"I dunno, but we've got no time to ponder the question. Don't look now, but King Midas and the full royal entourage are headed right this way."
The remaining four heads turned simultaneously to follow Ron's line of vision. And indeed, hideously decked out in his trademark checkered robes and lime green bowler hat was Cornelius Oswald Fudge, the not-so-esteemed Minister for Magic, at the head of a large party of assorted Ministry officials, many of whom were his own personal cronies. Fudge was grinning like a Cheshire Cat as he swaggered up to Harry's position and extended his hand.
"Well, now, if it isn't Harry Potter. Just the young man I've been looking for."
Chapter Sixteen: Mutual Insincerity - A Slight Understanding
Disclaimer: If you've seen it before, it belongs to J.K. Rowling. Otherwise, it's mine. Naturally, I'm making no money off this.
Harry glanced up to meet the conniving politician's eye, taking note of the slight hint of distrust that lingered beneath Fudge's otherwise amiable expression, though he was sure that the Minister for Magic was trying his hardest to hide it. It wasn't particularly hostile, unlike the complete loathing that the man had treated Harry with at the young wizard's court hearing during the summer before fifth year, but enough to tell him that Fudge was only treating him with civility for the sake of personal advantage. Or perhaps he simply had some reservations about approaching the young man that had killed nearly fifty people in less than half an hour just a few days prior. Harry didn't particularly care either way, rising effortlessly to his feet and bringing Cho up with him. He shook Fudge's proffered hand gently, a cynical smile playing at his lips. He was vaguely aware of Ron and the twins watching the exchange with curiosity.
"Good afternoon, Minister. How's the inspection going?"
"Very well, thank you. I just thought I'd drop by and ask how you're holding up after that whole mess with the train."
Harry took a moment to formulate his reply, instead glancing around at Fudge's sizable escort, which had just caught up to their position. As usual, he was flanked by a good number of Aurors. There were a total of eight guards, separated into two groups of four at the front and rear of the inspection party. Kingsley commanded the rear group, while the front was being held by one of the Minister's lead stooges, the stocky, powerfully built Auror Dawlish. Harry remembered with a twinge of anger that he was the one that had assisted Umbridge in attacking McGonagall and Hagrid the previous term. Casting aside the urge to slap the idiot grin off of the man's face, he looked over at the inspectors themselves.
As completely expected, Percy was standing right at Fudge's side, wearing his horned glasses and smiling sycophantically, parchment and quill ready at hand. Another face he recognized was Amelia Bones, Susan's aunt and the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Amos Diggory was also present. Harry noticed the bearded man's eyes darting between him and Cho, who was still languidly attached to his side, with a distinct frown. Bringing up the very rear of the array was Arthur Weasley, who looked for the entire world as if he would rather have been doing anything besides parading around with his errant son and Fudge. Harry was a bit surprised to see that Dolores Umbridge wasn't in the group. Apparently, the old toad had fallen out of favor with the Minister and his circle. A reporter and photographer for the Daily Prophet were present as well, keeping near the rear of the group. The rest of the task force was unfamiliar to Harry, who then deigned to answer Fudge's query.
"Well, things are as good as can be expected. I think getting back into the normal routine of school is helping to get us all through the shock of it. It's just still a bit hard to believe that he would actually attack the school train."
The Minister nodded fervently. Harry noticed several members of the entourage shaking their heads along with him. He considered the display to be entirely ridiculous. Naturally, he wasn't really all that surprised that Voldemort would stoop to attacking a train full of children, but said so anyway just to get past the formalities and find out exactly what Fudge wanted.
"Unthinkable, yes. Still, Dumbledore should have been prepared for such a thing. I can tell you that nothing like this will be happening again, though. There will be a full platoon of Aurors stationed aboard that train come the winter holidays, even if I have to come and assign them personally."
Harry nodded. It hadn't taken Fudge long to bring up the old man. He decided to flatter the bumbling fool a bit and see what came of it. Hopefully he could reach some sort of understanding with the man and thus gain a bit of leverage on Dumbledore within the school.
