AN: Hello everyone! We're back for another week of this lovely fic. Thanks to all of you for reading and reviewing, and a special thanks out there to those who came to my panel at Casueacon, where I talked about writing fanfics and gave advice! Hopefully I'll have even more to talk about next year. As it is, on with the chapter!
FFN Exclusive Note: Sorry this posted a day late, I couldn't get on the site yesterday to post. Here's your chapter!
Harry confidently pushed his luggage trolley through King's Cross station, a far departure from his demeanor during the previous year.
"Slow down a bit Harry! I know you're excited, but you've got to let us keep up!" Andromeda said, herself and Ted rushing slightly to try and keep up with their adopted son.
"I think you're just too slow, mum!" Nymphadora said keeping pace easily with Harry.
"You two go for hour-long runs every morning! Of course we can't keep up!" Ted says, as he and Andromeda manage to close the gap. The family of four have a small chuckle.
"Guess this is the end of our summer huh? I'm so happy you joined our family Harry." Andromeda said, dropping down to give Harry a hug. "It seems like we just got you, and now you have to leave again."
"It's okay Andy. I'll write often, and I'll see you over Christmas break! I'm happy to have joined your family too. I've never really had one before." Harry said, his eyes misting a little.
"No more of that. Your parents loved you very much, and I've got to love you twice as much in their place. We're a family now. You, me, Ted, and Nym. We're there for each other. You may not be willing to see me as your mother yet, but I definitely see you as my son. So, you're going to get on this train and see your friends again, then you're writing to me as soon as you can tomorrow morning telling me that you're okay. Then I'll fret about you in between your letters until I finally get to see you again. Ted will call me crazy and Nym will say I'm empty-nesting, but it'll all be okay." Andromeda said, tightening her hug around Harry.
Andy was right of course. For as odd as their circumstances were, they were his family. Maybe not totally by blood, but family nonetheless. Harry felt sorry that he still didn't feel comfortable calling Andromeda mom, or Ted dad. He was about to speak up and tell them, when Andy's eyes told him that she already knew.
"We love you Harry, all of us. Try and stay safe this year okay? No Trolls, no evil teachers. If I hear you got hurt at all I'm tearing Dumbledore a new one." Andy said, tightening her hug on Harry once more, before loosening it.
"Well, mom got all the sappy stuff out of the way, so I'll just tell you to have fun! Oh! Remember that Charlie's little sister starts this year, can you keep an extra eye out for her? She's got four brothers there already, but it never hurts to be careful." Nym said, patting Harry on the back.
"Yeah, I'll do that. I hope Ron was just a fluke in terms of the Weasley's though. Charlie's so much nicer than he was." Harry said truthfully. While Harry's opinion of Ron wasn't as low as his opinion of Malfoy, it wasn't a terrible amount higher. Neville even agreed with him.
"Nah, the Weasley's are good folk, though maybe Ron just didn't get it." Nym said before shrugging. "Oh well, just do it."
"I will Nym." Harry said.
"Ah, now I'm all out of things I can say. Oh well. You don't need them from me. Just know that I'm here for you, son." Ted said his face plastered with a big smile.
Harry simply smiled back, giving Ted a hug before releasing.
"I'd hurry up and get on the train before mum decides to not let you go!" Nym said, pushing Harry along. Harry simply laughed and made his way through the barrier to Platform 9 3/4s before stepping foot onto the train for his second year at Hogwarts.
Making his way to the train car they had designated as their meet-up spot, he wasn't overly surprised to see that he was among the last of their group to make it. In the train car already were Padma, Hermione, Susan, and Daphne.
"Splitting up the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins?" Harry asked, taking his seat between Padma and Hermione. That had always been his seat, this was no exception.
"We've seen each other all summer, while outside of your birthday Daphne hasn't seen you at all, and I only got the shopping day on top of that. Plus, you know how Hannah is with Neville." Susan said, rolling her eyes at the end of her statement.
