Parselmight Chapter 7 (Patreon)

Kassandra smoothly ran the enchanted brush through her hair, straightening its length before giving it the curls at the end. It was an ornate brush she held in her hand, one her father had given her as a gift, and as such it held all the elegance that was demanded of the Malfoy family.

She rolled her eyes at that thought, and put the brush down before doing the last bit of makeup needed. Her mother had taught her how to do that part, having the same makeup ruitine as her. Her robes came next, acromantula silk as always, and fitted perfectly to her form.

Her mother, Narcissa Malfoy, had always been the one to care for her. Draco had always been their firstborn in Lucius’ eyes, and she had been cast to the side long ago. No doubt her father only cared about how many galleons he could make off her bride price, and she was very aware he was secretly meeting with his friends to discuss such payments.

As such, her father never cared to teach her the intricacies of politicking and magic, instead leaving his wife to do all the work. Narcissa Malfoy had raised her daughter to be strong, both magically and mentally, like the rest of the women of House Black. She was beautiful, having the elegance of the Malfoy family with the strength of House Black.

As she stood she couldn’t help but frown as she looked across the room to where Emma sat. For some reason her best friend seemed to care more about her appearance than usual today of all days.

“Are you ready to leave?” Kassandra asked politely.

Emma smiled, putting on lipstick that she definitely didn’t use before. She smiled, a smile of anticipation and excitement more than anything. “Of course. Although I’d like to ask, will we be sitting with Eileen today?”

“I think you know the answer to that.” Kassandra replied as they walked out of the dorm. “My father would have a fit if he found out I didn’t conform to Slytherin’s House unity. I still wonder what his reaction will be when he finds out about Draco.”

“Have you visited your brother since the… incident?”

“Madam Pomfrey said he had to stay overnight.” Kassandra answered. “If he’s not at breakfast then I’ll visit later in the day.”

The took a secret passage, one they always had taken, a secret door in the stone dungeon wall behind one of the pillars. It led them up to the stairwell next to the antechamber, and with a few strides they entered the Great Hall, only to momentarily pause.

Instead of the normal seating arrangements, all the students seemed to be randomly spaced out and sitting at all different tables. It didn’t just include the three other houses either, as half of Slytherin was clearly not sitting at the table of snakes.

Kassandra blinked in suprise, before getting ready to make a stride forwards before Emma grabbed her arm. She moved, taking her with her across the hall, in the opposite direction of the Slytherin table.

She followed her best friend’s gaze, right to the group of Greengrass, her pet Davis, the Carrow twins, some Hufflepuffs, along with Harry bloody Potter of all people.

“What are you doing!” Kassandra hissed quietly, trying not to attract attention as she glanced worriedly at Emma.

“Relax.” Emma said with a predatory smile. “This will be fun.”

They reached the end of the Gryffindor table of all things, and Emma preened as the table’s occupants focused on them. “May we join you?”

“Erm-”

“Of course!” Daphne Greengrass preened, sliding over alongside Harry Potter as Emma made to sit.

Kassandra awkwardly looked around, thinking about leaving this mess and making a run for the Slytherin table, before thinking better and sitting down. She looked up from her spot, and found the most enchanting pair of green eyes looking back at her.

Her breath caught in her throat, her limbs seemed frozen, as Harry Potter of all people stared at her. She had sat with him on the train, of course, but she didn’t dare think she would be this close to him again so soon.

With a blink she broke her gaze, and tried to organize food on to her plate. It was strange sitting at the Gryffindor table for the first time, and she had to sort out how the breakfast food was organized in comparison to the Slytherin table.

“So this is new.” Emma smiled from across from here, giving Harry her pretty smile while sitting too close for comfort next to him. “How did all this start? I admit that I’ve always wanted to sit at the Gryffindor table.”

“Professor Sprout was so happy with the sorting hat’s announcement last night that she said only the first years could sit at the Hufflepuff table. The rest of us had to sit at other tables.” A redhead she believed to be Susan Bones smiled. “I guess everyone else just joined in. Although I didn’t expect Slytherins to join in too.”

“Ain’t that the truth!” A Gryffindor called out from down the table.

“We just happen to be the good Slytherins.” Daphne Greengrass preened. “The ones who stayed at the table aren’t as friendly as the rest of us.”

“You can feel free to prank them if you want.” Emma smirked, looking at the Weasley twins. The two redheads smirked devilishly, looking like they had some sort of scheme planned in advance.

Kassandra shot her a glare, and Emma only smirked back, before giving her a light kick under the table.

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask something.” A younger Ravenclaw suddenly piped up. “What are the Slytherin dorms like? They’re in the dungeon, are they not?”

Kassandra opened her mouth, ready to tell the brat off, only for another voice to speak first.

“They are.” Harry Potter spoke. “A lot of green, snake statues, and one of the walls is a window that looks out into the Black lake.”

“How do you know that?” Kassandra spoke before she registered what she was saying. Her voice came out scathing, and slightly concerned.

Harry Potter looked at her again, his green eyes boring into her own gaze. “I snuck in during my second year.”

“How did you manage to do that?” Susan Bones asked, looking at him as if seeing him for the first time. Kassandra couldn’t blame her, as everyone else looked at Harry with confusion.

“I did it over Yule break, while the castle was empty. Especially with the attacks going on at the time, I was practically the only one here.” Harry answered with a shrug. “It took me a while to actually find the entrance, you know how it’s a maze down there under the castle, and I had to wait till someone said the password so I could sneak in.”

“Merlin, that’s epic mate.” A Gryffindor from down the table praised, prompting nods from the rest.

