NINETEEN

Charms class consisted of almost the same lesson as the one before it. And Harry could see why, considering what he'd learnt since yesterday. Every single Slytherin student in Harry's year was Dark. But it was obvious that the use of magic wasn't so cut and clear. Some of them got it well before the others, based more on skill than anything else, Greg and Vince were struggling them most, though Harry knew Greg's aura was much darker than any of the other snakes.

While Harry didn't think it would be a good idea to divide the lessons based on magic, because of stigma, it was clear that dividing the class into levels still might not be such a bad idea. They could quite easily call it advanced and non, and not mention the classifications at all. For now, however, Harry was mostly just bored… Again. Flitwick gave him an entire extra essay to do, however he gave Harry the right reference books, and Harry had all but finished it before class was over (Much to Theo's consternation - he just couldn't get enough power to do more than slightly fade his patch of mould, let alone moving on to vanishing it).

On the bright side, Flitwick made a show of telling Harry he would have to stay back to discuss the extra work after each Charms class, so again he didn't have to find an excuse to get away to travel back. Today, however, he had a free - or rather only had one class for this time period, so after telling Flitwick as much he hurried after the group of Slytherins.

In Transfiguration Harry handed back his essay early, just because he got a kick out of annoying McGonagall these days. He was amused to note that she unrolled it and looked at the length before putting it away. Clearly sticking exactly to the criteria had saved Slytherin some points. Harry slipped to the back of the class next to Blaise, who was grumbling about show offs. Harry ignored him and began to focus on watching the Ravenclaws try and turn their mice to wood. It was much harder to tell, with the Ravenclaws, who might be struggling with magic. They were all traveling at about the same speed, which Harry could only assume, was because any who might be having trouble studied before class, much like Hermione.

It wasn't until right near the end of the lesson that it hit Harry, rather solidly, that he had been missing a huge revelation!

Transfiguration was Dark magic.

Not only was McGonagall Dark… but Dumbledore had a mastery in Transfiguration!

Apparently Harry must have gone into shock and completely zoned out, as he was brought rudely back to the present by a jab in the ribs from Blaise that only just missed Apep's pocket.

'We are studying animate to inanimate Transfiguration today, Mr. Potter.'

Harry looked up at McGonagall confused, before glancing down at his desk. His lip twitched a little. In its place was an annoyed looking cat.

It looked exactly like McGonagall's Animagus.

'Sorry professor.'

Apparently he had been concentrating on McGonagall too much while transfiguring. But then, he wasn't that surprised. He looked up to see her pursing her lips at him. Did she even know she was doing Dark magic? Harry frowned a little. She never had a Dark Aura. For that matter Dumbledore's was pure Light. Harry flicked his wand distractedly at the cat and it turned back. Though now that he thought about it, had he ever actually seen Dumbledore do Transfiguration? Harry barely heard the bell for the end of the lesson, distracted in packing up while he tried to run back over every time he had seen Dumbledore do magic. He honestly couldn't remember any specific times. He had conjured armchairs, but that wasn't quite Transfiguration, and didn't fit the Dark category anyway, as it wasn't sacrificial. Even the battle with Voldemort in Harry's fifth year, Dumbledore had used Charms, then fire and water; elemental magic.

In his distraction Harry made it half way through lunch before realising he had to turn back. Apparently he'd missed something else as well, as the Slytherins were all giving him odd looks.

'What?' He questioned, as Theo gave him another not-so-sly sideways glance.

Theo shrugged and buried himself behind Quidditch Weekly. Daphne, however, answered with unapologetic brutal honesty.

'Are you aware that Transfiguring from inanimate to animate is far harder than third year level?'

Harry blinked. Ah, that was why McGonagall had looked so odd. 'Yes.'

Daphne sniffed. 'And I suppose you are also aware that Transfiguring it back absentmindedly is equally as difficult?'

Harry was briefly reminded of Snape in the way she paused after the e in the word equally, but just shrugged. 'I'm rather academic.' And wouldn't his original Hermione just kill him for claiming that.

Daphne let out a long annoyed, but resigned sigh. 'Well at least you seemed to impress McGonagall. It's nice to know it's actually possible for a Slytherin to do so.'

Harry quirked a grin. The conversation around him moved on to complaining about bias, and Harry slipped away, turning back two hours and spending the first half hour in the Library before heading to class. He sarcastically chided himself that he would have to remember to pay more attention when he got huge shocks.

