Sunday noon came and Harry was excited, it was finally time for the Slytherin Quidditch tryouts, he dressed with his sport clothes and met with Vincent, Gregory and Tracey on the Slytherin Common room, all of them wearing the magical version of "sports clothes" a loose wool shirt with some baggy wool pants. Tracey was the most "shocked" at the sight of Harry's revealing sports clothes even though she had cached him wearing those pants and shirt everyday as he returned from his morning run and she always sported the same type of blush whenever she saw him.
The group walked to the Quidditch field in which they saw the Gryffindor tryouts, many boys and girls from different years flew around in a practice game, Captain Oliver Wood, a fifth year observed everything from the middle of the ground as his broom made him stand in the air.
Harry saw that Oliver began descending after he blew a whistle, all the brooms stopped at once and all the students gathered around the team's captain.
"Alright listen up, I already made my call, Fred and George Weasley, you'll remain as beaters with Fay Dunbar and Kenneth Towler being in the replacement team" Oliver began listing his picks and Harry saw that Fay began jumping up and down in clear excitement. "Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet you'll remain as chasers with Cormac McLaren and Neville Longbottom being in the replacement team" Harry let out an excited Woo! When he heard his best friend get a position in the team making the Gryffindors look at him with surprise but with Neville responding with a big smile and giving him a two thumbs up. "And for seeker Dean Thomas, you're on the team" Oliver closed his parchment before addressing everyone "Sorry for those who didn't make the cut you can always try next year, or if you want to be on the football team the tryouts are next Sunday at 10, now let's clear the field it's time for the next house to have its tryouts" Oliver said as he turned around and greeted Terrence Higgs who shook Oliver's hand in a friendly manner.
"The field is yours Captain Higgs" Oliver said
"Thank you Captain Wood, good luck on this year's Quidditch matches" Terrence said
"We'll win this year" Oliver said
"I doubt it, you lost your best seeker two years ago and you haven't gain another with half the ability Weasley had" Terrence said with a smug smile
"We'll see about that, I have confidence on my choice" Oliver replied, even though they were practically trying to provoke the other Harry could see that there was a mutual respect and love for the game between the two captains.
"Alright listen up!" Terrence said to all the Slytherin gather around. "Marcus Flint isn't going to be this year's captain, that's going to be me, so his sexist policy of "only boys allowed" is garbage, anyone can try out for a place on the team" Terrence explained which made Tracey grow with confidence.
"I've got this!" Tracey said confidently to her friends, besides Harry and company there were at least ten members of Slytherin waiting for the tryouts to begin, though those were older than his friends which made Harry feel a little nervous about it, it had been months since he rode a broom, not counting the failed attempt on Flying class, but still he thought he could drive the school broom the best he could, he avoided the old models and chose a newer model, he didn't wanted to have an accident during the tryout.
The tryouts were quite simple, Terrence would make an obstacle course consisting of rings from which all they had to pass through, there were rings to high in the air and rings to close to the ground, rings that were to diagonally and rings to far between each other that it was almost impossible to make a hard turn in the air. Every student had to pass the course in the quickest time and without touching any ring. Harry and Tracey and two elder Slytherins were the fastest ones.
The second test was about punching a quaffle with a club as far as they could hit it, Vincent, Gregory and Harry as well as one elder Slytherin proved to be the strongest hitters.
The final test was to follow the Snitch, everyone failed at that test except the blue and green eyed boy who was the only one who could follow the Snitch's movements, has Harry was following the Snitch he failed to notice that the new appointed captain was also following the movements of the Snitch but at the same time writing something on his parchment.
As the three tests ended Terrence gather around all of the students, just like the Gryffindor's captain he began saying. "Nott and Yaxley, you'll remain as beaters, Goyle and Crabbe you'll be replacements" Harry's friends beamed at that and began cheering, Harry and Tracey were happy for them that they forgot to listen to the other announcements until Terrence said "Davis! You'll be keeper" Which Tracey stared wide out and began to jump in true excitement, hugging Vincent, Gregory and Harry in a tight grip. "Wayne, you'll be replacement seeker, congratulations to everyone who made it into the team, I'll tell you when the practice will begin next week"
With their positions secured the group of friends go to the great hall to celebrate on the Slytherin table alongside the rest of their year mates and their friends in other Houses.
"That's so cool!" Blaise said as they finish retelling their story.
"Yeah, I mean Tracey you're the first woman in the Slytherin team in fifteen years" Hermione said, obviously she had read it on Hogwarts: A history
"Really? That's even more awesome!" Tracey replied excited.
"See I told you that you could made it into the team" Neville said to his friend side hugging her.
The rest of Sunday was held amongst some celebrations of the kids who managed to enter the team of their respective Houses with Hannah being able to get keeper in the Hufflepuff team and Cho getting the seeker in the Ravenclaw team with Harry and her making a friendly bet.
--
Narcissa Black, president of the Board of Governors, was drinking her morning tea on the meeting room of the Board, she was feeling fine, though if she was honest with herself she felt kind of lonely without her son around. But speaking of her son she heard a gentle tap on the window and she saw that Draco's owl, Barnaby, a brown and gray barn owl, was waiting for her to take the letter of its beak.
