Disclaimer: Well…since I don't own this stuff, leave me alone XDD…Collette and Kurt are mine but the rest belong to a ridiculously wealthy woman on the other side of the pond. And moving right along…
Last time:
"To those present I, James Nicholas Potter, Lord and Head of the House of Potter do present Harrison James Potter, Lord and Head of the noble House of Potter."
With that the red light exploded and a bright gold ribbon of magic came from the parchment and wrapped Harry before vanishing. Harry let go of the parchment, which furled in on itself and flew off to the Ministry to be sealed and filled.
Ch. Two: No room for mistakes
When everyone's eyes finally focused, they looked at the podium where Harry stood there, the glint in his eyes silently daring anyone to question what just happened. It was an uneasy silence, and the students looked at each other unsure of what else was going to happen. Some shuffling was heard over at the Gryffindor table as the youngest Weasley children were clambering onto their feet.
"So it's going to be like that Harry? After everything we went through together, you're going to betray all of us?" Ron looked directly into Harry's eyes while helping his sister up. "You're just going to throw away six years of friendship for Malfoy, the same bastard that made our lives hell? I thought I was supposed to be your best friend, how could you do this to me?" With every question, the red-head steadily grew more irate. Some of the students that were still seated nearby slowly moved away to avoid getting caught up in the infamous Weasley tantrum.
Harry furrowed his brows while contemplating his next words. "I don't believe that I said anything about betraying anyone." He turned inquisitive eyes toward the professors behind him. "Unless I'm mistaken…but technically those were my father's words, not mine."
"That's bullshit and you know it; that was probably forged by the ferret. We all know he's on his way to becoming a death eater and he probably fucks that slut of a sister so that their demon spawn will be pure!" The three on stage were shell-shocked, not expecting the red head to go that far. Then when the words finally sunk in, Draco was reaching for his wand, intent to send the idiot into next year.
The professors that had yet put their wands away when Ginny had almost gone after the twins, had steadied their wands at the two boys, just in case. However; Dumbledore decided to deflect any potential arguments.
"Alright, well I think that we have had enough excitement for one night, wouldn't you agree?" Dumbledore asked looking at all parties involved with his grandfatherly look. Albus had to get this situation back under his control. "Now why don't we all settle down for the rest of the announcements and enjoy the feast that the staff has worked diligently on" he smiled benevolently as everyone slowly moved back to their seats before he took the podium once more. Albus knew now that the situation called for more delicacy than he originally assumed. Even though he was wary of what the Malfoys were planning, it would not do for the Weasley boy to fly off the handle like he did tonight. If Albus was not careful, the Weasley boy's jealousy could ruin everything by pushing Harry further into the Malfoy's hands. As it stood, based on the actions of the two youngest Weasleys, Albus knew that he would have a difficult time pushing Harry back to the Weasleys. He could not do it overtly, as the boy had a penchant for ignoring direct orders even going so far as to become defensive. It would not do for the boy to feel threatened. Nor did Albus think it wise to actively attack an important family like the Malfoys. But Albus could be patient. He knew that with just the right push, Harry would return back to the light side, right where he belonged. 'Yes,' Albus thought, 'he won't be like Tom. He's just confused, the poor boy, he just needs the proper guidance. Those Malfoys have another thing coming for trying to lure the poor boy.' With this in mind, Albus turned his attention to the students and continued the rest of the announcements. 'I will not lose the boy to those Malfoys.'
While Dumbledore was entertaining his little schemes, Harry now had a problem. Where was he supposed to eat? One look at the Gryffindor table told him that it would probably be in his best interest to avoid them for the time being and let them calm down. While he might not be the smartest wizard in the world, he knew better than to sit with a bunch of angry lions. Ron's remark about backstabbing traitors having no business there might have also influenced his decision to ignore the house of red and gold. Though Harry knew some of the Hufflepuffs, he was not close enough to any of them to justify sitting with the badgers. He would also not put it past his housemates to send something his way if he sat at the very next table. So Harry was left with two options, well he had a third of just heading to the kitchens but his Gryffindor pride would not let him be pushed out of the Great Hall because he ruffled some feathers. There was also the fact that he did not want to leave his brother and fiancée to the wolves he calls classmates. The Malfoy twins would stand their ground with their dignity, holding their heads high and Harry would as well. As Lord and Head of the House of Potter, he had the duty to uphold his name and the family glory for the world to see. Therefore, Harry had the lovely option of choosing between the Ravenclaw or Slytherin table to dine. As he was debating, the aforementioned twins already took their places at the Slytherin table. Harry would have liked to join them but he also liked having his body remain intact and healthy. He understood that while the Slytherins would not dare shun the Malfoys for fear of being blacklisted or worse for opposing fellow Slytherins. However; just because the Malfoys were untouchable did not mean that the snakes would not take the opportunity to go after Harry. There were quite a few Slytherins that would gladly hand him over to Voldemort because their relative was incarcerated.
