Title: Flip Side
Author: CuriousDreamWeaver
E-mail:
Summary: When two worlds collide, having two Draco Malfoys and two Harry Potters can only mean trouble. But the reason for barriers between worlds becomes painfully apparent when magic meets magic, and familial duty wars with desire. Slash HPDM, het.
Warnings: There will be slash, mostly from the HP/DM department, um, violence in later chapters, and maybe a few lime scenes (very mild though).
Pairings: HP/DM, RW/HG, JP/LE, LM/NM, SB/RL/SS
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters in it. J. K. Rowling does and she's more the richer for it.
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Flip Side
Chapter Six: Do tell
J.P. rubbed a hand through his hair as he and McGonagall stopped in front of a large portrait of a fat woman.
"What has young Potter gotten himself into this time, professor?" The portrait asked. J.P. raised an eyebrow at it before looking at his Head of House.
"Nothing. Quidditch pitch." McGonagall replied curtly as she said the password. The portrait swung open with a sigh and they stepped into the room.
"Professor-" A pale boy that J.P. vaguely recognised as Colin Creevy greeted the professor but then paused and stared at J.P. with wide eyes. He twisted around and looked towards the sofa in front of the fireplace and then back, a perplexed expression on his face.
J.P. followed his gaze and saw a startled brunette looking back at him. Well, it was that other Harry Potter. He raised a hand and waved. The boy blinked before tentatively waving back.
"All right everyone." McGonagall waited until everyone was paying attention to her, or at least gaping at J.P. "I'm sure you are all aware of the incident down in the dungeons yesterday." There was a spattering of chatter but McGonagall's stern look quietened them down quickly. "This is Harry Potter.
"Harry Potter?
"Another one?
"Where's his scar?
"What happened yesterday?
"You weren't listening to me? I knew it!
"Quiet!" McGonagall said firmly. "As I said, his name is Harry Potter. However, for convenience's sake, he's to be called J.P.
J.P.'s lips twisted in a grimace before they settled back into a good-natured expression with a mental shrug. At least it was better than Harry James.
"I trust that you will make him feel welcomed." She said. A soft pop to her side made her look down to see a house-elf. "What is it?
"Headmaster Dumbledore would like to speak with you." It squeaked out.
"Very well, I shall be there in a moment." It nodded and disappeared with another pop. She turned back to the assembled students and nodded. "That is all." She left J.P. rubbing his neck and giving them all a sheepish smile.
"Er, hi there." He said. He waggled his fingers in a wave and then sighed when everyone continued to stare at him. "Fair enough," he muttered before striding across the room and throwing himself down into the seat opposite his counterpart. He gave the boy a brilliant smile. "Hello there. You must be Harry Potter.
"Yeah, that's me." Harry replied cautiously. Harry gave him a quick inspection and noted that the other boy was a little taller and bulkier than himself, and his hair was a little longer and spiked at the front, away from his forehead. He wasn't wearing any glasses and he had a calm and relaxed expression on his face.
"Well, pleased to meet you." J.P. said. "Why do you need glasses?" J.P. could never be described as subtle or shy.
"Er, I'm short sighted.
"Why don't you get it fixed? I did.
Harry blinked at the boy's bluntness and gave Ron and Hermione a look, which they returned. Well, Hermione did. Ron was still gaping at J.P. "Oh, well, I don't know. I guess I've gotten used to wearing glasses.
"Fair enough." J.P. replied and sprawled on the seat since no one seemed to want to sit near him, or were too busy twittering about him.
"So, um..." Harry began awkwardly. There was a silence and J.P. rolled his eyes.
"I know you're dying to ask me something." J.P. nodded towards Hermione who looked like she was about to explode.
"Are you from another world?" She burst out. Ron and Harry leant away from her madly shining face.
"Yeah. I guess so. It would explain a lot of things." J.P. replied indulgently.
"Really? That's incredible! What's your world like? How did you end up here? Wha-
"Hold on a sec," J.P. said in amusement when she started asking questions, "one question at a time. To answer your first question, my world's pretty similar to this one, from what I've seen so far. It definitely feels different, but it looks relatively the same.
