Hari Potter and the Underground Chambers - happystingray - Harry Potter (2024)

Chapter 1: The Boy Who Found a Home

Chapter Text

"Albus, they're awful! I've seen the way those people treat him. It is not safe for a child to grow up in that environment!" Minerva McGonagall was pacing angrily back and forth in front of Albus Dumbledore's desk, voice echoing around the large room so that the paintings mounted on the wall glared at her as she passed.

"But it is far more dangerous if he stays elsewhere. You know that," Albus replied calmly, "Lily died for Hari and that created a protection that can only be maintained if he stays with his family."

Minerva huffed, stopping to glare at Albus, hands on her hips. "Surely there's another way, Albus! Hari is only four and he sleeps in a cupboard under the staircase! The last time I went to check on them, he looked as though he weighed about the same as my cat form! You can't possibly expect him to be healthy much longer in this condition!"

"Minerva—"

"I'll take him if I have to! I have plenty of space in my house so he wouldn't have to sleep in a bloody cupboard and I have space in my wards here as well!" Minerva exclaimed, pointing a finger directly in Albus' face, cheeks growing slightly pink with her rising anger. "Monthly visits to the Dursley's perhaps, so that he still can maintain your blood ties with them but he can grow up healthy instead of malnourished and abused!"

Albus fixed Minerva with a searching look, taking in her every micro expression, leaving Minerva exposed. She closed off her mind, tutting at his habit of Legilimency whenever it suited him. He sighed, pressing his fingers together on top of his desk, still watching Minerva wandering back and forth in frustration.

Ever since leaving Hari on the step of the Dursley house, she made regular visits to their garden wall to keep an eye on little Hari and watched with growing futility as they ignored and belittled and ostracised the small child. He was a jumpy, easily frightened child that jumped at every sudden noise and was quick to cower at quick movements, making Minerva's fur stand on end from where she watched on the garden wall. Now, after another trip to Privet Drive in which she saw Vernon Dursley shout at Hari to tears for accidentally knocking over a potted plant that didn't even break. As his fist had raised and Hari flinched, that was the final straw that sent Minerva Apparating straight to Hogsmeade and marching up to Albus' office.

"I will consider it, Minerva…" Albus said, breaking Minerva out of her thoughts. She paused, peering over her shoulder at the older man staring at her over his spectacles.

Once she processed his words, Minerva straightened up, turning to face him directly. "Good. Consider it very carefully, Albus because if you want the boy to be even remotely healthy or happy, you have to do something…" And with her final words, Minerva excused herself from his office and made her way back towards her home in the Highlands.

"... and that is a flutterby bush. It only has flowers once a century," Minerva was explaining almost a month later, walking around the back garden of her Caithness household, tiny four year old Hari held on her hip as she showed him around. Minerva glanced down at her watch. "It's already almost half past noon! Would you like some lunch, Hari?"

The messy haired four year old nodded, face lighting up in excitement. Minerva smiled fondly and carried Hari back towards the house, setting about making them both some lunch. Hari watched in fascination as she made the cutlery and food float about the kitchen, preparing themselves at the simple flick of a wand.

Almost a fortnight after Minerva stormed into Albus' office, she received a letter through Fawkes the phoenix, telling her to come to the castle immediately. There they discussed the complicated aspects that would go into Minerva raising Hari for most of the time, the various wards and enchantments and charms they would need to place on her house in order to ensure Hari's safety when he was no longer at Privet Drive. There was endless paperwork and meetings she had to go through, including an inspection from the Wizarding Childhood Protection Force.

Finally, after almost a month of planning and sleepless nights, Minerva arrived on the doorstep of Privet Drive once again, dressed in plain Muggle clothes, prepared to collect Hari and sign off the last paperwork giving her custody of him. She was in and out of the house in less than fifteen minutes, helping to pick up the box full of everything Hari owned, which was sickeningly empty.

Hari had been understandably wary of Minerva at first, staring up at her with his big green eyes that reminded her fondly of one of her favourite students and tugged at her heartstrings as she realised how neglected the child had been. After shrinking his items down to fit inside her coat pocket and taking the Knight Bus back home, Minerva helped Hari to unpack before showing him around the house.

"Are you a witch?" Hari asked as Minerva magically hovered their plates over to the dining table to eat their lunch. She couldn't help but notice how his voice went quiet on the last word.

"I am," she replied easily, smiling as Hari immediately began eating his sandwich. "And you're a wizard," she added.

Hari stared up at her with wide eyes once again, sandwich lying forgotten on his plate. "Really? I can do magic?" he asked, excitement evident on his face.

"Not yet, but once you get a little older, I should think."

"Cool!" Hari exclaimed, returning to his lunch immediately.

A few weeks later, Hari's fifth birthday was coming up and Minerva was attempting to contact as many of James and Lily's known school friends to invite them over for dinner. She knew for a fact that Hari would not have had a birthday party since his first one and was adamant that this time he was able to celebrate his birthday surrounded by loving people bearing presents. Of course, she couldn't invite too many people as she knew Hari would be scared of all those strangers, but a handful would do.

In the end, Remus Lupin, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Rubeus Hagrid came to visit. While Hari was in the living room, playing with the new Hogwarts Express model Minerva got him for his birthday, Minerva answered the door to find Remus was the first to arrive. He looked exhausted, heavy bags under his formerly bright eyes and his clothes were somewhat loose on his thin frame. Minerva let him inside, keeping quiet about his unwell experience as she remembered how recent the full moon had been.

"How is he?" Remus asked in a whisper as he followed Minerva into the kitchen, carrying a small wrapped up present in trembling hands.

"He looks almost exactly like James," she replied, "His hair is just as untidy, mind you." Remus laughed awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot. Minerva opened her mouth to continue or to offer him a cup of tea, but was cut off by another knock at the door. "Excuse me, Remus. I'll go get that."

Remus was glancing around the kitchen, nervously drumming his fingers along the wrapped paper when he heard a door open. He glanced up at the sound and almost dropped the present on the ground as a tiny, miniature James creeped into the room, looking up at him. Remus stared at the small, alarmingly thin child, at a complete loss for words. He was the spitting image of his father with his wavy dark hair and his tawny brown skin, but for the lightning scar on his forehead and Lily's vibrant, piercing green eyes which stared directly at him right now. He had almost forgotten how he had her eyes…

"Remus is just through here, Kingsley…" Minerva was saying, leading the other guest inside. "Oh, I see Hari has come in." Kingsley stopped just inside the doorway, looking down at Hari as the child turned to fix his gaze on the new person. Minerva crouched down in front of Hari, noticing his unease at the two new visitors. "Hari, this is Kingsley. He went to school with your dad." She gestured behind her at Kingsley. "And that's Remus. He was one of your dad's best friends."

Hari nodded understandingly and moved around the kitchen table towards Remus. He froze, clutching the present for dear life. He hadn’t seen Hari in almost 3 years and was far more unprepared to see him again than he thought. "I know you," Hari said simply, blinking up at Remus.

"D-do you?" he asked, tilting his head. Hari couldn't possibly remember him, could he?

Hari nodded. "Minnie showed me your photos with my mum and dad," Hari explained. Remus glanced up at Minerva at Hari's nickname for her. Hari jumped as another knock on the door came. "Are you both wizards, too?" Hari asked, looking back and forth between Kingsley and Remus.

"Yes, we are," Kingsley replied in his deep voice. Hari nodded in understanding.

"Shall we take this to the back garden since it's a nice day?" Minerva suggested, returning to the kitchen doorway.

Everyone made their way through the large double doors leading out into the back garden where a large table materialised immediately. Hagrid appeared around the corner of the house, beaming at those in the garden. Hari's eyes bulged as he took in the massive man standing in front of him, holding a slightly squashed looking cake box in one of his huge hands. As he looked down at Hari, his eyes began to tear up.

"Hello there!" Hagrid greeted, waving cheerfully at Hari despite the tears. Hari ignored the other adults setting up the table with the food and presents. "I'm Hagrid."

"Hello," Hari said, still wide eyed. "I'm Hari Potter." Hagrid laughed weakly. "Are you a wizard?"

Minerva glanced up from the table at Hari's question. "Sorry, Hagrid. Hari's favourite question is to ask everyone he meets if they're a witch or wizard," she explained to a bewildered Hagrid.

He waved his hand dismissively. "No matter, Minerva," he replied heartily, "Aye, I suppose you can call me a wizard."

A little while later, everyone was sitting around the table Minerva conjured up, digging into the large chocolate cake Hagrid had brought or the green and red sheet cake Minerva already had made. Hagrid, sitting in a magically enlarged chair at the head of the table, was already deep into a conversation with Kingsley while Hari insisted on asking Remus a multitude of strange questions.

"Can you make things float like Minnie?"

"Can you fly?"

"What's your favourite colour?"

"What's your favourite food?"

"Can you make things turn into other stuff?"

Remus took Hari's questions in stride, growing more comfortable as the time went by. He had missed seeing Hari grow up, thankful that he could finally see him once again, even if it was still quite painful. The last time Remus had seen him, James and Lily had been alive. How remarkably like his parents Hari looked did nothing to help him forget about this. But as Hari continued to bombard the whole table with questions about magic or mundane childish queries, he found himself laughing with ease once again, cheeks sore from smiling so much again.

As Hari went to bed that night, he was talking almost nonstop. It had been the best birthday he could ever remember. Remus gifted him with a children's book, Beedle the Bard, which he immediately made Remus read him one of the stories; Kingsley got him a large stuffed dragon which roared like a real dragon; and Hagrid gave Hari his very own knitted bobble hat, made in a vibrant green with a yellow and red bobble on the top. Minerva shushed the chattering Hari as she tucked him into bed with his stuffed dragon, promising to read him more of the Beedle the Bard stories the next day.

Hari fell asleep quickly, smiling at the best birthday he had in years.

Chapter 2: Life at Hogwarts

Chapter Text

A few weeks later, term was to be starting back at Hogwarts. Minerva was going to be moving into a larger ward with Hari where they would each have their own bedroom, along with the usual small kitchen and living area. After an overnight stay at the Dursley's, in which Minerva ended up sleeping on top of their garden wall to keep an eye on Hari, Minerva brought Hari back home to bring his things to Hogwarts a couple days before term started so that they could get settled in and Hari could meet all the new teachers.

Filius Flitwick and Pomona Sprout took to Hari immediately when Minerva arrived with Hari that night. Filius was only a few inches taller than Hari, who was fascinated by the way he could make items float with ease. Meanwhile, Pomona showed the eager Hari around some of the safer parts of the greenhouses, careful to avoid the poisonous or lively plants as he asked her endless questions about the plants. Severus Snape, however, was distant and awkward at the boy's arrival, apparently too busy in his potions classroom to even talk to Hari. Hari, who was used to being shut out by adults who wanted nothing to do with him, did not bother to question Snape's coolness towards him.

Hari was awed at the sight of the vast night sky on the ceiling of the Great Hall, jaw dropping as he followed Minerva inside for the first time, craning his neck to see the clouds above. He was even more excited by the way the candles floated in the air and the food suddenly appeared in front of him where he sat on a chair similar to Filius' at the staff table.

On the first evening when all the students arrived, Hari watched excitedly as all the students began to file into the large room, sitting down at one of the four tables. Minerva was nowhere to be seen, having gone to greet the new first year students. Hari could see many people looking in his direction with interest, some even pointing at him as they talked to each other about the small child now seated with the teachers. Pomona was telling Hari about the Sorting Ceremony when Hagrid settled in his usual seat at the table and the doors to the Great Hall revealed Minerva, leading a swarm of 11 year olds behind her.

Hari watched in fascination as one by one, Minerva called up each student by their name so they could wear the Sorting Hat before going to sit at the table for the house they were sorted into. He cheered along with the rest of the students and staff as each person was sorted, until finally Minerva returned to her seat beside Hari and asked him what he thought of the ceremony.

"It was awesome! Do they do that every year?" he asked as Albus stood up to address the students.

"Welcome back, everyone. I will not keep you waiting too long, as I know you are all hungry." He paused as Hari's stomach rumbled loudly. "So without further ado, enjoy the feast."

Tonight's feast was even more delicious than the previous evening's meals, Hari noticed with glee. He watched the students talking to each other as he ate, uninterested in the teachers' discussions about the upcoming year as he fantasized about what it would be like when he was one of the students one day, getting sorted into one of the 4 houses and making friends with kids his own age. He hoped he would find some good friends.

Finally, once everyone was beginning to finish their desserts and Hari was beginning to grow tired from the evening's events, Albus stood up to address the school once more and the room fell silent. "I hope you all enjoyed your feast. As you all know, the forest is forbidden to all students," Albus explained, looking among the crowd at several students in particular, "And I am sure you have all noticed our newcomer." Hari perked up, cheeks burning, as Albus gestured towards him. "This is Mr. Hari Potter, who will now be living here with us." A tension filled the room and whispers picked up along every table. "I hope you all will welcome him to the school as he is just as much a part of Hogwarts as every one of you."

Hari felt suddenly nervous having all eyes on him, whispering about him. He felt like an animal in a zoo, watched and stared at by everyone else. Minerva patted Hari on the arm, seemingly noticing his unease. "And now, I bid you all good night." As Albus finished his speech and everyone else began to make their way out of the Hall and towards their common rooms, Minerva led Hari out through a side door and they made their way towards their sleeping quarters.

"Minnie, why was everyone staring at me like that?" Hari asked as they stepped behind a hidden doorway behind a tapestry depicting Ladon and the Nemian lion which led towards their sleeping quarters. He watched Minerva hover her wand over a rune etched into the stone and a wooden door appeared in front of them and they stepped inside.

Hari followed Minerva through the living room and kitchen into his bedroom. "I will tell you the full story when you're a bit older, but it's because of your mum and dad," she explained as Hari dressed into his pyjamas. "I suppose it is also because children do not normally grow up at Hogwarts, so it must be strange to see one at the staff table like you were."

"Do you think they'll like me, Minnie?" Hari asked after brushing his teeth and getting into bed. Minerva was sitting at the foot of the bed, folding Hari's clothes for him to put in the chest of drawers.

"Of course they will," Minerva replied, getting up from the bed and ruffling his already messy curls. "Why wouldn't they like you?"

Hari shrugged."None of the other kids used to like me. And I don't think Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon like me either," Hari replied, burrowing down under the covers, "And I don't think Snape liked me either. He didn't even say hello." Minerva held her tongue at Hari's comments about both his past and the way Severus had acted around him. She would be having a word with him soon as she did not want Hari growing up with even more adults acting like that towards him.

"Don't worry about any of that, Hari, okay? I'm sure all the students will love you," Minerva insisted, moving towards the door and flicking the lights off with a wave of his wand.

"Good night, Minnie."

"Good night, Hari."

In the coming weeks, Hari got used to life at Hogwarts. Minerva spent most of her day teaching students in her class while Hari got passed from teacher to teacher to get looked after when one of them had a free period. He followed Hagrid around the grounds, trying to help him with smaller tasks while he told Hari about some of the creatures at Hogwarts or his various duties. Filius entertained Hari by showing him various different charms to make things float or move or Summon them across the room. Even Madam Hooch enjoyed Hari's company, letting him ride a broom a foot above the ground with her support and answering his questions about Quidditch.

The only person that was not keen on babysitting Hari was Professor Snape. Minerva tutted to herself at his facial expressions when she insisted that no one else was able to watch Hari. However, he did agree to watch Hari, telling him to sit still and quiet with whatever toy or book he brought along while he graded papers or made potions. Hari watched him intently, curious about the things he made in his cauldrons, but knowing not to interrupt him like when Uncle Vernon watched the news or read the paper.

It was a particularly cold morning and Hari was following Snape through the castle, mildly entertained by his black cloak sweeping the floor at his heels. They had not long left the dungeons, apparently on their way to meet with the Defence teacher about something when they came across a corridor which was completely covered in puddles lining the floor. Snape stopped suddenly and Hari, so focused on looking at the puddles, bumped into him. He apologised profusely, face burning and stepping away instantly. Snape made no comment and moved towards the door where the flooding was coming from.

A shrill, weepy voice called when they stepped inside what seemed to Hari to be a large toilet. "C-come back to laugh at me, are you?" the voice cried.

"Reveal yourself," Snape ordered, looking unimpressed.

From inside one of the cubicles came a teenage girl, apparently crying. However, she was a ghost, hovering above the ground, grey and transparent with thick glasses and a school uniform on. "Ah, Myrtle. Of course," said Snape, lip curling. "Explain what is wrong."

Myrtle hiccoughed, wiping tears from her face. "P-Peeves was m-making f-f-fun of me and so I c-came in here t-to cry, but someone e-else came in and t-teased me for c-crying!" she stammered through further fits of tears. She was incredibly difficult to understand with all her crying and young Hari had to try very hard to understand anything she was saying.

"Peeves is always like that. I suggest you ignore him so as to avoid further teasing or… flooding of your lavatory." Snape did not bother to wait for a reply from Myrtle and turned to leave, silently making the water covering the tiles disappear with a flick of his wand.

Hari stayed still for a moment, looking between the still crying Myrtle and Snape standing impatiently in the doorway. "I hope you feel better soon, Myrtle. Peeves isn't very nice," Hari told Myrtle before shuffling away after the waiting professor.

"You did not have to say that to her," Snape said in the corridor as they continued to make their way towards the Defence teacher's office.

"But she was crying! I felt bad."

Snape glanced down at him, expression unreadable to Hari. They stopped outside of a door and Snape knocked sharply a few times. "Myrtle is almost always crying about something. Hardly anything seems to calm her down," Snape replied. Hari wanted to reply but was cut off by the door opening to reveal the Defence professor. "Ah, Wilfred. I need to speak to you privately."

Wilfred eyed Hari standing behind him, raising a wispy white eyebrow curiously. "Not very private with a five year old, is it?" he commented, smirking.

"I'm sure if we meet in your classroom he can sit far enough away that he won't hear us," Snape said with a sneer, gesturing down the hallway in the direction of the Defence classroom. With a resigned sigh, Wilfred agreed to join Snape in the classroom, Hari trotting after them in an effort to keep up despite his much shorter legs.

"Minnie, where are we going?" Hari asked a few weeks later as he followed a very agitated Minerva up many flights of stairs. He was panting for breath in his effort to climb all the very steep staircases and keep up with her strides, almost stumbling over several times in his haste. Minerva finally stopped walking once they reached a painting even taller than Minerva, depicting a currently sleeping, rather large woman in a large, frilly pink dress.

Minerva held up a finger at Hari's question and instead turned towards the painting, clearing her throat loudly. The lady in the painting startled awake, looking around before straightening up at the sight of Minerva McGonagall standing before her. "Oh! Professor! What are you doing here?" the painting asked, smoothing down her dress and shifting uncomfortably in the seat she was on. "Is this the little fella you've taken on?"

"It is," Minerva replied shortly, reaching her hand behind her for Hari to take."Now, may I please enter my common room? I believe the password is currently 'gillyweed?'" Hari knitted his eyebrows together and glanced up at Minerva questioningly before the painting swung forwards to reveal a doorway. "Come along, Hari, dear," Minerva said, pulling Hari after her through the passageway.

On the other side of the passageway was a large circular room full of overstuffed couches, a few tables and a roaring fireplace, all covered in bright red. A window on either side of the room looked down at the grounds. Inside the room was a large number of students dotted around the room, all looking up at their arrival in surprise.

"May I please speak with one of the prefects?" Minerva asked, eyeing the room sternly. Hari hid behind her robes at all the people staring directly at him, whispering to their friends curiously. He really hated their attention. Clearly noticing Hari's unease, Minerva bent down and lifted Hari up, resting him on her hip. "Are there any prefects here at all?" she snapped.

At once, one of the students scuttled out of the room and up a staircase leading somewhere Hari did not know. After a few seconds, the student that left the room returned, followed closely by a tall red haired boy wearing a Gryffindor tie and an untucked shirt. He moved towards Minerva, tucking his shirt in as he went. "Professor, you asked to speak with me?" the boy asked, glancing momentarily at Hari with a friendly smile.

"Yes, I am unfortunately needed elsewhere, as are the rest of the staff, and I did not know who else I could ask to watch Hari while everyone was busy," Minerva explained carefully. "I normally would not ask anyone else of this, but it's urgent, Bill."

The boy—Bill—nodded understandingly, still grinning. "Of course, Professor. Not a problem at all," he replied, "I have 6 younger siblings, so I'm sure I can handle watching Hari for a bit."

Minerva sighed in relief. "Wonderful. It hopefully won't be long," Minerva said, letting Hari back onto the ground. "I will be back later to collect Hari. You shouldn't have to do much besides make sure he stays in the common room and avoids going into the fireplace." She smirked. "I'm sure you can manage that."

She whispered something Hari did not hear in Bill, who frowned but nodded. "I'll see you later, Hari," she said, ruffling his curly hair and making her way back out of the common room.

When Hari turned back to the rest of the common room, he felt all eyes on him and the silence made him incredibly uncomfortable. Hari shuffled on his feet, clutching his stuffed dragon tighter to his chest. Bill kneeled down in front of him. "Hiya, Hari. I'm Bill. Do you want to go and sit over on the couch with me?" he asked, smiling brightly. Behind him, another red haired boy, a couple years younger, started making his way over. Bill moved over so that the other boy could smile at Hari as well. "This is my younger brother Charlie."

"Nice to meet you," Hari said shyly, still holding his dragon defensively.

"That's a cool toy you've got there, Hari. Do you like dragons?" Charlie asked, gesturing towards the stuffed toy in Hari's arms. He had a similar smile to Bill's, friendly and inviting, though he was slightly wider and shorter than Bill was. Hari followed the two boys towards the couch, still looking around the empty room. "Stop staring at the poor kid, he's not a zoo exhibit," Charlie said to the room. Hari could not hide his relief as the rest of the room returned to their former conversations and most people stopped watching Hari interestedly.

Hari sat down in front of the fire, careful not to go too near but enjoying the comfortable warmth radiating from it. Bill and Charlie settled on the couch and Hari turned to look up at them both. "Did you say you have 6 siblings?" Hari asked Bill, tucking his feet under himself and sitting up straighter.

Bill chuckled. "I do, yeah. Besides Charlie, there's Percy, Fred, George, Ron and our little sister Ginny," he explained, ticking off on his fingers.

"Ron's your age, actually," Charlie added.

"Is he nice like you guys?" Hari asked, face lighting up at the prospect of making another friend his age. He still had not met many others his age and would have liked to have someone he could talk to someday.

"Oh, yeah. Definitely. I'm sure he'd like you," Charlie replied. Bill nodded in agreement. "Can I see your dragon? I promise I'll be careful." Hari hesitated for a moment, looking at Charlie's outstretched hand before relenting and handing it over to him. He smiled, turning the toy over in his hands.

"Charlie loves dragons," Bill pointed out, "He has loads of books about them."

Charlie rolled his eyes, still inspecting the stuffed dragon with interest. "I wouldn't say I have loads, but I have a fair few. Not my fault dragons are awesome, William." Bill snorted and rolled his eyes. "It's a cool toy, Hari. Thanks," Charlie added, handing Hari back the stuffed dragon. He muttered his thanks and put the dragon back on the ground.

For the next few hours, Hari was kept entertained by Charlie and Bill as they did their homework and answered his questions. Charlie told Hari random dragon facts and showed him one of his books about dragons, filled with different pictures of dragons that flew around inside their tiny photo frames. By the time Minerva returned to collect him, Hari was curled up in front of the fire with his dragon, eyes heavy as he started to fall asleep.

"Thank you both so much for watching him," he heard Minerva's voice whispering, "I hope he wasn't too much trouble?"

He heard Bill say, "He was no trouble at all, Professor. Believe me, compared to our other brothers, he was a saint."

"Yeah, all he did was ask me about dragons and about our siblings," Charlie added.

Hari sat up at the sound of Minerva's approaching footsteps and let her lift him up carefully. "Can someone please open the portrait hole for me? My hands are a bit full," Minerva whispered, adjusting her hold on Hari so that he didn't drop his stuffed animal. She carried him slowly out through the portrait hole again, whispering her thanks to someone and carrying him all the way back to their quarters. Hari had already fallen asleep before they even got past the tapestry covering the entrance to their quarters.

Chapter 3: Father's Son

Chapter Text

"Hari, dear, please be careful up there," called Minerva at the adventurous 6 year old currently climbing far too high up a tree in the garden, surely giving Minerva several new grey hairs. She was standing in the back door leading to the kitchen of their Caithness house, watching carefully while still talking to Remus sitting on the patio seat with a book. "He really is like James sometimes, isn't he?" she said, turning to Remus.

He looked up from his book and over at Hari swinging from one of the branches, giggling to himself. Remus snorted, marking the page in his book and putting it on the table. "Almost certainly. Hopefully he doesn't get his rule breaking habit as well,” Remus replied, still watching Hari over in the tree.

"I certainly hope not. You and your friends gave me enough grey hairs, as it is!" Minerva exclaimed, lifting Remus' book and swatting his arm playfully. "He's certainly looking to be getting his love of riding a broom as well, I might add. He hasn't stopped pestering me about it for weeks."

"Like father like son," Remus replied casually, getting up from his seat and following Minerva into the kitchen where she poured them each a glass of lemonade. "I don't know how you manage to take care of him, Minerva. You're doing an impeccable job," Remus commented, leaning one hand on the table. Minerva was glancing out the window into the garden as Hari clambered out of the tree.

"I couldn't just leave him at the Dursley's for good. I couldn't live with myself," she replied simply, taking a sip of her drink. "He's certainly boisterous, but he keeps me on my toes and I really do adore him."

Remus walked over to stand next to her and look out the window as well. He bumped his shoulder lightly into hers. "It would mean a lot to James and Lily, you know. Having you to take care of Hari like he's your own. You didn't have to do it and yet you did." He cleared his throat awkwardly, eyes burning and he turned away from Minerva. He shouldn't be so choked up over this.

"Really, it's worth it. I wouldn't ask for anything more," she replied, eyeing him from the side and moving back outside. Hari was now crouching on the ground, poking a snail in the dirty with a twig. "How was the last full moon? It was last week, wasn't it?" she asked, turning away from Hari once again.

Remus took a sip of his lemonade while he came up with a reply. "It… wasn't the worst I've had. They're never very pleasant, but I managed," Remus replied slowly, settling back in his chair. Their conversation ended as Hari, learly bored of climbing trees and harassing snails, jogged over to join them at the table. "Hello, Hari. Did you enjoy the tree?" Remus asked conversationally, giving Hari a one armed hug.

Hari nodded. "Yeah! Did you see how high I got?" he asked excitedly. "Minnie, can I please have some lemonade as well?" Minerva rolled her eyes but nodded, going back inside to get Hari his own drink. Hari sat down in the seat across from Remus, drumming his fingers on the table. "Did you see how high I got, Rem?" Hari asked again.

"I did indeed. Be careful, though. You don't want to scare Minnie, do you?" he joked, winking. "Did you enjoy your birthday last week? I'm sorry I had to miss it."

Minerva returned with a glass of lemonade, which she placed in front of Hari. "Thank you, Minnie!" he chimed, picking the glass up with both hands. "It was really fun! Thank you for the Chocolate Frog and the Quidditch poster! Minnie let me put it on my wall!" Remus laughed, telling Hari it was no trouble at all.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner, Remus? You look far too thin," Minerva was saying a couple hours later after Remus denied her offer of another glass of Firewhiskey while they were sitting in the living room.

"I'm very sure, Minerva. Thank you for the offer." He waved his hand, moving towards the front door. Minerva gave him a stern look, still holding onto the half finished bottle of Ogden's. Sensing she wouldn't take no for an answer, Remus let his shoulders drop with a sigh. "Alright, I'll stay for dinner." Hari, who had been watching this whole exchange from where he had been sitting reading a book on the floor, jumped up at the prospect of having dinner with Remus.

"Come. It won't take long."

"I can help. I know how to cook," Remus offered as they walked into the kitchen. Hari hopped onto the stool Minerva got him so that he could help her in the kitchen, leaning his elbows on the counter and watching the two adults talking. "It's the least I can do."

"Nonsense, Remus. I can cook perfectly well on my own," Minerva insisted. "Hari, why don't you show Remus the poster on the wall while I cook?"

"Okay!" Hari jumped off the stool and grabbed Remus' hand, pulling him towards the stairs leading up to his bedroom. Hari's bedroom was small yet comfortable with a bed, a closet and a small desk and chair. He had a window looking out into the back garden, covered with small curtains in a thick maroon which matched his bedspread. On the wall behind his bed, Hari had stuck up a poster depicting the current Seeker of the Montrose Magpies who flew around the poster trying to catch a snitch. He also had a few photos of his parents, a photo with Remus and a few with Minerva and Hagrid and even a photo of Hogwarts castle.

"It certainly fits in perfectly with the room, Hari," Remus commented as they stepped inside the room. Hari picked up a book from the floor and put it on top of the desk, mentally reminding himself to put it back on the bookshelf downstairs later. "Is it permanently attached?" Remus asked, stepping closer to inspect the poster.

Hari shook his head, hopping onto his bed and bouncing slightly on his knees. "No, I wanted to bring it to Hogwarts as well," Hari explained. He crawled over to the wall and carefully pulled the photo of him and Remus off the wall, showing it to the latter. The photo was taken when Remus came to visit during Christmas break last year, taken in the back garden. There was snow covering the trees and the ground behind them as Hari laughed from where he was sitting on Remus' back, arms wrapped around his neck while they both grinned at the camera. "I like to have this in my room at Hogwarts as well," Hari said as Remus smiled at the photo. The Hari in the photo waved at him, still grinning widely.

"It's a good photo," Remus commented, handing it back to Hari so he could replace it on the wall with some spellotape from his desk. "I like the one of you and Minerva there, too. When was that taken?" Remus asked, gesturing to one of the photos where Hari was holding Minerva's hand while they stood in a cobblestone street somewhere.

"That's Godric's Hollow. We went with Hagrid during Easter break," Hari replied, missing the way Remus' smile fell from his face at the mention of Godric's Hollow. He had only returned to that village on 2 other occasions since James and Lily died, finding it too painful to return otherwise. Hari pointed to another photo of him and Minerva. "I think that one was just in Hogwarts or something. I can't remember." He pointed to the photo of his parents. "Hagrid said that was after they got married. I think that one's my favourite."

Remus nodded, blinking back tears and sitting down beside Hari. Sometimes it became almost unbearable to think about. Hari, clearly having noticed something was wrong, froze mid-sentence where he had been talking about Hagrid. He sat down next to Remus, warm against his side. Remus stilled at the feeling. "I'm okay, Hari," he muttered, not even convincing himself as his voice cracked on Hari's name.

"D'you want a hug?" Hari asked, peering up at Remus. He was far too intuitive for his age, Remus thought. Whether he got it from Lily or from living with Minerva, he didn't know.

"Okay."

Hari immediately wrapped both of his arms around Remus, shuffling until he was sitting sideways on his lap and tucked his face into Remus' neck. Holding in a small sob, Remus hugged Hari back, allowing him to tuck his head under his chin. He was a comforting weight, small and warm in his embrace. "I love you, Uncle Remus," Hari whispered into his shoulder and this time, Remus couldn't hold in the cry, tightening his hold around Hari.

"I love you, too, Hari."

He could feel Hari smiling against him and suddenly the door opened slowly to reveal Minerva. She looked at Remus' teary, bloodshot eyes and Hari tucked under his chin and smiled knowingly, walking out of the room silently to let them have their moment.

A few minutes later, Remus followed Hari back downstairs for dinner, feeling a bit better. Hari talked endlessly during dinner, telling them both about his book about a magical garden between bites. Remus and Minerva laughed at his stories and asked him questions during his pauses, sharing looks every so often when Hari reminded them of either James or Lily. Eventually, when Hari yawned several times during dessert, Minerva left Remus alone while she went to put Hari up to bed.

When she returned a few minutes later, he was carrying a bottle of elf-made wine and conjured up a pair of glasses, gesturing towards the living room. They sat down around the coffee table, Minerva in her usual armchair and Remus on the couch and she poured them both a glass. They sat in comfortable quiet for a few minutes, occasionally sipping at their wine or glancing out the window at the noises outside. Remus was almost halfway through his first glass, watching a squirrel sitting on the window ledge outside, when Minerva broke the silence.

"Was it the photos on Hari's wall?" she asked, putting her glass on the coffee table and sitting upright, reading his expressions closely. Remus adjusted in his seat, filling the silence with another sip of wine.

Finally, Remus bobbed his head up and down. "It was the photo in Godric's Hollow," he replied.

"Ah, I remember that photo. Hagrid suggested the idea to me at last minute," said Minerva, "I did not take him to see the house, but we put some flowers on the headstone and he sat talking to them for a bit while Hagrid and I walked through the other rows."

"It sounds like a nice visit."

Minerva nodded, finishing the last of her wine and pouring more into both glasses. "It was. I think Hari liked it," she replied, "Have you been since, well. Since it happened?" She eyed Remus over the rim of the glass.

"Only twice. I went to the funeral, of course." He fiddled with the handle of his glass, avoiding eye contact with his former teacher. "I went shortly after Hari came to live here, actually. I felt as though I should tell them about him living with you, now, instead of the Dursleys." He laughed humorlessly, bitterly, downing the entire glass of wine and putting it on the table. "It sounds stupid saying it aloud."

"Of course it doesn't," Minerva remarked, her sharp tone making him look up at her. She was fixing him with a knowing, sympathetic smile. "I actually went to visit them around then, too. I stopped by to say hello to Bathilda Bagshot and told the headstone…" Minerva took a deep breath, pausing. Remus could not think of a time where she looked more upset, not since the funeral. "I promised I would take good care of Hari."

Remus huffed a laugh. "So we're both sentimental about the Potters, then?"

Minerva pulled a handkerchief out of the inside pocket of her robes and dabbed her eyes with it. "Yes, I believe we are," she replied, offering the handkerchief to Remus. "The four of you might have been quite the handful when I taught you, but it was impossible not to be fond of you. James drove me up the walls almost daily, of course, but he was a good student and an even better person."

"I'm sorry for all the trouble we must have caused, though."

Minerva waved her hand dismissively and scoffed. "Nonsense, Remus. I—Like I said, I adored all four of you."

Remus wiped another tear off his cheek using the pad of his thumb. He sniffled. "I think we all regarded you extremely highly. I know I do and you were James' favourite teacher," he replied softly, sniffing again. "I remember we all teased him when he wanted you to be the first to know they had Hari. He was adamant."

"I did not know about that."

"Oh, yes. He told you about finally getting with Lily before he even told me and–and the others," Remus laughed, shaking his head at the memory. "He came into the dormitory telling us about how you congratulated him and Sirius–Sirius fell out of bed as a result."

"I remember him coming to tell me. He burst into my office while I was marking essays and almost shouted 'She said yes! Lily said yes!' I had never seen him so excited than before then, not even when Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup again."

Remus sighed. He was conflicted talking about James. On the one hand, he loved talking about his friend, remembering the best parts about him and their friendship in a way that was closest to bringing him back. But on the other hand, he couldn't think about James without thinking of Sirius, leaving him bitter and heartbroken at the memory of his betrayal. As the clock on the wall chimed to signal it was midnight, Remus startled out of his thoughts, surprised to find his cheeks very wet and Minerva blowing her nose with the returned handkerchief.

"I should be going. It's late." Remus got up from his seat, brushing off his ill-fitting old trousers and Summoning his overcoat from the hall. He wiped the tears off his cheek and cleared his throat. "Thank you for having me, Minerva. It was lovely to see you and Hari."

