Never tickle...
*****
Harry stumbled on the last stair, wondering why exactly he’d been in Dumbledore’s office. At least Professor McGonagall was there, so he’d not been alone with the man. But his head hurt like it hadn’t since Ari had gotten rid of the Horcrux…. And he couldn’t remember how long he’d been in that office.
“I expect to see you at dinner, Mr. Potter,” Professor McGonagall said softly as she swept away.
He nodded absently and made his way to the Gryffindor Tower to drop his books and meet up with his friends. He kept rubbing his head too, hoping to relieve the pressure there until he could take a pain-reliever potion. Surely Ron had one or two…
But as soon as he entered the Common Room, he was enveloped in a hug and a head of bushy hair.
“Hermione?” he asked through the hair, trying not to breathe any in or swallow any…
“We were so worried,” she muttered into his shoulder. “You’ve been gone for ages.”
“Ages?” he asked, trying to remember just when he’d left for the Headmaster’s office. “I’ve only been gone a few minutes.”
“Mate?” Ron asked, instantly fixated on his hand rubbing at his head. Harry feared for a moment that his glamor fell but sighed when he realized it was his right hand at his head.
“Headache,” he muttered. “Got any pain-reliever potion left?”
“Headache?!” Hermione screeched in his ear, drawing back to study him intently.
“Not like that, ‘Mione. Haven’t had anything like that since the goblins had fun healing me over the summer.” he soothed. “Just a headache.”
“Let me check,” Ron muttered, rushing up the stairs and ignoring the curious looks he received.
“So, what did he want?” Hermione asked as she guided him to a darker corner of the room. “Did the Professor really show?”
“McGonagall was there, but I’m not sure what he wanted,” Harry admitted.
“Harry?” Ron called, holding out a potion bottle. “What do you mean, you’re not sure?”
“I don’t remember,” Harry said softly.
His friends stiffened and Hermione instantly threw up a privacy bubble as Ron started casting spells at him. Only his continued headache and trust in his friends prevented him from acting defensively.
“We need to get the Lady here,” Ron reported when the results of his spells appeared on a parchment.
Harry instantly started protesting.
“Mate,” Ron said, tone serious enough for Harry to pause in his argument that he didn’t need saving. They’d done quite well on their own before. “He obliviated you.”
Harry felt his jaw drop and knew the moment the twins noticed. They were instantly waiting on the outskirts of the privacy bubble. He vaguely let himself be impressed Ron knew the spell to detect that…. The rest was simply repeating the thought that his Headmaster had oblivated him. In a school full of children. In front of another professor. That he’d most likely oblivated as well. And probably done before. More and more, he was sure the man needed to be stopped. And the more he learned, the less happy he was to keep hiding in the shadows. He was a Gryffindor, after all. Not really known for stealth, despite his Slytherin tendencies.
A wave of Hermione’s wand slowly registered and had Ron’s spell dropping long enough for the Twins to join them before it was back in place.
“What’s wrong?” they asked in unison as they gathered Harry easily between them, uncaring of the room full of students watching them curiously. “You were with McGonagall. Nothing seemed off on the map and when you both came down looking ok, we didn’t think anything happened. Didn’t want the old tabby confiscating the map so we left when you split up.”
Ron studied him a moment before explaining quickly what he feared had happened.
Harry couldn’t even deny the possibility. Dumbledore made no secret of his desire to get Harry alone and he’d mistakenly believed, with McGonagall there, that he’d be safe. Even with their suspicions of how Dumbledore was with the staff. And he’d walked right into the trap.
“Call Aiaia,” the twins ordered together.
Harry just nodded numbly and pulled his mirror out of his bag. With Hermione and Ron between him and the rest of the room, with his twins bracketing him, the chances of anyone seeing the magic mirror was slim.
“Hiya, Harry,” the familiar voice of his sister greeted cheekily. “I’m currently hiding from Eir. How are you?”
He couldn’t find the words he needed and his continued silence seemed to spark concern.
“What’s wrong?” his sister asked, instantly serious.
“He asked me for a meeting. McGonagall and me were there, but he obliviated me,” Harry finally said quickly.
“He what?!” Arianna demanded, voice high pitched in her disbelief.
Harry ran a hand over his face, ruffling his hair in agitation of what he’d have to tell her before he started to explain further. Only to freeze at the expression on her face.
