slughorn and Sprout also praise you in the highest tones, but I advise you to improve your Transfiguration and Charms grades even more - 'Exceeds Expectations' in these subjects is normally not enough to be included in the program, and you certainly don't want to have to justify yourself in front of your future colleagues."
Harry got slightly dizzy when he heard about his current grades, which exceeded everything he had seen before, but he nodded eagerly.
"As far as the other requirements for an auror are concerned, they should not be a problem for you - your record is clear and the stress tests are nothing against what you have already experienced. In addition, there is the Elder Wand, which will undoubtedly give you a huge advantage-"
Dawlish broke away in amazement as a silver badger sprinted through the wall and jumped onto his desk.
"Selwyn spotted in Hogsmeade," the Patronus said with Proudfoot's angry voice. "Notify McGonagall and shut down school."
They jumped up at the same time and pulled out their wands.
"Potter, notify the director!" barked Dawlish. "And then back to your common room!"
"I can help!", Harry said, upset. Williamson's killer was nearby, the man who made the country hold its breath-
"You can forget that," Dawlish said, who had already opened the door. "You are a student, not an auror! Do what I said!"
For a moment, Harry stopped furiously. "You are a student, not an auror!" - this had never stopped him from getting involved, but he knew that probably every auror of the country was combing through Hogsmeade and he would hardly make a difference, so he growled "Expecto Patronum" and sent his silver deer to McGonagall before running back to Gryffindor Tower. As he walked up the stairs to the fifth floor, the Headmistress's magically amplified voice roared through the school.
"All students immediately return to their common rooms. Teachers immediately follow the sealing protocol."
Dawlish must have drawn up a plan for this case, Harry realized, obviously every teacher had a certain task to perform now. And when he arrived at the portrait hole through which Ginny and Demelza Robins were just pushing a dozen unsettled second-years, he realized that there was something else he could do to help. He rushed through the common room and up into their now stink-bomb-free dormitory, where he was finally able to pull the marauder's map out of the bag that hung around his neck.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said, briefly tapping the parchment with his wand, so that it turned into the map that showed each person inside the castle walls.
"Harry," Ron and Neville, who just sprinted through the door, said. "We thought-"
"I'm fine," Harry said in a hurry, his eyes scurrying across the map.
"What are you looking for?", Ron asked.
"Selwyn," Harry growled. 'They've spotted him in Hogsmeade, that's what the uproar is about, and he'll certainly try to get in here soon if he's still around nearby.'
Ron and Neville helped him, but there seemed to be no one in the castle who was not allowed to be there. Dawlish, Harry noticed, had just left the castle grounds, presumably to help with the search in the village, while the other teachers posed at all entrances to ward off potential intruders.
"He's not here," Harry said in a mixture of disappointment and relief.
"Keep an eye on the map," Neville sighed, straightening up again. "I'll go and calm down the others."
To reassure the younger Gryffindors, the sixth and seventh-years spent the night together in a tense atmosphere in the common room. Harry and Ginny watched the Marauder's Map, but the name 'Arius Selwyn' didn't appear on it once, and the Slytherins apparently didn't leave their common room either. As they sat there, Harry noticed that the others all had their wands in their hands and barely took their eyes from the portrait hole next to which Seamus and Dean stood guard. Parvati and Lavender sat on the lowest steps leading up to the girls' dormitories, with Neville leaning against the wall next to them.
"You've done this last year, haven't you?" he asked Ginny.
She nodded grimly. "Every time something happened. When a few of us sneaked out to smear the walls or visit people who were chained..."
- "Have the Carrows ever been here?"
"Four times," Neville said, rubbing his eyes. "Right on the first evening, then when we first wrote something on the walls, and then after that, when they caught Michael Corner. And when they wanted to get me."
"McGonagall was always there, too", Lavender said. "And at least in the beginning they were still afraid of her, so they held back a little bit... when they realized Neville was gone, they didn't."
Seamus made a grimace and Harry didn't ask any further.
