Challenge #025: Lateness // Challenge #047: A New Love for Harry // Challenge #100: First Day
Title: Always Late
Rating/Warnings: G
Characters/Pairing: Draco/Astoria
Summary: Snippets in Astoria Greengrass' life.
Word Count: 1069
Author's Notes: I once read an amazing fic where Astoria was a Squib. This fic is based partially on that premise. Didn't quite turn out the way I wanted, though. :\
Registered purchases?: Both!
Her parents are fighting again. Astoria can hear, even through the closed door, the muffled screaming and the thud of what must be her daddy's fist against the wooden furniture, or his palm on her mother's cheek. She sits at the bottom of the stairs, ear pressed against the door, straining to hear what they have to say.
"What are you doing?" Daphne whispers behind her, haughty and acting like a grown-up. She's only turned thirteen, Daphne has, but Astoria thinks she acts far too much like her mother's friends already. Daphne's nose is turned up, her chin severe with disapproval, and Astoria rolls her eyes.
"Be quiet, I'm trying to hear what they're saying."
Daphne scowls, yanking her back with her skinny fingers digging so hard on her arm that Astoria yelps, and suddenly the room goes quiet.
"Who's there?" her mother calls out.
"Look what you've done!" Astoria whispers furiously, shocked because her eyes suddenly sting with tears. She takes a step back, shoves Daphne in her proper place, and runs upstairs.
"Astoria?"
She ignores her mother's voice, slams the door behind her. She isn't stupid, even though they think she is. She's seen the Owl that came in through the window early that afternoon, and though her heart lifted for a moment, her parents had asked her to leave while they read it. It bore the same crest that arrived for Daphne two years ago, she was certain, but she also knew it hadn't arrived until her parents had sent one ahead, first.
It is nearly September, and now Astoria knows the truth: she isn't going to go to Hogwarts at all.
*
The Greengrass estate can be ridiculously quiet on summer days--Astoria isn't sure what it becomes when she isn't around, but even with Daphne off at school Astoria had no shortage of little children to play with, or house guests to delight. Her parents welcomed one and all to their abode, but she wonders now what happened to them in the fall and winter and spring.
Summers--the last four that have passed so far, at least--have taken a droller mood. She doesn't talk to her sister any longer, not by choice at first but lately it's made more sense. Her sister doesn't speak to her unless it's to tell her what to do and what not to do, as she did that morning when she burst into Astoria's room unannounced.
"I'm expecting guests at two," she'd merely said. "Try not to bother us."
Astoria plans to go shopping anyway. Her friends at Constance were planning to go to London, but Astoria opens up a book and loses track of time until it is too late, it is almost two and now she is hurrying, tearing through her room and picking up clothes and putting them on and stumbling down the stairs and hopping on one foot as she tries to put on a shoe, one hand on the doorknob to push it open--
Oof.
She is too late, and Draco Malfoy is too early.
"Sorry," she mumbles, and looks up just in time to catch the frown that creases the boy's head. He is trying to work out who she is, she reckons, because of course everyone knows the Malfoys but Astoria was but a wisp of a girl the last time their families had tea, and since she was shipped to a Muggle boarding school it seems most had been happy to forget she ever existed.
"Astoria?"
"I'm late," she murmurs, pushing past him and never looking back.
*
Daphne doesn't stop complaining about how many questions Draco asked about her after their encounter, but Astoria can't bring herself to care. She's grateful, again, when term starts and she's away from her family, and everything magical.
She goes through her A-levels and manages enough to make her proud. After leaving she sits on the steps to her dormitory, waiting for her parents to pick her up. Her friends come and go and wave goodbye, and she offers them a cheerful smile as their numbers dwindle and it is just her, and her suitcase, and the ticking clock on the northeast tower telling her they're late, they're late, her parents are late.
Two hours pass and she sighs. They aren't late, she realizes. They're just never coming.
*
Astoria doesn't find much need to do anything in the wizarding world. She's functioned enough without magic that it doesn't matter to her what she cannot do, but one day Daphne Owls her and asks for her to come.
Getting into Diagon Alley through The Leaky is tricky business--Tom doesn't understand why she can't just tap the wall herself, and she mumbles her explanation hesitantly, quietly, cheeks red enough that Tom eventually takes pity on her and opens the door himself.
Daphne is late, as per usual. Astoria drops by the bank to convert some of her money so she can buy herself ice cream and sit in the corner of Florean's while her sister bides her time who-knows-where, stirring her spoon in quickly melting cream and licking the fudge that sticks to it.
She remembers when she and her family used to visit Diagon Alley, before Daphne even went to school and the biggest thing that came between her parents was how many hours her father spent at work. They always bought Daphne and Astoria a large tub of every-flavor sundae, and Astoria smiles. She and Daphne always made sure to split it exactly right down the middle, so determined were they at sharing.
But she doesn't miss this world at all, she thinks. It bustles with bright colors and garish sights, to be sure, and it smells of her best memories from childhood, but at the same time, she knows it is nowhere she belongs, anymore.
