"1991 enrolments. Now, lets see. H, no. J, no. K, no. Ah. L, here we are. Li, Su. Lindstrom, Kellah. Longbottom, Neville. Lovegood, Luna. Lucas-Buckley, Michael. Lybeck, Sarah. Well, it appears that Mr Longbottom and Miss Lovegood will both be receiving their letters this year, but neither have been sent as yet."
McGonagall sighed. "Excellent. I'd like to deliver them personally, Albus. I think Frank and Alice would appreciate it."
"Yes, I think that would be quite fine." Dumbledore twinkled.
"Ah. Minerva, you're back." Dumbledore greeted the witch. "How did it go?"
Minerva sighed. "It… went. Not as bad as I expected, but still…" She tapped her wand against the back of a chair and transfigured it into a replica of her high-sided office chair before making herself comfortable.
"How did Mrs Longbottom react?"
"Aggressively. That St. Mungo's acted quickly, sated most of her ire, but not all of it. Of the five healers that were involved in young Neville's initial assessment, three have been dropped back to first-year trainees, one was removed completely, and his accreditations revoked, while the fifth was commended and asked to head the investigation, in conjunction with the DMLE. The first four were harshly fined, as well."
"And young Mr Longbottom?"
"Most definitely a wizard. He tested as close to the border between turquoise and jade, at an approximate level of 10.9. The only one of the healers to retain their position, Miss Amber Christopher, had added the status charm as part of Neville's yearly medical assessment, and it clearly showed that he was only suffering from magical exhaustion for the first few weeks after the incident. That he recovered quite well and should have been recognised as magical, well before his second birthday. Alice now realises that she attributed many of his bursts of accidental magic, to his younger brothers as they grew, first Everett and then Lawrence."
"That is understandable, given the circumstances." Dumbledore nodded.
"It is."
"Will young Neville be joining us, come September?"
"Initially there was some hesitation, but Neville put an end to that, by bluntly informing his parents that he was going to attend and that if his parents truly wanted the best for him, they would support it."
Dumbledore's brows rose. "I don't recall him being so assertive."
"Albus… when have you ever taken the time to speak to the lad? Very few of us did, not once we were told that he would be a squib." Minerva huffed.
Dumbledore tilted his head in thought. "That… that is true."
"Anyway… Alice and Frank were forced to concede that Neville was correct and that they would support him, in anything he wished to do. So, yes, he will be joining us. As will Miss Lovegood, Xeno was as distracted as ever and his only comment was 'If Luna wants to go, of course she may.' Before he wandered off in search of something. Miss Lovegood accepted her letter and supply lists, and informed me that she, Hermione, Draco and Neville wold be going shopping in a few days and would we consider an exception to our pet rulings? It seems Miss Lovegood would prefer to have a raven over an owl."
"I do think we could, we were discussing adding animals to the student list, and we already allow owls." Dumbledore mused aloud.
"As Miss Lovegood is currently staying with the Dagworth-Grangers and they have stated that any further contact with them is to be via Lucius Malfoy, at least until Miss Dagworth-Granger's magical guardianship is finalised, I shall write to Mr Malfoy and inform him of the alterations to the children's letters." McGonagall told the Headmaster before standing and heading for her own office.
"Hermione? Luna?" Draco asked, knocking quietly on Hermione's bedroom door.
"Yes?" The brunette replied, opening the door. "Oh, you're here. Luna's in the bathroom. She won't be long."
"Obviously, we're here. But father's meeting with Dumbledore, so mother's taking us today." Draco warned his once rival.
"Is that… good?"
"Yes. Mother's more likely to allow us to do our own selections and pay for our own purchases. She's already given me my school allowance and I've added a fair few draughts. We should get expanded trunks, at least then, we'll have a way of giving our 'public' persona's the 'privacy' of a study space."
"And we can look at putting a couple of wizard-spaces in them and under Fidelius." Hermione added, nodding.
"Exactly. I asked father about them briefly, last night and while he approves, expanded trunks are very expensive." Draco warned.
"How expensive?" Hermione grimaced.
