8. The Boy Under the Stairs
The Great Hall was buzzing shortly after their first flying lesson, as students gossiped about what was apparently a very big deal to the school. It turned out, or so Avery heard, that Harry Potter had not been expelled, but in fact had been chosen for a position on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. At first, Avery hadn't completely realized why this was big news, and expected it had something to do with Harry's celebrity status. However, other students informed her that the news was so huge because that made Harry the youngest Quidditch player in a century. It was an impressive title for an impressive person, Avery thought.
The best part of this was the outrage of Draco Malfoy. He would rant on and on about how Dumbledore was merely showing favoritism for his star, "goody Gryffindor" pupil, while a band of sympathetic Slytherins listened to him in the common room. Avery thought it was only justice serving itself, and enjoyed watching the sour boy grow even more jealous of Harry Potter's good publicity.
"What are you smirking at, Liddell?" Malfoy would sneer when he caught her having a laugh to herself.
"Something funny." Avery replied vaguely. She never liked answering him, and would leave soon thereafter. He could probably figure out that she was making fun of him, and this also probably made him even angrier. Just as well.
Avery's curiosity about Harry Potter increased over that week. He didn't seem to have a huge group of friends hanging around, like the cool kids Avery remembered from Muggle school. Instead, he hung out with just one other boy, and occasionally the bushy-haired girl from their house would try to follow them around. She sounded bossy, and neither boy seemed to like her very much, but they weren't rude about it either. Avery wanted to see if she could be friends, too, but she didn't like just walking up to people and saying hello. What if it bothered them?
Instead, Avery was going to try and introduce herself more naturally. Maybe she could introduce herself in the library? No, Madam Pince wouldn't allow talking. She could try at the Quidditch pitch... but Avery didn't fly or know anything about Quidditch, so what would she be doing there? Well, that meant she would have to try and sit near him in class. Potions was coming up again, and she remembered seeing him there when Prof. Snape had made a point to single him out. She could try to be nice to him there.
Potions was not a very fun class. Avery hated chopping up insects, touching the gross potion ingredients, and the putrid smells that came from some people's caldron's, including her own. Prof. Snape was not the kind of teacher who would help you if you showed signs of struggle, and instead he would swoop down on you like a vulture, his eyes staring coldly down at you past his hook-nose, and he breathed down your neck in a way to make even the most steel-willed Gryffindor jumpy. Despite being a Slytherin, Avery's incompetence with the subject was enough to make Snape impatient.
Avery had convinced Dev to move to the more Gryffindor side of the classroom today, so she could have a better opportunity to find a way to introduce herself to Harry. However, she was having too much difficulty with her potion to be able to focus on starting a conversation, as smoke billowed from the top of her caldron.
"More dragonfly wings, miss Liddell." Snape would correct her, without even looking at the concoction that Avery had screwed up. Avery winced as she plucked more wings and tossed them into the smoking liquid, relieved when the smoke cleared up.
If Snape was bullying the students that messed up, it was nothing compared to the jives he made to Harry over seemingly anything. Avery was sure that Harry's potion was turning out better than her own, as it was bubbling a bright blue color while her's was a sickly yellow, yet Snape found more things about Harry to complain about to the rest of the class.
Harry tossed Snape a contempt look as he swept away, and went back to dutifully slicing flobberworms.
"I think yours is better." Avery said quietly, afraid that Snape might pick on her if he overheard her trying to encourage his least favorite student.
"Oh, er... thanks." Harry looked a little relieved that at least someone wasn't going to scold him in this class.
"Yeah." Avery said blankly, not sure what to follow herself up with. "Uhh... I'm not very good." She admitted. "I hate bugs, even dead ones."
"You get used to them." Harry told her, preparing to chop another flobberworm. Avery was careful not to watch that. "Before I came here, I used to sleep in a cupboard full of spiders."
Avery nearly dropped her wand into her caldron, but thankfully caught it in time. "You slept in a cupboard?" She asked, horrified. She imagined a cupboard under a sink, and imagined it was too small for a boy.
"Yes, under some stairs." Harry said. Well, it was a little bigger, but still appalling. "I live with some Muggle relatives... they're afraid of magic, and didn't want me to find out I was a wizard." He flicked a few bits of flobberworm into his brewing potion.
Avery could have never imagined that the most famous boy in her school lived in such an awful circumstance. Suddenly, her nervousness decreased significantly, as she realized he wasn't a pompous celebrity at all.
"My name's Avery." She said, much more at ease in the conversation.
