Chapter 3
()()()
Approximately three years ago
"Ah, smell that fresh air," Sirius said taking in a deep breath. "Such a nice break from the stuffy, depressing hole we've been stuck in."
Harry had a hard time matching his Godfathers appreciation for their surroundings. He was too busy trying to cool his nerves considering what they were about to do. His previous life-threatening missions, The Philosophers Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, finding out about 'Sirius Black' and then Peter Pettigrew, those had all been things that couldn't be put off. This, what they were doing right now, it could be put off.
Currently the two of them were crouched around the gate that was the entrance to Malfoy Manor.
All intel had supported the fact that Voldemort was using this place as his base of operations. The Ministry still wasn't believing that 'He' was back. Most of the Wizarding World had no idea that he had regained a body and was slowly pulling at his puppet strings to worm his way into power slowly so that their society wouldn't see it coming.
The Order of the Phoenix had formed once more to try and stop him before he could truly get started. The Death Eaters had all been rallied though.
Sirius found it great fun that they had all completely forgotten about their Dark Lords one weakness, Harry Potter, and Dumbledore had explained his theory on that to them. No, the Death Eaters and their master were confident now that it was Albus Dumbledore that was the only real threat.
And Sirius was looking forward to shaking things up a bit.
Harry had to admit though, it had been pretty amusing thus far when he had run into someone from the Order by accident at Grimmauld Place, see their surprise, and then the moment he was out of their eyesight watch as they tried to remember what it was they had been wandering off to do. But then after they looked away and he was simply a phantom, his amusement dripped away.
Even ghosts were remembered.
But not him.
It was only a few months that he had the spell cast on him and it hadn't been too bad thus far. Having Sirius with him and guiding him along through his studies in a more focused way had certainly been wonderful. It was what he had envisioned his summers to be like when Sirius had mentioned them living together after they'd come back from the Shrieking Shack over a year ago, before Pettigrew ran away. All save for Sirius' drinking anyhow. He wasn't drunk tonight though, not on alcohol anyhow.
Defense Against the Dark Arts had been their focus these past few months, now it was October 31st and Sirius had decided it was time to do a little re-con of their own, he was positively giddy with malicious excitement.
It was slightly contagious. Harry wondered if this was what it had been like for his father when he was at school and getting up to no good with Sirius and Remus then.
Dumbledore didn't know about this little mission, no one knew except for the two of them. Sirius had done a perfect imitation of how the conversation would have gone if Dumbledore was asked for authorization; carrying on about how Harry wasn't ready, how he was too young, too valuable, and the coupe de gras- that it was entirely irresponsible of Sirius to even think of such a thing.
They didn't need Dumbledore's authorization though. They had planned out exactly what they were going to do, and the spell that was cast on Harry made them uniquely abled to do it. After all, how could they not utilize someone who was seen one moment and forgotten the next?
Harry had been all for it in the planning stages.
It hadn't taken long for him to realize just how close to dying he had come at the end of June. And the steps that Voldemort and his two followers had gone through just to get a few drops of his blood, though they were likely to have taken all of it, had been extreme. Now that there were several more Death Eaters working for him they could do so much more damage.
All Harry and Sirius were looking to do tonight was map the layout of the Manor and try and find out any information about who had joined, or rejoined, his ranks as a Death Eater.
Snape was still playing a double agent, but neither Sirius nor Harry were willing to risk trusting him with the whole truth about what Voldemort was up to. They wanted assurances.
Sirius was armed with Harry's invisibility cloak. It had been a fight to convince him to be the one to use it, but in the end Harry won that argument.
"Ready?" Sirius asked.
"No," Harry told him honestly, "but let's do it anyway." He needed to get moving. History had proven that he could take care of himself just fine when he was in the thick of it. Once they were actually inside the grounds he knew he would be able to do what he needed to. He had proven he was a 'man of action', even at the age of eleven.
Sirius donned the invisibility cloak before casting the disillusionment charm on Harry and together they crossed into the grounds, Harry summoning a peacock at the same time they crossed; he may have been underage, but, yet another perk of the charm on him, the Ministry official that would see he'd used underage magic would immediately forget his name had popped up. They had tried and tested that little trick a few times with great success.
