Wednesday, November 12
Harry's brows were drawn low as he slowly read and reread the pompous card that Sevvie brought him this morning.
Harry and friends,
I would be delighted if you would all agree to come have tea with myself and few other students on Friday evening. If you are agreeable, perhaps arrive at my office at six o'clock?
Sincerely,
Professor Horace J. Slughorn
"Wazz that?" Ron asked through a mouthful of food as he noticed Harry's preoccupation with the note.
Susan snatched it from Harry's hands, as he figured she would, and read it quickly before letting out a quiet laugh.
"Oh no," she groaned playfully, a happy twinkle in her eyes. "We've all been invited to the Slug Club!"
"The Slug Club?" Blaise asked. "Is that what he's calling it?"
"I thought it was the Harry Potter Appreciation Club," Theo smirked.
"We're all invited?" Trent asked incredulously. "Why??"
"Probably because Harry told Slughorn he's going to be the next Minister of Magic," Hermione said teasingly. "You guys weren't there," she told Neville, Blaise, and Susan, "but I promise you Slughorn might as well have adopted or proposed to Harry on the spot. He is positively enamored with our Harry here."
"That's gross, Mione," Harry scowled at the memory. It had been an innocent enough remark, Slughorn had asked Harry if he thought about getting a potions mastery like Snape had, and Harry said that he didn't think he'd have time seeing as he would be running the country. And... and Slughorn did actually look a bit like he'd won some sort of grand prize as he stumbled and stared at Harry in open mouthed shock. "He can't fuckin adopt me or marry me."
Can he?
No.
It was daft to even worry about.
Everyone knew Snape was his guardian, and Slughorn himself had been a witness to see Snape best Harry in their duel. And you couldn't marry someone against their will, so...
So that was a mad thing for Hermione to say and a ridiculous worry to have.
Slughorn just liked knowing famous people.
"Reckon he'll beg Snape or Fred for Harry?" Ron asked the others with a grin. He speared a kipper on his fork and pointed it up towards the staff. "I say Snape."
Harry's eyes flicked up to the head table, searching Snape's out. And, even though Snape had no way of knowing what they were discussing, he still raised a brow at Harry in a very 'don't be ridiculous' type of way.
"I'm not going," Harry said firmly. "Slughorn just wants to be on my good side so he can brag about knowing me when I'm the Minister."
In a move so smooth that Harry later decided it had to have been pre-planned, all his friends turned and looked at Luna.
And Luna gave Harry a bright smile.
"No," he said as sternly as he could. "No, not even for you, Lue. I fell for it last year, I'm not doing it again."
"I was only going to say that I think Professor Slughorn is very nice, even if he isn't as good as Professor Snape," Luna said with a little hurt pout. "No reason to be so rude."
"I'm sorry," Harry sighed and offered Luna a small smile. "I thought you were going to try and guilt trip me in to joining the 'Slug Club'."
"Guilt trip you?" Luna's eyes were wide and deceptively innocent. "Harry, I would never do that to you. Even though you did cancel the only club I ever got to be a part of..."
Draco snickered before quickly adopting a mask of solemnity. "I'm sure he didn't do it just to hurt you, Luna," he said. He wrapped an arm around Luna's shoulders and gave Harry a baleful look. "Even if your feelings were dreadfully hurt... I'm sure that wasn't exactly his intentions."
Harry was positive he was being played.
Almost 100% positive.
But there was a little pleading look in Luna's eyes.
"Lue, you literally told me that you were fine with me cancelling the club," Harry reminded her desperately. "You said you wanted to focus on your OWLS, remember? Maybe apply for that mastery program in potions?"
"I remember," Luna nodded slowly. "But then you've been having secret club meetings with only Trent, and I've felt very left out and truthfully, Harry, I think this is the way to make it up to me."
Harry had not been 'leaving her out'. It was just that Luna was already a brilliant witch and Trent needed to know how to kill a man with a knife.
It was common sense.
Harry narrowed his eyes at her.
Luna blinked slowly.
Harry scowled.
Luna smiled.
"What are the nargles' odds that I give in?" Harry growled through a clenched jaw.
"Oh there's no doubt," Luna let out a tinkling laugh. "We're all going on Friday and it will be so fun."
Harry doubted that it was going to be 'so fun', but he did believe that he would be there.
Because Luna was a shameless manipulator.
"How did you avoid Slytherin?" Theo asked her with no small amount of admiration in his voice.
"I just asked the Sorting Hat to put me in Ravenclaw," Luna said airily.
"You asked it for Ravenclaw?" Hermione asked, scandalized.
"Mhmm."
"Why?" Draco asked. "You could have been in our house this whole time??"
"Oh, I could never, I look much better in blue than I do green."
Harry didn't know if it was due to Luna's green tie she wore, one of Draco's he was certain, or because of the very serious way she said it, but the rest of them started cracking up with laughter loud enough to draw a lot of curious stares.
Harry hissed at them, causing the curious faces to blanch and turn away, which only increased the laughter of his friends.
