Chapter Text
Harry reluctantly let go of Amelia’s hand, Susan had already gone ahead to the platform but Harry was staring at the flames. Now for the first time he didn’t want to go to Hogwarts because he had found a new home for himself. “We’ll see each other regularly, I’m sure Albus won’t mind if you popped in on the weekend,” Amelia hugged Harry. “And maybe I can come up and we can play Naughty Professor together.”
Chuckling because that sounded nice, sexy but also nice, Harry returned the hug and used the floo to get to the train station. Getting on the train he was waved down by Susan to a compartment. Inside he found Susan sitting with Hannah who was practically bouncing on the bench. “So…” the little brunette girl inquired.
“What did you do now?” Harry looked at his soon to be niece.
“Just got some revenge for those few times you and my aunt forgot silencing charms,” Susan smirked and waited for her future uncle to give Hannah some gossip.
Letting out a sigh, Harry nodded. “Amelia and I are intimate yes, but I won’t go into any more details than that.”
“Intimate is an understatement,” Susan snorted. “Those two go at it any chance they can get. Every meal lately has turned into them holding hands, then small kisses and a minute later he’s got my aunt sitting on the table while he’s groping any part of her he can get his hands on.”
“Susan,” Harry cleared his throat forcefully, he really did not want this information to be discussed so publicly.
“At least he’s good at it, I managed to get into the kitchen, eat a sandwich and leave without either of them noticing me the entire time,” Susan snarked before nodding. “Alright, now I’m done.”
“Great, need to work on wards or something this year,” Harry groaned because he didn’t like that both Amelia and himself hadn’t noticed Susan intruding.
The door opened and Hermione sat down in the compartment, giving a nod to Susan who she expected to see sitting with Harry and to Hannah who she knew was Susan’s friend. “So…” Hermione hummed after giving Harry a moment.
“Dammit not you too,” Harry groaned. He wondered just what was so interesting about his relationship that everyone was clamoring to get details about.
“I’m just curious how things are going, you went through a whole lot,” Hermione said while sitting up straighter in her seat. “You’ve had very eventful weeks lately and I wanted to know that you were alright.”
“Well, yeah, despite this little terror finding creative ways to embarrass me, Amelia and I have been doing wonderful,” Harry answered honestly as he truly felt like he had found someone he loved completely. “And like I said to Hannah, no I will not be sharing intimate details about any one on one activities we have, so do not ask.”
“Hey Harry, are you shagging yet?” Ron loudly asked as he threw open the door, the next moment a red flash could be seen from outside the compartment and Ron’s unconscious body was dragged into the room.
Harry just sat happily with a conked out Ron propped up against the window. “Wow, being exempt from Underage Sorcery is fantastic,” Grinning because he could go a couple of hours before enervating his friend, that’ll teach him some manners.
The door sliding open once again had Harry rolling his eyes because if it was Fred and George coming to get details on that betting pool, he’d sick Susan on them. Instead of red hair he was looking at blond and that was even more annoying.
“So Scarhead, the ministry has branded you a traitor, surprised that they even let you on this train,” Draco sneered while looking over the usual people in the compartment. Confusion was on his face to see the niece of the Head of the DMLE sitting with Harry.
“Go away,” Susan said flatly while palming her wand. “We’re not interested in whatever you have to say.”
Draco looked like he wanted to contest this and keep speaking but he let out a grumble and slammed the door shut.
“How’d you get him to do that?” Hermione asked the other girl because getting Malfoy to bugger off would be a nice talent to have.
“He just knows that he can’t do anything to me,” Susan smirked as she put her wand away. “After all, what auror is going to take his word over mine?”
Harry shook his head with a sigh and enervated Ron who sat up in surprise before angrily glaring at Harry for stunning him. However, that didn’t last long after Harry offered to buy him a couple chocolate frogs from the trolley
Arriving at the castle, Harry rode up in the horseless carriages with those he had shared a compartment with. “See you two later,” Harry waved off Susan and Hannah as they split to go to their house tables. All the while his interactions were being scrutinized by many in the hall for the focus the media had on him over the last few days.
