Chapter Text
“We should make a move to get Sirius freed from Azkaban.”
“Mmm, do we talk to Susan Bones, get her to send a message to Amelia, or do we contact Ted Tonks directly?”
“Can’t we rescue Dobby, it would be a lot easier if we had elf mail.”
“Don’t let Hedwig hear you say that, she will peck your ears off.”
“Is Owl mail secure, I wouldn’t put it past,” she mimed a long beard, “to intercept pupils’ letters.”
“We should check ourselves for bugs,”
“Or small green water beatles?”
Hermione pulled her wand out and checked over Harry. She found over a dozen tracking charms. Two listening charms, neither active. Harry repeated the act for Hermione and found six tracking charms and two listening charms. Once they were happy they were clear, they cast their ‘teflon’ charm. It was a new charm Hermione had developed in cahoots with Lily, it made charms slide off anything they wore. It would need reapplying once a week, but it would stop them being snooped upon.
“Who were my tracking charms from?”
“Dumbles, Snape and Quirellmort. Mine?”
“Same, listening were all Dumbles though,”
They settled down on a conjured blanket leaning against the tree, Hermione resting her head on Harry’s chest and closed her eyes.
“We should send a test message with Hedwig. Ask your mum or dad something obtuse, that they can answer indirectly and check if the message gets through?”
“Minerva is on our side, should we tell her the truth? We didn’t expect your Dad to rescue me from the Dursley’s when we made all our plans, so we didn’t expect Minerva to break from Dumbles this early.”
“We could get our folks to contact Ted Tonks, we had mentioned it at Gringotts, we just need some secure comms.”
“Should we sneak down to the ward-room and add ourselves to the wards as founders? Rowena and Godric were happy to show us what to do.”
“I know we planned on sorting Quirellmort last, but if we get Susan or DEATH itself to reap him, we could get that out the way and just sort the Horcruxes at our leisure?”
“Mmmm, too many options, is Quirellmort a threat to us, if not let’s scoop up the other items? If he becomes a threat, we can call the BOSS down on him, that’s not a fight he can win.”
“In conclusion then, we need to get Ted Tonks started, to get Amelia Bones investigating, then we can gift her the rat.”
“Professor McGonagall wants to see you in the entry hall.” The voice came from nearby, Harry swivelled his head and saw a familiar face, her hair currently pale blue. “Tonks?”
“Yeah, and you proved your story since the last time I saw you, we need to talk. Come on you two McKitty awaits.”
McGonagall met them in the atrium between the castle doors and the entry to the Great Hall. “Thank you miss Tonks, if you pair would follow me to my office I should like a quick word.” She led them to her office. “Take a seat,” she motioned to a pair of chairs and sat in the third, “cup of tea?”
“Thank you,” The tea appeared and she poured for everyone, reaching over to her desk, she picked up a folded silver cloth. “I believe this is your father’s invisibility cloak, Harry. Please don’t use it to go near the third floor corridor, I am not sure what Albus is up to in there, but he seems eager for you to have this cloak.”
“I think he expects me to use it to probe the stuff hidden in that corridor, I have no intention of going anywhere near it, I have no doubt it is covered in tracking charms so we need to clean it of all of them first.” Harry slipped his wand out from his holster and performed the check. He found three tracking charms and a listening charm, that he removed, he quickly found the thread attached to the cloak and gently removed it, before levitating the thread over to the fire and letting it burn in the flames.
“That is some impressive casting for a first year, Mr Potter.”
Harry smiled, “I’ve been practicing.”
Hermione slapped his arm, “Prat. We agreed, we can tell Aunt Minnie.” She looked at Harry, he nodded fractionally in agreement. Hermione pulled out her French made wand and cast a detection charm over McGonagall. Harry cast detection charms around the office for listening charms, finding four, he disabled them. “Minerva, you have signs of compulsion, loyalty and other charms on you. They all bear the magical signature of the Headmaster. I am going to remove them from you, please close your eyes, you may feel dizzy.” McGonagall sat a little straighter in her chair and pursed her lips, Hermione wasn’t sure if it was the news she had just imparted, or being called Minerva by an almost twelve year old girl.
Hermione cast the cleaning spells and purged McGonagall of the various compulsions she had been under, and checked her for tracking and listening charms, before banishing those into the fireplace. “That should be everything Aunt Minnie, Harry and I need to tell you something that happened to us, as long as your occulemency can withstand Dumbledore, that is?”
McGonagall sat and blinked a few times, her mind sorting through the obviously very advanced level of their magic, and the rather mature bearing and cadence of their speech. She reached for her cup, and took a swallow of tea, before speaking, “Am I still speaking to Hermione Granger?”
“Yes. But you are talking to me on my third or fourth life. Harry is on something like his ninth, if he were a cat this would be it. We can’t tell you about the future, it is probably changed now, but we can tell you that Albus Dumbledore is responsible for so much of the suffering we went through in our previous lives, we need allies we can trust. We cannot trust Albus Dumbledore, he plans to sacrifice Harry against a resurrected Voldermort, Tom Marvolo Riddle, ex head boy, because he believes Harry has a part of his soul trapped in his scar. Do you remember asking about the scar? Dumbles told you some nonsense about his being a map of the London underground, as if he even knows what that is.” Hermione stopped for a drink.
