Here we go, another Chapter! I think this is the best one yet. I hope you guys like it, especially the snape part (spoiler, not really).
Please enjoy, and most importantly review, they really help to fuel my creativity.
Chapter 4
"So Daphne guess what? My mother sent me a letter yesterday, asking if I'm going to come back for the holidays or stay in school. Apparently, there's some event this year that…" Tracey faltered off, as she realised her best friend's attention was somewhere else.
"DAPHNE!"
Daphne turned her head so fast she heard it crack as she looked to her best friend.
"Damn Tracy, why the hell are you shouting so loud?"
"Because you weren't listening to me. Again! What did I even say?" she replied exasperated.
Daphne looked guiltily at her friend, stammering as she answered-"You wanted to know what to get me for my birthday?"
"Nice try, but no. Also, your birthday isn't for another six months; really you should be wondering what to get me", she smirked. "So what were you so concentrated on, that you couldn't listen to me for."
"Nothing! My mind was just wandering", she replied looking down at her food as she spoke.
"Yeah well, we both know that's not true. You were looking at Potter when he came in. You've been doing it for the last three weeks. Is this because of the little crush-" her face smiling in excitement.
"NO!" she shouted causing many of her housemates to look at the two girls. Lowering her voice to a whisper she continued, "I definitely do not fancy Potter. It's something else."
"Well, what is it then?" Tracey asked curiously.
"Ok, a few weeks ago, do you remember when Malfoy pissed us off?" she inquired.
"Daphne, you're going to have to be a little more specific than that. Malfoy manages to piss me off on the daily", Tracey responded.
"Good point. It was when we were on the couches doing our work and he came and annoyed us, then I went to the library."
"Ohh yeah!", she replied in realisation. "But what has that got to do with Potter?"
"I'm getting to it", Daphne answered impatiently. "So I head to the library, and I see Potter, without Granger or Weasley with him."
"Well, that isn't surprising. Everyone's noticed that those three have some underlying tension going on. Look at their table now" she said, discreetly pointing to the Gryffindor table.
And sure, enough as Daphne watched, she saw Potter conversing with the Weasley twins and their friend Lee Jordon instead of his other friends.
"Oh, I do see it now. Anyway, while he was there, I saw him with a sixth-year defence textbook, which got me interested, so I followed", Daphne continued.
"Stalker" Tracey interrupted fake coughing at the same time, causing Daphne to punch her in the arm.
"Shut-up," Daphne said, a small smile on her face. "So, I start following him, and he goes to this really isolated corridor on the third floor, and the next thing I know, he's disappeared! And there was nowhere else he could go."
"That is interesting actually. Also, why is Potter using such advanced textbooks?" Tracey asked.
"I don't know. But I'm going to find out."
"I can't believe McGonagall gave us another essay", Ron whined as the trio walked out from their latest transfiguration lesson. "Even Hagrid gave us homework yesterday. Since when have the teachers been so mental?"
"Maybe, if you stopped procrastinating and playing chess all the time, your workload wouldn't have been so bad. I take more subjects than you, and you don't see me complaining," she retorted, walking down the stairs towards the charm classroom.
"We can't all be like you, Hermione. I need to unwind after the day, and the teachers expect me to still be focused enough to do my homework. It's unfair," Ron moaning once again.
Harry remained quiet, throughout the encounter. He didn't want, Hermione to bring up the fact that he had finished all his homework on time. It would only cause Ron to go into another whining session and he really wasn't in the mood for it today. He had slept late because he had practiced a lot last night and with having another nightmare he couldn't make sense of, he had gotten virtually no sleep.
However, he was proud of his progress in all of his subjects. He had added numerous spells to his memory and was now attempting to perfect them. He had progressed weeks ahead of his classes for charms, defence and transfiguration. For his other subjects, he had also seen an improvement. The continuous reading of his textbooks meant he was confident in his runes and Herbology theory. But obviously Snape was the only outlier. The man still tried to pick on Harry at any possible moment. The only reason he was actually getting better was due to Daphne's help.
