"Thank you again!"
"Don't mention it… I mean that literally." Melinda didn't even blink twice to let him into the Slytherin common room behind her, immediately walking off to her dorm rather than acknowledge him more than that, but he took it as a win. While she still had approximately zero interest in dealing with anyone (the issue with Lockhart seeming to be an isolated incident) she also didn't seem to take issue with anyone either.
Which was promising when it came to Gryffindors, less so as it also applied to people like Pansy Parkinson to whom she was routinely sitting with at meals and in classes. Girl probably should've been grey for how little she actually care about… well, anyone actually.
And Harry wasn't giving up exactly, but he considered this complete indifference about his presence an acceptable status quo for now.
Saving Melinda for later though, he had some people he wanted to wish a happy break to before they all parted ways tomorrow morning… and if he was trying to distract himself from the sheer excitement and fear about actually getting to finally meet Remus in person and have a real Christmas with someone he might consider family for once, he was also ignoring that for now.
The Slytherin common room was actually very populated, as true to his suspicion even the most uptight of houses wanted to just laze around and chat after finals had officially been declared done. He hadn't had a chance to see any of his snake friends since the testing had started, given they were all way too busy last-minute cramming to bother with him and he sensed his presence would be unwelcome.
Also, the other houses had very much demanded his appearances: Ravenclaw for his feedback on how his Transfiguration final went, and Hufflepuff because as they finished tests wanted to have celebratory meals after each one and he was somehow expected to attend all of them. Gryffindor, in true lion fashion, had a meltdown right before each test when everyone realized they hadn't studied properly and needed to emergency cram, so he'd stuck to Gryffindor tower to show some house pride for once and participate in the last minute memorizing episodes. Which, he said as if he weren't one of them doing the exact same thing before his Charms and History of Magic finals; he only really had his act together for Transfiguration and everything else thanks to some good study partners over the semester.
Still, that meant his balance between houses was off and he at least wanted to wish Theo a happy break.
Screw Blaise and he'd be talking to Draco every day anyway.
He didn't want to draw attention to them but he also wanted to check in on Alden and Lake to see how their first finals had gone, though despite everything else they'd been struggling with thankfully school work had never been an issue for either of them. Overwhelmed as he was, Alden had a much quieter interest in magic than someone like Colin, but he still had the first-year-wonder of reading textbooks like they were fantasy novels which made learning much easier.
Still, as he did a quick scan of the area to be sure he wasn't going to step into something he shouldn't in the more-crowded-than-normal common room, and before he could locate any of his targets, a figure came running at him.
He almost had his wand in hand in defense at the sudden motion since no one ran in the Slytherin common room—
—before he realized it was Blaise and oh yeah… the Zabini heir did whatever the fuck he wanted.
"Harry my love." He was instantly on him and Harry had to take step back at the sudden harassment. Someone was excited and he vaguely wondered who'd died.
Since his awareness was up from the scare, he noticed a table of fifth or sixth years in the center area whip around at his arrival with wide-eyed looks.
Weird. What was their problem? He'd been here all year, why were they surprised now?
He couldn't really focus on that though, when Blaise was practically shaking him to grab at his attention.
"Gross," He huffed bluntly at the endearment, but Blaise had gossip in his eyes and clearly didn't care about his reaction. "What's up?"
"I would like to make a trade!" He announced proudly, concluded with a short: "Fuck off Greengrass."
Harry blinked.
"Wait what?" Then he turned to where the tall Slytherin was looking and did a double take to realize Daphne had somehow appeared behind him and was now scowling harshly up at Blaise.
"You bitch!"
"You snooze, you lose—now shoo!"
"I'm gonna vomit," She drawled acidly and went to shove past him, but he neatly dodged her shoulder check like it was nothing, having fully expected it.
Without missing a beat he had an arm looped in Harry's and was dragging him off to the side of the room they normally didn't sit at—to one of the smaller tables with only two chairs and Harry immediately knew something was up if this needed to be private. He didn't think he'd ever had a proper one-on-one with Blaise before and not sure how good of an idea this was.
"Come, come—much to discuss!" Blaise practically sang and it didn't really help his nerves.
"I'm not so sure I want to trade with you right now. Seems like a lot of stress for the holidays."
"Oh please. It'll be fun!"
"Define fun."
"It'll be interesting!"
"Define interesting."
"It'll be profitable!"
"Hm." Harry had to admit that was actually tempting. He was not exactly in need of money but given who this was there was a possibility he wasn't talking about galleons when he meant profit. Blaise tended to consider information worth way more than money.
On the other hand Daphne clearly wanted to beat him to it and she usually meant money, so he'd have to find out.
As he was promptly dumped in a seat, he resigned himself to his fate.
"Okay, what's this about then?"
"Rumor has it you're attending a tea tasting this spring," Blaise immediately jumped to it with a glint in his eye that Harry didn't like.
"I never confirmed anything of the sort. Considering maybe."
"But you've been invited." Blaise didn't ask and Harry instinctively knew not to give him any information. Draco had said whoever gave him his official referral would have a huge political advantage and despite having freaking shrugged when he said it, going by the two grey heirs' intense reaction to this news he was wondering if the Malfoy hadn't seriously underplayed something here.
"I didn't say that either. What do you want?" He demanded bluntly.
"Don't be like that, I'm not necessarily after your referral… though if you wanted to let my mother give you one I'm sure we could think up a price to suit your tastes," His eyes glinted but at least he already knew Harry was most likely not going to take him up on the offer.
That being said… he hadn't given it a ton of thought about who he would ask, but if letting him flee to Italy for a summer on the Zabini's family dime was a worthy the price he may have to reconsider some things.
"I'm weighing my options currently. Obviously, I have a lot." He shrugged nonchalantly instead.
"I had figured, but you have one more if you wanted it." Blaise waved it off uncaringly. "What I'm really after is that if you're going to be attending tastings and reopening the previous Potter deals, obviously you'll have pretty much anyone you want as potential buyers… but only if people know you're selling." He gave a sharp grin.
