Disclaimers: I have Seel'Vor's permission to loosely base Harry's actions in at least the first Quidditch game on his in Harry Potter and the Quantum Leap. The rest of the Disclaimers you can read in the first chapter, as I don't see the need to have it in each chapter unless somebody tells me differently.
Timeline note: This chapter takes the place of an AU version of Harry's first Halloween in Hogwarts as well as the Christmas and New Year vacation of that year. I was going to have them as separate chapters, but the Christmas/New Year chapter didn't take up as many pages as I thought it would, so I ended up combining them.
Author note: Sorry in advance for the somewhat long exposition starting this fic. I just thought I'd get a few things off my chest, starting with what happened during the first Quidditch match as well as why Hermione never really thought to ask about a certain day. As I said in the last update to "Hidden heritage", however, it's just a simple explanation. I also wanted to get a quick summary of the first Quidditch game out of the way. Also, I'm sorry for the delay, but I've been having all kinds of technical problems.
But to make up for that, as you can see, I am putting up two chapters and I hope to have the final chapter by New Year, though no promises. At the very least, I should be done by mid-January as I think I've finally got the ball rolling. Anyway, on a final pre-story note, I'm a little surprised that no one's thought to ask why James and Lily haven't been able to give Harry a brother or sister as they probably would have in canon if they had survived. I'd also bet you've guessed they're a little more like the Kents from Superman mythos in that Lily can't bear children. That may change, but even I won't know for sure until it does.
Also, sorry for the delay. I was having a hell of a lot of technical problems with my computer both when it comes to it's Internet connection and the Word Processor program I originally used, MS Works. But that won't be a problem as I have a brand new computer and using MS Word (for now anyway). As my way of trying to make up for it, I'm putting up two new chapters. Anyway, hope you enjoy reading this as I did writing it.
Harry Potter and the Phantom relic
Chapter 2
Harry sat back with a sigh. It was had been almost three months since he had started Hogwarts. Between Quidditch practice, running all over the schools just to get between each class, and the dueling lessons him and his friends were taking from Flitwick most weekends, it was only his enhanced endurance kept him upright.
The biggest incident that had happened was Harry's first Quidditch game. Instead of simply sitting still and waiting for the Snitch to appear, he had really showed off his flying skills, zipping around the pitch as fast as he could, often running interference for the others, especially when the Slytherin Beaters zeroed in on them.
However, just as he finally settled so he could look around for the Snitch, Harry's broom started going crazy. The twins tried helping him but every time they got near him, his broom pulled away from them.
After one last jerk, however, it finally settled down and just in time, as Harry had seen the Snitch. He went barreling after it and ended up diving off his broom after it and nearly swallowed the damn thing. Luckily, he hadn't been that far off the ground and even though he had his powers turned off, came away with only a few bruises.
Harry had later found that Hermione had spotted Snape muttering something through her binoculars. Though she couldn't read lips, she knew that his unflinching gaze directed at Harry had to mean that he had to be behind it.
Knowing that it was only a matter of time before Harry was thrown off, Hermione had run through the stands and to the spot under the bleachers right behind him and set a low-powered Incendio onto his robe. From the cheering, she knew that it had worked and rushed back to the Gryffindor stands.
Hermione's birthday had come and gone of course and they had thrown her a big House-wide party. They had also sent Luna several birthday cards they had transfigured a few days prior with specific instructions to have them delivered first thing on Halloween, her birthday.
Harry was startled out of his reverie when Hermione dropped down next to him on the couch. "You know, I was reading through a book and it got me to wondering about something," she said.
"What's that?" Harry asked.
"The day mum told me about moving to Ireland," Hermione said, "I was running away from her and all of the sudden, I found myself in your barn. That was Apparating, wasn't it?"
Harry sighed. He knew that this was coming and was frankly a little surprised that it hadn't come up before. He knew at the time it had happened, Hermione had probably been too distracted by being forced to move to think about why she had appeared as his house, but he had always wondered why she hadn't asked about it since.
