Chapter Fifty-Four of 'Other People's Choices'- The Adversaries
Chapter Fifty-Three.
Title: Other People’s Choices (54/?)
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.
Pairing: None; this is a gen story
Content Notes: AU of CoS, angst, present tense, violence
Rating: PG-13
Summary: AU. The Sorting Hat doesn’t just let the Sword go when it falls on Harry’s head in the Chamber, but also Sorts him again, this time into Slytherin. Harry is furious and terrified, and the adults aren’t helping much.
Author’s Notes: This began life as another of my Advent fics in response to an anonymous request for Harry being re-Sorted into Slytherin when the Sorting Hat hits his head in CoS. The title is based on Dumbledore’s quote: “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”
Chapter One.
Thank you again for all the reviews!
Chapter Fifty-Four--The Adversaries
"Happy Christmas-Easter-spring."
Harry blinks and turns around to see Blaise solemnly holding out a book towards him. Harry knows that it's newly-copied and bound because Blaise said so, but the leather is dark and covered with a large splotch on the front, making it look ancient. He takes it and then gasps aloud as he feels the magic tingling in his fingers.
"No wonder one person couldn't copy the whole thing," he says, when the magic relaxes enough to let him get a word in edgewise.
Blaise smiles at him. It's the kind of tense smile Harry hasn't seen in months, the one he wears when he talks about his mum. "Yeah, it would be a lot easier if copying charms worked on the contents, but they don't. Aren't you going to open it?"
Harry nods obediently and does so, blinking at the letters and pictures that climb up the first page. The first letter of the book is a capital B, and it's painted as a climbing vine with more vines branching out of it, and the whole side of the page is covered with prancing peacocks and birds that Harry thinks are doves. "Wow."
"Yes, I had illuminators work on it."
"This must have cost a fortune, Blaise."
Harry looks up at the silence. Slytherins aren't shy about discussing money and even like to brag about it in the way that most people in Gryffindor don't. But Blaise is giving him another of those smiles. "What is it?"
"The people I contacted thought they were working for my mother. Not me."
Harry tenses. "If she finds out--"
"That's why she's not going to." Blaise's mouth is calmly set, and Harry gives up, since he knows he won't get anything more out of him. "But anyway, I want you to enjoy that book. Let me know if you don't understand anything in it. Some of it is ancient Italian magic, which my ancestors changed so that wizards could use it as well as witches. But I'm determined that you'll be able to use it, too."
"Why, though?"
"For being my friend."
Harry just has to smile and nod, because he knows that thanking Blaise more would put him off. Besides, the best way to thank him is to ask those questions that Blaise is anticipating. "Who's Aradia?" he asks, flipping through a few pages. "Her name keeps showing up here and there, but there aren't any pictures."
"My ancestors thought images would be disrespectful when they were already altering the magic enough. And anyway, some of it is combined with British magic because I have ancestors from Britain, too. Let me show you..."
He could be a leader if he wanted, too, Harry thinks as he listens and begins to scribble down notes on a piece of parchment. He has the feeling that it would be a bad idea to try to take notes in the book itself. But he wants to follow me for some reason.
Well, then the best thing to do is let him help me and show other people what being a leader does for you.
*
"Okay, look, can I please discuss something with you?"
Theo watches with narrowed eyes as Marcus Flint confronts Harry in the Slytherin common room. It's odd that Flint would approach Harry after doing what he did earlier that year and being warned away so emphatically. Perhaps he's heard about their study group and assumes that he would be welcome there thanks to his pure blood.
He's wrong about that, Theo thinks. A casual glance around the common room tells him that Draco has his wand in hand, Greengrass is alert even though she appears absorbed in a book, and Blaise is absent.
"What?" Harry asks warily. He has the clockwork snake he received from Theo's father on his shoulder and Greengrass's pendant around his neck. On his lap is that dark book that he got from Blaise and has been pondering over since. A serpent carved into the couch arm near him looks as if it might rear up and defend him should he hiss to it in Parseltongue. He doesn't appear to realize how Slytherin he looks, or how princely. Theo will take great delight in telling him later.
