章 1552: 14
Chapter 14: The end of first yearNotes:
Finally we reached the end of first year. What an achievement, I still can't believe it.
Your support is still overwhelming, a big thanks to you all.
So far I have planned out the story until the end of second year, so don't worry, updates should come on a weekly basis.
Now have fun with the chapter.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Neither Harry nor Hermione had any idea how that had happened. It was basically the end of term. Their first year at Hogwarts was coming to an end and there wasn't much left on their agenda. The end-of-year feast, which would see Gryffindor winning the cup with nearly an absolute certainty as well as the exam results coming out were the last things happening this school year. Classes were over and they all enjoyed their free time, mostly outside around the lake as the weather was pretty good.
Well, not everyone did that.
As one might expect, the two time-travelling first years used the opportunity and spent their time mainly in the library or the Room of Requirement. Even though the library of Potter Manor was incredible, the restricted section at the castle still topped that, at least in most areas. With either Minnie or Severus (yes, he had by now insisted on a first name basis since they were no ordinary students but practically adults and war veterans) giving them access or using the cloak they quickly advanced in several magical fields. After Mione got the basics of Occlumency (Harry was a natural after all, he had no need for that) and both had improved their word- and wandless casting, they continued with some elemental magic and warding, topics that were hardly taught at school anymore.
On the evening of the end-of-term feast, the great hall was already decorated in red and gold, different from last time. Because of that, Dumbbells didn't even hand out points for their success against Quirrell, though Slytherin would have secured second place with those points, being only ten points behind the claws. Yes, people tended to call Severus biassed, but the headmaster wasn't any different. His speech was very unspectacular, barely mentioning Quirrell at all and not acknowledging what the group of four first years had achieved.
Minerva McGonagall was happy. Well, no she wasn't but acted that way. Deep down inside she was angry and upset. The past year had shown her the truth about many things and yet she had barely managed to make anything better. Sure, she couldn't because they were trying to give Voldemort his resurrection so they could eliminate him once and for all, but that hardly made her feel less upset and bad.
Yes, securing both the Quidditch cup and the House cup was nice, but there were other things at stake here. Thankfully she had at least Severus with whom she could rant about everything at any time. Both of them had to admit that they've grown closer since Harry Potter had started at Hogwarts, before the transfiguration teacher had disliked the former death eater very much. Now she understood what was driving him. They had a common goal.
It was just a few days later when all the students (except fifth years who'd get their owl results during the holidays) were called in by their head of house, starting with the first years directly after breakfast. Yes, that was maybe not the most ideal order, since the seventh years had to wait the longest to know if they managed their NEWTs but it had always been that way and Dumbledore didn't even properly listen to any complaints about that.
Not really surprising, all of the first years had managed to advance to second year. Hardly anyone failed that badly to have to repeat a year, and if, then Dumbledore did like to intervene. Bad for the image, he tended to say.
Yes, some students barely managed to get passable scores like Ronald or Draco's two little goons. The ferret himself was a different story, because he was actually rather good at school and started to boast of "being the best student of their year". Unfortunately, Harry and Hermione were by now so close with Severus that they got him to shake his head after they threw a questioning glance at him, signifying that Malfoy wasn't as good as them.
"Really, Malfoy? You managed to score top of the year? I highly doubt that."
Harry just had to do this. Both of them, with Neville close behind, walked up to the Slytherin table and Harry showed Draco his exam results, he even handed them to anyone who wanted to know. Within seconds the snakes started murmuring, because there was no chance that Malfoy would have scored all Os too, making him a liar.
What made the situation even better was that Mione showed her results too, the same scores as Harry. Last but not least Neville came forward and asked Malfoy if he had at least outscored him, with Os in all but Astronomy and History of Magic, where he had Es. Funnily, that made Daphne get up and join in, embarrassing the young Heir Malfoy as she had scored the same as Neville (might have been because they had studied together).
Eventually, one of the older snakes simply grabbed Malfoy's results as he was by now the laughingstock of Slytherin house. Unsurprisingly, Draco scored less than even Neville and Daphne. He wasn't bad at all, but simply not that good either. Now the ferret blushed even more, realising that by now he was totally losing his standing in Slytherin house.
