Stitched Mouths

Harry walked numbly through the halls of his home, Hogwarts. He had gotten back in the middle of the night so everyone was still soundly asleep in their beds as he dragged himself to his own. He blurrily looked up at the Fat Lady and mumbled the password. She looked concerned as she swung forward to let him in but didn’t say anything. He collapsed onto the sofa in front of the fire and stared into the warm low flames. He ran his hands through his unruly ebony hair and took a deep breathe then let it out again. He felt haunted, dead, depressed, disemboweled, disembodied, pick one and that would describe him in entirety. He looked up as Ron shuffled in, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“Had a feeling you’d be just getting back,” He murmured, sitting down on the couch with him.

“It was horrible, I don’t even want to think about it,” Harry breathed, not looking at his best friend.

“I understand but we’ll be here for you when you decide to talk about it,” Ron cuddled up to him and Harry wrapped his arms around him, taking in a deep breathe. Ron smelled like most of the rest of his family, wholesome, like fresh baked bread and that beautiful smell the earth has just after it had a good soak of rain. He felt infinitely comforted as he drifted off to sleep, his arms tightly wrapped around Ron’s waist.

Ron glanced back as Harry’s breathing started to even out. He smiled slowly and inched his way out of Harry’s grasp then picked him up and carried him back up to his bed. He tucked him in and pulled off his glasses, laying them in their usual spot. He then turned to his own bed.

“Did everything go well?” Neville whispered from his bed, Ron smiled softly over at the other.

“I hope so, he was too tired to say anything but he doesn’t look too roughed up, I think it went alright,” Ron answered, climbing into his own bed.

“Do you think we’ll survive this?” Neville asked, looking up at the ceiling of the dorm room.

“We’ve gotten this far,” Ron pointed out, snuggling down under his covers.

“Yeah but-“ Neville started.

“Neville, stop worrying. It’ll only make things worse, just remember that we’ve survived this far and that is a great accomplishment,” Ron murmured, slowly drifting off to sleep.

The next morning Harry woke up and looked around, the dorm was empty. He must have overslept and none of the others had woken him up for class. He sighed and reached for his glasses. Next week they were all graduating, this was the final full week of school and he had already been excused from most of his classes already. McGonagall had given him the final assignments for him to complete and then let loose on finding the Horcruxes and such. He got up and walked to the showers. He went to classes mostly as a way to keep feeling normal. He was to start Auror training this summer but that was really the last thing on his mind. The first was Voldemort, second food, and the third was how hot Hermione looked in black latex. He started stripping off his clothes while turning on one of the showers. He looked around the deserted bathroom before stepping into the shower and started lathering up. Flashes of the day and night before flew through his brain. He groaned, trying to lose himself in the steaming hot water. He opened his eyes, having the weird feeling that someone was in the room with him. He looked around but saw no one, he frowned, hurrying up with his shower. He turned off the water and toweled off before walking in to where his clothes lay.

“Hey Harry, what are you doing here?” Lavender asked, leaning in to look at her face in the mirror. Harry frowned, grabbing his clothes.

“Just taking a shower, shouldn’t you be in class?” Harry asked, inching his way to the door.

“I have a free period right now, just thought I’d come back here to grab a nap when I heard the water running. Usually I’m the only one here,” She turned to him and crossed her arms over her ample chest.

“Well, I woke up late this morning and thought I’d take a shower before heading back to class,” Harry explained, putting his hand on the door knob when suddenly Lavender smiled in a peculiar way.

“I know I shouldn’t be telling you this but I’m such a sucker for information and I’ve just got to tell someone,” Lavender’s smile turned into a full out grin.

“Let me get dressed first and I’ll meet you down in the common room, I promise,” Harry told her, she frowned uncertainly.

“I guess, I’ll see you in a bit then,” Lavender breezed past him to the common room. He sighed in relief and went off to his room to change. Curiosity got the better of him and he found himself sitting down next to Lavender on the couch.

“So what is it?” Harry asked, looking at her expectantly, she rubbed her hands together in excitement.

“I just heard from my sister who heard it from one of her friends who is really good friends with Pansy Parkinson who’s best friends with Vanessa LeStrange that her and Draco Malfoy broke up and that she’s going out with Blaise Zabini now,” Lavender jabbered out, Harry nodded, looking away from her. He remembered what Ron had said about Vanessa. She was up to something and he for one didn’t like it. He was finally able to trust the Slytherin, finally able to understand what it meant to have the boy as a friend and ally when it was possibly threatened. On top of that he didn’t like it when his best friend was upset. He thanked Lavender and went out, telling her that he was going to class. He walked into the kitchens for a snack and waited it out for next period to start.

