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Chapter Text

Harry was not ready for his first day of law school.

Growing up, his aunt and uncle always said nothing would come of him, and as much as he wanted to prove them wrong, after 18 years of hearing them belittle him every day, a part of him believed it too.

Remus told him how proud he was of him, and Harry could see he really meant it. Since Sirius died, Remus found a job as a history teacher. The students loved him, but just like Harry's years at the Dursleys had convinced him he was worthless, such did Remus' years of unemployment convince him that he truly was a dangerous and disgusting abomination. But Remus told him things are different now, progress happens slowly and some good people are trying to fight the stigma against people living with HIV. And one of these good people could get him a job. At a school, no less. Harry knew remus could be so much more than a middle school history teacher if he was only given the chance but like remus told him people like remus don't get many chances. He had to take the job when Dora got pregnant because even though teddy wasn't biologically his, he was his child and he had to support them while Dora was on maternity leave.

Remus told him his parents would have been proud of him too, which he tried to believe, but his parents were such a distant, far concept by now. He would always remember them by the nasty burn scar he has on his forehead, from the car crash they died in. Aunt Petunia always told the story of how his mom could see the car at the last second and wrapped herself around him to soften his blow. It worked. His mom died and he only got a burned disfigured forehead. And aunt Petunia never seemed to forgive him for that, even though he was only two years old when it happened, and obviously couldn't do anything differently. He was left with Petunia and her husband when his parents died, but luckily Remus and Sirius could get partial custody over him and he could see them every month, and sometimes for entire weeks when his aunt and uncle went on holiday. As far as he was concerned Remus and Sirius were his real parents. At least, until Sirius died when Harry was only fifteen. He had known Sirius was in trouble with the law, that was a part of why they couldn't get full custody of Harry even when he was old enough to testify in court that he wanted to live with them full time. Being gay was crime enough for the court but Sirius also spent a year in prison for possession and with remus being positive that was pretty much a sealed deal. Remus said they were lucky they even got to see him at all. But when Harry was fifteen Sirius got shot by a cop while selling a stolen motorcycle. That was the first time Harry felt what it was like to want to set the world on fire. "But that cop is gonna get fired, right? He's gonna go to prison, right, I mean, he has to, Sirius wasn't armed, he wasn't even a threat" he shouted into the vast dining room at 12 Grimmauld place. And Remus said "he was arab and committing a crime. He had a criminal record. I'm sorry Harry but justice isn't always served." And Harry could only flip the dining table with all of the plates and food still on it, and run up to his room, which he knew used to be Sirius' room when he was a kid, and cry just like Remus did when he flipped the table. Sirius' family kicked him out when he came out but still left him their house. They were all dead before Harry was born, even Sirius' brother who had died fighting for the army.

Remus was still grieving when he started dating Dora. Maybe he'll always be grieving. But harry could see Dora made Remus happier than he could ever be by himself, so as hard as it was to accept that Sirius really is gone, Harry didn't give either of them a hard time about it. He liked Dora, and when Teddy was born he couldn't have been happier to be an older brother, of some kind.

Harry only wanted Remus to say Sirius would have been proud of him, and he did. Harry knew it was true, but he still started crying because he wished Sirius would have been there to tell him that himself. He wished Sirius could see him starting law school, tell him he's a stud when he sees him hopelessly combing his hair to try to cover his burn scar and give him a ride to school on his motorbike. Sirius taught him everything he knows about being a man. Remus always had kind words and burning truths and painful realities and logic, and time, and consequences. But Sirius had brown eyes that sparked with mischief and a crooked smile that always let Harry know everything was alright, he stood up for Harry through thick and thin and although he stopped Harry from punching a kid who said "who's that tosser on the bike?" When he came to pick Harry up from school, when Harry said he broke his cousin Dudley's nose for calling him a poofer Sirius said well done and gave him a high five.

Harry couldn't be ready to start law school. Not without Sirius. But here he was doing it anyway.

Chapter Text

Even though he arrived ten minutes early, he got so lost trying to find the right building he was about to be late for his first lesson on his first day. Harry just barely finished high school due to getting into fights and cutting classes, and as much as he wanted to make a fresh start, standing here in this court yard in front of this giant building, two minutes before the start of his life, he was getting very overwhelmed with the thought that maybe the dursleys were right and just like he was a failure at school he was going to be a failure at uni and maybe he was just a failure all along and absolutely everyone was staring at his scar.

He was trying to calm himself down by walking up to a lanky red headed guy who was lazily smoking on a bench near by. "Hey, sorry to bother you, do you happen to know where the law building is?"

