Chapter 28:

Teen problems

Draco was angry all the time now that September rolled into October and he had officially lost his spot on the Quiddich team. Flint had decided the fourth year Theseus Safiq was better than him. Draco had been sure he had out flown the Safiq spare (Theseus was the second son of the Heir) but his team decided against him. To top that he was stuck with Care for Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies as optional classes. He was the laughing stock of Slytherin, being the only Snake to take Muggle Studies in five centuries.

And it sucked.

He didn't understand what electricity was or why they would need telephones when there were perfectly decent fireplaces to be had. And he didn't understand why even with his name exchanged from Malfoy to Black people still wouldn't talk to him. He hated it, hated his mother for choosing his good for nothing uncle instead of his father's side and he hated his father for putting himself in a situation where he had to leave the country. His thoughts turned back towards his Muggle Studies homework, which he hated the most at the moment and continued to write something that made no sense to him to hand over the next day. He was the last one in the Slytherin common room except the odd ball Blaise Zabini.


It was the beginning of October when the announcement came on the Gryffindor notice boards. There was a special event planned targeting the Muggle-Borns but any student could join if they so wished, within the limited number of places. A visit to the only Magical Art Gallery in Britain on the outskirts of Edinburg was schedule for Saturday. Hermione almost walked in on a naked Ron trying to get the boys to hurry up so she could sign up for the trip the coming weekend.

'Hermione! Do you mind!' the red head bellowed at her just as Crookshanks followed the girl inside the room and made a dash to catch Scabbers. The usually fat and lazy rat became more agile than Harry had ever seen him before managing to hide himself in a crack in the wall behind Dean's bed.

'Get that blasted cat out of here, NOW!' Ron bellowed still very red in the face and clutching the towel around his waist.

Hermione picked her oversized cat up and hurried outside.

'What happened?' asked Harry as five minutes later they met the slightly flushed girl at the bottom of the staircase where Hermione was pacing.

'We have to go, there won't be any places left if we don't get to McGonagall before class.'

They started to run after her.

'What are you on about?' asked Ron still annoyed.

'We can go see the MAG in Edinburg. But there are limited places. So hurry up.'

They managed to get to McGonagall's office where the Deputy was getting ready to head down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

'Professor, we want to sign up for the trip to Edinburg.' Hermione said beaming.

'Miss Granger, you could have told me that today after Transfigurations.'

'But there are a limited amount of places.'

'Yes, but Muggle Born have priority. You don't have to worry.'

'But Harry and Ron.'

'Oh, I've already seen the Gallery.' Harry said. 'I mean if there are open spaces after everyone who hasn't seen it signs up, I'd like to join, but the ones who haven't seen it should get the opportunity first.'

'When did you go?' asked Ron

'Aries is a patron, we went during summer when he had something to discuss with the curator.' Explained Harry

'Very thoughtful of you Mr. Potter.' Said McGonagall 'I will let you know if there will be any spots left on Friday. Now, you three better get to breakfast.'

'Why didn't you tell us Aries is a patron there?' asked Hermione

'He's a patron for a lot of businesses. I didn't think it was important.'

'Of course it's important. He could have taken us all there.'

'It was a business trip and I was grounded at the time.'

'Well you could have told us you went.' She insisted

'I forgot about it. I've been following Aries around a bit during summer, and you knew that. And besides, it's not like you tell us everything you do with your parents.'

'Tha-that's not the point.'

'What is the point then? You don't see Ron making a fuss for me visiting a museum.'

'It was probably boring.' Said Ron. Harry didn't want to contradict his friend, it seemed these days Ron found a lot of stuff boring.

'You've never hid stuff from us before. It's just odd.' Hermione said frowning at Ron

'I've never done much in my summer holidays before either. I just forgot, and didn't really think it was a big deal.'

'It just seems you're leaving us behind. That's all.' She finally said. Harry was taken aback by this and took a while to answer.

