"I think I'm going to walk around the lake, I've missed the grounds." Harry announced as they left the Great Hall post-lunch. The great thing about his schedule was that he had no Monday afternoon classes, and it was honestly a relief to have such a light first day of the week. Tomorrow was double potions and then History of Magic, which would just be flat out painful, so he'd take the break while he could.
"I mean we do have homework." Blaise couldn't let the jab go, but unfortunately for him, neither could Harry.
"Transfiguration homework? Ha. Beetle wings was so last year Blaise, do try to keep up." He tossed the Zabini's own words right back at him, and earned a wicked grin for his troubles as they parted ways. The only person who didn't follow suit was Draco, who silently followed Harry's lead out the front door instead of accompanying his dormmates back to wherever it was they were going to study. Day one or not, Slytherins were not ones to procrastinate and they had homework so that is what they would be doing on their break before their last class of the day. Even Blaise who liked to pretend he was a natural genius would not be caught being behind on his work when everyone else had already done it—not going to happen in this lifetime without a damn good reason, even if he wasn't a bookworm in the slightest.
Draco and he hadn't had a chance to talk alone since that day in Diagon though, so it wasn't exactly a shock Draco was taking the first opportunity he could to corner him again, work taking a lesser priority for once. And Harry himself had seen it coming when he announced he was going for a walk, so he braced himself for this conversation and reminded himself that he wasn't afraid to talk to Draco—as much as he'd dragged his heels the first time, he'd felt better after seeking comfort in his friend so hopefully this would go the same route again.
To Harry's surprise though, as soon as they were well away from the castle and starting to walk around the lake, the blond jumped to a topic he was not expecting. Or, back to a topic Harry thought he'd addressed already.
"Are you really okay with the blocks and things? Magical core issues are not to be underestimated."
"I'm fine, Draco." Harry sighed a bit lightly, although he knew being annoyed with Draco's pestering was a bit of a dick-move. He only did it because he cared, so Harry used all his acting skills to pretend he was more patient then he was.
"Blaise is going to tell everyone, you know."
"I mean sure? Figured he would."
"No, I think you missed the point of it, and that's what he's going to be telling everyone."
Harry frowned at that, shooting him a curious look. "Huh? The point?"
"You have a new magical block on you, and it won't affect your classwork. Put even a small block on anyone else our age and we wouldn't be able to perform a levitating charm, but you don't have an issue." He explained plainly, and Harry got a sinking feeling in his stomach. Hm… maybe his cover wasn't as flawless as he thought it was—or it was creating a problem he hadn't realized would be a problem in the first place. "Combined with your very visible accidental magic incidents last year and the rumors about how much magical power you have is going to go crazy. I know that's what Blaise was thinking at lunch just now—Nott too actually, but Blaise is the one who's going to tell everyone."
And everyone is going to think it's because I'm the Boy Who Lived, is what he's saying. Great.
"Wonderful." He sighed, a lot louder and more annoyed this time. "Since you seem to know so much about it… what would you say if I were, like… still having accidental magic incidents?"
Harry winced as Draco's blond head snapped to the left to stare intently at the side of his face, although he refused to turn and meet whatever expression he was wearing.
"Please don't look at me like that."
"Harry, you have to listen to Pomfrey. That's so not good."
"Yeah, figured that's what you'd say." He grumbled, and he sensed the look he was getting become ever worse, so he waved it off quickly. "I'm obeying, I'm obeying…"
Draco accepted that for a couple long minutes as they walked around the lake and enjoyed the September weather… it really was a nice day and Harry had definitely missed the outdoors lately. And Hogwarts had quite the grounds worth enjoying after all, so this was kind of perfect.
Until Draco broke the silence again, and Harry tensed up and the innocuous question.
"Can I ask…?"
No. He thought honestly, but not answering wasn't really in his realm of options. He didn't tell Draco a lot of things, and he'd flat out admitted to Draco's face he wasn't telling him everything so…
He had promised that if he could share, he would, and Draco hadn't been upset about the fact that implied there was a ton of things he wasn't saying. He still felt kind of guilty about all he wasn't sharing with his so called best friend, so this was… a safe middle ground, of sorts. He shifted a bit uncomfortably and walked a tick faster so Draco wasn't directly beside him as he answered.
"I dunno what happened. I think I broke my relatives' kitchen."
He heard the frown in Draco's voice. "Over the summer? I mean maybe it's just-" Harry got curious and turned to look at him when he cut himself off, seeing the blond shake his head rapidly. "No! No, don't listen to me, listen to Pomfrey—whatever she says."
Harry was slightly amused at that, and kind of surprised he wasn't going to question why he'd been emotional enough for his magic to lash out.
Was he about to wonder what went wrong with my core?Not what went wrong with me, but my magic?
That was kind of funny.
Draco was always like that though. It was never quite about them as people, always more about what they could be doing at that moment to fix things. And fixing a broken heart or terrified soul wasn't really in his realm of things he could fix, so he always defaulted on things he could—like damaged magical cores or people not finishing their lunches.
