Harry Potter and the Daemon Sidhe

Chapter 21

Severus was waiting for them in the Entrance Hall and eyed them with quiet amusement.

"You had some success," he observed. "There was a considerable amount of smug satisfaction echoing down the link."

Harry grinned and held up the tickets he'd won at the auction. "Great success. Quidditch tickets."

The look Severus gave him made both Harry and Ginny laugh.

"Yes, we had some success," Harry said, sobering slightly. "Though I suppose we won't know if it was really a success until tomorrow."

Severus gestured for them to head up into the school. "The Daemon Sidhe are waiting. Tell us then."

Harry nodded and the three of them made their way to the Daemon Sidhe's quarters in silence. Once they got there, Harry and Ginny sat down with some relief while Snape stood near the fireplace.

"You got the memory?" asked Gwydion.

"I hope so," Harry replied. "He said he'd extract it and send it to me tomorrow so I suppose we need to wait and see."

"You handled Slughorn well," Severus said. "Though he was always going to be predisposed to like you."

"Because I'm the Boy-Who-Lived?" Harry said cynically.

"That is the kind of man Slughorn is," Severus replied calmly. "Since you cannot change the man, take advantage of his weaknesses."

"That was disturbingly Slytherin," Sirius said dryly.

"Thank you," Severus replied with a small bow, much to the amusement of the others.

"I had some more success," Harry said with a grin. "And Ron'll like this one."

"Really?" Ron said, looking curious. "What is it?"

Harry produced the tickets with a flourish. "Two tickets to the Puddlemere United versus Chudley Cannons game in two weeks. Wanna come?"

Ron's jaw dropped. "What? Really? I mean, yes! Wow! How did you get them?"

"There was an auction at the dinner and they were one of the...prizes, I suppose you'd call them," Harry said. "I wasn't really interested in the other stuff but these were worth going after and what's the point of inheriting all this money from my parents if I don't use it for stuff like this." He paused and smiled wryly. "You know I'd give half my money to your parents if I thought they'd accept it."

"They wouldn't," Ginny said before Ron could react. "They'd refuse it if you offered."

Ron grimaced. "Yeah, I know. On both counts. It's just...hard sometimes."

"Being the youngest son?" Devante said sympathetically.

Ron nodded. "Yeah. I mean even Ginny gets it better than I do because she's the only girl."

"We should get together and exchange notes," Devante said, rolling his eyes. "I was the youngest of twelve. The only time I got anything new was when I finally managed to grow taller than any of my brothers."

"You were?" Ron said, his eyes wide.

"Yep," Devante replied. "Big families were pretty common back then. For many reasons."

Ron gave Devante a long look then turned to Harry. "So are they good seats?" he said with a grin.

Harry grinned back, relieved his friend wasn't going to get touchy. "I think so."

"Wicked," Ron said. "But will the Headmaster let us go?"

"Yeah, I'm sure he will," Harry said with a fair amount of confidence. "It's not like we're going to be irresponsible or anything."

"For once," Ron added, his grin widening.

"Exactly," Harry said. "And it isn't as though we couldn't contact someone immediately if something happened."

"Great," Ron said, settling back in his chair with satisfaction. "Now I just need the Cannons to win."

"Good luck on that one," Neville muttered.

"Hey! They're not that bad," Ron protested, much to the amusement of everyone else in the room.

"Oh, something else happened while we were there," Harry said. "Bill was there with some goblins from Gringotts."

"We had a very interesting conversation," Ginny added. "The goblins seemed to be rather impressed with Harry and they knew what had happened."

"How so?" Gwydion asked curiously.

"They knew about my little announcement in the Great Hall and they knew who the Daemon Sidhe are," Harry replied. "They said they'd be willing to support me and if I needed their help I only had to ask."

The Daemon Sidhe stared at him with wide eyes.

"How on earth were you able to lever the goblins out of their legendary neutrality in regards to human affairs?" Kolos asked with disbelief.

Harry looked uncertain. "I don't know really. I think Bill had been telling them about me but I don't know what he's been saying or what I did to impress them."

"You treated them like they were your equals, Harry," Ginny said dryly. "You're one of the few wizards that doesn't think people like goblins are sub-human."

"You don't. Your family doesn't," Harry objected.

"Yeah but that's the way Mum and Dad brought us up," Ron said. "I mean, with Dad's fascination with Muggles, he was hardly going to let us think anyone's...sub-human."

"But not every pure-blood or even half-blood family thinks the same," Ginny added.

