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Author's Note: Letters, thoughts, Parseltongue, and some other forms of writing in this story will be written in Italics. On the rare occasion, bolded writing will be used.
Side Note: I've changed my username since my last update (in another story), and will be signing differently. It is now CMurk as opposed to General Murk. Sorry about any confusion.
Full Summary: The summer following the Triwizard Tournament has been hard for Harry. To make matters worse, his two best friends have finally gotten together and begun to unknowingly edge him out. Feeling more abandoned than ever, he is surprised to find shared company from three people, one of whom seems to share and understand his pain, as his life twists and turns further...
Disclaimer: Mme. Joanne Rowling owns the series as a whole, and I own the fanfic-made and self-created modifications in this story in particular. I take no claim over the Harry Potter series. Any review or feedback accusing me of plagiarism will be automatically deleted. You will be given credit where credit is due, rest assured.
Chapter 1: An Unusual Journey to Hogwarts
The time had come to leave for Hogwarts once again. Hundreds of students were now boarding the Hogwarts Express in different areas from the station known as Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Eager first years were among the first on board, anxious to begin their education in magic for the first time ever, and excited at the prospect of it. Older students bid farewell to their families, eager to finish their education or enter their final years. There was one student, however, who was not looking forward to going back as much as everyone else on board, if only because it meant being separated from the two people who seemed to understand his plight. The cruel irony was that both men had issues between them and the Ministry of Magic – one was a fugitive, one was a werewolf.
That certain student, separated from the two people who understood him best, stood in front of them, a certain emptiness in his eyes as he said, "Well, good-bye, then." Saying this was one of the hardest things Harry Potter had ever done, and Harry had faced down the most evil wizard of the century three times at this point.
"Good-bye, Harry," said Remus Lupin, both werewolf and mentor to him. He gave Harry something akin to a fatherly hug, and Harry hugged back, wishing he didn't have to go back. He wasn't feeling any sort of understanding towards anyone at Hogwarts at this moment. "We'll see you during Christmas."
Next, the dog beside them stood up, its height on level with Harry's while on its hind legs, and puts both of its front paws on Harry's shoulders, the same way a human would. It barked once, and Harry cracked a smile at his godfather, Sirius Black, and his way of saying good-bye.
"Hope to see you soon, Snuffles," he said, patting his Animagus godfather's head. "Thanks again, Remus, and bye." He turned around and boarded the train, as Remus and Sirius watched him go.
On the train he ran into his friends, who barely stopped to say hello before turning around and heading for the carriage near the front of the train. "Where are you going?" he called out, confused and slightly hurt that they hadn't at least said anything first.
"We have to go to the Prefect meeting. We'll see you later, Harry," said Hermione Granger, waving from the other end of the carriage, Ron Weasley at her side with one hand on her back. "Save us a seat, all right?"
"Yeah ... sure ..." Harry called back, his shoulders dropping a little as he waved good-bye to his Prefect friends. "See you in a few hours, I guess."
As he watched them go, Harry felt an odd sense of let-down. He knew he shouldn't be so surprised any more, but after all, Ron and Hermione had been his best friends for almost four years now, and now that they were dating, hanging out with him seemed to drag them down, something that he would not let himself do to them. They have given up too much for him already. If they wanted space, he would give them space.
That was what he thought right now, anyway. He really wasn't sure what he thought about being the third wheel in his little group, and as such, his opinion on the matter constantly changed. He didn't think he would ever have a true grasp on what he thought, and he knew for a fact that future time spent with them would be awkward. Sighing, he turned around and began his trek down the corridors of the train's carriages, looking for a compartment to sit in while he waited for his friends to return.
Halfway down the length of the train he ran into Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister, who smiled as she saw him. She had boarded before he had because he had stopped to say good-bye to his godfather and ex-professor.
"I was wondering when you were going to turn up down this way," she told him, giving him a hug as he came to stand with her. He hugged her back, though he pulled back a little more quickly than necessary. Even though he and Ginny had become a lot closer over the summer, he still felt a little awkward hugging his supposed best friend's sister. "Come on, there's a compartment just over here."
She led him into the compartment, shutting the door behind them. He took a seat next to the window and she sat down across from him, putting a hand on his knee as a sign of comfort. Her chocolate brown eyes glowed a little as they stared into his dulled green eyes, which revealed only sadness, and with good reason.
"It must be hard for you, Harry. I know they mean a lot to you."
"It's no big deal," Harry said with a shrug, though he knew that he didn't mean it, and so did Ginny.
"Come on, Harry, I know you better than that," Ginny said with a small roll of her eyes. "It's their fault, you know. Just because they're dating doesn't mean they can just suddenly abandon their best friend."
