This was a nightmare to get out, but it's done. Enjoy.
-Victoria
Harry,
Alex wrote me. And I've heard from the parents of several of your classmates after they received similar letters. I'll be honest here, I don't know what to think. School has been in barely a week, and you're already starting fights and bullying other students. It's not something I expected to deal with. It's disappointing to hear.
The way Augusta spoke about how much your letters brightened Neville's spirits, I thought you and him would end up being friends. But what you did, sabotaging his potion causing him such severe injuries. That was cruel.
Then the thing with that girl. I understand things may be hard for you in that house, but going after a muggleborn who is struggling to fit in. I thought you more than anyone would understand how hard it is for her, and all the other muggleborns. I don't know if you were showing off, or just trying to fit in yourself, but attacking her, chasing her through the castle? It was wrong of you. Then attacking Alex when he tried to stop you. That's not what Potter's do.
I know we don't know one another very well, but that's not the boy I knew over the summer. Maybe Petunia was right when she told me about the incidents you had with the other children in school, and I just didn't want to believe it. Either way, the things you're doing, the friends you're making concern me. I don't know if anyone's told you, but the Nott boy, his father, was a Death Eater. Lied his way out of Azkaban, but rest assured, he raised his son to have the same horrible beliefs he killed people for. Greengrass' father has been outspoken against bills that would protect muggleborns for years. And Zabini's mother, well the less said the better. I have no doubt, even as a child, her son is just as dangerous. None of them are good to associate with. I don't know much about the others, but doubtless they're any better.
I offered before, that if things became too much, to write to Albus about having you resorted. I think we're probably there and you can't see that. I'll hold off on writing Albus for now, but if I hear anything else like this, I won't hesitate.
All that being said, I would still like to hear your version of events. Write me back,
Love
Dad
Since he'd received the letter a few days ago, the parchment had gone soft, and the edges were beginning to tear. Harry couldn't stop reading it though. He couldn't explain why, but every spare moment he had, out it would come.
People always describe rage as feeling hot, that rage makes a person's blood boil. But all he felt when he read it was cold, like ice slipping through his veins. Love, Dad, he signed it. And that was likely more infuriating than anything else he had written.
"Stop it," Daphne said, gently plucking the letter from his hands.
"I can't," Harry said.
All of his friends had read the letter, each of them offering their own opinions and expressing outrage when he'd been too angry to speak. In truth, Harry wasn't the least bit surprised by what James had written. And even less so that he'd believed every lie Alex had told him. James was right about one thing, they didn't know one another well, but Harry did know James would always believe whatever Alex told him. That James would always choose Alex. From the moment James made the decision to send Harry away, he'd made that choice.
"Just ignore everything he says," Theo said from the other side of him, "He's an arse."
That caused all of them to laugh.
Harry tried, he'd been trying for days, but he still dreaded the possibility of being called to the Headmasters office, of being forced to place the hat on his head again.
"Look at it this way," Susan said from the bench below him, "if James does manage to convince the headmaster and the hat to resort you, at least you'll have friends no matter where you go."
"I still think you'd enjoy Ravenclaw," Padma said.
"It doesn't matter what James tries, I've told you before, it's impossible," Theo said.
"Shush and pay attention. You just missed a wicked dive by Higgs," Tracey said. She was sitting with Lilly and Sue below Susan.
Daphne handed the letter back to Harry and he slipped it into his pocket.
Just outside the castle walls, the Quidditch Pitch sat at the edge of the cliff that ended the castle's grounds. The pitch itself was surrounded by high, stone walls topped with even higher wooden stands. Inside the stone walls, a dark corridor wrapped around the entire interior of the thing.
Each of the House Teams had their own entrance onto the pitch proper. Inside, each of them had a dressing room, lounge, and showers. Right inside the doors, there was a wide open space for any other students using the pitch to relax, store their brooms, and access the pitch. Beyond that, staircases led up to the parapets on which the stands ringed it.
Draped from the wooden stands, reaching all the way down to the grass on the inside, were large banners for each of the school houses. House colors alternated between each of the sixteen towers that rose above the rest of the stadium.
Harry and his friends sat in one of the yellow sections, across the field from where the majority of the students gathered to watch the Quidditch Trials.
They'd spent every evening that week, lounging on the wooden benches, homework spread out around them, watching. Technically, any students, regardless of age, could try out for their house team. But after watching six Hufflepuff first years, including Ernie, Harry thought better of it. Ernie hadn't been able to keep up with the older students, and dropped the Quaffle several times. And two of the other boys had nearly fallen from their brooms.
It was the most Harry had ever laughed in his life, watching them all make fools of themselves. The Hufflepuffs, despite being the funniest, hadn't been the only ones. Alex and his friend Weasley both tried for Gryffindors, while Padma's house rival, Anthony Goldstein, had all failed to make their house teams.
So instead of flying around, Harry was sitting in the stands late Thursday evening, watching the older Slytherin's take their chance at making the house team.
With the letter safely tucked into his robe pocket, he looked out and saw Killian and two of the other Prefects, Blackridge and Bainbridge, looping the perimeter, keeping all of the students not trying out off the pitch. None of them were on the team, and since they were all decent on a broom, they got stuck with it. The rest of the prefects were interspersed throughout the stands, doing the same thing on the ground.
He waved at Killian as he passed by, and received a smile in return.
"She's one of only about six girls trying out," Blaise said, gesturing to Lavinia Bedell, the girl mounting up for the drill.
The team had four positions to fill, and had been holding scrimmages with the different hopefuls to see who would make it. Three of those positions had been left empty by last years Seventh Years. The last was because Durant had decided to step down as Keeper to focus on his studies. It left the Slytherin team with more spots to fill than any other house. The rest only needed one or two positions filled.
"She's good," Tracey said as Bedell scored almost immediately.
"Too bad she has no chance," Blaise said.
"Why not?" Tracey asked, offended. "She's the best we've seen."
"Because they only ever put boys on our team," Blaise said. "Lenore says it's been that way for eighty years."
"Is that unusual?" Harry asked.
"There are exceptions, but generally Quidditch teams are equally split between girls and boys," Tracey said.
"Leonore says —," Blaise started to say, but all the Slytherins started laughing.
"Oh, shut up! All of you," Blaise snapped, scowling.
"Please do," Sue said. "I want to know who my house will be facing."
