Relief
Sev left the Training Hall last with his escort. Just as they had done to get from the dungeons to the Dining Hall and from there to the Training Hall in the morning, the five of them surrounded him. Jack and the Sly couple, taller, in front, and Deborah and Anthony behind, to avoid, as much as possible, him being photographed by journalists.
He thought, Now we're sure to run into them, and they're exposing themselves instead of myself. I don't deserve them. That's how it was. There are reporters in the entrance hall, but they're so busy trying to interview the huge number of people who've gotten here before us that they're not noticing our movement. Perfect.
Nobody is going to say anything inconvenient, they just proved it to me by giving me a hundred hugs. If I didn't have to communicate urgently with Albus, we were going straight home, they would bring me something from the kitchens for lunch. I hope they don't go into the Great Hall.
They finally entered and went to their places. Albus is here. Good. Ariel and Shelley were already waiting for them.
"How are you, honey?" Sev asked the boy.
"Wow, Sev, you've become very famous. Journalists have asked my friends and me about you."
"I can imagine. Have you told them something?"
"Yes, Hippolyta has spoken," Ariel answered. "She has told them that you are a very good wizard and that the whole House loves you."
Loyal. They have already started to clear my name. "Nothing about training?"
"Of course not, Sev. That's a secret, like when we trained in the Forest."
"And about learning curses?"
"How were we going to tell them that, Sev?" shocked. "That's illegal, we all know it."
The one who never cheats at anything, but for curses, he does, Sev thought. It is to eat him. Discreet and reliable Slys, what a relief. He ruffled his hair. "Thank you very much honey. Give also thanks to your friends for me."
"Of course, I'll do it."
"Come on, let's go have lunch."
Sev projected to Dumbledore, "Albus, I am Prince. It is urgent that we speak."
"Sure. Tell me, Prince."
"I left a loose end regarding my place of residence. I'm listed in the Ministry's Scholarship Registry and if they have infiltrated spies they can find out that way."
"Ah… that. My, I'm so sorry, I forgot to tell you yesterday," the Headmaster apologized. "I already took care of that months ago, since you started training with the Guard. I made every document that contained your name and address disappear and I Obliviated the officials who saw me do it."
Sev laughed. (Wow… without any scruples. Lauren already told me to be careful with him.) "My, what a relief, Albus. I've been thinking since breakfast that I was going to have to go this afternoon to rescue my mother from home."
"I am very sorry, Prince, it was a serious mistake of mine. I forgot to tell you."
(Poor man. With everything he had in his head yesterday plus everything I put into it, normal.) "Don't worry, Albus, I didn't think of it either until this morning. Thank you so much." (And I'm really surprised that Lauren didn't warn me about it when the risky address thing came up. She also knows I'm an scholarship holder.)
"How was the training?" Dumbledore asked.
"Great, you calculated well. One hundred and four people. Sly, Rave and Gryff except fifth-year in full and about ten more Huffles than yesterday. They all hugged me on the way out."
"You are a true leader, Prince, our ace up the sleeve. You have united the whole school."
"Thank you very much for providing us with the space. It is spectacular," Sev said.
"It was the least I could do."
"You have done many things, Albus. You are even seeing yourself exposed to the Ministry."
"Well… don't worry about that, I'm beyond that, I'll handle that. Worry about yourself, you are indeed exposing yourself, it would have been better if you didn't come to lunch."
"I already thought about it, but I had to talk to you about my address."
"Of course, a serious mistake of mine," the old man recognized. "Don't worry, have a quiet lunch and don't leave the Great Hall until I tell you. Don't be scared if they come in, they want to photograph the half-empty Sly table, but I won't let them near where you are. It will serve as an excuse to throw them out of school, they already have enough meat. Talk to your girlfriend for a while and relax."
"Thank you, Albus."
Sev spoke to Jack out loud, "Jack, my address at the Ministry is arranged. Albus made it disappear months ago."
"Oh..." Jack said, relieved. "And how come he didn't tell you yesterday?"