If Neville was just there to be a support and a kind ear, Draco was the exact opposite—he didn't want to hear it, he just wanted to fix it. And maybe that was kind of annoying because not everything could be fixed, but Harry couldn't hate him for it either. There was a kind of naïve optimism in an attitude like that, that Harry was both tempted to squash out of him immediately and also protect it with everything he had so as not to ruin the bright mental image Draco had clearly created of the world around him. It was both kind of foolish and infinitely precious.
On a whim, he recalled a conversation he had with Neville last year and he spoke without thinking.
"Are you interested in healing, Draco?"
"Healing?" His blond head tilted in legitimate confusion. "Never considered it. I thought I'd be a barrister, the times I did think about it which is not a lot."
"If I recall what Pomfrey said, to be a healer you needed to be good at potions and charms, and be willing to answer annoying children's questions."
The blond snorted none too kindly. "Well, I can put up with you, so it seems I'm well on my way."
"Hey!" Harry's indignant cry was ruined by his laughter too. He really did have a point there, much to Harry's chagrin.
"Besides, I'm not that much of a people person," Draco seemed to dismiss the entire conversation entirely, but Harry wasn't so sure.
He… didn't actually know what to make of that statement. Not a people person—no, not outright he supposed as Draco was more than willing to tell people off to their faces, as well as be rude and demeaning of anyone he deemed not good enough— and those who fell into that category were not a small number either. But… he also liked to talk, and he liked to talk a lot. He and Blaise would not be friends any other way.
Draco liked attention, and drama.
He was way more careful about it these days and he'd learned from last year that being the center of attention for bad reasons could make his life really difficult, but never let it be said he wasn't always trying to come out on top not only because he had the desire to be in charge, but also because he just genuinely liked when people looked and obeyed and admired him. While he actively chose not to talk to people who weren't Slytherin if Harry wasn't forcing him to, he could talk to anyone. It was probably rude as hell, but he didn't hesitate in conversation and he most certainly wasn't shy with anyone, ever. Harry had never once seen him duck his head or avoid eye contact for any reason, even if he hated or respected the person he was talking to.
And he also very clearly could care about people if he wanted to. He literally just spent twenty minutes bothering Theo until he ate half a sandwich (which earned him no favors with the boy by Nott's death glare the entire time), and Harry had started calling him a mother hen behind his back literally weeks into knowing him.
It seemed he had this weird state of going from zero to a hundred real quick—if he didn't care about someone, they could be bleeding out in front of him and he wouldn't even blink. If he did though, there was no escape and you would be watched and bothered and fretted after until you kind of hated him for it.
It was a very weird line, and Harry wasn't sure if it qualified him as being a people person or not.
Harry wasn't actually sure you needed to be a people person to be a healer even, as Draco was already well set in his attitude of fixing the issue and not the person. He didn't need to be able to chat or get chummy with people to fix bruises or bones, although maybe his idea of what healing magic entailed was a bit skewed given his past experiences.
"If you say so." He let it go, because he honestly had no opinion on it either way, and just like he wouldn't push Neville for his off the cuff suggestions, he wasn't about to do that to Draco either.
He blew out a deep breath, knowing they were just beating around the bush and kind of wanting to get it over with already. He's given it some thought already too, so he had… some words to say on the matter and felt as prepared as he'd ever be to do this. Not ready, exactly, but knowing there wasn't going to be a better time and some things really needed to be said up front.
"So… about yesterday."
"Yeah, my father wrote and said Mother got her hands on you." Harry automatically winced at Draco's flat tone. "How bad." He demanded in a deadpan.
For some reason. Draco's own nerves about what his mother had done relaxed Harry to a point. It was surprisingly amusing that he wasn't the only one tense about this conversation, so he smiled a bit weakly.
"Not… that bad. I mean she's nice… I just really hope I didn't say something you didn't want me to. She's really good at talking."
"I guess," He frowned thoughtfully. "I wouldn't worry about spilling anything, somehow she always knows more than I think I know, and I've just come to accept that by now."
"Oh." Yeah, she definitely struck him as that kind of woman. "That's… good?"
"Annoying as hell, but sure, good." Draco rolled his eyes. "I know Father just disappears and leaves people to her, and despite being my mother I still don't know what she's after on a good day. Sorry if it was a bit much and I couldn't be there."
"It wasn't your fault the barrier broke at the worst time possible." Harry forgave him with a slightly more earnest smile. "Although I should thank you too, I mean… I didn't know them, but I knew they were right on the other side of the barrier and were kind of the only adults I even semi-trusted at the moment so…"
"That's fine, better than just sitting there and never making it to Hogwarts at all. Although sorry it had to be my mother you had to go through to get here." He gave a very put-upon sigh, earning a larger smile this time.
"She wasn't that bad."
"That's what she wants you to think." He pouted rather playfully. "Well, whatever it is, I can say while it's probably not pleasant, she's not after anything bad. I mean she actually really likes kids, I'm pretty sure she wanted me to have like six siblings."
