Thank you everybody for the feedback and support from the first chapter! I'm glad you all seemed to enjoy it, and I hope that carries on into this chapter too! Some dialogue in this chapter is borrowed from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Chapter 10 - Luna Lovegood.
After the home visit by Professor Lupin on the first day of the holidays, the summer of 1995 flew by extraordinarily quickly. Mary MacDonald usually took as much time off of her job as she possibly could during the summers, given that it also mostly coincided with the summer break of the Quidditch League, although surprisingly to Leo, this year she had been called into the office every single weekday of the holidays leaving Leo alone at Loch Ryan fending for himself. He was old enough to make his own entertainment however, spending a lot of his summer holiday out on the Loch fishing like he used to with his Grandfather, as well as making the most of the heatwave that had rocked the United Kingdom that summer and getting his summer homework completed out on the hills overlooking the Loch while watching as the muggles went about their business on the giant body of water.
But before he knew it July had turned to August which had in turn ticked over into September, and on the 1st of the month at around 10:30am Leo found himself stood back on Platform 9 ¾ staring up at the scarlet Hogwarts Express, both wondering how the summer had flown by so fast whilst also preparing for a brand-new year at Hogwarts.
Unlike the fears his mother had had about the atmosphere on the platform given the end of the previous year and the sheer nonsense being spouted from the Daily Prophet all throughout the summer holiday, Leo noticed that all of the parents and students gathered on the magical platform seemed to be acting as if nothing was wrong in the world, with the same old excited faces beaming at the thought of another year at Hogwarts whilst their parents fussed over last minute issues. A sense of normality was something which Leo definitely wouldn't say his Mother felt as she dragged him through the crowd of people towards the train, her hand gripping his tightly as they kept up a light jog. "You make sure you stay safe." Mary stated hurriedly, her nails threatening to dig into the skin on his hand while her other was deep into her jacket pocket, where Leo knew her wand was kept. "And remember I'm only an owl away, if you need anything at all then you let me know as soon as you can, and make sure there is no dawdling because you don't want to worry me..."
"Aye, mum." Leo rolled his eyes, embarrassed at the urgent caution she was showing plainly. "I will." He added, but it seemed to be the wrong thing to say as Mary stopped and turned back to face him sharply.
"Don't 'aye mum' me, Leo, not now." Mary whispered harshly, her eyes darting around. "The Prophet might be spouting the usual nonsense that life is all sunshine and rainbows, but we know better, don't we?" She raised an eyebrow, challenging him to argue back.
The Daily Prophet had been claiming that things in the Wizarding World were normal, whilst on the other hand trying their utmost to discredit Professor Dumbledore as a crackpot old fool and Harry Potter as an attention seeking brat somewhat subtly within their articles. Leo didn't believe either of those points to be the case, but he still couldn't quite join his Mother on her pedestal of fear, something that she had felt consistently ever since the first day of summer. He nodded again more solemnly however, not wishing to rise to the challenge he knew he would lose. "I know, and I'll be sure to write to you often." He promised. "But I better get on." He gestured to the train where more and more students were stepping on as the clock ticked closer to 11.
Mary nodded, pulling him in for one last bone crushing hug before pushing him towards the Hogwarts Express. "Aye, go on."
As the tall 15-year-old stepped onto the train he began to walk down it while scanning the compartments for his friends, but as he reached the compartment that both Fay Dunbar and Anna Bailey were occupying he spotted that they were sharing with the entire school Gobstones team and the games had already started. As much as Leo enjoyed Fay's company, he didn't really want to submit himself to 9 hours of Gobstones talk and the threat of being covered in stinking sap every time he inevitably lost a match, so instead he waved at his friends through the open door, laughing quietly as he walked down the train hoping to find a quiet compartment that he could read in. When he looked out of one of the windows on his way down the train he saw Harry Potter and a group of people rushing onto the Platform with a large black dog, seemingly just in the nick of time. Leo decided to get as far away from them as possible and ended up settling himself in a compartment right at the back end of the train. He placed his trunk in the overhead luggage rack and opened the window of the compartment where his Mother was stood waving having found him again.
"Remember what I said." She called over the noise of the growing crowd. "Stay safe and keep alert."
"I will, Mum." He promised her for what must have been the thousandth time that summer. "And I'll be back for Christmas this year anyway!"
"You better be!" She chuckled, though Leo could see in her eyes that she desperately wished for it to be Christmas already. She kissed her hand and placed it against the glass as the train began to announce its departure with a loud whistle. At that moment there was also a knock at the compartment door and Leo turned back to see a blonde girl with a necklace of butterbeer corks was standing in the doorway, her head cocked to one side as she stared at him.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" She asked in a high, dreamy voice after a moment of awkward silence. "It's just me, I promise I won't make much noise."
