Chapter 7 - New Friends and Enemies?

Disclaimer – I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER, J. K. ROWLING DOES.


Bangbaby731: Thanks for the review and support, it's my favorite pairing to :)


Morning

"-arry, get up" said a voice that sounded like Neville.

"Too… early" replied Harry while turning around to face away from the noise.

"Classes start in 40 minutes, even Ron is up already. If you don't get up you'll miss class and get more detentions" said Neville, hoping that 'more detentions' would get Harry's attention. Needless to say, it worked like a charm.

"Detentions?" asked Harry while pushing himself up and finally cracking open his eyes.

"Classes are going to start in 40 minutes Harry."

"Alright, but where is Ron?"

"He left to get breakfast about 20 minutes ago, said he would be back after to wake you up" replied Neville.

'All this time I wake him up so he doesn't sleep in and he doesn't have the decency to do it even once for me?' thought Harry. "Thanks for waking me up Neville."

"Don't mention it. I'm going to go down to get some breakfast. I'll see you later Harry" said Neville as he exited the dorms.

'Guess I should get ready if I want to get any breakfast at all.' With that, he proceeded to quickly shower and brush his teeth before rushing out of the dorms and common room and running to the Great Hall to get a quick bite to eat.

Great Hall

"Morning Harry, what took you so long to get here?" asked Hermione as he approached her and Ron.

"Morning Hermione, Ron" said Harry, adding a little venom when he said Ron's name.

"M'ouning 'avy" replied Ron while taking another forkful of mashed potatoes into his already filled mouth. It was a disturbing sight to watch, and reminded Harry too much of Vernon and Dudley.

Hermione caught Harry's displeased tone when he said Ron's name, but didn't say anything about it.

I overslept, Hermione. I was up late doing some reading."

"What could have kept you up late reading into the night?" asked a curious Hermione as Harry never liked doing homework.

"A book called Borby's Guide to Potion Reactions" replied Harry.

"Harry! You were supposed to read that before coming to Hogwarts" said a disgruntled Hermione at the thought of not completing such an important book.

"So you knew about that book too?"

"Well yes. When Professor McGonagall came to visit she told me that everyone was required to read it before beginning potions. Didn't she tell you that as well?"

"No, Hagrid was the one that came… and he didn't say anything about that book. I didn't know anything about it before yesterday" said Harry.

"Really? It's horrible that you didn't know about that book. Actually, considering you never read it, it's pretty amazing that you still did so well in potions. How did you find out about it?" asked Hermione.

"I heard someone in the library mention it as I was doing homework and decided to check it out" replied Harry, deciding not to mention the meeting he had with Greengrass.

"I still don't know how you managed to read that thing" said Ron after finally managing to swallow his food.

"And why didn't you wake me up in the morning Ron? I've woken you up loads of times when you were going to oversleep breakfast" asked Harry, finally calling out Ron.

"Ron, you said you woke Harry up" questioned Hermione.

"But... but I did. I said 'wake up Harry'. Then you mumbled something that I didn't catch, but I woke you up. I was going to come back after to get you for class if you didn't get up" replied Ron before turning back to his food.

"Ron, that's not-"

"-Hermione" interrupted Harry, "just drop it. I'm going to go to class." Picking up a peanut butter sandwich to eat on the way before leaving.

Library

After classes were over, Harry once again excused himself from Ron and Hermione by saying he needed to catch up on his homework and made his way to the library. This time, he really did need to start doing his homework which was beginning to pile up. 'I guess I can start after the lesson' thought Harry.

When he got to same corner spot they were seated at yesterday, he saw that Daphne was already sitting there waiting. It never crossed his mind that he started to think of her by her first name rather than last.

"Potter," said Daphne by way of greeting.

"Greengrass," replied Harry, not sure of how to say what he wanted after the revelations from yesterday and today.

"Let's begin then. Start describing how you would make the Drought of Living Death potion that we had to do for the first potion class this year. Describe everything you would do from start to finish" said Daphne.

Harry just stared at her in confusion for a moment after hearing what she said. "Wait, aren't you going to test if I read the book or not?" asked Harry.

"Why would I Potter?"

"You said yesterday that it would be pointless to teach me anything until I memorized the ingredient reactions in this book."

"I did, so what about it?"

"Shouldn't you test me to make sure I know what's in the book?" asked Harry who was starting to get exasperated with her short answers.

