November 20, 1993

Severus had not lived a particularly quiet, danger-free life. Still, nothing could have quite prepared him for seeing Ivy Potter stroll down the hallway with a couple dozen snakes following closely behind. Severus didn't mind snakes, really. I mean, how could you as a Slytherin? But moderation was a virtue or something like that, and this was pushing it.

Not quite sure if he dared ask, he raised an eyebrow at Ivy who responded to the silent question with, "I'm taking them to meet Hilda."

The basilisk. She was taking every snake currently residing in Hogwarts to meet a basilisk.

He was not paid nearly enough to deal with this.

December 1, 1993

Three little Gryffindors sat huddled in a corner of their common room. Percy felt the huddling was unnecessary, seeing as apart from him they were the room's only occupants. Still, since the three in question were his little sister, Seamus "I can blow up more things than Fred" Finnegan, and the little first year they had declared to be "theirs" (once they got over bickering who had called dibs), he decided that since nothing was currently on fire, and no screams were to be heard, it was probably all fine and nothing at all to worry about.

At least nothing on par with Ivy's playdate for the snakes of Hogwarts yesterday. Percy still didn't see why the basilisk was a necessary part of said playdate.

A knock on the entrance to the common room made him pause. It wouldn't be Ivy, since she didn't knock, and it probably wasn't Luna, since he had never seen her actually walk through the portrait entrance. She just sort of appeared.

Also it was far too early in the morning to be most anyone else who somehow found their way to the Gryffindor dormitories.

Percy opened the door and took a peek outside, only to find himself looking down at a very small little Slytherin whose name he was drawing a blank on.

"Can I help you?"

"I need to speak to George Weasley, please," the little first year said.

Her tone was solemn but not agitated, so his brother probably hadn't done anything to upset her. Unless she was here for help with revenge. But then again didn't all the little Slytherins go to Ivy for things like that now? It was too early to think through something like this.

"Come on in," he said.

The three plotters in the corner turned to face the door.

"Hi Tori," Nott said.

Tori… Tori… Ah. Astoria. That's right.

"Hi Cali," Astoria said.

It was a little easier to keep track of people's names when they used the same name every time. Like him. He went by Percy for everything except the most formal of instances. Easy.

"Is everything okay?" Calanthia asked with a small frown.

"I just need to talk to George," the little Slytherin answered.

"George is probably still asleep," Percy began, but Ginny leapt up.

"On it," she said, with a grin that promised nothing pleasant.

Sure enough, only a minute or two later George came down, looking a little wet and very, very awake.

"Hey Astoria, what's going on?"

"I need your help," she replied.

"With what?"

"Well, you're the smartest person I know…"

George looked a bit surprised at that statement.

"…and I need to figure out how to adopt someone."

George frowned, and Percy decided that he was successful in life and could graduate in peace, knowing the next generation was safely in the care of the twins… Actually, no, that didn't completely fill him with confidence, but there were all the Hufflepuffs and even the Slytherins to help out so it'd be fine.

"But you're eleven," George pointed out.

"That's why I need help," Astoria said with a dramatic sigh like only eleven year olds can do.

"Alright…" George said hesitantly. "So, is this person older than you?"

"Mmhmm."

Percy's mind flashed back to multiple occasions where adoption papers had been subtlety placed in just the right spot. He was honestly surprise Charlie hadn't experienced a legal name change by this point.

"So, who is it?" George asked.

"Professor Black."

With that Percy decided he had heard enough, and, not wanting to become an accomplice in whatever madness was surely about to take place, he made a swift and graceful exit. When it came to the longevity of Hogwarts he had done his good deed already. Black would be fine. Probably.

Sirius sat with eyes focused on the Weasley twins. They were plotting something. Something to do with him, if the looks they kept sending his way were any indication. Twin one leaned over to twin two and whispered something in his ear, to which he responded with a laugh.

Great.

"Be afraid, Black," Snape said with the slightest of smirks.

