Light of Friends
NOBODY AT HOGWARTS knew the truth of what had happened the night that Sirius, Buckbeak, and Pettigrew had vanished except Harry, Will, Freya, and Professor Dumbledore. As the end of the term approached, Harry heard many different theories about what had really happened, but none of them came close to the truth.
Malfoy was furious about Buckbeak. He was convinced that Hagrid had found a way of smuggling the Hippogriff to safety and seemed outraged that he and his father had been outwitted by a mere gamekeeper. Whenever Harry and Will were in earshot, he would continuously throw insults both their and Hagrid's way and that was just what Harry expected of him. What Harry didn't understand was how quiet Malfoy was for the rest of the term whenever Freya was with them.
"It's weird, why doesn't he bother you the way he does us?" Harry inquired one day when Potions ended, and he watched Malfoy leave without a word to them after glancing their way and seeing his best friend, as if checking first if she was there.
"'It's amazing, hearing you complain to me why I can't suffer the way that you do," said Freya dryly as she shouldered her school bag. "Truly, I feel the bond of our friendship strengthen when I hear how you want so badly to keep me included."
Harry gave a sheepish smile as Will laughed.
"But really, I wonder why." Will mused as they left the Potions classroom quickly after Snape had sent them a nasty look at the sound of their laughter. "It's almost like he's avoiding you."
An odd look passed Freya's face; irritation mixed with a slight bit of panic that Harry didn't understand before she sighed.
Then noticing their noticing, she grinned.
"I was hoping you guys wouldn't notice because it's actually both a bit embarrassing and unsettling for the reason that Malfoy's avoiding me...is...well..."
She looked up at them, a pained expression on her face.
"He's terrified of me. Utterly terrified. You guys wouldn't believe the sort of trauma a hit from me can cause but I'm pretty sure if we had another Boggart lesson Malfoy's would have a dashingly red headed form and-hey, why are you guys walking away?!"
"Because you're so terrifying," Harry said with a grin.
"Terrifyingly stupid," Will added dryly.
"Seriously? Come here so I can knock you both in the head."
"Oh no, but how could we handle the trauma?" Will mocked, his eyes glinting with amusement.
"William Francis Granger, I swear-"
And for the first time since the day that Sirius, Buckbeak, and Pettigrew had escaped, the three of them laughed aloud as they walked down the Hogwarts corridors together, the shadows of grief that Harry had felt that day fading a slightly bit more.
* * *
LIFE WENT ON, even though Harry was continuously reminded of the day his Godfather had to leave yet again.
"Honestly, the idea that they actually let that Hippogriff go when it hurt one of our students. It was even in Freya's class! Freya could have gotten hurt and that Slytherin boy killed, and what then?! And even Black's escaped, honestly. If I manage to get into the Ministry, I’ll have a lot of proposals to make about Magical Law Enforcement!" Percy, who continued to have much to say on the matter of Buckbeak's and Sirius's escape, ranted to the only person who would listen-his friend Mirabella.
"I'm sure you'll get into the ministry and I'm sure they'll think your proposals are wonderful," Mirabella told him soothingly, her eyes full of repressed laughter. "And I'm sure they'll take you quite seriously as long as you're not flapping your arms about like a headless chicken. Now I'd love to stay and chat but-"
"Mirabella, seriously!" It was the fourth time one of her Ravenclaw peers had called from their lunch table, frowning at their head girl for being at the Gryffindor table for too long.
"But my subjects await." she shot Percy a grin and a wave before turning and walking to her table, "I hear you; I hear you, settle down..."
Fred and George sighed in unison.
"She's too amazing to be spending all that time hearing you jabber," Fred told his older brother, shaking his head.
"All the more reason to date her already, you honestly can't afford to be picky," George added. "Bloody hell, propose while you still have a sho-"
"QUIET." Percy hissed, his ears reddening as they all laughed.
When their laughter quieted, Harry's high spirits slowly descended back down, as it had been doing a lot for the rest of the term. Though the weather was perfect, though the atmosphere was so cheerful, though he knew they had achieved the near-impossible in helping Sirius to freedom, Harry had never approached the end of a school year in worse spirits.
He certainly wasn’t the only one who was sorry to see Professor Lupin go. The whole of Harry’s Defense Against the Dark Arts class was miserable about his resignation.
"He was really really nice." Neville noted glumly staring down at his food.
"Right?" Seamus grumbled stabbing his fork into his mashed potatoes. "What do you think we'll get next year?"
"Maybe a vampire," Dean suggested hopefully.
Lavender giggled from a different table with Pavarti, "I wouldn't mind a vampire."
It wasn’t only Professor Lupin’s departure that was weighing on Harry’s mind. He couldn’t help thinking a lot about Professor Trelawney’s prediction. He kept wondering where Pettigrew was now, whether he had sought sanctuary with Voldemort yet. But the thing that was lowering Harry’s spirits most of all was the prospect of returning to the Dursleys. For maybe half an hour, a glorious half hour, he had believed he would be living with Sirius from now on… his parents’ best friend… It would have been the next best thing to having his own father back. And while no news of Sirius was definitely good news, because it meant he had successfully gone into hiding, Harry couldn’t help feeling miserable when he thought of the home he might have had, and the fact that it was now impossible.
