Woolly Baa 3
Before long, it was Halloween. Harry, bored after weeks of classes and helping Snape teach, decided things were far too routine at Hogwarts this year.
"School is no fun anymore." He pouted, poking his toast with his finger. "Nothing entertaining ever happens."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "That's a good thing." She told him. "For once, no one is trying to kill you. "
"It's almost always the Defence Professors. By the way, I think a pug joined the emo pals is trying to kill a bumblebee." Harry said brightly, putting the sausage on his plate onto Ron's. He hated Lincolnshire sausages.
Draco groaned. "Not this again, Potter. Parkinson is not a deatheater and she isn't trying to kill the headmaster. How many times do I have to tell you?"
"How would you know?" Harry retorted. "You spend, like, no time in Slytherin common room anymore."
Daphne joined them, stealing a slice of Draco's toast.
"I think Pansy is up to something, she's been really weird recently." She said. Harry smirked at Draco, who glared right back.
"Anyway, I need to cure my boredom." Harry looked at Luna. "Any ideas?"
Ron gave Harry an incredulous look. "We've been back for two months, Harry, and already you have celebrated Spouts birthday for the fifth year in a row, you and Susan had Kreacher and Dobby lace everyone's pumpkin juice with anti-gravity potion - everyone was floating around all day, you've had Rita skeeter publish an article claiming Voldemort has the cooties, and you've somehow befriended the suits of armour."
"Hey! Leave Reginald and Belinda out of this!" Harry argued. "They're better friends than you."
"I miss Professor Slughorn's house." Luna said sadly.
Neville groaned when Harry's eyes lit up. "Why, Luna? Why would you remind him of that?"
Hermione looked between them. "Remind him of what? Neville, what is Luna making him do?"
Harry smiled. "We've got divination now, bye!" He skipped off, Neville and Ron following reluctantly behind him.
Trelawney was ecstatic to see them and immediately asked Harry about his dreams.
"Well, I dreamt a bumblebee got hold of some jewellery that gave the wearer the most beautiful hair you ever did see! He put it on but a really clever duck had found it first and the bumblebee only had a fake."
In Charms, Harry asked to leave to use the bathroom and came back looking far too happy in Hermione's opinion.
"What did you do?" She hissed at him. Neville snorted and Harry kicked him under the table in warning. Neville yelped and glared at him, still smirking.
"FIRE FLOOOOOOD!" Peeves screeched, floating down the corridor. "FIRE FLOOD IN THE HALLS, RUN FOR YOUR LIVESSSSSS!"
Harry didn't move as everyone rushed to open the classroom door. Big mistake. Lava spilled into the classroom, quickly expanding to take up the whole floor. Everyone shrieked and climbed on to the desks.
"Oh relax." Harry said. "It's just lukewarm orange slime, it can't hurt you. You'll get quite dirty legs though. Have fun!"
He hopped across desks and chairs and leapt onto a floating stepping stone in the hallway, Hermione furiously sprinting after him.
The lava lasted for a week. When a brave third year questioned Harry about it in Snape's Defence lesson, Harry grinned.
"See it as training." Harry said. "Expect the unexpected. I'm teaching you to dodge, strategize and to be more agile." Snape's lip curled in anger and Harry grinned at him before going to help one of the Ravenclaws with a spell.
One morning in November, Hedwig swooped down and landed on Draco's head, stretching out her foot to Harry. Draco sighed, resigned to his fate as a perch for Harry's owl for however long the blasted bird lived. Susan giggled and fed the owl a bit of bacon.
"Dumbles." Harry said, reading it quickly. "He wants me to teach him to dance!"
Harry and his friends all knew Dumbledore wanted Harry to take private lessons with him for sixth year. What they were to entail Dumbledore had kept very quiet, but the group figured out it was too do with the war and the prophecy pretty quickly.
"Ron and Mione, come with me please?" Harry asked them, doing his best puppy dog expression he'd learnt from Sirius.
"Duh." Hermione responded, whilst Hedwig hopped off of Draco in order to sit comfortably in Susan's lap. Which, considering Hedwig hated most people, was high praise.
"What about the rest of us, huh?" Ginny said grumpily, stabbing her toast with her fork.
Harry sighed. "I can't take you all everywhere I go, you know."
"Besides." Ron said smugly, "We've been with Harry from the start."
"My Ride-or-Dies." Harry said fondly.
~
That evening, the Golden Trio made their way to Dumbledore's office.
"Ah, hello Harry, Mr Weasley, Miss Granger. Harry, I know I agreed to let your friends join us in the summer, but after taking some to reflect, I-"
Harry sat down without invitation. "If they go, I go." He interrupted sternly. Dumbledore sighed but conceded. He waved for the two of them to sit down.
"I thought we should start with a memory." Dumbledore said, looking between the three sixth years. "A rather old one of mine."
They followed the Headmaster to a pensieve, where the older man poured in a vial of silvery memory.
"Ready?" The trio nodded. They all placed their fingers into the basin and the silver began to swirl. Harry felt a familiar tug at his navel and fell forwards, landing heavily outside an imposing building.
"Fascinating, isn't it?" Dumbledore said, amused at the awed expression on Hermione's face as she looked up at the building.
"Oh please, we use the pensieve at Grimmauld all the time, this is routine." Hermione scoffed, before realising who she was speaking to. "Sorry professor!" She squeaked. "I didn't-"
"It's alright Miss Granger." He chuckled. "I wasn't aware Sirius owned a pensieve."
"He doesn't." Harry said with a shrug, but he didn't elaborate. Neither did Ron or Hermione. "Is that you? You look very young."
They watched a younger Dumbledore with dark hair stride meaningfully towards the building, the gates swinging open as he did so.
