The Forgotten Hero Part III

13th December 1993

Harry, Daphne, Tracey and Blaise walked out of Honeydukes.

"I can't believe you gave Blood Lollies to Malfoy, in fact no I can't believe he was stupid enough to try them after you gave them to him" said Harry looking at Daphne.

"I know, I thought he would recognise that they were Blood Lollies" said Daphne laughing.

"Yeah well, intelligence has never been Malfoy's strong suit has it?" said Harry.

"I always wondered how he manages to get decent marks sometimes, first he eats the Acid Pops I gave him, then he eats a Blood Lolly, what an idiot" said Tracey.

"And everyone thinks that his two cronies are idiots" said Daphne.

"Well they are, but Draco is as well" said Blaise.

Harry smirked.

"I wonder if we could trick someone else into eating one" said Harry.

"Who?" said Tracey curiously.

Harry nodded his head towards Gladrag's Wizarding Wear.

"I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with W" said Harry smirking.

The others turned to where he was looking.

"Weasel" said Daphne smirking.

Charles, Ron and Hermione had just walked out of Gladrag's.

"Weasel it is, allow me" said Tracey.

The four walked towards the three.

As Charles walked past the alleyway next to Gladrag's Daphne pulled her wand out as she saw a familiar figure charge out of the alleyway towards Charles.

Peter Pettigrew.

Harry pulled out his wand as Pettigrew caught Charles off guard and knocked him to the ground.

Tracey and Blaise drew their wands as the four charged towards where Pettigrew was trying to drag Charles through the alleyway while pointing a wand at Ron and Hermione.

"Stupefy!" shouted Harry.

"Stupefy!" shouted Daphne, Tracey and Blaise simultaneously.

The four stunners shot towards Pettigrew.

Peter locked eyes with them before he quickly changed into his rat form.

The stunners hit Charles knocking him backwards as Wormtail shot back down the alleyway before disappearing.

"You let him get away" said Ron angrily.

"Shut it Weasel" snarled Daphne.

"We were attempting to stop Wormtail, which was more than what you two were doing?" snarled Blaise.

Ron stupidly pulled his wand out and pointed it towards Blaise. Harry and the others sharply pointed their wands at Ron.

"What on earth is going on here?" shouted Mcgonagall running towards them.

"It was Pettigrew Professor, he tried to kidnap Charles, but he fled when we tried to stop him" said Harry.

Mcgonagall paled slightly.

"I see, so why is Mr Potter unconscious?" said Mcgonagall.

"They stunned him Professor" said Hermione.

"He got hit by the stunners we sent at Pettigrew, he transformed back into a rat before running back up the alley" said Daphne.

Mcgonagall nodded.

"Very well, 5 points each to Slytherin for aiding a classmate, now off you go, and keep your eyes open" said Mcgonagall.

She walked over to Charles and revived him.

"But Professor, how can you let them get away with knocking Charles unconscious?" said Ron angrily.

"Because they were attempting to save him from being kidnapped Mr Weasley, though I do wonder why you and Miss Granger did nothing, did you aid these four?" said Mcgonagall sternly.

Ron and Hermione hung their heads in shame.

"No Professor" said Hermione shamefully.

Mcgonagall nodded.

"I thought not, 5 points from Gryffindor each for failing to help your friend" said Mcgonagall.

Harry and the others watched her conjure a stretcher for Charles before walking away.

"First he tries to break into Gryffindor Tower, now he tries to kidnap your Brother in broad daylight, Azkaban must have turned him insane" said Daphne.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it did, they say Azkaban and Dementors can do things to you, mentally and physically" said Harry.

"If that's what its done to Pettigrew, I'd hate to see what it did to some of the more dangerous prisoners, like Dolohov and Lestrange" said Blaise shuddering.

"Its almost frightening to think about it" said Tracey.

"I know, and I'll be thankful when we're on our way home next week" said Daphne.

"Won't we all, I'll be glad to see my Mum again, especially now that she's getting married, she's been going mad about the honeymoon though, Sirius won't tell her where they're going" said Tracey smiling slightly.

"Where are you staying while they're away?" said Harry.

"With me, you two can come and stay for a few days as well if you want" said Daphne.

"Love too" said Blaise.

"Yeah, Mum wrote to me the other day, says she and Dad are going to try and sort things out over Christmas" said Harry.

Daphne smiled and wrapped her arm around him.

