SIXTEEN

'Potter!'

'Good afternoon, Sir.'

'It isn't afternoon just yet.'

'Sure feels like it.' Harry stretched he shoulders out. Sitting in the stuffy room and drinking tea had always made Harry sleepy.

'Ah, your first lessons have gone well then?'

'I just had divination.'

'And what did you make of Trelawney?'

'She predicted my death.' Harry replied promptly. He was amused to note Snape paled for a moment, before realising that Harry probably didn't mean a real prediction this time.

'You look perfectly healthy to me, Potter.'

'Yes. I told her the Grim I keep seeing everywhere means something else. Good morning professor.' Harry said jauntily, stepping past Snape and disappearing up the stairs before Snape could comment.

Harry was pleased to note his group had sat in the middle of the table on their own, and that his seat remained empty.

'Harry! What took you so long?' Theo greeted, as Harry entered the hall. Harry was slightly confused for a minute, before remembering about the time-turner, and realising Flitwick was already at the table and eating his lunch.

'Oh, I had to grab my Arithmancy book from the dorms.'

'We've got Potions yet.' Blaise pointed out.

They did indeed, and Harry's break passed far too quickly. He wasn't looking forward to some of his heavier days. Today had been filled with subjects Harry already knew, and three free periods, going off his double timetable. Tomorrow wouldn't be so nice.

They filtered in to the Potions lab quietly and quickly under Snape's glare.

Neville whimpered a bit, but Harry just rolled his eyes and grabbed Neville's elbow, dragging him to a shared desk.

'Your homework, please.' Snape spoke quietly, but managed to imbue the sense that they should have anticipated the idea. Harry quickly got his homework out, then took Neville's as well, calmly walking to the front and handing both scrolls in. Snape gave him a measured nod.

'Today we will be reviewing last years potions. I expect each desk to have three correct potions completed and on my desk by the end of the lesson. No textbooks. Choose wisely, as there is only one hour in which to brew. Begin.'

Harry could hear groaning all around the room indiscriminately. It was a nasty type of pop quiz. Next to him, Neville was shaking.

Harry mentally ran over the potions they had learnt the previous year, knocking out all the ones that would take too long to brew.

'How do you feel about a calming draught, that skinned lizard burn balm, a hypersensitivity potion and Billright's brew?' Harry asked.

'That's four!' Neville hissed (never speaking too loudly in Snape's class).

'Yes, and I have no doubt Snape will award a zero if we ruin even one of the three.'

'Can't we do-'

'No.' Harry interrupted. 'And don't give me that look. Snape will also grade on difficulty, and doing three balms would be too easy, and you know it.'

Neville sighed, resigned. 'I don't even remember the ingredients.

Harry grinned. 'Here.' Harry grabbed a bit of parchment and scribbled down a list of all the dry ingredients they would need. 'You get these ones, and I'll get the wet ones.'

Neville nodded, and trudged off to the far end of the potions cupboard. Only Hermione, Blaise and Pansy (Draco's partner) were at the cupboard so far, so it didn't take Harry too long to get his ingredients. His list had been longer, so by the time he'd got his, Neville was just finishing up.

'You should check these over Harry.' Neville suggested. Harry nodded.

'You can check mine, two sets of eyes are always better than one.'

Surprisingly, neither of them had made any mistakes, so they set both burners to low, and settled in to brewing. Neville actually remembered quite a few steps, but insisted on double-checking with Harry after every one. Everything was going quite well, until about ten minutes from the end. Harry turned to collect the containers from his bag, and right at that moment Neville added liquid Newts blood, instead of the dried powder. There was a huge puff of smoke, and when Neville emerged coughing, his hair was bright blue, and sticking straight up.

Snape was on him in an instant.

'Longbottom! Are you incapable of even the smallest tasks? Five points from Gryffindor, and you can write me an essay on why you and Potter failed the assignment.'

Harry cleared his throat lightly. Snape turned on him. 'Actually Sir, we anticipated Neville's failure, so we've started four potions. The other three are fine.'

Snape bristled immediately, but Harry's subtle jibe at Neville seemed to placate him a little, and he turned and stalked back to the front.

