The Secret's In The Telling by Sakuri

chapter 11

"What is he doing here -?"

"Harry, have you lost your mind -?"

"Did he Imperio you into this -?"

"Will you move so we can hex him -?"

This would be the cause of a migraine and another bout of isolation, Harry could tell. Exasperated, he beckoned for Hermione to come join him. She obeyed, fighting her way through the crowd gathered tightly around Harry and Malfoy, carrying with her a familiar looking roll of parchment.

"Okay," he spoke up, fighting to be heard over the disbelieving voices of his peers. "Needless to say, we, uhm, have a new member –"

"What? You can't let him join!" Lavender Brown practically shrieked, and was soon joined by the entire congregation once again.

Gritting his teeth, Harry lost patience. Touching his wand to his throat, he muttered, "Sonarus." Then, bracing himself, he shouted, "ENOUGH!"

The noise was terrible. Those nearest him swayed faintly and clamped their hands to their ears. He saw Hermione wince in pain, and gave her an apologetic glance, before cancelling the spell.

Voice returned to normal volume, he continued. "First off – I have not lost my mind, I've not been Imperioed, and no, I won't let you hex him. Well… not while we're in here, anyway. Malfoy's here because Dumbledore ordered it, and he's prepared to sign the same way everybody else did." He paused, glancing around at all of them. He wasn't sure if a simple explanation would work, especially since he himself didn't feel any conviction on the matter.

When no one tried to tackle him out of the way in order to get to the blond, he felt daring enough to go on. "After he signs, it'll not only mean he won't be able to tell anyone else of what goes on here – none of you will be able to spread his presence here around the school. If anyone tries, Hermione's curse will activate. Is that clear?"

Outrage met his speech and he was forced to spend, in total, twenty minutes convincing a room full of people that, yes, he was still, in fact, in full possession of his sanity, and would not allow Malfoy to curse them all, and yes he had heard Dumbledore with his own ears, and yes, he had tried to protest, but no, it hadn't done any good, and finally no, Luna, he somehow doubted that Wrackspurts were the cause of his misguided judgement in allowing a Slytherin here.

Exhausted by the end of it, he was glad when Hermione took over, unrolling the parchment that served as their makeshift contract and handing it, along with a quill, over to Malfoy.

The blond took it disdainfully, but glanced up hesitantly at Harry. "You said this would stop it getting out I'm here?"

Hermione answered him. "Yes, but to be honest, it's mostly for our sake, Malfoy. Especially considering you spent most of last year trying to catch us out."

The Slytherin looked down his nose at her. "That was then, Granger. Now, as I'm sure you've gathered, I'm stuck as one of you."

Harry sighed, seeing an argument already. "Just sign the damn thing, Malfoy, and we can get on with things."

With ill grace, the blond huffed and scribbled down his signature, before thrusting the parchment back at Hermione. She glared at him, but proceeded to rummage in her pocket and pulled out the Galleon she'd made for him that morning. "Here," she snapped, shoving it at him with the same distaste he showed her.

"And what, exactly, is this supposed to do?" he drawled, spinning the coin experimentally between long fingers.

"I'll explain later," Harry muttered tiredly, rubbing his eyes. Then, regaining himself, he addressed the rest of the room in a louder voice. "Right, uhm, I'd wanted to cover duelling again, if that's okay."