As soon as they were inside the ward they rushed to get around to the other side of the grounds. It was expected that someone would be notified that the wards were breeched and come to inspect it. Sure enough, someone in a black cloak had come out through the main doors soon followed by two more.
By the time they reached the spot Harry and Sirius had come through there was a great enough distance between them all.
And the three of them had left the front door wide open.
"Nice when you can depend on them being over-confident," Sirius muttered.
They slipped into the Manor and Harry was surprised to see just how white and clean it was. There were marble walls and stairs, grand paintings on the walls and chic tables with vases full of flowers at tasteful distances. It was no wonder that Voldemort decided to use this as a home base.
In the foyer was where the two of them were splitting up; Harry was going to take the second floor, Sirius the dungeons. Sirius was convinced that they would have already started capturing Ministry Employee's for putting the Imperious Curse on after getting as much information from them as possible, and he didn't want Harry to see what they might have been doing to them, besides simply using the Imperious, if he could help it.
Not wasting any time, Harry rushed up the steps as lightly as possible and poked his head around the corridor to see a stretch of hallway with about six doors total. On the other side of the landing was an identical corridor with the same number of doors lining the hallway.
He'd listened to Malfoy going on about how affluent his family was, apparently he hadn't been exaggerating. If he had the chance, Harry was going to search everywhere in Draco Malfoy's room for something embarrassing, like a blankie from when he was a baby that he still slept with when he was home.
He listened hard at the first door he reached but couldn't hear anything behind it. Pointing his wand at the door, he cast a spell that would tell him if someone was on the other side of it. He did and received no response. Turning the knob, he pushed the door in and saw it was a bathroom; a big one with a sunken bath and a bidet beside the actual toilet.
Rolling his eyes, particularly at the gilded everything, he pulled the door shut and moved on to the next room.
He found two guest rooms side by side along the one end of the corridor, both of which had luggage in them. He rifled through the drawers and scanned the tops of every surface to see who the rooms were being occupied by and only came up with initials from the luggage itself.
On the other end of the corridor there was a library though, one that did have several pieces of parchment out and books on Azkaban and Dementors.
In the past war the Death Eaters had managed to turn the Dementors over to their side, it looked like they were wanting to do that again and break the imprisoned Death Eaters out. There was one folder that contained dossiers on every prisoner that was in Azkaban. It was so much information that Harry was pretty sure wouldn't have been public records either.
He simply duplicated them, shrunk the folders down and stuffed them in his pocket.
The next room he cast his revealing spell and it came back that one person was in the room. After a careful listen at the door he didn't hear anyone moving around, so he gently turned the knob and opened it.
It was another bedroom, and on the king-sized bed was a woman he recognized to be Mrs. Malfoy.
He certainly hadn't been prepared to see so much of her though.
She wasn't naked, thank Merlin, but she was wearing a very revealing sleep dress and one of the straps had come down from her shoulder. He had to admit, she had kept herself in good shape for someone who had a teenage son.
She was sound asleep too.
Yet something more to shove in Malfoy's face if he ever had the opportunity. Mommy dearest was likely knocked out on potions or drink right now, otherwise how could she have possibly been sleeping through someone searching around her bedroom?
Tiptoeing through the room he did a quick search on the dresser and writing desk. There was a calendar there of events that the Malfoy's were meant to attend and orders that she would need to place for birthdays and such.
A calendar of events that one or both of the Malfoys would be attending might be helpful.
He duplicated this and shrunk that down to add to his pocket before slipping back out of the room.
The next room over though, he got a shock. The revealing spell hadn't shown that anyone was in there, unfortunately it did not account for animals.
After creeping into the guest room and closing the door behind him, he didn't notice any luggage laying around. He also didn't notice the snake that was laying across the foot of the bed.
A gentle hiss was what alerted him to the snake's presence. It was the same snake that he had seen in his dreams last year. The one that had alerted Voldemort about the poor groundskeeper at the Riddle house.
Nagini.
She was Voldemort's pet.
$ Stranger in the room $ she hissed. Apparently the disillusionment charm was not so effective on animals.
Harry stared her down, frozen as he watched her slither from the bed to the floor and move towards him.
$ Friend or enemy? $ she asked as she came over.
