"Born in 1754, what French wizard famously survived the Reign of Terror by casting a Concealment Spell on his own neck to make it appear that it had already been severed?" Griselda Marchbanks stood at a podium, raised where the head table would normally be. She was the impartial adjudicator for these events. Considering how long she'd been overseeing the testing for both the OWLs and NEWTs, she seemed like the logical person to administer a test. On either side of her was an eight-person team, one from Hogwarts and the other from Durmstrang.
The rest of the Great Hall was filled with seats instead of the usual long tables and benches. The crowd was silent, respectful of the event. And unsurprisingly, a good deal smaller than the ones for the dueling or the quidditch. That didn't mean that it was empty though, far from it. A good number of the fourth years were still there and some of the parents as well.
Ding! Each of the participants had their own silver bell, and a light above them to indicate who got in first. "Hogwarts."
"Vincent Duc de Trefle-Picques." Padma answered, clearly confident she was right.
"Correct." Marchbanks said without even looking up. Above their heads, golden numbers ticked up from 450 to 460. The Durmstrang contingent wasn't faring nearly as well. There was a measly 110 above their heads. Not that I can really blame them.
Not only were the members of his year knowledgeable, but they were quick too. They seemed to have a knack for getting to the buzzer first even when their competition clearly knew the answer. Suppose Vector and Babbling being 'nearly tyrannical' has really paid off.
"Who was the first Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards?"
Ding! "Hogwarts."
"Pierre Bonnaccord." Hermione rattled off, so quickly it was almost hard to understand her.
"Correct. Which country refused to participate?"
Ding! "Durmstrang."
The witch looked surprised that she managed to get in, so it took her a moment to answer, "Lichtenstein."
"Correct. Why?"
Ding! "Hogwarts."
"A ban on troll-hunting and a proposed bill to improve troll rights." Daphne managed to get in first that time.
"Correct." Harry had to stop himself from chuckling as it just went on. Of the forty-eight questions that'd been answered by their side, forty of them came from one of Hermione, Padma, or Daphne with sixteen each from the first two. The rest of the team doesn't even need to be here, honestly.
There was a weight on his shoulder, and a soft bit of snoring. Susan did her best, really, for her friends' sakes, and she'd made a valiant effort. But, she couldn't quite persevere through the whole event. With a gentle nudge of his shoulder, he stirred the redhead awake.
Susan snorted, and there was a bit of drool on his shoulder from where she'd lolled her head. There was a snicker from her other side as Ginny found the entire thing hysterical. Subtly as she could manage, Susan slapped the other redhead's thigh to shut her up but that only made it harder for her to contain her amusement.
"Have a nice nap?" He questioned quietly.
She nodded, but blushed a bit, "How long was I out?"
"Ten minutes, maybe less."
Susan looked up to the competitors, and groaned softly, "Long enough that Hannah noticed. Now I'm never going to hear the end of it."
"She's just jealous that she can't do the same." Ginny said cheekily, "They might as well be a three person team for how many times the rest of them have answered."
"Hey, Hannah managed to get a couple of answers in." Yes two, just two. But that didn't change the fact that Susan was going to support her friend.
"And you'll be able to congratulate her in just a little bit. They're almost done." When Hogwarts broke five hundred, the competition would be over.
"How many ingredients are used in the Polyjuice Potion?" Marchbanks posed the next question.
Hermione buzzed in ridiculously quickly on that one, "Seven."
"Correct." The number ticked up from 480 to 490. They'd missed a couple of questions with their distraction, "Name them."
Just as quickly, she buzzed in again, "Lacewing flies stewed for three weeks, leeches, powdered bicorn horn, knotgrass, fluxweed picked at the full moon, shredded boomslang skin, and the hair of the person you mean to turn into."
"Correct." With that, the number above their head grew and stars burst around it, "And congratulations to our victors, Hogwarts." Harry and everyone around him stood up and cheered them on with far more enthusiasm than the polite applause from the rest of the crowd. Their academic team rolled their eyes at the display of support, but couldn't hide just how chuffed they were with it either.
