37 37) The Announcement 1

Harry looked at the Gryffindor table he had found himself. Ron was sitting besides him while Hermione was sitting infront of him with a red haired girl.

The girl was a sixth year Gryffindor and also the female sixth year prefect but most importantly she was his mom.

Lily Evans looked at the brunette besides her where she had found a seat. Besides her was Marlene and Mary who were also eager to greet the new transfer students of their house.

"Hello, I am Harry Potter and this is my best friend Ron Whitby", Harry said trying to be as calm as he could while he greeted his mother. His heart was thumping loudly from nervousness too as he looked at her.

"It's nice to meet you Harry, my name is Lily Evans", Lily spoke with a smile on her face as she looked at the new boy in their class.

"I am Marlene McKinnon", a reddish brown haired girl spoke up from Lily's side as she introduced herself to the new boys of their class.

"Hello Harry and Ron, I am Mary Macdonald, your fellow housemate", a girl with raven hair and blue eyes spoke up looking at the two boys.

"So Harry, are you related to James Potter?", Marlene asked looking at the spectacled boy who had a faint scar, whose only trace was a small line on his head.

"Oh, he and I are cousins", Harry spoke up going with the usual lie they had practised for.

"Oh, how come you show now?, Where did you study and learnt magic before?", Mary asked curiously, the new Potter seemed to be far more humble than his cousin which gave him a plus in her opinion.

"I was homeschooled along with Ron and Hermione. We had enough of that and decided to spend our last two years in Hogwarts", Harry said calmly as he looked at the raven haired girl and the listeners near him who were eagerly listening to everything.

"Ohh, it makes sense than. You already get a pass from me for being more tolerable than your cousin", Mary spoke up with a small smile at her fellow housemate. The new Potter also seemed to be shy as he ducked his head mumbling a quiet 'thank you', Mary rather found it a little adoring to see.

"Back of Mary, the boy is starting to blush. He will die of embarrassment if you continue this", Marlene said with a small mischievous smile, while the new Potter was charming and handsome, he was not her type. Besides the boy and Mary had a spark between them which she could feel even from the distance, not to mention her friend's compliment, which was an extremely hard thing to get by anyone. And to think the younger Potter got it in his first try.

"So you can hit on him?", Mary asked with an amused curl of her lips as Harry's face turned red.

"Nahh, I have a type you know", Marlene casually spoke up as she waved her hand clearly waving off the notion.

"She is referring to me on that", came a sound from a little distance from the disowned Black Heir who was laughing at the joke with James and rest of the two marauders.

"Only in your dreams Black", Marlene said with a roll of her eyes, while she did liked Sirius as a friend she wasn't a little bit interested in him. The boy was too fickle for her and the only thing which he could get a hard on for in her opinion, was his best friend 'James Potter'.

'James this', 'James that', it was tiring to hear Prongs and James all day from someone's mouth.

Alice observed everything from a little distance where she sat with Jess Walters another of their housemates and one of Alice's roommate.

"Oh and there is Alice Fortescue along with Jess Walters and Camilia Collen", Marlene said introducing Harry to her fellow roommates who were sitting at little distance as she pointed to each of the girls who nodded at them and introduced themselves to the golden trio.

'Neville's mom', was the only thought in Harry, Hermione's and Ron mind as they looked at the beautiful witch who introduced herself to them with a small smile.

Harry knew that smile, it was one which people who were on guard gave to others. He too had given the same smile many times to easily recognize them.

Looking at Alice reminded Harry of what the fate had in store for her. A child who was perhaps more angry at the world than him.

He had honestly felt that sometimes, it was better for him that his parents had died. Neville didn't had the courtesy to him, everyday he would have craved for them and realising that they couldn't come back ever to him must be heart breaking for him. A living corpse and no more was the state of his mother and father and Harry considered himself lucky that he was an orphan to not have the same feelings of helplessness and hopelessness within him everyday. Something which could only be thought of but never be possible to attain, it was pure torture and it was what Neville went through everyday.

Hermione and Ron had the same thoughts as Harry. Ron remembered the Gryffindor boy who had changed much during his years and couldn't help but think of Alice highly. Alice and Frank Longbottom afterall, were very gifted aurors.