Minerva bent down to pick up the flower pot full of Floo powder and handed it silently over to him. "It was no trouble, Remus. You must visit again soon," she insisted. Remus gave her a tight lipped smile and grabbed a handful of powder. "Hari has to visit the Dursleys next week, so I'd suggest you come after that so he has something to look forward to."

Remus nodded, leaned up to kiss Minerva on the cheek and said, "Thanks again. I'll write to you." He turned to the fireplace, tossed the powder onto the flames which burst up vibrant green and stated his address. With one last wave goodbye, he stepped inside the flames and disappeared a split second later, leaving Minerva alone once again, holding the pot to her chest.

She made her way up to bed shortly after, wiping her eyes on her handkerchief.

A week and a half later, Minerva woke up with a start. She sat up abruptly in bed, looking around in the darkness for whatever had woken her up so suddenly. She reached for her glasses and nearly poked herself in the eye when she heard a distant shout. Eyes bulging, she threw her blankets off herself and hurried out of bed, moving across the small hallway towards where she could hear crying coming from Hari's room.

She opened the door with her hand on her wand, heart racing in her chest as she adjusted to the darkness. Hari, apparently still asleep, was thrashing around in his bed, calling out in his sleep. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to break it! I'm sorry!" Hari pleaded in his sleep. Minerva turned the light in her wand on and sat down at the foot of the bed. As Hari continued to cry out in his sleep, she gently woke up him up by shaking his shoulder slightly. Hari shot up as soon as she touched him, looking around wildly, chest heaving up and down. "M-Minnie?" he whispered anxiously into the darkness.

"I'm right here, Hari," she whispered, holding up her glowing wand. She could see Hari's wide eyed, terrified face in the beam of her wand and carefully reached out to brush a few of his curls out of his face. "Did you have a nightmare?" she asked, though she already knew the answer.

Hari nodded, pulling his knees up to his chest. "I-I broke a plate at the Dursleys' house and Uncle V-Vernon yelled at me for hours," Hari whispered. Minerva tightened the grip on her wand. "I d-dreamed I was b-b-back there, but this time Uncle Vernon was a snake." His bottom lip trembled and he hugged his knees tighter. "Can you turn into a cat?" Hari asked.

"Would you like me to?" Hari nodded. "If you like." Minerva shut her eyes and transformed easily into her Animagus form. Hari shuffled over to give her more room and Minerva walked across the bed and curled up beside Hari. Hari pressed his face into her soft fur and she bumped her pale pink nose against his forehead, tail flicking back and forth.

"Good night, Minnie," Hari whispered, burrowing under the covers and stroking her head. Minerva replied by licking his forehead a few times, making him giggle quietly.

Minerva listened closely for the sign that Hari had fallen back asleep, waiting for his breathing to slow to a steady pace and his heart rate to slow. Once she knew Hari was fast asleep, she curled up tighter, tucking herself half under the covers to get warm and covered her face with her paw. As an owl hooted softly overhead and the wind whistled in the distance, Minerva drifted off to sleep as well, Hari's breath warm as it fanned over her ears.

Chapter 4: A New Friend

Chapter Text

Chapter Four:

As was now usual these days, 7 year old Hari was tucked up in one of the back corners of the Hogwarts library, surrounded by several stacks of books. He was currently trying to make his way through a Muggle maths textbook, trying to teach himself basic maths so that Snape could help him later on. He found it increasingly hard, however, eyes drifting longingly towards the pile of books he actually wanted to read. He wished he could go back to reading 'Matilda' or 'Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle', but he had to finish his homework first.

Since sending him to a Muggle school would have been difficult since Hogwarts was nowhere near any local schools and Hari's address was Untraceable, Hari instead was getting his early education at Hogwarts. Minerva helped him with his reading and writing practice and Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies teacher, helped him with Muggle history and Pomona helped with science. Minerva had even talked Snape into teaching Hari maths. Hari rather enjoyed learning about history or learning science with Pomona, reading in the library whenever he could while the various Hogwarts students came and went.

From where he was sitting, mostly hidden behind his books, Hari could see a group of Hufflepuffs studying for an upcoming Charms test, quizzing each other on spells and helping each other when they didn't understand. Another table had Ravenclaws and Slytherins working in silence together, occasionally pointing out phrases from their textbooks for the group to write down before returning to their silence. Hari giggled as a pair of Slytherins argued over a book until Madam Pince swooped on them and kicked them out of the library for making too much noise.

"You better return those to their proper shelves when you finish. I don't think Madam Pince would be happy." Hari startled at the sudden voice directly behind him and turned to find Nearly Headless Nick hovering next to one of the shelves.

"I was going to! But people watch me too much if I don't hide behind the books, see," Hari replied defensively, gesturing his chin towards the tables nearby, still whispering about Charms. "Plus, some of these are my books anyway."

Nick hummed understandingly, rubbing his chin with one of his transparent hands. "What is that you're working on?" he asked, hovering closer over the table so he could look at the paper Hari had covered in the 3 times table. Hari winced as his arm went cold as Nick accidentally grazed him, leaning slightly away to avoid the feeling like a bucket of ice.

"I have to learn how to multiply by 3 before Snape comes later," Hari explained, pointing at the different multiplication problems he had scribbled over the paper. There were many crossings out and rewrites scattered over the paper where Hari had made errors in his multiplying. He hoped he hadn't messed it up too badly, but the 3 times table was much harder than 2 for Hari.

"Well, 3 and 7 makes 21, not 19, for starters," Nick said, pointing at Hari's parchment where he had indeed said that 3 and 7 made 21. He pointed at another problem. "And 3 and 5 makes 15, since I see you didn't figure that one out yet." Hari muttered his thanks and wrote down the answer.

"Thanks, Nick. This is much harder than my other stuff," Hari said as he continued to add in more answers on the paper while Nick watched over his shoulder.

"Anytime," Nick replied, starting to glide away through one of the other shelves, "Good luck with your work, Hari." And then he disappeared through one of the shelves, leaving Hari alone with his books and his notes once more.

Hari returned to his work just as Snape rounded the corner, scowling. "Have you done what I asked?" He stopped to stand on the other side of the table from Hari, glancing down at his notes. Hari spun the paper around to show him and Snape sat down across from him, plucking a quill and ink bottle out of an inside pocket. "Could you not have at least tried to write legibly?" Snape asked, dipping his quill in the ink bottle and marking a neat red tick mark next to one of Hari's answers.

Hari shrugged, opening his textbook to the right pages. "It's hard trying to teach yourself maths without help. The textbook wasn't very good at explaining it," Hari replied, looking determinedly at Snape. Snape rolled his eyes and went back to checking Hari's work.

"Why do you think I'm here during my only free period of the day, then?" Snape replied shortly, marking another x on Hari's page. He turned the page sideways so that they could both look at it. "That right there is wrong. You mixed up 3 times 4 with 3 times 6, somehow. That should be a 12." Hari nodded and Snape delved into an explanation about where Hari went wrong, pointing out phrases and problems in the textbook to show where he could improve.

By the time the bell rang and Snape had to go to his next lesson, Hari had a better idea of the multiplication and was already moving onto the much easier 5s. He waved goodbye to Snape and watched him disappear back around the shelves with a civil nod.

By far Hari's favourite office of all the staff members was Dumbledore's. It was a huge circular room full of fascinating, confusing trinkets and the walls lined with usually friendly portraits of former headmasters who greeted him whenever he came. He had a squashy armchair that he reserved for Hari and his phoenix Fawkes often came to sit near Hari and watch whatever he was doing. Dumbledore usually sat behind his desk, answering letters or paced the floor in deep thought while Hari stayed in his comfortable seat with books or toys or drawing materials.

Currently, Hari was sitting in his usual spot, ignoring his history book in favour of talking to Fawkes. Over behind his desk, Dumbledore was deep in conversation with one of the portraits, both looking very grave. He kept peeking over his shoulder at Hari.

Hari was so distracted with whispering to Fawkes about his recent bowtruckle search that he did not notice when Dumbledore appeared at his side until he spoke. "What are you reading about?" he asked, startling Hari from where he had been stroking Fawkes' sleek feathers.

Hari held up the book and handed it to Dumbledore. "It's about Ancient Egypt. Did you know they worshipped cats? I bet Minnie would love that," said Hari as Dumbledore flipped idly through the pages. He smiled at Hari's comment about cats and Minerva before handing him back his book.

"It looks like a fascinating read," Dumbledore commented, "Are you enjoying your other studies?" He looked down at Hari over his half moon spectacles, eyes glinting in the light.

Hari nodded excitedly, beaming. "Definitely! Charity teaches me really cool facts about Muggle history and gives me Muggle books to read as well. Minnie helps me with my writing and Pomona makes science sound really cool. I even like maths with Snape, even though it's the hardest one," Hari babbled, using his hands in abundance and almost hitting poor Fawkes in the face. "It's weird not having other kids my age, though. I didn't have any friends at school because of my cousin, but at least there were people my age around."

Dumbledore laughed lightly at Hari's chatter, bobbing his head to show he was listening. "I am glad you enjoy your studies, Hari," he said once Hari finished his rant, "And I can understand your frustration at not having other children your age around. I will see what I can do."

"You let the boy talk far too much," Phineas Nigellus Black said from his portrait when Albus walked back towards his desk.

"He's only a boy, Phineas. Let the boy talk! Goodness knows he doesn't get to do it much," Dilys Derwent, Hari's favourite portrait, snapped at Phineas, looking at Hari with an apologetic smile. Hari returned the smile, though his face felt uncomfortably hot at being spoken about as though he was not there.

Their argument was cut off by a knock on the door and Minerva entering the office. She walked immediately over to Hari, who jumped up immediately. "Thank you for watching Hari, Albus. I hope he wasn't too much trouble?" Minerva took Hari's free hand and walked with him over to Dumbledore's desk. She glanced up at the two scowling portraits behind Dumbledore.

"Not at all, Minerva. He was just showing me his book about Ancient Egypt," Dumbledore replied warmly, ignoring the portraits and smiling at Hari again. Minerva gave him an unamused look and returned her gaze to the portraits behind him, raising an eyebrow. Hari knew that not even Dumbledore could easily stand up to a glare from Minerva McGonagall. "Phineas and Dilys were simply having a minor disagreement—"

"He thinks Hari speaks too much, but I disagree," Dilys interrupted, scowling at Phineas who merely shrugged, looking bored. "Hari is a delight and he was merely answering Albus' question."

Minerva huffed, glaring at Phineas' portrait. "I will discuss this later, Albus. I have a class in a few minutes, which I would not like to be late for." Minerva nodded tersely and led Hari out of the office. Once they were making their way down the spiral staircase she said, "Do you want to sit in the back of my class this afternoon? They will be learning about turning beetles into buttons."

Hari nodded, following her through the castle towards her Transfiguration classroom. By the time they got there, the bell had already rung and students were beginning to line up outside the classroom. "Get inside, please. We have much work today," she ordered as they reached the door. The students listened and began filing inside the classroom and making their way to their seats. Hari made his way over to his usual seat next to Minerva's desk while the class took their seats, occasionally glancing to the front at Hari. "Please refrain from watching Hari. Today you will be turning beetles into buttons and I hardly think watching a 6 year old read quietly will help you." A quiet giggle rolled through the students, but they quickly moved onto their work and ignored Hari for the most part.

Two weeks later, Hari was following Snape from the dungeons up to the entrance hall. They passed groups of students making their way out of the Great Hall towards their common rooms or the library to enjoy the weekend. Hari smiled and waved politely as he went by, occasionally greeting a ghost or a portrait he liked. Finally, they reached the entrance hall where one of the doors was propped open magically, letting a cool breeze inside. Snape stopped walking and stood in the doorway, looking out onto the grounds. Hari peered out from behind him, trying to find what he was looking out.

Suddenly, appearing up the path towards the castle was a woman walking with a small child. As they approached, Hari noticed the child looked to be his age with white blond hair similar to the woman pulling him along. Hari glanced up at Snape whose lips curled up into something slightly resembling a smile. He stepped outside just as the woman and the boy made their way up the steps. The boy caught Hari's eyes briefly before darting to look up at Snape.

"Narcissa, how are you doing?" Snape asked, shaking the woman's free hand.

Up close, she was quite pretty with porcelain skin, long flowing platinum hair and high, regal cheekbones. She shook Snape's hand, smiling and pushing the other boy forward. "It's good to see you, Severus. Although, I was rather surprised at your invitation." She let go of his hand and glanced down at Hari. He swallowed, cheeks hot under her stare. "So this is Hari Potter, then?" She gestured her head towards Hari.

Snape pressed a hand into Hari's back, making him step out from behind him and into the cool air outside. He looked down at Hari as well. "Hari, this is Narcissa and her son Draco. Draco is your age," he introduced. The pale, blond boy, Draco, blinked at him, eyes darting to the small lightning bolt scar on his forehead, mostly hidden behind his messy curls.

"Er, hello there. N-nice to meet you," Hari stammered, looking between Draco and Narcissa uncomfortably. Was this really Dumbledore's solution to Hari not having any other children his age to talk to?

"You too," the other boy replied with a short nod.

"Will you be alright without me?" Narcissa asked Snape, holding onto Draco's shoulder protectively. He turned his eyes towards the weight before looking back at Hari, searching his face intently. Hari wished he would at least smile instead of just staring at him.

"Of course," drawled Snape, forcing a wider smile. "Minerva will be along shortly once she finishes meeting with one of her students and I'm sure the two of us can handle these two."

Narcissa said her goodbyes to Draco, bending down to give him a tight hug and whispering something in his ear. After waving goodbye to Snape, she swept down the stairs again and disappeared across the grounds. It was tense to say the least as the three of them stood in front of the castle in silence, nobody quite sure of how to break the silence.

Finally, Snape was the one to break the silence. "Draco, did you want to see my potions classroom? I can take you both there if you behave." Draco's face lit up for the first time, grey eyes twinkling with excitement. He nodded and they followed Snape inside the castle and back towards where they came from.

"Is it true you live here during the school year?" Draco asked as they followed Snape through the corridors. he was looking around at the huge ceilings and the portraits and torches lining the walls, eyes wide.

"Yeah. I live with Minerva McGonagall," Hari replied. They started down a flight of stairs, passing a pair of Hufflepuffs that stared at the unfamiliar boy walking with Hari.

"I've heard she's a bit scary," Draco replied. Hari smirked. "She used to teach my parents when they went here."

"Same. She taught my parents as well."

They reached Snape's office and he tapped his wand on the handle to unlock it, stepping inside and letting the boys pass him to get inside as well. Draco gazed around the small dungeon room at all the shelves lined with strange potions and substances, circling the room with clear interest. Hari, who had been in there several times before, stayed glued to the doorway, watching Draco trace his hands over the rough dark stone and try to peek inside the cauldrons or to crane his neck to get a closer look at the odd creatures stuck inside some of the jars. Those always gave Hari the creeps, but Draco was unbothered.

"Do you do all your brewing here?" Draco asked once he had wandered around the entire room. He stopped next to Hari and looked up at Snape who was standing in the centre of the room with a smirk.

"I do."

"Wicked."

Snape narrowed his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. Hari had never seen him smile so much in such a short time. "Quite. Do you want to see my latest potion?" Draco's eyes widened comically and he moved towards the cauldron Snape placed on top of the desk. Curious as well, Hari followed Draco, trying to peer inside the potion. The liquid inside the cauldron was a violent, almost neon shade of green which bubbled and smelled strongly of mucus. Hari wrinkled his nose but still glanced at the thick potion with interest.

"This is the Wiggenweld Potion," Snape explained, lifting a small vial from the table and dipping it in the potion to collect some of the potion. "If brewed correctly, it can also heal most minor injuries and replenish the taker's stamina temporarily. It can also counteract the effects of most sleeping draughts, including the Draught of Living Death." Draco gasped, covering his mouth with a hand. Hari smirked but returned to watching Snape fill several vials with the green substance.

"What's the Draught of Living Death?" Hari asked.

Draco turned towards him, aghast. "You've never heard of the Draught of Living Death?" he exclaimed in shocked horror, eyes wide once again. "Surely you would know about it living here!"

Snape's lips twitched at Draco's outburst, much to Hari's annoyance. "The Draught of Living Death is a potion which brings upon a drinker an endless sleep which is nearly impossible to wake up from," he explained, putting a stopper into the last of the vials he filled with Wiggenweld potion. He picked up his wand from the table, muttered *'Evanesco'* at the potion and the last of the contents disappeared. "You will be able to learn how to properly brew the Wiggenweld potion in your first year here," continued Snape, moving to place the vials over on one of the shelves, "And, if you manage to make it to my N.E.W.T. level class, you may learn to brew the Draught of Living Death in sixth year."

There was a knock at the door at that precise moment and in stepped Minerva. "Ah, I was wondering where you were," she said upon noticing the room's inhabitants. She glanced down at Draco and smiled politely. "Hello, Draco. How are you?"

Draco's cheeks flushed pale pink at being spoken to by Minerva and he said, "Fine, thanks." Hari kept himself from snorting at Draco's obvious fear of Minerva. He had seen her have that effect on many people before.

"We were just learning about the Draught of Living Death and the Wiggenweld potion, Minnie," Hari told her.

Minerva raised an eyebrow. "Is that really?" She narrowed her eyes at Snape. "Are you sure that is appropriate for children this age, Severus?"

Snape sighed, moving the cauldron from his desk and storing it in a cupboard behind him. "I wasn't showing them the Draught of Living Death, Minerva. They simply wanted to know what potion I was brewing, so I told them what it does," Snape replied curtly, sneering.

Minerva sniffed, turning to the two boys watching this conversation unfold. Hari and Draco exchanged looks at the two adults arguing, giggling. "Would you two like to go outside on the grounds? Hari can show you the lake, if you like." Minerva turned her gaze on Draco, softening.

A few minutes later, Draco and Hari were walking together behind Minerva and Snape. They were muttering to each other, both frowning, trying to avoid letting the younger boys overhear their conversation. Draco, wanting to hear what they were saying, kept glancing at their backs, craning his head to hear better.

Hari whispered in his ear, "I wouldn't bother listening. They're always arguing and they make it impossible to hear them."

Draco rolled his eyes. "That doesn't make it any less interesting. In fact, it's even more interesting because they don't want us to hear them," Draco whispered. Hari shook his head disapprovingly. They continued walking in silence until Draco elbowed him in the side. "I bet you we can find a way to listen in, don't you? There's got to be a way."

"You may not be able to hear our whispering, but we can hear you, by the way," Minerva said over her shoulder. Draco's entire face blushed a violent shade of red and he stopped trying to listen in at once. Hari caught Minerva's eye and smiled. They reached the doors to the entrance hall once again and followed the two professors down the steps in the direction of the lake on the edge of the grounds. Hari was glad Minerva had summoned his coat before they left, shivering with the strong breeze as they walked down the hill.

"Is it true there's a giant squid in the lake?" Draco asked as they neared the water. He pulled his nice black coat tighter around himself, nose and cheeks a faint pink from the cold.

"There is indeed," Minerva replied, pulling out a loaf of bread from inside one of the deep pockets of her emerald green overcoat. They stopped on the edge of the water and she tore the loaf into four pieces, handing Draco and Hari each a quarter.

Hari thanked Minerva and grabbed Draco's elbow, tugging him closer to the edge of the water and leaving the two professors behind to let them keep talking. "Come on, we can feed the squid bits of bread," informed Hari, tearing off a bit of bread and chucking it into the water. There was a moment's pause before a large, blood red tentacle breached the surface and grabbed to piece of bread. Draco jumped in surprise, grabbing Hari's arm. Hari laughed at Draco' reaction and took a bite of bread before tearing off another piece. "He can't hurt you from here. Just take a piece and chuck it into the water."

Draco did as Hari told and tore off a large piece of bread. Eyeing Hari to see if he was doing it right, Draco took a deep breath and threw the bread piece as far as he could. When a tentacle grabbed at it again, he jumped up in excitement, turning to grin proudly at Hari. "Did you see? I did it, Hari!" He tore off another piece of bread and repeated it again, nearly knocking Hari over in his excitement.

Once they finished both pieces of the loaf, Hari pulled Draco by his sleeve farther down the shore. Behind them, Minerva and Snape were standing huddled together in the cold, watching them from a large black rock. Hari crouched down beside one of the small rock pools, Draco copying him and kneeling beside him. Hari pointed out the various small creatures in the low water, pointing out a couple of tiny crabs, a flobberworm stuck to the sides and even a small salamander. Draco grabbed a twig from the grass nearby and poked the water, startling one of the crabs so that it scuttled away, making him laugh.

Hari elbowed him gently in the side. "Don't be mean to the creatures. This is their home we're invading," Hari admonished, scowling.

Draco snorted, poking the water again. "Then why did you drag me over here if you didn't want to 'invade' their homes?" Draco teased, poking Hari's chest with the wet stick and leaving a wet patch on his coat. Draco burst out laughing at Hari's pout at his comment, throwing the stick into the water. "You're easy to annoy, you know." He stood up from his squat beside Hari and continued his walk along the stone-covered beach. When Hari stayed where he was, watching him from beside the first rock pool, Draco turned and waved towards himself. "Come on, Hari!"

Hari sighed and got up from the ground, hurrying to keep up with the other boy. They fell into step once again and Hari heard Snape and Minerva following after them as Hari led Draco over the rocks, telling him about the creatures he knew that dwelled inside the lake. Draco asked him questions about the different creatures which Hari did his best to answer. After a while of walking slowly over the rocks, Hari settled down onto a large flat of black stone next to the water. Draco settled beside him and Minerva and Snape joined them shortly after, conjuring up a seat for each of them so that they didn't sit on the ground like the two young children.

"Have you ever met one of the mermaids?" Draco asked Hari who had just finished telling Draco about how, according to Hagrid, a colony of mermaids lived near the bottom of the lake.

Hari shook his head. "Of course not, they live at the very bottom!" Draco huffed, elbowing him in the side.

"Have you ever met one of the mermaids?" Draco asked, turning around to face the two professors.

"I wouldn't say I met them so much as I saw them nearby. I don't speak Mermish, so I couldn't exactly introduce myself," Snape replied.

"Have you met one, Minnie?" Hari asked, turning around as well.

Minerva shook her head. "Similarly, I've seen them before, but I do not speak Mermish either, so I have never spoken to one."

"Do you know anyone that does speak Mermish?" Hari asked.

"Dumbledore can speak it."

"I want to learn Mermish so I can speak to the mermaids," Draco announced. "How cool would it be if we could talk to them, Hari? I can already speak French like my cousin Orion, but Mermish would be cool as well!"

As the group of four made their way back to the grounds for lunch, Draco was still rattling on about wanting to speak Mermish. Hari tried joining in occasionally with his own thoughts, but had already figured out that interrupting Draco on one of his rants would be impossible. Hari simply enjoyed having the company of someone his own age for once, having spent most of his life either with classmates that were too afraid of his cousin to befriend him or having no children younger than 11 near him.

Having Draco around was a breath of fresh air for Hari, certainly.

Chapter 5: Yuletide

Chapter Text

Hari stayed at Hogwarts over winter break that year. Minerva had some important things she had to catch up on which kept her at the castle, so Hari simply stayed there. It wasn't too quiet anyway with many students staying at Hogwarts that break, particularly older students who wanted to study for exams. Hari enjoyed watching the students huddled together with their hats and scarves, the air buzzing with excitement for the upcoming holidays. The grounds were covered in a thick blanket of snow and Hari watched from his bedroom window as Hagrid dragged massive snow-covered evergreens up the lawn and into the castle.

The festivity didn't end there. The two evergreens were placed on either side of the front of the Great Hall, decorated with twinkling lights, massive baubles in all the Hogwarts house colours and floating candles. Filius made garlands of holly hover merrily on the walls and the blizzard outside made the ceiling covered in flurries of thick snow. Someone had even placed a large, 4-foot menorah in the Hall, which Hari delighted in watching various students light up each night.

On the morning of the Winter Solstice, Hari woke up to the sound of the wind howling outside his window. He pushed aside his curtains to look outside and saw the sun barely peeking over the snowy hills, a bright orange orb surrounded by pale peach and lavender. Hari could see a small heap of presents at the foot of the bed and resisted the urge to open them. He was too excited to fall back to sleep so he clambered out of bed, pulling on his dressing gown as the cool air sent a chill through his body and hurried into Minerva's bedroom.

"Minnie! Minnie, wake up! It's Yule!" Hari sang, jumping onto the foot of Minerva's bed, grinning. Minerva huffed under the covers, rolling onto her back to look at him through narrowed eyes. "Come on, Minnie. It's Yule!"

Minerva sighed, rolling onto her side to look at the clock sitting on her bedside table. "Yes and it's also 6 in the morning," she grumbled, lightly pushing Hari away with one of her feet. "Come back in an hour and a half and then I'll consider getting up."

"Okay!" Hari jumped off the bed and skittered out of the room. Still wide awake, Hari pulled one of the books he got from Charity to read and curled up on the couch under a fur blanket, filling the time with reading. After almost an hour, Minerva wandered into the living room, dressed in her tartan dressing gown and her hair in a messy braid down her back. Hari leapt off the couch, abandoning his book. "You're awake! Happy Yule!" he exclaimed.

Minerva huffed a laugh, shaking her head. "I had hoped you would have gone back to bed," she admitted, ruffling his hair.

“I was too excited.”

Minerva raised her eyebrows, Summoning Hari's presents onto the floor in front of the fireplace. She cast Incendio so that a roaring fire came to life, warming both of them thoroughly as well and she sat down on the couch."Which one have you got first?" she asked. She gestured to the perfectly wrapped package covered in shiny purple paper and tied up with a gold string.

"It's from you," Hari said, carefully removing the string and searching for the spellotape to peel the wrapping paper off. Inside was a copy of Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland with a gold cover depicting a silhouette of some type of dragon. "Oh, cool! Thanks, Minnie! I can't wait to tell Charlie I got this!" Hari exclaimed, crawling over to hug her tightly before returning to the rest of his pile.

After half an hour unwrapping presents, Hari had acquired a knitted green scarf and some homemade fudge from Hagrid; a set of Ladybird books from Charity Burbage; drawing parchment and quills from Filius; a mini succulent shaped like a heart from Pomona; Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them from the Malfoys; and another two unopened presents from Minerva.

"Open that one first," Minerva said from the couch, putting aside a pair of wool gloves from Pomona and gesturing towards the long, thin parcel wrapped in yellow and blue wrapping paper.

Hari pulled the paper off carefully and nearly dropped it onto the stone floor. Shoving aside the paper, Hari revealed a small Training Broomstick with a navy blue handle and two silver hand holds on either side. "Merlin, this is amazing! You got me a training broomstick?" Hari exclaimed, putting the broom on the ground and throwing his arms around Minerva. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he squealed into her neck, burying his face in the folds of her dressing gown.

"Open the last present as well." She pointed at the final package, wrapped in the same yellow and blue paper as the broomstick.

Hari peeled the tape and paper off to reveal a thickly bound, bright blue book with the title Learning to Fly: A Beginner's Guide to Riding a Broomstick. "Thank you so much, Minnie. These are such cool presents!" Hari abandoned the book in favour of hugging Minerva once again, nearly knocking her over in his haste.

"It was no trouble, dear. I knew how much you wanted to have a broom of your own, so I've been planning this for ages," she replied as Hari pulled away, still sitting on her lap. "Thank you very much for my lovely card and the Fizzing Whizzbees. When did you get those?" she added, lifting up the homemade card Hari made a few weeks ago with blue parchment he borrowed from Filius.

"I asked Hagrid to get it for me."

"That was nice of him. I shall thank him as well once we go up to breakfast."

Hari dragged Minerva to the Great Hall for breakfast a little while later, dressed in his new scarf from Hagrid. He waved hello to Charlie and Bill, dressed in jumpers with letters on the front and made his way towards the staff table. Filius complimented his jumper and Hari thanked him for his present, shouting his thanks down the table to Hagrid and leaning over Minerva to thank Charity and Pomona. Hari was absolutely stuffed after breakfast, having gorged himself on stacks of pancakes with too much syrup.

"Come along, Hari. We're meeting Remus at Hagrid's hut for lunch," Minerva said once everyone was beginning to file out of the Great Hall to continue with the festivities elsewhere around the castle. Hari's face lit up at the prospect of seeing Remus, begging Minerva to let him try out his broom and show it to Hagrid and Remus. "Yes, alright. Just be careful."

Hari was in the middle of racing around the grass nearby Hagrid's hut, toes barely skimming the ground as he flew his new broomstick around. Minerva was standing with Hagrid watching, both clutching mugs of steaming hot eggnog and talking quietly while Hari roared with laughter. Even this low down, Hari felt freer, the cool breeze and snow brushing past him as he flew in circles with glee. The broom was, of course, enchanted to fly no higher than waist height and couldn't go much faster than 7 miles per hour, but Hari didn't care so long as he was allowed to continue flying over the grass.

"Wicked broom, Hari!"

"Yeah, that's a great practice broom!"

Charlie and Bill were making their way over to say a quick hello, both wrapped up in scarves, gloves and hats, jackets pulled tight around them. They greeted Minerva and Hagrid as well, wishing them 'Happy Solstice,' which they returned in stride.

Hari finally paused his flying to talk to the Weasley brothers. "I got a book about British dragon breeds, Charlie! It has loads of pictures and facts about dragons!" Hari told them enthusiastically, grinning.

"That's awesome! You have to show it to me later!" Charlie replied, returning Hari's smile. "We've gotta get back to the castle soon. We just thought we'd come and say hello since we saw you out here." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder, gesturing towards the castle.

"See you later, Hari. Happy Yule!"

Hari returned to riding his broom again and had only been on it for a further five minutes when Remus appeared up the lane leading to Hogsmeade. He was looking very pink in the face and his scarf whipped behind him as he walked over, waving to the three people standing outside the hut. "Uncle Remus!" Hari yelled, nearly falling into the snow as he jumped off his broom and jogged over to give Remus a hug.

"Hello, Hari," Remus greeted, squatting down to catch Hari in his arms. Hari refused to let go, insisting on being carried back over to the other two adults. Remus chuckled, grunting slightly under Hari's weight but carrying him over nonetheless. "Happy Solstice, Minerva. Hagrid," he said, handing Minerva a package wrapped in red paper and adjusting Hari on his hip.

"Did you see I got a broom, Rem?" Hari asked as Remus put Hari back on the ground so they could step inside Hagrid's hut.

"I saw. May I see it closer up?" Remus replied, pulling out a bottle of Firewhiskey with a yellow bow on it and handing it to Hagrid and a bottle of wine for Minerva in his pockets. Hari jogged over to where he left his broom on the ground and walked back over, brushing the snow off. Hari handed it to Remus once he made it back and Remus inspected it as they stepped inside. "This is quite a good broom you got. I quite like the blue," Remus commented, handing it back to Hari with a soft smile.

Hari leaned the broom against the wall by the door and settled into one of the large chairs around the table next to Remus. While Hagrid prepared them all cups of tea, pottering about the kitchen area wearing a massive pink apron, Remus and Minerva discussed their latest gossip since they last spoke. Hari eyed the unopened present on the table, trying his best to keep up with their conversation but quickly losing interest as he had no understanding of half the stuff they spoke about.

"You can open your present, you know. I can see you eyeing it," Remus teased a few minutes later once everyone had their own cups of tea. Remus laughed as Hari instantly pushed aside his mug of tea and lifted the parcel.

Hari carefully pulled the wrapping paper off and handed it to Minerva to Vanish it. Remus had gifted him an olive green cable knit jumper and a packet of Exploding Snap cards. "Thank you so much, Rem!" Hari whooped, scrambling off his chair to give Remus a tight hug. He pulled the old jumper he was already wearing and immediately pulled the new jumper over his plain t-shirt and smoothed it over himself. "It fits as well! Thank you!" Hari gave Remus another hug, this time staying with his arms wrapped around the thin man while everyone else fell back into conversation.

After their tea, they all played a few rounds of Exploding Snap, still gossiping and joking together over the small explosions. Hari giggled as Remus recounted a story of getting banned from a Muggle supermarket after James thought it would be a good idea to steal a shopping cart to go for a ride, enhanced even more by the sounds of the cards exploding suddenly every few seconds. When they made their way back to the castle for dinner, Hari riding on Remus' back while they all sang Yuletide carols, Hari could not stop grinning.

He was so glad he could have holidays like this. Back at the Dursleys, Hari had spent every Christmas hoping to get some good gifts only to watch as Dudley opened endless presents full of things he'd never use while Hari got a pair of old socks or a packet of stale crisps in a flavour Hari hated. Now, since coming to live with Minerva, Hari was able to enjoy himself fully with his favourite people, celebrating the holiday of Yule. He could ride mini broomsticks and play exploding card games and pull crackers with people who loved him unconditionally, instead of watching longingly as his cousin got doted upon and he got ignored.

Chapter 6: Quidditch and Kitchens

Chapter Text

Chapter Six:

"Are you sure they're coming? What if they forget to come?" Hari was saying, sitting on the bay window and looking down the path leading from the front door of the cottage. His face had been pressed against the glass for the last hour, ever since he got up that morning.

Eight year old Hari was waiting anxiously for the arrival of Draco Malfoy with his parents and Severus Snape and Neville Longbottom and his grandmother. Now that summer holidays had begun and Hari was back from Hogwarts for the summer, Hari had been pleading to Minerva to see his only friends again. The last time he saw them had been very brief the previous Christmas when Minerva made him come with her to a Christmas party and he hung out together with Draco and another boy their age, Neville. Hari had hit it off quite well with Neville, a nervous, round faced boy who shared the same birthday as Hari.

"They won't forget to come, Hari. Don't be silly," Minerva said from where she was sitting on her usual arm chair, flipping idly through that morning's Daily Prophet.

As if on cue of Minerva's words, two figures suddenly appeared in the garden. Hari yelped, recognising Neville and his grandmother Augusta. He jumped off the cushion and hurried to unlock the door. He could hear Minerva tutting behind him as he opened the door, beaming. "Neville! Mrs. Longbottom! It's good to see you!" Hari greeted, opening the door wide so that Neville and his gran could step inside. Minerva, evidently having abandoned her newspaper, appeared just behind Hari.

Neville's gran squeezed Hari's cheek. "I've already told you, Hari. Call me Augusta," she said, letting go and stepping past him to shake Minerva's hand. "Lovely to see you as usual, Minerva."

"It's wonderful to see you, Augusta. You too, Neville," Minerva replied and gestured behind her towards the kitchen. "Shall I make you a cup of tea and we leave these two to talk?"

Once the two older women left them, Hari turned back to Neville. "Come on. We can go wait for Draco and the others to arrive," Hari said, leading Neville back to where he had just been sitting a minute prior. The two boys had hardly been sitting crammed together on the window seat for five minutes before several figures appeared. "They're here!" Hari announced, brushing past Neville and going over to answer the front door once again.

"Is that Severus Snape with the Malfoys?" Neville asked, peering out the window. His voice was slightly higher than normal, eyes wide as he stared out the window at the approaching guests.

Hari ignored his friend and opened the door. "Minnie, they're here!" he called over his shoulder before smiling politely at the four people now standing on his doorstep. Narcissa Malfoy, dressed elegantly as always, smiled down at Hari while Lucius Malfoy nodded politely. Severus, in his usual all black ensemble, smirked at Hari's excitement. The most important person, however, was Draco, already dragging Hari into a hug before Hari could even properly welcome them all into the house. Hari stumbled sideways, still hugging Draco, to let the adults step inside. He could hear them greeting Minerva politely and dragged Draco into the living room.

