Harry Potter was dazed. It had been a few days since Hermione and he listened to Albert's story, yet the vivid image of her mother he saw in the mirror of erased suddenly popped inside his head again. The soft smile, the pat on his shoulder, every movement that imaginary mother from the mirror did keep emerging as if it was mocking him that he would never be able to have her.
Sometimes, when he really thought about it, Harry hated himself a lot, because he seemed to be the reason why his mom died. According to the headmaster, his mom exchanged her life for his protection, which he would exchange it back just for one hour of meeting with her if only he could. It was unfair that he was robbed of his parents at a very young age, and the frustration he had never felt whenever he was in Hogwarts suddenly haunted him back.
"Is everything okay, Harry?" Katie's soft voice snapped him from his thought, the girl looked at him with concern. "You have been daydreaming for about fifteen minutes. Are you okay?"
"If you feel sick, maybe we can ask Professor Shafiq to let you go to the infirmary first? I am sure he would let you do that." Alicia suggested.
"Do you think the detention is a bit too much?" Angelina also chimed in. "If so, maybe we can complain to Professor McGonagall."
"You shouldn't tell Professor Shafiq the truth if you were worried the detention would be too much, though," Fred grumbled, his eyes never leaving a book in front of him.
"Yes, Harrykins. You should never do that." George added, pouted a little.
"Oh, shut up, you two." Oliver glared at them. "Don't worry, Harry. Even though the twins said that, we are still proud you are brave enough to admit our mistake." He patted the younger boy's shoulder.
"Really?" The bright green eyes behind the glasses were widened, not expecting someone would say they were proud of him.
"Of course, we are proud of you!" Angelina smiled softly. "Even the twins too, but you know how they are."
"What do you mean by that, Angelina?!"
"Yeah, what do you mean by that?"
Seeing the concerned gazes from everyone with the twins trying to lighten up the mood, Harry felt warm inside his heart. Even though he had been unlucky with his life so far, he was still grateful he met such a wonderful group of people who treated him as a family, as a little brother. The warm concern and protection he felt from them was like a drop of water that kept the barren land alive.
"Don't worry, everyone. I am okay."
Alicia stared at him for a moment before saying, "Well, if you say so. Let's just finish the job as quickly as possible. Come here, Harry. Let me check your work."
When they saw Alicia helping Harry, the two other girls also offered the same, and it didn't take too long for him to finish his summary. He still waited for the others to finish their job though, a solidarity after getting helped first. When they all noticed Harry was done with his work, everyone sped up, finishing their detention and going back to the dorm as soon as possible.
While waiting, Harry yawned tiredly, decided to re-read his work once again. Honestly, even though this kind of detention was twice as tiring as wiping a dusty trophy or scrubbing some old cauldrons, he felt more satisfied here, thinking he gained a lot. Just in one hour of reading and summarizing, he felt the things Snape kept blabbering last year suddenly become easier to understand now.
Somehow, he understood Hermione's feelings about studying.
"Have you all done it?" His professor suddenly walked into the office and asked.
"Harry is done, Professor. We will be too soon." Oliver answered without raising his head.
A few moments later, seven parchments were stacked on Albert's desk, all filled with the writing of the seven of them. After checking for a while, the professor nodded, satisfied with their work.
"Good job, all of you. I don't expect the high quality of the essay, especially from the twins."
"What do you mean, Professor?!" One of them gasped.
"Yeah, is that the words a professor should say to his students?" The other gasped more dramatically.
"You cannot fool me, Messrs. Weasley. I know you well enough at this point." Albert snorted.
"Oh, well, I guess we try." One of them shrugged innocently, eliciting laughter from the others.
"Well, you can go back to your dorm now. Don't wander for too long in the night, okay? And Messrs. Weasley, remember my words?" Albert stared at the twins who grinned mischievously.
"Of course, Professor! Don't get caught!"
When they left Albert's office, it was already dark outside, no sign of life could be seen around them. Before Harry went to Hogwarts, this kind of quiet night would send creep to his back as his head would be filled by a lot of different ghosts Dudley, his cousin, kept sputtering about. But since he knew that ghosts did indeed exist, he enjoyed walking in the night like this, venturing the old corridor that seemed to be unexplored for a century.
This time though, Harry was too tired for that. It had been a roller-coaster day for him, from being involved in a brawl with the Slytherin team to getting to know his mother from his potion professor, all he wanted to do was fall into his comfortable bed and leave all the thoughts he had for tomorrow.
However, that exhaustion vanished the moment the fat lady painting swung open to let them enter, as he saw Hermione was on one of the couches near the fireplace, waiting for him. His eyes brightened up, knowing the girl spent all the night in the library, exploring the old archives to get to know his mother better.
"You found it?" Harry asked, his voice full of hope.
