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A/N: Hello, people!
I don't own Harry Potter.
I have no beta.
ENJOY!
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Harry had never actually touched a piano before. Once, when he was much younger, he'd wanted to learn how to play the piano. Foolishly, he'd told his aunt, thinking she'd be proud of him showing interest in 'normal' behaviours. That maybe she'd encourage him to pay more attention in Music Class.
Instead he'd been screamed at and basically assured that someone like him would never be allowed near a musical instrument. His interest died that day, and a little part of him died as well. Salt was further rubbed on the wound when Dudley was given a Yamaha keyboard for his birthday and Harry had to watch him throw it out his bedroom window during a tanty.
There was a grand piano in the drawing room of Grimmauld Place. When he first laid eyes on it his entire being seemed to lurch in its direction with the desire to touch. Sirius surely wouldn't mind. He didn't even like the townhouse to begin with and encouraged everyone to treat it however they wanted i order to spite his mother's portrait.
What Harry wanted was to touch the piano. So he did.
It sounded fine. He assumed it was in tune since it didn't sound bad to the ear.
Fingers trailed over a few keys from left to right, and he wondered which was which. The sounds were familiar.
He sat at the bench and began to fiddle with the keys, picking out patterns easily. And then he hit a specific key and it made a sound. A very jarring but familiar sound. He hit it twice rapidly, head bobbing with an invisible song.
Harry followed the sound upward, since the musical notes of the song did the same.
When he made a mistake, he fiddled with all the surrounding keys to find the correct note, and then replayed what he'd gotten so far, but correctly this time.
Eventually, Harry managed to find the entirety of the Hogwarts School Song on the piano. It had taken about half an hour but he could do it one-handed and felt incredibly proud of himself for it. It was fun.
Imagine if he'd been allowed to do music when he was a child.
"Well look at that Forge! It's The-Boy-Who-Lived-To-Play-Piano!"
"I never thought I'd see our star Seeker have talents outside flying, Gred!"
Two familiar faces plopped down on either side of him, though there wasn't rough space for them all to fit properly so they were hanging off on each side. Both draped their arms around his shoulders, pushing their faces as close to his own as possible. Their cheeks were warm.
Harry looked to his right first. "Fred." And then to his left. "George."
The twins blinked at him, looking a bit awed for some reason.
"You know, mate, you're the only person who will confidently call us by name," Fred said softly.
"You're never wrong," said George. "Most people still have that hint of questioning in their tones when they address one of us, because they aren't sure which is which. But not you."
"No," agreed Fred. "Not you."
Harry sighed. "It's not hard. You both have blue eyes and heterochromia, but it's mismatched. Instead of both having a sunflower blooming out of your left pupils, Fred's left eye has it, and George's right eye has it. Fred also has more freckles on his nose. George has a birthmark on the inner corner of his right eye. Fred is left handed. George has an almost imperceptible lisp which is why he speaks less overall when you're not speaking together. Then there's the way your nails grow, how you place your weight in your steps when you walk, how George is always on the left side of the pair, and even the fact that Fred seems to like wearing pink nail polish."
To Harry it wasn't a big deal. He simply noticed these things easily in his first year at Hogwarts. They never seemed like something majorly important since no one ever drew attention to them before. They were little things.
"You know about the nail polish?" Fred asked, voice almost a whisper.
"You like wearing it on weekends and it makes your nails a little darker. Technically the sparkle is what gave it away, not really the color. I almost thought it was clear but then I saw George's nails and realized the pink was a little too pigmented on yours."
The twins shared a look over his head. One thing he regretted was his ridiculously short self not seeming to grow at all. He would like to be tall as well. It'd be a nice change of view.
"And you don't mind that?" asked George.
"Hm?"
"The nail polish?"
Harry frowned. "Am I supposed to?" He never really thought about it before. He realized Fred wore it and he thought it was wicked because of the glitter and that was it. Sparkles were nice.
The twins chuckled and squeezed him between them. "Never change," they told him.
"I wasn't planning on it," he murmured as he watched them stand and saunter arm in arm from the room.
Curious. He had no idea what that was about.
