Happy 3rd Anniversary to Underground Fanfictioners! Here's a chapter to celebrate for Undergrounders and non-Undergrounders alike!
Harry woke up from a rather pleasant dream featuring Roxy in some rather form fitting robes and found himself looking up at the canopy of the four-poster bed and found himself briefly wondering where he was.
Then it all came back to him.
He was back at Hogwarts. In his former dorm.
Sitting up slowly and opening the curtains around the bed, he took in the room, comparing it to its appearance a year ago.
There was Ron's bed, Seamus' bed, Dean's bed and Neville's bed, all vacant.
And here he was in his old bed.
"Wow. Never thought I'd see this place again..." Harry thought.
But here he was, back again.
Getting up and realising that he'd fallen asleep in his Red Fountain uniform- minus cape and boots, he rummaged around under his bed for his backpack and made his way to the dorm bathrooms for a quick wash.
Feeling much better after he was clean and in fresh, casual clothing, he re-emerged from the dorm after putting his things away to find Roxy there, seated in a sofa next to one of the windows.
"Hello there, gorgeous." He gave her a light kiss before sitting next to her.
"Hi Harry." Roxy smiled at him.
"How did you enjoy your afternoon as an honourary Gryffindor?"
"It wasn't bad, though all this red and gold can be a bit harsh on the eyes..."
"Not to me, but then again, I'm used to it..." Harry shrugged.
"So... How does it feel to be back?"
"Strange. I never imagined I'd be back here, sleeping in my old dorm, with my old dorm mates and in my old bed. Seeing so many of my schoolmates too... It felt like it was a whole world away when I was in Magix..."
"I can only imagine..." Roxy said. "So... What's going to happen later, after dinner?"
"I have no bloody clue." Harry admitted. "We came straight up here after... everything and after you, Rainer and Lucas decided to go to those vacant dorms, I went up to my old dorm and just... went off to the dream world for a bit..."
"The grounds of this place are gorgeous. And that forest there... I wonder what's in it..." Roxy took in the view of the Forbidden Forest as the sun set over it.
"Acromantulas, centaurs, giants, and many other unpleasant things, I'm sure. Though there are unicorns in there. They're okay..." Harry counted them out on her fingers.
"I am not even going to ask..."
The pair heard the sounds of students starting come into the Tower.
"Somehow, I feel like you don't want to face the other Gryffindors just yet..." Roxy held his hand as they stood up.
"You're right. I'm going to go hide with Lucas now..."
Roxy giggled. "Is the Boy-Who-Lived afraid of a few other teenagers? That's not very Gryffindor-ish from what I heard..."
"Yeah, well, all these teenagers are going to see is the Boy-Who-Lived, not Harry Potter. I really don't feel like doing that…" he groaned.
"Well you would have to eventually, so deal with it." Roxy smiled.
"Fine. I guess we'll wait for Lucas and Rainer to get down here and then I'll show you all down to the Great Hall."
"That might be a long wait then. Rainer is sleeping and she's infamous for being really hard to wake up…" Roxy chortled.
"Not Lucas. He's a light sleeper. And a morning person…" Harry said.
"That's Anahita in ours…"
The two chatted idly, waiting for the time to pass.
"Okay, Roxy, Rainer, Lucas. These were my dorm mates: Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan. You all already know Ron. Figure you'd need a less dramatic introduction than the one we had in Hogsmeade..." Harry pointed out each as they came into the Tower, all of them in various states of disarray.
"Harry Potter. Always so dramatic. You sure know how to make an entrance, innit?" Seamus commented.
"Yeah, you know me and my dramatic entrances. Can't go anywhere without drama following me…" Harry shrugged.
"It's true. Every year he was here, Harry was always involved in something. From first year, right up to his dramatic exits and entrances over what should have been his sixth year…" Dean said.
"Anyway, we'll leave you lot and head down for some dinner after we get cleaned up. I daresay you'll have the whole Hogwarts population wanting to talk to you enough anyway…" Seamus gave a sort of salute as he and Dean walked off.
"That Seamus guy is kinda cute…" Rainer whispered to Roxy, gazing after Seamus as he disappeared into a side corridor within the Tower.
Lucas heard her comment and scowled.
Harry noticed.
"What's up with you, Lucas?" he asked him.
"Oh, nothing in particular. Just go ahead and show us to this 'Great Hall'. I'd love to try this stuff you call English food…" Lucas waved off his concern.
When they arrived just outside the Great Hall, they found Athena and Anahita talking animatedly with Luna Lovegood, Terry Boot and Padma Patil.
"Hey you two. You're Honourary Ravenclaws?" Roxy asked them once they got closer to them.
"I guess we are." Anahita shrugged.
"I like them. They're fun! Especially Luna! She's so cool..." Athena put an arm around the blonde's shoulder.
