Paid In Blood - Revised

Chapter 6

Not even a week had passed, and already Daphne would describe herself as being friendly with Potter. No, with Harry. She was so used to calling him Potter that it was still hard to remember to call him by his first name.

Now that he had been fully accepted by the snakes, most Gryffindors took it upon themselves to sneer at Harry everywhere he went. Some of the older dorks even attempted to bully a group of snake firsties, only be found later that day stuck to the walls with no memory of the event whatsoever. The firsties refused to say anything about who helped them, even though the way they all reverently looked at Harry made it painfully obvious.

Daphne found it amusing.

Harry's crusade to crush both the dorks and the duffers was going great. In classes he would perform his work properly and politely, but he also deliberately completed tasks before Granger so he could earn the points she would normally receive. Daphne believed he had somehow sabotaged Granger's potion too, earning her a T on the day's assignment. Oh, how she had cried and found it unfair, and the best part was that Harry had left no evidence. As far as anyone else was concerned, Granger had failed all on her own.

Daphne didn't fully understand where all the hate between Harry and Granger had come from. They had always seemed so close. Everyone thought they would be dating by now, but that was clearly never going to happen. She could understand some animosity, but there was more anger and hate than could be properly explained by what happened with the Gryffindors. Daphne was curious, but she swore to herself she wouldn't pry.

Weasley repeatedly tried to start an altercation with Harry, mostly by relying on his usual method of calling him a traitor or a slimy snake. After the redhead's latest attempt, Harry posed a question to him.

"Remember McGonagall's words first night of our first year, Weasel? What am I saying, of course you don't. She said our house was our family. So let me ask you, who is the greater traitor? The one who refuses to forgive those who betrayed him, or those who turned their backs on family in time of need?"

This, of course, led to Weasley drawing his wand and attempting to curse Harry. He never got the chance because Daphne's silent Disarming Charm got to him first, earning her a nod from Harry and a couple of house points from Professor Snape, who of course saw everything.

Even Longbottom tried to confront Harry, leading to one of the more unusual moments in recent memory. Longbottom approached Harry in the corridors after Transfiguration class and stutteringly asked to speak with him. Harry's reply? He glared at the near-squib boy as his massive snake Zael took form behind him.

"Get lost, you damned traitor, before I feed you to my snake," he growled, his voice dripping with loathing. Longbottom turned and ran like the wind, and rumour had it that he had even wet himself.

The Slytherins found the whole thing amusing, but Daphne saw something else in Harry's actions – real, unbridled hate. Longbottom had done nothing to justify the summoning of Zael. Harry hadn't done that against any of the other dorks, and several of them had been far worse to him than Longbottom. What had the squib done to deserve such hate from Harry? She was unbelievably curious, but again, she didn't pry.

After that incident, McGonagall took twenty points from Slytherin for threatening a student, ten for casting spells in the corridors, and twenty for summoning a dangerous beast. Harry was livid, but he banished Zael and left before he could really blow up, or at least that's how it looked.

Daphne had also seen Weaselette staring at Harry in the corridors several times. Harry wouldn't even look at her, but whenever he noticed her, he would get a look of disgust on his face.

Even the duffers were getting in on the act. When one of them attempted to cast a spell at Harry, the spell rebounded and hit the caster, making the 'puff grow donkey ears and start braying. Then there was dinner on Harry's third day as a snake, when a flash suddenly enveloped the entire Hufflepuff table and all of the duffers' clothes disappeared. It was complete pandemonium. The 'puffs were humiliated, of course, and everyone knew it had been Harry even though there was no evidence. He wasn't docked points nor given detention because nothing could be found to identify him as the culprit, not even his wand. From that moment on, only a handful of duffers bent on revenge even looked at Harry.