Back to playing the Hogwarts School Song. Maybe he could get all the way through it before Hermione somehow hunted him down to help clean. She didn't want to do it either but if Mrs. Weasley was going to make her do it, she'd drag harry down with her. Solidarity or some such tripe.
At dinner that evening, Harry found himself between the twins rather than Hermione and Ron. He'd been seated already when both slid into the seats on either side of him, moving their chairs ever closer for some reason. The table was already pretty cramped and he didn't quite understand why they wanted to make it even more cramped.
Ron seemed put out by the sudden change in seating arrangements but Hermione elbowed him in the side and gave him a Look and he shut right up. Harry had no idea what that was supposed to mean but they didn't remark any further on where he was seated. They merely shared secretive looks they thought no one else noticed. Distantly, he wondered if they were flirting.
Harry could feel George's knee pressing against his own and wondered why the redhead was angled toward him while he ate. Fred was angled close as well but in the way that he could drape half of his body along the back of Harry's chair. Both were entirely focused on their own meals however. As if they hadn't crowded into his personal space.
There was no way Harry could miss the looks Sirius and Remus sent his way over the course of dinner. He had no idea what they were thinking but the amusement in their eyes was unmistakable.
Eventually, when all was said and done, the twins returned to their room and Harry helped wash the dishes in order to fell like he was contributing to something. He didn't mind helping Mrs. Weasley because she was an actual angel and needed the help. Petunia was a lazy horse who deserved to be an indentured servant to someone much richer than her so she'd understand what it was like.
When everything was finished, Sirius caught him around the shoulders and pulled him into a small room off the side of the kitchen and said quietly, "Now, I know I'm not exactly the best adult figure to ask this, but I just wanted to as if you and the twins were being safe."
Harry frowned. "I mean, as safe as you can be in a doxy-infested house." He didn't go into unexplored areas of the house and waited for an adult to tell him where it was okay to go to.
His godfather snorted. "No, no. I meant when you're alone together."
"We're not really in danger inside Grimmauld Place but I'm good at Defence and the twins are older and have more experience so I'm pretty sure if something bad happened we could take care of ourselves." At least they should be able to.
"No, I mean in private, pup."
Harry frowned. "Why would I need to worry about being safe in the privacy of my own room? Nothing bad can get in the house, right? Not with Dumbledore putting the Fidelius Charm on it?"
The look on Sirius' face made him realize that Harry was not grasping whatever it was that the man was aiming to ask.
"You know what, I'll just talk to the twins about it," Sirius assured him though he wasn't sure what he needed to be assured about. "You just go off and do your thing until bedtime, alright?"
The pat on the back he got did nothing to answer his many questions. Why did Sirius need to talk to the twins?
Over the last few days of the summer, the twins seemed to be everywhere that Harry was. They'd always pop in with matching smiles and join whatever he was up to, be it with Ron and Hermione or otherwise. They liked to lounge around, preferably on him if there was a chance to do so.
Specifically George who liked resting his head in Harry's lap and Fred who liked to lean against Harry's side while he was reading something or taking notes.
They made him feel shorter than usual.
Ron grumbled about them trying to steal Harry away, which got him another elbow in the gut from Hermione.
"True, brother mine," said George primly from his place on Harry's lap.
"We might never give him back," added Fred with a smirk, trailing a single finger down the shell of Harry's right ear. "He'll be ours forever."
Hermione's face flushed a bit but she didn't say anything.
As usual, Harry was simply lost. They twins wouldn't actually be able to steal him so he didn't know why Ron was so worried.
"Don't you both have inventions to be working on?" Harry asked on the last afternoon before they had to catch the train to Hogwarts.
"Oh, we have so many already," they told him.
"The owl orders have been made official. We have completed the testing period and have ordered the packaging. Your donation to the future of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes has gone a long way and our reach is even farther than before," Fred explained.
"We turn a decent profit of about two hundred Galleons a month," George added.
That was pretty good. When they actually had a storefront it'd be even better.
