Harry threw open the portrait door for the Slytherin common room and burst inside excitedly. He stood in the doorway for a few moments; looking around the common room that he missed so badly, when it went dead silent. Every Slytherin in the room stared at him in shock before abruptly bursting in to applause.
"How'd you do it?" Williams called.
"We're definitely winning the next match!" Harry heard Flint cheer.
"The Heir is back!" Someone else cheered.
"Shut up!" Harry yelled, a smile still firmly planted on his face. "Where's-"
"Your dorm," a fourth year girl told him quickly, guessing what (or who) he was looking for.
"Thanks!" he called to her, already making his way to the stairs.
He ran up the spiral staircase and threw open the second year dorm just as dramatically as he had the portrait door.
"HARRY!"
Hermione, Theo, Draco, Susan, Ron, Luna, Neville, and Blaise all jumped up and rushed towards him. Thankfully they stopped about an arms distance away.
"How'd it go?" Susan asked.
"You've missed so much homework!" Hermione cried.
"Did Dumbledore cry?" Draco asked.
"Are you back for good?" Neville asked.
"Hold on," Harry laughed at them all talking on top of each other. "Merlin. Breathe."
He looked around the room and saw it had been decorated with green and silver streamers, balloons, and a banner that said 'WELCOME BACK HARRY'.
"You guys must have been pretty confident I was going to come back," he said with a brow raised in their direction.
Blaise shrugged and gave him a grin, "We figured either you would come back or Susan would blow up the castle so it was going to be a party either way."
"I knew you'd be back," Luna said, giving Harry a warm smile.
"Thanks guys, really." He was flattered they'd skip classes and make this little party just for him.
They didn't forget you.
"We have treacle tart IF you tell us what happened," Ron said with a waggle of his brows.
Harry laughed and sat on Draco's bed, since Hogwarts apparently hasn't returned his yet.
"Alright so listen up..."
Harry sat, surrounded by his friends, and told them everything that happened since Snape told him someone else got petrified.
"You sued the Headmaster?" Hermione asked with eyes as round as plates.
"I can't believe it worked," Ron said.
Draco stuck his nose up in the air slightly, "Of course it worked," he said pompously. "My father is a genius."
"Dumbledore's going to hate you," Neville said nervously.
"Tell new something new," Harry said with an eye roll, snagging a pastry off the overloaded plate.
"Where've you been mate?" Ron asked. "Snape was pulling his hair out trying to find you."
Harry hesitated for the briefest of moments.
"Here and there," he said evasively. "But mostly Snape's the last couple of weeks."
"I'm glad you're back," Luna said with a soft smile.
Harry grinned back at her, "I am too."
"Susan said we aren't supposed to go looking for the Heir or Slytherin's Chamber," Theo said with a pout. "Do you even know what kind of historical artifacts could be in a place like that?"
"Don't care," Harry shrugged. "Whoever the Heir is if they leave us alone I say we leave them alone. But if anyone in Slytherin asks, I'm still the Heir," he added on with a severe look towards the other kids.
He wasn't going to lose the fear and respect of the rest of the Slytherin's if nobody else was willing to claim it publicly. Harry had gotten hit, yelled at, expelled, and spent two weeks alone in London at the expense of people thinking he was the Heir of Slytherin. He'd bloody well earned the right to claim the perks that came along with it.
"But you weren't here for the last attack," Hermione pointed out logically.
Harry leaned towards the bushy hair witched and lowered his voice dramatically, "It's called magic, Mione." He straightened back up and grinned at her, "And that's my official stance."
"What about Dumbledore?" Blaise asked. "I hoped he'd be arrested instead of the Groundskeeper."
Harry shrugged, "Hopefully there'll be another attack and Dumbledore will at least get fired. I think Draco's dad is working on a petition from the Governors to do it."
Mister Malfoy had actually confided to Harry that he knew quite a bit of blackmail on most of the other Governors of the Hogwarts Board and he wasn't above using it to get them to agree.
"You shouldn't hope for another attack," Hermione said harshly. "The Muggleborn students are terrified and some of them are talking about withdrawing."
"Not my problem," Harry said. "Muggleborns didn't have an issue with me being expelled, did they?"
Hermione huffed and crossed her arms, apparently she didn't have an argument against that.
"Enough about all that," Susan said with a wave of her hand. "Let Neville tell you about the fight he had with Seamus Finnigan!"
Harry spent the rest of the morning in the dorm with his friends laughing and talking with his friends.
It was good to be back.
Returning to classes after lunch Harry started to regret returning to Hogwarts, just a little. A lot of students came up to him to apologize for blaming him for the attacks, but there were still quite a few who shot him distrustful looks.
He didn't mind the distrustful looks, not anymore. But he was beginning to miss the quiet peace of Snape's house.
He hissed curse words in Parsletongue at the students who still whispered about him, enjoying the way they paled at the noise.
"You're insane," Ron laughed during their free period after a group of frightened Ravenclaws ran off.
