Home Sweet Hogwarts
Harry did his best to put Lockhart out of his mind. One conversation with Gerard (which was essentially just the man telling him don’t do anything stupid this year) had Harry realizing that his second year was going to be a trial for his patience.
He wasn’t quite sure how that would go.
Ron and Hermione had taken to visiting the Alley almost every day the final two weeks of summer. The first day after Lockhart’s signing, Hermione had easily seen the jitteriness Harry was trying to hide, the frustration, the line he was walking of either wanting to punch a wall or hide behind it, and had taken to warning the rest of their friends that Harry would probably need plenty of distractions that year.
(Lest Harry having a fight with their Defense Professor be a habit and not just a one-off. Anthony had whispered back that maybe the curse on the Defense position was Harry and not the working of some inane ritual. Everyone but Harry found that amusing.)
The night before the Express, Molly had invited all of Ron’s friends to a big dinner at the Burrow, which many accepted. Harry flooed over early that morning, insisting on helping Molly cook while Ron and the twins straightened up the common areas of the house.
He was more than pleased to see that Ron's eldest brothers had stopped in for the meal as well, and he shook both Bill and Charlie's hands enthusiastically before they both brought him in for a hug, each with hinted comments about a new favorite younger brother that had Harry blushing and pushing them away.
Hannah and Susan came through the floo an hour before dinner was ready, laughing as they gave Molly a quick curtsy and immediately disappeared out the back with Ginny to see the chickens.
And probably gossip.
Ginny was 100% going to show up to her first year knowing more insider information about people than actual people she knew.
Anthony was just a few minutes behind them, shaking ash from his blonde hair with a grin.
Hermione and her parents had driven over, picking up an eager Justin on the way, and knocked on the door just as Molly pulled a beautiful ham out of the oven.
Molly had to literally grab her husband by the collar when he caught sight of the muggle car pulling up outside. “Arthur, dear, wait until after dinner.”
Dan laughed as they stepped inside and agreed. “I’ll even let you drive her, Arthur.” Emma just smiled as she handed Molly a steaming pie to add for dessert.
"Just don't use it as an excuse to start tinkering with that heap of junk in the shed, again, dear," Molly called as she placed the pie down.
The non-Weasley kids looked towards a now-blushing Arthur. "I may be researching how to combine magic and muggle transportation."
Justin leaned forward. "Surely that's not legal."
Arthur cleared his throat as he reddened even further. "The law clearly states that as long as the owner is not planning on using the vehicle, having it is fine."
"An addendum you just happened to slip in when you wrote that law." Molly set her hands on her hips.
"Wicked," came from multiple voices in the room.
"Now, come and eat before it all gets cold."
Dinner was a lively affair, a happy loudness that had Molly and Arthur smiling at each other over the expanse of the expanded table. The kids were laughing and picking off each other’s plates, chatting with a palpable excitement of a new school year.
Bill and Charlie gave odd bits of advice, including tales of their own adventures in the castle when they had been students. Harry made a few mental notes of things to ask Tonks about later on, especially a story about her abilities almost making Snape laugh.
Even Percy seemed engaged with the younger students, Anthony and Hermione leaning in to ask about his OWL results and how his coursework had changed going from OWLs to NEWTs.
Fred shot a curious look around the room before asking Harry about their missing friends in a hushed whisper. Harry grimaced before answering, that Padma and her family weren’t getting back from New Delhi until early the next morning, that Neville’s gran hadn’t wanted him to travel the night before the train, and that the other Slytherins weren’t quite comfortable with visiting the Burrow quite yet.
Fred sighed but nodded, turning back to the conversation with Susan and George about a prank they were apparently planning, and the rest of the night was a myriad of laughter, curiosity, and a sense of family that had everyone settled, even with the foreboding presence of Lockhart in their school.