Hogwarts in their seventh year would be their final jaunt. Having a castle of about a thousand teenagers invested in your work was very smart of them. They started incredibly early and built a support base from the ground up. By the time they got their shop in Diagon Alley they'd have a decent amount of customers lined up, and as such, future costumers when the currents ones spread their loyalty to their children.
"Could even make things more official with you as our partner," Fred suggested, wiggling his brows.
"But I can't invent things." Harry had very few things he was actually good at in his opinion.
"But you gave us the capital to really get the snitch going," George told him. "You'd get a percentage of all sales."
"I don't really need any more money." He had a whole vault full of old gold. He was fine. Giving them his TriWizard winnings was nothing.
"Donate your share then," they suggested point blank. Like they really wanted him as a business partner or something.
And it... wasn't a bad idea. "I suppose I could be your partner," he murmured to himself. Maybe they could start some kind of tutoring course for people new to the magical world. He was sick of hearing twats like Malfoy complain about how muggleborns didn't know anything but then also doing nothing to help them learn. Either put up or shut up, he'd wanted to scream.
Things would be less stressful if such courses existed. Hell, they could even help magically raised children with guardians too busy to help them appropriately.
The more he thought about it the more he liked the idea!
Harry smiled to himself as he flipped through Quidditch Quality Plus. It was nice to have a plan for after graduation. He hadn't been sure what he wanted to do with himself and between becoming an Auror, teaching Defence at Hogwarts, and becoming a professional Quidditch player, this seemed the nicest option in his personal opinion. Also the most useful.
Ron huffed over his copy of The Daily Prophet. "Are you getting married to seal the deal while you're at it?" he sneered.
"What about marriage?" asked Harry, not understanding how that ended up in the conversation. Nothing remotely related to marriage had been brought up, right?
"Nothing," the twins told him with matching grins.
Oh well.
The intense interest of the twins was sort of relieving in a sense. With all the nightmares because of Voldemort and the smear campaign the papers wrote against him, Harry needed positivity somewhere in his life. Anyone who so much as looked at Harry wrong found themselves on the wrong end of the twins' attention and it was marvelous!
Malfoy in particular, got a nice bit of payback for constantly harassing Harry and refusing to stop despite not getting the response he wanted.
See, it started out with a midnight duel challenge which Harry never took up. He learned his lesson after that incident in their first year. Malfoy apparently had decided to show up though. Then he got caught by Filch for being out after hours. Filch took him to Snape and Malfoy tried to blame Harry, who was then dragged out of bed as proof by the drool on his face and the fact that his hair defied gravity.
In Snape's office at about ten past midnight, Harry had to deal with questioning over why he tricked Malfoy into leaving the Slytherin Common Room after hours.
"I haven't talked to Malfoy since last June," Harry mumbled as he tried to force himself to wake up. "There's no way he was tricked into doing anything by me of all people."
"He's lying! He gave me a note yesterday and everything!" Malfoy declared, his false affront poorly acted out.
"The note," Snape demanded of the blond, who quickly handed over a piece of parchment.
Something obviously went wrong when Snape saw the note itself because his brow twitched severely, and his frown deepened. He sent Malfoy the most baleful glare Harry had ever seen. "Did you honestly think I wouldn't be able to tell your handwriting from Potter's, Mr. Malfoy?"
Harry had no idea what the note said but considering how his writing with a quill was still utter rubbish, and Snape had complained about it enough over the years, Malfoy wasn't getting out of this.
"You can return to your dormitory, Mr. Potter."
"Is actually he getting in trouble for once?" Harry had to ask. "He was out past curfew, lied several times, and fabricated a note. If he doesn't get in trouble I'm telling Professor McGonagall and the Weasley twins and letting them handle it as it's only fair."
The sneer on Snape's face was hilarious, but what was even better was having to watch him take fifty points from Slytherin as well as give Malfoy detention for his actions. See, as Harry had gotten in trouble for something similar in his first year, and the punishment was almost spot on, Snape had to do the same in the spirit of fairness.
And Harry still told the twins about it and let them unleash their terror upon the blond twat for being such a gobshite!
Any time he looked in Harry's direction he'd sprout feathers and would begin to cluck like a chicken. Beautiful karma since he was such a coward anyway.
