Duel Aftermath
Harry felt like his life had changed dramatically in less than 24 hours as he made his way to breakfast that next morning after the duel.
He had just learned he had one fiancee, won another fiancee in a duel from Draco Malfoy, and had a major fight with Ron.
While he at least had the basics of what had transpired down what exactly would occur because of those things or what it all meant was still largely unknown to him. T
he only thing he did know was that he was hungry, and that at least was easily solvable.
He sat down at the end of the table, still being swarmed by people congratulating him about winning, but right now he was actually wishing he had either Susan or Pansy to talk to.
However he suddenly realized that there was no reason that he couldn't go sit by either Susan or Pansy and do just that. As far as he knew there was no rule against someone sitting at a house table that was not their own.
Even though he really didn't know either of them very well yet, he supposed he should try to get to know them a bit better and he was beginning to see the formation of a friendship with Susan.
Deciding on sitting with Susan first as the Hufflepuffs seemed much more likely of being allowing him to sit at their table, he got up to leave and said to his housemates, "I think I'm going to go sit by Susan today."
Most of them looked around at each other as if trying to decide if this was really allowed or not, but since nobody seemed to know for certain they chose to say nothing.
The only exception, however, was Hermione who pulled on his sleeve as he passed by her.
"What are you doing? We're supposed to sit at our assigned tables," she told him accusingly.
"Well unless you know of a rule that says I can't, I see no reason why not," Harry replied calmly, "you are free to come with me if you'd like."
She didn't reply, but he could see the gears running in her mind, as if she was already planning to dash to the library to check to see if there really was such a rule.
"Besides if there is such a rule I'm sure you'll find it," he reminded her.
With no further arguments, he went over and sat by Susan at the Hufflepuff table.
Susan and the rest of her housemates seemed surprised to see him there, but she decided to be welcoming and include him in the conversation they were having, "So Harry we were just discussing which is the hardest class?"
"Definitely Potions," he answered, "Professor Snape is killer."
There were courteous nods of approval from the other Hufflepuffs, as if this had already been agreed upon but they were at least kind enough to nod anyway.
The conversation then moved on to of course the easiest subject, to which there were various answers to.
He found Hufflepuffs to be a rather talkative and friendly group for the most part or at least the first years were anyway.
From what little he knew of the four houses, Hufflepuff was considered to be the loser house by most others, the house people were sent to because they weren't good enough to be anywhere else. Such individuals really needed to get their heads on straight, just meeting Susan would have hopefully cured them of that. He was finding her to be the perfect Hufflepuff, hardworking, loyal, and friendly. If he had to be married to someone, he supposed he could have done much worse.
Since his next class was with the Hufflepuffs, Herbology, he joined them as they made their way over to Greenhouse 1 where they would be working.
For partners he immediately teamed up with Susan and Hannah, the latter of which turned out to be rather good at caring for plants.
After herbology, Harry left them to go join his fellow Gryffindors for Charms.
He was held after class by Professor Flitwick in Charms to discuss the duel and so arrived late for lunch, but gratefully Susan had already put together some food for him by the time he sat down next to her.
"You know you don't have to do that for me if you don't want to," Harry told her, not wanting her to feel obligated to treat him so kindly just because they were betrothed.
"Why? Do you not like something I gave you?" Susan asked worriedly.
"No, no its not that," Harry admitted, "I just don't want to be a burden to you or make you feel obligated."
"I don't feel obligated to you, I do it because I want to," Susan bluntly stated, "come on, let's go take our food out to the lake where we can talk a bit."
He did so, grabbing up his food and following her outside.
"So what do you want to talk about?" He asked as soon as they were outside.
"I thought we could play get to know you," she answered, "I don't really know much about you, and you don't really know anything about me, so first tell me something about you."
"Well there isn't really much to tell," Harry replied, "other than the whole boy who lived thing which I didn't even know about, my childhood was pretty boring."
"You mean to tell me that the boy who lived has had a boring, totally non-event worthy life? So the story about you being trained by Merlin, who came back to train you aren't true? Or the time you fought off a giant using only your thumb?"
He laughed. "Is that really what they are claiming I did?"
