A day after Harry's interview came out in the Prophet, he had his date with Parvati. At breakfast, Alduin observed: "You seem much less reluctant this time than you were last year with Cho"
"I guess it's mostly because we didn't have to argue about how often we'd meet over the holidays… and also, the boys aren't here most of the day anyway."
What Harry didn't add was that the chance for a few kisses in his room was much more attractive this year than it'd been the last. He wasn't as obsessed about it as he used to be a few months ago – at one point, it felt like kissing Parvati was all he wanted to do, but he guessed that the kidnapping and Riddles return had put things in perspective.
Or maybe not, because je was also growing more and more curious about the possibility of 'more', and considering that meeting in the Manor would give them just the privacy they needed to go a little further.
But Parvati, when she arrived, didn't exactly appear in the mood.
"It's my parents," she said to Harry's question. "They read the interview you gave, and now they're really panicking about the danger I was in when they didn't even know about it. I hadn't exactly told them I was holding your hand when I tripped."
Harry grimaced. "Sorry, I didn't even think about that."
"It's fine, you had every right to tell the story, it's just…" she shifted a little uncomfortably. "I had some problems two years ago, and they had to get me a special healer, and ever since then they've been extra worried about me, so…"
Harry outright wince at that. "I'm sorry! I didn't know…"
Parvati gave him a look. "You weren't supposed to. It wasn't anything serious, at least I don't think so, but I was pretty emotionally unstable at one point and I had some blank spaces in my memory, and when I mentioned it to my parents over break they panicked and got me a healer… but it really helped and I've been fine since the beginning of the third year, so you don't have to worry, I'm not crazy or anything, " she said in a rush.
"I didn't think anything like that!" Harry hurried to reassure her even as he realized that she was talking about their second year – the year she had Riddle's diary.
Well, now Harry felt even more guilty.
"I promise I'll ask you before I ever mention you in an interview again," he said, because it was the only thing that occurred to him.
"No, really, it was fine, you didn't even use my name, I just..." She sighed. "Can I- can I get a hug?"
Harry could definitely do that, and did, pressing Parvati to him as she put her head on his shoulder.
What he could not quite control, unfortunately, was his own reaction tot he closeness. Normally he tried to keep such things away from Parvati, but now he didn't want her to feel like he was trying to pull away from the hug, so he just stood there, feeling awkward and indecisive, until Parvati noticed the problem and flushed, giving him a look out of the corner of her eye.
Harry flushed in return, too. "I'm sorry," he muttered.
"No, it's fine, I guess you can't really help it, can you?" She replied, still not looking at him. "It's just that I don't really feel like..."
"No, of course, it's fine," Harry hastened to reassure, and Parvati finally stepped away, ending at least some for he awkwardness.
Sadly, they never got rid of the remaining traces of it until she had to head home, and it left Harry feeling out of sorts in various ways.
He supposed that he was just doomed to being awkward with girls, one way or another.
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"So, I have a few questions," Harry said when he came down to breakfast the day after his date.
"Go on," Alduin said, wondering if he'd be asked for dating advice again.
"First, I finally remembered that Susan talked to me on the train – Susan Bones – and she was looking for information for her aunt at the Ministry. I told her to tell her aunt to talk to Kingsley, but I realised that I don't know what you told him he can say or..." He shook his head. "I'm too Gryffindor for this level of intrigue!" He complained, sounding half-serious.
"It¨s all about practice," Alduin told him seriously. "But don't worry, I'll talk it over with Kingsley. He will know better than I do if we can trust Amelia, but her sending her niece to ask you directly seems like a good sign to me. She didn't want to make her own assumptions based on rumours, she wanted to get at the truth. That means something."
Harry nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face. "All right," he said after a moment. "Then there's another thing I've been meaning to ask you about – I talked to Hagrid a while ago about how he always wanted to teach Creatures but how he doesn't have the qualifications, and I was thinking, couldn't he pass his OWLs now? Enough to qualify to use a wand at least? I mean, they're Ministry exams, aren't they?"
"They are," Alduin agreed slowly, his mind spinning, "but there are circumstances about his expulsion from Hogwarts that would prevent him from taking them. However..." However, it would be a good idea to deal with the Chamber of Secrets anyway, given that Riddle could try and make use of it to take control of Hogwarts. And if that happened, and Hagrid's innocence was proven in the course of those events, it would open a path forward in this.
And given how Dumbledore liked to rely on Hagrid in important tasks, Alduin would definitely feel better if the man was qualified to carry a wand, his physical advatnages notwithstanding.
"However," he finished, "I think I can find a way to deal with that, too."
"Awesome," Harry said with a genuine smile. "Now, do you have any idea when Alexandra and the boys are coming today?"
"No," Alduin answered honestly – he rarely did – then added, "but we can do some training in the meanwhile."
Harry gave a good-natured groan, then sat up straighter. "That reminds me," he said.
"Yes?" Alduin asked, a little wary at the tone.
"Well, um...you know I've been practising Defence with Neville. But now he wants me to step up and really teach him how to fight. You know, now that the war is here, or almost here."
"And the question is?" Alduin prompted.
Harry gave a sigh. "Well, I mean...I don¨t really feel up to teaching real fighting to anyone. It's nto like I have any real experience! I know I can't suggest he take the classes with Professor Snape too – Snape would kill me and Neville would never agree anyway – but isn't there anyone else who could give him lessons?"
Alduin shook his head. "I'm afraid not. But I don't see why you couldn't do it, Harry. You've been having lessons three years now, and you've improved tremendously. You could teach him a lot."