The competitors shook hands, the Durmstrang contingent looking more than a little put out by their quite tremendous loss. When they were done with that little formality, they were met by their friends.
"Well done!" Tracey gushed, moving right over to Daphne with Astoria close in tow. The blonde accepted her friend's excitement in stride, letting herself get pulled along. Neither of her parents had been able to make it, but she'd known that would be the case. In the leadup to Christmas, the apothecary was particularly busy, and neither of them could spare the day.
"You were all fantastic," Harry made sure not to leave any of them out, even if there were a couple of people who hadn't even managed to answer one question. More than one someone actually. Ernie looks properly depressed because of it. They seemed to appreciate it even as they dispersed, going to speak with their families. Susan ended up following Hannah as they went and spoke with her parents.
"We could've been better, though." Hermione said worrying her bottom lip.
"You answered thirty-nine more questions, and I don't think there was a single one that you didn't actually know."
"Exactly! There was more than one question where they just beat us to the bell… and you're wrong anyway! I couldn't remember when dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlock Convention, I thought it was 1707 when it was really 1709!"
Padma shook her head, somewhere between amused and exasperated with her Gryffindor teammate, "That's the reason we're a team, Hermione, so that nobody has to know everything." Her twin sister bounced over to her with a hug as well. While they were quite different people, it didn't stop them from supporting each other.
"Really, dear, no one expects you to get all of the questions." Hermione turned around, eyes wide.
Standing behind her were two people who Harry had seen a few times before. Given they were dentists, they both had perfect smiles, "Mum?! Dad?! What are you doing here?"
"We couldn't possibly miss this, Hermione." Her mother said offering her daughter a hug that she happily accepted.
"The school made sure that all parents were informed of their children's participation and made it possible for us to attend." Mr. Granger pointed to a simple necklace around his neck that must have been responsible for letting them see past the usual muggle deterrents and illusions.
"But how did you even get here?" Hermione asked, still stuck somewhere between disbelieving and ecstatic.
"Portkey." Her father told her with a frown, "Horrible way to travel, convenient though. And more than worth it to get a chance to see you sweetheart."
"Oh, brilliant," She hadn't been expecting such a simple answer, "Do you have time to stick around for a little while, I'd love to show you the castle."
Professor McGonagall overheard, and interjected, "All parents or guardians are welcome to stay for the afternoon."
Her mother rubbed her shoulder, "Well, show us everything then."
"Oh, you have to see the library." Ginny couldn't hold in her laughter at that. It was just too predictable. It didn't bother any of the Grangers one bit, though. They were all just too excited. With that, his bushy-haired friend took her parents and led them out of the Great Hall and into the castle. She was absolutely elated at finally getting to share some of this part of her life with her parents.
"Harry," Padma grabbed his attention, "come here." The Indian witch was standing with three people he didn't know as well as Ron and Parvati. His ginger friend looked distinctly uncomfortable, red in the face and fidgety.
Doing his best not to show his own trepidation, he had a feeling he knew exactly who he was about to meet. Heading over to the Indian witch, she took his arm and gestured to each of the people in turn, "This is my father, Rohan." The man was an average height with a neatly trimmed beard and a serious, though not unfriendly, disposition.
Harry offered his hand and a smile, "Harry Potter. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Patil."
Padma's father took it, and shook firmly, "Mr. Potter, I hear good things about you."
"And this is my mother, Riya." Padma gestured to the woman next to Rohan.
"Hello, Mrs. Patil."
"Hello, Harry." Mrs. Patil gave him a pretty smile that matched her daughter's. It was clear to see where the twins got their looks. While their father wasn't an ugly man, they definitely took after their mother.
On the last person, Padma lit up, "And this… is my nani, Isha. She came to visit from India just to see this." The woman was short, barely more than five feet tall. As a witch, she looked younger than her age, but there was a bit of grey streaking her otherwise dark hair. As she looked him up and down, Harry felt like he was being evaluated. Which probably isn't that far from the truth. Considering how close Padma is with her grandmother, she would only want the best for her.
