章節 27: Chapter 27
"Yeah well that can not be true," Harry said as he sat against a tree near the lake, Tracy and Daphne sat near him as all three were doing their homework. "I mean there is no way that Malfoy could have sex without at least some money being transferred."
"Parkinson would disagree with you," Daphne frowned. "all of the school have seen her fawn over Malfoy."
"Urgh, do not remind me." Harry said as he tried not to picture the over the top way Pansy Parkinson would hang off of Draco Malfoy's side. "That is one case where I would have more respect for a girl if she was a gold digger."
"Hmm," Tracy gave an amused snort. "well either way Draco was going on and on about how he and Pansy had 'done the deed'. She just sat there giggling like she had been voted prettiest witch by Witch Weekly or something."
"I am glad that I refused the hat in first year." Harry snorted, thinking about how he would have likely gone insane being stuck in school for so many years with Draco, at least in Gryffindor he got some time away from the prat. Actually now that he thought about it Harry had to admit that he was not exactly the picture perfect model of sanity.
"What do you mean?" Daphne frowned.
"Oh, when I was in first year the hat had offered me the opportunity to go into Slytherin." Harry replied.
"What?! You mean we could have been house mates?" Tracy asked with disbelief.
"Yep, could have been if I did not refuse." Harry responded.
"Why did you refuse?" Daphne asked.
"For a few different reasons, though I will tell you the three main ones. The first being that at that point I had befriended Ronald Weasley and he told me that all Slytherins were bad, at the time I was an ignorant eleven year old with no idea how the magical world worked so when somebody who seemed to be more experienced and knowledgeable about it says that only bad witches and wizards go to Slytherin…" Harry trailed off and left them to fill in the blanks.
"That arrogant prick!" Daphne snarled before her expression mellowed slightly. "Though… to be fair it does attract a lot of bad witches and wizards… but to say that all of them are in Slytherin or come from Slytherin is ridiculous!"
"That brings me to my second reason, image." Harry said before Daphne could start going into what would look like a long and lengthy rant. "Now I don't much care what other people think of me yet I am smart enough to recognise what effect an image can have, say what you want about Weasley but he was right in the dark wizards and witches do come from Slytherin. I am not saying they all do but the more famous ones do. By the very limited time I had spent in the wizarding world I was able to quickly tell that Slytherin had a bad reputation and that I, as the boy-who-lived, would have been expected to go to Gryffindor and would receive some very bad backlash if I went to Slytherin instead." Harry stopped talking, he looked at the girls and both looked thoughtful.
"What is your third reason?" Tracy asked eventually.
"I had met Draco Malfoy and unlike you two I was smart enough to decide I did not want to be in the same house as that prat and I went to a different one." Harry smirked. The girls were quiet for several seconds before their faces shifted into grins and they began laughing.
"You just might be the most Slytherin one here Potter." Tracy chuckled.
"Harry." Harry heard a voice call as he sat in the library, he looked up form his book to see Astoria.
"Oh hi." Harry smiled. "You might want to keep quiet thought, the librarian does not appreciate loud noises." Astoria was about to respond but took his hint and quietly sat down next to him. "So what is up? You alright."
"Yeah, I've actually made some friends. Everyone was impressed that I was allowed to ride you, everyone looked really jealous, the older girls especially." Astoria frowned, wondering why those girls looked more jealous than the others.
"Really?" Harry asked as he tried and failed to keep the smirk off of his face. "Well I am glad you are making friends, how is class?"
"Oh it is great, I like charms the best so far!" Astoria said enthusiastically. "We did the lumos charm and mine was brighter than everyone else's!" Astoria said proudly.
"That's nice." Harry smiled. "Do you know that you can get the light to change colour?"
"Really?"
"Yeah and you can get it to move off of your wand and float around as well." Harry nodded.
"Wow that is so cool. Do you think you can teach me?"
"Sure but once I have finished my homework, what about you? Do you have homework to do?"
