Fame and Fools

Part XVII: Fame and Fools

Harry walked into the Great Hall the next morning, blinking sleepily. He took a seat beside Astoria, who smiled at him.

"You look tired." she greeted him.

"I'm never up this early over the summer." Harry yawned, and Astoria giggled.

"Well, you'll have to get used to it, I expect." Astoria smiled.

"I expect I will, too." Harry said grumpily, and the dark-haired girl laughed.

"Professor Snape dropped your schedule off, along with Daphne's, whenever she gets out of bed." Astoria said, handing Harry a scroll.

He unfurled it eagerly and scanned along the list. The classes' arrangement shifted from day to day, but each class had two assigned Houses to it.

This year, Harry had Herbology with the Hufflepuffs rather than the Ravenclaws like he had had first year.

Defense Against the Dark Arts they had with the Gryffindors.

Charms with Hufflepuff again, and then Transfiguration and History of Magic with the Ravenclaws, while Potions class was with the Gryffindors. Astronomy remained a class all four Houses attended at once.

Today he had Herbology and Defense in the morning, and then nothing after lunch. A light first day back, Harry reasoned.

Tomorrow, though, was Charms, History, and Potions.

Harry glanced at the Hufflepuff table, where Susan caught his eye and smiled at him.

"Oh, there she is!" Astoria exclaimed, and Harry looked up to see Daphne and Pansy walking towards them together, their blond and dark heads close together as they whispered.

The two second year girls sat down together and smiled nearly identical smiles at Harry.

"Oh, you've got the schedule." Daphne realized.

Harry handed it to her wordlessly, taking a sip of pumpkin juice from his goblet while Daphne and Pansy read the scroll.

"Oh, we're with the Puffs and the Gryffindors today." Daphne said.

"Yep." Harry nodded, then a thought occurred to him, "Wait, where's Gabby?"

Astoria coughed.

"She told me off very rudely in French when I tried to wake her up. Well, it sounded rude. I don't really speak French." Astoria said. Harry laughed.

"No, she is definitely not a morning person. I reckon she'll miss any classes taking place before 10AM." Harry grinned.

Gabrielle came into the Great Hall five minutes before classes started, looking incredibly surly, her deep blue eyes glinting unhappily.

She plopped down beside Harry and leaned heavily against him, her head resting on his shoulder.

"I am not built for this lifestyle of early mornings." Gabrielle said miserably. Harry wrapped an arm around her and gave her arm a comforting sort of pat.

"You'll get used to it." Harry said.

"I will have to sleep the entirety of Christmas break to make up for all of these early mornings." Gabrielle said in the dramatic way only a Frenchgirl could dream of.

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Harry said, greatly amused.

Gabrielle let out a pouty sort of noise.

"You should eat, Gabrielle. You'll be hungry if you don't." Daphne advised, and Harry noticed… something in Daphne's eyes as she looked at Gabrielle cuddled up against Harry's side. He couldn't identify what, but her ice blue eyes looked somewhat colder than usual.

If he didn't know better, he'd guess jealousy, but that certainly couldn't be it.

Gabrielle nibbled a bit of pastry, and had a little sip of juice, but it seemed like she had no appetite this early in the morning.

The great bell tower tolled once, signaling the beginning of the school day.

Gabrielle gave a loud groan of complaint, and Harry said quick goodbyes to Gabrielle and Astoria before he, Daphne, and Pansy set off towards the greenhouses, joined by Blaise halfway down the Slytherin table.

The four of them walked into the greenhouse to find Professor Sprout, a short, portly old woman who was Head of Hufflepuff House.

"Alright, just like last year, I'll be splitting you lot up randomly." Sprout announced, grabbing her parchment.

Harry was placed in a quartet, like usual, two Slytherins and two Hufflepuffs.

Harry was obviously one Slytherin, and the other was Pansy. The two Hufflepuffs were Susan and a Hufflepuff girl Harry didn't know called Megan Jones. She was pretty, with dark blond hair and a slender build.

"Nice seeing you again." Susan smiled.

"And you." Harry replied with a grin.

"Alright, class! Today we're going to be potting baby Mandrakes! They have nearly unrivaled restorative abilities, and Madam Pomfrey likes to have some on hand, so I volunteered to help her out to give you lot some experience!" Professor Sprout explained, "Grasp them by their stalks, and yank them out of their old pot, then plant them into the new, clean ones. You'll need earmuffs, as their screams have a paralyzing effect."

Harry slipped on his pair of provided earmuffs, as did Pansy, Susan, and Megan.

Their group had two Mandrakes they were responsible for repotting, and Harry and Susan took one while Megan and Pansy did the other.

The earmuffs prevented much talking, but Harry and Susan enjoyed themselves nonetheless.

Repotting their Mandrake wasn't difficult, and once it was finished, Harry, Susan, Pansy, and Megan left the greenhouse together, pulling off their earmuffs as they emerged outside.

"So, you're doing Quidditch tryouts, right, Harry?" Susan asked, touching Harry's arm to get his attention.

"Yeah. I'm going for Seeker." Harry nodded.

