"...Um, Harry?"
"...Good morning." Harry sat up again as he woke up in the Hospital Wing.
It was morning, at least if he went by the amount of light coming through the windows, as unreliable as that way of measuring Time was anyway, and it looked like the Hospital Wing was preparing itself for the day.
A elderly if cheerful woman in very much victorian nurse's outfit was waving her wand a bit, causing a couple of plants to grow a bit on the windowsills of the huge shared room, and Harry guessed that the woman was the 'head nurse' that had been mentioned yesterday.
Professor Trelawney looked to still be unconscious, although Harry smelled a waft of alcohol from her direction and guessed that she had probably woken up during the night, and decided that she wasn't willing to be sober, or conscious for that matter, after hearing the 'prophecy' that Harry had made.
However there seemed to be one more person in the room- Ronald Weasley, who was sitting up on his bed with a sizable bucket full of slugs by his bedside.
And Ron was staring at Harry with a strange expression on his face.
"Harry- What is happening? Are you awake?" Ron looked to be quite unsure, and Harry realized that he might have sat up a couple of times during his sleep as his dreams were often quite vivid, to the point that sometimes he'd wake up somewhere else than where he had woken up.
All in all sleepwalking was not exactly usual for Sahajiya, but in a sense sleeping was meditation, which in turn could somewhat easily be turned into a state of reality-breaking delirium with certain prerequisites- Usually by introducing lack of sleep, drink, or addition of music to the combination.
Harry focused on Ron and nodded. "I'm awake now. Greetings, Ron."
"Harry- Listen, mate, what the heck is going on?! You were wearing Slytherin colors earlier! And everyone tells me that you were sorted into Slytherin! But that has to be a mistake- You're a Gryffindor, you have to be!" Ron was clearly distressed.
"Ah. Good. Now that you two have woken up- Mr. Weasley, has your curse subsided yet?" the nurse noticed that the two boys were awake and waddled over, cutting Ron off mid-speech.
"...Y-yes, madam Pomfrey?" Ron paused and then nodded hesitantly,
The nurse gave Ron a radiant smile before flicking her wand which caused the boy's hospital robes to disappear and be replaced by student robes with Gryffindor colors. "Very good. Since that was a simple curse I didn't see the point of trying to curse-break it and risk complications that would have been far worse than the curse itself, and if it's gone now then I would like to ask mr. Weasley to leave the Hospital Wing. If you hurry you'll be just in time for breakfast."
The nurse then turned towards Harry. "Mr. Potter- I believe that you had a… complication yesterday. Are you feeling better now?"
"Yes. I would likely feel better with a few shots of brandy or other liquors, but I feel as if that'd be tempting fate in the current situation." Harry nodded. Otherwise I'm as healthy as I'll ever be from now on, I believe."
"...I observed that there were changes in your appearance, and I was unable to revert them. I apologize for this. I can book you for an appointment at St. Mungo's central hospital, but if those marks are I suspect, I doubt they can do anything for those marks either" The nurse looked quite worried though. "I'll ignore that comment about alcohol- You do know that underage wizards and witches aren't supposed to be drinking that stuff, correct?"
"Well, technically I'm thirty-two as far as the local law is concerned…" Harry pointed out, causing the nurse to scrunch her eyebrows a bit before nodding slowly.
"You're what, mate?" Ron, however, didn't seem to take the news as easily.
"Well, my actual age is pretty darn hard to tell because I'm not exactly sure which and where I am in terms of the whole Time and its rivulets and currents, so I just rolled a random number. Anyway, a person called mr. Crouch apparently agreed that it was appropriate so that's how it got marked up." Harry explained to Ron with quick and simple words, causing Ron's eyebrows to scrunch up as well.
"I don't get it but if you say that mr. Crouch says that it's okay, then everything's fine, I guess?" Ron nodded after a while.
"You know mr. Crouch?"
"No, but dad mentioned him a couple of times- Wait, there was something else I wanted to say-!" Ron seemed to realize he was getting sidetracked.
"Now, off you go." Madam Pomfrey fussed up a bit and flicked her wand, causing Harry's hospital gowns to switch back to his school clothes.
