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.

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"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."