In This World And The Next (Completed)

Chapter 20

The few weeks leading up to Halloween were some of the happiest Harry and Hermione had spent in any timeline. Both loved their new house and living with mum, dad and Sirius just made it better. Luna was emerging more and more from her self-spun cocoon with Ginny becoming the friend they originally thought she was. Both girls were good for each other and certainly brightened up the Potters' weekends as they practically lived there from Friday evenings until Sunday afternoons.

At Hogwarts, things were better inside the school than at any time in living memory. Both blood and house barriers were beginning to crumble with Harry, Hermione and Neville joining their Slytherin friends at their table for a few meals a week. Not one person raised an objection, though Ron and Draco made certain they sat well away from them.

With no tension in the first year's classes, house points were becoming almost irrelevant. They would all have a party at the end of term no matter which house won the trophy.

In potions, the Potters had Slughorn hovering around them like a vulture eyeing up its next meal. He constantly reminisced over his 'slug club', claiming he and Harry were alike as Horace had always included other houses.

This was so far from the truth of the matter that Harry was quickly losing his patience, Slughorn conveniently forgot that all he cared about was influence when choosing who he wished to attend. Hermione was struggling to help Harry retain control while the rest of the class were busy sniggering at the professor being oblivious to how his intended victim was really feeling.

When they eventually saw how uncomfortable this attention was making their friends, the class started running interference for the Potters. When Slughorn began to hover around Harry, suddenly someone would need the professor's attention at the other side of the class. Hermione made sure to let their friends know how much both of them appreciated it.

Defence was also quickly becoming a nightmare as Harry wanted to attack the professor, knowing what was behind that turban and that Tom was now mortal made restraining this impulse almost impossible to ignore. Only the threat of revealing their knowledge stayed Harry's hand. Their friends just assumed that the Potters were mad because Quirrell was so bad a teacher. Having lessons with Tonks and Remus just emphasised how terrible a teacher Quirrell actually was.

The only person who appeared unhappy with how well things were running at Hogwarts was Albus Dumbledore. More and more he found himself pushed to the sidelines as the staff and students now looked toward Minerva for leadership.

-oOoOo-

The weekend before Halloween was tense in the Potter / Granger / Black household, all had their own thoughts on the rapidly approaching day. Luna picked up on this tension and waited until she had Harry alone before having a quick word with him about this.

"Harry, is there something wrong? Ginny and I can return home if you need some time alone as a family."

Harry was now angry with himself for making Luna feel uncomfortable, he should have known she would soon discover they were worried about something. The Luna Lovegood they had known before would always understand how people were feeling, she just didn't posses the social skills or confidence to do anything about it. This Luna wouldn't suffer from those problems if he and Hermione had anything to say about it.

"I'm sorry Luna, this has nothing to do with you being here and I definitely want you to stay. It's just the entire school is gearing up for a big celebration on Thursday yet I only discovered from Hagrid this summer that was the night my parents were murdered. It will be ten years since they died trying to save me and I really don't want to remember that event by sitting down to a feast!"