Leo shrugged nonchalantly. "It's only me too." He answered her politely. The girl smiled quickly and settled down in a seat by the window, pulling a magazine out of her backpack. Leo turned back to his mum as the train made another loud whistle and the doors began to lock.
"Make sure to write when you can!" Mary called out as the train began to move out of the station. "I love you!"
"Love you too!" Leo called back as he held his hand up high and waved until the train had passed the platform on its way up to Scotland and she was out of sight. He then sat down to reach into his backpack and pulled out A History of Magic, settling down in his seat to read a passage about the Giant Wars, a subject that would be coming up this year in one of his favoured subjects, History of Magic.
He was completely engrossed in the book when the compartment door reopened, and Leo was both surprised and slightly annoyed to see Harry Potter in the doorway with Neville Longbottom holding a large and unusual plant in his hands. Also stood with them was Ron Weasley's younger sister Ginny. The Weasley was the assertive one of the three as she spoke to the girl opposite Leo. "Hi Luna, is it okay if we take these seats?" The girl, Luna, looked up at the newcomers, her eyes quickly focusing on Harry before nodding. Leo nodded too, shifting himself over so that everybody else had more room. "Thanks." Ginny smiled, and the three Gryffindors entered the compartment.
Leo had only just noticed that the blonde girl, now known to be named Luna, had been reading her magazine upside down, and was about to mention that fact when Harry sat down next to him, but Ginny beat him to it as she started the conversation. "Had a good summer, Luna?" She asked.
"Yes." Luna replied in her dreamy voice, the girl still staring at Harry, who Leo could sense was uncomfortable at the attention. "Yes it was quite enjoyable, you know. You're Harry Potter." She said suddenly.
Leo cringed with awkwardness. "I know I am." Harry said shortly. Neville Longbottom chuckled at that, and Luna looked at him next.
"And I don't know who you are." She admitted.
"I'm nobody." Neville said hurriedly.
Ginny took offense to that, frowning at the boy. "No you're not." She told Neville firmly. "Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."
Luna smiled. "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure." She sang, before hiding her face behind the upside-down magazine once more.
The sunlight from outside soon vanished as the clouds began to turn grey, and it was at that moment that Neville turned to face Leo to pick up conversation. "How was your summer, Leo?" Neville asked, genuinely interested.
"Alright, I guess." Leo shrugged. He had always gotten on alright with Neville although they didn't hang out much outside of lessons. "Mum was pretty spooked after I got back and ended up really busy at work, we managed to get to a few Wigtown games at the start of the season but other than that I just spent a lot of time on the lake by my house or doing homework as I wasn't able to go anywhere. I think I read ahead so much that I could probably do some of my O.W.L.s now." He admitted, confident in that statement.
Neville groaned at the mention of the exams. "I'm dreading this year." He admitted. "Herbology will be fine, but I really hope our new Defence teacher is patient…" He trailed off. Leo smiled briefly before finding his place in his book again as Neville started talking to Harry about his birthday present, the plant Leo now knew was called Mimbulus Mimbletonia. Tuning out the conversation was working brilliantly as Leo found himself once more engrossed in the effects of the Giant Wars on the muggle world, until he was once again distracted when Neville started prodding the plant he was holding with his quill and dark green jets of stinking, thick liquid squirted out from every boil on the plant. Leo quickly threw his book to the other side of him trying to save as much of the paper as he could, but in the process he only got himself covered more. "Sorry!" Neville gasped. "I haven't tried that before… didn't realise it would be quite so…" He trailed off. "Don't worry though, Stinksap's not poisonous."
Harry spat a mouthful of the green liquid on the floor almost at the same time as Leo grumpily shook his arms to try and relieve himself of the foul-smelling liquid. Leo pulled out his wand from his bag quickly and pointed it out into the room, muttering. "Scourgify." As the spell worked its magic, the Stinksap vanished.
"Thanks." Ginny murmured unhappily as the compartment door opened once more, and Leo noticed that Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seeker and Cedric Diggory's date to the Yule Ball last year, was stood there looking at one person in particular.
"Hello Harry." Cho smiled brightly.
Harry Potter smiled at the sight of her, before he looked like he had remembered that he had just been covered in Stinksap and that he was holding a toad. "Hi." He said, more antisocially that he probably wanted to be.
There was an awkward silence as Leo grabbed his book once more, almost wishing he had gone into the Gobstones compartment and braved the cramped, competitive atmosphere. He faintly heard Cho and Harry speaking for a few more seconds before the compartment door shut once more and Leo was immersed back into the Giant Wars. He had found himself on a thoroughly interesting part about a civil war in Andalusia in 1884 when the trolley had arrived, and after buying his share, Leo began tucking into some of the delicacies on offer. He even tried to be sociable for a while, swapping Chocolate Frog cards with Harry, Neville and Ginny and was delighted to get a much needed Bran the Bloodthirsty card from the Longbottom.