Sirius scowled but didn't reply. No, he wasn't going to be afraid. He was a Marauder for Merlin's sake. He would take whatever prank war those two boys were foolish enough to begin and he would win. He wouldobliteratethem. He would…

Finish breakfast first. Can't prank on an empty stomach after all.

December 3, 1993

Harry genuinely liked the Greengrasses, he really did, but that did not mean he was expecting Nate Greengrass to show up at his house asking for suggestions on telling your daughter she can't adopt an adult man.

He was even less prepared for said adult man to be Sirius.

"Er, may I ask why she wants to adopt Sirius?"

Nate sighed. "Apparently he's been keeping the Slytherins company ever since Halloween."

Harry frowned, trying to think if Sirius had mentioned anything like that. He was almost positive he hadn't.

"As Padfoot," Nate continued. "It seems a few of the students, particularly the younger ones, were left a bit frightened by the realization that Lestrange got so close to Hogwarts."

Harry winced minutely on the inside.

"And Astoria has always wanted a dog," Nate concluded.

Harry kept from laughing, but only just. "So she decided her professor was the best bet?"

Nate shook his head. "I don't even want to know where she got the papers from."

"Well I triple checked Ivy's trunk before she left, but honestly there are so many ways…" Harry trailed off, thinking of a few of the more inventive ways Ivy had obtained the seemingly harmless bits of parchment.

December 6, 1993

"Has Sirius mentioned anything about spending time in the Slytherin dormitories recently?"

"Yes. I believe he has spent several evenings there, even spending the night in the common room a few times," Sabrina replied.

Harry nodded.

"Severus was not particularly thrilled with that development, but even he admits it has helped some of the younger students who were worried Lestrange would somehow make it back to the castle," Narcissa added.

Lucius and Remus both took that moment to snort slightly, knowing full well the understatement that most likely was.

"Is this about Astoria's attempted adoption?" Luna asked, and Harry nodded.

"Oh, I think it's moved a bit beyond that," Sabrina said with a small grin.

"Oh?"

"Well, I've never received a marriage proposal for my fiancé before," she said, producing a small letter out of her pocket.

There were quiet chuckles all around.

"Please tell me you told Nate that," Harry said.

"Please tell me you toldSiriusthat," Remus added with a grin.

"Oh, but of course," Sabrina said with a wink. "Perhaps after dinner?"

"What are pensieves for if not entertainment at our relations' expense?" Lucius said dryly.

"You'll have to show Barty when he gets back as well," Remus said. "I'm sure he would find it equally as enjoyable."

"When does Barty return?" Narcissa asked.

"The sixteenth," Luna answered. "He will be here for a little over three weeks."

"So what's Sirius done now that has you looking forward to this so much, Remus?" Harry asked.

"He knows what he did," Remus said with a grumble.

Eventually Harry resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't getting any more out of Remus at the moment.

December 10, 1993

Remus sighed as he looked in the mirror. He couldn't believe he was actually doing this. Just because a version of him in another world had married Dora didn't mean they were destined to be together here or anything, right? Sirius had clearly not gotten the message, hence the date he was about to go on.

Alright, so that may be stretching facts just a was only guilty of arranging thefirstdate. Remus was maybe partially responsible for the ones after that, seeing as he was the one to have spoken the words "would you like to do this again sometime?"

Minor details, really.

But this was going to end in disaster. He just knew it. Dora was great and wonderful and perfect, and he was, well, him. And then there was the whole age thing he really didn't like to spend very much time thinking about. And it's not like he could talk about this to anyone either. Sirius would break out into an awful victory song, Barty would look at him like he was being stupid, Luna would tell him he was perfectly sweet and everything would be fine, and Harry… Well Harry would demonstrate once again how clearly he was the child of both James and Lily Potter, meaning Remus would get a lecture about how being a werewolf wasn't a bad thing and didn't mean he was worth less or incapable of forming a lasting relationship, et cetera, et cetera.

