Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; J.K. Rowling does. I do, however, own this story's plot!
Chapter 15
Tedious Week II
~ Previously in Tedious Week I ~
The scratching of quills against parchment paper echoed throughout the silent sunroom. No one dared to look up from their paper or textbook, quickly copying down everything before the class ended.
"Now, you are to write about the following potions for tonight's assignment: Cure for Boils, the Forgetfulness Potion, Draught of the Living Dead, Wiggenweld Potion and the twelve uses of Dragon Blood - what are the ingredients and how to brew them. Be sure to be knowledgeable because we will start on them as soon as the week is over."
The class groaned, but Petunia was the only one that refrained from doing such a childish act. Although, her slight frown was the only thing that showed her displeasure.
"That is not to say that you should not review other potions as well. I will be questioning each and every one of you." Snape warned before he moved from the desk and made way for Tom to continue on with Defense Against the Dark Arts.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
"Finally, it's the weekend!" Ron breathed out, as they arrived for breakfast.
"How can you have so much energy in the morning?" Neville yawned.
"It's the weekend." Ron repeated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Yes, we know." Pansy rolled her eyes.
"Ron, you do realize that we still have class today?" Harry reminded him.
"And tomorrow." Hermione supplied.
"Or did you forget?"
Ron scoffed. "Of course I remember. How could I forget with a schedule like that? Besides, don't you remember? Tomorrow we have a huge gap between DADA and Astronomy!"
"Astronomy is interesting…" Ginny shrugged.
"That was completely irrelevant to the conversation." Crystal commented.
"Well, at least it gives us a reason to fall asleep – looking at the stars and such."
"Yeah, if you want to be reprimanded by either Lucius, Severus, Tom or Remus." Harry laughed.
"It's the guardians that will be teaching us Astronomy. Did you forget that small detail?" Luna asked.
"Oh, that's right." Pansy said, remembering.
"Oh dear, the wrackspurts really have been flying about." Luna murmured, looking above their heads.
"I think I'll be rethinking about taking a nap." Ron paled.
"Good, because I think the four of them heard you." Draco smirked, turning to show the redhead that the four mentioned wizards had their eyes pinned on him.
Ron paled even further and let out an unmanly squeak before diving to his seat and desperately staring at his empty plate, wishing the deadly gazes would just go away.
"Now remember, stamina training, DA, lunch, Potions, dinner, a break and then Astronomy." Sirius recited.
"Does that mean we'll be making potions today?" Blaise asked.
"Yes Mister Zabini. Considering we'll be taking up two periods' worth, we'll be making potions today." Severus answered.
"What will we be making today– sir?" Goyle hastily added, when the potions master turned and raised a black eyebrow at the use of familiarity.
"We'll be making the Cure for Boils. You had better have Magical Drafts and Potions ready at hand for the potion making."
"Then why did we also need Book Of Potions?" Crabbe asked, "Sir." He included when Severus gave him the same look as he did Goyle.
"Magical Drafts and Potions, Mister Goyle, is a detailed version of how to make a potion. As the Book of Potions has the procedure included, it is not as detailed, and therefore, we shall be using that for your own reading if you must brush up on the surface of potion making knowledge." Severus replied, looking at each and every one of them, those eyes of his daring them to actually do such a thing.
"But the Cure for Boils only takes about an hour the most." Pansy pointed out.
"Yes, that is why we shall also be brewing the Antidote for Common Poisons. I hope you had brought your cauldrons along with you."
Petunia and Dudley blanched. "We don't have cauldrons."
"Not to worry." Harry said, waving off their anxiousness. "I bought them for you when we took a little trip down Diagon Alley remember?"
"We should use the Copper Cauldron to brew potions then." Hermione announced. "We'd be saving time – ten minutes to be precise."
"And, that means we'd have more time to study for other subjects." Fred joined in.
"Isn't that correct Professor Snape?"
"I think not. I'll be having you scrub down the first cauldron used, considering we'd be using the Pewter Cauldron to brew the Cure for Boils potion, like all first years do. And then afterwards, you'd be cleaning your Copper Cauldron and that will be all for potions."
"No assignments?" Luna asked airily.
The teens turned their heads so fast they could have gotten a crick in their neck. How could Luna betray them like this?! Asking about homework and assignments of all things!
Snape smirked at the gobsmacked expressions on everyone's faces, everyone except for Blaise, Draco, Theo, Hermione, Dudley and Petunia.
At least some people want to learn. He thought to himself before clearing his throat to answer the Ravenclaw's question.
"No, you will be relieved of assignments today. However –" he started, cutting off the hopeful expressions on the lazy group's faces and the downfallen looks on the small group of learners. "It shall only be for today and today only. Do not think for one moment you will ever get another chance like this." He finished, narrowing his eyes at all of them.