"Yeah, that was accidental Apparating," Harry said.
"And that's when you knew that I was a witch then, right?" Hermione asked.
Harry shook his head. "Actually, mum ran a medical scan on you when she was checking you over for injuries the day your… um, the day we met," he said, "It showed that you had a strong magical core."
"But you never said anything?" Hermione asked.
"We couldn't," Harry said, "The Statute of Secrecy states that since you're Muggle-born, the Ministry is supposed to tell you and aunt Dinah when you're either about to start Hogwarts or your accidental magic gets out of hand. I'm guessing someone from the Ministry visited your house shortly after your visit to the farm."
Hermione nodded. "They told us about my magical abilities," she said, "I'm sorry I didn't say anything, but I didn't really know if you were magical so I didn't think I could."
Harry nodded. "It's all right," he said, "We had to tone down my birthday parties, magic-wise, for you guys because we didn't know if you had been informed or not. The magical gifts I received were given to me the day before."
Hermione nodded and was about to say something, probably apologize, but Harry stopped her. "You didn't ruin my birthday," he said, "I've always been so happy that you were able to come each year that I could've cared less about the party itself." He grinned. "Of course, it doesn't hurt that I got two sets of presents out of the deal."
Hermione tried not to laugh as she shook her head. "You're pathetic," she murmured.
"Hey, what can I say?" Harry said, "I just turned eleven. Immaturity goes with the package."
"Tell me about it," Hermione said. Harry just stuck his tongue out at her.
A little later, they all headed down to Charms. Once everyone was seated, Flitwick passed out feathers to everybody. "Now, today we'll be going over the spell Wingardium Leviosa," the tiny professor explained.
"The gestures are very simple, just switch and flick," Flitwick said, then made the gesture at the feather he had placed in the middle of the room. "Wingardium Leviosa." The feather shot up and then started slowly floating back down.
Even though it was a simple spell, most of the class had trouble except Harry and his friends, who had found in their private lessons with Flitwick that the spell was good for quickly getting things in the way of some spells.
Seamus still had trouble with his spell work, as was obvious when his feather exploded in his face. "Um, I think we need another feather over here, Professor," Harry said, trying his best not to laugh like most of the others.
While Flitwick replaced Seamus' father, Hermione was helping Lavender Brown, who was swishing her wand way too much. "Not like that," she told her, "I've found it easy when you think about writing a P. And emphasize the gar in Wingardium and the o in Leviosa." The girl nodded and finally got it right.
However, Hermione didn't notice Draco Malfoy sneering at her nor did she notice when a few second later, a rather evil grin spread across his face as a plan came to mind to put her in her place.
Flitwick gave some light homework since most of the class was able to get the assigned spell right. The four friends left and were walking down the hall to the Halloween feast when Hermione realized something. "Oh, I left my book back in class," she said, "You guys go on. I'll go get it and catch up."
The guys nodded and Hermione headed back to Flitwick's class. The professor himself was gone, probably heading to dinner himself. When she walked up to her assigned space, she frowned when she saw that her book wasn't on top of it where she thought she had left it.
"Looking for this?"
Hermione spun with a gasp to find Malfoy leering at her. He had her book in his hand. "Yeah, we were halfway down the hall when I remembered," she said, "Thanks." She held out her hand and frowned when he didn't hand her the book.
"You know all of this isn't going to do you any good, don't you?" Malfoy said.
"What are you on about?" Hermione asked.
"The studying, the good grades, the kissing up to teachers," Malfoy said, "None of it matters. You won't be able to get a good job in the magical world because you're just a glorified Muggle with a magical core that should have been born to a Squib. At least they have generations of magical blood running through their veins."
"You would know part about kissing up to teachers," Hermione said, "Oh wait, it's Snape that kisses your arse and not the other way around. After all, you're just a bigoted little inbred idiot with an IQ lower than that of a newborn baby. Oh wait, I shouldn't say that. It would be demeaning… to babies."