Clearly she could tell where he was, so there wasn't much point in pretending he wasn't. It looked like she could properly see where he was too, so maybe animals could see right through disillusionment charms. $ Do you want to be here? $ Harry asked her.
$ You are a speaker, $ she paused. Most of her body held still, her tail still flicked a bit side to side.
He wasn't sure what to do. He could learn things from this snake if he could somehow get it away from Voldemort. But, though Dobby had been more than happy to be free of the Malfoy's that didn't mean that this snake was interested in leaving her master as well.
They stared at each other for a moment, her yellow eyes locked on his own, almost glowing in the night. Quick as a he could he tried to get around her. He wasn't quick enough though, she shot after him, her fangs bared, and managed to slice through his shirt, cutting a gash open at his side just above his waist.
The shock from the pain had him fall to the floor clutching at it as the blood flowed freely. There was something else that caused a searing pain in his forehead from their contact though. Something that Nagini clearly felt as well.
She reared back, shaking her head from side to side as her body slithered to get as far away from him as possible.
This was the same kind of pain he had felt when he'd touched Quirrell, and much stronger than the pain he experienced in the graveyard last year or after dreaming of Voldemort.
()()()
Now
It was the memory of that pain that woke him up swallowing down a scream.
His heart was racing and he felt the same cold sweat breaking out all over him as he had in the dream. There was a pillow under his head right now, there were sheets twisted up around his body and he was laying down in relative comfort; he wasn't at Malfoy Manor, he was in Gryffindor Tower, once more incased in a bed surrounded by Gryffindor red curtains that were blocking his view of any windows. He couldn't tell if it was morning or middle of the night.
He reached under his pillow and set off his Tempus charm, seeing that it was nearing 5:30 in the morning.
Catching his breath, he lay back down.
That incident with the snake had really happened.
That it was the snake he had come across and not Voldemort, he was really lucky.
That time.
The pain had nearly paralyzed him but he'd had enough presence of mind to escape the room, hoping that the Fidelus charm on him would work on animals, even though the disillusionment hadn't.
He'd used every spell he could think of in order to close up his wound and done a good enough job that he didn't bleed out, but his clothes had been soaked with it, the carpet where he had been laying down in the room had also been soaked with it.
He tried to push it from his mind. He didn't have to reflect on that anymore. It was in his past, and he was free and clear to make newer, happier memories.
As his heart rate calmed back down he started to register the sounds in his room. Ron could be heard from the other side of the room snoring away. The other boys didn't make quite as much noise, but there were a few different deep breathing sounds from either side of his own bed.
Dean occupied the bed to Harry's left and a boy named Anthony Daniels to his right. There were two other proper seventh year boys, meaning they were seventeen, named Eric and Euan Addington that were twins.
Harry lay there, listening to them all breathing and snoring, with his eyes closed, hoping to fall back to sleep but seeing the same memory playing out over and over again in his mind.
They'd been clued into the snake being another Horcrux because of that expedition. That mission he and Sirius undertook had given them a lot of upper hand by gaining that knowledge and the information they'd managed to decipher from the blood soaked papers that he'd had in his jacket.
Getting out of bed, Harry slipped into the showers, still trying to shake off the dream, then had gotten dressed for the day and ducked out before the others had roused. He'd gotten used to waking up at the crack of dawn, so he didn't feel like he had woken up ridiculously early. Not that there had been any particular reason for for him to be waking that early, it was just the calmest time of day.
It was nearing 6:30 when he descended the stairs from the boys dorm and, true to what Ginny had said the night before, there were two people sleeping in the Common Room at the base of the stairs through the night. He had tiptoed over them and waited at the exit so there would be no alarm that was set off by the Fat Lady with his going through the portrait hole.
He found a disused classroom as soon as the clock had struck the half hour that he didn't ever remember being in before and pulled out his two-way mirror to call his Godfather.
"It's a whole different kind of dynamic here," Harry started off their conversation with no preamble when Sirius answered. "It must have been way worse than what McGonagall was reporting," Harry continued to him. "From the sounds of it there was quite a bit that the students were keeping to themselves and just sort of, I dunno, dealing with. You should have seen Hermione's face when everyone basically scoffed at her bringing up Prefects and the new school Therapist as authority figures or whatever."