"Potter, while I said it would be pointless to try to teach you anything, I never said I wouldn't do it. I'm repaying my small debt by doing this, whether or not you actually learn anything from this time is on you" replied Daphne. She mentally laughed at Potters confused appearance but kept her outward expression neutral by using her occlumency. "Besides, if you read and understood the book, you'll be able to fully describe in detail each and every step you would take to make a perfect Drought of Living Death potion."

"Oh," replied Harry, not realizing that this question would in fact test if he grasped the information in the book or not.

The rest of the lesson proceeded in the same manner, with Daphne giving a potion for him to fully describe how to make and him attempting to do so using what information he could recall from the book about preparing ingredients and knowing what results they would have if prepared in a certain way or added in a certain amount.

He initially thought he did pretty well but Daphne only gave him an 'E' on one potion, the blood replenishing potion. His other 8 attempts at other potions only scored an 'A' according to Daphne.

"I'm mildly impressed Potter. I expected you to do a lot worse" said Daphne as they reached the end of their second tutoring session.

"Um, thanks… I think?" said Harry, not sure if it was an actual compliment or insult.

"Interpret it however you want. Same time tomorrow, and study that book more" said Daphne as she was getting up to leave.

"Wait" said Harry, not sure why he said that or what to say afterwards.

"What is it?"

"I just… I guess I wanted to say thanks for helping me out and telling me about this book. I never knew that we were supposed to know all of this before beginning potions and no one ever told me about before you."

"You should really ask your guardian about why he or she didn't tell you about the book. It's expected that all guardians do so for magical children who will be attending Hogwarts."

"My guardians are muggle, so they don't know anything about this" said Harry with disappointment.

Greengrass, however, just looked at him like he was a complete moron. "I'm talking about your magical guardian Potter, not who you live with."

"Magical guardian? Who is that?"

"You're the one who is supposed to know who that person is Potter. A magical guardian is responsible for an underage magical child. Usually that person would be the child's parents if they are also magical. If not, then the Deputy Headmistress assumes that role in the interim until that child is sorted at Hogwarts. After that it is the head of house that becomes their magical guardian" said Daphne.

"So my magical guardian is Professor McGonagall?" asked Harry.

"No. What I described is a case like Granger who is born to muggles. While you may be living with them, you were born to magical parents. After they were killed, someone would have been appointed as your magical guardian and they would maintain that role. Your magical guardian essentially functions as loco parentis until you reach the age of emancipation, or adulthood, at 17."

"Then why would I be living with muggles?" asked Harry, confused about why he wasn't placed in a magical home.

"The only explanation is that whoever your magical guardian is placed you in that muggle home."

On hearing this Harry's anger and magic spiked so much that Daphne could feel the waves of unrestrained magic rolling off of Potter due to her occlumency shields. She felt a chill of fear crawl up her spine as she considered how Harry could be this powerful at this age when he was so mediocre in all of his classes. "You need to calm down Harry" said Daphne, using his first name so as not to inadvertently draw his anger to herself.

"Calm down? How can I calm down? I really want to kill my magical guardian right now" Harry said as he realized that his magical guardian was the one at fault for placing him into Durzkaban.

"You need to calm down or you're going to blow something, or someone, up. You're releasing way too much magic without any control" said Daphne, while she considered if she should back away and then start running out of the library.

Luckily she didn't need to as Harry finally took several deep breaths and calmed down, stopping the release of his magic.

"Do you know how I can find out who my magical guardian is?" asked Harry.

"You would need to ask the goblins at Gringotts. They're the ones who handle all legal matters and would be able to tell you who your guardian is."

Hearing this answer Harry sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to visit Gringotts until next year. "I'm sorry if I scared you Greengrass, I just got so angry at my magical guardian after hearing that… well it felt like I couldn't control myself."

Daphne briefly considered his answer before saying "I don't know what got you so angry at your magical guardian that you would want to kill them, but I would strongly urge you to learn occlumency."

"What is-"

"-Excuse me Mr. Potter, Miss Greengrass, but this is a library for quiet study" said Madame Pince. "Anymore of such loud behavior or heavy use of magic that I felt it even at my desk and I will ban both of you from the library for the rest of the year. Is that clear?" asked a very angry looking Madame Pince.

"Yes professor" replied both Harry and Daphne at the same.

"See to it that you don't forget then" Madame Pince said before leaving them to return to her desk.

An uncomfortable silence fell between Harry and Daphne afterwards. After nearly a minute, Daphne finally said "Goodbye Potter. Same time tomorrow and don't lose control of your magic like that again." Daphne then turned around and left, not waiting for a response from Harry who completely forgot to ask Daphne about what occlumency was.