Now that was a surprise, and Harry had to fix his expression to not seem so outwardly shocked about it. He knew better than to ask why she hadn't had them, but it was oddly reassuring to hear in a weird way. Also… it kind of explained why the one child she did have was spoiled to hell.
Be it Draco misinterpreting his silence or he was just more observant than Harry ever gave him credit for, but he glanced at him and dropped his playful dramatic act to be a bit more serious.
"Harry, be honest."
And that was what he'd been avoiding… but now was not the time for that. So he took a solid breath and mulled over his words carefully.
"Would you… be mad if I maybe was kind of mad at her?" He started, and seeing Draco's confused expression elaborated a bit. "For like… I dunno. I'm not that much of Gryffindor to not realize she was up to something but also not good enough of a Slytherin to be able to be able to do anything about it."
"Father can't escape her, your Slytherin qualities or not have nothing to do with it." He dismissed uncaringly, before his face flickered in actual concern at the red head's expression. "What is it?"
"I don't like being helpless." He admitted in a soft tone, and despite it being a legitimately huge weak spot he was offering up here… somehow it didn't feel wrong to admit it to Draco of all people. Especially not when the blond visibly paused to really listen for a moment, and it encouraged him to keep going.
"She made me feel very… very helpless and whether she had good intentions or not I—I kind of hate that. Like a lot, Draco, I really hate it." He tried to pour how much he meant that into his tone, and by Draco's expression he knew he was being heard. "She was nice and all but I really didn't like spending all day that way. It's scary and I got really worked up and I know she's your mom and everything but… I wanted to tell you honestly. Because I really did want to visit you this summer but she kind of… well it wasn't as fun as riding the train with you, it was kind of the exact opposite." His cheeks got hot as it was kind of… exposing to admit it, especially to the son of the woman in question, but thankfully Draco didn't seem offended.
He did spend a long minute in silence though, thinking it over.
In the quiet, Harry felt obligated to back track a little. "You're still my best friend you know. That's why I wanted to tell you honestly."
The blond looked surprised at that for a second before nodding slowly. "I can't really just think differently of my own Mother, but I get you don't want to be left alone with her ever again. I'm even her son and I can relate." It was only half a joke, but Harry knew what he was doing so laughed quietly anyway—anything to break the tense atmosphere. "She's pushy and rude about it while pretending to be polite. I won't get offended if you don't like her, promise."
"I wouldn't say that exactly, but not wanting to spend a ton of time around her is kind of accurate." He admitted, wincing a bit. "Maybe that's just how moms are? I… I guess I don't actually know."
Draco's frown was really a thing to behold at that, but luckily he just remained quiet as that sunk in, and they kept walking in a slightly less-awkward state than before.
Eventually, Draco perked up and tossed his head back, abruptly regaining some of his bravado.
"Well, Greengrass says I'm a bad excuse for a common Slytherin and maybe I can admit that, despite her being mine, my mother isn't exactly the best example of a regular mother either." He allowed generously in a way that also seemed highly arrogant, and Harry couldn't help but laugh.
Which seemed to be exactly what the Slytherin was after as he smiled in self-satisfaction.
"I think the not listening to their kids because they're adults who think they know better is a universal parental thing though. At least I'm pretty sure." He pointed out lightly.
"I guess." Harry hadn't considered that. "Maybe it's just an adult thing in general?"
"Probably."
"Except McGonagall." Harry corrected, and at his questioning look continued. "She listens to me when I talk Transfiguration and actually responds as if I'm an equal. Think that's why I like her so much."
"Huh. I think I like Severus for that reason too. Even when I was little and he was just starting to teach me potions, the fact I was like six didn't excuse any mistakes I made and he'd treat me like a real student, not just a kid."
"Not sure that's quite the same…"
"How is it not!?"
"I'm pretty sure Snape doesn't know how to talk to kids, so he just defaults like they're adults." Harry snickered at him.
The funniest part though was that Draco was clearly going to argue that before visibly halting mid-thought and reconsidering, and then getting super annoyed when he couldn't actually confirm that wasn't the case.
"Whatever." He snipped in irritation, and Harry dissolved into giggles at his expression. Oh so tactfully he switched topics to get away from his grouchy godfather, and Harry had mercy and let him do it. "Do you have any plans for this year?"
He was relieved to be past talking about Mrs. Malfoy for the moment, but at the casual question his mind sprung to life at everything he'd been ignoring for the time being. He somehow knew Draco was talking about Montague-like plans: Slytherin plans, and realized most of the snake house probably came in to the school year with an ultimate goal that had nothing to do with classes. Even if they didn't have plans in motion so early into term, they definitely had a goal in mind as evidenced by the conversations he'd heard snippets of at lunch.
It was very ego-boosting to know Draco considered him enough of a snake to ask about his plans so casually, as if it was a given he would have something up his sleeve. Asked so casually, as if he'd be asking the same question to any one of his housemates given the chance.