"I trust everyone has the ingredients memorized, down to the last minor, insignificant detail?" he drawled, as he cut up his pancake. "I will not be lenient anymore."
"Yes sir." The teens mumbled. Petunia only nodded, not knowing whether or not to address a man who was a year younger than her as 'Sir'.
"Very well. I expect no mistakes today or any future brewing." He concluded, placing the pancake within his mouth, ending the discussion.
"Lenient? When has Severus ever been lenient?" Harry muttered under his breath.
Catching his muttering from besides the Gryffindor, both Draco and Blaise snorted before covering up their laughter behind their pumpkin juice.
After their stamina training, the teens walked towards the sunroom where it was entirely bare, bar the cushioning on the walls and floor and began whispering to themselves.
"Ah, I see you've noticed a change in the classroom." Tom smiled, with his arms wide open to the group. "We shall be dueling today."
Luna skipped up to him, dragged him down from his height and whispered quickly into his ear before skipping back to him group. Tom scowled angrily at her before gritting him teeth.
Tom was silent for a couple of seconds, as if in an argument with himself.
"We're going to be practicing spells today. We will start dueling next week or the week after." His right eye twitched with every word that came from his mouth.
The students were stunned before they turned to look at Luna. Just what did the blond Ravenclaw say to make the Dark Lord change his mind? And why did she look so smug about it? These were the questions swirling around their heads as they watched the stare down between the two people.
"We'll do Curse of the Bogies, and Verdimillious." Tom announced, already placing everyone in small groups of three. Draco, Harry and Blaise were in one group with Tom as the instructor. Hermione and Ron with Neville and Lucius. Ginny was partnered with Pansy and Goyle along with Sirius. Dudley was with Theo and Crabbe including Severus. Fred and George with Petunia – though the twins made to protest and were silently shut down with Tom's narrowing red eyes. Lastly, because it was only Crystal and Luna left, they were made to form a small group with Remus.
"We'll start with the Verdimillious. I do not want anyone to be sneezing or coughing or hacking if the Curse of the Bogies were to be said properly." He hissed, and he waved his hand in front of him.
"I have placed several "dark" items within the classroom. Using Verdimillious, search out these items, retrieve them and bring them to me. Whichever team hands me the most items, will win a prize."
"What kind of prize?" Crystal asked.
"One where I won't cause you pain." Tom said deadpanned. Everyone gave a small flinch before Tom nodded his head to start the little scavenger hunt.
Twenty minutes later, the one who found the most "dark" items were Dudley, Theo and Crabbe. They were rewarded with a nod of approval and the others were thrown death glares.
"You will do the Curse of the Bogies. Begin."
Soon after the DA class ended, almost three quarters of the students had caught a cold.
"Did you" Harry sneezed, "Really think we'd fail a-a-" he sneezed once more, "at this spell?"
"No I did not, but clearly since only three quarters of you are sick," Tom wrinkled his nose when several sneezes and coughs were heard, "some of you have not mastered the spell yet."
"Can we get some potions for this?" Draco groaned, rubbing his irritated red eyes.
"No, however I will allow for the rest of the week's class to end, considering we are ahead with our studies." Tom said.
Everyone looked at him in surprise.
"Are you sure you haven't been hit by the spell Tom?" Harry asked warily before sniffling.
Tom scowled deeply. "Do not look a gift horse in the mouth. Now be gone, we have to rearrange the classroom."
As the teens left the 'DA training room', Harry whispered to Hermione. "Did Tom really use a muggle saying?"
"I believe he did." She giggled.
"Out! And just for that comment Potter, you all have to do a three foot long paper on the difference between an Imp and a Pixie, followed by a foot long paper on Doxies." Tom bellowed, casting stunner spells that sent the teens scattering.
The group waited outside and entered when they were called. The DA training room was now transformed into the potions classroom, where all their cauldrons had been summoned – their Pewter Cauldrons already on the table at their seats and the Copper Cauldrons by the windows where they'll be using them later on.
Neville gulped, feeling trepidation at the fact that everyone would have to make his or her own potions, without any partnerships. Harry had encouraged everyone whom had a look of wariness, saying that if Severus had done so, it meant he trusted each and every one of them to work carefully and properly. Plus, he added the fact that there were now an additional four 'professors' watching over them, rather than just one. And, the fact that there were four other guardians looking after them. So they should be safe, Harry concluded.
They all walked towards their seats and on each side of the room was a large storage cabinet, no doubt filled with all the various ingredients they would need to make a potion. Oh, Severus would not make it easy for them. He would test them to see if they had indeed mastered the knowledge of each potion ingredient and have them find the ingredients they needed. He believed it helped stick the knowledge, ingrain it into their memory.
