A Little Help from a Snake // Tomarry

Part 77

Reposted: March 1, 2022

Double repost-update because I forgot about the fic

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This chapter was supposed to be more serious, but alas, Harry's a dork.

Summary: Time skip to seventh year

A return to normalcy was the goal shared by much of the wizarding world. That included Harry, who was the unfortunate target of Sirius' exaggerated emotional breakdown as he engulfed his son in a hug.

"Sirius, what did I tell you about making a scene?" said Harry.

Sirius released him and wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "I'm sorry. It's just my favorite son is about to start his last year at Hogwarts."

Harry rolled his eyes and turned to Tom. "I'll see you later."

"Good." Tom pecked his lips. At least he stopped acting like a fool.

But as Harry boarded the train, students by the windows began pointing and laughing. Knowing he'd regret it, Harry turned to see that Tom had flung himself into Sirius' arms with theatric sobs.

Spoke too soon.

He walked past the compartments of barely suppressed snickering and outright cackling and joined his friends.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked in a tone that was far too concerned to be real. "Do we need to give you a moment to collect yourself?"

"Shut up, tiny blond fucker," Harry retorted.

"But really, Harry, were they like this all morning?" Tracey said.

"Yes. And it earned Tom a nickname I should've thought out a long time ago: Tomcat."

Tracey slowly blinked. "Of course."

"It's a brilliant nickname!" Harry defended himself.

The train began to move. Tom lifted his head to wave; Harry flipped him off with his wand before waving back.

"One more year," Pansy said. "Can't believe we made it."

"Yeah." They fell silent, thinking once more about their fallen schoolmates.

In the months since the battle, school had started back up again. Students didn't return to Hogwarts right away, so Harry had to finish his sixth year at home. But now, here they were, back on the train. It felt right that he'd ride it on his final year.

George reopened the shop merely two months after the battle. Verity had quit; the memory of her role in Fred's death too vivid for her to return. Rumor had it she had a panic attack when walking by it. Luckily for her, her friend had been with her and helped her get back home.

When Harry and his friends got off the train and headed inside for the Sorting, he couldn't help but look around at the other students.

The Ravenclaws in his year looked incomplete now due to one member being homeschooled and the other being... gone. All the Hufflepuffs he knew were alive, though they were still subdued. Ginny came in hand in hand with Luna until they reached their respective tables, and Ron and Hermione stayed close together. They looked better than they had last time Harry saw them, when he had visited Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and came across them. Ron was thinking of helping George out in the store, something Harry thought would be good for both of them.

There was a notably smaller amount of first years, so the Sorting went by more quickly and they were on to dinner before they knew it.

To Harry's amusement, the students that had Sorted into Slytherin began excitedly whispering among themselves on being in the same house as the Harry Potter, the boy who defied Albus Dumbledore.

"I'm not the only one feeling like we're in a different universe, right?" he whispered to Tracey.

Tracey's eyes flicked over to the first years and back. "Definitely not."

Harry snickered and looked up at the High Table. Professors McGonagall and Sprout were speaking together. Nearby, Remus was holding out his spoon to a very exasperated Severus. As Harry watched, Remus made a face and put the spoon in his own mouth.

It was just another day, Harry thought with a small huff of amusement. And there was still a whole year waiting.

Harry threw himself back into his schoolwork with relish. He was often one of the first people in the library and last to leave, rivaled only by Hermione. There was unfortunately only one copy of some books, so they squabbled over them until someone stepped in to break it up.

Whenever he was not reading, he was doing what he did best: annoying the hell out of his favorite teachers.

"Sevvviiiieeeee."

Severus let out a very put-out sigh and put down his quill. "What now, you insufferable brat?"

"Insufferable? Me?" Harry pointed to himself with a hurt expression. "I thought you loved me."

"I do," Severus retorted, "but you're still insufferable."

Harry threw his fists in the air. "Which is what I've been aiming for!" he crowed.

The thump made him turn to see Severus with his face on his desk. "I thought it was Remus who snogged the parchment."

"Not today," came the muffled response.

Harry was less successful with the werewolf. "Remuuussss."

"Shit," said Remus, and he bolted to his room, only to run right into Sirius, who was still over from the night before.

"Miss me already?" said Sirius, grinning broadly.

Somewhere in the distance, Harry was still calling Remus' name, and adding some others like his Marauder name, Wolfy, and Buttfur.

"Yes. Very much so."

Even Azure was not safe from Harry.

'Have I ever told you how amazing you are?' he asked, smiling sweetly.

Azure barely budged. 'What do you want, hatchling?'

'I want you to stick your tongue in Draco's ear.'

If Lucius received a letter from Draco later that day, no one had to know except for all the Slytherins who were in the common room when Draco yelled that his father would hear about this.

When it was about a month before N.E.W.T.s, Harry ceased his antics to focus on studying. It was a relief to everyone —

"If a werewolf went to the moon, would they be in werewolf form forever?"

— except for a select number of people.

"I already had this conversation with James," said Remus, rubbing his eyes. It was way too early for his son's antics. (It was five in the afternoon.)

"And what did you come up with?"

"A sore shoulder from hurling a book at him."

And then, before anyone knew it, the end of the year had come and gone.

"Finally," said Severus. "We'll get some peace around Hogwarts."

"But not during the summerrrrr!" Harry said in a sing-song voice.

Severus' groan could probably be felt on the other side of Mars.

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No sequel. Aside from any potential future edits and revisions, I'm done with this fic.

Next up: the epilogue.