Peter Pan Fan Fiction / Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Always ❯ Chapter Three – Decisions and Consequences ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter Three - Decisions and Consequences

“Welcome to another year at Hogwarts,” Professor Dumbledore said loudly, causing silence to reign throughout the Great Hall. “As you know, we have a new student among us who is not a first year. Peter Pan will be joining us in his fifth year as an exchange student. He has been home schooled his entire life so please help him during this difficult transition. Now, to those of you who don't know, the Forbidden Forest is just that—forbidden. Please stay away unless you wish to die a most painful death. Many of you have noticed that our beloved friend Hagrid is not here. He will be taking a short leave of absence from the school and Professor Grubbly-Plank will be covering his Care of Magical Creatures classes. Also, we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Please welcome Ms. Dolores Umbridge, who has graciously accepted the position.”

A woman with a toad-like face dressed in pink stood up and the students and staff at Hogwarts clapped politely. Dumbledore opened his mouth to continue his speech when Umbridge made a slight coughing noise. He cocked an eyebrow and stepped back, allowing her to step up to the podium. She smiled and faced the student body, missing the slight cringe Dumbledore made.

“Thank you very much for having me as your teacher,” she said airily, looking at all of the students. “The Ministry takes great pride in assisting in the education of all of our young wizards. Please know Minister Fudge is doing his best to make sure you all have a proper education. Now, I'm sure it's not your fault that some of your past teachers have been…lacking,” she looked at Dumbledore pointedly and smiled, “but please know that this year will be very different.”

She giggled and walked to her seat, looking like she had just told the entire school great and wonderful news. In her eyes, she probably did. The Great Hall slowly and hesitantly clapped their hands. Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued his speech.

“Thank you for those…excellent…words, Professor Umbridge,” he said with a strained smile. “To the fifth years, this year you shall be taking your OWL exams. To the seventh years, this year you shall be taking your NEWT exams. Please be sure to study as these tests are very important in your academic lives. Thank you and enjoy the feast.” He clapped his hands and the feast appeared.

Harry's lips quirked upwards as he heard the first years gasp in surprise. It seemed like it was only yesterday he himself was doing that. His eyes traveled over to the Slytherin table where Peter was seated next to Zabini. His heart beat heavily in his chest and Harry barely prevented himself from frowning. He had wanted Peter to be in Gryffindor so badly.

`Does it matter? Peter's here, in Hogwarts, with your ungrateful self. You should be happy he's even here,' his subconscious goaded.

`Yes, but what if he doesn't want to be friends anymore? What if he's influenced by the Slytherins into not wanting to be close to Gryffindors?' Harry thought, looking down at his food so nobody could see the tears that threatened to fall.

`Hypocrite; you defend Slytherins in front of Ron and when Peter becomes a Slytherin, you automatically assume the others are going to tell him to stay away!' the voice said viciously. `And even if they do, Peter would never listen to them. Never. So stop complaining and be thankful that he's at Hogwarts.'

Harry's tears dried up as quickly as they had formed and he sat up straight. That annoying subconscious of his was right; Peter would never do something like that to him and he never should have doubted him like that. It was settled; he would still be Peter's friend no matter what…or who.

“Sorry about that, mate,” Ron said, chewing on a drumstick.

“What're you sorry for?”

“Well, Pan's a Slytherin,” the redhead responded as if that answered everything.

“Congratulations on noticing that,” Harry said dryly, a feeling of dread hitting him in the gut.

“Well, we can't be friends with Slytherins. They'll stab us in the back.”

“Excuse me?”

The Gryffindor table gradually fell silent, causing the other tables to fall silent as well. Something had to be wrong for the loudest house at Hogwarts to actually shut up.

“You of all people should know why we can't trust the Slytherins,” Ron hissed quietly, aware of all the eyes trained on them.

“You met Peter on the train; you should know he's no threat!” Harry hissed back, glaring slightly at his best friend.

“We talked for a couple of minutes! And besides, you haven't seen the bloke in a while. How do you know he hasn't changed?”

“Because I know him! He wouldn't change so drastically in such a short amount of time!”

“Why are you defending him?” Ron practically shouted, standing up and slamming his hands on the table. “For Merlin's sake, Harry, he's in—”

“I'm well aware of what House he's in, Ron,” Harry snarled, standing up as well. “And I'm defending him because he's my friend!”

