Bab 22: Grudges
Hogwarts had become Hell. There was a feeling in the air, of fear and anticipation. Everywhere Harry looked, students were walking around in groups, hunched together. Students from other house, at least. The Slytherins were walking with heads held high, and with pride evident. What was truly bad about all this, were the reactions Harry received. It was clear that most of the student body had decided that he, as a Parselmouth in Slytherin, was the Heir.
Within his house, it wasn't too bad. Oh, people seemed to be walking on eggshells around him, and he was being treated with a sort of fearful respect. He kind of enjoyed that part. It was when he left the common room that it became a problem. Groups that were walking together would bunch up tighter when they saw him, people muttered to each other and shot him dark looks as he passed them. Worse, he didn't even have Draco to cheer him up. Since their argument a few nights earlier, Draco had either been avoiding him or acting very coldly towards him.
' Honestly, he can be such a baby sometimes'
Draco's mood had definitely been further exacerbated by the owl he had received from his father the next day. It had basically told him much the same thing Harry had complained about his doing, that he should keep his head down and be quiet about the Heir.
In some ways, this was even worse than the orphanage. Growing up in that place, he hadn't known anything better. Here though, he had gotten used to having friends, to being around people, to not being ostracized and hated. Even with what he had overheard Weasley saying, it still was loads better than how he had grown up. Now though, he was regarded with fear. Few of his friends were still as happy to be seen with him. Draco wouldn't mind, but he was pissed off with Harry. Daphne was cool, but she was often with her sister or with Tracey. Theo could be cool, but he was spending a lot of time with Blaise. Harry was left as he had spent most of his life.
Alone.
And alone, the thoughts and memories began to press upon him again.
In his mind's eye, he saw himself being pushed into the mud on a rainy day. He saw himself being surrounded by a group of boys, led by Joseph of course, as they yelled at him and called him names. He saw the Matron pointedly ignoring his black eye and the bruises on his cheeks. He saw Mr. Roberts dropping his trousers, telling him what a disgusting boy he was, how he only had one use…
By this point, his mind would invariably turn away from what was to come, and he would hear the voices in his mind again. The voices telling him how he was a murderer, how he had killed them, how he didn't deserve to live and have a good life. He would try to counter, thinking of what Professor Snape, and Lucius, and Draco had said, but every time he used this defense it was losing efficiency. He spent a lot of time sitting by himself, doing nothing but thinking, wearing a blank face. He spaced out in conversations, and would only be drawn back in once he was called by name. His friends had begun giving him odd looks. Draco and Daphne were worrying about him. Draco was too stubborn to say anything, but Daphne tried. Harry would simply brush her off with a patently fake smile and an equally false "I'm ok".
In short, Harry Potter was edging closer and closer to a total breakdown.
There was one thing that acted as a saving grace, and that was Quidditch. Their first game was coming up on Saturday, and practice had actually caused Draco to warm back up to Harry. In fact, Draco had even asked Harry if they could start their spell practices again, once they were done with the game. Harry agreed, but they decided to ask Snape first. Especially with everything that had been going on, they wanted to be extra careful. The game would be against Gryffindor, and Harry was quite looking forward to putting them back in their place. What the Weasley's had done to the team as a whole, and to him personally, bit against him deep inside his chest. Harry had begun feeling more human again, with the memories and voices receding, by the time Saturday morning dawned upon him.
He woke up, trembling with anticipation and nerves. Today would be his first actual Quidditch game, and the whole school would be watching. He was glad he wasn't the seeker, he did not want that much pressure on him. Being one of three chasers was more than enough stress.
Down in the Great Hall for some breakfast, Harry found he wasn't the only one suffering from nerves. Draco ate with a swagger but looked a bit greenish. The rest of the team seemed to be ok and encouraged him and Draco to eat as much as they could handle.
"You don't want to find yourself hungry in the middle of a game. It could go on for a while, and flying really does take it out of you" Peregrine had said, appearing confident, but the little twitch under his eye said more about his actual state of mind than words could.
Harry forced himself to finish his toast and bacon. He was just contemplating having another piece when Flint called the team. They rose from the table, and left the Hall, to cheers from the Slytherins and jeers and catcalls from the Gryffindors.
After changing into their Quidditch robes, Flint stood up, and face stony, gave a pep talk.
"We have better brooms than them. We have better players than them. We've practiced at least as much as them. And I don't know about any of you, but I can still smell Dungbombs on me every now and then"
There were nods from the team at this. Harry noticed everyone was looking very serious now. His heart began to race, as Flint continued, driving himself into a frenzy.
"They fucked with us, and now we have a chance to start showing them why they were wrong. Are we gonna let it just slip away?"
"No"
"Are we gonna let them win?"
"NO"
"Are we gonna every fucking thing we can, to beat them?"
