HARRY POTTER AND THE SECRET ENEMY

Harry Potter and all associated characters and situations are the property of J.K. Rowling. I make no claim to ownership.

Modified on 11/17/15. See AN 2a.

CHAPTER 21: Pranks and Other Distractions (Pt. 2)

11 September 1992

The presence of treacle tart on the table was the first clue that something was amiss. Jim was notorious for his obsessive love of treacle tart. Indeed, according to the rumor mill, whatever magical effect caused that "King of the Leprechaun" nonsense a few days prior was triggered by Jim biting into a slice of the desert which had been impregnated with some potion to link him to the enchanted crown. Harry, however, was more of a creme brulee fan, possibly due to fact that it required a blowtorch. And the plate of treacle tarts sitting between Lily Potter and himself was a subtle reminder that his mother knew next to nothing about him.

For about ten minutes, the two had made forced but polite chit-chat while Snape sat between them eating silently and psychically projecting to everyone on Earth his desire to be somewhere else. Harry was doing well in all his classes, but particularly DADA and Potions. Lily loved teaching Muggle Studies and was thrilled to have had the chance to update a class that was almost a century behind on Muggle politics and technology. Snape took another bite of chicken. Harry was looking forward to his first Quidditch match (he left out the fact that he was Chaser rather than Seeker). Since the number of students taking Muggle Studies was still rather low, Lily was spending her free time working with Professors Flitwick and Vector with an eye towards eventually completing a Mastery in Charms, Arithmancy or both. Snape took a big sip of wine. With each overly polite exchange, Snape took another bite of food and chewed it a minimum of thirty times to reduce the likelihood that he might be caught without anything in his mouth and thus asked a question.

Finally, after a particularly uncomfortable lull, Harry opened his mouth to speak, closed it, and looked down at the table. "I'm sorry," he said hesitantly. "I just realized ... I'm not sure what to call you. Most Slytherins would say 'Mother' but that seems awfully ... formal to me. And I'm not sure about 'Mum' because ..." He stopped abruptly and looked towards Lily with an embarrassed expression.

"Because I haven't earned that title, perhaps?" she asked sadly. She took a deep breath. "Perhaps, then, until you feel comfortable calling me 'Mum,' you could just call me Lily and your father James. That would be ... familiar, at least."

"Okay ... Lily ... at the risk of, I dunno, shattering the mood or something ... what made you decide to reach out to me. I mean, it's been six weeks since the birthday party and, well, you weren't very talkative then."

"I didn't know what to say. I still don't. I already knew at that point that someone had tried to kill you while you were living with Petunia. And I also knew at that point that the Dursleys themselves had mistreated you, although I still don't know all the details. You have every reason to hold that against me, and I don't have any defense that I would consider persuasive let alone one you should." At that, she gave a quick glance towards Snape. "And then, someone tried to kill you again at the party. That just ... brought everything from my school days back."

"What do you mean?" he asked, genuinely curious.

She hesitated and then reached into her bag and produced a framed picture of an older man and woman. "I wanted to give you this before you left today. This is Michael and Rose Evans. My parents, your grandparents. Please keep it. I have other copies." She paused as if to collect herself. "Your father and I got married late in the summer of 1979. We tried to keep everything low key, but James was Heir to an Ancient and Noble House, so naturally the Prophet eventually found out about the marriage and made a big story out of it ... and out of how James and I were somehow heroically defying You-Know-Who by getting married despite our different blood statuses. And ... the Death Eaters didn't like that, so they found out where I lived, broke in, and tortured your grandparents with the Cruciatus Curse for hours. Finally, they got bored and left ... after setting the house on fire with Mum and Dad trapped inside." She paused suddenly. "Did ... did Petunia ever mention any of this? Is that why she ...?

"Abused me?" thought Harry. "No. There was a totally different reason for that." He shook his head. "No, she never talked about them or how they died. I doubt that had anything to do with it." He studied the picture of the grandparents who had died before he was born. As much as people said he looked like his father, he could also see traces of himself in Robert Evans. For one thing, his eyes were much closer to the intense green of his grandfather than the softer shade of his mother. "If they'd lived, would Lily have sent me to them instead of Petunia? And would they have ended up treating me just the same?"