Harry used every trick Hermonie's book on controlling your emotions ever taught him to keep his face straight and pretend like he was musing this over carefully.
Truth was, he had no idea what the 'previous Potter deals' were. Obviously they'd died out with his parents but apparently people were very interested in getting them back now that he hinted he was going to start taking an interest in his bloodline's businesses.
So he put on a face and bluffed the best he could.
"So you want to what, be my advocate? Or in true gossip-whore fashion you just want to be the ones spreading the details of my business." He tried to figure out.
Blaise had the decency to look humble, despite the fact Harry knew he was only doing it to be polite.
"I mean obviously my family would be buyers as well, you know how it is." He flashed a grin and Harry schooled his expression into a narrowed look that he hoped was interpreted correctly as being wary of him as always instead of more than a little concerned over what it was he wanted to buy, much less why. "You don't need to be a friend of the family to make a little purchase here and there though, that's just normal business. But just think of how many people are interested in buying but aren't sure how to get in contact with you? My family would be only so helpful getting you the right people, right?"
Harry tapped the table in front of him distractedly like he was considering it—in reality he was just trying to imagine what this previous family business his father once had that people wanted so badly. He was trying to think of how many people there might be, but honestly he had no fucking clue.
He would not be cluing Blaise into that weakness though… but something caught his suspicion that he decided to take a gamble on.
He tapped a finger to his chin with a playfully narrowed look. "Given I'm an orphan I'll admit I'm still getting back up to speed with everything I've inherited, but I swear I don't recall there ever being a Zabini name in any of my father's previous dealings." He mused, forcing down a grin at Blaise's sniff.
Caught him.
"Alright so maybe Potters of past haven't really cared much for Slytherins besides that one moment of insanity where they married into the Black family," He admitted, sounding annoyed by that. "But you dear are so much different than those that wore their reputation of rampaging lions so proudly… you're so much more flexible than that, aren't you?"
He locked onto his gaze and Harry vividly remembered Susan's comment about flirting with Slytherins in the worst possible time.
Hoping to distract how his cheeks got hot he glared, praying Blaise interpreted it as anger instead.
"That is my family you're talking about there," Righteous anger was believable from a Gryffindor, he hoped. No reason to let this asshole know how little Harry actually cared about blood ties and the useless reputation of people long since dead. He was the last living Potter so whoever he became was what the name now meant, that was the end of it. "I will admit you're not wrong, I would be willing to work with Slytherins at large—with anyone actually if the price was right, honestly. And if I could trust them, that is."
"Insulting my pride as someone who upholds their end of the deal is a bit rude dear," Blaise snipped politely—for him. "I didn't do you wrong with the parseltongue nonsense, did I?"
Harry had to admit, he really hadn't let him down at all. He just wasn't sure if he wanted to say that out loud officially. Decided to skate right by that question.
"Just because I would be willing to work with anyone under the right situation, doesn't mean I think this is the right situation. I'm taking this slow as I am only twelve right now and frankly have bigger plans than business for this current year. I was only considering attending the tasting this spring, and even then only as an attendee to see it myself for the first time."
"But when you do decide you have something worth selling, you'll think of little old me?" Blaise batted his eyes but Harry just rolled his.
"You make it very hard not to think of you so I'm sure I'll have the thought. Whether that's good or bad for my mental health is left to be seen."
"So you do think of me! I knew you loved me," He teased in a freaking purr of all things and Harry was pretty sure his cheeks didn't get red but had a horrible moment where he wasn't entirely sure if he'd controlled that blush or not.
He was saved by a sudden interruption from a certain blond—who'd almost had a stroke when Daphne oh so helpfully pointed out that his Gryffindor was getting quite cozy with the Zabini heir across the room, enough to make Harry blush apparently.
"Draco!" Harry chirped as he crashed into their little conversation here, happiness to see him taking a sharp left turn to see the expression he had on, hackles visibly raised. Not that he was very surprised it was directed at Blaise—even Blaise didn't seem very shocked by this, just rolling his eyes with a smirk.
"Blaise."
"How did I know you'd have no decorum in interrupting a business talk, Malfoy?"
Draco paused half a second to glance at Harry to see if that was actually true, but the red head just waved him off that he was good. With that out of the way he nabbed the collar of Blaise's robe in a fast enough motion to make a seeker proud and immediately dragged him off.
"I'm just gonna steal him for a moment to talk—be right back." He announced.
"Oi unhand me."
"Actually make me Zabini," Draco snapped and Harry couldn't help but be very amused when Blaise fumbled to try and get out of his hold and ultimately failed—awkwardly gagging as he was choked by his own collar by someone much shorter than him pulling him from his chair.
Harry did so love it when Draco won a round against his housemates as it didn't happen often, and despite walking and talking with a lot more grace than expected out of any twelve-year-old, Blaise was actually kind of clumsy. Draco and himself were the athletes, but if was very clear Blaise was not when confronted with good old-fashioned muggle manhandling like this.
For some reason it made the insane Slytherin much more human… or at least it was comforting that Harry could probably just trip him and run away if it ever came to that.
Then again, physical threat was not the reason half of Slytherin house lived in fear of the Zabini name.
He brushed that entire exchange off, making a note to catch up with Daphne about her take on all this tea tasting business. He had plans to make it to Gringotts over break so he probably didn't need to ask her what business they were hoping he was about to take up again if Axeclaw could fill him in instead. Harry had already done a lot of business with Daphne since first year anyway, and was thinking he should probably spread the wealth some more with his dealings… not even taking into consideration that he already had a blanket open debt with the Greengrass family, which was more than enough right now… frankly too much even. He was even less inclined to have them be his referral than the Zabini family, although since it was a Greengrass hosted tasting, and it sounded like many other tastings would also be of Greengrass ownership, he still wanted to hear what she had to say.
He stood, spotting Daphne and Tracy in their own corner but saving them for later when he spotted his real target in his normal seat and went over to plop down across from him. Theo glanced up over his book but very pointedly looked back down at it rather than greet him.
Harry hesitated for a moment at that but went as polite as he could.