"What do you mean by it feels different?" Her face had lost none of its enthusiasm, but she had calmed down a bit.
"Well, it just feels a little less... I don't know, calmer? Do you know what I mean?" J.P. shrugged at their confused frowns. "It's hard to explain. It's a bit like living in water and then suddenly being forced to live on the surface. Get what I mean?
"Kind of." Hermione said slowly as she looked at him thoughtfully.
J.P. held up his hands with an apologetic smile on his face. "I really can't explain it any better. That's the best way I can describe it. I'm not particularly good with words.
Hermione pursed her lips thoughtfully before asking another question. "How did you get here?
"Oh, well, I was kinda finishing off a fight when someone threw something at my girlfriend. I grabbed her and well... we ended up here." Again, he shrugged. "I don't actually know what happened.
Hermione's face fell. "Oh.
"But I can tell you that we don't have Houses where I'm from. So this House thing is all a bit new to me.
Hermione perked up immediately. "No Houses? Why not?
"I didn't really pay attention when we were being told," J.P. admitted sheepishly. "Something about a fight between Slytherin and Gryffindor in the 1700s and the Headmaster got fed up with it and abolished the Houses in an attempt to get rid of the House rivalry.
"Did it work?
"I guess so. We just have the normal fights between groups and all that. It's not too bad, most of the time." J.P.'s eyes darkened as he remembered Mcnair.
"Why don't you have a scar?" Ron asked before Hermione could find another question.
"Why would I have a scar?" J.P. asked. He looked over at Harry questioningly.
"Because Harry has one." Ron replied.
"Just because he's Harry Potter too, doesn't mean that he had the same life." Hermione said. "Remember, they're from different worlds.
"Oh.
"Why do you have a scar?" J.P. asked Harry.
Harry's hand flew to his forehead and he rubbed at it. "I got it from the Killing Curse.
"The Killing Curse? Why aren't you dead?" He was met by silence and winced. Obviously, he'd put his foot in it. "Sorry.
"It's okay." Harry replied with a strained smile. "So what do you do in your world for fun?" That seemed like a safe enough question.
"Play Quidditch." J.P. replied almost immediately. He gave Harry a scrutinising look. "You play Quidditch too?
"Yeah, I'm the Seeker for Gryffindor's team.
"Seeker, huh? What's that like?
"You're not a Seeker?" Ron asked in surprise. He was still under the impression that J.P. should be exactly like Harry.
"No, I'm a Chaser. You get a lot more action that way. I'm not particularly patient and I don't think I could stand just flying around waiting for the snitch to pop up.
"Oh. I always thought being a Seeker was great." Harry replied with a shrug.
"To each their own, I suppose. I tried being a Seeker for a while but Dee said I was atrocious and made me the Chaser.
"Who's Dee?
"Oh, she's that girl that came with me. She's my girlfriend.
"Oh. Is she nice? Why isn't she here?" Hermione asked.
"She was sorted into Slytherin." He jumped in surprise when Ron cursed.
"Slytherin?! But they're all evil gits!
"Dee's hardly evil." J.P. corrected himself after a pause. "Well, okay, not completely evil. She can be evil when she wants to be.
Ron gaped at him. "You're dating a Slytherin!
"What's wrong with that?
"A Gryffindor does not date a Slytherin! It's not done!" Ron replied adamantly as though it should be obvious to him.
J.P. gave him a bewildered look at his answer, "Well, she wasn't a Slytherin when I met her.
"But she's evil! Only evil people get sorted into Slytherin!
"She's not evil." J.P. replied with a little irritation. He paused and gave them a curious look. "What kind of characteristics would put her into Slytherin, anyway?
"She would have to have a lot of ambition, cunning and willing to use all the resources at her disposal," Hermione replied promptly.
J.P. rubbed his chin and nodded. "Yeah, that's pretty much her. She wants to be an Auror when she finishes school. She's the top of our Year and always has been and she's fiercely competitive." He chuckled and rubbed his shoulder as though he was remembering something. "She absolutely hates to lose.
