AN: So sorry about the delay on this chapter guys! Unfortunately, the news from here on isn't looking very good. With one of my coworkers getting a promotion, it means that what had been the job of three people when I was able to write more, is now suddenly a job for two people, which means I have less free time during work to write these. Combine that with my hour each way commute to work each day, and I'm short on time that I can really work on this fic. Hopefully I will be relocating closer to my job here in the next month or so, and when that happens I will do everything I can to schedule more time to work on this story. Until that point, we're going on hiatus. I'll still write as much as I can, and release chapters if I manage to get one finished, but I can't make any promises about my once a week posts like I was doing before this mess. Thank you so much for reading though!
Harry sat for what would likely be the last time this school year in the Sphinx Club room. With classes having finished yesterday, today was the last full day inside the castle to give students time to pack and say their goodbyes before leaving for the summer. With him were his friends, all gathered together for the first time in what felt like months. Sure, they had all been in the room at various points throughout the year, all of them at once have even been in, but during those times attention was always divided. There was a Basilisk loose petrifying students, and would probably kill one eventually when their luck ran out. They never felt like the staff was doing enough to counteract these attacks, so they all felt it fell on them. Now though, they simply had the chance to relax and be kids.
"Harry?" Susan said, pulling Harry from his thoughts. She had her red hair pulled back into a braid which hung down her left shoulder. "I… hadn't had the chance to really thank you for saving me. Thank you, really. I was so scared, but you showed up and fought that Basilisk for me, it was really brave and heroic. Makes me feel all gooey inside." Susan said, a blush on her face.
Harry was of course blushing as well. He had gotten better at handling these kinds of situations as he had been with the girls, mostly through just tolerance as they all tried to make him blush and faint constantly. Padma and Daphne in particular seemed to strive for it, having competitions to see who could get the deepest blushes. Daphne was ahead supposedly, as she was significantly more devious than her Ravenclaw friend. Parvati had been coaching her sister in ways to beat her, but Daphne also had Tracey's devious mind to work with, so they mostly counteracted each other. Harry unfortunately found himself caught in the middle.
"You don't need to thank me Susan. I'm sure we all would have done it. I just felt like I had to. You're my friend, well, more than that you're my girlfriend, I couldn't just let that happen to you. Plus it's not like I did it alone. Even beyond you all doing the research that discovered that it was a Basilisk, and how it moved through the castle, Padma came with me to save you." Harry said, trying to brush off some of the praise. He wasn't a big fan of it, he really didn't feel like he did anything special.
"Harry, I really don't think you understand what you've done. You fought a BASILISK. That's one of, if not the most dangerous magical creature in the world. You not only killed it, but you did it alone. Padma didn't come with you, and Fawkes only managed to scratch its eyes, which you and the sorting hat had already figured out a way around. Harry, you're amazing." Susan said, looking at Harry in awe.
"Susan has a point Harry, what you did is significantly more impressive than anything that Lockhart put in his books, and they gave him an Order of Merlin. You're going to run out of amazing feats soon enough." Daphne said. "I'd worry about you getting a big head, but you deny any praise we try to give you."
"I think it's pretty neat." Luna said, looking at the group. "I mean, Harry fighting these strong monsters? It's really cool. Makes me feel like a princess in one of those story books, a dashing knight fighting monsters."
"I guess that did happen. I think I would have prefered a tall tower as opposed to the dungeon I was in." Susan said, her nose wrinkling as she remembered the smell.
"It did smell pretty bad didn't it?" Harry said, a lopsided smile on his face. He had been worried that Susan might be traumatized by the events of the year, but she was joking about it. While that's not a sign she's fully okay with it, Harry did think it was a start.
"I don't know what you would expect from a chamber hidden under a bathroom for a thousand years." Hermione said, barely bothering to look up from her book. Never one to rest on her academic laurels, Hermione was studying the next years course material already, determined to get a head start on everything.