He was rather confused however, and his instinct had been to head back to the Chamber to immediately interrogate Belleza about Dumbledore and Dark Aura's, however he suspected it would take too long, and he wanted to save his extra hours for when he actually needed them. His curiosity could wait. The alarm on his wand set to buzzing just as he finished up his essay for Flitwick, and he packed his things away heading the long way around to Muggle studies, having to avoid the path between Charms and Transfiguration and his younger self.

He looked around the classroom curiously from the door. Again, he had never really had reason to visit this section of the castle very often. The first thing he noted was that there were plastic chairs. It was a strange sight in Hogwarts, to see anything made from plastic.

The second thing he noted was that only one chair remained empty, and the rest of them were filled, every last one, with girls.

Harry slid into the chair next to Padma Patil. She stiffened next to him.

'Do you have any classes with your Slytherins?' She bit at him.

Harry raised one eyebrow. He hadn't expected the first one to question his timetable to be in Ravenclaw. 'A few.'

'Typical.' She groaned. Harry was starting to be amused.

'Not really, no.' The answer won him a glare.

'Normally Ravenclaw shares this class with the Gryffindors.'

Harry gestured to Hermione, who was cheerfully chatting to Megan Jones. Padma rolled her eyes. 'Granger seems to be avoiding her housemates almost as much as you do. Besides, it isn't Granger I'm interested in.'

'Oh? Who then?'

She gave him an exasperated look, which after realising the reason, Harry had to admit was valid. 'Er, right. Is it strange, not being in the same house as your twin?'

Harry certainly knew it was odd being in a different house than himself. The big things didn't matter so much, like going for Slytherin in the house cup, or change in dormitory. It was the little things that got to him. Getting odd looks for wearing a red T-shirt, or the different view from the Slytherin stands watching Quidditch. Padma hesitated, but then nodded.

'I thought we would be sharing this class together, as Lav- Brown didn't pick it.'

'Do you see each other much?'

Padma shook her head. 'No. Mostly just on weekends, but even then not-' She cut herself off. Harry could only assume, from the suspicious look, that she had remembered she was talking to a Slytherin. He sighed.

'It is unfortunate; the way houses divide us. A pity, considering they were started as a way to bring everyone together.'

'I thought they were started with the school?'

Harry nodded. 'Yes, but the founders chose the students attending, and they weren't intermingling at all. The house cup used to be a sort of tournament, with each team having one student from each house.'

'That's not what it says in Hogwarts: A history.' Padma didn't sound convinced. Harry shrugged.

'History is all in the telling.' And he thought his source was a little better than a two hundred year old batty woman. (Okay, so maybe he still had hard feelings, even though it had actually been Nagini in her body. Irrational, but whatever). Regardless, he could hardly announce that he would pick a two thousand year Basilisk over a text book. Not even mentioning that the school still didn't know he could speak parseltongue, and Belleza was meant to be dead.

Padma's suspicious stare was distracted as Burbage took that moment to arrive.

'Good afternoon girls.' She smiled at them looking across the room, pausing for a second on Harry, but not amending her statement. Harry sighed. Being in Slytherin could be exhausting.

The lesson only degraded from there. Harry couldn't understand why they had a pureblood teaching the subject. There were some interesting points, about the way wizards kept themselves from muggles, however mostly Harry just found himself mentally correcting the mistakes being made. To be fair, Burbage didn't mind being corrected by the muggleborns, a response which Hermione thrived under. But after Harry had lost three points from Slytherin for making assumptions, which was ridiculous, considering he, at least, had actually lived with muggles, he stopped saying things out loud. Hermione enthusiastically got them all anyway.

He had got a grudging smile from Burbage when he handed in his perfect 100 multiple choice quiz sheet, so maybe the lessons would improve over time. Apparently she was only biased enough to judge until proven wrong? That went right along with wizard culture, which was mostly based off guilty until proven innocent. At least there were only three classes slots per week, so including the double he'd only have to deal with her twice a week. Arithmancy had five, due to difficulty (hence needing the support teacher), but while it and Runes were also theory subjects, they both covered more over the year, so were given more time. That, and the board of governors were mostly pure-bloods who had little interest in muggles outside of eradicating them.

'Why weren't you in Divination?' Blaise demanded of Harry as a greeting as he arrived back to the great hall alone. For one panicked second Harry thought he'd forgotten a class like Hermione had. Then he realised it was because he had half his classes with Gryffindor and half with Slytherin.

