Chapter Title: Acting
Chapter Summary: Random fighting, thoughts on behavior, and finally the present.
Rating: M (eventually)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or his lovable friends. I also do not own the song One of Us, where this story gets its title and the opening lyrics.
A/N: As I have not yet read Deathly Hallow, there will be nothing from that book here. This story is cannon up through book 6 and fanfiction from there.
Any farther notes are found at the end.
Chapter 4:
Harry was pulled from sleep by the feel of something moving about his head. Opening blurry eyes, he reached up and captured the annoying object.
"Bloody hell, no wonder he always beats you to the snitch, Drake," Nott whispered.
Harry heard the soft thud of someone being smacked, and repressed a smile as he reached for his glasses. With glasses in place, Harry looked down at the small owl and crumpled letter in his hand. Pigwidgeon?
"It's an owl, Potter," Malfoy sneered, "they carry envelopes with letters inside to witches and wizards around the globe."
The other Slytherins snickered as Harry sat up and forced his sleep-blurred mind to focus and work.
"I know it's an owl, Malfoy, I just didn't expect one from Ron."
Harry sat up and pulled the letter from Pig, letting the bird go join Hedwig for a rest and whatever food or drink he wanted. Reading the letter, Harry smiled. The letter was actually a card, with a drawing of Ron, Hermione, and Ginny standing on the front and spelled to smile and wave at Harry. Inside, the card read:
Harry,
We aren't sending presents, because we want you to open them with us here tomorrow, but we wanted to make sure you got something from us on your actual birthday. We can't wait to see you tomorrow!
Ron, Hermione, and Ginny
"Isn't that sweet?" Cooed a voice near Harry's ear.
Harry jumped, and then glared at Zabini, who was inches from Harry and reading over his shoulder.
"Back off, Zabini," Harry glared, rubbing his ear to take away the sensation of warm breath there.
"What's the matter, Potter," Nott laughed, "Afraid you enjoy having Blaise close a little too much?"
Harry rolled his eyes and moved to stand up, but arms suddenly wrapped around his waist, pulling him against Zabini.
"Potter," the darker boy whispered, "you hurt me deep, snapping at me like that."
Harry tried to pull away, but Zabini held tight. With a sigh, Harry finally snapped, "Let me go, or I'll tell Seamus that you slept next to me in my room last night."
The arms holding Harry suddenly let go, much to the amusement of the other Slytherins. Harry stood, grabbed some clean clothes, and walked out of the room. Honestly, why did the Slytherins have to pull Harry into their games? It was if they had their own social behavior code and were forcing Harry to follow it. First trying to make him ask about the luggage, then teasing him about the gay thing, and now…this!
Walking into the bathroom and starting the shower, Harry continued to ponder. The Slytherins that Harry had known at school were very cold and collected, but the Slytherins suddenly living with him were…Harry paused as he suddenly realized something. The Slytherins living with him were almost forcefully open about what they were thinking and feeling. They weren't just letting their thoughts and emotions show, they were making sure they showed.
Harry stripped and stepped under the water. He replayed last night in his head, considering the interactions between them all. Malfoy had shown up and been a prat, but more teasing than mean. He needed something from Harry, and he had worked toward getting it. Then, he had brought in the other Slytherins. While they were downstairs sitting at the table and talking, the Slytherins had been calm and collected, just as Harry remembered them being. Malfoy had even dropped the teasing once Harry agreed to take in the Slytherins.
Then they had followed Harry upstairs, and they had seen his room and the locks, and the bars, and the cat-flap. That's when they had begun opening up, forcing themselves to show their emotions. Teasing each other, and him, almost awkwardly. They had even forgiven Harry after punching Malfoy. They had respected (mostly) his rule about not asking questions, and had remained silent last night when Harry had been talking to Dudley and reading the letter from Dumbledore.
In fact, Harry could almost believe that the Slytherins understood just how Harry felt having them around. Could almost believe that they understood how vulnerable he felt with them learning about his life with the Dursleys. He could almost believe that maybe they felt insecure too, trying to rely on him to protect them, and were opening up to the teasing and interacting to compensate for the feelings…relying on these awkward interactions to make themselves, and Harry, feel more comfortable with the situation.
After his shower, Harry dried and dressed quickly. He didn't know what to think about the idea of the Slytherins actions, or the idea that these actions could be caused by insecurity or understanding. Those two words just didn't fit into his normal concept of a Slytherin.
Walking back into his room, Harry stood in the doorway and stared at the Slytherins. At first, they didn't seem to notice. They continued to talk or read or even, in the case of Greengrass and Malfoy, play chess. One by one they noticed his staring and looked up to at him. Harry looked at each Slytherin in turn, letting memories flood over him.
