Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that Harry Potter belongs to the amazing JK Rowling and that I am most definitely up to no good.
Previous Chapter Summary: Harry and Hermione finalize their preparations for their Dueling Club and are granted permission to begin the club starting their second year. Harry is devastated when he is told that he won't be able to see his Familiar Jaidynn until they have caught the culprit responsible for killing Unicorns.
A/N: I know this chapter is beyond late and I am deeply sorry for that. It fought me every step of the way and I had a most difficult time finding the words to write it but finally managed. We are almost to the end of first year and I sincerely hope the next chapter comes a bit easier to me than this one did. Thank you all for your patience and for reading my story, you are the best.
Harry did not allow Malfoy's attack on him and his friends go without retaliation. He did however wait a week or two for the gossip to die down before he enacted his payback on the Slytherin. During that time, he persuaded Blaise and Tracey to get caught up in the prank he was about to pull so as to help throw suspicion off of himself since most people wouldn't think that he would pull a prank on his own friends. Tracey agreed right away but it took some bribery on Harry's part in the form of a new potions book that had just come out to convince Blaise to go along with it.
It took some early mornings of scouting out the Great Hall as well as keeping an eye on Malfoy and his goons to verify that they did actually sit in the same places every meal before he was reasonably satisfied that his plan would work. He also finally decided to play his prank on April 1st, mostly because the Weasley twin's birthday was on that day and rumor had it that they liked to up their pranks in order to celebrate not just their birthday, but April Fools Day as well, and Harry thought it would be a perfect cover.
Waking up at 6:00AM was no fun but Harry got dressed quickly and quietly, grabbed his invisibility cloak, and threw it on before making his way silently out of the dorms and common room. He walked into the Great Hall only 5 minutes later and nodded his head in satisfaction. During his scouting he had learned that the plates and goblets appeared on the tables between 6:00 and 6:30 and was glad to see that the house-elves were on it today as he looked at the gold sparkling along the tables.
Going to the end of the Slytherin table closest to the High Table, he counted the plates until he got to the one that Malfoy usually sat at. Harry pulled a potion phial and small brush from his pocket, opened the phial and dipped the brush in before reaching out and coating the rim of Malfoy's goblet with the light purple potion. Once done with that one, he turned and did the same with Parkinson's, Blaise's, and a few second year Slytherin's goblets. Since they would only be getting a taste of the potion and not the entire bottle, the effects would only last 30 minutes to an hour but that was fine with Harry since the second half of the prank would last at least 5 to 6 hours.
After stoppering the phial, cleaning the brush, and putting them both back into his pocket Harry pulled a small box of various colored sweets out. The next few minutes was spent placing a sweet at the bottom of various goblets before hitting them with a Color Changing Charm to turn them gold, making them difficult to see unless you were specifically looking for them. Both Sirius and Remus had assured him that the sweets would still work if dissolved in liquid when he had enquired but that the effects would be lessened to a degree once diluted so they wouldn't last the normal 12 hours.
Finally finished setting up his pranks, Harry dashed back to his room, put his pyjamas back on, and hid both prank items under his bed on a small ledge in the corner of the left upper leg just in case. After making sure he hadn't woken Justin, Harry lay back down for about 40 minutes until his roommate began to stir. Once Justin had seen that he was 'asleep' Harry got up again and began to get ready for the day, meeting Susan and Hannah in the common room around 7:15 so they could walk to the Great Hall together.
Both girls gave him knowing smirks when he approached and he let out an exasperated huff. "It's bad enough that you know what I did but do you really have to be so transparent about it? If you look at me like that once the prank is done then everybody will know it was me."
Susan giggled while Hannah gave a very un-ladylike snort as they led him out into the basement hallway but they did promise not to even look in his direction when they got to the table and Harry had to be happy with that.
Walking into the Great Hall for the second time that morning, Harry could see that the first year Slytherins had arrived and were just sitting down but the second years, who had Astronomy the night before, had yet to make it. Daphne, Blaise, and Tracey all saw them and gave them a wave but had enough sense not to give him any knowing looks. Sitting down at their normal spots across from their Slytherin friends, Harry sort of wished that they sat at the opposite side of the table so he could see Malfoy's face the moment he realized what was happening but had to be content with simply hearing it instead.
It didn't take very long before there were shouts of surprise and laughter coming from behind them and the three turned around. Malfoy was now sporting neon pink hair and trying not to laugh at Crabbe's bright blue since his normally drawling voice was sounding just a bit too high pitched and feminine.
"Draco!" Pansy exclaimed but stopped in horror as her own voice came out as deep and grating. She immediately went red in embarrassment and refused to say another word, instead, tried pointing to Malfoy's head but the prat was taking too much delight in her discomfort to pay attention to what she was trying to tell him.
Tracey brought out a handheld mirror and giggled in delight at her requested violet colored hair before Blaise took it from her gently.
"Hey Malfoy." He said in a melodious voice and held the mirror out to his fellow housemate with a smirk.
