Chapter 15: Back to Hogwarts

Though Harry and Delphini had the opportunity to go back with the Hogwarts Express, they decided against it because Harry didn't feel like spending an entire day sitting in a train and wanted to see the other girls again.

Not that Delphini had anything to complain about, he thought. Sharing a two-person bed had allowed them to get intimate every single night, and she'd enthusiastically taken advantage of having him for herself.

But now they arrived at the Room of Requirement - where everyone had agreed to meet up beforehand - and as it turned out Ron, Hermione and all the girls were already there.

After the mandatory welcome-back kisses – and hugs from Ron and Hermione – Ron was the first to speak up.

"So, did you do it? Destroy the horcruxes?"

"Yup," Harry said. "The locket, my scar, the cup and the ring. We got all of them that we could, just need to get the snake and then Snakeface himself."

"Nice," Ginny said as the group pretty much collectively led Harry to a couch. When he sat down, Lyra and Ginny immediately placed themselves next to him, with Pansy on Ginny's other side, and Luna immediately sat down on Harry's lap.

He chuckled as he put his arm around the Ravenclaw's stomach. "I've missed you, girls. And you too of course, Milly, Lavender, even if you don't fit on the couch anymore."

"We'll just have to rotate," Lavender said.

"Sounds like a plan," Harry agreed, pulling Luna further to his chest. "So, have you been up to anything?"

"Just enjoying the holiday," Lavender said.

"We had some great snowball fights," Ron added, grinning. "The twins thought they could take me and Ginny, I don't think they expected everyone here to come to our defense. Well, Ginny's defense, I guess."

Pansy smirked. "Can't just let that go unpunished, can we?"

"Oh, that reminds me," Harry said even as he imagined the fight. "I should give the twins some start-up money for their shop. Last time around I gave them the Tournament winnings as I wasn't exactly in the mood with Voldemort just being back and everything, this time we can perhaps make it a little more organized. They have amazing business sense."

"Harry?" Luna interrupted out of the blue. "Do we have pudding?"

Harry chuckled and placed a kiss in her neck. "If you want to, of course. But you'll have to wait a few minutes, little moon, I need to quickly talk to Lyra before we can get pudding."

"What about?" Lyra asked, surprised.

"Remember that you lost a house-elf at the end of second year?"

Lyra nodded. "Dobby, I believe it was."

"Yes," Harry said. "He absolutely adores me, and I've promised him I'll bond with him this summer. But I figured you should know about that before I call him."

She nodded. "Probably a good idea, thank you."

"And Lyra?"

"Yes?"

"He'll likely be your elf again as well after we're married, you'll treat him with respect, right?"

"Of course," she replied without pause.

"Dobby?" Harry called.

The excitable elf immediately appeared. "What can Dobby do for Harry Potter Sir?"

"Can you get us some pudding?" Harry asked. "And make sure it's enough even for Luna here."

Dobby nodded enthusiastically. "Elves know Missy Moon loves pudding. Dobby will make sure there's enough for everyone."

He popped away.

"Missy Moon?" Hermione asked.

Harry chuckled. "Leave it to Dobby to come up with nicknames for everyone. Without even trying to, I'm pretty sure. As far as I can tell it's just part of how house-elves think or something."

Dobby popped back in, precariously balancing several big bowls of pudding. With the help of several girls, the bowls were divided over conveniently appearing tables, and Dobby handed everyone a spoon. One bowl had somehow ended up on Luna's lap, and was already eagerly being dug into. Harry made a single attempt to also eat from that bowl, but Luna aggressively batted his spoon away before he could even get close. Luckily, Ginny had mercy on him and let him share from the bowl she and Pansy had.

"So, where were we?" Harry asked. "The twins, right?"

"That snowball fight was amazing," Ginny said between spoons.

"So," Lyra said. "We've got two Weasleys here, you want to do business with two more, what about the other ones? That prefect, for example?"

