Chapter 12 - Alliances Ended and Begun
(A/N - Well, in this chapter, Harry is FINALLY going to get to play some Quidditch - practice, anyway. And, I think it's about time for the initial meeting between a certain DADA professor and a young assistant professor of charms, don't you…? )
"Very well, then. It's between Malfoy and Potter as finalists for the Seeker position, don't you agree, Professor Snape?" Marcus Flint was sitting in the stands next to the Quidditch field, reviewing the results of the Slytherin Quidditch tryouts. While Flint didn't look like the most 'book-smart' wizard around (and his academic record reflected that) he was a good judge of Quidditch player potential. He could tell that Harry was by far the best natural flyer of the two. Malfoy's new Nimbus 2001, however, made him a contender by its mere presence in the air. As long as he didn't fall off of it, the built-in speed and agility of the Nimbus covered a multitude of Malfoy's weaknesses in flying. And, there had been that note he got that mentioned a possible…generous donation to the team if Draco were to be selected - "Potter, both you and Malfoy will run through the Seeker Drill you've been doing one more time. The one to complete the course in the fastest time will be our new Seeker. The other one of you will be on the team as a new Chaser and a reserve Seeker during the season. Remember, even if you win this round, if you don't keep improving every practice or make a mistake during any match during the year for any reason, I WILL have you switch positions. Potter, you're first."
Of course, Harry's flying skills on the school broom, as good as they were, were not quite able to overcome the raw speed advantage that Draco had with his state-of-the art broom (as Flint had intended all along). <Mr. Malfoy better make good on his "incentive">, Flint thought. <If Potter had been flying that 2001, there wouldn't have been any question who would have won. He's as smooth of a flyer for his age as I have ever seen.>
<Well,> Harry thought, <it's probably for the best. If I had been chosen as Seeker over Draco, I would have had to request a room transfer, if that is even possible. He's been bad enough as it is ever since he and Professor Snape had their little 'chat', and if I beat him out, I'd never hear the end of it. Now, we'll just have to see if he can keep the position all year without messing up. At least I'm on the team! And, the Chasers get to score goals during the whole match, anyway.>
The following Saturday, Harry went down to the changing room after a spot of breakfast to join his new teammates. He got into his new green robes, whistled appreciatively at the new Nimbus 2001 broomstick that "a generous donor" had provided, and walked towards the field. He immediately noticed that there was already a team there, dressed in Gryffindor colors, and obviously in the middle of their practice. <Wonder what they are doing here so early in the morning? They must have gotten up before dawn!> Harry realized, glad that he wasn't on their team. <Don't we have the field scheduled?>
He saw Wood, (the Gryffindor Captain, he remembered), and the Weasley twins land hard, and Wood was yelling as he came over. "Flint! This is our practice time. We got up specially! You can clear off now!"
Harry thought Oliver was pretty brave charging up to Marcus that way, since Marcus was much larger, meaner looking, and at least a year older. <Well, they do say that Gryffindors are supposed to be brave, eh? That's not a bad trait to have, is it? Even though a lot of my housemates think that their bravery is really just not being smart enough to see the risks involved!>
Flint answered with a grin on his face (at least Harry thought it was a grin. With Marcus, you never knew!) "Plenty of room for all of us, Wood." The rest of the Gryffindor team had joined their leader by this time, and faced off with the Slytherin team, some of whom were looking over the three female Gryffindor chasers with more than Quidditch on their minds.
"But I booked the field!" said Wood, positively spitting with rage. "I booked it!"
"Ah," said Flint, "But I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape. 'I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker and Chaser.'"
"You've got a new Seeker and a new Chaser?" said Wood, distracted. "Where?"
The five older Slytherins who had been in the front of the group moved aside, revealing Draco and Harry.
"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" said Fred Weasley, looking at Malfoy with obvious dislike.
"And, you're Harry Potter, aren't you?" said George Weasley, with what sounded like a bit of disappointment in his voice.