"Now," Severus said, turning to face the classroom, "You will have one hour maximum. If you are finished before the allotted time, I suggest you either brush up on the next potion or wash down your Pewter Cauldron. You may begin."
The classroom had gone silent as everyone focused on the potion at hand, with the exception of a few coughs and sneezes here and there. All the adults, aside from Petunia, walked around the room in silence, studying the students and filing away notes on how to help them with their work, as they had been doing for the past couple of days into their training.
Macaire was unable to keep his curiosity from bubbling over the surface and had darted out of Alandair's grasp and away from his harsh barking and headed towards the students, walking around them to learn new things from the wizards. Tesia shook her head laughing.
"You know he's going to be doing this for the rest of the summer. Must you prevent him from doing so?"
"He should not be bothering them." Alandair rumbled.
"It is not bothering if I am just studying them." Macaire whispered as he walked past their little hiding spot.
"Macaire, cease and desist. Your craving for knowledge is much too distracting on the young one's education." Egidio warned.
Tom walked by and muttered, "Your arguing is distracting them more than his appraisal."
Alandair looked affronted, stunned a young one would speak out so bluntly towards his commander, while Egidio raised an eyebrow at the young one's boldness.
"I suppose we should stop and allow Macaire to explore them and this world's knowledge." Egidio relented and the trio watched as Macaire glowed, beam a smile and dash away around the classroom, flitting to and fro different cauldrons.
"Must you spoil him so?" Alandair hissed.
"You will not do it. If I don't do it, who will?" Egidio smiled, finding amusement in Alandair's scowling and petulant actions. Tesia laughed softly behind her hand, though her shaking shoulders were a dead giveaway to her slight control of holding back a roaring laughter.
Alandair hissed at her before turning his attention towards his lover whose eyes were gleaming in excitement at learning new things. He slowly moved away from the hiding space to join the speculation and soon, all four guardians were wandering around the room, looking at each teen's potion.
"Four measures of crushed fang…" Macaire could hear Neville muttering to himself, sniffling as the guardian passed by his table. Though, Neville hand hovered above the pile of horned slugs, and just as he was about to pluck them up, he immediately stopped, looked at what he was doing and quickly grabbed the snake fangs before he could ruin his potions.
Snape's eyes relaxed from its narrowing as he watched Neville work. At least Longbottom is doing better. He thought before glancing over at everyone else.
His eyes narrowed further when he saw the youngest male Weasley sneeze and grab the porcupine quills. That idiot. He hissed, drawing his wand out. But, Hermione had turn in that instant and quickly slapped Weasley's hand before shoving the snake fangs at him, scowling at him before returning to her brewing. Though her scowl deepened when she pinched the bridge of her nose to prevent an oncoming sneeze.
After both potions were brewed, Severus walked around examining each one from each teen.
"At least we haven't lost a finger or a limb this time around." He drawled, retrieving each vial before stashing it away in his potions cabinet.
"Wait, were we just helping you brew potions you needed?" Harry coughed, astounded.
"Once must know how to utilize what they have Harry. You will do well to remember this." Severus quipped, as he closed the cabinet's doors.
"Take it as a compliment Harry." Draco cut in, as Harry opened his mouth to retort.
Blaise nodded his head. "Think of it like this. Seeing as how he accepted our vials, he trusts us enough to help with brewing, thereby making his job easier as a potions master."
Harry leered at the potions master, smirking all the way. "So you were compli-"
"Out!" Severus barked and the teens scattered from the room and into the hallway.
Soon everyone trudged their way into the dining room, three quarters of them sick and tired.
"We still have Astronomy and the large assignment Tom ordered for us to do." Hermione coughed.
"Blimey. Is there no other potion to chase away this spell?" Ron groaned, his eyes red and itchy.
"If there were, I'm sure Tom wouldn't let us use it. He probably wants us to fully experience it and then turn it into an assignment that we would have to write about." Harry sniffled.
"Talk about debilitating." Draco sneezed. Blaise nodded his head, wincing when too much movement earned him a headache.
"How long does this spell normally last?" Crystal groaned.
"If correctly cast," Hermione coughed, "about a good couple of days."
"I feel bad for you guys." Dudley muttered. Neville agreed as well. The two teens didn't know whether or not they should be glad they weren't under the influence of the spell or be scared and prepared for when it would hit them the next time they cast it properly.
"What I don't understand," Ron sneezed, "is how only Luna, Neville, Crabbe, Goyle and Theo missed out on the spell. The two newcomers I can understand, but why not the four of you?" he winced when he walked past a glaring light.
"Perhaps we purposefully cast it incorrectly to not be sick." Theo shrugged.
