"Is that really necessary? I was distracted by the entertainment on the pitch," referring to the fight. Not really wanting to go around school for the foreseeable future watching his back from both Daphne and Tracy.
"Tell that to an assassin," she countered.
...
"Maybe I will..." he stated before seeing the Snitch zipping towards him. "Whilst I remember, you and Tracy may want to mention to Professor Snape you are both my allies and friends next time you see our beloved Potions Master," causing her to cock an eyebrow at the statement before he offered an explanation.
"Since under the magical contract he blindly signed, he can't use mind arts on you, if that is the case," he explained before snatching the Snitch as it zoomed by the door on impulse. Feeling the Snitch stiffen in his hand, the magic powering its wings deactivated in his hand as he did so.
"Merlin! It's a good thing I changed my bet."
Opening his hand to examine the golden Snitch, he asked, "So what are the odds then?" whilst examining the Snitch in his hand. Looking at the date encased on it — 1958 — the realization hit him: his father had chased and caught this very Snitch during his own time at Hogwarts.
"Well, I have 10-1 on Ravenclaw winning every match. Slytherin is favourite at the moment, with 1-1 odds, with Gryffindor being 3-1 and the Puffs at 5-1," Daphne said, rattling off the odds.
"That bad, huh?" he asked, looking over his shoulder in her direction but not getting an answer.
He turned back to watch the pitch as the Chasers rushed past, debating whether he should keep it or not, before deciding to do so. It's not like he was stealing — he was simply considering it payment for all the training brooms and Quidditch gear he and his uncle were about to give Hogwarts.
Coming up with a makeshift plan, he decided to hold onto the Snitch until the Quidditch training session had ended, since it would help sabotage and undermine Draco's confidence if he didn't find the Snitch. As well as the Slytherin team as a whole, if their Seeker went the whole session without catching it. He grinned widely at the idea, as well as the chance to rattle his future opposition.
"I know that smile," Daphne said with her own smirk.
"You know me too well," he shot back, playing with the Snitch in his hand.
"Can I have a look?"
"Sure, just don't reactivate it," he instructed, handing over the Snitch. "I want to hold onto it until the Slytherin team decides to call it quits and summons it back."
"Poor Draco," she mocked as she played with the Snitch. "I'll be sure to let the whole Common Room know he failed to catch a simple Snitch as well."
"Trying to get him killed then?" he said offhandedly, already knowing how seriously wizards took their Quidditch, having already received several threats and promises of pain if he messed up.
She answered with a feral smirk, so Harry moved on. "By the way, thanks for teaching me that Eavesdropping Charm, it was most useful," he said, his Codex flashing a reminder message.
...
**(Great Hall)**
Looking around the Great Hall to see if he could spot anyone to hang out with, he ended up spotting only a few possibilities, Tonks being the most appealing.
Heading over to the table, ignoring some of the curious looks he was getting, he slipped in next to his cousin. "Hey Tonks, you all right?" he asked, noticing the normally perky and full-of-life girl seemed almost deflated.
"I'm fine, Harry," his cousin succinctly replied.
Grabbing a potato and splitting it down the centre with a knife, he pressed, "Well, you don't seem fine. You seem pretty not-fine to me, in fact," simultaneously as he sprinkled some shredded cheese from another bowl over his potato.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see other Puffs watching and listening to the unfolding exchange between the two of them. He was half-tempted to tell them to go back to their own business, rather than eavesdropping on them, but felt it was a little hypocritical considering what he'd spent the last hour doing.
"I'm fine, Harry," she repeated, but it felt forced. Plus, he was picking up a negative vibe from his cousin.
"If you say so, but I don't buy it," he stated before taking a bite of his food, not really paying much attention to the taste, preferring to keep Tonks at the centre of attention. "And don't bother denying it, you know I can tell," reminding his cousin of one of the by-products of learning mind arts.
A couple of minutes passed without comment, and the rest of the table seemed to lose interest in the conversation before he said to his cousin, "Two dragons walked into a bar. The first dragon says, 'Damn, it's hot in here,' and the second one replies to the first, 'Shut your mouth then.'" Grinning slightly at his rubbish joke, he got a flicker of amusement from his cousin.
