Title: Strings of Fate
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: Being raised only by his Aunt, Harry comes to Hogwarts not only knowing about the Wizarding World, but with a kind of training no one at the school is expecting.
It was actually three days before Harry was approached by the Harry Potter Fan Clubs. In the mean time, Harry had an interesting Transfiguration where Professor McGonagall had turned into a cat and turned her desk into a pig, an extremely dull History of Magic class, the late night Astronomy class and a confusing Potions class where Professor Snape seemed to alternate between glaring and contemplative looks.
When the fan clubs finally did approach it was not one club, but three. The Harry Potter Appreciation Society was run by a trio of Seventh Years, The Association of Harry Potter Fan Witches was headed by of six third years and The Hogwarts Harry Potter Fan Club consisted of a group of five first year girls from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.
"We want you to speak to our club." The seventh year Gryffindor said.
"No. You should speak for us." a third year Hufflepuff said.
The five first years were looking dejected, thinking that Harry would never speak for there club.
"I have a few conditions, before I agree to anything." Harry replied. "Firstly, any event will be open to all students, regardless of membership in any club. Secondly, I will answer some questions and after the meeting I will allow one hour to sign autographs. In return I want markers, promises of future favours."
"What kind of favours?" a first year Gryffindor asked.
"Just general favours." Harry replied with a shrug.
What ensued was a bidding war. The seventh years were the first ones to drop out, being fewer in number they would have give out more markers each to keep up. In the end it was the third years' Association of Harry Potter Fan Witches that won the bidding war and the date was set for the second Saturday in November to give them time to prepare. The first year Witches looked like they were about to start crying until Harry promised them that they would be first in line for the autographs.
"Holding court, Potter?" Malfoy asked as the fan club witches went back to their normal seats.
"Does your father have a business proposal he asked you to convey?" Harry asked.
"What? No." Draco replied.
"Well it can't be a betrothal proposal." Harry replied.
"What are you talking about?" Draco asked confused.
"Well, I those are the only two reasons why the Heir of House Malfoy would approach the Lord Presumptive of House Potter. As we are not friends, nor part of the same social circle, any other approach would be harassment. Or you are coming on to me?"
"Mister Malfoy." Snape drawled. "Please return to your seat. Mister Potter has a point. You would be well to avoid him for anything other than school related business."
"When my father hears about this." Draco began.
"Then he will reprimand you for risking House Malfoy's position by insulting House Potter." Snape replied.
Harry gave Professor Snape a slight nod with a neutral face. The Professor was simply enforcing the Law, not being friendly.
The weeks passed and life at Hogwarts became something of a routine. Classes proceeded well for Harry and his friends. Afternoons, after class, they had regular study sessions in the Library, with a few extra students than their core group, namely Pavarti, who had joined to be with her sister, and Daphne Greengrass, a Slytherin who had joined because theirs was one of the most organised of the established study groups and she was more interested in doing well than maintaining the Slytherin aloofness. Apart from an early issue with Pavarti, who had at first just wanted to chat with her sister rather than study until they threatened to kick her out, and some animosity between Daphne, Neville and Pavarti which had been quickly quashed by Harry, the group was efficient and played to the strengths of each member.
Mornings and evenings were still… entertaining in Harry's apartment, especially for Susan. Hannah still had a tendency to blush whenever Harry spoke to her, or she spoke to Harry, earning her the nickname 'Sunset' from Harry, because he thought her face looked like a 'beautiful glowing sunset', a comment that had her blushing so hard she had retreated to her room. Tonks and Harry had a running game where they tried to embarrass or prank each other, and although the micro-mini hotpants had not made another appearance, the tank top had.
The most eventful moment, so far, had come during the first flying lesson of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw houses. Hermione had required Harry's encouragement to even get off to the ground. Susan and Hannah had found it quite amusing to see her standing on the ground with the broomstick between her legs and Harry floating a few feet off the ground urging her to join him. Hesitantly Hermione took off and stayed close to the ground, only going slightly higher when Harry was close by.
The eventful moment came when a loud crack was heard and Harry was the first to react. Su Li was a competent and comfortable flyer, she had been flying with her father since she could crawl, however a flyer is only as good as the broom they are riding, and the school brooms could most charitably be considered to be in 'distressed' condition, of not downright unsafe. This proved itself when the broom Su Li was riding split right down its centre line and could no longer facilitate the charms it used for flight while she was some thirty feet off the ground. Without hesitation, and while the rest of the students and Madam Hooch were still processing the failure of the broom, Harry sped across the learning field, weaving through the intervening cluster of students and caught Su Li about three feet off the ground, landing immediately afterwards and letting her down.
"Su, are you ok?" Harry asked.
"I'm fine. Thanks." Su responded, then paused. "Does this mean I owe you a marker?"
Su was friends with one of the Ravenclaw first years in The Hogwarts Harry Potter Fan Club and had heard about the negotiations for the signing day that she had inadvertently started.
"No." Harry replied with a slight chuckle. "I don't ask for markers for saving someone's life. It's a favour for a favour. I'm just glad you are alright."
