As they got further into November the days got colder, covering the ground in frost. He didn't get much time to spend with Harry what with him having extra quidditch matches and homework, though between him and Hermione, Harry had plenty of help on all of the assignments. Though when Harry was practicing, he did go visit Hagrid. Greyson enjoyed hearing the grass crunch under foot when he had to cross the grounds to get to Hagrid's hut.
Greyson did not let any of that make him forget about the room Professor and Quirrell went in on Halloween. The situation continued to fit oddly in his mind, bugging him like a desk with one leg not as long as the others. He tried to remember how he went about it, but honestly, it was rather confusing. It happened so quickly parts were blurred in his mind. He shook his head clear as he thought on it and then closed his eyes.
He took some deep breaths, allowing his mind to quiet and sharpen. He thought back to that day, fitting it into his mental layout of Hogwarts. He retraced his steps slowly, managing to find his way through the maze that was Hogwarts. He wanted to have a talk with the school's founders.
The third floor corridor was old and dusty, unlike most of the school. He saw the tall columns and noted that Filch didn't bother cleaning this part of the school very much if the cobwebs and thin coating of dust was any indication. He privately hoped that Peeves wouldn't show up, as he would ruin Greyson's investigation almost immediately.
Peeves was horribly annoying and was a prankster of the worst. Actually, he wasn't really a prankster as he was more of a menace. He loved causing destruction to the school by throwing books, scraping nails down the chalk boards, or just aiming spit balls at you. The only one who could even kind of control him was the Bloody Baron, the Slytherin House ghost.
He approached the wooden door and studied it. It was rather simple, reinforced with wrought iron on the top and bottom. He reached for the round knob, that looked dark and grimy. He made a face. It felt exactly as it looked. Wonderful. When he went to turn it, it was locked.
Pulling out his wand he whispered, "Alohomora," and heard the click of the lock. He carefully opened it, well aware of Snape's limping the day after the troll attack.
He didn't hear anything immediately to cause him to turn back, so he poked his head around the door and felt his heart leap into his throat. In front of him was the most monstrous dog he had ever seen, if dog was still the right term for the three headed creature in front of him, whose faces resembled a black pitbull. The giant beast was growling at him, dropping giant gobs of drool onto the stone floors.
Greyson made sure not to move as he took in the room that the dog was in. He took slow and even breaths. Some of the monsters from his books could smell fear. He wouldn't make that mistake here. Hopefully. From what he could tell, the room was not much outside of the ordinary. It seemed to truly just be a plain room. As his eyes glanced across the stone floor, he noticed a weird pattern on the floor. What is that? Before he could think of getting closer, he heard the unmistakable sound of Peeves. His cackle was unmistakable. He couldn't keep his heart calm this time. He couldn't afford to be caught in here if he was going to figure out what was going on.
The dog beast apparently had no love for Peeves either as it let out a deafening bark and an even more ferocious growl. Greyson quickly shut the door and hurried out of there before Peeves could spot him. Running down the hall as quickly but as quietly as he could, he stopped behind a pillar for a few moments to catch his breath and listen for footsteps.
As soon as he was sure the coast was clear, he let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. He was most definitely going to visit the library next to figure out what that dog beast really was.
It was the morning of Harry's first Quidditch match and they were all sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. "You'll do great Harry," He assured his brother. "After all, our father was a great seeker." Harry just nodded and Greyson noted that just made him more nervous. Guess that was the wrong thing to say. Whoops.
"Greyson's right Harry," Hermione chimed in. "You're a natural after all. And you read Quidditch Through the Ages."
"You have that book?" Greyson asked. "Can I borrow it? I tried finding it in the library but it was checked out."
"Of course," she looked thrilled to have a conversation partner soon, her chest puffing out in excitement. "Have you read Hogwarts: A History?"
Greyson shook his head. "No, but I did buy Werewolves, an Incurable Disease. Oh and I got this book called, History of Wizarding Families. It just showed up on my bed, wrapped up with a tag for me."
"Oh, can I read it?" she asked, leaning forward unconsciously.
"Sure," Greyson nodded. "I've already read it twice."
