The Easter feast in the Great Hall was spectacular. There was roast lamb, new potatoes, and seasonal greens. The dessert was a normal selection, plus baskets spaced a few feet apart, filled to the absolute brim with chocolate eggs that put Muggle ones to shame.
Whenever a student opened one of the eggs, a puff of coloured smoke was released and floated up from the shell, taking on the form of something Easter-inspired. The space above their heads was currently filled with a rainbow of ghostly bunnies playing with equally insubstantial eggs while little baby chicks and flowers floated about.
Harry was watching Hermione as she finished off a second bowl of chocolate ice cream with caramel sauce. Harry was fairly surprised that Hermione was actually eating a second bowl of dessert, when she normally limited herself to a half portion.
There was also the fact that Hermione was obviously enjoying her ice-cream. She occasionally moaned appreciatively as she ate, and those slight moans were having an effect on Harry to say the least. He wondered if Hermione was doing it on purpose.
Harry was soon pulled back to reality by a commotion from the Slytherin table. The Slytherins were all talking excitedly and crouching around someone. Harry was just going to ignore it and turned back to Hermione, who was also now looking over at the Slytherins. Harry picked up another egg from one of the baskets on the table and he was just about to crack it open when a voice sailed over from the Slytherin table, "Hey, Potter! Why don't you come over and look at this, then you can tell me again how you are going to beat me in our next game!" Malfoy's smug voice called over the crowd. Harry considered ignoring the stuck up git, but his curiosity got the better of him.
He made his way around the hall to the Slytherin table, where Malfoy was surrounded by a small crowd. The crowd of green-robed students parted as Harry got near, making way for him to get to Malfoy. Each face that looked at him was barely able to contain its glee at whatever had caused the excitement to begin with.
Malfoy was sitting at the table, in front of him a pile of brown paper that had obviously just been taken off a parcel he had been sent. The contents of the package were currently sat on top of the paper.
The long pole of ashwood was polished till it was smooth as glass, with pristine birch twigs, and on the top of the broom, in gold lettering, was the word 'Firebolt'.
"Well, what do you think, Potter? Still think you can out fly me? You know, I really should thank you. If you hadn't mouthed off to my father, he never would have gotten me this broom," The blond Slytherin looked extremely smug to be able to throw Harry's words from their first year, when he had gotten his Nimbus, back at him.
"I think we now know how your father rates your seeking skills. He can't think you're any good at all , if he thinks you need a Firebolt to beat a Nimbus 2000. Your father should have just gotten you a flying coach; it would have been cheaper. But then, you would have to work for something instead of just crying to Daddy, which I know is something that is impossible for you," Harry was laying it on thick, but despite his calm appearance, he was quite pissed off. Malfoy had spent thousands of galleons just to win the Quidditch cup.
"At least I have a father Potter!" Malfroy spat out in anger. The response from the Slytherins was mixed, as some thought it was fine and laughed. But a lot of the Slytherins didn't laugh, and many gave Malfoy venomous looks.
It wasn't only people from the other houses who had died in the blood war. A number of the Slytherins had lost family. Some in battle, some to illness, and some at the hands of Voldemort himself. There were plenty who had lost a parent, and definitely thought that Malfoy had stepped over the line. Even some of Malfoy's normal allies, such as Parkinson, weren't amused in the slightest by what he had said.
However, Malfoy himself didn't appear to take any notice of this. He didn't understand what other people had gone through during the Blood War, and how could he? His parents had sucked up immensely to Voldemort and his evil regime, and his family were unscathed afterwards, only having to say that they had been under the Imperius charm to get away with everything they had done.
Harry stewed at Malfoy for a few seconds, his hand twitching towards his wand. What he wouldn't give right now to blast that smug look of his face by burning his new broom to ashes! Instead, he only said, "I'll see you over on the Quidditch pitch," turning around and walking away before he did something that he would regret.
He collapsed back into his seat next to Hermione, who asked him what all the commotion was about.
"He has a Firebolt."
The sound of the Gryffindors enjoying dessert abruptly stopped. If there was one thing that could unite the House of Gryffindor, it was Quidditch. Namely, beating Slytherin in Quidditch.
"What did you say Harry?" One of the Weasley twins asked.
"You can't have said what I think I heard," Finished the other.
"Malfroy has a Firebolt," Harry said again.