"We'll always have your back," George told him.
"You can rely on us," Fred added, patting his head. "Never hesitate in coming to us."
"What's that?"
Harry tried to hide his bleeding hand behind his back, but with two crafty redheads to watch out for, he wasn't able to successfully avoid both of them at the same time. George managed to get a hold of his arm and reveal what he'd been dealing with.
The uncharacteristic seriousness in their matching expressions made him shiver. There was just something unnatural about the twins not being happy or mischievous. Like the universe was out of balance somehow.
"Is it Umbridge?" Fred demanded softly, blue eyes almost black in the creeping shadows of the common room.
He didn't need to say anything for them to know the answer. It was pretty damn obvious. Detention every single night with the old hag and now there were words gouged into his hand. Words that hadn't been there when the term had begun. They'd know. They'd held his hands a lot during the summer.
I must not tell lies.
A guideline, thank Merlin. Hermione said if he'd written 'I will not tell lies' it would have been recognised as a Blood Vow and he'd never be able to be directly dishonest again. It was a good thing that Umbridge was practically incompetent.
"She's dead," the twins announced quietly, eyes full of dark things that made Harry shiver. It was unnerving. He couldn't actually tell if they were exaggerating or not.
Fred leaned in, face abnormally close to Harry's own. "We'll avenge you." He then placed a small kiss on Harry's cheek, which his twin then mimicked.
They left through the portrait hole, ignoring the fact that they were flouting curfew to do so.
Harry worried about what such a thing meant. And he wondered why his face felt so warm.
He'd forgotten about the declaration the twins had made, right up until the morning that Umbridge's body was found. A month later.
She was in her office. Hadn't shown up to breakfast and no one had cared since she was so widely detested by everyone. Her first class of the day had noted her lack of appearance. No one cared to check around for her though. The entire day went by with no one seeing her.
It wasn't until dinner that a Hufflepuff burst into the Great hall to loudly announce that, "Professor Umbridge is dead in her office!"
Harry felt ashamed that his first reaction was to cheer. Of course many decided to do it anyway since she was hated so much, but he managed to withhold the urge. Hermione always impressed upon him the need for a good reputation. Try to be the opposite of what people accuse you of. Things like that. Eventually your truth will be revealed and stuff. Very pretty words.
A full investigation had to be launched to figure out what had happened. The Aurors had to be contacted.
It spiraled from there.
They found Dark Artifacts in her desk drawers. The hundreds of blood-covered papers Harry had written and signed in his detentions. Letters from Cornelius Fudge about how she needed to 'silence' Harry Potter at all costs. Illegal potions that were heavily regulated and one had to have specific licenses to obtain.
How did this information drop? Somehow Rita Skeeter had been informed by a little bird and managed to sneak her way into the investigation and hoard information. So the Prophet and the Ministry couldn't cover up details since the very next morning, barely ten hours later, the papers revealed the details about what Umbridge had been hiding.
Harry knew Hermione had her status as an Animagus hanging over her head, but he had no idea how she was involved in everything since Hermione hadn't even known.
When he glanced over toward the seventh years' section of the Gryffindor Table, he saw George smiling at the paper while Fred nodded along to whatever he was saying. And that was when harry realised that they'd done it. He had no idea how, but he knew they were involved.
He didn't know to what extent, but their words from a month ago rang in his ears.
They'd killed Umbridge. And… he honestly didn't care. He was grateful if anything.
Fudge was facing a lot of trouble for her actions. At lunch, Harry was being hounded by Howlers from reporters and fans asking if he was going to take legal action against the Ministry? Why would he need to do that?
"Harry!" Hermione hissed, leaning across the table and shoving the paper in his face. "You didn't check the whole article. Read the fourth to last paragraph and onward."
His eyes skimmed downward, finding what she wanted him to see with ease. The font was a bit bigger than the rest of the article and written as sensationally as he'd come to expect from Rita.
The final and most damning piece of evidence found among Madam Umbridge's personal
effects is a mandate signed by herself, with a Blood Quill, for two dementors to be taken
from their post in Azkaban and sent to Surrey, England. For those who are still unaware,
Harry Potter resides somewhere in the vicinity of Surrey. Unbridge seemed to have given
the specific order to 'take the soul of any wizard you find, leave no one behind'.
