Chapter Three: First Night

Hogwarts – September 1st, 1997

Harry climbed into his bed with a small sigh of relief. It was already twenty 'til midnight and after the emotional rollercoaster he'd ridden that day, he was more than ready to get what he felt was some well-deserved sleep.

The sorting ceremony and welcoming feast had gone smoothly and without any surprises or interruptions. As promised he'd sat with Ron and Hermione, and as he'd privately predicted, the latter had immediately attempted to interrogate him on where he'd been during the train ride. Harry wasn't exactly sure why but he didn't feel like he was ready to tell them about Mackenzie just yet. He really just wasn't sure how his oldest friends would react and he wasn't prepared for the possible condemnation he might receive for his rash actions. It had taken some vague statements and half-truths, but he'd eventually distracted Hermione and she had been forced to accept that he'd simply been busy with "Head Boy duties".

Once the first years were led in by Septima Vector, the arithmancy professor and new deputy headmistress, Harry had watched the sorting with general interest. According to Professor McGonagall this was supposed to be the largest class of first years in quite some time. As always the process seemed to drag on until Professor Vector finally made it into the 'W's and Harry perked up as Mackenzie's name was called.

He would later observe that like him, Mackenzie was a bit of a "hat-stall" and took more time than anyone else in her year to sort. After a few minutes, he was quite happy to see her be sorted in with the Ravenclaws as he'd predicted and he made sure to clap loudly while she made her way to their table.

The rest of the meal seemed to pass by in a blur after that. Professor McGonagall introduced the three new members of the teaching staff for that year. Michael Scottsdale, an Auror Harry had met over the summer during one of his trips to the Ministry, would be serving as their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Unfortunately the former muggle-studies professor, Charity Burbage, had been one of the last casualties in Voldemort's bid for power and so a younger man who had previously taught secondary school-level Life Sciences would be filling that position. And, as Professor McGonagall was now the Headmistress, the school needed a new transfiguration professor. This position was filled by a tall, no-nonsense type middle-aged woman who left Harry wondering about a possible familial relation to their former transfiguration professor.

During the feast Harry was able to surreptitiously send McKenzie several smiles and a couple of thumbs up. He was glad to see that she seemed to have fit right in with the other Ravenclaw first-year girls and was animatedly chatting with the ones to either side of her, frequently gesturing to the charmed ceiling or to where the Sorting Hat was sitting at the side of the hall waiting to be taken back to the Headmistress' office. Once the feast drew to a close Harry was even able to give her shoulder a quick squeeze before the Ravenclaw prefects ushered all of the first years out of the Great Hall and off to their tower.

After making sure that everyone found their way to their common rooms and that no one had questions that couldn't wait until the following morning, Harry and Padma performed several sets of patrols of the castle just to make sure no one was out and about getting into trouble. Luckily things held to tradition and it seemed that everyone was too excited about catching up with friends or just plain too exhausted on their first day back to sneak out after curfew.

During their walk Harry apologized again for missing the prefects' meeting, but Padma simply waved it off after asking if he was all right. She told him that they had to be flexible in their positions and that she trusted him not to skip out without a good reason. Harry had given a bit of a chuckle at that and then promised to tell her the entire story during their meeting with McGonagall the next morning. Harry also couldn't help but feel a bit of warmth blossom in his chest at Padma's declaration of faith in him and he silently vowed to be the best Head Boy that he could.

And so it was a very weary and content Head Boy who lay down to rest after a long first day back at the castle. On-the-spot guardianship-claiming of a first year student aside, they'd already made it through the train ride, sorting ceremony, and welcoming feast without any major problems or issues. Harry's last thought before sleep took him was that maybe this was a sign for the quiet year he'd always wanted.

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Harry should have known he'd jinx the whole thing by simply thinking the day had gone too smoothly. A massive dose of adrenaline pumping into his veins had Harry wide-awake the same second Dobby loudly popped into his room just after one in the morning.

"Master Harry Potter sir, your Miss Kenzies is needing yous. Miss Kenzies says to be getting yous right away!"

Harry was out of bed and halfway to his bedroom door, still in his pajama shirt and bottoms, before Dobby had finished speaking. "Where is she, Dobby?"

"She be in the Ravens tower, sir! I can be showing yous, Harry Potter sirs!"

Harry rushed through the common area he shared with Padma and all but sprinted down the halls and up the staircases towards the Ravenclaw tower. While he ran, all manner of horrible and near-impossible scenarios filled his mind. He could hear Dobby's rapidly pattering feet behind him along with the occasional double-pop as Dobby used his magic to keep up with Harry's longer strides.

