Disclaimer: All characters, places, and anything familiar from the Harry Potter books and movies belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.
A/N: The response to the first chapter was amazing. Thanks to all the people who read, reviewed, followed and favorited the story. So much so that the half chapter I had practically finished itself. Also I'd like to thank those of you who sent suggestions, they will be taken into consideration. Lastly I kind of need a Beta who's familiar with British slang because I'm having a bit of trouble making it sound as accurate as possible. Hope you like!
Chapter 2
After a quiet walk around the grounds of Hogwarts Harry decided to go back to the castle. He still had a lot on his mind but having Daphne Greengrass on his side, even if it was a political manoeuvre seemed to calm him down quite a bit.
He was still not in the mood to deal with reproachful stares choosing to skip dinner and head directly to the Gryffindor common room. During his walk earlier he came up with the idea to go over some of his schoolbooks to find spells to help him get through the tournament. He hoped that with doing this and Daphne's help he would come out of this whole mess alive.
Surprisingly enough he had his homework completed so he had plenty of time to go over some books before bed. Usually Hermione went over his Transfiguration and Potions essays but it looked like he would have to manage on his own from now on. After yesterday's fight he wasn't planning on approaching either Ron or Hermione any time soon.
He walked through the common room that was completely empty and went straight to his room on the fourth floor. He was looking forward to his seventh year so he wouldn't have to climb so many stairs, knowing the seventh year rooms where located on the first floor.
After climbing several sets of stairs Harry arrived at his room and closed the door behind him loudly. He didn't notice that Neville Longbottom had apparently chosen to forgo dinner too.
They both gave a startled yelp when the door closed. Neville blushed while Harry just gave him an uncomfortable smile.
"Sorry Neville, I thought everyone was down at the Great Hall," he said rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
He hadn't spoken to any of his schoolmates after his name came out of the goblet, aside from Daphne, Hermione and Ron.
"It's alright Harry, what are you doing up here so early?" Neville waved off Harry's apology.
Harry decided to answer honestly; after all even though Neville was quite shy he had never been mean to him, "I was planning on going over some spells for the tournament."
"Harry?"
"What is it Neville?"
Neville let out a soft sigh. "I wanted to let you know that I don't think you put your name in the goblet."
Harry wanted to say he didn't believe him knowing that almost everyone in Gryffindor had looked at him with awed faces last night but then noticed the sincerity shining through Neville's eyes.
"Thanks Neville, though you're practically alone with that thought." Harry let out a dark chuckle.
Neville just shook his head. "I wont be alone for long, people will start to realize that you didn't do it, one way or another."
Harry plopped tiredly on the floor in front of his trunk. "Someone said something similar to me today."
"So you weren't telling the truth, someone apart from me is on your side," Neville replied happily.
Harry turned to look at him with an amused smile, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try me," was all that Neville said.
Harry contemplated on whether or not to tell Neville who his new ally was. He knew that Neville was often a target for other Slytherins but then again he hadn't heard him say that Greengrass was one of them.
Harry sighed tiredly but decided to tell Neville the truth, "Daphne Greengrass."
He opened his trunk searching for his standard book of spells and the dark forces books and waited for Neville to start shouting at him for trusting a Slytherin, just like he'd expected his former friends to react.
After a moment of silence, Harry glanced at Neville, who was sitting on his bed with an open book on his lap.
Neville's eyes were wide with surprise but he noticed there was no accusation in them of any kind. Then suddenly Neville's face went from shocked to playful. Neville let out an amused laugh. "So you've met my cousin then?"
Neville was thoroughly enjoying Harry's poor imitation of a goldfish, "What? Who?"
"Really Harry?" Neville's tone still held some amusement, "You have to know that the majority of the wizarding families are related. You're probably related to Malfoy and maybe the Weasleys too."
Harry shuddered remembering what Daphne had showed him earlier and decided to ask Neville what he knew on the subject. "Say Neville, do you know about blood feuds?"
Neville blushed and gave Harry a knowing look, "So I see Daphne filled you in on that topic."
"Yeah she did. Why didn't you tell me that my family had a blood feud with the Weasleys?" Harry said with a slight hurt tone of voice.
"I really don't have any excuses Harry, just the fact that Ron and I don't get along and he's your best friend. You even defended him back in first year when Malfoy called him a blood-traitor. At the time I thought you knew and later I didn't seem to find the right time."
"It's alright Neville, its not like we were that close and maybe before the whole goblet thing I wouldn't have believed you anyway."
Neville looked at Harry with understanding eyes. "I'm still sorry I didn't let you know beforehand."