"People didn't really know anything about you, so I'm sure a few people took the liberty of making stuff up," she responded.
"You would think they would make up stuff more believable," he pointed out, shaking his head.
"Well then tell me about the real you," She begged.
"I was raised by my aunt and uncle," Harry finally began, "they hated magic and they always held that both me and my parents were wizards against me but I never knew exactly why until Hagrid finally came and told me that I was wizard."
"So you never knew?" Susan asked flabbergasted.
"No," he stated, "so all of those stories about me fighting giants or being taught by Merlin are completely false. I know practically nothing, you saw me in that duel, I barely managed to pull it off."
"What everyone else thinks and is talking about is that you were just toying with Malfoy, like he wasn't even worth using spells on, and when you did, it was just to prove that you could beat him at any time, you hit him several times but the spells didn't really work," Susan admitted, "then you had to go and beat him with the most basic and simple spell of all, one that no one would think to actually use in combat."
"What do you think?" He asked her.
"I think that's pretty obvious Harry," Susan admitted, "I was the one who trained you for the duel in the first place remember? I, however, saw you for what you really are: someone just as human as the rest of us, trying to learn basic spells like the rest of us. When I first learned I would be marrying Harry Potter, I was thinking at first about marrying the Harry Potter I had read about in all of those stories, and I worried how I would ever live up to that, you would be so much better than I was, and I would have nothing to really offer you. To be honest I'm relieved to find that you are human, and I really would like to get to know the real Harry Potter and see if I like him or not."
He wasn't sure exactly how to reply to that, for the most part he had been subjected to either outright derision in the muggle world, and undue praise and adoration for the most part in the magical. The fact that Susan was now starting to judge him based on exactly who he was was comforting to him.
"Thank you," he finally said gratefully, "I hope to view you and judge you in the same regard. "
"Then tell me something else about you," Susan asked.
"Why don't you tell me something about you first?" Harry countered, not particularly wanting to talk a lot about himself, "I'm trying to get to know you as well remember?"
"Very well," Susan agreed, "I suppose I have a few things in common with you actually, both my parents were also murdered by Voldemort, along with most of the rest of my family. He seemed to view us as a threat to his power, both because we were direct descendants of Helga Hufflepuff, and also because of our power and wealth which we were using to help fund the war against him."
"You're a descendant to one of the founders?" Harry asked.
"Don't be too shocked," Susan replied, "there are many people with the blood of the founders running through their veins. I think the Potters were actually descendants of Gryffindor. The whole idea of any of us being somehow more important or powerful is of course ridiculous, just propaganda purebloods like to use. Voldemort for example appears to have thought along the same lines as them because many of the descendants of the founders were targeted and killed off. Its one of the reasons why my family was targeted, probably yours as well."
"I'm sorry," was all he could manage to say.
"It's not your fault," Susan amended before getting angry, "I just wish stupid Voldemort had never existed, he caused way too many problems. I was raised by my aunt, and she's been the best parent someone could hope for, but I still wish things could have been different."
"I feel the same way," Harry agreed, "everyone loves me because I defeated Voldemort but they just don't seem to really think about the cost for me. I lost my parents over it."
"It must be so terrible," Susan replied, "to be famous for something that has cost you so much."
It was nice to finally meet someone who really seemed to get him, Harry thought, of course that was exactly how he felt.
"What was it like being raised by your aunt then? You said that it was about as good as you could hope for." Harry asked.
"It was," Susan admitted, "my aunt's husband was also killed during the war, but she raised me the best she could even though she's had a lot of other things to do, she had to take over as head of the family and be a part of the Wizengamot, and then also do her job as the Head of Magical Law Enforcement. In spite of that, however, she's always somehow found time for me. When I was younger she used to take me flying and then when I got older she got me my own broom. Yet she also has been the kind of parent that makes sure that their kids succeed, she taught me the basics of dueling which you know, and other things that I could use to protect myself with which I can't blame her for after what happened to the rest of our family."
Harry nodded, that was a good idea, he wished that he had received similar training or experiences. Instead the only thing he had learned from the Dursleys was how to avoid getting hit or at least protect his most vital parts, and run away.