"All Slytherins are evil." Ron repeated. "If I were you, I'd find a different girlfriend.
The look J.P. gave him could have burst the red head into flames, indeed, it seemed as though his look alone was enough to raise the temperature noticeably, J.P. scowled at him, his lips twitching slightly. "Hell no. She's mine. I'm not going to let her go for anything, or anyone.
Ron had opened his mouth to answer back, but Hermione elbowed him in the ribs. He coughed and scowled at his own girlfriend but she ignored him. The fiercely possessive tone in J.P.'s voice made her curious about Dee, but it also showed that it was a sore topic with J.P.
Harry coughed and spoke up before anything else relating to Slytherins and Gryffindors could be said. "Do you want to talk somewhere more private?" He didn't feel all that comfortable with everyone staring at him the way they were.
J.P. looked around and shrugged. He never really minded attention. "If you want.
Harry nodded. "Okay. Mione, Ron, do you mind if I talk with J.P. alone?" The two shook their heads slowly, albeit reluctantly, and the pair made their way out of the common room, J.P. paused on the threshold and threw a wink at their audience just as the portrait swung shut behind him. A roar of speculation and excitement followed their departure.
Harry smiled slightly as he raised an eyebrow at J.P. as he chortled at the reaction he'd garnered. The boy was certainly more of an exhibitionist than himself. That was one difference that was obvious.
Harry cleared his throat and decided to start with simple, innocuous questions first. "Are you in Sixth Year too?
"Yeah, I can't wait for it all to be over.
"Me either." Harry replied with a smile. "I don't know what I want to do after. Maybe I'll be an Auror.
"I want to be an Auror too. My Dad's an Auror.
Harry stopped dead in his tracks and stared at him. "Your father's alive?
"Yes." J.P. paused. "Your's isn't?
A feeling of injustice shot through him and Harry berated himself. It wasn't J.P.'s fault his parents were still alive and his weren't. "Mine died a long time ago.
"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't know." J.P. said with a grimace. "I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories.
"No, no, it's all right. You didn't know." Harry gave him a sad smile. "So how are they? Your parents?
"Yeah. Dad's doing fine. So is Mom." J.P. looked away, feeling guilty about his answer as he watched the pain flare in Harry's eyes.
"I see." Harry sighed deeply. "Tell me about them.
"Are you sure?" J.P. asked.
"I'm sure. It would be nice to hear something, anything, about them. Even if they aren't really mine." He gave the other boy a sad smile. "It's better than nothing.
J.P. nodded in understanding. "What do you want to know?
"What do they do for a living?
"Dad's an Auror and Mom works at a Herbology research centre. Dad wants me to be an Auror too and I wouldn't mind.
"So what does your Dad do when he's not working?
"He usually putters around in the shed after work trying to fix something broken. He doesn't usually end up fixing it, it's usually worse by the time he's through." J.P. chuckled. "He's a Ôbudding inventor', as he puts it. Mom spends almost of her time in the garden.
"Oh." Longing flooded through Harry and he stopped by the large tree near the lake. He leant his head back against the trunk with a deep sigh. Tears pricked his eyes as he imagined himself in a situation like J.P.'s, a family, one that loved him. What he wouldn't give for that.
J.P. seemed to sense his sadness and cleared his throat, changing the subject. "Then who looks after you, when you're not here?
"The Dursleys.
J.P's face twisted in annoyance and disgust. "You have to stay with them?
"They're not nice where you are, either?
"Hardly. Oh, Aunt Petunia's nice enough, but Dudley and Vernon are about as friendly as..." J.P. bit off what would probably have been very rude. "Let's just say I don't like them.
"I see.
"They insulted Dee." J.P. clarified. "They hurt her feelings.
"Oh. What did they say to her?
J.P scowled at the memory but then snickered as he remembered what Dee had done in retaliation. "Uncle Vernon and Dudley called her an albino freak who was probably the result of incest. She got them back though. She covered Dudley with snow and left him like a snowman for almost an hour. She only turned him back when her mother insisted that it wasn't polite. She froze Uncle Vernon's feet to the ground. He kept bellowing about how she was going to turn him into an iceman like that guy on TV. The guy they found in the Alps.