After said incident, nothing remarkable happened until their last day at school. Harry and Hermione had discussed it very thoroughly, at first not sure if it was wise but then coming to the conclusion that it would be the smartest move.
They knocked on Professor Snape's private office door.
He opened, looking surprised and inviting them in. After they were all seated and had a cup of tea each, Harry started talking after asking Severus to let him finish first before he would ask any questions.
"So, you know we're not from this time around. The details of this future and our death and return is not really important. Oh come on, don't look surprised. You must have guessed that dying and being sent back was the most plausible thing, if you believe in the afterlife. Well, being part of a prophecy or having a certain destiny can have its benefits.
"Anyway, we have a plan to defeat Riddle once and for all. Please don't freak out, but we've got to tell you how he did it. With horcruxes."
Despite that Harry had asked him not to freak out, Severus just did that. After some yelling and shouting out of anger he calmed down and asked if Dumbledore knew. They had to admit they were not sure, at least at this point in time. After getting the diary at the end of second year he certainly knew. The thought of sending three students on a horcrux hunt after his death (even though they didn't want to tell Severus that he had killed Dumbledore, they eventually did. Since they were sure it was an elaborate plan by the old man himself, it just upset Severus even more) was making the whole thing even worse.
"So, now that I know about Dumbledore's complete idiocy and his manipulations, do you want to tell me your plan now?"
"Sure, Severus. We already managed to destroy some of the horcruxes. One was inside my scar but I came back without it. Hufflepuff's cup was in Bella Lestrange's vault and we asked the goblins for help. They even provided us with a map. Lucius Malfoy has got a diary which is gonna find its way to Hogwarts next year and is essential. One is at the Black home in London, stolen by Regulus. Now that I'm Heir Black I might be able to enter it with permission of Lord Black. That's one of the reasons why we're gonna sneak into Azkaban in the summer. Another one is hidden in the village of Little Hangleton, but with that one we'll wait. The last one is in the castle and very probably the Diadem of Ravenclaw, likely the source of the DADA curse too. We want to keep the timeline as intact as possible until he gets resurrected at the end of fourth year so we take him out then, together with the snake. That one should become a Horcrux at the beginning of the year or in the holidays. Not sure if it was the murder of Bertha Jorkins or Frank Bryce. That means, as much as we want to get rid of Dumbledore, we need him and the Triwizard Tournament for the resurrection."
Severus Snape was shocked - to put it mildly - by many of the revelations. Harry had been a Horcrux. Riddle had split his soul so many times. The idiot Dumbledore was bringing back the bloody tournament. But…
"What if you fail? And I don't mean with your efforts to defeat the Dark Lord, but with the timeline. Simply my behaviour could change everything, or your animosity against Weasley, Minerva told me you had been close. What do you do then?"
Harry nodded, Severus was right.
"That's why we're here. I had the help of a few brilliant men in afterlife, some had the surname Potter - three to be precise, ever heard of Henry Potter? But the founders were helpful too. Salazar truly was brilliant and no bigot at all. He was just afraid of muggleborns' families taking part in the witch hunts and endangering the students by that. Anyway, we call it damage control."
"Damage control?"
"Yes, it means that when all goes irreversibly sideways we use all the future knowledge we have at once before it becomes useless. Something along the lines of toppling the government and Dumbledore as well as freeing Sirius, trapping Pettigrew, who by the way is hiding as Ronald Weasley's pet rat and things like that. Minnie is already working on a dossier which, as soon as she submits it, would basically throw Dumbledore into Azkaban. My Lordships as well as a newly freed Sirius and a new Minister of Magic - hopefully someone like Madame Bones or Madame Longbottom would make sure of that. We'd destroy the horcruxes instantly and declare war on the death eaters publically. I hope you will join us and renounce both Dumbledore and Voldemort."
Severus understood what their plan was and if it would ever come to that, he knew exactly what to do.
"Sure, Harry. I have just the right thing in mind for that, but please let's not make that happen intentionally."
Shortly after that conversation with Severus the train left, heading for London. Now, on the trip back they were seated in a compartment with a few more people than on the ride to Hogwarts. In addition to Neville there was Daphne (by now Harry and Hermione were sure that they both had an enormous crush on each other), as well as Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott (those two had joined them during their studying towards the end of the year even more often and were quite nice). A few times the Weasley twins joined for a bit but tended to hang out with Lee Jordan and Oliver Wood. Neither Ronald nor Draco dropped by, luckily.
