Disclaimer: All I own is this fanfic, everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling. No copyright intended!
Author's note: A Harry/Tracey one-shot taking place in their sixth year. Mentions of Greater Good Dumbledore; bad Molly, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione. Rated T.
Harry Potter And His Unlikely Companion
Fanfic by Brockster550
Sixteen-year-old Harry Potter was having a rough time so far. It was already four weeks into his sixth year, Saturday September 28, 1996, to be precise. He felt his stress reaching high levels not just because of the pre-NEWT exams, but his former best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, kept pestering him for reasons why he refused to talk to them anymore. That was because they refused to contact him on Professor Dumbledore's orders despite the fact that Harry needed someone to talk to and not grieve for Sirius on his own. Regardless, Ron and Hermione listened to Dumbledore and that made Harry realize that they wanted to continue being prefects, thus severing ties with them permanently. Ginny Weasley was making that harder for Harry because she always kissed her 'boyfriend,' Dean Thomas, on the lips whenever the black-haired Gryffindor was in the same room. Harry knew what Ginny's ulterior motive was: to end up with her hero known as the Boy-Who-Lived. Adding more fuel to that fire, Dumbledore had been trying to get Harry to get a memory from Professor Slughorn, which always ended in failure. After the third time, Harry decided that he wasn't going to do anything Dumbledore forced him into anymore and even told the ole coot to get it himself if he was so concerned.
'That felt good!' thought Harry, smiling as he revisited the memory. 'Since Dumbledore always forced me to do stuff I didn't want to do, without asking me first. It's my life and nobody has the right tell me how to live my life. Dumbledore should be glad I'm not choosing the path of a criminal. After he revealed that prophecy, I realized he was using me as a pawn and I hate that.'
Inevitably, Hermione got wind of Harry's tirade at Dumbledore and confronted him in the common room for it before she demanded he apologize to the headmaster. Needless to say, Harry refused because he stood up for himself. Hermione even threatened to dock points from him and assign him detention, but Harry told her to piss off and mind her own business which brought a round of laughter from their housemates. Hermione stormed off to her dormitory in tears, with Harry rolling his eyes at Hermione's retreating back because he knew she was shedding crocodile tears. Having Ron and Ginny hovering around him was making Harry tremble in anger because he hated how he still had his so-called friends keeping watch over him like he was a five-year-old. Since Ron, Hermione, and Ginny never cared about him, Harry began hanging around with Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood more. It even didn't take very long for Harry considered Neville and Luna his true best friends, especially when they proved to take his best interests at heart and be good role models for him.
As Harry continued strolling the corridors of the castle, he found himself in a remote corridor located on the fifth floor. As he continued strolling through that corridor, Harry perked up when he thought he could hear someone grunting. It sounded like a girl's grunting and curious to find out if she was stuck or something, Harry followed the source of the voice. There was an open classroom door and slowly and smoothly, Harry peeked inside to find out which girl was making the grunting noises and was stuck (as he believed that that was the case). When Harry finally got a good look, he widened his eyes in shock to discover that the girl wasn't stuck and didn't need help getting out. She was doing some stretches of some kind on a green mat, with her shoes close by. Harry vaguely remembered hearing about yoga and the stretches the girl was doing looked alot like yoga. The girl had shoulder-length brown hair in a low ponytail, but her back was turned to Harry so he couldn't see her face. The girl was even wearing a brown long-sleeve yoga shirt, so Harry had no idea which house the girl was in. She was also wearing a pair of black yoga trousers, making Harry's heartbeat increase a little. She was facing away from him, doing some kind of back stretches.
'Damn!' thought Harry, as he couldn't help checking the girl out. 'Her arse sure looks good in those yoga trousers.'
However, Harry was quick to come to his senses. He still continued watching the girl doing yoga, but without checking her out. It was rather intriguing that she was finding some way of relieving some of the stress, especially with the girl looking like she was in her fifth or sixth year. Then the girl got into a downward dog position, unknowingly giving Harry another chance to get a good look at her arse in the yoga trousers. Again, Harry came to his senses and started backing away smoothly to leave when he realized that he could be tempting fate if he stayed longer. But luck, as usual, wasn't on his side because he backed into a stack of chairs and scooted them across the stone floor by accident. Naturally, the noise caused the girl to stop what she was doing. She got up onto her feet and turned her attention to Harry, and flashed him with a glare while folding her arms across her chest. Harry widened his eyes in shock again to discover that the girl was Tracey Davis, a Slytherin in his year.
