Dueling Hearts Ch 34.5: Drabbles (Patreon)

“Come on, Harry!”

Daphne tugged at her best friend's hand as she led him up the steps to the attic.

“I don't know, Daph, are you sure this is going to work?”

The two six year olds had just finished watching Ghostbusters for the fifth time on the telly. Daphne had been bouncing off the walls, and while Harry had been a little hesitant, he could never say no to the hyperactive blonde.

Last time he'd come over, she'd begged him to find a vacuum cleaner in the muggle world. It had taken some clever sleuthing, but he'd managed to convince his mum to take them to see his aunt Petunia. Visiting Aunt Petunia and her obese husband and son wasn't exactly a pleasant experience, but it provided Harry with the perfect opportunity to swipe a vacuum cleaner and stuff it in a bottomless bag.

Now, here they were. Daphne had tried to strap the vacuum cleaner to her back like in the movie, but it was too heavy and unwieldly for that. And so, Harry was carrying it tucked under one arm while Daphne held onto the hose.

Daphne's parents were downstairs, completely oblivious to the mischief their daughter and her friend were getting themselves into. Astoria had seen them pass by her door with the muggle contraption and simply rolled her eyes before going back to playing with her Merlin figures.

They stopped at the top of the stairs that led to the attic, right before the all encompassing darkness that would send chills down an adult's spine.

For Harry and Daphne, it was a sign of adventure.

“Alright, here we are!” Daphne grinned as she crouched down, “I ain't afraid of no ghouls!”

Daphne and Harry jumped into the attic. The ghoul was moaning loudly, and Harry could just barely make out its hunched over form thanks to the dim light that came from below.

Daphne bravely faced the ghoul, holding the nozzle of the vacuum steady as she aimed it towards it. The ghoul, more confused than anything, began ambling towards them.

“Alright, Harry, let er rip!”

Harry flipped the switch on the side of the vacuum. He'd seen it in action a few times, and he knew it made very loud sucking noises that might startle the ghoul away.

Except, not a thing happened!

“Harry! Come on, he's gaining on us!”

“Errr…” Harrt looked around frantically before his eyes settled on the power cord. “I think we need to plug this in somewhere, Daph.”

“Plug it in?!” Daphne exclaimed.

“You guys are so stupid.”

The door to the attic suddenly slammed shut.

Both children screamed, and later on, neither of them would recall the retreating giggles of a four year old girl. They would only remember the terror they felt in that moment as they realized they were trapped with the ghoul.

Harry tossed the vacuum at the ghoul, who actually got the wind knocked out of him and fell unconscious once he smacked the back of his head against the floorboards.

But young Harry and Daphne didn't know that. They couldn't see. Daphne grabbed onto Harry's hand and the two of them ran over to a corner of the attic, arms wrapped around each other as they whimpered.

“Harry. You need to protect me! Use your dueling moves!”

“I didn't bring my toy wand, Daph!”

“Oh no! We're doomed!”

It would be fifteen more minutes before an exasperated Mr. Greengrass opened the door to the attic, shaking his head as he saw that the two children had long since stopped panicking, and were whispering excitedly about some other movie they'd seen.

…

“What do you think, Nym?”

“Huh?” Tonks lifted her head up from her bed to look over at where her little cousin was sitting cross-legged in front of her mirror.

“What animagus form should I get?! Maybe I should be a tiger, or an eagle! Imagine if I could fly around and soar and stuff!”

Tonks blinked as she looked at Harry. “Harry, what in the hell are you talking about?” She tossed her auror recruitment pamphlet off to the side.

Harry frowned. “The animagus potion, remember? I got Sirius to cough up some galleons and I mail-ordered it!”

“Animagus potion?” Tonks had never really been interested in becoming an animagus, so she had no clue what the process was like.

“Yeah, it's this new potion that lets you pick your form. I ordered it from here!” Harry tossed his copy of The Quibbler over to Tonks.

“Wait, this article says the lead singer for Three Goblins and a Wizard died five years ago and was replaced by someone else using polyjuice! That's crazy!”

“That's not the article I want you to read, Nynphadora!”

“Hey, hey! No first names, Hadrianopolis!”

“That's not my name.”

“And who do you think your friends will believe if I get Sirius in on it?”

Harry backed off and Tonks grinned as she checked the article he'd spoken about.

“Woah! No way! So you can pick your own form?”

Harry nodded. “All you need is a feather or a hair from the animal.”

“What if you want to be a fish? Would it be a scale? Or what if you wanna be a dolphin?”

Harry grimaced. “Why would anyone want to be a fish animagus?”

Tonks shrugged. “You know, you should be a cute little puffskein, then I can use you to pick up chicks!”

Harry's eyes lit up, though only because Tonks had opened his mind up. “Wait, magical creatures! I could be a dragon animagus, or a phoenix!”

“Good luck finding one of those, squirt. Maybe you should try to become a kneazle instead.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Anyways, I already sent Hedwig out to buy the potion, so it should be arriving here soon!”

There was a knock at Tonks’ door, and then Lily's voice came in from the other side. “Harry?”

“Oooh. Your mum sounds pissed, Harry. Whatever it was, you better not snitch in me.”

Harry frowned as he got up from the floor and went to the door. When he opened it. His heart sank.