Neville was standing in front of the fireplace now, anxiously fumbling with the collar of his shirt. "Oh, Neville. You can't still be afraid of Severus, can you?" Draco teased as they entered the room. He flopped onto the couch with a satisfied sigh, watching Neville.

"Easy for you to say! He's your godfather, of course he wouldn't scare you!" Neville protested, crossing his arms defiantly over his chest.

Hari rolled his eyes and gently pushed Neville towards Minerva's chair before going to sit down next to Draco on the couch. "Severus isn't that bad once you get to know him. He used to terrify me when I first came to live with Minnie, but he grew on me," Hari said, crossing his legs on the couch and tucking his feet under himself. “Or rather, Minnie thinks I grew on him.”

"I dunno, guys. He just creeps me out a bit," Neville said, careful to keep his voice low so that the adults—or more precisely, Severus himself—would not overhear his comments. "I don't think he even likes me at all."

Hari shrugged. "He definitely disliked me when I first met him. I think he just takes ages to warm up to people," Hari added thoughtfully, remembering the first few years when he could barely even make eye contact with Severus. "I'm sure he'll get used to you, Neville. How could he not like you?"

Neville's cheeks flushed at Hari's comment, but he didn't reply. Draco groaned dramatically, scooting lower on the couch. "Merlin, you guys are so boring sometimes," he complained, "Do we have to keep talking about whether or not my godfather is scary?"

Hari snorted at his friend's usual theatrics. "Well, what would you rather we do?" Hari asked, wiggling his eyebrows. Draco slapped his wrist, rolling his eyes.

"We could play some Exploding Snap?" Neville suggested faintly. "Or maybe gobstones?"

"Boring!"

Neville frowned at Draco. "Fine, then you can decide what we do if my suggestions are so 'boring' to you!" he snapped, crossing his arms tighter.

"Stop fighting, guys. The adults will hear," Hari said, though he couldn't help his grin. Regardless of how dramatic they both could be, Hari had missed his two friends dearly. He punched Draco's knee, making the blond yelp in surprise. "And Neville's right. Why don't you decide what we do if you're so bored?"

Draco groaned dramatically but straightened up in his seat, pulling his knees up to his chest. His pale eyebrows furrowed in a thoughtful frown for a moment before he perked up, grinning. "We can take turns riding your broom! I got a new one for my birthday a couple weeks ago and I've been getting some practice in!" He jumped up from his seat, already ready to get Hari's broom to take it for a ride around the garden.

Hari snorted, exchanging a smirk with Neville before getting up. "Fine. You can ride my broomstick if you're so keen," Hari stated, leading the two boys into the hall. "Minnie, we're going to ride my broom in the garden!" Hari called down the corridor as he opened the cupboard under the stairs to pull out his broomstick. He shivered at the sight, still irked by the thought of sleeping under there despite only staying with the Dursleys every few months now.

"Be careful! And don't fly too high or it will be locked in that cupboard for the rest of time!" Minerva's voice called back down the hall, authoritative even without the stoney glare in sight. Hari unlocked the door, smirking as he knew the very look she would no doubt be giving towards the door leading to the hallway.

Hari and Neville settled on a shady patch of grass to watch Draco climb effortlessly onto the broom and kick off the ground. Hari had moved up to an old Comet 300 broom now that he was older, though Minerva had Filius put a charm on it so that it wouldn't fly much higher than the roof. Draco laughed as he flew in circles over the other two boys' heads, looping around and diving to and fro.

"Show off," Hari muttered to Neville, making him giggle.

A few minutes later, panting and grinning, Draco landed smoothly on the grass once again, carrying the broomstick over his shoulder back to Hari and Neville. "You want to take a ride, Neville?" he asked, holding the broomstick out in front of him.

Neville faltered, cheeks flushed and eyes wide, staring between the broom and Draco's face. "I-I don't know, Draco… I'll probably fall off and… I don't think Gran would be happy if she knew I rode it…" he replied sheepishly, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

Hari patted his shoulder understandingly. "That's alright, Neville. You could always just ride it at waist height if you like," Hari suggested. "I can even hold onto the broom so that you don't fall."

"Yeah, Neville, we can both go on either side of you so that there's no chance of you falling off even from only a couple feet!" Draco added, catching Hari's eye, clearly reading between the lines in what Hari was saying to Neville.

Neville seemed to consider their offers for a moment, still biting his lips and furrowing his brows together. After a moment, he jutted his chin up, rolled his shoulders back and nodded with a sort of defiance Hari didn't often see from the other boy. "Alright. But you can't let go and if I fall, I'm telling Gran you coerced me," said Neville, taking the broom out of Draco's hands and walking a little further from the house.

Hari and Draco exchanged incredulous looks and followed after Neville. They both stood on either side of the broom, just behind Neville who carefully got on the broom. "You've got this, Neville!" Hari encouraged, taking hold of the back of the broom. Draco did the same.

A few seconds later, Neville kicked lightly into the air, hovering slightly above the ground. Hari and Draco followed him around the garden as he carefully steered around, hands trembling only slightly. He swayed back and forth for only the first minute or so before he got used to the feeling of floating around a few feet above the ground, leaning forwards slightly as he got more used to it. Eventually, Draco raised his eyebrows meaningfully at Hari and mouthed *'On three'.*

Hari nodded and together, Hari and Draco silently counted up to three before both letting go of the broom. Neville continued flying away, not noticing that Hari and Draco had fallen behind, standing shoulder to shoulder and grinning as their friend managed to fly around on his own without their help.

"I'm doing it, guys! I'm flying!" Neville whooped, speeding up and turning abruptly. When he caught sight of Hari and Draco on the other side of the garden, grinning at him and very much not holding onto the broom, his mouth drew open slightly for a second before he said, "When did you guys let go?"

"About a minute ago," Draco replied with a shrug. "See? I told you you could do it." Neville flushed and floated closer to Hari and Draco before pulling to a slightly awkward halt and stepping off the broom. He had much less grace than Draco, but managed not to fall over.

"That was brilliant, Neville! I knew you could do it!" Hari exclaimed as both he and Draco slapped him on the back in congratulations. Hari moved around to go between his friends, slinging his arms around both of their shoulders.

An hour and a half later, the adults came into the living room to a burst of shouts from all three boys. They were all sitting around the coffee table, apparently having tried and failed to make a house of cards out of Exploding Snap cards which had exploded just before they came in. They exchanged looks as Draco immediately began trying to rebuild the tower, insisting that it would work this time.

"What on earth are you three doing?" Minerva asked as another explosion went off after only 3 cards. All three boys looked up at her, eyes widened. Another card ⁹exploded on the pile, making them jump.

"We were only trying to make a card tower, but they keep exploding, see," Draco replied simply, tilting his chin up. Hari rolled his eyes, knowing his attitude wouldn't possibly slide with Minerva.

"Did you not consider the fact that these cards explode?" Lucius drawled, arching an eyebrow at his son. Draco flushed, looking back down at the floor and putting the card he had been holding on the table. "Surely you realised that would make it very difficult to successfully make a tower out of them without them falling down?"

"We did, but…" Draco trailed off, clearly forgetting any excuses under the stern eyes of his father.

"We thought it would be funny to try," Hari butted in, glancing at his friend's frown and then at Lucius. He hoped he couldn't tell Hari's hand was shaking slightly under the table. "Even if it was futile, it was a challenge to see how tall it could get."

"I don't know which of you was the worst influence, frankly," Severus stated, mouth twitching. He looked at all three boys' guilty faces and turned to Minerva. "I think we'll have our hands thoroughly full when they all start learning at Hogwarts."

Minerva huffed a laugh and nodded. "Yes, I think you're right, Severus," she agreed, winking at Hari. She turned back to the adults. "Shall I get the wine out and these three go upstairs while I prepare dinner?" She gave the trio on the floor a look that told them plainly that this was less of a suggestion than an order.

In seconds, the cards had been collected from the table and the floor and all three boys were hurrying apologetically up to Hari's room. He could hear the adults laughing behind them as he shut the door behind them. Sticking the packet of cards on his book shelf, Hari turned to his friends again. Draco was already making himself comfortable in the corner of Hari's bed, leaning against the wall and holding onto one of Hari's photographs while Neville perched on Hari's desk chair. Draco had the stuffed stag Hari got from Remus a couple years ago in his lap as well.

"What should we do now that we've been banished to the bedroom?" Hari asked, sitting beside Draco on his bed. He recognised the photo taken the previous Christmas, the three boys dressed in uncomfortable suits and wrestling playfully inside the frame.

"I didn't know you supported the Magpies, Hari. They're not even close to the top of the league," Draco interrupted, gesturing to the poster stuck on his wall with the Seeker still flying around the paper.

"I don't just support teams because they're top of the league, Malfoy."

Draco snorted, replacing the photo on the wall again. "That much is obvious."

"Which team do you support, Draco?" Neville asked, crossing his legs on Hari's seat. It turned around slightly with his movement, knocking him off balance so he had to put his hand on the desk to keep from falling.

"Puddlemere United, obviously. Their line up is the best this season," Draco drawled, turning around to peel off yet another photograph. This time he chose the photo of Hari's parents shortly after their wedding. "Do you support anyone, Neville?"

"I guess. Gran and I like the Tornadoes, but my grandad likes the Harpies," Neville replied.

Hari pulled the photo out of Draco's nosy fingers and reattached it to the wall, giving Draco a look. Draco's cheeks flushed and he stopped trying to poke around the photos on his wall. He settled back against the wall, shoulder brushing against Draco's as he smirked. He learned that glare from Minerva and found it almost as effective as her own. At least with Draco, that is.

"Anyway, Draco, I support the Magpies because they're the team closest to here," Hari said matter-of-factly. "At least I don't just jump on the bandwagon of whichever team is best in the league."

Draco scoffed, but before he could retort something back, Neville interrupted, "Can we please stop arguing about dumb quidditch teams, please?" Neville scowled at both boys, jaw tight and shoulders hunched.

"They're not dumb!" Hari and Draco said at the same time.

They did however drop the topic and move onto something else. Draco was in the middle of listing out everything he got for his birthday, lying on his back with his feet on the wall and his head in Hari's lap when Severus entered to tell them supper was ready downstairs. He stopped when he noticed the position Draco was in, raising an eyebrow and sneering. "I suggest you remove your feet from the wall, Draco. I don't imagine your mother or Minerva would be too happy to see you mucking up the walls like that," he drawled.

Draco pulled his feet away from the wall instantly, much to the laughter of both Hari and Neville. Pouting at his friends' utter betrayal, Draco hopped off the bed and stalked after Severus' disappearing figure down the stairs. Hari and Neville followed shortly behind, covering their mouths to hide their giggles at Draco's melodrama as usual.

Draco, of course, calmed down by the time they had reached the table in the back garden. He nearly knocked poor Augusta onto the patio floor as he hurried to sit in the seat beside Hari, muttering only the faintest apologies before turning to whisper to Hari once again. Hari snorted, making room for Draco and digging into his meal. While the adults watched Draco, Hari and Neville interacting, all with varying degrees of fond looks, the trio talked loudly and enthusiastically, ignoring the adults.

As the sun began to set behind the clouds, casting the sky with vibrant red and orange, the packed table of wizards talked and laughed into the evening over their dinners, pleasantries and divides forgotten for the sake of their children.

"Come on, it's just around this corner," Hari said as he led the two identical gingers down one of the dimly lit corridors under the school. They stopped in front of a large painting depicting a bowl of fruit, George nearly running into the back of Hari as he stopped. "Tickle the pear," said Hari, gesturing towards the painting.

Fred raised an eyebrow. "Tickle the pear?" he asked sceptically, exchanging a look with his twin. "You having a laugh?"

"Do I look like I'm laughing?" Hari retorted, crossing his arms over his chest and raising a defiant eyebrow.

George snorted, pushing past Fred towards the painting. "I reckon we should try it, eh, Freddie?" he asked, reaching out and doing as Hari asked. There was a small pause before the three boys suddenly found themselves looking into a vast, high ceilinged kitchen. "Holy hippogriff, he wasn't lying!" George exclaimed, pressing into the room. Fred and Hari tailed him closely.

The Hogwarts kitchens were located directly underneath the Great Hall. Mirroring the long tables right above, the house elves would place all the food and drinks on the tables to magically transport them directly above to the Hogwarts dining tables. Currently, the kitchen was bursting with action, house elves darting here and there as they prepared that evening's dinner in record time. Noticing the arrival of three boys, one of the house elves paused what he was doing and scuttled over to them, bowing deeply.

"Can the house elves help you sirs?" he squeaked, massive eyes staring hopefully up at the three boys. Hari recognised this elf as Tiddles, a younger house elf that was known for accidentally knocking things over when he got too excited with his work. Hari had seen him knock over an entire stack of cauldrons one evening in the Potions classroom.

"I was just coming to show George and Fred the kitchen, Tiddles," Hari replied, noticing the elf's smile widen at his name. He turned to the twins. "Do you guys want anything?"

George grinned and turned to Tiddles and said, "Can you tell us what's for dinner tonight?" Hari blinked at George who added, "I'm gonna bet Lee that I can guess what we're having for dinner tonight."

Hari snorted. Tiddles began listing off what the house elves were currently making for dinner that night and George whipped out a small notebook to start writing it down. While Fred and George were busy with Tiddles, Hari wandered over to where a group of three house elves were stirring something into a large cauldron. "What are you guys making?" he asked, peering into the cauldron which smelled sugary and stuck to the sides of the cauldron.

"Treacle tart, sir!" one of them chimed, pouring a huge jar of golden syrup into the cauldron.

Hari licked his lips. "Oh, I love your treacle tarts! Those are my favourite desserts!" Hari exclaimed truthfully, sniffing the sweet filling inside the pot. The three house elves expressed their appreciation with bows and squeaks and Hari shrugged. "If it's not too much trouble, could we maybe get some tea for the three of us?" Hari added, gesturing behind him where Fred and George were still chatting with Tiddles.

The three boys settled down at the table directly under Hufflepuff as two house elvis elves began pouring tea into three mugs for them. One of them summoned a jar of sugar and a jug of milk, which the trio filled the rest of their mugs with, thanking the house elves profusely.

"This is the best thing you've shown us, Hari," Fred said through a mouthful of buttery biscuit he talked one of the elves into giving them.

George nodded, spraying crumbs onto the table. "Definitely. It'll come in handy having such an expert on Hogwarts as our friend," George added, picking up his mug and blowing on the steam that floated above his tea.

"Is that the only reason you're friends with me?"

"Course not! We're also friends with you because we want to get on McGonagall's good side!" Fred teased. At Hari's unimpressed scowl, he relented and said, "Nah, you're good company. Bill and Charlie were right, you're great."

Hari blushed behind his mug. "Did they really say that?"

"Yeah. I reckon you and our brother Ron'll get along great once he comes to Hogwarts," Fred replied. George bobbed his head in agreement, grinning mischievously. "Bill sends his love, by the way."

"He's got a job working as a curse breaker for Gringotts!" George added excitedly.

Hari raised his eyebrows, almost choking on his tea. "Really? That's so cool! I wish I could break curses…"

"You and me both, Hari. You and me both," Fred remarked, finishing his tea in one last gulp. He wiped the tea from his mouth on the back of his robes. George and Hari finished their tea and biscuits shortly after and the three of them made their way out of the kitchen once more, thanking the house elves sincerely as they passed. "See you again soon!" Fred called over his shoulder just before the painting closed behind them, leaving them back in the empty, dark corridor once again.

They walked back along the corridor together, George and Fred already talking plans of returning to the kitchen again to get snacks and sweets off the house elves. When they reached the top of the stairs, back in the entrance hall, Hari split off from the twins as they made their way to Gryffindor and Hari started towards his sleeping quarters. He waved hello to the fat friar as he passed and slipped behind the familiar tapestry of Ladon and the Nemian lion.

"Where have you been?" Minerva asked as Hari stepped inside their quarters. She was sitting reading the Daily Prophet on the couch, a fire roaring merrily in the fireplace in front of her. She folded up her newspaper and tossed it onto the seat beside her, fixing Hari with a glare over her spectacles.

"I was just visiting the house elves in the kitchens." Hari started towards his bedroom, hoping that would be the end of the conversation. Of course it wasn't.

"Were you alone?"

Hari paused, hand on the door handle and cheeks flushed. "Er, sorta? The house elves were there as well, so…"

"Don't give me cheek, Hari Potter," Minerva snapped.

Hari relented, letting go of the handle and slumping his shoulders. "I was just showing Fred and George Weasley the kitchens…" he mumbled sheepishly to the carpet.

"And why were you showing the biggest troublemakers in this school the kitchens? They've hardly been here a month and they're already as mad as Peeves," said Minerva, getting up from her seat and walking over to Hari. He flinched instinctively at her sudden movement but relaxed when all she did was tilt his chin up to look at her.

"They asked if I knew and I wanted to show them. They were nice to the house elves and there's not a rule saying students can't go to the kitchen, is there?" Hari did his best impression of puppy dog eyes, knowing full well it had at least a 50% chance of working on her.

Minerva sighed, brushing curls out of Hari's face. "Sometimes you truly are like your father," Minerva said fondly, tutting slightly. "He could be just as charmingly manipulative as you."

"But you liked Dad as well, didn't you?"

"I adored your father no matter how many grey hairs he gave me," she replied, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead. "That's another thing you get from him. I swear I'll look about 200 by the time you're 12."

Hari grinned mischievously. "But I'm only nine, not twelve."

Minerva tutted, jokingly shoving his shoulder and going to sit down. "Remember, Hari. You're only alive because I allow it," she warned, eyes crinkling despite herself.

Hari snorted and jumped onto the couch beside her, putting his head on her shoulder. "Yeah, but you love me." Minerva sighed, brushing his messy hair aside again.

"Yes, I do."

Chapter 7: Godric's Hollow

Chapter Text

Chapter Seven:

Hari was standing on the front steps of Hogwarts with Minerva, wrapped up in his new navy blue coat and a wooly hat and clutching onto a small overnight bag. The wind ruffled his hair into his eyes as he squinted to see the upcoming arrival of Remus. Minerva, frowning at the dreary weather, checked her watch again. "He should be here by now," she muttered, stuffing her hands inside her pockets, "I hope he's alright."

"He probably just got held up in Hogsmeade or something. He'll be fine, Minnie." Hari tried to be reassuring, smiling at Minerva and sticking his hand inside her pocket to hold her hand. Sure enough, Remus' distant figure appeared up the path not ten seconds after Hari's comment. "Uncle Remus!" he shouted, pulling his hand away, dropping his bag on the floor and sprinting down the steps so fast he nearly toppled down them.

He sprinted all the way across the grass until he nearly tackled Remus to the ground with a fierce hug. Remus grunted at the strength of his hug, stumbling slightly. "You are getting far too big for these running hugs, Pronglset," he grumbled even as he bent down to hug Hari nonetheless, smiling into his hair.

"Maybe, but you still let me," Hari said into Remus' coat.

"I see you survived Hari's attempts to take you out," Minerva's voice said from behind. Hari turned his head to stick his tongue out at her, promptly getting squashed between the two adults as they greeted each other with a hug as well. "You're—suffocating—me!" Hari choked dramatically, trying to pull out from between them.

Remus chuckled and messed up Hari's hair further. "You'll survive," he teased. Hari batted his hand away from his hair, pouting. "Are you ready to go or not?" Remus asked, already taking Hari's bag from Minerva and putting it over his shoulder.

"I'm ready!" Hari brightened up, pout easily turning into a wide grin.

"Sure you've got everything?" Minerva asked sternly, raising an eyebrow.

Hari nodded, shutting his eyes to remember packing everything. "I have a change of clothes, my pyjamas, a book and my deer stuffie," Hari listed off before opening his eyes again.

"Sounds like you've got everything." Minerva smirked, sharing a laugh with Remus over Hari's head as she pulled him into a goodbye hug. "I'll see you again tomorrow afternoon," she said, pulling away and kissing the top of his head.

Hari waved goodbye and started down the path, grabbing Remus' hand to pull him behind. "I'll try to bring him back in one piece," Remus said over his shoulder, winking. Minerva shot him a rude hand gesture, unbeknownst to Hari who was still adamantly yanking him towards Hogsmeade. "See you tomorrow, Minnie!"

They wandered down through Hogsmeade village, Remus nodding in greeting to the people he passed, holding tight to Hari's hand. "I already got you some Honeyduke's sweets on my way here, so I'll give you those when we get to my flat," Remus said when Hari stared at the small shop front advertising sweets. Hari brightened up, pulling him more eagerly towards the Apparition point.

"Hold tight," Remus said once they got there. Hari nodded and Remus spun on the spot. Hari felt the familiar uncomfortable feeling of pressure on his entire body and all the air in his lungs disappearing before arriving in the alleyway of a small, dingy cobblestone street. "Come," Remus whispered, pulling Hari around the corner.

Remus' Yorkshire flat was situated just around the corner in the middle of the old, somewhat rundown town. He pulled his keys out of his pocket on the way up the dusty concrete steps, pulling Hari quickly towards his house. He didn't stop to chat with an old man shuffling past them on the stairs and kept quiet as he unlocked the door to his flat. The door stuck slightly and he had to push his shoulder hard against the door before they could step inside the small flat.

It was deathly cold inside the flat and Remus had to put the fire back on in the tiny fireplace. There was only one bedroom, so Remus had set up the small pull out couch for Hari in the living room area, dropping Hari's backpack on top. Dropping his keys onto the table, Remus turned to face Hari, forcing a small smile.

"Would you like some lunch before we head to–to Godric's Hollow or do you want to go straight away?" Remus asked, voice slightly higher pitch than normal. Hari pretended not to notice, shrugging noncommittally at the question. "There's a cafe around the corner from here we could stop at on the way?"

Hari nodded, looking out the window at a dog eating out of a tipped over bin. "Do they have hot chocolate?" Hari asked, pulling his eyes away from the dog and back to Remus.

"I'd assume so. Most coffee shops tend to, at least," Remus replied, picking his keys up off the table again. "Is that a plan then? Shall we head off now or do you need to use the toilet first?"

Hari shook his head and moved to get to the door. "I'm fine. Let's go get hot chocolate!" Hari exclaimed, stepping aside to let Remus open the door and step into the hallway again. Hari looked at the peeling letters on the door across from Remus' flat as he locked the door, wondering who lived there. Remus finished locking the door and held out his hand for Hari to take and then they were making their way back down the stairs together.

The sky was beginning to brighten up slightly as they made their way through the small village, people walking past with their dogs or carrying rolled up newspapers. A few Halloween decorations were placed in the shop fronts, though many appeared to be closed or up for lease, metal shutters down and people loitering outside them with cigarettes. They stepped inside a tiny coffee shop with a moldy carved pumpkin and a paper skeleton in the window, a bell tinkling overhead.

Inside the shop, it was cramped with a few chairs and tables and a small queue of people. There was a small notice board above and behind the countertop, menu items scrawled in fading chalk letters. Hari noticed hot chocolate on the menu and tugged on Remus' jacket sleeve to point it out. He nodded, stepping forwards in line and mouthing silently as he read the other menu items. A few minutes later, Remus ordered a hot chocolate, a panini and an earl grey tea and pulled Hari over to the collection point.

"How's the studying going?" Remus asked while they waited, bobbing up and down on his heels. Hari could feel the anxious energy from beside him, but couldn't figure out why he was so nervous. He took Remus' hand again, hoping to be of some sort of comfort even if he couldn’t find the words.

"It's good. Maths is still the hardest, but I'm enjoying the books Minnie has me reading," Hari said. "I'm halfway through Little Women right now, which is kinda sad, but I like it. My favourite is Jo, but Beth is cool, too," Hari rambled excitedly, feeling Remus' smile on him.

"I vaguely remember reading that book," Remus replied, pulling Hari forwards their their orders were called out. "Who teaches you maths then?" He thanked the lady behind the counter as he collected their order, handing Hari a to-go cup and the sandwich.

Hari started opening the sandwich as they stepped back outside. "Severus does," he replied, swallowing a bite of food. Remus stiffened at the name, but carried on walking down the street, sipping his tea. "He's not that bad at teaching. He explains the stuff I don't get, but the work is really hard. I hate the multiplication tables and the shapes are stupid." Remus chuckled, almost choking on his tea.

Hari and Remus finished their drinks and panini and threw the containers in a bin before ducking into an abandoned alleyway. Remus took one last look around their surroundings, grabbed Hari's hand and then Apparated out of the alleyway. They arrived a split second later on yet another cobblestone street, tucked away behind a large dumpster. Hari followed Remus down the street, looking around at the various buildings they passed.

It was a quaint village lined with cheerful old houses with thatched roofs and ivy growing up the sides. There were low brick walls with metal gates in front of most houses, small gardens with dying flowers and faded garden ornaments. Several houses were also decorated for Halloween with scarecrows and jack-o-lanterns and toy bats on doorsteps and window ledges. They walked down the long stretch of stone street, smiling politely at passersby. A few people with children had costumes on, dressed as superheroes and princesses and vampires.

Hari and Remus made their way through the village until they reached a small graveyard near the centre. Remus led the way through the kissing gate and along between one of the rows of mismatched headstones and memorials. Hari followed close, occasionally peering at a few of the larger headstones or flower arrangements. Deep into the graveyard, Remus finally stopped in front of a marble headstone.

There they were, James and Lily, their names and life dates etched permanently into the pale white stone. Remus was standing as still as a statue, eyes glued to the headstone and hands balled into fists at his sides. Hari moved closer to the headstone.

"Hi Mum and Dad. It's Hari again," Hari murmured to the stone. Remus stiffened, making a strange, strangled noise in the back of his throat. Hari settled down on the hard, frozen grass in front of the headstone, running his hand through the indentations of his parents' names. He sniffled, looking at the ground. "I miss you guys. But I have Minnie taking care of me and Remus and Hagrid and all the others." He looked over his shoulder at Remus, still standing frozen, cheeks damp and eyes red. "Uncle Remus is here with me this time. I think he misses you, too." He added his last comment in a whisper, leaning closer to the stones like he was uttering a secret.

"I'll give you some alone time with them, Hari…" Remus muttered. Before Hari could protest, he turned and started wandering down the aisle between the graves, hands in his pockets and head bent down.

Hari continued to talk to his parents, telling them about life at Hogwarts and all the students he met and the teachers and how they taught him Muggle stuff. He talked about mundane things like Sundays with Minerva or going down to visit Hagrid or getting to see his friends. He told them about Draco and Neville as well, telling them about how cool they were and how he thought James and Lily would have liked them.

Having run out of things to tell them, Hari stood up again and walked back in the way Remus had gone. "Rem?" he called, looking up and down the rows and rows of gravestones. He saw Remus just ahead, sitting hunched over on a bench next to the small church in the middle of the graveyard. "Rem! Uncle Remus!" Hari speed walked over to where Remus was sitting with his face in his hands, sitting down beside him. It took him a second before he noticed Remus was crying, shoulders shaking and his fingers muffling quiet sobs. "Uncle Remus, I'm sorry. I didn't know it would make you so sad to come here…" Hari whispered, unsure of how to advance.

Hari had no idea how to comfort an adult that was crying. He didn't know if Remus wanted a hug or some space and he certainly didn't know what to say. How could he? He was nine and barely remembered his parents, so how could he possibly come up with words to comfort someone that knew them for years?

"It's okay. Don't worry," Remus whispered, wrapping an arm around Hari and burying his face in his curls. Hari adjusted to wrap both his arms around Remus, tucking his face in the crook of his neck like he always did. He could feel Remus crying on his shoulder but ignored it, hugging tighter because it was all he knew to do. Hari found himself tearing up as well, feeling sad about his parents and about how much Remus obviously missed them.

He wished he could remember them, but all he had left was a few old photographs and a headstone with their names on it.

Remus cleared his throat and pulled away, wiping the wetness from his cheeks with his thumb. He looked down at Hari, sniffling and just as teary as him and reached up to wipe away Hari's tears as well. He stood up and offered his hand to take, leading Hari back the way they came. They stopped in front of James and Lily once again and Remus pulled away from Hari to conjure up a pair of identical wreaths of white flowers Hari didn't recognise, placing them in front of each name, low down so their names were still visible.

"Do you want to talk to them and I go over there?" Hari asked once Remus was finished, hesitating as he looked down at the grave still.

Remus shook his head. "You don't have to do that, Hari. Thank you." He ruffled Hari's hair, smiling sadly, eyes twinkling with tears.

"Are you sure? I don't mind."

Remus sighed, running a hand through his thin brown hair. "Alright. Just a few minutes and then we can go, if you like," Remus replied, patting Hari's shoulder.

"Okay." Hari walked over to a headstone with a funny symbol on top of it, digging his hands in his pockets and shivering against the cold. He could still see Remus from where he was standing, his shoulders hunched as usual and his lips moving slightly like he was mumbling. He saw him wiping a tear from his cheek again and kissed his finger tips before touching them to the top of the headstone. Remus caught sight of Hari and gestured for him to come over.

As Hari neared, he thought he heard Remus saying something along the lines of 'I'm sorry' and 'I'll take care of him', but couldn't be sure. Remus put an arm around Hari, pulling him close to his side. "Ready to go?" he whispered. Hari glanced up and nodded. Remus steered Hari around, back in the direction they came from.

Outside the graveyard again, they stopped in front of the memorial left for the Potter family. There were many flowers and candles on it this time, due to the anniversary. "Did I really look that small?" Hari asked, looking at the statue of himself as a baby, without his signature lightning bolt scar.

Remus chuckled. "Pretty much, yeah. You've changed a bit, I suppose." Hari blanched, gasping in offense. Remus threw his head back, laughing at Hari's reaction. "I'm just kidding. Of course you look different. You're at least two inches taller now."

"Hey!" Hari yelled, shoving Remus so he stumbled, still laughing. "Minnie says I'll have a growth spurt one day!"

Remus hummed disbelievingly, wrapping an arm around Hari again and starting towards the Apparition point they arrived at earlier. "Keep saying that, Prongslet. That's exactly what James used to say and he never had one either," Remus teased, laughing when Hari scoffed again.

They Disapparated back to the alley next to Remus' house and walked in silence up to his flat. More people were out trick-or-treating now, passing Hari and Remus with wishes of 'Happy Halloween' and carrying bags of sweets. Hari eyed the sweets with jealousy, reluctantly following Remus up the steps to the flat and waiting for him to unlock it again.

Once he locked the door behind them and hung up Hari's coat over a kitchen chair, Remus pulled out a paper bag from inside his pocket and dropped it onto the table with a small thud. "There's the sweets from Honeyduke's I promised," he stated, pulling his own coat off and draping it over another chair. Hari grabbed the bag greedily and poured the small pile of sweets onto the table. Hari was already opening a packet of Fizzing Whizzbees when Remus piped up again, "Do you want to order a pizza for dinner? We can get any toppings you like."

"Yes, please! Thank you, Uncle Remus!" Hari chimed, smiling gratefully, eyes twinkling. Remus lifted the telephone off the wall and dialed a few numbers before pausing for a moment. Knowing how much Remus liked chocolate, Hari pushed a Chocolate Frog towards Remus' seat.

A couple hours after they were both stuffed with pepperoni pizza and too much sweets, Hari was trying to go to sleep on the pull out couch. He clutched his stuffed stag, Prongs, rolling over in the creaky bed. Every single movement was echoed by the horrible high pitch squeaking of the springs in the thin mattress, every individual one digging into Hari's back. A tiny slice of moonlight cut across the floor and onto the bed, thin and stark white against the darkness of the living area. The wind howled outside, rattling the old windows in their frames. Hari clutched his stuffed animal tighter, jumping when he heard a sudden crow cawing outside.

"No, thanks," Hari muttered as the crow cawed once again, throwing the thin blanket off himself and clambering out of bed. The springs groaned in high pitched protest and Hari shuffled flat footed towards Remus's bedroom, armed with an outstretched, trembling hand and a stuffed deer. He managed to get to Remus' room with minimal damage, only slightly kicking a door and running into a wall. Taking a deep breath, urged on by further loud crow noises, Hari knocked on the door. "Uncle Remus?"

The door creaked only slightly as he pushed it open, peeking his head through to see into the room. "Hari?" Remus' tired voice asked into the darkness. A lamp flickered on to reveal Remus sitting up on his elbows, squinting from the light. "You okay?"

Hari wordlessly moved around the bed to the other side, carefully lifting the covers up and climbing underneath them. Remus peered down at him, raising an eyebrow. Hari got comfortable, pulling the covers up to his chin and clutching the stuffed deer tighter. "It was too noisy and the bed was annoying. I didn't like the crows either." Hari murmured, shuffling towards Remus, looking for warmth. "You don't mind, do you? I can go if you want."

Remus shook his head rapidly, clicked off the light and laid back down. He raised his arm so that Hari could snuggle closer, listening to Remus' heartbeat against his ear. "Of course that's alright, little Prongslet. You can stay here," Remus whispered, combing his other hand through Hari's hair. "You're never too old to cuddle and you can always, always ask for help if you're scared or uncomfortable. Okay?"

Hari nodded silently against Remus' shoulder, crushing Prongs between them as he shuffled closer. "Love you, Uncle Remus," he whispered into the fabric of Remus' shirt.

Remus leaned down to press a kiss to the top of his head, still combing his hand through Hari's hair. "I love you too, Hari." Hari fell asleep not long after, calmed by the heartbeat in his ear, the steady rise and fall of Remus's breathing and the warm, protective embrace of his arms.

Hari was absolutely starving. He had had to miss lunch due to getting held up by a trio of Bowtruckles that tried to pelt him with twigs and scratch his arms and face. Now, a couple hours before dinner, Hari was prowling the basem*nt of Hogwarts, stomach gurgling loudly. As he reached the familiar fruit bowl painting, Hari carefully tickled the pear, stepping back as it turned into a green handle. He opened the door to the kitchens, ready to politely ask the house elves for a plate of biscuits before stopping dead.

The floor and walls were covered in a comical amount of spaghetti noodles, sticking to the surfaces and squelching underfoot. House elves were frantically trying to Vanish the messes, talking in panicked squeaks. Standing in the centre of the mess, soaking wet and covered in even more noodles was a girl of about 16 in a Hufflepuff uniform. She was apologising profusely, trying not to slip on more of the mess when she turned around and jumped in surprise as she made eye contact with Hari in the doorway.

"Oh f*ck!—sh*t, I shouldn't swear in front of a—damn! Oh!" the girl blabbed, slapping her hands over her mouth, eyes bulging comically. She was a sight to behold regardless of the pasta covering her, shoulder length blue hair and hundreds of bracelets and smudged eyeliner, staring at Hari in surprise. "Sorry, I'd say I'm not usually this awkward, but, well…" She gestured vaguely around herself.

Hari giggled, stepping inside the kitchen and closing the door behind him. "What even happened?" Hari asked, looking around at the rapidly Vanishing mess of noodles and steaming pasta water.

The girl blushed violently, chewing on her bottom lip. "Okay, so, I was just coming here to get some snacks because I was hungry and… I may or may not have knocked over the entire cauldron of spaghetti they were making for dinner tonight…" When she finished her story, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly, Hari struggled not to laugh. He was sure she hadn't meant to do it and probably wouldn't appreciate it if Hari laughed at her. "You can laugh all you want. I'm pretty much a walking disaster," she added, grinning.

Hari giggled lightly for a few seconds before composing himself with ease, having learned well from Minerva. "I'm sure you didn't mean to," Hari said, "And you're probably not as clumsy as you think you are either."