"Don't worry about it, what you said about believing me when practically no one does makes up for it," a slight smile grazed Harry's face. He took the books out of his trunk and pulled a few pieces of parchment along with a quill and ink.
"So, what did my dear cousin tell you apart from the blood feuds topic?"
"She wants to help me train for the tournament."
Neville nodded slightly, "I thought it went along those lines, and pray tell, what did she ask in return for her help?"
Harry gave him a shocked look, "How did you know she asked for something?"
"She may be my cousin, but she's also a Slytherin, they don't invest on something unless they can get a profit out of it," Harry let out a quiet chuckle. He could definitely agree with that.
"She wants to change how the wizarding world sees her family."
"Well, at the moment things don't look so good for them," Neville admitted, "Many families suffered a negative backlash when You Know Who was finally defeated."
Harry nodded thoughtfully while he settled on his bed and opened one of the books. He wondered what had he'd gotten himself into. He hoped that for once he had trusted the right person.
Daphne Greengrass walked quietly back to the Slytherin common room. She knew she was close when the temperature began getting colder.
She thought she might have gotten through to Potter. At least that was what it looked like. She knew that at least he was receptive to some of the ideas she gave him. She was determined in keeping her end of the bargain by any means necessary. By the end of the tournament she hoped he would be ready to hear what she really had planned.
Daphne arrived at the common room and took a quick look around. It was almost completely empty. There were a few younger students milling around playing cards or reading in the couches by the fire. She climbed the stairs to her room and went in without knocking. She knew that Pansy was probably following Draco around somewhere while Tracy and Gracie where probably roaming the halls trying to find something interesting to gossip about.
She found Millie Bulstrode finishing what looked like their Transfiguration essay. She was by no means dumb like everyone thought. If only people bothered to look at her grades they would know she was actually one of the top twenty students in their year. The problem was that she always left her homework for the last minute and often arrived late to class.
"Hey Millie, haven't learned your lesson yet?" Daphne snickered. "You know that leaving everything till the last minute is a disaster waiting to happen."
"Do shut up." Millicent giggled. "Just because you have what is probably a photographic memory and can practically do your homework with your eyes closed doesn't mean everyone can finish theirs with time to spare."
"You do know you had all week to do it right?"
"I know, I know." Millie sighed dejectedly. "But there was a bet going around the common room about who the champions were going to be and I had to keep an eye on the ones that dropped their names in to even my odds."
Daphne snorted lightly. "Whatever lets you sleep at night."
"I always sleep soundly," Millie replied smugly, "So how did your meeting with Potter go?"
Daphne locked the door and sat on her bed. "Even better than I expected."
"Do tell."
"I thought at first when I approached him he was going to hex me. I think that with all the students looking at him as if he was the future Dark Lord didn't really help his temper."
"What did you expect?" Millie shook her head sadly. "That boy has the worst luck in the world. Remember second year? Everyone thought he was the Heir of Slytherin and from what I heard no one apologized after the truth came out."
"And little Ginny Weasley still roams the halls of Hogwarts," Daphne said with disgust lacing her voice.
"You never told me how you found out it was actually the SheWeasley who opened the chamber."
"We've been over this already, they made me swear not to tell anyone." Daphne smirked slightly.
"Or you're waiting for the right time to out the SheWeasley."
Daphne decided to ignore Millie's comment and continue with her explanation, "Anyway we started talking and I brought up his hatred for all Slytherins and he mentioned Draco and his use of the word blood-traitors. I ended up showing him the book about wizarding families I found last year in the library."
"I take it didn't go very well?"
"For a moment there I didn't know if he wanted to curse someone or cry."
Millie's brow furrowed. "That bad?"
"Not really but he did ask a lot of questions. He seemed really interested in the political movements that were going around during the Dark Lord's reign."
"That's actually good. If everything goes according to plan we could probably induct him by the end of the year if not sooner."
"Let's hope he's ready by then."
The next day Harry was pacing nervously outside the Great Hall waiting for Daphne to arrive. Classes had gone horribly wrong that day. All he wanted to do at the moment was find a little nice rock to live under for the rest of his life.
If there was still a small amount of doubt about forgiving his friends it went down the drain earlier that day. It wasn't enough that they weren't on speaking terms; they had to go all the way with their latest prank.
He had woken early and had gotten ready for breakfast. Normally he would have waited for Ron but seeing as they weren't talking he went by himself. Harry was actually trying really hard to avoid anyone whose last name was Weasley for the time being. He was still not sure what he should do with them. He arrived at the Great Hall and sat next to Neville who was sitting alone on the edge of the table closest to the door. When they finished eating they went to their first class together.