His mind focused on the blonde haired girl. She confused him immensely. Sometimes she was pleasant with him, occasionally making a joke during their time in potions. Other times she could be quiet and withdrawn. But, he had started to draw a pattern to her moods. It was usually when he swerved questions about his previous years. Harry felt like she knew a lot more about him than she was letting on, but wanted to hear the truth from his mouth.
He was knocked out of his reverie, by the sound of the bell, signalling for the start of class. Walking into the charms classroom, he walked to his seat, where his partner- Ernie Macmillan was waiting. Professor Flitwick had also made the students partner with different houses in the spirit of inter-house cooperation. He didn't mind the Hufflepuff, even though he could be pompous sometimes, reminding him of the boy version of a Hermione.
The short professor stood on his chair, getting the attention of the class. "Today, we will be practicing the 'accio' charm. A treat, since we've had so many theory lessons this week. Now can anyone tell me what the charm does?", the professor asked.
Harry smiled at the question. He had just practiced this spell a few days ago and knew it pretty well. Few hands rose at the question, obviously including Hermione's who had shot up before Flitwick even finished the question. Maybe just this once, I'll try to show-off a bit. Harry raised his hand as well.
"Mr Potter? Well, this is a surprise indeed. So can you tell me what the charm does", the professor inquired.
"The charm is used to summon objects sir", Harry responded.
"Good work Mr Potter! Now for five points could you tell me the limitations of the spell?", he probed wondering how much he knew.
"It can't work for exceptionally large objects, or be used to summon a living creature. However, the more powerful the person is, the larger object they could summon", Harry answered, not noticing Hermione's annoyed stare at his correct answers.
"Mr Potter you are right once again. Now since you're on such a roll, why don't you try to attempt the spell on those cushions? Do not worry if you can't do it. It takes quite a few tries to get it right. Remember the incantation is Accio", Flitwick questioned once again.
Looking at the cushions, Harry took his wand out from his robe and pointed it at them. Taking a deep breath, he muttered the incantation. The pillow shot straight at him, which he caught easily, his seeker reflexes coming into play.
The professor almost fell off his chair as he clapped in excitement. "Amazing Mr Potter! Absolutely wonderful. Take ten more points for Gryffindor. Now everyone else, you have the rest of the lesson to try."
Harry sat for a few minutes watching the rest of his classmates attempt the spell. The professor then proceeded to call him over for the rest of the class, entertaining Harry with his mother's charm work and father's pranks.
Other than Harry, Hermione was the only one to succeed with the spell, five minutes before the end of class, awarding her five points. But this didn't make her happy at all. She may have done it faster, had she not kept focusing her attention on Harry's chat with the professor.
"Harry can I ask you a question?", Hermione asked, interrupting Harry from his homework in the common room. She had been surprisingly quiet during their work, waiting until Ron had gone up to the boy's dormitory before posing her question.
"Sure Hermione", he responded, putting his quill down.
"How were you so quick in doing the spell today? It was the first time we ever attempted it, and you were so good. On your first try as well!", she asked, in a slightly demanding tone.
"What do you mean Hermione?", he responded, knowing fully what this conversation was about.
"Come on Harry, you know exactly what I mean. You're not usually the first one to get a spell in class." Harry swore he could hear some condescension in her voice.
"I had just read ahead before class. Nothing unusual about that since you're always doing it", he replied, trying not to get annoyed.
"But that still doesn't explain how you were able to do it so fast. I'm just suprised you got it before anyone else because it usually takes you time-"
"Oh, because you're always first," Harry said angrily, cutting her off. This was the same attitude that had been annoying him for the past few weeks; that she wouldn't be able to deal with real competition.
"I didn't say that Harry. I'm just wondering because you've been acting so strangely. It's just a question," she retorted, flustered at Harry's angry response.
"I don't Hermione. Maybe beginner's luck. I've been known to get lucky from time to time," he said, shooting her a 'you-know-what-I-mean' look.
"Alright Harry, if that's what you say," she replied unconvincingly. "I'll go to bed now." She walked up the left staircase, disappearing behind the door.