Kassandra thought back two year prior, to her own fourth year. Things had been hell back then, with her brother doing his absolute best to take control of Slytherin in the most obnoxious ways possible. He had ruined years of subtle influence she had built up in the House, establishing power by being as much of a blood-purist as possible.

Her own agenda before he appeared was to subtly suggest her own inclinations towards blood-purity, while being open enough to befriend anyone who wasn’t pureblood. It was something she had to balance for years, having to pretend to be the ideal Pureblood supremecist, all the while being able to make connections outside of the pureblood circle she had grown up in.

Draco had taken all that away, finding an easy way in with their father’s influence over the old Death Eaters still around who had children in Slytherin. He could easily bring them under his sway, and for those who were apprehensive, a simple letter to Father along with some threats or bribes and they would bend over backwards.

A sudden cough broke her out of her thoughts, and Kassandra looked over, seeing the identical Carrow twins looking at their group, or more specifically at Harry.

“Flora, Hestia, is everything alright?” Daphne asked politely.

“Potter, Greengrass, Zabini, a word. This won’t take long, and you might want to come as well, Malfoy.” Flora said formally.

Kassandra blinked and stood with the rest of the group, and followed the strange Carrow twins out of the Great Hall. She knew the two directly opposed Draco at this point, and stood with Daphne, but they were still a mystery in her mind.

They didn’t stop just outside of the Great Hall, but instead kept going, taking the Grand Stair to the third floor. One of them opened a old door, and entered, with everyone else following.

They were in a old unused room, one of many that existed in Hogwarts, with nothing special about it but a wooden trapdoor.

“Finally, I don’t know how much more I could take of the Gryffindor table.” Daphne sighed dramatically, leaning against Potter’s form.

Kassandra frowned, looking between the Carrow twins and Greengrass. “Does someone want to tell me what is going on?”

“We’re here because Harry and Daphne have an announcement to make.” Emma answered, looking smugly at the two.

“Erm… yes.” Harry Potter coughed awkwardly. “Since you all are friends of Daphne, and by extension associated with me, we thought that we should tell you all ahead of time that we’re betrothed.”

Kassandra froze momentarily, her eyes widening in surprise. She had simply assumed Greengrass was using Potter for her own ends, to manipulate him into thinking they were in a relationship when really she was using him for clout. To think that Potter had gone so far as to negotiate and sign a Marriage contract was a huge deal.

She also felt something else, a sense of dissatisfaction in her heart that made her chest hurt. Potter had proven himself as someone witches would desire, and she would be blind to say she didn’t feel something for him at least. As she stared at his and Daphne’s intertwined forms, she forced a happy smile onto her features.

Silence met the pair, before Emma broke it with a laugh. “So you guys actually made an agreement?”

Kassandra spun to face her, an accusation in her words. “You knew about this?”

Emma shrugged, “I knew they were seeing each other, not that they had actually reached a betrothal.”

“Congratulations!” One of the Carrow twins beamed, while the other looked on happily at the pair. Greengrass gave a nod before giving Potter a kiss.

“Er, right, congratulations on your betrothal.” Kassandra said awkwardly, knowing her mother would scold her for forgetting such a simple courtesy. “I admit that it’s quite a shock to see such different Houses come together.”

“Oh, I’m sure it will be quite a shock when we announce it soon.” Daphne smiled mischievously.

“You’re not going to hide it? At least till things settle down?” Flora asked with a frown.

“Daphne has a plan,” Potter cut in, “That’s why we’re all here, so we can work together to achieve what we set out to do.”

“And what is that?” Kassandra cut in, her guard up.

Potter glanced at Greengrass, who in turn nodded. “At everyone here knows, we’ve decided to make a move to overthrow Draco’s, and by extension the blood purists, rule over Slytherin. Our betrothal is something that will help, as we plan to manipulate Draco and his thugs into taking action against us that we can in turn use against them.”

-

HARRY POTTER: BETROTHED

The day has finally come, and the boy-who-lived has finally announced that he is betrothed, breaking the hearts of witches all across Britain. His future wife, is none other than Miss Daphne Greengrass, of the Ancient and Noble House of Greengrass. The announcement, made my Lord Cyrus Greengrass, came as a shock to everyone.

To our disbelief, it seems that Harry Potter has chosen to ally himself with the Grey faction on the Wizengamot. This was announced along with his newfound alliance with the infamously dark Greengrass family. To our readers who are unaware, House Greengrass is one of the oldest families in Europe, and is speculated to be among the wealthiest.

But more suprisingly, the Greengrass family is well-known in certain circles for their advanced knowledge in regard to the dark arts, rumored to stand alongside even the House of Black in their mastery of the dark arts. Could this possibly be the beginning of the boy-who-lived’s career as a dark wizard-

Harry flipped through a few more pages, seeing that pretty much the entire paper was dedicated to him and Daphne with headlines such as “DAPHNE GREENGRASS: QUEEN OF SLYTHERIN” and “POWER COUPLE OF HOGWARTS”. He snorted as he read the first one, finding it somewhat ironic that he called her that during some of their roleplay sessions.

“Merlin Harry, congratulations!”

Harry looked up, seeing a small Hufflepuff girl, probably in her second year, staring at him with stars in her eyes. She held the paper in her hands, looking thrilled with the announcement. She wasn’t the only one, as scores of students throughout the Great Hall stared at the paper, or at him, with shock.

“Thank you.” Harry smiled, before slightly raising his voice so other students nearby could hear. “Me and Daphne will be having a small get together on the fourth floor, if you want to come. Just a small celebration over the news, you can bring your friends too.”

The small girl blushed cutely, nodded frantically, before running back to her friends who were all giggling excitedly. Other students around him seemed to have heard his announcement, as they all began whispering to one another.