Tracey Davis and the Boy Wonder
Chapter One: Awkward Chance
Tracey Davis sat in the library with a huff. Or maybe it was a sigh, she wasn't very sure. The bloody Tri-Wizard tournament was in full swing, the Yule Ball was coming up, and her Housemates had made sure she didn't have a date.
It wasn't that she wasn't good looking, she wasn't vain, but she could acknowledge she wasn't bad looking. She had pale, but healthy skin tone, bright brown eyes, and startlingly brown hair. She didn't like how short she was, but that wasn't the issue; it was her blood.
Being a "lowly Half-Blood", she was supposed to be honored if one of her "superior Pure-Blood" Housemates asked her to the Ball.
Essentially, she was the House back-up.
Daphne had been no help, but that wasn't a surprise.
Before Hogwarts, both of them were thick as thieves, almost sisters. Come First Year, she began spending more time with the Slytherin Elite, as Malfoy called his group.
Which meant, as a Half-Blood, she was out on her own on principle.
Daphne spent most of the year telling her that they would hang out later, or the next day, or some other thing to put off being around her. In the end, hanging out never came.
Tracey asked Daphne to stop making excuses, and Daphne began ignoring her.
Second and Third years hadn't been much better. Other than oddly outlandish rumors about Potter and his weird revelation as a Parselmouth, she didn't put much stock in them.
Could anyone blame her? If half of the things about Potter were true, she would ask Longbottom to be her date for the Ball.
According to the oh, so reliable rumor mill, the boy had killed their First Year Defense Professor, and good riddance. Then in Second Year, he had slain a fully grown Basilisk with a sword. Last year, he apparently saved the serial killer after him by fending off a hundred Dementors with a single spell that most adult magicals never mastered.
And she had seen Potter. She met him back in their second year, formally, anyways. Thanks to her Housemates' stupid issue with her blood, she partnered enough with him ovet the years to know he wasn't awful at his work, but definitely nothing special. As much as she detested the boy, Malfoy did significantly better on almost every subject.
She sighed again. It was a sigh the first time too, she decided.
She didn't know if she was lonely or bored. Probably some uncomfortable combination of the two.
But that had been her life for a few years now. She should probably be prepared to be the reluctant wife of some minor Pure-Blood idiot who openly hates her for her blood.
She sighed again.
"You know, you do that an awful lot for someone without any work in front of her." A voice came from her side.
Tracey jumped and turned to see Hermione Granger looking at her with an amused smile.
"What's it to you, Granger?" She asked suspiciously.
She didn't want to be suspicious, but she knew Snakes and Lions mixed about as well as Longbottom and Potions Class.
"You just seem bothered by something, no need to be defensive, Davis." Granger said with a frown.
"Granger, we worked on a potion together once in third year. We're not even acquaintances, barely even classmates." Tracey drawled in what she dubbed the Slytherin voice. "I'm not being defensive, I think I'm right to be suspicious.
Granger rolled her eyes and took a seat at her table.
"Look, if you're frustrated about this "looking for a date" thing, I know Ron and Harry are still looking for a date." Granger said, smiling kindly.
Tracey stared at her like she had grown an extra head. How had she known? And to go with who?
Her, Tracey Davis, the lowest Slytherin on the totem pole, sink lower by going with a Gryffindork? And not just any Gryffindork, the Weasel or Harry-Bloody-Potter?
"Lowest on the totem pole?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow.
Tracey had the decency to blush.
"I err… didn't realize I said that out loud." She said, looking down at the table.
"It's okay, I'm just not sure how you would qualify as the lowest head on that particular totem pole." Hermione said, sounding amused.
"How do you figure? I'm the only Half-Blood in our year for Slytherin." Tracey said as if that explained everything. And for her, it did.
"I get that Slytherins and some Ravenclaws tend to buy into the whole Blood Purity nonsense, but you cannot tell me that dumb old idea actually puts you below Crabbe and Goyle." Hermione said with distaste.
