Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, unfortunately. Or Draco L. And, I'm not making any money from not owning them either.
Here I sit, another year,
Another child sits on the chair,
I'll whisper in another ear
Then shout your house for all to hear!
Will you go to Ravenclaw?
If books and riddles inspire and awe,
And in a test you wipe the floor,
In this house you'll learn much more.
Unless you have also a cunning mind
And plans to weave and wills to bind
Then to Slytherin belong your kind!
And what shall we say of Gryffindor
Where the brave don't quail when dragons roar
And to save another will face much more!
Then Hufflepuff, the loyal ones
These faithful chaps will never run
Trust a Hufflepuff if you trust anyone!
Once again I divide and sort
Again I wonder if I ought
But if I keep on voicing that -
Why there'll soon be no need for a sorting hat!
There was a round of applause for the sorting Hat, which Hermione joined first. Harry joined in rather mechanically, then after a few claps stopped abruptly and folded his hands under the table. Ron, seemingly wrapped in his own thoughts joined in as the rest of the clapping was dying down.
"Archibald, Helen" shouted Professor McGonagall, and a small girl approached the hat.
"Gryffindor!" called the hat, barely seeming to skim the girl's head before the Gryffindor table
"Pegg, Angela" …
…ooo000ooo…
"I have said this before, and I shall say it again." Dumbledore shouted into the noisy crowd of students as the last first year hurried to the Ravenclaw table. The hall quietened.
"There is a time for everything; a time for speaking, a time for sleeping and a time for eating. This is the latter."
There was a rumble of appreciative laughter
"Whilst you eat," Dumbledore continued, smiling "I hope everyone - especially our newest students - will take their time to get to know the people around them. Appreciate the loyalty and trust you share with your friends, now that you are all reunited. Look not only to your own house for friendship."
People were murmuring; the headmaster did not usually speak this much before the feast.
"In this time of worry and fear, it is our friendships and bonds - the love that we all have inside us - that will save us. Please consider this whilst you enjoy the delicious feast - I must say that once again the Hogwarts house-elves have out-done themselves! Dig in!" he clapped his wrinkled hands and the golden platters and goblets filled themselves with a spectacular array of food.
Ron began to chew on a chicken drumstick half-heartedly. Beside him he could feel Harry's presence, but he didn't have it in him to turn and start a conversation. Things felt awkward between them, uncomfortable and stiff in a way they had never been before. Their friendship had had its ups and downs, no doubt about that. They'd ignored each other, screamed at each other and hugged and laughed with one another. In fourth year, Ron had laughed when people had spread rumours about Harry, filled with jealousy. He had been sick of being the one people didn't notice, being addressed as 'Harry Potter's friend'.
The thing is, Ron thought, as bad as all that was, it was nothing like this.
At the time, he'd thought their friendship was over because he couldn't stand Harry's fame and fortune anymore. Now it felt like he was on the other side; he had a terrible feeling that Harry couldn't stand him anymore. The worst thing was, this time if the friendship ended, it would be for a totally justifiable reason: Ron had failed Harry. Again.
He hadn't been there for Harry in the first part of the Triwizard Tournament. In his jealousy, he had overlooked the truth and indulged his own ego. He had convinced himself that Harry had done something wrong for once, that he was a liar.
And now… Ron had once again jumped to conclusions. Seeing his sister run crying away from his best friend, he had immediately assumed that Harry had said something terrible to her, or even worse, tried something. Not that Harry had ever shown any particular interest in Ginny…
Ron stopped eating for a second and took a deep drink of his pumpkin juice, sighing heavily. He hadn't just jumped to conclusions, he had completely lost his mind. What had he been thinking? That his best friend who had never wronged him, who could be trusted on to take care of everyone except himself, would decide to cop a feel from his friend's sister? If he had been Harry, he wouldn't have forgiven Ron for thinking that.
But of course, this is Harry we're talking about, Ron thought, mentally rolling his eyes, then immediately felt guilty. He began digging into his roast again. Just because Harry's such a good friend…a good person, doesn't mean he's perfect - hell, I know he's not perfect! I'm just being a jealous idiot because I'm such a rubbish friend. He'll probably forgive me, even if I don't deserve it.
But would he? He pushed his broccoli to the side of his plate slowly as he contemplated the thing that was worrying him the most. Harry's current mood scared him. The way he had acted with Malfoy had also been odd. Since when had Harry been so … spiteful? He was almost acting just like Malfoy himself. And Harry's new look also made Ron feel uncomfortable; his own muggle clothes were second hand and he'd never had his hair cut by anyone other than his mother. This new Harry made Ron feel inferior and ordinary; even in his school robes, Harry's state of casual disarray and bright green eyes, now not obscured by glasses, had girls as far away as the Ravenclaw table giggling.
