It is that time of year for my family, VACATION! Therefore the next installment will be delayed two weeks, wile I adhere to the no computer rule that I agreed to.
So, With out further Adieu, on with the Show!
As always, I own nothing!
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Chapter 47
Minerva had spent the second half of her day, after her meeting with Ronald and his parents, listening to Albus's story about the people from Fairgrove. Every word seemed more ridiculous than the last.
First had been the ad that had everyone in a flap, a new bank had been opened in Diagon Alley! Next was that it was owned by the Fairgrove head and he was an ELF! The thing that stunned her the most was that the goblins had yet to say a word about it!
When he had finished speaking Albus looked spent, exhausted… frail. After a few moments of silence he had stood without saying a word and walked out of her office. Later that evening when he did not appear for dinner she had a house elf check on him, he was apparently just sitting on the edge of his bed lost in thought.
She rose early the next morning intent on being in the Great Hall when Harry and his group arrived. When Filius had originally informed her that would be at 5:00am she had almost balked at the idea but was just too curious in the end, not to be there.
Harry had exited the portal first, at a jog, along with about a dozen other people, including Sirius Black and Joe Brown. Each greeted her by name or title as they passed, exiting out the door and onward, each of them dressed in some form of odd grey garments and caps, each emblazoned with the Fairgrove emblem.
Next were Luna and Hermione, but while they greeted her neither seemed as chipper, or awake, nor were they running, or dressed as Harry and the others had been. "Ms. Granger? Ms. Lovegood?"
Luna shook her head. "It is Ms. Granger now, Headmaster. Luna Selene Granger. The paperwork was finished the night of the ball!"
"B-But your fath-" she began.
Hermione stepped in between them her back to Minerva. "Luna why don't you go see if there is any pudding?"
Luna nodded slowly, her eyes unfocused and moved off into the Great Hall. Hermione whirled toward the elder woman. "How dare you!" She hissed at the woman, "Her father wants nothing to do with my sister! He gladly signed the papers giving my parents custody! That man hasn't been a father to her in years! And I'll thank you not to bring him up again especially in front of Luna!" She turned and stormed through the door.
Minerva heard a chuckle from beside her. "Guess she told you."
"Ms. Malden?" Minerva quirked her eyebrow in confusion. "Why would Xeno do such a thing… he dotes on that girl…?"
Maria cut her off. "Once perhaps, but that didn't seem to be the case after his wife's passing… but I guess that was missed by his friends."
Minerva bristled at the slight. "Xeno was always a private person, and they often took journeys for their paper… we often did not see them for months at a time…"
Maria shook her head. "And when she arrived at school? Did she act normally? She was wearing summer clothing in the middle of winter, according to Hermione! Sundresses and sandals! And no one saw any issue? Let alone the bullying from your own students!" She held up her hand to forestall the woman's answer. "The Grangers noticed! And helped! First Hermione, with clothes and friendship, then her family, with love. She is a Granger now."
Minerva felt her heart sink; Luna's mother had been one of her favorite students when she had attended Hogwarts. "Ms. Malden, may I ask you, what you meant by stating I lied to you?" she asked changing the subject.
Maria's head snapped around, her eyes searching the woman's face for deception. Finding none she almost laughed. "You really have no idea, do you?" She paused briefly studying her face again. "I'll offer you a deal. I'll give you a little something to think about, then I want you to come and sit in, today, on my classes. Just sit in the back and listen. I have extra books you can follow along with and things for you to take notes with. Then at the end of the day we'll see if we can answer that question. Deal?"
Minerva thought about it for a moment, she had planned on sitting in on the classes at some point… "Alright, if you think that will help explain it best."
Maria smiled. "Ok. Classes start promptly at eight. Now, for what you need to think about. How many muggleborns do you see on a regular basis? In Diagon Alley? Hogsmeade? the Ministry? or even here at Hogwarts?" She turned and headed out the door toward breakfast.
When Pansy opened the door and stepped into the Great Hall she had to stop for a moment and try to wrap her mind around the sight before her. Where she had expected the hall to be predominantly empty, given the early hour, what she found was a room populated with a number of people she didn't know, all of them happily eating breakfast while singing along to a song she had never heard before.
Harry Potter sat on the staff table, guitar in hand, as everyone in the room sang along, other than the Headmaster and Professor Flitwick.
(Play Acoustic version of 'I love a rainy night', by Eddie Rabbit. I would add lyrics but, that isn't allowed.)
Harry hopped down, and took a mock bow as he did, and swung the guitar (Acoustic) to where it could comfortably rest across his back. He then trotted back to the table where Granger and the Lovegood girl sat.
It was at that point she shook off her stupor enough to walk toward the Slytherin table, passing by a group who seemed to be spread out around the Hufflepuff table. Laughter erupted from the end closest to her drawing her attention to Sirius Black, in the midst of some tale, flailing his arms wildly to emphasize some point. Her eyes were next drawn to the beautiful woman sitting on his right, as she swatted him on the arm, all the while a bright smile shone upon her face.