Tall ginger looked up at him with piercing blue eyes over his large freckled nose and blew smoke directly into Harry's face, blurring his vision through his glasses for a second. He was wearing a maroon sweater and jeans and didn't seem to be carrying a bag or any books with him. Eventually, he looked down from Harry's forehead and answered. "Yeah mate, it's right over here." The redhead's long finger was pointing at the building right next to them. "Missed orientation day than, aye?" The redhead smirked and Harry felt a little embarrassed. Uni was pretty far from where he had lived with the dursleys, so he figured he'd save his time and money by staying at grimmauld place and helping babysit Teddy instead of going back and forth just for one orientation day. Perhaps that was a mistake. But the redhead's smirk changed into a kind smile and he said "it's alright, I'm just starting law myself, I'll show you where our first class is gonna be" and he got up from his chair, stretching his long limbs, threw his cigarette on the floor and smashed it with his foot and proceeded to walk into the building, with Harry following closely behind. The redhead lead him into a large lecture room already half full with students, harry sat down close to the back in a completely empty row of sits. "Um, did you bring the textbook for this course?" Asked the redhead, still standing. "Yeah" harry said. "Well, can I seat next to you so I can look in it as well?" "Sure". The redhead sat next to him, trying to stretch his long legs in skinny jeans to their full length, to no avail. "I'm Ron by the way" he said. "I'm Harry". As the lesson began it became apparent Ron probably didn't need his textbook since the professor was trying to go over the curriculum and someone in the front of the class kept asking a lot of questions about everything. Harry and Ron, like many others in the class, resorted to having a quiet conversation, only stopping to write down test dates and paper deadlines.
Ron's family had a small farm house up north, his father had a job for the government but Harry couldn't quite understand what exactly and he seemed to have a lot of siblings. One of them was also a government employee of some kind, one was a banker, one was a zoologist, and two were apparently twins who owned a small record store. "And they also have a band, Lee Jordan And The Twins, they're not half bad actually. And I have a little sister, Ginny, she's still in highschool. How about you Harry, where are your family?"

That question was difficult. Harry came to learn over the years that family didn't mean to him the same things that it meant to other people with, perhaps, a more normal past. Granted, having six siblings also isn't the most normal probably, and Ron seemed cool, but he only just met him and Harry already had a giant ugly burn mark on his face, he didn't need to give Ron more reasons to think he's weird. "I live with my aunt and uncle mostly, in Surrey, and I have this cousin, Dudley, he was on his way to become a pro wrestler but my uncle convinced him to work for his drill business. They're all arseholes honestly." Ron looked like he wanted to asked why Harry was living with his aunt and uncle but instead he just said "ah yeah mate that's shite isn't it" and his smile made Harry feel reassured. So when the class ended they walked together to their next class, and then to the cafeteria, and to another class. Talking to Ron was surprisingly easy for Harry. He like to complain and he liked taking the piss, and even though he knew his way around the school pretty well, Harry picked up that Ron was probably just as nervous as he was about starting uni and all that, and he probably was just as grateful to have Harry to talk to as Harry was to have Ron.

When they finished their last class of the day Ron suggested they head to the dorms. "This school is huge but the dorms are surprisingly small. Do you know what dorm building you're in yet?" Ron asked him "ah, yeah, the Griffin building" "me too! Hey, maybe we're actually in the same room!"

But they weren't. Ron was sharing a room with an engineering major called Seamus and a botany major called Neville, and Harry apparently got put in the only two person room in the building, with a film major called Dean. "Wait, you didn't ask for the two person room?" Dean asked him. "No, honestly I didn't put too much thought into that form apparently. I didn't even know there was a two person room." Harry felt, again, like everyone came to this school more prepared than him. "Pretty much everyone wants the two person room. It's the best. You only share it with one other person. I thought I only got it cause my dad is friends with the dean. I'm surprised they gave it to you instead of someone who asked for it. Well, you really lucked out aye?" But Dean seemed somewhat disappointed. Harry figured, it really wasn't the most fair that he got the best room without even asking, in place of someone who really wanted it, but he wasn't going to complain about his fortune.

Dean had a lot of posters, of american movies that harry didn't know, and also of football teams that harry did know, and he felt glad that he had something in common with dean that they could talk about. Dean mentioned that he and Seamus went to highschool together, so they decided to go over to the other room. The five of them together was better than trying to get along with dean by himself, Seamus clearly brought out the more silly side of Dean and Harry felt more comfortable with ron around. Neville was even more shy than Harry and had a slight stutter. They had an instant ramen dinner together, all five of them in Ron, Seamus and Neville's room, and eventually Harry and Dean went back to their room and got into their beds.

To the sound of Dean's snoring Harry thought of Remus, Dora and Teddy. He didn't call them today. He promised himself he would do it the next day. He tried to remember his first day of school and how long it took for him to get used to it back than. Maybe he never did get used to school and that's why he didn't show up much. A heavy sense of anxiety started building in him at the thought that maybe he'll never get used to uni either, but the feeling quickly faded away as he looked and the football posters on the wall over Dean's bed. He was already getting used to uni. The dursleys were wrong. Remus was right. As usual.

He wasn't ready to start uni, but he did, and if he made it through the first day he can make through the next.

Chapter Text

It has been about a week into the school year when Monday morning a girl walked into Harry's room, without knocking. "Hey Dean, I got us a room for the meeting, next Tuesday at three, you'll be there, right?"
Dean, who was trying to fit his camera in his bag when she walked in, just looked up at her and said "sure". The girl said "good" and was turning to leave the room when she noticed harry. "Oh, hi, I'm Hermione"
"I'm Harry"
"I know, we have every class together, I'm a law major as well, among other. Are you coming to our meeting on Tuesday?"
Hermione was quite short and round and had a head full of tight brown curls that seemed to go everywhere in no specific order. She was wearing a pink sweater and jeans and when she talked Harry noticed she had rainbow coloured braces. Her energy was a bit too much for Harry, who hadn't even dressed yet. "I'm sorry, what meeting?" He asked, slightly embarrassed, since she was talking about it as if he should have already known. "Oh, didn't Dean tell you? We're starting a Black Students Association, first meeting is next Tuesday at three in the meeting room in the Salazar building. Did you know that Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of the school, whom the building is named after, was a well known white supremacist, and when the school was de-segregated he left in protest? Good riddance. But that's why I insisted to have our meeting there, to show this school that black students are not only here to stay but that we will not stand idly by as this school continues to portray such a racist figure, as an idol. I hope you'll join us, see you next Tuesday!"