This left the Ravenclaw house. Harry could not think of any Ravenclaws that would cause him any real trouble. He was certain that Cho and her friends, who were all graduating this year, would not be foolish enough to cause any problems that might hurt their chances of a good career. Going after Wizarding Britain's darling savior would certainly be a reason employers would refuse to hire them. As Harry neared the Ravenclaw table, he noticed Luna waving him over with a wistful smile. After the last year, harry felt that he could count on the spacey blonde for a friendly face. Odd as she seems, Harry could see why she had been placed in the house of the wise. Her unorthodox intelligence was often overlooked or scoffed; but if you could recognize it, as Harry found out, it could be very useful. Beyond that, she was a good and loyal friend and it was more than Harry could say about his supposed best friends. As he sat down next to her, Luna greeted him with a smile.
"Hello Harry, so I see that the wrackspurts have finally stopped bothering you", Luna stated while glancing at a spot over harry head. It was then that Harry noticed the large glasses Luna was sporting and asked what they were. After a brief explanation of the colorful spectroscopes, Harry grinned at the 5th year's behavior.
"Well that's good, right?" At her knowing smile, he continued "So how has summer treated you? I didn't see you on the train."
"Daddy and I were looking for the Crumple Horned Snorkacks…" As the two continued their conversation, the food arrives and all was calm for the duration of the feast. Even Ron's snide little comment about Harry staring a harem of dumb blondes was ignored by the rest of the school that just wanted to get through the rest of the feast without any more damage. At one point, Draco and Colette joined in the conversation with Harry and Luna. After Harry sheepishly relayed the conversation he had the Gryffindor table earlier, Draco glared at Ron and Hermione who returned one wholeheartedly. Colette had something different in mind and excused herself from the table. Everyone's attention turned back to the blonde aristocrat calmly made her way over to the Gryffindor table. Holding her hands up in a non threatening way, she walked over to where Hermione was eating and politely requested for a word.
Standing up, Hermione turned to the Malfoy heiress, furious that the girl her boyfriend had been ogling at would have the gall to bother her. Hermione observed, with unadulterated anger, the perfect little blonde with a perfect little life. Jealousy coursed through her veins at the long flowing hair, crystal clear blue eyes and delicate frame. The girl in front of her seemed more like an angel on earth rather than a 16 year old human and it irked Hermione so much that the boys seemed to think the same thing. She never felt more inadequate than she did right at that moment. No wonder Ron was so attracted to her, after all who would want a bookish, plain-looking know-it-all with buckteeth(even though they had been fixed), and frizzy hair when girls like Colette existed? Hermione was so distracted by her thoughts that she did not catch what the blonde said. "I-I'm sorry, w-what did you say, I didn't catch that." She stuttered embarrassed. The Beauxbatons witch just smiled.
"It's alright; I merely asked if I could have a word with you, you are Hermione Granger, yes?" Colette enquired politely.
"Y-yes I am, how did you know my name?" Hermione mentally slapped herself. Of course she would know her name if she really was Harry's girlfriend. That and Malfoy probably called her a mudblood that didn't deserve to study at Hogwarts on more than one occasion at home. She braced herself for more of the hate-spewing shit and sneering that she was used to by all the other Malfoys she had the displeasure of meeting. Instead, Hermione was surprised when her answer was met with a smile.
"Oh wonderful," Colette clapped her hands in delight, "I was sure that it was you, Harry would always talk about you. He always spoke of your adventures and I have been anxious to finally meet the girl he spoke so highly of." She was practically beaming at the confused brunette before becoming serious again. "Unfortunately, that is not all I came to speak to you about, would you be comfortable having a private word for a moment?"
This got Hermione defensive, which was more comfortable than being praised by a Malfoy. "If it's all the same to you, whatever you want to say to me you can say in front of everyone here." Hermione put her foot down. As if she was so stupid to go anywhere alone with a Malfoy. Hermione mentally scoffed.
"Fair enough," Colette agreed, once again startling Hermione. Just who was this girl? "I have heard some unfortunate remarks concerning me as I entered the hall. Harry is very upset about some comments that have been said. I am curious as to what I have done to you that would deserve those hateful names." A small frown marred the blonde's face as she said this. "I was dearly hoping that we could become friends as you mean so much to my fiancée." The frown was then replaced with another smile. "I apologize if I have slighted you in some way and I hope that one day we may have the opportunity to have a friendship." As she turned to return to her table, Colette said, "thank you for your time, I hope that you enjoy the rest of your dinner. Until we meet again."