Harry considered Slughorn that morning while they began the second stage in brewing Polyjuice. He didn't really seem like much of a creep, even if he was suspiciously interested in Harry. In fact, the way he talked about her, Harry wondered if Slughorn had a bit of a crush on his mum. But Slughorn also had nothing Harry wanted. There was no reason to play nice and let him brag one day to his future students about having Harry Potter in his posh little club.
At least, there wasn't any reason, until dinner that night.
"Look who decided to show up," Susan murmured to Harry.
Harry followed her glare and saw that Dumbledore was once more at the head table. A rarity, as he'd been as frequently absent from meals as Snape himself had been recently. Harry and Susan had thought that Dumbledore had been accompanying Snape on his secret 'I'll tell you in due time' trips, but Snape said he wasn't, and he wasn't a liar. Harry watched with his head tilted curiously as Dumbledore and Slughorn chatted on happily, seeming to be the very best friends. Then Slughorn turned his head, took a sip of his tea, and made a face.
Nothing major.
Just a little downtick of his lips.
But Harry saw it.
And suddenly Slughorn seemed much more tolerable than he had before.
"Ya know," Harry said thoughtfully, "I think I haven't been fair to Slughorn after all. He's got good instincts, doesn't he?"
"Does he?" Theo asked skeptically.
"Yeah." Harry watched as Slughorn seemed to intentionally turn a little bit to talk with Sirius instead of resuming his conversation with Dumbledore. "He does."
Anyone that wasn't in Dumbledore's fan club was certainly welcome to join his.
It was with this newfound appreciation for Slughorn that Harry and his friends trooped to his office on Friday evening.
Since Binns didn't use it, and Snape wouldn't give his up, Slughorn took over the History of Magic office.
Except...
Harry walked in and looked around the room with a curious brow raised.
He was pretty sure the office had never been this big, nor this lavishly decorated, when Binns had it.
Slughorn had stretched the inner dimensions surely to the bursting point as the room was larger than most classrooms. He also must have a preference for purple, as the carpet was the same plush purple color as the heavy drapes over the windows. There were probably half a dozen little round tables with white table cloths and red cushioned chairs surrounding them.
As soon as Harry's group made it past the entryway, a Hogwarts elf in a clean white robe with a wide toothy smile popped up.
"Will's you be wanting some drinks?" it asked politely.
Harry squinted at it and tried to remember which elf it was. "No thanks, Mags," he said once he was certain of her name. "Maybe later, yeah?"
"This is tacky," Blaise snickered beside Harry as Mags gave them a smile and an odd little bow before popping off again. "Oh, God, and he invited Macmillan!"
Harry and Susan smiled in unison as they spotted Ernie Macmillan, a sixth year Hufflepuff student they had never gotten along with, chatting up Slughorn.
"We'll just go say hi to..." Hermione trailed off and rolled her eyes as she realized Harry and Susan, closely followed by Trent, Draco, and Luna, were already walking over to Slughorn and Macmillan.
"Harry!" Slughorn's cry caused Macmillan to spin around and grimace at Harry behind Slughorn's back. "You made it!"
"Of course, sir," Susan smiled sweetly. "Have you met our friends? This is Professor Black's cousin, Draco, Luna Lovegood, and Harry's godbrother Trent Bailey."
Harry smiled blandly as Slughorn forgot all about Macmillan and made a big deal over Draco and Luna. Susan really was a genius, reframing Draco's relatives to include Sirius, who Slughorn seemed to love, instead of his father, who was still in Azkaban as an apparent death eater.
"Godbrother, hmm?" Slughorn peered at Trent. "Are you sure you're not related to the Potter line somewhere? You look quite a bit like Harry here and his father James."
"Pretty sure," Trent said in a careless drawl he'd picked up from Blaise. "My parents are muggles, sir."
"Nothing wrong with that at all!" Slughorn said quickly with a smile. "I'm starting to think some of the best witches and wizards are!"
Harry's smile sharpened a little; apparently Slughorn didn't forget that Harry called him a bigot in his second class.
Slughorn turned to Harry after chatting with Trent for a minute and gave him a happy smile. "I didn't think you'd come," he said. He moved to put an arm over Harry's shoulder, but Harry spotted the movement and stepped closer to Susan, preventing it.
"Absolutely we came, sir," Harry said with all his usual charms the professors enjoyed having on display. "Why wouldn't we?"
"Sirius seemed to think you wouldn't be interested in joining my little club," Slughorn said with a small grin and a shake of his head. "I personally think he's just still upset that I never invited him when he was a student."
Susan giggled a little and nodded her head. "I'm sure he is," she winked teasingly.
"Why didn't you invite Sirius?" Harry asked curiously. He looked around and took a quick measure of the students in the room. Even though Harry's group made up the majority in attendance, the others were all ones that Harry was certain were either academically gifted or had famous or powerful relatives.
And Sirius had both when he was a student. A 'noble' lineage, and a knack for transfiguration and defense both.
