Chapter Sixteen: The Golden Trio Reunites

Harry waited nervously outside of Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor for Ron and Hermione. He sat at the table and stared out at the crowd gathered about the busy street watching as chattering families preparing for the new Hogwarts semester passed by. In front of him sat an ice cream sundae filled with bananas, cherries, strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream drizzled in chocolate syrup. It sat untouched. Harry had lost his considerable appetite, he was too anxious worrying how this meeting would go. All three of them had matured over the summer, he and Ron especially, but would Ron and Hermione be willing to accept he had made other friends, even friends that were Slytherins? Could they accept that his life had changed so drastically that he wasn't even sure if he was the same Harry they had befriended on the Hogwarts Express?

As he waited, his book bag, which hung on the back of his chair vibrated. Smiling, he went into his backpack, pulled out the journal, and flipped to the most recent entry.

Harry,

It feels strange being here without you and having to write this note after having spent so much time together. I wish I were there to help. Writing is a poor substitute. I miss seeing you. If I were there, I would tell you, you were being your usual over dramatic self and were worrying for nothing. As it is, I have to be content with these few words of reassurance and hope you understand the meaning behind them. Even if I can't be there with you, I'm always here for you.

Stop worrying. Everything will turn out fine. From what you said about your friends and your exploits, they will not abandon you. Relax and have a great day. Write later and tell me how it went.

Love,

Takashi

Love. He signed it Love Takashi. He'd never done that before. Harry felt his eyes water. He reached up to cover his mouth with his hand so he didn't begin sobbing in public and make a fool out of himself. Reaching blindly for a pen, he quickly replied to Takashi, his hand shaking.

Takashi,

As always, when I feel doubt, when I'm insecure, I hear from you and your words strengthen me. I'll write more later. I miss you.

Love,

Harry

Harry closed the journal and slipped it back inside his backpack. Rejuvenated, he now devoured his sundae and ordered another. As long as he had Takashi, he could deal with anything.

"Harry!"

The next thing Harry knew he was tackled. A body, he vaguely recognized as Hermione's because of all the hair, slammed into his engulfing him in a hug. The force of the collision caused him to tumble from his seat and crash onto the pavement. Laughing, he hugged Hermione back. Embarrassed, she stood, and held out a hand to help him to his feet only to gasp when she had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze.

"Harry, you're finally taller than me and it looks like you gained two stone," she said happily pulling him into another exuberant hug.

He laughed. "It's amazing what getting away from the Dursleys and adequate medical care does for you," Harry said dryly. He turned to Ron with a big smile on his face. Ron looked amazing and for the first time since they met, he wore robes tailored to fit his body. "Hey mate, looking good."

Ron grinned. Once Hermione and Ron got their ice cream they sat around the table and Harry listened to his friends go on about their vacations and then their purchases. Ron gushed over his new wand. Hermione was over the moon that Ron signed up for Arthimacy but was sad she couldn't take all the classes she had originally signed up for, so she settled on Care, Runes, and Arthimacy.

"Originally, I was going to try and take everything, McGonagall was going to arrange it, but the board of governors shot her down," she pouted.

"Why would you take Muggle Studies?" Harry asked frowning. "And no offense Hermione but from what I learned about Divination your mind is a little too literal for it. From what I heard about the class and teacher, you'd be driven bonkers within the first couple minutes."

"Are you saying I have no imagination?" Hermione hissed.

Harry and Ron exchanged looks.

"Yes," Ron said stupidly. "Even in class you only answer with the text book answer. Bill says that books are just a guideline that you need to analyze what you read and do your own research so you can come to your own conclusions."

Hermione growled. Harry could literally see the magic building up inside her. She looked ready to grab her wand and hex Ron. He grabbed her arm before she did something to escalate the situation.

"Hermione, you are Ron's and I best friend and we love you. While I think Ron could've been more tactful, he's right. That's just the way your brain works, and that's the way you learn. Other people are different and I think you have problems because you're perceived as shoving your views, your way of life down other people's throats when in actuality all you're trying to do is help."

Ron snorted.