"They were apologizing!" Draco said.
"I don't care, I don't like them," Harry said simply. He'd recognized the dark haired Ravenclaw seeker, Cho, and had no interest in an apology from that twit.
"Incoming," Blaise muttered.
Harry looked up from the Transfiguration textbook he'd been copying notes out of, McGonagall expected him to catch up quickly she'd said, and spotted two of Ron's brothers heading their way.
"Ugh, what do they want?" Ron groaned.
"Little snakes!" One of the redheaded twins cried, stopping to stand in front of them.
"And the Master Snake himself!" The other one said with a grin towards Harry.
"What do you want?" Harry asked cooly, still irritated from their previous duel.
"We came to apologize little Master Snake," one of the twins said.
"We had no idea talking to snakes was one of your hidden powers," the other one added with a waggle of his brows that looked a lot like Ron's.
"He doesn't accept, go away," Ron said tersely.
The twins looked at each other and seemed to silently communicate something before they turned to Harry with matching grins.
"If you won't accept an apology-"
"-How about a rematch?"
"Why would you want a rematch?" Theo asked incredulously. "Harry will kill you."
The twins shrugged.
"Maybe he will-"
"- maybe he won't."
"But we'll need a rematch to find out."
"Fine," Harry agreed quickly. "But fair warning, if you summon a snake again I'll tell it to bite you, won't I?"
"As if we'd use the same trick twice," one of them winked.
"Especially since it didn't work the first time," the other one muttered.
"When and where?" Harry asked, eager for a chance to finish the duel they'd started. It had been exhilarating dueling two students at once. Much quicker paced than just one at a time. And even though Lestrange and Dolohov has stronger spells than Fred or George, the Twins worked in tandem and made up for power with pure creativity.
Harry was still confident he'd win, but it would be worth drawing it out to see the ideas they'd reveal.
The twins looked at each other and seemed to do their silent communication thing again.
"McGonagall will flay us if we have another duel in the common room..."
"Plus, no snakes allowed in the lions den..."
"How about our common room?" Ron offered with a smirk. "Nobody'll say anything if it's Harry."
"Plus who would complain about watching two Gryffindors getting their arses kicked?" Draco added with his own smirk.
"Excellent," one of the twins said.
"We'll do it right after dinner then," said the other.
"Toodles Snakies!" The twins called, running off as the bell rang for the next class.
"Oh they're going to die," Ron said, happily grabbing his bag off the ground beside him.
"They're your brothers," Blaise said with a raised brow. "Surely you don't want Harry to kill them."
Ron shrugged, leading the way towards the defense classroom.
"They always think it's funny to prank me. So I figure they deserve whatever they have coming."
Harry sat down next to Susan and thought maybe having brothers wasn't as brilliant as he thought it would be.
"So you won't be mad if I hurt them?" he checked with Ron.
"Who are we hurting?" Susan whispered.
"Fred and George Weasley," Harry whispered back. "It's a rematch tonight after dinner."
"I mean, don't like hurt them bad, ya know?" Ron said sheepishly. "They're prats but they're loads more fun than Ginny or Perce."
"Fair enough," Harry agreed easily.
They talked about some of the coursework Harry had missed since he'd been gone. It didn't sound like much more than hearing stories about Lockhart killing werewolves and ghouls.
"Harry, how are you?" The idiot in question himself said, walking up to Harry's table. "I'm glad you're back! Of course I knew the whole time you were innocent, I must have said it a million times! A good kid like yourself? No way you were the Heir of Slytherin!"
Harry looked right up at Lockhart's face and smiled as sweetly as he could. Which, admittedly, was not that sweetly.
"Go away before I cut your head off," he hissed in Parsletongue.
Lockhart turned pale and stumbled backwards so quickly he tripped over Draco's chair and landed on the floor.
The Slytherin boys, and Susan, of course roared with laughter.
"Mate I'm going to remember that forever," Ron howled when Lockhart excused himself quickly.
"You know he's going to fix his hair," Susan said, wiping tears of laughter off her cheeks.
"You're a prat," Draco said fondly.
"I'm your prat," Harry drawled back with a cheeky grin.
Lockhart returned to the room, his hair once again sleekly styled, so Draco didn't reply but he did stick his tongue out at Harry.
During dinner that night the whole Hall was filled with whispers. Not only about Harry and his friends returning to their regular spot at the table, but also about the upcoming duel.
A lot of the Slytherins had been on the receiving end of Fred and George's pranks and were looking forward to seeing revenge. The Slytherin Quidditch team was also hoping Harry would injure them bad enough to put them in the Hospital Wing until at least their final match against them, even though that was six weeks away in the beginning of March.
"Get your bets in!" Ron was calling down the table. "Odds are 7-1 on Harry winning outright, 10-1 on a draw, and 3-1 on Harry leaving a facial scar!"
"Why a facial scar?" Neville asked with his brows furrowed.