'Be thankful, Longbottom, that you have a partner who at least attempts competence. Three points to Slytherin for thinking ahead.'

Harry sat and mused on how far he'd come since first year when breathing had cost him points, but quickly shook himself out of it to turn the heat down on the Billright's brew leaving it to simmer while he scooped the balm into a container.

'S-sorry Harry.' Neville whispered.

'Don't worry about it. And I didn't anticipate your failure, I just anticipated Snape's outrageously high standards.'

'What should I do with this?' Neville asked, pointing to the ruined calming draught. Harry looked at it curiously. It had turned the exact shade of the Newts blood, and when Harry reached out to prod it, he found that it had completely crystallized.

'How odd.' Harry said, 'Just leave it for the moment. Can you finish jarring the balm?'

The rest of the lesson was a success at their table, and when Snape told them time was up they had a balm, a draught and a brew.

'Not bad.' Harry grinned. Neville just looked relieved the whole thing was over.

He probably had good reason too, as Snape sneered and sniped at all of the half finished or ruined potions, and set long essays for each group on why they had failed. Even Draco got in some trouble, being told off for choosing three easy balms. Harry and Neville still had to write an essay on why the calming draught failed, but it was only two feet, and he vanished the remaining potion for them without a word.

'What class do you have next?' Neville asked. He was a lot calmer and more confident outside of the dungeons.

'Her-Arithmancy.' Harry cursed himself for the almost slip-up, and could only be thankful he was walking with Neville, and not one of the ever-observant Slytherin's.

'Oh, I'm heading that way too.' Neville seemed very pleased, but Harry sighed mentally. That was going to make time-travel extra annoying every week.

'Er-'

'Oi, Potter? Hurry up!' Daphne called back.

'Neville, mate, we're going to be late.' Dean said, rushing up to Neville's other side.

Neville laughed. 'Or not.'

Harry gave him a wave then quickened his pace to catch up to the Slytherins. Once he was out of sight of the Gryffindors however, he dropped to the back of the group, sliding into an alcove.

.:I may have to get you to leave me in the dorm in future:. Apep hissed as soon as the weird backwards feeling abated.

.:You'd venture out and scare the firsties:. Harry rolled his eyes.

.:You say that like it's a bad thing:. Apep hissed.

'Hmmm.' Harry stepped out of the alcove and nearly ran into Snape.

'Potter!'

Harry couldn't help it. He laughed. 'We have to stop meeting like this.'

'Your ineptitude at basic observational functions severely tests my resolution not to take unnecessary points from my own house.' Snape drawled. Harry shrugged.

'Sorry sir.'

Snape huffed.

'I do intend to get to class some time this century Potter.'

Harry grinned and stepped to the side.

'Don't worry Sir, you get there on time as usual.'

Snape glared at him then stalked off in the direction Harry had just come. Harry was about to continue walking when he realised that his younger self would be coming down this hall in only a moment or two.

'Bugger.'

Stepping back into the alcove would only keep him out of sight of the start of the hall, so Harry madly dug through his pocket looking for his invisibility cloak. He was actually beginning to panic, when he heard Theo's voice coming up rambling about the Wasp's new chaser, when he went to put his wand in his mouth to better use both hands, and came to an embarrassing realization.

'Oh, right. Immisceo.' Harry felt the familiar feeling like an egg being cracked over his head, then stood extremely still, and pulled his Aura back almost completely, just in time to see himself walk around the corner. His younger self turned to look across the hall suspiciously. He now remembered thinking something was slightly off about this hall. Himself and the Slytherins continued walking and disappeared further down the hall.

Harry sighed and cast tempus.

He only had four minutes to get to the greenhouses. Harry groaned and set off at a run.

Two startled Hufflepuffs and an annoyed Ravenclaw later, Harry remembered he still had the disillusionment on and made much quicker progress without running into people. He arrived at Herbology only a few seconds before Professor Sprout.

'Mr. Potter. You're almost late.'

'Sorry Professor. I had to avoid myself.' Harry frowned. 'That sounds more confusing than it should.'

Sprout seemed about to smile, but then seemed to crush the urge down.

'Don't do it again. We have a lot to cover this year.'