"Don't let Tom hear you say that." The Ravenclaw giggled. "He might be the one to cast a perfected one on you."
"A perfected one?" Blaise wrinkled his eyebrows.
"Yes, a perfected one can incapacitate a wizard for more than just a couple of days."
"I haven't read about that in any book." Hermione frowned.
"That's because the Blibbering Humdinger told me. No one's ever seen a person do a perfect Curse of the Bogies before. But I know, Tom will be able to do one."
Dudley looked at her strangely before asking her, "What's a Blib- a Bliser- a –"
"A Blibbering Humdinger?" Luna clarified.
Dudley nodded his head.
"Oh, it's a creature that lives among us that tells us the truth about things -history, about people, everything really. But sadly, not everyone can hear them, and because of that, they get really sad." Luna frowned, suddenly down in the dumps.
"I bet if you chase away the wrackspurts, people would start to hear them." Harry smiled through his sniffles.
Luna's smile glowed like the morning sun and she grasped Harry's hand before pulling a train of Harry, Draco, Blaise, Ron and Hermione after her and into the dining room, startling the adults who looked on in confusion, which eventually turned to amusement.
"I did not think you needed someone to hold your hand to find the dining room Harry." Lucius smiled.
"I don't." Harry feverishly denied. "Luna was just really happy is all." He pouted.
Dinner was quickly finished with loud boisterous chatter, even if some of the teens were sick. And soon, all the students rushed to finish their assignments before getting ready for Astronomy.
"Head to the roof of Malfoy Manor. You'll get a clearer view of the sky." Snape ordered.
"Wouldn't it be more clearer if we just laid down on the grass outside?" Harry questioned.
Snape's eye twitched, as if he were contemplating on whether or not he should scold the Gryffindor for talking back or holding back on his scolding.
"To the garden then!" Snape barked, and the kids hurriedly rushed towards Malfoy's Gardens.
Lying down on the already prepared picnic blankets, everyone took notes on the names of the constellations, the names of the stars, their positioning in the night sky and eventually walked off to bed, too tired to even do the Astronomy assignment the Guardians had assigned for them.
On Sunday, everyone had a repeat of Saturday without Potions. Their stamina training's speed had slowed down due to the Curse of the Bogies dragging them down. They had lost speed and time by at least five minutes. Clearly they were unfit to be exercising. Alandair did not think so, barking at the teens to move faster until the very end. They all collapsed onto the grass, thankful they had finished their fifteen laps before heading back into Malfoy Manor for a nice a relaxing hot bath.
Though the group knew they had a large gap between Defense Against the Dark Arts and Astronomy, everyone was studying. Even the youngest male Weasley was studying without any complaints, which surprised everyone else.
"Ron, are you sure you're okay?" Neville asked.
Ron looked questioningly at the Gryffindor. "Why?"
"Well, you're willingly studying. You're not even trying to come up with excuses to get away from the books."
"And, you actually reading on your own free will. You're not even complaining." Harry noted.
"Or whining."
"Or grumbling."
"Is there something we should know?" The twins asked suspiciously.
Ron's face flamed in embarrassment before he scowled.
"I can be studious once in awhile."
The group scoffed.
"Oh please," Ginny responded. "You wouldn't or couldn't be studious even if your life depended on it."
"So what's making you study like this?" Hermione asked. Everyone really wanted to know why the redhead was suddenly a bookworm.
Ron mumbled under his breath, his skin slowly growing red with embarrassment.
"What's that?" Draco asked, his grin growing on his face.
"I thought I'd change myself." Ron shouted. "I want to change myself so I could measure up to everyone here. I want to make a name for myself!"
At the end of his outburst, Ron ended up coughing loudly. Ron, Harry, Draco, Blaise, Hermione, Ginny, Pansy, Crystal, Fred and George were still under the influence of the Curse of the Bogies.
The redhead's outburst shocked everyone before the shock turned into worry.
"What do you mean?" Pansy asked.
"You do have a name." Crystal added.
Ron shook his head.
"What I mean is, I want someone to recognize me for me. I'm not the heir to my family's name. Bill is the eldest Weasley, therefore he is the heir to the Weasley Family. Then if the Prewett Family needed an heir, it would be given to Charlie. Now, you all are different. Harry is heir to the Potter and Black Family. Merlin, he's even got the title Golden Boy of Gryffindor, The Boy Who Lived for defeating V-Voldemort as a child – sorry Harry, I know how much you hate that name."
Harry waved off his apology to focus on what Ron had to say. He had no idea Ron had so much bottled up inside until he exploded.
