Chapter Text
Harry Potter felt that he could count himself lucky in several things throughout his tenure as a wizard.
Early on in his life, essentially the start of it, Voldemort had been killed from the backblast of his killing spell. And over the years the Death Eaters had slowly but surely been arrested. Though he had been stuck with the Dursley's for a large portion of his life, Hagrid had eventually came through and brought him to Hogwarts. Everything after that was a blur, and his time in Griffondor had been exceptional with little to no hiccups while he grew through the years with Ron and Hermione.
Summer with the Dursleys, Winter with Ron and Hermione, break with the Weasley's, and the second semester continuing to learn whatever the year brought. Rinse and repeat for the first three or four years.
The only change came when a group of people Harry hadn't known much about were able to get together and had worked to get Sirius out of Azkaban. Since then, he had been spending his summers at the Black estate. Otherwise, his schedule had stayed predictable.
Because of his time at the estate and surrounded by top tier wizards, he'd gotten fairly good at two things: Quidditch and Spellcasting. He'd become the youngest player in Hogwarts history to win three cups in a row. And for his spellcasting, he had become the favorite of, though they wouldn't outright say it, Lupin's. Lupin had been a standout mentor, able to fill the void left by Sirius whenever Harry went to school. That wasn't to say Sirius didn't ever come as a guest teacher here and there.
Everything in Harry's life had become predicable, comfortable, and without trouble. Everything he could appreciate about life, especially after the Dursley's had gotten out of his hair.
That was until he sat in Defense Against the Dark Arts, his seventh year had just begun. Lupin had been a stalwart constant each year in DADA and had always kept Harry thinking, growing his catalogue of spells.
Ever since Sirius taught him his first Patronus spell, Harry knew that he wanted to be an Auror. And Lupin had been assisting exceptionally in growing Harry into a wizard that would be competitive in the profession.
Before he had even been able to take his seat, Harry had been taken aside by Lupin. Who had given him a task.
Normally this would be applicable to something he was trying to accomplish. Learn Amplificus (enlarges anything and increases the weight proportionally) to help with Quidditch. Find and research more about the aconite flower, something to help make the wide-eye potion, which in turn would be useful during his tenure as an Auror.
So when Harry made his way over to Lupin's desk, he expected something similar to occur. Another task or help to guide him toward his future profession. He'll ask Hermione where to start, she'll tell him with a huff what row, shelf, and name to look for like he should have known and remembered the library layout in the last seven years.
Ron would come with, if only to complain about girls and all the new things he had to deal with from dating Hermione the last year. But the white noise would be worth it, and Ron would accompany him wherever outside the grounds Harry would have to adventure to.
The class was trickling in slowly, and Lupin had brought him over to his desk. The stack of spell books and overall clutter almost made itself it's own muggle-like cubicle, but for the time being it allowed some privacy for the student and teacher.
Lupin kept his voice low, enough for just Harry to hear whatever the professor needed to convey. Harry braced himself, praying that it would be a simple amount of stressed induced adventure. Maybe something like get a unique potion from Professor Snape while he set up the class for the lesson.
"Harry." Professor Lupin said, a quiver of hesitation in his voice.
This already was not sounding good.
"Professor." Harry replied, deadpan.
The DADA expert peeked around a corner of the six foot tall stack of books, careful enough to not knock anything over but not careful enough to show his face whenever he saw something it looked like he didn't want to see.
"Listen Harry, I have what might possibly be the most important assignment I could give you in your wizarding career." Lupin now had both of his hands on Harry's shoulders, looking like he was about to tell Harry that Voldemort was back and that he would be the next Headmaster of Hogwarts.
"Professor Lupin, I would think that everything up until now has proven that I'm equipped to handle whatever you need from me." Harry fought to roll his eyes, or at least stopped them halfway before it was too obvious.
The class was now almost full, the last of the stragglers (mostly Gryffindors who liked to get distracted in the corridors) had begun to find their seats. The occasional thump of a book or a clatter of a chair against the wood overtook the increase of volume from the number of students. Lupin was able to speak in a normal voice at this point, the overall decibel level of the room was enough.
"You'll see plenty over your time as an Auror that there isn't always all flash and front cover news to be when you're doing the job." Lupin paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, "Occasionally, well more than you would think, its about the people you encounter. Many decisions you'll make will involve two things with everyone: one, you'll have to be able to interact with many that aren't just wizards, which I think you are quite adept at already. And two: building capital with all those fancy types that would lose more than a galleon if they wasted the time and effort to pick one off the ground."
Harry gave a small sigh before interrupting Lupin, "I've heard similar comments from Sirius. Make sure to keep relations with all the houses at school, you never know who I'll see when I'm working as an Auror. Ron could be the next Minister of Magic or even someone like Pansy could be the next Department Head of Law Enforcement."
"In short, yes.' Lupin was nodding his head. "In this case, it will be a little of both. But likely more of the latter, for you I would say."
"Professor, I think some more clear and descriptive instructions might be in order?" Harry finally said, too impatient to wait for the build up that it seemed all the closest wizards of his family seemed to have. Only the matriarch of the Weasley family seemed to ever tell him what was ever going on, and that was only because she simply didn't have the time to dally.
His uncle got as quickly to the point as he could, "We'll have a new student here shortly, a transfer that has been oversees for what would've been their time at Hogwarts until now. A Slytherin...yes, Harry I know, but Dumbledore and I have already discussed everything. This will be for the best, for the both of you. For now, she'll be attached to you for your classes and extra curricular activities."
