Summer was a chore. Literally.
As soon as he was back at #4 Privet Lane, Petunia put Harry to work, and this was the year she decided to redo the yard. So in addition to the usual mowing and fertilizing, Harry spent hours digging holes for her new hydrangeas. And he had to prune back the current bushes to make space for them. That included getting rid of the overgrown rhododendron bush that Petunia had come to hate as it grew bigger than she had expected.
"Hey, Dudley, you want to come help take out the roots from the old rhododendron?" Harry asked one July afternoon as he came in to get some water. It was hot, and he had been working all morning. He mopped off the sweat with his shirt, before tying it back around his waist. He might not have realized it, but all of that yard-work had given him some muscle. He wasn't going to win any body building contests, but he wasn't a hollow-chested geek either.
"No. Mom said that was your job," Dudley replied without looking up from his TV show, shoving another pretzel into his mouth.
Harry just shook his head. As much as he hated the constant chores, he could never sit around doing nothing like Dudley. Working hard had been ingrained into him.
"Oh, and Dad says that you're not allowed to invite any of your weird school friends over to our house," Dudley added, shoveling another pair of pretzels in. "Do you even have any friends?"
Harry shrugged, "My friends are none of your business." Though honestly, Dudley was right – he didn't really have anybody who was a close friend. He had the library gang, but they never really talked, and there was Ron, who owed him a favor, so that was almost the same thing. 'Maybe I should try making some friends in Slytherin'. He had watched his housemates for a year, and he had gotten a sense of who they were. Adrian Pucey, a second year, didn't seem to be too bad. ' Maybe I'll try talking to him.' Harry finished his drink and went back outside to pry out the roots with his shovel.
It was tiring work, and there was more to come.
*UHD*
Finally, as summer wound to a close, the Dursleys dropped Harry off outside Diagon Alley with his school supply list, 5 quid and instructions to be back outside the Leaky Cauldron promptly at 5pm.
Harry entered the Wizarding world through the pub, nodding to Tom on his way before heading over to Gringotts – because 5 pounds wouldn't come close to cover his school supplies. After the (awesome) cart ride, he returned to Diagon Alley with a pouch full of galleons to spend as he wandered the shops.
It was early still, and not having anything better to do, Harry set off for Flourish and Blotts. He would browse there and then pick up the rest of the supplies after lunch.
'What the?!' There a huge crowd milling outside of the store. Some were standing in line, while others were just trying to peer inside. They didn't appear to be angry, thankfully (Harry wouldn't put it past some Wizards to burn books – having spent a year around the likes of Crabbe and Goyle, he had a fairly low opinion of Magical folks).
"What is this all about?" Harry asked the closest witch (there appeared to be a lot more women than men in this crowd).
"Gilderoy Lockhart is going to be signing his newest book at noon!" The middle aged witch squealed like a teenager.
Harry rolled his eyes 'Yup. They are all idiots'. He didn't know who this Lockhart chap was, but nobody was worth betting this exited over. These people seemed to be positively giddy. Being that happy wasn't normal.
He was just pushing past the crowd, deciding to forgo the bookstore until later when he saw two grown men get into a fist fight. 'Wow. Just wow.'
*UHD*
Harry ended up heading over to Quality Quidditch Supplies and buying a quidditch magazine there just to kill some time. He then swung by Fortescue's and ordered a chocolate swamp and slowly ate it at one of the outdoor tables as he flipped through the magazine, actually taking the time to read the articles instead of just looking at the pictures of the racing brooms.
"Oh, Harry! I didn't know you were going to be here today," Harry looked up to see Ron approaching, a red headed girl about their age in tow.
"Yeah, I'm supposed to get my school supplies, but I'm hiding out over here until the zoo in front of the bookstore dies down. I can't get to half the stores on that side of the street!" Well he could, but Harry never liked crowds, so it wasn't worth the aggravation.
"Oh, yeah that was a mess. I don't see whats so great about Lockhart. OW! Ginny!" Ron grabbed his ankle, where his sister had kicked him.
"You were supposed to buy me an ice cream. Stop talking and get me one!"
"But Harry is my friend."
"And I'm your sister, and you told mother that you would get me a Cherry Peanut Dribble!"
Harry watched in amusement. ' I guess I'm not the only one with sibling problems'. Though she didn't look as horrible as Dudley.