"Damn it! It was my last shot at the Quidditch cup, and of course, the Slytherins pull some shit like this!" Wood really didn't sound happy, "Do you think you can still beat him to the snitch Harry?"
"I don't know," Harry despaired for a few seconds, "I normally spot the snitch before him, but once he sees me dive...that broom will catch up to mine in seconds. If I can catch it before he sees me dive, or if the snitch is a lot closer to me, it could be possible. But, I won't be putting any gold on a Gryffindor victory."
"That's what I thought," Wood groaned, before hitting his head into the table, "Damn!" Bang! "those!" Bang! "cheating!" Bang! "Slytherins!"
"It's not cheating," Hermione interrupted.
A few of the Gryffindors shot looks at her, to which she huffed, "well, it's not! There are no rules against having a broom advantage, as long as the advantage is purely down to the quality of the broom. Not even when it's pushed to a ridiculous extreme like this is it cheating. But, I do know a way to stop them from winning the Quidditch Cup if you're interested," She suddenly had the interest of everyone close enough to hear. Hermione wasn't known to follow Quidditch, so more than a few were surprised that she, out of all people, would have a way to win the game.
"Oh merciful angel of victory!"
"Please, share your wisdom!" The twins did their double speak again.
"It wouldn't be a Gryffindor victory," She cautioned. "But, with the way the points are, Slytherin needs to win by over 100 points if they want to win the cup from Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, plus however much one of them wins by. If you forfeit the game, then they would win by zero and whoever won the Ravenclaw vs Hufflepuff match would win the cup. And Warlock Malfoy would have spent all that gold on a broom Draco won't even get a chance to fly," she finished.
The reactions of the listeners were mixed. Some were thinking it through, but others evidently did not like the idea.
"You can't be serious. We are Gryffindors, we don't act like cowards and run away!" One of the fifth year Gryffindor girls whom Harry didn't know called out.
"It's not running away, you fool. It's sticking it to the Snakes. They try to buy the Cup, so we make it impossible for them to win," another fifth year sitting next to her explained.
"It's a good suggestion Granger, I'll think about it, but we will probably play. It will be my last game here after all," Wood said. And it looked like he really was thinking about forfeiting again just to stick it to the Slytherin team.
The few Gryffindors who were still eating, including Hermione, returned to their desserts. The jovial atmosphere of the Easter celebration was gone as they considered just how difficult it would be for Gryffindor to win the Quidditch Cup now.
--- ϟϟϟ ---
Friday 15th April
Harry collapsed into bed, exhausted.
It had been a long week so far, and it was only Wednesday. Between Hermione, Wood, his two Runes projects, extra lessons with Lupin trying to cast the patronus charm, looking for a way to save Buckbeak and the teachers, he had no time to just sit and relax.
Hermione and the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as one another. They had added extra homework essays, not on the new stuff they were covering, but on topics they had covered earlier in the year.
The biggest problem with this was that Hermione refused to count the revision homework as revision time, instead calling it homework and insisting on revision on top. This would have been fine on its own, but along with double revision, there was also double Quidditch practice.
Wood was scheduling practice every other day and he was pushing Harry and the team harder than ever. He had Harry performing dive after dive, hoping to shave a few seconds off the time it took him to catch up to the snitch. Harry had to give it to his captain, he had managed to improve a lot more than he thought possible.
Still, Harry had it easy. The chasers were doing passing drills, taking goal shots, and practicing their formation flying. Wood wanted them to be able to get an early lead in points to put pressure on the Slytherins.
As the Slytherins needed to win by at least two-hundred points to win the cup, Wood was hoping that if they kept a lead in points, then the advantage given by the Firebolt would be kept in check.
The twins were enjoying the practice. Wood had enchanted an old quaffle to fly around the pitch, and the twins were tasked with trying to hit it with the bludgers. They had taken to their target practice with gusto, and had modified the quaffle so that it had blond hair and a sneer, much to the amusement of Katie and Angelina.
In fairness to Wood, as hard as he was pushing the team, he was pushing himself harder. He was staying on the pitch after practice with enchanted quaffles flying at him as he attempted to defend the hoops. Wood wasn't returning to the common room until right before curfew. Even when he wasn't doing Quidditch practice, he was staying in the library until Madam Pince kicked him out as he prepared for his N.E.W.Ts.
