A/N: HARRY POV
*
Harry entered the entrance hall, shivering. It was so cold outside! And why had he been late, why today of all days? Trust Ron to keep him talking, going on for so long … and on the day he started his new job and everything!
He paused before he entered the great hall. He could hear all the students inside, feasting away, and he inhaled deeply.
He hoped they had not read the Daily Prophet, and missed Floella Skeeter's article, or if they had, he hoped they would take no notice of it.
He opened the door. A sea of student's faces looked at him, and one by one they shut up, as they realised who had entered the hall.
Then the whispers started; and Harry lowered his head as he walked over to the staff table. He received a nod from McGonagall, and returned it, smiling. Dumbledore got up from his seat and addressed the students.
'Hush now!' he said, 'shush!' there was silence in the great hall. 'As you may have heard over the summer holidays – in the most unaccommodating of places –' his eyes flashed, and Harry knew that he too was thinking of the article by Floella Skeeter, 'we have a new member of staff. Indeed, Harry Potter will be taking up the position of Flying teacher, and I would ask all students to treat him with the respect you would treat all teachers with. Thank you.'
He sat back down, and applause filled the hall. Harry was relieved to see that every student in the hall was clapping, bar a small group at the Slytherin table, but only a very small group.
He also cast a puzzling look at the part of the Slytherin table that had been blown to bits.
'Hmm.' he murmured to himself. 'How peculiar. The Slytherins don't usually start fighting until [I]after[/I] the first lesson.' But then he reminded him self he was a teacher now, and had to be unbiased. He remembered how Snape had favoured his Slytherins, and although he was not head of house, he still couldn't show any prejudice towards the Slytherins.
Remember, he thought, these are a different bunch of kids. There's no little Malfoys, Crabbes, Goyles or Riddles running around, he's have to treat them as he treated everyone else – unless they proved him different.
'Roast beef, Harry?' Dumbledore held out a dish for him to take, and he felt a tap on his left arm.
'Hi Harry!' it was Hermione. 'Why are you so late?' Harry turned to her.
'I went to see Ron at his office, he was asking after Daisy. I thought you'd gone to see him?' he asked her. Hermione looked at her mashed potato.
'I – I – I meant to. I just … didn't get round to it.' She shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
'Hermione, is everything OK between you and Ron? You're not fighting are you?' he asked, wondering whether he wanted to hear the answer.
'Oh no.' she said, 'everything's fine … yes – everything's fine. Are you looking forward to your first lesson?'
Harry decided not to badger Hermione any more about Ron, although he knew something decidedly fishy was going on. He sincerely hoped they weren't fighting again, but Hermione looked so uncomfortable sitting there in the seat, and there was no doubt she had changed the subject, and – Harry thought – answered very hurriedly when he asked her if she and Ron were fighting.
'Yes.' Harry said, 'although I can't remember who it is. I know I've got a few quidditch trials, a chaser for Ravenclaw and Slytherin, and a seeker as well for Slytherin.'
'Oh!' Hermione looked impressed, 'and you get to choose them?'
'Yup! It's just a pity that Gryffindor don't need anyone for their team, it would be good to see the new Gryffindor talent.'
Just then Daisy started to cry noisily, attracting the attention of all the students. Most of them turned back to their food when they saw what it was, but one girl from the Slytherin table started walking up to the staff table.
'Not again!' said McGonagall. 'Severus, what [I]is[/I] wrong with your first years tonight?' Snape looked put out at Professor McGonagall openly knocking his students.
The girl ran right up to the table. 'Aah!' she cooed, 'it's a [I]baby![/I]' she leaned over the table. 'I aint seen a baby for ages; I'm the youngest in our family. What's its name?'
'Daisy.' Said Hermione, looking proud that someone thought her baby was [I]sweet.[/I]
'I would ask you, miss, what is your name?' asked McGonagall.
'Faith Gettherd miss. You pronounced my name wrong earlier. You say it geth-[I]erd[/I], not get-herd!'
'Well, miss Gettherd, I would remind you that I am [I]Professor,[/I] not [I]miss,[/I] and to please go back to your table, where you should be!'
'Humph.' said Faith, and stormed back to her house table. That girl's got some bottle, talking back to McGonagall like that, thought Harry.
The rest of the feast passed without incident, and Harry talked to Hermione, and cooed appreciatively over Daisy, along with some other teachers.
Penelope Clearwater, who had taken the position of Charms teacher, seemed particularly taken with the baby, and McGonagall kept casting misty-eyed looks down the staff table, but whenever Harry looked at her, she turned her head away.
