Chapter 6
Early in the morning on August 31st, the trio and Teddy gathered their bags and headed off to Hogwarts. It would be a bittersweet moment for them all. They would be home, but they would be reminded of everything bad that happened within the walls of the castle. None of them were sure if they were fully prepared, but they had each other to lean on for support.
Harry and Teddy stepped through the Floo first; the only time Harry could ever land with grace seemed to be if he had his son in his arms. So with all of their things shrunken down and placed in the bag on Harry's back, he turned and said "Hogwarts".
He felt a slight pull before he came face to face with Minerva McGonagall. The elderly witch smiled and pulled him in for a hug, "Harry, my boy! It is so good to see you." Teddy made a noise of complaint at being squished so Minerva pulled back and smiled at the infant, "And hello, Mr. Lupin-Potter."
Moments later, Hermione and Theo made their appearance and McGonagall embraced them both as well. After a bit of catching up, McGonagall ushered them out of her office and towards the towers where the returning eighth year students would be staying.
Harry paused, "How is that going to work? Will we each have our own rooms?" McGonagall smiled, "Just follow me, everything has been taken care of." The trio shared a look, but none of them wanted to question the headmistress so they kept their comments to themselves and continued to follow her through the castle.
McGonagall came to a stop at an empty portrait. Huffing, she called, "Godric! Helga! Someone!" A minute later, four animals stood before them. A snake, a badger, a raven, and a lion. "Well finally. Do not make me regret placing you here! I will banish you all back to your original paintings. For good."
The lion spoke, "Forgive us, Headmistress. Beauty queen over here had us visiting another painting before our guests arrive tomorrow." The lion gave a pointed look to the badger, who sat and stared at the trio with curious eyes, "I sense another, but I see the four."
Hermione stared at the badger in awe. It was rare for portraits to be able to sense a witch or wizards magic. The trio shared a look before removing the invisibility cloak from Teddy's car seat, in order to cure the badger's curiosity. "Ah! A child! What contraption is restricting the child?" The Raven questioned. Hermione laughed, "It's a muggle carrier for babies. It's safer to walk with them so you don't have to carry them everywhere." The creatures still look confused. "Please, enter. We will keep him safe," the Lion said.
"Eh hem," McGonagall interrupted, "no one is allowed to access this tower without the password." The lion flashed his teeth in a smile, "Yes of course. Password?"
"Memento vivere" McGonagall stated and the portrait swung open. Harry, Theo, and Hermione stared in awe at the common room. It was a lot different from the ones they were used to. This common room had more couches, some arm chairs, and a whole section for studying.
"If you three will follow me, I will show you to your dorms," McGonagall stated, turning towards the staircase. The trio shared a look before following after her. McGonagall stopped on the second floor and pointed to a door with three gold plates, "Ms. Granger-Potter, you will be here." As she said the words, Hermione's first name appeared onto one of the plates.
Hermione stepped forward and opened the door. This dorm was a lot bigger than the dorm she had in the Gryffindor tower. Instead of five beds, there were only three. Each with their own desk, trunk space, and even a cupboard for clothes. Hermione walked forward and placed her trunk at the bed closest to the door before turning and joining her brothers, "It's lovely, Headmistress. Thank you."
McGonagall nodded and continued on for another two flights. At the top of the staircase stood a portrait. Harry gasped and nearly dropped Teddy. Hermione smiled with tears in her eyes and Theo just looked confused. "My, my, my. You're all grown up now, aren't ya?" Sirius Black asked, watching his godson and his best friend with adoration.
"H-how?" Harry whispered. He couldn't believe it. He had searched everywhere for a portrait of Sirius but couldn't find one, he gave up with the thought that it did not exist. "Ole McGonagall snatched me up from my vault before everything was transferred to yours. Smart woman, that one," Sirius smiled. This might not have been how he wanted to watch Harry grow, but it would do just fine since it's all he had.
"I figured there was no one better suited for the role of protecting your living quarters than the man who should have raised you," McGonagall said, smiling. "Now, when you graduate, you may take him with you. But for now, he stays." Harry handed Teddy over to Theo and threw himself at the headmistress, "I cannot thank you enough." McGonagall laughed and patted his back, "It was nothing, Mr. Potter."
"The password, headmistress?" Sirius smirked. "Mischief Managed," McGonagall stated with a small smirk of her own. Sirius bowed his head and the portrait swung open. On the inside of the room, it had one big bed, one slightly smaller bed, a crib, changing table, and anything else that they could possibly need for Teddy. There was a fireplace for the Floo, and two couches and an arm chair. There was also a round table where they could either study or have their meals.
"I assumed that when you're not attending classes, you would be here. All you have to do is call to Kreache-" McGonagall was cut off by the trio shouting "SHH!" and "NO!" Before a loud pop was heard. "Masters calls for Kreacher?" Harry sighed, Theo shook his head laughing and Hermione had her head in her hands. "Oh Kreacher. You don't have to call us that. We don't need anything, thank you though," Hermione said. Kreacher started mumbling about how 'Masters need to be taken care of' and how 'he was bringing them all tea and snacks whether they liked it or not' as he stomped out of the room.
