A/N: And here we go, a quicker update than usual. I hope you enjoy and as usual please review, favourite etc etc...

Chapter 10:

Harrison sighed in exasperation as he made his way towards the noisy chatter of the kitchen. Weasley and Granger had been there for two days now, and Harrison was ready to strangle one of them. Nick and Ron were seemingly having a competition to see who could eat the most pancakes, both had a huge stack in front of them and were trying to shove as much in their faces as humanly possible.

'Boys, slow down or I'm taking them away' his mum said sternly

Harrison rolled his eyes in disgust and took a seat at the opposite end of the table.

'Morning Harry' his mum smiled to him, passing him a plate

'I'd grab some pancakes quickly if I were you, before they all disappear.' He took two, thanking her before he began to eat.

'What time are your friends coming Harry?' his father asked, looking up from the Daily Prophet

'Blaise is coming over at 12, Draco can't make it though, he has to help with the preparations for their party.' he heard a snort from the other end of the table

'Something to say, Weasley?'

'Just glad Malfoy isn't coming, Zabini is bad enough without adding another slimy snake' Lily frowned at that and cut in before Harrison could say anything back.

'Now Ron, that isn't a very nice thing to say is it? I'm sure your Mother wouldn't like to hear of you talking like that.' His ears went red immediately

'Sorry' he muttered, not sounding it at all. Clearly deciding to change the subject, Granger spoke up for the first time since he'd entered the room.

'Did you get into much trouble after Halloween Harry? I haven't really seen you much since' he seethed at the shortened version of his name

'What happened at Halloween?' James asked, looking specifically at Harrison, who grew uncomfortable under the stern gaze.

'Oh, I'm sorry!' Hermione said, looking shocked 'I thought you would know, my parents were sent a letter about it you see.' Lily and James turned their gaze to the young girl, who now looked very nervous.

'What happened Hermione?' Lily pressed gently

'Well, it was my fault really' she began, shooting a quick glance towards Harry and Ron before continuing 'did you hear about the troll?' she asked

'Yes, one escaped into the school, did you get caught by it?' Lily asked, getting worried. Hermione shook her head slightly

'Sort of' she took a deep breath 'I went looking for it, I thought I could handle it but I clearly couldn't. Nick, Ron and Harry came to find me, and they helped me escape.' She said all in one breath.

Silence filled the room.

'You went to find a troll?' James asked incredulously 'Why?'

'Um, well, I'd read about them, and I thought I could handle it myself.' The adults were still staring at her in disbelief whilst the boys looked on nervously, pancakes long forgotten.

'And you three, you went to find her?' he asked, turning his attention to Nick, who quickly answered

'We noticed she wasn't in the Great Hall and we got worried' Ron nodding along

'And you Harry?' Lily asked

'I saw them leave, I wanted to make sure they weren't about to do something stupid and get themselves killed.'

'I don't even know what to say.' James said, clearly still stunned

'You asked if he got into trouble Hermione? Why? What else happened?' Lily pressed.

Hermione then recounted the entire story, with a few minor adjustments to avoid them getting into any more trouble – and leaving out the spell Harrison had used.

'Well, I wish Albus had contacted us about this. I wonder why he sent a letter to your parents Hermione and not to us or the Weasley's. So, you three had points removed, and then added, did you have detention or anything as well?' Lily asked, the three of them shook their heads, no.

'I got a few, Professor Snape wasn't very happy.' The boys looked shocked at that, clearly still under the belief that Snape didn't punish Slytherin's.

'And just how did you escape the troll again?'

'Um, Harry knocked it out with its own club.' Hermione stuttered, Harrison frowned slightly, wondering why she would lie for him, but James and Lily seemed to accept the answer and moved on after a few words of warning and promises made by all of them to be more careful in the future.

He was walking back to his room a few hours later to wait for Blaise to arrive when he bumped into Granger, who was leaving the library at a rapid pace, knocking into him.

'Don't any of you look where you're going when you turn corners?' he huffed

'Sorry Harry'

'Stop calling me that' he snapped, she looked shocked

'But your family-'

'I don't care. You don't get to call me that. It's Potter' he paused 'or Harrison' he continued before instantly regretting it as her face broke out in a smile, showing off her over-sized teeth.

'Okay, Harrison it is then.' she went to leave but he called her back.

'Why did you lie? To my parents I mean? Why not tell them what I did?'

'Well, I thought I'd probably done enough to be honest, I let it slip about the troll in the first place, and after you saved me. I can't even find the spell you did in any books I've read, what is it? I could tell it wasn't a nice spell.'

'It doesn't matter' he muttered 'it was risky using it, and I shouldn't have done it.' And with that he walked off, leaving her stood alone in the corridor.