"And then Hermione's got the title of the smartest witch of the century. Fred and George are entrepreneurs, got their own joke and prank shop in Diagon Alley, which, compared to Zonko's, is way better. Ginny's got her dream of becoming a Quidditch player – you know that what you're dreaming of Gin." Ron quickly interrupted as Ginny opened her mouth to deny his words.
"Then there's Neville with his plants, he could become the Herbology Professor at Hogwarts whenever Professor Sprouts retires and he's the heir of the Longbottom Family. Draco is the heir to the Malfoy Family and his father's in politics so he could follow in his footsteps. Blaise is heir to the Zabini Family; Pansy, Crystal, Theo, Vincent and Gregory are heirs to theirs – sorry, I'm not sure what you guys will be, just met you and all." Ron summed up, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
"And Luna is the heir of the Lovegood Family and has The Quibbler. And I - I don't know what I'm going to do. Charlie has his dragons; Bill is a curse breaker, heck, even Percy is working in the Ministry of Magic. I don't want to be known as Harry Potter's best friend or his sidekick. I want to be known as me." He breathed out, glad to have spoken out his insecurities towards the people he trusted the most.
"Oh Ron." Hermione whispered, her eyes filled with tears.
"We … didn't know you felt that way." Harry confessed.
"Well, it's understandable considering you've been trying to stay alive your entire life you know."
"What brought this up?" Draco asked, curiously.
Ron sighed. "First year I was unable to help Harry. All I did was defeat the giant Wizard's Chess game set up by Professor McGonagall. Hermione and Harry did most of the work. Second year I was afraid of a couple of spiders – Hermione solved the problem for us to get us into the Chamber of Secrets. Third year, my leg was injured and I was unable to help Harry and Hermione when they went back in time to save Buckbeak and Sirius."
The redhead laughed self-depreciatingly. "And don't remind me about what happened fourth year. I was a total prat. I could only think of myself. I couldn't get over the fact that Harry had not put his name into the Goblet of Fire until after the first task. And fifth year, if I was strong enough –"
"Ron stop it, just stop. You know, you're going about this all wrong. You. Are. NOT. Useless." Harry said, strongly punctuating those four words. "Hermione and I needed you, no matter the difficulty or the situation at hand. You helped us as much as we all did. You solved the chess game to help us continue. It was your driving that got us out of the Arachnid's nesting grounds. It was you who helped us realize that Scabbers was Pettigrew's animagus form. And without that truth, without that knowledge, everyone would still think Sirius was a murderer. I would've still hated him for supposedly being the secret keep who revealed my parents' location under Fidelius Charm."
"And fourth year, don't you remember? I had to save the most important thing to me. It was not Hermione, it was not Ginny, it was you."
Hermione and Ginny coughed at that statement, drawing an impish grin from the emerald-eyed teen.
"Okay, stop right there Harry. We're best mates and all, but I don't like you like that." Ron attempted to make a laugh out of the situation.
"That's good. I thought I'd have to talk to you about it." Draco responded, narrowing his eyes.
Harry looked irritated as he slapped Draco. "No you git. That's not what I meant. What I meant was, you were my first friend ever. That was why you were the most important thing to me, despite being all furious with me fourth year."
Ron smiled, "You do forgive and forget easily mate."
Draco grinned at that comment, "That's why it was possible for us to be dating."
Harry flushed with embarrassment before scowling at the blond.
"Anyway, for fifth year – without yours and Hermione's support, I would have never started the DA club and we would've never made it as far as we did into the Ministry. So don't belittle yourself Ron. You're just as important as we are and you're standing on an equal footing as we do. We make up the Golden Trio, and without you, Hermione and I would just be called the Golden Duo. Not much of a ring there is it?" Harry laughed.
Murmurs of agreement were heard before Ron smiled gratefully at Harry.
"Thanks mate. I needed to get that off my chest."
"Plus, whatever you need, we've got your back." Harry strongly insisted, as he threw his arm around Ron's shoulder. Though the picture of that looked quite hilarious towards the rest of the group, seeing as how Ron was a good couple of inches taller than Harry.
"And besides," Hermione put in, "whoever compares you to either Harry or me does not know you as well as you think they do. They're just see the surface of the situation, they don't know the depth of our friendship."
The Gryffindors nodded directly after Harry's comment and again after Hermione's comment, and with a slight pause, the Slytherins followed soon after. The room's atmosphere switched from somber to cheerful. And soon, everyone went back to studying.
After an early lunch, finishing up their DA assignment and Astronomy assignment, the sick group took a quick Pepper-Up potion before having a short nap and feeling a lot better as they settled in for dinner.
After Astronomy, the teens and Petunia quickly finished their assignment before heading off into a deep sleep. Even Hermione was too tired to argue about correctly formatting the paper and listing down the facts in an orderly fashion.
