Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was known for his rather eccentric ideas. For example, back during his tenure as the Transfiguration Professor he had once organized a house elf football league in an attempt to promote positive thinking towards muggle culture. Albus Dumbledore was also known for spectacular backfires, and as a result the Hogwarts Elf Football Club spawned the trend of kicking objects at your disobedient elves, which remained a popular form of punishment for 5 years up until Abraxas Malfoy discovered forcing the creatures to slam their fingers in cupboard doors was much more efficient.
In the same vein, when Dumbledore first hatched the idea for a mentorship program in 1984 - after a particularly eventful school year in which Bill Weasley took it upon himself to instruct his younger brother Charlie, and a painfully shy first year Hufflepuff named Nymphadora Tonks in the art of wild hair, leather jackets, and muggle rock and roll music - he never would have foreseen the consequences of the programs first year in 1993.
His thought was simple: why not randomly select a third year and first year student, pair them together in a mentor/trainee setting, promote interhouse unity, and ease the stress and nervousness of first-year students. He could have never predicted the complete breakdown of all Hogwarts societal norms that would be unleashed by discovering what happens when the most heroic Gryffindor gives a spine to the hardest working Slytherin.
Hindsight is 20/20, and many years later, everyone would unanimously agree this was a very terrible mistake.
Upon first meeting Harry Potter, Astoria Greengrass was taken aback by how small the boy was. In fact, those were her first words to her new mentor.
"How could the defeater of the Dark Lord be so short?"
One would imagine a hot tempered 13-year-old to be upset by such an insult, and on any other given day, Harry Potter would have been. But the week before the disastrous visit from his aunt Marge, Dudley had left his collection of VHS tapes out in the open while the rest of the Dursleys left him home alone for the week. After a 144 hour movie binge, young schoolboy Harry Potter was no more. Instead, a wise philosopher had emerged.
Harry Potter, amateur film connoisseur and self-proclaimed man of wisdom, simply pulled her aside to an empty bench in the courtyard below the clock tower, sat down and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Size matters not." He smiled kindly, the emerald of his eyes reflecting an enchanting wisdom beyond his age, almost twinkling in the morning sunlight. "Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Well you should not." With his other hand he reached out with his wand and cast a small lumos between them. It was not complicated magic, one of the first spells she would learn in Professor Flitwick's charms class. But to an impressionable eleven year old meeting the most famous boy in all of wizarding Britain, it was hypnotic. "Because magic is my ally, and a powerful ally it is."
Astoria could easily say this was the coolest person she had ever met in all her eleven years of life.
Harry Potter had never had anyone look up to him before. Sure, his friends were great, and the past two years had seen him heaped with praise for winning quidditch matches and house cups, but he had never had the chance to feel truly important to a person.
He had never really thought about it until the train ride to Hogwarts in his third year, the after effects of the dementors clouding his brain and sinking him into a depression. He had asked himself, "If Sirius Black kills me, will anyone truly care?"
Thinking back on it he recognized it was a logical fallacy, and that of course he would be missed, but the overbearing aura of bleakness from the hooded creatures was to powerful to ignore in the moment. So the rest of the trip he resided himself to thinking about what impact he had on the world, and how it was unlikely that it would change anytime soon.
Then, he was pulled aside by Professor McGonagall before the opening feast and was told the news. He had been selected as one of ten third year students to Mentor a first year up until their third year. Needless to say, after the summer he endured he was looking forward to the opportunity to be respected and leave a mark on someone's life in a positive way.
The dementor's effect had left him at this point so he was aware, of course, that this was entirely childish of him - and he also did not care because if Dudley's VHS stash had taught him anything it was that Mr. Miyagi was amazing. And even if he did not know karate, he was planning on doing his absolute best to train the greatest first year of 1993, and he was damn sure he was going to look cool doing it.
So when he met the regal looking Astoria Greengrass, sister of the most beautiful girl in his year, he knew it would be a challenge to break through the icy hardened shell of a pureblood upbringing. Oh how wrong he was.
The girl was short with a petite frame, with blonde hair pulled back into a low ponytail that stopped midway down her back, with neatly styled bangs framing her face and was standing under the shade of a tree in the middle of the courtyard, and her eyes widened as he approached. Then she opened her mouth and insulted his height, and Harry just smiled. The little shortstop was adorably cute, and had an air of innocence around her despite the green trim on her robes. In that moment, he vowed he would show her the proper way of the world, to spare her from becoming a prat like Malfoy.