And what about the apology he had made to Harry? Had it been enough? They had made up and shook hands, but it hadn't felt right, he remembered, but then he had been too busy being relieved that Harry didn't want Ginny. Another sterling example of my loyalty, Ron stabbed a potato. And what if he did fancy Ginny? I should have been glad such someone I trust wanted my sister, rather than some rat like Smith - at this, Ron shot a glare towards the Hufflepuff table - he still remembered that first DA meeting in the Hog's Head - or that Corner bloke! At least I know Harry would always do what's best for Ginny. Ron guiltily took another swig of his pumpkin juice. I should know that.
Harry didn't eat. He felt angry and confused. Being back at Hogwarts was much better than Privet Drive, but still…why weren't things back to normal? He felt angry at Ron, although he didn't want to bring up their argument again, and also, once again here he was, being stared at, surrounded by people who all seemed to have their eyes on him. He couldn't stand to look at the headmaster, not after having to stay with the Dursleys again. So what if he would have been in danger anywhere else? What was new? And now, even though he was back at Hogwarts, after his fight with Ron he felt almost just as lonely.
Even as he thought this, Ron sat beside him, eating as if there were no tomorrow. Ron thought that everything was okay, he thought that a simple handshake made everything alright. Well guess what Ron, Harry thought savagely, you don't get to say sorry and then just forget about it all.
Hermione felt tears pricking at her eyes. She blinked furiously, angry at herself. …Being ridiculous…what's wrong with me? On the other side of Harry, Ron ate on obliviously, chewing on a bit of pork as if his life depended on it, glugging down his pumpkin juice with a sigh of pleasure. Ron had barely spoken to her so far. And he was so blind! Couldn't he see Harry was hurting? Did he really think his apology, whatever he had came up with, was enough? Evidently not!
If that boy used his eyes once in a while - she stopped thinking, feeling hopeless and tired. If he used his eyes once in a while he might notice me.
And Harry hadn't so much as looked at her. Not once. Hermione didn't even know what to think about that one. She realised that Harry must have had a terrible summer, but in all honesty she didn't want to know. She'd had a good summer and had returned to school happy and ready to make a few positive changes in her life. She just didn't want to begin term with an argument, and she could see that Harry was angry enough to snap at anyone. She'd expected a few challenges in building a bridge with her room mates, in getting a social life, but she'd expected Harry and Ron to be there for her. To talk to her at least. Or even look at her.
She found her eyes on Ron again. He was spearing a potato with vigour. She clenched her fists and stared at the tablecloth as the remains of dinner vanished and pudding appeared. I've got to get on with my own life, she decided, I've never cared this much about what other people think of me. I've got my goals for this year and I'm not going to let these stupid feelings for Ron get in my way.
Hermione lifted her eyes and let them drift across the hall, trying to distract herself. The other tables, like her own, were full of chattering, laughing students. Not so different from one another, but separated by houses. She completely agreed with the Sorting Hat; there had to be more inter-house unity - if we can't agree among ourselves, Voldemort will divide and conquer, she thought with a mental nod of her head.
Hermione could already see herself making new friends in Ravenclaw. Her eyes lingered on Cho Chang, and then Luna Lovegood whose long blond mane swished as she turned her head to talk to her neighbour, the flickering candlelight twinkling in her hair. Maybe it will be more challenging than that, though. Just because they all share a house doesn't mean that they're all the same. Or even bookworms like me, whatever the Hat says.
She skimmed over the Hufflepuff table. She was already on good terms with most people there, she'd just have to work on spending more time with them outside class and getting to know them.
She looked over at the Slytherin table at the far side of the hall and shuddered. Let's see…Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bullstrode? Zabini, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle and - God forbid that I become friends with him! Her eyes flicked over Draco Malfoy who was currently trying to ignore a fork of cake Parkinson was waving in front of his face. Hermione found herself smiling when Malfoy exchanged a glance with his girlfriend, raising his eyebrows the two began to laugh in a very un-Slytherin manner, Parkinson lowering the fork at last, snuggling into his side as Malfoy gave a long-suffering shake of his head.
Hermione caught herself in surprise. Was she smiling at the antics of Malfoy and Parkinson? Whatever next! She didn't dare admit to herself the presence of a wave of loneliness at the sight of the happy couple. She chose to stare at Luna's glistening hair rather than think of this, or of the two silent boys beside her.
…ooo000ooo…
"The very best of evenings to you all!" Dumbledore said, as the last of the pudding disappeared, snapping Hermione to attention. Dumbledore's outstretched hand caught her eye; it was coal black and withered. Several other students noticed it too, judging by the gasps and mutters coming from around the hall. Dumbledore simply shook his sleeve over his hand and continued as if nothing had happened.
"Welcome to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry! To our hardened veterans - welcome back!" There was a smattering of clapping and a few cheers from the older students.
"As I'm sure you all realise, this year things will be a little different, with the terrible occurrences that have been happening more and more frequently lately - I'm sure many of you have been following the tragedies in the Daily Prophet."
The hall fell silent, many students bowing their heads or staring down at their laps.