"Glad to hear that, I know this hasn't been easy on you and Dorea" said Daphne.

Harry returned the gesture.

"Thanks" said Harry smiling.

The two walked off towards the Three Broomsticks followed by Tracey and Blaise.

They spent the rest of the day in Hogsmeade before walking back up to the castle.

Once they reached the main doors Harry turned to the others.

"I'll see you guys back in the Common Room" said Harry.

Daphne nodded.

"You sure you don't want us to come with you?" said Tracey.

"I'll be okay, I'll see you guys in a bit" said Harry.

The three watched him walk off in the opposite direction.

"You think he'll be okay?" said Blaise.

Daphne nodded.

"Yeah… this is something he has to do himself" said Daphne.

Once Harry rounded the corner and was out of sight the three walked off towards the dungeons.

When he reached the Hospital Wing he saw that Ron and Hermione were stood around Charles's bed talking to him.

He slowly walked towards the bed causing the three to turn around and look at him.

Ron and Hermione looked rather annoyed while Charles looked disinterested by his presence.

"How are you feeling?" said Harry.

"Like hell, no thanks to you and your friends" said Charles icily.

Harry sighed.

"We saved your life, and that is the only thing you can say" said Harry.

"You knocked me out and let him get away" said Charles bitterly.

"It was your fault Pettigrew got away" said Ron angrily.

"I didn't see either of you trying to help him, you just stood there and watched as Pettigrew dragged your best friend into that alleyway" said Harry.

Ron scowled while Hermione looked slightly ashamed.

Harry walked towards them.

"Both of you, wait outside, my Brother and I need to speak in private" said Harry.

"You can't tell us what to do Snake" snarled Ron.

"Get out, now" said Harry icily.

"You cannot make us leave" said Hermione bossily.

"Leave us guys, I'll hear him out" said Charles in an annoyed tone.

Ron looked shocked.

"Are you sure, what if he tries to attack you?" said Ron in shock.

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Harry can't do anything to me, just give us the room" said Charles snidely.

Ron and Hermione stood up and slowly walked out of the door watching Harry distrustfully.

Once they were gone Harry pulled a seat up to the bed and sat down.

"What is it with you?" said Harry.

"What the hell do you mean?" said Charles bitterly.

Harry sighed and rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"You don't get it do you, Pettigrew wants you, he came after you, and it won't be the last time, you need to get wise, had we not stepped in, you could have ended up lying in a ditch somewhere covered in blood with your throat slashed" said Harry.

Charles scoffed.

"I would have fought him off" said Charles.

"How, you could not get out of his grip, and your friends stood by and did nothing, they did not even draw their own wands, some friends" said Harry bitterly.

"They are better than those people you call friends" snarled Charles.

"Yet they saved your life, while your own friends stood back and watched, who are the better people now?" said Harry.

Charles turned away from him.

"We're done here" said Charles bitterly.

Harry sighed and stood up.

"You want my advice, grow eyes in the back of your head, otherwise you will keep getting caught out by your enemies, and teach that Weasel of a best mate of yours how to duel properly, so that next time you get in a situation where he has to save your life, he'll actually be able to do it, despite how talentless he actually is" said Harry.

"Whatever" said Charles in a bored tone.

Harry sighed and walked towards the Hospital Wing doors.

He did not even look at Ron and Hermione as he walked past them.

"You can go back in now" said Harry.

Ron and Hermione walked back into the Hospital Wing.

Harry walked all the way up to the top of the Astronomy Tower.

He looked out into the distance as he leaned on the railing.

He stayed there for a few minutes before footsteps from behind him interrupted his train of thought.

He turned around and was quite surprised by who it was.

Hermione Granger.

Harry nodded to her.

"Miss Granger" said Harry.

"What are you doing up here?" said Hermione haughtily.

"The same thing you came up here to do, to think" said Harry turning around.

Hermione remained still and silent.

"You can come over here, I'm not going to bite you" said Harry.

Hermione slowly walked towards him and leaned on the railing next to him.

"Why do you hate your Brother?" said Hermione haughtily.

Harry tensed up.

He quickly turned to face her with an annoyed look on his face.

"What makes you think I hate him?" said Harry icily.

Hermione recoiled.

"You never say anything nice to him, you never do anything nice for him, you appear to be jealous of him" said Hermione bossily.

Harry let out a harsh laugh.

