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Chapter Text

A/N: Hello, people!

I don't own Harry Potter.

I have no beta.

ENJOY!

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.

"Well, if it isn't the boy wonder himself."

To be quite honest, Blaise had been expecting Harry Potter to be a lot more present. Instead of responding to his taunting the way any other Gryffindors would have, he just stared and there was something strangely creepy about his unwavering gaze. He'd seen Harry Potter from across the Great Hall many times and even in the corridors, but he had never been so close that he could see every minute detail of his appearance.

Everyone knew about the legendary scar and the green eyes that he got from his mum, but other than that it was just another boy who also happened to be famous.

Blaise, however, did not remember hearing anybody talk about how off-putting said green eyes were. He never heard anyone say that there was an eerie sort of undertone in Harry Potter's gaze. When not overcome by emotion, that sort of unnatural shade of green just seemed kind of flat and dead. Which was such a strange contrast because the color was so electric and so startling that Blaise felt he could probably see it from across the room in the dark.

Still, Harry Potter when all alone did not seem to rise to any sort of bait or taunts, he just sat by his lonesome in the library, pouring over old books for whatever reason. In fact, based upon his expression, he looked terribly unimpressed.

Finally, it seemed he had something to say. "If it isn't one of Malfoy's little lackeys."

Blaise bristled, not appreciating that being the only association the other boy had of him. "Not everyone in Slytherin is up Draco's arse, you know. We have lives outside of him. Not everything revolves around him either."

"And yet you lot allow him to be the face and voice of the entire House and no one ever calls him out or shuts him up. Since no one has made an effort to get control of his behaviour, you clearly all agree with it."

That wasn't how things in Slytherin worked. When it came to all of the families, unfortunately, the Malfoys were wealthier and had higher political positions. It wasn't quite so easy to just put someone in their place if the someone in question could actually cause your family suffering.

"Also, isn't your mother the one who kills all of her husbands so she can get their money? I'm supposed to believe that a serial killer with more than eight victims, who has yet to be caught despite everyone knowing she's guilty, is supposed to be scared of a twat like Lucius Malfoy?" Potter said with a disbelieving frown. "That would be the weakest possible argument you could come up with."

It was best that Blaise did not try to confirm or refute Potter's assumption because by technicality he wasn't really wrong, but it was best to not actually draw attention to the details. And even places like Hogwarts weren't completely safe from spying and every portrait was practically feeding Dumbledore information.

Still, he couldn't help but be a little offended. Things weren't quite as black and white as Potter seems to think, but then again, it wasn't as if Potter had any kind of good experiences with Slytherins that weren't Snape or Draco. And those two weren't exactly stellar examples of what the Slytherin existence encompassed. One was too jaded, and the other was too spoiled.

"A fundamental thing that I think you are missing here is the fact that a considerable number of the families that are sorted into Slytherin and Ravenclaw have someone who was a follower of the last Dark Lord. As such, they either have family members in prison or family members who managed to escape being sent to prison by renouncing their connections. No matter what Lucius Malfoy says about his history as a Death Eater, he has more political power than everybody else, and he has the ear of the minister, and if anyone so much as acts out in a way that is against his personal beliefs, he can do horrible things. His connections are what make him a threat, not him personally."

It was laughable to think that man was a personal threat to anyone. His wife was more terrifying than him. Vincent Crabbe's appetite was more terrifying than Lucius.

But just because he was a joke in person did not mean his reach wasn't long and foreboding.

"Listen, you can claim all you want that you do what you do, or in this case don't do anything so that you can defend your precarious position in life, but at the end of the day you can't be angry that nobody trusts you and nobody believes anything you say when you have done nothing but prove that you disagree with the bad things people like him do."

Before he could respond, Potter added, "Finally, despite what the romance novels would tell you, it's not actually romantic or sweet that a person who promotes the removal of the basic human rights of innocent people they don't even view as human, is secretly nice to the victims of their beliefs when their friends aren't around. It's just a privilege in the fact that you aren't affected by the results of your beliefs, and empty words if you're not secretly running an underground organization that actually helps the people your specific demographic looks down upon."

Never in the entire time he had known of Harry Potter would Blaise have ever thought that he was this insightful or that he had these kinds of things to say. These just didn't seem like the kinds of things that somebody like Harry Potter would dedicate his personal time to thinking about.

