Chapter 7
The Trio deliberated who in their Year to ask their set of questions to since it was probably cheating to ask each other.
Harry ended up in a corner of Study Hall trying to figure out who to approach first.
Hermione went for Hannah and two other girls as Ron went for Vince and one of the other boy’s roommates, along with the Ravenclaw Keeper. He wandered out to one of the courtyards and paused when he heard AJ calling for him to wait.
“Harry!” she was dragging two of her Housemates and a Ravenclaw trailed after them. “Everyone’s doing the interviews, so I thought I could help you.”
“I need one more person,” the Ravenclaw, Tim, added.
The boy Hufflepuff shrugged as the girl nodded.
Deciding that it couldn’t hurt, they all settled into a niche and started asking general questions like ‘Have you always known you had Magic?’ or what favorite book they’d read recently.
It ran the same vein for all of them and they soon finished. Harry thanked them and let AJ tag along when the Seventh Years went their separate ways.
“Professor DiNozzo is really nice,” she skipped after him. “I can see why you’re friends.”
“Really? Why?”
“Well, because.”
He turned to look at her. “Because?” he prompted.
“You don’t see it?” she wanted to know. “I can. And I bet Ron can, too. I think it might take Hermione a little longer, though.”
“And why’s that?”
“I don’t know. I guess you could just say that Hermione – while not a bad person – has to be told certain things. You have to admit, she can get a tad wrapped up in books.”
He completely agreed.
“But don’t worry. You’ll all see it eventually.”
“See what eventually?”
“Why the Professor’s friends with the three of you and you in particular. Also, just in case you don’t already know, Professor DiNozzo seldom lets people dictate what he can do or who he can be friends with. He’s the kind of person that will do something even though he doesn’t have to.”
She was trying to tell him something, he knew it. About Tony?
“Well,” he shrugged in response, trying to come up with the right answer. “Of course Tony doesn’t have to do anything that he doesn’t want to.”
“I know,” AJ nodded, “but… sometimes, people have to do things they don’t want to in order to help someone else.”
“But what could Tony have possibly done against his will?” he wasn’t sure where this was going nor that he liked it.
“I don’t know,” AJ met his gaze as they stopped.
They stared at each other for a long moment before she shrugged.
“Whether he knows it or not, he’s done something that he didn’t want to do in order to help someone else. It’s one of those things that haunts someone for a long time.”
This was about Jeanne. It had to be about Jeanne.
“AJ,” he licked his lips nervously. “What’s he done?”
“Which one did you mean?”
“Which one – you were talking about one thing, right?”
“As I said. Whether he knows it or not.”
So, did that mean he’d been tricked into doing it? Whatever it was he did?
“But that’s not an answer.”
“You’ll just have to be around long enough to find out, then,” she smiled.
“You… can’t give me anything else?” something about his thoughts must have showed on his face because she thoughtfully tilted her head and studied him. “And what did you mean ‘whether he knows it or not’?”
“Sometimes,” she frowned to herself, “it’s not so much as ‘tricked’ as it is simply unaware. But look,” she turned the frown on him. “Whatever should happen, the four of you are friends, okay? Don’t question that. It’s never been in question and it never will be.”
“I won’t, but I get the feeling you’re not talking just about one thing in particular. Are you?”
“Maybe not,” she sighed. “How much do you really know the Professor? What do you know about him?”
“Very little,” but he knew it would take time for Tony to be comfortable enough to talk about himself.
“Just ask yourself if you really want to know about certain things. You might not like the answer.”
He wasn’t able to get anything else out of her after that and eventually went back to the Common Room where Ron and Hermione waited for him.
“Hey, Harry,” Ron waved. “Alright?”
Hermione glanced up from her book and frowned at something she saw on his face. “What is it?”
“AJ said some things and kind of insinuated that Tony might’ve done something he didn’t want to do,” he told them.
“I expect so,” she nodded thoughtfully. “It’s probably because of his job.”
“Maybe.”
But he thought about it right up until bedtime.
It was a given about the job, but… what if… what if it had nothing to do with NCIS?
