"'The most shameful Quidditch match in Hogwarts history' by Lucas Bole? Hey Hilliard, how come that clown was allowed to post this drivel a day before your article was published?"
The day after the match, I heard Roger Davies' shout towards our team captain as I sat down at the breakfast table much later than anyone else. Some Slytherin students, Lucas and his fiancée, the pregnant Bernice Derrick, especially, were sending gloating looks to our table.
Nyx and Hedwig were still cheerfully sharing some bacon with Harry and I's issue of the Daily Prophet lying close to them and Lisa Turpin feeding them. It seemed they had gotten more than their fill as they both playfully nibbled the girl's fingers.
"Hey Harry! Talion," She cheerfully greeted but notably calmed down when she said my name. "I hope you don't mind, Harry. Hedwig is such a cutey, and she wanted to eat together with this pretty owl, so I fed her."
"That black owl is Talion's. Her name is Nyx. The two even share an owl post up in our room. You've never seen them together before?"
Harry was much more outspoken these days, and I wasn't sure if it was just Lisa's influence or the general vibe that's improved for him. But the boy was much more cheerful ever since he started dishing out his own form of justice to anyone who deserved it from the hidden comfort below his invisibility cloak. Or ever since he got a bunch of gifts that brought him closer to his parents in the form of a secondhand book of his mother's from me or a photo album from Hagrid. It could have been either or both... or anything, really.
He once entered our shared room in the dead of night when he thought I was sleeping and even to my eyes he was entirely invisible until he pointed his wand outside of the fabric and I was curious just how overpowered the Deathly Hallows actually were. Not that I had a particular drive getting any of them. The stone served no purpose to my goals, and the only thing I could see myself caring about is the Elder Wand.
But then again, I was actively looking to get away from using a wand as a focus. Like a hidden blade or a ring, for example. It's why I bothered getting books about wandlore and magical foci.
Though, I did wonder; were those Deathly Hallows created at the time of the Norse Pantheon that I first saw in my dreams? Or by means not unlike those techno-magical hybrid creations I had seen them use? It certainly raised my paranoia a little for my future in this world.
Dumbledore couldn't be the most powerful being in this world when such items existed. Or he had more items than canon suggested he had in this world and was much more powerful than I gave him credit for. I simply chose to ignore the latter possibility and still slept peacefully.
Harry was too vigilant to let me borrow his Deathly Hallow, let alone steal it, so I figured the only one I would have a chance to claim as my own was the Ressurection Stone and maybe, possibly the Elder Wand, if fate and luck permits it. The stone had to wait until after I got to the corpse of the basilisk, though. If I wanted to at least research it a little. I needed some venom for the Horcrux unless I found something else, and I didn't care much for the Gaunt lord ring either, so I couldn't be bothered with leaving the item intact.
As for the Philosopher's Stone this year? Hagrid's barely concealed hints had stopped after Halloween, and it seemed like Dumbledore no longer planned to go through with his scheme to test Harry's character with the stone this year. Quirrel died a rather public death after all, and Voldemort was gone. Snape was still a villain in Harry's eyes at the very least, but it seemed like Dumbledore didn't want to use him to try and test Harry's mettle.
I hadn't heard Harry mention the Mirror of Erised either, despite him staying at Hogwarts over Christmas, but that didn't mean he hadn't been led to see it anyway.
"Morgana!" A shout came from the entrance of the great hall as I was joking around with my peers during breakfast and I saw Malfoy who was ready to leave and get ready for the day point towards my owl with red eyes.
The owl in question didn't even look to her former owner and demonstratively hooted as it hopped on my shoulder.
'What in Merlin's shriveled nutsack did Malfoy do to it that she behaves like this? I can see him being a moron, but I didn't think he'd actively mistreat animals. Especially if they belong to him, ugh, who am I kidding? I do know about Dobby... The elf was loyal but peculiar after his prolonged abuse with the Malfoy family, not dissimilar to my own elf Patrick. Maybe I can take him to get Patrick a helper?'
"You thief! What are you doing with my owl?" Malfoy blustered with the grace and cunning of a flobberworm on a broomstick as he stormed toward the Ravenclaw table and gathered the attention of everyone.
"Answer me!" The boy demanded as he finally stood behind me and tried to reach for Nyx, who hopped back to the opposite side of the table.
"Oh, sorry, you mean me? I didn't react just because you claimed to have seen a thief. Only a thief would do that."
A few snickers were heard from the upper years around me as Malfoy's face turned red.
"That owl! It belongs to me! She was a birthday present from my father and I would recognise her anywhere!"
"Oooh, really? Would you mind handing in a report with the DMLE to report your ownership of Nyx?" I asked with a curious tilt of my head.
