Act 1, Scene 2
Draco Malfoy
Hogwarts' hallways had been enchanted by the founders to stay pristine, for they were well aware of the propensities of children for creating messes. Thus, mere minutes after the confrontation, the corridors of the castle lay as spotless as ever. The only evidence that it had ever occurred was the memories in the students' minds, and in some cases, the marks on their bodies.
It was through that very corridor that the "prince" of Slytherin house walked, his position obtained through the power of his father and his own charming mannerisms (for he could be quite charming indeed when he wasn't talking to a mudblood or a Gryffindor).
Much to the envy of many other girls in the castle, Daphne Greengrass accompanied Draco Malfoy on a stroll through the many corridors of Hogwarts castle. Unbeknownst to his many admirers, however, their relationship was not one of pleasure, but rather one of business.
"I must inform you that our fathers have signed an agreement of mutual aid between our families," said Draco.
"I am aware," agreed Daphne, "and I hope that this arrangement can lead to great fortune and prosperity for the both of us, in such troubling times."
Draco was not surprised that his companion knew this information. Heirs of powerful families were blessed with the respect and burdened with the responsibilities of their positions, and it would not do for a house to lose its reputation because of an ill-informed heir. His meeting with Daphne, therefore, was a formality. But Draco was never one to let an opportunity slip, so this meeting had a secondary purpose, which he hoped he could broach with dignity befitting his standing.
"Yes. It is wonderful to have allies as powerful as the respected Greengrass faction. I look forward to our partnership and hope that we can together crush our enemies underfoot, where they belong."
"Indeed. The support of the Malfoys is not a boon less than what we have given you either." Daphne looked at Draco, then stopped walking for a moment. "Is there anything else you would like to communicate before we part?"
Draco ran his hand through his hair in an uncharacteristically plebeian manner, prompting an internal curse. Shite! So much for dignity befitting my standing!"
Ah, well yes," he said. "Has your father given any consideration to my suit for Astoria's hand? It would be an excellent way for us to tie our families together more closely and make this bond eternal."
Daphne fixed Draco with an unblinking stare, making him shiver slightly. This was why he preferred Astoria to Daphne, despite her secondary position in her family's hierarchy. Daphne was scary. Astoria, perhaps because she was the second daughter, was much kinder and more innocent. She was more of a follower than a leader, which was exactly what Draco wanted. He should be the one in charge of his family, after all. It also helped that she was beautiful, in a way that made Draco's breath quicken and his cheeks turn red.
"I know why you want Astoria. Father does as well. You want her for her beauty, her purity, and her obedience." Daphne then crossed her arms, and it looked like she had swallowed a bitter pill. "However, Father has entertained your proposal and is willing to accept…" Draco restrained the urge to jump up and down in glee. He had been taught better manners than that. Besides, to lower himself even further in Daphne's eyes would not be wise. It was, however, still a close thing. Daphne, oblivious to Draco's internal battle, continued to speak. "…given that Astoria herself also agrees to enter into a contract with you."
Draco brushed this requirement off confidently. Astoria was a kind girl and seemed easy to please. It would probably only take a few well-picked gifts before he would be placed to marry one of the most heart-stoppingly pretty purebloods in England. He smiled and thanked Daphne, then headed off to his room to plot. Astoria's birthday was in a few weeks, and a party would be the perfect setting for Draco to convince her to fall in love with him…
A day later...
Harry Potter
Harry had forgotten how nice it was to go on a walk for a reason that didn't involve getting from one place to the next. After making sure that Hermione's proclamation yesterday had been a joke ("Aww, is dating me really so bad?" Hermione had said, to which Harry had replied that his heart was reserved for one girl in particular; going on a date would be tantamount to cheating), their walk proceeded exceedingly pleasantly. Along and along they went, stopping ever so often to converse with any tapestry that looked interesting. The two friends talked about various topics, such as future plans, Umbridge, and the Triwizard Tournament. Finally, Harry decided to ask about more recent events.
