Chapter Seventeen
"How was your Beltane?"
Draco sniffed. "Fine, I suppose. I do wish you had attended."
Harry didn't even bother pointing out he wasn't even invited to the Malfoy's for Beltane. Lucius had extended the invitation that first summer solstice then Lady Narcissa had done so for Yule. None of the three Malfoy members had done so for Beltane. It would have been rude if Harry had assumed his welcome continued past those two holidays, which were arguably mirrors of one another. Draco was very intelligent but he often ignored things that were inconvenient to his own way of thinking. Much in the same way that Lucius Malfoy did. (Which was another reason why he dreaded a formal alliance with the Malfoys prior to Draco himself ascending to Heir Apparent. As things stood currently, Harry would have to have any and all discussions of alliance with Lucius which was hardly a pleasing thought.) "How was your celebration?" Harry asked Vince rather than bothering to respond to the blond.
"Pleasant," Vince responded, a small smile uplifting the corners of his lips. "Greg and his father joined us. My uncle, Lord Alastair was able to attend. We had expected him to still be on the continent."
Zabini appeared suddenly on the other side of Draco and nosed his way into their conversation, as he was prone to do. "Lord Alastair Crabbe?! The Dueling Champion?"
"You're interested in dueling?" Harry questioned, bemused. Vince had spoken of his uncle several times last year and Harry had quickly discovered the man's skill. Not too many people were interested in dueling in the younger years, too busy obsessing over quidditch. He had only been able to have discussions over the esteemed sport with upper years like Helena or Cedric and Alec. Even Vince didn't much care one way or the other and he had been aiding Harry with some of his spells before Helena kind of took over his practical spellwork practices.
Whatever Zabini wanted to say in response was ignored when Goyle spoke first. "Lord Alastair performed first rights upon Lord Crabbe's request. It was a form of magic I haven't seen before and my own family celebrate Beltane every year. The entire feel of the magic was more palpable and his ritual words were different from what I'm used to. It gave the entire ceremony a certain weight I think has been lost to the general public."
"My uncle has always been a bit more traditional than the rest of us," Vince said as they continued towards the Great Hall for the welcome back feast.
As a non sequitur, Harry personally thought they had far too many feasts at Hogwarts for their own good. There was one the night before they left for each break, one upon returning, one for the few holidays they weren't allowed to leave school, one for the end of exams (which he had been told was rarely timed to coincide with the actual end of the school year), and occasionally ones following especially eventful quidditch matches. All and all it meant there was a feast every sodding month. It was a gross show of wealth and gluttony and Harry found it distasteful. "What's got you all sour-faced?"
Harry blinked at Blaise in confusion. He turned to Vince with an arched eyebrow in question. "You scrunch your nose when you're displeased," his ally informed him, pointing at his own face.
Harry scowled. "I do no such thing," he scoffed.
"But you do," Goyle confirmed with an easy smile, "Don't worry, the girls think it's cute."
This only made his scowl deeper.
Zabini snickered in a completely unbecoming fashion and Harry sent a nonverbal stinging hex at the git for his troubles. He raised his wand in warning to the others. "I do no such thing," he repeated, "The girls are barking mad and we shan't speak of their opinion of me in my presence any longer."
Draco looked completely unimpressed with his theatrics. "I'll remind you of that when you're trying to get information on a crush you have in fifth year."
Harry scowled at his blond ally. "And I'll remind you that I've decided I'm not marrying some silly girl. Much more trouble than it's worth, I'm sure."
Vince stared pointedly at him but thankfully kept his previous rebuttal to that particular discussion to himself. Harry knew very well the other boy thought the Dark Lord could potentially force the issue but his father had waited until he came across a Star before he decided to have an heir. He doubted the greatest wizard alive would allow Harry to settle for just anyone, much less one of the flighty girls that tittered about in their giggling packs. "Besides," Harry continued, "OWLS are much more important than courting."
This was met with several degrees of amusement from the surrounding crowd as they entered the Great Hall. He saw Cedric and Alec already seated at their Hufflepuff table, chatting animatedly. The younger of the duo threw back his head and roared in laughter. Harry was moderately dazzled by the flash of sharp incisors and the flush that stained Alec's cheeks. "Alright there Harold?"
He sighed, but didn't give Helena the benefit of a more pronounced reaction. When he turned to the brunette his face had morphed into the aloof smile of an Heir. "Helena. How was your Beltane?"
"Smashing, if you must know. It came as a surprise when I didn't see you at the Malfoy festivities. I was to introduce you to my aunt."