"Hope your finals went well Theo." He offered and blue eyes snapped up at him, causing him to sweat a bit. "Ah… I came to wish you a happy break is all. Are you staying at Hogwarts?"
"No."
The word was flat and short, and with no further explanation he dropped his eyes to his book.
And you know, Harry could read the room, so he winced and shut his mouth, leaving him to it. It wasn't that weird as most Slytherins were going home given the dangers happening at school right now, but also something about his tone told him to shut up like right now.
Harry himself didn't like talking about his breaks either, so that was fair. He couldn't exactly share that he was going to stay with a werewolf either, as Theo was still very much dark and was the one most likely out of his friend group to have actual animosity, not just fear or distaste.
Still, at the icy look that was shot his way when he just continued to sit there like a moron, Harry pointedly opened his bag and pulled out one of Dell's journal to start reading himself so as not to make it awkward.
Yikes, someone is not in the mood.
He didn't really want to piss him off either, so he pointedly shut up and bowed his head over the book himself and sensed more then saw Theo relax half a beat as he minded his own business.
No matter what a foul mood he was in, Harry always thought the silence with Theo to be kind of comfortable. The quiet Slytherin certainly never felt the need to actually start a conversation, and would actually much prefer it if Harry shut his mouth for once, so he felt rather free to do just that.
He was here to kill time after all, since they still had several hours before the parting feast, and until Draco got back from dealing with whatever Blaise had done, he could just sit here and relax with some light reading himself.
First it was a one-on-one conversation with Blaise, now getting to just read with Theo… I'm really getting lucky today, He mused to himself rather pleasantly. He'd probably end this night screaming over and exploding snap game in the Gryffindor dorm so the peace before the storm was actually a good call.
Although… as much as he loved Dell, he was looking at the page and most definitely not reading it, his mind still caught up in the business Blaise had hinted about. Not that he could sit here and suddenly recall what dealings they were after, he'd have to wait to ask Axeclaw about that over break but… pretty much everything else about this tea tasting was interesting. He really didn't have the capacity to deal with it right now given finals first, Remus over break, then obviously Sirius' trial at some point early in the new year… and now that finals was at least done his stomach flipped to realize that trial was closer than ever on the horizon, he just didn't know how far out. From Mr. Greengrass' letter, it was soon… he just didn't have any more specifics about it than that and it made him a bit nervous.
Hopeful in a painful way as he was trying really hardnot to get his hopes up and ultimately failing because at this point, his hopes were raised and there was nothing he could do about it. He just needed to sit here and hope against all hope that things turned out okay and this blanket debt to Sebastian Greengrass was worth it in the end.
There really wasn't much he could do about that, and despite how nervous/excited he was to spend Christmas with Remus, given it was tomorrow and he really only had to just wait one night's sleep away for it to be here, it also seemed to be easier to handle than any sort of long-term anticipation.
Which meant there were only few ways of distracting himself now that finals were over and he couldn't do anything but wait about his other two most important concerns, why not think a little harder about this business nonsense? Not that he didn't really have the time for business stuff like this except… at this moment, while waiting for everything else to either happen or not, yeah he kind of did have the time.
He would save what the business was for later but… what about his referral? It was clearly important if Blaise had risked openly looking like he was competing with Daphne for it, much less that Daphne herself had tried to intercept him immediately when he got to the common room. If he sat here and honestly tried to consider who he might actually ask for a referral though… the Greengrass family already had probably too much of his business and trusting the Zabini name was a gamble at best. Yes it might pay off fantastically but he was sure there'd be strings attached to it too… and anything that blatantly gave Dalia Zabini more power when the entirety of Slytherin had let the one and only "Boy Who Lived" right into their dorm purely by her word of approval alone felt like a really bad idea.
Even blatant dark lord supporters hadn't said a single word about him being here or so much as looked at him funny, which meant she was a person even someone dumb as a troll like Marcus Flint knew to obey by shutting his stupid mouth for once in his life. Hell, Snape hadn't even acknowledged it despite there being no way he didn't know there was a Gryffindor in his house's common room and openly hating Harry Potter in particular… the fact he frankly pretended like he didn't know Harry was here said more than enough.
The Greengrass family did not need more business, and the Zabini family did not need more power.
To be blunt, the Malfoy family did not need more money either, so while Draco might've been his next best option, the cavalier attitude he'd had about it when informing him of the importance of the referral implied the Malfoy family itself was kind of above the power-play these pureblood gatherings entailed. Harry could very easily imagine that Mrs. Malfoy did not struggle to obtain whatever tea she wanted through whatever means possible, be it walking in and getting first dibs on the sale because she was, well, Lady Malfoy, but also because she could put down whatever price she wanted to in order to secure the products.
Actually no… Draco had said his mother sent his father to these tastings on her behalf, which meant Mr. Malfoy would obtain what his wife asked of him or look like a fool to his family, and that would likely never happen. With a blank check that was probably not much of a concern for him though.
So, not the Zabini, not the Greengrass, and not the Malfoy families.
Who would be the best person—best family— to ask for a referral?
… surprisingly, Harry's next thought of who to ask was actually the Weasleys.
He'd never met Mr. or Mrs. Weasley though, so when he said 'the Weasley' family he actually meant Fred and George specifically. They had never once hidden their intent to one day open a joke shop in all the time he'd known them, and were advanced enough in magic to already be designing pranks and joke products as fourth years—and while the teachers gave them detentions and everyone laughed about their antics dismissively, it actually did take a lot of magical ability and business chops to just start making a business like they had been. They were teenagers but had never once hidden the fact they had legitimate, physical products to sell and in fact were already selling simple dung bombs and other school-banned paraphernalia to their classmates and underclassmen literally daily.
They actually had a ton of ambition that on paper would've put them in Slytherin if they weren't, you know… the twins. The hat probably knew that, ambition or not, they'd have blown this entire dorm up within weeks of being put here if that had actually happened, and they were also reckless and wild enough to fit right into Gryffindor anyway. No need to risk mentally scarring an entire house and/or leveling a quarter of an ancient castle just because some upstart red heads also had a bit of ambition in their blood.