"No Miss Granger, I don't hate him, I don't like him very much but he is still my Brother, I still feel love for him despite our many years of anger and bitterness" said Harry.

"Why don't you like him then?" said Hermione.

"Because he is a vain, lazy, arrogant boy" said Harry harshly.

"He is not" said Hermione.

"You are blinded by your own friendship with him that you have ignored all of his faults, how many times have you simply stood by as he bullied other students, how many times have you done his work for him because he was too lazy to do it himself, how many times Miss Granger?" said Harry.

Hermione stuttered.

"That's what I thought" said Harry.

Hermione scowled.

"And what about you, all you Slytherins ever do is bully other students, including me, what have you ever done for us that makes you better?" said Hermione bitterly.

Harry sighed.

"I saved your life, back in first year, when my brother and your idiot best friend put you in a situation which could have killed you, I saved all three of you, and you never once thanked me for it" said Harry.

Hermione looked shocked.

"But your never nice to Ron either, what did he ever do to you?" said Hermione bossily.

"Ronald Weasley is one person I will never see eye to eye with, and you have been around him long enough to know exactly what he thinks of me and Charles, he hero worships my brother while he looks at me as the next dark lord, tell me Miss Granger, how many times have you stepped in when he calls me and my friends any number of horrible names?" said Harry.

"But-" stammered Hermione.

"No buts Miss Granger, how many times?" said Harry.

Hermione just glared at him before walking away.

Harry watched her leave before turning around.

One hour later…

Harry walked back into the Slytherin Common Room.

He spotted Daphne, Tracey and Blaise sat on one of the settee's and made his way towards them.

They turned around and looked at him with relieved looks on their faces.

"You took your time" said Tracey.

Harry nodded and sat down next to Blaise.

"I needed some time to think" said Harry leaning back on the settee.

"About what?" said Daphne.

"A couple of things, it was strange who actually interrupted my train of thought at the time" said Harry.

"Who?" said Daphne.

"Granger, I was at the top of the Astronomy Tower thinking, as it happens she went up there to do the same thing" said Harry.

"I bet that went well" said Blaise sarcastically.

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"Well enough I guess, though she was not exactly subtle about the questions she asked me, nor did she think about what her words meant" said Harry.

"What does that mean?" said Tracey testily.

"She asked me if I hated my Brother, I told her no, though she did not believe me, especially when I told her exactly who he was, but she is blind to his faults because they are friends" said Harry.

"She refuses to see him for what he really is" said Blaise.

"A lazy, bullying toe rag" said Daphne.

Harry nodded.

"She is blind to the Weasels many faults as well" said Harry.

Tracey snorted.

"The Weasel only has faults, nothing praiseworthy about him whatsoever" said Tracey.

"While it is not exactly praiseworthy, he has excellent skills of brown nosing and butt kissing Dumbledore and his precious hero, the Boy Who Lived" said Daphne sarcastically.

Harry chuckled.

"I suppose that is true, they are the only skills he has, one must call them praiseworthy for his sake" said Harry amusedly.

They all laughed.

"Only Malfoy Sr betters Weasel at those skills" said Tracey.

"Maybe Draco will better Weasel at those particular skills one day" said Daphne.

"Me better than that walking human Weasel, of course I'm better than him" said an all too familiar voice from the entrance.

Harry and the others turned to see Draco stood with Crabbe and Goyle before laughing.

"So Draco, are you telling us your better than the Weasel at brown nosing and butt kissing" said Harry laughing.

Draco snarled.

"What did you just say Potter?" snarled Draco.

"You said you were better than Weasel, at a time when we were talking about his skills of brown nosing and butt kissing, so tell us, do you think you are better at brown nosing and butt kissing than him, your Father does it to Fudge all of the time" said Harry stealthily drawing his wand.

Draco snarled as Harry and the others laughed.

"You might want to quit while your ahead Draco, your lips are already beginning to turn brown" said Daphne.

To their amusement Draco immediately touched his lips.

Harry and the others roared with laughter.

"Seriously Malfoy, you fell for that, I guess you do join your Father in a little bit of brown nosing and butt kissing whenever possible" said Blaise.

Draco snapped and pulled out his wand.

"Levicorpus!" shouted Harry quickly pointing his wand at Draco.

Draco screamed as he was hoisted ankle first into the air by an invisible hook leaving him dangling upside down in the entrance to the common room.

"Get me down" shouted Draco in fear.