In fact, everyone seemed to like Daisy, until she threw up halfway through desert, all over Professor Dumbledore, and then people seemed to steer clear of her for a while.
After dinner, and a few more announcements from Professor Dumbledore (after the rather [I]unfortunate[/I] passing of our caretaker, Mr Argus Filch, we have a new recruit … the list of "banned" items has not been increased this year – for once … quidditch trials shall take place …) Harry and Hermione left the table, where they both headed for Hermione's office.
Over his seven years at Hogwarts, Harry had seen many things in this room, including magical creatures, odd dark detectors, and photographs of the (then famous) Gilderoy Lockhart.
Who he might add, was not nearly now so handsome, and after he was revealed as a con artist he was not nearly so popular. His die hard fans still admired him for his good looks, but after his teeth started to stain and his blonde hair started to thin and fall out, even they didn't hang around for long.
Now though, the office could only be described as, well – a jumble. The usually neat Hermione had somewhat let her standards slip in the last few months, but Harry didn't think it was all down to the arrival of Daisy, and the loss of Viktor. She claimed that she was all right, but Harry didn't believe her, and he couldn't put his finger on what was wrong.
Harry stumbled on something that was lying on the floor, it turned out to be a baby rattle.
'Oh sorry!' said Hermione, who had turned around on hearing Harry trip, 'I meant to clear that up this morning, but somehow I never got round to it.'
Hmm – thought Harry – this was most unlike Hermione, not like her at all.
Daisy was being relatively well behaved, and Hermione placed her in a cot, where she started crying loudly.
'Grr.' Said Hermione.
'Hermione, did you just growl?' said Harry, stunned.
'Yes!' she said, grinning. 'It's become a really bad habit of mine, ever since Daisy started going through her clingy phase … d'ya know, I thought that we'd gone past the days of crying, and …'
'I don't mean to offend you.' said Harry, 'but can we not talk about the baby for once?'
'Of course!' said Hermione, nodding in agreement, 'sorry, I didn't mean to go on. So, are you looking forward to your first lesson?'
But that wasn't what Harry wanted to talk about. 'No Hermione, I want to talk about Ron.'
Hermione looked warily at Harry. 'What about him?'
'I think you two in a fight, Hermione, and you aren't telling me. He talks about you and Daisy, but admit it, we all know that he's a much better liar than you! You won't talk about him, and I know for a fact you haven't seen him since the Quidditch World Cup. If you're fighting, I want to know about it, you two are my best friends and I don't want to be kept in the dark.' He folded his arms, as a sign that she couldn't deter him this time.
She turned around to pick up Daisy, who was still bawling.
'I hoped she'd grow out of this you know, I think she relies on me …' but Harry would not be discouraged.
'Tell me what's going on!' he said.
'Fine!' she shouted, and turned around to face him.
'There's nothing going on! NOTHING!' she shouted, and by now, Daisy was positively howling. 'I haven't been to see Ron because I'm busy, I have got a job to do you know! And a child! If I haven't been mentioning him then it's not intentional, I just haven't.' Harry knew this was wrong, for a start. 'I haven't been avoiding him, I just … haven't seen him – it's not purposeful!'
She finished shouting, and she was quite red in the face. Harry saw that her hat had fallen off and her eyes were tired. This wasn't the Hermione he knew, but he didn't want to push her any further.
'Okay.' he said. 'I'm sorry. I won't bother you again. Just promise you will go and see him.'
'I will.' she said 'I didn't mean to get so mad.' and Harry saw her eyes were filled with tears, a solitary one fell down her cheek.
Harry went over and took Daisy from her arms, then sat her down in her cot. He turned and put his arms around Hermione, and hugged her.
'What's going on with you Hermione?' he said kindly. 'You've never been like this before.'
'I don't know,' she said, into his shoulder, 'I don't know!'
'Hush,' he said, 'don't speak, you don't have to. I don't know what's wrong with you Hermione, and you don't have to tell me. But I just want you to know, that I'll always be there, always, I promise. You're my best friend, so whatever happens, I'll always be there.'
She cried onto his shoulder for what seemed like an hour, but still she told Harry nothing.
Daisy seemed to know that something was wrong, and quietened down. But after an hour, she could stay quiet any more. She let out a little whimper, but over Hermione's shoulder, he cast a very weak cheering charm, and she started to smile and giggle.
If only Hermione would smile and giggle, thought Harry.
