"For the most part," Sirius replied easily, sprawling lazily in his chair and reaching for a plate. Ceri had made a quiche that was packed with vegetables and ham. Harry's stomach growled. "Eat up, pup. You're a growing boy. With plenty more growing to do, by the looks of you; even Lily wasn't that short at your age."
Harry ducked his head. He'd resigned himself to his short stature; kids who grew up in cupboards and barely got fed didn't end up six feet tall.
"Having fun, Harry?" Remus asked kindly. Harry beamed.
"Oh, yeah! Did you know this place has a quidditch pitch? I can't wait to fly. And the library is huge! I bet there's books that aren't even in the Hogwarts library."
"Definitely. Some of those books are older than Hogwarts itself. So no food or drink in the library, alright?" Remus warned, and Harry nodded. As he ate, he gathered his courage for a question.
"Were you serious last night, when you said you'd train me?" he asked tentatively. "If you don't want to that's fine, I'm sure you're all busy, but—"
"Harry, we'd be happy to," Remus assured. "All three of us. That's actually what Severus and I were just talking about before you came in; if it's alright with you, I put together a sort-of schedule for the summer. It's got everything that the three of us thought you needed to learn, and we can always add in more things if you pick those up quickly. Or if there's something you'd like to learn that we can squeeze in."
He handed Harry a piece of parchment, and Harry unrolled it curiously.
Monday AM - Schoolwork
Monday PM - Misc. Spellwork
Tuesday AM - Duelling and defence
Tuesday PM - Free time
Wednesday AM - Potions Wednesday PM - Occlumency
Thursday AM - Free time
Thursday PM - Wizarding culture
Friday AM - Warding
Friday PM - Schoolwork
"You can have the weekend free, and of course the evenings. And any time you feel it's too much, just say so," Remus said hurriedly. "I just thought… it's a start."
"It looks great!" His tone fell just short of sincere. Remus levelled him with a knowing look. "What's wrong? Is it too much?"
"No, no! It's just… Potions?" He made a helpless face.
"I refuse to associate with anyone who cannot brew a simple Pepper-Up Potion," Snape drawled. "I do not expect you to become a master, but by Salazar, you will be at least somewhat proficient in brewing by the end of the summer. Potions are an important part of wizarding life, and you need to be capable of at least basic healing potions. There may come a time when there is no one you trust available to brew them for you."
Harry sighed — he hated to admit it, but the man had a point. Maybe he would be better at Potions without Slytherins throwing things in his cauldron, or Snape taking points every five minutes. Unless… "You can't take house points during the summer, right?" he checked suspiciously. Snape's lips twitched.
"That is correct, Mr Potter."
"Okay then. I'll study Potions." He didn't miss the way Remus lifted his glass of pumpkin juice to hide a smile. "So we start tomorrow, then? With schoolwork?"
"If you'd like. I figured you could get your homework out of the way, and then after that we can use that slot to go over anything from previous years that has given you trouble, or get a head start on next year's work," Remus suggested. "Works for me." Harry leaned back in his chair, wondering what to do with his afternoon. He really wanted to try out that quidditch pitch. "I think I'm going to go flying, if that's alright?" He raised an enquiring eyebrow at Remus — who seemed to be the most responsible one of the trio — who nodded. "But first, I'm going to write some letters. Am I alright to borrow your owl, Professor?"
"I have no need of her for now," Snape acquiesced. Harry smiled in thanks, then excused himself from the table, hurrying up to his room.
The first letter he wrote was to Draco.
Draco, First off, this is Artemis. She belongs to a friend. I thought Hedwig might give the game away a bit.
How are you? Are you in Italy yet, or France? I hope your summer is off to a good start. Mine got unexpectedly better than I ever thought. I can't tell you why. Let's just say I have some unanticipated company.
Are you going to the Quidditch World Cup this summer? Ron's going to see if his dad can get tickets. I think it'd be brilliant to go, but even if I can't, I think I'm in for a great summer.
Hope you're well, Harry
That was alright, wasn't it? Not too much information, and not too overly forward? His friendship with Draco was still so new and unsteady, he never knew how to act around the blond. Next he wrote to Neville.
Hi Neville,
Hope you and your gran are doing well. Any fun summer plans so far? My summer is looking to be pretty good, for once.
I'm going to write to a few mutual friends this summer, if I can. If you know of anyone who would like to write to me, tell them I'm all clear to receive owls. Talk to you soon,
Harry
After that, he wrote a couple of short letters to Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones, explaining that he was okay to have mail through the summer and he'd be happy to keep in touch if they wanted to. Once Artemis had taken those, he'd try a few more maybe.
There were others he wanted to write to — he wanted to write to the twins, and he should probably write to Ron and Hermione soon to stop them getting suspicious — but he didn't want to overload the owls with too many letters at once. He'd already been to the Owlery once that day, and when he went back up he was glad to see Hedwig perched on one of the overhead beams, looking content. There were three other owls beside her; Remus' owl, a barn owl named Horatio; Snape's owl, a dark screech owl called Asphodel; and Artemis. She was a fairly unremarkable tawny owl, and she cooed softly at Harry when he called her down. "You too, Hedwig," he requested. He secured the letter to Neville on her first; no one would blink twice at Hedwig visiting the Longbottom household.
Once she had set off, Harry gently secured his three notes to Artemis' leg. "Take that one last, and wait for a response, okay?" he said, pointing at the letter for Draco. Artemis hooted, bobbed her head, and took off through the open window. Harry watched the two owls fly away for a minute, then grinned. It was time for him to do some flying of his own.
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