Harry set the picture aside and looked into his mother's eyes. "Was that why you sent me away? Because you thought that I'd be killed if I stayed with the Potter family?"

"Yes," she said simply. "In light of recent events, can you blame me for that?"

"No, but I can blame you for not checking up on me for ten years. The Dursleys told me that you had died."

"The Dursleys..." She stopped, anger flashing over her face before being replaced by sadness again. "The Dursleys did a lot of things they weren't supposed to. They were supposed to tell you that James and I had died in a car crash. Their ... embellishments about it being caused by James's drunk driving were not a part of the story. You were supposed to be raised by Petunia and Vernon with kindness, if not love, until you finished school. At that point, you would be given access to a sizeable trust fund that would provide a very comfortable standard of living for the rest of your life, enough for you to never work if that was your desire. And of course, all of that was conditional on you actually being a squib. Petunia was supposed to contact me immediately if you showed any signs of accidental magic, at which point we'd have revealed the truth to you and brought you back into wizarding society. She never did. Until your Hogwarts letter was generated, we never had any clue you were a wizard."

"I know. I understand all that. I'm guess I'm just struggling with the bit where me being a squib is an excuse for sending me away and letting me think I was an orphan."

She shrugged helplessly. "It seemed best to have a clean break. Even ignoring the dangers specific to our family, there was and is institutional bigotry towards squibs who remain within the wizarding world. If you'd stayed with us, you would have been completely home-schooled because wizarding law would not have allowed for a child from a wizarding home to go to a Muggle school. You would likely have never even seen a child who wasn't a wizard or witch while you were with us. There's very little work for adult squibs in the wizarding world, but mainstreaming into the Muggle world when you were older would have been very difficult because there was no paper trail saying where you went to school or where you had lived, and you'd have been woefully ignorant of Muggle culture. And that's before we get into about the issues of Death Eaters who wanted revenge against Jim or the very real possibility that Jim might unintentionally drain you of your very life while defending himself some day. I mean, after Jim drove off You-Know-Who last June, you and he both were in comas for days. I know it looks like we were favoring Jim over you when we sent you away, but honestly? I made the decision that I'd rather have a live child who thought he was an orphan than a dead one I'd have to bury. I deeply regret everything that happened, Harry. But looking back and thinking about what I knew at the time, I still am not sure I made the wrong decision."

"You made the decision? Do you mean James was opposed?"

She nodded. "Yes. Dumbledore and I had to talk him into it. He was completely in denial over the medical reports saying you were a squib. Then again, considering how things worked out, maybe he saw something the rest of us all missed. But when Petunia never contacted us to let us know you had signs of magic, he came to accept it. And then, a few weeks before your eleventh birthday, Albus contacted us to let us know that there was a letter for you."

Harry nodded. "But then, I was Sorted. And that ... changed."

"Yes. I always knew that knew that James wasn't ... rational when it came to Slytherins." At that, Snape nearly choked on a sip of wine and coughed violently for a few seconds. Lily smiled at him with what Harry thought was a surprising fondness. "Well, I say Slytherins but it was really just Slytherin students here at Hogwarts. I don't know if you knew this but your maternal grandmother, Dorea Black Potter, was in your house. She and your grandfather had a rather famous and occasionally violent feud when they were at school together but then got over their differences after graduation and eventually started courting. Still, from the way James tells it, even she was strongly opposed to the thought of him being Sorted into her old house. And of course, when James was in school, it was different because everyone knew that You-Know-Who was actively recruiting among Slytherin alumni. A lot of James's anti-Slytherin hostility was a response to some fairly overt bigotry that was commonplace within your house at that time."

Severus snorted softly at that. She sighed. "And yes, some of that was a response to bullying from a quartet of schoolboys who were allowed to run wild by their doting and overly-forgiving teachers. That said, Severus, you can't sit there and pretend the Slytherins were completely blameless. I do remember getting hexed pretty regularly by Rosier and Mulciber just for being a Muggleborn." She paused and then smiled almost mischievously. "I also remember what you did to the Marauders at the start of Sixth Year. That prank with the raspberry tarts and Minerva McGongall's sexy voice?"

