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What the hell was going on with the Malfoys?
Harry waited until later Saturday afternoon, after his visit to Hagrid, to use the humpbacked witch statue to sneak into Hogsmeade to get his photographs developed. He waited a few hours until they were done then sneaked back into Hogwarts the same way that he got out of it.
"Got lost" he lied when his housemates asked him where he was. "Did you know that there's a portrait of some very naughty nuns on the seventh floor?"
Later that night, safely behind his own curtains, Harry looked over his pictures. Everyone in them was smiling and happy, even the Malfoys. In fact, Mrs. Malfoy looked sort of loving at that moment while Mr. Malfoy looked indulgent. Clearly they were thinking about Draco.
Harry carefully separated the pictures into two envelopes, stuffed all of the negatives in with the pictures in one envelope, and locked them away in his trunk. He made sure that his camera, which he always carried with him in this timeline, was already in the left pocket of the robes he planned to wear the next day. It was important to keep up appearances, after all.
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"You're early Potter!" Snape snapped on that first night of detention.
Since experience in the previous timeline had already proven to Harry that Severus Snape's scowl would be no less thunderous if Harry were late or precisely on time, he did not allow it to bother him.
"Yes sir. What was my mother like?"
Snape's scowl actually got darker and more forbidding before he turned away and began viciously chopping something that Harry could not quite see for the shadows in the dungeon room.
"Start scrubbing cauldrons!" he barked. "No magic!"
"Yes sir."
The work was boring but Harry's mind was seething with thoughts and questions. Severus Snape had not tried to hex him. All things considered, that was positively encouraging.
Apparently, Professor Snape enjoyed handing down that first detention as much as he had in the original timeline because Harry soon found most of his free nights claimed by Professor Snape. This time Harry tried to be less sullen about it and more… pleasant. So Harry made sure to be early every time that he had detention with Professor Snape. And every time he started detention by asking something about his mother.
"Did she laugh a lot?"
"What was her favorite subject?"
"Who was her best mate?"
Severus Snape never answered.
In mid-September Harry's solicitor wrote advising him that Dumbledore had been made aware of his petition for emancipation and that she had arranged a meeting between herself and Harry for that upcoming Wednesday during his free period.
As soon as they were left alone together in the room off of the Great Hall where Harry had been sent as a Triwizard Champion, Harry shook his head.
"This isn't the best place to talk about private stuff" he said while eyeing the portraits suspiciously.
Ms. Bones smiled. "I'll stay away from privileged information then. The emancipation hearing is on the first of November. I have already arranged for you to be excused from school on that day. As a party in the case and your de facto guardian Professor Dumbledore is not to discuss anything related to the matter with you. If he does, please tell me so at once so that I can ask the court to sanction him for behaving improperly. I – I assume your desires have not changed since our discussion in our office."
"No. I want the same things."
Ms. Bones nodded.
"An O.W.L.s examiner will arrive at this school on the first Monday in October. Your examiner will administer written and practical exams in everything except Divination, Ancient Runes, and Arithmacy. I have been researching your other concern but this is not the right place to discuss those results."
Harry nodded. He pulled an envelope from his pocket. "Can you discreetly make sure that this gets to the person I mentioned in our last meeting?"
Mrs. Bones took the sealed envelope. "May I look?"
Harry nodded. "Sure. They're just photographs from the Hogwarts Express and my first day of school."
Mrs. Bones smiled as she thumbed through the pictures. "I'll do my best."
After that almost all of that year's extracurricular events went more or less the way that Harry remembered them. Blaise Zabini stole Neville's Remembrall in flying class and Harry made Gryffindor's quidditch team while getting it back. Draco challenged Ron to a wizarding duel and Harry tagged along even though he was positive that Draco would not show up. So did Hermione and Neville. This time Harry made sure to lead them away from the charms classroom and the forbidden corridor.
Harry spent the next two weeks in the Hogwarts library frantically reviewing. With the sole exception of potions, Harry would quickly perform whatever was required of him in class then settle back to review that subject for his upcoming exams. Defense and Care of Magical Creatures were the easiest subjects to review for. Herbology, Charms, and Transfiguration required only slightly more effort. Most of Harry's reviewing was focused on Potions, Astronomy, and History of Magic. He was determined to get at least an Exceeds Expectations in all of them this time.
Harry begged off of his study groups in favor of his own cramming. Hermione, and oddly Draco Malfoy, were determined to help him revise even if Harry was vague as to why he needed to take his O.W.L.s in less than a month. Ron, Neville, and everyone else was good enough to take turns sneaking food into the library for him.
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Want to know what happens next? 100+ advanced chapters await you on Patreon! Be the first to read what others will have to wait for. Join the community and read ahead today!
(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)
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