"Good evening, Mr. Potter," Professor Dumbledore said as he stopped next to the gargoyle. "Cockroach Clusters."
"Hello, Professor Dumbledore," Harry said, suddenly nervous as the gargoyle jumped aside to reveal the moving stairs. "Could I talk to you for a minute?"
"Certainly," Dumbledore replied. "To my office, then?"
He stepped aside and allowed Harry to go first. Harry took a breath and stepped onto the stairs.
"You did not
."
Draco grinned. "We did."
"And you didn't get caught?" Blaise sounded sceptical.
"Harry's going to tell Dumbledore and give it back now. You'd think if he knew about it, he'd have said something by now."
"So that's why Quirrell got kicked out, at least," Pansy said. "He was going for the Stone, and Dumbledore caught him." A thought struck her. "Oooh, do you think Dumbledore knows it's gone now?"
"If he doesn't, he's an even sadder excuse for a legend than I thought," Draco said scornfully. "I mean, Harry and I got through all those obstacles that were supposed to be protecting that thing. If he's not even aware now that it's gone, what with Quirrell…"
"I think he does," Blaise disagreed. "He looked worried at dinner."
"True," Pansy agreed. "Quirrell trying to steal the Stone wouldn't be cause for worry now unless he wasn't sure if Quirrell has it or not."
"We'll ask Harry when he gets back," Draco suggested.
"Now what was it that you wanted to talk about, Harry?"
Harry looked down at his shoes nervously. They were the ones Draco had bought for him at Christmas. He regretted the decision to have Draco stay behind with Pansy and Blaise. This would be easier if he wasn't by himself.
"I…you announced at dinner that Professor Quirrell got sacked," he began haltingly. Dumbledore nodded in encouragement. "I just wondered if it had anything to do with the Philosopher's Stone?"
Harry looked up. Dumbledore was looking very composed and slightly curious.
"And how would you happen to know about that particular Stone, Harry?"
"Well, er, I heard about it a while ago, and I was worried that Quirrell was going to steal it because of something a centaur told me so…" Harry realized he sounded ridiculous and gave up. "I'm sorry sir." He pulled the Stone out of his pocket and set it carefully on Dumbledore's desk. "It'll be safe from Voldemort now, right?"
This time, when Harry looked up, he saw the stunned and elated expression on Dumbledore's face.
"I think I am correct in assuming that there is a very long, very twisty story behind this?"
By the delighted tone of his voice, Harry felt that Dumbledore might not be too mad at him. Emboldened by this idea, he nodded and began his tale.
Harry was bombarded with questions the moment he entered the common room. He dragged Blaise, Pansy and Draco down to the library with him so that he wouldn't have to explain everything twice.
Hermione was not pleased with what Harry had done behind her back.
"So that's why you stopped worrying about it, and why you wanted to learn about protective charms!" She sounded annoyed. "I can't believe you, Harry."
"Alright, Granger knows now, so what did he say?" Draco interrupted eagerly.
Everyone turned their attention to Harry. Even Dudley and Neville, who technically had nothing to do with it. Harry thought absently that, if they were there, he might as well have invited Anthony to listen too. He would have, if Anthony had been in the library like he usually was.
Harry paused for effect. "His exact words were something like 'I can't believe you did all that without my knowing.'"
Draco and Pansy laughed delightedly. Even Hermione smiled in spite of herself.
"Brilliant!" Blaise said happily. "So did you get in any trouble?"
"Knowing Harry, he's been promoted to prefect," Draco said.
"Professor Dumbledore wouldn't do that!" Hermione disagreed, aghast. "You only get to be prefect in fifth year, and he did something wrong!"
"Professor Snape put him on the Quidditch team after he did something wrong," Pansy said, looking amused at Hermione's antics. "Harry follows a different set of rules."
Harry appeared stung. "I do not," he disagreed. "I just…the circumstances were different, then and now…sod off!" He reached across the table and swatted at Blaise, who had been snickering at him and mocking Harry's best innocent face.
Pansy laughed at them both, and Neville interrupted after a moment to ask, "So did you get in any trouble?"
Harry frowned at them all for a moment, and said, "He gave me sixty points for Slytherin."
Draco burst out laughing, and Madam Pince gave him a reproving glare from her desk. He quieted immediately, although he snickered when he looked at Harry again.
"Quiet, you," Harry scolded him. "You got sixty points too."
This quieted Draco for a moment. "Really? I got points?" Draco looked highly pleased with himself. "This puts us in the lead for sure, doesn't it?"
"Hermione got fifty, so maybe not."
Hermione blushed. "Me? Why did I get fifty?"
"For all the research, of course." Harry paused, and unwillingly added, "He also said 'for attempting to restrain your peers'…"
Pansy snickered. "Good luck with that."
Hermione was still flushed with her reward, and grinned at Pansy before asking, "Did anyone else get points?"
"Pansy got ten, I'm not sure why, and Blaise got twenty-five. I think Dumbledore just likes you," he explained at Blaise's curious look. "He told me before how wise you were being about the mirror, remember? But he said it was for the same as Hermione. Attempting to restrain and such."