Harry quickly patted his pockets, just in case, and found that everything was where he had intended them to be. "Right. Shall we go, Ron?"
"Y-yes, mate!" Ron nodded a couple of times. "Listen, Harry, can you tell me what-"
"Off you go!" Madam Pomfrey flicked her wand for one last time, and Harry and Ron found their would-be conversation interrupted by a pair of brooms coming alive and chasing them out of the infirmary.
"So… Mate, what was that all about? I passed out at the Sorting, I think Fred and George slipped me something that they thought was funny, and I woke up in Gryffindor dorms after the twins carried me there. I searched the dorms, looking for you so that we could go for breakfast together, but I never found you in the Gryffindor Common Room." Ron asked Harry after the two had made their way out of the Hospital Wing and Harry had motioned for Ron to guide him to the dining hall. "What's with the Slytherin colors too?"
"I got sorted into Hufflepuff. And then Slytherin. Honestly, it was a bit of a joke from the Sorting Hat." Harry noted. "It asked if I wanted to go into Gryffindor at the start but I heard that you guys embodied the, uh, 'kinetic response to any challenge' a variety of Hermetic Magic."
"What does that mean?" Ron looked a bit confused at first, and then surprised. "Wait, so you were sorted to Gryffindor!"
"No, I'm pretty sure that wasn't the case…"
"Then Malfoy must have pulled some sort of dark curse on the Sorting Hat, which confused it and caused the Hat to put you into Hufflepuff, but the Hat must have thought that it was you who was trying to lie to the hat, and put you into Slytherin!" Ron seemed to come to his own conclusions despite the evidence to the contrary, and Harry just nodded along as he didn't really care either way and just letting Ron speak seemed to be the route of least headache. "Is something wrong?"
"I have a bit of a headache, don't worry." Harry reached into his pocket. "I got just the thing for it."
"Dad taught me this charm when he came home one night and said that he had really bad headache after talking to Lucius Malfoy, and he explained how the charm worked- I can try to cast it for you." Ron offered and pulled his wand out.
Harry glanced at the condition of Ron's foci and decided that he should probably resort to traditional methods as he had a feeling that if Ron tried to magic away Harry's headache, he might also accidentally magic away his brains with the same spell.
"I don't want to be a bother. Besides, this way we can share. A beer?" Harry pulled out a pair of cans of beer and offered a can to Ron.
"A butterbeer? Sure!" Ron looked at the aluminum can and took it. "Um, how do I use this?"
"You've never had canned stuff?" Harry showed how to open the metal can. "Bottoms up."
"Yeah!" Ron took a long sip, and then sputtered a bit. "Eweewy! It's spoiled!"
Harry blinked a bit while crushing his empty can and putting it back to his pocket. "It was? Huh, I swore I bought them at the same time… Or, well, appropriated, but you get the point."
"Nice prank, Harry… Not very good, but I suppose we all start somewhere…" Ron sputtered and cleaned his chin as he had spluttered the beer all over the hallway. The boy then pulled out his wand and pointed it at the floor. "Scrungefy"
The mess seemed to start to disappear, but then changed color to outrageously fluorescent yellow, and then exploded all over the hallway.
"Uh oh." Ron stared at the mess, at his wand that looked like it had really seen better days, and then ran for it with Harry hot on his heels. "Let's get away before mr. Flinch finds us out!"
"Who's that? Your chief torturer?"
"No- Well, yes." Ron seemed to balk at first and then smirked as if he thought Harry was joking. "Something like that- He's the janitor. He cleans the hallways, although most of the time he just stalks students and tries to catch them when they're doing something that's against the rules."
"So the enforcer and torturer rolled to one. Efficient." Harry nodded completely seriously, causing Ron to chuckle a bit as if he thought Harry had made a joke.
"You're alright, Harry. Listen, I can tell the other guys that you got mistakenly sorted to Slytherin so if you want to sit with us in Gryffindor then it's fine!" Ron told him while the pair slowed down to a walk in a hallway that was lined with suits of antique armors. "Um… Actually, about that event in the potions classroom. Sorry for making a scene and getting you into trouble with Snape."
"Don't worry. I got set up." Harry explained. "Besides, a week's detention is not much, all things considered."
