Chapter Text
After Madam Pomfrey kicks his friends out, firmly reminding them that Harry still needs his rest in order to fully recover, Harry lets himself sink back into the covers, knowing he won’t be able to get back to sleep, but still hoping nonetheless. There’s not exactly much to do and Madam Pomfrey is of the opinion that the quickest recovery is achieved from doing absolutely nothing.
Thankfully, he doesn’t have to stare at the ancient architecture of the ceiling for long. The hospital wing is quiet and through the very distant noise of students walking through corridors he hears distinct voices he can’t help but recognise. At first they’re too far away to even begin to make out what they’re saying, but as they get closer he’s able to hone in on the familiar voices.
Sirius’ voice comes, sharp and angry, echoing through the corridor outside of the hospital wing, “I can’t believe that man! Honestly, one of these days-”
“You’re going to what, Padfoot? Duel the greatest wizard of our time? I wish you luck with your endeavor but I will not be helping,” Remus replies, Harry has to strain to hear since he isn’t almost shouting like Sirius had been.
“Don’t tell me you agree with him?” Sirius snaps.
There’s a pause, and Harry can picture Remus’ face of consideration without having to see it.
“No, but he was correct in saying Harry needed his rest and we all know what you’re like…”
“What in Merlin’s name is that supposed to mean?”
They’re right outside the door now and in the silence of the hospital wing Harry can hear Remus’ audible sigh. Two firm knocks. Harry sits up instantly, eyes wide and breath caught in his throat. Looking at him in what Harry assumes is pity, Madam Pomfrey shakes her head, muttering something about proper recovery before reluctantly letting the two of them in. It’s only when she steps out of the way and pushes the door open properly can he finally see Sirius and Remus, faces tense and full of worry.
“Thank fuck you’re alright, ” Sirius breathes, completely ignoring Madam Pomfrey’s presence.
He doesn’t show the same restraint Hermione had as he rushes over to his bedside and wraps him in a hug, not seeming to notice Harry wincing at the pressure. Admittedly, it’s painful, but it’s also grounding. Harry hugs him back as fiercely as he can manage with his still aching arms, revelling in the comfort and security of his godfather’s embrace.
“I’m sorry,” Harry manages to get out whilst his lungs are being crushed.
“Sirius,” Remus, who had been talking to Madam Pomfrey in undertones that made it impossible for Harry to overhear, chastises.
At Remus’ word of warning Sirius immediately lets go but keeps his hands firmly planted on his shoulders, relief clear on his face. Then, thanking Madam Pomfrey - presumably for what she’s done to help his recovery - Remus walks over to stand at the end of Harry’s bed. For a minute he allows himself to look relieved much like Sirius, but then his expression morphs into something serious and Harry prepares himself.
“What on earth were you thinking?” is the first thing he says and it’s in the exact stern tone Harry was expecting. He winces and waits for the rest but it doesn’t come.
“Remus, I don’t think we’re in a position to talk,” Sirius interjects. Remus gives Sirius a dire look but.
Remus shakes his head slightly as if at himself, “I suppose we’re not, but that doesn’t make what you did any less stupid.”
“I had to do it,” insists Harry, “no one was listening to us!”
“Someone else could have dealt with it, you didn’t have to-”
“No one was listening to us!” Harry repeats, needing them to understand.
“We would have listened, why didn’t you tell us?” the sadness in Remus’ face when he says it makes him feel instantly guilty.
He could have told them, should have told them, but if he had would Voldemort have been stopped?
“I didn’t want you to worry,” he admits, he realises it sounds stupid saying it out loud but it doesn’t make it any less true.
“I’d say we’ve both been worried sick, but Dumbledore didn’t see it fit to tell us about what happened until you woke up this afternoon,” Sirius says bitterly.
“It’s our job to worry,” Remus adds, coming to sit on the opposite side of the bed to Sirius. “We’re going to worry whether you tell us stuff or not, we’re never going to get mad at you for coming to us when there’s something wrong, you understand?”
