Harry barely spent much time being surprised over how calm he was, to be left in Dumbledore's office by McGonagall as she went back to deal with Justin's situation.
He had too many things racing through his head to waste time being upset or nervous, because the next however-many-minutes this conversation took would be extremely critical to a lot of things. He had never had a direct one-on-one conversation with the Headmaster before, not counting last year after the Quirrell incident. Given the situation and his headspace at the time, that interaction had barely counted towards anything and was sure Dumbledore had dismissed most of his oddities back to whatever his preconceived notion of 'The Boy Who Lived' was.
He tried to get his thoughts in order and took a deep breath. He hadn't been able to get back to his graveyard since he'd locked everything away when Voldemort had clearly tried to get in his head, but despite how little he'd been paying attention to that issue, he tried to center himself and remember the techniques in Hermione's book to calm himself.
First: compartmentalize.
This was not the man who'd condemned him to the hell on earth that was the Dursley's. This was not the man who'd abandoned him as a babe, the one who was blocking him getting out of those muggle pigs' pit-of-a-home.
No… Dursleys who? None of that had ever happened. He was not mad at Dumbledore, he was just a bit unnerved to be meeting his school's headmaster so suddenly like this.
He was a normal school boy who'd just seen something traumatizing. Alden and Susan had been standing behind him sure, but they had nothing to do with this.
He had no clue who Sirius Black was and had never plotted a single scheme in his entire life. He was a gutsy Gryffindor who thought first of himself and his friends—if ever he gave much prior thought to anything, much less too deeply.
Yeah he sat at the Slytherin table, but Draco was his first friend he'd met at Diagon Alley— Dumbledore already knew that as Hagrid had 100% told him. He was really good at Transfiguration because McGonagall had 100% told him. He was friends with a lot of people in different houses, because the paintings on the walls the twins and Mr. Greengrass had warned about 100% told him about his activities no matter where he went.
He couldn't avoid the things Dumbledore already knew for certain, but he could play into them.
Dumbledore wanted 'The Boy Who Lived'… that's why he was even as involved as he was in the first place, why he made the assumption he'd gone after the troll himself last year, why teachers in particular always seemed surprised when he did something decidedly not lion-like. Harry suspected Dumbledore was crafting this… reputation about him that only people who actually saw him routinely in classes were starting to figure out wasn't really that accurate. Since their direct contact was thankfully minimal, Harry was banking heavily on the fact the headmaster's arrogance or pride would have him continuing to believe in the 'Boy Who Lived' persona and letting all the tiny things he'd been seeing slide for now.
All Harry had to do, was not say or do anything that broke away from this person Dumbledore clearly thought him to be—or maybe wanted him to be. There had been a lot of high-caliber manipulation happening for years now to try and get the kind of light-minded pawn, so he was sure Dumbledore would only be too happy to think himself successful if Harry could only play the part right.
He was betting a lot of the hope the headmaster didn't know about him running away from the Dursleys this summer. Most of the time he spent in Diagon was under the cloak or with Draco, and the old man didn't have the eyes into the Slytherin families' business enough to know if Harry had been staying with Draco or not. If brought up he planned to outright lie and say he'd stayed at Malfoy manor on permission of his relatives. He was fairly certain he could get away with it as he now knew what the manor looked like to be able to slip in some details, if asked themselves he was very sure Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy would agree to it just to stick it to Dumbledore, and also as a wizard himself there was a good chance no one would actually ask the Dursleys what had happened.
Who gives a fuck what a muggle thought, after all? No one in this world, that was for sure. Dumbledore never asked the Dursleys if they'd wanted the 'freak' nephew over a decade ago so little chance he'd have the decency to check in with them now. If he ever had for a second he'd know about the cupboard and the shed so yeah, Harry was pretty sure he wouldn't actually ask about the Dursleys or his summer plans so he could put those concerns from his mind for now.
The main thing he was hoping against all hope though, was that he had no idea about Sirius Black or the trial happening. Obviously this old bastard had been interfering with Mr. Greengrass' plans, but as of now he was banking on the idea that Dumbledore thought Harry had no idea what was happening, much less suspect he was involved. He'd done everything he could to hide it, and maybe he'd intercepted Hedwig to know he'd contacted the Flammels once, maybe he'd even intercepted enough letters to know about Remus… but he couldn't know about Sirius.
That was the one thing he had no back-up for. He'd taken too many risks before and now it was time to see if that had cost him the battle temporarily… the only thing he could do was play dumb.
What is the Gryffindor reaction? If the headmaster brought up Sirius Black… he should ask who that is. If he got deflected, great… if he got any kind of answer, he needed to get angry about the man who supposedly betrayed his parents. He could do angry—he was particularly good at getting angry if he unleashed some of his restraint, so that wouldn't be hard. Maybe he could get angry enough Dumbledore would send him away—even better!
But no, all of that was superfluous nonsense—right now he was a normal second year Gryffindor whose biggest concern was if he was going to get in trouble for finding Justin petrified just now, that was his only concern.
To be honest, the only thing he had only a weak back-up plan for right now, was if Susan ratted him out.
She'd agreed to play along in the moment, probably trusting he had a plan, but in time if the plan worked out and it wasn't in line with her sense of justice (like say Alden getting a detention for it or something) there was still a chance she'd come forward with an eyewitness account of what actually happened. And apparently those eyewitness accounts meant everything in this world's justice system, so he'd be properly screwed if that came to light.
It was a gamble to trust her but he was blatantly choosing to trust her anyway. Perhaps he could appeal to the Hufflepuff in her, not to out him as a liar in the name of being a friend like he was trusting her as a friend right now. He really hoped he could convinced her that Alden being the culprit would make zero sense given how little he knew of the magical world right now (four months ago he didn't know what a Slytherin was, much less that he once had a chamber to go writing about it on walls) and that pointlessly accusing him and getting him involved would help no one.