Harry took over, “There is a prophecy about me, fate regards me as a child of destiny, although to channel Sirius, my mum was Lily, not Destiny. Because I have this destiny to fulfil, DEATH has sent me back, numerous times. This time, they are helping us, both of us. We will marry when we are older. We are soul mates, and in at least one previous life we were married, and Hermione was expecting. Dumbles doesn’t want us to be together, that would give me a reason to live, he wants me to walk to my death, to let Riddle kill me, so he can be the hero I guess. It doesn’t work. He gets himself killed, I give up, die, Riddle wins, and the mundane military wipe Hogwarts from the face of the planet. A witch hunt the likes of which hasn’t occurred since the dark ages wipes the magical community from the face of the planet within two years. The cost of Albus’s hubris is annihilation.”
Minerva took a deep breath, “This is a lot to take in, a lot to accept at face value. I had already realised that Albus was scheming something about you, he was not at all pleased when you declined his note to meet with him. When I asked why, he did not have a reason that required a pupil to meet the headmaster, he tried to use the cloak, and when I informed him that as your guardian I would deliver it, he tried to tell me that he was your guardian. I asked him where you lived. He has no idea. I imagine he will find out before long.
I don’t want you to think I am accusing you of lying, but can you prove any of this. These are serious items, Vold, Riddle as you call him. He was Head boy?”
“He released the basilisk from the chamber of secrets in 1943 and killed Myrtle Warren, whose ghost still occupies the girls bathroom on the second floor.”
“Moaning Myrtle was killed by Voldemort?”
“Yes. His name is an anagram of Tom Marvolo Riddle,” Hermione wrote the name in the air and swapped the letters into I am Lord Voldemort. “The big scary dark lord is a teenage sociopath. He killed Myrtle to create his first Horcrux, his first soul shard. It is in his diary. We know where, but accessing it might be difficult. He made a total of five at this point in time. We need to destroy them all first in order to send his soul to its final destination.”
“Do you know where he is?”
Hermione and Harry exchanged a long look, “He is possessing Professor Quirrell. If this timeline is the same, he is on the back of his head, under that stupid turban.”
Minerva started, “Quirrell? He who. He is here in the castle. Does the Headmaster know?”
“We think so, that’s what the nonsense with all the traps in corridor three is, Dumbles has hidden the philosopher’s stone in the mirror of Erised, the rest of it is to entrap Moldyfort when he tries to get it, but we got through them all on at least one of our lives as first years without any issues, the devil’s snare is more Neville’s bag than ours, but we also think Dumbles was setting me up to be killed so he could end Riddle. He doesn’t know about all the other Horcruxes yet. The less he knows the easier our lives will be, our eleven, sorry, Hermione will be twelve next week,”
She glared at him, “I could go off you, soulmate.”
“Nah, you still love me, anyway our cores aren’t developed enough for a direct confrontation with Dumbles, and he is not the light wizard his reputation is built on. His manipulation of my previous lives left me an emotional wasteland. He potioned and cast multiple compulsion charms on us, pushed me into a friendship with Ronald Weasley, so I would goof off and not learn magic, the Dursley’s kept me underfed and physically, therefore magically’ weak.
I never received any affection from them, so I was emotionally stunted. The wildcard that kept throwing his plans was Hermione. I liked her from the moment we met on the train, despite Ron trying to get rid of her, we became even closer to each other. In our earlier lives Hermione was the one good thing I know was genuine. I don’t know if Molly Weasley’s affection was real or just for effect.”
Minerva sighed, “What do you need from me. I assume you are not going after Quirrell immediately, nor Albus.”
“No, but we want to get Sirius out of Azkaban, we know where Pettigrew is. We need to get Ted Tonks on board representing our interests, and Sirius’s. He can talk to Madame Bones, we need to get Sirius’s case reviewed, maybe a trial. There are a few ideas that work.”
“We need a secure method of communication, one that Dumbles cannot intercept, nor block. Ideally a House Elf, but the Potter elves died defending my Grandparents, and the only Black elf we know of will not recognise Harry as heir, not at this stage.”
“Harry is Sirius’s Heir?”
“Eventually, I never asked when he did the will, but he needs to take the Head of House Position in order for it to be recognised, his elf is called Kreacher, and is a pretty twisted individual. He has been treated appallingly and is quite vicious as a result.
Minerva put her cup down, “I shall make an appointment with Ted Tonks at this Law firm, for all three of us. Leave the timing with me, I know your schedules and we can use the floo in my office to go to his workplace. I suspect his wife may well appear, she did harangue Albus about your welfare for seven or eight years. I let her know you were fine and happy after I saw you the first time, and she cried. I didn’t tell her your address, but she does live in the same part of the muggle world as you both, you may be near neighbours. I hope you understand me keeping your address quiet as long as I did.” They nodded in agreement.
------oooOOOooo------
Hermione’s twelfth birthday party was celebrated in the Gryffindor common room, and mostly enjoyed by all. The Weasley twins were offering cakes and neither Harry nor Hermione dared to try one. No one became a canary, and they were trying to remember which year those appeared. They all had a slice of cake and some fizzy drinks and Hermione received presents from all her friends as well as her parents. Tucked in one of the books from her parents was a book on cyphers and coded messages from her father. Hermione passed it to Harry with a nod. She whispered into his ear, “We can use a book code. I know my mum’s favourite books and I have some of the same copies here. That means we can use Hedwig.” Harry smiled back. Muggle codes, wizards probably didn’t know they existed. Brilliant.
------oooOOOooo------
The following afternoon they slipped out of the Castle via the floo in Minnie’s office and into the reception of Ted Tonks law firm, Tonks & Ibbotson. Harry stumbled in, managing to remain upright, to his relief, he hated floo travel. Hermione stepped in with nonchalant grace and gave him a smug smirk, McGonagall stepped through last and with a wand wave cleaned the soot away from everyone.
