"I hope he'll be alright..." Molly said despondently, her hands trembling slightly as she sat back down, heavy silver tray now empty. The lingering anxiety of Harry's upcoming Ministry hearing seemed to age her by a decade, casting a somber shadow over her tired, worn features.
"He'll be just fine, Molly, don't worry," Remus said softly, his voice a steady, grounding presence in the dim room as he offered her a comforting, albeit weary, smile.
"I know, it's just---"" She stopped, taking a steadying breath, and looked around the kitchen before her warm eyes locked onto Lucifer. A motherly, practical focus replaced her fretful expression. "Do you want me to cut your hair now, dear? It's getting a bit unruly."
Hermione immediately pouted, a soft, disappointed huff escaping her lips at the realization that she had to leave her cozy spot by his side. Sensing her sudden drop in mood, Lucifer leaned down and pressed a tender, lingering peck against her flushing cheek. The small gesture worked instantly, brightening her face and leaving her with a bashful, satisfied smile.
"If you want to," Lucifer said quietly, stretching fluidly as he stood up after his lap was emptied of her comfortable weight.
He followed Molly out of the bustling kitchen, the ambient noise of the Weasley siblings fading as they climbed the creaking, narrow stairs to the next floor. The air grew cooler, carrying the faint scent of old wood and the citrusy cleaning solution Molly aggressively used to battle the house's decay.
She led him into a small, faded bathroom and motioned with a sharp nod of her chin for him to sit on a low wooden stool.
He lowered himself onto it, and Molly immediately got to work, draped a clean towel over his shoulders, and lifted her shears. The sharp 'snip-snap' of the metal blades echoed against the cracked tiles. "Luc—" she began.
"I want to apologize for how I acted on the day I got here..." Lucifer cut her off softly, but thoroughly sincere.
Molly paused mid-motion, the shears hovering near his ear. She leaned to her left a bit to catch his reflection in the spotted mirror. "Apologize? For what, dear?"
"When we were being told what information the Order had... I wasn't the nicest to you," Lucifer explained, keeping his gaze fixed forward rather than looking up at her. "But I must ask that you try to see it from my perspective... or Hermione's, or Ron's, or even Harry's. Voldemort coming back to power will affect all of us. And in the event you adults aren't able to keep us safe, we need to know what you know. I need to. If I don't... Hermione..."
"You care for her a lot... she is your 'be-girlfriend' after all," Molly said, a sudden, profoundly soft understanding bleeding into her voice as she began cutting his hair again, the snips resuming with a gentler touch. "And I know what it's like... losing my best friend, that is..."
She paused for a brief moment, her eyes turning distant as a stray lock of dark hair fluttered to the floor. "Back when 'You-Know-Who' was in power before Harry stopped him, I had a best friend. Her name was Ethylene Hargrave. She was a Muggleborn, a Gryffindor like I was... used to work at Saint Mungo's. She loved helping people, whether they were Muggle, Witch, Wizard, or Magical Creature..."
Her voice cracked slightly, though she fiercely maintained her composure. "That also is what ultimately led to her death... a man who was wounded turned out to be a Death Eater. She healed him up, treated him with nothing but kindness, and then he killed her. It was only when the Dark Mark was discovered burning above her home that I knew what had happened..."
Molly didn't shed a single tear, but she didn't have to for Lucifer to hear the raw, aching agony behind her words. She missed her friend fiercely, and it was devastatingly clear that she had never quite healed from the wound.
"It's why I try so hard to keep anyone not of age or still in Hogwarts uninformed," She whispered, her fingers gently brushing the stray hairs off the nape of his neck. "Because if you don't know the horrors of what's going on... I hope that you can remain safe. Ignorance can be a shield, Lucifer."
"I can see why, Mrs. Weasley. I truly do," Lucifer murmured, closing his eyes as a wave of profound respect for the fiercely protective woman washed over him. "But I hope you can see why I need to know... to keep my own best friend, my girlfriend, safe. I cannot afford to be blind."
Molly gave a small, watery sniff and patted his shoulder comfortingly. They both fell into a peaceful, understanding silence until his hair was cut short and neatly styled exactly to his liking.
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley, truly," he said, rising from the stool and shaking out the towel.
"No problem, dear. You look very handsome," She offered, a genuine smile returning to her face. "I think I'm going to go make a cup of tea to calm my nerves. Do you want one?"