"Funny you should mention Draco's father," said Flint as the rest of the team smiled broadly. "Let me show you the generous gift he's made to the Slytherin team." (So, that's who the donor was, Harry thought. Wonder why he did something like…no, it couldn't be...a payoff?) As they showed their new Nimbus 2001s to the stunned Gryffindor team, Marcus continued. "Very latest model. Only came out last month. And your whole team is on Cleansweeps, I see. You haven't a chance!"
As the two teams stood there glowering at each other, Harry had a "memory flash". In his mind he heard Draco calling someone a Mudblood, and then there was a flash of light, and he heard the sound of someone belching very loudly and saw …slugs hitting the ground?. Before he could see anything else, the flash was over. Harry was really confused. <Wow! That has to be one of the strangest flashes yet! Why would Malfoy calling someone a Mudblood make them belch? I must have eaten a bad piece of bacon or something this morning.>
Finally, Wood blinked. "Okay, Flint, have it your way. My team has been up since early this morning already, and we don't really want you to see what we're working on, so we'll leave. But, I will talk to Professor McGonagall about this, you can be sure of that!" he said over his shoulder as the Gryffindors headed towards the locker rooms.
Harry soon had other things on his mind besides his "flash", though. He was too busy enjoying himself! Here he was, one of only two second-year students playing for their House teams this year, and on the best team at Hogwarts besides. Harry, the team found out quickly, was much better as a Chaser than Draco was as a Seeker. Once, after Draco had failed to notice the snitch until it landed on his shoulder, Harry could have sworn he heard Flint's teeth grinding together from across the field. "I swear, Malfoy, if part of the deal for these brooms wasn't you having to start as Seeker for our first match, you'd be off the team!" he yelled. "Remember, you have to be looking for that snitch ALL THE TIME! You do know what it looks like, don't you? Maybe you should borrow Potter's glasses. They might help you see better."
Finally, practice was over. Harry had been quite good at scoring, even against Slytherin's best keeper. He had an instinct as to which way the keeper was going to move, and could put the Quaffle in the smallest openings if he wasn't throwing it through a wide-open hoop. When Flint had blown his whistle, Harry just wanted to stay in the air. "Hey, Marcus! Would it be okay if I just flew around for a while? I'd like to practice with my new broom some more."
"Sure, Harry. Take Malfoy with you. Merlin knows HE could use some more practice!" Flint said with a grimace. He wasn't sure his jaw was ever going to unclench itself.
Draco, who had been looking very tired and ready to head back to the castle, glowered at Harry as he whinged, "But, Marcus! I have my…my detention with Professor Snape! He said I had to come to his office as soon as we were done here! I have to be there for 3 hours!"
"Oh, all right." Flint agreed. "But, I'm warning you, if you don't get some practice time in on your own, you WON'T be Seeker one minute longer than necessary for us to keep these brooms!"
Draco smirked at Potter, who was very glad that he didn't have to practice with Malfoy. "So, Scarhead! Think you're going to show me up, do you? Kissing up to the team captain, showing how 'dedicated' you are by asking for more practice? What an idiot! Don't you know by now, Slytherins NEVER volunteer for extra work? Only Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs would be THAT stupid! Maybe you should go with them - a lot of them are Muggle-lovers, too! They even let Mudbloods like that bushy haired Granger in their house!" And with that, he headed towards the changing room.
**********
"Ah, Miss Granger! What a pleasant surprise!" Miss Puckle said, as Hermione knocked on the door to her office. "Lucky you caught me here!. As you know, I'm usually in my quarters on Saturday, and at Hogsmeade on Sunday, but today I had to update some lesson plans for the older students. How is second year going so far? Are you enjoying your classes this term?"
"That's what I came to talk to you about, Professor!" Hermione said with a definite edge in her voice.
"Remember, Hermione, when we're alone, please call me Harmony. You know I'm not really a full professor! It's Miss Puckle when we're in class and Harmony when it's just the two of us. So, what seems to be the trouble? Is Professor Snape taking points away from Gryffindor for breathing too hard or something?"