Or perhaps not. Things like this might be a more effective defense from Slytherins like Flint if he isn't always self-conscious about them.
"I know that we haven't always got along..."
"That's a funny understatement to make."
Theo tilts his head a little, and Flint looks around and catches his eye. Theo gives him a faint smile to remind him of the knives. Flint goes pale, but carries on with what he's saying to Harry. "But won't you please consider playing Quidditch for Slytherin? I'll be gone after this year--"
Hopefully, anyway.
"But the team won't, and your skill is outstanding. We're losing to Gryffindor still even if not as badly. You should consider it."
Theo holds his mouth shut with an effort. Given Flint's taunts about Theo and his father possibly dying at Voldemort's hands, which will not be happening, he wouldn't have thought anything mattered more to him than service to the Dark Lord. But apparently Quidditch does. Interesting.
"No. Because I won't play against my friends, and I won't take a spot on the Slytherin Quidditch team away from a friend."
"What? Who--"
"Your Seeker, Flint." Draco's voice is low and furious.
Flint flushes red, but he says to Draco, "You know that he's the better Seeker," and turns back to Harry while Draco is still getting up from his couch. "Just consider it, Potter? Please? You're part of our House now."
"I've thought about it. My answer's no." Harry goes back to the book Blaise gave him and utterly ignores the next few spluttering comments Flint makes. Flint ends by throwing up his hands and storming away, muttering things under his breath that at least sound like bafflement and not threats.
Theo eases back on the couch and sees Greengrass relax in the same instant. Draco catches his eye and nods to him. Theo shrugs a little at the question he sees in Draco's eyes. He knows how to translate it.
Since when are we all part of Harry Potter's defense team?
But to Theo, the answer started with the beginning of this year. Or maybe even with the way that the Sorting Hat placed Harry in Slytherin last year. This is the way that Theo has chosen to walk. He'll make sure that the others don't jostle him off his path, and he'll work with them to learn spells and improve their positions in Slytherin and keep Harry safe.
Beyond that, he has no bond with them.
*
"I have wanted to talk to you for some time now, Miss Granger."
"I'm sorry that I couldn't come before now, Headmaster."
"Quite all right, Miss Granger! I am the one who has to make an appointment if I want to talk to you, after all."
Hermione smiles, but she's making sure that she looks at the bridge of Headmaster Dumbledore's nose so that he can't read her mind. He probably thinks she's on his side because she stopped the Aurors from arresting Sirius. That doesn't mean she is. She's on Harry's side. And he would have been miserable if the Aurors arrested Sirius and dragged him away.
Sometimes Hermione thinks that she should have let that happen. But she also doesn't think Professor Snape or Madam Macmillan or any other adults understand how miserable Harry would have been.
"What did you want to talk to me about, Headmaster?"
"Mr. Potter. I understand that he has been neglecting his Gryffindor friends since he was Sorted into Slytherin."
"Oh, no, sir. He's just expanding his friendship circle. He's even made friends in other Houses. Did you know that we have Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs studying with us now? It's great! Chang and Lovegood know so much." Even if Hermione privately thinks that Luna is, well, not so much knowing as anti-knowing sometimes.
"But you must feel that he doesn't spend as much time with you now that he's in Slytherin House?"
"We understand why, though, sir. I mean, he has to make some friends in his own House, and he has to spend some time in his common room. And there are even some Gryffindors who don't want him visiting ours."
"I'm sure you would agree that's ridiculous, Miss Granger. Mr. Potter should always be welcome in his original home."
"Oh, but he is, Headmaster!"
"Miss Granger."
"Hogwarts. He's welcome in Hogwarts. Sorry, sir, I thought that's what you meant."
Dumbledore pauses. Hermione smiles at him and tries to expand the edges of her mind into the same kind of crystalline cage that she uses when she's memorizing facts in Potions. Nothing about the office or the interview should escape her.
"You know that Harry is slipping further and further into Darkness."
