Chapter Five
The next morning found Harry waking up from the best sleep he'd had in ages, so as he dressed and walked down to breakfast with his friends he was smiling and laughing at Seamus and Deans antics as much as Ron was. He helped himself to some bacon with his fruit and happily listened to the conversations going on around him.
When the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, he looked over his shoulder to see Blaise at the Slytherin table watching him. He sent a smile over to the young man before turning his back and trying his best to ignore the feeling he felt low in his belly at Blaise's look.
Moments later the post owls all arrived and a small, speckled brown owl swooped down and landed in front of harry, its leg out with a small parcel attached. Harry broke off and fed it a small piece of bacon before untying the parcel. The owl greedily finished it bite of bacon and flew off as Harry read the instructions on the front of the parcel to tap it with his wand.
He did so and the small parcel grew into a bigger one and he realised that these must be his school books. Pulling away a small part of the brown paper, Harry checked the top book and smiled.
"Are they your school texts, Harry?" Hermione questioned and Harry nodded and grinned at her.
"Yeah, about time too," he answered and pulled the rest of the paper off to pack the books away in his otherwise fairly empty bag. There were several rolls of parchment and two new quills in the package as well, and these followed his texts into his bag.
The day seemed to breeze by quickly and Harry's good mood remained the whole while. Even his third detention with Snape went by easily, Snape just had him organising the stores in the room he'd cleaned the night before. However, as harry pulled the borrowed text out of a robe pocket to return to Snape, his good mood was ruined.
"You will be scrubbing cauldrons tomorrow night, Potter. And as it is a Saturday, I will have plenty of them for you to do, so be prepared to roll your sleeves up and put in some real effort."
Harry blanched at the thought of washing dozens of cauldrons, he would literally have to roll his sleeves up and there was no way Snape wouldn't see his arms. Depressed and anxious once more, harry merely handed the book over with muttered thanks and silently left the room.
He had to find a way to cover the scars on his arms and he had to do it before tomorrow night.
It was Friday night, so the common room was loud and still full of students despite the time. Someone had brought their radio into the room and the weird sisters could be heard playing through the wireless wizarding network. Someone handed him an unopened bottle of butterbeer as he stepped through the portrait hole and he took it before he moved further into the room. Hermione and Ron were sitting by the fire, surrounded by other fifth and sixth years and although Harry really just wanted to go to bed and pretend to sleep, he instead made his way through the throng of people to sit down on an empty foot stool.
"Harry," Ron crowed happily and Harry raised an eyebrow at the exuberance of his friend.
"He's drunk," Hermione explained derisively and Harry nodded in understanding, finally taking note of the bottle of fire whisky on the table in front of them.
"What's the occasion?" He questioned and Hermione snorted.
"There needs to be one, with this lot?" She asked rhetorically and Harry smiled and shook his head.
"Guess not," he admitted and Ron smiled toothily before taking another sip of the contents of his glass.
"They did post the first house exchange names though," Hermione told him and Harry resisted the urge to jump up right then and look at it. If his name was down, his friends would let him know.
"I'm going to Hufflepuff," Neville spoke up from his seat on one of the chairs close by and Harry smiled at his happy tone.
"I'm happy for you Neville. You belong in Gryffindor, but I know you'll enjoy Hufflepuff." Harry told him and Neville smiled gratefully at his friend.
"But if you're going to Hufflepuff, who's taking your bed?" Harry asked and Ron grimaced, causing Hermione to kick him in the shins and eliciting a shout of protest from the drunken red head.
"Blaise Zabini," Hermione answered and Harry didn't know how to feel about that. He was starting to sort of like the Slytherin, but he was perceptive and not afraid to butt in where he wasn't wanted.
"It could be worse," he finally commented and Ron shuddered.
"'Course it could. Malfoy could've still been here and could be him we'd be sharing a room with, but it's certainly not the best thing to happen either." he slurred and took another sip from his glass, prompting Hermione to reach over and pluck the drink from his grasp and banish it with her wand.
