October, 1991

A week later, Ron moaned with envy as Harry got a Nimbus Two Thousand delivered by owl. Harry was perplexed that someone would spend all that money on him. Was Professor McGonagall really buying him a broomstick? He kept meaning to, but he forgot to ask her about it. When he did catch her, he instead asked another thing that had been nagging at him – lots of students went off to Hogsmeade on weekends. Why weren't first years allowed to go? She explained that it was a privilege restricted to third years and up, and only with the permission of their parents or guardians. It was very disappointing. He felt rather trapped at Hogwarts. He asked Hermione what it was like there, since she seemed to pick up random bits of facts all the time. Upon finding out it was an exclusively wizarding village a lot of the appeal wore off for him. He'd hoped he might get to have a break from the relentless study of magic, and mix with normal people for a while. It seemed it was not to be. They really did isolate and trap students here in the wizarding ghetto. No wonder the students from pure-blood backgrounds had never heard of television, football or the Beatles.

An hour of Quidditch practice three evenings a week was grating on him. It was disrupting his study, and an increasing amount of socialising with Neville, Hermione and Ron. It was nice to have some friends. Ron came to all his Quidditch practices, but the others weren't interested. They said they'd come to the matches for sure, though.

"Never mind," said Ron, "you've got one real friend backing you!" Hermione marched away with her nose in the air. She and Ron seemed to clash whenever they were together. It was very tiring. Harry thought maybe it was because she was Muggle-born, but it could also be because she always did better than Ron in every class; waving her hand to answer every one of the teacher's questions if given a chance. Ron's pride seemed a delicate thing.

Hermione caught Harry reading the Pure-Blood Directory in the Gryffindor common room one afternoon, and was appalled.

"I can't believe you're reading that elitist rubbish!"

"I'm just trying to see if my family's in here," he explained. "And there's lots of interesting facts in here too. Did you know that pure-blood families can have special abilities running in the family, but those that mix the family line with Muggles lose those traits and often experience a drop in magical power?"

"There's no evidence for any of that! Wizards don't even understand what a scientific study is, let alone how to properly conduct one. Look at Dumbledore, he's a half-blood and he's one of the most magically powerful wizards alive! He defeated Grindelwald!"

"Look, I didn't say I wasn't questioning it."

"Well I think you should return that book right now. You're better than this, Harry. I didn't think you of all people would fall for that kind of propaganda." She tried to pull the book from his hands, but he yanked it away.

"I'm not returning it - I haven't finished reading it yet. And I'll thank you not to grab!"

Hermione turned away and rushed off to her dorm, looking upset. Harry tried to follow to explain, and discovered that the girls' dorms were off-limits, as the stairs turned into a slide.

He was going to make up with her the next morning, but just as she joined them at the table for breakfast, Pansy and Millicent wandered past his spot.

"It's such a nice day, I think we've got time for a walk outside before class, don't you Millicent?"

"Yes, the lake should be peaceful at this time of day," replied Millicent, as they headed out the great doors.

"Morning, Hermione," Harry greeted her as she sat down.

"I hope you're going to the library to return that book this morning," she said abruptly.

"Uh, no, I'm still reading it, but…"

"I don't want to hear about it then," she said, angling her back to face away from him. She dished herself out some eggs and toast, and pulled out a book to read, pointedly ignoring him. Harry gave Neville a helpless look and a shrug.

He had a stroll by the lake he had to make. Which reminded him…

"Hey Neville, if you wanted to greet a pure-blood witch extra politely, are there any traditional rules about that?"

Hermione sniffed angrily.

"Uh, well, you should tip your hat if you're wearing one, say hello with her title and last name unless you have an established friendship, and if you're being especially traditional you could kiss the back of her hand. There's rules about bowing but it's a bit complicated, and depends on family rank."

"Thanks, Nev."

"I wouldn't worry about any of that rubbish if I was you," volunteered Ron. "No-one except stuck up elitists keep those traditions anymore, and especially not at school. Dumbledore doesn't stand for it. Just say hi and use their last name, that's my advice."

"Thank you, Ron," Hermione said, smiling at him.

Harry hesitated. He wanted to soothe things over with Hermione, but he didn't want to be late meeting Pansy. He'd have to talk to her later.

"Catch you later," he said, and headed outside to the lake.

Pansy and Millicent were waiting for him there.

"Finally!" griped Pansy.

"Hello Miss Parkinson, Miss Bulstrode. I apologise for my tardiness," he said, trying to copy Neville's usual manner of speaking.

"Mr. Potter," said Millicent, bobbing a small curtsey.

"Oh! Well, that's quite alright, Mr. Potter," said Pansy, holding out her hand expectantly. This time he kissed the back of it, rather than shook it. She looked pleased.

"Well, you'll be pleased to know that I wrote to my father and after some investigation we did uncover a family connection. Two, in fact." Pansy got out a scroll of parchment and unrolled it, pointing out some people on a family tree diagram. It looked like it was based off his one, but with lots of extra branches added it. Pansy's name was down the bottom, on the same level as his.

