Hey! Sorry I haven't update in a bit. The lethal combination of too much homework and too little inspiration have kept me from doing so. Plus, I was trying to take some of your reviews to heart, and so I went back and reworked some of the chapters. Hope I cleared up some stuff! Anyway, Harry's starting to get antsy in the castle, and it shows. What will everyone's favorite reckless Gryffindor do? Read to find out!
By the end of September, most Hogwarts students were starting to settle in. The gossip mill died down, summer stories previously funny were forgotten, and everyone started to get buried in homework. Harry Potter, however, couldn't be more restless. It had been ten years since he'd been at a regular school, six since he'd had what anyone would call semi-formal schooling. Of course, Harry hadn't really liked school as a kid, not until he met Bea. Before her, school was just another place he got picked on. When Bea became his friend, Harry began to look forward to school, one of the few places he could see his friend. Harry was never allowed to get better grades than Dudley, but that didn't stop him from reading. It was a habit Harry had always kept up. When he and Bea ran away and started to live with the Street Rats, as they had been dubbed by local coppers, he always nicked books from shops and listened closely on street corners. There were stories everywhere, and Harry wanted to hear them.
Fiona and Phin had had their own version of school, but Harry and Bea didn't mind it so much. Fiona taught them Potions, Healing, History of Magic, Astronomy, and Arithmancy as well as the Muggle subjects of Social Studies, Mathmatetics, Biology, English, and Accounting. Phin taught them Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Occlumency, Dueling, and Muggle Defense. It wasn't easy for Tess to transition into at first, but she caught in eventually.
After their deaths, Harry had done his best to find them competent teachers. He learned that many of the shopkeepers in Knockturn had something to teach if you did them a favor. From them they learned some of the Dark Arts, mostly curses and hexes, advanced Potions, Legilimency, and some other things Harry would probably not admit to if on trial. He and Tess traveled to different countries to study the magic there. It was abroad that Harry learned about Horcruxes.
So yes, Hogwarts was a little unsettling for him. Harry wasn't used to the structure, the calmness of it all. There was no immediacy. These students knew they'd have time to learn what they needed to know. Harry had never known that luxury.
Sean's appearance made things a bit more bearable. He did love Tess and Delia (even when he wouldn't admit it), but being around two girls all the time drove him nuts. He needed another guy, someone to take his side or be willing to pull a stupid prank. No one was better for that than Sean.
Still, Harry could feel himself itching for a fight, which was why Malfoy seemed to grate on his nerves more than usual. Draco Malfoy was a pompous spoiled brat who always ran to Daddy with his pitiful problems. This kid was everything Harry hated about the Wizarding World. Of course, Malfoy didn't seem to like him much either. Maybe it was because he recognized Harry as a threat to his power or maybe just because Harry didn't act like a wizard but a Muggle.
"Just ignore him," Tess would advise whenever Harry brought it up.
Harry was walking to Transfiguration with Sean when Malfoy appeared with his matching baboons. Honestly, how much of a pansy was this kid? "Potter," Malfoy sneered. "Want to know something interesting?"
Harry raised an eyebrow. "You're secretly in love with Goyle? How utterly fascinating! I kind of suspected it already." Sean laughed, causing Malfoy's face to go red.
Malfoy narrowed his eyes. "You better watch out, Potter. You never know would could happen to filthy Mudbloods these days." He smiled sadistically. "Or their friends." It was a subtle taunt, but a taunt nonetheless. Malfoy knew, Harry realized. He knew about Fiona and Phin and Bea. Harry's temper flared up.
"That a threat, Malfoy?" he growled. Harry didn't respond to threats well.
"Malfoys don't threat, Potter," Malfoy stated. "They promise. Besides, Aunt Bella didn't get to play with her food last time."
That was Harry's breaking point. He took a swing at Malfoy, but Crabbe and Goyle stepped forward. Harry smirked. It'd been a while since he'd fought guys this big.
"Harry," Sean warned. Harry ignored his friend and ducked as Goyle tried to hit him. He twisted Goyle's arm back, causing the boy to groan in pain, and cracked it. A nice clean break, just like Ralph had taught him. Goyle still tried to fight Harry, but the black-haired boy was too fast. Harry was involved in his fight that he didn't see Sean slip away.
Professor McGonagall narrowed her eyes at the late Gryffindor. "You're late, Mr. Barthel." It didn't seem to have much effect on the boy, whose eyes went immediately towards Tess.
"Harry's fighting again," he said. McGonagall's eyes widened. Some of the Gryffindors seemed surprised too. Apparently their golden boy wasn't living up to the expected standards of the Boy-Who-Lived. Then again, the professor knew Harry could care less what they thought of him.
Tess, on the other hand, didn't seem surprised. "Who?" she asked, almost bored with the topic. And she was. Harry got into a lot of fights. Unless he was hurt, she didn't care much.
"Malfoy and his goons." That got Tess's attention. Of all the people at Hogwarts, Harry probably hated Albus Dumbledore and Draco Malfoy the most. Harry hated Dumbledore because he was "a manipulative old coot who should keep his crooked nose out of people's lives". Malfoy, on the other hand, had Harry's hate for many reasons. The first and foremost reason was that he was related to the Lestranges. It didn't help that the Malfoys were pureblood bigots with pompous attitudes.
"Shit," she mumbled. Delia, who'd been listening as well, nodded in agreement. "Let's go!" The two girls followed, Professor McGonagall and that Transfiguration class not far behind.
It wasn't long until they found Harry. The fight seemed to be dying down. Crabbe was running out of energy, and it looked like Goyle was hurt. Harry, on the other hand, seemed to be full of energy. He had Malfoy pinned against the wall, wand at his throat.