I suppose he gave up on trying to convince me via subtlety. Hermione widens her eyes and shakes her head. "Why would you think that, Headmaster? I think he's finally taking some things seriously. He's never studied so hard or worked so hard on his spells! I was so proud of him!"
"Among other things, Miss Granger, he's associating openly with children of families on the other side of the war from us."
"But there's no war, sir."
Dumbledore sighs in a way that makes Hermione want to cringe. But she can't, because Dumbledore isn't actually her professor and he can't assign her homework, and she's fighting for her friends. "I know you are more astute than that, Miss Granger. You know that the war will return, that Voldemort is not dead. Or did you forget what you faced in your first year at Mr. Potter's side? When he returns, his faithful Death Eaters will flock to him."
"But why would Theo and Blaise and Draco betray Harry to do that, sir?" Hermione thinks he's talking about exactly those people, even though she has no idea if Blaise's mum was a Death Eater.
Dumbledore starts. It's not until later that Hermione thinks he probably did it because she referred to the Slytherins by their first names. As it is, he tries to cover that up by smiling at her. "Because they understand the causes of the war and the lines drawn by it even better than Harry, Miss Granger. No doubt Mr. Nott and Mr. Malfoy have received an education from their fathers in how to serve Voldemort."
"What about Blaise?"
"You know the rumors surrounding his mother, I presume."
"I know the rumors, sir."
Dumbledore sighs again. "Although there has never been evidence that would convince a court to convict, I have done my research, and I do indeed believe that Signora Zabini is a murderess seven times over. And those are only the ones that we know she married, Miss Granger. Imagine a woman like that raising a young and vulnerable child. What would you do?"
"I would get the young and vulnerable child away from her!"
Again Dumbledore starts. This time Hermione thinks she understands why, and it doesn't make her like him any better. But then, to her shock, he shakes his head and actually admits to it. "Such a thing is very difficult given the complexities of Italian wizarding law, not to mention the law that pertains to minor Italian wizards residing in Britain."
"But you said you believed she was guilty!"
"I do indeed."
"Then get him away from her!"
"As you yourself have observed in the study of the law, Miss Granger, there are edge cases and complications and precedents..."
Dumbledore goes on talking, but Hermione can't listen too closely because then she will start responding, which would be dreadful for Harry and maybe for Blaise. She just nods and murmurs and manages to leave the office without promising anything, although that's not ideal either because it means that she has no idea why he called her there in the first place. She finds herself walking out and fuming.
She has to call a meeting of the study group. Immediately. And maybe they need to discuss how to start protecting themselves in Hogwarts.
*
"I've got someone else who wants to join the study group," Zach drawls when they're all settled around the pushed-together tables in the library that have become theirs.
Harry looks up from talking to Ginny. She didn't want to join the study group at first because she said the sight of the snakes on the Slytherins' badges (including his) made her nauseous. But now she's here, and she's also said that she wants to learn how to defend herself so that she never has to suffer through something like what happened to her last year again. "Who is it?"
"Susan. Susan Bones?" Zach adds, lifting his eyebrows in that condescending way he has when Harry only blinks. "Her aunt is Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. And Justin and a few of the second-years are thinking about it, but they're not sure yet."
Harry shrugs. "If they can get along with the people who are already here and keep certain things to themselves, then they're welcome."
"Maybe not. We have something to talk about, Harry."
Harry has recognized that Hermione had something she wanted to talk about from the second they arrived in the library, but she only shook her head at him when he invited her to speak up a few minutes ago. She was scribbling away on a parchment then, so maybe she's done with that now. "What is it?"
Hermione turns the parchment around. She's written a long message that has Harry craning his neck to see it. His eyes widen when he realizes she's writing about Dumbledore and how she thinks he's plotting against Harry. It makes Harry feel a little sick to his stomach. He knew Dumbledore was upset about Snape and Sirius and all the rest of it, but it's different to have someone else talk about this.
