Prank Wars, pt. 1

Harry couldn’t let Severus go to school in the state he was in. He offered to buy school supplies for Severus and healed him as he slept. He told Severus go with Lily to King’s Cross, and he’d talk to Petunia beforehand to make sure she didn’t tell on him. 

“Look, they didn’t do anything, and he had no choice, he wasn’t safe at home.” 

Petunia pursed her glossed lips. “I suppose I won’t tell. But only because he’s your friend.” 

Harry sighed, relieved. “Thank you.”

“So, you’re still coming for the holidays?” Petunia rocked slightly on her feet. 

“Er, yeah.” Harry couldn’t meet her gaze. 

“You’ll have a great time. We’ll decorate the tree, and mum makes terrific mince pies!” She smiled, head tilted a little. 

“Petunia!” Mrs. Evans called. 

“Coming!” Petunia looked as though she’d say something else, but changed her mind and ran back inside.

Later, in the Hogwarts Express, Lily and Severus searched the compartments for Harry, who had arrived early. “Oh, hello, Jacob!”

“G’morning! I saved you a spot.” He hadn’t seen Lily since the end of school; she must’ve grown nearly two inches. There was something different in the way she held herself, too. Severus looked much better than he did yesterday; the scrapes had toned down, and his formerly sallow skin was now healthy.

A minute after Lily and Severus joined Harry, Remus walked past. He stopped to say hello, fumbling a bit with the conversation and staring too much at Lily. Harry bet he’d only talked to his family all summer. 

“Oi! Remus!” James stopped when he spotted the group. “Why are you talking to them?” James’ voice was a bit lower, but he hadn’t grown much compared to Remus. “Morning, Lily,” he said, in a much smoother tone. 

“You’re looking rather big-headed today, James,” Lily said, crossing her arms. 

“You’re looking radiant today, Lily, as always.” James replied, leaning in the doorway, grinning. 

“Leave, James.” 

“Okay, okay.” James ran a hand through his hair. “I take it you won’t want to join us? Where your beauty will be appreciated?”

“James,” Lily repeated, taking out her wand. 

“I’m going!” He left, taking Remus (who shot the three an apologetic look), along with him. 

“Wait up, James!” Peter, who just got on the train, followed them, panting heavily.

Harry checked his watch. “It’s five to, I wonder where Raven is.”

 As if on cue, Raven slipped through the door and slid it closed. “Sorry I’m late, I—”

“…sit with some Slytherins then, I’m not talking to you if I can help it!” Sirius’ voice carried into their compartment. 

“SIRIUS BLACK HAS A HUGE STASH OF—” Regulus began at the top of his lungs, before Sirius shushed him.

“Fine. You can sit with us.” Their voices faded as they moved down the train. 

Raven sat down next to Harry. “That was Sirius’ brother, Regulus, if you were wondering. He’s actually not as annoying as he sounds. He tells me all of Sirius’ secrets.” 

She looked at Severus in surprise. “Oh no, what happened to your face?” She reached out, as if to touch his cheek, which held the trace of a bruise, but pulled it back. 

Had Severus not told her about his home life? Severus turned away so she couldn’t see the mark. Raven looked at Harry, confused. 

Harry shook his head, signaling to her to drop it for now. 

“How do you know Regulus?” Harry asked Raven, and Severus relaxed his shoulders in relief at the change of subject. 

“Oh, well, my family’s Pureblood, like his, so…My dad’s half-blood, Faralyn, and on my mum’s side, the Rowle family…”

Severus looked away with disinterest, but Lily leaned forward. “Hang on—are you related to Lester Rowle?” 

Raven nodded. “Yeah, he’s my cousin.” 

Lily’s eyes widened. “He’s so mean! Do you remember that one time—”

“…he hexed a Hufflepuff to think up was down and down was up, I know.” Raven sighed. “We have these huge family dinners over the summer, with Lester’s family and the Blacks. We’re friends with some of the kids, Severus and I, but they act…differently with different people. I do like Regulus, though. He’s not at all like Sirius.” 

Harry wondered if there was any part of Regulus now that was the person he’d be later in life, someone able to betray the Dark Lord. 

“Do you think he’ll be sorted into Slytherin?” Harry asked. 