"The base trunk is between ʛ10-15, depending on the wood. Expansions are ʛ10 per square foot, with a maximum of four-hundred square feet for anyone not an Auror. ʛ50 per additional compartment and a maximum of four compartments."
Hermione's eyes widened. "ʛ4000 plus. That's over £20,000. Gods, Draco, that's a huge amount of money, just for a trunk."
"It is, but the alternative is being in constant contact with the likes of Lavender Brown and the Patil twins, are you sure you want to do that?" Draco asked, arching an eyebrow.
Hermione hummed in thought. "You might be right." She reached for her beaded bag and drew out a shrunken trunk.
"You keep a trunk in your bag? Please tell me that you lock it down before you do?" Draco gasped.
"What? Why?" Hermione frowned.
"Active expanded spaces cannot be enclosed within active expanded spaces, the rune-work will complete and eventually one will win over the other. You'll either end up with a torn bag or a shattered trunk."
"But we have wizard-spaces and inside expanded trunks, we brought them with us." Hermione looked at the blonde boy sharply.
"They don't use the same rune structure. You can put an active wizard-space inside an active expanded space or vice-versa. You can put either of them inside a wizard-tent, as a tent uses a completely different system, more of a distortion than an expansion or creation. Locking down a shrunken trunk, seals the runes from outside interference." Draco explained.
"Oh. Well, I didn't know that, but I'll make sure to lock it, now." The girl blinked.
"Good. So… um… how are you coping? With being eleven, again?" He asked.
"Really? It's not as hard as I thought it was going to be, when I first woke up. Oh, sure, there's time when I look at kids, those that are the same physical age as we are, and I want to smack them upside the head. Going to Hogwarts is going to be hard, no matter which way you look at it. On one hand, being surrounded by immature little brats, on the other, seeing people that we watched die? The room of Requirement's going to get a lot of use." Hermione sighed.
"Exactly!" Draco huffed. "But if you've got an expanded trunk, publicly, you can always retreat into it, to 'study' if you need to get away from the dunderheads."
Hermione laughed. "So, I can." She stood and slung her latest find, a wizarding satchel that she'd found on a trip to the local car boot sale the weekend before, over her shoulder.
An hour and a half later, the quartet had their wands and trunks and were debating whether to go to the bookshop, the robe shop or the Lion's Den. Unsurprisingly, the Den won. It hadn't existed in their previous world and all four were curious.
The shop itself wasn't a large space, maybe ten by twenty feet, but the walls were lined with doors to wizard-spaces, each one having a sign beside it that named each space and gave a short list of some of the contents or of the type of contents.
The young man behind the counter looked up as their group entered and stood to greet them.
"Hi, welcome to the Lion's Den. I'm Percy. Can I point you in the direction of anything in particular?"
Hermione blinked at the middle Weasley boy.
"We've just got our Hogwarts letters." Luna chirped.
"We have." Draco agreed. "And while we have our wands and a trunk each, we've nothing else, yet."
"Wizarding raised or muggle raised?" Percy asked.
"Both. These three are wizard raised and I'm muggle raised." Hermione answered. "They've been trying to educate me, but there's so much they just don't see, because they grew up with it." She shrugged. "I'm the same with muggle stuff, so it's kinda fair, but it does get annoying."
"Got it." Percy hummed. "Why don't you start with… wait, what the budget? Low? Medium? Variable?"
"Variable, but within reason." Draco replied.
"Alright. What sort of trunks did you get? Standard? Or expanded?"
"Expanded. Three compartments. One at seven-by-seven that will be a walk-in wardrobe. One at ten-by-ten for storage. One at ten-fifteen to be a library." Hermione answered.
"Ooh, that's gotta have cost a shiny ʛalleon or two…" Percy gasped.
Hermione pointed Draco. "Wizarding raised pureblood." She pointed at Neville. "Wizarding raised pureblood." She pointed at Luna. "Wizarding raised pureblood." Then tapped her own chest. "Muggle raised, squib-born pureblood." She gestured to the four of them. "We apparently have an educational allowance."
"Ah… That makes more sense. Okay. Have you furnished each compartment?"
"In the five minutes since we bought them?" She asked sarcastically.