And she left the room. Harry felt quite baffled at the amount of information led on by Hermione's surprise visit. She seemed like a very intense person. Harry turned to Dean, still in confusion. "Is, she your girlfriend?" He asked. Dean made a noise between a laugh and a snore and answered "no, she's in my art history class. She's pretty intense but she's wicked smart ,she asked me if I wanted to start a black students association and I said yes. All of that stuff about Salazar Slytherin is pretty fucked up, I mean everyone knows he was racist and they still have a building named after him and a statue of him like his some kind of hero. Plus, it's always good for us black students to stay in touch with each other and be able to talk stuff out together. Make sure we can represent our interests, you know?" Harry took some time in silence before answering.

"Honestly, I don't know. I kind of grew up with the white side of my family so I guess I never really had a.. black.. community, or anything." Harry couldn't help but feel a little ashamed again. Hermione and Dean seemed like they know their shit. They both knew about that Salazar Slytherin guy, and seemed to really care about it. All the actors in the posters over Dean's bed were black. Growing up with the Dursleys, of course they missed no opportunity to remind him that he was not like them, because of his father, so to him, being half black was always what set him apart. He never had an opportunity to see it as something that could make him a part of something. Was he even black enough to be a part of them? Before he could question himself further, Dean began to speak, with a compassionate smile around his words, "well it's never too late to start, mate. Come next Tuesday, we're just getting started, brainstorming on what kind of things we want to do, we could use your perspective." Dean looked into Harry's eyes but his look was in no way pressuring. Harry believed that he meant what he was saying. "Yeah, I'll come, why not." Harry said, and had to start getting dressed if he didn't want to meet his first lesson of the day.

Chapter Text

That very same day, during lunch break, Harry saw Hermione again. Him and Ron were smoking on the lawn behind the cafeteria building when he noticed her power walking towards them from the direction of the Humanities building. "Hey Harry, Hey Ron" she said as she stopped next to where they were sitting on the grass. "Hey. Wait what." Said Ron, who apparently needed a moment to realise he and Hermione have never met before. "Ron, this is Hermione, she already knows you cause she's in all of our classes, she's a law major too." Harry said patiently, savouring the confused look on Ron's face. "Oh, yeah, you're that girl who always sits in the front and answers all the professor's questions. And then asks more questions. And probably answers those too."

Hermione didn't seem too flattered by that remark. "Yeah, that's me." She answered without a smile, "and you're that guy who sits in the back of the class next to harry, and whom I've never seen bring a pen to class even once since school started." Ron responded with an angry look. Harry didn't want this conversation to become an insult war between the two, but luckily Hermione turned to him in question; "do you know Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell?"
"No, sorry" Harry answered.

"Dean told me you guys like football and they're out on that football field every day, I thought maybe you got to play with them or get to know them somehow. I really want to invite them to our meeting, I thought if you knew them it would be better if you did it." Hermione seemed a bit disappointed and also nervous, but Harry could only say "I didn't get to see the football field yet" which was true. He didn't even know the school had a football field. Yet again, it seemed that Harry knew nothing and everyone else knew everything.
"I know them" said Ron out of nowhere "they're both in year two psychology."
Hermione didn't seem too pleased that Ron of all people had the answer, but the nervousness in her face had lessened somewhat.
"Good, than I'm counting on you to talk to them? Thanks guys." And she turned and quickly walked back to law building.

"What does she even want you to talk to them about?" Ron asked, looking after Hermione's tracks long after she'd disappeared into the building. "She's starting a Black Students Association, the first meeting is next Tuesday, I guess she wants me to invite them to come." Harry answered.
"Black students association aye? Yeah, it figures."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, the way she talks in class, if I had to put money on who would start a black students association without knowing I would bet a thousand quid on her." And then, when he saw Harry's still questioning look he added, "you know, she always has something to say back to the professor, like this law is unjust and that law is outdated and this policy is racist. She's right about the lot of it, she just makes her opinions very known is all."

Harry was pretty surprised. He was not in the habit of listening to what Hermione- or even the professors- would say in classes so far, and he was convinced that Ron was listening even less than him, yet apparently, he was keeping pretty good track of the opinions Hermione was expressing.
"Well, I think she makes pretty good points" he said, "like the Salazar building. Did you know Salazar Slytherin was a white supremacist, and the school has a building named after him?"
"Salazar Slytherin was a white supremacist? Oh, I guess he did leave the school after it was de-segregated didn't he? That is pretty fucked up. So is that what your meeting is about? You want to change the name of the building?"
Harry thought for a moment.
"I don't know." He answered, "I don't even know if a students' association can change a name of a building. But it would be cool if we did, right?"
Ron nodded in agreement. "So we're going to play football today after school?" He asked Harry, "sure." Harry answered, "I'll invite the rest of the guys as well."

