Seeing as there were no other students around, Daphne asked her childhood friend, "Tracy, can you give me a couple minutes to talk to Blaise in private?" stopping just outside a disused classroom. She didn't fancy having the upcoming chat in the Slytherin Common Room.
"Sure, I'll wait outside," Tracy answered in a tone that brooked no argument, moving to the opposite wall, looking down the corridor, keeping watch.
"Thank you," Daphne replied before opening the door, sending Blaise a look that very clearly demanded he follow her.
As soon as the door was shut, Blaise started to say, "What is it you want to talk about?" as she cast a basic silencing charm at the door. She knew that her best friend wouldn't try to eavesdrop, but it was just a good habit to get into.
"Your behavior," she said plainly. "You were invited to join us because I said you would be an asset, someone who we could work with for mutual gain. I admit, it was also due to the contract my parents have signed with yours," she said, maintaining eye contact, weighing her words carefully for the most powerful effect. "Hence why I wanted to invite you into the group, who are already gathering alliances and working together for mutual benefit. But at the moment you're being an idiot, and if you look like an idiot, I look like an idiot. Do you get that?" she said, stressing the I part, letting her anger show at being taken as a fool.
"Hey! I'm not an " Her hand striking his cheek interrupted him, stopping the excuse in its tracks.
"Yes, you are! You're acting like a Gryffindor," she snarled, sending one of the greatest insults there was to a Slytherin at the boy. "You're acting more like Ron with your careless words than you are the proper Slytherin you're supposed to be," she added, sending another volley at the boy.
Cooling her temper before she went too far, she continued after a deep breath. "We are Slytherins. We work toward reaching the top. Harry is the Heir to two very old and wealthy families, remember? You know, the Potters and the Blacks? Both of them hold a good number of votes in the Wizengamot. At the moment, his guardian Sirius has the single most votes in the Wizengamot. His vote alone is worth the same as a small voting bloc. That you consider first-generation Magicals worthless, with 'Not my problem,' causes issues," she said, giving him a cold stare as she controlled her emotion after her initial outburst.
"Harry's mum was a Muggleborn, so is Tracy's mum, and Tonks' father, and Tonks is now a Black. An alliance now with Harry puts us in a favorable position to gain more power later," she lectured. "It could help out our families right now, through Harry's relationship with his godfather. Your family may not have any votes in the Wizengamot, but a decade down the line, he could be in a position to back you for a British Lordship, even without being married to me. You get that?" she asked, wondering if her contractual betrothed was dumb.
"Then you have Tonks, who will probably marry someone influential and powerful in the Ministry or Wizengamot. And Penny is loyal to Harry, and with his backing will have no issue reaching a high office in the Ministry, and will probably end up marrying someone of influence as well. Padma's family is the second leading family in southern India; her father is ambassador to England. The Patil household may have no votes, but they control a lot of trade coming in and out from southern India, as well as possess the largest merchant fleet in India. Trading links my own family could very well profit from in the future," she listed, recalling the files her mother had sent on both of her allies in the first year, as well as the discussions she had with both her parents over the advantages of both friendships this past summer.
"Now do you understand? You have a chance of becoming friends or at least allies with some big political players even before leaving Hogwarts. Harry will probably take up the Potter Lordship on his 14th birthday, and here you are causing problems and insulting him. That means my own family's interests are getting damaged by your idiocy. The way things are going, my parents will be having serious doubts about whether this marriage contract is even worth it," she admitted, getting his attention again. "And ultimately question whether you're a suitable match for me."
"So grow up. You may not like Harry personally, but surely you're capable enough to see the long-term benefits of being an ally rather than an enemy. Because frankly, in the future, he will be in a position to bury you and your family if you are," she warned, before walking to the door.
Her cold mask back in place, she looked over her shoulder, "If you ever make a fool out of me again due to your own ego, you'll regret it. Make no mistake that you will."
"You done?" Tracy asked from where she was leaning on the opposite wall, watching the corridor.
"Yes, I just had to talk some sense into Blaise," Daphne stated before heading off to the Slytherin Common Room, not waiting for her contracted to catch up.
...
Walking up to his dorm room, he wondered what Penny wanted to talk about since she was following him. He whispered his password, causing the portrait to open, allowing him access to his room. Scanning the room, noticing nothing amiss, the two ward monitoring stones humming peacefully, confirming that no one had been in his room since he left, he turned to Penny.