She checks her watch. Daphne is running twenty minutes late, now. A mobile phone, Astoria thinks, would tell her where Daphne had gone, but who can manage an Owl in the middle of hurrying from one place to another (or, as Daphne is more liable to do, of leisurely wandering from one place to the next)? She's giving Daphne five more minutes--she may be her sister but Astoria is waiting around for no one.
A shadow falls upon her and Astoria glances up.
"Daphne's sister, isn't it?" Draco asks.
She smiles, a little belatedly but he doesn't seem to mind. "Astoria."
Word count points: 1069/30 = 35.6 36 pts
Bonus points: 10 pts
Title: A New Love for Harry
Rating/Warnings: G
Characters/Pairing: Harry/Luna, past Harry/Ginny
Summary: As one relationship ends, another one blossoms.
Word Count: 1441
Registered purchases?: Both!
"And remember to write always, you hear?" Ginny is telling Lily, their youngest. Her arms are around her little daughter's shoulders, hugging her as though she never wants to let go (and maybe she doesn't) while Harry stands behind them both, paternal and trying hard to choke back a sob.
"I'll miss you," he tells Lily once Ginny lets go. He hugs her back, just as fiercely if not more. "Remember to write, okay, Lils? Weekly, if you can't manage an owl a day for your old man?"
"Dad." Lily's voice is exasperated, strained, perhaps a smidge embarrassed. Harry does not miss the way she's reluctantly returning his hug, worriedly looking around them to see who else is witnessing her parents' atrocious display of affection. "It's not like you'll never see me again!"
And it's true. She'll be back for holidays and summer and this isn't the last time Harry won't see his daughter. It isn't like it's the first time he has to let go, either--James and Albus had much drier goodbyes.
"Sorry," he says, smiling at her. "It's just--"
"You're growing so fast," Ginny says behind him.
"Take care, alright?" he tells her, and after one more hug and kiss, she boards the train, looking back one more time at her parents before Hogwarts Express is on its way.
Harry and Ginny stand on the platform in silence, long after the train has departed. They are two of the last few parents still standing there, and it is Ginny who speaks first.
"So we'll make the announcement when they all return for the winter holidays, but you'll still spend it at The Burrow?"
Harry nods. "Doesn't make much sense to make it that much more traumatic for any of them, and anyway, Ron--"
"--is still your friend, I know." Ginny smiles , but there is little affection left there. "I suppose you'll want to get your things from home now?"
"Actually, Gin, if it's all the same to you, can I take them this weekend?" Harry hesitates. "I just--"
"It's fine, Harry," she tells him. "Just owl ahead to let me know."
"You'll forward the kids' owls?"
"Of course. You'll be at Ron and Hermione's, won't you?"
"Until I find a place to stay, yeah. Then I'll let you know."
"Alright."
Ginny turns to leave, but Harry doesn't follow her.
*
"Oh, was it at noon? But it is noon, isn't it?"
"Mum, are you still on Swedish time?"
"Oh dear, oh dear, did we miss the train then?"
"We can't get into Platform 9 3/4 now."
"That's a bit problematic."
"Mum, what do we do?"
Harry thinks one of the voices sounds familiar, and when he rounds the corner after leaving the platform, he realizes why. He'd recognize the long blonde hair anywhere. "Luna?"
She turns to look up at him, blinking owlish-wide eyes at him before: "Harry! Harry Potter, how are you?"
"I'm good, and you? I haven't seen you in a while!" He doesn't even realize she'd gotten married (the thought of Luna marrying somehow surprises him; he doesn't think she's the sort) until now, but there she is, with two young boys who look exactly alike, and exactly like their mother. "I think I missed a couple of birthdays here."
"Oh, yes. Harry, these are my sons, Lorcan and Lysander. Boys, this is Harry Potter."
Both Lorcan and Lysander are looking at him with wide blue eyes like Luna's, but they aren't gaping the way most people do. "You were a horcrux," one of them points out.
"Can you fly us to Hogwarts?" the other wants to know. "Mum, didn't he do that once, when he was late for the train?
Harry laughs as he turns to Luna. "What stories have you been telling them?"
"Just the best ones," she tells him with a smile.
"Were you headed to Hogwarts?" he asks.
"Were," she admits. "I'm afraid I messed up the times--we were in Sweden, you see, and the hours are ahead, but I thought perhaps I'd already subtracted the time, so I added some more, only as it turns out..." She shrugs. "You don't happen to have a flying car lying around, do you? I'd hate for Lorcan and Lysander to miss their Sorting."
Harry shook his head. "Sorry, Luna," he said. "But I think I can find us a way to get there?"
*
Being Head Auror has its own perks, and Luna finds out what it is when Harry leads them into the Ministry offices and signals them over into the Floo behind his office.
"It leads straight to Hogsmeade," he explains when the family look at him curiously. "I figure that's the fastest way to get us there without being seen?"
"Ah, yes, of course," Luna says with a smile. "Thank you, Harry."