Part of the program entitled all paired students to a suite on the 6th floor to act as a private study and secondary living quarters in the event members of their house decided it was a good idea to bully the selected first years for associating with another particular house. In the name of antidiscrimination, Dumbledore could not in good conscious admit it was a rule made specifically for Slytherins and Gryffindors, and luckily the only Slytherin-Gryffindor pairing was with Harry and Astoria.
So naturally, Harry (who had fled Ron's snoring for the silence of a private quarter) was not surprised when Astoria walked into the portrait hole to their suite with her hair charmed scarlet, with wads of Droobal's Best Blowing Gum scattered throughout.
Tears stream down her face, as she tried to sneak by undetected with the intent of crying herself to sleep as she wallowed in misery, but was stopped by two words.
"Hot Chocolate?"
Astoria paused, slowly turning to face Harry on the couch where he was holding a mug in his hands. Due to her upbringing as the daughter of an upstanding pure blood family, she had never tasted it before and had to admit she was curious about it.
"I rarely ever get the chance to drink any, but it's good to celebrate being home."
The Slytherin slowly made her way over to the couch, and sat beside him, tensing her shoulders as he he placed the cup into her hands.
"Here. I bought some mix in muggle London before the term started. You look like you need it more than I do."
The crying girl sniffed and nodded, looking down at the liquid before taking a sip with a small smile.
"Did I tell you about my first day at Hogwarts?"
The kids spent an hour on the couch, with Harry telling stories of his first year, delighting her with tales of his first quidditch match and it's unexpected ending, leaving her in suspense over fighting a troll, and ending on a story about Malfoy's attempts to get them in trouble.
"... and then we had to serve detention in the forest with Hagrid." He ended the tale with a sigh. "At the first sign of trouble, he ran off and left me alone to face... well it wasn't nice, let's just say that."
"Harry..." Astoria spoke up for the first time that night. "Why is Draco so mean? He used to be nice when we were little."
He frowned slightly, grabbing one of her hands. "Did he do this to you?" A small nod was confirmation. "Some people just don't know any better I guess. He was probably raised to think he was the best, and I imagine he thinks everyone else is below him. Don't tell anyone this, but the hat wanted to put me in Slytherin, but that's where Malfoy went so I didn't want to go there."
Her eyes widened as she gasped at him in disbelief. "The sorting hat wanted to put me in Hufflepuff, but I wanted to be with my sister."
"Here's some advice before bedtime, Shorty." he smiled as she swatted his arm at the nickname. "It's always best to just be yourself. Even if it means taking the hard choices."
The corners of her lips slightly curled up into the gently smiled, sipping on her first ever cup of hot cocoa.
The next day, Astoria's hair was cut into a short pixie cut, slightly above her chin to remove the magic gum, and returned back to its proper color. Yellow. Coincidentally, Draco Malfoy had locked himself in his room, now looking like a green skinned Weasley - and Daphne Greengrass had a fire in her eyes that would rival the fury of Aries.
Despite how she portrayed herself as the calm and collected elegance that was the epitome of culture and class, the unapproachable Slytherin beauty was a coiled pit viper waiting to strike, and Malfoy had just tread on her family.
Her second week at Hogwarts was slightly better than the first - the bullying had not died down, but she could take it better than before. She hardly stepped foot into the Slytherin dungeon much to the dismay of her sister, preferring to sleep in her private quarters, and dine with the Gryffindors, who had all but accepted her as the house puppy that must be protected and doted upon at all times.
She still wasn't sure how to take that one, especially as the Weasley twins followed her around proclaiming to make way for the deadly viper that was loose in the castle, but Harry had said that's just how they show their friendship.
Speaking of the boy who lived, she had never imagined that he would be so cool! Sure she had read the story books growing up, but she never expected him to be so... wise! He always seemed to have a response, quip, or words of wisdom for every scenario, and always made time to help her with her homework! She had to admit, while he may not have been the best with book knowledge, he always managed to describe the topic in a way she understood, especially in Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Although he was apparently pants at Potions and History of Magic, an occurrence which she soon learned was natural for most Hogwarts students.
Her first encounter with Professor Snape had been abysmal, yet predicted with an accuracy that led her to believe Harry was a seer.
True to her mentors words, the bat like professor had barged in exactly as the clock struck on the hour, and glided his way to the front with a spiel about the supremacy of his craft over other classes. The Gryffindors she was with were tormented, her housemates laughed at the misfortune of their red robed rivals, and then she was belittled for being associated with Harry.
