Draco and Harry stood at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Several feet away from them was a large hippogriff. Harry was bent over at his waist, bowing deeply. After the morning's Divination class, he wasn't taking any unnecessary risks; Professor Trelawney had predicted his death, and the leaves in his teacup had (allegedly) taken the form of the Grim, a death omen in the shape of a black dog. Harry didn't much believe in omens, but he had also seen a black dog on the night he had left the Dursleys, and that was one too many omens for Harry's liking.
Thus, Harry was bowing as low as possible to his hippogriff. No need to tempt fate, especially when fate took the form of razor-sharp hippogriff talons.
Draco was next to Harry, also bent over, but not nearly as far. "It isn't that difficult," Draco said to Harry out of the side of his mouth. "If Granger and Weasley can do it, then it shouldn't be any problem for us. This stupid beast is just…"
As Draco spoke, Harry could see the hippogriff raising its paw and extending its talons. Before Draco could say any more, Harry lashed out with his leg, kicking his friend in the back of the knee. Draco dropped to one knee, head down, clutching his leg.
"What's that about?" Draco snapped.
"That hippogriff was about to gut you, Draco." Harry struggled to regain his balance and maintain his deep bow. "If you can't respect it for being a majestic animal, at least respect it for being a deadly predator."
The hippogriff lowered its paw and retracted its talons before bowing to Harry. Harry took a tentative step forward and rubbed the animal on its beak.
"What do you want me to do, comb its tail?" Draco asked peevishly. Both Harry and the hippogriff shot Draco a dirty look. "Ugh, fine." Draco stood and bowed at the waist, deeply. "Hippogriff, you are a majestic animal. I respect you for being a deadly predator."
The hippogriff bobbed its head twice and then bowed to Draco. For the rest of the class period, Harry and Draco were able to interact with the hippogriff without fear. Mostly without fear. Draco continued to be cool toward Harry, however, and refused to speak about anything other than their class assignment. When Hagrid dismissed the students, Draco immediately left for the castle, Crabbe and Goyle in tow. Harry was left to walk back with the rest of the Slytherins and Gryffindors.
At lunch, Draco tucked himself between Crabbe and Goyle. He still had not spoken to Harry. Harry sat next to Tracey Davis and Theo Nott.
"What did you think of Divination?" Nott asked Harry. Nott and Tracey both had Divination, as well.
"Trelawney looks like an overgrown bug," Harry said. "I expected her to start buzzing around the room."
Nott laughed. "I still can't believe she saw the Grim in your cup."
Harry was less amused than his classmate—Theo hadn't seen the massive black dog several weeks ago. Harry had only avoided it by accidentally signaling the Knight Bus. Also, Theo didn't have a dark wizard desperate to kill him. Two dark wizards, if you counted Voldemort…
Tracey spoke up. "I heard that Trelawney predicts the death of a student every year. You shouldn't worry."
"Has she ever been right?" asked Harry.
"Would anybody still enroll in the class if there was a one-in-thirty chance of dying?" asked Nott.
Harry had to admit, Nott was making a lot of sense.
When lunch had finished, Harry packed his things and looked for Draco, as they usually walked to classes together. Draco's seat was empty—he was already halfway out of the hall, talking to Pansy. Harry and Tracey gathered their things and followed.
Harry was quiet for most of the walk to Slytherin's next class, History of Magic, distracted by his spat with Draco. It was Tracey who finally broke the long silence.
"I saw what happened with Draco and the hippogriff today."
"Apparently Draco didn't." Harry's voice was bitter.
Davis shook her head. "That hippogriff would have eviscerated him. He might have deserved it. There aren't many ways that arrogance can get you killed, but Draco found one of them today. You're a great friend, Harry." Tracey suddenly looked away, allowing her blonde hair to fall and cover her face. "I have to go."
"Tracey, wait." Harry grabbed the small girl's arm before she could dash away into the crowd of students. "Why do you always do that?"
"Do what?"
"You and I always have these talks, and you dash away right in the middle. Why?"
"I don't do that. When have I ever done that?"
"Just now."
"Oh. I wasn't dashing."
"Yes, you were."
"No, I wasn't."
"Why are you still trying to get away, then?"
Harry and Tracey both looked down. Tracey was leaning away from Harry, dramatically overbalanced. The only reason she was still standing upright was Harry's hand on her arm.
"I'm not trying to get away." Tracey's attempt to feign ignorance was unconvincing.