Hermione was meanwhile assessing everyone, Alice Fortescue was a witch with blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes. She was extremly beautiful and her skin was so nice that Hermione felt jealous, she was also taller than other girls by some inches now, she didn't knew that it was due to the potions which she was given by Severus. She was also having a figure which even Hermione was more jealous of. She looked like a model in making with her features and everything, Frank Longbottom was sure a lucky man, Hermione thought with a smile. She remembered the thin and gaunt woman in St Mungos and it spoke volumes about how things had changed for her. A powerful and courageous witch reduced to simple meatbag by Bellatrix Lestrange and others.

Alice had demanded to know the reason behind Severus's apparent change in body mass after they had started dating and Alice had wanted to try it out after becoming a little curious. A little weakened version of it gave her a healthy and nice figure making her a little taller in the span of some days and making her magic a little stronger than before. It refined her features more and even she admitted that the effects of the potion were very nice.

"Is something wrong Hermione, you are staring at Alice", Lily asked a little concerned as he saw her newmade friend eyeing Alice with an assessing gaze.

"Oh no, it's just that you look like a friend of mine", Hermione corrected instantly as she looked at the group of girls who were staring at her worriedly.

"Looks like Alice has got an admirer", Marlene teased her friend with a small mischevious smile on her face.

Alice meanwhile gave a scowl at the words earning a laugh from Marlene who simply sent a flying kiss to the girl, even Alice had hit a growth spurt, Marlene thought amusedly as she recalled the differences in her friend. Alice meanwhile gave a huff, it seems she had started to do the usual scowling done by her boyfriend by keeping his company for summer, she thought amusedly.

All of this was observed by a smiling old man whose eyes were tinkling at seeing the actions happening in Gryffindor table.

It seemed Harry and his friends were enjoying themselves and found themselves comfortable there. It pleased him to see that the boy was happy, in his long life life he had many mistakes, some mistakes with small consequences and some large ones which had affected the whole Wizarding World.

Even his future self had done so too, a boy who deserved to live a happy life free of prophecies or ramblings of fate. Another happy family torn apart by war caused by selfishness of his student.

A boy who deserved to live his life with his parents, grow up with them, felt loved by them. All of this lost because his ex student decided to force a prophecy in action.

Albus had always known the Tom was impulsive and rash in his actions but even this was a new low for him. He hadn't known that his ex student believed so much in fate and divination. But then again it has always been a habit of Tom to go impulsive and rash with a bit of power in his head. He had done the same during his Hogwarts years using his powers as a Prefect and later Head boy to charm others and frame Hagrid for an incident which was not done by him.

Albus had seen enough of this world to know when a man was lying and when he was not. Hagrid might be many things, a half giant, a person whose interest in dangerous animals was dangerous to his nearby ones but even after all those things he was not a murderer. Hagrid had a too soft heart, to kill someone and even if someone died by his hands or by his pet animals then he would have not been able to hide it and would have been inconsolable, of that he was sure.

His gaze went to Slytherin table where many young boys and girls were sitting and enjoying among themselves. He looked at them and sighed thinking of the future choices they were going to take. Tom was recruiting more and more followers and most of them were Slytherins, he needed to put a careful eye on them. The Slytherins were however a reclusive bunch, never mingling much with others and keeping to themselves. There was no easy way to include them in his fold, he just hoped that the events he had planned to bring House Slytherin more into the fold becomes successful.

His gaze however lingered on a certain raven haired boy who was sitting besides the figure of the new Black Heir and one who had surprised him with his actions during summers.

__________________________________________________________________________

This is a two part chapter which I had written, the first part will contain golden trio as they are the second lead of the story while the second part will contain Severus part.

Some readers commented that the chapters were small, I am sorry but the chapters have always been around 1K words every time. However this time I had decided to add more words into the chapter from now on, making chapters from hereby around more than 1.5K words. I hope it will placate them besides don't expect every other chapter to contain some action, fillers are necessary too here in this story as I wanted to write characters with some character development.

Ohh and I was hoping to know if you all would like lemon scenes in the future or if you want me to skip it in the future chapters.

If Yes comment here.

If No comment here.

Also do send powerstones to the fic :)