Himself and Hermione were still spending every Sunday bent over the Hogwarts library's selection of books on British wizarding law. They just couldn't seem to find what they needed, as the law just wasn't on their side.
Harry had taken to spending the last ten minutes of Care of Magical Creatures in the Hippogriff paddock with Buckbeak. After the Hippogriff had saved him from LeStrange, he was more determined than ever to help the majestic creature avoid the executioner's axe.
Thanking Dobby, mercifully was a lot easier. When Harry had asked if the eccentric house elf wanted or needed anything, Dobby had outright refused anything. However, Harry noticed that Dobby was wearing a tea cosy for a hat, an old knitted one in a rainbow of colours that had faded with time, and it was worn thin in some places, and in others, had to be held together by magic.
It had been relatively simple for Harry to owl order a new tea cosy for the elf and add some runes that would keep the elf's exposed ears warm. It was simple enough to enchant as well, as he had not long ago finished with the rune array that would be going on Hermione's hair band to keep her ears at a comfortable temperature, no matter the weather.
When Harry considered just how many demands he had on his time, he thought about sending a letter to Dan and Emma asking them to send him a weekly pack of energy drinks to help him keep up the needed pace, but decided against it.
He wasn't a fan of asking the Grangers for things, even more so if he didn't absolutely need it. The uncomfortable feeling he got was a holdover from his uncle's constant complaints about how much it cost to feed him, and how he was nothing but a burden on good, hard-working people.
He knew that the Granger's would tell him not to think like that, but he also knew that the Grangers wouldn't approve of a drink that had so much sugar in it. It was weird to think that they would be disappointed, not because Harry was costing them money, but because they were concerned about his health.
Plus, if the Grangers did for some reason actually agree, Harry would soon have to face Hedwig's displeasure at having to carry a heavy package all the way from London to somewhere in Scotland every week. As much as his girl loved flying, Harry was positive that she would get tired of the task quickly, and would definitely let him know so.
Harry let the siren call of his pillow lull him into sleep, only stirring once to snuggle into his girlfriend when she snuck into his bed around midnight.
--- ϟϟϟ ---
Harry read the note in his hand again as he waited. At breakfast an overly excited Colin Creevey had handed it to him;
Harry, I need to have a word with you. I have spoken to Professor Snape, and instead of going to your potions lesson today, could you come up to my office? I'm sure you can ask Miss Granger to take notes for you and to deliver your homework.
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Headmaster of Hogwarts
P.S. I like liquorice wands.
It had taken Harry a few minutes after first reading the note to remember that the headmaster had used the names of sweets for the password to his office last year.
When Harry reached the door to the Headmaster's office, he had been a little surprised when the door knocker he used started speaking to him. The door knocker was shaped like the head of a gargoyle that was the twin of the one that guarded the stairwell, and spoke with a high pitched tiny voice, "The headmaster is currently out of the office. Please come back another time."
"The headmaster sent me a note telling me to come here during the first lesson," Harry told the knocker.
"Show me the note," The gargoyle head demanded. Harry fished the note from his robe pocket and held it up where the gargoyle could read it, "That seems in order, go on through and take a seat, I'm sure the headmaster will be along shortly," The door clicked as it unlocked and swung open, revealing the Headmaster's office. After a quick look around the room that was filled with strange magical devices, books and eclectic decorations, Harry went over to the ornate perch that supported the Headmaster's phoenix, Fawkes.
"Hello, Fawkes. How are you?" The phoenix chirped happily as Harry stroked the plume of feathers on his head.
It took Dumbledore almost ten minutes to arrive, "Ah, Harry, my boy. Good to see you are here already," The headmaster sat at his desk and pointed Harry to one of the chairs opposite, "Have a seat," Dumbledore smiled at Harry, his eyes twinkling like they always seemed to do.
The Headmaster didn't say anything for almost two minutes, until Harry broke the silence that was becoming uncomfortable, "You wanted to speak to me, sir?"
"I did, yes. It recently came to my attention that when you went home for Christmas, you didn't go to your family, but instead, went to Miss Granger's home. I would like to hear why."
"Why? I was invited to spend Christmas there, sir," Harry was confused, of all the topics he'd imagined the Headmaster wanted to talk about, him spending Christmas with Hermione was not something he thought concerned the Headmaster.