"My Gran's pretty open-minded," Neville said slightly uncomfortably. "She's fine with half-bloods and the Muggleborn but I don't think she'd be comfortable dealing with goblins and centaurs and so on as equals."

"You have a very unique view of the world," Remus said with a fond smile. "You have a knack of accepting the strange and unusual and judging them on what they do or say, not on what they are. Most people shy away from me just because I'm a werewolf without even getting to know me."

"Well, there's a lot of stupid people in the world," Sirius said with disgust.

"But I knew you as my teacher and someone who was willing to help me before I knew you were a werewolf," Harry objected. "That's got to make a difference. We don't really know how I would have reacted if I'd known you were a werewolf before I knew you."

"I suppose there's some truth in that," Remus conceded. "But you've never treated the centaurs as though they were animals. Not once. You don't judge people by whether they're a pureblood, halfblood or Muggleborn. You aren't prejudiced."

"Well, I don't much like most Slytherins," Harry said slowly. "But I think that's more to do with Draco Malfoy than anything else."

"Draco Malfoy is not as popular as he thinks or behaves," Severus said blandly. "My Slytherins are not all under his thumb."

"That's good to hear," Hermione said thoughtfully. "We should get the DA up and running and make sure we invite some Slytherins."

"How do we make sure we don't get the wrong Slytherins?" Ron said dubiously. "No offence but I don't think we want any of Draco's lackeys to know exactly what we're doing."

"Some of my Slytherins have made...acquaintances in Ravenclaw and even Hufflepuff," Severus said. "The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs would know who to approach and would likely make the approach if you asked."

"That's sounds like a workable idea," Harry said with a decisive nod. "And we really should get the DA going as soon as possible. Ron, I can leave you in charge of that?"

Ron nodded, looking proud and pleased. "Of course. You'll come to the first meeting?"

"I'll come to as many as I can," Harry replied. "But I want you to run it...with Hermione's help most likely. You've seen my training schedule."

"Yeah, it's brutal," Ron said sympathetically. "We'll try and work around you as much as possible but we won't wait on you either."

"Good," Harry replied.

"Did you want Sirius, Severus or myself to help out?" Remus asked.

There was a moment of silence until Ron realised Harry was waiting for him to reply.

"Oh, er...yeah, probably," Ron stammered. "Um, but not at first and probably only as...well, as consultants." He hesitated and looked rather uncomfortable. "I...If I'm going to do this then I think I need to make the group...mine if that makes any sense."

"Makes a lot of sense," Sirius said with a nod. "Just let us know when you want us in to help and we'll be there."

Ron nodded, some of his nerves fading at the easy acceptance of his leadership by the others.

"And I think on that note we should all get to bed," Asa said briskly. "And let us hope that Slughorn does not change his mind overnight."

Everyone nodded and slowly trickled out of the Daemon Sidhe's rooms. Harry deliberately kept his steps slow and was relieved when Ginny did the same. Hermione saw what they were doing and hustled Ron, Neville and Luna ahead with a quick, conspiratorial smile to Ginny. Harry saw this and took Ginny's hand with a wry smile.

"Nice of Hermione to do that," he said quietly as he watched the others walk on ahead.

"She thinks we should be more romantic," Ginny said with a smile.

"Then she might want to tell me how to do that," Harry said dryly. "Because the Dursleys were not what I would call good role models on the romantic front."

"Considering what you, Ron and Hermione have told me the idea of Dursley and romantic together makes me shudder," Ginny said lightly.

Harry snickered. "Yeah, me too." He paused and bit his lip momentarily. "You look very beautiful tonight, Ginny."

The red-haired girl blushed. "Thank you. I think you might not need as much instruction on how to be romantic as you think you do."

Now it was Harry's turn to blush. "I don't know," he murmured. "I don't think I did a very good job with Cho."

"Well, she spend a lot of her time crying all over you," Ginny said tartly. "That would make things difficult."

"Yeah," Harry said in a slightly distracted tone. He then came to a sudden decision and he stopped in the middle of the corridor. Ginny did the same and looked at him curiously.

"Harry?"

Harry licked his lips then leaned forward and kissed Ginny. As kisses go it was fairly chaste and gentle but when Ginny stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his neck, it quickly began to heat up. Harry placed his arms around her waist and pulled her closer as the kiss deepened and intensified.

"Hey, Harry...oh! Whoa!"

Ron startled voice made Harry and Ginny jump apart in surprise and they turned to see a very red-faced Ron standing in the corridor with a rather exasperated and amused Hermione behind him.

