With
that last parting comment Shadi left. The moment he vanished Powel double checked
that he had gone, while grumbling about stupid ghosts that were stuck in the
past and didn’t know when to leave well enough alone, before switching out with
Harry who glanced around the room, saw the look Ron was giving him and held up
his hands in a classic ‘don’t shoot’ pose. “Not my fault.”
When
Ron just continued to stare Harry lowered his hands and moved over to his
friend, knocking on his head like you would a door. “Hello? Anyone home?”
“Gerroff
Harry.” Ron protested, backing up with a slightly irritated look. “Why was that
guy in our room? And why did his face change?”
Harry
shrugged. “You have more idea than I do. I wasn’t really awake for most of it.
Try asking my tenant when he wakes up next.” He didn’t really fancy telling Ron
that Powel wasn’t the only one who had been inside his head and that the spirit
who lived inside his Bracer had just played a Shadow Game against Voldemort.
Harry was just lucky in that Ron had never met Voldemort face to face so his
friend hadn’t recognised the man’s voice.
Ron
didn’t look happy with Harry’s answer, “Ginny remembered what You-Know-Who did
while he was... you know, possessing her.”
“Ginny
was in the body at the same time as him.” Harry reminded his friend, “I was in
the Bracer while Powel was in my body.”
“You
make that sound far too normal.” Ron grouched at him before shrugging, “I have
the potions. And the suntan lotion for tomorrow.”
Harry
more than happily swigged the potion, relaxing slightly as it started to take
effect, easing the pain and the stiffness of his sunburnt neck and face. He
carefully put the stopped back in and tucked it away in one of the drawers that
he’d filled with his new clothes, just in case he needed it the next day.
The
next day he learnt what Bill Weasley considered possibly the most important
charm he’d learnt since coming to Egypt, a spell that could dampen the effects
of the sun on a person’s skin. It hadn’t prevented Bill from tanning heavily
while he’d been here, but it had prevented him from obtaining the same level of
burning that his siblings had gained.
With
the charm cast, Harry spent a rather enjoyable few weeks with Hermione and the
Weasleys learning about the Ancient Egyptians and their ways and cultures. That
the focus was mainly on the tombs was a little morbid, but considering Bill’s
line of work it wasn’t completely unexpected.
Their
Hogwarts letters came for them on Harry’s birthday, the day before they were
due to fly back to England, and all of the students gave them at least a
cursory look over before packing them away to take back with them. Hermione
spent most of the day wondering what a ‘Monster Book of Monsters’ was until
they came back the hotel much later in the day to find that Harry’s birthday
presents had been stopped at the desk, and that the hotel staff would be
grateful if they could subdue the one that kept trying to snap at people’s
fingers.
Figuring
that one had to have come from Hagrid, Harry collected his small number of
presents and took them to the atrium where the Weasleys and Hermione were
waiting with gifts of their own for him, along with a rather odd looking cake,
which turned out to be a honey cake that Molly had managed to find in a local
Muggle store.
Harry
was right in his assumption that the biting present had come from Hagrid.
“I
guess Hagrid likes the Care of Magical Creatures Professor.” Hermione commented
when Harry examined his copy of the Monster Book of Monsters, carefully
avoiding losing his fingers to the book monster and ending up having to have
the twins sit on it to prevent it from escaping.
“Yeah,
and the new teacher must be mental to issue books like this.” Ron complained as
Harry tied it shut with a piece of rope that Molly conjured, looking ill amused
as she did so.
“What
did Luna send, Harry?” Fred or George asked, already thinking of ways that they
could use the sheer destructive potential of the book and wondering if they
were going to get on surprisingly well with the obviously new Professor
considering that he apparently had a sense of humour, where as Kettleburn
really really hadn’t.
Harry
opened the present slowly, wondering what Luna had sent him considering that he
hadn’t expected anything from his friend. By the time he was finished opening
it he had a few booster packs and a structure deck.
Harry
grinned as he read the back of the box, which was full of Winged Beasts and he
put it to one side to look through properly later. Luna’s present wasn’t the
only surprise. Ron had brought him a pocket-sneakoscope, which was supposed to
go off if there was someone untrustworthy nearby. Considering how often people
wanted to kill him, Harry considered the gift a rather useful one. Hermione’s
was no less practical, but would probably get a considerable amount more use as
she had given him a top of the line broomstick servicing kit that would help
him keep his Nimbus 2000 in top shape.
