Third Time's the Charm
Seth stepped into the Leaky Cauldron and took a deep exaggerated breath. “You smell that?”
Hermione gave him a strange look. “You mean the unfortunate odor of over fermented alcohol, stale biscuits, and,” she wrinkled her nose in disgust, “The stomach contents of a few too many drunkards?”
He grinned. “Oh come on, Hermione, don’t be like that. That ‘unfortunate odor’ is the smell of Wizarding London!” He took in another deep breath. “It’s good to be back!”
She deadpanned and shook her head. “Come on. Let’s go find Harry.”
Seth laughed but followed her nonetheless to the counter where Tom, the innkeeper and barman of the Leaky Cauldron, was wiping some glasses.
“Excuse me, sir,” Hermione politely said, “Do you know where we can find Harry Potter? We were told he’d been staying here over the summer. We’re his friends.”
Tom smiled apologetically to them. “Sorry miss. He’s already left for the alley.”
“It’s alright,” Hermione assured, “Thank you for informing us.”
The two then walked away from the bar and made for the entryway to Diagon Alley.
“So what’s the plan?” Seth asked.
Hermione shrugged. “Harry could be anywhere in the alley so we might as well get our shopping done while searching for him.”
“Roger, roger,” Seth agreed with a goofy grin and an exaggerated salute.
Hermione merely deadpanned in response. She then pulled out her wand to tap the bricks and the doorway to Diagon Alley revealed itself.
They stepped through and made for the apothecary to pick up ingredients for their potions kits. Afterwards, they went to Madame Malkins for new robes and Amanuensis Quills for stationary before making their way to Flourish and Blotts.
Along the way, they spotted a very familiar head of red hair standing in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies and staring longingly at the shiny new broom hanging in the display window.
“Is that?” Hermione began to ask.
Seth nodded. “Sure looks like it. Ey! Ron!”
The red head turned to them and lo and behold, it was indeed Ron who was now sporting more freckles than usual on his face. “Hermione! Seth!” He called back in greeting.
“Hello Ron. How are you? How was Egypt?” Hermione eagerly asked.
Ron grinned brightly. “It was bloody brilliant! Bill took us on a tour of the pyramids and showed us loads of cool curses. We even saw a mummy!”
“A mummy? What was it like?” Seth asked.
“It was dusty, old, and slow but still wicked,” Ron responded. “How’re you? What was America like Mione?”
Hermione shared a knowing look with Seth. “It was very interesting. I learned quite a lot about the magical community there though I am a little sad we weren’t able to go to New York and see MACUSA. Their relationship, or lack of, with muggles is a fascinating subject that I would love to learn more about.” She tilted her head in thought. “I wonder if there are any books in the school library that cover it.”
Ron rolled his eyes. “Leave it to you to still be thinking about school during the summer.”
“Well I have to, don't I?” Hermione huffed indignantly, “We’re going back tomorrow!”
Ron frowned sullenly. “Don’t remind me.” He began looking around them searchingly. “So where’s Harry? He’s staying at the Leaky Cauldron right?”
Seth shrugged. “Dunno. Innkeeper told us he’d already left for the alley when we got here so we just decided to buy our supplies while searching for him. Wanna join?”
Ron nodded. “Sounds good to me. Where'd you need to go next?”
“We’re on our way to Flourish and Blotts,” Hermione responded.
Ron sighed and shook his head as if he should’ve expected that answer. “Of course you are.”
The trio then continued on their way to the bookstore where they began to gather their textbooks for the year. Seth and Ron gaped at the sizable stack Hermione kept adding to. A sharp look from her stopped them from saying anything that could be construed as judgmental and thus bring her wrath down on their heads.
Eventually, they only had one book left to get but they couldn’t find it no matter how hard they searched. They stopped a harried looking clerk to ask.
“Pardon,” Hermione politely said, “But do you know where we can get-”
“You Hogwarts students?” The clerk tersely asked.
