Daphne was laying on her bed in the room she shared with Tracey.
"He's coming back, right?" They were having a discussion they've had a dozen times before.
"Of course he is, why wouldn't he?" Answered Tracey, bored at her best friend's incessant worrying.
"I just have this feeling that I am, somehow, responsible for what happened."
Tracey had heard that so many times she wasn't surprised at all.
"Why do you think that? You were in the stands with me, does that make me responsible as well?"
"Not there, but with the conversation we had before the duel. I think something that happened there provoked him to do it."
Tracey sighted.
"What could you have said that would cause him to go berserk on Krum?" Noticing her friend's still anxious look, she put on a serious face. "Look, Daph, weird things happen around Harry. It seems he's always dragged into some weird shit, and most of it it's not even his fault. He's an important piece of the power puzzle in our world, as you are very much aware, so being around him will get you first class tickets into some messed up stuff." Images from her first year and their adventure going after the sorcerer's stone came to her mind. Looking back, Tracey could now understand how insane they had been, and how lucky they were not to have died there. "Eventually, you'll learn to just brush it aside and don't worry too much about it. I don't know what happened that day, or how he managed to make his eyes glow that way. But if I've learned something this past four years is that it probably wasn't his fault and he'll blame himself for it for the rest of his life. I don't think any of us had anything to do with it. So, can you please chill out about it and let me finish my homework, please?"
"How are you still not done with those? I finished mine days ago."
"Well, some of us are not so organized as little Miss Greengrass, okay? Some of us procrastinate until the very last day."
Daphne laughed at her friend's description of herself.
"All right, sorry to bother, Miss Davies. I assume I don't need my help then?"
"Of course I do. Now get your ass over here, I need so pointers for this potions essay. I swear, our dear Head of house has this ability to ask for the length to be just a few more inches than my knowledge of the subject. Its infuriating."
Both girls continued their work uninterrupted until dinner time.
"So, we have the heir of Slytherin all over again?"
Harry winced at how close his friend was from the truth.
"It appears so, are you ready to be an outcast again?"
"Amazing." The boy rolled his eyes over. "People are dumb. You can count on me Harry, for everything."
Harry wondered if Blaise was having that attitude due to the fact that the Goblet of Fire mess was still hanging over their heads, but decided he was being unfair to his best friend.
"Thanks mate. You don't know how much that means to me."
"And I'm sure Trace and Daph will say exactly the same."
"Have you guys spoken about me?" Harry was suddenly feeling slightly anxious.
"Well, you know Tracey. She's used to this, but Daphne has been stressing about it a lot. You really should have a talk with her, she thinks it is somehow partly her fault."
'In a way, she's right' he thought, cynically.
"Why does she think that?"
"She thinks it has something to do with the conversation you had before. She doesn't know what it was, but she was the changing factor from the previous duels, so she's convinced of that."
"She's not wrong…"
Blaise had a look of genuine surprise.
"What do you mean by that?"
Harry put the other boy up to speed with everything that had happened previous to the duel, his conversation with Daphne, the one with Fleur, and what he had felt during the match.
When he was finished, his friend was facepalming himself.
"Harry, you know I consider you a very smart and intelligent man, right? And you've proven yourself to be a very powerful wizard…"
"Yes, go on…"
"Well, when it comes to women… You're daft."
"Why?"
Blaise sighted.
"Women are different from us. Specially when there's romance involved. They are not blunt or forward, they're shy and use subterfuge. And for some reason, they get a kick from teasing the shit out of us."
If his friend was right, he really was clueless about the entire situation.
"And since when are you an expert on the matter? We never see you show any interest in girls here at school."
"What do you know of my family, Harry?"
They boy thought a little bit about it, before realizing that he didn't knew much.
"Now that you mention it… I know that you live with your mother, your family is from Italy and they are rich. Nothing much. How don't I know more?"
"My family is complicated. I don't speak a lot about it, that's why you don't know about them."
"Oh..."
"Don't worry, I really don't want to spread it around too much. But yes, they are very rich. In fact, probably the richest wizard family in the country. My grandfather is the Lord for now, but I'm next in the succession line, as my father is already gone. That makes me a very desirable bachelor. When I'm home, women throw themselves at me. That's where my experience comes from."
"Blaise the player, never imagined that." Commented Harry with a chuckle.
"No, it's nothing like that. None of that is real. They want my money and title, not me. In fact, a lot of them don't even want it, they do what their parents tell them to do… It's quite frustrating."
"That's why you don't speak about that here? For it not to happen in Hogwarts as well?"
"Yes. Being here for nearly ten months a year is a relief from all that… Fortunately my mom understood that and sent me here, going against my grandfather's wishes for me to be educated at home."
"Well I'm glad she did it." Said Harry firmly, placing a hand on his friend shoulder.
"Me too. He's not happy, but so far, he hasn't imposed his will. Let's hope it stays that way." A shadow of a smile graced Blaise's lips.
The smaller blond girl was painting after the effort of the afternoon. Her teacher really was ruthless.
"Again." She said, in her bossy voice.
The girl took a deep breath, focused and shouted.
"Bombarda"
A chunk of stone from the big boulder in front of her was blasted away, with small pieces of debris falling around the two girls.
"Good, you are improving. But the time I leave, no one will be able to mess with you." Said her teacher.