"Right. Stupid question. Okay so we can furnish them for you, or we can sell you the furnishings. Paddrick is in charge of the Outfitters, he can help. Come see me when you're done, and I'll help you work out the next step." He pointed to a sign between two doors that had the name 'The Stellar Outfitters' and an arrow pointing to the right. "Pads is free right now, so go and chat with him, he'll get you sorted."
The four thanked Percy and headed off in that direction, they'd barely got inside the door and a young boy, just a few years older than they, appeared from seemingly nowhere.
"Hullo, I'm Paddrick. Percy send you?" He chirped brightly.
Hermione indicated to Draco to take over and leant into Luna.
"Who's he?"
"He said he was Paddrick, Hermione." Luna replied.
"Yes, but who is Paddrick, I don't remember him."
"Neville has two brothers, do we remember them?"
"Point." Hermione nodded, sighing.
"So, wardrobe fitting first?" Paddrick said. "Want me to fit them? Unless you lot have underage exemptions, you can't use magic at home, but I can, at least here in the shop I can."
"The cost?" Draco asked.
"Depends. If you just get the fittings, flat packed? For a seven-by-seven? Uh… hold on. What do you actually want? Hanging space all the way? Hanging space on one side? On two sides? On three side? Drawers? Shelving?" As he asked each question, the boy pointed to a different type of storage unit.
"Uh, I think it might be a little different for each of us." Draco grimaced.
"Alright, let's start with you, then. Name?" Paddrick grabbed a clipboard and pencil.
"Draco Malfoy."
"Right. Malfoy. So, what do you want?"
It took Paddrick an hour to furnish their trunks, wardrobes, storage and library, to their satisfaction and cost each of them ʛ2000, including installation. They all considered it money well spent.
Back in the main shop, Percy sent them to his brothers next, to fill some of their supplies list. Each of them emerged with a double-sided potions supply cabinet that shrunk without affecting the ingredients. One side was for ingredients and had room for a standard size two cauldron and a small collection of potions implements, while the other side was for finished potions and came with a full set of crystal phials.
Then to The Desk Set for all their stationery needs. Ink, quills, fountain pens, notebooks, folders, rulers, scroll-holders, as well as lots and lots of parchment.
Finally, it was time for books and Percy sent them to Remy saying, "He has packs of books for first through seventh years, plus study guides for each subject."
A bare ten minutes talking with Remy and he nodded and handed each of them a box. "It's shrunken, of course, but you only have to cut the string and wait ten seconds, then the shrinking charm will break. This is the advanced Ravenclaw pack. Covers all the subjects, for all years. Textbooks and study guides." He handed Hermione a second box. "That's the muggleborn pack. Covers things like wand care and associated laws, broom care and associated laws, etiquette, banking and financial management, law, customs, traditions, government and politics, how to use various tools like quills and blotters, business and career options, those sorts of things."
Another ʛ600 for Luna, Neville and Draco, while Hermione also got the muggleborn pack for an additional ʛ20.
They left the Lion's Den more than happy with their purchases. In fact, by the time they returned to Hermione's house for afternoon tea, the four were tired but very happy children. While the adults sat and talked who-knew-what, the four children sat on the grass in the back yard, with fish and chips and jug of juice and discussed the differences between this world and their original.
"That shop? The Lion's Den? That didn't exist. I mean, who would have thought that Percy would work with the twins?" Neville asked.
"For that matter, who would have thought that Molly would have let the twins have a shop? She was very much against them having the Wheezes." Hermione added.
"Talking of the Wheezes… The trunk that Arthur Weasley gave us? Should we be giving to the twins?" Draco asked.
"No, Arthur said to give it to Harry. I think we should keep it, we haven't even got to Hogwarts, yet. Give us some time to find him, before we think about giving to them." Hermione replied.
"I agreed." Luna nodded.
"Me too." Neville raised a hand.
"Alright, but how long do we wait? A year? Two? Five? Ten?" Draco asked. "Not disagreeing, just asking."
"Urm…" Hermione grimaced.
"What about Hogwarts? If we haven't found him by the time, we leave Hogwarts, we reassess." Neville suggested.
