Daphne glared at Malfoy and in a cold voice said, "The Greengrass family has stood in Britain for over two thousand years. Long before the Malfoy name existed, the Greengrass family was known as the Faiche. We were elite amongst the learned Druids until the armies of Caesar forced us into hiding in Wales and Scotland! And where were the Malfoy's at that time? Pig farmers in France!" Tracey Davis sat beside her cousin Daphne adding her icy glare at the Malfoy scion as well.
The slightly pompous sounding Hufflepuff sitting next to Padma rolled his eyes at Daphne's speech. "Oh great. That's all we needed. A Druish princess," he groaned under his breath. Padma barely heard him so she was surprised when Harry spoke up from her other side.
In an innocently curious voice, Harry commented, "Funny, she doesn't look Druish."
Ernie Macmillan looked to be in pain as he tried to hold in his laughter at Harry's reply. Padma didn't get the joke but realized it was some kind of reference. Unfortunately, it also attracted the attention of the rest of the room.
"Do you mind, Macmillan? We are trying to have a rational conversation here," Draco Malfoy commented with his best attempt at a glare. His two enforcers standing over his shoulder added their glares to his. Padma started to apologize for the interruption but Harry got a comment out first.
"Dear me, what are those things glaring at us over there?"
Ernie answered, still fighting the laughter. "Spaceballs?"
Harry sighed resignedly. "Oh shite, there goes the school."
At Harry's comment, Ernie lost his battle with the laughter and started laughing uproariously to the confusion of the other students sitting around them.
Draco was glaring over at them and was backed by some of the Second and Third years. Even some of the Light-sided students and non-Slytherins were unhappy. Although whether their unhappiness was caused by the levity or the fact it was obviously a Muggle reference was debatable.
Ernie managed to fight his laughter back down. "I apologize for interrupting your discussion," he said in his slightly pompous sounding manner.
Padma noticed that Malfoy was ignoring Harry's presence as much as possible. Jakob Bulstrode was the nominal 'host' of the gathering but the Third year Slytherin took all of his cues from Malfoy. So far, this was the most acknowledgement Harry received the whole meeting.
Michael Corner, a boy from her own House and year, looked over at where Padma sat with Harry and Ernie with a sneer. "I don't know why Potter is even here. We all know the Potters were never… acceptable in Society. They were worker bees, not powers."
"He is the Boy-Who-Lived," Susan Bones offered in a tentative tone. Hannah Abbott nodded her support although Padma wondered if it was in support of Harry or simply her best friend. "He defeated the Dark Lord. Surely that is enough to show he belongs with us."
"Even a peasant gets lucky every so often," a Second year Slytherin witch answered condescendingly.
Harry rose gracefully to his feet. He gave them a slight bow before saying, "I apologize for my interruption of this most prestigious of gatherings. I am afraid my manners are not on the level of a gathering such as this. Ms Patel merely wished for me to see for myself the society that my parents and I sacrificed so much in defending. I am pleased to say in this she succeeded admirably. And now if you would excuse me?"
And with that Harry walked out.
Padma sat stunned in her seat as she watched him walk out. The little speech was totally out of character from her last two months of friendship with the famous boy. Harry was generally quiet and a bit shy although occasionally he showed glimpses of something else behind his walls.
Caught in her own musings, Padma missed the rest of the gatherings initial reactions to Harry's impromptu speech. Then she noticed Susan's embarrassed expression. Padma glanced around now taking notice of a few embarrassed faces and several angry or annoyed ones. Ernie looked rather amused again. Padma replayed Harry's words in her mind.
'Oh Merlin' she gasped in her thoughts. 'He just told off the entire room!'
Padma stood. "Excuse me; I am going to see after my guest."
Fortunately it was just a few steps to the door. To her surprise, Ernie was right behind her.
"That was bloody brilliant," Ernie snickered once they were out of the room. "They can't really get upset with his words but what he implied… that was awesome!"
"It was not awesome!" Padma retorted as tears started down her cheeks. "Harry just offended everyone in that room! Not that they didn't deserve it, b-but I brought Harry to help him, not make things worse."
Ernie looked a bit uncomfortable but simply shrugged. "Most of them already had their minds made up. The Dark families hate him. The Light families put him on a pedestal. And the Neutrals like my family are the same place they always are… on the fence."
Padma acknowledged his comment with a small nod. Her daddy had said something similar. Varish Patel owned on of the largest import/export businesses in the magical world and did significant business with the Muggle world. He often spoke at home of the isolationist stance of the magical world and its dangers.
"Well, I am off to find Justin," Ernie announced. "I promised to give him my assistance in improving his flying. I believe he wishes to try-out for the Hufflepuff Quidditch squad next year. He heard McGonagall almost got Potter onto the Gryffindor squad this year. Cheerio!"
Padma smiled a bit as she watched the boy strut off. Ernie was one of the sweetest and most thoughtful boys she knew but he really came off like an arrogant berk sometimes.
Padma turned now and started walking to the Gryffindor tower. She wanted to apologize to Harry for dragging him to the stupid social. Besides, maybe she could catch Hermione to talk about the Potions assignment. They needed three uses of Trileaf Simitoil and she'd only found two.
14 December 1991
"Harry, where do you disappear to all the time?" Hermione asked."
Harry looked up from his meal to see a number of curious faces looking expectantly at him. He simply shrugged. "Around. I like to explore. I feel cooped up if I stay in too long."
Ron leaned forward and whispered, "Harry, mate, there is something we need to tell you about." Harry peaked over his glasses to make eye contact with Ron. Ron supressed a gulp and said, "No, it's about something different."
Hermione said, "We went looking for you the other week, Ron, Neville, and I. It was after curfew and Fitch and his horrible cat were chasing us. We ended up on the third floor where Dumbledore warned us not to go." She noticed that the Weasley twins were now listening to their conversation.
"It was horrible; we barely got out with our lives!" Ron supplied. "It was some kind of monster with three heads!"
"I didn't even want to be there," Neville mumbled. "I just couldn't remember the password to the dorm again."
Harry smiled. "Oh, you met Fluffy."
...
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