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“Okay everyone, great job today! Remember to keep practicing wherever you can, and keep up the good work.“ Harry dismissed the DA with a grin. They’d done especially well today, and he was excited to see their progress at the next meeting. As the students shuffled out in groups, Harry was huddled in the corner packing up his papers and resetting the room. He’d been meaning to ask Ron to set up a floo call with Molly Weasley for a while, as some simple housekeeping charms really could come in handy.. He’d learnt pretty quickly that, while the room replaced the broken ones, it didn’t reposition anything. It also didn’t undo hexes, like the paralysis a handy Ravenclaw third year had inflicted on one today. This particular student had Harry getting a bit too good with finite, he thought, barely even muttering the spell to wipe the dummy before man-handling it back to its position. With the dummies reset and his things collected, Harry slipped under his cloak and faded from view before striding out the door, the room fading into the wall behind him.
Harry had fully intended on going back to the common room, but a pounding headache and grumbling stomach had led him to the great hall instead, hoping to catch the tail end of dinner. Slipping through the crack in the large doors, however, the hungry Griffindor was met with nothing but barren tables and the stale smell of food. It seems reorganizing the room had made him skip dinner…again. With a groan he ducked into a corner while slipping off the cloak, fully intending on kicking the nearest wall with all the force his exhausted body could muster (a remarkably bad idea, considering the stone makeup of the castle); however, just as he wound up his leg, Harry was stopped cold. In front of him, mostly hidden by the shadow of the alcove he was in, was a small, shaking…ball? No, wait, a child. A young Slytherin, by the looks of their robes, and they were quite obviously sobbing.
“Um,,, Hi?” Yeah, great job Harry, he thought, amazing first words to the crying kid. “Are you okay?” The young boy’s face peeked out from his robes, tears still streaming. An incoherent series of mumbles left his mouth before he seemingly imploded into tears again.
“Oh, well…shit. To be completely honest I couldn’t make out a word of that….” A few more minutes passed, Harry feeling more hopeless by the second, before he broke. He just couldn’t let some poor kid keep sobbing like this.
“Okay, What’s going on? Did you miss dinner?” The ball of first year honey badger bobbed a bit, which Harry assumed was a sign to the affirmative. “Is that what’s making you cry?” A shrug this time. Well, at least this was better than nothing. Harry leant against the wall on the other side of the small alcove, folding the coak up and laying it across his arm. The tiny window above them provided barely any light this time of night, and the moon was just barely peeking over the bottom sill and -oh!.
“It’s late! That’s what it is, isn’t it! You don’t seem like the sort to be sneaking around the castle this late.” A particularly loud sob left the young boy, echoing down the corridor. “Shhhh! Filch’ll hear.” A small hiccup sounded then the boy went silent, Harry now off the wall kneeling next to him. After a minute or so of tense silence and nothing happening Harry figured it was time to get to safety.
“So, why’re you out here this late?” Harry’s question broke the silence, startling the boy slightly.
“Oh, um…” The boy’s face colored with embarrassment as he averted his gaze. “A ‘friend’ of mine told me to meet him here tonight so he could help me out with some homework for Defence. Umbridge isn’t very kind about failing grades and I’m not very good. He never showed though…“ Ah, thought Harry, a prank then. And not a very funny one either. Filch was not a person you throw your friends to.
“Sounds like your ‘friend’ tricked you. How about I help you get back to your dorm room? I’ve got quite the handy cloak if you noticed!”
“Cloak?” The young boy’s blue eyes sparkled as he stood up, staring now at the cloak over Harry’s arm. “What’s it do?” With a sly grin and a flourish Harry donned the cloak, just like that first night. He left just his head above it, and a giggle sounded from the young boy in front of him.
“It makes you invisible??” Incredulity dripped from his voice as the once-sobbing kid now circled him with renewed energy. “That’s so cool! Can you tell me more about it??” Puppy-Dog like eyes hit Harry like a truck, and he was just happy that there weren’t any more tears. He didn’t handle tears well.
“Sure,” Harry replied with a cautious smile, “But you’ve got to tell me your name, and we can talk as we walk back to the Slytherin Common Room. Filch shouldn’t be around this area right now.”
What followed was nearly twenty minutes of excited conversation about the cloak and life with the boy - Angie Swellbellow, as Harry had learned. A first year Slytherin with an aptitude for runes and enchantment and not much else. Once he’d gotten comfortable around Harry (While still not knowing his name. Even Harry could admit the anonymity was nice once in a while.) Angie had removed his school cloak’s hood, revealing a head of bouncing, curly, blonde hair and a round baby-face. He practically bounced the whole way to the kitchens, and continued bouncing when they ended up seated in a corner of said kitchens with some tasty leftovers. Angie’s eyes were alight with curiosity and Harry was regretting not knowing more about runes, since he could barely even understand what was being asked, much less answer the questions.
“Your friend sounds amazing! I bet she’s passing her classes…” The light in the young Slytherin’s eyes died a bit at this one, reminding Harry of why they were here in the first place.
“Yeah, Hermione is better than most for sure!” Harry replied wistfully, “I would probably be closer to her without my…extracurriculars…this year, but I doubt I could ever surpass her.”
“...Did you say Hermione?” Ah…Brilliant. Harry had had a pretty nice conversation tonight, guess it couldn’t last forever. “...You know, I don’t think I ever did catch your name…”
“It’s Harry, Harry Potter.” Harry’s response was accompanied by a large screech and a lot of words, followed by Harry’s own sigh. The anonymity had been quite nice honestly. This reaction was getting pretty old after five years. First came the panic, then the awe (the current stage), then the autograph. After several long minutes the rapid stream of words finally died down, and the blue puppy-dog eyes struck up again. The young Savior braced for the inevitable autograph question.
“Um…I have a small request? So I heard that you run some secret Defense class and I was wondering if I could join? Umbridge doesn’t teach much and You-Know-Who is about and I can’t afford to fail Defense. I can pay if you need! In money or food or whatever. You can definitely say no to- ” Harry choked on his dinner and let the nervous muttering fade out. That wasn’t the question he was expecting…This kid wanted to join the DA?