~ Chapter 6
Harry found himself wishing for Sanguini's company soon after the term started and that longing increased with every passing day. Despite the constant chatter and bustle around him at Hogwarts, Harry walked in a bubble of silence. Almost no one spoke to him – since he'd decided to stop doing well in classes, the professors knew better than to pick on him – and Harry never initiated conversation with anyone. He realized how much of every day he either spent with his books or in his own head and, for the first time, realized just how much he relied on Sanguini.
Professor Sprout knocked him out of his thoughts.
"Alright, now everyone give it a go."
All around him, his classmates pulled on their gloves and reached for the plant that they were repotting into dragon dung compost – "the best compost", as Professor Sprout liked to remind them every so often.
As he approached his assigned plant with some trepidation, he took a quick look at his classmates and saw that many of them were struggling with the curling, vine-like roots that wove itself around the hand that held it. Overall, it was easy to un-plant but rather tricky to convince to live in a new pot of soil.
As Harry grasped his plant – "very firmly, at the base" – and pulled it out, he saw that the roots also made an attempt at slithering around his hand. But as they curled around, he could see his little 'problem' immediately start to wilt each vine-like root until they fell limply off. Soon, the plant made no more attempts at grabbing at him and Harry quickly put it into its new pot of soil and pulled his hand back. Unfortunately, the area where Harry had held the plant was a little yellow and the head of the plant was lolling a little bit as if it were dazed. Quickly, Harry brushed the soil around to hide to try and hide evidence.
His 'black thumb' problem had only gotten worse during the summer and no amount of research had turned up any leads as to the cause. It was equally interesting that he did not have the reverse problem in Potions – no dead plants suddenly quickened in his hands. He resigned himself to quitting Herbology the moment he hit sixth year.
xxxxxx
When the school year was well into October, Harry was ready to scream with frustration. He was making little headway with the sixth year material, which had a marked jump in difficulty from fifth year, and Harry oscillated at high speeds between pessimistic thoughts about the extent of his ability and a strong determination to persevere. He was also straining under the weight of his promise to remain forgettable and unnoticeable. Not really progressing in his studies, he was stuck going over lower-level material again and again and again, and each time pretending like he was an idiot to his peers and the faculty.
Why do I have to keep pretending like I don't know the number of fingers on my right hand? They haven't figured out that I'm a vampire yet and as far as Sanguini has explained to me, they shouldn't be able to unless they were actively looking for it in me.
Besides, he rationalized to himself, the OWLS are very important in the wizarding world. Combined with the NEWTS, they determined one's eligibility for professions and higher education in the wizarding world. Wouldn't it be more suspicious if he suddenly performed exceptionally well in his OWLS and NEWTS after almost-failing in all his Hogwarts classes?
He puffed out his cheeks and sighed noisily. He hadn't completely convinced himself of that argument but every day, as hours passed in the devotion of learning a single sixth year spell at a time, he found his resolve to appear dimwitted crumble.
It didn't help that he couldn't write to Sanguini for fear of discovery and he was feeling more and more lonely each day.
These thought were getting him nowhere. He shook his head as if doing so would clear it and bent back to the sixth year Charms textbook. Even if progress was much slower than before, he was making his way through the books and could reasonably hope to finish well before the Easter holidays.
xxxxxx
The school was decorated in fine fashion for Halloween and cobwebs with excessively large spiders, pumpkins that hinted at lewd things to students, and bats filled the corridors. Living in such an incredible place for most of the year made his awful summers with the Dursleys seem surreal in comparison and reminded him where he really belonged.
Trooping down the Great Hall for breakfast a little behind schedule, he wasn't surprised to find that few of the students were awake this early in the morning though he did notice a few of the upper year Ravenclaw girls moving away from the table – undoubtedly fifth years who were all atwitter for their OWLS.
He ate breakfast very quickly before marching back to the library and asking the librarian for a copy of the Daily Prophet. As he moved to a quiet corner of the library, he noticed in passing the same group of girls from breakfast who were, as predicted, nose deep in their fifth year books.
The front page had very little real news – weddings, intrigue, an article about the weather – and Harry skimmed through the paper until his attention was caught by a small article that seemed to have been thrown in at the last moment. Malfoy's Bill for Orphans! The title proclaimed.
Apparently, with the backing of Lord Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy had recently introduced a bill for the Ministry to create wizarding orphanages to house and provide a stipend and supplementary education for magical children without any magical relatives alive or willing to take them in. Apparently, no public orphanages existed in magical Britain.
Harry couldn't help the hope and elation that immediately welled up inside of him – he knew that such a bill would provide relief for him and would lead to him leaving the muggle world behind forever. And if I had a proper guardian, I'd be able to go on the Hosmeade trips, his mind supplied petulantly. One of Harry's greatest desires was to see and experience more of the wizarding world.
He could barely keep himself focused all day even through Ancient Runes, the elective he chose along with Care of Magical Creatures, one of his favourite classes. His mind kept running wild with fantasies of what life would be life if Malfoy's bill passed.
So it wasn't really his fault when he slipped up.
"Mister Potter tell me, as you seem too bored with the material to pay attention, what are the ingredients in the Shrinking Solution?"
Snapping his head up, he replied thoughtlessly, "Oh – minced daisy roots, peeled shrivelfig, sliced caterpillars, a single rat spleen, and a small amount of leech juice. The potion must be left to simmer before it can be drunk and can be poisonous to some if prepared correctly, sir."
Harry blinked at Snape owlishly, wondering if the man would ask a follow-up question before the slight lift of the professor's eyebrow notified him that something was quite wrong.
Oh.
Harry darted his eyes about in a fairly good imitation of a mouse caught in a corner and hunched into himself a little bit.
"Well Potter, it seems that a brain does exist in the space between your ears, no matter how small. Since you can manage to answer this time, there is no sense that you will not be able to answer question correctly in the future," Suddenly, the man seemed to lean closer and grow in size, "is there?"
Harry felt like a huge stone was caught in his throat but managed a very, very small nod.
When class ended, he rushed pack his things and leave before he could catch the professor's notice again.
"Mister Potter."
Harry froze. No such luck.
He guiltily slunk his way to Professor Snape's desk and only barely managed to meet the man's narrowed eyes.
"I neither know nor care what your other instructors consider acceptable behaviour in their classes however I have better things to do than to read sub-par assignments and deal with blundering in class. So, you will put forth your best effort or you will be cleaning all the cauldrons with a fork until I get it." His voice was low and full of promise. "Do we have an understanding Mister Potter?"
Harry hesitated for a beat before the narrowing of Snape's eyes made him bob his head.
Snape sneered, "Then get out of my sight."
Harry's heart beat so quickly, he thought it would flutter out of his chest as he dashed out of the class and into an abandoned classroom.
"Okay Potter, calm down," he said to himself as he panted and tried to get his breathing under control. "So, nothing really bad actually happened just now. So what if Snape wants you to perform to well? It's not like he'll suddenly think – 'Ah! So Potter can stir clockwise – clearly he must be a vampire!'"
Besides, he reasoned to himself, haven't I been thinking about giving up the act anyway?
Soon, he managed to calm down. What's happened has already happened. There's no use fussing over it and it's given me a final push to start doing better in my classes.
In any case, he thought with a shudder, I really don't want to clean mucked up cauldrons.
xxxxxx
Lord Voldemort flicked the Prophet closed with some satisfaction.
"My Lord," Avery started before hesitating, "though the bill is an excellent idea, why…"
"Why introduce a bill that is bound for failure?" Voldemort looked around his study and found several of his followers nodding.
"For several reasons, of course. One, it will placate my enemies who fear that I have gained too much power over the Wizengamot – when this bill fails, though not entirely one hopes, they will be reassured that there is as much disunity as ever. But most importantly, this is our opening volley. A drawing of the lines between us and those who stand against us, a quiet declaration to those who are listening." Lord Voldemort paused to cast a glance at the empty spot beside Malfoy. "It is the beginning, gentleman, of our long awaited fight."
xxxxxx
"Severus, you do know what this means."
"Yes, it appears that they have decided to act."
Without really knowing why, Harry quickly ducked into an alcove as the Headmaster and Professor Snape slowly rounded the corner and into the deserted hallway.
"I fear that they will garner much public support with this bill."
Snape inclined his head in agreement.
"So we must keep things as quiet as possible. This marks the beginning of what may prove to be a long and taxing fight between us. Now is the time for us to set the stage – we must respond appropriately. I have already begun contacting our supporters. Will you contact yours?"
Again, Snape nodded.
"Although the general populous may not know it, I am certain that Lord Riddle knows that this bill is about much more than just orphans…"
Their voice trailed off as they wandered further down the hall.
Harry left his alcove and walked towards dinner with a frown. The Headmaster and Professor Snape seemed to have been discussing the bill that he had read about in this morning's Prophet. But what had they meant about a fight between them and Lord Voldemort? It also seemed like the Headmaster and Professor Snape and their "supporters" didn't support the bill – or maybe just Lord Voldemort and whoever may be helping him?
Whatever the case, Harry wasn't too sure if he liked being referred to as "just" an orphan.
xxxxxx
Griselda Marchbanks walked very quickly towards Malfoy in the hall as the Wizengamot session ended and people began to pour out.
"Malfoy," she hissed, keeping her voice low, "I need to speak with you regarding the bill."
Lucius raised an eyebrow as her and smirked. Their predictions about Dumbledore's plans were right on target. "Yes?"
"Not here," she hedged, recalling Dumbledore's warning to keep things quiet.
"What, pray tell, must this be to be discussed in privacy?" His eyes glinted at her. Dumbledore may want to keep things quiet but it was to their advantage to broadcast this as loudly as possible. Marchbanks couldn't have set things up better.
"Look here, you and I both know what's really happening. Now, you may support Riddle but Dumbledore –"
"Dumbledore!" Lucius said, projecting his voice to draw the attention of everyone in the hall – including the reporters. "Whatever relationship you may have with the eminent Headmaster Dumbledore Madame Marchbanks, this bill is of vital importance to our children – the very foundation and future of our world!" He continued loudly for the audience that had gathered, ignoring Griselda's attempts to shush him, "Therefore, I cannot see any reason that you and Dumbledore may have against it!"
He finished with a triumphant look at his fellow Wizengamot member as she looked about with horror at the reporters surrounding them with their Quick Quotes Quills already flying across pages of parchment.
xxxxxx
It is well almost December before his classmates start to realize that he had been performing exceptionally well in all of his classes. Unlike Terry Boot, Harry saw no particular reason to broadcast his performance to everyone nor to answer questions in classes unless the professors called on him – which they had begun doing once they realized the quality of his assignments and his tests scores had improved meteorically.
Harry didn't think anybody really paid him any mind until someone noticed that the bulk of their house points had been earned by him in the past few weeks.
But by then, Harry was too caught up in the storm of the debate that was published everyday about the seemingly innocuous bill that Malfoy and Voldemort had introduced a month ago to pay much attention to the jealous whispers or to the fawning by his classmates.
The small article that had been devoted to the to bill seemed like a joke now as the papers were covered the debate on the front page each day and included at least another two or three other articles inside on the topic.
It seemed like the conversation that Harry had overheard had been about this issue; an earlier article referred to one Griselda Marchbanks yelling about Dumbledore in the halls of the Ministry and soon after, the Headmaster himself was drawn into the debate and his comments – along with Lord Voldemort's – made the headlines every day.
Dumbledore argued that although the Ministry could do more to support orphans, children with living kin – including Muggle kin – are better off with their natural families.
Harry had more than a few words brewing inside of his that he wanted to unleash to the Headmaster about that. Dumbledore was not only the head of the most prestigious school in Britain, he was also a major political figure and leader. Without ever enquiring as to the treatment of magical children in Muggle families – certainly, Harry knew that his situation had never been investigated – how could Dumbledore make such an irresponsible claim? Couldn't he see how much such an orphanage could have helped someone such as Harry? Ignoring the fact that he had never been truly full until he ate a meal at Hogwarts, or that even as a small child he was forced to do heavy chores, or the verbal abuse – the Dursleys had never really wanted him.
The only reason they bothered to keep him, as they reminded him often, was because Hogwarts paid them an allowance each year and because the assistant Headmistress sent them annual letters in the summer to 'check-up'. In other words, Dumbledore was not only the man who was preventing him from going to a better home, he was also the man that convinced the Dursleys to keep him in their horrid house!
Harry felt the books around him shudder from his magic as it whirled around him angrily. He didn't know what feud Dumbledore had with Voldemort but at the moment, he knew who he agreed with and hoped with all his heart that the bill would pass into law.
xxxxxx
As a result of his newfound popularity with the rest of his house, he found himself surrounded by several of his peers and getting speculative looks from the rest. In particular, people he had barely known existed would walk up to him and pat him on the back or smile; the other day, Cho Chang gave him a smile – "very, very popular" hissed Lisa Turpin, and "very, very pretty, that's what" hissed back Kevin Entwhistle, who had attached themselves to him. Entwhistle to a less annoying effect. But Harry had to admit that their antics were very funny if somewhat repetitive; they seemed to be in perpetual disagreement about everything. He also had to admit that their presence and their chatter, though it brought him inconveniences, folded around him like a blanket and did more to ease his loneliness and balance him than any other recognition he was getting for his academic achievements.
Other than Sanguini, Harry felt like these were his first friends.
And so it was that one morning after the Yule holidays that Harry found himself sitting between a rather chirpy Lisa and an unusually grumbling Kevin, both happy to share stories of their Christmas and complain about returning to school. They had all given each other small gifts for the holidays, their friendship too new for anything more.
Harry nodded absently as Lisa complained about Kevin's lassitude and reached for his pumpkin juice. Suddenly, a small brown owl landed in front of him and stuck its leg out.
Harry stared at it. He never got owl post. It stared back. And rotated its head and clacked its beak impatiently.
"Oh!" Harry awkwardly reached for the parchment, "Right. Here." He offered it a slice of bacon for its troubles and it hooted approvingly before winging off.
Lisa and Kevin were still engaged in an am-not-are-too fight to pay him much attention so Harry took a look at his letter.
To: Mister Harry Potter, Hogwarts
From: Your Account Manager, Gringotts
Idly wondering that he even had an account manager, Harry broke the wax seals on the letter and nearly dropped it in surprise once he read it.
Dear Mr. Potter,
We are sorry to inform you that Sirius Black, head of the House of Black, passed away on January 2, 1994 at twelve minutes past four in the morning in Azkaban.
As his godson, you are the sole heir and beneficiary of his estate. Please visit Gringotts at your earliest convenience to settle affairs and for an account review.
Condolences,
Gringotts Bank
"What is it Harry?" Lisa asked.
Suddenly aware that he was still gaping at the letter, he quickly re-folded it and put it into the inside pocket of his robes.
"Nothing, just my relatives." Before he knew more about the situation, he didn't really want anyone else to know.
Lisa and Kevin both made a sympathetic sound and turned back to their breakfasts. Harry really hadn't told them anything about the Dursleys other than that they were his aunt and uncle and rather unpleasant. Enough to stymie their questions and dampen any curiosity.
xxxxxx
For the first time since he'd entered Hogwarts, Harry couldn't wait for summer to arrive. He'd agreed to meet with the goblins once school ended and would be able to make a trip to Gringotts and now that third year was finally over, he wouldn't have to wait any longer.
xxxxxx
Author's Note: This chapter is a bit long in coming. As I mentioned in my update on my author's profile, I've had a very busy past few months and didn't really have the time or the motivation to write until now, spurred by guilt, delight that new readers are still discovering the story (and leaving very nice reviews). The trade-off in getting this chapter (I typed it quickly, before my motivation waned) is that I really haven't had much time to read it over. Any spelling/grammar mistakes are mine alone and I hope it's not too terrible.
As you may have noticed, I've decided to change the way that I'm separating my paragraphs for scene changes so that they'll hopefully, you know, actually work this time. Let me know if you're still experiencing problems.
As always, reviews make me write faster *poke poke* and I want to thank those who've stuck around =)
p.s. I did warn you that I would be playing with some clichés. =P