"Are you spying on us!" Tracey shrieked.
"My brother's on the Ravenclaw team," Sue explained.
Tracey began trying to force Sue up, screeching "Spy!" over and over again, sending all of them into a fit of laughter.
"If I am, then all of you are too," Sue said, trying to shove Tracey away.
Out of the whole group, they were the biggest Quidditch fans, both girls were completely obsessed. With different teams too. While they were playing around, they missed one of the other girls, Cordelia Noke, slam right into the Captain, Marcus Flint.
"Ouch," Daphne said, wincing.
Harry laughed. "How did she mess up that play?"
The Wollongon Shimmy was one of the first plays James had taught him, and even Neville, who had zero interest in Quidditch said it was an easy one.
"Not paying attention. She's too busy staring at Higgs to see where the other players are," Lilly said dreamily.
"He is nice to look at," Padma said.
Daphne seemed to agree with them, nodding along.
"Girls!" Theo complained.
An hour later, it got too dark, and Flint called it. All the players still up in the air descended to the ground, and the prefects began ushering the onlookers back to the castle.
"Help me carry these," Susan said, handing her baskets and blankets to the boys.
"What are we, house elves?" Theo asked, grudgingly accepting one of the blankets from her.
The stands in the pitch must have had some type of charms on them, because when they exited out onto the grounds, Harry was hit with a blast of freezing wind.
"Hurry up," Daphne shouted at them as she pulled her cloak tighter around her. "If I knew it would be this cold, I'd have worn something warmer."
"You should have gotten cloaks with warming charms," Padma told her.
"It can damage the fabric."
"Wait, you can get enchanted clothing?" Justin asked.
"Of course you can. It's a bit pricier than the standard, but well worth it."
"Which is why you should have just bought cloaks with warming charms. It's not like you can't afford to replace them," Susan said.
Daphne glared at her.
Lilly turned to Justin and asked, "Have you gotten the list of the Ravenclaw Courses from your prefects yet?"
"I did, but extra classes? I'm already struggling to keep up with the work."
Hermione stopped her quiet conversation with Neville at the mention of extra classes. She turned up to the library Monday after class, and had gone everywhere the rest of them had. But she still hadn't spoken to Harry or any of the other Slytherins. In fact, she had been ignoring them completely. But one mention of more classes, and she was suddenly paying attention.
"I'm going," Harry said. "Killian wants me to go to all of them at least once. You should go."
"And Leonore is running one of them this year. She's excited," Blaise said.
"Belle Marsh, one of our prefects, is too," Padma said. "According to her, all of our house is expected to go for the first couple of weeks."
"I think Roberts is doing one," Susan said. "She's the one that passed our leaflets out."
"There are extra classes?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"Did your prefects not tell you?"
"No, they didn't," Hermione said. "I'm going to McGonagall first thing in the morning. If there are extra classes being offered and our prefects failed to inform us, it's a gross negligence of their duties!"
"McGonagall can't do anything. It's not anything official," Sue said. Then explained the program, and that Gryffindor's prefects always declined involvement with it.
"That's so unfair!"
"I'll get you the list. I doubt anyone would turn you away," Padma promised. "It'll probably be after some of them start though. Sorry."
An idea struck Harry, and after lunch the next afternoon, Harry parted ways with his housemates and waited just outside the Great Hall, while the rest of them went up to the Library.
Just off to the side, across from the door, was a tall statue of Sir Percival. Harry leaned against its pedestal and tracked movement from the Gryffindor table while he waited.
When Justin and Susan came out, Harry waved them over.
"I thought we were meeting outside the library?" Justin asked.
"Change of plans," Harry said. "There wasn't time to tell you."
"What change?" Susan asked.
"Waiting for someone," he said.
"Good luck," Susan said with a laugh. "I'll see you later." Then she ran off to catch up with Hannah, who was walking with a couple of their housemates.
"Is this a good idea?" Justin asked skeptically.
"Probably not, but she wanted to come," Harry said.
"But this class? After all the drama with Daphne?"
"If she kills me, at least I can say I tried."
Justin rolled his eyes, and sighed. "This is going to go badly," he muttered. He leaned against the pedestal next to Harry while they waited.
Several minutes later, she walked out next to Neville. As always, they were somewhat separated from the other Gryffindors in their year. They were walking with the red headed twins, Hermione's hair bouncing around her as she spoke rapidly at them.
"Hermione," Harry yelled.
She stopped speaking and whipped around. "What?" she snapped.
"Got a minute?" Harry asked.
"I'll catch up in a minute, Neville," Hermione said.
"See you guys," Neville waved.
"Be nice, little snake," one of the twins said, while the other made hissing sounds. They burst into laughter as they left.
"What?" Hermione snapped, glaring at him.
"Did you still want to go?" Harry asked.
"Go to what?"
"The extra classes, yes or no?"
She looked torn, but gave in. "When?"
"Now," Harry said.
"Fine. Let's go," she said.
Harry refrained from snickering, but it was hard, as they walked across the castle towards the Bell Tower.
The Bell Tower was a short, fat tower that served as one of the main exits onto the grounds. Hanging from the high vaulted ceiling of its main hall was a wrought iron chandelier with rings of candles around it. Even though it was the largest one in the castle, the tower was still blanketed in shadows. Set into the walls were rows and rows of stone knights all stacked on top of one another. Staircases led to the upper levels on either side of the room.
On the sixth floor, near the top of the tower, was a single small door right off the staircase, which led to a tiny classroom. There were no desks inside the room, just a handful of chairs for the maybe twenty students gathered in clumps to sit in. A blackboard sat on a small raised platform, large enough for maybe three people to stand on, just beneath the single window.
"Is this everyone?" Leonore asked from the corner of the room.
Harry had been expecting one of the Ravenclaws or possibly a Hufflepuff from one of the more traditional families.
"Good to see you, Potter. Killian told me to expect you," she told him.
"Rosier," he greeted.
"Right then, let's get started," she said louder, getting the attention of the other students.
She strode to the front of the room, and Harry pulled Justin and Hermione into a couple of empty chairs.
"I am Leonore of House Rosier," Leonore said," and this lovely little class is an introduction to the Wixen World. Usually, it's only muggleborns from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, but it seems there's a fair number of halfbloods this year," she said.