Ron gave a long suffering sigh, "I'll see you at school, Dursley"
Ginny cast one last glance over her shoulder at Harry before following her brother into the store.
*UHD*
The actual trip back to Hogwarts was fairly uneventful. Vernon again dropped him off early at the train station, leaving Harry to fend for himself for two hours. When the train finally pulled into the station, Harry found a compartment way in the back that was probably not going to get crowded. He was right - the only student who made his way back there was a dejected looking Neville Longbottom, who spent the whole trip playing with his pet frog. It wasn't until he made it to the castle – in a cool horseless carriage – that he had to deal with his Slytherin housemates.
*UHD*
Harry looked around the great hall as the first years were being sorted. It was nice to be back. He even listened with bemused tolerance as Draco bragged about his summer vacation. 'He's such an ass,' Harry smiled.
Classes were all pretty much like last year – Potions with Gryffindors, Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws, History of Magic with the dead guy.
And same as last year, DADA was a complete clusterfuck.
The evening after his first so-called Defense Against the Dark Arts class (which was more about Lockhart's ego than actual Defense), Harry slumped into a chair at his usual table in the library. "Lockhart is an idiot. He's worse then Quirrel, and that's not an easy feat." Harry hated attention seeking narcissists. It's what annoyed him the most about Malfoy as well.
"Harry! He's a world renown wizard!" Hermione leaped to Lockhart's defense – she was the only other one of the gang there so far. "I read his books over the summer, and he has accomplished so much!"
Harry rolled his eye. He had spent his life with the Dursleys. If there was one thing he could spot a mile away, it was liars. "He's an idiot. And if you believe him, you are one too." He was too tired to explain why he was so certain (and partly he couldn't explain – it was a survival instinct trained into him by his home life) but that buffoon reeked of fraud.
Hermione just glared at him and didn't say anything. When Terry came a few minutes later, she made a point of talking to him and ignoring Harry.
*UHD*
The other big change was Quidditch – as a second year, Harry was eligible for the team. Tryouts were on Wednesday evening, and Harry joined Pucey and the other Slytherins as they excitedly spilled out onto the quidditch pitch.
"I didn't know you were into quidditch," Pucey commented.
"I've never played, but I like flying, so I figure it's worth trying." All the other boys were completely nuts for quidditch, so Harry figured it had something going for it.
There are two opening on the team – chaser and seeker. Flint had all the students trying out fly around the quidditch pitch while the beaters lobbed the bludger back and forth across their path. The first two – Theodore Nott and Goyle – barely managed to avoid getting hit – they wobbled badly as they dodged. Next was Harry's turn, and he confidently zipped through, followed by Draco, who for once in his life actually measured up to his boasts and was a decent flier. The rest struggled to get through, and Crabbe even got hit in the head (though he claimed he was ok - that it hadn't hurt at all)
"Malfoy, Dursley," Flint roared, "you're on the team. The rest of you losers, get lost." He motioned the two second years over to him. "Look that way, and wait for my command." He pointed back to the castle. "I'm going to release the snitch. The one who catches it get seeker, the other gets chaser." He tossed the little golden ball into the air and counted to five. "Ok, go"
Harry and Draco took off. Harry immediately went high, to have a better vantage point, while Draco made lazy circles around the periphery of the pitch, searching.
Ten minutes went by, and both boys made false starts, darting for the snitch as it fluttered by in the distance before losing sight of it a few moments later. Then suddenly Harry saw it – it was hovering calmly on the opposite side of the pitch from Draco. Harry leaned into his broom and dove for it. By the time Draco realized that Harry had seen something, Harry already had the snitch.
"Dursley, you're seeker. Draco, you get chaser. But if you ever have to play seeker, don't make stupid loops like that – you had your back to some half of the pitch all the time. That's why you lost."
"That's not fair – I didn't know." Draco retorted.
"And I don't care," Flint replied, grabbing his gear to go inside.
As the two second years put their brooms away, Draco added as an aside, "I always played Chaser at home. Seeker isn't a real position anyways – you're not actually playing as part of the team. And you don't even have one for pick-up games, like the ones I played at home." Draco paused, as he realized that Harry was going to be his teammate from here on out, and it might behoove him to be nice (which he actually did know how to do. He was just out of practice). He patted Harry on the shoulder awkwardly, "But it will be a good fit for a loner like you".
