Chapter 44

LB

It pained me to leave Harry at the Dursleys, but that's where we were going to now. Remus held out his arms and we looped ours through. Narcissa and Draco were unusually quiet as they stood side by side. Since Harry isn't used to sleeping in, he slept until 10.30. I had breakfast with the Malfoys and Remus. I might've let it slip how he was treated at the Dursleys when they asked why I looked so gloom. I didn't want to drop him off even it was for only two weeks. Remus and Narcissa were shocked, Draco didn't say anything, he was quiet for the rest of breakfast.

With a slight pop, we appeared around the corner of the house. I grabbed Harry's hand as we walked towards the house.

"I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you too." Harry smiled sadly. "But in less than two weeks I'm at the new house and we can meet up all the time."

"I don't want to leave you there for a minute, let alone two weeks." I glanced to Remus, who was walking to my left. His eyes were fixed on the house we were walking to, and I knew he was having a hard time with it too.

Remus knocked on the door when we arrived at the house. A few seconds later, Vernon Dursley opened the door, his eyes narrowed at Harry.

"Good evening, Mr Dursley." Remus forced a smile. He held out his hand. "I'm Remus Lupin."

"Hmph." He grunted not taking his hand. He glanced back to Harry in disgust. "We've been waiting thirty minutes for you to start dinner." He grunted. "Then you'll need to clean the bathroom and kitchen. After that straight to your room and keep your ruddy owl shut."

Remus stiffened next to me. I tilted my head to look at him. To my surprise his gaze wasn't unkind, it seemed like he adopted Narcissa' blank expression. Vernon pushed Harry harshly inside. He cleared his throat until the fat man looked at him, Harry stood behind him, glancing at his shoes.

"Are the adoption papers in order?"

"The godfather, Sirius Black?" He grunted. "Yes. He'll be picking him up on the fifteenth, not fast enough if you ask me." He grumbled the last part.

"Right." Remus frowned before he looked from me to Harry. "Harry, go pack your things... Everything." Harry's eyes widened just like mine, he glanced from Remus to me uncertain. I shot him a smile and a tiny nod, and the boy darted upstairs. "Harry's coming with us. He'll stay with us until he can move in with his godfather."

"If you take him now, he is not coming back in."

"Believe me, he is not coming back." I snarled. The pig-headed man looked to me, his eyes blazing.

"You're one of them, aren't you?" He barked.

"I am." I challenged as I took a step forward. I smirked as the Vernon stumbled back. "What is it to you?"

"Alec." Remus said calmly but with a slight warning in his voice. "Why don't you go see if Harry's nearly packed."

"I'm done." Harry's voice came from the stairs. I looked away from Vernon to see Harry looking at us with a bemused expression. "I don't have a lot of things."

I smiled honestly as I helped Harry with his bag. "We'll change that."

Without looking back, I tugged Harry out of the house. I heard Remus talk to Vernon for another minute before I heard the door close. Remus clapped in his hand excitedly as he stepped between us. "Ready to go?"

"Am I really not going back there?" Harry asked apprehensively.

"No." He shook his head determinedly. "You'll stay with us." Then he looked insecure to Harry. "Do you mind staying at the manor? I know you and Draco..."

"It will be fine, it's only for two weeks, right? I'll just hang with Alec, if she'll have me."

"You're not getting rid of me, Potter." I smirked and nudged his arm slightly. "You can meet up with Hermione or Ron too. But maybe-"

"Go there instead?" He chuckled. "Yeah, I figured." He turned to Remus. "What about Mrs Malfoy and Malfoy?"

"Oh, they already know." He said as he started walking. Harry and I shared a surprised glance before following after him.

"We were never really bringing him back, were we?" I asked once we caught up.

Remus didn't answer but the corner of his lips twitched up. Once we rounded the corner, he held out his hands, and we disappeared with a pop.