Unable to concentrate on his work after she had angered him, he rolled up his parchment and stuffed it into his bag. Looking around the common room he noticed he was the only fourth-year left. He thought about going to training but decided he needed a break after three weeks of work. He was about to go up to his dormitory, when he noticed the Weasley twins in the corner, arguing about what was written on a parchment.
"No George that just won't work, Filch is bound to catch us then."
"And since when have we cared about dear ol' Filchy boy catching us Freddie?"
"Catch you guys doing what?" Harry said, smirking as the twins tried to hide what was on the paper.
The brothers looked at each other, and with some special mental twin code they must have, grabbed each of Harry's arms yanking him down to them.
"Listen, Harry, can you keep a secret?", Fred asked, or was it, George?
"Yeah sure. So what are you guys up to?" he whispered.
"A prank on our favourite caretaker", George replied. "We're planning on sneaking to the store room right next to his office, the one where he keeps all his favourite equipment in-"
"-Then, we're planning to charm it in a way that every time he tries to grab one, it flies away from him", Fred continued, perfectly continuing the conversation from his brother.
"That sounds brilliant!" Harry exclaimed, laughing at the thought of it.
"You think that's brilliant. Merlin, Fred what an easy audience we have. That isn't even close to our best pranks", George responded.
"Easy audience? You think I'm just some mediocre prankster?" he smirked challengingly.
"Ooo does lil Harrikins think he can best us in pranking. Since you're always on your little adventures, we just assumed you weren't any good at it", Fred replied, raising his eyebrows to the challenge.
"Yeah! do you have a better plan?", George asked.
"Wait here!", he said as he jogged to his dormitory. He came back a few minutes later to the twins, holding a thin file in his hands.
"Now, since you let me into one of your secrets. I think I can let you into one of mine," Harry whispered. "Remember a certain special map you gave me?"
"The Marauders' Map!", the twins said simultaneously.
"The original pranksters of Hogwarts", Fred added, giving a salute at the same time.
"Well, the map was actually made by my father and his friends. My dad was Prongs."
"Your father was the original maker of the map. How do you even know that?" George inquired.
"That's a long story, involving a mass murderer, traitor and werewolf. So, in other words, I'll save it for another time."
The expression was the funniest thing Harry had ever seen, constantly changing between awe, bewildered and terrified.
"Well, Harry m'boy. Tell us your idea."
Harry started to explain his plan. Pulling the file out which he had grabbed from the folder of his dad's school records. This was one of the only pranks in the folder that had been explained in incredible detail with the actual spells that were used. Harry watched as the twins' grins grew bigger the more he explained the prank.
"Well breakfast tomorrow will certainly be interesting", the twins said, as the three boys walked out common room to plan their joke on someone special.
The next morning, Harry and George waited in the Great Hall, watching as it started to fill up with students. Fred was waiting outside, making sure the preparations were intact and working.
Hermione and Ron came in a few minutes later, sitting by Harry. "Harry how come you came to breakfast so early?", her voice gave nothing away to the small fight the friends had the night before.
"Oh sorry, guys. I woke up early and was starving so I decided to come down earlier."
Hermione nodded and started eating her food. For a few moments, the hall was its usual atmosphere, the clinking of cutlery and laughter of students as they talked with their friends. That was until complete pandemonium broke out.
Ten suits of armour marched into the Great Hall in a militaristic fashion, with one of the knights walking forward to speak. Harry, and the twins made sure they had the same face as the other students, acting shocked at the 'surprising' turn of events. Fred snuck in during their entrance, subtly sitting next to his brother while the attention was focused on the suits of armour.
"Hello, students and teachers of Hogwarts. Usually, we save our songs and speeches for Christmas carolling. But this time we cannot wait because we have written a poem for a very special person –Professor Snape." At the mention of his name, numerous students started to laugh awaiting the poem to come. The suits of armour stood in a line, and together starting singing:
We all know a professor, whose hair is very greasy,
And sometimes it can smell downright cheesy.