"Oh, you play Quidditch?" Megan asked eagerly, "I love Quidditch. I'm hoping to be a Chaser on my House's team."

Harry was struck by recognition.

"Wait a second, do you know Gwenog Jones?" Harry asked.

"Yep. She's my sister." Megan said proudly, "Captain of the Holyhead Harpies!"

"That's amazing!" Pansy exclaimed, who was secretly a huge fan of the Harpies.

"I wasn't aware you were so enthusiastic about the Harpies." Harry said to Pansy, laughing.

"There's a great many things that you don't know about me, Harry." Pansy said in a husky sort of voice, and there was an unmistakable heat between the two of them for several seconds.

"Well, good luck to both of you, then." Susan broke the silence, looking between Harry and Megan.

"Thanks, Sue." Harry grinned, and embraced the buxom redhead.

———

Harry walked with Pansy to Defense Against the Dark Arts, enjoying the company of the dark-haired girl. Pansy had grown up a lot over the summer, sporting larger breasts and some rather womanly curves. She would be fourteen in just two months, and was breathtakingly beautiful.

"I still feel awful for you, being betrothed to a foul ferret like Draco." Harry said to Pansy as they walked.

"Thank you. But nothing I know of can save me from this betrothal." Pansy said despairingly. Harry touched Pansy's arm, and their eyes met.

"I could kill him for you, if you'd like." Harry said, only half joking.

Pansy laughed and her dark green eyes danced.

"So noble of you. Are you sure you aren't a Gryffindor?" Pansy teased, and she nudged his arm with her elbow.

Harry gave a sarcastic laugh, and the two of them walked together into Defense Against the Dark Arts, where they separated.

Blaise came in a minute or so later and joined Pansy at her table.

Harry was expecting Daphne to come and sit beside him, so he received quite a shock when the beautiful Parvati Patil did so instead.

"Uh… hi." Harry said. The curvaceous Indian girl smiled at Harry.

"Hi, Harry." she said.

Daphne came into the room then, laughing at something Tracey Davis had said, when her eyes fell upon Harry and Parvati.

Harry tried to communicate with his eyes that he was as surprised as she was, but Daphne wouldn't quite look at his eyes.

She and Tracey sat together instead, and Harry glanced at Parvati.

He liked Parvati, sure, but she was blocking him from sitting with Daphne, who he liked a lot more.

"Where's Lavender?" Harry frowned.

"She's in the hospital wing already. She's such an airhead, honestly." Parvati laughed.

Ok, well that made a little more sense. Parvati's closest friend wasn't able to be here, so she'd seen Harry and decided to sit with him instead.

"Oh. Is, uh, is she alright?" Harry asked.

"Hm? Oh, absolutely fine. I doubt she'll even be gone all class period, unless she plays it up to get out of class." Parvati said.

Harry laughed at that, and then the office door opened at the top of a flight of steps, and Harry's heart sank. A handsome blond man came down the steps, grinning like an idiot all the while.

"I am Gilderoy Lockhart. You may know of me from my extensive adventures, which I have published in novels such as Voyage with Vampires, Travels with Trolls and Break with a Banshee." the blond idiot paused then, clearly expecting applause.

Dean Thomas, a Gryffindor, gave some half-hearted applause which died out quickly when no one joined in. Lockhart looked rather perturbed, and his gaze swept around the classroom until his gaze landed on Harry.

"Aha!" he exclaimed.

"Bollocks." Harry muttered, and Parvati giggled.

"I see why I received no thunderous applause. My deeds must pale next to the OTHER celebrity in our midst." Lockhart said with a winning smile.

"Please don't-" Harry began, but Lockhart waved him off.

"Modesty is meaningless, Harry. I know you are aware, like myself, what fame really means. It's about… putting yourself out there. It's about making sure you are never forgotten, that you always remain in people's memories. And that's a feat you have accomplished when you were just a baby." Lockhart said, as if he had just given Harry very sage advice.

"Yeah." Harry said, as flatly as he possibly could.

"Now! Before I begin instructing you on the subject of defending yourself from the blackest and most dark of magics, I figured we'd start with a questionnaire, so that you can get to know me a little better." Lockhart grinned.

———

"Conceited git." Harry said to Daphne as soon as they left the room.

"Ugh, you're telling me. Who's favorite color is lilac? Just say purple!" Daphne said, exasperated.

"He expected a load of applause, though, you saw." Harry said, "I wonder if he is actually popular."

"Oh, I know he is. Particularly with witches. I know my aunt's got his autobiography up on display." Daphne said dryly.

Parvati and Lavender (who had indeed showed up halfway through class) walked past the two of them, and Parvati waved to Harry as they went. Harry waved back, drawing a small sound from Daphne.

"Taming a lion?" Daphne asked a little bitterly. Harry turned to look at her.

"No, we're just friends. Why are you being so weird today?" Harry asked.

"I'm being weird? You've spent a lot of time with Pansy and Parvati today, Harry. I just thought it was strange was all. You don't have to bite my head off." Daphne got defensive quickly.

"I didn't…" Harry trailed off as Daphne stomped away.

What the hell just happened?