"Your granddaughter absolutely adores you." Harry could only smile at seeing Padma so happy, "She's overjoyed every time she gets a letter from you."
Isha glanced at her granddaughter, and gave her a small, teasing smile before she leaned in close and spoke so that not even Padma's mother could hear, "If you think she's happy when she sees a letter from me, you should read some of the letters that she sends to me about you. She speaks… very highly of you."
Of course, Padma could still hear, "Nani!"
Harry chuckled, "I would absolutely love to read those."
"No, absolutely not!" Padma insisted.
"Maybe you will," Isha gave him a wink, completely ignoring her granddaughter's protests, "I hear that you would like to visit India."
"I would," He agreed, remembering back to their conversation on the train, "But only with Padma, of course."
"And the next time I go, I'm going to be burning some letters." Padma muttered.
"You could try dear, but good luck getting to them." Isha only smiled wider as her granddaughter huffed. Going back to Harry, she said, "Only with Padma?" She glanced around at a couple of the other girls around them.
Harry quirked an eyebrow at that, not sure how much the older woman knew. Clearly, it's more than Padma's parents do. "And anyone else she'd like to invite along." He said diplomatically, not wanting to give anything more than was necessary away.
"Of course." Isha agreed.
The hall was slowly emptying of both families and competitors. The castle didn't offer the same intrigue for many of the parents as they'd gone there themselves. Mr. Patil said something to his wife, and she just nodded, "Mother, we need to get going. Rohan and I have an appointment we need to get to."
"And you're more than welcome to go," Isha waved her away, "I'm going to stay here with my granddaughters. I didn't come all this way not to spend as much time with them as I could." Padma bounced with excitement at that while Parvati looked far less enthused.
"I'd love to nani, but I'm a bit behind on schoolwork and this didn't help any." It sounded more accusatory than she probably meant it to. Padma just frowned at her sister, unwilling to get into a fight over something so small with her grandmother there.
"Well, can't have you falling behind." Isha leaned in to give Parvati a hug, "Go do what you need to do." She turned to Ron, "It was good meeting you young man." Ron just nodded his head with an awkward smile before his girlfriend grabbed his hand and led him from the hall.
Riya moved over to hug Padma tightly, "You were wonderful. We're both very proud of you."
"Your mother's right, well done." Rohan told his daughter, as he gave her a brief hug.
"Thank you, papa." Padma said with a big smile, "It was so good to see you." He smiled back and gave her one more squeeze. Rohan Patil struck Harry as the sort of man who was quite uncomfortable with public displays of affection, even with his daughters. So, even that must have taken a good deal of effort.
"Be sure to take care of your nani, now." Her mother said as she grabbed her husband's hand.
Isha snorted out a laugh, "I haven't needed taking care of since I was a girl. And you'd do well to remember it."
Harry could understand why Padma was so fond of the woman, she had quite the personality. Riya was clearly accustomed to it and just gave her mother a smile, "Of course, mother. You look after Padma then."
"As though you'd ever need to tell me to do that." The Patils headed out and left the three of them behind.
Terry Boot came over and tapped Padma on the shoulder at that moment, "There's gonna be a bit of party up in the Tower… with the win and all." Harry imagined that the Ravenclaws would be the only ones having a proper party. The academic tournament simply didn't cause quite the same amount of excitement as quidditch. Especially when it only won them this one round, and not the whole thing. Not that was any excuse after the quidditch win.
Padma gave him a polite smile, "Thanks Terry, but I'm going to spend some time with my nani while I have the chance."
Terry took the refusal graciously, "Just thought I 'd let you know. If you change your mind…" He was off a moment later, a bit red in the face.
Isha took her granddaughter's arm, "Now, is there anywhere in this castle that I can get something to eat. I'm hungry, and it's always more fun to catch up with a bit of food."
"Dinner won't be served in the Great Hall for another hour or more." Padma told her.
"I was thinking something more private than that anyway, dear."
The younger woman bit her bottom lip and glanced toward Harry, a silent question that he easily discerned. He gave her a subtle nod of approval. Beaming, Padma turned to her grandmother, "I know the perfect place."
