The Grey Side by henriette.
Not mine, but hers.
Harry's thoughts
"People talking"
The Daily Prophet
Warning! Important! Read! : This chapter has not been BETAED! Ergo, there will be LOTS of spellings wrongs and such in this chapter. After you have read the chapter you will see that I really need a new beta for this story. I had one before, but I can't get in contact with her/he. So I'm asking kindly, if you might want to beta this story for me. There won't be much to do, since I'm so slow writing these chapter, so there will be no pressure. All I want from you is the chapter back, betaed one week after I send it to you. Send me a e-mail, or a review with your e-mail address, thanks!
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In the previous chapter:
"It's a deal Mr. Potter, and if I may say so, how dreadfully Slytherin of you!"
Harry took his hand with the same serious face, but on the inside grinning madly.
"Thank you Mr. Malfoy, it's a pleasure doing business with you".
They walked up again to Narcissa and Draco, never noticing Cayra, their waiter, hiding behind a box full of paper with a wizard camera in her hands.
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Chapter 5: Oh lucky day.
Rita Skeeter was one happy camper...eh, reporter......what ever. Rita was happy, she was sitting on the best story of the wizarding time. Rita Skeeter had the story of how Harry Potter aka. The Boy Who Lived turned dark.
Her happy tale started when she got flood by one of her contacts in Diagon Alley, Mr.Peery, the owner of the Alley's finest restaurant.
He could give her interesting information and pictures to go with it for just a small sum of money. Rita had of course exchanged the money, and boy had she got value for her money! The missing Golden Boy had been seen associating with the dark wizard family, the Malfoys.
"Well, well, Mr. Potter, what have you gotten yourself into this time?"
She placed herself in her favourite chair and found her favourite quill, dipped the quill in black ink and......
WOSHH. Green flames enlightened her living room.
"Rita! Rita?"
"WHAT!??" Growled Rita to the head in her fireplace, which happened to be another of her contacts in Diagon Alley, Miss Leann Hampshire.
Though Miss Hampshire didn't seem to notice Rita's displeasure in being interrupted. She just kept going;
"You won't believe this Rita, you won't believe what I just say in Diagon Alley today."
"Believe what Leann?"
"Oh I can't tell you that without some Gallons in my hand now can I?"
"You may not be so lucky today Miss Hampshire, if you have seen what I think you have seen then you are already to late, I have paid another contact for that information."
Leann Hampshire looked heartbroken. Rita smirked, this was a game of hers; she always tried to lure them into telling her the info without getting paid because they thought she already had the information.
"Are you sure? I thought nobody else saw it."
Rita chose to play fair with Miss Hampshire, but just because she liked her.
"Did what you saw happen in a back alley?"
"Eh...no, it happed in a store."
"Yes, that's wha...what?"
"It happened in a store."
Rita lends forwards, her eyes blazing. "Tell me, is it about a black haired boy?"
"Yes, how did you know? There were also some other people there."
"With blond hair?"
"Yes! Are you a seer or something Rita?"
Rita jumped out of her favourite chair, her favourite quill dipped in black ink lay forgotten on the living room floor. She ran out of the door and came back with a small amount of money in her hand, which she gave to a beaming Miss Hampshire.
"Tell me everything you know." Demanded Rita with an evil smirk on her face, yes Rita Skeeter was very happy indeed.
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The Malfoy's was having one of their best summers ever. Draco and Harry ran around the manor and laughed, while Narcissa and Lucius went around smiling because they and their son finally got a break from being their 'evil selves'.
The next day Draco and Harry would leave for Hogwarts, September the first had come knocking on their door and they were ready to go, they even looked forward to it! The main reason for this was because of one Rita Skeeter. She had published an article about Harry and how he had gone dark. Ergo the whole wizarding world was in an uproar.
1 September 1.18 am, found Harry smiling to himself reading an very interesting article on the front page on the Daily Prophet together with a picture of Harry and Lucius shaking hands in a dark back alley. Harry and his new family had decided to frame it.
-Harry Potter seen in Diagon Alley with the Malfoy's-
The Boy Who Lived has been reported missing from his relatives' house since the start of June. But new information about our hero shows us that he isn't as lost as we originally thought. You see, he has been spotted in Diagon Alley in the company of the infamous Malfoy family.
The missing Boy Who Lived arrived with the Malfoy's in one of the pureblood families many magical cars. The family seemed to fancy a black limo that day. Witnesses tells me that they thought Mr. Potter was from another rich pureblood family, maybe a friend of the family or of young Mr. Malfoy. Apparently Potter was dressed in fine clothes and seemed very comfortable in the Malfoy's company.
But where has Mr. Potter been all this time we might ask ourselves, and where has he got the money to buy himself such expensive clothes? Has he been with the Malfoy's? Has he gotten money from them? Because we know that he hasn't been in Gringotts collecting his money. His vault has not been opened, and he hasn't got the key either, his headmaster at Hogwarts is holding on to that.
But the big question here is why:
Why would our Mr. Potter associate with the infamous Malfoy family? Rumours has it that he and young Mr. Malfoy has been enemies since day one at Hogwarts. Why did he leave his aunt and uncle's house? It was supposed to be a safe house for him and Albus Dumbledore had given him strict orders to stay there all summer. Why has Mr. Potter ignored his headmaster orders? Has something happened to make him change loyalties? Why hasn't he told anybody, not even his friends, that he was fine? Does he not care for us anymore? Has our saviour turned his back against us?
