章 1568: 30
Chapter 30: Third Year beginsNotes:
Good morning everyone, here is the latest chapter. Hope you all like it
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Way too quickly for Harry's taste, the holidays ended and they had to return to school. At least they wouldn't have to face old Dumbles anymore. Minnie hadn't told them anything about it, but at least from their book list they were able to guess that the headmistress had indeed succeeded in introducing new classes.
On the express, their trip was strangely quiet, neither Malfoy nor Weasley bothered them even once. That was indeed very pleasant.
Another notable thing was that more and more people weren't wearing proper school robes, but the same formal robes that Harry and Hermione were wearing. Without Dumbledore keeping the student handbook more or less a secret, more people embraced all the possibilities that the handbook gave them. Percy Weasley (this year's headboy) just encouraged that even more. From what Amy told Harry and Hermione they knew he wanted to massively change things after seeing the truth about Dumbledore. Kingsley would have loved to instantly keep the boy in his department, he was smart and enthusiastic, but unfortunately NEWTs were expected. But they had promised him the job, if he met the necessary criterias.
Once the train arrived at Hogsmeade the two took a carriage together with Nev and Daph (who had spent some time with them in a compartment, but mostly on their own). They were discussing the upcoming school year, because Minnie valued secrecy and no one but the teachers and school governors knew what changes she had made over the summer. From the books they had to bring along it was probably a muggle studies class for everyone (or at least the wizard-raised) and one about magical traditions (taught by Andi Tonks, that they knew). Daphne hoped that they finally got rid of Binns so they'd learn more in HoM. Even her father had always complained about that, he had even tried exorcising him once during his time at school, but Dumbles found and stopped him. Quite sad actually.
After leaving the carriages the four met up with Hannah and Susan, the latter had gotten much closer to Harry and Hermione over the summer and she was basically another member of Harry's ever growing family. And with her being Amy's ward and Harry being Sirius godson they'd be as close to siblings as possible, just like Harry and Nev (the "godbrothers").
Harry's family had gotten quite big this time around. Sure, last time around he had had the Weasleys, but now…The Grangers basically saw him as their son (which he'd be, he and Mione were soulmates and would marry at some point, that the two of them knew and wanted), Neville and now Susan as "siblings", Sirius and Remus as godfathers/uncles, Aunt Minnie, Severus (he was considering calling him "Uncle Sev" one of these days, just to annoy him), Aunt Andi and Uncle Ted, Cousin Tonks, Augusta Longbottom (who told him to call her "gran" in informal settings, since he had no grandmother and was Nev's godbrother) and even the Greengrasses, who treated him as a nephew/cousin (which they even were very distantly through the Black family). And even outside of the immediate family he had many others, be it Filius, Arthur and the twins (and to be honest, Percy too - to a degree at least), the quidditch team, Hannah, Luna, Padma, Anthony Goldstein, Terry Boot, he was occasionally chatting with Theo Nott and Blaise Zabini (Theo was no blood purist despite his father and had even come up to Harry after the trials, thanking him because now he was free of "the old, stupid bigot, who enjoyed being branded like a slave") and had had even some quidditch discussions with Cedric Diggory.
Last time around he thought that they hated him, but in truth Ron just kept them away from him. How much he despised him by now was even worse than Malfoy, the ferret at least openly communicated his hate last time around.
At the beginning-of-term feast they saw a variety of new people sitting at the High Table, all of whom Minnie introduced to them.
"Dear students, it's good to see all of you back at Hogwarts. I hope that all of you had a nice summer so we can start into a new school year. As you might see, I have a few new colleagues I want to introduce to you. But before that it is my pleasure to announce that the board and the ministry have confirmed my position as headmistress, ending the interim status I had until the end of the year. It is an even bigger pleasure to announce the return of Professor Remus Lupin as the Professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts and Head of Gryffindor House. He's the first DADA Professor to return for another year in nearly three decades. The curse Voldemort put on the position after being refused for it by Dumbledore is finally broken."
The students cheered at that, even most of the Slytherins, because Remus had been a great teacher. Only few flinched when the headmistress used the Dark Lord's name, the media now used it too, and slowly they all got less hesitant.