So that day after school Harry, Ron, Dean and Seamus went down to the football field, ball in hand, to play some football and hopefully catch Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell for a conversation. As they were approaching the field, they could see four other people were indeed already there playing.
"There's Angelina and Katie" Ron pointed at two girls across the field, one very tall with dark cornrows in her hair and one shorter with lighter skin that had light brown curls.
"Listen, Harry, I think you should be the one to talk to them" Ron said, while they were still slightly away from the field. "What? Why? You said you know them" Harry responded, "see, Angelina used to date my brother George. Katie gets mad jealous when she's reminded of him. And I remind her of him."

They were fast approaching the field. The people that were playing had stopped and of them was approaching. He was tall and skinny, almost as much as ron, but with a bit more muscle, and he had short brown hair and a sharp nose.
"Right on time" he said nonchalantly at Ron and Harry, who got there a few paces before dean and Seamus, "we were just about to start another game"
"You want to join us?" Said another, deeper voice with a thick Bulgarian accent, and Harry noticed behind the first guy a slightly shorter guy with dark buzzed hair, a large nose and dark bushy eyebrows.
"No, it's fine, we can wait" Ron said quickly, and Harry elbowed him in the ribs in response.
"He's joking, of course we'll join you" said Dean who had just bypassed Ron to talk to the two guys.
"Ron, what the fuck, this is literally why we came here, why would you say no?" Said Dean angrily to Ron as the two guys were crossing the field to tell Angelina and Katie that the four will be joining them for the next game.
"That's Viktor Krum!" Said Ron, pointing at the Bulgarian guy with the buzzed hair, "he used to play pro for Bulgaria and then he just quit out of nowhere to start studying international relations. Now he's an exchange student here. I don't want to play against him, we'll get our arses kicked!"
Thinking hard about it, Harry could remember Viktor's face from some sports magazines a couple of years ago. "Come on Ron, don't be such a coward, it's just a game for fun" said Seamus with a laughing face, throwing his arm around Ron's shoulder. "Yeah, and so that Katie and Angelina will like us and we can ask them to come to our meeting without seeming like creeps" Dean added as the were moving to the right side of the field, getting ready to start the game.

On their side, ron was goalie, Harry was forward, Dean was defender and Seamus was midfielder. On the other team, the tall brown haired bloke, who Harry came to learn was named Oliver, played goalie, Viktor Krum was forward, Angelina was midfielder and Katie played defence. Having never played football with his uni friends before, Harry was gladly surprised at what a good team they made. Ron was much quicker to respond on the field than he was in his daily life, paying every attention to the ball when it was heading towards him and blocking it with speed and commitment that even landed him on the ground a couple of times. Dean and Seamus played like they had one brain, passing the ball between them at speeds even harry found hard to track and almost effortlessly synchronizing moves without so much as eye contact. Harry found that he and Seamus also communicated well non-verbally, passing the ball and covering for each other when they were planning tricky moves. However, as good as they were, they could not have beat their opponents. Viktor Krum was as fast as lightning, manoeuvring between them with the ball, making turns or passing the ball to Angelina without dean or Seamus being able to track his next move. He tricked Ron's attention and scored 3 goals, only missing one. Angelina was also very fast and seemed to read Krum's mind and always be where he needed to kick to. Katie was fierce, tracking and tackling Harry's moves with precision and wrath. And if he managed to get past Katie, there was Oliver. He was agile and powerful, and he almost made Harry think was going to score right before he blocked the ball coming towards the opposite side of the goal from where he was a second ago. When Harry was running with that ball and approaching Oliver, he felt like it became a private battle between the two of them. A battle he won only one of the three times he tried to score, right before the time for the game was over.

"Good game everyone, hope you're not too upset that we kicked your arses," said Oliver as they were all gathering their things and heading for the dorms. "You've got an ex pro player on your side, how's that fair?" Said Ron, who sounded genuinely bitter about it. "Sore loser, aye?" Mumbled Katie Bell. Harry gave Dean a look that meant this was their time to go and talk to Katie and Angelina about the meeting and him and Dean both paced a little faster to catch up with Katie and Angelina who were walking in the front of their little group. "Hey, it was really fun playing with you all, you two are wicked players" said Dean. Angelina giggled, "well, you lot aren't so bad yourself. If we didn't have Victor on our side maybe we'd even get a tie." Harry laughed too. Angelina wasn't being snarky, she was just taking the piss. "Well, our friend Hermione Granger and us, me and Harry, are starting a Black Students Association, to talk about things we care about and what kind of actions we can take together. Our first meeting is next Tuesday at three in the meeting room in the Salazar building. Would be cool if you'd come." Dean seemed a little nervous to ask them, but not half as much as Harry would have been to ask that to two girls in year two who only know him cause he just mopped the floor with him at football.
"Black students association? Cool. I'm surprised there isn't one already. I'll come." Said Angelina with a big reassuring smile, but Katie had scrunched her eyebrows, "what can a students' association possibly accomplish?" She asked, "well, we won't know if we won't come to the meeting" Angelina answered, "what sort of actions are you guys planning on doing?" Katie directed the question at Dean, but Harry, who had been practically silent during their conversation so far, answered before Dean started to speak, "we don't know yet, that's what the meeting is for, so anyone can bring out their ideas, or their concerns. We could use your perspective." Katie seemed to be thinking for a moment, than she said "alright. We'll be there."

