Chapter 6
The common room buzzed with cold excitement Harry noted, every student in the house was gathered as per Professor Snape's instruction, this must be what a witch burning looked like for the poor muggles who had tried to eradicate magic. Angry murmurs filled the large cold dungeon, a few groups of older students shot Harry unreadable looks, Harry had only noticed when Daphne had pointed them out to him. One group in particular gave Harry chills, Yaxley was the leader of that group he knew.
They were an odd mix, a couple of students from most of the year groups, only the sixth and seventh years had more than two people in the group. Even they listened to Yaxley and did what he said, he hadn't needed Daphne's help in figuring out what that meant, despite what Daphne would say.
"Here's Count Snapeula." Tracey whispered loudly for the other two to hear. Professor Snape glided into the room, it was as though he wasn't affected by air the same way everyone else was. The common room was silenced as effectively as if it really would be a witch burning, Harry hoped it wouldn't be a wizard burning after the points he had managed to lose for his house.
Snape made his way to the far wall and turned to glare at his students, his face was impassive of any emotion which seemed to emphasize the outrage clear in his cold eyes. Harry had heard of dementors and figured Snape had learned to go study from them, the entire house seemed transfixed by their head of house.
Professor Snape had a healthy reputation in Hogwarts for a reason, anger wasn't a common emotion for the students to see, Harry could see that even Yaxley was focused and attentive. Four pairs of feet shuffled behind Snape's and Harry recognized Draco Malfoy and his 'friends', they looked like they had been alone with Snape for a while if their pale faces and wide eyes were anything to go by.
Harry tried not to smile as he noticed the obvious distress in the four, he had yet to tell Daphne and Tracey about what had happened before dinner, something told him they would be learning soon. Apparently Snape wanted this punishment to be public and unmissable, Harry would relish in the moment. He felt bad for them in some way, it would be humiliating, well if he knew Professor Snape at all it would be.
Still they had either tried to incapacitate his sister so she couldn't play tomorrow or they had been after him, he knew he would catch an earful from Daphne if he ever told her he would have spared them this. The blonde girl had a vicious streak, he was just lucky she hadn't had a chance to act out on it if what she said sometimes was actually how she felt.
Muttering and pointing had begun as the boys stood slightly in front of Professor Snape, Malfoy flushed an angry sickly purple color and glared hate at Harry, Harry allowed himself the one small smirk. Daphne stamped on his foot with a sharp look towards Snape, apparently Harry had been caught gloating, he gulped and met Snape's eyes. Harry couldn't read anything in his expression but he knew the man wanted to drag him over there too.
"These four children," Snape spoke quietly but with a force that made the room assume its silent state once more. "Have managed to lose Slytherin house four hundred points today." The room burst into noise at once, usually Snape would have quelled such a display instantly but he let it go on. Harry could tell the man was seething under his cool exterior.
"This is the least of their punishments." He continued when the crowd began to quieten. "Dumbledore has let me know that attacking fellow students is reprehensible. As such Marcus Flint will no longer be acting Quidditch captain, also he is banned from participating in any Hogwarts run quidditch match." The common room didn't erupt at this pronouncement.
Harry felt the stirrings of people around him, they weren't angry at Flint anymore, they were angry at Snape. Flint may be many things, Harry mused, intelligent wasn't one of them but the house knew he could make a quidditch team play decently. Harry quickly scanned the room feeling a small ball of nervousness swell up inside him, Flint stared hatred at him just as Malfoy had. Mostly small groups of students seemed to be just staring at Snape in disbelief, the only person Harry could notice who didn't react that way was Yaxley.
Yaxley just watched Snape with a calculating look, as Harry watched Yaxley slowly turned his head to meet eyes with Harry. Before Harry could pretend to have been looking around the room he noticed a small smirk appear on Yaxley's face. Harry felt a cold chill, Yaxley unnerved him unlike anyone else, he was far too confident and far too aware of Harry for his liking.
Snape waved Flint back and gestured to Irons. "It was also implied that if Jeremy Irons keeps his place as the leader of the gobstones club that a new one would be formed. That decision is up to him." Snape said with an empty smile to the tallest of the boys, his long dark hair made him look a little like Snape but his face was full of shock and misery, something Snape would never show.