'You are my first and best friends. I am not trying to leave you behind or hide stuff. It's just, I've never had a parent figure before now. And a lot more is happening in my life now that I live in the wizarding world. Some things slip my mind.'

'I guess.' Hermione finally conceded

'Come on, we'll miss breakfast.' Ron added and the three went down to the Great Hall.

Hermione took some time after class doing her homework in the library without Ron or Harry. She was a bit concerned about Aries Black's influence on Harry but the black haired teen had been very rational in his explanations and she had to admit that he did have a point about her not speaking much about her family life. But that was because her parents were Muggles, there wasn't much to tell. Still she couldn't shake the feeling that Harry was pulling away from her and Ron was definitely not helping with his moodiness. She had been sure, safe even, when Harry didn't care much about learning and relied on her for homework, it made her feel useful. But now, now he had special books from the Black and Potter libraries, Aries tutored him, he was friends with Ravenclaws and he put in the effort by himself. She spoke from the heart when she told Aries she was grateful for taking Harry in, but she was also a bit afraid of the man. She thought herself a good judge of character and there was something about the Black Lord that made her fear him a bit. The man was a perfect gentleman, he spoke politely and always with common sense, but she couldn't find a sign of emotion anywhere. A man so in control of himself was a man to fear.

'Are you done with that book? Or will you keep staring at it thinking it will read itself?'

She looked up startled to find Draco Malfoy frowning at her.

'Go away, Draco.'

'I would, if you gave me that book.'

'Why do you need it anyway? It's about Muggle inventions.'

'I have a Muggle Studies essay to write. Why are you reading it? It's not like you don't know everything about Muggles already.'

'It's fascinating to know how wizards view Muggles.' She said coldly before handing him the book 'Here, though the explanations in here are a bit silly.' She was half way out of the library when he called her back.

'Granger, wait. I have a proposition for you.'

'A proposition? Come on Draco, why would you want anything to do with me in the first place?'

'I don't, but desperate times.'

Hermione rolled her eyes and continued to walk away.

'Help me with Muggle Studies and I'll help you with…potions.'

'I'm not a hopeless case in Potions, Malfoy. I doubt you even know what a telephone is in Muggle Studies.'

'It's Black, not Malfoy, and you could get better grades if you had me tutoring you in Potions. I know your number one spot this year is not that sure with Potter now being backed up by my uncle.'

'I do not need you to be a good student!' She said a bit too loudly

'Ssh!' Madame Piece had perfected her whispered yell making everyone almost instantly quiet down.

Hermione left and she thought that was that, but it seemed the former Malfoy heir was persistent. Where were his friends anyway? Why couldn't he go bother them! In the end she agreed to check his homework for mistakes if he checked hers in Potions just to get him to back off. What a horrible day she was having. It didn't get any better either with Ron shouting her ear off when she got back to the tower. It seemed Crookshanks had almost managed to get to Scabbers while she had been away. Worst part was that Harry wasn't there to calm Ron, since their raven haired friend was working on a 4th year Arithmancy assignment with some girl from Ravenclaw.


Harry didn't know if it had been good luck or bad luck that professor Vector had partnered him up with Cho Chang. Aside from thinking her pretty that first lesson, he realized he had been thinking of her a lot more than he should in between lessons too. The problem was he didn't quite know how to go about either not thinking about her at all, or just get to know her better. So naturally as a healthy self-conscious boy of 13 he hadn't spoken to her a word before the assignment was issued.

'Hello Harry. My name is Cho, Cho Chang.' The girl had introduced herself at the end of Arithmancy last week. The monosyllabic conversation that followed managed to schedule their homework session after lessons on Monday in the study room near the charms classroom. He still cringed thinking of how Katie smiled at him all knowingly after that. It had to be some kind of conspiracy between girls, or maybe not girls in general, just older girls, he amended thinking of Sue's predicament with Diggory.

'Hello Harry, sorry I'm late, Marietta needed some help going to find her partner.'

'She's with Cornac.' Harry said, thinking of one of the most annoying Gryffindors in the Arithmancy class.