"Between us," Slughorn said, lowering his voice and leaning towards Harry and Susan, "Sirius and your father, James, were just more trouble than they were worth. I couldn't have them here and risk them poisoning the punch, eh?"
Trent and Harry exchanged quick knowing smirks while Susan laughed.
That actually sounded exactly like something fucking daft Sirius would pull.
"Your mother though," Slughorn sighed and got that wistful look on his face he always had when he brought up Lily Potter, "I didn't play favorites, of course, but if I did, she would have been mine. I've never met a better person than Lily Potter."
Harry tried to smile, but it felt a bit more like a grimace so he dropped it quickly and blinked until he felt more aloof.
"Hmm," he said, "that's what I hear."
That's all he ever heard.
Lily Evans Potter was brilliant, fierce, kind, and an upstanding citizen who died to protect her son.
Lily Evans Potter had strong moral beliefs and set the bar high for her friends.
Lily Evans Potter never forgave Snape for calling her a mudblood and becoming a death eater.
And Harry was mostly positive that she would have despised the person her son grew to be.
Draco, terrific friend that he was, must have sensed Harry's discomfort because he stepped up and distracted Slughorn nearly at once as he began asking questions about the photos on the man's office wall.
Harry gave him a grateful nod and slipped away towards the table full of drinks with Luna skipping alongside him.
"Loads of fun?" Harry accused her.
"I may have been wrong, just this once," Luna hummed. She plucked up a delicate flute filled with sparkling gillywater and took a long drink, as if it wasn't the nastiest thing Harry had ever tasted.
"I'm gonna write this down," Harry joked half-heartedly. "Friday, November 14th, 1996; Luna Lovegood was wrong."
"Technically I was wrong on Wednesday, November 12th," Luna laughed. "We should make it an annual tradition. Every year I'll just be wrong about something positively horrifying, deal?"
"Deal," Harry agreed. He watched the room for a moment before Luna's arm slipped around his.
"You don't want to be here," Luna said softly. "We can go. Play cards in your dorm, or something else."
"Nah, I'm fine," Harry lied. He tilted his head until it touched Luna's for a moment. Luna was a good friend, offering to leave when Harry knew she wanted to fit in to this club of students. Harry knew he was lucky to have her. "Love you though, Lue."
"Do you?" Luna tilted her head up and her lips were parted and her eyes were suddenly wide.
Which wasn't at all how Susan, Fred, or Snape reacted when Harry said it to him. He scuffed the carpet with the toe of his boot for a moment as he tried to understand her reaction.
"Er, yeah? But if you don't want me to, then I can take it back?"
"No, don't," Luna said. She smiled brightly, little dimples popping out in her cheeks as her entire expression shifted to something full of joy. "You've just never told me that before. I, of course, love you more than anyone in the entire world."
Harry was saved from responding to that very genuinely spoken response that caused his neck to feel hot by a loud scoff behind them. Harry and Luna turned together and saw Ginny Weasley glaring at Harry with her arms crossed.
Honestly, Harry regrets almost every day not just killing her in Slytherin's Chamber.
"What so Fred isn't here and you're just going to flaunt your- your indiscretion in front of everyone?" Ginny demanded.
It took Harry a minute to place the word 'indiscretion' in the context of the sentence she used, and once he did, he rolled his eyes.
"You should go tell Fred I'm cheating on him," Harry said very seriously, toying with the idiot girl for a minute. "Make sure he knows it's with Luna, he's going to be really shocked."
"He'll be positively heartbroken," Luna sighed, playing right along. "Poor Fred."
"Poor Fred," Harry agreed.
Ginny looked between the two of them and seemed to falter as she couldn't place why they looked so terribly amused. "I just heard you say you loved each other," she said, sounding a little unsure now.
"I used to love you too," Luna told her, a true note of sadness in her voice now. "I thought we would be best friends forever, but you're not very nice to Harry."
"Because Harry is a dangerous scumbag," Ginny hissed, causing a few nearby students to turn curious eyes in their direction. "I don't know why nobody else sees it!"
Harry was pretty sure a lot of people knew he was dangerous, scumbag was a bit much though.
"I don't even know why you're here," Harry told her coolly. He looked her over top to bottom, slowly, and smirked. "You're not very intelligent, obviously, and your closest claim to fame is your future brother-in-law. Oh," Harry shook his head, as if suddenly remembering, "I suppose Bill is pretty successful, isn't he? And Ron's already a rather well-known hero and genius. The twins have the most popular shop in Diagon Alley, Charlie's..." Harry paused for a split-second, unsure what to say about Charlie.
"The top dragon tamer in Romania," Luna said airily. "A true expert in his field."
"Right," Harry nodded at her. "So, nevermind, guess you got here on their coattails, didn't you?"
Harry didn't mention Percy, but Fred liked to pretend he didn't exist at all, which was fine with Harry because Percy was an arse.
Harry only had a second to enjoy Ginny's bright red cheeks before she pulled her wand and sent some silently cast dark green spell aimed right at his head. Harry ducked, causing whatever it was to hit and shatter something behind him, and quickly stunned her.