"A week? Huh, that really puts things into perspective. Snape never gives detentions to Slytherin…" Ron nodded as if something made sense. "What do you mean about a setup?"
"So, the Slytherin students have this hazing ritual where they set you up and then basically knock you off your high horse, and I accidentally acted like I was all high and mighty and greater-than-thou in preparation for it…" Harry explained the events, causing Ron to tilt his head in confusion. "In the end I overdid it, and the guys and gals at Slytherin are screwing me over because of it."
"What do you mean? Do you need help?" Ron looked a bit nervous but nonetheless offered his metaphorical hand. "T-to f-fight off the Slytherin?"
"No, not really. In summary, what they are doing is that they're doing a whole 'bowing-and-scraping' song and dance whenever I so much show my face around them, and they are using it to grow my ego, so that whenever I get comfortable with it and slip, they'll just turn the tables and bury me in the castle moat." Harry explained.
"...Oh. Oooooh! That… That actually makes sense!" Ron nodded. "In other words, because everyone knows Harry Potter should be Gryffindor and is a champion of Light, then if they see everyone in Slytherin bowing and scraping in front of Harry then they'll start to think that Harry was actually a dark wizard!"
'That… was not at all what I said, though?' Harry sighed as it looked like Ron had once again taken the presented evidence, altered some things, adjusted some things, and then squeezed the words that were left through the Gryffindor-shaped puzzle-box hole with brute force. "Something like that."
"I get it! That explains the newspapers! It must have been Lucius Malfoy's doing… Harry, you have to be very careful, the Malfoys are trying to turn everyone against you!" Ron looked very concerned for Harry, making him nod in appreciation.
"I figured as much. But it's good to have someone else reach the same conclusion. Oh, you mentioned a newspaper? What do you mean?" Harry asked as the pair reached the dining hall and entered through the open doors.
"There was an article in the Daily Prophet about you and your return- You might want to read it yourself. I can't actually afford a subscription but I read Dean's copy after he was done with it, I can ask if he still has it somewhere…?" Ron asked but Harry shook his head.
"I'm grateful for your offer, but I feel as if I should try to look for one myself- I feel as if it'd be unfair towards 'Dean' to volunteer his copy." Harry told Ron while the two sat down for breakfast.
In the Gryffindor table.
The pair drew quite a few stares and Harry glanced around, feeling as if something was wrong.
The attack was almost immediate, but Harry's awareness saved him as he began to dodge-
Unfortunately though, he wasn't exactly in a condition where he could use his magic, nor was he skilled in Hermetic Magic, and his melee skills were far below average.
Of course Harry could have pulled out his sawed-off shotgun and start blasting, but he felt as if that would be both a uncalled escalation and potentially very risky since the Hermetic micro-Consensus didn't seem to like 'muggle things' being used near what Hermetics considered 'proper hermetic magic'.
So, in the end, even though he realized he was under attack, he was unable to do anything as the projectile hit his face mid-dodge.
Harry fell over and flopped on his back on the floor.
The splattered cream cake flopped off his face, leaving him thoroughly creamed.
There was a collective breath-take in a part of the Slytherin table as Harry realized that he had sat into Gryffindor table and realized that it didn't look like there were many students who sat on tables other than in their own color's.
Harry got up. "Yeah, sorry about that."
"Harry! Don't worry, I got it- Scro-"
"Ron, it's fine, mate, don't worry. Really." Harry got up and wiped his face. 'So, I made a breach in etiquette. Honestly, if this is everything that resulted from it then I should consider myself lucky. Considering how much Hermetics value ranks and roles and secrets, I wouldn't be surprised if I had been hung upside-down by my entrails or something…'
"And what brings…"
"...The new and up-and-coming Dark Lord…"
"...To the Gryffindor table?" A pair of voices sang out in perfect synch, just loud enough to carry across the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables.
"Happenstance, and Ronald. However, the decision to sit down was my own." Harry explained while reaching into his pocket for a napkin, covering for Ron so that if a penalty fell on the pair, it'd be focused on Harry alone.
The Slytherins who saw Harry reaching for the pocket took a quick breath and tensed up.