Sirius was frowning from that information, his sleepy eyes were only just clear enough to show he understood what was being said to him. "Do you have any inkling of what exactly happened there? I know the Carrow's were the two professors that were the worst for the school, but the other professors would have still been business as usual."
Harry squinted at the mirror and tried to figure out what he was looking at behind Sirius. "Where are you again?"
"Morocco," he grinned sleepily. "An All-Inclusive Resort called Kasbah Tamadot. It's up in the mountains a bit. So relaxing." As proof, he had a very serene expression on him as well.
With the end of the war came his exoneration as well. Those in charge now at the Ministry had worked with him in the Order and knew of his innocence. Now he had complete access to his vault at Gringotts and with Harry going back to school, Sirius had planned to live the life of luxury doing whatever he wanted, wherever he wanted, for the next few months.
Harry had the option of joining him, and Sirius had said he was more than happy to foot the bill if Harry didn't want to let the Goblin's in on his secret just yet and gain access to his own accounts. But he wasn't ready to just sit around doing nothing quite yet. He wanted the good aspects of his old life back. He hoped that having that bit of normalcy would help him get his head right again, so he would stop thinking about what he'd done and just try and focus on being a teenager, with teenager problems.
"Now then, where are you at with letting Minnie know?" Sirius asked. That had been a discussion they'd had; should Harry give Professor McGonagall the key and let her know who he really was?
There was a chance she was going to be pulling the older students into her office for an interview of sorts. That would be a good opportunity for him to let her know. But again, Harry wasn't sure.
"I really want to tell Ron and Hermione first," Harry said. "But I think 'Minnie' already has some idea that something is up." Sirius was in the habit of calling her Minnie but it felt strange coming out of his own mouth. "She called my name to get sorted last night and I think she said 'Potter', took one look at me and then realized I look just like my dad."
Sirius gave him a solemn nod. "I would have drawn that conclusion as well. Your eyes too she might associate with your mother. I think it might be best to just let her know who you are before she starts sharing her theory with the other professors. She's a good bird, that one. You can trust her."
Harry still wasn't sure. It would likely be something he'd decide on in the moment. "Right, well. I better get down to breakfast and figure out my timetable," Harry told him.
"And I better go do a lap or two in the pool," Sirius grinned. "Have fun in class, talk later."
Harry wiped the mirror clear and stored it in his bag. The dusty classroom he'd hidden away in was on the second floor, not close to any of the Common Rooms. He still had the Marauders Map on him and saw that most of the students were moving around now, but none of them were near him. He stashed that away in his bag as well and headed back towards the main stairs to join the throng of students heading down for breakfast.
"Hey," he greeted Hermione when he got to the Gryffindor table. "Did the timetables start getting handed out yet?"
"No, not yet," she said anxiously and kept looking over towards the head table. "She should be handing them out soon though. Oh, I have so many classes this year. I gave every textbook a thorough read through so I could try and get ahead, but there are just going to be so many essays. Some of them I've anticipated the subject matter and done up some mock one's, but there is only so much guesswork that is going to pan out."
He tried not to show just how horrified he was with the amount of schoolwork she'd already put in before the first class and simply dug into his breakfast. She could probably have gone to the Ministry and taken her NEWTS instead of coming back to school, but he could also see that she and Ron were looking for a 'year off' before being forced into adulthood and the responsibilities that came with it; like him.
More of the seventh-year students started showing up and sitting down near them. The brunette from last night came in with Ginny and took up on the bench across from Ginny, who sat right beside him, leaving a good two feet's worth of space between them.
"So, when exactly is the Quidditch team try-out?" he asked Ginny conversationally.
"I want to have it next weekend, but I have to talk to Madam Hooch, the sports administrator, to secure the time. I'll post it on the notice board with plenty of time," she said sleepily to him as she fixed her plate.
The Addington twins came in with Dean and they sat on the other side of him with nothing more than a tired nod before filling their plates.
McGonagall started handing out the timetables and when she got down the line to Harry she gave him another curious look. "Mister Potter, I would like to see you in my office for a short meeting in thirty minutes. Compulsory interview before your first class."
"Right, no problem," he nodded and looked down at his schedule.
