Chapter 6 - Halloween
Harry was right, Charms class was great. Professor Flitwick was finally taking them through the theory and the steps of the Levitation charm. Hermione had stepped up again, taking attention off the Boy Who Lived by answering Flitwick's questions and asking her own if needed. They even got time to practice the charm, Wingardium Leviosa, with a swish and a flick. Sadly, her happiness was crushed by a particularly ill-timed Ron Weasley. She was just leaving the classroom when the reckless boy was pelting down the corridor with his mate Seamus Finnigan, fleeing some irate girls. The boy was too close and too fast to stop himself in time, crashing into her and knocking her down, spilling paints and dungbombs all over Hermione. As he scrambled to his feet, he loudly blamed the poor girl he ran into for being in the way and "A bloody nightmare! Who would want to be friends with an ugly buck-toothed bookworm like you, always tripping people up?!" Seamus' laughter echoed in her ears.
This was too much for her so close on the heels of her emotional high of protecting her first friend, the physical and emotional crash saw her dashing away before the tears could break free. Harry froze in place for a moment, locked up between the urge to follow and help his Hermione and the urge to unleash his anger on the red-haired pillock blocking his way.
"And what would you know about it, Mr Weasley?" His voice could have frozen a star. "You managed to be wrong no less than half a dozen times in the span of a single breath. Hermione has plenty of friends. She is a delight, not a nightmare, and we are glad to call her our friend. As for her looks, ugly is a word I would never use about her, nor buck-toothed, you pillock. She was the victim here, not you, of being ran into by a great idiot. And if you'll get out of our way, we'll be able to catch up to her and give her help just as good friends ought to do."
Ron finally backed up enough from the doorway for the students to get past him, the Hufflepuffs moving in a tight group to catch up to their wayward housemate. He kept backing away in the face of the glares before the girls he had offended before decided to make their presence felt. Ron found his missing mate Seamus an hour later, looking shell-shocked and ever so slightly singed. By then, the first of the effects of that toffee he swiped from the Twins made itself felt, and he nearly bowled down Seamus in his haste to reach the nearest bathroom, only just making it in time. His stomach settled and Ron put it out of his mind, heading out to see if he could score some more food. After all, he figured, he had more room now. He found some unguarded food in the Gryffindor dorms, including a few more of those delicious toffees.
Ron was making his way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween Feast when his stomach made its displeasure known again. Wasting no time, Ron dashed into the nearest bathroom, not caring that it was one of the girls' in his emergency. He was stuck there for hours, finally working out that it was almost certainly the toffees he had eaten, toffees that had been around Fred and George. 'Oh no, not again! I should know better than to eat ANYTHING they touch!' As he got hit by the extra-strength laxatives the Twins had produced, Ron wished he could die. He also learned anew that being hit by the Twins' pranks was rarely fun or funny. He would have cheerfully apologised right then to all the people he had pranked, if only he wasn't stuck in this shitty place.
The Hufflepuffs knew none of this, nor would they have honestly cared, at the time. All they cared for was their friend. Harry took the lead early on as he was faster than the rest, hanging back just enough so that he could also guide their other friends as he tracked her through the castle. For someone with no sports background or training like his, she sure could move!
At last, she was slowing down, ducking into an unused classroom and leaning against the wall, tears flowing down her face. She didn't know why she was crying so bloody much, only that she had been so very happy. Not only had she gotten the answers right in class, even performed the spell first, with her Harry second, she recalled, but in so doing she had kept the class' attention mostly off her friend and letting him enjoy a peaceful, interesting lesson, he even smiled at her when she got the spell. They packed up, and as usual Hermione wanted to check one of her books to track down something she thought she read. She opened the door and out of nowhere that Ron Weasley had knocked her to the ground and started yelling at her. Even though she knew that every single thing he had shouted was wrong, his words got through to her, bringing back memories of the hurtful words hurled at her in primary school even by kids she had thought were her friends. Maybe it was because she was so happy? If she hadn't been as happy, her guard would have been up and she could have shrugged off his accusations, even yelled back at him for his stupidity and lies.
That's when the door opened. She was sure she had locked it, hadn't she? But there was Harry, concerned for her, and she rushed over, hugging him. The next thing she knew, Susan, Hannah, Leanne and Megan were all there too, hugging her and talking to her, telling her to forget Ron and so on. Soon after that, Harry had slipped away from the room with the other boys while the girls gave her the comfort she had wanted all those times in school. They were her friends, and friends stuck by their friends.
Harry stood guard outside the old classroom after the girls kicked him out. He wasn't too unhappy about it. While he had known her longer, he would be the first to admit that he didn't really understand the female mind. Not even his Dad with all his experience would claim that, in case his wives changed the rules just to mess with him, and he wouldn't put it past them, they had odd senses of humour he felt. Anyway, he admitted that the girls might do a better job of cheering her up, and the mission came first.