Still, if she did rat him out, in the grand scheme of things him being proven a liar wouldn't be that bad. He could easily spin that to Dumbledore without breaking cover, claiming he only did it to protect a friend… and his suspicion of Alden being a muggleborn in Slytherin mean he felt particularly inclined to help this friend out specifically. That would just be him being an impulsive Gryffindor who did something foolish to protect a comrade, which should tie perfectly into the 'Boy Who Lived' persona… at least he hoped the headmaster would buy it.
He shook his head sharply, trying to center his thoughts.
Forget everything, focus only on the situation. I'm just a normal student who is worried about me, or my friend, getting in trouble when we did nothing wrong. That's it.
Someone actually attacked Justin just now, in broad daylight at that! That's the real problem here.
That's right… the petrification monster had attacked again. That was totally something way more important and relevant right now to bring up than any other topic.
"Thinking hard, Mr. Potter?"
He snapped his head up in alarm, heart leaping for a moment before he realized the shelf that had spoken to him had a tattered looking lump of cloth that he recognized. The Sorting Hat.
He was a bit annoyed but kept it to himself, sighing away the scare that had been.
"I think you can guess the sorts of things I'm thinking about." He deflected, and a rip in the fabric opened to chuckle lowly.
"That I can. Bit of advice… relax, young man." It said. Harry would've been even more annoyed by the condescending nature of an old magical hat telling him to just relax when it had no idea what he was going through right now…
But, in actuality… this hat had been inside his head before. And for some reason it didn't feel like the advice was to comfort him… it was actual advice, as in something he should do right now for his own benefit. The hat's rumpled cloth didn't give anything away so far as a face that he could read, but Harry certainly tried to understand before realizing he had nothing left to lose at this point.
He pressed his lips together at the dubiousness of it all, but still took a deep inhale and tried to focus.
The only thing he had to worry about, was if he was going to get in trouble for finding Justin. That was it… everything else didn't matter right now.
And then he repeated it a couple more times for safe measure.
He'd been so anxious while preparing for this conversation, now that he was sort of ready or in a steady state… the waiting was getting to him. He glanced around the office curiously and noted it was kind of impressive. So many books and random magical trinkets that could've done anything… part of him worried at least one object in here was probably a recording device or something to lull visitors in to a false sense of security but… there really wasn't anything he could do about that at the moment. He was so wrapped up in his paranoia that it took him an embarrassingly long amount of time to realize there was a big ass bird looking right at him from off to the side of the headmaster's desk.
He felt a bit stupid not to have immediately noticed it given it was bright red… but after a couple seconds of examining each other, he realized those red feathers were incredibly faded and half were falling out. It hadn't caught his preoccupied attention as it was dead still atop its perch, the posture and how it weakly lifted its head belying that it was incredibly old.
That's right… Harry had heard that Dumbledore owned a pet phoenix. This bird was a phoenix? It seemed… rather lackluster honestly. Then again it wasn't at it's prime, who was he to judge it when it was in this sorry state.
He wasn't sure why he was surprised he kept his pet bird in his office, he always kind of felt magical pets would have more free reign than this. That being said, it was super old, maybe this was a personal choice on the bird's part since flying seemed like an exhausting task for such old wings.
The bird lifted its head suddenly, the most movement Harry had seen from it thus far, as if it could hear his internal rambling thoughts and took him up on that challenge.
Unfortunately, it accepted the challenge by bursting into flames.
Harry let out a shout of alarm and skittered back several steps to get clear, heart hammering a million miles and hour in his chest at the frightening turn of events.
Oh my god the bird caught fire!?
"Harry?"
A rasping voice startled him once more, double so as he was also watching a bird crumble to flames before his eyes right now as he whipped around to see the headmaster himself entering his office.
"P-professor!" He got out, frankly completely thrown when ten seconds ago he'd been so sure he could handle this. "Your bird—I—there was nothing I could do--!?" He gestured wildly to the situation, awkwardly trying to convey what the fuck had just happened and completely failing.
To his relief and confusion the old man just chuckled lowly, seeming unbothered by his pet burning alive in front of him.
"He just caught fire-!"
"And about time too," Dumbledore hummed, throwing Harry for a loop yet again. Seeing the boy's confused expression in front of him, he gave a calm smile as he continued. "He's been looking dreadful for days. Pity you had to see him on a burning day." He said, almost apologetically even.
Then it hit him.
It's a phoenix. Fire is kind of their thing, isn't it?
He felt like a bit of an idiot for panicking but was frankly just relieved this wasn't going to be yet another thing he had to defend himself against.
"Fawkes is a phoenix, Harry. They burst into flame when it is time for them to die, and then they are… reborn from the ashes." The headmaster explained as if Harry weren't already feeling pretty stupid right now, coming over to wave a hand over the tiny pile of smoldering ash beneath where the bird had once perched.
As if one cue, a tiny head popped out of the pile of soft grey and gave a little baby chirp as if confirming he was still here. Harry wasn't that heartless and automatically smiled a bit, as it was kind of adorable.
He kept the smile in place, focusing on the cute little chick in front of him rather than the man beside it as Dumbledore kept talking.
"Fascinating creatures, phoenixes. They can carry immensely heavy loads… their tears have healing powers…"
I will admit phoenixes are kind of cool. Not sure why we're talking about your pet though when I thought I was supposed to be in trouble.
"Wait! Professor Dumbledore sir!"
Harry jumped yet again when the door behind them burst open, Hagrid's immense frame coming bumbling into the office without warning, ripping his attention from the cute baby bird and back to the situation at hand.
"Ah, Hagrid," The headmaster turned, not startled or alarmed or even that unsurprised which annoyed Harry yet again though he squashed that thought immediately. He was a normal Gryffindor right now, remember that!
"Professor, Harry is innocent! I was jus' talkin' to 'im and there's no way he coulda—"
"Hagrid, Hagrid… never fear, I do not suspect Harry of anything." Dumbledore waved him off, and Harry tried not to tense up at the words, instead choosing to keep his mouth firmly shut like he had no idea what was going on.
Which, to be fair, he didn't.
Inside he was very well confused: what even was happening right now? Were they actually going to suspect him of something without even asking anything? How did Dumbledore even know what was going on right now?