"Now, this is an unofficial thing, so if you aren't getting anything out of this, feel free to leave. It won't hurt my feelings. We'll also be going at whatever pace you all want, and after we've gone over the basics, we'll work together on what to learn next.
"This was set up by a very enterprising Ravenclaw in the forties, who realized his muggleborn classmates were struggling to adjust to the complex social structure of our world. Since then, this is one of the many classes students have tried to get added or reinstated to the official Hogwarts curriculum. Obviously, it has failed every time."
Hermione turned to Harry and angrily whispered, "You brought me to this!"
"Yes. To prevent any more misunderstandings between you and Daphne," he said.
"Misunderstanding?" she hissed.
"Yes."
She turned her glare to Justin. "And you went along with this?"
"I didn't know he was dragging you along until just before it happened," Justin said.
"So you were going to just come on your own?"
"Yeah," he said.
Hermione deflated at that. Harry could see her holding back questioning it, but she kept quiet.
"So the first thing we're going to do is introductions. Let's go around the room and each of you state your name and experience with the Wixen World. Most of you are either muggleborn or at least one Wixen parent, but have had limited contact with our world. Potter, you get to go first."
Harry groaned. He did not want to explain anything about his past to these strangers. He'd struggled to tell his friends the little they knew. Neville had told most of the story, Harry only filling in details when absolutely necessary.
"Heir Hadrian of House Potter," he said. "I spent most of my childhood in the muggle world."
Next was Justin, who told the room about his parents. Unlike their friends, the others here found his parent's careers much more impressive. One of the girls even had a family member working for Justin's father's company.
"Hermione Granger, my parents own their own dental practice," Hermione said. "Other than getting my school things, September first was my first exposure to the Wixen World." She stumbled over the word Wixen, and glanced at Harry the whole time.
Hermione and Justin's experience seemed to be similar to the other muggleborns in the room. Even the other halfbloods in the room had limited experience.
Most of the students there were in Ravenclaw, ten of them, four muggleborns and six halfbloods. Justin ended up being one of two muggleborns from Hufflepuff that attended, along with four more who were halfbloods. There was another Slytherin boy, Hayden Parish and two girls, Hadley Pepper and Mathilda Walsh. Harry had never spoken to any of them, as they all seemed to keep to themselves from what he had seen. Hermione was, unsurprisingly, the only Gryffindor in the room.
Once the last person, Jeanette Fortune, finished, Lenore explained why Harry had gone first. Then she had them pick apart the differences between both her own introduction and his when compared to her own.
He did manage to learn that with James being an Earl, he should introduce himself first to anyone set to inherit a lesser title, but as their heir, he could introduce himself first to anyone his age not set to inherit the title. Lords and Ladies always went before heirs, and people of age always introduced themselves to Wixen who were not yet seventeen.
He ended up leaving with more notes on how to introduce himself to people than he had in four charms classes.
"That was different," Justin said when they were leaving. "I knew everything was different, but not that much."
"It's so antiquated. Muggles stopped with that sort of nonsense around the Victorian Era," Hermione said.
"Look around, Hermione," Harry said, gesturing to the castle and their clothing. "We've basically travelled back to the Victorian Era."
"Fine. I'll try to assimilate more," she conceded. "But I'm not changing who I am just to fit in."
"No one's asking you to," Justin said.
"Just to be a little more understanding of how different things are here. And to try to see things from everyone else's perspective," Harry added.
Over the weekend, Hermione was quiet. She studied the other girls' clothing when they were all together. Watched the way the older students interacted with one another when they were around them. At meal times, he saw her studying people's table manners. All the while, she carried around a small, leather bound notebook, constantly writing in it.
When she joined them in the Library after their lessons were done Monday afternoon, Hermione cornered him as he made his way back to their little alcove in the stacks. He'd gone to find a copy of the book they'd been discussing.
"Harry I — Why are you reading the Mabinogion?" she asked, eying the heavy book he was carrying.
"Extra classes. We're doing one on Mythology and Studying Greek and Latin on Mondays," he told her.
She looked jealous.
"You can come if you like. You're free when we do the languages, but I think the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs do the Mythology one on Fridays," he said.
She glanced at the book again, and said. "Maybe I'll do that. Susan gave me a copy of the list yesterday."
"You should. The myths are different from the ones we learned," Harry said. "You wanted something?"
She swallowed thickly then asked, "Can I talk to you and Daphne, alone."
It was said so quickly, Harry had to ask her to repeat it twice before understanding what she said. The entire time, Hermione was twisting her hands together.
"Sure," Harry said.
Daphne took one look at Hermione when Harry called her over and glared at the other girl.
"What?" she snapped.
"Just, come on," Harry said.
They walked deeper into the library, looking for a place to talk. It was full, even the single chairs by the stacks were occupied. Eventually, they found an empty corner next to the top of the windows on the upper most level of the library.
"Alright, what is it?" Harry asked when they stopped.
Hermione shifted from one foot to the other, looking at them nervously. She started to speak several times, but stopped herself.
"Say something, or I'm going back," Daphne spat.
Ever since the fight, and the dressing down Harry had given her Monday before they went up to breakfast, Daphne had been ever more harsh with everyone. They had really only made up in the wake of James' letter.
Harry shot her a glare, silently begging her to be patient.
"I'm sorry," Hermione finally blurted out. "I blew everything out of proportion, and took everything you said the completely wrong way. I mean, you could have been nicer about it, but I think you were just trying to help. No one explained how different everything was going to be, and I didn't realize it. I've been watching people all weekend, even in the Gryffindor common room. Everything is so different from what I grew up knowing. I'm sorry."
She took a deep breath and turned to Harry. Tears were running down her cheeks.
"You were only trying to help, you and Neville. I just left you there, with Alex. It was wrong of me. Neville tried to explain how bad it really is, that it's worse than I've seen. When he came back that night, he was bragging about what your dad was going to say about the whole thing. And I know he turned it completely around on you, and it happened in front of simply everyone. I should have stopped to listen and not let all of it happen. I'm sorry I got you in trouble."
As soon as she finished speaking, Hermione threw herself at Harry, wrapping her arms tightly around him. His robes grew damp quickly as she sobbed into his shoulder.
Harry, who still was not used to being touched in a comforting manner, awkwardly patter her shoulder.
"It's okay," Harry told her. Then to Daphne, he hissed, "Do something!"
