Hogwarts Expressed

Harry slept better that morning than he had well... since Hermione left for the work trip. But honestly, he always slept better with her closeby. With Draco there, sleeping in between them, Harry somehow slept a bit better somehow.

Honestly, Harry wasn't going to question it at the moment. He was so used to waking up from nightmares that he'd take a good night's rest any day however broken up it was.

It was mid-morning and Harry was awake. Honestly, it was times like this where he cursed the Dursley's and the dysfunctional way he grew up. Harry shuffled around the kitchen wearing a pair of sweat pants and put on the kettle for tea. He glanced toward the scones from earlier that morning and felt his mouth quirk up at the memory. He pulled one off the cheat and tore off a piece before popping it into his mouth.

"Still good," he hummed and leaned against the counter.

Magic was a wonderous thing sometimes.

Truth was, Harry was a little anxious in the light of day. It wasn't that he wasn't confident that last night was the right move because he was.

Harry just hoped the other two thought so as well.

A lot had changed since the end of the war. Harry hadn't gone back to Ginny as so many had assumed and they were both okay with that. More than okay, if he was honest. The only one who hadn't taken it so well... okay, the only two people who hadn't taken it so well were Molly and Ron. To them, they were supposed to be this giant happy Weasley family and well, Hermione and he had other aspirations.

After those months in the tent, after Ron had left them, Hermione and he had discussed their hopes, their dreams, their fears and even shared each other's beds. After the war, they hadn't let themselves or each other simply settle for the Ministry or to just get married and start having a family. They wanted and needed something bigger, where they could do more to the benefit of their society.

He had of course told Ron that nothing happened and to this day, he wasn't sure why he had insisted that nothing happened - maybe to make everyone else happy? But after it was all said and done, he knew how pointless that had been. Not only had their society changed but they had changed.

Hogwarts would always be his first home but neither of them felt ready to return to the scene of the war. Perhaps that was putting it nicely. They were done with the manipulations from Dumbledore and knew Hogwarts would only bring up bad thoughts and memories for the both of them. Instead, they had been approached by the International Confederation of Wizards to join their next recruiting class. It would be hard work, they were told, but they were used to that. After Hermione found her parents and returned their memories, they accepted the position and headed to Rome, much to Ron's disappointment and dismay.

They'd went in on a three bedroom flat of a wizarding world apartment complex, it wasn't as if Harry was hurting for money after the will reading of Sirius and his parents (whose had been buried intentionally by Dumbledore) and taking up his lordship. They had assumed they would use the other room for an office but when they met their fellow recruits, they realized there was likely another reason for it. They hadn't been the only ones from Britain to be approached by the ICW, imagine their surprise when Draco Malfoy had shown up that first day. Not only that, but in their training exercises, the three of them had been paired up a number of times and surprisingly (and unsurprisingly) enough... they worked really well together. It didn't take Hermione and him long to approach Draco about moving into the third bedroom.

The more surprising part was that he'd accepted.

It had been just over five months since Draco had moved in with them and he could honestly say they were starting to make headway.

It was just Harry's luck that the night Hermione was out of town working on assignment was the night he had his first nightmare since before they came to Rome. It was as it always was - Sirius' death, Voldemort's annoying monstrous face and Dumbledore's ever present manipulations - losing everything he loved and cared for. What he didn't know was that he was screaming, tossing and turning in his bed and his magic getting a little bit (a lot) out of control. Normally, Hermione was home and would be alerted the moment his magic got loose or that he was having a nightmare. But tonight, he was on his own. Or he might've been had the silencing spells on his room not broken on the onslaught of his magic, alerting Draco to the situation at hand.

The atmosphere of Grimmauld Place had improved significantly over the years due to Hermione and his work. Neither of their respective spouses had stepped foot in it's halls since the battle and he was sure that Ron and Ginny simply thought he had sold it. Harry had considered it but to be honest, it was his last connection to his godfather and his only remaining connection to his father. It was a quiet location that was still under the Fidelis (with himself as the Secret Keeper), and was somewhere he could work quietly and a location that Hermione could do some research as needed. He wasn't sure why he had never told Ginny other than it simply never came up and honestly, the Weasley family had never been taken with the place anyway.

It had been a few days since they had seen their children onto the Hogwarts Express. He was curious what was so important that Hermione needed to talk in a private location but no doubt, there would be a good reason. Not that there really had to be a good reason for them to catch up but the 'in a private location, Harry' had made him a little curious and a little concerned if he was completely truthful.

It was just minutes away from when they agreed to meet and Harry sat the kettle on the stove, taking down to mugs for tea. While he knew Kreacher would have preferred doing so himself, Harry had insisted he could handle making tea.

[credit not mine]

Continue something, start something - doesn't matter! Let's play!

Need Inspiration?

Harry Potter AU-Edition {Sentence Starters} (op)

• "Can you help me with this spell?"


• "Maybe I should visit Gringotts sometime..."


• "That's a nasty Bat-Bogey Hex. Great job!"


• "Did you break your wand?"


• "The Hogsmeade trip's been cancelled."


• "That's an unforgivable curse. Where did you learn this?!"


• "Did you have Divination after lunch?"


• "What's Peeves up to now?"


• "What place would you want on the Quidditch team?"


• "I don't really care for my housemates."


• "I bet I can win a race on broomsticks!"


• "Let's just sneak into Knockturn Alley. Nobody has to know, right?"


• "Did you hear about what happened in Potions today?"


• "I don't think I was sorted right."


• "There's something weird going on around the grounds."


• "I really don't want to take Herbology this year."


• "Do you need some tips on flying?"


• "I think I need a new textbook."


• "How long until the exams come around?"


• "Which house were you sorted into to?"


• "I dare you to go into the Forbidden Forest."


• "How long until the school year starts?"


• "I have to visit Diagon Alley before school starts. You coming with?"


• "What's going on with the Professor?"