When he frowned at her she patted him on the leg, "you've had enough, I think. Don't want to have to implore Madame Pomfrey for a hangover potion tomorrow and deal with the inevitable lecture that will bring on."
Rod nodded his agreement enthusiastically and leant back to rest his head on her shoulder. Hermione ignored him and turned back to Harry.
"How was detention?" She asked.
"Fine, but apparently I'm going to be scrubbing cauldrons all night tomorrow night." At the reminder of the dilemma he faced, Harry frowned and stood up, putting his un opened bottle of butterbeer down on the table next to the bottle of fire whiskey.
"Think I'll head to bed," he said and several people around him shouted out their goodnights, forcing a smile from his lips.
The bedroom was empty, so Harry took a quick shower and climbed into his bed, drawing the curtains around him. He tried laying there quietly for a little while, but when his anxiousness started to rise and the gentle itch that constantly ran over his skin increased in intensity, he threw himself into a sitting position and Accioed his school texts.
When the rest of his dormmates started trickling in and preparing for bed, he was reading his charms book but he stayed quiet and pretended to be asleep. The boys were loud and rowdy for several minutes as they readied for bed, but by the time they were actually in their beds it was only minutes that the room was silent but for gentle snores.
Knowing if he slept he would have a nightmare, Harry settled himself down for a long night of no sleep, and continued reading his charms text.
The early morning sun was just starting to filter in through the windows when Harry shot up from where he'd been lying at the end of his bed and smacked himself on the front of his head.
"Glamour charms," he muttered to himself and pulled out his charms text again and started rifling through its pages. There was almost a whole chapter on the different types of glamour charms there were, from cosmetic ones that would cover acne, to the more higher level ones that aurors would use in the field.
He found several that looked like they might work and quickly pulled his wand out from under his pillow and took his shirt off. The cuts from several days ago were healing well enough, red lines against white and grey older lines, and he resisted the urge to pick at a few of the deeper, itching scabs to bring about a little bit of pain.
Instead he cast the first glamour in the book and examined his arm. This one wouldn't work, his arm was too smooth and a little too white, anyone looking close enough would know his arm was glamoured and wonder why. He was unable to cast the second option in the books for some reason, and after several unsuccessful attempts he moved onto the next one.
This time the spell worked brilliantly and he examined his arm. It was intent based, so while he was able to hide away the scars and newer cuts, his arm still had small imperfections in the form of a mole in the crook of his elbow and a small skin discoloration at the edge of his wrist. The only downside with this spell was that it would need to be re-cast every morning and it could be easily undone with a finite incantatum.
Since he didn't think Snape would have a reason to cast such a spell on him, and it was easy enough to cast, Harry settled on using this spell and put his charms book back in his bag. He felt strange looking at his empty arms, they'd been scarred for many years, so he pulled his pyjama pants off and got into a pair of jeans and his favourite long-sleeved shirt.
His friends wouldn't rise for a while, given the drinking they'd done the night before, so harry snuck from the room and once again made his solitary way to the great hall and a cup of tea. Blaise was at the Slytherin table and Harry found himself heading over there without conscious thought.
He sat opposite the young man, much as Blaise had done a couple of days before, and poured himself a cup of tea.
"Morning," he said simply and Blaise studied him critically.
"You look like shit again," he said and Harry frowned but then covered it with a smirk.
"You don't have parties in your common room on the weekends?" he asked.
"Are you kidding?" Blaise asked, "Snape sets a curfew and inspects our common rooms and dorm rooms most nights. Doesn't McGonagall?"
Harry shook his head. "Not very often and we're pretty good at hiding stuff we shouldn't have if she does come in. Then she'll just tell us to go to bed and leave again."
Blaise frowned. "What kind of head of house..." He started, but Harry butt in.
"Hey, she does her job just fine. We look after the younger years, make sure they don't touch the drinks they shouldn't and go to their dorms at a decent hour and we're not crazy every day of the week, just the weekends" he protested and Blaise held his hands up in supplication.
"Okay, okay, calm down I meant no harm, I was just surprised. Slytherin is pretty tame in comparison."