"Might have taken that too far," Harry murmured to Luna while Ginny was frozen in place.
"Mm, I don't think so," Luna whispered. "Her bat-bogey hexes are supposed to be terrible." She glanced around at the crowd that was now surrounding them and tilted her head up towards the ceiling for a moment. "But three students are about to tell Slughorn that you started it."
"What is going on here?" Slughorn asked disbelievingly as he strode through the students that parted to let him pass. "Harry? Ginny? Luna?" Slughorn looked between where Harry and Luna were standing with their arms still intertwined and where Ginny was frozen in place. "Someone explain!"
"Potter was taunting Ginny and then stunned her," the tall blonde boy from the train, McLaggen, said immediately.
"Is that true, Harry?" Slughorn sounded disappointed as he waved his wand lazily towards Ginny, releasing her from Harry's stunner.
"No, sir," Harry said calmly. "Ginny misunderstood a conversation between Luna and myself and sent a spell at me and I stunned her to prevent a fight from escalating."
Technically, he stunned her to keep her from pissing him off while there was an audience around.
But that wasn't a technicality he cared to explain.
"He's lying," a Gryffindor girl that Harry didn't recognize said hotly. "He was making fun of her family."
"How d'you figure that?" Ron scoffed, somehow materializing from the crowd and stepping up beside Harry. "I heard Harry just compliment every single one of my brothers."
"Of course you'd take his side," Ginny glared at Ron. "Wake up Ron, he's using you."
"What?" Harry laughed. He turned to Ron and gave him a grave look. "Ron, I'm using you, mate. It's just... I needed a red headed male friend, and you were clearly the only one that fit the bill."
A lot of people laughed, including Slughorn, who relaxed in the face of Harry's calm.
Harry, two, Ginny, zero, he thought smugly.
It took him a while to learn it, but it was a good lesson to know: it didn't matter who was usually right, all people in authority cared about was who was calm and who wasn't. The more pissed Ginny got in front of Slughorn, the less inclined he would be to believe her.
"You're using him for your little fucking army!" Ginny yelled, sounding like a crazy person despite her nearly accurate remark.
Harry wasn't 'using' Ron, but Ron was definitely a Corporal in his army.
He'd be a sergeant, like Fred and Blaise were, if he hadn't once accused Harry of killing his dad, but those were the breaks.
"Oh, dear." Slughorn tittered nervously. "Why don't we call it a night, hmm? It's getting late, and tensions are running high between our two seekers, aren't they?"
"You're absolutely right, Professor," Harry agreed quickly. He gave Ginny his charming smile that didn't reach his cold eyes at all. "We can sort this out tomorrow, on the pitch, yeah?"
"What started that?" Draco murmured as Ginny grabbed the hand of the Gryffindor girl and stormed away after sending Harry a last hateful look and Slughorn began escorting students to the door.
"Ginny thought Harry and I were having an affair," Luna laughed. She linked her empty arm with Draco's and smiled up at him with just as much joy as she had Harry. "And just so you know, I would probably never."
Draco smiled, then frowned. "Probably?"
Luna laughed and refused to elaborate as she led them to the doorway. Harry paused, giving his other friends a chance to catch up and gave Slughorn a forced look of sorrow.
"I'm sorry about that, Professor," he said with just the right amount of regret in his voice. "I don't think Ginny's ever quite liked me since I turned her down."
Slughorn only looked torn for a moment before he gave Harry a jolly smile and patted his shoulder, something Harry forced himself not to shy away from in an effort to not gain another enemy within the castle. "Ah, teenage girls are a mystery to us all, lad," Slughorn said. "No harm, no foul, I always say. Now, you'll be attending my little Christmas party next month, won't you? You can bring along this Fred I've heard so much about," he winked and lowered his voice. "Maybe we'll let Miss Weasley sit this one out."
Draco was still complaining as they laid in their beds later that night.
"'I'd be happy to, sir,'" he mimicked Harry in a truly terrible impression. Harry's voice was not that nasally and high-pitched. "'I'll bring my friends, yeah?' You prat."
"I had fun," Trent piped up behind his bed curtains. "I like Slughorn, he seems like he doesn't care about much."
"Shut up, Trent," Draco sighed.
Harry heard Draco toss and turn in his bed for a few moments and waited patiently for him to correct himself.
"Sorry," Draco finally said with only a slight sneer to his voice.
"It's fine," Trent laughed. "G'night guys."
Harry waited until the first of the snores began filling the room before he flipped on his stomach and pulled his mirror out. He waved his hand around his head and put up some shields, ensuring his privacy, before calling for Fred.
"Fred Weasley," he said to his reflection clearly.
It only took a couple seconds for Fred's face to materialize, replacing Harry's reflection with his own. "Hey, darlin, how- what's wrong?"
Harry frowned. "What makes you think somethings wrong?"
"You can't hide from me," Fred grinned before looking more serious. "Is something wrong?"