"We could always advertise." Hermione tilted her head. "I mean… he'd know what was meant, if we advertised for the fourth champion to meet us where the first task happened. Or where we ran the D.A."
"Or where he duelled the amazing bouncing ferret." Draco laughed.
"Say what…?" Neville blinked.
"One of our altercations in sixth year." Draco waved it off.
"Or what wingardium leviosa has to do with trolls." Hermione laughed.
"Excuse me? What!?" Draco spluttered.
"First year, Halloween and the troll." Hermione answered the question that Draco hadn't asked.
"Oh, good grief." The blonde boy muttered. "I've thrown my lot in with a pack of Gryffindor madmen."
"There, there, Draco, you'll get used to it. Think of it as an exercise in true Slytherin-ing. You're so Slytherin that everyone around you thinks you're a lion." Luna commented.
Draco looked at her like he didn't know whether to be impressed at her reasoning or horrified at the suggestion.
"If we haven't found Harry by the week of Halloween, we should advertise. Just a flyer in the common-rooms."
"Does the Fourth Champion want to wingardium leviosa the troll a day earlier? Contact the Amazing Bouncing Ferret for details." Neville said and the other three looked at him in surprise.
"That would work." Draco huffed.
"He couldn't possibly miss that." Hermione agreed.
On the Express the four sat in a compartment wondering if this was going to work or if they were in over their heads.
An hour after leaving London and a familiar head of hair appeared at the door. But that was all that was familiar.
"Do you mind?" The redheaded girl asked, gesturing at the seats. "Everywhere else is full."
The four exchanged looks and shrugged.
"If you like." Neville offered.
"Thanks, I'm Veronica Weasley. Call me Ronnie, please." She didn't see the looks of absolute astonishment that the four gave each other.
"Neville Longbottom." Neville was the first to recover.
"Luna Lovegood." Luna said next.
"I thought you were Ginny's friend? Aren't you the same age as her?" Ronnie asked, confused.
"Yes, I was, but someone gave me an aging potion and St. Mungo's had to made it permanent before it made me even older." Luna answered.
"Oh, okay." Ronnie shrugged and looked at Draco and Hermione.
"Hermione Dagworth-Granger." Hermione nodded to the girl.
"Hey." She smiled back.
"Draco Malfoy." Draco was too stunned to do anything but fall back on the manners his mother had worked so hard to instil in him.
"Malfoy? Wasn't your father one of the imperius victims?" Ronnie asked.
"He was. Lestrange said she cast it on him while he was still at school." Draco answered.
"Ugh, that's awful. If she did that so long ago, how can your parents be certain that they wanted to marry each other?"
"They already had a betrothal contract. Lestrange waited until it was signed. She planned to poison mother's head of house, Lord Black, and have him make father his heir. It didn't work out the way she wanted. Lord Black survived and she got disowned." Draco answered automatically.
"Your mother was a Black?" Ronnie gasped.
"She was. Your father's Arthur Weasley, right?" Draco replied.
"Right."
"I thought so." Draco nodded. "His mother was Cedrella Black and Cedrella was the cousin of Lord Arcturus, the current Lord Black. Then again, your mother's mother, she was Lucretia Black, Lord Black's daughter. The Black family is really complicated, they married into so many families and for all their sprouting off of 'we're a Dark family', they sure married into a heck of a lot of Light ones. Including the Potters, the Burkes, the Crouchs, the Macmillans, the Gamps, the Prewetts, the Tonks', the Weasleys and of course, the Malfoys." Draco shook his head. "There's even a rumour that Albus Dumbledore's mother was approached about a contract between the Headmaster's sister and a brother to the then Lord Black, but the only proof is a single comment that mother's Aunt Walburga… who was totally mental… made about it. She said given the damage that Miss Dumbledore received at the hands of muggles, it was a good thing Kendra Dumbledore rejected the contract."
"Whoa…" Ronnie gasped. "I didn't know that."
"Yeah…" Draco sighed.
Silence reigned for a few minutes, as the four tried to get their head around the fact that Ron Weasley, in this world, was a girl. And not nearly as obnoxious as her counterpart in their world, had been.
