A/N: Hello people and sorry for the long absence, I took a vacation amongst other personal matters, but I'm back. I'm sorry, again, and I hope to make it up by posting for two weeks straight, daily - this is day 7 of 14!
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Bold = Parseltongue
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November 25, 1994
Harry had survived his first task, shown that he belonged in the tournament as much as the other champions did by winning first place and to top it all off, spent the evening with his two greatest friends. Alice and Lucretia were just that too, for nobody else from Hogwarts or the other schools cared where he spent his time even now; save for Hermione, who seemed upset at his choice of company.
Merlin that irked him. Who was Hermione to complain about his new friends? She had abandoned him, practically enough, what with how she spent nearly all of her time with Ron or the others. He was given the scraps of her time and none from the rest of his 'friends' thanks to Ron.
None of that mattered anymore — he had the girls from Durmstrang and because of them, he was infinitely stronger. It didn't matter if that was thanks to a few darker spells no more than it mattered that the dragon had been temporarily hurt. Harry had won, he'd shown off his newfound skillset and withdrew from the public eye almost immediately after doing so. Nobody had followed him after the scoring save for the two girls he'd meant to spend time with. Everything had been perfect from that moment on. From the private party with nought but the three of them, the wonderful food they'd had prepared in advance from Hogsmeade until his first night away from his dorms.
Who could have thought that his first real night of sleep in a bed aboard the Durmstrang ship would be his most peaceful… and his most problematic. That was all thanks to his old dormmates, unsurprisingly enough. In fact, the person who sought him out and made to bring up the rules was the one that he most definitely assumed it would be, once he learned that he'd been told on there was only one person who would even bother coming to speak with him about it.
"Harry! Why weren't you in your bed? Ron wanted to celebrate with you and apologise. He doesn't care about who did or didn't do anything, he just wants his friendship with you back," Hermione blinked at him when he stayed silent and then folded her arms, an annoyed look flashing across her face. "Harry, you can't stop sleeping in your dorm, that's against Hogwarts policy. I know you aren't happy with most of us, but we can all make it up now, can't we? You've always been level-headed enough to know grudges aren't worth it."
He closed his eyes in response to Hermione's words and very shortly thereafter rolled them so that she couldn't see it. Harry was most definitely not in the mood for a lecture, least of all by Hermione on account of Ron. They all knew the decisions they were making, especially when he swore over and over again that it wasn't him that entered.
"Hermione, I appreciate the warning and I won't do it again. Thanks for telling me about Ron too, I'll speak with him sometime soon — no, don't interrupt, you always hate when I do that. I'll speak with him later after I eat and take a shower. There's no point in rushing either of us and you already know that it's not going back to the way it used to be," Harry managed a smile at Hermione and then nodded towards Hogwarts. "Since that's all good and dealt with, why don't we go get breakfast? It's been a while since we've done that, shouldn't bother you if we're all good again."
"We're not all good again, Harry. You've been spending all of your time with those Durmstrang girls and it shows. You weren't previously this quick to dismiss your friends, even ones as daft as Ron. He's jealous, he's always been that way but you've always forgiven him. Do it again, just one more time, you owe it to the three of us," Hermione's final few words irked him more than the rest of her words.
All of them, every word that she said was annoying; she didn't like the other girls, challenged his definition of friend and was essentially calling him petty as well as implying that he owed them. Owed them for what, he hadn't a clue, not unless they counted all of the Voldemort problems they'd survived together. If that were the case, Harry was owed by them in a few instances too.
"Hermione. I've already told you where I stand, can't you just let that go and get breakfast with me? Do we really need to talk about this the very day that we're able to speak again without Ron peering from behind a bush or tree with the rest of the blokes behind him and an annoyed look on his face?" Harry tried, hoping that she would drop the subject.
It shouldn't have been at all surprising when she didn't do just that.
"Fine, we can talk about it later. I know you're still experiencing adrenaline and so on from yesterday, but this is something we should talk about sooner rather than later. Especially when some of the magic you used… when some of it that you used was," Hermione looked around before leaning in closer to him, her lips a few inches from his ear. "dark. Some of those spells were very dark, he said that."
Harry nearly asked who 'he' was supposed to be before initially concluding it was Ron. When that didn't make sense and seemed stupid thanks to his recent vast amounts of time with Alice as well as Lucretia, he correctly concluded on his second attempt that 'he' was most definitely referencing Dumbledore.
It helped when he made Hermione confirm it.
