How To Change Your House
Eventually Henry and Daniel joined and we'd eat all of our meals together, and in our third year we'd just go straight to the kitchens. But that's a story for another time, let's just focus on the part we're on.
"Hey Danny, what's got your head in the clouds?" Oliver nudged Daniel, shoveling a piece of bread into his mouth.
Daniel, who had his chin resting in his hand, hummed as he pushed his food around his plate. "I'm just thinking," he sighed.
"Well don't hurt yourself," Oliver smiled, although Daniel noted that it didn't reach its normal capacity.
"Shouldn't I be saying that to you," Daniel said, just a hint of amusement in his voice.
Two different sets of chuckles had Oliver glaring at the two purebloods of their group. "I'm not that bad!" he pouted. "But that does remind me, I haven't started my potions essay. I'll see you guys tomorrow," Oliver stood up from his seat and left the Great Hall.
Two sets of eyes turned towards Daniel.
"Okay what's wrong?" Henry sternly asked, beginning his interrogation.
Daniel stared at Henry in shock. "How did you-"
"You didn't correct Oliver when he called you Danny," Sebastian deadpanned. "Now hurry up and tell Henry what's wrong,"
A deep breath. "You guys saw the bruise right?" Daniel asked.
A sigh. "Second one this week," Sebastian answered.
"Someone's beating up Oliver?!" Henry exclaimed, slamming his hands down on the table, smiling apologetically at the slytherins around him.
Sebastian glanced at Henry from the side. "Aren't Hufflepuffs supposed to be good finders?"
Henry threw his arms up before angrily crossing them over his chest. "You can't find something you're not looking for!"
Sebastian wanted to argue that point, after all, he wasn't looking for friends yet here we are.
"Well he casts an illusion charm to conceal the bruises. It's not a super strong one though, if you pay attention you can see through it," Sebastian stated, wiping his face with a napkin.
"So then who's beating him up?" Henry asked, leaning onto the table.
"It's probably a Gryffindor," Daniel observed. At Henry and Sebastian's confused faces he elaborated. "Think about it, have either of you ever seen Oliver talk to another Gryffindor outside of a class, or even mention one?"
"Now that you mention it, the other Gryffindors have definitely seen Oliver and Sebastian together," Henry mused, crossing his arms and leaning back with a contemplative look on his face.
"Are you saying this is my fault!?" Sebastian snarled.
Daniel rested his elbows on the table and lazily waved at Sebastian. "Don't get your blood purity in a twist. It's not your fault Gryffindor and Slytherin hate each other,"
"We don't hate each other,"
Henry and Daniel stared at Sebastian before silently turning towards each other. "So ignoring Sebastian's ignorance, which Gryffindor do you reckon it is?" Henry asked, taking a drink from his goblet.
"Alexander Williams," Daniel deadpanned.
"What makes you say that?" Sebastian demanded more than asked.
"Two reasons," Daniel held up one finger, resting his chin in his other hand. "One, no Gryffindor hates Slytherin more than him," he added another finger. "Two, I've seen Oliver flinch away from him," Daniel dropped his hand onto the table.
"That's good and all, but is there anything else, maybe evidence?" Sebastian snarked.
"I say we gank him," Henry smiled, punching a fist into his palm.
Sebastian turned towards Henry in shock. "No! We have no proof!" he exclaimed.
"Love the enthusiasm Henry, but Sebastian's right. We have no solid proof," Daniel pointed out, gesturing to the Slytherin.
"Not to mention the legalities of that statement," Sebastian sent a quick glare Henry's way.
Henry's eyes narrowed as he leaned towards Sebastian. "Do you even care that Oliver's getting beaten up?"
Sebastian rolled his eyes, using a hand to push Henry away from him. " Oliver can take care of himself, he's grown,"
"He's eleven! We're all eleven!" Henry yelled, glaring at Sebastian. "I'm not stupid Lunar. Get over yourself and start acting like you care, because I know you do," Henry jabbed a finger into Sebastian's chest before storming out of the Great Hall.
"Well," Daniel spoke after a minute of silence. "That was interesting. You know, if you want evidence all you have to do is ask. For some reason Oliver seems to trust you the most," Daniel stood up, following Henry out.
Sebastian slowly wandered the halls of Hogwarts, Henry and Daniel's words playing on repeat in his head. He'd seen the bruises and they weren't that bad, primarily on his arms with one on his chin that inspired the whole conversation.
"Seb!" Sebastian turned towards the voice to see Oliver jogging up to him in dark jeans and a baggy, black jumper. "Hey, what's up?" Oliver greeted once he caught up.
"I'm doing well, how about yourself?" Sebastian asked. All you have to do is ask.
"I'm doing great! I finished my potions essay so I'm free all day!" Oliver lifted his head to smile at Sebastian.
Sebastian's eyes zeroed in on Oliver's throat, the small smile had at Oliver's appearance dropped completely. Start acting like you care, because I know you do. He took a step towards Oliver, yanking the collar of his jumper down to fully expose the bruise. Sebastian brought his other hand up to gently thumb the dark, hand shaped bruise on his throat.
"Seb?" Oliver whispered, gripping the wrist of the hand that was pulling his jumper collar away.
All you have to do is ask."Who did this?" Sebastian felt Oliver stiffen. "Oliver. Who did this?" Sebastian ground out.
"N-no one," Oliver stuttered, wide hazel eyes were locked onto cold grey eyes.
Sebastian glared at Oliver, squeezing slightly, only letting up when Oliver winced. "Don't lie to me Smith. Who. Did. This,"
Oliver averted his eyes, squeezing Sebastian's wrist. "Alexander Williams," he whispered. "He-he doesn't like that we're friends," Oliver's head snapped up, voice rising slightly. "But I don't care! He doesn't get to decide who I am or who I'm not friends with!" Oliver declared.
