Bonds and Alliances

That caused Harry to pause and turn, "Which I'm not participating in, and I beat him once I can do it again." He shrugged and once more turned to leave.

"Wait, Harry, my boy, you…" the old man said, reaching out to grab his shoulder only to be knocked back by the golden dome.

"For the last time, I Am Not Your Boy, and Quit Fucking Touching me!" Harry bellowed in the old man's face as the sirens in his head now screamed 'Red Alert.' There was even a faint whisper of 'I'm given her all I can, Captain,' which made our hero's eye twitch again. He wasn't sure if he wanted an imaginary Scotty running his brain.

Not that the guy wasn't a great engineer, but he did have a way of slapping things together and making them work with luck and golly. Now was not the time to have such thoughts, so he shook his head to clear it and glared at his violator.

Albus' face hardened as he stood to his full height, "I will not be spoken to in such a manner, Mr. Potter," he said in his most commanding voice as he let his magic flare, which was actually pretty impressive.

"And I won't be pushed around by you. So, you can look as domineering as you want. I am a free citizen and don't have to remain here," the teen stated snidely. "If you want me to stay, then get the coppers here, let me have my own room and don't force me into your stupid classes and foolish games."

"Listen here, you imbecilic brat, you cannot go around making demands on the headmaster. This is his school, and you are merely a student," Severus said with his usual sneer.

"There's where you're incorrect," Harry said pompously, as if lecturing a lesser man. "I am a paying guest. Hogwarts took my money for the year, as far as I know I've not been expelled and I'm not bound by any rules, since I demanded to leave and was told that I had to stay. Therefore, negating any prior agreement between me and the old codger," he added, glaring at the old man.

"That is not how it works," Severus said harshly, tired of the boy's arrogance.

"That's how I see it, and if you don't like it then I'll just leave," Harry said once more turning towards the stairs, his golden dome falling as he turned. He turned at the Headmaster's next words.

"What do you want, Harry, my…?" Albus asked, trailing off at the piercing look he received.

"Albus, you cannot be thinking of giving in to a child," Minerva stated completely flabbergasted that he would concede to the demands of a student. While she felt pity for the boy, there was no way she felt letting him get his way would be beneficial to anyone.

"Harry?" the Headmaster ignored her.

"The cops, an attorney and you not telling me what to do," were the demands.

"Very well, I will have the DMLE here tomorrow, you will have to arrange your own counsel, and until you regain your memory we will not interfere with your studies," he compromised, leaving quite a bit open.

"Or where I sleep," Harry said quickly.

"Or where you sleep," the Headmaster agreed.

"Oh, and I need someone to take me shopping. Turns out I'm loaded," he said gleefully, and then backtracked, "from what the twins tell me anyway." He hoped they didn't catch his slip.

"Yes, well, there are times allowing students to go to Hogsmeade. A few weekends are set aside for such, you may journey with them at the appropriate time," Albus said with a wave of his old thin hand.

"Wait, so this is a prison and you do regulate free time," the boy hero accused with a gasp.

"No, of course not," the old biddy snapped. "We schedule those days so that we know where the children are. We cannot be expected to keep track of four hundred or so teens unless we know where they are. It is easier to keep them here in the castle then let them run about willy-nilly. It is for their safety," McGonagall explained, affronted that he would say such a thing.

"The next Hogsmeade weekend is scheduled for this coming Saturday, you may attend," the Headmaster said with his grandfatherly smile. He reached his hand to pat the boy's shoulder but dropped it before it got anywhere near the lad.

"Fine, then I'll just be on my way. I see two lovely ladies waiting for me," the teen said with a nod of his head and moved away from the adults, pushing his way through the large crowd that had been watching them. He put his arms around his two female friends and guided them to the Great Hall. It was time to quit hiding.

The whole room's noise lessened when they entered, until Harry barked, "Still not a zoo animal." The other students then went back to what they were doing or started talking about what an arse the Boy-Who-Lived had become, while others mooned over the dreamy rebel teen.

Hermione sighed and steered them to the Gryffindor Table and they sat with their year mates. There was a huge amount of food in front of them and Harry was starved.

He had used a lot of energy to fix that broken old house and now needed to refuel, so he piled his plate with roast beef, potatoes, and loads of vegetables. He feel on it until one look down the table at some of the other male students made him slow down, not wanting to look as ill-mannered as they did.

"Harry, I don't think…" Hermione hedged, worrying her lip. "I mean, are you sure you should…?" she trailed off again.

"Don't worry, Hermione, I know what I'm doing," he said, giving her a reassuring smile, glad that she wasn't nagging him about disrespecting adults. He could see from the pinched look on her face that it was hard on her to hold her tongue. "I tell you what, when we're not surrounded, you can yell at me all you want. Heed this, I probably won't listen to you, but I will let you rant."

She gave him a smile, pleased that he understood and then turned to her meal.

"You need to be more careful in what you say to the adults," Luna warned portentously. "Twice you almost gave away how their games have freed you. You're actually lucky you offended the Headmaster into ignoring your slips," she said and then hummed a little tune as she ate her onion soup.

"How did you…? Right, seer," Harry said, leaning over and kissing her cheek in thanks for the warning.

Hermione huffed, she still didn't believe in Divination, nothing controlled her life, except perhaps her parents, and the authorities in the school, and the government; oh bother.

"Hey, Harry, sorry to hear about your amnesia," a pudgy sandy-haired boy said as he reached across the table and held out his hand. "Neville Longbottom."

"Harry Potter, or so I'm told," Harry said with a friendly smile as he grabbed the hand and gave it a shake. "Were we friends?"

"More like acquaintances," the shy boy confessed.

"That doesn't mean we can't be friends now," the dark-haired teen said reassuringly.

.....

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