"What do you know?" Malfoy said with a sneer, "You're just a know it-all pain in the arse. A Mudblood like you doesn't even belong in our world. But go ahead and make your good grades… for all the good it'll do you outside these walls."
Malfoy threw the book down at Hermione's feet. She bent to pick it up and he stepped forward, grabbing her shoulder and roughly forcing her down to her knees, ignoring her muffled cry of pain and returning her glare. "Get used to being this close to the floor," he said, leaning in close.
"You see, the only way you'll find a job in our world is on your hands and knees," Malfoy said, "Either scrubbing the floors or offering your services to purebloods like me… though you might have to pay them to touch you." With one last nasty look, he let go and left, muttering about running scalding hot water on his hand.
Hermione slowly got back to her feet, her knees shaking and tears flowing down her face. When her knees quit shaking enough that she could move quickly, she made her way out of the classroom and then rushed towards the nearest bathroom.
The Halloween feast was about halfway over when Professor Quirrell came running through the doors of the Great Hall. "TROLL!" he screamed, "TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!" He got halfway to the staff table before he stopped, swaying back and forth. "Just thought you should know." With that, he fainted.
The students immediately went into a panic until Dumbledore yelled out to get everyone's attention, telling them to follow their Prefects back to their common rooms while the staff handled the troll. As he got up to follow, Harry saw Snape leaving through one of the back doors.
Harry was following behind the other Gryffindors when he noticed that Hermione wasn't there. He remembered that he hadn't seen her at the feast either. "Guys, wait up," he called out. Ron and Neville stopped and ran back to him. "Where's Hermione?" The two shrugged.
"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry," Lavender said, "I meant to tell you that I thought I heard Hermione crying in the girl's Loo, but with all that was going on… I'm sorry, it just slipped my mind."
"It's all right, Lavender," Harry said, "Just tell me which Loo you heard her in."
"Give me a second…" Lavender bit her lip and closed her eyes, trying to remember. It only took a second for her eyes to fly open again and she looked scared. "She was in the one in the dungeons."
"Thanks, Lavender," Harry said, as he turned and started running down the hall. Ron and Neville were right behind him. They hurried as fast as they could to the bathroom Lavender had told them and were almost there when they heard a bone-chillingly familiar scream.
Harry turned to his friends. "I'm going to get that troll to chase me," he said, "You two stay out of sight and get her out of there and take her directly to McGonagall. I should be able to give it quite a race until help arrives."
Harry stalled argument with a raised hand. "I'm the quickest of the three of us so I'm the best choice," he reasoned, "Just hurry." The two nodded and headed through a nearby doorway, leaving it open a crack.
'Time to see just how enhanced I really am,' Harry thought, taking a deep breath as he opened the door to the Loo and saw the Troll bearing down on Hermione. He let out a high pitched whistle that had the troll covering it's ears as it turned around. In another part of the castle, six pairs of ears perked up at the sound.
"Oi, pea brain," Harry called out, turning around and smacking his butt. "Why would you want a scrawny girl when you can get some prime meat?" The troll roared before heading towards him. "Oh crap. Hermione, stay here. Help's on the way, I promise."
With that, Harry turned and took off out of the room and down the corridor. It wasn't hard to tell if the troll was behind him. 'Just have to get it somewhere no one can get hurt,' he thought, 'And then we'll really find out just how tough a Kryptonian is.'
Harry lead the troll down the hallways for a while before finding the perfect spot to confront it, hallway that turned towards a set of double doors. The troll came stomping up a few seconds later. It actually looked puzzled to find him waiting for it. "Well, what are you waiting for?" he taunted, spreading his arms out wide. "Bring it on."
With that, the troll roared and swung his club over his head and before trying to bring it down on Harry's head. However, the young Kryptonian simply brought his fist up to meet it.
To the surprise of both, the club shattered like glass, while Harry's fist didn't even have a scratch or bruise. 'Doesn't mean it couldn't hurt me if it got it's hands around me,' he thought, 'I'll have to make sure it doesn't get that chance.' "As the Muggles would say, ST-RIKE ONE!" he said aloud, holding up a finger.