"Congratulations on making the team, both of you", Adrian welcomed them as the walked out of the broom shed. "Come on, I have some Butterbeers stashed in my trunk – we should celebrate!"
The rest of the team joined in and threw a party in the common room for Draco and Harry, bringing out snacks, butterbeers and even a bottle of Firewhisky for the upper years (Gemma, the sixth year prefect, policed it to make sure). As Harry was tilting his butterbeer back, somebody whispered "time to kill... so hungry... for so long. I smell blood! I SMELL BLOOD!" Harry choked on his butterbeer, coughing it up as it went down the wrong way.
"What was that?"
"What was what?"
"You guys didn't hear the weird voice?"
"Pucey, did you spike the butterbeers with something?" One of the other chasers demanded half seriously.
"What, do you think I'm one of the Weasley twins?"
Everybody cracked up, ignoring Harry's puzzled expression. With a shrug, Harry went back to drinking his butterbeer. 'It's Hogwarts. Anything could happen.'
*UHD*
The following day, Harry had potions first thing in the morning. 'Maybe if I grab some snacks from dinner the night before, I can skip breakfast & go straight to Potions next time?' Harry mused. It seemed like a waste not to take advantage of the Potions classroom being almost next door to their dorm. There must be some way he could use that fact to sleep late. The trick was not missing breakfast in the process.
"Oh, hi Hermione." Harry sat down next to the lone Gryffindor. Like always, they were among the first students to arrive. But instead of replying, she concentrated on setting up her notebook and pen for class.
'Whatever,' Harry didn't know what was going on in her head, and he didn't really care – girls always had some sort of drama, real or imagined. "Everything ok in Gryffindork tower?" He asked despite himself.
"Everything's fine" Hermione replied grudgingly.
Harry shrugged, 'I tried.' And concentrated on the Potions class. Despite the silent treatment, they still worked well during class, and their potion even managed to earn a grimace of approval from Snape.
*UHD*
DADA was a huge waste of time again. Lockhart had them reading one of his books – the one about fighting the Waga werewolves – and discussing it. Harry didn't say anything, but he'd read a book on werewolves last year, and a lot of what Lockhart had done was either wrong or very, very risky.
The week went buy, and finally it was Thursday – the first quidditch practice. Harry walked down to the pitch, not certain how to feel. Up until now, he had spent his life trying to stay in the shadows. But now he would be on the Quidditch team. If the team won, everybody would make a big deal out of them. Out of him. And he had to admit, that sounded kind of cool. But on the other hand... Harry shrugged. He would deal with it after they won a match.
As Harry walked out of the changing room, Flint called out, "Dursley, you're on the reserve team."
"What?" Harry stopped confused.
Flint turned to the assembled team and announced, "Draco is going to be the seeker. Cassius Warrington is going to be our third Chaser. "
"Hey, are these our brooms?" Asked Pucey asked, pulling out a Nimbus 2001.
"Yeah, we got some new brooms."
Harry eyes narrowed and he turned towards Flint, "Is that why I got cut from the team."
Flint just shrugged lethargically, "Warrington's dad bought the team new brooms, so I had to give him a spot."
"And I was the one who was bumped?"
Flint hawked a loogie off to one side and shrugged again. "I couldn't cut Draco – I'm going to need a job once I graduate, and his father is a vindictive sonnovabitch." He said it matter of factly, without looking embarrassed.
"Yeah, well you need a new reserve seeker as well," Harry turned on his heels and stormed back into the castle, not even bothering to get changed. He grabbed a book and sat in the library reading. When Madam Pince kicked him out because of curfew, he staggered back to the dorms, with no memory of what he had been reading. 'Why am I so angry?' He wasn't certain why he was so hurt – wasn't avoiding the limelight what he wanted? But he still found found himself surreptitiously dabbing at his eyes as he marched back to bed.
*UHD*
Things quickly settle back to normal. Like last year, Harry spent much of his free time reading in the library, though it's usually just him and the two Ravenclaws, as Hermione has stopped coming most days. When Harry asked her about it in Potions, she said it was just easier to study in her common room.
Nothing untoward happens until the day of the Halloween feast. As the students were leaving the Great Hall, somebody yells out, "get one of the professors!"