Harry had never had much interaction with him but he could tell this was as big for him as it was for Flint, he didn't know how to feel. It could have easily been himself or his sister who had to visit Madam Pomfrey after their attack, it would have been if he hadn't been trying to learn more useful magic with his friends. He still couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't right. He made himself look into Jeremy's eyes and tried to keep his internal struggle off his face, he never looked Harry's way though after Snape had broken eye contact he had slumped to looking at the cold cobblestone floor.
The rest of the Slytherin's didn't react much to Snape's pronouncement, Gobstones was a niche hobby it would seem. Silence had fallen again as Snape began to declare what would happen to Talbot.
"Malcom Talbot will also lose his spot on the quidditch team, as such Adrien Pucey will be holding tryouts for a new keeper and chaser first thing in the morning." Snape said with a nod to a fifth year boy. Harry knew him to be the twin brother to the fifth year female prefect, he tried to keep the sudden rush of hope and excitement down. He had been eager for a chance to try to play quidditch for his house, and they were in need of emergency replacement for his preferred role.
Harry noticed he hadn't felt any mixed feelings about Talbot's punishment, It wasn't as if he didn't deserve to lose his spot on the team for it, and what did it matter if he intended to gain from it, he mused.
"Draco Malfoy, decided to betray his housemates and ran to get a teacher who decided that he should be excused from punishment." Snape said with cold malice dripping from his tongue, it seemed that this one was a personal affront to him, for whatever reason that was. "As such i feel like everyone learning of his weakness and cowardice in the face of adversity ought to teach him better than any other punishment." Harry gulped vowing to never anger Snape.
Malfoy shrank as effectively as he could, the shame and misery clear on his face. Harry almost couldn't feel happy that Malfoy got his just desserts, the public punishment was a bit extreme in his opinion, he remembered the endless instances of Malfoy trying to goad and taunt him, it made him forget about the injustice.
"As you know we have only two months left until the end of term, we are down to a handful of points as a house. I don't expect the house cup any longer but i do expect you to act in a manner that doesn't bring shame to the noble house of Slytherin." And with that Snape swept his way past his students and left the common room, as the doorway to the hallway closed the room erupted in noise.
Harry watched as the four boys who had been punished turned and made their way to their rooms quickly, he turned to see Daphne and Tracey looking at him. Tracey began to talk about how terrible tomorrow would go, meanwhile Daphne was giving Harry a level stare making Harry remember his near constant mantra about keeping his face clear. Daphne was far too sharp eyed for him to trick. The night would be long.
Adrien Pucey paced in front of the gathered quidditch hopefuls, his face looked tired and stressed. Harry couldn't imagine what the events of the night before had done to Pucey's sleep but it couldn't have been good. Pucey looked the two prospective keepers up and down then grimaced, Harry as a first year hardly struck an impressive prospect, and the burly fourth year beside him looked more like a quaffle than a keeper to Harry.
"Okay we are going to shoot some shots, whoever saves the most in ten minutes gets the spot for today, understood?" Pucey said, sounding miserable. Harry nodded enthusiastically, he quickly mounted his school broom, an ancient thing covered almost ruined by neglect and years of disuse. The fourth year also mounted his broom and followed Harry toward the goal hoops, when they reached them Harry noticed Malfoy on his excellent Nimbus two thousand glaring at him.
He gave Malfoy a small smile, hardly even a crack of the lips really. "As Potter looks so confident he will go first." Pucey yelled out to the team, Harry felt his smile falter slightly and he swerved to look at the chasers who would be trying to score against him. Pucey was tall and lean, Harry had seen him play twice and he was pretty good, Gibbons on the other hand played a more defensive style so Harry didn't know what to expect from him.
After ten minutes the pair had only scored eight times, which wasn't much considering the viciousness of their shots, if Harry hadn't grown up playing keeper for his dad and sister he wouldn't have stood a chance. Higgins the fourth year boy had fared much worse than Harry had, letting the pair score a solid ten in the first few minutes had been all they needed to see before giving up on him.
When Pucey said Harry would be playing keeper Harry struggled to hide his grin, even if it was only due to extreme circumstances he was still as proud of himself as he had ever been. Malfoy had to visibly shake himself when he realized he would be playing alongside Harry, it would have been comical if not for being dragged into the tryouts for chasers.
Despite the horrendously early hour, as Pucey claimed he would need every hour he could get to make a team out of them, the number of people trying out for chaser made Harry feel sore before even touching the quaffle.