The young lady in reception clearly recognised Minerva, and standing spoke to the group. “Professor McGonagall, and party, please follow me. We are set up in our meeting room for you all.” Pushing the door open to the room. “Take a seat, I will fetch some refreshments and let Mr Tonks know you are all here.” They filed in and sat along one side of the table
“Whilst we await, do either of you have issues with Ronald Weasley?”
“He murdered me, potioned both of us from our fifth years onwards we think. He betrayed us on a number of occasions. What brings him up?” Hermione asked.
“The Headmaster wants to put him in Gryffindor with his brothers, I imagine their mother is complaining quite loudly to Albus.”
“Molly Weasley Howlers,” Harry laughed. “I would prefer to keep him distant, but even if he is put into Gryffindor, we will never be friends in this life. We discussed Hermione getting revenge, but eleven year old Ron is guilty of nothing, eighteen year old Ron was Dumbledore’s man and we would kill him in a heartbeat. I would prefer not to share a dorm with him.”
“Likewise, the fact we only share charms and DADA with the Puffs make him easy to avoid.”
“I will continue to maintain that the sorting hat decides, although I expect we shall not win this one. Are all the Wesley’s bad? I thought them a light family.”
“Ron is the bad apple. He is lazy, jealous and entitled. He want’s Harry’s fame, fortune and popularity, but sees no reason to do anything to earn it. We think Dumbles engineered it so the Weasleys met Harry at the Station first time around and friendless Harry was scooped up by Ron. Looking back he wasn’t a good friend and caused a lot of problems. The Twins are chaos, but we loved them both, Bill is honourable, and so is Arthur. Charlie we barely knew, and Percy is a twenty-four-carat prat. He becomes head boy, blech.”
“Ginny is eventually OK, but she has been brought up on those books on the Boy-who-lived, she is a total fan girl in the beginning. I saved her life from the Basilisk, eventually. I died on the first attempt. It made the fan girling worse, that and she really needed some psychological help after being possessed by a Horcrux for most of the year.”
“We don’t know if Molly is complicit with the potions, or not. She was good to Harry in earlier lives, but we can’t have Molly without Ron, and we do not want Ron in our lives. If he tries to push his way in, he will get hurt. I owe him. If he attacks me I will respond with prejudice as my father would say.”
The Door to the meeting room opened and Ted Tonks walked in accompanied by his wife Andromeda. She looked at Harry and her face broke into a wide smile.
“Harry, you look healthy and happy, you have no idea how much that means to me. I am Andromeda Tonks, your mother and I were good friends, before that night. You disappeared and Dumbeldore would never admit to anything. I hope you had a good childhood.” She wrapped Harry in a brief hug. Her eyes were a little moist and she smiled at Hermione. “Minerva tells me he lives with your family now. Thank you for looking after my friend’s little boy.”
Hermione smiled, “He is mostly worth it.”
Andromeda stood, “I wanted to check Harry’s health, to make sure he was OK, I am a lot happier, but I would like you to let me give you a check up at some point, you haven’t had one since your first birthday, and you are a little bit overdue.” She smiled at the group. “I will sort out an appointment with Minerva and be in touch.” She left the room.
Ted took a seat, “Good afternoon everyone, Minerva has informed me of the overall goals of the meeting, so can we just confirm some administration details?” He looked at Harry.
“Harry James Potter, Heir to the House Potter, will become Head of house on reaching your maturity, so called Lord Potter. Minerva arranged for Gringotts to forward a certified copy of your parents will and we have it here. My understanding is that based upon the status of Sirius Orion Black as your oathsworn Godfather you believe him to be innocent and had he betrayed you he would have died on the day of the betrayal, is this correct.”
“There is a little more. We know Peter Pettigrew is still alive, and we know where he is. He is an unregistered animagus, a rat. He is hiding in this form as the familiar of a pupil at Hogwarts, and we can hand him over to the DMLE, as long as we are convinced that Cornelious Fudge will not immediately feed him to a dementor. Fudge is heavily, shall we say funded, by Lucius Malfoy, and if Sirius is released then Draco Malfoy’s claim on the House of Black is no longer valid. Before we act, we need to be sure that justice will actually be served.” Harry sat back
Hermione leaned forward. “Sirius was imprisoned without trial. His incarceration is illegal. He should have either been charged or released within two days I believe. We cannot act, we need you to request the trial transcripts, they do not exist, review the evidence. His wand was never checked and it is mis-filed in amongst evidence from 1961, not 1981. We want to see your wife’s cousin, my betrothed’s godfather released as quickly as possible. He is however currently defenceless, so discretion is paramount, lest one of Malfoy’s cronies act to prevent it.”
“We trust Amelia Bones, we know she is not corrupt, also Moody, Shacklebolt, and Scrimgeour are not in Malfoy’s pocket. There are a number of marked Death Eaters in the Ministry, they need to be avoided at this time. Care is needed.”
Ted nodded slowly. “I can talk to Madame Bones discretely, she is a friend of ours, and her ward Susan is actually at school with you.” The kids nodded non-commitally, Susan had worn the Potter Stinks badges, and sided against Harry in their past. She wasn’t an enemy, but she wasn’t a friend either.
------oooOOOooo------
The following week they were sat at breakfast and Neville was worrying to himself about something.
“We have broom flying lessons today, I don’t like flying.”
“Me neither,” Hermione piped up, “I am scared of heights.”
“How about you Harry?” Neville asked.