"W-wait," Hermione felt ashamed at herself. She did not even know the girl and had called her such horrible names. Even if the girl was a Malfoy, she had not done anything wrong, yet. Hermione couldn't believe she had even acted that way. Her parents would be so ashamed at her. She was supposed to be open-minded, not insult people at first glance mainly because of how they looked. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said such horrible things, you didn't even do anything wrong." Taking Colette's contemplative look as a response, she continued, "Does Harry really talk about me?" She asked hopeful to turn the conversation in a different direction.
"Oh yes, all the time. He considers you the sister he never had the chance to have." Colette probably would have continued; but she noticed her brother looked like he was about to head over to where she was. "Oh excuse me; I must get back to my table. Perhaps we can continue this conversation at a later date. It was so wonderful to meet you, Ms. Granger." With that, she made her way back to the Slytherin table with a smile for her brother.
While Colette rejoined the Slytherin table, Draco turned to Harry to discuss the living quarters. As Colette was a guest student, she was given the option of using one of the guest suites which had been arranged earlier by their father. Lucius Malfoy would settle for nothing less and even managed to get Draco to reside in the suite as well under the argument that it would be such as shame to separate the twins during some of the last years they would be this close to each other before Colette was married. A real tear jerker that sent many of the female staff into pestering the headmaster to accept the conditions and as Dumbledore did not have any real reason to object, everything went according to plan. Dumbledore would later regret allowing only the members of the Malfoy family as well as the girl's betrothed to enter the suite because that would mean that the staff would not be able to stop the betrothed from having extended stays in the suite. This meant that Harry was allowed access to the rooms under the supervision that was already accounted for with Draco staying there as well as extra protection on Colette's room to keep her privacy intact. Another thing that Dumbledore did not know was that half of Harry's belongings, especially the Marauder's Map and his firebolt, were already taken to the suite for safekeeping. Harry had enough experiences to know that even though it was his private property, many of his housemates seemed to think that they could go through it without his consent. This was why Harry left his most prized possessions, like his photo albums and trinkets he got from his godfather were left for safekeeping in a heavily warded safe in his room at Malfoy Manor. He could have put it in his family vault but it was more accessible at Malfoy Manor.
When the feast ended, Draco shoved a note into Harry's hand before heading off with his twin to find their new quarters. Harry glanced at the note after saying goodbyes to the Ravenclaws that put up with him at their table for the feast. After discerning that it was directions and the password to the suite, Harry resolved to go to the suite after picking up his invisibility cloak he had left in his school trunk just in case. After tonight, he would carry the cloak everywhere for the rest of the year. He wasn't worried about someone stealing it as he had added charms and hexes to any would-be thieves. Harry hurried up to some of his housemates to get the password since he did not catch it before the announcements. It was stupid really, not learning the password until basically you were in front of the fat lady's portrait. Luckily, Harry caught up to one of the fifth year prefects who told him the password as well as a warning that some of the more enthusiastic Gryffindors might try something to his stuff. Attempting to reign in his temper at the sheer lack of respect for his property the idiots he tries to live with seem to all have, he thanked the prefect and ran off to the dorms.
-Gryffindor Common Room-
After getting inside the common room, Harry notices some missing sixth years from the common room and decided that it was time go hunting. Casting a disillusionment charm, he snuck into the sixth year boy's dorms where he found his missing 'friends'. Wasting absolutely no time, he hexed the lot of them and when they were all petrified in the act, he called for someone to get McGonagall. He did not have to wait too long as Professors McGonagall, Dumbledore and oddly enough Snape came barging into the room. He knew that they would be shocked at the scene in front of them. After all, it would look really bad that two sixth year prefects and all the sixth year Gryffindor boys were petrified in the act of vandalism of a student's property. Ron even had his wand out ready to burn some of Harry's school books and Seamus was frozen while ripping Harry's school vest.
"What in Merlin's name is going on in here!" McGonagall shrieked. She was livid that this would happen in her house. Whatever happened to house loyalty? Dumbledore was hard pressed to find any reason to justify what happened and was disappointed at the scene. Perhaps the Weasley boy was not mature enough to be prefect has he had hoped. This was an utter disgrace. And the fact that they were caught in the act meant that it would not be covered up and the perpetrators had to be punished. Albus would have liked to cover this incident off and give a few detentions but one look at the now disillusioned Harry meant that if the Hogwarts staff did not do anything about this, he would. Albus could already see Harry charging everyone in the room with everything that he and the lawyer he would hire could think up with. Since the Potters were wealth and powerful enough that Harry could destroy every one of their lives. That was if he was lenient enough and did not get the Malfoys involved. Oh Merlin help them all if the Malfoys got involved. Albus knew that he might end up a fugitive for letting this happen and not do anything about it if the Malfoys were involved. He was not even sure if he wanted to know what Harry was thinking, but he did not have to wait long to find out.