"Now its your turn," Susan reminded him.
He had since been avoiding really discussing what his miserable childhood had been like. He did not want her to worry unnecessarily.
Still he knew he should say something so he tried to deflect the question again.
"Yep, the stories are actually all true," he told her, "I was raised by Merlin, but Merlin asked me not to say anything to you common folk, can't have you learning about our super secret magical order."
She laughed, but she seemed to be also aware that he was deflecting.
"You still haven't answered the question, I'm not going to leave you alone until you do," she reminded him.
Susan certainly had a way of getting people to come out of their shell.
He tried shifting around some of his memories in his mind to see if he could come up with a good one to share with her, but fortunately finally he thought of one.
"Remember that I told you my aunt and uncle decided not to tell me about me being a wizard?" He reminded her, "well apparently Dumbledore or whoever really wanted me to get my Hogwarts letter because they just kept sending them to me, at first it was just one letter, than it was 3, then a dozen, finally it ended with the living room being absolutely filled with letters. I imagine Dumbledore sent every school owl he had and then some, each carrying multiple letters to pull it off."
"What did your relatives do?" asked Susan, now quite interested.
"They finally decided to leave the house until the letters stopped coming," he told her, "we ended up going to this little cottage on an island out in the middle of nowhere in the hopes of escaping, but it still didn't work. Hagrid managed to find us anyway and told me that I was a wizard."
She shook her head, as if trying to imagine what that experience might have been like.
"I think it's going to be fun learning the actual truth about you," She claimed.
If she only had any real idea what his life had actually been like she wouldn't think that, he thought.
He chose at that moment to look down at the remains of his lunch.
"What do you say we invite Pansy and maybe some other Slytherins if they would like to join us at the Hufflepuff table for dinner?" Susan suggested, seeming to have noticed his nervousness and change the subject.
"Sure," he replied, grateful for her not trying to elicit anymore information out of him at least for the moment.
"There are probably a few things you should know about Pansy by the way," Susan said, "I didn't want to say anything before the duel, or when she was around afterwards, but she's had a hard life as far as I can tell. I also think she is extremely grateful that you got her away from Malfoy, I don't think she really cared for him much even if she was always pretending otherwise. I think it would be nice to treat her particularly kindly and gentle."
"I'll try," Harry stated simply.
"All right well its probably time for us to get heading back," Susan said as she guided him back to the castle.
When he met up for defense against the dark arts class, Hermione flagged him down.
"I've been looking over the school's bylaws, and it turns out you were right about sitting at your own table or not," Hermione informed him, "according section 3, paragraph 5 of The Hogwarts Code of Conduct and Other Applicable Rules, the rule only applies for beginning of year and end of year feasts for the sorting, and the awarding of the house cup."
"Thank you Hermione for looking that up," he admitted to her gratefully, "something tells me such information could be useful."
She looked at him as if trying to assess if he was somehow being insincere or sarcastic, but he managed to escape scrutiny for the simple fact that he was being entirely honest.
"You are also free to come join us should you wish," he invited her.
She nodded, but chose not to answer. He had the feeling that making friends was entirely new and scary territory for her, but he had at least been gracious and invited her nonetheless.
It turned out that he actually did end up needing her information for dinner, when he had to use it to get Pansy to join them at the Hufflepuff table, who seemed a little nervous about doing so, but after informing her that it was not a violation of school rules and the personal guarantee by Susan that she would be accepted by the other Hufflepuffs she had agreed.
However the next need for the use of said information came while they were already sitting there, with himself flanked on either side by Susan and Pansy as Professor Snape came by.
"I do believe you should be at your own table Mr. Potter," Snape informed him with a sneer.
"I know that I am not breaking any school rules Professor," Harry calmly told him, "according to the Hogwarts Code of Conduct, section 3, paragraph 5 I or any other student has every right to sit at another house table.
He had been almost expecting Snape to protest and so was thankfully ready for him, thanks to Hermione.
To this answer, Snape momentarily paused but his apparent undeserved hatred of him seemed to win out as he then said testily, "I don't care if the school rulebook says that you are allowed to have pet dragons in the school! No such activities that I deem harmful are allowed."