There were just so many things AJ could be referring to and it hurt his head to think about all of them.
He was honestly beginning to prefer her as a young writer just finding her words instead of a young Seer just coming into her talents.
He could sleep a lot better that way.
* **
Thursday passed with little change and, soon, the dawn of Friday woke Harry from vague impressions leftover after an already fading dream.
He dressed and met Ron and Hermione in the Common Room.
“Well,” he told them, “so far so good. Nothing bad’s happened yet.”
“That’s a good thing, innit?” Ron lifted a shoulder as they left for breakfast.
“It’s going to set the tone for the rest of the year,” Hermione hummed.
When they got closer to the Great Hall, however, Harry realized that they spoke too soon.
Groups of students were crowding the corridor in front of them, some laughing in amusement and disbelief before moving forward.
“What’s happened?” Hermione exchanged looks with the boys before pushing their way into the growing crowd.
A lot of others were pointing up and Harry followed their gazes as he and his friends finally made their way to the front.
“What in Merlin’s name…”
What could only be described as balls of glitter manically rolled around overhead, apparently contained in some kind of invisible container as they bashed into each other and the container walls, raining glitter on the crowd below as they tried to get to breakfast. The floor was already covered in a shimmery carpet that seemed to get even thicker the longer Harry stood there.
“Nothing for it,” Ginny appeared next to them. “We need to eat either way.”
“Well,” Ron shrugged, eyeing the glitter. “We’ve been through worse.”
They walked through the glitter and were covered in no time. The others watching finally decided they were hungry, too, and flowed after them. Harry noted others in the Hall before dedicating himself to brushing the glitter off.
“Oh, Hermione, you can’t do that,” one of the Ravenclaw Prefects hurried to stop her from blowing the glitter off. “There’s something that makes the glitter stick if you try spelling it off. You should let it fall off on its own. Easier that way.”
“But more of a mess,” R Benson huffed as she, her two sisters and AJ joined them. All four were covered in glitter, though Harry had to grin at AJ’s obvious delight. It was clear that she’d run back and forth under the glitter clouds to collect more. The Triplets, not wanting to miss the fun, probably joined in.
“Filch is throwin’ a fit,” Seamus Finnegan grinned on his way past. “No one knows who did it.”
Remembering AJ’s sleepwalking tendencies, Harry eyed her.
“It wasn’t me,” she balked.
“I never said you did it,” he placated, “but would you happen to know anything?”
“I don’t know why you think I would know anything,” she told him as her eyes drifted to the Gryffindor Table. “Huh,” a fond smile crossed her face as one of the Triplets started dragging her off. “Americans. Think he knows it’s upside down?”
The Trio followed her gaze as she went off to her Table.
“I just had a thought,” Hermione tilted her head as she studied the upside down copy of the Prophet in their usual spot.
Harry exchanged looks with Ron as the friends headed toward the familiar glitter topped head hiding behind the aforementioned paper.
Hermione put her hands on her hips as they stood in front of him, waiting.
Silence.
The paper rippled slightly before it fractionally lowered. “I don’t know what you’re trying to insinuate.”
“Tony.”
He scowled at them. “What? How should I know?”
“How should you know about what?”
“The glitter thing.”
“We didn’t say anything about that.”
“You didn’t have to,” he sniffed, hiding back behind the paper. “It’s all over your faces.”
Harry was still trying to come to terms with the suspicion that Tony was behind this when he gave up the charade and tossed the paper on the table in disgust.
“Not a word,” he pointed at them before leaning forward, the Trio doing the same. “It’s all their fault, anyway,” he nodded at the Staff Table. “If they weren’t so in sync about hazing the new guy, I wouldn’t have to return the favor.”
They immediately scrambled to sit across the table from him.
“How’d you do it?” Ron grinned earnestly.
“I don’t think this was the best way to get revenge, Tony,” Hermione scolded.
“It’s brilliant,” Harry chuckled. “Any other ones this year?”
“Harry!”
“We’ll see how they behave,” Tony glared at the Staff Table, Dumbledore looking innocent as their gazes met. The Headmaster made no move to brush the glitter off and even managed to make them change colors every few minutes.
