lomonaaeren

Chapter Twelve.

Part One.

Title: A Door Into Hope (13/?)
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.
Pairings: None among main characters, background Lucius/Narcissa and Arthur/Molly
Content Notes: AU, angst, some violence
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Harry is mustering more and more support for the changes he wants to make in the wizarding world as he returns to Hogwarts after his first Christmas holiday. But as some people begin to believe he can make those changes, others see him as a threat.
Author’s Notes: This takes place in my Children of the Sun series after “The Secrets of Longbottom Manor.”

Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Thirteen—Call for Freedom

“Did you mean what you said in the papers about greater freedom for everyone, Potter?”

Harry turned around curiously. He’d expected Wychard Medwyn to stay away from him, since he was probably angry about Curtis meeting with Harry and Golden. But instead, the older Slytherin boy had come right up to him in the middle of the Great Hall, just when Harry and Neville were getting ready to leave for Potions.

“Did you have something you wanted to say to Harry, Medwyn?” Cedric had stood up at the same time, and now he was in between Harry and Medwyn. His bronze snow leopard familiar snarled eagerly next to him.

“Yes, to him, not you, Diggory.” Medwyn gave Cedric a hostile look and stepped around Cedric. “Did you mean what you said about greater freedom?”

“Yes, I did,” Harry said, although Neville was looking at him worriedly, and across the Great Hall, Draco was shaking his head. Harry took heart from the fact that Hermione was just watching, her hand on Regina’s back.

“Then you can start by leaving Hogwarts.”

“Huh?”

Medwyn had been grinning like he expected Harry to get angry, but now his grin faltered, and he squinted at Harry. “Well, if you really don’t want to control people, then you have to leave Hogwarts. Because if you stay here, you would be controlling them with your spreading magic.”

“No, you have to concentrate to use spreading magic. I wouldn’t do that.”

“You have to leave!”

“No, I don’t think so.” Harry supposed this was probably meant to get him angry or make him look bad, but he didn’t know how. Was Medwyn just a distraction and someone else was sneaking up behind him? Golden, who was watching Medwyn and Curtis, would alert him of that, though. “Spreading magic influencing other people would be wrong. So I won’t do that. That means I don’t have to leave Hogwarts.”

Medwyn’s face was red. He took a step back and appealed to the people around him. “Who here thinks that Potter is wrong and he’s really using his spreading magic? Just like Albus Dumbledore did!”

“I would remind you that doubting the word of a wizard with a golden familiar has been a dueling offense in the past, Mr. Medwyn.”

That was Professor Snape, standing up at the Head Table and looking at Medwyn as if he should be bitten by Shadowstriker. Next to him, Professor Quirrell and Alanna were both watching with big eyes. Harry noticed how tense Headmistress McGonagall was, but before he could look at the other teachers, Medwyn called his attention back by laughing nastily.

“That’s another thing that needs to change!” Medwyn turned around and spread his arms. “How many people saw Potter’s announcement about standing for greater freedom for the ‘common’ witch and wizard in the paper this morning? How many people think he’s full of shite?”

“Language, Mr. Medwyn,” said the Headmistress sharply. “Also a detention to be served with me this evening.”

“I just asked a question! You didn’t give anyone a chance to answer!”

“And ten points from Slytherin for cheek,” Headmistress McGonagall finished. “If anyone wants to answer your question, then they may, but you will not verbally attack a younger student in the Great Hall like this!”

Harry glanced around. Most of the other students didn’t seem to know what to make of what was going on. Neville seemed to be holding his breath next to Harry. Harry sharply nudged him, and Neville forced himself to release the breath and clutched Trevor close nervously.

“I’d like to say something.”

Draco was standing up, and Kali was perched on his shoulder, stretching her wings out. Some people turned around. Harry thought they probably paid attention to Draco because he had a silver familiar, but at least they were listening.

“What, Malfoy?” Medwyn demanded.

“I don’t think that Harry would ever use his spreading magic, and he really does mean his call for more freedom.” Draco touched Kali’s head and ended her hissing at one of the Slytherins next to him whose familiar was glaring at her. Now both his and Kali’s heads faced in the same direction, looking at Medwyn, and Harry had to admit it looked impressive. “It’s all there if you listen to him. He wants people with tin and copper familiars to have the freedom that people with bronze and silver familiars do—the freedom to be respected and have their opinions listened to. And he wants silver and bronze people to have more freedom—”

“How? That doesn’t sound like freedom to me!” Medwyn folded his arms, and Curtis gave a nervous flutter next to him.

