Sweet Revenge

Cho Chang

Dumbledore had decided one thing over the summer. 

The Potters were to be nice again to Harry. 

Albus did not know whether Harry would be a better option for the Chosen One or if Alex was, so he had deemed the idea of being nice to both to be good. Harry, he knew, would take a while to warm up to the Potters, but they were his family, were they not? 

He did not take into account the many friends Harry had who were a) All in Slytherin, b) All hated Dumbledore and would do anything to remove Harry from his grasp, and c) REALLY hated Dumbledore. 

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Harry was sitting across the table from Tom (who was reading the Daily Prophet analytically) when he received a letter from Draco. 

Draco started by detailing how his father had had a very successful meeting with Lady Marshbanks and had managed to strike an accord with the traditionally Light family. Then, he dedicated an entire paragraph to talking about how his mother was also very successfully irritating Lily Potter every day. Finally, he told Harry about how his father had heard from an associate at the Ministry that James Potter had complained to Arthur Weasley about having to be nice to Harry again. Draco warned Harry in his letter about the Potter family suddenly acting nice. 

Harry showed the letter to Tom (aka thrust the letter in his face, and probably would have smeared ink on Tom's immaculate nose had the ink still been moist) and watched as the man slowly looked up and gave him the most intimidating glare he possibly could while having a newspaper and a lopsided letter stuck to his face. 

Tom plucked the letter from between his nose and the newspaper and read it. 

          "So?"

          "So what?"

          "So what should I do?"

          "Harry, it goes without saying that you shouldn't listen to Dumbledore's advances and that you shouldn't cosy up to the Potters, but if you really do want to reunite with them, I won't stop you."

          "Liar," Harry said fondly and patted Tom's head.

Tom, in turn, took Harry's hand and kissed the ring upon it.

          "You know what to do, sweetheart," he whispered, smiling. 

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School was back in, and life at Hogwarts was back to semi-normal. 

Alex was still being ignored by his classmates for supposedly being a liar, Weaselbee and Granger were still defending the git, Dumbledore had still shut himself up in his cluttered office with his itty bitty flammable birdie, and Tom was still Tom. That went without saying, though, really. 

          "Psst! Harry! Come here, I've got something to show you!" 

Draco was behind a stone column, grinning like an idiot and waving his arms. 

Harry followed him, despite knowing it probably was not a good idea. 

It was not. 

Draco led him to the Room of Requirements where he distinctly heard two voices arguing. One he could make out as Cho Chang, the popular Ravenclaw girl in 6th year, and the other was most assuredly Alex Potter. Draco gestured towards the door and revealed (with a great flourish because that is what Malfoys do) a little telescope-like contraption that had enabled him to look into the room and see what was going on. 

Harry took the spyglass to his eye and was instantly sucked into the room as an invisible noncorporeal being. He came in just as Chang slapped Alex with a loud, resounding, very satisfying sound. 

          "Potter! You bastard! Take that back right this instant!"

Alex, the poor sniveling idiot, shook his head and, with big, stupid, watery eyes, looked up at the black-haired girl from his place on the floor by her feet. 

Chang recoiled as he tried to grasp onto her robe. 

Chang herself looked horrified, causing Harry to draw the conclusion that this was a failed love confession. He drew himself back chuckling and, before Draco could ask what he was doing, barged into the room where Alex was making kissy faces at Chang. He flicked his hand and Alex went flying, crashing into a stack of chairs on the other side of the room. 

          "Draco! Do take Miss Chang up to Ravenclaw Tower."

Draco complied, dragging a disgusted-looking Cho Chang away. 

He himself made sure Alex would be trapped under a barricade of chairs for the forseeable future. 

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Alex complained to his parents, who tried to help him "court" Chang by sending presents that must have cost a hefty sum of money.

Harry and his entourage were enraged and took to following Chang for several weeks afterward. 

It had only been a matter of time before Chang joined the group, therefore enhancing their members by way of her many connectio -er, friends. 

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Because of Chang, Diggory also started attending their "study sessions" in the Library lair.

This brought Harry to the realization that he had been neglecting the inner affairs of his friends. So, he decided to dedicate himself to that (and, surprisingly, did not fail spectacularly). Tom would be mad by the end of the week, but Harry could make that up to him by...well...actually, Harry didn't know. He'd just go with the flow, he decided. 

The first day, he took a book and watched his friends from over the top of it. Then, Pansy asked why in Merlin's name Harry was trying to read a book upside down. 

The second day, he tried casually leaning against the doorframe and watching out of the corner of his eye. Neville asked if he was tired and offered a seat. 

The third day, he just outright stared at them. They all met his eyes and Theo asked if he was alright and if they should take him to the Hospital Wing infirmary. 

Still, over the course of his failed watching tactics, he had noticed a lot of buzzing tension between people, specifically Pansy and Theo. He freaked out that night, not knowing how to play matchmaker (because what else are friends for) until he realized he had Tom's mirror in his pocket. 

          "Hey, Tom!"

Tom's face appeared, his hair dripping wet, a slight flush on his cheeks, and holding the mirror with one hand (the other presumably holding a washcloth around his waist). Harry caught a glimpse of perfect, unblemished skin and went red in the cheeks. 

          "Yes, Harry? Could you wait for a more...convenient time?"

Harry could only nod and saw the mirror get tilted so that he was staring at the ornate ceiling with the sounds of rustling fabric in the background. He thought of Tom removing the cloth from his waist and rifling through the closet -a closet that held Harry's clothes as well- and choosing a robe and putting it on and... Oh Merlin, he was... Nope! Nevermind! Let's not finish that thought!

Tom's face reappeared with a towel mussing his normally perfect hair.

          "So what was it you wanted?"

Harry blanked. 

          "Uh..."

           "Just wanted to see me, darling?" Tom teased. 

Harry only nodded vigorously before realizing what he did and then shaking his head even more vehemently. Tom chuckled. 

          "You know you can always come over to the Castle. You still can, can't you?"

Harry nodded. 

          "Good. Then, you come over when you think of whatever it was you wanted, alright?"

Harry smiled. 

          "Okay. See you."

The mirror went blank. 

Aaargh! He had forgotten to ask Tom for advice! Stupid Tommy! Harry pouted and then got up to find a secluded spot to shift from.