When the holidays are over, and the trio finds themselves right before the beginning of spring classes, they were catching up on how the holidays went and Leon mentioned getting pictures together. During one of the pictures, Hermione decided to kiss Leon on the cheek, as payback for making her blush during his birthday. That broke Leon, causing him to blush severely and be dumbfounded the rest of the day, having not known why she gave him the kiss. He didn't remember kissing her cheek months ago.
When he made it back to the Slytherin common room, Daphne Greengrass, one of his closest friends in Slytherin, saw his face and laughed hysterically. She knew why her friend was broken and thought it was the funniest thing. She teased him lightly, causing Leon to dart away in embarrassment. Girls were confusing.
The following day, Leon was back to normal, though he was still dealing with his own thoughts. Although, he thought better of it and decided it would be best to deal with later. For now, he just focused intently on his school work. Over the next couple of weeks, he showed just how dedicated of a student he was by becoming the top of his class, and even doing extra credit work, learning as much as he could. This made each of his teachers very happy to see. They were happy they had at least one student that showed so much promise and had a drive to learn more. It especially caught McGonagall, Flitwick, and Snape's attention. His drive and ambition, coupled with a love of learning, was a match even for Hermione, and the two began to compete over their grades.
Once he was sufficiently ahead of everyone, he finally calmed down a bit and started helping Harry and Hermione more with their work and just chatting, happy to be with them again. Even if it came with some banter from Hermione about their grades, it was good that things were normal between them.
"So Harry, are you excited for your next Quidditch game?" Leon asked with a smile on his face.
Harry chuckled and nodded. "Of course I am. I love flying. It feels so freeing."
"I understand that. Just be careful out there this time. I will be there to watch, so luckily nothing should happen this time," Leon said, acting like he was Harry's older brother.
Hermione chuckled at that. The two really did seem to act like brothers given how they acted towards each other. Leon constantly made sure Harry had enough to eat and had help with his studies, and Harry encouraged Leon's ambition to reach the top of the class. Similar to brothers.
Leon and Harry then joined Hermione in her laughter, recognizing that it was indeed a funny sight to see Leon treat Harry like his baby brother.
When the day came for Harry's next Quidditch game, Leon and Hermione joined Ron in the Gryffindor stands, knowing they were rooting for the same team. It got some eyes on them, which Leon returned without hesitation. He made a point to keep an eye out for Harry to make sure no one tried to jinx his broom again. During the game, thankfully, there was nothing off with the broom or anything. Harry flew well and seemed to be having a great time, which impressed Leon.
"Well, colour me surprised. I knew he was good enough to get on the team, but this is something else. I mean, he is really good. No wonder McGonagall got him on the team immediately," Leon said, absolutely astonished and proud of the skill Harry was showing during the game.
Hermione smiled. "Yeah, it might make me worry with some of the stunts he pulls, but he really is amazing on a broom."
"I am so proud of him, honestly. It's no small feat to be able to pull off what he is doing now." The pride was evident in his voice.
Hermione giggled at this. "You really are like his big brother in all but blood, aren't you, Leon?"
Leon chuckled. "You got me there, Hermione. You got me there. It is just I feel like I should protect him at all costs, and I can't help but view him as my baby brother. I don't know how else to explain it."
This put a soft smile on Hermione's face. "Well, from what I see, you make a great older brother to Harry."
"Thank you," Leon replied, a genuine smile spread across his face.
After Harry caught the Snitch, winning the game for Gryffindor, Leon and Hermione went to celebrate the win with Harry, grateful it was without an accident this time. They celebrated until they had to go their separate ways to go to bed. Once Leon made it to his dorm, he hit the bed, and was immediately out like a light.
For a while, things were uneventful. Harry, Hermione, Leon, and occasionally Ron were all together, swept up in their schoolwork and having meals together. It was so normal, Leon didn't notice what was happening under his nose. And unfortunately, he would pay for that inattention when everything came to a head.
Closer to the end of the school year, not long before the winner of the house cup would be announced, Leon saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione going into the third floor corridor and immediately panicked, running to go get Professor McGonagall and cursing himself the whole way to her office. How had he missed the signs? He thought he'd made himself clear about them going after the philosopher's stone already.
