School Unity Against Potters Briefly

AN: I do not own Harry Potter. There is in chapter 1 a time where the goblin says he might be able to do a few spells. He meant exactly that, not powerful, but not cast out of wizarding society either. I have Dudley not as powerful as his new brother, but also more powerful than that adoption should have been able to provide, and that is starting to be seen. Also, references to bullying.

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I'd like to call a truce."

The eyes of the school were on the two individuals standing in the midst of the Great Hall.

"Wait, what?"

The question was asked by most mouths still speaking, and all hushed to hear the reply.

------------------------------------------flashback---------------------------------------------------------

Weeks previous, things had been not very smooth at all. They may have been granted a reprieve by Draco, and by extension, the rest of Slytherin house, for a week, but besides the rest of the Golden Trio, Dudley, Luna, Neville, and the rest of the Weasleys, it seemed the rest of the school had turned on him. After all, no true Gryffindor would ever be sorted into Slytherin. If he really was a Slytherin, that proved the Dark Lord really wasn't back and Potter was lying. Of course, anyone who truly knew the boy would roll their eyes and otherwise ignore the gossip in all likelihood, but one couldn't ignore the hexes and other unpleasantness unless one wanted to get hurt.

They had had a weekend of true peace before the storm hit, and the group had done a lot of researching. Because of the Potters' closeness to their Slytherin classmates, Hermione had spent a day finding runic wards to put on any receptacle of stuff, and Luna had helped immensely by showing up in the discussed library time with books from the Ravenclaw common room with more books on the subject. They weren't a step by step how to guide, but combined with Hermione's knowledge and the library books, they filled in the gaps of knowledge needed to know. Harry requested that they also put them on Luna's stuff, because he remembered how she was often missing stuff last year. What was in the Ravenclaw books were shielding spells for cauldrons, and that Harry was excited to see. Hermione and Ron were as well. Neville just blanched at the thought of potions, so while he tried to avoid the topic, Luna just set down a big book of Potion ingredients and how they were supposed to interact. Hopefully, with knowledge that NOT ALL ingredients would cause an explosion, he might calm down some, even if the person that was his biggest fear was in the room. One could hope at least. In the end, Luna's, Harry's, and Dudley's beds had runic ward stones placed nearby and hidden, as well as runes stitched (via charm) into the inside of their bags.

It unfortunately bore fruit quickly. Two Ravenclaws came down to breakfast with dyed red hands. Harry didn't see it, but according to Luna, they were set upon by the rest of the Ravenclaws for dying their hands red.

"So, who were you stealing from, that you were caught red handed?"

That and raucous laughter was heard throughout the day until the red dye faded. That was how Harry, Dudley, and the Gryffindor part of the group knew it had worked. They silently applauded Luna and Hermione when they could.

The Ravenclaws, noting that this hadn't happened before Harry had befriended Luna, successfully got someone from Gryffindor to try to dump stuff in Harry's bag. He did pour the ink in, but the ward made the liquid hover and not touch any of the stuff. It was then successfully collected and put in a jar for later use. Seeing how that hadn't worked, the same Gryffindor quite happily hexed Harry in the hall, even if he was caught by a teacher after and given detention. After that, Harry, Dudley, and the rest helped each other avoid such things.

The Slytherins, as stated, had given the Potter boys a slight reprieve. The two did try to start integrating into Slytherin house, but like themselves, trust was not an easily won concept. They were given the admittance that they weren't too bad, even if they didn't get along. Therefore, besides random underhanded things, they acted to the rest of the school that the two boys were part of them, for the most part. Malfoy, and the rest, agreed that when in a dangerous situation, acting in a solid front was common sense. While they might disagree over the one major issue, they agreed whole heartedly on another and neither side really wanted to deal with their infighting in the presence of a greater enemy. It was pure survival. Inhouse, however, was a different story. While stealing things became known as a bad idea, hexing the two boys' things inhouse was something that they dealt with. Finite Incatatum became second nature, as well as having to clean clothes because something got on them, and, here Dudley sighed, signs stuck to their backs. Sarcasm and verbal sparring became the norm, and it seemed only to end when Harry and Dudley were in the library or a teacher was paying attention to them. There was another time the Slytherins weren't verbally fighting them, and that was when they were standing up for them in the view of their other year mates.

To Harry, this was both new and normal. It was new because of which house he was in and not having his house attack him in public was great. However, it was nothing new, because unless for the rare times his whole house loved him, he was dealing with similar things in the Gryffindor house, except their attacks were very open, and hardly ever sneaky. It was still better than the Dursleys. His way of handling it was to be as apathetic about it as possible until the last possible minute where he would kick one in the knee. It earned him several glares.