'Sorry professor.' Harry smiled thinly, and stepped into the classroom. After lessons with Snape and Trelawney (who for all her faults, seemed to treat Harry exactly the same way regardless the colour of his tie), Harry had almost forgotten that most of the teachers were so suspicious and unimpressed with his sorting. Still.

Harry looked into the greenhouse to find the entire year of Ravenclaws giving him the once-over. He tilted his chin up slightly and stared right back.

'As you can see, Mr. Potter will be joining this class due to special circumstances. Perhaps he could join your table Miss Patil?'

Padma, Su Li and Terry Boot all seemed to stiffen for a moment, but after a distinguishable unimpressed sniff from Su, they moved their pile of textbooks over to make room for Harry.

Harry smiled as he sat down, and tried not to be put off by the look of disgust from Terry.

Sprout paid it no more attention (which Harry could only be glad for), and launched them straight into the messy end of Driggyweed cultivation.

Padma and Su seemed to brighten up quite a bit when Harry proved himself perfectly capable of dissecting the pods to pull out the seeds, and not even a little squeamish when the pus (that had the same colour and consistency of blood) got a life of it's own and began spreading up his arms. Terry however was unimpressed, and spent the entire lesson giving Harry pointers (incorrect ones Harry might add), and not actually doing any of the work. Harry had done this task before, and remembered it would come up in the exam as well, if everything went the same. He tried to teach the girls, who were perfectly happy to take notes, but not actually willing to touch the plants. Terry scoffed at every comment Harry made, and pointedly didn't touch his notebook.

Harry tried not to feel too smug about his future knowledge of the test, but really. Terry was annoying!

Harry didn't remember Terry Boot having any obvious problem with Harry before, and couldn't really figure out what his problem was now.

Whatever it was, by the end of the lesson Harry was sick of it, and couldn't help but let out an audible groan when Padma asked Terry what class they had next, and Terry brightened up at the prospect of Arithmancy. Harry seriously considered ignoring his previous plans and going to the Arithmancy with Slytherin first, however it didn't make sense, as he would have to ditch Slytherin twice, and Ravenclaw once as well.

Harry walked alone, but with the general group of Ravenclaws as the lot of them made their way across the castle to the Arithmancy lab. Harry hadn't really been in this part of the castle that often. It was a small separate wing that veered off from the main hall to the hospital wing, and the only thing Harry could really remember about it was that during the battle of Hogwarts one of Voldemort's giants had taken a great chunk out of the left wall.

Remembering the battle put Harry in a bit of a somber mood, despite the overall cheery feel to the classroom.

He was greeted with a welcome sight as they made their way into the room however, and Harry felt his face grin.

'Afternoon. Is this seat taken?' Harry slipped into the chair before Hermione could answer.

'What do you want, Potter?'

Harry raised one eyebrow. 'Well that's friendly.'

Hermione sighed, but looking around the room she seemed to realise that the only other students were all Ravenclaws, and they had already paired off.

'Look,' Hermione started in an exasperated voice, 'I know this school seems to have an absurd amount of division between the houses, but I like to pay attention in class-'

'No really?' Harry drawled. Hermione ignored him.

'-so when none of your Slytherin buddies are around to judge you, can we just pretend to get along?'

Harry's amusement must have shown on his face, as Hermione blushed, but glared.

'We are obviously going to have to be in both classes together for at least a year. It makes sense.' Hermione emphasized the last point with a huff.

Harry laughed. Hermione's glare got stronger.

'Relax Granger.' Harry smiled. 'That sounds amenable. Only I don't have to pretend.'

'What?' Hermione frowned.

Harry shrugged. 'I don't hate you, you know?'

Hermione's eyes narrowed. 'So you want to be friends?'

Harry mentally snorted at Hermione's lack of subtlety, going from not-hating, to friends, but would only be happy if they did manage it.

'Sure, why not?'

'I'm a Gryffindor.' Hermione said carefully, as if maybe Harry hadn't noticed.

'One who enjoys stating the obvious apparently.'

Hermione, bless her, looked totally confused. 'You're a Slyther- Oh.'

