A New Friend?
Breakfast brought a lot of talk and explanation for Harry, who was confused as to how Remus had gotten his siblings invited to Hogwarts as well.
Remus had smiled fondly at him before he started talking. "It took a good bit of talking and negotiating." he offered. "But I guess....it wasn't hard. There are a few who might know a bit more than you'd like them to now, but they'd never reveal it unless you gave them an okay,"
Harry knew what that meant despite everyone else seeming confused - Remus had revealed what he knew about Harry's past with his relatives. He gave a face, but nodded in acceptance of this.
"I am sorry for telling them, but..." Remus sighed, shrugging. "Most of those who would've been able to pull strings for this were under delusions that had been planted by Albus Dumbledore. Needless to say, now you won't face as much adversity when you first enter Hogwarts,"
It took a while for Remus to explain, then he moved on to answering questions thrown out by everyone else.
Frisk was the first to throw out a hard one for him. "If these guys are supposed to be the bad guys in this war, then why are they helping?"
Remus gave a smile to them and then spoke. "Because they aren't actually bad. Their...what they've been fighting for was lost in transmission, mixed up and made into horrible things by Dumbledore and his side of the war. Both sides have good points, but they can't seem to see that in the haze of hatred for one another."
Harry stayed out of it rather well until the end. Then he spoke. "What's Hogwarts like?"
Remus grinned at Harry in response to that. "Lots of space. Some of the classes can be hard, but it's worth the effort." he offered. "There are four Houses, you'll be Sorted into the one you belong with at the beginning of the Opening Feast."
Harry's eyes lit up in fear again. "They'll separate us?"
Remus gave him a surprised look before he glanced at the others. "Just because you're in different Houses doesn't mean you'll never see one another," he pointed out. "Besides, I'd be willing to bet you'll have at least one of them with you."
Harry nodded, calming slightly.
Closer to the end of August, the family and Sans joined Remus over to England via Portkey.
The kids were excited, but they all stayed relatively close to Toriel and Sans.
Remus explained quite a bit as they walked through Diagon Alley on their way to Gringotts.
Harry tuned quite a bit of it out, enjoying his surroundings.
Sans seemed to take note of it, because he gave an amused look to the boy before focusing back on making sure everyone got there in one piece.
Going through Gringott's on a cart wasn't something Harry was overly fond of. He was shaking like a leaf when he got back to stable ground.
Sans noticed and steadied the boy, shaking his head. "I don't know how you survived the Ruins, kid."
Harry glowered up at him, but once everything was settled, they were off shopping.
"What's with the stripped jumpers?"
Harry glanced up from where he had been staring at the floor in the clothing shop to see a darker skinned boy standing there looking between him and his siblings.
Sans, who was waiting with them to offer some form of comfort, glanced at him as well before he spoke. "it's complicated, kid."
Harry noticed the flash of understanding in dark eyes, then looked to Chara where they were getting fitted. They seemed very ill at ease with all the pins near them.
Sans noticed as will and bit back a laugh. "not so good with sharp objects now, are we?"
"I said I was sorry!" Chara snapped, glowering at Sans. "You forget I watched Frisk's runs and they didn't work,"
Harry seemed confused, but Frisk spoke up and changed the subject. "Chara, calm down. Sans, don't bring up the past! It's dead!"
Sans grumbled something, but let it go.
Things were quite until Harry was pushed forward to be measured.
Then the Italian wizard spoke. "I'm Blaise, by the way." he offered, glancing over calmly. "Your...siblings?"
Harry nodded in agreement with the statement.
"Your siblings seem very interesting."
"They are," Harry offered, eyes bright. "I'm Harry,"
Blaise stayed there, waiting for someone apparently, until all four siblings had gotten measured and fitted for robes and had bought them.
Harry hesitated. "Do you want us to stay with you?"
Blaise gave a surprised look to Harry, as did Chara, then smiled and shook his head. "That's fine. Maybe I'll find you on the train to Hogwarts,"
Harry smiled and nodded, letting Frisk grab his hand and pull him from the store.
Once everyone was done shopping and they'd returned to Remus's home, were they would be staying until the first of September, Asriel started talking happily, explaining what had happened in Diagon Alley.
Remus gave an amused smile at the boy, but didn't say anything.
Then Sans looked to Chara and spoke. "do not ever snap at me again, kid. got it?"
Harry seemed surprised by the cold tone in the skeleton's voice.
Chara's expression was close to icy and they spoke. "Not my fault. You brought it up again despite saying you wouldn't,"
Toriel sighed, but said nothing, knowing they needed to let them hash it out. Instead, she brought the other children to find seats.
Harry watched, surprised, as the two argued.
"Why do you hate me so much?!" Chara finally snapped out, glaring at Sans with sad eyes. "I made a mistake, alright?"
"once is a mistake." Sans pointed out. "Chara, you had more than one Gen run."
Frisk looked down before they spoke. "The past is the past, Sans.." they offered. "They've apologized to you several times. Please stop fighting,"
Sans glowered over at Frisk, then back at Chara. "Why should I?"
Chara's eyes, however, were trained on Harry where he was hiding his face against Remus. "Harry..." they started, moving towards the boy.
That certainly snapped Sans out of his anger, and the skeleton looked over to the small boy before he cursed quietly and looked down.
Chara got Harry to them easily and started talking quietly. "It's okay, we aren't mad at you."
Harry shook his head and Sans spoke up. "sorry, kid. I forgot that you don't know the past Resets. you okay?"
Harry raised his head to look at Sans, green eyes fearful.
That night was a long one. Harry ended up falling asleep trapped between Chara and Sans, who both decided the past should stay buried from now on.
Frisk watched this and bit their lip before settling down for bed themselves.
Asriel nudged Frisk and gave a small smile. "It'll be okay, right?"
Frisk nodded in agreement with this.
Sans was the last one in the household to be awake, watching as the kids slowly fell asleep one by one.
The last to drift was Chara, who met his gaze and spoke in a quiet whisper. "I'm so sorry for everything." they offered, then let themselves fall asleep.
Sans sighed at this, but spoke quietly, despite knowing Chara was already asleep. "you're forgiven, kid."