Chapter 11
J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in the great hall eating lunch. Their next class would be Care of Magical Creatures. They had just finished Transfiguration with Professor Slughorn. When he had called Harry's name on the roll, he had stopped to inform the class what wonderful students his parents had been. The class had gone rather smoothly, like before they had tried to change matches into needles. It hadn't occurred to Harry the last time because all of this had been new, but why would wizards need matches in the first place? He thought of Mr. Weasley's attempts to use them at the Quidditch World Cup, and wondered if any of the purebloods in the class even knew what they were for.
"Do you think we should go see Hagrid before his class starts?" Hermione asked Harry, breaking him out of his thoughts.
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "It couldn't hurt I suppose, but what exactly are we going to ask him?"
"We could ask him about your parents, that would seem natural enough, and how much he knows about Peter, Sirius, and Lupin."
"If we're going to do that let's get going." Harry said.
They left the great hall - Ron a little reluctantly - and made their way to Hagrid's hut. Harry knocked on the door and a moment later Hagrid opened it. He looked surprised, but pleased to see them.
"Wasn't 'spectin' yeh lot ter come down this soon, thought yeh might wanna git use ter tha castle first." Hagrid said.
"There will be time for us to do that later." Harry said. "We wanted to know what you could tell us about my parents, and their friends." Hagrid looked at Harry, then looked around at Ron and Hermione.
"All three of yeh, wanna know 'bout yer parents?" he asked.
"Well yeah." Harry said, sharing a quick look with the other two. "Nothing too personal, or embarrassing, just basic stuff like who their friends were, how did they get together, stuff like that."
"Well I know yer mum was close friend's with Alice Longbottom. Then yer dad had his group of friends, and like I said, Peter was in their little gang. Have yeh talked to Peter yet?"
"No, we haven't had a chance." Harry said." Do you know who his other friends were?"
The smile faded from Hagrid's face. "Yeah Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black, it's a shame what happened." He said rather gloomily.
The three friends looked at each other. Panic rising in Harry.
"What happened? They're not-." he couldn't force himself to say 'dead'.
Hagrid noticed the look on Harry's face, and waved his hand."Oh they're not dead if tha's what yer fearin."
The same relief Harry felt shown on Ron and Hermione's faces. Then Hermione asked "What did happen? They didn't betray Harry's parents to Voldermort did they?"
Harry looked at Hagrid to see his reaction to the question, but Hagrid just frowned. "Betray 'em to Voldermort?" he repeated. "Why would they do that?"
"Well-" Hermione began looking at Harry, and Ron."We just assumed that if he were after them, then they would need some protection, you know something really powerful."
"We thought maybe they used the Fidelius Charm." said Ron.
Hagrid looked at Ron with a quizzical expression. "That's a really advanced magic. Whatta yeh know 'bout the Fidelius Charm?"
"We know you need a Secret Keeper, some one you can really trust." said Ron.
"You think Harry's mom and dad would have made either Sirius, or Remus the Secret Keeper?" Hagrid asked.
They all three nodded.
Hagrid sighed "I suppose it's possible it would explain a few things." "You're right." He said looking at them."They did use the Fidelius Charm, or so it was rumored, but I haven't a clue who the Secret Keeper was."
"What's next?" Ron asked, as the three friends made their way back to the castle after Hagrids lesson.
"Double potions, with the Slytherins." Hermione replied.
"Wonder how Lockhart will be." Harry said.
"I've been wondering that myself." said Ron. "He doesn't seem to be the attention grabbing prat he was before."
When they got to the classroom several of the Slytherins were already there. Neville was talking to Dean Thomas.
"Hey guys." Neville said as they approached.
"Hey Neville," they replied. Then Harry almost said 'Hey Dean' before catching himself.
"Guys this is Dean Thomas." Neville said. "Dean this is Harry, Ron and Hermione they're the ones I told you I met on the train."
"Neville told me he met you." Dean told Harry.
Lavender Brown had overheard and turned to the group. "You met Harry Potter? Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"I told Dean." Neville said.
"I think she meant, why didn't you tell everyone." Hermione said.
"Who are you?" Lavender asked turning to Hermione.
"Hermione Granger." Hermione said.
At that moment Daphne and Tracy walked up.
"What did I tell you." Daphne said to Tracy. "I told Tracy I bet Brown will waste no time trying to push herself on you." Daphne told Harry.
Before Lavender could say anything Lockhart walked in.
"Alright everyone take a seat."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione took a table next to Neville, Dean, and Michael Corner. Harry noticed Ron give Michael a look which Michael didn't notice. Lockhart began taking the roll.
Here it comes, Harry thought, but when he got to Harry's name he merrily glanced up and continued on. After Zabini's name was called he laid down the roll.
"Now then, potions, during this class you will be learning some of the more basic ones. The first which we'll do today will be a potion to cure boils." "On the other hand I hope to teach you how potions work, that is to say how one ingredient interacts with another or several others. People make the mistake of thinking that potions is rigidly structured. That you have to follow the ingredients and procedures to the letter. Which you don't."
Harry's thought turned to the old potions book of the Half-Blood Prince, and he wondered if the book was at this moment in the storage cupboard. He glanced at Hermione and could see she was thinking the same thing. Ron seemed to have caught on as well.
For the rest of the class Harry was distracted by thoughts of the old potions book, it would be a nice asset to have. His potion turned out alright as did everyone's. At the end of class Lockhart assigned an essay on the potion, and class was dismissed.
As they climbed the steps out of the dungeon, and into the Great Hall, Neville along with Dean caught up with them.
"What did you guys think of the lesson? That Lockhart fellow seems alright."
Harry started to answer but then Ernie MacMillan, and Michael Corner came out of the staircase to the dungeon. They both gave the group a look of disapproval which momentarily confused Harry. Neville seeing Harry was distracted followed Harry's gaze.
"Oh, those idiots." He said.
What do you mean?" asked Harry.
Neville glanced at Hermione, and Harry had a feeling he knew where this was going.
"Last night in the common room they were talking about you." Neville told Hermione.
"Me?" Hermione asked, although she looked as if she knew exactly what this was going to be about.
"Yeah they're what I like to think of as Pureblood maniacs. They think only Purebloods should learn how to control and harness their magic. That we should not have any contact with any wizard or witch that isn't, especially Muggleborns, there's no one in the wizarding world with your name so its pretty obvious you're a Muggleborn, and hence in their limited minds should be disliked and discriminated against out of principal."
Oh not this nonsense again Harry thought, but he wasn't surprised, in fact he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it before. Hermione looked slightly exasperated."So their feeling towards me are expounded by the fact that I'm friends with Harry." She said. "They can't work out why Harry Potter is friends with a Muggleborn."
"That pretty much sums it up." Dean spoke up. "They had some crazy ideas like you had confounded him. How were you suppose to do that you didn't know magic existed until recently."
"Like I said, idiots." Neville said. "We need to get going we'll see you guys around, don't worry too much about those two." He and Dean departed.
"He's right." Ron said "We have too much other things to worry about than that trivial nonsense."
"One thing I don't get though." Said Hermione.
"What?" Asked Harry and Ron together.
"Well Neville is obviously not one of those Pureblood elitist so why is he in Slytherin?"