Tracey smiled sadly and put her head down on the table.
"They're Pure-Bloods, thick as they may be." Tracey said.
"Then it's settled, I'll ask Harry to be your date." The bushy haired girl said, getting up.
"It won't help, but okay." Tracey said absently.
As Hermione left, she thought about what the other girl had said. She was lower than Crabbe and Goyle, and they constantly used each other's wands because they couldn't remember which belonged to who! And-
What?
Hold on, Tracey thought, as an electric shock made her sit immediately upright.
Granger said what about a date?
Oh no.
Oh, no, no, no, NO.
What had she done?! Why in the blood-soaked hell was she not paying attention?
Granger was gonna set her up with Potter to be her date. She was so screwed. Harry Potter. He wasn't a bad looking guy by any means. Objectively speaking, of course.
But he was a Gryffindor. And not just any idiotic Gryffindor, the Golden Lion himself, Harry The-Bloody-Boy-Who-Lived Potter. The most hated person by all seven current years of Slytherin House, and most of the prior ones too. The person her Head of House actually bullied on par with Longbottom.
She was dead.
Simple as that.
Her House would ostracize her more, if that was possible, her Head of House would hang her out to dry. She probably wouldn't even be able to stay in the dorm without taking an obscene amount of curses and hexes, and her dormmates would probably get points from Snape for doing so.
As her thoughts turned more and more morbid, one in particular about her being paraded through the Slytherin Common Room mounted on a pike with her throat slit, she wandered the halls of Hogwarts, hoping she would run into Granger and get her to call the whole thing off.
She turned a corner and hit something, falling down and looking surprised. At first, she assumed she hit one of the many invisible walls of Hogwarts, because of course this place would have invisible walls.
No, her surprise came from the pair of worn trainers sticking out from what she realized was an invisibility cloak.
"Who are you?" Tracey demanded, scrambling to her feet.
"Dammit, Davis, do you just run through every corner you take?" The disembodied voice of a familiar boy asked.
"I'm sorry, I'll keep an eye out for invisible people wandering the halls." She said dryly.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry for not being able to see absentminded girls running from around the corner." Potter said flatly, lifting the cloak off his face.
Tracey would have made a comment about the fact that he was a floating head, but was too busy retorting to the boy in front of her.
"Sure, because wandering around the castle invisible is obviously not something unusual." Tracey said, glaring a bit now.
Potter sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair.
"Look, I've been trying to find you for almost an hour now, and…" Potter began.
Tracey stopped paying attention almost immediately after he said that.
An hour? Granger probably told the whole school that she agreed to be his date!
"Errr… no, just… me and Ron, really." Harry said, looking at the girl with a quirked eyebrow.
"That's bad enough!" She snapped, glowering at the boy who huffed. How dare he listen to her voiced thoughts?
"Look, I was trying to find you because I thought Hermione was being absolutely daft and I'm sure neither of us want to go to some stuffy ball together." Harry said irritably, not really wanting to deal with the grumpy girl.
This was her chance, she could agree and be free of this damnable situation.
If she was level-headed and thinking straight, she could simply say;
"Right, good show, Potter. Let's pretend this never happened."
Unfortunately, she was more than a little upset with this boy. It wasn't entirely his fault, he was just the invisible cherry on top of the awful day she had.
"Oh, so after all that effort your friend puts into helping you, you're going to just bail on me, after I'm risking losing what little face I have going on a highly public date with you? Some chivalrous Lion you turned out to be." She sneered, crossing her arms.
Potter did a double-take and looked at her incredulously.
"I- what?" He said dumbly.
"From what it seems to look like I'm not worth the time of the big, famous Boy-Who-Lived, I'm sure you have some big blonde bimbo you'd rather wear as eye candy over some Slytherin nobody." She said, looking away with a sniff worthy of Pansy Parkinson.
Internally, she was screaming at herself.