Harry just frowned, so Blaise dropped the subject.
"You seemed in a pretty good mood yesterday," he pointed out and Harry smiled.
"Yeah, I took the dreamless sleep and got a full eight hours" he confessed and Blaise gave him a smile of his own.
"Good," he said and then they both sat in silence for a while.
"Did you get a chance to look at the house exchange lists that went up this morning?" Blaise finally interrupted the silence and Harry looked up from where he was drawing pictures with the crumbs from the slice of toast he'd just eaten.
"Yeah, you're coming in and Neville is going out," Harry told the young man and he nodded his head.
"Everyone who was chosen was taken aside last night and we had the sorting hat put back on our head."
Seriously?" Harry asked and gave up playing with his food to focus fully on the Slytherin.
"Yeah, apparently the experiment will work best if we at least go to a house we're compatible with." He confessed and Harry nodded, that explained why Neville was going to Hufflepuff, then his eyes widened in surprise.
"You're compatible with Gryffindor?" his voice raised a little higher at the end of his question and he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment but Blaise just laughed.
"Apparently," he smirked and Harry threw a piece of fruit at him.
"Shut up." He said, "what else happened in the meeting?"
"They told us the rules, which basically boiled down to 'behave yourselves' and had us sign a contract saying we understood. Pretty simple stuff. Then Professor Dumbledore explained we'd start the exchange at dinner tonight when we'd be expected to join our new house table for the meal."
"You're welcome to sit with my friends and me," Harry offered, "although be prepared for Ron to put his foot in his mouth. He basically can't help it at this point," he explained and Blaise laughed.
"Fair enough," he responded and the boys smiled at each other for a moment before Harry excused himself and left the hall, a smile back on his face despite the exhaustion that weighed down on him.
When he got back to his common room, most of his dorm mates were still asleep except for Neville who had probably gone out to the greenhouses, so Harry moved into the centre of the room and raised his wand. He cast the spell Fred and George taught him a couple of years ago, and seconds later a loud horn blared from the end of his wand and the boys leapt up, shocked from sleep.
Ron practically fell from his bed in fright and Harry laughed long and loud at the faces everyone was sporting. Seamus groaned and threw his pillow at Harry before throwing an arm over his face and groaning loudly. Dean laughed along with Harry, while Ron picked himself up from his sprawl half on, half off his bed and growled at Harry.
"I am going to kill the twins for sharing that spell with you," he declared which only made Harry laugh harder and curl up to grab his stomach as it started to cramp.
Ron harrumphed and headed for the bathroom, still staggering a little from the drink he'd consumed the night before and Harry's laughter finally died down to light chuckling.
When Ron was ready, they headed to the common room to pick up Hermione and then spent the day outside under the cover of the trees on the grounds, with Dobby providing a picnic basket that never seemed to empty of food.
The day passed peacefully, and soon dinner would begin so they packed up the last of their basket and the blanket dobby had provided and headed inside. All the students participating in the first exchange were stood at the front of the hall in a line when they entered and once everyone else was sitting, professor Dumbledore stood to address the hall.
"Good evening," he began, "tonight marks the first night of our exchange program. These students in front of me are the first to participate and will shortly move forward to take a seat at their new tables. However, before they do, I would like the chance to reaffirm that ALL students cooperate fully in this endeavour. That means not only treating these students with the respect they deserve as students of Hogwarts but treat them as you would your closest housemate."
"Good luck all of you," he finished and waved his hand to indicate that the students could move off. Harry saw Neville move forward to take a seat next to Susan Bones at Hufflepuff table and waited until he looked up to give him a smile. Neville waved back, then turned to say something to Susan, who smiled and shook his hand.
"May I sit here?" Harry heard and looked up to smile at Blaise.
"Of course," he responded and moved over so the Slytherin could throw his legs over the bench and sit.
Ron frowned but didn't say anything, and Hermione ever the peace keeper leant over to offer her hand.
"Hermione Granger," she introduced herself and Blaise took the hand offered and kissed the back of it lightly.
