Chapter 11 - Stranger Danger
Tuesday morning, Harry was up and ready for the train journey early, intending to meet his friends in a café before they headed through the portal as a group. A lot of smiles between the kids, and shared looks among the adults, were exchanged before they gathered up everything and walked over to Platform 9¾ around 10am where Harry led the way, only to run smack into the wall. He tried again with the same result, so Justin stepped up, offering to try. When he made it in and back out, they were confused. Harry's next try also failed, as did an attempt to go through while holding Hermione's hand. Susan Bones went through with her aunt Amelia, who likewise had no problems and promised to investigate the portal from the other side to see if someone had done anything to it.
Harry shared a look with Naruto, his hand signals requesting permission to try certain tricks. Naruto nodded after a quick check that no one was watching, and Harry first tried a Body Flicker through the portal which failed, the magic reacting harshly against the chakra flowing in his body and forcing him back. After Harry was quickly checked and discreetly healed up, he let more of his friends through, this time using a Body Flicker to Daphne's side as she was about to hit the portal and diving through, heedless of any embarrassment he may suffer later. He managed to turn his fall into a roll, coming to his feet easily thanks to the years of training, and smiled at Daphne.
"You're my lucky charm, aren't you?"
She blushed a pretty pink and smiled back, and they all made it through after that without further incident, though they sent someone else through for Harry's parents rather than risk Harry having another issue. After talking to Amelia, she agreed that it was still worth investigating especially if anyone else had a problem, although now that Harry was through, it wouldn't be that urgent unless something else turned up.
The large group was mingling freely until twenty to eleven when the students said their goodbyes and hopped onto the train, securing their compartments and talking to their parents out the windows. The whistle blew and they were off, waving as they left the station, before settling down and taking their seats.
Justin grinned at the quick contest among the girls to grab Harry's lap, with Daphne ignoring the game and just taking the chance to place herself on Harry's lap, smiling sweetly in triumph at the others and refusing to budge. "It's too comfortable here to leave so soon."
Justin shook his head and left the crazy girls to it, taking one of the other compartments with the other guys. 'Better him than me,' Justin thought.
Susan smiled, "I do agree, Harry has the best lap. Oh, did you hear about the scuffle in Diagon Alley? Some Auror had to break up Lucius Malfoy and Arthur Weasley again. They'd gotten into it right in the middle of the street, too, after being kicked out of the bookstore. And that Draco acts like his father is anything more than a rich thug." She shook her head at that. If pressed, she would say that she had gotten her impression of the man from her aunt who did have strong feelings about Death Eaters, but most of her friends wouldn't disagree since none of them trusted any of the 'former' Death Eaters that the previous Minister had allowed to go free.
Daphne snorted, shifting a little on Harry's lap. "The only good thing about Lucius Malfoy is that he has more brains than his son. Draco tried to hide it but his marks were lower in almost everything than anyone here, especially Hermione and Harry's. The word in Slytherin is that he's gotten private tutoring all summer long."
"Yes, and Aunt Amelia said that Lucius publicly called his son on his poor performance, especially about being beaten by Hermione. Sorry Hermione, I won't repeat how he referred to you but it wasn't good." Susan added, then smiled as she shut and locked the door with just Harry and the girls in the compartment. "Now, I do believe someone could help give me a ride in their lap, right Harry?" She smiled impishly, "Give all of us a ride, I mean, I don't want to make Daphne get up after all."
Harry chuckled, having already stationed clones on the ceiling outside all his friends' compartments to keep watch under stealth when they got on the train, and now he made enough clones to go around, hitting his new clone limit. Harry had a dirty thought or two about taking the girls for a ride but he kept himself under control easily. The girls smiled at him for giving what they wanted then settled into their more comfortable seats that even came with a living seat-belt. The rest of the train trip was light-hearted, leaving behind less pleasant subjects as they determined to enjoy their time alone with Harry and talking about the highlights of their summers.
That evening, they were taken by carriage up to the castle. When Hermione commented on the carriages being horseless, Harry was surprised.
"What do you mean? There are, well, animals at least, pulling them, can't you see them?"
Since none of the girls could, Harry took Hermione's hand, making her blush as he guided it to the flank of one of the beasts. The surprise on her face was obvious, and the other girls joined her.
"We'll have to research these, naturally." Hermione grinned at the excuse to spend more time reading.
"Naturally," Megan drawled, imitating some of the prouder Purebloods they knew.
Once inside, they each went to their House tables for once rather than all joining at the Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw ones, neutral ground in the ongoing disputes between Gryffindor and Slytherin, and were told to quiet down when Hagrid approached with a fresh crop of First Years. Harry noted as the Hat was brought out that it hadn't lied about keeping his secrets, which pleased him. He didn't much care whether it was that the Hat had been honest or simply been intimidated into it, as long as it didn't spill what it had seen and put his family at risk. Especially now that he was even more aware of the rampant bigotry in their little world, he would be more energetic about defending those precious to him.