"Here, mate." Ron took a napkin from the table and offered it to Harry. "Fred! George! Come on! Harry just sat down!"
"Hey Ron…"
"...How come…"
"...You're talking to Slytherins now?" Fred and George glanced at Ron, and then turned towards Harry to speak in unison. "No offense, dude."
"Yeah but he's Harry Potter." Ron made a frustrated motion.
"Oh…"
"...Right." Fred and George slapped their hands on their temples. "The up-and-coming Dark Lord Harry!"
"We're…"
"...Doomed!"
"We'll go and write our testaments, see you around Ron…"
"...And Dark Lord Harry!"
The pair ran off as if they were chased by devils.
"Sorry about those two… They can be right annoying when they feel like it." Ron grumbled. "I should have probably warned you… But let's call it even after you pranked me?"
"Sure. Are those two your relatives?" Harry asked and Ron nodded a bit hesitantly. "You have similar hair."
"They're my big brothers. Twins. Um, and I have more big brothers as well as a little sister. Uh, I think Fred and George thought you were holding me hostage, or something and wanted to check you out…" Ron looked a bit awkward. "Sausages?"
"I would say 'thank you', but I have to ask something first." Harry leaned a bit forward. "Is it alright if I eat at this table? I fear I've breached etiquette."
"Normally the students eat at their House's tables but if you get invited then it's fine." Ron looked a bit ashamed. "Um, sorry. I didn't remember that you didn't know. Do you really not know anything about Hogwarts and stuff?"
"I was taught in the ways of another Tradition, but I'll at least make an honest attempt to learn the Hermetic way of doing magic." Harry commented neutrally.
"Hermetic? Tradition?"
"Oh. Right, you guys aren't told those until you're older or higher-ranked… Right?" Harry lifted his eyebrow at Ron who just tilted his head. "I'll take that as a yes. In short, there are nine major mystic Traditions that utilize nine Spheres of Magic, and each Tradition holds great affinity for one Sphere. Mine would be Time. You guys are known as the Order of Hermes, who hold affinity with Forces. You know, lightning and fireballs. But anyone can learn anything, it's just that for Hermetics can channel Forces easier than others, and often use particular types of foci to do magic…"
"Uh, like magic balls? Isn't that a muggle thing?" Ron looked quite confused.
"Well, there's the Technocracy that does the, uh, 'muggle approach' to magic by classifying it as technology that is basically in the process of growing out of the 'wands and magic words'-phase' and becoming proper quantifiable science." Harry wasn't sure if Ron had been asking about that, but decided to mention it anyway. "I think we're not talking about the same thing."
"I think so too, mate." Ron nodded, unbothered by the whole erratic flow of the conversation as he was too busy concentrating on stuffing eggs and sausages to his mouth. "Eaf uph, it's defehsh awainst dwaf arsts nexhws"
"Cheers, I'll drink to that." Harry took a heavy glug of juice as he had not understood anything that Ron said just now, making it fairly certain that Ron was turning the table on him by speaking nonsense for a while in turn. For one another's perspective, anyway.
Neither of the two students really noticed the heavy atmosphere that had settled between the Slytherins and the Gryffindors, the latter of whom seemed to be quite unsure if they should be glaring at the 'snake' in their midst or glaring at the Slytherins who seemed to have claimed Harry Potter, despite his own decision to sit at the Gryffindor table.
.
.
.
"Mr. Malfoy, I am profusely sorry for what happened." Blaise was kneeling in front of Draco Malfoy, who was skipping the morning classes in order to get some sleep, had woken up, and had wandered to the Slytherin Common Room to catch up on the current events and sample some light snacks from his personal stockpile.
He had learned about Harry Potter's stunt during breakfast, and Draco was both confused, worried and awed at the same time.
"While you were incredibly stupid to allow yourself to be seen bowing to mr. Potter like that during the Divination class yesterday, I suspect the events that followed had nothing to do with you… Or perhaps…" Malfoy was thinking quite hard as he walked back to the events of yesterday, hoping to see what was going on in the present through looking at it through the lens of the past events.
He had already heard the brief and long versions of what had happened during the Divination class and during breakfast, and Draco was very worried.