"The return of Lord Voldemort - " Dumbledore obligingly paused for several gasps from his audience "should have resulted in many changes in the way things are run in Hogwarts. Unfortunately, it is only now that I am able to put these plans into operation."
Suddenly the four tables were buzzing with whispers and murmurs, students turning to their neighbours to make surprised exclamations or just to exchange glances.
"But before I get into all of that, I want to introduce your new potions master, Professor Slughorn! "
"What!" Harry's head snapped up
"But Snape's still there!" Ron hissed under his breath, forgetting his awkwardness with Harry
"Ssh!" said Hermione irritably, making them both jump, speculatively eyeing the portly man who stood up and bowed to the hall which was now rife with whispers
"Professor Snape, on the other hand will now be taking up the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts."
"No!" shouted Harry, leaping to his feet
Hermione let out a long suffering sigh and pulled him back down to the bench with a thump.
"Don't worry, mate" Ron whispered "Remember, they never last more than a year!"
Harry did not reply, and Hermione gave him a stern look, motioning for silence so that she could listen to Dumbledore.
The headmaster waited for the whispers to die down before he continued speaking.
"In conjunction to this, OWL students who obtained a grade Acceptable and upwards may now continue on in NEWT level Potions-" Harry sniggered at the look of disdain on Snape's face at this proclamation, and then remembered that he needed to take both potions and defence if he wanted to become an auror. This thought distracted him for several long moments before he remembered that the headmaster was still speaking.
"…and the full, annoted list may be obtained from Mr Filch. And now onto the most important topic." Harry sat up straight, curious despite his anger at Dumbledore, along with the rest of the school.
"This year, you will notice that measures are being taken to protect you; this includes aurors patrolling the general area and adding various defensive spells to the grounds. I must ask you not to get in their way as they work. Rules, including the rule that students are not to be out of bed after hours, must be followed, no matter how irksome you may find them. They are in place for your security, and any rule breakers will be punished severely. I urge you all to act with your safety in mind, and that of others around you. If anything suspicious, either in the castle or grounds comes to your attention, please report it to a member of staff. I cannot impress upon you enough how much danger a careless action, or failure to take precautions, can bring. You will be notified if there are any further safety measures being taken that will
affect your day to day routine."
At last Dumbledore stepped back, surveying his audience with his brilliant blue eyes.
"Once more, I ask of you all to extend the hand of friendship to those who are different from yourselves, as well as those where friendship comes easily. Sometimes the best of friendships are forged in unexpected places. We cannot hope to defeat the dark forces gathering outside this castle while we are divided within. Your professors particularly have expressed wishes for more amicable relations between certain houses, and as such there will be changes made within your classes to help encourage inter-house relations." At this, Dumbledore's eyes sparkled as he looked from the Gryffindor table to the Slytherins.
"Now … It has been a long day, and I am sure we all now have food for thought, however I must also impress on you the value of a good night's sleep before your classes tomorrow morning. I think it is time for us all to turn in for the night. Pip pip!"
…ooo000ooo…
The first couple of days were fairly uneventful. Despite Dumbledore's rather serious ending to his speech, the trio had yet to spot anything out of the ordinary affecting the running of Hogwarts. Romilda Vane was heard reminiscing at length about a conversation she had had with a dark, mysterious auror in the grounds near Hagrid's hut, but so far she seemed to be the only one to be affected by 'increased security'.
Harry found himself wondering if Dumbledore's words had simply been the old man's way of letting off steam. Despite his hint that there would be changes in the way students from different houses were to be working together, Harry was yet to see any professors explicitly enforce it. The closest they came to it was in Charms, where Professor Flitwick had seated him beside Ernie MacMillan rather than Ron, but this was hardly groundbreaking; the two boys were reasonably friendly after being in the DA together, although Ernie was irritatingly Hermione-like when it came to playing hangman or passing notes in class.
The Gryffindors only had Defence, Potions and Herbology with the Slytherins, and Snape certainly didn't show any inclination to encourage friendships between the rival houses. Instead, he seated Harry beside Malfoy, probably to provoke a fight more than anything else. There hadn't yet been an opportunity for Harry to show his colours in his favorite subject, but when he did he was sure Snape would recognise the seating arrangements as an opportunity to take him down a peg or two.
In potions with Slughorn, who turned out to be a rather good-natured teacher anyway, they were allowed to sit where they pleased. Harry was yet to have a Herbology class but he couldn't see Sprout being particularly strict either; the seating in the greenhouses consisted of benches in any case, so they couldn't really be paired up too strictly.
Since the journey to Hogwarts, Harry's temper had died down considerably. He no longer had to fight the urge to shout at anyone who got in his way in the corridors, and things were almost back to normal with Ron. True, he hadn't forgotten Ron's lack of faith in him, but at least they didn't talk in that awful stiff manner of the first night back. He had to admit things didn't seem quite right between them though. It felt as though Ron was treating Harry like someone else, and Harry knew that he had changed. It wasn't Ron's fault that he was dealing with a different Harry now.
