A/N: and here is another chapter. Thanks to HowInMadeHowie for another great work revising this chapter and telling me when i make a mistake. Hope you all like it
As the day moved on, Harry found himself in the dungeons after almost everyone slept during the History of Magic class. He would have to ask the headmaster why he did not hire a new teacher for this subject, as all Professor Binns was telling them was about the goblin rebellion and they had to read about the more recent history for themselves. Callie then told him that John did that already after investigating all the teachers when he first arrived, but it seems that there is no replacement that would take the position. Harry suppressed his laugh, as he thought that it was obvious if all the students would learn in school would not inspire them to make the career choice to preserve history.
Soon, the door to the classroom opened and Harry saw the man in black robes ordering them in. Snape then closed the door once again after every student was inside and walked to his desk. Like last year, they had this class together with the Slytherin, as the voice from Malfoy could be heard through the whole dungeon. He once more boasted about his summer holiday and what he got for presents back at home. Harry could not care less, as he placed his bag by the side of the table and begun to prepare his cauldron for what he was sure was another potion brewing. But to everyone's surprise, Professor Snape did not write a recipe on the blackboard, but instead a picture of an herb with its name and properties appeared on it as Harry looked back up. He was not the only surprised student, as he heard multiple murmurs in the classroom.
"Silence! Now, as you are now in the second year, the potions that you will brew will become more complicated and more dangerous. As some of you were last year almost too stupid to go through one class without incident, we will now learn the ingredients one by one with all its properties and correct use in the potion we will make in the second half of this double period. I would suggest you take out your writing supplies." Following this statement, Harry heard the other students grabbing everything with Hermione even taking out a second book in case she would have a question that this book could answer before she would ask Snape, because she did not want to anger him when he would really begin to teach.
Soon the sound of scratching quills on parchment could be heard as Snape explained every ingredient for this potion in a short detail and for what they had to watch out for, as some components would badly react to each other when put in the cauldron in the wrong order. Harry also learned some new stuff as some of the information he gained in this lesson were not covered in any books he read up to this point. As Snape was finished with his explanation, he wrote the recipe for the potion on the blackboard and told them to begin.
Snape watched over the students, especially Harry and Malfoy. Harry, because he still could surprise him with his unbelievable talent in Potions and Malfoy because Snape begun to suspect that his god son would not take his classes seriously enough to be safe. He was almost proven correct in his belief as he noticed Malfoy taking the wrong herb and threw it into the cauldron. Just before something bad could happen, Snape used a spell to freeze the cauldron and walked over to Malfoy. He then told him that he should listen to him in the future and corrected his mistakes with a wave of his wand before he walked off again. Snape had to repeat this with Crabbe and Goyle, while he took points from Ron and Neville when the same happened to them. But from Neville he took not as much as from Ron, as he recognized that Neville's mistake was caused by his nervousness, so he decided to lessen the punishment for a while.
After the class ended, Snape asked Harry to stay and clean the classroom, of course to hide the real reason to talk with him. Harry was afraid that it was something bad, but all Snape wanted was to give him a book back that he had borrowed from him in the middle of his first year.
"Mr. Potter, this book is rather interesting in regards of the description of the different plants described in there. But I must remind you that you should follow the schoolbooks in the future, just as you did today. You can go now."
Harry nodded, asking himself if the potion today was chosen by Snape because it could only be made successfully when you followed the instructions almost to the letter. He was of course glad that Snape really did teach them this time and hoped that next time it could be similar as today. But now, as soon it was soon time for dinner, he walked up to the common room to drop off his school bag into their dorm. He would not need it for dinner after all. When he climbed through the portrait hole after telling the Fat Lady the password, he was greeted by a usual sight of Hermione studying and doing her homework, while Ron was playing chess with Dean and Seamus watching them and helping his friend, who was a muggle-born, to become better in this game. As Harry watched the rest of his house, he noticed that Ginny was sitting close to Hermione and asking her for help with her homework if she was stuck, with her year mates reading other books. A mousy haired boy was even reading the book where Harry was mentioned, and the book looked like he read it a lot, and talking with the other Gryffindors about him as Harry was climbing to the dorm room to place his bag down before they would go to dinner. As today's homework was already mostly done as he did write it almost during the classes and just had to finalize the essay's, he would do it after he had eaten. He soon heard the others leaving the common room for the great hall to eat dinner.