"Professor McGonagall, please, come with me! I need your help!" Leon had bust into her office screaming, worried that his friends and Ron were going to get hurt, or worse.
McGonagall lifted her head up from the parchment she was looking at, concern flashing in her eyes when she saw Leon looking breathless and terrified. "What is it, Mr. Nightingale, and why do you seem so panicked?" she asked, confused.
"I couldn't sleep, so I went for a light walk. I know I shouldn't have because of curfew, but I just needed to clear my head. Then I saw Ron, Harry, and Hermione enter the third floor corridor." He was still gasping for air as he continued. "I know that the philosopher's stone is being hidden somewhere up there, guarded by a Cerberus."
McGonagall's eyes widened. "How do you know about all this?"
"That is not the problem, Professor. The problem is that they think that a teacher is trying to steal it, and they are trying to go and stop that teacher, putting themselves in danger. So, please. Punish me, take away points from Slytherin, I don't care. Just help me save them! I don't want my friends to die!" Leon said, in a desperation so profound that he had never showed in his life. He started crying, hoping that the deputy headmistress would help him.
McGonagall stood up abruptly, brandishing her wand. "Very well, Mr. Nightingale. Let's go save them. But, you will stay close to me the whole time and do exactly as I say the moment I say it. Do you understand me?"
"Of course I do, Professor. Now let's go; we don't have much time." Leon then started running as fast as he could to the door that held the beast with three heads.
McGonagall came up with him. "Now, Mr. Nightingale, from here, you let me lead. I will deal with the Cerberus."
Leon did not respond. He just started chanting as he held his hand out toward the door, and before McGonagall could ask what was going on, she heard harp music coming from inside the room.
"What on earth did you just do? You don't even have your wand out," McGonagall asked curiously.
"My German ancestors were music mages. I've been practicing music magic since the incident with the troll, because you can never be too careful," Leon replied as he took a deep breath. He hadn't fully mastered the spell, which was already rather draining for a young wizard to use.
"Very well. Let us move quickly then. Wand at the ready, if you please," McGonagall said as she threw open the door and ran to open the trap door, and the two jumped down.
They got passed the next obstacle pretty quickly, as Leon did not hesitate to use the fire-making spell Incendio to burn away the Devil's snare. This further surprised and impressed McGonagall at his ingenuity and quick-thinking under stressful conditions. She was also curious as to where he learned these more advanced spells only being a first-year, but thought better than to ask. The two kept pushing forward until they found Ron laying on the ground on a giant chess set.
"Professor, that is Ron. I think he's hurt," Leon said, surprisingly worried about the boy. He had not shown any care for Ron previously, but he wasn't a bad bloke, and he knew he was one of Harry's good friends. And that was enough for him.
McGonagall ran up and did a diagnostic spell on Ron to check his condition, and was relieved to see he was okay. She sent a spell to gather Madame Pomfrey and Snape before they continued on. Next, they found Hermione, laying on the ground with a potion vial next to her, still as if dead. This scared Leon into checking her pulse manually. Her heart was going so slow, Leon had thought her dead.
"No, Hermione! You can't be dead! It isn't fair!" Leon said, rage and sorrow laced into his voice as he cried. This sudden burst of agony and wrath made his magic flare higher than it ever had, putting out the fire to the next room.
McGonagall came over then, completely flabbergasted that a first-year, without realizing, could put out such a strong fire charm.
"Mr. Nightingale, I need you to step aside so I can check on her. You can't always trust the Muggle methods of checking if someone is alive or not." McGonagall said, and Leon listened, which was a good thing because to both of their relief, Hermione was alive, just under the effects of draft of the living dead.
"I am gonna run ahead, Professor. Harry needs help, and I can't leave my baby brother alone," Leon said, and without giving McGonagall a chance to tell him no, he ran down the stairs, and realized he was too late to save Harry from the encounter he had been faced with alone. But, he did see the ending.
Seeing Professor Quirrell burn, and now seeing first-hand that Voldemort himself was back, at least as a wraith, then seeing Harry drop like a bag of bricks as the wraith shot through him, he felt a new level of fear. But he couldn't let it consume him; he was there to save his best friend.