"Since Hermione's nose deep in that book over there, it brings up a good point. What classes are you guys looking at taking next year? Obviously we don't have to finalize our schedules until mid-august, but surely you've got some idea?" Daphne asked, looking around at her gathered friends.
"Well, I'm thinking of Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. While I'm not sure exactly what I want to do when I graduate, being a curse breaker seems kind of cool. I'd need those skills to do that." Harry said, with the others nodding around him.
"Makes sense that Harry would want to go on more adventures. How the hat didn't put him in Gryffindor I'll never know." Susan said, before piping in with her answer "I'm thinking that too, Divination and Care of Magical Creatures don't really interest me that much, and I think our Muggle Studies department is… outdated at best from what Harry and Hermione have said."
"Yeah, I'll be doing the same, Care of Magical Creatures would be nice, but I'd rather focus on the core subjects. I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to review the basics of the other classes." Daphne said.
"You are correct of course… I would so love to take Muggle Studies, to get a wizarding perspective on our world, but it seems… unnecessary. Exposing you all to things like television and computers has been pretty enlightening." Hermione said. "As such, I believe I'll also be taking Ancient Runes and Arithmancy."
"Well, I won't be the only one of Harry's girls left out, but I was planning on taking them anyway. I know Parvati isn't taking either of them, so we can swap notes about what we're doing there." Padma said, taking a moment to press herself into Harry's side.
"Yeah, I'll be taking Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. While I'm aware that true prophecy is an exceedingly rare skill, the other perception magics can be quite helpful. Lavender will be joining me in both of those." Parvati said, nudging her best friend.
"Yep, Seems like it'll be a blast." Lavender said with a wide smile.
"I'll be in Care of Magical Creatures as well, although I'll be joining the others for Ancient Runes. Divination really doesn't interest me much, and I don't think I've got the mind for Arithmancy, not that I'm not smart enough, but I can't follow the logic like the 'Claws can. I do better with things that are less 'right and wrong'." Neville said. His confidence had improved leaps and bounds, and Harry believed he would have done well in Arithmancy with the proper motivation, but was simply excited to have a class he would share with his closest, and in some ways only male friend.
"I'll be split in doing Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures. Both are required skills for wand making, as the precise measurements of wands are based on Arithmantic concepts, and the cores of wands all come from magical creatures in some way or another." Tracey said, Daphne's best friend was very interested in the construction of wands, and had taken the time to tell each of them what their specific wand constructions were best at. Harry's wand was highly specialized to be great at Charmwork, as well as the subset of those that Defense Against the Dark Arts made up, it was also highly loyal, and likely would never work anywhere near as well for anyone but Harry.
"I'll be doing Arithmancy and Divination." Hannah said, taking her turn. "I'm not sure exactly what I want to do, and I might end up swapping Divination out for something else, but Arithmancy is generally useful everywhere."
"I'm sad I won't get to join you in these classes. They sound like a lot of fun." Luna said, her brow furrowed in mock frustration. "Why couldn't I be just a few months older? Then we would've all been together."
"Maybe, but then Ginny and Astoria wouldn't have you with them, and they'd be more lonely. They've made their own friends sure, but the three of you have been pretty close since starting school haven't you?" Daphne asked. While Harry hadn't paid much attention to it, that had been true. Luna was always seen with either the Sphinx Club or Ginny and Astoria, she was never really alone.
"I suppose. I can still be grumpy about it though." Luna said in her normal airy voice, before huffing and crossing her arms. She then burst out laughing at her own performance, causing a chuckle to erupt with her across the room.
The following morning had been the same panicked rush that always seemed to come with the final morning of the school year, with many students frantically packing because they had forgotten to the prior day. Harry however, had already packed his bags, and had sent Hedwig on home the prior night, where she would wait for him to return. Chuckling as the other Ravenclaw boys through their items into their trunks, Harry descended the stairs to the common room, where Luna, Hermione, and Padma were waiting.
"Are you already packed Harry?" Hermione asked, in the tone of voice that Harry knew meant 'you'll be getting a lecture if you haven't'.