After two more hours of nearly nonstop catching and blocking hoops the newly formed team was settled, a sixth year female called Slew would be taking Flint's place, despite her pretty bad shooting Harry noticed her passing was more than acceptable. Giving Harry some rest Pucey called them down to the ground to talk over some strategies for the game, no doubt most were Flint's design.
It was widely accepted that the Gryffindor chasers were their weak point, Jasmine was the best seeker in the school currently and the Weasley twins were as unpredictable as the bludgers they went after. Wood was as good a keeper as most had ever seen, with rumors of him going pro after school, it left little room for the chasers to shine.
The idea was to put the chasers off their game enough to allow them to sneak in a few extra points, and use the pressure they gained from that to pile on pressure onto Jasmine's substitute from getting the snitch. Malfoy glowered at the last part of the plan, but even he knew better than to dispute his skills to Jasmine.
Harry had gotten dressed into a pair of too large quidditch robes quickly, as soon as his eyes fell on them it had started to feel real. Nerves the size of quaffles seemed bursting to try and explode out of him, it wasn't until Pucey walked over to him that Harry realized Madam Hooch had called for them to come out of their dressing room. Pucey quickly cast a few spells at Harry, he recognized them instantly and felt ashamed of himself for not thinking about doing them himself.
A shrinking charm made the quidditch robes fit him much better, the sticking charm on his glasses would make the world of difference. He swallowed a mouthful of air and took his place to the side of Malfoy, he didn't even glance at him as his eyes were focused on the gathered crowds in the stands. Somehow as a spectator he hadn't realized how many people came to watch, or how loud they all were.
With a shaky kick to get himself into the air they flew out from their tunnel and met the Gryffindor team in the center of the pitch, more than one set of eyes bulged when they met his, which gave Harry a small bit of humor.
Hooch's whistle rang in the warm midday air as Harry sped off toward his three hoops he was meant to keep safe. A small mess of body's in the center appeared as they fought over the quaffle, after a few seconds Harry saw Pucey dart off to the side with the brown ball under his arm. Relief flooded him, he needed a few minutes to find his feet so to say.
Pucey's shot rattled the post uncontrollably as it went through the hoop, Wood seemed annoyed at himself from what Harry could see, a few small celebrations from the chasers and the action returned. But this time Gryffindor were in possession, the three chasers might be the weakest part of their team but they weren't bad, they seemed to instinctively know Slew wasn't as practiced as she could have been and tried to exploit her.
A long pass left Alicia Spinnet's arm and flew over the head of Slew, Harry watched the ball with growing anxiety, it was towards Katie Bell who swooped up and caught the quaffle before it lost any height and shot. Harry realized too late he had been paying too much attention to the ball and not where he was, the quaffle went through the hoop down to his left.
Katie blew Harry a kiss as she flew past, hearing her giggling and then seeing her celebrate with her teammates made him flush. When Madam Hooch blew her whistle to start play back up he threw the quaffle to Gibbons, he was a safe pass, seemingly calm with the quaffle and always available.
Gibbons instantly missed his pass and it was caught by Bell, who wasted no time in rushing towards the goals, and she fired a shot towards the par post. Harry darted towards the ring with his arms outstretched, the sting in his fingers and the roar of the Slytherin crowd was all that told him he had saved the quaffle, all he was aware of was the pain in his hands. That shot was strong.
It hadn't taken long for Gryffindor's replacement seeker, Malcom Prang, to scare the Slytherin team by darting off in a seemingly random direction, luckily a bludger had blocked his path and caused him to lose track of the snitch. Harry hardly had time to notice as the Gryffindor chasers flooded their way towards him.
The game was close, for every certain goal Harry saved it seemed Wood did the same at the other end, every chaser was looking frustrated at their bad luck. Harry started to look to Slew for the passes, she had grown into the game very quickly displaying a sharp eye and an even sharper pass.
Pucey had managed to score a pair of goals in close succession giving Slytherin house something else to cheer for, Harry had begun to feel pretty confident when the cheers started up. A few saves later a chant rose up in the Slytherin section about him, Harry tried to listen to it but all he could make out was his name, but it sounded positive enough.
The game seemed to drag after a while, Slytherin were up 110 - 70 after an hour of play, despite how good the score was for them the entire team were aware of how quickly things would change if the snitch made an appearance. And so when Prang and Malfoy began to spiral around the Ravenclaw stand seemingly chasing the snitch the game seemed to stop, Gryffindor had the quaffle and were all watching Prang go after the snitch. Harry heard Wood screaming orders out to his chasers as the whole game seemed to be drained of noise.