“Harry,” she said calmly, as if she was containing her rage. Harry worried for a moment she was angry at him, even if he’d not even really said much yet. But her eyes seemed locked on his hand.
He froze when he realized, yes, his glamor had fallen. And he’d just rubbed his face with the wrong hand.
Hermione and Ron seemed just as frozen, though Fred and George seemed only concerned. They couldn’t see his hand from their positions on either side of him.
“Show me the back of your left hand,” she ordered.
Harry almost wanted to protest. But her tone allowed for no argument. So, he took a deep breath and shakily raised his hand to more clearly show the irritated, scared back to the mirror.
*****
Ron wanted to be sick at the obviously inflamed words etched into his best mate’s hand. In his own handwriting.
How had they missed this?!
Artair was going to flay him alive for failing at his duty to his best mate. If he didn’t flay himself for missing it. Harry always, always had less care for his own safety than someone else’s. And Ron should have remembered. He should have paid more attention. He’d been too caught up in his own problems, his own worries for his siblings and the mess they were in, his own drive to learn more to protect his family. And he’d forgotten his best mate. Again.
Arianna was not going to be happy.
And if the telling silence over the mirror was any indication, she wasn’t.
He could see Fred and George getting concerned and almost wanted to prevent his brother from reaching forward and gently turning Harry’s hand around so they could see.
It was a horrible day when Fred and George got pissed.
And going by their expressions, they were far beyond any level Ron’d seen before. Ron acted before he thought about it, stunning both before they could move.
“Ron?” Harry asked timidly, hands up in surrender and eyes locked on him warily.
“We can’t have them going after anyone right now,” Ron explained, eyeing the slumped forms of his brothers just as warily as Harry was watching him. Harry wouldn’t necessarily know that the twins tended to throw off spells slightly faster than normal wizards. Nor that they’d only gotten better at it with their new wands. But Ron was able to predict their actions better now that he understood them more after a summer and most of a term working closely with them. And knew their wands were more likely to be more dangerous than their wielders if provoked.
“Harry,” Arianna called from the mirror where it sat on the floor, dropped in the quick movements.
“Ari,” he said, still watching Ron closely.
“Go to dinner,” she ordered, looking at each of them for a minute before focusing on Ron. “Act as if nothing’s happened. I’ll take care of things. Make sure he eats something.”
Ron was concerned what her handling things would entail but nodded and approached Harry cautiously.
“They’ll wake soon,” Ron muttered. “Let’s get down to dinner before that happens. I don’t fancy sporting purple hair and green spots for a week.”
“As if you’d get out of it,” Hermione pointed out, the traitor.
“Harry, let’s go get some food,” Ron said, offering his hand to Harry and ignoring the sudden uncertainty in the teen’s green eyes. “I know you might not feel up to it, but the elves will feed you anyway if you don’t go to the Great Hall. You know Ari talked to them. This way, at least, you might get to see what her dealing with it will entail.”
Harry huffed but nodded and allowed Ron to pull him to his feet. He glanced back at the twins still slumped in the window seat and Ron huffed before rearranging the pair to look like they’d just fallen asleep instead of being stunned. It looked like no one had noticed Ron stunning them. Besides, no one would mess with the pair. It had been a lesson learned when they were first years and the lesson had spread each year since. As seventh years and with the reputation they had, no one but Harry would dare prank the two. Maybe Lee. But he was already gone to supper.
Harry followed him out of the hall, silent and obviously nervous.
“She’s gonna be fine, mate,” Ron soothed, unsure himself just what the Hufflepuff would do.
“I can handle it, Ron,” Harry finally muttered as they reached the entrance hall.
“You shouldn’t have to,” Hermione denied instantly. “You are at school. A professor had you do that. Or are you going to try and convince us it was anyone other than that toad?”
Harry flinched and Ron sighed. “And let’s not forget what the old coot did,” he felt the need to point out to his self-sacrificing idiot of a best mate…
The second flinch did nothing to soothe Ron’s growing anger for his best friend. They couldn’t even take him to the hospital wing for treatment…. It was obvious Madam Pomphrey either didn’t know, didn’t care, or was spelled to ignore Harry. So much could have been dealt with years ago if she’d only done her usual exam of Harry at the start of every year…
“Besides, I don’t think she’s going to give you much choice on this one, mate,” Ron said with a sigh.
“You would be correct, Mr. Weasley,” the familiar cold tone of Severus Snape interrupted their conversation as the potions master joined them.
