When the lesson was over, Harry hur

When the lesson was over, Harry hurried out of the classroom, eager to catch up with Pansy and grill the girl for some more information. Also, he thought, he would have to check up on Neville and see if his friend was up to taking the afternoon classes. His plans, however, were cut short when Ron and Hermione appeared in front of him, both with accusing frowns on their faces. Hermione was the first to speak:

"Harry, why didn't you sit with us? Didn't you notice that we saved you a place?"

"Yeah, mate, what's with sitting with those slimy snakes?" – came Ron's much less subtle and very much accusing voice.

Harry bristled at the tone of his ex-best mate, though the carrot top was not aware of the change of his status yet, and narrow his emerald green eyes:

"I don't see how it's any of your business where I choose to sit in class, Ron."

The Weasley blinked stupidly:

"But Slytherins! You know they're slimy, evil, disgusting scum! Why would you…"

The Potter heir interrupted the idiot before he went on a rant about the Slytherin house:

"I know no such thing. The only opinion about Slytherins that's often repeated is your own."

Hermione frowned at him, trying to figure out why he was behaving so differently from the boy they got to know last year. She studied his appearance and blinked a few times at the differences she noted:

"Those are very nice robes, " – she said and caused Harry to roll his eyes at the girl. Her words also drew Weasley's eyes to the said robes:

"What's with you dressing like a stuck up pureblood?" – the ginger head asked incredulously with a very evident streak of anger and jealousy in his voice.

Harry snorted at that and deftly walked around the two idiots:

"I really have no time for your nonsense, Ron. I need to go check up on Neville." – he bit out as he began his track to the Gryffindor tower, intent on not thinking about the unpleasant confrontation, though to be perfectly honest it could hardly be even called a real confrontation, more like a small spat.


When he entered his room in the Tower, he immediately spotted Neville. The other boy was lying on the bed and reading a book on Herbology, probably a much more difficult volume than their textbook. Harry was relieved to see that his friend's nose was back to normal. He went to lie down on his own bed:

"Well, it seems that my worry was indeed not really necessary." – he said – "I'm sorry if I seemed overbearing."

Longbottom gave Harry a small cheerful smile:

"It's okay. Actually it was rather refreshing to have someone worry about me that way. I mean Gran was always attentive, but she's always trying to mold me into a clone of Dad, so it's not exactly the same thing I think. SO, how's our new DADA professor?"

The mention of the golden haired menace made Harry grimace:

"You truly didn't miss anything important. Our teacher is Gilderoy Lockhart. And we spent the lesson filling out a three page quiz about his book 'The Magical Me'. He even gave me an extra test for you."

Neville spent a few moments staring at his roommate, as if trying to figure out if the other boy was having him on. Then he made a face:

"Darn it. I think Gran was correct when she suggested that the position was cursed… I never thought there could be anyone worse than Quirrel, but that idiot definitely is worse. Where does Dumbledore find such crackpots?"

Harry nodded sagely as he recalled what Pansy told him. He decided to ask if maybe Neville knew something:

"You know, Pansy Parkinson told me that most pureblood children had a shared tutor…"

The other boy smiled:

"Yeah, there was that. Come to think of it Ron and Ginny attended as well… at first that is. I guess she told you about that thing with Malfoy… I can't really tell you more than she did; I have no idea what it was about."

Harry sighed:

"Well, I suppose I'll have to ask Malfoy than… Well, anyway, are you up to going to the afternoon classes?"

"Sure." – Neville agreed quickly and got up from the bed – "By the way, I received a reply to my letter to Gran. She said she knew the details about the bonding, but she doubts that 'boys as young as you two have real need of such a thing'."

The Potter heir inclined his head, took his book bag and led the other boy to their Transfiguration lesson.


Author's Note: While pondering the future development of the story, I've come across a topic which I can't exactly make a decision about. I want to give Harry a magical inheritance.

Poll 2: Harry should have the following inheritance:
A. veela inheritance at age 14;
B. he should be a veela mate, not the veela;
C. dragon inheritance;
D. dark elf inheritance;
E. elemental magic inheritance at age 16;
F. become a vampire / werewolf;
G. any other option is also welcome;