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I NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO BE SOFT. I WAS ALWAYS BLOODYKNUCKLES AND SHARDS OF GLASS. I WANTED PEOPLE TO BE AFRAID OF HURTING ME.
JANUARY 3RD 1994
HARRY DECIDED NOT TO GO AFTER Black.
After he confronted Athena ( which he found quite embarrassing later ) the impossibly enthralling girl—and yes, he could admit it now—and he held the first long conversation without spitting insults at each other.
Progress, he thought to himself afterwards.
They sat on a cold bench in the corridors, while Athena explained in vague words what she knew really happened the night in 1981 from how she suspected his parents to have chosen Peter Pettigrew as the secret keeper for being the less obvious person to how she thought he might've faked his own death when Black confronted him and effectively framed him.
He told her about the firebolt he got over Christmas and how Hermione handed it over to McGonagall. Athena told him it probably had been Sirius, but she didn't think he would try to kill him by letting him fall off his broom.
( How comforting! )
Athena also told him to immediately get her before he did something stupid and impulsive, like search for Pettigrew. He made a joke about her becoming his sidekick, he got the pie in his face for that.
Nevertheless, he was happy to have found out that he was right and the girl he was starting to like had enough heart to tell him the truth—even though it was after he stood up to her.
Then the classes started again the next day. They had Magical Creatures, Hagrid had provided a bonfire full of salamanders for their enjoyment ( Harry spotted Nott and Malfoy trying to put some in the girls' hair ) and they spent an unusually good lesson collecting dry wood and leaves to keep the fire blazing while the flame-loving lizards scampered up and down the crumbling, white-hot logs.
Divination was much less fun; Professor Trelawney was now teaching them palmistry, and she lost no time in informing Harry that he had the shortest lifeline she had ever seen.
At least Athena was starting to suffer with him as the woman stopped avoiding her and now processed to tell her constantly to be good.
In Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Lupin finally gave him a time when he would start learning how to defend himself against Dementors with a charm named Patronus.