Blaise appeared to be unsure of how to handle Dumbledore's apparent fondness for him.
"I suppose it's a good thing, isn't it?" Draco asked after he'd finished laughing at the bewildered expression Blaise was wearing. "I mean, you're bound to be let off easier for a lot of things, Blaise. It's like Harry with Filch. Now Pansy and I just have to find our own pet teachers and we'll all be set!"
"How about Madam Pince?" Blaise suggested with a grin. Draco scowled at him.
"If I had a pet teacher, it would not be the librarian," Draco said haughtily. "I mean, for Merlin's sake, I could have Professor Snape if I wanted!"
Pansy snickered. When Draco looked over at her, she smirked and said, "Not if I get him first…"
The resulting argument got them kicked out of the library, to Hermione's dismay, although after a few apologies she calmed down and agreed to a walk by the lake. Soon after that, Dudley asked hopefully if they thought he could have a pet teacher, and they spent the rest of the day arguing over possibilities.
The last few days of the school term were spent in this carefree manner, and when it was time to board the train home, Harry felt it was too soon.
"It won't be so bad, Harry," Pansy assured him when he expressed this to her. "Blaise and Draco and Hermione and I will owl you all the time, and you and Dudley get along now, don't you?"
Harry nodded unwillingly. Dudley really was loads better than he'd been before school. He thought he could actually claim Dudley as a friend now, instead of just the cousin with whom he shared an intense mutual dislike.
Blaise reappeared from the compartment where he'd been stashing his trunk.
"If you find that you really can't stand it, Harry, ask Dudley if you can borrow his owl and we'll plot your grand escape."
Harry smiled in spite of himself.
"Get on the train already, you three!" Draco called from an open window. "It's going to leave without you!"
Harry took one last look at Hogwarts and followed Blaise and Pansy to their compartment, where Draco was waiting for them along with Hermione, who had been reading a book which she put down when they came in, and Neville and Dudley, who were playing Exploding Snap.
"I cannot believe that you three would just leave me to fend for myself in a compartment full of Gryffindors," Draco said severely. "They could have gone mad, overpowered me, and done horrible and unmentionable things to my person."
Neville seemed alarmed that anyone thought he would do such a thing and nearly let one of his cards blow up. Hermione laughed.
"What sort of unmentionable things do you think us three first years are capable of?"
"I did say they were unmentionable. Do pay attention, please."
Draco was trying very hard to keep a straight face, and failed when Harry laughed at him. "Quiet Harry," Draco scolded him with an amused smirk. "You've been hanging out with them all year, who knows what they've taught you?"
"You're right, Draco, they've taught me awful things," Harry agreed darkly. "Now remember that next time you feel like being whiny, or I'll Scourgify you until you beg for mercy."
Everyone was silent for a moment.
"Isn't Scourgify a cleaning charm?" Pansy asked finally. Hermione snorted and elbowed her.
"Are you trying to say something about my hygiene?" Draco demanded. Blaise snickered.
Harry looked nonchalantly out the window at the flashing scenery. "If the shoe fits, Draco."
Draco glared at him as the rest of them laughed. "You're one to talk, Harry. I mean, look at your hair! Have you ever? I'm going to buy you a mirror for your birthday."
Blaise snickered again. "He has a point, Harry. I'll buy you a brush."
Pansy smiled. "And I'll buy you hair-care potions! We'll make it a theme! Hermione, you can get him muggle hair-stuff!"
Harry began to feel worried when Hermione suggested a hair-straightener with an evil sort of grin in his direction.
"You guys don't have to buy me anything," he tried. "It's nice of you to offer, but please…"
"Of course we're going to buy you presents, Harry," Draco assured him blithely. "And that reminds me. You're coming with me when we go to Diagon Alley. Dudley too, if he wants," he added as an afterthought, glancing at Harry's cousin.
"Sure, thanks," Dudley agreed as he and Neville began another game.
"Perfect," Draco said. "I'll owl you about it later this summer. It'll be fun. Father always has other things to do, and if you two are with me, then he can just leave us in Diagon Alley."
Harry agreed, and Blaise suggested a game of chess. They alternated for a while, and eventually Harry joined Dudley and Neville instead, in order to boost the small part of his ego that hadn't been crushed in the chess matches. Anthony found them after a while, and stayed for a few hours, discussing something about electricity with Hermione that Harry wasn't going to attempt to follow, as he'd never known much about it even before Hogwarts. The whole trip was very peaceful, and by the time the train arrived at King's Cross, Harry almost felt that this summer wouldn't be so bad after all.
"Welcome home, Dudley," Uncle Vernon said gruffly, clapping a hand on Dudley's shoulder. He nodded at Harry, who had followed Dudley out of the barrier. "Harry."
"Uncle Vernon," Harry replied uncertainly. Hermione broke the tension by appearing suddenly from the barrier and waving at Harry and Dudley before running over to a couple standing nearby and hugging them.