“Harry? Is that you?” Angelina questioned seeing the barely recognizable wizard taking a seat at the table, had it not been for Hermione and Ron he could easily have been mistaken for a new student.
“Oh hey Ange,” Harry smiled at the new team captain. “Yeah it’s me. I had a pretty eventful summer.”
“I’ll say,” Alicia gulped because Harry was looking good. His robes were pristine and tight around his body in the places that showed off how much bigger he’d gotten. “And you don’t have your glasses anymore."
Harry nodded as he blinked, unknowingly drawing attention to his eyes. “Yeah, I considered getting a pair just to have them for fashion but honestly. I think I like going without. How about it, you think I look better not having them on?”
He leaned on his elbow to get closer to the chasers and anyone else who was trying to get a look at the new Harry Potter and that meant they were really staring into his green eyes. “Yup,” Katie nodded her head quickly, as her face flushed and she had to turn away to not look like a fool.
“Fantastic,” Harry said happily that others thought he’d made the right choice in his attire. “I’m actually excited for this year, I really think it’s gonna be a good one. We got that tournament coming up and oh Ange, can we find a moment just to talk.”
The girl just gaped before clearing her throat. “Yeah Harry, we can talk, you know, just the two of us. Alone, together,” she stammered before slamming her mouth shut.
Harry shifted back in his seat to focus on the sorting and clapped for all the new students as they were announced and sent to their house tables. The headmaster took his position at the front of the lectern to make his yearly announcements.
“I’m so glad to see all of the returning students and of course every new face among us,” Albus said while looking over the rows of students. “However I am to announce that this year there will be no quidditch.”
The headmaster paused in his declaration to let the students get out their reactions to this change. “I know that to some of you this is a great tragedy but the reason for the cancellation is I am announcing that Hogwarts will be playing host to the Triwizard Tournament. An event that has not happened in over a century.”
This was enough to draw curiosity from the student body who had never heard of such a thing before. “More details will be given out tomorrow morning but for now please enjoy the feast.”
Once up in the common room, Harry pulled Angelina off to the side. “How’d you like to have a chance to play a pick-up game against Viktor Krum this year?” Harry asked, figuring that he’d get right to the point.
“What?” Angelina blinked in confusion because she frankly was not expecting this, she had other ideas of what Harry might be interested in talking to her about.
“Yeah,” Harry nodded and continued. “At the Quidditch World Cup, I sat with the Bulgarian Minister of Magic and maybe I was a bit presumptive to agree but he wanted Krum and the Durmstrang Quidditch team to get in some practice this year during the tournament and I offered us up to play against him. If that’s alright?”
“Alright?!” Angelina shouted as she restrained herself from bouncing off the walls. “Oh Harry that’s incredible, it’s more than alright. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I can’t believe it.”
Harry smiled at how excited Angelina was because it was her first official year as Quidditch Captain since Oliver left and then with the announcement of the tournament, it seemed like her chance to do anything was taken from her but the prospect of playing, even once, against someone as famous as Viktor Krum was going to more than make up for it.
It was when she wrapped him in a tight hug that squeezed out all the air in his lung that he just patted her on the back before she ran off to find Alicia and Katie to tell them the wonderful news.
“What was that about?” Romilda Vane asked because she along with many of the other girls had been watching Harry now that he came back over the summer looking so different.
“Just told her something that made her really happy,” Harry smiled as he walked past to head up to bed.
The following morning as the students sat in the Great Hall, Professor Dumbledore stood at his lectern and divulged more details regarding the Triwizard Tournament that Hogwarts would be hosting. “A thousand galleons, can you believe it?” Ron grinned at Harry, everyone was talking about the tournament.
“I dunno, seems risky,” Harry mentioned because the headmaster said only those with the utmost confidence in their skills and knowledge should make an attempt to enter.
“Come on mate, think about everything we’ve been through,” Ron reminded Harry that they’ve been through worse than some ministry sponsored tournament.