It was Harry's turn to be confused. Hermione didn't elaborate however, and turned away to pull out the rest of her books. They sat in silence waiting for Professor Vector to show up.

'I assume this is your first Arithmancy lesson?' Harry asked after a few more moments. He wondered if Hermione would be in the lesson with the Slytherins, and smirked internally. That would be fun.

'Yes. Why, worried this will be a class you won't be naturally good at?' Hermione teased, with only a slight tone of bitterness. Harry tried not to feel too bad about topping all of his old friend's grades.

'Perhaps. I have read quite a bit on the topic.'

Harry was lying. He'd read a lot on the topic. He'd had to do something in Lockhart's class! And besides, Harry actually enjoyed it. As long as Vector and Courbe weren't hopeless Harry suspected that this would become one of his favorite lessons. It probably helped that unlike every other class, this one would actually be new.

'Oh? Have you read The theory behind statistical magic and the properties of-'

Hermione broke off, and Harry looked up from pulling his books out of his bag to see why. Seems Professor Vector had arrived. Harry observed her up close for the first time, as she settled into the room.

Vector was tall, thin, had straight black hair and was… hot.

Harry groaned internally. This was like that woman in the bookstore all over again. Harry looked his professor over again. Damn, damn and damn. He was so messed up by this. It would be entirely embarrassing to have a crush on his teacher, but she was actually (going by Harry's real age), about the same age, maybe a few years younger. Harry mentally berated himself for almost talking himself around it. Gods this class was going to be awkward.

'Good afternoon, and welcome to Arithmancy.' She smiled across the room at them. 'It is not a course to be taken lightly, and there will be quite a lot of work, however it should be rewarding. Arithmancy is not math, however if you are proficient in the subject, it will only help.' She winked at them and Harry groaned internally. 'I should warn you that I am known to be quite strict. I am happy for productive talking and collaboration when we are doing activities, but I demand silence when I, or someone else, is talking. I should let you know that I don't hold, particularly, with taking points. Instead I add inches to essays, so consider carefully how you act in my classroom.'

'Now, we shall begin the lesson with the basics…'

By the end of the lesson Harry's wrist was sore from taking notes, and he became very glad for the expanded space he'd added to his pockets, as otherwise he would have had to go back to the dorms to get more ink. He was happy however. He had been right, and the subject probably would become his favorite, depending on Remus. Arithmancy made little sense to Harry at the moment, but it was interesting trying to understand. He also knew that he had missed a great deal of what was going on when he went with Bill to do curse breaking, as Arithmancy played a huge part in wards, and he didn't know any. The importance of how many nodes, or plates were in each section of a ward could differentiate between whether it would break with one spell, or would hold under a million. Arithmancy was also very helpful in potions, and the study of numbers was what helped define how many stirs, in what direction, and at what heat a potion should be brewed. Interestingly enough, it didn't affect the amount of each ingredient however, which was apparently mostly dependant on astrology.

Harry could tell Hermione was equally as impressed, and possibly even shared Harry's crush, though obviously for different reasons. Hermione practically snatched the worksheet they were given as homework, and pulled out a pen to start working on it straight away. Professor Vector laughed.

'Miss Granger, while your enthusiasm is lovely, it will still be there after tea. Along with you now.'

Harry was amused to watch Hermione blush as she quickly packed up her things and glanced at her watch before rushing out the door. Harry followed her at a slower pace. He couldn't help but smirk when he turned the corner of the hall to find it completely empty. The hall was a long one, and there was no way that Hermione had got to the end in that amount of time. There were no alcoves or hidey-holes either.

Harry poked Apep and pulled out his time-turner, stepping to the side of the hall and casting a strong notice-me-not charm on himself. The hallway was empty now, but it might not have been an hour ago.

.:Again?:. Apep whined.

.:Hey, at least you got to nap through that last bit:.

Apep tightened around Harry's middle, but didn't reply.

.:Come on, let's go annoy a Gryffindor, true Slytherin style:. Harry laughed. He was still laughing as he turned back, and was amused to discover he got a weird play-back double echo if he made noise whilst traveling.