Hannah's crush on Neville was possibly the worst kept secret in the Sphinx Club, even Harry, who fully admitted he was roughly as dense as osmium, saw how she seemed to hang over him at every opportunity.
"Yeah, I suppose. What about Tracey though?" Harry asked, looking to Daphne.
"Just agreed to sit in that compartment with them. She and Hannah were good friends even before the Sphinx Club, so its no big deal for them to hang out together. Of our little pureblood section, Susan and I were the only two who weren't really friends before the Sphinx Club formed." Daphne said, looking over to Susan.
"Yeah, I always thought you were some kind of ice queen, turns out you're just a sass queen." Susan said, playfully sticking her tongue out at Daphne.
"And I thought you had bludgers for brains. Turns out it was twigs instead." Daphne shot back, the pair sharing a laugh.
Harry just looked at the pair, feeling upset for a moment that they were picking on each other, but relaxing when they started laughing.
"Do you guys know any of the first years coming this year?" Harry asked.
"My little sister actually." Daphne answered. "She's off with a few of her friends now, she wanted to meet you, but was still a little upset that she wasn't invited to your birthday party."
"Didn't I say she could come?" Harry asked bewildered. Daphne had talked about her sister a bit last year, and Harry thought he had told Daphne she could come along.
"Oh, you did, but mother didn't feel it was appropriate for her to come, so she didn't tell her. I think she's trying to play matchmaker with us." Daphne said, waving the fact off like it was uninteresting.
Harry flushed red at the statement. "That doesn't bother you?" He stuttered out.
"Oh, no not really. It was bound to happen eventually. Her goal as mistress of the house is to support the family emotionally. She seems to think we'd be a good match. The fact that the Potter name is so well regarded probably doesn't hurt either." Daphne said, before a mischievous smirk formed on her face. "Do you think we'd be a good match Harry? Do you want me to be Mrs. Potter someday?" She asked in a overly sweet voice, leaning deep into Harry's personal space.
Harry could only flush red again and make a small squeaking noise at the attention.
"Give him some space Daphne! He'll faint again." Hermione said, starting to interpose herself between Daphne and Harry.
"But it's so cute when he gets all red and flustered. Padma, you know I'm right." Daphne said, looking to the Ravenclaw who hadn't said anything in the encounter.
"He is rather cute when he blushes…" Padma said, before grabbing Harry's arm and pulling it close to her, interweaving their fingers. "Maybe I should be Mrs. Potter then, huh Harry?" She asked, putting on the same sweet voice.
Harry was pretty overwhelmed at the moment, but was saved when a new voice entered the conversation. "Excuse me, can I sit here? Most of the other compartments are full already." the voice said, and Harry looked to the owner. She was a short girl with long nearly white blonde hair, and her eyes were a pale silvery color.
"Yes, you're more than welcome to." Harry called out, struggling to regain any sense of his composure. Daphne had moved back into her seat at the intruder, and while Padma hadn't taken her hand out of his, she did move slightly further away from Harry. "Is this your first year?" Harry asked, noticing the girl's robes lacked any of the defining colors of the four houses.
"Yes actually, me and my best friend are starting this year. It's all very exciting." The girl said, before a small gasp left her lips. "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself, I'm Luna Lovegood."
"Hi Luna, I'm Padma Patil, that's Daphne Greengrass, Susan Bones, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter." Padma said, taking her other hand and pointing in turn to everyone.
"Oh, Harry Potter. It's nice to meet the person I used to play all the time." Luna said, shooting him a smile that seemed light and pleasant.
"Care to elaborate on that?" Harry asked, pretty confused. He was excited that Luna didn't seem taken in by his apparent celebrity.
"Oh, my friend I was talking about earlier, Ginny Weasley. She always wanted to play act like she was getting rescued from some monster by Harry Potter. It was always the two of us, and while I wanted to play the monster, she always made me to be Harry, then she'd be the girl being rescued. It was fun, if a bit repetitive. That's all she wanted to do."
