Raise Hell → Harry Potter

027. Recruiting Gryffindors

Chapter Twenty-Seven

[Frankie]

Recruiting a Gryffindor into the Slytherin ranks

The morning was unusually quiet. The type of quiet that would unsettle the observant types. Erika had been uncharacteristically lax with training, only scheduling an early morning meeting to go through the rules of their illicit Quidditch year before shooing them out of the Stadium as the Quidditch captains from each house, plus a student from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, made their way to the field. 

The faint smell of morning dew was still pervasive as Frankie made her way to the Great Hall, clouds lazily moving through the sky with her strides. Frankie expected all of her friends to already be seated for breakfast, huddled together to keep everyone else out as they discussed the events of the night prior. Pansy and Theo had stayed up for her, with Blaise sleeping on one of the couches and Draco already holed up in his room likely chucking a hissy fit over Harry's predicament. What had taken her aback was the lack of questioning, not even a single second glance thrown by Pansy. She'd spent the entire night deciding what to do. The lack of communication - the lack of prying - had thrown her off completely. 

She caught sight of her friends rather easily, making her way across the hall as her eyes raked over the Gryffindor table. Her eyes locked with Ron, who was halfway through glumly shoving a piece of bacon into his mouth. His seating position was enough to give away his predicament with Harry,  seated between Seamus and Dean who were deep into their own conversation almost completely ignoring the redhead only to try and bring him into the conversation when they noticed his shoulders slouch even more. Frankie offered him a knowing smile, turning away before he could respond. 

"I mean, the nerve of Harry," Frankie overheard Pansy whisper, "He's totally-"

Pansy jumped slightly as Frankie placed her hands on her shoulders. The other three looked up at her, everyone but Theo wearing a guilty look as Frankie slid in beside Pansy. The group stayed silent for a while, Pansy and Blaise conversing silently with one another across the table, as Frankie tied her shoelaces, basking in the awkward silence she had created. To make Pansy shut up was a feat very few could accomplish and something she considered one of her best tricks. 

"So," Pansy began, playing with a strand of her hair, "How much did you hear exactly?"

"I don't know," Frankie grinned, pouring pineapple juice into her goblet, "How much did you say exactly?"

Pansy glanced at Theo, pleading for some sort of help, only for him to snort and return to his potions homework.

"Come on, Frankie," Draco finally spoke up, leaning on the table, "You can't exactly expect us to love the git. I mean he's so full of himself! He put his own name in the goblet for godsake-"

"Actually, that's exactly what I expect you to do Malfoy," Frankie cut him off, pausing to let the wave of groans pass, "Look, Harry isn't exactly well-loved right now-"

"Cause he put his name in the Goblet of Fire!" Blaise shouted, throwing his hands into the air, "I mean, if any of us tried that? We'd have our heads on a platter for Merlin's sake,"

Frankie silenced him with a scathing look, glaring around the table as she waited for someone else to shout out their opinions. When no one did, partly due to Frankie's piercing gaze, Frankie let out a sigh, "His friends are the ones being gits right now, okay? So we've got to be there for him because the rest of the school sure as hell won't be. It'll be fun, no one will be expecting us to come to his aid, don't you all love seeing people dumbstruck?"

There was a pause. Theo and Blaise shared a glance, snickering - though nodding all the same - at the last comment. Frankie glanced at Draco, rolling her eyes as she caught him staring at his potions book. She knew he would be the hardest to convince, she still wasn't certain whether he actually liked any of them either. 

"Probably Hermione," Pansy finally said, draining the rest of her tea. 

"She's the only good one, it seems," Frankie said. Pansy audibly gasped, loudly covering her mouth to make the rest of their friends laugh. Frankie rolled her eyes. She was glad she didn't have to make Pansy like Hermione's company - that would've been a fruitless effort. 

Frankie turned to Draco, grabbing his hands to make him look directly at her, "Especially you Draco. You need to be nice,"

"Come on Frankie," Draco tried to pull his hands back, but her viper grip was too strong to elicit even a budge, "I'm not being his fake friend just because he can't keep any of his own,"

"Still mad he didn't shake your hand in the first year," Frankie taunted, earning a laugh from the rest of their friends, "And we started out as your fake friends. Now see how close we are,"

Draco narrowed his eyes at the heavy sarcasm, "Should never have told you that... I'm over that anyways, I'm not like that git, and I'm not going to just because you asked,"

"You truly test whether or not I've grown as a person Draco," Frankie retorted, "Every time I don't punt you across the room is a testament to how patient I've become,"

"Truly a saint Marsh," Draco observed sarcastically, finally wrenching his hands-free. 

"You try anything, Draco, and you'll wake up in the Black Lake," Frankie warned as he rubbed his wrists, "That's a promise,"

Draco rolled his eyes but didn't say anything more. The rest of their friends had recommenced their conversations as soon as they began arguing, completely ignoring the event that had transpired. 

"Oh Frankie," Pansy turned towards her, "I'm going to need your potions answers,"

"You seriously need to start learning potions," Frankie shook her head, "You're gonna fail all your tests,"

Pansy shrugged, enveloping Frankie in a hug to seal the deal, "I can just scrap by on my good looks,"

Theo snorted, earning a strong slap on the arm as Pansy began arguing with him. Frankie grabbed a bowl of porridge, wondering if Harry would get along with her friends. They certainly wouldn't remind him of Ron or his other friends, and perhaps that was what Harry needed most. She just hoped her friends wouldn't be too rude.