"Why would sitting at another table be deemed harmful?" Hannah had the courage to point out.
"How dare you question my ability to judge," Snape sneered loudly, "houses should never intermix as it only fosters anger and animosity towards each other when they get too close. I am willing to forgive you this time for still being so young and naïve, but you will come to learn this is the case. Now I would suggest you silly, fat little girl had better spend more time thinking than eating."
Hannah, who was admittedly a bit overweight looked ready to cry, but Snape was not done yet.
"I shall just have to take 10 points from Gryffindor for failing to sit at your assigned table Mr. Potter," Snape said.
"Then you shall have to also take 10 points from Slytherin as well," Pansy reminded him, "as I am also not sitting at my assigned table.
At this Snape looked like he was facing a conundrum or a rock and a hard place, Harry doubted if he had ever taken a single point from Slytherin and he looked extremely unhappy about having to do so.
Finally after realizing he was caught, he said in as low a voice as he possibly could and still be heard: "ten points from Slytherin then, but Ms. Parkinson I would caution you against hanging out with this riffraff even if you do now have the unfortunate task of marrying such an obviously undeserving wizard. I had hoped that you might stay with Draco, but now I suppose I have to offer my condolences. I'll expect you both to be sitting at your assigned tables the next time I turn around."
He strode from where they were to the teacher's table while they all began to protest as soon as he was out of earshot.
Before they could do anything else however Professor Flitwick appeared behind them.
"Did my ears deceive me or did someone manage to get Professor Snape to take points from his own house?" He asked in his squeaky voice.
"Professor Snape tried to take points from Harry when he noticed he was sitting at the wrong table even after we informed him it was not against the school rules to do so," Susan explained, "but then after insulting us all, he chose to try and take points anyway. Then Pansy reminded him that she was sitting at the wrong table as well and then he had to take points away."
"I'm sorry about Professor Snape, he can be very...difficult sometimes," Professor Flitwick agreed, "I'll be having a talk with him. However for your trouble and for trying to help inspire house unity, take 15 points each to Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff. I hope my Ravenclaws follow your example."
"We'll be working on getting ravenclaws involved too," Susan said.
"Excellent!" raved Flitwick before turning his eyes directly on Harry, "and Harry I've been thinking about the conversation we had after class, and I was wondering if you would like me to teach you how to duel."
To Harry this seemed like a very magnanimous gesture, as he knew that Flitwick had been a dueling champion back in the day, and instruction from him would probably be quite useful.
"I would love that professor," Harry replied honestly, "if its not too much trouble."
"No trouble at all," Flitwick informed him cheerily, "you seem to have the reaction speed and dodging part down, you just need to learn some spells and technique. If it is all right with you, come meet me in my office right after dinner and we'll get started."
Harry nodded his assent and Flitwick went to go join the teacher's table.
They had the satisfaction of seeing him start up an discussion with Snape which very quickly turned into an argument as far as they could tell as Snape at least looked rather angry.
Nevertheless, Flitwick held his ground and in the end even McGonagall got involved before the argument ended.
DUELDUELDU
Meanwhile Draco Malfoy was currently on his way down to the Slytherin common room, after receiving a letter from his father. It read simply:
Slytherin common room, now.
Draco had a pretty good idea just what it was about, and he was certainly not looking forward to it. It was because of the results of the duel that he had lost to Potter. His father certainly was not going to be happy about it, not one bit.
The fact that his father was also one of the school governors and could come visit him whenever he wanted made things even worse, most students would just get a Howler sent to them and then they would be done with it, instead he had to endure his father's tirades in person.
He spoke the password and entered the Slytherin common room, before immediately spotting his father standing there.
There were no other occupants in the room as everyone else was still away eating dinner.
When his father saw him he looked back at him with a very large scowl on his face. This did not bode well, not one bit. If his father had started shouting at him it might have been better, but this meant he was really just containing his anger, and Draco had learned long ago that this meant he had a major punishment in mind.
"Hello Father," Draco said weakly, bowing respectfully at him.
"Draco it appears we have much to discuss about a certain duel you so foolishly entered into," his father began, his voice kept subdued but sounding like he could lash out at any moment, "I would have never believed that a Malfoy would have been so foolhardy as to make such a challenge like that."
