A/N: No obvious statements here today. I've been thinking about the story and I'm going to do what all artists do when they feel they've taken an idea so far. I'm going to sonically-diversify the story. It's time for me to add some teenage drama into the mix. I hope you enjoy this next installment of the story, but remember the plot continues on...
Disclaimer note from ch. 11: I do not own the Characters: Seth Cohen or Summer Roberts, they belong to The OC, which is a great show.
Last Chapter: The infamous Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match, Gryffindor wins… Harry and Gregory have a minor bump but work it out. Everything is perfect?
A dull mist was pouring off the lake as the sun cast its golden rays upon Hogwarts castle. Birds of the forbidden forest could be heard on the grounds if one happened to be walking on them. The grass was covered in a light sheen of frost signifying that autumn was in full effect preparing the seasons for the coming of winter.
In the Great Hall the students of Hogwarts were enjoying their breakfasts as much as they could, depending on their outlook for the approaching lessons. Harry Potter was in a wonderfully delightful mood despite the fact that he knew they had a Potions exam later that day. Until that time came Harry contented himself with his eggs and bacon knowing full well that before Potions he had Care of Magical Creatures which always lightened his spirits.
Hermione Granger on the other hand was pouring over her Arithmancy notes and textbook because she had an exam during her first lesson. Overcome with her studying she failed to notice the owl that dropped off her morning paper, spilling a goblet of pumpkin juice on her notes.
"Wonderful, just wonderful…" she said, as she pulled out her wand to clean up the mess. "How is a girl supposed to study with all these ruddy owls distracting her?" Her question went without answer, not only because it did not require one, but Harry and Ron knew to leave her be when she studied in such frenzy. When breakfast was finished, Hermione said goodbye to the boys and hurried off to Professor Vector's classroom mumbling something about asking a question before the class started.
"Completely nutters that one is, y'know." Ron said to Harry as they left for their morning routines. This sent Harry to the grounds and Ron to Gryffindor tower. Harry was walking toward Gregory and Crabbe to join them for their walk to class, when someone pulled Harry aside.
"Oi, Harry, can I talk to you about something?" A tall, lanky, dark haired boy asked Harry. Immediately recognizing him as the announcer from the Quidditch match on Saturday, Seth Cohen of Hufflepuff, Harry acquiesced silently as they walked toward the grounds. "I was wondering if I might ask you about Demelza Robins. One of the chasers on your team." Seths aid politely.
"Yeah, what about her?" Harry asked, not understanding why Seth would ask him about Demelza. They were on the same Quidditch team, and had been in the same house for a few years, but Harry honestly knew very little about her.
"Well, I was wondering if maybe, you could set me up with her. We have a Hogsmeade weekend coming up, and I'd like to take her out, you know…" Seth left his sentenced entirely unfinished probably hoping that Harry would fill in any open blanks.
"Why don't you just ask her yourself Seth?" Harry posed the question as if this was the most obvious and rational thought in the world.
"I don't really know her, and I'm pretty sure that she doesn't really know me. We don't have many classes together, well any really and since she's on your team, I figured you'd be close with her." Seth noted,beginning to get a little worried.
"Well, I'm not close with her. All I know about her is that she's a great chaser, which is how she made it on my team. I don't even know if she's seeing someone else or not." Harry replied.
"I wanted to talk about that too." Seth said and then paused, hoping Harry caught on to what he was talking about. Harry only looked at Seth quizzically, and seeing that look Seth pressed on. "Right, well, here's the deal. Your next game is against Hufflepuff right?" Harry nodded, "and I want to go out with Demelza this weekend at Hogsmeade. I'll make a deal with you. I'll give you some tips on the Hufflepuff team; if you go on a double-date slash group hang with Demelza and me. How about it?" Seth finished looking absolutely satisfied with himself.
Harry thought about the offer. What could Seth possibly know that would help the Gryffindor team with the Hufflepuff match? Seth was in Hufflepuff, and this could probably be helpful, unless Seth lied to Harry. "Alright Seth, I'll think about it but I'm not promising you anything. First of all, how do I know that your advice will be sound? How can I be sure that you won't lie to me to help your house win?" Harry asked casually, not wanting to arouse Seth's suspicion too much.
"If you were to get me together with Demelza and we started dating, why would I want to see my girlfriend lose?" Seth answered poignantly.
"Hmm, right. So all I have to do, essentially, is introduce you to Demelza and endure this 'group-hang' and you'll give me insider information to Hufflepuff?But, what if you do date, then break-up before the game and then want to see your ex fail?" Harry rebuked him questioningly.
