Repairs and Conversations Upstairs

Harry's POV

After a few days at Diagon Alley I had decided to go exploring and to take another look at the Firebolt, but my plans changed when I heard a loud booming voice call out to me. "Harry, Harry!" I looked around for the source of the voice but couldn't find it in the crowds.

(Y/N) seemed to get frustrated at this, he stood up and started waving at me frantically when I saw him, he had an ice-cream in his hand and his cat Bones on his shoulder, "Over here you plum!" he called, as I jogged over to him I saw he was sat with both Ron and Hermione, each of them eating ice-cream.

"Finally!" said Ron, grinning at me as I sat down. "We went to the Leaky Cauldron, but they said you'd left, and we went to Flourish and Blotts, and Madam Malkin's, and-" "He doesn't need a play by play Ron" (Y/N) interrupted, Ron just looked at him confused.

"I got all my school stuff last week," I explained. "And how come you knew I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron?" "Dad," said Ron simply. Mr. Weasley, who worked at the Ministry of Magic, would of course have heard the whole story of what had happened to Aunt Marge.

"Did you really blow up your aunt, Harry?" said Hermione in a very serious voice. "I didn't mean to," I defended, remembering my incident at Privet Drive. (Y/N) and Ron roared with laughter. "I just- lost control." I stammered "Brilliant" said (Y/N).

"It's not funny" said Hermione sharply as she glared at (Y/N) who was wiping tears from his eyes. "Your dad doesn't know why Fudge let me off, does he?" I asked Ron "Mum said it's probably because it's you" said (Y/N) still chuckling.

"Yeah, famous Harry Potter and all that. I'd hate to see what the Ministry'd do to me if I blew up an aunt. Mind you, they'd have to dig me up first, because Mum would've killed me." confirmed Ron

(Y/N) nodded "All my aunts are muggles I think, if I blew one up mum would probably put me in Azkaban herself." He shuddered. "Anyway, you can ask Dad yourself this evening. We're staying at the Leaky Cauldron tonight too! So you can come to King's Cross with us tomorrow! Hermione's there as well!"

Hermione nodded, beaming. "Mum and Dad dropped me off this morning with all my Hogwarts things." I looked at (Y/N) who looked a little downtrodden when he explained, "Me too, they are still here though, mums somewhere inside arguing with dad."

"I'd love to meet him" I said politely, but that wasn't entirely true, remembering my odd encounter with (Y/N)'s mother a year prior, I wasn't sure I could handle it. Luckily Ron changed the subject.

"So, have you got all your new books and stuff?" I nodded "Look at this," said Ron, pulling a long thin box out of a bag and opening it. "Brand-new wand. Fourteen inches, willow, containing one unicorn tail-hair. And we've got all our books" He pointed at a large bag under his chair.

"What about those Monster Books, eh? The assistant nearly cried when we said we wanted three, (Y/N) even had to help the poor bloke." I looked over at (Y/N) who had some plasters on his hands. But seemed to be looking the monster book over with interest.

"I think they are cool, kind of cute in a way, right Harry?" said (Y/N), I just nodded awkwardly. "What's all that, Hermione?" I asked, pointing at not one, but three bulging bags in the chair next to her. 

"Well, I'm taking more new subjects than you, aren't I," said Hermione. "Those are my books for Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, the Study of Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies-"

"What are you doing Muggle Studies for?" said Ron, rolling his eyes. "You're Muggleborn! Your mum and dad are Muggles! You already know all about Muggles!" "But it'll be fascinating to study them from the wizarding point of view," said Hermione earnestly.

"To be fair, I'm taking it too, I'm just doing it for extra credit", said (Y/N) with a thumbs up, always jumping to Hermione's aid, she gave him a smile. Hermione continued "I've still got ten Galleons," she said, checking her purse. 

"It's my birthday in September, and Mum and Dad gave me some money to get myself an early birthday present." "How about a nice book? said Ron innocently. (Y/N) snorted in amusement.

"I really want an owl. I mean, Harry's got Hedwig, (Y/N) has Bones" "Not really an owl but ok" he commented, she ignored him and stroked the cat, who's head shot up at the mention of her name, knocking the ice cream from (Y/N)'s hand, much to his disappointment, "and you've got Errol-"

"I haven't," said Ron. "Errol's a family owl. All I've got is Scabbers." He pulled his pet rat out of his pocket. "And I want to get him checked over," he added, placing Scabbers on the table in front of them, (Y/N) held Bones in his arms to stop her from chasing the dishevelled looking rat. 