"So… um… What houses are you going to be in?" Ronnie asked.
The four snickered.
"What?" Ronnie asked.
"We can't be certain until we're sorted, but…"
"Oh, knock it off, Hermione. You know damn well we're going to end up in either Gryffindor or Slytherin." Neville growled, making Ronnie's eyes widen.
"Uh…?" Ronnie looked at Neville.
"Where else would we go? We make snap decisions then spend hours trying to work out how to make them happen."
"That doesn't sound all that Gryffindor." Ronnie commented.
"It's not, but once we're made our choice, we refuse to back down. We do it, even if we end up doing something we probably shouldn't." Draco shrugged.
"Okay, that's definitely Gryffindor. But why Slytherin?"
"We try to make people think that we planned it like that." Hermione added.
"Ok-ay…" Ronnie tilted her head and looked up at the ceiling for a few moments. "I wonder how the twins ended up in Gryffindor, then?"
McGonagall greeted her new lions, in the tower's common room.
"Welcome to Gryffindor. As you are the largest year we've had for some time, we're going to be splitting you up, slightly. Boys, I've decided to put you in two rooms. Now, I understand that three of you are related, squib-born cousins, am I correct?"
"Yes, Professor." The three Asian boys bowed slightly, even if only one spoke. "And if you don't mind, Jason Colby went to muggle school with us, can he be in our room?"
"Certainly, Mr Kahne. That leaves Mr Thomas, Mr Finnigan, Mr Longbottom and Mr Malfoy together. Are you all in agreement with that?" She asked the later boys.
"Yes, ma'am." Draco and Dean Thomas answered, while Neville and Seamus Finnigan nodded.
"Very good. Your fifth-year prefects are Percy Weasley and Rebecca Torrington. The sixth-year prefects are Bradley Trencher and Serena West. The seventh years are Hudson Wright and Beverly Wyndham. Head Boy is Wesley Newman from Hufflepuff, and Head girl is Hazel Brewster of Ravenclaw." She gestured slightly and Percy Weasley came forward. "Mr Weasley will show you the way to the boys' dorms." She waited until they had left. "Ladies, as I'm sure you're aware there are also eight of you. However, I do believe that young ladies need a little more privacy than the gentlemen, so you will be two to a room, each room has it's own bathroom and shares a sitting room with the other rooms. Miss Patil and Miss Brown, you are in room one. Miss Dunbar, you and Miss Clifford will be in room two. Miss Lindstrom will be in room three with Miss Weasley. Miss Dagworth-Granger and Miss Lovegood? You two are not in the first-year's suite. Miss Dagworth-Granger, you are the magical head of your family and Miss Lovegood, while you are the only member of the Rathdowney family, it is a patriarchal family, making you the regent, for the next genration. The two of you will, I understand, be having additional lessons in what that means, Lady Augusta Longbottom will be here tomorrow for your first such lesson. As a result, the Headmaster is permitting you to have a suite to yourselves, but… be warned any misbehaviour and the privilege will be revoked."
"Yes, Professor." The two girls replied.
"Excellent. You're in the suite with the laurel wreath on the door. Now, your rules, ladies. The only people who may enter your rooms are myself, the medi-witch, the female prefects and yourselves."
"Yes, Professor." The eight girls answered.
"You poor things, having extra lessons, right from the first day. Ugh…" Pavarti Patil groaned.
"It's not worth having your own room." Lavender Brown agreed.
Friday, three weeks into the school year, there was a tapping at the door of the suite, that Hermione shared with Luna. When Hermione looked up, she saw Ronnie Weasley standing there, looking visibly upset.
"Ronnie? Is something wrong?" Hermione got to her feet and hurried to the door.
"Hermione? Can you help me?" The redhead asked.
"What happened?"
"I… I heard one of the triplets tell Wood something, but I don't know whether it's true or he was just ribbing him." The girl wrung her fingers together, before continuing. "But if it's true… I'm… I'm… I'm in trouble."
"What did he say?" Hermione's voice hardened, just a little. Ronnie might not be their Ron, but there was still no way Hermione was going to let some third-years pick on the kid.