"I'm honestly a bit unsure how to feel about that. It's a bit strange having someone play act like they're me." Harry said, rubbing the back of his head.
"I imagine it would be. You can pretend to be Luna Lovegood if you like. Then we'd be even. I don't think I've done anything quite as exciting though. I usually just pretend to be other things. Like birds." Luna said, her voice going dreamy for a moment.
"Shouldn't I just cut out the middleman and pretend to be a bird then?" Harry asked jokingly.
"You could, I suppose, but then you wouldn't get to be me, and that's a travesty." Luna said, her tone going serious, before a smile popped on her face and she started laughing. Her laugh was infectious, and soon Harry found himself laughing alongside her.
"So, you know Ginny? Why aren't you sitting with her if she's your friend? Probably be nicer than some strangers." Harry asked, looking to her. Having no 'childhood' friends of his own, he couldn't really understand what their dynamic would be, or why they might not want to be with each other now.
"Her compartment is full of her brothers, she has quite a few of them, and currently four of them go to the school. With them is another friend of theirs, a Lee Jordan I think? So they've got their full six." Luna said, counting them on her fingers. "How do you know Ginny? You're not one of Ron's friends are you?" Luna looked worried at that, Ron was abrasive sure, but had he been bullying her?
"No, I'm friends with Charlie. Well, he's dating my sister. So whatever that makes us." Harry said, once more scratching the back of his head.
"Oh, I didn't know you had a sister." Luna said.
"Adopted, but yeah. Her family adopted me before summer break." Harry said. He needed to get more comfortable talking about the topic, and Luna had been incredibly friendly so far.
"That's nice, I never had any siblings." Luna said, before kicking her feet back and forth.
"We're pretty split down the middle here in regards to that. Hermione and Susan are also only children, while Padma and I both have sisters." Daphne said, joining in the conversation.
"Yeah, I have a twin sister. So if you see me walking around in Gryffindor robes, it's not actually me, but Parvati." Padma said, smiling at herself for her little joke.
"Ooh, do you two have like a psychic link? I was reading a muggle paper that said twins could do that." Luna asked, her eyes going wide. Who'd have thought someone was more excited about meeting a twin than one of the nation's biggest celebrities? Harry was happy that Luna seemed to be exactly the kind of person he wanted to be around.
"Ugh… nothing like that. You know the Weasley twins right? Haven't you asked them? I imagine they'd have told you the same thing." Padma asked, looking to Luna.
"I'm admittedly a little afraid to speak to them. I've only ever really spoken to Ron out of all of Ginny's brothers, and both of them tell me about the pranks they pull on people. I'd be upset if they ended up dying my hair magenta or something." Luna said matter of factly. Any true hint of fear completely absent from her face.
"From what I've been told, most of the Weasley's are actually really nice. I know Charlie is, and Penelope dates Percy, and I can't imagine she'd handle anyone who wasn't nice." Harry said.
"Perhaps." Luna said, merely kicking her feet. "What houses are you all in?" She asks, looking around.
"Harry, Hermione and I are in Ravenclaw." Padma gestured to the two others who shared the bench.
"I'm a Hufflepuff." Susan said, showing her black and yellow tie.
"Slytherin here." Daphne said nonchalantly.
"Oh, well I'll know someone from every house then, because Ginny will surely be in Gryffindor." Luna said. "I'm a bit nervous about sorting, I think. What if my house is mean to me?"
"We'll make sure that doesn't happen. Your house is supposed to be your family, and regardless of which one you end up in, you'll have one of our friends with you, and we'll make sure everything's okay." Harry said, taking charge for the young girl. Luna reminded him a lot of himself this time last year. He wished someone would have done this for him, so he will for her.
"Oh that's lovely. You don't seem to have any gryffindors though." Luna pointed out.
"My sister's in Gryffindor, as is Neville and Lavender, two of our very good friends. We have another good friend in Hufflepuff and Slytherin as well. The ten of us are part of the Sphinx Club." Padma said.
