LITTLE SURPRISES AND DISAPPEARANCES

When Harry and Ron entered the Great Hall the next day (Hermione still upset at the both of them; Ron for the whole cat vs rat argument and Harry for 'ditching' them), the first thing they were met with were the Slytherins giggling and gossiping amongst themselves, gesturing over at Harry, no doubt back talking about the Dementor incident.

As Malfoy called out to him, Harry found his shoulders tensing up and preparing to be the butt of another joke. But before he could attempt one, Ron shouted "Sod off, Malfoy! And the rest of your posse too!" and wound a protective arm around him, dragging him off to the far end of the Gryffindor Table, out of sight from the irritating students.

"I didn't get the chance to ask you yesterday, Harry; but are you alright? I heard about the Dementor thing. Pretty sure everyone has," Ron winced, eyeing Harry sympathetically.

"I'm…" Harry said slowly, weighing his words, "Okay, I think. I've definitely been better but it wasn't the end of the world-" though it certainly felt like it for a while "-and I think the chocolate that Professor Lupin gave helped."

"You met him too? I think he was making rounds around the Train to make sure the students were alright. We were actually in the same compartment as him- Hermione and I."

Harry frowned, contemplating, "Do you know how the Dementors were driven away? I didn't see anything." Because I passed out, he added in his own mind, though Ron seemed to be aware of it anyway.

"Yeah, he shot this silvery sort of stuff out of his wand at the Dementor and it immediately fled," Ron said, brightening at the change in topic. "Too bad we don't have any class with him today; he seems like a good teacher. Unlike the previous two teachers, that is."

Harry chuckled as Ron playfully rolled his eyes, "Yeah, we have Divination and Transfiguration this morning and later, we split up right? Runes and Care of Creatures."

"Yeah, we do," Ron sighed. "First time we split up in classes, huh? Well, no worries I'll tell you all that happens," he winked.

His mood much better now, he joined Ron in demolishing his breakfast and they made their way to the Divination classroom, high up in the East Tower.

"Well, that was a load of bull," Ron scowled as Harry winced at the reminder. "Who does she think she is? Announcing that you would die?!"

"Ron! Quieter," Harry hissed, glancing around to find their classmates giving them a wide berth, most of them still pale-faced from Trelawney's frankly spectacular spectacle.

"Oh, I won't stay quiet at all," Ron fumed, Hermione nodding at his side in solidarity.

"Divination sounds like a waste of time. Not to mention, it's completely illogical. There's no way the future can be predicted with such accuracy," she sniffed imperiously. "I wonder if I can possibly let go of it."

Ron, eyeing her warily, objected, "You heard her predict that thing about Neville! He did end up breaking a glass. I still question her decision to announce Harry's death though."

Frowning, Hermione said, "It's not hard to look at Neville and think that he might break a glass, you know that."

At the backhanded insult, Ron's eyebrows rose. "Er, if you say so. Hey, how are you meant to go to Arithmancy by the way? I saw your schedule earlier today and you have two classes at once! How are you meant to be in two places at the same time?"

Not paying any mind to the obvious change in subject, Hermione said, "Don't fret about it, I have my ways. Now if you'll excuse me, we have some time before Transfiguration begins and I'd like to prepare myself for it."

With matching looks of puzzlement, the two watched her flounce away.

Blinking in bemusement, Ron nudged Harry, "Well, mate? You wanna go?"

The Study of Ancient Runes was a much more interesting subject than Harry had anticipated earlier. It mostly consisted of deciphering old rune symbols and their meaning, but even that was fun in its own right. The class hadn't even begun yet because they were waiting for Professor Babbling's arrival, yet Harry had already been absorbed into the world of runes. Ancient Runes Made Easy, one of the textbooks necessary for that class, gave an incredible introduction to the subject. Harry pondered all the possible things he could do with the knowledge of deciphering and even creating his own runes, as skimmed through the first few pages of the textbook.

"Good morning, class. Welcome to The Study of Ancient Runes, or Ancient Runes, if you prefer." said a red-haired witch, walking into class with a thick textbook tucked between her arms.

"We are here to decipher the Runes, a form of ancient alphabet used by the Nordic countries long ago. Decryption of Runes is similar to the decryption of hieroglyphics. While both the methods of writing are vastly different, the principle of decoding them is the same. Each symbol means something. Now, open your textbooks to page 11 and read the first three paragraphs."

"But Professor," asked Daphne, "Why are we deciphering Ancient Runes and not hieroglyphics, then?"

"That is a very good question, Ms. Greengrass. Would anyone like to answer?"