Harry nods, leaning forward to hug Remus, who hugs him back a lot more tentatively than Sirius had and pulls away a lot faster. His guilt almost makes him start a conversation in the same vein as the one he’d had with Dumbledore just hours ago, but he can’t bring himself to talk about it again. He even considers telling them about Norbert, something that seems a lot less serious of an issue after his encounter with Voldemort but decides that that can wait for a later date. It’s over now, he’s okay, his friends are okay, his family are okay and that’s all that matters.
“Are those Chocolate Frogs? I haven’t had one in years,” says Sirius, dismissing the dark atmosphere that had settled in the room in mere seconds. Plucking one of the pentagonal boxes from the pile of the table, Sirius unwraps it, catching the enchanted frog midair as it leaps out of the box.
“What card did you get?” Harry asks eagerly, taking a cauldron cake from the pile as the hunger that had been absent since he woke up finally sets in.
“Agrippa,” Sirius answers through a mouthful of chocolate, taking the card out of the packaging, “I’m assuming you’ll want it, you did say you’re collecting them, right?”
“Yeah, Ron says that’s a really rare one,” Harry takes the offered card and watches Cornelius Arippa smile at him from the small window on the front.
Remus coughs purposefully to gain their attention and they look towards him. He moves from the end of the bed so he’s sat on the opposite side of Harry to Sirius.
“For now it’s enough that you’re okay, but we’re going to need to have a more serious discussion about this when we’re all back home,” he says and Harry gives him a nod of understanding. Only then does he hug him, Harry feels his eyes begin to get wet at the weight of it all. He buries his face in Remus’ shoulder and he feels Sirius place a comforting hand on his back.
From that point on they talk about things that don’t really matter in the scheme of things; plans for the summer, professional Quidditch teams and whether or not any of them should risk eating a Bertie Botts Every Flavour Bean. It takes up until Remus and Sirius finally have to leave, promising him they’ll be waiting at Kings Cross when the Hogwarts Express arrives for Harry to decide to give the card to Ron instead of keeping it for himself.
***
To the surprise of pretty much the whole school, Hufflepuff wins the house cup. Ron being in the hospital wing when they got rid of Norbert seems to have been a large contributing factor in this as it meant Hufflepuff were the only house to not lose a large amount of house points. Dumbledore does give out additional house points in regards to the Philosopher’s stone, but with the four of them each being in a different house it doesn’t really make a difference and Hufflepuff remains in the lead.
He catches sight of Ron, who looks practically ecstatic; then Hermione who looks a little disappointed but nevertheless happy for their friend; then Malfoy - who to Harry’s surprise is already looking at him. Malfoy rolls his eyes and makes a face before glaring pointedly at the Hufflepuff table, not that Harry had expected much else, Malfoy has made his opinion on Hufflepuff’s pretty clear, which really hasn’t helped in Harry’s attempts to get Ron to stop trying to punch him on the nose at every opportunity.
As a whole, the Slytherin’s are pretty disappointed; the first years as well as a large percentage of the rest of their house look positively distraught. Harry would be lying if he said he didn’t care at all about winning the cup, however, he’s pretty sure Ron’s joy is enough to make up for it. George seems to agree, as he and Harry are the only ones on their table to applaud anywhere near enthusiastically when Dumbledore announces Hufflepuff as the winner.
The feast is great but Harry can’t help but think about how much better it would be if he was sitting with his friends, he talks to George, Pansy and has a passing conversation with Flint and a couple other members of the Quidditch team but not really anyone else. The Slytherin’s aren’t completely however as even though it didn’t end up winning them the House Cup they did win the Quidditch Cup, something Harry takes great joy in having contributed to.
The next two weeks might be the best he’s had all school year. They spend a lot of time either in the school grounds, at Hagrid’s or trying to get away with sneaking into each other's common rooms, which isn’t actually that hard to get away with thanks to the twins' experience.
Malfoy and Ron seem to be warming up to each other in their own way, which involves a lot less talking and a lot more wizards chess. It usually ends with Malfoy sulking because he can’t beat Ron, but Harry is of the opinion that any progress is progress. Surprisingly, Hermione and Malfoy seem to get along quite well as long as they’re talking about academics, Harry doesn’t believe for a second his prejudice has gone anywhere but he seems to be trying so that’s something.