Dumbledore chuckled. "Yes, that's me. I was not Headmaster at this time, so I was delivering a letter to a student here."
"Wool's orphanage?" Ron asked, looking up at the iron gates. "Funny name for a orphanage. What do they do, knit all day?"
"No Ron, obviously it is owned by a sheep." Harry said seriously. "Or Mary. But she would've called it Mary's little lambs, so I think it's owned by Herbert."
Ron frowned. "I've never met a sheep called Herbert before."
"Herbert is dead now, sorry." Harry sighed sadly. "I've never met him in person either. I read about in him Wolly Baa 3."
"Well, let us follow me then, in we go." Dumbledore said hastily, trying to get them back on track.
"I love pensieves." Harry giggled, poking the matron on the nose. "Boop!"
They followed young Dumbledore into an office, where the matron was speaking to him in low, anxious tones.
"He's a peculiar child, Tom. The others are terrified of him, but they never tell us why. He steals their things, we think, and threatens them sometimes."
"Sounds like our Tommy." Harry said brightly. "He steals things too!"
"Like what?" Dumbledore asked curiously.
"Potatoes." Harry said, giving the Headmaster a look that clearly said 'why did you even need to ask that was so obvious'. Ron nodded sagely and Hermione rolled her eyes, exasperated.
"This is Voldemort, then." Hermione commented as they followed the matron up a set of stairs and into a room, where a young boy was seated. "He's quite cute, you know."
"He was a very handsome 17 year old." Harry added, watching as Tom glared harshly at the younger Dumbledore and the matron made a hasty exit.
They listened as Dumbledore explained who he was and Tom was almost too honest with the Headmaster, who now looked a bit apprehensive and slightly concerned.
"Bit of an idiot, admitting all this stuff to a stranger." Ron pointed out.
"Yeah, especially as said stranger set his wardrobe on fire." Harry added. "Oh look! Tommy boy has a box!"
"Items which he had stolen." Dumbledore said solemnly. "I requested he return them."
I wonder if he would've become Voldypants if he'd grown up loved, or been removed from the orphanage early." Harry said aloud. Dumbledore looked vaguely uncomfortable.
"I'm surprised you aren't a bloodthirsty evil genius with the way your relatives were." Hermione responded.
"There's still time." Harry said innocently. Dumbledore didn't seem to know how to react to that. They left the memory and Dumbledore dismissed them.
~
"That felt like a huge waste of time. Oh, hello Professor Snape, Minnie!" The trio stopped as their path was blocked by the heads of Gryffindor and Slytherin, who had their arms crossed and wands in their hands.
"Potter. We have some questions." Snape said. Harry nodded eagerly.
"Sure! Lead the way! I love questions!"
Harry, Ron and Hermione followed the two professors to McGonagall's office. Harry leaned back in his chair, smiling innocently.
"Harry, did you or did you not find a way to prevent the two of us from awarding and taking points in your fourth year?" McGonagall asked.
Harry grinned. "You lot are finally learning to ask! I am so proud of you, take 100 people points each!"
"Answer the question, Potter." Snape snarled.
"Sorry. Yeah, I did. Sirius helped me. You were both showing far too much favouritism!" He waggled a finger at the two teachers, who looked both furious and bemused.
Once they'd made it back to Gryffindor common room, Hermione had a few questions of her own.
"Harry, how come you haven't given any people points for almost an entire year, if not longer?" She asked him, tilting her head curiously. "I know you gave some today, but I haven't heard you give any in ages!"
"She has a point mate." Ron added.
Harry looked between the two.
"Well, just because you haven't heard me giving any, doesn't mean I've not been giving any." He said cryptically, before ruining it and just explaining. "I got Dobby to help me change the spell so I could give them non-verbally. They reset at the end of every year too!"
"Wait, so there's been winners?" Ginny cried. "How are we only just hearing about this!"
"Because-"
"She didn't ask, yes, we know." Hermione said hurriedly. "Just tell us who's won so far and what they've got, please."
"Well, Cedric, Colin and Amelia bones tied in fourth year. I gave Cedric a mermaid plushie and a Nimbus 2001, Colin a new camera, and Amelia a badger plushie and a box of Honeydukes finest chocolates."
"And last year?"
Harry giggled. "Last year loads of people tied."
"Who?"
"Susan, Kreacher, Dobby, Minnie and the Twins. Susan got loads from our ministry break-in, Kreacher and Dobby were just really helpful consistently, Minnie got loads every time she faced off Umbridge and I gave the twins points every time I saw the swamp."
"So what you're saying is your very best friends, your ride-or-dies, aren't good enough to win." Ron said, looking affronted.
"Oh no, you totally are! But I took points off every time you woke me up with your snoring during the holidays. Hermione kept losing points for hitting me with textbooks."
"So what did last years winners get?" Ginny asked curiously.
"The twins got my Triwizard Winnings, Susan got shared custody with me of Dobby and Kreacher and a cute badger plushie to match her aunt's, Dobby got a whole new wardrobe, Kreacher got a room makeover and I got Minnie a few cat toys as a joke, as well as a few memories she requested as she was disappointed to miss out on some of our escapades. Oh, then I sent Oliver Wood my spare firebolt, but that was just a congratulations gift for getting onto the England Quidditch team."
"Who is winning so far this year?" Ginny asked hopefully.
"It would be Luna, but since she is the only other person allowed to give and take points she can't participate. Currently Madame Pomphrey and Daphne are winning."
"Dang it!" Ginny punched the sofa as if it had personally offended her.
"If you were nicer to me, Ginny dear, you'd have way more points!"
"Sod off, Potter!"
"And that's another ten gone. Already in the minuses Ginny, oh dear!"
"That's it!"
"Okay okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Get off me! Hermione stop laughing and help me!"