"What Harry is trying to say is that you lack subtlety and have the patience of a dragon who breathes fire on anyone who annoys you so you have a hard time getting people to like you," Ron injected again, ignoring Harry's glare and warning kick underneath the table. "But, despite this Harry and I still like you because we're just as screwed up. I mean look at Harry with his idiotic save the world complex and manipulative streak. Then theirs me, I constantly speak without thinking and have no patience. Since all three of us are such screw ups, we make the best of friends because we can only be our true snarky selves around each other," Ron said.

"Manipulative?" Harry snapped. "I'm not manipulative! I'm charismatic. There's a difference."

Hermione and Ron exchanged amused glances and began to snigger.

"Sure Harry," Ron said very unconvincingly reaching over to pat his arm in a condescending manner.

Harry sat back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest as he glowered at his two best friends who continued to laugh at him. The bastards.

Though Ron had a point, well not about him, he was not manipulative, thank you very much. But he did have a point about their friendship and why they were able to put up with each other and function as friends. And he was not manipulative. Sensei said he was charismatic and able to comfort people to help them. That was not manipulative that was charisma. Dumbledore was manipulative not him.

Just because Ron and Hermione were the only ones who saw through the charisma to the real Harry and didn't pander to his . . . schemes, did not mean he was manipulative. Even Takashi, who could see through it, catered to him a little. But never Ron and Hermione. The jerks. Harry pouted, which only made Ron and Hermione laugh harder.

They were so off the Christmas list.

"Sorry Harry," Ron said wiping the tears from his eyes. "Tell me about tomorrow, who's all coming."

Harry quickly got over his snit and went over the guest list. Ron blinked when he heard about the Slytherins.

"You sure they're okay?"

Harry grinned and explained about the shopping trip to Harrods and how much fun he had.

"Nott and Luna Lovegood," Ron asked amused. "Now that's a strange pairing."

"Who's Luna Lovegood," Hermione asked.

"A Ravenclaw in Ginny's year," Harry answered. "She's brilliant, the top student in her year, and magically powerful. But she's one whose mind works differently. She comes from a long line of eccentrics and seers. She's great really, you just have to decipher what she's talking about. Most don't and she's bullied terribly at Hogwarts."

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "Really."

"Yeah. They steal her clothes, lock her out of the common room, and call her Loony. Theo says it's not even the purebloods, because most understand the magic in her family that it's the muggleborns and half bloods who are horrid to her. Theo's right, it is easy to blame everything wrong in our world on the purebloods."

"Most of it is," Hermione said scowling.

"Maybe, but you must admit we came into this world without knowing the customs, scowling, and calling them backwards, without understanding why. It'll be like me going to Japan and proclaiming eating with chopsticks is stupid and moaning because they are fanatical about respecting a person's title and using last names first."

The scowl fell off Hermione's face and she slumped back in her seat looking thoughtful.

"Are we done being serious, can we have fun now," Ron begged.

They laughed, tension broken. Linking arms around each other the three friends explored the shops. They made a quick stop to Magical Menagerie where Hermione fell in love with an ugly cat named Crookshanks and Harry bought Ron an owl since he was the reason Ron no longer had a rat. Harry played tour guide to the other streets of magical Britain, which to Harry's surprise neither had seen before. Ron said that Mrs. Weasley never let them wander the alley on their own and she always stayed on Diagon.

So, he happily arranged a tour of the Potter Building, which gave him an excuse to stop in and get a quick update on how his new projects were going. Harry found himself feeling sorry for their guide after Hermione bombarded the poor man with a zillion questions, but he could tell that his friends were impressed with what the company did, even Ron asked questions and was interested in the security side. After they left Potter Company, they wandered past the other organizations in the area and walked over to the Patil's Restaurant where they stopped for lunch.

The expression on Ron's face when he saw the food covering their table was worth the entire trip. Ron was in heaven. He nearly passed out when he tasted lamb kebobs and it was hard for he and Hermione to get Ron to share. He hogged the plates and since lunch was served family style Hermione had to pull out her wand and petrified him to get the plate out his hands so she and Harry could dish their own food.

"Git," she muttered to his frozen body.

He and Hermione quickly made plates for themselves before they unfroze Ron.

"You two are evil and must be destroyed."

"If you do that, then Harry and I wouldn't be able to take you out to the muggle world and show you other restaurants, which have different types of food from around the world just as amazing as this."