"Do you not need to know where my office is?" she asked tartly.
"Oh, I was just going to… ask Hermione," he answered quickly, damning himself for his forgetfulness. "Figured she'd be able to direct me." It was a reasonable answer. On that note, he'd have to make sure to follow along behind people for the first day or two of getting to his classes.
"Right then," McGonagall nodded and continued down the table.
"Do we all need to have an interview?" Hermione asked eagerly.
"No, Miss Granger. Just the new students," she told her dismissively and Hermione deflated.
The brunette across from Ginny snickered, but Ginny shot her a glare to shut her up.
Hermione outright ignored the brunette and turned to Harry. "I'll show you where her office is after we've finished up here. It's on my way to Arithmancy."
"Great, thanks. That's really helpful," he said, reminding himself to smile and look friendly.
"Suck up," Ginny whispered beside him which caused him to snort into his pumpkin juice.
Twenty minutes later he was standing outside his Head of House's office having been 'shown the way' by Hermione and Ron, Ron was just walking Hermione to her class. The three of them making their way through the halls though, like they always used to, it made him really nostalgic; a sad kind of nostalgic though, because they weren't his friends yet, they were Ron and Hermione, and he was just Harry, there beside them.
The two of them had taken off immediately after showing him the correct door to McGonagall's office and now he was standing here by himself, scowling at the door. He didn't want to bother with this. Harry decided to tell McGonagall who he was on the way there, reveal to her exactly what she needed to know to remember all that they'd shared. He could really use someone on the faculty that could advocate for him, and she had been the one that knew him best; and knew his parents and Sirius. Yet, he wanted to remain anonymous too. What if she started paying him extra attention? What if she expected more from him that he was willing to give? There wasn't much motivation left in him. Screw his education, he wasn't here for that. Classes were just going to be a way to pass the time between playing Quidditch and laying about.
The door to the office opened of its own accord as he went to knock on it, likely by a spell cast by McGonagall who was seated at her desk inside the room. He walked in, shut the door, and then before she had an opportunity to say anything, he said the phrase that she needed to hear in order to have the Fidelus remove the block on her memories.
Her stern expression turned to one of surprise and stayed that way for a good five minutes as he sat down in the chair across from her waiting sullenly.
He would have a few moments to enjoy the quiet before needing to plant some kind of regretful look on his face.
When Sirius had shown Harry where Grimmauld Place was it had appeared before him instantly and they'd gone straight in, but that was because he had no memories tied to the London townhouse; if he'd been there before then he likely would have been standing on the sidewalk staring at it for some time as the memories flooded back into place. 'Minnie' had several memories tied to him and he had learned from the day that the spell was cast on him, from watching Sirius after he'd been given the key, that it could take quite a while for someone to regain all of those memories.
"Harry," she breathed out once her trance was over, her eyes had grown glassy. "Oh, Harry. What, where have you been? What did Albus do to you?" she asked the last question angrily.
Harry frowned at her accusation. "He did what was best for everyone," he told her honestly. "You saw what happened my first four years here. Every year it was something new, and with Voldemort," she squared her shoulders at the name, "coming back it could only have gotten worse from there. If I stayed here, then other students could have wound up dead."
"What happened to you?" she asked after a moment of regarding him, her expression looking as though she was trying very hard to sort out the sequence of events that had led to the last time she had seen him. "The Tri-Wizard Tournament!" she realized.
"Yes," he nodded and told her the story of Cedric Diggory and the cemetery. "Then with how the Ministry was just dead set against the idea that He was back, and how they were coming after Dumbledore for making such a statement, even after that dead Auror was left hanging at the Hogwarts entrance, it was just better for Sirius and I to remain hidden and working behind the scenes until that final battle when Voldemort could finally be killed."
She had sat enraptured as he explained. "And have you told Miss Granger and Mister Weasley?"
"No," he shook his head, "you are the first to have the key to their memory of me, besides Sirius that is."
"It has just been yourself, Albus and Sirius Black these past three years?" she asked softly, sounding almost as though she pitied him his predicament. A dark look crossed her face then. "What did they make you do?" she demanded.
He knew what she was really asking. She wanted to know just how many dangerous and deadly situations he had been put in. She didn't need to know all that though.