The new Harry enjoyed time alone more than being in the noisy Gryffindor common room. However it seemed as if whenever he did want to be alone he couldn't get away from his friends, unless he started doing his homework. This usually made Ron leave, and Hermione would study beside him, but at least she didn't talk to him too often.
Despite the changes, he felt reasonably at ease at Hogwarts, and he was already beginning to slip back into a routine, thoughts of Sirius only bothering him when he tried to get to sleep at night, and even then he was thankful at least that there were no accompanying nightmares. The Gryffindor quidditch tryouts loomed on Friday, and Harry was vaguely looking forward to playing with Katie Bell as captain.
However Harry's more relaxed frame of mind was destined to only last until Wednesday morning, when a school owl delivered him a note requesting his presence in Dumbledore's office the following Tuesday.
"I suppose this'll be the start of the private lessons he told me about last year." Harry said glumly, passing the note to Hermione "I wonder what he wants to show me."
"I bet it's going to be loads of really difficult and rare hexes and curses," Ron said enthusiastically as he read the note over Hermione's shoulder "the kind Death Eaters won't even have heard of!"
"First of all," Hermione sighed, stirring her porridge with a long suffering roll of the eyes, "Those kinds of things would be illegal. If anything, it'll be advanced Defence magic. And secondly, didn't you say he'd be showing you memories of Voldemort in his pensive Harry? He didn't say anything about spells."
"Rather you than me mate," Ron said as Harry shrugged moodily "Think about how many people he's tortured - any memories of him aren't likely to be pleasant."
"Don't be ridiculous Ron!" Hermione said scornfully, causing Ron to shrink back slightly at her unusually aggressive tone, "Even if they could possibly be a useful insight into the way he operates, it would do more damage than good. Harry could be traumatised for life!"
Harry snorted loudly as Ron gave Hermione an odd look and returned to his scrambled eggs. At Hermione questioning glance he elaborated "I doubt Dumbledore cares about that as long as I kill off Voldemort for him."
"Don't be silly!" Hermione said anxiously "Why on earth would you think that? Dumbledore cares about you Harry!"
"Lets just say," Harry said darkly "that I won't be so quick believe everything he tells me, this time around. I'm not going into anything with my eyes shut this year."
The rest of breakfast proceeded in an awkward atmosphere with Harry in silence, pretending he couldn't see his friends exchanging meaningful glances, and Ron shushing Hermione every time she made as if to confront Harry about his words. He had to settle for Hermione staring at him from across the table with patronising sympathy in her eyes.
…ooo000ooo…
However that week Hermione made some interesting advances in her social life that prevented her thoughts from dwelling on Harry or Ron too often.
It had begun in Arithmancy. Hermione had made her way to Professor Vector's classroom in good time, only to discover that with a class full of Ravenclaws, this wasn't early enough to be the first there, which she usually was.
As a result, there was only one seat left. Theodore Nott, the only non Ravenclaw in the class besides her, was scratching around in his bag for quills as Hermione approached and sat down. When the boy resurfaced and saw Hermione he looked surprised and said "Good morning" in a polite, and in Hermione's opinion, also stiff manner.
"Morning." Hermione replied shortly.
The class shuffled in restless silence for a few minutes before Professor Vector charmed a stack of papers to hand themselves out.
"Good morning class," the short witch greeted jovially as the last of the papers settled on desks "Today we will be having an informal test to get you all back up to speed with what you should know from your OWLs."
"Rotten luck!" Nott whispered beside Hermione, who only realised he was speaking to her after a few moments. She didn't reply.
"You may work with your partner," the professor continued "and you will have thirty minutes to complete the quiz. You may begin when you are ready."
Hermione started scanning the test paper immediately. Beside her, Nott shuffled uncomfortably in his seat and whistled through his teeth as he read the first question. Hermione gritted her teeth, irritated.
"Do you mind?" she whispered primly as Nott continued to shuffle "I can't concern-"
WHOOSH
Out of nowhere, a huge fountain of water hit Hermione in the side of the face, knocking her off her seat. She squealed as she hit the floor as all around her students tried to pull their desks away from the unwieldy jet of water.
"Enough!" Professor Vector advanced on their table, vanishing the water in an instant, leaving Hermione struggling, soaked to her feet. At their table, Nott, also soaked, looked suitably red faced.
"Who did this?" the professor looked from Hermione to Nott
"I certainly didn't!" Hermione said indignantly
"I'm very sorry professor," Nott confessed "I had a - erm - well, it's called a 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Fountain Pen in my pocket - I was fidgeting and I - I must have pressed it accidentally." his face grew even redder
"Give it here Nott" Professor Vector snapped, and the boy handed over a rather innocent looking muggle pen "Items from that shop are banned - detention!"
"Sorry" Nott whispered to Hermione as she performed a quick drying spell on herself. He quickly imitated her and they resumed their seats, although they had to perform the spell on their soaked test papers too.
Hermione didn't deign to answer his apology, but got started at last on the first question, only to have the Slytherin interrupt her again with a quiet cough and a pointed glance,.