The troll quickly threw the remnants of it's club of it's shoulder and tried to swipe at Harry, which was easy for the boy to dodge. "ST-RIKE TWO!" he said, holding up a second finger.
Finally, the troll tried to wrap both of it's hands around Harry, but he easily jumped up, landing on top of it's clasped hands. "Hiya," he said, waving tauntingly at his humongous foe. "And that's ST-RIKE 3… YOU'RE OUT!"
With that, Harry did a perfect moonsault kick, catching the troll right under the chin with both feet. The self-defense lessons he had talked his parents into letting him take were finally starting to really pay off.
Harry landed gracefully back on his feet and was a little surprised to find the troll still standing, though it was swaying and grunting. "Hey big, bad, and ugly," he said, "This is the part where you're supposed to…" The troll fell backwards before he could finish his sentence. "Fall." He shook his head, grinning.
'Better start the clean up. The others will be here any second,' Harry thought. He took out his wand and pointed it at the remains of the troll's club. "Repairo." The pieces of the club came back together in it's original form, though he doubted it would be nearly as sturdy as it had been before it was shattered.
Harry then used the club to partially smash the arch of the doorway to go with the story forming in his mind. He then flipped the troll over onto it's stomach, turned it around to where it was facing the door, and dragged it over to complete the façade.
Harry then punched the troll on the top of the forehead to make a sufficient bruise for his story and used a low level Obliviate to change the troll's memory of the fight, which wasn't hard as it didn't have that many brain cells to begin with.
'Kind of like Crabbe and Goyle,' Harry mused, then grinned. 'Hey, I wonder if they're related to this thing. They're certainly ugly enough. Not to mention that idiot Flint's seems to have some troll blood in him somewhere.'
After putting the club near the troll's hand, Harry put his wand away and was heading down the hall when he saw his friends heading towards him, the faculty right behind them. He was barely able to suppress a frown when he noticed that Snape was walking with a limp.
"Mr. Potter, what are… my lord," McGonagall said.
"Bloody marvelous, mate," Ron said.
However, Hermione ran to Harry and threw her arms around him. When he wrapped his arms around her as well, he found that she was shaking. "I was so worried," she murmured when she pulled away, her eyes full of tears.
"I was a lot more worried about you, believe me," Harry said, "But I just had to make sure you were safe. Nothing else in the world matters to me than the your safety." Ron coughed. "And the safety of my best mates of course." More coughing made him reluctantly pull away from Hermione.
"Mr. Potter, your friends have told us quite the tale," Dumbledore said, "Would you care to explain what happened after you left, especially to the troll?" His eyes twinkled as he gave Harry a subtle wink, reminding him that the Headmaster actually knew of his hidden heritage.
"Well, we all know that these things aren't really that smart," Harry pointed out with a shrug, "The stupid thing was so focused on me that it didn't even seem to notice the doorway I had run through way too low and knocked itself out."
"Well then, 25 apiece points for Mr. Weasley and Mr. Longbottom for accompanying you and getting Mrs. Granger out," McGonagall said, "And 50 points to you, Mr. Potter, for providing the distraction for them to do so as well as another 100 for being able to trick a fully grown troll into knocking itself out."
Harry turned a bit red as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, you don't have to do that," he said, "I wasn't looking for a reward. I just didn't want to see anybody hurt by that thing, especially not my friends. I know it's nothing that at least my friends wouldn't do for me if the situation was reversed."
Inwardly though, Harry wandered how many points he would get for what actually happened and tried not to grin at the thought. 'Gryffindor would probably get so many points ahead, it would take years for any other House to catch up even with Snape's blatant cheating,' he thought.
"Now hold on just a second here, Minerva," Snape said, "You can't award that many points to your own House at a time." An evil smile appeared on his face that Harry wished he could hex right back off. "After all, you wouldn't want to show that much favoritism now do you?"