"It's nice to see that somebody's concerned for our safety. By the way, congratulations of getting all that new legislation passed the other day. It'll be certain to advance the overall war effort by leaps and bounds. You should have seen the looks on some of the prominent Death Eaters' children's faces yesterday morning. And I'd bet their parents are every bit as worried."
The Minister looked positively smug at the compliments. The Daily Prophet reporter furiously copied down Harry's comments, leaving the young wizard with no doubt that they'd be in the paper the next morning. In the end, this entire inspection was nothing but a glorified photo opportunity for Fudge. Harry noticed Arthur Weasley giving him an odd look, as if somewhat horrified to see him talking pleasantly with the Minister. He imagined that Ron and the twins bore similar expressions. Kingsley looked decidedly pensive as well, and probably had a better idea as to what Harry was actually up to. It certainly seemed as if this gathering would be a topic of conversation at the next Order meeting. That being the case, Harry resolved to really give them something to talk about. As he reflected, Fudge replied.
"Well, we've made quite a few mistakes over this past year. You wouldn't believe some of the things that I was being told. Constantly hearing that you were a liar and a delinquent and all that. Lucius Malfoy and that horrid Dolores Umbridge woman were entirely to blame, Harry. They were my most trusted advisors, and yet they knowingly deceived me. But I've realized the truth now, and we're prepared to do what needs to be done. Please, allow me to apologize on behalf of the entire Ministry of Magic for everything that we've put you through. I just hope that we can put it behind us and work together against our common enemy."
Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He briefly wondered how Fudge could even speak without choking on all the tripe that he spewed forth. He could hardly have expected the man to own up to his share of the blame for the Ministry smear campaign that Harry had been forced to endure, though. Not when there were so many others that it could be pinned on. Shit rolled downhill, yet another Muggle phrase that seemed to apply to the situation. Still, Fudge wasn't lying entirely. Malfoy and Umbridge had indeed likely led the man along by the nose. At any rate, Harry didn't particularly need an apology. He would wreak his own vengeance upon the Ministry in due time. But for the time being, he could only accept with a smile.
"Consider it forgiven. We all make mistakes, after all. I'm just glad to see that we're all finally on the same page."
"The feeling is completely mutual, my boy. Now, I hear that you have plans to enter the Auror Academy once you've finished your schooling here? I certainly hope so. The Ministry needs more fine and intelligent young men like yourself."
Now he was laying it on think, Harry thought. The fact that he was openly participating in this whole charade was almost enough to make him gag, but he recognized the importance of having the Minister for Magic in his corner. He had already stroked the man's ego as much as he could without being overly conspicuous, so he decided to finish off this little game by tossing the blustering politician a little gold.
"I appreciate the compliment, Minister. Now, would anyone in your party happen to have a quill and parchment that I can borrow for a moment?"
Fudge nodded with a smile.
"Of course. Percival, if you don't mind?"
Percy swaggered forward arrogantly and handed Harry a quill and a piece of parchment. Taking it with a barely disguised sneer, he wrote down a brief note for Gringotts and handed it to the Minister. Fudge's eyes shined with avarice as he read the writing. The man was practically beaming as he looked up to Harry for an explanation. The latter provided one.
"In light of the Ministry's new mandate concerning the seizure of known Death Eaters' bank accounts, I have decided to donate a sum of twenty five thousand Galleons from the Black fortunes to help fund the Auror department. I am the established lord of the family, after all. To my eternal shame, a great number of the Blacks choose to support the Dark Lord, either directly or in spirit. I offer this meager contribution as a means of compensation for their unworthy actions."
"We gratefully accept. I promise that your generous donation will be put to good use. Now, we had better be getting on with our investigation. It was good seeing you again, Harry. If you ever need any assistance, don't hesitate to let me know. Have a nice day."
With that, Fudge led his party off in the direction of the castle. Harry doubted that their investigation would amount to much of anything. He was left rather confident that he'd managed to tentatively secure the Minister's trust with his little display. The chance meeting also eliminated any compunction Harry might have held about putting Fudge out of the way once the man had outlived his usefulness. Harry had held just the slightest bit of faith that Fudge had genuinely turned over a new leaf. The gleam in his eyes upon seeing Harry's money order told the young wizard otherwise. The corrupt politico's song might have changed since the Department of Mysteries, but the overall act was still very much the same. That was all the thinking that Harry was allowed to do on the matter, as an empty water bottle impacted the back of his head and snapped him back into the world around him. He turned to find Ron and the twins looking at him as if he had grown a second head.
