An Author's Hope (When The House of Black Takes Control)

A Quidditch Match Gone Horribly Wrong

Trying to act normal after that information dump on Sunday was proving to be even harder than they'd thought, but they tried their best to make it work.

They didn't let anyone in on anything, but they did meet every day after dinner and during free periods in a room the twins had found and let their true selves out, Percy covering for them as the Head boy.

They had found that after the purge they'd gone through, and especially following everything that had happened after the Halloween feast, a lot of their previous personality traits had completely disappeared or been altered completely. Who would've known so many spells on a person could change even the basics of their personalities.

Percy wasn't as arrogant and stuck up as he'd been before. He was still a stickler for the rules and a bookworm at heart, but he was now a lot gentler with everything, especially how he treated his brother, cousins and the other younger students. His relationships and love-life also blossomed with these changes. He'd finally broken up with Penelope Clearwater a few days after The Purge (as they'd taken to calling the eventful day), especially since it'd been a long time coming, and he'd started pursuing Olivia Wood with complete permission from both his ex-girlfriend (who after talking with Percy had also started pursuing her own crush, Slytherin Seventh year Henry Abbott) and Olivia's twin brother, who happened to be Percy's best friend and roommate Oliver Wood.

("About time Perce, can't wait to have you as a brother-in-law!" The boy had said while looking over Quidditch strategies for their game against Hufflepuff.

"Too soon Oli!")

Ron's jealous streak had also lessoned considerably. Now that he was aware of his own family and who they were, including the fact his two best friends were actually his cousins, he wasn't jealous anymore and his anger had gotten better because of it. With the knowledge that a lot of his family members – including his own father – had been Slytherins, he'd completely stopped criticising the house or the people in it and had actually started a tentative friendship with Blaise Zabini. Alongside all of that, his studies were steadily improving and his grades were getting higher and higher, even ranking in the top ten of their year in the last Transfiguration exam they'd had. Hydrus and he had dropped Divination all together and replaced it with Study of Ancient Runes and had added Arithmancy as a third elective. While it was hard work to catch up on the two months they'd missed, they were enjoying the subjects and having fun in something education related for once. With a grandmother who was both a writer and philosopher with multiple Masteries and a love for learning, he'd been gently nudged by her and his studious brother into taking importance in his studies and had improved immensely from that. It also helped that Percy had talked to Oliver and recommended his baby brother to help the captain with Quidditch strategies, and Ron gained a lot of confidence with the work he got to do as Gryffindor's new Quidditch Strategist (a title both Oliver and Percy had come up with and McGonagall had approved of and made official).

Hydrus had also started taking his studies seriously after getting a rather forward letter from his Nana (who reminded him gently but firmly that he was very intelligent; he just didn't push himself like he should and fell behind as a result. She also told him that it would've been fine if this was his level, but she was very aware that he was more intelligent than he was letting on and didn't want him to hide that part of himself anymore). He'd changed subjects with Ron and was enjoying Arithmancy a lot. He'd always loved math in school (when the Dursleys weren't punishing him for having higher grades than Dudley), and Arithmancy was better than he could've imagined. He also focused more on himself and his health and started widening his social circle than just Hermione and Ron. He strengthened his relationship with Neville, and he started befriending people from other houses. He even talked to Draco Malfoy. They cleared the air and started a tentative camaraderie. They weren't friends, but they were civil.