At the end of the feast everybody was still gossiping about Ginny's outburst and Harry could see the even the twins were looking at their little sister with slight incomprehension. He hoped that their obvious reaction showed they were not in on the plan to get him, and would be willing to join him.
The other shock for the students was Gilderoy Lockhart. Harry watched with amusement as the students found out and Lockhart made his grand entrance. The hall was spilt in their reactions; half obviously excited and the rest clearly disgusted. Harry was happy that 90% of the Ravenclaws looked exceedingly putout and upset with the news. They had obviously read his book and realised what a load of rubbish the man spouted.
Harry actually felt bad for the 5th and 7th years, they would have to work exceedingly hard to pass their OWLs and NEWTs.
Once all of the news was done and Dumbledore had passed on some words of 'wisdom', all of the students were dismissed. Harry walked with Luna up to the common room but left her so she could do the first year initiation with the prefects. Sitting with his year mates, Harry asked about their summers while they waited for the 1st years.
After a few minutes they trailed in with Luna at the front, who quickly danced over to Harry.
"I fear that my classmates are all infested with nargles," the blonde said, looking around the room. "Actually, a lot in the house of intelligence and wit seem to have a nargles problem."
Harry tilted his head and thought about what he had learnt about Luna and her creatures before he realised she was worried about bullies. He remembered how much of a tough time she had had in her earlier year and vowed that he wouldn't let it happen. He was surprised when he thought about it, as last year they had been almost threatened to not bully their own, but he supposed there was always an exception.
"If any of the nargles-infested do or say anything, you let me know, Little Moon," Harry said. "I won't let them upset you."
"Thank you, my Lord," Luna said, her usual soft and dreamy voice once again making Harry wonder about what she could See.
Eventually the new 7th year prefects came forward and gave more or less the same speech as last year, once again outlining what Ravenclaw stood for, their unofficial rules, and their study policy with the notice boards and Flitwick. After their speech was done, Harry left Luna to get sorted and meet her roommates while he went to sort out his own things. Although he had initially been close to Terry last year, he hadn't really spoken much to the boy over the summer and was feeling bad about that now. So he spent the night talking to him and asking about his summer.
~
In the morning Harry once again resorted to sending tickling charms at his roommates to get them up; he had done so throughout the year last year and was happy to keep the trend going.
"I'll see you guys down there," Harry said to them once they were all up. He didn't want to miss Luna coming down; he wanted to know about her night and if she had had any problems.
Sitting in one of the midnight blue loveseats, Harry waited for Luna and was happy when she appeared looking excited instead of forlorn.
"You had a good night then, Luna?" Harry asked, offering her his arm to walk to breakfast.
"Yes, although I don't think they really like me. They think me odd. However, they are all interested in you, mighty Dark wizard slayer."
"Well then, they obviously don't realise what they're missing."
Getting to the hall with the rest of their House, who, like last year, all turned up together. Harry sat down with Luna and enjoyed his breakfast.
Out of nowhere Luna spoke, "The manipulator is watching you, my Lord. He has many plans."
Harry looked up discreetly and saw that Dumbledore was indeed watching him. However, he didn't know how Luna would have noticed as she had been daydreaming while eating her grapes. The thought solidified his theory about her being a Seer of some sort. "Thank you, I will make sure to be on my guard." When Flitwick gave out their timetables, the half goblin gave Harry a smile and asked if he would like to join him for tea in the evening.
"Certainly, professor," Harry agreed. Before looking at his timetable, he had Herbology first, which was good as he would be with all of his friends.
Glancing over at Luna's timetable, he saw she would have to suffer Lockhart straight away.
"I'm sorry, Little Moon, but if it helps he shouldn't be here all year. I have plans for him," Harry said, seeing her forlorn expression.
"Oh, are you going to feed Aithusia?" Harry thought for a moment. "If that's her name, then perhaps," Harry agreed. He hadn't known the basilisk's name yet, but he was going to go out on a limb at guess it was Aithusia.
"She would like that, she gets very lonely."
"Then I'll try to visit her," Harry promised, making Luna once again smile brightly.
September 2nd 1992, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland
Making his way to Herbology with the rest of his year mates, Harry noticed both Draco and Neville sending Ron sly glances. Looking up, Harry noticed how jumpy the redhead looked and how his already pale skin seemed even whiter, the dark bags under his eyes standing out.
"What did you do to him?" Harry asked, watching in amusement as the redhead's eyes seemed to dart around.
"Well, last year I found out he hated spiders," Neville said. "He would actually scream like a girl—"
Neville was cut off when Susan hit him. "Not all girls are afraid of spiders," she said.
"I know, sorry. Anyway, he would scream like he had seen a troll whenever he saw one." "So Neville and I went looking for a spell or charm that would make him think he would see spiders," Draco said.
"But the best part is that I also placed a charm on his robes, all of them, so that he would feel like they were crawling on his skin. Not all the time, but sporadically, so hopefully he won't notice the charm on his robes," Neville finished.
Harry laughed. It was genius - evil, but genius.
Walking towards the greenhouses, Harry was actually looking forward to the lesson as he would be with all of his friends; sure, they would most likely be potting mandrakes again like last time, but at least he had a chance to talk to all of his friends. However, before he reached his destination, he was accosted by none other than Colin Creevy. He had forgotten about the boy's almost manic hero worship - he had grown out of it or at least mellowed before his death during the final battle.
The blinding flash made Harry growl as he fought his reaction to obliterate the camera, his war-honed instincts fighting to come out.
"You're Harry Potter! You're my hero! I read all about you - I'm Colin, Colin Creevy. I tried to get put in Ravenclaw like you, but the hat—"
"Enough," Harry growled out, holding up a hand. "I understand there are books out there that paint a picture of me as being some hero, but I'm really not. I'm just a regular student like everybody else."
"But you're the Boy-Who-Li—!"
"No, and another thing: I hate that title. I lost my parent that night, all it does is remind me of that fact. I'm nothing special and I would ask you to please not take my picture again without my permission. Actually, don't take anybody's picture without permission; most people will find it incredible rude."
Colin looked both awestruck devastated. "O-okay," he squeaked.
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