"Percy's a bit of a prat in my opinion," Harry said. "And he worships authority far too much. It took three years of war for him to realize the Ministry could be wrong. Of course, if I actually use my power in the Ministry, that might not be as much of an issue. But as far as I'm concerned, we'll just see where he ends up. He's not a bad person, at the end of the day."

There were a few seconds of silence as everyone digested that before a blushing Lavender spoke up.

"Harry?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think… Lyra told us about the date you had with her, can I have one too?"

Harry smiled at her. "That's a great idea. Of course, Lavender. And if anyone else wants a date, then please tell me, I'd love to arrange something."

He looked around to check the bowls, which seemed to all be empty – at least, no one was eating anymore. "Perhaps it's time for some girls to switch?"

Rather than standing up, Luna snuggled deeper into his lap, however Lyra and Ginny made space for Lavender and - after Harry invited her - Millicent.

"What about you, Milly? Did you have a nice holiday?"

"Oh yeah," she said enthusiastically. "Hermione is a great homework partner. She gives so many good insights."

"So does Milly," Hermione said, smiling brightly. "You know, even though I've had you and Ron as friends for years now, no offense to either of you, it's still something different to work together with someone who actually enjoys writing essays."

Harry laughed. "Yeah, that's something that won't ever happen to me, even if they're super easy now. I've always preferred the practical parts. But I'm glad to hear you're getting along so well. And all of you really," he said, looking around. "I wonder when the last time was that this many Gryffindors and Slytherins voluntarily shared a room. It definitely didn't happen in the old timeline."

"That's what you get for being so damn charming," Pansy said, ignoring Hermione's admonishment at her language.

"Thank you," Harry said. "If I am so charming, perhaps you would agree on a date with me, Lady Slytherin?"

She blushed slightly. "I'd love to."

Harry nuzzled into Luna's neck. "And I bet you just want to cuddle, don't you, little moon?"

She purred in reply.

"Then that's what we'll do," Harry said, before turning to Millicent. "And perhaps you'd like an evening with just the two of us as well, Milly?"

"That'd be great," she said a little awkwardly. Harry pulled her close for a kiss, making her blush brightly. He figured some of her self-esteem issues had returned over the past two weeks. Maybe she was scared Harry would forget about her with so many other girls.

Well, he wasn't going to let that happen.

However, he did have to consider all of them at all times, of course. "I think everyone's happy, then?" he asked. "I've already had a date with Lyra, I've just had two weeks with only Delph, and Ginny's had me for herself for months in the Gryffindor tower, plus she was my date to the Yule Ball."

The redhead smiled predatorily. "I do want a date just for me at some point though."

Harry grinned. "When I've got the time. I won't forget you, Ginny."

"I know," she replied, blushing slightly.

THE PREJUDICES OF MINISTER FUDGE
By Rita Skeeter

Many readers will be familiar with Rubeus Hagrid, groundskeeper of Hogwarts for the last several decades, and since last year professor in Care for Magical Creatures. A very, very large but friendly man who does not have a bad bone in his body – even if he may like dangerous creatures a little more than most.

I wish to take you back to fifty years ago, the year 1943. While Grindelwald's War was raging on the mainland, the British Isles were peaceful. At least, for the most part they were, because at Hogwarts a sinister force was at work.

Someone had opened the fabled 'Chamber of Secrets' and released the Monster of Slytherin, which petrified a number of muggleborn students and eventually killed one Myrtle Warren. Authorities were of course desperate to find a culprit, and eventually one student revealed that another student – none other than Rubeus Hagrid – possessed an illegal creature.

It was ignored that the creature possessed by Hagrid - though illegal - did not have the ability to petrify, and he was expelled, his wand was snapped and his case was shut before he was ever given a chance simply because he had giant's blood in his veins – no matter his kind soul. Only Albus Dumbledore, then transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts, defended the innocent Hagrid, which allowed him to remain at Hogwarts as groundskeeper.