"I can!" said Hermione, shooting her hand up, "You see, Runes can be imbued with magic, while hieroglyphics cannot. So, the study and deciphering of Ancient Runes is more beneficial to wizards and witches." When did she get here?

"Right you are, Ms. Granger! 1 point to Gryffindor. But please, wait before answering next time." chuckled Professor Babbling, along with the rest of the class. Hermione's face turned scarlet, as she buried her nose in the book.

But that was a great revelation to Harry. Runes could be imbued with magic, so they could be a viable alternative to charms! Something even muggles could utilise, perhaps. His thoughts were brimming with possibilities of enchanted objects, when he felt a small piece of paper hit his arm. He looked in the direction it came from, and saw Daphne slightly gesturing at him to open the ball of paper.

It read, "ᛁᛟᚢ ᚨᚱᛖ ᚲᚢᛏᛖ"

Puzzled, Harry rifled through his textbook to decipher it.

"Y O U… A R E… C U-" Harry didn't finish, as he already felt his face beginning to grow hot. He looked at Daphne, who simply winked at him with a smile on her face.

Curse that girl, why does she have so much influence over me, thought Harry, trying to focus on Professor Babbling's instructions.

"HARRY! You are not going to believe this!" As soon as Ron and Hermione had entered the Common Room, he immediately shouted out to Harry who startled at the loud volume.

"What happened?" Ginny piped up from beside Harry, from where they had begun a game of Gobstones.

"Well, I didn't know you two were friends," Ron said before continuing, "Malfoy just got owned by a Hippogriff! He deserved it honestly, that git."

"Ron!" Hermione admonished, although suppressing a smile. "Malfoy may be a jerk but even he doesn't deserve such a brutal wound."

"Oh, come on, Hermione, you saw it. It barely looked like a scratch!" Ron chortled. Sobering up, he added, "Poor Hagrid though, having such a thing happen in his very first lesson."

Neville, who had trailed in behind Ron and Hermione, said, "Although the wound looked minor, it's possible that the consequences could be dire. The Hippogriff is a highly dangerous animal known for its ferocity."

"Well, if a Hippogriff is that dangerous, why did Hagrid introduce that as you guys' first lesson?" Ginny questioned while the other three exchanged knowing looks, remembering their escapades with both Norbert and Fluffy.

"Who knows," Neville shrugged, seeming uncomfortable even at the thought of such a Creature, "I wonder what'll happen to the Hippogriff now though? There's no way Lucius Malfoy will take this lying down, considering how wildly overprotective he is known to be. My grandmother told me some horror stories." He added that last part darkly.

"Oh, I hope nothing too bad happens!" Hermione frowned, "It's Malfoy's own fault he didn't listen to the instructions. Hagrid very clearly warned us to not insult any of them and that's exactly what Malfoy did!"

As Ron, Hermione and Neville jumped into that discussion, Harry leaned over to Ginny to whisper, "You wanna go meet Fuhrer with me? I want to check up on him."

She frowned back at him, "Didn't you keep him in the Forbidden Forest? I don't want to go to a known danger zone with someone who practically screams 'target me!' Imagine what could happen."

Although knowing she said the words as a jest, Harry put up the most hurt expression he could and gave her his best puppy eyes. "Come on, Ginny, that hurts! Won't you accompany this lonely boy this lovely evening?"

Giggling at his forlorn tone, Ginny retorted, "Why don't you invite your golden-haired beauty, huh?"

Blushing at the insinuation, Harry gave her a wobbly smile, "How could I possibly interrupt her time with her precious sister, huh? Especially since Astoria seemed so enthusiastic about it, she sped off the moment she dropped off her book bag here!"

"Oh, I get it," Ginny put a hand to her chest in mock offence, "I am just a replacement for the love of your life." She grinned at how visibly red Harry turned and took pity on him, probably thinking he would burst if she continued to tease him.

"Alright, I'll go with you. But we're taking someone else too. I mean it when I say I don't want to be caught off-guard in a place like the Forbidden Forest."

"Well, dear sister-"

"- we believe -"

"- we can help you!"

Harry laughed at the twins' sudden appearance as Ginny groaned.

"I meant, someone who would be rational and capable, not good-for-nothing pranksters!" She pouted as Fred ruffled her hair. Harry's grin quickly faded when George proceeded to do the same to his own hair, somehow managing to worsen its already shabby state.

"Aw, don't worry, Gin, Fred and I will protect you and ickle Harry from diving into trouble." George winked. "That's more of our brand, innit, Fred?"

"Why, of course-"

"Don't call yourselves by your names, idiots. Did you forget I could tell which twin is which?" Ginny said, raising an unimpressed brow at the two.

Huh, that's really impressive, Harry thought, I don't think even Mrs Weasley can do that. That's gotta be useful for when you're trying to dodge their pranks.