"Yes Hermione, I packed yesterday like you told me to. All of my things are loaded in my trunk and have already been picked up by the house-elves to load onto the train." Harry had personally witnessed Dobby take his trunk, as the elf had become one of the many elves that served Hogwarts. He had apparently requested explicit permission to be the one to grab the trunks in the Ravenclaw boys dorms, since Harry's things would be there.
"I don't like that house elves are being treated like that. Why shouldn't we carry our own things to the train?" Hermione asked.
Luna piped up. "House elves do genuinely love to do their jobs, it's very fulfilling to them. They get really nervous if they don't have work to do. At Hogwarts, its also much safer for them to handle moving luggage to the train, so that way there isn't several hundred students carrying heavy trunks down the staircases."
Hermione seemed surprised at that. "That.. makes a lot of sense actually. The staircases part, not the working so hard part."
"I get it. I get pretty antsy if I'm not doing something, if I'm just standing in the halls around the castle I usually have to practice my finger positions for my flute or else I'll go mad." Harry said, scratching the back of his head. He hadn't put as much practice with his flute in as he would have liked in recent months, though had set aside a minimum of an hour a week to practice. He was no virtuoso, but he thought he was alright.
"You do need to play some for us on the train, we never get to hear you play." Padma said, "Now come on, we should get some breakfast before we leave, otherwise we'll end up eating too many sweets on the train home."
After breakfast came the boarding of the train, and the group had unofficially decided that instead of their normal seating arrangements, they would for the time simply put Harry, Hermione, Padma, Daphne, Susan, and Luna in one car, with the rest of the Sphinx Club in the other. Harry was nervous, since this would be the longest time he had ever spent with all of his girlfriends in the same place, and he was still barely wrapping his head around the fact that he WAS dating all of them.
Harry was currently sitting between Hermione and Padma, as was tradition, and directly across from him was Susan, who had Luna and Daphne either side of her.
"So, what is everyone's plans for the summer?" Luna asked, breaking the initial silence.
"Tracey and I have our debuts this summer, which is exiting I suppose. Hopefully Father doesn't accept any betrothal contracts for us. Yet." Daphne said, a mild tone of annoyance in her voice.
"I've got mine as well. Though thankfully it's just a formality, and not an extension of offers. Aunt Amelia won't be accepting any offers even if they come through. Not anytime soon at the very least." Susan said, smiling. "Unless Harry puts in an offer maybe."
Harry turned red, but had to ask, "Debuts?"
"Oh, I do sometimes forget you don't know everything. Debuts are something that girls in the upper echelons of Wizarding Society have to do. It's effectively a party that is meant to say 'Hello World, this girl is now starting to become a woman, we are now accepting offers for marriage proposals.' Of course, not everyone actively uses them for that, but it is tradition, so we have to do it." Daphne said, explaining the process.
"Even though we're together?" Harry asked, he still felt rather strange about that but it was noteworthy.
"Dating as a concept is still pretty new by wizarding world standards. As such some traditions haven't caught up with it. More or less you're going to be viewed as just a likely suitor for the purposes of this. Of course I'm sure that I won't get married off to someone else while we're together." Daphne said, easing Harry's worries. "Since it is a party though, even if it is a formal one, all of you will be invited. I can't speak for Tracey, but I have no reason to think she wouldn't invite you to hers. Harry, you have to come, if only so that way you can be viewed as an 'official' suitor."
"Same for me as well Harry," Susan said.
"We don't really have that in India, so you won't need to worry about coming to mine Harry." Padma said.
"My debut won't be for another couple years, since I'm quite a bit younger than you all." Luna said. "Although father might decide not to have one. The Lovegood name is old, but father has never been one for traditions like that. He wouldn't sign me off for a contract anyway. Unless it was Newt Scamander maybe."
"Newt Scamander?" Hermione asked, echoing Harry's own thoughts.