"What the bloody Hell was that all about, mate?"
"What are you talking about, Ron?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You and Fudge acting like long lost siblings or whatever. I thought you hated the Ministry."
Harry shook his head with silent laughter. He waited until the Minister and his cronies were long out of earshot before replying. He made sure not to talk much about his personal agenda, seeing as he hadn't yet directly approached Fred and George about joining him.
"I do, but it's important to have the idiot on our side for the moment. Voldemort is the largest and closest threat, and we need the Ministry to be actively against him. Besides, I won't have to worry about the old man's authority as much if I have Fudge's personal backing."
The twins seemed to sense his reluctance, and one of them said something that surprised him. Meanwhile, Harry slid back into his position against the spruce tree, again bringing Cho gently down with him.
"Oh, and don't worry about us. Ron told us everything the other night."
Harry returned the comment with a suspicious air in his voice.
"Told you everything about what?"
The other twin picked up the conversation.
"About you being against the old coot and all that. We're with you. Just a mite tiffed that you didn't tell us earlier. Merlin, even Bill knew before us, and you've talked to him like once."
"Quite a bit more than once. Actually, Bill knew about all this before anybody else. My friends at Gringotts had him training me over the summer. Your eldest brother packs one Hell of a Stunner. Damn near shattered my ribs once. He was also keeping an eye on the Order for me while I was away."
Cho interrupted him with a slightly annoyed voice.
"Harry, will you please take this bloody breastplate off already? It's making my neck hurt."
"You're the one who asked me to wear it in the first place..."
"Yes, so I could look at it. I didn't say that I wanted to use it as a pillow."
Harry shrugged and removed the armor, placing it at his side. Cho rolled her head over and began to examine the scene crafted onto the front. Meanwhile, Harry placed the letter from Voldemort back into his bag and sealed it. He discussed random things with Ron and the twins while Cho kept herself occupied with his breastplate. Soon enough, the sun began to wane in the sky. The trio of redheads rose to leave.
"We're taking off and leaving you two lovebirds alone, mate. Try and make it in for dinner this time, could you? We don't want to listen to 'Mione and Ginny complain about you not eating."
Harry smirked.
"I'm still pretty stuffed with tripe from all that garbage I told Fudge earlier."
"I hear you, but at least show up."
"Right, see you in the Great Hall."
And so, Harry was left alone with the distracted Cho. He played with the fringe of raven hair behind her ear, as she remained oblivious to the entire world around her. After roughly half an hour of this, he got a bit annoyed.
"Cho..."
He got no response.
"I'm off to the Astronomy Tower. I've got a date with the Patil twins and a bottle of chocolate syrup..."
She only hummed back.
"All right, you asked for it..."
Harry picked up Ron's empty water bottle from the ground and walked over to the lake. Bending over, he dipped the bottle under the surface and allowed it to fill. He softly cast a Cooling Charm, and then stalked quietly back over to Cho and dumped the chilled water onto her head. That got her attention. She turned and glared at Harry with a loud shriek.
"What in Merlin's name was that for, Potter?"
"Don't call me by that name, and I had to get your attention somehow. Was my breastplate really all that interesting?"
"It was, as a matter of fact. See, that's obviously you up in the center..."
Harry shifted his gaze over to where Cho was pointing. He didn't like where this line of discussion was inevitably headed.
"Indeed."
"So then, I can't quite figure out who the two girls standing on either side of you are."
"One's my secret girlfriend. You know, the one in Hogsmeade."
Of course, Harry had no intention of telling her that he really did have a girlfriend in Hogsmeade. Cho took it as a joke, and responded teasingly.
"And I suppose that the other would be Malfoy in a kimono?"
"That's not very nice, Cho. Just because his father likes to prance about the family manor in women's clothing doesn't mean that he does."
Cho laughed, her annoyance at being drenched seemingly forgotten. Her face turned serious again a moment later, though. Another of her instantaneous mood switches.
"But honestly, Harry. Do you know who they are?"