Harry pushes forward to see Mrs Norris, Filch's cat, hanging from a torch bracket, petrified, and next to her a threatening message written in what looked like blood on the wall, reading "THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE".
Malfoy, seeing an opportunity to claim more of the limelight, stepped forward and whirled to face the other students "Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!" He hammed it up, getting as much attention as he could.
Several of his hangers-on giggled.
"Ok, that's enough of that. Everybody should go to your common rooms." Albus Dumbledore took charge, calming the students and chivying them off to their respective dorms under the supervision of their prefects and heads of house.
*UHD*
The following afternoon, Hermione was back in the library. "Harry, can you help me research what petrified Mrs. Norris?" she asked, not quite looking at him.
Terry looks up, "You don't think it's a spell?"
"I.. it could be a spell, but its not one that Professor Flitwick or McGonagall have heard of – I asked them earlier today. It might be some sort of magical monster"
Harry nodded, resisting tolling his eyes at the word 'monster'. That was just so… muggle! "Makes sense. Let's go start in the creatures section."
Once they are out of earshot of the other two, Hermione whispers, "Do you think it's Malfoy's doing? Ron claims that it is." She sounded nervous.
Harry rolled his eyes, "Ron thinks everything bad is Draco's fault. That ponce is in our classes - If you don't know a spell that will do that, Draco doesn't either." He decided not to comment on Hermione's sudden willingness to talk to him – (Because obviously their 'friendship' was based on being useful to each other, so it sort of made sense).
"Yes, but I heard that Pureblood families have secret spells that they don't share with anybody else."
"I'm sure they do. But you heard Dumbledore – whatever that spell was, it's way above what a Second year could cast. And besides, didn't you say that you thought it was caused by a creature.
"But what if Draco was the one who released it?"
Harry sighed. "When I get back to the dorms I'll spy on the little shit, ok?" He was so tired of her melodrama. He wasn't certain why he was even helping her.
"Harry! Language!" Hermione looked shocked.
Harry sighed again and handed her a book. "You start with this one." And he pulled another for himself to skim.
"For the record. I am still angry with you you," She comments.
"Ok." Harry wasn't certain how to respond. 'What is she angry about?'
Hermione sighed in exasperation. Harry was thick as a brick sometimes.
They didn't find anything. "Uh, It's getting late." Terry and Padma had already left, as had most of the other students in the library. It was just a few minutes before curfew. I.." Hermione looked awkwardly. "can I ask you a favor? It's kind of creepy being out on your own right now – can you walk with me to the Gryffindor dorms?"
"Sure, but you'll owe me, Granger."
Now it was Hermione's turn to roll her eyes. "Let's go"
Now it was Harry's turn to be exasperated. Sometimes he despaired at Hermione's inability to understand social rules, such as equivalent exchange.
*UHD*
Over the next week, Harry and Hermione fell into a comfortable pattern. They would start the evening with Padma and Terry, working on homework, but afterwards they would spend an hour or so prowling the stacks, looking for clues. Though they didn't find much.
That all came to an end several weeks later, when Collin is petrified.
The next afternoon during Transfiguration, Terry approached Harry, "Hey, Harry, I think Padma and I will be studying in the Ravenclaw common room from now on. It's not safe walking around on our own."
And that evening, as Harry was leaving the great hall after dinner, Hermione came up, "Um, Harry – I don't feel comfortable walking all the way down to the library on my own. I'm going to skip on our study sessions for a little while." She looks down at her hands, as if she is ashamed.
Harry nods. "Yeah, you should be careful."
"You too." She paused for a moment awkwardly before rushing off.
Harry obstinately headed down to the library on his own, though he followed close behind a group of 5th year Hufflepuffs heading in the same general direction.
But studying in the library by himself was surprisingly lonely after having gotten used to sharing the table with three other people.
As Harry returned to the Slytherin dorms from the library, Adrian cornered him. "Harry, you shouldn't be walking around on your own – the other houses are all blaming Slytherin, so who knows what they will do if they catch you." He casts a dirty glance at Malfoy, who was chatting with Nott, oblivious to the damage he had done. "You should walk around with a buddy."
"I'll be fine – I have friends in other houses, so they aren't going to attack me." And he had an invisibility cloak, which he was using whenever he was walking alone. He wasn't an idiot.