"O-oh… oh alright then," Hagrid seemed a bit embarrassed by his outburst and shifted his great weight. "I'll ah… I'll wait outside then… sorry 'bout that then," He waved it off awkwardly, shooting Harry an encouraging thumbs up that he did not understand but waved automatically at the giant anyway to tell him it was okay.
"Harry…" his attention was called back to the headmaster, who was looking at him with an infuriatingly patient and kind look that had him immediately shifting his gaze back down to the baby bird now nesting in its pile of ashes around it instead of meeting the look. Something about how grandfatherly this attitude seemed would certainly set him off, he knew it, and he really couldn't afford to lose his temper right now.
The only way he could get away with looking down though was to act like he was nervous so he shifted his own weight and played meek—every lesson that had ever been beaten into him about acting pathetic in front of Vernon Dursley less he get locked in a cupboard for acting too cocky coming out without even trying. He'd had a lifetime of practice already so no matter how long it'd been and how far he'd come since needing to do this, it was only too easy to snap back into the posture and keep his face as blank as he could.
After all, Dumbledore had the power to restrict him just like Vernon had been able to lock him in a cupboard. The instinctual need to avoid threats to his autonomy and freedom made it easy as beathing to bite down on everything else and be as blank and unimportant as he needed to be right now.
He was just a normal Gryffindor after all.
He was just a normal kid who didn't want to be scolded.
He was so unimportant and inconsequential he almost willed the headmaster to look right past him and forget he was even here.
"My boy… is there something you want to tell me?" That kindly tone came again, playing the patient grandfather role very well Harry had to admit.
He was curious about a lot of things, for sure, but none of it really mattered.
When he looked up to finally meet the old man's gaze, the only thing he could focus on was that he wanted to disappear and get out of here as soon as possible. He didn't want to need to defend himself and he didn't want Alden to get in trouble either, but he couldn't really do anything about any of that so the best solution right now was to get away.
Maybe curiosity would win another day, but today was about survival.
"No Professor," he said instead, hoping if he didn't bring anything up, then he wouldn't need to talk or defend about any topic.
And for some god damned reason, it actually worked.
Dumbledore simply gave a sigh and nodded, looking down to gently pet Fawkes on his little baby head in response to his mild chirps. "Very well. I assure you that you are not in any trouble… I won't keep you too long. Off you go."
Wait… that's it?
"Thank you professor," he got out, almost mumbling it but keeping his meek posture in place as he ducked his head and backed out of the office as quickly as he could. He did glance back at the old man but he was dusting off some ash from atop Fawkes' head so Harry took the opportunity to make his escape.
"Ya alright there 'Arry?" Hagrid was, to his word, waiting outside the office for his own turn, but Harry could only nod numbly.
"M' fine… I'm not in trouble apparently so that's good," He admitted.
"As is right! I'll tell Dumbledore how you were talkin' to me just as it 'appened, don't you worry about a thing,"
Harry deflated some, wanting to say that probably wouldn't help but decided trying to explain that to Hagrid was so not worth the effort. He'd take whatever information the headmaster could gain from that over needing to spend any more time on this for now.
"Thanks Hagrid," was all he said instead. "I'm gonna head out then, need to make sure my Hufflepuff friends are alright with what happened."
"Right, right, off you go! Stay safe," the giant man instantly waved him off and went back into the office, letting Harry finally free.
Hyper aware of the paintings on the walls he made his way through the hallways with urgency, mind racing but also somehow not thinking of anything. It'd been wiped blank by the pressure of that situation and the… well abruptness combined with how little had actually happened made his head spin. He needed…
He needed a moment to figure out just what the fuck was going on right now.
Luckily, he ran into just the right person.
"Harry!?"
He turned to see Daphne running up behind him, eyes wide—Tracey Davis right on his heels looking a bit confused and wary of the situation.
"Daphne," He blinked… yeah, Daphne might know.
"I heard what happened—is it true!? What on earth just—eep!" She squeaked as he grabbed her hand and dragged her into the nearest classroom, Tracey startling and following immediately despite looking unnerved. He let her, not really caring if she overheard this as he trusted she'd keep her mouth shut. "What's going on!?" Daphne demanded, seeming to realize by his expression something was up.
"I have no bloody clue right now," He admitted in a huff, suddenly pacing the room wildly as he tried to piece it together and the girls seemed to realize he was wound way up right now.
"Start at the beginning then: they're saying you found Justin Finch-Fetchley petrified just now? But also something about Nearly Headless Nick and Alden Cork?" Daphne prompted, snapping into business mode.
Harry paused in his pacing, clearing his thoughts.
"You tell no one, got it?" He announced bluntly, and she nodded immediately in agreement. "Alden found both Justin and Nick petrified. I didn't even know it was possible to petrify a ghost, but here we are."
"Oh shit," Tracey paled, looking uneasy at that news while Daphne just got grim.
"That's not very promising, no. But you're saying Cork found them?"
"I was nearby with Susan Bones. Peeves saw Alden with the petrified and started making a racket, and I got there first—pretty much half the school immediately after that though."
"You covered for him?" Tracey blinked in complete surprise and also a slight twist of disgust if he wasn't imagining that. Harry allowed a brief look at the lack of faith, but overall didn't have time for that.
"Alden Cork and Lake Evergreen are friends of mine." He informed her with a dead serious tone that got her snapping her jaw shut immediately. If she took it as a threat to back off those firsties, he was happy to oblige. "What's important is that McGonagall seemed to accept that I was the one to find them and just sent me to the headmaster's office."
Now Daphne realized the problem, crossing her arms over her chest.
"What happened."
"That's the thing: nothing." He huffed, and both their brows raised as one.
"Excuse me? What do you mean 'nothing'?"
"I mean I watched his pet phoenix or whatever catch fire for a second, and then he asked me if I had anything to tell him. I said no and he sent me on my way." He recalled bluntly.
Tracey gave him a critical look, eyes flickering to Daphne's back for a second before tisking.
"And you're… upset about this?"
"I mean, it doesn't make a lot of sense. It is kind of suspicious." Daphne allowed, and Harry tossed up a hand in a 'thank you' sort of gesture.
