Soldier 12
A/N: Yes, Harry is a bit OOC. He was taught by a guy who could give Lucius Malfoy lessons on nobility. Yes, Hermione is coming across as a fish wife and we do know that she was Harry's strongest supporter during fifth year. We really are not trying to bash her. She's frustrated and was used to Harry baring his soul on her demand.
Disclaimer: See chapter 1. Reviews are welcomed. Flames are not.
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Chapter 12: Send a Message
A bit of Kido on the door to assure privacy and Harry spent the rest of the trip to Hogwarts in a pleasantly empty compartment, without being bothered. Of course there had been several attempts to enter it, but the barrier spell held firmly.
'Thank the Kami for Tessai and Hachigen-senseis,' Harry mused as he watched Draco Malfoy and his side- kicks stomp away in frustration.
Harry met up with Luna again at the station and she blithely told him the creatures that pulled the carriages were called Thestrals and the reason they were invisible to most.
"Only those that have seen death can see them?" he mused and silently wondered if rooming with a substitute soul reaper also counted? Luna nodded her head.
Professor McGonagall was waiting for them at the castle entrance. "Miss Lovegood, please go to your table. Mr. Potter, the headmaster wants to see you after the feast."
"Bye Lord Potter," the blonde Ravenclaw said with a wave.
Harry scowled at his Head of House, showing her the signet ring on his finger. "Professor McGonagall, I received my inheritance this summer and claimed my lordship. I am Lord Harry Jame Potter, Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter, and I will be addressed as such."
"Vera weell, Lord Potter," she said with pinch-lipped disapproval as her her Scottish brogue thickened.
"Also, if it isn't about school work, and since classes haven't started yet, I doubt the headmaster and I have anything to discuss." he told her without giving her a chance to object. "So I respectfully decline the meeting Professor." As he turned away with a slight bow he could feel Muramasa's approval in his mind.
"Weel, I ne'er! Mr. Potter, ye should ken tha' the headmaster hae always had your best interest at heart." Harry noted that the stern professor had reverted to calling him 'mister' instead of lord.
"The headmaster has not now, nor has he ever had my best interest at heart, Professor. And I prefer Lord Potter," he corrected her as he turned to face her once more.
"Did you know that he witnessed my parent's will? They said, in very bold lettering, that they would rather see me in an orphanage than with my mother's sister Petunia. And he not only ignored their last wishes, but had the gall to have their will sealed! You surely realize, madam, that I should have been made aware of their will at eleven, when I first re-entered the Wizarding World?
No madam. I only returned to take my OWLS. After that, I am my own person. Now, if you will excuse me? Oh, and Professor? I am Lord Potter. Do try to remember that."
Harry walked past the sputtering woman, not caring that several other students had overheard his little speech with the Deputy Headmistress, including his former friends.
Harry made for the Gryffindor table. He noted that Neville Longbottom was sitting by himself. As he moved to sit beside him, Hermione and Ron hurried to bracket him, forcing themselves between Harry and any others. He so didn't want to deal with the pair.
With a sigh, Harry knew he had no choice and refused to make a scene. To do so was unbecoming one of renown and noble birth. He hated his fame, and always would. But if he was to survive this school year, he had to use it.
'Thank the Kami for Byakuya-sama!' He mused silently. At least he could get through the feast with a portion of his sanity in check. Then he heard Muramasa chuckling. 'Quiet you!'
'Of course Harry. I was only thinking of what Ichigo Kurosaki would say if he heard you praising the head of the Kuchiki clan.'
Harry snorted. Ichigo and Byakuya had an indifferent and sometimes almost bitter relationship. They couldn't stand each other, but to everyone's surprise the pair did respect one another.
"Harry! Are you listening to me?" came Hermione Granger's jarring voice, breaking into his thoughts.
"What do you want, Miss Granger?" Harry's calm voice murmured.
"I want to know where you were this summer!" she hissed at him. "I was so worried about you! Come on Harry, tell me?"
He shook his head and pointed with his chin at Professor McGonagall leading in the first years. The bushy-haired witch huffed and backed off, for now.
When the sorting started Harry sighed, ignoring his female friend's indignation at his refusal to answer. He even ignored the toad-like woman that took over the opening speech from the headmaster. Closing his eyes, he wished, yet again, he was back in Japan.
When the food appeared, Harry found he had no stomach for the rich, starchy, fried and sauce-smothered foods that appeared. At least he wasn't half-starved at the beginning of this term, like he had been in the past. However, English fare leaned heavily on rich sauces and greasy meats.
He took some of the steamed vegetables and some of the roast beef.