'Like you should talk,' Harry thought as he glared at Snape, 'You'd give as many points she gave Neville and Ron together to any given Slytherin for doing absolutely nothing while taking away more from students in other Houses for something stupid like breathing wrong.'
"You're correct that she can't give out that many points to those of her own House, Severus, but I can," Dumbledore said, "In fact, I'll make the points for Mr. Weasley and Mr. Longbottom an even 50 apiece and a nice round 200 points for Mr. Potter." Harry barely held back a grin as the Headmaster seemed to read his mind.
"Oh and since you bring up professors showing favoritism, Severus," McGonagall said, "We'll be watching your conduct very closely from now on. We have stood by and let you make sure Slytherin wins the House Cup for far too long and we won't any longer." Professors Flitwick and Sprout nodded.
"Any suspicious activity," McGonagall said, "And… well, let's just say that we'd have to find a new Potions teacher and Head of Slytherin at the very least. Since she did so well in her Potion O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s, perhaps your mother could help us out on until we find a suitable replacement, Harry."
Harry nodded. "I know mum would love to help out," he said.
"As for a replacement Head of Slytherin…" McGonagall said, "Well, since I wouldn't doubt Lily would mind taking over that too until we get a replacement, I do believe that the school charter dictates that the Head must be an Alumni of that House, so we'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it."
"Minerva, you know Severus has to stay within this castle," Dumbledore said.
"Oh, that would be fine as long as he's not in a position to keep Slytherin ahead in points or personally harm students or allow harm to be done to them to the same end, as Severus is also known to do in the past," McGonagall said.
"As Deputy Headmistress, I believe it falls upon me to assign jobs. Let's see…" McGonagall said, then pretended to be deep in thought. "I do believe the Owlery needs a new janitor as Mr. Filch isn't allowed inside since Mrs. Norris has a nasty habit of trying to eat our messengers while he's cleaning it.
"And make no mistake, Albus," McGonagall continued, looking at Dumbledore. "You better not end up overruling me this time or you will be losing more than your Potions Master." Flitwick and Sprout once again agreed with a nod.
Snape sputtered as he tried to get an argument out, but he knew once McGonagall got that look in her eye, not even Dumbledore could convince her otherwise. With one last sneer at Harry and his friends, he turned and stalked away, his robes billowing behind him.
All of the teens noticed Snape's limp this time, but didn't have time to mull over it as Dumbledore then dismissed the four friends while the staff attended to getting the troll back out of the castle before it woke up.
"Well, we have had an interesting evening, wouldn't you say?" Harry said with a grin. His friends laughed as they headed back to the Great Hall as the teachers had said that the feast was going to be picked back up.
After the feast was restarted, the three boys cornered a reluctant Hermione about what had made her so upset. She reluctantly sighed. "When I went to get my book back from Professor Flitwick's class, Malfoy was there waiting for me with my book," she said.
"He started raving about how all my studying, good grades, and supposed kissing up to the teachers won't get me anywhere because I'd still be a… Muggle-born," Hermione said. The boys nodded, knowing what Malfoy most likely called her.
"I said something about him not having room to talk about kissing up to teachers since he has Snape in his back pocket and he didn't like that," Hermione said, "After a few more nasty comments, he threw my book down at my feet.
"When I bent to pick I up, he…" Hermione stopped in mid-sentence to swallow a lump in her throat, wiping away a few tears. "He grabbed me by the shoulder and forced me down to my knees," she said.
"He told me to get used to being that close to the floor," Hermione said, "Because the only jobs in the magical world for someone like me would be on my hands and knees washing them or as a… you know, prostitute, though I'd have a hard time finding anybody that would touch me." They all turned bright red at the implication.
"He's wrong, you know," Harry said, "In six and a half years, you'll be graduating at the top of the class with no one even close and I know you'll have a great job lined up anywhere you want to grace with your employment. Hell, you could easily become Minister if you wanted to."
"And when you get that cushy job through hard work instead of family influence," Ron said, "You can rub his face in a little humble pie, because he's too stupid to even get a job as a janitor without his dad to bribe people and get it for him."