Besides, after hearing their 'brave enough to love' spiel, Harry also wouldn't have put them anywhere else but the lion house.
Still, they were the next people Harry thought of when he considered who he wanted by his side in future business deals, because frankly apart from Daphne they had the most practical experience with it so far. They weren't as diverse in their business adventures as a Greengrass would be, since they were focusing on one particular business goal, but that didn't mean they didn't know what they were doing.
Besides… Harry was already very much in their debt after what he'd asked them to do.
To be fair to her, when Daphne asked him to cash in some favors with the twins, she was not aware that Fred and George Weasley were already people Harry trusted more than he trusted pretty much anyone else.
In fact, there were exactly five people in Hogwarts that Harry would openly trust for no reason, which actually boiled down to the only five people who currently knew about Remus. Neville and Draco, obviously, Daphne as an honest businesswoman who was keeping a lot of secrets for him right now, and of course, the twins.
Even still, of those five people, only Neville actually knew everything.
Everything from what happened with Quirrell to the Dursleys and more—he'd seen him break down and he knew all the dark things he thought about himself, so in every important way, Neville knew everything.
The one thing Neville didn't know about though, was Harry's plan for world domination—and by that he meant becoming Minister of Magic specifically in order to wreck some havoc on old, purist society as soon as he could get away with it. His roommate was aware that Harry had a general desire to change the world to make it a better place for Remus someday, but Harry hadn't really clued him in on any of the specific tactics he was considering employing to get there… most of which would be Slytherin in tone and he just knew the meek Gryffindor would give him sad, disapproving eyes about all of it so he refrained from bringing it up for now.
The twins on the other hand, were the only people who did know. Not only did they know, but after their conversation earlier this week, they seemed a little more on board than they had before when Harry was pleading his case back in Hagrid's pumpkin patch.
Not that Daphne had known that the twins already knew about Remus, and not that Harry had informed her of that either and just said he'd ask them about it. The actual conversation had gone much better than he knew Daphne had feared it would go, because in truth Harry hadn't had to cash anything in at all—he could actually tell the twins the entire plan, and before he could even get around to actually asking them, they were completely down to do it for free anyway.
You see, the main issue with him going home for break was that Dumbledore would immediately be suspicious that he didn't have eyes on him. Obviously any Slytherin would happily lie and say Harry was with them just to be able to lie specifically to the headmaster's stupid old face, but if the cover was that Harry was going to spend Christmas in a Slytherin household, the old coot would definitely take issue with that. And it would be very inconvenient if Dumbledore had any time to plan or counteract Harry's holiday plans, particularly as that would put Harry himself in a direct conflict against Dumbledore himself. At the very least he'd likely be called back to the headmaster's office in an attempt to be 'convinced' to change his mind to maybe stay at the castle instead, and going off Daphne's advice that her father seemed to very much agree with, the less Harry needed to actually speak with Dumbledore, the better.
They were so close to the trial so avoiding letting any information slip was critical, and the best way to keep the old Lemon in the dark was to just continue being a normal student by whatever the portraits on the wall could relay back, and also for him to only find out he wasn't where he was supposed to be after the fact. Yes it would cause suspicion as there was no way to hide the fact that no one would actually know where Harry had spent his break once he returned to the castle, but Dumbledore learning about it too late was better than him learning beforehand and getting a chance to do anything about it.
There would be fallout, as Dumbledore would eventually realize he didn't know where Harry had spent his break, but they just had act natural and pretend nothing was wrong until the trial finally happened. By then it was too late and Dumbledore could think whatever he wanted about Harry's suspicious activities, because if Sirius Black was truly innocent he'd be released as Harry's guardian by summer and even Dumbledore wouldn't be able to stop the media parade that Mr. Greengrass was preparing to ensure nothing interfered with the 'happy ending' of the magical world's most infamous orphan finally getting a family again.
No matter how light he claimed to be, no matter how light he looked in the eyes of the public, even Albus Dumbledore's reputation couldn't defeat the 'lightness' that he himself had created around the 'Boy Who Lived's reputation. If he tried to intervene with the trial or after Sirius was officially deemed innocent, he would not be smelling like roses in the eyes of the public. They probably would not condemn him exactly but they were all banking on the fact Dumbledore wouldn't cross the public eye too much just to keep Harry under his thumb.
Once it was too late, it was too late.
No one was stupid enough to think Dumbledore wouldn't immediately switch tactics and find another way to keep Harry—possibly Sirius as well in this case—'on his side' at least publicly, but so far as sending him back to his relatives… that tactic would be dead in the water.
Which, was all Harry really wanted out of this deal.
He was sure the old bastard's manipulation would come back around to haunt him in other ways, but he wouldn't be faced with ever seeing the Dursleys again and that was good enough for him.
All they had to do what make it to the trial.
Which, in practicality, meant Harry just needed to make it through Christmas without letting Dumbledore know where he was, but most importantly let him know that he was with—or even knew about— Remus.
And that is where the absolute MVPs of this plan, the twins, came shining through.
You see, Harry had told everyone he was staying in the castle over break throughout most of the semester—in the beginning of the year it had actually been true, up until Mr. Greengrass said he needed to visit Remus instead for some reason. He still stuck to that story apart from a few exceptions he trusted, but even when he'd parted McGonagall's office earlier today after showing her a new draft he'd had on some of his work, she'd waved him off, very much implying she expected to see him over this break, here in the castle with her.
He felt a little bad about not correcting her, but it was also a great sign that Dumbledore probably fully expected the same thing.
Which is why when he was on the front steps tomorrow with his things packed, standing with everyone else getting into the carriages to start the journey back to King's Crossing, and most people asked what the fuck he was doing, he could confidently tell everyone, 'Oh, I didn't mention? I'm spending Christmas with the Weasleys!'.
Mrs. Weasley had been kind enough to invite him after all, but no one except the twins knew he'd politely declined without giving a reason why. The twins themselves were going to just be hamming it up, particularly when Ginny and Ron had probably polar reactions to the news they were getting an addition for their holiday, the twins playing it off like they'd purposefully kept it a secret as a prank, which was frankly a bit too believable.