His mother was there, and the intensity of her glare told him she was very, very angry. Worse, Hedwig was perched on her shoulder, and if it was possible for an owl to shoot someone a scolding look, it was there.

“Hey, mum. I thought you were working?” Harry sent her a nervous smile.

“I was working, until Hedwig came to me with this!” Lily held up a clear potion bottle.

Harry's eyes widened. That was his animagus potion!

He glared at his owl, who lifted her chin up in defiance.

“How could you do this!”

“She was looking out for your well being, is what she was doing! You know what's in this vial?”

“Yeah, its a potion that will give me any-”

“Nothing but a hallucination potion, a shoddily brewed one at that.”

“What?”

Lily sighed. “What have I told you about buying dodgy potions off disreputable sources?”

Harry's face flushed with embarrassment. “B-But-”

“I told him aunt Lily. I told him it was a dumb idea, but he wouldn't listen!”

Harry glared at Tonks, who stuck her tongue out at him as he began to feel the full brunt of his mother's wrath.

“And I don't ever want to hear you spewing any of this pseudo-magic crap every again, understood, mister?”

“Yes, mum.”

…

“Hey!”

Susan Bones turned around, her cheeks reddening as her eyes met the raven haired boy from Gryffindor.

“Y-yes?” She asked, eyes downcast.

“I heard what Malfoy said to you, I just want you to know I went and beat him up in a duel.”

Susan blanched. “Y-you did?”

Harry nodded. “Yeap. Can't have people going around making pretty girls cry for no reason.”

Susan's breath hitched. She clasped her hands together as they began trembling, using all her energy to meet this boy's eyes.

He was Harry Potter, a first year just like her. He was in Gryffindor, and he looked quite handsome as he sent her a confident, reassuring smile.

“T-Thanks.”

“Harry!”

A blonde girl ran over to them, her arm falling to Harry's shoulder as she grabbed him with a comfort that only came with familiarity.

“What is it, Daph?”

“I overheard Malfoy in the common room, he said he'd paid Flint twelve sickles and now he's gonna find you and beat you up.”

Susan gasped. “Oh no! We should tell a professor.”

Harry sent her a roguish grin that made her heart flutter that much harder. “Nah, I got this.” He twirled his wand.

Daphne scoffed. “Do you even know any spells?”

“I've seen a million duels, Daphne. It shouldn't be that hard. I'll transfigure Flint’s robes into heavy chains like Bellatrix did to Hakimi!”

“Maybe go for something more your level first, Harry, like a tickling charm.”

Harry and Daphne walked away as they discussed what Harry's strategy would be when he faced Flint. Meanwhile, a shy Hufflepuff was left behind, her world changing as she fell madly in love.

…

Albus Dumbledore opened the burning cabinet, revealing the dozens of stolen toys, dolls and other effects that young Tom Riddle had amassed over the years.

Tom's face was pale with fright. This man had set his wardrobe on fire and then touched it without being burnt! To witness such awesome power was overwhelming for the young boy.

The auburn haired man tisked, though his cheeks were twitching as he found himself fighting a wry grin.

“This type of behavior will not be tolerated at Hogwarts, Tom.” Dumbledore winked, adding in a twinkle to his eye for good measure.

.

“Aahh, Tom, how are you finding Hogwarts?”

The Slytherin stood tensely as he faced the transfiguration professor, eyes downcast.

“Things are going well, professor. I am finding classes to be satisfactory.”

Dumbledore frowned at Riddle's robotic tone. “And Slytherin? How goes it in that house? They're not bullying you over your blood status, are they?”

Riddle blinked in confusion. “No sir. Some boys make fun of me for being poor, but no one's brought up blood status.”

“Cause, you know, that could cause someone to go mad. Spending seven years in a house that hates them, that could make anyone break!”

Tom was completely nonplussed. “No, sir. I am fine.”

.

“And finally, I would like to congratulate Tom Riddle on winning the under nineteen British championship in his first year of eligibility. Let's give the boy a round of applause!”

Everyone in the Great Hall clapped politely as Tom Riddle stood robotically, neither basking in the praise nor feeling particularly embarrassed by it.

After dinner, right as Tom prepared to take on his prefect duties, he was approached by Dumbledore.

“Professor.” Tom gave a polite nod.

“Tom, my boy.” Dumbledore clapped the tall Slytherin on the shoulder. “Quite an impressive display. I managed to catch your final performance, an impressive display indeed.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Yes, yes.” Dumbledore rubbed Tom's shoulder. “All that power, my boy. Why, if you were to go dark, who knows what would become of the wizarding world! There would be nothing but ashes left!”

“My only interests are academics and dueling.”

Dumbledor pouted. “I see. Well, if you ever need to talk about any repressed murderous rages, my boy, my door is always open! Whoops!”

As Dumbledore had made to leave, a book had fallen from inside his robe and clattered onto the floor right at Tom's feet.

The title read:

Horcruxes, or: How I learned to Disregard Sanity and Embrace Immortality

Tom glanced at the book once before returning to stare blankly at Dumbledore. It wasn't until the professor began to whistle, and it became clear he wasn't going to pick up the book that Tom crouched down and handed it back to him.

“Ah, thank you, thank you, my boy. I have become quite clumsy in my old age.” Dumbledore held the book in front of his chest, “Well, I better return this book to row nine shelf twelve of the Restricted Section, which I believe you have access to.”

“That would be quite prudent, Professor.”