Malfoy finally realized that it wasn't just his voice that had changed and the smile was immediately wiped from his face. He snatched the mirror out of Blaise's hand so he could get a closer look at his hair. Once he had had his fill, he threw it back across the table, stood up, and stormed from the Great Hall with his friends in tow.
Harry laughed along with everyone else and knew they would no doubt be going to Mr. Snape, who Malfoy bragged none stop was a good friend of his father's, to have him fix them. On the back of the box of Rainbow Haired Confections, one of the pranks Sirius had gotten him for Christmas, it had a warning label that said quite clearly that if one attempted to cancel the effect before the time was up, the color would get progressively brighter every time they tried. He couldn't wait to see what their hair looked like later.
The Pitch Switch potion, yet another prank from Sirius, obviously switched the drinkers voice to male or female depending on your gender and it also couldn't be canceled until it wore off on its own.
Having made sure to spread the pranks out between the first and second years, Harry had also managed to get Lancaster, whose normally black hair was lime green, though she didn't seem to mind in the slightest.
Professor Vector had come down from the High Table by this time to see what the ruckus was and stopped in bewilderment when she caught sight of Tracey and Lancaster's hair. She went over and was whispering quietly to them and Blaise while Daphne sat off to the side smirking at her two friends. She had point blank refused be a part of the prank and promised Harry bodily harm if he got her with either so he had made doubly sure that he skipped her seat when setting up.
Tracey was now arguing with Vector, who had pulled her wand to try and cancel the effect on her hair, since she knew what would happen if she tried but told the professor that she didn't want her violet hair gone yet. Vector finally left her alone with a shake of her head and attempted to help Lancaster with hers, only to stop and look from her wand to the girl's hair several times when the green went just a shade brighter instead of going back to normal. Catching on quickly to what would happen were she to continue, Vector whispered to Lancaster and turned to Blaise when she got a slight nod in return.
Knowing she wouldn't be able to cancel it anyway, Blaise let Vector have at it until she was satisfied that she wouldn't be able to help him either. Not being able to help her first years was frustrating but Vector finally admitted defeat and told them that they would just have to wait for the effects to wear off and headed back to the High Table without checking the other goblets, to Harry and his friends delight.
The scene was somewhat repeated once the second years made it down for breakfast, though the ones affected took it a bit better than Malfoy had and nobody dramatically stormed out of the Great Hall.
Harry knew that the prank had been somewhat mild compared to the other stuff that was in the box Sirius had given him but he didn't want to start out with anything big in case he got caught, considering how inexperienced he was at pulling pranks. The day was off to a flyer for him and the gang and it was with laughs and giggles that they made their way to their first class of the day.
Nicolas and Perenelle suspected that he had had something to do with the prank since they had gone through the large box Sirius had gotten him with him to make sure there was nothing inappropriate and recognized the two prank items but they chose not to say anything. Fred and George had not actually executed the prank but had no problem taking the blame for it when given the opportunity even though most believed it to be a bit too mild for their tastes, especially considering it was their birthday.
Sirius sent him a letter in reply to the one Harry had sent to let him know how the prank had worked out and congratulated him on managing to get so many students and for not getting caught. Harry had noted a bit more cheerfulness in his godfather's letters since he had been checked out of St. Mungo's shortly after Valentines Day after promising to visit his Mind Healer every other week as well as finishing up the potion regimen his Healer set for him for another two months. According to Sirius, his ancestral home was still in a bit of disrepair despite Remus' non-stop work to get it tidied up but he hoped it was safe enough for Harry to visit come the Easter holidays and Harry couldn't wait.
OoOoOoO
"What's that you go there Pup?" Sirius asked as he sat next to Harry in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place and began piling massive amounts of food onto his plate for breakfast. His Healer had been disappointed that Sirius hadn't been gaining as much weight as he thought he should during his last check-up and so had prescribed another months worth of his regular potions along with a variation of the one Harry had been made to take that would boost his metabolism dramatically while also helping to build muscle and store good fat. The potion was designed for adults so he could only take it every other day and for no longer than a month so as not to do long term damage to his body and it made him almost ravenous when he sat down to eat meals, even with heavy snacking throughout the day.
It was the last full day of the Easter holidays and Harry was the only one of his friends to have left Hogwarts for them, specifically so he could spend time with his godfather and Remus, who Sirius had begun referring to as Harry's backup godfather when he noticed how well the two got along. Harry had been a bit hesitant of the idea at first since he had only spent time with Sirius for a combined total of three hours but all of the adults and even his friends had rallied together to convince him to get out of the castle as Harry had been getting slightly more melancholy the more time went by that he couldn't see Jaidynn.
Hedwig had even tried helping by visiting the Unicorn foal and letting Harry view the memory as it was happening but as much as he appreciated the gesture, it just wasn't the same and had actually made him feel worse about the situation.