They had just gotten to the Griffin building, where all of their rooms were accept for Viktor's, who was apparently in the Raven building. Katie and Angelina said goodbye at the girls' floor, and the rest of them kept up the stairs when oliver touched Harry's arm to get his attention "Harry right? You play some damn good football Harry" he said. "Are you taking the piss out of me? You guys had us for dinner out there" said Harry, laughing, "well, yeah, but you put up a fair fight. Especially you. I tell you I was certain you were gonna get it in on that second try, and you're fast as a bullet. It would be well nice if you came to play with us again sometime, we're out on the field almost every day Viktor, Katie and Angelina and me. If you play for our team you might even win next time" Harry worried that he might be visibly blushing. "I might. It was well fun playing with you guys, anyway. You all are damn good and, um, you're a damn good goalie yourself." Harry said, not quite looking at Oliver's face. Oliver smiled at him with a look in his eyes like he was trying to figure him out. "Well, Harry, that's my room" Oliver pointed at the door but didn't open it yet. "I'm majoring in international relations, year three, you can come by the building. You know, if you ever feel like a game of football." Harry nodded and gave Oliver a friendly handshake. "Will do. Bye Oliver."
"Was a pleasure meeting you Harry." Said Oliver, than walked into his room and closed the door

Chapter Text

That week Harry was out playing football with Oliver, Victor, Angelina and Katie almost every day. Sometimes he would play along side them and sometimes he was on the opposite team but in both cases he felt that he was learning and improving as a result. Oliver was impressed with him after every game whether he was on the winning team or not, and the others would compliment him often as well but more than that he felt that they were becoming his friends. Victor was still mostly quiet but Harry knew he was on good terms with him when he gave him a pat on the back after a game or invited him to stay for a ramen dinner in his dorm with the others. And sometimes he would come to field and find just Oliver there, and they would play by themselves or talk about how school was going.

When Tuesday came along Hermione had reminded everyone of the black students association's first meeting so many times that it would have been impossible for anyone to forget to be there at three. When the hour finally came, Hermione- notebook and pen in hand-, Harry, Dean, Angelina and Katie were all sitting around the square of desk in the middle of the meeting room in the Salazar building, waiting for everyone to arrive. At three fifteen, Hermione had to conclude with much visible disappointment that they were probably everyone. Harry was unpleasantly surprised. He had seen Hermione talk to quite a lot of people about the meeting over the week, he assumed at least some of them would show. Harry had an uncomfortable feeling that perhaps Hermione's talkative and over enthusiastic nature had accidentally pushed people away instead of drawing them in to her ideas.
After fifteen minutes of almost nothing besides awkward silence, Hermione cleared her throat and began, "welcome everyone to the first meeting of the black students association of Hogwarts university. Our first and only order of business is to discuss what sorts of causes and actions we wish for our group to execute in the future. Once we have those set we can begin to understand how we get there. Is everyone ok with me being in charge of the discussion?" She said, looking around. Harry nodded, but Katie quickly rolled her eyes and said; "Hermione, what are you doing?"
"I'm taking charge of the discussion. I mean, unless you have any objections or you-"
"What discussion? Hermione this is a failure, no one showed up"
"We showed up" said Hermione, "and maybe with time more people will join, I mean, sometimes it's easier for people to join an existing group than to start one from scratch".
"And what exactly will they be joining?" Said Katie, "what can five people possibly do?"
Hermione opened her mouth but it didn't seem she had thought of an answer quickly enough to speak it. Angelina spoke instead, "five people is more than enough to start talking about the problems we experience in this school, and in this country. Five people can start to try to understand how racism has affected our learning environment and our lives. The truth is," Angelina said, looking past Katie and right into Hermione's eyes, " I think you're doing a great thing Hermione. Sometimes we" and she looked at Katie while saying that "should have already done. Something other students years before us should have already done. You're demanding a space for us to not only exist, but exist beyond the weight of separation and silencing. This is a place for black student to unite around, for us to unite around, which is something that we desperately need. So thanks Hermione, you inspire me."
Hermione was blushing furiously and trying to gather her notes, only half looking into Angelina's eyes. Katie looked somewhat conceded and somewhat furious. Hermione, still red as a rose, cleared her throat again and said; "thank you very much Angelina, it's a joy to hear that, and I couldn't agree more. So, does anyone have any ideas for subjects that they wish for us to discuss or interact with as a group?"
"Well, what about Salazar Slytherin?" Dean said
"What about him?" Asked Katie in her usual impatient tone
"Well, he's a known white supremacist and you're sitting in a building named after him right now" dean answered
"Yeah, we can start a petition to change the building's name, if we get enough people to sign it we can bring it to the dean and request that the name be changed or we take further action, like demonstrating or something." Hermione began racing, writing in her notebook simultaneously with talking.
"Well, the first step should be to print out posters and hang them on the building, to let people know who this man really was. Not everyone knows about it because it's erased from the school's history, obviously. Once we raise awareness to it people can start getting behind things like petitions and protests and shit." Dean said.
"Ooh, yeah, posters, that's a great idea! We should-" Hermione began, but in that moment, walked through the door a fit white bloke with light blond hair and a sharp chin. He was wearing a dark green long sleeved button down and was walking tall and slowly as if they've all been waiting for him.