Hermione was taken aback by the interruption but managed to nod. “Um, yes.”
“And you need the Monster Book of Monsters?” The clerk continued, now looking tired and done with life.
“Er, that’s correct?” Hermione said, suddenly unsure.
The clerk sighed heavily. “Of course you do. Alright then, follow me.”
The trio did so, completely bewildered by the clerk’s behavior until they stopped at the counter and the clerk pulled out a cage full of rabid furry books that were biting at each other and the metal bars of the cage.
“Just one?” The clerk asked as he pulled on a pair of sturdy and thick leather gloves with great reluctance.
“Um, no, we all need one so three,” Hermione admitted with a slight wince.
The clerk looked as if he was about to burst into tears. “Three?” He weakly repeated as he looked over to the cage. He whimpered before reaching for the cage door with clear hesitation and fear.
Seth, taking pity on the guy, stepped in. “Don’t worry about it. I can grab them for us.”
The clerk and Ron looked at Seth with flabbergasted expressions while Hermione looked intrigued as he pushed the clerk aside and opened the cage door, sending the books into a frenzy.
The cacophony of noise from the books snapped the clerk out of his surprise and he reached out to stop Seth just as he was putting his hand in. “Stop!”
Only for the clerk to stop as he gaped in shock when Seth carefully stroked the books along their covers and spines which caused them to shiver in delight and begin to purr.
Seth cooed at them. “That’s right. Who’s a good book? You are! And you and you and you too. You’re all such good books.”
Ron stared at Seth as if he’d suddenly grown three heads and a tail. Hermione was utterly fascinated and took in as much detail of the display as possible.
Seth, still oblivious to the looks he was getting, carefully extracted three books and closed the cage with a satisfied grin. He turned around and finally noticed the stares he’d been getting. “What?”
“You- How- What-” The clerk stammered as if he didn’t know what to say.
Seth shrugged as he handed the books over to Hermione and Ron who accepted with expressions of fascination and trepidation respectively. “It’s basically a creature. And everyone knows you need to soothe creatures or else it’ll get anxious and cranky. Especially from being stuffed into a cage like this with a bunch of other creatures. I mean, you wouldn’t like to be stuffed into a cage like this with other people would you?”
“No?” The clerk asked more than said, still stuck on trying to figure out what the hell just happened.
Seth nodded resolutely. “Exactly. So yeah, just stroke ‘em anywhere on their spine or the front cover and they’ll calm right down.”
The clerk looked close to tears again but nodded in acceptance of the advice. They then paid for their purchases and left the store with Ron looking at Seth with a mystified expression though Hermione had a pointed look that Seth ignored.
After that interesting experience, the trio decided to stop by Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor for a quick break from their shopping.
Just as they received their orders, Hermione perked up when she spotted Harry amongst the crowd. “Oh look! There’s Harry. Hey! Harry!” She shouted while waving wildly to catch the boy’s attention.
Harry looked over and visibly brightened when he saw them. He ran over and it was only when he started moving that they realized he wasn’t alone and was in fact, accompanied by someone very unexpected.
“Is that Snape?” Ron asked in shock at the sight of the dour man trailing behind Harry.
“Huh. It really is,” was all Seth had to say on the matter.
Ron and Hermione watched the odd pair approach in befuddlement.
“Yo Harry!” Seth called out in greeting once he was close enough, “We’ve been looking all over for you. We were hoping to shop together.”
“Sorry. I got all my school stuff last week,” Harry said apologetically.
Seth waved off his apology. “It’s all good. Hey Professor Snape,” he said with a grin, “How’s your summer been?”
Snape frowned. “I suppose it’s been…adequate.”
“I’d say it’s been more than that,” Seth slyly remarked, closely examining Snape and Harry, “You and Harry seem pretty close now.”
The two exchanged looks - Harry in amusement and Snape with a carefully blank expression. “Is that so?” Snape casually said, “Well I suppose we have held a few civil conversations in the weeks since the incident that brought Mister Potter here.”