The only strange and maybe not too friendly encounter was Tracey Davis. She didn't seem too happy that Daphne - her best friend - had developed the tendency to rather be with Nev, Harry and Mione. Yes sure, she had joined them too often but she was a half-blood after all and had because of that not the best standing in Slytherin house in general. Daphne was the Heir Greengrass as well as stubborn and headstrong, she had no problems at being a respected in their house despite her close friendship with lions (and all the other houses, but those were less an issue), especially Potter and "his too smart mudblood companion" like the other snakes liked to say.
She, little Tracey Davis couldn't do that. She had to keep her distance often enough, which in return had created a distance between her best friend and her. And that was why she had dropped by the compartment in which Daphne was sitting, asking her to join her and the other Slytherins.
Daphne laughed at that suggestion.
"Seriously? Come on Tracey, join us. Don't tell me you wanna endure Malfoy and Parkinson as well as those two idiots Crabbe and Goyle voluntarily. Those conversations are always about either something very bigoted or bragging with their family's wealth. Bunch of idiots."
Tracey just stormed off after that statement. Yes, Daphne was right, but didn't she see the situation she was in?
After Harry and Neville looked at Daphne with a scolding expression she blushed and promised to talk to Tracey on the platform, whatever her problem was, she wouldn't let anything get between them.
Sometime later they finally reached their destination: London. Well, finally would be a bit of an overstatement, because the group had grown rather close over the past year, but they would undoubtedly meet up during the holidays. Which led to a very interesting though brief conversation with Daphne while leaving the train.
"Wait, so you say Dumbledore left you with your muggle relatives while not only ignoring but doing the exact opposite of the wills? Professor McGonagall saved you and now you're an emancipated Lord, living in both your manor and with Hermione? And the headmaster has no idea of that? You all should be Slytherins."
Even though that would have been an insult for the majority of the Gryffindors, they both took it as a compliment and then said their goodbyes as they were now on the platform and found their way to all the respective sets of parents or whatever family member was picking them up. Augusta literally beamed out of happiness, she had heard everything about Neville's achievements at school.
Dan and Emma were already waiting outside of the platform and greeted Harry and Hermione happily, but that was not without consequence. From afar they heard the loud voice of Molly Weasley.
"Harry! Look, Ginny! There he is. And who are you, if I might ask, you're definitely not his relatives?"
Before either Dan or Emma could answer, Mione intervened.
"Oh, you must be Mrs Weasley. We heard about you thanks to your fantastic sons. The twins are good friends of ours. Oh, and Percy is very pleasant too. I don't know if you heard about me, I'm Harry's best friend Hermione Granger and not that it would be any of your business as you have never met Harry before, but those are my parents. Since the Dursleys, Harry's aunt and uncle, are not very fond of wizards and don't want to come to the platform because of that, we're dropping him off at theirs. Now, have a good day. Fred, George, Percy, have a nice summer, see you all in September."
And with that she took off before Molly Weasley's anger about Mione's behaviour and her constant ignoring of Ronald got unleashed. Harry, Dan and Emma followed right behind. The Granger parents were looking just as flabbergasted as Arthur Weasley, who had no idea what was going on there in general. Since he was an honest and proud man he would never take part in Molly's plans, ergo he was now completely confused.
Who was also very confused was Daphne Greengrass. Since she and Tracey had been friends from their childhood on, both sets of parents were waiting together. But just before they reached them, Tracey pulled her aside.
"Come on, Daph. Are you really that blind that you don't see why I'm upset?"
Daphne looked confused, she truly had no idea.
"I can't do what you do, hanging out with the Gryffindors and all the others. I'm just a halfblood, my standing in Slytherin house is bad enough without all that. You truly don't get it."
Now the Greengrass heir understood, but she had a hard time accepting that, and that out of several reasons. With Harry and Hermione doing what they were doing all year the animosity between the houses got less and less. It hadn't really affected the older years but if the trend continued Tracey wouldn't have to worry anymore. She should just do as they did and be a trendsetter.
