The Secret Society Ch. 1.2 (Harry Potter)

Read Chapter 1.1 here 

“Alright, Greengrass. We have an agreement,” Harry held out his hand with his palm facing up, “I’m sure you know what the consequences are for telling others?”

Daphne found it difficult not to know. Anyone who did business with Harry knew what would happen if the secrecy was broken. She didn’t care much about other students, but even she had to shudder at what Goldstein went through.

The poor Ravenclaw was too ashamed to leave his dorm for a week. Daphne had heard rumors that it was considered a minor punishment and there would be more severe consequences if Goldstein kept trying to break his agreement. Of course, Daphne knew those ‘rumors’ were almost certainly spread by Harry himself to warn the others with similar thoughts.

Even knowing all that, Daphne put her hand over Harry’s and didn’t bat an eye when she felt a contract forming between them when she mentally accepted the terms.

“As always, pleasure doing business with you, Potter. When can I expect Thompson to get her due?”

“It’ll take me a few days to access the Ravenclaw tower. I’m sure you know this will be a months-long task after that.”

“Good,” Daphne’s eyes gleamed, “Show her no mercy. By the time you’re done, I want Thompson to need the potion just like my sister. I want to see how her poor family can afford that.”

“Vindictive as always, Greengrass,” Harry said with a chuckle, “Makes me curious why you don’t want to do this personally.”

“And have Parkinson blab that I wasn’t in bed by curfew for weeks straight? Please, I don’t want to be hounded by whispers of me having a secret lover.”

“Understandable,” Harry leaned back into the seat and crossed his arms, “So, what else do you need? I do have to give Zabini something tomorrow.”

Daphne blinked, having completely forgotten about that. There weren’t many things that she couldn’t get with the financial capital that her family possessed. The things out of reach for her were generally even more so to others. However, Daphne recognized that this was a Zabini that was trying to woo her. If he wanted to use his mother’s ill-gotten wealth on her, who was Daphne to stop him?

“There’s an auction next weekend in Paris with ‘The Wizard’s Seeker’ as the headline item.”

Harry couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped his lips. “Vindictive and greedy. I’m unsure if I should pity the wizard that catches your eye or feel jealous of him.”

“That isn’t any of your concern, is it?” Daphne flipped her blonde hair over her shoulders as she stood, “I’ll see you later, Potter.”

Harry nodded and pulled out his wand to unseal the door to let her leave. It would be an interesting experience to accomplish what Greengrass asked of him.

Emma Thompson was outwardly kind and studious but had some rather disturbing secrets. Her Ravenclaw housemates had no clue they were housing someone one bad day away from a complete psychotic break. That type of mental illness was concerning when muggles had it, let alone someone with the power of magic at their fingertips.

If Harry was altruistic, he would be rearing to save the people that Thompson was ‘close’ with. Unfortunately for them, Harry had learned the hard way that selfless actions were usually repaid with ingratitude. It was one of the few lessons the Dursleys taught him that was worth keeping. There was a reason his services had a price for everything.

At least the smaller Greengrass had been indirectly saved by him, and it turned out that Thompson’s other ‘friends’ would be saved by him this year anyway. Harry amused himself by thinking that he might have a bleeding heart after all.

As for getting into Ravenclaw Tower, Harry wouldn’t have much of an issue with that despite what he said to Daphne. To do what he does, it was necessary to have easy access to all the common rooms.

Harry looked away from the window when he felt the train slowing down and stretched in his seat before getting up to bring down the trunk stored overhead. His fifth year was starting out better than the last four, and he hoped that would continue.

Harry straightened out his robes and adjusted his tie before levitating the trunk to follow him. He wasn’t an uncultured muggle to drag around his luggage, or so his housemates would call him if they saw him do that.

“I’ll see you in the castle, Neville!”

Harry had just stepped out of the train and saw Hermione Granger wave at a slightly pudgy boy in Gryffindor robes. He wasn’t that surprised to see the Prefect badge on the girl’s robes, but what in the world was Ron Weasley doing with one too?

Harry would have thought Longbottom would have got the nod from McGonagall before the redhead. Of course, that only stayed in his mind for a brief second before he dismissed it as inconsequential.

That was something much more interesting that caught Harry’s attention. Neville Longbottom was staring after Granger like a lovesick fool.

Harry’s lips had the slightest of smiles as he walked over to him. “You better be careful, Longbottom. If you stare any harder, she might find out.”

“H-Harry!” Neville squeaked in surprise, “W-What do you mean?”

Harry wasn’t bothered by the stutter Longbottom had. For some reason, the boy had the weakest personality Harry had ever seen, along with bursts of courage that bordered on suicidal. How else was Harry supposed to reconcile the stuttering mess of a boy in front of him who dove head-first into life-threatening situations with alarming regularity?

“Come now, Longbottom,” Harry grinned at Neville, making him more nervous, “I have eyes. And these eyes happened to see yours on Granger’s surprisingly tight bum. Might this year be the one where the Golden Trio pairs off?”

“Hey,” Neville lost his stutter in defense of Hermione, “Don’t talk about her like that!”

“Oh?” Harry gave Neville an exaggerated look of confusion, “I didn’t know you were already dating her. My apologies, Longbottom.”

“It’s not like that! She’s just a friend,” Neville’s glare would scare most Slytherins into shutting up. Harry wasn’t one of them.

“Ah, I see,” Harry put on a sheepish face, “Can’t blame me for thinking you do. There’s a surprising number of people interested in her after the dress she wore to the ball last year. You don’t mind me telling them that you two aren’t a couple, do you? I’m almost certain that’s the main reason boys aren’t hounding her.”

Neville opened and closed his mouth without making a sound, looking too angry to form words before turning around and storming away with his trunk dragging behind him.

Harry sighed happily, once again feeling great about the coming year. He was able to soothe his envy by tormenting Longbottom about his newfound crush on Granger. That was just the cherry on top.

Read Chapter 2.1 here