Between
the cake, the meal that they had in one of the top restaurants in the wizard
owned shopping plaza, and the fact that the Weasley parents seemed determined
that Harry pay for and do nothing all evening, it was the most fun that Harry
had had in a long time.
The
next day, however, at the airport the stress was back a hundredfold as once
again Harry and Hermioe had to herd the Weasleys through the airport. It didn’t
help matters that Harry was loaded down with as many trinkets as he was books,
a fact that both amused and frustrated his friends, and that Hermione or Ron
were not much better. If it hadn’t been for the magically expanded bags that
both Harry and Hermione were carrying the family would have had to either
confound the woman who weighed their bags or paid the extra fees that would
have come with the excess weight they would have been carrying.
With
just one day left before term started Harry realised too late that there had
been something else in the envelope with the shopping list. That thing being
the permission form for Hogsmead that would allow him to join the third years
and above at the magical village near to Hogwarts. It was supposed to be signed
by your guardian, but Vernon couldn’t sign it, Petunia wouldn’t and somehow he
doubted that getting the spirit of the Bracer to sign it would count.
There
was a mad rush to buy everything they needed before school started the
following day and the majority of shops were closed long before they got back
to the Leaky Cauldron, where Lupin was waiting for Harry in order to return
‘Padfoot’ to him.
“Lupin?”
Arthur asked, shocked as he realised who Harry had gone to talk to, “It’s been
a long time. What’re you doing here?”
“Returning
Harry’s dog.” Lupin explained himself, smiling at the Weasley patriarch, having
known the man years ago, back before the Order had dissolved after Voldemort’s
death, “When I ran into my friend’s son I couldn’t help but do him a favour.
How have you been?”
Harry
glowered at Padfoot, who had obviously returned before they had, and became
amused when the dog cowered slightly before licking his hand and whimpering.
Lupin grinned slightly at the sight as the younger Weasleys spent time petting
the dog, who just rolled over and took it. He had given Sirius an earful when
the man had returned from Egypt the day before Harry, telling him off for
taking such a big risk when it was obvious that Wormtail wouldn’t have been
foolish enough to return to the Weasley household.
During
the conversation between the two men, Harry overheard something interesting. He
hoped he was right, since Lupin had been a friend of his father’s but it looked
like it might be the first year that he might actually like his Defence Against
the Dark Arts teacher.
“I
worked out an answer to Harry’s little problem too.” Lupin looked at Harry and
Harry looked back, confused as to what Lupin meant by that, “He’ll be able to
have both Padfoot and Hedwig with him.”
Harry
blinked at him for a moment and then remembered the rule he’d been so worried
about, the one that allowed students to take one pet to school only.
Hermione
spoke before he could. “But I thought the students were allowed one pet and it
had to be an owl, a cat or a toad. There’s nothing in the rules about dogs.”
Lupin
chuckled, amused the way Hermione almost quoted the school rules words for
word. “I know. But there’s also nothing in the rules about a student looking
after a teacher’s pet for them. If I take Padfoot with me, he can go to stay
with Harry in the Gryffindor tower every so often.”
Harry
grinned, liking the plan as Ron chuckled and Hermione let out a sound that was a
combination of amusement and annoyance at yet someone else who was willing to bend
the rules into funny shapes. In fact Lupin was worse, since he was a teacher.
He was supposed to be setting a good example.
“Thanks,
Professor Lupin.” Harry grinned at the teacher to be.
Lupin
just shrugged it off, though Harry thought he caught a brief glimpse of a smile
on his face, and turned back to his conversation with Mr Weasley, promising to
keep in touch before mentioning that he’d probably see them on the train and
flooed away.
Harry
found himself sharing a heavily edited tale of how he’d run into the teacher in
Diagon Alley with the Weasleys as they had dinner, and found himself retelling
the tale when Ron and Hermione piled into his room and demanded the truth from
him. And they didn’t just mean about his meeting with Lupin.
In
the end they were up till almost six in the morning, so it was an exhausted
trio that piled onto the train and found an carriage that was empty except for
Luna, who grinned at them but helped them put their trunks out of the way and
found somewhere for Hedwig’s cage to rest and then pounced on them for
information about their trip to Egypt.
Harry
fell asleep midway through the conversation and didn’t wake until the train
stopped with a jolt. Worried by the sudden cold and the slightly frightened
look on his friends’ faces, he looked around and tried to work out where they
were.
“Hogwarts
already?” He asked as he got to his feet, stretching as he did so.
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