“Maybe we can have actual friendships with people that have different color familiars,” Draco almost drawled, “instead of spending all our time thinking about what color they have and whether we can actually be friends with them or not. I know I’m pretty tired of thinking about my status all the time, myself.”

“Like you have to think about your status, when you’re silver!” Medwyn was glancing around. He seemed to sense that he was losing support, Harry decided. “Isn’t anyone else concerned about this? About spreading magic and the way that Potter is going to control all of us? Professor Snape? What about you?”

Harry almost choked. Of course Medwyn couldn’t know that Professor Snape had sworn a special kind of oath to Harry, since they were keeping that quiet, but it was a pretty amusing mistake to make.

“I think that you should go back to your seat, Mr. Medwyn.” Professor Snape’s voice was completely detached. He really was a good actor, Harry thought, comparing that to the way the professor sounded when they talked together. “If what you say is true, in time there will be a way to demonstrate it.”

And he’s pretty good at making it sound like he might agree with someone he doesn’t agree with, too.

Medwyn gave a frown that was frankly a little ridiculous, but nodded and turned and walked back to his seat. Curtis gave a nervous glance at Golden and then stalked after him.

“They are strange about you,” Golden said. Remembering how Julian had told him that he shouldn’t speak Parseltongue as much in front of other people, Harry just nodded, and then gave the last bit of his apple to Golden before he and Neville left.

*

“I wish I were as brave as you.”

Harry looked up. He and Neville were doing their homework in the common room, after Harry had got back from a lesson with Professor Quirrell, and then letting Professor Babbling interpret some of the runes on Golden’s back. “What do you mean, Neville? You’ve been pretty brave lately.”

“But you just stood there in front of the entire Great Hall this morning and didn’t get upset when Medwyn accused you.” Neville sighed and leaned back in the huge yellow armchair, staring into the fire. “I don’t think I’ll ever be that brave.”

“You could work on it, if you want. I mean, I’m mostly that brave because I didn’t think anything was really going to happen in the middle of the Great Hall. Medwyn would be stupid to attack me there.”

“But I wouldn’t be thinking about that. I would just be thinking of how he could. And Curtis is a lot bigger than Trevor, and he has clawed feet. He could attack poor Trevor, and he wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“Does that happen a lot? I mean, familiars attacking each other?” So far, Harry hadn’t seen that many familiars interacting outside of the sessions he spent with his friends and when other familiars wanted to speak with Golden. They were friends or not according to whether their humans were friends, but they would touch noses briefly or wings or whatever was appropriate to them and then leave.

“No, but it could. And the Medwyn family has an aggressive reputation.”

“They do?”

“Of course they do! They’ve always—” Abruptly Neville turned red. “I’m sorry. I always forget that you didn’t grow up in the wizarding world. You pretend it so well.”

Harry just shrugged and smiled. “If I pretended that well, I probably wouldn’t get so many people upset about me having a golden familiar and not knowing the rules for having one. What about the Medwyns?”

Neville eyed him for a second, but then nodded. “Just that the Medwyns had Squibs born in their family for a really long time. They got defensive about it. Of course, no one really knows what causes Squibs, but sometimes it’s inbreeding, or the way that the family treats the child. And recently, they don’t have Squibs anymore, but they’ve got even angrier. They randomly challenge people to duels. They try to sue people. They make false claims and tell the Aurors to arrest people who have never done anything to them.”

“So that’s why you’re afraid Curtis will attack Trevor.”

“Yeah.” Neville leaned back and let Trevor climb into his palms and sit there, trembling a little. At least Trevor didn’t do that anymore when he talked to Golden, Harry thought. “Maybe Medwyn wouldn’t attack you, because you’re powerful and he saw that you wouldn’t back down. But he could attack me.”

Harry thought about it. “Then we should find a spell that will let me know when you’re being attacked. Well, not just me. Hermione and Draco and Ron and the others too.”

“What?”

“So we can come and find you if we hear the warning, of course. I’m not going to let you try and stand up to Medwyn alone.”

Neville seemed to have something sticky in his throat that prevented him from swallowing. Harry looked away patiently until he got control of it. Then Neville whispered, “Thank you, Harry. You don’t know what it means to me to have friends.”

“And a brother. Don’t forget that.”

Neville’s soft smile said he hadn’t.

*

“And why are you interested in monitoring charms, Mr. Potter?” From the expression Professor Quirrell wore, he seemed to think that wasn’t important enough for someone with a golden familiar to learn or something.

“One of my friends is worried that the boy who stood up and accused me yesterday could attack him.” Harry looked calmly at the professor. “I told him that I would learn a spell to let me know if someone attacked him, sir.”