“What about me? I'm your best mate!”

“If you're my best mate, than act like it and support my decision!”

“I can't support a decision I don't agree with! Besides, as your best mate, I have to tell you when you're not making the right decision and not thinking rationally!”

“You would know all about not thinking rationally, wouldn't you?”

The two glared at each other, ignoring the many eyes staring at them.

“I refuse to be friends with him,” Ron said quietly, though his statement rang throughout the silent hall.

“I didn't expect you to,” Harry responded. “However, don't think that just because you don't approve of him means I'm going to stop being his friend.”

“Then, I guess we're not friends anymore, are we?”

“I guess not, Weasley,” Harry said. He got out of the bench and walked towards the entrance. He felt everybody's eyes on him but he ignored it all. Right now, all Harry wanted to do was leave.

Peter stood up, ignored some of the Slytherins that protested, and slowly walked to the entrance. He paused and turned to look at Ron, who was still standing up with a shocked expression on his face. Clearly he didn't believe Harry would actually end their friendship over Peter. “I hope you realize what you just lost, Weasley.”

“Shut up, you slimy snake! Harry might believe your pitiful act, but I don't!” Ron said angrily.

“In case you didn't know, Weasley, you just helped end your friendship with Harry. You've no right to call him by his first name,” Peter replied coldly before leaving the Great Hall.

â—¦Peter, what happened?â—¦ Tinker Bell said groggily, crawling out of a magically enhanced pant pocket.

â—¦Well, I found Harry,â—¦ Peter said softly. All signs of grogginess left her immediately.

â—¦What? Why didn't you wake us up? Is he alright?â—¦ she asked in a rush. She gave him no chance to respond as she immediately dived into the pocket and woke up Winter and Summer Chime.

â—¦You saw Harry, Peter?â—¦ Summer Chime asked, looking at him with big, wide eyes.

â—¦Yes, I did. He goes to this school. And now, because of me, he and his best friend aren't friends anymore,â—¦ Peter said guiltily.

â—¦Explain,â—¦ Winter Chime said, sitting calmly on Peter's shoulder. Peter explained all that had happened and the white-haired fairy rubbed his chin in thought. â—¦It's not your fault, Peter. Harry chose to stay by your side. His friend just didn't understand the bond you two shared and still share and is, from what you've told me, very prejudiced. I'm sure everything'll work out in the end.â—¦

â—¦Thanks. I'll go find Harry and you all could catch up,â—¦ Peter said, realizing that Winter Chime was indeed right. The fairies sat on his shoulders and Peter paused as he realized that he had absolutely no idea where Harry could have gone. Whipping out his wand, he mumbled a quick `Point Me' charm. Following the arrow, Peter found himself in front of a girl's bathroom on the second floor. His brow furrowed. Why would Harry be in a girl's bathroom? He didn't become a pervert, did he? Walking into the bathroom cautiously, Peter found Harry by the sink.

“Harry, are you alright?” Peter asked softly. Harry turned around and gave Peter a watery smile.

“Yeah, I'm fine. It's not like I didn't expect this to happen,” Harry said quietly. “Last year, Ron thought I put my name in the Goblet of Fire and turned on me. I love him like a brother, but he lets his irrational jealousy cloud his judgment.”

“Harry, if he's like this, then he doesn't deserve to be your best mate.”

Harry smiled softly. “Despite his irrational jealousy and his tendency to jump to conclusions, Ron is a great friend.”

“I don't understand how you can still think like that about that prat, but fine.”

â—¦Harry, it's so nice to see you again!â—¦ Tinker Bell squealed as she got off of Peter's shoulder and flew over to the boy she had met only five years ago. Summer Chime and Winter Chime immediately flew over to Harry as well.

â—¦Hey, guys! I missed you all so much!â—¦ Harry cried, offering his friends a wide smile. His distress was momentarily forgotten as he caught up with his old buddies. â—¦How's everything been coming along?â—¦

â—¦It's great, Harry! Um, I have something to ask of you,â—¦ Summer Chime said, smiling nervously.

