A/N: Here's the first chapter of my new story Read and Enjoy. Longer A/N is at the bottom of the chapter.
I don't own Harry Potter
Chapter 1: Old friends, New Friends
'IN VIRTO VERITAS'
'In wine there's truth, right? Wine loosens our lips enabling us to say things we would have never said when we were sober. Wine activates our subconscious and what we say while under its influence is what we really feel. So take a moment to really consider every time you've been drunk, what you said and to whom. In wine there's truth.'
Harry finished reading the passage from Poetry in prose a muggle poetry book by the poet Haven. It was the preface to a chapter called The Mistakes I Found at the Bottom of the Bottle. Harry wasn't really into poetry but he had found the book in a pile of his mother's things that his aunt Petunia kept in the attic of her house. They were all muggle things but any connection to his parents was something that Harry treasured. Not that he would ever let Petunia know what he had found.
Harry closed the book put it in his bag and left the library, the only place he could read peacefully. No Malfoy or the noise of Gryffindor common room to distract him. He was going to spend fourth year as he had planned nothing was going to spoil it for him. But the truth is if something will go wrong it will that's Murphy's law.
At the door he almost knocked over Daphne Greengrass, a Slytherin in his year. She didn't hang out with Malfoy or any of the other death nibblers so she was alright in his book though they never talked at all. Daphne of course didn't know this so she was extremely surprised when he apologised and even picked up her books that had fallen to the ground.
Harry left without a backward glance but if he had taken a moment to look back he would have seen the ice princess of Hogwarts giving him a death glare. No one was supposed to shock Daphne Greengrass. Harry Potter had just done what most people had considered impossible up to that moment all without meaning to.
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"Hey mate aren't you excited about the other schools coming and the tri wizard tournament?" Ron asked the next morning at breakfast. Today was the day Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were meant to arrive and everywhere excitement rippled through the air.
"Not really Ron. I already told you this year I just want to relax and let someone else take the spotlight. You are welcome to it if you want."
Ron blushed bright red as thoughts about the spotlight and all it came with began to fill his head. Hermoine noticed this and just shook her head.
"Honestly Ron why can't you be more like Harry. This year he's going to focus on his books and improving his grades."
"That's where you're wrong 'Moine. Harry and the rest of us are gonna be busy chasing the foreign birds." Dean said grabbing Harry around the shoulders a perverse gleam appearing in his eyes
Ginny turned her head so fast that Harry was afraid that she would get whiplash.
"Harry isn't like the rest of you sods to go ogling those foreign bints." Ginny said a little bit too passionately her face turning the same shade of Weasley red that Ron's face had turned.
"Dear me Gred…"
"Oh my Forge…"
"Is…"
"Little Ginny…"
"Protecting…"
"The honour…"
"Of her crush!" They finished in unison.
Ginny turned even more red and looked everywhere except at Harry who was simply chuckling to himself.
"Well I think it's cute," Harry said making the poor Weasley girl blush more than she ever had before. The resulting chorus of awes did nothing to help her.
Across the hall Daphne was watching the events transpire with a disinterested look on her face. To anyone who did not know her that well (99.9% of the Hogwarts population) she seemed bored to death. However, Tracey Davies (her best friend and that 0.1%) had learned to see through all of Daphne's masks,
"He is pretty attractive in his own way."
That statement served its purpose remarkably well. Daphne's eyes narrowed as she looked at Potter confirming to Tracey who she was looking at. Daphne forked her bacon without saying a word to Tracey making the girl smile to herself.
"Since when do you fancy Golden Boy?"
"I don't fancy him. He just surprised me yesterday that's all." Daphne's voice shook slightly as she said this, a clear sign to Tracey that she wasn't being completely honest.
"Do tell. What happened?"
"It wasn't something he did deliberately. He walked into me at the entrance of the library yesterday and made me drop my books."
"So you are planning your revenge. How can I help?"
"I'm not planning my revenge because Harry apologised then picked up the books." Daphne chose that moment to stand and walk to class. Tracey was left alone at the table gaping at what Daphne had said. Gryffindor's golden boy had apologised to a snake. Was he going dark? And yet again without even meaning to Harry Potter left another girl speechless.
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The Gryffindors had potions first with the Slytherins and they were all expecting the usual series of events. Snape would tell them to pair up, give them a potion to brew, take points from Gryffindor and the high point of every lesson Neville's cauldron exploding and covering him in something new. Nobody expected Daphne to pair up with Harry or Tracey with Neville leaving Hermoine with Ron.
"Today we are going to be brewing a cure for boils. Do not mess it up." He said the last part looking at Neville but today he couldn't intimidate the poor lad. Tracey was already doing a pretty good job at it by herself. Ron was staring daggers at Harry's back for ditching him for a Slytherin regardless of how hot she was.
The whole class was holding their collective breath. The natural order had been disturbed and nature would take her revenge. Even Snape stayed behind his desk attacking the Gryffindors from behind its relative safety.
However, Malfoy and Weasley either could not sense the incoming doom or chose to ignore their sixth sense. At the same time both chose to chuck nightshade into the cauldron Harry and Daphne were sharing. Everybody who saw what happened swears that there was a breeze that blew Ron's nightshade into Draco's cauldron and vice versa.
Snape always told his students that potion making was a delicate art not for dunderheads. When making a potion to cure boils Nightshade is added at the very end because of its volatile and temperamental nature. Adding it at any other stage well…
Ron and Hermoine's potion was closer to being completed than Draco's and Nott's so when the nightshade got into their cauldron it turned a beautiful shade of violet. Let it be known that in the world of potions the rule of thumb is the more beautiful a potion is the more deadly it is likely to be. The purple concoction began to simmer and bubble violently then it calmed down all at once. Ron thinking it was safe peered directly into the cauldron when a bubble rose from the surface of the liquid and burst directly on Ron's nose.