To Harry's amazement, his normally emotionless Potions professor blushed slightly. And then ... he smiled, as if savoring one of his most favorite memories.

"What did you do to them?" Harry asked in quiet awe. Snape coughed and regained his composure.

"Nothing for you to know about, Potter," he said. "At least not until you're older."

Harry shook his head in bemusement. Then, he looked back towards Lily. "On the morning of my birthday party, James said he wanted to try to reconcile. Do you think he's serious about that?"

She paused as if considering the matter. "I ... don't know. He's told me that he is, but it's a rather abrupt change. And he's apparently willing to reconcile on the basis of a recommendation from Peter Pettigrew, and frankly, I've never trusted that man."

Harry nodded. "I appreciate you being forthright about that."

"Thank you." The two were silent for a few seconds. Snape quickly popped a bit of potato into his mouth and started chewing before anyone looked his way.

"Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to change the subject to something a bit lighter. Normally, I'm opposed to pranks, but I do appreciate good spellwork. How in Merlin's name did you get that singing crown spell to work on Jim the other day?"

Harry's eyes shot up in surprise. "I don't know whether to be offended or flattered, but that wasn't me. Although I agree it was impressive spellwork."

"Really? Jim seems convinced it was you. He says you practically signed your name to it."

"Hmmph. Well, that only proves it wasn't me. A real Slytherin would never sign his name to a prank. We'd sign someone else's name to frame them for our misdeeds."

"Ha-ha. I've no doubt. Although whoever it was, I hope they don't make a habit of mocking Jim over those books. He's embarrassed by them enough as it is."

"Then why keep printing them? I know the story behind them. And I know you could stop publication of them tomorrow if you wanted."

She sighed with resigned expression. "James and Jim both would be thrilled if that happened, but that's another area where I made sure to have my way. I decided very early on that Jim's public image was something that we would have to zealously protect and control. The books help with that."

"I don't understand," Harry said in confusion. "Jim's the Boy-Who-Lived. People bow when he walks by. What sort of protections do you think he needs?"

"You'd be surprised." She hesitated. "Harry, the wizarding world as a whole is very ... credulous. And also very fickle. When Jim was a baby and everyone found out what he'd done, there were people who thought he was some sort of Wizarding Messiah." Her expression hardened. "But there were also other views. Views spread by people who thought that if Jim could destroy You-Know-Who as a baby, it must mean that he was destined to someday become a greater Dark Lord than You-Know-Who himself. In those first years, there were followers of You-Know-Who who wanted to kill Jim for revenge, but there were others who wanted to kidnap him instead and ... raise him properly 'according to Pureblood values.' And there were even a few on the Light side who thought it might be in everyone's best interest if the government took him into protective custody to protect him from bad influences."

Harry's brow furrowed. "Really?! There are people out there who actually think Jim is ... Dark Lord material?"

"Not as many today as there were in 1983, but probably still a few. Jim told me that Draco Malfoy made an abortive attempt to befriend him on the train to Hogwarts last year. I suspect it was because Lucius Malfoy was sounding Jim out to find out what he was actually like as a person."

"I was there. It was an ... odd interaction, now that I think about it. And the books?"

She shrugged and smiled. "After we won the court case, we discovered how popular those books were, and I decided that it was a good way to shape public opinion in Jim's favor. Today, all that most wizards and witches know about Jim is that he raises lots of money for charity and that he appears in children's books as an earnest, heroic young man who stands steadfast against the forces of evil."

"Okay, but why the Hardy Boys?"

She smiled almost sheepishly. "Nostalgia? When I was a girl, I used to have the biggest crush on Shaun Cassidy." Harry stared at her in confusion, and she smiled. "Sorry, let's just say that I was a Muggleborn who came of age in the 1970's and it left its mark on me."

Harry chuckled and then looked down at his watch. "Ooo, I need to run. I've got Transfiguration in ten minutes." He paused and looked back up at his mother. "I've ... enjoyed this. I, uh, wouldn't mind doing it again ... if you want." Then, he glanced over at Snape. "We may need to wait a week or two to give Professor Snape a chance to recover."

Snape glared at him through hooded eyes that promised dreadful detentions in the future. Lily just smiled. "I'd like that."

Harry nodded and left the room.