"It's no worry," he says. "Usually I never have to use it but just in case, it's useful to have. It goes straight to The Hog's Head."
Luna's expression shifts, just the smallest bit, and Harry shares a look with her. "Did your mother ever tell you anything about Aberforth Dumbledore and The Hog's Head?" he asks her boys.
"She told us loads of stories," Lorcan says.
Harry takes the Floo powder from the top of his mantel. "Do you want me to go first, and then you can go after your sons?"
"That sounds like a plan," she says, so Harry steps inside the grate and yells "The Hog's Head!" as clear as he can.
Lysander comes in first--he doesn't know how he manages to distinguish them from each other so fast, but Lysander is the more quiet son, he thinks--followed by Lorcan. There is a minute's wait between them, and then they wait for close to five minutes before Luna shows up.
"Sorry," she says right away. "There was a bit of a nargle problem in there that I had to take care of before leaving. Least I could do for your helping us get to Hogwarts, Harry."
"Ah, don't worry about it," he says. "But thank you."
"Where's Hogwarts?" Lorcan asks.
"We're only in Hogsmeade," his brother tells him. "Hogwarts is still a walk away."
"It's over here," Harry says, leading them to the well-worn path from the small village of Hogsmeade all the way to Hogwarts.
"Do you think we're too late for the Sorting?" Luna asks, falling into step beside Harry while her children run up ahead.
"I don't think the train's anywhere near yet, to be honest." Harry glances at her. "When did you get married?"
Luna flushes. "I didn't," she admits. "I met Rolf at a Magical Creatures convention a few years after I left Hogwarts. He was a dear friend and an excellent lover, but neither of us thought marriage was ever in the cards."
"Oh," Harry says. "Sorry, I didn't mean to--"
"It's not all that personal, Harry," she tells him. "The boys were visiting him in Sweden and I'd been there looking for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks."
Harry nods.
"And you?" she asks.
"Ahh, it's a bit complicated." Harry gives her a rueful grin. "Ginny and I-- it's a bit difficult when you realize there are some things you thought you were, and you thought you weren't, before you've grown up and known for sure, you know?"
"Of course."
"We haven't told the kids yet," he admits. "We wanted to wait until they were all in Hogwarts."
"And now they are?"
"First day of the rest of their lives, and the rest of ours as well," he says.
"You must be terrified."
Harry laughs. "You have no idea."
By the time they reach Hogwarts it is almost as though Luna had never gone. Harry has fallen into an easy conversation with her, as he'd always had even when they were both still students. Professor McGonagall is by the gates ready to meet them when they arrive--Aberforth had owled to warn her, it turns out--thanking Harry for having more sense this time around and not bringing a flying car with him.
"I am so sorry, Headmistress," Luna apologizes. "Next time I'll take more care to take note of the time."
"It is quite alright, Ms Lovegood," Professor McGonagall tells her, and after Luna hugs and kisses both her boys goodbye, and they disappear behind Hogwarts' gates, she turns to Harry.
"I don't have any other plans for the rest of the day. Do you?"
He shakes his head. "Do you want to go back to Hogsmeade and catch up over drinks or something?"
"Not Puddifoot's, I hope?"
Harry laughs. "Hell no. The Three Broomsticks?"
Luna grins and agrees, and together they walk all the way back.
Word count points: 1441/30 = 48 pts
Bonus points: 10 pts
Title: Hermione Granger, Muggleborn
Rating/Warnings: G
Characters/Pairing: Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom
Word Count: 1437
Registered purchases?: Both!
Hermione Granger doesn't know what to do on the 31st of August. It is the last day she is to consider herself Muggle, and the day after that, she'll start being a Muggleborn witch. Her parents didn't think the letter was real until they were visited by an actual witch a few days later, and then they saw Diagon Alley, and everything in there that made them believe that yes, their daughter was indeed a witch.
Later they would tell her that they'd always known she was a special child, and Hermione likes to think that she's always known as well. She's happy because it means there's an explanation, at last, for all of the things she cannot explain, for all of the things that she's made done one way or another that she isn't quite sure how she managed. She resisted asking for everything in sight, when they got to Diagon Alley, and tried hard to look like she wasn't gawking, that she belonged, but it was difficult and there was so much more to learn, so when they reached the bookshop she let herself loose, and convinced her parents it was important--necessary, even--that she arm herself with knowledge as much as possible, because she could not arm herself with a whole lifetime's worth of having grown up knowing she was magical.
She has been reading voraciously up to this point. She knows the entirety of Hogwarts, A History by heart, she is certain. A History of Magic is another favorite of hers as well. There is even a fascinating book, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, that tells her she is possibly going to be classmates with a real hero of the war, the boy who defeated the most evil dark wizard of all time while still swathed in a toddler's clothes, The Boy Who Lived.
Hermione Granger is hooked, enthralled, and she absolutely,positively, cannot wait for school to begin.