Then Minerva introduced the other teachers, Andromeda Tonks was teacher for the "Wizarding Etiquette and Traditions," mandatory for all muggle-raised at least until the third year. Everyone else was free to take the class. Jacob Scamander (named after his father's no-maj friend Jacob Kowalski) was replacing Professor Kettleburn, since Hagrid didn't get the job for Care of Magical Creatures. Since she had struggled to find a skilled Alchemy Professor, she had nearly given up on that, but then Nicolas Flamel sent her a letter. He would take that job until she found someone else (which might even take years, he said, alchemists were a rarity these days). It seemed like he didn't trust Dumbledore, either he didn't give him the real or the only stone a few years back and then lied to him. Their "we still have some of the elixir left to set our affairs in order" would have meant outliving Dumbledore either way. Since the old meddler was now out of Hogwarts, Nicolas offered to teach. Apparently his life had become pretty boring the past few centuries.
As transfiguration teacher, Minerva had hired the young muggleborn witch Jean Baker, who had finished Hogwarts the year before Harry's first year. For the time being she just taught first through third year, but eventually would teach up to the OWL students with Minerva offering NEWT level transfiguration.
"And it is my pleasure to announce that Professor Binns has finally left the castle…we might have exorcised him. Not an easy accomplishment I might add. And since it seems like the last few generations of wizards and witches haven't been taught History of Magic properly, I had to search long for a fitting replacement. Let me introduce to you: Professor Bathilda Bagshot, the most renowned authority on the history of Magical Britain."
That was met with nearly as much enthusiasm as Remus' and Flamel's introduction, because everyone knew the elderly lady. She was famous and brilliant, and obviously couldn't be worse than Binns - if you exclude the fact that one couldn't sleep during the lessons anymore. Benefit of being taught by a ghost.
At last she announced that Professor Burbage's class (muggle studies) would be just as mandatory for the wizard-raised as was traditions for the muggle-raised, up to third year. This year though, since the ministry has discovered a strong ignorance and hatred for muggles, which could endanger the statute (just look at the way wizards would dress to go "unnoticed"), the class would be mandatory for every wizard-raised student. From next year on only it would be the same as with traditions class.
Safe to say that this statement wasn't met with as much enthusiasm.
The sorting wasn't much different, the only notable thing was that Daphne's little sister Astoria (a Slytherin last time around) became a Ravenclaw, probably influenced by seeing her big sister and her friends study (and trying her best to join them).
Harry also noted that the ghosts started staring at him, but none of them addressed him or shared his newfound title with anyone else. He decided that he'd leave them alone for the time being.
After the feast, Draco Malfoy was loudly complaining in the Slytherin common room. He was spouting phrases like "Hogwarts is gonna ruin itself" and "once my father's free again, he'll kick the stupid headmistress and all her mudblood friends out of the castle. No way I'll be going to a muggle studies class." Some that were closer to Harry, just sat back and smiled. That little ferret (no one knew where that came from, but it sounded like a valid nickname for Draco) would get what he deserved.
At some point Severus Snape entered the common rooms. His main intention had been to hand out the brochures about the elective classes. Other than the previous years, the new third years hadn't decided during the holidays, simply because Minerva wasn't sure which teachers she'd get. Now they had to pick at least two out of Care of Magical Creatures with Scamander, Divination, Runes, Arithmancy and Alchemy. Muggle studies and Traditions class would be available too, but wouldn't count as one of their two (would be too easy if a wizard could simply pick Traditions class, just another easy grade like Divination). All the higher years were given the option to change their electives too and visit a special class to bring them up to speed.
But once Severus - the now "man-with-only-one-arm" - heard Draco Malfoy spout his usual nonsense, he couldn't stop himself anymore. He had to listen to all those bigoted idiots for years, and now he could finally speak up.
"MR. MALFOY! That'll be twenty points from Slytherin and two detentions with Mr. Filch. You'll respect the headmistress and the current government. Your father won't be able to help you anymore."
Draco paled.
The common room was quiet.
They couldn't remember a single instance where Snape took points from them for that, aside from a few occasions where they did it in the presence of another teacher. Within their common room, that had never happened.
Daphne giggled.
Theo and Blaise grinned.
Things were changing in Slytherin house.
But not everyone was ready to accept that, and Draco was one of them. Sure, in the previous year he had tried acting a bit more polite when it came to Potter, for example after the duelling club incident, but that was before his father had been tossed into Azkaban. Yes, they had tried to keep quiet until the end of the school year, hoping that McGonagall wouldn't get the top spot and that the Dark Lord would return and free their parents, but now they were at war. Up until now they had hoped that Snape was still a spy, but that hope was gone now too.
