Unexpected Guests
On Thursday morning, Harry returned from Prewitt Manor with a spring in his step, hugging a surprised Aurora Sinistra when he arrived, making her sniffle away a few tears, though she would never admit to such. At lunch, he told his guardians all about how great it had been and could he please go over there again in a fortnight? Maybe he could even visit another friend, too, the Gryffindor asked them energetically, making Babbling smile and point out that his friend Susan Bones might enjoy going kanuing with Harry and him. Snape pointed out that he was already planning to visit the Lovegood twins on the 24th, but admitted that they could add in another few visits to friends into their schedule. Harry cheekily answered that maybe, he would visit Neville then, on whatever day Snape was free to bring him over.
The Gryffindor spend the day, as well as the next busy, mostly with his summer assignments, though he did additional reading in all his subjects as well, and took out Aurora for daily walks in the forest, too, where they found more interesting plants to look up in the library together. On Friday, Babbling had handed Harry the mysterious box he was working on. Apparently, it was some kind of rune puzzle and Harry had to bring the correct runes into alignment to unlock rings of the box until he could open it up and gain the reward hidden inside the box.
Saturday morning started as most did, with Snape cooking breakfast while Harry sat at the table, sipping at his first cup of tea. Babbling came in with the Daily Prophet and Aurora, like so often, was late and grumpy, obviously having been up too long the evening before. All was normal. That is, until Babbling looked down at the paper and mumbled: “Ah, it has begun.”
“What has, dear?”, Aurora asked, looking over at the paper curiously. “Oh, read it out loud, please. I think Severus will be interested as well.”
“Of course”, Babbling agreed easily, then started reading the head article out loud.
New terrorist sighted in the Wizarding World
A new terrorist was sighted in Wizarding Britain. Will this be the first sign of another Wizarding War?
Dear readers, we bring important news to you today directly from the Ministry of Magic. As many of you will have read, on the last day of the Triwizard Tournament, Harry Potter was kidnapped from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry by an unknown wizard, now identified to be Bartemius Crouch Jr., who was believed to have died in Azkaban after his incarceration at the end of the Wizarding War.
Now, a new threat has arisen wearing an old face. A terrorist has taken on the mantle of the previous Dark Lord, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, presumably in hopes of using his reputation and resources. As such, the Ministry of Magic warns all Witches and Wizards to be careful. Please report suspicious activity to the Ministry of Magic, Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
The terrorist, already known as The Imposter in Ministry circles, has been described to look like a snake-human hybrid with red eyes. He is known to use the name of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named and is known to associate with people that declare themselves to be part of the Death Eaters. We ask our readers to stay safe and follow this directive of the ministry with diligence.
“That´s very short”, Aurora said warily. “They don´t have much information yet, do they?”
“I´m surprised they went with this story. Pleasantly surprised, mind you. They could have done nothing about it, if they wished”, Babbling spoke as he put down the paper, the edged crinkling slightly against the table as he put it down.
“The Dark Lord is not going to be happy about this article”, Snape said thoughtfully, making Harry swallow uneasily at the thought.
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The afternoon found Aurora, Babbling, Snape, and Harry weeding the garden together, helped by a pair of eager house-elves that had introduced themselves as Asphodel and Hyacinth. Together, they quickly pulled out the weeds, cut back the other plants as needed and watered the entire garden the matter of an hour while Harry chatted pleasantly with the house-elves.
Weeding the garden was immediately followed by duelling practice, Harry allowed to join in this time. He was paired with Babbling trading jinxes and hexes starting at the most basic ones and working themselves up to the most complicated they knew. At the same time, both Aurora and Snape were circling the pair, giving him pointers like “widen your stance a bit”, “faster”, and “do not hold your wand like that or your opponent may decide to break it”. Then, they all moved on to spell-chains, which took a lot more focus and had Harry panting within minutes. They stopped when he all but collapsed on the grass, exhausted but smiling.
“We will continue at this point next week”, Snape told him from where he was standing above him, looking down at his ward with… was that a pleased expression?
Later that night, Aurora collected the Gryffindor from his room again to go lie in the grass outside, gaze at the stars and share stories from wizarding mythology. In the end, most of her stories connected back to the starts they were looking at somehow, but Harry liked them nevertheless. He especially loved the few that Aurora told him about the exploits of members of the Black family that she had been in school with, giggling at her sarcastic commentary about the stupidity of Bellatrix Black and the exploits of his own godfather, Sirius Black.