"Sirius was with me," he assured her. "And though the final battle wasn't the first time I had been in a life-threatening situation, I have managed to stay alive, so we can just leave it at that."
"They let you-"
"They didn't let me do anything," he cut her off. "I had to be involved, and everyone had to forget about me, Voldemort most of all. I've been through a lot. I've had the emotional ups and downs that come with what I've been through. But I'm back now. I can create new relationships with people now. They will start to remember me now as just Harry, not as someone predestined to kill someone. So far as they all know, my story is now not much different from anyone else's. My only mission is to try and have a year here where no one is actively trying to kill me. I plan to go to my classes, join the Quidditch Team and find out if my friends really did like me for me."
Her expression grew warm and he saw a slight shimmer in her eye before she blinked it away. Harry always knew she had a warm heart under her tartan outer layer.
"Well then," she said briskly. "You best be off so as not to be late for your first class then."
It was a dismissal, and a poor one considering first classes had already started and his wasn't until ten.
"Yes, Professor," he smirked at her, softly that it could have possibly passed for a smile.
He left her office and started back for the Entrance Hall, but found he was a bit lost as to what to do with himself.
"Hey," called a voice behind him.
Harry looked over his shoulder and saw Dean Thomas approaching.
"Hey," he greeted back.
"What was going on in there then?" Dean inclined his head towards Professor McGonagall's office.
"Mandatory shake down of the new older students I suppose," Harry gave a shrug, be friendly, he reminded himself. "She just needed to check and make sure I hadn't been some kind of Junior Death Eater or something."
"By asking you outright?" Dean asked skeptically.
"Yeah, that wouldn't have been the best way to go about it, would it?" he forced a laugh. "I reckon she's someone with a well-tuned bull-shit detector though."
"Too right. I was always worried about potentially getting on the wrong side of her. My mate Seamus wasn't though, he took his NEWTS at the Ministry, he was always blowing things up around here. Surprised he didn't land himself in more detentions with her than he did." Dean chuckled. "I could just never bring myself to do something to put her out though, felt like I'd be disrespecting my nan or something if I stepped out of line."
"I can understand that, she does have a sort of strict but caring grandmotherly vibe." Harry caught a glance of Hagrid's hut out the window as they walked down the corridor. "Hey, the groundskeeper is the Care of Magical Creature's Professor as well, right?"
"He is, but he's not so much of a Professor as a… well, he's more of an instructor I guess is the closest way to describe him."
"Do you take the class?"
"No," he gave a shrug. "I was in for my third and fourth years, but dropped it my OWL year. He, er, he wasn't all that good at picking interesting creatures for us to study."
Harry tried hard not to allow a chuckle to escape him as he remembered the Blast-Ended Skrewts on their leashes dragging his fellow students around the grounds.
"Hoping for everyone's sake that he has the confidence this year to teach about some interesting creatures," Dean continued. "He was in hiding last year with his brother, a giant that he was keeping in the Forbidden Forest for two years before things really got bad. I feel like he's the kind that, if there isn't any added pressure or anything, then he'd do a great job of teaching the subject. Otherwise," he gave another shrug, "you may as well just read the textbook and ignore the class. It wouldn't have bode well for my overall marks if I stuck with the subject," he added impressively, like good overall marks are something that everyone should be caring about above all else.
"I completely get it," Harry lied.
For the next hour Dean and he wound up wandering around the castle before their first class. He let Dean show him the quickest ways around and point out all the trick steps while they carried on back and forth about the professors and classes. He'd never spent all that much time with Dean before, they'd caught up after holidays and had sat in the same group in classes, but never had one on one time. It turned out Dean was hoping to work for the Daily Prophet or some other publication once he was done with his NEWTS as a graphic artist of sorts; that was why he was focusing his studies on Transfiguration and Charms, so that he could try and figure out different ways to enhance his drawings.
By the time they reached the Transfiguration classroom Dean had managed to show him almost the entire castle, apparently he didn't know where the kitchen was though.
Dean and he filed into the room and, as they were Professor McGonagall's first class of the day, there were several seventh-year students milling about. Instinctually, Harry went over to sit near Ron and Dean sat right beside him. There were ten or so students thus far that he didn't recognize wearing Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw colors, and exactly one Slytherin. One that everyone was staying away from and did not look happy to be there.