But honestly… Harry hadn't given any structured thought to what he wanted out of this year just yet. Get to Hogwarts had been the biggest mountain this past summer, with literally everything going wrong with that plan and it almost not even happening in the final stretch, but now that he was here he'd been so relieved and caught up in trying to breathe deeply and get over his intense, painful relief that the holiday break was over that he hadn't refocused yet into planning for his next task or challenge or goal yet.
Frankly, he needed some time to not plan or scheme or do anything, but instead just enjoy being back in the castle with his friends. For the next couple weeks he had not considered doing a damn thing but waking up, going to classes, and lazing about Gryffindor tower with his Transfiguration joke book for company.
After that though… he hadn't considered what exactly he was after but so far as plans went, now that Draco brought the question up… yeah, he did have a goal in mind.
Well, the goal itself was simple, the execution… not so much.
And it wasn't so much a goal, as it was a defined fact:
He wasn't going back to Private drive.
They weren't going to take him alive if they tried.
In reality it wasn't going to be that drastic if he was smart about this, but he was up against Albus Dumbledore and he already suspected that that would be… challenging. Worst case, he couldn't do it in a year and needed some kind of work around to avoid anyone knowing where he was going for next summer—somehow slipping out of Hogwarts or off the train or even taking off into the floo network at King's Crossing Station as soon as the express got back to muggle London at the end of the school year and just fleeing before anyone could stop him. He could go into hiding for the summer, somehow, probably with a lot of help from Axeclaw and maybe even Blaise or Daphne. They were pretty untouchable even from Dumbledore and while he could probably trade something to the Greengrass family for their help, Blaise would probably get a huge amount of glee in pulling one over on the old man just on principle. Spending the summer with Blaise was a terrifying thought, but Harry knew he'd gone to Italy for this past summer and that was looking like a pretty attractive hiding spot if he could swing it. Not even Voldemort had tried the Italian wizards in the entirety of the war, so that was likely as safe as he was going to get for one summer from Dumbledore.
Besides, Blaise would be thirteen by then and if what Draco had told him was true, be getting a lot more pressure from his mother to start making connections (dating, Draco translated much to Harry's horror) and Blaise had already asked him to marry him once. Weather he was joking or not (honestly Harry did not know with him anymore), Harry knew he was rich and the "Potter" name was not unattractive to leeches like the Zabini family, so Dalia Zabini would probably welcome him along on their trip if she thought her son was getting black widow practice out of it.
Harry would not enjoy spending the summer that way, but it'd be a far cry from being locked in a shed for certain. And the knowledge he was 100% safe from both is relatives and Albus Dumbledore would be more than worth the trade of having to spend a couple months surviving Blaise as his worst—and Harry suspected it was definitely a lot worse than he'd ever witnessed the guy be so far.
He wouldn't be able to get away with it twice though, as he'd have the element of surprise at the end of this year if he kept his plans close to his chest, but it was only if he couldn't find a better solution in one year and needed some more time to see it through. The ultimate goal was to never be forced to go back to Private Drive, and he didn't actually know the kind of challenges were in front of him for that aside from the legality of it all that Axeclaw had explained. As of yet he had no concept of what he needed to do, not to mention anything closely resembling a plan of how to do it, so he couldn't confirm if he could do it in one year or would need two. Best case scenario, he figured it out before September was out and could work on executing the plan the rest of the year same as he'd done previously, and then come the end of the year he'd be free to do as he pleased for the coming summer without the threat of the Dursleys haunting him ever again.
But to Draco's question, as much as maybe he'd like to, Harry wasn't sure about bringing in Draco to these plans of his until he… you know, had a plan worth sharing. The blond was certainly connected but even with their conversation in the alley he hadn't quite wrapped his head around why he hated his relatives so much, and Harry wasn't interested in trying to explain it again to convey how important this goal was to him.
And it was, critically important to him. If he brought Draco in he'd not only have to explain it, but also convince the blond to treat it as seriously as he was, and he wasn't sure he could actually do that in the time frame he had.
And maybe that was all just excuses in the end, but it was as real to him now as any other fact he knew. For now it was his fight to win, or to lose. He'd love to work alongside Draco but… it didn't seem right, at least not before he knew what he was doing.
"Yeah, actually." He finally admitted after mulling those thoughts over a bit. "I… I need to think about it a bit more though. I know what I want, just no idea what kind of plan I need to get it."
"If you need help…?" Draco didn't seem to mind he wasn't going to say it, and Harry figured it was more than common enough for snakes to hide their plans even from each other. Obviously.
"Sure. Of course. You too?"
"Yeah same. I know what I want, no idea how to get it." He gave another put-upon sigh and shot him a vaguely annoyed look that made no sense to Harry at all. It wasn't the first time he'd been given that look though so he let it go. "Guess we'll have to work it out."
Harry liked that he was okay with keeping things from each other for now, but did recognize that Draco's offer to help was very real, and… advise from a natural-born Slytherin wasn't something to scoff at.