"C'mon," Fred pouted, slinging an arm around his twin, "let us have our fun, Gin!"

Chuckling, George pushed him away, Fred landing on the couch with a barely audible 'oof'. "When do you kids want to go? And are we taking this lot too?" He gestured towards the still arguing trio who had somehow moved onto the topic of Quidditch protocol.

Harry hesitated before shaking his head, "I don't really feel like explaining, you know? I kind of want to show Fuhrer to Ron but if I take Ron and not her, Hermione will become suspicious and possibly trail us out. And I don't want to show Fuhrer to Hermione because she's definitely gonna scold me for randomly adopting a dog, especially a stray like Fuhrer."

"Plus," Harry added, "I don't want to make Neville uncomfortable by dragging him to a place he's already afraid of."

Smiling wide, Fred launched himself from the couch to grab Harry into a bear hug, "You're so nice and thoughtful, Harry. If you want, we can show your dog to Ron later when Hermione's occupied. We have our ways, don't we, Georgie?"

"We do, Freddie," George said with a secretive grin. "We can certainly do that. Only if you agree of course, Harry."

"Alright, you demons," Ginny interrupted with a scarily similar smile. "We should get going before these three turn their attention to us."

"Well, what are we waiting for, then? Let's go!" With that Fred, still holding onto Harry, dragged him out, half-carrying him in his enthusiasm as Harry protested half-heartedly.

Behind the two, George and Ginny made their way as well, Ginny whispering to her brother, "I'm so glad at least one of you is kind of calm. I think Mum would've had a heart attack if you were both hyper."

George agreed, chuckling, "I'm surprised none of those in the Room paid any mind to those two with all the racket they were making."

As they made their way down to where Harry had charmed the little dog house for Fuhrer, he explained how he came across the dog in the first place. As he finished his story, he smiled nervously at the similar faces of bewilderment on the three Weasleys' faces.

"Well, now I know why you thought Hermione would nag at you for adopting Fuhrer," Ginny said, shaking her head, seeming amused. "You took in a dog you just randomly came across. What if it were a wizard under disguise?"

"I very much doubt that," Harry grumbled. "What sort of spell would allow a wizard to hold a disguise for that long, anyway?"

Laughing, George said, "Break it up, you two. I swear you guys argue like children or get along as well as a house on fire."

"We are children, thank you." Ginny drawled, "I'm not an old hag and I don't appreciate you insinuating that."

"Hey," Fred interrupted. "We're here, aren't we? Where's Fuhrer?"

As Fred had said, they were already at the spot. Harry frowned, whistling for Fuhrer as he walked deeper into the clearing. Where's he gone?

Before Harry could start worrying, George laid a firm hand on Harry's shoulder. "Maybe he's exploring the area? I doubt he would have stayed in the doghouse all the time, even if it were as big as the Castle itself."

"That makes sense," Ginny hummed. "Dogs do need a lot of space and Fuhrer's a humongous one."

"Looks like Fuhrer will cause you as much grief as you do us, Harry. What with disappearing without any sort of notice," Fred teased, tugging at his hair light-heartedly.

Harry grinned weakly, aware that they were trying to make him feel better. Before he could say anything though, Fuhrer came bounding out of the Forest and made a beeline towards Harry, reaching up to lick at his face.

Giggling, he tried to get Fuhrer to stop with the sudden assault to no avail. "C'mon Fuhrer, where did you go?"

"It would be handy if he could speak, right?" Fred said, marvelling as he buried his hands into the dog's fur. Fuhrer whined, turning his licks towards Ginny instead, seeming delighted at the extra attention.

"It would definitely stop me from worrying. The Forest has many many creatures, I remember when Ron and I stumbled into a nest of literal Acromantulas."

He hid a grin behind his fist as his words caused the others to halt in whatever they were doing. Even Fuhrer stopped in his attempts to eat Ginny's hair as he seemingly gaped at Harry.

"Well, now I'm glad that we tagged along," Fred said, visibly trying to regain his earlier stride, "This time, Georgie and I can protect our honorary brother if so needed."

Raising a sheepish hand to the back of his neck, he laughed nervously to hide how pleased the words made him. Fuhrer clearly had no qualms to hide his own happiness though as he immediately began bestowing his saliva on Fred instead.

The rest watched with great amusement as Fred helped and fell over, pinned by Fuhrer's giant paws on his chest and having no defence against the dog's frankly brutal talent at dodging shoves.

"Don't just stand there and laugh! I'm being attacked, help me!"

Author's Note-

Harry: Will you stop making me flustered?

Daphne: :3

Harry: FOR FIVE MINUTES?!