"The triplets, the twins and the girls from the quidditch team? They were studying, writing up something. Wood came in and told them that they should have been at practice. Alicia said something and Wood yelled that quidditch was more important than homework, especially if they wanted to get a place on a professional team. Titan stood up and… and I swear the room went silent. He told Wood that if that was how he thought, then he stood no chance of getting on a team. Wood just stood there, and Titan said that all the teams have a minimum schooling level. The lowest of them was Chuddley and they insisted on at least three NEWTs passes. No other team accepts less than E's and depending on the team as to how many and how many O's. And Dumbledore is being pressured to make the school adhere to the same rules. Is he right?" It came tumbling out in rushed speech.
Hermione blinked. "I… I don't know." She watched Ronnie's shoulder slump. "But I'll help you find out." The smile she in reply was absolutely brilliant with joy.
"Oh, please?" Ronnie begged. "How? What do we do first?"
"First we need to go to the library." Hermione answered and Ronnie frowned. "We should find a book on the British and Irish League. That might tell us, if it doesn't, then we need to find books about each team and check their application requirements. Once we know about the teams, we can ask Professor McGonagall or send a letter to Professor Dumbledore about the school requirements."
"Oh, okay. That makes sense."
Twenty minutes later and Ronnie lay the last book down, a pout on her face.
"There's nothing newer than ten years ago, are they out? How do we tell?" She muttered.
"I'll ask Madam Pince if the library even has newer editions, it might not. Wait here." Hermione directed.
When she returned, she dropped down into a seat opposite Ronnie.
"Well, these are the newest the library has. But she suggested that Remy Grimm might have a copy in his trunk-shop of books. We can only ask." She shrugged.
"Remy? He's one of the triplets, yeah?"
"Yeah. It's Friday, he doesn't have the shop hours today, so he'll be in the common room or his dorm."
"He wasn't there when Titan shut Wood down." Ronnie said.
"Ah, then he's likely in their dorm. We can ask one of his brothers, or yours, to ask him if he'll speak to us." Hermione replied.
"Okay, let's do that." Ronnie stood up and picked up the book from the table. "Do we put these back or do we put them somewhere for Madam Pince?"
"We put them on this trolley over here." Hermione showed her the way, before leading the girl back to Gryffindor tower and their common room. "Now, where to find… ah, there we are." Hermione took hold of Ronnie's arm and dragged her across the room, to stop in front of one of the triplets and their dormmate, Lee. "Hi. We have an issue and we're hoping we can speak to Remy. He's the one with the books, right?" She asked.
"He is. He's up in the dorm. You want me to ask him to come down?" The black boy replied.
"Yes, please. Mr…?" Hermione knew he was Lee Jordan, but she wasn't supposed to know that.
"Eh, call me Lee. Back in a sec…" The boy stood and bounced on his toes, before taking off up the stairs at almost a sprint. Two minutes later and he was back, and with him was the golden eyed, Remy.
"Hey, I'm Remy." He said.
"I'm Hermione and this is Ronnie. We have a question about your books. Do you have a listing? Ronnie is looking for a copy of 'Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland'. Preferably a copy a more recent copy than the library, their newest is ten years old." Hermione said.
Remy laughed. "I do. Let me guess, you heard Titan tell Wood off? Hang on." He pulled a small trunk from a pocket and enlarged it, then disappeared into its depths. When he came back, he held a copy of the bright book. "Do you want to borrow or buy it?"
"Can we borrow it, just for a few minutes?" Hermione asked.
"Sure, but it doesn't leave my sight."
Ten minutes later, Ronnie groaned. "Oh, I am so screwed…"
"Ronnie?" Percy heard her as he entered the roon, he came over and sat down beside his sister. "What's wrong?"
"It doesn't matter whether I'm a good Keeper or not, if I don't have the grades, none of the professional teams will even let me try-out." She whined. "The average requirements to apply to a team are five NEWTs, all with E's or better, only Chuddley accepts A's. Has anyone told the twins? Have they got time to fix it? Have I got time to fix it?"