“Professor DiNozzo,” McGonagall moved toward them as Tony lifted the paper again.
“Yes?” his tone casual.
“Do you happen to know who is responsible for this?”
“Not a one.”
Harry looked up at her and was startled to see amusement on her face. She smiled at him before sweeping away.
“I don’t see what the big deal is, anyway,” Tony rustled the paper. “I’m cleaning after myself.”
Harry loaded his plate and almost yelped as he felt something touch his leg. Glancing down, he blinked as he saw the culprit swirling under the table.
“That’s called a tornado, remember?” Tony folded the paper again.
“Oh, like in the movie we saw on Harry’s birthday,” Hermione smiled slightly.
“I think I like these better, thought,” Harry nudged the three inch high tornado with his shoe as it sucked up any glitter.
“Yeah, so I don’t know why people are complaining. I’m cleaning the mess, too,” Tony shrugged. “My magic’s been feeling cooped up since the block wore off months ago. I really needed this.”
“I understand,” Hermione sighed. “I just wish you didn’t have to prank anyone.”
“What else would you have me do? Besides, I don’t have anything besides teaching and grading to do. I need to do stuff.”
“But you’re feeling alright now, aren’t you?” Harry wanted to know.
“Yeah, fine. The Magic just wants to come out. And it’s a Magic environment, so,” Tony shrugged. “Besides, the spells will wear off eventually.”
The Trio had to leave after eating, but Tony walked them outside before running back in to start class.
The day passed – lunch filled with more glitter – and they found themselves back in Tony’s classroom.
“Okay,” Tony clapped his hands. “So, I see all of you have had glitter initiation. Congratulations for becoming a member of the school community.”
“They didn’t catch the prankster behind all of this?” one of the Gryffindor girls Hermione didn’t room with sounded disgusted.
The Trio very carefully didn’t look at each other. Tony’s glitter trick had expanded to the four Common Rooms, something they realized when they went up for their free period.
The mini-tornadoes were still spinning around and Harry saw a few tormenting Mrs. Norris as she tried to catch a glitter ball that had escaped its fellows.
While Harry knew that it hadn’t been her fault she’d been bewitched last year, he agreed with Ron when he caught sight of them and grinned. ‘Couldn’t have happened to a nicer cat.’
“No,” Tony shook his head. “Not quite. Although, don’t be surprised to find certain members of staff poking around.” I.e. Snape. “In the meantime, I thought that I’d take advantage of the situation and incorporate it into today’s lesson. Anyone who remembered to bring the homework in today, leave it on the desks you are seated at before you leave. All of next week’s homework is on the board, so I would appreciate it if you copied it down before we get started.”
Tony paused for them to do so. Harry had heard about Ginny’s homework about asking the younger Gryffindors questions and dutifully coped the questions down.
“Now, just like last class, everyone stand up. I will have you stand in place while I figure out to go about…” he trailed off as they all stood and he moved the furniture to the sides of the room. “So, I want you to make a circle in the middle of the room.”
None of them completely sure about what was going to happen, they shuffled into position and Tony moved the Trio to different spots.
“But, Professor,” Hannah piped up. “The Trio –”
“ – are the best of friends, I know,” Tony assured with a knowing smile. “But I want them separated for this activity,” his grin widened as he held up a Quaffle. “To keep with this week’s theme, we are going to tell the rest of the class something about each other – whether we all know it or not. I’m sure it’ll be a snap for you guys, right? Here, I’ll start.” He looked around to spy Neville Longbottom. Tony called him and tossed him the Quaffle. “Neville’s birthday is very close to Harry’s. Everybody got that? Alright. Neville, who’s our next victim, er, volunteer?”
Harry watched the red ball make the rounds twice around the circle and figured that Tony wanted to get to know everyone through these little games. Not that he minded, of course. Practical lessons were, after all, his favorite kinds.
Eventually, he and Vince were the only ones left and Vince gave him an apologetic look before saying, “Harry is a Parselmouth.”