That seemed to snap Hermione out of her daze and she fixed a stern look on Harry. “Speaking of the incident, did you really blow up your aunt, Harry?”
“I didn’t mean to,” Harry said, sheepish and not even the least bit guilty, “It was an accident. I lost control.”
“Are you seriously going to ask Harry about that instead of why he’s suddenly friends with Snape?!” Ron asked incredulously.
“We may not be in school right now but I am still Professor to you, Mister Weasley,” Snape drawled in reprimand.
Ron looked as if he’d swallowed something sour. “Sorry Professor Snape,” he mumbled.
Snape looked as if he wanted to say something cutting about his attitude but decided it’d be a better idea to turn his attention to Harry. “Well Mister Potter, now that your friends are here, I shall leave you with them and return to the inn. Do return before the sun sets.”
“Yes Professor,” Harry dutifully responded without a hint of attitude or negative emotion, making Ron’s jaw drop in shock.
Snape nodded sharply and left. Once he’d disappeared into the crowd, Ron rounded on Harry and hissed, “What was that?”
“He’s Severus,” Harry responded as if that answered everything.
But that only made Ron confused. “What?”
“He’s Severus,” Harry emphasized. When Ron still didn’t get it, he sighed and added, “The boy in the picture with my mum.”
That seemed to finally make everything click as Ron gaped in disbelief. “Professor Snape was your mum’s friend?”
Harry nodded. “That’s right. And he’s been telling me stories about her these past few weeks. He can be rather nice when he wants to be. He’s like McGonagall but more rude about anything he doesn’t like and he doesn’t like a lot of things.”
Ron frowned, not knowing if he liked this perfectly civil, almost friendly relationship between Harry and Snape. Then he realized that Seth was the only one who didn’t look surprised. “Oi! Why don’t you look surprised by this?”
Hermione narrowed her eyes. “You knew, didn’t you?” She said in accusation.
Seth grinned mischievously in response.
Now Harry was surprised. “But how? When?”
“That little potion lecture back in first year,” Seth explained, “I got curious about why he chose that specific question about the Draught of Living Death especially with the way he singled Harry out and my sister helped fill in the blanks for me.”
Hermione slapped her forehead in realization. “Of course! I completely forgot about flower language. I even read a book about it during that summer.”
“Flower what?” Ron asked as if he didn’t believe that was an actual thing that existed.
Hermione shook her head. “Just forget about it Ron. It’s not important.”
He easily dropped it. “If you say so.”
“What is important though,” Hermione continued, “Is how Harry hasn’t been expelled for his use of magic, accidental or not.”
“I don’t know either,” Harry said with a confused shrug, “I thought I was going to be arrested when the Minster showed up to talk but he ended up letting me off instead.” He turned to Ron. “Your dad wouldn’t happen to know why, would he?”
“Dunno,” Ron said, “Maybe because it’s you? You’re Harry Potter and all. The famous Boy Who Lived.”
“But would that really be enough of an excuse to dismiss an offense like that?” Seth pointed out with a skeptical frown, “I’d understand if Harry being Harry would lead the Minister to be the one to open an investigation himself and then drop the charges but to just dismiss it outright seems weird.”
“Well I’m not going to start questioning it,” Harry firmly said with the indication to stop talking about the subject lest they end up jinxing him, “No need to give them a reason to take back what they said.”
“Fair enough,” Seth agreed.
“So, did you all finish your shopping yet?” Harry asked in a clear subject change.
“Oh! That reminds me. Look at this!” Ron exclaimed as he pulled out a long thin box and opened it to reveal a brand new wand. “Fourteen inches willow with a unicorn tail horn,” he proudly said, “And we’ve got new robes, supplies, and books too!”
“Did you also get the monster book?” Harry eagerly asked, “I’ve got mine tied up with my belt in my room.”
