The Golden Boy

47

Back in Harry's room the two boys were sitting at their desk reading the books they had gotten from the library.
"This book isn't that useful. All it did was paraphrase what the first one said."
"Mhm. While that's bad news I have good news."
"Oh?"
"It goes on about two other laws and people who defied the laws."
"Madam PInce really came through."
"She did. This is the only copy the school has. And I doubt anybody would come looking for it. She really saved our skins."
"How are we supposed to turn this into a four page essay? There's still not that much information."  Blaise smirked at his friend.
"He never said how many words we had to have. JUst that it was four pages long. Which means all we need to do is write bigger. Stretch the words if we have to."
"Glad my best friend is a slytherin." Opening their drawers they pulled out parchment, quills, and ink. 
"Ready."
"Set."
"Write." They said together as their quills touched the paper. They were both on a roll. Word after word was written. Blaise said they might be able to do 80-90 words on each sheet which was good.
The duo had stopped to compare at 15:30, they had both written one and a half pages.
"Good it doesn't look like we're copying each other."
"I don't copy. I paraphrase. But then again that's all essays are. Paraphrasing what the books say."
"You have a good point, Blaise." Harry stood up and went towards the door. "Be back soon."
Blaise decided to work on his other work to pass the time. 'If I can get all my work done I can help Harry finish his. Then we can read peacefully for the next week.'
In the end he finished a little more than half.
---------
"I think I might try out for quidditch next year. What do you think Blaise?"
"Sounds good to me. Might be fun." At 16:40 Harry still hadn't returned so Blaise had gone to look for him. He found his best friend flying around doing dives.
"You would try out too?" Harry asked, sounding puzzled.
"Oh no. Not a chance."
"Oh." He hovered over Blaise as he laid on the cold ground reading a Transfiguration book. "Would you come to the games?"
"If you played, yes." They locked eyes for a moment before Harry took off again.
On the other side of the building Severus Snape was searching for a Slytherin and Hufflepuff. He checked the RoR, both their rooms, even the kitchens. 'They wouldn't be outside in this weather. Would they?' He thought as he stared out a nearby window. He sighed heavily. 'I'm going to have to check.' He said as he headed out.
They weren't in front of school nor were they at the half giants hut. Hoping with all his might he checked by the edge of the forbidden forest.  Finding they weren't there he headed to another place. The Quidditch pitch.
Look who's there. The Slytherin dressed in gloom and seriousness and the Hufflepuff draped in cheer and freedom riding on a broom.
"I have been looking for you both. Everywhere." Blaise turned his head to the side to look at his head of house in utter surprise. Above them Harry hovered for the slightest second before flying down to join them.
The boys shared a look. Silently asking the other if they knew what their Professor wanted.
"Hello Professor. Is there something you need?"
"No. I've just been walking the entire grounds for fun." He glared at the two first years before continuing. "Your next class has merged." Severus watched as their eyebrows met their hair lines. Or in Harry's case disappeared behind his bangs. 
"Is it potions?"
'Nice to know they like my class.' Severus thought. "No. Astronomy. Looks like you'll be gazing at the stars together on Wednesday at 00:10."
"Thank you for telling us, Professor Snape." Snape nodded to Harry and Blaise before leaving. He had been outside far too long and needed to talk to Minerva. He was sure the mismatched pair would also come inside soon. After all, it was cold out.
Severus found MInerva in her office marking papers. No doubt giving all the dunderheads good grades. "We need to talk."  Snape glared hard at the cat animagus.
"Whatever about Severus?"
"Harry Potter."
"I'm a little busy at the moment."
"Minerva. We need to talk." He wasn't asking her before and he wasn't asking now.  "Your foolish little lions need to be held accountable. Had it been the other way, Harry and Blaise would be." At her ashamed look Severus thought she might actually talk some sense into the others.
"But their education-"
"Was squandered when they beat a poor boy. Somehow this is all feeling oddly familiar. Wouldn't want the Daily Profit to hear about all that." He inwardly smirked as she turned violently to gape at the man.
"You wouldn't."
"Mhm. You say that as if you're scared. I'll write the letter tonight. That's if I find a reason not to."
'Pomona will love this. So might that inner slytherin Blaze. Whenever he returns.'
"What about Harry?"
"I wasn't aware you cared for him. I'm sure neither did he." No comment. She continued to speak.
"He did not want anyone to know. If you take this to the media it'll crush him."
This time Severus smirked at the gryffindor draped in green. "Who said he didn't know." And promptly walked out. When in all reality nobody knew. He made it all up on the fly. Proud of himself he walked to the greenhouses to look for the head of the yellow house.
Pomona was knee deep in soil with Neville Longbottom next to her. "May I talk to Professor Sprout for a moment?" He asked the squirming Gryffindor. The child murmured a yes and quickly left the room.
Pomona looked him up and down before coming to the conclusion that he had did something stupid but smart. "What did you do?"
"Had a talk with Minerva."
Sprouts eyebrows shot up in surprise. She questioned 'Why he had talked to her today? Why not at the meeting tomorrow. Unless it was something he didn't want anyone else hearing.'
"What happened?" Severus went on to tell his, basically partner in crime, what had been said.
