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Chapter 6
So this is where I am right now in my plan of ruling this school in order to keep Harry as safe as I possibly can:
- Become a student at Hogwarts: CHECK!
- Be placed in the Gryffindor house: CHECK!
- Bug the hell out of Granger and Weasley: DOUBLE CHECK!HH
- Make Umbridge think you totally agree with her and ultimately get on her good side: CHECK!
- Get my hands on the patrolling schedule of the Head Girl: ...
It's a work in progress. As is 'defeat Voldemort', which is all the way at the bottom of my list. It's a very long list.
I knew her name. Gemma Farley. I knew what she looked like. I had Granger, who is a prefect, point her out to me in the Great Hall. She was pretty bulky for a girl and had short blond hair. Her face was that of a Slytherin: unfriendly. And I am now still trying to figure out how to get her so far that she'll willingly hand the schedule over to me. My first approach had been to befriend her.
I waited and waited and waited for her to show up in the library, which I knew she would because I still owned a pair of expendable ears. But she only showed up at the end of the day. Which meant I spend an entire day in the library! All my assignments were done after two hours because we've only been in school for one week. I used the rest of the time to do some reading. I've heard from Harry that this year is the year we'll have to decide what career course we want to take after Hogwarts. Slight problem: I have no idea what I want to do after all of this. And I'll soon have to make a decision because apparently we're going to have a one-on-one conversation with the head of our house to discuss our plans for the future. It will be a very short conversation if I don't have anything to talk about.
The first career path I checked out, was the one I knew enjoyed Harry's preference: auror. I don't understand why my brother is so drawn to it. He'd be bloody brilliant at it, of that I'm sure. But wouldn't he get tired of always being the one to fight the bad guys. I'm already tired of it and I'm convinced the hardest part isn't even close to being over.
Granger wants to go into Magical Law. It sounded pretty ambitious to me. Then she said it was to liberate all the house elves. Yeah, I'm guessing she won't be making herself very popular with that in a world where the top is only crowded with purebloods, who by the way all own house elves. Nah, that didn't sound like something I'd want either.
The third one I did some research on was the career of Healer. It's a great way to devote your life but it didn't sound like something for me. Especially when the character criteria was being patient, friendly and able to work together with all kinds of people. Not my thing either.
For a brief moment I actually considered teaching. But then I thought about every professor I've ever had classes from. They're all very different but have one thing in common: socially awkward. Now awkwardness is something that happens to everyone but professor-awkwardness is like a whole new level. Do I really want to be stuck in a castle with those kind of people? I'll pass.
A ministry job doesn't sound appealing to me either. A 9 to 5 job would kill my personality and though I'm sure some people – Weasley - would find that an improvement, I'm rather satisfied about the one I've got. No thanks to the ministry as well.
What's left? Well, not much actually. I could always work at Gringots but that also falls under the previous category. Maybe run a shop but that didn't sound very appealing either.
I was still deciding between doing some research on what career path I could take with potions and just pretty much give up, when Gemma Farley finally entered the library. She sat down at a table in the Anatomy section. I quickly closed the book about potions that can kill you I had been reading and made my way over to her table.
I figured just saying 'Hi' wasn't the way to approach a bitter Slytherin so instead I opted for pretending I was searching for a book. Without realising it I was standing in front of the books that explained to the reader what interspecies sex was. I just hope she doesn't realise what book I'm holding right now.
"Hi, could you maybe help me with something?" I asked friendly but not in the sickening sweet voice I've gotten so good at. I'm sure a Slytherin wouldn't appreciate that.
"What?!" She huffed angrily as if asking her a question was some kind of crime.
"I was just wondering if you could tell me where I could find a book on Mallowsweet?"
I had asked her about the first plant that came to mind but when I saw her rise her eyebrows in surprise, I found myself wishing I had asked her about a plant I really knew something about and not just the name.
"You want to find a book about an illegal herb that gives people hallucinations?" She cocked an eyebrow.
"Sure?"
If I was hoping I'd get her to like me if she thought I was into getting high, I was soon proven wrong.
"If you ever ask me such a thing again I will have to report you to the Headmaster for usage and possibly dealing of illegal herbs in this school."
She closed her books and left me standing there. Plan A: befriending her, was not a success.
"What did you do to piss off Gemma Farley?" Diggory, who just showed up out of the blue, asked me.
"That's not really your concern, now is it?" I huffed and put the book I had been holding back in its place.
But he was slightly faster than me and pulled the book back by my wrist.