Around ten minutes later, the door opened and Hermione gave him a fragile smile then a short hug that would have cracked ribs if he hadn't had his training. Under the cover of the hug, he used some quick jutsu to remove the tears and restore her cheeks and hair to their normal state. Hermione stiffened briefly, feeling that something happened, but it was pleasant so she just ignored it, cherishing the improvements to her life.
From there, the group decided to grab some early food rather than taking dinner in the Hall at all, before heading to the Library, cheering both Harry and Hermione at the prospect. They ran into Daphne and her friend Tracey Davis on the way. Daphne joined them on hearing their plans while Tracey said she had better put in an appearance in the Hall, something about rumour control. The group was relaxing in the Library until Madam Pince kicked them out so she could grab some food at the Feast, even if she was running late. As they rounded a corner, they came face to face with a horrifying sight!
Ron Weasley was having a terrible day. First the prank he tried blew up in his face, almost literally. The dungbomb he rolled into the their room and set off not only stunk out the Gryffindor Girls' Dorm but the splash came within inches of the eyes of one of the girls. Their outraged screams prompted his flight, and instantly marked him as the culprit so they gave chase. As they followed him around the castle, he picked up a fellow runner in his mate Seamus who laughed at the girls for what happened and at Ron for being chased. After that, he crashed into some bushy-haired Hufflepuff as she came out of class, yelled at her because it was costing him his lead over the girls, got scared shitless by the Boy-Who-Lived, almost literally as his stomach rumbled only a minute later. He finally realised he had been pranked, again, by Fred and George, and he had spent the last few hours on the loo. He didn't even get to make it to the Feast! He was still moaning about his horrible day when the bathroom door was reduced to splinters by an angry troll who had come to find the competitor challenging his scent for dominance!
The troll ducked its head under the doorway, club in hand, its twelve foot tall bulk filling the only escape route Ron had. He had opened the door and poked his head out to find out what had made that awful racket. If he hadn't spent the last small eternity without bowel control, he would have promptly lost it at that sight. 'What in Merlin's name?! That's a- that's a fully grown mountain troll! What's it doing in the girls' bathroom with me?!'
Unfortunately for Ron, he got his answer when the troll hefted its club and started smashing up the bathroom, getting closer to the scared boy and bellowing its rage. Ron pulled up his pants a bit, waited until the troll had finished one swing and dashed between its legs, desperate to escape. In his haste, he didn't care that his trousers weren't quite on, exposing more of Ron than anyone wished to see. All he knew was that he had to run, run, run! He dashed down corridors, pelted around corners, stumbled over some odd bumps and then got a nice flat, straight line, moving faster than he ever had in his life. The accidental magic had worked together with the surge of adrenaline, allowing him to run away despite his robes flapping and pants down around his knees. Two floors later, he tripped going down stairs at a full run with his pants around his ankles. The search parties found him and delivered him straight to the Hospital Wing where he stayed until Monday morning.
For Harry and his friends, however, that was only the start of their adventure. First, they walked around a corner to see Ron Weasley with his pants down and everything showing, screaming his head off as he bolted towards their group. Harry side-stepped the charging Gryffindor, but Hermione, Susan and Daphne weren't so lucky, getting batted aside as the Lion left a yellow streak in his haste. Harry was about to turn around to help them out when his senses screamed danger, the roar of the creature, the pounding of its enormous feet, and then the smell, even worse than Ron's, hit them all.
Harry dropped into a defensive stance, hand already reaching into a hidden pocket to grab a kunai as his training kicked in. He sent chakra into his feet, sticking him in place as he reached out to the charging creature, using every bit of his strength and his taijutsu experience not to stab it but to pull it off its course and into the hard stone wall of the corridor, away from his friends. A sickening crack echoed and Harry, mildly surprised that the troll was still breathing, jumped up on its back as it slumped against the wall, right hand already thrusting the dull grey kunai to the base of the enormous skull. One quick motion and the beast was dead, a second and the weapon had disappeared again into the hidden pocket, less than a second had passed since he jumped on top of it, and he jumped down, breathing hard as the adrenaline surge ran through him.
He cursed under his breath as he looked around. What the Hell was something like that doing in a school in the first place, and how did it get in? Also, what was he going to do about this? He had just managed to throw a troll, crack its skull then kill it with a knife to the spine, and in front of all his friends! 'Well, time to see if I can perform damage control,' he thought.
He turned to talk to them only to be surprised. None of the girls had seen much of anything. For a start, it was only a handful of seconds from when the troll reached their group until Harry was walking back to them. The only ones looking his way were Susan and Daphne who were trying to regain their feet, and their views were blocked by the bodies of their friends. As he lent a hand to each girl, pulling them both to their feet, they gasped at the dead troll. Harry thought they were doing well not to scream, especially as his poor ears were in close proximity.