'Never in a hundred years would I have thought of a Slytherin girl doing something like this!' thought Harry. 'I certainly wasn't expecting Davis to be the one to do yoga, of all things. I wonder why her best friend, Greengrass, isn't here participating.'
It was known throughout the castle that Tracey and her best friend, Daphne Greengrass (who had ice-blue eyes and armpit-length blonde hair), were the prettiest girls in Slytherin House (if not the prettiest in the whole school), heck they were considered to be drop-dead gorgeous. But they were usually recluses for that reason because, according to the Hogwarts rumour mill, they didn't want the wrong boys coming after them with horrendous intentions. While neither Daphne nor Tracey caused any trouble for Harry, he never tried to befriend them even in classes (given that Gryffindors and Slytherins usually shared their classes despite the centuries-long still-ongoing house rivalry). Even though the two were better compared to Pansy Parkinson, Draco Malfoy's implied girlfriend or at least his ultimate fangirl, it was still a natural reaction to stay tense since Daphne and Tracey were Slytherin students. Tracey's cobalt-blue eyes were still flashing with anger as she gazed at him. Harry felt as though his life was flashing before his eyes. He had no idea what to say as a means of defending himself.
"What are you doing here, Potter?!" Tracey finally asked after a minute or so of awkward silence, rather fiercely.
"Just... Just thought you... you were stuck and needed help in getting out." Harry stammered.
"If you expect me to believe that, you're wrong!" Tracey replied. "For all I know, you could've been checking me out for the longest time."
"No!" said Harry, a little too quickly.
"Don't lie to me, Potter!" snapped Tracey. "It's hard enough for Daphne to get boys staring at her like a piece of bloody meat, especially from someone like Malfoy. I get boys staring at me like a piece of meat as well. Daphne and I know how the school's rumour mill describes us, and we don't want any more attention than we tend to get."
"I'm sorry to hear that." said Harry in a sympathetic voice, knowing he had been getting attention because of being the Boy-Who-Lived and the Chosen One.
"I can take care of myself, Potter!" Tracey replied coolly. "I don't need someone to pity me nor Daphne. If you don't mind, I'm busy with my yoga session here. Tell anyone about this, and I'll see to it that you get hexed into the next millennium."
With that, Harry backed away and out of the classroom. Once he was back in the corridor, he ran off to find another empty classroom as far away from Tracey as he could get. As he ran off, he began reflecting on what Tracey said to him about her belief that he was checking her out. If she was that observant, then there was no point in trying to hide it. But he doubted that she would've accepted either explanation. Maybe Daphne was just as observant and if she were told about how he was checking her best friend out, then Harry started preparing for the worst case scenario. After all, 'freaks' like him were destined for rotten luck. Even if something good were to happen, there was always some kind of jinx out there to ruin it. Upon finding an empty classroom that was a good distance between himself and Tracey, Harry opened the door and walked in. Upon closing the door, Harry cast some locking charms to prevent anyone from snooping in on him. Approximately ten minutes later, a knock at the door was heard. Harry snapped back to reality as he was musing over his encounter with Tracey. He got up and approached the door, but refrained from unlocking it.
'Great, I'll bet Granger found me somehow because Dumbledore told her where I am!' thought Harry. 'It's like they always know exactly where I am somehow. Can't they just leave me alone? Can't they see that I don't want anything more to do with the headmaster's Greater Good plan? Maybe if I just stay silent and pretend I'm not here, Granger will leave me alone.'
"Potter?!" a familiar voice blurted out from the other side of the door. "Are you in there?"
"Yes." said Harry, realizing the voice belonged to Tracey.
"Would you let me in, please?" Tracey replied. "So we can talk."
Taken aback by that, Harry slowly unlocked the door to let Tracey in so they could get their business taken care of and out of the way. Upon opening the door, Harry stayed hidden behind it due to concerns that she was still irritated with him for interrupting her yoga session and was going to hex him for it anyway. However, her shadow wasn't moving, which meant that she wasn't walking in.