Harry wondered whether she would be all right to start her defence against the dark arts lessons tomorrow, but knew better than to ask. Hermione would rather face a Hungarian Horntail than miss teaching a lesson.
It made Harry smile to know that somewhere, deep down, Hermione Granger was still there.
But after a while he had to leave her to Daisy, and return to his office, to see his lesson plan, and to sleep.
He wandered down the staircases, all the way to his office on the ground floor, where he opened the door and looked around. His office was certainly not spotless, but it was a lot cleaner than Hermione's.
He sat down at his desk, pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, and began to read his timetable. The start of term wasn't very busy for him, his first lesson with the first years was at the beginning of October, it was the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and his Gryffindor and Slytherin lesson would take place on the seventh of October.
He was just about to start circling the trial dates, and planning his first lessons, when he heard a knock on his door.
'Come in.' he said, wondering what Hermione wanted now. He looked down at his timetable again, about to start colour coding.
There was no noise, until Harry heard someone clearing their throat. He looked up, and saw a small boy – no bigger than a first year – and a young girl.
'Hello Mr Potter … Sir.' Said the boy, somewhat nervously. 'I … my … our names a-a-are … um- er …' Aaron seemed to have temporarily forgotten his name. Faith looked a bit shocked too, but Harry guessed she could obviously keep her head in a situation.
'My name's Faith, and that idiot over there is Aaron.'
Aaron seemed to regain a bit of sense, when he heard her calling him an idiot.
'I am not an idiot! I'm just – a bit …' but he never got to finish his sentence, because Harry interrupted him.
'I'm sorry, but can I just ask what you're doing here?' both of their mouths hung open, and they looked at each other, until finally Aaron seemed to think of something.
'We, er, we wanted to know about the Slytherin quidditch trials.'
'Slytherin, eh?' he said, and again, checked his timetable. 'You'd be on the – seventh of October. Is that okay? Right, I suppose you'd better go back to bed then.' On thinking twice Harry suddenly realised – what [I]were[/I] these students doing out of bed? But he didn't dare make a point of it, as he cast his mind back to the mirror of erised, and the discovery of four fire-breathing dragons.
'We were kind of hoping for some tips.' Said the girl, Faith.
Tips?! Though Harry.
'Okay then,' he said, 'first of all, tell me what year you're in.'
'First.' said Aaron.
'And you?' said Harry, nodding to Faith.
'First.' she said.
'And you didn't think to speak to your prefect? Or your quidditch captain?' they shook their heads. Harry wouldn't usually have been so brash with students, but they had caught him on an off day. Hermione, and her problem, was still going round in Harry's mind. 'Well,' he said, 'I suggest you go and ask them first, they'll tell you everything you need to know.'
Harry didn't know whether it was his imagination or not, but it seemed to him that they both looked like they were doing some very quick thinking.
'But sir,' began Faith, and Harry didn't bother to correct her, 'what broom are we supposed to ride? Like a Thunderbolt ZX or something?'
Harry saw Aaron turn around to his friend with wide eyes, and nudge her in the side. Harry distinctly felt that he was being taken for a ride.
'Are you serious?' he asked the two students.
'Deadly.' said Faith, in a tone that suggested she was anything but.
'Hmm.' said Harry, rubbing his forehead. They were Slytherins, weren't they? Why hadn't he thought of it before?! He recognised the girl, she had been sitting with the crowd that hadn't been clapping him at the feast – not that he wanted to be clapped or anything. 'have you been reading Floella Skeeter?' he asked them, eyeing them warily.
'No!' said Aaron, 'who's she?'
'Who knows?!' Faith said to him, but Harry could see an untrustworthy glint in her eye, that he could see in the boy. He'd have to watch her in future.
Stop it - he reminded himself – I'm making judgements already!
'That's good then.' he said, still not sure over who was telling the truth 'and I can safely say you won't be riding on Thunderclap ZX's'' he said, shuddering at the thought of sixty or so students flying around on out of control broomsticks, and him just standing there covering his head and shouting!
'Er … sir?' asked Aaron.
'Yes, Aaron.'
'Can I have your autograph, sir?'
Harry hesitated. This was [I]not[/I] the kind of thing he liked doing, but he supposed it was only one student. He quickly grabbed a piece of parchment and scrawled a signature, then handed it over.
'Try asking your quidditch captain.' he said to them, and hurried them out of the door, and they nodded uncertainly. 'Oh yes…' he said, not believing what he was about to say, 'try not to walk about at night, will you?'