“Yeah I did,” Harry nodded with a smile. “Which is why I’m glad that it’s only for seventeen-year-olds, I’ve already had too much happen to me this summer, I don’t need to think about myself in this tournament.”
“Well, I guess that’s fair,” Ron hummed thoughtfully, his best friend had been getting hammered recently by life. “Still, I’m gonna have a go at it if I can find a way to get around whatever Dumbledore does to keep people out.”
“You do that,” Harry grinned as he waited for Professor McGonagall to bring him his schedule for the year. He was excited for this year's lessons to begin since he’d felt like he had really made some changes in his life that he was hoping to see how much that made an improvement now that he was back.
Heading off to Herbology had Harry standing at a table when he noticed that Hannah had rushed over pulling Susan behind her, shutting out Hermione and Ron who normally worked with him. Letting out a sigh and smile, Harry waved off his friends who rolled their eyes and went to work with Neville.
After listening to Professor Sprout discuss what they would be going over for the start of the term in their fourth year, Harry leaned over to Hannah. “It has only been one day, there is no gossip for you,” Harry whispered to the girl who was clearly fishing for details because that had become her favorite source of entertainment.
“Well you could always make some,” Hannah pouted because the only thing people wanted to ask about last night was what Harry coming into the Great Hall with them meant. Of course neither Susan or herself were going to announce the upcoming nuptials because it was up to Madam Bones or Harry when they let others know, so it just confused others who weren’t given answers.
“I don’t need nor want to draw attention to myself,” Harry shook his head as he dug into the flowerpot.
“Hasn’t stopped you before,” Susan stuck out her tongue at her future uncle.
“I know, which is why I would like a few days of peace and quiet before my luck kicks in,” grumbling as he focused on his school work but Susan now snuck that little nugget of dread inside his head and it just made him concerned that something bad was going to happen.
It was Friday and Amelia could not believe she was so relieved that it was almost the weekend. For the last few years every day was either a day to work or a day to prepare for more work and the only real breaks was during the summer when she spent her offtime with Susan. But now she was considering taking some of her time off for herself.
All that was left before she went home for the day was to review the week’s arrest reports. There was a noticeable uptick in muggle baiting and her aurors had busted four new operations that were smuggling dark artifacts into the country, any other time this would have been a complete surprise but because of Harry, she knew that Tom Riddle was gathering his power base, and she could see the dots to connect them this time. Without her fiance, she’d never have considered that and that would mean that she could not tell her aurors what to look out for.
Things were going smooth, flipping through the stacks to read the list of people in the drunk tank for the weekend, Amelia was getting ready to put her stamp on this and leave when one name stuck out to her.
Standing up from her desk she left her office to go to the cells, her aurors on duty snapped to attention when she walked in. Looking through the bars of each cell she passed until she came to one.
“Open this door and help me bring the suspect to my office,” Amelia said as she wanted to talk to this man.
It was an odd request but the aurors complied and carried the near comatose body out of the dungeons.
“Set him in the chair and that will be all,” Amelia nodded with a smile.
“Ma’am are you sure, he’s a known werewolf,” the auror asked while looking at the person they had picked up behind Flourish and Blotts who was drunk as a skunk and covered in muck.
“I am aware, I will be fine,” Amelia assured the officer as they left the room.
Taking a seat she looked at the man across from her, she felt pity, disgust, sorrow. “Mr. Lupin,” Amelia sighed as she waved her wand to clean the man up. He was still unshaven, his clothes had holes in them and he looked glassy-eyed, but at least he didn’t smell now.
“Mr. Lupin,” Amelia said a little louder.
“Go’way,” Remus muttered as he slowly blinked before he seemed to understand that he was no in a cell anymore.
“REMUS,” Amelia forcefully said his name making him jerk.
“What?” the werewolf snapped back angrily.
“So this is what you’ve become,” Amelia motioned to the man’s disheveled appearance. “Sirius gets killed and you go find a home in a bottle.”