“Not worried about it Nev, I like that sort of thing.” He sat and wondered, was becoming seeker in his first year a good idea? They had discussed it endlessly in Neverwhen, and hadn’t really made a decision. Sat in breakfast on the day, he wasn’t sure he could be bothered. The early morning training with the obsessive Oliver Wood, Quirrell trying to kill him, he would rather spend the time in the library with Hermione.
Later in the day they met outside with Madame Hooch and saw the rows of ratty old school brooms laid out for people to use, he quickly spotted the worst and guided his friends away from them. Leaving Malfoy and his bookends to argue over them. Ron was standing at the other end of the group, glowering at everyone. Harry was resigned to the fact that he would get into the Gryffindor dorm, at least he would be at the other end, and not in the next bed this time around. Harry positioned himself near Neville, he didn’t want a broken wrist this time.
On the instruction they all commanded their brooms to rise, Harry’s snapped into his hand and he was happy to see the girls were equally in control. Neville’s broom wobbled on the floor but did not jump. “Nev, get mad with it. Be the boss.”
“UP.” The broom jumped to his hand. Madame hooch told them all to hover a few feet up, Harry realised she didn’t tell anyone, HOW to achieve that. He kicked off and settled as asked, Nev wobbled a bit and then joined him, as the lesson progressed he stuck with Neville, he saw Daphne, Tracey and Hermione making low level low speed circuits around the area, He was guiding Nev and helping him build confidence, Ron and Draco were getting into some sort of shouting match, Harry smiled, perhaps they would take each other out. As they were making a turn in one corner Harry saw Draco and Ron collide, sending them both semi out of control into a group of girls, Lavender Brown was knocked from her broom and without stopping to think Harry covered the distance to intercept her before she hit the ground sweeping around with her pinned over his lap and dropping her onto the grass. He set her down and she dropped to her knees to get her breath. She looked at Harry, “Thank you, that would have been bad.”
Harry shrugged it off, “I am pretty sure they can fix breaks, but they still hurt don’t they.”
“They do, and I am glad you caught me Harry.” Madame Hooch landed next to them,
“Well caught Potter, 10 points for Gryffindor. You saved Miss Brown a night with Madame Pomfrey, perhaps more. Are you OK Miss Brown?”
“Yes thank you Madame Hooch, just a bit shaken.”
“Good. Take a rest, and I will see you next week.” She turned and shouted. “Malfoy, Weasley. Come here now.”
Harry flew over to where his friends were gathered, and they returned the brooms and headed back into the castle. “Survived, and didn’t get press ganged into the team.” He whispered to Hermione.
------oooOOOooo------
Snape glowered at Harry as he sat at the bench with Hermione, they both turned to him and smiled sweetly. “Good Morning Professor Snape.” They said in unison. Harry felt Snape probe his mind and showed him a memory of Susan Sto-Helit beating a badly behaved troll to a pulp with her fire poker, and watched the Professors face form a scowl. Snape turned to the rest of the class and they concentrated on the brew for that particular day’s lesson. They labelled their potion and turned it in, Snape begrudgingly gave them an ‘O’ and they left smiling. “Looks like a word from your mum had the right effect.”
------oooOOOooo------
Professor McGonagall held them back after their transfiguration lesson later the same week, “Harry, Hermione. Two things, Amelia Bones wishes to meet with you regards Sirius and his lack of trial, it appears that she is in agreement with everything, she wishes to coordinate with you to capture Mr Pettigrew, and was going to visit her niece under the pretext of the Samhain celebrations after Halloween, perhaps something could be sorted to capture the rat on or before that day.”
Harry nodded, “should be easy enough.” He murmured, “What’s the other thing?”
“The Headmaster is relocating Ronald Weasley to Gryffindor House at the weekend. I am sorry, there is nothing I can do, at least he is not swapping one of the boys out.”
Harry and Hermione exchanged a long look, before Hermione spoke, “In every lifetime, Ronald Weasley has poor manners, a short temper, a jealous and mean streak. I am Harry’s betrothed, I know the old ‘noble house’ etiquette is no more, but if he attacks me, he attacks our House and our name. We will defend ourselves by the old ways.”
Harry was sat in the stands on the Saturday morning watching the Gryffindor Quidditch team try-outs, it was obvious to Harry that the team he remembered was the one that would be selected, the seeker however was not so obvious. There were a couple of people trying out, Cormac McLaggan, and a girl Harry didn’t recognise. He could hear Alicia, Angelina and Katie arguing nearby. They didn’t want McLaggan on the team, they didn’t like him, and he was too lecherous, flirting they found funny, being groped was not. Hermione leaned in on his shoulder and whispered, “why don’t you go borrow a broom, you used to enjoy playing.”
“I did, but I didn’t enjoy all the time on the hospital.”
“Then don’t be a prat. Go on. Go save your team,”
“Are you sure?”
“Go on already.”
“Thanks,” without thinking he kissed Hermione and walked down the stands, his kiss was noted by one of the foxes as he approached them. “Katie?”
“That’s right, Harry isn’t it?”
“Yes. Could I borrow your broom, I think you need a better seeker.”
She looked at him head cocked. “Go on then short stuff, if you can live up to that claim, I am sure we can get McKitty to approve a firstie on the team.” She held out the broom she was using.
He gave her a grin, and hopped on the broom, flying straight up and having already spotted the snitch rolled over in the air and power dived down to take it whilst flying upside down, slowly rolling out upright as he arrived at Oliver Wood and held the snitch to him. “Looking for this?”