"Well then, what are we doing standing her then?"
"I'll leave you two to it." Even if he and Padma were together, he didn't have any intention of interjecting himself on a family moment, "It was nic…"
"You're not going anywhere, Mr. Potter," Isha cut him off, "except for with us, of course. I want to get to know my darling granddaughters friends." She gave him a meaningful look and he could only wonder, yet again, just how much the woman knew.
Padma looked excited by the prospect if anything and so he couldn't think of any reason to refuse, "I'd love to."
"Very good, now lead the way."
The room was filled with laughter, "And then she comes in, bold as anything covered in paint from head to toe… naked as the day she was born."
"It was Holi, nani." Padma said with a fond smile, "I loved the colors."
"Oh, don't I know it, priy," Without the translation stone in the hall, Isha slipped between English and Hindi on occasion, "we just didn't expect you to pop all of the balloons onto yourself."
"Sounds adorable if you ask me." Harry said, reaching down to rip off a piece of naan. He hadn't known what to expect when he asked Dobby to make them a meal, but he'd certainly delivered. And there'd been no complaints from either of the ladies, so he'd have to make sure to get the house elf something nice for Christmas. He's been bloody brilliant since the start of the year.
"It was… and quite out of character, too." Isha loved talking about Padma, while she clearly loved her own daughter, and Parvati, too. They had a special connection one that showed in every word she spoke, "She was always our quiet one, our astute little lady that would nearly cry if she so much as tore a corner of a book. All I can say is, thank goodness for magic because it would have taken ages to clean the mess she made otherwise."
"Holi was always my favorite holiday," Padma told him, "It's normally in early March, so I won't get a chance to celebrate it again until I'm finished at Hogwarts."
"Well, the first time you take me there we'll just have to make sure to go in March so I can see it for myself." While he meant that, he already had a plan brewing in the back of his mind that would let her have a smaller taste of it before then.
Padma beamed at him, heart in her eyes. Isha looked between them but didn't say anything. The door opened then, and in walked Anya and Orina, the latter gave a soft, "Oh, sorry ve didn't realize anyone vas here."
"Oh, is it that late already?" Padma looked to a clock on the wall, "We've been up here for hours."
"Time flies when you're in good company, priy. And you don't apologize," Isha insisted to the new arrivals, "I'm told this is your room."
"It is, but others are velcome to use it. Vell, some others anyway," Anya amended as she leaned into Padma's side, "How did tournament go?"
"Brilliantly," Padma beamed, "we crushed them!"
"Ve'll be there for next one, promise." Anya insisted.
Isha coughed lightly to get Padma's attention. Remembering her manners, she told them "Oh, Anya, Orina, this is my grandmother, Isha,"
"Oh, how lovely to meet you. I vould've mistaken you for her mother." Orina gave her a warm smile, "Your granddaughter adores you. Never has anything but good things to say about you."
"She exaggerates, I'm sure." The older woman waved it off.
"No," Harry smiled, "she really doesn't." Padma gave his thigh a squeeze beneath the table at that.
Isha looked at him intently, "You know, Harry. She really was right about you."
"Nani…" Padma warned.
Isha didn't seem to mind the reprimand one bit, "Every letter I get from her lately mentions you, whether asking for advice about your… unique circumstances or just telling me how pretty she finds your eyes." She looked at the two blondes in the room as neither of them could contain their giggles at that, "They are impossibly green, you know?"
"I get them from my mother."
Isha smiled, "She told me that, too. You're the reason I came, you know? Oh, I wouldn't have wanted to miss it anyway, but considering everything she's told me… I wanted to see if you were worth the trouble."
"And?" Harry asked her.
"Neither of us would still be sitting her if I thought you weren't." She turned to her granddaughter and spoke in Hindi, "I don't know if you could have done much better, even if I still think you should be someone's one and only."
"If it were anyone else, I'd probably agree." Padma said happily, giving another squeeze to his thigh as she did.