Harry arrived back in time just in time to see the group of Slytherins walk past where he was standing against the wall. Harry looked around carefully, before dropping the notice-me-not. He stepped up behind Theo just in time for Blaise to come to a halt and reach out and grab Theo's arm.

'Where did Harry go?'

'I'm right here.' Harry said perhaps a shade louder than necessary, he desperately tried to hide his smirk as Blaise jumped a bit and let out a startled 'hurgha!' noise.

'For a minute there we thought you'd lost us.' Theo teased, mostly laughing at Blaise.

More like an hour or two Harry thought to himself. 'Come on, I'm hungry.' He added aloud.

'Were you behind us the whole time?' Blaise demanded, eyes narrowed.

'Perhaps.' Harry said.

'But-'

'Well I'd say I'll see you at dinner, but I might just fall asleep, busy relaxing while you lot slave over your numbers.' Harry looked up surprised at Draco's voice.

'Did you come all the way up here just to gloat about having a free?' Harry drawled.

'Problem, Potter?'

'No Draco, I'm merely amused.'

'I was walking Pansy and Mille to their class.' Draco said snootily. Harry rolled his eyes. Pansy wasn't in this class either.

'Suuure.'

Draco turned his nose away snootily, and went over to wait where Pansy and Millie were clearly busy trying to fit the last bit of gossip in.

Meanwhile Harry was distracted, letting a grin out as he spotted Hermione trying to blend in with the wall next to the classroom. Probably hoping the group of Slytherins wouldn't notice her until there was a teacher present. No such luck.

Harry slid next to Hermione where she sat on the bench out the front of the classroom.

'Mind if I sit here?'

'I suppose not.' She said distracted, already working on the worksheet they'd got with the Ravenclaws. Harry had obviously underestimated where a group of Slytherins rated compared to homework.

'Haven't you finished that yet?' Harry teased, waiting for it to click.

'No. Of course not. How could I? We only just-…' Hermione looked up at him with a startled squeak. 'Potter!?'

'Hello Granger.' Harry smiled.

'You- But-… I-…' Hermione's brain seemed to have a meltdown.

'Problem keeping up with us Granger?' Draco spat. 'Why are you even here? This isn't your place.' The implied insult was obvious. Hermione went bright red, but Harry spoke before she could. He didn't look up from his perusal of Hermione's blush, but spoke in a voice that belayed its amicable nature with an underlining quality of steal.

'Draco, as much as we love to hear your frankly illuminating comments, you might want to save yourself. Wouldn't want your jaw to get sore from all that talking.'

Harry didn't need to look up to know Draco flushed, and he could hear knuckles cracking.

'How did you get a-…' Hermione sounded outraged, but managed not to blurt out the secret at the last minute. Harry was amused to note that in her anger she had completely dismissed Draco.

Ignoring Draco's spluttering, he raised one eyebrow. 'I have the top marks in every subject, bar one. There is quite a lot within my asking.'

Hermione glared at Harry, then hissed quiet enough that only he could hear.

'McGonagall gave me mine because I was the best witch in the year, in all subjects. She said I was the brightest witch she had seen since the likes of Lil-… erm.' Hermione broke off awkwardly.

Harry was highly amused. 'Lily Evans?'

'Well… yes.' Hermione's cheeks went bright red.

Harry felt his lip twitch, but the sake of the original Hermione, didn't outright laugh. 'Now I'm just insulted.' he teased.

'Why?'

Do I look like a girl?'

'No. What on earth are you going on about?' Hermione complained.

Harry leaned in and whispered. 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.'

Hermione frowned for a moment, before comprehension dawned. She looked upset for a moment, but then settled on a scowl.

'You are insufferable!' She said crossly, loud enough for the others to hear.

Harry could see Draco opening his mouth to make a smart-alecky response, but at that moment the door next to them burst open.

'Greetings!' Harry looked up to see Professor Don Courbe grinning at them. Courbe looked around the group a little startled, 'I thought there were only six of you?'

Draco turned up his nose again. 'I was just waiting for my friends. Come along Pansy.' Pansy immediately got up and followed.

'Good girl.' Daphne snarked under her breath, like she was talking to a puppy. Harry snorted.

'Right, come on in kids.' Professor Courbe said cheerfully.