"That would have been fun to watch." Harry commented with a small smile.
"I'll say. They never bothered her again.
"I can imagine." Harry replied. He furrowed his brow in thought. "Just how different is your world than this one?
"Not much really. Dee would be able to tell you more, she has a knack for noticing things.
"What's the biggest difference you've noticed?
"Well, the wand magic for one. I just don't understand how a piece of wood is supposed to help you.
Harry blinked in surprise. "Wand magic? You don't use wand magic?
"Nope.
"Then what do you use?
"Er, elemental magic.
"How does that work?
J.P rubbed his neck. "Well, it's hard to explain. I'll show you instead. How's that?
"Sounds good.
"All right then." He held his out his hands at shoulder height, palms down. Ignis preasul1!" J.P made a face as he felt his stomach flip. "Ugh." He took several deep breaths and gave Harry a sickly smile when the other boy looked at him in concern. "Nothing, don't worry about it.
Nodding, Harry watched in awe as a flower of fire bloomed in front of him and unfurled to show a petite female with huge flaming wings.
"Well, what do you want this time?" Burning eyes turned towards Harry and they flickered for a moment in surprise. "Well I'll be. There are two of you.
"This is Harry. We're stuck in his world.
"Oh, that would explain why everything here's all skewed." Aurelia replied as she fluttered her wings. She gave Harry a nod. "So what are you doing here stuck with this jock?
"Hey!" J.P. said indignantly. "I'm not just a jock!
"No, of course not." Aurelia rolled her eyes. She looked around quickly. "Where's my delicious Dee?
"Your Dee? She's mine!" J.P. said with a frown.
Harry absently wondered if it was healthy to be arguing with a fiery creature like that as he looked up at her in amazement. He reached out tentatively and drew back when he heard her laugh softly. He gave her a sheepish smile. "Sorry.
"Oh no, it's quite all right. I won't burn you." She winked and flicked her hair over her shoulder. "Unless you want me to.
"Er, no, I'm all right." Harry said with a blush at her blatant flirting. She stretched out a hand to him and he touched it slowly. His eyes widened. It was just like touching another person! Her hand was soft and firm.
"So how much magic do you know?" J.P asked as Aurelia floated down to sit beside him. The grass around her didn't even singe as she plucked at it absentmindedly.
"Not too much.
"Show me something cool." J.P said with an encouraging smile.
"Okay. Here goes." Harry flicked his wand and pointed it straight ahead. Expecto Patronum!" A burst of silvery mist escaped from the end of his wand and a large, ghostly stag appeared. It pawed at the ground and nickered. Aurelia floated over and peered at it curiously. She touched it lightly and smiled in delight when it nudged at her hand.
"Wow! That's awesome! What does it do?" J.P asked as he watched his Fire Dancer play with the stag.
"It chases away Dementors.
"A spell that chases away Dementors... That would be handy." J.P said as he watched the stag fade away. Aurelia pouted in disappointment but shrugged and went back to playing with the grass.
"You have Dementors too?" Harry asked as he watched Aurelia curiously.
"Yeah, they patrol Azkaban.
"They do that here too." Harry replied tightly. "Well, they did. They left at the end of last year." He shivered and tried not to think about who they were probably with. He looked at J.P and swallowed. "I don't suppose your Godfather, Sirius Black, is still alive too.
"Of course he is!" The enormity of Harry's words hit him and he too went white. "You mean he's dead? He died?
"He died at the end of my Fifth Year." Harry said quietly, closing his eyes as he fought down the lump in his throat.
"What happened?" J.P. asked.
"He fell." Harry whispered. "He followed me to protect me and he fell behind the Veil. He died to protect me. He died because of me." He choked back a sob. His shoulders shook with the effort. He could feel his grief threatening to overwhelm him and he clenched his hands into fists. He felt the sting of his nails biting into his skin and revelled in the pain. It was better than feeling cold and empty.
