Chapter 28: A proposal

Disclaimer: 

Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.

I own nothing but the original characters I make.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

$Parseltongue$

Chapter 28: A proposal

During the next week, many rumors started to circulate about what happened to Neville. Students wondered who cast the magic that saved his life.

The professor was quick to admit that it wasn't her and that she should have been more prepared for that kind of scenario.

From the students, no one had come forward to claim the glory of saving Neville Longbottom's life.

Then someone came out with a different theory. What if Neville himself was the one who cast the spell, but he did it unconsciously?

  Students have been very open about their disappointment with Neville Longbottom and his magical prowess… or his lack of it.

But this rumor gave birth to a new possibility. What if Nevile really held some incredible power inside him but he was unable to control said power?

That would explain how he defeated Voldemort when he was a mere babe. He did it unconsciously. During a moment of life and death, he invoked this mystical power and defeated the Dark Lord, and now he did it again in order to save his life.

As the days passed, this rumor became more solid and people added more details, like maybe Neville had inherited his magic from Merlin himself, but as a child, he is unable to control said magic so it will only come to be during extreme situations.

The students started to look at Neville with more respect and even Malfoy stopped mocking him at all times by suggesting he was a squib who only got the Hogwarts letter because the owl got confused.

One more week passed after that and things finally started to calm down.

Harry's last class of Friday had been potions, with the Slytherings. A very tiresome way to end the week.

Snape had relaxed a bit with him and did not bombard him with questions...too much, but he was still quite antagonistic and would not pass any small mistake that Harry made.

As he was almost done packing his stuff, a small piece of paper landed next to his hand.

He carefully picked it up, looked at what was written on the paper, and left the classroom without showing any external changes in his expression.

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That night, after finishing his daily training routine, instead of going back to the dorms, he took a different route.

One that was taking him past the trophy room and around the corner, to the room he used to hide from the janitor on his first week.

Daphne Greengrass was waiting for him in front of the door.

"Shall we?" She pointed at the door.

He placed his hand on the handle and the door unlocked.

The both of them entered and he closed the door again.

The candles inside the room lit by themselves, creating a comfortable atmosphere.

"Why did you ask me to come here?" He asked. The note he received that afternoon, told him about some important matter she had to discuss with him.

"This is a very safe room. I did some research after the day we hid here. Those old rooms are always locked, no matter the day or hours since no one uses them. Only a teacher or the Headmaster has the authority to unlock the door and enter."

She left hanging the obvious fact that Harry had unlocked the door, twice already, despite being neither a teacher nor the Headmaster but she did not question him how he accomplished that. 

Daphne walked around for a bit before choosing a comfortable leather couch to sit down.

"For an abandoned room, it is spotted  clean."

Harry sat down in front of her.

"The elves clean every room in the castle, even the ones that no one uses....we have less than an hour before curfew and I rather not get detention, can we get to the point?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. I have been meaning to talk to you earlier, but you are really hard to find once the classes are over."

"I am usually busy." That was all the explanation he was going to offer her for now.

She nodded and did not press further on that.

"I will get to the point then…I want to propose an alliance between House Potter and House Greengrass…"

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Did you seriously call me here at this hour to talk about politics?." He found the situation ridiculous, the girl was just eleven, what could she possibly know about family alliances or their political positions?

If Daphne was angry or disappointed, she did not show it on her face. Instead, she continued the talk.

"What do you know about the current situation of the pureblood families in Britain?"

"Situation of the pureblood families? You mean the whole war with Voldemort?" 

She flinched slightly at the mention of the name.

"Yes, the conflict the with….the Dark Lord. At the beginning of it, some families declared themselves on his side, like the Malfoys or the Lestrange while others fought directly against him like the Longbottoms or the Potters. And a third faction was formed by default, a faction composed of families who decided to stay clear of the conflict and remain neutral, like my family, the Greengrass."

Harry nodded, he now understood where she was going with all of this.

"During the war, the dark faction was too busy to pressure my father into joining them, but then the Dark Lord was defeated." 

"But not killed," Harry added.

"Yes…everyone knows that he is coming back. The dark faction has been preparing for his return which they expect to happen in the next few years. And when he does come back…neutrality will no longer be an option. The Malfoys, Avery, and Yaxley have been pressuring my father to side with them." 

"By pressuring him, you mean threatening him. So, what exactly that your family want?" Harry decided to ask.