Shortly before dawn, Dawlish came over briefly to inform them that Selwyn had escaped.
The emergence of the country's most wanted criminal terrified the whole school, leaving Harry involuntarily reminded of his third year when Sirius caused panic with his intrusion into the castle. The first-years moved through the corridors only in larger groups, and when Peeves approached two Hufflepuff fourth-years and shouted "Buh!" the two were so frightened that Madam Pomfrey administered them a sedative potion. Another student who had his nervousness written on his face these days was Malfoy. Every time Harry met him, he noticed how grey and tense he looked, much like he had in their sixth year, and not for the first time he wondered how high the Malfoys were on Selwyn's list. Theodore Nott, on the other hand, seemed revived by Selwyn's appearance, with Harry catching him more and more often in their potions lessons as he cast hungry and hateful glances at him. Obviously Nott couldn't wait for Selwyn to show up to finish Harry, but the last Death Eater seemed to have different plans, because they heard and saw nothing from him for the time being.
Meanwhile, the teachers had apparently noticed over the Christmas days that the school year was already well advanced and therefore the NEWTs were getting closer and closer, which led to the homework workload reaching unprecedented heights. Hermione learned so manically that Parvati and Lavender could barely stand it with her in their dorm, and Neville faced a total nervous breakdown in Charms, which only a plethora of chocolate frogs could prevent. All of Hogwarts took a serene breath as the Quidditch season finally continued. Hufflepuff against Gryffindor was the first match on the agenda and Harry had no great difficulty in motivating his team, because after the disgrace in their last encounter they were all extremely anxious to retaliate. Conversely, the Hufflepuffs were no less motivated to present themselves better after their defeat against the Slytherins in order to not lose every chance of the Quidditch Cup. On the eve of the game, the scene happened that multiplied Harry's motivation when he returned with Ginny from one of their long walks across the lands, which had almost exclusively been about tomorrow's game. They were just passing the trophy room when Ginny suddenly held him and her eyes cracked furiously. Harry followed her gaze and stood stunned at the sight that was presented to them.
In front of the DA's picture was Hufflepuff chaser Zacharias Smith with a handsome Ravenclaw fifth-year who, if he wasn't mistaken, was called Irma Brocklehurst. Smith proudly pointed to himself as he stood with a swollen chest between Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley.
"... You see, I was there," he said straight, and Irma nodded with big eyes. "Great thing, the DA- a pity that so many of us have died."
"Did you fight in battle?", Irma asked.
"Of course," Zacharias said after a brief moment of hesitation. "But I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind, I don't like to think of it, you understand-"
Harry felt the anger boiling over as he thought of how Zacharias had fled the battle, knocking over younger students - and then he realized Irma was Mandy Brocklehurst's little sister. Mandy Brocklehurst, who had been murdered by Macnair in the entrance hall, whose body had been lying in the Great Hall next to that of Padma Patil...
Harry grabbed into his sleeve, but Ginny was quicker.
"Vespertilia Maxima!", she hissed and Harry saw her Bat Bogey Hex in action for the first time. Zacharias screamed as tons of wickets fluttered at him, attacking every bit of his body they got to grasp. Irma Brocklehurst jumped away from him screaming.
"How dare you!", Ginny screamed angrily, while Zacharias stumbled upon an old Quidditch cup and pushed it off his pedestal.
Harry let off steam by conjuring a red spot over Zacharias' face in the picture. As he was already on it, he did the same with Marietta Edgecombe.
"He didn't fight in the battle," Ginny snarled at Irma. "He was far too busy saving his skin while others died - like your sister!"
Irma slapped her hands in front of her mouth and stared at Zacharias with big eyes before turning on the heels and fleeing.
"Come on," Harry said, pulling Ginny with him, before she could turn her attention back to Smith. "Let's disappear here before Filch shows up. We can continue dealing with him tomorrow."
