A/N: I put this on the last installment of the Albus storyline, but I'll put it here too. I would like to have something resembling a cover image for this story, but as it turns out my ability to draw/paint/make basic shapes is sorely lacking. So if anybody wants to make a cover I'd be more than a little grateful.
The service was a small affair, Claire had decided that instead of having a funeral, a memorial would be the better choice. They only knew one family in the area, after all, and her husband was never one for making a big deal out of things. As it turned out, the one family they knew in Britain was, by far, the largest, most oddly close family they could have met. Claire was grateful for this, because at least the children had others their age around to keep them busy. Harry had been a huge help with the children also. They were all due to return to Hogwarts that afternoon, but even a day having to stop her grief to shepherd her children to the school seemed exhausting.
Harry walked into the room, fully aware of the grief that all of the children inside were feeling, and wondering if today was the best day to bring them back. As it turned out, they were more than willing to return to the castle. Harry knew that feeling well, Hogwarts had always been his escape from the troubles his life had presented. After all of the children, every single Weasley child had come to the service, alongside the American children, had passed through the fireplace and back to Harry's office at Hogwarts, Harry stepped into the fireplace and dropped his own powder.
"All right, everyone?" Harry asked, when they all nodded, he continued. "Get back to class, then. All of you except Ryan, Ian, Susan, and Michael." The other children left, leaving only Harry and the Smith children in his office. "I know that this weekend was incredibly hard on you four. Losing a parent is, in my opinion, the worst feeling in this world. I just wanted to let you all know that I'm here, if you need to talk… I've, um, been through something similar, a few times actually." Harry thought back to his parents, who he only remembered due to his repeated run ins with the dementors that brought back his worst memories, usually including their deaths. His thoughts then moved to Sirius, and how he had been laughing when his cousin's curse had knocked him through the veil. He thought of Remus and Tonks, who had been the closest he had to family, outside of the Weasleys of course. The list of people that Harry loved and had lost in the wars with Voldemort nearly overwhelmed him for the first time in many years. He composed himself fairly quickly though, and sent the four fatherless children to their common rooms, giving them each a large piece of chocolate, it was what Remus would have done.
The next day, classes resumed and Harry noticed that of the four Smith students, only Susan arrived in his class for lessons. The day after, Michael rejoined his classmates. This left the twins, who Harry decided to check on if they missed the dueling club on the following day. Luckily, they didn't, but they did not partner with each other. Harry found this strange, as they had never chosen different partners since he had started the club. He realized quickly that they were being much more reckless and dangerous than normal with the spells they were casting. Ian had almost hit a new member, a fourth year named Cherish that Harry had seen practicing her patronus and asked if she wanted to join early. Of course, this meant that any student who could produce a patronus was now allowed, and Harry was bracing himself for Albus and Rose trying to force him into teaching them how over the winter break, which was looming. Harry decided on a course of action to bring them back down to normal, but he was very unsure of the outcome.
"Ian, Jared, the two of you partner up." They took their places across from one another and Harry stopped them before they could begin. "No, no, you misunderstand. I meant the two of you would be partners. Against me." A collective gasp escaped from the students that were close enough to hear it, and Harry smiled, pulling his wand from his side. "If the two of you can hit me with a spell, I'll excuse both of you from Defense classes until the Winter break."
A murmur went up around the three that were preparing for the duel. Harry bowed, and while he was doing so, the twins fired two stunners at him. He dodged them easily. "You really shouldn't attack when your opponent is preoccupied, that's bad form." Two more stunners came his way, Harry sidestepped them and continued, "Haven't we talked about this, fire at where I'm going, not where I am." This seemed to just anger them further, and Harry realized that he would have to be careful not to push them too far. He dodged four more attempts at stunning him, before casting a silencing spell so that the other children couldn't hear what he said next.
"I understand what you're feeling. I was nearly murderous after my godfather died," He said dodging another pair of spells, this time they weren't stunners, but light purple streaks that Harry had never seen before, he hoped they weren't dark spells but didn't have time to dwell on it, as two more were already in flight. "I even tried to use an unforgivable on the woman that killed him. She was a real piece of work, that one. Bellatrix LeStrange, she hit him in the middle of a duel that me and Sirius were having with two other death eaters, that was what Voldemort called his followers. I watched him fall into a veil and disappear. There wasn't even a body to bury." This must have struck something in the twins, as they paused for a moment. "I'm truly sorry for what happened to your father, but you dishonor his memory if you hold on to the anger I can feel coming from the two of you."
"Are you telling me to forget?" Ryan asked, he said the last word with so much venom that it reminded Harry of the times he had seen into Voldemort's mind.
"Oh, of course not, you can and should never forget. What I am suggesting, is not taking that anger out on anyone except for the one responsible." Harry said, dodging the final two stunners and moving in quickly to grab both wands from the twins' hands. "Then, maybe you can help us stop him."
The twins looked dumbfounded at his final statement, and he lowered the silencing charm before saying, loudly enough for the rest of the club to hear, "I expect to see you both in class tomorrow." He walked out of the room, leaving Malfoy and Neville to close the meeting.
A/N (2): I know that this chapter is a bit shorter than the others in this story, and that is because it really didn't fit in well with the chapter following it, and I particularly liked the way the prior chapter ended, so I didn't want to extend it with this one. I promise that this chapter is the exception, not the rule.