“We did,” Ron grinned. He pulled out his copy, making sure to be gentle, and it purred in his hands.
Harry gaped at the sight. “How’d you do that?”
“It was all Seth,” Ron explained, “He started petting and cooing at the lot of them like they were a bunch of kittens.” He cackled in delight. “You should’ve seen the look on the clerk’s face.”
“It’s a creature,” Seth said as if it explained everything which it sort of did, “Treat it right and it won’t bite.”
“Right…” Harry said, unsure. He pointed at the bulging bags by Hermione. “And what’s all that?”
Hermione looked at him, unimpressed. “I’m taking more new subjects than you all, remember? Those are my books for Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, The Study of Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies-”
“What are you taking Muggle Studies for? You’re a muggleborn!” Ron exclaimed.
“But it’ll be fascinating to study them from the wizarding point of view,” Hermione earnestly rebuked.
“Or infuriating enough she’ll rage quit within the week,” Seth quietly muttered to Harry.
Harry bit his lip to stop a snort of laughter.
“Are you planning to eat or sleep at all this year?” Ron asked, equal parts incredulous and concerned.
Hermione scoffed. “I assure you, I will most certainly be fine. Anyways, I’ve still got some galleons left. My parents gave me some money to get myself an early birthday present. I was thinking about getting a pet.”
“Well there’s a magical creature shop just over there we can check out,” Harry said, pointing at the aforementioned shop.
“Oh good. I can get Scabbers checked over there too,” Ron said as he carefully pulled said rat out of his pocket, “I don’t think Egypt agreed with him.”
Scabbers was definitely looking thinner than usual and there was a noticeable droop to his whiskers.
“Right then? Shall we go?” Seth asked.
The others agreed. They paid for the ice cream and then crossed the street to the magical menagerie.
The group stepped inside and looked around the interior in complete awe. Every inch of the store walls were covered by cages full of all sorts of animals. It was very noisy as the animals squealed, squawked, barked, or hissed.
They decided to split up to efficiently take care of their tasks with Harry and Ron going to the counter to get Scabbers examined and Hermione and Seth searching for a suitable pet.
“So what kind of pet are you looking for?” Seth asked.
Hermione hummed in thought. “Well I have always wanted a cat.”
“Great! Then let's go over to where the cats are.”
The two walked over to the side of the store where multiple cages were filled with all sorts of cats or cat adjacent creatures.
Hermione hemmed and hawed through the variety before her but none of them seemed to capture her interest. Just as she was beginning to get discouraged, a loud meow caused her to turn around as a fluffy orange cat with a squished face jumped out of its unlocked cage and straight into her arms.
“Oh!” She exclaimed in surprise as she carefully wrapped her arms around the cat who began to purr. “Hello there. You’re a rather beautiful cat, aren’t you?”
“Actually, that one there’s a half kneazle,” a store clerk said, suddenly appearing, “But you couldn’t tell since he’s even more intelligent than purebred kneazles.”
“Is that so? Does he have a name?”
The clerk nodded with a grin. “He does indeed. Crookshanks cause of his legs. Though to be honest, I think it's cause if he was a person, he’d shank any crook he finds. He’s got a kneazle’s ability to detect untrustworthy and suspicious people.”
“Well he sounds perfect!” Hermione beamed.
“Yeah, almost too perfect,” Seth said, suspicious, “How long’s he been here?”
“A few years actually,” the clerk truthfully responded, “Lots of people didn’t really like his, er, unique personality.”
Seth looked between Crookshanks who was purring like an engine in a cooing Hermione’s arms and the amazed look on the clerk’s face and nodded in understanding. “Ah. I get it.”
“Right!” The clerk said, “So will you be getting Crookshanks then, miss?”
Hermione eagerly nodded. “Yes! How much for him?”
“Just three galleons, miss. And we’ll even throw in a year's supply for an additional 2.”
Hermione looked surprised by the cheap cost. “Really? That seems so little though.”
