After seeing the shiny badge fall out of Hermione's envelope, Harry's dementor was actually reasonable enough to be happy to not see something shiny fall out of his. A prefect position was the absolute last thing he needed to have to worry about on top of everything else going on this year. The badge might have been pretty, but the responsibility was just too much. It was surprising when Ron got one though. Harry was sure that Neville was the more logical choice, being more of a rule-follower anyway. Regardless, as long as it wasn't him, Harry was happy.
While all the Weasleys were going through their trunks to determine what they needed, Harry easily passed his list over to Mrs. Weasley, not needing much besides the new books this year. "Thanks, dear. We'll just have it charged to your account if that's ok with you?" She looked at him questioningly.
"Sounds good!" Harry smiled at her and ran off to join Sirius who was going to show him around the house, to his excitement and the animagus's disdain.
The tour of Grimmauld Place had been everything Harry hoped it would be. The rooms that hadn't been decontaminated by Mrs. Weasley yet were glorious. They had various tiny creatures living in corners and beautifully colored mold. He even found a boggart in an old desk when Sirius had left him for a minute to go to the loo. Like Kreacher, the boggart immediately ran screaming out of the desk, looking like a copy of Harry's dementor-self, and jumped out of the window into the shadows of the house. "I guess I won't need the boggart repelling spell anymore," Harry mused as he heard Sirius returning. He was beyond grateful he'd been alone when he'd opened the desk's cabinet. Harry decided he'd do his main exploring of the house by himself in the coming days in case he ran into another situation like with the house elf and boggart.
The Order of the Phoenix was meeting yet again a couple nights later. It seemed that Snape only joined everyone for dinner when there was an Order meeting, and he hid in the corner the whole time. Harry found himself fascinated by the man in an odd way. He'd never liked Snape, still didn't, but the professor lived as a spy and seemed to just randomly be at the house at odd times and interacted with the Order members in unique ways. He hated Sirius and Remus, but he seemed to tolerate the older Weasleys. He actually seemed to get along with the pink-haired auror named Tonks strangely, or at least he tolerated her when she made him talk to her. For someone who was hiding every part of himself, the spy who lived in the shadows was an interesting study, at the very least Harry figured he might learn a thing or two.
This night, Snape's eyes seemed to drift to Harry's new locket occasionally with a speculative look on his face. Harry wasn't sure if the man thought it strange he was wearing a locket or if he recognized it for some reason. His question was answered when the potions master immediately pulled Dumbledore aside when the elderly man showed up for the meeting. The pair talked intensely for a couple minutes, both shooting looks towards where Harry was eating and making the teen feel very self-conscious.
"Ah, Harry, my boy, could I ask you where you found that wonderful necklace?" Dumbledore said with a smile as he finally walked over to the table.
Everyone looked between the headmaster and the student, causing Harry to blush and feel even more self-conscious. "I found it in the library," he finally said as he played with the locket nervously. "Remus checked it over for curses though. He said it was fine, and I feel fine too. What's the big deal about me wearing an old dusty necklace anyway?"
"Mr. Potter, your new adornment just so happens to have the symbol of Salazar Slytherin on it," Snape drawled from behind the headmaster. "It would be your luck to stumble on the lost locket of Slytherin while decontaminating this dump."
"Hey!" Harry protested, upset that Snape insulted his house. He wasn't really sure when he had started thinking of Grimmauld as his house, but it had happened gradually, and he really didn't want to leave now. "This place is wonderful! It just needs a little polish and it'll be fine. It's very homey."
At this, literally everyone in the room looked at Harry like he may have lost his mind. "Er, pup, even I agree with Snape on this one, as much as I hate to admit that," Sirius placed his hand on Harry's head once more. "You sure you feel ok?"
"I'm fine," Harry shrugged his hand off. "Stop asking me that!"
"Harry…may I please see that necklace?" Dumbledore now looked like Sirius did that something must be wrong with the teen.
Harry rolled his eyes and took off the locket and placed it on the table again. Dumbledore quickly cast several spells that were probably just repeats of Remus's, and then some more complex ones added onto that. The headmaster looked at the necklace in frustration. "I can't find anything wrong with it," he said in amazement. "I do believe it may actually be Slytherin's lost locket though."
"Does that mean I can't keep it?" Harry asked sadly. He really did like his shiny and didn't have anything else that pretty.
The adults all seemed to have a silent conversation as they stared at each other. Judging from their emotions that Harry could still feel, Sirius was concerned, Molly and Arthur were both fairly indifferent, Remus was suspicious, Snape was irritated a little angry for some reason, and Dumbledore was a mix between confused and hopeful. "Well, since there's nothing wrong with it…I don't see why you can't keep it, my boy," Dumbledore said slowly.
"Headmaster, you certainly aren't going to allow a student to wear around a founder's artifact!" The Potions professor protested in indignation while almost making the word 'student' sound like a swear word.
"I can't prove it's a founder's artifact at this time," Dumbledore shook his head. "I may find a way to prove it eventually, but Harry is a responsible lad," Snape scoffed at that pronouncement. "He'll keep it safe for us until we can determine its authenticity," Dumbledore finished, ignoring the man.
Harry grinned at his headmaster and quickly put the locket around his neck once more. "Thank you, sir. I'll take good care of it!"
"I know you will, my boy," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at him. "Now, I need to ask you once again…have you had any visions of Voldemort or has your scar pained you any at all?"
"No, sir. I'm sorry, but I don't have anything for you," Harry responded sadly. He really did want to help as long as he was able to keep out of the action and keep Jamie and his secret safe.
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