"It's okay, girls, it can't hurt anyone any more." He was quickly surrounded by the girls, all of them hugging him and checking his body for any signs of injury as soon as Hermione screamed, seeing blood on his arm and chest. They soon satisfied themselves that none of the blood was Harry's, keeping him in the centre of the hug, Hermione's head on his chest as she gave another tight hug, Susan on his left, Daphne on his right.
Some time later, the hug was broken up by the approach of several Professors. If Harry only knew, he was already being compared to his parents by each of them. Professor Dumbledore looked at the scene and was sure he saw the Power mentioned in the Prophecy, Harry's love, as the portraits had reported Harry's actions as accidental magic in the face of mortal danger. Professor McGonagall saw James in the boy's willingness to put himself on the line for his friends, something James did when he discovered his friend's 'furry little problem' as they called it. She had already heard that he seemed to have Lily's own temper, though Harry already had more control as Lily would have punched out Ron Weasley if she had been in his place. 'And looked good doing it, too. That girl could make Hogwarts robes, ugly things that they are, look like she was advertising for Twillfit and Tattings.' Lastly, Professor Snape saw in Harry Lily's eyes shining brightly even as they scanned his surroundings for further danger. He also saw that Harry was just as protective of Daphne as of any of the others. He caught himself picturing Lily hugging him like that, then scowled at the reminder that she was gone, his good mood ruined.
He listened in as Dumbledore used his usual method, standing back and twinkling, damn the man, while letting his Deputy take the lead questioning the students. Snape himself would be expected to provide cutting remarks, something he normally enjoyed, but for once he wanted to find out the truth more than to engage in a battle of wits with the unarmed.
"What on earth is going on here?!" McGonagall demanded of the students.
"I would very much like to know that, myself." Harry replied on their behalf. "We were walking down to the Slytherin Dungeon to see off Daphne and came around the corner on an absolutely horrific sight. That Weasley, Ron, was running with his pants down, leaving a yellow streak, and bowled through us, knocking down three girls, and kept on running. When I saw what he was running from, well, I could understand, I guess, but I was between that thing and my friends. For that matter, what is that thing? What is one of them doing in a school?! Isn't this a place for learning?" He got worked up as he talked, his tension breaking just before the last question, asking it more from confusion than anger.
McGonagall's lips thinned. As much as she didn't tolerate disrespect, she had to admit he did have very good questions. And she could have happily gone the rest of her life without the mental image of young Mr Weasley in such a state. Nevertheless, she still had unanswered questions of her own. "Good questions, and I assure you we will be looking into them. The first answer is simple enough, it is a mountain troll, fully grown too. Usually the wards would keep them out." Her eyes briefly darted to the Headmaster. 'Interesting,' Harry thought, 'either there is more she knows, or she suspects that Dumbledore knows.' McGonagall continued, "And yes, this is a school, a place for learning where respect for your professors is expected. Still, I can understand that this is an unsettling event, so I won't take points, this time. Now, my question is simply, what happened after you saw the troll?"
Harry ruthlessly suppressed all the normal indications of lying, drawing on his more harrowing experiences with his parents to provide the appropriate tones as he replied carefully choosing only truthful words. "It was approaching so fast, there was no time to escape. It was so big, so angry, but I couldn't leave my friends. I was desperate, I needed it to go away. And suddenly it turned away from me, running into the wall there." He pointed his arm at where the troll hit the stone wall, the spiderweb of cracks from the point of impact. "It was making horrible sounds, and I was afraid it was still going to get up and hurt us, so I raised my hand, like this, and pointed it at the troll. It slumped a second later, not moving, and I had blood on my sleeve and robe. I can't say what happened to it." He finished up his story calling up his earlier confusion to add to his act.
Professor Snape sneered at this out of sheer reflex. However, the story did hang together, a life or death situation, a student having a case of accidental magic in extremis. Moreover, it sounded right to him. Lily's boy sounded just as you would expect from a boy that had just been through such a frightening experience. While part of him automatically rejected anything that painted a Potter in a good light, the greater part of him was satisfied. Lily's boy had risked his life for his friends, even saving one of his Snakes in the process.
Professor Dumbledore was well pleased, and saw little point in hiding it. His chosen instrument had tapped into his power early, proving he was right as he believed. Young Harry would be a great weapon for the Light. He was still hopeful to find a way to save him from what he feared was his destiny at the hands of the Dark Lord even as he mourned the lack of time to look himself. "Well done, Harry, my boy! You stood your ground for your friends. Fifty points for Hufflepuff for your bravery and loyalty. What you did tonight was a particularly powerful case of accidental magic, and very good it was too."
Minerva McGonagall had been about to question him further but Albus' interruption neatly curtailed any attempts on her part. Apart from that, she agreed with his decision. With no time to escape, they couldn't have left the task to the Professors. She shuddered as she pictured what would have happened if the students had panicked.
