Chapter Eleven: On Friendships
Harry's second week back at Hogwarts seems to fly by. He had no issues with the class work, and kept surprising people with his attitude. He neither flaunted his knowledge, nor disparaged those who took a long time to grasp the lessons. It seemed that he was a relatively unusual Ravenclaw, although he pointed out to people who said this that he was simply a relatively unusual person.
He had taken some creative liberties with decorating his room. Apparently, while it was fine to hang pictures and move furniture, that was the extent of most people's redecoration. Harry, on the other hand, had gone a little bit further.
His trunk already had an undetectable expansion charm on it, meaning it was the size of a small apartment on the inside, but he didn't want to live out of his trunk for most of the year. He extended his room from a cosy single bedroom, to what could more accurately be called a two bedroom apartment. He transfigured his bed into a King, and moved his desk and bookshelves into the new 'second' room, which was really just another part of his bedroom that he had separated with a conjured wall.
He was quite pleased with the result, and while he intended to do most of his studying and training in the Room of Requirement, it still felt nice to relax and sleep in a slightly larger space.
During one of his early morning strolls that week, Harry had turned a corner on the third floor and spotted Fred and George, both trying to be inconspicuous. With his guard up, Harry approached and cleared his throat.
"Morning, I haven't actually introduced myself yet, I'm Harry".
The twins spun around as he cleared his throat and stared at him as he introduced himself.
"Bloody hell George, I almost had a heart attack", said Fred.
"I almost joined you Fred! It's nice to meet you Harry but please don't sneak up on us again in the future" continued George.
"Is it sneaking up on someone if they're out in public, just not paying attention?" asked Harry.
"You might be right I suppose. But still, it's ungentlemanly".
Harry snorted. "Ungentlemanly?"
"That's right, down right ungentlemanly".
"Okay, I'll try to announce myself from further away next time. Maybe with trumpets?"
"You know Fred, I do believe ickle Harrykins is making fun of us".
"I think you're onto something there George, now the only question is why ickle Harrykins would want to make an enemy of the two greatest pranksters ever to grace the halls of Hogwarts".
"Greatest pranksters?" said Harry, "I can think of four better than you two, although granted you're both only in your third year".
"Better pranksters?"
"Who? How?"
"Ah, I'm afraid that's for me to know and you to find out", replied Harry, cryptically. "Anyway, what are you two up to so early?"
"Hey you can't wriggle out of insulting our honour that easily you know" said Fred.
"Honour?" asked Harry.
"He's got a point there Fred" said George. "But still. Tell you what, we'll tell you why we're here if you tell us who these other pranksters you know are".
"One of the four" said Harry.
"Four" replied Fred.
"One".
"Three".
"One".
"Two".
"One".
"One and the initials of a second".
"One".
"One and the first initial of a second".
"Alright".
"Ha! Did you see that George? I beat him".
George looked like he was starting to get a headache.
"Go on then Harry, a deal's a deal" said Fred.
"Fine, the name is Prongs, and the initial is M".
Time stood still. Harry knew they knew which four he was talking about, haggling with Fred was just a bit of fun. The twins seemed to have frozen, both staring at Harry as if he had grown an extra head.
"H- h- how…" stammered George.
"Y- y- you know the Marauders?" whispered Fred, as if they were discussing the secrets of the universe.
Harry sighed. "Yes".
"Harry!" shouted George, before slapping his hand over his mouth.
"How on earth do you know about the Marauders?" asked Fred, back at a normal volume.
"I'll get to that, first though, as you said; a deal's a deal. What are you doing sneaking around so early?"
Fred and George looked at eachother, then back to Harry.
"We're trying to figure out why Dumbledore warned everyone off whatever's behind that door", said Fred.
Harry looked around the twins, and noticed they were about twenty feet away from the locked door that led to Fluffy.
"Ah of course. You're not actually going to go through there though, are you?"
"Nah, we're testing a prototype invention that would let us eavesdrop through magically locked doors, but it's not working", said George.
Fred continued, "Yeah, we didn't really expect it to work just yet as it's only our first version, usually our inventions take at least thirty variations before they even start to work".
Harry noticed that George was winding up a length of odd-looking string, and realised that they must be working on an early version of the extendable ears.
"Well", he said, "when you get them to work, count me in as a customer. That sounds dead useful".
"Brilliant thanks Harry!" chimed Fred, "We've got loads of ideas, do you want to hear about the others too?"
"Sure, keep me updated".