"I give it two seconds," Theo said. Before McGonagall could question him, a loud shriek rang out in the room. "OI! What are you doing here you mangy elf!" Sirius demanded. The trio sighed, it was well known that Sirius and Kreacher did not get along, and that was one of the many reasons why Harry was kind of glad he hadn't found Sirius' portrait. "Sirius, you be nice to him! Do not egg him on, or say anything mean to him!" Harry demanded of his godfather before turning to the elf, "And kreacher, just ignore Sirius and anything he says to you, okay?"
Sirius huffed and closed the portrait as Kreacher vanished to the kitchens, still mumbling under his breath. "Well that's going to be entertaining," McGonagall laughed. The trio agreed, she had no idea how entertaining it could be.
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After the trio got everything sorted away in their rooms, Kreacher returned with a warmed up bottle for Teddy and tea and biscuits for everyone else. The three of them and McGonagall sat around the table in silence.
"I assumed that none of you will be at the welcoming feast tomorrow so I took the liberty of having your eighth year rules written out along with your schedules." McGonagall handed each of them two pieces of parchment. Hermione's parchment read:
Monday's: Astronomy, Double Potions, and History of Magic.
Tuesday's: Advanced Transfiguration, Herbology, and Arithmacy.
Wednesday's: Defense Against The Dark Arts, Charms, and Ancient Runes.
Thursday's: Muggle Studies
Friday's: Electives or free day
Hermione looked at her schedule and smiled. She could handle this. She noticed how McGonagall gave her Friday's off, probably because of their special situation. She was thankful for that because she still wanted to spend as much time with Teddy as possible. She glanced over at Harry's schedule.
Monday's: Advanced Transfiguration and Herbology.
Tuesday's: Double Potions and Divination
Wednesday's: Defense Against The Dark Arts and Charms
Thursday's: Care of Magical Creatures
Friday's: Electives or Free Day.
Harry looked at McGonagall with a smile. His schedule was rather easy, which meant he would have more time to focus on Teddy. He couldn't be more grateful for the woman that considered him as her own. Harry placed his own schedule down to look at Theo's.
Monday's: Advanced Transfiguration and Herbology.
Tuesday's: Double Potions and Arithmacy.
Wednesday's: Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Ancient Runes.
Thursday's: Care of Magical Creatures
Friday's: Electives or free day
The trio placed all the schedules in front of them and compared. Harry felt a weight lifted off of his shoulders once he realized that Theo would always either have him or Hermione in every class. He glanced at McGonagall again in thanks. "Each teacher has been informed that Theo is not to leave either of your sides throughout the day. If one of you goes, Theo is to go or stay with the other.
"They have also been informed that if any of you need to get up and leave in the middle of the lesson, they are not to stop you or ask you what's wrong. You are allowed to leave at anytime. Eighth years have no curfew, but since you are the eldest students in the castle, please try to lead by example. You can attend Hogsmead whenever you would like, but on a school night, please return by 11 pm." The trio nodded their heads in understanding. "We understand, Headmistress. All that's left is getting Madam Pomfrey, Bill and Fleur, and the Twins here to discuss schedules," Hermione informed her as she stepped over to the Floo to call the twins and Bill. Harry called for Kreacher and sent him to fetch Madam Pomfrey.
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McGonagall had left as the twins and everyone arrived. She figured it was best to let them sort out their own schedules. Seeing as Bill, Fleur, and the Twins had all been hired on at the school, they would be staying in the castle. The twins could come and go as they please, considering they had a business to tend to. But Bill, Fleur, and Madam Pomfrey would be living there full time.
Bill would be taking on the job of being the assistant to the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Fleur was taking up a position as assistant to Hagrid in Care of Magical Creatures. And the twins would be taking on the job of assistant teacher to McGonagall, who was still teaching Transfiguration.
On Monday mornings, Teddy would be with Madam Pomfrey in the infirmary. By midday, he would be back in his room with Fleur until Harry and Theo got out of class. On Tuesday mornings, Teddy would be with Bill until Hermione got a break between Herbology and Arithmacy, and then afterwards, Teddy would be with Madam Pomfrey again. On Wednesday's, the twins would have him all day. Either both or just one of them, until Harry was out of his Charms class. On Thursday mornings, Teddy would again be with Madam Pomfrey until the trio was out of class and they could take him. On Friday's, it was agreed that any extra course they take they would do their work from their room.
Seeing as they still had to hold up the student act, at random points on the weekends and some evenings during the week, Bill and Fleur or the twins, would take Teddy with them for the night/day so Harry, Theo, and Hermione could convince their peers that nothing was going on.
It was the perfect plan. Everything was finally looking to be in their favor.
At least for a little while.