"I know you're hiding behind the door, Potter, and I'm not walking in until you show yourself." Tracey told him in a matter-of-fact voice. "Are you going to summon your Gryffindor courage and face me?"
Knowing that there was no other way around it, Harry slowly emerged from behind the door to face the inevitable. Tracey (who stood at a height of five-foot-six) had a friendlier expression on her face, still in her yoga outfit while wearing her shoes this time. Tracey walked in and Harry slowly closed the door and added the locking charms back, while Tracey whipped her wand out to cast some kind of spell that Harry wasn't quite aware of.
"They're privacy charms, Potter," Tracey informed him. "To better ensure that we won't get disturbed."
Harry nodded his head to show that he understood, then Tracey gestured for him to take a seat. Harry did that while Tracey pulled a chair up directly in front of him before sitting down in it. Harry thought about asking Tracey what she wanted to talk to him about, but found that his mouth didn't seem to want to work because he still believed that Tracey was going to hex him as punishment anyway. But the expression on her face seemed to be telling a different story.
"I'm sorry for interrupting your yoga session!" Harry quickly apologized, still maintaining eye contact with the Slytherin girl.
"It's not a big deal, Potter," assured Tracey in a soft voice. "I finished it a couple minutes ago to make sure I finished the whole thing, but your apology is accepted."
"Oh okay, I was more worried about you making good on your threat either way." said Harry, as he relaxed.
"I may be a Slytherin student, but I'm not heartless like Malfoy and his kind." stated Tracey. "Out of curiosity, but what were you doing wandering the more remote parts of the castle?"
"I would tell you," Harry replied. "But I don't think you'd believe me."
"Try me!" said Tracey in a firm voice.
"Alright," Harry began explaining. "I was just trying to get away from the pressures of being dragged into the spotlight against my will. I'm also trying to avoid Ronald, Granger, and Ginny because they turned out to have been stabbing me in the back by listening to Dumbledore. They and Dumbledore like to keep me in the dark with what Dumbledore has in mind for me, and I have a suspicion that Mrs. Weasley has been helping them out, too. Ronald and Granger refused to contact me over the summer because they just want to maintain their prefect privileges. I already know what Ginny's real motive is, to end up with her hero known as the bloody Boy-Who-Lived. She never had a chance to date me and never will, considering that she turned out to be a spoiled brat. I would've thought that she would've gotten over that by now, but she proved me wrong and never pays attention to the fact that the Boy-Who-Lived is a fictional character. It's like those five enjoy using me as a pawn in this hidden plan of Dumbledore's, and yet keep me in the dark. Worst still, anytime I asked them what plan they had in mind for me, they just tell me that they would tell me when I'm older. They think treating me like a five-year-old will help prepare me, if one were to call it that."
Tracey just sat there on her chair with her eyes widened, which meant that she was surprised even if she didn't actually say it. Tracey blinked a few times as if she was wondering if she heard Harry correctly. Harry stiffened some again, believing that Tracey didn't believe his story. However, a grin was forming on the Slytherin girl's face.
"Way to go, Harry!" Tracey praised him as she found it in her to call him by his first name. Spotting his confused look, Tracey went on, "I really meant it when I said 'way to go,' because you stood up for yourself. I'm not sure how much more you know, but Granger and the two youngest Weasleys are so vile that no one in their right minds would want to be around them. Even Daphne and myself despise them, especially Granger. She and Daphne are fierce academic rivals, with Granger always wanting to humble Daphne. No matter how hard she tries, Daphne always manages to get scores not far behind. There are even some classes in which Daphne managed to outscore Granger. Anytime you were in the hospital wing, Granger would even confront Daphne for trying to get scores not far behind."
"Daphne must have the tendency to stay cool and calm to get scores not far behind Hermione's," Harry deduced. "While Hermione seems to go into panic mode or something to try and keep her scores much higher than everyone else's combined, if that's even possible."
"I don't think it's possible to get much higher scores than every one of your classmates combined," stated Tracey. "But you're right in thinking that Daphne manages to catch up with Granger because she stays all cool and calm. Plus, Daphne never boasts about her academic scores while Granger does. You don't seem to understand that one well because those moments only happen when you're in the hospital wing."