"What is it now?" she snapped.
"I - well, aren't we supposed to be working on this test together?"
"If you think I'm going to help you after you soaked me-"
"I don't need your help!" Nott snapped, now visibly irritated too "and that was an accident."
"Oh - of course it wasn't." she shot back, "I wish I'd sat next to a Ravenclaw!"
"Oho!" Nott hissed "Prejudiced, aren't we!"
Hermione felt her face grow warm as she realised she'd spoken out loud. Worst of all, he was right. She shouldn't even have been thinking something like that.
Hermione hadn't been called prejudiced before and she didn't enjoy the feeling of shame washing through her. It was true, that if it had been a Hufflepuff who'd caused the flood she would have accepted their apology more gracefully.
"Sorry," she muttered "I didn't mean to be"
"That's quite alright." Nott nodded "Now shall we get started with the first question?"
"I thought you said you didn't need help?" Hermione stared at the boy, confused.
"No…" he stared back at her, eyebrow raised "But Professor Vector said that we could work with our partners. Do you prefer to work alone?"
Hermione flushed. She hadn't wanted to work with Nott in the first place and after the fountain incident she hadn't even been willing to share answers. She was so used to 'work with your partner' equating with 'tell your partner the answers' (particularly with Ron) that she hadn't even considered that Nott might just want to work together just because they were allowed to.
"Okay." she said, feeling oddly flustered, and quickly moved her arm so that he could see her parchment
"Sorry … Nott." She felt she owed it to him to at least call him by his name. She met his eyes again with a tight smile, determined to show she could be friendly, but found herself momentarily sidetracked when she noticed his eyes were different colours. They were wide with long eyelashes, and the left one was green, the right brown. She felt the tiniest quiver of something inside her.
"Don't worry about it." the Slytherin returned with a small but encouraging smile "and call me Theo."
They worked in relative silence for a while, occasionally checking each other's answers. Hermione found herself thinking about her partner as she paused at a particularly tricky question.
Theodore Nott wasn't especially attractive. In fact he was more striking than anything; he had flyaway wavy hair that seemed to float on a non-existent breeze every time he moved his head. Along with his mismatched eyes, his pale skin and large forehead really made him stand out. He had a wide mouth and his ears stuck out at an alarming angle, giving him the look of some kind of mad scientist. Overall, the effect was more interesting than anything, but he certainly wasn't ugly, as odd as his features sounded. However Hermione was sure it was something about his character, rather than his looks which made her insides feel all warm and pleasant. Suddenly Theo interrupted her thoughts.
"Hermione," he said suddenly, making her jump after the long silence "I think you've tackled 14a in the wrong way."
Hermione looked down, blushing. She wished she hadn't got into this habit of analysing members of the opposite sex, it was extremely distracting. She glanced at the question he'd mentioned. It was the one she had paused on as she daydreamed.
"I don't think so," she muttered, frowning "I just had four more iterations of Galvanott's formula to go, but I seem to have…miscalculated something…" her quill paused over her answer of 13.443. Galvanott's formula only worked on whole numbers.
"You forgot the rule for exceptions," Theo said, pointing to his own paper "You need to use a rune-discrepancy diagram for this one first."
Hermione clapped a hand to her forehead "Ugh! Of course! I can't believe I didn't check the runes before I started!"
"Don't worry," Theo distracted her by smiling reassuringly "you do realise this is a sneaky NEWT-level question? Looks like I'm not the only one who reads my textbooks before term begins!"
Hermione felt a shy smile break out on her face and wondered why her insides felt as if they were filled with fluttering butterflies. She even found herself wondering if Theo might be interested in some extra study sessions in the library.
…ooo000ooo…
On Friday morning Hermione ate her porridge with vigour. Beside her, Ron and Harry were wittering on about the quidditch trials again - they'd been at it for most of the week, Harry's dark mood seemingly long forgotten. Hermione had been sidelined; every conversation she started was soon steered into quidditch talk. Up until yesterday, she would have felt lonely and a little sad that she was being so consistently ignored by he so-called friends, but today she was jubilant.
She had a library date with Theo next week - as friends of course … but who knows what might happen! Hermione suppressed a sudden shudder when she realised her thoughts sounded far too similar to one of Parvati and Lavender's conversations for her liking.
Her dorm mates had, unfortunately, proved to have no hidden depths as Hermione had hoped. On the first night back at Hogwarts, she had asked the two girls about how their summer holidays had been, and had tried to be chatty and act interested as Lavender described at length and in great detail her shopping trip in muggle London the previous week. Parvati seemed deeply interested in this subject and had many questions about the designer dresses she had bought. Hermione found herself nodding and smiling but not understanding what was so interesting - or perhaps it was that she didn't wear dresses often and didn't know any of the designer names they were mentioning.