Harry sighed. She obviously wasn't going to be led off that easily. He didn't like lying to her, but he just couldn't risk losing either her or his other serious mate, Hitomi. They both satisfied him in different ways, though he couldn't quite describe what they were. He did know that he needed them both in his life. Some pieces of the complex puzzle that was Harry's life started to fall into place at that moment. The two beauties on the breastplate, along with the sun and moon shining together in the sky above them and the composite stone within his masterpiece wand. They all represented these two women. Everything else would make sense sooner or later, but he just needed to buy some time now.
"Not really. I would at least hope that one of them is you. I've been taking all of this mess as it comes. It's rather obvious that fate has quite a bit in store for me, and for us. Still, we can't waste time and energy worrying about discerning the future, not when we have so much to deal with just in the here and now. I really don't know about the other girl, but we'll just have to cross that bridge when we reach it."
Cho snorted somewhat indignantly.
"Must be rather nice for you. I'm the who'll have to deal with sharing."
"Don't be like that. You have a special place within my heart that nobody else can touch. Whatever comes to pass, that much will never change. That area remained yours even as it ached and bled from seeing you with Cedric Diggory. There's no need to doubt me."
Harry winced internally even as the words came out of his mouth. It was a low shot, albeit an unintentional one. He had always had that murmur of resentment about what Cho and Cedric had shared together, and this wasn't the first time that it had manifested itself. He could have kicked himself for letting that comment slip out. After a rather tense pause, she made a reply that he hadn't been expecting at all.
"It was the same for me, you know."
Harry blinked in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
Sparkling obsidian orbs bored into his forest green.
"Part of me only wanted to be with you, even while I was seeing Cedric. You have no idea how much it hurt me when I had to turn you down for the Yule Ball. If it weren't for my already having a date, I would have said yes in less than a second."
Harry laughed lightly.
"I'll never forget asking you out that day. Merlin, I must have looked so pathetic."
"I actually thought it was rather cute. Though I will admit that it became a bit annoying when you still couldn't even hold a conversation with me a year later."
"Well, I was good enough at shouting at you..."
Cho snuggled up against him again with an amused smile.
"You know, I'm glad that we're having this talk. I've needed to say this for awhile, Harry. I'm really sorry about the way things turned out with us last year. I was such a mess. That part of me still wanted only to be yours, but the rest just felt so horrible about even considering moving on from Cedric. Even while I kissed you before winter break, that other part of me was tearing up at my supposed betrayal. But I'm past all that now. I'll always cherish Cedric's memory, but I don't think that I could honestly say that I ever truly loved him."
"How does that work? If you didn't love him, why was it so hard to move on?"
"It's hard to explain. I mean, don't get me wrong. I liked Cedric a lot. He was really sweet and devoted, and always put my happiness in front of his own. He tried so hard for me. I think that he probably loved me. He was also everything that my father wants for me. Cedric was handsome and intelligent, and he came from a respectable and connected family. The perfect catch for the daughter of a family looking to climb onto the first rung of the social ladder. So, it was for good reason that part of me thought that I could have a perfect life with Cedric Diggory. But despite all that, I could never bring myself to genuinely return his feelings. And believe me, I tried. But I couldn't help always kept thinking about you."
Harry's reply came more as a statement than a question.
"And you hated yourself for that."
Cho nodded in the affirmative.
"I felt like such a terrible person. Every day while we were together, Cedric would tell me how much he adored me and how happy I made him. I never once said anything like that back to him. When he came back from the Third Task dead, all I could think about was how he had been so singularly dedicated to me, and that I had done nothing but betray his feelings the entire time. And even then, that part of me still only wanted to run over and jump into your arms. I was just so hurt and confused, and I ended up trying to use you as a crutch. You deserved better."
"You don't need to apologize again. I understand."
And he honestly did. Funny how he had just blurted out the comment about Cedric in a hurried attempt to change the subject of conversation, and had wound up with a much better understanding of Cho as a result. Deep in the recesses of his mind, he had always known that he would have to have this discussion with her before things got too serious between them. It had gone better than he had expected.
"You know, you've really grown up."
Harry shrugged lazily.