"I must confess," said Snape after the door closed, "that went much better than I'd expected. You were wise to pursue a general policy of total honesty. That said, I warn you now: If you ever suggest that your husband join us in future bonding sessions, I'll put poison in your afternoon tea."

She laughed. "If I ever propose something that crazy, Severus, I hope I drink it."

Later that afternoon ...

As he made his way back to his dorm, Harry thought back to his luncheon with Lily. He didn't think he'd forgiven her for abandoning him to the Dursleys so completely. Certainly not now, and possibly not ever. However, two thoughts gave him pause. The pragmatic one was that Lily at least seemed to want a genuine reconciliation with him, whereas James's attitude about that seemed much more suspect. If Lily was a potential ally in any future conflict against James, it would be foolish to spurn her out of bitterness over his upbringing with the Dursleys. It was the second thought that Harry found more troubling, so much so that he found it difficult to articulate beyond thinking: "what if she was right?" If Lily had spoken truthfully and had genuinely believed him to be the squib son of Lord Potter and the squib brother of the Boy-Who-Lived, then it was perfectly reasonable and arguably compassionate for her to have arranged for him to be raised as a Muggle. And while he still thought she should have checked in from time to time, Harry also realized that Lily could not have anticipated Harry's strange affliction that made Muggles hate him, the affliction that ultimately drove Vernon Dursley to homicidal madness. Had it not been for that little quirk, might he have grown up in relative happiness with guardians who could at least feign affection towards him? And if he had been a squib, would it not have been better to have never known about magic at all than to have wondered "what if?"

Harry's thoughts were suddenly broken up as he rounded the corner near the Slytherin entryway to face of a new bit of weirdness: Titus Mitchell and Miranda Bonneville, the Sixth Year Slytherin Prefects, standing outside the entrance to their House's dormitory with giant translucent bubbles around their heads. As Harry moved towards the entrance, Titus put out a hand to stop him.

"Hold it, Potter. Some tossers – and by tossers, I mean most likely the Weasley Terrors – have been sneaking dungbombs into the bookbags of Slytherin students. So no one goes in until we've checked you out. Then, we'll cast the Bubblehead Charm on you so you don't vomit all over the Common Room floor and make the stink even worse. Now, hands out and arms up."

Bemused, Harry did as he was told. "SCRUTIMINIUS DUNGBOMB," the prefect intoned. Then, to Harry's surprise, the other boy's wand lit up and gave a soft humming sound. The hum slowly rose in pitch as Titus slowly moved his wand around until it came to rest against Harry's book bag.

"Okay, Potter. Stay very still." Harry froze as Mitchell carefully opened up Harry's book bag and then gently removed the prank explosive. Then, he carefully twisted the top and cast a Finite on it before visibly relaxing. There was a piece of paper wrapped around the dungbomb which he removed before tossing the device into a metal can next to the door. From the clang, it sounded like there were several other deactivated dungbombs inside. He held the paper out to Harry. It contained just four letters: G-R-S-D.

"G-R-S-D. Just like all the rest. Any clue what it means, Potter?" he asked.

Harry shrugged. "George and Ron Send Dungbombs? Although this really seems more like Fred's thing than either of them, I think."

"Whatever. If you get any better ideas than that, let one of the prefects know. Now hold still." Harry again did as he was told as the prefect cast the Bubble-Head Charm on him and then allowed him into the Slytherin Common Room. The scene was oddly surrealistic, as the dozen or so Slytherins in the Common Room all had large bubbles around their heads and were attempting to carry on as normal even as Marcus and Missy walked around the room casting air-purifying spells to cancel out the bombs that had gone off earlier. In the center of the room, Harry noticed that Draco and several members of his circle were facing off against Ginny, Amy Wilkes and Astoria Greengrass, with Theo and Blaise standing nearby, ready to intervene if necessary.

"I still say this STENCH came from the Weasley Terrors!" Draco said in an tinny muffled voice. "And that means YOU probably had something to do with it!"

"Don't be such an idiot, Malfoy!" Ginny replied in the same oddly distorted voice. "One of those dungbombs went off in my bag! The Twins might prank Slytherin House, but they wouldn't use me to do it! And I certainly wouldn't prank my own house where I sleep at night!"