"Excuse me" said the bloke, "could you please keep it down in here? Or at least shut the door? Other meeting are taking place in this building at the moment"
Hermione seemed immediately upset.
"No, Malfoy, we won't keep it down. This building is ours just as much as it is anyone else's, we are sitting in this building on purpose in order to claim this space. And we cannot close the door because we are expecting more people to arrive."
Hermione spoke in a sharp angry tone that Harry had barely heard from her before. Sometimes when she would get angry with Ron she used a somewhat harsh tone but nothing like this.
"Come on Granger don't fool yourself, you're not expecting anyone to arrive, you're five people sitting in a room and screaming into the air." The blond that Hermione called Malfoy spoke in a slow condescending tone and the smile on his face wasn't happy or kind. Just when Hermione had opened her mouth to retaliate another face appeared in the door, that of a thin and tall bloke with sharp cheekbones and dark skin. "Draco, are you coming or what?" He called for Malfoy, completely ignoring everyone else in the room.
"Sure, Blaise." The blond said and turned to leave, shutting the door behind him.

For the rest of the meeting Harry was distracted by the thought of Draco Malfoy and the interaction between him and and Hermione. He couldn't understand why Hermione reacted with such immediate hostility toward his- fairly reasonable- requests. Was it really just her uncompromising determination to claim a space for black students in the Salazar building, or was there something more going on?
By the end of the meeting, Hermione has volunteered to write a poster which Dean will design and Harry will print, and then they will all go put them up together on the Salazar building sometime before the next meeting.

As they were walking out of the Salazar building and past the large bronze statue of Salazar Slytherin near the entrance, Harry saw Draco Malfoy and his friend Blaise sitting on a bench near the statue. Hermione gave them an angry look and Harry couldn't stop himself from asking. "Don't you think you were a little too hard on that Draco guy before? Maybe he was right, we could have been more quite." Hermione turned to look at him with the same angry face. "You don't understand Harry, he wasn't making a simple request, he has a problem with us. He probably doesn't even want us in the building."
"Why do you say that?" Harry asked.
"That's Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Malfoy. Lucius is a major lobbyist for all kinds of right wing legislation. Their family has stocks in pretty much every large company in the country and they like to run things from the shadows. Did you know their family were some of the funding for the Salazar Slytherin statue? Disgusting. I wouldn't be surprised that they're white supremacists themselves with the kind of laws they promote. And who do you think is designated to take over the family's business of lobbying and investing after Malfoy senior? Draco is his father's most prized investment. He probably taught him all of his hateful ways, like silencing black activism. I can't give someone like that the time of day."

As they were continuing to walk towards the Griffin building, Harry looked back and saw Draco and Blaise, still sitting by the statue. On his face he wore the same look of disgust as Hermione

Chapter Text

After that meeting Harry seemed to be noticing Draco everywhere he went. In every class Draco seemed to be sitting just close enough for Harry to hear him mumbling to his friends all class without understanding what they were saying but still being distracted by it. When he went to use the students' printer to print out the posters about Salazar Slytherin, draco was just finishing printing a paper about constitutional law that Harry hasn't even started writing yet. And worst of all, Harry saw him on the football field all the time. Mostly he would come wanting to play and find Draco with a bunch of other guys from the salazar building have already got the field. On the few times that Oliver or Victor suggested they should ask to join them Harry preferred to find an excuse to just walk away.

He's been at uni for over a month, so far he's stayed in the dorms every weekend, studying or more likely hanging out with Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville. But after last weekend Draco Malfoy had the football field again as well as been sitting under their favourite tree in the courtyard when they went out to have lunch there, Harry decided he needed a break. He phoned Remus to ask if it would be okay for him to come over for the weekend and Remus said of course and that they've been waiting to hear from him. Harry was glad to see them again, and to be somewhere he was certain he wasn't gonna run into Draco Malfoy.

-

Remus opened the door as soon as Harry knocked on it, pulling him into a tight hug without bothering closing the door first. "Hey Remus, how've you been?" Harry asked after a while still in Remus' arms. "Fine, fine" said Remus, letting Harry go but still keeping him close. Remus' face looked older than it was, pale and tired, with many thin white scars across it. He never looked fine when he said he was fine, but Harry didn't want to push him on it, at least not now, while they were still at the door. Dora had just walked in from the hallway, holding two year old little Teddy in her arms. Teddy looked sleepy and tense, but Dora seemed glowing with joy. She hugged Harry with one hand, holding Teddy in the other. "How are you, Harry?" She asked. Her hair was now shoulder length and purple with bangs. When Harry left for uni it was pink with no bangs and a bit longer. But Harry was well used to Dora changing her hair often, getting or removing piercings, or getting new tattoos. When she and Remus first started dating she had a red pixie cut. "I've been good, really good." Harry said. "Hey Teddy, how are you?" Teddy looked at Harry wide-eyed, and seemed to get somewhat more calm upon seeing him. "He's just cranky cause he's usually asleep by now but he wanted to stay up so he could see you" Dora said. Harry smiled and gently ruffled Teddy's thin blond hair. "Don't worry Teddy, I'll still be here tomorrow when you wake up." Teddy just cuddled closer to Dora, but still kept his eyes on Harry. "I'll go put my things up in my room and then we'll eat? I'm absolutely starving after that train ride." Harry said, already on his way down the hall. "Sure, but you'll need to wait just a bit, we're having guests over." Remus said. Harry turned back to him and took a breath trying not to respond angrily. "You mean other than me?" He asked, somewhat sarcastically. "Yeah, but they should be here any minute, go put your things up." Remus said nervously, clearly noticing Harry's displeased response. Harry took another breath, smiled and went up the stairs to his room.