Daphne was staring at them in horror.
"Help me!" He snapped again.
Daphne was still just standing there though.
After about a minute, Harry managed to pull himself away from Hermione's crushing grasp. "It wasn't your fault, the thing with Alex," he said. "I was never really mad at you about it."
"You sure?" she asked shakily.
"I am. You had no way of knowing what would happen. And you had every right to be upset," Harry assured her.
Harry thought he should have expected it. Turning everything around on Harry was Dudley's specialty. And with Alex being the same type of person, Harry really should have expected it.
"I'm going to let the two of you talk," Harry said, and turned to leave.
He paused next to Daphne, and whispered lowly into her ear, "Be nice." Then, for good measure, he shot a stinging hex towards her hand.
She glared at him, but stayed to talk to Hermione.
He was at least found rows down from the alcove he and his friends claimed when he heard their voices.
"I still think we should go find them, sometimes, Daph doesn't think when she's angry," Tracey said.
"Hermione can take her. She's really good," Neville said.
"But she won't want to damage the books," Padma said.
"Harry won't let them start flinging spells at one another in the library," Susan said.
"I won't let them fling spells at one another in public," Harry said, stepping around the corner. "You could at least pretend you weren't gossiping about me."
Everyone fell silent, looking guilty.
"We didn't realize you would be back so soon," Tracey said guiltily.
"Yeah, that was fast. Everyone make up? Hugs and kisses and all that feel good stuff," Theo said.
Blaise started laughing. "How sensitive of you."
"I left them to talk," Harry told them.
"Was that a good idea?" Padma asked.
Harry shrugged, making Blaise laugh again.
"Hermione spent all night panicking over talking to the two of you," Neville said. "Not that she owes Daphne an apology with what she said."
"Sadly, that was Daph's way of trying to help her fit in more," Tracey said.
"She's a bitch, but what can you do about it," Theo said.
"Who's a bitch?" Daphne asked as she and Hermione came back arm in arm.
Hermione's tears had dried up, and Daphne's robes were wrinkled, but they both seemed to be getting along again.
"You are," Theo told her.
"But it's okay, because we still love you," Blaise said.
"You're all so rude to one another," Susan said.
"It's how we Slytherins express our love," Tracey said, making everyone laugh.
"So, are we all good?" Neville asked the two girls,
"We've come to an understanding," Daphne said.
Hermione still ended up sitting at the opposite table as Daphne, but there seemed to be no hard feelings.
Regardless of how hard he tried, Harry still couldn't sleep much. He'd spend hours talking to Morgan in his bunk every night after the other boys had gone to sleep, and was still barely able to sleep until six most days. Even that took a lot of effort. So he didn't disturb his sleeping roommates, Harry spent the first couple of mornings exploring the empty common room.
In addition to the Assembly Hall, which hadn't actually been used for anything other than a place for the upper years to relax since the first day of classes, there were two other areas. At the base of the stairs that led up to the rest of the castle, between the study room and Assembly Hall was the lounge. In the evenings, most of his housemates hung around in it when they were forced to be in the common room.
Groups of sofas and armchairs were scattered all around the room. Two large fireplaces stood across from one another with low black leather sofas in front of them. Ornate rugs of various sizes blanketed the stone floors. Shelves of all kinds of curiosities and trinkets lined the walls, and above them, large portraits and tapestries covered the walls. Four stone columns stood in the room, reaching up to the vaulted ceiling. A dome of stained glass was in its center. Between one of the fireplaces and the lower entrance to the girls' dorms was a small table set with a steaming pot of tea and stacks of delicate tea cups.
It took two days for Harry to realize the elves delivered tea to the common room in the early mornings. That first sip of tea helped him wake up before having to deal with anyone.
At the far end was the study room, high windows glittered green in the early morning light. The walls were filled with bookshelves and glass display cases. Inside the cases were skeletons of all types of creatures, figurines wrought in gold and silver, and strange devices Harry didn't recognize. Like the lounge, above the shelves were more portraits and tapestries. A handful of velvet or leather antique sofas were spread around, as were a few study tables. There was a deep green sofa, just below the tapestry of a woman with dark hair holding a staff. It was set against the window, with a small table across from it, taking up the entire space where the window jutted out into the lake. It had become his usual space to sit and wait for his friends before they all went up to breakfast.
Killian was sitting in his spot in the deserted room, a bone white cup steaming in his hands.
"Morning, Hadrian," he said when he saw Harry approaching.
"Morning," Harry said as he sat down next to the older student with his own cup of tea.
He was surprised to see Killian. Wednesdays right after dinner was when they usually talked, in Killian's hideaway in the dungeons. Other than that, it was rare he saw the older student outside of meals or in passing in the hallways. It made him nervous, since the last time ended up with him being reprimanded for the entire thing with Alex.
"Have you seen the notice board this morning?" Killian asked.
"No?" Harry said. He hadn't had a reason to look at it so far.
"Ah, well, you should get into the habit of checking daily. The professors have us prefects post things on them all the time," Killian told him.
"Okay?"
"Flying classes start this Thursday. I wanted to check in with you before it got around."
"Check in with me?" Harry questioned, his voice getting defensive.
"Nothing bad. There are..concerns. I have been tasked with making sure you at least understand the basics before the class."
"Why?" Harry asked.
"So you don't embarrass this House. A lot of eyes are on you."
Harry felt like a broken record when he asked why again.
"You know why, with your brother being who he is. The first Potter in this house in generations. We keep records of all the students who have ever been in this house. The last one was sometime in the seventeen hundreds, before that it was the thirteen hundreds. Like I said, you're being watched."
"According to James, my grandmother was a Slytherin."
"Dorea Black. Her marriage made headlines," Killian said. "But she was a Black, so it doesn't count. We're getting off track. Flying. Have you been on a broom before?"
"I have actually," Harry said.
Killian looked surprised. "How did you do?"
"Okay, I guess. James had me running chaser drills the first day he got me up on a broom."
Killian looked surprised. "Chaser drills your first time on a broom?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Well, that solves one problem. I won't have to bother someone to find time to help you. You would be surprised how many people have never been on a broom before," Killian said.
"One problem?" Harry asked.
"Slytherin and Gryffindor will be having the class together," Killian said.