On one hand it was clear that mr. Potter had deliberately gone after Professor Trelawney and gotten rid of her for some reason. 'Does professor Trelawney know some sort of secret that mr. Potter wants to keep that way… Or… Could it be that Professor Trelawney could see the future after all?'
Malfoy had been fairly sure that the Divination professor was a hack, and his father had agreed when he had pointed it out, but perhaps that was just a clever misdirection… And if Dumbledore had a True Seer by his side then suddenly a lot of the power-plays that Dumbledore had made in the past suddenly made sense.
Having a window into the future was an extremely powerful asset, and if Harry Potter truly was Lord Voldemort, then Trelawney could easily blow his cover.
Moreover, the tarot-card reading that Potter had allegedly used to mask the assassination had prophesied a particularly awful doom according to Blaise's reading of the lay of cards.
It was not very subtle, and Draco suspected that it was done deliberately.
The collapse afterwards… Blaise had claimed that it had looked genuine, but Malfoy didn't believe that for one second.
Rather, he suspected that it was Potter's way of ensuring that no-one suspected him- After all, it'd be easy to sweep the incident under the rug of accidental magic or a magical accident. Divination was, after all, a poorly understood subject by large so no-one but the seers themselves truly knew what could happen during an accident.
Draco had, naturally, gone to sit by Potter's sick-bed so that when he woke up, he'd see Draco standing at vigil by his side. It would be a message clear as day- That Malfoys would stand by lord Voldemort no matter what.
Even if the past sometimes contradicted that, at least if what Draco suspected was correct.
The battle-lines were being drawn, and Draco was hell-bent on ensuring that both himself and his family were on the winning side.
It was clear why Potter was faking being unconscious and wounded- He needed to make a show and dance of weakness and vulnerability after Blaise's colossal screw-up in order to not make it too obvious that he was the Dark Lord- The fact Dumbledore had shown up to the infirmary while Snape had come to fetch the Slytherin group away from Harry's sick-bed made it clear that Dumbledore was starting to suspect Harry.
The fact 'Harry's' 'disguise' had slipped a bit and revealed creases around his eyes and a strand of nearly white gray in his hair only furthered Draco's paranoia- And made him more certain of his theory.
As to why Harry had shown up to the breakfast with a Weasley was a mystery to Draco… Until he thought about it in the light of the previous day's events, and realized that Ron had struck out to defend Potter during the fight in the potions class.
And now Ronald Weasley had shown Potter to the Gryffindor table, and had even defended him when the Weasley Twins had struck out at Potter.
Even though Draco had halfway expected to hear how the Weasley twins died a gorey death in the dining hall over their transgression, Draco had to concede that 'Potter's actual reaction made more sense- After all, not many knew Harry Potter was Lord Voldemort, and all of those who knew would also know better than to try use the moment of humiliation during breakfast against the Dark Lord.
And by acting mildly over the insult, 'Potter' had wormed his way into one of the staunchest families who supported the Light- The Weasleys.
Even though Draco didn't understand what the point of befriending the blood-traitors was, Draco was not arrogant enough to consider himself nearly as intelligent as the Dark Lord, who likely had layers upon layers of plans that he was weaving during his visit to Hogwarts under the guise of Potter.
The move may have been intended to spread rot and corruption through the Weasley family, or perhaps it was a way of trying to set 'Harry Potter' as a mediator between 'light and dark', and when 'Lord Voldemort' surfaced the defectors and traitors of Dark and the supporters of Light would flock to 'Harry Potter'... Only to be betrayed in turn, and be slain in one fell swoop.
The more Draco thought about it, the more his theories started to make sense, and the more he started to pity Blaise- Draco had heard of Lord Voldemort's punishments through Lucious, and he was roughly hundred percent certain that Blaise would pay for his actions.
So, Draco kept his ear to the ground, and waited for Lord Voldemort's next move…
.
.
.
"Didja hear? Potter apparently blew up the Divination teacher!" A girl whispered to another.
"That doesn't sound… Rational?" The girl who answered sounded quite wary.
"Apparently the teacher prophesied Potter's doom, and he took revenge by prophesying her doom right back at her… Only, it came much faster than she probably thought." Tracey Davids, a Slytherin fourth-year, whispered to her friend.