"YES!"
Flint's eyes alight, he spoke in a hoarse, deep voice, no longer shouting at this point.
"We're not just going to beat them. We're going to crush them. We're going to show those wankers why they shouldn't ever fuck with us, and what happens when they do. We're going to make them terrified to ever play against us. They should already be afraid, but they might be slow learners. Let's go give them a lesson boys!"
They strode out of the locker room and onto the pitch, and into a wall of sound. The stands were packed, the sunlight bright, and the grass green.
Flint and Wood shook hands, and from the pained look on Wood's face, Flint had just crushed his fist.
"Mount up" Madam Hooch called, "When I blow my whistle you may take off. At the second blow, I will release the balls, and the game will officially begin"
There was a loud Paarp, and fourteen players launched into the air,
Miles, and Wood heading straight for their respective goals. Harry, Flint, and Adrian spread out as they had planned, while Peregrine and Lucian flew around, and Draco flew straight up, to watch for the Snitch.
A moment later, the whistle sounded, and a mass of balls flew into the air. Harry saw a golden speck for an instant before the Snitch flew off.
"And they're off. Slytherin vs Gryffindor, what a way to start off the season, with this time-old rivalry. We'll just have to hope that the Slytherin team don't have their 'Heir' looking-"
"LEE! Comment on the game only!"
Harry tried to block the commentator's voice out but found it far more difficult than Lucian had made it sound the other day.
' It really is ridiculous that a Gryffindor is commenting on their own games'
He rolled, avoiding a bludgers sent his way by one of the Weasleys.
"OH! THAT'S A NASTY HIT TO FRED, OR IS IT GEORGE? WEASLEY, SENT BY LUCIAN BOLE OF SLYTHERIN"
"Nice one" Harry called to Lucian, as he flew past him, heading up to where Flint and Adrian were passing the Quaffle to one another as they neared the Gryffindor goalposts. One of the Weasleys was aiming towards them, but Peregrine headed him off, and he had to dive.
And then Harry had entered the fray, and Adrian saw him there as one of the Gryffindor chasers flew towards him.
"AND IT'S PUCEY TO POTTER. LOOKS LIKE POTTERS LINING UP TO SHOOT. COME ONE OLIVER, STOP IT. NOO!"
Harry flew off, feeling absolutely on top of the world. He could hear his name being roared out from the Slytherin stands. The wind flew through his hair, blowing it back, giving him a most pleasant feeling, and he had just scored the first goal of the season!
"AND IT'S 10-0 TO SLYTHERIN, BUT KATIE BELL SEEMS TO BE TRYING TO SET THE RIGHT"
Harry looked back towards his own goals, and indeed, one of the Gryffindor chasers was flying towards it.
' Come on Miles'
But Peregrine got there first. With no bludgers at hand, he waved his bat as if to hit Bell in her head. She shrieked, loudly enough that Harry heard her over the crowd, and went into a sharp dive, dropping the quaffles as she did.
"FOUL! COME ON REF! THAT'S A DISGUSTING AND BLATANT-"
"LEE!"
"AND MADAM HOOCH HAS AWARDED A FOUL OVER THAT
OBVIOUSLY BLATANT ACT OF SABOTAGE. KATIE'S LINING UP,
SHES SHOOTING, AND… DAMNIT! BLETCHLEY STILL 10-0 TO SLYTHERIN"
It was amazing. Their brooms so easily outstripped the Gryffindors, that whenever the Gryffindors got close to their goal, one of the players could come in and intercept, even from the other side of the pitch. It was almost obscene, how easily they were crushing them.
After a feverish hour of playing, Wood called a time-out.
The current score was 190-70.
The Slytherins just took the chance to relax, but Wood seemed to be getting really worked up as he spoke to his team. Minutes later, they were back in the air. Whatever Wood sad, it seemed to have affected his team greatly. Soon enough, the score was 190-110.
The game carried on, and the play became rougher and rougher. It seemed every few minutes Gryffindor was awarded another penalty.
Miles was a fantastic keeper, but even he couldn't save every penalty sent his way. Not too long late, the score was 200-150.
' Come on Draco, catch the damned thing already. We're getting tired, and Gryffindors pulling back'
"LOOK AT HIM GO! COME ON DEAN, GET IT BEFORE THAT SLIMY-"
McGonagall pulled the microphone away before Lee could finish the sentence. Harry didn't even notice this, he was too busy watching the Gryffindor seeker with growing horror. He had taken off and was flying, pushing his broom as much as he could, as he went towards the Snitch, which was simply hovering in mid-air on the opposite end of the pitch. Draco had been shadowing Dean, and he must have been distracted because he only shot forwards a few seconds after the Gryffindor had.
Still, the better broom was showing its stuff. Slowly, inch by inch, he gained on Dean. Eventually, they were neck and neck. The snitch shot downwards, and they both dived after it.