The only subject on which they seemed to share any common knowledge was Harry, and Hermione found it tiresome discussing her best friend as if he was a piece of meat. Whenever Parvati and Lavender started on this subject she found herself answering increasingly ridiculous questions on him ranging from his favourite colour to whether or not he had a six pack.
For the rest of the week, Hermione had continued to pay more attention to Lavender and Parvati, but the two never talked of anything that she could relate to. So used to the distance that Hermione kept from them, the girls did not seek to include her in their conversations other to ask her inane questions about whether she had ever fancied Harry, and had she even seen him naked? Shuddering at the very idea (what part of friends didn't they understand?), Hermione put aside her concerns about her room mates as a certain Slytherin occupied her thoughts.
Once the pair had gotten over the water-fountain incident, Theo and Hermione had really hit it off. It turned out that they both had read the same advanced texts to get ahead in Transfiguration, and Theo was frustrated that there just wasn't enough time in class to exchange opinions. After expressing a mutual desire to debate over the warlock Aristotle's contribution to Arithmancy, the two had quickly arranged to meet up and do their homework together in a place where they could talk.
Hermione doubted that Harry and Ron would miss her in any case, but she couldn't help feeling relieved that they would be at the quidditch trials - she didn't think Ron would take her friendship with the Slytherin well.
I don't care what he thinks anyway.
Besides, they were only meeting up to study. It wasn't as if she had anything to be ashamed of.
"It's pretty decent of Katie, isn't it," Ron's voice was muffled through a mouthful of toast "to make everyone in the team try out as well - it means that technically she won't have to kick out the weaker players if there's someone better - less embarrassing."
Quidditch, Harry thought amusedly, was likely to be his saviour this year. Since Wednesday, his friends had been worrying about him, and why he had seemed so angry with Dumbledore. Nothing would stop Hermione's worried expression from forming whenever he came into sight of her, nor her questions about his wellbeing, but Ron would brighten up immediately, almost literally blocking Hermione from the conversation by excessive hand gestured and enthusiastic descriptions of the manoeuvres he could try when he attended the tryouts for Keeper.
Harry didn't know how often he had to snub Hermione until she would realise that yes, Harry had undergone some changes this summer, but no, he did not want to talk about it.
How was he supposed to tell her what had happened? He wasn't even sure if his friends would believe him if he told them that Dumbledore was willing to let Harry go through pretty much anything as long as in the long run Voldemort was destroyed.
But the real truth, he acknowledged, was that he didn't want anyone to know how crushed, how betrayed he was at finding that out. He didn't know why, but he didn't want anyone to know he was hurt, and most of all, that he was living his own life now
"Harry?" Ron waved a hand in front of his face, and Harry jerked out of his reverie, smiling vaguely.
"What?"
"What do you think? About Katie making the whole team try out - were you even listening?" Ron looked hurt, and Harry felt guilty.
"Sorry Ron…hmm…imagine if one of the old team members doesn't get back in - that'll be awkward!"
"Don't be stupid." Ron downed some pumpkin juice then slammed the glass back on the table confidently, getting over his hurt quickly and latching back onto the quidditch talk. "You'll get in, no problem. And the rest of the team is quality, they'll have no trouble either. I don't know about me making keeper though…" he swallowed his next mouthful more slowly, looking worried
"Don't worry," Harry tried to reassure him "I'm sure you'll get in - you've been practicing all summer, after all - haven't you?" Harry searched his brain - he couldn't remember if Ron had said anything about his summer, but Ron carried on talking, so he relaxed.
"Yeah, but…I dunno…" Ron looked a little green "Fingers crossed."
"Any idea who you're up against?" Harry tried to distract him "So far I've only heard about McLaggen - "
"Ha - McLaggen's full of hot air." Ron immediately grasped onto the subject with confident disdain, as Harry had hoped "He'd talk about himself constantly if he didn't need to eat and sleep. I bet he can barely hold a broom. Although…" Ron's face became more worried as he contemplated McLaggen's flying ability, and Harry quickly changed the subject before he got any more nervous
"Well we still need two new chasers and both beaters. Have you heard of anyone who's trying out?"
"Nah." Ron's face cleared and he speared a sausage "Apart from Coote, and he's too small to be a beater. I can't see Katie letting him on. But then again Bennett - you know, the Cannons' beater - he's pretty small too. So you never know…"
…ooo000ooo…
Harry stumbled into the changing rooms with the rest of the team, and began fumbling for a towel and dry clothes; the tryouts had been gruelling once the less serious contestants had been sifted out, and there had been a fine mist of rain throughout, soaking them all to the bone. Ron had made the team as keeper, beating the rather arrogant Cormac McLaggen by a hair, thankfully. Less fortunately, Ginny had made the team as chaser. Harry hoped that the awkwardness between them wouldn't affect their playing. The other new chaser Demelza Robins was pretty good as far as Harry could tell, although he wasn't convinced that the beaters, Peakes and Coote were very good, but they had been the best out of those who had tried out in any case.