Hermione pushed past Harry with a huff, entering the room behind the other Slytherins. Harry went last but had to stop behind Hermione just inside the door. He felt a pang of sympathy as he saw what had happened. There was only one big table, and Theo and Blaise had taken the two seats on one side, while Daphne and Millie had taken the opposite seats. Hermione was standing awkwardly to the side, Professor Courbe was busy writing his name on the board and had his back to the problem.

It was only subtle, as always with Slytherin, however Harry had forgotten that while he still liked his old Gryffindor friends, Slytherin didn't. Daphne had her back firmly to the spot next to her, but her bag was on it, as Millie's books were on the spare next to her. Harry glanced at Theo and Blaise, but while the spots on either side of them were empty, they were quite intimidating. Blaise had a sneer on his face, and Theo was half leaning on the chair next to him, probably drawling something sarcastic to make Blaise sneer like that. Harry sighed, and wondered how on earth Hermione had managed this by herself originally.

'Could you please move down one boys?' Harry said firmly, grabbing Hermione lightly on the elbow and dragging her up next to him. The Slytherin's tensed.

'I don't need your help Potter.' Hermione hissed. Harry ignored it.

'Why should we?' Blaise drawled, stretching out one arm to rest on the chair next to him, then turning to Hermione with a leer. 'Plenty of room here Honey, have a seat.'

Harry actually couldn't believe the petty behavior, and felt Hermione tense. But now this was less about Hermione, and more about Slytherin politics. Harry dropped Hermione's elbow and shifted to an entirely neutral position, switching his face to one of utmost boredom, as if he would be quite happy to wait all day.

The Slytherin's tensed even more. Hermione shifted from foot to foot, eyeing the books on the chair next to Millie. Harry mentally gave her points for figuring out the least dangerous person in the room.

Harry didn't say anything else, just kept the complete look of boredom.

After a moment of no one moving, it apparently dawned on Blaise what he'd done. Most people would have missed it, but Harry had been watching carefully, and easily saw Blaise's eyes widen just the tiniest amount, and felt more than saw as his posture shifted to defensive.

Harry was getting pissed off. He raised one eyebrow at Blaise, before wandlessly levitating Millie's books onto the table.

'Thanks Millie.' He said in that same bored tone. Millie looked at her books startled, then at Harry in shock. Harry ignored it, pushing Hermione into the seat next to her. Hermione seemed to shrink in on herself, and shuffled her books to the very edge of the table. Harry then easily slipped into the chair Blaise still had his arm draped over. He had moved surprisingly quickly, and had left Blaise with an awkward predicament. Harry felt him tense, but he couldn't move his arm away without pushing Harry out of the way.

'Er… this is cozy.' Professor Courbe spoke up. He sent Harry a grateful look, and with a slightly worried look at Hermione summoned his chair from the other end of the table and sat down at the end so he was next to her.

While Courbe gave relatively the same starting speech as Vector, it was a bit nervous, and Harry could easily tell the difference in confidence in the apprentice compared to the master. Don Courbe, as he had insisted he liked to be called, eventually finished his starting speech and with a flick of his wand a half finished number chart appeared in front of each of them.

'Let's just see how we go. Give it a try, and then I'll answer any questions and give you a few pointers.'

Harry calmly pulled the sheet to the edge of the table, but didn't lean forward to write. In fact, he settled back in further, his back resting on Blaise's arm a bit. Blaise made no move to take the sheet.

'Aren't you going to start-… Mr. Zabini, is it?'

'Sorry Sir, Blaise's thoughts are a little distracted today.' Harry spoke in a conspiratorial tone. The Slytherins were watching Harry cautiously.

'O-Oh?' Harry felt a bit bad for Don Courbe, this couldn't be the easiest class to teach, and Harry was only making it worse.

'Oh, yes.' Harry continued. 'He can't get enough of me.' Harry was practically purring, and made it sound more sexual than it rightly should have.

Blaise wrenched his arm back in shock. Harry turned to him in apparent fondness, 'Well, I could only assume. You seemed very upset that I wanted to sit next to Granger. Jealousy doesn't suit you.'