"I didn't find a lot, but it would be a good clue to know which one to ask," Hermione said smugly, proud of her achievement.
"Wait a second," Harry said goodbye to the team first before dragging Hermione back to the couch where the girl sat the first time he saw her earlier. "Where is Ron, by the way?"
"He fell asleep first, saying too tired after the detention with Snape."
Harry had a downcast expression for a moment, disappointed that he couldn't share the story about his mum with his best friend. However, when he thought Ron had to do the detention with Snape while struggling with the issue of his broken wand, Harry winced, knowing his best friend had a hard time since the beginning of the term.
"Do you think I am a selfish person, Hermione?" He suddenly asked.
Hermione furrowed her brows, asked back, "Why do you think so?"
"I don't know." Harry shrugged. "I feel like I am forcing you and Ron to listen and help me searching anything about his mum that I forgot you two also have your own business outside. Like Ron here, he still has to deal with Snape for at least two weeks while I don't have to do that. Sometimes, I feel like a jackass."
Hermione's features softened as she patted Harry's shoulder. "Harry, it is okay to be selfish sometimes. You know, Ron also did that too. He always loves telling us stories about his brothers, either Bill with his cool curse-breaking stuff or Charlie with his awesome dragon. And the fact that the thought crossed your mind shows that you care about us. You are a good boy, Harry, don't forget about that."
Harry shared a weak smile as he said, "Thanks, Hermione."
For a moment, silence fell around them, only the laughter from the twins on the other side of the dorm could be heard by them. Even though Hermione didn't say anything and just flipped the article she brought back and forth, surprisingly, Harry enjoyed the comfortable silence there, thinking there was something from the girl that soothed his nerves. His mind seemed to shut down for a second, all the anxiety about the house-elf called Dobby, flying car, losing house point, detention, Malfoy, and even the thought of his mother was gone. It wasn't until Hermione reminded him that Harry was back from his dreamland.
"Do you want to see what I get from the library?"
"Sure." Harry leaned his body forward, showing his interest.
"So, after about an hour of searching the old archives, I couldn't find your mum's student record at all. Maybe it was to keep the student's privacy or another reason that I don't know, but it was frustrating. I didn't have too much hope in the newspaper since only famous people or incidents would just show up until one small rubric in the Daily Prophet caught my interest. Here."
Harry stared intently at the newspaper Hermione brought, reading it carefully, didn't want to miss a single word from it.
The Veil is at Risk: Muggleborn's Breakthrough May Expose Magic
As the wizarding world continues to thrive, a new threat has emerged that could potentially disrupt the delicate balance of power. A Muggleborn, Lily Marie Evans, has made a groundbreaking discovery – With Fillius Flitwick, the charm professor of Hogwarts, and Albert Adrian Shafiq, the head of the most ancient and the most noble Shafiq house as her backing, she has figured out how to harness and manipulate electricity.
While this may seem like a minor achievement to some, the implications are far-reaching and terrifying. With electricity, Muggles could potentially create devices that would allow them to pierce the veil of magic, exposing the wizarding world to their own brand of technology. The consequences would be catastrophic.
Imagine it - Muggles armed with electricity-powered devices, capable of disrupting the intricate web of spells and charms that govern our society. Imagine the chaos that would ensue if they were able to disrupt the flow of magic in the skies, causing planes to fall from the air or rendering our most basic spells useless.
The Ministry of Magic must take immediate action to prevent this disaster from unfolding. We urge all wizards and witches to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity or Muggle sightings. Together, we must protect our way of life and ensure that the wizarding world remains safe from the dangers of Muggle technology.
The article was short, written in a small rubric on the edge of the newspaper. It wasn't good either, putting his mum in the bad light as if she wanted to invade the magical world. The fact that there was no electricity in Hogwarts until now meant someone deliberately suppressed his mum's achievement, something that Harry was sure he would be furious about later if only he could focus his mind on its substance.
For now, though, Harry's eyes were completely on the moving picture displayed by the newspaper in front of him. He could easily recognize Albert who was probably still in his late teenage days and Flitwick who was no different from now as time didn't affect him at all. Those two stood between a girl slightly younger than the potion professor, looking at her proudly as she had a wide smile on her face.
Unlike last year, when he saw the illusionary presence of his mum in the mirror of erased, Harry knew the picture in front of him was real. The long hair tied up in a ponytail style, the sharp eyes that showed intelligence, the trace of pimples, the dimples on the corner of her smile, the thin lips curled up creating a nice angle, the jawline that was rounded a bit, he tried to engrave all of that inside his head.
"Unfortunately, the picture is in black-and-white, so I cannot see the green eyes Hagrid said you inherited from your mum." Hermione huffed. Then, she noticed the state of her best friend who hadn't said a word since he read the article, and asked, eyes full of concern, "Are you okay, Harry?"