"First of all, I was brought immediately to his office and he made me wait for like ten minutes or so but like… how did he know what had happened already? He told me I wasn't in trouble but like, not one teacher has even asked me what happened so was I about to be in trouble without me having ever said anything? How did he know I'm not the culprit here or even what happened to decide I'm innocent or not? He didn't ask me anything but if I wanted to offer up any information which obviously I didn't, so I said nothing and he let me go." He ranted a bit, crossing his arms over his chest. "Just—what the hell is his problem?"
Daphne finally relaxed some, seeming half amused—or she would've if things weren't so tense.
"With Albus Dumbledore, it's definitely dangerous to keep talking so saying nothing was the better play. You don't get any information unfortunately, but on the bright side neither does he. That's good for now." She didn't say it but he knew she meant 'good for the plan', until things started happening and they no longer needed to hide Sirus' upcoming trial. Anything that could've risked Dumbledore catching on that Harry was involved with that was too big a risk to take at this point, not when they were this close. "So far as how he knew… well, you know the theory. The paintings talk so if it had to do with a student being injured then they probably told him."
"Okay, so why don't the paintings tell us who petrified them in the first place? It happened in the same hallway after all, in the middle of the day!" He countered and she had to pause.
"Well… wait, what hallway was it?"
"Second floor above the entrance hall—I was heading to Gryffindor tower from the Great Hall."
"That only has murals, doesn't it? Do they count as spies?" Tracey tossed out there, but it only made them frown harder.
"Okay, so best case scenario, McGonagall relays to Dumbledore that she caught me—along with about fifty other students at the time—in the hallway around Justin, who was petrified. Peeves was shouting about how we did it, and I stepped forward to catch McGonagall's attention, but I said nothing else. There was no proof of anything, and I was just a kid in a crowd at that point. McGonagall also likes me so I'm betting she didn't phrase it like I was the culprit exactly, I'm sure. How then, did Dumbledore decide I'm not in trouble? He asked me nothing." Daphne's eyes softened, and she gave a tired sigh.
"Harry, I don't think you should question this." She admitted and he blew his top.
"What!? Why not!? That's about as suspicious behavior as there's ever been in this stupid bloody school—how can I just ignore it!?" He demanded hotly.
"Because he's favoring you." She said bluntly, and he was pulled up short.
"What the hell does that mean? Why would he-" but as soon as he started to form a question he realized and felt sick. "Are you actually serious right now?"
She gave him a sympathetic look. "Unfortunately, I am. Like I said, don't question it, just run with it."
"Gross," he complained, feeling distinctly nauseous all of a sudden.
"Ah, excuse me but what? For those of us who don't do implication well, what's that old bastard up to now?" Tracey raised her hand in annoyance at being left out.
Daphne gave her an amused look and with Harry's 'whatever' gesture as permission she elaborated a bit more.
"Because of some other shenanigans we have going on right now, we're aware that Dumbledore is meddling specifically in Harry's life, quite a lot actually. The reasoning isn't exactly secret: 'Harry Potter' is practically a celebrity title to most of the wizarding world and an icon of everything anti-dark and anti-dark-lord and such. Dumbledore has his own 'anti-dark lord' agenda to uphold so theoretically those two figures should be on the same side… in reality Harry hates the man but needs to pretend to be one of his little pawns less he make an enemy of the leader of the light, which would be a real problem."
She gave him another pitying look which he accepted because it wasn't a great situation to be in and he admitted it.
"Harry could've actually been the culprit just now and even then Dumbledore would've let him off. Can't have his budding little 'hero' think his headmaster wasn't on his side, after all. Being brought to his office at all was probably McGonagall actually being a fair teacher in thinking Harry needed to be questioned and not realizing he wouldn't be. Dumbledore likely wouldn't have called him in at all if he hadn't been forced like that… or it was all a farce from the beginning to garner trust and favor like he always does. Making Harry think he was about to be in trouble only to let him off would make him look like an ally."
Harry tapped his foot on the stone floor unhappily. "So he's giving me the Gryffindor treatment essentially. On the one hand this is great: it means he's completely bought or is at least pointedly ignoring my less-than-upright traits and probably doesn't think me capable of any schemes or anything. On the downside it's so fucking gross I wanna hurl." He complained.
"The 'Gryffindor treatment'? What is that exactly?" Daphne raised a brow, seeming very amused by this turn of phrase.
He snorted. "One of Gryffindor's worst traits is keeping things 'in the family', so to speak. Fellow Gryffindors always get the benefit of the doubt without question, while you always jump to conclusions with outsiders. It's a bad habit they have but it usually means I can do no wrong in their eyes simply because I'm 'one of them'. Or… I start consorting with outsiders, then they get personally offended by it somehow."
"Speaking from experience?" Tracey drawled dryly.
"My inner-house politics are my business, and they'll get over it. Because, as I just said, I'm a fellow Gryffindor which means I can do no wrong." He snipped. "That our bloody headmaster is also blatantly playing into that bad habit is not a great sign to be honest."
"I mean, he's doing it to someone he thinks is a fellow Gryffindor," Daphne pointed out, and Harry blinked.
"Oh, you think… he's trying to manipulate me the Gryffindor way?"
She snorted automatically. "The idea there's a Gryffindor way to manipulate someone is hilarious, but yes that's pretty much what I'm saying. He's attempting to build credibility as a fellow lion which, as you said, in your house is all the credibility you need. By treating a fellow Gryffindor as infallible you end up treating them back the same way, right?"
It's so simple but so unbelievablyeffective… at least amongst lions it is.
Harry felt like he was getting a glimpse at just how Dumbledore had managed to gain so much power in society and was feeling a bit overwhelmed honestly. How fucking twisted was that…
…but also, kind of brilliant.
He hated to admit it, but it was actually masterful to realize how to manipulate one of the most wild houses like that, and it was so simple but so effective he was kind of getting his mind blown right now. And, against his better judgement, Harry realized that he, being a Gryffindor himself, could completely use this tactic himself if he needed to… and he had made an established goal of being minister one day so…
"What are you thinking right now? You give me anxiety when you look like you're planning something reckless," Daphne cut into his racing thoughts and he schooled his face.
