Harry always hated Halloween. Ever since he could remember, the night was just a reminder of what had happened all those years ago. Harvey had been declared ‘The-Boy-Who-Lived’, and everyone knew his name. There was a small ball of bitterness that no one seemed to care that he had also been there. He, too, had somehow survived Voldemort’s attack. But apparently, that didn’t matter.
Regardless, Halloween was a waste of time and a major distraction. Harry preferred to focus on his studies and pretend like it was any other day. But waking up, he could just tell that something wasn’t right.
Once he had dressed and made his way downstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast, he found Dylan staring intently at his plate of food. Jenna was nowhere to be seen, and it seemed that no one else in their house had wanted to attempt to find out what was bothering him.
Harry sat down across from him and said, “If you are trying to use wandless magic, I think you need some instruction.”
Dylan’s eye flickered up to him, and he frowned. “If I were trying to use wandless magic, then you would find yourself on your ass.”
Harry smirked. “That I would like to see.”
Dylan let out a huff and picked up his fork. He poked at the bacon on his plate.
Harry grabbed a few pieces of toast and started to spread out the jam. He said, “What is bothering you? You were fine last night.”
It didn’t take much to change Dylan’s mood. He was a fairly sensitive guy. Jenna had attempted to comfort him on many occasions that girls liked boys who were emotional, but it had never helped. Instead, Dylan tried to keep his emotions in—he just wasn’t particularly good at it.
“I received a letter from my father.” Dylan dropped his fork and leant his arms on the table.
Harry frowned and placed down his knife. Dylan’s parents were two muggles that Harry was glad he had never met. From the years of watching Dylan deal with his parent’s incapability to deal with his magic, Harry had concluded that they weren’t nice people.
“What did the letter say?” asked Harry.
Dylan cringed, then said, “My parents are getting a divorce.”
It made sense. Even with the difficult relationship that Dylan shared with his parents, no child wanted to see their family ripped in half. Harry had grown up in a spilt parent household, and it had left a wound that still wasn’t healed.
“I see,” said Harry.
“Father has told me that I will be staying with him in the house; Mother will be moving to her sister’s house until she can find a place of her own,” said Dylan.
Harry sighed. He wanted to offer his friend comfort but wasn’t sure what to say. “I don’t know what to say,” was all he managed.
Dylan’s frown broke, and a small smile appeared. “Can always trust your honesty, Black.”
The two of them sat there in silence and ate their breakfast. When it was over, Dylan told him that he would meet him in Charms. Harry watched his friend leave and only realized he had halted, just outside the Great Hall, when Carlisle’ arm slung around his shoulders.
“What was going on with you and Dylan? You two looked very glum,” said Carlisle.
Harry sighed. “He is dealing with some family crap.”
Will appeared to Harry’s left and said, “Aren’t we all.”
“Speaking of family, who is your new step-daddy?” asked Carlisle. “You never did say.”
Will rolled his eyes and walked away.
“Such class,” said Harry.
Carlisle shrugged. “It’s why you all love me.”
Harry kept a close eye on Dylan throughout Charms. He watched his friend close himself off and stare very intently at his book. Not once did he raise his hand to answer a question, and not once did he challenge Harry. It felt odd, and he wasn’t surprised when Flitwick asked to speak with Dylan before he left.
He would have waited for his friend, but Harry knew Dylan would have hated it. Instead, he walked with his friends to the dungeons. He waved them off as they entered the potions classroom, and he headed to Snape’s lab. There were a few tasks that Snape had assigned him that he needed to complete, and with nothing else that was overly urgent with any of his other classes, it seemed prudent to use his free period to get those tasks done.
The lab was bubbling, potions simmering over low fires, and a list was sitting beside one of the empty caldrons. The list had Harry’s name at the top and three different potions that needed completing. Snape had labelled the ones that were simmering and what time he had started the heat. Two of them would be done within an hour, so Harry placed his bag down and got to preparing the next ingredients ready. It was a relaxing process, dicing, slicing, squashing. It allowed time to fly by quickly.
It was about thirty minutes later that Harry had nothing left to do in the lab. He made sure to leave a note of what he had done before he grabbed his bag and decided that he would spend the last part of his free period before lunch in the library. There were a few books he wanted to check out for his Defence essay and another book about magical creatures that had been recommended by Kettleburn.
As he made his way up from the dungeon, he was surprised when he noticed a ball of fuzzy hair rush by. He frowned when he heard a hiccup followed by a sob.