There he was, sitting with Neville minding his business during Potions when he noticed that several students were wearing badges that proclaimed Cedric Diggory as the only Hogwarts champion. He actually didn't mind the badges until they changed with a tap of a wand to say 'Potter stinks'.
But what made his blood boil was the fact that his former friends walked in wearing them. Hermione had this superior look that chilled him to the bones. Ron on the other hand avoided looking his way at all costs.
When the class finally ended Neville overheard a blonde Hufflepuff girl who was boasting to her friends that Ron and Hermione had actually helped some other Hufflepuffs make the badges. If Harry actually thought about it, it had Hermione written all over it. She was smart enough to come up with the idea and probably knew the spells required to make them. As for Ron's involvement it was still unclear if he had anything to do besides wearing one but it was a low blow, even for them. He actually expected something like this from Malfoy but all the other boy did was mock him and call him names as usual.
He wondered if he'd made a mistake in not accepting Malfoy's hand in friendship and not letting the hat sort him into Slytherin. Then he remembered how a spoiled brat Malfoy was. But maybe he would've done better in the other house, like the hat had initially suggested.
Well, there was no use playing the 'what if' game. It wouldn't lead to anything good, it just served to depress him further.
"If you don't stop pacing you'll wear a hole in the ground."
Harry jumped slightly. "What are you doing here Neville?"
Neville shrugged his shoulders, "You weren't at the Great Hall and I guess I just wanted to know if you were doing alright."
"It wasn't any kinds of fun finding out that my 'best friends' helped make those badges but I'll get over it. Not in the near future though."
"I'm right there with you mate," Neville shook his head, "What I don't understand is why they did it. One thing is for them not to believe you but another one completely is to do that kind of stuff."
"It's good in a twisted sort of way," Harry said shrugging his shoulders slightly. "At least now I know what they really think of me."
"I'm glad you can look at things that way," a voice said from behind him. Daphne walked and stood in front of Harry followed closely by Millicent Bulstrode.
"You're late," Harry tsked mockingly. "Here I thought you wanted to protect your investment."
"Do shut up," she replied in the same mocking tone as his. They locked eyes for a moment, blue clashing with green both smiling briefly before she turned around and started walking, as expected everyone started following her.
Harry eyed Millicent nervously. She still looked quite intimidating, not so much as she did the previous years; now that the boys were getting taller her stature was less threatening. She wore her long brown hair in soft waves down which helped soften her features, still what bothered Harry a bit was her unibrow. Daphne hadn't said anything about bringing other people. It was a good thing that Neville arrived when he did.
"So, not that I mind, but what is Bulstrode doing here?" Harry said as he fell in step next to Daphne, letting the other two follow silently behind. The corridors were deserted at this hour with all the students having dinner in the Great Hall.
"She's just here to help. Just as I imagine Neville is."
"He found me by the hall, I didn't ask him to come along." Harry shot Neville an apologetic look.
Neville just nodded slightly and kept walking. Daphne eyed him carefully before answering, "It's actually a good thing you brought him along. If we're going to come up with a plan and start your training you'll need a target to practice on."
"Really? I've always wanted to be shot at with newly learnt spells that can go horribly wrong," Neville said with a teasing tone.
Harry was quite shocked. He had never heard Neville trying to joke, let alone with Slytherins. Then he remembered that Neville mentioned that he and Daphne were cousins.
"Hey Neville, how closely related are you and Daphne?" Daphne looked at Neville with a surprised look. Harry guessed she hadn't expected for either Harry to tell Neville what they had agreed on or for Neville to admit they were related.
"My gran from my dad's side and her grandmother from her father's side are sisters, we actually got along really well until we came to Hogwarts and were sorted into different houses."
"Don't be such a cry-baby, we still get along just fine on Christmas and during the summer." Daphne huffed.
"Yeah, there's that." Neville laughed shrugging his shoulders. "Although you have to admit that Christmas during first year was a bit awkward."
Daphne laughed openly nodding her head. "You were scared to death of me."
"You would be terrified too if every Slytherin you met thought you were their target practice," Neville replied indignantly.
Harry felt the tension building and decided to change the subject, "So Daphne, where's this secret place you found?"
Daphne gave him a grateful nod. "Not far, actually. I stumbled upon an abandoned corridor by accident in first year, I got lost and ended up in a hallway with several doors and barely lit torches. I discovered that they used them to teach fencing and duelling a long time ago."
