Honestly? Initially, it took absolutely no convincing. As soon as Blake suggested the idea after dinner, Ron pounced, and Harry naturally came with him.
"How much is it, Renshaw?" Blake silently noted the use of his last name instead of his first, but responded seamlessly.
"A Galleon per essay!"
At Weasley's outraged and crestfallen face, he quickly explained.
"I can guarantee an Outstanding in any subject apart from Herbology and Potions - even in those, it's an Exceeding Expectations at the minimum. If the essay doesn't get that, it's a 100% money back guarantee!" he spoke swiftly and winningly, and saw the two Gryffindor boys' faces transform into a half understanding expression.
"But still! A Galleon? That's crazy!"
"C'mon now, Weasley - I still have to sit down and sacrifice my time, effort and fun to do a boring essay, don't I?"
"Well, yeah, but-"
"I'll tell you what, Weasley, and you too, Harry - if you guys promise to spread the word about my… services, then I'll do you a deal - 1 Galleon for both essays, for the rest of this term."
"Deal!" Weasley pounced on the deal, before turning to Harry quickly. "You were gonna pay anyway, right?"
"Well, yeah, probably. Deal!" Harry said, smiling.
"Ok, ok, hold on a second, guys - how am I gonna know you're both holding up your end of the bargain?"
The 2 boys looked confused for a moment, before realising his point, and began thinking. Blake laughed.
"Don't worry, I have an idea - anytime you send someone my way, just tell them to say that you sent them. Fair?"
The two boys nodded quickly, agreeing. "Wait - but what if we don't get anyone?"
Blake pretended to think for a moment. "Well, let's say at least 1 person a week - but if you don't get anyone, then the deal's off - permanently."
"Done! That should be easy!" Weasley said smugly, patting Harry on the shoulder. "If the Boy-Who-Lived is recommending it, everyone will do it!"
Blake smiled inside. Exactly.
"Couple of things though - don't advertise to any Slytherins or Ravenclaws, and don't let Granger find out, please. And also, ideally talk to the Hufflepuff boys and girls during Herbology - also, the Gryffindor girls too - and don't be afraid to advertise to second years as well, okay?"
"Makes sense - wait, second years too?," Harry said, astonished.
"Anyone can find me after dinner everyday starting Monday behind this column for 10 minutes, but I'll only be there if I have free spaces available, alright? I guess we have a deal," Blake said, ignoring the question with a smile and extending his hand out to Harry, who shook it, and then Weasley.
As the trio separated to their dorms, Blake smiled. It had been the right idea to wait two weeks - now, the students already had a rough idea of what subjects they thought they were bad at, and the reputations of teachers marking - as predicted, Snape was a terribly harsh marker, even for Slytherin, and Blake knew he would be even tougher on Gryffindor, and it would be exacerbated by someone that wasn't academically inclined in the first place, such as Weasley. Harry's fame and Weasley's loudmouth are going to help a lot.
Suddenly, he paused, and looked to his left. I could've sworn…
"Gonna come out of there, or what?" he said, getting his wand ready. How long has this person been there? A teacher? His mind raced - he had cast 'Muffliato' around the vicinity of his conversation with Harry and Weasley, but if the eavesdropper had used Finite Incantatem to cancel it, they'd definitely have heard him speak, but he was sure no one had been around…
Blake was both relieved and honestly not that surprised to see who it was.
"Greengrass."
"Renshaw." The girl also had her wand raised.
He raised an eyebrow.
"I thought you'd be in your dorm, not spending your time stalking filthy mudbloods like me."
"Did I ever call you a filthy mudblood?" she asked, as if bored, but her voice betrayed no malice, but her icy blue eyes were trained on his own.
"What're you doing here?"
"I wanted to see what you're up to," she said simply.
"You heard?"
"Of course I did. I'm almost disappointed too. You really thought a Muffliato was enough?"
"I'm so sorry you feel that way," Blake responded, unable to prevent a small amount of sarcasm from leaking into his speech.
"So, now what? You planning on telling people I'm associating with Gryffindors or something to that effect? Because if you are-"
The blonde girl's nose crinkled at the suggestion. "Oh, please. Why would I care about something as stupid and trivial as this?" she said dismissively, and much to Blake's annoyance. But the latter urged himself to relax - she's probably trying to rile me up on purpose.
"That's nice to hear. Anyway, I'm heading up to my dorm."
"As am I." She speaks a bit posh, doesn't she?
The pair made their way to the dungeons in tense silence, until they separated to go into their respective dorms. She was following me, and I didn't even realise - just how long has she been following me for?
Zabini was already there, doing some homework.
"Apparently, they're going to come here again tonight," he stated monotonously, not looking up from his essay.
"Yeah, that's fine," Blake quickly replied, before quickly showering and getting dressed. As he waited for the girls, Blake was silently putting together a plan in his head regarding his homework business - after all, despite his inward worry that Greengrass knew about his 'partnership' with Harry, and potentially even his lessons with McGonagall, he was fairly certain she wouldn't divulge any of that information to anyone else - she didn't seem the type. For now, anyway, Blake thought darkly.
Regardless, he flicked through the various textbooks he had. There were some useful bits - 'Locomotor' could be applied to a lot of different objects and things, including a quill. But as for his ideas about using memory, there was no mention of any plausible memory magic in the textbooks, save for the memory wiping spell, which wasn't very useful. Memory will be the main component here - that and the charms. But how can I be sure the relevant spells even exist? Blake worried. Luckily, he'd only opted for 4 essays to do - he could write them himself if it came to it, but he couldn't expand much further without the help of magic.
Suddenly, there was a quiet knock at the door, breaking Blake's train of thought. As Tracey, Charlotte and Greengrass again were let in by Zabini, the muggleborn boy resolved to investigate in the library the next day - right now, something else was occupying his attention.
Now that I think about it, she's kind of been sneaking off and around too - when Malfoy duelled me, she was nowhere to be seen.
As the rest of the group began talking about the upcoming Quidditch season, Blake made sure to pay close attention to Greengrass discreetly, but as he expected the cautious girl picked up on it.
Does she know about my lessons with McGonagall? Would she try something against me?
For a brief second, the two of them made eye contact.
Daphne Greengrass.
I don't know if you know my secret, or if you even have bad intentions towards me.
But I'll find your secret, and when I do, you better pray that you haven't crossed me, because I promise you -
You'll regret it.
AN: If you would like to view up to 20 more bonus chapters on all my fics so far including this one, and would also like to support me, please visit my P@TR30N, at patreon.com/GhidorahWriter. Thanks for reading and make sure ADD to your COLLECTION and VOTE with POWER STONES! The target is 50 POWER STONES for the next BONUS CHAPTER!