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7 January 1992
Harry spent as much time as possible in the Lair over the last weekend of Christmas break, with Theo covering for him with the castle's other residents. The boy knew his time was short. It would be insanely risky for him to try to sneak past all six prefects to access the Lair once they'd returned to school, and even Theo's ring wouldn't help since he couldn't hold his breath while speaking the password to enter the Lair or close it behind him. Consequently, Harry needed to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible, both by interviewing the room's various serpent inhabitants about the Prince of Slytherin and by perusing the small number of rare books he was permitted to withdraw from the room for personal use. He very deliberately did not take any books which the faculty might deem "dark," although he soon learned to his annoyance just how ambiguous the term "dark" was according to the school's vague guidelines.
He also took the time to master the Gemino Charm which, in conjunction with Hermione's innovations with the Switching Charm, allowed him to make a small portable copy of Salazar Slytherin's family tree that he could take for later study. He used the same spells to copy the names and dates on the silver placards that covered one of the walls and assemble them into a single document full of names to research, the earliest of which dated back nearly to the time of the Founders. The next-to-last name on the list made him laugh out loud. No wonder Draco expected his father to be able to fix any problem! He now genuinely looked forward to meeting Lucius Malfoy, and he hoped Draco was on hand when he finally did.
The first Tuesday after classes resumed also meant the return of Hermione's study group. Initially, there were three absentees: Lavender Brown and the Patil sisters. A few minutes into the session, Padma Patil arrived with her book bag and sat in her usual seat. Then, with a somewhat affected bit of throat-clearing, she began what sounded like a prepared speech.
"I have been asked to inform you that Lavender and Parvati will no longer be attending this study group as it conflicts with a different study group which they have been asked to oversee. I have also been asked to convey to you all that this is in no way intended as a slight to any of you, least of all you Hermione, as you are all 'super-cool' and you, Hermione, in particularly are 'totally awesome.' However, loyalty to House Gryfindor and the sincerity of Jim Potter's pleas for academic assistance forced them to make this difficult choice. Lavender and Parvati sincerely hope that this will not affect their friendship with any of you and wish you all the best of luck on your exams and in all your future endeavors. That concludes their message."
Everyone stared at Padma for several seconds with varying degrees of confusion. Finally, Blaise spoke. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that 'totally awesome' and 'super-cool' were the only words from that speech that were quoted verbatim."
"Correct. For clarity's sake, I did take the liberty of translating the message from Parvati-speak to the Queen's English," Padma said drily.
"Much appreciated," said Harry. "So to sum up, they wanted you to tell us that they can't join us because they'd prefer to attend a Gryffindor-only study session that Jim has deliberately scheduled at the same time as our own. Is that about the size of it?"
"Yes."
"Out of Gryffindor loyalty?!" spat Hermione in shocked disbelief. "She's been complaining about Jim almost as much as I have!"
Padma shrugged. "That's the message I was asked to convey ... minus some nonsense words which I assume came from Teen Witch Weekly."
"Uh-huh," said Blaise. "So what's the real reason?"
"I beg your pardon."
"What Blaise means," said Harry, "is that you pointedly described that as 'the message you were asked to convey' which is not necessarily the same thing as 'the actual truth.' So what do you think is their real reason for ditching us?"
"What makes you think I have any insights into their motivations?"
"You're the clever twin," Harry deadpanned.
Padma blinked ... and then laughed. "Honestly, if Slytherin had more people like you and Blaise and fewer Pansy Parkinsons, I might have considered your House. The short answer to your question is ... capitalism."
"What?" asked Hermione. "I don't understand."
"She means Jim Potter is paying the two of them to study with the Gryffindors instead of us," said Justin Finch-Fletchley. Everyone stared at him for a few seconds. Harry and Blaise actually looked impressed. "What? I may be a Hufflepuff, but I'm a Muggleborn from a wealthy family. Of course I know what the word 'capitalism' means."
"And to be fair," said Padma, "it's not like it's bribery. Apparently, the Boy-Who-Lived and his little entourage are all genuinely struggling in Potions which is Lavender's strongest area. So they're paying her two galleons per session to tutor Jim, Ron, Dean and Seamus in that subject."
"So why is Parvati there?" asked Hermione somewhat crossly.
Padma sniffed. "Because Lavender will be there, which is the only reason she ever came to this group. My sister is ... not academically inclined. In any case, Hermione, I think that between you, me and Harry, we probably have Potions covered even without Lavender, so perhaps we should forget about them and get started reviewing?"
Hermione looked like she wanted to say something else, but Harry said, "I agree," before she could continue. She shot him a look at the interruption, and he shot her one right back which said "we'll talk more later." With that, the group got to work and spent a solid two hours reviewing the homework assignments that had been made before the Christmas break. At the end of the session, the group split up, but Harry nodded to Hermione, and the two of them went after Padma. They caught up with her before she left the library and pulled her aside with Hermione enacting a privacy spell.
"So," said Harry, "what was the long answer?"
"Excuse me?"
"You said the short answer was capitalism. What's the long answer you didn't want to give in front of the group?"
Padma shook her head and grimaced. "Slytherins," she said with a mild annoyance. Then, she looked back and forth between Harry and Hermione. "Okay, this isn't anything they've said. It's just my observations. So please don't go around repeating this." The other two nodded seriously. "First of all, Hermione, Lavender really does have a lot of respect for you and the way you've handled yourself as a Muggleborn who's new to our world and for how readily you've adapted to magical culture. But what I'm about to say may offend some of your ... well, your Muggle sensibilities, for lack of a better phrase, so please don't hold it against her or me."
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