(Dan and Emma shared a bittersweet smile when they watched Molly hug their daughter goodbye that night. They knew it was only a matter of time before Hermione started to spend more time in the wix world than theirs, but seeing how at ease she was in the arms of such a caring and attentive mother put them at ease. The boys that bracketed her, always checking to make sure she was there, that she was fine, helped quite a bit.)
Harry was unsurprisingly up early the next morning, flittering around his borrowed room at the Leaky with an expectant energy. He pulled down the few posters he had tacked up, quickly repacking his trunk. Hedwig was as eager as he was, chirping at him every few minutes from the perch he had bought for her that summer. He bounced around the room, organizing and cleaning as he listened to the wireless radio playing The Weird Sisters in the corner.
He wasted as much time as he could in his room, but when he ran out of things to do (after repacking his trunk the third time) he headed downstairs, grinning when Hannah appeared at the bottom step.
“Heya, Hadrian. Ready for year two?”
He threw his arm around her shoulders, giving her a half hug as he did. “Can’t wait. You?”
“Me, too. It’s so much easier facing the train this year, don’t you think? And dinner last night was delicious, and so much fun. I thought Mr. Weasley would faint when Mr. Granger let him drive the car down the road.”
Harry laughed. “We’ll have to make sure we all learn once we get old enough. Obviously wizards aren’t adept in muggle transportation, I’m sure that might end up being useful later on.”
She reached up to shove his beanie over his eyes. “Or it could just be fun, Hadrian, you don’t have to think in political optics all the time. Now, come on, Uncle Tom’s made us a special breakfast before we catch the Knight Bus.”
They had barely sat down when two redheads walked out of the floo. Harry and Hannah both stood to greet Madam Bones, who had offered to accompany them to the station after they had eaten. Susan ignored this interaction and immediately started eating from the plates on the table, grinning when Tom laughed at her from behind the bar.
“Sorry, Tom, Auntie thinks coffee is a suitable breakfast and then forgets I don’t like coffee.” She shoved another greasy piece of bacon into her mouth.
He just shook his head with a grin and brought out a third plate. “Madam Bones, can I get you anything? Another cuppa, perhaps?”
Amelia waved him off. “I’m fine, Tom, thank you. Now, you two are all packed?”
Harry and Hannah nodded as they settled back down, finishing their food.
“Then we’ll head out as soon as you all are finished.”
The three students ate quickly, even loading toast with eggs and bacon to hurry the process. Amelia and Tom watched with amused looks, laced with nostalgia at the reminder of how eager they had been to get back to school when they were students.
Soon enough, Hannah was hugging her uncle, Harry giving him a happy handshake, and they followed Amelia out to catch the Knight Bus to the station.
It wasn’t Julie that greeted them at the door, but pimple-covered, gangly older teenager. "Name's Stan. Do you have tickets or will you be purchasing them?”
Harry and Hannah flashed their tickets before running towards the stairs that led to the top floor, Susan only a moment behind while Amelia paid for their ride.
With every step closer to the platform, the three students’ excitement seemed to grow. By the time they had reached the wall, Susan was pulling Hannah along by her hand, and the blonde’s other hand was wrapped firmly in Harry’s, pulling him along, too.
Not even waiting for her aunt, Susan tugged her friends through the wall.
The wall that Harry almost tripped through, especially when his first step through was like pushing through wet cement.
He was halfway through the wall when he felt the tug, pulling him back and away.
He couldn’t see.
He couldn’t breathe.
Not until he felt the firm grasp of Hannah’s hand pulling him through, and he fell onto Platform 9 & ¾, coughing as he looked up at the worried faces of the girls and Amelia.
“Are you okay? What happened?” Susan reached down to help him up.
“Dunno. It was almost like the wall didn’t want to let me through.” He shuddered as he stood, smiling grimly at the concerned expression on the director’s face. “I’m fine, Miss Amelia.”
Amelia’s frown deepened. “The magic of the wall shouldn’t have just faltered like that. I’ll send for someone at the DoM to come and double check the charmwork.”