Suddenly he noticed Spinnet had thrown a long pass towards Katie Bell, it was a bad pass in reality, way too close to Harry and too far from Katie. He felt the age and neglect of the broom he was riding and he tried to urge every inch of speed out of it, he could see Katie making up ground fast as he made his way toward the quaffle.
Catching the quaffle was easy, staying on his broom wasn't so much, as Katie flew around him pestering him trying to snatch the quaffle from him. Before he dropped the quaffle or worse, he heard a roar from the stands. A sudden and fierce noise exploded out from everywhere.
"I do not believe it, Malfoy has caught the snitch!" An excited, if not a little angry, voice yelled out to the crowd. Harry didn't know how he managed it but he found himself in the huddle of players congratulating Malfoy, when he gave him a one armed hug he felt Malfoy stiffen slightly, but in the joy of the situation they ignored their animosity.
Pucey wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulder as he entered the dressing room, the tall boy loomed over him but the smile on his face made him considerably less threatening. "Potter, you played fantastic, you nearly out saved Wood. If I am quidditch captain next year you've got a spot on the team." He said enthusiastically. Harry felt himself swell with pride, he knew he was capable but he really had played out of his mind today.
Harry found himself enjoying the adoration he received after his quidditch performance, it was different from when he had learnt he was a parselmouth, this time people seemed to think he deserved to be treated differently. Before they had done it out of fear maybe, or at least nervousness.
Daphne and Tracey had complimented his play, considering the pair weren't too big on the sport it was pretty big news. Hermione and Neville had been a little less enthusiastic in their compliments at their next study group meeting, Harry had laughed them off and tried to be a good sport, it wasn't easy to watch your team lose.
It wasn't until a few days before exams started that the quidditch cup was settled for the year, Ravenclaw had managed to snatch the cup away with a victory over Gryffindor much to the school's surprise. Harry didn't mind too much, the house cup was more important anyway, and Slytherin was doing a good job catching up to the rest of the houses.
In most classes every Slytherin student was trying to earn points, it was a shame that Crabbe and Goyle hadn't been sorted into other houses as they were dumber than bricks. Harry had managed to earn back most of the hundred points he had lost, in charms and transfiguration by helping his classmates with their work.
He was no teacher but he could see what they were doing wrong better than the other students could, Flitwick was especially happy to see him helping others and had been more than generous with giving out points.
The end of year exams had started with some of Harry's least favorite classes, history of magic and astronomy, so he was pretty happy when he left the charms exam feeling very confident. Flitwick had gotten him to perform a flurry of spells and with the written test Harry knew he had performed flawlessly, not that he expected anything else, the syllabus was terrible after all.
He found himself being swept out of the castle by Susan and Hannah a day after the last exam, the two girls led him to the greenhouses Professor Sprout maintained. They went around them until they were in a deeply shaded area with plenty of bushes and other plant life. Harry would have sworn there was a devil's snare, and if anyone could pull that out it was Professor Sprout, she had been born with green thumbs it was said.
Each girl had a spring in their step, Harry couldn't blame them, the exams might not have been the hardest things ever but they still came with their own stress. "I didn't know there was anything like this back here." Harry said as they sat down on a comfortable bench.
"Sprout tries to keep it a secret for her 'Puffs, she says we all need a quiet comfortable place to unwind." Hannah said smoothly running her fingers through her long blonde hair. She gave him a small smile as she stretched her legs out, with a satisfied sigh she slumped back into the bench.
Harry copied her actions and felt his joint creek in a delightful way, the bench must have had some special charms on it, he could feel the aches and pains he didn't know he had eep away. "They need these benches everywhere." He said distantly.
"We have them in our common room, Sprout thinks we do our best work when we are comfy and relaxed." Hannah replied then threw a meaningful glance at Susan. Harry turned to look to Susan to see what Hannah was implying, but he only saw the side of her face, as she was looking around a large pink petaled bush.
Harry could hear some noises coming from that direction. "What are you doing spying on people, nosey?" He teased, he saw Susan quickly swing her head around to him with a pretty pink color on her cheeks. He leaned around her to see what she had found so fascinating, as soon as he moved he felt Susan try to stop him but it just made him more curious if anything.