"Your mum is Mary MacDonald, right?" Ginny asked him to the MacDonald's surprise.
Leo noticed Harry snap his attention to him before he had a chance to even think, realising that he was actually a bit bemused. "Yeah… how do you know that?"
Ginny shrugged, a wide smile on her face. "A guess. I think my mum or dad knows her."
"She never mentioned it to me." Leo shrugged. "In fact, she doesn't really see any of her old friends when I'm about." He did wonder if he should mention the visit from Remus Lupin at the start of summer, but Leo decided against that as he remembered Mary's tears over her photo albums.
Luckily the conversation got stopped in its tracks as at that moment the compartment door opened yet again, and Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger entered. It was starting to be a little bit of a squeeze now, but Leo found himself not minding as soon as Hermione opened her mouth and the group started discussing who had been named Prefect for their year. Leo had to groan when the Slytherin ones were announced, although he laughed along when Hermione called Pansy Parkinson 'thicker than a concussed troll.'
The Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw prefects were explained after that, and then Leo was once again bemused as Luna interrupted. "You went to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil." She aimed at Ron.
"Yeah, I know I did." He replied, surprised.
"She didn't enjoy it very much." Luna told him. "She doesn't think you treated her very well because you didn't dance with her. I don't think I'd have minded. I don't like dancing very much."
Leo's shoulders were shaking as he tried not to laugh, and he noticed Ginny had stuffed her knuckles in her mouth to stop herself from laughing loudly. Hermione turned to Leo to try and defuse the situation as Ron's mouth was wide open in shock. "Who did you go with again, Leo?"
After a second to register that she was in fact talking to him, Leo cleared his throat before answering. "Fay Dunbar." He told Hermione. "She didn't actually want to go with anybody as a date, but she wanted to go and enjoy it, so we went as friends."
Hermione nodded. "Oh yeah, I remember! She wore that green dress…"
"Are we really going to spend our day talking about dresses and balls?" Ron interrupted, mildly frustrated. "When we could be planning how we can get Crabbe and Goyle in detention?"
Harry was chuckling beside Leo, who again tried to immerse himself in his book to stop anybody from noticing the heat in his cheeks. He was glad when Luna started cackling with laughter at a joke that Ron had made distracting everybody, although his attention was once again drawn away from the Giant Wars of the 19th Century to the compartments occupants when Harry asked to borrow Luna's magazine.
Leo noticed the article that Harry was intrigued by was the one on Sirius Black and realised that of course he would be curious. If Leo had known that a murderer was on the loose and coming for him then he would no doubt be feeling the same way wanting to know every rumour no matter how untrue. He tried to settle back into his book, but the thought of Sirius Black and Harry being threatened by the man didn't sit well with Leo. He had always seen Harry as an aloof entity, they had spoken every now and again but couldn't class one another as friends, and Leo would admit that the level of attention that the Boy-Who-Lived got at school was annoying, yet he was still jealous by it.
He came out of his thoughts when Draco Malfoy and his cronies tried to rile Harry up, but Leo didn't get involved, instead he only wondered how a compartment at the very end of the train could gather so much attention. He prized himself on being fairly observant however, and noticed Hermione and Harry look at each other alarmed when Malfoy used the word 'dogged.' An interesting expression considering the dog that Leo had spotted on the platform with their group.
Nothing else of note happened on the train ride thankfully, and Leo could get a good chunk of his History book read on the way. The grey of daytime was soon replaced by the darkness of night, and Hermione broke the silence in the compartment. "We'd better change." She told them. Leo agreed, and they all changed into their school robes, with Leo proudly displaying the Gryffindor colours, the same House his Mother had been sorted into when she had attended Hogwarts.
Leo quickly got off of the train once it had pulled into Hogsmeade station and tried to find both Fay and Anna, although he very quickly realised the futility of that mission as he spotted Anna's auburn hair in an already departed carriage up the road, and so Leo instead hauled himself up into one of the empty carriages and waited for it to fill up. As he waited he looked over at the creatures that he hadn't known existed until his first experience with them the year before, admiring the Thestrals dark coats that clung to its skeleton, and their tucked in wings giving them an eery look. Shaking his head of the darker thoughts on Thestrals, he heard Ron Weasley's voice and quickly realised that his train compartment companions were probably about to join him once again.
Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger were the first ones in the carriage, closely followed by Ron, Harry and Luna Lovegood. Sighing silently at the intrusion, Leo wanted to grab his book once more, but remembered that as the train had pulled into Hogsmeade Station he had stashed his books in his trunk. He tried to ignore the conversation that the others were having about the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Hagrid, given that wasn't a subject that he had elected to take in his third year, but his attention was drawn in by Harry trying but failing to subtly stare at the Thestrals pulling the carriage.
