Chapter 3: His poor way with people

Scratch, scratch, scratch…

Tap, tap, tap…

Henry frowned as he gazed at his papers. This was not what he had been expecting when he had recovered from his injuries. Instead of receiving praise for his clearly heroic deeds he was instead given detention! The nerve of those prissy Gryffindors! And he knew, he knew it was that jerk face Evan's doing. Probably some malarkey about "dark arts" blah, blah, blah. The whole thing made him seethe especially now that she was in charge of detention. And worse, she just left! Probably to… do… stupid Gryffindor things... yeah.

"Hey, uhm… I"

Oh right, and he was also stuck with that crybaby girl. Such is the burden of genius, to be surrounded by lessers. She apparently was to share detention with him, something that Evans was clearly unhappy about.

Henry took a deep breath, "Yes?"

"Well… I just wanted to say… sorry about-"

"Don't worry about it. For someone as amazing as myself, such things are trivial." Henry said trying to act as tough and nonchalant as possible, "In fact, perhaps I should thank you for giving me such an opportunity to once again prove my superiority with such a banal… nuisance if you will."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Okaaay. Weren't you hospitalized for a week?"

"A minor detail. The point is a slew a troll with a single spell. A secret, powerful spell that has been passed down the Snape family for generations."

"Right." Hermione said almost rolling her eyes before recomposing herself, "I guess it was pretty cool."

"But of course I… huh?"

"I mean, it was pretty cool that you beat a troll. I suppose. I mean, I am curious how you did it."

"Oh?" Henry said ears visibly perking up.

"But if it's some big secret then I guess that's that." Hermione said before slowly returning to her book.

"Well," Henry stammered, "I mean, if you are so interested I suppose I could tell you some details of my exploits."

Now, if young Hermione had been a tad more mature and more socially aware, she might have seen the clearly expectant look in Henry's eyes as he asked. But alas, she did not.

Hermione shrugged a little as she tilted her head just a smidge to the left, "I su-"

"Then listen well for I shall not repeat myself." Henry said putting a hand up to silence Hermione whose eyes widened in astonishment.

"There I was, facing down the troll, his massive size easily dwarfing any mountain."

"That's a bit mu-"

And then he swung left, and I ducked right, as the wind from his strike would send any other flying. But I stood my ground firing off a spell right into his gut as he howled in pain.

"Did it?"

Henry ignored her. "In rage, the creature bellowed and swung again! But I was ready, and that was when I unleashed my full dark power and… BOOM!"

Henry used his hands to simulate an explosion with the last part as Hermione merely blinked.

It was at that moment that Henry realized that he might have gone a tad too far.

"So… what spell did you use?" Hermione asked.

Henry paused. He wasn't sure he wanted to tell just anyone this spell.

"I mean, this is like, you know, powerful magic. I'm sure it's something a girl like yourself wouldn't."

"Excuse me! And what's wrong with being a girl?" Hermione said, her voice taking on an edge.

"Nothing!" Henry said quickly throwing his hands up defensively. "It's just, you know… some magic is 'kapow!' And 'bang!' And cool stuff. And you know, for you, maybe you want something more like… 'sparkle sparkle'..."

Hermione almost gaped in shock before turning furious, her face scrunching up like she had eaten a lemon, "You… YOU SLYTHERIN!"

"Whoa what!?" Henry said confused at the sudden hostility to what he knew was an exceptionally polite answer, "What in blazes does that mean!?"

"You Slytherins are all so… arrogant! And racist! And judgmental! Thinking you're better than everyone because of being a boy… or being mudblood or something stupid!"

"What, I don't judge anybody like that! And those kinds of words are beneath me! And I don't think I'm better than anyone because of blood or being a boy. I just am clearly better than everyone!"

Hermione groaned, "Whatever."

Henry huffed through his nostrils, "I'll prove it!"

Grabbing Hermione's papers Henry quickly scanned through it. "Ha, mandrake root!? What a waste when you can use something as common as grave moss!"

"Mandrake root is faster! And it gives you more time to put in the other ingredients!"

"…Really? I mean, uhm… so what!?"

"So it's clearly better!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Uh… Huh! And you know what, you probably have dozens of mistakes!"

"I challenge you to find but one!"

Hermione grabbed his papers and started rifling through but as the seconds turned to minutes, Henry's leer gave way to a victorious grin.

"Ha, I simply cannot stop being-"

"Here."

Hermione presented Henry with a page of his writing. "You spelled "Bezoar" wrong! Multiple times!"

Henry's eyes widened for a brief second before turning smug once more, "That is the… the Arabic spelling, also known as the better way to spell it."

"Really?" Hermione asked incredulously.

"Of course" Henry said using as much of his bluffing skills as he could muster which thankfully worked in this situation.

"Hmmm…" Hermione scratched her chin, "There's a dictionary somewhere around here let me-"

"In any case," Henry said with a cough and a bit of sputter, "Clearly you have some skill I must admit. Though you are still a distant fourth."

Hermione opened her mouth but decided that that was probably the best she was getting from him and decided to let the conversation move elsewhere, "Fourth?"

"Well obviously, I am third" Henry, "And my father is second and Merlin himself is first."

"Merlin?" Hermione asked, "I heard of him."

"I should hope so." Henry said ruffling his robes, "He's only the greatest wizard the world has ever seen."

"More than Dumbledore?"

"More than a million Dumbledores!" Henry said throwing his arms up, "He saved the Wizarding and muggle world from destruction and worked to bring Avalon to this world."

Seeing Hermione's confused look Henry dug out an old and worn out book from his pack.

"Avalon is a dream. A dream where everyone, wizard, muggles and all magical creatures can live together equally and in harmony. Where everyone can be whatever the best they can be without being judged. In fact, his vision and his skills as a wizard is the reason I chose to be in Slytherin."

"Really?" Hermione asked incredulously, "A Sly- He believed that? Even muggleborns?"

"Yes, in fact he tried to rid the wizarding world of such words."

"Oh… that sounds… nice." Hermione said, "Can I see?"

"Henry narrowed his eyes, "For a little bit. But this book is mine. You should get your own from the library if you want to read it."

Hermione took the book to look at it. "You know. When I first started wizarding school, I was really happy. But… on the bus… I met some other girls and at first they were nice… until they realized that I was…"

Hermione trailed off. But Henry knew. "Are they all in Slytherin?"

"Most of them. But one is in Gryffindor. And to top it all off apparently there has been a war going on with people wanting to exterminate people like me."

"Yes. I know. The wizarding world sucks. Almost as much as the muggle world."

"The muggle world isn't so bad. We at least have equality and freedom."

"I lived in the muggle world too." Henry argued, "Can't say I agree. But that's the way the world is. For now. As Merlin said, 'Mere wand waving won't fix it.'"

A peeling bell rang through the halls signaling that their detention was over and supper had begun.

"Anyways, those purebloods are always spouting nonsense. Just ignore it."

"It really doesn't bother you that I'm muggleborn?"

"It means nothing to me." Henry said with immediately, "Anyways, see you later. I guess."

Hermione nodded. "Later."

The two scurried about collecting their things before leaving and as they closed the door behind them, a figure materialized. Taking a step forward Lily gazed at the door.

"Doesn't matter…" Lily whispered.

How strange for the son of a Death Eater to say. A ruse perhaps?

AN: Hello everyone, sorry for the really late update. This chapter was a real struggle for me mostly because I wanted to try and show Henry as more of an ambitious dreamer and child. I will probably make edits as it does feel incomplete in a lot of ways. Please review.