Okay, now we've arrived at the chapter that some of you have been waiting for, though to be honest, I'm more looking forward to the next chapter.
But welcome back everyone to another chapter of Bad Moon Rising in which we are off to Hogwarts, to say hello to old faces and some new ones, and finally learn what happened between Daphne and Harry.
On with the show!
Harry Potter, September 1st, Grimmauld Place
Like any time that Harry was with the Weasley family on the morning of the start of term, it was utter chaos. Everyone was running around and packing last-minute things, finding sheets of homework they had barely finished the night before, Mrs. Weasley had come over early in the morning to help corral and control the chaos of the morning while yelling at Fred and George about some prank or rude joke they had said or done, or helping Ginny find the new wand holster she had gotten with her new wand from The Twins. The only two in the house who were packed and ready for departure were Harry and Hermione who were sitting in the kitchen watching the show with smiles on their faces while laughing at the chaos unfolding before them with Remus and Sirius.
It has been three weeks since Harry had gotten back from the Ministry to the party that Mrs. Weasley throw for him, though Harry was pretty sure the banner that said "Congratulations on not being a convict" was either Atalanta's or Sirius' idea, probably both, Harry explained the reason he was so late was that he had met with the person who had sent him the Letter of Apprenticeship at the Ministry and talked to them before finally accepting and told them it was the new DADA teacher though he didn't say who it was for the want of seeing Hermione's face when she figured out who it was.
Mrs. Weasley was thrilled for Harry and asked if they went down to the Department of Magical Education to get it finalized, which they had, Harry was surprised by with what was in the contract. After both he and Scáthach had signed the contract in blood, it effectively made her a second legal guardian for Harry more or less. Sirius still had a far greater say in what happened with Harry, but Scáthach was given a say too as long as Sirius didn't veto it, while under Scáthach's tutelage, she had to supply room and board for him, make sure no harm(within a reasonable margin) came to Harry while learning under her, Scáthach had to teach him to the best of her ability and that didn't just mean throwing him a book or two and telling to read, no, she had to make sure Harry knew what she was showing him and understood it.
There was a minimum that Scáthach had to make sure Harry was able to do in the branch of Magical Arts she was teaching him and that was making sure he would achieve Mastery in those branches they agreed upon(Defensive and Offensive Magic in regards to the Dark Arts and Transfiguration with an emphasis on Battle Magic), anything pass that was up to Scáthach to show Harry of her own free will.
In return, Scáthach could ask Harry for funding for any of her projects(Harry was her project and she didn't require anything as simple as gold), Protection within his House(Harry had let out a laugh at that), if Harry didn't have a Guardian that could sit in his house seat he could appoint her as a proxy(Scáthach cared very little of politics, and the only reason she would sit in it would be because something was endangering Harry or Hogwarts that she couldn't kill with a spear), and could technically weigh in on any marriage contracts that involved him(those had fallen out of favor in the last fifty or so years, so neither Harry nor Scáthach had to worry about that.)
Harry wasn't really worried about the contract, it was more of a formality between Harry and his Teacher, as to why Scáthach was so adamant about having one between them Harry didn't know and Scáthach refused to say, and that was something they had in common, they were both as stubborn as a mule when it came down to it. If Harry didn't want to talk about something, he didn't, Scáthach was very much the same. Harry had asked and badgered her about why she had freaked out in the Department of Mysteries and what had scared her so bad, she, of course, didn't answer him and went so far as ignoring his questions, so Harry, in respect for his teacher, had let it drop; But still, it bothered him deeply about what he had heard in the Veil.
"Is everyone packed and ready?!" Moody growled looking around at the collected Weasley brood, Harry, and Hermione, and as everyone gives him a confirming nod he waves his wand shrinking everyone's trunks before speaking again, "Alright listen up, you lot will be in the middle and try not to group up in the middle too much to give them a clear shot to take out a few of you at once," Moody snaps at the school children in the room, "Molly and Atalanta will be flanking on either side, Bill and Remus in the back with me and Sirius upfront, Tonks is blending in with the crowd to take any of the enemy by surprise," he says as he puts on a bowler hat before tipping it over his magical eye.