Harry faked some shakes in order to disguise his refusal to give the old man a respectful bow. He was instantly mobbed by the girls hugging him again, allowing him to relax. There was no way for the Professors to press him further tonight, and time would dull any evidence that contradicted his story, as would his clones if he got the chance.
Five minutes later, still at the centre of the girls, Professor Sprout arrived at a run. "There you all are. When we did the head count, your absence was clear. Are you all okay, dears?" She was shocked out of her train of thought when she saw the dead troll slumped against a wall. Her gaze sharpened and turned to Dumbledore for an instant, then returned to her wayward students. "Let's get you to the Common Room. We've got hot chocolate waiting for all of you." She gave them her best encouraging expression, expertly guiding them away from the gory scene. More than enough time later to quiz her colleagues for the details. Right then, her students needed her more.
With Harry front and centre, Hermione on his right, Susan at his left and Daphne directly behind, their little party walked quietly back to friendly territory where they felt safe. Pomona Sprout allowed Daphne into the Common Room with her friends though she did disguise the method of entry. Probably a futile effort but it was Hogwarts tradition. As curfew approached, she separated Daphne and escorted her to the Slytherin Dungeon, making sure she got back safely. Inside, Harry was still being held by Hermione and Susan while Hannah and the others formed a sort of guard around them, quietly answering questions and ensuring no one crowded Harry. Each of the girls had taken a chance to give him a long hug and thanked him for saving their lives, Hermione's was fractionally longer, and she hadn't let go of his hand yet.
Eventually they had to break it up and head to bed, the girls finding a common theme in their dreams, a monster coming along out of nowhere and a green-eyed young man saving them. In the morning, they got up early and watched from a window as Harry went on his normal exercise run. From then on, the girls stayed around Harry more than before, and the boys were impressed as the story circulated around the school, becoming more and more ridiculous. Harry grinned when he heard one story before dinner that he had been secretly trained to fight for years, one that was shot down by the listeners as too ridiculous, even for gossip.
On the weekend with November beginning, Hermione started becoming agitated over the term exams which were still weeks away. To calm her down in the face of this odd behaviour – the girl was clearly doing well in all their classes – he agreed to help set up a study group. At first it was only their fellow Hufflepuffs who joined in, displaying their unity and loyalty in an effort to help a good 'Puff, but soon they settled down, finding that they enjoyed the better performance in class, and the improved standing of the House made the group more popular. Between them, they also managed to keep Hermione from going overboard, and made their own fun to break up the sessions. Since she was getting to study, this calmed her fears, and having her friends with her helped even more.
It was also teaching her more about how to interact with others her own age, and that not everyone learned best in the same way. Justin learned best from real world examples and applications. Harry found that practising spells during their lessons helped him. She had seen him practising the practical many times throughout the days, well past his initial success until he was able to cast them proficiently without notice. A couple found that book learning was best for them, the same as Hermione, with the others having their own ways. Ernie MacMillan, for instance, needed to be standing as he studied anything.
As the weeks counted down to the end of term exams, students from other Houses approached them. The Ravenclaws were first, unsurprisingly. They'd noticed the improvement from the Puffs in their shared classes, and after a relatively quick decision from a House filled with debates, they agreed en masse to join in if they could, or copy their methods if they must. Most of the Claws drifted back to individual study, though, as they didn't feel the change was helping them but three stayed. Padma Patil was quickly becoming good friends with Hermione and Harry, and her two Claw friends stayed along with her, Sue Li and Lisa Turpin, two Muggle-born girls with a lot of curiosity about the new world of magic. The other two girls in Ravenclaw, Mandy and Morag, seemed more intent on watching or talking to Harry than studying, and found themselves made to choose between taking the study group seriously or leaving, and they soon drifted away again.
The next week, Padma turned up with three new girls. One was obviously her sister Parvati and the other two were Lavender Brown, a blonde girl whose family had all been sorted Gryffindor for the last fifty years, and Sally-Anne Perks, another Muggle-born girl, sweet and friendly but a little adrift in Hogwarts. She latched on to the study group and the friendships she found there, while Parvati slotted in fairly easily, and Lavender, after a hard talk from the Hufflegirls, agreed to leave gossip at the door when she joined in. Her grades had been slipping steadily and she knew her parents would be disappointed in her if she didn't do something to fix it. By December, she found she looked forward to the evening sessions, she could talk to new people, her marks were on the mend and she was having fun.
