(no subject)
Title: Do-Over
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: PG
Summary: It seemed that the 1997-1998 academic year had been widely declared a do-over.
Warnings: Post-Deathly Hallows, spoilers through the end of the book
It came as little surprise to anyone that Harry Potter should choose to celebrate victory over the Dark Lord by going back to school. Hogwarts was still home, and it was also, in the weeks following the battle, as much of a sanctuary from the outside world as Minerva McGonagall could make it. Harry would have wanted to stay there for a while in any case, but one of the first things he decided to do, once he was in shape to decide anything, was take a belated seventh year of classes. It would be as much a blessed return to the familiar as living in the castle was, and besides, he expected that not even the Boy Who Lived would make it far in Auror training if he blew off N.E.W.T.s entirely.
Ron and Hermione made the same decision for similar reasons, that was no surprise either. A bit more unexpected was when Neville, Ginny, Luna, Dean, Seamus, and an overwhelming number of students who had spent at least some of the previous year at Hogwarts also asked if they could repeat it--but then, considering the year they'd had, it was understandable.
Not everyone came back, by any means; the Malfoys, and more than one family like them, seemed to have relocated from England, and some of those who'd fled during the previous year were slow to return, sending their children to schools in other countries instead. Still, loyalty to Hogwarts and the promise of a better year was enough to bring many back, and by late summer, when the total number of students planning to repeat was tallied, it seemed that the 1997-1998 academic year had been widely declared a do-over.
Many stayed the summer at Hogwarts as Harry did, helping set things right there as they themselves recovered. It was, to say the least, a strange time. Every year spent there since their fourth (well, simply every year spent there, for Harry) had taken them all farther away from childhood, but the last had severed them from it irrevocably, leaving the castle rooms and grounds of their youth now haunted by battle-scared young adults who slept badly and went for their wands in response to any sudden noise or movement. There were whole sections of the castle to be repaired, gaps in the faculty to be filled, and enough personal trauma spread around that a night rarely passed without someone in one of the dorms having a nightmare bad enough to wake everyone else in the room. There were also informal, communal meals in the Great Hall and spur-of-the-moment, just-for-fun Quidditch games and, among the older teenagers, a high number of co-ed sleeping arrangements (many of them perfectly innocent and simply the result of the teenagers in question sleeping better if they weren't alone).
As summer rolled on into August, there were courses schedules and prefect appointments and responsibilities, new or familiar. They still hadn't found a new Muggle Studies professor, leading to Hermione's taking on the classes for the time being (there were other Muggleborn students willing to volunteer, but none who McGonagall trusted to handle teaching on top of their own N.E.W.T. courses). The Defense Against the Dark Arts position was similarly vacant, and until a qualified professor could be found to fill that gap, the students who'd been part of the D.A. had laid claim to it, working out a rotating schedule so that none of them would be overwhelmed by the work. Harry was Gryffndor's Quidditch captain again, and seemed downright thrilled to be in a position of responsibility that would not--unless things got badly out of hand--put anyone's life or death in his hands.
And Neville was summoned to McGonagall's office one afternoon, and came back looking slightly dazed and holding a Head Boy badge in one hand.
"You'll be a brilliant Head Boy, Neville," Hermione told him, for perhaps the fifth time, as his fellow Gryffindors attempted to revive him with encouragement and butterbeer. "No one deserves it more, really."
Neville, leader of student rebellions and beheader of Horcrux-snakes, was eyeing the badge warily as it lay on a table in the common room, as though expecting it to try and bite him.
"That's not true," he said eventually, voice barely above a mumble.
"Don't be like that," Harry said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He'd hoped they'd seen the last of Neville's inferiority complex, but then, it was probably a hard habit to kick. Also, as someone who'd had an easier time facing a dragon than asking a girl to a dance, he supposed he couldn't fault Neville for being a decorated war hero and still flailing over academic responsibility. "Seriously, who do you think McGonagall could find to do a better job at it than you?"
Neville glanced at him, looking rather like he suspected Harry of joking at his expense. "Well...you, for one."
Harry did roll his eyes then. "Neville, from an academic standpoint, I dropped out last year. I don't think they give Head Boyships for that even if you did do it to fight Voldemort."
"Hermione got Head Girl," Neville pointed out.
"Yeah, well...she's Hermione, who else in our year were they gonna give it to?" Ron seemed to feel this was a sufficient counter-argument, and true enough, none of them raised any objections. "Look, Neville, if this was about who's done the biggest stuff, sure, Harry'd get it."
"But that's not what this is about," Hermione cut in (she and Ron had been finishing each other's trains of thought a lot, since they finally got together--it was partly sweet, partly disgusting, and partly a fascinating study in how the two of them could express the same basic idea in different ways). "However important what Harry did last year was, what you did was here. You stayed at Hogwarts and fought for it, as bad as things here got--if that doesn't earn you this badge, I don't know what in Merlin's name would."
The tips of Neville's ears were a bit pink, by the time Hermione finished, and after a moment, he shrugged.
"I--I suppose you're right," he said finally. "I mean, I never thought about it like that, it's not like I was expecting to get anything out of it--"
"Of course not." It was Ginny who spoke up in response to that, matter-of-factly. "You just did what you thought was best for Hogwarts, no matter what. So just...do the same thing this year."
Neville drew in a deep breath, and nodded. "Yeah. All right. I can do that."
Ron reached out to clap him on the shoulder. "That's the spirit! I mean, if nothing else, there's no way it'll be as bad as last year, right?"
Neville looked at him, and said, with no trace of hyperbole, "Better not be. Because if it is, I'm quitting."