All of the class knew since Second Year about his ability, but everyone turned to see their Professor’s unreadable look. While the Trio had already told Tony, Harry felt nervous at the green eyes staring at him while the others around him exchanged looks.
“Okay,” Tony nodded finally after a long moment. “Let me get this right. A Parselmouth is someone who can talk to snakes, isn’t that how it goes?”
“Parselmouths are also considered to be Dark,” Lavender somewhat nervously pointed out.
“Riiiight,” Tony drawled. “Dark Snake Talker. You know, Potter,” he shook his head. “I just can’t see it. You’re about as Dark as AJ Johnson from Hufflepuff,” the others chuckled and relaxed at the Italian’s grin. “But in the event that Hagrid unleashes some kind of snake on us all, I expect you to talk it out of making me the appetizer. You do, after all, want to pass the class, right?”
“I’ll do my best, sir,” he grinned back.
The rest of class was even more intriguing when Tony made good on his promise of working the glitter into the lesson. He had them all trying to move the fallen bits with wordless magic and sighed as Harry struggled with it.
“Well, now I know what to do when Snape puts you in detention with me,” Tony told him. “I can’t think of a worst punishment. Mostly, you in particular might have a bit of an unusual block on you. Not a magic block,” he hastily added to erase any unnecessary panic. “Maybe something will click when you don’t think about it. My Third Year, Shep, had the worst time trying to do wordless magic.”
“Did he get over it?” Hannah questioned.
“Oh, yeah. About three months into my First Year.”
“He must’ve practiced really hard,” Hermione seemed impressed.
“Not really. My cousin Peter employed his fool-proof Motivation.”
“What’s that?” Neville asked.
“Tossed me off the roof. Got a week of detention, but it got the job done, so Peter was smug about the whole thing even knee deep in mud.”
“He did not throw you off the roof!” Hermione’s horrified expression matched the one Harry suspected was on his own face.
“Next time you see him, ask about it. It’s always worked and none of us can figure it out. Poor Booker almost had a heart attack when Peter tossed her manuscript binder out a fifth floor window in order to get her to learn the Summoning Charm. I’m just glad he didn’t toss me out after it. Although,” Tony eyed Harry thoughtfully, “I could toss AJ off the Astronomy Tower if you think it’ll do any good.”
Said Second Year found herself surrounded by her older Housemates all the rest of the evening.
“I was joking, guys,” Tony told them as they eyed him warily from across the aisle. “I wasn’t actually going to toss her off the Astronomy Tower. Maybe off a guest stand, but not the Tower.”
Harry smiled slightly as he scrubbed even more glitter off him.
“I hope the spell wears off soon,” Ron huffed, dislodging some from his red hair.
“It’ll probably wear off tonight.”
“I hope so. I’m getting tired of it.”
They ate dinner and laughed at Tony as he unsuccessfully tried getting the Hufflepuffs to relax about AJ – who seemed more bemused than anything else – because it had been just a thought, honest!
“Don’t tell AJ about it,” Harry advised as the Italian sulked next to him. “She’s likely to jump off, anyway.”
“He’s right,” Ron agreed. “She would if she thought it'd help any.”
“Can we stop talking about it?” Hermione sighed.
“Yeah,” Tony nodded. “The glitter has served its purpose, so it’ll fade out tonight.”
As Harry could certainly attest to it, the teachers – except Dumbledore and McGonagall, though he couldn’t be sure about Trelawney since she was already a bit of a flake, anyway – were trying to stop the glitter to no avail.
Ah, well. It had been amusing while it lasted.
After dinner, the teachers had a meeting, so the Prefects were given full reign.
Or, to be more accurate, Tony had been dragged off, leaving Ron and Hermione to patrol the halls and corridors with the other Prefects and Harry found himself alone in the Common Room.
He didn’t mind being alone, no, since it gave him time to reflect.
The glitter had rained itself out, but the mini-sweepers were still twirling around the Tower.
Harry stared out at the Common Room and saw a half-filled space as some went to the library or up to their rooms. The Creevey brothers were clustered near the Portrait, seemingly not agreeing on a place to go before curfew, and Harry let a small smile cross his face before glancing down at the pocket magnifier in his hands.