Harry Potter was many things, but good for the continued ignoring of your inner angst was not one of them. At least that's how Luna had phrased it. Harry had said something more along the lines of "we're all idiots sometimes," while giving Remus a look that clarified who the idiot was at that particular moment.

So that was that, and now he was going on a date. Another date. Another secret date, because he had yet to get back at Sirius for all of this and there was no way he was going to let Sirius gloat in victory before he had his payback.

December 16, 1993

"Welcome home," Luna greeted him happily.

He placed a kiss on her cheek. "It's good to be back."

It was. And she was right, it was home, as strange a concept as that was.

"Barty, is that you?" he heard coming from the other room.

"And how are you, oh Mr. Not-So-Dark Lord?"

Harry's eye twitched. It was good to be home.

"I have nine days to get this. Well really three days until Ivy gets back, but technically nine days to still count."

Barty was fairly certain Harry would achieve his animagus form by then through sheer willpower. Or maybe spite at this point.

"Maybe we should watch Luna do it again?" he suggested.

Luna obliged, and a second later a beautiful peregrine falcon was flying around them.

Barty watched with unabashed amazement. No matter how may times he witnessed an animagus transformation, is was always impressive. And Luna's was way better than Black's, of course. Well at least Harry was going to be some kind of bird, as the feathers that Dobby had taken to collecting proved. Then he turned back towards Harry.

"Oi, stop making lovey eyes at your wife and try to turn into a ruddy bird," he said, snapping his fingers in front of Harry's face.

"Sorry," Harry said, clearly not meaning it at all.

Barty rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Luna. "You think it'd work if we pushed him off a cliff or something?"

Luna changed back and shrugged. "Probably. But he might poke your eyes out."

Barty weighed his options. "Any chance I could get one of those magical eyes Mad-Eye's got?"

Luna laughed but didn't answer.

"That wasn't a no," Barty called out, as she changed into a falcon once again and Harry resumed his lovey eyes. Barty could almost literally see the hearts in his eyes. At least Ivy came by it honestly then. Or they both did? Somehow he couldn't picture Lily Evans making a face like that… But then again James Potter had mooned over Evans the entire time they were at Hogwarts, so actually that made a lot of sense.

Remus probably even had a memory.

December 18, 1993

Barty listened with rapt attention as Severus finished catching him up on everything that had happened in the few months he had been gone. Honestly, the man could do with a little more drama in his retelling, but not everyone could be Lucius. Which was probably a good thing come to think of it.

Everyone else who was in the know regarding the entirety of Harry and Luna's origins already knew everything Severus was telling him, but Barty did notice Harry's eye twitch a couple times. Luna didn't look too worried though, which was a good sign. If there ever came a time when Lunadidlook worried, Barty would know things were about to get serious.

"So, that crazy…"

Luna raised an eyebrow.

"…witch," Barty said, after a short hesitation, "is really gone?"

"Goblins," Harry said.

"Right. And you're sure that'll be enough?"

Harry looked at him like he was insane. "Are you suggesting that the goblins aren't enough to keep her contained?"

Black chose that moment to pipe in. "Can I be there when you tell them that?"

Barty just stuck out his tongue at Black, who stuck his out in return. They continued on in this completely mature handling of the situation until Narcissa cleared her throat.

"Great, well, what's next then?" Barty asked.

"Next?" Severus asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. Who's our bad guy now?"

He was met with eight pairs of blinking eyes.

"Oh come on, there's got to be someone, right?"

Harry cleared his throat. "Well in my timeline technically the next person was you, so…"

Barty waved a hand. "If I go crazy again Luna will fix it. Who else?"

"Well, there's always Umbridge," Black suggested.

"Has she even done anything though?" Sabrina asked. "In this time, I mean."

"Besides be a nasty little…"

Luna nudged Harry in the ribs and he didn't finish his thought.

"Well there were those werewolf bills she tried to introduce," Lucius said.