To Dudley, this was very hard. This was an extremely new concept, and he had to put up with it for days. The most he had dealt with before had been the few times his parents had ignored him, which he hated, or when he and Piers, his dead brotherly friend, fought. It hurt. He felt pain when his housemates laughed when he tripped because they had jinxed his shoes, walked into him, kicked his bag away from him, and told his new brother that he was too Gryffindor to be a Slytherin. He could see how he would be more Gryffindor - he reacted first, and snuck a way to get a good result after. However, his initial reactions had a way of hindering his way of thinking up a way out as that also earned him catcalls of being Gryffindor. He also took it out on Harry. Harry fought back, as he had started to during the summer. Their arguments were typically in their dorm.

"Harry, if I didn't come here, I wouldn't be in this mess!"

"No, you wouldn't. You would either be alone with Mrs. Weasley and the house elves, or you'd be with your dad. Is that what you want? To see how Daddy would treat you after showing that you're what he would call a freak?"

"You didn't go there."

"I did. I got you away from there."

"If you hadn't taken me to Diagon, I wouldn't be here."

"You're right. If I hadn't taken you to Diagon, you could be dead."

"You don't know that! It might not have ever happened!"

"With your temper! Ha! It would have exploded like a text book Obsurus and everyone would be dead in Little Whinging! I saved your life!"

"You saved Dad and Mom's life too. How does that feel? It hurts, doesn't it?"

"As much as I hate your former legal guardians, I wouldn't want to condemn the whole town to death."

"Why? Do the librarians like you that much?"

"They tried, Dudley, but whenever people came over, I was shoved aside or made to look like a poorly eating tenant. You know that!"

"Arrgh."

Silence. It always hung over when they got to a point. It was then they tried to figure out what to do next.

"Harry, I'm sorry about bringing up how my parents wouldn't let people see how badly you were treated when they actually wanted to help you, and blaming all this on you."

"I forgive you. I'm sorry about bringing up your parents as well."

"I forgive you too."

"We'll keep working on our plan, somehow, right?"

"Yep. There's got to be a book on how to do things so people can end feuds."

"Feuds?"

"Yep. Somehow, all this nice stuff, and part of the mindset is back in the dark ages. Draco and I have a feud, as do the Malfoys and the Weasleys. There's got to be a list of instructions somewhere."

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That wasn't to say all of the uncaught hazards panned out.

"Harry, your shoes..."

The warning this time was too late. Harry would have faceplanted, except the leg that someone had thought to trip him with became a landing pad. The unexpected weight of a fourteen year old boy, no matter how under weight, was enough of a surprise that the person landed on the ground in front of him.

"Potter, watch where you're going."

"I was watching myself welcome the ground. I'm glad to introduce you."

"POTTER. ARE YOU TRYING TO GET IN THE WAY OF YOUR CLASSMATES?"

"Nope, I'm being friendly. I've spent a while on this floor this year, and now I've introduced you."

This he said sitting up off of the guy's leg and back, and quickly casting a finite. The Slytherin prefect looked at him.

"Prefect, this is the floor. Floor, this is my classmate and my prefect."

He patted the floor, and got up.

"Potter, let me guess it was your shoes?"

Harry nodded.

"Isn't it a nice floor?"

Dudley sat down huffily beside Harry.

"Hi, floor. It's nice seeing you again."

"You guys are weird."

"Potters, stand up please. I know you guys aren't crazy, so... I declare everyone even on this one and no getting back for it. Please get moving."

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To Harry, this was unacceptable. He was the freak, the one that was put in a place and made to take care of the bigger boy, and he could see how this was hurting him. Responsible or not, in his mind he was in a twisted way. It was when Harry kept Dudley from yelling in their faces right off that they started getting somewhere.

The boys had run across an etiquette book, stuck on the side of the shelf in the shadow of a larger book with a more interesting topic. It had proven to Harry and Dudley there was more to shaking hands than what they first thought. In the muggle world, it was not a big deal. It didn't have the same formal meaning to it as it did in the wizarding world. In the wizarding world, where feuds and wars were more common place, shaking hands still had its traditional significance of signifying peace. Therefore, Harry refusing to shake Draco's hand was in sense a declaration of mistrust and could be construed as a declaration of war.

Interesting, Harry thought, the whole feud thing with Draco could be mainly because of two things: the feud the Malfoys have with the Weasleys, and the fact Harry had not shaken Draco's hand. If Harry did shake Draco's hand, would he now join Harry, or would that mean that Harry was declaring himself to be a dark wizard. Voldemort did live in Malfoy's house, which he knew from the brief glimpses from visions. That and would Draco desire to under what consequences? If he did, would he also be heading a good faction of the Death Eater's children? That was something that could only be known through a conversation.