"What are you talking about?" Cho asks, her eyes wide. "Are you saying that Headmaster Dumbledore would--"
Harry looks up sharply, but Hermione nods to the air around their table, which is covered with a softly-glowing, transparent dome, which means that no one from beyond the table will be able to hear anything. Harry relaxes. "I don't know for sure, because I don't know what Hermione knows," he says, and looks at her expectantly.
"Headmaster Dumbledore wanted to talk to me this morning." Hermione is biting her lip, and her skin has flushed dark enough to see. "I don't know for sure what it was about, because he never got around to why, but he was saying that it's a bad thing Harry is in Slytherin and making friends with the children of Death Eaters."
"Well, it could be a bad thing," Zach says, just to be a prick. He catches Harry's eye, or maybe Blaise's or Theo's or Draco's, and holds up his hands. "I'm saying, your parents will be able to hurt you when they want to. And you might be passing information on this group to them without even knowing it."
"Why are you here then, Smith?" Draco demands.
"Because I'm not an idiot. Might and will aren't the same thing as are."
"Anyway," Hermione breaks in, "he never outright said it, but I think he was trying to make me agree that Harry is neglecting his Gryffindor friends and not spending enough time in the Gryffindor common room. I think he wanted me to be a spy. Or maybe try to get Harry to stop spending time with the Slytherins."
"Did you tell him that the study group includes people from all Houses?" Ernie demands.
"Of course I did. That was part of my defense. But he didn't seem to care."
"The Boy-Who-Lived is too good to associate with Hufflepuffs, of course." Ernie folds his arms and scowls.
"The Boy-Who-Lived is sitting right here, and hates his bloody title, and is going to associate with whoever he bloody wants," Harry snaps, ignoring the way that Hermione catches her breath and says something about his language.
"But that means standing up to Dumbledore." Ron speaks up from the edge of the group, where he sits and takes notes and talks only to Harry and Hermione and ignores Draco. "Are you really going to do that? I mean, stand up to the Headmaster? You wanted to go along with him when he was controlling what Sirius could do."
Harry shivers. He feels as though someone is blowing cold air right on him. Especially because everyone else has gone silent and is staring at him.
Well, this is one of those times when I have to be a leader. "I think I have to," Harry says. "He's trying to keep me from actually helping other people and fitting into Slytherin and saving people from their parents. He should want to save them if their parents are Death Eaters--"
"That's what I said--"
"Maybe some of us don't need saving, Granger--"
"But he isn't." Harry raises his voice and talks a little more loudly. "So I have to. And I have to be able to study and talk to people and go where I want in Hogwarts. I mean, within reason," he adds, when he sees Hermione opening her mouth. "So I have to stand up to him."
There's silence around the table for a second. Harry actually braces himself to see some of them walk away. He thinks Zach might, since he keeps saying he's only in this group for his own benefit, and Cho, who looks scared. Even Neville has a troubled look on his face.
But Zach says, "Yes? So how are we going to do that?"
Harry can't keep from gaping at him, and Zach understands all his objections and rolls his eyes without a word being said from Harry. "Right now, this is the only place in the school where I'm learning something. Snape still won't give us enough instructions in Potions, Sprout thinks everyone is absolutely gasping to learn how to wrestle dangerous plants right away, McGonagall is good but too advanced, Defense Against the Dark Arts is a joke as usual--"
"Professor Snape, Professor Sprout, Professor McGonagall--"
"Professor Sprout is a good teacher!"
"What about Professor Flitwick?"
Zach ignores the chorus, keeping his eyes fixed on Harry. "You want to help the school be a school. I want to attend school. Yeah, I'm with you."
And the others start speaking up then, like Ginny who wants to defend herself and Cho who wants to pass her Defense OWL next year and Luna, who simply says, "You're my friends," and Ernie with words about his great-aunt, and Draco who says that Slytherins have always received the disrespect of the Headmaster and this is just another example.
There's also Ron and Hermione and Blaise and Theo, who just catch Harry's eye and nod.
And sometimes, Harry thinks as a new fire begins burning in his chest, that's all friends need.
Chapter Fifty-Five.
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