"Oh don't mind me, just having an internal crisis realizing how easily manipulated Gryffindors are. And here I thought it was like herding cats sometimes but it's way easier than that apparently—and Dumbledore is using that to toy with us all!"
The girls stared at him for a long second…
Then Tracey cracked first by snorting a laugh but trying to smother it in her shoulder awkwardly.
"What."
"Nothing… just spoken like a true Slytherin, which is weird given you're—" Daphne just gestured to all of him looking mildly amused, but he just rolled his eyes.
"Not helping." He complained. "I was so ready to lie my ass of in there and it was all wasted! Now I don't know what to do with myself!" He flailed his arms about helplessly and got some mixed looks in reaction. "Also his bird just bloody died—like yeah it comes back to life but is it the same bird!? Shouldn't he be more upset about that?"
"And now you're rambling. Is there anything else important about this that we should know or are you just venting?" Daphne refocused him and he huffed.
"I dunno. I guess main outcome is don't tell anyone about Alden: I was the one to find Justin if anyone asks, okay?"
"I mean I could do that for free given we're already in business plenty, but…" She looked over her shoulder at Tracey, who just rolled her eyes.
"I'll keep your damn secret. It's not like I care, nor would anyone ask me anyway." She dismissed, and she could've been lying… but he also recognized that Tracey was probably closer to a 'normal' Slytherin than the ilk that Harry himself hung out with. She didn't feel the need to trade for every little transaction, particularly because this one was so small she could care less who found Justin, just that the petrification monster was still on the loose.
Harry considered himself on very good terms with Daphne now too so he was hoping her being Tracey's best friend would have her keeping her word for free this once.
"Thank you, it's much appreciated," He could still be polite about it though.
"Why do you care about a couple of firsties anyway?" She was curious but he just flashed her a disarming grin.
"Speaking of manipulating Gryffindors, let's just say Evergreen is an expert and even knowing what she was doing I couldn't help but get on board. I'd watch out for that one if I were you," He gave them some 'friendly' advice and enjoyed the way they seemed to genuinely mull that over for a second.
"I'll keep that in mind." Daphne smiled briefly.
"Is there something I can help you with though?" Harry offered, realizing she'd been searching for him first, he'd just commandeered the conversation so far.
"I was mostly concerned about the petrification news honestly, but actually yes while we're at it," She slipped a letter from her robes to hand over, and he suspected he knew what this was. Thankfully Tracy seemed used it and looked bored rather than curious. "You're friends with the Weasley twins, right?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"Do you trust them?"
"Uh, yes?"
She smiled a bit grimly. "Then you might want to cash in a favor with them… or ten."
000
Susan had no idea what to do.
"It's okay, it's okay… I'm gathering you don't want to tell me where the Slytherin dorm is, which is totally fine, but can you make it there on your own? How about we go to the hospital wing—Madam Pomfrey can give you a calming draft," She tried to comfort the boy in front of her but she kind of knew this was all falling on deaf ears.
In her mind, Slytherins always seemed so… put together.
The boy having a full-on panic attack in the dungeon classroom they'd found themselves in was anything but composed though. She felt a bit bad that this was so out of her depth… 'friendly' house or not, none of her dormmates had ever flipped out this hard before, over what felt like a simple misunderstanding at best. Yes he'd stumbled upon a petrified student but she'd had no idea a Slytherin could care that much about someone of another house…
If you weren't Malfoy at least, and really he only cared about one Gryffindor in particular.
Still, the idea that Draco Malfoy would ever be the sobbing mess curled into the corner of the room like Alden was seemed very improbable. Even if Harry were the one to have gotten turned to stone, Susan assumed Malfoy would be after blood, not crying about it. No matter what she thought of the guy, Draco was no slouch and he was not meek or unafraid of fighting back… he just kind of looked that way sometimes since he was always standing next to Harry who was all that but worse.
Draco was just one guy though, not the entirety of Slytherin house, as she was quickly learned by being forced to confront a crying snake and having no idea what to do about it.
She knew the Slytherin dorms were down in the dungeons, but not precisely where. She'd gotten Alden down here as it wasn't that far from where it had happened, but as she tried to narrow it down the first year at ripped himself from her grip on his wrist and fled into the closest empty classroom. She'd followed out of instinct but… the fact he'd ended up hyperventilating and sobbing into his knees had taken her completely off guard. She really just… had no idea how to handle crying people.
Well, technically she did, as in Hufflepuff a solid hug and an offer to go get some hot chocolate to talk it over went pretty far most of the time. The crying people she'd comforted in the past were usually upset over fights with friends or family, over a failed test, over the stress of finals, over a sad book they were reading, or something like that.
This was different.
Something was really wrong, but she had no idea what it was.
She knew damn well that a hug and some hot chocolate would not be appreciated though, as he wouldn't even let her near him without freaking out ever harder. So she'd was just standing here, not doing anything to help him right now, but she also could not leave him when he was like this—it seemed unspeakably cruel.
All she could do was kneel in front of him and keep trying to talk sense into him over his unrestrained sobbing, worry gnawing at her stomach that it didn't sound like he was breathing properly from how harshly he was hyperventilating right now.
"Hey! It'll be okay! They're going to fix up the petrified by the end of the year when the mandrakes come in—or, ah, you're a first year so you don't know what those are yet, but they're plants that will cure the petrification and everyone will be alright then! You can ask Professor Sprout about them, she's really nice in explaining all that to those who are concerned about." She babbled nervously. She didn't mention Gryffindor's ghost because she had no idea how you fed a ghost a potion to cure them of their petrification… much less what force on earth could petrify a ghost at that, but she left that part out for now. Nearly Headless Nick had already died in any case.
The crying didn't stop and he didn't lift his head from his knees. Susan worried at the bottom of her lip.