Soon 'two weeks' had passed. The group had moved from Malfoy's Manor in France to Malfoy's Manor in Italy.
During those two weeks, Blaise and Draco had given Harry a ring each as emergency portkey, specifically made for Harry and activated only by the Gryffindor once he had placed a droplet of his blood and watched fascinatingly as the blood was absorbed by his gifts. Then there was an entire wardrobe full of dragon-hide outfits, made from the hide of live dragons, because the Slytherins knew that Ron's older brother, Charlie, was studying dragons in Romania. Plus, it didn't hurt to know that the more dragon hide clothes they bought, a higher percentage of their purchase would be sent as donations towards Charlie's Dragon Reserve.
Following the outfits were vouchers to eat at Harry's now favorite restaurant, L'Argent Cygne, whenever the Gryffindor wished to go, a multi-language book for Harry's personal study when he decided he wanted to study more languages, small dates Draco and Blaise individually took with him and Draco and Blaise's daily personal cooking and baking, along with their small and sweet romantic and poetic notes. Finally at the end of their courting time frame, they ended with giving Harry promise rings and vows to forever cherish him as long as they should live.
Harry had been blushing furiously, comparing the situation with wedding vows to which Draco and Blaise laughed sheepishly, confessing that they were trying to do something similar yet not so far as to making it too serious. Harry smiled through his tears before hugging the daylights out of the Slytherins and they ended their fourteenth night sleeping together.
As for Sirius and Lucius's courting time frame, Lucius, like Harry, received an emergency portkey specifically only Lucius could use. Gifting Lucius a goblin crafted hair tie that enveloped the Malfoy in various strong protection spells soon followed that present. The rest of the gifts were similar to that of the Slytherins-Gryffindor trio such as giving the blond several accessories that were dwarf and goblin made and outfits made from Acromantula Silk, Dragonhide and Unicorn hairs; Sirius even took the opportunity to spend more money having the clothes embedded with several protection runes. Even though it had cost him a fortune, though he didn't see it that way, he thought Lucius deserved nothing but the best.
He also took Lucius on dates, wrote him small sweet notes and cooked for the elder blonde and the second to last gift was allowing Lucius permission into the Black Family Library. He spoke to Harry about this of course.
The last and final gift took Sirius the entire two weeks of his courting to find – an engagement ring for the elder Malfoy. Although the elder Malfoy had an outward appearance of wearing the newest and the most expensive clothing, item and anything that flaunted money, Sirius knew Lucius wasn't that type of person. So, he went to several antique stores throughout the courting period, just to find one that he deemed would fit Lucius. He finally decided on a 18 karat white gold willowed matched set with marquise-shaped lab emerald accents embedded within entwined metal that led to the round diamond in the center which was the color of Lucius's silver, blue-grey eyes. He engraved his name upon the ring and Lucius's upon his own, before placing them in a black velvet ring box.
He could feel sweat pooling in the palm of his hands, but in reality, his anxiousness was just getting to him. His complexion was strikingly pale, which worried the newly formed family for the entire day during his last day of his courting period. Lucius wanted to make sure that his lover was alright, but he knew he could not touch him until the courting had ended, and so he had to make due with just asking Sirius. The animagus had jumped in surprise when Lucius's soft voice drifted into his hearing range, and with a weak grin, Sirius told the former Slytherin that he was fine.
Finally at dinner time, Sirius popped the question.
He pushed his chair away from the table, pulled Lucius gently from his and knelt down on one knee. He fumbled with his speech for a couple of seconds before mentally berating himself and gathering his Gryffindor courage.
He held Lucius's hands in one of his own before looking straight up at those silver, blue-gray orbs. "Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, would you do me the honor of marrying me?"
Sirius nervously licked his lips, as he reached with his free hand into his pocket and drew out the black velvet box that encased their engagement rings. He released Lucius's shaking hands to open the box wide and lifted it in front of him for the blond to see. Lucius's quivering lips were covered by his shaking hands as his eyes threatened to release the happy tears that he had gained.
Nodding his head, Lucius let out a soft answer, "Yes."
Sirius plucked Lucius's engagement ring from the box, slid it on Lucius's ring finger, mentally cheering to himself that he got Lucius's measurement correctly, before picking the blond up and spinning him around as the newly engaged couple joined together for light and happy kisses.
"Oh, we must have a big wedding!" Macaire gushed from the sidelines. Alandair rolled his eyes before looking fondly at his lover.
"I hope that that isn't the wedding ring." Luna cooed. "I know just the perfect wedding ring for the both of you."
"So when's the wedding?" Draco asked.
Sirius gently placed Lucius down and wrapped his arms around his waist.