Leon ran over, catching Harry so that he wouldn't crack his head open, and then used Wingardium Leviosa to carry Harry up the stairs to safety before collapsing himself from overuse of magic.
Leon woke up two days later, being the second one to awaken. Hermione had been the first due to her not being really hurt. She just needed the potion to wear off. Seeing Hermione awake, he smiled brightly as he grunted, sitting up to face her properly.
"Hey there, my reckless Ravenclaw," Leon said warmly and tiredly. "It is good to see you awake."
Hermione smiled a nice, bright smile. "It's good to see you up, too, Leon. How did you even know we needed help?"
Leon laughed at her question. "I saw you idiots go into the third floor corridor without any help, so I went and got said help to save you. I was so worried when I found you, I didn't know what came over me. All I know is that my magic exploded out from me in a fit of rage when I thought I lost you."
Hermione looked shocked and walked over, despite Madame Pomfrey having told her not to from where she stood nursing Harry, and she sat on Leon's bed and wrapped him in a tight hug.
"I am so sorry I worried you. I didn't realize that it would affect you so much. I should have put more thought into what was going on. I am a Ravenclaw; I never should have done what we did without a teacher's help," she said, keeping her arms wrapped tightly around Leon, feeling truly sorry for putting him through such a stressful situation.
Leon just hugged her back and sniffled. "It's okay, Hermione. Just please, please, never do anything that would make me think that I have lost you ever again," he choked out through his sobs.
With everything said and done, time flew by until the end of the year feast, where more points had been given to Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin houses. It ended in Slytherin winning the house cup by just fifty points. The whole table burst into loud and proud cheers, having won the house cup yet again, relishing in their continued winning streak. Leon thought this was funny, especially since it was him acting like all three other houses that got him the points that made his house just barely beat Gryffindor.
The next day, everyone had packed up and went to ride the Hogwarts Express to head home. Leon, Harry, and Hermione had decided to share a cabin to spend more time together, since only two of them would get to spend any real time together over summer.
"So Leon, Hermione, do you two think you could get me a souvenir from France?" Harry asked jokingly.
Leon smiled and laughed, not taking it as a joke. "Of course I will. What kind of big brother would I be if I didn't?"
Hermione added, "And I will get you something, too, so you can learn in case you ever wanna tag along and go to France as well."
Harry, being surprised, just smiled. "You two are something else, I swear."
"I mean what do you expect? We're here for you no matter what, mate," Leon said in a warm tone.
The trip went like this for several hours before Leon got a call from his mum on his two way mirror, which had him delighted, hearing that Harry wouldn't have to go back to the Dursleys' home in the Muggle world. This also made Harry happier than he had ever been, even if he was surprised that his friend Ron's parents had decided they were going to take him in. After the three celebrated the good news with some trolley sweets, Harry left the cabin to go find and sit with his friend, whom he would be staying with, to tell him the good news.
This left Leon and Hermione to spend time together and plan out their summer vacation in France: places to see, food to eat, the whole shebang. They found that they liked making plans while it was just them together, because it helped them focus, and, for some reason, they felt more at peace around each other than they did with anyone else, even Harry.
Leon finally stopped suddenly and looked at Hermione to ask, "Why did you kiss my cheek in one of the pictures when we all got back from Christmas break?"
This made Hermione laugh. "I did it because on your birthday, you kissed my cheek, so I thought as payback for surprising me, I would do the same with you, but with everlasting proof in the form of a picture," she said, still giggling.
Leon face-palmed at that explanation. "Oh my Godric, I didn't even remember that. I guess it was a spur of the moment thing, because I was so happy with the gift you gave me," he chuckled, with a heavier blush than before because of his embarrassment.
The rest of the trip went smoothly, with no more embarrassing blunders, and they just sat together, reading and enjoying the quiet. Upon arriving at the station, they met up with Hermione's parents, and they exchanged pleasantries before Leon and Hermione hugged and said goodbye to one another, which was captured in a picture by Mrs. Granger, who thought it was a cute sight.
Leon's mother had arrived after the picture was taken, and asked for a copy to be made for her to keep when the film was developed, which Mrs. Granger was more than happy to agree with. After that, the two families parted ways until their joint trip to France the following month.