"No, of course not! Well, he does seem to like to take points off of anyone who is even a second late to class, and he does pick on poor Neville a lot, but I've been helping him study and he's doing better all the time." Hermione smiled. "He actually just needs a little bit of confidence, I think. He's really good at Herbology, so I know he can do it, but I think he is just a little scared of Snape."
"Well, then, what is the problem, Hermione?" Miss Puckle asked, now pretty sure that she already knew. "Does this have something to do with the …stories…I've heard about your recent Defense against the Dark Arts lesson?"
"Oh, so you DID hear what that… Oh, never mind, I meant to say, what Professor Lockhart told all the other classes about me and those pixies." Hermione's voice got even more indignant as she spoke. "OOOH…how could he…say such things…about me? Even after I got the highest score in class on his… stupid …quiz. He sounded like such a brave wizard and all."
"Yes, Hermione, I'm sorry, but the story did spread pretty quickly, even for Hogwarts!" Harmony replied, "…which isn't surprising considering the next class that day was from Slytherin. It didn't take them long to realize that you were the Gryffindor girl he was referring to, and they conveniently didn't bother to check to see if any of the rest of the story was true."
Hermione sounded a little tentative at first. "But…you believe me, don't you, Harmony? Can you imagine me, fainting because of a cage of Cornish Pixies? Seamus was laughing so hard when he heard Professor Lockhart calling them dangerous that he couldn't hold his wand straight. That's why I had to do something! Everyone else was either giggling along with Seamus or trying to keep from getting attacked., while Lockhart ran for his office after he asked me to 'nip them back into their cage'! Honestly, you'd think that no one remembers that simple Freezing Charm you taught us last year! And then, I heard that he took credit for the whole thing!"
Harmony smirked, "Just be grateful he didn't use a memory charm on you, Hermione! I guess there were too many witnesses, besides, he was too busy hiding. Don't look so surprised, my dear. Surely you didn't believe all of those stories in his books?" (while she knew full well that she actually did.) "What I'm going to tell you now I must ask that you keep as a secret between us. Promise?" Hermione nodded, and Harmony went on. "I can't tell you why I know this, but rest assured, Professor Lockhart is much, much braver on paper than he is in real life. He is very good at memory charms, though, so don't ever turn your back on him."
"He…he didn't…HE WOULDN'T DARE TO…would he?" Hermione, now nearly 13 years old, was finding out her first crush's true nature and it was quite a shock.
Harmony looked very thoughtful as she spoke. "Well, let's see…He did, many times in fact; he will dare to, as long as he can get away with it; and he would again at the drop of a hat given the opportunity. I think that answers your questions, doesn't it? Don't feel bad, Hermione. He has been fooling much older witches and wizards than you for many years, and quite a number of witches your age, too! One of these days I will have to ask the Headmaster why he hired such an obvious fraud. I'm sure that he had…sorry, has, his reasons. Gilderoy Lockhart is a rare creature, Hermione. He is a perfect example of what the Muggles would call a 'media creation', who has such an ego and with it, a warped view of his own importance that he is more than happy to go along with the fraud. It keeps him in the public eye, and in those fancy robes he seems to favor. I imagine his monthly Sleekeasy bill would feed an average wizard family for a year!"
"But, Harmony," Hermione asked, still not quite sure what her feelings were. "He seems so nice and brave in his books and in class. He can't be making that all up, can he? That would be hard to do without leaving some holes in the story."
"Well, since he gets all the information from the person that actually DID what he claims before he Obliviates them, of course the story is sound. In your case, since he witnessed what you did, it was very easy to adapt your actual actions to create another hero story starring himself. The only ones who wouldn't believe the new version of events would have been your classmates. I'm sure he plans to discredit them as being confused somehow because they were all confounded with fear. Possibly, he'd explain that your classmates were supporting you because you are such a hero in Gryffindor or something." Harmony replied patiently. "But, as part of my responsibilities in seeing to the success of Muggle-born students at Hogwarts, and as your friend, I cannot let this go unchallenged. I think it's time for a little visit with our new DADA professor, don't you think? I'm sure he will be quite interested in what I have to say. I'll make an appointment to see him as soon as I can."