'Go away' he said, hearing his bedroom door knock

'It's me' he heard Blaise's voice call as the door opened.

'Finally, I thought you'd never make it, I've been going crazy with the terrible trio running around.'

'That's what I'm here for' Blaise grinned 'the Zabini rescue service, here for one day and one day only.'

Harrison smirked and pulled out his chess set, beckoning the boy over.

'Shut up and I might let you win again'

'Pfft, as if you have to let me' he paused 'wait, you didn't let me win last time, did you? I thought I'd finally bested the great Harrison Potter, don't go easy on me, I want to beat you fairly!' he spluttered in outrage.

Two hours and one very intense chess game later, a smirking Harrison and pouting Blaise walked to the kitchen for a snack.

'I can't believe you let me think I beat you last time!'

'Well, you were annoying me, and I knew you'd leave me alone if you won' he stated simply.

'Oh, look out, slimy snake alert, and it has a friend.' Nick's voice sneered from behind them

'shut up Nick, at least I have friends'

'What do you call me then?' Ron said

'Stupid?' Harrison muttered under his breath; Ron's ears turned pink and he balled up his fists in anger

'At least I don't hang out with Death Eaters! At least I'm not a traitor!' he yelled

'A traitor?' Harrison spluttered

'I'm not a Death Eater by the way' Blaise added, helpfully 'my family have always remained neutral'

'Yes, I know that. But how many husbands has your Mother had exactly? All dying in mysterious ways? Surely, it's only a matter of time before she ends up in Azkaban where she belongs.' Nick added with a satisfied smirk on his face.

'At least my Mother isn't a mudblood.' Blaise shot back; his breathing ragged from anger.

Harrison shot him a look, and Nick looked ready to pounce when a voice from behind them made Harrison's blood run cold.

'And what exactly is going on in here?' James asked through gritted teeth, arms crossed, no one answered so he turned to look directly at Blaise.

'I think it's best if you go home now, Mr. Zabini.' Blaise gulped and nodded, muttering a goodbye to Harrison before darting for the floo.

'Ron, I spoke with your Mother earlier, you have to stay for dinner, but I'll be telling her what happened here, and I want you and Nick to stay in his room until then. Nick, we'll talk tonight.' They both nodded and ran off, leaving Harrison and James alone in the kitchen.

'Nick started it, him and Weasley, all we wanted was a snack and he started spouting off rubbish about Slytherin's and Death Eaters. And then he said all that stuff about Blaise's Mum, he didn't mean what he said.' James sighed, looking at Harrison with tired eyes.

'Listen son, what Ron and Nick were saying was wrong of them, and I will be talking to both of them later. But what Blaise said about Lily, about your Mother. It was near unforgivable, that word is forbidden in this house, and you know why. If your Mother had heard that, just think about how upset she would have been.' he paused, letting that sink in

'that word may be used frequently in Slytherin, and I can't do anything about that, but in this house, I can. And if he's your friend, Harry, if that's the kind of friend you want, then fine. But they're not welcome in my house acting the way Blaise just did. Do you understand me?' he asked, placing an arm on Harrison's shoulder.

'Whatever' he replied moodily, shrugging the arm off and going up to his room.

The day before Christmas eve saw Harrison arrive at Malfoy manor. He stepped out of the fireplace to a large entrance hall, consisting of mostly white marble and the odd scattering of flowers in intricate glass vases, he took an instant liking to it. He heard a scuttle behind him and turned to see a small creature dressed what appeared to be an old pillowcase sweeping the dust the floo had created – a house elf, he thought. His mother refused to have them at home, insisting she preferred to do the cleaning herself; stupid if you asked Harrison as the Potter family did own several elves, they currently resided at Hogwarts in the kitchens.

'Harrison' he turned to see Draco walking towards him smiling

'I didn't hear you arrive, come on, I'll introduce you to my parents.'

Harrison followed him through a maze of corridors, portraits hung on every wall and whispered to each other as they passed by.

They entered what appeared to be the living room. It was smaller than Harrison had expected; with two sofas, a couple of small coffee tables, and a smaller fireplace in the centre of one wall, it appeared to be quite cosy. There were several more vases of flowers dotted around and a large Christmas tree in the far corner. Draco's parents were seated on one of the sofas and stood to greet him when they noticed them enter the room.

'Mother, Father, this is Harrison. Harrison, these are my parents' Draco introduced.

'It's lovely to finally meet you, Harrison. Draco hasn't stopped talking about you since he arrived home.' His Mother said, offering her hand to him. Draco went slightly pink at that.

She was a very elegant lady with long blonde hair that fell in graceful waves down her back. She had high cheekbones and porcelain skin. She held herself with all the confidence of a woman born with the world at her feet – and of course she was, born a Black and married into the Malfoy family, she had never wanted for anything in her life.