Draco sniffed pointedly at his place at the table and was summarily ignored. "Another time," Harry stated. He had no idea who Helena's aunt was (which was grossly inept of him considering how important she was to his standing within the hierarchy, what with Professor Snape being a pillock and all).
"I'll hold you to that then." Harry arched an eyebrow at her warning tone. He had said 'another time' and he was a man of his word, hardly one to say things for the sake of pacifying others (even Draco had learned that if he pushed Harry too far, he would be hexed for his troubles).
"Miss Dodderidge," came a familiar voice, "I do hope your time away was spent well."
Harry turned to see Percival Weasley standing only a few paces away, a pleasant smile on his face. "Percy," Helena nodded, a smarmy grin on her face. "Is it already time for rounds to be drawn?"
The boy looked mildly afronted. "Yes. As it is every year."
"Ah," Helena sent him a wink but followed after Percival without complaint, "It slipped my mind. Lead the way."
"What do you have planned for the afternoon?" Goyle asked as they all took their seats around the table. "It'll probably be our last weekend of freedom before everyone starts preparing for exams."
"Harry and I are going to catch up, aren't we Harry?" Draco cut in before anyone else could offer their own opinion.
Harry arched an eyebrow at the odd behavior. "I'd planned on going to Hagrid's for tea, actually."
"Perfect!" the blond smirked before turning back to his plate.
Harry passed a questioning glance to Vince who was normally the one to explain the blonde's eccentricities but the older boy merely shrugged and reached for the pumpkin juice. Deciding to take his lead, Harry decided to eat a little something before going to visit his friend. Hagrid was lovely but had probably the worst tea snacks Harry had the misfortune of discovering. They were very aptly named 'Rock Cakes' and lived up to that name twice over. But upon arriving to the Gamekeeper's hut it became apparent that something was amiss.
"Hagrid? Is everything alright?"
The normally jovial man was as pale as the moon and looked to be running on very little sleep. His beard was more unkempt than usual and even Fang hadn't jumped up when Harry and Draco paid the man a visit. Following the 'injustice' of Harry spending Beltane at Cedric's estate the blond had taken it as a threat to their future alliance and had been following around (i.e. stalking) Harry everywhere he went. This made it more difficult for him to sneak away to study with the upper years, a secret he still very much wanted to keep from his classmates. He hadn't gotten to the point where he would cast disillusionments or silencing spells on himself to sneak away but it was a near thing. Instead, he had taken the time to visit Hagrid more which turned out to be sorely needed. His friend looked progressively more worse for wear with every visit. "Oh. Nothing, nothing. How's yer classes been? Almost third years, yeh two are. Know which classes yeh want to take?"
Harry nodded at Draco to go first, for surely he would be the more robust explanation of the two of them and set back to enjoy his tea as the blond went into just why his elective configuration of Arithmancy, Divination, and Care of Magical Creatures was the best options for a future Head of House. Harry, having had upperclassmen from all four houses tell him that Professor Trelawney was ecentric to say the least and downright a waste of an elective to say the worse (Helena) was disinclined to believe the usefulness of taking Divination. Tactfully he kept this opinion to himself and instead tried to observe the mountain of a man before him. He had done some supplemental reading on each subject hoping to come up with a more informed decision as to what classes he would take. Honestly, he wasn't even sure what career he wanted to pursue when he graduated. Surely by then his father would be returned to power? At that point his career will be dependent on the monster's good will and honestly Harry would have little need for the proper credentials, despite his belief that he would need to be more qualified in comparison. (Alternatively he thought it rather odd that they would not have career discussions until fifth year when by that point they're stuck with whatever their thirteen-year-old selves thought would be the easiest classes to take.)
"What about you 'arry?"
Harry blinked out of his thoughts to notice that Hagrid was looking at him. "I think arithmancy and ancient runes are worthwhile pursuits of anyone wanting to understand more obscure magic. At the same time Care of Magical Creatures will be a boon if they teach Alchemy our fifth year and could only aid me in NEWTS potions. I can honestly find use in any of the offered subjects."
Draco rolled his eyes but had a fond smile on his face. "Meaning you would take every class if they would let you. Honestly Harry you're such a nerd."
"Who was the one that made a color-coded study chart for finals?" Harry asked with an arched eyebrow.
The two devolved into good-natured bickering and allowed Hagrid to go unquestioned about his strange mood (although not without Harry paying special attention to the man's intermittent tremulous hands). When they left the man's house Harry was sure that something was terribly wrong with his first friend. He decided that he'd spend more time with him to hopefully offer some solace (or more likely, be an eavesdropping ear to find out what the problem was and rectify it without the other knowing).