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: PG
Summary: It seemed that the 1997-1998 academic year had been widely declared a do-over.
Warnings: Post-Deathly Hallows, spoilers through the end of the book
It came as little surprise to anyone that Harry Potter should choose to celebrate victory over the Dark Lord by going back to school. Hogwarts was still home, and it was also, in the weeks following the battle, as much of a sanctuary from the outside world as Minerva McGonagall could make it. Harry would have wanted to stay there for a while in any case, but one of the first things he decided to do, once he was in shape to decide anything, was take a belated seventh year of classes. It would be as much a blessed return to the familiar as living in the castle was, and besides, he expected that not even the Boy Who Lived would make it far in Auror training if he blew off N.E.W.T.s entirely.
Ron and Hermione made the same decision for similar reasons, that was no surprise either. A bit more unexpected was when Neville, Ginny, Luna, Dean, Seamus, and an overwhelming number of students who had spent at least some of the previous year at Hogwarts also asked if they could repeat it--but then, considering the year they'd had, it was understandable.
Not everyone came back, by any means; the Malfoys, and more than one family like them, seemed to have relocated from England, and some of those who'd fled during the previous year were slow to return, sending their children to schools in other countries instead. Still, loyalty to Hogwarts and the promise of a better year was enough to bring many back, and by late summer, when the total number of students planning to repeat was tallied, it seemed that the 1997-1998 academic year had been widely declared a do-over.
Many stayed the summer at Hogwarts as Harry did, helping set things right there as they themselves recovered. It was, to say the least, a strange time. Every year spent there since their fourth (well, simply every year spent there, for Harry) had taken them all farther away from childhood, but the last had severed them from it irrevocably, leaving the castle rooms and grounds of their youth now haunted by battle-scared young adults who slept badly and went for their wands in response to any sudden noise or movement. There were whole sections of the castle to be repaired, gaps in the faculty to be filled, and enough personal trauma spread around that a night rarely passed without someone in one of the dorms having a nightmare bad enough to wake everyone else in the room. There were also informal, communal meals in the Great Hall and spur-of-the-moment, just-for-fun Quidditch games and, among the older teenagers, a high number of co-ed sleeping arrangements (many of them perfectly innocent and simply the result of the teenagers in question sleeping better if they weren't alone).
As summer rolled on into August, there were courses schedules and prefect appointments and responsibilities, new or familiar. They still hadn't found a new Muggle Studies professor, leading to Hermione's taking on the classes for the time being (there were other Muggleborn students willing to volunteer, but none who McGonagall trusted to handle teaching on top of their own N.E.W.T. courses). The Defense Against the Dark Arts position was similarly vacant, and until a qualified professor could be found to fill that gap, the students who'd been part of the D.A. had laid claim to it, working out a rotating schedule so that none of them would be overwhelmed by the work. Harry was Gryffndor's Quidditch captain again, and seemed downright thrilled to be in a position of responsibility that would not--unless things got badly out of hand--put anyone's life or death in his hands.
And Neville was summoned to McGonagall's office one afternoon, and came back looking slightly dazed and holding a Head Boy badge in one hand.
"You'll be a brilliant Head Boy, Neville," Hermione told him, for perhaps the fifth time, as his fellow Gryffindors attempted to revive him with encouragement and butterbeer. "No one deserves it more, really."
Neville, leader of student rebellions and beheader of Horcrux-snakes, was eyeing the badge warily as it lay on a table in the common room, as though expecting it to try and bite him.
"That's not true," he said eventually, voice barely above a mumble.
"Don't be like that," Harry said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He'd hoped they'd seen the last of Neville's inferiority complex, but then, it was probably a hard habit to kick. Also, as someone who'd had an easier time facing a dragon than asking a girl to a dance, he supposed he couldn't fault Neville for being a decorated war hero and still flailing over academic responsibility. "Seriously, who do you think McGonagall could find to do a better job at it than you?"
Neville glanced at him, looking rather like he suspected Harry of joking at his expense. "Well...you, for one."
Harry did roll his eyes then. "Neville, from an academic standpoint, I dropped out last year. I don't think they give Head Boyships for that even if you did do it to fight Voldemort."
"Hermione got Head Girl," Neville pointed out.
"Yeah, well...she's Hermione, who else in our year were they gonna give it to?" Ron seemed to feel this was a sufficient counter-argument, and true enough, none of them raised any objections. "Look, Neville, if this was about who's done the biggest stuff, sure, Harry'd get it."
"But that's not what this is about," Hermione cut in (she and Ron had been finishing each other's trains of thought a lot, since they finally got together--it was partly sweet, partly disgusting, and partly a fascinating study in how the two of them could express the same basic idea in different ways). "However important what Harry did last year was, what you did was here. You stayed at Hogwarts and fought for it, as bad as things here got--if that doesn't earn you this badge, I don't know what in Merlin's name would."
The tips of Neville's ears were a bit pink, by the time Hermione finished, and after a moment, he shrugged.
"I--I suppose you're right," he said finally. "I mean, I never thought about it like that, it's not like I was expecting to get anything out of it--"
"Of course not." It was Ginny who spoke up in response to that, matter-of-factly. "You just did what you thought was best for Hogwarts, no matter what. So just...do the same thing this year."
Neville drew in a deep breath, and nodded. "Yeah. All right. I can do that."
Ron reached out to clap him on the shoulder. "That's the spirit! I mean, if nothing else, there's no way it'll be as bad as last year, right?"
Neville looked at him, and said, with no trace of hyperbole, "Better not be. Because if it is, I'm quitting."