'Due to timetable clashes, my classes are broken up. I have half of my divination with the Gryffindors.'

Most of his little group looked horrified. 'They aren't all bad, you know.' Harry continued, amused. Blaise snorted, but seemed to accept the excuse. Harry looked around the group suspiciously, noticing that the rest of them were looking rather pale and subdued. He sighed.

'All right then, who was it?'

'Who was what?' Theo asked.

Harry smirked. 'Who is going to be joining me in an early death?'

Harry noticed Millie blanch, and the rest of them shifted in their seats.

'Sh- She said I'd meet my fate, and would only survive by the lenience of the Master of Death.'

Harry blinked at Millie several times. He was actually starting to wonder about everyday Trelawney, which was ridiculous.

'The Master of Death is just a children's tale.' Tracey said snootily, looking up from the Herbology text she'd been reading. 'My great grandfather claimed to have the unbeatable Elder wand, and all it got him was a duel to the death. Which he lost.'

Harry's attention flicked to Tracey. 'Who was your great grandfather?'

'Gawain Davies, the second. He was a famous potions and mage supplier. He has his own chocolate frog card. Supplied the likes of Ollivander and Leander Odin.'

'I haven't got that one.' Harry struggled to hold in a laugh. He bet he supplied Gregorovich too. Harry turned back to Millie. 'Don't worry, Trelawney just likes to introduce herself to a class by predicting someone's death.'

That got Blaise started on the outrageous standards of teachers at the school. Harry suspected it had more to do with the upcoming history double the next morning, rather than any actual fault with the living professors.

Harry decided to head to Divination first, so he wouldn't have to walk from the other side of the school and back between Runes and Charms in the afternoon. He made up some excuse about forgetting a book in the dorms to leave the Slytherins. Blaise gave him a suspicious look, which was fair enough, as he usually just a carried all of his books around in his many expanded pockets and bag. He wondered if he'd manage to make it until Christmas before his Slytherin classmates figured out he had a time-turner. For now, he just claimed to have been reading it that morning, and rushed off before Blaise could remember he'd left early to supposedly head to the owlery before breakfast.

He was first to arrive in the North Tower and Trelawney hadn't let the ladder down yet, so he pulled out the Runes textbook and went over the notes he'd made through the first chapters over the holidays. He was looking forward to Runes. Already the textbook was more interesting than most of his classes. It probably helped that he'd done some warding work, so he could see where even the most basic Runes would fit into practical application. He was half way through memorizing the water-based alphabet when the Gryffindors arrived as a bunch.

'How did you get here before us?' Ron demanded as Hermione stepped in before them.

'What are you talking about Ronald?'

'You were still at the table eating a raspberry tart when we left, but you got to the top of the school before us.'

Harry looked up to see Hermione frowning. He was mildly amused at Ron's captivation on food, but decided to take pity on her. Obviously she hadn't quite got the transition between time-travel down pat yet.

'If you walk from the bottom of the tower it takes less effort than heading up through the castle.' Harry spoke up.

'No one asked you, Potter.' Ron sneered. Harry just shrugged it off, but noticed Hermione looked intrigued. She opened her mouth, probably to ask about it and ruin Harry's perfect excuse, but thankfully Seamus cut her off.

'Has your girlfriend finished play-acting, Potter? Or are you Slytherins planning on ruining this class too.'

Harry looked at him utterly confused before he remembered Pansy, not Draco, had irritated a hippogriff. 'I am not dating Parkinson.' Harry was rather grossed out at the idea, though mostly because she was so young to him. Plus, she was a spoilt brat. He was also rather annoyed at being grouped with Pansy an the original Draco's sabotage.

'If she had just listened, she wouldn't be in the hospital.' Parvati added in.

Harry rolled his eyes. Did they seriously think even Pansy didn't know that. That was hardly the point of her act. Even Harry had recognized it as a Gryffindor the first time around. He remembered seeing Draco plotting before the class and being worried, but not surprised.

The ladder descending interrupted their conversation, and Ron shoved Harry out of the way climbing up first, followed by Seamus. Harry just rolled his eyes and gestured for the three girls to go before him, politely standing well off to the side so he couldn't see up their skirts. Hogwarts had some odd quirks.

Hermione set in on him as soon as Trelawney had poured the tea and moved to Lavender and Parvati.

'Were you serious about it being an easier climb from the dungeons, or were you just winding Ronald up?'