"I don't think Egypt agreed with him." Scabbers was looking thinner than usual, and there was a definite droop to his whiskers. "He seems to be in shock or scared of something" said (Y/N), "I wonder what?" Ron eyed Bones who seemed to be smirking at him. 

"Weird" (Y/N) shrugged as we walked into Magical Menagerie, much to Bones' disappointment, she was basically flailing in her owners' arms trying to escape. "Calm yourself princess, I'm not handing you in or anything, just a check-up." 

(Y/N) pet his cat, who immediately calmed but didn't look very happy and let out a meow that he chuckled at and said "Yeah, if you're good."

(Y/N)'s POV

We walked into Magical Menagerie, I had Bones in my arms to comfort her, Ron went up to the desk first, which I think was a good thing to be honest, I doubt I could get Bones to sit still without a little more time to persuade her.

We took a lap of the store, stopping every so often to look at the fascinating magical beasts, A snake with two heads, a baby wampus cat, and a firewyrm were the three that stuck out the most to me, we took a look at the toys for pets section as a little incentive and headed straight for the counter after Ron was finished.

He walked out the shop muttering loudly about a cat that attacked him while I was busy trying to see if I could communicate with the Wampus by lowering my mental defence, but it was too young.

"Good Morning!" I greeted cheerfully, plopping Bones on the desk "Can we just have a quick check up please?" she nodded "Oh and some food as well" I added. The woman looked me over, then to Bones and frowned.

"Oh, I remember this one, attitude, no name from what I recall. Skinny little thing. Surprised she's made such a recovery." she lifted up Bones and seemed to weigh her, then looked at me expectantly.

"Bones" I said clearly, she smiled and checked Bones' teeth and claws, as well as her fur and eyes, and finally tapping her with a wand. The cat rolled onto her back, looking at me expectantly.

 "She seems perfectly healthy, maybe a little overweight but nothing of concern" The cashier smiled genuinely, "You have taken good care of her," As I rubbed Bones' belly I nodded, "Of course, she's taken care of me too."

Bones meowed at me, I caught on "Yes you have been good, C'mon then" she jumped on my shoulder, now she was too big to fit around my neck so this was her new perch "We will be right back" I said to the woman who was in the process of getting us some cat food.

I walked Bones over to the cat toys and she picked out a one that was enchanted to look like and move around like a real mouse would, we walked back to the counter and paid. She was already chewing on it by the time we stepped out of the shop.

"Oh great, now she has practise for when she mauls Scabbers" said Ron looking at Bones, she meowed angrily, and I translated "Nonsense she doesn't even like eating rats" that wasn't what she really said, but they don't need to know that.

"How do you keep doing that?" asked Harry, "Well after Dumbledore told me I was I was a legilimens, I did some digging, apparently I'm closer to being an empathetic legilimens, so I'm better at picking up on emotions then thoughts."

"That's why I'm better with animals, their thoughts and emotions aren't as complex in most cases" I explained, "That's also how they can understand me, Its a two way thing if I want it to be."

"Or something like that. I cant really remember the books I read all this stuff in so maybe I'm making that up, who knows?" I shrugged. "I thought you were just a nosey git" said Ron with a smirk, I just ignored him .

"I've been honing my skills over the summer, I can read more than just emotions now, I can focus on thoughts if I try" I said confidently with a smirk, "Although, I'm still having trouble with it, I do it on accident sometimes."

"Told you he's a nosey git" They both chuckled at me, I'm glad they understood, I was worried they would think I was doing it to be rude, but I just wanted to practise wherever I could "I'm glad they didn't make a big deal out of it" I thought happily to myself.

After a minute or two Hermione came out, but she wasn't carrying an owl. Her arms were clamped tightly around the enormous ginger cat. "You bought that monster?" said Ron, his mouth hanging open. "He's gorgeous, isn't he?" said Hermione, glowing.

"Oh, he is! Very handsome" I said, petting his long mane of hair as he purred loudly, I had a thought, "Something is special about you isn't it?" I asked, he just held his head up high looking very regal. 

Bones was not impressed at the thought of a new cat, apparently, they met before when they were both at the shop, she spat and hissed at the cat who I now knew was called Crookshanks. The ginger behemoth of a cat hissed back.

"Don't be a grump princess, I'm sure you will be best of friends in no time" she still sulked, "I doubt it" was the general gist of things, apparently Ron didn't like the new addition either, "Hermione, that thing nearly scalped me!"