Now if he was so good at potions,
You'd think he make a good enough hair lotion.
Now before our poem comes to an end,
There's one more thing we'd like to recommend.
Give that man a shower,
For the benefit of the entire Hogwarts tower.
The entire Great Hall burst into applause and laughter at the poem, even members of the Slytherin house were in fits of giggles. The suits of armour bowed to the applause, then once again walked out in a military fashioned march.
"POTTER! TEN WEEKS OF DETENTION FOR YOUR BEHAVIOUR, AND ONE HUNDRED POINTS AS WELL!", Snape screamed, walking down to the Gryffindor table, his face red with anger and embarrassment.
"But sir, I didn't do anything. Where's your proof?", Harry replied, not knowing how he was keeping a straight face as the entire population looked to face the confrontation.
"You think I don't know where you got the idea for the prank?", he seethed. "I could get you suspended for this."
"Now Professor Snape, I do not think you can give those detentions or take away those points", McGonagall interfered, walking down from the staff table. She was acting in a head capacity as Dumbledore had been away for the past few days, not being seen at any of the meal times.
"Minerva, we've both seen this prank before, only with the boy's father doing it then", Snape whispering this time, but still loud enough for Harry and a few neighbours to hear.
"And as I recall Severus, you didn't have proof then, and you don't have any now either", she replied, her voice firm and unwavering.
Snape looked like he was going to reply with several scathing remarks but remained quiet. Shooting a murderous glare he could at Harry, he walked out the Great Hall.
The Great Hall once again laughed at the scene with people patting Harry's back, asking how he did it. Which he replied with confusion at the mere thought of him doing such a prank. His eyes caught Daphne's, whose blue orbs were filled with tears of mirth. He gave her a subtle wink and went back to his food.
The next few weeks after the prank remained uneventful for the Hogwarts castle. It was the last two weeks of October and the trees surrounding the castle had become red and gold. Winter was fastly approaching as well, although the constant charms surrounding the castle allowed the students to remain warm. Students were also excitedly awaiting the arrival of the other magical schools. A notice had been posted at the start of the month informing their arrival, and allowing classes to be ended earlier to welcome them.
The first Hogsmeade trip had come and Harry was ecstatic. Not because he had a date; no his life in that area had definitely been lacking, but instead because he was meeting his godfather. Sirius had sent him a letter a few weeks ago, and the two had been corresponding frequently, with Sirius agreeing to meet him in the Shrieking Shack.
Harry thought about inviting his friends to meet Sirius, but he desperately wanted some personal time. Plus his relationship with his two friends had been deteriorating rapidly since the trio came to school. His sudden talent in all his subjects had infuriated Hermione, and even though she now kept quiet, he could see it in her face when he achieved the spell before her. Ron was a completely different matter. The youngest male Weasley's jealous had no bounds, only becoming worse with the prank. He got annoyed by the fact that Harry had pulled a prank with his brothers without telling him.
The constant tensions with Ron and Hermione meant that he increasingly spent more time with the twins and their friend Lee. Unlike Hermione, the twins couldn't care less about Harry's academic talent, only making prefect jokes every time Harry did homework. And they weren't jealous of him like Ron because of their own popularity. They had become a lot closer, Harry even revealing the origins of the map, and Sirius' story. They expressed great joy in wanting the meet the original prankster, making Harry promise to introduce them one day. The twins were also entranced by his invisibility cloak because of the applications it had with pranks. They had actually invited him to Hogsmeade, and no matter how tempted he was, he declined, saying he would spend the day with Hermione and Ron.
That's why Harry found himself walking down the high-street with his two oldest friends.
"We need to get to Zonko's first", Ron exclaimed. "I hear they have some new exploding snap cards with extra firepower."
"Really Ronald? What a waste of your money. There are so many more useful things to buy", she interjected.
"I don't need to waste my money on more useless books like you Hermione", the red head retorted.
Before Hermione could reply, and start a fight, Harry interjected by suggesting they go to the Three Broomsticks.
