Authors Note!
Wow!! My chapters just keep getting longer!! GO ME!
Wonderful Thankies to my beta… XD
Disclaimer – Y'all know the usual jargon!
Warnings - Homophobia, Gryffindor Bashing.
"Speech" means parceltongue
Chapter 9 – Notes/Prima Donna
Harry's little chat with Draco seemed to lift Harry's spirits a little. Maybe he could get through this day, and the next, and possibly more. He just needed to think about what he did have. He had a supportive Hermione, a new friend in Draco and the majority of the school being accepting. But it was that one word. Majority. The people who weren't in that majority were his supposed best friend and close friends. He didn't care what the rest of the wizarding world thought about him; he wanted his friends by his side once more, telling him…
"Everything will be okay, Harry." Hermione said, cutting into Harry's thoughts as they waited outside Hagrid's hut. "I'm sure it was just the initial shock of it all that made them react like that."
"I hope so. It's not a great feeling when your best friend basically tells you, to your face, that he's disgusted with you." Harry replied, hanging his head, hiding behind his hair.
"I understand. You just wait, they've had some time to calm down and think about it. They'll come over and everything will be back to normal." Hermione tried, not even sure if she believed her own words. She was trying to cheer Harry up any way that she could, but knowing Ron, this wasn't just a little breakfast spat. She didn't want to raise Harry's hopes just for them to be knocked back down, but she had to do something. She couldn't exactly say something like 'well, Harry. I guess that's your friendship with Ron gone straight down the U-bend.'
"If you say so, 'Moine, if you say so." Harry said upon seeing the three people he now dreaded seeing the most.
The three boys were walking out of the castle doors and, even from that distance Harry could see the looks of hate and disgust smeared across their faces. Ron's, in particular. Harry's heart began to pound faster and faster as their footsteps grew closer. Harry turned and tried to concentrate on something else. Anything else, but he could hear them getting closer. He closed his eyes, hoping it would block out the sound and take his mind to his happy place, but he was literally knocked from his thoughts by Seamus' shoulder barging him several steps away from Hermione. As Harry stepped forward back to his place at Hermione's side, Ron stepped in and blocked Harry out of the circle.
"Hermione, what are you doing standing with him?" He sneered, the last word especially, as if it were poison on the tip of his tongue.
Hermione pushed past the boys and grabbed Harry's arm. "I happen to be with Harry, because he is my best friend. I'm supporting him through his life choice, like friends should do, Ronald."
"Don't you remember that I'm your best friend too? I'm sure you'd be a lot better off with us. With me."
"Oh, I do remember, Ronald. Oh, the good old days, yes. I did have a lot of good times with you, of course. But don't you remember that those memories also included Harry. Do you remember when you were his best friend? Do, you? Not that it was a long time ago." Hermione spat back
"Oh, 'Mione, don't you remember Weasley's academic troubles. Remembering yesterday is way too much for his brain. Don't you remember those headaches that you used to get, Weasley? The ones you used to suffer whilst we were doing out homework." Harry said, finally stepping out from behind Hermione, and his hair.
Hermione had to stifle her laughter as Harry gave Ron a sweet smile. It was a little too sweet for his liking, but it seemed to suit the situation. Ron stood static, gaping at Harry's sudden outburst. The comment about the headaches had been true, but he couldn't exactly admit that Potter was right. Ron stood for a few moments, resembling a fish, before Dean jumped in with his own retort.
"We weren't really friends with you. We never wanted to be. I'd never even heard of you until I got to Hogwarts. Ron explained to me that you were famous and as soon as you were sorted into Gryffindor, we thought that we could maybe get something out of being The-Boy-Who-Lived's friends." He ranted, leaving Hermione's eyes filled with tears and Harry's fist clenched. "We couldn't exactly tell you that, but now you've given us a way out. Thanks Potter." Dean gave a malicious smile as he, Ron and Seamus walked off to the other end of the group they called their class.
As they walked, Ron turned around and yelled "Have fun with your Fag Hag, Potter. She's the only person you've got now." He turned and laughed with his other two friends, not noticing a very angry Harry storming towards him. Harry grabbed the shoulder of Ron's robes, spun him around so that they were face to face, and punched Ron square in the nose. As he hit the floor, his two friends scrambled to help him up.
Harry walked right up to the group of boys, brought his nose an inch from Ron's bloody one and whispered, "Don't you ever talk about Hermione in that way again. Or about myself for that matter. If you do, it'll be more than your nose that's in a bad way. Get it? Good." And with that, he walked away and rejoined Hermione, slinging his arm around her shoulders and giving her a friendly cuddle. At that moment, Hagrid turned up to start their lesson.
Harry didn't receive any more straight out abuse for that whole lesson but as the day grew on, it gradually fired up again. He didn't have anymore said to his face but that was what made it worse. He could hear whispering throughout each of his lessons. He didn't want to retaliate, however, because he wasn't entirely sure that the whispering was specifically about him. He was sure it was, but if he said anything wrong, he'd just look like a paranoid weirdo. He decided to keep it all in and try and get through his lessons. There were some things he heard about his sexuality, all of which came from the obvious culprits. He'd made it through most of the day, ignoring comments and cutting out whispered conversations as best as he could, but by the time it was his Transfiguration Lesson, it all became too much. He could hear his name in every conversation. He thought he heard Professor McGonagall make comments about him, finding out immediately after, that she was just asking him a question.
He decided to finally write Draco a note. He had tried so hard not to add this burden on someone else's shoulders but now, he couldn't take it. He got out a spare piece of parchment and scribbled down what he needed. Harry picked up his wand and muttered the incantation Draco had told him, Permoveo Serpentia, still surprised that he remembered it off the top of his head. The parchment instantaneously rolled up and began hissing. He'd made a mini parchment snake. Hermione's eyes widened as Harry picked up the snake and hissed to the snake,
"I need you to find Draco. Can you do that for me, please?"
Harry smiled and let the snake down onto the floor as it hissed in reply, "Of course."
"Harry, how'd you learn to do that? I've only been able to make little birds. And what did you tell it?" Hermione whispered, surprise still eminent in her voice.
"Draco told me what to do if I wanted to talk to him while he's not nearby. He asked me earlier to let him know how I was coping through the day. I asked the snake to go and find him."
"How do you know if it will find him? How does the parchment know who Draco is?" Hermione questioned.
"I don't know. Draco told me that all I have to do is tell the note to find him, and it will. I don't know how it does it, but apparently it works." Harry said, wondering the true answer, himself.
. DM .
Draco was aimlessly taking notes in Arithmancy, not really concentrating on what he was actually writing. He wasn't even sure if he had enough ink on his quill to be writing anything. He couldn't concentrate on anything. He was constantly thinking of Harry, and how he had been that morning. It was heart wrenching to know how hurt Harry was. As the picture of Harry's tear stained face drifted before his eyes, he heard a distant hiss and he suddenly felt something sliding up his leg.
At this abrupt intrusion, Draco found himself jumping a little in his seat. As soon as he looked in to his lap, his breathing began to regulate. A parchment snake was curled in his lap. He allowed his mouth to form a faint smile, which was suddenly turned into a smirk as the whole class turned to look at him as Professor Vector said,
"Is there something wrong, Mr Malfoy?"
"No, Professor." He replied, his smirk still lingering.
"Then, is there something that you find amusing?" Vector asked, crossing her arms across her chest, her foot beginning to tap irritatingly.
"Of course not, Professor. Just thought I felt something crawling over my leg. Nothing to worry about."
"Good. Now, where was I…?"
Professor Vector's voice drained from his ears as he looked back down at the note snuggled safely in his lap. He took one cautious look around as he opened the note. His breath caught as he read the words:
Draco,
I thought I could take it, but I can't. They've got into my head and I can't concentrate.
Hermione's doing her best, and I love her for it, but I need someone else.
Please Help!
Harry.
After reading the letter, it took all that he had in himself to not get up and run to find Harry. The rational part of his mind told him that was the wrong thing to do. It would reveal their new found friendship and be the spark to start off the rumour mill once more. He quickly grabbed a blank piece of parchment from his bag and composed a letter that he thought could cheer Harry up for the moment.
Harry,
I really wish we had more of the same lessons today, I would be there alongside Hermione in a shot!
There's not really much I can do from here, to be honest. All I can say is that you're lucky you have Hermione with you. Keep with her, hold your head up and be as strong as we all know you are.
There's only lunch and then we've got Potions.
I'll be there to help with any problems that happen, don't worry. I'm sure my influence will help some others join the "Help Potter" bandwagon if needed!
Try not to worry so much, Okay?
Draco
He read through what he'd written, making sure that it sounded ok to give to Harry. He was so apprehensive that he resorted to asking Blaise if it was ok, to which Blaise replied with, "You are just too cute, nowadays!" With that in mind, he grabbed his wand and muttered Permoveo Leo and a little lion appeared in his hands.
"Find Harry, please. Try to be as quick as you can, ok?" Draco whispered to the parchment and the response he received was the lion nuzzling against his cheek before leaping away towards the door.
. HP .
When Harry received the note, he felt a little better. He showed Hermione and she decided that she really needed to change her thoughts about the blonde Slytherin. He really seemed to want to help Harry and she was grateful for it. I may have to thank him sometime, She thought. The rest of their Transfiguration lesson went as smoothly as could be expected. Ron and the others were still whispering between themselves, the rest of the class were still hit by the scandal that the Harry Potter was gay. Those conversations in particular didn't exactly bother Harry; in fact he found it rather amusing. Something that Hermione pointed out made Harry feel even better about his situation; different girls of every year, even seventh, were distraught. Sniffling could be heard in his current lesson from girls he'd not even noticed before. Hermione noticed them glance at him and look away in despair. As Hermione told him, he began to have a little fun with it. Whenever he noticed someone look at him, he began to check his nails in girly fashion or he'd pout and flick his hair. Hermione was desperately trying to stifle her giggles as the sighs and sobs got louder.
"Wow, Harry, you seem to have cheered up a lot since this morning." Hermione said as she waved her wand and transfigured her raccoon into a fur hat, "What's got you so happy and confident all of a sudden?"
"I just think that I shouldn't let it get to me. It's how I am. I can't believe these girls are crying though. If they'd just told me they liked me, I might have not come out for a while." Harry said, transfiguring his turtle into a handbag.
"Excellent, Mr. Potter. 5 points to Gryffindor for an excellent first attempt." Professor McGonagall appeared cutting off the friends' conversation.
"That's great, Harry! Isn't that the first time you've ever got a transfiguration right first time? Well done!" Hermione said, hugging her friend.
"Yeah. I didn't even know I was doing it. I guess I can concentrate more now that this burden has been lifted off of my shoulders. Skeeter did me a wonderful favour, I must thank her one day."
Hermione raised her brow, sceptically. "Sure. Or it's something to do with a certain blonde who is sending you little parchment animals. I've never seen you with such a big smile after a crisis moment." She giggled as Harry blushed.
"Oh, shush 'Mione. That's not true!" Harry said, as he thought Damn, this girl really is clever!
As the class was dismissed, it seemed that Ron wanted to be first out of the classroom. His reasoning could either be because it was lunch and he was, as usual, hungry. Or it could be that he was avoiding eye contact with Professor McGonagall after he successfully managed to blast his beaver across the classroom, barely missing his Professor's head. You never really know with him.
Surprisingly for Harry, lunch was a relatively quiet affair. He didn't sit in his usual seat, due to the red-head who shot him a death glare as he entered the hall. But He and Hermione enjoyed themselves eating a light lunch and chatting about anything and everything. They found out new things about each other that they knew they would never have been able to talk about if Ron was there. They received no grief whatsoever from anyone on any of the 4 tables and for that, Harry was thankful.
.DM.
Draco entered the Great Hall with a rumbling stomach. The ache for two different reasons; 1. He was hungry, and 2. A certain troubled Gryffindor. Draco sat in his usual seat at the slytherin table and looked over the Ravenclaws straight to the space which Harry usually took on the Gryffindor table. Instead of seeing the black hair he was searching for, he was blinded by Weasley's hair. As Draco winced and lowered his eyes, Blaise looked to where Draco was to see what had happened and received similar treatment.
"Weasley hair glare?" Blaise asked holding his hands out as if to check he could still see.
"Yeah, damn that family's hair is brighter than lumos. You'd think they could turn it off or something." Draco replied, rubbing his temples.
"Why were you looking at Weasley anywa…" Blaise drifted off, suddenly remembering the topic of the day, "Oh. Potter. Got it. You didn't get a reply and now you're worried. Aww, babe that is so cute! You're not even together or anything and you're acting like this." Blaise cooed.
"Shut up, Blaise. I'm not acting like anything. I just wanted to know where he is. He was really upset, remember? I just want to know if he's ok. He had to spend a lesson with Weasley and his 'gang'."
Blaise giggled, "Wow, I never thought I'd hear that… EVER! Weasley and his gang! I love it! It has a slight ring to it. Not a nice ring, though, how about a cheap copper ring? What do you think about that?"
"Blaise, you babbled again. I don't care about Weasley or any kind of ring to do with him. I can't see Harry anywhere." Draco said, still scanning the tables.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake, He's over there." Blaise gripped the top of Draco's head and turned his head to the end of the Gryffindor table nearest to the doors. There, Draco could see Harry laughing with Hermione. "See, he's fine. Now eat your lunch."
Draco gave a little smile and turned to the food in front of him, satisfying both aspects of his stomach problem.
.DMHP.
The last 2 hours of the school day were going to be spent in the dungeons. The last time these particular students were in this classroom, a little scandal occurred, which soon became a large scale media scandal. Everyone was waiting to see what would happen this time.
"Do not take your seats just yet, class. I am placing you all in new places. You will have new partners. Whether you know them or not, like them or not, is not of my concern. You are to be professional. You are going to have to put petty disputes aside as the partners you receive today will be your partners for the rest of the year." Snape said as he made his way down the aisle in the centre of the classroom.
Upon hearing this, the class groaned; the loudest coming from the Gryffindors, who guessed that they would most probably get screwed over on purpose. Snape began reading out names and pointing to seats, there were some happy faces (mainly Slytherins) and some groans and attempted protests from the Gryffindors, thus losing them a bucket full of points for talking back.
"Weasley, Longbottom, sitting there," Snape said as he pointed to the cauldron right at the front of the classroom, "Right where I can see you. I don't want any casualties this year."
"But, Professor…" Ron started.
"10 points from Gryffindor for talking back. Are you not going to grasp the point?" Snape snapped as the boys sat sheepishly in their assigned seats. "Zabini, you're with Granger. And after the show they decided to put in yesterday, Malfoy, Potter, take a seat at the same cauldron, enjoy the year." He said with a smirk gracing his features.
.DMHP.
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