"Well yeah but not too much, I am nearly done. Oh that actually reminds me why I came to talk to you. Do you know this girl named Luna? Luna Lovegood?"
"Doesn't sound familiar to me." Harry shrugged. "Why do you ask?"
"She's this Ravenclaw in her fourth year, I think it's her fourth year, anyway the other Ravenclaws are bullying her." Astoria said.
"Bullying how?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"They keep taking and hiding all of her stuff and they are calling her names." Astoria explained, looking very unhappy with the situation, she pulled out a silver necklace and dropped it on the table in front of Harry. "I saw Luna wearing that and I found it today under a bush. They shouldn't do that, Luna's been nice to me, they are just being mean to her because she's weird."
"Weird?" Harry repeated.
"Oh she thinks that things that don't exist are actually real, or at least that's what I heard, oh and she dresses a bit weird but that's it. They shouldn't be mean to her."
"You know something, it is a good thing that you are not in Slytherin."
"Why?"
"You are far too nice to be in Slytherin," Harry joked. "but seriously, what exactly do you want me to do about Luna?"
"I don't know, can you just help her please?" Astoria asked looking a little tired. "Pleeease?" She asked, unnecessarily stretching out the word.
"Look, I really do not… what are you doing?" Harry asked when her face developed a pout.
"Please Harry." She asked, her eyes looking slightly wider and almost puppy like.
"Stop." Harry sighed as he covered her face with his hand. "If you stop that, I will think about it." He removed his hand only to find her grinning at him. "Stop that or I will put my hand back." Harry warned. "And I said I would think about it, I did not say that I would do anything."
"Thank you Harry." Astoria said before she kissed him on the cheek and happily walked away.
"I do not know if I should be angry or not," Harry whispered to himself under his breath. "great now I am talking to myself. Fuck it, I always knew I was crazy anyway."
Harry did eventually find Luna, what he did not expect was to find her in the forbidden forest without shoes. The girl had straggly dirt blond hair that grew all the way down to her waist, her wand was tucked behind her ear for some reason, she wore white jeans that she tucked up to her knees along with a white shirt under a blue jumper. She had a wrist band that looked like it was made of peas and sweetcorn, she also had a pair of radish earrings. She had a brown bag with her.
Harry could not help but notice two important things. The first being that Luna had no shoes on her feet, the second being that she was petting a thestral, thestrals being skinny skeleton looking horses with wings that can only be seen by those who have seen and understood death. Harry was not exactly surprised that he could see them.
"Hello Harry Potter." Luna Lovegood said in a dreamy voice without looking at him.
"Hey." Harry said, after seeing Dumbledore do the same multiple times it was not a trick that really surprised him anymore. He walked forward and stopped next to her. "Luna Lovegood right?"
"Yes," Luna nodded while till petting the thestrals. "it is nice to meet you."
"Thanks, if you don't mind me asking, why aren't you wearing shoes?" Harry asked though he was also looking at the thestrals. "Aren't you cold?" He asked once Luna stopped petting the thestrals, Harry slowly and gently raised his hand. The thestrals looked hesitant before slowly pushing its head forwards and allowing Harry to pet him.
"A bit." Luna admitted. "Sadly all of my shoes have unfortunately disappeared, I think nargles are behind them." Luna added.
"Have you ever suspected that it could be people?" Harry asked once the thestrals he was petting walked off.
"I don't see why they would want to do that." Luna said as she pulled an apple out of her bag and threw it so the thestrals can eat it.
"People are not always logical," Harry shrugged. "some work by rules, some make their own. Some think, some don't."
"I suppose, like last year when they did not believe you when you said you did not put your name in the tournament. Me and daddy believed you, if that matters." Luna said. Harry looked at for her several moments, trying to see if he can detect any dishonesty.
"Thanks, by the way I think you may want this." Harry said as he pulled out the necklace that Astoria had given him. "A younger Ravenclaw found it."