“You are a first year?”
“Well observed, MCGonagall will sign up to it. Especially after we win the first match.”
“Confident. I’ll give you that.”
“McLaggan is too big, he can’t turn, the girl is too hesitant. Katie would be your best seeker, but the chasers work brilliantly together, shame to split the team.”
Oliver took the snitch as the other two arrived, McLaggan eying him up. “Best of three, first one to Potter.” He released the snitch, “and three, two, one, go.”
Harry went vertical and mostly to make sure he wasn’t being followed made some fairly violent spiral diving turns. Pulling out he scanned around the field for the snitch, and made a wide weeping turn, there. A flash of light near the lower hoop. He leaned forward and spurred the school broom to its maximum, the other two were heading the opposite direction, and he caught the snitch as he passed it without slowing. He pulled a loop and rolled out level to return to where Oliver waited.
The others returned, Oliver released the snitch one last time, Harry thought it was a little pointless, but he supposed it was fair. One the three count he watched the other two fly away, McLaggan flying down the pitch centreline at about fifty feet, the girl flew down to the floor and dismounted, she obviously had decided she was going nowhere. Harry took a steady glide up to about a hundred feet and sat in the centre, taking a good look around. He kept turning and looking, and then he saw it. Hovering just above where Hermione sat, now joined by Daphne and Tracey in the stands. McLaggan was flying towards him. Harry smiled to himself and pulled straight up perhaps another hundred feet, before stall turning and dropping into a textbook Wronski, peeling away with his toes brushing the grass and shooting straight over the girls, rolling upside down to grab the snitch as it rose from above them. He laughed as he heard Hermione scolding him in the distance. He made a lazy turn towards the pitch and holding his had up to show Oliver the snitch, he spiralled down to where Katie stood with the rest of the foxes and the Twins. He landed, dismounted and handed Katie the broom, “Thank you Katie. That was fun. He handed Oliver the snitch. “Do I need to talk to Professor McGonagall and get her to sign off on me joining the team?” He smiled at Olivers face.
“Harrikins, that was some awesome flying.”
“Welcome to the team” He looked, he was sure it was Fred, it raised a lump in his throat. Dead Fred.
“Harry James,” a voice sounded form behind
“Ooh,” the twins started singing, “There may be trouble ahead,” and everyone laughed.
“What happened to ‘I promise I won’t take any risks Hermione’, that lasted about ten seconds didn’t it.” She stood a few feet away, hands on hips, hair bushed up and crackling with energy. He looked over and grinned sheepishly.
Daphne walked up to her, “You tell him girl, he can’t go flying around looking amazing without your permission. It’s just not on.” Hermione huffed but her hair settled, and a small smile crossed her face.
Harry just grinned, saying anything was likely to get him in trouble, McLaggan removed his worries.
“What does a stupid muggleborn bitch like you know about Quidditch, go back to the dorm, the grown-ups are talking.” Harry spun in his direction to see the first of Hermione’s hexes hit him. He flew backwards landing on his back, his quidditch robes transformed into a blue and white clown suit with size twenty five shoes in bright red, a massive orange afro style hairstyle, and a painted clown face with a big red ball of a nose. Harry glanced at Hermione as she caught McLaggan’s wand.
Daphne, Tracey and the foxes squealed, “way to go girl”, Hermione was mobbed by the chasers and was up on their shoulders before she realised what was happening. They carried her off the pitch towards the changing rooms laughing and shrieking.
Cormac stood up, he spoke, but his voice sounded like Mr Punch. Every time he spoke the Twins started to laugh, and Harry and then Oliver lost it in turn. He stomped off towards the Castle and the Hospital wing, his big clown feet making it look utterly ridiculous.
The Twins led Harry slowly over to the changing room, “Welcome to the team Harrikins. Your girlfriend is awesome.”
George? Leant in and added, “She did all of that with silent casting. That is epic magic. Please tell her she is officially on our never mess with list.”
Fred? Added, “That was marauder level, where did you learn it from.”
Harry paused, “My mum Lily, well her notebooks, she was the fifth Marauder. My Dad was Prongs. My Godfather was Padfoot. Mooney was their friend Remus Lupin. Wormtail betrayed them all and my parents were killed by moldyfart.” He hoped the little lie about the notebook was enough to cover Hermione’s flash of her true abilities.
The twins exchanged a look, “We have something that is rightfully yours, Harry. We have a map of the castle they made, it says it is Prong’s copy, so it’s yours now. We’ll hand it over when we get back to the dorm. Will McKitty really be OK with having you on the team?”
“She’s my Aunt Minnie, she is my magical guardian, and she is a Quidditch nut, what do you think. I reckon she might even buy me a Nimbus 2000 to use.” He grinned. “We need to spoil Hermione a bit though, she is really scary when she is angry.”
“Agreed, Bambi, agreed.”
“Prongslet?”
“Bambi.”
------oooOOOooo------
Harry’s new broom appeared at breakfast two days later. McLaggan’s hair was still orange and his nose whilst smaller was still red. Hermione was now sat surrounded by the chasers and was struggling to cope with being popular. Daphne, Neville and Tracey were sat opposite and trying not to giggle at Hermione’s discomfort. Ron was sat at the end of their table. He had made no effort to befriend Harry so far, he had appeared in their dorm when they had returned from the try-outs, and had tried to swap bunks with Neville, who had pointed out that He and Harry were godbrothers, and no he wasn’t swapping.
Dumbledore had appeared with McGonagall and had blathered about the need for family unity. Everyone had sat and listened patiently, McLaggan did not get back from Madame Pomfrey until the evening meal, so nothing came of Hermione’s actions.
