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"…" Speech

bold Parseltongue

italics Thoughts

Chapter 7

"Harry Potter, favoured student of the influential Slytherin Daisy Thornbell! No! Even better; Harry Potter, protégé of the most powerful dueller in Slytherin! Man, that sounds good."

Practically oozing smug satisfaction, Harry swaggered down the deserted corridors on his way to the Great Hall. He had quickly recovered from his shock at the sixth-year's offer, and was now busy gloating over all the advantages it would bring him. Any of the older students taking an interest in the younger years was unusual; the widely proclaimed best dueller in Slytherin (and by default the whole of Hogwarts) giving lessons to a second year was completely unheard of. Harry knew that he would rise in standing and definitely gain more influence in Slytherin after this. Duelling skills were important for rising in the ambitious house. At least once every week a duel took place in the common to settle disputes. If Harry improved enough he could afford to go against the older Slytherins and would certainly be able to control the younger years. What was more, he'd be able to kick Weasley's ass. 'Ah, life is good,' sighed Harry to himself in content.

His happy musings were rudely interrupted, however, as he neared the Great Hall. Loud shrieks were echoing down the corridor causing Harry to wince at the high-pitched voice ringing in his ears.

"Your father and I are so ashamed…how can we face our friends after this? ...Slytherin! I raised you better than that!"

Entering the hall Harry's suspicions were proved correct. Students anywhere near the Slytherin table were covering their ears protectively while Ginny Weasley stared in shock and horror at the red and smoking envelope in front of her. She had received a Howler from her obviously infuriated mother and Harry idly wondered which of her brothers had informed the plump, red-headed woman. Probably all of them sent outraged letters as soon as they could, decided Harry, seeing the nasty glares the Weasley brothers were directing at their sister.

Protests against the horrible noise were heard from all over the hall.

"Get that thing out of here!" shouted a Ravenclaw.

"Merlin! Someone make that woman to shut up!" yelled a fifth year Slytherin.

"Cast a silencing spell before my eardrums explode!" Flint bellowed over the din.

Finally, though, the screams came to an end as the envelope combusted leaving only a small pile of ashes.

'This is not good,' thought Harry as he saw Ginny's eyes tear up. She was obviously struggling not to break down completely. Her brothers were still glaring at her from the Gryffindor table, as were many Slytherins who were obviously not happy at being yelled at and having their meal disrupted with insults against their house. Deciding that he'd better do something, and fast, Harry hurried forward to where Ginny and the rest of the first years were sitting. She did not look up when Harry called her name and did not respond to his urging her to leave the hall, merely staring fixedly at the cinders of the Howler.

"You two," Harry said peremptorily, indicating Helen Vandall and Aunja Baddock. "Get her out of here before this already volatile situation completely erupts."

Harry glared when he saw Helen Vandall draw herself up haughtily, obviously about to protest against being ordered about.

"You're her dorm-mates," snapped Harry. "You should look out for one another. Now help her!"

"Of course," said Aunja slightly shakily, obviously still taken aback by Mrs Weasley's howler. Helen Vandall also seemed to submit to Harry's words and pulled Ginny out of her seat. The two girls managed to get the shell-shocked red-head out of the hall without Ginny bursting into tears, her brothers insulting her or being hit by and stray hexes from the Slytherin table, and Harry decided they had everything under control and sat down beside Draco who was busy whining, as usual.

"Is that woman a banshee? Really, she could at least have been considerate enough not to send the Howler during lunch. There was no need to subject the rest of us to such torture," complained Draco, who was acting as if the whole thing was staged just so as to inconvenience him.

Sighing, Harry helped himself to some mashed potatoes, preparing for a long lunch break with Draco whining ceaselessly. He was pleased to notice, though, that the Slytherins were directing their irritation at Mrs Weasley and her fog-horn voice rather than Ginny.

"So, Harry," said Blaise, pointedly turning away from Draco. "Where did you disappear off to?" Draco paused slightly in giving his rather loud monologue, and directed his penetrating grey eyes at Harry.

"I'd also like to know what Thornbell wanted," he drawled.

"None of your business," said Harry cheerfully, stealing some chicken from Theodore's plate. The boy merely scowled darkly at him and continued eating, disapproving of what he called 'immature behaviour not befitting a Slytherin.'