'The tower stairs have been charmed to make it easier to climb them. It's in Hogwarts: A History, chapter nine or thereabouts, I think. Is this your second hour?' Harry dropped his voice at the end. Hermione looked like she was bursting to ask more questions, but she gave him a wary look and answered instead.

'Yes, but I spent the last finishing up the Charms essay in the library, so I still have class after this.' Hermione finished her tea and swirled it and flipped her cup. 'Have you finished the Charms essay yet?'

Harry was suddenly glad she wasn't sharing that class. He didn't think she'd take kindly to him getting extra work. 'Yes.'

Hermione seemed to be waiting for him to say more, and let out a slight huff when he didn't.

Trelawney chose that moment to start lecturing on how multiple readings within a short time frame could have contradictory meanings, and how they must be linked in with celestial patterns and personal traits to truly be understood. Hermione was flicking through the textbook, but had a distinctly unimpressed look on her face. They didn't get much of a chance to talk again until the end of the lesson, as they all got to hear about Lavender's cup in great detail. Despite knowing what he was in for before picking divination again, Harry could sympathize with Hermione leaving around Easter. All thoughts of Trelawney's true sight was forgotten in the monotony of hearing how the daisy was actually a sunflower, relating to the following of a gossip magazine not a prediction of a rainy Sunday.

Harry tuned most of the lesson out, deciding to practice using mage sight instead. He would like to think that he'd achieved an improvement, though it was possible the thin mist he'd been seeing was actually just the incense smoke.

Ron and Seamus departed quickly once the lesson was over, having a free they didn't want to waste next. Lavender and Parvati must also have had a free, as they stayed behind, leaving Harry and Hermione to leave together.

'This divination thing is all very wooly.' Hermione said. As they made their way down the tower. 'I'm not at all sure that I'll stick with it after this year. Arithmancy seems a much more logical solution.'

'Divination has its merits.'

'You don't actually believe it all, do you?' Hermione sounded rather disbelieving. 'I mean, what does drinking tea really effect anyway?'

Harry had thought the same thing, but having discovered he was part of a prophecy, he was taking the lessons with a lot less apathy.

'Well I doubt it could work for muggles, but we do let off a magical aura. T. Cassandra's The Past suggests that it is that that makes the tea leaves form the patterns they do.' It also suggested that you could control of your own destiny if you could manipulate your own aura. Harry hadn't really thought much of the book, but the idea was interesting enough.

Hermione just huffed. 'Is there any class you haven't read ahead in?'

Harry laughed. He felt a bit bad about stealing Hermione's thunder. Although he had noticed she seemed more accepted by Lavender and Parvati now that he was known as a second know-it-all. Though he couldn't really be sure if that was just because she wasn't part of the Golden Trio this time around.

'You don't read ahead?' He teased.

'Only some.' She grumbled.

They came to the exit back into the castle and Hermione paused. 'I forgot my ink. I'll-…' She flushed red for a second, then sighed. She had obviously already got used to making excuses to slip off. Harry chose not to comment.

'Well it's good to stay in the habit.' She snapped anyway. Harry wisely didn't say anything again.

They both reached up to their collar at the same time, when Harry got an excellent idea and smirked. This Hermione wasn't one for breaking the rules (no grand adventures of his to break her of the habit of following them), but as far as she knew, the Unspeakables would be measuring both of their ages, not their timeturner's use. Harry had an excellent idea for getting some more hours.

'We may as well travel together on this, shall we use mine.' Harry slowly fingered the edge of his tie.

As he expected, Hermione bristled at the superior tone he had purposely taken.

'I already have mine out.'

'Fine then.' Harry pretended to badly hide annoyance, and tried to keep his smirk to a minimum as he stepped in close to Hermione so she could loop the chain around both of them. Hermione had a smug look on her face.

'Just a moment.' Harry said, reaching out and holding her hand still keeping the hourglass from turning back. There was a risk, in what he was about to do. But he had looked up the school rules, so he was covered. Besides, he couldn't help but tease her. 'Apep.'

Hermione tried to reel back in shock as Apep stuck his head out of Harry's collar and looped through the chain, but she couldn't get more than a foot or two away. He got a kick out of hearing Hermione's indignant scream echo in that odd way as they slipped back an hour.

As soon as the world stopped moving around them Hermione detangled herself from the chain and stumbled back a few steps, pulling her wand on Harry.