"Well first I would like to know what Snape has to do with a Gryffindor matter-" Harry started.
"That's Professor, Harry" Dumbledore corrected automatically. He really had to do something about this little feud between the two.
"You don't have to call me professor, sir," Harry cheekily replied. Seeing the unamused looks, he continued "Regardless, the last time I checked, PROFESSOR Snape was the head of house for Slytherin, not Gryffindor. So he really has no business here at all. Moving right along, one of the fifth years warned me that something like this might happen and when I did get here, these idiots were already weaseling around in my stuff, which I do believe is vandalizing another student's property." Harry noted with glee the fury on Ron's face at the slight. "So I decided to get the proper school authorities alerted before I called the aurors in. Granted all I had in that trunk were a couple of uniforms and my school supplies but I would bet 100g that they were looking for some of my family possessions to destroy to teach me a lesson for daring to date a Malfoy or some other nonsense like that." While he was talking, it was impossible to miss the guilty looks the petrified students had in their eyes. "And as it seems plain to see that I am obviously unwelcome here, I will take the rest of my stuff that wasn't torched and take up Draco's offer to move into the suite with them." Here he gathered up the rest of his possessions except the ones already destroyed or were being destroyed. "By the way, I'm suing the school for the supplies that these students decided to destroy; hopefully they didn't ruin my quidditch supplies because those were top of the line presents I got from Draco over the summer. I think he said they were from Germany or something." With that remark, he turned on his heel and left the professors to deal with the mess.
-Meanwhile at the Malfoy suite-
The twins found the rooms with no problem and had just finished exploring the suite. The large common room opened up to a small dining area and kitchenette. To the right of the common room was Draco's designated room. All of his things had been put away in the wardrobes that were adjacent to his four poster dark mahogany bed decked in dark green sheets. Opposite the bed was an enchanted window that showed a nice view of the lake. To the right of the wardrobes was a full en-suite bathroom, complete with Jacuzzi, much to Draco's delight. The room behind the kitchenette was designated to Colette and was similar to her brother's room except in light mahogany with light blue drapes. There was a room opposite of Draco's, which was another bedroom, probably soon to be used by Harry.
Both Malfoys were seated in the common room waiting for Harry to arrive. One of the house elves had set some tea for them which they were enjoying for the moment.
"I hope nothing happened to him on the way here." Colette was worried since they had to discuss something that could not wait any longer. While her mother taught her the value of patience, Colette was still trying to calm her jittery nerves.
"I'm sure he's fine, I gave him the directions and password earlier. He knows that we have to talk about something, he just doesn't know what. I don't think he'll take it too bad, he's used to this sort of thing" Draco looked at the grandfather clock that said 9:10. "He should be here soon."
"But what if he doesn't? What if…" Colette was cut off at the door opening behind her. Both of the twins stood up to see walk into the common room, trunk in tow, looking like he might kill someone. "Oh Harry, you're here." Colette walked over to her wonderful fiancée and gently kissed him on the cheek. Instantly the cold look vanished, and she was swept into a loving embrace that she melted into.
"Aww, no kissed for me?" Draco mock-pouted. He let out a sigh of relief that he didn't even know he was holding in. "So Ry, based on the fact you look fit to kill someone for their stupidity, I'm guessing that the Gryffindorks really did it?" he asked, looking at the trunk that had some slight burn marks.
"Tried is more like it, caught the idiots in the act and got the professors involved. If it's not the morning's top gossip tomorrow, I'll make sure that everyone on this damn island knows by lunchtime." Harry replied while peppering kissing on his lovely fiancée's face. "So what is it that you wanted to talk about anyways? The note was sadly unspecific." The twins shared a glance, which worried Harry. "Guys, what's going on?"
To be continued…
Author's note:
Dun Dun Dun
Ser-Ser: *singing off key* guess who's back, back again. Ser-Ser's back, tell a friend
Ry: Oh shut the hell up, Sera. That song isn't even your's
Ser-Ser: T.T;
Draco: *snickering* what time is it?
Ser-Ser: 11:30pm…
Draco:*rolls eyes* what date is it?
Ser-Ser: .….… Thursday…
Ry: Yea, 31 May 2012…10 months after the first chapter
Ser-Ser: S-Shut up at least I got it in on time…
Draco: -.-; I should hit you
Ser-Ser: EEK *hides*
Ry: Anyways, we're back. Hope you enjoyed this chapter of Boys and Girls and hope to see you soon, RIGHT Sera?
Ser-Ser: ;^; please review…