Katie had trialled all the prospective players by starting up a huge, many-player game of pick-up quidditch. The rules were informal; everyone playing the position they were trying out for (this resulted in three seekers, sixteen chasers, three keepers and six beaters). Katie bellowed out commands as they played, asking inadequate flyers to leave the pitch and swapping players from position to position until the last combination of players were announced to be the final team.
The weather had started off chilly but mild, but almost as soon as the brooms left the ground the weather had worsened, and the players now looked distinctly worse for wear too.
As Harry replayed the tryout in his mind, everyone began to pull on their clothes as quickly as they could and headed up to the great hall in groups to have dinner and to warm up; the changing rooms were draughty and cold.
Harry, Ron and Jimmy Peakes were the last to leave, but before they could make for the door, Harry's locker burst open without provocation, his quidditch robes falling onto the floor. Ron waited behind while Harry began to pile it all back in, and then suddenly a thin figure in a Slytherin robe stepped out from behind a corner.
"What are you doing in here, Malfoy?" Harry snapped, immediately darting for his wand.
"Spying on our tryouts, were you!" Ron accused, brandishing his wand at Malfoy, who held his hands in the air to show that they were empty, which immediately aroused Harry' suspicion and he started scanning the darker corners of the changing room for signs that Malfoy had backup.
"As if!" Malfoy snorted "Gryffindor's dreadful playing techniques might be contagious, and we want to win this year."
"What do you want then?" Harry snapped, as another unwelcome thought occurred to him. He really had been dreading the details of his words to Ginny getting to Ron, particularly through Malfoy; Ginny seemed far to embarrassed to bring it up, but he had noticed Malfoy watching him from a distance all week and he had been anticipating blackmail, however he couldn't bring himself to confess to Ron that he'd basically accused his sister of being a slut.
Malfoy looked back at him calmly, hands still raised. "I want a word, Potter."
"Go on then, speak." Harry said, hoping that nothing that would ruin his friendship with Ron would come out of the blond ferret's mouth or he'd be forced to hex him into next week.
"Alone." Malfoy eyed Ron
"Fuck off." Ron snapped "If you can't say it in front of both of us, you can forget it!"
"Don't make me mention anything we might regret, Potter" Malfoy turned to Harry, an eyebrow raised, and he just knew that Malfoy was thinking of Ginny "I refuse to discuss this matter with your side-kick," Harry saw Ron clench his teeth "now may I speak to you in private?"
Harry felt ill. His rash words would come back to haunt him every day for the rest of his life, if he didn't tell Ron. But he couldn't, not right now.
"Don't speak to Ron that way Malfoy" he said, making his decision quickly "I'll talk to you, but there's no need to be rude." he shot an apologetic glance at Ron, whose expression was dubious.
"Are you sure?" he said, his eyes moving between Malfoy and Harry
"Potter can take care of himself, servant." Malfoy said, smirking.
"Malfoy, I swear to God when this is over I'll hex you until you can't remember what your reflection used to look like!" Harry threatened, his fingers twitching longingly on his wand. "Speak to Ron decently, or I won't hear what you have to say, whatever you say to us."
Malfoy gave a smirk and nodded. "Fine. But I need to speak to you Potter."
Harry turned to Ron "I'll be fine." he said quietly, hoping he was right. Ron nodded doubtfully and turned to leave the changing rooms, and Harry had to suppress a sigh. He wondered if he and Ron would ever be able to get over this awful awkwardness between them; he felt different around Ron somehow, and he could cover it with Ron's enthusiasm for quidditch sometimes, but he knew his friend was getting suspicious at how little Harry joined in the conversation. And he knew that Hermione was coming to some sort of conclusion - if her shrewd, calculating expressions were anything to go by.
He couldn't help it though. Ron was hard to emphasise with these days. Harry felt like he had the world on his shoulders, and whereas he was wondering whether he'd survive to see his twenties, the most important worries of Ron's life were food and quidditch. Hermione would understand, but she would worry and prod at his decision to follow his own path. In Hermione's eyes, going against Dumbledore, or even just not following his words religiously, would be a stupid idea, and he knew she wouldn't let it lie. And he just couldn't take that pressure.
Harry waited until Ron's splashing footsteps had faded away into the rain before turning to Malfoy, who abruptly began to speak:
"Potter, I have a proposition for you."
Harry remained silent, baffled. Malfoy seated himself in an obnoxiously relaxed pose opposite him, and swung his feet onto the bench next to Harry. He was looking him over as if assessing his worth, and Harry shifted uncomfortably but waited to hear what he had to say.
"There are several risks for me, in making this proposition," he continued "and none for you, Potter, which is why I have to ensure that when I leave this room, no one except you and I will know what has been said in here."
Confused and extremely suspicious, Harry said carefully; "I'm not promising anything Malfoy."
The Slytherin boy snorted, then cast that assessing gaze over him again.
"I know you Gryffindors honour you promises, so I want to know what I can offer you, if you promise not to speak of this to anyone."