"I can understand that you want to spend time with Miss Granger, but if your family found out that you left school without going home, it would surely upset them," Harry snorted under his breath. The only part of spending Christmas with Hermione and her family that the Dursleys would be upset about was that I enjoyed myself.
Dumbledore continued, "It's one thing to stay at school and study, it's another thing entirely to go gallivanting across the country to stay with people whom your family has never met. And you really should get your guardians' permission before you spend time away from school."
"I really don't think my relatives care much where I go, Professor, as long as it doesn't affect them. I have been staying with the Grangers since the start of August-" Harry started to explain before Dumbledore cut him off, "I'm sure they miss you Harry. You will see when you return to them in July."
Harry felt a cold feeling settle in the pit of his stomach, "I'm not going back there in July, Professor -"
Again Dumbledore cut him off, "I'm afraid you don't have a choice, Harry, I must insist you return to your family. As the Headmaster of Hogwarts, it is my duty to look after the students who come here and then return them to their family at the end of the year. It's for your safety," Was that why Dumbledore was doing this? Harry thought. Does he feel like he has a responsibility to return me to my relatives?
"But sir, over the summer, a lot of stuff...happened, and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement said it would be best if I stayed with the Grangers for a time," Harry tried once more to explain, but he still found it hard to talk about the Dursleys.
"I'm quite sure that she just meant for the summer, Harry. Don't worry about it, I will talk with Director Bones and send a letter to your family. They will pick you up from the train station at the end of the year."
"But profes-"
This time the Headmaster barely let him start speaking before cutting him off, "I know it must feel dreadfully unfair to you, Harry, my boy, but it's what needs to happen. You will go home this summer. Understood?"
Home?
Not the Dursleys, Dumbledore said, but home . He was instantly aware of the key Hermione had given him on Valentine's Day that was sitting in a small pocket of his wand holster, "Yes Professor, I'll go home," He did his best to look defeated, staring at his lap. After all, Harry had agreed he would go home , not that he would go to the Dursleys.
"Right, on to the second topic I wanted to discuss. How is your personal project coming along?"
That question surprised Harry. Why would Professor Dumbledore ask about his Runes project? "It's going well, sir, I've actually got two different things that are almost ready to present to Professor Babbling at the end of the year."
"You know Harry, most students don't take the option to take a risk on a personal project. It is much easier to get a job after Hogwarts the more O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts you have. If you don't put in a good project at the end of the year, I will have to put you in one of the regular O.W.Ls classes. I doubt that you could catch up in Arithmancy, and Muggle Studies would be as much a waste of time for you as it would be for Muggle-born students, so that leaves Divination."
Harry felt a lump form in his throat. He had heard from Neville what the Divination teacher was like, and he really didn't want to listen to her predicting his death every week, "I really don't want to take Divination, professor."
"I can understand that, my boy. But of the three available classes, it is the only one that you could pass where you would learn something. I'm not transferring you in now, but if you don't do well with your project, then I will have little choice."
Harry didn't like the sound of Divination, but he could see that the headmaster had a point about getting an O.W.L if his Runes project failed, "I understand, Professor."
"Out of curiosity Harry, what is the project that you are working on? Professor Babbling has been rather tight-lipped about it."
"Well, the first one started as a way to help Hermione, but the full project is about helping people like Hermione get out into the Muggle world. The other one I think I will keep to myself for now, sir. I was thinking about selling them once they are done and, well...you know what the castle's rumor mill is like. I don't want someone else who could do it first to jump in at the last second," Harry explained.
"I understand. Let's just hope that your project lives up to your expectations. I wouldn't want to have to put you in a class you wouldn't like," The Headmaster was looking at him in his normal grandfatherly way, "I know it's not what you planned Harry, but life isn't always accommodating to our plans for the future, especially for the young ones. Sometimes, it is best to just let those who have experience guide the way, as we often can see the road to the best outcome a lot clearer," It seemed to Harry like Professor Dumbledore was trying to say more than what he intended to about Harry's schooling and where he would spend the summer, but Harry just didn't understand what he was trying to say.
"Well Harry, it's been wonderful talking with you, but if you are going to get to your next lesson, you need to get moving. Have a good day," The Headmaster dismissed him.
Harry picked up his bag and made his way out of the office, a little confused. They had barely talked for thirty minutes, and Harry's next lesson wouldn't start for another forty five minutes, as there was a break after the first period of the day.