She was still watching as the woman moved to brush a runaway flip of hair back behind her ear… an ear that came to a gentle point… That was when she again stopped walking, all pretence lost, as she stared at the group before her, eyes darting from one to the next. Elves! Real ELVES! ELVES WERE IN HOGWARTS!
When Harry had finished his last tune he hopped down from the table with a mock flourish. He had almost started laughing when he saw Pansy stutter to a stop when she had entered the Great Hall. 'I guess they don't hear much music in the mornings in this place,' he thought to himself as he played.
Glancing at his watch he saw they had a little time before needing to head toward the classroom for the morning, so he went back to the seat he had abandoned when his crew had convinced him to play something after their workout and breakfast. Getting the girls' attention he motioned toward Pansy. "How long do you think?"
Hermione glanced over her shoulder to the girl making her way across the room, and smiled. "Hmmmm… Depends on how observant she is…"
Laughter rang from down the table, as Luna spoke. "The question is what will she do if she notices! I bet on fainting…"
They watched as their subject's eyes grew wide, then traveled up and down the table, seemig to widen more each time they found a new focal point . Then, suddenly, they rolled up into her head and she collapsed into a heap on the floor. "Yep, fainting… I've never seen wrackspurts attack so quickly," Luna said with a small smirk.
Hermione looked back toward her sister, and just shook her head.
Pansy had been taken to the hospital wing in short order, the headmaster assuring them that she would be fine a short time later.
On their way to their classroom the trio had an unexpected blond visitor. "Potter!" growled the boy as he approached, book ended by his bodyguards. "How dare you!"
Harry looked up from the notebook in his hands. "Oh, great. The daddy wannabe. Just what I needed this morning," he said under his breath. "What do you want?" Taking note the boy's wand was already in his hand.
"You dare to try and take something from a Malfoy!" he spat.
Harry looked at him confused. "Take? What in the hell are you talking about?"
"Pansy!" he yelled brandishing his wand. "She's mine!"
"Yours?" he scoffed.
"Yes!" he almost screamed, "She's my girl!"
"Then why was she alone?" Hermione asked.
"Shut your mouth you filthy mudblood!" he roared, his wand flicking toward her.
Harry stepped to his right keeping his body between the wand and Hermione. "Look, I didn't mean to ruffle your feathers. I just saw someone that wanted to dance. That's all."
"You should have kept your nose out of my business!" he snarled, "I challenge you to a duel!"
Harry's head snapped back in surprise. "Are you serious?"
"Tonight!" Malfoy snapped. "I will have my satisfaction!"
Harry laughed. "Oh no. You offered the challenge, it is up to me to determine time… And weapons." His eyes hardened. "What are to be the stakes?"
Draco's wand faltered. "Weapons? This is a wizard duel! We use wands!"
Harry smirked. "As you must remember I have no wand, besides you challenged me to a duel, and by the rules of dueling the challenged chooses time, place, and weapon especially as you have named me thief! So I will be choosing where and when, as well as the choice of weapons! Your only choice left is the stakes."
Draco's mind raced, he had wanted this to be a wizard duel. He glanced around and cursed mentally, seeing his yells had drawn a large crowd. He had let his anger get away from him and not made the best choice on where to confront Potter. "You will apologize, on your knees, to my father and I before the third task… And you will compensate me with a piece of property, of my choice, from the Potter holdings as soon as the duel is complete!"
Harry almost laughed again, especially as there were no Potter land holdings any longer. "Agreed," he said flatly. "My terms are…" He really didn't want anything from the little idiot but thought he knew something that be would almost be as bad. "You will apologize to Hermione for using that derogatory term, mudblood, as well as calling her sister loony, in front of everyone in the Great Hall before the final feast after the third task, and you will never use it again. Agreed?" he offered his hand.
Draco looked at him in shock. He didn't want anything for himself? He took the outstretched hand. "Agreed!" His father would be pleased! Once he destroyed Potter in the duel they would take the most valuable thing he had! Maybe his father would allow him to take Potter Manor!
Harry's face then twisted into a predatory grin. "All that remains is choice of weapon…" He made a show of pacing, as if he was in thought, however his choice had been made the moment he had been challenged to a duel. "I believe I shall choose…" He spun to face the blond... "Racing!"
Draco's face broke out into a wide grin, that was something he knew he could win! He already owned a top of the line racing broom! The Nimbus 2000! The only thing faster is the Firebolt, and he was sure with a reason like this he could convince his father to buy him one!
Harry continued, "Once I have the course decided on, I will contact you with the details." He walked around the now smiling boy and continued calmly toward his classroom.
As soon as the door to the castle closed he started chuckling, finally ending up with his back against the wall almost in tears. His two companions looked on in confusion.
When he had calmed and could take a breath, Hermione asked, "Ok, what is the joke?"
"He's going to race me!" He choked, "Race ME!"
Luna was the next to laugh. "You never said what kind of race!"
He nodded. "But that's not the best part. Even if he somehow won all he would get would be the apology! The Potter holdings don't include any property! I sold it all to Keighvin! He's going to get a kick out of this!"
Once their laughter died down, they continued toward the classroom. "Now I just need to find a track… and cars."