They get their exam results back a few days after the feast. If it wasn’t for Hermione and Malfoy incessantly bringing them up Harry thinks he would have forgotten they were a thing at all. Unsurprisingly, Hermione comes top of the year and Malfoy follows at a close second, something Malfoy says doesn’t bother him but Harry thinks it’s pretty obvious he’s not too happy about it. He and Ron don’t do nearly as well, but they pass, which is enough for them.
When it’s finally time to leave for Kings Cross Harry, Hermione, Ron, Pansy, Malfoy and the twins squeeze into one compartment. On one side of the compartment Fred and George sit on either side of Ron, occasionally ruffling his hair and saying various things to further irritate him, whilst simultaneously distracting him from the game of exploding snap he’s playing with Harry. To Harry’s right sits Hermione, who’s unsurprisingly got her nose buried in a rather large book Harry’s not completely convinced she didn’t sneak out of the library back at Grimmauld Place over Christmas. Then to his left sit Pansy and Malfoy, who have been practically inseparable since the end of year feast. They’re not talking quietly but they are talking in a completely different language Harry thinks is French, meaning he can’t understand a word of what they’re talking about, but he assumes that’s the point of them speaking in a different language in the first place. Judging by the way Malfoy keeps frowning and making various other faces he assumes it’s nothing good and decides to leave them to it.
Around an hour into the journey Lee Jordan joins them, squeezing in next to Fred. Listening to him animatedly complain about Professor McGonagall’s restrictions on his commentary of the Quidditch matches, Harry comes to the conclusion that, no matter what, Lee Jordan always sounds like he’s commentating something.
After he’s bored of exploding snap he takes up looking out the window, one earphone in as he listens to Sirius’ mixtape on his Walkman. At the point that the rolling green hills and wild forests thick with trees begin to be interrupted by things such as winding roads and small villages Malfoy shoves a bony elbow into Harry’s side. He and Pansy had stopped talking in rapid French a while back, after the trolley witch reached their compartment and between he, Pansy and Malfoy they bought enough for their crowded compartment to have a sort of mini feast.
“You will write over the summer, won’t you?” he asks after Harry turns to him sharply, fully prepared to ask him what his problem is.
For a few seconds Harry just stares at him, taken aback by the unexpected question, “I mean, do you want me to?”
“That would be why I asked, Potter. Merlin, you really are dim sometimes,” Malfoy replies.
“Actually he’s dim a lot more often, you’re just not around to see it,” Pansy interjects and Harry tries his best to look offended even though he’s not that bothered.
“I’m going to write to Ron and Hermione, so I don’t see why not,” he says, answering the original question.
“I’d invite you to the Manor like I do Pansy, but for obvious reasons, that’s not exactly a good idea,” Malfoy says.
“What obvious reasons?” Harry asks.
Malfoy scoffs. “If I need to tell you, you’re dumber than I thought,” then suddenly his demeanour changes, eyes flickering to the window and the quickly diminishing countryside, “anyway, I really must go.”
He gets up quickly, grabbing Pansy by the arm so she goes with him.
“Where are you going, Malfoy?” Hermione asks, having been distracted from her book by the sudden movement.
“As lovely as it’s been spending time with you all, I do actually have other friends, so for now I bid you farewell,” Harry rolls his eyes at the dramatic phrasing and catches Ron doing the same out of the corner of his eye.
Before any of them can actually respond the two are gone and Harry stares at the compartment door blankly for a good minute.
“Well, that was odd,” Fred says into the silence, “guess you can’t expect much else, he is a Malfoy after all.”
“I dunno, I think he’s a different type of odd to the rest of those pureblood fanatics,” says George with a thoughtful look.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Ron sneers and Harry is careful not to point out that it’s a little too reminiscent of Malfoy.
“Can you blame him with a git like Lucius Malfoy for a father?” Fred asks..
From what Harry knows of the Malfoys he understands Fred’s point entirely.
“Looks like we’ll be back at Kings Cross pretty soon,” says Lee and the conversation easily moves on to their plans for the summer.