The thought of simply asking Dobby what exactly was wrong didn't occur to Harry as he made his way through the castle in a near panic.

Harry barely slowed down once they reached the bronze knocker guarding the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. He simply shouted the password he and Padma had been provided in order to get into any of the house common rooms and squeezed his way in as soon as enough space appeared for him to do so.

With a final pop, Dobby once again appeared at Harry's side. "This way, this way!"

Dobby led him up the spiral staircase leading to the female dormitories and Harry thanked Merlin that he was the Head Boy, else the stairs would have turned into a slide and denied him access. After moving past several doorways, the two stopped in front of a heavy oak door with a bronze plaque labeled "First Years".

Taking a deep breath and preparing himself for whatever he might find inside, Harry knocked on the door before gently easing it open.

"Hello?"

He immediately noticed all of the first year girls huddled together on one of the beds and he took a moment to realize that even though this incoming class was large, only four girls had been sorted into Ravenclaw. Harry wasn't at all surprised to see one of the girls crying and being comforted by the other three. What did surprise him, however, was that it wasn't Mackenzie. In his many scenarios he'd thought of during the quick trip from his rooms, many of them had featured a crying Mackenzie either being attacked by an angry Peeves or being kidnapped by Death Eater sympathizers.

All of these thoughts left him when the three girls not in tears turned to look at him and he met Mackenzie's wide eyes. The feeling of relief and trust that Harry would make everything better now that he was there was so profound and easily read on her face that Harry feared he might collapse under the weight of her gaze.

"Mackenzie, are you alright? What's going on?"

"Harry." Mackenzie's quiet exclamation could only just be heard and she seemed to be in shock seeing him in their room. "You came!"

"Of course I did." Harry grinned before closing the dormitory door behind him. While he still wasn't sure what had happened, it was clear that no one was in immediate danger and the adrenaline was slowly leaving his blood stream. He made his way over to the bed holding the four girls, two of whom had already gone back to comforting the fourth. "Dobby said you needed me. What happened?"

Before Mackenzie could explain, however, the girl crying let out a much louder sob. "I want to go home! Where's my mummy? I just want to go home!"

Oh.

Professor McGonagall had warned him and Padma that this happened sometimes and that the new prefects should be warned to. Usually it took a few days for students to get homesick, but sometimes those who weren't used to being away from their parents would wake up the first night or two and panic when they didn't recognize where they were.

For a moment, Harry simply stood there running his hand through his hair, uncertain of what he should do. He'd never been very good at dealing with crying girls or emotional situations in general. But as he stood there looking on, Mackenzie's face overlapped that of the crying girl's in his mind's eye and he thought back to how he'd comforted her on the train. Taking a deep breath, Harry slipped in between the crying girl and her dorm-mates and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest much like he had for Mackenzie earlier that day.

"Shhhhh, it's okay. You're going to be fine. Just take deep breaths." Harry rocked the girl gently as he rubbed one hand across her back and continued to whisper reassurances. The other girls sat around them and Harry gave a small smile as he felt Mackenzie snuggle up to his other side.

After a few minutes the girl began to calm down and it wasn't long until she was wiping away her tears and pulling back away from him. Her face was red with embarrassment and Harry could only imagine how mortifying it must be to breakdown in the middle of the night not only in front of your new friends, but also an older student.

With the warmest smile he could manage Harry tried to catch the now bashful girl's eye. "Are you feeling better?"

A silent nod of the head was the only reply he received. The girl was still doing her best to look anywhere but the four other students and one house-elf in the room.

After another moment of comforting the girl, Harry looked around at the other three first years. They were still watching their dorm-mate closely, seemingly torn between ignoring what had just happened to save her some embarrassment and trying to comfort her further. Worst off in Harry's eyes, was that all four were clearly wide-awake.

Knowing that they would have a tough enough first day of classes the following morning without being sleep deprived, Harry gave a small cough to gather everyone's attention. "How about some hot chocolate before we all turn back in for the night?"

Getting a round of enthusiastic agreement, Harry sent Dobby off to the kitchens for the hot chocolate and to the hospital wing for some calming drought. Within a handful of moments each of them were sitting on their beds (with Harry sharing Mackenzie's) nursing their warm drinks.

After a couple moments of silence, Harry cleared his throat again. "I already know Mackenzie, but I don't know anyone else's names. I'm Harry and I'm the Head Boy this year."