Harry put his face in his hands tiredly, running his fingers through his hair. This was not something he wanted to talk about right now, even if he was better friends with Ginny than he was before. The fact of the matter remained that he had absolutely no idea how he felt about this.
"It's not just them," he said quietly, referring to his two best friends. He looked out the window, sighing. "It's just that their timing couldn't have been worse."
Ginny nodded in understanding. Ron and Hermione had started dating before he had arrived at Grimmauld Place in the middle of the summer, and for the first few days Harry had tried to act as though everything was normal, the same as before, even though it had become increasingly evident that Ron and Hermione would rather spend their time on their own. Neither seemed to notice that he did not spend as much time with them as before, and when he did, he seemed to be forcing himself to.
"Well," tried Ginny cautiously, "you got a lot of time to spend with Sirius and Remus, anyway!
On the bright side, however, he had had a lot of time to spend with his godfather, who was now confined to his house in Grimmauld Place on Dumbledore's orders for his own safety and against his own wishes, and Remus Lupin, his ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and Sirius' best friend. Getting to know his father's two best friends had been nice enough for him, but it wasn't the same without his friends. Ginny, who was there with her family for the Order of the Phoenix – a secret society formed by Dumbledore – and its meetings, had spent most of her time with him and his father's friends as well. From there, he and Ginny had spent most of their time at Grimmauld Place together, with most of that spent with Ginny trying to comfort Harry. Because unfortunately for Harry, his problems ran far deeper than just with Ron and Hermione now that Voldemort was back.
Voldemort, however, was the last thing Harry cared about right now. He'd be no match for Voldemort without his friends anyway.
"Yeah, spending time with them was fun," he said softly, lifting his face from his hands. He looked at Ginny. "I never really knew Remus, and I helped Sirius while he was on the run, but I didn't really know him, either."
"That's the spirit!" Ginny said happily, her excitement at getting Harry to cheer up obvious. Unfortunately, Harry was not quite cheered up.
He could not help but remember the first time Ron had told him to let them be for a while. He had understood, seeing that this was something Ron had wanted for a long time, and had given them their space. The second time, it had been a bit more of a blow to him, but he had still given them time, and had backed off. Then the third time for them to ask him to leave them be came, and it had felt as though the blood running through his veins had gone cold, leaving him to feel empty. What made it worse was that neither seemed to see this; Ron's eyes were only on Hermione, who was the same towards Ron. Harry had stopped bothering as often after the third shutdown, and he briefly wondered if his friendship with them would ever be the same.
Shaking his head of these thoughts, he turned his attention back to Ginny, who was gripping his knee firmly, the warmth from the gesture spreading through him like Butterbeer. He was really grateful for this.
"... but it's all right," he heard her voice saying; evidently, she had been speaking while he was lost in thought. "You have me, and Neville and the twins, if you ever need us."
"That means a lot to me," Harry said with a smile, the first one he had worn in nearly two weeks, though he was not entirely sure it was genuine. "Thanks, Ginny."
"Any time," she replied happily, giving his leg one last squeeze before sitting back in her seat.
They spent a half hour in the compartment, making light conversation about their summers and the upcoming term at Hogwarts, before a knock on the compartment door interrupted them. Harry stood up to open it, and six boys around his age entered immediately. Ginny sat up at once, staring at one of the six boys with a bit of a dark look on her face, though Harry did not notice.
"Hey," said the one at the front, a Ravenclaw fifth year who Harry knew by face alone, "can we use this compartment? Everywhere else is full." He looked a little uncomfortable being near Harry, but for the most part seemed easygoing, or perhaps tried to be.
Seeing that there were half a dozen of them, Harry nodded, not really seeing a choice in the matter. "Sure. Ginny and I will find somewhere else to sit." At this, Ginny stood up, coming to stand next to him. For some reason, one of the boys was staring at her with an odd look, which she was returning with a bit of an angry look. Harry didn't pay much attention to it – it wasn't his business anyway – as he let the boys in and walked out the door, Ginny bringing up the rear. As he passed by the six students, he noticed that some of the boys cringed a little from being close to him; clearly, more people than he thought had bought into the rubbish that the Daily Prophet had attacked him with every few days. He no longer let it bother him – he hadn't even thought about it since the middle of August, when the idiotic newspaper had claimed that Harry belonged in St. Mungo's in a ward for brain treatment – but it still nagged at his mind a little.
As they walked down the corridors of the train, looking for another compartment to sit in, Harry wondered where his other friends at Hogwarts were, especially Neville Longbottom, one of his Gryffindor classmates and a boy whom he got along with quite well. He had not yet found anyone in his house at Hogwarts, which was strange; usually he found them almost right away, especially since Neville usually found him first. He didn't really expect Ron and Hermione to come looking for him – though it didn't stop him from hoping – but his fellow fifth years should have been around. Unfortunately, as he walked further down the corridors he passed a fellow fifth year who was, ironically enough, the last person he wanted to see.