The clerk shook his head. “It’s really not, miss. To be honest, you’re doing us a favor by taking him off our hands. Now let me go get those supplies and ring you up.”
The two followed the clerk over to where Ron and Harry were finishing up with the witch behind the counter. As soon as the pair got within reaching distance, Crookshanks went insane in Hermione’s arms.
“Crookshanks?!” She cried out in concern.
The cat squirmed and twisted his way out of Hermione’s arms and used her as a backboard to launch himself at a shivering Scabbers. But before he could make contact, Seth snatched him out of the air and backed away from the counter. Crookshanks squirmed wildly in his tight grasp, hissing and yowling in dissatisfaction at being unable to get his prey.
“What the bloody hell is that?!” Ron shouted.
“That is my cat,” Hermione responded indignantly. She gratefully took Crookshanks from Seth’s grasp. “And I have no idea what’s gotten into him.” She looked to the clerk in question who was also confused.
“Oi, is this rat cursed or something?” The clerk asked the witch.
The witch shook her head, looking at the two animals in confusion. “Not that I know of. Other than a longer than average life span, this rat is for all intents and purposes, a normal garden variety rat.”
Seth frowned. “Then why would Crookshanks act like Scabbers is about to commit murder or something?”
“Maybe it’s because he’s a bloody cat and cats like to eat rats!” Ron exclaimed.
Harry nodded in agreement. “He’s got a point. Cats do eat rats.”
“But Crookshanks isn’t like other cats. He’s half kneazle,” Seth offered in rebuke.
“Exactly! He’s intelligent enough to not go after every rat he sees,” Hermione said with a sniff, “It’s more likely that Scabbers got into something he shouldn’t have in Egypt and Crookshanks is merely reacting to that.”
Ron scowled. “Scabbers didn’t get into anything. He was with me the whole time!”
Hermione scowled harder. “You don’t even like that rat, Ron!”
“Not as much as I don’t like when Percy gets on my case about Scabbers,” Ron retorted, “I don’t need any more of his nagging about taking proper care of his rat. It’s not like I was the one who left him at school over the holidays.”
“O-kay,” Seth interjected, stepping in between the two before a fight could break out, “Before this gets even more out of hand,” he looked to the clerk and witch who’d been watching the back and forth with barely smothered amusement, “Do you have any suggestions for this unfortunate situation we’ve gotten into?”
The witch smiled apologetically. “Best suggestion I’ve got is to try and keep the two separated whenever possible.”
Harry winced. “That’s going to be a bit hard considering we’re all in the same house.”
Ron moaned in despair. “Percy’s going to give me the lecture of the century when something happens to Scabbers.”
“Nothing will happen to Scabbers because I’ll make sure Crookshanks stays in the girl’s dorm when I’m not there so suck it up and deal with it, Ronald!” Hermione irritably snapped.
Ron and Harry stared at her in wide-eyed surprise and a little bit of fear at her biting snark.
Seth whistled, impressed. “Damn. America really woke a whole new side of you.”
Hermione scowled at him as she went to pay for Crookshanks and the necessary supplies. Ron and Harry beat a quick retreat from the store before she could verbally tear them apart. As they left, Seth narrowed his eyes in suspicion at Scabbers as he sat, still shivering, on Ron’s shoulder.
The quartet returned to the inn to drop off their purchases, running into Mr. Weasley who was sitting at the bar and discussing something with Snape. It seemed to be a very serious conversation given the grave expressions they were both sporting. As the quartet got closer, whatever the two men were speaking about came to a halt once they saw them.
“Harry! There you are,” Mr. Weasley exclaimed jovially with relief clear in his eyes at the sight of Harry well and whole, “How are you?”
“Fine, thanks,” Harry answered with a smile.
“And hello you as well Hermione, Seth,” Mr. Weasley greeted the newcomers, “How was America?”
“It was fascinating, Mr. Weasley,” Hermione dutifully responded.
Seth shrugged. “Eh, same as always. Nothing too special.”