"People are starting to think it's Harry's signature move," Blaise said with a smirk in Lestrange's direction.
"Why are the odds better that I'll leave a scar than if I'll win?" Harry asked. Hanging around Ron, Theo, and Blaise had taught him much more about gambling than he'd ever thought to learn before.
Theo shrugged, "We don't make the odds, the bets placed determine them. They could go up or down before the duel."
"Can I place a bet?" Hermione asked.
"You're going to bet Granger?" Draco asked, surprised since Hermione usually lectured them for betting.
Hermione stuck her nose up just a bit as she responded; "I figure it's a sure thing and I need some new books."
"Course you can Mione," Ron said quickly.
Hermione pulled five gold coins out of her pocket.
"5 galleons on Harry winning outright."
Susan poked Harry lightly in the arm, "If you lose you'll owe Hermione new books."
Luna patted Hermione's hand, "He won't lose."
"Thanks Luna," Harry said. "I'll do my best."
Hermione and Ron both gave him steely looks which made Harry think Ron also had a lot of gold riding on this duel.
He wasn't sure if he was flattered that Ron was backing him over his brothers or a little worried by that kind of ruthlessness that would lead him to hope Harry won.
He decided to settle on impressed and mentally swore to make it a good show without critically injuring the twins.
... Unless of course they deserved it.
Fred and George entered their common room that night to a sea of green clad students booing and hissing at them. Harry admired their ability to keep smiling and they even made an audacious bow.
"Before we begin-"
"- Dearest Master Snake-"
"-We want to know the terms of the duel."
Harry blinked at them for a moment.
"What do you want?" he asked. He didn't usually duel for 'terms', he dueled because he was challenged.
The Twins looked at each other before giving Harry identical grins.
"We want you to help us with a project-"
"We need your snakey powers."
"If you win, you just want me to talk to a snake for you?" Harry asked slowly.
"Yep."
He grinned at them, what a lame thing to ask for.
"Deal. But when I win I want one no questions asked favor from each of you."
Harry heard Ron snort from behind him. He knew Ron was thinking about how he still owed Harry a favor with the same terms.
"We won't kill anyone," one of the twins said quickly.
"And we don't really want to be expelled just yet," the other added.
"Oi!" Ron called. "What're you saying about Harry?"
Harry ignored him and shrugged at the twins.
"Fair enough. No asking you to kill anyone or do anything that would get you expelled. Anything else is fair?"
They both nodded and offered their hands to shake.
"We'll work on the honor system here," he said coolly, backing away from their proffered hands.
"Alright, listen up!" Theo yelled. "All bets are closed!"
"Rules of the duel are simple for the Gryffindor's sake; no illegal spells, nothing fatal," Blaise added.
"No seconds, if Harry is unable to continue the duel ends!" Draco yelled with a smirk that indicated what he thought of that possibility.
"Are you guys ready?" Neville said.
Harry backed away from the twins and had his magic erect a shield around the three of them.
Harry jerked his head at them as they made sweeping bows at him.
"Ready? Go!" Susan yelled.
Harry immediately danced out of the way of two oncoming stunners.
Shock them.
One of the twins dodged the spell but the other was hit with a light jolt of pain.
"Master Snake and his silent spells," the one who was just hit by the spell said, quickly moving out of Harry's next spell.
"He's a sneaky, sneaky, snake," the other one said, sending three quick attacks at Harry to try and prevent him from attacking his brother.
"Can anyone tell you two apart?" Harry asked casually, easily flicking his wrist to block their spells.
"Nope, not even-"
"-our own mother."
Harry thought that would be really convenient. To have an identical person to work with, plan with, and to shift blame on to if they were caught.
"Nice."
He lazily sent a jinx at one of them that landed on its target and dyed the red hair a bright neon green.
"Oi!" The red headed one yelped. "You've killed him!"
Harry heard the Slytherins all laughing and egging him on and gave the twins a small shrug as he continued to easily dodge and dispel their own spells.
"I'll call you Red and Green," he laughed, hitting Red with a new curse he learned that would make him temporarily blind.
"Finite Incantum," Green yelled, just as Harry hoped he would.
He threw a cutting curse at Green and smiled as it made contact with his knees and Green howled with pain as it cut through his trousers and sliced open his skin.
"You guys fight good together, but it makes you vulnerable and weak," he laughed.
"Yeah?" Red panted as he threw a few really creative transfiguration tricks at Harry, one of which included conjuring water and turning it into knife shaped icicles. "Suppose you don't have anyone you'd be cut open for?"
"Fuck off," Harry snarled, sending a much more painful shock towards him and dancing quickly out of an incoming spell from Green.
"Ooh, did we hit a nerve?" Green laughed, his tone light and his dark brown eyes twinkling with mischief.
"Does little Master Snake wish he had a twin?" Red laughed.
"Or just someone to call famil-"
Harry hit Green with a strong cutting spell that missed his target of his shoulder but landed on the side of his head as he tried to duck away from it.