She even starts practicing some spells as she reads about them from her charms textbook. She knows she can't do the spells yet--there are laws against underaged magic, which one of her new books tells her--but she has fun practicing the swishing and the flicking and whispering the words as softly as she can, so as not to actually invoke the spells.
And then there is her wand--oh, how she loves it! It is vine, 10 3/4 inches, with a dragon heartstring core. A powerful core, if her book on wandlore is anything to go by. And vine wood, she reads, is a special kind of wood--rare, and useful for those destined to seek greater things in life. It is her wand, a magical thing that chose her, and Hermione hugs it to her chest when she sleeps at night, happy and dreaming of Hogwarts.
It is the last day before she officially begins her education as a witch, and Hermione doesn't know what to do.
She realizes, suddenly, that there are so many different things left undone, so many different things left to figure out. Her family has decided to tell everyone they know that they are going to send her to a private boarding school somewhere in Scotland, but she worries that her parents will forget the International Statute of Secrecy and be punished by the wizarding police (Aurors, she thinks they are called. Or is it Magical Law Enforcers?) for an honest mistake. She worries that her cousins will ask too many questions, that when her parents stop telling their brothers and sisters what Hermione has excelled at in school lately, they will begin to wonder that something is up.
And she worries, too, about not being able to do well at school. She's always been smart, and she's always been intelligent, but magic as a whole is an entirely different sort of topic altogether, isn't it? What if, she wonders, what if there isn't really a way to revise for it, and what if their performance is dependent on how powerful their natural magic is? She worries that she won't actually know what to do, when the time comes that she is to take her classes and do her best only to find that she doesn't really know how.
(And what if there is a mistake, and she isn't magical at all? What if she has to return home a Muggle again?)
Hermione barely manages to get through dinner, and though she smiles (weakly, but determinedly) at her parents when they ask her what is wrong, she is unable to sleep soundly that night.
*
It is the 1st of September, and Hermione Granger is going to Hogwarts.
She cannot remember ever being this scared and excited both at the same time. King's Cross is bustling, packed and full of children and parents and families and travelers, and she waits patiently by her mum while they weave through the crowd, on the lookout for Platform 9 and 3/4.
She is the first to spot the first wizarding family who goes through the platform pillar between 9 and 10. She tugs on her mum's sleeve, mouths a signal to her dad, and they watch as a family pushes a cart right through the wall to disappear into it.
Her mum doesn't look too convinced that's the right way to the platform, but Hermione takes a deep breath and runs into the wall with her eyes closed and her fingers crossed. She keeps running, and when she opens her eyes she is on the other side. She turns around, all wide smiles and pleased grin, waving her parents over. Her mum looks a little ill, as though she can't believe what she just did and the act of going through the magical cloaking device of Platform 9 3/4 did not settle with her, but her dad looks far too excited himself. They help her get her things on the train, loading up an empty compartment and saying their goodbyes, and when Hermione hugs them goodbye she is a lot less terrified and a lot more excited.
She promises them she'll write, and they tell her they'll miss her. She waves at them as the train pulls away, looks back at the platform until they are but tiny little dots in the distance.
Hermione meets Neville Longbottom first. He is a first year, as she will be, but his family's all wizard and they thought he might not have been one, since he hardly exhibited any magical tendencies until he finally bounced away on Blackpool Pier. Hermione's mouth drops at the story, and Neville shrugs in such a funny way that she thinks it must happen fairly often for witches and wizards. The trolley cart comes along but Hermione remembers her parents telling her not to eat too many sweets, so she passes. Neville does too, and he tells her it's because his Gran told him not to.
It takes them a while before they realize that Neville's toad has gone missing. He panics and flails, nearly turning their compartment upside down before Hermione tells him to calm down, that she'll help him look as well. She walks down the train, knocking on compartments and asking students if they've seen a toad.
Nobody seems to have seen anything, and then she reaches the compartment of a boy with red hair and another boy with messy black hair. The redhead seems like he's about to perform a spell so she asks to see it, but it is a silly incantation that is clearly not a real magical spell at all. She reminds them that they're about to get to Hogwarts so they better put on their robes, and she continues on her way.
She tells Neville she hasn't seen his toad at all when she returns, and she is very sorry, but she's sure he'll turn up soon. Neville doesn't look half as convinced, but Hermione pats him on the arm and when they pull into Hogsmeade, they get on the same boat to paddle towards Hogwarts.
Hermione Granger remembers that this isn't just any school, that it isn't just any day, and once again she is nervous and worried. She doesn't know how to even begin to explain to Neville her concerns--he's still fretting over his toad--but she does hope that her Sorting doesn't go wrong. She falls behind a few other first years as they gather around the Deputy Headmistress, and she holds her breath, her fingers crossed, as she wishes desperately for the rest of her year to be as magical and wonderful as she'd dreamed.
The Great Hall's doors open then, and Hermione Granger, Muggleborn, steps inside.
Word count points: 1437/30 = 47.9 48 pts
Bonus points: 10 pts
Total word count points: 36 + 48 + 48 = 132 125 points
Bonus points: 10 + 10 + 10 = 30
Total points: 155 pts for Ravenclaw!