He demanded his wand back, so Hermione looked him in his face and told him to apologise or she would shrink his testicles to the size of raisins, permanently. He sneered, so she put him in a full body bind with a finger snap.
“Hermione is part elf.” Someone commented.
“If it keeps McLaggan inline she can be part vampire for all I care,” Katie replied from the corner.
“Apologise.” Hermione demanded, McLaggan’s jaw took on a set, he said nothing. “Tippy.” She called. A House elf appeared, “Tippy, please take Mr McLaggan to Myrtle’s bathroom, and leave him there until he learns some manners.
The House elf bowed, “Mistress.” And they popped away.
The common room erupted into laughter. The Twins were on their knees bowing up and down, chanting “We’re not worthy, we’re not worthy.” Harry checked out Ron, who was sitting staring at Hermione, wide eyed.
Harry walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her from behind, “OK there?”
“Mmm,mm” she muttered, she smiled and turned to give him a hug. “I am not anyone’s bitch.” She whispered into his ear. Daphne and Tracey joined in and wrapped Hermione into a group hug. “That was absolutely brilliant Hermione, absolutely brilliant.” Daphne said softly to her friend. “He just might learn.”
Charms was Monday’s second lesson, after history, or as Harry called it, nap time. Hermione sat doing some homework and largely ignored Binns. This was that lesson, Wingardium Leviosa, which had led to the whole Troll-in-a-Toilet episode of their past life. Ronald was once again sat alongside Hermione on the other side to Harry, who had Seamus on his left.
Ron was true to form murdering the pronunciation, and intonation of the spell, and waving his wand fit to have someone’s eye out. Hermione looked across at Harry, and Daphne who was sat up behind Harry, she rolled her eyes hard enough to make a noise. This time Hermione kept her council and made no attempt to correct Ron, Seamus set his feather on fire, Tracey giggled out loud at this. Ron finally stopped waving his arm like a demented orchestra conductor and Hermione quietly levitated her feather, Harry lifted his and set it chasing after Hermione’s. She elbowed him and hissed, “show off.” But ruined the effect by pulling her feather into a Wronski feint onto the desk and giggling to herself.
“Well done, Miss Granger, and Mr Potter, five points each to Gryffindor, lovely control. Lovely. Now Mr Weasley, your movement is incorrect and it is Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the “gar” nice and long, and Levi-O-Sa, not Levi-o-sarr. Try again.” He stood in front of Ron, smiling and rocking back and forth on his feet. Ron’s ears were glowing, but he took a breath and did as instructed, his feather lifted erratically from the bench. Harry remembered that Ron had an old wand, the core was showing at its tip. For a brief moment he missed his friend, they had some adventures together, but somewhere he strayed from being their friend to Dumbledork’s man on the inside. This was the boy that grew up to stab his Hermione with a Basilisk fang, his jealous rages got worse as he got older. Harry wondered if they could get Ron in the toilet ready for the Troll, without getting caught.
Harry tapped Hermione’s elbow, “McLaggan apologised yet?” he whispered.
“Last night, you were showering.”
“Not Troll bait anymore then?”
“No, I did consider sending my murderer there, but he’s just a daft kid at the minute, I can’t bring myself to do it to him at this age.” Harry nodded, he figured it was probably for the best.
As they walked into the feast for Halloween, Harry slipped over to the Hufflepuff table, and put his hands over Tonk’s eyes from behind, “Guess who?” he asked.
“A dead firstie if I catch him.” she replied, “Wotcha Harry.” He removed his hands and sat backwards on the bench next to her.
“If Quirell runs in and shouts ‘Troll in the Dungeon’, two things, you owe me a favour to prank a house mate, and secondly, do not allow the pupils to leave the Hall when Bumblefork sends everyone back to their dorms, since the Puff’s and Snake’s dorms are in the dungeons where the Troll is supposed to be. Mostly the second thing.”
Tonks dropped her head to the table for a minute, she whispered, “They are muppets, the lot of them.”
“Oh, you have a TV at home then?”
“Yeah, Dad’s muggleborn, can’t miss my shows.” She morphed her face to Miss Piggy and batted her eyelashes. Harry sniggered, “Brilliant. Catch you later Tonks.” He got up and headed over to his friends.
“Who was the firstie?” Tonk’s friend Arabella asked.
“Harry Potter, I used to babysit him when he was a toddler, before you-know-what happened. His parents were absolutely lovely. He is a second cousin I think, whatever, he is a nice kid, and I promised myself I would keep an eye out for him and his girlfriend this year.”
“Firstie with a girlfriend?”
“Soul-bonded when they were toddlers. Can’t tell you the story, I swore an oath.”
“Wow, cool.”
The food arrived a few minutes later, this time Harry was sat alongside Hermione, and he did a quick scout around the faces he knew, everyone was there that he could see, Ron was talking with Dean and Seamus near the end of their table, Harry and Hermione were now surrounded by a mix of their friends and the Quidditch team that had adopted them. He glanced up, Snape sneered at him, he smiled his best fake smile back, Quirrell was missing.
Hermione leaned across to Harry, “Try these pasties Harry,” and whispered, “I am connected with the castle wards now, I just felt the Troll pass into the perimeter.” Louder, “They are delicious.”
Harry bit the offered pasty, “Mmmm,” he nodded, they exchanged a glance. The doors to the Hall slammed open and Quirrell minced in, “I just thought you ought to know, there is a Troll in the Dungeons.” And did a pantomime style faint onto the floor. Harry looked at Hermione and they exchanged an eyeroll.