"Bloody hell," Ron breathed. "I swear, you two are having a book club right before Harry's game." Being the cause of his exasperation was as fun as ever.
"Well, it's not like Harry's nerves are getting any better," Greyson smirked, trying to lighten the mood. "Besides, he'll be fine once he's on his broom..." Greyson trailed off remembering Harry didn't have a broom. He sighed and felt that knot of nerves show up again. Just then the owls swooped in like they did every morning and they all jumped in surprise when a long, wrapped package landed on the table in front of them. It looked like… a broom? A very badly wrapped broom at that.
They all stared at it for a moment before Harry and Ron tensed, sharing a look, and took off with a quick "Malfoy!" It took another moment before Greyson heard the voice that had scared them off.
Malfoy's distinctive voice only got louder as he stepped into the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall was in tow. Great. "Look, Professor," he sneers as he sees the package. "Potter has a broom." Greyson felt his eyebrow twitching in annoyance, but more than that, his mind was racing with suspicion. He was acting even more over the top than he usually did, his voice trying to reach all corners of the Great Hall.
"Mr. Malfoy. I swear," McGonagall sighed. "If you come to tell me another tale of a student breaking the rules and it isn't happening, I'm going to take ten points from Slytherin for wasting my time." Then, with a whirl of her robes, she was gone in a cloud of dark mist. She really didn't get enough credit for how dramatic she could be.
"Well, that was certainly weird," Hermione hummed after seeing Malfoy stomp away with his arms crossed angrily.
Greyson just furrowed his brow for a moment, piecing the situation together. "You don't think...?"
Her eyes widened as she made the same connection Greyson had made. "Malfoy must have gotten Harry that package!" she exclaimed.
Greyson nodded. "But why would he try and get Harry in trouble with it?" Hermione only shrugged in response.
"I don't know, it is Malfoy after all," she gestured at the direction he had left, as if that was all the explanation needed, and took another bite of her eggs. "Maybe he sent it to try and get Harry expelled. He was awfully mad when he learned that Harry was still here after the broom flying lesson. Him and Harry even had a duel."
"What?" Greyson bit out slowly from behind clenched teeth, his eyes narrowing. "When was this? How did they not get in trouble? Why would they do something so recklessly stupid in the first place?" He was done with Harry conveniently not telling him things. They would have a talk. Soon. When had his brother started trying so hard to hide things from him?
"Honestly, not much," she sniffed. "They were very stupid to have even gone. I tried to stop them, but they wouldn't listen to reason. They were very insistent on going. They even got Neville mixed up in that whole mess."
"What happened, Hermione?" Greyson repeated more intently, not wanting to hear her complain about Harry and Ron's already obvious stupidity.
"Oh, right, well, we went to the trophy room and waited for a few minutes for Malfoy to show, but instead it was Filch and Mrs. Norris. After that we just made sure we got to our rooms before we could get caught." Greyson nodded, relieved that there hadn't actually been a duel. But he still was horribly upset that Harry had tried to do one in the first place. They'd still be having a talk, that was for sure.
Outside, houses joined in the enormous stands to see the first Quidditch match of the season. Greyson headed off to the Slytherin section and moved to sit by Malfoy. "How did you know Harry got a broom?" Greyson asked him casually as the players flew out onto the field. No use getting Malfoy's hackles raised if he wanted answers, after all.
"What do you mean?" Malfoy asked. "It was obviously a broom, didn't you see how it was wrapped?"
"Right," Greyson said, a small smirk forming at the idea of Malfoy thinking him to be so naive. Honestly, he should know better by now. Then he saw his brother and yelled out loud. "GO HARRY!" That caused a lot of Slytherins to give him disgusted looks, though a couple of girls giggled for some reason.
"You shouldn't cheer for him," Malfoy said with an eye roll. The exasperation in his voice said he wasn't going to put much effort into insisting, though. "He's a Gryffindor. You should be cheering for Slytherin."
Greyson shrugged. "I'll cheer for both," he replied easily, wanting Gryffindor to win more just for his brother to be the hero for his house, which had apparently made a lovely banner claiming 'Potter for President' in brightly changing colors. He felt his face give way to a ridiculously proud grin after noticing it, but he couldn't care less at this moment. Harry's house seemed to love him, and Greyson couldn't be happier.