Harry had no idea how he could be good enough at occlumency to keep Timmy from entering his head without Harry's permission, but so bad at it when it came to a handful of people reading his emotions right off his face.
He thought maybe he just didn't bother hiding his emotions from some people.
"Bit of a shit day, honestly," Harry said lightly. "I got in a spat with your sister, she's going to write to you soon and tell you I'm cheating with Luna, could you act really surprised for me?"
"Oh I'll love that," Fred laughed. "'What?! Harry and Luna?! Does Draco know?! Does this mean Draco is single now?'"
Harry had started to smile, but he stopped pretty quick. "That isn't funny," he said.
"It will be when Ginny reads it," Fred winked. "But I doubt arguing with Gin would really upset you, soooo... what's really up?"
Harry shook his head. "I might not marry you if you're going to spend our whole lives making me talk about things."
"You will," Fred said confidently, "because you know it makes you feel better afterwards. Quit changing the subject, darlin, what happened?"
"It's..." Harry hesitated as he tried to put it in words that didn't sound pathetic. "It's just... everyone says how my mum, Lily, was such a saint. Just... just a perfect person, apparently. D'you... d'you think she'd regret dying for me if she knew who I am? Like, knew the real me?"
It was embarrassing, saying it out loud like that, but Harry and Fred had much more embarrassing conversations before. This was really nothing in comparison.
Fred didn't answer right away, his face thoughtful as he mulled over Harry's question. "I mean, I can't say for certain, but I don't think she would," he said in an uncharacteristically serious voice. "Take my mum, for example. Even though she's disappointed and hurt by the way Percy treats her, she'd still die for him in a heartbeat, no questions asked. You get a few bad eggs in every coop, but I'm sure your mum would be the same way. So you aren't some light-hearted hero, who cares? From what I've heard, your dad wasn't either, and she loved him."
Harry flipped on his back and held the mirror up above his head. "Bit of a difference between being a killer and a prat who bullies students though, isn't there?"
"A bit," Fred agreed with a small grin. "But I think your mum would still like you anyway. And I'm positive she still would have chosen to die that night even if she knew her son would turn out to be the brilliant and amazing dark lord that you are," he winked.
"Hysterical," Harry said drily. "Your wit knows no bounds."
Fred laughed loudly at that. "You spend too much time with Theo, you're starting to sound like him. Tell me about the rest of your day though, did you fly today? What times the match tomorrow?"
Harry filled Fred in on everything that had happened since he last talked to him, last night, and Fred talked about the new items they were developing for the shop. After a while, Harry yawned and rolled on his side.
"Don't hang up," he murmured, as was their new ritual.
"I won't," Fred promised. "It'll be like I'm right next to you."
Harry closed his eyes and listened to Fred's even breathing, trying to trick his mind in to believing he was actually next to him, and not clear in Shanklin, sleeping in the bed they shared over the summer. After a while, it worked, and Harry drifted off to an uneasy sleep.
The morning of the Gryffindor and Slytherin match gave them perfect weather. Harry could see the cloudless sky and the breeze through the ceiling of the Great Hall, a sight that bolstered his team's spirits.
"There's no way we can lose," Ron said. He shared a look with Blaise and nodded down at the parchment Blaise was tracking for the day. "Our odds are so good that it's almost not worth betting!"
"That's the first time I've ever heard you say that," Harry grumbled, not as optimistic nor as well rested as his teammates.
Susan slid Harry a few sausages and some toast on a plate. "Eat," she said bossily. "You have to kick Ginevra's arse today and you won't do it if you're tired and hungry."
It seemed like overnight the entire castle knew about Harry's relatively mild row with Ginny. He heard a few Slytherins whispering about it in the common room this morning and ignored it. All it was doing was heightening the anticipation for today's match.
Matches between Slytherin and Gryffindor were always tense, since the two houses tended to not get along much. And today the students were abuzz with conversations and bets on who would come out victorious today:
Ginny Weasley, seeker and captain of the Gryffindor team who never lost to a team aside from Slytherin or Harry Potter, seeker and captain of the Slytherin team who has only lost two matches in his four years as Slytherin's seeker.
Harry had no idea who would bet against him, he had literally been put on a national team at the end of the last school year, but he figured today was just another snitch to catch, a match to win.
He sent a listless look up to the head table, and did a quick double take when he saw Snape in his usual seat. Which wasn't actually very usual for Saturday's. His eyes flicked downwards and saw that Dumbledore was absent, as he almost always was on the weekends now, but Snape was here.
Harry ate the toast Susan kept nudging, his mood lifting slightly.
"We're going to win, Harry," Trent beamed at him. He looked over his shoulder at the Gryffindor table and shook his head. "Poor Sapphire."
"Sapphire is the competition," Draco told him, "don't go easy on her just because you think she's cute, PJ."
Harry and Trent both scowled at the nickname that seemed to stick. Harry's scowl was mostly put on though, it wasn't like he'd ever have kids, so Trent could be Potter Junior if he wanted.
