Chapter 12
At dinner, we get two announcements.
One announcement was that the specific date for the next Castle Battle Tournament for Beaxbatons vs Durmstrang had been revealed. The other is that fourth years and above will have the opportunity to attend a Yule Ball held at Hogwarts before the Winter holiday.
Luckily, my lieutenants and I were already aware of both, thanks to our spying paintings. They made the announcements before dessert was brought out so we were not starving, but now we have something to gossip about in the Great Hall as we finish up our dinners.
“Why do I see too many stares from females in my future if I keep in close proximity to you, Harry?” Blaise adds.
“Like that’s a bad thing?” Draco questions with a chuckle.
“Just because Harry won’t be interested, doesn’t mean they’ll go for you as a replacement, Draco,” Theo laughs while his platinum blonde-haired friend glares at him.
“You do have a point,” I chuckle as well. “I guess it will be best if I get it over with, even if I will probably be rejected,” I tell them, but make it sound serious, which will most likely have them wondering if I am joking since they have caught onto my humor.
“Who are you asking, Harry?” Tracey starts, obviously looking forward to my answer.
“As if we have to guess,” Pansy smiles before taking a sip of her drink.
“I have no clue what you are talking about, Pans,” Claire even joins in with a smile, before looking over to the Ice Princess, whose facial mask has just changed to defensive mode.
“Do tell, Harry. Who’s the lucky lady?” Millie adds, to irritate her roommate.
“I will be asking the most beautiful, blonde-haired, intimidating, powerful, independent, feisty, and most unobtainable lady at this school,” I start clearly, but drag out my words before looking at the annoyed-looking older Greengrass sister.
“Daphne?” I start before she looks directly at me.
“Don’t,” she all but warns me with a whisper.
“Daphne, will do you me the honor of…” I start before pausing as she again tells me to stop it with a look. “Passing me that plate of chocolate chip biscuits next to you?” I grin as everyone around me seems to deflate around me.
The surprised Ice Princess complies non-verbally and hands me the plate before I take some and put them in a napkin to be packed up before putting the desserts into my pocket.
“I thought you said—” Tracey starts with a small accusation before I cut her off.
“Sorry, Trace. I have to go ask that lady I mentioned to be my date to the ball before she gets taken,” I smile, although my words to her are two, or even three, fold, before I leave my table to head over to another table.
When I get to my destination, I summon something that I am holding behind my back before clearing my throat to get her attention. She looks surprised but smiles at my presence, which I am hoping is a good thing. I am also bolstered when I pull out another bouquet of flowers for her…she almost gushes in anticipation.
“Miss Flower,” I start, using a teasing pet name.
“Will you please accept the flowers of this little boy, who has some skill, craves the attention, and is trembling with fear on the inside? Will you also give them the honor of escorting you to the ball, so this little boy won’t go crying away from being politely rejected?” I ask her with a big self-deprecating smile on my face.
“Tempting,” Fleur starts, like she is playing hard to get. “But I’d rather take these flowers and go to zee ball witz you, mon chéri,” she smiles before taking the offered flowers and gets up over the bench to fully stand and face me.
“I was really hoping you’d say something like that,” I grin as I stare into her calming blue eyes.
“As was I,” she smiles before using her hand, which isn’t holding the flowers, to wrap around the back of my neck.
She then slowly pulls me forward before locking lips with me, getting gasps from multiple people around us. I pay them no attention, but I do send a small half-pouting look to the older French lady who makes sure it is a brief kiss.
“D'autres baisers viendront plus tard,” she smiles at my unasked question before pulling her hand back to her side.
“Merci,” I grin back at the intriguing platinum-blonde bombshell of a lady. “Faites-moi savoir si je peux aider l'un de vos amis à trouver un homme pour le bal de Noël,” I reply loud enough for her fellow female schoolmates to hear.
“Merci,” Fleur replies, along with multiple other female Beaxbaton students who heard my offer, before reaching out to lightly grab my hand in thanks.
“I hope you and your friends have a lovely rest of the night,” I tell her before I am about to make my leave.
“Thank you for asking me,” she whispers to me after pulling on my hand, so I’d move forward to meet her halfway into a tight hug.
“I will be looking forward to zee ball now,” she smiles before letting go of our strong embrace.
“That will make two of us,” I smile before heading out as I can tell she is still looking at me.