"It was never supposed to go that far," Draco tried to explain, "I only challenged him at first so Potter would be out after hours for our duel and then I could rat him out so he could get caught. Then Dumbledore had to stick his nose into it and offer to publicize the duel to the whole school. I couldn't back down from that, it would have made me look weak and cowardly."
"You were foolish to make such a challenge anyway," his father concluded angrily, "but of course you needed to accept the challenge, Malfoys cannot be perceived as cowards. The difference is that you were supposed to actually win the duel, by any means necessary."
"I had him the entire duel," Draco answered, "Potter could only do like one spell, he's an idiot father, and I should have won."
"You mean to say that the boy you were fighting only knew one spell, and you still lost!" his father raged, no longer able to contain his anger.
"Yes father," Malfoy answered, now slightly terrified, "but he's the boy-who-lived, surely..."
"That is no excuse," his father replied, "do you know what you might have just cost me? I need the support of Pansy's father, and the agreement I had with him was contingent on his daughter marrying you. I had him and the rest of the names I needed to gain a majority in the Wizengamot and then you had to go and throw it all away. Now they will hesitate since this will also suggest that my own son and heir can't manage to hold his own. The entire Malfoy name has been shamed!"
Draco just stood there, not trusting himself to speak further.
"You will get your revenge on Potter and win back Parkinson's daughter," his father assured him, "in order for the Malfoys to gain the power that we've been trying to get we have to salvage this, by any means necessary. Otherwise I shall have no choice but to disinherit you so I can save face, do I make myself clear?"
Draco nodded, shocked by such a threat. His father had never threatened him with disinheritance before, and no matter how serious he might have been, even the threat was evidence of just how angry he was at him.
"What would you propose I do?" Draco asked.
"The only way it can be rectified," his father reminded him, "by having Potter lose in a duel."
"I don't have another marriage contract that I can gamble," Draco reminded him.
"Then get another student to do it," his father replied, "any student should be able to make such a challenge and have it be valid as long as they are in his year and have a marriage contract. I'll see to it that Potter will be forced to accept. Make sure that they are loyal to you so that when they beat him, they'll be willing to hand the marriage contract back over to you."
"Yes father," Draco said sullenly.
"I expect you to have this taken care of swiftly. If I have to get involved myself it will not bode well for you," his father said as he swept from the room, leaving Draco alone.
"Potter," was all Draco said in the time before students started coming back from lunch as he tried to figure out who to send to defeat him with.
DUELDUELDUEL
Meanwhile Harry was just finishing dinner when Pansy whispered into his ear, "can I talk to you alone?"
"Sure," he said as he got up from the table to follow her.
After finding an empty classroom, and after he had shut the door behind him, she began:
"I want to thank you Harry...for...you know...getting me away from Draco."
"No problem," he told her, "happy to help."
"I know you weren't planning on it or anything," she said, "but I'm still really grateful. You have no idea what..."
She stopped then, and it looked like she was about to cry again.
"I'm sorry, I promise I'm not usually very emotional," she continued as she wiped a tear away from her eyes, "its just that well let's just say it was really hard to go through life knowing you were betrothed to someone like him, I figured that there was no way out. I don't know you and you don't know me, but I can already tell that you aren't anything like him, or indeed any wizard I've ever met."
"Thanks," he stated simply, unsure exactly how to reply, but feeling like he should come up with something more as he then said, "This is new territory for me, being betrothed to you and Susan is a lot to take in, along with the fact that the magical world, or even having friends are new experiences for me, I can't promise that I'll be perfect."
"I don't expect you to be perfect, and you're doing fine," Pansy consoled him.
"Thanks," he said again and then, "I hope that we can at least become friends."
"I'd like that," Pansy replied, smiling, "can I hug you again?"
She asked him reluctantly, but he could tell she really wanted one so he did, both of them feeling rather awkward about it but it also felt good at the same time.
"You want to go work on our potions homework together?" he volunteered after they broke apart.
"Sure," she said as she followed him out of the classroom to the library.
Maybe a lot of things had changed so far, but at least he was off to a good start.