Zacharias didn't let himself be seen at breakfast the next morning. Ginny and Harry, of course, had not hesitated to spread the story in the common room, so that the whole house was now more or less on the warpath. Ginny had insisted, however, that the other houses should not learn about it until after the game, so that the Hufflepuffs could not throw Zacharias out of the team. Harry really didn't want to be there for what Smith would face when his housemates found out about it. His pre-match speech therefore included, in addition to the usual tactical instructions, one or two side-strokes on Zacharias, which led Peakes and Coote to deal exclusively with the blond Hufflepuff in the first few minutes of the game. Whitby and Cauldwell, the other Hufflepuff chasers, had some trouble keeping Zacharias in the game. On the rare occasions when Zacharias received the quaffel, he was consistently booed by the entire Gryffindor curve. As Harry flew across the bend with a grin, he took a quick look at Hermione, who paid no attention to the game and instead stared at the Marauder's Map. If Selwyn or anyone else wanted to use the game to break into his dorm again, she would find out immediately.
Harry supplanted the idea of Selwyn and forced himself to focus on the game again.
"Great ball win from Robins!" shouted Seamus Finnigan, the new Quidditch commentator who, as expected, had prevailed against Luna. "Robins with the quaffel, past Cadwallader, free in front of Hopkins - Goal for Gryffindor! Fifty to thirty for Gryffindor, and now Branstone with the ball-"
Harry took a look at the Hufflepuff seeker Summerby, who was just hissing past Ron, but apparently only pretended to have seen the snitch. He smiled and took advantage of the time Summerby wasted on his ill-advised Vronski bluff to search undisturbed for the winged ball. He didn't have to worry about the bludgers because Zacharias Smith wasn't near him.
"Weak bluff there from Summerby, Potter doesn't even shrug with the eyelashes and now Zacharias Smith with the quaffel, Smith has- HA!"
- "FINNIGAN!" blared Professor McGonagall, who apparently did not trust Flitwick to monitor the commentator rigorously enough and therefore had not given up this task.
"Sorry, Professor! Nice bludger there from Jimmy Peakes anyway, Smith will have that bump for quite a while - and now Thomas with the quaffel- no, now Cadwallader- Branstone- Weasley in between, Weasley on the way to the goalposts-"
Harry sighed softly as Summerby flew under him and shot down, straight towards the middle of the pitch. He did not have to turn around to know that the Hufflepuff seeker was following him, waited until he could identify individual blades of grass, and then sharply tore the broom upwards; his knees slid just above the ground and then he heard a rather disgusting noise as Summerby struck.
"Summerby on the ground," Seamus reported happily. "Um, good luck! No, he gets up, he seems to want to keep going-"
In fact, Summerby swayed grimly over to his broomstick to resume the match. Harry let his eyes wander through the stadium and then, while Summerby was still climbing his broom, he saw the snitch flying right in front of Professor Sinistra's nose, who was sitting with Slughorn at the Slytherins. The rest was a mere formality, the final result was two hundred and twenty to forty.
"Nothing to report?", Harry asked Hermione as he returned to the common room after a long shower, where a wild party was already underway.
"Nothing at all," she said, giving him back the Marauder's Map before kissing him on the cheek. "Congratulations."
"Thank you," Harry said with a grin as he stowed the map in his pocket. "Did you even notice anything from the game?"
"The end," she said, shrugging. "How is Summerby doing?"
- "Broken collarbone," Harry muttered, somewhat embarrassed. "But Madam Pomfrey can repair this in ten minute, he'll be fine."
Hermione nodded. "You should get a butterbeer while there still are some," she said.
"Too late," said Ginny, who had just come over. "Harry, can you send Kreacher to save the party? No rebuttal, Hermione," she added sternly. "An evening without learning stress is good for you!"
Harry summoned his house elf before Hermione came up with a suitable answer, and the house elf brought such tons of butterbeer and sweets from Honeydukes a little later that the Gryffindors' party continued into the early hours of the morning, when a grim Dawlish appeared, prompting them to go to bed under the threat of a massive point deduction.