Or maybe it was because he was a Gryffindor and the Gryffindors had the support of people like Dumbledore, and Dumbledore was the kind of person who said a lot of very fancy words but never actually did anything. There was rarely ever any kind of change made despite all the bluster.

House Unity and all that tripe while not unifying the Houses in the slightest in the past seventy years.

After all, the world was full of people who said one thing and did the opposite, and there were all sorts of people who would make promises and then never live up to them.

"You do make a few good points in there," Blaise admitted, "but you're still too naive about things such as this."

Potter scoffed.

Blaise decided to sit down, directly beside him so he'd be forced to be hyper aware of Blaise's presence. He liked unnerving people when he wanted attention, and this was a tried-and-true method among the Slytherins during power plays. If they were having this discussion, then they were having it on his terms.

"Simply being in the same House as someone like Draco Malfoy does not mean that everybody is his friend or his follower or agrees with him. Not everyone in Slytherin is a Pureblood or even Halfblood, and there's a lot more muggleborns than you would expect, and they are not treated very well by people in their own House or people from the supposedly 'good' Houses. Not every student in the school is from Britain, including those in Slytherin House, and many families were not even around during the former Dark Lord's reign because they're from other countries where his reach could not extend and they moved here once he was confirmed to be dead."

Basically, Blaise was trying to explain to him that just because somebody was in a House where a lot of people who were not good or even morally decent, that did not mean that they were personally a horrible person. Students didn't exactly get to choose which House they wanted to join; it was the Sorting Hat that decided where people went based on arbitrary details.

For example, Blaise had wanted to be in Ravenclaw because his thirst for knowledge was something that people would at least understand and not bug him about, but as a Slytherin, him wanting to go to the library to look up anything at any time was always viewed with distrust from everyone else, even other Slytherins, because to them there must be some kind of ulterior motive.

To be a Slytherin was to be guilty without having actually done anything, and this unfortunately extended to the people who had never participated in blood purism or the same level of elitism as families like the Malfoys.

Potter had a very singular view of the experience of the average person but at the same time it was hard to be objective when you've only had bad experiences.

"It's also a bit unfair for you to still be so harsh on Slytherins when your own House has proven every single year that they are willing to throw you to the dogs the moment you are blamed for something or make a small mistake."

Such as all those points he and his friends lost in their First Year which turned all of Gryffindor against them. Or when he was blamed for the Heir of Slytherin's actions in their Second Year. And while he might not even be aware of it, a lot of people were angry at him over the Dementors having to be around throughout the entirety of their Third Year because an escaped murderer decided to make Potter his target.

And considering how that Fourth Year had gone thus far he probably didn't need to even bring that up.

Case in point, everyone in the school had taken their time to be horrible to him and prove a lack of loyalty, but for some reason only the Slytherins still get treated with distrust and distaste.

"Zabini, the only thing you've done to distance yourself from your Housemates and their reputation is have a full conversation without slinging slurs. Don't forget that you decided to approach me and bother me while I'm trying to do research. And you came at me with an attitude already, because that's what you lot always do. I mind my own business and everyone still wants my attention and wants to start something."

The fact that he couldn't even refute that statement because he had deliberately approached the other boy all alone when he had noticed him and wanted to see if he could rile him up a little, made his cheeks feel warm. And it was true that every encounter Potter had with a Slytherin was always Malfoy or someone who worshiped Malfoy's money and connections, coming at him first and then him responding. Those ugly buttons for example.

"Not every teasing remark is done with intent to hurt your feelings," Blaise countered, shifting his head so Potter would have to keep making eye contact with him. "Perhaps some of us just think that you're very pretty and want to get a good look at you in action."

It was true in Blaise's case, and honestly sometimes it felt like it was true in Draco's case as well, because Draco still wasn't over the fact that Harry Potter refused to shake his hand or become his friend. Not a week went by where he didn't feel the need to bring it up.

"You insulted his new friend to his face and somehow thought that he would want to be friends with you after that," A Fourth Year had said in response one evening during one of Draco's many rants in First Year.

Draco couldn't seem to grasp that not everybody held money to as high a placement as he did. Yes, he was financially rich compared to the Weasleys, but the Weasley bloodline was clearly doing far better because they had many children and many extended family members who were still pure of blood. The Malfoys could not say the same and Lucius and Narcissa were older than the parents of the other students in Draco's year because they'd actually struggled a bit to have him.