The twins, however, had actually arranged to ditch their family once back at King's Crossing to meet up with their brother Charlie in Diagon, who was home visiting for the holiday, and their parents wouldn't be expecting them home until dinner later that evening. They would of course take their friend Harry with them on the Diagon trip, however Harry was never going to actually make it to meet the second eldest Weasley son, but instead get out under a handy invisibility cloak through the Leaky Cauldron to muggle London.
He had Remus' promise to meet him several streets away at a little café Harry had seen last time he was in the city that he though was quiet and out of the way enough not to earn too much attention—muggle or otherwise. Remus himself was very worried about this entire thing and had asked him approximately 23 times via letter if he was sure he wanted to actually visit him, to which Harry had announced he would be at this shop at this expected time and if Remus wanted to stand him up that was fine, but he really hoped his unofficial godfather would—as ex-Gryffindor at that—find the courage to meet him there.
Clearly unable to argue against that, a defeated werewolf had given his word he'd be there.
Harry felt a little bad about steam rolling him but also, his self-deprecating issues were not as important as the two of them getting a real Christmas with family for once in… well, Harry's entire life but he was also assuming a very long time for Remus himself.
The thing was, while he was off hiding from the rest of the wizarding world and most particularly Albus Dumbledore and enjoying his Christmas, eventually the twins would get caught about lying on Harry's whereabouts. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were not actually expecting him, so they wouldn't question it, but Ron or Ginny might wonder and say something when the twins came back with Charlie, but no Harry Potter in tow. Fred and George were reasonably sure they could deflect the situation, saying they were just joking or flat out lying about Harry staying with them in an attempt to convince him to come back to the Burrow with him, which clearly failed. If asked where Harry had gone, something neither twin seemed very convinced their siblings would do but if they did ask, they were going to brush it off and say 'friends'.
If really pressed they'd say Draco's house, and while Mr. and Mrs. Weasley might tisk about it, they probably wouldn't do anything.
They would absolutely end up telling Dumbledore though, when the headmaster finally caught up, be it hours or days too late to realize Harry had left the castle under the premise of visiting them. He wouldn't immediately get suspicious since the Weasley clan was considered one of his most staunch supporters, but eventually he would 100% be checking in with the Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, perhaps nonchalantly asking how Harry was enjoying his stay… and the truth would undoubtedly come out.
The twins didn't really understand how nosey Dumbledore was, nor did Harry tell them that was his logic of the truth inevitably coming out, but they as pranksters seemed to agree that eventually their lies would come up as they always seemed to in the end. And yes, they were willing to just take the fall for lying and no, they wouldn't betray him even if their parents ordered them to spill.
Because Harry had been honest to them that this deception was so that he could spend Christmas with Mr. Mooney, who was their idol.
Their hero, who was a werewolf and who would get a lot of flack if caught hanging out with the famous 'Boy Who Lived' by pretty much everyone and their mother, and so to spare him they were so totally on board to go down as pranksters that would do the Marauders' legacy proud.
Daphne had been worried that Harry was going to have to ask them to take the fall for something without explaining why they needed to keep it a secret, hence the many cashed favors suggestion. However, the twins were completely ready to make this deception pretty much as soon as Harry had explained what he wanted to do. Since he felt indebted to them for their show of unquestioning solidarity though, he made a mental note to tell Remus about the favor the twins had done them both and have 'Mr. Mooney' write them something, which he was sure Fred and George would fangirl over and happily ignore how long they'd probably be grounded for this.
So yeah, he owed them quite a bit and would've loved to ask them for their referral… but the brutally realistic side of him knew the Weasley family likely did not have a referral to give. It sounded like these tastings were about as ruthlessly pureblood as it got, and it was them not participating in events like this that was yet another reason for the Weasleys' poor reputation in Slytherin society. A minor one, all things considered, but a reason all the same.
A slightly larger reason was probably the fact that the Weasley clan probably could not financially participate in any of these types of events, and going off what Draco had said, if you weren't a contributing guest then you'd eventually stop getting invites. Harry suspected Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had stopped getting invites perhaps a long time ago for many reasons along the way, and he didn't want to be so rude to assume but… it was also kind of obvious.
In any case, it was the twins he wanted to pay back and the referral would be mainly a business opening for their parents—and he really doubted Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would care to do anything with the opportunity even if they were handed one this way.
He'd never met them, but the twins could be kind of blunt when talking about their parents… although, they were fourteen-year-olds clearly in the midst of some family tiff about their rebellious nature or whatever, as if that were not entirely expected of two professional pranksters. From what Harry had gathered, it sounded like the elder Weasleys weren't 100% supportive of their middle-most sons going into business and wanted them to join the Ministry like their father. Which, Harry was thankful he and the twins agreed was a horrible idea for many reasons and they would in fact not being doing that.
Overall, the elder Weasleys were much more Gryffindor coded, in that they were either a stay-at-home mother or working for the law without questioning anything since they considered that to be the 'right' things to do. While the twins did not begrudge their parents their life choices, they were also at the point that they could recognize they did not want the same things for their own lives and were branching out. It didn't sound like those conversations were going so well though, which probably partially accounted for why they were so ready to blatantly lie for him even at the cost of being grounded… Harry had an inkling that they'd be grounded most of break anyway, for other supposed crimes their mother believed they committed over the semester.
Differences of opinion aside, giving their parents the business opportunities they wouldn't use that the twins wanted for themselves probably wasn't a good way to pay them back. If Harry got his referral and some reputation at these tastings as a good buyer, then someday he would be able to refer the twins instead, which might work out better for everyone.
In fact, he knew it'd be a long time before the twins had a strong business going that provided the capital to actually participate in these tastings, so Harry could probably obtain them whatever materials they needed with his own money in exchange for their unquestioning support so far. He was hyper aware of Susan's wording about his misguided 'paying people back' for the things he did to them but… this was business, it was just how things went! He was pretty sure the twins were business-savvy enough to get it at a least…
Still, he made a note to ask the twins just in case, but he wasn't counting on them.