'Yes, and she doesn't like him.'

'I can imagine why.' the sarcasm was obvious.

She then gave him a smile that surely made him blush.

'So, deconstructing the character of Cornelius Agrippa.' That gave Harry something else to focus on.

'Er, yes, the math was simple. Character number 4, heart number 7 and social number 6.'

'So he was hard working and practical, reliable and logical.'

'Wonder how he got locked up by Muggles then.' Harry added.

'He was also stubborn, suspicious and prone to angry outbursts.'

'Well, the conflicts in 2 are probably doubled.'

'His works weren't well received by the Muggles not just because they were dealing with what they considered to be the occult but also because one of his works stated that women were morally and theologically superior to men. Which was something frowned upon in old Muggle society.'

'But not in Wizarding society, after all, witch covenants can tap into more powerful spells, a fact that was well known since the Ancient Covenant of Syracuse in 700 BC.'

'Wow, you do know your history.'

'Had a lot of time to read during summer.' Harry didn't specify that he read because he was being grounded. He then quickly followed 'We should deconstruct some of his contemporary's names and see if any compatibilities can be determined from that.'

'How about Antoine de Vergy?'

'Yeah, and maybe someone Muggle too.'

'Oh there was a princess, Margaret of Austria.'

They continued to discover and interpret Agrippa's life through numbers for the next two hours reaching the required essay length easily. Cho even told him she had enjoyed working with him before leaving. But he was Harry Potter, so he couldn't just end the day on a high note. Not when Oliver Wood was waiting for him in the common room looking rather upset.

'What were you doing with the Ravenclaw seeker?'

'Who?'

'Don't play dumb with me, Harry. You were fraternizing with the enemy, Cho Chang.'

'How did you even know I was with Cho? Wait, she's the Ravenclaw seeker?' That made her ever more appealing, a girl who enjoyed Quiddich.

'I'm sorry, Harry. He overheard me talking to Angie and Alice about our assigned partners.' Katie came to his rescue

'Just relax Oli. He was doing an Arithmancy project, not snogging her in a closet.' Angelina had to make it worse and Harry found himself blushing furiously. Luckily Oliver was the focus of mostly everyone.

'Relax? Relax!? We are at our final chance to get the cup. We cannot allow some pretty girl to ruin our hard work.'

'Oliver, it was a class assignment. Give it a rest already.' Said Alice

His Quiddich captain turned to Harry 'Don't let her distract you.' He said pausing after every word for emphasis.

'Er, I won't.'

'Good, tomorrow evening I booked the Quiddich pitch between half past five and seven. Don't be late or I will get Fred and George to dung bomb the Ravenclaw tower.'

'What drugs is he on?' Harry asked the three chaser after Oliver stormed up to his room.

'He's stressed because he heard there might be Quiddich scouts at our matches starting January.' Explained Angelina.

'Yeah, but I still don't get how he jumped from Arithmancy homework to fraternizing with the enemy.'

'Er, that may have been my fault.' Katie said looking a bit uncomfortable. 'I just thought it was cute that you have a crush on Cho.' Harry went red in the face.

'I do not have a crush on her.' He said quickly and sprinted up to the boys' bedroom.

'You were right Katie, he is cute when he's flustered.' Chuckled Alice making Katie blush slightly.


Friday rolled in and with Oliver still on edge about Quiddich practice, Harry decided to forgoe the MAG visit and focus on his tutoring lesson with Aries and Quiddich. Ron refused categorically to go without Harry so Hermione ended up going with fellow Gryffindor Dean Thomas. There were still some others from third year whom she knew, Justin from Hufflepuff, two girls from Ravenclaw Hermione had never talked to before and to her surprise a big group from Slytherin including a reluctant looking Draco. A lot more were from the upper years including Percy and his girlfriend Penelope.

'Now that you are all here.' McGonagall said 'There are some rules to follow on this trip. First one, is no sneaking around. You are 60 in total so there will be 4 groups of 15. One group will be supervised by myself the other three will be led by Madam Greengrass, Madam Parkinson and Madam Black.' as she said this three witches came in.