*
Harry entered the entrance hall, shivering. It was so cold outside! And why had he been late, why today of all days? Trust Ron to keep him talking, going on for so long … and on the day he started his new job and everything!
He paused before he entered the great hall. He could hear all the students inside, feasting away, and he inhaled deeply.
He hoped they had not read the Daily Prophet, and missed Floella Skeeter's article, or if they had, he hoped they would take no notice of it.
He opened the door. A sea of student's faces looked at him, and one by one they shut up, as they realised who had entered the hall.
Then the whispers started; and Harry lowered his head as he walked over to the staff table. He received a nod from McGonagall, and returned it, smiling. Dumbledore got up from his seat and addressed the students.
'Hush now!' he said, 'shush!' there was silence in the great hall. 'As you may have heard over the summer holidays – in the most unaccommodating of places –' his eyes flashed, and Harry knew that he too was thinking of the article by Floella Skeeter, 'we have a new member of staff. Indeed, Harry Potter will be taking up the position of Flying teacher, and I would ask all students to treat him with the respect you would treat all teachers with. Thank you.'
He sat back down, and applause filled the hall. Harry was relieved to see that every student in the hall was clapping, bar a small group at the Slytherin table, but only a very small group.
He also cast a puzzling look at the part of the Slytherin table that had been blown to bits.
'Hmm.' he murmured to himself. 'How peculiar. The Slytherins don't usually start fighting until [I]after[/I] the first lesson.' But then he reminded him self he was a teacher now, and had to be unbiased. He remembered how Snape had favoured his Slytherins, and although he was not head of house, he still couldn't show any prejudice towards the Slytherins.
Remember, he thought, these are a different bunch of kids. There's no little Malfoys, Crabbes, Goyles or Riddles running around, he's have to treat them as he treated everyone else – unless they proved him different.
'Roast beef, Harry?' Dumbledore held out a dish for him to take, and he felt a tap on his left arm.
'Hi Harry!' it was Hermione. 'Why are you so late?' Harry turned to her.
'I went to see Ron at his office, he was asking after Daisy. I thought you'd gone to see him?' he asked her. Hermione looked at her mashed potato.
'I – I – I meant to. I just … didn't get round to it.' She shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
'Hermione, is everything OK between you and Ron? You're not fighting are you?' he asked, wondering whether he wanted to hear the answer.
'Oh no.' she said, 'everything's fine … yes – everything's fine. Are you looking forward to your first lesson?'
Harry decided not to badger Hermione any more about Ron, although he knew something decidedly fishy was going on. He sincerely hoped they weren't fighting again, but Hermione looked so uncomfortable sitting there in the seat, and there was no doubt she had changed the subject, and – Harry thought – answered very hurriedly when he asked her if she and Ron were fighting.
'Yes.' Harry said, 'although I can't remember who it is. I know I've got a few quidditch trials, a chaser for Ravenclaw and Slytherin, and a seeker as well for Slytherin.'
'Oh!' Hermione looked impressed, 'and you get to choose them?'
'Yup! It's just a pity that Gryffindor don't need anyone for their team, it would be good to see the new Gryffindor talent.'
Just then Daisy started to cry noisily, attracting the attention of all the students. Most of them turned back to their food when they saw what it was, but one girl from the Slytherin table started walking up to the staff table.
'Not again!' said McGonagall. 'Severus, what [I]is[/I] wrong with your first years tonight?' Snape looked put out at Professor McGonagall openly knocking his students.
The girl ran right up to the table. 'Aah!' she cooed, 'it's a [I]baby![/I]' she leaned over the table. 'I aint seen a baby for ages; I'm the youngest in our family. What's its name?'
'Daisy.' Said Hermione, looking proud that someone thought her baby was [I]sweet.[/I]
'I would ask you, miss, what is your name?' asked McGonagall.
'Faith Gettherd miss. You pronounced my name wrong earlier. You say it geth-[I]erd[/I], not get-herd!'
'Well, miss Gettherd, I would remind you that I am [I]Professor,[/I] not [I]miss,[/I] and to please go back to your table, where you should be!'
'Humph.' said Faith, and stormed back to her house table. That girl's got some bottle, talking back to McGonagall like that, thought Harry.
The rest of the feast passed without incident, and Harry talked to Hermione, and cooed appreciatively over Daisy, along with some other teachers.
Penelope Clearwater, who had taken the position of Charms teacher, seemed particularly taken with the baby, and McGonagall kept casting misty-eyed looks down the staff table, but whenever Harry looked at her, she turned her head away.
