Chapter 30
"Damn it, Potter, this is insanity!" Malfoy snapped at me, clearly wanting to resort to much more obscene profanity, but his upbringing—and the presence of the girls, and more importantly, one specific Weasley before whom our brave ferret simply could not, under any pretext, "drop the family's honor"—forced him to restrain his expressions. "And I'm the one they accuse of overly dangerous flying…"
"Hmph, and what else to expect from a Seeker accepted into the team through connections," Ginny Weasley snorted mockingly and bitingly, however, not even trying to pretend that she herself could repeat my little trick... Which consisted of banal maneuvering through the not-so-dense thickets of the Forbidden Forest, simply executed at a completely... crazy speed, even for me.
To be honest, my recent... let's call it a demonstration of abilities, got a little out of hand. I got too carried away—focused on what I had mastered in attempts to diversify my own passion for flying and simply... desired to show off a little. After all, before this I mostly flew and trained alone, which made demonstrating my skills to a sophisticated audience quite pleasant.
"But I don't really want to repeat that again. Smashing my forehead over stupid showing off is not at all what I avoided playing Quidditch with all my might for," I mentally curbed myself, admitting that my flight could truly be called an extremely dangerous race with myself. I was actually a little surprised that I had enough reaction time and reflexes at all to weave so briskly between the trees, branches, and boughs of the forest gradually going bald in the autumn.
Although, speaking frankly, such a flight didn't seem particularly difficult to me either. In this life, I have surprisingly good reactions and spatial awareness. The past me would have guaranteed to crash during all these tricks. But now it's nothing; if the broom allowed, I, under the pressure of the recent excitement, could have tried to accelerate a little more...
"Look who's talking, Miss-I-borrowed-a-broom-from-my-older-brother... It seems the Weasley couple didn't have the money for your personal transport," Draco meanwhile continued his scolding, as always in the case of the red-haired family, poking their noses into their blatant poverty.
Which, however, regarding Ginny, is not that noticeable. It was obvious that, unlike the older brothers, the parents really went out of their way for their only daughter. Compared to Ron, she looked like a real princess against the background of a slum dweller.
"First-years, actually, cannot have their own brooms... And you know that perfectly well, Malfoy," I teased my own friend, mentally continuing to sigh heavily and curse the need to somehow reconcile two absolute opposites in one company. Draco and Ginny behaved just like cats and dogs.
However, the idea of organizing their actual acquaintance during a short flying trip still justified itself. The young Gryffindor was a fan of flying only slightly less than me or Malfoy, and she held herself on a broom much more confidently than the rest of our companions. Daphne, Astoria, Luna, and even Draco's squires could not keep up with this red-haired little devil. Although Astoria tried very hard, also getting a lot of pleasure from flying on the broom confiscated from Pansy.
Parkinson herself almost categorically refused to fly with us this time, citing homework not done over the weekend and a general reluctance to freeze outside the castle. Moreover, the latter reason was truly weighty for this Slytherin—she, as befits a real snake, was terribly heat-loving, which is why even the company of the illustrious Draco Malfoy could not force her to stick her nose out of the castle in this, I must admit, rather cool and gloomy weather. And no warming charms could affect Pansy's choice...
Well, at least there were no problems finding at least one broom. Because for Luna, we had to beg for transport from one of our older Ravenclaw students. Fortunately, my good relations with most of the house and even stronger ties with the sports club allowed me to get an extra broom almost without problems... The main thing here was to choose correctly who to ask, in which I succeeded.
So, we all had the opportunity to organize not the worst leisure time. And even the quite expected skirmish between Weasley and Malfoy did not become a big problem. Rather the opposite—showing minimal care for the girl, unobtrusively taking her side in arguments with Draco, and simply surprising her with my broom flying skills, as well as my abilities in casting those same warming and wind-protecting charms, I... let's just say, only strengthened my heroic image in the eyes of the little squirt.
Not yet to the point where Ginny herself would drag her diary to me at the first demand, but... there was progress, and we parted that day on a very high note. The red-haired first-year was almost glowing with happiness after such an eventful day, even stopping paying attention to Malfoy at some point.
She was rather hurt by my overly warm relationship with Daphne, Luna, and, partly, Astoria, but... on the wave of emotions from flying on a broom outside of Mrs. Hooch's classes, the youngest Weasley was ready to turn a blind eye to this too. Which the girls themselves saw perfectly well, reacting to this behavior of my new ward very... differently.
"Harry has completely broken Ginny," Luna Lovegood delivered the verdict on everything that had happened, after returning to the castle and starting another work session in the library. "Her Wrackspurts have become completely uncontrollable and obsessive. A little more and she might attack you," the girl warned me in all seriousness, provoking in response only a light, but still slightly nervous smile.