Despite deciding to stay at the school during the holiday, Nicolas and Perenelle were making daily trips back and forth every day, mostly to check on him but also because Perenelle was assisting both men with decoration ideas for the house since they had managed to clean up the majority of it except for the top most floor and the attic, where they had stored all the dark objects they had come across.
According to Remus, there were so many dark objects just laying around the house that instead of dealing with them one by one, he and Sirius had decided to simply throw them in the attic until they could get a trusted Curse Breaker to come take a look at them.
Harry looked up from the letter he was reading with an expression that seemed unable to decide whether to settle on horror or humor. "It's a letter from my friend Tracey…"
"Oh ho! Receiving letters from girls are we?" Sirius interrupted and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Harry just rolled his eyes as his godfather continued to stuff his face since this wasn't the first, second, or even fifth time Sirius had alluded to the fact that Harry had so many friends who were girls. "Read this." He said and held the letter out to Sirius.
Hiya Harry!
You won't believe what we stumbled upon while wandering about on the grounds this afternoon! So we were just walking around chatting, minding our own business and just as we were passing Hagrid's hut we heard this almighty crash from inside and Hagrid began yelling at someone called Norbert. Naturally, we went to go have a peak to make sure Hagrid was ok and to see just what the bloody heck was going on and would you believe that we saw a real life dragon inside the man's hut?! A DRAGON! I'm still freaking out about it.
Well long story short, Hermione practically barged into the hut, the bloody Gryffindor, to ask about the dragon and then gave the man a lecture about trying to raise it, in a wooden house no less, before demanding he get rid of it before it gets loose and hurts a student. It was kind of strange seeing such a large man nearly start crying while trying to cuddle a dragon practically the size of a horse at the same time. I felt kind of bad for Hagrid until Norbert, the dragon's name if you can believe it, walloped Blaise in the leg rather hard with his tail and Hagrid started chastising Blaise about scaring the 'poor thing'. We left pretty quickly after that and Neville and I had to help support Blaise all the way to the Hospital Wing since whenever he tried to put pressure on his leg it would give out entirely (Trainee Healer Brad muttered something about a dead leg, whatever that means). He is fine but Madam Pomfrey said he would have a nasty bruise on his thigh for at least four days, even with the liberal use of Bruise Paste, and he has to walk with a cane until it can support him properly.
We haven't told anyone about what we saw yet but none of us really think it's a good idea to keep quiet about it for too long. I'm pretty sure it was a Norwegian Ridgeback and those things can get pretty nasty. Maybe Nick or Nell could come up with a way to help him get rid of it without him getting in trouble?
Cheers,
Tracey
P.S. Could you please send Nell back with your camera so that I can get a picture of Blaise using his cane in case he decides to stop before you come back tomorrow? He tries to act all aristocratic and snooty when he walks but you should see him trying to get up and down the stairs in a dignified manner, he has nearly fallen a dozen times already. The prat actually asked Nick to transfigure the plain brown wooden one he was given to dark green with a silver dragon shaped handle and has already whacked Malfoy in the shin with it when the little git tried to make fun of him.
P.S.S. If you could bring back some Honeydukes chocolate for everybody since you are the only one that left for the holidays and because what our parent's/guardians gave us isn't nearly enough (we already finished it to be honest), I may consider not asking you for any more favors for at least a month. No promises though.
Sirius chuckled at the post scripts. "I want to meet this Tracey girl. She seems like she has a nice sense of humor."
"We find out that Hagrid is trying to raise a dragon in his hut and that's all you have to say?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Well, that is pretty standard Hagrid behavior to be honest." Sirius said as he handed the letter back to his godson. "He has always been fascinated with dangerous creatures and the more dangerous the better. There was even a rumor in my 7th year that he was raising a Cerberus in the Forbidden Forest."
"A Cerberus?"
"Giant three-headed dog. They are native to Greece and pretty rare these days so I'm not sure how he would have gotten his hands on one if the rumors were true." Sirius said with a shrug as if he hadn't just told Harry there might be a three-headed monstrosity running around the Forbidden Forest, the very same forest that sat next to the school full of children that he just happened to attend 9 months out of the year.
"How has nobody been killed at Hogwarts?" Harry asked weakly.
"It's a miracle if you ask me." Perenelle said, walking into the kitchen to join them at the table.
Remus was right behind her with the parchment and quill he had used to jot down her many suggestions on decorations as he followed her from room to room throughout the house.
Perenelle poured herself a cup of tea and reached for a scone. "Honestly, some of the things Albus is letting go on at that school would have seen him sacked ages ago if he weren't Albus bloody Dumbledore. I seriously think he may be developing dementia."
Sirius wrinkled his nose. "Sounds Muggle."
Remus hit him lightly on the arm as he sat next to his friend. "Just because you don't know what it means doesn't automatically mean something is Muggle." He chastised. "Dementia is a sort of mental disorder that can occur in old age whether a person is Muggle or Magical, though it usually takes longer to develop in Magicals given our longer life span. It's pretty serious. Do you really think Albus might have it Nell?"
