Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
...
Susan stood awkwardly alone in the classroom. She had been sent an owl from Professor Sprout to meet here along with the rest of the students who had been picked to journey to France and attend Beauxbatons. The parchment had been a simple enough request of just how she was expected to act in a manner expected of Hogwarts students. At first she wouldn't have thought such a meeting would be necessary. Susan couldn't help but think that it was only because of the last person who had been called out that it would almost be essential to go into in depth detail on how to act as a well-selected delegate.
"Odd, I thought more people would be here by now," said the person who Professor Dumbledore had called out last as he entered the room.
"Hello George," said Susan being polite to the student a year above her.
"Hey Susan," said the Weasley family member acknowledging the presence of the other person destined to be sent overseas. "I thought I was running late but here we are the first two here."
"Do you think we were singled out for being the youngest two going?" asked Susan. In her mind it made sense, she was at an age where society deemed that she was quite impressionable and could potentially follow in a peers footsteps. She sincerely doubted that such a thing could happen but the professors were likely not taking anything lightly. Last thing they would have wanted was for an international incident to occur because either she or George did something inappropriate.
"Good, you two have arrived."
There however was someone else who perhaps had no such qualms with causing some manner of international mayhem.
Stepping out of seemingly nothing, the leader of Potter Club made themselves known to the two of them and with a flick of his wrist the door to the room closed. Susan knew that she had seen the robed and masked figure many times before, but having seen him directly in front of him with no other members of Potter Club present was a different feeling altogether.
Slow realization dawned in as she remembered that she wasn't alone. No other members of Potter Club. That single thought repeated itself as she turned her head to the older student in the room was almost chuckling uncontrollably as he was looking at her. "The niece, of the head of the DMLE, is a part of Potter Club!" he said while still trying to get his head around this seemingly ironic fact.
"Yeah, well, if you're here then, it means that, that you..."
Susan shut her mouth as she realized she couldn't form a coherent sentence that made any lick of sense.
"As the two of you may have realized, the two of you are indeed part of Potter Club under my rule and as such I have an overseas assignment."
"Isn't a huge risk to do something at Beauxbatons?" questioned Susan. "There's only six students going so it'll be a lot easier for them to place the blame on one of us. Chances are Professor Dumbledore will have already warned the teachers of Beauxbatons about him."
"I'd like to say that I'm not that bad, but I'd be lying," commented George, ignoring the accusational finger pointed in his direction.
"Which is why we will use that to our advantage." When both Susan and George gave him questioning looks, he continued. "The two of you are going to be playing yourselves. George, your job is to simply act as you normally do, cause a little mayhem with your pranks, get in trouble, face detention, all that."
"I was somewhat hoping that I'd be doing something a little more important than that," George lightly moaned.
"If it weren't for your acts however, Susan would have no part to play."
"Me?"
"Yes Susan, you're going to be the catalyst for something much greater," he said. "After George enacts his first prank, to what is likely to be a mixed reception, you're going to start telling stories. However since this wondrous Potter Club popped into existence, the Weasley Twins, infamous for their pranking in the halls of Hogwarts, have been getting restless. They feel as if they are unable to compete against Potter Club who pull off simply magical feats. Your assignment, as such, is to start rumours, create conversation and inevitably convert others into our way of thinking, that magic needs to be more magical."
"So you're telling me that I'm going to be creating a Potter Club over in Beauxbatons," said Susan, trying to grasp what it is she was expected to do.
"Technically you'll be building the foundations for students to form their own club of sorts but simply put, yes. I'm counting on you."
"So while we're over there doing our part, will you try and induct a couple of Beauxbaton students on this end?" asked George.
"Tempting but from what I've heard, the event with what I recently gave you should be happening during the time in which the international students are present. So in theory, if the discussions are already starting over in France and the students return to tell of how this group of unidentified students are creating laughter and joy through magic, it should ultimately create itself. Or if it doesn't there's always next year."
"Not exactly the most exciting of assignments all round," stated George. "I can see though how these are one of those bigger picture moments. If I end up getting sent back early under disciplinary reasons though I'm blaming you."
With his piece said, George ran his fingers through his hair before heading towards the door. Susan however remained rooted to the spot, biting at the inside of her lip. "Is there something you want to say?"