Su Li went off to her friends while Susan, Hannah, Hermione and Padma gathered around Harry.
"Oh, Harry. That was so…" Hermione began.
"Brave? Dashing? Heroic?" Harry guessed.
"Reckless." Hermione finished.
"That's it." Susan said, poking a finger into Harry's chest. "Next year you are going to try out for the Quidditch team or I'll sick Indy on you."
"Indy's not going to be here next year." Harry replied.
"Fine. I'll get Professor Sprout to hug you till you submit." Susan said with a grin.
"That's evil. Wells, tell her that's cruel and unusual punishment." Harry said, imploring to Hermione.
The entire group had noticed Harry's penchant for giving everyone slightly obscure nicknames. Tonks was of course Indy; Hannah was Sunset, although no one outside of Hufflepuff House knew why, and Hermione had become Wells, partly for her love of Science Fiction and partly because her initials were H G. He had yet to come up with nicknames for Susan, Neville or Padma and the entire group, including Tonks, were trying to come up with a suitable nickname for Harry, but so far none of the ideas seemed right.
"Oh no." Hermione said, with her hands up. "This is an internal Hufflepuff matter. Keep me out of it."
This got a laugh from all the girls. That evening Harry had written an encoded letter to his Aunt and two days latter the school received an entire shipment of new brooms. The shipment included a host of older model brooms that were considered to be safe, reliable and good brooms to learn on, several better booms that were earmarked for Quidditch practices and training and four sets of professional grade Quidditch Brooms, one for each House Team, each engraved with the House and the position on the handle. The Seeker and the Chaser positions received Nimbus 2000's, for their superior acceleration and handling. The Beater positions received Cleansweep Sevens, which had close to the accelerations and handling of the Nimbus but were a more stable platform from which to strike the Bludger. The Keeper position received a Comet 260, which caused a bit of an uproar until two of the Quidditch Keepers noted that the Comet 260's were very stable brooms and, while they did not have the top speed of the Nimbus or the Cleansweep, Keepers did not need fast top speeds instead needed quick busts of speed between the goals which the Comet did very well.
The shipment came with instructions that donation of the new brooms came with the conditions that they were to be well cared for; only the provided House Team brooms were to be used for the Quidditch Matches and the old brooms were to be broken up and used for firewood. Harry smiled when the lawyer accompanying the delivery read out the conditions of the donation. His Aunt had done well and he suspected that she had enlisted the help of Amelia Bones and the input of Sirius Black when organising the donation, paid for from the Royalties he received from the authorised Boy-Who-Lived books and the compensation he receive from lawsuits against the un-authorised ones.
"Very sneaky, Harry." Susan said. "Donating those brooms anonymously like that."
They were all in their apartment and Susan was sitting on one couch with Hannah next to her while Harry sat on the other with Tonks.
While there was a large Common Room in Hufflepuff House, that was not the focus of life in the House. The Common Room was most often used during the day in the slightly longer breaks, such as between breakfast and first class and around lunch time, and in the break between last class and dinner, when the students were not elsewhere like the Library. No, for the Badgers, the focus of their life was the Apartment, which is where they spent the time between waking up and breakfast and the evening after dinner. Most homework, study and evening unwinding, which in the other Houses took place in the Common Room, for the Hufflepuffs took place in the Apartments, which also meant that in the House of the Loyal, your first loyalty was to those you shared an Apartment with, especially when they were also your closest friends.
"And what makes you think I donated those brooms?" Harry asked.
They all knew he was not questioning Susan's statement but rather inquiring about the logic behind the statement, a practice that their entire study group had been developing, to greater and lesser extents, so they could understand the process used to arrive at a conclusion and possibly find any logical errors.
"Three reasons." Susan replied. "One, my Aunt sent me a letter the day after the incident with Su Li saying there would be a pleasant surprise coming in the next few days for the whole school. This was before I sent her my own letter. Two, there are only about five families that have enough money to donate that many brooms in one shot and none of the others would have been concerned about training brooms or provided a level playing field for all Houses. They would have just donated to one House Team and probably would have just gotten seven of the best brooms they could afford without considering the different needs of each position."
"And the third reason?" Harry asked.
"I saw you smirk when the brooms arrived." Susan replied with a smile.
"Well reasoned." Harry responded. "Yes, I did arrange for it, and your Aunt probably assisted my Aunt in the donation."
"Why did you do it?" Hannah asked, with only a mild blush.
"Simple. The old brooms were a danger." Harry replied. "Now the Quidditch Matches will be decided on skill not who has the better broom, and eventually a fair few people will come to the same conclusion as Susan that I am the only possible candidate for who donated the brooms."
"People will appreciate the new brooms and because you did not announce it was you, they will think better of you than if you took the credit because it shows you do what is needed without the need for acclaim." Hannah reasoned out.
"See, you are learning." Harry said with a smile at his blond friend. "By not taking credit I get more popularity and support for longer once they figure it out rather than an immediate but short term spike from a public but self serving donation."
"Plus being able to throw around that much cash at a whim gets girls panties wet." Tonks said.
"Indy!" Harry groaned.
TBC…