One of the girls' head snapped up wide-eyed to look at him. "Are you Harry Potter?"

Harry gave the girl a warm smile and took another sip of his drink before answering. "Yes, I am. What's your name?"

"Wow. You're Harry Potter." If possible the girl's eyes seemed to get even wider as she thought about the fact that THE Harry Potter was currently sitting in her dorm room. It took her several moments before she processed what he'd asked of her. "Oh… sorry, I'm Katie Hemington."

"Hi, Katie. It's nice to meet you."

After another confirmation of his identity and a couple of awkward moments of silent hero worship from the two girls who had heard of him, Harry quickly moved introductions along. It turned out that Katie was a pureblood who almost wasn't allowed to attend Hogwarts. Harry ending Voldemort's reign of terror so abruptly changed her parents' minds. The girl who'd been upset was named Samantha Reams and was also a pureblood. She admitted that this was the first time she'd been away from her parents overnight and was quickly reassured by her new dorm-mates and Harry that there was nothing to be embarrassed about. The last girl that Harry didn't know was named Karen Wolby and was a muggleborn from north London.

Harry quickly learned that all four of them were quintessential Ravenclaws and were more than willing to quiz him on everything he knew about Hogwarts, classes, and magic in general. It was only once the calming drought really started kicking in that he was shown mercy.

"Alright, I think that's enough for tonight. It's a big day tomorrow and we all need our sleep."

Karen and Samantha looked as though they were about to protest but were cut off when all four girls gave big yawns. They all giggled a little and quickly acquiesced as Harry took their empty mugs and ushered them under their covers.

One-by-one they all fell asleep and Harry was just about to leave when a quiet voice caught his attention.

"Harry?"

Turning around, Harry quietly padded over to Mackenzie's bed and kneeled down next to her head so she could whisper to him.

"Thank you for coming. I didn't know what else to do."

Harry smiled and ran his hand through her hair. "It's no problem. I'm glad you called Dobby and had him get me. It's what I want you to do anytime you think you need help, okay?"

Mackenzie yawned and nodded her head sleepily – her eyes already closing as sleep took her. Harry gave the girl one last smile before standing and leaving the room.

It was ten minutes after two in the morning when Harry made it back to his rooms. As tired as he was, he simply flopped down onto his bed, a smile tugging at his lips. He didn't even stir when Dobby popped in, vanished the empty hot chocolate mugs, and pulled a duvet over his sleeping form.

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Even with his late night and interrupted sleep the day before, Harry woke up bright and early the next morning feeling completely refreshed and ready for the day. He and Padma met in their common room and made it down to breakfast before most of the staff and hardly any of the other students made it. After meeting the girls last night, Harry decided he was going to sit with the Ravenclaw first years while Padma went to sit at the Hufflepuff table.

Each of the prefects leading first years down had been instructed to check in with either Harry or Padma to make sure everyone made it to breakfast. It wasn't long before one of the sixth year Ravenclaws led the group of ten first years over to where Harry sat at their table. They quickly reported that all of the Ravenclaw first years were now at breakfast before bustling off to sit with their own friends.

As the prefect left them Harry turned his attention to the new students standing around and motioned that they should sit down. "Good morning, first years. Feel free to sit down, I promise I don't bite!"

Several of the boys chuckled while a couple simply stared at him with wide eyes. He was about to say something when the four girls he'd met yesterday stepped forward, each with a mischievous twinkle in their eyes.

"Good morning, Harry!" The four said in unison.

Their clearly choreographed greeting was followed up with a round of mad giggling. Harry simply gave them a bemused smile while they scrambled for seats around him – two on each side of him with Mackenzie on his immediate left. Their friendly behavior seemed to snap the boys out of their hero-induced haze and soon Harry was surrounded by a small swarm of excited and chattering first years.

As soon as the first years got settled, Harry absentmindedly began loading Mackenzie's plate with fruits, scones, and some yogurt – much to the other girls' amusement. "So, how did everyone sleep last night? Any problems finding your beds?"

Getting some vague acknowledgements from the first year boys, Harry finished filling Mackenzie's plate and returned his attention to his own breakfast. The first years quickly began eating and the conversation rose and ebbed around him. It wasn't long before the steadily rising noise of conversation and eating filling the Great Hall was accompanied by the sounds of dozens of owls winging their way in with the morning's post.

Harry was caught up in enjoying the looks of amazement on the first years' faces and thinking back to his own first experience of mail call at Hogwarts when Mackenzie's gasp drew his attention.