Harry's room at 12 Grimmauld place was Sirius' childhood bedroom. Harry never bothered removing the posters and photos on the walls, in fact, he liked them, especially finding pictures of his parents, letters that they wrote to Sirius. The room was covered in memories of them, and of him. Mostly from their youth. When he was a kid, he could spend hours just looking through the photos and letters, it was exciting, discovering his parents' past. But since Sirius died there was something sad about it. The memories ceased to be living, vivid and exciting. They were dead now too.

Harry heard the door of the house opening downstairs and some voices, then Remus calling "Harry, come down, our guests are here!"

Harry didn't want to come down and welcome Remus' guests. He knew it was childish, but this was his first day back there since he left for uni and he expected to get Remus and Dora's full attention. He took another breath and approached the door of his room anyway. He's an adult, and he can accept that he is not the most important person for them today. Even if they haven't seen him in two months and probably won't be seeing him for two more.

When he walked into the kitchen the odd couple sat at the table immediately caught his eye. They were both very tall men, which Harry could tell even when they were sitting down. One looked fairly old and skinny with long white hair and beard and thin glasses. He was wearing a purple velvet vest on top of a pink formal button down with a thin blue flower pattern on it. The other man was even taller than the first and much wider, with long black hair and beard. He was wearing a simple flannel shirt that had some fresh mud stains around the cuffs.

"Harry, I'd like you to meet my friends," Remus said from near the stove, "Albus Dumbledore" the older man put out his hand with a smile and Harry shook it, "and Rubeus Hagrid." The larger man stood up to shake Harry's hand and Harry discovered that he was even taller and larger than he thought. "Albus, Rubeus, this is Harry, James and Lily's son, and a promising new law student." Harry sat down at the opposite side of the table from Albus and Rubeus, next to Dora.

"Harry, boy, you look just like your father, two drops of water you and him" Rubeus said. Harry had seen his father in the photos in Sirius' old room, so he knew Rubeus was right.
"You're quite right Rubeus, but he has lily's eye colour." Said Albus, looking at Harry over his glasses.
All of Sirius' photos were black and white, so what Albus said came as a surprise to Harry.
"You two knew my parents?" He asked them.
"Knew them? They were two of my favourite people in the world they were" said Rubeus.
"Where did you know them from?" Harry asked, eager to know every detail.
"Should I tell the story Remus, or should you?" Albus asked Remus with a smile.

Remus had just finished bringing the food to the table. He sat down at the short end of the table between harry and albus and said "I'll start, you can take it from there".
Remus began, "well Harry, as you know, your father, Sirius and I all went to high school together, and after we finished and took a gap year, along with our friend Peter, we all wanted to go to university together as well. We had the perfect one picked out, one that suited the needs for each of us, and we all applied. Your father, Sirius and Peter all got in. I, however, did not."
"Although, if I remember correctly, u had the highest grades out of the four of you, by far." Albus added playfully, and Harry wondered how he could know that.
" Than why didn't you get in?" He asked.
Remus sighed, "you see Harry, during our gap year is when I contracted HIV. Somehow, the university's administration found out about my status, and they made it very clear that that was the reason they didn't want me at their school."
"But that's-!"
"The way the world was back then. And still is in some places. Dr. Dumbledore here was a professor in that university at the time and head of the criminology department there. When he heard of the administration's decision he did everything he could to make them change their mind. When they insisted upon their discriminatory behaviour, he resigned in protest."
Harry looked at Albus in awe. He was just smiling fondly, but Harry couldn't imagine making such a big sacrifice for someone he didn't even know at the time.

"When I heard of Albus' actions I immediately wrote to him and thanked him for standing up for me in the way that he did. We continued to correspond and eventually met in person as well. Albus is a very distinguished academic, in fact he recently used his connections amongst educators to get me my teaching job. His fight against the university made headlines. Although my name was not published the other universities all knew about my status and would not accept me, which is why I never went on to higher education, but Albus would host me in his home and we would read and talk together, he taught me more than any school could. He introduced me to Rubeus and I introduced them to Sirius and James. When I wasn't accepted at that first uni my friends were furious for me and refused to go without me. All but Peter, who wouldn't give up on his dream school, enrolled there and lost touch with us shortly into his first year. Sirius, the rebellious git he was decided that if I can't go to uni than neither could he, but he couldn't sit still long enough for Albus' lessons, he went on a different path and made the choices he made. Your father however decided to enroll in a different university, which ended up being lucky because that's where he met your mother, and not three years later you were born."

"Lily was a brilliant young mind" said albus, "sharper than almost any I've known. And your father was as eager and passionate to change the world as she was to understand it. He cared deeply about the ones he loved, more than anything. So did Sirius. They were great and one of a kind people."
Remus had a sad smile on his face.
"The best I've ever met," said Rubeus, picking up his glass of beer and emptying it down in one long swig, "didn't deserve to go like they'd gone, in that age." He nodded his head.