"Harry, you're too trusting. I don't understand how you ended up in Slytherin."
*UHD*
Things progressed this way until Christmas break. Harry again stayed at the school - he was the only Slytherin to do so (a couple of Ravenclaws and Gryffindors stayed as well, but nobody he knew) and alternated between reading about random creatures in the library (Why hadn't he done this before? This was almost as good as Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials. No, it was better!) and practicing spells. He found it amazingly gratifying to see his pen transform into a walking stick insect. There was no ambiguity as to whether he was doing it right or not. And the same was true of the other spells he worked on. Harry tried casting them faster, pretending it was a race, and other times, he tried casting them slower, to see how long he could stretch a single spell out and still have it work.
At breakfast the morning after the other students returned from the holiday, Lockhart stood up, "May I have your attention." He beamed at the crowd of students, basking in their gazes, "in these trying times, I feel that we need something more to occupy our attention, to distract us from the horrors that stalk the halls!" Serval of the first years glanced nervously at each other. "So I have decided to restart a tradition, a practice that we had when I was a student here at dear old Hogwarts – a Dueling club! Everybody is invited - it will foster inter-house unity, and you will learn the skills required to defend yourselves, like I did when I was trapped by ghouls in their barrow!" He jabbed his finger into the air for emphasis. Several of the girls 'oohed'. "And as a special treat, on the first day of class, I will give a demonstration of dueling. So come one, come all!"
As expected, almost the entire school showed up for the first meeting of the dueling club to see Lockhart dual (some because they expected him to be very talented, and other (like Harry) because they expected him to fail spectacularly). It had to be held in the Great Hall, as there wasn't any other space large enough.
"Why haven't we had a dueling club up until now?" Draco groused, "My father says that every proper gentleman should know how to duel."
"Definitely," Zambini agreed, "My mother hired a dueling tutor for me from when I turned 9."
Harry got distracted by Draco and Zambini's discussion / one-upmanship that he lost track of what the DADA professor was doing until he announced, "And now, Professor Snape will assist me in my demonstration dual. I will endeavor to take it easy on him, so as not to embarrass him in public." Lockhart smiled his photogenic smile before turning back to the Slytherin head of house, "Take your position, Severus. Ready! Set! Dual!" He brought up his wand with a theatrical flourish, only to drop it again as Snape's quick first spell sent him flying.
Several Slytherins snickered as at the same time most of the female population of Hogwarts gasped in horror.
"Well, that was invigorating," Lockhart stood up and brushed himself off, "Professor Snape caught me before I was in my guard position. Anyways. Lets, have some students take a go at it. How about…" He looked around, "Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy, come on up!"
Harry glanced over at Ron, who mounted the stage with a mix of anticipation and trepidation. He stepped over to Adrian. "Um, do you think Ron has ever dueled before?"
"I doubt it. Dueling is a rich man's sport. The plebs play quidditch." Adrian replied, somehow ignoring that he himself was on the quidditch team.
Harry nodded. That was what he thought also. "So what will we learn by watching two second years who don't know what they are doing duel each other? It'll be no better than a schoolyard fight."
Just then Draco cast a spell that created a King cobra. Just as it materialized, Ron waved his wand wildly, somehow sending the serpent flying to land a few feet from where Harry was standing.
"Ouch! That hurt!" It hissed, before rearing up so that it faced the scared students menacingly, "What are you meat sacks looking at? The first one that laughs at me gets eaten!"
"Get back!" Harry grabbed Pucey and the Slytherin girl next to him and pulled them away from the snake. "It sounds angry!'
"No shit!" Adrian took an extra step back. Before the snake could decide if it was going to attack, Professor Snape dispelled it.
"No, I think.." Harry stopped. There was no advantage to telling Adrian that he could understand snake-speak. 'I need to research this'.
"I think that is enough of this foolishness. Professor Lockhart will announce when the next meeting of dueling club is at a later time." Snape glowered at everybody. Or maybe that was his way of expressing concern for the students. It was always difficult to tell with him.
*UHD*
"Professor Lockhart?" Harry approached the Defense teacher the following day after class, "When will the next meeting of the dueling club be?"
"I am not certain. I will have to look at my schedule." Gilderoy's smile was sickly. He clearly was hoping that everybody would forget the fiasco that was yesterday.