“Hermoine?” he called out.
The young muggleborn stopped and turned to face him. Her cheeks were puffy, her eyes were red, what had happened?
“Are you alright?”
She shook her head, and a few fresh tears fell from her eyes. “I hate it here.”
Harry wasn’t sure what to think. She had seemed excited, nervous, but excited, about coming to Hogwarts. “Why?” he asked.
She rubbed away her tears with the sleeve of her cloak and took a deep breath. “I have no friends; everyone in Gryffindor hates me.” She sniffed again.
Harry placed his hand on her shoulder and directed her towards a seat on the side of the hall. As they sat down, he said, “Why do you think that?”
She huffed and tried to tuck one of her frizzy strands behind her ear. “Every time I try and talk to someone, they ignore me. I don’t know what I’ve done. I even tried to help others in our classes, but that seems to make it worse.”
Harry frowned. It sounded like a familiar story he had heard once before. Amelia had trouble making friends with her icy exterior. She would often prove herself to be smarter than others, and no one liked to be told they were stupid. It seemed possible that maybe Hermoine was having the same issue.
“Is it possible that your ‘helping’ might be seen as you telling them they are stupid?” asked Harry.
Hermoine scrunched up her face. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“I’m not saying you would. However, sometimes when there are people like us who find things easy, it can be patronizing to others when we ‘help’ them.”
Hermoine sighed and seemed to contemplate what he was saying. She wiped her cheek again and asked, “Are you saying that I should just let them fail?”
“Yes and no. Help them when they ask and see where that gets you. And if you find that they are still pushing you away, then I’m sure you can find friends in other houses.” Harry squeezed her shoulder and gave her a soft smile.
Hermoine seemed like a sweet girl. It had surprised him when the hat had placed her in Gryffindor, but there was always a reason. Harry knew that it was sometimes difficult to see past the colours of a house, but the divide that sat between the four houses was only there when students let it.
“I suppose,” mumbled Hermoine.
“Look,” said Harry, “if at any point you feel alone, then just come find me. If it's during a free period or any meals, you can always join me.”
“Really?” She looked up at him with a hopeful shine in her eyes.
He nodded.
She surprised him by hugging him tightly around the waist and mumbling “Thanks” into his chest.
He returned her hug and gave her a smile as she left.
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Harvey was confused. It had been during their morning's Transfiguration class that he had seen Ron snap at Hermione Granger. He wasn’t sure what she had done, and his red-headed best friend didn’t want to tell him, but he had seen Hermione disappear with tears in her eyes. As he had followed Ron towards their second class, he could hear his mother in his head, telling him that a good person would find Hermione and make sure she was okay.
Standing outside of their charms class and not seeing Hermione anywhere pushed Harvey to do what his mother would want. He told Ron to cover for him before heading towards the Great Hall. Hermione had headed that way when she left the Transfiguration classroom.
It had surprised Harvey to find Hermione sitting with Harry. Harvey knew that Harry could be caring, but it had been a long time since he had ever received such a thing; it seemed reserved for special people in Harry’s life. But seeing Harry with his arm over Hermione’s shoulder, comforting her, made anger bubble in his chest.
He had asked, again and again, anyone that he could, why Harry hated him? And no one could give him anything. It was always crap like ‘it’s complicated’ or ‘he is dealing with something’. But seeing Harry comfort a girl he barely knows, act like an older brother should just made Harvey mad.
He didn’t interrupt them, and he didn’t wait to speak to Hermione either; he spun back around and went to their Charms class.
When he arrived, Flitwick was only just starting. He gave Harvey a pointed look and tapped his wrist but otherwise said nothing. Harvey sat down beside Ron and opened up his notebook, and tried to listen but found it difficult. There had to be someone who could help him understand.
Flitwick started his class with revision. He went over what they had learnt last class before telling everyone to open their books to a new spell. It was then that Hermione appeared. Most of the students looked shocked that she had arrived late. Harvey could see that her cheeks were still puffy, but there weren’t any tears. She silently walked up to Flitwick and handed him a note before moving to take her seat. And that seat happened to be on the other side of Ron.
Ron made a rather loud huff of annoyance, but Hermione didn’t respond. Harvey couldn’t help but want to glance over at her; he wanted to ask her why Harry liked her and not him. Why was she so special?
