Luck of Nines

33

Malfoy was late to astronomy class, out of breath but still looking very pleased with himself. The way he waved off his lateness with an insincere apology lost Slytherin a handful of points earning him a few dirty looks. As the first class which they had with the unsorted students the dynamic had changed, and delightfully not in Malfoy's favor. With Phineas's shadow, Zabini, and a red haired boy who had to poorly hold back chuckles when Malfoy was scolded, Malfoy was distinctly outnumbered here.

When they sat their telescopes down at a cushion, he choose one which was next to where the red head was heading, Nott choosing the one by his side. "Hello, I'm Harry Potter."

The red head jumped slightly from where he had been glaring at the rusting adjustment knobs on his telescope at the introduction, "Oh uh, Ron, Ron Weasley, blimey, I didn't expect you would end up in Slytherin of all places."

Harry laughed lightly, "I'm not sure how it happened myself, I don't know much about the houses, good to meet you Weasley, oh and this is Nott."

"Hello," Nott nodded at Weasley.

"Oh, er nice to meet you both. What do you mean you didn't know much about the houses though? Everybody knows about the houses!"

"Well, I didn't." Harry replied setting up his own telescope. Ron stared at him for a long moment, probably waiting for him to speak more, he eventually realized. A little unusual they weren't leaping to fill in gaps of silence like most others did.

Bulstrode snorted from the other side of Nott, "Yeah, he's always that quiet, goes with his tragic past. I'm Millicent Bulstrode by the way."

Weasley blinked before smiling, he hadn't seemed to cope well with the unsorted grouping where most already had close ties with other people that seemed to traditionally be broken up a bit through sorting into different houses.

"Ron Weasley," he replied. "I'm kind of surprised, you seem pretty alright for a Slytherin."

Bulstrode sniffed, offended, "And just what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

He froze for a brief moment, "Nothing really, it's just well, you-know-who and all of his followers were Slytherins, you know."

"Oh, and so being in Slytherin means you follow the Dark Lord then?"

"Well, no, I didn't mean it like that!" Weasley protested, "Just meant it's got a reputation, you know."

"Slytherin is for those with ambition, you're bound to hear about quite a few of its alumni." Nott cut in, his voice was as frail as ever, but almost miraculously Weasley and Bulstrode both listened, "Minister Fudge was in Slytherin too, you know."

       "Exactly!" Bulstrode agreed, she wasn't particularly clever, but she was steadfast, like a bulldog once she got her teeth on something she wouldn't let it go. Predictably, she leapt onto the idea. "Besides, Sirius Black was a Gryffindor so clearly not all." 

     Nott and Weasley's eyes shifted towards Harry immediately, Bulstrode's face paled then flushed brightly with shame. The silence drew on before Bulstrode cautiously spoke, "Oh, sorry, Potter..."

      "Yes." His head tilted to the side, "Why do you think I'd react poorly to the name Sirius Black?"

        "You don't know..." Bulstrode's full face softened.

        "Mate, what do you know about the magical worlds?"

         He glanced between them for a moment, "Perhaps we should leave heavy subjects for now then; Weasley, what classes have you had so far?"

Weasley and Bulstrode took that subject and went with it, both content to chatter on throughout the lesson, leaving Harry with little else to do but listen to the two of them. It gave him some worth while information; politically the Bulstrode's leaned towards the opposite side of the spectrum than the Weasley's did, although they were not steadfast supporters of the "traditionalist" they also were not "moderates" who tended to be a wishy-washy group which swayed to whichever side favored them most. Weasley's family on the other hand were staunch, while modernist or something was the word he was sure muggles would refer to them as, here they were termed "reformists".  He could remember that name being tossed around with a scoff, a sneer, and some fowl words in some of the less seedy taverns that existed on one edge of Knockturn that many hardcore traditionalist. Nott's grandfather was a strong traditionalist, slightly more so than the Malfoy's were according to Nott. 

        Interestingly, with only a little input from himself, even for the brief period where politics were discussed, both Bulstrode and Weasley seemed to get along well.

    Weasley was quick to make broad foot-in-the-mouth types of statement.  However, he had a surprising amount of political knowledge for someone who talked as if they were totally uninterested in it and Bulstrode clearly respected that, despite his occasional thoughtless words, he had a good mind for strategy and an iron ambition to make a name for himself outside of his five older brothers.

      On the other hand Bulstrode had an easily risen temper and wasn't as clever a mind as Weasley was, she was slow to adapt and sometimes trailed in the conversation. Bulstrode though had the advantage of having more knowledge about political situations than Weasley did, meaning she did not have to rely as often on her own quick analysis as he did, rather she could recall interpretations of it as well as arguments for and against which she already knew. She had a good memory and was surprisingly good at pushing a point and skillful at keeping the topic focused on what she wanted it to be rather than letting it be redirected. While she wasn't always the best at knowing when to do these things, Weasley seemed to respect her as well after some initial hesitance.

       Above all though, that they both disliked Malfoy was the common ground which got them through any conversation. 

       A common enemy.

       He had learned a handful of names which could be useful too, Longbottom, Granger, and Bones were three names which could make useful allies to him; both were already sorted into houses, the first two being Gryffindors and the latter being Hufflepuff, which was an advantage to demonstrating to those in doubt that he wasn't future Dark Lord material.

      He doubted he was anyway, he had no interest in ruling the wizarding world, he wanted to travel and explore with Chipped Fang. Go wherever their hearts desired and stay for however long they liked to investigate whatever caught their attentions. 

      He wanted freedom. 

      The name Longbottom sounded familiar though.

      As class ended, the Slytherins were somewhat broken up; Carrow lingered behind to stay with Rookwood for longer, while Malfoy was particularly eager to leave.  Despite all that Harry had done, the Malfoy heir still held pull, because of his father, it would be interesting to see what he did if his father was to lose all of that power...

     As it was, Phineas also stayed behind to speak with Zabini, and so it was Parkinson, Davis, Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott who went with Malfoy and him back to the common room. Malfoy didn't seem capable of keeping still or hiding his glee and insisted that they all retire to their dorms right away; it was late after all. Of course, in his excitement, he hadn't seemed to realize everybody else had intended to linger in the common room and gossip some more until he saw that Davis, Goyle, and Crabbe had already taken a seat.  Of course that latter two half rose to their feet again when he made the demand, but by then everyone else had already sat down as well and Malfoy waved them off and took a seat, clearly impatient. 

     Harry took his time. 

     Eventually Malfoy lost his patience snapping that everybody could just stay there if they wanted, just don't go waking him up later on. He nearly turned back multiple times, and three times more he stuck his head out the door or stormed back out to ask if they were going soon and he was going to bed so they better not wake him up with a commotion.

      Quite frankly, he was making a fool of himself in front of the whole common room. 

     Harry, blatantly humoring him, finally announced that he was going and offhandedly questioned if Nott was joining him even as he waved the other back into their seat. He went up to the dorms alone.