Title: Strings of Fate

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.

Summary: Being raised only by his Aunt, Harry comes to Hogwarts not only knowing about the Wizarding World, but with a kind of training no one at the school is expecting.

Gwen was sitting with Dad on one side and Little Sister on the other, in the audience of one of the concerts out on the lawn in front of the Castle. It was a concert for 'Bands', meaning there had to be at least two people performing, and Mum was going to be singing soon.

Gwen had some understanding of the nature of Human relationships, but it was skewed as most of her understanding came from eleven year olds when they were Sorted. To Gwen's understanding, the most important person in your life was Mum or Dad, and to her that was Harry Potter, her Dad. The closest person to Dad was Mum, which made Susan Bones her Mum as she was the closest to Dad. Luna was Little Sister and Helena was Big Sister.

Gwen listened to four boys playing instruments, even though she was not really paying attention, but it was good to have more music back at Hogwarts. Dad seemed to be enjoying it though. Gwen loved her Dad, and her Mum, even when they were upset with her and made her go back to The Heart or did not have time for her, but she sometimes wondered when Dad would get a Girlfriend, or maybe a Wife, and Mum would get a Boyfriend or a Husband.

Boyfriends and Girlfriends did those things that Gwen was fascinated with but did not fully comprehend, like kissing and that thing without clothes, and Wife and Husband seemed to be a more important version of Boyfriend and Girlfriend. It never occurred to Gwen that in reality Mum and Dad were Husband and Wife, as most eleven year old children never really thought of that kind of thing and when older students did think of it, they thought of themselves with a potential Husband or Wife and not of their Parents.

The music stopping brought Gwen out of her thoughts. Maybe Mum would be up next.

Harry applauded with the rest as the four boys of the String Quartet left the stage after having played Pachelbel's Canon in D. Gwen was sitting next to him and Luna was on the other side of Gwen, the pair of them smiling and broke into giggles at a comment by Luna.

Professor McGonagall briefly went up on stage to move the large piano onto the stage and left. Daphne Greengrass walked out and sat down at the piano while Susan approached the microphone and Jordan Smythe, a Seventh Year Ravenclaw Witch, stood off to the side with her Violin. Given the three musicians involved, based on their prior performances, everyone expected something classical, maybe an Operatic Aria, but what they got was something very different.

It started with four repetitions of a little melody on the piano that seemed familiar to Harry, and as soon as Susan began to sing Harry got why he recognised the tune.

"Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band." Susan Sang. "Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man. Ballerina, you must've seen her dancing in the sand. And now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand."

Elton John's Tiny Dancer entranced the Magical raised students while a number of the Muggle Born and Muggle Raised students, Harry included, began to softly sing along, but not so loud as to drown out Susan's amazing rendition or Daphne and Jordan's superb instrumental performances.

At the end of the performance, there was a standing ovation.

"You got your item ready, Sunset?" Harry called from the living room of their apartment in the Hufflepuff dorms.

It was time for the fortnightly autographing of one of Hannah's Harry Potter memorabilia items. She had still not managed to go the entire fortnight without blushing around him, so had never gotten the triple deal. Hannah emerged from her bedroom, head lowered, eyes on the ground and her hands behind her back as she slowly walked towards him. When she reached him, still looking at the floor, he gently put a finger under her chin and raised her head so she could look in his eyes.

"What's the matter, Sunset?" Harry asked.

She was blushing even more than usual. In a swift move, Hannah's hands went from behind her back to deposit something in his hand and she stepped back, lowered her head again.

Harry looked down, confused, and saw a small bundle of what look like mostly white cloth. Opening up the small bundle he groaned.

"Oh god. That was a major marketing muck-up." He said looking at the item in his hands. "I mean the manufacturer did have a licence to produce Harry Potter merchandise but that was not an approved product and was pulled as soon as we found out. Luckily only about fifteen or so were ever sold."

Hannah muttered something that Harry did not catch.

"What was that, Sunset?" Harry asked.

"Twenty-one." Hannah said just loud enough for him to hear. "Three weeks."

Harry blinked, took a moment to process the statement, blinked again and then barked out a laugh.

"Only you, Sunset." He said with a chuckle. "Only you would by three weeks' worth of Official Harry Potter panties."

Sure enough, the mostly white cotton cloth in his hand was a pair of girls' panties with Harry's face, from a few years ago, printed on the front.

"Never wore them. When I got them home, they were too small." Hannah admitted.

"Ok." Harry said with a chuckle and running a hand through his hair. "I will autograph them all today, and then we will never, ever, mention this again. Ok?"

Hannah nodded and rushed back into her bedroom to get the rest of the Harry Potter panties.

"That goes for you too." Harry said, pointing to the open door to Susan's bedroom without looking.

"Little old me?" Susan asked in a too sweet voice. "Why would I possibly mention this to anybody?"

"I'm serious, Diva." Harry replied. "No one. Especially not Indy."

Susan just smirked and turned back into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. Harry groaned.

Indy sneezed and rubbed her nose with the sleeve of her exercise clothes as she ran along the cross-country track at the Auror Academy, with Tali by her side. They were both running at a pace they could maintain for a long time while still covering a lot of ground. Today it was not just the cross-country track they had to deal with, it was a paired team exercise and at irregular intervals the instructors would divert them off the track to overcome obstacles or problem-solving exercises. They had to run together and they had to complete the obstacles and exercises together.

"You ok?" Tali asked.

"Yeah." Indy replied. "I just feel as if someone was either talking about me or I just missed out on something awesome."

"You mean this isn't awesome?" Tali asked sarcastically.

Up ahead an instructor was standing in the middle of the track motioning them to divert to yet another obstacle section. This one looked like it involved crawling through mud. Joy.

TBC….