Michael Brown
As I stepped off the Hogwarts Express and entered King's Cross, I couldn't help but feel a certain kind of joy blossoming in my chest.
Deciding to stay home during the Christmas holidays, I took a break from the unknown and mysterious world of magical conspiracies, instead returning to the familiar world of espionage and morally questionable experiments I knew and loved.
Hidden cameras, secret agents posing as random passersby, chemically modified food keeping people complacent. Memories of simpler times kept coming back to me, filling my mind with pleasant images of my struggle against the Muggle government.
I was home.
Exiting the train, I was greeted by the sight of my parents awaiting my arrival with perfect smiles on their faces. Lily was absent, most likely still having classes before the break, so the moment they spotted me, my parents immediately focused their attention on me and approached me, excitement visible in their steps.
"Michael!" exclaimed Agent Mom when she reached me, hugging me tightly. While I knew she only did this to place some sort of tracking device on me, I nevertheless reciprocated the hug without hesitation, happy to see her.
She might have been a ruthless spy whose job was to monitor me, but she was my mother. She made the best pancakes.
She was followed by an agent dad who was smiling broadly and looking at me with calculating warmth.
"You've grown, Mike," Dad said, putting his hand on my head and affectionately ruffling my hair, "you'll soon outgrow your old man. I think I'm going to cry that day."
"Don't worry, when that happens I'll help you reach the things on the high shelves," I said teasingly, affection for my handler clearly hearable in my voice. My words apparently amused my dad, as he started laughing at my joke and ruffled my hair again.
"I'll hold you to your word," he said jokingly, then looked at me with curiosity in his eyes "So tell us. How was your first semester at Hogwarts? We got your owls, and wasn't that a strange experience, but it's better to hear everything from you, right? Did you have a good time there?"
" It was fun, I think," I replied, already anticipating the question beforehand. I knew fully well that this was just Dad's method of interrogating me in detail about the wizarding world, so I had already planned to make everything as vague as possible. War between muggles and wizards was sadly inevitable, but I wanted to prolong the peace long enough to ensure my, Luna's and Tom's safety. Smoothly changing the subject to something safer to discuss, I continued "I even learned how to fish. It's surprisingly entertaining."
"Really? Then maybe we will go fishing together in the summer? We can rent a boat" Dad declared with a smile.
"Sure, it'll be fun," I replied, quite relaxed despite the unspoken suggestion that I would be thoroughly interrogated and studied during our trip together. I spent almost eleven years learning how to deal with spies and military secrets, so spending a summer doing that would be like a vacation compared to my recent struggles against the still relatively unknown and deadly Wizarding world.
That didn't mean I liked my situation, of course, but I still felt more comfortable staying at my house than at Hogwarts.
"We have you for two weeks, Michael. What do you want to do first?" asked Mom as Dad took my luggage and we started walking toward our car.
I didn't even have to think about it.
"I'd eat some Toblerone" I declared immediately. After nearly four months of consuming only fish and plants, some good old-fashioned, chemically altered, nanobot-filled chocolate would be a nice change of pace.
Luna lovegood
While Michael was reuniting with his parents, Luna and her father, Xenophilius Lovegood, were walking through the station at a sedate pace, looking for a good place to make an apparition. People were staring at them, most likely on account of Xenophilius' eccentric outfit, a mushroom-themed cape and bright yellow jacket, but neither father nor daughter paid them any attention, more interested in each other's company.
"I heard about your innovative theory on glubbers, Luna. I must say I am proud of you both as a father and as a scholar. It was very impressive, insightful and many other adjectives beginning with I" Xenophilius stated, looking at his daughter with a mixture of pride and melancholy.
"Thank you, dad. I worked really hard," Luna replied, giving him a proud yet still serene smile.
"And it's still your first year. So much more ahead of you" Xenophilius mused with a small smile before looking at Luna "Tell me, did your first semester go as you expected?"
Hearing this question, Luna thought back to things that had happened to her since the beginning of the school year.
Meeting a like-minded friend with whom she was working to make other students aware of the truth hidden behind the curtain.
Joining a secret organization created by an unseen master for still unrevealed reasons.
Encountering a prophetic elder in the woods.
Finding an abandoned nargle colony near the quidditch pitch.
Watching the school being terrorized by a malicious hydra and its unseen master, while Harry Potter and his brave friends were trying to stop them.
"Hmm, yes. It went more or less as I expected? Although I haven't come across any ministry plot yet, which is quite unexpected," Luna said with a small smile on her face. Hogwarts was fun.
"Give it time, my little moon, give it time." Xenophilius said encouragingly.
Ron Weasley
It was a typical Weasley dinner. The food was flying, Molly Weasley was yelling and Arthur Weasley was reading the Daily Prophet before work. The only difference was Ron's attitude, who instead of gorging himself on food, as was his habit, was sitting in a chair in silence, frowning.
"Why are you so mopey Ron?" asked Ginny, looking at Ron from above his plate with a confused expression on her face "It's Christmas! We can finally have some fun instead of reading some boring books!"
"I didn't know the first year of Hogwarts is so hectic that you can't have fun at school anymore. Has anything changed since I studied there?" Arthur said, looking out from behind his newspaper with a teasing smile.
"That's so not the point, Dad," - said Ginny, rolling her eyes in exasperation "We can, like, sleep more."
