Chapter 30

By the time the summer was over, Harry was practically pulling his hair out... it had been a terrible holiday season just as he had assumed, his parents had decided to ignore the boy in favour of coddling Brian, not even making a move to acknowledge his existence, probably angry at the punishment Brian had received at Hogwarts. The fact that the boy had been the sole responsible for such a punishment and that Harry had been the victim seemed to be overlooked, either that or Brian had twisted the situation in such a way that in the end they really did believe that Harry was the sole responsible for the situation.

The only good thing about all of that was that the boy had no problem studying the sixth year material that he hadn't been able to give his professors yet and although he couldn't practice his wand movements and see how he did the spell, transformation, etc, due to the statute restricting magic to minors, that didn't mean he didn't know the theory behind them. Then there was Potions, which in itself was a world apart, since as it wasn't something active, it couldn't be registered by the Ministry and therefore he had been able to advance, although it had been quite a bit more difficult for him to be able to carry out his ever increasing demand for Wolfbane potion. So, overall it had been quite beneficial that his parents ignored him.

In itself, the only bad thing about his vacation had been the fact that Ginna had had to travel to her country for family reasons, and during all that time the boy had been unable to use his psychic powers due to a promise he had made to his mentor just before she left Hogwarts... a promise he had kept to the letter, no matter how much the Headmaster had hinted otherwise.

*****FLASBACK******

Ginna had just left and Harry was already missing her... he didn't want her to go but she had been adamant, she couldn't stay. Sighing, he started to look at his textbooks, when to his surprise he saw the headmaster approaching him quickly...

"Mr. Potter, I was looking for you," the old man said with a benign smile.

"Me, sir?"

"I would like to ask you if Mrs. Piori is in the castle... I have been looking for her but have had no luck."

Harry narrowed his eyes at the comment, which was undoubtedly one of the old man's little games... He knew perfectly well that Ginna had just left since the school's wards had informed him the moment she had crossed them... Anyone who had done a minimum of research would know that.

"I'm sorry, Headmaster, she left 10 minutes ago, what did you want her for?"

"Oh... I wanted her to verify some information with her power... but if she's not here..." He said with false heaviness... "If we had another psychic of her level who wanted to help us, everything would be much easier."

Surely, everything would have seemed much more innocent and much more believable if it weren't for the fact that he stared at him in a rather shameless and not at all discreet way. In short, it was completely obvious that the old man wanted to take advantage of his mentor's absence to use the boy and exploit his abilities.

"Yes, that's a pity. Although I wasn't aware that Ginna had ever used her power to help you. " The boy said calmly and then added. "Don't worry, Headmaster, I'll ask her if she knows anyone who can help you."

You could practically see the steam rising from the old man's face, he had obviously thought that the boy would run to help him with his war now that his mentor was gone... he had never believed that the boy would refuse... he had caught him by surprise.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Potter, your offer is very kind, but it will not be necessary. " The Headmaster said before turning and leaving.

****END FLASHBACK****

Now, on September 1st, Harry was eagerly waiting for the rest of his family to be ready so he could leave for King's Cross and take the Hogwarts Express... The sooner he was there the better, after all, even if he didn't care about the way his parents treated him anymore, that didn't mean he wanted a little positive attention towards him, as well as a little recognition.

At that moment, he was sitting in the kitchen at home having breakfast while his parents and brother ran around the house looking for all the things that they hadn't packed yet even though they were leaving in just a few hours. He couldn't understand it, knowing how they knew they had to leave that day because they hadn't been prepared was beyond him, he himself had been packing for a couple of days. By the time Brian's packing was ready, Harry would have finished his breakfast and would be ready to leave again...

The fact that this was exactly what happened a little later only proved how well he knew his family, as opposed to them knowing him.

" Well, are we all ready? " said an over enthusiastic James Potter. " Harry, are you ready?"

"Yes. " Was the boy's exasperated response. " I have been for days."

"Ah... Good then. Let's go!"

Shrugging their trunks and handing them to each of their children, the four of them took the Floo to the Leaky Cauldron and after a quick hello to Tom, they headed out into the Muggle world where they took a taxi to the train station where their children would catch the Hogwarts Express. They weren't late, but they weren't exactly early either, they were barely 20 minutes away from King's Cross, and it was only 15 minutes before the barrier closed...

"Well... we better find a compartment, huh Brian? " His father said once they passed the barrier.

Typical. They had fulfilled their minimal role, which was to take him to the station, and they forgot about him. The truth is that he was not surprised at all, the strange thing was that they had remembered that he was still there. Without bothering to say goodbye, he walked away from them and got on the train, surely one of his friends would already be there and would not mind if he left his things in the compartment.

Bingo. He had barely opened three of them when he came across Terry, Hermione, and Neville, who seemed deeply engrossed in some very important topic, although they all turned their heads towards the door and smiled when they saw him.

"Harry! " Was the general exclamation.

"Hi, do you mind if I stay here with you?"

" You're kidding, right?" Terry said amused. " We were waiting for you. Come on in!"

"And your luggage? " Hermione asked confused.

"My father shrank it before leaving home... it wouldn't have been very comfortable to travel with it through the Floo network."

"What care. "The Gryffindor murmured.

"Just because he already did it to Brian. Since he was already busy, it wouldn't hurt him to do it to me too. " The boy explained before sitting down next to the Ravenclaw. "What were you talking about?"

"I suppose you've heard by now... You-Know-Who attacked the Muggle Ministry... tried to assassinate the Prime Minister and killed four of his bodyguards before the Aurors arrived..."

