Enchanting Melodies (HP SI)

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18 May 1995, Hogwarts, Scotland

Harry snorted in amusement and chuckled, "Oh, you have no idea. Let's just say that the last few were eventful." When the boy started telling him about what happened, Arcturus realized that this was probably the understatement of the century.

Harry smiled faintly as the Hogwarts Express slowed down. He watched as the Forbidden Forest passed by him, seeing the odd magical creature running around in the background. It was a nice touch from McGonagall to get the enchanted train to return to London – thankfully not in its Dragon form – for the school's 'reopening'. It was weird. He was seated with the rest of the Hogwarts Champions, at least not the ones who returned home, without them realizing that he was among them during the previous task.

They were obviously wary of him. Harry didn't exactly blame them. They hadn't spoken to him since the third task, and even then, he showed himself to be a bit beyond them in terms of magical prowess. They had gotten used to him previously, but his absence obviously made whatever casualness between them disappear.

It was almost by the time they arrived that Roger Davies finally asked him, "I can't believe you're still alive Potter."

The Ravenclaw was probably the one who spent the least amount of time with him out of everyone in the delegation. He wasn't just talking about the tournament, but the entirety of his time in Hogwarts as well. He just never cared enough to speak with the older boy. He had an air of superiority to him that made Harry want to avoid him, which was why it was flabbergasting that he'd be the one to speak up. And to make things worse, the way he spoke was a mixture of looking down at Harry while being obviously intimidated, just grating the young wizard the young way. He really didn't like fake people.

Harry simply shrugged, "And yet, I am."

Lucien Bole seemed to gather the courage to speak up, "Do you really expect us to believe that you were sick?"

"I don't expect anything. People will make their assumptions, so why should I care what they think?"

They were all struck silent by the response, with Angelina obviously doing her best not to snicker at his responses, and he knew that Daphne was smiling as well, given the very slight upward tilt of her lips.

His response seemed to have made them all feel awkward, and Davies decided to change the conversation, "So, did anyone hear from Carmichael recently? I didn't see him on the train."

They all shook heads, and the boy turned towards Daphne, "What about you, Greengrass? You were very friendly with him during the task."

Was he trying to make Harry mad at Daphne? Considering the way, Roger was looking at him, searching for a reaction, expecting him to blow up or something, he was. Everyone else was too. The blonde must have understood what they were getting at because she gave everyone an unimpressed look, "I haven't talked to him since we got back to Britain, but he did mention something about taking his OWLS and moving abroad with his siblings. Apparently, he thought that staying in Britain was risky. I don't know when he'll be back, or if he ever will."

The way everyone deflated was funny, especially given his lack of reaction. The young wizard rolled his eyes, they expected him to be jealous of himself. Then again, teenagers always liked gossip. He simply ignored them, looking at the familiar view.

He had missed this place, missed the mysteries that were in every corner of the castle. He missed the Room of Requirements, hell, even the Chamber of Secrets. Speaking of the Chamber, he needed to visit it soon for a personal project of his.

But most of all, Harry felt his age whenever he stepped through the castle. Harry spent the last few days working with Arcturus about their forces, and that was far more draining than he expected. Unfortunately, it wasn't without a pretty lengthy discussion about Harry's shenanigans during his coma. To be fair to him, he was asleep for less than two weeks, and in that time, Harry fought Dumbledore, won the allegiance of his wand, performed an impromptu ritual in Stonehenge, removed the Horcrux in Longbottom's scar, found Voldemort and the first Vampire to ever exist, broke into Azkaban, banished an Eldritch being who threatened to consume the world, fought against the Dementor's creators, spoke to Solomon, and killed Voldemort.

Now that he put it in a list, it did sound insane for what was essentially ten days. No wonder Arcturus looked like he was losing his mind as Harry kept recounting his feats. In a way, Harry ended the civil war in magical Britain. Both Voldemort and Lily were dead, their forces were either killed or under Harry's control.

There were upsides and downsides, of course. It was a shame that Voldemort wouldn't be on their side; mages of his calibre were rare, but they still probably held one of the biggest armies in Europe, and no one even knew.

The Black Patriarch had been surprised by the fact that Harry had essentially taken over the Lycans after his fight with Dumbledore, as well as an alliance with the Department of Mysteries with Snape being in charge. Arcturus himself had hired a small army of mercenaries, whose training he oversaw personally, and had gotten his old guard to essentially raise one of their own under his supervision.

Italy and France had agreed pretty easily. Unfortunately, Scandinavian countries were hesitant to train a military force in their country, which was understandable. However, Arcturus' contact in Russia was able to hire mercenaries of his own, mostly from Eastern Europe.

Harry was planning on talking to Perseus about involving the Greeks when he came. His father had shown that he didn't like what the Light and Dark were planning and was bound to be a very valuable ally. The foreign delegations should come in a couple of weeks, so, he'll deal with that then.

His train of thought was broken by the announcement of their arrival. Everyone stood up, a little giddily. It seemed that Harry wasn't the only one to miss the castle. Then again, they had friends and family members that they hadn't seen in months because of McGonagall closing down the wards.

Minutes later, they all found themselves riding the Thestral carriages. There was something disconcerting in the fact that practically everyone could see the creatures. It took a year for all of them to witness Death and that was heartbreaking. They were all told that the tournament was safe and that there would be no real danger to the students. And yet, it was all a lie. Everyone witnessed Olympus being destroyed, and watched people die in front of them, even without participating in the task. No one liked to talk about it, but it was obvious that whatever broadcasting method had shown a few champions' deaths, not that Harry blamed them for not saying anything.