Harry immediately stumbled, turning back to her with wide eyes. “The Department of Mysteries? They maintain the charms on the platform? How-”
He was cut off by Hannah and Susan each groaning and grabbing an arm to pull him and his questions away.
“Bye, auntie! I’ll write in a few days!” Susan called as Harry complained, and the three students disappeared onto the nearly empty train.
Amelia sighed as she watched her niece walk away before apparating back to work.
It was just after nine that morning when Harry, Hannah, and Susan settled in a car just past the halfway point of the train.
By ten, most of their friends had already either joined them, or stopped in to say hi before sitting elsewhere.
By ten fifty-two, Harry was halfway out the window, searching the crowd for any glimpse of red he could see.
It was ten fifty-seven when the Weasleys finally appeared, Ginny leading the way with a wicked scowl, Percy not far behind, while the twins fell through the wall laughing. Molly and Arthur were doing their best to scold them as Ron gave them both a quick hug and ran for the train behind his sister.
Harry was waving through the window, pointing towards the closest train door as Ron lifted a hand in response.
By the time Ron and Ginny had shoved their trunks in through the compartment door, the train started to move.
Ginny collapsed next to Pansy. “One of these days, my patience is going to snap. And Morgana help them.”
“Fred and George?” Hermione asked, barely looking up from the book Theo had handed her without even saying anything.
Both of the younger Weasleys scoffed. “Course, who else? They tried to get the ghoul inside Gin’s trunk while she was eating breakfast this morning. It practically blew the thing up, it took us forever to track down everything.”
Justin chuckled. “They may not know when to stop, but you have to admit it’s funny.”
“Oh, great, I’ll tell them that you’re interested in being their next victim,” Ginny sneered.
“I’m just saying, it’s amusing.”
“We’ll see how funny you find it when it’s your underthings you have to pull from the top of a chicken coop.”
Harry turned to Ron as Ginny and Justin started bantering. “Anthony and Padma are sitting a bit down the way, but Padma has a chess book for you. Her grandmother apparently was a master when she was younger, and has a book on tactics dating back to the origins of chess in India.”
Ron instantly stood and left, ignoring the laughter of the rest of the car. “Oh, hey, Neville. Scuse me.” He ducked around the other boy, who took his place in the doorway.
“Neville! Come sit. How did your birthday present work out? Next year we’ll have to have a proper joint party, I hated having the attention solely on me.” Harry shifted to create an empty space for Neville, who tentatively sat next to him.
“I did, thanks, Hadrian. I’ll try to keep you updated on how the muggle seeds do in a magical garden, I’m sure you’re interested in the research aspects of it all.”
“Sure, but I’m just glad you enjoyed them.”
Neville nodded, giving him a soft smile. “I did.”
The conversation flowed, as it always seemed to when they all had a chance to relax. Most had seen each other over the summer holiday, but the highlight of the trip was a shy Theo letting a surprisingly eager Neville borrow a book on plants used in Dark rituals.
Ron appeared once more a few minutes later, nose in a book of his own.
Books were traded, notes pulled out, conversations full of an even mixture of laughter and debate.
Things came to a stop, however, when a shadow fell through the open compartment door.
“We haven’t even gotten to Hogsmeade yet, and you all are studying?”
They all looked up to see Draco Malfoy, bracketed by Crabbe and Goyle.
Most of them immediately turned back to whatever they were doing before he spoke.
Clearly incensed, Draco stepped forward, looking for either some power or entrance to a conversation. His eyes fell on his cousin. “Hadrian, my mother insisted that you agree to write with her more this year. Apparently, she appreciated your behavior at the bookstore that day. I just thought it was fitting you couldn’t even get your books without making the front page. Will you ever tire of your fame?”
Harry didn’t even bother rolling his eyes. “I’ve already written to Aunt Narcissa, Draco, though I thank you for playing owl for us. As for the bookstore, I’m sure you realize the situation, while out of my control, was a unique way to gauge public opinion for a variety of factors. One such factor being the apparent feud between your father and Arthur Weasley. Luckily, there was some sort of distraction that stopped that interaction from turning for the worse.”