"How slytherin of you. Do you think she believed it?"
"Enough that she'll ask Harry."
"But won't he deny it."
Snape shook his head. "I was going to tell Blaise tomorrow in Potions. It seems they'll be staying in the Hufflepuff dorms for a while. "
"Do you think they've figured it out yet?"
"There is no 'think' I know they have. They are currently plotting their revenge."
Pomona gasped; horrified. "Severus! We can't allow that." Severus in turn looked incredulous.
"Why, pray tell, is that a bad thing?" She shot the dour man a look that showed all her disbelief. "Don't look at me like that. Those barbaric lions deserve it."
"They deserve to be punished, there is no denying that. But not like this."
Severus groaned loudly. "Well we certainly can't forget that they attacked Harry for absolutely no reason and got away with it. At least Harry has a reason. A damn good one at that."
Severus had to stop and take a deep breath. He was slowly working himself up into a fit. Over James Potter child? He couldn't believe it.
"He could sue the school, all of us, shut us down in the process but he's not because he trusted us to get him justice quietly. Since we can't do that, who are we to keep this away from him? His only justice now has to come from his own wand. Can we not be biased for once?" He sighed distraughtly.
Pomona didn't like it. But she also knew it was right. She sighed. "We have to make sure they don't get caught. When they set their plan into action we have to make sure there isn't any evidence."
Severus let a relieved smile cross his face. He nodded and left.
-------
Harry and Blaise were walking to the great hall for dinner at 18:16 when Harry finally let it sink in that they'd be having Astronomy together. 
"Astronomy. Now we can stargaze together. It'll be so much more fun now." Blaise, smiled and nodded in agreement. "Stargazing with my best friend sounds like the best thing ever."
"I thought my reading to you was the best thing ever." Harry could feel the blood rushing up his neck, spreading across his face to the tips of his ears.
"T-that's true. It is." Blaise laughed at his friend's embarrassment at being called out.
"I like my voice too." He said as they reached the end of the Hufflepuff table.  Many of the Hufflepuffs near them looked warily at Blaise. No doubt scared to be blasted by magic like the Ravenclaws. Harry noticed the look and promptly started to distract the dark skinned boy.
"Owls usually come during breakfast so why are the books coming now?"
Blaise shrugged. "I don't have an answer for that. Besides that, what should we try today?"
"I think I see crab legs." Blaise frantically looked down the table. "There.... no a little to the left...... yeah those." Blaise then asked as politely as he could to pass them down.
"Ever had these before?"
Harry shook his head. "No. I've only seen them." Humming in acknowledgement Blaise continued to eat his portion.
"Okay. You choose the next one."
"Sure. Give me your thoughts on the crab legs though." Harry had just picked out Singaporean Chili Crab legs.
"Mhm. It tasted faintly of tomato and was sweet. A little spicy too. Are all crab legs like that? If so I can see why you were so excited for them."
"Are you trying to say I have a sweet and spicy taste?"
"Yes." He deadpanned. 
"Mhm. Well I have our next dish. Shan noodles from Myanmar. Everyone was trying to taste it so it took a while for me to get it." He glared at a few Hufflepuffs after that before turning back to Harry.  "Try it." Harry reached for his fork, he doesn't know how to use chopsticks(KL:God kill me if I already said he could use the damned things), and spun a few noodles around it and poked some of the meat onto it.
He leveled Blaise with a gaze that had the other rushing to pick some of the food up himself. They were silent as they chewed the food. Each rating and reviewing the food in their head.
"The meat tasted weird. Other than that it was delicious. Ten out of ten."
"It wasn't the meat that tasted weird to you. It was the pork skins." Blaise watched as Harry paled. "Maybe I shouldn't have said that. It's a misnomer. Yep that's what it is." That was a complete lie. But to save his best friend and the rest of the table from vomit it was worth it.
Harry sighed audibly.  "Don't scare me like that. I almost threw up."
'I know.' Blaise thought. Instead he just laughed nervously and cleared his throat. "Got room for dessert?"
"Of course. Can I pick?" Blaise just waved his hand out to the table. Like he was giving Harry access to the backstage of a venue.
Harry ended up pointing to a plate stacked with tarts. 'Typical.' He thought fondly.
"Those look good." Harry practically purred. Blaise reached over and grabbed two. He handed one to Harry then held up his own.
"Cheers."
Harry giggled and tapped their pastries together. "Cheers."
Both boys were pleasantly surprised by the flavors that greeted them. It was sweet and savory. The edges were crisp to perfection to give it a nice crunch, the custard filling was sweeter than Blaise had expected. But he wasn't upset, no he was sure he found his new favorite pastry.
"I loved that. Can you-"
"Oh I'm way ahead of you Harry." Blaise handed him another one of the Egg Tarts(Chinese Custard tart). 
"These are really good." Harry hummed.
While they were mesmerized by the succulent treat a falcon flew into the hall. The teachers wondered who the falcon had come to see. And the students were more than confused as to how a falcon had found its way into hogwarts. Having only ever seen owls delivering mail. Especially at dinner.
