Greyson shuffled his way over to where Ron and Hermione were sitting, conversing quietly. "Hey," he greeted them cheerfully from his spot on the stands, feeling a smile come naturally to his face. It felt nice.
"Where were you this morning?" Hermione asked, her eyes narrowing.
"I was eating with Malfoy," Greyson shrugged. "He was telling me some stories of him playing Quidditch at home. Not sure how true they are since he seems prone to exaggeration, but they were interesting enough."
"Since when are you friends with Malfoy?" Ron queried, mimicking Hermione's expression. "He's a sneaky Slytherin who'd stab you in the back quick."
"I don't think he's as bad as you give him credit for, Ron," Greyson sighed with an eye roll for good measure.
"He put a leg locker curse on Neville," Hermione chimed in.
"I didn't say he was bad, just not as bad."
"Hey, look!" Ron shouted as he pointed across the field. "Dumbledore came to watch."
"He must really be concerned about Quirrell." Surely he realized something was wrong, and was looking out for the students. He's the headmaster, so he must have a plan of his own. Now Greyson just had to figure out what it was.
"If he's so concerned about Snape, then why did he let him be the referee?" Hermione's brow was scrunched in deep thought.
"Well, at least Snape won't do anything with Dumbledore here," Ron breathed a sigh of relief, every muscle in his body relaxing. What a stupidly trusting moron he could be sometimes. Greyson bit back correcting them about Snape, and dedicated himself to looking after them and making sure their trusting natures didn't get them in trouble. People who thought they were doing what was best were the most dangerous. Anything could be justified with enough righteous fury. It was useless at this point to even try to change their minds, though. He would just be another Slytherin standing up for a Slytherin professor, even if they were friends. They were so dead set on Snape being the cause of everything that they were blind. Greyson wouldn't be.
They watched as Snape awarded Hufflepuff two penalties. Once because one of the twins hit Snape with a bludger and the second for no clear reason as far as Greyson could tell. "You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team," some Slytherin started.
"Don't," Greyson warned with as much irritation injected in his voice as possible. He slowly turned around and saw that it was Crabbe's older brother, Gregory.
"Oh, shut up you Gryffindor lover," he sneered, his splotchy face twisting up unattractively in his contempt.
"What the hell kind of insult is that?"
Gregory ignored him and continued on, laughing nastily in between sentences. "They just pick the ones that they feel sorry for. Weasleys have no money, Potter has no parents."
"Longbottom should be on the team then," Draco's voice carried over the crowd and locked eyes with Greyson. He had finally decided to speak up, it seems, and he couldn't find it in himself to honestly be angry when those eyes twinkled so mischievously. Greyson didn't want to be in on that kind of joke, though. "He has no brains."
"I'm worth twelve of you Malfoy," Neville muttered.
"You tell him," Ron encouraged. He instantly stopped when Draco started staring him down.
"Draco, stop," Greyson said, exasperated, and watched as his blonde hair bounced slightly with the force he turned away. A dismissive sniff was his only answer, but Greyson could live with that. Progress.
"Oh! Ron, Greyson! Harry!" Hermione shouted excitedly, grabbing both their shoulders. Harry was flying straight towards the ground at something that was glinting gold. The snitch ,Greyson realized after a second.
"Guess Potter found some money for you," Draco snickered. Before Greyson could blink, Ron launched himself at Malfoy. Before he knew it he dragged into the melee, trying to break it up. If Greyson was honest, it wasn't much of a fight. Mostly Ron and Draco were rolling around on the floor of the stands.
"He did it!" Hermione squealed distantly, her eyes glued to the match. Greyson managed to poke his head up as the fighting subsided at the sudden cheering. "Harry won the game!" Greyson's heart filled with pride at his little brother and he struggled to his feet as the stands emptied out to greet the Gryffindor team and congratulate them."Gryffindor's in the lead!"
Before they could reach Harry, he felt a pit form in his stomach as Dumbledore spoke to Harry quietly and his brother was overjoyed. But why shouldn't he be? He just won the game for his house and it was extraordinary by how Hermione was acting. He finished making his way to Harry, trying and failing to shake the feeling that Dumbledore shouldn't be near his brother.
After the match Greyson was waiting with Ron and Hermione in the courtyard and trying to ignore Ron moaning, "Where is he?"
"Maybe he got lost," Greyson offered, laying on the ground.
"He couldn't have," Hermione said with a shake of her head. "He goes to the broomshed all the time."