Harry's visions were something that had startled his Slytherin dorm mates, though, it hadn't startled Dudley. It had taken a particularly bad one, the worst yet, for the other two boys to figure out why Harry had such trouble sleeping. The two other boys had pulled back Harry's curtain to see what was going on, as Harry's leg was out from under the curtain and was seizing, and had come in full view of Harry being under the Cruciatus, from no discernable spell, but seizing and stuffing his blanket into his mouth so he wouldn't scream so loud, his scars red and bleeding. That had prompted Draco to go and get their Head of House.

Professor Snape had quickly hurried into the room behind Draco. Once in the dorm, he stopped, locked the door, and silenced the room. He took his potion bag from his pocket and set it on a stool which was beside the bed. He opened it up, and quickly grabbed a vial. He handed it to the shaking boy once he stopped shaking and his eyes opened up.

"Potter, you need this. Anti-Cruciatus. Drink it, now."

Harry quickly drank it under the watchful eye of his professor. The professor's eyes latched onto the writing scarred into the back of the boy's hand. He noticed the smear on the boy's hand, and drew the attention of his brother.

"Dudley Potter, is that Murtlap?"

"Yes, sir."

"Keep using it, and that hand should heal in a week unless it isn't. Let me know when that happens?"

"Yes, Professor Snape."

Dudley sat, watching the professor stand and put his potions pouch back into his robes.

"You boys, are not allowed to share this with anyone, for any reason. Got it? Just like you boys wouldn't like your secrets getting out either."

His eyes stared the other three down. His face screamed, this is untouchable. The three boys quickly nodded back.

"I take it you would like to see Fawkes?"

Harry shrugged.

"Yes, sir."

"Don't shrug your shoulders at me, boy."

Harry left with the professor. Once back, he was rounded on. Draco silenced the room and turned to him.

"So why did you go see the Headmaster if you don't trust him?"

"Wasn't it obvious? I thought that Snape basically told me to go."

"So what was that?"

"Visions."

"These visions always cause this?"

"Have you seen me like that before? No, that was just a particularly nasty one. Sorry, I don't want to talk to you, and you've made it known to us we're second hand Slytherins."

"We got Severus for you."

"So you want to trade? For information that will require a vow on your magic not to reveal?"

"Yes," said Draco, ignoring Blaise who said, "It requires a vow to know?"

"Fine."

They swore on their magic not to tell what Harry or Dudley was going to tell them.

"My visions are caused by a link of unknown origins with You-Know-Who. I see what he's doing when he's highly emotional. Today's reaction was caused by him getting upset and cursing multiple Death Eaters to the point that others had to help them leave. Sometimes he sends me visions on purpose. Normally they're incidental. Lately he's been sending visions about a hallway, until tonight."

"What?"

"Is my Father okay?"

"He was one of the ones untouched tonight."

Draco was relieved. It was so visible that it was rather astonishing to see.

"I won't spread this to anyone else."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Whew."

"Draco, Blaise, we've been wondering if we could stop fighting. What all would it entail? I know this is more tricky now than when we were in first year with more sides involved. Also, I just thought that this was the way it was going to be with no chance of changing things."

"Such as the Dark Lord being back."

"Exactly."

"Well, you know what side my father is on..."

"Obviously."

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"I recognize that this truce would need the recognition of Gryffindor. Is Gryffindor willing to have a truce?"

Fred and George stood up. Seamus made an exclamation that was quickly silenced by Dean on one side and Neville on the other. Lavender stomped on Seamus' foot.

"Gryffindor is willing to have a truce."

Harry and Draco walked up to the gap between their table and Gryffindor's, while Fred and George walked over to them.

"The world outside these walls is on the verge of war."

"However, we, inside these walls, seem to be fighting for survival more than most."

"If we do not want our fellow classmates to be exiled into camps before they can learn what the choices actually are, we need to not do that for them."

"So, we offer a truce. Within these walls, students are for students, not ideologies of parents or other authority figures."

"Do you accept?"

Fred and George nodded and said,

"We of Gryffindor accept."

"We will stand united as a body."

"We will stand against those who would go against this."

They shook hands, and went back to their tables to the shock of the rest. Ravenclaws were basically interested for gossip. Hufflepuffs were happy with the loyalty required. Madame Pomphrey relaxed a little, as did Mrs. MacGonagall. Professor Snape watched stunned. Half of Gryffindor table were showing reactions of some kind. The Headmaster also looked like he had walked into a wall he hadn't known was there. The loudest reaction was Madam Umbridge's.

"What is going on here? This fighting is traditional. I hope you young folk have the reason to pursue greatness still somewhere?"

The rest of the staff looked at each other. No one took responsibility for the statement but it was said.

"They agreed to peace for the sake of survival."

She walked away with a huff.