"A likely story! I don't believe ANYTHING a WEASLEY has to say about anything! Who KNOWS what demented ideas are going on in your STUPID WEASEL HEAD!"

Biting down on the urge to laugh at "Stupid Weasel Head," Harry strode over to the group. "Draco, calm down!"

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ON HER SIDE!"

"Draco," Harry replied calmly. "I'm not on anybody's side. I just want you to calm down because all your shouting is about to burst your bubble."

At that, Draco looked around and tentatively reached up to feel the bubble of clean air around his head. It had indeed increased over a foot in diameter due to his shouting. With obvious difficulty, he calmed down and the bubble began to shrink back to its normal size.

"Now, while Draco's deflating, someone else calmly tell me what all's been going on."

Blaise stepped forward. "About an hour ago, Miss Wilkes here entered the Common Room and a few minutes later, a dungbomb that had been hidden on her person went off. Immediately, several students became violently ill. Luckily, some of the older students were on hand to cast Bubble Head Charms and begin purifying the Common Room, a process that is close to wrapping up. A few minutes later, Miss Weasley entered and a dungbomb that had been hidden in her bag nearly detonated. However, she recognized the sound that a dungbomb makes before it goes off, threw her book bag into an empty corner, and alerted Marcus who put a shield up over it."

Harry nodded. "Well done, Miss Weasley."

"Hah!" exclaimed Pansy Parkinson. "I'll bet she brought a live dungbomb into the dungeon on purpose just so she could make a big show of warning people about it in order to curry favor with everyone!"

"That's..." Ginny paused mid-retort. "That's actually something that would have been totally clever and cunning if I had done it ... which I didn't. So... thanks for the compliment, I guess?"

"Oh, shut up, Weasel!" barked Draco. Ginny narrowed her eyes and stared intently at the tip of Draco's nose until he grew uncomfortable. "What are you looking at?"

"Your nostrils are very small. I was trying to decide if a Bat-Bogie Hex would actually injure you seriously."

"Why you ...!" Draco started fumbling for his wand, and Ginny did the same. Luckily, before Harry had to intervene, Amy Wilkes, who had apparently palmed her wand some time earlier, raised it towards Draco.

"We've been standing around like idiots with giant bubbles on our heads for the last half-hour," she said in a bored voice. "Can we please not make things even more ridiculous with a duel here in the Common Room? With our luck, someone will shoot off a fire spell and ignite all the fumes from the dungbombs."

"Joining sides with the blood traitor, Amaryllis?" said Pansy in a snide voice. "Especially that one? That's a surprise."

"What can I say, Pansy. I'm a Wilkes and we're all craaaazyyy, as I've heard you sniping behind my back for the last two weeks. Who knows what sort of horrible curses I can cast just because of my evil family tree?"

At that point, Marcus came over near the group and cast a detection spell of some kind. Then, he braced himself, used his wand to stab his bubble (which popped loudly), and inhaled. Satisfied, he exhaled and addressed the room.

"Right. The room's cleared of dung-stench, so everyone can pop your bubbles." He paused. "In retrospect, I should have said that in some way that sounded less stupid. And for Merlin's sake, keep an eye on your bags and backpacks until we find out what wanker has been responsible for all this and string him up from his goolies, got it?"

With that, he turned towards the group of First and Second Years, shook his head, and then turned to Harry. "I'll leave this lot to you. I'm not in the mood to deal with ... pre-adolescent drama." Then, he turned and stalked off leaving the group behind. With a laugh, Harry stabbed the bubble around his own head with his wand, and soon after, there were other loud pops all around the Common Room.

"Right," said Harry, "without getting drawn into 'pre-adolescent drama' myself, let me just say this. I am quite certain that Miss Weasley had nothing to do with this nonsense. And I'm pretty confident that the Weasley Twins had nothing to do with it either."

"Then who was it?" asked Draco angrily.

"Personally, I suspect the Git-Who-Lived. The prank was juvenile, low brow, and most importantly, could only have been pulled of in the manner we've seen by someone with an invisibility cloak. As for motive, I am reliably informed that my brother thinks that I'm responsible for that 'King of the Leprechauns' nonsense from the other day, and this was his feeble attempt at revenge."