"Blaise Zabini," he responded and Harry smiled at their serious expressions and mockingly offered his own hand to shake.
Blaise took it and planted a kiss on the back of Harry's hand as well, causing Ron to splutter in indignation and Harry's face to heat up.
He barked out a shocked laugh and quickly pulled his hand back into his lap and Blaise winked at him before turning and introducing himself to more of the table. Dinner went fairly easily, if a little quiet since Ron refused to speak to anyone, and soon they were leading Blaise up to the tower.
"The password at the moment is 'triumph'" harry explained and the fat lady swung forward to allow them entrance. Blaise stopped in the doorway and stood silently taking in the common room and Harry found himself examining it just as critically.
He'd probably be the first to admit the colours were a little in your face, but with the fire roaring and the mishmash of furniture around the room, it was comfy and cosy and felt exactly like a home should. Blaise moved aside when he realised he was blocking the door and Harry smiled at him.
"Come on, I'll show you where you'll be sleeping," Harry told him and lead him to the stairs, pointing out the girls' stairway and the boys' stairway. Blaise just nodded and followed Harry to the dorm. When they got to the room, Harry showed Blaise Neville's bed, closest to the door to the bathroom and noted that the trunk at the end of the bed appeared to be Blaise's and not Nevilles.
Blaise moved forward to sit on the bed and bounce up and down a couple of times.
"It's softer than the ones in Slytherin," he explained when Harry looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Harry nodded.
"Yeah some of us cast a hardening charm or two on our mattresses. I can teach you if you don't know it."
Blaise just smiled before standing and casting the charm himself. Noise from the common drifted up the staircase through the open door and Harry saw Blaise grimace.
"Like I said, we're a little noisier on a weekend, and with the whole exchange thing, it's even noisier. It'll quieten down soon enough, but we can stay up here if you don't want to face the noise just yet. I'll have to leave for my detention soon though." Blaise looked like he seriously considered crawling onto the bed and pulling the blanket over his head, or crawling under the bed, but forced a smile.
"No, I'm here to do the whole exchange experience, I'll head back down for a little while." Harry just shrugged and lead the way down the stairs quietly.
The common room was full. It seemed like all of Gryffindor had packed itself into the room and Harry had to literally wade through people to get to his usual couch. Hermione had kindly kept two cushions available and Harry sat down and grabbed Blaise's arm to pull him down next to him. Someone offered him a glass of fire whiskey and he took it and passed it to Blaise who looked at him dubiously. Harry shook his head when he was offered a glass of his own but smiled at Blaise.
"You wanted the whole experience remember," he cheeked and Blaise rolled his eyes but took a small mouthful.
"It's not my first drink, Potter," he told him and Harry smiled deeper.
"You're in Gryffindor now, Blaise. Call me Harry," Blaise rolled his eyes again.
"Whatever you say, Harry," and Harry smiled involuntarily at hearing his name roll off Blaise's tongue.
"I'm still 'Weasley'," Ron muttered from his perch on the arm of the couch by Hermione and Harry laughed.
"No one expected any different, Ron," he explained when his friend looked at him with a frown. Ron nodded and then deliberately turned to talk to a pair of fourth years playing a game of chess nearby, but not complaining about Snakes in the Lions' den, which Harry took for a win.
Harry left just before seven to get to his detention on time, stopping into a nearby toilet to re-apply the glamour charm to his arms. When he stepped into the classroom professor Snape nodded his head towards a large pile of cauldrons stacked by the sink and Harry rolled his sleeves up and got to work. It was almost ten by the time he finished and left the room, hands wrinkled and feeling dry from all the soapy water, but all the cauldrons clean.
When he entered the common room, everyone was still there, although they had quietened a bit as they grouped off into separate areas of play or talk. Harry made his way over to his couch and took the empty seat next to Blaise again.
He was talking with a mixed group of students who wanted to know what Slytherin was like, what it was like to sleep in the dungeons and other such questions and Blaise was answering them patiently while sipping on his drink slowly.