"Of course I will! And her name is Morgana! My father will have you sent to Azkaban for this!"
"Great. Finally a case for an attempt on my life will be solved," I muttered barely loud enough for those around me to hear it.
"What do you mean a case for an attempt on your life?" Hermione asked with a horrified look and filled in everybody's gossip-hungry ears of those who didn't quite get what I had said.
"Oh, that. You know nobody ever found out who cast an unforgivable curse on me during the assault that could have claimed my life because of several hurdles in 'bureaucracy', right? Well, someone used my little Nyx here to send me a cursed artifact with a lethal spell on it disguised as a Christmas present, and I, of course, reported it to the authorities. If Draco here hands in his report, I'll finally get justice for one of the attempts on my life... I didn't think he'd be man enough to admit it in front of the entire school body, though. Such bravery, there must be a Gryffindor deep inside him after all."
"Stop spouting lies," Draco angrily retorted, though his terrible acting gave away the truth to anybody willing to see it. "My father will hear about this!"
"Of course he will. How else would you know how to think about this other than being angry at your own stupidity?" I loudly mocked as the boy stormed off with his two towering bookends.
Susan sent me a worried look from her table because this was the first time she heard about it since I didn't actually report this to Aunt Amelia or anybody else at the auror's office, but I decided to switch up my plan with Malfoy.
Subtelty was lost on the boy, so I would drag his name through the mud openly. Retaliation was coming no matter what I did, and actually suing the Malfoys for this cursed artifact would get me no justice regardless. So I'd rather get the next best thing instead of nothing. His reputation was only mocked behind closed doors usually. I'd change it to him being openly mocked or, at the very least, ostracized from his peers fully. It was already working with some of the girls from his year, and I just needed to keep doing it.
I calmed down the girls for the rest of the day, and it wasn't until I was alone with Harry in our room just after dinner that he asked me, "How are you so calm? You didn't really report it. So why are you just waiting for Lord Malfoy to come for you?"
"You got Voldemort on your heel, I have my own cross to bear as the matron at the orphanage would say. Lucius was already coming after me, and I heard in no uncertain terms that he could get away with anything if he bribed the right people. But if the entire school body hears about Draco being a cowardly little backstabbing git who sends cursed artifacts to people for years and years, the Malfoy family name will be in ruins no matter what this generation. I'll just have to be thorough enough about it, and while he is influential, Lucius Malfoy's reputation is one supported by fear and benefits through bribery, not strength of character. They'll gossip behind his back for decades," I explained and added 'if he lives that long' in my mind right after.
"S will not like it," Harry pointed out using our codename for Dumbledore based on the initial of Saruman from Lord of the Rings.
"He won't, but S will have other things to worry about this year and the next," I answered with a shrug. "Like the fact that neither of us is going back to where we lived before this summer."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked with a lifted brow.
"Ah, well, your case might take a little while longer, but I'm working on it. If all else fails, seek refuge with Alice Longbottom. You had your account manager confirm that she is your godmother, right? It said so in your parents' will? Since you are old enough to be trusted with some autonomy and Miss Longbottom isn't the only adult in that household, you could surely change your living arrangements even if she is bound to a bed. If S insists on you staying with your tormentors, get Amelia Bones to open an investigation into your living situation and have the man thoroughly embarrassed by explaining his oversight."
"Are you not afraid that if we take everything from him that he will retaliate?"
"Who? S?" I shook my head and calmly continued, "It will need to get to the point where the whole world is against him before he has truly lost it all and if that happens and he's truly turning against either of us, we'd just have bad luck. The alternative is just taking it for another few years, and I'm not going to do that in the name of his greater good."
"I suppose..."
I enjoyed the silence for a moment but broke it eventually with a teasing smirk on my face.
"So when are you taking Lisa out for a date? This Hogsmeade weekend?"
Harry glared at me for a short moment before he scoffed and walked outside.
"Hey, answer me! Give me a heads up, and I'll clear out to give you some privacy in our room! I've seen a few dudes sleep on the couches downstairs to give their roommates the room when they want to do it! I'd do the same for you, Harry!"
"Shove off, you git! Go ask Hermione out or something! Or Sue, or Isobel! Or Mandy or that Croft girl! Or that Slytherin girl you keep making laugh!"
"Hey, uncalled for!" I playfully complained. "I can't do anything about me being naturally handsome and good with women!"
"'Boohoo, I attract too many girls, boohoo' - that's what you sound like," Harry theatrically mocked as he shoved me away in the hallway.
"See, you get my suffering."
"Pfft, suffering he says. Ask out either one of those girls, and I'll make it a doubledate with Lisa. We'll see who is truly suffering then."