The girl snorted. "No, I'm definitely extremely clumsy. I once accidentally knocked Professor Flitwick down a whole flight of stairs because I tripped over my shoelace and bumped into him as he walked past," she replied, rolling her eyes at herself. Hari couldn't help but laugh at the image of poor Filius rolling down the stairs. "I'm Nymphadora Tonks by the way. But just call me Tonks or I'll hex your hair off," she added, walking over to shake Hari's hand.

"I'm Hari," he replied, shaking her hand. "How come you don't want to be called by your first name?"

Tonks shivered. "It's a horrible name. It's too girly for me," she explained, shrugging. "I don't reckon I suit it very much."

"I like the name Tonks better."

Tonks beamed, eyes twinkling. "You know, Hari? I think that's the nicest thing you could have said." Hari's cheeks burned and he looked away. "What are you doing in the kitchen anyway?" Tonks asked after a few seconds of silence filled only by the frantic cooking of a hundred house elves.

"I missed lunch because I got attacked by a group of Bowtruckles," Hari replied casually. "I got too near their nest and they pelted me with twigs and scratched me everywhere. I only just got back from getting fixed by Pomfrey."

Tonks winced at his story. "I've been attacked by those as well. Nasty little buggers when they want to be," said Tonks, sharing a knowing grin with Hari. "Shall we get some snacks from the house elves and then get out of their way?" she suggested in a low voice, looking over her shoulder at the house elves that were scowling in her direction as they cooked.

Hari nodded in agreement and stepped past her. "Excuse me, could we maybe get a few leftover sandwiches from lunch or something? Please?" Hari asked the nearest elf. She nodded rapidly and paused her stirring before scuttling away. She returned a minute later with her arms full of wrapped up cakes, ham and cheese sandwiches and packets of crisps, which she handed to Hari, eyeing Tonks warily. "Thank you so much, Fifi!" Hari exclaimed, turning back to Tonks with his arms full of snacks.

Tonks relieved Hari of some of the snacks and held the door open for him, following him out into the corridor. "You sure know how to get on their good side," Tonks was saying as they made their way back down the dark corridor together.

"I often like to go and have cups of tea or read my books with them. They're good company," Hari explained, shifting the pile to avoid dropping one of the cakes. "Plus, I think anyone can get on their good side if they don't knock over half their work on the floor."

Tonks gasped, scandalised, elbowing Hari in the side so that she dropped one of the cakes. Leaning down to pick it up, she said, "Wow, Charlie was right. You are surprisingly quick witted for your age."

Hari brightened up. "You know Charlie Weasley?"

She nodded her head. "Course I do. Everyone does," she replied. "Plus, he's in my year. We have Care of Magical Creatures together and often work together with the creatures."

"I didn't know that. That's cool."

"So is Charlie. He's a brilliant Seeker," she stated where they turned the last corner leading towards the stairs going up to the entrance hall. She stopped at the bottom as another corridor lead off in the direction of the Hufflepuff common room. "Well, it was great meeting you Hari! Thanks for getting those snacks!"

"Nice meeting you, too, Tonks!"

Hari watched her go down the rest of the corridor towards her common room before turning to head upstairs, careful not to drop his pile of goodies.

Chapter 8: Eleven Years

Chapter Text

The Potter-McGonagall household was more packed than Hari had ever seen it before. Most people were milling about the garden, talking over plates of food, though a few people were in the living room or kitchen. From his vantage point up in the tree, Hari could see many familiar faces: Remus and Hagrid talking on the patio with slices of pizza; Augusta Longbottom, telling someone unfamiliar a story; Severus Snape, quietly drinking a glass of champagne; Kingsley looking around the garden with a glass of Firewhiskey to hand; Tonks was over with her parents, scarfing down a bit of onion bhaji, sauce on her nose and cheek; Filius and Charity sitting together at the outdoor table; and he spotted his twin cousins Padma and Parvati Patil grabbing food from the buffet together.

Hari wondered where Neville had gotten to and when the Malfoys would be arriving. It was his 11th birthday that day, which meant he had a Hogwarts letter to open. To celebrate his and Neville's birthdays a day apart, Minerva and Augusta threw a party for them both, ending with them opening their Hogwarts letters together. It was all a big show, of course, since Hari had already known not only that he was going to Hogwarts anyway, but also the contents of the letter. He had watched Minerva write out those letters hundreds of times before.

But it was nice to see everybody enjoying themselves over good food and conversation.

Hari was so focused on his spying on the rest of the party guests that he didn't even notice someone else arriving underneath his tree until he almost fell off the branch. Standing just below him, pale blond hair gelled back and grinning broadly up at him was Draco Malfoy. "Try not to fall head over heels for me, Potter," Draco teased, wiggling his eyebrows. Hari scoffed and carefully climbed down the tree.

Once he was on steady ground, Hari threw his arms around his friend, pulling him into a bone crushing hug. "When did you get here?" he asked right in Draco's ear, still holding tight. Draco, to his credit, hugged back just as fiercely.

Draco pulled out of the hug just as Neville reappeared, jogging over to join them. "I got here about three minutes ago," Draco replied, pulling Neville into a short hug as well. "Happy birthday, by the way. Both of you." He grinned back and forth between Hari and Draco.

"Thanks!" they said together.

"So, where are our presents then?" Hari asked, elbowing Draco in the side and winking.

Draco shoved Hari, rolling his eyes. "They're over with the rest of the presents, you impatient horklump," he snapped, though he lacked any malice as he grinned throughout. "Now, can we go and get some food? I'm absolutely starved," he said, wrapping an arm around Hari and Neville's shoulders and leading them over towards where all the food was set up buffet style.

Hari, Neville and Draco were sitting under the tree, shoveling slices of pizza, sandwiches and chips into their mouths between gulps of pumpkin juice when Tonks made her way over to them with a plate of food, her hair a vibrant, spiky purple pixie cut. "Wotcher, guys! Enjoying the festivities?" she asked, sitting cross legged next to Draco and stealing a chip from off his plate.

"Definitely. Any excuse for this much great food is a good one," Hari replied, lifting a forkful of bhaji as an example before taking another large bite.

"I'm with you there, mate," she agreed, showing off her plate piled with food.

Tonks was in the middle of making the three boys laugh by changing her nose into a pig snout when Hagrid came over to tell them all they had to go over to the patio for something. They all collected their plates and cups and followed him over to where Augusta and Minerva were standing side by side while everyone watched them patiently.

"Ah, here are the birthday boys!" Augusta announced, arms stretching towards Hari and Neville, both blushing. Someone—Hari would bet on Draco—pushed him towards the front by his back, almost dropping his plate of food. Remus, standing nearby, offered to hold it for him while Hari sidled over next to Minerva.

Augusta addressed the watching crowd around them. "Now that we have the guests of honour again, I'd like to make a quick speech," she told the crowd. Hari and Neville exchanged horrified glances behind her back and Hari heard Draco barely stifling his laughter. "Neville, ever since you came to live with me when you were just a little boy, I have watched you grow so much. I'll admit, we didn't know whether you'd be an actual wizard—" Neville groaned in embarrassment, "—but I couldn't be prouder to know that you'll be going off to Hogwarts just like your parents. I have no doubt they would be so proud of you and I'm so glad you're finally able to go to Hogwarts!"

Neville buried his face in his hands while the crowd clapped at her speech, talking amongst themselves about the contents of Mrs. Longbottom's odd speech.

"Minnie, please don't make one also—" Hari began, cutting himself off with a groan as Minerva gave him a wicked smile and moved forwards, clearing her throat. In the crowd, Draco giggled again.

"If you don't mind, I would also like to make a wee speech," she cried, glancing over at a betrayed and scandalised Hari. "Similarly, when I managed to talk Albus Dumbledore into letting me take you into my custody, it was the best decision I ever made. I have no doubt that you will do great things at Hogwarts, even if I have to give you detentions since you'll also undoubtedly take after your father as well." The crowd laughed at this and she caught Remus' eye, winking. "I look forward to getting to teach you properly for the next few years and hopefully not get too many more grey hairs because of you."

She finished her speech to more cheers and went back to Hari. Before Hari could complain to her, Remus stood up. "Oh, Godric. Not another speech," Hari muttered in horror.

But instead of a speech, Remus simply raised his glass of champagne in the air and stated, "To Hari and Neville!" The crowd echoed him and the air was soon filled with clinking glasses and excited chatter from all around.

While Minerva and Augusta were distracted, Hari and Neville sneaked off to where Draco was standing, still laughing at the looks on their faces. As they neared, he lifted his glass of pumpkin juice in a salute, grinning teasingly and eyes wicked. Hari groaned, shaving his friend's shoulder so that a bit of pumpkin juice spilled over his hand.

"Oi! Don't get it on my sleeve or Mother will have my head!" Draco whined, kicking Hari in the shins.

Whatever retort Hari was going to say back died on his tongue at the arrival of Hagrid carrying the cake to the table on the patio. Hari and Neville exchanged grins before pushing back through the crowd to get to the cake. Hari could feel Draco resting his chin on his shoulder to get a better look. The cake someone had made was a massive, elaborate sheet cake with pale blue and white frosting all over it. There was a detailed model of Hogwarts castle on its rock face, along with the lake in thick frosting. In slightly messy green frosting it said: Happy Birthday Hari and Neville! Stuck in the top of the cake were two candles shaped like the number 1, both already lit and flickering in the delicate breeze.

Everyone sang Happy Birthday to them both and then on a count of three, both boys blew out the candles. Blushing profusely, both boys took turns cutting into the cake, which was revealed to be chocolate.

"One last thing before you all get too distracted with this excellent cake." Minerva's voice carried over the talk of the crowd, sharp and clear, silencing the crowd at once. She was carrying two thick envelopes in one of her hands, parting the crowd easily like Moses to the sea and passed Hari and Neville their respective envelopes. Hari muttered his thanks and inspected the envelope.

He recognised the neat scrawl on the back, written in shining emerald ink and the Hogwarts crest on the seal. He rarely got any mail, being just a kid, so the look of his name and address made him smile slightly:

Mr. H Potter

Nivelles Cottage

Caithness

Highlands

"Open them, open them!" urged someone in the crowd. Hari peered at Neville beside him and together, they peeled off the seal of the envelopes and pulled out their Hogwarts letters. The crowd erupted in cheers and Hari caught Draco's eye somewhere in the centre of the crowd. He rolled his eyes teasingly but grinned at Hari nonetheless.

A few hours later, full of food and piles of sweets, Hari dropped back onto the couch in the living room in exhausted delirium. Most of the party guests had gone except the Malfoys, Longbottoms, Remus and Hagrid. Draco followed suit, plopping down next to Hari with a wide yawn and half falling onto Hari's shoulder. Neville, meanwhile, made himself comfortable in Minerva's seat with a leftover kebab. They could hear the rest of the adults still talking out back, no doubt drinking even more alcohol while the kids were occupied inside the house. Hari distinctly heard Hagrid's booming laugh over the rest of their chatter.

"Did you have fun?" Draco mumbled into Hari's shoulder, breath warm and ticklish against his chin.

Hari nodded through another yawn, stretching out wide so that Draco had to move away to avoid getting hit in the face. "I think I ate too much," he decided, patting his stomach which felt particularly more full than usual.

Neville nodded his agreement and mumbled, "Same. I won't be eating for a week." His face was half crushed into one of the cushions, squashing his round face comically.

"Not too tired or stuffed to open presents, are you?" Hagrid chortled, shimmying carefully into the room. The rest of the adults appeared shortly behind him, filing into the living room, still nursing their glasses.

Draco moved closer to Hari's side to make room for his mother while Lucius leaned against the wall beside her. Remus tucked himself easily into the window seat and Augusta insisted on taking Neville's seat while Minerva stood in front of the fireplace and Hagrid stayed in the doorway.

Minerva Summoned their presents into the room, ordering them into two neat piles for both boys to open together. Hari and Neville plopped down in front of the roaring fire and began opening their presents. It was a pretty successful pile that Hari got this year: the Magpies Seeker's jersey from Kingsley; a full set of the Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle comics from Draco; various gift vouchers to shops in Diagon Alley; a bag of Honeyduke's sweets from Neville; a copy of Quidditch Through the Ages from Tonks; and a collapsible telescope from Remus, which apparently used to belong to James.

Hari was so busy thanking everyone in the room individually, showing them all his new gifts, that he didn't notice Minerva and Hagrid had left the room until they returned. Hari looked up from inspecting the book from Tonks at the hush that fell around the room. He almost dropped the book on the ground when he noticed Minerva and Hagrid holding up a large bird cage between them, inside of which sat a gorgeous snowy white owl.

"Is that for me?" he asked breathlessly, getting to his feet. At Hagrid's affirmative reply, Hari crossed the living room in two strides and crouched down in front of the cage. The owl stared right at him with a pair of bright amber eyes which almost seemed to understand Hari. He looked away from the owl and beamed at Hagrid. "Thank you so much! This is amazing!" he exclaimed.

Hagrid waved his hand dismissively, but beamed at Hari regardless. "Ah, it was nothin', Hari. Thought you'd like it for sendin' letters and the likes," Hagrid said. He passed Minerva the cage just as Hari give him a big hug and muttered further hugs into his shirt. He barely reached past Hagrid's waist, but it didn't bother him after knowing Hagrid so long now.

As was becoming almost a tradition, Hari's birthday was even better than last year's.

After a good 20 minutes of pleading, Draco and Hari managed to talk Minerva and Narcissa and Lucius into letting Draco spend the night at Hari's. The older Malfoy's said their goodbyes and last minute birthday wishes as Draco half chased them away down the path, promising to meet up in Diagon Alley the next day to buy some school supplies.

Minerva cleared away the furniture and Vanished all the rubbish left over in the living room, Transfiguring one of the cushions into a mattress fit for both Hari and Draco to fit in. Draco and Hari brought down Hari's blankets and pillows, setting up camp beside the dying fire, whispering enthusiastically about that day and looking forward to the coming weeks.

Draco and Hari were in the middle of trying out Hari's new telescope, setting it on the window seat and crammed together to look out together when Minerva entered asking them if they wanted hot chocolate before bed. Unsurprisingly, they both wanted one, much to Minerva's amusem*nt. "Look how big the moon looks tonight!" Hari stage whispered, pointing the telescope in the direction of the huge white moon, which was almost 3 quarters full now.

Draco pushed Hari out of the way so he could see, moving the telescope around the sky. "I can't remember where the Draco constellation is. Mother showed it to me a while ago, but I can't remember where it was," Draco muttered, aimlessly moving the telescope in search of the constellation he was named after.

"It's pretty cool how you're named after a constellation. I wish I had a cool name," Hari admitted, leaning his head against the wall next to the window. He regarded Draco as he peered into the telescope, features lit up by the moonlight shining through the window.

Hari jumped as Minerva appeared with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, piled high with marshmallows. "I want you both in bed as soon as you finish these," Minerva said as she placed the mugs on the coffee table that was pushed aside. "We'll be going to Diagon Alley quite early tomorrow and you don't want to be so tired you don't enjoy it, do you?" Giving them both her famous stare over her shoulder, Minerva left the living room. Her footsteps could be heard going up the stairs shortly after, followed by her bedroom door opening and shutting.

Draco and Hari grabbed their mugs of hot chocolate and settled on top of the covers on the mattress. Draco was plucking the marshmallows off one by one, careful not to get his fingers too sticky and blowing on the steam rising through the gaps in the marshmallows. Hari smirked at his friend's careful habits, ingrained into him by his family as soon as he was able to feed himself. Hari, who grew up having to eat as quickly as possible to avoid getting his food stolen by his cousin Dudley, took little care in how he ate, burning his tongue as he took a hasty sip.

Draco glanced at him through narrowed eyes as Hari spluttered slightly from the heat, fanning his open mouth. "You can judge the way I eat all you want, but you don't see me carelessly burning my tongue, do you?" said Draco, popping another marshmallow in his mouth. Hari scowled and Draco kicked him in the leg with his socked foot, laughing at Hari's face. "I have a point though, don't I? If you didn't insist on eating everything so fast, maybe you wouldn't be burning the roof of your mouth almost every single time."

"Sorry I don't have your insane self control, then,

Hari goaded, poking Draco in the side so that he yelped and splashed hot chocolate and marshmallows all over himself.

"Hey!" Draco whined as he looked down at the mess they had made, "You're lucky I don't have a wand until tomorrow or you'd be sorry!"

Hari snorted, putting his mug on the floor and carefully heading to the kitchen to clean up the spill. Once they cleaned up the mess as well as they could without magic, they went back to silently enjoying their drinks while watching the fire going out in the hearth. The last embers were sparking here and there, pulling the room slowly into darkness until all Hari could see of Draco was his silhouette from the light coming from the moon outside the window.

"Which house do you think you'll be in when we get to Hogwarts?" Draco broke the silence, leaning over to put his empty mug on the coffee table. He rolled over until he was lying on one of the pillows, tilting his head to look up at Hari as he finished off his drink.

Hari sipped the last chocolatey dregs of his drink thoughtfully. "I dunno. I suppose Gryffindor would be cool. Minnie and Remus and my parents were all in Gryffindor," he replied after a moment's contemplation, putting his mug on the ground and lying down beside Draco. He rolled onto his side to face him, back turned to the faded fire. "What about you?"

Draco huffed. "Slytherin, of course. My entire family have been Slytherins," he replied, though he sounded slightly off "I don't know what I'd do if I got any other houses. Father definitely wouldn't be too happy, I'd expect." Despite the confidence behind his words, Hari could hear the anxiousness hidden behind his facade, driven further by the wrinkle between his eyebrows as he frowned.

Hari poked his friend's shoulder until Draco turned to look at him. "Hey, no matter what, I know your parents love you. Regardless of what house you get put in, I have no doubt they'd still love you unconditionally, yeah?"

"But what if they don't?" Draco's voice was so quiet Hari had to strain to hear it. Even still, his fear was the loudest thing in the room now.

"Then you have plenty of other people who won't mind if you get sorted into a house that isn't Slytherin." He elbowed Draco's side gently and he turned to look at Hari in the darkness. "For example, you have me." He was aiming for humour, hoping to cheer Draco up, but it sounded far more genuine than he expected.

"We should go to sleep. It's late and you don't want Minerva yelling at us for being tired, do you?"

Hari knew Draco just wanted to drop the subject, the air suddenly tense and awkward where it rarely was with them. Nodding, Hari shuffled under the covers more, trying to get comfortable. He could hear Draco shifting around next to him, sighing heavily again and again. The fourth time he sighed, jostling Hari as he shifted over, Hari sat up on his elbows, glowering at him.

"Draco, would you stop moving so much and sighing? I'm trying to sleep," he moaned, narrowing his eyes at the slightly blurry form lying next to him with his back to him.

"I can't get comfortable on this mattress. I can't sleep."

Hari groaned and dropped back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling like it had wronged him. "Weren't you the one that said we should go to bed?" Hari snapped, frowning.

"Yeah because I want to go to sleep, but I just can't," Draco retorted. Hari could feel his glare on the side of his face where Hari was still staring adamantly at the ceiling.

"Well sorry Minnie's transfigured bed wasn't good enough for your taste, Draco."

The tension grew thicker between them and they stayed like that for a long time, brooding in silence beside each other. Hari was practically glaring a hole into the ceiling while Draco turned away to pout out of sight from Hari. Hari knew he wouldn't get to sleep anytime soon, heart pounding in his ears and Draco's presence too noticeable just a few inches away. Hari was so distracted by his own irritation that it took him a long time to realise Draco was crying.

"Draco?" he whispered, finally turning to look at his friend's back. He was shaking slightly and Hari heard him sniffle. "Draco," Hari repeated. Draco didn't answer. Hari reached out tentatively and grasped Draco's shoulder. When the other boy didn't shrug away, Hari pulled him back to face him.

Even in the darkness Hari could see the wetness on Draco's cheeks, almost shining in the light cast into the room by the soft light coming in through the window. His face was bunched up and blotchy, trying to avoid looking at Hari. "I-I'm sorry I snapped at you," Draco breathed, "I just can't stop thinking about the Sorting…"

Hari moved closer until their sides were pressed against each other, wrapping an arm around Draco's shoulders in the only way he could think to help. He was never very good with his words. "Don't worry about it. It's not for another few weeks…" he attempted.

"I'll try…"

Eventually, a little while later, Draco calmed down fully. Hari moved his arm away as it was going number under the weight of his neck and rolled over, facing the fire again. It didn't take long to fall asleep after that as he drifted off with the knowledge that even if Draco got sorted into a house his parents disagreed with, Hari would be there for him no matter what.

Chapter 9: Hogwarts First Years

Chapter Text

It was the first of September and Hari travelled all the way across the country with Remus so that he could take the train with the others. Hari had insisted on it, despite knowing he could have just as easily travelled to Hogwarts which wasn't that far away. But, as Minerva was needed at Hogwarts a day earlier and Remus lived halfway between London and Caithness anyway, Hari simply made the trip with Remus instead.

Now, they were standing in King's Cross Station, Hari holding onto the trolley and staring at Platform Nine.

"Alright, take a deep breath. On a count of three, just walk straight at the wall and you'll find yourself on the platform, okay?" Remus was saying, one hand on Hari's shoulder. "I'll be right behind you, don't worry."

Hari looked up at Remus' unwavering certainty and nodded. He straightened up, narrowing his eyes in focus and then began marching right towards the wall. He closed his eyes just before he went through, bracing himself for a crash that never came. Breathless, Hari opened his eyes again to see a huge scarlet steam engine, steam billowing above it. People were all over the platform, calling out their goodbyes and hugging each other. There were owls in cages and cats in boxes hissing and children running up and down the platform, talking excitedly to each other with frazzled parents.

Remus appeared next, smiling and patting Hari on the back. "See? Told you it would be fine," he said, leaving his hand on Hari's shoulder.

Hari rolled his eyes and turned to look for any recognizable faces in the different huddles of people but slouched when he saw none. Noticing this, Remus squeezed his shoulder. "It'll be fine, Hari. Just find a compartment and get a seat and then you can look for your friends, okay?" Hari nodded, still eyeing the platform hopefully. Someone blew a whistle and more people began boarding the train in a hurry. "Okay, that's the train going in a few minutes. You better get on."

Remus helped Hari get his trunk and Hedwig's cage onto the train and then Hari jumped down to say goodbye. He reached up to pull the taller man down into a hug, nearly knocking him down. "Thanks for coming with me," he said into his shoulder as he felt warm hands wrapping around him.

"Of course, Hari," Remus replied, squeezing tight and then letting go. He ruffled Hari's hair. "I'll see you soon, Prongslet. Try not to get into too much trouble or Minerva might send you howlers across the hall."

Hari snorted and clambered up the steps onto the train. "I'll try not to!" Hari said, grinning. He waved once again and then lifted his trunk and Hedwig's cage and started making his way towards a free compartment. He found one not long after and put his stuff inside before going out to wave goodbye to Remus out the window.

The train had just started to pull out of the station when the compartment door rolled open. "There you are! I wasn't sure if you were taking the train or just going straight there!" Draco lugged his own things inside the compartment and dropped into the seat across from Hari. "Enjoy the rest of your holidays?" he added, stretching his feet out in front of him and making himself comfortable.

Hari was about to answer when the compartment door slid open again. A boy their age with familiar ginger hair and freckles appeared in the doorway, looking sheepish. "Sorry, do you mind if I join you? Everywhere else was full…" the boy asked, trailing off at the end.

"Yeah, of course. Come on in," Hari replied brightly.

The boy looked relieved and clambered inside as well, clutching a rat under his arm. He sat down beside Hari, eyeing Draco warily. "I'm Ron, by the way," he said, adjusting his rat so he could offer his hand to shake.

Hari took it, smiling. "Red hair and a pet rat. You must be a Weasley," Hari replied as he let go. "I've met your brothers," he added at Ron's confused look.

"Oh! Are you… are you Hari Potter?" Ron asked.

Hari nodded. "That I am."

"Blimey. I thought my brothers were lying when they said they met you at Hogwarts."

Hari laughed. Draco cleared his throat, clearly having had enough of not being in the centre of attention. "That's my friend Draco by the way. Can't stand not being looked at constantly," Hari explained, gesturing to his friend.

Draco held out his hand. "Draco Malfoy," he stated, clearly trying for confidence. Ron hesitated for a second, still looking wary. Hari's heart dropped, but then Ron took his hand, shaking it once. "Glad to meet you," Draco said politely, leaning back in his seat again.

"Er, you too," Ron replied, ears turning as red as his hair. He turned away from Draco and looked out into the corridor.

Hari looked back and forth between the two boys, both of whom were adamantly not looking at each other. What on Earth? Hari thought, furrowing his eyebrows. He had never seen two people dislike each other so fast in his life. "So, are you excited to start at Hogwarts?" Hari asked, hoping to change the subject. He didn't want them to dislike each other before they even got to school. All the other Weasley's he'd met so far had been so nice and Hari sincerely hoped Ron would be, too.

Ron seemed to perk up somewhat at his question. "Oh, yeah. Definitely," he said. "My brothers have been telling me about it for years. I'm curious as to what will be the same as they said."

"I can confirm or deny things they've told you, if you like. I already live at Hogwarts most of the year anyway," Hari suggested.

Hari was in the middle of telling them both about Moaning Myrtle when there was a knock at the door of the compartment. A girl with coarse black hair, dark brown skin and large front teeth stood outside, already dressed in her school robes. Hari waved her in and the compartment door opened yet again.

"Has anybody seen a toad? Neville's lost his," she asked the group. She had a sort of bossy, commanding voice, not entirely unlike Minerva's.

"You know Neville Longbottom?" Draco asked, exchanging a smile with Hari. They both looked expectantly at the new girl while Ron continued to look confused.

"Yeah. We met on the train," she replied, raising her head up. She leaned out the doorway and called down the corridor, "Neville! I think you've got some friends here!" She stepped back into the compartment just as Neville Longbottom appeared looking very frazzled.

His stressed appearance brightened slightly as he saw familiar faces. "Oh, hey! Nice to see you guys," Neville greeted politely, nodding in Ron's direction as well. "You haven't seen a toad around, have you? Gran got me a toad for my birthday and I've already lost him!"

"Have you tried looking where they keep some of the trunks? I think they like darker areas," Draco suggested.

"I haven't!" Neville perked up. "I'll be right back!" And he hurried off back down the way he had just come again.

The girl stepped farther inside the compartment and sat down beside Draco, perching slightly on the edge. "Can I sit here?" she asked, looking around at the other three in the room. Her look gave Hari the impression that telling her no wouldn't be much of an option.

"You already are, but yeah," Draco drawled, smirking. The girl gave him a pointed look, raising her eyebrow.

"Don't mind, Draco. He just pretends to be rude because he thinks it makes him look cool," Hari cut in, trying to avoid even more people hating each other before school started. "Er, what's your name?"

The girl turned away from studying Draco and stated in a very practised way, "I'm Hermione Granger. And you are?" She looked at each other boys.

"I'm Hari Potter," Hari replied. Hermione's face lit up in recognition, but Hari was thankfully saved by her comments by the return of Neville. Thankfully, he was clutching a very squirmy, grumpy looking toad. "You found him!" Hari exclaimed.

Neville grinned, shutting the door to the compartment behind himself and sitting down between Hari and Ron. "Was he where I suggested?" Draco asked hopefully.

"He was! Thank you, Draco," Neville replied. He glanced sideways at Ron who was clutching his rat and looking almost as grumpy as Neville's toad. Neville shifted under his stare, glancing at Draco and Hari for help. "Hi… I'm Neville."

Ron nodded. "Ron Weasley."

Hari clapped his hands together, making almost everyone in the room startle, looking towards him. "Did you guys want to hear anything about Hogwarts before we get there?"

Thankfully, this question seemed to ease the palpable tension in the air as everyone began asking him questions. Even Draco, who had visited the castle on several occasions in the past, wanted to know more about Hogwarts. By the time it was getting dark and they were all stuffing their faces with the sweets from the trolley, Hari was glad they were all much less awkward with each other. There was a rather comical instance in which Ron failed to make his rat turn yellow, followed by Hermione fixing the stuck hinge of Hedwig's cage.

"Oh, I'm really excited about going to Hogwarts now," Hermione said a few hours later after the compartment had been laughing for a good few minutes after Trevor made a grand escape and hit the window. "Every since I got my letter and learned I was a witch, I've been ever so nervous. But at least I know people, right?"

Draco turned away from Neville's attempts to coax Trevor in his lap and over to Hermione. Hari caught Ron narrowing his eyes at Draco suspiciously. "So, are you a Muggleborn then?" Draco asked slowly.

Hermione nodded, smiling.

"Is there a problem with that, *Draco*?" Ron asked, surprising everyone with the sharpness in his tone. There was earlier's tension again.

Draco scoffed. "Of course not, Weasley. I was just asking a question," Draco retorted, arching a challenging eyebrow. Ron sunk low in his seat, ears pink.

"Sorry. I just thought—"

"You just thought I'd hate Muggleborns because of my father, then?" Draco asked, narrowing his eyes. Ron flushed as bright as his hair. Hari and Neville looked at each other in a silent question. Hari shot Draco a warning look and the blond sighed. "Look, I don't want to start off the school year with us already hating each other, alright? Just because our fathers don't get along doesn't mean we can't, right?"

Ron considered this for a moment before nodded. He held out his hand and Draco eyed it curiously. "Let's start over then. I'm Ron. Nice to meet you." A smile made its way onto Draco's lips and he shook Ron's hand again. The relief in Hari, Neville and Hermione's faces was extreme.

Two hours later, they clambered out of the compartment together and onto the crowded platform of Hogsmeade Station. It was pitch black out now and students flooded out into fresh air again, stepping on each other's toes and bumping into each other in their haste to get up to the castle. Hari grabbed Draco's and Hermione's respective sleeves in an effort not to lose them in the crowd and saw Neville and Ron doing similar.

"Firs' years! Firs' years this way!" called the familiar voice of Hagrid over the noise of the other students' chattering and shouting to each other. "Alright, Hari? Draco?" Hagrid greeted as their group neared him.

They followed Hagrid and the rest of the first years up along a path which led to a small beach with boats dotted along the rocks. Hari and Draco clambered into one of them together, one behind the other, while Hermione and Neville got into the one beside them. After a few minutes of everyone shuffling around, climbing into boats and trying not to fall over, the boats all set off across the lake. Not long after, Hari heard gasps of awe around him as everyone caught their first sight of Hogwarts.

Even Hari, who had already lived at Hogwarts for years, could admit that Hogwarts looked amazing from here. He had never seen it from the lake, much less this late at night, and felt strangely captivated by the twinkling lights in the windows and all the turrets and towers hanging over them. It was almost foreboding in a strange way, demanding attention and respect as all the boats slid across the inky water towards it.

Hari smiled as he followed everyone up the familiar path towards the steps leading up to the castle once they docked, listening to everyone's curious whispers as they crossed the grass and up the stairs leading to the entrance hall. They hurried inside the massive front doors and Hari beamed as he saw Minerva standing waiting. Her eyes landed on him for a split second, twinkling in fond recognition before she turned to address the rest of the students. Hari, who already knew the whole process, tuned her out so he could look around the entrance hall to see if it had changed since he'd been there a few months ago.

Once she was gone, the first years fell back into chattering once again. Hermione was in the middle of telling a girl about the entrance hall and Neville was trying to shove Trevor in his pocket as Draco helped him. Ron tugged Hari's sleeve. "The Sorting Ceremony isn't scary, is it?" Ron asked nervously, voice a pitch higher than normal.

Hari shrugged. He could feel a few other people turning his way. "It's nothing too difficult. Min—McGonagall just puts this talking hat on your head and it sorta sees into your thoughts before calling out whatever house you're best suited for," Hari explained, feeling more and more people looking over at him to hear what he had to say. He reckoned he would have to get used to people staring yet again. Probably even more so now that he was an actual student.

Minerva returned once again and led the first years inside the Great Hall. Hari had never been into the Hall like this with so many people watching him and the rest of the people around him, waiting and whispering. He caught sight of the Weasley twins sitting at the Gryffindor table and elbowed Ron in the side as they greeted them both cheerfully.

Minerva placed the stool and hat in front of the staff table and stepped aside to allow it to sing its annual song. Once it went silent again, Hari joined the rest of the room in clapping, though his gut twisted horribly. Suddenly, as Minerva conjured up her usual list of names to call out, it became so real. Hari was no longer just the strange kid that grew up at Hogwarts and wandered around doing mostly as he pleased. He was a student, normal, one of the first years. He was going to have to put that hat on and sit in front of the whole school while they waited to see which house little Hari Potter got sorted into.

Hermione was the first of his friends to get called up, hurrying up with scarily good posture and muttering to herself. After a long time of the hat making its decision, it called out, "GRYFFINDOR!" The table full of red clad students erupted into cheers and Hermione hurried over to join them. A few minutes later, it was Neville's turn to go. He tripped on his way up, nervous as he was, and nearly fell off the seat when he sat down. Then, the hat called, "GRYFFINDOR!" and he leapt off the seat. There was a murmur of laughter through the room as Neville had to hurry back to return the hat.

Finally, Draco was called up. Hari patted him on the shoulder encouragingly and watched Draco make his way up to the stool on slightly shaky legs. Hari chewed on his bottom lip nervously, heart hammering in his chest. Minerva lowered the hat onto Draco's head and they waited in silence. After a good minute or so, the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" All at once, Hari saw Draco's face fall and with it went Hari's own. Whispers filled the entire room, particularly at the Slytherin table, as Draco walked towards the Gryffindors with his head held high. At once, Minerva got back into the sorting.

"Potter, Hari."

Hari took a deep breath as he made his way up to the stool. It was fine. He had watched this Sorting Ceremony loads of times now, there was nothing to be afraid of. He would be *fine.* He sat down on the stool and had one last glimpse of the Hall before the hat was placed on his head and obscured his vision.

"Difficult… Very difficult…" A voice whispered in his head, sending a shiver along his spine. "I see ambition and cunningness in your mind, but also courage… Interesting…"

All my friends are in Gryffindor, Hari thought. He heard the voice laugh in his head.

"I see… You care about your friends...Well… Better be…" The hat paused. Hari's heart raced. "GRYFFINDOR!" The crowd burst into applause and just as suddenly, the hat was removed from his head. Hari caught Minerva's small smile as he made his way towards the screaming Gryffindors.

He slid into the seat beside Draco and across from Neville and Hermione, thanking them for their congratulations. Down the table, the twins were telling anyone around them about how they knew Hari would be in Gryffindor. Hari rolled his eyes and turned to Draco. He was much quieter in his congratulations than the others.

"You okay?" he whispered.

Draco nodded stiffly. "I'm fine." He didn't look fine. He was as pale as a sheet, balling his robes into two tight fists and staring into his empty goblet. Hari squeeze his arm comfortingly before joining in polite clapping as 'Patil, Parvati' joined their table.

After Ron was sorted into Gryffindor and 'Zabini, Blaise' became Slytherin, the Gryffindors dove into conversation. Neville was in a conversation discussing blood status with two boys named Dean and Seamus, Hermione was telling anyone who would listen about the Great Hall's ceiling and Ron was stuffing his face with dinner. Draco remained silent for the entire meal, poking at his food with his cutlery and only managing to finish half of it. Hari, who didn't want to pressure him into anything he didn't want to talk about, kept his arm firmly against Draco's while he talked to Ron about Quidditch.

After a splendid dinner and an even better dessert course, the Great Hall fell silent for Dumbledore's usual speech. Hari, already knowing all the rules about the forbidden forest and Filch's rules about 'banned' items, zoned out of his speech and continued picking at the last crumbs of his treacle tart. That is, until Dumbledore mentioned something he hadn't mentioned before in all his previous speeches.