They were too far away for Harry to clearly make out what happened, but the next thing Draco was flying up, arm raised triumphantly.
"MALFOY CATCHES THE SNITCH" Disappointment evident in his voice, the commentator forged onwards, "SLYTHERIN WINS. 350150"
The team all surged together and piled on Draco in an enormous hug. There was huge cheering going on from the Slytherin side, and as Harry helped lift Draco into the air, he thought this was the happiest he had ever been.
"Party in the common room tonight!" Miles was shouting.
"These young ones didn't too bad, eh," Flint said, looking at Harry approvingly.
The party was in full swing. Someone had spoken to the house elves, and there was tons of food. More than that though, some of the sixth years had snuck out to Hogsmeade and had returned with butterbeer, candy, and a few bottles of dragonbrandy. Pansy's wireless was playing loud, raucous music, and conversations were starting and stopping all over, as the students mingled with each other and then moved away. The team was absolutely swamped with admirers, and most of the conversation centered about the game.
Pansy was fawning over Draco, who was standing in the middle of a circle, looking extremely chuffed, while Marcus and Miles seemed to be having a competition to see who could down the most shots of brandy the quickest.
Harry was in the middle of talking about one of his goals with Quentin McGuire, a seventh year who had tried out for chaser, when a loud series of bangs from behind him broke the conversation.
He turned around and saw Professor Snape standing at the entrance to the Common Room, looking very, very serious.
Snape raised his wand, and a few more bangs erupted from it. Slowly, conversation died down completely, as the occupants of the room turned to face their head of house.
Snape looked around the room, scanning every face there.
"Where is Jason?" He asked, voice low.
One of the seventh year boys raised his hands, and said, a little nervously, "He uh, went to bed a few minutes ago sir. Something about wanting to be up early tomorrow"
"Fetch him. I only wish to speak to you all as one"
A few minutes later, the seventh year returned, with a thoroughly confused looking Jason in tow, his pajamas rumpled.
"There was an attack tonight" Snape began. Immediately, an excited murmur ran around the room.
"Silence"
The room fell quiet once again.
"George Weasley, Nicole Roes, and our Poltergeist have been petrified"
The assembly started at this and began talking again. Snape's voice cut through them like a whip, all cold and controlled fury.
"The next person to speak without permission will face my displeasure".
"For many years, Slytherin house has had a particularly unkind reputation. This only worsened as a result of many of our alumni's actions during the last wizarding war. I, and many others have been working for the last ten years on repairing this."
' What?'
"Current events, are serving to push us right back to where we began ten years ago. I do not believe any of you to be guilty, but others will not think as I do. When I began my tenure as head of this house, Slytherin students were receiving detentions and losing points at a rate higher than the other houses combined. This was not because of a commensurate higher amount of troublemaking, but it was due to prejudice and fear that was held against Slytherin. I do not wish to return to that type of state of affairs. Do any of you?"
Harry looked around the room, as everyone shook their heads. Marcus seemed to be having trouble standing still, the brandy was obviously causing him to sway in place. Crabbe had a look of deep concentration as if he was trying to figure out what Snape was saying. But Harry could see the worry on some of the faces, even though the most common expression was indifference.
"Whoever is behind the attacks, is obviously making it look as if someone from our very own house is causing them. As such, you all will disabuse any who could believe this foolish notion. And so, there will no longer be any discussion of your beliefs regarding blood purity outside of this common room. I do not care if you believe muggles must be eradicated, but if any of you so much as hint to a dislike of them in the school as a whole, I will personally punish you. Further, none of you will discuss these attacks outside of this common room. Particularly if you wish to express admiration for the so-called 'heir'."
There were startled gasps, and Harry caught an indignant expression spreading across Draco's face, among many others.
"This is not a game. Until the situation is resolved, I will be holding you to a higher standard than anyone else in this school. The curfew will be strictly upheld. I will be performing surprise inspections, to ensure this is so."
"You will appear to be perfect students. No rule breaking will be permitted, whatsoever. If you receive a detention, you will receive an additional one from me"
"That's not fair! Its-"
"Life is not fair, Mr. Jockron. As a seventh year who will soon be entering the wider world, it is time you learned this fact"
"Finally, you will travel in groups. You may indeed, not be in danger from the 'heir', but you may be in danger from students wishing revenge on Slytherin as a whole, or from being wrongfully suspected. If you are with others, at least two others at a time, these dangers are highly lowered."
Snape looked around the crowd, nodded once and said. "Now, get to bed"
With that, he turned and left the room, robes billowing behind him.
The conversation immediately began, and Harry looked around the room, at the crowd of excited, afraid, and indignant faces.
' George Weasley. Oh fuck. I'm totally gonna get blamed for this, aren't I?
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