"What would you do if your opponent is stronger than you?" He probed, earned a curious grey eyed stare. "In every sense. Politically, magically, age…"
To his credit, Draco didn't ask for details and just tilted his head back to think it over. "Ask Father, to start." He admitted honestly, but by Harry's unamused deadpan continued without prompting. "I would guess Father would say I'd need to cash in favors, and if I didn't have any I'd have to get some. If it's an adult you're up against, you'll need adult allies I'd think, no way around it."
Harry pouted a bit at that. Adult allies? McGonagall, maybe?
No, the twins said she was loyal to Dumbledore… she was by far his favorite teacher and he did trust her, but that didn't also mean she didn't trust Dumbledore. Academic help was not the same thing as helping him go around Dumbledore's wide range of influence to free himself from adults' control—kids rarely got that kind of freedom in general and he was a bit more high profile than other orphans. She was the deputy headmistress and if the twins considered anything told to her to be something told to Dumbledore, Harry wasn't prepared to distrust their word on that just yet, they were too good with information for that to be wild Gryffindor conjecture or something. At least, Harry thought he had a good feel for when the twins were spouting wild Gryffindor rhetoric, and this wasn't something that fell into that category.
He didn't have a great reason not to trust her, but he was still a Gryffindor and his instincts were extremely conflicted over it. And being conflicted over someone did not make them a good ally—maybe she'd help him, maybe she wouldn't… maybe she'd think she was helping him and just make it worse.
Like Mrs. Malfoy.
Harry brushed it off quickly. The advice was sound, but he didn't exactly have any adult allies to lean on right now, so he was still at square one.
Something else Draco might know though…
"…do you know the names Marlene McKinnon, Peter Pettigrew, or Remus Lupin?"
Draco blinked at the sudden change in conversation, but just furrowed his brow to try and remember.
"Pettigrew for certain—though I think it's because his death was really well known at some point." He admitted, which caused Harry to deflate a bit. He had figured the fact he'd never heard of most of these people despite them being in his parents' will meant something had happened to them, but still… he'd had hope.
"Lupin and McKinnon ring a bell, they were magical lines at one point, though probably a while back as I think it's from studying lineage like forever ago." Draco squinted as he tried to recall. "I don't know anyone by those names today though, much less those people specifically. I could ask my parents?"
"That's okay, I might trade Daphne for it instead. Just wanted to check with you first." He waved it off like that wasn't hugely disappointing, switching gears a bit. "Does Longsgate or the Eileen Prince Foundation ring a bell?"
"Longsgate sort of does, I think Father's mentioned it but I'm not sure. The foundation though—not a clue. Do you know what it is?"
"No." He paused, but the fact the blond wasn't pressing for details made it comfortable enough to try and offer up the details himself for once. "I ah… I finally got to read my parents will right before term started."
Grey eyes fixed on him intently, but thankfully didn't give much away, for which Harry was grateful. He still wasn't sure how to feel about it himself, much less dealing with Draco's emotions should he have them.
"Those are all in it?" Was all he asked instead.
"Yeah. All of it was news to me though—my relatives aren't mentioned once, yet had all these people in it I've never met."
"McKinnon and Lupin were older names though. There's… I mean they could've died."
"Yeah." He let out a tired breath. He had figured as much.
"And the Foundation?"
"It was kind of… a lot to take in all at once. I didn't ask my account manager about that specifically."
"Right." Draco simply accepted that, and it was probably the simplest conversation they'd ever had. The surprisingly oblivious snake must finally be picking up on some things after all this time to be able to read the room for once. "Speaking of a foundation, did you ever get an answer on your investment? That glasses shop, right? It could be a good opportunity depending on how it's set up."
"Oh, right," Harry blinked, remembering one of the letters Axeclaw had given him when he first got to Gringotts had information on that. He couldn't quite remember what it had said though… and it certainly felt like seven or eight lifetimes had passed since their conversations about finances and investments around this very same lake at the end of term last year.
That's right… Draco had been tutoring him about how to handle the Potter-Monroe family estates like a pureblood. And that had only been a couple months ago. To Draco… nothing had changed.
Nothing had changed.
Business as usual… if only he could really believe that.
"How are the two related, if they were set up correctly or whatever?" He was happy to jump back into safer territory, and he enjoyed both the late summer breeze and Draco's voice washing over him as they finished their walk around the grounds.
000
Getting back to Hogwarts was good.
Distance, helped. It helped a lot more than Harry had expected it to, but when you had things to do in a day and people to talk to and masks to wear, it made pushing terrible things that haunted the dark corners of your mind into, you know, a dark corner and ignore it for most of the day.
