[This Lordship Business Series]: I Have Been a Brother to OWLS, 9/?

[lomonaaeren]

Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Nine—Happiness Caused By Cheese

Harry’s friends react in different ways to hearing that he went to the edge of the Forbidden Forest by himself.

Hermione sighs wearily and shakes her head, smoothing out the folds of parchment across her knee that seem to have a new revised study schedule. “If you insist on that, Harry. And it sounds like it was what you had to do to keep Zacharias safe.”

Ron looks up at the ceiling. “Have any idea how powerful the Smith family is?”

“No.”

“Pretty powerful.”

“We’ll take them on the same way we’re taking on the Ministry. I don’t think they’re more powerful than the Ministry.”

Ron grins at him and claps Harry’s shoulder. “Right on.”

Susan gets a weird little glint in her eyes when Harry talks about how Tiberius Smith changed his name to Hufflepuff. “I haven’t heard that,” she says. “And it’s the kind of thing that Aunt Amelia would pass on to me, if only as gossip.”

“You think he’s lying about it?”

“I think he might be intending to do it, but hasn’t yet. Let me see what I can find out.”

Theo gives him a long, patient look when Harry mentions that he went to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. When Harry clarifies that Zacharias and Ahalam were with him, it doesn’t seem to reassure Theo that much.

“You understand that I can’t protect you if I don’t know where you are, my lord?”

“That’s not true! If I was in severe enough danger, your oath would pull you to me. So you would know where I was then.”

Theo rubs his hand across his eyes and mutters something that sounds like, “You and Ahalam are well-suited.” But he doesn’t raise a huge protest about it, so Harry reckons they can consider the matter settled.

Sort of.

*

“You might have a natural talent for Potions, Mr. Potter!”

Harry hides his skeptical smile behind his book as he watches Slughorn hover over the cauldron of Draught of Peace he’s been brewing. Slughorn goes more slowly than Snape but explains things more clearly. Harry knows that Hermione is worried about whether they’ll cover all the relevant information in time for the O.W.L., though.

“Thank you, sir.”

Harry doesn’t really think that he has any natural talent. This is probably Professor Slughorn wanting to flatter the Boy-Who-Lived.

“Yes, indeed, indeed!” Slughorn winks at him. “Some of us remember James Potter and his Quidditch skills, like a colleague of mine I will not name, but some of us remember Lily Potter and her Potions talent.”

Harry holds back a startled reaction as best he can. He doesn’t really want to give Slughorn what he’s looking for. “Is that so, sir?” he asks. “People rarely speak of my mother to me.”

“Yes, it is. She was wonderful at casting spells that helped guide the potion along, once I allowed students to do that in their N.E.W.T. classes! Wonderful! Why, talk to her about Potions for fifteen minutes and you never would have guessed she was Muggleborn.”

Harry blinks and stares at Slughorn for a second. “Sir…”

“What? Oh, you mustn’t think that I’m a blood purist!” Slughorn flaps a hand at Harry. “I’m not! It’s silly to think that purebloods are better at certain skills because of inborn blood or any of that nonsense!” He laughs heartily. “It’s just that purebloods grow up with that kind of training, and so Muggleborns are less likely to have it, eh? Muggleborns can be as good as purebloods! Doesn’t happen more than one time out of five, but it can, and that’s what we all need to work towards!”

Harry nods slowly, and then finishes bottling his potion for the mark and cleaning up his cauldron. All the while, though, he’s thinking very hard.

That’s the kind of thing I need to fight. Not just blood purity nonsense like Mr. Malfoy and Voldemort spout, but that kind of casual prejudice that thinks it’s really surprising when a Muggleborn is as good at Potions as a pureblood.

That’s what I need to do.

*

“I think you ought to practice the Patronus Charm, Harry.”

Harry blinks at Blaise, who’s sat down next to him. They’re in the middle of another lesson for the Defense Association, and Harry has been offering advice to a few people and shoring up some shields. “What? Why?”

“You never did learn it, did you?”

“Well, not completely. Because the Ministry withdrew the Dementors when Sirius turned out to be innocent, and I was taking lessons with Professor Lupin, but that stopped.”

