At the high table, everyone seemed in a merry mood. Dumbledore was even wearing a flowered bonnet, and Flitwick had put on an elf hat. Harry almost burst into laughter when an obviously drunk Hagrid kissed Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who actually giggled and blushed, her top had lopsided.
Harry sat down and ate like a man possessed. Yeah, he really should have eaten something earlier. He was practically alone at the Slytherin table, so it wasn't as if there were other people that needed to eat. It was delicious, as always. The house elves really do go over and beyond during feasts. Harry would have called this a waste of food if it wasn't for preservation charms able to keep leftovers for months at a time. They were probably going to be eating leftovers from this feast until the end of the holidays.
Still, Harry's meal just had to be ruined by Ron Weasley, who walked towards Harry with a grin on his face. He was wearing a knitted maroon sweater with a big R on it. His mother had probably made it. The Potter scion ignored the redhead and continued eating while reading his book.
This went on for a good minute, and the redhead tried to get his attention by clearing his throat. Finally, the boy had enough and rudely closed down Harry's book. The young Slytherin looked up with a raised eyebrow, "That was awfully rude, Ronald Weasley."
The boy blushed at him using his full name before stiffening, "Well, you weren't paying attention to me."
"And why would I pay attention to you?" Harry asked with a very dry tone.
"Because I was trying to talk to you," the redhead exclaimed loudly.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just so engrossed by my book. The curse breaker Dresden was just about to fight some giant crocodile in an ancient tomb, very exciting. You see…"
Weasley interrupted his little monologue, "I don't want to know about your stupid book, Potter!"
"Then why did you mention it, then?"
"I didn't mention it, you did," the boy proclaimed.
Harry simply shrugged, "Perhaps I did, and perhaps I didn't. We'll never know for sure."
"No, I actually know for sure because you're the one who talked about it…"
"Then let's just agree to disagree, young Whitley," Harry responded.
"My name isn't Whitley!" Ron shouted with his face as red as his hair.
Harry was doing his best not to burst into laughter, "It isn't? I thought your name was Ronald Whitley."
"No, it isn't. My name is Ron Weasley," the boy was practically foaming from the mouth.
"It's very nice to meet you, Ron Weasley. I'm Harry Potter. I hope we can get along," Harry responded.
"You know me, Potter, we don't get along," the redhead growled back.
Harry just let out a shrug, "That's a shame, you seem like a fine young man."
"Stop looking down on me!" the Gryffindor shouted.
"How am I looking down on you, young man," Harry answered with a teasing tone.
"Stop it, just stop it. You're doing it again," the boy yelled.
Harry was almost going to burst into laughter. It was so easy to revert to his past experience as a teacher in his old life, "Then perhaps you could tell me what you wanted to say to me. After all, you were the one who went all this way from his house table to mine just to speak."
"I did?" the boy wondered while frowning, "Oh, that's right, I did. I was here to ask if you got any Christmas gifts. You certainly don't deserve any, the slimy snake that you are."
The redhead was smiling victoriously as if he had won something. Harry rolled his eyes, "Well, I'm sorry to tell you, that in fact, I did receive gifts this Christmas. And for your information, snakes aren't really slimy. I've never touched one, but from what I read, they're quite smooth."
"And who would even get you gifts," the boy sneered back, "maybe it was just your parents. Oh, wait, you don't have any…"
Harry suppressed the urge to punch the boy in the face. He went too far, and the Slytherin had no issue in retaliating. Instead of shouting and cursing the boy, Harry simply shook his head and put a sad expression on his face.
"Well, that was rather rude, Weasley. Here I am minding my own business and you throw my parents' death to my face for no reason. What a cruel thing to do. Perhaps you would have done well in Slytherin," Harry answered.
Oddly enough, the boy paled, "No, I wouldn't have. I'm a Gryffindor to the bone."
Harry grinned at the reaction, "Oh, I think you would have. The hat did see it too, didn't he? All that ambition, to be respected, become more than your brothers. After all, one's a very talented curse breaker, one is already making waves in Romania as a Dragon Handler. Percy will obviously be rising in the ministry soon enough, and the Twins will probably have their own joke shop by the time they graduate. They all have their talents, and their strengths. But you, you're just there, unremarkable, talentless, forgotten. You barely get a secondhand wand, which is stopping you from reaching your potential, while the others get new things. The forgotten Weasley, isn't that, right?"
The boy looked teary, "No, I'm not."
"But you are. I can see it. You wanted to rise above it, not struggle with money anymore, to buy new things, and that the entire world would remember your name. The hat saw it, didn't he? He saw this ambition and almost sent you to the house you hated, but you pleaded to be with your family, to be with your idol, Neville Longbottom. Even now, you're barely more than the friend of the boy who lived, and that's all everyone will ever know you by. Maybe if you had chosen Slytherin, that wouldn't have been the case," Harry answered with a small smile on his face.
The boy was shaken, and his eyes watered. Did Harry go too far? He did scratch at Weasley's insecurities, and somehow Harry knew how to dig in further. Alas, the redhead pulled out his wand and yelled out, "NEVER!"
The Potter scion ducked, letting the slug vomiting spell go over him. Of course, the staff ran towards the boy. Professor McGonagall ran towards the young Gryffindor with her wand raised and disarmed him, "Mr Weasley, in all my years as a professor, I have never seen such behaviour, at Christmas of all days…"
Harry suppressed the grin as the redhead got over two weeks of punishment for starting a fight. But the Potter scion didn't even care. After all, he was planning on sneaking into the restricted section using his new cloak. After all, he did need to get started learning the mind arts, and wouldn't that be a good place to start?
.....
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