"His inability to make logical decisions these past years is only one of the symptoms so that isn't really enough to determine for sure. He is quite old but since he isn't showing any other prominent signs I'm hesitant to bring it up to him or any of the staff. Even if he doesn't have it I believe it would be better if he gave up at least one of his three positions and focused more on the other two." Perenelle said.
"I would definitely wait and see if any of the other symptoms begin to emerge before voicing the idea to anyone else. As far as convincing him to give up any of his positions, I can only say good luck with that." Remus chuckled and raised his teacup slightly in salute before taking a sip.
Perenelle huffed but knew the man was right, it would take some heavy convincing to get Albus to relinquish any of his titles but she seriously believed that it would be better for everyone, especially him, if he did so. "At least he is open to fixing things if or when they are brought up as long as you're determined to argue with him a bit about it. Which I fully intend to do at the next staff meeting about the History of Magic class."
Harry perked up at hearing this. History of Magic was his least favorite subject despite the fact that the entire class could, and usually did, sleep through the entire thing and it would be nice to actually learn something properly for once.
"You can always count on Binns to help you get caught up on your sleep." Sirius said.
"I snuck into one of the classes under Dissilusionment one day and it wasn't even five minutes before half the class had their heads down on their desks and I actually heard snoring." Perenelle said with a frown. "It was so boring and Binns' voice so monotone that I could hardly concentrate on the subject matter myself."
"Tell me about it, we had to get Remus to tutor us so that we could pass our O.W.L.S and while none of us chose the class for our N.E.W.T years, he studied it independently and managed to get an O."
"Did he now?" Perenelle asked and gave Remus a calculating look. She had watched him these past few days, helping to train Sirius back up since he was rather rusty due to not being able to practice magic for ten years.
Catching the two men allowing Harry to do magic with them despite the underage law showed her that while Sirius' spell work was all about shock and awe, Harry's was more calculated and he did his best to make each spell count. Remus had noticed this in the boy right away and taught them using different methods that would play to each of their strengths.
That topped with his easy going manner, she felt confident that she had a suitable replacement for Binns' inevitable departure. Now she just had to convince him to go for it as well as figure out an iron clad contract should anyone find out he was a Werewolf. Deciding to speak to him later without Sirius there to poke fun, Perenelle turned to Harry. "So why were you concerned about people dying at Hogwarts?"
Harry bit his lip and looked down at Tracey's letter. He would have preferred to speak with Nicolas about the situation first since the old Alchemist was much more laid back than Perenelle was. Not that he didn't enjoy talking to Perenelle about these things but just picturing her reaction made him wince internally. Sirius however, chose to take the decision out of his hands.
"Hagrid is raising a baby dragon in his hut." Sirius said and showed off his prestigious upbringing by shoving a large biscuit into his mouth, not seeming to care about the crumbs falling all over the table in front of him.
"HE WHAT?! Perenelle exclaimed.
Harry cleared his throat and waved the letter at her slightly. "Tracey wrote and told me that they stumbled on Hagrid yesterday with a dragon in his hut. I'm not sure how he got it but he seems determined to keep it."
Perenelle's head dropped into her hands and she groaned loudly. "As if there isn't enough going on, now we have a dragon to worry about too." She picked her head up and gave him a pained look. "Did she say how big it was or what kind of dragon?"
"About the size of a horse." Sirius supplied cheerfully.
"She thinks it's a Norwegian Ridgeback and his name is Norbert. It's also responsible for Blaise needing his cane." Harry said.
"We're lucky he wasn't bitten. Their fangs are quite venomous." Perenelle said straightening up. "I'll speak to Nick about it as soon as I get back and we will try to come up with something quick so nobody else gets hurt."
"Will Hagrid get in trouble?" Harry asked feeling guilty for tattling on his friend but glad that Perenelle seemed to be taking this much better than he thought she would and hoped that whatever they came up with wouldn't see Hagrid sacked.
"We will certainly try our best to keep him out of trouble Harry but it is highly illegal to breed and/or keep dragons unless they are on a dragon reserve. They cannot be tamed and can pose a threat to those around them as well as the Statute of Secrecy should they get free." Perenelle replied and waved her wand at the dirty dishes on the table causing them to fly to the sink and begin washing themselves. "Hagrid knows all of this and should have contacted the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry as soon as he came across the beast and Merlin help him if I find out he actually got the egg and hatched it instead of handing it over."
Harry was kept from saying anything further by the arrival of Sirius' surly house-elf Kreacher. Harry hadn't seen him very often during his stay but the few times he did were rather unpleasant considering Kreacher liked to mutter under his breath about how much of a filthy half-blood Harry was and unworthy of stepping foot in the Black ancestral home, among other things. Sirius had yelled at the house-elf and chased him from the room when he heard what he was saying about his godson but had then been scolded shortly after by Perenelle on his treatment of him and the threats he had thrown out.