"Well," started Susan but found herself unable to speak what was on her mind.
"I can see you're struggling and I won't force you to say anything. I will however put some of that two way parchment in a letter to be delivered to you in three days time. I can't promise that I will be able to respond the moment you wish to speak with me but I will respond, that, I can promise you."
A small blush spread across Susan's face and she averted his gaze, directing her eyes towards his feet. "Thank you," she said in words barely able to be heard, closing her eyes for several seconds. When she opened them, she found that the feet she had been looking at were no longer there, the person who had been right in front of her had vanished before her eyes.
Susan didn't panic however, allowing a small smile to grace her features instead. There was no need to panic, this was Potter Club after all.
...
"We did it, we did it, we did it! You have no idea how hard it was not to squeal when Dumbledore read out George's name."
"I know Tracy, I was there. But remember, that's only half the battle won, we still have to actually prank him."
"Weren't we going to go with..."
"I know what we were going to go with but think about it, that's more like something the Weasleys would do. Think about it, we have to do something so out there that it's clear that it was Potter Club. Also this might be a test to show that we're worthy."
"So what do we do?"
"I know this is going to sound odd but hear me out, we're going to send him instructions, similar to what I got sent when told to meet with Potter Club in the first place."
"We're going to pretend to be Potter Club? What if Fred realizes that it's not normal to the instructions he usually gets?"
"It's not just going to be him though."
"How elaborate is this going to be?"
"Enough that we get noticed."
"Alright, I'm game, so what's the end game, what goal are we going to give him?"
"...I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"..."
"Crud."
...
Hermione sat in the Gryffindor common room, her peers about her working their way through the Transfiguartion essay that Professor McGonagall had given them earlier that day. Two feet were required to complete the assignment but thankfully it was broad enough that she doubted anybody would have too much trouble completing it. She was also more than adamant that were she not currently working on extra curricular activities she could have written up at least three times the amount required.
She doubted that she was the only one.
Hermione was more than aware that the person currently asking Neville if he had any idea what Professor McGonagall had said regarding a singular topic was simply doing so as a cover. There was little doubt in her mind that Harry completely knew the answer to the question he was asking, there seemed very little regarding their curriculum that he didn't know. Heck, last year he had been researching third year topics and who knew what he was currently researching in his own personal studies.
At first Hermione had questioned where his intellect and strength had come from, knowing full well that even if she asked he was less than likely to receive an actual answer. Perhaps the hardest part of it though was the distinct possibility that were she to try and pry too far that she would push him away. She had been so lonely back in the Muggle world where she had been so far ahead of her peers that it had consequently isolated her. Having someone who was also excelling past what they were currently meant to know was refreshing, and the last thing she wanted to do was get rid of someone whom she could relate to.
That left her in a predicament however, since he was doing his best to not show anything that could be remotely reminiscent of the intellect he showed during the events of Potter Club. She contemplated the idea that while the primary reason of Potter Club was to entertain, the secondary reason could very well be for Harry to let loose without fear of consequence. He already had so many labels with having defeated He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named as a baby, were he to be named a prodigy as well as he likely wouldn't get anytime to actually be who he wanted to be. Which did raise the greatest question that she knew she wouldn't likely get an answer to anytime soon.
What was Harry Potter's goal? Where did he want to go after he finished his schooling? What did he want to accomplish?
Every question she asked led only into more, each requiring more thought but none of which had any clear answer. While she was sure that she would get these answers in the years to come, for now she had to do her part to ensure that their time together was more than enjoyable. Which also made it incredibly difficult to hide the smirk that was threatening to spread across her face as she discovered the answer to what she was currently searching for.
...
"Might I have your attention please," declared Dumbledore, his booming voice effective in silencing the noise of the Great Hall. "As many of you are aware, tomorrow is the day where you say a temporary farewell to friends and colleagues and welcome now arrivals into our hallowed halls. I trust that all of you are looking forward to this experience and will show the kindness and compassion to our French counterparts like you do to your peers."
"In order to maintain civil relations with our friends across the channel, I urge those who may feel like 'entertaining' our guests with some form of magic that will leave us astounded, please think before you act. While I will not prohibit some acts to be performed, please know that if anything were to be seen as 'unpleasant,' then regardless of how well you hide yourselves I will track you down and punishment will be just. Do not test me on this. You have been warned."