There was no need for Harry to rush off at all. Maybe Dumbledore had another meeting with someone else? He was the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wix.
It wouldn't surprise Harry if Dumbledore had a lot of meetings that he needed to attend.
Harry slowly made his way down to the dungeons. With only fifteen minutes until Potions let out, it wasn't worth going to the library to work on something. By the time he sat down with some work it would be time to pack up and meet Hermione.
Harry selected a spot where he could see and would be seen by anyone coming up from the Potions classroom and waited. He didn't have to wait long before Slytherins and Gryffindors started making their way up one of the sets of stairs that led to the dungeons.
As was normal after a lesson with Snape, the Slytherins all looked smug and the Gryffindors looked angry. Only, this time, Hermione also looked very pissed off.
He waited until she had cleared out of the top of the stairs before walking over and pulling her into a hug, "What happened? You look ready to kill someone. Was it Snape?"
She nodded into his chest, "He was awfully horrid today. He chose a potion that needs two people to brew, then took points from me because my partner wasn't there," Harry winced; he was Hermione's potions partner.
"Then, he set us a two foot essay on the potion we brewed today, and of course, you need to hand one in as well, and if you don't, he said he'll give you detention. He even said ' We'll have to see how well Gryffindor's seeker can do when he spends all his time scrubbing cauldrons instead of practicing Quidditch. ' And doing the essay without having brewed this potion will be almost impossible..." Hermione was ranting in her rage.
"Hermione, breathe. We can deal with this. It's Friday after class, we are free till tomorrow night, when I have Quidditch practice," Wood was still pushing a lot of practice on the team. He had wanted to have a practice Sunday as well, but Alicia had threatened to stage a coup d'etat if she didn't have time to revise for her O.W.Ls, "We can go up to the room and brew the potion ourselves, then write the essay," Harry offered up his solution to the problem.
"I know, but I wanted us to relax tonight. We have been revising really hard, and I have been looking forward to tonight all week," She replied, "And Professor Snape ruined all our plans, just because he wants his house to win at Quidditch! How can the headmaster let him treat students like this? It's totally unprofessional," Harry winced at Hermione's mention of Dumbledore and she noticed, "What's wrong?"
"Dumbledore wants me to go back to the Dursleys over the summer. That's what he wanted to talk to me about," Harry said.
"Harry, it doesn't matter what the Headmaster wants. The order from Director Bones makes it illegal for you to go back there. She deemed the risk of you doing accidental magic there so high that it was a risk to the Statute of Secrecy," They were walking through the castle at this point, taking a leisurely route to the History of Magic classroom where their next scheduled class after morning break was.
"Dumbledore said he was going to write to Director Bones and the Dursleys. He wouldn't let me explain anything, he just kept talking and made me promise to go home for the summer," Harry told her more about the meeting.
Hermione's face fell as he mentioned going home, "It doesn't matter what you promised, Harry, you can't go back to those people," The way Hermione said "people" sounded like it was the dirtiest most disgusting swear word she knew.
"It does matter Mione," He cut her off as she tried to protest, " Home, love. I said I promised to go home," He put emphasis on the word, and after the second time, Hermione's eyes lit up with understanding, "Oh Harry! you really think of it as home already?" She leaned into him in a half-hug as they walked.
"Privet Drive was never home. Not for me. It was just the place my relatives live. Hogwarts was the first place that felt anything like a home to me, but it has nothing on living with you and your parents."
Hermione stopped walking and threw herself at Harry, wrapping herself around him in the tightest hug she could manage. After almost five minutes, she broke off the hug, "I'll write to Mum and Dad and tell them what happened. They will probably have to write to Director Bones themselves. You should write a letter to Director Bones as well, telling her that you would prefer to keep staying with us."
Harry nodded, "I'll do that. I'll send the letter with Hedwig to your parents and ask her to stay with them for a little while. There will probably be a few letters your parents will need to send."
"Sounds like a plan, though I'm glad you will be the one telling Hedwig you want her to stay with my parents for a while."
Harry winced as he thought of what his familiar would do to him if she thought she was being sent away, "As long as I explain it's to keep us from having to return to Privet Drive, she will understand. She won't like it, but she'll understand," Harry was trying to convince himself as much as Hermione.
"I suggest you take some bacon with you," Hermione laughed.