"He wrote 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them', one of the best books on Magicial Creatures ever published. He supposedly has a son roughly our age." Luna answered. "No worries Harry, I won't leave you for him. Not without meeting him first at least." Luna gave her attempt at a teasing wink, but ended up just scrunching her entire face up in an amusing fashion. The carriage laughed.
"This is all still really strange to me. It's weird to imagine that I'm dating all of you. It feels… odd. I do like you all quite a bit, but its not what i imagined." Harry said, looking sheepishly at the gathered girls.
"Being raised muggle as you are I imagine it would be, since such relationships are frowned upon. There's no worries though. We'll take everything slow. It is a bit of a shame we didn't get to do any actual relationship things this year because of the Basilisk, but maybe next year we can use our Hogsmeade weekends to go on some actual dates. That will be fun." Daphne said.
Susan piped up. "We'll probably want to try and pair up for dates so Harry doesn't go crazy. Luna can get her own time since she won't get to go on Hogsmeade trips."
"It is rather unfortunate. I know Harry will make time for me though. He is nice like that." Luna said, stepping forward and giving Harry a quick peck on the cheek before sitting back down. Hermione and Padma squeezed his hands tighter after she did that, in a vague show of jealousy.
"I suppose my summer is a bit less exciting then. No big parties or events or anything. I think my parents are planning to take a week and head to Costa del Sol in Spain, but otherwise it'll be an uneventful summer." Hermione said. "I hope I don't get too sunburned."
"Our family probably won't do a vacation or anything like that. We already live near the beach, so we may go there a few days out of the summer. Beyond that, we'll probably just visit some of our mother's family." Padma said. "What about you Harry? Have the Tonks mentioned anything about this Summer?"
"No, not really. We're still working on the whole 'being a family' thing. We had hoped to have Christmas break together, but you saw how that went. Dad mentioned taking me to a few football matches, but I wouldn't call that exciting since it'll just be some local league stuff. It'll be nice to spend some time with him doing something he likes." Harry said, thinking about his family. He really regretted that he didn't get to spend much time with them, spending much more time at Hogwarts than he did with Ted, Andy, and Nymphadora.
"It is a bit sad how little time we get to spend with our families since we've come to Hogwarts. I imagine it must be terrible for the muggle families, who hadn't expected such an arrangement." Daphne said, looking to Hermione.
"It is a bit strange, boarding schools do exist in the muggle world, but they are not very common. They're mostly private schools for the super rich. There is a bit of a stereotype that they are for rich parents who have kids but didn't want them, so they just send them off to the school to raise them." Hermione said, her face contorting into a frown. "Hogwarts has been great for me, but I do miss spending time with my parents, family dinner, gathering around the telly. Talking about whatever book I have been reading with my mum. I'm glad to be able to see them again."
Conversation continued lightly for the eight hour journey from Hogwarts station to Kings Cross, with a few rotations of the girls to allow each of them the chance to sit next to Harry and hold his hand. Harry found the whole thing rather embarrassing, while the girls found it exceptionally cute the way he blushed when they leaned on his shoulders.
As they pulled into King's Cross, Harry lightly shook Luna, who had fallen asleep on him, to let her know that they had arrived.
"Oh poo. I was having a lovely dream. Thank you for being such a nice pillow Harry. I'll have to let Daddy know to invite you over some time this summer. I'd love for you to see our home." Luna said, that same smile on her face that Harry enjoyed seeing.
"I do wonder how your parents are going to take all of you dating me. I have no idea how to tell my parents about it, or Nym for that matter." Harry said, thinking about his situation.
"Well, my father will just accept it to be honest. You're a very good choice of suitor for his metrics, and given that you are the last of your line, it is expected that you would have multiple wives." Daphne said, stretching as she stood up.
"Aunty already knows, I told her when she came to see me in the Hospital wing. She'd hoped that I wouldn't end up in that kind of situation, but I talked about how much I liked you, and she accepted it." Susan said.