It was a well-known secret in Pureblood circles though most tried to ignore the implications.

Blaise's own mother refused to ignore said implications and had always decided that if she was going to have a child, it would not be with anyone from Europe or of immediate European descent, just so her child wouldn't end up like Gregory and Vincent did. The last hopes of their families and yet can barely function on their own let alone do basic magic.

"There's no need to lie, Zabini," Potter huffed, his new very pink face sticking out even more in the light streaming in from the nearby window. "I doubt Slytherins would go out of their way to flirt with a Gryffindor and vice versa."

While he was probably right, Blaise refused to be lumped in with the others. He leaned even closer, until Potter had to physically lean back just to keep a reasonable distance between them. "You won't know until you know I suppose, but at least you can know that from me it is genuine."

He was very pretty, unnerving, alluring eyes and all.

His hair could do with a good comb through, but it was actually nice at the length that was currently at.

Potter was clearly caught between believing him and wanting to get distance or thinking he was a liar and still wanting to get distance.

Blaise placed a hand on Potter's balled up fist and smiled. "I know my face isn't quite as pretty as Diggory's or Chang's but surely you don't mind my attention that much?"

"Your- your face is just fine," Potter said, now looking panicked. "And I don't know why you had to bring them up."

"I'll thank you for your more than generous compliment but we both know very well how much you like them and how I'm definitely not on the same level." At least not right now as both were older and more grown. He'd give it a few years for him to truly blossom into a deadly force of appeal.

Also, it wasn't that he was taking all of his personal time out of his own day in order to know all these things about Harry Potter, it was just things that were very obvious… at least to Blaise. Potter fancied men and women alike and had preferences for pretty people who were hard workers and extroverted. Also sporty, though that probably wasn't too important compared to personality.

Blaise wasn't exactly somebody who cared all that much about Quidditch, but he definitely knew a lot of information. He could hold a decent conversation about any of the active teams if Potter wanted.

And how this turned into him flirting with Harry Potter of all people... he didn't really know, but he also didn't really mind because Potter was very pretty, and he gave off this perpetually innocent air of somebody who needed someone much less nice to watch out for him. Someone who would tell him the facts as they are and not sugarcoat unpleasant information for him. Someone that wouldn't hide the grim reality of the truth, and also someone who would lead him through dangerous political situations like a proper guide.

He definitely had a few lessons with his mother, and he knew quite a few things about business and politics. While he didn't want to be on the Dark Lord's side whenever he returned, he never really wanted to be on Dumbledore's side either. But there was nothing wrong with making sure Harry Potter had a side and that it was the best option for those on the fence in the other parties.

And then, just as Blaise was wondering if maybe he'd gone a bit too far too soon for poor Potter's comfort, Potter did something odd.

He chose to lean in this time and very earnestly, without breaking his unnerving eye contact, said, "There isn't some kind of competition on who is more attractive. I wasn't being 'generous'. Both Cho and Cedric are nice to look at, but I wouldn't say you're somehow worse than them. And you shouldn't place your own value as a person on whether or not you can be considered better looking than other people."

Some light teasing and self-deprecation and Harry Potter turned into a life coach giving lessons on mental wellness and self-acceptance.

On one hand this could be proof that he was easily distracted, but on the other it showed a much deeper side to him that many probably weren't aware of. Giving such advice, even to someone he distrusted, was a lot more than most people would bother to do. And having such insight at his young age made Blaise wonder if all those rumours about Potter's adventures during the school years were true.

With how people talked him up all the time, it was difficult to tell which was fact and which was fiction.

"Also, whether or not you're being honest about your intentions doesn't really matter to me. There are no witnesses and I'm sure as bloody hell not going to tell anybody about this. So it can just be a forgotten meeting that has the same level of meaning as whatever you choose to eat at breakfast."

Potter then reached out to give his shoulder a companionable pat and he nodded his head. "Whatever it is that you're going through that caused you to want to come over here and initiate this interesting conversation, I hope that you manage to get it under control. Preferably before any of your Housemates notice that you're acting strange and decide to give you grief that you apparently can't stand up against because you're just so disadvantaged in your House. Wouldn't want mini-Malfoy to let his 'father hear about this'."