"He didn't mean to, did you, Crookshanks?" said Hermione. "And what about Scabbers?" said Ron, pointing at the lump in his chest pocket. "He needs rest and relaxation! How's he going to get it with that thing around? Plus that nightmare." He pointed at Bones, I frowned at him.

"How dare you sir. Bones is a genteel lady." I said turning my nose up at him as we set off toward the Leaky Cauldron, so he turned his attention back to Hermione, the two of them spent the entre walk arguing back and forth. 

"-If that thing comes anywhere near Scabbers, I'm turning it into a tea cosy." He turned to me and Bones.  "And as for that walking nightmare, I'll-" He didn't get out his threat, I glared at him, he coughed and said "Just keep it away from Scabbers" 

We met with Mr Weasley first, he said his greetings to Harry as his wife fussed over us all, Bones jumped from her perch to go chase her new toy, we were eating dinner by the time my father popped his head in.

He stood a head above almost everyone present, he was tall like me and (B/N) and (H/C) wispy hair, standing at 6'1, he was where I got my height from, he had long gangly limbs, mum had always said he was "A bit like a matchstick on legs."

He stood bolt upright most of the time, always seeming nervous, but he just wasn't used to the wizarding world, once you got used to him he was lovely, a lot like mum come to think of it. His eyes darted around the room until they saw me, he let out a breath of relief.

I think he was hiding from Mr Weasley's constant questions, or maybe just from mum, it was hard to tell. "It's good you're here mate, your mothers' fingers have come unwound again, do me a favour and help her out before she throws another fit" 

I looked at him confused "Can't you do it-" I started. He ignored me and looked over and saw my friends. "Oh, nice to meet you Harry, (Y/N)'s told me a lot about you, please look after him" he said as he shook his hand with both arms. He then turned to the Weasleys.

"Afternoon everyone, lovely to meet you all but I'm going to have to rush off, work stuff." "What?" I said in disappointment, "Sorry mate" he said as he kissed the top of my head, a sad smile crossing his face before his eyes darted upstairs.

"Love you, you're staying with me next summer, I will see you at Kings Cross when you get back." He ruffled my hair a little, awkwardly nodded to Bones, who was chewing on her new toy, and then with a final wave he was out the door.

"Bye then" I waved at the door sadly, Ron squeezed my arm and let out a smile, there were several loud cranking noises, then a string of curse words echoed down the hall from upstairs, then I heard a loud thumping coming down the stairs.

There was a sigh of relief, before a voice I knew called down the stairs. "Is he gone Molly?" called my mum "Yes dear" said Mrs Weasley cheerfully. "Thank the lord, I've been counting bloody ceiling tiles for twenty minutes."

Mum then came strolling into the room, she was still wearing what she liked to call her "Bag of tricks" on her belt but had taken her trench coat off, now only wearing t-shirt and trousers, with her boots as always. She wore them to seem taller.

When she saw me she jumped, like she hadn't expected to see me, her hand rushing to the back of her head. "Aha, lovely you're here sweetie, I could use a hand" she said, holding up her right hand.

Three of her fingers were replaced by metal prosthetics that were meant to move like her hand should, but on the knuckle of each they were bent backwards, essentially her fingers were the wrong way round. She walked towards me, "Get it?" she snickered, we walked up to her room for a quick repair.

Hermione's POV

After (Y/N) and his mother went up to her room, the Weasleys and I sat down for a meal, we could hear occasional curse words coming from upstairs as well as bellowing laughter then complete silence, after half an hour of waiting for them to come down, I decided to go and check on the (L/N)'s.

I made my way to the door and was about to knock when an arm pulled me inside, "Just the person I wanted to see," I had a second of panic before I realised who it was, (M/N). "Oh, I'm sorry I just didn't want your food to-" I stuttered before she shushed me.

"Sorry I dragged you with us dear, I could use the distraction is all, this one is not very talkative when he's fixing my hand, and I do find the silence unbearable, I've already figured out there are fourty six tiles." (M/N) said, pointing to (Y/N).

"I tried to do it myself, but it's hard to do one handed, and it's always easier if I'm distracted." (Y/N) looked up with a frown. "Don't blame me. I need to concentrate; I usually suck at stuff like this," he said as he was twisting the joints of the fingers.

"Reattachment is always the worst bit, you know that," he said, looking the mechanical digits up and down as he spoke. "Taking them off is no breath of fresh air either" said (M/N) with a sigh. "Oh, well, I'm happy to help" I said, still confused as to what was going on. 