“Hey,” Remus tried to stand on shaky legs only to fall forward and barely catch himself on the desk, after taking a moment to keep himself from throwing up he pointed a finger accusingly at the witch he could vaguely remember. “You… do not get to speak, your people killed him.”
“I am aware,” Amelia admitted to that accusation, that her department had executed an innocent man. “But right now my concern is not with Sirius, he’s dead and his body will be given a proper burial at a later date. My concern is with you.”
“You gonna finish the job, the last of the true marauders killed?” Remus growled out as he tried to sound threatening. “Well you might as well get it over with. I got nothing else.”
“That is not true Remus,” Amelia sadly said. “You have someone very important, someone you forgot in your grief.”
“Oh yeah?!” Remus slurred as he was starting to hate this broad who was talking to him all proper and such. “Who?”
“Harry,” Amelia answered as she watched the werewolf’s eyes widen, remembering that there was still one other person who was just as affected by his only remaining friend’s passing.
“Harry,” Remus gasped. “Oh I have to, get to Harry, have to tell him.”
“Nothing. Remus I wouldn’t let you anywhere near Harry in this state,” Amelia cut off the man before he could get the idea in his head to go running off to Hogwarts.
“Look at yourself, you probably haven’t been sober since the day he died, you need help,’ Amelia continued as she stood up. “Harry can wait.”
“Why’s you calling him Harry, you sposed to be all proper?” Remus blinked in confusion.
“I call my fiancé many things, but between the people he cares about I will call him Harry,” Amelia said.
Gasping once again, Remus waggled a finger at the woman. “You can’t marry him; Lily’d come back from the grave and kick your arse. You cradle robber.”
Rolling her eyes. “I am marrying him because Edgar and James intended for Susan and Harry to become closer, but Sirius emancipated Harry as his dying edict, but you aren’t clear headed enough for that conversation. But I promise you this, we’ll get you cleaned up and I will let you go see Harry.”
“No more drinking,” Remus nodded his head because he couldn’t be drunk and help Harry.
Harry was scratching at his homework in the common room when he heard another set of giggles behind him, looking up he only noticed Parvati and Lavender sitting together. Lowering his head back to his essay, there were more hushed whispers. “Okay okay,” a voice said before the sound of someone approaching made him look again.
“Hey Harry,” Parvati greeted with a smile.
Facing the girl Harry had one of his own to match. “Oh hello Parvati, how are you doing today?”
“I’m good,” the girl giggled and tucked some hair behind her head. “How are you?”
“Just fine myself, trying to get some homework out of the way before the first Hogsmeade weekend,” indicating the paper he was working on.
“Yeah the Hogsmeade weekend,” Parvati swayed while blushing. “About that, I was hoping that maybe you wanted to go with me.”
“Oh, well I hadn’t thought about that, I was going to be leaving with Susan and Hannah but if you wanted to hang out I’m sure I could make some time for you,” Harry responded because he never thought about expanding his friend group beyond the Weasleys and Hermione before, but now that Susan was to be his niece and Hannah was her partner in crime, he was finding that he liked having more than just a handful of friends.
“Um…” Parvati hummed because that wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear. “Okay, sure.”
“Fantastic, if you’d like Lavender can come with us, or Padma, I figure you’d want to be with your sister as well,” Harry offered since he knew Parvati was friends with the other girl and being in separate houses meant that the sisters didn’t have as much time due to the lessons constantly being between Slytherin and Gryffindor.
Parvati looked shocked to hear but nodded anyway. “I guess that’s what you sign up for if you try to get with someone famous,” Parvati said to herself as she walked back over to explain that it was going to be more of a menage a trois than a date.
Putting the finishing touches onto his essay Harry rolled it up and stuck it in his bag. “Hey Ange, did you want to go down somewhere private?”
Looking up from her book, the new team captain hurried to get out of her seat. “Definitely, I’ve been stressing all week and this will more than help,” Angelina stated as she left her book on the table to leave the common room with Harry.