When they finally pull into platform nine and three-quarters Harry easily spots Remus and Sirius waiting for him like they said they would be. Next to them and very hard to miss due to the flaming red hair, stands Mr and Mrs Weasley, as well as Ron’s younger sister Ginny. They all begin waving with different levels of enthusiasm when they catch sight of them through the compartment window.
When they get onto the platform, Ginny, similarly to how she had been when he’d first met her, seems very excited about his presence. Ron tells him to ignore it so he does, still completely baffled as to why exactly people get so excited by him existing-he ‘defeated’ Voldemort when he was barely a year old, it’s not like he did it on purpose or anything, and the most recent time hadn’t exactly been all that planned out. In fact, he’s not even sure that’s something the wizarding public is aware of.
As they’re about to go through the barrier, Harry catches the same white-blond hair he’s used to associating with Malfoy. Some people move out of the way and he realises it is Malfoy, except he’s with a man and a woman - both with the same pale skin and startlingly white hair - who can’t be anyone other than his parents. His mother’s features soften slightly whenever her gaze wonders to her son, but the same can’t be said for Mr Malfoy, who wears the same haughty expression Harry’s so used to seeing Malfoy sporting almost daily. It’s different though, despite being the exact same shade as Malfoy’s, his eyes contain something awful that makes chills run down his spine and he has to look away. His eyes land on Malfoy again, and for a just a second their gaze’s meet, Malfoy shooting him a quick smile before his mother begins to hurry him along, back into the crowds of students and parents.
Harry isn’t aware he’s zoned out until Ron’s pulling on his sleeve and saying, “C’mon, it’s our turn to go through the barrier.”
He turns back around to see that all the other Weasley’s have gone back through the barrier and it’s only him, Ron, Hermione, Remus and Sirius left.
“You three go on,” Remus tells them, “Sirius and I will meet you on the other side.”
So they do, the three of them walking straight through the brick barrier. As soon as they walk into the gap between platforms nine and ten Harry feels odd, being back in the Muggle London, despite it being his home it feels strange after spending the year at Hogwarts. Hermione’s parents, who look rather overwhelmed by the whole situation, are waiting on the other side of the barrier. Hermione introduces them to the Weasleys, who they greet rather timidly, but Harry supposes he can’t blame them, having never knowingly met a witch or wizard before, let alone knowing of their existence until a year ago. However, they seem to relax when Sirius and Remus come through the barrier and insert themselves into the conversation, clearly more comfortable since they already know each other.
This doesn’t last long though and soon enough everyone’s saying their goodbyes.
“Don’t forget you’re both welcome to come and stay over the summer whenever you like,” Mrs Weasley tells Harry and Hermione for what must be at least the tenth time.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll get sick of him at some point and ship him off to you for a while,” Sirius jokes, then gets an elbow from Remus for it.
“You should all come for tea sometime,” Remus says, ignoring the glare he gets from Sirius, “Ron and Hermione are Secondary Secret Keepers now so they’ll be able to show you where it is.”
“Oh, yes,” says Hermione excitedly, “I’d love to come spend some more time in the library.”
“Yes, because you wouldn’t come visit just to see your friend,” Ron says sarcastically.
Hermione glares, “Harry knows I wouldn’t come over just because of the library.”
“I think you’ve actually got some books you need to return to our library, Hermione,” Harry says jokily, eager to dissipate the tension and Hermione flushes instantly, gripping the book in her arms tightly.
“I’d say you’re all welcome at ours.” Mr Granger begins, “but I doubt there’s anything very appealing about our non-magic house.”
“Nonsense!” Mrs Weasley exclaims. “We’d love to come visit some time, wouldn’t we Arthur?”
Mr Weasley agrees enthusiastically and Sirius and Remus reiterate the sentiment before the Granger’s press the point that they really must be going.
“See you over the summer!” Hermione calls and Harry and Ron repeat her words back to her, grinning happily.
When Hermione and her parents get too lost in the crowd to distinguish anymore, they turn back to see their own respective parents waiting for them.
“Well, this is it mate,” Ron says, clapping him on the back, “I’ll see you when I see you.”
“See you, Ron,” Harry says happily, waving as he, Remus and Sirius head for the exit and back to Remus’ brown Ford Escort.