"You're insane and just as arrogant as all the other purebloods."
With that the young halfblood basically ran off to her parents, greeting Daphne's parents and then urging her parents to leave to avoid her best friend. The Greengrasses didn't even start to ask their daughter about that incident, realising that they wouldn't get anything out of her. What a nice start to the summer.
Once Molly Weasley had reached the Burrow with all her kids, Arthur had gone back to the ministry, she flooed Dumbledore right away to get rid of all her frustration. After retelling the whole incident Albus shook his head out of disbelief. How did the young Miss Granger get so close with Harry, and that even before school had started? Her parents bringing him to the Dursleys because they didn't want to meet any wizards did sound plausible though, he knew how Vernon and Petunia were. No, he had never visited them, why should he, but he knew.
"Come on, Molly. Just send the boy some of your favourite potion during the summer, saying it came from Ronald or something like that. Then he will fall for young Ginevra as soon as they meet at school, forgetting Miss Granger and all of his other friends without a doubt."
Molly nodded, she would follow Dumbledore's advice as always. He would tell her the best thing to do so her family, no, her little daughter would get what she'd deserve.
Lucius Malfoy himself went down to King's Cross to get his son. There were some very important committee sessions at the ministry, and he should be there to blackmail and bribe people for information and to manipulate votes, but no. Today he had something important in mind. The diary of his Lord had spoken to him and it wanted to go to Hogwarts. Now he only needed to find the right person and before school started again, place it with him or her so it would find his way into the castle, closer to the Potter boy.
And while a bunch of redheads left the platform, the Greengrass heir seemed to argue with the Davis girl and Heir Longbottom greeted his grandmother, Lucius smiled. He had an idea, now he only needed an opportunity.
Neville and Augusta were just leaving their platform, especially because they had seen Lord Malfoy staring at the Weasley family and knew that he wouldn't be up to anything good for all light families, and heading to the public floo, when Augusta made a change of plans. Her grandson had done fantastically and she had the need to bring him to St. Mungo's to tell his parents. They hadn't been there in a long time, but now did seem ideal.
While they were entering the Janus Thickey ward, Augusta herself began to feel her own fears come up again, but Neville, her little Neville, held her hand and led her to his parents. He had not only grown so much, he now was a confident and strong boy, a great future Lord and destined to be a magnificent wizard. Deep down inside he was shaking too, but he didn't show that. He was a Longbottom after all, and they were all strong and powerful.
"Hey Mum, hey Dad, it's me. I'm back from Hogwarts and let me tell you, it was great. I met so many new friends. I'm gonna tell you all about them…"
Once Harry and Hermione were back home, they immediately brought their trunks into their respective rooms, but before they could empty them they got called down to dinner. Dan and Emma had cooked together, a small but delicious welcoming meal. While enjoying that, they all started chatting about the school year and telling their tales. Well, to be honest most they already knew since both kids had written letters to them, usually around twice per week. Harry had kept his promise to Dan and had been brutally honest (if you ignore the whole time travelling). Yes, here and there he used white lies like with the troll, sticking to the "official" story with Severus killing it, but he had described the Voldemort incident pretty thoroughly. While neither of the Granger parents were happy about Dumbledore and how he was acting, they were thankful that Harry and Hermione had each other and some adult help. They had realised that Harry couldn't avoid "this dark, evil wizard with the strange name", like Emma had put it at first, and were glad that they had professors who would help them.
"I mean it's not your fault that he wants your death, don't worry. Are we happy that Mione could be in danger? No, definitely not. But as a muggleborn she would be either way, that much we have understood by now. And it does seem like you have not only a talent for attracting danger, but also one for surviving it. Then we'd rather have her with you in potential danger but very much protected as well, instead of on her own in a world filled with prejudices against people like her."
After Emma had finished her statement, Harry jumped up and hugged the woman tightly. For the first time in all his life, including the future he had lived, he had found a person who voluntarily stood in for his mother, who cared and loved him like only a mother could. It also made him happy that they were not angry at him for endangering Mione by simply being his friend.
Harry Potter was happy.
This summer was going to be very, very great.
Notes:
So, there we are. It's summer now. Let's wait and see what our heroes do during the holidays.
Looking forward to your comments, see ya all next week
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット