"Harry!" Draco whispered to Harry once they left the greenhouse after a herbology lesson involving mandrakes. "Guess what, I'm going to be on the quidditch team." He said, unable to hold in his excitement.
"What?" Harry whispered back, raising an eyebrow.
"Higgs doesn't want to be seeker anymore so I'm applying for the position," Draco informed Harry with a smile. "I told my father and he said that he's going to send some 'gifts' to the team." Draco grinned. "That includes you." He added.
"Well, you are a good flyer." Harry said, remembering the few times he had flown with Draco. "How good are you at being a seeker?" Harry asked.
"I like to think I'm fairly good." Draco smirked.
"Get better," Harry said quickly. "I'm going to assume that you are at least a decent seeker, that's good. But you will need to keep practicing and you will get better, the 'gifts' that your father is sending, I'm sure that people will claim that you used them to get on the team. You need to prove everyone wrong, got it?" Harry asked.
"Got it." Draco nodded firmly.
"Good." Harry nodded back. Harry knew that the fact that Lucius Malfoy would so generously hand out 'gifts' had helped Draco get on the team but Harry quite frankly didn't care as long as Draco proved he deserved to keep his spot. And if Harry ended up benefitting from it then all the better.
"Harry," Angela said as she sat opposite Harry at lunch time. "how was your day?" She asked as she and everyone began eating.
"It's been alright," Harry shrugged as he placed Jet on the table just as a plate with a bit of meat was placed in front of the lovable snake. "how about you?"
"It's been fine so far," Angela replied. "by the way I know I said I wanted to talk to you later today but something's come up and I'm awfully busy now, could I take some time out and talk to you later this week?"
"Yeah, sure." Harry nodded.
"What do you want to talk to him about anyway?" Blaise asked, looking between Harry and Angela.
"None of your business." Angela smirked as she tapped him on the nose.
"Get off." Blaise said as he swatted her hand away. "I'm your brother in case you have forgotten."
"That doesn't mean that you get to know all of my secrets." Angela pointed out. "After me and Harry have our talk then you can learn what it's about." She said.
"This sounds very important," Harry noted. "is it..." Whatever else Harry was about to say was cut off by a bright flash of light that was aimed at him, Harry quickly got his wand out and aimed it at the source along with Angela who had quickly span around in her seat, at the same time Jet was hissing in a threatening manner at whatever idiot had dared to interrupt his meal. The source of the bright flash turned out to be a curly haired, blonde, first year Gryffindor with a camera.
"Hiya Harry!" The first year said in an excited tone. "I'm Colin Creevey, it's nice to meet you!" He said quickly.
"What are you..." Harry was interrupted by another flash as the boy had taken another picture.
"I heard that you're the youngest chaser in a century and that you can do advanced spells, is it true?" The boy asked excitedly.
"What is going on here?" A voice drawled, everyone quickly became aware of the arrival of Professor Snape.
"Sir," Angela said before anyone could respond. "this first year just started showing up and taking pictures of us without permission."
"Is that true?" Snape asked the other Slytherins.
"It's true, sir." Harry nodded along with the other Slytherins. "He started taking our pictures without permission."
"Ten points from Gryffindor," Snape said to Creevey. "and you will get rid of those pictures as well."
"But sir..." Colin began. "I..."
"Are you arguing with me?" Professor Snape asked in a dangerous tone.
"I...I...no sir." Creevey said, quickly shaking his head.
"You had better not be," Snape said, glaring down at him. "follow me, we will talk to your head of house about this." He said, Snape turned and began walking away without waiting for a response.
"Oh...um...goodbye Harry." Creevey waved at Harry before he walked off and began following Snape.
"Fangirls." Harry said in an annoyed voice as he shook his head.
"Don't you mean 'fanboys'?" Tracey asked.
"Fangirls." Harry repeated in a firm voice that clearly said 'don't argue with me'.
A few days later Harry was in his quidditch gear and walking towards the quidditch pitch along with Draco, the other members of the Slytherin quidditch team, each member of the team walking with their new gifts. Their gifts which happened to be Nimbus 2001's, the latest model from the Nimbus brand. Harry had rode on his new broom a few times already, it was admittedly faster than Harry's Nimbus 2000 but with that being said Harry currently preferred the steering on his older broom. Harry still kept his Nimbus 2000 on the chance that he broke his new one or needed a back up.
Harry had also left Jet with Daphne as the snake wasn't really fond of flying but was fond of Daphne, just like how she was fond of him, even if she couldn't understand a single thing that he could say.
As they were walking they were stopped by the Gryffindor team who were also dressed in their quidditch gear.