"Piss off," Trent threw the crust off his toast at Draco.
"This is why they call you PJ," Hermione said with a dramatic sigh. "Harry you've got innocent third years cursing."
"Harry thinks it's brill," Neville grinned.
Harry did think it was brill, so he just shrugged.
"Alright, guys, and girl," Harry said with a nod towards Daphne. His team was gathered around him in the locker rooms, their quidditch gear on, their brooms gripped tightly, eager expressions on their faces. "I don't think we need a fancy fuckin speech when we all know we have to do today. Draco, Ron, Daphne, score a bunch of goals. Isaac, Declan, hit the players in red with the bludger, or your bats, I'm not picky. Trent—"
"Don't let the quaffle in," Trent piped up.
"Exactly," Harry nodded. "And I'll catch the snitch then we'll go celebrate, yeah?"
"Yeah!"
Harry led his team out on the pitch to some cheers and a lot of boo's that they easily ignored.
This was probably why Slytherin students were thought to be so aloof and unkind, because they got boo'd by the other houses every single fucking match.
Dicks.
Harry did a double take when he stepped up by Madame Hooch and was faced with McLaggen instead of Ginny.
"Captains! Shake hands!" Hooch yelled.
Harry kept his face cold and uncaring as McLaggen glared darkly at him and seemed to try and break the fingers in his right hand. He had no idea where Ginny was, or why McLaggen wanted to start a pissing match right off the bat, but it wasn't really his problem at the moment.
He'd catch the snitch, then show McLaggen the proper way to break all the fingers in someone's fuckin hand.
"Mount your brooms!" Hooch commanded them.
Harry kicked his leg over his Firebolt 100, and sent a pointed smirk at McLaggen's Nimbus 550.
"GO!"
Harry kicked off immediately, soaring high in the sky and was a blur as he shot towards the Slytherin goal posts, his preferred spot to start his lazy laps as he looked for the snitch.
"Hi Harry!"
Harry glanced curiously towards the commenters box and nearly fell off his broom as he began laughing at Luna's happy face waving at him from within the box. He did a couple showy flips, acknowledging her, before he started flying around.
He knew Luna told him and Draco that she had a surprise for them today, but he had no idea that she'd taken over Lee Jordan's position.
At least they might finally have an announcer who was biased in their favor.
"Everyone thought that Ginny wanted to beat Harry's team today, since she was very rude to him last night, but then she didn't show up, so I guess she changed her mind," Luna was saying, her magically amplified voice filling the stadium. "I think she might have been scared, so she sent Cormac McLaggen to take over as captain today instead."
The Slytherin section of the stands roared with laughed, and Harry heard Ron chortling as he flew by with the quaffle in tow.
"It's really a great day for quidditch, if you guys look above Trent's head, you'll see a cloud shaped exactly like a hummingbird!"
God damnit.
Harry had no idea how it took him five years to let Luna know he loved her, she was the absolute best.
Harry's team seemed to be flying at their best, certainly better than the Gryffindor team who seemed off-kilter with a second year boy filling in as keeper while McLaggen played seeker. Harry was pretty sure that after nearly an hour, his team was in the lead by quite a bit, but he wasn't sure because Luna's commentary had almost nothing to do with the match.
"What's the score?" Harry shouted at Trent.
Trent threw his hands up in exasperation. "No idea! I missed two goals though, so something to twenty?"
"Don't miss any more," Harry told him before zooming off towards the Gryffindor goal posts. "Oi! How many goals have you let in?" he asked the second year kid.
"As if I'd tell you," the boy snapped, his cheeks turning red.
Probably more than two then.
"Whatever," Harry scowled. He turned his broom and put a renewed effort in to finding the snitch and having a kind talk with Luna that every now and again, it would be helpful for them to know the actual scores.
McGonagall must have been thinking the same thing Harry was, because Luna's comments on how red was supposed to be a lucky color was abruptly interrupted.
"70-20 in Slytherin's favor!" McGonagall yelled with her wand to her throat.
Harry gave her a small salute, then waved quickly at Snape and Sirius, before focusing solely on the snitch.
He was chasing after the thin air, hoping to trick McLaggen in to wasting his time with following him, when McLaggen actually caught him by surprise.
"What'd you do with Ginny, Potter?" he yelled.
Harry pulled on his broom handle, doing an abrupt about face and tilting his head at the older student. "What?" he asked dumbly.
McLaggen flew closer to Harry until their broom handles were nearly touching. "I said, where is Ginny?" he repeated with a heavy scowl. "What? Too scared to play her?"
"What?" Harry actually laughed this time. "I don't know where Ginny is and I'd win even she were here. You might have missed it, but my team kicked your arses last year, didn't we?"
"Heard you got kicked off the Arrows though," McLaggen sneered. His eyes ticked to something behind Harry, but Harry doubted it was the snitch since McLaggen didn't move towards it. "What happened, Potter? Did they realize you have no talent?"
