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Harry adjusted his tie while looking in the mirror and ran his fingers through his hair, satisfied that it looked like controlled chaos.
"You look dashing!"
"I know," Harry replied, shamelessly accepting the mirror's praise.
The night of restful sleep refreshed Harry's foul mood, letting him look over what happened yesterday without emotions tinting his thoughts.
If Malfoy had done what Harry suspected, then it might leave him with no choice but to put himself in the clutches of Greengrass. It might be possible to slowly lure the purebloods that turned their noses at him all by himself, but that would take the time that Harry did not have.
It was unfortunate that Voldemort decided to make himself a nuisance by coming back to life. Harry had already disliked anything related to the Dark Lord due to what happened to his parents, but that emotion was nebulous. It was something Harry felt because he was expected to. That had obviously changed.
However, Harry didn't suddenly gain the suicidal tendencies of Longbottom and vow to take down the greatest Dark Lord in British history. His goal was to stay under Dumbledore's protection and do his best to save his own hide. With Zabini all but saying that Harry was marked for death, it was necessary to take some risky actions.
After all, even if everything went to shite, Harry could always go the route that Zabini's mum had planned. He had nothing holding him back in Magical Britain, so abandoning it would be no hardship.
Harry wondered if his frequent wish to have a life similar to Longbottom's bit him in the arse. He wanted to do something other than deal with hormonal teenagers asking him about their crushes, but jumping directly to involve the Dark Lord was a bit much.
Harry pulled the strap of his bag over his shoulder and opened the door to his room to see a curious sight.
"You alright there, Montague?"
The rather muscular wizard was slumped on the wall in front of Harry's room, woozy from being thrown into it unexpectedly. It was blatantly obvious that it resulted from Montague trying to break in.
Looks like the wards are working as intended.
"Honestly, what were you expecting, even if you could get into my room? Your spellwork is terrible. Stick to your strengths, Montague. Think about how to beat Ravenclaw in the next match instead of this nonsense."
Harry ignored the unfocused stare he received from the boy and stepped over his splayed legs to head to the common room. Montague no doubt had a concussion from the blow to his head.
Served him right.
Montague spent the last year kissing Malfoy's arse, so it wasn't hard to figure out why Harry found him on the floor. The question was why Montague hadn't been warned about the wards around his room. Harry had an uncomfortable thought that he was being used to teach someone a lesson.
He was prepared for an ambush as he stepped into the common room, as unlikely as that was, but was even more surprised to see that most students had gone back to pretending that he didn't exist. To be honest, Harry was perfectly fine with this situation.
Besides, he didn't have much time to waste. Harry had spent too much of it admiring himself in the mirror. Before heading to the great hall for breakfast, he needed to check on Thompson. His pride had been dinged from having Greengrass spare him from embarrassment last night. Harry intended to show Malfoy that his little antics had no effect on him… by not sitting at the Slytherin table.
With a resigned sigh, Harry left the common room. Even to him, that sounded very much like Malfoy succeeded. Something that he had to quickly accept for the moment.
Harry glanced around to ensure nobody was watching and took out his cloak before pulling it over his head. Thompson had always been late for breakfast, so Harry would make it just in time for her to leave the Ravenclaw common room. He even expected her to sleep in, with the Sorrow Stone weighing down on her mind.
Merlin knows Harry did when he was affected by the damned thing.
Harry's brisk walk got him to the entrance of Ravenclaw Tower in time to see a crowd of students leaving for the great hall. Right at the front, with a broad smile on her face, was Thompson herself.
Harry stared at her in confusion as he tried to understand why she seemed different. He wasn't that surprised that the Sorrow Stone didn't have much effect on her after only one night, but in no circumstance should she look genuinely happier after sleeping next to that thing.
Harry tore his eyes away from his oddly happy target and rushed into the tower before slipping into the Ravenclaw common room when a couple students were exiting. He went directly to Thompson's room and unlocked the door with a simple first-year charm.