Since his stay with the Kurosaki's he found that he could tolerate Japanese fare much better. The flavors were more subtle and better suited for his digestive system.
Yuzu's homemade dinners were delicious, but then, the Japanese diet contained more fish and vegetable based foods. Beef and pork was a bit too expensive for most to eat regularly. Her curry, however, was to die for.
"Is that all you are going to have Harry?" Hermione asked with a frown of concern at his plate.
He gave her an arched eyebrow as he tried to get used to eating entirely with knives and forks again. "Yes, Miss Granger."
"Harry!? Why are you doing this? Why are you being so. . . so formal and polite?" she demanded, ignoring the rest of the Gryffindors who were shamelessly listening in. It seemed clear to all that Harry was breaking ties with the other two of the Golden Trio.
"Harry? What's with the Japanese clips and scarf?" Neville Longbottom broke in to stop the girl's nagging.
Harry turned to the pudgy wizard. "I was adopted by the noble lord of an ancient clan over the summer. It is custom. Noble-born males of the clan are entitled to wear them. The head of the clan was appalled at the way I, an heir to an ancient and noble house, had been raised in ignorance of my heritage. He felt it was his duty to train me in courtly and noble etiquette—since no one else had cared enough to do so." The gasps at this revelation echoed throughout the room.
Several noted that Harry was quite willing to answer Neville's questions and ignore his supposed best friend.
"What!?" Hermione squawked, once again trying to get Harry to talk to her. "Does Professor Dumbledore know about this?"
Harry sighed and pinched his nose in annoyance. "Why must you shout like a fish wife Miss Granger? Your demands are in poor taste. If you must insist I will repeat myself, but understand, I do not have to answer to you or the headmaster. It is none of your business, as I am sure I told you in my response to your letters."
Hermione sputtered. They both knew that she hadn't written to him, and in return he had done the same.
"Oi! Ma'e! 'at 's uncau' fir," Ron chimed in, spewing food as he spoke.
Harry sighed and stood, dusting half-chewed food off his robes and gave a slight bow. "If you will excuse me? I've lost my appetite." He turned and left the Great Hall.
Many noticed his straight back and the proud carriage of his head, ignoring the frustrated calls from the Gryffindor table for him to come back. The adults sitting at the head table watched with mixed feelings as the Potter heir exited the Great hall.
Over at the Slytherin table, a blond haired male narrowed his eyes, as he watched his arch nemesis exit with noble elegance.
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In a dark corridor near the Hufflepuff common room hung a large painting of a bowl of fruit. Harry reached up and tickled the pear causing a doorknob to appear and the painting to swing open when he turned it.
He was greeted by several eager, high pitched voices as he entered.
"Master Harry Potter, sir!" one house elf bounced over to him. "You'se shoulds not be here. Youse shoulds be at the feast! You'se shoulds!"
"Hello Dobby," Harry greeted him with a smile. "I have a problem and hoped you guys could help me?"
Dobby started to cry. "Master Harry Potter sir needs Dobby's help?"
Harry pulled out a couple of recipe books as well as a spiral notebook. "Who do I gives these to? Can you read them?"
"Those being cooking books? Dobby can read, so can head elf," the little guy said, eagerly.
They were joined by an older female elf, at least Harry thought she was female. "I be's Cooky. You have recipes?"
Before Harry handed them over, he explained. "I didn't get much food to eat growing up. My relatives refused to 'waste good money' on me, or so they claimed. When I started coming to Hogwarts, it would take me almost a month to get used to the rich fare provided here."
The elves shuddered at the thought that they might have failed to meet a student's needs. "Last month, I found that if I stay on a more vegetable, fish and rice diet, with only occasional red meat, I do better.
This book shows how to prepare the ingredients and the cooking methods you need to use. This one is full of easy recipes and this one. . ." Harry held up the spiral notebook. ". . . has all the recipes that a friend showed me how to make when I was staying with her family. I especially liked her curry." He passed the three books to the little elf.
"Cooky will treat these with the greatest of care, Master Harry Potter, sir!"
Harry laughed. "I know that you shall, but I would like the spiral notebook back when you have had a chance to make a copy of everything in it. The other two are yours to keep."
Cooky and the other elves listening in looked liked they wanted to declare Harry a national hero who had just presented them with the crown jewels.
"Is there any way I can get some tea and is there any treacle tart left? I had to leave in the middle of the feast," Harry said sorrowfully, hoping to change the god-like awe everyone here was displaying.
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An hour later Harry made his way up to the dorm. Standing in front of a large portrait of a rotund lady, he paused. He didn't have the password to get inside, and knew that the lady would not let him in without it. The old Harry would've argued with her, demanding she let him in. Now, he would not so disgrace himself.