"Ron!" Harry yelped, his voice rather more high-pitched than it normally was.

"Your timing sucks, Ronald," Ginny said tartly though her cheeks were red.

"You...and you," Ron said incoherently. "Kissing!"

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Ron," Hermione said with exasperation. "Of course they were kissing. They are our King and Queen. What did you think they were going to do together?"

"I was trying not to think about that actually," Ron said weakly.

Ron? Harry said hesitantly on a private thought.

I'm okay, Ron said, his mental voice becoming a little clearer. I just...she's my little sister, Harry.

Yeah, I know, Harry replied. But...I think I'm in love with her.

Ron was silent for a long moment. Oh...if you hurt her, I'll kill you.

She's my Queen, I don't think that's possible, Harry said dryly. Besides I think if I hurt her, I'd be more afraid of what she'd do to me to be honest.

Good point, Ron said with a quick grin. I'm okay, Harry. It was just a surprise. Suppose I shouldn't make too many comments though, not like I haven't done that with Hermione.

Oh, really? Harry said with a wicked smile.

Ron's ears went bright red and the two girls laughed; they didn't know what had triggered Ron's embarrassment but they could take a fair guess at the most likely possibilities.

"We should get back to our dorms," Ron said hastily.

The others laughed and they headed up the stairs.

*****************************************************************************

The next morning when Harry yawned his way down to the Great Hall with his friends he noticed almost immediately that people were craning their necks to catch sight of him and, from what he could tell, Ginny. He ignored it as best as he could and sat down at the Gryffindor table with Ginny on one side and Neville on the other while Ron and Hermione sat opposite them.

"Have a good night did you, Harry?" Seamus called down the table with a wicked grin as he waved the Daily Prophet in the air.

"Great," Harry muttered and he gestured for Seamus to show him the paper. It was passed down and he placed it in the middle of the table so they could all read it.

BOY-WHO-LIVED ATTENDS MINISTRY BALL

Last night's Fundraising Ball for St Mungo's Hospital was enlivened by the attendance of the Boy-Who-Lived and current Sixth Year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Mr Harry Potter. Mr Potter was accompanied by the lovely Miss Ginevra Weasley, the only daughter and youngest child of Ministry employee Mr Arthur Weasley. The young couple were seen in the company of various Gringotts and Ministry employees as well as Potions Master and former Hogwarts teacher,

Mr Horace Slughorn.

Mr Potter was the lucky bidder to win two tickets to the Puddlemere United versus Chudley Cannons Quidditch match, an acquisition he seemed most pleased about. Unfortunately reporters were not permitted within the ballroom and could not speak to Mr Potter about rumours that have been flying in the past weeks about the Daemon Sidhe.

Harry pushed the paper away without reading the rest of the article since that seemed to be the extent of any proper reporting. From what he had seen the rest just discussed what everyone had been wearing and who spoke to whom.

"That's better than what normally gets written about you," Ron said as Ginny and Hermione pored over the rest of the article.

"I noticed," Harry replied. "Obviously wasn't Rita Skeeter who wrote it."

"It was written by someone called Archie De Vries," Hermione said. "He must be new."

"Guess so," Harry said then he grimaced. "I just hope that this doesn't scare off Slughorn."

"I doubt it will," Ginny said thoughtfully. "I mean if Severus is right, he likes having his name mentioned in association with famous people. He'll probably be thrilled."

"I hope so," Harry said fervently.

Once they had finished their breakfast, they left the Great Hall for their classes.

Harry was a touch distracted during his classes, constantly watching out of the windows for Slughorn's owl. By the time lunch arrived he was starting to feel more than a little nervous.

"What if he's changed his mind?" he said urgently as they sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"I'm sure he hasn't," Ginny said soothingly, her mind only half on calming Harry; mostly she was concentrating on her lunch. "He's probably gotten up late. He sort of struck me as a man who would enjoy a good lie in."

"Yeah, I guess that could be the answer," Harry replied slowly.

As he said that a number of owls began winging their way into the Great Hall. A large speckled owl headed straight for Harry and landed almost pompously in front of him, puffing up his chest and preening outrageously.

"Now if that isn't Slughorn's owl, I'll kiss Malfoy on the lips," Ginny said with a chuckle.

The others laughed as Harry removed the small pouch and letter that had been attached to the owl's leg. The owl gave him a regal hoot then took off. Harry didn't watch it leave; he opened the pouch and pulled out a small vial of silvery liquid.