"God damnit," Harry growled. "Look what you made me do! I was trying to not cut your fucking face."
Green snarled, apparently Harry had struck a nerve.
Probably several of them in the side of his head.
The twins were getting tired. They couldn't keep it up for much longer and they were beginning to repeat some of their original spells and tricks.
"Don't forget the terms," Harry called as he lobbied their weak hexes with freezing rain blown in their faces. "If you change your mind about that favor it won't be pretty."
Before the twins had a chance to respond Harry had pulled hard on his core and put as much magic as he could in his request,
Give me their wands. Levitate them in place.
He considered for a fraction of a second all the ways he'd heard about Fred and George humiliating his fellow Slytherins.
Levitate them in place, upside down.
Harry easily caught their two nearly identical wands as they yelped and were lifted in the air by their ankles, their robes now flapping down around their faces.
"Winner- HARRY POTTER!" Draco yelled to the deafening applause and cheers of Slytherin.
Harry slowly walked up to the Twins and twirled their wands in his hands casually.
"I might not have a 'family', but I could kill you with a flick of my wrist," he hissed quietly enough that none but the two of them could hear. He flicked his wrist then to drop them to the floor, probably rather painfully, and tossed their wands on the floor in front of them.
"And now- you both owe me a favor," he said with a crooked grin.
The twins groaned as they slowly made their way to their feet and offered Harry their hands again.
"That was a low blow mate-" Green said.
"-Heat of the moment accident." Red added.
"Good showing there-"
"-friends?"
Harry laughed, which interestingly seemed to make Green, who was already rather pale from blood loss, go even paler beneath his freckles.
"No thanks," he drawled. "But if you ever think about joining a gang let me know."
Harry thought it was Ron that groaned behind him but it might have been Draco too.
"Sounds good little Master Snake-"
"-If you'll excuse us-"
"-We have a medi-witch to lie to."
Fred and George left the common room with just as showy of bows as they entered it with.
"Thanks for not killing them mate," Ron said with a broad smile.
"And thanks for the new books I'm about to order!" Hermione called, counting her winnings.
Harry grinned as he watched Ron and Theo hand out out coins and winnings to the surrounding students. His grin faded just a bit when he saw Ginny Weasley standing by the wall, clutching a notepad, and glaring at Harry with a tear covered face.
"Did you get hit?" he asked her kindly. He didn't really care but he wouldn't feel great about himself if he accidentally hit a little girl by a spell meant for a much older student.
Ginny gave Harry a fierce sort of scowl, he realized her eyes were the exact same shade of brown as the Twins' had been.
"I hate you," she hissed. "You're a monster."
Harry stood there, shocked in to silence as Ginny turned on her heel and ran away.
You're a monster. You're a monster. You're a monster.
Harry tried to blink back white spots from his vision as he tucked his now trembling fists under his armpits.
You're a monster.
"Harry, are you alright?"
Harry shifted away from the person who came up to him and blinked a few times as he realized it was Luna.
"F-fine," he muttered. "Just tired."
Luna hummed and gave him a disbelieving sort of look.
"Professor Snape is in his office," she said kindly.
Snape.
Harry glanced up at his other friends, who were distracted by the mini-party the fourth year Slytherins were throwing.
"If you go now nobody will notice," Luna said as she danced slowly towards the other students.
Harry gave her a grateful nod and took off towards the portrait door, sticking to the edges of the room to avoid drawing attention to himself. He slipped out of the door and quickly made his way to Snape's office.
He wasn't sure what he wanted Snape for, but at a minimum he could get a potion to help him clear his head tonight.
He knocked softly on the Professors door before tucking his trembling fist back under his arm.
I hate you. Monster. You're a monster.
"Mister Potter," Snape said, opening the door. "Come in."
Harry took a few shaky steps in to the Professors office and glanced around quickly to make sure it was just Snape.
"Have a seat, would you like a drink?"
Harry thought Snape's voice sounded fuzzy, like there was something covering his own ears. He shook his head a few times, trying to displace whatever was distorting his hearing more than to answer the question.
"Sit," Snape instructed gesturing towards a chair in front of his desk that Harry moved towards automatically.
"Are you injured?" Snape asked with his fuzzy voice.
Was he? Harry felt odd but not hurt so he shook his head again.
"Are the Weasley Twins alive?" Snape asked with a quirk of his brows.
Harry nodded quickly. He saw them leave. They were hurt but not dead.
Monster. I hate you. Monster.
Snape flicked his wand and Harry flinched away from him. He wasn't ready for a fight. He didn't want to hurt Snape. He wasn't a monster.
I hate you.
"Drink," Snape said pushing a vial he'd summoned towards Harry.
Harry glanced at the bottle then back up at Snape and hesitantly shook his head. It wasn't the orange dreamless sleep that Snape made just for him and his mind felt too crowded to recognize what this light purple potion was.
"Calming Drought," Snape said, pulling the vial back towards himself and taking a sip. "Just a calming drought Potter."