Professor Quirrell looked faintly exasperated, in the way Harry was becoming used to people looking. “Has it occurred to you that you should tell a professor if something like that happens?”

“Well, no, sir,” Harry said slowly. “Because my friend said the Medwyns are aggressive, and he was worried about being attacked even though he knows that he’s at school surrounded by professors. That says to me that the Medwyns are aggressive all the time, and no one really stands up and does anything about it.”

“They would if he attacked you.”

“But other students deserve to feel safe too, sir.”

Professor Quirrell’s expression crimped up a bit, so Harry thought he looked like Aunt Petunia when she saw mud on the kitchen floor. Then he motioned for Harry to sit down in the chair in front of them, which mostly they used for target practice. Harry did, and looked at him, while Alanna hopped over and leaned against Golden for a second.

“I have warned you before about what others would think when they found out what kind of magic you are practicing,” Professor Quirrell said in a soft voice. “Well, they will be even more upset if they think that you are making challenges to the way the school is run.”

Harry stared at him. “So—students being in danger is the way it’s supposed to be?”

Professor Quirrell shook his head. “Not that. Simply that if you show up to protect other students who are in danger, and it becomes obvious that it was because of magic too advanced for your years, the accusations hurled against you will make what Medwyn said look like hot air.”

“I can’t accept that,” Harry said. “I just can’t accept that, sir. I can’t let my foster brother be in danger all the time because of what someone might think. And why should the Medwyns be able to get away with attacking and bullying people? Just because they’ve always done it that way?”

Professor Quirrell hesitated. “The student who is worried about being attacked is your foster brother?”

“Neville Longbottom. Yes, sir. And he’s even in my House, too! Professor Sprout says Hufflepuffs ought to fight for each other.”

For the first time, Professor Quirrell looked as if he might be thinking. “I don’t believe Mr. Longbottom has anything to worry about,” he finally said. “The Medwyns have no one with a silver familiar in their family. They would leave someone that has one alone.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t believe that. Medwyn attacked me earlier today, and I have a golden one.”

Professor Quirrell shut his eyes. “I am not saying that that is acceptable, or that you should simply leave your brother to be bullied. What I am saying is that you want to make changes in the hierarchy, but you cannot move too far or too fast. Better to let some things go for now and build up your power base slowly. Don’t put them on the defensive by showing already how powerful and skilled you are. This is a minor affair. Save the revelation of your power for a distant time when you’ll need it more.”

Harry leaned forwards a little. “Do you believe that Neville is going to get hurt, sir?”

“I can’t say for sure—”

“I didn’t say for sure, sir. I just want your best guess. Is Medwyn going to attack Neville? Or would the Medwyns attack someone else who’s important to me, or me? Even if it’s in a different way than accusing me in the middle of the Great Hall?”

Professor Quirrell waited for a long time. But Harry could wait, too. He had used to wait all the time in the cupboard with Golden. Finally, Professor Quirrell said, “I can’t rule out the possibility.”

Harry nodded firmly. “Then please teach me the monitoring charm, sir. And I’ll come up with some other reason for why I would show up when Neville was in danger. I can say that Golden is keeping an eye on him for me.”

Professor Quirrell raised his eyebrows. “Would anyone believe that?”

“People believe all sorts of stupid things about wizards with golden familiars. I think they would, sir.”

“That is something else that might be turned against you.”

“Then anything could be,” Harry said. He felt like he was a million years old. He was so tired. “I just—I can’t let someone suffer bullying because of something that might not even happen, sir. The Medwyns are stupid enough that they’re already attacking me openly. And they could spread lies about me, but they’re already doing that. Just keeping Neville safe is going to make a huge difference for me and him, but I don’t think it will for them.”

Professor Quirrell kept on thinking about it for a while. Harry kept on looking at him. He would go and get Professor Snape to teach him the monitoring charm if he had to. He just wanted to keep working with the professor who had already shown that he was good at teaching Harry defensive spells.

“Very well,” Professor Quirrell said at last. He hesitated, then added, “And it is dangerous, and I cannot promise that all rumors will be put to rest as easily as Mr. Medwyn’s accusation of you using spreading magic was.

“I understand, sir—”

“But I am proud to see someone who has this power in our society using it to defend others.”

Harry smiled, and felt the way that Golden leaned against him, heavy and soft and warm. “Thank you, sir.” He didn’t add that it was the right thing to do, because he was pretty sure that Professor Quirrell already knew, and Golden definitely knew, but that was the way he felt.