Cedric Diggory's death was a bit of a taboo subject. It was there, an overwhelming presence, like a dark cloud above them, that everyone wanted to ignore. Not all of them liked the boy or his attitude, but he was one of them. The worst part is not knowing really. They didn't find a corpse; he wasn't being recorded after he entered the Labyrinth. All in all, his death lacked the closure they needed.

But the oddest thing was the sheer relief that the others were feeling at returning to Hogwarts. They wouldn't compete in the tournament anymore. Even without the unforeseen dangers, Harry had underestimated how much pressure they were all under. They were far away from home, with very minimal support, while representing their country. It was understandable that they craved a familiar place without any pressure to publicly succeed in some arbitrary tasks. Honestly, it didn't help that Britain was in complete chaos during most of the tournament. Harry couldn't really blame them for wanting the experience to end.

Before he knew it, the last Potter found himself walking up the stairs to the Great Hall. He'd been walking on autopilot ever since he exited the train. Slowly the gigantic doors opened, and he winced at the noise.

Applause.

For the first time in a while, every single student was up and clapping, no matter their house. It was oddly gratifying, to see the school united at a single time. As he made his way to the top of the hall, he caught a glimpse of familiar faces, some giving him nods of approval, others grinning, and even a few who weren't trying to hide their curiosity.

While looking at the Gryffindor table, Harry's eyes met Neville's own, and he saw him clapping enthusiastically with the rest. Huh, now that he thought about it, with the prophecy being broken, the boy was nothing more than a normal boy. He wasn't the Chosen One, he wasn't some saviour or the boy who lived. He was just a boy who lived through an attack over a decade ago, while also losing his parents.

He was free. No Horcruxes, no Voldemort, no prophecy. Harry envied him for it immensely, but he did owe the boy that much at the very least. He recognized that he was a bit childish with how he dealt with him during his first couple of years in Hogwarts. It took a lot of self-reflection to understand that he'd been afraid of being caught in the tangles of the 'Chosen One' at first, enough that he antagonized the boy whenever he had the chance. To be fair, Neville was a massively spoiled and entitled brat at the time, so he didn't make it hard.

He couldn't help but chuckle bitterly at the irony of Neville being free of his prophecy while he was stuck with one of his own. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't help but wonder if Dumbledore knew somehow that the prophecy was broken. Magical anomalies near Azkaban would not be completely unusual given that the place was starved of magic for centuries, and if someone investigated it, they wouldn't find any sign of Voldemort or a broken prophecy.

Harry didn't know, and that meant that he'd need to consider both scenarios and plan around them. Still, the task was in a month, and he had enough time to plan.

His eyes met Hermione's for a fraction of a second, and he definitely didn't like the calculating gleam in her eyes. He hadn't thought much about her since the World Cup. She was his mother's pawn, an asset of the Department of Mysteries, but with Lily dead, it was all up in the air.

Personally, Harry thought that Lily had tried to help the girl in her own twisted way. As far as he knew, she essentially ordered her to spend time with Neville and that was it. She didn't receive any orders or missions, not like Lily did at her age. Harry didn't know the specifics, but it sounded pretty horrific.

He would talk to Snape about it later. There was some worry about the girl trying to get revenge, of course. He'll need to plan things properly later.

Harry was about to sit down at the Slytherin table, only to be enveloped by a hug from Blaise. He looked towards Daphne, only to see her suffer the same fate as Tracy, "We missed you guys so much."

Harry grinned, "We missed you too."

Tracy quickly punched him in the shoulder, "That's for faking your death, you absolute idiot."

Harry was about to reply only for the entire Great Hall to quiet down, probably a charm from McGonagall. The headmistress stood up and answered, "I am very happy to welcome back our delegation into our halls once more. You made us all proud with your achievements and your courage, even during uncertain times. I am also glad to say that the war wards on the castle have officially been lifted and that you will all – even the younger years – be allowed to visit Hogsmeade this weekend, so make arrangements with your families accordingly. You can use the school owls or one of your own to contact them, either in the magical or muggle world."

The entire school erupted in cheers, even the normally reserved Slytherins. Harry didn't know how much the isolation affected the student morale while he was gone, but it must have been significant.

McGonagall raised her hands, and the hall quieted once more, "However, as much as this is a happy occasion, it's not without its tragedies. I know that most of you know about the fate of Cedric Diggory, who died bravely in the Sixth Task of the tournament. He was a young man with a very promising future. He was brave, clever, and very kind and the world is that much darker without him. We will never forget him. Cedric Diggory had a future that was full of promise, a future that has now been stolen. We will honour him the way he deserves—with remembrance, with love, and with gratitude for the time he was given among us."

She raised her goblet, her eyes unwavering, filled with both mourning and fierce resolve. "We will hold a public memorial here at Hogwarts, to ensure that his name is never forgotten. And now, let us raise our glasses. To Cedric Diggory."

The hall stood in unison, the sombre echo of the words settling over them all. "To Cedric Diggory."

Harry raised his goblet as well, remembering the boy that he had failed, that he had let be manipulated by Dumbledore into committing an atrocity. Never again. That was what Harry was fighting for. That was why he was willing to fight Dumbledore and Grindelwald. It was why he had to win.

Still, sombre atmosphere aside, Harry was glad to be back, even if he had a lot to do, and a lot to prepare.

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AN: I know that this is a filler, but I was in a hurry when I wrote this and I needed a somewhat casual chapter before the eventful stuff started and thought that this did a good enough job. Still, I'm excited that we're back at Hogwarts. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.