Why the hell was she dragging this out? He felt bad, and she could have gotten out of it, instead, she was guilt tripping him.
"What are you on about? What bimbo? You're not a nobody and I wouldn't mind going with you!" Harry blurted out, blushing at his own words. He paused for a moment as Tracey looked him over.
"I err… just didn't think you'd wanna be seen with me. I'm a Gryffindor and you lot don't tend to like us very much." He finished lamely.
"Well, too bad. This is happening." She said, her stomach dropping.
Dammit, Davis, get yourself together! She yelled at herself mentally.
"Okay." Harry said, looking very embarrassed.
Good, he deserves this for putting me through this. She thought, ignoring the part of her mind that reminded her this was Granger's doing.
"I guess I'll see you for the dance?" Harry asked, trying very hard to avoid eye contact.
Merlin, she was already digging this hole, why stop now?
"Potter, at no time in the four years I've known you to be in Hogwarts have you shown any actual grace, and no, Quidditch doesn't count. I need to make sure you understand basic manners and at the very least know how to dance." Tracey said, crossing her arms. "I wouldn't wanna look foolish in front of the school.
Potter went from grimacing at the thought of manners and dancing, to looking quite ill at remembering he had to dance in front of everyone.
"Merlin, you're too easy to goad, Potter." Tracey said, smirking.
Harry sighed, smiling hopefully. Was she letting him off the hook? Then maybe he could ask-
"It's just escorted Third Years and above, the entirety of the Drumstrang and Beauxbatons people, several Ministry members, the whole of the Hogwarts teachers…" she said, trailing off, her smirk growing to a full Cheshire grin at the growing panic the boy in front of her showed.
"You didn't have to make it worse…" Harry said with a huff, still looking quite green.
"You gotta admit, it was a bit funny." Tracey said, still grinning.
Harry grunted.
"Not to me." He said, sounds cross, but his lips were slightly turned up.
See, he wasn't so bad like that. Kind of… cute. Ugh.
Harry didn't say anything, but his widened eyes and bright blush informed Tracey she spoke out loud.
Again.
Whoops?
Hole, prepare to be dug. Digged?
"So, shall we seal this unpleasant agreement with a kiss?" Tracey teased.
She was really hoping it was a tease.
Her unwanted isolation meant she didn't really have too much experience dealing with boys. According to Millicent, the nicest person to her, her father didn't count, and she knew that.
She wasn't that clueless.
Kind of.
A lot of what she had to go on was mostly bluster from the Slytherin boys and brags from the girls.
She knew Potter wouldn't kiss her. He hadn't kissed anyone, otherwise the rumor mill would have lost its mind.
Harry was still visibly gaping at her.
"K-kiss you?" He squeaked, apparently unaware of how high his voice had gone.
"Oh, I forgot." She sighed, her grin growing again. "You've never kissed anyone."
Harry burned brighter red, his face on par with the brilliant Weasley hair all of those people had.
Even their mother. Weird.
"You don't know that!" He said, sounding mortified.
"Potter, as much as you shy away from it, the whole world knows your yearly deeds. You think a kiss would go unnoticed?" She smiled.
Potter went from looking embarrassed to looking rather… defeated.
Well. That went from funny to sad, very quick.
Harry glared at her weakly.
"What kind of date are you trying to be anyways?" He asked, sounding… hurt?
"Wh-what?" She asked, confused by the question.
He wasn't actually serious, was he? This was a joke, surely he didn't think she was serious about her being his date?
But the look in his eyes let her know he did.
"I-I'm sorry." She said quietly.
"It's like none of you slimy snakes ever even think before you just spit your venom, you're all just the worst!" He said angrily.
Potter kept yelling at her, talking about how awful Slytherins were and how they all just toyed with people. For such a skinny guy, he was very long winded.
She didn't know when it happened, but at some point during his rant, the tears began falling from her eyes. Hadn't she been teasing him about a kiss almost literally a minute ago? What happened?