Two older students were sitting on a bench very close together. The noises he was hearing made more sense when he saw their urgent display of kissing, the two were acting like no one would be able to see them. Harry realized not many people would be able to, this was a secluded spot after all. He was far too aware of how close he had gotten to Susan in trying to see, he could almost hear her heavy breathing.
He sat back down fighting the blush that crept up his face, had Susan known that there might be students coming here to kiss? He met her eyes and her shy smile and furiously red face made his eyes widen, she must have known. Suddenly he realized she had made an effort to add some curls to her red hair, it was a pleasant effect and Harry had always thought she looked pretty when she blushed.
Hannah let out a small laugh beside him, Harry and Susan both gave small jumps at the almost interruption. Harry felt himself relax, he was starting to remember that he wasn't alone here with Susan. "You two should see your faces, you look like tomatoes." She laughed.
They laughed together for a while, Susan pulled her wand out and idly twirled it in her hands, Harry was glad he wasn't the only one who was nervous even if it was ridiculous. Before long the two older students left, they dashed past the three first years hand in hand and avoiding their gazes, Harry noticed Susan watched them interested.
Hannah let out another laugh before speaking. "Thank Merlin, I thought they'd never leave. This is difficult enough without hearing them going at it like that." Harry laughed and turned to look at Hannah. She had put her notebook away and was looking at Susan expectantly, Harry slowly turned to see Susan nod to her.
Harry gulped.
"It's an easy way to break the ice, I guess." Susan said casually.
"Hahaha i guess it is." Hannah turned to Harry with a grin that rooted him to the spot, she looked like a kneazle that caught a mouse. "We've never tried this before, you understand."
"If you want to, that is." Susan said looking at her shoes disinterestedly.
The smell of the girls filled his nostrils, it was a pretty floral smell, not entirely different from the surrounding flowers. "Huh, what?" He said elegantly.
He found himself transfixed by the two pairs of lips that suddenly looked soft and shiny, he licked his own lips nervously. Hannah laughed a rich warm laugh, he suddenly felt his heart begin to race, she sounded different.
Hannah put her hand on his knee and lent forward slowly. "If you want to…"
His eyes never left her lips as they closed in on his, Harry felt her lips on his own before he could react. He thought it was funny how he could catch a quaffle pretty easily but he couldn't react to what was happening, maybe he didn't want to react.
When Hannah pulled away she gave him a smile that was stunning and a little smug, Harry felt himself return it, he wished that it hadn't ended so soon. Susan gently laid a hand on his other knee, Harry made sure this time to savor the feeling of Susan's lips against his own, she was soft and sweet and oh so warm against his lips.
Hannah wanted another kiss and Harry was eager to try again too, before he knew what had happened he had shared kisses with the both of them a handful of times. Between kisses their blushes grew and flared up whenever they made eye contact, Harry could hardly believe his luck as both of the pretty girls seemed pretty happy with how things had turned out.
Harry couldn't keep the grin off his face, not that he tried to hide it, there was no good reason to hide how he felt about this. Harry wasn't sure how long they had been kissing before Hannah said they had to go back up to the school, Harry was pleased to hear Susan groan alongside him, it really had been a lot of fun. He didn't know how he managed to walk away then and not just float off.
Harry was lucky the study group had been stopped for the year as exams were almost done, because if he had to be around the two hufflepuff girls he would have had a hard time not blushing. And he didn't want to think what Daphne and Tracey would think, he felt it was safer to just keep this to himself for as long as he could.
The end of the year had crept up on him before he knew it, there hadn't been any repeat performances from the Hufflepuff's much to Harry's disappointment, but he couldn't blame them; it had been difficult to even think of them without getting embarrassed. He had been finding himself thinking about them an awful lot as of late, he had always had fun when they were around but this was different, he was becoming more aware of them. Well of girls in general to be honest, he had always noticed the pretty girls, but he began to notice their lips or the way Daphne or Tracey would play with their hair while talking.
He had been on the end of some rather sharp looks from Daphne recently, Tracey seemed oblivious to any difference in him luckily, but Harry had cursed himself for not being more controlled. Even if Daphne was really pretty he still didn't know if he could really trust her, she certainly wasn't a bad person or anything, but she was far too sharp and disciplined for him to not notice.
He hadn't heard anything bad about her family, but she acted a bit like he expected the death eater children to act, well other than being his friend that was. She unnerved him more often than not, she was pretty and smart but he was used to those aspects of her, it was the subtle things that caught him off guard. He had noticed early on that she used Tracey as a way to drag conversation out of people and would listen intently to what was said, he just thought she was a little bit shyer than Tracey, but he knew it was on purpose.