Isha rubbed her granddaughter's shoulder and stood, "As much as I'd love to stay here all night, my daughter will drive herself spare if I don't get back at some point." She spoke to Orina and Anya, "I look forward to getting to know you better in the future."
"Of course, it'll be our pleasure." Anya hadn't moved from Padma's side and was rubbing the back of the younger woman's neck. Though, the Indian witch managed to extract herself so she could walk her grandmother out.
"Oh, you don't need to do that, priy." She insisted, "Stay here with your friends."
Knowing better than to argue with her, Padma took the older woman in a big hug. She buried her face in her neck and spoke softly, "Thank you so much for coming… and for looking out for me. I can't tell you how much all of it means to me."
"Always… I love you too much not to." Her grandmother assured her. Padma laughed wetly as she pulled away.
"Let me walk you to apparition point, at least." Harry offered.
Isha looked at him for a moment before she conceded with a nod, "I suppose that's fine."
"Oh, I'll come along then." Padma interjected.
"No, I would say that Harry is more than capable." Her granddaughter seemed to understand it was a command and not a suggestion and so, let the matter drop.
Harry offered his arm and led the older woman out of the room. They were only around the next corner before Isha stopped them, "I don't intend to have you walk me all the way to the castle gates, Harry." He just waited for her to continue, already suspecting what was coming, "Padma has always been special to me. I love her mother and her sister, but the two of us are kindred spirits in a way that is hard to explain."
Harry smiled, "I can see that."
"So, I think you'll understand that if you do something to her, hurt her in any way, that I will move heaven and earth to make sure you suffer… I don't care how famous you are." Her voice was deadly serious, but he felt no fear or trepidation in the face of her threat.
Calmly, he replied, "I can't promise that things will always be perfect between us. We are quite young and we're dealing with things that most people simply couldn't imagine. But I will always do my absolute best for her. It's the least she deserves. It's the least any of them deserve."
Isha softened, eyes glistening slightly, "Good." She turned to walk away, but stopped, "For what it's worth, I approve. It really was nice meeting you. It's rare that someone actually lives up to the lofty expectations set for them by someone who's as smitten as my granddaughter. Now, I really must be going. And as much as I appreciated the offer, I'm more than capable of seeing myself away. I'd rather you get back to my granddaughter."
I doubt there's much this woman isn't capable of. With that she turned and headed off without another word. Unwilling to argue with her, he just gave a soft shake of his head and headed back to the room. What an interesting afternoon.
As he walked back into the room, he was surprised to find only Padma in the room, standing next to the table looking a bit anxious, "You're back already?"
"I think she just wanted a moment alone to have a chat. She was rather insistent that she could get down there herself after that." He closed the door behind him, "Where are Orina and Anya?"
"Oh… um… they're getting changed?" She seemed a bit flustered at the question, "What did she say?"
"Exactly what you would expect a loving grandmother to say." He didn't see the need to get into the specifics, "And that it was nice to meet me after everything she'd heard about me."
Padma blushed slightly at that, "Good, I can't tell you how happy I am that she approves."
He walked over to her and placed a kiss on her lips, "I'm pretty well chuffed about it myself. So, is that why you were so protective of that letter I found after Runes? It was one of hers?"
"Maybe." She pressed herself into his chest, head turned down and her lips right next to his collarbone.
"So definitely." He chuckled.
"You're teasing me again." She said cutely, a little pout on her lips.
"I'm pretty sure you enjoy it, Pads." His hand went to the curve of her hip as she looked up at him with big brown eyes.
"Yeah… maybe." She nipped at the bottom of his jaw, "But a girl can only take so much teasing."
"Oh, really?"
Her lovely bum pressed into the table, and he found himself standing between her thick thighs, "Yep, definitely…" Her hands found their way beneath his shirt, nails skimming along the hard lines of his abdomen.
REDACTED
He grinned widely at that, "No, it really is something." Effortlessly, he picked up the insensate young woman and took her to bed. Making sure she was comfortable, he was unsurprised when his two veela lovers took it upon themselves to make sure he was properly clean.