"Deal! Any suggestions? Isobel because she's roommates with Lisa? Sue because you-"
"Stop being a douche and don't hurt a girl's feelings just because you're being childish," Harry chided, and I stopped in my tracks.
He was absolutely right, I was being a condescending asshole if I chose any one of the girls based on some coincidence or the choice of another.
"I'll choose Isobel then. But I'll make my intentions known so I will not be a douche."
"And what are your intentions with her?"
"A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell. You taught me that."
"No, I didn't. And no, you didn't. Kiss her yet, I mean."
"Wanna put money on that?"
"You're being a douche again. And the opposite of a gentleman since to win the bet you would have to kiss and tell."
"I really like the more outspoken you," I countered and put my hands around his shoulders.
He didn't even shrug my hand off and just silently endured it. Something the previous him couldn't have done with his aversion to physical touch.
'Yeah. Pettigrew is going to get it before the year ends. Let's not risk it and reward Harry for his personal growth,' I silently decided.
Half an hour later, I found myself in the common room sitting opposite of Isobel, who was reading a book on her own.
"Yes, Talion?" She asked without looking up since she apparently saw that I didn't open my own reading material.
"Lovely Isobel. I come here with a mission most dear to my heart. A quest for love that only you may help fulfill... *cough* sorry, not used to talking like that. I need your help to act as a wingman."
The raven-haired girl finally looked up and regarded me for a while.
I thought she was deliberating my request... but a minute later, I nearly fell off the sofa.
"Before I answer. What's a wingman? Is it some arcane technical term used in Quidditch I am unaware of?" She asked as she searched my face for the answer.
"It might be, but I'd be unaware of it, too. No, it's a muggle term for someone who helps out a friend in a quest for a romantic proposition."
"Oh? Like a little cupid, you mean?"
"Uh, yeah, actually. Wow, that might even be where the phrase came from now that I think about it. Nice catch," I praised, and Isobel gave me a pleased smile. She always liked getting praised, and she was rarely flustered by it like Mandy or Hermione. It's why I praised the girls of our year so easily when I helped out in the practical aspects of the class. All of their smiles were really pretty.
Damn teenage hormones.
"So who needs to get the arrow, and how may I help?"
"Ah, yes. Harry and I got into a bit of banter just a short while ago, and I asked him when he will finally ask out Lisa, your roommate. It isn't lost on you that she is completely smitten with our resident celebrity?"
"Who would miss such an obvious clue?"
"Uh, Harry, for a few months, I reckon. I guess Cho really helped him see reality, though. And that's where you and I come in."
"To be cupids?"
"Yes. Like I said, Harry and I got into a bit of banter, and he foolishly said he'd go on a date with Lisa if it's a doubledate with me. As her roommate, I think Lisa might be most comfortable with you being around, and we might catch the signs she gives faster, and we give them some space. My date just has to have a clue about her character because I'm hopelessly lost when it comes to romance."
"I'm afraid I'll be lost just as much, but maybe we can pool our inadequacy together and do it for them," Isobel said, and her cheeks turned a little rosy. "And thank you for being so forthright and not leading me on."
"Ah, yeah, Harry told me I couldn't be a douche about it, and he was completely right. Let me tell you a secret, though. I wasn't very sure you would have said yes if I wasn't truthful about the invitation," I answered with an unsure smile.
Isobel was the most proper girl in our year among the Ravenclaws. One with thorough training in Occlumency and many other aspects of high society life in the magical world. I knew she was pleasant to be around and easily endured my company. I knew she appreciated our discussions about homework assignments and such. And that was it.
"I'll tell you if you would have a chance at the end of the date," Isobel answered with a smirk, but I saw her cheeks flush just slightly more.
I wouldn't put it past her if that was a trained reaction, but I was kind of sure she did actually like me.
"Oh, right. Will you tell Lisa the good news? This Saturday after lunch so we can make a date out of it to enjoy some nice tea and sweets? Not at Madam Puddifoot's, though. I'm putting my foot down not because of its horrible, gaudy interior design. The tea comes to the table already sweetened, and Madam Puddifoot is a heathen."
Isobel huffed a little, and I quickly corrected, "Yeah, I know, we're technically all heathens. But she's the bad kind of heathen."
I left Isobel with that and walked over to Harry, who was playing wizarding chess against a yearmate of Jason Samuels, one of our beaters, and patted him on the shoulder. I leaned down and whispered to him, "Saturday after lunch. You, Lisa, Isobel, and I are going out to Hogsmeade."
Harry gulped a big wad of saliva down and could no longer focus on the game. And for the first time this year, I saw Harry lose a chess match in the common room.