(Because I killed him in disgust.) "He forgot. I didn't tell him anything either. If it's been months since he did it, it's normal."
"He is old, poor man."
"Sure."
"Well, now that we've come here, have a quiet lunch and take the opportunity to talk to Lily," said his friend.
"Yeah. That's what I'm going to do."
Sev projected to Lily, "Hi, my love, how are you?"
"Very good. We have spent the morning in your glade," she replied.
"Yes, Alice and Frank have already told me. What have you done?"
"We have taught Cecile curses."
"Wow... I can't imagine her throwing them, or Remus teaching them," he commented.
"Well, they are both perfectly capable."
"Oh…" They are Gryff. Brave.
"We have also trained for a while and they have started with the Projection," Lily continued. "They already get it from a foot away, in the eyes."
Sev thought, Gryff, gregarious and communicative, and even more between the three of them, who are confident. "Wonderful. Let them keep practicing and soon they will get it through the Great Hall table too."
"Sure, but when we change places tomorrow I'm going to put myself on the same side as them, facing you, to see each other."
"Great, I'll love it. I think next weekend you can come to train. There was the entire Gryff House except for the fifth-years and the two malefics."
"What a triumph, Sev."
"Indeed, we were one hundred and four. Also all the Slys and Raves and ten more Huffles."
"Wooow…"
"I received a hundred hugs before leaving the Training Hall," he said.
"What are you saying?"
"What you're hearing, everyone has hugged me, everyone was worried about me and eager to give me their support. I have more than a hundred friends."
"How wonderful, Sev. A month ago you had fourteen and Dad said that there were already many."
"And Alice, Frank, Genevre and Jack have offered to escort me in the summer if necessary."
"Wow... that's why you're much calmer than in the morning."
"No, that was not the case in the morning," Sev clarified. "I got so nervous because I had just realized that my address is in the Ministry, in the Register of Scholars, and if Voldemort has spies there they could find it out tomorrow and go for Mum."
"Booaah… of course…"
"Don't be scared, it's already solved. Albus took it upon himself to eliminate it months ago, he forgot to tell me yesterday. I have run out of scholarship."
"Well, Sev, that's the least of it, he'll give you a scholarship if necessary," Lily reassured him. "And otherwise, my parents will help us, you know that."
"I still have all the money we had left over at Easter."
"Sure, and me."
"Because maybe with all the mess I'll also lose St. Mungo's thing," he lamented.
"Don't worry about that now. You have to find some time to Summon gifts and send them to my Mum, she is still waiting for them."
"Yeah, you're right, this afternoon I'll do it. I am also going to write to the mediwizard. I'll ask Jack or Anthony to send the letters tonight."
"Of course, Sev, don't leave your house. Take the opportunity to study and do your things outside of this."
"Well yes. I really need to be alone. Maybe I won't even come to dinner anymore. Let them bring me something from the kitchens and that's it."
"Sure, Sev, rest. You must be exhausted, so many emotions and tension."
"Yes, and the week that awaits me. I think I'm going to have to use the Time-Turner almost every day."
"How awful, Sev…"
"This morning I have come to think that it would have been much easier and less dangerous for the people I love if I had become a Death Eater and that's it. Then I would only have screwed up myself."
"But what are you saying? You would have become a murderer, and this way what you are going to do is save lives."
"I am also going to teach how to kill, Lily."
"But to kill the bad guys."
"That of good and bad is very relative, you already saw Lucius. And in a war nobody is good completely, everything is lost lives. I have had a talk with the fourth-years, to warn them not to get into Defense if they are not convinced that they want to fight."
"You have done well, Sev."
"And by the way I took the opportunity to find a boyfriend for Audrey."
"The girl you were with yesterday?"
"Yeah."
"But, don't you want to be with her again?" she asked.
"I don't, because I have found a boy who suits her like a glove and I don't want her to cheat on him. He is Genevre's brother."
"My, you're back to the unsatisfied lover."
"Always," he replied.
"Don't you ever think about yourself, Sev?"