“Well, maybe Ravenclaw, or I suppose Slytherin; his whole family is in Slytherin, and he wants to be in it, so…” She paused. “Anyway, what did everyone do this summer?” 

The four spent the next couple hours talking about their trips; Harry invented a story of what he did, and Severus just told a story about going to the library with Lily earlier in the summer. There was no mention of what happened to Severus. After the four ran out of things to discuss, they read their new school books. 

They had changed an hour before the train pulled into the station. The night was cool; Harry could see his breath. Hagrid gathered the first years, and the other students were left to find carriages.

The four found an empty one close by. Lily dropped one of her things and bent down to pick it up, but she was dangerously close to one of the Thestrals. 

“Watch out!” Harry pulled her aside and patted the now uneasy Thestral’s neck. The creature cocked her head at him, then licked his hand. 

Careful not to disturb the Thestral, Harry bent down and picked up Lily’s notebook. 

The other three were staring at him as if he’d lost his mind.

“Er, Jacob, what was that?” 

Oh no. “A Thestral.”

Lily took her notebook back, looking at him with concern. “I don’t see anything.” 

“You can only see them…if you’ve seen someone die. They pull the carriages.” 

He climbed into the carriage after Lily, frustrated with them for staring at him and with himself for not thinking. 

No one asked who he’d seen die. Harry had been prepared to lie and say his grandmother, but now he felt the full force of the truth stifled inside him. 

Harry had never felt as strong of a temptation to reveal himself as he did now. He concentrated on the surroundings, ignoring the presence of his friends. He had to force himself to be normal again, repeating in his head what the consequences would be, were they to know who he really was. 

It took the entire ride before he looked at Lily, who sat next to him. 

“How do you know what they are?” Lily whispered, when she met Harry’s glance. 

The carriage were coming to a stop. 

“I saw them last year and…looked up what it was.”

“What do they—Thestrals—look like?” Raven asked, lurching forward in her seat as the carriage came to a halt. 

Harry stepped out of the carriage and stood next to the Thestral. He put his hand on the its neck and motioned for Lily to do the same. Raven and Severus hung back.

“They have wings like a bat, and you can see their bones through their skin, which is black, and slick, as you can probably tell.” 

Lily ran her hand down the Thestral’s side, thoughtful. “Who did you see die?”

“My grandmother.” It was wrong to say. Cedric. Sirius. Dumbledore. Dobby. And the war in what would’ve been his seventh year, he’d seen more.

The students were brought into the Great Hall. At the staff table, Harry saw a new face—probably the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He was young, slim, had thick brown hair—looking out of place between Hagrid and Professor Flitwick.

The Great Hall doors opened, shifting Harry’s attention. Professor McGonagall entered, leading the huddled group of first years to the front of the room. 

Harry craned his neck and spotted Regulus, who was just as tall as Sirius, but not quite as good-looking. 

After spotting another familiar face, Harry nearly laughed, though he didn’t know what to feel, exactly; it was Gilderoy Lockhart. 

Gilderoy had the same light, golden hair, but he was missing the loud confidence from later in life. 

“What is it?” Lily asked, trying to see what Harry was looking at, but it was then that the Hall fell silent and the Sorting Hat began to sing. 

After the song was finished, Professor McGonagall called the first years up to be sorted.

“Aubrey, Betram.” A small, pudgy boy stumbled up to the front and it barely took a moment of wearing the hat before it called, “RAVENCLAW!” 

When “Black, Regulus” was called, he glanced back at his brother, shrugged slightly and put on the Sorting Hat. There was no immediate cry of either house, which seemed to confuse Regulus. His face became hard and it was a couple minutes before the Hat finally cried, “SLYTHERIN!”

Regulus got up and strode to the far table. Sirius muttered something along the lines of, “Good riddance.” Raven gave a small wave in his direction, and Regulus grinned widely. 

Dirk Cresswell was sorted into Gryffindor and sat down close to Harry.

“Lockhart, Gilderoy.” The blond boy bounded up to the stool. The hat thought for nearly a minute before calling, “RAVENCLAW!”

From then on, Harry only paid attention to the names that were vaguely familiar; Mary MacDonald went to Gryffindor, along with Emmeline Vance, and Dorcas Meadowes went to Hufflepuff. 