LB

Harry's been at the manor for over a week now. It was almost hilarious as the two young boys tried to avoid each other at all costs. Draco was once again in the basement working on his potions, while Harry was in the garden exploring. I leaned against the window frame as I glanced outside, Harry was walking through the rose bushes with Cissy, an unlikely sight for sure, but the two seemed to hit it off, much to Draco's frustration. I looked up when a large barn owl came flying towards my window. I gave the owl some treats before unwrapping the letter from its leg. I chuckled as I sat down on the bed, I recognised the handwriting in an instant, but that's not why I laughed. I laughed because written in red marker in bolt letters on the front stood.

TOPSECRET! NIET OPENEN WAAR ANDERE BIJ ZIJN! IK MEEN HET, ALEXANDRA FAE LUPIN-BLACK! (DO NOT OPEN WITH OTHER PEOPLE AROUND! I MEAN IT, ALEXANDRA FAE LUPIN-BLACK!)

With Harry in the garden, Draco in the basement and Remus on a job hunt, I was alone and in the clear to open the letter. With a small smile, I opened the letter as I leaned against the headboard.

Mijn liefste engel, Alec. (Kiss ass, I thought to myself with a grin)

Ik mag hopen dat je helemaal alleen bent in je kamer ofzo, anders ben je in grote problemen!

Dus de reden dat ik je schrijf is niet alleen omdat ik je mis en baal dat we elkaar deze zomer niet kunnen zien, maar ook omdat ik topgeheim nieuws heb. Jij zult denken, wat voor nieuws kan hij hebben dat voor mij van toepassing is? Omdat je zo aandringt zal ik het maar zeggen zeker? :D

Beauxbatons, Zweinstein en Durmstrang, gaan voor het eerste in eeuwen het toverschool tornooi weer opstarten. En Zweinstein gaat dit organiseren! Dit betekent dat er een dertigtal studenten van Beauxbatons en Durmstrang dit jaar in Zweinstein zullen verblijven. Ik en Jazz gaan ons inschrijven om mee te gaan, maar we zullen pas in oktober weten of we wel echt mee mogen.

Maar dit is top secret, niemand mag dit weten. Ik mag dit normaal ook niet weten, maar ik hoorde mijn vader erover spreken met mama. De schoolhoofden mogen dit pas meedelen op de eerste dag van school. Dus mondje toe ;)

Ik hoop je snel weer te zien, schat.

Liefs

Jack

((My dearest angel, Alec. I should hope you're all alone in your room or something, otherwise you're in big trouble! So, the reason I'm writing to you is not only because I miss you and hate that we can't see each other this summer, but also because I have top-secret news. You will think, what news can he have that applies to me? Since you're so insistent I'll just say it shall I? :D Beauxbatons, Hogwarts and Durmstrang, are going to restart the wizarding school tournament for the first time in centuries. And Hogwarts is going to organise it! This means about 30 students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be at Hogwarts this year. Me and Jazz are going to sign up to go along, but we won't know until October whether we'll actually be allowed to go. But this is top secret, no one is allowed to know. I'm not normally allowed to know this either, but I overheard my dad talking to Mum about it. The headmasters are only allowed to announce this on the first day of school. So shut up ;) Hope to see you again soon, darling. Love Jack)) Fuck! A Triwizard Tournament. That was not at all what I was expecting. I quickly wrote down a reply, saying I'll keep it a secret and hoped to see him soon. This was going to be hard keeping it a secret for three weeks. I hid the letter in my fake bottom drawer before heading downstairs.

LB

Just before I reached the stairs leading to the basement, Harry popped up. "Hey, where are you off to?"

"I promised Draco to help him with potions. You can come if you want."

"No, no." He shook his hands in front of him.

"Come on, Harry. You two can't avoid each other for the next week, besides, Black and Cissy seemed to get along, so you'll probably going to see him more than once." Harry stood there for a moment, contemplating. "You don't have to talk to him."