For two minutes, Harry was able to savor joy at the idea of a flying class. He missed being up on a broom, even if he had only had a few weeks doing it. Two minutes, that was all he got, before it evaporated into nothing. Without James to act as a buffer, Alex would be an absolute nightmare.
"Remember our talk about avoiding any confrontation with your brother?" Killian continued.
"Vividly," Harry said.
For as long as he lived, Harry would never forget anything that happened that day. It had been humiliating to be pulled into the Prefect's office in front of everyone, and Draco Malfoy hadn't let it go yet. Even after spending a full night frozen on the floor, any time they were forced near one another, Malfoy would make a snide comment about the incident.
"Be careful," Killian told him, as if Harry wouldn't keep as many people between them as he could.
Over the next two days, the fervor that swept the school during the Quidditch Trials came back full force with the first years. It was all any of them could talk about.
"I hate flying," Daphne said as they made their way up to breakfast Thursday morning. "It's so undignified."
Theo snorted. "Undignified," he mouthed behind her back, making Harry and Blaise both snicker.
"You just don't like it because you're awful at it," Tracey said.
"I am not!" she protested. "It just messes up my hair."
Daphne loved her hair. It was pale blonde and hung down to her waist. Most days, she had it pulled back with glittering clips, but that morning, she had it in two long Dutch braids.
When he looked around the table, all of the first year girls had their hair pulled back tightly. Harry remembered how bad his hair looked after every flight, and couldn't blame them. But he would have to use even more product to keep his under control than Malfoy did; and his head was shiny with the amount of product slicked through it.
It was even worse that morning, glistening under the lights in the Great Hall as he, Crabbe, and Goyle turned towards the Gryffindor table when they came in just after the post arrived. He snatched something from Neville, then began arguing with several of the first years, Alex included.
"At least you can thank him for drawing their attention off of you," Theo said.
Harry couldn't argue. The only thing Malfoy seemed to like more than harassing Harry in the common room, was antagonizing any Gryffindor or Hufflepuff misfortunate enough to cross his path or draw his attention.
"How does he always talk his way out of trouble? He's not that smart," Harry moaned when McGonagall broke it up and sent the Slytherins back to their own table.
At least once a day, Malfoy got up to something, got caught, and managed to talk his way out of getting into any trouble.
"He learned from the best," Daphne said.
"It's true. Lord Malfoy can talk his way out of literally anything," Theo agreed.
"It's amazing to watch when the Wizengamot is in session. Father rants about him all the time. He says Lord Malfoy could be caught holding a bloody knife and convince everyone he had never seen it before," Daphne said.
"He all but has done that. Otherwise, he'd be in Azkaban. Everyone knows the Malfoys funded the Dark Lord when Lord Black refused him," Theo said.
Theo said everyone, but Harry hadn't known that. It was an interesting thing to know.
Flying class had a dedicated lawn between the Bell Tower Courtyard and an old dilapidated stone hut, which was built similar to the game keeper's. It was a clear, breezy day, so after Transfiguration, Harry and his friends made their way out to the courtyard to relax by the fountain before their first flying lesson. Harry, who had only ever been out there on the weekends, was surprised at how empty the usually crowded space was.
Tracey and Lilly spent most of the time poking at the various fish and plants growing in the fountain, while Harry, Theo, Blaise, and Daphne all flipped through their notes from History, trying to make sense of their ghostly professors' ramblings.
An hour and a half later, all of the Slytherins were gathered around neat lines of brooms laid out on the lawn, waiting for class to start. Hermione and Neville came rushing out of the castle ahead of the other Gryffindors, moments before class was set to start.
"Where have you been?" Harry asked as the two of them skidded to half next to him.
"Library, with everyone else," Hermione said.
"She insisted we had time, and Padma is the only reason we made it out here," Neville said.
"That's exactly why we came out here," Theo said. "Harry loses track of everything in the library too."
"Like you don't?" Harry said.
"You're worse than both of them, Theo," Daphne added.
Theo glared playfully at both of them, pouting.
"I'd have preferred to stay in the library to be honest," Neville said anxiously, eying the brooms.
"Don't like flying?" Blaise asked.
"Dear Nev is awful on a broom, aren't you?" Alex yelled.
There seemed to be some invisible line drawn between the rows of brooms, separating the two houses. Hermione and Neville seemed to be the only two brave enough to cross it.
Neville shrank back as Alex's words.
"Like you're any better," Harry snapped.
"I'm better than you," Alex sneered.
Harry laughed.
Alex looked murderous, and whipped out his wand.
"I wouldn't," Harry said. "Here comes the professor."
"Traitors," Alex spat, but put his wand away.
Madam Hooch, the flying instructor, had short grey hair and yellow, hawk like, eyes. "Good afternoon, class," she said as she walked between the line of brooms.
"Good afternoon, Madam Hooch," everyone chorused.
"Welcome to your flying lesson. Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone step up to the left hand side of the broomstick. Come on, hurry up."
There was a rustle of robes as everyone moved. Harry stepped up to the broom nearest him and glanced down. It was older than any of the ones he had seen in the broom shed at Linweald. And in worse condition. Twigs stuck out at odd angles and there were bare spots where some were missing.
"These look ancient," he said.
"They are. Leonore says they're a nightmare to control," Blaise said.
"That's just great," Neville moaned.
"You'll be fine," Harry assured him.
Neville had joined him at Linweald one Sunday afternoon while James was there. James took them all flying, and while Neville wasn't great on a broom, he was usually fine going slow.
"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say, 'Up!'"
Harry rolled his eyes, but after glancing at Neville, who looked terrified of the rickety broom, and Hermione, who had a deep look of concentration on her face, he sighed. It made sense, doing it this way, it was how James had initially taught him. But it was so unnecessary.
"UP!" everyone said. Half the students shouted, mostly those that were nervous like Neville, or unfamiliar with it like Hermione.
Unsurprisingly, Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once, but it was one of the few that did. Hermione's had simply rolled over on the ground, and Neville's hadn't moved at all. Perhaps like horses, the brooms could smell fear, thought Harry; there was a quaver in Neville's voice that said only too clearly that he wanted to keep his feet on the ground. Even Alex took two tries to get his up. Theo, Blaise, Daphne, Tracey, Malfoy, and surprisingly, Weasley were some of the only ten to get theirs on their first try.