"There is that," Ron conceded as he scarfed down smoked salmon and chickpea dumplings.

Hermione huffed and turned to Harry.

"I got a subscription to the Prophet," Hermione said. "A lot has been going on this summer and it seems like most of it revolves around you Harry."

"Unfortunately. But at least the Board of Governors listened to what I had to say about Hogwarts classes, but I think most of the changes were Madame Longbottom's doing. She's been on the warpath and Neville's happy she has something else to focus all her energy on besides him."

"Bless her. No more Snape," Ron crowed around his mouthful of food. "Well at least not for a couple years. I'm thinking of becoming an auror and you need a NEWT in Potions to get into the Auror Academy."

"Yes, it'll be so interesting to see what the new teachers bring and what we'll be learning. The book lists are already so different from what they used to be. I can't wait to get started. Harry have you found out what your booklist and schedule will be like?"

"Not yet. With everything going on, I forgot to ask. As soon as I get my syllabus, I'll show it to you," he said knowing that's what she really wanted.

Hermione nodded before smiling at the waiter who brought their next course. She shot Ron a warning look, and filled her and Harry's plates with king prawns, lamb, chicken, and vegetables, before leaving the rest for Ron.

"I for one am really excited to start this year. It sounds like our educations are being taking seriously. What else have you been up to Harry? I saw the article about your home in Godric's Hollow. Everyone was in an uproar about losing their national landmark. What's the real story?"

Harry told a horrified Hermione how Dumbledore and the Ministry swept in and stole his home to turn it into a living monument without permission and about his plans to use the property to open an orphanage and safe house for magical children. Hermione was impressed and asked many questions throughout the rest of their lunch. Afterwards, they finished exploring and stopping in shops. Harry showed them where he brought his camping supplies when he stopped to pick up a couple more items (he was determined to go camping again) and where he'd went to get his ears pierced.

It was nearly dinnertime when they made it back to the Leaky Cauldron where the Weasleys and Hermione were staying until the train left for Hogwarts.

"Where have you been," Mrs. Weasley screeched the second they walked through the door. "You know better than to wander about by yourself."

Embarrassed, Ron flinched and looked warily about the packed dining room in consternation, before walking up to his mother. "With Harry and Hermione, I told you I would be meeting them at breakfast and you said okay."

Mrs. Weasley flushed and Harry frowned wondering how much she paid attention to Ron. The clues were always there but he never noticed it before.

"Harry, how are you dear?" Ignoring the scene she just caused, Mrs. Weasley smiled brightly and rushed across the room to engulf him in a rib-crushing hug. Unlike Hermione's hugs, this one felt a little stifling.

"Great, Mrs. Weasley."

"You look thin dearie, come and eat."

Harry pulled away before she could grab him and usher him to their table.

"No thank you, ma'am. I actually need to get home and check in Mrs. Weasley but I'll be back in the morning before we go to Blackpool."

Mrs. Weasley frowned. "Check in with who sweetie?"

"One of the people that my new guardians hired to look after me, don't worry Mrs. Weasley, I'm fine."

"How can you be fine when nobody knows where you're staying," she screeched again causing the room to pause and stare. They had the entire room's attention now and Harry felt like banging his head on a table.

"Mrs. Weasley, there are a lot of people who know where I'm staying and who I'm staying with. Just because the headmaster of a school I no longer attend doesn't know where I'm at, doesn't mean nobody else does. I've had a ton of visitors this summer, so it's not exactly a big secret where I'm staying and who I'm staying with."

"Then where are you staying?"

"Mrs. Weasley, do you really want me to tell you that in such a public place where everyone is staring at us and eavesdropping on our conversation?" Mrs. Weasley looked around and flushed, seeing for the first time what a scene she had caused. He reached over and hugged her. "Thanks for being concerned, but I'm doing better than I ever had before. I have dozens of people in my corner now."

He could tell immediately that his answer wasn't good enough for Mrs. Weasley, as if it were any of her business, anyway. Harry quickly turned to wave to the rest of the Weasleys and hugged Ron and Hermione, the former who snorted in his ear and muttered 'so that wasn't being manipulative'. Harry laughed and punched him in the shoulder before rushing through the public floo before Mrs. Weasley could continue questioning him.