The moment Harry stepped into the room, he shivered at the cold feeling that ran over his body. The Sorrow Stone was still where he had hidden it last night. This eliminated the possibility of it having been discovered. Still, it also increased the mystery of what was happening with Thompson.
The other possibility made Harry frown. Thompson could have left her room after he visited to meet her new toys in Hufflepuff. He didn't know their names, but he could recognize them if he saw them at breakfast. If they weren't there… Harry could safely assume they were now in the same position as Astoria Greengrass.
Harry left Thompson's room and sealed the door before he made his way to the great hall. Call him sociopathic, but this was rather exciting. Harry was sure he would care that someone might be under a blood curse if he knew them personally. He didn't know these Hufflepuffs at all.
Harry walked into the Great Hall and was surprised to see Greengrass motioning him to the empty seat next to her. He should have taken it since he decided to throw himself with her lot this year, but he had to get to the bottom of this fascinating mystery first. Besides, even if Harry intended to be on Greengrass's side, he wanted to do it on his terms. He didn't want to 'owe' her another one, as she said yesterday. Harry didn't know exactly what that meant, but he was wary when it involved the girl who didn't hesitate to hoist the location of the Dark Lord on him.
Harry saw Greengrass raise an eyebrow when he shook his head and walked to the Ravenclaw table.
"Excuse me, gents," Harry smiled at the boys sitting next to Goldstein, "You wouldn't mind if I interrupted for a minute, would you? Anthony asked me to sit with him this morning."
After Goldstein gave his friends a far-too-obviously reluctant nod, space was made for Harry to take a seat.
"Do you mind if your friends hear what we're talking about? Or do you want some privacy?"
Harry gave Goldstein a look to make it clear he should want the latter. Luckily, it seemed like the boy understood him and said so to his friends. Harry glanced at the Hufflepuff table to search for the two boys he had seen talking to Thompson near the train station, but his attention was pulled back by Goldstein before he could take a closer look.
"Should we head outside?"
"Hm?" Harry looked at Goldstein's nervous visage before shaking his head, "That won't be necessary."
With a wave of his wand, Harry said, "Muffliato."
"That'll keep our conversation secret. They'll hear a buzz if they try to listen in."
Anthony looked at his friends to see them staring at Harry with confusion.
"Now, I understand you want to make a deal."
"That's a nice way to say you forced me into it," Anthony frowned at Harry's wording.
"I never force anyone to make a deal, Anthony," Harry said with a straight face, "But I'm not here to argue. Have you changed your mind, then?"
"… No," Anthony grudgingly said, "But you have to tell me who was asking about Padma if I do."
"Ah, I'm afraid that's not possible. I'm not one for breaking my contracts," Harry said pointedly. It technically was the truth. He did keep to the contracts he made, and it wasn't possible because nobody came to him to ask for Padma.
Anthony fumed for a few seconds while Harry's eyes strayed back to the Hufflepuff table. This time he found who he was looking for. With a puzzled look, Harry glanced at Thompson, who was still far too cheery to believe. He was starting to believe that the girl was much stronger mentally than he ever thought.
"Fine, Potter," Anthony interrupted with clenched teeth, "We have a deal."
"Excellent, that'll be a thousand galleons."
"What?!" Anthony flinched in shock, "Why is it so much? You only charged me a hundred galleons for the love potion!"
"Ah, I'm glad you asked! You are paying for, what I call, a tier-two service. As for why this is a higher tier, you have to think about what you're paying for. It might seem like I'm only getting you together with Ms. Patil, but it is far more than that."
Harry smoothly fell into his sales pitch, though if he was being honest, it would fall under the up-charge of 'I don't like this prick, and I want to fleece him.'
"Let's be honest. Could you get Ms. Patil to notice you without help?" Harry paused for a second to look with pity at Goldstein, "No, I didn't think so. Don't you think you'll regret it for the rest of your life if you didn't pay a measly one thousand galleons for the chance with the love of your life?"