Snape let Harry stare at him in silence for a couple of minutes before Harry slowly reached for the bottle and tipped it back all at once.
"Now, what can I help you with this evening?" Snape asked in a clear voice.
"You fixed my hearing. I thought it was a calming drought!" Harry accused, rubbing his now working ears.
"Was your hearing previously not working to its usual standards?" Snape asked.
"You know it wasn't because you did something!" Harry snarled. He knew it was a mistake to trust any potions from anyone. He was an idiot.
Monster. You're a monster. I hate you.
"I believe you were on the precipice of a panic attack," Snape explained slowly in a calm tone. "It is not uncommon for your hearing or vision to be affected by this. As the Calming Drought lowers your heart rate it also impacts the fight, flight, freeze section of your brain and restores any panic induced symptoms."
Harry straightened up in his chair and rolled his shoulders once to ease the tension in them.
"I was not having a panic attack," he lied. "I was just mad."
Snape didn't call him out on his obvious lie but just leaned back in his own seat.
"Why were you angry?"
Harry shrugged, he wasn't really mad. He didn't know how explain what he was feeling.
"D'you think I'm a monster?" he asked instead.
"I do not," Snape said evenly. "Do you believe you are a monster?"
Harry reached out for the desk and traced the wood grain with his thumbs.
You're a monster.
"Ginny Weasley does," he said.
"Do you?"
Harry shrugged.
"I could hurt you really badly," he said quietly, not looking up at Snape. "I could probably kill you."
"Would you?" Snape asked as casually as if they were discussing homework.
Harry thought about it and decided to answer honestly.
"If I needed to," he said.
"But not because I am a bastard or because I irritate you by asking about your 'feelings'?"
Harry glanced up and saw Snape's eyes were warm and he looked completely calm.
"Probably not," Harry conceded.
"Why does Ginevra Weasley believe you to be a monster?" Snape asked.
"I dunno," Harry said, feeling more frustrated now. "I didn't hurt her, I checked! She just said... said she hates me. And I'm- I'm a monster."
Snape furrowed his brows together, "Did you grievously injure her Twin brothers?"
Harry cocked his head at the man, "How'd you know about that?"
"Surely you didn't believe that the announcement of a rematch between Harry Potter and the Weasley Twins would stay a secret from the Professors," Snape drawled, looking momentarily amused. "In fact, Minerva bet that they would win."
"She's daft then," Harry said smugly. "I hope she lost a ton of money betting against me."
Snape's black eyes sparkled when he returned Harry's satisfied look, "She did."
Harry nearly laughed when he realized it must have been Snape she bet against.
"I digress though- did Ginevra witness you terrorizing her siblings during your duel?"
Harry thought back on the duel and shrugged. It was no worse than the first night had been and she'd been there for that too, hadn't she?
"Not really," he said. "I mean, they were bleeding a bit but they offered to be friends when it was over so if they didn't hate me why would she?"
Snape looked surprised again.
"Little Genevra Weasley who barely speaks in class and gave you moon eyes during her sorting said she hates you and she believes you are a monster?"
Harry nodded, feeling sick having it repeated like that again.
"I hate you, you're a monster," he whispered. "That's what she said. And- and what if she's right? That's what Dumbledore thinks too, right? That I'm evil and dark and a monster."
Snape leaned over his desk slightly, his eyes growing intense as he stared in to Harry's.
"Albus Dumbledore and Ginevra Weasley are imbeciles. I have told you this before and I will unfortunately likely have to repeat it multiple times throughout your life: people will always fear what they do not understand. Their gross misunderstanding of your nature does not change the nature of who you are."
Harry broke their eye contact to look down at the desk again.
"The Dursley's hated me and they kicked me out. I think..." Harry clenched his eyes shut as he confessed what had been weighing on him. "I think most people will hate me eventually. And then I'll just be alone again, won't I?"
"You believe I will eventually come to hate you and force you out of our home," Snape said, once again showing his uncanny ability to guess Harry's exact thoughts.
Harry jerked his head in a slight nod, keeping his eyes firmly closed. Snape could curse him for all he cares and it would probably be better than having to look at the man as he confessed this horrible weak vulnerability.
"Accio documents box," Snape called quietly.
Harry slowly opened his eyes to see what Snape had summoned since it didn't sound like he was continuing the conversation anymore.
Snape grabbed the black metal box that flew towards him and put it on his desk. He tapped it once with his wand and the top sprang open. Snape dug in the box, his hand entirely disappearing which made Harry believe the box was magically bigger on the inside than it was the outside, before pulling out a document.
"Gemino," Snape said, tapping the document he just scrawled on and setting the newly formed copy to the side. He tapped the original three times with his wand and it disappeared.
Harry watched him do all of this silently, unsure what was going on. When he didn't know what was going on it was always best to watch quietly.
"Here," Snape offered Harry the duplicated parchment. "This is for you. The original has been filed with Gringotts."