This still does not stop me from raising my fist in the air in triumph as I make my way out of the Great Hall, getting laughs from Hermione and other muggle-borns who witness my display of victory.
***
“I can’t believe you did that!” Tracey scolds me after busting into my dorm room unannounced.
I got back to the Slytherin Common Room before heading directly to my room before kicking off my trainers to get comfortable on my bed. I wasn’t planning on interacting with anyone besides my lieutenants to avoid all the gossip since I am pretty sure I was the first one to get an official date to the Yule Ball.
Unfortunately, I only got halfway done with my first dessert before my auburn-haired housemate came bursting into my room.
“Biscuit?” I offer, deflecting her outburst.
“No thank you,” she replies with a scowl.
“By ‘no thank you’ do you mean. ‘yes please’?” I smile, knowing she must have skipped dessert to get here so fast.
“Maybe,” she grumbles, before her stomach can.
She then closes the door, magically locks it, and kicks off her own trainers before she slowly makes her way over to my bed, before hopping on as she gets comfortable from across from me.
“I promise there is nothing special about these, although the elves are true master bakers,” I smile before offering her one.
“Oh, haha,” Tracey replies before taking the dessert with a roll of her eyes at my joke about baked goods.
“I hope your reasoning for who you chose to be your date to the Yule Ball is better than your humor,” she returns.
“Your words hurt me, my fair lady,” I add, getting her more annoyed with me, which was my plan.
“We are friends, right?” she asks me, this time dismissing my own words, leaving me at a loss for words for a moment.
“You… don’t think of me as your friend?” she asks from my lack of response and clearly looks dejected.
“I didn’t say that,” I reply at her quick accusation.
I don’t need to use my magical eyesight to see that she is upset at the thought of us not being friends. However, all my best-laid plans with Bellatrix, the same plans to slowly remove my friendly status with my fellow classmates, seems to already be backfiring.
When I first entered this school, I just wanted to use everyone for my benefit. However, a certain few, like the lady sitting across from me, are making my former stance very hard to maintain.
“Then what are we?” Tracey asks, with a little more force in her voice.
“Housemates with benefits?” I ask, again trying to use my humor to defuse the situation.
“I can work with that,” she smiles before she starts to crawl over to my personal space as my body tenses.
“Really?” I ask without thought.
Then my forehead twinges in pain for a moment.
“Owwwwwwww,” I pout after Tracey gets done with flicking my forehead, before she gets back to her space across from me, after taking another biscuit from my stash.
“That’s what you get for giving me stupid untrue answers,” she smiles at her successful mission.
“I am going to ask you one more time,” she tells me with one of the most serious voices that I have ever heard from her.
“Are we friends? Tell me honestly,” she adds the last part with a bit of authority behind it.
“You want the truth?” I ask with a smile.
“If you say I can’t handle the truth…I’ll punch you,” Tracey responds with a serious smile.
If she only knew how wrong she was…however, she has been loyal enough that I guess I can put her on the list of people I will not be pulling away from.
“The truth…the real truth,” I start before having to pause before she patiently waits for me to continue. “Tracey Davis…you have become one of my best friends, despite my best efforts,” I tell her honestly and it is her turn to be shocked.
“If that’s true…why did you ask Fleur Delacour to the ball? I guess it was a little self-centered of me to think you did it to upset us,” she admits as her shoulders slump in minor embarrassment.
“It was fun to surprise you all…but…with Fleur…I enjoy spending time with someone older than me, who gets being judged by what you are instead of who you are… plus, I didn’t want any of my lady friends to wait out to get asked by me when other blokes may ask them… I also realized my flirtatious side might be spreading false signals… and I’d rather be hated and disliked over unintentionally playing with someone’s feelings,” I admit.
“Wow… you really do care… unless it involves playing with my best friend's feelings,” Tracey adds, but gets me slightly confused.
“Daphne?” I ask with confusion. “She was practically begging me not to ask her and I don’t think any male admirer of hers can hurt her feelings,” I chuckle.
She just rolls her eyes at me before getting serious again.
“I am one of your best friends?” she asks with a small hopeful smile.
“As much as it pains me to say it… yes, it appears so,” I tell her with a roll of my eyes before the current biscuit in my hand goes flying to the ground.
“Oooof!” I exclaim after getting leached onto, before being tackled down as my back hits the top cover of my bed.
“You’re one of my best friends too,” she giggles in my ear, before giving me a wet slobbery smooch on my cheek.