The Hall descended into chaos, Dumbledore sent a few fireworks from his wand to gain everyone’s attention. “Prefects, escort the pupils back to their dorms,” He announced.
“HOLD THAT,” Tonks was stood up on top the end of her table. “Close the doors, the Slytherin and Hufflepuff Dorms are IN the DUNGEONS. PREFECTS to me, we can hold it off if it comes to the Hall.”
She jumped down. Harry watched Dumbledore, his grandfather face had slipped for a moment. Professor Sprout stood, “WELL DONE MISS TONKS, 20 Points to Hufflepuff, for quick thinking.” She turned to the staff table, Fillius and I will hold the doors, if the rest of you wish to sort out the Troll?”
Dumbledore recovered his composure, “Yes of course, good thinking Miss Tonks. Very Good.” Harry sat watching Quirrell. His plan was to slip out in the chaos, now what was he going to do. Harry could not do anything to Quirrellmort, not with four of the Horcruxes still in play, and he didn’t think Susan or the BOSS was going to make an appearance. He picked up a small pie and munched on it watching the total shambles unfolding. The Slytherin table had now worked out that they were nearly sent to meet the troll and their prefects were having some heated words with Snape.
George spoke, Harry had got them identified now, Hermione told him their teeth were slightly different, only she talked about it in dental terminology, bless. “The Bat is getting some stick from the Snake prefects, good job Bean backed up Tonks, it would have been carnage if they had walked into a Troll. Do you reckon it’s a big one?”
“Don’t know,….. Bean?”
“Sprout.”
“OK.”
Harry looked at Hermione who was picking the icing off a bun that she had in her hand, although the desserts were not on the table yet. She looked at him, the picture of innocence, and smiled serenely. The food on the table swapped over to desserts, and Harry picked up a small bat shaped bun, that squeaked when he bit it, causing him to giggle and get icing sugar up his nose.
Later, back in the common room, Hermione and Harry sat with Nev, Tracey and Daphne in their preferred corner, “How long did Squirrel pretend to be out for? I didn’t notice him get up.” Hermione asked the group.
“He got up just after McKitty, Brook and Dumbles walked past.”
“Did he follow them out.”
“Yeah, what good he would be?”
“He could kill the troll, dead easy. It would choke to death on him.” Hermione groaned, and slapped Neville’s arm.
“Your Jokes get worse every week Nev. It’s a good job we like you.” He smiled, they liked him.
George and Fred appeared at the table, and passed Harry a folded piece of parchment. He looked up at them and said, “Mischief Managed.” Smiling. The pair laughed and patting him on the shoulders went back to their own group.
The following Morning at breakfast one of the Patil sisters, Harry hadn’t figured which was which one yet this time around, stopped off and gave Tracey the low down on the School rumour mill;
The Troll had been cornered in a first floor corridor, and taken away. No-one had been hurt.
OR
It had been cornered in a second floor toilet block, which had been demolished and a First year girl had been badly injured.
OR
It had been stopped in the dungeons and had injured D.Bat in the struggle.
The aforementioned Dungeon Bat walked to the head table, he was limping slightly Harry thought, had Fluffy had a nip last hight he wondered.
Professor McGonagall passed Harry a note as she walked to her table. As Harry unrolled it and was reading it Hedwig landed and offered her leg to Hermione. It was a letter from her parents. She passed Hedwig a piece of bacon and stroked the birds feathers.
“You bird is beautiful Harry.” Tracey said.
“Mm’mm, Hedwig is nice as well,” he replied.
Hermione slapped him, “Prat,”
Harry laughed to himself, “Yeah, but your prat,” She smacked him again and huffed.
As they headed off to lessons, Harry dropped back to talk to Hermione, “Madame Bones is coming to collect Susan for their Samhain ceremony tonight, she wants half an hour with us before dinner, six o’clock, Minnie suggests we bring a guest.”
“Do we know where he is?”
“I checked the map before breakfast, he was with Ron, we can scoop him up at some point today. We need a cage, do we check the room of hidden things, or can your army of minions provide us with one?
“You love the fact that Rowena made me her spiritual heir within the castle, and the Elves all answer my call don’t you?”
“I must admit it does amuse me, but we do understand elves a lot better than you did first time around. Will they be able to rustle up an unbreakable rat sized cage, do you think?”
“I can ask, they might even fetch the rat.”
“Maybe, maybe. Anything in your letter?”
“One in code from Dad, usual from mum, checking we are OK, and not bonking yet.”
“She did not say that?”
“No but she does ask ‘how our relationship is’ quite regularly. I am tempted to pull a Tonks and tell her something really naughty.”
“Like eating in the library?”
“Prat.” Harry laughed.
Harry was sat with Hermione in the common room at around a quarter to six, checking on the map, they could see Ronald Weasley and Peter Pettigrew’s names overlapping on it and coming down the stairs from the dorm. They exchanged glances and pocketed their notebooks. Hermione had the cage shrunken in her robes pocket. They stood and casually followed Ron out of the common room. He predictably was heading for dinner. This would take them past McGonagall’s office, Harry sent his patronus on ahead to ask her to stop Ron and invite him in for a word. Ron jumped as the ghostly panther bounded past him, but didn’t slow down.
Professor McGonagall stepped out into the corridor on cue, “Mr Weasley, could I have a moment of your time, and you two as well, Mr Potter, Miss Granger.” Harry had a moment of déjà vu as he heard those words. Scabbers/Pettigrew, was having none of it and exploded out of Ron’s pocket and made a run for it.