Who else to ask though? He knew a lot of purebloods, but he wasn't sure what he really wanted out of the deal.
Maybe it would convince people like Tracy or Melinda to work with him more, but then again it was with their parents and that 'good will' wasn't worth it. Something like this sounded like it was expected of him to trade for something physical… like outright money or some artifact he wanted…
He lit up as he realized he could probably get his hands on a lot of very interesting Transfiguration texts that wouldn't be kept in the Hogwarts' Library…
Hmmmmmmm…. I should probably start trading for more than notes and favors at some point… I bet there are a ton of cool, technically dark things out there that Slytherins might be willing to trade for…
Maybe it was because he was now looking almost dreamily off into space as he imagined the possibilities instead of even pretending to read, but he finally caught on to the fact those upper years from earlier were… pacing.
The center of this common room was lowered down two steps to give a stage-like area for, Harry was assuming, if someone needed to announce something or grab everyone's attention. Almost no one ever sat there because the entire point of this place was not to be overheard, but those upper years had been earlier… which, at the time Harry didn't think twice about because the place was more crowded than normal so maybe they'd just run out of comfortable space despite the many options of smaller, quieter corners to choose from.
He certainly noticed now though, as they'd gotten up and were now doing laps around the room, circles around the center area and mumbling to themselves… but Harry caught on immediately that they were watching him very closely every time they passed by.
Frankly, it wasn't casual at all, they were blatantly trying to eavesdrop on his little area here despite the fact him and Theo were not talking. Which felt… insanely improper for the Slytherin common room. He wasn't even a snake but felt almost mortified they were being so fucking rude right now, much less so unbelievably obviously! Right in the middle of the common room for half the house to see!
What the hell? They should know, even if I were talking, that the enchantments would prevent them from hearing anything I didn't want them to hear. They're at least fifth years, for hell's sake…
He felt like a church lady clutching her pearls at the indecency of it all… and belatedly wondered if this is how people had felt when he'd sat at the Slytherin table for the first time last year. He closed Dell's journal and fanned his cheeks with it some, slightly embarrassed in hindsight, much to his chagrin.
Hm. What to do about this… no way I can just confront them—in the Great Hall, sure, but in the Slytherin common room that's not appropriate… but it's also really fucking annoying.
They'd just passed by for a third time and Harry glanced over at his reading partner. Theo probably noticed but also didn't give a shit, book over his face and this very dark aura signally everyone not to bother him.
Right…
Plan B was across the room but Draco had managed to get Blaise into a chokehold, the two of them wrestling again which, true to Theo's warning earlier in the year, was an alarmingly common occurrence. Harry was just impressed that no matter what they did to each other, they never rose their voices enough to be heard out of whatever enchanted alcove they'd retreated to.
Plan C then…
He got up and left his bag and Dell's journal on the table to mark his spot, and on his way across the room almost purposefully cutting across the fifth years' path in front of them as if to signal that he knew what they were doing. They just froze like deer in headlights and let him go, which confused him more.
It was subtle but he was essentially provoking them by getting their way suddenly, but they didn't look mad or offended at all.
Even weirder. Are they wary of me? I mean even if they were why would they show that they're wary of me?
He frowned to himself as he only went a couple dozen feet away to slip into the seat beside Tracey Davis—who immediately shot him a warning look while Daphne was just amused from across the table. Both had nothing in front of them, they'd clearly just been chatting.
"Hey," He drawled playfully.
"What do you want." Tracey ground out, unamused while Daphne rolled her eyes.
"I saw you talking to Zabini. No way you're here to talk shop."
"Maybe later—I'm off business for break but let's talk in the new year," He winked and she huffed, letting it slide. "I just came to wish you a happy break but also… are those fifth years pissed at me or am I paranoid? Scratch that, I know I'm paranoid but is this me being paranoid or have they been walking in circles for like ten minutes now?"
"I did notice that. And they're sixth years, by the way." Daphne hummed, apparently having noticed as well but clearly hadn't cared much about it. "I mean not that I know of. It's not like they're gonna hex you in the middle of the common room."
Open violence in the common room was way too drastic for an upper year's dignity, much less on a second year to whom hierarchy implied someone of their age should be able to squash with mere words and a power play or so. And besides, on the topic of hierarchy, given what this particular second year had done to Montague last year, that would be stupid.
Not to mention the actual reason no one had ever given him a hard time here was the fact he was here on permission of Dalia Zabini. That was the one thing no Slytherin was about to make a fuss over unless Harry himself screwed up enough to give them a reason to kick him out, but if Daphne or Draco hadn't called him out on something he was doing that was offensive, then there truly wasn't anything big enough to warrant this sudden suspicion.
"You can't overhear someone if you walk by their area, right?"
"Not if you don't want them to; the enchantments still work so long as you're underneath the arch in the ceiling, and they're not."
"That's what I thought so what the hell are they doing?"
Daphne subtly examined the still-circling upper years over his shoulder for a couple moments, and then gave a gentle snort. "No idea. You might just have to deal with it."
Harry couldn't confront them, as despite how unsightly they were being right now it would be poor form on his part as well. Unless you were on friendly terms or had business to talk to, the number one unspoken rule of the Slytherin common room was to leave each other alone. Harry would've picked a fight in a heartbeat, but he was an outsider here and knew to play by the rules… even if the stalking was making his paranoia go haywire.
Having to just deal with it was making him anxious.
"Ugh."
"You could go back to your own dorm," Tracey grumbled, and Harry flashed her a peace sign jokingly.
"Spoken like someone whose never heard how freaking loud it is over there! Even getting stalked it's still more peaceful here, especially since everyone is all amped up from finals being over." She just sneered and Harry gave her a friendly wave before slipping back to his area, sensing he'd interrupted whatever the two had been talking about so left them to it.
He couldn't have been gone two minutes, but by the time he returned to his seat he found Blaise and Draco also having rejoined their normal positions… and Theo was nowhere to be found. Right, he was clearly not in the mood and the other two were still snipping back and forth with each other. Not loudly, but they were talking which was enough to ruin the peace Theo had clearly been enjoying.