"Now, Once you've got hold of the broom, I want you to mount it. And grip it tight. We don't want you sliding off the end," she said walking up and down the row between them."
Madam Hooch demonstrated how to mount the broom without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows, correcting grips. Harry was delighted when she declared his perfect, but corrected Alex's. Alex glared at her as she explained he'd been doing it wrong for years. He wasn't the only one though, most of the students had gotten the same adjustments to their hands.
"Good. Now that you're all holding it correctly, when I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick off from the · ground. Hard. Keep your brooms steady, hover for a moment, then touch back down. On my whistle — three — two—"
But Neville, who was nervous and jumpy at the best of times, got worse in stressful situations. He pushed off, hard, before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips. Harry tried to grab him, but Neville was rising too quickly. In less time than it took to blink, he had risen high above their heads. Neville's face was white in terror as he rose higher and higher into the sky.
"Come back, boy," Madam Hooch shouted.
"Help me!" Neville screamed.
Madam Hooch was shouting directions up at him, but instead of leaning forward, Neville jerked back on the handle. The broom shook, then shot off. Neville screamed as it rocketed towards the castle walls. He let go to brace for the impact that was coming, and slipped right off the back.
Several people screamed along with him as Neville fell at least four floors. There was a nasty crack as he hit the ground with a thud.
"Ouch," Theo said.
Harry glared at him.
"What?"
Harry rolled his eyes.
The Gryffindors reached Neville before Madam Hooch did. Most of them , at least. Alex and the Weasley boy hung back, laughing. They weren't the only ones though. Malfoy and his little gang were struggling to control their laughter, while several more of the Slytherins laughed too.
"Out of my way!" Madam Hooch shouted, shoving past the other Gryffindors.
"Broken wrist," Harry heard her mutter. "Come on, boy – it's all right, up you get." Her face was as white as Neville's.
She turned to the rest of the class. "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch'. Come on, dear."
"Remind me to never fly with him," Blaise said as Madam Hooch led the crying Neville off.
Harry nailed him with a stinging hex. "Shut it," he said.
"Do things like that happen often?" Hermione's voice shook as she asked the question.
"No. I've never seen anything like that happen before," Tracey said.
"Could be the brooms. It's possible the enchantments could be failing," Lilly said.
"Combined with how nervous Neville was. I can see how it was possible," Theo said.
"I'm never going up on one of these," Hermione declared, causing all of them to laugh.
While they had been talking, Harry had missed something, because a lot of yelling was happening across the lawn.
"Did you see his face, the great lump?" Malfoy laughed.
"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil.
"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Parkinson, backing Malfoy up. "Never thought you'd like fat little cry babies, Parvati."
Alex looked as though he was torn between laughing with the Slytherins and fighting with them.
"Look!" said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's grandmother sent him."
The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.
"Give it here, Malfoy," Alex growled, finally letting his hatred of Slytherins win out.
"Make me," Malfoy taunted.
"Do something, Harry," Hermione pleaded. "They're going to break it."
"Yeah, I'm not getting involved in this," Harry said as Alex lunged for Malfoy.
"Harry!" Hermione said.
Malfoy jumped back, knocking into Crabbe before righting himself. With a safe distance between him and Alex, Malfoy smiled nastily.
"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect – how about – up a tree?"
"Give it here, arsehole," Alex screamed, but Malfoy leapt onto his broomstick and took off.
Alex turned to glare at Harry. "Are you just going to stand there? I thought Nev was your friend?"
"Neville is. You're not," Harry said. "I'd sooner help Malfoy than you."
"Harry!" Hermione screeched, appalled.
All of the Slytherins laughed.
"You coming to get this, Potter? Or are you too scared?" Malfoy shouted down.
With one last glare at Harry, and a muttered, "Bastard," Alex mounted his own broom and shot up into the air.
One thing was instantly clear, Malfoy was much better at flying than Alex. When Alex darted unsteadily at him, Malfoy deftly slid out of the way on his own broom. The two of them were arguing, but they were too high up for anyone to hear what they were saying. Alex moved towards Malfoy again, and barely missed hitting him despite how smoothly Malfoy tried to move out of the way. If they kept at it much longer, one of them was bound to get hurt.
Malfoy seemed to have the same thought, because of continuing to taunt Alex, he tossed the Remembrall. It rose up in a high arc, then sailed towards the ground. Alex flung himself after the ball. He hurtled to the ground after it.
Harry tracked it, and darted away from his friends. He snatched it out of the air just as Alex let go of his broom to grab it. Alex slammed into the ground with a moan right next to Harry.
"Idiot," Harry said, and walked away with the Remembrall clutched tightly in his hand.
"ALEXANDER POTTER!"
Harry turned to see Professor McGonagall running towards them. Triumph flooded through him.
Alex got to his feet, trembling. He was holding his wrist at an awkward angle. Too shocked, or too injured to say anything, Alex looked between Harry and the professor.
"Never – in all my time at Hogwarts –" Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously, "– how dare you – might have broken your neck –"
"It wasn't his fault, Professor –"
"Be quiet, Miss Patil," the professor snapped. She turned to face the rest of the Slytherins, most of which had gathered around Malfoy.
"Mr. Malfoy," she said.
The glee on Malfoy's face vanished.
"Both of you, follow me," Professor McGonagall said.
Glaring at one another, and looking like they were headed for the gallows, Alex and Malfoy silently trailed behind her.
Professor McGonagall was sweeping along without even looking at them; they had to jog to keep up.
"Think they'll actually be expelled?" Lilly asked when they were out of sight.
"One can hope," Daphne said.
"The Boy Who Lived? Not a chance," Harry said.
"And Draco will stay because no one wants to get on Lord Malfoy's bad side," Tracey said.
"But hopefully they'll both wish they were," Theo said laughing.
"Here, Hermione. Make sure Neville gets this," Harry said, and handed her the Remembrall.
She looked at him questioningly, but took it.
"Harry's been told to avoid anything that might be considered a confrontation with his brother, if at all possible," Theo said.
"And I've have been able to get it from Malfoy when there wasn't an audience around," Harry explained.
"Are you friends with him too?" Hermione asked.
Harry laughed. "Merlin no."
"You still should have stuck up for Neville," Hermione said.
"He wasn't here to need me to. He'll understand," Harry shrugged.
"I…you…ugh! I'll take it up to him," Hermione said.