"Yeah, I think a cup of tea would be great," he said, offering a rare, warm smile before walking back down the stairs to the kitchen.
xxxxxx
An hour or two later, Lucifer was sitting comfortably in his room, propped up against the pillows of his bed. The afternoon sun filtered weakly through the grimy windowpane as he read over one of 'The Broken Bones' volumes, his eyes tracking the complex glyphs. A light, hesitant knock sounded at his door.
"It's open," he said without looking up.
The door clicked open, and Hermione entered the room, quietly closing it behind her with a soft thud.
"Hey," She said, her voice dropping into a decidedly playful, sultry way that caused him to instantly look up from his book. Her eyes traced the clean, sharp lines of his fresh haircut, a brilliant spark of admiration dancing in her gaze. "Nice hair... it definitely enhances your... attractiveness..."
She closed the distance between them, her steps slow and deliberate as she walked up to the edge of the bed. "Your desirability, even..." Hermione sat down right beside him, shifting her weight until her shoulder was pressed firmly against his. She leaned in close, her warm breath tickling his ear as she whispered, "Your sex appeal..."
Lucifer had watched her every move the exact second she spoke to him, a faint, knowing smirk playing on his lips. When she sat beside him and whispered, he turned his head just enough that their lips were mere inches apart.
A devious, incredibly wicked thought crossed his mind, one that he knew would absolutely rile her up.
"You think the trial has started yet?" he asked nonchalantly.
Hermione instantly froze. She sat back, her playful expression flattening into a flawless, unamused deadpan as she stared at him. "Way to kill the mood, Lucifer."
"Someone had to, before we got busy doing something and forgot you left the door unlocked," he smirked, his eyes glinting with dark amusement as he gestured toward the unbolted entryway.
"Oh, no..." She let out a dramatic, defeated sigh, rolling her eyes as she leaned back against the headboard of his bed, right next to him. "I just... I wanted to have a bit of fun teasing you, making you... aroused. But then you went and ruined the perfect mood with Ministry politics." She crossed her arms, though a tiny smirk threatened to break through her faux-annoyed expression. "But to answer your practical question, yes, it should have already started. And quite honestly, since there was absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing on Harry's part, it should be over soon."
"That's what I was thinking..." Lucifer trailed off smoothly, shifting his attention back down to the open pages in his lap.
Hermione leaned over his arm to peer at the book, but all she saw were entirely blank, cream-colored pages reflecting the dim room. "Is that one of your books which humans can't read?"
"You figured that out because you couldn't read it, but I can?" he asked, smirking sideways at her.
"Yes. It's not that hard to figure out since you already told me the books existed, you smug celestial," she smiled radiantly. Shifting closer, she rested her head heavily on his shoulder, letting her hair cascade over his arm as they enjoyed the quiet solace of the room.
xxxxxx
A while later, the peaceful quiet was shattered by a commotion downstairs. Everyone gathered in the kitchen the exact moment Harry and Arthur returned. The atmosphere was charged with an electric, breathless anticipation as Harry quickly explained the chaotic turn of events at the disciplinary hearing.
"I knew it!" Ron yelled at the top of his lungs, violently punching the air with a triumphant grin. "You 'always' get away with stuff!"
"They were bound to clear you!" Hermione yelled excitedly, throwing her arms around Harry's neck and hugging him tightly, her relief pouring out in a joyous laugh. "There was absolutely no legal basis!"
"There was no case against you, that much was obvious. You were going to get cleared," Lucifer said from his seat, a knowing, relaxed smirk firmly in place.
"Most everyone seems quite relieved, even though they knew I'd get off," Harry said with a breathless laugh as Hermione finally let him go, his own eyes crinkling with a smirk as the massive weight lifted from his chest.
Molly was already busy crying tears of pure joy, happily wiping her face on her checkered apron while Fred, George, and Ginny grabbed each other's hands. The three of them began doing a loud, chaotic war dance, moving in a small circle on the creaking floorboards to an echoing chant: "He got off, he got off, he got off---"
"That's enough, settle down!" Arthur shouted, though his own face was split into a massive, proud smile. He raised his hands to quiet the teenagers. "Listen, Sirius, Lucius Malfoy was at the Ministry today—"
"What?" Sirius asked sharply, his relaxed posture instantly vanishing, his gray eyes darkening with immediate suspicion.
"He got off, he got off, he got off—"
"Be quiet, you three!" Arthur yelled over the din, glaring playfully at his children. "Yes, we saw him talking directly to Fudge on level nine. Then they went straight up to Fudge's office together. Dumbledore ought to know about it."