All of the following week, Harry checked the announcement board in the Great Hall and in the Slytherin common room, but there was nothing.
That evening, Harry called together a couple of the second years and a few others who he figured might listen to him and held an impromptu meeting in the back of the common room. "I don't think that Lockhart is going to have a dueling club. So I was thinking we could organize our own."
"Oh, and who's going to run it?"
"We could ask professor Snape – he seemed to know what he was doing."
"Yeah, he humiliated Lockhart."
"I don't know, I got quidditch" Adrian prevaricated.
"Me too, and I'm too advanced to be in a club with you neophytes," added Draco before walking of, which caused Nott and his two thugs to follow his lead.
Harry looked around anxiously to see if any of the remaining students were interested. 'Every time I stick my neck out, this happens. I should just stay quiet!'
"Hey, I'll join," Zambini replied lightly from here he was perch on the back of a sofa. "I can always use the practice." Zambini was the sort who liked doing stuff that the was already good at, so that he could impress everybody else.
"If you can make it so that it doesn't conflict with Quidditch, I'll come to at least some of the meetings," Adrian added, not wanting Harry's idea to fail.
"Count us in as well," added a female voice from the edge of their group. Harry looked up to see Tracy and Daphne.
Harry nodded. "Ok. I'll ask Snape tomorrow morning about being our advisor"
*UHD*
"So, Professor, are can you sponsor our club?"
Snape stared at Harry with an odd expression, like he had just bitten into an apple and discovered half a worm. His lip twitched up into a sour frown and then back to the half-a-worm before he finally gave an exasperated sigh. "Very well. I will file the paperwork. We will meet at 7:30 on Tuesday evenings. Do NOT be late."
The first meeting of the dueling club had just six Slytherins, and they met in an unused classroom on the third floor – the desks had all been removed, and the only thing of note was a trapdoor in one corner.
In addition to Harry, Zambini, Adrian and the girls, the only other Slytherin to come was a first year by the name of Sebastian Rosier. At precisely 7:30 Snape swept in.
"I do not have time for running club activities," he announced without preamble, "Therefore I will cover the basics today, and then you will practice them on your own. I will be available for consultation if you require them, but don't make me regret volunteering to help you!" He scowled at the Slytherins, who all beamed at the glowing enthusiasm that their head of house was showing for this endeavor.
"Very well. Let's start with the rituals - the bows and salutes. A dual is not a fight. In a fight, there are no rituals or rules. You will learn both, but always use the correct one in its appropriate setting."
After a quick introduction, Snape then spent an hour demonstrating various combinations and drills. "For this exercise, it doesn't matter what spell you cast. The key component is to step correctly as you cast it." Harry alternated between jotting down notes and trying out the maneuvers. When the hour was up, Snape swept out of the room abruptly, not pausing for any questions.
Harry was mentally exhausted. "Did everybody else get that?"
"Yeah, I got it all," Zambini replied casually
"Then write it down."
"I'm not going to forget."
"Zambini, don't be an ass. Write it down so I can see if my notes are correct," Harry turned to the others. "You heard Snape – he wants us to run the club on our own. So that goes for the rest of you – we all need to write down what we saw & compare notes."
"I didn't sign up for yet another class," Tracy grumbled quietly.
"It's only this one time," Harry reassured her, before adding. "Why did you sign up? I didn't think you were into dueling." In Defense, Tracy spent most the time looking bored, even in those few classes when Lockhart actually imparted useful information instead of 'polishing his own wand', as Adrian described it.
Tracy blushed and whispered quietly, "Zambini's hot". And it had been Daphne who had volunteered the two of them to join, but she wasn't going to admit that.
Harry sighed in exasperation, glancing over at Daphne to see if she was equally exasperated by such a dumb reason, but she just shrugged and gave him a bashful smile.
*UHD*
But that was the end of normalcy at the school - the following day Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly-Headless Nick were found petrified, with yet another ominous message scrawled on the wall by their bodies.
Rumors spread through the school like wildfire, most of them blaming Slytherins for the attacks. Soon, Slytherins were being ostracized even more than usual, and everybody was giving them angry looks. The younger Slytherins began walking to class in groups.
*UHD*
"Ron, can I talk to you for a minute?" It was a week later and Harry had decided enough was enough. He was waiting in the shadows outside the Great Hall after lunch. Unsurprisingly, Ron had been one of the last to leave, and now both of them would be late to their next class. But this was important.