"Now, if we are attacked, you kids scatter to the winds and make it back here as soon as you can, this is the one place outside Hogwarts that can be considered mostly safe," Moody continues looking at each of the children in the eyes, "And if you see one of us fall, for the love of mother magic, don't stop, just run, UNDERSTAND?!" he barks at them causing most of them to jump.
"And I swear Potter, if I see you try jumping into the fight, I'll kill you myself," Moody snaps one last time before throwing open the door and stepping out on the stoop.
"Honestly, the nicest chap I've ever met," Sirius mutters with a smirk as he shakes his head, causing Harry to grin as well and Atalanta to laugh.
"I heard that Black!"
Harry Potter, Kings Cross.
By the time Harry arrived at Kings Cross, his stomach was in knots and it wasn't just from the short ride on an overcrowded Knight Bus either. Harry knew he would be seeing Daphne today, someone he aggressively tried not to think about all summer. The Weasleys and Hermione coming over had helped as did the sparing he did with Atalanta helped drive the thoughts from his mind, but they would always sneak in when he didn't want them to, which did nothing but put him in a horrid mood. Every time he thought about it, all he could see were purple eyes filled with tears just past emerald flames with Defiance in them, refusing to be given an ultimatum.
"I won't, I refuse to bend to the whims of a madman," Daphne said, showing off her claws for the first time which made Harry so proud of her.
Harry kept his head down while darting through the crowd of kids and parents seeing them off, being assaulted by all the sounds and smells that were pounding in his forehead like a hammer, he wanted to get to his compartment as fast as possible to tamper down on the pounding before it became a full grown migraine. Their group pushes through the crowd, making sure to avoid the Malfoys that were standing by the middle of the train talking to Draco who was hanging out the window to speak to them, Harry had no idea what they were talking about nor did he care before turning to Sirius and Atalanta giving them both hugs and telling them he'd see them during Christmas Holidays before Hugging Remus and Mrs. Weasley, both of them telling him to stay out of trouble, to which both Sirius and Atalanta laughed at.
"You do remember who you're talking to right, Molly?" Sirius says with a grin before throwing his arm over Harry's shoulder, "He's a Potter, he's gonna find trouble one way or another,"
"And a Hunter," Atalanta adds, doing the same thing as Sirius on his other shoulder, "Which means whatever trouble finds him, he'll give it hell," she says with her own grin before Harry looks over at Atalanta with a small grin of his own.
"Don't I always?" Harry asks with a lopsided smirk, causing Atalanta to laugh before Harry waves by to Tonks, Mr. Weasley, and Bill before He, Hermione, and the rest of the Weasleys board the Hogwarts Express before moving to the back of the train, to the last compartment on the left-hand side.
The Twins immediately split off saying that they were gonna find Lee Jordan along with the rest of the Quidditch team as Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry all begin to push throw the crowd of students, old and new, to get to the compartment with Harry in the lead causing half of the students to shoot to the other side of the hallway to avoid him, while he had a better understanding of why people now did this, it still bothered him a bit, and it wasn't like the Prophet helped with that either. When they finally made it to their normal compartment, Hermione was nagging at Ron about getting changed into their robes as fast as possible.
"But why?" Ron asked as he moved pasted a few kids that looked to be starting their first year at Hogwarts, "We're not gonna be at Hogwarts for another few hours," He says with a roll of his eyes.
"Honestly, Ronald," Hermione says with an aggravated sigh, "Didn't you read the letter that came with the prefect badge?" she asks, turning to Ron just to see him shrug.
"Not really, just reckoned you'd tell me anything important I would have missed," Ron says just as they made it to the compartment and Harry could hear Hermione grind her teeth in frustration, honestly, he couldn't play her, but with the building headache, Harry didn't want to deal with the oncoming screaming match.
"Can you two please not start this?" Harry says angrily as he rubbed his forehead with his eyes clenched shut, wanting nothing more than quiet.
"Ronald, I am honestly getting sick and tired of this lazy attitude you have," Hermione quickly snaps at him as she turns around to glare at Ron, "This is our O.W.L year, that laziness isn't going to cut it anymore, do you understand me?" she says, putting her hands on her hips.