â—¦Alright; what is it?â—¦

At Tinker Bell, Winter Chime, and Peter Pan's encouraging looks, the young fairy continued. â—¦I'm at the age where I can choose a human to be my companion if I wanted one. I do want a companion and, honestly, you're the only human I know and feel a sort of connection already. So, I was wondering if you could be my companion?â—¦

â—¦Of course I'll be your companion!â—¦ Harry exclaimed. â—¦One question; what does being your companion entail? I mean, do you just hang around me all the time or what?â—¦

â—¦Well,â—& #166; Winter Chime said, â—¦she will be traveling you from now on. You'll have to drink a drop of her blood and a connection between you two will be formed. You'll be able to communicate telepathically and you'll also be connected empathically speaking.â—¦

â—¦So, we'll be able to read each other's minds and feel what the other is feeling?â—¦ Harry asked.

â—¦In a nutshell, yes.â—¦

â—¦Alright, then. Let's do it!â—¦

Summer Chime grinned widely and held her hand out to Peter, who made a small cut on her hand. Harry was absentmindedly surprised to see that Peter still carried around the pocket knife he used to wear daily in Neverland. The small fairy flew up to Harry and offered him her hand; his tongue darted out to lick a little bit of the blood and he felt a slight tingle. Confused, he looked at Tinker Bell.

â—¦Why'd I feel a tingle when I got her blood and not when I got yours?â—¦ he asked.

â—¦Summer Chime gave you her blood with the intent of forming a human-fairy bond. When I gave you my blood, I was already bonded to Peter and my intent was only on you understanding fairy language,â—¦ Tinker Bell explained, smiling at him widely. â—¦That tingle you felt was her blood interacting with yours to try to form that connection.â—¦

â—¦Oh; I didn't know that,â—¦ Harry murmured. He whipped out his wand and cast a quick `Tempus' charm. â—¦It's getting late. I should probably get back to the common room. Hermione will be worried and I don't want to cause any trouble right at the beginning of the school year.â—¦

â—¦Alright; we'll see you both tomorrow,â—¦ Tinker Bell said as she and Winter Chime hugged Summer Chime and Harry.

Peter gave Harry a soft smile and pulled him into a hug. “I'm really glad I'm here with you,” he whispered. Harry practically melted.

“So am I,” he said with a shy grin. “I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Sure thing. Bye.”

Together they walked out of the bathroom and parted ways at the staircase. Summer Chime climbed into Harry's pocket after he magically altered it and promptly fell asleep. Harry rubbed the back of his neck as he made the way up to the Gryffindor common room. Hopefully, somebody was already in the common room and could let him in. Reaching the Fat Lady, he gave her a sheepish smile as she looked at him expectantly.

“Er, I don't know the password. Is there anybody in the common room?” he asked quietly. The Fat Lady gave him a condescending look.

“Yes, there is. Be sure you pay attention next time, Mr. Potter,” she scolded gently.

He offered her a tiny grin. “Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry.” He knocked on the side of the portrait and waited until it was opened from the inside. Neville gave him a small smile and let him in.

“Hermione's been looking for you, Harry,” the shy boy said quietly. “Almost everybody's in the common room. Ron's been going off.”

Harry grimaced. “How badly?”

“Well,” Neville hesitated, “he thinks you've got a spell on you. And he keeps going on about Slytherins being slimy snakes.”

Harry sighed tiredly. “Thanks for telling me.” Before he could advance into the common room, Neville grabbed his arm.

“Harry, I just wanted to let you know that I agree with you. I mean, if you say that Peter can be trusted, then I believe you. Even if he is a Slytherin.”

“You've no idea what that means right now, Neville,” Harry said gratefully. He smiled widely at Neville who blushed modestly. “I think I'll go talk to Hermione right now.”

As soon as he stepped into the common room, Harry immediately wished he'd stayed and talked with Neville for a bit. The talking immediately ceased and all eyes were trained on him as they were in the Great Hall. He gulped inaudibly and walked over to the entrance to the boy's dormitory. Just before he went in, somebody spoke and effectively broke the tense, awkward silence.

“You know, Potter, because of you I almost didn't come back to Hogwarts this year.”

Harry turned to see it was Cormac McLaggen, a sixth year, that had spoken. “And how do you propose it was my fault?”

“If you hadn't spread that lie about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named returning, my mum and dad wouldn't have decided not to send me back here!” McLaggen spat. “The Daily Prophet was right; you are an attention-seeking Dark Lord wannabe!”

“You actually believe the Daily Prophet? Sweet Merlin, you're thicker than I thought! You think I'm making this up to draw attention to myself? Tell that to Cedric Diggory who was killed so Voldemort could come back!” Harry snapped, too furious to care that nearly everyone flinched at the name.