Blaise nods, wraps his arms around his knees, and leans closer. “I think you ought to do it because my mother has contacts among the Examinations Authority, and apparently you really impress the Defense proctors if you can cast a Patronus.”

Harry thinks about that. “I could put it on the roster of lessons for the Defense Association, I suppose, but I don’t think most people have the time to learn it. The O.W.L. exam is just a few months away. But maybe it would be a good thing for the younger students. Were you thinking of them?”

“I was thinking of you.”

Blaise’s voice has an edge to it. Harry eyes him cautiously. “Blaise—”

“Have you ever thought about what you’re going to do to keep the prestige of Lord Slytherin alive?”

“I think it’s already more alive than I would prefer, mostly.”

And that’s true. Harry has a few random people bowing to him in corridors each day, now. They’re not his followers, because he can scowl at the ones who do it (and anyway, mostly they only do it to fuck with him). These are students who watch him with big round eyes and murmur to each other about his “exploits.”

“But you yourself need to be more than just a teacher for other students. You need to show in your Defense O.W.L. how much you know about the subject.”

“Now you sound like Hermione.”

Blaise doesn’t laugh. Instead, he leans closer. “Granger has good ideas. Will you at least consider learning the Patronus?”

“I said I thought it was a good idea. I just don’t have time to learn it before the O.W.L., that’s all.”

“I think if anyone could do it, you could.”

“Thank you for your vote of confidence. But I don’t think I could.”

There’s a stubborn frown on Blaise’s face as he pulls away and stands up. Harry watches him go, shaking his head slightly. Yes, it’s good for his friends to have faith in him, but not when they’re pushing him to do frankly impossible things.

*

“I wanted to speak to you, Mr. Potter, on a matter of grave importance.” And Harry does think it must be one, both from the tone in Dumbledore’s voice and the fact that he called Harry “Mr. Potter.” Most of the time, he still prefers to use Harry’s first name.

“Okay, sir. What is it?” Harry got called away from breakfast where he was trying to prevent people from feeding Ahalam too much cheese, like normal, and so he’s dealing with a small snake that has a large lump in his middle and also has one simple demand echoing over and over in Parseltongue.

“More cheese! More cheese!”

“You’ve had enough cheese.”

“More cheese!” Ahalam sticks his tongue in Harry’s ear.

Harry pushes Ahalam’s tongue out of his ear, which means he misses the first thing Dumbledore says to him. He coughs and turns back when Dumbledore makes a tired little sound. “Sorry, sir. You were saying?”

“The Smith family has proposed new legislation to the Wizengamot saying that anyone who declares themselves a Lord or a Lady would be immediately remanded for treatment at St. Mungo’s.”

Harry blinks a little, then says, “How do they square that with trying to get people to be Lord Hufflepuff?”

“What?”

“Their family keeps trying to send people on quests to find some sort of artifact and become Lord Hufflepuff. Or Lady Hufflepuff, I suppose. It’s just that the only person I know about it who doesn’t want to do it would have been Lord Hufflepuff.”

“I am sure that they have considered that and would say that the legislation would not touch them because they have not actually declared any member of their family Lord Hufflepuff. Or Lady,” Dumbledore adds after a moment. “But you are in danger, Harry.”

“No, I’m not. I didn’t actually declare myself Lord Slytherin. Other people did that and started following me around. I’m not actually in any more danger of being susceptible to that law than that bloke I met who changed his name to Hufflepuff. Only maybe he didn’t, because Susan didn’t recognize it.”

“What?”

“I’m just saying, sir,” Harry says, and reaches out to pat Dumbledore’s hand as he stands up. “It was nice of you to inform me about this proposed legislation, but I don’t need to worry about it.”

“Given that you have used the title Lord Slytherin for the past two years, I don’t think you are as safe as you might imagine, Harry.”

“But I’m not the one who called it Lord Slytherin’s Army. And I’m not the one who thought they needed to get my permission to hold the Tri-Wizard Tournament. And I didn’t make a huge official declaration in front of anyone.”

“The school is helping you.”