[T/N: ...The F*CK! We have a competent Villain, SH*T!]

"Ah, yes... I did know that. My father hasn't stopped talking about it since it happened because apparently he was on guard when it happened and was one of those who were sent. He hasn't stopped bragging about it ever since..."

"Do you know what else happened? " Hermione asked anxiously. "According to the muggle press, it was an attack by the IRA, although they have denied it, nobody believes them..."

[T/N: I have never in my life heard of the IRA, probably a European thing]

"Not much. I know he was bragging and what they said in the prophet, but he didn't explain what happened to me... you'd have to ask Brian."

"Not on my life!" the other three exclaimed at the same time, causing laughter in the compartment.

Not long after, the train started to move and began its journey to school. For the first few minutes, they continued to talk about what had happened with the muggles and also what the muggle prime minister's reaction had been. As the conversation progressed, more of the group of friends arrived, although it stopped when Draco entered the compartment, not for nothing, he was the son of a prestigious Death Eater (even if he hadn't been processed yet) and it would surely be an uncomfortable subject for the Slytherin, who wouldn't know what to do with it... so it changed to what they had done during the summer, and where they had gone.

"I went to France with my parents." The Gryffindor said happily. "It was all very interesting, because before we left I contacted the Ministry, so they could inform me about the magical places of interest... My parents loved it and I learned a lot."

"Did you visit Beauxbattons?" Harry asked with interest.

"They didn't let me... almost as if they expected me to steal their secrets, but I saw a lot more things. Some of them were really magnificent, you should see them."

"We'll see about that another time. What I really want to know is how Harry's vacation went... " Draco said, looking at the dark haired Hufflepuff.

"Well... as expected. My brother had a great time, my parents acted as if I didn't exist and I got ahead in my studies."

"In other words... you should have accepted my invitation this summer. You would have had a much better time than at home."

"Your father wouldn't have been amused and you know it," Harry replied with a sigh.

"Actually," He said seriously "I mentioned it to him and he told me very clearly that he was curious to meet you."

"You told us all that you didn't want to bother us, but in reality, you were welcome in all of our houses" Jonathan added "My parents were very curious to meet you, and I think all of our parents are."

"I didn't mean to bother you..." Harry muttered under his breath.

"Again... It's no bother, man! " Neville exclaimed, exasperated "How do you want us to put it? I invited you because I wanted to... just like that, the others probably did too."

[T/N: WHOA! Longbottom's balls dropped early! I thought that only happened in the last book! Glad to see little druid being more assertive.]

There was a general nod throughout the compartment, as the young Hufflepuff looked away towards the window, causing the others to sigh... he always did the same thing.

The slightly tense mood in the compartment was broken when the door opened and the Weasley twins entered with their usual mocking smiles. Without paying attention to the atmosphere in there, they sat next to Athenea and Jonathan who had already arrived some time ago and joined their friends.

" Good afternoon!" They exclaimed as soon as they sat down. " How was your summer?"

" Fine. " Was the general murmur.

"You're very tanned... " Terry said, looking at them carefully.

"We went to Egypt for our vacation..." One of them explained.

"Our father won the Prophet's prize... 500 galleons!"

"And since we hadn't seen our brother Bill for a long time..."

"The whole family went."

"That's great! There are a lot of interesting things in Egypt... I'm sure you've learned a lot of things."

"Well, Hermione, we weren't going with the idea of ​​learning new things," said one of the twins, looking at her with a strange expression. "But to see our brother."

"And what was he doing in Egypt? " Terry asked curiously.

"He works for Gringotts... He breaks curses on tombs... " Said the other twin.

"Really? It sounds like an interesting job. " Hermione said thoughtfully.

"It is! " Jonathan exclaimed " You see a lot of things and learn a lot of ancient history. However, it is also very difficult and Gringotts only hires the best wizards available. The fact that he works there says a lot about his abilities."

At this comment, the twins smiled proudly before beginning to explain their older brother's job in greater detail... It was so interesting that even Draco, whose upbringing had taught him to despise redheads and who still occasionally did so, was hooked on every word, not realizing how much time was really passing, it came as a surprise to everyone when they heard the driver announce that in 10 minutes they would be at school, having to start running to put on their uniforms... it wasn't a question of losing points before the course actually started.

As soon as the train stopped the group ran to the horseless carriages in order to catch one or two, depending on how much they had grown during that summer... they needed two, they had grown from those tiny second years, to proud 13 year old teens, or in the case of Hermione and Terry, almost 14. They already took up quite a bit more space than before and finally, they had to split up. A division that was increased when they entered the Great Hall and each had to go to their respective house table... although it had to be admitted that the twins, Neville and Hermione, did so with greater hesitation than the rest when they saw Brian already seated with an appearance as arrogant and overbearing as before the end of the course.

"Here we go again," Neville muttered, looking defeated.

[T/N: Kick his ASS LONGBOTTOM!!!!]

Once everyone was seated, and in the case of the first years, the headmaster introduced the beginning of the year banquet. His usual speech was so similar to the previous ones that it almost seemed like it was the same one but with slight variations. Harry knew that he was not the only one who ended up distracted and thinking about other things... in his case, about how the school year would develop. The boy could only hope that it would turn out just as he had imagined.

[T/N: YEAH! A little more 'action' in this chapter than in the previous two, longbottom grew a pair, all good stuff. If you can't help but imagine (18+) Longbottom's musky balls then leave a comment, drop some stones, and write a review. If you want to read some advanced chapters then check out the P@treon or the Ko-fi.]

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