"Err, Harry Potter."
"I know!" Avery said quickly, then continued hurriedly, "Not that that's why I wanted to talk to you... I mean... I grew up with Muggles too! I just thought... I thought Prof. Snape was being really, really unfair... ummm..." Avery blushed, more out of frustration with herself. "And I saw what happened in flying lessons... I really liked how you stood up to Malfoy." She paused for a breath. "He's really mean, and I'm glad you got on the Quidditch team by the way!" Avery ended her rambling on a little higher note, which Malfoy overheard and sulked over. Dev was watching Avery, grinning to herself.
"Oh... thanks." Harry said, looking at her a little oddly. His friend was staring at her too, and the two exchanged quick glances. "So... you grew up with Muggles too? What were they like?"
"Well... I guess it wasn't too bad." Avery said carefully. "My mom loves me, she just didn't know what to do a lot of the time... I had my own room and stuff, but I never was allowed to leave the house... and my sister... she has problems, it makes her really mean. I don't like her." Avery hoped she wasn't trying to one-up the misfortune of sleeping under the stairs with her own problems. In fact, she hoped her story sounded relatively normal.
"Can't be any worse than the Dursleys." Harry reasoned. "Especially my cousin... he was an awful brat. No one else saw him that way, though."
"Oh?" Avery was even more curious. "How so?"
"Well, he was big, got what he wanted... he had two bedrooms to himself, and always liked to chase me with his friends and bully me. I'd like to jinx him, to be honest."
"He sounds like my sister." Avery said. "She gets anything she wants with a tantrum, and she's always beating us up for no reason... One minute, you're just going to get a drink from the fridge, and the next, she storms in and throws a remote control at your face." She went a little quiet, not sure if she should continue or not.
"Really?" Harry sounded a little sympathetic. "So... I'm not the only one who... well, had a Dudley..."
"No." Avery said, smiling a little. "I had an Amanda."
Dev poked Avery from the side, but when Avery looked over to see what she wanted, she was only grinning more, looking mischievous. Avery didn't understand what Dev was up to, so she talked to Harry again, who was actually really easy to talk to. He introduced her to Ron, the friend he was always with, and Avery introduced them to Dev, who waved.
After class was dismissed, Avery said goodbye to Harry and walked back to the common room with Dev, who was giggling.
"What's so funny?" Avery asked. Had Dev just heard a joke somewhere?
"You." Dev said, smiling. "You're cute."
"Eh?" Avery was confused. "How am I cute?"
"You know."
"No I don't!" Avery insisted.
"You were flirting." Dev said happily. "With Harry Potter!"
"What?" Avery gasped. She had seen flirting on tv, and it was nothing like what had just happened!
"Aw, you have a crush on Harry Potter!" Dev squealed. She patted Avery on the head. "It's so sweet!"
"What? No!" Avery was turning red. She didn't have a crush on a boy! That was crazy talk! "We were just talking! We're friends!"
"Riiiight." Dev looked smugly proud. "You're blushing."
"I'm not blushing!" Avery huffed, blushing. Dev sniggered.
"It's okay, I think you're a very cute couple."
"We are not a couple!" Avery nearly screamed. "I don't like boys! Boys are weird! They're gross! And mean!"
"Harry isn't weird. Or gross. Or mean."
"Well, I'm sure he's gross in some way. He's a boy." Avery said with certainty. "I'm... I'm too young to think about boys."
"Okay, then." Dev said, still giggling. Avery looked mad the entire way to their common room, and things didn't get any better once she got inside.
"I saw you snuggling up to your boyfriend!" Malfoy called.
"HE IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Avery screamed angrily. Malfoy and his goons laughed, and she stormed to the girl's dormitory. She plopped onto her bed with force, and listened to the water lapping at her window to try and calm down. Boots saw her master looking upset, and jumped up to crawl on her. Avery pet her absently.
"I hate boys." Avery said purposefully. Boots said nothing, but purred with contentment. She kept to herself for awhile, not wanting anyone to think she liked Harry. It wasn't true, and she hated when people just assumed things. People should mind their own business, anyway.
No one bothered Harry about it, anyway.
Dev took the time to draw little pictures of herself, me, and Carly as students. They're really cute! Check them out here, on my Photobucket! http : / i1234. photobucket. com /albums/ ff414/ acciocat/ scan0015 .jpg
Please remove the spaces, I had to put them there so the site wouldn't mess up the direct link. It's really hard to fix the link because parts disappear, so if the colon isn't after http again please put one there.