Sunday was spent doing more summer assignments, exploring Babble House further, and gossiping with the Lestrange portraits in the winter tearoom. Harry took his letters down in the afternoon to write replies to his friends, adding little comments from the portraits as well. He even asked Hermione if he could visit her next Friday, and maybe she could help him with this puzzle box he had gotten from his guardians? He already knew she would love the challenge and decided to wait with his attempts to solve it until they could do it together.
The Gryffindor was back to exploring the house, finally having found the entrance to the basement when the doorbell rang, startling the boy so much he almost dropped his half-eaten sandwich. Curious, he placed it back in his plate, leaving it in the room and wandering over to the door. Should he open it? Aurora was currently upstairs, as were Babbling and Snape. Really, he was the closest to the door, so the politest thing would be to open it and invite them in, wouldn´t it?
With shaking hands, Harry took hold of the doorknob and turned, opening the door carefully and looking at whoever was waiting outside. He wasn´t sure what he expected, maybe Dumbledore, or the Dursleys, or maybe, the Lestrange portraits had blabbed to their relatives and he would be kidnapped again when he opened the door. He wasn´t sure what he expected, but it certainly wasn´t…
“Dobby?”, he asked in complete bewilderment.
The house-elf´s eyes lit up at seeing him, a bright smile spreading over his face: “Has the Great Dungeon Mistress Malfoy arrived yet?”
At that moment, Aurora skipped down the last of the staircase, took one look at Harry´s bewildered face and broke down into manic laughter.
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“So, what are you doing here, Dobby?”, Harry asked, after Aurora had eventually calmed down.
The house-elf looked up, still smiling, though he had seemed a bit confused by Harry´s reaction to his earlier question. He was now greeting Asphodel and Hyacinth politely, offering not to encroach on their work for their household, which they agreed to equally politely.
“Dobby be playing Dungy and Dragy with mistress and friends.”, he told the Gryffindor honestly, turning to smile at Harry again. “Dobby being healer.”
“Uhm, ok”, the boy told him, still completely confused.
“Dobby was working at our gamemaster´s house when we started our round, so when he was interested, we took him in as part of our Dungeons & Dragons group”, Aurora tried to explain.
“I don´t know what that is”, Harry told her, grimacing. “Dungeons & Dragons that is.”
“Oh, just listen in tonight, then. I don´t believe any of us is going to have a problem with that. There´ll be snacks, too, so you certainly won´t be starving to death at our game table”, she offered. “The others should be arriving soon, so how about we just wait for them in the game room and leave the door for the boys to handle.”
They wandered over into the medieval feasting hall together, Aurora explaining that it was decorated like this to better set the ambience for the game, since, except for one-shots every now and then, most of their games were set in the medieval times, especially their usual campaign. The rest of the guests arrived soon after, following Babbling and Snape into the room. Harry blinked a bit at seeing Narcissa Malfoy, Draco Malfoy´s mother, but thinking back to Dobby´s words, her presence shouldn´t have surprised him in the least. Behind her, two women who looked like they were related to her were currently in a heated discussion with Babbling about… healing potions? Wouldn´t it be better to talk to Snape about that?
They all settled at the table, the women introducing themselves as Andromeda and Nymphadora Tonks, though the younger seemed to have an intense dislike to her first name and demanded to only be called Tonks instead. Pieces of paper were pulled out of bags, together with various iterations of way too many dice and, in some cases, a notebook. Even Dobby took out a pencil and a notebook, propping himself up in a chair that seemed special-made for him to sit at the table comfortably.
Papers rustled as Lady Malfoy read through her notes with a focused expression: “Alright. So, Fuck, you were up on the balcony, attempting to pick the lock. Cassiopeia, you were standing guard down in the gardens while Gideon is currently playing his set, in hopes of distracting the nobles. Joy and Lauran, you were talking with Lord August, I believe, and Stomp, you were dancing with the young Lady that you liked so much and are currently stepping on her feet a lot. Is that right?”
At the general consensus of murmurs, she continued: “Good. Then, Cassiopeia, I´m going to need your passive perception again, and Fuck, a thieves tools check, please.”
“Ah, one moment”, Aurora told her. “My passive perception is eighteen.”
In the meantime, Snape had selected a twenty-sided die, rolling and then telling Lady Malfoy: “Twenty-three.”