Harry opened the door of the inn, almost colliding with the two figures leaving, but swerving out of the way just in time.
"Ohh so close to happening a second time", Tracey laughed causing a glare from her blue eyed friend.
"Oh hey guys", Harry spoke up. Even his relationship with the two girls had been becoming better, even though they only talked in class. Well it was mostly Tracey, the outward and happy Slytherin. She was always glad to talk about anything in Runes, and they often had a fun time. Even his relationship with Daphne had started to thaw.
"Potter", Daphne responded.
"Harry!", Ron shouted shoving him back. "What are you doing so close to them. They're snakes, they'll take any chance to hex us," he said, sneering at the two girls.
"Weasley please", Daphne said chuckling. "If I wanted to hex you, your arse would already be ten inches into the ground", she spoke causing Tracey to laugh. Harry was inclined to agree with her, even if he didn't say it out loud.
The girls walked away, with Ron muttering obscene curses under his breath. The three got a booth in the corner, ordering three butterbeers from Madam Rosmerta.
"Harry, what are you thinking? Conversing with the Slytherins. They're evil. All death eaters in the making," Ron exclaimed.
"They're not like that Ron! Have you ever even talked to a Slytherin properly before, and I'm not talking about Malfoy or any of his friends", Harry responded, annoyed at his friends' remarks.
"I don't need to. All of them are just waiting in the background trying to stab us in the back. These girls will do the same to you. Can't you see that?"
Harry's mouth hung open, shocked at how ingrained Ron's hatred towards the Slytherins were. Not wanting to continue the fight he just conceded the argument. They sat there for another hour, with light talk and awkward conversation before Hermione expressed her concern in not getting enough time at Scrivenshaft's.
"Alright then, since she's gone now, would you like to come with me to Zonkos?", Ron inquired.
"Not right now Ron. I'll sit here for a bit more, maybe I'll join you later," Harry answered. The red head nodded and walked away. Waiting until his friend left the inn, Harry checked his watch and deciding it was time, put on his invisibility cloak and made his journey to the shrieking shack.
He walked into the dilapidated building, nothing changed from the last time. There was still dried blood on the floor from Sirius biting Ron's leg. Most of the furniture was broken, or hanging onto its last splinters. Claw marks were evident all around the room due to years of Remus' transformations. Sitting in the middle was a shaggy dog, his tail wagging madly as Harry walked in. Once Harry shut the door, and pulled off the cloak, Padfoot had pounced on him pushing him to the ground putting Harry in peals of laughter.
"Hahaha… I missed… you…too…Padfoot!", Harry exclaimed; the words struggling to come out as he laughed.
Padfoot finally let him go after a few minutes, backing off and transforming into his human form.
"Hmmm, I think I preferred you as the dog", Harry said, stroking his chin. Sirius barked with laughter, pulling his godson into a long hug. Harry pulled out, miniature foods from his bag, and expanding them to their regular size. Sirius' eyes sparkled in excitement as he grabbed the first good meal he had in weeks. They remained quiet for a few moments as Sirius finished demolishing his food.
"How've you been pup?", Sirius asked; conjuring two chairs for them to sit on.
"I've been good Sirius. This year has definitely had a change of pace. By now I usually already have a life threatening situation. Maybe my luck's about to turn." He had no idea how wrong that was.
"I'm sure it will Pup. Now, where are your two friends? You guys seemed to always be stuck by the hip," Sirius pondered.
Harry remained quiet for a few seconds before expanding on the bad parts of the year. He told his godfather everything, from the Quidditch world cup to the present. Telling him about his training which had been causing problems with Hermione, and Ron's jealousy. Sirius remained quiet for most of it, interjecting at some points and almost falling of his chair in laughter when Harry explained his prank in detail.
Two hours had passed when Harry finally finished his rant. "…And I don't know Sirius. We've never had so many problems, and it's getting to the point where I just prefer to be without them because we end up fighting. What should I do?", he pleaded, looking to his godfather for advice.
