Disclaimer: I do not own Potter Club
...
Dear Madame Maxine,
For far too long I fear that our magical communities have been spreading further apart than ever and such a gap will only grow with future generations. Hence I propose an exchange program between our two schools, say roughly six children from both Hogwarts and Beauxbatons to spend the time from the start of September to the Christmas break period experiencing both a different culture and a different view on magic itself. If you believe that this may be a worthwhile experience for some of your students, please send me a reply and perhaps I might even be able to come over and we can discuss this face to face, provided both of us have the time of course.
In days however where few secrets can be kept through mere Owl Post, I humbly request that if you do proceed to agree with meeting me upon such a time you alert me without informing me of what it is you plan to do. While I'd like to think that my government can be trusted you never know who is reading our letters and as such, simply reply with a date, location and time of your arrival.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Albus...
"Hey Susan?"
"Yes Harry?"
"What order does Dumbledore's middle names go in?"
"It's Albus Wulfric Percival Brian Dumbledore."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course."
"Thank you."
Sincerely,
Albus Wulfric Percival Brian Dumbledore.
…
Harry sat aboard the Hogwarts Express having forgone the more boisterous compartment of the train, the one that contained the biggest gossip mongers amongst his peers, to track down a compartment of his own. It had slightly miffed many of his fellow train riders but he had simply insisted that he had some personal manners that he needed to think over. It wasn't an outright lie by any means, for the last few weeks of the holidays he had felt compelled by the Horcrux residing in the diary to write inside and slowly spill his soul towards the pages within.
He had managed to prevent himself from doing anything reckless, part of him was desperate to mock away at the younger Tom and tell him how much of an arse he was. He felt however that such a tactic would backfire terribly and as such refrained from doing so.
Despite the fact he wanted to so bad.
Shaking his head, Harry fought away the Compulsion Charm that the diary was trying to leech toward him. Taking in a deep breath, Harry rubbed at his eyes as he considered just what needed to be done. He didn't have the Sword of Gryffindor on hand in order to destroy the infernal creation nor did he believe himself proficient in the casting of Fiendfyre. Unfortunately, that left him with only one real option other than taking the Horcrux straight to Dumbledore.
Wouldn't that be a delightful conversation.
"Professor Dumbledore sir, I discovered that a part of Voldemort was trapped in this diary. How do I know this you ask? Well you see my scar was once also a Horcrux and as such I am connected to Voldemort's bullshit as much as I hate to admit it. How did I get rid of the one in my skull? One too many ice creams froze the darkness over, worst brain freeze ever!"
Yeah, he had no way to tackle the situation if Dumbledore discovered what he was up to. That didn't mean however that destroying both the book and the diadem (he had been planning on destroying the relic as soon as he returned but had no real way to go about it without threatening others) was going to be easy. He was going to need Basilisk venom.
Boy was that going to be fun.
"Excuse me, might you be Harry Potter?" asked a voice from the doorway, snapping Harry out of his self-inflicted trance.
"I guess, but anybody could be Harry Potter were they to say they were," said Harry as he realized just what kind of conversation this would likely be now that he knew who he was talking to.
"That would depend, would the real Harry Potter be plagued by as many Wrackspurts as yourself?" she asked with a smile on her face.
"Could I not be keeping the Wrackspurts around for pleasant company?"
"And just like that, more than half of them have vanished in an instance," she said dreamily.
"Come, make yourself comfortable, Luna," said Harry as he gestured to the seat opposite him.
"You know who I am?" asked Luna as she placed a hand on the door railing, tilting her head to the side momentarily in confusion.
"The Wrackspurts told me," answered Harry with a cheeky smile spread across his face. He prevented himself from laughing as Luna struggled to comprehend his answer. "Come, sit and join me."
"I'm afraid I can't, I must continue the journey of making new friends," said Luna.
"In which case, I can safely tell you that you have made a friend of Harry Potter," said Harry with a cheeky wink.
"In which case, Harry Potter, thank you for helping save my mother's life. If that will be all, fare thee well."
Harry couldn't respond as the blonde enigma closed the door to his compartment, likely skipping her way down the corridor on her quest for friendship. Luna's mother was still alive when last time she would have passed away by now. While that was confusing as to how in its own right, deep down Harry was still happy that Luna was still Luna. How Luna still having a mother figure in her life would affect her down the track was difficult to tell at this point and he simply shrugged his shoulders and figured that he would deal with that as it came.
Still wouldn't stop him from recruiting Luna to Potter Club. He could only imagine the creative ideas that she would bring to the table.
