Link of Hogwarts

Forty-One

Needless to say everything after that was a mess and Link only have a vague recollection of being found by Sirius, Remus and Arthur before being shoved into the tight embrace of Molly. They then hastily clean up their campsite and everyone gathered at the Burrow after a hasty escape.

Since it was late and everyone's tired, Sirius set up his camp outside the Burrow and he, Link and Remus slept in there before joining the Weasleys for breakfast. Everyone's mood was subdued by the event of last night and hushed conversations amongst the adults can be heard but none of the children are allowed to listen in.

Instead they were given chores. Hermione had returned early in the morning to her parents and promised to meet up at Hogwarts Express. Neville returned with his Gran to their estate and Luna hopped back to her own home just beyond the glade. Link and co was cordially invited before summer ends.

When September 1st rolled in, they gathered at Platform 9 ¾ and bid goodbye to their respective family members. Hermione grumbled as they arranged themselves in their shared compartment, "It's too bad that Prof Lupin was ousted as a werewolf last year. He was the best Defense teacher so far,"

Neville nodded while Ginny asked, "Any clue on who it was that ousted him?"

Collectively they turned to Link, which confuses the boy, "What?"

Ron glanced at everyone around him before clearing his throat, "Well, usually you're the one with the ideas,"

Link blinked, "I think it was Prof Snape,"

Hermione gawked, "What?! Why?!"

Link helped Gaepora with his feathers as he ruminate over his thoughts, "Well...remember the Shrieking Shack? Apparently Sirius and my Dad used to accompany Remus during the full moon as animagus," No one mentioned anything of the unsaid missing member, "And after he returned to Hogwarts as a professor, Remus used the Shrieking Shack as his transformation abode which he did when he was a student. This is so no one will come across him when he transforms. But one night he forgot to take the Wolfsbane Potion and Snape noticed this because he was supposed to be the one to provide it for Remus. Luckily Remus ended up running around naked in the Forbidden Forest and its fortunate that no one get bitten,"

He shrugged, "I guess Snape just want to make sure that there'll be no more slip up,"

Hermione scowled, "Well...guess we can't blame him. For all his mistreatment and abuse of authority, Prof Snape take his job as a teacher and keeping students safe seriously,"

Ron pulled a face while Neville tries to curl into himself, "Are you certain about that? I'm pretty sure even graduates still traumatized by memories of him," He then added, "Once on a Diagon Alley trip, I saw him down the main street and some of the witches and wizards actually ran and hide when they saw him!"

Hermione swatted at him, "Ron, he's not that bad!"

Neville mumbled to the side, "No, he is that bad," When he found her looking at him, he added, "I saw the same thing just last week during a final checkup for school,"

She relented, "Seriously?"

Ginny turned to Link who's busy helping Gaepora with his preening, "Link?"

He looked at her in acknowledgment before returning to Gaepora. She take it as him telling her to continue, "I heard from Ron and the Twins about your tree..."

While Ron, Hermione and Neville argued about Severus Snape and the primal fear his very presence incited in even graduated Hogwarts students, Ginny tries to peek into Link's private life. Truth be told ever since Link rescued her from Tom, what was once a childish infatuation had turned into true affection for elven eared boy in front of her.

But after a sleepover at Luna where she complained about going unnoticed by Link, Luna had pointed out that she had not really tried to get his attention proper. So now she's trying her best to get to know the quiet boy as Link and not the almost mythical Boy-Who-Lived.

Link quietly answered all her questions politely and she noticed how whenever he didn't feel like answering he will simply smile at her that small, somewhat shy smile. Soon the conversations died out as everyone turned to their own choice of personal entertainment. Hermione brought out a giant tome to for some "light reading", Neville showed off his new pet plant to Ron who quickly changed the subject to a game of chess before the boy could poke the plant to show off its defense mechanism.

During the lull of quiet, Ginny studied Link as he turned from preening Gaepora to taking out a strange shell-like instrument to blow through experimentally. He even take out tools to refine the object in his hand and Ginny found herself mesmerized by the sharp focus of his blue eyes as he worked on his little project.

At one moment, Ron groaned after growing bored of beating Neville, "Did you guys notice the odd addition this year? Ginny, did Mom force on you a dress robes that smells like Great Aunt Tessie? I swear I saw her wear them once,"

Ginny blinked as Ron called out to her, taking her out of dreaming of Link's eyes, "What? Oh, she bought me a new one,"

Ron gaped, "What? Then why didn't she buy me a new one? Or at least transfigure it to look less like it comes out of Dumbledore's time?" He then paled, "Wait, what if I ended matching with Dumbledore? That will be so awkward,"

Neville shrugged, "Maybe this is her way of telling you to brush up on your transfiguration and charm skills?"

Ron groaned before looking at Link, "What about you, Link? Have you bought yourself a dress robes?"

Link nodded, "If there is one thing Sirius is all about, then it is looking good to the ladies. He won't have me dress like beggar...no offense Ron,"

Ron grumbled, "None taken," He then looked at Hermione, "Hermione, can you help me before whatever it was that we have to dress up for? I could really do with the help,"

Hermione looked up from her book, "Sure. Lucky for you, I'm no longer crazy enough to take up all the subjects,"

"Yeah, lucky me,"