The Sorting started, boys and girls called up one by one. Most of them didn't take long, but two girls both took longer than the rest. The first girl came about halfway through the Sorting, she had long, dirty blonde hair and silver grey eyes that pierced through you, as he recalled her name was Luna Lovegood and she was eventually sorted into Ravenclaw. The second girl was a redhead the same shade as the Weasley twins and indeed she was announced as "Ginevra Weasley", spending a long time under the Hat before being sent off to Gryffindor, looking frustrated. For a moment, Harry thought the Hat was going to say Slytherin. 'Strange,' he thought, 'I would have thought she'd prefer Gryffindor to the House of Snakes given her family history.'
Finally the last incoming student had been sent to their new House, and Dumbledore gave another insane speech welcoming everyone to Hogwarts. With that over, he introduced their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, one Gilderoy Lockhart, famous author of what Harry had at first thought were just more works of fiction like the Boy-Who-Lived books.
Those books were now disappearing as the writers found themselves having to pay dearly for the royalties and penalty interest accrued on their unpaid debts to the Potter family. Harry smiled to himself as he recalled that one of the more successful writers of that fictional account of his life, facing the even larger bills for it, had fled Britain entirely, leaving all her money and property behind, confiscated to pay part of what she owed. If the woman ever returned to Britain, she would be facing Azkaban for trying to escape Wizarding World justice, while if she had stayed she would have been forced to work to pay off her debts.
As for Lockhart, the man had made all his books compulsory for his subject. Harry was undecided, wondering whether it was simply a drive to increase book sales and thus line his pockets, or if it was an attempt to boost his popularity, or maybe he simply was that egotistical as to think that his books were that worth studying. None of these possibilities suggested they would get a decent teacher sadly. He glanced around him as the man stood up to bow to his 'adoring fans', disturbed that there seemed to be quite a few fans, most of them female, young and silly in his naturally unbiased opinion.
When the food was served, Harry was relieved as it meant the man had sat down at last, at least he was relieved until he tasted the food. "Ah Hogwarts food, I'd managed to forget how bad it was."
Susan spoke up, "Harry, at first I thought you were joking about that, you know? Most raised in the Wizarding World enjoy the quality of food here. Then I spent that week in Cranleigh, eating what you normally eat. While you're a great chef, even the normal food we ate while we were out was really good, so now I'm stuck wishing I could eat like I did there. Though Aunty was grateful to get some of the recipes from your family, and it has helped improve food at home, well, she never really had the time to study cooking, she's always been busy. Anyway, thank you again for the lovely meals!" She gushed, remembering clearly the amazing tastes and selections, and how both Bones girls were happy the times she brought home meals from visits to Harry's family.
Unfortunately, she had gotten loud near the end of her long-winded thanks and students on other tables overheard her. Soon Harry's other friends were reminiscing about better food than Hogwarts.
"Those Muggles ate far better than us," Parvati said clearly to her housemates, while Daphne excitedly told Tracey about Harry's cooking, spawning rumours about the Boy-Who-Cooks. It also sparked off comparisons between Hogwarts and other meals.
While Hogwarts had been the standard for so many things for British wizards and witches, it had also become viewed as the best, rather than a minimum to exceed, in a few of them. Oddly, its food was one of them to the magical raised, while the Muggle-raised just got used to what they perceived as just another weird thing.
One of the girls who took notice of Susan's little speech walked over, nearly stumbling on the stone floor and putting a hand out to catch herself on Harry's shoulder. "Er wotcher, sorry about that."
Harry smiled, "That's ok. You're a Fifth Year now, right? And you like to be called Tonks?"
The girl smiled back happily, "Tonks is right, and you're Harry Potter. Now here you are, surrounded by girls, would you be building yourself a harem, Harry?" She grinned as Harry and his girls blushed, Hannah choked on her milk, spraying some and adding to Tonks' amusement. "Anyway, I overheard this loud little one talking about a boy who cooks better than Hogwarts."
"Oh much better than that," Hermione chimed in, "even I cook better than this and I'm almost hopeless. Harry, though, is a divine chef."
"Thank you, Hermione, but I'm really not that good. My parents are much better than I am! I think a lot of it is simply that the food is mass produced for a completely captive audience who literally can't go somewhere better. They never had to do better, and from what I can tell, they're using recipes that haven't changed in centuries. My parents experimented a bit, trying to work out what was being served here. It was probably very good food a few centuries ago, but cooking has evolved and improved. The modern world uses herbs and spices that come from places those people didn't know existed, thus couldn't have used."
"And you use these herbs and spices in your cooking?" a Hufflepuff in the year above them asked.
"Of course, at home we can buy them at the local stores," Harry replied.
"Cor, I'd love to taste that sometime. At home, me dad does a lot of the cooking, and I always wondered why his dishes had different tastes. He was a Muggle-born so would have known about these herbs and spices, right?" Tonks explained.