“They would have to bring that up as a piece of evidence, sir, and it doesn’t sound like they would. It sounds like the declaration is what they’re focusing on. Stupid of them, but I wouldn’t expect people who want a member of their family to become a Lord to be rational.”

“More cheese!”

“Yes, you can have cheese, in a little while.”

Ahalam wriggles happily on Harry’s shoulder and does at least stop tickling his ear, so Harry is able to focus on Dumbledore again. His face is haggard, but thoughtful.

“You truly believe that you would win a legal challenge like this?”

“I believe that they don’t even have the legislation enacted yet. You said they were just bringing it before the Wizengamot, not doing anything else yet. And it could take a long time for the law to be passed. And I still believe that I have technicalities on my side.”

“What did you do to get the Smith family angry at you?”

“Refused to jump when they snapped their fingers.”

Dumbledore watches him for a long moment, as if he thinks he’ll get a different answer if he waits long enough. But he won’t. Harry truly isn’t worried about the Smith family. He thought when he spoke with Hufflepuff that they would try something like this, something legal and scary to people who think like that.

Not to someone like Harry, who has to live every day in the reality where multiple people have tried to kill him.

“I hope you are right, my boy.”

He must feel better, since he’s not calling me “Mr. Potter,” Harry thinks, and nods to him, and leaves the office.

*

“But you could learn to cast a corporeal Patronus. And I want to see you do it.”

Harry sighs and leans back against the wall of the old ballroom in the dungeons where the Defense Association is practicing today. They had to come inside because the wind and the snow picked up to the point that it was actively dangerous to be out there. “Why are you so insistent that I do it, Blaise?”

“Cheese!”

“I said you could have cheese in a little while.”

“It has been a little while!”

“Not long enough.”

“Cheese!”

Harry sighs again and turns back to Blaise. “Sorry about that. He wants things he can’t have. So why do you want to see me master the Patronus so badly?”

“I didn’t start following you because I thought we needed a Lord Slytherin the way Theo and Daphne did. Or because I’m too weak to stand up against my family without someone else’s support, the way Draco is. Do you know why I did?”

Harry hesitates. Blaise has never been as close to him as Theo or Susan or Daphne or, of course, Ron and Hermione. “Uh, no.”

“Because I know that you’re going to be great, and that means that your prestige can increase mine.” Blaise makes a sharp gesture. “But I also found out that you’re friendly and actually want to protect your followers, so that’s why I stayed.”

“Okay. But none of that tells me why you want to see me learn the Patronus Charm.”

“Because it will impress the examiners. And I think you would be good at it. And because some of the gossip my mother sends me says that you’re a soft touch and anyone can take advantage of you, and you mostly became Lord Slytherin by luck, not brilliance.”

“Uh. I mean. That’s true?”

“It shouldn’t be true!” Blaise leans close to Harry, scowling at him. “Lord Slytherin should be brilliant and able to take the magical world by storm with the genius behind his spells!”

“But you know I’m not really like that. Why do you want me to be?”

“You could do so much better in school than you are! Why is that not your priority?”

“Because trying to protect people and defeat Voldemort is my priority?”

They stare at each other for a long second, and then Blaise lets out a sigh and seems to deflate like a collapsing balloon. “All right, fair. But will you at least make a slightly better try? For me?”

“Because you want me to be brilliant?”

“Because you—” Blaise clenches one hand into a fist. “Because you inspire me, all right? And if you can master the Patronus Charm, maybe I can think about what I can do, myself.”

Harry blinks, then nods. He’s played worse roles than inspiration for someone else.

And at least Blaise just wants Harry to do well on the exams, instead of wanting him to poop rainbows out his arse, or whatever most people in Britain wanted of him.

“All right.”

“Thank you.”

Blaise smiles at him, and Harry smiles at him, and turns around just in time to put out the fire that Justin has somehow started in Zacharias’s hair.

“Cheese?”

Ahalam’s voice is very small and sad, and Harry sighs. It has been a few days since the feast he had before Harry took him up to Dumbledore’s office. “Yes, all right, cheese.”

“I am very happy.”

Harry touches Ahalam’s scales, smiling. He does enjoy making people happy, especially when it’s something simple like promising to study one particular spell.

Or giving them cheese.