Draco’s pale skin turned ruddy. “My father-”
“Is a political genius, but tends to let his ideals blind him to the path of least resistance. Draco, I know he’s your dad, but one day you’ll realize you gotta live for yourself.” Harry flipped a page in the book in front of him. “Now, are you going to sit, or are you trying to gain the smallest power grab by standing while the rest of us aren’t? And if that’s the case, Greg, Vincent, please feel free to grab a seat while Draco politicks.”
Harry shot the confused boys a smile.
Draco didn’t seem to know how to deal with an amused Harry. Instead, he looked at Ginny, settled between Harry and Pansy, Ron at their feet. The blonde scoffed. “Yet another Weasley. Thought we’d have scared you off after that match last year.”
She rolled her eyes without even looking up. “Your pointy nose doesn’t scare me, Malfoy. You’ll have to try harder.”
Said nose lifted even higher in the air. “It’s not like you’d understand superior blood, Weasley.”
“I’d like to think inbreeding shouldn’t count as superior.”
“Interesting that a Weasley likes to think at all, maybe this generation of bloodtraitors will actually be good for something.”
Harry stopped Ron’s resigned attempt at a response with a smirk.
Ginny had already sat up straighter, staring at him with a too-sweet grin, hand gripping her wand loosely. “Say that again, Malfoy?”
Draco rolled his eyes. “Did your parents finally run out of money to even pay for hearing? I said—”
Before he could say anything else, Ginny muttered two words, and he stopped with a look of horror, especially when his eyes flickered around the attentive faces of the car full of people.
His face screwed up.
He sneezed out a bat.
Ginny just offered him another sweet smile as her wand arm lowered.
Draco’s jaw set, but he turned and shoved his way through Crabbe and Goyle, and disappeared down the hall.
After they all got done laughing (and high fiving the grinning Weasley daughter), the compartment settled back into the comfortable atmosphere of friends catching up and preparing for a new year.
Harry gave an audible gasp when he saw the carriages that were waiting for them outside of the station. He immediately ran forward, hand outstretched towards what seemed like air to the rest of them.
“Hi, buddy. Aren’t you the prettiest thing?” Harry leaned forward, grinning at the creature that was sniffing at his palm. When it pressed its nose to him, he began petting its neck.
Justin shook his head with a bemused smile and turned to head to another carriage with Susan and Hannah.
Ron watched with wide eyes. “Mate, what the bloody hell are you talking to?”
“Thestrals.” Draco sneered as he walked by. “We can see the bloody things because of Quirrelmort last year. Only those who have seen death, and understand it, can see the damn creatures. Not surprised Hadrian’s trying to steal them before we even sit at the Welcoming Feast.” He kept walking and joined Pansy and Theo in another carriage, which then took off.
Harry, however, was pulling out an apple from his bag. “Here you go. You surely must be hungry pulling this carriage around.”
Ron and Hermione watched in a mix of awe and disgust as the apple disappeared, to them into thin air, bite by bite.
“Harry, I’m glad you found a new animal, but the whole point of this is to get us to the castle. Surely Professor Kettleburn can show you more… thestrals later, after we get to school.” Hermione shifted awkwardly, stepping slightly behind Ron.
A few seconds passed.
No other carriages were still in sight, leaving the three of them by themselves at Hogsmeade Station.
Hermione stomped her foot. “Hadrian James!”
Harry turned. “Huh? What?”
Ron laughed. “C’mon, mate. We gotta go watch Ginny get sorted. You can play with your new friend later.”
“Oh. Right.” He gave the thestral one last pat and joined his friends in climbing into the carriage.
The other two rolled their eyes as Harry leaned halfway out of the carriage, watching the creature pull them along with a near manic glee.
Said glee faded into a mild frustration when the carriage stopped only a few minutes into the ride.