"Well, well," sneered Draco Malfoy, Harry's archenemy, who was leaning against the wall beside one of the compartment doors, arms folded. "I see you've finally gotten rid of the Mudblood and the Weasel. A good decision, Potter, but in favor of the Weaslette? Come on, even you have to be better than that!"
Harry ignored him entirely, not even sparing him a glance as he walked straight past him. Ginny followed his lead, sticking her nose in the air as she passed the Slytherin bigot. They had not taken two steps away, however, when Malfoy grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him back.
"Don't you dare ignore me, Potter!" Malfoy snarled, his grey eyes narrowing dangerously. "I'm a Prefect now! You'd better learn some respect!"
"I'm not going to respect someone I'm not afraid of in the slightest, Malfoy," Harry replied calmly, pulling his arm from Malfoy's grip. "I'm not doing anything worth getting detention for, meaning you can't do anything to me, and to be quite honest I'm sick of your childish insults at my friends and I, and of humoring you whenever you feel the need to come pester me. Grow up already." He continued walking away from him, and as he reached the door leading to the next section of the train, a spark hit the wall beside the door, clearly made from a spell.
"You're a persistent ferret," Harry shot at him, the reference to Malfoy's encounter with the fake Alastor Moody painstakingly obvious, though Malfoy said nothing. His face did redden, though.
"You'd be surprised what I can do, Potter," said Malfoy with an increasingly annoying sneer. He looked quite smug for reasons unknown and uncared about to Harry. "Don't underestimate me."
"I'll keep that in mind," Harry called over his shoulder, unsure of where his newfound courage was coming from, but leaning on it for support. "Next time you go one on one with Lord Voldemort, be sure to let me know and I might show some fear of you."
Malfoy cringed at the name and spun on the spot, walking away with a huff.
"That was brilliant, Harry!" Ginny said with a smile.
"Thanks," Harry replied, staring at Malfoy's back. "I have no idea where that came from, to be honest. It seemed to just ... happen."
"Malfoys tend to make that possible," said Ginny, showing disgust as she said 'Malfoy'. She tugged his arm. "Come on, let's keep looking for another compartment."
They continued along the corridors, looking at every compartment, but almost all of them were full of laughing students. To make it worse, some of the passengers even stared at him as he walked by, their eyes wary of him. One such student even opened the compartment door and asked why he wasn't at his bed in St. Mungo's.
"Go to hell, McLaggen!" was what Ginny had yelled in response, ending the confrontation with McLaggen slumping back into his compartment.
They continued down the train until they had reached the very last corridor, at the end of the train. Every compartment they had passed was full of passengers that Harry really didn't want to sit with, but at last they reached one that appeared to be empty.
"Let's just sit in here," Ginny said, "hopefully avoid another confrontation ..."
"Good idea," muttered Harry, his face a little red with irritation.
As they walked in, however, they realized that they were not as alone as they thought.
"Oh, sorry," said Ginny, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment, "I didn't realize anyone else was here."
Harry apologized as well, looking at the two students whose privacy they had invaded. They both looked at him, not angrily but not happily, their expressions quite blank. They looked a little familiar to him. One was a tall black boy with high cheeks and brown eyes that did not reveal any emotion. He was dressed in a black dress shirt and trousers with dress shoes to match. The other was a girl who was a little taller than Ginny, with long black hair tied back in a tight ponytail and sparkling ice-blue eyes. She was dressed in a silver blouse and a black skirt that reached her knees, with dark high heels cladding her feet. Harry and Ginny looked down, embarrassed. Neither of them were dressed anywere near that well, and they had a feeling that they were about to be ridiculed for it. Harry wore a green sweater and baggy cargo pants; Ginny, a red sweater and blue jeans.
"Do you mind if we sit here?" Ginny asked calmly and politely, as though in apology for intruding without warning. Her eyes were on the dark boy. "Every other compartment is full."
"If you'd like," said the boy, motioning for them to sit down.
Since the boy and girl were both seated next to the window, Harry and Ginny chose seats across from one another beside the door, Harry taking a seat beside the girl, Ginny beside the boy. For a while, no one spoke into the silence, Harry choosing to look at his knees, Ginny staring at the ceiling. The two other students chose to stare at their new company, taking in their features. Neither were critical in their scrutiny.
"Perhaps we should introduce ourselves?" the black-haired girl said quietly after a little while. Her ice-blue eyes twinkled a little, almost as Headmaster Dumbledore's did on occasion. "My name is Daphne Greengrass, and this is Blaise Zabini. We're fifth year students here." She smiled as she spoke, and Zabini nodded politely, choosing to say nothing.