Seeing his return Blaise gave him a disarming smile. "He interrupted our conversation but do we have a deal?"
Harry only pretended to think about it while he sat back down.
"Hm… nah."
"Oh come on,"
"I'm doing things my way for now. You'll need something better to trade if you're really that serious." He smiled 'innocently' with a shrug, causing the tall Slytherin to tisk and cross his arms over his chest, unamused.
"And here I thought after your little snake trick we'd have a profitable working relationship from now on!"
"Just because I acknowledge the parselmouth thing landed in my favor doesn't mean it's suddenly a good idea to trade with you regularly. Seems like a dangerous thing to get into."
"I mean I can't deny it but ugh—boring."
Harry almost did a double take and made a face.
"Hm."
"What?" Draco was curious at that reaction, but also sort of wary.
"I've never been called boring before." He'd been called a lot of things before but boring had never been one of them, and he wasn't quite sure why he was so offended.
Blaise shot him a kissy face and immediately got flipped off.
Not that he cared one bit, seeming to light up as he remembered something. "On that note, I have a bone to pick with you!"
"Oh?"
"Yeah, about your little first years."
Harry was instantly on guard, closing off for a second to meet Blaise's warm eyes. He didn't seem to be any sort of way that would entail he was up to no good, but also the bastard was an insanely good actor when he wanted to be and Harry hated that he couldn't immediately tell when Blaise was trying to throw him off. He was already paranoid about the sixth years still passing by their area now so this topic had his hackles raised instantly.
"My first years? What about them?"
"I want Cork."
Harry knew his face betrayed his emotions on the topic, and was please to know he wasn't crazy when Draco also gave his roommate a look that clearly implied he was in disbelief at just how fucking unhinged this guy was.
"I refuse. Get your own first years." He declared bluntly, crossing his arms. "Actually no, don't do that, leave them alone at least until Easter break to give them a fighting chance. I know you don't have a heart but that's at least Slytherin tradition, yeah?"
"Eh," Blaise just rolled eyes. He didn't give a fuck about tradition and probably never had, only following the unspoken rules on a whim until now.
"What the fuck do you even want with him? Also neither of us own him, you do realize that? Because knowing you, you might not realize that…"
"I can protect him better than you can." He counted simply, which was not a real answer—not that Harry expected anything else.
That is unfortunately true… however.
"Too bad, they came to me and I'm upholding my end. If they also want to deal with you that's their right, but I'm going to be advising them very strongly not to do that."
"Again: boring."
"How dare you."
It was highly concerning that he was in any way interested in a first year. Blaise, so far, acted as if people lower than him in the hierarchy just didn't exist, which meant pretty much all the first years and half their grade level. Alden being a muggleborn was a badly kept secret as obviously the snake house would figure it out, but he was a Slytherin, he was one of them so… he was somewhere in a grey area between an ally and an enemy. While most people aside from Lake wouldn't likely deal with him or become friends with him for fear of the political consequences, to a measly first year of their own house who couldn't do anything anyway, there was no honor or things to be gained from bullying him or having a great deal of animosity towards him unless he did something blatantly muggle-like.
Slytherin put a lot of emphasis on bloodlines and family ties (family power) but those were positive weapons to them. Blaise had the Zabini name to give him a leg up, same as people like Draco and Daphne had their family names to give them influence and credibility… but most of Slytherin did not have the sheer power behind their family names even if they were to be old and pureblood. If you were a normal Slytherin without a 'big' family name behind you, you were still a Slytherin. You didn't have as many legs up as someone from a known family might have, but you weren't inherently outcasted just because you were a 'normal' Slytherin. No one liked to be normal, but the fact of the matter is most of the house consisted of those sorts of houses.
In fact, a good third of the house consisted of half-bloods, or had a half-blood parent, though Harry was wildly guessing at those numbers given no one ever talked about it.
People like Blaise and Draco would flaunt their family names, but if you didn't have something positive to flaunt from your last name, you just refrained from ever mentioning it. From what Harry had seen, people only ever called people out on their unspoken family histories if they were in direct conflict with each other and were using it as a weapon—though if two suspected half-bloods were the opposing parties then it never got brought up.
It was a matter of politeness in the end, a respect only given to fellow Slytherins. For example, Tracy might hiss unpleasantly at her Hufflepuff muggleborn classmates, but her housemates wouldn't ever point out that her grandparents had been half-bloods themselves. If Tracy lost her marbles and tried to pick a fight with Daphne though Daphne with the very pureblood name of Greengrass behind her would easily crush her arguments to dust.
With all that in mind, Alden was… an ant to anyone who considered themselves pureblood. He posed literally zero threat because one slight hint reminding him of his status and he would not be able to win against anyone in his house. He posed no challenge, no risk, and no reward to even look his direction. Slytherins typically had more class than to go stepping on ants all the time when they had better things to do with their days, and bigger threats to deal with more importantly. Just like how Blaise never really looked twice at anyone lower than him in the hierarchy because he felt it was just a waste of his time, most of the snake house didn't really care about those who posed them no threat so long as they remained quiet and out of the way.
Of course there were exceptions. People like Marcus Flint who, Harry was sure, had not even realized there was a muggleborn in his house for how dumb and unobservant he was, and who if someone did just bluntly inform him of that fact would happily torture Alden right out of Hogwarts like the malicious cunt he was.
Slytherin itself didn't really consider people like Flint to be shining representatives of themselves, so no one with any amount of brains ever really told him shit. If he couldn't figure things out on his own, most happily let him drown.
The polite thing to do was to flat out ignore things like muggleborn or half-blood status, in-house in Slytherin at least. Only if those muggleborns and half-bloods kept to themselves though and didn't go catching unwanted attention, causing a disturbance that would make those more powerful than them take notice—or worse, take issue with them.
So the fact Alden had caught Blaise's attention was so not good.
Yet, on the flipside… by even asking about it instead of just doing whatever he was planning on doing with Alden, Blaise was recognizing that those two firsties were "Harry's". They were under his protection of sorts and even Blaise bothering to ask permission proved that people took that protection genuinely seriously. If the untouchable Slytherin had to ask, there was a good chance the rest of the house had the same understanding that Lake and Alden were off limits unless they wanted to deal with Harry too.