“She called you?” Harry asked indignantly.
“Only to ensure you arrived to the Great Hall in time for dinner,” Snape said with a sneer. “Seems the badger is afraid you’ll skip a meal you truly cannot afford to, Mr. Potter.”
Ron chuckled softly at Harry’s faint blush.
It was a strange day that he actually agreed with the notoriously prickly potions professor…. Or that he laughed at the man’s dry humor.
*****
As they walked the last few strides to the Great Hall, Snape following silently, Harry couldn’t help tapping his mirror, fighting the urge to call her again to demand she fill him in on her thoughts and plans.
“If it concerns you so much, Potter, and it will stop that incessant tapping, I shall take a few moments to visit the Lady’s parlor to ensure all is well.”
Harry whipped around to stare at this potions master, trying to judge his sincerity. He may not know the man well, had hated him for years, but for some reason, he seemed to believe him. Even if the words were couched in his usual grumbling.
“Please?” he asked quietly, only to be shocked when Snape gave him a reassuring pat and turned to the stairs to the dungeon.
“That was odd,” Ron muttered.
“Not so much after the last few months,” Hermione denied.
Harry could only offer a small smile, fake as it was.
“Come on, Harry, let’s eat,” Ron said, throwing an arm around his shoulders and steering him through the large doors.
Only to freeze within seconds, startled to a stop by the sudden appearance of Luna Lovegood.
“Come on, Harry!” she chirped, after offering a shallow curtsy. “Eat with me today.”
Harry took a moment to wonder at the frankly gorgeous and elegant dress the younger teen was wearing, with startlingly simple silver necklace and no shoes he noted, then shrugged off Ron’s arm so he could offer the appropriate bow to the blonde.
“It would be my pleasure, Ms. Lovegood,” he said, forcing some overexaggerated cheer to his words.
She only giggled and took his offered arm, easily tugging him to an area at the Ravenclaw table. A quick glance at the staff table had him suppressing a wince. Dumbles was staring at them, a confused and slightly angry glint to his eyes. Umbridge was almost manic in her excitement and he had a feeling he’d be getting another detention tonight…
Probably for something stupid like sitting at another table. Or being late to dinner…
“Worry not, Harry! The protector will come tonight before the end,” Luna reassured, patting his arm gently as she settled next to him, Ron and Hermione taking up position on either side of them without comment or protest.
Harry took a moment to consider what she meant, how it might relate to Arianna’s promise, but shrugged when he could think of a lot of possibilities and started plating up.
*****
Severus Snape sent a quick patronus message to his husband as he made his way along the many corridors separating the Great Hall and his rooms to floo to the Den. Then sent another to the pair of Marauders and finally Charlie Weasley. He was unsure if they’d be at the Den, but he knew the pair of Maruaders were almost guaranteed to be together. Charlie would probably be with his eldest brother but that was of little consequence. All of them would either be sequestered in the Den already or they would meet him there. He had no doubt he’d need their assistance with the woman. And honestly, the more the merrier if something drastic were to happen. He was not in any doubt that the Potter siblings were more powerful than him. Perhaps not as skilled, but that would be his only advantage if it came down to a duel to stop one of them from rampaging needlessly.
As much as he hoped the younger Potter was overly worried, he also knew how much of a temper the elder had inherited from her mother… And the short call he’d had with her prior to tracking down the brat had not reassured him that all was well. He knew the warning signs of an Evans temper better than most and she was in the early stages of quite the spectacular explosion. If the Marauders and he were quick enough, perhaps they could prevent anything unnecessary.
It was unlikely, but he would not allow the brat to see that. Harry Potter was stressed enough. He would reflect on the unexpected depth of that belief later.
“Badger’s Den, Mischief Managed,” he muttered as he tossed some floo powder into his personal fireplace, slightly irritated he needed to provide a password but understanding the need for security.
Especially after the Dark Lord had managed to kidnap the Lady on the edge of Hogwarts’ wards.
It had been a long week trying to reassure a castle that her Lady was going to be found…
He honestly thought the Twins’ portable swamp was probably the only reason the castle hadn’t retaliated in annoyance. Granted, the swamp was a fairly widespread distraction for a number of the residents.
He tensed the moment he stepped foot out of the floo at the Den, the magic swirling around him warning enough for how this meeting with Arianna would actually go.