Daunting Decisions – Chapter 2 (Taken by Surprise)

Harry hadn't expected Montague… or rather Graham to talk to him again. He was still a Slytherin and Harry was a Gryffindor.

He didn't know what it was about him that made him confide in the Slytherin. He didn't even spread it around to the other Slytherins like he thought he would. Was it bad that he originally thought bad of Graham, but it wasn't like he really knew him either? His thoughts were so confusing, and it didn't help that he was well built, most likely due to Quidditch.

It was obvious that Graham didn't care if people saw him approach and talk to Harry Potter. He definitely had a Slytherin reputation and didn't hesitate to curse people who tried to criticize him for it.

"Do you think there wasn't a reason I was trying to take points?" Graham asked him one day.

Harry shrugged, "assumed it was because they were Gryffindors."

Graham had a nasty smirk on his lips, "that may have had some to do with it. Though mainly because they had been trying to test some of their products on some first year Slytherins."

Harry's jaw dropped, "but Hermione—"

"Do you really think a fifteen-year-old, lecturing two seventeen-year-old wizards will change a damn thing? Especially considering they are known as the Gryffindor pranksters?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Probably not," Harry sighed.

"Though, I will admit it did make it better that they were in Gryffindor," he smirked.

Harry rolled his eyes, "you and that petty house rivalry."

"Keeps it competitive, though most don't see it as petty," Graham retorted.

"I also had my own house curse me because of loss of points, so yes, I do see it as petty," Harry shot back.

"Now do you see why I hate most Gryffindors?" Graham asked.

"Trust me… I hate some of them myself," Harry glowered.

"A Gryffindor hating other Gryffindors… never saw that one coming," Graham laughed.

Harry cracked a grin at that, "Does that mean you're also a Slytherin that hates other Slytherins?"

"At least Slytherins have more foresight than most Gryffindors."

Harry shrugged; it was probably true.

"You going to tell me why Umbridge seems to have a grudge against you?" Graham wanted to know.

"Thought it was pretty obvious," Harry mumbled.

"I know better than to believe petty rumors around the school. For all I know, it could be because you tried to fuck a Hippogriff," Graham crossed his arms.

Harry's face went bright red.

"Going by your face, I say it wasn't a Hippogriff. Was it a Centaur?"

"Merlin! How can you say that?!" Harry outburst, if anything his face went darker.

"Easy, because I just did," Graham smirked.

Harry buried his face into his hands, "you're horrible."

"You didn't say if it was the Centaur," Graham noted with a grin.

"None! None, okay!"

Graham laughed; Harry was so easy to rile up. Though he wouldn't tell him that, it was a bit obvious he never had sex in his life. He doubted that he had ever been kissed. There was some part of him that was glad of that fact, but he didn't know why. Though he let Harry get his embarrassment down enough to actually talk.

"She basically believed anything that Fudge said, he went into instant denial that Voldemort is back. I imagine she probably thinks I'm a liar myself and goes out her way to prove that. Probably why they did the hassle of that dumb trial."

Graham nodded, "everyone heard about that one. Which is also why the Ministry is divided."

"It is?" Harry asked.

"Half of them is going against the Ministry for trying to go against an underage wizard for the stupidest reason and the other half are the lap dogs of the Minister. Though most of them don't know what to think of Dumbledore's claims. But some of them do know that it was idiotic to put a trial for just because you didn't want to lose your soul."

Harry brushed a hand over his face, "it's not like I expected much more."

"But that don't mean that I haven't noticed the scar on your hand either," Graham brought up. "You haven't said everything, have you?"

"Its not like anyone else has noticed," Harry grumbled, moving a hand to cover the words.

"I'm not an oblivious Gryffindor either. Anyone who has familiarity with the goblins would know what that witch is doing," Graham remarked darkly.

"Why do you suddenly care?" Harry wanted to know.

"Should I need a reason to?" Graham raised an eyebrow before resting a hand on Harry's wrist.

"I—I don't know…" Harry stuttered, but he didn't jerk away.

"Maybe it's because I see a worthy Gryffindor," Graham smirked at him.