"Well, at least some of them, from what I've been told more have been added since then. Still, it allows for a near endless variety of wonderful tastes." Harry smiled, and most of the girls who had tried his cooking nodded and moaned as they remembered. They looked down at their plates almost depressed, but worked their way through the meal.
Harry was thankful they'd be able to sit where they liked normally tomorrow, he missed getting to talk to the rest of his friends because of the House rule. They headed off to bed, only getting to exchange quick words with their other friends, then sleep soon after. There was something oddly tiring about sitting on a train doing little all day.
The next morning, Harry chuckled as he got up, he had just received the memories of the clone that went to school with Ella and the other girls. In almost Gryffindor fashion, Ashley and the others had insisted on walking with Harry to school together. Once they had a suitably large audience, they entered the gate as a group, Harry's body language unconsciously telling the others that he was looking out for the girls.
The other boys in their year thought he was barmy to hang around with girls, but some of the older ones reacted angrily to his posture. Some snot-nosed kid was challenging them, even indirectly. Roland Smith was one of those boys. Fifteen and already a bully, he had had a few run-ins with the town's golden boy last year where Harry hadn't ducked out of Roland's way or interfered, getting in the way as he was chasing someone weaker than him.
With his friends at his back, Roland stalked over to Harry now, trying to intimidate the younger boy into surrendering. When that didn't work, Roland was face to face with Harry and his friends. Unfortunately for him, he had no idea what to say and the best he could think of was to reach out for Ashley's arm. Without realising it, Harry was already brushing his outstretched hand away, nearly bruising it with his strength, and everyone heard the slap of flesh on flesh. Roland's anger melted away, replaced by shock and a little pain. Whipping his head around, he saw that he was alone, his gang had abandoned him, and Roland backed off, vowing silently to get revenge later for embarrassing him.
The other students turned away now that the pecking order had been established and Harry relaxed slightly. 'I know that boy's going to be trouble later but we should have a bit of a break before he gets the courage to try anything again. I'll have to keep an eye on him.' Harry's thoughts were pleasantly interrupted by Ashley thanking him, adding a swooning "My hero!" then laughing with him as the adrenaline wore off.
Harry went for his morning jog, choosing a slightly higher speed to get the blood flowing today. For all the complaints about the food, and really some of it was just because the complaints were a British tradition, and about other parts of the Hogwarts experience, there were some truly lovely parts about his time in the castle. In Harry's humble opinion, one of them was the grounds were lovely and another was there was always something interesting happening. As he finished up, he saw a slim Chinese girl zooming around on her broom, hair flying behind her. She looked both exhilarated and at peace up there.
He quickly showered and changed, waiting in the Common Room to grab the Hufflegirls' bags again. They grinned when he explained what he was doing, and he pantomimed being burdened down by them. At the Great Hall, they took their usual places but the group was expanding more. Tonks was back again, and he noticed that they had all three of the 'good' Slytherin girls on their table, Daphne had Sophie Roper and Tracey Davis with her today. Either they weren't that cunning or they simply didn't want to try, as both of the new girls engaged him in a discussion about cooking, trying to find out if he was being truthful the night before when he claimed he could cook. They soon smiled when he easily answered their questions, as did the other new girls in their group, Sue Li and Lisa Turpin, Ravenclaws who had started getting friendly before summer and now seemed set on joining in.
They got their timetables, DADA first thing followed by Transfiguration, with Charms an hour after lunch. Harry sighed, while he would love to learn in all three of those classes, he wasn't looking forward to spending any time with the flashy Lockhart. That the man seemed determined to get adoration from teenage and even pre-teen girls made it even worse as Harry knew himself well enough that he wouldn't like it if the man tried to get those feelings from anyone his age. Abuse of children, plain and simple, that's what Harry felt it was.
The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws made their way to their classroom, taking seats and Harry groaned as he saw Lockhart waiting for them and preening under the attention. He seriously wanted to bang his head against his desk, or better still bang Lockhart's, but that wouldn't get him what he wanted at all, no matter how tempted he was. Sadly, it only got worse when the golden-haired man introduced himself by picking up Mandy Brocklehurst's copy of Travels with Trolls showing his own, winking portrait on the cover.
"Me," he said, pointing at it and winking as well. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award — but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"
He waited for the students to laugh, but the best he got were a couple of half-hearted smiles. While that may fly with the Gryffindors, perhaps, the Ravenclaws were far more interested in learning than playing along and the Hufflepuffs were taking their cues from Harry who hadn't warmed up to the man at all. Harry reflected that there had been a surprising lack of comment over the death of the previous DADA Professor, really, not even an announcement or anything in the paper which was both worrying and interesting. The Clan as a whole were glad that no one had accused Harry of any involvement, but having a school teacher killed and not even a single mention of it? He would have to talk to them about that and possibly do some research.
Harry returned to full awareness of his surroundings, checking his memory and finding that while he had been distracted by his thoughts, Lockhart had continued to talk about himself, and he was now handing out quizzes to see how well they had read his books. Harry's urge to hit the man returned rapidly and in greater force as he scanned the questions:
1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?