"Oi, calm down, Hermione, our O.W.L's are loads off, we've got time-" Ron begins to say, as he tries to move around Hermione, as Ginny opens the compartment door and Harry lets out an aggravated sigh. Harry, finally having had enough, turns around to tell them to either get a room or stuff it, but freezes as he does.
Daphne was walking toward him, her back straight and her head held high and proud with her purple eyes focusing right on him, as Harry's heart dropped into his stomach he wondered why she was walking toward him. Daphne wasn't going to do this until they got off at Hogsmeade, at least that's what she told him, but then Harry sees why, Tracey was standing in the Hallway of the train with Pansy fucking Parkinson, so all Harry could do was force a smile and brace himself as Daphne brushed past Ron and Hermione.
"Hey, Daphn-" was as far as Harry got before he was cut off by one swift slap.
Smack!
It echoed down the hallway like a gunshot as Daphne smacked him so hard that it almost knocked Harry to the ground but was lucky enough to catch himself on the wall, and the surprise on Harry's face was as real as everyone else in the hallway that turned to look at what had made the sound. Both Tracey and Pansy had turned to look, along with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, the two Slytherins and Ginny both had gobsmacked expressions on their faces as they looked on with shock. Ron looked confused and worried, Hermione had a wide eye look of shock that was quickly morphing into one of anger. Harry pushes himself off the wall one hand pressed to the side of his face where the bright red mark of a handprint was quickly becoming prominent to find Daphne's finger directly in his face.
"You!" Daphne hissed through her teeth, "Lying little cretin, you told me you'd never lie, that you would never mislead, but that's all you've done since the end of the last school year," She spoke with anger, her rage piercing through Harry like a white-hot blade, "Spitting on the graves of those who died fighting The Dark Lord, of you own parents!" she shouts at him as Harry looked away from her anger filled eyes, "Then you go around practicing dark magic for kicks and giggles," Daphne says with a sneer before taking a step back and away from Harry as she shook her head at Harry with a disgusted look.
"Daphne,-" Harry tries to say but she quickly cuts him off.
"No!" Daphne snaps at him, "I can't take it, I won't, I-I-," She says as her eyes begin to water and her words almost fail her as she almost falters, but Daphne was always one to see something through to the end when she had made up her mind, "I never want to see or speak to you again, Potter," Daphne says with an ice cold expression on her face before she turns on her heel and begins to March away, with Harry watching her go with one hand pressed to his face where she had slapped him again.
Harry doesn't move to chase after her, he doesn't call out to her, all he does is watch as the crowd parts and the older students look on with shock at Daphne as she had just struck Harry Potter and walked away like nothing at all. Harry, however, all Harry felt was the strange and sudden sensation of loss, as if he was robbed of something he hadn't known he had and it ate at him in his guts; almost missing the fact that Hermione had raised her wand and aimed it at Daphne's back with a look of outrage and anger.
Before the words could even leave her lips, Harry's hand grabbed her arm and jerked it upwards so the spell fire did nothing but splash across the ceiling of the train leaving a nasty scorch mark across it.
"No! Harry let me go this instance!" Hermione yelled at Harry right before Harry looped his arm around her waist and picked her up and dragged her off inside the compartment with a confused-looking Ron and Ginny falling behind them, "Let me go! I'm going to hex that little blonde bitch!" she snaps while struggling before Harry tosses her onto one of the seats.
"Hermione, stop," Harry says, sounding tired, but the bushy-headed bookworm just shoots to her feet and tries to slip past Harry only for the boy to step in her way, "Stop," Harry says, more firmly this time.
"No, now move Harry so I can properly curse her," Hermione says through gritted teeth and gripping her wand hard, but Harry still doesn't move.
"You're not gonna do that, Hermione, so please, just stop," Harry asks, his voice straining a bit to hold back his temper.
"No, Harry, I very much am going to go curse that stupid bint, now move!" Hermione says before trying to push past the immovable wall that was Harry.
"No, you're not, now sit down, Please," Harry says again as he points at the seat behind her.
"If you won't let Hermione, I'll sure as hell go do it," Ginny mutters from behind him.
"Not Helping, Ginny!" Harry says through gritted teeth.