We fast-forward to two years ago, when the Chamber of Secrets was once again opened. After several petrifications had occurred throughout the schoolyear, Minister Fudge took it upon himself to travel to the school, without even taking along aurors, and take Hagrid to Azkaban. He was not given a trial, he was not even given an opportunity to speak, and the aurors were deliberately avoided. Simply because of his heritage and the prejudices of our Minister.

You see, there was once again no evidence. This time, there was not even a supposed 'monster' under Hagrid's control – just the conjecture that he had opened the Chamber the first time around, which did not hold up to any kind of scrutiny, and for that he was sent to Azkaban, blamed for the second opening.

It may be interesting to note that, just when Minister Fudge was clandestinely sending his subjects to Azkaban without even informing Law Enforcement, Lucius Malfoy appeared at Hogwarts, sacking Albus Dumbledore for not dealing with the Chamber of Secrets properly. Several weeks later, it was revealed that Malfoy had blackmailed several members of the Board of Governors into backing Dumbledore's sacking, which caused a scandal in the Wizengamot and forced him to pay compensation to all affected members. Was it even a coincidence, that these two events happened at the same time?

So what happened with the Chamber of Secrets? While Rubeus Hagrid was unlawfully locked away in Azkaban, another attack happened. None other than Lord Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, a very familiar name to the readers of this paper, managed to locate the Chamber of Secrets and – according to nearby sources – defeat the monster inside. It should be noted that Lord Potter himself refused to comment on the subject, no doubt out of humility.

This earned Hagrid his freedom, as well as a pardon for being expelled, which in turn allowed him to take up the teaching job he now holds. But what has happened to this country, that the Minister can imprison someone for a crime without evidence that they have committed the crime, without even informing Law Enforcement, indeed? And, dear reader, our Minister has taken more questionable actions. Check back in two weeks from now for yet another story of the Minister abusing his powers and playing with the lives of his subjects.

"I'm not sure if he'll survive even this one," Harry said, absently taking a sip of his pumpkin juice.

Next to him, Lyra hummed appreciatively. "She really tore into him, didn't she?"

"She did," Harry agreed. "I have to admit I never even realized just how insane that situation was. How can the Minister just walk in and tell someone they're going to prison?"

"He can't," Lyra said. "Or shouldn't be able to, at least. I think he's suffering from delusions of power."

Harry nodded. "Quite possible. He managed to ignore Voldemort's return for a full year while it was staring him in the face."

"Say, did you tell her Hagrid has giant blood? I mean, I'm not surprised, but it's not open knowledge either."

"Wasn't me," Harry replied. "She overheard him and Madame Maxime at the Yule Ball. Last time around that kicked off a far more negative article about him in the Daily Prophet. It's why I made sure to meet up with Skeeter during the break, I wanted to nip that article in the bud by giving her something better."

"She's very useful like this, isn't she? I mean, you were barely involved in this story and still got positive press out of it."

"She loves her storylines," Harry said. "Currently, I'm a noble hero, so she'll praise me any chance she gets. And besides, I'm giving her some very good content."

Lyra snorted. "You could say that. So what's that next story going to be about?"

"Fudge placing a hundred dementors at Hogwarts," Harry said.

"Yeah," Lyra agreed, "that was ridiculous. And that they weren't even taken away after that Quidditch game. We couldn't see anything."

"You know," Harry remarked, "you were supposed to be out there challenging me for the snitch. Talking about, how will that go next year, with the whole no girls on the team thing?"

"What thing?" Lyra asked, confused.

"You know," Harry said. "The Slytherin team not allowing girls."

"Wait," Lyra said. "You guys think that's a rule? Girls are welcome on the team, just no one made it. We don't have a lot of girls applying because of the whole proper pureblood lady thing."

"Oh," Harry said, fighting down his embarrassment, "I've said nothing, then."

"Next year I'll show you how well girls can play Quidditch."

Harry laughed. "At least spend your time looking for the snitch rather than following me or taunting me."

She grumbled. "Fair point."