.:I thought you wished me to remain unseen?:. Apep hissed, eyeing Hermione's wand. Harry couldn't answer of course, but Apep sounded just as amused as he felt, so he suspected his snake figured out why he did it.

'Potter!' Hermione growled out, before obviously seeing Harry's amusement. She shut her eyes to visibly calm herself, before opening them with a glare. 'I hate you!'

Harry chuckled. 'No you don't.'

His calm tone did nothing for her temper, and she stormed away with a growled 'That isn't a owl, cat or toad, Potter!'

Harry followed her towards the Runes classroom with a laugh.

Hermione rushed on ahead but Harry slowed a bit until he was alone.

.:Won't she tell?:. Apep asked, his head still sticking out Harry's collar. His tongue tickled Harry's neck a bit.

.:No. I cast a wandless privacy charm. Besides, she knows that other familiars are allowed, she looked it up in first year when she discovered Ron had Pettigrew:.

.:The rat?:.

.:The rat:. Harry nodded .:She might mention it to McGonagall, but I'll just get a kick out of flaunting the school rules. The majority of the school has already decided I'm evil anyway, and revealing you to Slytherin will only help at this stage:.

Apep slid back into Harry's shirt. .:You're testing her:.

Harry tensed slightly. Was he? he wondered. By the time he made it across the castle to Runes, he decided Apep was probably right. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. It was a far cry from the Gryffindor behavior he still saw himself as.

Harry was last to class, though still got there well before it started. He wasn't going to make the mistake of turning up late to the first lesson. Especially as he still remembered Snape warning them off professor Babbling in first year. Slytherin discrimination aside, he hoped Babbling would be as good a teacher as his Hermione had always said. Especially as it was just him with the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors.

Hermione was sitting with Dean, and gave Harry a glare as he walked in. He pretended not to notice and slipped in to the seat next to Neville.

'Hey Neville.'

Neville was eyeing the Hermione and Harry warily, but shook his head as Harry opened his mouth to explain. 'I don't want to know.'

Harry laughed. That was why he liked Neville. Harry set to pulling his books out and getting ready for class.

'How come you don't have this class with the rest of the Slytherins?' Neville asked once they both had their things out.

'Do you mind?' Harry asked instead of answering.

'No. It might be nice not having to deal with Zabini and Nott glaring at me.'

Harry raised an eyebrow. He hadn't realised Theo and Blaise had been. 'Sorry.'

Neville shook his head as Babbling entered the room. 'You are a very odd Slytherin, Harry.'

Harry laughed. Coming from a Gryffindor, he would take that as the compliment it was probably meant to be.

Runes was excellent.

Harry was grinning as he left the classroom. Not only had the whole lesson been really interesting! But Babbling seemed actually not to care that Harry was wearing green not red! Harry instantly liked her all the more for it. She was quite strict, and had deducted a point each from Su Li and Mandy Brocklehurst for chatting, and she set a high standard of homework, but she wasn't biased. Obviously Snape's warning had come from her being generally strict, rather than anti-Slytherin. The sexy (damn it he did not just think that… again) professor Vector's Arithmancy might have a rival for Harry's favorite class.

Harry headed to Charms with a bounce in his step.

They had moved on to polishing Charms, and for once Harry actually had to practice a little before he got it. Granted, he was still ahead of most of the class, but he wasn't his usual perfect-in-one-go. All in all it was an excellent afternoon. As they reached the end of the lesson Harry thought of Hermione again, and hoped she wasn't meant to be turning back again. He ducked off to the library before dinner, Daphne and Blaise following along to grab some references for their Potions essay (sniping at each other the whole way). Harry made another mental note to find out what that was all about.

Harry surprised his friends at dinner, by sitting opposite where had claimed as his seat. He still sent a heavy glare as Blaise went to sit there, so the seat remained empty. He had slipped into the loo and cast a temporary one-way transparency charm on his outer robe so Apep could let him know what to expect, but to the rest of the school, it appeared he didn't know what was going on behind him.

In the end he didn't need Apep hissing in his ear anyway, as almost the entire Slytherin table stopped what they were doing to watch. Harry continued eating his Caesar salad pretending to be oblivious. A small smirk was twitching at his lip however.

Theo broke first. 'Can we help you, Granger?' Harry looked up and met Theo's eye across the table. Behind him he heard Hermione let out a huff.

'Can I have a word, Potter?'

Harry kept his face blank. 'Just one?' He turned to see Hermione's hand itching for her wand.