"Look at that one, it's beautiful!" Mackenzie was pointing up into the flurry of owls and it didn't take Harry long to spot the splash of pure white amongst the darker browns and grays. Hedwig quickly and gracefully flew down to the Ravenclaw table before alighting onto Harry's shoulder, drawing another gasp from Mackenzie and a couple of the other first-year students. "Is it yours?"

Harry smiled at Mackenzie's wide-eyed wonder while he relieved Hedwig of a finely embossed envelope with one hand and stroked her breast feathers with the other. "Yes, this is Hedwig, and she has been a very close friend of mine for a long time now. Hedwig, this is Mackenzie Williams."

"Hi, Hedwig. You're a very pretty owl." Hedwig puffed up, as she was wont to do, under Mackenzie's praise and any potential offence at being referred to as an 'it' was quickly forgotten. Harry chuckled at his owl's vanity as he fed her several strips of bacon off his plate. A couple more minutes of stroking and compliments later and Hedwig took off with one final squeeze to Harry's shoulder, making her way back to the owlery.

"If any of you want to write to your parents or someone else, let me know and I can ask Hedwig to take your letters for you." Harry looked around at the first years surrounding him. He paused for a moment longer on Samantha to make sure she was listening in. "Writing your parents can help if you're starting to miss them, and I'm sure they'd love to hear from you. You can use school owls if you don't have your own, but Hedwig tends to be quite a bit faster than most owls, so I'd be happy to have her take them. She'll even wait for a reply if your family doesn't have an owl."

A series of excited thanks was his reply as the first-years enthusiastically began chatting about writing home or their families' reactions to owl-mail. Harry could see in the way Samantha's face relaxed that she was relieved and excited with the prospect of receiving a reply from her parents. Perhaps he would talk to Professor McGonagoll about sending them a note. A glance towards Mackenzie led Harry to give her shoulder a gentle squeeze to make sure that she knew he understood how she felt about not having parents to write home to.

The blinding smile he got back was all he needed to know that she got the message.

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The Rt. Hon. Lord Harry James Potter, 18th Earl of Black

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Hogsmeade, Scotland

September 2nd, 1997

Harry,

This letter is to inform you that I have received paperwork regarding your claim of custody and guardianship of one Mackenzie Lynn Williams, born April 16th, 1986.

I have submitted and filed all appropriate documentation on your behalf with both the Ministry of Magic Department of Welfare for Magical Children and the United Kingdom Department of Children's Welfare and Social Services.

While of majority within the magical world and therefore able to take custody of a minor child, you do not meet the minimum age requirement of twenty-one within the non-magical realm to foster a child not your own. I have submitted the paperwork for an appeal of special circumstances requesting that you be given custody regardless of your young age. Given your financial capabilities, the fact that Mackenzie will spend most of the next seven years at boarding school, as well as the primacy nature of magical laws when addressing magical subjects, I do not predict the appeal to be denied.

Regardless, I have done what I can to ensure the process is sped up and hopefully we'll hear back from a judge within the next fortnight.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any further questions regarding the guardianship process or anything else on your mind.

Yours in service,

Theodore M. Tonks, MJur

PS: Harry, please make sure that you tell Andi about this before she hears about it from the papers. I'll do my best to keep everything quiet, but I don't want to be around when she finds out "the son she never had" was hiding something like this from her. Remember, she is a Black.

Harry reread the letter Hedwig brought him at breakfast as he made his way to the DADA classroom. He couldn't help but think it frankly amazing how quickly Ted Tonks worked. Meeting him and hiring him on as his personal solicitor may have been one of the best decisions Harry had made since, well, perhaps ever.

He'd met the middle-aged man after Tonks-The-Younger had invited him over to her parents' house the first week of August. As the new Lord Black, Tonks thought he should meet her mother, who was a former Black herself. However no one could have predicted how well Harry and the two elder Tonks' got along from the very beginning.

Ted Tonks was a muggleborn wizard who worked as a solicitor in both the magical and non-magical worlds. Having gone to both a non-magical university and having studied as a legal apprentice in the magical world for a number of years, he was not only very capable but also very well respected. It had only taken a few minutes of him chatting with Harry about the state of the new lord's financial and legal positions for him to offer to represent Harry and help manage his affairs.