2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?
3. What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?
On and on they went for three pages of self-absorbed, self-indulgent drivel, culminating in a thinly-veiled demand for presents. Harry was torn in how to respond. While he did know the answers Lockhart wanted, it wasn't in him to lie down and let anyone trample over him. Likewise, his more satisfying response, burning the quiz and then the man himself, would also be inappropriate. So he was trying to look for an acceptable middle ground.
In the end, he went with what he felt would be better than either end of the spectrum. He filled his out with a minimum of grumbling, he felt, then waited until the man collected and rifled through them, a low-level illusion technique making him skip over Harry's test while they were in class, and making sure to dispel it just as the man finished his little display. He silently thanked Kurenai-mum and Yakumo-mum for their lessons in subtlety.
Of course, that just led to another display from Lockhart who made a big production out of 'freshly caught Cornish pixies.' The class giggled and laughed, and Lockhart 'unleashed' the 'devilish tricky little blighters' as he opened their cage. The pixies shot in every direction, proceeding to wreck the classroom and cause chaos. They would seize inkwells, shred books and papers, even lift some of the students into the air. They soon gave a very wide berth to Harry and then to his friends as any that approached were buffeted back by strong winds, smashing into walls after any attack run. Sue Li and Lisa Turpin noticed the discrepancy, "Harry, please, can you help us too?"
"Sure, you only had to ask." He smiled and now the safe zone covered all the students, the pixies glared at Harry now that he was identified as the source of their woes but they didn't press their luck, instead concentrating on the big target better known to the class as Professor Lockhart.
The boys laughed as the pixies pulled down Lockhart's pants after ripping his robes to shreds, exposing his lilac bloomers to everyone. Quickly, the Professor had crawled under the table and hid while the class watched the pixies dive bombing him. Eventually the bell rang and the class left in great spirits, though their respect for the man was at an all time low, even Hermione's.
Sue and Lisa smiled at him on their way to Transfiguration, "Thank you so much, Harry, one of them was about to get me when it just went flying backwards."
Lisa giggled, adding "Yes, and the expression of surprise mingled with frustration was so funny on so small a face!"
Class with Professor McGonagall started with a refresher of what they did last year before they moved onto a new spell that seemed just as useless or silly as a lot of them, though they were at least interesting challenges and implied fascinating abilities. This one was turning beetles into buttons, and Hermione was the first to complete the task, earning points for Hufflepuff and extra effort from the Ravenclaws, with Padma the next to finish. Harry still had to practice his spells more, working outside classes to master them with both his wand from Ollivander's and the dogwood-and-dragon-heartstring one. In class, he stuck with the phoenix and holly wand, both because it was his first wand and doing so would fix in people's minds that was the only wand he used, especially with that whole one wand, one wizard thing Ollivander was stuck on. Still, Harry did manage to complete the transformation just before class let out, and he took his books as well as the Hufflegirls' bags.
The Ravenclaw boys drifted off but the rest of the class moved as a group, talking and smiling, heading to one of the lawns around Hogwarts where they enjoyed the sunshine while they talked about their lessons. McGonagall got a good review from her students as expected. They knew the woman and her methods worked fairly well overall, though Hermione, now fairly out of the authority-worship she had earlier thanks to having real friends supporting her, pointed out that adding a couple of other approaches might help with some students, even if Professor McGonagall's teaching methods worked great for her.
Lockhart, however, got a fairly solid failing grade from the group. While he had a lively manner and wanted to see his students learn, unfortunately he only wanted them to learn about him and learn to adore him. That he then had such trouble with the Cornish pixies, which none of those raised in their world considered more than minor pests, after he had selected them specifically, showed that he lacked both good judgment and competence in his supposed subject matter, teaching them to defend themselves.
"Great, another year with an incompetent Defence professor. Does anyone know why we've had two new Professors and both of them are terrible? If I were more suspicious I'd say someone doesn't want us able to defend ourselves." Harry sighed.
"Oh Harry, that's too much." Hermione was still more forgiving than Harry where teachers were concerned, though she had conceded that however talented Professor Snape might be with making potions, he was a failure at teaching the subject. Their good grades in the subject came from independent study. "While I will agree that Professor Lockhart had a bad time with the Pixies, we should at least suspend judgement until we've had a few classes before we say he's as terrible as Quirrell was. That will give us enough evidence to make a call either way. Maybe he'll surprise us. I hope he can, anyway."
"You're right, Hermione, we should be open-minded enough to accept that he can change, or at least that this was just a bad day. We all have them," Susan put in. "Well, except Harry," she winked, "he's always gorgeous."
Harry blushed and raised a hand, grinning, "Ok, Ok, I surrender. Though I do hope that if he does surprise us, it's not because he's gotten worse."
The group laughed, happily unaware that he would indeed get worse later on. Thankfully, Charms with Professor Flitwick was both fun and a good lesson.