"Sphinx Club? Do you have a Sphinx? Does it ask you riddles?" Luna asked, her eyes going wide.
"No Sphinx, but the Ravenclaw door tells riddles." Hermione said, speaking up for the first time in this conversation.
"Oh, then I'm definitely going to Ravenclaw. I love riddles." Luna said, her smile getting larger.
The conversation with Luna continued for a few hours for the train ride, where an official invitation to the Sphinx Club was put forward. At Hogwarts station, Luna and the group separated, making her way over to Ginny who was saying goodbye to her brothers. Daphne encouraged Astoria, her younger sister to join the pair on the boat, and that she'll see her after the sorting.
.
As Harry entered Hogwarts again, he felt a wave of emotion hit him, a feeling of being home. At first, Harry felt bad about feeling this feeling, Ted, Andy, and Nym had done so much to make their house feel like home to him. They opened their doors to him when he had no other place to go, and made him a member of their family. Reflecting on it more though, he realized that what made Hogwarts feel like home is that it was where he got to meet his new family, and where he truly made his first friends. Harry held that feeling inside of him, before letting out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He took his seat at the Ravenclaw table, Padma and Hermione taking theirs at his side, as he awaited the sorting ceremony.
Watching sorting from this side was significantly less stressful, and he felt bad for the poor kids who had to sit there and be gawked at by the student body as they were sorted. He knew however, that the ceremony wasn't truly that bad, and that it would be over shortly.
This year's incoming class was even smaller than the previous years, a mere 30 students compared to the 40 of his year. Harry was only really interested in three of the incoming first-years, Astoria Greengrass, Luna Lovegood, and Ginny Weasley. Two of them being the sisters of friends of his, and the other a friend he made on the train. In some ways, he hoped that they could end up in the same house together, so they could maybe become friends as well. Those thoughts were dashed fairly quickly when Astoria, the first of the three alphabetically, was sorted into Slytherin. Family bias was likely to keep Ginny out of Slytherin, and Luna had already shown a desire for Ravenclaw, so it seemed likely she would end up there. This proved to be correct after her brief time under the sorting hat, which had made her a Ravenclaw. She came and sat across from Harry, where she shot him a smile and watched the remaining sorting. Ginny Weasley was second to last of those being sorted, only an Anton Yaxley after her. Ginny was, like all of her brothers, sorted into Gryffindor. She made her way to the Gryffindor table, where she took her seat next to two other first year Gryffindor students, Colin Creevey and Romilda Vane.
Headmaster Dumbledore then made his way to the center podium, where he briefly raised his wand to his throat and gave a similar speech to what he had done in the previous year.
"As many of you may be aware, we lost our previous defense against the dark arts professor, and as such have replaced him. I am pleased to announce our new instructor Gilderoy Lockhart." Dumbledore said, motioning with his clapping hands towards the new Professor.
Gilderoy had certainly dressed to be noticed today, wearing a bright salmon suit with a deep purple tie that seemed to swirl as you looked at it. While everyone gave polite claps for the new professor, a bright light seemed to shine from behind them, and a distinctive 'ting' sound seemed to emanate from his mouth as he smiled.
"It is also to my sorrow, that I must say that our Care of Magical Creatures Professor, Silvanus Kettleburn will be leaving after this year. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors, and will be having a going away celebration for him at the end of the school year." Dumbledore said, gesturing to the named professor. Off all of the Hogwarts professors and staff, Kettleburn was somehow the most strange. He was missing his entire left arm and right leg, and only had the upper halves of the opposite appendages. An eyepatch was situated over one of his eyes, and several scars could be seen criss-crossing his face.
With a few final words, Dumbledore started the welcoming feast, and mountains of food began appearing on the various tables in front of the students and staff.
As Harry thought about what this year held for him, he hoped that this year was less exciting, but more fun than his first year, and he was very glad that he would get to spend it with his friends in the Sphinx Club.