She quickly took the envelope and gave the tired owl a piece of her breakfast which made the owl fly away. She opened said envelope and began reading her son's neat writing.
"Dearest Mother:
I have successfully finished the first week of school and I can't express how much I love it here, your diligent management of the board of governors has made my classmates and I get a grip on the muggle world (something I already had some knowledge of given the many trips to USA for Harry's birthdays).
I'm on Hufflepuff and I'm enjoying this house, I know Aunt Andromeda and you were on Slytherin so I hope I haven't disappointed you by being in another house, I'm doing wonderful friends here, I'm with Hannah Abbott, the Justin kid from our tour and cousin Nimphy so I'm really happy. By the way I'll try for the Football team, I'd try for the Quidditch but I didn't want to deal with heights, though I suppose you had something to do with the rules because all the first years were able to get a chance on the tryouts.
Classes are fantastic as well, Mathematics is a little hard but I can manage and Latin isn't that hard when my American cousin helps me with it. Uncle Remus is a great professor as well as Grandma Minnie, I sent you a big hug mom and tell the little cousins to not play on my room, or if they do that at least clean after playing.
Love you mom, your son Draco
Narcissa felt how tears were forming on her eyes, she missed her son but she was so proud that he was doing just fine in school. Her years of hard work had been finally paying off, it had been an uphill battle to convince the other Board members that the addition of Muggle subjects would benefit all of their children, it had been tedious but she was glad she made that decision.
--
On Monday Harry was having breakfast alone after his morning run and his morning shower when a flock of Owls began to arrive, he saw how his snowy white owl first reach the teacher's table and gave professor McGonagall a letter making the older woman blush and smile, then said owl went to him and delivered another letter as well as yesterday's copy of the Gotham Gazette and the Daily Planet, the letter coming from his father thanks to Hedwig who apparently was very excited to flew across the Atlantic ocean towards Gotham City and back. Harry thanked the owl and gave her a piece of bacon he was eating.
Harry opened the white envelope with the Wayne Enterprises logo on the bottom corner. He was surprised at seeing
"Dear Harry,
First of all I'm sorry I took too long to write this letter, I had business to solve in both the UK, USA and Japan subsidiaries that consumed my entire time, also Damian and Helena began their school years as well, Helena awaits for the day she can attend Hogwarts with you and Damian sends greetings. I'm glad you ended up in the Slytherin house, according to your aunt Narcissa they're the most cunning of the Four Houses which shows just how skill you are my young Sherlock, I hope you're still training and practicing, your mother Selina tells me that she hopes you're eating well while Talia asks you to have fun.
Changing topics I have to tell you that the night of your first day I received four letters from four of your classmates, two of them wanting to make betrothal contract for their daughters, two girls named Daphne and Millicent, don't worry I explained them that you were too young to marry but I will still be doing business with those families, who knows you could marry one of the girls in the future, one was actually rude telling me that his daughter wouldn't marry a "mudblood" and the last one was actually more interested in marrying you with her daughter, Tracey, instead of doing some business. Also I've received two new letters one from the patriarch of a set of twins and one from a Chinese girl so I suppose I will have to continue making excuses of how owls are arriving at Wayne Enterprises, I should have known of my son's charms.
Anyway I wanted for you to know about the letters and what do you think about that before making any decision about your future, you're my son and I want what's best for you.
With love, your father, Bruce Wayne
Harry smiled as he read his father's letter, then he took a glance at his friends in the Slytherin table and his friends in the Ravenclaw table.
"If the letters arrived the night of the welcoming feast that means that Daphne, Millie, Pansy and Tracey wrote to their parents to ask for a betrothal between them and me, I made a huge mistake of saying how much money dad has, and what's worst is that they see me only as a walking bank account" Harry said to himself "But that means that that's the reason of why the Flint brothers attacked me, their parents must have told them that Daphne had another betrothed, so they decide to intimidate me or worst, take me out of the equation" Harry pondered over his bowl of oatmeal with strawberries, then he decided to open the Daily Planet newspaper first and read the front page article "SUPERMAN DEFEATS BRAINIAC, METROPOLIS RETURN TO ORIGINAL SIZE" by Lois Lane.
As he began reading the article, which had a picture of Superman standing proudly over one of the destroyed Brainiac bots, picture taken obviously by Jimmy Olsen, the article talked about the machine's latest attempts into bottle one of the biggest cities in the planet before destroying it, it was thanks to the effort of Superman alongside Supergirl and Superboy that they could stop the invading force.
He then switch to read the front page of the Gotham Gazette that was "MR. FREEZE BRINGS IN THE COLD" that talked about Mr. Freeze's new machine that tried to freeze the entirety of Gotham's potable water until he was stopped by Batman, Red Robin and Batgirl.
"What are you reading Harry?" Came the distinct voice of Millie who was accompanied by Daphne.
"The newspapers of my city and a newspaper in which one my aunt and uncle writes articles for" Harry showed the girls the unmoving picture of Superman and the one of the destroyed machine of Mr. Freeze.