"Intercourse with a werewolf during the full moon: the do's and don'ts?" He read the title out loud with a cocked eyebrow.
"I can read about whatever I want." I snapped and pulled my wrist out of his grip. I quickly put the book back as well because I didn't want anyone else to associate me with such a book. I was also trying really hard to fight back the insistant blush that wanted me to resemble a tomato.
"Of course you can." He smiles. 'But people might get the wrong impression of you."
"Is there something specific you wanted or is this year's project annoying me any way you can. If it is, you're doing a swell job."
"Ouch, Danny." He says without looking very hurt.
"Potter." I correct him. I do remember me taking back his privilege to call me by my first name.
"Fine: Ouch, Danny Potter."
I sigh in annoyance. I'm not even going to bother to respond to him anymore.
"You didn't answer my question; What did you want with Gemma Farley?"
"She has something I want."
"Maybe I could help you with it, that is if you want my help of course."
"Believe me when I say I want absolutely nothing from you."
I left the library and thanked my lucky stars that this was one of the rare moments Diggory didn't follow me.
So plan A had failed. I tried again other moments to approach her but every time she saw me coming, she just gave me a hard glare and never even let me open my mouth. I think she knew I wanted something from her.
But when Plan A fails, there's always plan B and to be honest, I hadn't really thought I would succeed in befriending the bitter Slytherin Head Girl. So in a way plan B had always been the real plan: blackmail her into giving me what I want. Now, that's something I'm a lot better at than playing nice with someone to make them like me.
I figured someone like Farley would no doubt have a whole pile of dirt I could dig up on her. I was a little disappointed in it though. I got into Filch's office late one night to break into the archive of the students to see what kind of bad things she had done in the past. There was nothing useful in there. Sure, she had gotten into detention a few times but who hasn't? Granger doesn't count.
I looked things up in the library about her family and found absolutely nothing. I borrowed the invisibility cloak from Harry and eavesdropped on her friends and found out absolutely nothing. I even went through her bag when I had once again used the cloak from Harry but also then I found nothing. So since there was nothing to blackmail Farley with, I guess you could technically call plan B a failure as well.
That brought me to plan C and I hoped to God that one would be successful because plan D involved sucking up to Diggory and I really didn't want to do that. Plan C involved sneaking in the Slytherin common room and just steal the schedule from her dorm. It might be riskier than the previous plans but it would just have to do. I was getting kind of desperate.
From Harry I knew where the Slytherin common room was since he went there in his second year under the influence of Polyjuice potion. I wasn't going to do that. I was going to go for good old fashioned invisibility. Harry is probably aware of the fact that I'm up to something because I've been borrowing the cloak a lot lately.
I might not know the password to get into their common room but all I had to do was wait for a Slytherin to say it for me and I could just sneak in with them. I did it during lunch so the chance of a lot of people disturbing my plans was minimal but at the same time that also meant not a lot of people were going to come and open the entrance to the common room for me.
I waited for fifteen minutes when finally a first year walked down the hallway and stopped in front of the wall where I knew the common room lay behind.
"Merlin hates mudbloods."
I could have figured the password would be something like that. What's wrong with a good old fashioned roman phrase?
I quickly followed the boy into the common room before the wall would snap close again.
The light in the Slytherin common room was different. It had a sort of green glow to it. Harry had told me this was because the common room was situated right under the Black lake. I don't think I'd be very comfortable in here, knowing a whole lake was above my head just waiting for one crack in the ceiling to drown us all. Nope, I am much happier in a tower.
The atmosphere here was also a lot colder than in the Gryffindor common room. Everything here was just so structured and tight. It made me really glad that the sorting hat put me in the house with warm fireplaces and cushy sofas.
But the basic of the common room was the same. One big room where you could lounge, study and hang out with your friends. One stairs that led to the boys' dorms and one to the girls'. I went up the stairs to the dorm of the seventh year Slytherin girls.
While our dorms were round (once again because of the tower) , this one was square and a lot larger than ours. But they didn't have any windows.
I was glad to see there were only four beds in the room. It shouldn't be that hard to find Farley's bed.
It wasn't the first bed because that one had a pink bear on top of it. I'm having a hard time imagining Farley falling asleep at night with the bright cuddly teddy tucked in her arms. Actually, I'm having a hard time imagining any Slytherin girl like that. But the fact that someone had carved 'Anna's bed' into the wood, had me completely convinced that this really wasn't the bed I was looking for.