When Madam Hooch came back, she was livid. She marched them to the two doors set into the long stretch of castle wall. One led up to her office, while the other led to a massive broom cupboard that held all two hundred of the school brooms. After the brooms had been haphazardly deposited into the room, she spent the rest of the class lecturing them on broom safety.
As soon as they were dismissed, Hermione rushed off to the hospital wing to check on Neville, barely saying goodbye.
Talk of what happened spread through the school quickly. He spent half the evening fielding questions about it from the older Slytherins and the Ravenclaws.
"Accidents happen fairly often during the first few flying classes," Belle Marsh, a Ravenclaw Prefect, and the girl who ran the course on the Ancient Magical Studies, told them, trying to quiet her own First Years down.
"But no one has ever been stupid enough to go up without Madam Hooch there," Killian said. "And definitely not start a fight in the air."
"I take it Malfoy is in more trouble than just with the professors," Daphne said.
"More than you can imagine, now quiet down," Killian said before going back to his friends at the other end of the table.
When dinner ended, and Harry finally made it back to his dorm, he was ready to collapse into bed. But Malfoy, who no one had seen since McGonagall hauled him off, was already in the room. He glared at him, Theo, and Blaise as they came through the door.
"Traitors," Malfoy hissed when he saw them.
Crabbe and Goyle, who were both sitting across from Malfoy on Crabbe's bed, laughed.
"How exactly are we traitors?" Theo asked.
"Well, he's a blood traitor," Malfoy said, pointing at Harry. "And he's a foreigner, and Merlin knows they can't be trusted." He pointed at Blaise. "But you, you're the real traitor."
Every part of Harry wished to permanently wipe the smirk off Malfoy's face.
"How exactly?" Theo asked.
"You mean other than hanging around blood traitors and mudbloods?" Malfoy said.
"Yeah."
"You didn't back me up! You let his brother," Malfoy pointed at Harry, "attack me. Then you let that bitch, McGonagall, haul me off in front of everyone. You could have said something. Now I've got detention for the rest of the term!" Malfoy said angrily.
Theo laughed darkly. "Why would I have helped you?"
"Because we've known one another since we were in diapers!" Malfoy screeched.
"Unfortunately. It doesn't make us friends," Theo said.
"House unity then," Malfoy spat.
"House unity was not calling you out in front of half the school for being a useless, bullying prat," Harry said.
"No one asked you, blood traitor," Malfoy snapped.
"I'm getting tired of hearing those words out of your mouth," Harry said.
One of these days, Harry needed to ask exactly what it meant.
"You need to learn to watch your mouth," Blaise said, whipping his wand out.
Crabbe and Goyle both stood, pulling their wands out.
Harry rolled his eyes. Everything with his roommates turned into a fight. This would make the third one this week alone. He'd be tired of it, if he wasn't learning new spells. His wand came out too.
They were split, three on three. All the other boys knew more spells than Harry. He'd been practicing, and while some came easier than others, it was still hard. His time to focus on extra spells was limited.
"Locomotor Mortis," Crabbe yelled.
A jet of orange light shot between Blaise and Harry, and slammed into the wall behind them with a crack. Dust from the wall fell down onto the bed below.
"That was my bed, arsehole," Theo snarled.
He shot the leg-locker jinx at Crabbe, The boy's legs snapped together when it landed, and he toppled forward with a yell.
Within seconds, their room was engulfed in flashing light and the shouting of spells.
"Incindio," Harry said. He'd been working on the fire conjuring spell, and was pleased when the ends of Malfoy's robes immediately caught fire.
The blond started screaming. He let go of his wand and began trying to rip them off. Goyle began batting at the growing flames. The wandless Crabbe, with his legs still locked together, was more of a hindrance than a help as he tugged at the side of the robe without flames.
"What is going on in here?" Killian yelled from the doorway. Everyone except Goyle froze. He smacked Malfoy one last time with too much force, and Malfoy toppled into the shallow pool with a splash. The water instantly extinguished the flames.
"Hadrian," Killian said, "explain."
So when he did, Killian glared at all of them.
"There is no dueling in the House," he snarled at all of them. "Go to bed. If this happens again, I'll have to go to Snape." With that, he stormed away.
Harry knew Killian would have more to say to him later. It was likely the other would be in for it with their mentors as well.
As soon as the door closed behind Killian, Malfoy hissed "Your father will be so disappointed with the people you've chosen to associate with."
Then he, Crabbe, and Goyle stormed from the room to wash the soap off.
All three boys burst into laughter.
"I will forever remember the sound of him screaming like a girl with his robes on fire," Blaise said through his tears.
"Laugh it up," Theo said. "If he writes my father about it, that's one thing. But if he writes dear old Lucius about this, we're all in for hell."
Eventually, Harry and Blaise calmed down and got ready for bed.
When Malfoy came back, he managed to keep his thoughts to himself, and settled for glaring at them until he went to sleep.
Even though they had Potions the next morning, neither Malfoy nor Alex dared start anything during class, especially with the trouble they were in. Snape spent the entire class glaring at Alex, so much so, that he managed to completely ignore Harry and Neville as they worked on their potion. This time Neville thankfully stuck to preparing the ingredients while Harry made the actual potion. It worked out well enough. They finished five minutes before anyone else, and it was the exact shade of pale lavender described on the blackboard.
The good behavior couldn't last though. Despite being one of the last people done with their potion, Alex was the first to leave the room. Weasley, Patil, and the other boy whose name Harry still hadn't learned followed right on his heels.
Harry planned to hang out in the library until another of the Ravenclaw courses was set to meet. At least until he found Alex lurking at the base of the main stair out of the Potion's Dungeon. He and the other two boys were blocking the stairs, only allowing other Gryffindors up, while Patil stood off to the side looking annoyed.
"And here come the traitors," Alex sneered when he saw Harry, Hermione and Neville. "Get 'em."
Weasley and the other boy lunged for Hermione and Neville, while Alex advanced toward him.
"Don't move," Harry said, pointing his wand at Alex.
Without him noticing, Harry's other friends had moved Hermione and Neville behind him. Blaise, Theo and the other two girls had their wands out.
"Going to curse me again? It went so well for you last time," Alex taunted.
"I think the sight of you on fire would more than make up for any punishment I could get," Harry said.