Sherlock’s tool of his trade was always in his pockets next to the radio and Harry was glad he had it. Glad that Sherlock had trusted him with it. He didn’t know what – if any – Sherlock had left Tony or Eames or Dr. Watson, Mrs. Hudson, DI Lestrade, even Ron or Hermione, but he treasured it. It was just one little piece of Sherlock, but it was enough. Harry thought about the envelopes he, Ron and Hermione had been given.
He wasn’t sure he wanted to read his, period, and Ron and Hermione agreed. Their own two letters were placed in Harry’s trunk with his own and they would be there for a long time.
Harry forcefully dragged his thoughts away at the feeling of being watched and looked around, but no one was paying him any mind. Another glance around to be completely sure and he went to get ready for bed.
Leaving the magnifier on the dresser next to his bed, he undressed and had his sleeping trousers on when he caught sight of the window.
Leaving his top open, he went to look out at the sky and remembered a similar sight in Japan with Tony and Sherlock – except it had been water as far as he could see.
‘Stunning, isn’t it?’ Sherlock stopped beside him as Harry watched the ripples on the water. ‘It’s not quite a desert sky, but it is most certainly noteworthy. But I’m sure you would know,’ Harry glanced over to see a fond smile. ‘You and Tony could fly off at any moment and just sit there among the glittering stars. People similar in Ability to myself,’ because Merlin forbid he lower himself to finding a connection between himself and the rest of the ‘dull’, ‘not Tony’ population, ‘just have to make do with watching from below.’
Harry hadn’t known what to say to him. Now, though, looking at the sky above the trees, he smiled slightly. “I hope you’re enjoying the view, mate,” he sighed. “You’ve more than earned it.”
A clatter startled him and he turned to see what had made the noise. His green eyes swept the area, but he couldn’t see anyone or anything that could have made that noise.
Deciding that he didn’t want to be by himself anymore, he finished dressing and turned to put the magnifier back in his pocket – when he realized that it was no longer on the dresser.
Panic flaring, he looked over the rest of the dresser before letting his gaze drop to where it landed on the floor and breathing a sigh of relief.
He bent down and was about to touch it when he froze.
How in Merlin’s name had it ended up on the floor? He was the only one here and he knew he’d put it on the dresser away from the edge.
Hesitantly, he picked it up and fingered it thoughtfully.
It was sort of crazy, but maybe…
“Sherlock?” he breathed, glancing around the silent room.
Maybe it was just wistful thinking, but maybe Sherlock hadn’t moved on? Maybe he was ‘checking in’, as it were, when they least expected it.
A stab of panic hit him at the thought. What if acknowledging his presence wasn’t something Sherlock wanted and stopped visiting? If, of course, that was who had been fiddling with the object now in Harry’s hand.
But who else could it be? Sherlock had been the only Muggle that he knew who died within the last five months, so it could have been him for all Harry knew.
Then again, Michel Carlin had died in the Forest last year, so maybe?
Harry sighed and made a note to ask Tony about Carlin as he headed back to his table.
While he knew that Hermione would probably stay up a little longer, he also knew that he and Ron were going to bed. They were going to be doing some drills with the rest of their House Team, which was going to need tryouts for next year when he, Ron and Vince graduated. Which led him to thinking about nominating Ginny as Team Captain. He would need to talk to Ron about it in the morning.
Sighing again, he glanced at the table’s surface and caught sight of the space between his things and Hermione’s on the round table. There was still a light dusting of glitter, but that’s not what caught his attention.
There, in vaguely familiar handwriting, were the words, ‘Addie was here.’
The dot in the ‘i’ was a circle inside a circle and Harry tilted his head. He couldn’t recall right off if there was a Gryffindor going by that nickname, but it wouldn't really mean anything since Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students came over every once in a while. Maybe one of them had done it and he hadn’t noticed.
Shrugging, he swept the glitter onto the floor and gathered his things to take upstairs.
It was going to be time for bed soon enough.
* **