The second bed didn't have any indication of whose it could be. So I was forced to go through all of this girl's stuff to finally find a diary with the name 'Britt' written on it. I may have made an absolute mess of her things but at least I knew this bed wasn't Farley's either.
The next one was. The photo on her bed side table was kind of a giveaway. I could have saved myself time and energy if I had just looked there first. Finding the schedule however wasn't that easy. I looked in her trunk (and also made a mess of her stuff), threw around all her clothes, even checked the bathroom but I couldn't find the damn piece of paper anywhere.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I swore when I was kind of running out of time. Lunch would end in ten minutes and if I wouldn't be back by then I'd miss my first class of the afternoon.
I ripped her sheets of her bed but it wasn't there either. I threw her pillow on the floor but it hadn't been hidden underneath it either.
"Accio schedule." I said desperately but just like I had expected, nothing happened.
I wasn't going to give up but I was certainly contemplating on leaving now and coming back some other time. Of course they would be kind of tipped off that someone had been in the room thanks to the mess I made.
But then I thought of where I kept something important to me. I didn't keep the Marauder's Map in plain sight even though it just seems to be a plain piece of parchment to everyone else. I got on my knees and checked under her bed. And yes, there it was. Stuck on the bottom of her bed was the schedule. I quickly took it and got back on my feet.
I knew I couldn't just take it with me. Farley would know someone stole it. So instead I used a handy spell to copy it.
"Duplex Charta!" I whispered and suddenly I was holding two identical pieces of paper in my hand.
I stuck the original back where I found it and folded the other one so it would fit in my bag.
And now I have to get out of here as fast as I can.
I was lucky to not cross anyone on my way to class. There wasn't any time left to return the invisibility cloak to Harry's dorm so I just stuffed it in my bag as well. If I'd hurry I could still make it to class.
Professor Flitwick deducted five points of Gryffindor because I was late. I just cursed inwardly and sat next to Harry.
"Where were you? I didn't see you anywhere at lunch." He whispered to me after the professor told us which spell we should practise.
"I was busy." I shrugged.
I wasn't really intending to tell Harry about all the rules I had and was still planning to break. The less he knows the better.
"Busy doing what?" Granger butted in.
"If I wanted you to know, I would have told you." I snapped harshly at her.
"Is it something illegal?" Harry frowned.
"Of course it is."
"Are you in trouble?"
"Not yet."
"Are you going to get in trouble?"
"Wasn't really planning on it." I shrug.
"Are you-"
"Mr and Mrs Potter! Since you've seemed to already mastered the spell, how about a little demonstration?" Professor Flitwick interrupted our conversation.
Oh, crap! What spell was it again? When I looked at Harry, I could tell he also had no idea what the professor was expecting of the both of us.
"That's what I thought. Five points from Gryffindor each and do try to pay attention in class from now on."
Ouch, I'm not making myself very popular with my fellow Gryffindors. I've lost a lot more points than I've earned so far. Maybe I should try to pay more attention in class and answer a question. That way I could earn back some points.
On our way to Care of Magical Creatures, Granger was once again trying to find out where I had been during lunch. If I wasn't even going to tell my own brother, what makes her think I actually want her to know?
"Granger, for the love of God, can't you just shut up?!" I snapped at her because having her question me the entire way had been rather exhausting.
"You told Harry yourself that the best thing he could do was keep a low profile. That applies to you as well." She huffed.
"This is me keeping a low profile." I frowned.
"Well, it needs some work. You're attracting a lot of attention." Weasley said.
I didn't understand what he meant by that until I saw a few groups of girls trying to glare me to death.
"Why are they looking at me like that?" I ask Granger.
"Because you're not keeping a low profile." She says smugly.
She's no help at all. I was glad to see none of those girls were in my next class.
The Gryffindor girls had proven me wrong, well some of them did. Lavender Brown was a real airhead and super-superficial. I didn't care much for her. Her best friend Parvati Patil was okay, I think. I haven't really gotten the chance to talk to her a lot since she's always with Lavender and that girl's got a mouth that just won't stand still for one second. It's very tiresome to listen to her yapping away. Fay Dunbar was a typical girly girl as well but I thought she was cool. Kellah Jordan was the girl I liked the most so far, mainly because she's just the female version of Lee. He and the Weasley twins are actually the people I've spend most of my free time with so far, when I'm not busy being Harry's guard dog of course.
