Chapter Twenty-Two: Actions and Consequences

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Harry did actually seriously consider not going to Potions class but no one missed Potions class. Even the ill or injured had to be barred from coming by Madam Pomfrey who sent Snape a note to that effect. It wasn't that everybody really enjoyed Potions (though he was sure that there were some twisted souls who did, probably in Slytherin) but Snape could be kind of…vindictive when he had a mind to be.

It was why it took Harry a lot longer to start actively antagonizing the man (not that he was ever going to actually admit that was what he was doing) than it would have normally. And it wasn't even that Harry disliked him because he really didn't. In fact, he found the whole situation rather amusing. Just the same, it was quite clear that Snape really hadn't wanted the news about his friendship with Harry's mother to get all over school.

Harry hadn't actually realized that it was supposed to be some big secret when he 'accidentally' had that spread across the school; he just thought that reminding everyone would annoy Snape and it certainly had. He wasn't even sure how it had ended up being some big secret since according to Gilderoy they had hung out openly pretty much every day for five straight years. Still, he wasn't going to really risk Snape's wrath by meeting his eyes anytime soon and risk Snape using Legilimency against him. He had checked and it wasn't actually legal to be used against students but he didn't think that that would stop Snape…or Dumbledore for that matter. That particular law had originated from a complaint one Tom Riddle had made against Dumbledore. Nothing had been proven because it was notoriously difficult to prove these things but it could only benefit Harry and it was ironic as hell how that had come to be.

Harry knew that not realizing that it was a huge secret wouldn't save him from Snape's wrath and he was likely to face it even if Snape never suspected he was involved in the rumor spreading. And honestly, he probably would have done it if he had known. It was a pretty public friendship, after all.

This would be his second Potions class since the incident and the first one had really freaked him out. He wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or – more likely – Snape was trying to drive him insane. Snape had decided not to address the issue that day and had simply ignored Harry the entire time. He hadn't even called him on the roll. Harry half-way wondered if Snape simply couldn't see him (but then why not call him?) but he certainly wasn't going to push his luck finding out.

If Snape had been hoping that not reacting would get things to die down faster than it hadn't worked. But then Harry didn't know if Snape could have reacted in any way that would have quieted things down.

The general consensus was that Snape wasn't upset that everyone was gossiping about his school days only because it was Harry's mother they were talking about and he was such a fan of Harry's. Snape had not looked pleased to hear that and he had – reluctant though he was to admit it – taken to hiding avoiding Snape.

But now it was Potions and he was about to find out if Snape's tactics had changed. He hadn't dared risk being late (or even being early or on time but arriving after Snape) and so had gotten to the dungeons a good twenty minutes before class had started and was now counting down the minutes until class started. In a way he didn't want it to arrive but in a way he did because surely it couldn't be as bad as his imagination and the sooner class started the sooner it would be over. Until the next class, of course.

His friends were, fortunately, actually being good friends and doing their best to distract him. If they hadn't been his friends then they wouldn't have been taunting him about it, of course.

"Blaise, what in the world are you wearing?" Pansy demanded.

Blaise frowned at her, seemingly oblivious of the bright yellow monstrosity on top of his head. "I'm not sure what you mean. This is the same style of robes I wear every day."

"Same style of course because you have different robes for every day of the week," Tracy said, rolling her eyes.

"I just want to make sure that I don't wear the same thing every day," Blaise explained. "That's just…really unclean. Is that so wrong?"

"We don't wear the same clothes every day and the House Elves take care of them," Draco pointed out. "We just don't need as many as you apparently do."

"You can never be too careful," Blaise insisted.

"Don't sell yourself short," Harry told him. "You've done a wonderful job proving otherwise."

Blaise just rolled his eyes.

"Don't be alarmed but I think that something might be eating your head," Theodore said worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm still not getting it," Blaise said apologetically.

Daphne's eyes narrowed. "You're just messing with us, aren't you?"

"I'm a little hurt by these accusations," Blaise said, completely avoiding the question.

"Fine," Draco said, nodding. "If you won't tell us then we'll find somebody who will. Theodore?"

"If it's not something eating his head then I'm afraid I don't know," Theodore answered with a shrug.

"Daphne?"

"Stop lumping me in with him!" Daphne requested. "And I don't know; of course I don't know."

"You know, if none of us know then it's probably some Muggle thing," Harry said reasonably. "Hey, Hermione!"

Hermione looked up from the library book she was perusing. "Yes, Harry?"

"Do you know what that thing is on Blaise's head?" Harry asked her.