"We'll announce our wedding during the Malfoy's Summer Solstice Ball and then have the wedding two weeks later?" Sirius asked, turning to look at his betrothed for confirmation.
"You know me so well." Lucius smiled brightly.
"You deserve nothing but the best." Sirius said.
"Didn't the Summer Solstice pass already?" Dudley whispered to Neville. The Gryffindor blushed at the proximity before shaking his head.
"It didn't, but it'll be soon. It's just around three days after Harry's and my birthday and four days before the Malfoy's Summer Ball. And then a week after will be the Dark Lord's ball. So the entire summer's basically filled with balls and parties, the like."
Dudley groaned quietly. "Now there's a reason for me to wear a suit."
Neville perked up at that comment before laughing quietly behind his hands. "Yes, I suppose that's a reason to wear a suit."
With the night ending on a high note, three more 'weeks' had passed. The group jumped from Malfoy Manor in Italy to Spain, back to Malfoy Manor in England, and then Neville's Manor in London, considering his Gran had gone on vacation during that specific time.
"Exam week brats." Snape reminded them two days ahead of time.
"But that's next week." Harry complained.
"It's not too early to study." Hermione chided, blushing when Severus walked by, brushing against her hand.
"What's up with that?" Pansy whispered to Crystal.
The Slytherin shrugged her shoulder before paying attention to the potions master. The girls may be a bit of a gossipmonger, but that didn't mean their education wasn't top notch.
"Mister Dursley and Miss Dursley have a reason to score lower, seeing as how it is their first accelerated wizards' course. However," he snapped, "that does not mean that the rest of you should do poorly."
Snape turned to face Petunia and Dudley before resuming. "It should be expected that you would want to do as well as the rest to make up for the lack of knowledge. If you think first years' exams are difficult, well, I suggest you just give up now to save us the time and effort of teaching you."
"Very encouraging." Petunia rolled her eyes.
"It is his way of encouraging you to do better." Neville shrugged.
"Silence Longbottom." Snape ordered. Neville jumped in shock before closing his mouth.
"Now, here is the overview of what the exam will be like. I expect no less than an O from all of you before we move onto the second year's workload. Now, the next two days will be self-study, for every class. So I suggest you study hard. Leave."
The teens made a mad scramble for the door before pouring into the den and dropping everything before the fireplace.
"We should start to study now to get things out of the way." Ron muttered.
"Not to get things out of the way, but to easily remember once we study more vigorously." Ginny said.
"Gin's right little bro."
"Must study hard to get a good job."
"Then again, we have the best job in the world."
"Nothing a good couple of pranks wouldn't fix."
"But that's besides the point." The twins chorused before opening up their schoolbooks.
Soon, the entire last weekend was crammed with last minute studying and exams.
The Herbology and Potions exams were on the same day, Monday to be exact. Then Astrology and History of Magic were on the same day as well – Tuesday. Transfiguration and Charms were on Wednesday. Defense Against the Dark Arts was on Thursday and Flying was on Friday.
As the students took their exams, they were glad they studied every day before heading to bed. The professors had decided that because they were going over the first year curriculum a second time around, they would add more details to the exams to make the exams even harder. The exams even included people, herbs, ingredients, and spells that were only mentioned a handful of times within their textbooks and during the lecture. They even had to go through a theory exam for Flying. And that was just the theory portion of the exams!
For the practical exams, in Herbology, the students had to move a mandrake root from one pot to another before describing in precise details how they went about the procedure. They then had to recognize and write down the names of each plant placed before them, as well as including the usages of the plants and how to retrieve them, if the plants were prone to attacking herb collectors.
In Transfiguration, they had to turn a mouse into a snuff box – extra points were given for the beauty of the snuff box, but points were taken off if the snuff box still had a whiskers, or even a tail. The last part of their practical exam was to know how to use the switching spell to switch the item before them with another item that was placed three tables away from where they sat.
In Charms, they were made spell a pineapple to tap dance across a desk. After that, they had to use the Softening Charm on the surface of a table before a glass chalice fell from ten feet high. The last part of the practical included using the Fire-Making spell to set a stack of woods alight in flames.
For potions, they were to brew the Forgetfulness Potion by memory, which they thought was ironic. Afterwards, they were to identify the ingredients placed before them before picking out which ingredients were used in a Wiggenweld Potion, and place them in order of which they would be used.
However, for Hogwarts, there were no practical exams for Defense Against the Dark Arts and Flying. But Tom decided because their summer course was different than Hogwarts, and that they were outside of Hogwarts, they should have a practical exam for Defense Against the Dark Arts – Tom didn't care if they had a practical exam for Flying or not. And so, the Defense practical exams consisted of performing a Knockback jinx in a safe-proofed room and a Wand-Lighting Charm within a dark room.