Even better, they already knew how pissed Harry would be if they tried anything behind his back, and considered it a threat worth avoiding. Harry was thrilled to realize this meant most people considered him a danger genuine enough to not merely cross for no reason—even Blaise!
Fuck yeah. I wonder where this would put me in the hierarchy of things at this point…
Ah, but thoughts of grandeur later. Right now he had a psychopathic Slytherin to ward off.
"Blaise, you're really fucking scaring me right now. Why on earth do you need a first year?" He demanded, although they all knew he really meant 'Why do you need a muggleborn?'.
The idea he was acting like their slightly younger classmates were toys or chess pieces he could just ask for was highly unnerving and he wasn't shy about admitting that outright.
Of course Blaise just tilted his chin up, clearly having no intention of explaining himself.
"I cannot wait for the day you learn about it dear, however that day is not today."
"Bet you anything he's considering feeding them to the monster." Draco only half joked as he slunk back into his seat, Blaise rolling his eyes dramatically.
"Oh ha, ha… they're not the ones I was considering feeding to it."
"You're actually deranged, you know that?"
"At least I wear it well." He shrugged carelessly, not offended.
But Harry sat up straighter, realization hitting home and a warning bell going off somewhere in his head.
"If I find out you fed a Gryffindor to it I'll end you, hear me Zabini?"
"Hear that Draco? I'm Zabini now. And I thought we were engaged." He complained dryly.
"Absolutely not." Harry cut him off without hesitation. "I'm serious though, you know that?"
"Yeah, yeah," He dismissed, also leaning back into his couch and very much not actually caring about whatever threat was being made at him. "I thought better of it anyway—it's much more interesting to let it happen naturally and just take the gamble of who it'll attack next."
"I can't believe it's been this long but none of the teachers still have any clue what it is." Draco pouted.
Neither he nor Harry picked up just how sharp Blaise's grin was, although it was definitely unnerving on all accounts.
"Well we all knew they were incompetent. Hey, maybe the school with close!"
"Don't even joke about that!" Draco groaned, running hands over his face.
"Oh I know! How much will you bet me that it's one of Hagrid's pets that got loose?"
Harry was instantly suspicious, considering what happened last time someone made a false accusation about one of Hagrid's pets and his new understanding that accusations, even unfounded, got you halfway to Azkaban he was not about to let any rumor relating to Hagrid just fly.
Both snakes saw his expression and clocked on immediately—Blaise in glee but Draco in horror.
"Wait, do you actually know something!?" the blond beside him cried but Harry just patted his shoulder comfortingly.
"… about Hagrid's pets, yes. And that this monster definitely isn't that."
"Harry…"
"There is no way I'm telling Blaise any of that," he shot him a significant look of 'I'll tell you later' , which thankfully convinced him to drop it although he still looked very concerned.
"You see, and this is why I daydream about feeding lions to monsters." Blaise himself was annoyed to be left out so bluntly but also not strictly offended by it since even he knew it was just common sense not to tell the unabashed gossip things you didn't want the school to know.
Be it his annoyance compounding or him finally reaching the end of his patience, but his head snapped to the side as those pacing sixth years looped by their sitting area and got them to jump at the sudden glare they were getting from the Zabini heir, picking up their pace to walk away quickly.
Draco tensed slightly beside him and Harry knew not to interfere the same way he instinctively knew not to move if a snake was coiled to strike in front of his face. It wasn't often he saw Blaise actually lash out at someone and knew it wouldn't be pretty—those upperclassmen were four years older than them but that mean nothing when it came to the untouchable Slytherin if he were to be properly motived.
Luckily he seemed to be more annoyed than properly pissed off and just made a clicking noise with his teeth as he leaned back almost too pointedly relaxed.
"Your stalkers are annoying." He decided, tone distinctly soured from the playful bickering they'd just been having.
"So you noticed them too," Harry perked up, tone light to keep the conversation from being pulled into Blaise's irritation.
"Obviously. I didn't care when it was just you they were bothering."
Harry rolled his eyes but expected nothing more from the guy. He distractedly tapped the journal still lying on the table in front of him, trying to recall the stalkers' faces and names without making it obvious by looking directly at them as they stopped pacing to stand on the other side of the center area from them… clearly they still wanted to stalk him but were too afraid of Blaise to pass by so casually again.
So being friends with him has some perks along with the dangers, he mused to himself, relieved they'd finally stopped.
"Did I do anything specifically lately? I mean I can guess why they'd take issue with me in general but no idea why they'd be so obvious about it right now. They've had all year to do this, why now?"
"Nothing I can think of," Draco tilted his head, giving a thoughtful look. "Now that I think about it though, when did those three start being buddy-buddy? Have Cross and Bensley ever worked together?"
"They're both dark but the Cross family never even set eyes on the Dark Lord, whilst the Bensley practically licked his feet. Cross does stock trades and always ends up marrying Ravenclaws, whilst the Bensley are practically inbred Slytherin and have been coasting on family money for forty years." Blaise rattled off what he knew uncaringly, since apparently it wasn't even worth enough to bother withholding or trading for.
"So no, there's no overlap between them. Except apparently they don't like me enough to start taking strolls around the room to stalk me."
"Hatred is the great uniter." Blaise said like he was somehow either sage or wise.
"Isn't that supposed to be love?" Draco argued.
"Ah, but hate works just as well!"
Harry pressed his lips into a line, hating how much that rang true. He also hated how easily his mind immediately jumped to how to use that logic to benefit himself… particularly in the run for Minister one day.
The holiday couldn't have come at a better time. He really needed to take a break and stop getting lost in the snake nonsense for a bit, recalibrate on the Gryffindor side of things and start fresh in the new year.
Blaise and Draco bickering about things like love and hate distracted them enough not to see the eavesdropping sixths years suddenly start to suffer from their hair and faces changing shapes and colors, forcing them to flee the common room before anyone could notice.