J.P. was silent. He didn't know how to comfort the other boy but got up awkwardly and squeezed his shoulder firmly. He felt the other boy tense and slowly withdrew. "It wasn't your fault," he said softly.
Harry's head snapped up and his lips twisted in a snarl as his emerald eyes darkened with fury. How would you know?" he bellowed and took a step forward, bringing him closer to the taller boy.
J.P met his eyes calmly. "Everything happens for a reason." He replied quietly. He didn't know what happened but he recognised the self-loathing that Harry harboured. He made a small gesture and Aurelia subsided. The fire elemental had risen to her feet and was about to leap at the enraged boy. She hissed a silent warning at Harry even as she obeyed her master.
"You don't know anything about it." Harry replied coldly.
He stepped closer until they were toe to toe and looked him in the eye. "I might not know anything about it, but hating yourself for it won't make it any better. How do you think your Sirius would feel if he saw you acting this way? I know my Godfather would hate to see me like this, he'd want me to let it go.
Harry stared at him with wide eyes that were slowly filling with tears. How dare he! He has no right to talk about Sirius like that! He doesn't even know my Sirius! With an inarticulate cry, Harry drew back his fist and landed a hard right, all his anger and grief fuelling the blow.
A sharp gesture from J.P was the only thing that stopped Harry from being incinerated on the spot. J.P's head snapped to the side and he bit back a curse, stars exploding in his vision, as he tasted the bitter tang of blood on his tongue. He stumbled and fell to his knees as dizziness and pain fogged his mind. He had the feeling that Harry had hit him as hard as he could and it felt like an anvil had hit him in the face. He blinked up at the trembling boy as he tried to make everything stop spinning.
Harry was trembling above him, his hand still outstretched from his punch. Slowly, the rage ebbed away and a look of horror passed over his features. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry." Harry whispered as he watched the blood rushing to the spot where he'd hit him. He winced and realised that it would leave a nasty bruise on the side of his jaw. He'd split the skin and a thin trickle of blood trailed down past his collar and stained the already red shirt darker. He stepped forward to offer a hand to the fallen boy but Aurelia had already wrapped herself protectively around J.P. and was hissing at him.
J.P. let out a grunt. "It's okay, Aurelia." He let her help him to his feet and gave Harry a weak grin. He wiped at his face and looked at the smear on his fingertips and shrugged. "I'll bet you've been wanting to do that for a long time. It's not healthy to keep things bottled up like that.
Harry tensed at those words. Everyone had been telling him the same thing and he was sick of it. Was J.P. going to do the same as them? "I've heard that before." He bit out.
"I'm not saying you have to talk to someone, everyone deals with stuff like this in their own way. I'm just saying that you need to have an outlet if you're not going to speak to other people." J.P. gave him a grin. "You've got a great right hook by the way." He wiped away the blood from his skin with his robe. Thankfully, it didn't start bleeding again.
Harry stared at him in disbelief for a moment. Was the other boy insane? He'd just hit him as hard as he could and he just grinned at him. "Are you okay?
"Oh, I'll be fine soon enough. You don't play Chaser without learning how to take a hit." J.P. said with a shrug.
"Oh." Harry felt awkward and sat down again. He watched as J.P. gingerly lowered himself back onto the ground. "Um...
"So where'd you get that scar from?" J.P. asked in the silence that followed. Aurelia was fussing with his collar and he snorted in amusement. She whacked him over the head and glared at him.
Harry's hand flew up to cover his scar automatically and then chuckled bitterly. "This thing. I got it when I was a baby. Have you ever heard of Voldemort?
J.P.'s expression darkened and a flash of anger and hate flickered over his face. "Yeah. He tried to kill Dee.
Harry perked up at that. "Is that why Dee has that scar on her forehead?
"When did you see that?" J.P. asked in surprise. "She always covers it and you can barely see it.
"When you guys, uh, dropped in, her hair fell away from her forehead.
"To be honest, I don't really know all that much about it. No one, especially our parents, talk about it much. And never, ever around Dee. As far as I can tell, Dee doesn't even know what happened either. There's a big chunk of her memory missing.
