2. Historical Hatred
"Draco Malfoy wouldn't look at me." Harry suddenly said, some ten quiet minutes into breakfast.
Ron burst into laughter, "Mate, are you hearing yourself?"
"What? It's true!" Ron laughed harder. "He just wouldn't look at me, like at all. He's been pretending that I don't exist!"
"So you want your special someone to notice you?"
"He's been avoiding me like the plague ever since school started."
"Oh Harry, that's the least you need to fret about. I'm sure it's nothing about you." Hermione said.
"Malfoy is just embarrassed if you ask me."
"And why would that be?"
"I don't know," Hermione said, "I wouldn't know how to talk to you if I were him. It's somewhat inconvenient that the guy— who you can't even look at without narrowed eyes— had to turn around and save your life, then if that weren't enough, also save you from prison."
"What? Not liking him doesn't mean I shouldn't have done it."
"Oh hush with your righteousness, Harry, we know."
"Well, if you hadn't done it he wouldn't be here and you won't be having this problem."
Hermione scoffed, "Don't say that Ron, and this doesn't even deserve to be called a problem anyway."
"If we were talking, however," Harry said gravely, "we could be working with them for charms rather than Anthony and Michael."
Hermione pursed her lips, "point taken."
They fell back into eating silently, and Harry's neck magnetically veered back to watching the Slytherin table. Again. For quite a while nothing was out of the ordinary, until he saw Terry Boot walking up to a wide-eyed Draco Malfoy. Harry looked on— faintly astonished— as Terry casted something on Draco, and an angrily swirling red ball of light rose above his head. Only, Harry had been too busy looking to notice Anthony coming right up to himself, wand pointed between his eyes. Harry's eyes went crossed and his jaw dropped open.
"In the name of knowledge," Anthony said tersely. A spell shot towards his forehead before Harry could jump and scramble away. In an instant the tingles surged through his whole body, and a pinkish ball of light jumped from Harry's head, leaving him reeling. Then, before he could feel offended for his reflexes, the light ball shot away, trailing through the Great Hall and met Draco's in the middle. They created a light bridge that flashed blue then disappeared.
"Oh dammit!" Anthony certainly didn't see the need to explain. He turned towards Terry and shouted across the hall, "I told you they wouldn't work!"
Terry— for all his gentle personality — looked furious. "Why yes! That you said besides being clueless and scared to suggest anyone else!"
"What was that!" Harry was indignantly neglected.
"Ugh!" Anthony said, "he's just unbelievable! Fine, you come with us, Harry." And he marched down the hall to its doors, not waiting for Harry who could only follow.
"—So long story short, we managed to isolate a strain of the magical core that represents—"
"—Approximates, Andy, not represent—"
"—No, Terry— what the hell? Stop poking my stomach— represents the feeling of hatred."
"I told you, there is no actual isomorphic correspondence between the word and the bundle we found—"
"—Stop it! Wait, guys. Please. The point was— a magical strain for hatred?"
"Yup! Isn't it brilliant?" Terry said with a terrifyingly genuine smile.
"Alright but— why?"
"Come to think of it… long story, actually."
"Not that long, Anthony, it just goes back to the bet, remember? Where we all tried to claim that each one of us hated Voldy the most."
"Again, why?"
"We were drunk, okay?"
"You were drunk, and you made a bet about how much you guys hate Voldemort. Then you decided to research— and made a spell—"
"Yes, catch up, Harry, the spell was meant to detect the presence of mutual hatred. We really hoped to see a red, that would have been a positive test."
Harry blinked, "and we were blue."
"That was negative."
"And that means… Malfoy and I don't hate each other?"
"Bravo, Harry. One point to Gryffindor."
"Umm. Good to know." Harry said. It left a funny feeling in his chest which turned sour with one look at Malfoy, who was grimacing like he's almost dismayed to know.
"But now we've lost our best guess for positive test subjects. It's surprisingly hard to find people who supposedly hate each other, did you know that?" Anthony continued speaking.
"The spell's also some thestral rides away from what we wanted."
"It's a shame the charm only works between two living people, so the Voldy thing was off."
"And two human beings too, otherwise we could have gone for Ron and spiders."
"Terry," Ron mocked outrage, but was clearly trying not to laugh, "what a betrayal!"
"You're right… the spiders don't quite deserve to be lab rats."
And we do? Harry wanted to shout, but Hermione got there before him, "neither should you have dared to use Harry and Malfoy as lab rats, should you? How completely irresponsible could you be? Going around casting untested and probably dangerous spells on other students?"
The look on Hermione's face made Harry think her an excellent McGonagall-in-training. But Anthony and Terry remained unperturbed.
"Don't you fret, Hermione." Terry started digging through his robe pockets— apparently undetectably extended (of course undetectably extended). He winced at a shower of clanks.
"Never mind, Terry. Accio report." And a thick scroll flew into Anthony's hands, "here, we've got a 56-inches full risk assessment for the spell."
It rolls open and reaches the ground. Hermione immediately latched onto the monster. Malfoy wordlessly strode over, snatched it to make a copy. They were still standing in the entrance hall, and breakfast was slipping away minute by minute. Harry just hoped Ron, who found it in him to stalk away back into the hall, might bring him some food to their first class.
"—again, only the expressive fraction of the magical core is used, making any extraction essentially low-risked by definition."
"I… have to concede," Hermione offered hesitantly, "that this is rather brilliant. Do you think you'll research any further? Mapping other emotions?"
"Nope," Anthony suddenly glared at Terry, "because, Terry doesn't believe in a full description of the wizard's psyche."
Harry ran. Before Terry's certainly boiling reply could be uttered. And wondered why he didn't leave earlier (and had to stare at Draco Malfoy as he jointly interrogated Terry and Anthony with Hermione); it wasn't like any of them acknowledged or needed his existence anyway.
Nevertheless, he felt (guiltily) vindicated ten minutes later, watching Terry and Anthony walk into transfiguration empty-stomached, while he happily munched on a breakfast roll.
"You're the best, Ron, you're worth more than any and all of them."
Ron sniggered, "there there, Harry."