But there were times when she seemed to react naturally, like when she learned an advanced spell, she had bounced up and down when she cast her first reductor spell. He had walked in on her and the other girls giggling like crazy one afternoon after he had been held up by Peeves. He had assumed they had been joking about him, girls were like that after all, his dad and Sirius were adamant about that.
Daphne was just different to his other friends and it made him a little bit uncomfortable, but he knew they were friends, and didn't think it was a good idea to push at his concerns. He had no desire to be at the wrong end of her wand, he had seen her pull off a few nasty spells in private.
The billowing smoke of the Hogwarts express dominated the small station, it made the two hundred or so students hard to distinguish from one another, Harry, Daphne and Tracey persevered though as this time they had agreed to find Susan and Hannah's compartment. Merlin knew that the train was more than long enough for the students, Harry assumed it was a way to torment students just before and after the school year, teachers could be evil like that.
Tracey stepped up to the train first and was stopped by a tall prefect, Julian Yaxley was standing in the corridor of the train looking past Tracey. Harry maintained eye contact with the older student, not wanting to show any sign of fear, no matter how much the prefect did scare him.
He had a good reputation within the house, but Harry figured that it was pretty easy if no one was brave enough to go against him. Tracey took an instinctive step back away from Yaxley and Harry felt Daphne stop short next to him.
Yaxley smiled a polite smile to them, Harry noticed his eyes were still their usual piercing gaze, not at all kind. "Here you go Davis." He said as he pulled his wand out and tapped her trunk, Tracey gave a small start and she lifted it up into the air easily. "I need to borrow your friends for a few minutes. Go find your compartment." He said commandingly.
Tracey seemed to be glued to the spot before Harry nodded to her, she darted off as Yaxley's eyes followed her for long enough to ensure she was out of earshot. Yaxley then decided to step off the train and stand into the doorway to talk to them.
"In Slytherin house we pride ourselves on our excellence, in all paths not just academic or extra-curricular." He began with a lecturing tone. "For generations beyond count we have selected those who stand out among the… others. This year it was my first year to select the two best students in the first year class. You two made it very easy for me."
Harry felt Daphne take a step forward as if forgetting who Yaxley was, Harry didn't take his eyes off him though. He didn't like the sound of any of this, as though he had been tested and examined by the older student, even if his father wasn't a prominent death eater it would unnerve him.
"For what purpose?" Daphne asked with eagerness, Harry knew she took great pride in herself, not in a bad way but she was aware of her talent and enjoyed it.
"We aim to produce the best wizard's and witches possible, not the most agreeable." Yaxley said, with a casual glance at Harry. "I could easily have chosen Malfoy and Parkinson if i had different goals." His casual smile at Harry caught him off guard, it was as though he knew exactly what Harry had been thinking.
"Is that all? You just want us to be the best and that's all?" Harry felt he let some bitterness leak out into his tone. Yaxley looked from him to Daphne and shrugged.
"I want you to help me and aid me in a mission I have, Slytherin house on the other hand want you to proceed out into the world with nothing but excellence. As our long history has been built on powerful wizards and witches who have changed the world." For better or worse Harry added mentally.
"You will gain valuable connections from this little group, you will gain knowledge years in advance for even you two. All we expect from you is to show up to a little gathering once a week, and to keep your classmates in line. We don't accept idiocy in this house." He said with a hard look at Harry. "Your squabbles with Malfoy will have to stop, even if you need to force him to stop. Too many points have been lost from that, it damages our reputation."
"I'm no bully." Harry replied hotly.
"I'm not asking you to be Potter, I'm telling you to put him in his place and be done with it. You two have the potential to lead this house into greatness when I leave in two years, I wont have you waste it over petty ideas of rivalry." Yaxley said passionately, Harry could almost think he was being honest with them.
"You mentioned a mission, what is it?" Daphne said in a calm tone that demanded an answer.
Yaxley gave her a small nod and a greedy look entered his eyes. "I did, glad you remembered, I want to make Hogwarts a better school. The best school. I lead by example and so will you. Our classes are poor and ill thought out, together we will drag Hogwarts into a better tomorrow."
Harry knew what the older boy meant, the end of year exams had been passed without any need for reading ahead or outside of class. It didn't bode well that Yaxley, a fifth year, shared his sentiment. He caught Daphne's eye and she nodded eagerly, he had known she would, would she join up if he didn't though.