"Oh thank you," Luna said in a sincere voice as she took the necklace. "this was my mothers."
"Dead?" Harry asked in a sympathetic voice.
"Yes," Luna nodded. "she died when I was young, she liked to experiment with spells, one day one spell went wrong. I was nine."
"I am sorry." Harry said.
"Yes, it is rather horrible, I do feel very sad about it sometimes, I do have dad with me though."
"That's nice." Harry said before he waved his wand and a pair of shoes appeared. "Try them, they should be about your size."
"Thank you." Luna smiled as she handed Harry an apple before she leaned down to put her shoes on, Harry took a bite of the apple before tossing it to one of the thestrals. "They fit nicely." Luna said once she had placed them on.
"You are welcome." Harry replied before he stopped and looked at Luna for several moments.
"You look deep in thought." Luna commented without looking at him as she was instead looking at the thestrals.
"I am, be quiet for a minute." Harry said though not rudely. A minute later he let out a tired sigh. "Tonight I will come and meet you outside of the Ravenclaw common room an hour before curfew, you will bring your stuff and I will put some protections on them."
"Oh… that is not really necessary, I am sure that the nargles will eventually stop." Luna replied in a dreamy voice which so far seemed to be her only voice.
"Yes, but I am just going to speed up the process." Harry replied.
"Oh… okay," Luna said eventually. "do you like being new if you don't mind me asking?"
"New?" Harry repeated with a hint of confusion.
"Before… before you did not look very… real?" Luna said, struggling to find the appropriate word. "There was something about you, something that was very… hmm, not you. I have noticed that since the tournament you had become more you, though I have to admit I don't know it that's new you or old you."
"Old me with the learnings of new, I think." Harry replied after a few moments of thinking.
"Oh… I suppose that makes sense."
"Yeah but Snape is always a prick," Harry said as he walked down the halls with Tracy and Daphne. "I mean I really wish the guy would just fuck off and leave me alone instead of constantly singling me out then looking insulted if I do verbally respond and looking constipated when I don't verbally respond. I mean 'Potter, ten points from Gryffindor for breathing too loud, are you really so arrogant as to need everyone to constantly hear you?', any other school, muggle or magical, besides Hogwarts and Snape would have been booted out by now."
"I don't know why he still has a job here." Tracy replied.
"Dumbledore is my guess." Daphne responded.
"Mine too." Harry agreed. "I will never begin to pretend that I fully understand what Dumbledore is thinking but…"
"Harry," A voice interrupted, the trio looked to see Astoria now walking alongside them though she wrapped her arms around Harry's arm. "how are you?"
"He's talking with your sister, thanks for saying hello." Daphne said, rolling her eyes. Astoria looked at Daphne as if she had just noticed her.
"Oh hi Daph," She said in an off hand manner before looking back towards Harry and missing Daphne pretending to strangle her. "I heard that yesterday a girl tried to mess with Luna's stuff and ended up paralysed until a teacher was able to fix them. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" She asked, grinning at him.
"It was nargles." Harry said immediately.
"I know it was you." Astoria said, rolling here yes. "Thank you for helping her."
"Potter, does my sister already have you wrapped around her finger?" Daphne sighed.
"Aw are you jealous 'Daffy'?" Astoria smirked.
"I'm sorry but…'Daffy'?" Harry smirked alongside her.
"I hate you both." Daphne said.
"No you don't." Astoria and Harry said at the time.
"Sweet Merlin they are multiplying." Tracy said.
"Oi Potter." A voice drawled, Harry resisted the urge to groan and bang his head against the wall as the group stopped in their tracks while Draco Malfoy walked up to him with Crabbe and Goyle following behind him. "A bit young for you isn't she?" Malfoy drawled as he looked at Astoria who was still holding Harry's arm, though the expression on his face told everyone that he thought he had just made a hilarious joke. "I suppose she could be broken in." He added, Astoria nervously hid behind Daphne and Harry, the former looked furious at Malfoy while Harry decided to take his usual effective approach when it came to Malfoy.