"Yes, but never ahead of the others."
"The one who said that he was selfish. I hope you've crossed it off by now."
"I have not done it, but I will do it this afternoon. You're right, I'm not selfish at all," he admitted.
At that moment the journalists burst into the Great Hall. Sev thought, They have not gotten much from those who were outside. "Look, there are the vultures. Albus has already told me not to worry, he'll use it as an excuse to expel them."
"Brilliant," Lily replied.
"We cut. Let's see what he does."
As the reporters took panoramic shots of the entire Hall from the doorway to show the shrinkage on the Sly table, the Headmaster rose sluggishly from his seat, stepped off the dais, and walked across the gap between the Rave and Sly tables toward them. They were already approaching the latter. (But he's already passed me. He's not going to let them past where they are,) Sev thought.
Dumbledore was coming toward them, arms outstretched. (The conversations have been interrupted. The entire Hall is watching what is happening.)
"Don't look behind me, Prince, I'll cover you, a photographer has slipped between the table and the columns," Jack told him.
"Listen! You!" the Headmaster's authoritative voice was heard. "Let the students have lunch in peace!"
"The other ignores him, he keeps advancing," Jack continued.
"Ugh…" Sev snorted.
"It's done, you can watch."
Several sixth and seventh year warriors who sit on my side of the table have gotten up and formed a human barrier so that the journalist cannot pass. Take that! How my snakes protect me.
"He's taking pictures of them," Deborah said, sitting opposite.
Ugh… exposing themselves for me. How many people am I putting in danger to protect myself?
"I have told you that I would only allow you to take panoramic photographs of the Great Hall!" Dumbledore scolded him. "You, that's enough!"
"He's stopped photographing," Deborah told them.
But my snakes don't move from where they are, Sev thought.
The Headmaster, arms outstretched, was pushing the reporters back towards the back of the Hall.
"The one who took the photos is still loose," Deborah continued. "He is surrounding the table."
"Yeah, we see him," said Jack.
Several Raves rose to form another barrier there as well. Wooow… my brave eagles. A month ago I didn't want to go back to Hogwarts, and now I never want to leave here.
The other began to take photos of the Raves as well, while those who had been pushed by Dumbledore did the same from the door. How they are exposing themselves for me.
The Headmaster was coming back, between the Sly and Rave tables again. The photographer was already satisfied and turned to retrace his steps. Dumbledore stopped him with outstretched arms. Caught. You're going to be left without your camera.
Indeed, the Headmaster forced him to give him his camera. Well, in the panoramic ones their faces won't be seen,Sev thought.
He pushed him, too, toward the exit and led them all out into the entrance hall, shutting the door behind him.
The applause began across the Hall, at the Gryff table. The whole school on my side. Those who had risen sat down again. Sev took in the teachers. What an expression of satisfaction Minerva has. She doesn't manage to smile, but she has removed her strict rictus. Hopeful and proud of what we are achieving, bringing the whole school together. We have changed the history of Hogwarts in two days, the thousand years of tradition are going to take a fresh wind. He continued eating.
"They wanted to take pictures of you, didn't they, Sev?" Ariel asked him.
"Yes honey. But our friends and Albus have avoided it."
"Why can't they take pictures of you?"
"Because it is not appropriate that I become too famous, Ariel. We are on the brink of war and anyone too famous is in danger."
"Sure."
"Come on, keep eating."
Sev projected to Lily, "How well he has done it, Lily."
"Well yes, how he protects you, and also your snakes and your eagles."
"And the Gryffs have begun to applaud."
"It was the fourth-years," she clarified.
"Wow, with whom I spoke yesterday and this morning warning them of the war. A month ago I didn't want to go back to Hogwarts and now I don't want to leave here, I feel protected."
"Oh… Well, on the other hand I can't wait for the summer to arrive to be together."
"Yeah, in that aspect yes," he agreed. "Let's see what happens between now and then, if things calm down and we can be calm at home."