“That will do it”, Lady Malfoy said. “The door opens, and you enter the room. There are no lanterns lighting the library, but a small stone on the table is giving off soft blue glow. There are a couple of scrolls sitting next to the stone and one is pinned open with weights on both ends. The chair at the table is lying on the floor as if the last person that sat on it stood up quickly and ran out of the room. Now, while you do have night vision, from this far away, you can´t really make out the titles of the books yet, but you do see that one of the books is pushed in hastily, still sitting precariously on the edge of the bookshelf.”
Snape hummed, tapping a finger on the table while the other players listened intently how the scene played out: “I will take a look at the scroll.”
Lady Malfoy smiled pleasantly, taking out a rolled-up sheet of parchment and handing it over to Snape, who unrolled the sheet and started reading the letter. In the meantime, Tonks and Babbling had been exchanging little notes, frowning at the other´s answers and quickly writing their own. Dobby was drawing little daisies into his notebook, giving the flowers smiley faces once he was done with stem and bloom. Sinistra was leaning her head on her hands, her elbows sat on the table as she listened intently.
“Lauren, you and Joy were talking to Lord August. Is there anything more you want to talk to him about?”, Lady Malfoy asked Mrs. Tonks.
“No”, Mrs. Tonks replied, focusing on the notes in her notebook while fiddling with her quill. “I think I got everything in the last session. I would like to go to the gardens though and see if I can find his daughter. She should be…. Sitting at the fountain, I believe. Joy, do you want to come with?”
Dobby perked up, his eyes shining brightly at the attention: “Joy be joining Lauren in the gardens. Joy be knowing where Miss August being.”
“That´s great, Dobby”, Mrs. Tonks praised. “Could you lead me to her, please?”
“You two go out into the gardens, following the path towards the fountain”, Lady Malfoy continued the story. “On the way there, you pass Cassiopeia, who is standing inconspicuously underneath a balcony. Gideon and Stomp, you notice them leaving the room through the side-doors.”
“I´d like to follow, actually”, Babbling interjects.
“Me, too”, Tonks agrees, pushing her currently pink hair out of her face.
“Alright”, Lady Malfoy agreed. “So, you´re all either in the gardens or the library when you hear a loud scream, coming from the fountain. I´d like you all to roll initiative, please.”
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The next morning, a Monday, if Harry remembered correctly, the Gryffindor and his guardians were all sitting together at the breakfast table. Harry had been up late the evening before, listening in fascination to the storytelling game his guardians were playing with Narcissa Malfoy of all people. After the scream, most of the group had ran up to the fountain, helping the daughter of Lord August defend against a group of assassins, that had apparently been set on her by their political rivals. All the while, Fuck – and wasn´t that one hell of a character name – had stayed in the library, collecting information and stealing books for the group´s bard, Gideon Gillyweed. Sadly, the session had ended soon after that, making Harry only more curious about what would happen after that.
“Aurora, that game you were playing yesterday… Is it very popular?”, the Gryffindor asked the Astronomy professor.
She smiled back at him warmly, taking a bite of her scrambled eggs and swallowing before answering the question: “That entirely depends on which circles you are moving in, but no, at Hogwarts you will not find many people who even know about the existence of the game.”
“Are you interested?”, Babbling asked, grinning at Harry. “Once you´re in sixth year, if you´re interested, you can ask Professor Flitwick after the game, and he might just choose to ask you to join his group.”
“Oh”, the raven-haired boy mumbled a bit sadly. “I´d hoped to maybe try it some time this summer. It looks wicked.”
“Very well”, Snape spoke up. “As your birthday is coming up soon, I would be amendable to leading a game for you and no more than five of your friends.”
“Yes sir!”, Harry almost shouted in joy. “That sounds great! Uh… could we maybe do it when we´re in Germany, at Leon´s place? I mean, Susan and Terry will be there as well, and I think they´d really enjoy it.”
“That will be fine”, the man agreed, making Harry throw him a pleased smile.
They ate in silence for a minute. The Gryffindor got up to get a new carton of milk out of the cooling box when he tried to put some in his tea and found the little pot empty. Babbling finished reading the Daily Prophet, handing half of it to Aurora and the other half to Snape.
“Say, Harry”, Babbling asked the Gryffindor. “I was planning on going canoeing today and thought you might enjoy getting out of the house for a bit. Maybe you could even ask a friend to accompany us and the two of you could share a canoe?”
“Yes, please”, the boy agreed immediately. “Let me just ask Susan real quick. I think she said her floo address is Bones Manor.”
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