It wasn't just all of Slytherin that was watching. Almost the entire hall was paying attention to the Gryffindor approaching the center of the Slytherin table. Harry flicked his eyes to the head table, and saw that McGonagall was watching with an open glare. He focused back on Hermione. She looked like she was about to explode.

'You. Are. Insufferable!'

Harry laughed lightly, but scooped the library copy of The Past out of his pocket. Her timeturner was slipped into chapter three: A lesson in taking divination with a grain of salt.

'Thank you.' Hermione said with some sarcasm. She turned and walked away nose in the air. Harry watched her go with an amused smile. He smirked as she sat down at the Gryffindor table. He could tell the exact moment she read the title of the book.

Harry turned back to his dinner and took a bit of chicken up with his fork. The tension had left the whole school as Hermione returned unharmed, but Slytherin's attention was still riveted on the center of their table. Harry tried not to feel too victorious as Draco strained his neck to see what was happening from his spot at the end.

'Consorting with Gryffindor swots, Potter?'

Harry's didn't look up from his meal.

'Worried Granger's marks are higher than yours and your brother's combined, Tristen? Jealousy doesn't become you.'

A murmur went down the table.

'Some of us don't have to study to know more about magic than what we are taught in class.'

Harry mentally congratulated himself that the word mudblood hadn't been thrown about yet.

'And some of us do. I don't begrudge anyone for wanting to learn.'

'Can't you begrudge her for just being a Gryffindor.'

This time Harry did look up. It was Rhea Pax, and her tone was friendly. She had been one of Grace Weitts' higher ups.

'But who would Slytherin have to trounce without such a rival?' Harry teased back. He was pleased to earn a few chuckles.

The desserts appeared a moment later and Slytherin returned to their own conversations without much fuss. There was never going to be a huge deal made of anything in the great hall anyway (rule one), but Harry tallied himself another point anyway.

After dinner they all headed back to the common room. Harry noticed that Draco was sulking around without Pansy to back him up. He suspected someone else would make a play for the lounge tonight. The girls split off as they reached the center of the room. Harry realised almost all of Slytherin expected it to be him to make the play. He paused near enough to the lounge to get their hopes up. He languidly stretched, getting almost all of his back to crack loudly. He was quite aware the tense posture Theo and Blaise had contradicting his own.

'I think…' Harry trailed off, having caught almost everyone's attention. '… that I'll head out to see if Hagrid got fired.'

Harry had to fight off the inclination to laugh. Theo and Blaise looked outraged.

'You'll know by tomorrow if he isn't here.' Theo was almost whining.

Harry gave him an unimpressed look. 'Let me re-phrase that. I'm going to see if Hagrid is okay.'

He began to walk back towards the porthole, but got called back.

'Wait!'

He was surprised to see hesitance in both Theo and Blaise as they shared a look.

'What?' Harry put more impatience than he actually felt into his tone.

'It's dark!'

He stared at Blaise incomprehensively.

'…And?'

'Well-' Blaise glancedatTheo.

'Do you think you should?' Theo emphasized the sentence oddly.

Harry was completely confused. He knew they wanted him to be vying for the lounge, but he had tactics to employ. Why on earth they- Oh.

'If Sirius Black wants a go he can try.' Harry sneered. He had suddenly remembered Hermione and Ron hadn't wanted him to go out originally tonight either. There were murmurs around the house. Obviously the fact that Harry knew about Sirius's history hadn't been common knowledge.

Blaise hesitated, but then nodded.

'I'm coming with you.'

Harry was highly amused. He couldn't help but think how naive he'd been as a teenager at the same age.

'Do you think you'd help?'

Blaise was instantly offended, and bristled, but before Harry could fully contemplate how devastating a public sabotage like that would be to his Slytherin rep, Blaise got a resigned look and drawled a sarcastic 'No, but I guess I can bring any evidence back.'

Harry, playing along, gave him a flat look. 'Yes. Because I'm sure if there were one of the Dark Lord's devoted servants out there he'd just kill me and then be like 'No, no, you take his body back to the castle now. I've killed my quota for the night. I think I'll just lay down for a nice nap.''

The chuckles around the room shifted into a few cases of actual open laughter.

'Anyone would think you don't want our company.' Theo teased.

Harry grinned and walked back to collect them, slinging his arms over their shoulders. 'Oh, come on then. I hope you updated your will.'

Blaise got in a final comment before the three of them slipped out the porthole.

'You have a very morbid sense of humor, Potter.'