"Harry, she hit you!"
"And so did you!" Harry finally screams, his anger finally slipping, causing the Hunt to leak into his words and making Hermione swiftly take a step back from Harry, her eyes wide as Harry begins to breathe deeply trying to rein himself in, "So did you," he says through gritted teeth, "But unlike you, she didn't hit me because she was afraid or thought I put my name in a fucking cup, she hit me because she had to sell it," Harry tells Hermione before letting his wand drop into his hand before sending a silencing charm at the walls of the compartment.
"W-what?" Hermione asks, confused and trying to fight off the influence of the Hunt she was caught in as she looked into the slitted emerald eyes of her best friend.
"Daphne didn't want to fucking do that, she didn't want to break up with me, but they gave her no choice," Harry snarls at Hermione, vaguely aware of Ron pulling Ginny behind him and raising his wand to point at the back of Harry's head as a fifth person watched up.
"Who?" Hermione asks meekly, but from the look in her eyes, she already knew.
"Who the fuck do you think!?" Harry yelled, throwing his hands in the air in aggravation, "The Death Eating Cunts! They basically threatened her dad, bring us the boy they said, our lord will cure the malediction, they promised," Harry says sarcastically as Hermione starts to back away slowly, "So, guess fucking what, Her dad left the choice in her hands and she chose fucking neither!" Harry says throwing his hands in the air because there wasn't anything else he could do but ignore the Hunt scratching at his mind wanting in, wanting him to hunt, "She wasn't about to turn me over to them for anything but she wasn't about to let them threaten Astoria or her family either, so WE Decided to break it off but know we had to do it loud and in public so all the death eater rugrats can go tell their snake fucking parents that Daphne Greengrass was no long dating the school's star sociopath!" Harry yells, working himself up into a tizzy.
"Harry, Mate, how about we take a breath-" Ron says, trying to calm Harry down, but Harry was on a roll and the dam of collective emotions and the host of stress he has had to deal with had burst by the hand of someone he liked.
"I swear to Artemis Ron if tell me to calm down in any way, shape, or form, I will actually be pissed off!" Harry says as he turns swiftly to glare at the redhead, ignoring the wand now aimed between his eyes and the fear in Ginny's as she starts to shake, "Because I am fine!" he says through gritted teeth.
"Oh, Harry, I don't think you even know what that is," She said with tears in her eyes, crying over the boy locked in the cupboard.
Harry's teeth almost crack with the pressure he puts on them, and his hands clenched into fists. All he wanted to do was to hit something, to hit someone, to hunt, to hunt something, and in his current mood he didn't feel picky about it because it wasn't fair. Nothing in his life was, The Dursleys and the Cupboard, The Tri-Wizard tournament, and the Monster, the Morrígan, and the stupid fucking trial. It was like he couldn't have one good thing, one nice thing, one normal bloody thing.
"Are you sure, Harry Potter? Because it does not seem like you are," another voice asks.
"What the fuck would you know!?" Harry snaps at the person, whipping his head toward the voice that spoke, and the first thing Harry saw was the widest eye look he had ever been on the receiving end too, but unlike most others who had looked at him like that, there wasn't a hint of fear in the misty sky blue eyes as one of the oddest looking girls tilts her head cutely to the side with a pouty expression, but a look of curiosity. She wore soft blues and dark bronze, and her hair was a tangled mess of platinum blond ringlets that fell all over her back and shoulders, setting on top of her head was the oddest pair of 3D glasses Harry had ever seen as the odd girl held the magazine she was reading upside down, and to finish it all off, the girl was wearing what looked to be a necklace of butterbeer corks, radishes earrings, and her wand was tucked behind her ear.
"Well, I would imagine that your life as of late has been very tough, with the dark lord returning, the Ministry lizard man trying to discredit you, and your secret magic Harem falling apart," The odd girl says in a dreamy tone of voice while nodding sagely, and as her words process in Harry's mind, the gears that make up his thought process sputters to a halt.
"Wh-what?" Harry asks while jerking his head back as if he was struck, his anger vanishing to confusion and shock.
"What what, Harry Potter?" The girl asks, tilting her head the other way, the wide eye curiosity never leaving her face.