"Steady on, Ronnie. When Auror Moody sponsored the twins, he gave them the same rules as he did his own grandsons, they have to maintain an EE for all classes or there's no pranks and their business trunks get taken off them." Percy answered. "And of course, you still have time to fix your grades. You're only in first year. If you like, I'll talk to the twins, and ask for a copy of their study schedule from first year." He frowned. "And I'll see if someone has a copy of the study guides, they'll really help, too. Leave it with me for the weekend, Ronnie, and I'll work something out for you, that you can live with. Okay?"
"Thanks, Percy."
"Excuse me, Miss Brown? Would you be so kind as to ask Miss Granger and Miss Lovegood, if we might have a word with them?" Draco stood at the base of the stairs to the girls' dorms, Neville a few feet behind him.
"Uh, sure, I guess…" Lavender screwed up her nose prettily but went to relay the message and moments later returned with Hermione and Luna behind her.
"Thank you, Miss Brown." Draco nodded to the ditzy blonde.
She giggled and nodded back, but also hurried away, when her roommate called for her.
"Draco, Neville." Hermione smiled at them. "What is it?"
"Can we talk somewhere a little more private, please?" Draco looked almost flustered.
"Ok-ay…" Hermione drawled the word and gestured to the boy to lead the way.
He led them from the tower and through the halls of the castle, down to the dungeons and into an unused corridor, banishing the dust as they went. Finally, they entered a small classroom, if the desks were anything to judge by. Once the four were inside, the blonde boy lifted his wand and began to cast a complex series of privacy charms.
"Alright, Draco. We're here, you've put up your alert wards and laid out your privacy charms. What's the issue?"
"The triplets? The youngest one, Titan?" Draco asked.
"What about him?"
"I just figured it out." The boy whined, flushing bright red.
"Really?" Hermione laughed. "The rest of us have known, which way your interest went, since the great sleep out." Meaning their original third year and the night the students spent in the Great Hall, while the staff and Aurors searched the school for Sirius Black, mass murderer, Draco had spent a fair amount of the night surreptitiously watching Harry.
"What!?" Draco squawked. "Why didn't someone tell me?"
"Initially? It was fun to watch you flounder. Now? Come on, after all this time? You're just figuring it out now?" Neville answered.
"Well, shit." Draco huffed. "I wasn't expecting to fall for a bloody Gryffindor. Then there's the Malfoy Curse to take into consideration."
"Curse? So, it's not just a crush?" Hermione asked with alarm.
"No, unfortunately not. Malfoy's have this hideous tendency to not do crushes, play the field or do casual dating. No, we tend to fall head over bloody heels, instantly, sometime between our twentieth and twenty-fifth birthdays. Something to do with a curse cast on a Malfoy heir back in the 1500's, but the exact details were lost two centuries later, when all the adult Malfoy men were killed during the Great Fire of London. The then heir was only a child, his nanny knew of the curse and what it did, but not what the curse actually was. And no matter how hard we've looked, we've never found a way around it. We just call it The Curse and don't usually do anything about partners until we reach twenty. My parents are the exception, but that was more Lord Black, than grandfather." Draco pouted, his shoulder slumped and a look of annoyance on his face.
"Oh, dear." Hermione sighed. "So, that would be why you never really did anything about Harry."
"He fascinated me, but that was more about his power and him not using it, than wanting to kiss him." Draco answered. "Titan, on the other hand? Him, I want to kiss."
"So, I take it, we're going to help a snake woo a lion?" Neville was trying hard not to laugh.
"Please?" Draco begged.
The day before Halloween, the Horde were in their dorm, waiting on Lee to return from doing a supply run to Ravenclaw. The first and second years were realising exactly how far a ream of parchment would go and finding that it wasn't nearly as far as they'd hoped.
The black boy bounced into the dorm, giggling madly and shaking his head.
"What's with you?" Fred, or the twin wearing the 'F' jumper asked.
"Someone's put a question on the notice board." Lee tried to stop his laughing. "But I think they're trying to pull a prank."
"A Prank? Why?" George, or the twin wearing the 'G' jumper asked.