"Gracious lady, could you ask Neville Longbottom to come to your portal? Tell him that Lord Harry Potter wishes to speak with him," he asked her with an elegant bow.
"Oh my! Finally, someone with manners!" the Fat Lady cooed. "Stay right there, big boy, I'll be right back." She left her portrait with a giggle while Harry closed his eyes and waited. It had been a trying day and he longed for his bed and some quiet time.
The portal opened and Neville peeked out. "Harry? Where did you go?"
"Sorry, Neville," Harry said as he stepped into the common room. "I forgot to get the password. I went to the kitchens for something to eat. At least there I could get a decent cuppa—without the Spanish inquisition! Some people just don't have any manners, or boundaries."
Several of the students in the common room blushed as they overheard the pair talking.
"Don't I know it," Neville said as they walked up to the fifth year dorm. "Uh Harry? That Umbridge woman, you need to watch out for her. Gran says she's Fudge's hatchet woman."
"I understand, thanks for the warning," Harry said as he unwrapped the scarf around his neck. They stepped into the dorm only to hear an argument brewing.
The voices stopped when Harry stepped around Neville towards his bed.
"Me mam didn't want me to come to Hogwarts this year, 'cuz of you!" came an angry Irish voice.
Harry turned to look at Seamus Finnegan, saying nothing to defend himself as he calmly prepared for bed.
"Don't you have anything to say for all the stuff in the papers this summer?" Seamus demanded.
Harry looked over at the three teens standing behind him, channeling Byakuya-sama. "I could care less. You may do as you please," he replied in a serene voice.
"Leave it, Seamus," Neville commanded. "Harry's a different person from last year. You don't want to cross him."
Harry ignored the teens and slid into bed, closing the curtains behind him. The remaining teens gasped in surprise as a yellow glow covered his curtains briefly.
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Albus Dumbledore sat in his office pondering where he went wrong. The Harry Potter who had walked into the Great hall tonight was nothing like the one that left for summer holiday.
Had it been it wise to isolate him from his friends for the summer? No, Harry needed to grieve in peace, and he was positive that Petunia would be there to help and support her nephew in his time of sorrow.
The reports of Harry leaving his relatives home during the first part of the summer had been troubling as well. Didn't the lad know just how dangerous it was to roam around Diagon Alley like he had in this past summer? Thankfully his watchers had managed to curtail that activity.
Sirius' actions, however, were another matter entirely. To deny access of the Order to his home over something as trivial as Arthur informing him that Harry was back in London, was troubling. Didn't he know that everyone had been worried about Harry?
To invoke the pure blood codes like he had made Albus wonder, who's side was Sirius really on? He did, after all come from a dark family.
Albus looked up at the clock ticking away. Harry should've been here by now. He could imagine the lad trying to guess the password as he waited. Maybe he should go check?
Suddenly the door opened and two of his most trusted professors entered, without Mr. Potter. Albus started to greet them when he was rudely interrupted.
"Save it, Albus," Minerva McGonagall snarled as she transfigured one of his hard back chairs into something more comfortable. "Mr. Potter isn't coming, like I mentioned at the Feast. I've looked everywhere for him. Only to be informed by the Fat Lady's portrait that Mr. Potter was let into the Gryffindor Common Room by Neville Longbottom and headed directly for bed."
"Are you going to let Potter get away with this like you always do?" demanded the second professor, Severus Snape. "He's going to be a problem again this year, especially with the Ministry breathing down our necks."
"Now Severus," Albus chided, turning back to his Deputy Headmistress. "Tell Harry that it is imperative that I know where he was during the summer. What do his little friends say?"
"They've had falling out," Minerva reported. "Miss Granger said Harry isn't talking to her, and since she didn't bother to write to him, he saw no reason to write to her. She seemed a little crestfallen."
"Let me have a go at him, headmaster," Severus Snape growled. "I will get the truth out of him. The arrogant little snot!"
"Hold off on that, Severus," Albus responded, stroking his beard. "We must regain Harry's trust and make him understand that his isolation this summer was for the greater good."
Severus Snape sneered and Minerva McGonagall sighed. It was going to be a long year.
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A/N: For those that think we are being too harsh on Hermione and Ron, we are not. Harry has been comparing them to Ichigo's friends, who also stuck by him, and finding them wanting.
Remember, Ichigo's friends went willingly to the Soul Society to rescue someone they didn't even know.
This is Harry's fifth year and he doesn't know if they'd stand with him any more. Ron certainly didn't last year. In his mind, they side with all of the adults that think they have a say in Harry's life.
Until next time. -GF and the Frau