The twins have a pretty great invention but I'm not really supposed to tell anyone about it. Oh, whatever! They call it the Skiving Snackbox, which basically means it contains everything to make skipping class easy. Maybe not the most honourable thing to invent according to most people but I think it's a gift from heaven. It contains four things: Fainting Fancies (which of course makes you faint), Fever Fudge (the name says it all), Nosebleed Nougat and my personal favourite: Puking Pastille. Though I've never tried one myself before, I've seen what the experiments on first years did. Bloody amazing invention!
Today the class of Care of Magical Creatures was given in the forbidden forest. Normally it's on the edge of it but now we're actually going in. As a teacher, isn't Hagrid supposed to discourage us from entering the woods?
"Gather around, quickly." He called out the last ones who entered the forest. "Today I'm going to show you a rare breed."
He was smiling at us excitedly and swinging back and forth what I think was an animal once but now just looked like a half eaten carcass. I don't think I want to meet this rare breed that feeds off that.
"Everyone has to be very quiet, else they won't come."
He threw the meat in the middle of the open field and came to stand next to the students. If I hoped this rare animal would show up then I was sorely disappointed. We waited for a good ten minutes and still nothing happened. Maybe this rare breed is imaginative?
"Shh, there's one over there." Hagrid suddenly points towards the tree line.
I was pretty excited to finally see this strange animal but there was nothing there. Hagrid was just pointing at an empty space. I was going to nudge Harry between the ribs and tell him the groundkeeper has probably gone bonkers but he wasn't even paying attention to me. He was staring at the spot where there was supposedly an animal. I checked again. Nope, still nothing there.
"Oh, an' here comes another one." Hagrid said excitedly.
What is he talking about? There is nothing to see.
"Put yer hands up, who can see 'em?"
To my surprise two people in our class raised their hands: Harry and Neville. There really was something to see then?
"See what?" I whispered to my brother.
Suddenly the carcass that had been lying on the forest floor moved, like something was pulling at it. A part of the meat was ripped off it and just disappeared. As if some big invisible animal had swallowed it.
"What's doing that?" Parvati shrieked in a trembling voice. "What's eating it?"
"Thestrals." Hagrid announced proudly.
I had never heard of those things and I wasn't the only one but Parvati knew what they were.
"But they're really, really unlucky!" She says alarmed. "They're supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune to people who can see them. Professor Trelawney told me once-"
"No, no, no," He says. "tha's jus' superstition, that is, they aren' unlucky. They're dead clever an' useful. Course, this lot don' get a lot o' work, it's mainly jus' pullin' the school carriages unless Dumbledore's takin' a long journey an' don' want to Apparate – an' here's another couple, look!"
Hagrid was trying to show us where they were standing but I was thinking about what he had just said. They pull the carriages. Harry had seen them then and must have felt like he was losing his mind. He could never see them before this year. So what changed? What made him see these animals that I couldn't?
"Why can't we see them?" I asked Hagrid.
Without even having the chance to open his mouth, Granger's hand shot up in the air.
"Go on then." He nodded towards her.
"The only people who can see Thestrals, are people who have seen death."
People who saw someone die.
I had to wait until dinner to get the chance to talk to Harry alone. During classes wasn't the right time and sitting in the Great Hall surrounded by all the students wasn't great timing either.
"Take a walk with me." I told him and pulled him by the hand outside the Great Hall and onto the grounds.
He didn't seem very happy with spending some time alone with me, probably because he knows what I want to talk about.
"Why could you see them, the Thestrals I mean?"
He sighs.
"Didn't you hear what Hermione said?"
"Yes, I did and despite the fact that you have seen some awful things, I do believe no one actually died in front of you before."
Our grandparents don't count. I know they died right in front of us, in our old bedroom but I had been there as well. And I sure as hell could not see the unfortunate creatures.
"Someone did." He said softly.
"When?"
"At the graveyard. Voldemort killed one of his followers."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask him calmly even though I kind of want to yell at him for keeping such a thing from me.
"Tell you what? That I feel awful for watching a man die, a man who deserved to die?!"
He's not angry. I know the yelling can make you think that but he's not. He's confused as to why he feels guilty for not doing anything.
"Nobody deserves to die." I tell him. "He had a life, he might not have done much good with it but every life is valuable."
He doesn't say much else, doesn't want to so I change the subject to something more pleasant.
"Are you ready for the upcoming try-outs?"
"I guess so. I haven't really had much time to practise."
"Practise? Please, Harry, you could be at your worst game and still be the best seeker this castle has ever seen."
"How about your game? Have you been flying lately?"
