The next day, Harry had spent the entire morning being looked at by others and gossiped about. Some were claiming he used dark magic, others were saying he destroyed the troll with lightning, there was even one rumour about him throwing the troll with one arm.
At lunch he sat down at the Slytherin table, he was waiting for Tracy and Daphne who had decided to go to the owlery as they both needed to send off letters.
"Harry" A voice called once he had finished eating, Harry looked up to see his brother, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger standing next to the table.
"Yes, can I help you?" Harry asked politely
"We just wanted to say thank you" Adrian said
"What for?" Harry asked
"What for?!" Ron blurted out "You defeated the troll!"
"Yes I did but why are you thanking me for that?" Harry asked
"We wanted to thank you for saving our lives" Hermione explained
"Oh, well, you're welcome. I guess, but I didn't do it to save you lot"
"What do you mean?" Adrian asked "You didn't do it to save us from the troll?"
"You were leading the troll right to me and the other Slytherin's" Harry reminded them "I did it to stop it from mass killing all of us, not just you three."
"Uh, yeah" Adrian looked at Harry awkwardly "fair point"
"Actually" Harry turned to his brother "you said yesterday that you went to go look for Hermione, first of all I'd like to say well done for your bravery"
"Thank you" Adrian looked proud
"Second of all I'd like to ask why you were looking for her?" Harry spoke slowly, Adrian looked at his brother who was looking at him like he was an idiot.
"Well, uh, Hermione was crying in the bathroom"
"Why?" Harry looked at the girl
"Well" Hermione fidgeted "I was a bit upset after what you and Daphne did with the marriage contract thing and I overheard Ron saying stuff about me and I went there to cry"
"Sorry again Hermione" Ron whispered to the girl
"But it's all okay now" Adrian said
"No it's not, you're an idiot" Harry said calmly
"What?!"
"Why didn't you tell a teacher?" Harry asked "or a prefect, it would've taken you all of a minute to do it and Hermione could have been rescued by some qualified wizards"
"Uh" Adrian thought about it "we didn't think"
"No, you didn't think" Harry looked at his brother with disappointment "I couldn't think of a plan in time because the troll was right on top of us and I had to get it away from everyone else, what's your excuse? From what I understand, one of the older Weasley brothers is a prefect, you should've told him"
"Look we get it" Adrian sighed "and we're sorry, why are you so upset?"
"Other than the fact that you led a troll to us?" Harry asked sarcastically "Do you know how worried my girlfriend was?"
"You have a girlfriend?" Ron asked
"Daphne Greengrass" Harry replied "she was worrying the whole time because I had to go and fight a troll, gave me an earful about it as well. But forget that, I want to know something, why the change of heart? You three hated me yesterday, what's changed?"
"Well, you did save us from a troll" Adrian looked down "plus, I thought that, we could try to get to know each other. You are my brother"
"I thought I was a 'slimy snake'" Harry looked between the three
"Look, why don't you try to work with me here?" Adrian growled and looked at his brother "Why do you have to make everything difficult? You couldn't have just been sorted into Gryffindor like all the other Potters?"
"Ha" Harry let out a short laugh "it seems that you're not as well informed as I thought brother, if you did the proper research then you would realise that roughly a fifth of all Potters throughout history have been sorted into Slytherin. The last one was a hundred years ago if my memory serves me right, plus I doubt I mean much to you if a different house is a good enough reason to hate me"
"But Harry, all Slytherin's are evil! Everyone knows that!" Adrian argued
"Evil? Evil? Are you kidding me? We're first years, when a first year enters Hogwarts, they don't plan world domination or start killing muggles, they go to school to learn. Slytherin is the house of ambition and cunning, not evil."
"Voldemort was a Slytherin!" Adrian pointed out
"And what if Voldemort was a Hufflepuff?" Harry calmly replied "What if he was a Ravenclaw or a Gryffindor? Would that make those houses evil? If Dumbledore was a Slytherin then would that mean Dumbledore is evil or would it mean that Slytherin is good?"
"Our parents were both Gryffindor's!"
"Yes but were our grandparents? We have two sets of grandparents, one set is a couple of muggles while the other is Charles Potter, a Gryffindor and Dorea Potter who was a Slytherin and former member of the Black family."
"I don't get you!" Adrian shook his head "You're gone for all of these years then you come back and you act all high and might, where have you even been anyway?"
"Here and there" Harry shrugged
"Do you mean you travel round?" Hermione asked
"I mean it's none of your business" Harry responded
"Hey, don't talk to her like" Ron snapped
"Defending your girlfriend?"
"She's not my girlfriend" Ron turned as red as his hair
"Look Harry" Adrian spoke again "just join Gryffindor, join me, you could stay with me."
"Under the watchful eye of Dumbledore? No thanks" Harry refused
"What's your problem with Dumbledore?!" Adrian demanded
"I have a few, the first being his dress sense. It's an assault on the eyes, and that damn twinkle he has in his eyes. It's really annoying, oh and the fact that he keeps talking like he is everybody's granddad"
"You shouldn't talk about the headmaster like that" Hermione admonished
"What, I can't have an opinion? What is the world coming to?"
"So you'd rather support Voldemort and his death eaters?!" Adrian looked furious
"Did I say that?!" Harry snapped, and Adrian's courage fled as he took a step back "As far as I'm concerned Voldemort and his death eaters can lock themselves up in Azkaban and kill each other. Why on earth would you think I'd support them?!"
"Well...well, you said you didn't want to support Dumbledore" Adrian defended himself
"Oh, so it's with us or against us? If I don't join you then I'm automatically the enemy? Funnily enough, Voldemort had that same policy"
"No" Adrian quickly shook his head "that's not what I meant"
"That's what it sounded like" Harry responded "listen, Voldemort is dead and if by some miracle he comes back, then that's your fight. Not mine"
"You wouldn't fight?" Adrian gaped
"Do I look like a soldier to you? I would just stay neutral"
"Neutral?" Ron repeated
"It means I wouldn't fight for either side"
"I know what it means!" He said "But you can't do that"
"Why not?" Harry raised an eyebrow
"You'd just leave us to suffer?" Adrian accused
"I look like a hero to you?" Harry asked "I don't know why we're even having this argument when Voldemort's dead"
"But you really wouldn't fight if he came back?" Adrian persisted
"Why would I?" Harry asked "I'm not a hero, I don't owe the world a thing, if Voldemort comes back then he's your problem"
"My problem?!"
....
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