Chapter 54

He cursed himself for stupidly giving up his morning break in order to write out the reports regarding the incident on the Hogwarts Express. He should have left them so that he could have written them now.

In the end he decided to pull out his question paper from that morning's History test and go over it in an attempt to imprint the correct answers into his mind.

He was just going through question twelve when, quite suddenly, realisation struck him.

He did not have detention this evening!

In spite of his fears, neither Dumbledore nor Snape had managed to say anything about him serving a detention before he left the office, and McGonagall certainly had not informed him that he had one when she had caught up with him, so therefore he didn't have one.

That meant that his date with Padma was still on and he hadn't made any arrangements to get a picnic together.

"Tippy?" he called out into the room.

With a pop, Tippy the House Elf appeared before him.

"Sir is needing Tippy?" she asked in her high voice.

Harry grinned. It was nice dealing with a House Elf that didn't fan-worship him like Dobby did and who didn't have a drinking problem like Winky did.

"Hey, Tippy," he said by way of greeting "Has Madam Bones found out anything about the food sample I sent?"

"Mistress Bones was giving the sample to Mistress Abbott to examine sir," replied Tippy "I's be bringing you the answers as soon as they is knowing them."

"Right, thanks," said Harry "Um, Tippy, could you do me a favour?"

"A favour?" asked Tippy "Yes, Tippy can be doing a favour for yous, sir."

"Could you prepare a picnic basket? You know, with a few sandwiches, cakes and things?"

"Tippy can," replied the House Elf with an eager nod "Should Tippy be getting the foods from the manor or from the castle?"

"The castle," said Harry "I pay my fees, so why should the food come from elsewhere?"

"Ok, sir," said Tippy "When is you wanting the basket?"

"Tell you what, I'll call you when I'm ready, how's that?"

The House Elf nodded and disappeared with a pop.

Harry went back to his studies.

Harry went down to dinner with no small amount of trepidation that evening. Having sat with the Gryffindors for dinner the previous evening, the Hufflepuffs for breakfast that morning and the Ravenclaws for lunch, it was now time for him to sit with the Slytherins.

He was glad that he was going for a picnic afterwards as he most certainly would not be eating much food at the Slytherin table.

Hopefully he would be able to sit himself down with Daphne, Astoria and Tracey, as they were the least likely to try and murder him.

That afternoon's Defence Against the Dark Arts class had gone off without a hitch. Professor Tonks had barely acknowledged Harry's existence and took the class as though he wasn't there, which was surprising given how it had been her spying on Harry for Dumbledore that had gotten her fired from the Aurors. Not his fault, but such things rarely seemed to count to magicals.

As far as teaching went, Tonks had a fun personality and was good at engaging students in the lesson. She instinctively refrained from talking down to them, as some teachers were prone to doing. However, she was also clumsy and had a habit on knocking things over. She had broken three ink pots in that lesson alone, much to the amusement of Harry's classmates.

Harry came down the marble stairs and arrived in the Entrance Hall just as a group of Ravenclaw fifth years came in from their Care of Magical Creatures lesson.

Amongst them was Padma. She spotted him but could not reach him through the bustling crowd that was making its way to dinner. Harry gave her a thumbs up and she managed to send him a smile before the tide of students swept her into the Great Hall.

Harry followed the crowd and made his way into the hall. Once inside he looked longingly at the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables, silently wishing that he could be sitting with them, but he steeled him resolve. He had to sit with the Slytherins. This was his role now, and he had to be approachable to all.

The hall was now nearly full, so most of the school was there to watch as Harry made his way over to the snake put. The murmur of many conversations went quiet as every eye turned to watch him.

Harry was well aware of this as he approached the table in question. He spotted Daphne and Astoria and made a beeline for them.

"Good evening Daphne," he greeted with false cheer "Astoria. Mind if I sit here?"

The two sisters exchanged a look before shifting apart, making a space between them.

As Harry sat down between them, a red faced Draco Malfoy stood up from his spot further down the table and yelled "What do you think you're doing, Scar-head?"

"I think that I'm about to have dinner," replied Harry "And as part of my new role, I have to eat dinner at this table."

He reached for a bread roll before adding "Oh, and I think that I'll be taking five house points from you Draco, for that little bit of name calling. Really, a prefect should set a better example than that."

This of course did nothing to warm the opinions of most of the other Slytherins towards him, but Harry found that he did not particularly care. There was something oddly satisfying about slapping Draco down in the middle of all his house mates.

Malfoy's face turned a more vivid red as he shouted "Shut up Potter, and go sit with the rest of the Gryffindorks."

"And that'll be another five house points," said Harry "Keep this up Draco and I'll be awarding you another strike, your second out of three in the first two days of term."

Malfoy sat down.

"Not very bright, is he?" asked Harry.

"I've always maintained that he only ended up in the house of the cunning by default of being completely unsuited to any of the other three." said Daphne.

Harry nodded at that. Draco was neither hard working nor loyal to any other than himself, which eliminated him from Hufflepuff house. He did not appear to be particularly witty nor capable of learning from his mistakes, which eliminated him from Ravenclaw. He did not appear all that brave or all that interested in the differences between right and wrong (unless it was against him) and so that eliminated Gryffindor. And he was not particularly cunning, a desired trait for Slytherins, but he was ambitious, therefore he was a Slytherin.

He wondered how many other students had been simply sorted into their houses by default.

A shadow fell across Harry and he turned to face the overgrown bat that was blocking the light.

"Potter, return to your own house table and stop antagonising my students."

"If they become antagonised by someone who is merely doing their job then that is hardly my fault," replied Harry "As for my seating arrangements, I have already talking them through with the Deputy Headmistress and the Ministry of Magic. If you have a complaint I suggest that you talk with them."

"Twenty points from Gryffindor!" sneered Snape.

Harry snorted and replied "Good luck with that. I am no longer a Gryffindor."

"Well then, you'll just have to serve a detention instead," said Snape "Come to my office immediately after dinner."

"What for?" demanded Harry, but Snape just turned and walked away.

Harry scowled as he watched Snape go. Then he caught sight of Malfoy's triumphant face and had to fight the urge to take two hundred house points from Slytherin just because.

"What a jerk," said Astoria.

"Yeah, hard luck Harry," said Tracey from her seat opposite them.

"Hard luck for him," said Harry "I'm not going."

"You're not?" asked Daphne, sounding surprised.

"As much as he might like to think he can, Snape cannot punish me simply for doing what I am supposed to do."

"He's not gonna let that stop him, you know?" asked Tracey.

"I know," said Harry "But like I said, if he's got a problem with me sitting here then he will have to take it up with the Wizarding Examinations Authority and the Minister's office as it is they who appointed me to my position as Student Advisor, and all the duties that the title entails."

"If you don't mind my asking, why did you take the position in the first place?" asked Daphne.

"I have come to realise that the students in this place often require someone to help fight their corner," replied Harry "God knows most of the staff aren't up to it and most of the prefects are chosen out of favouritism rather than merit."

He looked pointedly towards Draco as he said this.

"True enough I suppose," said Daphne "I can honestly say that without your help Draco and his cronies would have gotten away with their actions on the train."

"My point exactly," said Harry "Certain people in this place have been getting away with bad behaviour for far too long. Just wait. By the end of the year, Hogwarts is going to be unrecognisable."

He paused for a moment before asking "Oh, by the way, can you recommend any of the boys in your year that would make a good prefect? Malfoy won't be holding the title for long and I'll need to name a replacement."

.

.

.

Here I am publishing a daily chapter if you want the complete novel subscribe to my Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/Fernandodavid/shop