For the most part, Harry just hovered high above the game, appearing as just a speck in the sky, watching. Greyson smiled at his brother's excitement when he did a loop in the air after one of the chasers scored a goal.
He could grasp what was going on by Lee Jordan, a Gryffindor Second Year and best friend of the Weasley twins, commentating on the whole thing, which was fortunate as he didn't quite understand the sport despite Malfoy explaining the whole game to him when he had asked.
Though he did nearly have a heart attack as one of the Slytherin players slammed into Harry, nearly knocking him off his broom when he had gone after the Snitch. A small cry had ripped itself from his throat, and he almost lunged to his feet. Malfoy's hand found his, squeezing.
"Relax, Potter is fine. Look." Malfoy insisted, pointing out to the field. Greyson's head snapped around to follow his pointing. His brother was still on his broom, not falling to his death. All his breath left him at once and Malfoy's hand seemed to jerk in his grip, retreating as if burned. Greyson wasn't taking his eyes off his brother anymore if he could, though, so he whispered his thanks to Malfoy and tried to ignore how shaky his voice sounded. Once again, he was not a big fan of his fellow Slytherins for being so underhanded and cruel.
He heard a gasp from Jordan and he heard a mention of Harry's name through the static in his ears, causing Greyson to stare harder at the speck that was his brother and watched with a dry mouth as the broom jerked left and right and up and down, trying to buck his brother off. "Broom's don't do that, right?" he asked Malfoy, keeping his eyes glued to Harry.
"No," Malfoy told him and Greyson tried to figure out who was doing it and why. Why would anyone want to harm Harry? He hadn't harmed anyone and didn't seem to have any enemies that had tried to go as far as hurting him. And it wasn't Malfoy, he was right beside him and wasn't moving. He felt his stomach lurch when Harry had been bucked off and was holding onto his broom with one hand, the only thing keeping him from falling to the ground.
"Jinxes!" Greyson exclaimed in a rush.
"What?" Malfoy snapped, frowning. He seemed on edge as well, even if he tried to hide it.
"Harry's broom is being jinxed, it's the only explanation," he insisted, coming up with no other options even as his mind races. "But who the hell would do it?" He didn't think he'd have much time, though the Weasley twins were circling below Harry in case he fell to catch him. The Weasleys were a blessing.
No one was really paying attention to the game as the Slytherin chasers continued to score points as everyone focused on Harry. Then he saw Quirrell. He was just staring, his face rather intense and focused, something he'd never seen from the bumbling professor aside from Halloween. Quirrell? He didn't have enough time to second guess himself. Whatever the consequences of being wrong might be, he'd take them… IF he was wrong. "I'll be right back," he yelled to Malfoy as he darted off.
He made his way under the stands and ran into Hermione. "What are you doing here?" he hissed at her. She ignored him as she used her wand to light Snape's robes on fire. He looked and saw Harry's broom had stopped jerking, meaning Quirrell had released his attention from Harry. He'd question Hermione after the match. For now he was just grateful.
He made his way back to his seat and was relieved to see Harry still on his broom. "Where'd you go?" Malfoy asked quietly.
"It's not important," he tried to reassure him. "I'll tell you later. At least Harry's safe."
"Yeah, though you missed it. Snape's robes caught fire," he snickered, but quickly caught himself. His face smoothed back out into that serious mask Greyson was starting to recognize. "Quirrell looked like he was about to wet himself." He let out a laugh at that despite himself, and Greyson felt his own answering laugh bubbling up now that relief was fully washing through him.
He watched as Harry started streaking towards the ground, holding his hand over his mouth. Greyson stampeded his way to the front of the stands to look at his brother. Instead of vomit, Harry was grinning ear to ear, holding a bright and shiny little golden ball. He cheered for Harry, letting out a giant whoop of excitement, the only Slytherin to do so, causing a lot of disgusted looks to be thrown his way. Again. But he didn't care. He hoped their faces got stuck that way. His brother had won the game!