Harry slowly grabbed the parchment and stared uncomprehendingly at the first few lines.
"Title Deed for Spinner's End Cottage in Cokeworth, United Kingdom?" he read slowly. "I don't get it."
Snape slowly tilted the parchment back towards himself and pointed at a line Harry hadn't read yet.
"Owner, Harry James Potter." His eyes flew up to Snape's. "What the fuck?" he yelped. "You gave me your house?"
Snape nodded, calm as could be.
"I did. It is now your home and I would greatly appreciate it if you would allow me to continue residing there with you."
Harry thrust the paper back at Snape.
"You can't give me your house," he sputtered. "It's yours!"
"Actually it is now yours. And you can never be evicted from your own home."
"You- you could have just said that, you didn't need to give me the whole house!" Harry said, his mind reeling with Snape's actions.
"Would you have believed me?" Snape asked.
Harry hesitated and that was all the answer Snape apparently needed.
"Of course you wouldn't have. Why would you? You were evicted by your blood relatives, expelled from your school. Why would you believe you have finally found a permanent residence based solely on my word?"
Harry wanted to protest. He trusted Snape as much as he trusted Susan. More, probably. But... but he was right. Harry could be kicked out of anywhere at any time.
"Now you have a permanent residence that you can never be evicted from," Snape said again. "The house is yours."
Harry looked down again at the deed.
Mine, he thought with a fierce sort of happiness. Mine.
"I can pay you for it," he offered quietly. "I've got loads of gold and Griphook said I'll triple it before I graduate. I can pay you."
Snape gave Harry an odd look.
"I spoke with Madame Bones yesterday and as she believes that my impending guardianship will be completed by the end of February- you should know that as my ward I would have left you my house in my will regardless. I require no payment."
"But- wouldn't you leave it to your Heirs?" Harry asked. "Mister Malfoy said that's usually what people do."
Snape gave Harry a wry grin, "Do you believe I am hiding my many biological heirs from you?"
Harry blushed and looked down again at the paper. "No sir," he mumbled. "But I mean, you're young, aren't you? You could have some and they'd want your house, wouldn't they?"
Snape snorted and Harry looked up and saw he was blushing faintly as well but looked terribly amused.
"Despite the young age you believe me to be, I am rather happy with my lack of miniature Snape spawns," he said drily. "I apologize if I gave you the impression that I was a fan of children who are not you."
Harry cracked a small grin.
"If they aren't Gryffindors I think you'd be okay," he said.
"As if I would create children that were any less than perfect Slytherins," Snape said with a huff. "Perfect potion brewing Slytherins."
"Potion brewing Slytherins who don't get to inherit a house," Harry said, shaking the deed again. "They'll probably poison us, sir."
"Which is precisely why I shall not be having any,"
Snape said lightly. "Merlin forbid if I have to continuously dodge poisoning attempts by my own offspring."
Harry laughed and gave Snape a nervous smile.
"Are you sure?" he asked quietly. "I can sign whatever you want so it's your house again."
Snape waved his hand and relaxed back in his chair.
"As I said- I would deeply appreciate not being evicted from our home, but I believe that is a much smaller concern than you eternally worrying that you must appease me in order to maintain a residence."
Our home. Home.
"It's really mine," Harry whispered in awe. "My home. And nobody can take it from me?"
"They cannot," said Snape. "It is yours. Which, is rather fitting seeing as you have already redecorated."
Harry, who had came in the office feeling as if he were worth less than the dirt on the dungeon floors, gave a genuine smile at Snape.
Snape didn't think he was a monster. Snape thought he was worth something. Thought he was worth a whole house in fact.
"Thank you sir," he said. "I suppose I'll let you live there still," he added on with a thoughtful look.
"Gee, how could I ever repay such kindness?" Snape drawled.
Harry stood up and stretched his back out.
"Can I have the master bedroom then?" he asked with a smirk.
"Go to bed Potter," Snape said, not unkindly. "I will remind you that while you are not a monster- you are a brat."
Harry laughed on his way out of Snape's office, clutching the deed tightly.
He looked down at it again as he walked slowly back to the dorm.
Mine.
***
The second years were given something new to think about during the first week of February. The time had come to choose their subjects for the third year, a matter that Hermione and Theo, took very seriously.
"It could affect our whole future," she told their group as they pored over lists of new subjects, marking them with checks.
"I just want to give up Potions," said Neville gloomily.
Harry very privately thought that Snape would be incredibly relieved if Neville dropped his class. Neville was a part of Harry's gang, and his friend, but the Gryffindor boy was terrible at Potions.
"We can't," said Ron gloomily. "We keep all our old subjects, or I'd've ditched Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"But that's very important!" said Hermione, shocked.
"Not the way Lockhart teaches it," said Ron. "I haven't learned anything from him except not to set pixies loose."
Draco and Susan had been sent letters from all the witches and wizards in their families, giving them different advice on what to choose.