"Now, let us eat."
Understandably, very little food went consumed in those handful of moments directly after Dumbledore had returned to his seat. Straight away the gossip being discussed centred around Potter Club. Other than their opening act at the start of the year with Daphne and Tracy having ballroom danced their way into the Great Hall, nothing had really come forth since then. Common belief now was that the creator of Potter Club had graduated at the end of the prior school year and the club was now either leaderless or their was some inner conflict about who should now be in charge.
To the masses, it made sense. At the end of the previous year, there had been the big announcement that Potter Club would return but they had yet to make the explosive statement many had expected. The first years had only heard the stories from their peers in the upper years and now were taking it all more as rumours and stories than actual fact.
Katie knew differently.
She had received her message that morning that she would be required to join the rest of her associates in Potter Club to record their rendition of Queen's song. She had found the lyrics interesting and something which she had never truly heard before, her parents only ever having played traditional wizarding music on the Wizarding Wireless Network. She had yet to discover what kind of beat would be accompanying their vocals but considering it was a band which a number of Potter Club members had known. How was she supposed to know that there was a different Queen than the Queen?
What it had told her on the side though was that there were students in Potter Club that came from either non-wizarding or half-wizarding backgrounds. It was good knowing that there was a variety regarding the backgrounds of the students inducted into the secret club. The only other person she knew that was in the club was one of the Weasley Twins, the one who inducted her in the first place who likely took great happiness in not telling her which one he was.
It really left her in the dark.
She had weaseled out of him that there were two other people who were being accepted into Potter Club that night who would be able to bounce off their respected initiators during the starting period. Since she didn't know which of the Weasley's she had spoken with that night she had nobody to interact with. Nobody to share this secret with. Everyone else in the club knew at least one other member and yet she knew no one.
Since hearing how George would be heading off to France though, she had made it a bit of a mission to herself to try and target Fred and try and get some sort of intel out of him. She knew that it was a fifty-fifty shot of him being the one that she had spoken to but she had to give it a shot. She hated not sharing this with anyone, not having anybody to converse with.
Katie knew that it was a risk and she was afraid of what the consequences would be if she were wrong. Still though, she needed to do this. She had to.
She couldn't remain alone.
...
"Come on Daphne, we've been at this for hours, can't we have a break."
"No, if they were able to do it last year then we can do the same."
"Yea but we have assignments to work on."
"We're not going to fail the year if we 'forget' an assignment or two."
"Daphne, think about it. Whoever is in charge of Potter Club has to be years above us and is still able to get through their assignments while plotting and planning everything. We can do the same."
"I thought you would be all for this kind of thing Tracy."
"I am, don't get me wrong, but at the same time I don't want to be explaining to my parents why I was held back a year in only my second year of Hogwarts."
"Not going to happen, Tracy."
"Are you sure, how can you be sure? Huh? Huh!"
"Fine, fine, if you're going to be like this we'll get our homework done and then get up early and brainstorm."
"Alright Daphne but remember, tomorrow's the day when the students from France come over and if we're too tired to make a good impression, I'm blaming you."
"Yeah, whatever, let's just do this stupid Charms essay if that's all you can think of."
"Thank you."
...
Harry watched as the carriage which had deposited the French delegates onto the Hogwarts grounds flew off into the distance, having taken six of their own in return. Harry's eyes had focused on a single entity amongst the students however, one who he had yet to meet at this age but without a doubt was the same woman that had previously helped him in his quest.
Knowing Fleur like he did, Harry assumed that she had come to Hogwarts not so much as to experience the cultural differences but rather to escape the stares from her hormonal peers and the glares from her former friends. Harry knew that she suffered in silence, mostly because he had done so for so many years. Sure they had tackled them in different ways but at the same time he knew exactly what she had gone through.
Hopefully this time he could try and help her earlier than when Bill had stepped into the picture. He wouldn't do anything to try and ruin that future prospect, but nothing was against making sure that her remaining years of study were a little more entertaining. Sure he had told both George and Susan that he hadn't had any plans to induct any of the Beauxbaton students into Potter Club.
But who said plans couldn't change?
...
Hope you enjoyed.