Hermione peered around. “Surely this isn’t where we get out? We’re barely out of Hogsmeade.”
Harry shook his head. “The thestral seems bothered, like there’s something in the road that it can’t go around.” He jumped out. “I don’t see anything, though.”
“Who knows what the invisible horse can see that we can’t,” Ron muttered, getting out to join Harry. “What do we do? Hope it gets over it and we can keep going?”
Harry turned a smile towards Hermione, who was watching them from the door of the carriage. “I know a shortcut?”
She groaned. “You want to traipse through the Forbidden Forest on the first day of the year?”
“It’s either that or we wait and hope we aren’t late.”
Hermione and Ron locked eyes.
Ron shrugged.
Hermione sighed.
“Just keep to the paths, please? I’m not in the right outfit to go hiking off trail.” She stepped down and smoothed her skirt. “And if we end up getting expelled, I will murder you and leave you for the Acromantulas. No Minister has even been expelled, and I won’t be the first.”
Harry grinned. “Let’s go! We’ve only got an hour of daylight left, not that it’ll take that long to get to the castle.”
Hermione sighed, sharing an indulgent look with Ron as they followed Harry into the Forest.
She couldn’t deny it was a nice walk, even with the slight threat of various creatures. The evening sunlight filtered through the leaves, a few birds chattering further in. Harry made sure to keep them close to the edge, and it was only about twenty minutes before they hit the clearing near Hagrid’s hut, where Kettleburn often held his practical classes.
They all let out a sigh of relief when the castle was visible through the crown of the forest.
For Harry, in particular, something settled in his chest at the sight of Hogwarts, smiling as he swore he felt a thrum of magic curl around him, welcoming him back.
Harry turned back to his friends with his arms extended. “Safe and delivered, as promised.”
“I would’ve rather not needed the jaunt through the forest,” Hermione responded, hands on her hips.
“I, too, would have rather you three take the carriage, as you were supposed to.”
Ron groaned.
Hermione paled.
Harry turned around with a wide, innocent grin. “Professor Snape! I hope you had a pleasing summer without any students underfoot.”
The man was stone faced, staring Harry down without even an eyebrow raised.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why we were coming to school through the forest. There was an issue along the road, and our ride refused to continue.”
“And what did you do to the thestral to cause such an action? Tried to tempt it to your dorm? I do not believe they fall under approved pets, Mr. Potter.”
Harry bit back a grin. “I don’t know why the carriage wouldn't go, professor. And while I appreciate your faith in my ability to befriend all creatures, today was the first time I’d even heard about thestrals, let alone met one.”
“Harry, what about the elf?”
Harry turned to Ron with wide eyes. “Oh, that makes sense.” He looked back at Snape. “A house elf appeared at my aunt’s house earlier this summer, and was trying to get me to agree to not coming back. He even caused a… problem that almost had me locked up for the entire summer.” He trailed off. “Now that I think about it, I almost had trouble getting through the wall at Kings Cross, too. I might not have gotten through if Hannah and Susan hadn’t pulled me through.”
Ron frowned. “We came well after you and didn’t have any issues.”
“Who knows what a rogue house elf can manage to do?” Harry shrugged.
Snape sighed, fingers coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “I’ll look into it, but don’t expect much. And while I realize telling you to avoid the forest would fall on deaf ears, I do expect a certain level of subtlety in the future.”
He looked down at the three matching faces shining with childlike innocence. The only crack in their masks was the ticking at the corner of Ron’s mouth.
He sighed again. “Just… go. The sorting will begin shortly, and I expect all three of you in your seats by the time I walk into the Great Hall. Out of my sight. Now.”
The three nodded and fled, walking quickly to where the carriages were dropping off students down a set of stairs.
Harry shot a smug grin down at Draco, who had just stepped out to meet his gaze with a confused look. Draco looked back towards the road the carriages were coming from and back at the three of them, but before he could even figure out what question to ask, Hermione had dragged Harry away.