Alex snarled at him.
"Incin —" Harry started to say, but was cut off by a loud pop that engulfed them all in a purple fog so thick Harry couldn't see an inch in front of his face.
"It looks beautiful, doesn't it, George," a disembodied voice said from above the.
"That it does, Fred. Our finest work yet," another said.
The voices were nearly the same, the second being only slightly higher pitched than the first.
A gust of wind blew the fog away, and the two redheaded Gryffindor twins appeared on the stairs a few feet above them.
"Not pulling our dear Ronnikins into another one of your little spats are you, Alex?" the first twin that spoke, Fred, Harry guessed, asked.
"Because if you were, I'm afraid we might have to tell dear Percy," the other one, George, said.
"And he would write Mum," Fred said.
"And she would write your dad," George said.
"And Professor M," Fred said.
"It would be a whole thing," George said.
"And we can't have that," they said together.
Alex seemed torn between glaring at the older twins and the Slytherins.
The first twin, Fred, turned to the rest of them, "Best hurry along ickle snakies, Granger, Longbottom. Wouldn't want any of you to get any…ideas."
Both of them cackled again. Then they made an arch between them with their arms that Harry and the others had to pass under to get up the stairs.
"What was that?" Harry asked the two Gryffindors when they were safely on their way to the Library.
"Fred and George Weasley. They're our resident pranksters."
"They've been targeting Alex and Ron since they caught them making fun of Hermione and me in the common room," Neville said.
"The twins are surprisingly good at keeping Alex in line. I honestly think he might be afraid of them," Hermione said.
Her words seemed true. At Lunch and Dinner, Harry observed how Alex avoided the twins. Unlike at the Slytherin table, the different years were mixed up and down the Gryffindor table. The twins sat in the middle, surrounded by laughing students as they made food dance on the table, or vanish from people's forks. Alex avoided them, sitting as far away as he could, either by the door or close to the High Table. At lunch, he was closer to the doors, and left before the twins. At dinner, he waited for them to leave instead of passing by the twins to leave.
"He really is afraid of them," Theo said from beside Harry as they left the Great Hall.
"I wonder if they teach any of their tricks," Harry asked.
"If you can get anything out of them, Leonore will love you forever. They tend to terrorize everyone," Blaise said.
"They do," Susan said, joining up with them as they left. "They modified a dungbomb with itching powder. Got the entirety of the Third Years with it last week. Sage Roberts would not shut up about it."
Harry vaguely remembered that. Sampson Avery and Patience Wexcombe had both come into the common room absolutely covered in the foul smelling glitter complaining about the Terror Twins. At least now Harry knew who that was.
"That's kind of genius. I didn't think they could be modified," Theo said.
"What's a dungbomb?" Justin asked.
Theo got a glint in his eye that promised Justin would not have to wait long to find out.
Harry laughed.
"We need new places to hang out," Daphne moaned as they rounded the corner.
Malfoy and Alex were arguing, wands pointed at one another.
The mass of onlookers surrounding them completely blocked the way up or down.
"Let's just go the other way," Lilly said with a sigh.
"Oh no, I want to see this," Theo said gleefully, and pushed his way closer.
Daphne and Blaise both followed, looking as though Christmas had come early.
Harry shrugged and followed.
"Ugh, come on," Tracey said, and pulled the other three along.
"…and it's all your fault!" Alex screeched.
"They've been set to scrub cauldrons with Snape all weekend. By hand," Theo said, laughing.
"Ooh, that's horrible," Susan said.
"Wonder if we can watch," Blaise said.
"Break it up!" A high pitched, pompous voice called. "Break it up, now."
The redheaded prefect was pushing his way through the crowd.
"I am a prefect, move," he said.
"Is this school overrun with Weasleys?" Harry asked, sending Theo and Blaise over the edge. Both of them were gasping for breath, they were laughing so hard.
"I'll take you on anytime anywhere," Alex growled.
"Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only – no contact. What's the matter? Scared?" said Malfoy.
"Of course he isn't," said Weasley, "I'm his second, who's yours?"
Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up. "Crabbe," he said. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room, that's always unlocked."
"You're on," Alex spat.
The prefect reached them. "Break it up," he snapped. "Aren't you all in enough trouble as it is? Let's see, that's ten points from Slytherin, and ten from Gryffindor. Now all of you, back to your common rooms."
"You can't do that!" Malfoy and Alex both shouted at the prefect.
"Of course I can, or would you rather me get a professor?" the prefect asked.
With one final glare, Malfoy spun away.
The prefect marched Alex and Weasley up the stairs.
"So much for a show," Theo said.
"We'll still get one," Harry said. "We share a room with him, remember?"
"Trust me, I can't forget," Blaise complained.
And forget they couldn't. Malfoy was still ranting when they reached the common room. In fact, he ranted for quite a while, and only shut up when he rushed from the common room barely thirty minutes before curfew. Ten minutes later, he came back grinning.
"What did you do?" Theo asked.
"Set him up. Filch will be waiting for him in the trophy room," he said. Then added, "Not going to tattle are you, Potter?"
Harry laughed. "Nope."
While the others got ready for bed, Harry pulled the letter back out.
"I thought Daph told you to toss that?" Theo asked.
"If I don't write back now, I never will," Harry said, and pulled out a quill and some parchment.
James,
I don't really care who anyone's parents are, that doesn't define them. Theo and Blaise are my friends. So are Hermione and Neville. What happened with Alex was all Alex. Hermione and one of the other girls we hang out with got into an argument. I was trying to talk to her, explain what I could. Alex involved himself. And he tried to curse me first. He's been starting fights all over the castle, with students from every house.
If you want to believe what Aunt Petunia says, you can, but she's always blamed me for the things Dudley did. I thought you might at least want to hear my side first, but I guess we were both wrong about knowing one another.
I like Slytherin and would really prefer to stay. Plus, it's not up to the Headmaster, and I've heard the hat never changes its mind.
Harry.
"I think you'd be better off not replying than sending that," Theo said.
"It'll be fine. Either James will apologize or he won't respond. Either way, maybe he'll realize forcing me and Alex together is a bad idea," Harry said.
"Doubtful, from what you said about your summer."
Harry rolled his eyes. Theo wasn't wrong, but James had shown some sense. Twice. It wasn't a stellar record, but it gave Harry hope James would believe him.