"He came to see you too?" Harry asked nonchalantly, kicking at a bit of clumped up grass as they continued walking towards Hogwarts.
"Of course he did, he was worried about you. It only makes sense that he'd seek me out since I, as well as Ron, know you the most," Hermione sighed and tossed him a difficult to interpret look then. "Professor Dumbledore loves you as much as the rest of us do, even if it doesn't seem like that. He's been busy this whole year, looking for ways to help you, no less. It's only natural that when he sees you in the company of people who have relatives that're followers of you-know-who, he speaks to all of us."
Harry nodded and made to ask another question before he decided against that plan of action. If he pried any further, he knew Hermione would mention it to Dumbledore whenever they spoke again. That wouldn't do, not if it made him seem suspicious since they were apparently discussing him now that he no longer kept to the company of Gryffindors and a scant few others.
He would have to speak with Alice and Lucretia both once his breakfast with Hermione was over. The pair of them, they'd know what to do and say to avoid unjust observation. Even if they didn't, they would likely know spells that prevented him from having his privacy destroyed. Finally, his last thought went randomly to Dumbledore.
Why was the man so curious about him now after avoiding speaking or spending all that much time with him recently? It didn't make sense, especially with his going to Harry's older friends rather than the ones he was most actively with — Hermione for all of her 'attempts' had likely only spent a dozen hours with him since his name had been withdrawn from the damned Goblet. Nearly the entirety of that time was spent in the company of dozens of others too.
December 4, 1994
"Harry, you are good, no?" Alice asked, her arms encircling him and pulling him into her warmth as soon as her words graced his ears in all of their softness. "It has been two days since last you visited us, you had me worried I was overly affectionate or attentive."
Lucretia nodded from behind the other girl, her arms folded over one another while a grin sat on her face. "You should've seen gill girl while you were gone, Harry. I don't think I've seen her look so troubled since our first year together when she lost Monsieur Fluff. Anyhow, glad to see that whatever was keeping you's been resolved."
"Wha— who's Monsieur Fluff and how do you know it's been resolved?" Harry asked, his tone as curious at the name as it was towards Lucretia's mystic powers — all the while he was thinking about those questions he was still returning the soft, comforting embrace from Alice.
As was always true when he first saw her, the blanket-like warmth that came from her heritage as well as the sense of overall contentedness hit him heavily. It was as if, for those scant few minutes, every concern and ache he had were cured. There were times when Alice could keep that feeling lasting hours upon hours, and in those cases, there was never a more pleasurable, comfortable position than within a few feet of her.
Truly, only being cuddled by the older Swiss Girl with those music-like sounds on the air and the occasional content coo coming from her could top the general feeling he felt. Lucretia's presence was always helpful too, though in the sense that she could push him to do whatever he needed to.
If Alice was the soft blanket, affection-giver and comfort-provider, Lucretia was the person who pushed him beyond all points of recognition. He could learn everything they wanted him to, practise until he was panting from exhaustion and still she'd demand more of him.
'If I ask you to move a mountain and you somehow manage it, Harry, you better turn and ask me what's next.'
That quote from 'Cretia would always stick with him.
"I told you to relax, you stinky salmon," Lucretia said, her voice bringing him back to reality as her hand kept patting his cheek with increasing force. "There you are, Harry, welcome back. Our lovely fishy friend here used a bit too much of her inherent magic in all of her excitement. You probably felt very nice for a minute or so there, huh?"
He nodded, smiling with his eyes half-closed; he felt heavenly.
"Do not look at me with anger in your eyes, Lucretia. You knew that he has grown on me, especially recently. Harry has done the same with you, has he not?" Alice placed a firm kiss on the top of his head, then the tip of his nose, next was each cheek and only then did she pull away from him with a smile on her beautiful face. "I apologise for comforting you overly much, the feelings are not entirely controllable in times of exceedingly high happiness."
"I still don't get how little Harry here means so much to you in such a short amount of time. It must be that fish brain of yours, living in schools and all, right?" Lucretia raised her hands when Alice turned her attention towards the other girl in the room, the former's grin growing as the latter held her with a narrow-eyed gaze for nearly five seconds before those eyes returned to Harry with kindness in them.
"Lucretia likes to poke fun at me," Alice prefaced, pulling away from Harry but keeping her arms on him as she moved towards the singular couch in her room, pulling him behind her. "You will tell us what had you missing for a few days, yes? We were nervous, concerned even, as your Headmaster Dumbledore could turn you against us if he so wished — your last conversation made me realise how possible that is."