And there was the jab. He'd been waiting for it.

Blaise caught Potter's hand before he could fully pull away and potentially flee the library. "I'm not beholden to Draco's wants and opinions. If I want to flirt with Harry Potter, then I'll do as I please. And if your only excuse to refuse my advances is to hide behind Draco's reputation, then clearly with him out of the way entirely, you'll be more receptive."

Blaise was in fact not quite so optimistic all the time, but he couldn't help but want to keep catching Potter off guard. It was more fun than he'd expected it to be.

His sharp and witty responses were a breath of fresh air.

And all at once the snark that Potter had been drawing upon in order to fake indifference and aloofness vanished as that startling blush returned to his cheeks.

Yes, Blaise could work with this.

It would take time, and between the tasks for the tournament and the upcoming Yule Ball, Potter would have far less free time, especially now that Weasley was apparently talking to him again.

Hm…

"Harry," he began softly, making sure that the other boy couldn't avoid him even if he wanted to, "be my date to the Yule Ball."

Blaise was going to ignore how pleased Harry's responding squeak made him.

It would take a lot of finagling, but he could make all sides of this work so long as he played his cards right.

If you weren't an intolerant gobshite, Harry Potter was kind to you. And if you needed help, he would offer his own time. It was just something that seemed to come naturally to him and wasn't actually influenced by outside sources.

If he was with Blaise then he could be assured that Blaise's interest was not based upon fickle fame or wealth, especially since Blaise was definitely far wealthier due to his mother's exploits over the past two decades. As it is typically done in her family.

And it didn't hurt that Harry was very pretty.

Yes, this could be a very nice relationship. They just had to weather a few storms first to get to the sunny days ahead.

A/N: Should there be more?

How was it? Let me know!

See ya! :D

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.

Chapter Text

A/N: Hello, people!

I don't own Harry Potter.

I have no beta.

ENJOY!

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.

Blaise Zabini hadn't expected to care so much and so quickly, but care he did.

Once he dedicated himself to becoming part of Harry Potter's life, that meant that he had to be around him a lot more often. And, by extension, he would have to experience what it was like to be Harry Potter when the public doesn't like him. And it was worse than he thought.

Draco's ridiculous buttons aside, there was more to it all. So much more. More than even Potter himself noticed because he didn't care enough to pay that much attention.

Blaise was witness to violations of his privacy, immoral comments about his parents, threats on his life, and even a few, dare he say, EVIL, comments about how he ended up in the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

"Your name didn't even come out under Hogwarts," he found himself saying one evening in the library. "There was no name for a school on the paper that had your name on it. You clearly didn't take Diggory's spot since you're representing a whole other group, even if it's just you in the group."

Harry shrugged as he arranged the books he was looking into this time. "You think that's bad? It wasn't even my writing on the paper."

There was a moment of total silence, where Blaise's mind blanked on what to say. Something about that entire statement did not come through quick enough, and he stared at the mahogany of the table for several moments, trying to process everything.

Eventually, it all finally sunk in, and he couldn't help but gasp. "Are you saying that the management of this tournament is so subpar and so lax, that someone else can write a person's name on a piece of paper and then put it in the Goblet of Fire, and the goblet will accept it? And not only that, but choose the person and magically bind them to participation with a threat of losing their magic if they don't?"

That sounded illegal.

"Are you absolutely certain that it wasn't even your writing?"

"Yeah, unfortunately, I've only had since our First Year to try and learn how to use quills and inkwells and they are so hard. We're not allowed to bring Muggle methods to school, so I have to use what everyone else uses, and they're terrible. Snape has made it his life's mission to remind me every day that my script is atrocious. My name on that paper was far too neat to be my writing, and I'm going to be honest, but my writing with a pen isn't really any better either."

So many very illegal things were just said, and Blaise had to take a moment so he could breathe deeply and compose himself before he did something foolish and garnered the wrath of Madam Pince. She viewed the books in the library like they were her children, and if someone even so much as coughed on a book, she'd go spare.

Also, he had his reputation as a Slytherin to maintain, and he couldn't be seen losing his composure outside of the Common Room. Draco having no self-respect and doing dramatic things like that was par for the course for him, but Blaise did not want that to be what he was known for. He had goals and ambitions that required people to think he was unshakable.