"I'm not sure an attack from her is even possible... But grab our hero by the scruff of the neck and drag him into her lion's den, she definitely can," Daphne Greengrass laughed mockingly, at the same time looking right into my eyes... And her look showed me more clearly than ever that the girl is in no hurry to take this situation and my new acquaintance in general lightly. "Why did you drag her to us in the first place?"
"It seemed like a good idea to me," I smirked, however, not rushing to get completely distracted from reading the tome on stationary charms. "And agree, Malfoy's elongated face was definitely worth it."
"Well... maybe partly," hiding an evil grin behind her own book, the older Slytherin still didn't argue with such a killer argument. "Although it still seems to me that you... you have a very original approach to choosing girlfriends and friends. I never thought you would decide to... bring someone from the Weasleys close to you. And your fangirl at that."
"Believe me, I didn't expect this myself," I shook my head sparingly, at the same time hiding my gaze from... the blonde who was looking at me too closely and attentively. It's scary to admit, but it looks like Daphne is... banally jealous of me. Childishly so... albeit in her own, completely special—reserved-caustic and cold style. "But right now I really need this. And at least in the near future you will have to put up with Ginny being in our company."
"Oh! Is this really an intrigue?" Astoria Greengrass, who had previously been lazily poking at her homework, perked up in the blink of an eye. "Are you planning something completely devious and dishonorable with Ginny?" the youngest of the blondes looked at me with the liveliest interest, despite her benevolence towards the Gryffindor anyway... passionately wanting to see exactly how I was going to mock this girl.
"Ahem, I wouldn't describe it that way," I drawled slightly stifled, mentally calculating what a terrible woman this sweet, good-natured and cheerful little imp could become... Who, despite any friendship, practically with sadistic lust awaited my further explanations.
"But you are still planning something?" and Astoria's older sister almost completely shared this mood. "Do you need something from this redhead? Or even from her brothers?.. And after you get it, then communication with her will lose all meaning."
"She's right in two out of three of her judgments," I snorted with light amusement, as if admitting that I needed something from both Ginny and her brothers... Although the latter is deeply secondary and just if I get lucky. "Only you forget that I'm still not a Slytherin and reduce any communication to nothing as soon as the goal of the intrigue loses its usefulness, I definitely won't. Especially since... Ginny turned out to be a little better than I could have expected."
"Mhm, she's funny," Astoria nodded cheerfully, whose smile embarrassed me just a little bit... Why do I get the feeling that this little blonde brat treats her new acquaintance like some kind of funny little animal? Is this even normal? "We can keep her."
Ahem, no, this is definitely not normal.
"Tori! What are you saying?" even Daphne was surprised by her sister's habits, shushing her displeased. But she, of course, was in no hurry to raise her voice. Over the past year, our company has already gotten used to gathering for important discussions in the library, at the same time instilling in ourselves the habit of not making too much noise in this temple of knowledge. "And anyway, whose side are you on!?"
"I think it's obvious that she's on mine," I looked at the older Slytherin with a smirk, deciding in the moment to team up with Astoria and play a little joke on this insufferable jealous girl. "But seriously, Tori accurately described my attitude towards Ginny. She is at least fun and won't bother us too much... Well, a sudden quarrel with her or a break of all ties will only lead to unnecessary problems. Including from her brothers."
"...You sound like a real Slytherin," the older Greengrass snorted slightly irritably, not forgetting to look away from me. "However, this is your business... If you need this Weasley for business, then so be it."
"You sound like a wife who just allowed me to have a mistress," I laughed quietly, instantly forcing Daphne to choke on air and startle in my direction in embarrassed indignation. And Astoria, who had started humming the local equivalent of a childish "wedding song", only heated up the degree of someone else's embarrassment. And only Luna didn't care about all worldly worries—the girl was enthusiastically reading something in the latest issue of the newspaper that her father publishes.
However, her silent support and agreement that I could use her former(?) friend at my own discretion still calmed me down a little. Otherwise, to be honest, I was worried whether Luna herself would be hurt by such a cold and calculating attitude on my part.
After all, even if this girl was in her own world, she certainly didn't get sorted into the house of the smart for her pretty eyes. She justified the main positive stereotype about Ravenclaw almost completely. And with bringing Ginny into our group, she had helped me more than most...
But she didn't ask any questions, just accepting the situation as it is and only occasionally throwing her carefree, understanding smiles in my direction. Smart girl. Sees and understands everything, but says almost nothing about it, easily accepting my patronage in the house and... trying to repay me for a good attitude?
I'm not sure, understanding Luna is really not that simple. But for her help in communicating with Ginny, I'm still grateful to her. And in the future I will think of how to express this gratitude better. I like Lovegood, and she has fully deserved a good attitude on my part.
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