"We will. Now, back to the more important topic of conversation; the Marauders".
Harry pondered silently for a minute, before saying "Prongs was my dad. Padfoot, Moony, and Wormtail were his best friends when they were our age".
He wondered what the twins would do with this information. He knew they already had the map, but originally they gave it to him in his third year, when he couldn't go to Hogsmeade.
Fred and George looked at eachother and seemed to have an entire conversation through slight head tilts and murmurs. After thirty seconds, George reached into his robes and pulled out a scruffy piece of old parchment.
"Harry", he said, "does this mean anything to you?"
"Would you take 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good' as an answer to that question?"
Harry grinned. The twins were gobsmacked, and actually pulled Harry into a hug.
"Son of Prongs!" cried Fred.
"We live to serve!" echoed George.
Harry extricated himself from the group hug, and smiled at the twins.
"I'm guessing that map has helped a lot with your pranks".
"Like you wouldn't believe" they said together.
"Do you think I could use it every now and again?" asked Harry.
"Technically this should be your property Harry, you can have it if you want it".
"Nah, I wouldn't want to deprive the up-and-coming 'greatest pranksters ever to grace the halls of Hogwarts' of one of their key items. Besides, I mean it. I would like to use it, but not all the time, and it'd be a waste for it to sit in my trunk gathering dust".
"Alright", said George, "we'll share it between us. You take it for now and when we need to use it for" *ahem* "our work, we'll come and find you".
"Perfect" said Harry. "Thanks guys, this means a lot. Oh, and when you do figure out what's behind that door, let me know, yeah?"
Harry waved goodbye as he turned around and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. Well, he thought, that's certainly different to last time.
~OvO~
Early Saturday afternoon, Harry found himself sat in a comfortable chintz armchair, gazing out over the lake through a high window in the Room of Requirement. He had never figured out how the Room showed different exteriors depending on what he asked for, but he had learned that it could only show the landscape surrounding Hogwarts. He had tried asking for views of the skylines of various major cities around the world, and none of them had worked. He didn't mind, he just liked to test the Room's limits from time to time.
He had the map laid out on his lap, and was watching the footsteps of hundreds of students flitter around Hogwarts. He saw Dumbledore in his study, Snape in his private potions lab, Trelawney up in her tower, and Hagrid by the lake.
Interestingly, Quirrell showed up solely as Quirinus Quirrell. Perhaps Voldemort's possession wasn't strong enough yet for him to show on the map, or perhaps the map couldn't detect the possessor, only the possessed.
Hermione was alone in the library. He sighed. He was finding it increasingly difficult to interact with his classmates, both in and out of the classroom. His mind was ten years older than his body, and it was difficult to portray the part of an eleven year old accurately all the time.
Regardless, he was trying very hard to befriend Hermione. He needed her intellect, her strategic mind, for his future plans. Not only that; she was also one of his best friends.
This isn't your Hermione, the voice in the back of his head said. Your Hermione had been through hell and back with you.
While that was certainly true, Harry didn't really think that mattered; he still wanted to be friends with Hermione.
He stood, stretching his arms out wide before closing the map and heading out of the Room. He headed down the stairs, using a shortcut that opened by telling an elderly witch in a painting a crude joke, and walked quietly through the library doors.
He headed to where he knew Hermione was sitting, picking up a book on the moons of Jupiter for Wednesday night's Astronomy class.
"Hermione", he whispered.
Her head whirled round and she smiled at him.
"Do you mind if I sit with you?"
"Please do!" she whispered back, moving her bag off the table and pulling out the chair next to her.
"Thanks Hermione. I've got to do a bit of reading for Astronomy, I promise I won't disturb you".
"Don't worry at all - I'm just working on Professor Binns' essay, the one on the 1752 Goblin Accords. It's so fascinating, did you know-"
Hermione was abruptly cut off my Madam Pince, who seemed to swoop down from the ceiling and lift her finger to her lips.
"Sorry!" they whispered in unison. Madam Pince turned and swept away, and Harry and Hermione fought to hold back a laugh.
They remained seated next to each other, both studying, for the next couple of hours, before packing up and heading down to dinner.
Harry was very glad he'd gone to find Hermione, he hoped that one day their friendship would be as strong as it had been in his past. He felt a niggle of guilt in his mind that perhaps, he was manipulating her emotions. Thinking back however, he was confident that his Hermione would have been thrilled to have a proper friend within a fortnight of arriving at Hogwarts.