Harry Potter: Another Chance

Chapter 22: Miss Greengrass

Disclaimer: 
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
 
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
$Parseltongue$
 
Chapter 22: Miss Greengrass

The second day of classes was over and Harry was, once more, walking alone through the castle. This time on the seventh floor. 

The room of requirement would make for the ideal place for practice.

He paced back and forth until the door appeared and once inside, he made sure to will the door to disappear. The last thing he needed was a surprise visitor.

The place looked mostly empty, except for a few training dummies.
"This much will do for now."
He needed to get used to this new body and magic until it became natural again to cast his spells.

With his wand in hand, Harry started to unleash a barrage of spells on the poor dummies.

An hour later, Harry was panting on the ground, bordering on magical exhaustion.

"My reserves are so tiny at the moment…I wonder if I should get some artifacts to help.
He looked around. This room was also called the room of lost and found things. He may be able to find something useful here.
'I had to check that place anyway. There is a chance that Ravenclaw's diadem is still here.'
 
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"What did you say?!" Someone shouted.

Harry was on his way to the great hall after taking a refreshing shower. But after turning a corner, he stumbled upon a confrontation between a group of Gryffindors and Slytherins.

The first ones were Neville, Ron, and Seamus while on the other side was Draco with his two goons. 

"You heard me, Weasley!, I called him a squib!." Draco pointed at Neville.
"He couldn't even cast a flipendo."

Harry recalled their morning lesson of D.A.D.A and it was true that Neville had been unable to cast anything during the two hours of class, despite the professor's attempts to help him.

At first, Harry had the suspicion that Augusta had forced Neville to use his father's wand, but after getting a closer look, he was able to confirm that Neville did go to Ollivanders and was matched with his former wand. He could recognize that particular holly wood wand anywhere.

He is happy to have left it there for him. That wand was meant for the boy of the prophecy, the one meant to oppose Voldemort. Taking it would have brought a lot of attention from both the Dark Lord and Dumbledore upon himself. And is not like he needs it at this point. His current wand would serve him well and there would be no chance of producing a 'priori incantatum' if he were to fight Voldemort.

In the end, he could only reach the conclusion that if Neville's problem did not come from the wand, then it must be a psychological one.
He knew for a fact that Neville had the potential to be a powerful wizard, but he had to surpass his sense of inferiority first.
While he was pondering on some way to help the boy, Hermione came around the corner and walked angrily to the group of first years.

"Hey, leave Neville alone!" She looked at Draco with a frown.

"Oh, great…the teacher's pet is here too." Draco rolled his eyes.

"Neville was hardly the only one who failed to cast the spell." Hermione added.

"Yes!, that's what I was about to-" Seamus got interrupted by Hermione, who had yet to finish her argument.

"Like for example, Seamus, who set the training dummy on fire." 

"Hey!" Complained Seamus. "At least that did some damage…is a class about defense after all."

Harry then noticed that a small girl with short black hair and green robes had stopped next to him and was watching the argument with an angry expression.

"Are you going to get involved in this too?." He decided to ask.

"Draco doesn't need my help with those idiots." She huffed before her eyes moved to him, scanning his face and then his robes.
"What does it matter to you?, Gryffindor? Shouldn't you be the one rushing to their help?."

"Come on, Pansy. That's no way to speak to the heir of the Potter House, be polite." 

Harry turned his head at the familiar voice and saw Daphne Greengrass right behind them.

"I am aware of who he is!. I'm not an idiot." huffed Pansy.

Daphne seemed to enjoy making the other girl angry. She then looked at Harry.
"Aren't you going to intervene thought?" she said before moving her eyes to Neville and the others.

Their discussion has been heating up and they are now yelling something about a duel.

"We barely know each other. I'm just someone who is hungry and would like to reach the Great Hall and eat some dinner before I pass out." Harry told her.

"Oh, I may have just the spell for that…" A mischievous smile appeared on the blond girl's face.
"Professor McGonagall, how nice to see you in this part of the castle!." She spoke in a loud manner for everyone to hear.

The arguing group quickly scrambled away, not wanting to get in trouble.

"Oh, Draco!, wait!." Pansy hurried to catch up with the retreating blonde boy.

Some of the other spectators who had been congregating in the corridor gave Daphne a look.

"My apologies, I could have sworn to have seen the Professor right around the corner." She looked very convincing, or maybe no one felt like arguing anymore because they all started to walk toward the great hall.

"I have cleared the way, you are most welcome ." She said to Harry without looking his way and then started walking by herself.

Harry was left a bit shocked.
'Did Daphne Greengrass make a prank?'
He had never got to know the girl during his previous life but he remembered that people called her names like the 'Ice Princess' or the 'Slytherin Queen' and had a reputation for being serious and cold to everyone. 

Now he was left to wonder if this alternate version of her was very different from the other one or if this was just a playful side of her that most people did not get to know.