"Wait, that wasn't you?" asked Drusilla Crabbe in confusion.

He gave her a pitying look. "Do you see huge banners hung all over the Common Room proclaiming that I reduced Jim Potter to sputtering rage in front of the entire school? People are still humming that tune whenever Jim is around. I wish that I could legitimately take credit for it, and the only reason I haven't pretended to be responsible is because I'm cautious about stealing the thunder of whoever actually did it until I know who they are."

With that, Harry glanced over at Theo and gave him a significant look. Theo smirked and nodded slightly while patting his own book bag meaningfully.

"But enough about pranks and other such nonsense. Let's move on to the more interesting question of why you two," he pointed at Ginny and Draco, "are so eager to start a rumble here in the Common Room."

"Because he's pompous, bigoted, obnoxious tit," spat Ginny.

"Because she's ..." Draco struggled to find any words he could say without contravening his Vow. "A Weasley!"

"Actually," said Harry with a smug expression, "it's because you're both under a spell."

"WHAT?!" Ginny and Draco said simultaneously. Then, they both looked at each other angrily.

Harry sat down in an overstuffed chair and regarded the two Slytherins and their respective tribes. "Mr. Nott, your report please?"

By that point, Theo had pulled several pages of parchment from his bag and was sorting through them. Then, he coughed loudly and began to speak.

"Prior to the events of 1788, the Noble House of Weasley and the Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy had been in a general state of de facto alliance for more than 100 years. While the House of Weasley never formally swore fealty to the House of Malfoy, the two families had several joint business ventures and supported one another politically in the Wizengamot. It was widely understood that the House of Malfoy would support the elevation of the Weasleys to the status of Ancient and Noble House as soon as one of those seats became vacant."

Ginny and Draco stared at Theo in utter confusion while Harry just smiled. Theo continued.

"This state of affairs continued until 1788, when the Heads of the two Houses – Hephaestus Malfoy (Hufflepuff, Class of 1750) and Barnabas Weasley (Slytherin, Class of 1753) – decided to formalize their alliance with a marriage contract between Meleager, the Malfoy Heir, and Camilla, the eldest daughter of Barnabas. However, problems arose when Meleager, in a serious breach of etiquette, rather loudly let it be known that he was less interested in Camilla, who was six years his senior, than in Ludmilla Weasley, who was only one year his junior and who was considered to be more attractive than her older sister."

Ginny's eyes widened at the mention of Ludmilla Weasley, who Ron had mentioned during their confrontation as being the last female Weasley prior to her. Draco was equally surprised at the reference to Hephaestus Malfoy and his Heir, Meleager. He knew his own family tree quite well and recalled that Hephaestus was succeeded by Corvus Malfoy, whose unidentified older brother had been blasted off the family tree for unknown reasons.

"After his initial protests, Meleager bowed to his father's wishes ... at first. But then, only a week before the wedding, Meleager disappeared never to be seen again, along with Ludmilla, the bride price, the dowery, and all the wedding gifts that had been received up to that point. Each family blamed the other for the scandal. Barnabas Weasley called Meleager a rake who had seduced his baby girl, while Hephaestus called Ludmilla a slattern who had deceived his beloved son perhaps to his death. The situation deteriorated quickly, with three duels between members of the two houses over the course of the next year. Things came to a head in 1790 when Barnabas Weasley publicly accused Livilla Malfoy, Hephaestus's wife, of cursing the Weasley family with a redacted spell."

"A what?" exclaimed Draco. "What's a redacted spell?"

"Something very bad, apparently, because all of the written accounts from that era literally have the name of the spell blacked out. But whatever it was, Livilla would have been cast through the Veil of Death rather than just imprisoned in Azkaban if the charges had been proven. However, the burden of proof was on the Weasleys, and Barnabas was unable to secure a conviction in the Wizengamot. After Livilla was acquitted, the Malfoys turned around and sued the Weasleys for libel and slander, and the damages awarded to them over a false allegation of using a redacted spell caused the Weasleys to lose their Wizengamot seat. Most of the financial difficulties the Weasleys have had over the last two centuries stem from these events."

At that, Draco sneered at Ginny who stuck her tongue out at him.