"Harry, I need you to understand how suspicious this is."

"I mean, considering that my life is the one that's on the line, I think I get it pretty well," he said with a shrug. "It's usual for me to be in danger by now."

"No," Blaise shook his head, "You really aren't getting what I'm putting down. There are too many coincidences for this to not be someone's plan."

Way too much was going on here.

"Out of nowhere, this incredibly important tournament that was canceled decades ago because of how dangerous it was, makes a sudden return. And the Ministry claims that they're putting in more effort so that there won't be needless deaths this time around by increasing regulations and raising the age limit. But then it's somehow still perfectly easy for underage students to be entered into the tournament anyway so long as someone else does it for them? And the potential contestants don't even have to write their own names for the Goblet of Fire to consider the entry valid? The Age Line was only for show and wasn't actually part of any regulations to better control the environment of the tournament?"

He was going to compose a very strongly worded letter and he was going to send it off to his mother because if he could trust anyone in life, it was her. And if it was possible to use this situation to get Harry close to his side, then by all means Blaise would take it. His mother would definitely see the problem, and she'd have a suggested legal representative in mind the moment she was finished reading.

The Zabini name had a very talented solicitor that his mother had made use of many times over the past two decades. She'd know the right steps to take to get what she wanted.

"What you're saying is that you think that someone orchestrated all of this so that they could kill me specifically."

"Exactly. It's too suspicious."

"I was thinking about Karkaroff. Something about him just rubs me the wrong way and I wouldn't trust him for a second."

"He was a Death Eater who snitched, of course you shouldn't trust him. He can't stay loyal to anyone."

Harry's brows shot upward as his jaw dropped.

"Were you unaware of that little detail? If you see him walking around and looking a bit jittery, it's because he's nervous to be back here. Slytherins hate nothing more than a snitch and he snitched about everything to get out of going to prison. His actions caused a lot of people who weren't technically marked but were still members of You Know Who's following, to end up in Azkaban. He is not welcome here and despite Snape allowing Durmstrang students to join the Slytherin classes, it's not done with a welcoming air."

Harry shook his head, face a mask of utter disgust. "People who do and say horrible things but can't even stand by their own actions when the time comes are so annoying," Harry admitted. "I can tell why nobody can stand him, though I have to be honest that he was perfectly Slytherin in behaviour. In fact, I don't have faith that a Slytherin wouldn't try to save their own arse if they wanted to avoid prison or suffering but weren't magically powerful enough to do so on their own. It sounds to me like he did the very Slytherin thing and people just don't like the consequences that came with it. I doubt any of these twats would move differently if they were in his position."

Once again, Harry didn't understand the fundamentals of what being in Slytherin House was like, but at the same time, on the outside looking in, his perspective wasn't exactly wrong.

Harry had experienced, at most, about two hundred Slytherin children and maybe four Slytherin adults. You Know Who, Snape, Madam Pince, and Lucius Malfoy. As the children - the immature children, to be specific - far outweighed the adults, he only had experience with immature brats from Slytherin to base his opinions off of, and adults with bad attitudes.

Slytherins also highly valued loyalty, but that was something that had to be learned. Expecting adult levels of understanding from children was foolish. They were still in the process of learning these lessons and they would not be mastering them anytime soon.

The reason that Blaise seemed to be further ahead than his peers was because of his upbringing and who his mother was. Most Hogwarts students did not have a parent like Blaise did. Few grew up in danger like Theodore Nott did with his hardcore Death Eater grandfather. The most twisted possible childhoods belonged to kids in Slytherin and there was a reason for that.

They simply didn't make it public knowledge because the public wouldn't care.

"We'll simply have to agree to disagree on that because there are more important things happening right now, and I would like to focus on how we're going to either get you out of this tournament or make your tasks easy."

Harry frowned and held up one of his books. "I've been reviewing what the tasks were in all the other tournaments that have happened, and it seems that the First Task is always facing a very dangerous creature and the Second Task is always retrieving some kind of object from somewhere dangerous on a time limit, and the Third Task is usually finding an object that has been hidden somewhere as soon as you can to get the most points. The object will be placed back in the same area once claimed so that each champion can obtain it for points. Winning each task is not necessarily the goal, it's having the most points."