Hermione smiled. Her friends generally always did know the right thing to say. "I want you three to promise me something," she said. The three nodded, though reluctantly. They knew what she was about to ask.
"I don't want you to go after Malfoy and hurt him," Hermione said, "I don't want you expelled and with his dad on the board of governors, that's exactly what would happen. Now promise me." The boys grumbled about but reluctantly promised, though they were all thinking she did give them room to prank Malfoy mercilessly.
Besides, I honestly think I was supposed to be in that bathroom," Hermione said, "If I hadn't and you didn't come after me, who knows how much destruction that troll could have caused unattended? I hate to admit it, but I think the whole school owes Malfoy something of a debt for that. Good thing it's apparently not a life debt."
"Ugh, did you have to say that?" Ron said with a disgusted look on his face. They all laughed as they headed to Gryffindor tower.
The next day, Harry had happened to walk by a classroom where a hurt Snape was being bandaged by Filch, saying something about a… Cerberus? Unfortunately, the greasy haired git had seen his silhouette at the door, but the Kryptonian was able to get away before he was seen.
A slip up by Hagrid a few weeks later shed some light on the subject. He had apparently been raising a Cerberus named Fluffy and had loaned it to Dumbledore. When he realized that he had given away classified information, he muttered "I shouldn't have told you that" and left.
The boys kept their promise of no direct physical reprisals, but with the help of the twins, they pranked Malfoy so often and so badly that he was constantly looking over his shoulder wherever he went and always had Crabbe and Goyle by his side… not that it would stop his tormentors.
Even the Slytherin common room wasn't safe. The twins had some way of finding out the passwords no matter how many times Snape kept changing them each day to keep the pranksters out. They started using time-released pranking spells when they heard about the security there becoming too tight for even them to get in.
This soon had Malfoy ostracized by most his own House as the group made it look like it was all he was causing it out of his own sheer stupidity instead of an outside influence. Even Crabbe and Goyle obviously wouldn't be anywhere near him if not for him paying them for protection, for all the good they did.
With everything that was going on, Christmas seemed to sneak up on them. In fact, the four friends hadn't quite realized how close it was until they ran into Hagrid dragging a huge tree into the castle.
All of them had plans for the holidays. Hermione was staying with the Potter farm and Dinah was flying in from Ireland to stay there as well. They had tried to get her a Portkey, but she had declined it because she was still a little unsure about traveling magically.
Neville lived with his grandmother and were planning to visit on Christmas Day, though it would have to be a little later in the day because of their annual visit to his parents, which his friends also planned on joining him.
Though their parents and sister were visiting their brother Charlie in Romania, Ron, the twins, and Percy had gotten permission to stay at the Burrow since Bill was going to be there and the Potters, Lovegoods, and Longbottoms all lived nearby to check on them regularly and they planned to be at the farm for Christmas Day.
Before they left, Harry and the twins cast several time release pranking spells on Malfoy in order to and ruin his Christmas as he had almost ruined their Halloween by keeping him on his toes even when he was at home.
As the quartet stepped off the train, they found everyone but Dinah waiting for them. When Hermione asked, James replied, "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but she had something come up last minute and had to stay a little longer."
"But don't worry," Lily said, "Sirius and James were able to get authorization for a Portkey to bring her to the farm as soon as she's ready and send her back and forth if necessary. We'd have done it sooner, but she insisted on coming by plane until it was impossible to come that way."
"Yeah, mum has a bit of a hang up when it comes to magical travel," Hermione said. She grinned knowingly at Harry and he groaned, wishing he hadn't told her that he was a real klutz when it came to traveling by Portkey or Floo.
Dinah popped up at the farm just before the kids woke up on Christmas Eve to surprise Hermione. Harry noticed that her and Sirius seemed to be very comfortable around each other, which made him wonder. While he knew the tendencies of his "uncle" Padfoot, he had a feeling this was something different.