"Harry", he said softly putting his arms on his godson's shoulder. "I know it's hard, but it sounds like they're holding you back. That's not what friends do. They should be supporting you every step of the way. Friends come and go, remember that. You know firsthand from me who badly some friends can mess up your life. Now from what I've heard, you're not alone. What about those Weasley twins? They sound great, and you even told them about me! I'm not saying to get rid of Ron and Hermione; definitely not. But just watch out. You're very able, and only you can judge your current situation."
Harry remained quiet once again, before tightly hugging his Godfather. "Thank-you Sirius", he whispered into his ear.
"No problem pup", he said pulling back.
"Merlin, look at the time", Harry exclaimed. "The carriages will have almost left!", Harry said getting up quickly. "But I don't even know when I'll see you next", Harry softly whispered.
"Oh don't worry about that Harry. Dumbledore's given me a few jobs, so I'll be around the area for a while", Sirius responded.
"Really?" Harry asked quizzically. "Why?"
"It's all about that dream you had at the beginning of the year. Let's just say we're going on the offensive earlier this time", he replied cryptically. "But, you'll find out all about that soon. Now go", he said, pulling Harry into one last hug.
Harry put on his invisibility cloak, quickly walking to the station where the carriages awaited. He felt like a great weight had been removed after his talk with Sirius. Maybe it will be alright.
"Tracey, tonight's the night", Daphne said to her friend as she put on her shoes. They were the only ones in the girls' dormitory as she spoke.
"You mean tonight's the night you go alone to satisfy your obsession of finding out what Potter's doing because you're totally in love with him", Tracey replied cheekily, earning her a glare from Daphne.
"It's not an obsession. I just want to know why he's using such high level textbooks, and if Dumbledore is in on it", she defended.
"Hmm, yeah ok", her auburn friend replied sceptically. "Well, I'm going to stay here and work on my homework, instead of stalking Potter. You're like his fan club."
"I am nothing like those bimbos! My interest is completely different," she scowled. "I'll see you later", she said walking out the dorm.
"Potter better watch out", Tracey chucked to herself.
Daphne left her common room, hoping no one saw her leave with curfew so close. Even something so trivial like leaving late could churn the Hogwarts rumour mill, and she definitely didn't need the attention. Walking quickly she started to climb the staircase until she reached the third floor. Walking to the isolated corridor, she once again paced it looking to where Potter may have gone the first time. Knowing that her searching was proving fruitless, she ducked into an isolated broom closet, leaving a gap to peer through.
She must have been waiting twenty minutes before he finally came. She stayed in crouching position, not daring to stand up in case her legs made a cracking noise. Peering through the gap she watched as he quickly looked around the corridor, then made his way into the tapestry.
WAIT!... WHAT!
How the hell did he just walk through a tapestry. Waiting for a few more minutes to make sure he didn't come out once again, she left the closet. Walking up to the tapestry, she looked it at closely, examining it as carefully as possible. She put her hand on it, only for it to go through. It's fake! The damn tapestry is a passageway.
She put her entire body into it, realising she had to crouch once again to fit in the cramped space. She starting moving forward, the passageway gradually getting bigger, until she reached an ending. Knowing what to do now, she put her body through it, appearing in another corridor, through another tapestry. Definitely, need to tell Tracy about this.
She looked around the new corridor trying to figure out where she was. She didn't think anyone knew about this corridor, it was right on the right hand side of the third floor where nobody ever wandered because of Dumbledore's warning in her first year about dying a very painful death.
There were only two classrooms over here. She peered into the first one, only to move away, realising it was empty. Walking to the next one, she bent down so only her eyes could see through the door's window. She saw him. He was there firing off one spell after another; spells of all colours blasting into the chairs and desks. She realised he must have put a muffling charm because she couldn't hear a single sound. She watched entranced for minutes as he kept shouting spells, most of them she didn't even know off. She watched as he finally stopped. He looked around at his handiwork, a soft smile on his face when it happened. They made eye contact for a second at most, before she started sprinting away.
She rounded the corridor, her heart beating in her chest, and footsteps rapidly approaching behind her.