Harry shook his head and patted Alice on the hand softly. "Professor Dumbledore may not like me spending time with people from outside of Hogwarts, but he won't do anything about it. Hermione, she's about the only one that would say anything even if Ron's still a bit angry with me for 'entering' my name in the tournament."
"What kept you then?" Lucretia asked, piping up from her new position leaning against one of the barely rocking walls.
"I needed to spend time with a few of the people who used to be my best friends. Some of them finally decided to start talking to me again, after I won first place in the tournament. I guess I kind of expected that to happen from a few people, but I thought Ron or at least Seamus would hold onto it longer," Harry shrugged, huffing when the two older girls continued to stare at him in silence in obvious teamwork; they knew there was more to say. "Hermione was considering telling McGonagall, the person-in-charge of Gryffindor, that I spent a night here. I had to smooth things over with Ron just by being around him even if I didn't say much for her to relax. It wasn't fun, but Ron seems content and so she is too now that we're 'back together."
"You aren't happy about that? Aren't those two the people who you've known since you joined the Magical World?" Lucretia drew closer, coming so close that she was brushing her knees against his and Alice's both when she pulled over the third chair in the room.
"They both have known me and helped me longer than anybody else. Hermione, I like her, she's wicked smart and sort of like a sister to me, but she always tries to help Ron too. He was the one that originally dislike her, which only makes it weirder. I guess I'm not not happy now that we're all back to talking, but it's not the same — I barely remember anything we've said or done in those last few days, that's all unimportant everything we talk about is now," Harry finished what felt like a rant, with a shake of his head as he reclined as best he could in his seat.
He didn't care to spend too much more time talking about Hermione or Ron. They were fine now even if Hermione didn't like him spending time with the Durmstrang girls. Ron, well, Harry just didn't tell the other boy where he was going or who he was spending his time with any more than Hermione did; Ron was chasing Fleur, Hermione was going after Krum because she was annoyed by that and Harry was left with as much time to himself during the meaty hours of the day to do what he'd like. Hermione's whole issue was only for the evening hours, the ones he'd normally be sleeping during so long as Ron didn't want to play Chess or something else that would change that.
"You made friends with them again after that talk we had in the Hogsmeade?" Alice asked, cocking her head at him as he felt a renewed surge of comfort, the strength of it made his shoulders sag in his reclined posture. "That was very nice of you to do, but you were done with them, no? If that Herm-Herm… Hermione, was threatening to tell a Professor about you spending time with us during curfew hours, does that not mean she used that to force those friendships back to what they were?"
"Alice is right, Harry. You're better off without them, especially since that means wasting time you could be spending learning with us — we know you can't do that just as much as you do on account of Hermione and the leverage she holds. That was good thinking on your part, by the way," Lucretia then tossed him a lopsided smile with her eyebrows raised. "Why don't you continue for another week or two just spending the little bit of time you need with them? Once that's all done and dealt with, if you drop them, nobody will much remember that incident. We could probably have a few of our friends lie for your sake too. At the very least it'd be unprovable."
"I was planning on doing something along those lines," Harry said honestly, rubbing at the back of his neck once he did.
It felt dirty to say; he was going to play Hermione and Ron just long enough that he couldn't get in trouble, but they weren't really his best friends anymore. It wasn't the first time they'd had a serious argument, disagreement or what have you, but something had definitely changed this time around. Hermione may not have been involved with either side either, but it was clear which she picked in the aftermath.
"Yeah, I think I'll be doing exactly that," Harry said, speaking again as the silence lingered. "There's not really any point wasting too much time with them, just like you said. I've already got first place in the tournament thanks to both of you, and more than that, what really means a lot to me, is that I'm alive. I'm not even in Azkaban either, which I'll admit I was a bit worried about after I learned all of those spells."
Alice and Lucretia laughed, the former getting up to hug him again when he was finished speaking. All three of them knew how unprepared he initially was, and all three saw firsthand how far he had come in the two weeks time he'd had to spend with them.
There was much he could do, much he would do, and the minor issues that were his former best friends couldn't get in the way of that. Not when he had so much more to learn from Alice and Lucretia… Dumbledore, the older man was still a person to look up to but Harry wasn't quite so beholden to him any longer.
December 25, 1994
"Everything is well with your housemates?" Alice asked, her hands idly combing through his hair with a degree of softness and sense of comfort so high that he half thought he'd fall asleep if it continued.