"Father and Mother had been planning on Parvati and I to attempt to woo you over the course of our time here, he thinks you're a fine young man, and is mostly everything he was looking for in our future husband. It wouldn't surprise me if once they find out that you will really be accepting multiple wives that they try to have Parvati join in." Padma said with a bit of a giggle.
"I… I don't know how my parents will react. Harry knows as well as I do that the muggle world really frowns upon this kind of thing. Multiple marriages being actively illegal in most countries around the world. I think Mum would come around before Dad, and I just have to hope that the amount they like Harry and trust my judgment overwrites their inherent distaste for the concept. At least until we can prove it's a good idea." Hermione said.
"Well, how about we get our Romeo over here to give us a kiss before we head off, to tide us over for the summer. Especially poor Padma, who probably won't get to see you at all." Susan said, her tone slightly teasing.
"Ooh, I would like that quite a lot. Pucker up Basilisk Slayer." Daphne said, grabbing the collar of Harry's shirt, and pulling him for a kiss.
Harry had kissed each of the girls before, and Daphne had always been the most forceful among them, seemingly the most… prepared for such a relationship. This kiss was no exception, as she simply pulled him in and mostly just had her own fun with his lips. It was amusing, if a little embarrassing to Harry.
"My turn I guess." Susan said, giving Harry a hug and then a quick peck on the lips. Susan was always a touch shyer with her affections than the others, although a good deal of that from this year could have been from the evil diary that had taken over her mind. Hopefully this summer would give her some time to heal from that.
"Mine!" Padma said as Susan released him. Quickly planting her own kiss on his lips before resting her head on his chest for a moment. Padma, while not quite as forceful as Daphne was, still was very forward. Likely emboldened by their competitions earlier in the year.
"Ooh, I want my turn!" Luna said, getting on her tiptoes and giving Harry a quick peck on the lips, before giggling behind her hands for a bit and swaying happily. Luna was always so carefree and giddy, it brought a smile to Harry's face.
"Looks like I get as much time as I want." Hermione said, crushing Harry in a very tight hug. Hermione had always been a hugger, even before they were dating. After though? He expected she would provide at least one absolutely bone crushing hug per day. Hermione however, very VERY rarely initiated a kiss. Even today was no exception, as Harry leaned down and planted a small short kiss on her lips. She flushed red for a moment but didn't let go of her hug, simply burying her face deep into his chest. "You're still going to let me come over this summer right?" Hermione asked, a small sense of fear present in her voice.
"Why would us dating make me want you over less? I'd love it if all of you could come over, although I know for Padma that's mostly impossible. I do worry about Mum and Dad saying you can't come over for fear of…" Harry's face turned a glorious Gryffindor scarlet, "you know."
Hermione, and Susan both had the decency to blush alongside Harry, although Padma and Daphne seemed to just have sly smiles. Luna just smiled innocently.
"Well, I'm sure we could still manage if we had some chaperones, we'll just have to see." Daphne said, easing everyone's worries a bit. "For now, come on. We've got to get off the train to get home."
With that, the sextet exited their compartment, making their way to the luggage car and grabbing their things, and exiting to the magical side of King's Cross Station.
"This is where we say goodbye for now. We'll keep in touch I know. I'll send a letter at the end of the week to let you all know how I've settled in. You do as well. I'll also see what Mum and Dad intend to do about… us. You guys let me know how your parents react too, okay?" Harry said. The girls nodded, giving him a hug before they left.
Daphne found her mother easily, her father apparently being stuck in a business meeting.
Susan found her Aunt even quicker, the auror guard with her being a dead giveaway. Amelia had motioned Harry over to speak with him.
"Now Harry, Susan told me while you were in the hospital wing about your… relationship. I know you're a good boy, and given your status in this world I understand that such a relationship is likely to be expected of you. As such, I wouldn't want to attempt to dissuade Susan from attempting to find her happiness in you. I myself had fallen for a boy in a similar situation in my youth, and although we hadn't worked out, that doesn't mean you will not. I do however expect you to treat Susan with all due respect. I would give you more of a lecture, but without you… I wouldn't have my dear daugh— niece, with me today. For that, I thank you, and will do my best to be supportive. Now, move along, I need to get Susan home, and I'm sure you need to get to your family as well." Amelia said, her tone going from very authoritarian to softer as her speech went on. She had obviously given this some amount of practice.