When Harry came back down to the common room, he noticed Hermione waiting while talking with Lavender and Parvati, seemingly about today's classes. He received proof of his suspicion as he got closer, and they were talking about that today's Potions class was so much better than last years. Maybe the presence of Lockhart had something to do with it, Lavender pointed out the other two girls, not noticing that Harry stood behind her.
"And how, please explain to me, does the presence of another teacher cause a change in the teaching style from Professor Snape? I think it was always his plan to teach like that, as after the first year those students that would not get passing grates would need to continue repeating all the first-year material. Otherwise, they could not safely work on the more complicated potions that we will brew in the future." Harry surprised the girls once more, when they jumped from his sudden appearance was any indication. Hermione looked at him angrily, telling him that he should not sneak around like that. Harry laughed as they walked out of the common room to the Great Hall.
By the entrance to the Great Hall, Harry felt like he was being observed by someone. As he looked around, he found the mousy haired boy he saw in their common room, but this time with an old camera that looked like it was produced by a muggle. The boy noticed that Harry was now looking at him and gulped, as he seemed to gather all his courage to walk up to Harry.
"H-hello, my name is Colin Creevey. I was wondering if I could take a picture of you. You know, my parents are muggles and I wanted to show them Hogwarts through my photos, also I wanted to have proof that I met you. I heard from another student that you could make the pictures move when you use special potions. Also, if it would not be too much trouble, could you sign it when it is developed?" The boy, Colin, was looking hopefully at Harry.
Just as Harry wanted to answer Colin, he heard the Malfoy's voice coming from the dungeons. "What's this I'm I hearing, Potter? You giving out autographs? Hey, come on everyone get in line! Potter's giving out autographs." Harry just wanted to tell him off, as Colin was looking at Malfoy and asked him if he wanted the photograph too.
"If so, I could make you one first, even big enough to hang up in your room," As Colin finished this sentence, you could almost hear a pin drop in the entrance hall as some Gryffindors that were nearby begun to snicker. Harry turned slowly towards Malfoy after looking at Colin and his on-point joke, if it was one.
Malfoy was becoming even paler as the others of his house heard what the young Gryffindor just said, before his face was getting red in anger and he begun to scream at Colin that he was not one of those who stood on that side of the hype.
Once more, before Harry could intervene, the students still standing inside the entrance hall heard another voice who Harry did not like.
"What is happening here? Did I hear right, and someone dares to give out autographs?" Lockhart walked down the stairs on his way to the Great Hall with a beaming smile on his face, with Triss just behind him. John came from the other side, surely just to make sure that the routes are still in working order. "Of course, it is Harry Potter, that rascal! So early in your career and already handing out autographs? And who would take the photo? Ah, young Mr. Creevey has a camera! So it is obviously him. How about that Mr. Creevey, me and Mr. Potter posing for your picture and we both sign it, is that okay for you?" And once again, before Harry could say that he did not want that, Lockhart grabbed him by the arm and tried to pull him to his side.
In the blink of an eye, Harry stood over Lockhart, his arm twisted behind his back and pinning the teacher to the ground.
"Excuse me, Professor, but I don't like to be manhandled like that. Please refrain from it in the future." As Harry let the Professor go, he turned to Colin and asked him if he was still interested in the picture if they could do it later when they were in the common room again. This way, the other Gryffindors could also be in the picture, but he had to disappoint him, as he would not sign the photo.
Colin was beaming and assured him that he understood, and that he was happy to take the picture later. So, they all walked inside the Great Hall to eat dinner, some students were still talking about what happened outside the doors. Harry soon sat down at his House table and waited for dinner to be served. He heard the laughter of his house about the face that Malfoy had, also how flustered Lockhart looked as a 12-year old could just throw him over his shoulder and hold him on the ground.
"Harry, mate, where did you learn this move? And why do you not use it more often on those stupid snakes?" Ron was once again talking without thinking, as Harry groaned and looked at him.
"First point Ron, I learned this in the training on the weekends with Chief Wulf. The second point, he told us that we should use it only to defend ourselves, not to attack. And on a side note, if you will not learn how to control your temper when asking questions, it could lead to something bad happening to you." Harry looked sternly at the redhead, causing Ron to look even more confused at him.