“How do we know you didn't kill him? After all, you won't share your memories of that night. Maybe you're trying to cover up your tracks,” McLaggen retorted.

Harry took a slight step back as if he were just slapped. “Do you really think if I had killed Cedric I would be here in Hogwarts right now?”

“You always were Dumbledore's favorite. Everytime you do something to break the rules or jeopardize Gryffindor's chances at winning both the House and Quidditch cup, you're only given detention or a scolding while others in that position would've been expelled!” Murmurs of agreement spread throughout the common room.

“You fools!” Harry turned to see Hermione defending him. “If Harry hadn't broken the rules, Voldemort would have returned a long time ago!”

“Hermione, don't!” Ron said, trying to stop Hermione from speaking out. The bushy-haired girl broke from his grasp and walked over to stand by Harry.

“Every single one of those times that Harry had broken the rules was to make sure your ungrateful hides were safe!” she burst, glaring at everybody.

“Hermione's right,” Seamus said as he stood on Harry's other side. “Harry's not an attention-seeker! He hates it!”

“Didn't your mum also try to keep you from coming back to school, Finnegan?” McLaggen sneered, effectively silencing Seamus. “And have you ever heard of a Potter disliking attention? Yeah, right!”

“Oh, hush your mouth, you ignorant bigot,” Hermione scoffed. “You're so quick to judge and yet you've no proof of anything that you're spewing. Did you not hear the Sorting Hat tonight? All of the Houses have to unite in Hogwarts! Voldemort is indeed back and if we're divided in both the school and within our own Houses, we don't stand a chance in this war. Because that's what this is all coming down to—war!”

“You're only saying that because you're Potter's friend, Granger. There is no proof that He-Who-Must—”

“I saw him,” Harry interrupted, glaring at McLaggen. “I saw him come back and you know what? He used my blood to do it!” Harry rolled up his sleeve and showed the faint line where Pettigrew had cut him. “Voldemort is back and if you don't believe me, it's your funeral!”

“How do we know you didn't do that to yourself?” McLaggen asked stubbornly, glaring back at Harry who wanted to yank his hair out.

“Oh, just hush it, McLaggen!” Hermione snapped angrily. “You're out of line!”

“I'm out of line?” McLaggen asked incredulously.

“Yes, you are and if one more word about Harry comes out of your mouth, you'll be serving a week in detention with Filch.” McLaggen glared at Harry and Hermione before turning around and stalking over to a corner with his friends. Hermione kept her chin up and looked at the common room, “Does anybody else have a problem with Harry?”

Silence.

Harry swallowed thickly and began to make his way up the boy's dormitory, pulling Hermione and motioning for Seamus to come along. Seamus, in turn, motioned for Harry's other loyal friends to follow him. Needless to say, the boy's dormitory wasn't very crowded.

“Thanks for that, Hermione,” Harry said quietly. She smiled weakly at him.

“What are friends for? And, Harry, Ron'll come around. You know how he is; he'll see sense,” she said quietly, giving him a big hug. It was then that Harry noticed there were other people in the dormitory.

“I'm sorry, Seamus,” Harry said apologetically. Seamus offered him a sad smile.

“Don't worry about it, Harry,” the Irishman said. “I saw how you came back last year. If you say You-Know-Who is back, then I believe you. My mam will just have to deal with that.”

“Yeah, Harry. We all believe you,” Neville said, blushing all the while. Harry looked around at Seamus, Dean, Neville, Ginny, and Hermione.

“Thanks guys,” he mumbled. “I appreciate it.”

“Stop thanking us, Harry,” Ginny said happily. “We'll always believe in you.” She hugged him and he whole-heartedly returned it.

“Group hug!” Seamus yelled, causing everyone to laugh and shower Harry in hugs.

“Hey, guys, what do you think of the new Defense professor?” Dean asked.

“I'm not sure. She talks to us as if we're unsophisticated,” Hermione sniffed. “I sincerely hope she teaches better than she talks. Almost all of the previous DADA teachers we've had were quacks with the exception of Lupin and the fake Moody.”

“She looks like a toad,” Ginny said as she grimaced. “And have you ever seen any one person wear so much pink?”