"Is that one of your friends, Dudley?" Uncle Vernon asked as Dudley and Harry waved back. He eyed her and her parents as Hermione smiled and pulled them over. Dudley nodded and grinned.
"That's Hermione, she's really smart," he said. Hermione reached them and beamed.
"Mum, Dad, these are Harry and Dudley. They're friends of mine. Dudley, Harry, these are my parents, Jane and Howard Granger. They're dentists."
"Nice to meet you, Dr….and Dr. Granger," Harry said.
"Nice to meet you," Dudley echoed.
"Lovely to meet you, Harry and Dudley," Dr. Granger said. "Hermione has told us so much about you in her letters." She then turned her attention inquisitively to Uncle Vernon, and Dudley belatedly realized he was meant to give an introduction.
"Erm, this is my dad," he fumbled. "Vernon Dursley. Dad, this is Hermione and her parents."
Uncle Vernon and the Grangers shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.
"What do you practice?" Uncle Vernon asked interestedly.
"I'm a BDS, and my wife is a BChD," Dr. Granger explained. He smiled at his wife. "We run a dental office near London. We were terribly surprised when the Hogwarts letter came, weren't you?"
Uncle Vernon had visibly brightened. Harry thought it might have to do with the fact that these people were so clearly and irrevocably normal.
"You have no idea," Uncle Vernon said jovially. Dr. Granger checked her watch.
"I hate to cut this short," she said apologetically, "But we really must be going. We're taking Hermione to a show to celebrate her return, and we'll be extremely late if we stay any longer."
"Of course," Uncle Vernon said graciously. "Don't let us hold you up."
"I'm sure our children will be in contact over the summer," Dr. Granger said, pulling a card out of his wallet and writing something neatly on the back. "But here's our home number, just in case."
He handed it to Uncle Vernon, and they shook hands once more before saying goodbye and leaving with Hermione, who waved as her father pushed her trolley away.
The meeting with the Grangers seemed to have put Uncle Vernon in a very good mood, Harry noted as Uncle Vernon congratulated Dudley (and Harry, indirectly) on having made such a fine friend. He even pushed the trolley that Harry had loaded both their trunks onto, having expected the same as last year.
Harry and Dudley followed Uncle Vernon out of the station, and Dudley filled the silence with talk about Hogwarts. Uncle Vernon shushed him a few times for using words like 'magic' or 'spells', but he mostly just let Dudley prattle on excitedly about school. Harry noted that Uncle Vernon already seemed very well informed about who and what Dudley was talking about, and realized, possibly for the first time, just how often Dudley had written home that year.
At the car, Harry helped Uncle Vernon load their trunks into the boot, and Harry and Dudley sat together in the backseat as Dudley continued to regale his father with stories about Hogwarts on the ride home. Harry was even asked to contribute every so often, and his stories were greeted with a nod and sometimes a question, just like Dudley's. At one point, Dudley asked him to explain the whole issue with the Philosopher's Stone, and Uncle Vernon actually chortled when he explained how they'd fooled the Headmaster. Harry wondered exactly what Dudley had said about him in his letters home, to make Uncle Vernon so…not hostile toward him now. The change between now and last year was positively eerie, if Harry stopped to think about it.
When they got home, Uncle Vernon carried Dudley's trunk inside, and Dudley helped Harry with his own. The surreal feeling Harry had had in the car intensified when Dudley reminded him that he wasn't sleeping in the cupboard anymore. Apparently this had already been discussed with Uncle Vernon, because he made no mention of it as Harry and Dudley dragged Harry's things upstairs and stowed them in Dudley's second bedroom.
Harry had a moment to wonder if he'd stepped into a parallel universe where everyone was bizarrely nice to him as he walked downstairs to the kitchen, where he would normally be helping with dinner right now.
He went inside, and it was as though he'd stepped back through to his old universe. Aunt Petunia was standing at the sink, peeling potatoes with a tense expression on her face, and when she saw him, she snapped at him to finish the job and turned jerkily to the stovetop, where water was boiling.
Harry fished the peeler out of the pile of potato skins in the sink and got to work while Aunt Petunia fidgeted at the stove. Normally by now, she would have told him what he was making and let him get on with it, but today, she seemed reluctant to leave the kitchen. Harry wondered if she thought he might have forgotten how to make dinner since he'd been gone.
They worked in painful silence for a few minutes, meaning that Harry worked and Aunt Petunia pretended to look busy, and soon the television came on in the other room. They heard Dudley laugh at something on the telly and Harry saw Aunt Petunia flinch out of the corner of his eye.
It dawned on Harry what was happening here, and he frowned at the potatoes he was now chopping up. She was avoiding Dudley. Harry wasn't sure what to think about this. He finished the potatoes and handed the chopping board to Aunt Petunia, who dumped it all in the water and stared at it unhappily. Maybe this wouldn't be such a great summer after all.
A/N: BDS or BChD are Bachelor of Dental Surgery degrees. Thanks to the anonymous reviewer who pointed out the difference between the US and UK versions!