Draco shrugged elegantly and turned back to Pansy and Louisa, the only two who remained attentive even in the middle of one of his rants. Blaise, however, was not deterred.

"Come on!" she whined. "I want to know!"

"No"

"Please?"

"Why do you care?"

"I'm bored."

"Then go and annoy some Hufflepuffs or something."

Ten minutes later, on their way to their common room, Blaise was still at it.

"Just tell me!"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" yelled a harassed and irate Harry, desperately trying to think of a way to get rid of her. He didn't want the fact that he was getting lessons from a sixth year to become general knowledge before he'd learnt how to fight. Some Slytherins would no doubt attempt to hex him so as to judge his skills and see whether he was a threat or not. If he couldn't protect himself, he'd be in for a rough couple of months. Hell, he'd practically have to live in the hospital-wing.

"How about an exchange of information," conceded Blaise, giving up on her normal tell-me-or-I'll-follow-you-around-and-be-annoying strategy.

"What info?" asked Harry cautiously.

"A pet project of mine, which I'm sure you'll be interested in."

"Well, one can't help but admire your persistence, so okay, deal." They shook hands, before Harry continued. "The reason I wandered off was because I had a chat with Daisy Thornbell."

"Yes, I know that, but what about," prompted Blaise impatiently.

"Oh you know, this and that," said Harry faking casualness. "She offered to tutor me in duelling."

"She WHAT!" yelled Blaise.

"Offered to teach me duelling," repeated Harry with a slight smirk. "It came as a quite a surprise, but of course I accepted."

"You lucky, lucky bastard," growled Blaise enviously. "Vampire's fangs, what wouldn't I give to have even one lesson with her and you get it for free! It's so bloody unfair!"

"Talent reaps its own rewards," commented Harry smoothly. "Now how about your end of the deal?"

"You know on the train I disappeared for quite a while?" said Blaise in a slightly petulant voice, still glaring at Harry.

"Yeah, you said something about 'mingling'."

"Exactly. I have decided to pick a few people from every house, scattered over the different year sections, and study them for the next week or so. Find out who their friends are, their approximate time tables etcetera."

"What for," asked Harry nonplussed. "It seems kind of pointless to me."

"To you, yes. But to me, a metamorphmagus, no," said Blaise smugly, discarding her jealousy of Harry in favour of pointing out her superiority. "Last year you said I should find out more about people before I transform into them. Well, for once you had a vaguely good idea and I decided to follow your advice. By the end of the week, two at the most, I should have a dozen students who I can transform into without awakening suspicion. I'll be able to sneak around everywhere and, so long as I transform into a Prefect, any time as well. I'll be able to discover loads of info which I can either use myself or sell on to someone else, and I'll be able to have some fun by messing with people's minds along the way," Blaise ended triumphantly. Harry shuddered slightly at the thought of Blaise wreaking uncontained havoc all over the castle, but that thought quickly gave way to another.

"Blaise," he said, affectionately draping an arm round her shoulders. "We're friends, you and I, right?"

"Yes, I'll give you some free info now and then," said Blaise rolling her eyes. "Now get off me!"

"Anything for you, my dear Blaise!" said Harry with a grin.

"Whatever, now why don't you go and check up on the Weaselette."

"Good idea," said Harry, sobering up slightly. "Merlin, what is up with that family? Some crazy old hat says one wrong word and now they're all behaving as if she became a psycho serial killer or something. Talk about overreacting!"

"Yeah well, Gryffindor and Slytherin families tend to go to all extremes," remarked Blaise. "If you need any help with Weaselette, just tell me, okay?"

"Will do," grinned Harry as he wandered down the corridor heading to the dungeons.

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After finally reaching the common room and asking a passing girl to tell Ginny to come down, Harry settled into one of the sofas to wait and plan what he should do to diffuse the 'Weasley situation' as he now thought of it. He had first decided to talk to the twins as soon as possible, but seeing their reactions to the Howler in the Great Hall, Harry changed his mind. They were obviously still very angry with their little sister, so the best thing would be to let them cool off for a while. No way did Harry want to be on the receiving end of one of their prank ambushes.