"Trust, Sev. They sure do, if they no longer have a way of finding out your address. Besides, if there were spies at the Ministry, Lauren's parents would know about it through Malfoy."
"I have thought about it before. Surely she had already taken it into account, she also knows that I am a scholarship holder. If she hasn't told me anything, it's because there was no danger, she would have warned me."
"And you will find out through them about anything that is plotted against you," Lily said.
"Yes, I already thought about that yesterday too. We have spies on the opposite side and very well placed. Lucius and Narcissa herself, Bellatrix's sister. We will be able to anticipate any maneuver. But Albus must not find out about this under any circumstances."
"No, sure. He would discover Lauren."
"That is."
"Then we'll be calm at home, you'll see," she reassured him.
"I hope so."
They continued talking and having a leisurely lunch. After a quarter of an hour, the Headmaster re-entered the Great Hall through the teachers' door. The entire student body broke into applause again as he took the dais. He silenced them with his hands and spoke to them standing from his place, "Thanks guys. Finish your lunch in peace. Today they won't bother us anymore, and tomorrow morning I'll ask the Ministry for a party of Aurors so they won't let them pass again. We are a month away from exams and we cannot afford distractions of this type."
Totally right. It's going to be enough work with me for him to deal with journalists for a week, Sev thought.
Dumbledore projected yo him, "Prince, you have a free hand to return home. Better if you don't come to dinner tonight, in case they come back."
"Okay, Albus."
"Have you agreed on tomorrow?"
"Yes, but if you're going to be busy in the morning, we can do it in the afternoon anyway," Sev answered.
"No, don't worry, I'll use the Time Turner. It is urgent that I protect you as soon as possible, you know, the five camouflaged, and we still don't have the Map."
"It's alright, Albus. We decided to do it before school."
"Very well, then I will explain what you have to do," said the Headmaster. "Sleep tonight with the curtains drawn. When you finish breakfast tomorrow, the five of you go home and go to your bedroom. Use the Time Turner three hours back and come to my office. Don't worry about Filch, at six he's not on patrol anymore."
I already knew that, Sev thought. "Perfect, Albus."
"The password is 'Butterbeer'."
Sev saw Dumbledore laugh and laughed too. He is funny, he has read me when he has passed near me by the table.
"Okay, Albus, see you tomorrow at six. Thanks for everything."
He projected to Lily, "My love, tonight I will not come to dinner in case the journalists return."
"It's okay, Sev. We'll talk tomorrow."
Sev came homeand spent the afternoon locked in his bedroom, doing homework and studying. He also Summoned three gifts, one for Violet, one for Petunia, and one more to take to the appraisal.
At seven Jack went to get him dinner and he settled down to eat in his corner of the Dungeon Room, alone, with his back to the Room, facing the window. People were walking around the room, but no one bothered him. Soon everyone went to have dinner in the Great Hall, and since he was completely alone, he decided to write the letters for Lily's family and the mediwizard right there.
Buf… how hard this is for me. I have never expressed myself in writing with my in-laws, and even less with someone totally unknown, whom I must deal with formally and who I have no idea what he will think of me at this point, if he has read the news in the Prophet, which surely has.
So when people came home from dinner he hadn't finish yet. But now I don't move from here. I don't think anyone bothers me, they know I've had enough for today. It still took him half an hour, but as he expected, no one bothered him.
Concentrated as I was, I haven't noticed that there is someone else sitting at the table, studying, with her back to the Lake, at a safe distance but not in the other corner, but close enough to invite me to start a conversation.
Audrey. She probably wants to tell me how it went with Percival, and I want to know too. I am discovering a new facet in me. Gossip.
He prepared the envelopes to send and when he had everything ready he greeted her, "Hey, Audrey, how about the Rave?"
She looked up beaming at him excitedly, he smiled back at her. She does like him…
"Won't you mind if I tell you?" Audrey asked.
"Of course not, I asked you myself. Sit with me."
She changed places to face him. Audrey is in my seat and I am in Lauren's. I will never be able to sit with her here again, Sev thought.