Rating/Warnings: G
Characters/Pairing: Draco/Astoria
Summary: Snippets in Astoria Greengrass' life.
Word Count: 1069
Author's Notes: I once read an amazing fic where Astoria was a Squib. This fic is based partially on that premise. Didn't quite turn out the way I wanted, though. :\
Registered purchases?: Both!
Her parents are fighting again. Astoria can hear, even through the closed door, the muffled screaming and the thud of what must be her daddy's fist against the wooden furniture, or his palm on her mother's cheek. She sits at the bottom of the stairs, ear pressed against the door, straining to hear what they have to say.
"What are you doing?" Daphne whispers behind her, haughty and acting like a grown-up. She's only turned thirteen, Daphne has, but Astoria thinks she acts far too much like her mother's friends already. Daphne's nose is turned up, her chin severe with disapproval, and Astoria rolls her eyes.
"Be quiet, I'm trying to hear what they're saying."
Daphne scowls, yanking her back with her skinny fingers digging so hard on her arm that Astoria yelps, and suddenly the room goes quiet.
"Who's there?" her mother calls out.
"Look what you've done!" Astoria whispers furiously, shocked because her eyes suddenly sting with tears. She takes a step back, shoves Daphne in her proper place, and runs upstairs.
"Astoria?"
She ignores her mother's voice, slams the door behind her. She isn't stupid, even though they think she is. She's seen the Owl that came in through the window early that afternoon, and though her heart lifted for a moment, her parents had asked her to leave while they read it. It bore the same crest that arrived for Daphne two years ago, she was certain, but she also knew it hadn't arrived until her parents had sent one ahead, first.
It is nearly September, and now Astoria knows the truth: she isn't going to go to Hogwarts at all.
*
The Greengrass estate can be ridiculously quiet on summer days--Astoria isn't sure what it becomes when she isn't around, but even with Daphne off at school Astoria had no shortage of little children to play with, or house guests to delight. Her parents welcomed one and all to their abode, but she wonders now what happened to them in the fall and winter and spring.
Summers--the last four that have passed so far, at least--have taken a droller mood. She doesn't talk to her sister any longer, not by choice at first but lately it's made more sense. Her sister doesn't speak to her unless it's to tell her what to do and what not to do, as she did that morning when she burst into Astoria's room unannounced.
"I'm expecting guests at two," she'd merely said. "Try not to bother us."
Astoria plans to go shopping anyway. Her friends at Constance were planning to go to London, but Astoria opens up a book and loses track of time until it is too late, it is almost two and now she is hurrying, tearing through her room and picking up clothes and putting them on and stumbling down the stairs and hopping on one foot as she tries to put on a shoe, one hand on the doorknob to push it open--
Oof.
She is too late, and Draco Malfoy is too early.
"Sorry," she mumbles, and looks up just in time to catch the frown that creases the boy's head. He is trying to work out who she is, she reckons, because of course everyone knows the Malfoys but Astoria was but a wisp of a girl the last time their families had tea, and since she was shipped to a Muggle boarding school it seems most had been happy to forget she ever existed.
"Astoria?"
"I'm late," she murmurs, pushing past him and never looking back.
*
Daphne doesn't stop complaining about how many questions Draco asked about her after their encounter, but Astoria can't bring herself to care. She's grateful, again, when term starts and she's away from her family, and everything magical.
She goes through her A-levels and manages enough to make her proud. After leaving she sits on the steps to her dormitory, waiting for her parents to pick her up. Her friends come and go and wave goodbye, and she offers them a cheerful smile as their numbers dwindle and it is just her, and her suitcase, and the ticking clock on the northeast tower telling her they're late, they're late, her parents are late.
Two hours pass and she sighs. They aren't late, she realizes. They're just never coming.
*
Astoria doesn't find much need to do anything in the wizarding world. She's functioned enough without magic that it doesn't matter to her what she cannot do, but one day Daphne Owls her and asks for her to come.
Getting into Diagon Alley through The Leaky is tricky business--Tom doesn't understand why she can't just tap the wall herself, and she mumbles her explanation hesitantly, quietly, cheeks red enough that Tom eventually takes pity on her and opens the door himself.
Daphne is late, as per usual. Astoria drops by the bank to convert some of her money so she can buy herself ice cream and sit in the corner of Florean's while her sister bides her time who-knows-where, stirring her spoon in quickly melting cream and licking the fudge that sticks to it.
She remembers when she and her family used to visit Diagon Alley, before Daphne even went to school and the biggest thing that came between her parents was how many hours her father spent at work. They always bought Daphne and Astoria a large tub of every-flavor sundae, and Astoria smiles. She and Daphne always made sure to split it exactly right down the middle, so determined were they at sharing.
But she doesn't miss this world at all, she thinks. It bustles with bright colors and garish sights, to be sure, and it smells of her best memories from childhood, but at the same time, she knows it is nowhere she belongs, anymore.