Harry and the others laughed and ignored him as Crabbe and Goyle unsuccessfully tried to pull him out of the air.

19th December 1993

Harry, Daphne, Tracey, Blaise, Astoria and Dorea were sat in one of the compartments as the Hogwarts Express travelled through the snow laden Scottish countryside.

Harry was looking at the letter Sirius had sent him four days ago.

Hey Pup

I managed to get all the ingredients for your potion as well as the specific animal parts. And you need not worry about paying me for getting them. Consider them a favour from me. I have also gathered some mandrake leaves for you which you will have to keep in your mouth for an entire month before you take the potion.

Remus has agreed to let you brew the potion in his office and will supervise you during the entire Animagus transformation process. Do not under any circumstances attempt to make any progress on your Animagus transformations unless you are with Remus. Doing so could be very dangerous for any one of you.

Lastly your Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted have agreed to let you, Dorea and Tracey stay with them for the Christmas holidays while your Mum and Dad try and sort out their personal differences and so me and Beth can go over the extremely boring planning for our wedding (Merlin this part is torture). Your brother however has been invited to spend that time at the Burrow with the Weasleys and has decided to accept their invitation instead of your Aunt's invitation.

Love Padfoot

Harry folded the parchment up and placed it back in his pocket.

Ted and Andromeda were going to meet them on the platform and floo him, Tracey and Dorea to their house while Sirius and Beth were going to join them for dinner that night.

Harry and Dorea naturally felt a bit down at not being able to stay with their Mother for the holidays due to her decision to spend most of the Christmas holidays trying to sort things out with James.

The two cheered up however when they found out that the Potter, Black, Tonks and Weasley families were going to spend Christmas at Potter Manor.

Daphne turned to Tracey with a smile on her face.

"It sure was nice of your Mum to ask me to be one of her bridesmaids at her wedding" said Daphne.

Tracey smiled and hugged Daphne.

"Why wouldn't she, she loves you, you know your like a daughter to her" said Tracey.

"I know, but it was still nice anyway" said Daphne.

She turned to Harry.

"Has Sirius made you one of his Grooms Men then Harry?" said Daphne.

Harry nodded.

"Yeah, me, Dad and Uncle Ted, and he's made Remus his best man" said Harry.

"Since your Mum has made you her Maid Of Honour, who else has she named as her Bridesmaids?" said Daphne.

"Your Mum and Blaise's Mum" said Tracey.

She turned to Astoria with a slight frown on her face.

"Shame though Tori, she wanted you to be one of her bridesmaids as well but she already picked three" said Tracey sadly.

Astoria shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh well, its fine by me" said Astoria.

Dorea turned to Harry.

"So Big Brother, are you looking forward to seeing Aunt Andi again, she was always your favourite Aunt, and you her favourite Nephew" said Dorea in a slightly teasing voice.

The others laughed while Harry smirked.

"Of course I'm her favourite, I was the only one of us who ever listened to her lessons on Pureblood etiquette and family history, you and Dora ignored every word of it, and Charles listened to five minutes of it before refusing to hear any more of it" said Harry.

"Ever her favourite" said Dorea rolling her eyes.

At that moment they were interrupted by the sound of the door swinging open.

They turned to see Charles, Ron and Hermione stood in the doorway.

"Not sure why you were Aunt Andromeda's favourite, you like most of the things she hated when she was growing up, all that Pureblood etiquette rubbish and so forth" said Charles snarkily.

Ron sniggered while Hermione conveniently chose to remain silent.

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Hated, she didn't hate them Charles, otherwise she would not have taught most of them to me, and tried to teach them to you, not that you ever understood any of it, too much information for that tiny mind of yours to comprehend" said Harry.

Charles glared at him as the others chuckled.

"He's smarter than you snake" said Ron snidely.

The others burst out laughing while Harry smirked.

"At Quidditch facts yes, anything else, I doubt that, though I am surprised at you Charles, given that you chose not to stay with Aunt Andi this Christmas, when she invited all of us to spend Christmas together as a family" said Dorea.

"I was invited to stay at the Burrow first, I had already accepted Mrs Weasley's invitation by the time I got Aunt Andromeda's invite" said Charles curtly.

Harry snorted.

"Or you chose not to come so Dora couldn't pull prank after prank on you, maybe you were scared that she would pour a bucket of ice cold water on you to wake you up again" said Harry amusedly.