"So, what's up?" he asked as he dumped himself on the bed, Serenity landing on his arm as he went about stroking her feathers and picking out any loose or damaged ones. The loose ones, if they were in good condition, he later planned to use for his arrows. He wanted to find out if different feathers had any effect on how the arrow flew or acted. After all, Serenity was a highly magical owl, and owls were top predators who flew silently in the night, so how would her feathers affect his arrows? Would they fly silently? And how would something like a phoenix feather affect his arrows?
Penny was smiling as she answered, clearly happy about the night's events. "Just wanted to thank you for sticking up for me back there, and welcoming me into the group."
"No problem," he said easily as he went about storing Serenity's feathers. Penny made to leave the room, but Harry stopped her. "It's up to you to prove I'm right. Daphne is a cold person, but she will warm up to you. She just has no time for fools. Be careful around her, she's manipulative and will play you to her advantage," he said, giving her a warning and realizing at the same time, he and Daphne were very similar in how they acted. "That said, if you're talented and don't pull her strings, she will warm up to you, eventually," he said with a smile.
"Thanks for the advice," she replied.
"Daphne is in the early stages of a marriage contract with Blaise, by the way," he revealed, surprising his friend. "Their families are business partners. The contract is in the extremely early stages not a sealed deal as such, as many people would believe. They follow the older style of contract, which has four stages, with the 4th being the actual marriage. You could say they're at the stage of testing the waters, to see if they are suitable for each other before progressing to the second stage. Only at stage 3 is the contract signed."
"Oh, I thought marriage contracts were a signed and sealed deal," the sixth-year Ravenclaw answered as she sat back down on his bed, clearly interested in learning more about either Daphne or marriage contracts.
"Sort of. Some families just jump to stage four, so it's a signed and sealed deal and their kids get married as soon as they're out of school. Most of the time these are really old-school households, or it's just because they're certain that it's an alliance that they really want or need. But some prefer their children get a suitable match, so at least the pair don't hate each other and have a chance of some real happiness... After all, it's bad for their house's prospects if part of their family unit can't function," he explained, recalling the information easily enough from books he found in the library and Daphne and Padma's own input.
"And that's why she ignored Blaise after his comment. You can bet she'll have words with him before the next meeting," he said with complete certainty. "Probably include a threat or two, if I know her, since he's only in the group due to Daphne vouching for him."
"She reacted? I didn't notice anything different."
"She did. She's already in the early stages of mind arts, like us. She has received basic training since the age of 7, so her control is amazing, but if you know her, you can see she was quite angry," he explained, remembering the emotions he could feel radiating off the cold Slytherin, knowing he was probably the only one who could read Daphne besides Tracy.
"Anything else?" Penny probed, showing her Ravenclaw side.
"Her family is everything to her. Don't endanger that. Otherwise, she's a model Slytherin in many respects."
"Okay, thanks for the advice. So what are you going to do now?" she asked from her spot on his bed, eyeing the number of books he was carrying.
"I was going to review some of the material I got from Sirius," he answered, handing her one of the books. "They're about detecting, tracking, and trapping an Animagi." He noticed that she was shocked by this, and couldn't blame her for it. Animagi were a rather rare skill branch of magic, due to the commitment and skill needed to become one.
It wasn't a bloodline ability, though it was commonly believed that it was easier to become one if another member of your family was one. Not that there was much proof, since there had never been a published study of the ability, since it would require several generations to complete, under near impossible conditions.
However, almost anyone could learn it, but most just weren't capable since it took several years in most cases over half a decade of continuous work. Most wizards considered it beneath them to become an animal, too. So knowledge of how to detect one, track and trap one was even rarer, and tightly controlled by the Ministry of Magic, so counters couldn't be developed. Hence, such forbidden and rare knowledge was something any Ravenclaw would jump at, even if it would never be of use.
"Pass it here then," she semi-demanded as her eyes examined the books, before taking the top book from the pile in his arms.
Suppressing a smile, he asked innocently, "You sure? Don't you have to study for your NEWTs?" as he moved to sit next to her.
"Yes, I'm sure," she said distractedly as she scanned the contents page. "I need to get my notepad." Getting up from her spot on the bed.
"Here," he supplied instantly, handing her one of his general-purpose notepads with a quill.
"Thanks."
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