Disclaimer: I, obviously, do not own Harry Potter. Just in case there was any confusion.

A/N: This is my first attempt at a longer fic that I update chapter by chapter. I have already written drafts for an additional 4 chapters beyond this first one but they still need to go through review and editing before I post them (Thank you to my unofficial Beta DryBonesKing for all your help with this). I don't know exactly how long this fic will end up but I'm anticipating somewhere between 30k-40k words, might be longer but we'll see. I am going to aim to update every day or two but that won't be a set schedule depending on if anything comes up in the meantime. That being said, I have found I tend to naturally write chapters that typically hit 1300 - 1500 words in length so I think my goal is doable with 4 more chapters already in WIP.

This fic delves into the largely unexplored realm of the Harry Potter/Tracey Davis pairing. I'm a big fan of Harry Potter/Daphne Greengrass fics and, one day, hope to write my own but when reading them I always feel like Tracey is a bit underutilized as a potential romantic partner for Harry. Here's hoping I'm right.

As always, I hope you enjoy it. Constructive criticism is welcome, insults are your own prerogative if you have nothing better to do with your time.

A/N 2 - A couple people have called out my choice to use Roger as Tracey's brother since she is Tracey Davis while he Roger Davies. This is not a mistake, I'm taking a liberty and making a non-canon change. In this fic Roger Davies is Roger Davis and is Tracey's older brother.

In For a Knut, In For a Galleon

Chapter 1

Making his way back from the Hog's Head, Harry was feeling agitated. While, on paper, he'd agreed with Hermione's idea to start a secret group to practice spells for Defense Against the Dark Arts class, the reality behind actually forming it had been just as irritating as expected. Most of the people who had shown up had only done so because they wanted to question him or sow doubt about Voldemort's return. He knew they'd realize how wrong they were soon enough just like before. They'd accused him of being the Heir of Slytherin, they were wrong. They said he cheated to enter the Triwizard Tournament, they were wrong. If it weren't for the fact that him being right meant war he'd feel smug about the whole situation.

As he continued along the path back to the castle he passed by a heavily wooded area. Lost in his own thoughts, he didn't notice someone step out from behind a patch of trees.

"Potter" someone called out.

Startled by the unexpected voice, Harry flipped his wand out instantly, turned and aimed in the direction the sound had come from with a stunning spell on the tip of his tongue.

"Whoa, easy Potter." They raised their hands to show they didn't have their wand out.

After a tense moment, Harry slowly moved his wand to his side, recognizing the auburn haired individual as Tracey Davis, a Slytherin in her fifth year alongside him.

"Davis." He said tersely. "You shouldn't sneak up on me like that."

"Paranoid much?" She replied sarcastically, keeping her hands in the air.

"You might be too in my shoes." He said, resheathing his wand in his arm holster. "What do you want?"

"To talk." she replied, slowly bringing her hands back down. "But I'd rather do so where no one can see us. Do you mind if we step into the clearing behind the trees?"

"How do I know this isn't a trap?" He said, his irritation rising.

"Potter, you didn't even know I was here when I called your name. If I wanted to trap you I could've shot a stunner at your back and you'd never even have seen me." She said, annoyed at his suspicion. "Please, I just want to talk to you."

Harry stared at her through narrowed eyes for a few minutes before nodding.

"Lead the way." He said. Her point about being able to stun him earlier was valid but still, a Slytherin hiding out in the woods, seemingly waiting for him to show up so she could speak to him didn't exactly put his mind at ease so he wasn't about to turn his back to her.

Tracey led him through the woods, away from the path, until they reached a small clearing obscured by trees. Once they stopped Harry pulled his wand out immediately.

'Homenum Revelio' Magic began washing over the clearing, searching out any other beings who might be hidden from sight. Revealing no one other than the two of them Harry was satisfied and resheathed his wand once again.

"You're worse than Professor Moody. Do I really scare you so much?" She smirked at him

"You by yourself? No." He said, holding a small frown. "But I don't know you and your house hasn't exactly made it a point to engender trust in me."

"Fair enough I suppose." She said, pursing her lips at the sentiment.

"Well, you wanted to talk so talk. What do you want?" He said, more harshly than necessary.

Tracey grit her teeth and took a breath to calm herself. "You know, I get that you have no reason to trust Slytherins but you don't need to be so rude, I've never done a damn thing to you."

"Davis, I'm really not in the mood for a lesson in manners so either you tell me what you want or I'm leaving." Harry was a hair's breadth away from snapping and his rising anger was coming through clearly in his facial expression.

Despite her own irritation Tracey realized she had no choice but do as he said if she wanted to diffuse the situation. "I want to join your defense group."