He didn't have many memories of Zabini, Nott, or Greengrass, but Parkinson and, particularly, Malfoy were enemies in the past. They had both actively tried to hurt him and his friends, and Malfoy had even nearly killed Ron, Katie, and Dumbledore. And he had done it all to save himself and his family. Harry stared at Malfoy, remembering what he had said last night about Dumbledore being dead, and Harry not being able to rely on him any longer. He remembered Dumbledore's letter, and that Dumbledore had asked the Dursleys to protect Harry. He remembered Dumbledore offering protection to Malfoy.
In the shower, Harry had thought that maybe the Slytherins were acting this way for him. Then he had walked into the room and looked at them and thought about all that they were and knew that he had been right, but very wrong. Slytherins most prominent feature was self-preservation, which meant that anything they were doing was for themselves. But why force themselves to act so differently? Unless they thought that Harry wanted them to act this way, and that he would only protect them if they did this…Harry's eyes widened as he remembered his rules, remembered punching Malfoy and threatening him when he didn't act the way Harry wanted. Maybe…
"I know I'm gorgeous, but your staring is starting to creep me out, Potter." Malfoy smirked, leaning back on the bed and accidently bumping his knee into a protesting chest piece.
"Stop it," Harry shook his head.
"Er," Nott raised both eyebrows, "stop what exactly?"
Harry ran a hand through his wet hair. "Stop this," Harry made a vague hand gesture, "stop acting like we've all been friends for years. Stop acting like this is what you all really act like."
"Potter," Zabini laughed, "You are losing it."
"I'm not!" Harry sighed and walked into the room, standing over Zabini, who was sitting at the desk chair, "This isn't how you've all acted for the last six years, and this isn't how you want to be acting now!"
"What do you know about how we act when others aren't around? And what do you know about-" Parkinson began, but Harry interrupted her.
"Merlin, just shut up!" Harry was suddenly annoyed, "I know this isn't how you act. I've been in your common room and seen how you act. This is…this is some little show that you are putting on for my benefit or your benefit or something, but it's not natural!"
Malfoy stood, "When were you in our common room?"
"Second year," Harry rounded on Malfoy, thankful for a familiar target, "Me and Ron were polyjuiced as Crabbe and Goyle."
Malfoy's eyes widened, and Harry heard the others sharp intake of breath. "Just what were you doing there?"
"Trying to find information about the Heir of Slytherin. Waist of a trip, not to mention the time spent brewing the potion, but that's not the point. The point is that this," Harry poked Malfoy in the chest, "isn't you. I've seen you. You steal Christmas presents that are sitting on tables, and you touch everything in Burgin and Burkes, and you complain about everything, and you suck up to anyone with power, and you force your friends to polyjuice into first year girls to stand guard for you, and you tell your secrets to Myrtle…but you don't tease your friends, or laugh, unless it's at me. You don't just take getting punched in the face and then say it was your own fault. You get even, and you sneer, and you're a right pain in the arse. This. Isn't. You."
For an entire second there was complete silence as everyone stared at Harry. Then Malfoy was yelling.
"What the fuck do you want from me, Potter? Yeah, I've been holding back, but what do you want? Do you want me to scream at you? Do you want me to hex you for punching me like I wanted to? Do you want me to yell and cry and blame you for everything! Do you want me to tell you exactly how this," and Malfoy pulled up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal the Dark Mark, "is your fault! Because if you hadn't gotten Father arrested I wouldn't have had to get it so soon!"
"I didn't get him arrested!" Harry snarled, "He was arrested for being a Death Eater, for trying to kill me and my friends!"
"And you're going to send me to Azkaban to rot with him!" Malfoy pushed Harry, "That's why I can't say anything to you! That's why we all have to be humble and…and…Gryffindor! Because they need your help, and I have to cooperate and go off to Azkaban when you want me to or I have to know that I left all my friends to the Dark Lord!"
Malfoy shoved Harry into the wall, and pinned him to it by the shoulders, "So we play nice, we ignore the fact that we hate you! We follow all the bloody rules, even when we're scared to death because it's obvious that you haven't even been taking care of yourself! You're a bloody wizard, and you let muggles bully you! I expect you to take care of my friends, and I know that I have to pay for that with my freedom, but I try and laugh and forget and you bloodly throw it in my face!"