"Guys!" Harry's excited voice carried over the grounds. "I've got to tell you something!" Greyson sat up to hear him out, but before he could get a word out, Harry cut him off. "Not here."
They all shared a curious look and followed, eager to hear whatever had Harry so excited. Once they were in one of the practice rooms, Harry shut the door. "Snape was asking Quirrell if he knew how to get past Fluffy," Harry said. "He was threatening him about it and asking about the stone. He told him to 'think about where his loyalties lie'."
"That does make Snape suspicious," Greyson allowed, despite his gut screaming that something was missing. Something vital.
"That means the stone's only safe as long as Quirrell resists Snape," Harry added.
"There's bound to be loads protecting the stone besides Fluffy," Hermione hypothesized. "All sorts of spells and enchantments."
"There is," Greyson confirmed, listing them off when he had all of their attention. "Devil's snare, winged keys, a giant chess board. I don't know what's past that since I didn't know how to play."
"Is that why you had the sudden interest to learn?" Ron asked, his poor mind desperately trying to catch up.
"Mostly, yeah."
"Wait, when did you learn all this?" Harry questioned. "And why didn't you tell me?"
"I was showing Fred and George Fluffy, Coal, and Rascal and they noticed the trapdoor, so we went in. I didn't tell any of you because I wanted to get more information first. It wasn't important at that time. I didn't know until just now what those traps were protecting. How was I supposed to know it was relevant to what we're doing?"
"We agreed to keep each other in the loop, and you wanted to keep me in the dark." The accusation stung but Greyson wouldn't give in to that guilt trip so obviously when Harry would have done the same thing.
"I didn't. It just wasn't necessary or important until just now! Harry, that's the only reason I didn't just come out and tell you." He tried to imject as much sincerity in his voice as possible, and his brother faltered. Fighting was not what they needed to do now, and Greyson just needed Harry to see that. Although he pursed his lips, his brother didn't argue at least.
"At least we have some idea as to what's guarding the stone," Hermione allowed. She looked intrigued and already had her notebook open. "We should brush up on our chess skills, though."
"Good plan… Ron should start a wizard chess club so he can challenge everyone who is good at the game, since he's the best at it of all of us," Greyson cut off Harry and Hermione's protests without missing a beat. "Honestly, Harry and Hermione, you're both really bad for your own special reasons and I lose against Ron half the time."
"Brilliant idea," Hermione admitted reluctantly, looking cross but not upset. Good. Greyson wouldn't apologize for the truth, but he would apologize for hurting her feelings if he had to. "I'm sure Professor McGonagall will gladly support that. Ron should practice at least twice a week after classes. We can go talk to her about it after class Monday." With everyone in agreement of their plan, they left to go to their common rooms and gather their thoughts.
Greyson fell onto his bed, feeling drained from all that had happened today. "How are you doing? I know Ron was proud of the insults he's been practicing."
"I'm just fine. Like he could upset me," Draco sniffed. "Why are you even friends with him? He's poor and comes from a terrible lineage."
"I was poor and my mother was a mudblood. What are you trying to say?" He looked to Draco and waited for his response, but none came. Those blue eyes looked so conflicted, and his mouth was slack, but Greyson wouldn't hold his tongue this time. If they were to be friends, this is something Draco would need to change his view on. "You tend to be an insufferable ass and I'm your friend as well, you know. Honestly, you tend to be unnecessarily mean, Draco."
"What are you talking about?"
"You were being mean to Neville for no reason and are constantly talking about the Weasleys being poor. Why does their lack of wealth seem to be your focus? How much money they have has nothing to say about them as people." Draco didn't answer, that look coming over his face again, and picked at his robe. Greyson sighed and saw him flinch out of the corner of his eye. Making an effort to gentle his voice, he hummed, "Don't be mean just because. Half of the time the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws aren't even doing anything. For some reason you think you need to start drama that doesn't need to happen. It's the reason me and you didn't get along at first… because you kept being insulting and rude." Draco's face flushed red, and he opened his mouth to say something that would undoubtedly prove Greyson's point, but he cut him off with one last thing to think on. "But, I know you better now. Despite your behavior, you can be really nice and pleasant when you want to be. It's one of the many reasons I'm your friend."
He watched as Draco turned a light shade of red and felt his chest warm at his denial, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sure you don't." Greyson allowed him that at least, and graciously ignored a certain stuffed animal being pulled out before getting ready for bed.