They stayed at the dinner table long after they all finished their meals, telling stories about the past, about Harry's parents, and Sirius, and Harry drank up every word eagerly, wanting to know everything he could and more. It was like Sirius' photos have come to life again.
It was nearly midnight when Remus said "I wouldn't want to keep u here too late, you've got a long drive ahead of you." And Rubeus said "indeed, indeed." And got up to put on his jean jacket lined with fur inside.
"But Harry," said Remus, "I wanted you to meet Albus and Rubeus tonight because they actually live quite near to you university. Coming over here is a long way to go and I know we probably won't be able to see you often during this year, but when I was your age I could always come to Albus and Rubeus' place if I needed anything, and I wanted you to have that too."
"Of course Harry, come whenever you like!" Rubeus said, and Albus just smiled and shook Harry's hand again before they said goodbye and walked out the door.

After they left, Remus and Harry sat in silence for a moment while Dora was washing the dishes.
"Thank you." Said Harry.
Remus' tired eyes lit up and he smiled a kind smile.
"I'm glad you're doing alright Harry" he said.
Harry got up to go to sleep, but first made sure to give Remus a tight hug, which he could tell surprised him a bit. While they were hugging Harry said again "thank you."
He let go, said goodnight and went upstairs to his room, where he quickly fell asleep while looking at the faces smiling at him from the pictures on the walls.

Chapter Text

After Harry had returned from his weekend at home he felt a sort of ease. Whatever was happening at uni, there is a world outside of it that would always be there when he needs it. However, the world that was uni seemed to be composed of about ninety percent Draco Malfoy. He was always walking around with his little possy, Blaise, Vince and Greg and Pansy. Like they owned the place.

Harry continued to try as hard as he could to avoid Malfoy everywhere except on the football field, where he decided it was his soul purpose to beat Malfoy and his friends, but that turned out to not be an easy task. Malfoy was good, and his teammates were ruthless, almost aggressive, fights almost broke down several times between the teams. Many of their games would end in a draw and Malfoy's team won just as many times as Harry's, which made him feel like even his victories weren't worth much. Harry felt as though Malfoy was taunting him with every action and he was determined not to give him the satisfaction.

On the next meeting of the Black Students' Union everyone was gearing up in preparation for putting up the posters about Salazar Slytherin.
"So it's agreed, we put up the posters on the Salazar building first and talk about spreading to other areas of campus depending on the effect they will have. Now, we should discuss whether or not to-" Hermione was cut short when the door to the meeting room opened and Blaise Zabini walked in. He sat in the empty chair between Dean and Angelina as if everyone must have been expecting him. For a moment no one knew what to say and just stared at him in confusion, waiting for some explanation of his presence. "Don't let me stop you" he finally said to Hermione, in a somewhat condescending tone. "What are you doing here Zabini?" Hermione asked impatiently. "Waiting for you to get on with your business mostly". He responded, sounding almost bored. "Oh come on. Why are you here?" She asked again, and Harry could see her face already getting red with anger. "I want to join your union, obviously." Everyone looked absolutely dumbfounded, except for Alicia, Katie's friend who came into the meeting for the first time and clearly had no idea why Blaise would seem out of place.

Out of nowhere, Hermione sneered. "Oh, come on, you really think that's gonna work on us? I don't know what's your goal here but obviously we're not letting you in".
"I might have to agree with Granger on that one," said Katie, "we know you're mates with that Malfoy bloke."
"Well, I didn't realize being a part of this union depended on what company one keeps." Zabini said in his signature biting tone. "I thought this was a black students union. I'm a black student aren't I? And I experience racial discrimination just as much as any of you. Sadly enough my friendship with Draco is yet to rid me of that. As far as the Salazar building goes I might even have slightly more experience in that particular injustice seeing as I actually live there. But I guess it's for you to decide whether your union stands for all black students or just the ones whose friends you like."

Every word that came out of Blaise's mouth made him sound even more unlikeable to Harry, but if he tried to look past it, he did have a point. Harry didn't know what to think.
"Okay, let's put it to a vote than." Said Hermione, reluctantly. "All in favour of accepting Blaise Zabini into the black students' union?" Angelina and Alicia raised their hands.
"All opposed?"
Hermione, Katie, Dean and Harry all raised their hands.
"Well, sorry Blaise, but this is democracy so…" Hermione made little effort to hide her satisfaction. Blaise opened his mouth as if to retaliate, but Angelina cut him off. "What if he joined us for our action against the Salazar building, that way we can see if he really has some bad intentions and then we can decide whether to let him in."
"Angelina! You're not supposed to talk about actions we're planning with people outside the union!" Hermione looked horrified.
"He clearly already knows" answered Angelina.
"I think it's pretty obvious what you're planning and I fully support it. And although you definitely haven't made me feel very welcome, I know the Salazar building and it's surrounding better than any of you, which might be important for the purposes of your plan." Said Blaise.
Hermione seemed to consider it for a second. "All in favour of Blaise joining us for our upcoming action?" She asked
"And afterwards we'll vote on whether or not to let him in" Angelina added.

The vote was unanimous. Blaise was now a part of their plan.