(Y/N) was sat on the floor at the end of her bed, "Sweet, perfect timing Hermione, I'm done" he said with a smile, holding up the fingers, which were now facing the right way, (M/N) sat on the edge of her bed and patted the spot beside her.

I awkwardly shuffled over from the doorframe and sat there, (Y/N) immediately went to work, "Ready?" he asked, his mother nodded, he quickly attached her index finger, (M/N)'s eye twitched with every movement of the finger.

"By Merlin's sweaty left..." His mother hissed, (Y/N) was staring intently at the finger, to make sure his job was done right, His mother looked at me desperately. "Do you mind having a little chat with me? It takes my mind off it." She asked with a pained tone.

"Of course," I sat down and shook off my nervousness, "Wait, why am I nervous?" I thought, letting out a breath. "Because she's mental" (Y/N) said out loud. I was gobsmacked, "Did he just read my-Oh" I said out loud.

"Oi! what have I told you about that? it's so rude!" said (M/N) looking furious. Flailing her other arm like she was about to conk him on the head. He looked up and seemed confused, his mother raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?" He said before he seemed to realise what he had done, he turned to me "Oh, sorry it was an accident, I wasn't looking, I thought you said it out loud. Sorry, honestly, I wasn't trying to-" he started, waving his arms.

In doing so he accidentally yanked his mother's finger,  She let out a huge string of curses. Ending it with "And who do you think you're calling mental!" I cut in to calm them both. "It's fine (Y/N), honestly, just, um, don't make a habit of it."

He nodded and went back to the task at hand, I quickly tried to change the subject, "What do you want to talk about?" I asked politely. His mother recovered from her fit and sighed, "Anything that comes to mind" she put her good hand to her chin.

 "Oh! I know, are there any boys you like?" she smiled widely. "What!" I said a bit too loudly, trying to force my eyes to stay still and not flick to (Y/N). "Just kidding dear" she laughed, "Oh I know, anything you want to know about (Y/- OW!" 

There was a large cranking noise and she turned to glare at (Y/N) who was smirking. "One down." I thought of the first question I could think of, "How did you lose them?" then I panicked, realising that was probably very personal.

It must have been written on my face because she answered before I could ask. "Don't worry dear, its honestly not that exciting of a story" she chuckled, "When I was a wee little auror, we were sent to track down Voldemort's followers. Everyday stuff back then."

"One night I had a nasty run in with Antonin Dolohov, he hit me with a curse, luckily he has terrible aim, and I have incredible reflexes, so it wasn't that big of a deal" She shrugged, (Y/N) grinned as she retold the story. I gasped as she spoke You Know Who's name. 

"-He ran away after that, he said it was something to remember him by, hunted him for years after that, but it was worth it to catch the bugger. You should have seen his face when I waved to him off when he was on the boat to Azkaban. Hasn't lived it down since. Him or his mates, got nearly all of them now."

'Crank!' she cursed again as (Y/N) chuckled, "Seems you missed a few" he smiled "Scrawny bloke, scared of vampires, turban?" she looked at him and he smirked, "Last one", he smiled, holding up her ring finger.

"Less of the sass, you. I don't take criticism's from amateurs." Another question was burning in my head, "Why metal replacements, why not use magic?" She sighed and her eyes flicked to the door I came in from, then she said "Dark magic is a pain to heal, let alone replace," 

"Plus (F/N) used to be a muggle mechanic, he built them for me, obviously I tweaked them a bit with magic, but he must be some sort of genius, because anything else doesn't feel right, even now" 

She looked at the fingers sadly then caught herself and continued, "Its actually how he proposed to me, gave me them with the ring already on" she smiled at the memory fondly.

"Of course, by then we already had two kids, but he had been trying to get me to say yes for years and I decided to finally put him out of his misery and stop teasing him." She smiled at me while closing her eyes, there was one final 'CRANK!' and her face contorted into pain.

I did the math in my head "But that would make you-" "Older than I look, I know, I had (B/N) when I was quite young, I had been dating (F/N) for years so even when I was in Hogwarts we visited each other on the holidays and I'm terrible at getting presents so-" She winked at me.

 I blushed and (Y/N) retched. "Gross mum, I don't want to hear this, I'm hungry" said (Y/N) who stormed out of the room to get some food as she laughed at him. "Now that he's gone, anything else you'd like to know?"

There was another question, I didn't want to ask about it but (Y/N) has barely ever spoken a word about the subject "What was he like?" I said in a voice quiet as a whisper. "Dolohov?" she asked confused, I shook my head, "Voldemort? Never met the bloke. Not the nicest I'd imagine." 