Neither noticed the looks they were getting as they left together. They were too engrossed in the discussion to notice that others had seen them go into a broom closet together. He didn’t need the rest of the castle knowing about the game so soon, he couldn’t fathom what the reaction to a school team getting the chance to play against a professional team would be. And all Harry could figure is that it would be not good since it was only going to be the Gryffindor team that were participating, and he didn’t want to risk anything crazy happening.
“It took a bit of time but I asked a contact at the Daily Prophet for any omnioculars they might have still had from Viktor Krum’s matches,” Harry said as he pulled out a couple of the objects from his bag that Rita had sent him, it cost him explaining why he needed them and giving her first shot at interviews after the friendly match, but it was really the only way for Angelina to get some insight into the other player and his team.
“This is big Harry, I mean this is huge,” Angelina said in amazement as she held the first Omniocular to her eye and saw footage of Krum’s beaters. “I never could have afforded to go to more than one small game a year, let alone the World Cup and now we might actually have a fighting chance to make the team look great.”
“Well you’d always have looked great Ange,” Harry rubbed his arm. “You are a wonderful chaser and I’m sure that you’ll prove yourself to be an ever greater captain than Oliver was.”
Angelina put away the omnioculars back in Harry’s bag before stepping forward to try to kiss him, trying being the operative word as Harry quickly backstepped and put his hands on her shoulders.
“Woah, woah, Angelina what are you doing?” Harry quickly said as he hadn’t expected the girl to try and kiss him.
The girl looked confused and a little hurt. “But I thought you… I was just thinking that you’ve been such a swell guy that you were doing all this to try and get me to go out with you? And you’ve looked so good lately, so confident and you’ve impressed me so much that I thought you wanted me.”
Harry took a few seconds to process this confession. “Ooooh… No, no, I mean, Angelina, I think you are a wonderful, beautiful young lady, who is smart, strong, talented and going to be amazing at anything you apply yourself to. But… I’m with someone now and it’s very serious.”
Nodding her head because she’d seen Harry come into the castle with Susan, and it made sense, she was in the same year as Harry had more chances to be around him outside of Quidditch. “I’m so stupid,” Angelina sniffled and a few tears spilled out from the rejection.
“Angelina, you aren’t stupid,” Harry said calmly.
“But if I had tried this last year then?” Angelina asked if maybe they would be together now and she’d be thanking her boyfriend for doing something to make up for not having quidditch games this year by giving her one she’ll remember forever.
Harry chuckled and shook his head. “Probably not, I was a pretty mopey git last year, I don’t think I would have noticed unless someone did something like, grab me by the shoulders and pin me against the wall and shouted in my face that they liked me, even then there was still a chance I’d misunderstand.”
“I was a huge git last year,” Harry sighed and could see that Angelina was starting to smile. “You’re great but the person I’m with, I have no intentions of cheating on them for any reason.”
“Yeah Ms. Bones can be very scary,” Angelina nodded because she thought that if she was dating the Director of the DMLE’s niece that being unfaithful would lead to a very cold and dark stay in a cell surrounded by dementors.
“I don’t even want to know what Susan would do to me,” Harry agreed because Susan was a menace for fun right now, he did not want her to actively want him destroyed.
“So this whole time you’ve just been a nice guy,” Angelina inquired as she wiped her cheeks to remove the tear stains from her cheeks.
“Mostly just a guy, been spending a lot of time just trying to get myself up to decent,” Harry said as he clapped Angelina on the shoulder. “So now that that awkwardness is out of the way, you want to get back to studying Krum’s team?”
“Yeah, I’d like that,” Angelina smiled because if she couldn’t have Harry Potter as a boyfriend, then having him as a friend would still be pretty great. It just made her insanely jealous of Susan for snatching him up though.
Leaving an hour later after reviewing it all Angelina was able to pick out which ones she wanted the team to focus on first before she started tryouts for the new team’s keeper.
In that time though they missed the number of students who had congregated around the closet once word of Harry Potter sneaking off to a broom closet made their rounds.