"It has to be a prank, they didn't put their name to it."
"What did they ask?" Remy wanted to know
"How does wingardium leviosa defeat a mountain troll a day early?" Lee asked. "That's what someone that calls themselves 'The Amazing Bouncing Ferret' wants to know."
"What!?" Titan screeched, before leaping to his feet and diving into his trunk.
Paddrick and Remy's eyes widened in shock.
"Ah, Ty?" Fred called.
"Just a sec." Titan's voice emerged from his trunk, followed seconds later by the boy himself. He had a piece of parchment in his hands and quickly tapped it with his wand. "I solemnly swear, I am up to no good." Ink spread across the parchment, forming words into shapes. A few seconds passed, while Titan searched the map. "Found him. Oh shit… What's the time?"
"7.30-ish. Why?" Ken asked.
"Oh, crap. I'm late, I'm late. Shit, bugger, bollocks." Titan yanked his shoes back on and grabbed a jacket. "Wish me luck!" He yelled over his shoulder as he bolted from the room.
"What the hell?" The twins exchanged confused looks.
"Remy? Pads?"
"That wasn't a prank question, it was a secret message asking Ty to meet as a certain time and place." Paddrick said.
"And like he said, he's late. Leave him be and we'll find out the details, when he gets back." Remy added.
Titan, meanwhile, was sprinting, he had to get from Gryffindor tower on the fifth floor, around the keep to the Turis Magnus and down to the second floor and he was already late.
Jumping the last few steps, he gasped as he hit the second-floor landing, he reached out and grabbed a hold of the doorframe of the entrance to the second floor, letting his grasp and momentum swing him around and through the door. And he sprinted, again.
As he rounded the corner, he saw the blonde head of the person he was looking for, but he was at the far end of the corridor and rounding the corner into the south wing. With the east and west corridors being nearly a hundred yards long, and there being stairs outside the hospital wing on the south corridor, Titan knew he had to catch up with this prey, before they reached those stairs, or this… meeting? confrontation? This whatever, was going to be in public. As he rounded the corner into the south wing, he saw his prey just a few yards away.
"Malfoy!" He gasped, almost out of breath, but letting himself slow from a run to jog. He saw Malfoy's eyes widen and brighten.
"Titan." Draco nodded, as calm as he could, a bright smile on his face.
Titan slowed but didn't stop, he barrelled straight into the smaller boy, at a fast walk, his arms closing around the boy and hugging him tightly.
"Malfoy. How the blood hell did you get here, Ferret?" Titan gasped trying to get a decent lungful of air.
"Titan?" Draco grabbed at the older boy.
"Thank you." Ty was still gasping.
"What?"
"Thank you… for not killing… him… on the… tower that night... for not… telling Bella… it was us… in the manor… thank you… Thank you… for the ʛalleons…"
"Oh, shit… Harry?!" Hermione's screech from behind Titan made the older boy's eyes pop and his head lift from where it was buried in Draco's neck. He turned slightly so he could see who else was there, to his surprise, Hermione, Neville and Luna stood there, just feet from Draco. Shock written on all four faces.
"Uh… Hi." Titan grimaced.
"Harry James Potter!" Hermione huffed. "Don't you 'hi' me, mister."
Titan's eyes widened.
"Mione?"
"Yes."
"What was the last thing you said to me?" Titan felt a little freaked out.
"I love you, Harry. Check the cards." Hermione dutifully answered.
"Oh, boy." Titan breathed out.
"Are you going to let go of Draco? Or are you going to keep him as a teddy bear?" Luna asked, curiously.
Titan glanced back at the boy in his arms. "Oops." He said, before stopping. "Hold on a second. Malfoy…?" He tilted his head in thought. "What is going on? You three have been pushing me to mentor Draco. Why? What are you planning?"
"Oh, shite." Draco moaned.
Luna just smiled. "The Malfoys are cursed to fall in love in their early twenties." She said.
"And you're it." Neville added.
"You said what?" Titan asked, his voice calm and steady.
"Draco's fallen for you." Hermione answered, ignoring the bright red face of the boy who was still in Titan's arms.
"Oh…" Titan said.