"Anyway, having lost the court case, Barnabas Weasley exercised his power as Head of House to declare family enmity against the Malfoys, and Hephaestus Malfoy reciprocated."

"What does that mean?" asked Ginny.

Harry took over. "It means, Miss Weasley, that for nearly two hundred years, every Weasley born into your family has instinctively hated all Malfoys on sight, and every Malfoy born during that period has hated all Weasleys for the same reason. In other words, your mutual hostility is not natural. It's a magical effect that continues to plague both your families to this day, even though you've probably all forgotten the original reason for it."

"So how do they get rid of it?" asked Astoria.

"House enmity can only be ended by mutual agreement of the current Heads of the affected Houses," answered Theo authoritatively.

"Which hardly seems likely since our fathers can't get within ten feet without getting into fistfights," said Ginny.

"Why are you so interested in this anyway, Potter?" asked Draco in annoyance.

"Two reasons. First, I was curious about why you had such an extreme aversion to Ron on the train last year when you'd never met him before then, and later why your father had such an extreme and public altercation with Mr. Weasley. Second, I ... well, let's just say I disapprove of mind-altering compulsion spells. The idea of magic that's been thoughtlessly applied forcing one person to hate another without even realizing why ... offends me."

"You make it sound like you plan to do something about it," said Ginny suspiciously.

He shrugged. "In the short term, all I plan to do is ask you two to act like any responsible young witches and wizards. You know your feelings are unnatural. So even if you can't stop feeling the way you do, you can control how you respond publicly to those feelings. Don't allow yourselves to be overcome by external compulsions. And above all, don't embarrass Slytherin House over some ancient feud that has no relevance for either one of you."

"And in the long term?" asked Draco, just as suspiciously as Ginny was earlier.

"Well," said Harry with a cheerful grin. "If my short term solution fails, then I suppose I'll just have to make it a project of mine to bring your two warring families together in a spirit of peace and harmony. And you both know how I love my projects."

At that, Draco and Ginny, who both had experience with the byzantine and anarchic mind of Harry Potter, paled considerably.

The next chapter will be uploaded on Friday, November 13, 2015. "The Boggart," in which Harry confronts his greatest fear while the Prank War enters a new and more serious phase.

AN 1: Every now and then, someone points a contradiction between this fic and something on Pottermore. I regret to say that I just don't have enough hours in the day to keep up with Pottermore and check everything I write against it. I use the Harry Potter Wikia for my fact-checking, and if it cites to something interesting from Pottermore, I might use it (and if so, I'll cite to it in an AN). But otherwise, while Pottermore is the canon, it isn't my canon, and if my facts differ from JKR's about some detail outside the books or movies, please just roll with it. Case in point: James's grandfather is Charlus not Fleamont. I had already used Charlus before the Potter family history was posted by JKR, but even if I hadn't, I don't think I could bring myself to use that name. Also, the Potters did not make their fortune in potions and certainly didn't invent Sleekeazy, seeing as how the "famously unruly hair of the Potter men" is an identifying mark from the books.

AN 2: Due to a math error on my part, the last chapter of Book One indicated that both sets of Harry's grandparents died after James and Lily graduated. It was actually during the summer before their Seventh Year. It was bonding over their shared tragedies that let them get over their antipathy and start dating. I'll edit that chapter when I get around to it.

AN 2a: Due to an even bigger problem with the timeline pointed out to me by alert reader Gwendolyn McCormick, I am changing what I wrote in the previous paragraph. All four of Harry's grandparents died in 1979 which was the same year James and Lily got married (as indicated in the last chapter of Book One). After the marriage, they moved directly into Godric's Hollow because Charlus and Dorea still lived in the Manor until their deaths late in that year. James, being an emotional clod, refused to take off his Heir's ring until Harry and Jim was born, at which point he put on the Lord's ring and stuck the Heir's ring into a drawer in the nursery. The paragraph where Lily explains all this to Harry has been edited above. Sorry for any confusion.

AN 3: Undoubtedly, some people will think I'm going too easy on Lily and may be angry that it looks like Harry is forgiving her too easily. Stay tuned. This is a tentative first step, one chapter in a seven-volume series, and there will be a long way to go, if ever, before Harry ever calls Lily "Mum."