"Most of…what you just said," Harry says after a moment, his anger forgotten about momentarily as he just looked at the odd girl who was now smiling back at him and everyone else in the compartment.
"Well, you see the Wizengamot has been infiltrated by a species of lizard man from the underground kingdoms with plots and plans to take over the world, and they see the dark lord as the best way to do this, Fudge, however, isn't one of them, he just wants to bake all Goblins into pies and feed them to the political enemies he imprisoned in Azkaban, but that's another matter altogether, here you can read about it in this week's copy," The girl says before holding up the copy of a magazine called The Quibbler, to which Harry slowly takes from her, "Daddy thinks that the secret magical Harem was started by Dumbledore so he could have a squad of magically powerful children to force out the lizard men of Wizengamot in the next twenty years or so, but I think it was started by the pretty goddess for a reason that remains unclear to us for now; I was going to try and infiltrate it this year in hopes of finding out the truth with the help of Ginerva," she says with a nod of her head as if this was her mission in life, "I would of course be on all the birth control potions to avoid becoming pregnant and falling into whatever diabolical plans that goddess had cooked up for you Harry Potter, but by the sound of it, you now have an opening for it, so how would one go about joining like Ginerva did?" she asks, looking at Harry.
Ron, Hermione, and Harry all slowly turn to look at Ginny whose face was currently buried in her hands as she was going her best impression of a tomato, "Luna," Ginny says with a sigh before dropping her hands to her side and tilting her head back, "How many times do I have to tell you, There is no secret magical Harem!?" she says, sounding mortified.
The girl, Luna, continues to look at Harry and tilts her head again, "Is what Ginerva said true?" she asks Harry, who was still staring at Luna in bafflement, but he slowly nods his head to which the girl frowns, "Well, that's a bit disappointing," She says before reaching over to a messenger back that was painted all kinds of colors of the rainbow in random chaotic patterns and opens it up and pulling out a brochure of some kind before standing up and handing to Harry as well, "Would you please return this to your mother and tell her: thank you for the offer but I wish to spend my life looking and protecting creatures rather than hunting and killing them, though I do respect what she does for the world as a whole," Luna says with a smile.
Harry's only response to the odd girl mirrored most in the room as he speaks it out loud, "What the fu-"
Daphne Greengrass
"Cold and aloof, cold and aloof, don't feel it yet, don't show it," Daphne thinks to herself as she walks quickly down the hall back to the compartment she was going to share with her friends, her hand was throbbing in pain from how hard she had just- "Cold and aloof, don't think about it, don't show it," She thinks once more trying to clear her mind from all the intrusive thoughts and emotions as her father had shown her. She makes it to her compartment and feels a small amount of relief to find no one inside; she quickly closes the blinds to the hall before putting up a quick silencing charm, walking over to a seat and sitting down, cradling her hand as her mental walls fall and the first sob escapes her chest.
The tears fall like rain as Daphne hunches over, weeping at what she had just done, what she had just lost, and for the boy she had to do it too.
When her father had called her into his office, she knew that whatever had happened with Mangraus Carrow, who had arrived earlier in the day to speak to her father, hadn't gone how her father had expected. He explained to Daphne what had been offered, in exchange for his help in tricking and trapping Harry for the dark lord to kill him, Voldemort would tell them the cure for the Greengrass malediction, and if anyone knew how to remove the curse, it would be one of the most powerful dark wizards in history.
Daphne's father had told Carrow that he would need time to think about it, but that was a lie, Cyrus Greengrass was many things, and one of them was a father. He had told Daphne he refused to sacrifice one daughter's happiness for the other and left the choice to her, and whatever choice she made, he would understand and stand with her on it. But Daphne couldn't make the choice either, and like a true daughter of the House of Greengrass, she created a third choice and told Harry about what had transpired, she would not betray him like that but she also wouldn't put her family in the crosshairs of a violent psychopath with a God complex. So, they would break up, loudly, in front of the whole school so all the sons and daughters of the House that supported Voldemort would know.
Harry, the impossible, brilliant, handsome, crazy, sad, brave, dangerous, and loving boy, had understood and agreed with her, Harry hadn't wanted her in danger either, not to make her choose between him and her sister.