"Impedimenta", was all she heard before she became frozen. Damn it, what the fuck am I going to say now?
"Greengrass?" he asked bewildered, shock and confusion evident in his voice. "What are you doing here?", he demanded. Realising his spell was still in place, he undid it, staring at her powerfully. She wouldn't tell this to anyone, but at this moment, she felt scared at that look.
"I…", her heart still pounding and her voice not working as she tried to come up with a genuine reason for being here.
"I'm screwed aren't I", she said truthfully. "I have no reason for being here, I just came to see what you were up to", her voice spoke softly. Had she not been looking down embarrassed, she would have seen a range of expressions on Harry's face as she told him.
"How did you even know where I was? And Greengrass, I want the truth," his voice still demanding, but not with the same anger as before.
She proceeded to tell him the story about being in the library, noticing the book in his hand and being interested in what he was doing. He listened to the story quietly, and to her surprise actually started laughing at the end.
"You're a very strange person Potter. I though you would've hexed me until I was a blob after catching me", she said, her breathing becoming normal again.
"Yeah, strange is a word I've been called on multiple occasions. I'm surprised as well. I thought you would have caught me out in potions or something the next day", he replied.
"No, because if I had, you would have been more aware of your surroundings, and I'd have never found out where you're going. But speaking of that, you really need to look out more", she answered.
"This isn't the time for criticising me Greengrass", he spoke in a firm voice, but there was mirth in his eyes. "Well, I guess you saw then. What did you think of it?"
"It was pretty amazing if I'm being completely honest. I didn't even know most of those spells, and the damage in the room speaks for itself. You've definitely been coming here a lot", said Daphne.
"Yeah I guess I have", he answered truthfully.
"That spell you just did now on me. That's a fifth year spell! You're way further than us now. You were already top in defence, why do you want to even do so much more?" she inquired.
"It's not about being at the top of the class. I couldn't care less about that. I have to train ok? It's just something I've got to do!" he exclaimed.
"Why Potter? What is this really for then?", she demanded.
"I'm not going to tell you. It's my problem to have, and I'll deal with it myself."
She didn't give him a reply, not wanting to push it since she was already in the wrong. They remained quiet for a few moments before Harry spoke again.
"Listen Greengrass. Can you please keep this between us? I really don't want anyone to find out about it" he asked, a note of pleading in his voice.
She remained silent for a few seconds, until her eyes sparked with an idea. "I'll give you a deal Potter. You let me train with you, and I won't tell anyone about what you did here. Except for Tracey, but she wouldn't tell a soul", she asked.
"You want to train with me? Why?", he asked confusedly.
"Because you're miles ahead, and you've taught yourself, so you could teach me. That in exchange for my silence, Tracey put aside", she said.
"You're really cunning aren't you?", Harry replied, his resolution crumbling.
"The trademark of a Slytherin", she said proudly. "So do we have a deal?"
"Fine. But not every day. Sometimes I need to train alone. How about twice a week?"
She thought about it for a few seconds, before sticking her hand out.
"Deal!"
"Ok, then Greengrass. It's late. We better head back to our common rooms. I'll keep in touch", he said walking away.
"Oh, and Potter!" she said, causing him to turn around. "Great prank" she smiled, as she walked away, feeling happier than she had been in a long time.
Ok, there we go another chapter done. This chapter was again more of a filler than the real action stuff, but I'm trying to build a foundation for the characters.
You've probably guessed who the different friends are now that I mentioned that numerous times. I just felt that in these types of stories, Harry ends up being friends with people and Neville and Luna. Now that's nice and all but I wanted to change it up because the twins have so much character and are so fun to write with.
Now I need your help. The help of the fans (hopefully I have some). Like I said I wanted to change the Triwizard tasks around to give this fanfiction some flair from the others. Now, I'm planning to keep the first task the same. But I want something exponentially different for the second and third. I have a few ideas, but if you guys could please review, and share some of your own ideas, it'll be so much nicer.
So overall, if you ignored everything I said, and just skipped to the last sentence, the gist is- REVIEW!