Harry learned later that Kreacher had been the bane of Sirius' childhood with his continuous insults and refusal to follow any command Sirius gave him, at the express desire of his mother no doubt, and that they had hated each other for years. Apparently, that hatred had increased exponentially when Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor upon arriving at Hogwarts.
Kreacher had reluctantly accepted Sirius as his new Head of House after much grumbling and according to Remus things had been going as well as could be expected up until earlier in the week when Sirius asked Nicolas and Perenelle to take a look at his mother's portrait that was magically stuck to the wall to see if they knew of a way to remove it. They had examined it for over an hour but Nicolas finally told him that it had likely been placed there using a Permanent Sticking Charm and removing it would be rather difficult as the charm drew on nearby magical energy to sustain itself and the fact that it was supporting a magical painting as well as being in highly magical environment meant that the charm was as fresh as the day it was cast, if not more so.
At Perenelle's suggestion, Sirius had hired a magical architect to come in and determine if the section of wall she was attached to could be safely removed without weakening the houses structural integrity. As soon as the architect told him that as long as he didn't want to take out the whole wall then it would be fine, Sirius had him start on removing it right away.
Kreacher had gone into a near apoplectic rage when he came upon them all watching the removal and Sirius had had to order him to be silent to stop the obscenities and insults he was throwing out left and right to go along with the screeching that the portrait was doing. Silencing Charms didn't seem to work on old Walburga Black's portrait but when she was finally removed Sirius managed to get her to stop screaming long enough to tell her that if she behaved herself he would not destroy her.
Seeing Kreacher staring longingly at the portrait while also sending occasional glares at his godfather, Harry had suggested that maybe Sirius should let the house-elf keep it in his room. He hemmed and hawed for a bit before finally agreeing and they were in the process of determining how they would accomplish this task since Kreacher's den was much smaller than the portion of wall they had removed when Kreacher snapped his fingers and the painting came off the wall with a noise reminiscent of velcro and floated into his hands. He gave Sirius a contemptuous look before popping away with his prize.
Things settled back down after that and Sirius soon appreciated the humor in the situation once Perenelle pointed out that had he simply been nicer to the elf perhaps Kreacher would have volunteered the fact that he had been the one to place the portrait on the wall earlier and they might have avoided the whole mess to begin with. Seeing the wisdom in her words and the disapproval in his godson's eyes when he mistreated Kreacher, Sirius vowed to do better by him and hoped it would help in the long run, though he still didn't trust him to cook any of their meals.
They all watched as Kreacher shuffled around the kitchen, stopping every once in a while to wipe a random surface with a dirty towel and muttering under his breath the whole time before shuffling back out again without acknowledging any of them.
"He doesn't even clean anything!" Sirius said exasperatedly. "He probably made it even more dirty than it already was."
"Well, have you thought about getting another house-elf to help him out? You did say he is nearing 150. That coupled with losing the family members he was most devoted to seems to be taking a toll on him both physically and mentally." Perenelle said.
Sirius crossed his arms over his chest in a pout and glared at his best friend. "Moony won't let me. He said it would be good for me to learn to do things on my own."
Remus sat serenely reading the newspaper, not bothered in the slightest by Sirius' attempts to murder him with his gaze. He had merely suggested that Sirius shouldn't get a house-elf right away as it would be a good thing for him to learn basic cooking skills and how to do chores. That the drama queen misinterpreted that as never getting another house-elf wasn't his fault.
Perenelle nodded sagely. "That's certainly true—"
"Traitor!" Sirius exclaimed, slamming his hands down on the table but Perenelle was unimpressed with the outburst.
"Learning to be self sufficient is important."
"But I can't cook and Moony isn't very good at it either."
"Hey!" Remus shouted indignantly.
"See, he even agrees with me." Sirius said with a smug grin.
Perenelle gave him a quelling look. "We have some books that should be able to help you out." She said and her mouth quirked up in a smirk. "I think the first one you should read is A Witches Guide to Keeping Her House Tidy."
Remus choked on the tea he had been drinking and began coughing while trying to laugh at the same time. Harry had to go over to Remus and start slapping him on the back when it seemed like he was having trouble breathing since Sirius was looking at Perenelle in horror and not paying attention to the man sitting next to him.
"The title could use some work but it has all the necessary charms you need and is even followed by A Witches Guide to Cooking for Her Family which has a lot of tips and tricks for beginners." Perenelle said, unable to keep from laughing when Sirius took on a pained expression and began turning a brilliant shade of red.
"You're joking right?" Sirius asked once he got his voice working again.
"Not in the slightest. I think they would both help immensely, especially if you aren't going to be getting another house-elf."
Sirius grumbled profusely before turning to Remus. "I don't know what you're laughing about Moony, if I have to read them then so do you."
Remus quite enjoyed reading and didn't find anything wrong with this so made sure to voice his approval of the idea simply to annoy Sirius even more.