Harry laughed, a mirthless and cold laugh that wiped a bit of the sneer off McLaggen's face. "Voldemort killed their owner," Harry said with a smile. "Tell ya what, Cornick, come find me on the ground after the game and tell me I have no talen—,"
Something heavy struck Harry in the back of his head and he felt himself slipping sideways off his broom as everything went
black,
black,
black.
***
Harry dreamt of a green-eyed woman giving him a kind smile. She held her arms open and Harry instinctively knew that it was safe to move towards her, to let her wrap her arms around him.
The knife she stuck in his back had been a nasty surprise that caused him to wake with a flinch and a gasp.
***
"Calm yourself," a low and smooth voice said.
Harry moved to the edge of the bed-
Bed?
He squinted his eyes as he patted his pockets for a knife and came up empty.
"Your contacts are here and I switched your clothes with a switching spell, your weapons are in your trousers in your dorm."
The smooth voice was Snape. Harry squinted at him and snatched the little container out of the hand reaching towards him.
"Ta," he sighed as he took in his surroundings after the contacts were in. He was in the hospital wing, in a pair of his own pajamas, with Snape by his side. Which meant...
"We fuckin lost, didn't we?"
"You did not," Snape said. Harry turned his head towards him and raised his brows in surprise.
Snape smirked at his look. "After you were knocked out by the bludger, your assistant captain called for a timeout, they resumed play with Ronald playing seeker and the boy managed to actually catch the snitch. Slytherin won by 10 points."
"Holy shit," Harry breathed. He smiled a little, despite his fiercely aching head and the residual tremble in his hands from his disturbing nightmare. "Ron's a genius."
"Indeed," Snape agreed. "Which brings me to the point you're about to be interrogated on- Ginevra Weasley."
Harry gave him a curious look, but Snape wasn't looking at him. His dark eyes were aimed at a bed a few down from Harry with a girl with long red hair in it. Harry's finger twitched for an instant before he realized it was Ginny Weasley's straight red hair, not Susan's curly red hair.
"Is she dead?" Harry asked.
"She is not, despite someone's best efforts."
Harry turned back to Snape at his odd tone and rolled his eyes lightly.
"It wasn't me."
Snape didn't say anything, he just stared Harry in the eyes, seemingly waiting for him to say something else.
"It wasn't," Harry said firmly with a scowl. "I don't fuckin lie to you, do I?"
Snape sat back and his gaze became less intrusive and more casual. "You do not," he conceded. "Albus may not be so similarly convinced."
"Why is it every time someone in this fuckin castle gets hurt, Dumbledore blames me?" Harry sneered. "It couldn't possibly be someone else."
"You must admit the circumstances are odd."
Harry's head turned quickly as Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Sirius entered the hospital wing. Dumbledore obviously must have just heard Harry's complaint, but he didn't look too torn up over it. His eyes weren't twinkling, but they rarely did around Harry since the day he expelled him. Other than that though, he did look calm.
"Circumstances?" Harry asked flatly.
He wouldn't bother playing 'Polite, Charming, Harry Potter' with Dumbledore. Dumbledore wouldn't believe it and Harry didn't want him to. Dumbledore wanted Harry dead in May, and Harry of all people knew that murderous urges didn't disappear, they usually just got worse.
"Miss Weasley was attacked with a combination of the cruciatus curse and a switchblade," Dumbledore explained, coming to a stop at the foot of Harry's bed.
Sirius moved over by Snape, taking the empty chair next to him, and McGonagall came to stand on the opposite side of them, her lips flat and her expression skeptical.
"Let me guess, then someone wiped her memory?" Harry asked aloud, his eyes flicking to Snape as he did.
"Precisely," Dumbledore said. "What do you know of her attack?"
"Nothing," Harry said truthfully. He narrowed his eyes at Dumbledore distrustfully. "I'm sure you won't believe me, but I didn't do a damn thing to her."
"Language," Snape murmured. A reminder for Harry to remember who he was speaking to, not just what he was saying, Harry was sure.
Dumbledore peered at Harry for a long moment as he stroked his beard. "I apologize, Mister Potter, can anyone verify your whereabouts this morning around three o'clock?"
Harry clenched his jaw, irritated by the vague questions. "Can anyone verify that I was asleep, alone, in my bed, at three o'clock in the morning? No," he spat, "I suppose not."
This really wasn't Harry's weekend apparently.
One of the few times he slept alone, and he's going to be expelled for it.
"I believe Harry," Sirius said loudly. "I think he'd be a lot smarter than to leave Ginny in the boys bathroom, wouldn't he? When has Harry ever been known to beat a kid up and dump them in a bathroom?"
Never, actually.
"Harry said he did not do it, and without adequate proof otherwise, I fail to see how he warrants punishment," Snape said softly. "I'm sure that Miss Weasley has many other enemies within the castle."
"Many other enemies who got in a fight with her last night?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes still thoughtful as he held Harry's gaze.
"Jesus Christ," Harry ground his teeth together. "She thought I was cheating on Fred with Luna, so we had a spat. She tried to hex me, so I stunned her. It wasn't that big of a deal!"