Harry thought it would have been interesting to take those classes and wondered why they didn't offer them anymore. Daphne apparently read his mind when she started talking, sarcasm dripping from her voice, "Apparently they decided to retire the courses when students kept hurting themselves."
"I didn't know they used to teach those subjects," Harry replied thoughtfully. What else didn't he know? Hanging out with Ron had made him quite lazy and Hermione's nagging made doing homework cringe worthy, let alone searching for information on his own free will. He used to have decent grades before he came to Hogwarts and even if he tried he would never be as clever as Hermione, then again she spent almost all of her time with her head buried in a book or doing homework. Maybe if he applied himself a bit and used his innate curiosity for something useful he would probably do marginally better.
They arrived at the corridor that Daphne had described. It looked a bit creepy and old but it seemed like an ideal place. No one would come looking for them here.
Daphne opened one of the doors that lined the corridor and went in followed closely by the others. The room was quite large with an elevated platform in the centre with were several desks lined along the walls. It looked just like the Great Hall did during Professor Lockhart's attempt at teaching them how to duel in second year.
"This place should work," Harry said as he walked around inspecting the huge classroom. He wondered what ideas Daphne had come up with. Last night he had made a few notes on several spells that sounded quite promising. Harry turned around and saw Neville and Millicent with surpised looks on their faces while Daphne waited patiently for them to finished looking over the room.
Daphne walked and stood beside him in front of a dust-covered desk. She took her wand out and muttered a simple cleaning charm. All the dust and grime from the desk banished. "I suggest that we clean this place up first, I know for a fact that dear cousin Neville is allergic to dust."
Harry snickered quietly while Neville grumbled under his breathe. Once they managed to clean the place up Daphne and Millie dropped their schoolbags in one of the desks and started pulling out books and pieces of parchment. When they finished they ordered them into two neat stacks.
"The first thing we need to do is try to put you on par with the rest of the champions. They have an age advantage with all the knowledge it entitles."
Harry cringed slightly. This was probably the least favourite part of learning and he knew he couldn't keep blaming Ron's laziness and Hermione's obsession with all things related to books and homework. Without them there to help him he only had himself to rely on. Well he had Daphne and apparently Neville and Millicent too, who had yet to say a word.
Harry grabbed the pieces of parchment from his bag and pulled a chair and sat beside Daphne and Millie on the desk. "So, what do you have in mind?"
Neville shook his head softy and joined them at the large desk, carrying a chair along. Bringing Harry up to speed would take a great amount of time and effort. Not to mention the probable frequent visits to the hospital wing they would require.
"I signed out the fifth and sixth year's spell books from the library this morning, we'll go through them and mark the spells that look relevant."
"I went through the fourth year spell curriculum and wrote down the ones that sounded important." Harry handed Daphne the list he had made the night before.
Daphne looked over Harry's notes and smirked slightly, "It's good to see you actually want to live through this death trap they call a tournament."
Harry noticed there was no sarcasm in her voice. He actually felt quite proud with his small list. It had taken him several hours to come up with that list of spells.
"Well Harry here basically did what we can consider the first part of the plan."
"What are the other parts?" Neville's face shined with barely repressed curiosity.
Daphne shook her head slightly and turned to look back at Harry. "To start with, finding out what the tasks are going to be will be one of our main priorities right there with teaching Potter. That way we can prepare him for them properly."
"But that's cheating," Harry said with uncertainty, he wasn't sure if he could cheat his way through the tournament.
"Actually," Millicent finally decided to speak, "It is well known that before the tournament got cancelled all the contestants were supposed to go in blind but everyone knew that one way or another the champions somehow always managed to find what the tasks were."
To Harry it sounded quite stupid to send students to dangerous tasks without some kind of knowledge. Then again they voluntarily entered the tournament and guessed not knowing would be part of the fun.
"And how do you plan to find out?"
Harry was surprised it was Neville who asked the question. He was so sure Neville would be a stickler for the rules but looking at his openly inquisitive face he wondered if he and Daphne were more alike than they let on.
"I've got ears everywhere, anything that anyone mentions involving the tournament will come straight back to me, even if its some insignificant information."
"And how on earth did you managed that?" this time it was Harry who voiced the question.
"A girl has to have her secrets," Daphne's voice was full of intrigue and mystery.
Harry groaned. Well at least he wasn't going into this whole mess completely in the dark. Any help he could get, even if it meant cheating would be godsend. He was entitled to that information; after all he didn't put his name in the blasted goblet to start with, not to mention the advantage the other champions had over him to begin with.
"All right, everyone grab a book and start reading." Daphne clapped her hands once and took a book from the pile. The rest decided to follow her example.