"Did he say the corridor on the third floor is forbidden?" Hari whispered to his friends, "That's never been forbidden before…"

"Anybody else a little worried about the fact he mentioned dying a painful death or is that just me?" someone in an older year asked a few seats down. Hari was inclined to agree. What could possibly be sitting up in the third floor corridor that had the potential to *kill* students? Why would Dumbledore let something like that on the grounds at all nevermind *in the school?*

Hari was pondering this while his other fellow Gryffindors discussed the speech as they followed Percy Weasley up to Gryffindor tower. They said their good nights to Hermione as she went up the girls' staircase and the rest of his friends traipsed up the spiral staircase leading to their own dormitory, labelled First Years on a golden plaque on the door.

Inside the dormitory, all their trunks and pets had been brought up, no doubt by house elves, and the 6 boys began getting ready for bed. Hari was in the middle of hanging up his *Magpies* poster on the wall behind his bed when he overheard Seamus whispering something to Ron at the next bed over. He craned his neck to listen, still Spellotaping his poster to the wall.

"I can't believe a Malfoy ended up in Gryffindor," Seamus was muttering, shaking his head and glancing at where Draco was quietly unpacking his trunk. "We have to share a room with some future Death Eater for 7 years? How could we survive?" Hari's blood ran cold at Seamus' comments and he shot a look towards Draco, sincerely hoping he hadn't heard.

Draco gave away no hint that he'd heard anything, except that his cheeks were faintly pinker and his hands trembled slightly as he pulled out his pyjamas and started to get changed. Hari glared at Seamus behind his bed post as Draco quickly excused himself to the toilets, slamming the door slightly as he exited.

"Are you happy, now?" Hari seethed, stomping around his bed to glare directly at Seamus. "I think he might have heard you." He gestured wildly towards the door that had just shut behind Draco. The other boys in the room paused their movements to stare at Hari's outburst.

Seamus rolled his eyes, putting his hands on his hips. "So what? D'you think I want to share a room with someone like him for the rest of school?" he goaded. "I would've thought you of all people would agree."

"You don't even know him!" Hari snapped. "He's not like that. You're not exactly like your father, are you? So how can you accuse him of being like his before you even speak to him?"

"How would you—" Seamus' curt reply died on his tongue as Draco returned to the room, dressed in his pyjamas and clutching a dripping toothbrush at his waist. He looked around at the stunned faces staring back at him and caught Hari's furious glare towards Seamus, understanding immediately. Draco sighed and moved towards his bed without a word. Draco climbed into his bed and the curtains around his four poster shut seconds later, obscuring the blond from view.

Hari threw Seamus a dirty look before going to his own bed. He was shaking slightly with anger as he got ready for bed, avoiding eye contact with any of the other boys in the room. When he was fully changed and washed, Hari gave Neville a short 'good night' and climbed into bed, shutting the curtains just as Draco had done a few minutes prior.

As he lay in the darkness of his bed a while later, staring at the ceiling in the silence that followed everyone else going to bed as well, Hari rolled over onto his side. In the bed next to his, he heard the familiar sniffling of his friend and fell asleep fitfully, wishing he could do something about the situation they now found themselves in.

The next morning was tense as the six boys got dressed and ready for bed. Seamus was whispering to Dean and eyeing Hari and Draco suspiciously while the other four boys tried to avoid them. When they made their way downstairs together, Dean and Seamus broke away from the group while Hari, Ron, Neville and Draco joined up with Hermione at the bottom of the stairs. She looked slightly frazzled, but nonetheless cheerful in her perfectly done uniform, though she eyed the other Gryffindor girls as they walked towards the Great Hall.

"How was everybody's evenings?" Hermione asked, breaking the silence between them.

Hari shook his head, twitching his head towards where Draco was just ahead with his hands in his pockets. "I'll tell you later. It wasn't great," Hari muttered to her out of the corner of his mouth. She looked slightly alarmed but nodded understandingly and they fell back into silence as they moved towards the hall.

Halfway through breakfast, while Hari was buttering up another slice of toast and telling Hermione and Ron about which of the teachers was most likely to give a lot of homework, the owl post came in. Hedwig landed daintily in front of Hari, careful not to step in his breakfast as he pulled away a letter from Remus off her foot. He smiled to himself at the congratulations from Remus and was just stroking Hedwig's soft feathers when he heard a loud scoff followed by the tearing of paper.

Hari looked up at the noise to find Draco, bright pink, tearing up a letter he had just received into multiple uneven pieces and throwing it angrily onto the table. Without another word, he grabbed his bag and stormed out of the Great Hall, plainly ignoring the stares that followed him out of the room.

"What was all that about?" Ron asked, raising his eyebrows and turning away from the doors to look at the pile of paper.

Neville carefully picked up a few of the pieces, trying to gather some sort of meaning from the torn papers. His eyes widened and he dropped the paper as if he'd been burned. At the shocked faces of his friends, Neville leaned over the tale to whisper, "I couldn't read everything but his parents don't sound very happy that he's in Gryffindor. There were a few really mean words that I could see."

Hermione gasped, covering her mouth with her hands and Ron choked on his bacon. Hari looked back at the doors Draco had just gone out of. No wonder he looked so upset…

He was trying to decide whether or not to go after him when Minerva started walking down the table, passing out timetables to the students. She stopped by their group, smiling at Hari before looking over the names on top of the schedules and handing them out to the first years. "Where is Mr. Malfoy?" she asked, eyebrows furrowed as she held up his timetable.

"There was a bit of an… incident. I can get it to him instead," Hari offered, already holding his hand up to collect the paper from her. Minerva gave him a tight lipped look, eyes darting to the torn up paper still on the paper and then down the aisle towards the doors.

"Very well," Minerva said, handing Hari Draco's timetable. She bent over to whisper in Hari's ear, "Come to my office after your last lesson. I'll need to speak with you." Hari nodded and she straightened up, continuing down the table with the papers.

As Hari led the way to their first lesson, Charms, he couldn't help but worry about his friend's disappearance. Even as Draco appeared shortly after the lesson had started, instantly sliding into the empty seat beside Hari, he still felt strange about how Draco had reacted.

The majority of Hari’s first lessons went by smoothly, without a hitch. While it was odd being a proper student, calling the teachers by their surnames after knowing them for so long, Hari enjoyed getting to learn new facts about the school that only students could know. Potions class with Severus Snape proved to be a particularly interesting lesson.

Draco dragged Hari and Ron to sit next to him at a table by the front of the room, joined by Hermione Granger, who already proved herself to be the smartest student in every class thus far.

When Professor Snape entered the room, tension grew and the room went deadly silent. Dark robes swishing around him, Snape moved to the front of the lesson and began going over his strict ground rules and the basic curriculum for the year. Hari eagerly took notes, zoning out slightly as he listened to Snape’s drawling voice.

“Mr. Potter.” Professor Snape’s voice cut into Hari’s thoughts and he glanced up from his notes, all eyes turning towards him. “Can you tell me what I would get if I added powdered asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?” He raised his eyebrow at Hari, clearly trying to make him stumble or mess up.

Hari wracked his brains quickly for a memory of anything to do with asphodel and wormwood, trying to ignore Hermione’s enthusiastic attempts to raise her hand by him. “I think you’ll get… a sleeping potion? The Draught of Living Death,” Hari replied, remembering a conversation with Snape from years ago suddenly.

Snape’s lips twitched and he nodded fainty. Hermione dropped her hand in disappointment.

“And tell me, Mr. Potter, where can I find a bezoar?”

Oh, that one’s easy! thought Hari, smiling.

“Stomach of a goat, sir,” said Hari, not even giving Hermione a chance to raise her hand this time. “It can cure poisons.”

Professor Snape sniffed, looking around the room like he wanted to be anywhere but there. Next to Hari, Draco was snickering to himself, smirking slyly between Hari and their professor.

“But not all of them,” added Snape, narrowing his eyes. He cleared his throat, glancing around the room. Every single student was enraptured by the conversation, hanging onto both their words like verbatim. He looked back at Hari, thin mouth twitching again. “And finally, Mr. Potter, what is the difference between wolfsbane and monkshood?”

On that question, Hari was stumped for a good few seconds. Hermione almost toppled out of her seat as she jumped up and down, raising her hand in the air and hopping on her seat. Hari glanced sideways at her, as though her mere expression might give her the answer. Finally, Hari decided to just guess, using his limited knowledge of potions from the textbook he read before school.

“Are they… the same?” Hari hesitated, chewing on his bottom lip.

Professor Snape pursed his lips together and turned away from Hari, moving back to the board. “10 points to Gryffindor,” he murmured. “Although, you may not be so lucky next time, Mr. Potter. Good… work…”

He sound almost pained saying it, but Hari couldn’t care less, feeling on top of the world after answering each one of Severus Snape’s difficult questions.

At the end of the day, just as Minerva asked, Hari bade goodbye to the rest of his friends and made his way up to Minerva's office. It was a familiar route for him, having spent many afternoons in her office while she graded papers and he read or played with toys. He knocked on the door and waited for her voice to call him in and then stepped inside. She was sitting behind her desk, already stirring two cups of tea when he entered and made for his usual seat.

"So, how was your first day as an actual student?" she asked, handing Hari one of the tea cups.

Hari took a tentative sip of his tea, which was exactly as he always drank it and sat back in his seat. "It was good. It was weird having to refer to the teachers by their surnames when I've just been calling them by their first names the entire time," he admitted, telling her about accidentally calling Filius by his first name and making him fall off his stool.

Hari enjoyed relaying the different classes he had so far, answering her various questions about his thoughts so far. Her lips twitched as he told her about Severus trying to catch Hari up in surprise questions only for him to answer them easily after having watched him make potions when he was younger. Hari was enjoying himself so much as he spoke to one of his favourite people that he forgot exactly why she had asked him to come speak to her in the first place.

Minerva placed her finished cup of tea to the side and leaned forwards on the desk, clasping her hands together. "Now, do you mind telling me about this alleged 'incident' which took place during breakfast that sent Draco out of the Great Hall?" she asked. Hari told her the whole story about the previous night with Seamus' comments and their argument and finished off with telling her about how he had torn up the letter from his parents before storming out with all of his things. When he finished, Minerva sighed, leaning back in her seat.

"I was afraid this may happen," she admitted, shaking her head disapprovingly. "I have seen on another occasion in which a student was sorted into Gryffindor when the entire rest of their family were in Slytherins. It wasn't pretty then and this doesn't sound good now either."

"I don't know what to do, Minnie. I've never seen him so upset before…"

Minerva placed a hand on top of his on the desk, squeezing lightly. "All you should do is be there for him, Hari. What Draco needs right now is to be reminded that other people still care about him even after his parents have taken this… reaction."

Hari nodded, thinking about what she said. He already knew he was going to keep being Draco's friend, but he still wished there was something else he could do to help his friend. "This other Gryffindor you mentioned… What happened to them?" Hari asked, hoping this could possibly give him some more ideas.

Minerva stiffened, pulling her hand away. She put both the empty mugs away, looking anywhere but at Hari. "I can tell you that later. But you should hurry before you miss dinner," she said, giving him a forced smile. The door opened behind him and Hari took this as his cue to go, Minerva clearly not up for talking to Hari about the other student.

Hari walked uneasily back to the Great Hall feeling anything but hungry. What could have happened to the last person to have been sorted into a house their family didn't agree with that would make Minerva look so upset at the mention? Did she think the same could happen to Draco? How did she expect Hari to help Draco when she wouldn't even tell him what had happened last time?

Hari sincerely hoped whatever horrible thing obviously happened last time wouldn't repeat itself this time.

Chapter 10: Fur, Fangs and Fifty Foot Trolls

Chapter Text

Hari and the rest of the Gryffindors quickly got into a routine over the next few weeks. Seamus, who had witnessed the whole scene with Draco storming out of the Great Hall, was thankfully much more amicable towards Hari and Draco afterwards. He was still a bit awkward, obviously guilty about his reaction, but had thankfully stopped glaring daggers their way. Hari even saw him joining Draco at one of the benches in Herbology sometimes.

Already halfway through October, Hari, Draco, Ron and Hermione were making their way towards Gryffindor tower after dinner one evening. Draco had been sulking most of the day after getting another angry letter from home, dragging his feet as he walked just behind his friends with his hands in his pockets. The others were trying to cheer him up, Ron even going so far as to get the twins to prank someone in front of him, but it had been no use all day.

Hari was so preoccupied with Draco's sulking that it took him a moment to notice the strange whimpering noise coming from around the corner. When he processed the sound, he froze. Ron, who had been bickering with Hermione about not doing his Potions homework, rammed right into the back of Hari, stumbling back.

"What are you—?" he began, staring at Hari incredulously.

Hari shushed the group, holding a finger up to his lips. "I heard something," he whispered, straining his ears and moving in the direction it came from. He perked up. There it was again. Someone down this corridor was definitely crying, sort of begging to someone.

"Is someone crying?" Ron murmured, following Hari down the corridor. He nodded, careful not to be heard as he moved towards the noise.

"Guys, come on. We have to get back to the common room," Hermione chastised, though she followed the rest of the group. Draco, still silent, followed along, eyebrows knitted.

The group moved silently along the corridor, huddled together, ears strained. The crying seemed to have stopped, but no one had come back down that hallway. They neared one of the doors, edging closer and closer. But then, suddenly, Hari felt a violent pain in his forehead, as though someone had suddenly hit him directly in the face.

He gasped, slapping a hand over his forehead and scrunching his face up in pain. "Ouch!" The other three turned to look at him, eyes wide.

"Hari? What's wrong?" Hermione asked, reaching out to touch his shoulder. Hari shrugged her away as the pain seemed to get worse the farther along they went.

And then, around the corner came a deafening scream. Ignoring the pain in his forehead, Hari began running in the direction the shout had come from. He could hear the others following behind him. A door slammed violently and the screaming seemed to get farther and farther away. They turned the corner and came across an empty hallway. Hari's head, thankfully, stopped hurting except for a faint prickle.

"Here, I think they came from this doorway," Ron said, moving towards the nearest door.

Draco grabbed his wrist. "Don't open it! What if there's something inside that made someone run away in terror?" he snapped, pulling Ron's wrist away.

"But someone was crying like someone was being mean. What if they're still in here!" Ron protested, brushing off Draco's grip and turning to open the door. When he tried, however, the door wouldn't budge. "It's locked!" Ron exclaimed.

"Oh, move it!” Hermione ordered, pushing Ron aside and pulling out her wand. She pointed it at the door handle and stated clearly, ”Alohamora." With a satisfying clicking noise, Hermione was able to open the door.

They stepped inside the room. And then they all stopped dead. Instead of a simple empty classroom or some bully, they were standing face to face with a massive three headed dog. All four of them screamed in unison as all three heads barked and snarled, spit flying in large puddles.

"RUN! GO!" Draco shrieked, throwing the door open and shoving everyone outside. He slammed the door shut behind him and all four of them sprinted back down the corridor, panting heavily and hearts racing with sheer terror. They did not stop running until they reached the portrait of the Pink Lady and Draco gasped out, "'Gernumbly!'" The portrait swung open and all four of them slid inside, hurrying into the common room.

Those still in the common room looked up in surprised at the four first years that had just come sprinting inside the common room, looking terrified. "Window seat—go—now," Draco panted, pointing at the empty seats next to the window that they often sat in. They ignored the stares as they moved towards the far corner of the room, dropping into seats and gasping for breath.

Once they had their breath back, they began whispering furiously, heads bent together.

"That was the forbidden corridor. How did I not notice?" Hari wondered incredulously, messing up his dark curls more than usual so they stuck up at the back.

"What in bloody hell is Dumbledore thinking, keeping something like that locked up in a school?" Ron blurted under his breath, looking incredibly unimpressed and red in the face.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Well obviously it's guarding something. Don't you two use your eyes?"

Ron and Hari shared a look, gaping at Draco. But Hermione butted in instead. "It was standing on a trap door. Draco's right. I think it's guarding something under that trap door." Draco nodded in agreement.

"How did you guys even see that? I was too busy focusing on, I dunno, its three heads?" Ron snapped, a little too loudly for comfort. The other three shushed him but no one else seemed to have been paying attention.

"I don't know, but I don't like the sound of this," Hari replied, remembering the horrible looking beast. His head prickled at the memory and he pressed his fingers to his head. He caught Draco following the movement. "I wonder why my scar started hurting right before it. That was really strange…"

"Your scar was hurting?" Draco's eyes widened.

"Yeah. When we came around that corner, just before that–that thing, my scar started hurting really badly."

The other three exchanged worried glances. Hari shifted uncomfortably in his seat, hating the way his friends were looking. He hated being worried about.

"Would you stop looking like that? I'm sure it was just a coincidence. Maybe… maybe it was just my head hurting from stress, but I thought it was my scar," Hari suggested, though even he could admit that it was unlikely. Hermione looked at him with a grimace.

"Maybe your scar can sense danger nearby. It could have been your scar sensing that thing nearby," she suggested, looking worried.

"Can curse scars do that?" Draco asked sceptically. "They can't be that sophisticated, can they?"

"What if it was You-Know-Who nearby, Hari?" Ron's voice was high and worried and he couldn't quite meet Hari's eyes. "I mean, You-Know-Who gave you that scar when he tried to-to kill you. Maybe there's a connection…"

Draco scoffed, shaking his head. "Don't be stupid, Ron. The Dark Lord is dead. Hari made sure of that when he was a baby," he snapped, rolling his eyes.

"But lots of people think he's not. What if Hari's scar can sense when You-Know-Who is nearby because he gave him that scar," Ron continued, adamantly ignoring Draco's retort. "We can't know for sure. Nobody's ever survived the Killing Curse, so anything could be true."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully, covering Draco's mouth with her hand to keep him from snapping at Ron again. "There's no use arguing about what Hari's scar hurting could mean until we know more," she said, glaring all three of the boys into silence. "I'll go look up curse scars in the library tomorrow, but for now we should all go to bed." She removed her hand from Draco's mouth and strided out of the common room, disappearing up the spiral staircase and leaving the three boys gaping after her.

"She's mental, that one," Ron remarked as they made their own way up to bed. Draco snorted and caught Hari's eye and they both laughed at Ron's comment and irritation at their friend. Hari shoved Draco, grinning and pushing inside the dormitory.

"One thing's for sure. She's the most likely to figure out what's up with my scar."

Hermione, of course, spent the following weeks almost entirely in the library during free periods, scouring the shelves for books about curse scars. Ron often begrudgingly joined her, mostly in an effort to skive off doing his actual coursework along with his worries for Hari. Of course, seeing as Hari was the only known person to ever survive the killing curse, very few of the books could explain the scars acquired from the Killing Curse.

Meanwhile, Draco and Hari took interest in whatever the three headed dog was guarding. Even more so, after news came out that a vault in Gringotts had been unsuccessfully stolen due to the vault being emptied that very same day. Hari and Draco, who had gone down to the vaults with Minerva that same day, saw her collecting a small parcel that she refused to tell them the contents of.

However, the foursome's excitement and curiosity surrounding curse scars and trap doors and three headed dogs was swiftly trumped by Halloween.

Hari, who spent last year's Halloween festivities with Remus, visiting his parents' graves, hadn't been to one of the famous Halloween feasts in almost two years. He spent the days leading up to the holiday telling his friends repeatedly about what sort of food or treats or surprises they might expect.

On Halloween morning, the Gryffindors' first lesson of the day was Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. Hari was reasonably good at the subject, having spent a good portion of his early childhood following Pomona Sprout around, asking endless questions about the plants she showed him. He also generally enjoyed most of the Hufflepuffs in the class, chatting with them while they potted plants and gossiping about different things.

The one Hufflepuff Hari couldn't stand, however, was Zacharias Smith. A selfish, cynical boy, he never failed to speak his mind about what he thought of the other students, casting jeering looks at people he disliked. This often fell onto Hari's friends, particularly Draco.

Draco, who was getting almost weekly letters from his father and had rarely heard from his mother at all since joining the school, had spent the better part of the night before Halloween ranting about his father after getting another rude letter. Seamus gladly set it on fire for him, but it did little to ease his discomfort and resentment. As it was, Draco was still sore by the next morning.

Hari and Draco were partnered up for trying to destroy a spiky bush and were, much to Draco' distaste, next to Smith and one of his other Hufflepuff friends. Hari strategically tried to place himself between the two boys, talking to Draco endlessly about Quidditch in the hope that he would be distracted enough by Hari and the spiky bush to hear Smith's incessant talking.

"You know, I think this school has really gone to the dogs, now," Smith was telling his friend loudly, eyeing Hari and Draco trying to light the bush on fire to avoid getting spiked. "I mean, letting such dark people in in the first place was enough of a disgrace, but to sort them into Gryffindor of all houses?"

Draco, who had been raising his wand to cast Incendio on the bush, froze. Hari made eye contact with Ron standing across from him, both having heard Smith as well.

"Who do they think they're kidding? Death Eater's children having free reign around Hogwarts?"

Distracted by Smith, Hari stepped too close to the spiky bush and felt a sharp sting in his cheek as one of its large, pointy needles pierced his cheek. By the time he and Draco managed to blast the bush with fire and unstick the needle from Hari's face, class was finishing and Smith was packing up to go.

The foursome started on their way up to their next class, Hari rubbing his cut cheek where the spike had caught him.

"Smith is such an irritating sod. Everything he says is just nonsense," Ron was muttering to Hari as they climbed the steps in front of Hermione and Draco. Hari rolled his eyes and agreed.

"I seriously don't see why Potter befriended him. I mean, his parents are dead because of Malfoy's family." Smith's voice carried once again over to the group, apparently still going on his tirade against Draco. "Honestly! He's just another future Death Eater in the making."

Draco stiffened at the comment, going extremely pale all over, as though he'd suddenly become a ghost. Before Hari, Ron or Hermione could react, Draco stormed away up to the castle, scowling. Hari spun around to glare at Smith. "I hope you're happy, Smith," he snapped, grabbing Ron and Hermione's arms and dragging them the rest of the way to class.

Draco didn't show up for the rest of the lessons. Hari spent his lessons staring morosely at the empty seats normally occupied by Draco, as if staring intensely enough might summon him back. But in every class, Draco still didn't show up. By the time they were making their way to the Halloween feast, surrounded by excited chatter about the feast, Draco still hadn't made another entrance and Hari was far from having any appetite that evening.

Shortly through the feast, while Hari, Ron, Hermione and Neville were discussing Draco's continued absence, Seamus told Dean, "I saw Draco in the boys' toilets. He's refusing to come out because of that Smith bloke in Hufflepuff." At Seamus' announcement, Hari raised his eyebrows in shock.

Before he could comment on it, however, the doors to the Great Hall burst open and in ran Professor Quirrel, looking terrified. "TROLL! Troll in the dungeons!" he cried, stopping just in front of the staff table. "Thought you'd ought to know." And then he fainted.

All hell broke loose in the Great Hall as every student began panicking about the prospect of coming face to face with a troll. People were getting up from their seats and screaming and shouting before Dumbledore called them to order and told the Prefects to get everyone safely to their common rooms. They joined the crowd following Percy towards Gryffindor Tower before Hari was suddenly struck with a realisation.

He froze, grabbing Hermione and Ron. "Draco! He won't know about the troll if he's still in the toilets! We have to go help him!" he cried, getting jostled slightly as people went past in a hurry.

"But it's a troll, Hari!" Hermione cried anxiously, "What if we run into it? We can't exactly defeat one!"

"Neither can Draco, Hermione. And he's all alone."

Hermione chewed on her lips, eyebrows furrowed. Ron cut in, "Hermione, why don't you go get a teacher and then Hari and I can go and tell Draco. That way we'll have backup."

Agreeing to the plan, Hari and Ron split off from Hermione and hurried along towards the boys' lavatory. As they jogged down the corridor, a horrible stench filled the air and a strange dragging sound echoed down the stone hallway. "It's in the boys' toilets!" Hari exclaimed, grabbing Ron's hand and pulling him towards the toilets at a heavy sprint, footsteps slapping loudly on the ground.

"Draco?" Hari called, stepping towards the door. The stench was even stronger in there, making Hari's eyes water from the foul, rotten egg scent in the air. A loud, boyish yelp sounded, followed by a crash and Hari and Ron burst into the toilet.

Just in time, they saw a massive ugly grey troll raising a large wooden club in the air, smashing it into one of the stalls. Draco shouted out once again, somewhere in one of the stalls. "Draco!" Hari called again, this time alerting the troll to their presence.

The troll turned its head slowly towards the new sound, zeroing in on Hari and Ron. It took a few steps towards them, dragging its club on the ground and groaning slightly. Draco appeared out from under one of the destroyed stalls, crouching down and face scrunched up in fear. Acting instinctively, Hari raised his wand in the air, preparing to cast a spell, but then the troll suddenly reached out and grabbed him. Hari's wand fell to the floor as he felt himself getting unceremoniously upended.

The next events occurred rapidly. The troll raised its club in the air, ready to strike, Ron raised his wand to cast a spell and then the door to the toilet burst open to reveal Minerva, followed by Severus, Quirrel and Hermione. Minerva and Severus both hit the troll with powerful Stunning spells, Minerva caught Hari before he got crushed by the falling troll and Severus grabbed Draco by the hand and pulled him to safety.

Panting heavily and supporting a sore head from being battered by the troll, Hari stumbled against Minerva as they all stood staring at the unconscious troll. Draco was cowering slightly in the doorway while Ron stood frozen, arm slack with his wand in his hand.

"What on Earth happened here? How did you three manage this?!" Minerva exclaimed, glowering at Hari, Ron and Draco. "Miss Granger came to inform me that she was worried the troll might get to Mr. Malfoy in the toilets and the next thing I know, you seem to be trying to fight it! I thought I raised you better than this!"

Hari's face burned violently, stomach dropping to the floor. "We weren't trying to fight it! We were—"

Draco cut him off, stepping forwards, head held high. "It was my fault, ma'am. They were just trying to get me before the troll because I was too cowardly to get to safety," Draco stated, voice steady and gaze unwavering on Minerva. She blinked.

"And what were you doing in the toilets when there was a troll on the loose?"

"I didn't know about the troll until it got to me. I've been in here all day."

Hari interrupted once again. "Zacharias Smith was being a prick about his dad all Herbology class," he blurted.

"Is this true?" Minerva asked Draco, raising an eyebrow. She looked strangely unsurprised.

Draco hung his head, nodding. "Yes, ma'am. I—I got another angry letter from my father yesterday and then today Smith accused me of being a 'future Death Eater' and I couldn't face it." Hari thought he saw something wet fall onto the floor from under Draco and felt a strong urge to reach out to him. He stayed still however, glancing at the teachers' reactions.

Severus' lips curled and a muscle twitched somewhere in his cheek and Minerva's eyes were as fiery as Hari had ever seen them. Quirrel, however, was still staring at the unconscious mountain troll in terror. Hari watched as he stared at Severus, eyes falling to his robes. Only then did Hari notice a large gash in Severus' calf. Quirrel turned away from the troll finally, head turned away from Hari and he felt the same painful searing in his scar.

Unbeknownst to Quirrel or Hari, the others continued their conversation. "You spent the whole day in the toilets because of a student's ignorant comments about you?" Severus asked. Draco flushed and nodded. "Don't listen to him, then. The opinions of others do not matter. All that matters is what you do and feel and clearly you are not your father, so it would be foolish to assume you were."

"As it stands, we still have a bit of a problem here," Minerva pointed out. "Smith's comments were simply out of line and he should be punished for it." She turned to Draco, gaze softening slightly. "We do not tolerate that here, Draco. Whatever the importance of his thoughts, clearly they had an impact and I will speak to Professor Sprout about dealing with this."

Hari was still watching Quirrell, holding a subtle hand to his aching forehead. Could it be related to Severus? What if he was attacked by that vicious three headed dog? But what would he be doing there? And why did Quirrell look so terrified?

"Well, I believe it is high time you four made your way to bed," Minerva announced, shooing the four students out of the toilets finally and towards Gryffindor tower. "I will take them, Severus. You should get that looked at." She eyed Severus' injured leg and began leading them down the hall.

Hari threw one last suspicious look over his shoulder at Quirrel, Severus and the troll and then turned back to the front. The five of them walked all the way up to Gryffindor Tower in complete silence, Hari practically itching to comfort Draco. He looked utterly exhausted and miserable, dragging his feet as he made his way to bed with the others.

Minerva gave Hari a meaningful look as she left them at the opening portrait hole and they stepped inside the common room.

They said good night to Hermione and walked up the long staircase to bed. Seamus, Neville and Dean were already fast asleep in bed. Ron threw off his robes and got into bed without his pyjamas, disappearing behind the curtains. Hari snorted and got ready for bed as well, mind reeling from the events of the last few hours.

Hari was struggling to fall asleep, twisting and turning, mind racing with images of the troll and Severus' bleeding leg and Quirrell's face and his aching scar and Draco.

He was just starting to fall asleep when he heard footsteps next to his bed and the curtains around him moved aside to reveal the very same blond that was plaguing his thoughts.

Draco's shoulders were hunched, head hanging and cheeks noticeably wet even in the darkness. "Can I sleep here tonight? I couldn't sleep…" he asked, barely a whisper. One of his hands was clutching the drape tightly in a balled up fist, trembling slightly. He sniffled.

Hari rolled over and lifted the corner of his duvet up to allow Draco to climb in beside him. He pulled the blankets up to his chin, so close to Hari he could feel the heat radiating off of him like a furnace. The entire bed shook with the force of Draco's crying and Hari moved to wrap an arm around the other boy's shoulders, letting him cry silently into the fabric of his pyjamas until he eventually calmed down, but made no move to leave.

Both boys fell asleep soon after Draco stopped crying, wrapped up under the warm duvet covers and listening to the soft white noise of Neville's muffled snores a few beds away.

Chapter 11: Nicolas Flamel

Chapter Text

"Does anyone remember how the Transfiguration formula works?" Ron asked one evening in November, dropping onto the seat next to Draco and plopping his parchment and textbooks on the table. Hari, Draco and Hermione were busy charting that night's sky for Astronomy homework.

"Oh, Ron. We've gone over it loads of times now," Hermione complained, though she carefully shifted her chair around the table to sit closer to Ron and began explaining it to him once more.

Hari and Draco exchanged knowing looks across the table, muffling their laughter. Hermione sh*t them both a glare, eyebrows furrowed, which only added to the effect of making them laugh. Hermione huffed, throwing a crumpled ball of paper at Hari's head while Ron remained unaware of the exchanges as he scowled at his paper.

Hari glanced at the workings scribbled on Ron's paper. "You know, the unknown variable that impacts the transformation is represented as Z and not X, Hermione," Hari pointed out, jabbing the additions Hermione had made to Ron's paper in her neat writing.

Hermione stared at him, blinking. She glanced at Ron's paper and back at Hari, looking confused. It wasn't a look often seen on her face. "What do you mean? It's X, Hari. Why would it be Z?" she remarked stiffly, gripping tightly to her quill.

Hari shook his head. "No, it's Z. I remember Minnie saying so on multiple occasions," Hari insisted, reaching into his bag to pull out his own homework and laying it out on the table. Hermione picked it up, eyes roving over the paper rapidly.

"I hate to contradict you, Hermione, but Hari's right. For once," said Draco, throwing a grin Hari's way.

Hermione only relented her insistence when Draco showed her both his own work and the Transfiguration textbook that proved her wrong. She spent the rest of her explanation to Ron with clenched teeth and frequent glares at Hari and Draco's direction. Eventually, they left Hermione and Ron at their usual table and moved over to the free seats next to the fire for a game of Exploding Snap.

"Oh, come on, Potter! Really?!" Draco exclaimed after Hari beat Draco yet another time. Hermione and Ron had yet to join them several hours later, still going over homework Ron had no doubt put off to the very last minute.

Hari laughed, reshuffling the cards again. "I'm not doing it on purpose! I don't control the explosions." Hari began passing out the cards between them for another round, but Draco covered his hand with his own, shaking his head.

"I'm sick of this game. You must be cheating," Draco announced, flopping back against the couch and tilting his head up towards the ceiling, eyes shut. He tilted his head, facing Ron and Hermione bent together at the table across the room, bickering again. "I don't understand them at all. They're always arguing about something."

Hari glanced over his shoulder at their arguing friends. "I dunno. That's just how they communicate, isn't it? They can never talk without arguing," Hari replied, sitting back on the couch as well and mirroring Draco's movements.

"What was that Muggle series you were telling me about the other day?" Draco asked, leaning his back against the arm rest and pulling his knees up to his chest. "The one with the creepy evil stuff and the monsters."

"Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark?"

"Yeah, that one. I want to read it," Draco stated. Hari snorted. "What? I do! It sounded funny!"

"Alright, I'll give you one when we get upstairs, is that good or do you need it right now?" Hari teased, leaning over and poking Draco in the side. He squirmed, slapping Hari's wrist. Hari grinned mischievously. "Are you ticklish, Malfoy?"

"Don't you dare."

Hari pounced. Draco yelped as Hari dug his fingers into his sides, pinning him to the side of the couch with his knee as he prodded and tickled all over. Heads turned towards the two boys wrestling and shrieking on the couch, Hari's glasses crooked from Draco swatting him away. Hari ignored the looks, digging his fingers tighter in Draco's side until they both toppled unceremoniously onto the carpet. Draco's head nearly slammed into the stone hearth until Hari's hand reached instinctively to keep him from hitting the stone.

Heaving and wheezing with dying laughter, Hari rolled off of Draco and onto the carpet beside him. They stayed like this, lying side by side on the ground, washed over with the heat of the roaring fire. One of Hari's arms was draped slightly over Draco's stomach from the tickling incident and he kept it there, eyes shut in continuing laughter.

"What are you doing?" Hermione's voice came from above them. Hari cracked an eye open to find Hermione and Ron standing over them, Ron looking amused and Hermione fuming. Her arms were crossed and her eyebrows were furrowed, bushy hair falling into her face.

"Potter is assaulting me, can't you see?" Draco said beside Hari, smirking. Hari elbowed him roughly in the side. "See? His violence is inescapable!"

"I was tickling you,

Hari retorted with a grin.

Hermione groaned and stamped her foot on the carpet. "No, what you were doing was distracting everyone with your screaming! Some people are trying to do their work, you know!" Hermione jabbed her finger at both Hari and Draco, huffing when she was met with more laughter.

"Work that you got wrong, you mean?" Draco wiggled his eyebrows, sneering teasingly.

Ron snorted, earning a fierce look from Hermione. "Fine. I'll just be going to bed then! See if you fail for all I care!" she exclaimed. She packed up her school work from the table and disappeared up to the girls' dormitories, footsteps echoing all the way down into the common room.

Once she was gone, Hari, Ron and Draco burst into fits of laughter. Ron fell onto the couch, clutching his stomach while Hari accidentally rammed his head into the bottom corner of the fireplace. Draco sat up on the carpet, laughing into a cushion, pale face bright red with continued laughter. They ignored the glances and glares from the others left in the common room, too absorbed in their childish giggles.

Breakfast a few nights later, Hari, Ron, Draco and Hermione were in the midst of guessing the contents of the mysterious package Minerva collected when the owl post came in. Draco had already taken to tearing up his letters before even reading them and the others paid no attention to the owls coming in. Most of the people that could write to Hari were already in that very room and if Remus had anything important to say, he would usually speak to him in the fireplaces.