"Thank you Madam Bones. I wouldn't dare dream of hurting Susan, she means so much to me. I hope to be worthy of the trust you've placed in me." Harry gave a small bow, before saying a quick goodbye and making his way back to Hermione, Padma, and Luna.
"Oh! There's daddy. I should go. Thank you for making my first year so wonderful. I hope to become even closer to you all next year!" Luna gripped all three of them into a tight hug, before running off to a tall thin man with long white hair. Harry would have guessed he was Luna's father from a mile off, they looked so similar.
"Unfortunately, I have to part here as well." Padma said, as Parvati made her way to her. "Our agent from the ministry is there to guide us to our way home. I'll let you know what my parents say about us Harry. See you soon!" With that, the twins walked off towards a well dressed wizard, holding a small sign that said "Patil".
"Well, it's just us then, let's head through to the Muggle side." Hermione said, taking the lead and pushing her cart through the post that connected to the muggle side of King's Cross station.
Finding Hermione's parents was easy enough, David's t-shirt, which Hermione had told him was from a band called 'Grateful Dead', stood out amidst the people standing around in business suits. Near them was Andromeda, having a chat with Rose about something.
"There's my Queen of Sicily!" David said, crushing Hermione in a hug once the pair made their way to them. "Oh, I've missed you so much! Not seeing you over the holidays was torture! We barely get to see you any as it is, then we had to miss you during the holidays?"
"I am sorry daddy, but I didn't have a choice. The school was on lockdown." Hermione said, giving her father a bone crushing hug of her own.
"What was all of that about? They didn't tell us much about it." David said, finally releasing his daughter.
"Let's head out to the car, and we can talk about it there." Ted said, gesturing to the crowd around them. "Privileged information after all."
"You're right. Come on then, let's get these kiddos to the car." David said, picking up Hermione's trunk.
The trip to the car was uneventful, with Hermione standing between her parents and simply enjoying being with them again. She had really missed them, and hadn't even had a moment to see them since she left for Hogwarts in September. Harry at least had their day at the tournament to see Ted and Andromeda.
The Tonks and Grangers had rented a large van for the day, planning for Ted to drive everyone to Oxfordshire where dinner would be held at the Tonks' residence. Later that night, the Grangers were to take the van back to Bristol with them.
"Why are you guys not using the floo to get back to Oxfordshire?" Hermione asked, curious about the arrangement.
"Well, for starters, we and your parents have become rather good friends while you were away at school. Ted has been helping them understand the magical world a bit, having been in your shoes as a muggleborn. It's been nice for us to have other parents to talk about raising wizarding kids. We didn't really have any friends with kids when we had Nymphadora." Andromeda said, sitting in the passenger seat.
"Well, it's time for us to talk about what happened at the school this year. We were told what happened, but are also required to keep it confidential. We're only allowed to tell you because Hermione was directly affected." Ted said, looking in the rearview mirror.
"That… doesn't fill me with confidence about what happened. What on earth happened that requires that level of secrecy?" Rose asked, squirming in her seat a bit.
"For starters, a bit of background is needed on what Hogwarts means to the wizarding world. It's largely considered one of the safest places in the country. The staff there consists of many of the most capable wizards around, and therefore the general populace believes that any problems the school has they should handle it themselves." Ted started. "It was a shock to me as well, our daughter Nymphadora had gotten in some similar danger while she was in school, and it was everything I could do to not storm the place myself, but generally these situations are controlled very well by the staff."
"I see, I take it something dangerous happened at school this year then, why didn't you write home about it?" David asked to Hermione, before she could speak, Ted spoke up for her.