All the evidences points to the conclusion that we have lost our Boy Who Lived. One of my contacts can swear under the Vertiserum potion that she saw Mr. Potter cast a spell on the owner of a robe store in Diagon alley to make her do as he wanted. I quote:
"At first I thought he was just another rich pureblood family's son. He, young Mr. Malfoy and Mrs. Malfoy went into a robe store while I stood outside the window watching them. The next thing I saw was that the owner, whom was alone with the three of them, asked who the black haired boy was. I fancied to know this too so I listen closely to their conversation. I had no need to sharpen my ears though, as the lady screamed 'Harry Potter' as loudly as humanly possible after he apparently had showed her his scar.
Here is where its gets interesting though; the lady with the impressive set of pipes, dumps into a nearby stool and Mr. Potter swears at her because she screamed so loudly, though it has no effect as she has gone into shock. Mr. Malfoy starts laughing and Mr. Potter seems to threat him, because after Mr. Potter says something to him he jumps up from the floor like as scared rabbit and stops laughing. Then Mr. Potter turns towards the lady and points his wand at her head. He tells the Malfoy's something about a spell, I couldn't hear what he said, but the Malfoy's nods and he casts a spell on the store owner. After the spell hits her she comes out of her shock but acts like a mummy. Mr. Potter smirks and tells her what to do, which she does without batching an eye. When she is gone Potter turns to the Malfoy's and says smirking 'See, worked like clockwork'. They laugh and leave the store.
And I must tell you, he scared me half to death with his evil grins and smirks. And when he turned around after casting the spell I could have sworn I say his eyes turn red for a moment, just like You Know Who's. And the spell, it was light blue, just like one of the unforgivables, the Imperious curse". End quote.
Yes the evidence points against him, but the robe store accident isn't all. After meeting up with Malfoy senior the four of them went to an expensive restaurant for a better lunch. When they were done eating Mr. Potter signed for Lucius Malfoy to follow him outside.
A contact of mine followed them too and managed to get a picture of them shaking hands and grinning at each other like old friends (the one on the front page). This person also heard some of their conversation, I quote:
"It's a deal Mr. Potter, and if I may say so, how dreadfully Slytherin of you!" Lucius Malfoy said.
Harry Potter took his hand with a serious face, and answered:
"Thank you Mr. Malfoy, it's a pleasure doing business with you".
So then we have to ask ourselves again; have we lost our saviour, has he turned against us? And how exactly did this boy survive the killing curse as a baby, the one nobody before or after have survived? Was the spell really cast on him?
The questions are many and I, Rita Skeeter will help you answer them. I will keep you informed on this issue and try to get a hold of Mr. Albus Dumbledore and hear what he has to say for himself. Can we trust a man who can't even look after one single boy, to look after our children at Hogwarts? Time will tell and so will I.
Rita Skeeter.
Rita Skeeter had published many articles like this since the Malfoy's had been seen in Diagon alley. And they enjoyed reading them. Dumbledore had received lots of hate mail from people meaning he could have tried harder to keep Harry from the dark side. The red letters were naturally guests on the Hogwarts headmaster's desk. The old man had often gone out and said that they had nothing to fear, and that Harry was a good boy who would never leave the side of light. He assured them that Harry just wanted to find his place in the world and that he, Albus Dumbledore, had everything under control.
Albus Dumbledore had of course tried to find Harry and the Malfoy's, but they had not showed themselves in public after the Diagon alley thing. They really didn't need to, and it help to freak out the wizarding world even more; some thought he had joined Voldemort in hiding, and some thought he was killed by the Malfoy's after they had been seen together. The conclusions were many and the answers were hilarious. Harry and Draco couldn't wait until they entered Hogwarts again. Harry only hoped that he would be sorted into Slytherin, as Lucius had finally managed to convince the other school governors to sign the deal which stated that every student from year four to six at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry should be resorted this year. It had been easy to make Dumbledore sign it too, since Lucius had made one of the governors take the deal to The Daily Prophet, namely Rita Skeeter, whom thought the deal was great. After she published her opinion Dumbledore had little choice but to sign since he wasn't a very popular headmaster in the eyes of the wizarding world anymore.
Harry loved Rita Skeeter!
2 am, I better get some sleep, tomorrow is going to be a long, but interesting day.
As Harry Potter the once saviour of the wizarding world lay down to sleep he thought of how his old friend would react to him. It wasn't that he hated them; they had been good friends, sometimes. Tomorrow Well today actually would decide how their future was together. If they had a good excuse to lie to him, then he would maybe forgive them, but if they hadn't, well let us just say that they would not be the best of friends anymore.
Slytherin Harry Potter was here, and those who had a problem with it better keep their thoughts for themselves.
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Hey folks, I'm going to have two poles. The first: I'm wondering if you want Harry to continue being friends with Hermoine Granger and the rest of the Weasleys or not. The second pole: Do you wan this to be slash between Draco and Harry or them just being friends? I have my own opinion but I would like to hear yours, so please tell me in a review what you prefer. Write pole 1 and 2 your answers, thanks!