Ron's face was instantly covered in warts, large ugly unattractive warts. Draco thinking himself lucky that his potion had not been affected by the nightshade looked directly into the cauldron. An orange geyser shot directly into Draco's face and for a full 12 seconds everybody was silent waiting for the effects to take hold. Then Draco's hair began to fall off. It started slowly his blond locks coming off in clumps then all of it fell down.
Let it be said that Draco didn't look bad without his hair. He looked terrible. Like a hairless ferret. Draco did not scream out in rage as much as he wanted to because that would be very unpurebloodlike. He stood up glared at Potter and Weasley asked permission from Snape and left for the hospital wing with Weasley closely following after him.
Nobody can say who laughed first but the entire class burst into laughter except Snape who was being a greasy git on the outside but on the inside he was cackling insanely. Daphne was looking intently at Harry waiting for what he would say. Harry though was too busy laughing to even notice.
"Hey Daph if having you as my potions partner is this much fun we should be partners more often."
Daphne just nodded her head and said
"Sure we can even be partners for the rest of the year."
Harry looked at her judging whether she was messing with him or not and finally deciding she wasn't he agreed. On a totally unrelated note Neville Longbottom managed to complete a potion without it exploding. George Weasley, Fred Weasley, Harry Potter, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davies all got 5000 galleons from the betting pool that had been started in Neville's first year. They were the only ones who had said that Neville would ever make a potion without it exploding before his OWLS.
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The entire population of Hogwarts (minus Ron and Draco who were currently sharing a room in the Hospital wing) was there when the visitors came. Beauxbatons on their flying carriage and Durmstrang on their pirate ship. Harry was standing among the Gryffindor crowd next to the twins and Neville. Everyone was chattering excitably waiting for the students to climb down.
The Beauxbatons students were the first to climb down and when the last one got down a hush fell over the assembled group of students. She tossed her head and that simple move made the sun catch her hair causing it to glitter. The silence grew even more intense. She began walking to her schoolmates and that simple act of walking had the entire Hogwarts male population entranced.
Except Harry who was busy trying to understand what was going on. He looked around and managed to catch Daphne's eye. Apparently only the two of them were not under whatever spell the rest of the school was under. Harry decided to take a risk and elbowed his way up to Daphne to ask her what was going on.
"That last girl who got off is a Veela and people are falling under her allure." Daphne was not that shocked to see that Harry was immune to the Veela allure she actually expected it. What she didn't expect was for Harry to actively seek her out even if it was to ask a question considering Hermoine wasn't affected and was also much closer. When he continued to stand next to her she was even more surprised.
"At the World Cup there were some Veela but their effect was not this extreme."
"Maybe her allure is just stronger Harry."
"Well Daph maybe we can go ask her later on. We are meant to make friends with the students from the other schools."
"That's true but I have a question. Who allowed you to call me Daph?"
Harry laughed and stared right into Daphne's eyes
"No one. I do it for my own reasons. I like the way it rolls off my tongue and I find it kinda cute."
Daphne tried glaring at Harry but couldn't actually pull it off. For the first time in her stay at Hogwarts a boy had made Daphne Greengrass blush. Luckily for them everyone was too busy staring at the French Veela to pay any special attention to them. Everyone except Tracey Davies, Hermoine Granger, Ginny Weasley and the French Veela. Life was about to get very interesting in Hogwarts.
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The great hall had been expanded to accommodate the extra students. Beauxbatons was sitting with the Ravenclaws while Durmstrang chose to sit with Slytherin. Dumbledore was busy saying something nobody really cared about and Ginny was staring at Harry. It was beginning to freak Harry out so as soon as Dumblez was done he looked at Ginny.
"Is there something on my face?"
Normally Ginny would be a quivering blushing mess anytime Harry talked to her. Now she felt that she had been wronged so she had steeled her nerves for this.
"Harry why were you talking to that Slytherin girl?" That's how it sounded in her head. She sounded so confident someone Harry could call an equal not just the little sister of his best mate. Sadly all this was in her head.
What actually came out was "Ha…talki…Sly…irl"
Harry stared at her confused until Hermoine chose to step in and translate.
"I think what Ginny is asking is since when did you and Daphne Greengrass become such close friends."
Everybody turned to look at Harry and he realised that he had two options he could either tell them the truth or pretend he didn't know what was going on. He was saved by the sudden appearance of the Veela behind him who effectively distracted everyone from Harry.
"Are you wanting the bouillabaisse?"
"No you can have it. I don't mind."
"Thank you. My name is Fleur Delacour."
"I'm Harry Potter, pleasure to meet you Miss Delacour."
"The pleasure is all mine."
Without another word she took the dish and went back to her schoolmates. Everybody forgot that Harry had something to tell them and focused instead on the French girl. Harry took full advantage and did not remind them but he could see it in Hermoine's eyes that they were still going to have a discussion.
A/N: What's up guys I'm back with more madcap madness and a new story. All my other stories are on hiatus so that I concentrate on this one. I know the characters seem a bit OOC especially Harry but this is fan fiction and according to the constitution of Fan Fiction writers it is within my rights to alter the characters as I see fit. My story is AU so don't expect canon stuff. I have the right to change the timeline as I see fit.
Tell me what you think in the comment section below.
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