Another surprise awaited Harry the following morning, seemingly hundreds of owls diving to drop off letters for him. Harry looked at his friends.
"Are any of these from you?" When they shook their heads, Harry sighed. "Over the holidays, I had trouble getting owl mail, right, well it seems someone had put a mail ward on me so no letters from strangers would find me. That ward was removed, though it didn't seem to do any good at the time. I think now we're seeing the results of anyone being able to send me a letter."
Ignoring the twinkle-eyed staring of the Headmaster and scrutiny of the Potions Master, Harry gathered them up in his bookbag and headed back to his dorm, setting a clone to go through them all. Most of them were fanmail, complete with intrusive personal questions, though a few asked why he hadn't replied to previous mail. The clone quickly wrote out standard replies, thanking people for their well wishes, ignoring personal questions, and explaining to those who asked about previous letters that he had never received them and had just recently corrected the problem that had caused that. Really, it was a good practical use for his etiquette and politics training from his parents. He returned, grabbing breakfast at last and settled in, talking to his friends, telling them regarding his mail "I'll take care of it" and smiling. He resolved also that he would not touch his own mail again until it had been vetted by his clones.
This rule saved him from a fair amount of trouble later on as all mail that had magic on it was sorted out away from the rest, to be handed over to Amelia Bones or another trusted adult for examination before Harry himself would even touch any of it. Over a dozen Portkeys were found in that year alone (not that they would have worked while he was at Hogwarts), most leading to destinations in the homes of lonely older women who were first arrested, interrogated and either charged or released based on their testimony. Generally the witches were released after a stern warning delivered personally by Madam Bones putting the fear of Her into them. They swore not to try it again on anyone.
Harry had also put his clones back on Library copying duty and Map-watching duty, which reminded him that he still needed to find out who or what this Peter Pettigrew was. History and another Charms lesson, and he was done with classes for the day, though he still had plenty to do as he worked hard to get more spells working better, plus now that the girls knew, he was keeping a few clones active during the day around them. He also had another stack of mail, prompting Draco to saunter over.
"What happened, Potter, did you take a job sorting mail?" He sneered.
Harry just ignored him, pushing the incoming mail into a sack to be sorted later, obviously more interested in that task than in the brash blond.
"Oi I'm talking to you, Potter, you better listen when your betters speak."
"Then go away, Malfoy, there is no one here who qualifies as needing to hear you."
"What do you mean?" Malfoy asked.
"Quite simply that you are not the better of anyone here, except possibly in hair care, and since we aren't looking for advice on that, you may go."
"When my father hears about this -"
"Seriously, you'll tell your father about humiliating yourself in front of everyone? How did you get sorted into Slytherin? You show absolutely no cunning, no ambition but being recognised for your father's name and money. It's obvious why you weren't good enough for Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, too." Harry's voice had raised loud enough for the other tables to hear him clearly. If the ponce wanted to make a scene, he would get one.
"Not good enough for-"
"Did you have to beg the Sorting Hat, Malfoy? Did you plead not to be put into Gryffindor? There's nothing wrong with being brave, you know, though you need to work on being noble obviously."
"Why I never -"
"-thought about looking before leaping? Yes, we know, it's a very Gryffindor-ish trait." Harry finished. "Now, go, back to your minders, and leave us in peace."
Draco finally looked around, the sniggers from the Gryffindors had ceased with Harry's last riposte, the five Weasleys were now as pale as Draco at the thought of having a Malfoy among them. Draco was speechless, a feat everyone else appreciated as he made his way back to his section of the Slytherin table, now empty of other Snakes since no one wanted to be associated with his failure.
Apart from the incident with Draco, the Second Years had a fairly easy time settling into the castle and classes that week. There were a couple of events on the weekend, however, that would change Harry's life in years to come. The first was when a shabbily dressed stranger turned up at the Kitsune Compound. He turned up and rang the bell, asking if he could have a word regarding Harry Potter. Since he was being polite, they agreed to let him inside "Just as long as you don't reach for your wand, of course." The man was a little startled at being recognised for a wizard so quickly, but of course he didn't know that he had been monitored ever since he arrived, Apparating into an unused field out of town.
He introduced himself as Remus Lupin, one of James Potter's classmates and best friends at school, and even after. When asked to explain just why he had never visited Harry, he explained that between the Fall of You-Know-Who and the deaths of three of his friends and betrayal and incarceration of the fourth, it was a very tumultuous time in the Wizarding World and even worse for him in particular. There was no news as to where Harry was, his every attempt to find the boy met utter failure, and Remus himself found that in the glow of 'victory' there was no place for him. Especially given the prejudice that hadn't died with the Dark Lord but lived on. Days turned to weeks turned to years, and Remus stopped spending hours each day trying to find Harry, hopelessness leaching away the motivation to try again. By the time Harry was five, Remus was down to trying once a week. He had found no sign at all of Harry anywhere in the Wizarding World. While Dumbledore had claimed Harry was happy and safe, he never gave any hint as to where Harry had been placed, and no one else had any clue. He had tried to find Harry in the Muggle world, but it was a needle in a haystack.