“Aughhhhhh! Get off of me!” I exclaim before chuckling lightly in protest.
Tracey goes to reply before there is a loud bang on my door. Said door then goes flying open and someone comes rushing in, although I can also hear many protests from other voices from behind the intruder.
“Get off her!” I hear the familiar female voice before they falter upon seeing who is straddling who.
“Daph! Are you serious?” Tracey exclaims in minor frustration.
“Why are you always trying to stop me from making the impossible, possible,” I joke, which gets me a playful slap from the female who is still sitting on me.
“I thought I heard…” Daphne tries to sputter out before lowering her wand as the other fourth-year Snakes come in next.
Did everyone take my lead and skip dessert tonight?
“You probably heard right, but I take offense that you think my voice is feminine…I also take offense that you think I would do something that I thought I cleared myself of,” I tell the now embarrassed and paranoid female, who is the best friend of the girl who has still not gotten off me.
“Everything alright?” Blaise tries to offer.
“I’d say more than alright…it looks like Tracey is adamant about not wanting to share her boy toy with the older Veela,” Pansy smirks from her vantage point.
“Or share with her best friend,” Millie adds, making the guys laugh slightly while Claire moves her hand over her mouth to try and hide her chuckle.
“She does have a point,” I smile at Tracey, who gives my arm a light punch before getting off me with a smile and a minor warning look.
“You can all go about your separate ways now…and I advise you all never to barge in on me and Harry again if you know what’s good for you,” my best auburn-haired female friend warned the room’s whole inhabitants, solidifying our own friendship.
Daphne just huffs at her best friend and roommates, not even acknowledging the males, before turning on her heel to exit the room she broke into without another word.
“We begged her not to disturb you two, I am sorry,” Claire, the nicest of Tracey’s female roommates, apologizes.
“No need for apologies. I think you gals are in desperate need of a lady’s night…Draco, give them a bottle of Green Ice,” I tell him while he grumbles but complies as the girls thank me, while the guys just chuckle.
I smile to myself as well, knowing that Bellatrix did end up helping solve my admirer’s problem, at least until after the Yule Ball is over.
That’s when the real fun will start to commence.
***
Although we didn’t have another meeting in his office, Headmaster Dumbledore managed to corner me on the way to the Great Hall.
However, it was just to congratulate me on getting a date so early. Dumbledore added that he was happy that I was taking in the spirit of unity and reaching across to other schools, while many of my peers could not even reach out across houses. Dumbledore also told me that he was glad that we won our games, but would rather have Hogwarts lose than see me get seriously injured… I was caught short on how to respond and just nodded my head in thanks and told him I’d try to be safe but would make no promises.
“I am very happy to see that you are making friends in all the houses and congratulate you on getting a date to the Yule Ball from another house,” Flitwick had congratulated me after class as well.
“However, I still ask that you take your charms assignments more seriously… although, don’t think that I am unaware on just how much you have already brought up Hogwarts’ reputation that had been on the decline for the last couple of years,” the shorter but powerful wizard added, also offering me any help I may need with completing my work since I really don’t put too much into my actual written parts of our course work.
Luckily, we don’t have much practical work at Care of Magical Creatures.
***
“This beauty here is named, Buckbeak,” Hagrid had introduced us to the Hippogriff, who most were intimidated by from their reactions.
I had no issues with it and stepped forward to interact with it while others stepped back. Thanks to Lord Halos, I have always been interested in, and enjoy, interacting with magical beasts. I looked at it straight in the eye before giving it an excited smile.
“Easy there, Arry! Don’t antagonize him or he may see you as a threat,” Hagrid warned me from our area that is the borderline of the Great Forest and Hogwarts’ school grounds.
“I’ll be alright,” I laughed back.
“He just looks like he is in desperate need of some playtime!” I cackled.
Then I gave no warning before starting a full-on sprint along the borderline of the forest.
I was right in my hypothesis when the Hippogriff chased right after me, but kept parallel to me, like we were competing in a race. We actually got a fair way down before I slammed on the breaks, causing Buckbeak to slightly falter, before I took advantage of this and came sprinting back to our group. I actually thought I may win the race, but the Hippogriff was just playing with me the whole time as it easily beat me when we came to the last couple of metres back.
