The Secret Society Ch. 3.2 (Harry Potter)

Read Chapter 3.1 here

As Harry anticipated, he immediately observed that all the seats in his usual seating area were occupied.

He disregarded the onlookers eagerly observing him in anticipation of a performance, and instead, he fixed his gaze unemotionally on Malfoy. The expression on the blonde’s face made a tiny part of Harry contemplate throwing caution to the wind and drawing his wand.

Of course, Harry didn’t do that. He moved to walk over to the end where the fifth-year rejects were seated, or rather, that was his intention.

“Potter!”

Harry smoothly changed his destination back to his usual seating area. The safe choice was to ignore the call, but he was curious about what Greengrass had to say. They generally didn’t have much contact in public.

He noticed that Starkey, the boy next to Greengrass, conveniently left his seat as Harry walked up to them.

“I forgot about Blaise. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Harry raised an eyebrow at what Starkey said before Daphne motioned to the newly emptied seat. He sat down without hesitation and started to fill his plate with food.

“Thank you,” Daphne commented as she watched Harry unashamedly dig in, “That’s what you should say.”

“Really? You did this out of the goodness of your heart?”

“Whether I did or not shouldn’t matter, Potter. It’s what the properly civilized folks would do.”

Harry hummed as he snuck glances at Malfoy. He seemed enraged that Greengrass saved him from embarrassment if the expressive motions of the blonde’s hands were anything to go by. The cronies around Malfoy were nodding their heads like the good little bootlickers they were.

“So,” Harry turned his attention back to Greengrass, “What are you up to? You’ve made yourself quite the target.”

“Me? A target?” Daphne’s sneer made it clear that she dared them to try, “Please, Malfoy won’t do anything to slight me. His father has been trying to get my family’s support.”

Harry raised an eyebrow, wondering if this was Greengrass admitting that her father was open to joining the Dark Lord.

“Don’t worry, Potter. You still have to deal with Thompson for me. You’re safe for now.”

“Fantastic,” Harry drawled, “Let me know if you feel the urge to stab me in the back.”

“I will.”

That was a little too sincere for Harry’s tastes. The thought of Greengrass of all people against him scared Harry far more than Malfoy ever could. There was a reason he refused to let her have power over him.

Greengrass could smile at you one day and absolutely ruin your life the next. Harry was aware that this had never involved physical harm… so far, but he had no doubt that she was capable of it. After all, the fate of Viola Stone was still whispered about in Slytherin.

Harry wasn’t able to fully grasp what had happened. Still, he knew enough to understand that Greengrass thought of herself and her family above all others. Viola Stone had been her friend since childhood, and Greengrass still hadn’t given the girl any quarter for an offhanded comment about her sister.

One day Viola Stone’s life was normal, and the next, it was an isolated hell. Harry wasn’t surprised when she hadn’t returned to Hogwarts after that year.

Sometimes Harry wondered if that was the result of Greengrass showing Viola Stone her version of mercy. It was never something he knew for sure, and it only added to the wariness he felt toward her.

However, even if Greengrass was the classical wicked witch told in muggle stories, she was his ally at the moment.

“This will be an interesting year.”

Greengrass nodded in agreement before they fell silent to watch the sorting. Although Harry was joining in the applause with his fellow housemates to greet the new students sorted into Slytherin, his thoughts were elsewhere.

Even with the secrecy clause in all his contracts, Harry was starting to think he had been far too casual with how he had done business. Admittedly, he had started this to protect himself. After that was accomplished, it was to enrich himself to buy materials that weren’t available at Hogwarts. It was unfortunately needed since House Potter was left destitute after the war with the Dark Lord.

Harry knew he needed to change his mindset. The terms of his contract required an overhaul. His first priority was to eliminate the loophole in his contract that he had allowed for clients who were also acting as affiliates. Harry knew that they were the key to his continued success, but he could no longer rely on their discretion when it came to granting access to his services.

The question was how he should go about it. No witch or wizard worth anything would agree to a contract that restricted them further without something to make it worth the tradeoff. It was hard enough when Harry added the secrecy clause. Adding even stricter limitations would not be a simple matter.

“AHEM!”

Harry was forced out of his thoughts to see a round, pink figure standing in front of Dumbledore.

“Thank you, headmaster, for your kind words.”

Harry must have shown visible disgust at the overly sweet voice because he could faintly hear Greengrass trying to hold back her laughter. He listened to the following few sentences from the woman’s mouth and quickly decided he didn’t need to hear the unending fluff about the Ministry.

Harry glanced at Malfoy and saw that he had a broad smile on his face while staring at Umbridge. Apparently, he had underestimated the boy. Harry didn’t think the little shite would have had support inside the school. No wonder he was so bold this year.

The question was, how far was the Ministry willing to go inside Hogwarts. Installing Umbridge as the Defense Professor might give them some influence, but it was nowhere near enough to change much of anything.

This was, and will always be, the personal fiefdom of Dumbledore as long as the wizard willed it so. Harry might be in Slytherin, but he didn’t share the ill feelings towards the man that most of his housemates did.

That wasn’t to say Harry worshiped him. Still, it wasn’t hard to admit that the headmaster was leagues above anyone the Minister of Magic could send to Hogwarts. Especially if the best option was the pink-loving Umbridge.

“… prune practices that ought to be prohibited.”

Harry blinked, wondering if he had heard Umbridge right. As he joined in on the weak applause that followed the ending of the speech, Harry turned to Greengrass.

“What did she say in the end?”

“Something about pruning,” Daphne replied dismissively as she kept her eyes on the headmaster.

That wasn’t much help to Harry, but he just wanted confirmation from Greengrass that he wasn’t in a wonderful dream. The word ‘prune’ was enough for that.

As the hall filled with the noise of students digging into their dinners, Harry’s mind was filled with the sound of galleons clinking together.

“You’ll have to leave the seat, Potter. Starkey will be back soon. This was a one-time favor that I expect to be repaid.”

“That goes without saying.”

Harry gave her a nod before standing up. He glanced at Malfoy, who seemed to be over the moon with happiness, and walked out of the great hall.

Harry could understand what Malfoy was feeling. After all, he currently felt the same way.

This year had already been an exhilarating broomstick ride, and the first day hadn’t even ended. The previous dread that Harry was experiencing at the thought of tightening up his contracts had been overcome by the sheer joy of Umbridge’s gift.

The word ‘prohibited’ was music to Harry’s ears. It would mean that business would be booming for the foreseeable future. It almost made him want to forgive Malfoy for his foolishness so far.

Almost.

Read Chapter 4 here