"While Potter is a noble and now rare name among wizards, it's common and widespread among Muggles, there are tens of thousands in Britain, and I would try my luck, visiting them. It was even worse trying to track down any Evans connection. I counted one time, there are over two hundred thousand of them. I tried sending owls to Harry, but they never even bothered trying to deliver a message for me. They just looked at me sadly. I kept trying when I could afford it, they charge, you know, for delivery attempts." He sipped his drink, non-alcoholic given the early hour.
"When Harry turned eleven, I hoped that he would still go to Hogwarts. Ever since he disappeared like that, I feared that Dumbledore had been lying to me, that he really was dead, along with the last link to my best friends. That he was alive was a wonderful day, and a horrible one, for I tried again, you see, to write to him, and my attempt failed just like all the others. I tried getting onto the platform to see him, but I missed him in the crowds that day he went off to Hogwarts for the first time.
"I can't get work in the Wizarding World, and I have trouble getting work in the other, so I've never been wealthy. I don't want to take Harry away from you, I just want to see him with my own eyes, to know that he's alright."
The naked pleading in his eyes made Naruto uncomfortable, the generally reserved British would avoid such emotional displays, something Naruto approved of more than usual that particular morning. He knew Hinata was also affected, and a clone's message conveyed that the rest of his Angels were, too.
"Mr Lupin, I'm sure you can read a calendar so you know Harry isn't here. I would guess you're hoping that we would agree to allow you contact with him, perhaps once you've assured us we can trust you?" Naruto's reply was measured, trying to get more information while the Clan watched him.
"Yes, sir. I know I haven't been there for him, despite my best efforts, and I can't expect you to trust me so quickly. All I want is what's best for Harry, and to become part of his life if he lets me."
"We'll see, Mr Lupin, but at least you're starting on the right path. For now, would you like to stay for lunch. Perhaps you have a story or two about James and Lily that you can share?" Naruto guided the obviously underfed man into the dining room where one of his clones had replaced the usual silverware with a more plain set. He had the sense that the man would react badly to too much display of wealth.
Lunch was much livened by Mr Lupin's stories of his school days, referring to James always as Prongs after explaining that it was their nickname for him, and he provided enough details that the Clan would be able to cross-check what he told for truth. Lupin was wary about saying too much too soon, in case the prejudice struck again, but he was a good storyteller. The Clan loved the various pranks mentioned, even if they often skated the edge of cruelty, as they were inventive and often effective, but most of all, funny.
A good start, certainly, and if he appeared truthful enough, well, they would talk more. Perhaps even find out just why the man couldn't hold a stable job, and if he was willing, provide him one where he could do something useful. The Clan always had jobs that needed doing around the place, as well as of course enough bodies to do them, not that this Lupin need ever know that. They also respected hard work so if he worked hard, that would only help his case for seeing Harry. They hoped he would work out well, as that would help Harry, but they wouldn't let that hope overrule their good sense.
Harry found out about that encounter the following morning when one of his clones at home dispelled, providing a memory of it supplied by Naruto. It was of the other meeting that Harry remained unaware for longer, nearly two months in fact. Susan and Hermione had called for the Hufflegirls and the others who had taken an Oath to Harry to meet in one of the girls' bathrooms, the same one where Ron Weasley had been trapped the previous year, not that any of them knew it.
"Thank you for coming, girls. First, I'd like to request that the contents of this meeting be kept secret, even from Harry, until the time comes. We don't think the contents will be in any way harmful to him, mind you, but if anyone is unwilling to keep the secret, please leave now," Susan instructed them. When no one made to leave, she smiled. "Our second request is that you try to keep calm and an open mind during the meeting."
"Get on with it," Lavender called, smiling.
Hermione took a deep breath, this was her part of the meeting and she was suddenly more nervous than she had hoped she would be. "Ok, now we've all noticed that there are different types of boys at Hogwarts. From rich to poor, and from both worlds, and most of all, there are boys we don't like and boys we do, or rather one boy in particular. Harry."
The other girls warily nodded as Hermione paused. "Speaking for myself, I was rather shocked that polygamy is legal in the Wizarding World, but, well, maybe sharing Harry would solve our problem. I know I haven't met a better boy than Harry. He was my first friend, the first one who accepted me for me, and even now he's miles ahead of any other boy I've seen at Hogwarts. I don't want to lose him or to lose my friends." Hermione blushed as her crush and her fears were laid bare for the others. She was certain if they did compete for his attention that he would never pick a bushy-haired bookworm like her. Surely she wasn't pretty or sporty enough to catch his eye.