'The pleasure is all mine, Lady Malfoy' he replied courteously, taking her hand and raising it to his lips, she smiled.

'My, what a gentleman, please Harrison, call me Narcissa or Cissy'

'Of course,' he smiled, turning to Draco's Father, who had been watching the encounter with piercing eyes.

He was very tall, also with platinum blonde hair falling to his waist but tied back neatly. He looked very much like an older version of Draco, from the trademark Malfoy blue eyes and pointed features to the same half smirk he had seen Draco use from time to time. He was holding a long black cane with a snake head topper that Harrison knew to contain his wand and all in all, he was a very imposing figure, he took a deep breath and held out his hand to shake, subconsciously straightening his back as he did so.

'Lord Malfoy, it's a pleasure to meet you.'

'Please Mr. Potter, call me Lucius. And I'm also glad to meet you.' taking his offered hand, he had the same drawl that Draco had too.

'Then I insist you call me Harrison' he nodded in response; the slight smirk still present on his face.

'Well, now the introductions are over and done with, please come and join us boys, Harrison, we were just about to sit down for some tea. We prefer to use this room when we aren't entertaining, it's much less formal.'

'You have a beautiful home Lady Malfoy... I mean Narcissa' he commented as he took a seat

'Thank you, how are you doing in school then Harrison? Draco said you fit in Slytherin very well, did you expect to end up there?' she asked, Harrison watched her expression for a moment before answering.

'I knew it would either be Slytherin or Ravenclaw, so did my parents I think.'

'And they're okay with that?' Lucius asked cautiously, Harrison nodded

'They haven't said any different, they do seem a little skeptical about the friends I've made however, and Nick doesn't help with the nonsense he spouts.'

'I'm sure they'll come around soon enough and see your side of things, they seemed open enough to the idea when they came to visit us the other day' he added.

'Anyway' Draco interrupted 'enough talk about school, may we be excused? I want to show Harrison the gardens.'

'Thanks, I'm getting fed up of answering questions about school and Slytherin' Harrison said as they walked out of the room.

'I can tell, it's the holidays so we should be enjoying ourselves!' he agreed with that

'What will the party be like tonight?' he asked, the thought suddenly popping in his head.

'Well' Draco began 'it will begin around 6 tonight; Mother, Father and I are supposed to greet the guests as they arrive, you'll be with us too. Then they'll all hang around and talk about boring things like politics for a while and then dinner will be served. You'll sit on our table as your family won't be there, Severus – Professor Snape, will also be on our table, he's like family anyway and is my Godfather.'

'Okay, and then what happens after the meal?' Draco continued

'We all go into the ball room where there will be music, and dancing and more standing around talking. Gifts are also exchanged at that point as well, mostly token presents to continue alliances with certain families and the like. You do have dress robes with you right?' he looked worried

'Of course, I have an ancient set that belong to the Black family, I thought they would be fitting for the festivities.' Draco nodded, looking relieved

'Do you do any traditional Yule ceremonies?'

'Not at the party' Draco replied, shaking his head 'they're more private, and besides, the Minister will be there and those ceremonies aren't exactly legal. Have you ever done one?'

'No, my family celebrate Christmas, I tried asking my Father about Yule once and he said I was never to mention it again, that it was dark magic and very dangerous.' Draco snorted

'It's not dangerous, all you do is give up a drop of blood, it doesn't even really do anything, it's more of a religious thing I suppose, traditions that have been passed down for centuries. You mix a potion in the days leading up to it, then you each add a drop of your own blood just before you drink it. It's supposed to help you connect with your magic, but I've never felt any different afterwards.'

Harrison didn't think it sounded that bad, he couldn't understand why his parents would get so angry whenever he mentioned it. Perhaps he would ask Lucius for more information on the matter. Deciding that would be best, he put it to the back of his mind for the time being and enjoyed the rest of the morning with Draco, looking around the grounds and exploring the manor – he particularly enjoyed the look of the library and could only wonder what kind of information was stored within its grasp.

'Wow, you two certainly scrub up well' Daphne said as her family arrived.

She wore long, dark green dress robes over a floor length matching gown. Both were dotted with diamonds matching an elegant necklace resting on her chest. The older Malfoys greeted her parents, who were also dressed in dark green, and Daphne walked towards the boys, smiling and dragging along what appeared to be a younger version of herself.

'Hello Daphne, Astoria.' Draco greeted politely

'Harrison, this is my younger sister, she'll be joining us at Hogwarts next year.'

Harrison smiled kindly down at the younger girl hiding behind her sister.

'Astoria, it's a pleasure to meet you. Are you looking forward to attending school?' she nodded shyly before running off back to her parents.