"Hey mate," Harry said casually to Ron.
"Hey," he replied distractedly.
"Er, Ron?" Dean started. "I meant to ask you, yesterday. Um, you and Hermione?"
"Yeah?" Ron grinned.
"When did that happen?"
"Nearly a year ago. Finally worked up the nerve." Ron puffed out his chest like he was proud of it.
Harry worked to keep a passive expression on his face as he pulled out his books. He should have been there with them, watching their relationship turning from friends into something more. Fake it, he reminded himself, you are here now, you don't need to miss out on anything else.
"That's great. Saw it coming from a mile away," Dean told Ron. "Maybe you and she might want to go on a double date on the next Hogsmeade trip?"
Ron quirked an eyebrow at him. "Who are you seeing?"
Dean gave a single shoulder shrug and looked somewhat uncomfortable. "Oh, well. You know, I was going to see if maybe. Maybe Gin..."
Ron's glowering expression cut him off. "Seriously? Are you asking for my permission? You didn't the first time."
Dean's shoulders sagged. "I know, and I'm sorry about that. But I had a lot of time to think while I... this past year and, well, I want to give it another go."
Harry shifted in his seat uncomfortably. Why on earth Dean would be bringing up his wanting to date Ron's sister in class like this, he wasn't sure. There must be another time that would make more sense.
But when the next influx of students came in and Harry realized exactly why Dean was bringing it up then; since Ginny had just come in with Hermione.
Ron leaned across Harry to get closer to Dean, "it's not on me, whatever turns out. And no, I don't want to double with my sister as part of the other couple."
"But you're okay with me asking?" Dean asked in a whisper, to be sure.
Ron sat back, rolling his eyes but nodding his assent.
That was all Dean needed before he tried to wave Ginny over. Though whether she was pointedly ignoring him or really didn't see Dean, she moved to sit next to the only Slytherin in the room.
Hermione came over to sit with Ron, on the opposite side of him from Harry.
"I'm so glad to be back. Arithmancy was so interesting." Her eyes were alight with excitement and Harry felt exhaustion coming on just knowing that she was going to launch into a retelling of exactly what her last class had entailed until McGonagall came in.
Her incessant rambling was something that he missed while he'd been gone but now that he was here it almost made him want to rest his head down for a nap.
There were still about five minutes before class officially started and he felt he should either crack open his text or turn to chat a bit more with Dean. He wasn't entirely interested hearing about his dorm mates past romantic life, but as he'd already gone through the text and learned it all, he figured a chat with Dean was less likely to bore him.
"So, looking to get back with your ex then?" Harry prompted quietly, hoping Ron wouldn't overhear. He hadn't prepared himself mentally for any teen drama that he was going to be in the mix of. With the more important events that had been going on around him, his friends love lives hadn't been top priority on his list of concerns.
"Yeah," Dean said morosely as he stared across the room at her. "I mean, we fought all the time, but there were some good moments too." He leaned over and lowered his voice even further, "and I could really do with a snog. It's been so long it's embarrassing."
That caused a laugh to escape Harry's mouth, which he quickly covered up with a cough. Dean had just sounded like Sirius then. It wasn't often that Sirius would mention his want for female companionship, but it was still more often than Harry had cared to hear. And listening to Sirius go on hadn't helped with the fact that Harry was going through puberty while he was in hiding and didn't have a single female that knew of his existence. It was Sirius' hope that Harry would take this opportunity of his to get some experience under his belt. The closest he had ever come was at the Yule Ball in his fourth year with Parvati, and that had been a disaster.
McGonagall then cleared her throat and the class went silent. "Welcome back everyone," she greeted and came to the front of the room, turning to look at them all, her eyes stopping on him for a moment. "I am truly glad to see you all here."
She turned and levitated a piece of chalk to the board, which started writing out their syllabus for the year. "We have all been through some trying times and we are out the other side of it now. I expect each of you to show respect, not only to me, but to your fellow students. As the eldest attendees of this fine school I need you to set an example. Any instances of disrespect will not be tolerated."