Lavender was a vision of beauty as she descended the stairs of the girl's dormitory, wearing a gorgeous blue dress that fit perfectly with her honey blonde hair, which she had put in loose curls just like on Yule. Her dress hugged her form and ended just below the knee, making it rather daring in magical terms even though it had a high neckline.

Harry bowed and kissed her hand. "My lady."

Lavender giggled. "Hi."

"You're stunningly beautiful tonight," Harry said, rising and offering her his arm.

"And so are you," she replied as she took the arm.

Harry led her out of the common room and directed them towards the Room of Requirement, which wasn't that far away from their tower.

"So, are you looking forward to this evening?" he asked.

"Absolutely!" Lavender gushed. "I've never really had you for myself yet."

Harry smiled. "It was a great idea from you to have these dates. In all honesty, I feel kind of stupid for not coming up with it myself."

Lavender chuckled and kissed him on the cheek. "You can't think of everything, Harry. You're already doing a magnificent job at managing all seven of us."

"I'm glad you think so. Now, I wouldn't want to make you walk more than needed – you are my date after all, and I should look out for you – so please wait here while I create the Room."

After the door appeared, Harry opened it for Lavender to enter first. He hadn't closed it behind them yet when she squealed in excitement.

"Paris!"

"Yes," Harry said, feeling vindicated in his choice. "It seemed to me like you would enjoy a view on the skyline of the City of Love, right, Lav?"

She turned and kissed him enthusiastically. "Absolutely."

Harry led her to the two-person dining table right next to the fake – but so very realistic – window the Room had spawned. Dobby popped in moments later to take their orders, being absolutely adorable in his attempts to reign in his excitement and act professional – something Lavender loved.

After he disappeared again, the two of them spent several minutes just enjoying the view, pointing out the various famous buildings they could see from here.

They spent dinner having small talk, much like when Harry had taken Lyra here for a date. However, Lavender was still quite the gossip of course – though never maliciously so, thankfully – and as a result she spent a fair amount of time interrogating Harry on his thoughts of the other girls. Near the end of dinner, however, the subject changed.

"What do you remember of the future me?" she asked, after he had referenced the future Luna.

Harry sighed inwardly, realizing there probably wasn't a way out this time. "From school, not a lot," he said. "I only knew Ron and Hermione well. You did have a rather… physical relationship with Seamus in sixth year, but that's about all I know. However, you did participate in the Battle of Hogwarts."

"And how did it go?"

Harry moved his chair back, inviting her in his lap and putting his arms around her. "I haven't seen much of what happened in the Battle," he said, "because I was preoccupied with other things. However, I do remember one thing, and that is that you were among the casualties."

He hugged her close as she digested that information.

"I died?" she asked.

Harry kissed her neck. "You gave your life fighting Voldemort," he said. "But not this time, Lav. This time he's never going to return to power. I'll keep you safe."

She reached her arm around him, letting her head rest on his. "I can't believe I died that young," she said, shaking.

"War," Harry said to sum it up. "It's… horrible, that's all I can say. We lost so many people… Cedric died on the eve of Voldemort's resurrection, Sirius died a year later, Tonks, professor Lupin… But I can save them all Lav, by doing what I've done and coming back in time."

"You're amazing," she said, leaning down and kissing him full on the mouth. "You broke the laws of time just to save us."

"I was selfish," Harry argued. "I started looking into it because I was about to lose my magic from the Malfoy marriage contract."

"No," Lavender said. "I refuse to believe that. Perhaps that's why you got the idea, but you did it for us."

Harry smiled. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Lav. Perhaps you're right. Maybe the only thing the contract changed was that I was willing to bet it all, because I had nothing to lose."

They sat in silence for a few seconds. On the other side of the window, night had fallen, showing why Paris had gotten it's other nickname – the City of Lights.

"It's beautiful," Lavender said.

"Not as beautiful as you," Harry replied, making her blush slightly.

"You just can't stop it, can you?"