For Flying, the students were expected to hover a couple of feet, hover at least two stories up in the air and then go through an aerial obstacle course that had twists and turns before touching back down onto the Quidditch pitch.
The day before Harry's birthday, the day of their Flying exam, the day they were supposed to return to Malfoy Manor, had come and all the exams were being graded.
Everyone was discussing the exams they had already taken as they walked towards the floo room.
"What did you get for question five for the Defense Exam?" Hermione asked.
"It was Wolfsbane." Draco answered. "Come on Hermione. I thought that was an easy one."
"Better to make sure it's correct rather than gaging the difficulty of a question." Blaise remarked, mentally checking off that he answered number five correct.
"Can we not talk about the exams?" Harry groaned. "I have enough knowledge stuffed in my brain than I would ever need."
"I disagree. There's no such thing as too much knowledge." Macaire quipped from behind the children.
"Of course you would think such a thing." Alandair retorted.
"Oh? And what have you learned since you left the Academy? Nothing but fighting and using weapons." Macaire snapped.
"Please no more fighting. No more arguing." Egidio pleaded, interrupting the start of an argument.
"No, I insist. Continue on; it is most fun to watch those two fight and have Alandair crawling back, asking for forgiveness." Tesia laughed. She danced away in laughter and amusement when Alandair reached out to throttle her.
Macaire huffed before striding away.
"Now look at what you have done." The guardian growled. "Macaire, my love, please wait –"
They watched as Alandair walked briskly after his lover before disappearing around the corner.
"Do you think they'll ever stop fighting?" Crystal asked.
"If they do, it will be the end of the world." Tesia giggled.
"What's a relationship without some arguments?" Draco replied.
"You should quickly rephrase that." Harry said, raising an eyebrow.
"What Draco meant was, what's a relationship without a few disagreements." Blaise quickly corrected.
"Much better." The Gryffindor replied as they turned the corner.
"Do you all have your bags packed up and ready to go?" Lucius asked, as they met up with each other at the floo room.
Everyone nodded their heads and soon one by one, they flooed back to Malfoy Manor in England before heading towards their rooms.
"Well good night. We won't be time turning back for today. And due to a change in plans, we won't be going back in time tomorrow, during the Malfoy's Summer Solstice Ball, the Dark Lord's Ball and Lucius and Sirius's wedding." Snape explained.
"Why's that?" Dudley asked.
"Do you want more studying?" Tom asked, deadpanned.
Dudley and the other vigorously shook their heads. They may be studying every day and doing well in every class, but they were glad the 'professors' allowed them breaks in their torturous schedule.
"Good. Now, head to bed, we'll have breakfast in the morning." Tom ordered as he walked to his room.
Everyone disbanded and soon silence covered Malfoy Manor.
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crazypagen: Thanks for you comment! I did mean tea will be served at 3pm in the afternoon. I looked through the chapter, but I couldn't quite understand how it was worded as 3am in the early morning. Sorry! But yeah, Harry's inheritance will be soon! Just a little bit more waiting to go!
Kigen Dawn: I love how you tell me the emotions and expressions you feel reading my story. It makes me happy to know my writing elicit these feelings. Hope you continue enjoying the story!
LalalaSpacingInPandaLand: First off, nice name (: Very cute. Now, I see you want more Blaise in the story, and don't worry. I believe the next chapter will have more Blaise in it and more "cutesy stuff between the three" as you stated. So, hopefully the next chapter will work for your interests.
Dao: Thank you for continual comments! I try to make the characters not follow a typical cliché moment, but sometimes they do end up like that! However, I'm glad it veered off from your expectations! Keeps the readers on their toes!
Kemet's Queen: Thank you! I hope you enjoyed these two chapters I uploaded!
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Hey all! Merry Christmas! Finals are done and it's now Winter Break! :D Off from school for about a month or so. Woot! So anyway, to make it up for the lack of updates. I have, as you probably already see, uploaded two chapters to Changing Destiny! Sorry about these two chapters. They were mostly just fillers to speed up the last five days of the summer, or as stated in the chapter, five – six weeks!
Also, I apologize for the lack of words in it. It's quite hard to write about their studies when we all know what they've been studying for the past five years! I know I got writer's block thinking up of ways to fill these two chapters up!
But, now it's done! And I can finally continue with the story. Just so you know, there are four more years – five if I end up counting their sixth year studies – to write. However, seeing as how it was a drag to write about just their first year, I don't think I'll be that detailed for those. Just a heads up!
If you guys liked it, please feel free to comment, critique, private message, give your opinions, whatever! Anything is welcome (: I'm not that great of a writer, but I hope with you comments, I'll make it better! See you!