"Where are the others? Darian, Krystal and Aki?" Harry asked, pointedly ignoring the stares they were getting.
"Spending time with the Badgers. Anyway, Harry, I'd suggest getting inside now. You know how people like to stare at you and the longer you stay out here..." Padma inclined her head towards a group of second year girls, pointing at them and whispering amongst themselves.
"Point taken, Padma. Come on, you lot. One thing that I loved about this place was the food and I'll want you to get the really good stuff before they eat it all..."
"Harry's right. You'll love the food. Bet that the food in Magix doesn't taste nearly as good as ours!" Ron declared.
As soon as Harry, Ron, Roxy, Rainer and Lucas stepped into the Great Hall, it felt as if a large scale Silencing Charm had been abruptly applied.
It seemed as if every single pair of eyes in the Great Hall, from both the students' and teachers' tables alike were set on them.
The eyes followed their steps over to the Gryffindor table, the sounds of which were punctuated with the soft, clinking sound of cutlery as the students ate dinner and watched.
"You would think that we were in a movie..." Lucas commented.
"Ain't gonna lie. This is getting kinda creepy now, with everyone just staring at us..." Roxy moved closer to Harry subconsciously.
"Hang on," Ron turned to the majority of the Great Hall's current population.
"Oi, you lot! What are you all staring at? Never seen a bloke walk with his friends before? Merlin, you lot need to get out more..."
At Ron's declaration, most students went back to doing what they were doing before they made their entrance.
"Thanks Ron." Harry and the others found seats at the table together, Roxy, Harry and Lucas on one side, with Ron and Rainer on the other.
"Wow. This is a lot. Not nearly as much as they serve at Alfea..." Roxy took in the sight of the table, heavily laden with dinner foods, some of which she didn't recognize.
"You can help yourself. I know I will." Harry reached for a nearby platter of roast beef and passed it around to those of them who wanted some.
While they were eating, Neville and Ginny came down and squeezed in, Ginny on Ron's side and Neville on Rainer's.
"Diner is halfway over. Where were you two?" Ron raised an eyebrow.
"I had a nice, long nap and Neville here was apparently the same..." Ginny shrugged, putting lamb chops and mashed potatoes onto her plate, smothering it in gravy and digging in with great gusto.
"Everyone's talking about you lot." Neville spoke between mouthfuls of Yorkshire pudding, roast beef and peas.
"Yeah. Apparently there were a lot of bets regarding where you'd disappeared to." Ginny commented.
"Oh?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "Did anyone win the pot?"
"Yep. Apparently two girls in Ravenclaw. Luna was one and some Lawrence girl in seventh year was the other..." the redheaded girl shrugged.
By the time they were finished, most Hogwarts students were in the Hall, with those not present either in the Hospital Wing or at St Mungo's.
Harry could swear that they were staring at him more than they had before.
He took the time to look around at him and saw Athena and Anahita chatting with Luna at the Ravenclaw table, with everyone else around them looking weirded out except for a brown haired girl who looked slightly older and seemed smug. Hm. Maybe she was the other person besides Luna who won the bet on where he was. He'd have to ask around and see...
He noted that Darian, Aki and Krystal were all at the Hufflepuff table with Krystal seemingly engrossed in a conversation with Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott, getting all giggly about something.
Darian and Aki noticed him and waved cheerfully.
Well, at least his Magix friends were fitting in well, though he wondered where the other people that had came from Magix went...
Dumbledore stood up and gradually, the Great Hall became silent.
"Students of Hogwarts," Dumbledore paused and gazed around the Hall. "I am sure that all of you know by now what transpired in Hogsmeade this afternoon- or at least, you think you do. After all, rumours tend to distort the truth quite a bit..."
"Yes. He would know all about that..." Harry grumbled.
"So tonight, we will clear up some of the rumours that we can for now. It all starts when Lord Voldemort ordered the kidnapping of a British fairy named Dana Bixley some weeks ago. All of you would have heard about that. However, what you did not know is that he somehow got her to make a portal to the Magix Dimension for some of his Death Eaters. When they were there, they tracked down the prison that a trio of witches from that dimension called "The Trix." and broke them out."
Those in the Great Hall that didn't already know (that is, almost every Hogwarts student except those closest to Harry) gasped.
"This afternoon, those witches made an appearance in Hogsmeade and wreaked havoc wherever they went."
The Hall was eerily silent as Dumbledore spoke of the efforts of Hogwarts students, staff, Aurors, Hogsmeade residents, business operators and patrons alike in fighting off the havoc they had wreaked.
"While we did manage to fight off many of the creatures, we admittedly did not know how to handle them as even up to this point, we still do not know what some are or what capabilities they have..."
"That's going to have to change, now that Voldemort's in league with the Trix, huh?" Roxy whispered.
"It certainly will, though I don't know how many of them will be willing to learn about and accept this type of magic..." Harry whispered back.