The sorting ceremony was boring, even with Ginny joining the end of the Slytherin table and Jocelyn Wiseacre skipping to sit with the Gryffindors.
As Ginny settled next to Ron at the unspoken line between the first and second years, she peered around him and Hermione to stare at Draco, who was watching her with a pained expression. As their eyes met, he turned red once more, but simply gave her a nod. “Fair enough.” He turned away and started picking at his plate.
While Hermione and Theo were discussing the Sorting Hat’s song, bringing a shy Millicent into the conversation with her added comment about the Hat’s name being Alistair, Harry and Ron were discussing the elf.
“Do you think it’ll stop now that we’re at school?”
Harry shrugged. “Dunno. He seemed pretty set that something terrible was going to happen this year. It may be worth telling the rest of the group, so everyone can keep an eye out.”
“Tonight?”
“It’s as good a time as any. Classes don’t actually start til Thursday, and it’s not like they’ll do much more than review until next week.”
“Not to mention we can show Gin the Nook.”
“True.” Harry leaned back, noting with a grin that Anthony and Padma sat right behind him at the Ravenclaw table. “Oi, Goldstien.”
Anthony turned. “Yeah?”
“Spread the word to the usual crew. Midnight meeting at the Nook. Might already have a new mystery in the works.”
Padma raised an eyebrow as she leaned an elbow on Anthony's shoulder. “Is it the fact that our new DADA professor can’t even spell a stain off of his shirt but is getting paid to teach us defense?”
Harry rolled his eyes as they all turned to watch the new professor dab sauce on his shirt with a napkin. “Fine, two mysteries.”
Anthony nodded. “I’ll let Justin, Hannah, and Susan know. Any new recruits?”
“Ron’s little sister with us. I know a girl who got sorted into Gryffindor, but not well enough to invite her. Haven’t met any of the other first years yet. If you notice anyone that might do well, let us know and we’ll talk about bringing them in. For First Blood Club, too.”
“Ta, mate.”
Soon enough, after spending a few minutes after dinner mulling around the Great Hall, hugging the friends they hadn’t seen yet, they dispersed to their common rooms while the first years got a quick tour of the main areas of the castle. Harry and Ron walked into the second year boys lounge with a happy grin, taking time to unpack their trunks, freely going between their two rooms, and even ducking into Hermione’s when needed. Harry realized halfway through setting up his bookshelf that three of his books were actually Hermione’s, and that Ron had left his extra chess set in his room at the Leaky, and then they all spent twenty minutes figuring out whose things were actually whose.
By the time they had almost finished organizing their rooms, the sixth year prefect Erin Avery was calling down the hall for the first house meeting of the year.
The meeting was short, an echo of their own first meeting the year before, though this time they were in their usual place in the common room, and Harry sent a snarky wave towards their Head of House, who actually rolled his eyes before beginning his speech.
After the professor stalked out, the first years immediately turned to look around at the room, and most of their eyes caught on Harry in the corner, even with his beanie shoved over his head. The only one not fixated on the Boy-Who-Lived was Ginny, who was beelining her way over to where Pansy was eyeing the first years speculatively.
Harry ducked into Ron’s side on the couch and ignored the weight of the new stares. “Damn, I almost forgot there were going to be dozens of new kids who aren’t used to me yet.”
Hermione shrugged. “It won’t be long before they realize you’re just a doofus with a weird scar.”
“Cheers, Mione.” He looked over the back of the couch, eyes roaming to the different friends groups, different power struggles forming or reforging throughout the room.
Something felt off.
“Harry? What’s wrong?”
“Hm?” Harry turned to see Hermione watching him with a frown. “Oh, nothing. It just feels… quieter, this year.”
Tracey Davis walked past, jumping between exchanging gossip with Pansy and silently supporting Daphne’s seemingly yearly stare-down with Draco. “No Higgs this year, yeah? Head Girl is Samira Wiley from Hufflepuff, I think.”