"Why?
"No one knows. She just doesn't remember anything that happened.
"What happened?
"Well, when we were seven, Voldemort kidnapped her from Malfoy Manor. He destroyed most of the West Wing to get to her.
Harry gave him a confused look. "West Wing?
"Er, Dee's playroom was in the West Wing. It had some of the most complex wards I have ever seen." He shook himself. "But back to your question. From what I know, Dee got her scar from a Umbra Lamnia2. It's a weapon that Shadow mages use. It's made from pure hatred. He was going to steal her soul, making it impossible for her to find peace in the afterlife, an ultimate punishment for both her and her family." He shuddered. "I can't even imagine how close he came to completing his spell.
Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. What kind of monster would do that to a child? "Why wasn't she killed?
"My dad and her dad rescued her. They killed Voldemort themselves, and brought her back.
"But why would Voldemort try to kill Dee?
"Because Lucius Malfoy is the Minister of Magic and rallied support against him.
The disbelief was plain on his face. Lucius Malfoy is the Minister of Magic? The Lucius Malfoy here is an evil git. He's horrible.
"Oh, that's why everyone was so surprised when Dee told them that he was the Minister. But the Lucius Malfoy I know might be a bit scary, but he's great at his job. And don't let Dee hear you say that. She hates it when people say things about her family.
"I'll keep that in mind." Harry replied, still in a bit of a daze.
J.P. peered at his scar again. "So how'd you get your scar?
"Voldemort tried to kill me too, here, when I was a baby. He hit me with with the killing curse, Avada Kedavra. I didn't die though; my mother gave her life to protect me. That's how I got this scar." He gave J.P. a self-mocking smile. "They call me The Boy Who Lived.
"Dee's called The Girl Who Lived. She really hates it.
"I hate it too. I hate it that people recognise me for it and never leave me alone.
J.P. leant forward to look at it and frowned. "It looks painful; a lot different from Dee's.
"Yeah, it can hurt quite a bit." Harry agreed. His eyes clouded over as he remembered when his scar hurt and why.
J.P. looked uncomfortable at the look of grief on Harry's face. He never knew how to handle these situations. He coughed. "So, er, how does a wand work?
Harry shook himself and blinked. "Oh, right." He drew out his wand and handed it over to J.P. who looked at it curiously. "It's more of a focus point. Magic can be quite unpredictable and chaotic so a wand is basically used to focus the magic at a point.
"Oh, that would be handy I suppose." J.P. gave the wand a flick and Harry ducked as the patch of dirt beside him exploded. J.P. looked from the smouldering ditch and back to him and chuckled weakly. "Er... I think I'll give it back now." He hastily thrust it back at him and crossed his arms over his chest. He scowled as Aurelia snickered.
"Yeah, I think you'd better not handle any more wands, at least until you know how.
J.P. nodded sheepishly. "I think you're right.
"How do you use your magic?
"There are spells that we have but it's more of focusing on what you want to happen.
"Oh. So you can do anything you want?
"Well, not exactly. There are limits to what I can do. I can't just make people explode into flames or anything like that. I can only manipulate the environment; I can't do anything to people directly. Water and Air mages can, Shadow and Verdant mages can to an extent, but you can't do it with Fire or Earth magic. But we do have some spells similar to yours. I know we have Accio as well. I'm sure we have a whole bunch of spells that are the same.
"Huh?" Harry blinked at him uncomprehendingly. "Water? Air? Verdant?
"Oh, right. Those are the elements we have: Fire, Water, Earth, Verdant, Air and Shadow. They're all really different, but similar in some ways.
"Oh.
"Like, we all have your basic spells, like Accio and stuff like that. Those are what we call Basics. They can be used by anyone, any element. Then we have spells that are called Intermediate. These spells can be used by more than one element. Like, the Air and Verdant mages share healing spells, Shadow and Water share poison spells and potions, and Earth and Fire share violent ground explosions. After that, we have spells that only mages of that element can cast. They're called Exceptionals. For example, I can make fire balls and stuff like that, and no other element can. And finally, we have what we call Ultimates. They're spells that only more powerful mages of each element can cast. They're really devastating. The Major Ultimate for Fire is Ignis Imber 3 which makes flaming boulders rain down from the sky. It has a radius of up to ten metres.