He opened the book to one of the pages in the far back. "In this Tri-Wizard tournament, one participant didn't do well in the first two tasks and therefore got only 25 Points from the First Task and none from the Second Task, but they got the item first during the Third Task and as such, managed to win. First Place awards 50 Points, Second Place awards 25 Points and Third Place Awards 10 Points, per Task. In this particular tournament, someone died in the middle of the Third Task so it was between the person who was originally in Second Place and the person all the way in Third Place."

Well… he had been in the library a lot recently. Of course he'd been researching the tourney to try and find a way out or a way to survive.

Harry sighed. "I've been working a bit on my spellcasting and Hermione gave me a list of spells I should master as soon as possible."

"And where has Granger been during all of this?" Blaise asked, knowing the answer but wanting to hear Harry admit it. To see if he was brave enough to.

Potter sighed. "Hermione doesn't want to pick sides."

Convenient.

Blaise's thought was cut off by Harry reaching out to flick him in the ear suddenly. "It is a bit annoying, but this is not the same as everybody else," he said defensively.

"Last year, Ron and Hermione had a massive row because he thought her Kneazle ate his pet rat. It lasted months. If a cat or a mouse came up in any way in conversation, they would be at each other's throats, and I declared myself neutral because I honestly didn't want to be dragged into it. I did not pick sides in that fight, and I only iced Hermione out for a bit because she reported my Firebolt to McGonagall because she thought it might be from Sirius Black and could have been cursed to kill me. Clearly, doing that right before a really important match did not earn her any favours, but for the most part, I stayed out of their fight. Her not wanting to pick sides over this makes sense and I'm not that banged up over it."

Because Harry Potter always had to be the understanding one, right?

"And if Weasley's inferiority complex continues on for the rest of your time at school, is Granger just supposed to be friendless this whole time to save his ego?"

While she clearly had an amicable relationship with the other students of Gryffindor, it was very obvious why Granger only spent time with Harry and Weasley. She did not fit in with the girly stereotypes, but she was too overbearing for other bookish kids, was a Muggleborn and had no knowledge of Pureblood matters but also wasn't weird enough to be a target of ridicule that wasn't based on blood purity.

She wasn't the Patils, but wasn't Lovegood, but wasn't Diggory, but wasn't Bulstrode, but wasn't so forth and so on. The only friends she really had were in Gryffindor and it was Harry Potter and Ron Weasley and maybe to an extent, Ginny Weasley.

It was clear that she did not get on with Brown or the Gryffindor Patil. Or any of the other Gryffindor boys.

So, was she supposed to mope around all by her lonesome, waiting for the day that Ronald Weasley pulled his head from his arse so she could go back to having friends again? How long would it take for him to stop being a wanker?

Would she have to play Switzerland until graduation?

Harry sighed. "I don't know," he admitted. "I don't think this is going to last that long, but I also don't really know how I feel about it. Ron's issues have never popped up before in this way. It's not like this is a repeated pattern for him. It is the first time he's ever done this. When everyone was attacking me every year, like you so eloquently reminded me, he and Hermione were firmly on my side. Even when I said that I was hearing voices and insisted on following them through the walls, the two of them were right there with me. This isn't a typical situation."

Fair enough, but clearly Weasley's desire for money and fame was a lot stronger than his feelings for Harry Potter.

Blaise would be nice to keep his opinions to himself, but his opinions were definitely nothing flattering.

"I'll make sure to ask my mum if she knows anything about what's happening during this tourney when I send her my letter about your situation."

"Isn't that cheating?"

"You were illegally entered into a life and death situation, and you are now magically bound to participate. A fourteen-year-old against three seventeen-year-olds. Besides, Karkaroff has enlisted the entire Durmstrang delegation to scout for information on Krum's behalf and Delacour has her Headmistress helping her. Just because Dumbledore likes to walk around with the air of someone too good to be dishonest, doesn't mean everyone else will pretend to do the same. You and Diggory have been left to fend for yourselves so you might as well do what you can."

'If chosen, you stand alone,' was utter rubbish.

Harry sighed once more. "Great."

Dragons!

Someone that was on the committee for planning this shite decided that it was a smart idea to get a bunch of nesting mother dragons from Romania and take their clutches away and make them bond with fake, golden eggs, so they can be extra aggressive against the competitors.