Harry made sure to give Perenelle his camera before she left shortly after so she could pass it on to Tracey then coerced Sirius into taking him to Diagon Alley so he could buy his friends some chocolate. He honestly didn't know how Hermione had managed to eat the large box of assorted chocolates Blaise gave her for Christmas once they had gotten back from the holidays but it wasn't even the middle of February when she started complaining that she had already run out.
Blaise had balked at hearing that since he had gone to 4 shops in order to get her as many different kinds of chocolate as he could and wound up with about 5 pounds of the stuff before he was satisfied. He finally got over it enough to say it was no wonder she was always so wound up since she must be on a constant sugar high, which promptly earned him a well placed elbow to the ribs.
As soon as they got back to the house Remus, who had insisted Sirius spend some alone time with his godson, was on them in a flash, searching for the chocolate that he knew Sirius would have gotten for him even if he had told him not to. Sirius grinned like mad as Remus searched the pockets of Sirius' robes and patted the pockets of his slacks before realizing with great consternation that his friend didn't have any chocolate on him. He was about to let out an angry growl when realization flashed in his eyes and he rounded on Harry.
Already having been warned of the Werewolf's reaction, Harry was off like a shot with Remus close behind him. Sirius' roaring laughter followed them through the house as Harry tried his best to outrun Remus but it was no use in the end and he soon found himself cornered in an upstairs sitting room.
"Wow," Harry said, panting slightly from having run up the stairs at top speed. "Sirius said you were worse than Hermione but I didn't believe him."
Remus, looking as if he had just got done taking a stroll in the park and not chased an 11 year old boy up 4 flights of stairs, grinned at him. "I will admit I have a bit of a problem when it comes to chocolate but it is one I am fully unwilling to try and do anything about."
Harry huffed out a laugh at that and dug into his left pocket for the large shrunken box of chocolate Sirius had bought for Remus, the chocolate for his own friends safely tucked away in his right pocket.
He had barely handed it over before Remus had taken his wand out to enlarge the box, open it, and pop a piece of chocolate in his mouth. Sighing in pleasure, he smiled at Harry. "I should be mad that he always ignores me when I tell him not to buy me chocolate but I can never seem to work myself up to being properly upset about it."
"At least you finally stopped complaining about it." Sirius said, walking in and nabbing a piece for himself.
The rest of the day and far into the night was spent with both Sirius and Remus telling Harry all kinds of stories about his parents from their Hogwarts days. Sirius even went so far as to act out many of them and continuously switched between characters whenever he felt like it. He had Harry in stitches the first time he chose to conjure glasses on Remus and use a Voice Modification Charm on himself before beginning to act out in a shrill voice a heated argument between his mum and dad from their fourth year.
Nicolas came to pick him up and take him back to Hogwarts shortly after lunch the next day so he would have time to settle back in and catch up with his friends. Harry got a kick out of seeing Blaise walk up to him with his cane but did his best to suppress his smirk when the dark-skinned boy raised it threateningly at him.
All of his friends were invited to eat dinner in Nicolas and Perenelle's quarters that night so they could go over the dragon issue.
Nicolas started the conversation off once they were all seated and loading their plates. "So after discussing it for some time yesterday, Nell and I decided to go straight to the Headmaster with the news about Hagrid's dragon."
He was kept from saying more by the outcries from the majority of the children.
"But Nick, won't that get Hagrid into major trouble? The Headmaster is his boss." Harry said and now felt even more guilty for ratting out his friend.
"Calm down all of you." Nicolas said and waited for Susan and Hannah to stop whispering vehemently to each other before speaking again. "Yes Albus is Hagrid's boss but what you don't know is that Albus Dumbledore will do anything and everything in his power to help his friends. As we speak Alejandra Moya, the Director of a small dragon reserve based in Spain, is on her way here with some of her employees to see about taking Norbert off our hands.
"Dumbledore apparently met her when working on his discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood and by a lucky happenstance, her reserve recently lost a dragon to old age. They have been looking into getting another one and according to her letter she is excited to be getting a Norwegian Ridgeback since they don't have one at the moment."
"How did they exchange letters so quickly?" Neville asked after listening to the definition of happenstance provided to all of them by Hermione. "You only told him about it yesterday."
Nicolas tore off a piece of his roll, dipped it in his stew, and popped it into his mouth. He chewed slowly, nearly smirking at all the anxious faces waiting for him to answer Neville's question. In the end, Perenelle threw her own roll at him for teasing them and he finally swallowed and said, "Albus has a Phoenix named Fawkes that is able to flash from one place to another. It is similar to our Apparition but feels less like being squeezed through a tube and more like being surrounded by a warm fire. They are also able to go anywhere in the world they wish whereas we can only Apparate a certain distance if we don't want to tire ourselves out."
Perenelle opened her mouth to speak and all heads snapped to her. "Suffice it to say, Albus spoke to Hagrid this morning to let him know Norbert will be leaving with Director Moya at about midnight tonight. Nick also brewed up several phials of Sleeping Draught which Albus instructed Hagrid to give the dragon until they get here to try and cut back on any complications. Hagrid isn't happy about it at all of course but Albus finally convinced him it was what was best for Norbert."