"At the start, it looked like little more than a particularly morbid prank. A vague message on a wall, and a petrified cat. Startling for sure, but mostly harmless. I remember similar things happening in the Secondary School my older cousin went to. From there though, she was in the middle of it, as people believed that Harry was the culprit for a while. It's no secret around the school how close the pair of them are." Ted continued.
"If that was the end of it, was it that dangerous for the students to return home?" Rose asked.
"The problem was that the next victim wasn't a cat. It was a student, a muggleborn one. The petrification at this point had also proven itself to be much longer lasting then what can typically be achieved by standard spells. Suspicion at this point was still on Harry, although we're all aware he wouldn't do such a thing. Hermione, Harry, and the rest of their club would eventually uncover the cause of the petrifications, a Basilisk." Ted said, and Andromeda shivered a bit in her seat.
"One of those six legged lizard things with a petrifying gaze? They're real?" David asked, and Andromeda looked confusedly back at him.
"No, they don't have any legs… but how did you know about the petrifying part?" Andromeda asked.
"There's a game we muggles play called Dungeons and Dragons, we pretend to be wizards and knights and the like and cast spells and fight monsters. A basilisk is depicted in the game as a six legged lizard creature roughly the size of a loveseat. It's gaze can turn people to stone, like the Gorgons of legend." David explained.
"Interesting… well you may need to show us this game sometime, perhaps we can tell you what creatures from this game are and aren't real, or how they differ from their depictions. Regardless, yes a basilisk had been petrifying students. It had been released from a chamber hidden under the school for over a thousand years, by a student possessed by a cursed artifact of some kind." Ted said. Harry wanted to say more about it, but held off. That information might be better kept secret.
"The school didn't know that it was a basilisk until recently, and were under the assumption it was a student performing these actions. As such they didn't want any of the students leaving for fear of being unable to find information on who may have been doing such a thing." Ted said.
"Alright, this all makes some level of sense so far. I take it they dealt with the Basilisk and assisted the possessed student if you're telling me about it." David said.
"Yes, the item possessing the student was destroyed, and the Basilisk was slain, by Harry here. Unfortunately, it had petrified Hermione as well as a few other students before he could do so." Ted said, significant pride in his voice at his adopted son.
"Good lord, why didn't the staff handle this? Surely they should have if that's what is expected of them!" David asked with shock.
"Harry and his friends managed to put the pieces together first, and Harry wasn't going to just let more people get hurt, he did grab a teacher, the one who should have been the optimal choice for the matter, but the fool had only gotten himself hurt on the way to deal with the problem, leaving Harry to face it alone. On one hand I want to strangle Harry for putting himself at such risk, but on the other hand, it was a truly brave and heroic thing he did. I can't fault him for trying to help, and everything has turned out well for the time being." Ted said. Harry blanched for a moment, but calmed down. He was aware that what he did was stupid, and reckless, and far mroe Gryffindor than Ravenclaw… but he had to do it. He couldn't have let Susan die in the chamber while he could have done SOMETHING.
"I see. You hadn't told us before now for what reason?" David asked.
"We ourselves only found out last week. Knowing that this trip was coming up, I believe it was going to be easier on you to learn it this way where you can see that Hermione is alive and well, to ease your worries about everything." As if to reinforce Ted's statement, Hermione waved at her father.
"I suppose you're right… this was better. I take it there's no way to convince you that leaving Hogwarts is a good idea is it my Queen of Sicily?" David asked.
"Not a chance daddy. I know it's dangerous, but that makes me worry even more about my friends if I'm not there to help them when things get like that. It doesn't help that Padma and I account for about seventy percent of Harry's impulse control." Hermione said, lightly punching Harry in the arm.
"I take offense to that." Harry said, causing the car to take a short break for laughter.
"What matters is that they're both here, safe, sound, and whole. All of the students are. Now it's just our jobs as parents to make sure that at least during the summer, all these two kids worry about is getting their homework done." Ted said, as he took Andromeda's hand.
"Too right, too right." David said.
Harry believed he was in for an even better summer than his previous one.