She checks her watch. Daphne is running twenty minutes late, now. A mobile phone, Astoria thinks, would tell her where Daphne had gone, but who can manage an Owl in the middle of hurrying from one place to another (or, as Daphne is more liable to do, of leisurely wandering from one place to the next)? She's giving Daphne five more minutes--she may be her sister but Astoria is waiting around for no one.
A shadow falls upon her and Astoria glances up.
"Daphne's sister, isn't it?" Draco asks.
She smiles, a little belatedly but he doesn't seem to mind. "Astoria."
Word count points: 1069/30 = 35.6 36 pts
Bonus points: 10 pts
Title: A New Love for Harry
Rating/Warnings: G
Characters/Pairing: Harry/Luna, past Harry/Ginny
Summary: As one relationship ends, another one blossoms.
Word Count: 1441
Registered purchases?: Both!
"And remember to write always, you hear?" Ginny is telling Lily, their youngest. Her arms are around her little daughter's shoulders, hugging her as though she never wants to let go (and maybe she doesn't) while Harry stands behind them both, paternal and trying hard to choke back a sob.
"I'll miss you," he tells Lily once Ginny lets go. He hugs her back, just as fiercely if not more. "Remember to write, okay, Lils? Weekly, if you can't manage an owl a day for your old man?"
"Dad." Lily's voice is exasperated, strained, perhaps a smidge embarrassed. Harry does not miss the way she's reluctantly returning his hug, worriedly looking around them to see who else is witnessing her parents' atrocious display of affection. "It's not like you'll never see me again!"
And it's true. She'll be back for holidays and summer and this isn't the last time Harry won't see his daughter. It isn't like it's the first time he has to let go, either--James and Albus had much drier goodbyes.
"Sorry," he says, smiling at her. "It's just--"
"You're growing so fast," Ginny says behind him.
"Take care, alright?" he tells her, and after one more hug and kiss, she boards the train, looking back one more time at her parents before Hogwarts Express is on its way.
Harry and Ginny stand on the platform in silence, long after the train has departed. They are two of the last few parents still standing there, and it is Ginny who speaks first.
"So we'll make the announcement when they all return for the winter holidays, but you'll still spend it at The Burrow?"
Harry nods. "Doesn't make much sense to make it that much more traumatic for any of them, and anyway, Ron--"
"--is still your friend, I know." Ginny smiles , but there is little affection left there. "I suppose you'll want to get your things from home now?"
"Actually, Gin, if it's all the same to you, can I take them this weekend?" Harry hesitates. "I just--"
"It's fine, Harry," she tells him. "Just owl ahead to let me know."
"You'll forward the kids' owls?"
"Of course. You'll be at Ron and Hermione's, won't you?"
"Until I find a place to stay, yeah. Then I'll let you know."
"Alright."
Ginny turns to leave, but Harry doesn't follow her.
*
"Oh, was it at noon? But it is noon, isn't it?"
"Mum, are you still on Swedish time?"
"Oh dear, oh dear, did we miss the train then?"
"We can't get into Platform 9 3/4 now."
"That's a bit problematic."
"Mum, what do we do?"
Harry thinks one of the voices sounds familiar, and when he rounds the corner after leaving the platform, he realizes why. He'd recognize the long blonde hair anywhere. "Luna?"
She turns to look up at him, blinking owlish-wide eyes at him before: "Harry! Harry Potter, how are you?"
"I'm good, and you? I haven't seen you in a while!" He doesn't even realize she'd gotten married (the thought of Luna marrying somehow surprises him; he doesn't think she's the sort) until now, but there she is, with two young boys who look exactly alike, and exactly like their mother. "I think I missed a couple of birthdays here."
"Oh, yes. Harry, these are my sons, Lorcan and Lysander. Boys, this is Harry Potter."
Both Lorcan and Lysander are looking at him with wide blue eyes like Luna's, but they aren't gaping the way most people do. "You were a horcrux," one of them points out.
"Can you fly us to Hogwarts?" the other wants to know. "Mum, didn't he do that once, when he was late for the train?
Harry laughs as he turns to Luna. "What stories have you been telling them?"
"Just the best ones," she tells him with a smile.
"Were you headed to Hogwarts?" he asks.
"Were," she admits. "I'm afraid I messed up the times--we were in Sweden, you see, and the hours are ahead, but I thought perhaps I'd already subtracted the time, so I added some more, only as it turns out..." She shrugs. "You don't happen to have a flying car lying around, do you? I'd hate for Lorcan and Lysander to miss their Sorting."
Harry shook his head. "Sorry, Luna," he said. "But I think I can find us a way to get there?"
*
Being Head Auror has its own perks, and Luna finds out what it is when Harry leads them into the Ministry offices and signals them over into the Floo behind his office.
"It leads straight to Hogsmeade," he explains when the family look at him curiously. "I figure that's the fastest way to get us there without being seen?"
"Ah, yes, of course," Luna says with a smile. "Thank you, Harry."
"It's no worry," he says. "Usually I never have to use it but just in case, it's useful to have. It goes straight to The Hog's Head."