"If you're worried about what Peeves said then he's an annoyance at best, don't pay him any mind! And uh—well, if it's about what McGonagall might think then she's really rational, even if you're a Slytherin she'll be fair I promise!"
That somehow got a reaction, although it didn't sound good. He literally choked on his own cries and snapped his head up, face pale and eyes bloodshot, looking worse than a ghoul honestly.
"You can't tell her!" He shrieked, panicking. "I really didn't do anything!? I was just walking—I didn't—I didn't do anything! I was just trying to find Lake—she said she was in the Library but I got lost!" He wailed, stuttering and breathless as he really wasn't breathing right.
"It's okay! I believe you, I believe you!" She tried to put hands on his shoulders in comfort but he flinched away from her touch so hard she jumped back as if electrocuted.
"I'm going to get expelled," He gasped, face white as parchment—he really looked like he was about to throw up and she panicked a bit too.
"What!? No you're not, I promise you you're not! I believe you just found them, and no one is accusing you of anything!" She tried to reason, but she could tell he was barely hearing her.
"I'm going to get expelled… I just got here—I thought magical school was supposed to be fun," He whimpered. Tears were streaming down his face and she could tell that despite having eyes on her, he was looking right through her instead. "How do people get petrified!? What even is a poltergeist…? Is this even better than being home? Do I have to go home?" He paled even more somehow. "She'll kill me for having left… oh god…"
"Alden what!?" Susan was taken aback, highly unnerved by this.
"Is this better? I don't know if this is better—I don't want to go home but I don't want to stay here anymore," He gasped weakly, helplessly. "Slytherin is terrifying and Lake is terrifying and McGonagall is terrifying and—and everyone is so—it's all so—!? People are getting turned to stone and I—I—I don't know if this is better?"
"I know it's really scary right now but the Professors will figure it out—and if not then the Aurors will get called in, you'll see," She tried to sooth him but he blinked, uncomprehending.
"What are Aurors? What's so scary even magical teachers can't fight it but Aurors can?" He begged for any answer and she pulled back in surprise again.
But also… her stomach sank some.
"Alden are… are you a muggleborn?"
His eyes widened and he bit his lip, but just nervously shrugged. "I… I'm n-not supposed to tell anyone that… Lake said the upper years will torture me if they find out."
Susan felt a little sick but tried to offer a small smile.
"I'm not sure about them but it's not a problem for me, okay? But that makes a little more sense… if you have no idea what's going on, I'm sure that's really scary."
"Harry's the only one who will explain things," He blurted out, voice trembling and Susan blinked.
"Harry does?"
"I don't understand anything that's happening in this school… even McGonagall, when she gave me my letter didn't explain anything—she didn't warn me about Slytherin or poltergeists or that the stairs move or the paintings that talk. I don't know any Latin or what Aurors are or if the Groundskeeper is even human—Harry says he's nice but he's so scary…! I don't like heights but they made me get on a broom and I almost fell and I don't understand Potions at all but if I'm not good at it my dormmates look at me like I'm crazy and call me a bad snake," He was rambling fast now, all of it coming spilling out. "I don't know what's going on and if I ask a teacher they just laugh it off like everything about this world isn't terrifying and weird and no one seems to care! I—I don't know what I'm doing wrong!" He sobbed again, helpless and hopeless and begging someone to just give him an answer for once.
Susan though… realized she had none.
There were plenty of muggleborns in Hufflepuff, but this was the first time she'd ever seen someone fall apart because of the differences between magical and non-magical world. It had never crossed her mind that the things she'd grown up with might be… frightening, to those who'd never seen it before. Didn't really know what was scary about a paintings but from how he said it she realized the very walls around them—the thousands of paintings decorating Hogwarts' halls—unnerved him. They very castle itself was alien and overwhelming, and the magical people inside of it didn't think anything wrong with it so he must've felt… very alone in his fear.
She had never considered this to be a thing before, so she really just didn't know what to say. That it'll 'be okay' seemed hollow as… she realized she had no idea what things were scaring him right now, except the entire magical world in general. How did she apologize or sooth concerns over her entire way of life? She had no idea where to even start as it was just her life up until this point, she didn't know enough about the muggle world to be able to speak to the differences much less assure him the two weren't that different.
Their magic theory class that all firsties took last year had seemed painfully boring as it was all just the bare essentials of magic, and only now with an eleven-year-old sobbing in front of her did she realize why they even had that class at all. Because to her it was nothing but something to doze through or a study period her and Hannah spent writing notes to each other, but for some… it was revolutionary, literally world-breaking information to them.
But even that class hadn't talked about basic basic stuff like paintings. She had never given paintings this much thought in her life before and it was really starting to make her sweat about everything else she didn't know as she struggled to come up with a single word of comfort for this kid right now.
Muggleborns never noticeably struggled at Hogwarts, so far as she'd noticed… but she hadn't quite realized how much effort they'd probably needed to give to catch up and make the same grades as everyone else. She'd spent so long trying to learn one spell for Transfiguration and had failed because she just didn't 'get it', but what did her muggleborn classmates just 'not get' because they hadn't grown up with magic?
Going by Alden's panicked rant here… probably a lot.
But they never talked about it because they were in the magical world now, and were expected to just figure it out—or more accurately, were expected to just know it without anyone really having said anything. They'd all laughed at the wide-eyed firsties getting lost on their first weeks of school or how in awe they seemed at everything in the magical castle before it became old news but… realized for a population of those first years, it really probably wasn't a laughing matter at all. Maybe there was a humor in it, but if people laughed yet never actually explained… that had to be very confusing and isolating. But they kept it to themselves in an effort to fit in with the magical world around them.
A muggleborn Slytherin probably had it so much worse than one in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff though, as in other houses it was just a bit isolating. For a snake though… it was literally life or death to either catch up or be eaten alive by your housemates. That pressure, placed on the tiny shoulders of an eleven-year-old… had to be insane.
Susan was only twelve herself but already felt kind of nauseous at the mere idea, she couldn't imagine what Alden was going through right now.