"Haven't really had any other choice. It seems like all the pressure in the world has been piling right onto my shoulders lately."
"But you aren't alone, Harry. You know that, don't you? You have all of your friends, and your ancestor's former helpers, and even Dumbledore and the Ministry if you really need them. And you have me. You have the support of the entire magical world. So don't try to take everything on by yourself. I might have made it past Cedric's death, but I'm pretty sure that I couldn't bear losing you."
Instead of responding verbally, Harry just pressed his lips against hers.
[Content removed
His good mood carried over into the following morning, as he lounged about in his four poster bed. Cho had abandoned the Ravenclaw Table at supper the previous night and gone over to sit next to Harry. The move had earned her a sharp glare from Marietta Edgecombe and jealous stares from several of the Gryffindor girls. Thankfully, the faculty's resident ninja had chosen not to partake of a British supper. Actually, Harry hadn't seen her at the Head Table since breakfast on the first day of classes. She had apparently dawn her conclusions about Hogwarts cuisine quickly. Nobody had spoken a word of the episode with Fudge during the mealtime conversation, having a silent understanding that it would be much better to let everybody else see it in the Daily Prophet, where it would likely be a feature story.
Having two of her most difficult classes to contend with the next day, Katie had excused Harry from their morning practice during supper. Harry only had Transfiguration himself, but that alone was sure to be a daunting chore. McGonagall was a slave driver in her regular classes, so her advanced course was likely to be nothing short of barbaric. At least he didn't have to deal with trying to drag Ron out of bed early. And so, with a full night's sleep under his belt, he rose to face the new day. The rest of his dorm mates with the exception of the aforementioned redhead, who was still sleeping like a stone, were likewise getting out of bed. Figuring that none of them would be any good for a conversation for at least a half an hour, Harry went to take his morning shower.
Once clean, he rifled through his trunk for something to wear. He was on the withdrawing of getting out another set of generic Hogwarts robes when he changed his mind. Harry took out his gold and sapphire blue yukata, a favorite that he hadn't worn since the morning of Padfoot's will reading, as well as the requisite straw sandals and kodachi. He briefly mused that he had some sort of death wish, being out of school uniform when he had a class with McGonagall.
Harry got a few odd looks for his unorthodox choice of clothing upon reaching the Great Hall for breakfast. He paused only to sneer at the Slytherins in the room, silently daring any of them to speak up on the subject. Not a single one of them did. Dumbledore seemed to find his choice of clothing to be extremely amusing and flashed him a twinkling smile. His friends from his own house had yet to arrive. Blaise was up early, but Harry didn't quite feel like going over to sit there. He didn't quite have enough of an audience to make raising that particular ruckus worth his while. Nowhere to go, he just reclined down at the Gryffindor Table and grabbed a bagel from one of the serving trays. The hot meal wouldn't be served for a few minutes yet.
Cho and a group of her friends came in presently. Harry caught her eye, and she nodded towards an empty space at her house's table next to where she was just then sitting down. He felt that he owed her the favor, and it couldn't do any harm to chat up a few of the Ravenclaws. Besides, the sneak was sitting nearby, and he might get a chance to take a couple of digs at her. He lazily slid into the indicated spot on the bench.
"Morning, beautiful. Early breakfast?"
"Had trouble sleeping."
"I tend to have that effect on people."
A few of Cho's girlfriends giggled. It annoyed Harry a bit, but he said nothing. Increasingly more people were filing into the hall, and the early morning dishes started to vanish from the table with the more traditional breakfast foods taking their places. Michael Corner sat down across from the pair.
"Now, forgive me if I'm mistaken, but something seems to be a bit out of place here. What's the shining hero of Gryffindor Tower doing sitting with a bunch of lame bookworms like us?"
Harry replied with a flippant tone. He had expected the boy to bring up the DA again. Harry really didn't care to waste his time teaching the better part of the student body basic spells when Alastor Moody was there and far more than qualified to do the job, but he would condescend if the demand were great enough. He would have enough trouble with trying to train his own squad when they were selected without having to schedule DA and keep the former group secret from the remainder of the latter.