The real surprise had been the Slytherins. It was common knowledge that they were the most closed off of the Houses, being distrusted particularly by the House of Lions as a den of future Dark Wizards, an attitude that hardened in the last couple of decades thanks to You-Know-Who, the only way most wizard-raised referred to the Dark Wizard who had died when he came to attack the Potters a decade ago. Most of the Dark Lord's followers were Slytherins, or at least so everyone 'knew'. Daphne was part of the group from the beginning, but she had gotten some interesting looks from her own House because of it. As they entered the close of November, she brought along two more Snakes, Tracey Davis and Sophie Roper. She explained that neither of them agreed with 'that idiotic blond' about blood, and sadly that with their own less than pure blood they were denied the normal internal avenues of assistance. She asked if they would be allowed to join, and while there had been some initial mistrust, all three Snakes were prepared to outlast it. The grumbling died as the girls worked like any other member, giving aid where they could and getting aid where they needed. The integration of the Slytherin girls also helped to keep Hermione's attention diverted from her panic about the exams, so at least some good was done however unexpected.
Some of Harry's side projects had been put on the back-burner with all the new developments. Firstly, he had little free time to work on the Unlocking Charm. He thought he had the spell mastered, but it was giving him extra difficulty, failing at odd times. He would later learn that his doubt of the spell working literally made it harder for him to succeed, his magic reacting to his beliefs. Without that working, he was no closer to investigating the mystery of the third floor.
The major project of copying the Library had hit a couple of snags. First there was the Restricted Section. Even its name called out to Harry, taunting him with what might be contained therein. Given his family, and their training, that part of the Library was a challenge to his skills, his ingenuity, his ability to cheat. So far, his clones had managed to get only a handful of books from there copied and returned, as most of them had some sort of magical alarm on them. While the screaming from the books was unpleasant but unable to prevent his efforts, it was when they triggered an alarm and woke the Librarian, Madam Pince, that he had to stop. He had developed his clones' ability to feel magic (usually as some pain) to find which books he could examine and memorise for his clones at home to get copied out. Until he had a way to get in and out of the Library himself, rather than via a clone, he lacked information on how to advance the job. Until then, he was leaving that section until he could solve the problem.
Lastly, his investigation of Ron was just about over. After his disastrous Halloween, he ended up with a concussion and several broken bones, greenstick fractures, and Harry was surprised to learn that the bones were healed that night while the concussion kept him in the care of the Matron for three days. After that time, Ron had surprised everyone by making apologies to the people he had pranked, saying that he had learned the wrong lesson from his elder brothers. He soon after became mates with two of the boys in his dorm, giving everyone a little peace. When he had written home about it, his parents surprised him. He expected they would complain about a loss of pranking talent. Instead they mentioned that it cleared the field for Harry to start making his own mark, as well as making life in Hogwarts just that little bit better for everyone, including Ron.
Harry found himself wanting to smile with pride after the exams. Not only had he done very well, a careful second in every exam, usually to Hermione, though that shy Gryffindor boy had everyone beat in Herbology, but he had caught caring and admiring smiles from a few of the girls. He brought each of their faces to mind, and unbidden the faces of 'his girls' at high school followed them, the similarities plain. He groaned and buried his face in his hand. It was clear to him that Hermione, Susan, and Daphne were, for sure, also starting to crush on him like the girls at his regular school in Cranleigh.
A quick centring technique and he had banished the worry. For now, he wanted to enjoy talking with all of his friends. He had caught Susan and Daphne glaring at each other before they each invited him to visit during the holidays. He reminded them a fortnight before that he didn't have their addresses yet. Getting the Floo hooked up was never going to happen in his home. The Kitsune Clan were paranoid by profession so opening their very home up to casual visits was out of the question. They were still working out a suitable workaround that combined needed security for the Clan while still providing the desired utility from the system. That was hard enough but worst of all was doing that while still getting it approved by the bureaucracy in the Ministry was tougher still. Even if Harry was their Boy-Who-Lived, since his family were only Muggles, and none of the workers saw any point making things easy for them, not when those Muggles were wanting something crazy.
His friends had each written home for permission to invite Harry to see them, with a follow-up that he would need alternative transport as there was no Floo connection, or would need their actual location so his family could bring him. Susan's aunt Amelia Bones, Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, had eventually given permission under certain conditions obviously designed to counter magical threats, something which found approval with the Clan. Daphne's family required no such security, only wanting to know dates and such. Daphne explained it as her family having good reports on him and viewing his association as a benefit to the family rather than any sort of threat. They would obviously keep an eye on him with their eldest daughter, but nothing much more than that.
He would first visit Hermione in London, Justin in Oxfordshire, Susan in Kent before Christmas and lastly Daphne in Wiltshire between Christmas and New Year, since those were the only days that suited all the families involved. He would give them each their gifts before they went home on the train, and he would have to find something, he thought, to give their families due to the season. The rest of his friends were out of luck in one way or another for getting Harry to visit, but he had assured them he would look forward to seeing them again when they got back to school.
He gave his female friends a hug before heading to his dorm, Cesarina putting in an appearance on his return, sitting on one shoulder, as the group made their way up to the Great Hall. It was time for the Leaving Feast at the end of term, and tomorrow they would be taking the train back to King's Cross station, even those like that Gryffindor Seamus who lived in Ireland had to take the same route. It was just another tradition that seemed weird to the Muggle-raised. There was an argument that could be made in its favour, it encouraged group experiences and bonding, but some wondered if it was worth the bother.