I shook my head again; a sad look came over her as she realised "(B/N)?" I nodded. "(Y/N) still doesn't talk about him then?" she sighed looking at the door. It took her a few moments to gather the resolve to speak of her son.

"He was brilliant, good at everything he did, but practically born for Quidditch." She smiled, "We bought him a Comet when he was young, couldn't get him off the bloody thing. Since then. it was quidditch, quidditch, quidditch."

"He was so quick witted, he didn't really crack jokes, but he was a sarcastic little bugger, always got the last word in," she smiled widely "He never shut up and unfortunately inherited my temper" she chuckled, "Remind you of anyone?" we both giggled.

"He got into trouble a lot, every time I went to tell him off he would say the same thing" she changed her posture and put on a voice, "But mum, no trouble is no fun, that's what makes it worth it."

"He was always a bit of a heartbreaker, new girl every week, he was so smooth, could sell a star chart to a centaur" she pulled out a worn leather wallet and showed me it proudly, in the picture there was a tall boy with short (H/C) hair and (E/C) eyes.

I had to admit he was rather handsome, kind of what I would imagine an older (Y/N) would look like. "He lived and breathed Quidditch, loved making teams up in his head, I swear if you so much as picked up a broom in Hogwarts he already knew your life story."

"He was full of pointless knowledge, the Cleansweep one was the first ever broom made entirely for sporting use, did you know that?" I shook my head "He basically beat that knowledge into my head, I will never forget it"

"He would send me letters every week, telling me about his teams' chances and new players" she let out a pained breath "I've still got the bloody things" tears started to escape her eyes.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean-" I started, waving my arms to get her to stop, unsure of what to do. "No, No, it's good to talk about him, he loved being a conversation topic, little show-off" she chuckled.

"We were there when it happened, hell, I was the first onto the pitch" tears were streaming down her face at this point, "There was nothing that could be done, not that they didn't try everything they could, I'm thankful for that." 

I was curious about how it happened, but thought against prying any further, so I just hugged her; she spoke again once we calmed down. There was a brief pause. "(Y/N) idolised him; they were thick as thieves" she let out a dry laugh "I think It was hardest on him."

"He would beg, I mean beg, to have a go on the broom every chance he got, even as a baby" she mimed him praying, we both laughed. "He was devastated every year (B/N) left for Hogwarts, we basically had to pry him off his leg, eventually we couldn't pull him off so we had to bribe him."

She chuckled "We even gave him the Comet" she sniffled, "He wore that thing down to splinters, always telling us that he would play Quidditch like his big brother." This didn't really come as a shock, but made me quite sad.

"(Y/N) didn't talk for about a month after it happened, he couldn't sleep, kept bursting into tears, not that I blame him" she smiled, "Do you know the first thing he said to me after that month?" I shook my head, unable to find words.

"Mum, I don't think I really want to play on the Comet anymore." she let out a sob filled laugh. "To this day, I've never heard him utter a word about his brother, hell, he barely talks about any of us according to Molly" she sighed.

"That's not true, he told me you used to make him sleeping potions" I countered finally finding a voice. She wiped her tears and looked at me shocked, "He told you about that?" I nodded. "He talks about you a lot, one of the first things he ever said to me was how brilliant you were" I said.

She let out a wide cheesy smile, just like her son. "Well, there's a surprise. All I ever thought he'd talk about is the cat. Loves that thing to death."

For the next few hours, we sat on that bed and talked about anything and everything, and I left the room feeling much better connected to the (L/N)'s. As I turned to leave and head off to bed, she stopped me.

"He trusts you, and he likes you a lot" I blushed and she laughed "But he tends to get in trouble and he's about as thick as they come about that stuff, so please, no matter what, look after him for me" I nodded and promised I would.

The next day, we were escorted to Kings Cross by Ministry escort, it was very exciting, I had to share a car with the boys, before we left (Y/N)'s mother said her goodbyes "I'm one of the poor sods escorting you lot but after that I'm going to have to dash off, loads of paperwork to do."

(Y/N) looked sad, but nodded and smiled "No problem Mum, see you later" he said hugging her tightly, "Love you." I could tell he was putting on a brave face.

"Love you too, be good" she hugged back rubbing his face as they broke away. Then she hugged me, Ron and Harry as well, "Look after yourselves dears" she said, then she turned on her heels and sauntered off, her trench coat blowing behind her. 

Comment