The Family that Chooses You

Chapter 38: Regaining Balance

The energy in the common room was a bit uneven.

For the majority of the students, it was another Saturday afternoon.  The sun shone brightly through the windows.  It was not cold enough to warrant a roaring fire in the hearth.  Most came and went from the common room on all sorts of business.  For those involved with what they were calling the Slug Incident, they all had different frames of mind.

Ron was jubilant.  He had managed to exact a long-needed revenge on Draco for all the abuse he hurled at him for well over a year.  The fact that there was picture of the aftermath, and that he had not been punished for it, was the cherry on top of the proverbial sundae.  He and the twins and Ginny sat with a grinning Colin, inspecting all the pictures the boy had taken.  Ron normally would have been very upset that there was a photo of him throwing up a slug, but in hindsight it did look funny and the fact that every picture of Draco showed him being far more miserable, made it much more palatable.

Oliver was still pleased with how practice went, not minding that it ended earlier than he planned.  The team showed strong promise and he knew they would hone their skills more as they approached their first game.

Angelina and Katie were more reserved.  They were proud of how Harry stood up to Draco, how he had stood up to the concept of blood purity.  Seeing how much he had changed over a year was staggering and they were impressed.  However, they still worried over him and even though he had touched upon his childhood at the Dursleys, albeit tangentially and only barely scratching the surface, they still thought there was more to understand.

Harry was quiet.  His attention was divided.  He would fade from conversation and get that far away look in his eyes, the look the team recognized that it was him being lost in his memories.  He would sporadically shudder and shake his head, visibly pushing the thoughts and memories down.  Whenever he was not thinking, he was trying to pay attention to Hermione.

She was still very much upset.  Instead of hiding behind her books and work like she normally would, she sat very close to Harry, much like when the House was upset at her last year.  She was used to being mocked for her personality, for being studious.  She was used to being teased over her big bushy hair and large teeth.  After a while she could more or less ignore those kinds of insults.

She was not used to being called such a terrible thing to her face; over something she could not control.  She was not even aware that she could be treated like that over her family, much less knowing that people would.  Not even Harry was that successful in drawing her out of increasingly dismal mood.

Alicia pocketed a set of pictures, handing a blushing Colin some coins.  She looked incredibly smug, like a cat given a desired treat.

"Do I even want to know what you're going to do with those?" Oliver asked, amused.

"If you're wondering if I'll spread them about Hogwarts, the twins have me beat already," she said.  "I imagine over the next few days there will be many pictures of Slug-o Malfoy."  She smiled widely at Oliver's snort.  "I'm sending these home to my brother.  He'll find some good use of such delightful photographic evidence of such a Noble and Venerable House."

"Have I mentioned how much high society terrifies me?" Oliver asked mildly.

Alicia gave him a complicated look.  "Once or twice," she murmured.  She looked over at her fellow Chasers, at Harry, then her eyes rested on Hermione.  "Poor girl," she said softly.

"Yeah, that was really ugly," Oliver said sourly.  "Some parts of the Wizarding World are just nasty."  He looked thoughtful for a moment then slowly rose from his seat.

"What are you doing?" Alicia asked with interest.

"I'm going to have a chat with her."

"Really?"  Alicia could not hide her surprise.