"Flint, what are you doing here?" Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor keeper and team captain demanded. "I booked the pitch for Gryffindor."
"Hi Wood," Flint said in a cheery voice. "how are you today?"
"I booked the pitch!" Wood repeated through gritted teeth. Harry noticed several other Gryffindor's arriving, including Weasley, Granger and Longbottom.
"Maybe, but I've got a note from Professor Snape that says we can use the pitch." Flint grinned. "We need it to train our new seeker."
"You've got a new seeker? Who?" Wood all but demanded.
"That'd be me." Draco said as he steps forward, past the other Slytherin's. "And that's not all that's new this year." Draco grinned as he held up his new broom along with the rest of the team.
"Those are Nimbus 2001's!" Ron exclaimed. "Where did you get those?"
"Oh, they're gifts for you." Harry said.
"What? Really?"
"..."
"..."
"God, you're thick." Harry said as he rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"You see, Weasley, unlike some my father can afford the best." Draco smirked.
"At least nobody on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," Hermione replied. "they got in on pure talent."
"Nobody asked you, know-it-all." Draco said, glaring at Hermione. He was tempted to call her a mudblood but knew that Harry wouldn't like that at all and he had no desire to make Harry angry, that was not a safe thing to do.
"Ladies," Harry said to the Gryffindor chasers before anyone could say anything else. He first extended his hand to Katie Bell, the youngest of the chasers and only a year older than himself She gave him his hand, he kissed her knuckles, causing a small blush to form on her face. He then repeated the process with Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson, the two older chasers. "you're all looking lovely today." He smiled at them.
"Someone's being extra charming today." Angelina smiled.
"Only for the charming." Harry replied without missing a beat.
"Oi Potter," One of the Weasley twins. "stop flirting with them."
"Yeah, they're our girls." The other added.
"'Our girls'?" Harry repeated. "Honestly, they're young women, not toys." Harry said, remembering a talk he had with Tonks which was really more of a rant on her behalf about working with men - or 'pigs' as she called them - who think they own women.
"Potter's right," Alicia said as she and the other girls glared at the twins. "what do you mean 'our girls'?" She demanded.
"I..." Both of them stuttered as they struggled to think up an answer, wondering why the girls were suddenly turning on them.
"Of course, if these girls were able to be stolen then I promise I would have already stolen them by now." Harry said as he gave a charming smile to the girls.
"You are such a flirt!" A gaping, red faced Katie said, though her amused tone and face showed that she wasn't really angry with him.
"I'm surrounded by beautiful goddesses, it's hardly my fault." Harry replied. "By the way, he's uncharacteristically quiet." Harry noted as he gestured to an annoyed looking Cormac McLaggen, seeker for Gryffindor and general asshole.
"Silencing charm." Alicia smiled.
"Ah." Harry nodded before turning to Wood. "Look, we've got new brooms and a new seeker, we need the training time more than you do seeing as you have the exact same brooms and players. Besides, based off my experience last year and from what I hear about you, it is likely that you're going to spend every free moment you have making them practice anyway, so how about you don't hoard the pitch like last year and delay your daily practices by a day." Harry calmly suggested.
"We do practice more than necessary." Angelina agreed, sending an apologetic look to Oliver who looked like someone had just insulted his mother.
"See," Harry nodded. "now we have permission to use the pitch. So why don't we go and do that while you Gryffindor's go and relax for the day?"
"Shut it, Potter." Ron said before Wood or any of the other Gryffindor's could reply. "You and your snakes should be the ones that should go."
"Hey Draco," Harry said as he turned to Malfoy. "can you imagine that? He is already in his second year of school and he still hasn't realized that we are not actual snakes and that the snake is just a mascot."
"Hmm, maybe he thinks that he's an actual lion." Draco laughed. "Though I think he's more of a untrained house cat. How much do you want to bet that somebody has put a scratching post in his room?"
"Probably next to his litter box." Harry grinned.
"Shut it." Ron said as he pulled his wand out, he wasn't able to get far as Harry had quickly pulled his own wand out and hit Ron with a wind blast that knocked him off of his feet and onto his butt. This caused the other Gryffindor and Slytherin students to pull their wands out.
"What is going on here?" A voice demanded, just as Professor McGonagall arrived on the scene.
"Weasley was about to attack me Professor," Harry said quickly before anyone could reply. "I saw him pulling out his wand so I quickly hit him with a wind blast."
"And why would he pull his wand out on you?" Professor McGonagall asked, looking very unamused.
"Well, Professor, it kind of went like this..." Harry said before he began explaining what had happened, the Slytherin's all agreeing and nodding in the right parts, by the end of it Professor McGonagall had a thoughtful look on her face.