After a big meal accompanied by his preferred drinks of butterbeer or water, noting that there were hardly any Muggle-borns drinking the 'pumpkin juice' and most of his friends never touched it any more, they chatted for a while before breaking up to finish (or start!) their packing. Harry went to sleep with a smile. It would be good to see his family with his own eyes, not through a clone's. Also, it would be relaxing to be spending time with the Muggle friends he had made without having to stay on alert for accidents that could dispel his clones and the illusion of that he was as normal as them.
The next morning Harry took his final morning run for the calendar year, ate his final Hogwarts breakfast, and made promises to write all his friends. They secured adjoining compartments for the train ride, occupying most of one of the cars, drifting from compartment to compartment as they laughed and talked and passed the time, the train slowing and pulling into London almost before they knew it. The train almost glowed as they got out into the cold night, the station's lights keeping the area well-lit even on the Wizarding side. They gave their final goodbyes, amid hurried introductions to various families, before Harry, Hermione, Justin and their other Muggle-born friends made their way through the portal for the second round of 'final goodbyes'. One carefully anonymous father muttered that none of these were really final goodbyes since they'd be back together in two weeks.
Harry's journey home from the station was quicker than his one to it just a few months before. The Clan's businesses were prospering, and they had decided to get a new car for Harry's welcome home. Harry's eyebrows rose considerably at the sight of the new Mercedes. What had happened that they were prepared to put their wealth on display?
His answer came from Naruto, correctly interpreting his expression and waiting until they were in the car. "A recent bit of news escaped at home. It seems someone talked who shouldn't have, and now our neighbours know that we have more money than we were showing, though they think we only acquired it within the last six months. We've started receiving invitations to social functions and status symbols like this expensive car are required. You're also going to get a few suits made after we get home because as our son, you're invited too."
"So why this model? It's definitely flashy. Won't it cause some envy?" Harry asked, trying to solve the question himself but failing.
"This one is flashy, but in this case that's a good, or at least neutral, part of the cover. This model, the 600SEL is top of the line, which also suits the profile, but it also has great performance and was easy to armour up to Clan standards. Ino says the fact that it's so comfortable a ride is just a little bonus." Both father and son grinned, they knew that she like most of the Clan loved a comfortable ride and they all loved high-performance machines, though she was right, the Clan would have endured if the mission required it.
The three got out at the now rather large property that was home to the Kitsunes, their tigers, dogs, and training areas. The entrance was bedecked in decorations, matching those they'd seen in Cranleigh on their way through. Obviously, the Clan had either commissioned those or far more likely, just run them up themselves as part of their new status.
The door was opened, Harry ushered through to the main lounging area and there gave as good as he got, hugging back each of the Clan, his clones not missing out on their own full set of hugs. After that was finished some time later, they sat down and got to the serious matter of his magic. He'd kept them up to date with both the problem, his progress, and the various tests he'd performed mostly at their direction. Now, they guided him to lay back and did a full workup on his body, both at rest, then when trying to use magic or chakra, with or without a wand in hand, and certain other tests.
Satisfied with his results, especially that he hadn't suffered any permanent nerve damage, they carefully inscribed a temporary seal on the base of skull, where it would normally go hidden by his hair. This was the best design they could create based on what they knew, but they were painfully aware it was experimental. There were nested contingency plans in place since unlike during the Time Loops, they couldn't just wait for any mistakes to be undone. With only a few minor false starts, Harry quickly adapted to using his chakra under the altered conditions, and then, wand carefully put away lest the Ministry somehow trace his spell, he called up his magic in the exact way needed to cast a Levitation Charm, duplicating a test at Hogwarts with known levels of pain and nerve damage.
He grinned. "It works! At least," he corrected himself, "it seems to work perfectly. I feel my magic travelling just as it should if I was going to cast the spell, the same as in the tests at school, but I didn't feel any pain or interference from my chakra." He waited while the Clan examined him again, confirming that he hadn't taken any damage. Afterwards, he confirmed likewise that his chakra use was normal after the magic, and so on. They did other tests in the days leading up to his return, but they were confident they had found a way to separate his magic and chakra flows. No longer would Harry suffer the pain and damage from having the two different energies fighting inside his own body. At least, not from casting his own spells. By now, he was more cautious about calling the problem solved.
The following morning, Harry got back into his full physical training routine which he hadn't been able to do since he started at Hogwarts. He found himself winded more than he had hoped by the end, but he could tell it was just what he needed to get his body improving again. The healing techniques he knew were only able to prevent his body degrading between workouts. He was quickly proved right when his body was soon strong enough to allow another Shadow Clone to be maintained, bringing his total to thirteen the day after Christmas.