"I'll start at the beginning, okay?" she said.
Wow... talk about girls' secrets, interesting. "Start wherever you want."
"This morning I left my boyfriend at breakfast."
Wow… before she met Percival. Last night marked her. "What are you saying?" he asked, amazed.
"What you're hearing. Last night I spent a long time thinking about everything we talked about and how you treated me and how he treats me, and also about the very special relationship you have with your girlfriend, telling each other everything and so on, and I realized I was wasting time with him."
The Ancestral Magics have already penetrated her without the need to read anything. One preaches by example. "Oh…"
"Because you weren't the first one with whom I've cheated on him," Audrey continued. "I'm not comfortable with him."
"Sure…"
"But no one else has opened my eyes like you have. What I was saying, you are unique. I felt appreciated for more than just how hot I am or how well I do it."
How awful… "Of course, Audrey. You are a charming person and you must be aware of it, love yourself, so that others love you too."
"That is. And so far what I've done is use what I know guys like to make them love me."
Ugh… "Oh…"
"But last night and this morning you showed me more attention and affection than I have felt with anyone, despite telling me that you were not in love with me," she went on.
How awful, another one like Lauren, poor girl. The luck of the ugly, the beautiful it want to. What bastards are most men. Now I feel bad too for having hooked up with her the first night I met her. I used her, Sev thought.
"You taught me in three hours what I should look for in a person and that I have to be patient to find it," Audrey continued.
"Sure. Rushing is not good, and less on that subject."
"Now I regret having started hanging out with boys so early, before realizing many things, and I understand all that about going slowly with your girlfriend and wanting her to be your first."
"Ugh, Audrey... I'm feeling horrible for doing it with you as soon as I met you. I should have not done it," he apologized.
"Come on, Prince, don't worry, I was the one who approached you. You behaved very well with me, there is no problem. I don't regret it at all, quite the opposite. The best experience I've ever had, I hope we'll do it again sometime."
"How little you settle for, things are not done that way. First you have to get to know each other. With my girlfriend, although we've been together since we were nine years old, we've only been involved since November and we've been meeting very little, because the snakes threatened to attack me if I hung with her. And since Easter we haven't been together once."
"Oh, Prince, I'm so sorry. How difficult".
"And surely we will have to continue like this until the summer."
"Booah… no wonder you got involved with me last night. Who lasts that long?"
"Audrey, that's not why I did it. If I didn't like you very much as a person, I wouldn't have done it either. I can manage alone, I'm not like that."
"It's true, you're not like that. And you proved it to me this morning by introducing me to Percival, knowing that you could have me anytime you wanted and still offering me the option of being with someone who is worth it."
Let's see, this is what interests me. "Wow… So, did you like him?"
"He's an angel, I had noticed him a long time ago," she replied. "He is the most handsome fourth-year boy in the whole school. What a knack you have."
I am a perfect matchmaker. Extraordinary good taste. "Like with you. You're also the prettiest fourth-year girl, at least the ones I've met these days, so you make a perfect couple."
"What happens is that he is very shy, he always walks alone or with the boys from his House. He has barely spoken to me, only I spoke."
"Sure, Audrey, but it's normal, because he's never been with a girl, and surely he's even more shy because he likes you too. Did you think he likes you?"
"He would blush when I put a spell on him and did some joke on him."
"Then yes, Audrey. You have to be patient with him, go little by little, make friends with him first and get to know each other as persons. I hardly spoke to him, but from the way he looked at and listened to others, he seemed like an interesting person, with an inner life that you should help him bring out."
"And how do you do that, Prince? Give me a hand, come on, you know a lot about those things."
Indeed I'm a good matchmaker, an expert on the subject. "Yes, it is true that I know, because I was also like that until less than a year ago. I spent more than six years in love with my girlfriend without telling her, and we were the best of friends."
"Oh…"
"I think you should try to encourage him to talk about the things he likes," Sev continued. "He is a Rave and he is doing very well in studies. I chose him mostly for that, not because he was handsome. So that if you connect, he will give you a hand and you can get Defense next year."