However, they were startled to see none other than Hedwig landing next to Hari's plate of toast, holding out a rolled up bit of parchment tied to her leg. Hari gave her a nibble of one of his bits of toast as Hermione removed the letter from her ankle and handed it to Hari. The letter was written in Hagrid's familiar messy scrawl, the edges faintly burnt:

Hari,

It's been too long since I last saw you. Why don't you bring your friends down to my hut for a cuppa this afternoon?

Hagrid.

Hari grinned and read out the letter again to the others, searching for Hagrid at the staff table. When he caught Hagrid's eye, he gave him a thumbs up over his head and grinned.

As soon as they finished their last class of the day, Hari dragged Hermione, Ron and Draco with him down the hill towards Hagrid's hut. Draco was complaining about having his sleeve set on fire during potions after Seamus Finnigan's cauldron exploded beside him again. Ron still hadn't stopped laughing, teasing Draco for his rather impressively high-pitched scream when it happened.

Hari knocked on the door. He heard Fang's familiar bark inside and then Hagrid's shaggy head appeared in the doorway, grinning. "Good ter see yeh, Hari! Thought you'd forgot me!" Hagrid said, opening the door to allow the foursome enter the hut behind him.

Hari sat down in his usual seat around the table while the others joined him and Hagrid made a pot of tea. "We could never forget you, Hagrid! We've just been really busy with school work and I wasn't sure if you were too busy as well," Hari replied as Hagrid passed them all mugs of tea. "Cheers, Hagrid. I've seen you doing stuff out the window of our common room all the time."

Hagrid swatted his hand. "Ah, that's nothin'. Why don't you four tell me about classes?"

Of course, Draco took over the first few minutes to complain about his burnt sleeve, but was quickly interrupted by the other three. Hermione told him all about the most fascinating textbooks she found in the library and Ron talked about the upcoming Gryffindor versus Slytherin quidditch match and Hari complained about Smith hexing him under the table during Herbology after getting detention from Minerva.

"Well, it sounds like you four've been keepin' yerselves busy! No wonder," Hagrid replied after Draco and Hari finished recounting an incident involving Mrs. Norris getting her tail transformed into a tentacle by someone. "What else? Anything not related ter classes?"

"Oh, yes. We've been trying to find out what was in the package Minerva collected at Gringotts the day someone stole it," Hari replied casually, finishing the last of his tea. Hagrid choked on his own drink, spraying the table with tea.

"Yeh're what?!"

"We want to know what that huge three headed dog is guarding," Draco replied.

"How do you know about Fluffy?" Hagrid sputtered, struggling for words.

Draco shrugged. "We ran into him," he replied shortly. "And what kind of name is *Fluffy?* You named that giant fanged monster Fluffy?"

Hagrid slammed his mug on the table with a thud, shattering the cup and splashing more tea all over the table. Hermione jumped away from the splash, but Ron got his lap drenched in the stuff. "You four have no business going anywhere near that dog, yeh hear? What Fluffy is guarding is between Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel!" Hagrid froze in his rant. The four eleven year olds, meanwhile, exchanged wide eyed grins. "Forget I said anything! I shouldn't've said tha'. Blimey, Dumbledore will have my head…"

"Who's Nicolas Flamel, Hagrid?" Ron asked, shifting in his seat.

"None of your business!" Hagrid bellowed, getting up from his seat. "Right, yeh've all finished tea, now get back to the school before it gets dark out." He shooed all four of them out of their seats and outside the hut. "And I don't want to hear any mention of Nicolas Flamel from any of you four, yeh hear?"

They agreed with nods before setting off back to the castle together. Once out of earshot, Draco muttered to the other three, "Yeah, he won't be hearing any mentions of Nicolas Flamel from us, but that's because we won't mention him in front of Hagrid." The other three snickered, still making for the castle together.

One thing was for sure, they wouldn't be listening to Hagrid's advice to stay out of it.

Naturally, none of the four Gryffindors took Hagrid's advice. In the coming weeks, they spent much of their free time looking up Nicolas Flamel in the library. But no matter how many books they went through, none of them had found any mentions of Nicolas Flamel. By the time winter holidays were rolling around, they still hadn't even scratched the surface yet.

Late one night, a few days before the break was coming up, Hari was sitting up in bed, thumbing through a copy of The Greatest Magical Discoveries of the Century by wand light while Draco was in the next bed over, feet up on his wall. He was reading through one of Hari's books and whispering frequent commentary across the gap in their beds.

"Honestly, the things they come out with. You'd think they never actually met a ghost," Draco muttered now, rolling his eyes. He read out a passage in the book to Hari in a mocking tone, scoffing between sentences and trying to catch Hari's reactions over the top of his book.

"Draco, I very much doubt they have seen a ghost. Pretty sure they tend to avoid Muggles as much as they can," Hari replied once Draco had finished his read through.

"Can you two please stop talking so loud? Some of us would like to actually sleep." Seamus' voice came from behind one of the other curtains. Hari and Draco both muttered apologies.

Hari was just moving onto another section of the book when he heard footsteps beside him. Draco was standing next to the bed, clutching his book. "Budge over. We can talk easier this way," he whispered, pushing Hari's shoulder with his hand. Hari rolled his eyes but scooted over to let Draco clamber in under the covers, shoulders pressed together in the bed. Draco closed the curtains on either side to block their voices out further. "Any more leads?" he asked, peering over Hari's shoulder at the book in his lap.

Hari shook his head. "Nothing at all. He doesn't seem to be in this book either," he replied sadly.

"He's bound to be somewhere. I mean, why else would Dumbledore be guarding something with that ferocious beast?"

Hari huffed in frustration, shutting the book with a slam. Draco raised an eyebrow, smirking, watching Hari place the book down on the floor and fold his arms. Draco bumped their shoulders together, huffing a laugh. "Don't pout. You'll get wrinkles," he said, poking Hari's cheek.

Hari swatted his hand away, scowling deeper. They sat in silence for a few minutes like this, shoulder to shoulder, just enjoying each other's company. Neville's snores, as usual, created a sort of buzzing ambiance across the room.

"Are you staying here for the holidays?" Draco asked after a while.

Hari nodded. "Yeah. Minnie signed up to stay, so I'm just gonna stay as well," he replied. The air turned colder and awkward suddenly. Hari cleared his throat. "Are you, er, staying here?"

Draco glanced to the side, cheeks pink. After a moment, he nodded silently, fiddling with the pages of his book in his lap. "I doubt they'd want me staying more than necessary, really," Draco replied shyly.

"They don't know what they're missing out on, then," Hari said, giving Draco a small smile. It probably looked more like a grimace.

"I wish I didn't have to face them in the summer. They hate me."

"I'm sure Minnie'll let you stay with us for at least a few weeks in the summer." Hari bumped their shoulders again. "Or maybe Severus?"

Draco scoffed at his next suggestion. "As if my family would let that happen. Severus might be my Godfather, but my family wouldn't possibly let me stay with him." He frowned, scrunching his face slightly and ripping one of the pages slightly. He shook his head, eyes closed and turning away from Hari. He could tell Draco was trying to hide his tears. "I just wish Mother would write to me. She hasn't even… she hasn't even said anything since I left for Hogwarts. Nothing. I miss seeing her handwriting. It was like an extension of herself and now it's like she's—gone." Draco's voice cracked on the last word, tears beginning to fall quickly down his face.

He buried his face in his hands, hunched over, shoulders shaking. Without even thinking, Hari wrapped both of his arms around the other boy and pulled him closer, letting him cry into his shoulder and soak his t-shirt. He didn't say anything, just shushing him quietly and rubbing his hand up and down his back while he trembled. Hari's heart ached tenfold like this, wishing he could just do something to help alleviate his pain.

Draco pulled away a few minutes later, sniffling and puffy eyed. He wiped his face on the sleeve of his pyjamas. "Sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"It's fine, Draco. I just wish there was something I could do."

Draco smiled softly, eyes still glassy. "You're here at least. That's something," he muttered, dropping his head onto Hari's shoulder. "I feel silly crying."

"Everybody does. But you're not silly."

Draco hummed thoughtfully. Hari could feel the vibration against his shoulder. "Perhaps. It's just gross being covered in tears and the rest of that," Draco said, wincing. Hari laughed, nearly banging his head on the wall behind.

"Yeah, I guess it is a bit. Just don't go wiping it all on me." Hari elbowed Draco lightly in the side, grinning mischievously.

"What? Are you saying you're not my own personal tissue then?"

Hari retched dramatically and pushed Draco away from him. "Ew. You're like the troll from Halloween with how gross you are." Draco gasped, clutching the front of his shirt in offence. He slapped Hari's arm, pouting. "Don't pout or you'll get wrinkles," he mocked.

"You're mean," Draco said as he scooted lower down in the bed and yawned.

"Yeah? Well, so are you." Hari scooted down as well, turning off the light and turning onto his side away from Draco. Draco turned over as well, back almost against Hari's as they both fell asleep to the sounds of each other breathing softly.

Chapter 12: The Invisibility Cloak

Chapter Text

On the last day before break, Hari, Ron and Draco said goodbye to Hermione, who was the only one of their group not staying home that break. She made them all promise to keep researching Nicolas Flamel, much to Ron's annoyance and insistence that "It's a break for a reason, Hermione." Not many other students were staying that Winter Solstice, but the whole Weasley family were staying.

Decidedly bored from searching the library once again, the three boys made their way down to Hagrid's hut after lunch, wrapped up in their scarves and gloves, breath coming out in front of their faces in puffs. It almost hurt his knuckles when Hari knocked on the door to Hagrid's hut, he was so frozen. Hagrid answered the door with a grin.

"Ah, hello you three! Hermione not stayin', is she?" Hagrid asked, letting them inside the warm hut and out of the freezing cold. They peeled off their gloves and scarves and rubbed their hands next to the roaring fire while Hagrid fixed them all some hot chocolate. "Glad to be off school then?" Hagrid asked over his shoulder.

"So far, yes. We're going to play a marathon of chess this evening," Draco replied, sitting down in his usual seat and accepting the mug Hagrid handed him gratefully. He nudged Fang away with his foot as the dog attempted to get at his drink.

"Thanks." Hari took his own seat and mug. "Are you looking forward to Yule, Hagrid?" Hari asked, blowing on his drink.

"Aye, I suppose. Not much'll be all that different than usual. But I like the festive spirit, yeh know?"

"My parents are visiting my brother Charlie in Romania this year. I wish I could've gone, but Mum and Dad wouldn't let us," Ron added, "We always have crazy Yules."

Hagrid chortled. "I can imagine. How's that Charlie doin' by the way? I always liked him," Hagrid asked.

Ron went into an explanation about the sorts of things Charlie was doing on the dragon reserve where he worked, talking about the dragons he could remember off the top of his head and some of the stories he'd written to Ron about. Hari and Draco listened just as aptly as Hagrid, asking questions and reacting to the various stories. Hari remembered Charlie fondly, thinking back to first bonding about his little dragon stuffed animal when he was little and asking him questions about dragons. He could easily imagine daring Charlie with those massive dragons.

"Blimey, Ron. That sounds like one heck of a job," Hagrid said once Ron had finished a story about Charlie falling off the back of a Welsh Green. His voice was weirdly far away, a fond and strangely jealous look on his face. "I always wanted a dragon. Ever since I was young."

Hari and Ron exchanged looks, eyebrows raised. Draco furrowed his eyebrows, though half his attention was on trying to get Fang to get his head out of his lap and slobbering on his robes.

Hagrid looked at the clock on the wall and startled out of his daydreaming. "Merlin's beard! You three'd better get back to the castle before Minerva has my neck," he exclaimed, jumping up from his seat so fast he pushed the table and knocked Ron out of his seat. He plucked him up off the floor by the collar, apologising profusely but opening the door.

"Come on. We might have time to go to the library before dinner if we hurry," Hari muttered to Draco and Ron as they began wrapping their scarves around themselves and pulling on gloves.

"The library? Surely yeh don' have to start homework so soon in the break!" Hagrid said with surprise.

"Oh, we don't. We wanted to research Nicolas Flamel," Hari said brightly, stepping outside onto the front porch to avoid Hagrid's shock.

The three of them began jogging back through the snow as Hagrid yelled after them, "I thought I told yeh he wasn't none of your business!" They giggled, waving over their shoulders and continuing up the path to the entrance hall.

On Yule morning, Hari woke up far too early, too excited to go back to sleep. He could feel a small weight at his feet and once he pulled his glasses on, he saw a small mound of wrapped parcels. He grinned, looking forward to opening his gifts with the other two.

He bided his time by skimming through The Greatest Magical Discoveries of the Century once again in hopes of finding something. He unfortunately had no luck still by the time Draco and Ron woke up as well.

"Morning! Happy Yule!" Hari replied brightly to the other two waking up. Ron had an imprint of his blankets pressed into his face while Draco's hair was sticking up in all directions, reminding Hari of himself on a good hair day.

"Happy Yule," Ron replied, smiling and sitting up. He perked up once he saw the pile of presents at the bottom of his bed.

Draco's pile was a bit smaller, much to Hari's distaste, though he definitely still had presents. "Happy Yule," he muttered, getting on his knees to open up his presents.

They opened their presents mostly in silence, occasionally showing off the gifts they got. Hari had a pretty successful haul once again. Minerva got him a box of owl pellets for Hedwig and Howl's Moving Castle; Hagrid got him a sort of flute instrument that he had obviously carved himself and sounded like an owl hooting; Hermione got him a big box of Chocolate Frogs; Draco got him a book called Wanda the Wandering Witch; Neville got him a new polish for cleaning his wand; and he got a slightly faded and worn out copy of Hogwarts: A History from Remus which turned out to have been James', covered in his scribblings and doodles.

Hari opened the present from Ron which turned out to be a box of Every Flavour Beans. He was just about to open another parcel when Draco gasped. "Ron. Your mum got me a jumper?" he breathed, holding up a navy blue jumper. Stitched on the front was a big letter D in silver.

"Oh, yeah. She makes one every year," Ron replied casually. He pointed at Hari's own pile. "She made one for you, too, Hari." Hari glanced down at the parcel and lifted it up.

Mrs. Weasley had indeed made Hari a jumper, though his was a bottle green with a yellow H on the front. Hari was just pulling his own on over his head when the door to their dormitory burst open to reveal Fred and George, clad in their own Weasley's jumpers. They beamed as they saw Hari and Draco wearing theirs, George dropping onto the foot of Seamus' bed while Fred took Neville's.

"I see Mum made jumpers for you two as well," Fred commented, pointing back and forth between Hari and Draco. Draco flushed, smoothing down his jumper. He glanced at Ron, still in his pyjamas. "Oi, why haven't you got your jumper on yet?"

"I don't like maroon," Ron mumbled, holding onto the wooly jumper with slight contempt. Percy joined the mix soon after, getting teased by Fred and George as usual. Ron pulled his jumper on with a frown, opening his last presents.

"You got me my own copy of Scary Stories to Read in the Dark! Thanks, Hari!" Draco exclaimed as he opened his present from Hari, wrapped up in shiny green paper with gold stars. "Now I don't have to steal yours anymore!"

Hari snorted. Fred, George and Percy left the three of them alone again. He turned to his last present. When he peeled the wrapping paper off, he found a thin, almost weightless robe of sorts made out of a shiny sort of material. He held up the fabric in the air.

Ron blinked where he was in the middle of sorting out his presents. "Woah! If that's what I think it is, it's really rare!" he exclaimed, gesturing for Hari to put it on.

"You don't think it's real, do you?" Draco asked Ron sceptically.

Hari ignored their bickering and wrapped the thin fabric around himself. At once, both boys gasped in surprise, jaws slackening. "That's an invisibility cloak, Hari!" Ron blurted, gaping at Hari's torso.

Hari's eyes widened and he looked down at himself. He was indeed invisible from the neck down, just a floating head to anyone else. "I'm invisible?" he said, mostly to himself.

"Who in Merlin's beard got you that, Hari? That must've cost a fortune!" Draco exclaimed, eyeing the empties where Hari's body should have been seen.

Hari picked up the note. It was written in thin, neat handwriting:

Hari,

Your father left me this in his possession before he died. I thought it would be fitting to return it to you.

Use it well.

"'Use it well.' What's that supposed to mean?" Hari wondered as he read it out to the other two. "And why haven't they signed their name?"

Hari shrugged, looking down at his body again. It was such a strange sensation to feel his own body standing on the floor but to see nothing below him. "I don't know… Someone that had my dad's invisibility cloak, but didn't want me to know who they are…" He looked out the window at the snow falling down heavily, blanketing the ground in thick white.

"Shall we get to breakfast then? We can worry about the cloak later," Draco said, pushing aside the last of his things and getting up from his bed.

Ron jumped off his own bed. "I'm starving. I want to see the feast they have for Yule here," he said, pulling on a pair of jeans and his robe over his jumper.

They spent the majority of the day with the rest of the Weasley clan. They had a snowball fight in the front lawn, throwing enchanted snowballs and hiding behind bushes and piles of snow. Fred and George enchanted a few to hit Quirrell in the back of the head, giggling from where they were hidden nearby. They shrieked and sprinted away from piles of ice and made snowmen and snow angels together.

Finally, when they were just starting towards the castle to get ready for dinner, all dripping and shivering with snow down their clothes and hair, Remus arrived up the path. Hari split off from the group in favour of jogging down the hill towards him, slipping and sliding on the ice and snow. "Uncle Remus!" he sang, hugging Remus fiercely around the middle and getting him properly wet from his clothes.

"You've certainly had a busy day, I see," Remus commented, ruffling Hari's dripping wet hair as they pulled apart. He looked down at his robes, now covered in muck and slightly damp from the hug. "Have a good Yule then?" he asked as they made their way up to the castle side by side.

Hari grinned, jumping into a long story about their snowball fights and all the other gifts he got that year. "Oh, and thanks for the book, by the way. It looks really cool with all his little comments and stuff," he said in the entrance hall, wiping his feet on a mat near the front door and wringing his wet robes out there so Filch had less work for them.

Remus shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. "I found it in a box while I was doing a clean out. I thought you might like it and it could come in handy," Remus replied. He reached out to brush a leaf off Hari's shoulder from crouching in the bushes, snagged on a loose thread. "Thank you for my card and the box of chocolates. They're my favourite kind."

"I know. I remember you had loads in your cabinet back at your flat," Hari replied. "Are you staying for the feast tonight or just coming to pop in and leave?"

"Minerva invited me to tea with her in a few minutes. I might stay for the feast as well, if you'd like."

Hari straightened up, beaming and nodding. "Of course! The Solstice feast is always the best! You've *got* to stay for it."

Remus chuckled, ruffling Hari's hair again and moving in the direction of Minerva's office. "I'll see you at the feast later, then," he said, rolling his eyes fondly. "And go and get on some dry clothes!"

"What took you so long?" Draco asked once Hari got back to the dormitory a few minutes later. Ron and Draco were sitting on Draco's bed, properly dried off and playing a game of Wizard's Chess. Ron was clearly winning, most of Draco's white pieces gathered in a pile beside the board.

"He was speaking to that guy, remember? He ran to go say hello," Ron rolled his eyes at Draco and took one of his pawns. "Who was he anyway, Hari?"

Hari peeled off his robes and hung them up to dry, changing into dry socks and draping his jumper over the radiator in the middle of the room. "That was Remus. He was one of my dad's best friends in school," Hari replied, leaning against the bed post on Draco's bed and watching the other two continue their game of chess.

"How was he?" Draco asked, currently furrowing his brows over his next move.

"He seemed fine. He was coming for tea with Minnie and I talked him into coming for the feast as well."

Ron groaned as one of Draco's pawns took his remaining knights, swearing under his breath. He looked up at Hari over his shoulder. "What if Remus sent you your dad's cloak? it'd make sense for him to have it, wouldn't it?" Ron suggested. He moved his queen over a square.

"Maybe," Hari said thoughtfully, "But why wouldn't he leave his name? He gives me my dad's stuff all the time. He even gave me his old copy of Hogwarts: A History for my present."

Ron made a face and shrugged one of his shoulders. "That's a good point, I suppose."

"Maybe he wanted to be mysterious about it, seeing as an invisibility cloak is a bit cooler than an old book," Draco remarked, moving a pawn. Ron immediately sent his own pawn to capture that pawn, grinning satisfactorily at Draco.

"But why would he give me both his invisibility cloak and his book?"

"Beats me." Draco lost the game shortly after when Ron cornered his king and called Checkmate. He nearly flipped the board in irritation, collecting his players and dropping them into a small bag in the bottom of his trunk. "I doubt it was him, really. I don't know who it was, but it hardly matters, does it? You're still going to use it, aren't you?"

"Well, obviously. Why wouldn't I?"

"My dad always says to be careful of magical objects from sources you don't know," Ron said, putting away his own set of chess. "They could be cursed or enchanted to harm you or others. He deals with all kinds of stuff like that in his Ministry department."

Draco scoffed. Ron's ears went pink and he scowled, opening his mouth to retort something before Draco interrupted him. "I'm not scoffing at your father, Ron. He's clearly more decent than my own," Draco snapped, making Ron retreat immediately, "I'm just saying, that cloak would have killed or strangled or something,/i> before now if it was cursed. Hari would have been harmed immediately if it was cursed, Ron."

"But—"

Draco held up his hand. "Trust me, Ron. Hari's cloak isn't cursed or enchanted besides making him invisible." He turned to Hari, who was watching this exchange from his bed. "Believe me, Hari. That cloak is harmless, okay?"

The trio made their way down to dinner still discussing the cloak and what they could get away with doing while wearing the cloak. As usual, the Great Hall was decked out fantastically for the occasion, huge evergreen trees that touched the ceiling covered in non-melting frost while someone had several toy angels floating around the air, weaving in and out between the usual flickering candles. Remus was sitting at the staff in a spare seat next to Hagrid, speaking with him and Minerva. When they started towards the Gryffindor table to sit with the others, Hagrid and Remus both waved from their seats.

Dinner was an amusing affair. Having grown accustomed to rather quiet Yules with Minerva and Hagrid and Remus for the most part, it was a nice contrast sitting with the Weasley clan and Draco. The food was excellent, filling Hari until his stomach was sore and he was barely able to stuff the last of his pudding in his mouth. Everyone was laughing, pulling crackers together and reading out their jokes and swapping hats and prizes among themselves. George and Fred were singing Yuletide carols off key together, arms around each other's shoulders and swaying slightly.

Before heading up to bed, Hari wandered over to the staff table to speak to Minerva for the first time that day. He felt a bit guilty about it, admittedly, having spent most of his day with his friends instead. The teachers were currently getting tipsy over mulled wine and spiked hot chocolate, all greeting Hari warmly when he came over as soon as the rest of the hall emptied.

"Happy Solstice, Hari! Didja have a good one?" Pomona asked, spilling her wine out of her goblet slightly. She exchanged a laugh with Filius who was nursing a hot chocolate with a very pink face.

He grinned and nodded politely. "Yes, thanks." He turned to Minerva, his smile turning apologetic. "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. We ended up staying out much later with the snowballs and I didn't manage to come speak to you until now…"

Minerva's face softened, as it only seemed to do with Hari. She pushed his curls out of his eyes and said, "It's alright, Hari. I'm glad you had a good day with your friends." She glanced at something behind him. "Speaking of which, you'd best hurry and not keep yours waiting."

Hari turned over his shoulder to find Draco standing sheepishly at the bottom of the steps by the Gryffindor table. He waved his hand awkwardly in greeting. Hari turned back to the teachers. "Good night, everyone! See you later!" He thought he caught an odd look when he caught Dumbledore's eye but brushed it off and started down the steps toward Draco. Before going he added over his shoulder, "Don't have too much at The Three Broomsticks!"

He grabbed Draco's arm and dragged him quickly out of the hall before Minerva or the other teachers could react to what he had said. They jogged all the way up to Gryffindor tower together, thankful they didn't run into anyone on the way.

"Guys! Wake up! I have to show you something!" Hari burst back into the dormitory a few hours later, tearing the invisibility cloak off himself and going to shake both Draco and Ron's beds.

Draco's head appeared around the curtains just as Ron's groan sounded from the other side of his own. Hari was still shaking both their beds insistently.

"What could possibly warrant waking us up at this hour, Potter?" Draco complained, clambering out of bed and into a pair of fluffy slippers and pulling on his dressing gown.

"This better be good," Ron grumbled, yawning.

Hari told them both all about using his new invisibility cloak to go down to the library and how he heard Filch coming, so he ran and found the most amazing mirror in an unused classroom. When he got to the part where he saw his family in the strange mirror, both boys gasped, Draco slapping his hands over his mouth.

"You saw your family in this mirror?" Draco asked with interest.

"Yeah. All of them. There were so many and I even saw some that looked kinda like me."

Ron looked tired but curious as well, ginger hair sticking up in the back. "I wonder why that'd be in a random classroom," he commented, eyebrows furrowed. "A mirror that shows your family. Weird."

"Well, are you guys coming to see it or not?" Hari picked up the invisibility cloak from where he dropped it onto the ground in his haste.

Draco and Ron shared looks for a moment before turning back to Hari. Draco said, "Hari, it's quite late, you know… Maybe we should try finding this mirror tomorrow." Ron jerked his head towards Draco, clearly in agreement. He yawned once again.

Hari huffed, folding his arms. "Please? I don't get to see my family ever, remember?" He put a pleading tone in his voice, pouting rather dramatically. Hari noted somewhere at the back of his mind that he had probably been spending too much time with Draco and he was rubbing off his dramatic tendencies onto Hari.

Draco sighed, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "I suppose if we're quick…" Hari brightened once again, peering at Ron. Seemingly relenting from both his friends' willingness to go back to see the mirror, Ron dropped his shoulders and mumbled his agreement.

The three boys shuffled their ways through the darkened hallways of Hogwarts together, hidden from view beneath the cloak. It was far more difficult and slower with three of them and Hari was struggling not to show his impatience as he attempted to get them both to hurry up on their way to see the mirror.

When they got t o the classroom with the mirror once again, Hari ghrew the cloak off the three of them and hurried over to stand in front of the mirror. He felt his heart skip a beat when he saw his family once again, smiling between the smiling faces of his mum and dad. Draco and Ron wandered over hesitantly, both sharing slightly sceptical looks.

"Here, stand next to me," Hari instructed, moving reluctantly away from the mirror and standing them in front of it. Ron's face lit up in a smile wider than Hari had ever seen it and moved Draco out of the way, stepping closer to the mirror with a look of wonder on his face. "Can you see my family?" Hari asked.

Ron shook his head. "I'm Head Boy!" he breathed in amazement, eyes wide, "And I'm Quidditch captain as well! Wicked!" He stared at himself in the mirror, turning this way and that and looking incredibly pleased and impressed. "Do you think this shows the future?" he asked idly.

Hari frowned. "How can it? It shows me my family and they're dead…" He toed the floor uncomfortably. When he looked up again, he caught Draco looking at him with a frown, eyes soft.

Draco pushed Ron aside. "Let me see," he snapped, standing where Ron had stood a second ago. Ron begrudgingly moved to stand next to Hari, scowling. At once, Draco's cheeks flushed a violent shade of scarlet and his eyes widened. His eyes darted over to where Hari and Ron stood before looking back at the mirror again.

"What do you see?" Hari asked, tilting his head to the side and co*cking an eyebrow.

Draco coughed loudly, looking down at the floor. "Er, nothing. I just—I see myself, obviously," he replied unconvincingly, face going redder. "I see… piles of galleons and jewels and an endless supply of cakes." He averted his eyes from the other two, growing pinker and pinker by the second. He looked as though he was about to burst.

It was almost amusing to see Draco like this, so awkward and out of sorts, usually impeccably put together no matter what.

Draco cleared his throat again and stepped away from the mirror. He crouched down to lift the invisibility cloak. "We should–we should get back. It's nearly morning." He rolled his shoulders back and was back to his usual pristine self once again. Ron shrugged and went to join him under the cloak with little hesitation. Hari, on the other hand, held back. He glanced longingly over at the mirror. "Come on, Hari. I don't suggest it's a good idea to keep looking at this particular mirror."

Hari sighed, peeling his eyes away from the mirror and begrudgingly joining Draco and Ron under the cloak. They made their way back to Gryffindor tower with no incidents, only hearing Peeves' voice a few flights down as they made their way up to bed, still hidden under the invisibility cloak.

As Hari fell asleep that night, rather fitfully, he couldn't stop thinking about the amazing new invisibility cloak he had acquired and the captivating, strange mirror that showed him the family he could never have.

Chapter 13: Troubles with Dragons

Chapter Text

After Hermione came back from the holidays, Hari recounted the strange mirror to Hermione. She was in a similar mind to Draco, both believing he should stay away from the mirror. Hari ignored their comments, forgetting all his curiosity about Nicholas Flamel in favour of visiting the mirror almost every night. He didn't bring any of his friends back with him again, prefering to sit on the floor by himself, surrounded by his family all smiling and waving down at him from inside the mirror.

He didn't stop until his run in with Dumbledore, who told him exactly what the Mirror of Erised showed. He listened with only a bit of reluctance when Dumbledore told him not to go searching for the mirror again as it would be moving to a different place soon. Disappointed about no longer getting to see his family but understanding Dumbledore's request, Hari resigned to go back to studying up on Nicholas Flamel with the others once again.

However, they didn't find out about Nicholas Flamel from any of the books they had been pouring over for the last couple of months.

It happened late one evening in the common room. Hari and Ron were sitting on the carpet by the fire, shoulder to shoulder as they read through one of the large tomes about famous wizards together and Draco had his head in Hermione's lap while he read one book and Hermione skimmed through another one, book hovering above his face.

Draco yawned loudly and dropped his book face down on his chest, dropping one of his arms to fall onto the floor. "Hari, can I have your last Chocolate Frog?" he asked, turning his head to peer hopefully at Hari from under Hermione's book. Hari had nodded vaguely, still trying to get through the rather wordy and dull book. Draco disappeared up the stairs and returned a moment later, carrying a Chocolate Frog

He dropped back down on the couch, forgetting his book and leaning his back against Hermione's side, tucking his knees up on the couch as he opened up his box. He was in the middle of taking a bite of the frog's head when Neville, sitting at a table nearby with Seamus fast asleep with his face on the desk, got his attention. "What card have you got, Draco?" he asked.

"Check if it's Agrippa or Ptolemy," Ron said over his shoulder, eyes still glued to the page.

Draco finished eating the head and carefully plucked the card out of the packaging. "Oh, just Dumbledore," he mumbled, flipping over the back to half-heartedly read the description on the back. "Merlin's beard I've found him!" Draco yelped, jumping up so fast he knocked Hermione's book to the floor along with his frog.

"Found who?" Hari asked in surprise, just barely managing to catch the chocolate frog attempting to escape to freedom despite its loss of half its head. He took a bit of the frog as well, glancing curiously at Draco.

Draco lowered his voice so that only Ron, Hari and Hermione could hear him. "Nicholas Flamel! He's mentioned here in Dumbledore's bloody Chocolate Frog card." The other three's eyes widened in shock and Draco quietly read out the description.

"He's on a bloody Chocolate Frog card?" Ron blabbed, shaking his head disbelievingly. "What did it say he did? Alchemy?"

Hermione slapped her hands over her mouth. "Oh, my God!" she exclaimed, jumping up from her seat and sprinting away up the stairs towards her own dormitory.

"D'you think she'll be back any time soon or just come update us later?" Ron gestured towards the stairs she had just disappeared up in a hurry.

As it turned out, Hermione had come down only a couple minutes later, lugging a massive book in her arms. She flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for and read out a passage from the book. Once she had finished, the other three sat back in awe.

"It can turn any metal into gold?" Ron gaped, looking as though his birthday had come early.

"I was more focused on the fact that it basically gives you immortality, to be honest," Draco commented meaningfully.

Hari knitted his eyebrows together. "Why would Dumbledore be hiding that in the school? And with Fluffy guarding it?" he wondered aloud.

"I was wondering the same. It's certainly odd," Hermione replied.

"Someone's obviously after the Stone and Flamel must have asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him…" Hari closed his eyes, trying to process his thoughts coherently to the others as he went. "What if… what if Voldemort is after the Stone?" The other three all flinched at the name.

Draco scoffed. "Hari, don't be ridiculous. You-Know-Who's dead. You made sure of that," said Draco, tilting his chin up and narrowing his eyes.

"I mean, it could make sense, couldn't it? Minnie doesn't think he's dead, just really weak, so surely having the Stone would…" Hari trailed off as a feeling of dread flooded his insides.

Ron finished his sentence for him however, eyebrows furrowed. "If You-Know-Who got the Stone then he could come back." Ron bit his lip and looked around at the others.

Draco pressed his lips together and sighed loudly. "For the last time, You-Know-Who is dead. He's not coming back," he said through gritted teeth. He shot the other three a sharp sneer and turned on his heel, half stomping up to their dormitory with his robes swishing behind him. Hari winced as the sound of a door slamming echoed all the way into the common room.

"What was all that about?" Ron asked, rolling his eyes.

Hari shook his head, running his hands through his hair and looking up the staircase still as though Draco might come back. "I don't know…"

Hari hoped Draco would have calmed down a bit by the time he and Ron finally made their way up to bed a little while later, but when they got there, Draco's curtains were firmly shut. Hari might have thought he was asleep but for the light peeking out from between the blinds which suggested Draco had no interest in going to sleep.

He just wanted to avoid them.

By the next few days, Draco was still a bit distant with Hari and the others. He thankfully was talking to them again by next morning, but all of their conversations felt stilted and tense, as though they were discussing the best way to go about stopping a bomb going off. Draco even went as far as sitting with a pair of Slytherins Hari recognised as Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini in their next potions lesson, instead of with Hari as usual.

Hari ended up overboiling his potion so that it nearly exploded, costing him 10 house points from Professor Snape.

Even with the new knowledge of the Philosopher's Stone, Draco still avoided the others as much as possible. He no longer seemed as interested as he had been in finding out more about the Stone and never joined in on their conversations discussing who or why someone might be trying to steal it.

Hari was so distracted about Draco's distance that he didn't pay attention to where he was heading one evening until he overheard a pair of voices in an unused classroom nearby. He froze, shuffling closer to the door and pressing his ear against it, trying to listen to the conversation inside. He was startled when he recognised Snape’s sharp voice coupled with the stammering Quirrell.

"You do not want me as your enemy, Quirrell. I know what you're up to," Snape's drawling voice said.

Quirrell whimpered as though he had been hit and stammered weakly, "I d-don't know w-what you're t-t-talking about S-Severus."

"On the contrary. I think you know exactly what I'm talking about," Snape said. There was a scuffling sound as though someone ran into something and knocked something small over, followed by a small splashing sound. "I know exactly what you're up to, Quirrell and I plan to put a stop to it."

"S-Severus, please. I don't know w-what you're—"

There was another thudding sound followed by a whimper and Hari had to slap his hand over his own mouth to keep his gasp of surprise from being overheard. "Get out of my sight and think very carefully about where your loyalties lie, Quirrell." Hari had barely enough time to jump away from the door and hide around a nearby corner before Severus came out of the classroom, his footsteps dying away down the opposite direction.

Hari didn't move until he heard Quirrell exiting the classroom as well, muttering under his breath and fixing his turban as he disappeared up a set of stairs ahead of them. Hari crept into the classroom where both teachers had just left and found a spilled bottle of ink on a table, black liquid oozing across the table and dripping onto the stone floor. There was a black handprint on a spare bit of parchment as well and an overturned chair. Most of the rest of the classroom was untouched, rows of dusty desks and chairs filling the classroom.