Hermione reacted as quickly flowing into her animagus form and bounded down the corridor catching the rat within thirty feet. Madame Bones had appeared at the door attracted by the rather girly squeals from Ron as he panicked being passed by Hermione’s leopard form. Harry was sat in his Panther form watching carefully. A loud shrill squeak announced Hermione’s capture of the Rat and Harry switched back to his human form.
McGonagall gave him a long appraising look and Hermione arrived and padded past Amy Bones and entered the office. Harry put his hand on Ron’s shoulder. “You need to see this Ron. That’s no more a Rat, than I am a Panther.” He looked at Ron, he was visibly scared. They went into the office. Hermione was sat in front of the desk with a paw holding the rat in place. The rat struggled, attempting to escape, her claws extended and it went very still. Harry pulled his wand out and sent a low powered stupefy into the rat, whispering the word, so as not to arouse suspicions too highly.
Hermione Leopard looked at the rat, and transformed back to herself, pulling the cage out of her pocket and returning it to its previous size. Harry dropped Wormtail into the cage, and closed the top, snapping the catch over to lock it. “Enervate” Wormtail-Pettigrew bounced around the small cage.
“Peter, Wormtail. Don’t transform in the cage, it’s a goblin made animagus cage. It will not break.” Harry looked up at the people in the office. “Sorry Ron, your rat Scabbers is an animagus, known as Wormtail to my parents. Peter Pettigrew in human form. He betrayed my parents and my Godfather, he caused the death of my mother and father, and framed Sirius Black for everything, including murdering him, Peter Pettigrew.” Ron was red faced and looking fit to burst. “How old is Scabbers Ron?”
“What, erm about twelve maybe, Percy found him. Years ago.”
“November 1981 Ron. After he showed Voldemort where my parents were. Rats live two to three years. You have had a man hiding in your house for years Ron, has he touched Ginny in her sleep Ron? or did he touch you in your sleep when you were little?” Ron’s eyes rolled back in his head and he fainted. Harry turned to Madame Bones, “Do you need him in human form, or can you take the rat?”
“We can take the rat. Since we are talking about animagi, I see you are both animagus as well. Are you by any chance registered?” her eyebrows raised at this question.
“We are. In France, our mother is French. We mastered the transformation there, so we registered with their Ministry, they will have sent a notification, I am sure you have a copy. Somewhere.” Hermione said innocently.
Amelia laughed, “Well played, yes you will be on our system somewhere. Sirius Black is your godfather isn’t he young man? That is straight out of his playbook.” Harry smiled, it was Sirius’s idea. “I will take Mr Pettigrew into the DMLE, I can transform him, if he remains a rat, we shall be having a very different conversation, but I already noted the missing finger, he has a date with some veratiserum, and we shall get to the bottom of all of this.”
Ron had recovered, “Mr Weasley, I suggest you pop to see Madame Pomfrey after you have eaten, by then I will have confirmation from Madame Bones about your rat. If it is indeed Pettigrew, we shall be visiting your home, I will have to tell Molly and Arthur this news face to face.” She turned to Harry and Hermione, “You two should go get some dinner, this is a big step for you Harry.” Harry nodded his thanks and left the office with Hermione.
“What does Rat taste like then Hermione?” She slapped him and huffed.
“Unbreakable goblin made animagus cage?” she asked eyebrows raised.
“Pettigrew believed it, I think it was a mundane cat carrier.” They entered the Great Hall.
As they finished dinner, McGonagall walked to their table, she leaned over to Harry and Hermione, “you will be pleased to hear that Pettigrew is singing like a canary, and that he has confirmed your version of events. Madame Bones asked me to tell you she will be transferring Sirius back to the DMLE from Azkaban, and his release is now a formality, she will be in touch with you about this later.” She walked down the table and spoke quietly to Ron, who finished his drink quickly and then followed her out of the room, followed by his brothers.
Harry turned to Hermione, “did you ever read your Dad’s note?”
“Yes, it’s some ideas for secure communications, to allow us to write to Ted or Gringotts or Madame Bones securely. He also asked a few questions about how the castle security systems worked, if there are any blind spots in the coverage, and if we could hack into it.”
“You have the equivalent of Rowena’s passwords for the wards in the castle, we should have a look at adding us to the wards so we can apparate in and out, and so that we aren’t tracked in our animal forms?
“Sounds like a job when we know jingles is out of the castle.”
“Jingles?”
“Twinspeak, Dum-bell-door, jingles. They have decided all professors now have to have nicknames.”
“I worry what they will call Prof. Flitwick.”
“Tease”
Harry’s eyebrows furrowed, “Nope, don’t get it.”
“Half Goblin. After a muggle item their dad has in his workshop, a Goblin Teasmaid”
“I think they might need something else, we live in that world and I have never heard of that.”
“Their other thoughts were mostly offensive.”
“I don’t think that one will catch on,”
“You are probably right.”
“Thinking of Jingles, how long before he tries to assert himself as my magical guardian, for my safety and the ‘Greater Good’ and try to send me back to the Dursley’s.”
“Next Wizangamot is after Christmas now, I don’t think he will try to call an emergency session?”
“If he does Minnie and Ted should be able to deal with it.”
“Unless he tries something at Pettigrew’s Trial, that will be sooner rather than later?”
“Ted will be there representing Sirius’s interests, I am sure he can at least stall Dumbles.”
“Not Jingles?”
“I prefer Dumbles.”
“Me too.”