Harry had agreed immediately and had yet to regret that decision. While the Goblins had managed his liquid capital within Gringotts as well as any financial manager could, there were more assets than just those that sat within the bank and some things needed a more hands-on approach. Within two weeks Ted Tonks had gone over every asset, property, contract, and prior commitment of both Houses Potter and Black and sorted the whole lot into order.

While Andromeda Tonks née Black was not as well trained in legal matters as her husband, she was a daughter of the House of Black and therefore knew more about politics and wizarding society than could be considered healthy. She had immediately fallen in love with the somewhat shy and reserved Harry James Potter and spent many hours over the next month teaching him all the things he would need to know as a young noble in magical and non-magical Britain.

Both of the Tonks parents seemingly fell into the role of confidants and supporters with such ease that Harry was left wondering how he'd gotten by in life without knowing them for the past seventeen years. They were both more than willing to listen to and discuss anything he had to talk about from his past with the Dursleys, to his years at Hogwarts, to his doubts and fears about the future. They also freely gave advice and helped him through his problems in such a way that left Harry wondering if this was what having parents was really all about.

Harry shivered as he scanned over Ted's postscript one more time. Mrs. Tonks (or Aunt Andi as she insisted he call her) was indeed a Black (especially so now that Harry had her re-instated) with all the temper and ability with a wand that came with being a member of the ancient house. Harry decided then and there that Andromeda Tonks would hear about Mackenzie from him, and soon.

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"Mr. Potter, can you stay a moment?"

Harry's head snapped up toward Professor Scottsdale and gave the professor a quick nod. The seventh years had just finished their first DADA class with the auror and Harry could easily classify it as one of the best sessions any of the students had ever had. Scottsdale spent as much time discussing his actual experiences using the spells and techniques he was covering as he did actually going over theory and wand motions.

Harry finished packing his things and waved off Ron and Hermione who looked like they were both intending to stay with him. He waited for the rest of the class to stream out of the room before approaching the teacher's desk. "You wanted to see me, Professor?"

"Yes, Harry. How are things?" Scottsdale flashed him a warm smile that Harry returned. The auror seemed relaxed, but there was tightness around his eyes that concerned the teenager.

"I'm alright. It's nice to be back into the swing of things." Harry paused for a moment. "Is there something wrong, Professor?"

Scottsdale let out a sigh before leaning back into his chair. "You need to know that the Ministry has been hearing some less-than-friendly whispers about you recently. Shacklebolt wanted me to let you know that some of his seedier informants have been reporting that there are some people asking questions about you - particularly how they might be able to get at you now that you're back at Hogwarts."

"Do you think they're unmarked Death Eaters?" It had taken the Ministry all but a week to confirm that anyone who was physically marked by Voldemort died with him, but there were those supporters of his who weren't marked still out and about.

"At this point the DMLE is going to assume that's the case and proceed from there. Shacklebolt's theory is that there are either unmarked supporters or family members of marked supporters who are looking for revenge." Scottsdale sighed and rubbed his face for a moment. "I know it's not your fault and you're certainly not to blame for what happened, but a lot of people died when you dealt with You-Know-Who, and that has left a lot of unhappy people looking to hurt you. The Ministry is doing all it can at this point, and I just wanted to let you know so that you'll know to be careful."

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Scottsdale's warning was on the forefront of Harry's mind as he made his way up the spiraling staircase leading to the headmistress' office. The headmistress had arranged for both he and Padma to have lunch with her so that they could discuss any problems on the train or getting students settled in.

Knocking on the office door and following McGonagoll's command to enter, Harry noted that Padma was already seated and that a lunch was set out for the three of them. The office under McGonagoll was much like it had been under Dumbledore. There were fewer trinkets scattered about and Fawkes' perch was missing, but so many of Dumbledore's things had been left to the school that most of the bookshelves appeared unchanged.

Certainly the largest change was the portrait of a sleeping Albus Dumbledore hanging behind the large headmasters' desk.

"Ah, there you are Mr. Potter. We have several things to discuss, so we will have to eat while we talk." McGonagoll motioned Harry towards a chair and he was quick to take it as she began passing platters of food to Padma. "First and foremost, however, I am very interested in hearing an explanation as to why it is that I just received notification that my Head Boy has taken legal custody of a first-year student?"

A single glance at McGonagoll's narrowed eyes and thinned lips caused any worry Harry had about unmarked Death Eaters out for revenge to disappear and be replaced with more immediate concerns regarding his continued survival.

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AN: I'm not sure what suffixes follow a professional solicitor working in the UK, so if you have any insight, please feel free to pass that along. Thanks for reading.