“Good, good,” Mr. Weasley accepted with a nod before turning to Snape, “Let’s continue this later shall we?”
Snape nodded curtly. “Of course.”
The quartet watched as Snape left and Ron looked to his dad in question. “What was that all about?”
“Nothing you need to know, Ron,” Mr. Weasley dismissively said.
Harry glanced over at the newspaper on the counter by Mr. Weasley, focusing on the headline and mugshot that dominated the front page. “Sirius Black is still at large?”
Mr. Weasley grimaced. “Unfortunately. They’ve pulled everyone they could at the Ministry no matter the department to try and find him but no luck so far.”
“Sirius Black? Who’s he?” Seth asked, genuinely not knowing who they were talking about.
“How do you not know who Sirius Black is?” Ron asked incredulously.
“We were in America, Ron,” Hermione said in exasperation.
“But he’s been all over wizarding news!” Ron said, still shocked by their lack of knowledge.
“Unless he’s some sort of international criminal, magical America generally doesn’t care about what’s going on in magical Britain,” Seth dryly remarked.
“While I certainly hope he doesn’t become international, he is a criminal. A death eater who was imprisoned for killing 12 muggles and a wizard in broad daylight back during the war,” Mr. Weasley explained, “As of a few months ago, he’s become the first to escape Azkaban.”
“And he still hasn’t been found yet? That’s actually kind of impressive,” Seth said in admiration.
Hermione slapped him on the arm. “Seth!”
“What?” Seth said with a pout at her method of admonishment, “Even though the dude’s a mass murderer which I don’t condone by the way, he’s managed to evade arrest for months! That is impressive.”
Mr. Weasley chuckled. “That may be so, but mark my words, he’ll be caught soon and it’ll be cause of the Azkaban guards so you lot won’t need to be worrying about Black, you hear me? Especially since you’ll be at Hogwarts and Hogwarts is the safest place to be.” He cleared his throat and waved them off. “Now go drop off your things and get ready for dinner.”
The quartet easily compiled with his instruction but not before they all wearily glanced back at the paper Mr. Weasley picked up to read with Sirius Black’s crazily yelling mugshot front and center.
Dinner was a rowdy affair with most of the Weasley family, Hermione, Seth, Harry, and Snape seated around three tables that were shoved together in the parlor. It was also a delicious affair as they were treated to five courses of rich and savory food.
“I’m not sure if you’ve heard the exciting news yet but,” Mrs. Weasley pointed to the brand new silver badge that Percy had proudly pinned on his chest, “We have our second head boy in the family!” She said, swelling with pride.
“And last,” Fred muttered under his breath.
“I don’t doubt that,” Mrs. Weasley said, frowning in disappointment, “I notice they haven’t made you two prefects.”
“Why would we want to be prefects?” George said, looking revolted by the very idea.
“Yeah. That’d take all the fun out of life,” Fred agreed with a scowl.
Ginny giggled quietly.
“Oi! Don’t think you’re safe yet, Gin Gin,” George said with a smirk, “You’ve got a lot of time left before fifth year.”
“Don’t say that! You might jinx me,” she exclaimed, horrified.
Ron snickered and Fred pinned him with a look. “And you’re not safe either, Ronnikins.”
Ron immediately stopped snickering and scowled.
Mrs. Weasley also scowled. “Set a better example for your younger siblings, you two.”
“It’s alright, mother,” Percy interjected, “Ginny and Ron have other brothers they can and should use as an example. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to be excused. I’ve got to prepare for tomorrow.”
“Of course, of course! Have a good night, dear,” Mrs. Weasley said with a brilliant and proud smile.
Percy left the table and as soon as he exited the parlor, George heaved a put upon sigh. “We tried to shut him in a pyramid,” he whispered to Hermione, Harry, and Seth.
“We even got Ginny to distract mum and dad,” Fred quietly added.
“But mum still spotted us anyway,” George finished with an exaggerated frown.