Exhausted, and still trying to catch my breath, I gave Buckbeak the sign of my surrender and bowed to the winner of our race. He then squawked at me before I offered him my hand so he could sniff it and recognize my scent for next time. I confirmed he liked me after he nuzzled into my hand to get me to pet him. I did as he requested and made sure to get to all the areas I had imagined he would have a harder time getting to. The playful Hippogriff ended up on the ground on his back as I ended things with a thorough belly rub.
It was only after our playtime that I noticed the eerie silence.
“What?” I asked to the shocked faces, besides my lieutenants who all just wore grins. However, all the Lions were at a loss for words, including Ronald. The rest of the Snakes were no different, even Tracey and Daphne had bulged eyes with their mouths slightly ajar.
“Did I get dirt on my face or something?” I ask from their still shocked faces before Hagrid speaks up.
“I reckon I have not seen any student that confident and familiar with a magical creature since Charlie Weasley was here, but I even think he would have more trepidation when coming face to face with a foreign Hippogriff. Well done, Arry! 30 points to Slytherin,” Hagrid informed me with a smile.
“Thanks,” I smile bashfully.
“I just kind of saw it in his eyes that he has been looking to play more,” I shrug my shoulders.
I am also glad to get some points for my house from the professor who hardly gives out points… mostly because I think he sometimes forgets he is a professor as well as the keeper of the school grounds. In his defense, I am a student who has no interest in getting house points. I actually am a little annoyed that more people don’t understand that the reason for having house winners is only to try and keep the whole student body behaved.
If anything, I should try to get our house in dead last place, but that will not be feasible if I still am trying to cause mischief and get away with it as well…
On the topic of professors who left me on the doorsteps of my biological relatives’ home, Deputy Headmistress McGonagall also found it necessary to speak with me after class. The usual serious and proper transfiguration professor was much more personable when it was just the two of us.
***
“Mr. Potter, I heards news that you were wrestling with a Hippogriff in Professor Hagrid’s class, is this true?” she asks with a small hint of a smile.
“Eghhh,” I started before replying fully.
“I just wanted to play with him. Buckbeak looked like he had pent-up energy so we had a race, he accepted me, and I gave him a little rub down that may have seemed like wrestling to the rather non-vocal audience,” I explain.
Her small smile transforms into a bigger one before she becomes serious from her spot in front of her desk.
“I worry that between that, your quest to win the Castle Battle Tournament as our Commander, and you subduing the hostile dragon…that you may not be looking out for your own well-being, like you should be,” she tells me with a small bit of personal genuine care.
“Still safer than leaving me with my magic hating relatives,” I try and joke, but from her surprised face, I know I am out of line.
“Sorry, bad joke. I have no ill will to you or Hagrid, Professor Hagrid that is,” I correct myself.
“I am even trying to forgive Headmaster Dumbledore… but I can tell you that my family has done more than enough to prepare me to go up against magical creatures and magical folk my age. I may appear reckless…but most of what everyone sees doesn’t even break the surface of how much I can handle,” I tell her vaguely.
“I guess you really did inherit your courage from both James and Lily… Especially after Miss Delacour accepted your offer to escort her to the Yule Ball,” the former Auror tells me with a little cheek and small grin.
“I know you are rather private about your adoptive family, and I have no right to ask you about them, so I won’t,” she starts, bringing up a topic we have never discussed, but may be overdue.
“I wanted to keep you at arm’s length to not show any favoritism in the beginning when you first made your grand entrance at Hogwarts but… if you ever would like to have tea with me in the future… I would more than like to share with you some memories that I have of your biological parents… that is, if you are ever interested,” she offers to me kindly.
“I am rather busy as of late,” I tell her honestly. “But I would still very much like to take you up on your offer in the future,” I tell her before she finally smiles fully.
I can talk to my biological parents from beyond the grave… but I also know all too well how hearing about people through someone else’s perspective can add to one’s own understanding on the people we think we know.
“Splendid,” McGonagall goes to end. “You best get going. I don’t want to keep you from your friends.”
“Thanks, professor,” I offer as I go to leave her room before looking back at her. “And maybe I can share so of my own personal life with you as well?” I ask with my own helpful smile.
“I’d very much like that, Harry,” she finally uses my full name before I give her a nod and brighter smile before making my way out.
It happened earlier than I anticipated, but if I can bring the professors of Hogwarts over to my side… my ideal future can become obtainable much quicker, especially with my success in gathering my current allies from Hogwarts.
Maybe Lord Halos was right in sending me to this school after all.