"Did he mention where he got Norbert?" Hermione inquired.
"All he would say is that he won it off some man at the pub but couldn't tell us who it was." Nicolas answered.
"So Norbert is fast asleep right now?" Harry asked with a bit of hopefulness in his voice. He hadn't gotten to see Norbert after all.
"Well he was this morning." Nicolas said. "I refused to leave Hagrid's hut until he gave him the Sleeping Draught."
Seeing right away what Harry was thinking, Perenelle decided to nip it in the bud. "The Sleeping Draught will last about 6 hours for an adolescent dragon and we don't know for sure if Hagrid gave Norbert his next round of the potion or not so I don't think it would be a good idea to go visit."
Harry's shoulders slumped in disappointment and he jabbed his fork into a potato rather harshly before stuffing it into his mouth.
Not wanting her friend to be upset he would be missing out on seeing a dragon, Tracey spoke up without thinking. "Don't worry Harry, I got a few pictures of Norbert for you with your camera."
Nicolas shot her a piercing stare and she shrank down in her seat somewhat when she realized what she had said. "And just how did you manage that Miss Davis, when Nell and I specifically told all of you not to go near Hagrid's hut lest you get hurt."
Tracey couldn't very well tell them that she had barreled right into Hagrid's hut yesterday evening, startling him and the dragon, before taking a few hurried shots then bolting back out the door with Hagrid's shouts and Norbert's growls ringing in her ears so she said, as convincingly as she could, "I saw Hagrid outside doing something with some big barrels that smelled horrid and convinced him that if he took some pictures of Norbert for me then Harry would get him copies."
Seeing through the obvious lie, Nicolas said with steel in his voice, "That will be a foot long essay on the effects and treatment of a bite from a Norwegian Ridgeback for disobeying us Miss Davis. I hope nobody else here has plans to venture out onto the grounds tonight?"
Once her husband had gotten confirmation from everyone, Perenelle said. "As exciting as this has been, we must impress upon all of you the seriousness of keeping this quiet. We are skirting the law quite a bit and could all get into serious trouble if the wrong people find out so I highly recommend not even speaking about this while at school and we urge you to use the utmost discretion if you choose to talk about it at any one of your homes."
Susan bit her lip as everyone around her spoke excitedly to each other about the fact that they may be breaking the law. After her dad and uncle had been killed in the war when she was just a baby, her mum had moved into her Aunty Amy's house where Susan had grown up for the last 10 years. Obeying the law was deeply ingrained in her due to this fact, since Aunty Amy had become an Auror before she was even born, and having to keep such a thing from her aunt wasn't sitting well with her at all.
"What's the matter Susan?" Hannah asked once she realized how quiet her friend was, though she could hazard a very good guess as to what was bothering her. Aunty Amy could be right scary when she wanted to be and Hannah never fancied getting on her bad side. She was actually surprised that Hermione was as excited as the rest of them about breaking any kind of rules in general but then again, the girl had come a long way since the beginning of the school year.
"If you are worried about your aunt then please don't be Susan." Perenelle said and gave a smile when the young red-head raised her head to look at her. "Nick and I plan on speaking to her about this shortly after the summer holidays start so you won't have to keep it from her for very long. While I imagine she will be quite upset, I don't believe she will see fit to arrest any of us."
Susan let out a relieved sigh and was soon chatting away happily with her friends as they started on dessert.
OoOoOoO
"Alright class, we only have a month left before your end of year exams on June 1st so I think now would be a good time to assign a sort of end of year project which will actually coincide with your Potions exam." Nicolas said with enthusiasm and smiled slightly at the groans from his students. "I will be splitting you up into groups of two and giving each group a list of ingredients and a few key steps to make a specific potion but I will not give you the name of the potion. Based on the information I give you and using Magical Substances and Their Reactions along with 1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi I want you to research what type of potion I assigned each of you, locate that potion in the library, and study the steps thoroughly."
The class gave him disbelieving looks at what he was asking of them. "Now now, it really won't be as bad as it sounds. All of the potions I am assigning are considered 2nd year potion level and though I made sure to choose ones not found in Magical Drafts and Potions, you will be able to find them in the library. I have already spoken with Madam Pince and she has agreed not to check out any of the books that I specified so once found you will either have to copy the instructions down or stay and study in the library. You and your partner will have the full month to do your research and will be expected to brew the potion as the practical portion of your end of year exam."
Wayne Hopkins raised his hand and Nicolas nodded to him. "What happens if we don't manage to find the potion?"
"Well, I would be very disappointed considering I will be giving you all the tools necessary to find it but if you and your partner show up without having been able to locate the potion I will provide you with the name and complete set of steps so that you can brew it. You will however receive point deductions on your exam and may find the potion slightly more difficult to brew since you were not able to study it beforehand.