And for some reason this was legal. There were literally laws in place to protect endangered species. Dragons were considered to be endangered in many countries. That was why reserves even existed, because their numbers were thinning, because people wanted to use their body parts and their skin for clothes, wands, and potions ingredients.

Granger's list of spells to master as soon as possible for the tournament included:

Accio
Bombarda
Reducto
Depulso
Protego
Diffindo Tria

"Granger expects you to learn Fifth Year magic."

"Well, I've already gotten half of them down, so clearly I'm capable of it. I already have a corporeal Patronus, I think I'm pretty capable."

Blaise gaped. "Since when did you learn something like that?" That was considered very advanced Light Magic. Harry was fourteen. Something like that wasn't even on the O.W.L.s!

"Last year, because the Dementors apparently affected me abnormally and I needed to be able to keep a clear head and stop hearing my mum dying every time they came around."

At the age of thirteen, he had mastered incredibly advanced magic because he felt it was necessary to avoid hearing his mother's dying cries. And it wasn't just a small wisp or a vapour like most people were capable of. Instead, it was a full animal. "What is the shape of your Patronus?" Blaise asked, curious.

It was said that the shape of someone's Patronus would show what they cared about most.

For example, there were several recorded instances of couples having each other's Animagus forms as their Patronuses.

Harry raised his wand and waved it a little, allowing the charm to slip out without even saying a word. The wispy white light thickened instantly, until… it turned into a large spider. Not exactly an acromantula, but a massive, human-sized spider all the same.

Eight eyes and eight legs yet somehow looking the very opposite of threatening. It nudged against Harry's seated form like a puppy wanting attention from its master.

"Huh…" Harry hummed thoughtfully, "it changed."

Blaise had never heard of someone's Patronus changing shape before.

"It used to be a stag. According to Hermione and even Professor Lupin, that suggested that I felt close to my father because that was his Animagus form and I viewed it as something protective…"

A person's Patronus could change shape depending on their feelings. Or, potentially, depending on what they currently valued the most. So if he learned how to do the Patronus last year, when his life was constantly in danger, then thinking of the man who died trying to protect him, made sense. But right now… things had changed.

His life was still in danger, but not in the same way. It was still a somewhat controlled environment compared to the amortal non-beings wandering into places they'd been forbidden to enter and trying to kill him despite knowing damn well what their target actually felt like.

And, once again, Harry was Public Enemy #1 this year, but that wasn't exactly new. The reason was certainly unique, but it was not a new situation he had found himself in.

The one change was his friends were not by his side now… and instead it was Blaise.

Was Blaise represented in Harry's magic by a spider? Not even a snake for Slytherin House, it was a spider?

The most fascinating thing about this revelation was the fact that the Crest of the Zabini Family was a spider. Specifically, a Black Widow cradling a full moon.

Harry Potter's Patronus shape changing from a deer like his father to a spider, which was Blaise's family crest, was very telling. Even with all the snarky quips back and forth between them, Harry had gotten used to his presence. Dare he say that Harry actually looked forward to seeing him if he seemed to value his presence this much?

"Don't let it get to your head," Harry said with a shrug as the Patronus vanished. "It's not as special as you seem to think it is."

On the contrary, it was an incredibly significant revelation. It meant that his attempts at slinking his way into Harry Potter's life and making Harry Potter interested in him was working.

Blaise smirked. "Whatever you say, darling."

Harry shuddered when Blaise's warm hand landed on the nape of his neck and began to play with his messy hair.

"Now, I'd like to talk for a moment, about your robes for the Yule Ball."

Harry sighed in defeat.

"Mum's letter finally arrived and she's actually gone to the effort of reaching out to our solicitor on your behalf for assistance."

Harry looked up from where he was seated by the Black Lake, practicing the Bubblehead Charm to some success considering the size at least covered his mouth. "And how expensive would you say this solicitor is?"

"For those without a former connection, it would be best to say the services are priced upon discussion, but as you would have my mother as a go-between, you get the benefit of a family friend sort of discount, which basically means you don't pay anything unless you win." And if he won, he could end up three times wealthier than he already was.

Blaise handed over his mum's fancy stationary and allowed Harry to read it in full. It was a long and detailed explanation of what was wrong, as well as how they were going to combat the issue.