"Well, none of my esteemed housemates seem to have dragged their arses out of the bed yet. It was either you lot or the serpents. Difficult choice, but here I am. Besides, the scenery is a lot nicer over here."
Harry slung an arm around Cho as he spoke the last sentence. She puffed up in mock indignation.
"So I'm just a decoration, is that it?"
"That and a damn fine snogging partner. You all wouldn't believe some of the things this girl does with her tongue. Positively brilliant, definitely worthy of a Ravenclaw mind."
Cho blushed crimson, while some of the male members of her house laughed heartily. Harry spooned out a large bowl of oatmeal and poured a copious amount of honey on top. An older boy that he had never spoken a word to glanced over his Japanese robes and ventured a comment.
"Nice threads, Potter. You mind telling me where you got 'em?"
"These were a gift from a family that I stayed with over the summer. I have a whole set besides just these up in my dormitory. If you're really interested, some acquaintances of mine have just opened up a Japanese robe shop down in Hogsmeade. All the work is tailor made, so it's probably expensive. I might check the place out myself next time we're allowed to visit the village. See if they've got some new designs or whatever."
Corner couldn't resist taking a jibe.
"So many great snogging spots down there and you want to go look at robes. And they call us Ravenclaws boring. Honestly, Cho. What higher power did you offend to get stuck with this one?"
Harry sneered jokingly back at him.
"Trust me, Corner. I know all about the snogging spots. Ginny kept trying to talk me into going with her all last year. Said you weren't taking good enough care of her. Shame that she's my best mate's sister. She's got one Hell of a tight arse. Girl's grown up quite nicely."
Marietta Edgecombe finally had gotten angry enough to jump into the conversation. Harry had been making the somewhat chauvinistic comments mostly to bait the little snitch.
"Merlin, Potter. You are such a pig. Go back over and sit with the Gryffindorks where you belong. You have no business being in civilized discussions like we have at this table."
"Marietta, darling. You break my heart. Hasn't anybody ever told you that it's quite rude to sneak into somebody else's conversation?"
The girl blazed with anger as most of her housemates snickered at her. Whatever popularity she had once held within Ravenclaw House had seemingly turned to dust after her betrayal of the DA and Fudge's subsequent admittance that Harry had been telling the truth all along. All she could do about it was rise to her feet dramatically.
"You know, I think I've just lost my appetite."
The sneak stormed out of the Great Hall in a huff. Nobody seemed to sympathize with her at all except for Cho, who have Harry an annoyed look.
"That wasn't necessary. You know that she's one of my friends, Harry..."
"I didn't start it."
The Chinese girl nodded and let the whole issue slide at that. Harry figured that she really wasn't all that close with Marietta at this point either, and had thus only made a brief show of taking up for her. He then noticed Luna Lovegood sitting down at the far end of the table and would have gone over to greet her, but the morning papers chose that moment to arrive. Harry absentmindedly resolved to start up a subscription to the Daily Prophet, just so that he wouldn't have to keep borrowing from everybody else.
The front page article detailed Fudge's visit to Hogwarts, as expected. The main photograph was of Harry shaking hands with the Minister out on the grounds. Cho was also in the picture, Harry's other arm wrapped around her waist. He hadn't seen the photo being snapped the previous day, but hadn't really been paying much attention either. Harry's comments were also featured, along with those of Fudge and some of his lead cronies on the inspection team. Thankfully, Harry's words hadn't been twisted or modified in any way. The tone of that particular piece of journalism was centered on praising the Minister's efforts and bringing notice to his newfound friendship with the wizarding world's young hero. Thus, the typical shots at the old man were largely absent. Some of the interior articles might have taken a more venomous tone, but Harry didn't bother to read them. He instead rose to leave for McGonagall's class, getting a quick kiss from one of his two distinct significant others on his way out.
Upon reaching the Transfiguration classroom, Harry quickly took a seat near the back. Hermione came in a moment later and took the seat immediately to his right.
"Why weren't you sitting with us at breakfast, Harry?"
"None of you were in there when I arrived. Besides, it doesn't hurt to make a few friends in other houses."
"That's true. I can't help but wonder what exactly we'll be doing in here this term. I know that Dumbledore has instructed the entire staff to focus their upper level curricula entirely upon related dueling techniques. You wouldn't believe some of the things that can be done with Transfiguration in combat. Oh, and by the way...you're out of school uniform, Harry."