But… she was now vividly aware of why Harry had practically tossed this tiny snake at her and said to get him out of there. McGonagall was strict and scary already, even to a Hufflepuff, but as the lion house head, to a first year Slytherin she was probably as terrifying as they came and Alden probably would've fainted rather than handle being questioned by her.
If she'd had any misgivings about deflecting what had happened, they were gone now.
I mean she still had uncertainty over why her when she could only sit here uselessly repeating the same empty banalities again as Alden just cried harder when he'd finally opened up in begging for help and she was here listening but… unable to say anything meaningful back that could stop his fears. Or his tears.
Suddenly, the classroom door popped open with a dramatic bang, and they both whipped around in surprise—Susan about to tell whoever it was to get lost, before she recognized the curtain of red.
You could literally see him across the crowded Great Hall with ease, or effortlessly pick him out in the air of a quidditch match with a dozen other people flying at high speeds—he was recognizable from any distance with that hair.
And despite not knowing when it had started, she felt a distinct sense of relief at his arrival and realized that was something Harry had always kind of been able to do no matter who he was crashing in on. He gave the very comforting aura of being sure of himself, and whether you could agree with his tactics or not he always seemed to have a strong opinion or know what to do in any situation presented.
Even if it was insane, even if it was frankly just weird—he always knew what to do.
And given how lost she felt right now, she was immensely relieved to see him.
"H-Harry!" Alden got out thickly, forgetting to cry for a moment since he also seemed just as reassured and hopeful to see the Gryffindor as Susan herself was.
"There you guys are," He chirped in satisfaction, closing the door behind him and slipping a large piece of parchment into his outer robe for some reason. "I went to the Slytherin dorm to check up on you but no one had seen you."
He came over to crouch in their little circle here, seeming to entirely ignore the fact Alden was clearly in the middle of a breakdown with his casual tone, and the small Slytherin stammered awkwardly.
"I—I can't… I can't-"
"Oh hey, that's fine… honestly I said it in the moment but going back probably wasn't the wisest move, I just couldn't think of another safe place. This is pretty good though," Harry waved him off in a gentle, unconcerned tone as he ruffled Alden's hair in a friendly, brotherly way. "You don't have worry, Dumbledore thinks I'm the one who found him and we're gonna keep it that way. He's a manipulative old bastard so he doesn't punish Gryffindors and I got off free—we're all good here."
Susan was horrified.
"Wait what?"
Harry had the gall to just sigh as if explaining was too tiresome and gave her a wave-off of her own. "I'll explain later. Your aunt doesn't like Dumbledore right? Maybe ask her about it again and listen closer this time."
"I… I guess." She frowned, distinctly unsure yet again. Yes her aunt had always had a distaste for the headmaster but… actually now that she thought about it they'd never sat down to just talk about the exact reasons why.
"I don't know what's going on," Alden offered up meekly once again, this time clearly to the person he was very hopeful could actually help him—and Harry never disappointed as he gave an amused chuckle.
"Honestly? Me neither. I literally just learned earlier today that accusing people gets you halfway to prison even if you didn't do anything. Luckily I'm me so accusations never stick," He shot the kid a wink and Alden sniffled with wet eyes up at him, but had thankfully stopped actively crying for the moment. "For you though, I've already taken care of it. I have one of your housemates running interference so the story from here on out is that I found them—I don't think anyone really noticed or cared you were there and if someone does try to bring it up we can squash the rumor. The Weasley twins are taking care of Peeves, and I've taken care of Dumbledore and McGonagall. If you go back to your dorm like nothing's wrong then no one will even mention it to you."
Alden sniffled, still giving shuddery breaths that you couldn't help after sobbing your heart out… but nodded once in understanding. Whatever all that meant, clearly it had more comforting power than Susan's empty 'it'll be okay' had been.
"Here," Harry dug into the bag he always had on, suddenly pulling out a familiar periwinkle potion and placing it in Alden's hand.
"Do you just carry those around with you?" Susan couldn't help but ask, eyeing it in surprise.
"If I do that's my business," He sniffed like it was a joke, skimming right by whatever implication she meant to turn back to Alden pointedly. "It's a calming draught—should help stop the shuddering you got going on right now. Also I've got a ton more if you want them, you can take as many as you want and won't overdose like you would on muggle medication. Also they don't taste as bad as normal potions although they're pretty chalky to be honest."
The Slytherin looked very uneasy as he gripped the glass of the potion, but clearly trusted Harry's words a great deal to go for it anyway as he popped the cork and squinted his eyes shut to down it. Once done he looked down in much milder surprise, his color coming back instantly and the tears going cold on his cheeks.
"Oh…" he blinked, admiring the effects as they took hold.
"Pretty nice right? Magic comes in handy sometimes." Harry joked.
"That… is pretty cool…"
"Again, take as many as you need if you need them, there's nothing wrong with needing the help. Why do you think I carry so much around? They're bloody great, they are, I'll tell you that." He offered, deftly pulling out six more from the bag and lining it up on floor between them as he spoke. Alden looked at the abundance before him for a second… then nodded again.
Susan couldn't really argue since her entire suggestion had been to go to Madam Pomfrey for one anyway. Still… the fact a student was walking around with more calming draughts then a medic usually had on hand at a time, much less that he was handing it out to other students freely like this felt wrong somehow.
Not that she was going to bring it up as the crying had stopped, and for that she was thankful enough to ignore everything else.
Harry was not paying her any attention though to see if he face had betrayed her disappointment, nudging Alden's shoulder annoyingly to get him to speak up about what was bothering him.
"…I feel like I'm doing everything wrong." The kid admitted quietly.
"Well, I'm telling you now that you're doing just fine. You're a first year, your job is to learn and take it all in… and you're doing just that. I know it's a lot, but you don't need to make any grand plans until you understand more about this world: step one is knowing what the situation is in its entirety and step two through however-many-it-takes is the actual practical stuff. You just surviving this year and learning as much as you can, even if it's a lot, is all that's asked of you, and I think you're doing a great job so far."
He could only curl in on himself some, seeming to silently take those words in but not looking very satisfied about it. Harry sat up and leaned his head back thoughtfully, the motion catching as always when his hair fell back over his shoulder in a bloody cascade he didn't even seem to notice.