Luna's expression shifts, just the smallest bit, and Harry shares a look with her. "Did your mother ever tell you anything about Aberforth Dumbledore and The Hog's Head?" he asks her boys.
"She told us loads of stories," Lorcan says.
Harry takes the Floo powder from the top of his mantel. "Do you want me to go first, and then you can go after your sons?"
"That sounds like a plan," she says, so Harry steps inside the grate and yells "The Hog's Head!" as clear as he can.
Lysander comes in first--he doesn't know how he manages to distinguish them from each other so fast, but Lysander is the more quiet son, he thinks--followed by Lorcan. There is a minute's wait between them, and then they wait for close to five minutes before Luna shows up.
"Sorry," she says right away. "There was a bit of a nargle problem in there that I had to take care of before leaving. Least I could do for your helping us get to Hogwarts, Harry."
"Ah, don't worry about it," he says. "But thank you."
"Where's Hogwarts?" Lorcan asks.
"We're only in Hogsmeade," his brother tells him. "Hogwarts is still a walk away."
"It's over here," Harry says, leading them to the well-worn path from the small village of Hogsmeade all the way to Hogwarts.
"Do you think we're too late for the Sorting?" Luna asks, falling into step beside Harry while her children run up ahead.
"I don't think the train's anywhere near yet, to be honest." Harry glances at her. "When did you get married?"
Luna flushes. "I didn't," she admits. "I met Rolf at a Magical Creatures convention a few years after I left Hogwarts. He was a dear friend and an excellent lover, but neither of us thought marriage was ever in the cards."
"Oh," Harry says. "Sorry, I didn't mean to--"
"It's not all that personal, Harry," she tells him. "The boys were visiting him in Sweden and I'd been there looking for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks."
Harry nods.
"And you?" she asks.
"Ahh, it's a bit complicated." Harry gives her a rueful grin. "Ginny and I-- it's a bit difficult when you realize there are some things you thought you were, and you thought you weren't, before you've grown up and known for sure, you know?"
"Of course."
"We haven't told the kids yet," he admits. "We wanted to wait until they were all in Hogwarts."
"And now they are?"
"First day of the rest of their lives, and the rest of ours as well," he says.
"You must be terrified."
Harry laughs. "You have no idea."
By the time they reach Hogwarts it is almost as though Luna had never gone. Harry has fallen into an easy conversation with her, as he'd always had even when they were both still students. Professor McGonagall is by the gates ready to meet them when they arrive--Aberforth had owled to warn her, it turns out--thanking Harry for having more sense this time around and not bringing a flying car with him.
"I am so sorry, Headmistress," Luna apologizes. "Next time I'll take more care to take note of the time."
"It is quite alright, Ms Lovegood," Professor McGonagall tells her, and after Luna hugs and kisses both her boys goodbye, and they disappear behind Hogwarts' gates, she turns to Harry.
"I don't have any other plans for the rest of the day. Do you?"
He shakes his head. "Do you want to go back to Hogsmeade and catch up over drinks or something?"
"Not Puddifoot's, I hope?"
Harry laughs. "Hell no. The Three Broomsticks?"
Luna grins and agrees, and together they walk all the way back.
Word count points: 1441/30 = 48 pts
Bonus points: 10 pts
Title: Hermione Granger, Muggleborn
Rating/Warnings: G
Characters/Pairing: Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom
Word Count: 1437
Registered purchases?: Both!
Hermione Granger doesn't know what to do on the 31st of August. It is the last day she is to consider herself Muggle, and the day after that, she'll start being a Muggleborn witch. Her parents didn't think the letter was real until they were visited by an actual witch a few days later, and then they saw Diagon Alley, and everything in there that made them believe that yes, their daughter was indeed a witch.
Later they would tell her that they'd always known she was a special child, and Hermione likes to think that she's always known as well. She's happy because it means there's an explanation, at last, for all of the things she cannot explain, for all of the things that she's made done one way or another that she isn't quite sure how she managed. She resisted asking for everything in sight, when they got to Diagon Alley, and tried hard to look like she wasn't gawking, that she belonged, but it was difficult and there was so much more to learn, so when they reached the bookshop she let herself loose, and convinced her parents it was important--necessary, even--that she arm herself with knowledge as much as possible, because she could not arm herself with a whole lifetime's worth of having grown up knowing she was magical.
She has been reading voraciously up to this point. She knows the entirety of Hogwarts, A History by heart, she is certain. A History of Magic is another favorite of hers as well. There is even a fascinating book, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, that tells her she is possibly going to be classmates with a real hero of the war, the boy who defeated the most evil dark wizard of all time while still swathed in a toddler's clothes, The Boy Who Lived.
Hermione Granger is hooked, enthralled, and she absolutely,positively, cannot wait for school to begin.
She even starts practicing some spells as she reads about them from her charms textbook. She knows she can't do the spells yet--there are laws against underaged magic, which one of her new books tells her--but she has fun practicing the swishing and the flicking and whispering the words as softly as she can, so as not to actually invoke the spells.