"Yeah, even though I've seen bits and pieces, Tracey," said Harry, finding it in him to call her by her first name. "I tend to ignore that because I thought she and Ronald were still my friends until they proved me otherwise. Plus, I tend to tune their bickering episodes out and if I can, I'll leave the room to avoid the temptation of taking sides."
"I've heard that you've been spending time with Neville and Luna," said Tracey. "According the rumour mill, that's whats been going on."
"It is true," stated Harry. "Since they proved themselves to be good friends to me, with Neville even stepping up to be my best mate and Luna even being our best female friend."
"It wouldn't hurt for you to expand your circle of friends, Harry," stated Tracey. "You've been keeping your interactions with others extremely minimal. But now that you're no longer friends with Granger and the two youngest Weasleys, you can make friends outside of Gryffindor."
"Then our interactions could be a great start," said Harry. "Unless you and Daphne don't enjoy interacting with anyone outside of Slytherin, especially a Gryffindor."
"Harry, if I hated Gryffindor just because I'm in Slytherin, we wouldn't be having this conversation," said Tracey. "Besides, not every student in Slytherin is against having a Gryffindor for a friend, and certainly not every Gryffindor is against having a friend in Slytherin. It's idiots like Malfoy and his goons who want to keep that pointless rivalry going. Daphne would also be happy to have you as a friend, and so would our respective sisters. Daphne's sister's name is Astoria and my sister's name is Trina. They're both in Slytherin, but one year below us."
"For a minute I thought they would be in the fourth year this year." said Harry.
"Yeah, but Daphne and I are some of the oldest students in our year," stated Tracey. "I had my birthday eight days ago, and Daphne will have her birthday in two days."
"Okay, that makes sense." said Harry. Then he asked, "What shall we do as a start in us befriending each other?"
"Well, getting to know each other better is the first step," said Tracey in a matter-of-fact voice. "We can stay in here for that, where we're least likely to be bothered."
"Granger in particular seems to have ways of finding me even when I never tell her where I plan to go," Harry informed Tracey. "Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if Dumbledore somehow knows and tells Granger of my current location. Anything regarding me, Dumbledore insists that he is told."
"May I cast some charms on you, Harry?" Tracey replied with a frown on her face. "I have a bad feeling that you may have a tracking charm placed on you."
Harry nodded his head as a means of giving her permission to do her task. Tracey cast a revealing charm on Harry and frowned when the results tested positive that Harry, indeed, had a tracking charm placed on him and that the charm was placed by Dumbledore. Tracey frowned again before she cast another charm to get rid of the tracking charm. Unknown to Harry and Tracey, the tracking charm on Harry having been cancelled resulted in one of the silver instruments on Professor Dumbledore's desk in his office to collapse and stop working. Said instrument began emitting green smoke to indicate that Harry was no longer under the tracking charm, but Professor Dumbledore had no idea because he wasn't in his office at the moment.
"You did have a tracking placed on you, Harry," Tracey informed the raven-haired Gryffindor boy. "And Dumbledore cast the charm on you somehow. So I got rid of it and you don't have to worry about your manipulators finding you so easily."
"Thank you for that, Tracey!" said Harry gratefully. "That just gave me another reason to hate Dumbledore; doing something as sneaky as that to keep me in line, or so he claims, behind my back and not even ask me if I want to be a part of this unspecified plan of his."
"So how about we start getting to know each other better and keep ourselves distracted from the manipulation business?" Tracey suggested, keeping her voice friendly-sounding.
Harry nodded his head in acknowledgement just as he and Tracey began making themselves comfortable in their chairs. Harry made sure not to reveal anything about his treatment at the Dursleys, since he was 'warned' by Uncle Vernon not to reveal their treatment to anybody or else face severe punishment. Plus, he wasn't quite ready for Tracey to know that anyway. So Harry told her about his fondness for playing quidditch, but then he explained how he initially thought about becoming an auror until he got second thoughts. Tracey even revealed that she and her sister were half-bloods, giving them something they have in common with Harry. Tracey also suggested that he start a business of some sort in the future, especially after she revealed that she planned to do that but was unsure of what kind of business right now. Harry and Tracey were going to have one heck of a story to tell their respective best friends later on.
The End!