"I can see the trepidation on some of your faces but I assure you that this project really is not all that difficult. For those that have not cracked open a potions book other than your assigned textbooks, the majority of the ones you will find list the potions by their effects. For example, the Cure for Boils would be considered a healing potion so that would be the section of the book you would search for it. Study the various ingredients and their reactions to each other when using the steps I provide you and determine what type of potions you are dealing with. Finding it after that should not be that hard. Does everybody understand?"
He looked around the room and got nods from everyone so picked up a piece of parchment off of his desk. "Very good, now I would like for you all to gather your things and stand towards the back of the room. When I call out you and your partner's name I would like you to come forward and sit next to each other starting on the left hand side of the room."
Standing in the back of the room with his friends while Nicolas called out names, Harry realized quickly that he was partnering Hufflepuffs and Slytherins together and hoped that his guardian would be nice enough to partner him with Blaise, Daphne, or Tracey. His hopes were dashed however as time went by and one by one his friends went to sit down with someone else and then he nearly groaned out loud when he heard his name called along with Goyle.
The boys scowled at each other when they sat down at the table and waited for Nicolas to finish but chose not to say anything after that. The last students to be paired were Malfoy and Ernie Macmillan, causing Harry to sigh in relief since he knew that Ernie wouldn't let Malfoy walk all over him like some of the other Puffs would.
He and Goyle sat in silence as a few of the students around them began to strike up conversations with their partner and Nicolas began passing out sheets of parchment to each of them. When he finally got to Harry and handed them each a sheet, Harry saw that they were identical with a list of ingredients and 5 steps total for the potion they would be looking for.
"Please stay after class Mr. Potter, there is something I wish to speak with you about." Nickolas said and waited for Harry's response before moving to finish his task.
"Now, does anyone know what the Protean Charm is?" Nicolas asked as he made his way back to the front of the classroom and got nothing but blank looks in return for the question. He chuckled, "I really didn't expect you to know, I was simply curious. The Protean Charm is a charm that is capable of linking two or more objects together via a common purpose. For example, each set of parchments that I handed you are linked together using the Protean Charm and should they be more than five feet away from each other, they will automatically turn blank."
Everyone looked at their sheets of parchment with renewed interest after hearing that.
"Since I know that some of you will be averse to working with a partner or may dislike the one I have chosen for you, this will help ensure that the project is completed by both of you instead of just one. There are also a few other fun little charms I decided to place on them but I would rather keep those to myself." He admitted with a grin. Best to let them find out on their own what would happen if they attempted to get around working together. Nicolas knew it wasn't full proof but hoped it would assist those students whose partner felt they could do the project all on their own.
"Now, you may spend the remaining 15 minutes coordinating with your partner on when to get together to do your research. Oh and also, if I find out that you have gone to someone else to tell you the potion I will be forced to give you a new one to work on and if you do so a second time I will rescind that potion too and then you will be forced to wait until the day of the exam to find out which one you will be brewing. This project is not only to test how much you have learned throughout the year but also how well you are prepared for next year."
Harry waited a full 30 seconds to see if Goyle would be the one to break the ice between them but the large boy seemed content to just stare blankly at his parchment and hadn't moved a muscle. He really wasn't excited to have to spend the next month with the Slytherin but Harry was willing to put aside their differences in order to make sure he did well on this project. After another 15 seconds of silence, he awkwardly cleared his throat. "So, is there any specific time that you won't be able to meet?"
Goyle turned to look at him and in a voice just as deep as Harry imagined it would be, said. "Just the study group on Saturdays." He, Draco, and Vince had shunned the study group for a full 3 months before Draco finally decided to put aside his disdain for it and join in the hopes it would help his two friends, whose grades had remained at the Dreadful and Troll levels despite his best efforts to help them. Nobody but the three of them knew the real reason they had finally joined and Draco's snide remarks when asked made sure that people stopped caring soon enough.
Harry nodded. "Ok, well my schedule is a bit full throughout the week but how about we meet up in the library Tuesdays after dinner and Sundays sometime before lunch?"
"That's fine." Goyle said amicably and went back to staring at his parchment.
Rather than push his luck with the bulky Slytherin, Harry opted to read through the information Nicolas had given them on the potion for the remainder of the class and gave a small sigh of relief when the bell rang and Goyle left to meet up with Malfoy and Crabbe, who had been partnered with Leanne Ward; one of the top students in their class.
After realizing this, Harry went through the list of who got partnered with who and came to the conclusion that Nicolas had made sure to partner those students who weren't as good in potions with those that were. 'He probably just wants to make sure the students like Crabbe and Goyle had a chance to earn a good grade while promoting house unity, even if it might put the better student at a bit of a disadvantage.' Thought Harry.
His suspicions were confirmed a few minutes later when he went up to speak with Nicolas, which made him beam in delight since that meant that Nicolas thought he was a good enough student to overcome Goyle's shortcomings in potions. Suffice it to say that Harry felt much better about the partnership when he left the potions classroom to make his way to lunch.