For some reason, Harry knew that he knew them by face, but could not remember which house they were in, or how he knew them. I must have classes together with them and not really notice them ...
"I'm Harry," he said, waving a hand at himself needlessly – Zabini gave a small chuckle while Greengrass giggled a little - "and this is Ginny Weasley," he finished, waving a hand at Ginny, who smiled at their company. "She's in fourth year."
"Nice to meet you, Potter, Miss Weasley," said Zabini quietly, inclining his head to both. "We have met quite a few times, though," he said to Harry. "We do have some classes together."
"Yeah, I guess we do," said Harry, though admittedly he could not think of which ones at the moment. Maybe they were Ravenclaws? He didn't take many classes with the Ravenclaws, and he didn't pay any attention to who was in those classes, except for a few he knew by face.
"Indeed," said Zabini, amused for some reason. "After all, Gryffindors and Slytherins have all sorts of classes in the same group."
This struck home. Now Harry remembered where these two looked familiar from. They were in the same year as him, but in Slytherin house. The reason he never noticed them was because the only Slytherins in his year who ever made themselves known were Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, with Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle tagging along them most of the time; the rest kept to themselves entirely, some taking Malfoy's side, some ignoring their fellow housemates. He wasn't sure if he was comfortable in this compartment anymore, having never been on good terms with anyone in Slytherin – Malfoy had seen to that – and he noticed that Ginny looked very uneasy, something both Slytherins seemed to notice as well.
"You have nothing to worry about from us," Daphne said calmly, twirling her wand around between two long fingers. "We're not out to make trouble. In fact," and now she waved a hand at Blaise, "he and I only have each other in Slytherin house. We're not interested in Draco Malfoy's parading around any more than you two are."
Harry and Ginny looked at each other, feeling embarrassed again. Daphne had guessed what they were thinking almost down to the last syllable.
"I'm sorry," Ginny said a little sheepishly. "Old family habits die hard, and it's practically set in stone that all Weasleys must be sworn enemies with all Slytherins, especially with my brother, Ron. He hates the whole lot of you."
"I know," said Zabini, rolling his eyes a little. "Your brother is almost the Gryffindor version of Malfoy."
Harry thought about it and found that he really couldn't argue this. They both had similar prejudices when it came to the Hogwarts houses, after all. It was just that where Ron was quiet and envious, Malfoy was confident and outspoken.
"So, Potter," said Daphne quietly after a few minutes' silence, "you've told the world that He Who Must Not Be Named is back. Nobody but a select few believe you. How do you feel about that?"
This seemed like such an odd question that for a moment Harry didn't know how to answer. He had never really thought about it, and he felt a little like he had when Rita Skeeter, the Daily Prophet's former writer, had interviewed him.
Daphne smiled. "It's only a question, Potter, nothing more."
It was Harry's turn to smile, deciding to answer the question in a mock-interviewee way. "Well, since the world thinks I'm crazy – which I have to say isn't new to me – and that the Headmaster's gone mad, I guess it feels good to know that people will finally stop asking me to see my scar, even if it means they'll duck in fear from me instead."
Daphne took all of this in and nodded curtly in understanding. "That makes sense, I guess."
"Oh," added Harry, "and by the way, you can call me Harry."
"I'd prefer you call me Ginny as well," said Ginny from the corner. "I don't really like my full name, so that's what I'm called. My full name is Ginevra, but ... you know, fancy name for not-so-fancy girl. Never really liked it much."
"That's ridiculous," exclaimed Zabini suddenly, staring directly into Ginny's eyes. She blinked, not quite understanding him. She was about to voice the question in her eyes, perhaps to ask what was so ridiculous, when he said in what he evidently thought was a gentlemanly tone, "A beautiful young girl such as yourself, not so fancy? I won't believe it." He pulled out a wand, and for a moment Ginny flinched back, though this might be due to the random outburst from Zabini as opposed to the wand. "Would you like me to Transfigure your clothes into something more like ours for you? It might make you feel fancier."
Ginny giggled, blushing deeply, and Daphne also let out a soft laugh. At Harry's perplexed look, she leaned in and whispered, "He Transfigured my clothes earlier. I didn't come on board the Hogwarts Express looking like a Muggle business attendant, I must tell you. I actually came on in a sweater and jeans, kind of like hers. He changed them in seconds; I didn't even have to change out of them first. He's the expert at Transfiguration in our year, in Slytherin anyway."
"Any particular reason why he did, or just for the hell of it?" Harry whispered back, watching as Zabini talked Ginny into his proposal and Ginny started her request, half exasperated and half amused.