"I'm not scared of her" growled Charles.

"Your cousins got nothing on your Brother" said Ron snidely.

Harry and the others laughed.

"Well given that she is a qualified Auror and Mad Eye Moody's Protege while he's a 13 year old schoolboy, I'd say she's got plenty on him" said Harry.

Ron growled at him.

"Don't burst a blood vessel Weasel" said Blaise as Ron's ears started to turn red.

Harry and the others laughed.

"So Ronniekins, enlighten us on another subject, did you by some bizarre chance manage to get onto the Gryffindor duelling team?" said Harry.

Ron smirked.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" said Ron arrogantly.

"Well, you've never really been that much of a duellist, I am very surprised someone with your limited skills managed to get onto a duelling team in the first place" said Tracey smirking.

Ron glared at her.

"I'm better than the scum that are on the snakes duelling team, like Malfoy" said Ron snidely.

"And what makes you think someone as useless as Draco Malfoy would be good enough to grace our duelling team?" said Daphne.

"Cos the little shit probably bought his way onto the team, the same way he did with your pathetic Quidditch team" said Ron arrogantly.

Charles nodded in agreement.

Harry chuckled.

"I hate to disappoint you Weasel, but Daphne is right, Draco Malfoy is not on our duelling team, but now that we know your on the Gryffindor team, I'm sure we'll have plenty of fun with you, not that you'll enjoy any of it of course" said Harry.

Ron paled slightly before composing himself.

"Just you wait, I'll beat you easily this time" said Ron arrogantly.

Harry and the others erupted with laughter.

"In your dreams Weasel, but we tire of talking to you, so please leave" said Tracey shooing them with her hand.

Charles and Ron glared at them before stalking away.

"I knew you hated him Harry, he was right about you" said Hermione hatefully before walking away.

Daphne snarled before standing up and leaving the compartment.

She caught up with Hermione and grabbed her arm.

Hermione spun around and glared at her.

"That wasn't very nice was it Granger?" said Daphne nastily.

Hermione pulled her arm free.

"It was the truth, a truth your too blind to see, that your best mate hates his Brother and is jealous of him" said Hermione bossily.

Daphne fixed her with an icy glare.

"Is it, or is that just what you want to think about Harry, tell me, why would Harry be jealous of your prat of a best mate?" said Daphne angrily.

Hermione didn't answer.

"Given that he is one of the top students of our year, as am I, surpassing yourself, he has a First Class Order Of Merlin, a Special Awards For Services to the School, as do I, he gets top marks in all his classes, as do myself, Tracey and Blaise, he reached the finals of the International Duelling Circuit, he worked hard to achieve all of that, while his Brother had everything handed to him on a plate, so tell me again Hermione, why would Harry be jealous of his arrogant vain prat of a brother?" said Daphne sternly.

"Because he is always trying to one up Charles, because Charles is famous and Harry is not, and he seems to resent that all the time" said Hermione bossily.

"That is your opinion, you barely know Harry, and it shows in your opinion of him, you don't know the real Harry, the kind of person he really is, perhaps if you did, you would see things a lot differently" said Daphne.

Hermione huffed and quickly walked away.

Daphne turned around and walked back to the compartment.

When she walked inside she sat back down next to Tracey and Astoria.

Four hours later…

Harry, Tracey and Dorea said goodbye to Daphne, Blaise and Astoria before walking over to where Ted and Andromeda were stood waiting for them with Dora.

Once Harry and the others reached them the Tonks's greeted Harry and Dorea with hugs before introducing themselves to Tracey.

Andromeda led them over to the floo at the end of the platform where a large queue had formed a line to use the floo.

"Okay, Ted's going to take you Harry, I'll take Tracey and Nymphadora is going to take Dorea" said Andromeda shrinking their trunks and placing them in her pocket.

"Don't call me Nymphadora" muttered Dora angrily.

"Don't be a grouch Nymphadora" said Harry jokingly as he went to stand next to Ted.

Dora glared at him.

"Don't push your luck Harry" said Dora half jokingly half bitterly.

Dora playfully punched him in the arm before wrapping an arm around Dorea.

"I'm not waiting around in this queue" said Dora in a bored tone.

She disapparrated taking Dorea with her.

Andromeda sighed.

Fortunately for them they reached the front of the queue a few minutes later heading back to Alphard's Retreat where Ted and Andromeda lived.