Hari returned to the Gryffindor common room immediately, heart racing with adrenaline. He found Hermione and Ron sitting talking at their usual table while Draco was curled up with a book nearby. Hari marched across the room, dragging Draco over to Hermione and Ron by his shirt collar and made him sit down at the table. Hari had had enough of Draco's melodrama and avoidance and said as much, pointing a stern finger at him.

"You'll never guess what I just overheard on my way here," Hari whispered before beginning to tell the others about the conversation he overheard between the two professors.

"You don't think Quirrel is trying to steal it, do you?" Ron asked when Hari finished his story, narrowing his eyes and twisting his lips. "The poor bloke can't even finish a sentence without stammering, never mind trying to steal something like that."

"But the Stone would give him fortune and immortality, Ron. I bet with that behind him, he'd feel far more confident and less fearful, don't you think?" Hermione suggested.

Hari bobbed his head. "It was a bit strange of Professor Snape though, wasn't it? Confronting him like that about his 'loyalties?'"

"He was a Death Eater during the war, wasn't he?" Ron asked.

"But Dumbledore forgave him, obviously. So clearly he can be trusted now, can't he?" Hermione remarked. Ron tilted his head back and forth, eyebrows furrowed and eyes narrowed in though.

Draco scoffed and the other three turned abruptly at the reaction. He was sitting back in his chair, crossing his arms and jaw clenched tightly. "Oh, because Dumbledore trusts him, that means he's so perfect. Former Death Eater and still friends with my father as far as I'm aware," Draco derided, sneering and spitting out his words. Bitterness was clear in his cold grey eyes and Hari felt far worse now.

"He's your Godfather, Draco," Hermione said. Her eyes were wide and searching, darting over Draco's face.

"So? I used to look up to the bloke, but he's hardly done anything since I came and got sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin," Draco snapped bitterly. Hermione flinched. "He knows perfectly well what my dad thinks of me now and has he done anything about it? No. He's siding with my father in this, so I wouldn't put it past him to still be siding with You-Know-Who."

Hari, Ron and Hermione exchanged worried glances. Hari leaned forward, lowering his voice further. Slowly, cautiously he whispered, "Draco, just because he's siding with your father doesn't mean—"

Draco shot up, knocking his chair over. "Of course it does! Anyone that sides with him is an asshole regardless, clearly!" he snarled. Everyone else in the common room stared over at his outburst, whispering and muttering to each other. "You guys just don't get it at all, do you? You-Know-Who might be dead, but that doesn't mean his former followers won't still want that same power again." His lips curled, eyes locking onto Hari's for a moment. Hari opened his mouth but Draco stormed up the stairs again.

Hari stood up on shaking legs and turned to the other two. "I… I'll go check on him…" he muttered, glancing at the staircase. He left his stuff at the table and made his way slowly up the stairs, knocking gently on the door to the dormitory to announce himself before stepping inside.

Draco was sitting at the side of his bed, knees curled up to his chest and head turned towards the window. His face was wet with tears and he didn't turn when Hari entered. Silently, he made his way over to Draco, stopping a foot away and staring at the hunched shoulders and the clenched fists and the red eyes brimmed with tears. Hari felt his heart snap in half.

He shuffled a step toward his friend. "Draco?" he breathed, holding his breath. Draco still didn't look at him, adamantly staring out the window at the sunset casting the room in a faint red glow.

He buried his face in his knees, shoulders shaking. "I'm sorry," Draco blurted into his knees, broken and muffled by his skin. Hari sat down beside Draco and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. He stayed silent, letting Draco say what he needed to say. "It's just–I didn't get any presents from my parents or Severus and I just feel so guilty being a Gryffindor. I—" His voice cracked and he rested his chin on top of his knees. "I don't really think he's trying to steal the Stone. It's probably Quirrell or someone else.”

Hari squeezed his arm tighter around Draco, frowning. “I’m not sure what I believe…”

“I might be angry with Snape for essentially abandoning me like my parents, but I don’t see him as the type to want the kinds of things the Stone gives you.” He sighed, tilting his head so that it leaned against Hari’s, pale blond hair tickling Hari’s cheek. “I just wish he would have taken my side of things. I always thought-I always thought he cared about me, but I guess not.”

Hari reached up and did what he remembered Minerva always did when she comforted him, running his hand through Draco’s hair and smoothing it away from his face. Draco sniffled and leaned into the touch and Hari continued to silently comb his fingers through his silky blond hair until Draco calmed down fully. Even after Draco had stopped, tears dried on his cheeks and half asleep from emotional exhaustion, Hari continued to run his hands through Draco’s hair.

When Ron and the other boys returned to go to bed, Ron carrying Hari’s bag as well as his own, Hari ignored them and continued to sit with Draco. He caught Ron’s eye as he put Hari’s stuff on his bed and twitched his head slightly at the question in Ron’s eyes. “It’s fine,” Hari mouthed. Ron shrugged and moved away, getting ready.

When the others went to sleep, Hari and Draco climbed into Draco’s bed without speaking, Draco falling asleep with Hari fiddling with his hair until he fell asleep as well.

A few days later, the foursome were sitting together at dinner, discussing their latest Charms class in which Seamus accidentally set Dean on fire and was off at the hospital wing. Neville joined their conversation as well, telling them about how his own sleeve nearly caught fire by being next to Dean.

"Hey, where's Hagrid? He's not at the staff table,” Ron wondered, jerking his chin in the direction of the staff table. Hagrid was, in fact, missing from his usual enlarged seat at the end of the staff table.

“Should we go and see what’s happened?” Hari asked the group, still looking over at the empty seat next to Pomona Sprout.

“I suppose it can’t hurt to check. What if something’s happened?” Hermione said anxiously, biting on her bottom lip.

Draco’s cheeks flushed and his eyes widened suddenly. The other three looked at him curiously, Hari’s eyebrows almost disappearing behind his fringe. “I forgot to tell you guys earlier… When I was in the library before dinner, I ran into Hagrid in the dragon section and all the books he was checking out were about the care and breeding of dragons,” he said at a whisper, leaning in close so that no one else could hear.

Ron gasped. “But dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlock’s Convention of 1709,” Ron stage whispered, looking horrified. “If Hagrid’s doing what you think he’s doing, we better go make sure he doesn’t.”

After dinner, the foursome said goodbye to Neville and the rest of the Gryffindors and made their way out through the front doors and down the hill toward Hagrid’s hut at the edge of the forest. Ron led the way with Draco, both frowning very seriously and muttering to each other about ‘idiots’. When they reached his hut, Draco banged his fist angrily on the door and shouted, “Hagrid! Let us in! NOW!”

Hagrid’s door opened just enough for them to see Hagrid’s shaggy beard and one of his eyes. Immediately, Hari felt the immense heat flooding out of the hut as though he turned it into a sauna. “Sorry, you lot. Can’ let you in today. Awfully busy, I am,” Hagrid said dismissively, beginning to shut the door. Draco, however, jammed his foot in it at the last second.

“Let us in, Hagrid. We need to talk to you.” Draco had never looked quite so determined in all the years Hari knew him. His eyes were flashing almost venomously, his jaw set and his shoulders back, looking quite as demanding and fearsome as any 11 year old possibly could. Hari was glad he wasn’t on the receiving end of this fierce look.

“I already told yeh. I can’. I’m-”

“Hagrid, if you’re breeding a bloody dragon in there, you have more than that dragon’s fire to deal with,” Draco seethed, pressing all his weight against the door. Hagrid sighed and finally stepped back, letting them inside.

Past the threshold, it was even more sweltering hot. As Hagrid shut the door behind him, Hari felt distinctly as though he had been shut inside an oven, ready to bake for hours. Already, he could feel beads of sweat forming on his forehead and fanned himself in futility. Beside him, Hermione’s frizzy hair was beginning to get even frizzier in the immense heat and Ron and Draco’s faces were both tinged with pink. On the floor, poor Fang was panting heavily.

Hari glanced into the roaring fireplace and saw a strange pot sitting on the fire, which Hagrid went over to tend to.

“Er, Hagrid? What’s inside that pot there?” Hari asked, hoping against all odds that he was wrong.

“Hagrid, that better not be a dragon’s egg. You know that dragon breeding has been illegal since 1709, right?” Ron said, watching fearfully as Hagrid grabbed a pair of massive tongs and lifted the pot off the fire and placed it onto a small mat on the table.

“Arr, I know tha’, Ron. Everybody knows that.”

Hari could not keep the gasp that fell out his mouth as Hagrid lifted the lid off the pot to reveal a large egg about the size of an ostrich egg. He exchanged fearful looks with the other three as Hagrid coaxed the egg inside the pot with a terrifying fondness in his eyes.

Draco cleared his throat loudly and Hagrid glanced towards the sound for a split second before returning to his egg. “Hagrid, you live in a wooden house! You cannot possibly expect to raise a dragon in here without risking setting the entire thing on fire, including you and Fang!” Draco exclaimed, folding his arms.

“I know what I’m doin’, Draco,” Hagrid said, lifting the egg out of its pot and placing it on the table. The egg twitched on the table. “I think it’s about ter hatch,” he said, mostly to himself. Hari’s eyes bulged.

“Hagrid, please. You can’t raise a dragon in here! You’ll get yourself sent to Askaban and have a hefty fine waiting for you when you get out after several years,” Draco insisted, half pleading now. His hands were on his hips and his jaw was clenched, eyes focused entirely on the twitching egg.

At the mention of Askaban, Hagrid faltered slightly where he was still cooing over the dragon egg and placing it back in the pot to put in the fireplace. He glanced at Draco, beady eyes narrowed. “Threatening me, are you? Threatenin’ to get me sent to that place!” Hagrid scowled at Draco, who still refused to back down.

“If it gets you to get rid of that egg, yeah. Maybe I am!” Draco’s frown tightened, eyes narrowing. Hagrid straightened up to his full height, towering over the four eleven year olds. Hari swallowed hard, looking up at the massive man staring down at Draco like he’d been hit in the face. Still, Draco continued to stare right back at him. Ron, who agreed wholeheartedly with Draco, looked wary at the look on Hagrid’s face.

Hermione tugged on Draco’s sleeve. “Draco, please. It’s not helping,” she pleaded, voice high and fearful. He shrugged her off.

“No. Not until Hagrid agrees to get rid of that egg!”

“But Draco. You can’t just-”

Draco turned on Hermione. “I can and I will!” he snapped, making her flinch away, eyes wide and glassy. He ignored her and turned back to Hagrid. “Hagrid, do you even care about any of us? About Fang? About yourself? You’re endangering anyone who goes near this hut if you do this!”

“Get out!” Hagrid snapped, shoving past them to throw open his front door, letting in a cold breeze. “How dare yeh speak to me like tha’! Get out of my house!” Hermione was the first out, squeaking as she grabbed Ron’s arm and tugged him out behind her, still frowning over his shoulder. Draco, who was still standing his ground, had to be forcibly dragged out by Hari, nearly tearing the sleeve of his robe as Hari yanked him as hard as he could. As soon as all four of them were outside, the door slammed in their faces, making Hari and Hermione both flinch.

“I think you went about that the wrong way, mate,” Ron commented as they stood staring at the shut door still.

Draco sneered and began marching up to the castle, practically steaming at the ears. The other three hurried to jog after him. “He’ll see reason. He’s got to. I don’t care if he never speaks to me again as long as I make sure nobody gets hurt because the idiot decided to raise a bloody dragon in his hut!” Draco slammed the front doors to the castle open and the other three followed in his wake silently.

Chapter 14: Betrayal

Chapter Text

A few days later, Draco was still fuming as much as a real dragon might. He had taken to staring at Hagrid’s empty seat for the entirety of every meal, ranting under his breath to Ron about Hagrid’s recklessness and disregard for anyone else’s safety. Hari and Hermione tried to give them as much distance, fearing both boys’ wrath and delved deeper into research about the Philosopher’s Stone instead. While Ron and Draco fretted over dragon breeding books and angry mumbles with their heads bent together, Hermione and Hari grabbed books on alchemy and immortality to read together instead.

Ron and Draco kept disappearing during their free periods to go and continue trying to talk Hagrid out of keeping the egg, only to return to Hari and Hermione with scowls. Hagrid clearly wasn’t budging any more and no longer greeted any of them when they passed or invited them to tea. Finally, almost a week after discovering Hagrid’s secret and Draco came back red faced and seething after getting the door slammed in his face, Hari leapt out of his seat.

“That’s it. We’re going to see Minnie,” he announced, grabbing Draco and Ron by the wrists and dragging them towards the portrait hole. Hermione jogged after them, trying to catch up as they stepped out of the common room.

“Why’re we going to see McGonagall?” Ron asked, following Hari down the corridor.

“Because she’ll know what to do about Hagrid’s egg,” he replied. “She’s known him longer than any of us, she has more authority and she always has the best ideas. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before…” As they reached the door to Minerva’s office, Hari let go of Ron and Draco’s wrists and knocked sharply on the door three times. “Minnie? Are you in there?”

After a beat, the door opened to reveal Minerva, raising an eyebrow at the four eleven year olds staring up at her. “Hari? What are you doing here at this hour?” She glanced at the others. “It’s almost curfew. What could possibly excuse this?”

Hari widened his eyes, blinking innocently at Minerva in the way he knew she would relent. He was the only one who could soften her edges enough, after all. She glared at him before sighing and stepping aside to let them inside. She sat down behind her desk, conjured up an extra three chairs besides Hari’s usual seat, and indicated for them to sit down. Immediately Draco blurted out about Hagrid having a dragon’s egg. At his announcement, her eyebrows raised and she made them explain the whole story.

“And now Hagrid’s avoiding us and won’t listen to any reason,” Draco finished off a few minutes later, arms crossed.

Minerva leaned back in her chair thoughtfully, drumming her fingers on the table. Her gaze moved towards the window where Hagrid’s hut was in view before turning back to those in the room. “I dare say threatening him with Askaban was not your smartest move, Mr. Malfoy,” she said sternly. Draco blushed. “But I agree that he really should not be owning a dragon, particularly this close to a school in a wooden hut, as you said. I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore about what he thinks and then I believe I can politely talk Hagrid out of this.”

“Do you really think you can?”

“Of course I can, Mr. Malfoy. I just need to find somewhere to send the egg…”

Ron perked up in his seat and burst out, “My brother Charlie works in a dragon sanctuary in Romania. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind taking the egg!”

And so it was decided that once they managed to talk Hagrid into giving up the egg, it would be collected by Charlie and taken to Romania to hatch and be taken care of there. It took a few days for this to happen, but one evening after dinner, Minerva called the foursome over to her to tell them that Hagrid had agreed to give up the egg. Hari couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for Hagrid, knowing that his dream in life had been to own and raise a dragon and now that had been taken away from him again.

Even still, Hari knew it would have been a foolish idea to allow him to keep the dragon himself and knew they had to move back onto figuring out more about the Stone and what kinds of protections may have been put in place to protect it. Neither Hermione nor Draco believed that Fluffy was the only safeguard in place and were determined to stop whomever wanted to take it.

One night, Hari was fast asleep, dreaming about flying on a white and silver dragon when someone shook him awake, calling his name. Hari jerked awake to find Draco leaning over him, holding onto both his shoulders.

“Huh? Wha-?” Hari grumbled, sitting up in bed and looking at his two friends in tired curiosity. “What are you doing?”

Draco shushed him, letting go of his shoulders. “Come on. Hermione has to tell us something downstairs,” he muttered. He bent down and grabbed Hari’s invisibility cloak from his trunk, draping it over his shoulder.

Hari threw his blankets off himself and slid into a pair of slippers, grabbing his dressing gown. He glanced at Ron with his face shoved into his pillow, burrowed under his own blankets. Draco found Hari’s line of view and whispered, “He wouldn’t budge when I tried to wake him. Might as well leave him and update him tomorrow.” Hari shrugged, giving Ron one last glance before following Draco out of the dormitory and down the stairs to the common room.

Hermione was waiting for them at the bottom, still half dressed in her uniform, her hair tied into a very fluffy bun on top of her head. “What’s going on, ‘Mione?” Hari asked her once he neared her.

“I overheard a conversation between Snape and Quirrell. Snape sounded really angry and asked Quirrell if he knew how to get past the other stuff,” she explained, “I-I think they might both be trying to get the Stone, but Snape is making Quirrell help him…”

Hari startled, blinking rapidly as he tried to process her words. “So why are you telling us this in the middle of the night?” Hari asked, unable to keep the slight irritation out of his voice.

“I have a horrible feeling that Fluffy and the dragon might somehow be connected,” she replied, pointedly ignoring Hari’s annoyance. “Draco agrees with me.” She looked towards Draco for help.

He nodded. “Yeah, I do. Two vicious creatures so close to Hogwarts, all because of Hagrid. It can’t be a coincidence that Hagrid managed to get his hands on them both, so what if there’s something else behind it.”

“That still doesn’t answer my question why we’re up in the middle of the night and Draco has the invisibility cloak.”

“We’re going to speak to Hagrid, now. It’s urgent, Hari. What if they try to get the Stone now?” Hermione asked fearfully.

Hari begrudgingly agreed to hiding under the cloak with the other two and they made their way carefully outside the common room, walking silently through the castle in the dead of night. They passed only a ghost on their way, but the ghost did not see them and disappeared through a wall. Once outside under the cover of the stars, the trio took off at a run down to Hagrid’s hut, surprised to see that his lights were still on.

Draco peeled the cloak off of them and rapped his knuckles against the door. “Hagrid! It’s us! Let us in!” he called. Hermione added a hopeless ‘please’ at the end. After a moment, the door opened to reveal a very teary eyed Hagrid looking down at them.

“What the devil are you three doing here? It’s the middle of the night!” he exclaimed, but let them inside the hut.

“We really need to speak to you, Hagrid. It’s important,” said Hermione.

“So important it couldn’ wait til the mornin’?”

“It’s about the Philosopher’s Stone, Hagrid!”

Hagrid flinched, looking horrified at her words. He seemed to have forgotten entirely his grieving over giving up his dragon egg a few days previously in favour of staring open mouthed at them. “How d’yeh know about the Philosopher’s Stone! Yeh shouldn’ know about tha’!”

Draco crossed his arms, clearly rearing for a fight, but Hari pulled him back by his elbow. “We think Snape’s trying to get Quirrell to steal it! Hermione heard them talking!” Draco said, jutting his chin up and shrugging his arm out of Hari’s tight grip.

“Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell? Try to steal the Philosopher’s Stone?” Hagrid repeated skeptically, “Come off it. They’re helpin’ to guard the thing! Why would they try to steal it?”

“Because they want immortality and instant, endless wealth, obviously! Maybe they want to bring back Voldemort!” Hari remarked.

Hagrid winced at the name. “Don’t say his name!” he growled through gritted teeth. “There’s no use in you three comin’ here at this hour of the night just to tell me you think a pair of teachers is tryin’ to steal the stone.” He began to shoo them towards the door once again, but all three of them stayed put.

“We were coming to ask you about that egg, actually,” said Draco matter-of-factly, tilting his head.

“My—my egg? My dragon egg?” Hagrid looked close to tears once again at the mention of the egg. He was clearly nowhere near over having to give it up, even if it was better off.

Draco hummed and replied, “Yes. We wanted to ask you how you got the dragon egg. They’re really hard to get.”

“I got it at the Hog’s Head, down in Hogsmeade. Won him off a fellow there.”

Draco blinked, turning to Hari and to Hermione with an incredulous look on his face. “Did you see this person, Hagrid? The one you won the egg off of?” he asked slowly, eyebrows furrowed.

“No, I didn’t. He was wearin’ a cloak the whole time,” Hagrid replied offhandedly. “Why’d you need to know how I won that egg?”

“So, you didn’t see this person’s face the entire time?”

“Nope. But, well, you get loads of people like that in the Hog’s Head. It wasn’t tha’ out the ordinary, see.”

Hari looked across Draco to Hermione, trying to see if she knew what Draco was getting at either. She seemed just as confused as Hari felt, looking back and forth between Draco and Hagrid. He had no idea what Draco was trying to figure out with all his questions, but he did find it rather odd how Hagrid had won his egg off someone he couldn’t even see. Could this cloaked individual, perhaps, have been Snape or Quirrell?

Draco sighed and shook his head. “But how did you even talk this random person into letting you take his egg? He couldn’t have just given you the egg without reason,” Draco continued. Hari thought he could see where this was headed and felt his stomach tie itself in a knot, seriously hoping Draco wouldn’t get to the same conclusion Hari was thinking of.

“Well, I told him all about the different creatures I take care of here at Hogwarts, see,” Hagrid explained, “Had to make sure I knew what I was doin’. He took great interest in Fluffy as well, see, askin’ me all about how I manage him. Course, I told him he’s easy ter calm down once yeh play him some music, calms him down straight away.” And there it was. Hari’s stomach thudded to the floor and Draco went pale, turning to Hari with a look of astonishment. Hagrid seemed to realise what he had said at once and his face fell. “I shouldn’t’a told you tha’. I should not have told you…”

“We have to go,” Hari whispered to Draco, heart racing as he felt himself flooding with realisation. Draco and Hermione nodded in agreement and they stormed out of the hut at once. They ignored Hagrid’s calls after them and raced up to the school at once. “Pretty strange coincidence Hagrid’s life dream is to own a dragon and then he runs into someone who just happens to be carrying an egg, isn’t it?” Hari was saying as they hurried up the steps together. Hermione was about to say something in reply when they stopped dead.

“Well, well, well. We are in trouble…” All three of them froze, coming face to face with the sneering face of Filch, clutching the sleeve of Neville Longbottom behind him. Hari swallowed hard and realised what Hagrid must have been calling them about.

In their hurry to get back to the castle, they had left the invisibility cloak sitting on the doorstep of Hagrid’s hut.

Filch dragged them all over to Minerva’s quarters, summoning her so that she appeared in her dressing gown. “Argus, what is the meaning of—” She stopped dead when she saw who he was dragging behind him. “What are you four doing out of bed?” she asked sharply, refusing point blank to look at Hari.

“Found these three coming from outside, running,” Filch replied, gesturing to Hari, Draco and Hermione. He shoved Neville towards Minerva. “And I caught this one trying to warn them.” Hari winced, sharing a guilty look with Hermione and Draco. Neville had been coming to warn them and now he was in trouble with them. He felt awful.

Minerva sighed in disappointment. “Well, I’ll have to give all four of you detentions. I don’t know what you thought you were playing at, going outside,” she said immediately, ignoring their protests. “And however noble it was for you to try to warn your friends, you should not have been out of bed at this hour either.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And I will take a further 30 points each from Gryffindor-”

“But Minnie-” Hari began.

Minerva held up a hand and he silenced, looking down at the floor in shame at the look of disappointment on her face. “No buts, Potter. And yes, I am willing to take house points even from my own house and a boy I raised to know better than to act so foolishly as this.” Hari couldn’t bear to look up and see the inevitably disappointed look she was giving him right now. He had never seen her so disappointed in him in his life and he really didn’t like to see it.

“But, Professor. It was about the Philosopher’s Stone,” Draco interrupted, whispering the last words directly in her ear so that Neville wouldn’t hear. She stepped back in surprise at his words, spluttering slightly.

“I have—how did you—I have no idea how you three happen to know about this, but as it stands, you broke rules and you therefore deserve to be punished for it.” Minerva fixed them with her usual piercing glare, still not looking in Hari’s direction. He felt worse by the second, eyes burning slightly. “Am I understood?” she asked the group sternly.

“Yes, ma’am,” they all said together.

Minerva sighed and waved her hand. “Take these four back to their common room, Argus,” she said dismissively, turning to go back to her bed. Filch agreed and took the group back towards Gryffindor tower, talking about punishments and misbehaving students the whole way.

Hari simply ignored him, walking slowly back up the stairs, trying to hide the fact that he was crying. He knew the other three would notice, but he didn’t care. It wasn’t just because he had just lost Gryffindor so many points in one night; he couldn’t stop remembering the way Minerva had refused to even look at him because she was so disappointed in him. He felt awful about it, wanting to never see her looking like that ever again. He felt as though he had betrayed her trust: Minerva, who had taken him into her home and cared for him for so many years, only for him to repay her by breaking school rules and acting like a reckless child.

The others didn’t say a word as they made their way towards the dormitories, leaving Hermione to go up to her own dormitory. Draco and Neville didn’t speak as they got into their respective beds and didn’t acknowledge the tears rolling down Hari’s face still. They didn’t say anything as they fell asleep and Hari stayed awake for hours, feeling horrible and like he’d betrayed the one person that had taken care of him since he was 4 years old.

Chapter 15: The Forbidden Forest

Chapter Text

“You four got detention?” exclaimed Ron the next day as Hari, Draco, Hermione and Neville told Ron, Seamus and Dean about the previous night’s escapade and resulting detentions and lost house points.

“Fat luck, mate,” Seamus said, slapping Neville on the shoulder sympathetically.

Ron turned away from Neville and the others and whispered, “So why were you guys even going to Hagrids in the middle of the night anyway?”

On their way to Charms class, Hari, Draco and Hermione recounted the conversation with Hagrid and what Hermione overheard between Snape and Quirrell. He was in full agreement that it sounded like Snape wanted Quirrell to steal the stone for him and was shocked to hear about Hagrid’s winning of the egg.

“You don’t think he told the cloaked guy exactly how to get past Fluffy, do you?” Ron asked quietly as they waited outside the Charms class to go in. He glanced to see if anyone was listening in, but Seamus, Neville and Dean were chatting with Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil about something nearby and seemed not to notice their conversation. “If he told a random stranger about it, who knows what else he could have told them?”

“That’s what I’m worried about. It’s also pretty suspicious that this person conveniently carried around Hagrid’s greatest wish and agreed to just give it to him in exchange for knowing about Fluffy,” Hari added. Before they could continue their conversation, however, Flitwick appeared and they had to go inside the class for a theoretical lesson on fire-making spells.

A couple days later, Minerva came over during dinner to tell Hari, Draco, Neville and Hermione about their upcoming detentions. They were to be meeting in the entrance hall with Hagrid that night and would serve their detentions with him. Without an additional glance at Hari, she went back to the staff table with a curt nod.

At eleven o’clock, Hari, Draco, Hermione and Neville bade goodbye to the others and made their way down to the entrance hall together. Filch was there waiting when they arrived, looking far too pleased for comfort. He led them outside the front doors and down the hill towards Hagrid’s, talking about hanging them from the ceiling by their ankles. Hagrid was standing outside his hut with Fang by his side, carrying a small flickering lantern and a crossbow over his shoulder.

“Evenin’ Filch,” said Hagrid as they neared him. “I hope you haven’t been talkin’ about hangin’ em up by chains again.” He gave them a weak, sympathetic smile.

“Don’t go soft on them, Hagrid. They broke rules and they must be punished,” Filch replied gruffly, glowering at Hagrid. “This is detention, not a play date.”

Hagrid rolled his eyes and swiped his hand dismissively at Filch. “I know tha’. Don’t you have anything else to do ‘sides scaring children?” he replied, smirking behind his bushy beard. Hari swallowed a laugh as Filch glared at Hagrid before turning to go back to the castle, still muttering away about chains and punishment. “Well, you best follow me, now. I don’t want to hold up too much longer,” Hagrid said as he moved towards the forest.

The others exchanged fearful looks behind Hagrid’s back. Draco piped up weakly, “We’re not going in there are we?” He pointed towards the forest with a shaky hand, looking remarkably pale even for him.

“Yeah, you are. That’s how yeh’re servin’ detention tonight,” Hagrid replied, moving towards the forest again.

“But aren’t there werewolves and stuff in there?” Draco asked, still rooted to the spot and gaping into the forest.

Alas, they were left with no other choice but to follow Hagrid into the forest, the four of them huddled together and half jogging to catch up with Hagrid’s immensely longer legs than theirs. As they started making their way through the forest, twigs cracking underfoot and an owl hooting overhead, Hagrid turned over his shoulder to say, “Now, unfortunately sommat’s been tryin’ to get at some unicorns here. One of em is already dead an’ I think another’s been injured.” He gestured to something on the ground, a large puddle of silver liquid splattered across the leaves and grass and shining in the moonlight peeking between the trees. “What I want ter do is to find the poor unicorn and help it. Almost nothin’ worse than killin’ a unicorn, there is.”

Draco shivered. “But Hagrid, won’t whatever’s injuring those unicorns try to injure us?” he asked shakily. He looked about as scared as Hari felt, eyes wide and looking around the forest at every sudden sound.

“Not if you’ve got me or Fang with you,” Hagrid replied easily. Draco did not look convinced, but stayed silent. They reached a fork in the path they had been following and Hagrid paused. “Right. Hermione and Neville, you two come with me this way and Hari and Draco go that way with Fang.” He handed Fang over to Hari and Draco. “Shoot off some red sparks in the air if yeh run into any trouble.”

And so, Hari set off into the heart of the Forest with Malfoy and Fang. They walked in silence for half an hour, walking shoulder to shoulder behind Fang, moving deeper into the forest with every step. It became harder and harder to see where they were going as the trees grew thicker and the path became murkier and overgrown. At every sound, Draco jumped, nearly knocking Hari over every time. Occasionally, they saw a splatter of shining silver blood on a tree trunk or in a puddle on the ground and Hari felt increasingly fearful of running into whatever had clearly injured the unicorn badly.

“Oh, this is awful! Who thought this would be a good idea for a detention?” Draco blurted after half an hour of walking through the forest. “Bloody Dumbledore, probably. How is us getting killed by whatever killed those unicorns even remotely a normal punishment for being out of bed at night?”

Hari smirked at Draco’s ramblings. “I don’t know, but I have to admit, this is a pretty extreme punishment. I thought we’d be writing lines or something,” he replied with a shake of his head. They passed another blood stain on some bushes and continued on.

“I swear, if whatever that thing is kills me, I’m coming back as a ghost just to haunt whoever thought this was a necessary punishment.”

They fell back into silence for a few more minutes, Hari listening intently to the sounds of the forest. Suddenly, Draco took a sharp intake of breath and froze, grabbing Hari’s arm instinctively. Lying on its side on the forest floor was, unmistakably, the unicorn. It was a tragically beautiful sight, the unicorn was a pristine, pure white with a horn sticking out its head and surrounded by a large and continuous flow of silver blood coming from a large wound in its side. Fang cowered beside them as Hari and Draco stared in silent horror at the sight before them.

Before he could process anything else, however, Hari felt a horrific, blinding pain in his forehead and felt his knees give out, yelping in pain. Suddenly, a cloaked figure appeared and swooped down upon the unicorn. Hari’s scar burst with further pain as he watched the hooded figure begin to drink the blood of the unicorn. Hari couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t feel anything but the agony in his forehead as though it were splitting open. As he continued to watch the hooded figure, frozen in terror, Hari’s surroundings went black and silent.

Hari woke up with a gasp, looking around frantically. He was still in the forbidden forest, crumpled in a heap on the earth with half his face in a bush. He turned and saw Draco hovering over him, looking wide eyed and pale. When he saw Hari’s eyes open, Hari saw him draw a breath of relief.

“You gave me a heart attack,” Draco complained as he reached out a hand to Hari to help him to his feet. Hari didn’t pay attention to the way Draco didn’t drop his hand and instead looked around for the figure again. “They left already, the cloaked person. You sort of passed out and I was so focused on seeing if you were okay and didn’t hit your head that I didn’t see where they went.”

“It’s okay. We’ll have to tell Hagrid and the others what we found,” he reassured Draco, squeezing his hand tightly. He glanced over Draco’s shoulder and couldn’t help but to gasp once again as the figure of a very tall man with long blond hair walked towards them. As he drew closer, Hari saw that instead of two human legs on his bottom half, he had the body of a horse.

“A centaur,” Draco whispered as they both came face to face with the centaur.

“It is not safe for you to be in this forest, Hari Potter” the centaur said by way of greeting. “Did you not see what happened to that unicorn?”

Hari glanced back over at the dead unicorn, scar twinging with the memory. He nodded to answer the centaur’s question. “Who are you? How do you know my name?” he asked, glancing sideways at Draco, who was gazing up at the unicorn.

“I am Firenze,” said the centaur, “And even us centaurs know of you, Hari Potter. Which is why it is dangerous for you and your friend to be here. Especially when someone has been slaying unicorns.”

“Why is it so horrible to kill a unicorn compared to other stuff?” Hari asked.

“A unicorn is pure and Defenceless. To slay a unicorn and to drink its blood, as you just witnessed, would give the drinker a cursed life. A half life,” said Firenze seriously. “Only someone that has nothing to lose, but everything to gain, would ever dare to drink the blood of a unicorn. A unicorn’s blood will keep the drinker alive, no matter how close to death, but at a terrible price.” Firenze looked down at the unicorn with a sad smile. “Can you two think of anyone that may fit that mold?”

Hari heaved a heavy breath and looked again at the unicorn which now lay dead and Defenceless, blood glittering in the dim moonlight casted across the forest floor. Draco sighed as well. “So you’re saying that whatever was trying to drink that unicorn’s blood…” Draco started, trailing off at the end of his sentence.

Hari finished his sentence for him. “Voldemort. Are you saying that that was Voldemort drinking that unicorn’s blood?”

Firenze nodded sadly. “Yes. Which is why it is especially dangerous for you to be so close to him,” he replied, looking directly at Hari. “Here. You two can climb on my back and I will take you back to safety. It will be far faster than if you walked.”

Carefully, Hari clambered onto the back of Firenze and Draco followed suit, settling just behind him. Apparently, when Hari had been unconscious, Fang ran off back the way they came. Hari carefully held onto Firenze and felt Draco wrap his arms around Hari’s own middle as Firenze took off through the forest, carrying Draco and Hari through the forest much faster than if they had just been walking.

Once the trees were beginning to thin out significantly and the path on the forest floor was much clearer, Hari heard more rustling in the leaves and another pair of centaurs appeared, both looking very grave. Firenze slowed to a stop and Hari nearly fell off, taking Draco down with him.

Firenze greeted these two centaurs with a slow nod and said, “Bane. Ronan.”

“What are you doing with two humans on your back, Firenze. Are you some kind of common mule?” one of the centaurs, snapped, stomping one of his hooves. He was a larger centaur than Firenze with sleek black hair and a shiny black coat.

“Do you not recognise this one as Hari Potter, Bane? I was merely saving them both from being killed or injured back there,” Firenze replied defensively.

“Remember, Firenze. Us centaurs have sworn never to go against what is written in the stars.” Bane looked up at the sky through the leaves of the trees. “Have you not seen what is to come in the movement of the planets?”

The other centaur, Ronan, who had long auburn hair, protested. “Perhaps Firenze was acting for the best, Bane. These are clearly foals.” He gestured towards Hari and Draco, still staring at the conversation unfolding before them where they still sat on the back of Firenze.

Bane ignored the other centaur’s suggestion and reared on Firenze, yelling, “Us centaurs have sworn never to go against what is written in the stars!” Bane looked up at the sky through the leaves of the trees. “Have you not seen what is to come in the movement of the planets? You have no right to try to fight against what has been fated!”

Before Bane or Ronan could say anything more, Firenze took off through the forest once again. Hari and Draco struggled to hold on, Draco’s grip tightening around Hari’s waist and his chin digging uncomfortably into his shoulder as they ran through the rest of the forest. Finally, after a few minutes of almost nauseating riding through the forest, they found Hagrid, Neville, Hermione and Fang and Firenze stopped again, letting Hari and Draco slide off his back.

“I must leave you here now. Be careful, Hari Potter and his friend,” Firenze said, nodding once to each of them. “I hope that what has been written in the heavens is wrong, for your sake.” And then he took off into the forest once again.