Harry blinked. “Oh. That’s probably it.” He shook his head and looked up at Tracey with a grin, ignoring the movement just behind her. “A shame we still have to deal with Flint, though.” They all laughed as a pillow flew at his head, just barely disturbing the mass of hair sticking up.
Marcus followed the path of his pillow to stand over the second years, Tracey scurrying away. “You all meeting in the Nook later?”
Ron looked up. “Yeah, midnight.”
The upper year rolled his eyes. “Don’t get caught.”
“That mean you’re not coming?”
“Of course I’m coming, Hadrian said something about the house elf popping up again. But I’m not worried about getting caught. I’m worried that some idiotic little second years are.”
They all rolled their eyes. Hermione spoke up. “We’ll probably head over early anyways. And if we get caught, we’ll just say you dared us to go out.”
Marcus sneered. “So much for rule one.”
She rolled her eyes. “As if we’d get caught by anyone other than a Slytherin. It’s the first night back, the fifth year prefects won’t know their rounds well enough or will be studying, and the sixth and seventh years will have pawned off rounds on them so they can hang out at the welcome back parties.”
“Fair. Still, you all have bad luck when it comes to Snape finding you in places you’re not supposed to be, don’t do it tonight. Again.”
He laughed when they all just waved him off.
It took Hermione ten minutes to get Harry inside the Nook, rather than gossiping with Ozzie outside the door.
The snake, for all that he couldn’t move, was apparently well connected with the painted snakes in the portraits, who would bring castle gossip to him when bored.
Harry, for all that he didn’t care about politics, loved gossip, nearly as much as Pansy.
Ron just let him talk, Ginny too curious about the room to do more than shoot an impressed look at Harry’s Parseltongue.
Hermione didn’t have the patience for it, even as the boys tried to appeal to her cult leader sensibilities.
(She didn’t do more to stop them than rolling her eyes when Harry pulled out yet another notebook and filled it with tidbits of info he learned. At the very least, Pansy would be thrilled.)
As the clock neared midnight, their other friends began to file into the room, making tea and using charms to clean the dust away, or updating charts on the blackboard, or tacking photos back on the walls.
Just after midnight, Pansy walked in, Theo following in behind her with a quietly awkward smile. Ginny immediately peered around Ron to wave at them.
“Draco decided not to join tonight?” Harry asked, sprawled out in a chair in the corner of the room, next to his favorite spot by the window.
The other Slytherins rolled their eyes.
“He’s apparently decided that having a measuring contest over the newbies with Greengrass and her girls was more important.” Pansy flipped her hair. “Vince and Greg are thrilled, of course. Blaise apparently thinks it’s the height of comedy.”
Hermione stilled from the notes she was taking on some book, Theo reading over her shoulder. “Should we be worried? Any first years with connections that might be trouble if he gets their attention?”
“If anything, it’s the opposite. Five are either foreign or not from the right families for Draco’s tastes. Two halfbloods and a bloodtraitor, not including the new Weasley here.”
Ginny grinned from her spot perched on one of the smaller tables. “And we all know I wouldn’t trust anything that comes out of Malfoy’s mouth even if it was telling me to duck as a dementor flew overhead.”
“Exactly,” Pansy laughed. “The first years are far more likely to be swayed to a… neutral position. No immediate Death Eater kids, a few from traditionally Light families, the rest from families that wanted no part of the war.”
Harry sighed as he leaned forward, the firelight casting a shadow over his face. “The real concern is probably Draco himself. I’m not sure if it was the summer with his father, or something else that got him so snobby again. Something to look out for, I guess.” He ignored the slight shift of Pansy's arm, tucking it away to think about later.
“I’m sure we’ll have plenty of chances to talk to him about it.” Ron rolled his eyes.
Marcus shifted from where he was leaning against the wall near the door. “I’ll keep an eye on him, and tell the prefects to do the same.”
Harry turned to the twins, who had just slunk through the door, tucking some spare parchment away. “No Dean or Neville?”