******
Harry flew for another hour before deciding to head back in. <Yes, I could definitely get used to this Nimbus. It's almost like I've ridden something very much like it before. I seem to know EXACTLY what it is going to do in any situation. But, it's a little faster than I remember…, what am I saying? Why would I remember anything about a broom I have only ridden for about 3 hours now? Maybe I should go talk to Professor Snape and see what he has to say about these memory flashes. Yeah, the next time I see him, I'll ask him.>
First, though, Harry stopped by his dorm room to change clothes after Quidditch Practice. Since the "dummy" incident, he had taken to avoiding places where Malfoy and his old buddies were likely to be. Right now, he knew that Draco would still be in the dungeons working on whatever punishment Professor Snape had come up with. The potions master had a reputation among all the houses for coming up with the most disgusting tasks, and Harry was glad he had never found out first-hand what they were really like. When he got to his room, he found that he wasn't the only one that was taking advantage of a "Malfoy-free" time. Blaise Zabini was taking advantage of the quietness, lying on his bed studying. When he saw Harry come in, he didn't say anything, but he continued to watch with an unreadable expression on his face. Harry started to get a fresh shirt when he saw Blaise start to pack up his books. "Blaise, you don't have to leave. I'm just getting a clean shirt on. Besides, with Draco gone, I'd like to talk to you for a minute."
Blaise's face seemed to show a glimmer of surprise, but he immediately recovered and said sarcastically, "The famous Harry Potter wants to talk to ME? Oh, how will I ever get over it! Did Draco give you permission, or is this something you thought of on your own?"
"Wha…what are you talking about, Blaise?" Harry was stunned at Zabini's rude attitude. "Why would you think I need Malfoy's okay before I could talk to you? I talk to you all the time, we're in the same room every night, you know."
"Hmmm, well, I guess you're right, if you count 'Good Night, Blaise' as conversation. If you've noticed, I don't seem to fit in the same circles of Slytherin society as you do, and I don't participate in the 'friendly banter' that goes on in either the common room or here. My family is barely tolerated by the pureblood elite in this country, if you weren't aware."
Harry smiled, "Well, actually, I wasn't, Blaise. You probably know this already, but I'm Muggle-raised, so I haven't ever got involved in that rot. But, the more I see of the 'pureblood elite', the less impressed I am. So, why do they not like your family? Did an ancestor of yours do something terrible, like, say, be pleasant to a Mudblood, or worse, a Muggle?"
Blaise goggled at him. "You…you're serious, Potter? You actually don't know why they don't like me? You're not just pulling my leg, are you?" Harry shook his head with a confused look on his face. "As Draco made it clear my first day here last year, it's merely the fact that I exist, well, here at Hogwarts, you know. My family probably has a 'purer' documented wizarding bloodline than most students here. But, since we are originally from the Italian Alps, I'm not supposed to be going here. Beauxbatons, maybe, - although they've got their own crazy ideas about who's worth knowing- or even Durmstrang. Some British wizarding families are pretty sticky when it comes to "keeping Hogwarts for the English" or some such rot. For some reason, that blasted sorting hat put me in Slytherin, so I was thrown right in the midst of the worst of the lot. It thought about putting me in Gryffindor, and from what I've seen since, that might have been a better fit for me. I mean, they've got that Patil girl from India, right, the one whose twin is in Ravenclaw? And, Dean Thomas and Angelina Johnson are obviously not your standard Anglo-Saxons, are they? I just don't have the right face for Slytherin, I guess."
"Sorry, Blaise, I really didn't know", said Harry. "I'm starting to see a lot of things now that I wasn't aware of until now. Which brings me to what I wanted to talk to you about."
Harry explained his idea about getting a few Slytherins together to take some extra charms classes from Miss Puckle. Blaise wasn't quite convinced yet that this wasn't some kind of prank of Malfoy's or Potter's, but the more they talked, the more he started to believe Harry was sincere. "You know, Potter, that sounds really interesting. But, how do I know you're just not trying to get me in trouble with the Gruesome Threesome?"