Luna smiled at Fleur. The older girl had been teaching her how to defend herself since the end of the second task, when the reality that she would be leaving in the end of the year started to settle in. Luna knew how much Fleur's presence had improved her life. She wasn't a victim of bullying anymore, except for the occasional stare, but she could deal with that. And she had friends. 'Friends!' she used to think to herself, contemplating how such a wonderful thing had happened. Fleur also knew the impact she had made on the younger girl's life but knew that as soon as her influence vanished on the beginning of the next year, things could very well return to their older state. She had informed the staff about it, but with more than one thousand students and less than twenty or so teachers, controlling everybody had to be hard. So, she had taken the measures to ensure Luna would be able to defend herself against any student that tried to harm her.
Fleur was grateful for Luna's presence in her life. In the time where she felt more alone than ever, her presence had been what kept her afloat. The similarities between the Ravenclaw and her little sister, Gabrielle, still amazed her. She knew what she owed to the girl, even if she didn't know it. And teaching her how to defend was nothing compared to that debt.
The girls continued their training until it was almost dinner time. They stopped slightly before so Luna could have time to take a quick shower and get ready. She really was excited to receive Harry's gift. It would be the second gift she would receive in her life, that wasn't from her dad. The first had been Fleur's. Fleur's influence on the girl had made her take a little more care about her appearance, much to the Veela's appreciation, and her Christmas gift to her had been a silver comb for her hair.
After she was done showering and dressing, she sat in front of Fleur's mirror while the French girl helped her with her hair.
As she felt the long fingers running through her hair, one thought passed through Luna's mind.
"Yes, it was good to have friends."
The six friends gathered on the Slytherin table for the first time. The four Slytherins, the Ravenclaw and the Beauxbatons student.
From those six, one, Luna, was completely unaware of the importance of that moment.
Two of them, Tracey and Blaise, knew this was one important dinner, but it didn't affect them as much, so they were relatively cool.
Fleur and Daphne, the two girls that had never officially met, were both nervous, but with different intensities. Daphne, still young and inexperienced, was slightly intimidated by the presence of the French witch. Fleur, who was older and more confident, had her nerves mixed with curiosity about the English girl.
And then there was Harry. The miscellany of feeling inside his head were too messed up to accurately describe. On one side, he was nervous about the two girls getting to know each other. On the other, excited that his life could become way easier if they get along nicely. On a third, he was scared for the problem he could have if they were not compatible. And on a fourth, he was smug, due to the fact that he had two gorgeous girls interested in him.
The six looked awkwardly at each other, and for Harry's relief, it was Luna who broke the ice.
"Harry, where is my gift? You promised to give it to me during dinner."
He smiled at the smallest member of their circle.
"Yes, and I keep my promises." He took a box from his robes.
The girl eagerly opened the box, wrecking the wrapping paper.
Inside, was a special edition of the book Fantastic Beasts and where to find them, signed by the author himself, Newt Scamander.
"I can't promise you it will tell you where you can find a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, but I thought you might enjoy it." Told Harry, with a hopeful smile.
Luna gave out a soft squeal and gave him a very tight hug.
"It's my favorite book! Thank you! How did you get it signed?"
Harry chuckled at her enthusiasm.
"It appears Sirius is a good friend of Newt's soon. We met them during the holidays, including is grandson Rolf, and when I told them about how you loved magical creatures, he was happy to sign a copy. In fact, Rolf seemed very interested in getting to know another teen who loved magical creatures as much as he did."
Luna smiled, but didn't say anything. She gave Harry another hug and returned to her sit, the book already open on her lap.
Harry took the opportunity to give his two best friends, Tracey and Blaise, their Christmas gifts as well. He gave them both the same gift, an auror-grade wand holster with a kit to take care and polish their wands.
While Blaise loved the gift immediately, Tracey raised an eyebrow at him. Harry explained.
"I put you guys through so many dangerous situations, I want to make sure you have the best chance to make it you alive." He joked.
That send them all into a fit of laughter, helping to relief a little bit of the tension around the group.
Harry braced himself for a difficult dinner.
Harry sat in the small office in the chamber of secrets while he was speaking with Salazar, telling about his day. Salazar always seemed to enjoy hearing about the daily life at the school and the activities of the students.
"And you were surprised that they weren't at each other's throats?"
"I mean… I didn't expect them to cause a scene there, but they seemed to be genuinely trying to be friendly. I swear I don't understand women."
That got a genuine laugh from Salazar.
"They are complicated, no doubt about it. But you should be happy that they are trying."
"I am! And I think it went as good as I could expect, this all thing just feels unnatural to me."
"Are you having second thoughts about this? If you are, you should tell them."
"No, it's not that. I just didn't expect this to be this easy. In the muggle world I would never be able to pull it off."
"But we're not in the muggle world, right? The wizarding world is different, and you know it. And lucky for you, both girls are pureblood's, even if blood purity is weird with Veela's. My point is they were both raised in the wizarding world, where polygamy isn't such a horrible thing."
"I guess you're right."
"Am I not always?"
Harry smiled at the founder's arrogance, one he knew it wasn't really genuine, but a façade he enjoyed putting on.
Happy with how the day had gone by and feeling dumb that he had even doubted his own friends loyalty, he got ready to go to bed.
AN: Sorry for the delay, but this wasn't an easy chapter.
Hope you guys enjoy.
Thank you for the Reviews, I really enjoy reading all of those.