This connects to the Hearing that Harry Potter had to sit for in August this year. He was
accused of performing magic in front of a muggle. Specifically the Patronus Charm, an
extremely powerful piece of Light Magic that no fourteen year old would possibly know,
mind you. He confessed to performing the spell but stated it was done in defence as he
and his muggle cousin were attacked by dementors. Minister Fudge called him a liar and
did everything he could to talk over the teen who valiantly tried to defend himself over
protecting his own life and the life of his innocent, unsuspecting cousin.
Doesn't that seem suspicious, dear readers? Minister Fudge was the on who paid The
Daily Prophet's best to slander a teen boy's name this summer. Then illegally changed
the time of his hearing and it was only by luck that Mr. Potter managed to arrive on time.
He then tried to rush the decision to snap the child's wand and expel him without just
cause. And after all of this fails to get him what he wants, he sends Dolores Umbridge
to Hogwarts to 'silence' the boy to the best of her abilities, and she tortures him with
a Dark Artifact so often that he wrote over one hundred and nineteen pages of lines
with it?
Is it not suspicious that the Minister and his Senior Undersecretary were so close? That
she has so many orders with his signatures on them? That she was so ready to do his
bidding without hesitation despite many of his demands being unlawful? How can our
government be so corrupt that the members cannot even hold each other accountable
anymore?
Me, myself, and I'd like to know your thoughts. I'm sure the Ministry would like to know
your thoughts as well. Don't hold back. Let it all out.
Rita Skeeter,
Special Correspondent to The Daily Prophet.
Harry blinked. Umbridge was behind the attack. She was the reason he'd gone through all that stress. The reason Dudley could have died.
...
...
...That bitch.
Suddenly he was filled with gratitude for the twins and whatever they'd done.
And he really should look into suing the Ministry because something had to be done in return for all the mental anguish and physical torture he'd been put through.
He didn't need money, but that didn't mean he couldn't put it aside for the donation part of his future magical courses.
Speaking of, he should really tell Hermione about that plan. She'd have better insight than he would, no doubt.
With Umbridge gone, Dumbledore brought Remus back because it was almost unanimously decided that Defence scores were the highest they'd been in decades when he was their teacher. Parents who didn't like it were ignored.
The only problem left was Voldemort and the dreams. With his focus not split in so many directions, Harry was able to better handle his nightmares about Cedric, as well as the hallucinations he'd occasionally have.
Dumbledore was still silent on his end, which was bloody useless, but at least things were better overall.
Fudge was on the road to getting sacked soon, and the Goblins were very excited to help Harry sue the Ministry after he met a representative in Hogsmeade to show them the damage done to his hand. Rhabrak the Rancorous was one of the best Goblins involved in British law. Harry would have been referred to Ragnarok the Ruthless, who was the top Goblin when it came to legal matters, but he was actually busy with a different case that involved the ICW so he wasn't available at present.
Second best was fine in Harry's book. Besides, Rhabrak was kind of terrifying in his own way. The look on his face when he saw just how scarred Harry's hand was, and yet still not fully healed even, made the young wizard squirm in discomfort.
"We can sue the entire Ministry plus several people individually because of this," the Goblin informed him gleefully. "Several people are to blame for her being placed in Hogwarts so all of them are to blame for what she did to you while in the school."
It was… the most Slytherin plan he'd ever witnessed. It made him feel devious and dangerous in a sense. Just how much Rhabrak was aiming for would put a lot of people in precarious financial situations. And Harry didn't give a damn since all of them helped put that monster in charge of children.
They should be glad he wasn't keeping the money for himself and planned to use it to benefit the community as a whole.
He'd already set up a second vault in Gringotts simply for the money for this venture. Everything he gained from then on would go into that vault.
And Rhabrak put him in contact with Ungrokulkn the Unrelenting, who was typically the Goblin one goes to when dealing with business. Ungrokulkn was interested in his plans and was already scouting a nice building in Diagon Alley that could be turned into a primary school. He also was setting up a folder of all the laws and regulations working for and against Harry when it came to the whole idea.