Daphne laughed again. "No, I think he just enjoys the whole "mystique" of it, whatever that means. He's always been a perfect gentleman around women; he just isn't around women much in Hogwarts, and as such keeps to himself. I'm one of the only ones in Slytherin who talks to him. Sometimes Nott will sit and chat with him, and sometimes Tracey Davis, but other than that, he only really has me."
Harry was shocked to realize that there was someone at Hogwarts more lonely than he was, and it must have shown, as Daphne quickly said, "No, no, it doesn't bother him. He prefers it this way, actually. If Blaise cared about making a scene, he'd follow Malfoy's lead. He's just not interested in that."
They both watched as Ginny finished giving her request, and Zabini began Transfiguring her clothing before their eyes. Her red sweater was now a crimson-red sleeveless turtleneck, clinging to every part of her upper body and revealing things that Harry had never noticed about his best friend's sister before. Her jeans became a skirt similar to Daphne's, also form-fitting, and her shoes became elegant high-heels, cladding her feet magnificently. He then cast a charm that brought Ginny's hair up, and then down in elegant waves. She looked much older than fourteen now, and Harry found that he had a lot of difficulty looking away from her.
"Wow, Ginny," he said breathlessly, whistling softly under his breath. "You look amazing."
"Why thank you," Ginny said with a soft giggle, taking it all in. "I've never really had clothes like these, being the youngest of seven." Upon finishing examining herself and thanking Zabini, she ran her eyes up and down the length of Harry and giggled. "You don't look so bad yourself, you know."
"Huh?" He was confused.
Daphne was now laughing along with Ginny, while Zabini was just staring, the hint of a smile on his face. "Look down, Harry," Daphne said through her laughs.
He did so and gasped. His attire had completely changed as well. His pullover had been replaced with an emerald-green dress shirt tucked into jet-black trousers and topped off with black dress shoes. His head felt a little funny as well; he patted it and was shocked to find that his hair was completely flat, not a stuck-up hair to be found.
"Er, how in Merlin's name did you manage to make my hair lie flat?" he blurted out. "It's been sticking up since I was born."
"We Greengrasses have our secrets," Daphne said with a small grin; evidently, she had been the one to Transfigure his hair. When Harry continued to stare at her as if waiting for an answer, she smiled and said, "My younger sister, Astoria, taught me the spell. She was always good with those kind of spells. Fixing hair, fixing clothes, fixing nails, etc. You'd be surprised."
"I see. You're going to have to teach it to me one of these days, Daphne."
"Yes, I think I will," giggled Daphne. "That rat's nest on your head always was repelling to me, I'll have you know. Now you can give it a much better style."
Harry blushed at the praise and looked down over his new look. He had to admit that he liked the clothes that now adorned his body. He especially liked the emerald green. He looked up again to see his new companions watching him, as though waiting for feedback.
He smiled. "This is excellent. Thank you."
"You're quite welcome," said Zabini approvingly, glad that Harry was pleased with it. "People should learn that dressing appropriately is not a crime. In fact, it's quite enjoyable."
"Did you grow up living with aristocrats?" Ginny asked sarcastically, still looking herself over in amazement.
Zabini smiled. "Something like that. My mother always believed that dressing well could take you far, especially if nothing else would. That's not to say that clothes make the person, but you would be surprised, Ginevra, very surprised indeed ..."
Ginny's mouth dropped open, as did Harry's.
"Did – did you just call me Ginevra?" blurted out Ginny, her eyebrows rising.
Here comes the storm, Harry thought to himself, instinctively drawing closer to the wall.
"Yes," Zabini replied, looking at her a little more intently than necessary and drawing a blush from her. "It's a beautiful name, and thus I must insist that I call you by it, if no one else shall."
Ginny stroked her chin with one red-painted fingernail, thinking it over. It was obvious that nobody had ever called her by her full name, aside from her family – specifically Molly Weasley, her mother. Harry knew that she hated being called by it even by her mother. However, she also didn't know if she could say no to this boy, who seemed bent on making sure his two new friends had high self-respect. It was a tough decision, all in all.
"All right, Blaise, you may," she finally decided. "But only you can call me that." She looked at Harry with a deadly gaze, her eyes narrowing dangerously at seeing him almost cowering. "ONLY you, Blaise," she said dangerously, looking straight into Harry's eyes as she said it.
"I get it, Gin, I get it!" Harry said, raising his hands in surrender. "No need to attack me with my bogeys like you do your brothers!"
She grinned ferally, twirling her wand in her fingers. "I could do that, couldn't I? But no, I wouldn't. Not to you, Harry." Her eyes flashed mischeviously. "You have nothing to worry about. Ronald, on the other hand ..." She trailed off, the look in her eyes signaling to Harry that Ron would have a lot to worry about whether he called his sister by full name or not.