It helped that he was no longer required to be the instigator for a lot of his day-to-day activities like he was last year. The football club had been almost entirely taken over by Lu and Dean, and now it was less him trying to get people together and more Lu coming up to him to let him know when the next practice was. Wood hunted him down at the earliest opportunity to talk their quidditch practice schedule, and while he had the expected freak out that Harry couldn't attend practices for the first couple weeks of term, upon hearing McGonagall supported it he shut right up (he knew what Harry knew, that if McGonagall was willing to risk quidditch for it then it was pretty damn serious). Classes were normal in that he was given work and had time to then do said work at his leisure, and he was procrastinating a lot less than he had last year. Hagrid sent him notes at breakfast inviting him to tea, the twins scooped him up for a minor prank here and there, Daphne approached him first for a deal to get his Transfiguration notes, Neville invited him to watch him garden in the Greenhouses, McGonagall provided him new texts or spells to research unprompted because she now knew he'd be interested in it, and even Blaise would occasionally appear to pick a fight with him before vanishing like he wasn't actually searching out a Gryffindor just for his entertainment. Draco needed no prompting to go back to their in-school letter writing and now that Harry was actually responding, even if it was slower than it'd once been, he wasn't nearly as pushy as he'd been over the summer.
He didn't need to do anything, people came to him now. Which was good because he didn't quite have the energy or spark he once did to go out and instigate things every single time. He still liked talking to his friends and being involved and busy, but he found himself hesitating or just keeping to himself when left alone—so people coming to him and asking him to get involved was a lot easier. It was kind of a relief to just accompany others on their own plans that they're in charge of, and that he could just enjoy the ride without thinking too hard on it.
He also highly enjoyed the connections others seemed to have made without him: the best examples being Lu and Susan practically joined at the hip most days (and always arguing, from what Harry was seeing from a distance), and he'd actually caught Blaise having a civil conversation with Dean a couple times when Harry and Draco were forcing the two friend groups to co-exist for a time walking between classes. He'd even been taken very off guard to catch Daphne and Hannah huddled in the library not too soon after term started—and by the magazine they were giggling over they were most definitely not studying.
Those kinds of connections and conversations would almost definitely not have ever existed without him meddling last year, and it filled him with an insane amount of pride despite not having anything to do with people making the decision to be friends or not. It made him want to do more this year, he just… didn't quite have the energy at the moment to do so at the moment. But letting things be as they were for now was not a bad thing at all.
Everyone around him at least seemed… genuinely happier, doing their own things and living their lives. Harry did not need to participate, but there was this unspoken open invitation to join in if he wanted to, and often times even an actual offer for him to accompany them. But he was not obligated to do anything and he was also fully okay to just sit and enjoy everyone enjoying each other around him and it… helped.
As the world around him got warmer, so did he— and the chill inside of him he couldn't seem to fully shake too.
The potions Madam Pomfrey gave him did wonders and he slowly felt more himself than he had in a long while—less out of breath going up Hogwarts' many stairs, able to go longer in the football club, even taking walks around the lake to breathe in the fresh air while the warmer weather lasted. The most critical potions were definitely still the dreamless sleep drafts though—he always had a calming draught on him but hadn't actually needed to use it for quite a while with everything else distracting him in a day.
Sleeping though… he'd thought he was tired enough to not need it and had ended up in Neville's bed again, and luckily the blond just moved over in the middle of the night to let him do it, even half asleep as he usually was. He'd never mentioned it, but he had started visibly taking note of when Harry was taking a potion before bed, and when he wasn't.
And unfortunately he wasn't far enough ahead to know the silencing charm, so Seamus being the sincerely good guy he was definitely noticed him either just not sleeping, or waking up from unpleasant dreams more often than not, and Dean therefore caught on quick as well. They had brought up their concern that he went to bed as late as they did, but was always gone hours before they woke, on top of his poor sleep itself being pretty obvious in the room they shared.
Luckily they were easily dissuaded by Harry's excuses, and honestly he couldn't even remember what excuses he'd given them as the lying came so easily and they were so easily deflected. So while they knew, they didn't bring it up again, which was a relief.
True to her promise Pomfrey had started attempting to teach him the glamour charm when he visited to refresh his potion stores, but it was certainly not as easy as Transfiguration was and despite some honest effort had made no progress with it. Until he could figure it out he was back to his muggle make-up, and now in addition to his scars he was hiding growing circles beneath his eyes that not even the nutrient potions he was still taking could fix.
All in all, life was… full again. Good or bad, seemed to depend on the hour (or even the minute honestly) but as he got into the hang of Hogwarts life again the good was certainly outnumbering the bad.
He'd almost forgotten to pay attention on anything that wasn't the ebb and flow and day and night until he was shocked out of it by a flash going off at breakfast that momentarily blinded him.
"You're Harry Potter!" A tiny voice squeaked, and Harry could only stare wide-eyed as he slowly turned and was met with a tiny light blond standing next to him at the breakfast table holding an old-fashioned camera that seemed to dwarf him.
"Er… what?" He blinked cleverly, because it wasn't 8am yet and even having been up for three hours already he wasn't fully there to be able to react properly to this. That was his excuse at least, when it took him a couple seconds to connect the dots, but he did belatedly figure it out. "Wait, I was warned about you. You're Colin, right?"