Hari and Draco turned to the others and told them about seeing the hooded figure drinking the unicorn’s blood, Firenze saving them and then their small altercation with Bane and Ronan. Hagrid seemed unsurprised at their story about the other centaurs, saying that they would have found it to be an insult to be ridden by human beings. As they made their way back to the castle together, Hari expressed Firenze’s comments that the person drinking the unicorn’s blood was likely Voldemort.

“As far as I know, that wasn’t You-Know-Who, Hari. He’s nowhere near the school right now,” Hagrid replied, shaking his head. But Hari couldn’t help but notice that Hagrid did not look very convinced by his own statements.

As it was, they were not very comforted as they left Hagrid once again and made their way back up to Gryffindor tower in uncomfortable silence. When they got back to the common room, they found Ron sitting by the dying fire. Neville made his way up to bed while Hari, Hermione and Draco stayed downstairs so they could explain to Ron all about what they had witnessed back in the forest. He gasped when they told him about the cloaked figure and how Firenze thought that it was Voldemort.

“But how could it be You-Know-Who? He can’t be… here, can he?” Ron said fearfully once they finished their story.

“I don’t know. But as soon as I saw them, my scar started hurting really really badly and I fell over.”

Draco sighed, looking out the window that overlooked the forest. “It can’t be a coincidence that they’re drinking unicorn blood to stay alive when, just inside the castle, there’s a stone that will make someone immortal.” He turned away from the window and his eyes met Hari’s. “I think it was You-Know-Who, unfortunately.”

“But then, why are Quirrell and Snape trying to get to the Stone if You-Know-Who is drinking blood to stay alive?” Ron asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Well obviously they’re getting the Stone for You-Know-Who, Ron. If Snape was a Death Eater, he’d want to do his bidding for him to come back, wouldn’t he?”

“I still don’t know if Snape is actually up to no good,” interrupted Hari. “I’ve known him since I was 5 and sure he used to be quite distant and he’s got a generally kinda creepy vibe, but he’s never striked me as evil.” He turned to Draco again. “You probably know him better than me, having him as your godfather.”

Draco shook his head and ran his hands through his blond hair, smoothing it back habitually. “Yeah, like I said, I thought I knew him. But after this year, I’m not so sure,” Draco replied faintly.

“One thing’s for sure, someone’s got to stop whoever wants to steal the Stone,” Hari said with finality, looking around at the other three for agreement. They all nodded and muttered their assent and then they all split off to go to their beds finally, exhausted from that night’s events.

Chapter 16: Minerva's Misgivings

Chapter Text

After Transfiguration class a couple days later, in which they were reviewing turning matches into needles, Hari stayed back and let the rest of the class go ahead of him. Minerva’s back was turned to him, putting the labelled attempts into a small box for marking. Hari cleared his throat to get her attention and she jumped, making the match-needle hybrids inside the box rustle with the movement. She turned to face Hari and let her shoulders drop, putting the box aside on her desk.

“Hari. Can I help you with something?” she asked in a falsely casual tone. Only Hari, who had grown up hearing all of her tones and grew accustomed to trying to read people’s moods, knew she wasn’t truly relaxed as her tone suggested.

Hari shrugged, plopping himself on top of one of the desks so that his legs swung back and forth. He saw her lips twitch at this movement, but she made no comment. “I first wanted to say sorry about the other night,” Hari started, fixing his gaze on Minerva.

“Which other night?”

“When Filch caught us out of bed.”

Minerva hummed, lacing her fingers together on her lap. “I see…”

“I’m sorry I betrayed your trust and disappointed you,” said Hari calmly, trying to keep his voice steady. “I broke rules and I disappointed you. If it helps, I didn’t really sleep at all after I went to bed.”

“You know, knowledge of you losing sleep does very little to comfort me, Hari,” Minerva replied, raising an eyebrow. “But I accept the apology, Hari. Have you been worrying about this since then?”

Hari’s cheeks burned and he nodded slowly, looking down at the floor in embarrassment. Minerva tilted his chin to look up into her eyes. He hadn’t noticed that she moved towards him. “Do you think I never caught your father and his friends out of bed in the middle of the night? Did you think I felt betrayed and stopped caring about them then?” Hari shook his head. “Hari, being out of bed past curfew was foolish, but the least of my worries. I gather you know about the Philosopher’s Stone and the dangers it may carry?”

“Yeah. We heard a weird crying sound near the third floor corridor and I wasn’t paying attention to where I was, so we followed the sound and then my scar started hurting really badly. And then when we came to the room it had this massive three headed dog inside it and Hagrid accidentally let slip about Nicholas Flamel and when we looked him up, we found out about the Philosopher’s Stone,” Hari rambled, trying to summarise everything he knew. “I know the Stone can make someone immortal and turns any metal into gold.”

“And why do you suppose that may worry me about you being out of bounds so late at night?”

“Cause Voldemort might be trying to get the Stone. Which, we think he kind of is.”

Minerva blinked. “What do you mean?”

Hari shrugged. “Well, we’ve overheard multiple conversations between Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell and think they might be trying to steal the Stone for Voldemort to come back. I’m not so sure about Severus, but the others are convinced.” It felt good to tell Minerva all this. He had missed speaking to her as much now that he was a proper student at Hogwarts instead of just living with her in the room right next door.

“Hari, I can assure you that neither of them is trying to steal the Stone,” said Minerva with finality. “And I don’t want you or any of your friends worrying about that either, alright? It is not up to a group of eleven year olds to try to stop the unlikely potential of someone stealing the Stone.”

“Did Hagrid tell you about what happened in the forbidden forest?”

“He told me only that you all managed to get out safe and that he knew what slayed the unicorn, mainly. Why?”

Hari delved into the details of what happened in the forest, talking about the cloaked figure drinking the unicorn’s blood and his scar hurting so bad he passed out and Firenze’s warnings and saving him and Draco. When he finished his story, Minerva looked paler than usual, but mostly the same. She sighed.

“That is rather worrying. I shall speak to Albus about it if Hagrid hasn’t yet,” she replied thoughtfully, already preparing to jump into action for Hari. “Speaking of which, why exactly were you three out of bed that night? Apparently you went to Hagrid’s.”

“It was after Hermione overheard a conversation with Severus and Quirrell about knowing how to get past Fluffy. We wanted to ask him about how he got that dragon egg because we thought it was connected to Fluffy,” Hari explained, “And, Minnie, he just outright told us how to get past the dog and that that was what he told some cloaked stranger in the Hog’s Head to get the dragon egg. What if the cloaked person was… someone trying to steal the Stone?”

Minerva nodded as she listened to Hari’s explanation, ruffling his hair once he finished. “I will take what you have told me this afternoon to Dumbledore, Hari. These are certainly very odd, but I do not want you to worry about someone trying to steal the Philosopher’s Stone,” she said. “Now, I believe dinner is being served currently and I suggest you hurry before you miss it.”

Hari hopped off the desk and gave Minerva a short, tight hug before he made his way to dinner. He thought about their conversation the whole way there and felt somewhat lighter at what she had said. At least if she spoke to Dumbledore about their concerns, he could put a stop to whoever wanted to steal the Stone. Hari wasn’t sure he agreed with Minerva’s complete insistence that it couldn’t possibly be Snape and Quirrell, but he was confident, at least, that she would speak to Dumbledore about it.

“I still think Snape and Quirrell want to steal the Stone, no matter what McGonagall says,” said Ron when Hari told them of his conversation with Minerva after they got back to the common room from dinner. He was sitting draped over the side of the couch, picking at the carpet and lifted his head up to speak.

“Yeah, well, if they don’t believe us, maybe the actual adults are right,” Hermione pointed out from the top of her book which she was reading curled up in one of the overstuffed armchairs.

“But the ‘actual adults’ didn’t overhear those conversations between Snape and Quirrell, did they?” Ron snapped.

Draco groaned towards the ceiling and hit both Hermione and Ron in the arm with his notebook. “You two are insufferable when you argue,” he complained, rolling his eyes. “I say we just wait and see what happens. Maybe we’re right and maybe the ‘actual adults’ are right. We’ll have to wait to find out and see where our knowledge takes us now that Hari’s told someone. As long as Dumbledore’s still in the school, it’ll be fine. ”

Ron sighed heavily and rolled off the couch and onto the carpet, looking up at the ceiling. “Anybody up for a game of chess?” he asked hopefully.

“Will it get you to stop whining?” Draco teased, sneering. Ron smacked him in the leg but sat up and went to get their chess sets anyway. When he returned a minute later, carrying the chessboard and the two bags of chess pieces, Draco was already sitting on the floor in front of the sofa, waiting for him.

“Hari, did you manage to turn your match into a needle today?” Hermione asked, moving to sit beside Hari on the couch. He was half watching the chess game, letting Draco use his legs to lean against, while trying to get through his latest Potions essay.

He turned to her question. “Yeah, pretty much. It still could probably light a fire if you tried, but it was metal and pointy at least,” he replied, putting down his essay. “You did it perfectly, didn’t you?”

Hermione ducked her head in embarrassment, but Hari could see the faint smile on her lips. “I wouldn’t say it was perfect, but it was certainly metal and sharp as well,” she replied to her lap. Hari snorted, picking up his quill to start writing again. “Have you still not finished your potions essay, Hari? That’s due tomorrow!” She leaned over Hari’s shoulder to glance at the half-finished essay on his lap.

Hari brushed her off and said, “I didn’t think it would be this hard! Who knew it was so easy to forget the Forgetfulness Potion?” Hermione rolled her eyes and plucked the essay out of his hands, going over what he had written so far and making corrections and tick marks all over the page. Hari watched her work, muttering, “Thanks, Hermione. You’re a lifesaver.”

“I’m just making sure you don’t fail all your classes with your poor work ethic, Hari.”

“Yeah, but that’s saving my life. I live with Minerva McGonagall, Hermione. She’d have my head.”

Hermione rolled her eyes again, glancing up from Hari’s essay. “Exactly. I don’t know how it didn’t rub off on you, living with her,” she chastised, going back to checking over his essay. She handed it back a few minutes later saying, “That looks pretty good overall. You just need to write another paragraph about the use of lethe river water and then a conclusion and it’ll be done.”

“Cheers, Hermione.” Hari gave Hermione a one armed hug and turned back to writing his essay, not noticing the looks in his direction from Ron and Draco. He continued working on his essay with Hermione reading beside him and Draco and Ron playing chess on the floor until he finally finished and let Hermione read it over once again. Once she deemed it worthy enough to turn in, Hari packed up his school bag, said goodnight to the others and made his way upstairs for bed.

In the middle of the first week of June, Hari and the others went up to Minerva’s office, at Ron’s insistence, to ask her if she had spoken to Dumbledore yet about what Hari told her. After finishing their dinner, Ron led the way and knocked on her door, stepping aside to allow her to open the door.

“Why am I not surprised to see you four again?” she said as soon as she opened the door and looked down at the four students standing outside her door. “Can I help you?”

“We were just wondering if you’ve spoken to Dumbledore yet,” Ron asked.

“As a matter of fact, I haven’t,” she replied. At the aghast look on their faces, she continued, “I was about to go and speak to him about it, but Dumbledore received an urgent letter from the Ministry, requesting his presence. I will speak to him about your concerns tomorrow or whenever he gets back.”

“But what if the letter’s a trap, Minnie?” Hari asked, wide eyed. Surely Dumbledore leaving the school was a bad sign. “What if the person that wants to steal the Stone is just trying to get him away from the school so they can do it?”

Minerva tilted her head to the side, fixing Hari with her ‘I hear what you’re saying, but you’re probably wrong’ face. “The Ministry of Magic often requests Dumbledore’s presence, so it is not that out of the ordinary for him to be called to the Ministry. Like I said, I will give him your concerns as soon as he is back and I can assure all of you that he will deal with the matter as he sees appropriate.” She peered at all of them. “Now, I suggest you four get up to your common room before you are out past curfew… Again.”

She gave them all a polite nod and shut the door to her office once again. As they made their way back to the common room as she said, they began discussing how suspicious it was that Dumbledore would be out of the school that night.

“It’s like you said just a couple days ago, Draco. With Dumbledore out of the school, someone’s bound to steal the Stone with him gone,” Hari said as they hurried up the stairs. “I bet you someone sent a fake letter and they’re going to steal the Stone tonight.”

“So what do we do?” Ron asked as they reached the portrait of the Pink Lady. “‘Hippogriff,’” he said to the portrait, which swung open and they stepped inside.

They looked at each other knowingly. Hari gritted his teeth. “We’re going to have to make sure we get to it first.”

Chapter 17: Into the Underground Chambers

Chapter Text

As soon as everyone else had gone to bed, Hari, Ron, Draco and Hermione slipped out of the common room under the invisibility cloak. They made their way quietly through the school, thankfully passing no one as they made their way to the third floor corridor. Carefully, Hari pulled the invisibility cloak off of them and unlocked the door keeping Fluffy inside and stepped in, followed by the other three. Immediately, he heard soft, melodic music playing and saw Fluffy fast asleep beside a harp.

“We’ve already missed them!” Hari stage whispered, pulling the flute he got from Hagrid out of his pocket. As the harp stopped playing music, the three headed dog began to stir and Hari quickly started playing notes at random from the flute. He sighed in relief as Fluffy went back to sleep. He gestured towards the trap door beside one of the giant paws and they made their way over silently.

Draco crouched down to lift the trap door and they looked down into endless darkness, giving no sign of the bottom any time soon. “Are we sure it’s safe jumping down? Maybe they jumped to their deaths?” Draco suggested hopefully.

Hari handed the flute over to Ron to start playing and said, “I’ll go first. If I do fall to my death, go back and get Minerva immediately.”

“Are you sure you want to go first, Hari? It’s a long way down…” Draco worried his bottom lip between his teeth anxiously. He looked back down into the darkness below.

Hari patted Draco’s shoulder and lowered his feet into the hole in the floor. “See you guys in a minute.” And then Hari plunged into black. He could feel the air whipping his robes up as he fell, heart racing as he plummeted for what seemed like miles and miles of complete darkness. He was just about to wonder when he would land when he felt himself thudding onto something strangely soft and slightly damp. It felt like some kind of plant. “It’s okay! I landed on something soft!” Hari called above him.

A minute later, Draco landed unceremoniously beside him, grunting. “What is this stuff?” he asked, looking around in the dim lighting. Ron landed a second later, nearly hitting Draco in the face with his foot. “Oi, watch it, Weasel!” Draco snapped, pushing Ron off of him.

Above them, Hari heard the music stop playing again, followed by a loud bark and then Hermione landed next to them a second later, hair in her face. As soon as she landed, she gasped and scrambled over to a wall, gaping in horror at the others.

“Lucky this plant is here,” Ron stated, patting the vines that had kept them from no doubt falling to their deaths.

“Lucky?” Hermione exclaimed shrilly from the wall. “Don’t you recognise this? It’s Devil’s Snare!”

“Oh, brilliant. Now I know what kind of plant I landed on. That’s so helpful, Hermione, thanks!”

Hermione groaned irritably, scowling at Ron’s sarcasm. “Devil’s Snare is deadly, you idiot! It strangles you!” she screeched. At her words, Hari realised that the plant he had landed on was in fact wrapping quite tightly around him, as though it were trying to strangle him. “Oh, no. I can’t remember how to kill it! Professor Sprout said it prefers the dark and cold,” she cried, panicking.

“Then light a fire!” Ron snapped.

“But I haven’t got any wood!”

Ron scoffed. “Are you a witch or not, Hermione?!”

As Hari, Ron and Draco began tugging furiously against the vines wrapping tighter and tiger around them, Hermione conjured up her bluebell flames. Finally, Hari felt the vines recoiling away from the blue flames and he scrambled out of the tight grip and over to Hermione against the wall. He reached out a hand to help drag Draco the rest of the way out of the vines while Ron crawled to safety, wheezing and coughing. Once they caught their breath and Ron got to his feet, they started along a narrow, dim corridor together.

“‘But I haven’t got any wood!’ Honestly, Hermione. You really lose your head sometimes,” Ron was complaining as they made their way deeper into the tunnel.

“We must be miles beneath the school,” Draco remarked to Hari in a whisper, looking around the dark tunnel. Finally, they reached another chamber at the end of this corridor. There were hundreds of strange birds floating around the room with different coloured wings, flapping aimlessly about. There were also half a dozen broomsticks nearby. Draco crossed the room and attempted to unlock the door, but it wouldn’t budge. “It won’t open!” he said, eyes narrowed.

Hermione peered up at the ceiling and wondered aloud, “These bird things can’t be here just for decoration, can they?”

As Hari looked closer at the birds flying above them, he realised that they weren’t birds at all. They were keys with wings. He said as much, pointing up at them.

“You don’t think we have to catch the key to the door, do you? How will we know which is the right one?” Hermione asked.

Ron moved beside Draco and examined the lock on the door. “The key will be old and rusty like this lock, surely,” he deduced. “These broomsticks must be so that we can catch the right key.”

One by one, they all climbed onto the backs of a broomstick. As soon as they got on, however, the keys began whizzing violently around the room, making them much harder to catch. Hari kicked off into the air, ducking out of the way of the vicious keys trying to attack them and trying to look around for the right key through the chaos.

“There! That one there has a broken wing as if someone grabbed it!” Draco exclaimed over the noise of the clattering keys, pointing in the direction of an old key with blue wings. It was flying much slower than the others and its wing looked damaged, just as Draco said.

“Draco, go up and Ron and Hermione, you go on either side so we can corner it!” Hari directed, gesturing towards where he wanted the others to go. They complied, Draco confidently rising higher and Ron moving over to one side while Hermione nervously moved to the other, much less confident on a broom than the others. “Okay, on three! One… two… three!” Hari dove towards the key, which seemed to be unsure of where to go as people flew towards it on all sides. Hari grabbed it in his hand, nearly sliding off the end.

Hari dove one handed towards the door, jamming the key in the lock and then burst into the next chamber. He landed unceremoniously on the ground and Ron, Draco and Hermione arrived next to him a second later, panting and messy-haired from the attacking keys. Hari looked around this next chamber. They were standing on what looked like a giant chessboard, the floor painted in black and white checks. Directly in front of them were the black chess pieces, while on the other side of the board, Hari saw the white pieces, guarding another set of doors.

“What strange statues,” Hermione said, admiring one of the large black rooks curiously.

“These aren’t just statues, Hermione. This looks like a chessboard,” Draco pointed out, gesturing at the board laid out in front of them.

“You don’t think we have to play to get across, do you?” asked Hermione anxiously, looking at the pile of broken chess players piled on either side of the chessboard.

Ron shook his head sadly. “I think that’s exactly what we’ll have to do,” he said. Hermione whimpered slightly. Ron rolled his shoulders back and straightened up, the best chess player among the four of them. “Right. I think we’ll have to each take a player. Draco takes the rook there, Hari can take the bishop there, Hermione takes one of those pawns and then I’ll be the knight.” Ron directed them all to their individual places and they moved at his command while the black pieces they replaced moved over to the side to watch. “Now, the white side will move first,” Ron explained, just as one of the white pawns began to move forwards.

They jumped right into the game, Ron directing the chess pieces where to go and making sure Hari, Draco and Hermione stayed out of trouble from the other pieces. As each side took another player from the other team, they pulled out a weapon and hit the other piece, making it crumble to pieces. On a few occasions, Ron nearly didn’t catch another piece trying to take one of them, until he quickly directed them to move another square before they could be defeated. Finally, when the piles of broken chess pieces were piling high on both sides, Ron paused suddenly, looking worried.

“What is it?” Hari asked, noticing the sudden quiet and Ron’s new nervousness.

“I’ve got to sacrifice myself,” Ron muttered. “If I move forwards, the Queen will take me and that will leave you, Hari, to checkmate the king!”

“But, Ron, you can’t! You’ve seen what they did to the other pieces!” Draco protested anxiously.

“But that’s chess! It’s all about sacrifices!” Ron replied back determinedly, “Sometimes you have to sacrifice your own players in order to win, but that’s what you have to do. It’s better me than Hari, isn’t it?”

Hari frowned. “That’s not t-”

Ron cut him off. “You know it’s true, Hari. You’ve got to go ahead more than the rest of us!” When no one else said anything, Ron took a deep breath, turning to stare ahead. He closed his eyes, moved forwards and then to the right and then-- *BAM* Ron was knocked unconscious by a vicious swipe from the white queen. Hari, Draco and Hermione winced at the movement, watching in horror as Ron crumpled to the ground, a tiny trickle of blood going down his cheek.

Heart racing madly, Hari turned his eyes away from Ron and took a step diagonally, landing in front of the trapped, white king. “Checkmate!” he said and then the white king bowed his head, tossed his white crown onto the floor and he and the rest of the players moved off the board, allowing them to cross to the doors behind them. They hurried over to Ron’s side, crouching down beside him worriedly. He thankfully didn’t look too badly hurt, the cut in his head rather small and bruised on the edges, but otherwise unharmed. He would certainly recover quite easily from the injury.

“He’ll be okay. Madam Pomfrey can mend things in a second,” Hari assured the others.

“We better hurry before the Stone is stolen. It could be getting taken right now,” Draco said, getting up from his squat and moving slowly towards the doors. “I think I’ll take this. It’s pretty cool,” he mumbled, bending down to lift the small marble crown and tucking it under his arm. Hari rolled his eyes but begrudgingly left Ron’s side to go join Draco.

As they strolled into the next room, immediately Hari felt his eyes beginning to water at a horrific, overwhelming stench like garbage and old socks. Covering his mouth and nose with his robes, he looked down at an unconscious troll lying on the ground, even larger than the one they had to fight in the toilets at the start of the school year.

“I’m glad we didn’t have to fight that one,” Draco remarked, pulling Hari and Hermione across the wide chamber and over to the next set of doors. Hari really hoped the next chamber would be the last… “Come, I can’t breathe,” Draco said, pushing the next door open.

In this next room, they came across a table scattered with 7 bottles of varying shapes and sizes, all filled with different coloured potions. As soon as they stepped over the threshold, a burst of purple flames appeared behind them while the door on the other side of the small room burst into black flames. They were completely stuck.

They walked closer to the table and Hermione picked up a sheet of parchment set on the table with a riddle written on it. She skimmed the sheet with Draco, muttering under her breath. “Oh, this is brilliant! This isn’t magic, it’s logic!””she exclaimed brightly. “Many great wizards have got no logic in their head and would be completely stuck in here!”

“But won’t we be stuck as well?” Hari asked. Draco moved around the table, examining the different bottles closely with narrowed eyes.

“Not if we can figure out this logic puzzle. That shouldn’t take too long…”

Draco shook his head, lifting up one of the bottles. “Actually, I already know which ones to choose,” Draco stated. Hari and Hermione looked at him curiously. “Well, see that one there?” He gestured to one of the bottles filled with purple liquid. “That one is a fire protection potion, but it hasn’t been drunk yet. That’ll get you back through those purple flames and back the way we came.” He then lifted a smaller bottle, half-filled with a black potion. “This one is also a fire protection potion, but it’ll only work for that one over there. See how someone’s already drank some of it?” He shook the bottle lightly.

“So, what do you suggest?” asked Hermione, folding her arms.

Draco grabbed the fire protection potion, holding it up close and squinting at it. “I think this should be enough for 2 of us to go back that way, but there’s really only enough for one more person to go onwards,” Draco explained. Hermione and Draco both turned to Hari at once. “It’s obvious, isn’t it?”

“Not to me,” said Hari, frowning.

“Hari, only one of us can go through that way. Obviously, it’s got to be you,” said Hermione.

Hari did a double-take, his frown deepening. “What? How? But I can’t do this without you guys!” Hari spluttered, blinking. “I’m not as clever or talented as either of you. I’ll just fail on my own.”

Draco scoffed. Hari blinked at him. “Oh, come on, Hari. Don’t be ridiculous,” he remarked.

Hermione rolled her eyes. She reached up and covered Draco’s mouth with her hand. “What Draco is oh so insensitively trying to say is that you’re much more capable than you may think,” she explained gently. A split second later, Hermione yelped, yanking her hand away from Draco in disgust. “Did you just lick me, Draco?”

Draco shrugged, devious smile giving him away instantly. “Hari, you were raised by Minera McGonagall. You outsmarted Severus’ attempts to catch you up in class, you’ve been surrounded by magic since you were a child and you instinctively know magic without even thinking. If one of us is capable of getting out alive, it’s you,” Draco said firmly. “Hermione and I might be good at logic puzzles and magic theory, but that’s nothing compared to your abilities. Your bravery.”

Hermione nodded vigorously. “He’s right, you know.”

Hari huffed, looking back and forth from his friends to the black flames leading into the next chamber. He took in Draco’s words, internalising them, playing them over. What if he was right? Hari had grown up at Hogwarts for many years now, already exposed to magic well beyond his years merely by association. He couldn’t memorise the entirety of a textbook or instantly get a spell to work without even trying, but he knew magic like he knew his own heartbeat.

Hari took a deep breath, rolled his shoulders back, looked back to his friends once again. “Okay. You two take the potion and get back to Ron. Use the brooms to get back up to the school and get Minerva immediately,” said Hari. “I’ll… I’ll go on myself.”

Hermione softened, eyes swimming with tears. She threw her arms around him, almost knocking him into the table of potions. “Oh, be careful!” she cried, bushy hair scratching Hari’s face and neck.

She pulled back, sniffling.

“Good luck,” said Draco, nodding.

Hari waited for Draco and Hermione to each take a sip of half the potion and then they stepped through the purple flames, one after another. Hari lifted the half-full vial of black potion and moved towards the flickering black flames.

“Bottoms up,” Hari murmured, downing the last of the potion in one gulp.

His whole body temperature rose in seconds, tingling at the fingertips. Hari shut his eyes and stepped through the black flames into the next chamber, ready to see who he would be facing.

Chapter 18: Under the Turban

Chapter Text

When Hari stepped through the black flames, he came upon a wide, almost empty chamber. At the very centre of the room, he recognised the Mirror of Erised in all its glory, centre stage. And, looking into the Mirror was none other than…

“Professor Quirell?” Hari blurted.

The older man, blood red turban balanced precariously on his head, turned around to face Hari. Gone was the trembling, fearful man, replaced by a co*cky, smirking man, his eyes narrowing at Hari.

“Hari Potter,” said Professor Quirrel, his voice as clear and steady as ever.

“It was you!” Hari exclaimed, pointing. “You’re the one trying to get the Philosopher’s Stone?”

Professor Quirrel smiled, tilting his head slightly. “Are you surprised, Hari? Who were you expecting? Snape?” asked Quirrel.

Hari shrugged, looking down at the floor. “Were you not working together this whole time?” he asked, though he already suspected the answer.

Quirrel burst out laughing, throwing his head back. “Snape? Working with me? As if!” he retorted, grinning. “Oh, no. Snape has been doing his damned most trying to stop me from getting the Stone, if you must know.”

Hari folded his arms, taking another step towards Quirrel. He watched Quirrel closely, peering into the Mirror of Erised with an irritable frown. Hari looked into the Mirror himself, surprised to find only himself, no family behind him. How odd.

“Still no closer to getting it, are you?” asked Hari.

Quirrel kept his back turned to Hari, still staring intently into the mirror. “I know it is here. This Mirror is the key to getting the stone, but I just cannot think of how…” His voice trailed off in thought.

As Hari neared Quirrel and the mirror, he swore he heard a faint, almost silent whispering sound coming from somewhere. It grew louder with every step closer, coming from… somewhere on Quirrel.

Hari’s eyes caught his own in the Mirror of Erised again. He saw his own reflection smiling at him, winking. Hari frowned, disconcerted at the uncanny nature of his odd reflection. And then, still grinning, the Mirror Hari reached into his pocket and pulled out something vivid red and twinkling in the low lantern light. The Philosopher’s Stone. As the Mirror Hari dropped the stone back into his pocket, Hari felt the sudden jolting weight of it in his own pocket.

“What do you want the Stone so badly for? Is it for Lord Voldemort?” asked Hari, trying to stall for time.

”Do not speak his name!” hissed Quirrel, spinning around to face Hari again, his face twisting with fury.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” said Hari. “You’ve been working for him all this time. It was you I saw in the Forbidden Forest that night and it’s been you this whole time.”

Quirrel’s fury turned into a sneer again and he nodded. “Very good, Hari. I knew you were clever,” he said. Another whisper in the air, Quirrel twisted again, murmuring incoherently under his breath. “Although, then again, you have been raised by one of the smartest witches of her age. I suppose it was only inevitable.”

“Don’t speak of her,” Hari snapped.

But Quirrel just ignored Hari, listening intently to the odd whispering. “But Master, you aren’t strong enough…” Quirrel whispered, turning again. More whispers. “Are you sure?”

Then, clear as day, Hari heard the whisper at its loudest, a high, cold voice that grated on Hari’s skin, hair sticking up on the back of his neck. “Ask the boy what he sees in the Mirror.”

“Well? What do you see in the mirror, Potter?” repeated Quirrel.

Hari looked in the mirror again and furrowed his brows together, trying to look thoughtful. The weight of the stone in his pocket grew slightly in his awareness. He couldn’t admit the truth, but what else could he do? What could he say?

“I see… my family,” said Hari, thinking back to months ago when he first saw the mirror in that dark, abandoned classroom. “All of them. I see my whole family surrounding me. They’re proud of me.”

“He lies!”

“Tell the truth!” snapped Quirrel.

“I am,” Hari snapped back.

The cold voice laughed, the sound rattling around the room, unnatural and unhuman. “Let me see the boy,”

Quirrel hesitated only a second before reaching his hands up to his turban, beginning to untie its elaborate wrapping. Hari held his breath, watching in growing horror as Quirrel unraveled the scarlet fabric, around and around, letting the fabric trail to the floor in a heap. Hari inhaled at the sight revealed beneath the cloth.

It was another face. The face of Lord Voldemort on the back of Professor Quirinus Quirrel’s head. It was sickly pale and snake-like, two slits for a nose and a pair of beady, blood red eyes narrowed at Hari. Hari’s scar burns like a brand and Hari slaps a hand on his forehead, looking into the eyes of the man that killed his parents, that tried to kill him.

“Give me the Stone, Hari Potter,” the second face hissed.

“Never!” Hari yelled, stepping back as far as he could before he would run into the black flames blocking his exit.

Lord Voldemort ordered Quirrel to grab Hari and the other man spun around, lunging towards Hari. Hari stumbled back, falling over, just as Quirrel grabbed his wrist. Hari closed his eyes, preparing to face his end…

Quirrel screamed, yanking his hand away.

Hari’s eyes flew open and he looked up at Quirrel, just in time to see him staggering backwards. He was clutching his own hand, screaming at the top of his lungs, his face twisted with agony. The voice of Lord Voldemort continued to hiss and screech at him, but Quirrel was too preoccupied by the sizzling burn of his hand.

“Sieze him!”

“But, Master—!” Quirrel sobbed.

Voldemort repeated himself and Quirrel staggered over to Hari, arms outstretched. This time, when his hands touched Hari, they went straight for his neck. He gripped on tight to Hari’s throat, constricting his airways, the edges of Hari’s vision going in and out of focus. Smoke and steam billowed up as Quirrel gripped onto Hari, his hands slowly disintegrating from the mere touch of Hari’s skin.

Dizzy and breathless, Hari reached up and grabbed Quirrel’s wrists with his hands. He watched as his hands branded Quirrel’s thin, pale wrists, steaming. Quirrel’s grip slackened and he staggered back, sobbing in sheer agony.

Hari blinked, gasping for breath.

The last thing he saw before he passed out was Professor Quirrel, falling to his knees, head thrown back, roaring with agony. And then nothing.

Hari jolted awake, hours later, in the hospital wing. The first words out of his mouth are, “Quirrel!”

Hari squinted in the afternoon light which streamed in through the windows on the far end of the hospital, the curtains pulled aside to let the sunshine in. He blinked, raising his hand to shield his eyes from the light, looking around for his glasses.

When he puts the glasses on, the first thing he sees with clarity is a whopping pile of gifts on the table by his bed, cards and balloons and sweets of varying shapes and varieties.

The second thing he sees with clarity is Albus Dumbledore.

After the initial shock, Albus calmly explains to Hari about what he missed in the last 24 hours he’s been sleeping through his healing process, assuring him that his friends are all safe and accounted for. He explains that he found Quirrel and Hari only moments after Hari passed out, able to get the stone away from him before Quirrel eventually perished once Lord Voldemort left him behind. Hari listened with confusion and fascination to the story without interrupting, even when Dumbledore mentioned the Stone would be destroyed so that Nicolas Flamel would soon pass away at last.

Hari was most surprised by Dumbledore’s last revelation, however.

“Finally, I believe you ought to know the truth about the Invisibility Cloak,” said Dumbledore, finishing his explanation about death and adventures. “I was the one that sent it.”

“You were? Why? Why didn’t you say?”

“I believe my need for it had already been surpassed,” explained Dumbledore cryptically. “The Cloak itself has been passed on from generation to generation in the Potter family, so it was rightfully yours. Being eleven, I feel you are finally old enough to have access to it, as I’m sure your own father would have believed had he survived.”

Hari chewed on his bottom lip, looking at his lap. “But you didn’t sign it?”

Dumbledore smiled, a mirthful laugh crinkling his eyes behind those famous half-moon spectacles. “That? That was merely half the fun,” explained Dumbledore. “Life, I believe, is always more fun with a bit of mystery, don’t you think?”

After the events of the last year, Hari wasn’t quite so sure. If anything, he was done with mysteries for a lifetime.

Soon, Dumbledore had to leave Hari alone for his own duties and Ron, Hermione and Draco were finally let into the room. They surrounded his bed, talking over each other, stealing Hari’s sweets for themselves. Hari let them, laughing at them arguing over sweets and trying to fill him in on what he missed while he was in the hospital wing.

“Ravenclaw won the house cup, of course,” said Draco, popping a Fizzing Whizbee into his mouth. “You missed the feast. It was good.”

Hari rolled his eyes. He’d seen the Closing Feast 6 times already; he was sure it was just the same as always.

The next morning, everyone’s trunks packed and animals stuffed into crates and cages, Hari and the rest of the school headed for the Hogwarts Express back home. Hari followed the rest of his classmates downhill to Hogsmeade Station, chatting about the upcoming summer holidays with Ron, Hermione and Draco.

“And you must promise to actually write,” Hermione said as she reached the station and they reached a queue of people going to board.

“Aye, we will, Hermione,” said Hari, batting her shoulder. “Don’t you worry.”

“Yeah, every day, Hermione, every day,” added Draco.

Hermione rolled her eyes, shoving her way through to board the train. She pushed her way through first to reserve them an empty carriage and together, the four Gryffindors clambered onto the train for the long ride back home.

The journey home was long and peaceful, stopping every so often for the few other stops between Hogsmeade and King’s Cross. They played a few rounds of Exploding Snap before Draco ended up throwing the pack of cards out the window in a fit of rage at having lost a 3rd time in a row; Ron forced Hari into a game of wizard’s chess, beating him in less than 6 moves; Draco showed off the bright stone crown he got from their life size game of chess down in the Underground Chambers and Hermione lectured them all about not doing magic over the summer break.

It was the most fun they’d had in weeks. After stressing over Nicolas Flamel and the Philosopher’s Stone and Snape and Quirrel the whole year, it was a relief to finally think about nothing but the summer holidays and the stress free journey home together. Hari hoped the next year would be a bit less stressful, a bit more like a normal school year.

But, as he headed off the train and onto Platform 9 ¾ to Remus Lupin waiting for him, Hari figured that that was simply never going to happen. Not at Hogwarts…