"The…what?" Harry said, not sure what he just heard.
"You know, Crabbe, Malfoy, and Goyle, also known as the two trolls with half a brain between them." Zabini said with a smirk. "Although, sometimes I wonder if that's a bit too complementary to Draco."
Harry laughed in spite of himself. "Yeah, that's actually a pretty good description of the three of them, now that you mention it. Who came up with that? Was that your idea?"
"Actually, Potter, there are a few of us in each year that are quite tired of the whole 'Slytherin Mystique', mainly those like me who aren't quite the right color, or don't go to the right robe shop, or some such. We're the Slytherins that no one ever notices because we are here to learn something, and don't really care about the rest of the pureblood nonsense. I bet you don't even know half of our names, and you've been here as long as I have. We sit at the same table with you, but we might as well be in our own little world."
Harry thought about it, and realized Blaise was probably right. He didn't know all of the students in his house, just the ones that he had been introduced to by Malfoy and friends. He had never really thought about it before, but the more he did, the less he liked it. "Blaise, I'm sorry. I…never realized. And, by the way, please call me Harry! I was so happy that ANYONE was being nice to me last year; I just didn't pay attention to how much Draco was controlling my friends and stuff. What a …git he is, and what a prat I am for falling for it! But that just proves what I was talking to Miss Puckle about. I bet that Slytherin could do much better in the house cup if we were using all of our housemates to score points, and we were taking advantage of every opportunity to do better. But, Blaise, if you feel this way, how come you didn't just go to Miss Puckle last year on your own, you and your other friends."
"How stupid are you, Pot...I mean, Harry?" Blaise was again surprised at his apparent cluelessness. "I have to live in the same room with the git, you know, and he does have quite a bit of pull around here. A lot of us, being Slytherins in nature, I guess, are cunning enough to realize when to push back and when to let things go when the odds aren't in our favor. Yeah, you're probably right - we could do better in the house cup, but Potter, why do you care about getting your house's name carved in an old trophy? What's important is what we're not learning because of the boycott, not who gets the most house points! After we finish our N.E.W.T.S. in five years, it will matter more how we did on them than what color robes we wore while we're here! In fact, based on what I've seen while I'm here, I don't know that I'm going to advertise that I was IN Slytherin after I leave. Unless something changes, it's not something I'll be too proud of."
Harry nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Sometimes I get the strangest feeling that I was put in the wrong house, but the sorting hat was pretty clear on it when I was sorted. So, how about it? Do you think you could talk to these friends of yours and see if they are interested in meeting with Miss Puckle to go over some extra charms coursework? I'm sure she will keep it quiet, if that's what you want. She's pretty accommodating, from what I have seen."
*****
However, at the moment, Miss Puckle was anything BUT accommodating. "PROFESSOR LOCKHART…HOW DARE YOU! I assure you, sir, that the only motive I had in coming to visit you in your quarters today was to discuss the treatment of one of my students in your class! No, I most assuredly do NOT want to see your etchings, nor anything else in your bedroom, and I do mean ANYTHING! Have you been drinking? I thought I smelled some Ogden's on your breath!" As she was retreating rapidly towards the door to his apartment, she had to continually push him away as he tried to put his arm around her.
"But, Miss Puckle, I've known you wanted me ever since I saw you at Flourish and Blotts that day" Gilderoy slurred. "It happens all the time - they come to my book signings, and all they really want is me! Don't try to deny it, Harmony - I really like the sound of that name, you know - sounds sort of like Har-Moany - has a nice ring to it! Come here, give me a little kiss. You know you want it!"
"I most certainly do NOT!" she said with disgust, "I'm not that kind of witch! And, I do not approve of that…name you just called me - Har-Moany? How disgusting! In the future, I'd prefer it if you refer to me by my proper title - Assistant Professor Puckle. GOOD DAY!" she shouted, pushing him away long enough that she could slam the door shut in his face before he could get there. She could still hear him pleading for her to come back as she retreated down the hallway.