In fact, everyone seemed to like Daisy, until she threw up halfway through desert, all over Professor Dumbledore, and then people seemed to steer clear of her for a while.
After dinner, and a few more announcements from Professor Dumbledore (after the rather [I]unfortunate[/I] passing of our caretaker, Mr Argus Filch, we have a new recruit … the list of "banned" items has not been increased this year – for once … quidditch trials shall take place …) Harry and Hermione left the table, where they both headed for Hermione's office.
Over his seven years at Hogwarts, Harry had seen many things in this room, including magical creatures, odd dark detectors, and photographs of the (then famous) Gilderoy Lockhart.
Who he might add, was not nearly now so handsome, and after he was revealed as a con artist he was not nearly so popular. His die hard fans still admired him for his good looks, but after his teeth started to stain and his blonde hair started to thin and fall out, even they didn't hang around for long.
Now though, the office could only be described as, well – a jumble. The usually neat Hermione had somewhat let her standards slip in the last few months, but Harry didn't think it was all down to the arrival of Daisy, and the loss of Viktor. She claimed that she was all right, but Harry didn't believe her, and he couldn't put his finger on what was wrong.
Harry stumbled on something that was lying on the floor, it turned out to be a baby rattle.
'Oh sorry!' said Hermione, who had turned around on hearing Harry trip, 'I meant to clear that up this morning, but somehow I never got round to it.'
Hmm – thought Harry – this was most unlike Hermione, not like her at all.
Daisy was being relatively well behaved, and Hermione placed her in a cot, where she started crying loudly.
'Grr.' Said Hermione.
'Hermione, did you just growl?' said Harry, stunned.
'Yes!' she said, grinning. 'It's become a really bad habit of mine, ever since Daisy started going through her clingy phase … d'ya know, I thought that we'd gone past the days of crying, and …'
'I don't mean to offend you.' said Harry, 'but can we not talk about the baby for once?'
'Of course!' said Hermione, nodding in agreement, 'sorry, I didn't mean to go on. So, are you looking forward to your first lesson?'
But that wasn't what Harry wanted to talk about. 'No Hermione, I want to talk about Ron.'
Hermione looked warily at Harry. 'What about him?'
'I think you two in a fight, Hermione, and you aren't telling me. He talks about you and Daisy, but admit it, we all know that he's a much better liar than you! You won't talk about him, and I know for a fact you haven't seen him since the Quidditch World Cup. If you're fighting, I want to know about it, you two are my best friends and I don't want to be kept in the dark.' He folded his arms, as a sign that she couldn't deter him this time.
She turned around to pick up Daisy, who was still bawling.
'I hoped she'd grow out of this you know, I think she relies on me …' but Harry would not be discouraged.
'Tell me what's going on!' he said.
'Fine!' she shouted, and turned around to face him.
'There's nothing going on! NOTHING!' she shouted, and by now, Daisy was positively howling. 'I haven't been to see Ron because I'm busy, I have got a job to do you know! And a child! If I haven't been mentioning him then it's not intentional, I just haven't.' Harry knew this was wrong, for a start. 'I haven't been avoiding him, I just … haven't seen him – it's not purposeful!'
She finished shouting, and she was quite red in the face. Harry saw that her hat had fallen off and her eyes were tired. This wasn't the Hermione he knew, but he didn't want to push her any further.
'Okay.' he said. 'I'm sorry. I won't bother you again. Just promise you will go and see him.'
'I will.' she said 'I didn't mean to get so mad.' and Harry saw her eyes were filled with tears, a solitary one fell down her cheek.
Harry went over and took Daisy from her arms, then sat her down in her cot. He turned and put his arms around Hermione, and hugged her.
'What's going on with you Hermione?' he said kindly. 'You've never been like this before.'
'I don't know,' she said, into his shoulder, 'I don't know!'
'Hush,' he said, 'don't speak, you don't have to. I don't know what's wrong with you Hermione, and you don't have to tell me. But I just want you to know, that I'll always be there, always, I promise. You're my best friend, so whatever happens, I'll always be there.'
She cried onto his shoulder for what seemed like an hour, but still she told Harry nothing.
Daisy seemed to know that something was wrong, and quietened down. But after an hour, she could stay quiet any more. She let out a little whimper, but over Hermione's shoulder, he cast a very weak cheering charm, and she started to smile and giggle.
If only Hermione would smile and giggle, thought Harry.