Harry fought to keep a poker face but was internally panicking. He was going through his memories of the day and was reasonably certain she hadn't been at the meeting so how had she known? Not wanting to give anything away he answered. "I'm not sure what you mean Davis."

Tracey rolled her eyes at the blatant lie. "Come off it Potter, I was at your little get together in the Hog's Head. The disillusionment charm isn't that hard."

In an instant, Harry's wand was at her throat. "Spying on us Davis? You'd better start explaining or I will stun you and wipe your memory right now."

Harry's magic was beginning to pulse and, while she tried to keep her face emotionless, Tracey's eyes betrayed how scared she was.

"No Potter, I swear! I couldn't let myself be seen. I promise I don't mean any harm." She said, her voice on the edge of shaking.

Keeping his gaze hard, Harry searched her face for any sign of deception but as he looked into her eyes all he could see was fear. A brief pang of guilt hit him and his magic began to settle as his anger dissipated. He dropped his wand from her throat and took a step back. Almost immediately Tracey released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and began to gasp as if she'd nearly suffocated.

Harry sighed as he ran his hand through his hair, Slytherin she might be but he'd definitely crossed a line right then while trying to intimidate her.

"Sorry." He said, looking away from her. "My anger has been getting the better of me lately but you didn't deserve that."

She muttered something inaudible under her breath as she collected herself. "I suppose I could've explained myself better, I just didn't know you could be so….. scary."

Harry bit his lower lip as she continued. "So I guess, for starters, you're probably wondering how I knew about the meeting." Harry nodded. "My brother let me know, Roger Davis, I believe you two are acquainted as fellow quidditch players."

Once again Harry nodded, he didn't know Roger well but they'd exchanged friendly words on the Quidditch pitch whenever Gryffindor played Ravenclaw. However, the information that the two were related was definitely new, despite sharing a last name the two had very different hair colors, Tracey's being a deep Auburn and Roger's being almost black, and, as far as he could remember, he'd never seen them spend time together while at school.

"Right, well, after he got the invitation he passed it along to me but made me promise not to say anything to my housemates. I decided to come but wasn't sure how a whole group would react to a Slytherin trying to join so I thought it would be better to listen in unseen and then speak to you privately after to plead my case."

That made sense to Harry, plenty of members of that group would've likely reacted poorly to a Slytherin arriving at the meeting but something else was still bothering him.

"Why do you want to learn from me?" He asked. Tracey scoffed as if the question was silly.

"You're kidding right? You've sat through Umbridge's lessons, we're not learning a damn thing and we have O.W.L. Exams this year." She exclaimed

"True but why do you think I'm worth learning anything from." Harry queried.

"You mean aside from the fact that you're far and away the number one D.A.D.A. student in our year and your grades are some of the highest of the last 2 decades for the class?" She said, her voice layered with sarcasm.

Harry just crossed his arms and crooked an eyebrow at her.

Tracey sighed. "Fine, it's also because I know you're telling the truth."

This statement caused Harry to narrow his eyes. "Explain." He said shortly.

"I'm in Slytherin, Potter, You-Know-Who's return isn't exactly a state secret within the confines of the dungeon." she replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And? How does you believing me about Voldemort have anything to do with wanting to join our defense group?"

Tracey adopted a foreboding look as she stared directly into Harry's eyes. "Because I know what it would mean if he wins and I refuse to live in a world where I'd be treated as a second class citizen."

Not having expected that response Harry gave her a questioning look as the gears in his head began to turn. Suddenly his eyes went wide. "You're a Muggleborn?"

Tracey shook her head. "Not quite, Half-Blood, my mother was a Muggleborn." A look of sadness came over her face and Harry recognized right away what it meant, her mother was no longer alive and likely hadn't been for quite some time.

With this last piece of the puzzle it all clicked for Harry, this girl was trying to survive. She was likely already looked down upon in Slytherin for her blood status. All the cloak and dagger today was because she knew associating with him and his group could put her in danger with the rest of Slytherin house. If Voldemort came into power….. Well, second class citizen was probably a kind term for how she'd be viewed. She didn't just want to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts, she wanted to learn to fight and was desperate enough where she was willing to cross the bitter Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry to do so. With this realization in mind Harry knew he couldn't turn her down.

"Alright, you can join." He said and for the first time during their conversation she smiled. "But when we arrange a time and place you should come early. Ron and Hermione are going to need some convincing so you'll probably have to explain all this again."

"Thank you Potter." She said, relieved.

"If you're going to be joining our group I'd prefer to be called Harry." Giving her a smile of his own.

"Alright Harry. In that case, call me Tracey." she replied.

"Until next time then Tracey."