Before that however there was one teensy job he had to deal with, one which unfortunately didn't involve shattering Colin's camera.
Speaking of which…
*Flash*
"I will break that over your head!"
…
"…"
"…"
"Are you sure it's this classroom?"
"Of course I'm sure Tracey. The note said the room adjacent to the Charms Classroom at six."
"Well it didn't mention what day!"
"That's because if you had any memory storage not reserved for whatever wizard you deemed attractive you would recall that the head of Potter Club said they would give us our second task three days after the start of term."
"That I did."
"HOLY SHIT!"
"Wow you scare easy."
"How did you get there?"
"Magic?"
"I find it really disconcerting how that one word basically answers every question we could ask."
"Point to you Miss Greengrass."
"Thanks."
"Alright, so what do you want us to do then?"
"You two are aware that this is your last and only chance to get into Potter Club right?"
"Yes."
"Of course."
"Now, might I assure that both of you know how to dance?"
"Depends, what kind of dance?"
"Tango."
"I know the tango."
"I think I know it."
"Miss Greengrass, you have two days to instruct Miss Davies on how to perform the Tango perfectly."
"And what would you have us do with this knowledge?"
"…"
"Oh no."
"What Daphne?"
"You've got to be kidding me."
"Afraid not, and if anybody is to ask why you have done what you have simply say that you felt as if you were compelled to do so. Be specific in using the word 'compelled.' It's amazing how much persuasion a single word can have."
"This is going to be so embarrassing."
"Saturday morning the pair of you will come to this classroom to collect the clothes you will wear for your prank. I expect the prank to be performed that evening, a letter will be here with clear instructions on what to do when you collect your clothes for the festivities. Failure to do so…well I'll let you imagine the consequences."
"This had better be worth it."
"We'll get into Potter Club Daph, of course it'll be worth it!"
"You don't even know what we're doing yet."
"…"
"Ladies, I bid you adieu and look forward to your performance. Don't let me down."
…
It was amazing how quickly forty eight hours could pass when trying to learn how to Tango. Thankfully both she and Daphne had been aware that they would be approached during the opening week of term and as such had studied intensely over the school break in order to ensure their studies wouldn't be so quickly effected. Considering the amount of time and effort that likely went into every prank that Potter Club pulled they had to either be the greatest of students who were able to complete their extracurricular activities without affecting their grade or complete slackers.
"Are we really expected to wear this?" asked Tracey as she held up her attire for the evening, silently thankful that she would not be leading the event. "It's actually really nice."
"For you maybe," said Daphne as she held up her attire for the evening, highly disliking the part in which she would have to be playing the male role in what was typically a very romantic dance. To be doing this with her best friend was mortifying to a degree but if she was going to humiliate herself alongside someone she was somewhat glad she got to drag Tracey down with her.
"C'mon Daph, surely it won't be that bad, all we're doing is dancing after all," said Tracey reassuringly.
"You know what, there's the letter with our instructions, why don't you read it," suggested Daphne as she spotted the note that had been hiding underneath Tracey's dress. Without a word, surprising Daphne slightly, Tracey picked up the folded up piece of parchment and began to read from it. While not having seen the contents herself, Daphne could take an estimated guess as to what was going through her friend's mind as her eyes slowly grew wider and wider.
"No…" she said slowly as she finished reading. "He can't….I mean…"
"That's the price of entry," said Daphne with a shrug of her shoulders as she locked the door they had previously entered, figuring that they would be required to change here and she for one didn't want to be caught wearing these clothes longer than necessary.
"But it's going to be in front of everyone!" Tracey practically screamed.
"And it's quite simple to understand that we're going to get caught, and hopefully someone will stop us sooner rather than later."
Tracey was able to tell by Daphne's tone of voice that her friend already knew that it would take some time before they would stop their routine. Just how in the hell was she meant to do this all without blowing up their cover that they weren't trapped in a spell?
"Do you think he'll be watching?" she asked.
"Of course he will be, if we don't go through with this he will know, and if this is just the test imagine what the punishment for failure will be," said Daphne, her voice cold with the knowledge that they were trapped.
She merely hoped that it was all worth it.
…
Hermione sat at the dining room of the Great Hall, slowly picking away at the dinner before her. She had been trying her best to spend time chatting with Harry in regards to his plans for Potter Club but for the moment he had been rather silent. Even on the train she had encountered Susan who had stated that while Harry had been staying the last couple weeks of the holidays with her he hadn't wished to spend the ride with anyone.