Harry felt a blush rising to his cheeks. This time it wasn't in embarrassment, well… maybe it was a little. But this time it wasn't because Graham was trying to tease him and get a reaction out of him.

The Slytherin's eyes flickered towards Harry's lips before looking up into his eyes. There was an intense emotion in those eyes that Graham wasn't sure of. But he pulled away before he could do something he would regret. There was a twinge of disappointment.

"But she is using an illegal Blood Quill. If you are smart, you could use this information against her. Though, seeing that you're doing a poor job of treating your hand. I would grab a vial of Essence of Murtlap. It won't completely heal it, but it will help with the pain and help heal most of the damage. Though if you choose to do the Slytherin way, maybe hold off the Murtlap for just a little bit. But you didn't hear that from me."

Graham's words stayed in Harry's mind for the next few days. Though he did find the Essence of Murtlap really did help, not that he didn't doubt the Slytherin's words. How did it quickly get to where Harry actually believed him? Not that he minded the Slytherin's presence. Maybe that was the problem, he actually liked being around him. He didn't understand it. So, he didn't try to.

But he kept thinking about where Graham had mentioned the Goblins. Before then, he didn't even realize that the quill he was using was called a Blood Quill. Though he probably should have realized that, considering it was making him write with his own blood. He figured it was probably bad, since why would a quill that used blood exist. The fact that Umbridge had one illegally made everything suddenly dawn on him.

There was the question, did he really want to get Umbridge in trouble and possibly Azkaban? The truth was… he did. He hated that woman even more than Voldemort, which he hadn't been sure was possible. But he wanted her to suffer like she forced him to.

Hermione would probably stare at him in shock, though he knew that she hated that witch as well. Though it could also be a sign that he was hanging around Slytherins too much.

That could be the reason he actually sent the letter out as Graham suggested. Well… he didn't really suggest it, though he did put the idea into his head. And once the idea was practically planted, it wouldn't leave him alone.

Though when it came down to writing the letter, he didn't tell Hermione or Ron what he was doing. For some reason he wanted to do this himself and felt that Hermione may critique him over it. Though he didn't really know on who he should address it to. He did remember Griphook being the first goblin to show him to his vault when he was eleven. But that didn't mean it went to him. But this wasn't really concerning his vault either, so he doubted he would address it to Griphook to begin with.

So, Harry figured the best way he probably could address this was, to the Goblins of Gringotts. He kept the letter fairly simple and straightforward, least Harry thought he did. He made sure to mention that a friend of his had advised that only Gringotts should be in possession of a Blood Quill. That a Ministry official was using a Blood Quill on its students. Harry didn't want to just say a professor, considering Harry didn't even view her as such. Plus, he knew she would be out before the year was over, it had been that way since before he was a first year. He ended the very short letter that he figured they should know of these findings. Though he did wonder how true it was that these Blood Quills were only to be in the possession of Gringotts. If that really was true, how did Umbridge manage to get a hold of one?

Harry doubted he would ever get to know the answer of that one. But that didn't stop his curiosity from growing.

Harry's curiosity wouldn't die down anytime soon. It had probably been almost a week, maybe not even that. But he couldn't help but want to know if the goblins would do something. He had already received a letter from them, surprisingly it was unopened. Probably because if it was opened, that would be a penalty and violation from the Gringotts Wizarding Bank, and nobody wanted that.

It was a bit weird; Harry had never recalled ever getting a letter from Gringotts. So, he wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting. He surely didn't expect them to send him a letter. They just seemed too prideful of creatures. He was sure they didn't really care on who he was unlike the wizards and witches in the magical world.

They definitely had a different reaction to him than what happened in the Leaky Cauldron when he was eleven. So, with trepidation, did he open the letter.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. It had been a letter of thanks. Thanking him for bringing this travesty towards their attention and that they would quickly rectify this situation. The letter was to the point and short. Harry didn't even think they would send a letter, but at least he knew they would take care of it. Though he wasn't sure on the how and when. There had been a sincere apology towards him, he wondered if that was because he did have a vault full of gold in their bank. Was this their way of protecting him as their client for their bank? Maybe that was a question that should be asked for Graham. That he mind, he headed to the Great Hall for dinner.