“Alright, everyone,” said Flitwick, forcing Harvey to stay silent. “Today, we are going to be learning a new charm. This is the charm of levitation.” Flitwick shifted to his left, and with a wave of his hand, a feather appeared before him. “Now, to do this charm, there is a particular wand movement that you will need to use. Quite simple, the swish and flick.” He moved his hand in motion with the words. “Now, everyone follow me. Swish and flick.” Again, he demonstrated the movement and asked the class to follow.
For the next few minutes, Harvey watched as Ron threw his wand about making all sorts of odd movements. He could see Hermione’s eyes locked on the red-heads wand, and he was surprised she hadn’t spoken up. Normally, in any class, she liked to but in and tell other students how wrong they were.
Harvey shrugged it off and tried to focus on his own movements.
“Alright, everyone. Now that you have practised that, let’s add the magic. The spell is simply wingardium leviosa,” said Flitwick.
The class repeated, and Flitwick smiled.
“Wonderful,” he said. He flicked his wand, and a feather appeared in front of every student. “Now, all of you try and get your feather to float. I will make my way around and help if needed.”
Harvey looked down at his feather and nibbled on his lip. He practised the swish and flick movement a few more times before looking at Ron.
Ron said, “Wingardium leviosarrr!” He started swinging his wand about, and Harvey had to duck his head so that he didn’t get hit.
“Stop!” said Hermione.
Ron turned to glare at her.
“You could poke someone’s eye out if you keep going,” she said.
Ron rolled his eyes. “I would like to see you try.”
Hermione gave him a determined frown and grabbed her own wand. She took a breath and said, “Wingardium leviosa.” She swished her wand, and the feature began to float. Hermione’s face lit up with joy as she floated the feather over their heads.
Harvey couldn’t say that he wasn’t impressed.
“Look here, everyone,” called Flitwick, “this great witch has done it.”
By the time Charms was over, and it was time for lunch, Ron was as red as his hair. He had been furious when Hermione had impressed Flitwick and showed him up and had started venting as soon as they left the classroom. Harvey was pushing his book into his bag as Ron complained.
“Did you see the way she acted? Honestly!” Ron cried, “it’s no surprise she doesn’t have any friends. She’s a nightmare.”
Harvey wanted to disagree. Ron was a little harsh, but before he could speak, a shoulder knocked into both him and Ron, and Hermione pushed past them. Both of them stopped, and Ron looked slightly embarrassed.
“I think she heard you,” said Harvey.
Ron huffed.
“She wasn’t the only one.”
Harvey froze and glanced at Ron to see he looked nervous. They spun around to see Harry. He was glaring at them both with a look that Harvey had only seen when Harry was really angry. Harvey opened his mouth to speak, but with Harry’s friends standing with him, he wasn’t sure what to say.
“Harry-” said Ron, but he was cut off.
“No one deserves to be spoken about like that Weasley,” snapped Harry. “Keep your mouth shut, or next time you won’t have a mouth.”
Ron’s face went red again, but this time he wasn’t mad; he was scared. Harvey opened his mouth to speak up, but Harry’s gaze turned on him.
“And you,” Harry said, “maybe you should make a better choice of friends.” Harry shook his head and pushed Ron out of the way, and walked off.
It wasn’t until Harry had disappeared that Seamus Finnigan stepped towards them and said, “Blimey Harvey, what did you two do to piss of Harrison Black?”
Harvey frowned. He often forgot that a lot of people didn’t know that Harry was his older brother. It seemed to be the way Harry wanted it, but he hadn’t done anything. Ron was the one who had been an ass, not him.
“For someone who isn’t a Slytherin, he sure spends a lot of time around them,” said Ron.
Harvey shook his head and walked off; he didn’t want to talk about this.
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The Halloween feast was well underway, and Harry was ready for bed. The Ravenclaw table had been invaded by Carlisle, Will and Cedric, and the four of them were trying to improve Dylan’s mood. No one but Harry knew the truth about his sour attitude, but that didn’t stop the others from trying to make him laugh.
The feast itself had been rather boring, the food as always had been delicious, and after way too much food, the boys had started a game of snap while they waited for others. Carlisle was cheering about his win when the doors to the Great Hall flew open.
A loud wale belonging to Professor Quirrell echoed through the hall as he screamed, “Troll in the dungeon! Troll in the dungeon!”
The hall fell silent, and the boys all gave each other strange looks before looking back at the startled teacher.
“I thought you’d want to know.” Quirrell collapsed on the floor, and most of the students started screaming.
Harry rolled his eyes and simply stayed where he was. Trolls were stupid, and while they could be dangerous, any smart wizard could knock one out fairly quickly. It made him wonder how the troll even got into the castle. Someone had to have shown it how.