"So, Hermione, where were you yesterday? Do anything interesting?"
"Ugh," Hermione grumbled, clearly annoyed, "Our talk made me forget about it, but now that I remember, I can't believe that I ever put it out of my mind! So I was walking along the corridor on floor six, clearing my mind after studying in the library, when I heard shouting…" Hermione proceeded to regale Harry with the story about what had happened to her the previous day. Harry could scarcely believe that his uptight friend had engaged in a magical brawl, but Hermione was never one to lie about something like this, especially to him.
"…so then Dumbledore said to everyone present that were any of us to be caught in another fight like this one, he would expel us on the spot!"
Harry privately thought that there was no way that Dumbledore would ever expel someone over an offense this small, but Hermione looked so rattled that he refrained from speaking. They stopped before an odd-looking tapestry depicting a wizard attempting to teach trolls ballet.
Harry attempted to lift Hermione's mood by pointing at the tapestry. "Hey, Hermione, look at that wizard! Teaching trolls to dance! Do you think he succeeded?"
Hermione glanced at the painting, turned back towards Harry, then did a double take. "What? Why would someone ever want to teach trolls ballet? How did he even manage to gather them in the first place? And are they actually trying to follow his instructions?"
Harry grinned at his success, but not for long. The sudden appearance of an unexpected figure made him tense up, albeit only for a second. Goyle, somehow by himself, seemed to be muttering at a parchment in his hands. He lifted his head, and Harry could have sworn that his idiotic expression became a little sharper upon seeing Hermione. Harry shook his head for a moment, though, and the illusion broke. Goyle looked as stupid as ever.
"Speaking of trolls…" He tapped his friend on her shoulder.
Hermione turned her head before shaking it slightly. To Harry's surprise, she began admonishing him. "Don't call him a troll," she said.
"What? You've never had a problem with Ron before, and he refers to him and Crabbe as trolls all the time!"
"Well, after yesterday, I think Goyle deserves a little respect. I did tell you that he didn't go along with Crabbe and Nott, right?"
"You did," said Harry, "but I thought that was him being dumb as usual. Maybe he wasn't paying attention?"
Hermione shook her head again. "No, I can tell that he made a conscious effort. It's hard to believe, I know, but I guess you had to be there to see it." They would have continued with their discussion, but Goyle was nearly upon them, and even Harry didn't want to insult him to his face.
To his surprise, instead of walking around them, Goyle spoke, looking at Hermione. "Uh, could you help me read this? Draco wanted me to tell people about this thing, but I haven't learned how to read fancy words yet," he raised the parchment, seemingly wanting her to take it.
"Sure! I'll be happy to help," said Hermione. Harry looked at the two of them in bewilderment. What had happened earlier this weekend? Why was Goyle asking them, two Gryffindors, what Malfoy wanted? Why was Hermione being so nice to him? These questions swirled in his head while Hermione read the cursive on the parchment, handed it back to Goyle, then whispered some words in his ear. Goyle nodded, thanked her, and walked away, humming to himself!
"What the hell was that?" said Harry, once Goyle had departed from the corridor. "Why are you and Goyle being so… pleasant to each other?"
"Well, you can actually avoid quite a bit of conflict if you go into encounters thinking with your brain and not with your ego," Hermione lectured.
"Really? I can't imagine Goyle has much of either, being the stooge that he is. He still gets into plenty of fights."
"That's exactly what I'm talking about! You need to stop thinking that you're above everyone else. That attitude is making your life so much harder, you know? Think about Cho. Why should she be with you?" Hermione asked.
Now this was insulting. He needed Hermione to see the truth. "Can't you see that I'm perfect for her? I love her, and I could make her happy. I would take care of all her problems, and I would never let her down!"
"But why not someone else? I'm sure many boys in this school 'love' her and would try their best to stop her from crying. Why you?"