"That's what the Slytherin's are saying, what about you?" Professor McGonagall asked the Gryffindor's. Ronald immediately began claiming that the Slytherin's started all of this with the twins backing him up, unfortunately for them the other Gryffindor's were not so willing to lie to their head of house and actually told a version of events that matched Harry's story. "I see, Mr Ronald Weasley, that will be two weeks of detention for lying and pulling your wand out on a student along with five points from Gryffindor. Mr Fred and George Weasley, a week of detention for lying and five points from each of you. I expected better from all of you." She said in a disappointed voice before turning to the other Slytherin's. "You may go to your practice." She said in what was a clear dismissal, the Slytherin's took it for what it was and quickly left.
"Weasley is about as smart as he was last year." Draco commented once they were far enough away.
"Really? I couldn't tell." Harry snorted.
Harry and the other Slytherin second years found themselves sat in the defence against the dark arts classroom, today would be their first day getting taught by Professor Lockhart. A lot of the girls were looking forward to it because apparently 'he is a really, really great wizard' to quote Hermione Granger. Harry was just thankful that Daphne and Tracey were not the same as those girls, they had both opted for a 'wait and see' approach which - as far as Harry was concerned - puts them leagues above the intelligence of the other witches in the class.
The classroom itself was fairly interesting, stone walls with a wooden floor, an iron chandelier hung from the ceiling, as well as a dragon's skeleton. Though Harry suspected that the several portraits of Gilderoy Lockhart -including the one where he was painting a painting of himself - were newer additions.
"Good day everyone." Lockhart said with a smile as he entered from his office and stopped alongside the painting of him painting himself. "You all naturally know who I am but I will introduce myself in case some poor soul does not. I am Gilderoy Lockhart, your new defence against the dark arts professor, you lucky, lucky little people. Order of Merlin, third class and, honorary member of the Dark Forces Defense League and five time winner of 'Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile' award. But I don't like to talk about that, I didn't get rid of the 'Bandon Banshee' by smiling at her." Lockhart said before pausing to laugh at his own joke. Harry frowned and was sure that if he had a mirror then his present look would best be described as 'kill me now'.
"What a blithering idiot." Jet said from his position on Harry's shoulders.
"I see you have all brought a complete set of my books, well done." Lockhart quickly continued when he realized nobody was laughing at his joke. "I want to start today with a little quiz." He smiled as he picked up some quiz papers and began handing them out. "Nothing to worry about, just to see how much you remember."
"They're all about him." Blaise hissed to Harry with disbelief as they looked at the papers. Harry skimmed through the test and saw that Blaise was right.
"Professor," Harry spoke, gaining Lockhart's attention. "sorry for asking the stupid question but a lot of these don't have anything to do with...you know...actual defence."
"Sure they do," Lockhart laughed, though it seemed slightly more forced than before. "this will see how much you remember."
"Sir, are you by any chance short of a marble?" Harry asked before he could stop himself.
"I...I'm not quite sure what you mean Mr Potter, I don't carry marbles with me." Lockhart frowned.
"That explains so much." Harry whispered to Jet.
"Anyway...you have thirty minutes to finish, begin." Lockhart ordered.
"Might as well have fun with this." Harry whispered to Blaise who quickly caught on, he whispered to Draco which started a quick and short chain reaction of whispering amongst the Slytherin students.
"Tut, tut." Lockhart said about thirty minutes later when he was skimming through the quiz results of multiple students. "Hardly any of you have remembered that my favorite color is lilac, hmm, let's see the other answers. Oh, that's odd. No, my favorite colour is not sunburst orange to the side of an orangutan butt cheek, whatever that means. No, my greatest achievement is not 'wibbling' whatever that means. Nor is my favorite achievement dogging with seventy nine year old men in the country side...hmmm...I'm not sure that's even a real position. Hugh Jazz is not my best friend. Hugh Jazz, does anybody know who Hugh Jazz is? Does anyone know a Hugh Jazz? Come on, I want to talk to someone who knows a Hugh Jazz, is anybody here a Hugh Jazz? Nobody? Disappointing." Lockhart said, not noticing the restrained laughter from most of the class. "Anyway, let's get on with this."
Lockhart stood up and drew his wand, he walked over to an owl sized cage that was covered in dark cloth. Harry perked up slightly, hopeful that they'd finally start learning something useful, later on he would call himself an idiot for letting himself have that hope for even a second.
"Get ready class, in here you will learn to face creatures darker than those in your worst dreams." Lockhart warned, "I will ask you not to scream, it might...provoke them!" Lockhart said in a dramatic voice as he pulled the cage off, revealing a bunch of pixies. They were electric blue and about eight inches high, with pointed faces and voices so shrill it was like listening to a lot of budgies arguing.