The little boy seemed to be in awe that he knew his name, and nodded eagerly. "Yep! I'm Colin Creevey! I wanted to say hi but you sit at different tables all the time!"
"Well you could've said hi at any table, they don't bite." He paused, then immediately backtracked. "Except the Slytherins. They might." He admitted, and the boy balked before nodding seriously to that advice.
"Okay, good to know! I'm actually taking pictures of everything for my brother and parents—had no idea magic was real until I got my letter so I'm photographing everything—can I take your picture?"
"Didn't you already do that?" Harry leaned his elbow on the table to cradle his chin in his hand, watching the excitable boy in amusement.
"Wha—uh I mean—"
"Taking pictures without permission is very rude you know."
"Sorry!" He wailed in panic and Harry couldn't help but grin. He now knew he was spending way too much time with the Slytherins because the only thought pinging around his head was aw, what a cute baby Gryffindor. He was only a year older but this kid's squeaky voice and the fact he was vibrating on the spot made him seem half his actual age, easy.
"I'm okay with a picture but if you spread it about to anyone but your family or don't ask permission again you won't be able to find that camera for a week, hear me?" He threatened lightly with a grin and the boy quailed but nodded eagerly as he lifted his camera.
Only to let out a tiny eep as Harry lifted it from his hands and pulled on his sleeve gently, handing it to Neville beside him who was watching the exchange in equal amusement.
"What's the point of documenting a memory if you're not in it?" He teased, pulling the boy to his side and posing for Neville, who got with the program and lifted it obediently. Colin looked very flabbergasted to suddenly have the roles reversed and didn't not quite manage to smile in time for the flash to go off. Harry gave his very best camera-worthy grin and it felt good to be vain again as he patted the boy on the head while his camera was placed gently back into his hands. "There you go, happy?"
"I—uh—yeah! Thank you!" he perked up, taking a few seconds for his brain to stop short-circuiting but then getting back to it at full steam. "That's so awesome, I was so excited to meet you! When I was reading about the magical world there were a bunch of books on you you know and everything you did is just so cool!"
Harry's humor evaporated in a puff and he felt his temple twitch.
"Like you defeating the dark lord and the scar you got and all that was so cool! I heard you had dark hair though but you hair is so pretty and I when I told Dennis—he's my brother—I was going to meet Harry Potter he just about screamed it was awesome! But you're like super cool and I-!"
A dark hand came from behind and clamped itself over Colin's overactive mouth, Harry looking up and letting out a sigh of relief at Dean's abashed smile, a snickering Seamus behind him.
"Figured you might've stabbed him if he kept going." The second year joked, but also at the same time was not joking at all.
Harry appreciated that he understood. And that must've been apparent on his face because Seamus leaned around Dean to poke Colin pointedly in the shoulder to get his attention.
"Word of advice kid? Don't do that. He will hex you."
Colin, still muffled by Dean's hand, turned big blue eyes to Harry imploringly, and only got a very wide, slightly mischievous grin in return.
"Take the advice." He offered helpfully, and he started nodding rapidly enough that Dean let him go.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean anything by it!"
"It's alright, I just don't like being called a celebrity for no reason. You don't even know me and are talking about things I've supposedly done? Bit rude, isn't it? Not to know me as a person first?" He poked half playfully, half seriously, and Colin wilted immediately.
"Right, yes, okay I won't do that—sorry!"
"It's fine—have a waffle." He pulled the kid onto the bench between him and Neville and he beamed in awe to be invited in, to the point Neville looked worried he was going to pass out. "You said you're a muggleborn? What do you like best about Hogwarts so far?" He prompted politely, and like that the boy was off, mouth moving a mile a minute again but at least on far safer topics.
It was also highly amusing to hear about the wonder of magical boarding school through new eyes after they'd been there a year already, and some things that they'd gotten used to easily—like Peeves, Hagrid, the Transfiguration professor being able to casually turn into a cat—still being so new and novel and weird to fresh eyes that Harry was fascinated. Even if the speed and enthusiasm in which Colin could speak was a bit of a headache, in small doses this was probably fine. And maybe he'd calm down once he got used to Hogwarts too… maybe.
He was so caught up in trying to understand the first year's rapid-fire babbling, he almost didn't notice someone coming up behind him until he was being tapped on the shoulder and a familiar cough interrupting him. And just him, because Colin didn't seem to notice and did in fact not stop for breath.
"Oh hey Lu," he greeted the Ravenclaw above him casually, almost thinking he was going to say something about the football practice later today before realizing he was not unaccompanied.
"Morning. Mind if I add another first year into the mix? This is Luna." He kind of didn't give Harry a chance to answer before gently pushing another small (small? She was his height—damn his short genes!) first year forward and she blinked widely at him with a rather dazed smile like she didn't mind the man-handling at all.
"Hello," He greeted automatically, and she nodded politely back.
"Hello. You've got quite a lot of humputs this morning, must be deep thoughts."
Uh… what?
Harry looked up at Lu again for clarification, but the Ravenclaw was just gone.