She had never gotten the chance to tell him how much she loved him in the end, and some cruel part of her mind knew that was for the best, for she didn't want to cause Harry more heartbreak in his life than he had already been through.
Daphne doesn't hear the door to the compartment open, not the muttered locking spell from the person who came in, but she does feel the warm arms of Tracey wrap around her and pull her into a hug, "Shhh, luv, shhh, it's okay," she whispers into Daphne's ears as she pulls her close and Daphne hugs on to Tracey for dear life.
"I hit him, I hit him," Daphne sobs into the chest of Tracey, the true meaning of the words lost on her best friend as she rocks her back and forth whispering words of comfort to the girl in her arms whose heart was breaking over the boy locked in the cupboard.
Hermione Granger, The Hogwarts Express, hours later.
There was something wrong with Harry Potter, and for once, Hermione had no idea what had caused it.
Hermione and Ron were finally done with their shift of patrolling the hallway of the Hogwarts Express after meeting with all the other prefects on the train with the head boy and head girl. They had stopped a few altercations between other students, answered questions for the newest batch of first year's, and had tried to unsuccessfully stop the Twins from causing their very own brand of havoc and mischief, while Hermione was more than willing to turn a blind eye to some of the twin's shenanigans, she put her foot down at pranking anyone under the third year or harming someone cruelly, but thankfully the Twins were never the type of people to bully others, or prank someone who couldn't undo it themselves.
But it was the sixth year's prefect's turn to patrol and handle whatever the Twins got up to, She, and most likely Ron had something more important to attend to, their best friend. Luckily, Harry was a creature of habit and would rarely leave the compartment that he claimed as his own during their first year in hopes to avoid everyone else, but as soon as Hermione had thrown open the compartment door she, once again, thought that there was something wrong with Harry Potter.
Harry was sitting in his seat across from the odd girl known as Luna Lovegood as she was staring out the window lost in whatever crazy thought that was currently occupying her mind, absentmindedly petting a black cat that had a large white spot on its chest. Crookshanks looks up from Harry's lap she is currently occupied and meows once at Hermione as the girl looks at Harry.
Who was glaring at the cat on Luna's lap?
A cat that was looking back at Harry unblinkingly.
Hermione looks over the Ginny and Neville(who apparently arrived after she and Ron had left) both of which was looking in between Harry and the cat with concerned looks, but as Hermione raised a brow to both of them, they just shrugged, neither of them knowing what was going on between Harry and Luna's cat. Normally, Harry loved animals, all kinds of them, and would repetitively say that they were easier to understand than most humans, it had gone so far that when Crookshanks would lay on Harry's lap to snuggle up and sleep, he would adamantly refuse to go anywhere so long as Crookshakes was sleeping on his lap.
"Harry?" Hermione asks carefully as she walks in with Ron, "Did Luna's cat do something to offend you?" she asks as she sits down on his right and pulls Crookshanks off his lap, letting him lean forward to glare harder at the cat as Ron takes the seat between Luna and Neville looking between Harry and the Car.
"It's not a cat," Harry growls out, and as Hermione's eyes widen, Ron's wand finds his hand as he discretely aims it at the cat.
Luna turns back to look back at Harry, her brow furrowed, "You can tell that too?" she asks, causing everyone but Harry to turn to look at Luna.
"Ah, Luna, that looks like a normal cat to me," Ginny says with a frown as Neville nods.
"Yeah, kinda weird one to be honest, but it looks like a normal cat, not even a kneazle," Neville says with a frown of his own as he adjusts the magical cactus.
"Meow," The cat says right before Harry leaps out of his seat to point at the cat in Luna's lap.
"Don't even start that shit with me, buddy!" Harry snaps at the feline, "I know your fucking game! And if you weren't using Luna as a cover I'd make you into a pair of slippers," he snaps angrily at the cat who looked to be…smiling?
"Meow," goes Luna's cat.
"Harry, I know you're having a bad day, but that's just a cat," Ginny says, looking between Harry and the cat on her best friend's lap.
"It's not a cat!" Harry says through gritted teeth, pointing at the cat, "It's a gods be damned fea, its name is Cait-Sith," he says angrily.