'I am not jealous of that filthy mu-' Blaise had yelled back, but managed to stop before finishing the word. It had been more than clear what he was about to say however, and he paled drastically.

'L-Like I would touch you anyway, Potter.' Hermione tried to sound angry.

Harry looked over at her in surprise. It was clear she was trying to shift the blame off Blaise. Harry suddenly realised that Hermione was probably intelligent enough to register the politics that went on in Slytherin, even if she didn't know the scale of it.

'Sorry Granger.'

Harry then turned to Blaise in surprise. He actually sounded sincere.

Harry opened his mouth, and the whole table tensed. Internally he sighed, he didn't really enjoy this. He glanced down at the working sheet.

'Why is the seven repeated only every fifth, instead of every fourth? I thought this chart was based on Preemble's Rule?'

It took a moment for Don Courbe to get his head around the shift, but to his credit he took it mostly in stride and moved the lecture on. The tenseness in the Slytherin's shoulders only released slowly, however it did go. Millie and Daphne seemed to take to the subject quite well, and by the end of the lesson had actually acknowledged that Hermione was involved, as she was, as usual, ahead of them in the theory.

When the class finished the girls headed off (separately), and Harry, Theo and Blaise stood awkwardly in the empty corridor.

'You didn't say I had to obey you.' Blaise eventually shot out. There was a slight tone of apology there behind the petulant tone.

Harry nodded. 'No, but it wasn't about you not moving down, it was about you dismissing the comment, then attacking the person I was trying to include.' Harry kept his voice calm, as he was really more annoyed than angry.

'She is a Gryffindor.' Blaise scowled. 'What is your obsession with them anyway?'

'My Godfather was a Gryffindor.'

'And he betrayed you to the Dark Lord!'

In hindsight Harry probably should have said his parents, rather than Sirius, despite his feelings.

'As far as you know.' He replied.

Blaise's head shot up from where he'd been scowling at the floor.

'Your parents were Gryffindors too, I suppose.'

'Good friends with the Longbottoms.' Harry nodded. He wasn't sure about this, but they had been in the Order together, and traditionally the two Houses were allies.

'And Granger?'

Harry thought carefully about how to answer that. In the end, he just shrugged and answered truthfully. 'I like Granger. And house prejudice is stupid.'

'You have a crush on Granger?' Theo spoke up, scandalized. Harry rolled his eyes.

'No. I don't like-like her. Just friends.'

Blaise frowned, 'If you're going for the light-side angle, dating Granger would actually be a good move. Maybe if-'

'I'm not.' Harry interrupted. He wouldn't use Hermione like that either… or at least wouldn't do it without her knowledge of the plan. But it was beside the point.

'What do you mean you're not?' Blaise said confused. 'You can't be planning on joining the Dark?'

'I'm not.'

'But you just said-'

'But your Aura is so Dark.' Theo said. It was more curious than anything. Harry considered his two friends for a moment. They were his friends, and he owed them a bit of honesty, Slytherin games or not. Harry let his Aura out a bit, just enough so that Blaise and Theo could feel it. As he hadn't consciously been altering it, so it sat at Neutral. Dead centre.

Theo gasped. 'You changed it.'

Blaise, however, was giving Harry the most calculating look he'd ever seen. Harry raised an eyebrow at him.

'You said that you might not be satisfied with King.'

Harry smirked. 'I did.'

Blaise frowned, then a look of comprehension dawned on his face. 'That's why Grace Weitts was supporting you.'

Harry laughed. 'It confused me too. For starters I thought her family was Dark.'

Blaise scoffed. 'Rumor because of that Uncle or Cousin or whatever.'

'Yes, so I found out after a bit of digging.'

'What, not the all-knowing deity you act as.' Blaise teased.

'Shut up Zabini.' Harry laughed.

'No wonder you're so good at Quidditch!' Theo groaned.

'What?' Harry asked, completely thrown.

'Is everything was about Quidditch for you?' Blaise demanded. Theo quickly explained that a broom connected to a riders magic more freely, the closer to neutral their magic was, then launched into his usual argument with Blaise about Quidditch being the most interesting thing ever, and so naturally coming up in every conversation.

Harry left the two to bicker it out.