invenio domi || larry hogwarts au

Chapter 2

Not everything Harry Potter related in this story is canon-compliant. Some creative liberties have been taken, though I do try to follow as closely as I can to the facts provided by the books, films and of course, Pottermore. If you're curious, it takes place in the modern day, so the Battle of Hogwarts and all that has long since passed. For the sake of the story, I won't be including any descendants of Harry Potter characters, but there will be mentions of some of the more historical ones in passing.
Word count: ~2.8k

To say Louis' cat is an absolute menace is an understatement.

Now, he understands perfectly well that he's a cat, and due to that simple fact, he has no concept of manners by a wizard's standards. Still, Louis can't help but feel like there should be some kind of innate instinct that tells his cat that it is absolutely not acceptable to wake Louis up by jumping up onto his bed, and subsequently, right onto his face.

He wishes it wouldn't, but his rude awakening sets a sour taste in his mouth for the rest of that morning. He isn't sure if it's just him or if his students are particularly misbehaved that morning, or perhaps a combination of both, but by the end of his third year Gryffindor-Ravenclaw class, he had subtracted twenty house points from each.

He's less than happy with his morning and his students are certainly less than happy with him. He dismisses them with a grumbled goodbye and sits down at his desk, sighing dramatically, trying to recuperate and replenish the energy he lost and so desperately needs.

His mind wanders to the ever-growing list of things he needs to do by the end of the day and the things he wants to make time for. As his needs pile up, his wants do too, and he finds see Harry at the top of that list. Not because he's into him (or anything like that, obviously), but it's been a week since he met him in the hallways of the dungeons and he hasn't seen him since, and sue him if he's getting more and more curious with each day that goes by. That's all it is, genuinely, and as the last few students trickle out of his classroom, he gives in.

"Wait!" He calls out as the final Gryffindor girl is about to step through his doorway and into the hallway. She turns around and looks at him curiously. "What class do you have next, Ms. St. Clare?" He asks her.

"Care of Magical Creatures," she answers slowly and, Louis thinks, with a hint of suspicion.

"Great!" Louis claps enthusiastically and gets up from his desk, moving towards the door. "I'll follow you over."

She agrees hesitantly with a small nod. "You're not going to take away more house points, are you?"

"No," Louis chuckles. "Not unless you plan on breaking any rules in the next five minutes," he jokes but her face goes white and she shakes her head rapidly.

"No, Professor Tomlinson, not at all!"

"Relax, Ms. St. Clare. I was only joking," he assures her and she sighs in relief.

The seasons are transitioning from summer to autumn as they step outside onto the Hogwarts grounds and that can only mean one thing: it's really fucking cold. Louis wraps arms around himself and shivers, wishing he hadn't decided against wearing a jumper underneath his robes that morning.

As the students congregate by the stone hut, waiting for their professor to start the lesson, Louis finds a seat on a large stone nearby, watching amusedly as they bustle about, chatting animatedly to one another. They fall silent as soon as Harry emerges from the hut and Louis feels his breath hitch as he takes the sight in. Harry is wearing a newsboy cap and tweed jacket.