"Shut up!" She screamed, her eyes squeezed shut.
Harry stopped mid sentence and realized the brown haired girl in front of him was crying. He wasn't good with crying girls.
"Dav- Tracey, I'm sorry. I didn't-" Potter tried.
"No, you didn't." She said, choking back a sob. "When the hell have you ever seen me join in on picking on you or your favorite groupies? Hell, when have you ever even seen me? I'm surprised you even know my name. Hell, I'm sure the only reason you even know my name is because Granger probably described "which slimy snake" I was."
Potter was silent, confirming what she thought.
"I'm the stupid, background Slytherin in the Common Room, I'm practically invisible outside of it. Even to someone who is literally invisible, I am invisible. I could disappear completely and only my family would notice my absence." She said quietly.
She was used to being ignored, not yelled at. She genuinely didn't realize how little she could actually take.
"I get what that's like." Harry said quietly. Tracey gave him a teary glare.
"No, Potter, you don't. I get it. You were raised by shitty muggles who don't like you, but if you disappeared for a whole day, your entire House would be panicking. Most of the staff would be raising the alarm, looking for you. You think Granger or Weasley would be the only ones missing you? Merlin's saggy balls, Potter, half of the bloody school looks up to you." She ranted, growing quieter and quieter.
"I wasn't told the password for a week and even Professor Snape didn't realize I was missing…" she said quietly.
Without another word, she turned and walked away. She didn't know why she said any of that. Potter didn't care. Hell, no one cared.
"Davis, wait!" Potter called as she began picking up speed.
No, no way in hell was she becoming his good deed for the day.
A hand on her shoulder made her spin around, she saw a shock of brilliant green eyes before a pair of soft lips awkwardly pressed against hers.
Her arms were spread out at her side, her eyes wide. This was her first kiss! And it wasn't with one of the creepier Slytherins!
Okay, this was a win, as wet and… sloppy as it was.
Potter eventually backed off, looking very embarrassed. Tracey wanted to slap him for kissing her unawares, but at the same time, him trying to prove to her that he wouldn't mind was sweet.
Damn. If that's what she thought was sweet, she really needed to find friends.
Potter was eyeing her funny and she realized she had an arm out, hand ready to smack the boy.
He grimaced.
"That bad?"
Tracey slowly moved her hand to his cheek softly, not breaking eye contact, her face still surprised.
"Yes, yes it was." She said quietly.
The boy looked noticeably uncomfortable, but the shorter girl leaned up and kissed him again, in a much less sloppy fashion, he admitted.
"But, practice makes perfect." She finished, not entirely sure why she kissed him.
Harry stared at her, shocked and unsure of what to do next. The girl looked at him, fidgeting and looked behind him, pointing.
"Look, Malfoy and Crabbe are making out!" She said, looking behind the boy.
Potter raised an eyebrow, not really falling for her play. The girl fidgeted a moment more before she began running away.
"See you soon, Harry!" She cried hurriedly as she rounded the next corner, leaving a very confused boy staring after her.
"What have you gotten me into, 'Mione?" He asked himself, draping his invisibility cloak over himself and disappearing into the hall.
TDatBW
"Blimey, Hermione," Ron said with a frown, "I knew it would be work finding Harry a date he'd be comfortable with, but a snake?"
"Ronald, behave yourself." Hermione said, frowning at the Transfiguration homework she wasn't looking up from.
The Gryffindor Common Room was surprisingly busy for the early afternoon, but her homework would not be denied.
"But-" He tried.
Hermione slammed her book shut with a loud smack, glaring at the boy.
"Ron, Tracey is a quiet girl, and she's nice! Remember what Harry told us about the girl who helped him out back in second year while I was… not here?" Hermione asked, biting her lip.
Ron scrunched his brow up thinking.
"I thought he said she was a 'Puff."
