Chapter - 69 : The Dance of Blades part - 4
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Hogwarts did indeed settle down to its new 'normal' over the following weeks. Thanks to the warning from Padma, Hermione was more aware of what was happening around her - or should that be Harry - regarding the behaviour of the Hogwarts witches.
Ravenclaw House were adapting well to what was happening within its own blue and bronze walls. Morag, Mandy and Lisa were all friendly with the trio, sharing Harry's defence and now potions classes too certainly helped. Cho was continually making eyes at Harry, and finding any excuse to talk to him. In these situations, Harry was polite but nothing more. The older Ravenclaw girls - apart from Penny - were staying clear, Chambers example perhaps playing on their mind.
The other first year witches were all on good terms with the friends too, with only the two Gryffindors continually pushing the boundaries. Parvati and Lavender had approached as they walked to class, chatting to Harry a mile a minute. It was when Lavender decided to move things along by latching onto Harry's other arm that she was politely but instantly and firmly rebuffed.
"Miss Brown, never take a sword-wielder's right arm unless it is specifically offered to you. In my culture this can be considered an attack, as you are hampering my ability to draw my weapon." Lavender released Harry's arm as if it was red hot and had just burned her fingers. No one wanted Harry to even think they were attacking him, they had now all seen what he could do with a blade.
He nodded before continuing. "You were not aware of the situation so nothing further needs to be said." Both Gryffindor girls had given him a wide berth after that.
When some of the older girls from the other houses approached, Hermione hoped it wasn't wishful thinking on her part but Harry appeared to use her as a shield. This was a function she was more than happy to provide. These witches may have had a specific agenda at Hogwarts but so did Harry, his agenda though had far more reaching consequences than simply finding someone to marry. Hermione was reminded of this as they were leaving their normal Monday defence class, Professor Weasley had a short message for him.
"Harry, your father says 'it's time', he assured me you would know what that means."
His grin was feral, setting Hermione's danger alarm off. "Harry, please tell me you are not going to go all 'goblin warrior' on us?"
"Hermione, I am a goblin warrior."
"Okay, bad choice of words. What I really meant to ask was if you were going to be rushing into danger with a blade in each hand?"
He could see she was merely worried for his safety so attempted to put her mind at rest. "Hermione, I have been tasked with ending a great wrong - and that's all I can say about the matter until it happens. What I will say is that I shouldn't need either of my blades to defend myself, there will be no danger at all."
After the Lucius Malfoy incident, Hermione had accepted that Harry was at Hogwarts for a purpose other than just receiving a magical education. Here was obviously the next phase of that purpose. That he couldn't tell her any more was fine, that he wouldn't be in any danger was all she really needed to know.
At least this time she had six weeks of magical training under her belt, and a few curses up her sleeve. Hermione believed Harry when he said it wouldn't be dangerous but it was always better to be prepared.
She had also been preparing by reading the book Neville gave her from cover to cover. Hermione thought a lot of the behaviour and customs could at best be described as 'quaint', but it at least explained Harry's 'old world' behaviour. He'd obviously read something similar before attending Hogwarts and thought things like offering a young lady your arm or kissing the backs of their hands was the way wizards behaved normally.
Purely by observation, Hermione could tell that this behaviour was no longer commonplace amongst the magical fraternity. Perhaps it was now only used at the most formal of occasions or functions but the young witch wasn't too bothered about that. Since she was currently on Harry's arm, and it was her hand being kissed, it would be a cold day in hell before Hermione as much as raised the subject with her best friend. Hermione could only hope Harry had reached the same conclusion, but enjoyed having her on his arm too much to stop.
Her latest mini faux pas against goblin culture set her mind racing. She didn't rush to the library because Hermione was sure the best source of the information she required was currently walking right beside her.
"Harry, I've read that book Neville gave me on ancient and noble houses. It was very insightful, a brilliant source of information for someone like me with no magical background. I was wondering if there was a book like that on goblin culture? I could see if it was in the library or order it from the bookstore."
Harry had actually stopped walking as Hermione's question set him thinking. "The short answer is no, there are no books. I think the reason for that is probably because no one has ever been interested before."
"Okay, confused again. How could no one be interested? The goblins store and control the magical community's wealth, yet no one knows anything about them - that's just nuts!"
It was a chuckling Harry that started them off down the corridor again as he answered his best friend. "You'll get no objection from me on that. I think the reason there may be no books is that they really need to be written by an outsider observing a culture that's different to their own, goblins tend not to let strangers get too close." He could see Hermione struggling with that concept so tried to give her an example. "We could ask Padma to tell us about her years in India, and she could talk for hours. That doesn't mean she would mention riding a flying carpet, because to her that would just be normal behaviour and not worth talking about."
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(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)
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