"Uh, what?" he repeated out loud then and the blond only smiled calmly.
"Humputs buzz around people with conflicted thoughts. And you've got quite a bit of them."
"Humputs?" Neville nervously asked from the side and she nodded happily in confirmation. By his tone he'd never heard of them before, and Neville was decently good with plants an animals having been raised pureblood so… Harry had some serious reservations about this.
"It's a bit surprising you have humputs instead of wrackspurts though, you seemed like the type to have wrackspurts. That's my bad though." Her voice was lofty and… kind of ditzy sounding as she apologized very sincerely and quite politely for apparently mistaking him, and honestly Harry just could not wrap his head around this.
If he'd forgotten to pay attention, he was most certainly focused on the present now.
000
"That was devious." Susan snickered, Lu plopping down at the Hufflepuff table beside her and snatching a piece of toast from her plate. She let it happen, too amused with the small Ravenclaw now trailing after a red-headed mystery with stars in her eyes as a very confused Harry Potter left the Great Hall with two blond first years cheerfully following him like lost ducklings. His dormmates were following at a safe distance and visibly snickering at his predicament that he seemed at a total loss of how to handle for once.
"What can I say, Harry causes almost as many problems as he fixes." He snickered, earning a light smack to his shoulder.
Luna hadn't made a fantastic entrance into Ravenclaw house. She was eerie and… well, super weird. In a house that spent 90% of their time talking facts, riddles, and knowledge, a girl who believed in non-existent creatures so blatantly was a bit much. And kids were not known to be kind to those who were so vastly different than them.
Lu had only taken notice of her because her sense of style was even weirder than Harry's, and had quickly noticed her year mates avoided her like the plague. And then her shoes had started going missing and Lu knew something was up. He wasn't planning on getting involved with the first years' drama until he'd casually mentioned it to Susan during lunch one day, and she'd steadfast refused inaction as a viable option, for some reason demanding he do something to fix it so…
The upper years of his house wanted as much to do with the weirdo child as her year mates did, so Lu had decided the answer was probably not going to be in Ravenclaw, and he'd had enough of a certain flashy Gryffindor preaching inter-house unity to think of who just might be interested in helping instead. Luna had caught his attention because she was just as out there as Harry had been, only not even a fraction as sociable or popular. He was sure she'd grow up to be as clever as any Ravenclaw he knew given she never even hesitated with the common room password, but Luna also didn't seem to care at all that people around her were actively and blatantly bullying her for her weirdness. So she didn't even try to defend herself like Harry always seemed to be able to defend his own quirks, and had been from day one at Hogwarts.
Which, Lu was torn between thinking that was rather foolish, but also kind of admirable of her in its own way.
Introducing the two was logical, as Harry had always been very vocal about inter-house relationships, more so than any other student or even any teacher in Hogwarts at all. Lu would've hesitated in introducing them for fear of the weirdness the two combined could create, but Susan wasn't taking no for an answer so he gave in and just accepted whatever was going to come from this, no matter how weird it ended up being.
Not to mention complicated.
Harry was undoubtedly popular, as in the span of one school year he'd gone from being the weirdo first-year with strange, radical ideals to somehow having Slytherin house wrapped around his little finger, star of the Gryffindor quidditch team (which earned him forgiveness for 90% of his sins in the lions' eyes), a public figure in the rapidly-growing football club, and a known prodigy in Transfiguration (which didn't hurt his chances with the eagle house at all). His presence was loud even in the din of the Great Hall, hair like a beacon around the large room and his reputation both as the Boy Who Lived and also as the utter wild-child "Harry Potter" had turned out to be meaning that at any given time, someone could (and likely was) having a conversation about him somewhere, whether their words were good or bad, complimentary or malicious. Everyone knew him on some level, if not personally in some way given he seemed to actively be trying to meet everyone in the whole school before he graduated.
He was likable or hateable—loved or feared—no matter what you thought of him everyone had some thoughts concerning him. He was a remarkably polarizing person which made it almost impossible to stand in front of him and feel nothing. Which meant that by taking a weird little Ravenclaw under his wing, Luna was going to be the talk of the school at least for a couple weeks. She was going to get a lot of flack and interest, and while Lu was sure the small girl wouldn't care at all about any of it, Harry probably would.
If anyone tried to give her a hard time (which, they probably would, because even eagles could be damn stupid about some things) Lu had a feeling a lot of Ravenclaws were going to end up in the hospital wing in the next month or so. Or they were going to get a deluge of pranks centered around their house, which he was not looking forward to.
Maybe he should sit at the Hufflepuff table on a more permanent basis for a while.
Either way, with Harry as her protector then Luna was going to be safe from house bullies at least, but her overall life would be far more complicated. Not that she would care, but Lu was not stupid enough to think he wouldn't get caught in it eventually.
Well, what'll be will be. He gave up, munching on his stolen toast happily and joining Susan in watching Harry's face as he tried in vain to follow along with what the heck his new young friend was talking about.
Heh, Harry being taken off guard for once is actually super funny.