"Just friends Malfoy, I understand that that is not a concept you are familiar with, maybe one day you might. The only questions left are when and just the question of how much you are going to pay them, Merlin knows they wouldn't be your friends because of your personality." Harry replied.
"Shut it Potter!" Malfoy snapped.
"How original," Harry said in a dry voice. "Malfoy everyone has the right to be stupid but what you are doing is abusing that privilege."
"One day Potter I am going to personally teach you why you should respect your betters!"
"Malfoy you have become so desperate to get attention that you have fallen low enough to the point where you need to mess with a first year just to try and get a reaction, you are not my superior, you are a pathetic child crying out for attention. Far below what I deem worthy of my attention, forget my respect Malfoy, I have little patience for bullies and idiots. You are both."
"Pathetic?!" Malfoy demanded, his face red with anger. "How dare… I'll show you…" Malfoy pulled out his wand only to get blasted back and land on the floor, Harry quickly stunned Crabbe and Goyle before they could do anything.
"You were saying Malfoy?" Harry asked as he disarmed Malfoy.
"You will pay for this Potter, you and all the blood traitors and mudbloods! The dark lord will punish you all and…" Malfoy found himself cut off by a stunner from Daphne.
"Prick." She said under her breath so her sister couldn't hear. "Are you alright?" Daphne asked Astoria.
"You two were awesome!" Astoria said as she looked up at the both of them with awe.
"Did he say the 'dark lord'?" Tracy asked.
"Oh this is brilliant!" Harry laughed.
"What? How?" Astoria asked.
"Listen up," Harry said. "I am going to teach you an important lesson, there is a time and place for a Gryffindor, there is a time and place for a Slytherin, same with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. You got to know when to act like which one, right now…" Harry paused and used his wand to levitate Malfoy. "… I am going to act like all four." Harry said before turning to Tracy and Daphne. "You two take Crabbe and Goyle and all three of you follow me." Harry said, he started walking with the girls following behind him as they levitated Crabbe and Goyle.
"What do you mean?" Astoria asked as she followed alongside him.
"Now I showed my Hufflepuff side by standing up for my friends, would you agree?" Harry asked her.
"Um… yeah, I suppose."
"I showed my Gryffindor side by being brave enough to fight those three idiots, now I am going to show my Ravenclaw side, how do you think a Ravenclaw would handle getting attacked?" Harry asked Astoria.
"Um… I would tell a teacher?" Astoria asked, wondering if that was the answer he wanted.
"Exactly." Harry smiled at her.
"We are just going to tell a teacher?!" Tracy blurted out with disbelief.
"That depends on if you guys are willing to stop, take them into an abandoned classroom and torture them?" Harry asked.
"No torturing in front of my sister and stop corrupting her." Daphne said.
"So like I was saying before Tracy and the party pooper interrupted," Harry continued, earning a giggle from Astoria. "we're going to do the Ravenclaw thing and tell the teachers but I am going to add a little Slytherin twist into it." Harry said before they arrived outside of the defense classroom.
"What are we doing here?!" Daphne hissed.
"Oh have some faith that I know what I am doing." Harry rolled his eyes before he knocked on the door. A few moments later Dolores Umbridge opened the door.
"Mr Potter? What are you all doing?!" She demanded when she saw Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle floating alongside them.
"I do apologise for this Professor Umbridge, but it is my understanding that the ministry is claiming that you-know-who is permanently dead, correct?"
"Yes, why do you ask?" Umbridge narrowed her eyes.
"You may be interested to know Professor that Malfoy over here was trying to stir up necessary chaos and fear by claiming that you-know-who is still alive and will attack us all." Harry said with Tracy and Daphne smirking slightly as they realised what he was doing. Umbridge glanced between Harry and the floating unconscious students for several moments.
"You have my attention Mr Potter." She eventually said.
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