Harry wondered whether she would be all right to start her defence against the dark arts lessons tomorrow, but knew better than to ask. Hermione would rather face a Hungarian Horntail than miss teaching a lesson.
It made Harry smile to know that somewhere, deep down, Hermione Granger was still there.
But after a while he had to leave her to Daisy, and return to his office, to see his lesson plan, and to sleep.
He wandered down the staircases, all the way to his office on the ground floor, where he opened the door and looked around. His office was certainly not spotless, but it was a lot cleaner than Hermione's.
He sat down at his desk, pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, and began to read his timetable. The start of term wasn't very busy for him, his first lesson with the first years was at the beginning of October, it was the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and his Gryffindor and Slytherin lesson would take place on the seventh of October.
He was just about to start circling the trial dates, and planning his first lessons, when he heard a knock on his door.
'Come in.' he said, wondering what Hermione wanted now. He looked down at his timetable again, about to start colour coding.
There was no noise, until Harry heard someone clearing their throat. He looked up, and saw a small boy – no bigger than a first year – and a young girl.
'Hello Mr Potter … Sir.' Said the boy, somewhat nervously. 'I … my … our names a-a-are … um- er …' Aaron seemed to have temporarily forgotten his name. Faith looked a bit shocked too, but Harry guessed she could obviously keep her head in a situation.
'My name's Faith, and that idiot over there is Aaron.'
Aaron seemed to regain a bit of sense, when he heard her calling him an idiot.
'I am not an idiot! I'm just – a bit …' but he never got to finish his sentence, because Harry interrupted him.
'I'm sorry, but can I just ask what you're doing here?' both of their mouths hung open, and they looked at each other, until finally Aaron seemed to think of something.
'We, er, we wanted to know about the Slytherin quidditch trials.'
'Slytherin, eh?' he said, and again, checked his timetable. 'You'd be on the – seventh of October. Is that okay? Right, I suppose you'd better go back to bed then.' On thinking twice Harry suddenly realised – what [I]were[/I] these students doing out of bed? But he didn't dare make a point of it, as he cast his mind back to the mirror of erised, and the discovery of four fire-breathing dragons.
'We were kind of hoping for some tips.' Said the girl, Faith.
Tips?! Though Harry.
'Okay then,' he said, 'first of all, tell me what year you're in.'
'First.' said Aaron.
'And you?' said Harry, nodding to Faith.
'First.' she said.
'And you didn't think to speak to your prefect? Or your quidditch captain?' they shook their heads. Harry wouldn't usually have been so brash with students, but they had caught him on an off day. Hermione, and her problem, was still going round in Harry's mind. 'Well,' he said, 'I suggest you go and ask them first, they'll tell you everything you need to know.'
Harry didn't know whether it was his imagination or not, but it seemed to him that they both looked like they were doing some very quick thinking.
'But sir,' began Faith, and Harry didn't bother to correct her, 'what broom are we supposed to ride? Like a Thunderbolt ZX or something?'
Harry saw Aaron turn around to his friend with wide eyes, and nudge her in the side. Harry distinctly felt that he was being taken for a ride.
'Are you serious?' he asked the two students.
'Deadly.' said Faith, in a tone that suggested she was anything but.
'Hmm.' said Harry, rubbing his forehead. They were Slytherins, weren't they? Why hadn't he thought of it before?! He recognised the girl, she had been sitting with the crowd that hadn't been clapping him at the feast – not that he wanted to be clapped or anything. 'have you been reading Floella Skeeter?' he asked them, eyeing them warily.
'No!' said Aaron, 'who's she?'
'Who knows?!' Faith said to him, but Harry could see an untrustworthy glint in her eye, that he could see in the boy. He'd have to watch her in future.
Stop it - he reminded himself – I'm making judgements already!
'That's good then.' he said, still not sure over who was telling the truth 'and I can safely say you won't be riding on Thunderclap ZX's'' he said, shuddering at the thought of sixty or so students flying around on out of control broomsticks, and him just standing there covering his head and shouting!
'Er … sir?' asked Aaron.
'Yes, Aaron.'
'Can I have your autograph, sir?'
Harry hesitated. This was [I]not[/I] the kind of thing he liked doing, but he supposed it was only one student. He quickly grabbed a piece of parchment and scrawled a signature, then handed it over.
'Try asking your quidditch captain.' he said to them, and hurried them out of the door, and they nodded uncertainly. 'Oh yes…' he said, not believing what he was about to say, 'try not to walk about at night, will you?'