Chances were in his favour at least, hovering around seventy percent. Some things would have to be tweaked but things overall were looking good. Why not get a head start after all?
Come Valentine's Day, Harry's life had turned around surprisingly well. Voldy's attempts to mess with him were failing. He was getting much needed sleep. Studying for his OWLs was much easier than he'd suspected, though with the twins being so involved in helping him, he wasn't that shocked.
They were doing their NEWTs, and the OWLs and NEWTs weren't that different. Basically a lot of revision was necessary so Harry helped them study for their upcoming exams, and they helped him study for his. He also learned a lot of spells ahead of time because of the extra studying they were doing.
Ron hated all of it, because of course he and Hermione were involved. It'd be daft to ignore the opportunity when it was presented. Hermione also got a good look at the seventh year curriculum and had already begun planning accordingly. Her obsession with school was… spooky.
"Why do you always have to spend time with them?" Ron whinged the night before Valentine's Day. "You never have time alone for us anymore, mate!"
He huffed. "I'm not the one who's a Prefect! It isn't my fault the twins are always available. And no offence but sitting around here waiting for you both is annoying. At least this way I'm doing something useful."
"Yeah, bu- oof!"
Hermione had driven her elbow into his side for the umpteenth time since the summer holiday. "It's a good thing that Harry has more friends to spend time with. And they've positively affected each other's work ethic on top of it all."
Ron snorted. "Yeah. Friends. Don't you mean boy- ow! Stop doing that!"
The brunette smiled as she removed her elbow from the redhead's stomach. "You're good for them, Harry. It's nice that they make you happy."
Yeah, they really did. If only he knew how to show them how grateful he was.
"Would it be weird if I gave them chocolate tomorrow?"
Hermione shook her head. She was beaming for some reason.
"You could always give them a few kisses," Ron said as he rubbed his Hermione-induced aches. "They'd love it if it was you who did it." He managed to dodge Hermione's next elbow. "Ha!"
"Kisses?" Why would they be okay if Harry kissed them?
"Seriously?" Ron asked, sending him a look he was becoming uncomfortably familiar with. The one that told him he was being stupid.
Hermione sighed. "Harry, people don't just assassinate someone for no reason."
SHE KNEW!
The brunette rolled her eyes. "It was easy to determine who did it, Harry, keep up. Anyway, the twins have practically been staking a claim on you for months. The touching, the holding, the hugging, the smiles, the offers to prank people for free. No one else gets this treatment. They glare daggers at anyone who decides to ask you out."
No one's asked Harry out though?
"And Sirius gave them a shovel talk about being careful when you finally realise what was going on," Ron added with a smirk. "I was in the next room so got the hear the whole thing and while it was a bit awkward since you're my best mate and I don't want to think about your lily white arse at all, it was funny hearing their suffering as he explained safe sex between blokes!" He devolved into uproarious laughter, slapping his own knee several times as his face turned redder than his hair.
The twins… had been flirting with him and he never noticed? Sirius noticed?!
Harry would like to think he was more observant than most people. He could spot danger and inconsistencies really well. How did he miss this?! Why did everyone else in his life seem to know already?
"So… no to the chocolates?" he asked, wondering if they weren't good enough as a proper thanks.
Hermione sighed. "Harry, do you like them?"
"Yes."
"And would you mind too terribly if they maybe wanted to date you?"
"No." Until now Bill was the only Weasley he'd thought about in an attractive light, but that was because he was so much older and cooler and his arse looked really nice in leather trousers.
But the twins were sweet and funny and also attractive, even if not on Bill's level.
The only person he'd really considered dating was Cho but he'd been so focused on the twins this year that he'd almost forgotten about her. She'd asked him to go to Hogsmeade but he'd had studying with the twins so he'd turned her down.
Oh, that was probably him being asked out, huh? It hadn't seemed like it'd been done with romantic intentions. How was he supposed to pick up something like that? Besides, she didn't really seem interested in him. She looked on the verge of tears whenever he saw her, so losing Cedric was still fresh in mind.