"There, see? He did it," Ginny said.

"Let's hope so," Ron said. "He might have just sent another altered memory."

"Let's hope he didn't," Harry replied as he tucked the vial back into the pouch. "I'd hate to have gone through all that for nothing."

"But you didn't," Ron said with a grin. "You went through it all for Quidditch tickets."

"Ah, of course," Harry said with an answering grin then he opened the letter and started reading it aloud.

Dear Harry and Ginny,

I hope you will forgive my presumptuousness in using your names but I felt after our lovely conversations last night it would be acceptable.

I present you with the full and true memory of that dreadful night in question and I truly hope you will forgive my foolishness. Tom seemed like such a nice lad, so clever and so likely to go places in the world. Who would have thought he'd turn out so badly?

Incidentally I read in the Prophet this morning that you are both involved with the Daemon Sidhe. My dear children, how marvellous! You truly are remarkable young people and Harry, as I knew both your parents, I feel I can say with some authority that they would be very proud of you right now. I don't suppose the Daemon Sidhe would be willing to meet with an old Potions Master? I'd very much like to exchange ideas with them.

I trust that we will meet again in the near future and I wish you both all the best with your studies.

Yours sincerely,

Horace Slughorn

"Well, the news is spreading," Hermione said with satisfaction. "It won't be long before Voldemort knows, if he doesn't already."

"That's a good thing?" Neville asked dubiously.

"Of course," Hermione insisted. "The Daemon Sidhe are very powerful in their own right as is their king. That will definitely give Voldemort something to think about. It may even keep him quiet for a while. Particularly when you consider he's lost his spy inside Hogwarts."

"Who says he hasn't gained a new one?" Ron said with a jerk of his thumb over his shoulder towards the Slytherin table. "Or didn't any of the rest of you find it just a little too convenient that right after we revealed our new looks, Se...Snape gets called during the day?"

"Of course we did," Hermione said impatiently. "But we don't know who it is. It might not even be a Slytherin. Zachariah Smith wasn't too happy with Harry last year and don't forget Pettigrew was a Gryffindor."

"Oh come on," Ron said. "It's got to be Draco Malfoy. Who else would be that stupid?"

"I'm not disagreeing with you entirely," Hermione said patiently. "I'm just saying that it might not be Draco. We should keep an open mind about this."

"Hermione's right," Harry said firmly. "We shouldn't jump to conclusions. Besides Draco's been pretty quiet so far this year. He's either staying out of our way or he's up to something really big."

"Would Professor Snape know which one?" Hermione asked.

"Probably not," Harry replied. "I doubt Draco would confide in him now that he's been revealed as a spy."

"We should still ask," Hermione insisted.

"And we will," Harry said, standing up and handing the letter to Ginny. "But right now I'm going to take this memory to Professor Dumbledore."

He got up from the table and looked up to the Head Table. The Headmaster wasn't there so he headed for the door and up the stairs to his office. When he got there he stood in front of the gargoyle and sighed.

Severus? I don't suppose you know the Headmaster's password? he asked.

It's still Ice Mice, came the slightly distracted reply.

Thank you, Harry replied then he said out loud to the gargoyle, "Ice Mice."

The statue leapt aside and Harry walked up the revolving staircase until he reached the office door.

"Come in, Harry," came the Headmaster's voice before he had a chance to knock and Harry gave a start.

"I hate it when he does that," he muttered under his breath as he opened the door and walked in.

"Ah, Harry," Dumbledore said cheerfully. "What can I do for you?"

Harry held up the pouch that held Slughorn's memory. "Slughorn sent it," he said with well-justified triumph.

Dumbledore smiled broadly and gave him a proud look as he took the pouch. "Well done, Harry. I knew you had it in you to coax it out of Horace. Have you looked at it?"

"No," Harry said with a shake of his head. "I thought you'd want to first."

"Perhaps I shall bring it down to the Daemon Sidhe's rooms tonight and we can all look at it together," Dumbledore suggested. "Then we can discuss what it contains with everyone there and if it contains what I suspect it does then I can give you all the details at once."

"Alright," Harry said with a nod. "I'll let everyone know."

"Excellent," the Headmaster said. "Now I believe you have a class to go to."

"Yes, sir," Harry replied then headed for the door.

We need to meet tonight in the Daemon Sidhe's rooms, Harry said to his court through the bond as he walked down the stairs. We're going to look at the memory and then work out what needs to be done.

He received a chorus of replies then put the whole matter out of his mind in favour of his classes.