"How can you freeze something with a machinery like that?" Daphne asked, even though they all had started their history lessons they hadn't reached the industrial revolution so the pureblood girl still thought that magic was the answer for many things.
"Well, Mr. Freeze, whose real name is Victor Fries, is an accomplished scientist who due to a freak accident he became a metahuman that needs to live in the coldest temperatures to survive and his heart is as cold as him" Harry explained but the girls looked at him confused.
"A meta-human?" Daphne asked
"Yes, it means that someone got powers due to a scientific experiment or due to a freak accident" Harry answered
"That means there's more of a regular human?" Millie asked as she took a small portion of fruit.
"Yes, the majority of Superheroes and Supervillains are metahumans, except for some exceptions that are in other categories" Harry said
"That Justice League you mentioned has metahumans as well as aliens, humans, gods and monsters, right?" Daphne said incredulously
"That's right, the League doesn't discriminate, as long as your heart is interested in protecting humankind you'll get into its ranks, I'm hoping for one day to be a full magician and be a member" Harry said to the icy stare of Daphne
"I'm sorry it's just that I have a hard time believing all of this" Daphne said
"Yeah I couldn't believe it myself when you showed us that video" Millie said, her plate completely intact.
"According to my dad the world couldn't believe it either until Superman saved the world from General Zod's terraforming machine" Harry explained.
"Impressive" Daphne said, she as the majority of the Wizarding Britain was clueless of the many times the world has been in danger and how this super powered beings have saved it from the brink of destruction.
--
After breakfast the trio walked towards their class when Harry got them into an empty hall
"Can I ask you two a question?" Harry asked as the girls looked at him confused
"What about it?" Daphne said with an icy stare.
"Did you wrote your parents about marrying me for money?" Harry decided to be blunt and straight to the point, he needed to know if these girls were only friendly towards him because of pure "Slytherin cunning" or because they really wanted to be friends with him.
Both girls stood there speechless, neither of them willing to talk first, Millie was looking down at her shoes, the chubby girl playing with a lock of her hair as well, while Daphne couldn't take her eyes out of Harry's, the blonde girl was meeting his gaze in a challenging way.
After a few quiet seconds Daphne decided to speak first "Well I can say that the quantity of money your family has was a factor in me asking my parents to pursue a betrothal with your father but it wasn't the only reason" She made a pause to exhale, her icy demeanor changing a little as her shoulders slumped, before she stood tall once again. "As I told you during the welcoming feast, I was frightened about being in a betrothal with Flint, they're rude, bigoted and I'm sure my life would've been a living hell if I ended up married with that git, so I pleaded my parents to search for your father not because of your money, but because you're a gentle boy who has manners and a sense of justice that no pureblood son has, if I end up married to you in the future I'm pretty sure that we could at the minimum tolerate each other." Daphne explained leaving the feelings part of her decision of writing to her parents aside.
Harry looked at her directly into her eyes and saw that she was speaking truthfully
"Alright, I accept it, Millie, why did you write to your parents?" Harry asked
"Well, we have met before and you're cute, and well I know that you're well-mannered so you would never mock me for my appearance, unlike the other pureblood boys I know who are often mean to me" Millie said still looking at her shoes and playing with her hair.
"Is that why you didn't eat anything at breakfast?" He said bluntly
"W-what? That's ridiculous, we just come from the Great Hall, you saw me there" Millie replied, her nervous voice revealed her true emotions
"I saw you sit on the Slytherin table with a plate in front of you but I never saw you eat anything, it also happened yesterday during breakfast, during lunch and during dinner, so… can you tell me why aren't you eating?" Harry asked, he saw the girl look at her feet while playing with a braid of her hair.
"It's just… you got into the… into the team… you'll be surrounded by… by pretty athletic girls" She said looking at the blue and green eyes of the boy in front of her. "I wanted to be pretty" She said almost in a whisper.
Both Harry and Daphne looked at her with confusion, but then Harry approached the girl and kissed her on the cheek
"You're very pretty Millie, you don't have to starve yourself to be pretty" He said to her smiling.
"But… but all of the girls around you, they're skinny or athletic, I'm neither one of those things" She said almost on the verge of tears, she closed her eyes but then felt two strong arms hug her while at the same time a hand patted her gently on her hair.
"Millie, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but if you were dissatisfied with your body weight why didn't you asked me instead of doing a hunger strike?" Harry joked to ease the tensions on the girl.
"What do you mean?" She asked
"There are many ways to lose weight instead of starving, I can make you a diet to lose weight, if that's what you want and you can join me during my morning exercises, how's that?" He said
Millie's face illuminated by the offering of the other boy and she hugged him as well, Daphne was looking at the scene with an awkward look but then one of Harry's arms grabbed her and pulled her into the hug.
"Thank you for being honest with me, and for being my friends" Harry said to the Slytherin girls. "I can't accept a betrothal just yet, but we can make that decision when we're older, right now we're children, we should simply enjoy our childhood and our lives" Harry said.
The trio resumed their walk to their potions class where they were greeted by their friends in Ravenclaw, Harry had talked with two girls who sent a letter, he still had to talk with the other girls as well.