"None of which went through," Severus said dryly.

"Of course not," Black huffed.

"She still tried though," Luna pointed out.

A few head turned towards Barty's favorite person at that.

"Are you saying we ought to go after Umbridge now?" Harry asked.

"Well I'm sure you will need to take care of things eventually," Luna said lightly.

Coming from Luna that was essentially a battle cry cast with a sonorus. And permission. Barty was definitely sensing permission there.

"Alright," Harry said carefully. "I guess Umbridge it is."

"Shall we assemble the minions then?" Barty asked, just to see the twitch of Harry's eye. He only had a few weeks here so he needed to make them count.

December 19, 1993

"I have four hours left and Iwill bloody well get this."

It wasn't that Sirius didn't have full confidence in Harry, because he did, but watching him will himself into sprouting feathers was something he was finding great amusement in at the moment.

"Why does he need to get this in four hours?" Nate whispered none too softly.

"Ivy," came the reply from at least four other wizards sitting around.

"And we're all here because…"

"Because Luna is perfect and far too distracting for Harry, and he is stubborn enough to get this figured out if we keep staring at him."

Sirius couldn't fault Barty's logic no matter how much he wanted to.

"Has anyone tried throwing him off a cliff?" Westbrook asked.

Sirius was about to tell Westbrook exactly what he could throw off a cliff, but Barty beat him to it.

"Luna didn't say yes but Remus said no."

Those who knew Barty's true identity nodded knowingly, while all the other wizards just looked confused. Sirius really couldn't blame them.

Barty was trying to stay awake, he really was, but Harry had maybe slightly overpowered the heating charms, and the sun was shining perfectly for once, and he had been staring at the same patch of grass for three hours straight. Also it was a very comfortable chair.

"Alright, I think I've got it."

Merlin's beard, his minionly powers were finally working and Harry was going to get this.

"Let's see it then," Black said with a challenging grin.

Harry returned the grin and a second later there was a large black raven in his place. Because of course there was.

"He really went from sprouting feathers to a full transformation since this morning, huh," one of the other wizards said. Barty was too focused on Harry to pay too much attention.

"Figures," someone else said.

"Suppose someone ought to let the ladies know they can come out now?"

"Luna will know," Barty said. He enjoyed seeing the surprised and skeptical looks on a few faces. They didn't know Luna like he did. She would know, and she would be out in three, two, one…

"Should we race then?"

Harry transformed back abruptly. "Wait, no, you're going to be way faster. You… are just teasing. Okay, right. Right."

"Just needed to make sure you could transform back," Luna said lightly, as if that wasn't a horrific thought.

Harry's face paled slightly, as did the faces of a few others.

"I didn't even think about that," he said, probably horrified at the thought that he could have done it wrong.

Barty would be horrified in that situation.

"And you have an entire hour to spare."

Harry's face turned smug, although the effect was somewhat diminished due to the lingering paleness and simultaneous flushing. Merlin, all these poor people stuck in Britain needed more sun. Barty should have suggested they all join him for the holiday instead.

And then they were kissing. They'd been married for six months already, or nearly. Shouldn't they be over this by now?

He needed an ally.

"Well, it looks like it's just you and me," a voice said, shocking Remus out of his internal musings. He hadn't even heard the man approach.

"Er, what?"

"Single. Not infatuated by all this lovey dovey nonsense."

"Uh, right," Remus said, with a chuckle that he hoped didn't come out as too nervous.

Barty's narrowed eyes demonstrated his failure in that regard.

"Right?" he said.

"What're you talking about over here?"

Barty answered, though his eyes didn't leave Remus. "It seems Remus has been keeping something from us. Speaking of which, have you heard from your cousin lately?" he asked Sirius far too sweetly to be innocent.

"Which one?" Sirius asked, before catching on to what Barty was saying and turning to Remus.

Remus withheld a groan, knowing what was coming next.

