Chapter Text
Harriet ducked low, the stunning curse flying just overhead as she went to riposte, only to find another charm zooming towards her.
Her eyes briefly darted upwards at her Dad’s grin, he’d cast this one silently to catch her out, more fool him.
“Depasco” she muttered with a quiet intensity, the red shield springing forth directly in front of the spell, and rather than let it stay stationary, she charged forward with it towards her father.
Instead of looking surprised or shocked or in any way caught off guard, James' smile merely widened.
He bent his knees, and with one grand movement, flung his wand forward.
“Subversitoriare Dominore!” Several bolts of white lightning burst forward at different angles, all of them flying in jagged zigzags, before reaching the corners of her shield, shattering it almost instantly.
In the same moment, the same breath even, before Harriet could dodge or prepare another spell, James swiped his wand down, and without so much as a word, a gust of wind blew forth at her legs, knocking them out from underneath her.
“Not bad, not bad at all, keep that up and maybe you’ll make your old man sweat one of these days” Her father joked, walking over and sticking out his hand, helping her up.
From the peanut gallery Remus laughed at the comment.
“James, your daughter’s got better instincts and moves then some of your trainees, give her a little praise why don’t you.”
“Haha, clearly she takes up after me” James turned his gaze to look back at her. “Look, I know we’ve been at it a fair bit these past two months, but I know for a fact I didn’t teach you half of those moves.”
Harriet went to reply, but he held his hands out in mock defence.
“Look, I’m not here to pry, clearly you’ve practiced a bit at school and read more books about it then probably I have. You’re good Harry, exceptional for your age. But you need to tone down your fighting, I get that against me or Remus, you can go all out without much fear. But that shield you and your mother are so fond of, that’s no joke. You can and will hurt someone, and I get that that’s the idea, but if you use that on a schoolyard bully, you’ll be in a world of trouble. Just… be sensible is all.”
Harriet allowed herself a grin and tried to look the very picture of innocence.
“Am I ever not?”
Her father and Remus just stared at her somewhat disbelievingly.
“Yes” They said in unison, before breaking out in laughter.
“Well, if nothing else, you’ve been one of the better students I’ve ever had to train. I’m proud of you Harry, seriously. You’re going to be pretty darn scary some day.” James joked, as he rustled through a bag he’d left on the sidelines.
“Here, Its got my notes and what not, so while I doubt it will quite match the real thing, its better then nothing” James handed her a tattered book, the spine somewhat frayed.
“Uhh, what is it?” Harriet questioned, unable to decipher the writing on the cover due to all the wear and tear.
“That is a wildly irresponsible gift for a 12-year-old girl. James, what are you thinking giving her that?” Remus broke in, trying to grab the book from her father’s hands.
“Oh don’t worry Moony, I removed all the nasty stuff from it, and I’d rather she have this then have her find another book like that IWC Manual.” Her father explained, failing to answer her original question.
“Okay, but what actually is it?” Harriet asked again.
“This my dear, is the Auror field handbook, well, it’s a fair few years out of date given its my old one, and as I said, I removed all the nastier stuff out of it, but for nonlethal fighting and tactics, this is about as good as it gets.” James flashed a smile, and Harriet threw her arms around him in a hug. “Yeah, I’m a pretty awesome dad I know. You’re welcome.”
-----
“You packed and ready to go?” Archie spoke, lazing about on his bed twiddling with some object.
“Yeah, have been since yesterday, yourself?” Harriet replied guessing the answer.
“Nope” Yeah that figured.
“So, you looking forward to round 2 of Hogwarts? Think you can top your prank war with Malfoy’s lot last year? Harriet inquired. She’d already asked him no shortage of questions about Hogwarts and his time there, and oddly enough, had found herself somewhat disappointed.
For all she’d wanted to go there, hearing Archie talk about it, it just didn’t seem all that impressive. Of course, his lack of interest in potions likely contributed to his dismal opinion of Professor Snape, so she tried to take his thoughts with a grain of salt.
“I don’t, I guess we’ll find out. How about yourself? Think you’ll have as boring a year over at Prospero’s?”
Boring? Yeah she could dream it would be.
“Yeah, probably, I don’t see why not” Harriet lied easily.
“Damn, I’m still kind of jealous you just got to pick whichever school you wanted to go to. Here I have to put up with all the wizarding politics and tensions and all that nonsense, its exhausting. We’re just kids, and yet everyone acts as if they’re on the campaign trail to become the Minister of Magic. At least, the Slytherins do, but the other houses often aren’t that much better.” It was a familiar rant. As much as Archie had found companionship with the Weasleys and a scant few others, his overall experience with the student body had been less then stellar.
“I’m sure you’ll survive, its just a school at the end of the day, what could possibly go wrong?” Harriet joked, and archie just groaned.
“You’ve doomed me cousin.” He spoke so very dramatically, Harriet just laughed.
-----
LpLpLp
So, this was it again.
How quickly the holidays had gone.
It was so lovely having their daughter around again, even despite her reticence.
Lily loved her so impossibly much, and she knew, no matter how hard she told Harriet, that she’d never really understand that. Or perhaps she already did, but it didn’t feel like that.
Why else would her daughter never confide in her and shy away from any meaningful conversations.
Perhaps it was just as James kept telling her, that teenagers were simply like this. She hoped he was right.
Looking at her daughter, staring wistfully up at the blowing autumnal leaves once again.
Another year away.
It hurt.
Missing out so much of her daughter’s life, especially now that she knew Harry was hurting, even if she refused to talk about it.
Just who would return home a year from now? Would Harry be better? Maybe all of that time practicing duelling with James would see her deal with her issues and return home stronger for it.
Lily hoped things would work out that well.
But a part of her feared that come next year, Harry would just have more secrets, more pain to hide.
She felt the tears flow freely down her face once again, and even though she’d already done so a few times that day, she rushed over to her daughter and hugged her.
So very tightly she worried she’d break something, but Lily couldn’t bring herself to loosen the tension.
It was irrational, but she worried that if she let go for even a moment, Harriet would disappear, slipping from her grasp back to that school of hers. That she would somehow become a stranger or estranged. Some part of her seemed so certain that something so awfully wrong would happen the moment she lightened her grip.
She hugged tighter, and Harriet hugged back.
There were tears in her daughters’ eyes as well as her own.
“I’ll miss you Mum” Harriet cried, hugging just as tightly.
“I’ll miss you more Harry.”
And they hugged and they cried, and soon after, they stopped.
They had to leave, and so did Harriet.
With a wave, and several more tears, they left.
And Harriet left for another year.