"They're real." Leo commented during a lull in conversation, remembering his own surprised expression the first time that he had seen the creatures. "You aren't seeing things."
"You can see them to?" Harry asked in surprise.
Leo nodded. "They can only be seen by somebody who has seen and accepted death." He explained. "So, whatever happened to you in the third task, you hadn't accepted the finality of it until after you boarded the train before summer, but because you have since then it means that you can see them now." Leo saw that it was a touchy subject by the way that Harry looked down at his feet. "I was there when my Grandad died, last summer."
"Oh Leo I had no idea, I'm sorry to hear that." Hermione said honestly.
Leo smiled sadly; the memory of that fateful day seared into his brain in explicit detail. "It was his own fault. Creaothceann is banned for a reason." He muttered.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Harry asked bemusedly, clearly having never heard of the lesser-known sport before.
Leo chuckled, understanding the ignorance given Harry's muggle upbringing. "Creaothceann… it's an illegal broom sport. You and eleven opponents strap a cauldron to your heads and a hundred rocks are charmed to fall from the sky at various times, whoever catches the most wins. My Grandfather Magnus wanted to bring it back and legalise it again, but obviously he didn't manage it."
"Quidditch isn't the only broom sport?" Harry asked, genuinely intrigued.
Leo shook his head. "It's definitely the most popular, but no there are others. Swivenhodge, Aingingein, Shuntbumps…"
"I remember Shuntbumps!" Ginny exclaimed. "You played it as a kid, remember Ron?"
The male Weasley however was staring at Leo quizzically. "Magnus?" Ron asked, having been stuck on Leo's Grandfather's name. "Magnus Dent-Head?"
"Ron!" Hermione scolded; her eyes wide aghast at the nickname. "Apologise to Leo! That's his Grandad… you don't need to be so rude!"
Leo appreciated Hermione's scolding, but the nickname had stopped bothering him from a young age. "That was the nickname he was given by Nobby Leach, the Minister for Magic a while back, and one Grandad laughed at loudly and often, calling himself it to his pals. It was fairly accurate as well, seeing as though he died being hit in the head by a rock." He could see that he was being looked at by most with pity and sighed again. "All I'm saying is… whatever happened in that maze, whatever you saw, that's why you can see the Thestrals."
Harry nodded, but he didn't say anything. Leo looked out towards the road as they passed by the great stone pillars topped with the winged boars that headed the main Hogwarts gates. "How did you find out about them?" Ginny asked Leo.
Leo was aware that this was likely the longest conversation that he had ever had with most of them in the carriage and so he understood and even enjoyed the thought that he must have seemed like one of the most interesting people in the world at that moment, although the thought was funny to Leo considering Harry Potter shared the carriage. "I saw strange, winged horses for the first time… as soon as I got a chance I opened Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them of course."
Ron groaned, and Harry grinned widely. Leo realised that it must have been a bit of an inside joke when they all turned towards Hermione. "Oh no." Ron barked out a laugh. "Four years we've lived in the same room and I never realised that you were a bookworm like Hermione."
If he had been compared to anybody else then Leo may have been offended that his roommate could just ignore him for that amount of time, but he saw the blush appear on the Muggleborn's cheeks and smirked. Hermione slapped Ron fondly on the knees, causing him to cry out. "Just because somebody wants to research something that they are unfamiliar with Ronald, doesn't mean that they are a 'bookworm'."
Before Ron could reply the carriage stopped as they had arrived before the main oak doors of Hogwarts. Harry got out first, followed by everyone else and Leo dropped out of the vehicle last, watching Harry stare at the Thestrals again, lost in thought.
"Are you coming, or what?" Ron asked the Boy-Who-Lived.
"Oh… yeah." Harry said a bit too quickly. He turned to Leo and spoke. "Thanks, for explaining. I'm sorry about your Grandad."
Leo waved that away, having accepted the loss a year beforehand. "He shouldn't have been playing after the Ministry told him not to, but thanks, I appreciate it." He explained.
Nodding, Harry smiled back at him. "See you later." He said, before he ran after Ron, Hermione and Ginny, who had all already entered the castle. After Harry, Luna was the next to walk through to the Entrance Hall, and Leo was left standing alone. He was jolted back into reality when the carriage pulled away, and so with a deep breath, Leo rose up the steps ready to start another year at Hogwarts.
Reviews:
AZW330: Thank you! Those are some kind words and I hope this story lives up to them!
abyssjumper: I'm glad you liked them all and I hope you like this one too! There are already 27 chapters written and mostly edited so the content will keep coming don't worry!