"The Welsh trickster?" Hermione asks, now looking at the cat with narrowed eyes and hitting her lower lip, "It does look like the description of the King of Cats," Hermione thinks to herself.
"Meow," Goes the cat again as it grin? Goes wider just before Luna bops the cat on the top of the head and it breaks eye contact with Harry to look up at Luna, "Meow?" it asks?
"Be nice, or no more pets or treats for the rest of the train ride," Luna tells her cat before it meows another time before crossing its paws and laying its head down on them to nap, "I am sorry about it Harry Potter, it is a bit of a brat, it hasn't even told me it's named until you just said it, I've been calling it Mister Kitty-What since I met it last year, but I promise, he is rather nice once you get to know it," She says with a dream smile before the cat lets out another meow and Luna looks down at it before scratching it behind the ears, "Yes, and adorable too," she says with a small smile.
Harry was now looking at the pair oddly before sitting back down, his eyes drifting to the cat on Luna's lap, much like everyone else was doing, "Just…keep it away from me, or I'm going to toss it into the black lake or something," he says before crossing his arms over his chest.
"I'll try, but it does have a mind of its own from time to time," Luna says with a smile before she goes back to petting the cat like everything Harry had told her was irrelevant to the cute and cuddly kitty on her lap.
Harry Potter, Hogwarts.
Harry couldn't hold back his grin as he stepped off the train dressed in his Gryffindor robes(He only had them to the opening feast before switching them out for his jacket, which was more than fine) no matter how crappy the train ride to Hogwarts was between Daphne and Cait-fucking-Sith, Hogwarts was still home, but now in that home ruled one of Harry's favorite people, Er, god's, whatever! Scáthach was finally back in her castle and Harry could not wait to get back to training with her as soon as he could; if he was going to kill Voldemort, to end the war soon to come, he had to get better and fast. But now they were no longer hampered by the time limit in the Land of Shadows, not the need to rest from leaving it, and Harry was looking forward to it.
So, as Hedwig drifts down from her perch where she was sitting waiting for him to show up and lands on his shoulder, Harry eagerly crosses the station to get to an empty carriage as fast as he could with Hermione and Ron following close behind.
"Harry, Harry! Slow down!" Hermione calls out pushing her way through the crowd, "Seriously Harry, why are you rushing?" she asks once she and Ron catch up to him at the front of the carriage line watching as bounced up and down with an excited grin and split pupils that had both of them bewilder, "Is it about that note you got on the express?" she asks and watches Harry shake his head.
Around two in the afternoon, some second-year had come knocking on the compartment door to hand Harry a note from some Professor on the train inviting him and a few other students to lunch or something, Hermione had read it and said it was for something called the "Slug Club", Harry had chunked it out the window. A club meant people, people meant they were talking, and talking meant a headache and Harry only wanted to suffer from two of them today. Thank you very much!
As the next set of carriages pulled up and the doors swing open, Harry quickly moves to hop in one, but freezes as the wind blows bring with it scents up from the Black Lake, once the scent stops Harry as his head whips around to look in that direction, it had smelt like…"Bubblegum," Harry thinks to himself before shaking his head and throwing himself into the carriage, where he was quickly followed by Luna sans her "cat", Ginny, Neville, Ron, and Hermione.
"Come on, mate, out with it," Ron says as he sits down across from Harry, watching his friend slap his knees and bounce in his seat in excitement, "It's the new DADA profess, innit?" he asks, smiling himself, Ron rarely ever sees Harry this excited barring any Hunt he goes on.
Harry just smiles and nods, eyes bright with excitement.
"You know who it is this year?" Neville asks, looking over at Harry, who just nods with a smile.
"Apparently, it's the same person who offered Harry an apprenticeship under them, though he has refused to go into any detail about who that is," Hermione says with a slightly playful glare at the grinning loon that was her best friend at the moment, as Neville's eyes go wide and his head snaps back to Harry.