"Honestly, Ronald, I'm surprised you even remember when to eat from how forgetful you are." Hermione admonished, opening her book back to where she had been.
"That's not true! I remember things plenty!" Ron argued, smirking at his friend's upturned lip ends.
"Ron, you grabbed extra bacon strips at breakfast this morning because you couldn't remember if you had any." Hermione said, looking at the red head who shrugged her comment off.
"You can't blame me for being sleepy and not noticing things!" Ron countered, grinning.
"You had a strip hanging out of your mouth, Ron!" Hermione cried.
Ron had the decency to look abashed now.
"Well, they're good, too bad." Ron said.
Before Hermione could respond, Harry came in, looking very distracted, his eyes glazed.
Ron looked at his friend and noticed his far away look, and the way he was running a finger around his lips.
"Bloody hell, she kissed you?" Ron blurted out, looking surprised.
Harry looked alarmed and the people around the Common Room stopped to look at the exchange.
Ron wasn't exactly quiet, so a few people had been inching closer to hear about Harry Potter's mystery date, but a kiss? Oh, this was much better.
"I- shut up!" Harry said, looking around, painfully embarrassed before running up to his dormitory.
Hermione wasted no time, gathering her materials, closing her books, and smacking Ron upside the head all in one fluid motion. She quickly followed up after her friend, Ron trailing closely as the Common Room descended into chaos.
It didn't take them very long to find Harry hiding under his bed after trying to make it seem like he was in the bed. After a bit of coaxing, Harry was sitting on his bed, looking at his friends, one in particular.
"Sorry mate, didn't mean to call you out like that." Ron said sheepishly, acknowledging the glare from his green-eyed friend with an apology.
"How bad?" Harry asked, looking between his friends.
Hermione bit her lip and looked at Ron, who was awkwardly rubbing his head.
"Errr… it seems Lavender and Parvati left the Common Room before we got up." Ron said.
Harry groaned and fell back onto his bed. The girls were notoriously gossipy.
"Was she right?" Harry asked, his eyes squeezed shut.
"About what?" Hermione questioned.
"That the rumor mill is going to lose its mind over this kiss?" Harry asked, sounding exasperated.
"So there was a kiss?" Ron asked, amused.
A pillow smacked his face a mere moment later.
"Unfortunately," Hermione said, looking at Ron with a frown, "I think she was right. You are a Champion for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, the Boy-Who-Lived, and all of those annoying titles you don't like."
"Merlin, I didn't even want to be in this tournament, much less go to some stuffy dance." Harry sighed, sitting up.
"I know, mate. On the bright side, you found a date." Ron said, sounding helpful.
"You mean Hermione went out of her way to set me up with someone without consulting me." Harry said, his glare now directed at Hermione, who huffed.
"Honestly, Harry, would you not have waited until the last second to ask someone? Besides, this way, you can match your outfits and practice dancing. After all, you're more likely to get the steps right if you go with the person you practiced with." Hermione said, defending herself.
Harry looked at her like she had been speaking in tongues.
"Matching what, practice what?" He managed.
"Mate, mortifying as it is, she's right." Ron snickered as he got up.
"Where are you going?" Harry asked, seeing Ron leaving the room.
"Mate, 'Mione might've set you up, but she already has a date, I can't be the only going stag, now can I?" Ron said with a grin as he walked out.
Harry stared incredulously at the now empty doorway before turning to Hermione who seemed surprised as well.
"He handled that… well." Hermione said, looking at Harry like their friend had lost his mind. "He never even bothered to try and find out who I was going with."
"Yeah, surprisingly well." Harry said, shaking his head.
This whole day had been absolutely mad, and Ron being entirely okay with him being the last to get a date, not barking up the Hermione tree to find out who she was going with, not caring that Harry was taking a Slytherin…
Damn, he really needed to have a row with Ron more often.
TDatBW
Ron Weasley was having a good week.
A while ago, his anxiety had been driving his family insane and who could blame him?