"Good point, well, I wouldn't do that for fear of the infamous Ginny Weasley bat-bogey hex, which I'm sure, is at your disposal... Just let me know soon, I'd really like to meet her Harry." Seth said, abruptly ending their conversation when they were at Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creature. Seth walked away from Harry without another word and joined his fellow Hufflepuffs. Leaving Harry to join Gregory and Crabbe as they settled in for another adventure into Hagrid's Most Dangerous Creatures!
After Care of Magical Creatures, Harry, Gregory and Crabbe were walking back toward the castle whenSeth hurried past them. He gave Harry a knowing nod as he hurried along to the Greenhouses. Gregory wondered what that was about, and was unsure of what it could mean,and decided to ask Harry. "What was that about Harry?" Gregory asked quietly.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, the lesson got started before I could. He wants me to introduce him to Demelza. One of the chasers on my team." Harry said before rapidly mumbling, "sohecantakeheronagrouphangwithmeathogsmeadethisweekend."
"What?" Gregory asked incredulously, "A group hang, this weekend? At Hogsmeade? I thought we were going to hang out?" Gregory was getting upset; it was supposed to be a nice day for them to spend away from Hogwarts, away from secrets and away from everyone else.
"I haven't told him that I would do it, alright, so calm down... Merlin!" Harry quickly replied, hoping to quell his significant other. "I want to hang out this weekend, but he's offering me inside advice to the Hufflepuff team…" Harry's sentenced trailed off when he saw the look on Gregory's face. "I'm sure it will only be in the morning, I'll introduce them, they'll hit it off and then I'll be free by lunch, easily." Harry added cheerfully.
"Well I don't like it." Gregory said finally, after staring Harry down for a few moments. The idea seemed innocent enough, but Gregory didn't want to lose any time with his aficionado. They only had little bits and pieces of time together when they weren't under the scrutinizing eyes of the students of Hogwarts. This was supposed to be their chance to get away from all of that. Gregory did not likethe idea of sacrificing his time with Harry, just for a Quidditch game.As they continued their walk into the castle, they remained silent until bidding one another goodbye before their next lesson.
Crabbe watched the boy's conversation silently. Why was Gregory so upset that Harry was going to be hanging out with that out-spoken Hufflepuff? Of course Gregory had been a little upset when he had been told that Crabbe and Millicent were going to be spending the day together and he would have to find someone else to go with. Gregory had other friends in Slytherin though, which was the reason why Crabbe hadn't felt too bad about spending the day with his girlfriend. It didn't make much sense that he would be upset that Gryffindor's Golden Boy was going to have other plans.Crabbe decided that he would have a few of Slytherin's younger witches spy on the boys later. With any luck he would be able to find one of the Weasley's Extendable ears for them to use as well.
Harry was feeling somewhat morose when he met up with Hermione on their way to the dungeons for Potions. Ron was either running behind, or already on his way down so Harry and Hermione went on without him. Harry explained to her what Seth had said, and then Gregory's reaction to the idea. He was feeling very affected by it. On one hand he could have another sure win at Quidditch and on the other hand he could have a magnificent day with Gregory. The weight of the decision was boring down on him and he wasn't entirely sure what to do. Harry felt torn between the two loves in his life; Gregory and Quidditch.
"This is a tough one Harry. My advice; try to just introduce Seth to Demelza, and don't bother with the group hang. They're pretty dull anyway… My friend Emily had me on one over the Holiday, it was terrible Harry, terrible." Hermione told him accentuating the last word vividly. Her advice was well intended but left Harry feeling as though he didn't exactly have a good bearing on the situation. This was not a good way to start the week.
During their Potions lesson, Harry tried his best to concentrate on the exam. This would have been easier if Gregory's words and expressed feelings weren't running through Harry's mind. The questions also seemed to taunt him as well, as though the words were pressing together to form the inadequate knowledge that was dancing in his head. When he finally finished the exam and turned it in to a smiling Professor Slughorn, Harry felt even more depressed than before, he was sure that he'd failed.
There was still more than fifteen minutes left in the classand Professor Slughorn decided to grade the examson the spot and hand them back to his students for review before their next lesson on Wednesday.When Malfoy was calledto the front of the class to hand out the graded exams, Harry felt a pang of fear wrap around his stomach. If Malfoy saw his failed grade then he would certainlybe openly ridiculed. The day seemed to be getting worse and worse for Harry.