"I prefer to think of it as showing my appreciation for other cultures."
A gratingly familiar drawl answered him.
"Well, I prefer to think that you look like a bloody idiot. Been showing off for your little chink girlfriend, Potter?"
Harry didn't even bother turning to look at the ferret. Draco couldn't possibly damage him, even if he somehow managed to get a spell off without Harry or somebody else in the class taking him out first. After the encounter on the train, the young dakaathi hybrid considered himself to be far above needing to treat a suckling like this little rodent as any sort of actual threat.
"You're in this class, Malfoy? I find it rather surprising that you actually earned the required marks. After all, it would be rather difficult for your father to have bribed the examiners from Azkaban. Perhaps your mother whored herself out to them instead..."
The shots at the boy's parents had the typical effect. Draco reached into his robes for his wand. Harry still hadn't even deigned to cast him a glance, but another new arrival interjected into the situation.
"Put the bloody wand down, Malfoy. He's just going to beat your arse...again. Haven't you made our house look bad enough already?"
"Stuff it, Zabini. This is none of your concern."
"Fine. Get sent to the Hospital Wing, then. I couldn't care less. Looking around, I doubt that Potter would even need bother fighting."
Harry inclined his head over towards the class, more out of curiosity than anything else. Hermione's wand and nearly a dozen or so others belonging to various members of all four houses were trained singularly upon the platinum-haired Slytherin. Given that he had no potential support within the room, Draco was left with little choice but to back down. He stalked angrily over to the other end of the room and took a seat as far away from everybody else in the class as possible. Harry instead gave his attention to Blaise, who took the seat to his other side, rather indiscreetly sliding the desk up against his and leaning over onto him. Her more than ample breasts found themselves nestled snugly against his shoulder, the bone jutting into her cleavage from underneath her robes. Her two counterparts were likewise sitting in a pair of desks in front of them, both looking at him. Blaise spoke to him in a flirtatious cooing voice. It took almost all of his restraint not to throw her on the desk and fuck her right in front of the entire class.
"You've been avoiding us lately, Harry. You haven't spoken a word to us at all since the train..."
He hadn't intended to forget about them, though he could see where the idea came from. He noticed Hermione scowling at the three seductive Slytherins from the corner of his eye. Before he could get a word in edgewise, Professor McGonagall entered the room carrying what looked to be an ornate bowl filled with a strange substance. Harry felt a certain power radiating from it. He had no idea what it had to do with the course material, but he couldn't help but feel that this was going to be a most eventful lesson.
(End Chapter Fifteen)
Author's Note: I got this one out more or less on the schedule that I had hoped for. Some really mild physical stuff for the Harry/Cho people. I didn't really think I even needed to bother with the warning, but I'd much rather err on the side of caution. This chapter didn't seem to flow together as well as I would have liked, and it was paced rather slowly. Still, it got some things accomplished, especially on the relationship front. Since my shipping will actually factor heavily into other things later, it's important for it to be done properly. Now, I'm going to try and answer a few of the more common concerns that I've been hearing lately.
Zharrghast: Yes, I know that a lot of people think that his presence overcomplicates things. I might agree if I were reading the story. However, he is going to play an important role late in the plot, so he's there for a reason. As to whether or not he'll ever get control of our hero, you'll all just have to wait and see.
Albus: Harry won't be killing the old man, at least within the currently planned scenario. That's not to say that he isn't going to die. He might and he might not, but it won't be Harry sticking the proverbial knife into his back. I like Albus Dumbledore as a character, despite the way Harry views him in this fiction. If he meets his end later on, it will be in a fashion worthy of his heroic character.
Flying: I haven't made Harry able to soar because his wings were never really meant for it. They serve a decorative purpose and are a standing symbol of his dakaathi heritage. The wings aren't physically powerful enough to hold his comparatively hefty form aloft. Remember that he has the overall build and thick bone structure of a human being.
I have a new story out that I hope some of you will take a look at. Next chapter for that should be up later this week sometime. Until the next update, everybody. Don't forget to review, I really appreciate it.