The rest of the evening wound down until students were led to their common rooms in a sleepy haze. 

Harry and Severus went upstairs early to unpack. Harry noticed Severus examine the watch he’d been given for Christmas the year before. 

“Did you figure it out?” Harry asked, casually tucking Hermione’s purse underneath his things. 

Severus regarded Harry, jaw tight, before replying.

“Yes, I did; it’s another one of your ideas to make me change. It’s obviously a trick to make me think I’m on the wrong path. ‘Revelare Viam.’ It means reveal the way, that wasn’t hard to figure out.” At the words, the watch whirred softly. 

“It’s not a trick, it works.” Harry gritted his teeth.

“I don’t really care. A watch can’t tell me what I can and can’t do.” 

“What did it tell you?” 

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.”

“Of course it does, you’re the one who gave it to me.” 

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll assume the worst.”

Severus passed the watch over in his fingers. “I know you know what it said. It pointed to ‘Death,’ ‘Regret,’ and ‘Pain,’ and whatever other bad ones.” He glared off to his right. “I know what you’re trying to do.” 

“Fine, but it’s supposed to be accurate. I didn’t mess with it.” A thought struck Harry. “Hang on…did it help you this summer?” 

Severus shifted impatiently. “It was just a coincidence.” 

“What happened?” 

Severus sighed. “I opened it, one night, when my father was out late. I was up in my room, and it kind of…glowed, on my desk. I opened it and all of the arrows were pointing to ‘Danger.’ But that was just a coincidence.” 

“What did you do after you saw the arrows?” 

Severus seemed to debate whether or not to continue telling the story, as it went against his argument. “I looked out the window and saw him coming up the street. I grabbed my things and told my mum to be careful, and I’d be back. I didn’t know where to go, then I looked back at the watch—” He stopped abruptly. 

“Wait—the watch changed? What did it change to?” 

“The watch didn’t change, an arrow just moved.” Severus turned his back to Harry and busied himself with his suitcase. 

“And what did the arrow move to?” 

There was a long pause.

“‘Love.’” 

A couple weeks later, Quidditch tryouts rolled around. Harry slipped on his uniform and met with his team on the field. 

“Good turn up this year,” Violetta said, hands on her hips as she surveyed the group of hopeful students. 

“Whatever position needs me most, I’ll take it. I really hope I don’t have to be Keeper again,” she added, more to herself than to anyone in particular. “Okay, those who want to be Chasers, please come forward. Everyone else, if you’d like to wait off to the side for a bit…”

Harry realized his father had stepped up with the dozen other students, brimming with confidence, the number 6 attached to his front and back. 

“Let’s see, your numbers are all visible…Okay! Just fly around and I’ll call you back down when I have what I need.” 

She wrote down the strongest and weakest fliers, sometimes consulting Harry. He felt a little awkward every time she leaned down toward him for his input; he hadn’t forgotten the kiss.

Violetta pointed at a few of them. “Numbers 8, 6, and 9 are definitely the best.” Some of the other potential players moved through the air awkwardly, sliding around on their brooms. 

At Violetta’s call, the dozen students touched down on the ground. “Awesome, everyone. Now I’m going to divide you into two teams. The goal is just to get the Quaffle into the goal. No illegal moves, or you’ll get a warning. After the second offense, you’re out. Anastasia and I will be the Keeps. You don’t get in because you score the most goals, we want to see how you work within a team.” To Jacob and a long-time player, she said, “You can mark down notes next to the numbers. Get your brooms, you’ll get a better view that way.”

James turned out to be a quite skilled Chaser. There was only one other second year, and James was much better.

After taking notes, it was clear there was only two people that he’d consider for the position: James and a sixth year girl.

It was past lunch when tryouts ended. After eating a very rushed lunch, they met back to discuss the competitors. 

“I think number six…James Potter, has real potential.”

“All the same, Violetta is better.”

“Yeah, but she’s better than the Keepers that tried out…” 

“What do you think, Jacob?”

Harry wanted his father to be on the team, he was good, but would it make him hate Harry more or less? 

“I think we should give him a shot.”

Violetta nodded, lips pursing a bit. “Alright, if you think so.”