Malfoywas passing out the exams rather slowand seemedsave Harry's for last. There was no way for anyone to prove this unless they had been following Malfoy around the dungeon watching his every move, but Harry was sure that he was about to be insulted. When Malfoy approached Harry, he simply smiled and handed the exam to Harry. Looking at his exam, Harry found that he hadn't failed, but he was only a few questions shy of it. Harry sighed with relief, glad that he had passed.Noticing that Malfoy hadn't returned to his lab station, Harry looked at the blond questioningly.
"Good job on Saturday Potter." Draco said quietly, "You did very well. Bad form on the exam though. I think you confused essence of lotebrush with jujube extract, although I think that's fairly common." Draco was being polite, and it wasn't forced either. Harry did not know what to think. Was Draco insulting him by being polite, or was this real? They hadn't spoken to one another during the term so far, and Harry wasn't exactly feeling sorry for that.
"Uhm thanks Malfoy… I think…" Harry replied, although his confusion overwhelmed his own sense to be polite and therefore seemed forced, rather than actually polite.
"Yes, well… Potter, might I have a word with you, after class?" Draco asked, rather suddenly, surprising Harry.
"I suppose… you're not going to jinx me are you?" Harry asked warily. In the years past, a meeting with Draco Malfoy only meant one of them left feeling worse than the other.
"No, not really… I mean, I hadn't planned on it anyway… well, uhm… right, after class then." Malfoy finally managed to get out, completely unlike the Malfoy Harry had known for all the years. Quickly returning to his table, Malfoy sat down, somewhat red in the face.
"What in the bloody hell was that about Harry?" Ron asked eyeing Malfoy suspiciously. "That bloody son-of-a-death-eater is going to try and curse you! WellI won't have it. I'll be there with you." Ron was getting excited. Perhaps there was going to be some action this year after all, Ron thought. To Ron a meeting between Harry and Malfoy would only mean curses and insults flying. He seemed to completely forget the fact that Draco Malfoy was as hated by the Death Eaters as he was.
"No, something's different about him, if you didn't notice. I'll be fine." Harry replied to his friend's excitement rather evenly. If he could help it, there would be no curses flying toward anyone during their meeting. Harry had learned how to befriend two Slytherins, one more would not be much harder, despite the fact that Harry and Malfoy had spent five years of their lives hating one another.
"I don't really like it either Harry, but, I trust you… so Ron and I will save you a seat at the table." Hermione told him, grabbing Ron by the arm when the bell sounded announcing the end of the lesson. As the students started to file out of the classroom Harry noticed that Malfoy was lagging behind. Harry cautiously approached his former rival, very grateful that Professor Slughorn was still seated behind his desk going over some papers.
"What is it Malfoy?" Harry asked solemnly, not wanting to sound callous, but certainly not wanting to seem too friendly.
"I was serious earlier, when I said congratulations Potter. You really did fly well." Draco started, as though he was trying to keep the peace between two warring countries. "Seeing that you did so well, I have a proposition for you. I want you to teach me how to fly as well as you do." Draco said in a very businesslike manner but before he could continue, Harry cut him off.
"Oh, alright Malfoy! For Queen and Country then I suppose." Harry said bitingly.
"Potter, I swear, you're impossible. And Goyle said that you weren't all that bad…" Malfoy turned to leave, but Harry stopped him.
"I'm sorry Malfoy, I didn't mean to piss you off." Harry said apologetically. "Please finish."
Eyeing Harry with a mix between anger, hurt and mistrust Malfoy continued, "In return for you teaching me how to fly better, I'll help you with Potions. You're not bad at the Practical side, but you're terrible at the Theoretical side. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Draco proposed, adding the last part with a whisper.
Harry thought about the proposition for a minute. Giving Malfoy flying lessons in return for Potions tutoring? What was this day coming to? Who else is going to approach me with a proposition? Returning his thoughts back to the matter at hand, Harry decided that it would probably be for the best to agree. Having Malfoy on his side, if not as a friend, but as someone who was not his enemy would be a healthy change of pace. Plus Malfoy was a Slytherin, which meant that he had more access to the Potions professor who was the Co-Head of Slytherin House.
"Alright Malfoy, I agree." Harry said, trying his best to sound cheerful, and mostly succeeded. He offered Malfoy his hand, to shake on the deal. Seeing Harry with his hand extended reminded Malfoy of the inverse to their situation five years prior. Perhaps their friendship was only delayed by the wicked hand of the universe. Having someone like Harry Potter as your friend would surely be useful, Malfoy thought.
"It's a deal Potter." Malfoy said as he shook Harry's hand, "And by the way, you didn't piss me off."