Curiosity more than aroused, but still deeply wary and more than a little irritated that Malfoy had ignored his last words, Harry thought to himself for a moment, but was unable to fathom what the Slytherin might be up to.
He thought over Malfoy's words carefully but quickly "What could you offer me, Malfoy?"
Malfoy looked at him "I honestly don't know what would appeal to you Potter. I have money, connections…but so do you."
What is going on here? Harry thought, furiously searching Malfoy's face for clues. Whatever this was, he was sure it was nothing good.
"I don't really know." he answered, unable to think of anything else to say. Part of Harry desperately wanted to demand that Malfoy make his quidditch team lose spectacularly to Gryffindor, or that he run naked through the great hall at Halloween, but he had a feeling that he should play this one by ear until he had found out what all this was about. "Maybe you could just owe me?" he added challengingly.
Malfoy didn't look happy. The boys stared at each other for a moment. Curiosity almost overcame Harry, but then Malfoy cast his eyes around, as if looking for inspiration. His eyes settled on Harry's Firebolt, and Harry had to smother the urge to quickly clutch it to his chest.
"I have a better idea," he said, reaching into a breast pocket, making Harry flinch. This whole business had him on his toes. "I don't want to owe you anything unless I know I can trust you, but I think you'll enjoy this." he continued, bringing out a folded piece of parchment
"I'm not signing anything!" Harry said hurriedly, thinking of Hermione's DA sign-up sheet, but Malfoy ignored him, and taking out a quill, wrote something on the parchment, then handed it to Harry.
Treacle pudding.
"The password for my broom, my Nimbus 2001. The cupboard won't open unless you say it." Malfoy raised his wand and passed it over the parchment, making it glow.
"I'm charming it so that only you can use this password on my broom, and only you can change it. You can check it works later - I'll have to ask your permission to use the password every time I want to use my broom." Malfoy glanced up at Harry, his grey eyes cold.
"I'm sure you'll find that amusing." he said dryly
Harry stared down at the parchment.
"Wait." he said, then thought for a moment. He looked up at the Slytherin, who had no trace of a joke on his face. "So let me get this straight. You come in here with a secret so important that you had to send Ron away, and you think I won't tell anyone just because I want the juvenile pleasure of controlling your access to your broom."
When he didn't receive a reply, he looked up. Malfoy actually looked surprised and taken aback.
An odd emotion pooled in Harry's chest. "You actually thought I'm that immature-"
"So what if I did?" Malfoy shot back, standing up swiftly and crossing his arms "If you want people to treat you like an adult maybe you should act like one!" Despite his criticisms being aimed at Harry, it was Malfoy who had pink tinged cheeks at his bad judgement. "What am I supposed to do to get you to keep a secret? You don't want money-"
"You thought I would be so selfishly satisfied with controlling you that I would keep a secret that I don't even know about yet? That could put people in danger-"
"Merlin Potter it's not that kind of secret!" Malfoy snapped "I just wanted to run my idea by you and not have you tell your disciples what it was later in your golden gossip session!"
"Why do you care about my opinion?" Harry said, taken aback.
"Well you'll never bloody know now, will you?" Malfoy all but snarled, then turned on his heel and marched out the door.
For a moment Harry merely stared after him, nonplussed. Then he realised he still felt that odd emotion in his chest. He slowly put his broom back into his locker, and then made his way out of the changing room and up to the school, thinking.
Why was he so upset that Malfoy had underestimated him?
Because everyone underestimates me. They treat me like a child.
But then no one else had made him feel quite so … disappointed.
That's because I expected their reactions.
But why on earth would he think Draco Malfoy of all people would know him better than his friends and Dumbledore?
Not know me better…just not underestimate me. We're enemies, rivals - but how can we be rivals if he looks sees me as a child?
Did Malfoy honestly think Harry was so immature? And if he did, why did he still engage Harry in petty fights like on the Hogwarts express, if Malfoy was so much more grown-up?
But of course that question almost answered itself. Malfoy had only been fighting Harry to impress his friends, he had all but said so himself.
"let me stun you and I'll walk away…If you really don't care at all about getting taken seriously by your friends, this won't matter at all…"
So what? Harry thought irritably Something happened to Malfoy over the summer to make him think he's more mature than me…
Then it hit Harry. Something had happened to Malfoy. He thought of Narcissa crying at the platform and it became clear to him. With Lucius in prison, Draco had, technically, became head of the Malfoy family.
Not such a big thing in muggle terms, only an expression in fact, but for a pureblood wizard Harry knew that all Draco's fathers' business dealings must have passed onto his son. Even if there were wizarding lawyers and accountants and so on guiding Draco, Harry could just picture the young Malfoy swaggering around the ministry pretending to be his father.
Just like he always wanted.
And he called Harry immature?!
Then it occurred to him that Draco had had to live with his mother in the state she had been at platform 9¾ all summer, and that just maybe the pressure of trying to fill Lucius' place in the family had aged him.
Well then, maybe Malfoy had grown up a little, but the most important question was what had Malfoy wanted with him?
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