Meanwhile Ginny took note on the mention of the training, that according to Professor Dumbledore was obligatory for the first weekend. And if she concluded correctly, Harry was a frequent guest there, so she would see if she could go almost as often as he did. As they were eating, on the other side of the hall Daphne did what she could to keep her cold persona on display, but internally she was laughing at the scene that played outside, as the first year Gryffindor asked Malfoy if he wanted a picture of Harry too. Maybe she would ask one of her house elves if they could smuggle one picture into Malfoy's room as a prank, that would be hilarious when he would run out with a disgusting face.
When Daphne looked over to Malfoy, he looked at her with an almost disgusting look on his face, as if he thought that she would not know what his father tried to pull. But that will be ending soon, as the few owls flew down to bring those who took a subscription to the Evening Prophet their newspaper, mostly older students and teachers. Her father had told her that the news about his business being bought by the firm Wolf Incorporated would be officially announced in this evening's issue. She would lose some ground in the House, as she was no longer the heir of her father's business for now, but she would be safe as all who would read the article would understand what was going on.
One owl landed right in front of Harry, causing him to look at it with a confused look. "Hello little one. I think you got the wrong one, I did not order this newspaper." The owl hooted and lifted her leg, showing Harry that next to the newspaper was a letter for him. He opened the letter first and read in it that the newspaper was for him and already being paid. He should read the headline and prepare himself to protect Daphne in case it would cause some backlash. That this would defeat the purpose on renaming the Potter Foundation to the Wolf Incorporated and John was even closer, so he told Callie to make Cortana aware of the situation.
Soon, the murmur was getting louder, and one even did read the article loud enough for his neighbors to hear. Harry opened the paper and read the same article.
Surprise acquisition of the Greengrass Import Inc.
As this reporter can safely say was a surprise to every wizard in Great Britain, David Greengrass told on a press conference that he had sold more than half of his businesses to an until now unknown firm, calling themselves Wolf Incorporated. On the question why he had done that, he answered that he would not comment on the reason, only on the result that his business would stay safe and his family being protected.
Why his family would need the protection was another question, to which Mr. Greengrass said that he would also not comment on this topic, only that Wolf Incorporated would make sure that no harm would befall them in the future, as this firm was well known in foreign countries for their security.
Mr. Greengrass then introduced the CEO of Wolf Incorporated, a man called Jerome Cable. And dear readers please do believe us and the picture we printed, this man has to have some giants in his ancestry, for anything else he is just too big. But regardless, this reporter was once again on the line of questions, but Mr. Cable only answered in short sentences and if a question was placed about his person, he just waved it off and asked for another question.
Now while some would see this behavior as a weakness, his confidence told everybody present that he was anything but weak. After the question about the future of the Greengrass Import Inc. was placed, Mr. Cable told the reporters that Mr. Greengrass would keep his position as CEO and could lead the firm like he had always done, as it was a proven system that worked. The only difference was now that he had to report monthly to him and his colleagues.
On my question who his colleagues are, he just said that it was none of our business and that this conference was now closed. While this ending was abrupt, it did leave some questions unanswered, and the rumor mill will be turning. But rest assured, this reporter will stay on the case and come up with the truth.
As Harry had read through the article, he looked for the author and found out that it was a Rita Skeeter, he would let Callie take a note of this name for future references. He then gave the paper to a waiting Hermione, who just snapped it out of his hands as soon he held it out to her. He watched the Slytherin table, as he saw that Malfoy was also reading the article.
Enhancing his hearing, he tried to distinguish the voice he loathed, just in case he would say something bad. But all he heard was that his father will find out what was going on for sure. He had an eye on this business for a long time after all, but Harry could hear the hidden anger in his voice, as if Malfoy just lost something because of this article.
Harry's attention was brought back to Hermione, and he quickly dialed down his hearing seeing her looking at him with a frown on her face. Harry shook his head and quietly told her. "Not here, Hermione." Harry subtly nodded his head towards the Slytherin table to let her know this conversation should be less public.
Hermione huffed but nodded her head. She was wondering why Harry didn't mention this to her or Daphne for that matter. She could read between the lines that this action was to protect Daphne's family business, but she'll wait 'til after they return to the common room to get some answers.