"Mr. Potter!" McGonagall trilled. Harry ignored the professor, not at all worried about the punishment he was going to get.
"I can decimate you with a wand, Malfoy," he hissed. "Don't forget that." He realized Malfoy, who nodded dumbly and dragged his two goons away. Harry smiled but winced at the soreness of his jaw. Goyle had gotten a good punch in with his other arm.
"MR. POTTER!" McGonagall yelled. Harry turned and looked at her.
"Yes?" Harry asked, looking bored.
"Fighting is simply unacceptable behavior at Hogwarts," she started to lecture. "Any more of this undignified behavior, and you will be suspended and possibly expelled. You will apologize to Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Goyle, and Mr. Crabbe..."
"No way in hell," Harry growled.
"You will show me respect, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said threateningly. Harry rolled his eyes. When it came down to it, all adults were the same: demanding respect they hadn't earned. He hadn't expected the Hogwarts professors to be any different. Harry knew he was burning a bridge here, but he just couldn't give a shit. Something vital was missing at Hogwarts, and Harry knew exactly what it was.
*flashback*
"I want to go to Hogwarts," Bea confessed. Harry looked up. They were laying on their shared bed, heads against the headboard. Tess was already asleep. She was always the first one asleep, making it easy for Harry and Bea to have these night talks. It wasn't that they didn't want Tess to hear what they were talking about but that she just wouldn't understand. They considered Tess one of them, yes, but she was new to their group. Bea knew Harry like the back of her hand and vice versa.
"You know we won't," Harry pointed out. Fiona and Phin had told them that much. They were worried Dumbledore would try to take Harry away from them. Harry didn't want to be under that old coot's thumb. He wanted to stay here, with Fiona and Phin and Bea and Tess, close to the streets and his old life.
Bea nodded. "Yeah, I know, but I wish I could. Just think, all those moving stairwells and talking paintings. It would be like living a fairytale."
Harry laughed. "We're already living a fairytale, Bea. Two kids ran away from home for a better life and were taken in by a kindly older couple who taught them magic? How much more fairytale can you get?" He didn't mention the Street Rats, but he didn't have to.
Bea rolled her eyes. "I still want to go there, just once. Promise we'll go? One day?" She held out her pinky.
Harry interlocked it with his own. "Promise."
"Fuck you," Harry responded, his eyes hardened. Hogwarts was the last place on Earth he wanted to be right now.
McGonagall was speechless. "Mr. Potter! Headmaster's office, now!" The Gryffindors watched in shock. No one had ever said anything like that to a professor before. Harry just followed, not that worried about the consequences. Then again, he never really was.
Dumbledore sighed, looking at the rebellious young man in front of him. He rarely had to deal with fights, or at least physical fighting. There were always a couple of hot-headed duels that quickly resolved. Though he had a feeling that Harry had been provoked, he still worried about the boy's violent reaction. Dumbledore, though not getting much of a read on Harry, didn't doubt his heart. Harry seemed to sincerely love his friends, and other observations seemed to confirm this. Still, this kind of behavior was unacceptable.
"Harry, your punishment will lie with your Head of House, but I want to emphasize the unacceptableness of your behavior. Hogwarts is not the streets, and I do not want you to treat it as such. You're safe here. You have my word"
Harry laughed, a bitter sound that seemed too natural. "No offense, Professor, but your word doesn't mean much to me. It shouldn't be worth much to anyone with a brain."
"Mr. Potter!" McGonagall shouted. "You will respect Professor Dumbledore or..."
"Or what?" Harry asked. "You'll expel me? Good! Then I can go back to my life."
"Harry, my boy, what I did, placing you with your relatives, was for your own good..." Dumbledore tried to explain.
Harry wasn't having it. "No, sir, it was for your best interests. You and your fucking Greater Good. Want to know what I think of the 'Greater Good'? I think it's bullshit."
"I know you're young, and so you couldn't possibly understand..." Dumbledore tried.
Harry's eyes turned hard. "Yes, I do understand. I understand that people have to die for your Greater Good. For you to win, other people have to lose. How is that for the Greater Good?" With that, Harry left, leaving both Dumbledore and McGonagall with many thoughts.
Tess stared at the door anxiously. Harry still wasn't back from Dumbledore's office. Hopefully Harry hadn't done anything else stupid...
"He'll be fine," Delia reassured her friend, sensing Tess's thoughts. "Harry's an idiot, but he wouldn't be stupid enough to attack a teacher."
"Gee, thanks for that vote of confidence," Harry sniped from behind her chair. He sat down next to Sean and glared at the nearby first years, who immediately scattered.
"What happened?" Tess asked, her eyebrows scrunched in worry.
Harry shrugged. "Threatened to expel me," he mentioned casually.
Sean laughed while Delia gaped at him. "You idiot!" she mumbled under her breath.
Tess just studied her old friend carefully. "Harry, what did Malfoy say?" she just looked at her. "I know he said something because even when you're this wound up you don't just go take a swing at whoever you want."
"Malfoy said that I should be careful because things happened to 'filthy Mudbloods' these days and that Bella didn't get to play with her food last time."
Tess seemed to light on fire at that. "I'm going to get that ferret!" she growled, startling several Gryffindors who were already scared of Harry.
Harry smiled sadistically. "I thought you'd never ask."
Draco Malfoy went missing that morning. Though a school-wide search was implemented, he wasn't found until three days later. Madam Pomfrey couldn't figure out why he kept muttering about bouncing ferrets and had him transferred to the psych wing of St. Mungo's. None of Gryffindor said a word.