"That sounds incredibly in character for the both of them," McGonagall said. "This attack mimics Mister Finnigans quite obviously, and Harry had a solid alibi for that one."
Harry nodded his head appreciatively at McGonagall's defense. There used to be a time when he thought she would expel him just as easily as Dumbledore would, but it seemed like they were mates, of a sort, now.
Dumbledore didn't say anything for a long moment, he just kept staring at Harry, then he finally let out a small breath and nodded his head at him. "I am inclined to believe you," he said.
As if he wasn't just handed pretty decent evidence.
"If you know of anyone who is harming the other students, perhaps a knife carrying student with a vengeance against Gryffindor, please inform Professor Snape or one of your other professors, okay?"
Harry jerked his chin upwards, a small nod of acknowledgement, and Dumbledore gave them all a smile and turned to leave the hospital wing.
"Good game today, Harry," McGonagall said, she put her hand on Harry's shoulder for an instant, causing him to flinch minutely, before she too turned and followed Dumbledore out the door.
"I didn't do a damn thing," Harry scowled up at the ceiling. "Ron had a good game, and McLaggen has a damn reckoning coming. 'No talent' he called me."
"Pup, you can't threaten the Gryffindor keeper when the chaser and the seeker have both been stabbed in the last month," Sirius said.
Harry closed his eyes, pretending he didn't even speak so he didn't have to acknowledge the truth in his words.
Whoever was attacking the Gryffindor's wasn't doing Harry much of a favor, honestly. He wasn't sure if they meant to or not, but if he figured it out before the teachers did, he'd be sure to ask.
"I'll just go then," Sirius chuckled. Harry tightened his muscles as he could sense Sirius reaching out for him. "Poppy said you can leave in the morning, I'll see you then," he said as he carefully ruffled Harry's hair, avoiding the sore spot on the back of Harry's head.
Harry hummed quietly. He was being petty, he knew that, but he wasn't much in the mood for anyone's nonsense right now.
Snape let Harry sit in silence for a few minutes after Sirius' footsteps receded down the corridor outside the hospital wing, then he cleared his throat lightly.
"Miss Bones and Miss Lovegood told me to tell you that they only left you to your privacy under heavy protests and that the instant you wanted them, they would break in with your cloak."
The edge of one side of Harry's lips ticked upwards for a moment, but he just hummed in quiet acknowledgement again.
"Is there something you would like to discuss with me?"
Harry peeked one eye open to look at Snape. He didn't look angry, but Harry wasn't going to keep explaining himself over and over.
"I didn't do it," he said, closing his eye again. "Get the damn Veritaserum if you want."
Snape ignored the bite in Harry's tone and remained annoyingly casual. "I have already said I believe you, and I do. That was not what I was referring to."
"I don't know what you want then," Harry said flatly, "but my head hurts and I'm going to go to sleep."
He wasn't. But he did want left alone.
"I was referring to your apparently quite terrible nightmare."
Harry jerked upright and turned a blank mask to Snape. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but I didn't have a terrible nightmare."
Snape's brows rose up on his forehead. "Oh? Because you were thrashing and crying out."
"No I wasn't," Harry grit out, his temper waging war with his embarrassment. "If I was, I don't want to talk about it though."
"Very well," Snape said easily. "Though, if you would like to discuss why you were crying out your mothers name in your sleep, I am always here to listen."
Harry hid a wince as he let his head slam back on the headboard of the bed. He clenched his eyes shut, trying to force himself to fall in to an immediate sleep. He inhaled slowly, counting to five, then let it out as he counted to seven. He repeated the cycle a few times before he felt in firm control of himself once more.
"She would hate me," Harry whispered. "My mum," he clarified, "she would hate me."
"You are wrong."
Harry wasn't.
The woman who sneered in the face of Timmy and joined Dumbledore's Order and fought against people who used the same 'dark magic' that Harry wielded so easily and carelessly would absolutely hate him.
He wouldn't change, doubted he could if he even bothered to try. Harry knew he was a dick, he was selfish, could be cruel and vindictive, he was a hypocrite when the situation suited him, and went out of his way to manipulate others to meet his goals more easily. Harry knew all that, he spent a whole summer discussing his behavior with Lupin. Lupin dressed it up, said Harry was a 'product of his past' and that Harry 'had a good heart', and could 'be whoever he wanted to be as long as he liked himself', but Harry knew who he was. And he knew that the more he heard about Lily Potter, the more certain he was that she would hate him.
Harry swallowed loudly. "I don't want to talk about her ever again," he told Snape with his eyes still closed. "I don't even want to hear her name. If anyone asks, I'm saying you're my only parent."
Snape sighed quietly, but he pressed a cool vial in Harry's hands too. "Drink," he said softly. "Sleep and we will discuss this at a later time, Harry."
Harry threw the potion back without even looking at it, certain that Snape wouldn't poison him, and slipped peacefully in to a dreamless sleep.