“I will be taking my leave as well,” Snape said as he got up from his seat, “I must return to Hogwarts tonight.”
“Of course Severus. Thank you for joining us,” Mr. Weasley said.
Snape nodded and turned to Harry. “We may continue our conversations later, Mister Potter.”
“Thank you, professor!” Harry beamed.
Snape nodded again before leaving. Seth slapped Harry good naturedly on the back. “Congrats dude.”
Harry tilted his head in confusion. “For what?”
“On getting a link to your past, duh,” Seth said, “Feels good yeah?”
“Oh, right,” Harry said before smiling happily, “And yeah. It does feel good.”
“And that’s all that matters,” Hermione said as she fixed Ron with a look of warning, “Right?”
“I guess,” Ron reluctantly agreed, “Just wish it didn’t have to be with Snape though.”
“He really isn’t that bad, Ron, especially once he stops acting like a greasy git,” Harry said in Snape’s defense.
Ron just stared at him like he didn’t even know who Harry was anymore.
Desert was soon brought in - a delicious, rich, and thick chocolate pudding that everyone eagerly dug into. They polished off the serving bowl within minutes of it being set down.
“So how’re we getting to King’s Cross tomorrow, dad?” Fred asked.
Seth looked over at him curiously. “You didn’t use your car to get here?”
“Nope. Some ministry cars picked us up from the Burrow and brought us here,” George responded.
“And they will do so again tomorrow,” Mr. Weasley said in answer to Fred’s question.
Now everyone was looking at him with equal parts curiosity and confusion.
“Why?” Ron asked.
“Er, well…” Mr. Weasley fumbled for an answer.
“You know, dad, I’ve been wondering,” Fred began.
“What’s with the special treatment?” George finished.
“Well, uh,” Mr. Weasley cleared his throat, “It’s because of the current environment, you know. It’s not safe with Black roaming around free as a bird. The Ministry was, um, kind enough to volunteer some of its services as an extra measure of security should any of its employees request it and given we’re traveling with such a large group, I requested it.”
His voice was casual but Seth noticed how the tips of Mr. Weasley’s ears were burning red just like Ron’s did when he was under pressure. Mr. Weasley quickly picked up his glass of water and slowly drank it. That only made everyone even more curious and now a bit suspicious.
“And it’s a good thing too,” Mrs. Weasley stepped in before an interrogation could ensue, “Do you realize how much luggage you’ve all got amongst all of you? You’ll be a right sight in the muggle underground,” she briskly said. “Now you all better hurry along and pack. We won’t have much time in the morning.”
And with that clear dismissal, everyone cleared out of the parlor, body full from good food and mind now filled with many questions.
Harry was carefully packing his things away when he heard a commotion coming from Ron and Percy’s room next door. He left his room to go and see what was going on. Luckily, the door was wide open, allowing anyone to hear Percy’s angry shouting.
“It was here on the bedside table! I took it off for polishing!”
“I already told you a million times already that I haven’t touched it!” Ron shouted back, his face turning red in anger.
“Is something wrong?” Harry asked, intervening before the fight could escalate to blows.
Percy rounded on him, huffing and puffing. “My head boy badge is missing!”
“And so is Scabber’s rat tonic,” Ron added as he started throwing things out of his trunk, “I think I might’ve left it in the bar.”
“You’re not going anywhere till you’ve found my badge!” Percy shouted in warning.
“Why do I have to look for it? It’s not my fault you lost it!” Ron angrily rebuked.
Percy turned red in the face, puffing up for another bellow.
“I can go get Scabber’s stuff,” Harry interjected again, “I’m already mostly packed.”
Ron nodded jerkily and scowled at Percy.
Harry took that chance to flee the room. He made his way over to the landing where he could see Fred and George crouching in the shadows and heaving with barely muffled laughter as they listened to Percy dismantle the inn room and yell at Ron to “Be helpful or I’ll go tell mum what you did!”