"Yes, they're all fine with me coming down here. I told them you were distant friends of my family, all of them bought it, Ron even mentioned how we're all cousins anyhow," Harry pressed further back into the softness that was Alice, practically preening his neck so that she could continue her delicate, soothing touches.
"I am glad our plan to make sure they remain friendly and unproblematic has gone well. Still, I feel you should not be in the position you currently are, Harry. All friends at your age should be true ones… I am sorry they dislike me and Lucretia," Alice's voice got softer, the lilts of music in the air turning more sorrowful. "You deserve so much more than you were given, you know that, no?"
Harry shook his head before turning it to smile at Alice. "Lots of people deserve more than they get, but I consider myself pretty lucky to have you and Lucretia. My old friends, they're not half bad either, I only wish you could've met them a year ago. Back before everything went bonkers this year, they would have gotten along with you really well. You don't need to apologise either, I've said that a lot."
When Harry finished with a slight reddening of his cheeks as he looked away from Alice, the older girl ready to hug him from behind as she so often did, the door to their room burst open. It wasn't nearly as terrifying this time as it was the first dozen or so times it'd happened, but it was still startling.
"You lack decorum, Lucretia," Alice said with her nose raised enough to tickle the back of his neck.
"It's a good thing I lack decorum if it'd leave me acting like you, gills. I mean, come on, right? You always use those table manners, high-society words and so on with just the three of us," Lucretia carefully set down the bag of presents she'd carried in and then fell back into the chair with a bit of acrobatics, one of her legs going incredibly high up. "Now can you do that with all of your fanciness?"
Harry grinned and returned Lucretia's wink when she gave it, the boy nearly laughing when he felt Alice's unimpressed snort.
"It would be a waste of time to comment, I think. Harry, you will start as we go around opening the gifts we all got for one another, as you're the youngest, ouais, Lucretia?" Alice asked a brow arched at the other girl as she dared her to reply with a challenge.
"Harry definitely gets to open his presents first, you won't hear me say any differently. Once that happens and we've opened up all of our gifts, why don't we decide what we'll be doing the rest of the day?" Lucretia motioned to the door with one of her now-bare feet. "We could eat our Christmas or Yule meal here or in Hogwarts. I don't care which option we choose so long as we arrive early enough to secure the best spots."
"Hungry already?" Harry asked from the safety of Alice's bubble.
Lucretia snorted at him, her head cocked to one side. "Don't make me come over and give you my form of cuddling, Harry. I can promise you that all of those spells we helped you learn to use against a dragon won't stop me. "
Harry didn't doubt that for a minute, not if the two girls could actually learn about the Dark Arts or other fields of magic that were banned at Hogwarts. Merlin, that has to be one of the things that bothered him most about learning at Hogwarts rather than another school.
Alice patted Harry on the shoulder before pulling him closer to her with one hand while the other sought out a small, perfectly wrapped gift. "Harry is safe from any uncouth barbarian women so long as he's next to me. You remember when last our school had a duelling club, do you not, Lucretia?" Alice guided Harry over to the edge of her bed as those words lingered in the air, the older girl gently urging him to seat before she began kneading his shoulder once her gift was handed over to him. "Open your gift, Harry. This one is the most important of them all, which is why I started with it. Keep it close to yourself at all times, please… ouais?"
Harry nodded firmly and rolled his shoulders, enjoying the looseness that the massage encouraged. "I promise I'll keep it close, and that feels great. I think I'll lose feeling again if you keep going."
Lucretia chuckled, a few huffs escaping from the tougher-acting girl as she watched him with one arm shoved down her gift bag. "Go on then, open Alice's gift. She won't stop hovering over you until you do."
"I can not seem to remember you complaining about my hovering last Yule," Alice snarked, a dainty nose-raise signifying she was done with the other girl as she angled her body to focus completely on Harry; Lucretia's laughter said just what she thought of that. "Whenever you are ready, Harry."
That was all he needed in way of a reminder and thus, Harry dug into the Yule gift she had gotten for him. It was small and metallic, those were from his first observation. Once he fully withdrew the object so that he could better see it, he understood exactly what it was even if the reason for him receiving it was far less clear.
"You got me a key?" Harry said, his tone making him sound like he was asking a question.
"It is a special one that fits with the letter you will find under the tree. As I said, you will need to keep it close to you and in a position of safety — it will serve you well, believe me," Alice concluded with a soft, dazzling smile, one that made his heart race as it always did while within her presence.