The exam results came out on the last day of term. Harry, Freya, and Will-of course-had passed every subject. Harry was amazed that he had got through Potions. He had a shrewd suspicion that Dumbledore might have stepped in to stop Snape failing him on purpose. Snape’s behavior toward Harry over the past week had been quite alarming. Harry wouldn’t have thought it possible that Snape’s dislike for him could increase, but it certainly had. A muscle twitched unpleasantly at the corner of Snape’s thin mouth every time he looked at Harry, and he was constantly flexing his fingers, as though itching to place them around Harry’s throat, which amused Freya to no end. ("I wish we had gotten a picture of him conscience, blackmail photos, y'know?" she's mutter regretfully, grinning at the memory even as Will hissed at her about the utter rudeness of her comment).
Percy had got his top-grade N.E.W.T.s, which was yet another thing to be expected. What was also pleasantly surprising to hear was that also Mirabella got the top-grade N.E.W.Ts in her own house.
"Looks like I'm following you into the ministry." she grinned happily when she'd come over to show him her grades proudly.
"Well, yes yes." Percy muttered flushing a deep red, "It's only to be expected, of course...You studied hard."
"Oh, my goodness," Freya whispered to Will and Harry as they watched the scene, truly looking as though she would burst into tears and applause. "That was the nicest thing I've ever heard him say to a person he wasn't sucking up to."
Fred and George had scraped a handful of O.W.L.s each.
"We passed, we passed!" They cheered together across the Gryffindor common room, skipping around as they linked arms beaming with pride.
"BARLEY!" Percy roared, his eyes twitching as he looked down at their grades. "DONT GO CHEERING ABOUT THIS LIKE ITS...LIKE ITS-"
"A BLOODY MIRACLE!" Freya slid down the girl's dormitory stairs, throwing confetti from a basket she had under her arm extravagantly as Fred and George unlinked arms to go carry her around as she continued tossing the confetti. She grinned over at her flabbergasted older brother, "Come on, it is sort of brilliant that these two were able to pass with their utter lack of studying."
"Yes yes, doesn't the fact that we passed with so little studying actually makes us almost-" Fred and George posed superiorly in unison, dropping Freya in the process. "Genius?"
"No," said Percy irritably.
"Actually, yeah, Percy's right," said Freya disgustedly from the floor where they'd dropped her. "You're both idiots."
It was a good moment to witness as everybody laughed, even Percy as he grinned slightly, helping his little sister up from the floor.
Gryffindor House, meanwhile, largely thanks to their spectacular performance in the Quidditch Cup, had won the House championship for the third year running. This meant that the end of term feast took place amid decorations of scarlet and gold and that the Gryffindor table was the noisiest of the lot, as everybody celebrated. Even Harry managed to forget about the journey back to the Dursleys the next day as he ate, drank, talked, and laughed with the rest.
Happy that at least he was alive and that somewhere so was the Godfather he hadn't known he'd been wishing for.
* * *
THE NEXT MORNING, when the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station, Will surprised Freya and Harry with unexpected news.
“I went to see Professor McGonagall this morning, just before breakfast. I’ve decided to drop Muggle Studies.”
Freya blinked at him. "B-but you passed your exam with a three hundred and twenty percent!"
“I know,” sighed Will, looking regretful, “but I can’t stand another year like this one. That Time-Turner, it was driving me mad. I’ve handed it in. Without Muggle Studies and Divination, I’ll be able to have a normal schedule again.”
"I still can't believe you didn't tell us about that thing," complained Freya with a frown as she crossed her arms. "We're supposed to be friends."
Will frowned as well, looking stuck between apologetic and severe. "Freya, you know I couldn't, I promised Professor Mc-"
"Yeah yeah, I know you promised, and you couldn't and everything obviously." Freya interrupted with a dismissive wave of her hand as she looked down, her unruly red hair curtaining her face. "It's just that I wish..."
She paused as Harry and Will shared a confused look before Will looked back at her, "Wish what, Freya?"
Freya flinched as though startled before looking up hastily, a regretful sort of smile on her face. "I just wished you'd used it for more good while you had it. Like when you could have finished my late homework before we had the class next-"
"Freya, you know that idea is purely preposterous. As if I would ever-"
Will halted mid-lecture as he had glanced at Harry who was staring perhaps a bit to wistfully at the castle they were leaving behind. Freya, confused on why Will had stopped, uncovered her ears and looked over at Harry as well, her brows creasing in concern.
"Sorry, sorry," said Harry, flustered at the sudden spotlight as he looked away from the window and down at his hands. "Just thinking about the holidays."
"Oh, I've been thinking of them too!" Freya smiled encouragingly at him, "Harry, you've just got to stay over! I've already fixed it over with Mum and Dad-mostly-so when it's all completely settled I'll let you know. I know how to use the Fellytone now so-"
"It's a telephone, Freya." interrupted Will with a slight smirk, "Honestly, you should take muggle studies next year."
Freya's ears reddened slightly as she ignored him.
“It’s the Quidditch World Cup this summer! How about it, Harry? Come and stay, and we’ll go and see it! Dad can usually get tickets from work.”
This proposal had the effect of cheering Harry up a great deal.
“Yeah… I bet the Dursleys’ be pleased to let me come… especially after what I did to Aunt Marge…”
Feeling considerably more cheerful, Harry joined Freya and Will in several games of Exploding Snap, and when the witch with the tea cart arrived, he bought himself a very large lunch.
Though nothing with chocolate in it.