His visits to his friends proved rather interesting as it turned out. Matt and Elizabeth Granger brought out a little girl who looked a lot like her father with straight, dark brown hair and sapphire blue eyes, introducing her as Pallas Athena Granger. Normally known as Athena in school, Hermione's sister was born almost 5 years after her, in early July of 1984. While Hermione had alluded to having a sister, she hadn't really discussed her family very much but to be fair, neither had Harry. Athena was a curious little girl, interested in just about everything around her and extremely energetic. A comment from Matt Granger implied that she had been a cause for worry earlier, as her energy and curiosity easily created a potentially dangerous mix in a child too young to know better. Still, she was already displaying the intelligence of her parents, being only marginally less well-read than Hermione at the same age with the difference due mostly to Athena's enjoyment of the outdoors. She brightened up the place, and dinner was a happy affair with both Granger girls flashing him smiles.
The drive the following morning up to the Finch-Fletchley home in Oxfordshire was rather long but exciting since Naruto chose to use various less-used, and less monitored, roads, curvy or hilly ones where they put the new car through its paces. The family home was a lovely example of Regency architecture and furnished splendidly. The family themselves were very much at home, as they should be, though they still had that air of formality that some of the 'old money' retained even as they welcomed Harry and his parents into their home for lunch and afternoon tea. The two sets of parents had kept in touch over the phone, with Hamish quickly engaging Naruto in a discussion of the virtues of various fast cars and Imogen showing Hinata around the house. Justin grinned at Harry and they settled in, chatting and looking around and watching sport on their large television.
The Ossuary in Kent, ancestral home to the Bones family, was an interesting sight. Their first visit to a wizarding home had all the Clan in attendance even if most of them weren't revealing themselves yet. Beyond simple curiosity, it was their first chance to get potentially vital knowledge of the Wizarding World. The Bones property was on the coast, and the Clan wondered if perhaps the Bones family were named after the family home. There were long patches of exposed chalk running like bones of the earth in odd places around the grounds, particularly on the seaward side. From their examination, the Ossuary seemed like a converted keep, somewhat more modern and open, but still readily defensible in design. They also spotted over a dozen robed figures guarding the place and a well-used outbuilding that served as their base.
They were met at the gates by two of the guards who checked their names and faces against a checklist, and Harry was asked several security questions. Satisfied the guards allowed them to proceed, one staying at the gate as the other became their guide, taking them through into a surprisingly well-lit drawing room where Harry was crash-tackled by two grinning girls. Hannah's presence was welcome, not just in her own right but she also helped break the ice when Susan's growing crush made her tongue-tied after the round of introductions. After some brief introductions, Amelia chatted with Harry's parents for their first face-to-face meeting and Hannah quickly pushed Harry and Susan out of the room, embarrassing Susan enough that she took over, showing off the public sections of her home including a telephone in the kitchen, finishing up in her bedroom. Susan and Hannah sat on the bed and Harry sat on the single, uncomfortable chair in the room, where they chatted and flirted with Harry for the afternoon before an elegant dinner and drinks. They ended up leaving quite late, getting home close to midnight, since Amelia had forgotten that Harry's family would need to drive which took far longer than Floo would, so she had planned a longer evening than she would have otherwise. None of the children complained, and Naruto and Hinata didn't mind. They knew Harry would be fine however late it ran.
Christmas was a fairly boisterous affair, with Harry's friends from the local high school visiting during the day before their big dinners with family. The highlight for Harry was naturally when 'his girls' got him alone, giving him big hugs and thanking him for their presents. The girls were studious like Harry and Hermione so it seemed natural enough to give them similar bags to the ones he gave his Hogwarts friends. Their questions about the low weight were diverted with references to advanced materials, which was also enough to cover questions about the toughness of the bags. These bags, however, were slightly different from the ones he gave to his magical friends. While their capacity was also enhanced, the alteration was designed in such a way to fool the eye into thinking it wasn't as extensive as it actually was.
The Boxing Day traffic was odd, heavy in some places and deserted in others, on the way up to Wiltshire to meet with the Greengrasses. Overall they made a little better time than expected, something that proved very useful when they had to hunt around for the Greengrass home which had been hidden beneath Muggle-Repelling Charms. Harry was required to keep a hand on Naruto's shoulder during the final leg so his father could see and drive them to the stately home. Apart from a more Scandinavian tendency in the furnishings and decorations, the place was remarkably similar to Justin's family home, where the Greengrasses used magic, the Finch-Fletchley's used electricity to improve their lot. Unlike the Finch-Fletchley's, there was an indefinable sense of decay here, that the best had been and gone. The home was beautifully maintained, the gardens immaculate, but perhaps it was that their host family seemed too small for the large property and the buildings, or maybe that the clothes seemed a little strained, like they had been worn well but a little too much. Indeed, Daphne and Mark were aware that the family fortunes had dwindled over the last fifty years due to the downturn in total sales their business had inevitably suffered when there are fewer than half as many people around to buy goods as there used to be, no matter how much of the market they dominated. A little girl peeked out from behind some bushes as Mark led Daphne and he around the grounds. When she was called over, Daphne introduced her as Astoria, two years younger almost to the day and almost a clone of Daphne. She was a very cute girl, but shy and a little flighty, and she excused herself soon after, disappearing for most of his visit.