Finally home, Harry breathed a sigh of relief before going into the kitchen to see fish lining the counter and dinner already in progress.

"You spent the day fishing?" Harry asked amused.

"Me and Sean. Do you know how to clean fish?"

Harry nodded and quickly cleaned the fish, bagged them, and stuffed them in the freezer while smelling the delicious fish Sensei put on the grill while he told Sensei about his day. Once they sat down to eat, Sensei slid a folder to him.

"Your schedule for the school year. It's broken down by quarter along with the syllabus and where your tutors expect you to be by the end of the term. If you play it right, you could probably take your OWLs in June."

Shocked, though one should never question Luna, Harry opened the folder and gulped. His days were going to be full from physical training at five in the morning to his last class ending at five at night. For the next three months, he had daily classes in Herbology, Potions, and Care of Magical Creatures, in two-hour blocks with an hour and a half block of Science. After looking at the syllabus, which was more of a guideline and depended on how fast or how slow he grasped the concepts, he would receive a year and a half of a typical Hogwarts subject in three-months.

"Looks hectic. This is going to be different. I hope I can do well. I still want to try using that Japanese language system you got me and learn the writing systems."

Sensei nodded and updated the schedule. "I'll begin speaking in Japanese when we eat dinner, which will help and after dinner you can listen to an audio lesson for about a half hour a day. It shouldn't be too taxing."

"Hopefully, I'll be somewhat conversational by Christmas, maybe like a bad tourist."

"Maybe," Sensei laughed. "Takashi mentioned you wanted to spend next summer in Japan."

"Most of it, It make sense to visit during his summer break. You said I'll be done with tutoring at the end of May, I figured spend June in France with Sirius maybe? He should be on the mend by then and I could check on what Potter Company is doing in France. Going camping again somewhere sounds cool too. And then go to Japan, while taking language courses while I'm there."

Sensei was scribbling quickly as Harry spoke.

"I'll start making arrangements. Sirius would love to go on a trip with you. He wants you to visit again."

"You've seen him," Harry asked surprised.

"Of course. He's the man your parents appointed as your godfather. He deserves to know what's going on and he's happy with the tidbits that I've given him on your well-being and I'm happy that he's not a raving lunatic who is going to stab you in the back the minute you relax your guard."

"You sure?" Harry asked softly.

"Yes. You'll always be more mature than he is. Years of dementor attacks leave scars and years alone in a prison cell stunted his growth, but the mind healer is helping and I know he loves you and that becoming strong enough to be a part of your life is his number one priority."

Harry sighed with relief. "Thanks. And Remus?"

"A good man who means well but if I have to listen to one more pity party about his condition, I'm going to put him out of his misery and run him through with my katana. Potter Corporation has several werewolves on staff, granted none from Europe because of their backward laws but we have several and none are as self-deprecating as he is. At least Sirius was amused when I snapped at him to shut up and grow a pair."

Harry burst out laughing. "You like them."

"Yes."

"More or less than Kingsley? It looked like you and Kingsley got along great on the trip. By the way have you seen him since we've been back?"

"Brat."

Harry pouted because he really wanted an answer. He was going to have to see what he could do to get them together again. Maybe maneuver it so Sensei had to join him during his weekly lunch date with Kingsley and Tonks?

"Stop," Sensei warned.

"Stop what?" Harry asked frowning.

"You have that look in your eyes, stop plotting."

"I wouldn't have to plot if you would just give in and realize that you and Kingsley would make a good couple. You need to have fun."

"Who says I'm not having fun," Sensei said his eyes lightening up with amusement. "Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean I'm not."

Harry's mouth dropped open in shock even as his eyes narrowed. Challenged accepted. Maybe he could use the other guards to suss out what Sensei's up to when they weren't together. When it came down to it, they worked for him not Sensei after all.

He was going to get to the bottom of this. Okay, so maybe Ron and Hermione were right. He was manipulative, just a tiny bit. But it was only when it was for a good cause.

This was a good cause.

Author's Notes:

*Happy Monday. Hope you had a great week.

*As always, this is self-betad. All mistakes are my own. I live in the United States and never been to England or Japan much to my dismay.

*I don't own Harry Potter or Ouran High School Host Club