“We’ve got it,” Fred said, waving Harry over.
“And we improved it,” George added as he held up the badge to show that it now read ‘Big Head Boy.’
Harry slapped a hand over his mouth to stifle the loud guffaw that escaped. George slapped him on the back and the twins retreated to their room where Fred yelled, “Ginny! Look what we got!”
Harry heard her start laughing. It was loud but not harsh on the ears and wild but not in an unhinged manner. It was free and joyful and he privately thought to himself that she had a nice laugh. He was also so distracted by this that he almost ran into Seth.
“Sorry about that,” he sheepishly said.
Seth waved off his apology. “Eh, no harm no foul. You going somewhere?”
Harry nodded. “Yeah. Percy’s holding Ron hostage in their room so I was going to check the parlor for Scabber’s rat tonic for him.”
“You might want to wait a bit,” Seth said, “I passed by on the way to get water a while back and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were inside having a pretty intense conversation.”
“Oh. Do you know if they’re done? I wouldn’t want to interrupt them or anything if they’re still there,” Harry asked.
Seth shrugged. “Dunno. I was about to head down again to bring this back to Tom.” He held up an empty water glass. “So I can check. If they’re gone, I can grab the tonic for you.”
“Thanks Seth,” Harry said gratefully, “I’ll go hide in the twin’s room. They’re showing off what they did to Percy’s badge to Ginny.”
Seth gave him a knowing look that made Harry frown. “What?”
Seth shook his head and grinned. “It’s nothing. You’ll know when you’re older.”
Harry’s frown grew deeper. “What does that mean?”
But Seth just turned around and walked off without an answer. He snickered to himself when he heard Harry cry out, “What does that mean?!”
Seth stepped off the stairs and into the hallway, taking advantage of the darkened lighting to move soundlessly and unseen in the shadows. He stopped outside the parlor and could hear Mr. and Mrs. Weasley still having an intense conversation that was now loud enough for him to hear through the door.
“Harry needs to know Black is after him!”
“But he’s just a child! And how do we even know for sure that Black is after Harry?”
“How many times do I have to tell you, Molly? Fudge said the guards heard Black saying ‘He’s at Hogwarts.’ ‘He’s at Hogwarts.’ Who else could he mean?”
“But-”
“Black is a death eater who lost everything the day You Know Who was defeated. He’s had 12 years to brood on that. Of course he’d want to take Harry out as revenge.”
“It’s not right! This isn’t something he should have hanging over his head. Hogwarts is safe. Dumbledore is there.”
“Azkaban was thought to be inescapable and look what Black did!” Mr. Weasley yelled so loudly Seth was surprised no one came down to see what all the commotion was about. He could hear Mr. Weasley heave a frustrated sigh. “There’s no guarantee for Hogwart’s safety anymore. Even Dumbledore is reluctantly willing to let the Azkaban guards station themselves around the school as protection until Black is caught.”
Seth took that as his cue to leave, having heard enough. He dropped the glass off with Tom at the bar and by the time he returned to the parlor, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were gone. He went inside and found the rat tonic sitting on one of the tables in the corner and grabbed it.
He walked to the twin’s room where he found Harry attentively listening to Ginny and the twins bounce prank ideas off of each other. He handed the rat tonic over to Harry who gratefully accepted it and then said good night to everyone in the room before returning to his own.
As he closed the door behind him, his mind raced from everything he’d overheard. He could feel in his gut that this school year was not going to be a peaceful one. There was a serial killer on the loose who was after Harry and the enigmatic guards of Azkaban that even Dumbledore seemed reluctant to work with would be stationed around the school for their protection.
He sighed. “Please don’t let this year be as crazy as the last two.”
He even knocked on the wood of his wardrobe just in case.
“I hope you know that gesture never truly works,” his mirror unhelpfully commented.
Seth smiled though it came out more like a grimace. “Well, you know what they say. Third time’s the charm.”