Later that night the four of them ended up having to sneak back to their respective common rooms. They had lost track of time once Neville started asking questions about some spells he found in the standard book of spells grade 6. Harry had looked over Neville's shoulder pointing out several charms and hexes that had some shocking effects.
Both boys then started discussing the use of nonverbal spells versus verbal spells. The conversation started flowing and soon the girls joined in.
By the time they called it a night they had all gone through at least one book each. Daphne gathered the lists and told Harry she would go over them to make sure they would actually work for him.
Daphne drew a map for Harry and Neville and told them to meet back in the classroom the next day after classes. Neville actually moaned when it dawned on him that he was probably going to miss another meal.
Harry had pulled Daphne aside before they left. "Can we meet by the Great Lake before classes tomorrow?"
Daphne raised an inquiring eyebrow. Harry sighed and lowered his voice leaning slightly to reach her ear, "I want to ask you some questions but I don't want an audience, even if they're on my side."
Daphne nodded slightly, "Alright, I'll meet you before breakfast."
Harry thanked her and started to move away from her. She grabbed his arm and turned him to face her. "It's good that you're cautious, even if you are between friends."
Harry blushed lightly and nodded before he moved to follow Neville. They made it safely to their common room. But when both Harry and Neville went through the portrait hole they found that there was actually someone waiting up for them. All Harry wanted to do was walk by and ignore Hermione but apparently she had a lot to say to him.
When he tried to walk past the entrance she got off the couch and started walking straight up to him, "Where were you?" she hissed.
"I don't think that it's any of your business."
"Of course it is, you were out past curfew," she said crossing her arms over her chest.
"Still doesn't mean I have to tell you were I was," Harry tried to side step her but she blocked his path. He notice Neville was shuffling nervously beside him. Hermione could be quite intimidating when she was angry; add to it that she wanted to know what Harry was up to and you got extremely scary Hermione.
"If you don't tell me where you were I'll report you to Professor McGonagall," she stated smugly.
"You can report me all you like but I'm not going to tell you what I was doing," Hermione's face fell but then she looked at him with a strange glint in her eyes that made him shudder involuntarily.
"Harry, I'm your friend. I know that we had a little disagreement and I'm sure it's something that can be fixed with time. I've been thinking and I guess Ron and I went the wrong way by making you tell us the truth in front of everyone the other day."
Harry's eyes widened in surprise. 'Does she actually think I'm that stupid?', he though while shaking his head sadly.
Meanwhile Hermione continued babbling, "We should have talked to you in private but Ron's mouth got the best of him, you know how exited he can get, right?"
Harry's eyes grew bigger by the second. Neville stopped moving beside him and watched Hermione with interest as she kept digging herself deeper.
"Professor Dumbledore said you wanted to keep it a secret so the other students wouldn't hound you with incessant questions. I understand that and I forgive you for not coming to me before you went ahead and tossed your name in the goblet."
Neville actually started laughing, which in turn made Harry chuckle darkly. Hermione huffed angrily, "I don't see how this is funny!"
"You forgive me? You don't really think I'd fall for all that rubbish did you?" Harry replied harshly. And since when did Professor Dumbledore started telling people he had actually dropped his name in the cursed artefact?
"Yes I forgive you and it's the truth, Professor Dumbledore said so."
"Oh, just because a teacher tells you something it has to be real?" Harry's voice was starting to tremble with repressed anger.
Neville started shaking nervously again, "What about Professor Quirrell or Professor Lockhart? Not to mention Snape."
Hermione's eyes were suddenly focused on Neville. It made the shy boy take a step back. Harry tried to head to his room again and again Hermione stepped in front of him, her eyes still on Neville. "It's Professor Dumbledore, of course his telling the truth."
"Listen Hermione, you can report us if you like but I'm going to bed," he spat finally managing to reach the stairs that led to the boys dormitory with Neville following hot on his heels.
On the way to their room Harry stopped and looked at Neville, "I think she has finally gone completely bonkers."
Neville snickered nervously and then his face went serious, "What troubles me is what she said about Professor Dumbledore. Is he actually saying that stuff or was it just Hermione making things up to try and get information out of you?"
"I don't know and I'm not sure I want to find out."
They climbed the stairs silently and agreed to discuss the latest development when they were completely sure no one was listening. They changed and went to bed without saying another word. Harry kept thinking about what Hermione had said. It was disturbing to say the least. He had looked up to Professor Dumbledore. When the professor told him he had to compete he had assured Harry he believed him when he said he hadn't done it. Harry now wondered if it was all a ploy. But the real question was why? Why go through all that trouble?