"Don't you get it?" said Harry, now heated. "I'm better than them! I'm the boy-who-lived! I could treat her better than all of them!"
"I thought you hated being the 'boy-who-lived.'"
"Well, if Cho might like it, then I have no problem embracing it."
Hermione sighed and hid her face behind her palm. "That's my exact point. This arrogance is not something that girls want to see in their boyfriends. If you keep thinking that way, you'll never get her!"
"Then what? What would you have me do, Hermione?" asked Harry in desperation. Hermione's advice had caused a paradox within his lovelorn mind. "You don't think I should feel that I am perfect for Cho. But if I'm not perfect, then I wouldn't deserve to be with her!"
Hermione exhaled loudly and slumped against the tapestry. Several woven trolls scattered, and the wizard waved an angry fist at her. A troll that had managed to execute a near-flawless arabesque tripped over its own legs and fell, directly on top of the angry wizard. He disappeared underneath its bulk, but his fist could still be seen sticking out, making a rude sign.
Uncaring about the chaos that she had caused behind her, Hermione rubbed her temple with the hand on her face and shut her eyes. She seemed to be considering something.
After a couple minutes of deliberation, Hermione opened her eyes once more and her expression became determined. "Okay. Here's what we are going to do." Harry listened intently, knowing the signs that heralded one of Hermione's brilliant plans. He waited with bated breath. If anyone could get Cho to like him, it would be Hermione.
"So, you know what Goyle was holding earlier?" asked Hermione.
"No."
"It was a party invitation for Astoria Greengrass's fourteenth birthday. According to Goyle, Malfoy wants to impress her with this event and win her hand in marriage-" she explained, before Harry interrupted her.
"What about Pansy Parkinson?" Then, another thought came to him. "Wait! They're both barely teenagers, and Malfoy wants to marry her?"
Harry didn't know if he could handle so many surprises in a day. Perhaps that was what happened when someone like him decided to completely ignore the outside world for a month or so. This situation reminded him of his bewilderment after leaving his relatives a couple of months ago.
"Well, Parkinson is from a minor branch in a middling family. Despite being able to trace their ancestry to the time of the founders, they are not very powerful, politically or otherwise. They've never had any outstanding talents; none of them were ever as influential as… well, even you," said Hermione. "Therefore, there's no doubt that Lucius would not allow his only heir to be paired with someone with nothing other than the purity of their blood to offer."
"But they were always together!" protested Harry.
"Yes," agreed Hermione, "but I think that there was never any intention on Malfoy's part to do anything beyond that. Perhaps Parkinson deluded herself into believing that she would be the next Malfoy matriarch, but realistically, that would never happen."
"How do you know all of this?" asked Harry.
"Oh, well, during the summer, I became interested in how our society is governed, so I had a look inside Sirius' library. I used to think it was just Minister Fudge in charge, but it turns out that there is an entire hereditary government that operates parallel to him. Think about the House of Lords in muggle Parliament," said Hermione. Harry nodded. Uncle Vernon had inadvertently given him an education on the British government with his many rants over the years.
"So that's the Wizengamot," continued Hermione, "and there's no other house to balance it like there is in the muggle government. That's why purebloods think they're above everyone, you see. They've been around so long that many of their families have been able to concentrate power." Hermione was about to go on a rant of her own, but she caught herself. "But that's beyond the point. Anyway, families like the Weasleys and the Parkinsons were never able to gain the power and wealth that other purebloods like the Malfoys and Blacks did. The Parkinsons were too weak and devoid of talent, while the Weasleys lacked the ruthlessness necessary in politics and business.
"I suspect that Malfoy kept Parkinson around only so that he could look more attractive to girls by making them jealous." Hermione finished explaining while Harry looked on, impressed. Hermione was always full of knowledge
"So Greengrass. What about them? Isn't one of them in our year?" wondered Harry.