"I wouldn't say she's the love of—"
"Possible love of your life?" Harry interrupted, "Plus, Ms. Patil is far too attractive to stay oblivious to the attention she gets. If you miss your chance now, who knows if you'll ever get it again."
"Stop! I'll pay you."
Harry raised his brow and asked, "You have the galleons on you?"
"Of course not. Why would I carry that much around in school? I have it in my room."
Harry's lips twitched as he tried to keep a straight face. He had forgotten that Goldstein's family was rich enough to give their son pocket money equivalent to a month of an average family's earnings. He should have charged more.
"Very well. I generally demand payment on the spot, but I'll make an exception this time due to our location."
Harry held out his hand and waited for Goldstein to clasp it. After he felt the contract come into effect, he pulled back and smiled. "Congratulations, Anthony. You can expect Ms. Patil to be much more appreciative of your attention within a month. As for the payment, I'll come by tonight to pick it up."
Harry ignored Goldstein's face twisting into a grimace when he mentioned visiting his room. He was already walking to where Lovegood was sitting. Since sitting with the Slytherins was unwise today, he might as well use it as an opportunity to sit with her.
"Hello, Harry Potter."
"Hello," Harry replied pleasantly, "Those are some interesting glasses you have on."
"Thank you," Luna smiled as she lightly touched the frame, "They come free with every copy of The Quibbler. They make the Wrackspurts visible, you know?"
"Do they?" Harry asked as he sat next to her, "Have you found any?"
"No," Luna frowned before it quickly disappeared, "But I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Daddy said that you have to use these to see them. I was wondering why I couldn't find them before."
"That… makes sense?" Harry replied unsurely. He wanted to bring up the fact that she could apparently see through his invisibility cloak but didn't want to somehow spook her. Harry figured it was more likely that Lovegood would look at him cluelessly and ask if that wasn't normal.
"You were talking to Anthony."
"Hm?" Harry blinked at the sudden change in topic, "Er, yes. I was. He wanted my help with something."
"I know," Luna nodded, "He is rather shy, isn't he?"
"That's one way of putting it," Harry chuckled wryly. He wondered if she would say the same if she learned that Goldstein wanted to potion Patil into liking him.
"It's possible that Anthony's feeling bogged down by a swarm of Heliopaths. He just needs to shake them off and let his light shine. Padma has always been nice to me. I'm sure she'll be the same to him."
Harry stared at Lovegood for a few seconds, wondering if Goldstein liking Patil was common knowledge. If it was, it would make his job all that much easier.
"That would do him good, wouldn't it? But he won't do it," Harry ignored the fact that he had no clue what Heliopaths were. He didn't need to know to understand Lovegood's meaning.
"That's silly," Luna declared, "He wouldn't be so sad if he did."
"Well, I'm sure it'll work out. There's no reason to worry about him," Harry couldn't exactly say he was going to help Goldstein because of the contract. Still, it was apparent that Lovegood knew what was happening here.
"If you say so," Luna conceded, "If I were Anthony, I'd be extra cautious around Heliopaths. Their fiery glow is quite beautiful, so it's easy to forget they shouldn't be around you."
And Lovegood lost him there. Harry was more surprised that it had taken this long for her to derail a perfectly normal conversation. Well, normal for Lovegood.
They ate their breakfast in comfortable silence before Harry broke it. "When did you go to bed last night? Did you see anyone come down?"
"Bed?" Luna tilted her head in thought, "I waited for my shoes to come back until the fire died. Nobody came to the common room while I was there."
The common room fire never died when a student was there to use it... unless it was hours past midnight. That meant that Lovegood barely got any time to sleep, if any. Thompson probably stayed in her room the whole night.
However, that became an afterthought since Harry's focus was once again on something that he kept telling himself was Lovegood's business. She revealed the relentless bullying she went through so casually and with such frequency that even Harry, who only saw people as opportunities, finally felt enough pity to act on it.
"What was the name of the boy that borrowed your shoes?"
This story is 8 chapters ahead for my patrons