Would she share what happened if he didn't agree to join, somehow he knew she wouldn't, she was already far too disciplined to do anything else. There was a small part of him that wanted to throw caution to the wind and accept blindly, he forced that down, a year in Slytherin had taught him much better than that.
"You speak the tongue of Slytherin Potter, perhaps the first in a thousand years to be a student in Hogwarts. There are secrets in Hogwarts many would kill for and you could have them all if you wanted. Don't waste the best thing to have happened in the school for generations." Yaxley said with a fervor that filled Harry. He hadn't considered that aspect of being a parselmouth much, sure it was cool but there were endless legends of Slytherin hiding secrets in the school. Daphne gave him a sharp look and nodded again.
He couldn't pretend he didn't like the sound of it, it would be lovely to know the kind of things Yaxley had promised. It almost sounded like his study group but with a more focused goal, worse company thought.
Daphne would accept regardless of what he said here, could he let her go into this pit of vipers alone? She was pretty; smart, responsible, untrustworthy, secretive and a friend. Either way Yaxley had a tie to him, it might be better to learn about him for himself. 'Keep you friends close, and your enemies closer' was the old saying. He nodded to Daphne.
"We accept." They said together.
The train hurtled through the countryside as the sun began to set in on the horizon, Harry felt a great deal of sadness engulf him as he watched his friends laughing and talking. Daphne and Tracey were his usual companions and he had no idea what two months without them there all day would be like.
Susan and Hannah were just so much fun to be around, even before the kisses they had shared, they were just bubbly and it was infectious. He would have no idea what he would do to pass the time this summer but he knew the four girls would leave a hole he hadn't expected.
As they got off the train and started to say their goodbyes to one another, after a great deal of promises to write and maybe visit each other, Harry found himself giving Tracey a hug. He caught his family out of the corner of one eye watching him, his dad was there too giving him a huge smile and a double thumbs up, he would have groaned but Tracey would demand to know why. He wasn't brave enough to tell her what his dad must be thinking. Daphne gave him a quick but not cold hug, it was just what he had expected. Susan gave him a longer hug, Harry blushed at the close contact, the last time they had been anywhere near this close had been something he would never forget. Susan had pointed out her aunt somewhere near his own family so Harry was surprised at the warmth she put into the hug.
He would have done anything to not have his dad and sisters see, well except for not getting the hug, he wasn't made of stone or anything. Hannah came up last of all, she was going home with Susan today as her family was busy working, at least that's what Harry thought gave her her boldness.
Her long warm kiss had taken his breath away and made him freeze still to the spot. The feel of her against him was exciting and horrible. Very aware of the eyes of his family on them from their vantage point, not to mention the gasp from Tracey. He could almost feel the cold indifference coming from Daphne.
When Hannah pulled away she winked at him and pulled Susan away to Mrs Bones at a run, they looked like they were laughing. Daphne stalked off quickly after, she had watched Hannah run off with no warmth in her blue eyes. Tracey looked between Harry, Hannah and Daphne then groaned and took off after her long time friend.
Harry groaned and slowly turned to see his family. His dad's grin seemed an echo of his own, try as he might to hide it. His mum and Jasmine were looking amused and giggling with each other, Rosie just seemed a little bit grossed out.
He could feel the spring in his step as he walked over to his family, no matter how embarrassed he was he really had missed them. And no matter how unbearable his dad would be he wouldn't mind it too much, after all the old man was just excited for him. He hoped so anyway.
AN: So there's the next chapter, Christmas and all that fun stuff made me delay it a bit, so I'm sorry about that. I really hope you like this one, I wasn't sure how I wanted some parts to go down, but I'm pretty content with how it turned out.
With the last chapter I didn't want to drag it on past the Potter kids getting their punishments, and a few of you commented on the lack of punishment for the other offenders. The way i did it might not have been ideal, but I'm not sure if it would have worked to fit it in without altering the feel of that chapter. If you have any thoughts on the matter I would love to hear them as I always strive to do better with my writing.
In saying that I know this story is labeled 'HPDG' so please don't worry, I hope I'm setting up something a bit more romantic with those two rather than casual interest with any other girls. Also a small update to fix major issues i put in the first time round... let's pretend I didn't mess the quidditch up, eh.
So as always Thank you all so much for reading. I appreciate the heck out of it. Please leave a review to tell me what you think.