"Oh, so how is my dear cousin Nymphadora doing?" Sirius asked, matching Barty's previous tone.

"Probably cursing you all the way from London," Remus said under his breath.

"What's this then?"

Remus looked to see every single other man looking their way. He let out the groan now.

December 20, 1993

"So when can we all go flying?"

Harry had been wearing a permanent grin ever since achieving his animagus form. Yesterday, but still. And now Ivy was suggesting going flying, and he could fly without a broom, even if he wouldn't be able to match the speeds of either Luna or Ivy, but that didn't really matter. He could make himself havewingsnow. Wings that had feathers where they were supposed to be. Goodbye trails of feathers strewn throughout the house. Hopefully Dobby had collected all he wanted to already, because Harry could get rid of the feathers now.

And he had gotten it done before Ivy was home. Brilliant.

"How about you finish your breakfast first and then we can fly," Luna said, gesturing to Ivy's nearly full plate.

Ivy sighed a bit but dug in. "That's fair."

Harry was struck by just how much their little family had grown, and how complete it now felt. It was a nice feeling.

"So, Dad…" Ivy began hesitantly.

"Hmm?"

"I had a meeting with Dumbledore on Saturday."

Harry nearly dropped his fork. "What?" He nearly hissed out.

"I think he waited until Sirius and Professor Snape were both gone."

Because they had all met Saturday evening and…

A well-timed nudge of Luna's head in Ivy's direction kept him from uttering his thoughts out loud.

Ivy's slight roll of the eyes let him know his original intention hadn't been overlooked though. She really was a teenager now.

"Right. Back up a bit then. What was this meeting about?"

Ivy shrugged. "I don't think he really ever came to a point."

"Typical," Harry muttered under his breath.

"Anyway, he just asked about school, and both of you, and Sirius, and Remus, and Barty, and…"

"Wait, he asked about Barty?" That wasn't exactly reassuring. Not that Dumbledore was likely tofindanything, but still.

"I don't think he suspected anything though."

"Er, right. And what wouldn't he suspect, just to be clear?"

Ivy rolled her eyes again. "Well obviously Barty isn't exactly who he says he is. Or wasn't anyway. But it doesn't matter now, right?"

Harry blinked a couple times then looked pleadingly at Luna.

"So how is your occlumency coming?" Luna asked.

Now it was Ivy's turn to blink, but she quickly recovered and started grinning. "Great. I mean, it's not all the way there, but Sirius and Professor Snape both test me on it regularly and I think I'm almost good enough to keep the headmaster out."

Luna beamed at her and Harry let out a sigh.

"Is that why you can't tell me about Barty yet? Or about you?"

"Do you have to be so smart all the time?" Harry said, mostly teasing. His life probablywouldbe a little bit easier if Ivy weren't so great at figuring things out at the most inconvenient times, but it was all fine, really.

"Well I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about this summer," Luna said.

Ivy's eyes lit up in anticipation.

Harry cleared his throat. "So back to your meeting…"

"Oh right. So he asked a bunch of questions, and then chatted about a few things that didn't really make sense, and then let me go."

"Did you sense a legilimency probe at all?" Luna asked with concern.

"No," Ivy said, and Harry allowed himself a sigh of relief. She was far enough along with her training that she would notice any attempt, even ones she might not yet be able to fully withstand.

"And what sorts of things did he talk about then?"

"Well I'm fairly certain he was hinting at the horcrux in my head, and the prophecy, and something about my patronus. But it was a little hard to tell."

Of course it was. Harry couldn't blame Ivy for feeling a bit confused. He was honestly impressed that she had gathered all that.

"So who else knows?"

"Knows what?" Barty asked, entering the kitchen with Remus following closely behind.

"About Harry and I," Luna answered. "And you."

Harry chuckled. That was one way to answer Ivy's question.

"Alright, so who else then?"