While Draco just glared, the seventh year student Marcus Flint reached for his wand.
"Don't you dare, Mr. Flint. Even with only one arm I could kill you before you throw a curse at me, and I don't even need to use an Unforgivable. But even those I have used as a spy in the Dark Lord's ranks. Only he himself and maybe the old Dumbledore are better duellers than me. Any attack on me would leave you dead."
And with that he just walked out of the common room, leaving a lot of silent and thoughtful Slytherins behind.
During the first weeks of school, several different factions - with very different motives - started plotting against McGonagall and Potter. The Slytherins around Malfoy and Flint, as well as the Gryffindors around Weasley and McLaggen. None of those did actively plan to do anything right now though, because they were lacking the support outside of Hogwarts.
Ronald was actually doing rather fine in class, and this time around hadn't picked the "easy" subjects. Sure, no Arithmancy for him, but he tried his best at Ancient Runes (after seeing Babbling using that in the fight against Riddle) and at Care. He had considered Alchemy, but he was horrible at Potions, and not only because of Snape. And Flamel's subject was even more intense, much more mathematics and calculations, rituals and very strange spells.
Muggle Studies was met with much hatred, but after two or three lessons, some of the purebloods got afraid. The vast number of muggles, and things like weapons of mass destruction or the fact that muggles had been on the moon shocked those wizards that saw muggles as inferior creatures.
Professor Scamander was pretty great, and his animals were way less dangerous than Hagrid's creatures. They learned so much more this time around.
Traditions was nearly as fascinating as Care, because the muggleborns (even from the higher years) now slowly started understanding all their mistakes they had done in the day-to-day interactions with purebloods. Sure, Andi Tonks was a rather strict teacher, mostly appearing cold to the students, but she was brilliant and knew her subject.
The complete opposite to Andi's cold and stern behaviour was Bathilda Bagshot, who gave off a kind of "grandmother" feeling. Sure, she taught them, and she taught them a lot, but it was always a very interactive and pleasant lesson. The students were actively encouraged to engage in discussions and debates, because "History is not just about names and dates, but about understanding someone's motivation. Why things happened is much more important than the fact that they happened."
And then there was Alchemy with Professor Flamel.
Because no one really taught it anymore these days, at least around here, they had to start with the basics. Honestly, it was related to Chemistry and Physics, even more than Potions was. Properties of metals and other elements, their magical properties and usages, influence of lunar and solar phases, ley lines and a lot of ritualistic stuff. It'd take even Harry and Hermione years to do more than a basic ritual, but it was fascinating - and for once truly challenging.
On a cold and rainy Saturday morning, a few weeks into the term (it was already the end of October, the time had passed so quickly and they would have their first Hogsmeade day tomorrow), Hermione spotted a headline in the Prophet.
"Look at that Harry, French Wizard still missing after months. I think they didn't write anything about that yet, or I missed that. Ah, that explains it, he went missing in eastern Europe. Nothing that the British newspapers would pick up. And…oh god."
"What is it?"
"French Wizard Gabriel Delacour, father of two young witches, went missing during a trip on which he wanted to acquire high-end potion ingredients. Mr. Delacour is a well-known politician and a potioneer in his free time. His wife Appolline stated that this trip wasn't unusual for him, but he hasn't responded to any messages and couldn't be found by the authorities in…damn."
"Wait, that's Fleur's dad. Oh god, that definitely didn't happen last time, but where did he go missing, Mione?"
"In Albania."
Harry nearly dropped his fork out of shock and summarised the situation pretty precisely.
"Well, fuck."
Harry and Hermione could only guess what happened to Mr. Delacour, but it wasn't pleasant for sure. After being stunned by Nathaniel, he found himself tied up in a cave, wandless and in the midst of a runic circle. Sure, he was a smart and educated man, but mainly with potions, not runes, so he had no idea what that was all about. The only thing he knew for sure was that a follower of the British Voldemort had captured him. He thought it couldn't get worse.
But then a slowly rotting and clearly possessed corps walked up to him, with glowing red eyes, and Gabriel was not completely convinced that the reports coming out of Britain weren't wrong. Voldemort wasn't dead at all.
