บท 96: Secret Alliances and Hidden Support
Though he could easily see them leading the charge to hurt anyone else they thought he might be close to or care about. Especially now when they so clearly wanted revenge for what he'd done to them. After all, personal injury of others meant little to them so long as they achieved their private goals. And right now he had no doubts whatsoever as to what they wanted most in the world. He was well aware they still hadn't realized the extent of their own bad acts against him.
They still truly believed He had done wrong to them. In their eyes, they hadn't done anything all that bad. Yes they'd taken his money without asking him first. But he had so much of it, what did it matter if they helped themselves to some of it? And besides, they needed it for Dumbledore's schemes.
Because Hermione told them Dumbledore said what they were doing was ok and Ron and Ginny listened to and believed her while she listened to and believed the old man. Therefore, what they'd done to him had been ok while what he did to them wasn't.
So he kept to himself and studied for his classes and the owl exams he wanted to sit. He did speak to the twins to keep up with their business plans and discover what the Trio were up to now. But he insisted that be done away from prying eyes and ears. Such as meeting at a specific time in the Room of Requirement rather than somewhere more public in random off-chance meetings. They kept him informed of what schemes the Triad were plotting as well as how the Tower was treating them for those schemes.
And he did talk with Madam Pince but only when no one else was in the library to hear him do so. He'd begun conversing with her back in his third year when not even the Professors had cared for his personal safety. She was the one to introduce him to new more relevant courses of study and was a great help in understanding them.
He also began talking to Professor Snape though since he wasn't given to long, unnecessary conversations, that was usually just to ask for assistance with something he didn't understand related to Potions or Defense. Professor Snape had taken to coming by his room at least every couple of days and sometimes agreed to oversee his brewing efforts when he wanted to try making a potion he wasn't sure he understood the directions clearly enough.
He tried to make sure all the potions he asked for oversight on were age appropriate but sometimes they were his own modifications of a current fifth year potion. The man was even doing some of his own brewing in the lab the Castle had provided for Harry's use. Which had surprised Harry to no end.
But he mostly asked him Defense related questions considering the Professor they had this year was no better than Lockhart had been. In fact, you could say she was worse. At least Lockhart had made mention of some spells. He couldn't do them and didn't pronounce them correctly. But they were mentioned. Usually in the correct context so a student could go look them up in order to learn them properly. But that was better than the teacher they had now.
Snape, however, was good at Defense. Harry had learned that in his second year with the dueling tournament thingy. So Harry would ask him any questions he had on the subject from the outside books he'd bought for himself when he saw what the required textbook for this year would be
. Willard Slinkhard really was a worm of a man, just as his name implied he was, if he honestly thought every conflict could be talked out regardless of the reasoning behind said conflict. While it was a good idea to try negotiations and talking before engaging in open combat, some differences could only be solved by combat itself.
This fool most likely had died, or would die, trying to talk himself out of a confrontation where only spell loaded wands would soothe the hurt feelings of the involved parties.
The Weasely twins were really his only indulgence when it came to people his own age since they'd never once turned their backs on him or accused him of things he neither did nor said. They were also the only ones who never voted to kick him off the quiditch team.
Even going so far as to vote against the inclusion of Ron and Ginny because they knew the only reason why the two wanted on the team was to lord it over Harry that they'd taken his place. Plus, he believed they were well capable of taking care of themselves and watching their backs for unfriendly knives.
Not to mention getting revenge against anyone stupid enough to try hurting them to get to him. And they had Lee, who'd never betray them, to watch their backs for them as well. So they were his eyes and ears in the tower as well as his business partner.
As for his school mates, a lot of them now felt incredibly guilty over the way they had treated him in past years. Several of the less scrupulous had thought to try and take advantage of the total lack of companions around him only to find themselves stopped cold by their year mates. No one was allowed to approach him too closely though they were allowed to speak to him.
Those students who understood him best, Slytherin for the most part, were forming an impenetrable wall around him to hold the rest of the school at bay. Slytherins, more than any other tower, understood how damaging persecution for things you hadn't done or had any control over could be to a person. Especially persecution for doing the right thing and saving lives in the process.
Harry had just been through four very intense years of exactly that treatment right under their noses and not one of the students acting as a part of his shield wall had any doubts as to just how damaging those years had been to him. They certainly didn't want their school mates to profit off it while his defenses were down. Each of them fully believed when Harry was ready for new friends he would let them know and maybe if they were lucky he'd want to choose them as a friend.
And since their Head of House had been heard openly defending Potter not once but twice, they felt justified in defending his right to privacy now. Without realizing it, the Slytherin students had declared Harry Potter an honorary Slytherin and were treating him as such. When he was ready for friends again, he'd let them know. Until then, the vultures could just back off and leave him alone.
That the day might never come when Potter was ready for new friends, wasn't something they spoke about though they all knew it was a possibility. He wouldn't be the first Slytherin to choose no friends over fair-weather ones who'd only betray you when it suited them to do so.
Potter's life had been hard and cruel to the extreme. He'd tried for four years here to make friends and a good impression only to get hurt and vilified for his efforts each and every time. And rumors had it that his life before coming here was no easier or better. So it was no wonder he was no longer trying. No longer seemed to want friends. Or care what people thought of him. Why should he?
Minerva took Severus seriously when he had chastised her over holding meetings with her lions who had or were failing to live up to the beliefs of her house. For the first time in years, she consciously set aside her duties as Deputy Headmistress to take a good hard look at her tower. She didn't like what she saw. Her students ran in small packs in the halls of the school.
They reacted defensively to each and every harsh word or action they perceived as directed against them. And the Weasely twins were openly running around the Castle pulling pranks on students who had maligned their tower mates in the halls. Which strongly suggested all the Gryffindor students went to them over conflicts in the school.
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