"Yes," replied Hermione, "Daphne is her name. Her family is economically powerful, perhaps more so than the Malfoys, meaning that if she really wanted to, she would be able to turn most purebloods against Malfoy. But that's not how the Greengrass family does things."
"That's a shame," chuckled Harry, "because it would be really funny if Malfoy was brought down a peg or two using his own game. Imagine the two of them, both yelling 'My father will hear about this!'"
Hermione laughed a little as well. "It would be funny. Unfortunately, the Greengrass way is to grow in the shadows. For hundreds of years, they've spread their roots in every nook and cranny of our economy. Did you know that in Sirius' grandfather's time, they've already controlled more than half of the stores in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade? Sirius' grandfather thought their goal was to become so powerful that they could break or mold magical Britain into any shape they'd desire in a single day."
"Wow, so they spread, unnoticed, until the entire country is covered in their tendrils of control." Harry stumbled upon a revelation. "Wait. That's just like grass in a garden! Their entire strategy is in their name!"
Hermione smiled grimly. "A bit on the head, but essentially correct. Don't you see why Malfoy would want to marry into that family? The Malfoys have controlled politics after the fall of the Blacks, and with the Greengrasses on their side, the entire country would be under their thumb. You've already felt the pressure from the ministry. Could you imagine if, in addition to all that, every store just refuses to sell to you and no restaurant allows you in their building?"
Harry winced at that. "That would be awful. So, does that mean the country is doomed? If the Malfoys control the country, Voldemort will have no obstacles during his second rise!"
"Fortunately, I don't think the Greengrasses support Voldemort. They are pretty pureblood supremacist, but they at least think that halfbloods and muggeborns have their place in society. The lords need their servants in order to continue being high class. Otherwise, no one in a society of only nobility would be special." Hermione scoffed. "These powerful families continue bringing muggleborns into magical society not out of the goodness of their hearts, but rather as a way of adding more servants. That's why we're still around. No matter how much they like to preach that regular people like us are poisoning society, it's simply not true.
"Additionally, for the Greengrasses specifically, an all-out war and the culling of a significant portion of the population would be bad for business, so they would likely want the Malfoys to give up their cause instead."
Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Then that's a good thing, right?"
"Maybe. Just remember that although the Greengrasses have economic power over the Malfoys, Voldemort doesn't play by any rules. He's not a pureblood; he doesn't care about the 'balance' of society. He wants to be king, and he would do anything to accomplish that. With his magical prowess, he could just kill all the influential families not aligned with him before they could have a chance to use their economic power against him. Then, the Malfoys would control everything for sure, and we indeed would be doomed."
"Wow," Harry said, wondering how many of these hidden interactions had gone completely over his head during the past few years. "I can't believe that these families can just gain so much power for themselves and trample over everyone else!"
"It's an issue in this country I hope we can fix. But that's a problem for later," said Hermione regretfully. "But back to my plan. Goyle's invitation stated that it will be a masquerade party, where everybody will wear a mask. There will be many pretty girls that you could talk to, detached from your identity as the boy-who-lived. This is your opportunity to get used to talking to girls. Just don't be so arrogant, and I'm sure that they'll love you!"
"But what about Cho?" asked Harry, since any mention of "girls" brought his mind back to one person. "I don't want other girls, I want her! I don't want to go to the party if she's not there. In fact, I will only go to the party if she will be there!" Harry decided. Hermione rolled her eyes at him, having expected such a response.
"That is why I told Goyle specifically to invite Cho to the party. Once she receives the invitation, she will be obligated to go. Her family is prominent in China and has recently expanded to Britain. There will be no way that she would be allowed to miss such an event. So don't worry. I asked Goyle to help us and Ron get in the door. We…" Hermione paused for emphasis, "are going to a party next Saturday!" Hermione's face was smug, reveling in the fact that she'd predicted and outplayed him.
"Alright," Harry sighed, "I guess we're going to a party next Saturday." Hermione pumped a fist and cheered as they made their way along the twisting hallways back to Gryffindor Tower.