"Mr. Delacour. Good from you to join us in our little ritual. Nathaniel keeps telling me that you're a powerful wizard and as you can see, my current…let's call it residence…is slowly rotting away. But since I want to return to the British Isles and get back to full strength, I need a new intermediate body. So don't be surprised once Nathaniel starts drawing runes onto your skin, they need to be applied while the host is still alive."
Gabriel was afraid. He had never even tried to start learning wandless magic, and in the presence of two other strong wizards only a miracle could save him.
"I…I…I have a wife and two kids. Please, don't do that to me."
But Riddle just laughed. Even the helpless cries, promising servitude for his life, didn't matter to the Dark Lord. All he needed was a new body, and then he'd storm Azkaban, and all of Magical Britain afterwards.
And Nathaniel was doing a great job, undoubtedly. He himself would have tried returning in a more evil-looking way, through snake influence in the potion, but his servant had recommended doing the exact opposite. Instead of an evil face, he should aim for his younger, respectable and charming looking face to sway potential servants. And besides, few people remembered that face either way, so he'd be more anonymous.
If the calculations were correct - and that they were, then they should finish up here pretty soon and slowly head to Britain. He still had some secret ways to get there, and then they'd take residence in a safehouse. They'd retrieve his father's bones, imperius a few aurors to get intelligence on Azkaban, be it plans, guard shifts or an inmate registry, and then they could free his servants. And for the blood of the enemy, he had a few ideas too. Not as easy, but certainly not impossible.
After a week of work, it was finally done. The runes were painted on Gabriel's skin and had the necessary time to take full effect, then Nathaniel forced him the potion down his throat. It was a very rare and overly complicated draught that weakened a target's mind and body, bringing him near his death. In that state the leech could take over and eliminate the original - and weakened - conscience completely.
And while Gabriel Delacour was slowly fading away, he started thinking about his wife and daughters. He would never see them again.
The thought of his family seemed to give him more energy for a last attempt at rebelling against the spirit of the Dark Lord, but that just made Riddle act harder.
Slowly he faded away, and Tom Riddle just laughed. This body would give him enough time to fulfil his plans. He tried moving his fingers, and as that worked, he asked Nathaniel for the wand.
"Hm, I see. Aspen and dragon heartstring. A duellists wand, not that it had been used that way very often. I can work with that."
And with a wordless flick of his new wand, he incinerated the former host body, reduced it to ashes. That wand would work.
Neither Minister Bones nor the headmistress were very happy about Harry and Hermione's revelation. Sure, they had no idea what Riddle and Parkinson had done with Delacour, but surely nothing good. But it was probably too late anyway, he disappeared during the summer holidays and now it was the end of October.
Despite all of that, their date on the following day was still happening. The two of them were constantly joking about that, because their first Hogsmeade day - the day of the date - was Halloween. They weren't sure if something bad was gonna happen or if they were gonna stand up to the "curse" on this day. Harry actually didn't mind at all, because for him it was a chance to create nice memories on this very day.
On the morning of October 31st, half a dozen witches tried asking out Harry during breakfast, Cho Chang among them. But before either of those managed to finish her statement, Neville got up and scolded them.
"Ladies! You all know what day it is today, the deathday of the late Lord and Lady Potter. Stop it, otherwise I'd…"
Harry just grinned and interrupted Neville.
"Oh, don't worry, Nev. Thanks for the intervention though. I'm already going on a date, with the lovely Miss Granger, so I guess I have to decline, ladies."
The Great Hall fell silent at Harry's statement. And then Neville let himself fall on his knees very melodramatically in a sort of praying motion and exclaimed.
"Bloody hell, finally! Took you what, over two years? Idiots, both of you."
Harry and Hermione burst out laughing and once Neville got up again, he gave his best mate a high five, still grinning.
And suddenly the students of Hogwarts had a new topic to gossip about.
Once Remus Lupin heard about that, he just smiled. First of all it was long overdue, and second of all, Prongslet had managed to outplay Padfoot. The old mutt had already started planning for that, even with the assistance of Dan Granger. And then Harry just outsmarts them and goes on a date at Hogsmeade without telling any of them beforehand.
Well, maybe he could…
Remus got up and left the staffroom. Minnie too was gossiping about the date, with Bathsheda and Pomona, and Severus was reading a book while listening in amusement. He actually looked up and spoke to Remus "Oh no, don't tell me you're doing what I think you're doing. But well, I guess that means I'll be heading to Hogsmeade today. No chance that I'm gonna miss that."