Luna listed off everyone else. Ivy seemed rather happy about it, not at all upset that so many people knew what she didn't, like Harry was half expecting. Maybe because that's how he had always felt. Then again, Ivy was learning occlumency so theycouldtell her everything, regardless of how terrified Harry was to do so, so she was perhaps not as concerned about that as Harry would have been.

"Oh, and Harry will need to tell Tonks eventually too," Barty said.

"The Tonks?" Ivy asked, puzzled.

"Just Dora," Luna said. "At least for now."

"Why is that?"

"Because Remus is going to marry her," Harry couldn't help but say.

"Shut up Harry," Remus said, face achieving an impressive shade of red.

Ivy meanwhile looked shocked. "And you didn't even tell me?"

"To be fair I didn't actually tell anyone," Remus defended. "They just sort of figured it out. Yesterday, in fact."

"Is that why Barty looks so smug?" Ivy asked gleefully.

"Yes it is," Barty replied before Remus could.

"And we're not actually getting married," Remus hastened to add.

"Yet," Barty and Ivy said at once, before giving each other a high five.

Luna offered Remus a sympathetic pat on the arm but her knowing grin probably didn't help.

December 24, 1993

"You do realize they are not actually getting married yet, right?"

Sirius waved him off. "It's only a matter of time. Good job on the matchmaking, by the way."

Harry grinned. "Andy helped."

"Of course she did," Sirius said with a laugh. "What did you tell her to get her though?"

"Asked how Tonks enjoyed her date."

Sirius laugher even harder.

"So, back to the house?"

Harry and Sirius both stared at the front door of Grimmauld Place.

"How about a joint Christmas present."

"Because that's subtle," Harry said with a snort.

"You can't make me keep this house, Harry."

"You know, I don't think Christmas presents are supposed to be things you're trying to get rid of."

"Well you're the one who won't let me burn it down."

"You do see the houses on either side of this, right?"

"You have excellent control over fiendfyre. Best I've ever seen."

"How many people have you seen actually using fiendfyre?" Harry asked with a roll of his eyes.

Again Sirius waved him off. "Not the point."

"I'm not burning your house down, Sirius."

Sirius stared at the detested house. "I bet Remus would do it for me."

"After you try and give to him, yeah, probably."

December 25, 1993

"Lucius, what the…"

"It is impolite to refuse a Christmas gift, you know."

Harry's eye twitch was making a full appearance. "You did this on purpose."

"I do many things on purpose. Far more often than I do things on accident, I assure you."

"Was that supposed to make me feel better?" Harry said with a grumble.

"Your comfort was not the primary purpose of this discussion, no."

"Yeah, I sort of got that when you handed me a list of former death eaters you recruited. What, by Merlin, did you recruit them for exactly anyway?"

"I thought it better that they have you giving them direction than roam about aimlessly causing mischief."

"So now I'm a nanny for death eaters. Fantastic," Harry said with all the sarcasm he could muster.

"I could have promised them all a new mark."

"You're really not doing a great job of selling this," Harry said, glaring as best he could.

"Again, not really the point," Lucius said. "Now then. Any other presents left to distribute?"

Sirius wrinkled his nose. "I suppose they don't look awful together."

Narcissa smacked his arm. "They make a lovely couple," she said. "They are young, of course, but I'm sure in a few years they will be absolutely wonderful together."

Together the two cousins watched Draco and Ivy talking animatedly about something or other. Blaise meanwhile seemed happy to simply watch, no doubt fanning the flames with his occasional comments.

"Any more word on Dumbledore?"

Severus scoffed. "I think the headmaster is less inclined to share with me now than he was before, not that he's ever been particularly fond of such activities. No, I'm afraid I'm rather out of favor at the moment."

"And you think it unlikely you will regain that position," Sabrina stated, rather than spoke.

"I very much doubt I could," Severus said, a hint of bitterness creeping into his tone.

"Has he asked you to?"

There was no need to ask who she was referring to, even as they both eyed Harry.

"No, no he hasn't."