"I am so upset, Hermione," Harry whispered quietly, his hand clenched the newspaper in front of him. Hermione was taken aback, but still giving him time to explain. "I have been looking for my parents' identity for years before I came here, yet it is already my second year in this school, and never in his mind crossed the thought of finding any information about them. All I know about my parents is that I look like my dad with my mum's eyes. Other than that, only Snape liked to talk about my dad, and I would rather eat the most disgusting thing in the world rather than believe in his words. So, yeah, I am so upset with myself. How could I forget about them the moment I became a Hogwarts student?"
"Oh, Harry…"
Hermione looked at him sadly before engulfing him in her bear hug. Harry stiffened a bit before accepting the hug, returning it ten-fold. His breath seemed to get heavier as a single tear rolled down his cheek. All the memories of him craving for his parent's presence in the past suddenly emerged as the last bullet to hit the dam that held back his tears.
"It's okay, Harry. It is better to be late than never." Hermione held his shoulder tightly, looking at his eyes firmly. Her eyes were also watery, couldn't hold back her tears. "In fact, I have a good idea. Here, let me tell you…"
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"You two want to know about Mrs. Potter?" Albert raised his eyebrows slightly. "Not that I question your motive considering Mister Potter himself is here too, but why me?"
Yes, the good idea Hermione talked about last night was to go to Albert once again to inquire about Harry's mum. Of course, they could talk to Flitwick or Dumbledore too, but Hermione felt -which Harry agreed immediately - that they had no close bond with the other professors since the contact they had only resolved around academic matters, completely different compared to Albert who was willing to talk about anything inside his office.
"Well, we got curious about her and tried to find out if there was any other information in the library." Hermione flushed a bit. "And I found out the article about her finding a way to get electricity to work in the magical world! It has been about 12 years since that happened, how come I don't see any electricity around us?"
Albert chuckled at Hermione's enthusiasm, and his eyes softened when he saw the newspaper the girl brought. "Unfortunately, Miss Granger, the report here is exaggerating. We figured out where should we begin if we wanted the magical world to have electricity by breaking down the Lumos charm to the ground and attaching it to the rune while comparing the process of what happened with how electricity fuelled a lamp. It was a technical issue with a lot of boring arithmancy calculation, so no, Miss Granger, I wouldn't dive into the detail."
Hermione's face was beet red as if she had just been caught stealing cookies from the jar.
"But like I said, it was a pretty ambitious project, one which unfortunately had to be stopped."
"Eh?!" Not only Hermione, but even Harry was surprised. "Why?!"
"Because Mrs. Potter unfortunately passed away in 1981," Albert said bluntly, which froze Harry immediately. This was probably the first time he realized that Lily Potter -and James Potter to some extent- was not just his mum, but also a person too. When she died, it wasn't just him who felt loss, but also her friends too. For a moment, his brain stuck, couldn't find a word as he decided to continue listening to the story. "While my name was there too, I acted as one of the investors in this project, so I didn't know a lot about the technical issue. If you want to know, you both can talk to Professor Flitwick. I am sure he still remembers that project as well."
Harry and Hermione nodded, putting that inside their mind.
"One of the investors?" Hermione suddenly asked. "Is there anyone else who is interested in this project too?"
Good question, Harry muttered. This would at least give them another name who knew about his mum that he could ask for. However, Albert's answer was out of his expectation.
"Why, of course, it should be Mr. Potter." Albert chuckled amusedly. "I don't know about him at all since we were four years apart, yet I knew he was head over the heel for Mrs. Potter. The moment she asked around for an investor, it was Mr. Potter who jumped into the boat first before me. If I wasn't that interested in this project, I am sure he wouldn't let me invest too out of jealousy."
Harry was stunned, not expecting he would hear his dad's name too. He frowned though, before asking, "Then, why didn't the newspaper mention my father's name too here?"
"Because unlike my family which had fallen to the point of only myself as the member, at that time, the Potter family was one of the biggest families in Britain," Albert answered easily. "You must notice that the article didn't put your mum in a good light, Mister Potter. It is because she was a muggleborn. But the Potter Family? It was out of everyone's touch. No one was willing to offend them even in their dream."
Harry blinked a few times, couldn't process the new information. His family was big about ten to twelve years ago? Then, how could he be the only one here? And why would no one get in touch with him during his time in the Dursley? Question after question flew around as he didn't notice Albert asked a question again.
"So, what do you two want to know more about the deceased Mrs. Potter?"
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Author note
I make a site for anyone who want to support me. If you are willing to help, you will also be able to read this story up to chapter 21. If you are interested, you can visit patre0n/BlankNotes04. Please, support this work too! I hope that you are satisfied with this story! Thank you!