"Now, first let's look at the Potter connection. You'll see your paternal grandmother Dorea was a Black. Her father was Cygnus Black II, and her mother was Violetta Bulstrode."

"We are related too," said Millicent, chiming in. "But it's nothing close. Violetta is from a different branch of the family. I don't think we would be anything closer than fourth or fifth cousins at most. Nothing worth claiming."

"Cygnus had a sister, Belvina Black, who married Herbert Burke. Their daughter Medea Burke was my grandmother, who married Trophonius Parkinson, my paternal grandfather. So that makes us third cousins via the connection to the Potters through your grandmother."

Harry was glad he had a chart to look at, or else he'd feel a bit lost about now.

"And Trophonius is also Daisy Parkinson's son!" he exclaimed happily, looking at the tree.

"Yes, there is a closer connection through the Parkinsons," Pansy agreed. "Daisy Parkinson was my great-grandmother, who married Orcus Parkinson. They were second cousins, that's why they have the same surname. They had a number of children, including my grandfather Trophonius, and your grandmother Heather Parkinson. She was a Squib, and left the family as a teenager, shortly after her mother Daisy journeyed to the afterlife."

"Wow, thanks so much for researching this. So, we have the same great-grandmother – Daisy Parkinson. We'd be second cousins through the Parkinson line, then?"

"Yes, indubitably. And your grandmother Heather Parkinson was my great-aunt – the names are too unlikely a match to be a coincidence. My father and your mother would be cousins, so we're second cousins," she looked a bit hesitant as she continued, "it is close enough to be worth claiming if you want to. Grandfather says he won't acknowledge you as part of the Parkinson family of course, but you have the Potter line to claim anyway since you are the only possible Heir. He and my parents offer no objections if you wish to claim a relationship though."

"Sure!" said Harry, happily. "I'd love to have another cousin. One a bit nicer than Dudley."

"Oooh Merlin, Pansy, you're related to a Muggle!" tittered Millicent, peeking at the family tree chart.

"So are you!"

"Am not! I'm not claiming relationship!"

"Well I am only claiming Harry, not any Muggles!" retorted a huffy Pansy. "That's alright, isn't it Harry?"

"That's alright," said Harry. "I mean, we get on better than we used to, but not that great. I won't be offended if you don't claim him too. And I don't think Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon would want to be related to wizards if they could possibly help it. They won't bother you about it, that's for sure."

"Good, well that's settled then. I can call you Harry, then?"

"Sure… Pansy."

"I don't suppose that Heather's husband was a wizard or a Squib?"

"No, I'm pretty sure he wasn't. He worked in a steel factory, and the family was from Wales. I don't know much else about him that I didn't put on the chart I gave you."

"Oh. Well, Evans isn't a wizarding family name, and his profession makes it even more unlikely he was a wizard. Grandfather looked into it a bit, but couldn't find them in any records. Pity. Heather was a Squib, but a pure-blood Squib so some would reckon her a pure-blood despite her low magical power. But even if you're counting her as a magical ancestor with only three magical grandparents you still don't count as a pure-blood – all four need to be magical. You're still a half-blood I'm afraid," she finished, in an apologetic tone of voice.

"That doesn't bother me anyway," said Harry.

"Your mother isn't a Muggle-born though," said Millicent consolingly, despite Harry's lack of distress.

"That's right," said Pansy happily. "As she had two magical grandparents, she'd count as a half-blood too. Some people might argue the definition since her mother was only a Squib - but she's clearly not really a Muggle-born. Well, we'd better all hurry - class will be starting soon. Harry, you're welcome to chat to me now even without Millicent along to chaperone. So long as Draco's not around, of course. That was poorly done of you."

"What?"

"How you gave him the cut! And his mother is a Black, so that was really cold."

"I'm related to Draco Malfoy?"

"You're probably related to half the people at this school to some degree or another, Muggle-borns not included of course."

"Cygnus Black's mother was a Flint so you'd be related to Marcus Flint, for example," said Millicent.

"Who?"

"He's an older student in Slytherin. He's head of the Quidditch team, so you'll meet him on the pitch in another week or two. Look, I've got to get to class - we need to get over to the greenhouses or we'll be late. Shall we meet up Wednesday after classes, in the library? You can keep the family tree chart, by the way."

"Alright then. Bye, Pansy! Bye Millicent!"

"Just Bulstrode for the time being, Potter."

"Sorry. Bye, Bulstrode."

"Bye Harry," said Pansy with a nod of her head, and they hurried away. Harry scurried off to Transfiguration.

A/N: For an expanded copy of the family tree that Pansy and Harry look at, which unlike in this chapter includes the Malfoy connection and Pansy's cousins (who are not yet at Hogwarts), and a copy of the canonical Black family tree, visit my profile page to view the links.

EDIT: Sorry, it looked like the links were displaying fine on my profile, but when viewing the live page, they were deleted. To view images, repair the links by inserting periods and slashes where appropriate, and removing spaces.

Thanks again to all my lovely reviewers, and for the Christmas wishes!