Harry sighed again. "Well, maybe something, but...it's hardly going to be enough, is it?"
"It's certainly going to be better than nothing," Alduin replied. "Right now, aside form your help, he has nothing but what his Defence teachers give him, and that is often rather pitiful. Which reminds me I'll have to get someone to teach that for the rest of the term again." He sighed. "You could help your friend, Harry. Why are you hesitating so much?"
Harry stayed silent for a moment, then he said: "What if I don't prepare him well enough, and something then happens to him? He...sometimes I think that if Riddle frees the Lestranges, Neville would want to go after them, and I know I can't prepare him for that."
"You certainly can't," Alduin agreed, "and you have to warn him about that much. Tell him it's just for defence in desperate situations. Make it perfectly clear. As long as you do that...I think you should, Harry."
In response, Harry only nodded, a grim look on his face, and they finished eating in silence before they headed to some duelling practice.
Alexandra arrived in the middle of it, fully occupying Harry's attention with the boysand freeign Alduin to do some work.
He contacted Kingsley to discuss Amelia, agreeing that she should be told the truth – Riddle was back – in plain words, and Alduin authorized Kingsley to even go as far as to indicate that Alduin had other sources of confirmation for it being, indeed, Riddle, beyond merely visual identification by Harry.
"You have the Ministry buzzing with the interview Harry gave," Kingsley told him. "The positive identification of Pettigrew is taken seriously, at the very least, and it brought back the question of how he'd escaped. It seems I'll be authorized to offer my people a choice between being asked about it under Veritaserum or leaving the Aurors. It's controversial because there are arguments about innocent people leaving to protect their dignity right when we need their help the most, but it seems like it's gonna pass."
"And how do you feel about that?" Alduin asked him shrewdly.
Kingsley grimaced. "It sucks, but it's necessary. And at least I'll be in control of it after Amelia questions me, so I can ensure that no one messes with my people."
"Good luck, then, and let me know what you find."
Kingsley sighed. "I will, but I really wish I could get you filed as an official consultant or something. The info I need to share with you will likely become classified soon, and..."
Alduin shook his head. "I'm not risking any kind of official relationship to the Ministry." Not with the shite Fudge was pulling.
Kingsley sighed. "I get why, I do," he muttered, "but you're not makign my life any easier, I can tell you that much."
"I'm afraid I'll do exactly the opposite for a while yet," Alduin agreed with genuine regret.
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Harry continued coming to terms with what had happened in that graveyard and with the war on the horizon as the Easter break neared its end.
He wasn't the only one who was struggling with it a little. It had taken Neville a while to come out of the initial shock he'd felt after Harry told them the news, and his worry for him, but once he did, and realized all the implications…
Well,t here was the fact that one of the men that had tortured his parents had been his teacher for a year, and had cast Imperius on him a few times.
That was not an easy thing to make pace with. In fact, Harry definitely preferred his own experience to having to go through that.
Neville came tot he Manor every day over the break, ostensibly for training, but actually mostly so that he could talk the situation over with Harry.
"Gran's not doing great either," Neville admitted to him on one of those visits. "Knowing that the school she sent me to exposed me tot hat danger...she apologised to me for that – actually apologised! - and offered to withdraw me from Hogwarts if I wanted." He snorted. "I was so afraid of going the year before I started, I¨d have given anything for the offer. I refused now, of course, but it's a little ironic, you know?"
Harry did understand that, at least in theory, as much as he couldn't relate to fearing Hogwarts.
The fact of the situation was, Neville badly needed cheering up, and thankfully after some convincing, Alduin had agreed to let Neville be present when Alexandra was at the Manor with the children.
That way, before or after their generally grim conversations, Neville could settle with Edric on his lap under a tree in the garden – it wasn't exactly warm outside, but it wasn't cold either, and more importantly it wasn't raining, so in their warming charms they were comfortable enough – while Harry was having fun with Wynn on his new broom.
Wynn on a broom, Harry was firmly convinced, was the best thing in the whole world.
This day was a little special, because apart from Neville and the Traverses, Mrs. Mercurius with her children was also visiting at the same time.
"I don't think I'll ever forgive you for this," Mrs. Mercurius was saying to Alexandra, both of them sitting near Neville under another tree, in their case on a proper picnic blanket. "First it was the toy broom – at least that took a while for Geralt to fall in love with – but now with this...he was insufferable for days in a row until we allowed him to fly on a big broom as well. I'm sure I could have had a proper, sedate Ravenclaw of a son if it wasn't for Wynn's bad influence."
"What, like Lucilla is?" Alexandra asked in an amused tone of voice. The girl was sitting behind her little brother and speeding on the slow, safe broom as hard as she could, trying to catch Harry and Wynn, who were flying in circles around the tree Alexandra was sitting under.
Mrs. Mercurius shot a glance towards her daughter now, and sighed. "Eh, perhaps not."
Alexandra shrugged. "In any case it wouldn't be our fault. It would be Kingsley's – and Harry's!"
"That's what you get for letting your child be exposed to Gryffindors," Mrs. Mercurius muttered.
"Hey!" Harry protested from the broom, flying low towards them so he didn't have to shout, to Wynn's excited squeals. "We're the best influence."
"Some of us are," Neville corrected primly from where he was sedately entertaining Edric with bubbles coming out of his wand.
He was rewarded by a collective laugh, and Harry smiled into Wynn's hair.
It really was great to give his friend his chance – and to share his family with him. Riddle had robbed them both, and maybe they'd have their revenge in time, but for now, they'd grab what happiness they could get, if only just to spite the monsters of their nightmares.