Just then, Ginny stepped out into the common room. She was red-eyed and seemed to be on the brink of bursting into tears again, but at least she seemed to be making an effort to stay in control.

"Hey Gin," Harry said softly, feeling sincerely sympathetic for the girl.

"Hi," she choked out in return.

"So how are your classes going?" Harry asked with fake cheerfulness.

"Okay, I had Charms and Herbology; they were both alright," Ginny shrugged, still looking utterly miserable.

Not knowing how to deal with tear-strained girls and deciding that comforting would best be left to her two dorm-mates, Harry went straight to the point.

"I was thinking of talking to your brothers, to try and calm them down. Which of them is the most…approachable?"

"Well, the twins might listen – they like you," sniffed Ginny.

"Hmm, that's what I figured. And Ronald is definitely out, so what about Percy?"

"Uh, I don't know…He's always disliked Slytherins, but he is slightly more level-headed."

Harry nodded thoughtfully, but his expression quickly turned to one of dismay when Ginny burst into tears.

"Why did everything go so wrong?" she wailed, covering her face with her hands. "I just wanted some recognition, some power and suddenly I'm in Slytherin and all my family despises me."

"So that's why you're in this house!" exclaimed Harry, satisfied at solving the small mystery which had been bothering him.

"I hate being poor, being poor sucks," mumbled Ginny, rubbing furiously at her eyes.

"You're right about that," said Harry, thinking back to Dudley's hand-me-down clothes which he had long since burned.

"They looked at me with such anger, hate and distrust, but I didn't do anything!" continued Ginny, oblivious to the interruption. She added, "Not consciously anyway. It's not my fault, how can they blame it all on me?"

"Aww is the little weasel upset?" came an annoying drawl from behind Harry. "Betraying your family and getting disowned must be pretty pissing off."

Turning around, Harry was not surprised to see his blond friend.

"Shut up, Draco," said Harry with a glare, while Ginny's sobs increased. Draco ignored him and focused his attention on the red-head.

"I really don't know why you're acting so distraught. You're lucky to be rid of the taint of your Mudblood-loving family," he continued, reclining elegantly in a nearby chair.

"You can't use that word, it's really insulting!" gasped Ginny, obviously ignoring everything else Draco had said.

Smirking at the look on Draco's face at being lectured on proper vocabulary by a tear-strained Weasley, Harry turned to Ginny.

"Well, you'll just have to get used to it," he said to the rather naïve girl. "Slytherin is full of obnoxious pure-bloods."

"It's not very nice…" said Ginny uncertainly. Even Harry laughed at this.

"Nice! Slyths don't do nice," drawled Draco with a derogatory sneer. "We do pragmatic. We do sarcastic. We do better than everyone else."

Ginny still looked uncertain. Draco just stood up and with a parting smirk, swept over to Marcus Flint.

"I don't like him," Ginny shuddered. "My dad says all the Malfoy's are evil."

"Yes, well your dad isn't always right," said Harry dryly. "Draco is dark, yes, but not evil. It's a difference that seems to be much too subtle for Gryffindors to get through their heads. Anyway, you needn't worry; if he bugs you too much just let me know."

"He'd listen to you?" Ginny asked uncertainly.

"Yes, I'd just have to threaten him a bit. The only language he understands is force, although he's also quite fluent in bribery, blackmail and corruption. Anyway, I'll talk to your brothers later on this week; I suggest you go and wash your face before going to your next class. Remember, Slytherins must always appear cool and collected. Composure is everything."

Nodding, Ginny crept back down to the girls dormitories, leaving Harry to sigh over her lack of confidence.

Walking to Charms class, Draco muttered, "She'll survive for a week maximum," and Harry had to admit that he might possibly be right.

A/N Hi again! Hope you like the chapter. If anyone has any comment/suggestions/questions just leave me a review or e-mail me. If not, review anyway!

Thanks to everyone how reviewed! It's great to get so much encouragement. And, of course, thanks to my wonderful beta-reader who prevents me from butchering the English language too much. 

MidNite Pheonix: Don't worry, this won't be a harry/ginny fic. You can relax!

The Dark Lord Potter: same as above, this will not be harry/ginny. Yeah, I also hate whiny Harry; let me know immediately if this fic starts to tend towards it!