Well, Severus was right after all. Once Remus was in his office, he opened a drawer in his desk and grabbed the little mirror. Then he tapped it with his wand.
"Padfoot!"
After a few seconds the connection was established and Moony told Padfoot what he had found out.
Harry had luckily made a reservation at the Three Broomsticks, because the inn was just as full as always. Madam Rosmerta led the two of them to a small and remote table, away from the other students, before she took their orders.
"Well, Harry…"
"Yes?"
They both struggled to get the conversation going during lunch. Sure, they knew each other for nearly a decade now (including the time travel), but it was still…strange.
"Oh god, we're horrible at that, aren't we, Mione?"
She laughed, and gosh did he love the sound of that.
"Seems like it. But well, it's not like we have much new stuff to talk about. We do that every morning and evening."
"Well, people have the tendency to struggle with casual conversations during dates."
"Ha ha ha, but because they're nervous, not because they know each other better than anyone else."
And with that the conversation got going, and if only about how horrible they were at the whole thing. It was very amusing for sure, and they had a nice lunch.
After that they headed outside, and, luckily the weather was pretty good today, went for a walk. Sure, they could go shopping, but neither of them had any needs. They were just silently enjoying each other's company.
When Harry's hand touched Hermione's, just briefly, she blushed. He would probably claim it was accidental, but no. That was a benefit of dating your best friend, you know him and she damn well knew that he did that on purpose. But since the boy-who-lived was apparently a coward, she took initiative. Well, after waiting for another minute or so, she grabbed his hand and held it softly. Neither of them commented on that, but it was pretty clear that they were both enjoying it, especially since Harry's thumb started circling on the back of Mione's hand.
It just felt right. And there it was again, the realisation that they were soulmates, perfect for each other. And now they didn't want to wait and postpone anymore.
Simultaneously the two of them turned towards each other, but lacking the words to describe whatever they were feeling.
Harry took another step into her direction, looking deeply into her beautiful eyes.
Mione smiled at him, she was happy. So, so happy.
Both of them started to lean forward, and Harry softly cupped her cheek. Both teenagers closed their eyes and then…
They simultaneously drew their wands, got in a defensive stance and shielded themself with a Protego Maxima, before the colourful spell could reach them. Luckily it just bounced off. Mione gestured to Harry that she'd keep up the shield while he could cast a Homenum Revelio, but all Harry did was throw a tickling charm into some bushes.
What they then heard was a strange mixture of barking and laughing, and Mione just sighed.
"PADFOOT! Do I even want to know what that spell was?"
Sirius, now transformed back and still laughing, shook his head. No, he wouldn't tell them the details of his prank, because one of these days he'd get them.
"Oh come on Prongslet, don't glare at me. And how'd you know it was me?"
"Believe me, I won't just glare. And I saw your tail, you need to work on your hiding skills."
He then turned around to Mione.
"What do you say, some transfiguration and a few colour-changing charms before we shoo him through Hogsmeade with stinging jinxes?"
And just a few seconds later Sirius had purple antlers, green hair, a tail of a peacock (changing its colour every five seconds) and he was wearing a clown's outfit. Even better, his voice sounded very distorted and strange, making his yelps even more amusing.
Neither Severus Snape nor Remus Lupin regretted heading to Hogsmeade on this day, because that was a sight that neither of them would ever forget. The same applied to the students, and all of them had a great laugh on that day.
All but Sirius.
Well, at least until he managed to apparate to Potter Manor and look at himself in the mirror. Prongslet was surely a worthy marauder.
Neither Harry nor Hermione were actually mad at Sirius, they expected that after all. The moment for the proper kiss (to activate the bond) was gone though, and because for them that'd be an important moment, they decided not to force it. All Harry got was a kiss on his cheek.
Oh, and Mione declared (not giving him much of a choice) that this was enough for her to declare them a couple. "No point in denying the inevitable, Harry."
Well, don't mess with a stubborn witch like Hermione Granger, because once she sets her mind on something, she gets what she wants. He wouldn't get rid of her ever again, that much was for sure.
And Harry would never complain about that, oh no.
He was more than happy.
Notes:
So, that's it for this week. Let me know in the comments what you think.
See ya all next week
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