Daphne Greengrass sighed. "I get that, but I don't get why something like that would make sense… Blowing up teachers is a Gryffindor thing. He should have just, I don't know, ruined her reputation or something."
"What reputation?"
"Good point." Daphne conceded.
"Anyway, what's up? You seem really thoughtful for a day now. More than usual, I mean." Tracey put both her elbows on the table that was between the two of them and rested her chin on her hands, as the pair of girls had wolfed down their breakfast and had hurried to go and waited for their class in Ancient Runes to start.
Or rather, used the time to gossip and share homework without anyone overhearing them, specifically fellow Slytherins who'd likely take it as an insult if the two shared homework with each other but not with the wider House. Then again, there weren't many students in the Ancient Runes class to begin with, and those few that were taking the course often didn't arrive until the last moment, but not a minute too late. Mostly because a sizable portion of the students taking the class were Ravenclaw.
"I owled the recent events back to my parents, and they told me to try to approach mr. Potter, see what he's on about, and what exactly he plans on accomplishing in Slytherin." Daphne sighed quite hard, making Tracey nod sympathetically.
"They're angling for a political marriage or something?"
"I do not think they are planning anything that dramatic, not to mention that if I'm correct on my assessment, the chances are that Dumbledore is Potter's warden so any such request would have to go through his gray beard." Daphne noted a bit dryly. "Calm your panties."
"Okay, fine, sorry, pretend I never asked. Buuuuut-"
"I have no idea if my parents already asked Dumbledore about that, so shut." A vein pulsed a bit on Daphne's forehead as she put her finger on her friend's lips. "Anyway. I suppose I'll corner Potter at some point, ask him what he's doing in Slytherin, and then report back. Not in a broom closet, mind you, so don't you even dare consider saying something in a setting that can be overheard."
"Gotcha." Tracey nodded "Got to keep the ice-queen reputation."
"I am not an ice-queen. I'm plenty sociable."
"I'm referring to the icicle up your ass."
"Tracey…"
Fortunately for the classroom doors opened and brought an end to the conversation that would have likely taken a drastic turn towards the kinetic, and the two Slytherin girls turned their heads to glance at the newcomer.
Hermione Granger had walked into the classroom, clearly in a bad mood based on her pace and the fact she practically tossed her school-bag to the side of her classroom desk.
Moreover, the girl was grumbling under her breath while she didn't seem to even notice the two Slytherin girls that were present.
"Harry Potter, I'm so going to report you to the police… Drugging girls… gr… Illegal… grr…" The girl's grumbling was quite audible even though she likely tried to keep it down.
Tracey and Daphne glanced at each other, stood up, and then put their seats down so that they flanked the Ravenclaw girl who seemed to suddenly realize that there were other people in the classroom.
Hermione then glanced around and narrowed her eyes as she realized that she was flanked on both sides by Slytherin girls who were smiling at her in a way that was probably not very reassuring of their good intentions. If they had those kinds of intentions, anyway.
"What?" Hermione asked with a cold tone.
"I couldn't help but overhear…" Daphne started and Hermione harrumphed before crossing her arms.
"Listening to other people's conversation is wrong." The Ravenclaw interrupted the two Slytherin.
"Some other things are wrong too. But they feel so good. Or so bad." Tracey hummed jovially, causing Hermione to pale a bit while she kept her eyes on Daphne.
The paling was likely more due to the fact Tracey had her wand pressed against Hermione's waist more than the contents of her words.
"What. Do. You. Want." Hermione hissed while her face was quite pale and she glanced at the antique clock on the wall that showed that it was still at least ten minutes before the class wound start- And thus eight or nine minutes before the other students would start showing up.
"I was wondering what was that you spoke about just now? Something about Harry Potter and… Drugging underage witches?" Daphne asked while smiling in a way that she would consider 'warm'. In her scale of expressions, anyway. Most would likely consider it a cold, smug smirk.
"What's it to you?"
"Answer the question, Hermie~" Tracey sing-sang to Hermione's ear. "It's just friendly curiosity anyway. Between fellow Slytherin students. After all, Harry's one of us, hm?"
