Chapter 73

Several feet away, standing near the food tables, were some of the older students who went to Hogwarts. Harry recognized all five of them; Penelope Clearwater, Cedric Diggory, Roger Davies and Euan Abercrombie. They had all spoken with the senior students for a while, but broke into smaller groups after words.

"Not really," Harry said, his eyes scanning the crowds. He could see Augusta Longbottom entertaining some of the older guests, political allies Harry figured. He recognized a few of the faces, five of them he had met at the New Year Gala during his first year. "I kind of missed this as well. Watching these two argue just makes me feel a sense of nostalgia."

"You sound like an old man," Lisa teased, causing Harry to snort in amusement before taking a drink of his pumpkin juice. He just managed to withhold a grimace at the taste of the liquid. Why was it that all witches and wizards felt the need to use pumpkin juice for their parties instead of punch?

"So Daphne couldn't show up, huh?" Harry changed the subject. He had been searching for his wayward friend, hoping she would show up. It was, he knew, a somewhat vein hope, but even though he had expected her not to show up, it was still disappointing.

"Doesn't look like it," Hermione took her attention off the debate between Tracey and Terry, which had now moved on to the 'my team's brooms are better than yours' debate in order to look around the room. "It's kind of expected though, isn't it? I mean, I saw her father and, well, I can't imagine someone so..." her face scrunched up like a chipmunk as she tried to find the correct word to describe Daphne's father. "... Stern, agreeing to let his daughter go to a party."

"That's not the reason he didn't let Daphne come," Harry corrected the girl. "It's political. Nathaniel Greengrass does business with a lot of, let's say, fringe families. Families that are considered true neutrals as they sided with neither the light nor the dark when Voldemort rose to power. Like the Zabinis. The Longbottoms are a strictly light sided family even though they are considered neutral. By allowing his daughter to attend, he is essentially declaring which side his House is aligned with. If he did that, he may end up losing allies."

Harry wished they would have sent him his invitation at least a week in advance rather than a measly two days. He was sure that he could have convinced Nathaniel Greengrass to let his daughter attend his and Neville's party. The man would have done so if for no other reason than not granting the request of the Boy-Who-Lived was tantamount to political suicide right now, especially after his debut at the New Year Gala.

"But that's – that's ridiculous!" Hermione looked furious. "He won't let his daughter go to her friend's birthday party because he doesn't want to be seen as being allies with them! That's absolutely barbaric!"

"That's the way things are," Harry shrugged. "And I would suggest you keep your voice down. Especially if you are going to insult wizarding culture like that."

"But –"

"Hermione," Harry interrupted the girl before she could speak. "You must understand that the Wizarding World has been run this way for Centuries, even before the founding of the Ministry of Magic. And it's run this way because for the last couple dozen centuries or so it's worked."

"Actually, Wizarding politics have been the same since the late sixth century after Britain managed to come back from an era of depression due to the death of King Arthur and the razing of Camelot," Lisa corrected Harry with her more canonically correct historic knowledge. "Technically, it's been around thirteen hundred years since our world has become set in it's ways."

"Thank you," Harry nodded at the girl. It annoyed him a bit that she knew more than him, but he let it go since he was still reading up on wizarding history. "Anyways, while the politics in the muggle world may have advanced since then, the wizarding world's politics have not changed since that time. Magical Britain, most magical communities in fact, hold onto the belief that if it isn't broken, they don't need to fix it."

Hermione's expression looked thoughtful, yet pensive.

"I... I sort of get that, but still..."

"I am not saying that the way our world is run is necessarily right," once more, Harry decided to nip the girl's thoughts in the bud. He could already see where she was going with this. "Truth be told, I find some of the policies and laws in the wizarding world to be more than a little archaic, but by insulting the way we live, you are insulting the very culture of Magical Britain and the rest of the magical world as a whole. And if you want to get a good job after you graduate from Hogwarts, then the last thing you want to do is insult the heritage witches and wizards of England hold so dear."

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