What, with his best mate facing a bloody dragon, never mind making up after being an absolute berk the whole time between the Goblet of Fire spitting up his name and actually facing the damned thing? Are you mental?
That was, until Fred and George had had enough.
They had made him some baked goods, which immediately made him suspicious, but they assured him they were made with some kind of relaxation herb they got from Neville.
After Neville confirmed he obtained a plant for them, he agreed to try the goods. Neville had tried to say something, but the twins made surprisingly good desserts, so a lot of it fell on deaf ears. They had muffins and brownies, and they tasted a bit weird, but he had to admit, after a while, he was definitely calm.
His anxiety was gone, his nerves about not being as good as others were gone, and he felt some odd confidence.
Damn.
He would need to get some of whatever this was from Neville more often!
He walked around, a spring in his step he hadn't been familiar with. He knew he had to find a date, and he knew he had ghastly dress robes he and his date would have to find time to fix.
So he needed to find someone who wouldn't mind being seen with him (and come on, had you seen him?) and someone who was creative.
That wouldn't be too hard.
He did know that a lot of people were grossed out by his table manners, but despite popular belief, he did know restraint. Now, other than his family and close friends, who else knew that?
He saw a familiar face, and that was all he needed.
He skipped over to the blonde girl, who smiled in a friendly manner.
"Hey, Hannah, would you wanna be my date for the ball?" Ron asked, giving a smile that would have made Gilderoy Lockhart swoon.
TDatBW
Dinner that night was a fiasco, for lack of a better word.
Hermione was watching the usual chaos of the Great Hall replaced with whatever the hell was going on.
Yes, she cursed. Moving along.
Ron was at the Hufflepuff table, taking animatedly with a blonde girl he had apparently asked out in the fifteen minutes he was gone from the Common Room. Hannah Abbott, unless she was mistaken. That was oddly out of character. When did Ron even get to know her well enough for her to agree?
Tracey was sitting in the middle of the Slytherin girls, which never happened. They didn't outright avoid her, but they never included her either. She looked somewhere between surprised and annoyed.
The girls were casting suspicious looks around and whispering and pointing, it was all very conspicuous.
Draco Malfoy was sitting across from the Bulgarian Quidditch star, Viktor Krum, who happened to be her date.
She was honestly both surprised and smug that he had gone out of his way to ask her out. It made her feel pretty, and that was nice when the two thick-headed boys she spent her time with never said anything.
Ginny, Ron's little sister and the youngest Weasley, was staring at her food looking crestfallen.
Hermione knew that the girl had harbored a crush for Harry for a very long time, and hearing about his very public kissing was probably really hard on her. She didn't know how she felt about that, but if it helped overcome hero worship, well...
Speaking of Harry, the boy had already left the Great Hall. It was quite a spectacle.
He had come in, sat down, and Hermione could feel air tense around him from the sheer amount of stares and not-so-hushed whispers.
It was very odd, some of the rumors claimed she was Harry's date (thank you, Skeeter.) others had made much bolder claims, including one of him bringing a whole harem of girls from all Houses, Slytherin included.
The Slytherin girls' vehement denial had only fueled that particular fire, ironically.
Then, there was the voice of Luna Lovegood, who despite her odd reputation, swore that Harry was taking a singular Slytherin to the ball.
Of course, her claim had immediately been disregarded because it came from Luna, who was essentially the school nut job, which was saying something.
Oddly enough, which was the norm around the girl, she was also the only one who was right.
Where was she again?
Right, Harry running out.
After he had settled in to eat, it began with Dennis and Colin Creevey, the Gryffindor fanboys immediately began asking about his love life.
Shortly after, several people from Hogwarts and otherwise began closing in to see what he would say.
There was a lot of sputtering, a sad amount of stuttering, and then he quite literally ran as he got up.
She really hoped Tracey could help.
Either that, or she would be as bad as he was.
. . . . .