"My turn now that she's done," Lucretia quickly said, jutting out her hands as she forced her present into his grasp. "Open that however you'd want, it's not fragile. Oh, if anybody should ask you about… this, say you found it and thought it looked pretty."
Harry blinked a few times in confusion at Lucretia but ultimately shrugged off her remark as he carefully opened the package. She didn't seem to care if he was gentle with it, but every gift in his eyes was meant to be shown equal care; it could be cheap and small or expensive and large, all meant the person cared for you.
When he got the lid removed and saw what looked to be a simple wand-holster, he smiled at Lucretia. "Thank you, my old one was a bit ratty… huh?"
She was always wealthily dressed just like Alice was, it intimidated him more often than not. Mixed together with their age gap and the general shyness that he still felt towards the girls, Harry felt incomplete or incompetent whenever he compared himself with either of them.
"I thought you could use an upgrade is all. If you're going to use it too, you should probably take out whatever's already inside of the holster," Lucretia shrugged at him, a mixture of some self-satisfied expression and one other he couldn't clock on her face. "Don't say the word on the back of it once you find it. That wouldn't look good on any of us right now."
"You got him one of what you spoke about, Lucretia? I told you how stupid it was, no?" Alice tutted but stayed alongside him, one of her soft hands rubbing circles on his back in a way that kept all tension and soreness at bay.
"You did tell me it was pretty stupid, but I decided I'd rather have him be alive and well. We both know he's gotten himself out of trouble in the past, so I'd doubt that could be a problem if he got caught with it — he could probably say he found it in one of our dorms or near our ship and meant to return it. The point is, it's better if he has it should the need ever arise," Lucretia finished and crossed her arms, a challenge-filled look on her face as she stared down at Alice.
That tough look of Lucretia's lasted all of thirty seconds, Harry noticed. It couldn't stand up against Alice's soothing powers any more than he could when he was in an especially bad mood. It was a bit like Fleur's attraction was on people like… Ron; hopelessly overpowering.
Ah well, so long as Alice didn't use it on him to do something she shouldn't. Merlin, maybe that was why there weren't ever any arguments within this new trio. If one was close to starting or what have you, Alice could simply press the off switch on all of the negative feelings causing the argument. She was like an emotional cheat parchment!
Harry shook his head to clear himself of stupid thoughts and reached for the wand holster again, this time withdrawing a practice wand from it. They were fun, nifty toys that some people liked thanks to the effects they were enchanted with upon creation. Some could make fireworks, only small ones mind you, appear when you flicked them in the right motion. Others could make lights appear that could be changed based on which motion you made. All of them were alright gifts, but he wondered what point or reason Lucretia was giving him one.
"Is there something else I should be seeing? You said, uh, not to say the word?" Harry swallowed when he made eye contact with Lucretia.
He didn't want her to think he was ungrateful, no, that couldn't be further from the truth. They may not know one another all that well, especially when considering they've only had a bit over a month together, but every gift they got for him meant just as much as all the hours they'd spent studying. That was to say that she and Alice had become his best friends through more than just regular, simple actions.
Alice spoke up, saying something in French that sounded vaguely gloating before Lucretia shot her a withering glare that silenced whatever those words were. Not more than a few seconds later, she made her way over to him and plucked out a tiny piece of parchment that was hidden away in the bottom of the holster.
"This is the word that you will never say while holding that wand unless you're in immediate danger — yes, the fake 'practice' wand I got for you is what I mean," Lucretia pointed at the wand then, her other hand sliding the parchment into his robe pockets. "If you're ever in trouble, life-threatening or due for an Azkaban sentence, you'll use the wand and the word. It'll take you very far away and to a place that I know from personal experience is safe."
"This is a portkey? I thought you had to get… oh… I understand," Harry looked over to Alice, now understanding why she had been bothered by the gift that Lucretia had got for him; it was illegal here where he was from, but the international rules may be less bothersome. That didn't matter to him though, not if he could be in trouble for holding it. "Can anybody tell?"
Lucretia grinned and shook her head before switching to patting his shoulder, a surprisingly affectionate gesture from the tougher-seeming girl. "Nobody will ever know what it is that you're holding before it's too late for them to catch you," Lucretia shot a smug look over to Alice and then pulled on Harry's free hand. "Time for one of your gifts to each of us, then snacks — we'll open the rest later, and then we can get to discussing your next task. I have it on good authority that an evening in our bathing suits spent within a hot bath will further our understanding of what we'll work on next."
Harry wasn't sure what that meant to save his life, but when he thought of Alice in the water — and in a bathing suit — his mind blanked.