"Tracey. You did this first year at Pansy's party. You bought me a whole new outfit, then clammed up and tried to avoid talking to me at the actual party. Last year you did it constantly. Before quidditch tryouts you were super friendly, and afterwards you were practically avoiding me. Then Pansy told me about blood purity, and you pulled this same stunt."
"No, I didn't."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Just tell me, Tracey. What is it?"
Tracey glanced around the corridor. Most of the students had already reached their classrooms, and the hall was mostly empty. "Fine," said Tracey. She pulled herself erect and grabbed Harry's arm, dragging him to the side of the corridor, next to a suit of armor. Tracey took a deep breath before speaking. She didn't look Harry in the face; she kept her eyes down and slightly to one side. "Here's the thing. A lot of times I come off as too… intense."
"You, intense? Never."
"Harry, I'm being serious." Tracey glanced up, but quickly looked back down. "It puts people off. I've tried changing, or stopping, or whatever… but I can't. It's who I am. And, apparently, 'who I am' is really off-putting. It's embarrassing. You and Daphne are the only people who really like me so whenever I start doing it around you I try to stop but sometimes I can't so I just have to walk away or else I'll keep doing it and then everyone will hate me and then I want to die."
"Tracey, I wouldn't do that." Harry reached out and placed a hand on Tracey's shoulder.
Tracey shrugged her shoulder, shaking Harry's hand off. "Don't go all Hufflepuff on me, Potter."
"We're friends, Tracey. Last year, during that whole Heir of Slytherin debacle, you stayed my friend. That meant a lot to me."
"It was obvious that you weren't the Heir."
Harry glanced around the corridor and found it completely empty. All the other students were now in class. Harry remembered Daphne's words last year about Tracey—he was going to have to make the first move to get her to trust him.
"Look, let's just skive off History of Magic," Harry said. "I have a story to tell you about last year."
Harry led Tracey back to the Slytherin dormitories. They had the entire common room to themselves; everybody else was in classes. Harry and Tracey sat next to each other on a couch near the fireplace.
"Tracey, I want to be honest with you about the Heir of Slytherin thing. The story that Dumbledore told the school last year wasn't exactly true. Or, at least, it wasn't the whole truth." Over the next half hour, Harry told Tracey the entire story of the Chamber of Secrets. "I wasn't the Heir of Slytherin who was petrifying people… but I'm pretty sure that I'm the Heir of Slytherin now."
Harry paused in his story. Tracey was staring at him. She hadn't moved an inch since his story began.
"Anyway," Harry said, "The point is this: I'm your friend, so I'm not going to hide who I am from you. You shouldn't hide who you are from me, either."
There was a long silence. Harry began to grow uncomfortable. Showing any weakness was frowned upon in Slytherin. If you display weakness in public, you diminish Slytherin as a whole. If you display weakness to other Slytherins, you are vulnerable to being manipulated by your housemates. What Tracey had shared in the corridor revealed her to be enormously vulnerable, but Harry was sincere about being Tracey's friend. She would only believe that he was sincere if he reciprocated.
As the silence grew longer and longer, though, Harry wondered if he had made a mistake. Maybe Davis wasn't so friendly, after all. Maybe this was going to be used against him. Maybe he should have taken Davis's vulnerability and used it against her. Maybe-
"I'm glad that we're friends, Harry." Tracey broke into a brilliant smile and placed her hand on Harry's. "You're really great."
Harry smiled. He didn't know what to say. Apparently, Tracey didn't either, as she just smiled back.
Behind them, the door to the common room opened. Tracey and Harry jumped apart, jerking their hands into their laps. A group of noisy sixth years took up seats in the common room. Behind them was Pansy, hands on her hips.
"Harry! Where have you been?" Pansy yelled across the room.
"Talking with Tracey."
A sour look crossed Pansy's face. "You were supposed to be in History of Magic, with me."
"We learned just as much as you did," replied Tracey.
"But you didn't have to suffer through Binns' lecture," Pansy said. Harry and Tracey laughed. "Come on, then. We have to get to Potions, or Professor Snape will be furious."
A/N: One of my regular reviewers was hoping for an actual appearance by girl-Blaise, possibly as a Weasley prank. It's something I certainly considered… maybe in Book 5, as part of the Weasley Twins last hurrah at Hogwarts.
In the meantime, I'm kicking around the idea of writing a one-shot that would style itself as the pilot episode of Better Off Crabbe. I could probably pull it off, but I don't have any idea that would make it particularly special, at the moment. If something truly interesting presents itself, well, I'll let everybody know in the author's note!