Daphne and Zabini watched the conversation from the side, both wearing looks of identical amusement on their faces.
The afternoon passed by a lot more quickly than Harry and Ginny could have thought possible. They found that as time went on they enjoyed the company of the two rebel Slytherins more and more. Thinking this made it hard for Harry, who felt as though he was betraying his two best friends, but as the day progressed he thought less about Ron and Hermione, who had not shown up after the Prefect meeting, and more about his two new friends. He especially liked this Daphne girl, who seemed to enjoy listening to what Harry had to say, even though his part in the conversation was quite limited.
It was around midday when someone finally came to the door of the compartment. Ginny was enjoying a nap, Daphne was reading a book and Harry and Zabini had been discussing the upcoming Quidditch season. The door opened, and the first thing heard was a sneering laugh.
"Now what do you want, Malfoy?" Harry asked exasperatedly. "Don't you ever get tired of coming after me? Go pick on some other Gryffindor and leave me alone for a change."
"What? And miss out on tormenting my 'old friend'?" Malfoy drawled, his sneer etched in stone on his face. It became more pronounced as he looked Harry up and down. "What in the world are you wearing, Potter? Finally decided that those filthy Muggle rags you wear to King's Cross every year weren't worth having? Moving from street bum to regular bum?"
"Leave. Us. Alone," Harry seethed, his teeth clenched as well as his fists.
"And the Weasley girl, too?" he chuckled as he stared at Ginny's sleeping form. "She has quite the body for a blood-traitor." He let out a low whistle to emphasize this, ignoring Harry's death glare, which would have incinerated Malfoy should looks be able to kill. His eyes then turned to Daphne, who had not looked up from her book, and Zabini, who was watching Malfoy through narrowed eyes. "And what have we here? Two more blood-traitors, eh? You disgust me, Greengrass, and you revolt me, Zabini."
Zabini gave a dry chuckle, while Daphne outright snorted.
"The feeling's mutual, Malfoy," she shot back at him, not bothering to look up from her book.
"While I would say the feeling's mutual," Zabini replied in a low voice, completely different from his earlier cheerful tones, "you go far beyond just revolting me, Draco. Now please leave. You're disturbing our otherwise pleasant afternoon."
"But I don't think I will," said Malfoy with a grin, looking at Ginny again. "She looks like she could do with far better company than you three pathetic morons could ever give her."
"And what kind of company do you think she needs? Yours?" Daphne snorted again, this time lowering her book and holding her wand in her hand. "I think Ginny would rather eat bogey-flavored Berty-Botts Beans before hanging out with you willingly, Draco. Come to think of it, so would I."
"Watch your mouth, blood traitor!" snarled Malfoy, raising his wand at her. "You'd better learn to respect your superiors, Greengrass. You might get hurt otherwise."
This time it was Harry who snorted, followed by outright laughter.
"You tried this before, Malfoy, just a few hours ago," he said through his laughter. "I kind of refuted that, remember? As I recall, all it took was saying one thing: Voldemort."
"Shut up!" Malfoy hissed, covering his ears. "Don't say that name!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot that your dad and your pals' dads were chums with that maniac. Pardon that."
Harry had no idea where his newfound confidence in facing Malfoy was coming from, but he was enjoying it more and more every time.
"You're full of it, Potter," said Malfoy, replacing his baffled look with a sneer. His eyes turned back to Ginny, who had taken the bad timing of shifting a little in her sleep, her clothing ruffling a little and revealing her bare stomach and some of her upper legs. "And all of that is beside the point. I'm here for the Weaslette. Her and I are going to get to know each other, if you three idiots catch my drift." He gave a suggestive wink, and all three looked disgusted. "Grab her, Crabbe."
Harry couldn't believe his ears, which turned red in an instant along with the rest of his face. His wand was in his hand almost instantly, and all eyes watched as Crabbe reached forward towards Ginny, but his hand didn't get within a foot of Ginny before he fell to the ground, hit by a Stunning Spell. All eyes snapped to Harry, who had fired the spell. He was livid with anger.
"Keep your dirty fat hands away from her, you filthy bastard!" Harry snarled at Crabbe's limp form. He was on his feet now, his wand pointed at the spot where Crabbe had been standing. He turned to face the other two enemy Slytherins, who were still recovering from their shock. Some kind of beast-like anger controlled his tone as he spat, "Get out of here, Malfoy, or I'll do worse to you!"
"Is that a threat?" Malfoy drawled, his eyes focused on Harry's wand. He looked slightly scared, but he fingered his Prefect badge as he spoke.
"No," spat Harry, "it's a promise! I could bring you down in seconds if I wanted to, Prefect or not. Now get lost, and don't you dare bother us again!"