Hermione had met Narcissa before and she had admitted even then that the woman was one of the most elegant and beautiful she had met in the wizarding world. Madam Greengrass also held herself with a lot of poise. She was the oldest of the three, the blond hair, her oldest daughter had inherited, was already silver in some parts. But it gave her a more distinguished look. She had never been the beauty her younger companion still was, but that didn't matter, the two stood as equal. Madam Parkinson was closer to Narcissa's age but unlike Black, she was black haired and though elegant and beautiful in her own right, there was something about her attire that shouted too much. The Gryffindor remembered seeing her dawning an opulent attire at the Black summer ball as well. Though she wasn't wearing a tiara and an incredible set of diamonds at the moment she was still overly dressed compared to the other two more simple yet elegant attire.

Hermione ended up with the group led by Madam Greengrass together with Justin and, to her surprise, Draco. There was a brief moment before they climbed into the carriages they would use to get to Edinburg when she saw Narcissa trying to draw her son's attention but Draco refused to look her way. What was going on here? The Draco she knew always bragged about his mother and yet here he was ignoring her. But no matter how intriguing the Slytherin's actions were, Madam Greengrass' explanations and the incredible artwork she was seeing for the first time made her forget about anything else for the next three hours.

The portray gallery of the medieval wizards had them interacting with Bridget Wenlock, a very unhinged Ethelred the Ever-Ready, Gifford Ollerton and many more. But the real magic started showing when they entered the live artwork gallery where the artwork could be explored not just from the outside, but from inside the paintings. They visited the Siege of Troy seeing painted history happen all around them, the Fields of Poppy where because of the seeds used with the paint they weren't allowed to stay for more than a few minutes, or they would fall asleep. But what Hermione enjoyed the most was being around the Magic Scholars of St Petersburg debating the uses of a wand versus the staff.

They met up with the other three groups after the Runic gallery and saw that everyone, including the Slytherin, had excited happy faces.

'Thank you for the tour Madam Black.' said Bulstrode blushing slightly as Narcissa smiled at her and the Slytherin that had been in her care.

'I am glad you enjoyed yourselves. Hogwarts teaches a lot of useful things, but it is good to have the school educate the soul as well as the mind.'

'Draco, your mother is incredibly knowledgeable about the art here.' Hermione heard Millicent say to the blond boy as they climbed out of the carriages at Hogwarts.

'Yeah, I didn't know the Blacks had donated almost a third of the paintings there over the years.' Added Blaise.

Draco frowned and was about to say something when Narcissa finally reached him.

'Draco, did you enjoy your tour with Madam Greengrass?' his mother said smiling at the students.

'Yes, mother.'

'Good, it is always good to see a place with other people than you usually do. Won't you walk me to the gate?'

Draco nodded.

'Thank you again for the tour, Madam Black.' said Blaise. And with that the two Blacks left the carriages and Hermione behind. She was probably imagining it, but it seemed to her Draco was reluctant to speak with his mother.


A/N: It's always fun to read your reviews, especially when they are so diverse: Remus haters and Remus lovers, Hermione haters and Hermione lovers. It just shows that the original books and its characters were well written and 3-Dimensional.

HeartsGlow: you are right, I kind of forgot about the Patil twins.

Guest: I don't think Ron's a genius, and I agree, his talent hasn't been explored much in the books except for the first one. I find that a bit sad. Hermione is smart, and I love her logical thinking, but I'm not sure about her Mensa membership J

This chapter dragged itself out far too long. It's Easter break and the sun is shining. Fingers crossed the sun will kill Mr. Corona and we can run around free again. But on a positive note, nature is getting a respite from our invasive presence. Maybe we can set a quarantine month every year to let nature heal after all this is over. But I doubt anyone will think of nature when the economic crisis hits. And there goes the positive note down the worry lane. But Sirius-ly guys, stay healthy and if you feel like it, review.