"Oh, good idea," Draco complimented. "Even if it's not Muggle, Granger's the most likely to know what it is since it's so obscure."

Hermione glanced over at Blaise and got a funny expression on her face.

"Well?" Harry pressed.

"It's a shower cap," Hermione explained. "Muggles use it when they bathe or when they go swimming if they want to keep their hair dry because they can't just cast a spell on it."

"Thanks, Hermione," Harry told her.

Hermione nodded and went back to her reading.

"Muggles are so very deprived," Pansy said tragically. "But that still doesn't explain why Blaise is wearing one. We're hardly in water or in danger of getting near water and I refuse to believe that he doesn't know how to keep dry or to dry off if we were."

"I do, in fact, know spells for just those occasions and if you ever get caught outside with me when it rains you'll thank me," Blaise assured them.

"What if we get caught outside when it rains but you're not with us?" Daphne asked.

"Then why would me knowing the spells or not be at all relevant?" Blaise countered.

"Why are you wearing a Muggle shower cap?" Harry asked, deciding to be direct.

"I'm really getting sick of having to take a shower immediately before following Potions in addition to the one I take in the morning and the one I take at night," Blaise told them.

There was a silence.

"That seems a little excessive," Daphne told him finally.

"Not really," Blaise disagreed. "In the morning I need to get rid of all that oil that seeped into my hair while I was asleep. In the evening I need to get rid of whatever filth I managed to accumulate during the day. And after Potions…well, Snape's living proof of what Potions fumes will do a person's hair. I may look a little silly with this until I can figure out how to charm it black or something but it's well worth the price, I feel."

"It will still look ridiculous," Draco assured him.

"Our hair doesn't look that bad after Potions," Pansy protested.

"Agree to disagree," Blaise said easily. A disgusted look came over his face. "Wait, are you guy saying that you don't bathe twice a day?"

Fortunately (well, for everyone but Harry) that was when Snape chose to billow into the room. He glared at Harry so hard that he was a little surprised that there was no accompanying twinge of pain in his scar. He supposed that answered his question concerning how Snape was planning on playing it.

This time Snape did, in fact, mention Harry on the roll call.

"Potter," he snapped.

"Here, sir," Harry said respectfully.

"Five points for your cheek, Potter," Snape said automatically.

"Wow, he must be really upset if he's taking away points from Slytherin," Draco said, shaking his head in amazement.

"Quiet down back there, Potter! That'll be another five points."

"It's okay, Harry," Pansy said, patting his forehead with a handkerchief. He was a bit surprised to find out that anybody still used those but he supposed if anyone would it would be one of the old families like the Parkinsons. "You'll get through this. We're almost there."

"I know that Potions was brutal, guys, but you don't need to help me walk. I can do that quite unassisted," Harry assured his friends but Theodore and Draco seemed not to hear him. Blaise had left to go inspect his hair to see if the shower cap did as he had hoped but the rest of them were quite determined to escort him to the Hospital Wing no matter how many times he assured them that he was fine.

"Harry," Daphne said patiently. "He managed to take away over three hundred points. Houses generally don't have very many more points than that at the end of the year. If nothing else, I think we need Madam Pomfrey to make sure you won't have a nervous breakdown."

"I feel fine," Harry insisted. "But treating me like an invalid won't make me stay that way."

"Then it's a good thing we're getting you to Madam Pomfrey," Daphne retorted.

"I really can't believe that Snape would do that," Draco declared. "I mean, he didn't even have time to take any points away from the Gryffindors."

"Imagine what he would have done if Harry weren't a Slytherin," Theodore said.

Draco shuddered. "I'm trying not to."

"He'll probably make it up by distributing three hundred maybe not deserved points over the next few days," Daphne told them.

"I can't believe I'm about to say this but maybe you should complain," Draco said seriously. "I mean, I know that if anyone had done that to me then I'd have them fired."

"You can't have someone fired, Draco," Harry pointed out. "You're a first year."

"And my dad owns the Board of Governors," Draco said dismissively. "He'd be fired; trust me."

"I really didn't think it was that bad, actually," Harry protested. "I mean, you know I don't care about House points, right? And people will be too busy feeling sorry for me to bother blaming me for what happened."

"And this sort of thinking is exactly why we're taking you to the Hospital Wing," Pansy declared.

"Come in, Harry," Dumbledore said kindly.

Harry valiantly resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he did so. He couldn't believe his friends had actually taken his case to Dumbledore. Snape had been back to normal during their next Potions lesson. He hadn't managed to convince anyone of anything but that he was trying desperately not to be seen as favoring Harry and he wasn't about to start actually favoring Harry so it seemed that he'd just decided to accept it for now.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Harry asked politely. Well, at least this time it wouldn't be about his living situation. Hopefully.