After having tea with Hagrid two days in a row with no closer to discovering what was bothering the man (and Draco stalking him to every one) Harry finally gave in and used a disillusionment charm to duck his blond ally's separation anxiety. It only took two days of using such a tactic before it became less than effective and Harry had to instead send Blaise to intervene (after offering him his notes for the third year Arithmancy curriculum he had managed to put together in bribe, as if the git wouldn't have gladly enjoyed taking up all of the blond's time anyway). Thus, Harry found himself quite alone and content in the library Thursday afternoon and interrupted anyway.
"Hey Harry!"
Harry glanced up at the chorus of shushes that rang out in the library following the call. Only one person was so bold as to actually shout in the library. "Alec," Harry greeted as the bloke came striding up in his usual dominating gait.
(Wearing quidditch robes at that. There was something especially distracting about the Hufflepuff colors to make all the blokes look fiendishly fetching in the tight leather trousers that they had adopted this season.) "Ya know Zabini, aye? He's in yer year?"
Harry's wandering eyes snapped to the topaz gaze of his acquaintance with a scowl flitting across his face. "Yes I am well acquainted with Blaise Zabini. What is it you need from him? I can guarantee any information you barter will not be worth the price it will cost you."
Alec just gave him that sharp-toothed grin that made Harry question if some of his ancestors had actually been dragons rather than simply watched over them. "I can handle myself around one serpent. I jus' need an introduction."
Harry rolled his eyes. Nothing good would come from someone getting an introduction to the Italian, but Alec was a year shy of his majority and was more than capable of fending for himself. If he insisted on entangling himself with someone like Blaise then it wasn't Harry's place to stop him. "I'll introduce you after you sit your OWLS. Cedric would jinx me if I gave you something else to focus on when you should be studying for Ancient Runes."
Alec's gaze blazed with mischief. It looked like fanned embers resided in the center of his irises. "Cedric worries too much but it's no matter. After our exams will be fine. Thank you whelp."
Harry scowled at that infernal nickname and outright snarled when all Alec did was ruffle his hair with an amused chuckle. What was it with the upperclassmen and giving him nicknames? Harry wasn't a difficult name to say and furthermore was pretty mundane as far as names went. He left it be when the Hufflepuff walked off with a wave. Alec had been raised amongst dragons and probably held no fear for adolescent monsters, especially ones so poorly trained.
Which only encouraged Harry to get into contact with his father and take steps to becoming a proper monster. He glanced back to the outdated copy of Hogwarts, A History that he found within the bowels of the library. It was in Old English and written in a calligraphy that made it a task to read but not difficult enough that he would need to actually check it out. Harry was hoping to find a more in depth mention of the Slytherin's Chamber within its contents, sure that any pertinent information had been edited out of the later editions.
So far it has been nothing but information about the towers and grounds. For instance it had been Lady Ravenclaw that had come up with the idea of the moving staircases. Harry thinks the woman must not have considered too heavily the potential pitfalls of this (such as students falling off staircases that moved as they were stepping off or onto it or the moving staircases making them late to classes as they would have to backtrack and try to find an alternate route). It was also of note that the Forbidden Forest had yet to receive its name in the thirteenth century. Harry was wondering if the name was only added following the ratification of the Statute of Secrecy and the reclassification of magical beings discussions that the Ministry attempted with little success. Probably around the same time as the goblin rebellions... That or the staff had done nothing when increasingly dangerous creatures had started residing in the forest and had instead closed entrance to students.
Making a mental note to research the topic at a later date Harry skimmed through the rest of this chapter. He only had about a half hour before Helena would show up to escort him to the dungeons so that they could train for the rest of his free period. This sodding curfew was seriously limiting how efficient he could study every day and it was really starting to irk. Harry needed to find his father's sanctuary and settle all of this 'enemy of the heir' business. He really didn't have any enemies among Hogwarts presently and if anything his father should be setting his sights on the headmaster. All of the students he had been petrifying up to that point had been nuisances if anything at all. The Dark Lord had had his fun and it was time to focus on the return of his regime once again. Harry would have to work tirelessly to implement some restrictions on the propaganda he utilized this time around and assure that he didn't burn the wizarding world to the ground in his attempt at conquest, intentional or not.
But before any of that could happen he would actually have to meet his father. Harry let out a weary sigh and hunkered down to continue his research.
A/N: I know it's been a long time coming but here are the rewritten chapters I promised last year. I'm posting a bunch of chapters all at once-- many of which have been rewritten and the last of which is an update. Because of this it might be helpful to reread at least from chapter 8 onwards where a lot of the additional scenes begin cropping up. That also means the author note will be identical for half of the chapters so every reader that's already started the story knows what's going on. I thank everyone for their patience.
Aerialas