He was even more messed up over it since he'd had to witness it in person, but George had been really good at listening to him explain his problems. Fred brewed him some Dreamless Sleep in response. They'd been really swell about it.
Wow. George and Fred really managed to take up a lot of his time despite working on their NEWTs and their inventions.
And he never noticed?
Hmm…
Well his plans for the twins were all shot to hell when the redheaded monsters sat down beside him at breakfast on Valentine's Day, and laid simultaneous kisses on his cheeks.
"Um!"
Fred smirked as he placed a box of chocolates shaped like a golden snitch, on the table before him. "Parvati told us that Ronniekins snitched so we had to improvise."
Oh! That made sense.
Hang on… "What do you mean Parvati told you?"
He was with Hermione and Ron only last night. The common room had been empty.
George snorted. "You should probably cast a Muffliato next time you don't want private conversations being heard."
Fred leaned in to whisper, "We're all lucky that Parvati's family is in support of political assassinations when the politicians in question have been proven to be corrupt and the law won't handle them appropriately."
She heard Hermione reveal the twins' actions! That could have been so bad if it was anyone else! Literally, after the whole Tournament and then slandering issue, Harry had trouble trusting more than half of his Housemates. Even if the rest of the school hated him, the fact that the ones he was around most and who knew him best, turned on him, hit him hard.
He would never trust Seamus again for example. He couldn't be trusted and that was that. Thankfully, Parvati and Padma had been among the few who had minded their own business and left him alone, not coming up to him and trying to start something to prove a point or get an answer he didn't have.
Even after Umbridge's actions had been exposed, the amount of people against him had only lowered by half at the most. He was still getting verbally attacked in the corridors and pretty much resigned himself to avoiding half of his peers.
Voldemort's return would eventually be public and by the time they came crawling back begging for forgiveness, he'd leave them to suffer. Harry was so sick of being everyone's scapegoat. No one wanted to believe him, then that would lead to their own doom.
Sucks to suck.
A tap on his cheek startled him back into the present, where two devilish redheads were attempting to flirt with him.
"We've been attempting to woo you and yet you're just off in the clouds," said Fred.
"Bit insulting really," George added.
"Sorry. Um… I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do right now."
"You can agree to go to Hogsmeade with us, or refuse and tell us to leave you alone."
He didn't want the latter at all. He liked spending time with them.
"We can go out but I don't exactly have dating experience so whatever your expectations are, I need them lowered to ground level for the sake of my anxiety, okay?"
They beamed. "You won't regret it!"
Merlin, he hoped not. He actually liked the twins and he didn't want things to get awkward just because he wasn't a good date.
A waving motion caught his attention and he noticed Ron making kissy faces at him.
He said the twins would like a kiss if it was from him.
Being a Gryffindor was so hard! One can't be brave all the time! Especially in the face of the unknown!
Before the panic could properly set in, Harry managed to place a quick peck on George's cheek, and then the same peck on Fred's. It took maybe two seconds in total for him to accomplish, and his face felt hot as a result.
If he thought the twins were clingy before, nothing topped that now. Their self-satisfied grins made his eyes roll.
He really didn't mind though. He also didn't miss Ron announcing that harry was basically his brother-in-law now and that people better watch how they talk to him if they don't want the twins as their enemies.
Fred leaned in again to whisper, "I can't wait for when Hermione is our sister-in-law, don't you agree?"
"That'll take ages," Harry murmured back. "Ron's not exactly observant. I may be bad but he is just as bad when it comes to his own love life."
George snorted. "We could always help them along, right partner?"
That'd be fun! Payback for all the inside jokes and the looks his friends had been giving him for the past several months. "Make sure you get your dad to give him a talk about safe sex so he can feel as mortified as when you did when Sirius talked to you."
The cackling his words caused made the whole Great Hall shiver in fear. No one else knew what was going on but when the Weasley twins got like that, it usually meant someone was going to end up in an unfortunate position.
If things were like this, Harry didn't think dating would be too difficult to deal with after all.
He had no idea what the future had in store for them, but he did feel a lot more optimistic about everything going forward.
A/N: FINISHED!
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