In another place far away from the school, Lucius Malfoy was furious as this article only confirmed what he had surmised for himself. Someone was getting in his way, and he did not know who which only caused him to lash out even more. He would need to write to his son that he would need more reports from him what was happening in the school. He did not tell him the reason why he needed those, but Draco would be smart enough to just obey him. Now he needed another plan to get his hands on the Greengrass vault. He was thinking on sending his wife to them and just talk with David's wife and see what she could find out. But before he could do that, she would need another dose of the loyalty potion he was giving her for the last 15 years that bound her to his will.
He opened his potion cabinet and saw that his stash was getting low, so he would need to visit Borgin and Burke's for some more. He was glad that the owner did not ask any questions as long the gold would land on his hand. He heard a knocking at the door, as he tried to calm down and said the person can enter his office.
As the door opened, his wife came in with the visitor he was expecting this evening, before she left once more after Lucius dismissed her. The man who walked over to his desk was dressed in a black suit and expensive shoes, his black hair was styled in a slick was straight back and his posture was rigid. Lucius smiled, as this man was becoming useful after he met him in the ministry a few days' back.
"Ah Mr. Smith, thank you for coming today. I hope you have some good news for me?" Lucius looked up from today's paper and waited for Mr. Smith to talk with him. But if he really wanted something good, he was going to be disappointed.
"No, Mr. Malfoy, we still do not know who this heir of the house Black really is. Also, as I see that you had read this evening's edition of the Prophet, I also do not know anything of these Wolf Incorporated, except that they are coming from overseas. I think that they gave Mr. Greengrass an offer when they met him on a business trip in Germany or Bulgaria, but we can't be sure about that. But I have some good news for you, as we did find evidence that Mr. Weasley has bewitched some muggle vehicles and other devices in his home. As this is a felony against his own law, you could try to make him pull back his muggle protection law in the upcoming Wizengamot meeting." Mr. Smith did take out some notes from his bag, noting how Malfoy was smiling at him.
Oh, if Lucius only would know who he was trusting right now, as Mr. Smith used the time where he was not looking at him to watch the rest of the room and looking for hidden compartments. Mr. Smith would use that information to make sure that when they nail Malfoy to the wall, nothing will be kept secret from the Office of Naval Intelligence.
Later that night in the Gryffindor common room, after Colin took some pictures with the Gryffindors in their normal evening behavior, Harry gathered Hermione, Parvati and Lavender in a quiet corner to explain about the article. Before he would start, he asked Callie to make sure no one was listening into their conversation. Harry told the girls that Daphne's father was being pressured by Lucius Malfoy to an old pureblood tradition of marriage contract between his son and either Daphne or her younger sister. All three girls grimaced at the thought of being forced to marry Draco Malfoy. Harry said Mr. Greengrass sent him a letter over the summer asking for his help. Mr. Greengrass was concerned that Mr. Malfoy would try to bankrupt his business or worse, so Harry authorized his account manager at Gringotts to help Mr. Greengrass save his business. Originally it was the Potter Foundation, but Yennefer suggested changing the name to protect him from Malfoy.
Lavender told Hermione that marriage contracts are rarely used anymore but some old families still use them, especially if business is involved. She speculated that Mr. Greengrass did not want to "sell" his daughters to the likes of Malfoy or anyone else for that matter.
Hermione angrily hissed, "It's barbaric! To force a witch to marry someone against their will."
Parvati shook her head. "Not all marriage contracts are like that. Some are actually designed to protect the families, not just the prospective bride. Some families pen a betrothal agreements where both bride and groom agree to it to protect the families. And some even have a clause in them which would allow both bride and groom to get out of it before it would become binding, for instance if one of the two party's find someone better suited for them." Parvati looked at Harry with a frown. "But I thought you can't officially authorize anything because you're underage."
Harry shrugged. "That's why I have Yen to act on my behalf. She informed me of this while I was at the Burrow with the Weasleys. I was supposed to meet with Mr. Greengrass in the summer at Gringotts, but Mr. Malfoy must've got impatient. Keep this to yourself though. This is more to protect Daphne." The girls nodded and agreed that they will keep quiet about this development.