"Oh, hey, Harry. What do you need?"
"The petrifications – it's not Slytherins doing it – we're as worried about it as everybody else."
"Draco doesn't appear to be scared. He's talking up the attacks, almost like he's taking pride in them." Ron retorts angrily.
"Draco's an idiot. He's talking like that because he's terrified, and the only way he knows how to deal with it is by making everybody else even more scared."
"I don't know.."
Harry sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair, "I do, though. I have classes with that doofus. He's nowhere near smart enough to pull something like this off. And if, by some miracle, he did do it, he would be bragging about it all day everyday. He's about as subtle as a punch in the nose."
"I guess," Ron turns to go, figuring the conversation was done.
"Ron," Harry put a hand on his shoulder and spoke intently, "Get the Gryffindors to lay off of the Slytherins. You owe me for last year."
Ron opened his mouth and squinted in thought as he tried to figure out what Harry was talking about, "Ah, yeah. I guess. But I'm nobody important – I don't have any influence." Ron stopped and considered his options. Harry did seem like a good bloke, despite being a Slytherin… "I'll talk to my brothers and maybe they can talk to some of the guys and we'll see what we can do." Clearly, he didn't think in terms of debts and transactional relationships.
"I'll owe you one," Harry patted his shoulder and turned to go.
Ron shook his head in bemusement at the weird way Slytherins thought as he walked towards the Charms classroom.
After that the harassment abated, and after a few more weeks Hogwarts slowly drifted back to an almost-normal, because there was only so much you could worry about at one time. But the tension never fully faded.
By April the library gang started studying together again sometimes, though it seemed forced – Terry especially made a big show of siting with Harry, as if to make a political statement that he didn't hold him responsible for what had transpired.
*UHD*
"Do you guys hear anything?" Harry asked. He was in his favorite place – the table halfway back in the stacks of the library, studying with the two Ravenclaws. "It sounds like somebody is muttering to themselves angrily."
Terry cocks his head to listen, "No, nothing. Are you certain it's not stress?"
"Yeah, a lot of students are having stress related problems recently. One of the girls in my dorm has been throwing up everything she eats," Padma added, "Maybe you should go see Madame Pomfrey."
Harry just shrugged, "Whatever it was, it's gone now".
By the start of May, the Ravenclaws stopped coming to the library again. "Hey, I haven't seen you in the library lately," Harry commented nonchalantly to Terry after Transfiguration.
"Yeah, I've been studying in the common room. It would be awkward with Padma there."
"She's stopped coming as well. Did you two have a fight or something?"
"Or something," Terry shrugged awkwardly. "In that case maybe I'll come by this afternoon. I gotta go – I'm late for Charms."
Harry nodded, not really understanding what the big deal was over some little fight, as Terry rushed to join the group of Ravenclaws walking together to their next class.
The Slytherin common room was no less tense than anywhere else, though some of the Slytherins put on a show of not being concerned (or maybe some were foolish enough not to be). Draco was giving almost nightly sermon on Pureblood superiority, and a growing number of Slytherins listened to him. Harry figured it gave them comfort, but listening to idiocy wasn't something he found soothing. Instead he hunkered down and avoided making waves. He avoided both his housemates and everybody else as much as he could, drawing on his old habits from when he felt threatened back in primary school. He spent as much time as possible in the library, the one place that he truly felt safe.
"Harry!" Harry started up from his Potions essay to see Ron running into the library, drawing Madam Pince's ire. "I need your help – something happened to Ginny – she's been acting weird all year, and now she's disappeared in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom! I followed her there, and when she didn't come out after a half hour, I looked inside, and she was gone!" Ron wasn't keeping his voice down, but the library was almost empty so there was nobody to shushed him. "Can you come help search for her? I don't know who to ask… I mean…" Ron paused and added self consciously, "You said you would owe me."
Harry nodded, "Let's go" He left his books behind as he ran after Ron.
END chapter
I don't want to rehash all of Harry's Hogwarts career, but I do want to show how this Harry is different from canon, so I will have a couple more chapters of backstory. Let me know if I am going too fast .
I will probably not cover all 7 years – I currently plan to go through year 4 before returning to the 'present'.