"I think I'll do Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes," Draco eventually decided.
"I'm taking Arithmancy and Runes," Blaise said. "So we'll have at least one new class together."
"Hermione and I are taking Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy, and Runes as well," Theo said. "She wanted to take all the electives though," he added with a roll of his eyes.
"They could be important!" Hermione said defensively. "The classes determine what jobs you can get in the future!"
"Wait, really?" Harry asked. "How do you know what classes you'll need for the job you want?"
Susan gave him a knowing smirk, "Take what you want Harry. Fudge only graduated with five NEWTS- there's no specific courses for Minister of Magic."
Harry grinned at her as he ticked the boxes for Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. He thought Divination would help him learn more about prophecies and Care of Magical Creatures would guarantee he'd have at least one class that probably wouldn't require long essays to be written.
"You want to be the Minister of Magic?" Hermione asked in a strangled sort of voice.
Harry gave her a puzzled frown, "So what if I do? Why not, huh?"
"Merlin help us," Theo muttered. "You'll create an international war."
Harry shrugged, "But we'd win."
None of the other kids looked very reassured by that.
***
"Happy Valentine's Day," Luna hummed, sitting across from Harry at the Slytherin table and sliding a chocolate frog to each of their group.
"Thanks Luna," Blaise said with a grin. "Happy Valentine's Day to you too."
"This day is bloody mad," Ron moaned, glancing around despairingly at the decorated Great Hall.
The walls were all covered with large, lurid pink flowers. Worse still, heart-shaped confetti was falling from the pale blue ceiling. Ron and Draco were looking sickened, and Hermione and Susan seemed to have been overcome with giggles.
Lockhart, wearing lurid pink robes to match the decorations, was waving for silence at the Head Table. The teachers on either side of him were looking stony-faced. From where he sat, Harry could see a muscle going in Professor McGonagall's cheek. Snape looked as though someone had just fed him a large beaker of Skele-Gro. Harry gave the man a broad grin when he glanced Harry's way which earned him a very fierce scowl.
"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart shouted. "And may I thank the forty-four people who have so far sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all — and it doesn't end here!"
Lockhart clapped his hands and through the doors to the entrance hall marched a dozen surly-looking dwarfs. Not just any dwarfs, however. Lockhart had them all wearing golden wings and carrying harps.
"What the fuck," Harry hissed. "He did not force a dozen dwarfs to dress up for him." He glared up at Lockhart before deciding to use this chance to learn more about dwarfs.
"That's inhumane," Susan gasped, losing her giggles in favor of gaping at the surly-faced dwarves.
"My friendly, card-carrying cupids!" beamed Lockhart. "They will be roving around the school today delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog! And while you're at it, why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion?"
Harry stood up and gave a loud double whistle towards Professor Snape, who looked like he might try and force feed him poison.
"How do we get one of the dwarves alone to talk to us about their rights?" Harry asked Susan quietly as they left the hall.
He wasn't sure he liked the mischievous sparkle in her eyes when she said she'd handle it.
All day long, the dwarfs kept barging into their classes to deliver valentines, to the annoyance of the teachers, and late that afternoon as Harry and his friends were walking upstairs for their afternoon classes, one of the dwarfs caught up with Harry.
"Oi, you! 'Arry Potter!" shouted a particularly grim-looking dwarf, elbowing people out of the way to get to Harry.
"Hey," Harry called back. "I've been looking for you!"
"I've got a message to deliver to you," the dwarf said, ignoring what Harry said.
"Er-" Harry glanced around the packed corridor and felt his face heat up at the thought of getting a Valentine delivered to him in front of all the students, including all of his friends.
"Why don't we talk in private? I wanted to ask you something," he whispered instead, backing away slowly from the large crowd.
"I've got a musical message to deliver to 'Arry Potter in person," he said, twanging his harp in a threatening sort of way.
"Not here," Harry hissed, trying to back away while his friends stifled their laughter behind their hands.
"Stay still!" grunted the dwarf, grabbing hold of Harry's bag and pulling him back.
"Let go of me!" Harry snarled, tugging.
With a loud ripping noise, his bag split in two. His books, wand, parchment, and quill spilled onto the floor and his ink bottle smashed over everything.
Harry scrambled around, trying to pick it all up before the dwarf started singing, causing something of a holdup in the corridor.
"What's all this commotion?" came the familiar voice as Professor Snape arrived. Harry started stuffing everything feverishly into his ripped bag, desperate to get away before anyone could hear his musical valentine.
Losing his head, Harry tried to make a run for it, but the dwarf seized him around the knees and brought him crashing to the floor.
"Right," he said, sitting on Harry's ankles. "Here is your singing valentine:
Roses are red, Violets are blue,
You wanted to talk to a dwarf,
So I brought one to you."
Harry shoved the dwarf off him roughly and sent a harsh look behind him to his friends.
"I hate you," he hissed at Susan.
"I'm- I'm- sorry," she howled with laughter. "But now you- you can talk to him!"