On Christmas Day, Harry surprised Hermione with his gift. His parents had found a stray cat on their farm that had later given birth to kittens that turned out to be half-Kneazle, most of which they donated to the pet store in Diagon Alley.
Hermione had been hinting that she wanted a familiar but not an owl and especially not a frog. Since students were generally somewhat limited to those two and cats, they had decided to give one of the half-Kneazle kittens to her.
They also gave Hermione a year supply of basic magical pet supplies and a book of familiar names. After reading it as thoroughly as she did any book, she decided on the name Crookshanks.
Harry received two things starting with his father's invisibility cloak. They had planned to give it to him back on his birthday, but they hadn't been able to get the second item quite finished just then and James stubbornly held out that the two went better together, so they had decided to wait.
The second item was Harry's own personalized copy of the Marauder's Map his parents and uncles had used in school. They gave all of his friends a copy. The other's versions weren't personalized, but they showed them how to do so, though they'd have to wait until they got back to Hogwarts to avoid trouble with the Ministry.
The updated version of the Marauder's Map was capable of searching for specific people within Hogwarts and also showed most of the explored parts of the Forbidden Forest and what Hogsmeade had looked like the last they had been there. They had made the original map early on in school, which is why it didn't have the forest or town.
Along with showing them how to make updates to the Map in regards to the layout of the castle, Forbidden Forest, and Hogsmeade, they also showed the teens how to program new nicknames into the Map when they became Animagus', the last rite of passage before officially becoming the second generation of Marauders.
The twins turned out not to need a copy, as they had stolen out of Filch's office years ago the prototype of the Marauder's Map. They admitted that it was how they kept up with the Slytherin passwords, as even the prototype kept up with them no matter how many times Snape changed them a day.
Being a prototype, it was badly out of date, but the Marauders promised to update it for them. Though they couldn't do it before the went back to Hogwarts because of the complex charms, they promised to send it to them when it was done. They knew that with their own copies of the map, they pretty much ruled Hogwarts.
Harry cornered Sirius after dinner. "I noticed you and aunt Dinah acting awfully chummy," he said, "Is there something going on we should know about?" He couldn't resist put in a suggestive tone into the question.
"Not at all," Sirius said, "I was on assignment for a couple of weeks last month in Ireland near where they live. I happened to run in to her and she offered to put me up for the duration so that I didn't have to put up with the boring idiots Fudge assigned me with and we became very good friends."
"Good friends?" Harry asked, raising his brow suggestively. "Just how good?"
Sirius sighed as he shook his head. "Your too much like your mum, you know that?" he muttered, "Look, there could be something more, but right now, we're just really good friends. Just don't say anything to Hermione. We just want to figure this out before we said anything to her."
"All right," Harry said with a nod. He didn't like it as the only secret he kept from Hermione was about his Kryptonian heritage, but he also knew that it was Sirius and Dinah's place to tell her about any forthcoming relationship.
A couple of days later, the group had to start getting ready for the New Years. They had used their various sources to reserve several suites in New York City a few months back and were about to Portkey there to take part in the famous New Years Eve celebration.
An American friend of Sirius', Steve Rogers, had gone ahead to get a good spot for the group. Remus went to take over watching the spot he staked out for them to give him a break.
When they got to New York, Harry had to sit down so that he didn't throw up like he sometimes did after Portkeying. The others were used to this as it was his usual reaction to taking a Portkey.
Over the next few days, the adults took turns saving their spots while the kids took in some of the famous sights. Between the Statue of Liberty to the Museum of natural history, they had a blast.
On New Year's Eve, they all gathered in Times Square to watch the ball drop in an area specially cordoned off for magical beings. Wizards, witches, goblins, and even a few house elves were all there to celebrate.
The kids were ecstatic to find out that they were allowed a reprieve from the underage magical ban for the night, though a temporary inhibitor was put on their wands to restrict spells to ones harmless light based ones that mixed in with the fireworks going off above their heads.
A couple of days later, the group headed back to England because Dinah had to head back to Ireland and she only had Portkey authorization there. She gave her adopted daughter a hug and kiss before going back home.