"No, and I don't have to. I'm already awesome at it."
I'm lying. I have been practising. Not out of fear of making a fool of myself because I know I'm a good chaser. But there's only one spot on the team for chaser and I know Ginny Weasley has her eye on it as well. She, unfortunately for me, is also a good chaser. So I just have to be the better one.
"Ron's been practising, like crazy. He's afraid you're right and he's going to fail at it."
"I am right." I smile smugly.
"Danny," He sighs. "He's really insecure about his chances at becoming the keeper."
"Really? I would have thought for sure he would be the most insecure about his looks. That's what I'd be worrying about if I were him." I grin.
"Very funny. I was just wondering if maybe you'd be willing to help him out."
"Help him out with what? I can't magically make him into a good keeper." I snort.
"I promised him I'd help him get ready for the try-outs but I'm not a chaser. He should practise with someone who's used to scoring around a keeper."
I think about it for a second.
"Do I get to mock him when he fails at catching the quaffle?" I ask.
"No!"
"Then there really isn't much in it for me, is there?"
"Just be my nice sister and help him out."
"You don't have a nice sister." I grin.
"Please? All the other people trying out for keeper are awful, personality wise as well."
I was nice enough to refrain from telling my brother his best friend belongs in that category as well.
"We need a good keeper and it will soon be your team as well. Don't you want the best possible team?"
He's manipulating me. I know he is but I still find myself muttering my agreement. But I'm not going to go easy on Weasley and I will definitely mock him when he sucks at it. Even if Harry told me not to.
"By the way, you should probably know there's a rumour going around the school." He says.
"The one about Snape? Yes, I heard that one too. Who knew that guy could possible get it on with someone of the female gender even if it is a centaur." I shake my head.
"No, not that one. What kind of weird rumour is that anyway?"
He looks kind of repulsed by the image the rumour created in his head. He shivers in disgust. I did as well the first time I heard Snape is supposedly involved in a sexual relationship with a female centaur.
"Then what rumour were you talking about?" I ask him when we start to return to the castle since it's getting rather cold.
"They say you're in a relationship with Cedric Diggory."
"WHAT?!"
What kind of stupid rumour is that?! Me, with Diggory?! Yuck!
"It kind of makes sense , you know." Harry shrugs. "I know you guys get along."
"It doesn't make any sense at all!" I yell angrily at him even though my anger isn't really directed at him but at the moron who came up with that ridiculous rumour. "We don't get along! I hate his guts!"
"Since when?" He frowns. "You were friends last year."
"Things change!" I huff. "Now I hate him."
People change. Or maybe just the way you look at a person changes. But Cedric Diggory is no longer the person he was last year. I liked that Cedric. He was sweet and funny and when I thought that Cedric died, I balled my eyes out.
But the Cedric Diggory I've seen this year isn't like that at all. That Diggory is a traitor and an ass-hole and likes to get on my nerves. I hate that one.
"Because of me?" Harry asks.
Yes, because of you. But I couldn't tell him that. I couldn't tell him that Diggory practically called him a liar in The Daily Prophet. There is a reason that I burned that interview the first chance I got, to prevent Harry from knowing that.
"He probably doesn't believe me either." He sighs.
"I don't know what he thinks." I lie smoothly.
"You shouldn't hold it against him if he doesn't believe me. Nobody does."
"I believe you."
"No, you don't. You don't have to. Because you saw it. You know it's the truth. You don't have to believe me on my word because you already know what really happened."
I do. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't believe him if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes.
"You could tell me Dumbledore has orgies every weekend in his office, and I'd believe you in a heartbeat."
"Iew, that's disgusting, Danny." He laughs.
"Could be true though." I grin at him.
My brother is the most honourable, the only honourable person in this world and I hate that it's the reason he suffers so much. He doesn't deserve that. He doesn't deserve any of the things that have been thrown his way.
"So how come you pick up on those weird rumours?" He smiles.
"Fred and George." I laugh. "I swear they know everything about everyone. Though I do have my doubt on whether or not the rumour about Snape is really true. I mean sure, centaurs have the whole four legs and a coat going on but they still have the upper body and face of a human and that's usually rather beautiful. I'm sure the female centaur can do a lot better than a greasy potions professor."
"You're really mean sometimes." He grins.
"It's not mean. It's honesty." I smile. "And it is appreciated by people."
"Probably not by Snape."
"He's just uptight. I swear that guy needs to get laid."
"Danny!"
"What?" I shrug. I'm sure it's true.
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