The boys still hadn't noticed the bird flying over to them. Raving about the sweet that had them whipped. Harry noticed first. Even then it was too late. The bird had landed on Blaise's shoulder. 
"Ah." He groaned as he felt the bird's talons dig into his skin. "Get down from there Ezekiel." He held out a piece of meat to edge the falcon off his shoulder. It worked. The bird of prey now sat pecking at a piece of steak.
"Looks like our books are here."He smirked at Harry. "I'm stuffed mate. What about you?"
"Couldn't eat another bite."
Blaise turned back to the bird that had surprised the great hall into silence. "Thank you Ezekiel. You may go." Ezekiel made a whistling before exiting the great hall. After Blaise was sure the falcon wasn't returning he grabbed the books that his mother had sent to himself and his friend and stood to leave. Harry followed suit.
"How much work do you have to do?"
"I have less than you, I know that for sure. That also means I can help you while I work. Less than half of what I had to do earlier."
"I should have been working during dinner, not eating."
"Don't ever put work or anything over food. You have to eat to work properly."
"That- that makes a lot of sense, Blaise."
"Mhm. Snape can be heard telling that to the sixth and seventh years."
"Wise man." Blaise nodded in agreement as they walked into Harry's room. Or is it really just their Hufflepuff bedroom.
"Which class should we work on first?"
"Potions. We'll finish those quickest."Harry was proved right when they finished all their potions work in 30 minutes. Next they did Transfiguration. Harry struggled but was determined to finish it. 
"What do you have to do Blaise?"
"Some charms and History of magic quizzes. Shouldn't take too long. What about you?"
"We're going to be practicing the Curse of the Bogies and I want to be able to use it properly by then." Blaise nodded and said he could use him for practice because he knew the counter curse. Harry was apprehensive about the idea and made him promise that if he couldn't heal himself they would go to Sprout.
Unlike in their Slytherin bedroom, where their desks were either side of the room their desks sat next to each other. They turned their chairs to face each other.
"Ready?"At Blaise's nod he picked up his wand and pointed it at him."Mucus ad Nauseam." They sat staring at each other for a few moments waiting for Blaise to show any signs of sickness.
"Maybe the pronunciation was off."
Harry nodded and tried again."Mucus ad Nauseam." Still nothing happened. "Could it be the movement?" Harry questioned aloud. Blaise half shrugged as he began to cough and sneeze. 
"I'd say you," Sneeze. "Did it." Harry's happy face soon faded as his best friend hadn't performed the healing spell. 
"Do I need to cast it? I knew this was a bad idea. Wait, we can still get a teacher. Or a prefect. They're obligated to help us with stuff like this, right? But Sprout is least likely to curse us." Blaise rolled his eyes. Blaze had reacted to the curse being thrown at them and had come back to the forefront of Blaise's mind to heal him. He left soon after that. Not even bothering to hear Blaise's thank you.
"Harry. I'm fine." Harry stopped worrying as he looked over at Blaise.
'He looks fine. And he's stopped coughing and sneezing.' Harry thought.
"Did you want to try again?" Harry pulled a face.
'It took him a while to heal himself before. But that proves he can handle it. But what if I mess up and something happens.' 
"I can see what you're thinking." Blaise put his right hand over his heart and said, "You won't mess up. And yes it took me a minute but I got it. It happens."
"One more, that's it." Blaise nodded and braced himself. Silently hoping that Blaze would heal him again. Not sure if he could do it himself. "Mucus ad Nauseam."
Immediately Blaise began to cough. Much more rough than before. "Bla-!" He harked. 'Good merlin. Blaze!' " Anapneo." He continued to cough.  Harry's looks of concern grew even more. "Anapneo!" This time the cough was lighter but still hurt.
"Anapneo!" He breathed heavily as the coughing and sneezing stopped.
'Practice Blaise. You need to do it more often. Now if that's all, I'm gone.'
'I will. Thank you.'
"I thought you said you could take it. You scared me half to death." A worried Harry stood in front of Blaise. "We're never doing that again."
Blaise rolled his eyes. "It wasn't that bad. And it all worked out fine. It's clear you'll pass."
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Harry. We're fine." He looked somewhat convinced and that was okay for now. He'd see that Blaise really was okay. 
Harry sighed. "Can I help with your essays?" Grateful for the change in subject Blaise said yes.
"Could you answer some of the questions on the Charms quizzes. I think I can do the History ones on my own."
"How many are there to do?"
"Like four or five."
Harry pulled a surprise face. "Blaise."
"Please don't look at me like that. I've just been busy. And a little distracted." Harry shook his head and sighed. Blaise handed him a few assignments.
"All of them should be multiple choice. Thank you Harry."
"Anytime." They turned back in their seats to continue their work. A few minutes into the first quiz Harry spoke.
"This is simple Blaise. Why'd it take you so long to do this?" He continued to mark down his answers. Occasionally checking his books.
"Like I said, I've been busy and distracted. I got over confident with how easy it was and thought 'I could finish within thirty minutes so I'll do all the other stuff first.' As you can see, it was a stupid thought."
"Not really stupid. I've had those same thoughts before. Mainly when I was working with Ravenclaws." They smiled at each other before returning back to their homework.