He walked into potions and sat down in his usual spot between Hermione and Ron. Draco was in his usual spot with the Slytherins with Blaise next to him, they were talking lowly to each other, there was a static tension between them that cackled lowly through out the room. Ron kept glancing over at them worriedly while Hermione kept her nose in a medimagic book. She had been accepted as an intern at St. Mungo’s. Snape came in and the room was blanketed by silence, he looked around and then turned to his desk where a stack of rolled parchments sat. He then started calling out names and handing them each a scroll. When he got to Harry he frowned slightly but other than that didn’t indicate any other emotion. Harry sat back down and unrolled his parchment. On it was a potion.

“You have the rest of the school year to make your potions and I will examine them on the last day of class next Wednesday. Good luck and I suggest you get started right away,” he looked around the room before turning and walking back out. Harry looked over his potion, it was called St. Cecilia’s Tears, a concoction to produce invincibility for three hours. He looked over Hermione’s shoulder and it was an advanced healing draught of some kind. Ron’s was for sudden clarity. He snickered at that, his friend gave him a dirty look and start unpacking his things.

Hermione walked up into her room and stretched as she started tugging at her tie. She headed towards the bathroom when her fire hissed at her. She looked over and a head started to swim into view, she walked forward and smiled slowly.

“Didn’t think you’d be contacting me so soon,” Hermione gave a sultry smirk as Oliver Wood rolled his eyes.

“Look, this is business, I just need you to help me mix up a potion for me,” he explained, Hermione nodded, agreeing before dismissing him. Oliver had been her boyfriend before he had graduated, they had gotten into a fight over something small and petty before everything started to fall apart between them and then he had gone on to become a Chaser for the Chudley Cannons and part time Order of the Phoenix member. She walked into the bathroom and started drawing herself a bath. She sunk into the deep, perfectly heated scented water and took a deep breathe, closing her eyes and unwinding. She slowly opened her eyes to the redhead who was seated with his back to her.

“Well, I see your sneaking into other people’s rooms late at night abilities have improved,” Hermione growled, pulling herself up onto the lower ledge so she could grab a bar of soap.

“Hermione, this is serious,” Ron turned to her, a genuine worried expression on his face, she slowly raised an eyebrow.

“What is it?” She asked.

“There’s a lot you don’t understand about the wizarding world simply because you didn’t grow up in it. A lot that hasn’t been written down in any book or recorded anywhere. You don’t really understand what can happen to us and messing with the Slytherins are just making it worse,” Ron hurriedly explained.

“Now wait, I know you have our best interests at heart but don’t you have any faith in your friends, Ron? Draco and Blaise can take care of themselves let alone myself and Harry,” Hermione explained, tugging a wash cloth out from her toiletry basket.

“I know you guys are very capable but graduation is coming up and there are certain…rituals that all purebloods have to go through, all of them. That includes Harry,” Ron explained.

“But Harry’s…” Hermione trailed off as Ron raised an eyebrow.

“His aunt was a squib and his grandparents were from Gryffindor, had wanted a normal life for their abnormal child so they lived a muggle life while raising their children, it’s an unorthodox tradition that few families practice but it still happens. They never told his aunt the truth and the way that side of his family turned out, I don’t blame them. Look, Hermione, please don’t try and meddle in something you have no clue about,” Ron pleaded.

“Well until I understand what is going on, I won’t be able to know when I’m meddling or not, right?” She ground out.

“Please don’t get mad at me, I’m just trying to protect you,” Ron got up and started pacing, Hermione’s eyes slowly narrowed.

“Ron, I’m giving you one chance to explain all of this to me or I’ll be forced to use other desperate measures,” She growled, Ron took a deep breathe and then slowly let it out.

“I love you, both of you. You’re my best friends and I would never let anything happen to you but no matter what the prejudices are, a pureblood is a pureblood. They come into their inheritance once they graduate, sometime over the summer it just happens. If their family is rich, or powerful or has higher ties or anything of that sort, it gets magically transferred to the heirs. Harry’s going to be coming into a lot that he won’t really know what to do with. I will become a full member of the Order of the Phoenix as all my brothers before me and my parents. It’s the way of our culture. Also, if your family is still accepted among the ‘pureblood families’ then there’s a huge graduation party for that graduating heir. There’s also the usual arranged marriages, transfer of office and holdings, so forth,” Ron started to ramble on but Hermione held up her hand, silencing him.

“So what you are saying is that Blaise and Draco are going to have a graduating party of their own where all the other ‘pureblood rich bastards’ gather around and toast their great decadent demise?” Hermione asked, Ron shrugged in return.

“About the gist of it. I don’t make up these rules and Vanessa is planning something. I want Harry to have his Auror job and Draco to have his seat at the Ministry, I want us all to go on to live happy, successful lives but my cousin is planning something big. Trust me, I’ve met her parents, I’ve seen how manipulative and cunning they can be. She hates me and she hates you for being…muggle born. She doesn’t want us tainting her pureblood princes,” Ron explained emphatically, Hermione started to think and a smile started to spread over her clever features.

“I have the perfect plan and it’ll be easy,” She grinned up at him, Ron slowly returned her smile, trying to believe there was hope at long last.

TBC

Notes: Hope you liked it! Please R & R my loves!