"Even Quidditch?" Harry interrupted yet again, his mind flooding with more and more questions. Only settling on the one regarding his favorite sport because of the multitude of problems an attached Slytherin could cause, "How..I don't ev- Lupin please, I doubt this will work out. Why shouldn't Pansy or Daphne be the one to show this girl around?"
A twinkle formed in Lupin's eye. The kind that adults had when they knew too much, and were unlikely to reveal much of anything. "Harry, I have yet to lead you wrong I would say. This will be a great learning experience for the both of you, I promise she'll be able to keep up in everything you must do. Just don't be put off by the Parseltongue, it's a family thing, to be honest one of the reasons that we paired her with you, Harry."
Parseltongue? Harry hadn't had to use it since his third year when someone had summoned a snake against him in a small duel in class. It had caused a small ruckus, enough to keep a slew of gossip going for a few days before the novelty wore off.
Before Harry could retort, the soft and classy clearing of a throat stopped him from replying. How can someone make clearing their throat even sound polite?
He turned to see who was behind the phenomenon, and almost choked on his own spit. Years of being surprised of what the wizarding world could provide in the form of gnomes, trolls, or acromantulas had kept his face straight. Yet, what the wizarding world up to that point had not allowed him to encounter was a drop dead gorgeous witch.
Golden hair was the first thing Harry noticed, the way it flowed around her shoulders down to stomach level. Next he noticed, her knowing grin (like she knew he was looking the way he was, and would allow it for the moment) sported what looked to be small fangs poking out from her mouth. He would've been stuck at the gold looped snake earring she sported, if it hadn't been for the piercing turquoise eyes that told him he was lucky to be looking at them.
His eyes began to wonder to the more lucrative parts of her, but the way she held herself kept him from looking further than the Syltherin crests that were donned on her robes.
Lupin turned his attention from Harry to the girl that had interrupted them. "Lyra! Good, I'm glad to see you made your way to class safely."
Lyra stared unimpressed at the professor's energy in front of her, "The prestigious Professor Snape was able to guide me with the utmost efficiency to your classroom. It comforts me that at least one of this school's professor's are a pureblood from a respectable family I'm familiar with. And you, professor? Where do you hail from?"
"Oh nothing special dear," Lupin waved a hand at the question, not looking at all offended at the directness of the question. Or more so, the blatant disrespect. "Remus Lupin, at your service young lady. I'm sure you've heard a small amount about the school, but fear not, that is why Harry here has been given your charge."
A quick nod was all Lupin received, because it seemed those of Lyra's world were too good to let even an untrained hum out of their mouth. "A shame about your status. Well, a veteran of the First Wizarding War is acceptable I suppose."
Now it was Harry's turn to be under a microscope. It was only fair.
No one talked for the seconds that Lyra inspected Harry, it even felt like the classroom had quieted a fraction just so she could concentrate. She huffed, and the temperature felt like it dropped. It didn't look like he passed the test.
Too much slouch perhaps?
"This is who you've deemed worthy of my time, certainly not my effort." She waved a loose hand, the nails pristine and highlighted in the signature Slytherin green. "His nails aren't even cut, and there's a stain on the edge his row. My, don't even get me started on that rat's nest of a head of hair."
Lupin chuckled, like he hadn't seen his mentee been utterly eviscerated by the new beauty that had graced Harry with her presence. "Well Miss Malfoy, I'm sure that Harry has plenty of other redeemable assets that could make up for it in time. For now, trust him to lead you to your seat next to him and catch you up on what we have been doing in class. I apologize, but you'll be stuck with him for the foreseeable future as you know."
The tower of books almost tumbled as Lyra pushed past Harry to the open area of the classroom, likely already tired of being in his presence. She stopped at the entrance to the eight wonder of the world, the bottom book of the impressive structure had likely been written when the first wonder's brick had been laid. A cocked eyebrow was all Harry needed to see to know she was still unimpressed with him, "And your name?"
"Harry?" Maybe she hadn't heard Lupin, too overwhelmed by the dust mites that congregated in the surrounding books at the time.
She scoffed, "No, you neophyte, what is your family name? And please, I see the mudbloods figuring out how to prove they know the spell for pigs flying to muggles sooner then me referring to you as your given name."
"Potter." Even when Harry noticed the incessant belittling, he still couldn't get how her perfect skin was only complemented by the details; a choker on her neck, perfect eyebrows that showed effort in her appearance, and the long natural eyelashes.
"Potter?" She seemed to do another pass of his person, like the three year old stain on his coat that not even Molly Weasley's special magic hadn't been able to get off might have ran off from sheer panic of being under her gaze again.
"That's me." He sighed.
"I see, a most respectable bloodline. Yet you are what represents it, pity." Lyra flicked a loose strand of hair back over her shoulder. Harry was quickly finding that one of the top priorities of her was appearances, especially now that it was in front of the class. "How can such a family allow their firstborn present themselves as such?"
"Because they've been dead before I could even speak."
Lyra blinked, a minuscule drop in her jaw showed her miscalculation. By the second blink, she had recovered, "Right, well, if I must be around you more than I would personally have prescribed I will make sure we fix the multitude of problems you present. Come now, lead the way to our seating scarhead."
No rebuttal came, Harry wouldn't grace her with anymore bickering. He would let his stress out later in the Griffindor common room when Ron and Hermione could listen to him. The floor creaked under his movement to the seats, Lyra following behind him.
"Hathehh ssss haa ssssaytha ssseya." (At least his backside is pleasant to look at.)
This would be more difficult than Harry would likely care for.