"Harry, that was terrible."
"Yeah, I know. But I can't tell sex jokes with all the innocent first-years around, so I have to use Sirius' poor jokes instead." He ignored the strange looks and focused on the grin from his cousin, who knew full well what he was saying after being exposed to them so much.
"So are you, Harry," she scolded playfully, before seeing a means to turn it back on her playfully.
"Really?" he said with mock innocence. "But you spoiled me so much last year." Fighting back the grin as he heard some coughs coming from some of the older, more dirty-minded students.
"Besides, what was that position again, Tonks? Doggy something?" he said, faking innocence and naivety while getting his cousin to blush red at his statement, getting even more coughs, before hearing a meaty slap.
Finding the source was one of the older Puffs — a girl slapping the boy next to her on his back — Tonks spoke up, "Paul, you really need to slow down when you're eating. What are you, a first year? Chew your food." She scolded the older boy.
Harry smiled at her mischievously at the chaos he had created between the Puffs. He looked back at his cousin with amusement dancing in his eyes. With a voice full of fake innocence, he said, "Did I say something wrong?" before picking up a plate of sausages. "Want one?"
"Evil!" she hissed under her breath.
"Not my fault all you Puffs are dirty-minded," he said offhandedly as he snagged a piece of fruit.
...
**Sometime Later**
"That was evil, you know that?" Tonks growled as they walked down the corridor, heading to their normal training room. "God knows what the rumour mill is going to say, let alone the teachers!"
"Meh, I wouldn't worry about the rumour mill too much. No one will believe it. Besides, if any of the teachers ask — or anyone else for that matter — you can say you gave me the birds and bees talk last year, since you didn't know if my guardians had, and you were doing the responsible thing as my cousin. After all, magical puberty is different from mundane puberty and can happen earlier in some cases. You were just being a responsible adult," he offered in explanation.
"Sounds workable, thanks for that," Tonks sighed in relief.
"I'm grateful, you know that," he offered. "Can you imagine it, if I'd had to listen to my old magical guardian explain about that? Listening to the Headmaster talking about sex? What is he, 150 or something? Or worse, what if he had Professor Snape tell me instead? I'd be permanently scarred from that horrible experience!" he exclaimed, faking horror, getting a chuckle from his cousin for his efforts. "I doubt I could ever look at a girl again!"
"Yeah, point taken. Just don't do that again, okay?" she said seriously.
"I try to help where I can," not agreeing to her threat. "Do you know what else is funny?"
"Is this another bad joke? Or prank? If so, I'll skip it, thank you."
"Both, but not at your expense this time," he placated as he opened the door to their regular training room. "What do you get that wears green and can't catch a Snitch... the Slytherin Seeker!" he crowed before explaining the events of the afternoon.
"I was down at the pitch, checking out the competition, you know — recon. The whole idea of 'know your enemy,'" he offered, getting a nod. "Well, after seeing Slytherin drive the Lions from the pitch using a note from Snape under the excuse of having to train their new Seeker, I decided to stay behind in the shadows to watch. Frankly, I wasn't impressed. With Troy gone, their Chasers are nothing — their whole game plan is based on having faster brooms now, not that that will matter soon."
"So when does Sirius bring the new brooms?" she asked.
"Hmm, next week sometime — either Monday or Tuesday, but it could be Wednesday," he offered with a shrug, since it depended on getting Rita to report the event. "So when the Snitch just happens to come near me, I decide to grab it. After all, Draco can't train if he doesn't have a Snitch to catch."
"Well, aren't you the rogue today!" Tonks congratulated him, finally smiling for the first time since dinner.
"No, I'm a dashing rogue today — and every day besides Mondays," he corrected, getting a giggle.
"Fine, you're a dashing rogue. But why not Mondays?"
"Everyone hates Mondays. It's the first day of the school week, and I have to put up with Professor Lockhart first thing," he grumbled.
"Fair point. At least it's not Snape. So, what do you fancy working on today?"
"Whatever you want, Tonks. What do you fancy doing?"
"Do you mind if we work on some dodging?"
"I don't mind — but can we wait till the end? We just had dinner..."
"Good point."
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