And then there is her wand--oh, how she loves it! It is vine, 10 3/4 inches, with a dragon heartstring core. A powerful core, if her book on wandlore is anything to go by. And vine wood, she reads, is a special kind of wood--rare, and useful for those destined to seek greater things in life. It is her wand, a magical thing that chose her, and Hermione hugs it to her chest when she sleeps at night, happy and dreaming of Hogwarts.
It is the last day before she officially begins her education as a witch, and Hermione doesn't know what to do.
She realizes, suddenly, that there are so many different things left undone, so many different things left to figure out. Her family has decided to tell everyone they know that they are going to send her to a private boarding school somewhere in Scotland, but she worries that her parents will forget the International Statute of Secrecy and be punished by the wizarding police (Aurors, she thinks they are called. Or is it Magical Law Enforcers?) for an honest mistake. She worries that her cousins will ask too many questions, that when her parents stop telling their brothers and sisters what Hermione has excelled at in school lately, they will begin to wonder that something is up.
And she worries, too, about not being able to do well at school. She's always been smart, and she's always been intelligent, but magic as a whole is an entirely different sort of topic altogether, isn't it? What if, she wonders, what if there isn't really a way to revise for it, and what if their performance is dependent on how powerful their natural magic is? She worries that she won't actually know what to do, when the time comes that she is to take her classes and do her best only to find that she doesn't really know how.
(And what if there is a mistake, and she isn't magical at all? What if she has to return home a Muggle again?)
Hermione barely manages to get through dinner, and though she smiles (weakly, but determinedly) at her parents when they ask her what is wrong, she is unable to sleep soundly that night.
*
It is the 1st of September, and Hermione Granger is going to Hogwarts.
She cannot remember ever being this scared and excited both at the same time. King's Cross is bustling, packed and full of children and parents and families and travelers, and she waits patiently by her mum while they weave through the crowd, on the lookout for Platform 9 and 3/4.
She is the first to spot the first wizarding family who goes through the platform pillar between 9 and 10. She tugs on her mum's sleeve, mouths a signal to her dad, and they watch as a family pushes a cart right through the wall to disappear into it.
Her mum doesn't look too convinced that's the right way to the platform, but Hermione takes a deep breath and runs into the wall with her eyes closed and her fingers crossed. She keeps running, and when she opens her eyes she is on the other side. She turns around, all wide smiles and pleased grin, waving her parents over. Her mum looks a little ill, as though she can't believe what she just did and the act of going through the magical cloaking device of Platform 9 3/4 did not settle with her, but her dad looks far too excited himself. They help her get her things on the train, loading up an empty compartment and saying their goodbyes, and when Hermione hugs them goodbye she is a lot less terrified and a lot more excited.
She promises them she'll write, and they tell her they'll miss her. She waves at them as the train pulls away, looks back at the platform until they are but tiny little dots in the distance.
Hermione meets Neville Longbottom first. He is a first year, as she will be, but his family's all wizard and they thought he might not have been one, since he hardly exhibited any magical tendencies until he finally bounced away on Blackpool Pier. Hermione's mouth drops at the story, and Neville shrugs in such a funny way that she thinks it must happen fairly often for witches and wizards. The trolley cart comes along but Hermione remembers her parents telling her not to eat too many sweets, so she passes. Neville does too, and he tells her it's because his Gran told him not to.
It takes them a while before they realize that Neville's toad has gone missing. He panics and flails, nearly turning their compartment upside down before Hermione tells him to calm down, that she'll help him look as well. She walks down the train, knocking on compartments and asking students if they've seen a toad.
Nobody seems to have seen anything, and then she reaches the compartment of a boy with red hair and another boy with messy black hair. The redhead seems like he's about to perform a spell so she asks to see it, but it is a silly incantation that is clearly not a real magical spell at all. She reminds them that they're about to get to Hogwarts so they better put on their robes, and she continues on her way.
She tells Neville she hasn't seen his toad at all when she returns, and she is very sorry, but she's sure he'll turn up soon. Neville doesn't look half as convinced, but Hermione pats him on the arm and when they pull into Hogsmeade, they get on the same boat to paddle towards Hogwarts.
Hermione Granger remembers that this isn't just any school, that it isn't just any day, and once again she is nervous and worried. She doesn't know how to even begin to explain to Neville her concerns--he's still fretting over his toad--but she does hope that her Sorting doesn't go wrong. She falls behind a few other first years as they gather around the Deputy Headmistress, and she holds her breath, her fingers crossed, as she wishes desperately for the rest of her year to be as magical and wonderful as she'd dreamed.
The Great Hall's doors open then, and Hermione Granger, Muggleborn, steps inside.
Word count points: 1437/30 = 47.9 48 pts
Bonus points: 10 pts
Total word count points: 36 + 48 + 48 = 132 125 points
Bonus points: 10 + 10 + 10 = 30
Total points: 155 pts for Ravenclaw!