Though later Harry wanted to smack himself. He had been in the Great Hall and didn't realize how much he was actually looking over at the Slytherin Table. Enough that both Hermione and Ron noticed the action.

He had been eating his dinner, but he apparently had been staring for several minutes or longer. His face went pink in embarrassment. It was one thing for Hermione to notice it, but it was another for Ron to see it.

"Who are you looking at, mate?" Ron said with a mouthful of food.

Hermione wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Close your mouth when you're at least eating, Ron!"

Ron gave an embarrassed grin.

Harry quickly looked away from Graham before muttering, "nothing."

Hermione looked at him in disbelief. But she didn't say another word to protest it. She returned to the book she had been reading.

Ron just shrugged before shoving another forkful of food into his mouth.

Harry looked up with a quick glance to find that Graham was now staring back at him. He ducked his head back towards his plate, embarrassed he got caught. Before, the Slytherin had been chatting with his fellow Slytherins and eating. Did Slytherins have friends?

He still wanted to talk to him, and it wasn't like Graham didn't make it known that he was associated with Harry Potter. The Slytherin honestly didn't care who saw him with Harry. And that made a warm feeling rush through him.

His face was already pink from when Hermione and Ron caught him staring, though hopefully they didn't notice at who. He knew that his face must have turned a deeper shade. How was it that before now, he never really noticed Graham? Now he was always near the back of his mind. Even with this Gringotts thing, he was still near his mind. He wasn't sure on why, but he didn't dislike it. For the first time, he didn't care about having a Slytherin's attention on him, it actually was nice for once.

Was there something going on between them? Well… besides just friends or acquaintances… Harry didn't know for sure and he didn't really want to think much on it. For all he knew, Graham could still see him as some stupid Gryffindor. He didn't want to be hopeful about this and then just be disappointed.

When Harry rushed out of the Great Hall, hopefully without Ron and Hermione paying too much attention to him. He couldn't even remember what excuse he gave them. All he knew that his destination was to the Gryffindor Tower. Maybe he could escape and hide away his embarrassment for a little while.

Except that never actually happened, because Harry didn't even make it to the seventh floor before he was stopped.

He couldn't even get Graham's name out.

"Gra—"

Harry felt his body crash against the wall and his back met impact. If the impact hadn't forced all the air out of his throat, what Graham did, definitely did.

Lips sealed over his while a hand threaded into his hair. He made a noise of approvement and let the Slytherin take possession over his mouth. His lips were very insistent and there was a stray thought on what brought this on. Whatever it was, he wanted it to happen again if this was what it brought him. Whatever thought he had about that Graham thought he was an annoying Gryffindor flew out the window.

Harry could feel his muscles through his robes. The other arm had a claiming hold around his waist, which probably was going to bruise later. He did try to return the kiss, as sloppy as that was. But it seemed that Graham had no complaints about that, if the tightened grip was an indication.

When Harry finally could get a breath in. He raised a hand to his cheek, as if that would help get his heart rate under control.

"What… what brought that on?"

For once, Harry saw Graham get a little embarrassed. He literally at a loss for words. It was a bit endearing to witness, so he apparently wasn't the only one that was affected.

"Guess I'm not a stupid little Gryffindor, then?" Harry attempted to joke.

That actually got a small laugh out of Graham, which was better than the loss for words.

"Guess I'm not the only one that liked the nasty, old Slytherin?" Harry grinned.

Graham looked fake affronted, "I am not old, I'm only two years older than you!"

Harry's lips twitched at that.

"You have no idea how much you get under my skin, Harry. Definitely not the Gryffindor I expected years ago," Graham admitted.

Harry snorted, "you may throw curses, at some that may or may not deserve it—"

"Totally deserved it," Graham interrupted.

Harry rolled his eyes, "that wasn't the point."

"Fine, agree to disagree."

"The point is," Harry repeated, "I know there is more to the Slytherin that you show. And you have already shown me that. How could I not fall for you?"

The next kiss wasn't as insistent, it was more slow and soft this time around. Though this time Harry didn't let go of his wrist. Then he finally stepped away a few inches.

"You still owe me an explanation why Gringotts owled me," Harry took the letter out of his robes.

Graham snorted, "I supposed I do."