Goyle had already run for it, leaving Malfoy on his own. He seemed to realize the significance of not having Goyle there, and so backed up a little, his eyes on the other two wands now trained on him, the wands of Daphne and Zabini. Ginny stirred and opened her eyes, looking wearily at the situation unravelling before her before resting on Malfoy. Seething, and with a look of pure loathing, Malfoy turned around and ran out, but not before shouting over his shoulder, "This isn't over, Potter!" Zabini pointed down and cancelled the effects of the Stunning Spell, and Crabbe stood up and bolted as well.
For a moment, it was completely silent.
"Er ... what just happened?" yawned Ginny sleepily, straightening her clothing out.
"Malfoy and his goon squad tried to grab you and leave," Zabini said coldly, his angry gaze on the doorway, where Malfoy had been standing several seconds before. "Harry stopped them by Stunning Crabbe and then threatening the other two with worse. He was very angry." He looked at Harry, whose wand was emiting red sparks from its tip. "Still is, really."
Harry had sat down now, still fuming a little. It was bad enough that two of his friends were ignoring him, but now Malfoy was targeting one of the last ones he had? He would not accept that and he would not tolerate it. It was too much. The first thing he was going to do after the Welcoming Feast was go to Professor Dumbledore about this. No matter how annoyed he felt towards the old Headmaster at the moment, he needed to report this incident, even if it didn't solve the problem. He'd finally had enough of Malfoy's torments.
He was broken from his anger when he noticed Ginny lean forward toward him. She placed one hand on his cheek and kissed him on the other cheek. "Thank you for being my protector," she said sweetly, giving a bright smile. It was enough to cheer him up, if only a little, and he could tell that this was Ginny's intention, for her eyes lit up.
"Any time, Ginny," he said, echoing her words from earlier.
Smoothing out his dress shirt and pocketing his wand, he stood up and closed the compartment door, locking it as well. He didn't want to deal with any more confrontations with anyone today. As he sat down and the four started up another conversation, he felt the day begin to slip by again as he enjoyed his newfound friends' company, and hoped that this new friendship would last.
The Hogwarts Express finally pulled into the station sometime in the evening, and Harry looked up, surprised that they were already in Hogsmeade. He had thought they had a couple of hours to go.
"Fifth year, here I come," he muttered under his breath. "I wonder who'll be after my blood this time ..."
As they piled out onto the platform, Harry saw Malfoy staring at him from the other side, his tall form visible over the heads of the younger students. He narrowed his eyes dangerously, and Malfoy smirked at him before vanishing in the crowd. Next moment, his three friends were standing around him.
"Let's go find a carriage," Ginny suggested, her fatigue gone after a few hours of sleep. "I'm hungry."
"Then we shall be off," said Zabini in a carrying voice, raising his arm. "May I, Ginevra?"
Ginny looked surprised and blushed a little, but linked arms with him regardless, saying, "Why thank you, Blaise," and giggling some more. Baffled, Harry watched them leave, before he felt Daphne poke his arm.
"Let's not be left out, Harry," she said with a slight giggle of her own. "We should go with them if we want to share a carriage, and what better way to?"
Harry smiled, offering her his arm, which she took, and together they walked after Zabini and Ginny, who were drawing the attention of many students, most of whom were laughing at the antics of the two; apparently Zabini was taking the role of gentleman to a whole new hierarchy level. He wondered if he should follow Zabini's lead – he knew the boy didn't care about making himself look foolish to others, as he wouldn't be doing it otherwise – but Harry knew that he was far too shy to ever copy what Zabini was doing.
And still Harry had not seen Ron or Hermione since the train had left King's Cross. He was beginning to feel resentful towards them. Yes, he was happy that they were now together, but did they have to shaft him out because of it? He needed his friends right now, and though he had made two more friends, the thought that the two best friends he had wanted nothing to do with anyone except each other made him extremely angry and resentful.
Well, fine then, Harry thought bitterly. These two seem nice enough, and I still have Ginny. They don't want me around, they won't have me around. I'm not going to try anymore after tonight.
He climbed into the carriage after his three friends, listening to their conversation, unaware of Daphne's blue eyes focusing on him from beside him and Zabini and Ginny's conversation from in front of him due to being lost in his own thoughts.
If the trial from the summer is anything to go by, I'm betting this year is going to be the worst year we've had yet ... and this is from having two years with Death Eater professors. I'll never forget when Quirrell revealed Voldemort under his turban, or when Mad-Eye Moody turned out to be that madman Crouch. He shuddered a little. I just hope we don't get another Voldemort-supporter this year. Anything else is fair game to me.
He started when he felt a hand on his forearm, and he looked to see Daphne staring intensely at him.
"You look like you have a lot on your mind," she said. It was a statement, not a question.