Sebastian stared at Oliver before taking his hand out of Oliver's grip and grabbed his wrist. "Come on," Sebastian turned and started dragging Oliver with him.
"Seb! Where are you going?!"
"I'm pretty sure I saw Henry and Daniel out by the fountain,"
Was Lunar actually concerned about him? Was a Gryffindor really beating up another Gryffindor because of their friend choice? Draco scoffed. Gotta love those noble Gryffindors. Draco closed the book and stood up from his chair in the Slytherin common room and left to go wander the halls, eventually finding himself sat at the fountain on campus. He opened the book again, this part was definitely interesting. After all, he had proof that the noble Gryffindors aren't so noble.
"You were right," Sebastian declared, walking up to the fountain, dragging a nervous looking Oliver behind him.
Daniel glanced over from his position sprawled in Henry's lap, shooting into a sitting position Upon seeing the other two of their group. "What happened?"
Sebastian yanked Oliver forward. "He told me," he redirected his gaze to Daniel. "You were right, Alexander Williams is the one responsible," Sebastian seethed.
Daniel quickly stepped in front of Oliver, carefully grabbing the sides of his face and turning his head to see the extent of the damage. "When did this happen? This wasn't part of your array of bruises earlier," Daniel mused.
Oliver flinched back slightly. "You-" he gulped. "You saw?" he asked with wide eyes.
"Of course we saw! Oliver, he hit you, punched you, he choked you!" Sebastian screamed, shaking his arms in barely contained fury.
"Sebastian," Henry, who had been quiet this whole time, spoke up.
The three boys turned towards Henry, he was sat on the ledge of the fountain, elbows on his knees, head bowed, hair falling in front of his face. "That's enough," Henry spoke coldly, no semblance of emotion in his voice.
Now there are only a few things in this world that genuinely terrify me, and one of those things was Henry. We called it the 'Sunshine Person Effect.' Sunshine people are very nice, sociable, and loyal, like a ray of sunshine. Because of this, they're even scarier when they get mad, and boy was Henry pissed.
"It's useless to argue, especially since we're all making the same argument. Now what needs to happen," Henry looked up, his normally soft and kind face was hardened with fury. "what needs to happen is a decision on what to do about Williams," Henry harshly clasped his hands together and lifted his lip into a snarl. "I'm open to suggestions as all of my ideas are highly illegal,"
"Sounds good to me," Sebastian snarled.
"We'll prank him. Make it a warning, make the prank impossible to truly trace back to us, but with enough evidence so that he knows it was us. Knows that we'll protect each other," Daniel stood with confidence. If this was a movie a gust of wind would gently tousle his hair and cause his robes to billow out behind him.
"What kind of prank?" Henry asked after taking a minute to contemplate what Daniel had proposed.
Daniel smirked. "We'll turn him into the thing he hates most," his friends looked on in anticipation. "A Slytherin. We'll make him a Slytherin,"
"Make him a Slytherin?" Draco murmured to himself. Draco read on with wide eyes.
"Bingo," Daniel snapped his fingers, grin on his face.
"Bing-" Sebastian shook his head. "How do you propose we do that?" he asked. Sebastian had wrapped an arm around Oliver's shoulders and pulled him into his side.
Daniel smiled at the scene in front of him. He still has trouble sometimes, but Sebastian was slowly showing that he did in fact care about them. "A couple of charms and transfiguration spells, and of course, our resident Slytherin," Daniel sent a mischievous smile towards Sebastian.
"Sounds like a plan. Oliver, any idea where Williams is right now?" Henry tilted his head.
"He should be at quidditch practice right now," Oliver answered, gripping onto Sebastian's burgundy jumper.
"Well," Henry hopped off of the fountain, brushing himself off. "Let's head to the Gryffindor dorms then. We have a house change to complete,"
Oliver spoke the password and the group hurriedly made their way towards Williams' dorms.
"Wow you weren't kidding when you said everything is red," Henry spoke, turning to look around as they headed up the stairs.
"Yeah, it's giving me a headache," Sebastian frowned, squinting his eyes. "Ugh, the rooms aren't much better," he grimaced.
"Yeah I know, it's awful," Oliver headed into the room before stopping by a bed. "This is Alexander's bed," he spoke blandly.
Henry stepped forward. "Oliver, how do you know which bed is his?" he slowly put a hand on his shoulder.
"We had one of our talks in here. It also says his name,"
"Oh,"
"Hey, Henry and I can deal with this, we're the ones who know the spells. Why don't you and Sebastian hang out in your room," Daniel directed Oliver into Sebastian's arms.
"Why?" at Daniel's confused hum Oliver elaborated. "Why are you doing all of this?"
"Because we care about you, and I'd like to think that you'd do the same for us," Henry smiled, bringing Oliver into a hug. "Also this was the only legal idea we had,"
The group chuckled and got to work. Henry and Daniel cast the proper spells, Sebastian provided proper descriptions so everything was as close to the original as they could get it, while Oliver interjected with unwelcome yet funny comments.
When Sebastian saw the small smile on Oliver's face when Williams ran into the Great Hall screaming about some great crime, clad in green and silver, he'd wonder about the surge of pride he felt for something so immature later.
Draco huffed in amusement, that was actually a clever prank to pull on a Gryffindor. Immature of course, but clever all the same. Draco gently closed the book and stayed out at the courtyard, his eyes passing longingly over the small groups of friends scattered around. He shook his head slightly, scrunching his nose. Draco redirected his gaze to the book. He only started having these thoughts after he begun to read the book. Huffing slightly, Draco angrily marched back to his dorm room. He shoved the book into his clothing chest.
"There-" he dusted his hands off. "- problem solved,"