Fortunately, Astoria Greengrass was a natural.
"So he slinks out from the shadows and takes points from this kid named Eric for sneezing, but Eric was so terrified that he wasn't breath in the first place, let alone sneeze!"
Harry nodded along to her tale, as he had been for the past five minutes.
"And the he turned over to me and started in, just like you said!"
That peaked his interest. "What did the dungeon bat do to you?"
Astoria shifted in her seat a bit, trying to avoid the attention before continuing. "Well he asked me a bunch of questions about advanced potions, but daddy imports and exports the ingredients, so I knew most of the answers. He then said I best avoid letting... well your filth degrade my attitude and grades." She looked away, worried he would take offense, but Harry just laughed.
"Don't worry, he did the me routine to me as well. What happened next?" He smiled down at her and re his attention.
"Well... I mentioned your were tutoring me in other classes and he called you a squib, and said I had best avoid interaction with you if I valued my grade. But I told him I'd study hard, and it wouldn't matter." She paused and blushed for a minute before continuing. " He told me to simply answer in the affirmative and keep quiet, so when I did he was mad I didn't address him as sir. So he said to me 'Yes, SIR,' and I might have told him it was uncouth to address me as sir. He took fifty points from Gryffindor before realizing I was a Slytherin."
Harry stood up, walked around the table and hugged her with a smile. She decided rather quickly it was nice to be hugged by someone that wasn't her sister.
"Shortstop," he paused at her half hearted glare. "I am proud of you and will always be. Remember that."
Soon, Halloween rolled around to less than a week away, and Harry's mood began to turn for the worse on the week leading up to the holiday. It puzzled Astoria like nothing else, as not even visits from his friends, Weasley and Granger could snap him out of his funk.
"Harry, I was wondering..." The blonde girl asked with a curious gleam in her eye. When you go to Hogsmeade, can you pick me up some self inking color change quills? Daphne thinks they a tacky gimmick, but I think they could really save on time with essay drafts."
For the last few days she had been trying to sneak the issue out of him by gauging his reaction to questions, and unfortunately for her, she quickly realized she sucked at reading faces. for a while she thought the problem had to do with the last season's Puddlemere United scores, except that Harry was a fan, and they did spectacular - a fact she gained from listening to Weasely go on and on about the world record trouncing that the Cannons received by the Puddlemere team.
She was also able to rule out the release of Lockhart's newest book, 'Who am I?' as he had no idea, and became even more irritated when presented with the information.
So after 15 attempts at interrogations through the week, she finally gave up and decided to wish fun on his Hogsemeade trip.
Harry sighed and slouched down on the couch a bit. "Alright you've made your point, I'll tell you what wrong. I'm not going to Hogsmeade this year." He relented with an annoyed look towards her.
She paused for a second, before blinking in confusion. "Wait, what? Well why not?" She was taken aback at the answer to her questions being delivered to her unexpectedly.
Harry sighed and straightened up a bit before looking over to her. "I accidentally blew up my Aunt towards the end of break. My uncle didn't appreciate it and never signed my form."
Her eyes gaped in surprise at the revelation, her quest finally fulfilled... then she realized what he said.
"Wait.. you blew her up? How... why... like... like a bombarda spell? That's awfully dark, Harry." she didn't know whether to be scared, amused, sickened, or a combination of all three, but thankfully the look on Harry's face sorted out the dilemma.
"No! No, like a balloon! She was insulting my parents, and I just got mad. My uncle, well he wasn't too happy about having his sister float off, and... well I ended up running away and staying at The Leaky Cauldron until term started."
This confused her even more. "Wait you said you blew up your aunt, and that your aunt is your uncle's sister... I thought it was only the weirder pureblood families like the Carrows that did stuff like that..."
Harry visibly sickened at the mental image before quickly clarifying the situation, going in a bit more detail about his childhood and home life, albeit a very censored version leaving out the worst of it. Before settling into a awkward silence that Astoria couldn't help but feel guilty about.
"You know," she began, "My sister asked to meet you the other day. She's not too happy about what Draco did during the first week, and I get the feeling she wants to get revenge but is a little apprehensive about approaching Gryffindors. Can I make an introduction?"
Despite not being able to read faces all too well, it did not escape her notice that he went as red as his neck tie when she mentioned her sister. Despite living with a Gryffindor, she was still a Slytherin regardless of the sorting hats initial suggestion. Operation Big Brother had just began.
Been brainstorming this for a bit, I'll probably try to split each school year into three chapters. Infrequent updates as usual.
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