"Yeah, I guess I do," he said quietly, not wanting to talk about it to anyone right now.
Daphne squeezed his arm lightly, as though to comfort him. "It gets easier," was all she said before turning to look out of the carriage, her eyes on the forest.
Harry stared at her with a blank look. Did Daphne know what he was thinking? The way she had sounded so assuring, and her understanding look; it was as though she knew exactly what he thought. He had never suspected anyone of being able to read minds except Lord Voldemort himself and, on occasion, Professor Severus Snape. But this girl's look had been incredibly understanding, none the less.
"Something wrong, Harry?" Zabini asked, seeing him staring without really seeing. Daphne and Ginny were now looking at him curiously as well; he had apparently blanked out.
"I'm fine," Harry assured them. "Just thinking about things ..."
The carriage finally stopped in front of the front entrance, and the four began their trek into the castle. The good side was that it was a clear, peaceful night, no clouds and a nice breeze. The bad side was that said peace was ruined the second they walked into the castle by a flying water balloon. Harry threw out his arms to either side, stopping his friends, and everybody froze as a water balloon crashed on the floor right where Ginny had been about to walk.
"Peeves!" shouted Harry angrily. "Get down here!"
A loud cackle was heard and another water balloon was thrown, hitting the head of an unsuspecting second year girl, who burst into tears. "Go on, take a shot, Potty!" called out a carefree voice cracking with laughter, and Peeves the poltergeist appeared in the air above them.
"Ventus!" shouted a powerful voice.
A gust of wind seemed to blow from another end of the entrance hall, hitting all of them, but it was clear why it was used: Peeves was suddenly blown out of the air and through the wall, cursing all the way. A few seconds later he popped his head out, looking around, but the same spell hit him again and, unable to stop it, Peeves was blown through the wall.
"There, now," said a loud voice, a male's, from the other end of the hall. "That ought to stop that moron's excitement for a little while."
Everybody's heads turned towards the staircase leading to the upper section of the hall, where a man with long brown hair flying down to his back in all directions and a dark colored cloak was walking down, a cane in his hand that evidently helped him to walk. He reached the bottom of the steps and stopped, seeing all of the perplexed eyes on him.
"What?" he asked, leaning on his cane, which reached a height along his stomach. He stared at them through two different-colored eyes: one was brown while one was grey. "Ain't ever seen a man with a cane before? Get on into the Great Hall, all of ya, and make it snappy!" He turned and walked into the Great Hall himself, not waiting for the students to move.
Mass chatter erupted amongst the students as they began walking into the Great Hall.
"What in blazes was all that about?"
"He looks like he could be Filch's son."
"Except the eyes."
"Those are the weirdest eyes I've ever seen!"
"What's with the cane? He looks like he's in his forties at oldest!"
"Merlin, I hope he isn't like Filch!"
Harry, Ginny, Zabini and Daphne entered the hall with the other students, taking everything in. It was already almost full, some of the students having arrived on earlier carriages getting here before them. Upon reaching the end of the Gryffindor table, he and Ginny turned to face their two new friends, who were staring at an empty end of the Slytherin table with identical looks of something Harry did not recognize. Perhaps it was sadness?
"Looks like we'll be going our separate ways for the time being," said Zabini in a low, carrying tone. "So Daphne and I must bid you two farewell for now." He took Ginny's hand and brushed his lips against it, to Harry's shock, Ginny's blushes and Daphne's giggles. "Until next time, mon cher." With one last nod, he and Daphne turned and walked off to the Slytherin table, leaving Harry and Ginny standing there, looking halfway to being startled.
After snapping back to reality, Harry motioned for them to find a spot at the table and they walked towards it, both reflecting on the last several hours.
"This easily takes the cake for being the weirdest day I've ever experienced," Harry muttered under his breath, but he was smiling, as was Ginny, who had heard him and voiced her agreement.
Author's Note: I know, I know, it's been a long while since I've updated a story. Now that work has slowed down a little and everyone's in college/uni, I have time to write. Some of my stories will remain on hiatus while I'll update others from time to time. The main ones I'll be working on are A Life of Rebellion and possibly, on occasion, To Deny Your Fate. That's not a promise for the latter one, though. I'm still working on editing the story as a whole.
Now, to this story. It's a bit of a change from what I usually write, but I figured a change was in order. Ideas come to me like lightning and sometimes fade off (which is why I sometimes stop halfway through the story for some of them; writer's block is evil), and this one may or may not be any different. You can hope to see an update at least once every three weeks or so, though. If you don't, assume I'm either dead or out of town and away from a computer. (But seriously, don't assume I'm dead. I'd feel crappy.)
Anyway, that's it from me. Hope you enjoyed the opening chapter, and we'll see you at chapter 2, which I'm working on as I speak.