'Ignore her, she's just shy. Now tell me Harrison, where did you get those dress robes?' she asked in wonder.

Harrison looked down at himself, the robes had belonged to Sirius' Father when he was a boy, and had fit him quite nicely. They were encrusted with rubies and diamonds, well fitted and screamed pureblood. His Mother said they were too much, and that he should just find a nice set from Diagon Alley, but it was a Malfoy party, and showing off your status mattered here. Sirius had understood, even if he didn't like the idea, he had taken Harrison to the Black vault to look through the ancestral clothes that resided there. Draco was in something similar, he wore robes belonging to Lucius at their age as was tradition, and they perfectly matched his parents' outfits for the evening.

Entering the ball room later that evening, Harrison felt quite content. The food served was delicious, almost as good as at Hogwarts, he thought. Most of the Slytherin house was there, along with their families – who all seemed to be good friends with Lucius, or at least acquaintances as they often shared knowing looks with each other. Harrison wasn't an idiot by far, he knew that most of them had been Death Eaters together, and one of his parents' conditions for allowing him to attend the party was to ensure he wasn't alone with anyone at any time.

'Ah, a Potter, Henry isn't it, or Harry?' a voice sounded from behind him, he turned to see the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, walking towards him, smile plastered on his face.

'Harrison, if you don't mind Sir' he replied politely

'Of course, of course. I have to say; it was a surprise to hear you were going to be here tonight. It's good to finally meet you though, of course. Your brother isn't here as well is he?' he asked, looking around expectantly.

'No, he's not here.' Harrison sighed, Fudge looked disappointed

'That's a shame, I'd have liked to have a chat with him. How is he doing? Top of the class at Hogwarts I assume?'

'Not exactly, he failed most of his classes this term actually' getting annoyed now

'Really? Well, I'm sure he'll do better next term, perhaps they sent him the wrong results' he reasoned 'or maybe he got too caught up in Quidditch, youngest player in a century, isn't he? I bet you're proud to have a brother like him?'

'Hmm' he replied, not really wanting to say anything as it was clear Fudge was a big Nick fan, he felt someone come up behind him.

'Ah, Professor Snape, we were just discussing young Nick.'

'Yes, well, whilst I'm sure Harrison would love to continue that conversation some time, I do have to steal him away now' he said, placing a hand on Harrison's shoulder

'Yes, yes, by all means, go ahead. I'll look forward to that talk Herbert, and perhaps you could bring Nick himself along the next time we meet.' And with that, he left, walking off to talk to someone else he'd seen, Harrison turned to look at his professor.

'Thank you, sir'

'Well, we don't want to cause a scene at the Malfoy party now do we? And I really don't think blowing up at the Minister for Magic of all people would have been the best thing to do, would it?' he asked, regarding him carefully.

'I wouldn't have done anything Sir; he was annoying me though.'

'Yes, I know, I could see it in your face and I could practically feel your magic bubbling over, hense why I came to stop it. Was he talking about Nick the entire time?'

'We weren't really talking for long, but mostly, yes.'

'You know, jealousy isn't the best trait to hold, however understandable it may be.'

'I'm not jealous of Nick!' he all but shouted, not really proving his point at all, Snape raised an eyebrow

'Clearly' Harrison seethed, but seeing as Snape obviously didn't believe him, and not really wanting to get detention again before he even returned to school, he simply turned and left, leaving the professor standing there alone.

'What was all that about?' Blaise asked, nodding in Snape's direction

'Nothing' he muttered, already regretting his outburst 'where's Draco?'

'Dancing with Astoria' Blaise smirked as Daphne started to giggle

'I think she's in love, oh this is brilliant' she said gleefully causing Harrison to shake his head in amusement as she ran off to take a picture of the dancing pair.

'Hey, Harrison, I'm sorry for the other day you know' Blaise said awkwardly

'It's fine, you were provoked, but I don't think you'll be allowed in my house for a while'

'I'm not surprised to be honest, your Father seemed furious, and rightly so really, I'd just insulted his wife – your Mother, I didn't think about it, I was just trying to get back at Nick. What did your Father do when I left?' Harrison shrugged

'He just said some stuff about using that word, and I think he actually yelled at Nick for starting a fight with you, which was interesting, he's been on edge a bit recently with work so he's not really in the best of moods lately. But it's fine.'

'So, we're okay?' Blaise asked hesitantly, Harrison smiled at him.

'Yes, we're fine.' He reassured, causing Blaise to sag in relief.

The rest of the party went by quickly, with the girls dragging them all out to dance at one point or another, and meeting his friends' parents, Harrison was very happy by the time he returned home that evening.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, Christmas chapter to follow soon...