"So, just to be clear - you got up in the middle of the night, snuck into Malfoy's room, cursed him, went to somewhere to make the antidote to Veritaserum, brought it back to your room, then today after breakfast, you Disillusioned yourself, Confunded Crabbe and Goyle into fighting at lunch, and also included the fact that they'd be scared so sh*tless by Dumbledore that they'd snap out of it and have no recollection of what happened?"
"And you deleted the evidence from your wand by stealing someone else's?"
"No, I don't know what you're talking about," Blake responded, digging into his breakfast the next day. "But if I were to do that, I wouldn't have stolen someone's wand twice - I would've wanted Dumbledore and Snape to know that it was me, and know they could never prove it, so there would only be evidence of me deleting a spell history once. And I wouldn't be stupid enough to use any old person's wand - I'd use someone that they'd never suspect."
"Like who?"
"A Professor," Daphne guessed. Blake hid his smile behind a potato, while Charlotte gasped. "That's why you asked to see Hagrid's umbrella today! It's his broken wand!"
"No idea what you're talking about," Blake repeated with a smile.
Today's been too good, he thought, looking across at where the other half of third-year Slytherin were sitting. Crabbe and Goyle had been glowering at him, but when he looked at them they'd seemingly decided to glower at their food instead. Malfoy, to his credit, hadn't looked in their direction once - it seemed that the boy was instead focusing very deeply on something. Blake's grin widened. The curse should've eased up by now, but it's not gone fully. Malfoy's still probably sh*tting bricks.
Blake's greatest satisfaction, however, came from Nott and Rafael. "They came up to us and apologised!" Nott beamed. "We didn't even say anything - they came up to us on their own, apologised in front of everyone, and promised never to do it again!"
"Really? What a fortunate surprise!" Blake responded with faux excitement.
"Thanks, Renshaw," Rafael said, smiling widely. Blake felt a small stab of guilt.
"Why're you thanking me?" he responded. "I didn't do anything."
"Of course not," Nott said with a smirk.
As they parted ways, Blake did his best not to show his shame. It's fine, Blake thought. It was going to happen anyway.
"So?" a familiar voice prompted out of nowhere. Greengrass was leaning against a column, arms crossed. Talk about cliche.
"So what?"
"I don't think you gave us the full story, Renshaw."
I call you Daphne, Blake prevented himself from speaking. Why won't you call me Blake?
"What d'you mean?"
"You know what I mean," she said, approaching him slowly. "Crabbe and Goyle are fools, but quite frankly, I think they lack the intelligence or proactivity to bully anyone."
Of course she figured it out, Blake thought, his heart sinking slightly.
"What are you getting at?" he said neutrally, trying not to sound emotional.
"Do I really have to spell it out?" she asked, sounding bored. Blake took a step closer.
"If you already know," he said, gritting his teeth slightly. "What do you want?"
"Nothing," she said, shrugging and looking up at him. "I just found it ironic that a hero type like yourself would do something like that."
Blake didn't respond.
"I mean, Confunding Crabbe and Goyle into bullying Rafael Flint, just so his only friend would be forced to come to you for help and be in your debt? I didn't realise you were so cunning, Renshaw."
4 weeks ago…
As Blake was walking back from the Forbidden Forest after another day of training, he suddenly paused. Those voices…
"Huh?" Crabbe said dumbly.
"That's what Malfoy said," Goyle replied, equally as dumb.
"So… Marcus Flint has a little brother in second year?"
"Yeah."
"And he's a mudblood?"
"No, he's a halfblood."
There was a pregnant pause as the singular brain cell Crabbe possessed was put to work.
"What's the difference between a mudblood and a halfblood?"
That's a joke, right?
For this pause, it was Goyle's brain cell that was working overtime.
"Uh… I dunno?"
This has got to be a joke, Blake thought. There's no way a blood supremacist doesn't know the difference…
"Hmmm…" Crabbe said cleverly.
"Hmmm…" Goyle said just as cleverly.
"Well, it's not pureblood!" the intelligent boy suddenly produced triumphantly.
"Yeah!" the other nodded enthusiastically. "If it's not pureblood, then it's not right! That's what my Dad says!"
"Yeah!"
Ah, Blake thought, understanding, feeling pity for the twins. The stupidity's genetic.
Before the increasingly intellectual conversation could continue, a synchronised rumbling shook the castle walls.
"What's that noise, Crabbe?"
"I don't know, Goyle. But I'm hungry."
"Same."
"What's the time?"
"Uh… I dunno?"
"Hmmm…"
"Hmmm…"
"Let's go for dinner."
"Yeah!"
But… dinner's in 2 hours?
As the heavy, heavy footsteps slowly faded away, Blake continued on his journey back to the dorms.
So, Crabbe and Goyle are even stupider than I thought. But besides that… Flint has a little brother? Who's a halfblood?
Actually, that makes sense - of course the pureblooded siblings would try to hide that - and now that Crabbe and Goyle know, somehow, it's only a matter of time before that group starts bothering him.
But I've not seen any ostracization yet - the boys in second year are generally close, right?
Suddenly, Blake saw an opportunity.
If I can somehow get Rafael Flint - and preferably a couple of his friends - to come to me for help, they'd owe me a debt. And considering how most of the House sees me…
Slowly, an idea began to form in Blake's mind - one that he was immediately disgusted by.
There's no way that I'm going to make them bully that kid.
But another voice from the back of his head spoke.
But I don't have a choice. How else am I going to get the support of purebloods?
I have Daphne! And besides, I don't need their support - I've done fine without it!
But their support is massive - the wizarding world runs off purebloods - they're the ones in power, prejudiced or not. So many influential families are already against me - I need support.
But-
And besides, it's going to happen anyway - Crabbe and Goyle and Malfoy will bully that kid - if anything, becoming involved means you can prevent any real harm from happening, right?
The two sides of logic slowly stopped arguing, and Blake took a deep breath.
F*ck it. I'll do it.
Back to the present…
"Ok. Now what?" Blake said quietly.
Daphne just inclined her head.
"Nothing. I just wanted you to know that I know, peasant."
"How useful," Blake said snidely.
Daphne snorted in a very un-princesslike way, before turning around to leave.
"I suspect that Zabini's figured it out somewhat too, by the way," she said as she walked off.
"Don't care."
"Liar."
"Nope."
Suddenly, Daphne paused, turning back with a smirk.
"Don't bother lying to me, Blake. I know everything about you."
She turned back around, and continued back to the Slytherin dorms, leaving a stunned, red-faced muggleborn boy to chase after her.
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