Eventually the crowd thinned out as the younger years headed to bed and the boys were able to relax back into the couch a little more, with their feet up on abandoned footstools.
"Is this a typical Gryffindor weekend?" Blaise turned to ask and Harry shrugged.
"Pretty much."
"How do you do it? How do you study, or find privacy or peace?" He asked and Harry laughed.
"You get used to it for the most part, and week nights are heaps better. Most times it's just like white noise in the background. And if I really need peace on the weekends, I go up to the dorm and cast silencing charms on the door," he finished cheekily and Blaise gave him a withering look but didn't bother forming a response to the cheek.
He downed the last of the contents of his glass and stood up.
"I'm going to bed," he told Harry and Harry said goodnight and explained that he was going to sit by the fire for a little bit longer.
When Blaise had moved off up the stars, Ron appeared from nowhere and sat down heavily in the seat Blaise had abandoned.
"So is he your new friend then," he asked and Harry could hear the bitterness in his friend's voice but knew he had to be nothing but honest f he wanted to keep his very first friend.
"Ron, you can never understand the joy I felt when you sat down in my compartment on the train and declared us friends. Until that day, I'd never had one." Ron moved to interrupt and Harry shushed him harshly. "Let me finish."
"Up 'til then, Dudley made it his mission to keep me alone and apart from all the kids at school and my aunt and uncle did their best to make me believe I didn't deserve any. But you just decided we'd be friends and that was it. For the most part you've stuck with me through the shit thrown at me over the years," Ron grimaced at the reminder of his behaviour in fourth year but let Harry keep going without speaking up.
"You were there with me in the ministry, and I have no doubt that without you I wouldn't be sitting here. But Ron, all those years where it was just you and me and Hermione, were years we could have been making even more friends. There's so many great people in this school, but we sort of just closed ourselves off to the idea of making more friends."
"Well, I want that now. I want the chance to meet new people, and make new friends, and I know you want it too. Think about it, you could maybe find someone to beat you in chess," he smiled and Ron let out a small chuckle.
"I suppose you're right Harry. You know I get jealous sometimes, I know it's a huge fault of mine, but it's because we've been through all that I don't want to share you. I almost lost you last year to Voldemort," Ron swallowed deeply on the name, but continued, "and you've been so distant the last week that I feel like I'm losing you now."
Harry felt guilty, he didn't think Ron had really even noticed him being so distant. "I am sorry Ron. It's been a horrible few years, and I'm still raw from the end of last year. I just sometimes need to be alone to sort through stuff. But despite what I may say or do, or not say or do, you'll always be my first and best friend. I couldn't keep going without you," Harry's voice broke and he looked down at his hands, fighting tears that threatened to fall.
Ron swung an arm around his shoulder and drew him into his side.
"Alright mate," his own voice cracked with emotion, "if you want to make new friends, I won't stand in your way. But do they have to be Snakes?" Harry laughed, raw with emotion and punched Ron lightly in the shoulder. The red head squeezed his arm around Harry once in the semblance of a hug and pulled off to stand up.
"G'night, mate," he smiled and Harry watched him go up the stairs before turning to watch the flames in the fire.
The common room had been empty for a long while and the flames in the fire had died down to nothing but embers when Harry finally stood up and headed up to his bed. He pulled on his pyjamas and climbed into the bed, drawing the curtains around. He cast a Lumos with his wand and despite the tiredness that made his body feel like a block of lead, he pulled his schoolbag to him and settled in for another night of no sleep.
A/N: I was reading back over what I've done so far and I found quite a few spelling or grammar errors. I ask that you forgive me for them. The grammar can't be helped; I'm pretty rusty. The spelling should be a little easier, but I do a lot of my writing on my mobile and it's a little harder to pick up all of them. I also realised I've been spelling 'Pomfrey' wrong - I'll go back eventually and fix the earlier chapters, but for now I'll make sure to spell it right. Thanks for reading, following and reviewing. Each time my notification alert goes off brings a smile to my face
:) just smile :)