How to Prevent a War

Interesting Potions

During classes the next day, Harry had to admit he was incredibly on edge. Last night, Tom had arrived at the dorms with a wide grin on his face and he had greeted Harry more cheerfully than he usually did. Harry's usual offensive comments hadn't elicited teasing like any other time, but instead a bright, patient smile. Knowing something was incredibly wrong, Harry had asked how his talk with Myrtle had gone. The twins had told him earlier about their run-in with the Dark Lord-to-be.

"It was a wonderful and enlightening conversation," Tom had replied pleasantly, before kissing Harry on the top of his head and leaving to go to bed.

They were having potions with Huffelpuff at the moment, just a theoretic lesson though, so Harry had more than enough time to mull things over in his head. Every possible case scenario he had concerning last night made him only more worried. Did anyone see Myrtle since her talk with Tom? She was still alive, wasn't she? Oh God, what if Harry's actions had gotten her killed even earlier instead of saving her! This was really bad.

"Um... Potter? H-Harry?" the girl sitting next to him asked quietly.

Harry looked up at the nice looking Huffelpuff girl. Andrews, he believed, July Andrews. She was one of the most popular girls in their year. Andrews was definitely beautiful. Long, straight auburn hair and hazelnut brown eyes that sparkled with cheerfulness. She was petite and had rosy cheeks and lips, making her look incredibly cute.

Harry remembered she was a muggleborn. He'd heard Megan Yaxley complain about her a few times to one of the other girls in their year, a platinum blonde prefect with the name of Ellis Sandberg.

"Are you alright?" Andrews asked softly, blushing a bit.
"You look a bit, um, put off?"

"I'm fine, just thinking," Harry replied smiling.

"Try not to hurt yourself with that," Avery, who was sitting behind them muttered.

Harry glared at him and Alphard and Rosier, who were both snickering quietly at the comment. Harry glanced to the boy sitting on his other side, frowning confused at Tom's unusual silence. Normally, the older teen would have come in between and commented about how they should leave the 'poor new student' alone, or something else degrading. Now, he didn't even seem to notice anything.

"I'm not an idiot, like you guys seem to think, you know," Harry told his house mates defensively.

"Obviously," Alphard snorted grinning.
"Tom wouldn't want you around if you were an idiot."

"Oh really?" Harry asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"Good thing Tom thinks I'm actually of good for some things then."

"I think Harry is really smart and brave and friendly," Andrews spoke up weakly, smiling a bit nervously at the group of Slytherin boys.

Harry blushed at the compliment and stared at the girl. The other boys were all staring in shock as well, most muggleborns didn't even dare to look at these guys, and here Andrews was, talking so bravely in Harry's defence. That made Harry smile. July was a very pretty girl, and really caring as well. He was honestly flattered that she liked him.

"Thank you," he said smiling.
"You know, you're pretty great yourself. I heard you helped stop that dixy infestation Peeves created last week. My uncle was really impressed."

From Harry's other side, Tom started frowning deeply at the conversation. He leaned over, putting his arm over Harry's shoulders as he smiled charmingly at the Huffelpuff girl on Harry's other side.

"How very nice of you to say those things, miss Andrews," the Slytherin prefect drawled.
"But I have to say it is a very obvious way to seduce Harry. I guess we can't expect better from a girl with a mere average of 'P' in this class... or perhaps that is the reason you're seducing Harry in the first place?"