Having known the disease of loneliness, she had sought him out and it wasn't all that difficult to find him. There had been a gaggle of girls standing outside of a door all with dreamy looks in their eyes after all. As she had barged her way through past the open doorway, of which none of the other females had dared step foot past, she found herself getting several disdainful looks for daring to be in the presence of the magnificent Harry Potter.
Sensing the sudden hostility in the air, Harry pulled out his wand and with a gentle flick closed the door to the compartment and drew down the blinds, a muffle of annoyed groans escaping the crowd outside. She had asked why Harry had allowed such a crowd to build in the first place only to be told that he hadn't noticed them, simply working on something that his Godfather had taught him.
She had chewed at her lip for several minutes as she tried to pry anymore information only to fail before being dismissed with him saying that he wasn't feeling well. Unfortunately she couldn't tell whether that was the truth or if he had just been saying to get her to go away. His skin seemed a tone paler and there were bags under his eyes indicating that he hadn't been sleeping well.
Perhaps he had been suffering nightmares as of late?
Even in class she hadn't been able to get much of a response out of him and he was always somewhat aloof. Like his mind simply wasn't active for parts of the day at a time. She had decided to confront him that evening directly after Charms class but he hadn't showed for the lesson, something which had deeply shocked her. It was late into the lesson when Professor Flitwick had noticed her distress and had informed her that Mister Potter had been given leave from his class for the school year to work on matters of much greater importance.
The wording had immediately made her believe that the professor knew of Harry's involvement and leadership in Potter Club but immediately dismissed it. There was no way Harry would confide in a teacher which was easily punishable, despite how humorous it may have been. However that just begged the question as to why Harry was permitted to simply skip a class and
from the sound of it, every Charms class for at least the rest of the term.
Just why was Harry getting special permission to do as he wished from Professor Flitwick?
Hermione's musings were shattered as the doors to the Great Hall slammed open, all eyes in the hall directing to the entrance in curiosity as to what had destroyed their conversations. She was more than surprised to see two of her peers, dressed in highly formal attire grasping one another intently before music started to play. Where the music was playing from was a question she feared she would never get the answer to.
Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davies were both dressed in some of the most extravagant clothes that some of the students had ever seen. The one main difference however was that while Tracey was wearing what appeared to be a sapphire blue ball gown, Daphne was dressed in a formal black and white tuxedo with a dark red bow tie to top off the attire.
Before anybody could ask when the music hit it's first synonymous beat, both Daphne and Tracey moved as one, directly down the middle of the Great Hall as a single equity, each and every move they made being both one and the same. Such flourish and drive left many of the students with their mouths agape. Up upon the Professor's table, Snape looked as if he was trying to discover a new shade of crimson while Professor Lockhart merely clapped away with the music.
Nobody really paid the aloof professor much mind however, other than the fact that every student owned a copy of his books by his hand through a desperate attempt at saving his honour had backfired. Despite him reassuring everyone that everything was and would always be alright with him in the world, people were already starting to question his attitude and methods in an educational department.
Returning to the present, she watched in mild horror as Tracey was dipped by Daphne, their noses almost touching as they grew ever closer to the end of their routine. Whatever conclusion was meant to follow however was shut down as both Professor's Snape and McGonagall marched down the aisle with a purpose, neither determined to leave until they had all the answers.
Hermione meanwhile could only believe that this had been Harry's doing, having cast a spell on both Tracey and Daphne and forcing them to do the tango in the middle of dinner service. Even those of whom weren't there at the time would know of what Tracey and Daphne had done and tease them mercilessly for at least a while.
Was that enough reason to warrant having Harry skip a fundamental part of his education? Of course not. Something else was going on and she would be damned if she didn't figure out what it was.
She was Hermione Granger after all, Queen of Potter Club. As such she had a role to uphold, even when the king was away. Which also raised the question of as to why he wasn't here, watching what was clearly his handiwork in motion? Just what was Harry Potter doing?
…
"Thank you all for coming, you have no idea what this means to me."
"Of course we were going to come."
"You have no idea how excited we were when we heard of this."
"It seems like word of mouth spreads like wildfire."
"There's what, two dozen people here?"
"In which case you really need to think of finding a bigger classroom."
"She's right, you're only going to get more people interested about this."
"You really don't know how nervous I was about this from the beginning!"
"We're all nervous at times, don't be too hard on yourself."
"Self confidence Ginny!"
"Okay, then I declare that the first official meeting of the Potter Fan Club to now be open."