"Any chance you want to write for any of the journals I told you about?" Barty asked.

"Well I would need to brush up on some classical Greek," Luna said.

"Yeah, they're a bunch of snobs like that."

"Well at least they're not as bad as the Romans, right?"

"Oh, don't even get me started on the Romans," Barty said, before launching into a very passionate and in depth argument as to why the wizarding community in Rome was the snobbiest of the lot.

"They've been talking quite a bit over there," Sirius said, gesturing to where Luna and Barty had sat for the last hour, only recently having been joined by Remus.

"Well, their discussion looks…"

"Lively?" Lucius offered.

"Sure, we can go with that," Harry said.

Sabrina made her way over to them. "Any of you care to join the great debate?"

"Against those three? You're joking, right?" Sirius said in mock horror.

Sabrina just rolled her eyes.

Lucius scoffed quietly. "Just because you are unable to hold your own in an intellectual debate does not mean the rest of are incapable of doing so."

"I believe Luna is arguing in favor of Australia as the emigration destination of choice should such a move prove necessary."

Lucius looked at Sabrina like she had said Jupiter instead.

"Remus is arguing for Canada, and Barty for Brazil, as far as I could gather."

Harry's head turned quickly to the group of debaters. "And he says he's not my minion," he said with a chuckle.

"I think he's just terrified Luna will somehow get him to move to Australia," Sabrina said amusedly.

"What's the deal with Australia anyway?"

Everyone gave him blank stares.

"What?" Harry asked.

"You do know what's down there, right?"

Harry frowned. "Kangaroos?"

"There have never been any successful dark lords in Australia," Lucius said.

"That's nice," Harry said, not quite sure where this was leading.

"It's the demons," Narcissa said, walking past, far gone by the time Harry could form a question.

He turned with a pleading look to the rest of them.

"What she said," Sirius said. "They don't really like wizards disturbing their holiday spot."

Harry had literally no idea what to say to that. He did, however, question for the first time Hermione's decision a world ago to send her parents to the continent down under. That little plan was now taking on a whole new light.

December 27, 1993

"So Blaise, I never did hear what your patronus turned out to be."

Blaise pulled out his wand and cast the charm, a large lion emerging from the end.

Barty nodded, stroking his chin. "A bit Gryffindor-ish, but impressive."

Blaise rolled his eyes, but still thanked the wizard.

"What about you, Draco?"

Draco sighed and cast the charm as well.

After a second all Barty could say was, "Huh. I thought it was going to be a peacock or something."

"A swan is a perfectly elegant animal to have as a patronus," Draco said haughtily.

"And not all of us can have apex predators as our patronus," Blaise said with a teasing tone. Seconds later he had a misty swan in his face.

December 31, 1993

"Next year, of course, you will all be out here with the adults, but I suppose you can join us now if you would like."

Several pairs of teenaged eyes looked at Narcissa Malfoy in horror.

Eventually Draco saved them all, ushering them swiftly to the scene of their upcoming battle.

"That was close," Tracey whispered. "I thought she was going to make us go with the adults there for a minute."

"I haven't even gotten to see Tiger for almost two weeks," Daphne whispered back.

"I thought we weren't going to get to stage out battle," Blaise said. "We had it so well planned out too."

"Since when are you looking forward to this?" Draco asked.

Blaise just shrugged.

"Well maybe we can add this to the olympics," Ivy said, deep in conversation with Theo, who began offering his own suggestions for adapting their mock battle to a possible team event in Hogwarts' newest tradition.

"We should have brought the wolves," Blaise said, to Pansy's horror.

"Why would you even suggest such a thing?"

"I really didn't miss much by not being here the last couple years, did I?" Neville asked to no one in particular. Millie and Tracey both patted him on the back.

The door closed, and Ivy and Theo took their positions as the war generals.

They could be adults next year. Tonight they had a battle to wage, and enough pillows and exploding chocolates to make it last well into the night.