Ron remained silent, ignoring the usual banter between members of the Weasley family. He was sadly unable to enjoy his holiday breakfast, as he was keenly aware of the danger he was facing.
After all, Michael Brown, the vengeful lunatic whom Ron, Harry and Hermione had been investigating recently, had evidence of their use of a polyjuice potion. They expected him to use it to frame them for his crimes and stop them from snooping, but for some reason he hadn't done so yet, even though it would have been a perfect opportunity. The only rational explanation, one that Harry and Hermione agreed with, was that he planned to continue his attacks while holding on to the so-called "recorder" until he completed his sinister plan. Then he would show the recording to Dumbledore, causing Ron, Harry and Hermione to be sent to Azkaban.
Which would have been bad.
Ron was pulled away from his musings when Ginny waved her head in front of his eyes, making him blink.
"Ron, are you even listening to me?" she asked exasperatedly.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about something." replied Ron, trying to give her a sheepish smile.
"I know exactly what he was thinking about," Fred declared suddenly, causing Ron and Ginny to look at him. Ron had a bad feeling about this. "He was thinking about house elves being used as assassins by wicked purebloods!"
"What? He didn't think about the fact that the quaffle is filled with rationactive waste that causes quidditch players to have lobster?" asked George. Upon hearing this, Ginny looked at the twins quizzically, not understanding the joke, but Ron blanched. It sounded painfully familiar...
"Wait, I know! He was thinking about Professor Dumbledore being responsible for the global wizarding war…" Started Fred
"…and framing his friend Gellert Grindelwald for his war crimes" Finished George.
Ron could only stare at the twins in mute horror, unable to comprehend the events before him. Seeing his shock, the twins bestowed a Cheshire smile on him, relishing in his reaction.
"That's right, Ronald…"
"...We have joined the Brownists! Isn't it great?" They said with chaotic amusement on their faces.
Ron tried to say something in response, but his lips did not move, heavy as if they were made of lead. Brown had corrupted Fred and George! The world was doomed!
As Ron's mind crashed, drowning in panic and despair, the twins looked at each other, pleased with their successful prank.
"I think we broke him, brother. He really thinks we've joined Brown's herd."
""He really does, brother. Do you think this will work on Percy as well?
"I think Percy would get apoplexy upon hearing that."
"Consider me intrigued."
They were about to go upstairs and visit their older brother when they were stopped by Arthur.
"Boys, don't play pranks on your brothers," Arthur said simply, not bothering to say anything else, already accustomed to the antics of the twins. After a few seconds, however, he lowered the Daily Prophet and looked at them with a heavy frown on his face "Wait, what's a brownist? Fred, George, please tell me you two didn't join some cult as a joke."
"Nah, there's a weird firstie named Michael Brown who likes to spread weird theories. He and Luna Lovegood organize lectures, so some bored people listen to them. It's fun to pretend we are following him, as it freaks a lot of people out"
"Xenophilius' daughter? That makes sense," Arthur replied, no longer was certainly quite eccentric, but he was also completely harmless. The same should be the case with his daughter. " Still, do try to behave for a while. I don't need any more troubles, especially after Lucius publicly snapped and accused our house of petrifying his son in front of my entire department. Well, I got a raise, so it wasn't so bad, but still..."
"Well, we can promise to stay out of trouble..." began George.
"...But Ron is hanging out with the biggest suspect of being an heir..." continued Fred.
"...So we can't vouch for him..."
"...Especially since he has recently gotten into the habit of following younger children from afar" They finished innocently.
"Wait, what?" asked Arthur, shocked by the twins' words.
"WHAT!" Molly, who had been quietly listening to their conversation while making the cake, shouted.
Upon hearing her scream, Ron snapped back to reality, for some reason finding himself being watched by his entire family.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked, confused.
Severus Snape
After months of dealing with insufferable students, annoying teachers and an elusive basilisk, Severus finally had time to just sit back and relax.
Usually that would mean brewing some interesting potion or reading a book about some obscure, dark ( yet sometimes perfectly legal) spells, but this time he had something else in mind.
He filled a glass with the good wine he had bought for such an occasion, sat down in an armchair and reached for the book he intended to read that day.
It was a book about an ancient vampire who, after centuries of solitary mourning, found a woman identical to the one he had lost in the past. Rejuvenated by the discovery, he traveled to London to meet her, only to be harassed by annoying youths and a deranged professor helping them.
He was of course talking about Dracula, written by Bram Stoker.
He had actually heard of it before, a part of Muggle culture to which he was unwittingly exposed, but he never read it, for obvious reasons more interested in the magical part of his heritage.
His recent... encounters with a particular student, however, made him reluctantly interested in Stoker's work, so he began reading it, if only to decipher certain... peculiar sights he experienced during his legilimency trip.
Still, despite the unusual circumstances under which he encountered Stoker's work, it was quite an interesting read all things considered, though completely unrealistic when it came to vampires. Severus was currently halfway through the book and had already managed to get engrossed in the plot.
He was quietly hoping that Dracula would succeed, despite the constant abuse from these four unbearable misfits, but he knew it wasn't very likely. For some reason, most of the stories he knew seemed to glorify the irresponsible behavior that Ja-Jonathan and his gang displayed in the book.
Nevertheless, it was a great story and he intended to finish the book as soon as possible. After all, he wanted to get around to reading "Interview with a vampire" next.