"Absolutely," Sirius said grimly, his jaw tight. "We'll tell him, don't worry. He needs to know what Malfoy is whispering in the Minister's ear."
"Well, I'd better get going," Arthur said, adjusting his robes and heading back toward the kitchen exit. "There's a vomiting toilet in Bethnal Green waiting for my department. Molly, I'll be late tonight—I'm covering a shift for Tonks. But Kingsley might be dropping in for dinner—"
"He got off, he got off, he got off—"
"That's enough, Fred, George, and Ginny!" Molly yelled forcefully as Arthur slipped out of the kitchen. She turned her attention entirely to the guest of honor. "Harry, dear, come and sit right down. Have some lunch, you hardly ate a bite of breakfast this morning..."
Ron quickly slid into the chair beside Harry, while Hermione and Lucifer claimed the seats directly across from them. All three of them were smiling warmly at Harry, genuinely glad that the looming threat of expulsion had been thoroughly dismantled.
"Course, once Dumbledore turned up on your side, there was no way they were going to convict you," Ron said happily, instantly picking up the serving spoons and dishing great mounds of fluffy mashed potatoes onto everyone's plates.
"Yeah, he swung it for me," Harry said, though his smile faded slightly. Lucifer's sharp eyes immediately caught the hesitation in the boy's voice; it was glaringly obvious he wanted to say more about Dumbledore's strange, distant behavior.
Suddenly, Harry clapped a hand to his forehead, his face twisting in a sharp grimace.
"What's up?" Hermione asked instantly, looking highly alarmed as she leaned across the table.
"Scar..." Harry mumbled, shaking his head and rubbing the lightning-bolt mark. "It's nothing... just a dull ache. Happens frequently now that... Voldemort's back."
Ron visibly cringed at the casual usage of the name, tensing up. Meanwhile, Fred, George, and Ginny were completely oblivious, still performing their loud war dance and war chant in the corner of the room. "Well, I bet Dumbledore turns up this evening to celebrate with us, you know? To properly toast to it!" Ron added cheerfully, trying to change the subject.
"I don't think he'll be able to, Ron," Molly said, stepping up to the table and setting down a massive, sizzling plate of roast chicken right in front of them. "He's incredibly busy with the Order at the moment."
"HE GOT OFF, HE GOT OFF, HE GOT OFF—"
"SHUT UP!" Molly roared at the top of her lungs, her voice echoing off the kitchen walls and finally bringing the chaotic victory dance to a dead halt.
xxxxxx
Their Hogwarts letters hadn't arrived yet, and it was already the 'final' day of Summer break, so they had to arrive today, or else it meant they'd all been expelled and no one told them. When Lucifer said that, Hermione went wide-eyed and looked like she was going to faint, "Don't say that!" She yelled at breakfast.
Lucifer was now up in his room, feeding Rowena, who had gone missing for weeks after coming here, "I still can't understand what you were doing for four weeks... if you found a male Owl, we might have a problem on our hands." She hooted at him, almost angrily, but still accepted the food he was handing her.
"Booklists have arrived!" Ron yelled and set Lucifer's down on his dresser next to the door. He tossed the rest of Rowena's food to her, which she began ravaging on the floor of her cage.
He went over and opened the letter, which had two pieces of parchment; one containing the books and the other containing the usual letter saying Term started September First,
"The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5... already finished Grade 7, and Defensive Magical Theory, by Wilbert Slinkhard? I've read that book... it's absolute shit... out Defense Class... who is our teacher?" Lucifer dropped the envelope to the floor, but instead of falling lightly to the floor, it landed with a dull thud. He looked at the envelope and wondered what he missed in it.
He picked the envelope back up and looked inside. His eyes went wide and he tore it apart to see another piece of parchment with something attached to it.
'To Mr. Lucifer Morningstar
Residence Unknown
Residence Unknown
Residence Unknown
Dear Mr. Morningstar,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected to serve as Prefect for Gryffindor House. Your school record shows that you have exhibited quick, logical thinking in stressful situations, the ability to lead others, strong magical prowess, and by being a shining example of the bravery that Gryffindor House has long been lauded for.
We are certain that you will continue to be a model for your peers and will take your new responsibilities seriously. Enclosed please find your Prefects Badge, which should be worn on your school robes at all times. Congratulations!
Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Head of Gryffindor House'
His heart was pounding in his chest. He'd completely forgotten the Fifth Year when the Prefects were chosen. Lucifer held the Red and Gold badge in his right hand, looking at it ironically with a smirk, "Would you look at that...." He said loudly.
xxxxxx
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