"Though there was much destruction and several injuries of varying types and severities, it would have been even worse, were it not for the assistance rendered to us by a contingent from the Realm of Magix, alerted by Hogwarts' own Harry Potter, who sits among us, once again this evening." Dumbledore's gaze swept over to the Gryffindor table and quickly picked him out, possibly highlighted by sitting next to Roxy with her bright pink hair.
Once others saw where Dumbledore was looking, they followed his gaze as well.
Harry felt like sinking down into his chair, but Roxy put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Without them, as I said, it would have been so much worse. So, on behalf of the entire population of Hogwarts, I would like to say: thank you." Dumbledore started to clap.
Many of Hogwarts students started to clap and cheer.
Harry noted that Draco Malfoy, at the Slytherin table looked particularly sour at this latest development and snorted.
"What's so funny?" Roxy asked him.
Harry simply inclined his head towards the Slytherin table at Malfoy.
When Roxy saw, she snorted. "Oh, that ferret-y looking blond guy? That's Draco Malfoy, isn't it?"
At these words from the Tir Nan Og princess, Harry, Ginny, Ron and Neville burst out laughing.
"Wait. What's the joke?" Roxy asked.
"We'll tell you later. Don't worry though. The wait's totally worth it!" Ginny managed to calm herself down just as the cheers and applause were dying out.
"Believe me, it is." Harry wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes.
"Though I suspect that this may be said in vain, I ask that you give him, as well as his friends- both from Hogwarts and Magix alike their space during their brief stay here." Dumbledore moved to take his seat again, but some students started to exclaim, apparently unsatisfied with Dumbledore's relatively succinct explanation of events.
"Wait, so that's it? Potter waltzes back in here just like that and we don't get more details?!" Marietta Edgecombe called from the Ravenclaw table.
"Yeah. Bringing these friends of his into our school just like that?!" Zacharias Smith called from the Hufflepuff table.
"Potter owes us a proper explanation!" Draco Malfoy exclaimed angrily from the Slytherin table.
Harry looked at McGonagall and Dumbledore quizzically and both inclined their heads as if to say: go ahead.
Harry stood up.
"Wait, where are you going?!" Ron hissed.
"You owe them nothing. In fact, they owe you!" Ginny exclaimed.
"I want to though. They need to hear it from me." Harry declared.
"I'll come up with you, if you want me to." Roxy offered.
"I don't mind." Harry offered her his hand, helped her up and the two walked to the front of the Great Hall with all the students watching them.
When some noticed them holding hands and pointed it out to the classmates and friends that didn't, the murmurs grew.
"Hello everyone. No need for introductions really. Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived here along with Princess Roxy of Tir Nan Og." he gestured to her and she gave a little wave.
"Let me make a few things clear before everyone leaves here tomorrow and words spreads outside of Hogwarts even more. I know how rumours like to fly around Britain. Especially after my five years here at Hogwarts."
Some people shifted guiltily in their seats.
"I was a Hogwarts student. Until I left Britain last summer and somehow ended up in Magix. While I appreciate all the good experiences I had at Hogwarts, the things I learnt and the friends I made, I do not plan to return to this school as a student."
Many people gasped.
"I am a Red Fountain student now and I will remain so until I graduate from that institution. They're giving me the training I both want and need and I would be totally daft if I gave that up."
"And for those of you girls and.. perhaps even blokes- though I don't swing that way- I have a girlfriend now, so you don't even stand a chance with me."
Roxy nearly chortled at the disappointed looks that many girls were giving him.
"Potter manages to Apparate to another bloody dimension, joins a school for what are basically future Aurors and Hit Wizards with a FULL SCHOLARSHIP AND snags a girlfriend while he's at it?" Malfoy exclaimed in angry disbelief, voicing the sentiments of many around him, not solely inclusive of Slytherins.
"Yes, yes and yes. Now do those answer all of your questions, Malfoy? No? Well that's most unfortunate, since I don't plan on answering any more for now. Good bye." Harry took Roxy's hand firmly and led her out of the Great Hall, which erupted in chaos behind them.
"And I thought you didn't like attention and dramatics." Roxy raised an eyebrow as they sought refuge in an empty classroom nearby.
"I don't. If I did. I would have answered Malfoy's question about my lovely girlfriend by snogging her senseless in front of everyone." Harry admitted.
"Well, there's no one here to... as you Brits put it... 'snog' in front of..." Roxy smiled.
"Well then. What do you know? There really aren't..." Harry put his hands around her waist and pulled her in for a deep kiss.
"Now, why don't we go back to the Tower before someone finds us in here?" Harry spoke once they broke apart and had recovered.
"Lead the way then, Potter." Roxy giggled.
"I shall, Princess."Harry took her hand and led her out of the classroom and back towards Gryffindor Tower, both of them ignoring the comments of the many Hogwarts students making their way back to their dorms after dinner.