Still, Daphne was in her element, and like Susan before her, she was starting to flirt more with him too. He did have to laugh when she mentioned that her 'horrid neighbours, the Malfoys, were most displeased to be snubbed for their Boxing Day function'. They weren't what most people would have called neighbours, living something like ten miles away, but they were the nearest magicals, and the Malfoy Manor was set on rather substantial grounds. It was obvious that Daphne hoped Harry would continue to block the Malfoys' attempts to woo her family, and Harry was certainly in favour of that too. Having the Greengrasses as allies would give them a spearhead if they ended up needing to visit her neighbours for any reason. At dinner, her father brought up that very point, though he seemed to look at it in terms of industrial espionage more than anything else, while Harry was thinking more militarily, first and foremost. His disgust with that family's overly bred fop of a son inclined him towards removing them from the gene pool. Naruto and Hinata made positive but non-committal noises, the most favourable expression they could really give so early in their acquaintance, to the idea of closer ties between the Greengrass family and Harry. The ride home that night was full of politicking and some embarrassing and probing questions for the boy.
The next morning, he was out on a run when an unfamiliar owl stopped near him, studying him intently. It was carrying a parcel with a note attached, obviously meant for Harry. After Harry Body Switched with a clone who examined both bird and burden, pronounced the parcel clean and dispelled, Harry accepted the item from the now confused owl.
He signalled to his parents' unseen clones watching him who took the package home to be thoroughly examined. While it wasn't obviously dangerous, that only left unseen dangers, and that was what disposable clones were for. At the end of his run and shower, he came into the living room with the Clan sitting around. He could feel their nervous tension as they watched their clones on the camera, Harry's one opening the letter and spreading it for them to see. Written in narrow, loopy writing he had seen before were the words:
Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you.
Use it well.
A Very Merry Christmas to you.
There was no signature, but none was really needed. Everyone present knew that writing and the gift, if it could even be called such when he was merely returning Harry's property ten years late, was from none other than Harry's Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. There was a little debate about why the man was going about it this way. He could simply have returned it to Harry at any time while he was in Hogwarts, or sent it with Professor McGonagall. There was also the question about why he omitted his signature. Did he think he was so famous none was needed? Perhaps it was intended as a sort of challenge. He might have wished to return the property but in a way that he could escape blame for keeping a Potter item for so long. Lastly, he may simply have forgotten to return it earlier and liked the idea of giving Harry a minor mystery.
Next, the very careful unwrapping of the present inside. This was treated with the kind of caution normally expressed when dealing with unstable explosives that couldn't be blown in place. While it was Harry's clone that was opening it, the boy himself was on the other side of the forest from the room in question. When the packaging presented no surprises, and his clone picked up the fluid and silvery grey cloth that had lain in gleaming folds, all watching leaned closer, eager for a better view. Naruto's clone picked up the item which was soon revealed to be a very fine cloak. Another careful examination later, Naruto shrugged and draped it over Harry. They all gasped as Harry's clone completely vanished from sight! The implications of such a cloak were staggering. They started off with very careful and low-intensity testing of it around their jutsu, though they made doubly sure not to touch the cloak with any active chakra. While it was a complete defence against ordinary sight, one that couldn't be dispelled by any of their available methods, the cloak did nothing to affect smell, sound or touch. In addition, the air displaced by the wearer made it easy enough to track unless countermeasures were taken. They suspected Dumbledore would have some means of tracking the cloak unless he was a complete fool, something that couldn't be completely dismissed, but simple caution dictated that whenever Harry used it he should expect that it could still fail. That was ninja common sense.
That afternoon, he met up with the Cranleigh girls with Sandra again babysitting them. Ashley, Ella, Stephanie, Michelle and Meaghan were all there and waiting for him, surrounding him in a big hug. He was relieved that though their feelings for him were still strong, they weren't sniping at each other as he had feared. Thinking back he did recall overhearing some gossip at school about his parents having visited the girls' parents, and certainly those adults had been friendlier since Christmas. Whether it was the change in their visible status, or Naruto's ability to win friends and influence people (notorious across the Elemental Nations, whatever those were), things had been getting easier for Harry to get along with all the girls, even Sandra was giving him more smiles though hers seemed a little mischievous. They watched movies the girls got for Christmas that day and a few others, and before he knew it, he was back at Platform 9 and ¾, looking for his magical friends before they embarked on another train ride to chilly Scotland and Hogwarts.
Thank you for reading another chapter. Your feedback is always appreciated. I continue to be surprised by the support and interest in my story.