"Cornish pixies?" Seamus from Gryffindor laughed.
"Freshly caught Cornish pixies," Lockhart corrected just as Seamus and several other students laughed. "laugh if you will but they can be devilishly tricky little blighters, let's see what you make of them." He said before he released the pixies.
With that single act the room fell into chaos as pixies began flying everywhere, destroying the classroom and chasing the students while pulling on their hair, pulling on their ears and generally wrecking their things. Lockhart proved his worth by trying and failing to cast a spell before running away and hiding in his office before asking everyone else to round them up. Though the chaos didn't last long because one of the pixies made the unfortunate mistake of heading towards Harry which meant he was also heading towards Jet.
Jet leaped off of Harry's shoulders and wrapped his body around the pixie, Harry caught them both in midair with a levitation charm before putting them down on his desk. Jet tightened his body around the pixie so it couldn't escape, the pixie scream loudly as Jet opened his mouth to show his impressive fangs. The scream of the pixie caught the attention of the other pixies, the pixies stopped what they were doing and looked towards Jet. The rest of the class did the same when they noticed that the pixies were looking at Harry.
"Alright, you pixies had better stay calm and behaved or this blue midget gets it." Harry said as he gestured to the pixie that Jet had. "All of you get back in your cage or my hungry friend gets a Cornish treat, which basically means you lot." The pixies seemed unsure of themselves so Jet brought his fangs closer to the pixie he had captured, it scream louder and all of the other pixies quickly flew back into their cage. "Jet, pass the pixie." Harry said before taking the pixie in his hand, he kept a firm grip so it didn't escape but not hard enough to hurt it. "You're alright," Harry whispered as he stroked its head before getting up and walking towards the cage. "you're alright." He kept whispering in a calming and soothing voice before he gently put the pixie in the cage and locked the door. "Sorry about that." Harry said to the pixies before he picked up the cage and walked over to his desk before getting all of his stuff.
"What are you doing?!" Hermione Granger demanded.
"First of all I am taking these pixies to Professor McGonagall, she might know how to get them to someone who can properly look after them." Harry replied. "Second of all I am leaving."
"But you can't leave!" She protested. "We're still in a lesson."
"One without a teacher." Tracey shrugged before she and Daphne joined Harry in gathering their things, in a short while all Slytherins had gathered their stuff and walked out of the class. Soon after the Gryffindors decided to do the same, until the only person left in the room was Hermione Granger who found herself stuck trying to decide between following the rules or the overwhelming peer pressure.
Later that day Harry was in his room and writing a letter to the Tonks family, Jet was currently downstairs with Daphne who was pretty much the only other person Jet willingly allowed to touch or hold him.
"Harry," Angela's voice called, Harry turned around and saw Angela stood by his door. "Blaise and the others are downstairs and I kind of needed to talk to you."
"Oh, come in." Harry said as he gestured her to come in, he turned his chair around so he was facing her. She stopped in front of him and had a small smile on her face. "Is this about that important thing that you wanted to talk to me about before?"
"Yes, it is." Angela nodded. "I'm sorry, I've just...I've just been stalling." She admitted. "This is just a hard thing to ask and I wanted to be sure that I wanted to ask it."
"Take your time." Harry replied in calm voice.
"Thank you." She smiled before she took a deep breath before she slowly got down on one knee.
"Angela, what are you..." Harry was cut off as she took both of her hands in her own.
"Harry Potter," Angela began, locking her eyes with Harry's. "I humbly request that you allow me, Angela Zabini, to swear unwavering loyalty to you, become your loyal servant, to swear fealty to you and to become your devoted vassal." She said, in a quiet but passionate voice.
"..."
"..."
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"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"What?!"
A.N: Hi guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Yes, Angela wants to be Harry's vassal (basically a servant). The idea of Harry having vassals has been something I've seen in a few stories, off the top of my head I'm thinking about magical origins (I recommend reading it) but I've also seen it in other stories, I remember reading this one story where somehow Narcissa Malfoy had become Harry's vassal and I've read another where Hermione becomes his vassal and one or two with Ginny plus one with Bellatrix, so I figured that I'd give it a try :)
Though seriously I have plan for Angela, hopefully it works out the way I hope it does.
Also can I just say that I love how in this story I have an intelligent Harry Potter, the Tonks family, Daphne Greengrass along with several other Slytherin's but despite that nearly everyone will say that Jet's their favorite character. I just love how much love you all have for a snake that I created, it's just amazing.
Thank you for reading and feel free to leave a review.