"Congratulations mate!" Neville says with a big grin, "That's amazing to hear," he says as Harry just nods before knocking on the roof of the carriage in hopes to get it moving faster. It would be another agonizing ten minutes before they make it to Hogwarts with everyone badging him with questions he promptly ignores. By the time the carriages stop, Harry was more than ready to get out of the tiny space and jumps from the carriage, but as soon as he lands, a blood-curtailing scream cuts through the air, giving Harry pause for only half a second before taking off to where he had heard come from.
A large crowd of people had gathered around the main entrance of Hogwarts, muttering and whispering to one another as Harry pushed through the crowd, Serpent-Hunter in hand and already reaching toward the tap in his mind, only stopping when he hears his name being called in panic by two people.
"Harry! Harry! Thank Shiva!" Parvati yells as she runs up to him with Lavender Brown right behind her, "Harry you have to help! Its-its the Grimm!" she says shakily as she hides behind him with Lavender.
"What?" Harry asks, sounding confused, Sirius was back in London.
"The Grimm is by the door to Hogwarts!" Lavender says, pointing towards the door as the panicked whispers begin to pick up for those who were listening to them, "You've dealt with them before, right?! Go-go stab it with that spear or whatever you have," Lavender demands looking pale.
Harry's eyes narrow before he starts pushing through the crowd, yelling at people to make a hole for him until he finally steps onto the steps of Hogwarts to see the Grimm, and Harry had to admit, it did look like one. It was a massive Irish Wolfhound with shaggy black fur as dark as the shadows of Dún Scaith, it was currently laying down with its head on crossed paws and its side leaning against the open doors to Hogwarts snoozing lightly. The only thing that made Harry stop his approach other than he knew the bloody breed of the dog(even if the beast was bigger than normal) was the fact that Misses Norris was laying on top of the hound sleeping as well. Harry lets out a sigh, "It's not a bloody Grimm, it's just a big Irish Wolfhound, it's probably harmless," Harry calls out before slipping Serpent-Hunter back into his pocket and walking over to the hound.
The beast opens its eyes as it hears Harry approach and the first thing it does, is start wagging its tail, causing Harry to smile as he leans down and starts to scratch it behind the ears much to the hound's enjoyment before reaching over to do the same to Misses Norris, "He's-" Harry says before looking at the hound who huffs at him, "-Yeah, He's friendly," He calls out behind him before standing up and watches as people give him and the hound a wide berth as he waits for everyone else to catch up before leaving with Ron and Hermione, ready to sit down and eat as he enjoys the look of shock that Hermione will surely have when she figures out the Queen has finally returned to her castle.
Chapter done!
So, three major things to go over in this chapter.
First off: Daphne.
She was never planned to be the long-term love interest of Harry if you guys and gals go back to the heir and the champions the first tarot card she appears on is the three of cups, which when inverted on the Relationship part of the spread, it means "A short but passionate relationship that is doomed to fail" but when you get it face up, it means something like a long and prosperous friendship, hence why Theodore was on it as well.
Daphne represents young puppy love, the school crush, and the relationship that didn't work out but not because of their fault. She's there to introduce Harry to the idea of romantic love. This is why Daphne is heartbroken over this, because she did love him, and Harry loved her but he and his emotions are always at odds with each other and he doesn't know how to express it properly so he suppresses them.
All in all, I have four loves planned for Harry:
Puppy Love: Daphne.
True love that ends in tragedy: Give ya 3 guesses who that will be.
A love that helps him finally learn how to let go of the ghosts that he stubbornly clings to and helps him to move past them.
And his final love, the one who knows how damaged he is and helps him understand how to fix it, even if it's not perfect, and accepts his faults and all.
And yes, one will be a goddess.
Luna motherfucking Lovegood.
She has shown up as either a background or side character we've seen from time to time, but now it is time for her to join the main cast of characters. In the books she isn't just weird and odd, she's a conspiracy theorist, and Ladies and Gentleman, I'm not gonna lie, we gonna get weird with that fact.
Luna will be playing a big role this year when we get to what scáthach has planned for this year, it's gonna be a blast, I promise you all.
The Hound guarding the door:
Does anyone care to guess at where the hound came from?
How about who it belongs too?
Or maybe, it's true identity?
But we're finally back at Hogwarts! So let's kick this year off right, shall we?
The next chapter:
Devil's Daughter.
Kingsaxcul, Out!