Harry sent a look of red-faced fury at the now smug faced dwarf and shook his head.
"I hope Lockhart's enslaved your whole race," he said darkly.
"Class now! The bell has rang!" Snape barked at the loitering students who were still laughing at Harry's misfortune.
Snape looked down at Harry and, traitorous bastard that he was, his lips twitched slightly with amusement.
"2 points to Hufflepuff," he murmured.
"Bastard," Harry whispered in Parsletongue.
"Brat," Snape responded, correctly guessing Harry's hiss.
On the way to Charms Harry glared at his still giggling housemates.
"New rule for the gang, if any of you sends me a singing valentine again I get to crucio you for seven minutes," he snarled.
And that finally made them stop laughing.
"I'm so bored," Draco whined in the library that evening.
"Then study," Theo muttered distractedly, focused on his potions homework.
Draco ignored him and turned to Ron with a hopeful expression, "Wanna go fly?"
"Merlin yes," Ron sighed, slamming his own book shut.
"Don't come crying to us when you fail!" Hermione called after them as they ran from the library.
Harry looked longingly after them for a moment before slumping down in his seat. He really did need to study- he'd missed a lot while he was expelled and the end of the year exams wouldn't make any exceptions for him.
He pulled a fresh parchment out and tried a second revision of his essay he owes Professor Sprout. He wrote a few sentences before stopping to shake out his hand. He glanced around the table at Hermione, Theo, Susan, Neville, and Luna who were all studying diligently.
Well, maybe not Luna. Luna was smiling down at her notebook with long pauses between her scrawls.
"What are you working on?" he asked her quietly.
"I'm writing to my pen pal," she said, still smiling down at the notebook.
Harry glanced at Neville, who had also stopped working to watch Luna, and judged his confused face to mean he didn't understand what that meant any more than Harry did.
"What's a pen pal?" he asked Luna.
"A pen pal is a person who you exchange letters with and get to know better," Hermione answered, as if on auto-pilot, still writing furiously on her parchment.
"Oh." Harry looked back at Luna who was now giggling at the notebook softly. "Who's your pen pal?"
Luna hummed and looked up to give Harry a wide eyed look.
"I don't know," she said airily. "I found him in Myrtles bathroom."
"What?" Susan asked, looking up from her homework now as well. "You found a boy in the girls bathroom and you're sending a letter to him?"
"Of course not," Luna laughed again. "I found this," she waved the little black book around, "in Myrtle's bathroom and now I'm writing to the owner."
"How do you know who owns it?" Neville asked her.
"Because he writes back to me in it."
"What?" Theo looked sharply at Luna. "The owner of the book is writing back to you in it?"
Luna nodded and opened the book back up.
"Watch," she said.
The other five kids leaned in closely and watched as Luna wrote on the page:
"My friends say hello."
After a moment the ink disappeared, seemingly sucked in to the page itself. Then suddenly-
"Hello Luna's friends, what are your names?" appeared in the same color ink that Luna had used.
"Brill," Harry said excitedly. "We should get notebooks like that!"
"That's not a normal charm though," Theo said slowly, giving a look to an equally perplexed looking Hermione. "I've never heard of a notebook that works like that."
"I bet you could make some Harry!" Susan said, her eyes were lit up with just as much excitement as Harry's were. "Then we could all message each other during classes!"
"Classes are for learning," Hermione and Theo said at the same time before Hermione blushed and picked her textbook back up.
"Well for the summer then," Susan said with a roll of her eyes. "They'd be really useful to have!"
"I dunno what kind of spells or charms I'd need though," Harry said, eyeing the little black book carefully.
"You can borrow this one and try and copy it," Luna offered helpfully. "I don't mind. Someone threw it at Myrtle trying to get rid of it so really I don't own it anyway."
"Thanks Luna, I'll give it back when I'm done."
Harry slid the little black book in his backpack and thought maybe if he couldn't figure it out tonight then Snape might have some ideas.
Harry sat on his four-poster after his dorm mates were asleep that night and flicked through the blank pages of the black book. Not a single page had a trace of ink on it despite Luna having wrote in it the last couple of days. He pulled a new bottle out of his bedside cabinet, dipped his quill into it, and dropped a blot onto the first page of the diary.
The ink shone brightly on the paper for a second and then, as though it was being sucked into the page, vanished, just as it did for Luna. Harry loaded up his quill a second time and wrote, "What kind of magic is this?"
The words shone momentarily on the page and they, too, sank without trace.
Oozing back out of the page, in his very own ink, came words Harry had never written.
"I am a diary, a preservation of memories from my time at Hogwarts. Who is this?"
Harry debated for a moment before carefully writing, "My name is James. What's yours?"
The ink was absorbed then came back in new words once again.
"Hello James. My name is Tom Riddle."
"Oh Luna, you mad, mad witch," he murmured, recognizing the name immediately. "You can't just be penpals with the Dark Lord."