"Wow." Harry murmured.
"Yeah. I can't cast it yet, but Dad can." J.P. brightened slightly. "But I can cast an Ignis preasul which is a Minor Ultimate.
Harry smiled slightly at J.P.'s enthusiasm. "Your Dad must be very powerful.
"He is. He's really great at crowd control.
"I can imagine.
"J.P., no offence, but you two are being boring. I'm off." Aurelia rose into the air and winked at them. "See ya! Oh, and next time, make sure Dee's around. You're not exactly my idea of eye candy." With a burst of flame, she disappeared from whence she came.
"I hate it when she does that." J.P. muttered as he rolled his eyes and flopped onto his back. He folded his hands behind his head. "So what exactly do you do when you want to have fun? Please don't tell me you play Wizard's chess." He gave Harry a pained look and Harry couldn't help but laugh.
"Sometimes.
"Aw, man! How can you play that? It's so boring!
"Why do you say that? It's pretty fun.
"Dee plays it all the time with Blaise and Ron. She won't leave until she's finished a game.
Harry looked at him in surprise. "You're friends with Blaise Zabini?
"Yeah, sure. He's pretty cool. When he doesn't have his head shoved in a book. He's great as a research partner. And he's a fabulous beater!" J.P. said enthusiastically.
"How do you know Zabini?
"Ah, he's been a friend since before we started at Hogwarts. Dee, me, Blaise, Ron, Mione, Pansy, Greg and Vince, we're all great friends.
"Greg and Vince? As in Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe?" Harry choked out in disbelief.
"Yeah, sure. They're great at Herbology, not to mention History of Magic. They let me copy their homework most of the time." He gave him a small, pained look. "Well, they do unless Dee specifically tells them not to and then they won't share.
"Ah. I see. They're kinda different here.
"Really?
"Yeah, they're a bit duller here.
"What's that mean?
"They're dumb, annoying and nothing ever good comes from having the pair of them in the same room with you.
"What do they do?
"They like to bully other people, especially people who are smaller than them. They're Malfoy's lackeys.
"Malfoy? Oh, right. The other Draco Malfoy.
Harry gave him a surprised look. "You've heard of him?
"Yeah, they mentioned him when we were in the infirmary. What's he like?
"What's he like? Er... He can be a bit conceited, rather rude when it suits him and he can be annoying sometimes." Harry shrugged. "But he can be very focused, generous," it was true, Harry had seen him give Crabbe and Goyle rather lavish Christmas presents before, "and he's very smart." Harry flushed slightly and looked away as he felt his cheeks heat up.
"He doesn't sound too bad." J.P. said, oblivious to Harry's embarrassment.
"He's... not really. His Dad's the reason he's so messed up." Harry replied. He turned redder at the look J.P. gave him. Obviously, J.P. had picked up on that comment. "It's true. Draco's not too bad. His dad's a real jerk though. He's tried to kill me before.
"What's his dad do?
"He works for the Ministry. He's a cold man. Everything he does, he does for his own benefit.
"Oh, one of those people." J.P. wrinkled his nose. "Brown noses his way to the top or bribes his way out of trouble.
"Yes. Exactly." Harry shook his head and plucked at the grass near his knee. He paused. "But Lucius Malfoy's in Azkaban now. They managed to connect him to the Death Eaters. Like I said, Draco doesn't exactly have the best of role models.
"Everyone's in charge of their own destiny. It might take them longer to follow the right path, but it all works out in the end." J.P. said.
"I suppose." Harry replied softly. He thought about Snape and how he was still trying to make up for his past mistakes.
"Tell me something, Harry.
Harry blinked at the seriousness of the other boy's tone and leant forward. "What?
"When's breakfast?
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1 Fire dancer
2 Shadow Blade
3 Rain of Fire