"No," Harry said. "Your beauty – and with that I mean you and every other girl I'm betrothed to – is too much for me to not compliment whenever I have the opportunity."

Again, they were silent for about a minute before Lavender spoke up again.

"Lyra said that she and you… uh… went all the way. On your date." A heavy blush crept up her cheeks.

"We did," Harry confirmed. "Do you want to?"

"I… I'm not sure," she said.

"Don't feel pressured," Harry said before placing another kiss on her lips. "We'll take it at whatever speed you're comfortable with. I just want you to feel happy and safe with me."

She cuddled into him in reply.

"What do you say we take this to a couch?" Harry proposed.

"Good idea," she replied, standing. The couch appeared against a nearby wall and they sat down together, leaning against one another as they enjoyed the skyline in front of them. The cuddling session turned somewhat more serious as time went on, but Harry also noticed that Lavender was by no means as overly enthusiastic as she had been with Seamus, though he wasn't sure whether that was because she was still two years younger, or whether she'd been looking for social validation when she'd been dating the redhead – but maybe he was just making baseless assumptions about that relationship.

Though they didn't quite go all the way that evening, Harry did get to play with Lavender's very large chest, and even introduced the girl to the very eagerly received gift of Parseltongue, so as far as he was concerned, it was a great evening, and Lavender seemed to agree.

On Saturday afternoon, Harry – joined by Ron and Hermione, just like in the good old days – made his way through the thin layer of snow currently covering the Hogwarts grounds to have tea with Hagrid.

That was another thing that had suffered this year. With everything else on his mind, he barely got to see Hagrid more than once per month, while it had been almost weekly in earlier years.

They were of course greeted enthusiastically by the half-giant, who almost crushed Harry's bones hugging him.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione!" he exclaimed. "Good to see you again. I've missed yeh."

"I've missed you too, Hagrid," Harry replied as they stepped inside, absently scratching Fang's head and earning himself half a gallon worth of slobber as reward.

"Sit down," Hagrid said. "D'yeh want a rock cake?"

"No, thanks," Harry said politely. He still kind of wanted to examine one sometime, but he had no idea how to go about it. Perhaps watching Hagrid bake them would be more useful, anyway. Or 'bake', air quotes included.

"So," Hagrid said, sinking down in his large chair, "Harry, did yeh have anything to do with that article in the Daily Prophet?"

"I did," Harry admitted. "It's really easy to point Skeeter in the right direction if you know what to do. I heard that she had heard about your… heritage somehow, and I was worried she would attack you for it. So I told her about the stunt Fudge pulled two years ago, and she went after him instead. As a logical consequence, she had to paint you in a positive light."

"Blimey, Harry, that sounds outright Slytherin."

Harry grinned. "Well, I am Lord Slytherin, after all. The thing with Slytherin methods is that you just have to make sure to pick the right bits. Sending a reporter after the corrupt and incompetent Minister – yes. Framing an innocent for the attacks you committed – no."

Hagrid's eyes widened as he realized what Harry was implying. "Tom opened the Chamber?"

"You… didn't know?" Harry asked, honestly surprised. "Tom Riddle, he became Voldemort."

Hagrid's jaw dropped. "I… I knew that You-Know-Who went to Hogwarts, but I didn' know who he was."

"Well, it was him," Harry said. "But this is no topic for when we haven't seen each other in so long." With that, he segued into more light-hearted talk, such as the creatures Hagrid was currently taking care of - other than Skrewts, he was staying far away from those - and how Harry was dealing with his complicated love life.

It was nice meeting Hagrid sometimes, to have something that never changed even though everything else around Harry did.

AN: Check out my Twitter (handle: Leyrann) or Discord (/WzYpyPT) for the latest updates on my writing. Also check out the site-that-shall-not-be-named (creator: Leyrann) if you wish to support me. Benefits include teasers of future chapters, sneak peeks into my outlining and more. Also, the teasers will be made publicly available on Discord the day before a new chapter is posted.