Harry stood, pinned to the wall with Malfoy inches from his face, and stared. Finally he whispered, "I just want you to really forget. I want you to ignore all this," Harry gestured to the bars on the window, "and ignore that you need me. I just want you to be yourself! But you haven't been forgetting. You've been holding it so tight and forcing yourselves to act differently, even though you don't want to. You're making yourselves think about it constantly and think about who I am and who you are and how you think I want you to act that you are barely recognizable!"
Harry pushed Malfoy off him, "And I haven't decided whether you'll be going to Azkaban or not. I may not even get the choice, so just…stop it."
Harry turned and walked out of the room, leaving silence behind.
How did that even happen? Harry thought as he stalked down the stairs. One minute he was almost grateful for the Slytherins actions, the next they were fighting over it.
Harry walked into the kitchen and paused when he saw the Dursley's sitting at the table.
"What are you doing down here, Boy?"
"Considering it's his birthday, I'd say he's down here for breakfast and presents."
Harry spun at the sound of Malfoy's voice. The blond stood slightly behind Harry, sneering at the Dursleys.
"HOW DARE-"
Dudley interrupted his father, with a glare and a nasty: "I'll send breakfast through your door-flap after the important people have finished."
Harry nodded his thanks to Dudley and turned around while his aunt and uncle were staring at their son in shock.
Grabbing Malfoy's arm, Harry dragged the blond back upstairs and into the bedroom. Once there, he released his grip and walked over to the bed, flopping onto it and sending the chest set to the floor. After a second (and a noseful of perfume) Harry stood and walked to his sleeping bag, flopping there instead.
"My bed smells like girls," Harry complained, earning a snicker from both Malfoy and Zabini.
"Potter," Malfoy sat down beside Harry. "We haven't been acting this way just for you, you know."
Harry lifted his head and looked at the blond, who had the red and silver present in his lap.
"It's more like…we're still trying to figure out who we are too. We know who we were, but who are we now that we've essentially switched sides. Maybe we did go overboard acting like Gryffindors though," Malfoy smirked.
Harry nodded, "I can understand that. I just…I don't know. I hate not knowing what to expect, and things are…weird now."
Smirking, Malfoy handed the present over, "They're about to get a little weirder. This is from the Slytherins…as a birthday and thank-you-for-doing-what-you-can-for-us present."
Harry looked at the gift and thought about refusing it again, but…Harry took the gift and unwrapped it. What the hell, he had survived this long.
The box contained a very large snow-globe, only without the artificial snow. Inside was the Hogwarts castle, and there were four large dials the color of the Hogwarts houses across the base. Harry looked up at the Slytherins.
"The dials are to set what you see. Red for time of day, Yellow for date, Blue for location, and Green for zoom."
Malfoy took the globe and turned a few of the dials. Suddenly, there was a miniature Quiditch game being played by miniature figures inside of it.
Harry took the present back and looked carefully at the players. The game was Slytherin vs. Gryffindor, but they weren't the teams that Harry was used to.
"These aren't our teams."
"That's because the year preserved in this is 1978."
Harry was staring at the Gryffindor team, searching for the seeker. When he found him, Harry froze. It was him, but not him…
"That's my dad," Harry whispered.
"Snape took me in for part of this summer, but he let Theo and Pansy visit. We found a globe like this in his study, marking his last year at Hogwarts."
"We were already working on a plan to come to you for help when we found it," Parkinson took up the story, "and we realized that Snape graduated the same year your parents did. It never hurts to have a little bribery when making an important offer, so we found a spell to duplicate the globe."
"The globe switches back to its timeless view of the castle whenever the event being watched is complete," Zabini explained, "You can even set it to go into the castle and watch whole classes go through."
Harry barely heard them; all he could focus on was that inside of this globe, his parents and Sirius were preserved forever.
A/N: Okay, there's another one! I was so happy when I sat down to write today because I discovered that I now have 30 reviews! That is an all time high for me!
Out of curiosity, does anyone know if I spelled the name of Ron's owl correctly? I didn't have the books with me as I wrote this chapter, so spelled it from memory.
I have decided to make a spot at the bottom of each chapter to answer questions. I don't answer each review individually, but I want to respond to questions so that there is no confusion. If I do not answer a question, it is because the answer will become apparent in a later chapter.
Review Question Answers:
No, I have not read book 7 yet, but I thank the reviewer who told me well done for Dudley's behavior. I guess that is something I will find out more about when I reach 7?
I have one reviewer asking if Blaise's last name is really Zabini…I think I have it spelled correctly, but I will check that out before posting Chapter 5.
If you have any questions, or just want to make my day by commenting, then review! Next Chapter: I am aiming for Monday 12/10 night.