In his previous experience, a statement like that would have been directed to the members of Slytherin house. She however, was looking towards Harry and those around him.
His brow furrowed and he turned to see matching expressions on the faces of those he knew best.
McGonagall didn't spend any more time than that discussing how she expected them to behave, instead she launched into telling them just how difficult a year they were about to have when it came to their studies; how there would be so much more expected of them, how concise their essays would need to be, how far she would be testing their limits in the subject, etc.
Even after such a speech he felt sure that he was prepared for the hands-on work, the essays on the other hand, those were going to be taking up the bulk of his time. Sirius hadn't made him do any essays but he had given him the basics of how to hammer them out, it wasn't so much a cheat sheet, more a format to follow that would assist with planning them.
Regardless, he sat there studiously taking down nearly everything that was written on the board and that came only from the mouth of the Professor and by the time their class was up he realized they hadn't done any actual learning.
"What was the point of that class," Ron moaned to he and Dean, hoping Hermione wouldn't hear him.
"I was just asking myself the same question," Harry agreed, clenching and unclenching his hand because he'd been holding the quill for much longer than he was used to.
They followed the rest of the class out, everyone looking like they were giving their hands extra stretches like he was.
"Don't need you sitting near me," a harsh voice cut through noise the crowd. Harry looked over and saw the Slytherin girl from class was snapping at Ginny.
"I needed a seat, the one beside you was open," Ginny spat back.
"There was another one open beside your friends."
"Well, yours was the first one I saw."
"You think you're doing me a favor by sitting beside me, admit it."
"Do you seriously think I owe you a favor? Let's take a look back over our history, shall we?" Ginny countered.
Harry cringed as Hermione went over to intervene. He knew that she would only be making things worse, he had no idea how she didn't come to the same conclusion.
"Ladies, you heard what Professor McGonagall said," she started.
Both girls looked at her with exasperation and rolled their eyes. "Of course, you're here to butt in," the Slytherin scoffed.
"Just leave it, yeah?" Ginny told the girl. "I'll sit where I sit in class. It had nothing to do with you. I don't give a shit if you think I'm doing it out of charity because I'm not." She walked away then and the Slytherin girl pointedly went in a different direction.
"What was that about?" Hermione asked as she jogged to catch up with Ginny, Ron and Dean following along behind her, so Harry did as well.
"Don't worry about it," Ginny told her.
"Why would she think you sitting with her would be charitable?" Ron asked.
"Well, Ron," Ginny started in a patronizing and sarcastic voice. "Some people find me pleasant company, not you lot, obviously, but others generally enjoy my sunny demeanor and that translates to it being a blessing to spend time in my presence." She stopped and turned towards them, pulling a faux optimistic expression. "See? Don't I just look like someone you want to spend time with?" she asked rhetorically.
"Yes," Dean said immediately.
Her faux expression washed away at his response and she gave him a quizzical look before turning back to her brother and his girlfriend. "Look, you two, well, three," she added to Dean, "will just have to get used to being in classes with me. You won't always understand the dynamic between everyone in your classes right away, because I know that you two," she pointed at Ron and Hermione, "weren't bothered with learning anyone's name if they were below your year. So, just, please, mind your own business."
"As a Prefect-" Hermione started.
"Hermione," Ginny cut her off. "I would have imagined that someone as smart as you are would have realized by now that no one is going to give one toss what you say as a Prefect."
Harry felt the urge to give Ginny a slow clap for that comment. He wasn't entirely sure why though. Maybe he just liked how angry she was.
Hermione's cheeks colored at that, but Ron stepped in.
"Oi, you could be nicer to her. She was only trying to help."
A shadow of something dark passed over Ginny's face then. "I know," she told them. "But stepping into situations you don't fully understand is not going to help anyone here. Please listen to me when I say that," she ground out.
Harry was reading the sorrow in Ginny's face then. The regret and sadness were coming off her in waves.
How was it that Ron and Hermione, and from the look on his face, Dean, didn't know what was making her act this way? It was blazingly obvious to him; she'd seen things she shouldn't have needed to, been forced to do things that made her second guess what team she was fighting for; a lot of the students that had remained in the castle last year had.
Hadn't the three of them needed to make those decisions too?
Shouldn't they have understood?
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