A few days later, Harry was leading the way to Platform 9¾. Not too surprisingly, Dean and Seamus had seen them on the broadcast and congratulated them on being able to make one of the biggest New Year's Eve celebrations. They settled in to the usual compartment, wondering what the New Year would bring.
To be continued…
Author's note: First off, I know that Hermione used a bluebell flame in at least the book to distract Snape, but I could've sworn that she used a different spell in the movie. If I'm wrong, tell me and I can always change it. As for the Quidditch game itself as I said in the Disclaimers, I loosely based Harry's actions in the Quidditch games on those in Seel'Vor's Harry Potter and the Quantum Leap fanfic series. With his permission of course. Wouldn't put it in otherwise. And don't worry. T.A.R.D.I.S. is safe.
I changed the entire incident leading up to Hermione being in the Loo because Draco made more sense since Ron was already a good friend of hers and Draco is… well, as I've had many characters call him, a little inbred bigoted idiot. I'm sorry if I upset anybody with the way he talked to her, but I always got the feeling that at least early Draco would have said and done that if he had given the chance, especially in canon when she didn't have any friends looking out for her at the time.
As for it sounding racist and/or sexist, it's supposed to be the opposite on my part. I've always been repulsed by that kind of treatment which is why I wrote the scene exactly as I did, making fun of anybody that would treat anybody like that having the one doing it be someone I've repeatedly had other characters call a bigoted little inbred idiot in the story.
As you can probably guess, I got the idea for Harry's high-pitched whistle from Superman Returns, when Clark helped Lois hail a cab and that the six pairs of ears that perked up at the sound of the whistle were of course attached to Fluffy's three heads (another nod to Superman Returns, as at least two dogs took notice there). I just know I'm probably going to catch hell for the baseball reference, but really, I just wanted both a quick fight and for any readers to have a good laugh at Harry casually goofing off while fighting the troll and that particular reference seemed the best way to do both.
And what did you think about the alternative job McGonagall threatened to give Snape if he didn't… heh heh… clean up his act? It was one of the most demeaning jobs I could think of besides making him be something of a personal servant to Harry and his friends. That would have been much worse, but I didn't want to stoop to that level… yet.
And has anybody ever thought about the point I made through Hermione that everyone in the school owes Ron in the books and Malfoy in this story a debt of sorts for upsetting her and causing her to be in that Loo at that specific time? I never really thought about it until I wrote that, but I thought it might have occurred to someone else out there and that's why I wrote that particular line in.
As for the interaction between Dinah and Sirius, it's probably obvious which way I'm thinking of going with this. I had always meant for her and Hermione to move back to England and thought that this was one of the easier ways of doing it in a way that kind of ties in to Hermione being the Smallville version of Lana Lang of the story except in reverse.
And finally, I went with them going to New Year's Rocking Eve (or whatever it's called) to finish off the chapter because to my knowledge, it's never been done in a HP fanfic and because it's something I've always wanted to go to, even if it is half the hassle I've always heard it is. I don't know if England they have something similar over there, but I thought it might be something just about everyone reading has probably at least heard about and could relate to.
As for Sirius' American friend, the name is a coincidence within the context of the story. Since ILoveGeorgeEads was the first Reviewer for this story and especially the first to throw out an idea, I thought I'd put the name in as thanks. However, I'm sorry to say that it'll be the closest Captain America will come to appearing as I'm sticking with DC Comics character analogues and he is of course a Marvel Comics hero or I'd have him appear in half a heartbeat. Besides which, it's already been done at least once.
Appreciate the suggestion though. Keep them coming. While I've come up with ideas for a decent Justice League roster (Aquaman, Green Lantern and at least two of newfound counterparts, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, the Flash, and the Atom as well as a couple of others I'd rather keep under wraps for now), I wouldn't mind some ideas for ideas to expand on them. Anyway, until next time, Pueda el solitario dios encuentra la paz por ultimo.