"Sure…"
"Ask him about those topics, look for him in the Library and sit down with him as you have done with me, without bothering him but giving him the opportunity to talk about the things that interest him, so that you can gain confidence."
"Of course…"
"You can also talk to him at the entrance or exit of the classes in which you coincide," he went on. "Little by little. Do you have any electives together where there is a free place to sit with him?"
"Yes, Muggle Studies. He sits alone in the front row of the Raves."
"Then you already have it. When you feel a little more confident, ask him if he minds if you sit with him."
"And the teacher will leave us?" Audrey asked.
We're already with the damn segregation.
What does the teacher care? I'm sick of separation in Houses. Slughorn always let me and Lily sit together in Potions. Try it, and if they tells you something, tell me and I'll fix it with the old man." My influences.
"Really, Prince?"
"Sure. He is also a meddler, he loves to make couples," Sev said. "You'll see how separating by Houses is going to end in a few years, at least in classes and in the Great Hall. As soon as I come out with my girlfriend I plan to sit with her and my Gryff friends at the free spot left at the Sly table whenever we feel like it."
"Absolutely right, Prince. You have them very well placed."
He laughed. Look, she's foul-mouthed, what a shame. "Well, you know, to bring out the rebellious vein Sly for that too. I assure you that you are not going to be the only mixed couple that comes out. Now we are all getting to know each other better in training, and before long people will get tired of not being able to sit mingling at lunch or in class."
"Yeah, you're right. Lucy, the girl who sat with you before me yesterday, likes a Gryff boy she fought today, she told me about it at lunch."
"Do you see? Brilliant," Sev said. "Lovers from enemy Houses, like Lily and me, no more enemy Houses. I noticed McGonagall's face when the Gryffs began to applaud the Raves and Slys who protected me from the photographer, and she looked satisfied and proud. The Head of Gryff and future Headmistress."
"Oh…"
"So don't worry about that, we have Dumbledore and McGonagall on our side. They are both delighted that we have all joined in the face of war."
"Of course. Because the enemy is not Sly against Gryff. It's Voldemort," she said.
"That is. And there's a couple of sixth-year Gryffs, the best fighters in training, who are commanding the seventh-years, who I met yesterday and today they've already offered to escort me in the summer whenever I need it."
"Wow… Then you'll be safe."
"Of course, I already told you yesterday," he confirmed. " And also Genevre and Jack, who can now Apparate and use their wands."
"Great, Prince. What a relief."
And now, to make up for what I did wrong yesterday. "What were you studying?"
"Transfiguration," Audrey replied.
"Come on, I'll give you a hand with practice if you want until curfew, I'm going to sleep my ten good hours."
"Thank you Prince."
They got to it. Anthony arrived at ten past nine to get the letters. Sev told him, "Do you mind waiting to send them just before the curfew? Otherwise they will arrive too early."
"Of course not, Prince," replied his friend.
"Meanwhile, stay if you want to study with us for a while, we are practicing Transfiguration and the room is quite quiet."
"Great, I'm in, it will be very good for me. I've spent all afternoon with theory."
"Yes me too. Well let's get to it," said Sev.
The three of them practiced Transfiguration together until a quarter to ten, when Anthony went to the owlery.
Sev was thinking, It's nice to study with people, like I did with Lily. I understand everything much better by explaining, and it is not hard for me not to be alone, because it is a serious and focused environment, I distract myself from problems.
At ten he said goodbye to Audrey. "Good night, pretty, rest. Don't go to bed too late, if you didn't sleep the three hours yesterday you should make it up today, there's class tomorrow."
"Sure, Prince. I'll stay a while longer practicing what you have explained to me. I leave at eleven at the latest."
"Well done."
He went up to his bedroom and lay down.
Maybe for as long as it takes Audrey to slowly become friends with Percival, I could be with her again. Just remembering what she did to me yesterday makes me horny again. But this time he relieved on his own.