"Then why don't you go ask him yourself." Hermione froze up a bit as Tracey's wand dug deeper into her side.
Daphne glanced at Tracey and the two decided to swap tactics on the fly as it looked like Hermione was unusually resistant to 'polite conversation'.
"We're just worried about Harry. After all, I think I heard that you said something about filing a report concerning Harry to… 'Police'? What is that organization, exactly? I don't recognize it as one of the organizations of Magical Britain. Who are you working for?" Daphne leaned a bit closer. "I won't let you threaten Harry."
"I- That wasn't what I-" Hermione's eyes widened a bit and Daphne latched onto the opening like a bear-trap.
"Talk. What is that 'police'?" Daphne loomed over Hermione. "Speak or I'll grab you on the spot and bring this issue up with Professor Snape."
"It's like, Aurors?" Hermione tried to explain.
"Then why did you call them 'police', hm? Good try, pull the other leg." Daphne called Hermione's misdirection and drew her own wand to point it at Hermione. "Speak. What are you planning on doing to Harry? Who are you spying for?"
"The police are like Aurors, but for normal… uh… muggles." Hermione looked a bit uncertain as Daphne was holding her wand against Hermione's cheek.
"So you intend to have muggles gang up on Harry Potter and take him out? I knew you were up to no good- You're a muggle spy out to expose and kill famous wizards!" Daphne accused, causing Hermione's resistance to break in panic.
"No-! It's not that! Headmaster Dumbledore asked us to go and meet with Harry on the train, but I think Harry put something on my drink and I felt really wobbly and I passed out, I think Harry drugged me! It was incredibly creepy and uncool!" Hermione blurted out. "I wasn't trying to have Harry killed!"
"You claim you were sent by Dumbledore? Were you out to spy on Harry?"
"I wasn't! Dumbledore was just worried that Harry wouldn't be able to make friends so he asked that…"
"What, that he'd make friends for Harry? That sounds a lot like manipulation…" Daphne cursed internally as she ended her sentence since Hermione's gaze had hardened, meaning that Daphne had pressed too hard and Hermione had likely caught onto Daphne's misdirection.
"He was worried that Slytherin students would swarm him and influence the way he thinks! And by having us around Harry would have a balanced view of things- And who are you to Harry anyway?"
"I'm-"
"His fiancee, naturally." Tracey whispered loudly to Hermione's ear, causing Daphne to kick Tracey under the table.
While the 'revelation', as fake as it was, would be good at keeping Hermione's metaphorical tap of information open, there was a chance that the 'revelation' could send some awful rumors down the line if Hermione blurted it out to someone else and that someone else believed Hermione's ramblings.
So all in all, it was a small chance, but Daphne didn't like leaving anything to chance.
Hermione looked like she stumbled on her words. "I- um. I didn't know, uh- um… I… I guess it makes sense why you're so worried about him- Um, listen…"
Daphne lifted her eyebrow while having a cold expression on her face while she already looked for another opportunity to push Hermione's mental doors more open, even though she practically heard the girl's metaphorical door of secrets start to creak open while she stammered awkwardly.
"Harry seems decent enough. Eccentric, yes, but I didn't think he was all too, uh, bad. More like a slightly better-dressing male version Luna Lovegood, minus the fake magical creatures she's always on about." Hermione stammered a bit. "But uh, if he offers you anything to eat or drink, don't accept it. Just believe me. He has a habit of drugging witches, I think."
"Or perhaps he found your company so undesirably overbearing that he decided that you needed a small nap." Daphne filed the information to the back of her head but lashed out verbally to keep up the act that Tracey had thrust onto her. "I expect you to stay away from my fiance, skank."
"But I wasn't- I swear I didn't- I am not trying to seduce Harry Potter!" Hermione squeaked indignantly and loudly.
It was by then that Daphne realized that someone had opened the door to the classroom, and there were a group of students at the doorway who were staring at the trio of girls whom looked like they were huddled around a table like conspirators- A pose which Tracey had deliberately picked so that it covered the fact she was pointing her wand at Hermione's flank.
Daphne suddenly realized that the metaphorical door that she had heard open earlier was probably not as metaphorical as she had thought.
'Oh no.'