George shrugged. “Dean wanted to catch up with Finnegan, and Neville said he had something he needed to do. Probably some assignment he left ‘til last minute. Gin, where’s my jumper?”
The usual chaos of the Nook began, people catching up, Ginny being introduced to everyone.
Theo and Hermione descended into a debate in what Harry could only assume was French, and he made a mental note to start on that after he knew a bit of Hindi.
Which, as he feared, he was not pronouncing correctly, if Padma’s laughter as he greeted her in it suggested. She took her time correcting him, and went through some of the basic sounds of the language as the rest of the group chatted.
Fred, George, and Marcus were arguing over the Quidditch League, Ginny circling back every few minutes to just throw in a fact about the Holyhead Harpies’ stats, which caused a new round of yelling.
Ron just watched the room with a wide smile, occasionally poking Hannah’s side with a whisper.
Susan and Anthony had a history book opened between them, and were discussing the differences between the Aurors in Britain and those working for MACUSA.
(Harry had a sneaking suspicion he was the reason for that conversation.)
When Anthony and Padma got around to shaking Ginny’s hand, she scuffed a shoe nervously on the marble underfoot. “I don’t know if you two noticed, but Luna Lovegood got sorted into Ravenclaw. She’s a friend, grew up just over the hill. She’s just…” She looked around, noticing how everyone was seemingly in other conversations. “She’s a bit odd, has been as long as I can remember. It only got worse after her mother got in a spellworking accident and died when we were seven. Would you mind keeping an eye on her?”
Padma immediately hugged Ginny. “Of course. We’ll watch out for her.”
Anthony nodded over her shoulder. “No worries. If we can’t handle anyone poking fun, Theo’s cousin is a sixth year prefect in Ravenclaw, I’m sure she’ll handle anything we can’t.”
Theo perked up from across the room. “Just let me know if I need to have a word with her.”
“Theo, how many cousins do you have?” Ron shot an amused look his way.
“I dunno, Weasley, how many siblings do you have?”
“Hermione, are we doing First Blood Club again this year?” Susan had her own notes in her lap, quill in hand, raising her voice over Ron and Theo amicably bickering.
“We should, even if we aren’t that close with any of the first years. If we only educate our friends, we’re just as bad as people who wouldn’t educate any of us.”
Ginny groaned. “Just a heads up. The one muggleborn in Gryffindor is obnoxious. I had to ride in the boat with him earlier. He’s the one with the massive muggle camera, and…” She trailed off, wincing as she glanced at Harry. “He’s apparently fixated on the Boy-Who-Lived book series. Wouldn’t shut up about Harry on the way.”
Harry took a deep breath. “Lovely. Any other first gens?”
“Two in the eagle’s nest. Both seem pretty quiet, but could just be because it’s the first day.” Padma turned to sit on the couch next to Susan. “I’ll talk to them this week and see if they’d be interested. Once a week for the first years? Down in the classroom we used at the beginning of last year?”
Hermione was the one who nodded. “We’ll figure out a day once the Quidditch teams have their schedules. Susan, Hannah, any in the badger den?”
“Just the one. Almost started crying when Sprout was explaining everything in the common room tonight. But he seemed eager to learn.” Hannah slapped Ron’s hand away from the bag of sugar quills she had pulled from her bag. “We’ll have Justin talk to him, see how he feels about meeting up with everyone.”
“Oh, Justin will, will he?” The boy in question used Ron as a distraction to pull two quills from her bag, handing one to Ron when she turned to glare at him. “Since you asked so nicely.” He shot her an innocent grin.
“Speaking of cameras…” Hermione pulled out her own. “Snapshot time! Ginny, get over by Ron and the twins, I’m sure Molly would love a photo of you four.”
Everyone groaned but obediently started getting together for a series of photos, both posed and candid.
Harry almost forgot to mention Dobby to the others, but by the time they all trickled back to their dorms, it was almost 2 AM, and there was a new list of possible reasons on a blackboard reading Harry’s First Stalker.