Dumbledore nodded and gestured for him to take a seat. "Lemon drop?"

"Thank you," Harry said, mostly to be polite. He peered at the candy for a moment before popping it into his mouth and really hoped that his fellow Slytherins' conspiracy theories about Dumbledore lacing the candies with truth serum or something to make you more cheerful weren't true. Not that there was anything wrong with being more cheerful, strictly speaking, but he didn't want to be forced.

"I heard about what happened in your Potions' class last week," Dumbledore said gravely. "I am a little surprised that I had to hear it from other sources and not from you, however."

Harry shrugged. "It really wasn't all that bad." If nothing else, it was more interesting than Potions normally was.

"Well your friends beg to differ," Dumbledore told him. "It's not often that the Slytherins come to me for something and I'm actually quite pleased that they did. Rest assured that I have spoken with Professor Snape and he has assured me that it will not happen again. While I do trust his word, I want you to know that if it should happen again – or anything like it – do not hesitate to come to me about it. And let your friends know that they may feel free to come to me as well."

"Alright," Harry said, not really sure what to do with Dumbledore when he was being a competent Headmaster and not annoying him about the Dursleys. "I'm sorry, but I really do have to go."

Dumbledore nodded. "Of course. Remember that my door is always open."

"I must say, Harry, that when I told you about your mother and Snape I really hadn't expected so much to come from it," Gilderoy said conversationally. "I do hope you've thoroughly enjoyed the small scandal."

Harry grinned. "I have, actually, but none of my friends will believe me."

Gilderoy beamed at him. "I'm pleased that you're getting some experience in causing a scandal without letting people know you did it or looking bad yourself. I didn't start getting into that until I was much older."

"Well, I did have an excellent teacher," Harry said modestly.

"Just make sure not to push Snape too hard," Gilderoy cautioned. "It may not end well."

"I won't," Harry promised.

"Now what was it that you wanted to tell me?" Gilderoy questioned. "Unless you just wished to discuss this, of course."

Harry shook his head. "Actually, I wanted to know if you had heard anything about Professor Dumbledore hiding the Philosopher's Stone in Hogwarts."

If Gilderoy was surprised, his long practice of suddenly being presented with facts that he had not known but was supposed to kept his expression perfectly neutral. "I had not. Are you saying he is?"

"Well…I'm saying that Hermione and Neville have been poking around the forbidden third floor corridor and found a Cerberus and asked Hagrid about it who claimed that whatever was there was between Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel. When they told me about it I immediately thought of the Philosopher's Stone," Harry explained.

"That does seem like a reasonable conclusion," Gilderoy agreed. "But it does sound terribly unsafe. Children go to school here. You and I have to live here!"

"Do you think we should tell anyone?" Harry asked anxiously. "Anonymously, of course, so we don't have to deal with the fallout from Dumbledore."

Gilderoy considered the matter. "I don't think that would be wise. Dumbledore might not even move it, trusting his traps to protect the stone. And even if it does then announcing it to the world would probably make more people than just whoever is after the stone now attempt to get it. Even the current would-be thief might hurry up and invade the castle before Dumbledore has a chance to move it."

"And telling Dumbledore that we know so he should move it won't work because he thinks he knows what's best for everyone," Harry mused.

"He might even Obliviate us," Gilderoy added.

"So...that's it?" Harry couldn't believe it. "We just ignore it?"

"I suppose we did," Gilderoy agreed. "And who knows? Maybe whoever is after it will never discover where it is and the threat will pass."

"One can only hope," Harry said, not having a very good feeling about the whole situation. "Are you tempted?"

"To go after the stone, you mean?" Gilderoy asked, taken aback. "Hm…no, not really."

"Why not?" Harry asked. "You always talk about how great it would be to unlimited money and life."

"I really don't want to try to steal something under Dumbledore's nose, particularly not with the way he's already after you," Gilderoy replied. "And, of course, I'm not stupid. And then…well, you'll laugh."

"I won't!" Harry promised.

"If I had a Philosopher's Stone and managed to convince the world that I had created it then that would be it," Gilderoy said slowly. "There's really no way to top that. And I must say that I enjoy writing all of these books and going around researching and claiming daring deeds. I really wouldn't have gotten into this business if I hadn't."

"You almost make that sound noble," Harry said, amazed.

Gilderoy laughed. "If nothing else, I've always been a gifted story-crafter."

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