Daphne had rolled her eyes at how blunt the girl was, she had the ambition but little cunning for Slytherin, though Daphne admitted to herself that few others had it either even in the House of Snakes. Still, her own crush on the boy had only grown over time and though she thought she was pretty, she felt he would choose someone from his own world instead of the Wizarding World. "Well, you're right about him being the best boy, but why should I share? Why should any girl share? Just because it is legal doesn't mean it's normal, Hermione."
"Normal would be getting a boy like Ron Weasley or Draco Malfoy," Hermione replied in disgust, naming a couple of their year-mates raised in the Wizarding World. "I don't want normal when I could have great instead. And we don't have much choice if we want a decent wizard. Only, I know if I want him, I may have to share."
Susan grinned, "Hufflepuffs share, but not this, or at least normally we don't. We all know Harry isn't like other boys, he's so much better, but he can also make it easier to share him. With his talent, we wouldn't really be giving up that much, would we? Each of us could have a Harry to ourselves, after all." 'And it's better than fighting Hermione and Daphne and losing,' she added to herself.
"Plus we'd be able to talk to other girls who know just how good he is," Lavender giggled.
"Right, we'd have advantages over a normal relationship, and we wouldn't have to risk our friendships with each other if Harry chose only one of us and the others had a problem with it." Padma smiled, she could see that this would benefit her as long as they all agreed. She really liked Harry but feared that if he did choose only one of them, it was unlikely to be her rather than one of the girls in his own House. That's how it often went, people choosing the familiar rather than taking a chance on the exotic, at least in the novels some of the older 'Claws liked to read.
Not all the girls were convinced, of course, and they talked it out for a while before they agreed to let each girl think about it, and to make their choice by the end of the following month. They would often talk about it amongst themselves, discussing the pros and cons and how they felt about the whole thing, and even Hermione and Susan wavered, mostly about whether or not they could live with sharing their cute boy, even with the advantages of Harry's clones. While they were sure they liked him, they didn't know if it was anything more than a first crush.
The next interesting day was the following Saturday, the day of the team trials. It was a big day for a lot of students, the castle was abuzz with rumours as the big day approached, and a lot more students got up early even though it was a weekend. Those who were awake early enough and looked out their windows saw Harry Potter in running clothes out for a 'mild jog' which for the watchers looked like an intense workout, complete with some sweat as he ran at a pace few others could match except in emergencies.
It was when Harry took off the shirt that sealed the deal, however. He was aware of the watchers but they hadn't been doing anything beyond that, so he had just about put them out of his mind as he pulled out a towel and wiped off the sweat that had built up. For the watchers, especially the girls, however, this was anything but a small matter. It was their first view of the Boy-Who-Lived topless, and the reality exceeded their expectations. They knew he was still only a 2nd Year student, one who had made a name for himself more for his friendly nature and possibly his hard work and studies than for anything to do with his body. Seeing him now put any idea of a weakling Harry Potter to rest. He was hard, lean and fast, though very tall for his age, and he showed it in his grace, his muscles and a well-developed body.
The object of their scrutiny headed inside, getting ready for the day including the little tradition of carrying the girls' bags, he smiled as he felt that Hermione had finally cut down a little on the number of books she was taking around with her, or maybe it was the other girls had increased, either way the gap was shrinking. Making their way to breakfast, they found themselves or rather they found Harry was the subject of a lot more female interest than before. Harry was tempted to bash his head on the table. 'Crap I forgot about that. Oh well, not like I can just undo it, nothing for it but to go ahead.' He then noticed that the increase in attention in him came at the cost of attention for the blond ponce, or rather the blond ponce masquerading as their DADA teacher, to distinguish him from the blond ponce of Slytherin. That put Harry in a much better mood.
As he and his friends ate and chatted, Hannah reminded them that today was the day for the Quidditch trials several times as she almost bounced in her seat in her excitement. Any temptation Harry would have felt to tease her about that was washed away by the rising tide of anticipation sweeping the Great Hall. Somehow, Harry wasn't sure, Madam Hooch had arranged to put the Hufflepuff trials first instead of Slytherin as normal, and he and his Hufflegirls were all looking forward to finding out just how good they were. At a half past nine, they finished up and took their gear down to the Quidditch Changing Rooms, getting changed and warming up under Harry's eagle eyes for their run, flying out onto the pitch and waiting with the other hopefuls.
Harry could hear the nervous breathing of his girls speed up and turned to look at them, giving them the same reassuring smile he gave the football team at primary school just before a match, pleased when it seemed to work, even Hermione was rock steady now on her broom.
Cedric flew out, looking at the score of prospective players from across the years. "Ok, first I want to see your performance on the obstacle course behind me to check your basic skills. After that, we'll start with individual testing for each of you."