Harry laughed as Ginny and the others bar Neville and Hermione continued to make fun of their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. They continued to talk until Ron came upstairs and announced the time. A tense silence filled the air as Ginny and Hermione left the boy's dormitory (after giving Harry a quick hug, of course) and the boys began to dress for sleep. Harry tried to ignore the fact that Ron wasn't looking or speaking to him anymore and harshly reminded himself that it was Weasley now. Crawling into bed, Harry pulled down the drapes and fell into a restless sleep.

A/N: Yay! Third chapter is complete. I hope Ron is in-character enough. My sister hates me for making him stray from Harry, but that's what Ron does. He'll come back…eventually. I won't bash him or anything, but he has no sympathy from me. Ron would be an awesome best mate if he weren't so quick to judge or as prejudiced. Hell, his irrational jealousy of Harry's life gets in the way too many times. But, that's just my opinion. I know Hermione is a little bit out of character, but I think she's more Gryffindor than people give her credit for her. I mean, yeah, she's more brainy but she was placed in the House of the Lions for a reason y'know. Now, I've edited some things in the previous chapter. The part where Harry didn't know about the Fidelius Charm is a mistake. It's been a while since I read PoA and I assumed Harry was kept in the dark and only told that his parents went into hiding. Rest assured, I've gone back to correct my error and thanks to all that pointed it out! I've decided that I want to give a Summer Chime/fairy animagus!Ginny a chance. It's an interesting idea, suggested by ReflectionsOfReality and I think it'd be pretty cool to write.

INTERESTING QUESTIONS ASKED BY REFLECTIONSOFREALITY ANSWERED:

Hypothetically speaking what would happen if you stripped the magic of a being whose entire body is held together by magic alone, like lets say a certain Dark Lord?

-If that were to happen, his body would dissolve into nothing. Since it was held up with magic, when that magic was taken away, his soul would not be able to stay in the body and he'd be in the same situation he was in after he tried to kill Harry the first time.

So what are the chances that fairy dust is the antithesis to dementors? Considering that it uses happy thoughts to generate its effects like a patronus uses happy memories? Could that be why the dementor was no where near as aggressive as it seemed in cannon? I mean with it you could have follow on effects in the plot line like them being less effective in 3rd year while making Harry's patronus easier to cast.

-You know, you're the first one to figure that out. I figured that despite Harry leaving Neverland, he was still exposed to fairy dust and he still had Tink's blood in him. Thus, the dementor was less agressive and was trying to figure out why exactly the human in front of him was different. I wouldn't say dementors and fairies are arch enemies or something, but they just avoid each other. If a dementor were to attack a fairy, which is highly unlikely since they live in different realms, the fairy wouldn't feel the effects at all.

For some reason I can see a Neverland exposed Harry being a lot wilder than cannon, a little more innocent and a little more fearless at the same time. Stronger imagination with a lot more creativity when it comes to fun and interesting things.

-That probably would be the case had he not been exposed to Voldemort the following years after he left. He might have been more ready and excited to take on the world after having such a great time in Neverland, but after he first entered Hogwarts and Snape was out to get him and all the other things happening, he mellowed out. He was forced to shed a bit of innocence that he had and open his eyes to the cruel realities of the world that both Quirrel and Voldemort helped him see.

Then there are other effects like Harry knowing that Gillyweed exists (even though it might not be by its name but its appearance) and I wonder if he would try other beings' blood to learn the language, can you imagine him trying to speak with Norbert in first year by sampling his blood? Even better if it works and Harry is able to talk to dragons for the 1st task instead of just messing around with his broom. And how close to fairies are Cornish pixies? Would it be like a regional accent? It would be quite different if Harry was caught speak to multiple species instead of just snakes in second year.

-Yes, he was aware of Gillyweed even though it wasn't by its name. I suppose he would try dragon's blood and see if he could talk to dragon's although I think spending some time with Hermione would have him research the effects of it first instead of jumping straight into it like he normally would. And also, if you could only drink a bit of blood to speak to an animal, then Slytherins would probably try drinking snake blood to speak Parseltongue, haha. As for the relations between Cornish pixies and fairies, I'd say they're like cousins. And, due to the different realms they were raised in, that would make them have a different language altogether. It would be like comparing French to English.

Could you write a bonus chapter to Never with Peter checking up on him?

-I plan on writing a couple of side one-shots when I'm finished with this one.

Keep the questions coming! Thanks for all the fabulous reviews so far. The next update should be in a week or two.