“Silence!” called Dumbledore, stopping the stampede that was charging for the doors. Everyone turned to the headmaster, and he said, “Prefects, please escort all students back to their houses. Slytherin house, please remain here. And all teachers will follow me to the dungeon.”
Harry sighed and rubbed his face.
Carlisle asked, “Why don’t we all just stay here?”
Harry shrugged. “Who knows? I’ll see you boys tomorrow.” He clapped Carlisle on the shoulder, and he and Dylan started to head towards their common room.
As they were walking out of the great hall, a hand snagged his robe. Harry glared at Harvey as he stood there looking concerned.
“What are you doing?” snapped Harry, pulling his robe out of his grasps. “Go to your dorm.”
“But Hermione-”
“Leave Hermione alone; you and your friend have bullied her enough.” Harry turned and found Dylan waiting for him.
“What was that?” Dylan asked.
Harry shook his head. “Nothing, don’t worry about it.”
As they headed towards their tower, Harry stopped when he saw Flitwick speaking with a younger Ravenclaw student. He listened and heard the girl say, “Sir, I don’t know if anyone is aware, but Hermione Granger wasn’t seen at the feast. I just had a horrible feeling that she wouldn’t know about the troll.”
Harry frowned and wanted to kick himself. Harvey had been trying to tell him that Hermione was missing. He had seen her run off just before lunch but hadn’t seen her since. The poor girl was trying, but little shits like Ronald Weasley made it difficult.
“Harry, what are you doing?”
Harry turned to Dylan and said, “I have to go find Hermione.”
Dylan looked puzzled. “The fuzzy Gryffindor?”
He nodded. “Harvey was trying to tell me, but I ignored him.”
“The teachers can find her.”
Harry shook his head. “I’ll be right back.”
He had no idea where to look but decided to check the bathrooms first. If she had been crying, a bathroom always seemed to be the place for girls. Harry had never understood why. The closest bathroom near the Great Hall seemed to the best place to start.
Harry rushed down the halls, listening for heavy footsteps or screams. He assumed that by now, the Troll would have been caught, but he didn’t want to risk it. Hermione had been through enough today.
He skidded to a stop as he felt the thump rumble the walls. The troll. He waited and then heard the scream coming from the bathroom. Harry clenched his jaw and headed straight towards the girl's bathroom, where he came upon the strangest sight.
Harvey was being held upside down by the troll. Hermione was hiding beneath broken sinks, and Ron looked terrified and unsure.
“Do something!” cried Harvey.
“What?” asked Ron.
“Anything!” cried Harvey.
Harry wanted to roll his eyes, but there wasn’t time.
Ron pulled out his wand, and Hermione said, “Swish and flick!”
Ron nodded. “Wingardium leviosa.”
Harry was surprised when the trolls' weapon frozen mid-air. The troll looked up, surprised, but before he could do anything else, Harry pulled out his own wand and said, “Stupefy.” A red spark shot out of his wand and hit the troll in the back of the head. The troll stumbled forward and landed on top of the already broken toilet stalls. Harvey groaned as he also hit the floor.
“Harry,” yelled Hermione. She ran over to him and hugged him.
He offered her a warm smile and asked, “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I am, thanks to these two.”
Ron scratched the back of his head as Harvey was wiping his wand clean.
“I think after everything that happened, this makes us even?” asked Ron.
Harvey frowned. “Ron, you were an ass. Just say you’re sorry.”
Harry wouldn’t admit out loud that he was happy to hear Harvey speak up. And he completely agreed with him.
Ron sighed and nodded. “Okay, I’m sorry. I was an ass.”
Hermione smiled and said, “Thank you. For your apology and saving me.”
“Oh my goodness!”
The group turned to see the professor rushing into the bathroom.
“Explain yourself,” cried Professor McGonagall.
“Well, you see…” Harvey, Ron and Hermione all started at once.
“Hermione wasn’t feeling well,” said Harry, stopping them all. “She didn’t know about the Troll and Harvey, and Ron came to find her. I was looking for her as well since I knew she had been missing from the meal, and we all ran into the troll.”
McGonagall gave him a strange gaze but sighed and nodded. “Very well. Five points will be taken from each house for not listening and putting yourself in danger. Next time, Mr Potter and Mr Weasley tell a teacher. And Mr Black, I expect better from you.”
Harry nodded. “Of course, Professor.”
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