"Nothing can be done in time for the First Task," Harry said with a sigh, "but she can arrange for things to be put to a halt some time before the Yule Ball. It'll take a lot longer because it's an international incident, apparently."

"I'd say that you should keep practicing all of these spells as often as possible."

"But it's a dragon. What am I supposed to be able to do against a dragon? It's not like they speak Parseltongue!"

Parseltongue…

"If dragons are considered reptiles, then they should be able to understand it… Magically powerful creatures all have a magical language and can be taught human languages because of magic. There is a dragon language, a naga language, and even a language for lizards. And it's noted that naga can understand dragons just fine and sometimes couple with them for the sake of relieving their body's annual need for offspring."

Everything was utterly silent until Harry asked, "If a naga is half person and half snake, how are they having kids with Dragons which are way bigger?"

Blaise's mouth went dry at the thought of explaining to the Boy Who Lived, what naga mating looked like and what their bodies were capable of when fertility was at its peak… Instead, he just murmured, "When there's a will, there's a way. Anyhow," he said as a distraction, "moving on the point I'm making is that it's entirely possible the dragon can understand you. Maybe you can try that first."

After all, it didn't hurt to at least try. If it was possible for Harry to get out of that situation without actually being in any danger, that would be swell.

"...I told Cedric about the dragons."

Blaise sighed.

"Look, I don't even want to be competing in this tournament, and I would at least like Hogwarts to win. If everyone else is going to cheat and Dumbledore thinks that he's too good to do so, then it's not fair for Cedric to go in blind."

Merlin knows Pretty Boy Diggory needed a fourteen-year-old's help to save his own arse.

"There's no need to be jealous of Cedric, you know."

Hm. Sure.

"I'm here with you, aren't I?"

That was true.

Blaise decided to take this victory with the appropriate level of grace it required and sank into a seated position at Harry's side. "Indeed. And you are also going to the Yule Ball with me, which, by the way, your robes are finished, they will be delivered soon."

"It's over a month away!"

"And all the more reason for you to be prepared."

"You don't even know my size."

"Magic is capable of many things. Don't doubt me or my connections."

In basic terms, the robes were smaller than Blaise's size and would immediately reshape themselves to Harry's form. It cost a bit more money to do that, but it was completely worth it because getting Harry to go to his family's personal tailor was pretty much impossible at the moment.

"Are you going to make me wear Slytherin colours?"

"I'm going to make you wear a hunter green that compliments the colour of your eyes. With a nice, dark black to go with it, you'll stand out perfectly. I even have a good lip balm for you to wear as well. It has a slight red tint, and I think it'll look especially good on you."

Harry flushed and shook his head. "And what about my hair? It's not exactly something fancy. You can put all these nice clothes and trinkets on me, but at the end of the day it still looks like a mess."

The Potter Hair was known to be a bit of a mess and to be impossible to style properly no matter the length. Thankfully, Harry actually looked very good with his hair at the length it was currently at. He'd have a very aristocratic air about him so long as Blaise was able to comb it a bit before the dancing actually began.

Maybe a few plaits would work to keep it out of his face?

There wasn't enough length to pull off a Lucius Malfoy kind of hairdo. It also wasn't long enough to be pulled back in a way that mattered. But it framed his face very nicely and Blaise appreciated the appeal very much when it showed off the sharp angles his jaw had begun to form since last term.

"You're very lucky that you don't really need any kind of makeup. You have the clearest skin that I have ever seen, and I know plenty of Purebloods who would froth at the mouth for such skin."

Harry shrugged. "It's just hot water and soap."

"Is it a special soap at least?"

"No, it's the one I use for everything. It smells like lavender and vanilla which is my favourite."

Harry did often smell of flowers. That made sense.

Blaise could not imagine what it would be like to simply have to wash his face with only hot water and any random soap he got his hands on. He had a whole routine he had to manage because the dead skin was an abomination that had to be handled all the time, and moisturizer was his closest companion. "I wish my routine could be so simple."

"But your face is already so nice. Why do you need a whole routine?" Harry asked, looking genuinely confused.

Right. Blaise was talking to someone whose dead skin was the same colour as his face. "Okay, let me explain in detail why I need a routine."

It was going to be a while.

A/N: I have some ideas.

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