"Fine." He threw up his hands in fake frustration. "But only if you give me pointers for this years' potions."

"It's a deal!" I looped my arm through his as we descended the stairs. "But I have something much better than just pointers." I grinned as I stepped off the last step. "Hey, cous." I smiled as I walked over to the boy, who had his head over the cauldron.

"Alexandra." He said not looking up. His usual neat hair was messy, sticking out in every direction.

I rubbed my hands through his hair playfully. "I like it like this, makes you look ... less serious."

"It's a mess, that's what it is. It makes me look like Potter! I just can't seem to get the potion right."

Harry cleared his throat in amusement and both he and I had to bite our lip as Draco's head snapped up in surprise, not knowing Harry had entered the basement with me. They stared at each other for a moment, Harry was still trying to hold in a laugh but there was something else too. He looked a bit flustered, just like Draco.

"I stand by my statement." He said before snapping his head to me. "Can you have a look?"

"Sure." I smiled, ruffling his hair again. And he huffed out a breath as he stepped aside. Harry sat down in the chair in the corner again, looking at us.

"Never thought I would see you ask for help, Malfoy."

"You don't know me, Potter." Draco snapped.

"Boys." I sighed as I concentrated on the potion. They pursed their lips at each other before looking down. "Right, you put too much camomile in. Just add one-fifth of everything else to counter it."

I stepped aside and placed a second cauldron on the desk with a thud, and I looked up. "Let's go, Harry."

"What?" He asked in surprise, and Draco looked up with slightly raised eyebrows.

"You wanted to practice." I said while Draco muttered softly next to me: And he needs it. I ignored it pointedly. "Come here and take these ingredients." I said once he stood in front of me and walked to the staircase.

"Where are you going?" The two boys asked.

"Don't worry." I laughed. "I'll be right back." I left the two stunned boys behind as I darted up to my room. I quickly retrieved the books I needed and bounded back downstairs. Draco was busy with his potion while Harry stood across from him, looking up at the ceiling. I took my place next to Draco and dropped the books between me and Harry, handing the top one to him.

"These are my old potions books. You can use them for class. I've written notes and changes in the side-lines."

"Why does Harry get to have them?" Draco asked with large grey eyes.

"Because you're nearly as good at potions as I am and you have your uncle to help you. Harry does not."

"Well, if you look at it like that." He grumbled looking down, then his head shot back up. "Hey! I am as good as you."

"You wish, cousin." I laughed. "So, you want them?" I asked Harry.

"You don't need them anymore?" He asked flipping through the book.

"I had a O on my NEWT's, Harry." I smiled. "I'm good. But we're starting at the first-year potions. I need to see what you can do." I nudged my elbow in Draco's side as he snickered.

Harry took my first-year book and flipped through it, ignoring Draco. He frowned as he looked from the page to the other books. "We learned this last year, not first year." He said pointing at the girding potion.

"Lesson plans in Beauxbatons are a little different." I shrugged. "Just pick one of your first years' potions and we start from there."

As Harry started to flip through the book, Draco turned to me. "Have you chosen an apprenticeship yet?"

I saw Harry glance up from the book to me. "No." I sighed. "I still have time. They need to know by the second week of September."

"Snape came over the first week of break trying to explain what happened." He said carefully.

"Don't care. I won't do it." I looked back to Harry. "You chose one?" He nodded. "Great, you'll start on your own first. Then I can see whether you need help"

The three of us worked in silence. Harry on his own potion, while I helped Draco with a fifth-year potion. Draco and I didn't need to look at each other to know what the other needed. I caught Harry staring at us from time to time, and I knew Draco had too, because he had a smirk in place as he chopped the ingredients.

Later that night when we were both in bed, Harry said. "You and Malfoy... you two really work well together. Almost in sync."

"Been stargazing, Harry?" I snickered and the next second I was hit with a pillow in the face. "I'm keeping this, thank you." I tugged the pillow under my head.