His eyes lit up as he got an idea, bright and enthusiastic as always.
"Alden, do you have a goal?"
"A goal…?"
"Hm… maybe a dream is a better way to put it. Anything you want to do with your life? Anything you want of the next year or month or day?" He explained warmly, patiently.
"… I'm going with Lake for Christmas break. I… I want to have a fun Christmas for once." He admitted, so quietly Susan was not sure she'd even heard that right.
Harry clearly did though as he lit up like the Christmas tress upstairs.
"What a coincidence, so am I! I found some family I didn't know about before but will get to meet for the first time this break and am really looking forward to it." He confessed himself and Susan almost broke her neck doing a double take because what!? What did he mean family? He was rather infamously an orphan, and anyone claiming anything close to the Potter lineage was a huge deal.
Harry wasn't paying her any mind though as he clapped Alden on the shoulder comfortingly, and his next words had her deciding that bloodline bullshit was actually not important right now.
"How about this for a goal then: you want to have fun every Christmas for the rest of your life."
She would've been confused about that random, seemingly common wish if the wide-eyed look of wonder on Alden's face, as if that suggestion was the answer to life itself, didn't make her feel like she was probably witnessing something she shouldn't.
"But…"
"It's possible. Fun fact: that's my goal too." He admitted with a gentleness Susan didn't think Harry even capable of, but realized he knew exactly what he was doing when Alden's eyes got even bigger somehow, round as saucers and the forgotten tears making them all the more heart wrenching somehow. "Go enjoy your Christmas, forget all this for a little while, and when we're back why don't you, me, and Lake sit down to talk about how we can get you your goal. I've made a little progress on mine already so we can compare notes."
He clung to every word, before nodding numbly once again.
"Bit less scary if you have a plan, right?"
"Yeah." The small snake admitted… seeming to consider it for a second on his own before taking another potion sitting beside him and finishing it much more willingly this time. While he did so Harry suddenly got as grabby as he always was and went about fixing his hair for him—Alden running hands through it during his meltdown made it a ruffled mess and as if he was familiar with this treatment the younger year didn't stop him. He did make a grunting sound though as Harry used the bunched up sleeve of his iridescent cloak that he always wore to rub tears and snot from the firsties face roughly.
That was a bit more like Harry though—he certainly cared, but he also cared about you like a bull in a China shop might.
"Alright, why don't we go get some snacks in the kitchen to bolster ourselves after all that!" He announced brightly.
"Can we do that?" Alden asked in confusion the same time Susan asked, "You know where the kitchen is?"
"'Do I know where the kitchen is', please," The red head scoffed jokingly, properly tossing his hair over his shoulder in an exaggerated manner. "The Weasley twins told me about it first year—I've only visited for the first time recently though as, fair warning, it's really freaky for those who haven't met house elves before." He shot that last part mainly to Alden who blinked again.
"Lake has a house elf that brings her things from home… Posti, I think?"
"So you've met one! Great!" His cheer dimmed some into a dry look. "The Hogwarts kitchen has about… two hundred or so? And they all run at you when you walk in asking if you want snacks or tea or something, so it's really overwhelming… but there's all very nice and happy to make you whatever you want, so it's worth knowing. It's also worth going with a friend for your first time," He winked, and Alden hesitated but nodded that he wanted to try, accepting Harry's hands and was promptly hauled to his feet.
Susan remained quiet as she stood too, very out of her depth. Hearing Harry explain something so basic like house elves as if they were scary was… eye opening.
"Posti is nice," the small Slytherin admitted, frowning. "Lake is so mean to her though."
"I mean in Slytherin there's a difference between 'mean' and 'cold', but yeah… purebloods in general don't think twice about house elves so they don't really see how horrible the whole thing is from our perspective. Since I'm a trouble maker I have one of the Hogwarts elves tailing me all the time and we've chatted a bit—I really do think they're happy to serve though it takes some getting used to." Harry had an arm over his shoulders to pull him towards to door, chatting like this was normal and Susan wasn't once again thrown.
"Horrible?" She couldn't help but blurt out, Harry giving her a dryly amused look over his shoulder.
"Permanent enslavement of an entire race looks really bad on paper, pretty much always. I mean it looks bad in person most of the time too, but in the muggle world things like slavery are a huge 'no-no'. You get tossed in prison if you try to short someone their wages much less have another living creature as your servant, unpaid, for their entire lives."
"I mean yeah obviously, but they're-" Before she could finish she cut herself off, freezing for a second.
Harry didn't seem… anything in particular, not mad or upset, but the lack of his normal disarming cheer was enough to make her words die a bit. The green eyes staring at her made her distinctly uncomfortable, as she had no idea what he was thinking right now.
"… they're 'just house elves'?" He finish for her slowly, voice betraying nothing. "Be that as it may, the normal world sees all living creatures as… you know, living creatures. It's this world that for some reason thinks common decency only applies to some."
… Susan couldn't respond.
He paused only a second before perking right back up at the first year under his arm like that hadn't just happened. "On the bright side I'm starting to think house elves genuinely are just happy to serve, weird as that is. And they make the best treacle tart I've literally ever had, so let's go see if they'll make us some," He pulled Alden to the door once more, and the kid just blinked, clearly having clung to that conversation with an innocence in his eyes that made Susan uneasy. He was for sure taking in the words, but she wasn't really sure he if got the gravity of that casual exchange.
To be fair, she wasn't really sure what she took from the conversation either.
"You got a favorite dessert?"
"Um… I do like the lemon bars they have sometimes..."
"Ugh, you and Draco with the sour things," Harry complained but leading them from classroom and away from any pervious heavy conversation without looking back.
Susan could only trail after them quietly again. She did want to see the kitchen and had no real reason to leave but… she also felt like she was missing something, or just… wasn't on the same page as those two anymore. But really… had she ever been?
She went with them but kept mostly to herself, trying to shove her discomfort down but…
…the way he'd said 'normal world' instead of 'muggle world' wouldn't leave her alone.