They quickly lined up, doing time trials of the course and then moving onto the more advanced testing in alphabetical order, Hannah quickly showing she was skilled and had the right guard dog mentality for being a Keeper, but narrowly losing a shoot-out to the current one, a Fourth Year like Cedric who promised to help work with her, putting the pigtailed girl as the reserve Keeper for the House, a respectable achievement for any Second Year. Susan Bones tried out as a Chaser, showing the right mentality and surprising the team by having better hand-eye coordination and much better reflexes than the current Chasers, as well as good situational awareness, something she later credited in private to her aunt's paranoia rubbing off on her. Harry praised both Bones for their habits. Next of the Second Years was Hermione who had a fair amount of upper body strength and general fitness thanks to her books and her dentist parents respectively. She was creative and had a good eye, doing well overall too. Megan Jones and Leanne Moon took their somewhat lacklustre performance as prospective Beaters with relatively good spirits, acknowledging that they just needed to wait for their bodies to grow into the roles. Lastly for their year, Harry Potter's turn came up and a hush fell over the crowd, one which included not just his group of friends or even just other Hufflepuffs but both Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy, though naturally they were nowhere near each other, and a fair number of students and staff including the bat-like Professor Snape.
'Since this requires magic, I doubt I can use any chakra to improve my performance, but that seems like it would be overkill anyway. The real questions are if I should hold back, and by how much.' Harry decided that he would hold back, but only enough so he was still clearly better than the current Chasers. After all, he did want to show he deserved that place with his friends but he didn't want to humiliate any Hufflepuff. Decision made, Harry was put through his paces. He slipped up once at the end, making an almost impossible shot on one of the goals which he had intended to narrowly miss. He was as surprised as anyone there when the shot went in on the final try, his friends coming over to congratulate him.
In the end, Harry, Hermione and Susan were all on the team, a most impressive performance for three Second Years made easier by the generally poor players already on there which explained why, despite being the House for the hard working team players, they had so done poorly in the Quidditch Cup. Harry and his friends had no intention of resting on their laurels now they were on the team, especially as three of them weren't on it yet. It would be so good to have all his Hufflegirls on the team with him.
Next up were the Ravenclaws, and Harry sat back with his friends to watch the competition. Their current Seeker was that Asian girl he saw before, and Padma pointed her out. "That's Cho Chang, she's in the year above me. I think she's got potential."
Harry nodded, "It sure looks like it, she's really at home in the air." Harry and the others watched her, and she noticed their interest, coming down to introduce herself after her trial and talking with them about the various flyers. She was called up and obviously happy to stay the Seeker for Ravenclaw, hugging Harry and each of his friends when she returned with the news in her excitement. They laughed and the ice was broken between them. Cho would drop by their group to chat from time to time, and enjoyed answering questions from the more curious among them. It made her happy to get to display her strengths.
The following weekend had only three events for Harry. There was a message from his parents that Mr Lupin had visited again, bringing some photos of his school years and his friends, still referring to them only by their nicknames for each other. He also stayed for dinner, accepting the Clan's hospitality and cooking which he duly praised. Over dinner, the Clan mentioned that they were expanding their forestry business and wondered if he knew anyone who would be interested in applying. After their patience won through, the man indicated yes, he would be interested in some honest work if that's what they had in mind rather than some form of charity, so Naruto escorted him out to see their new Forest of Death to see the massive trees personally. Lupin, a little shaken, agreed that yes, those would take some honest work to cut down. The hidden clones listening smiled at how easy they found it to do the logging. Everyone was happy enough with the final arrangement. The Clan would supply room and board, along with a reasonable wage, for Lupin who would help with the logging during the day and tell stories about Harry's parents, recorded for Harry to listen to when he got home. The man turned out to be a master storyteller once he got comfortable with the Clan and the revelation that Harry's father, well both of them, were big pranksters met a very receptive audience. It was at that point that the Clan did something unwise. They started a prank war with the Marauder, as they came to know him.
The second event was of course Hermione's birthday, something far more important or at least immediate to Harry and his friends. Miyuki had made the trip during the week to pick up her parents' gift to her as well as some other gift ideas for Harry. Hermione was touched by the set of ornate bookmarks Harry purchased, explained as having enchantments so she could always find them and they would automatically insert themselves into whatever book she closed at the right page, in case she forgot to do it herself. Harry didn't mention they were also enchanted so he could always find the bookmark and, presumably, Hermione herself. She gave him a big hug for that and claimed his lap as hers by right for the day, which Harry didn't mind at all.
There was an extra surprise as a small flock of owls brought in packages for Harry, Hermione and Susan. Long, thin packages that were marked as coming from the Nimbus Broom company. Upon opening, each were stunned to find a Nimbus 2000, now superseded by the 2001 as the most expensive and latest model which was supposed to have a higher top speed than the 2000. That wouldn't matter much in Quidditch since the pitches were far too small to reach the 2000's limit, most of the time. The notes that came with the brooms mentioned how proud of them their families were, and that they wanted their children to show that their parents had made the right decision buying the brooms by keeping up their hard work. The looks on their faces guaranteed the kids had no problem with that condition.
Thanks for your support. Feedback is welcome and if you spot any errors please let me know. Yes, Tonks is younger in this story than in canon. Thank you for reading.