Chapter 3: Connections

Several moment passed as the two stared at each other, both bewildered by the other's presence in each other's view and unable to look away. However, Daphne managed to regain her sense, summoning her stoic mask onto her face.

"I must say it is a surprise to be seeing you here of all places, Potter. I thought you'd be too busy gallivanting with your friends Granger and Weasley," She commented airily waving her hand in a dismissive action and adjusted her skit while keeping her eyes remained on him. "Then again I suppose it's not a complete surprise that even you of all people needed some space. However, is it really safe for you to be wandering about so openly?"

For a brief moment Harry could have sworn that there had been a hint of concern and worry within her voice, but eventually he ignored it. The ice queen of Slytherin wasn't known for being affectionate let alone caring for anyone other than her sister, Astoria. Which wasn't all that surprising as from what he had noticed any member of the Slytherin House that wasn't under Malfoy's thumb remained to themselves, it was safer and kept them from being lumped into the same category as other particular members of the serpents had been; notably Zabini and Nott, whom initially were not part of the group, but still held the same ideas and targeted those that were beneath them yet they never went too far, if only to keep themselves from being discovered. Not that it mattered. With Snape on their side none of them could be punished for their actions. They gleefully flaunted the immunity at the rest of the houses mockingly.

It sickened him even further, proving how ineffective of a teacher the greasy haired git truly was. Not that Dumbledore was truly any better in his opinion, even if Harry respected the man, sometimes he wondered just how blind he was.

But that was neither here nor that was at this point.

"I do have a life outside of Ron and Hermione, Greengrass. Contrary to the popular belief the three of us are not attached at the hip," Harry responded flatly, raising an eyebrow and giving a tiny smirk. But the emotion reflected on his face suddenly changed to the opposite, his brows furrowing in confusion. "What exactly are you talking about?"

Daphne rolled her eyes, pinning an exasperated look. "Oh I see, you're going for the brave and clueless? I thought you were better than that Potter."

"No. Really, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Potter, this facade is..." Her words trailed off, she stared at him then her eyes widened, taken aback. "Y... you really have no idea what I'm talking about do you?"

"That's why I'm asking," Harry answered, irritated, massaging his temple and sending the girl a tired look. "Just tell me what's going on here? I'm really not in the mood for any bullshit today."

The auburn haired girl didn't respond immediately, her jaw still dropped but struggling to close it, her eyes blinked rapidly before a fierce expression lined her features. She grabbed him by the arm rather abruptly, throwing her head back at him. "This way," she growled out in frustrations, murmuring incoherently in anger. Her grip proved to be strong, stronger then Hermione's at any rate, tugging him along passing by the crowds of people and he nearly stumbled along the way, uncertain where she was dragging him to.

Not that he was bothering to fight back; it didn't seem like there would be much of a point to it, really. However, that wasn't to say he wasn't the tiniest bit curious as to where Daphne was bringing him anyway. It was unlike the Slytherin girl to react in such a manner and he was so intrigued that he was willing play along for the moment. Oddly enough, no one seemed to spare them even a glance; they were far too busy with their own things. Usually the sounds of gossip could be heard from a mile away pointing out their houses and making petty accusations. Perhaps the real world was truly a different place?

No. Harry didn't really think so. Nothing was that easy, not when the Wizarding World was concerned.

Eventually they came to a small bookstore located not too far from Gringotts bank. They headed straight inside without a hitch, coming to a small wooden table near the windows where three other girls sat. They looked up from their books, staring with mixture of surprise and confusion. One of them Harry recognized far too well, Susan Bones of Hufflepuff House, personally he didn't have a problem with her but that didn't mean he was going to be nice to her especially after how she and the rest of her house had treated him during the previous year. While he came off as an easy and forgiving person which was truly the truth, the callous and cold attitude that the house had adopted – even if it was justified regarding the event where Justin had been petrified – still had gone far too long, nearly driving him out of Hogwarts. He had admired their loyalty to one another, but to act as if they were the so-called 'defenders' against 'evil' was laughable. They ran whenever met with confrontation, jumped to conclusions and whined like babies when they were unable to get what they wanted.

It reminded him eerily of the Slytherin House to a level, but without the racial ideologist being integrated into it. Now it wasn't to say that any house was better or worse than the other, all of them had their flaws and problems; but it was the radical emphasis on their reactions. During his first year, once it had been discovered that Ron, Hermione, Neville and himself had lost a hundred and fifty points, their entire house turned away from them, practically disowning them and ignoring their existence outright and not caring of their excuses. Hufflepuff merely believed if one person had wronged one of their members they had wronged them all and seeking out revenge no matter how petty and hurtful it was, reviling within it like a bunch of animals. Ravenclaw and Slytherin hadn't acted out yet, however, there had been interesting rumors floating around about what Ravenclaws did to oddities, though Harry wasn't able to confirm anything solid.

And in all honesty Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to know how Slytherins acted out once riled up.

Susan, who had some amount of decency, gave a short nod of acknowledgement with a hint of regret flashing through her eyes. "Potter," she greeted neutrally.

"Bones," Harry returned the greeting politely giving a stiff nod towards her direction, his eyes shifted towards the other girl that sat with them. "Ummm...?"

"Su Li." The girl gave a faint smile bowing her head very calmly. "A Ravenclaw in the same year, it is alright, since our Houses are hardly paired together during class; it's understandable that my name would escape you. I hope that we are able to become friends, Potter."

Harry flushed at the elegance of her words and tone rubbing the back of his head, bowing his head back. "Y-Yeah, right back at you Li!"

She smiled gesturing towards the spare seat. "In that case please sit, join us. The more the merrier."

"Umm...thank you," Harry found himself compelled to follow through with the request placing himself into the seat ignoring the stare at Daphne was directed towards him. He felt rather out of place compared to the usual, since outside of Ron and Hermione he had never really talked to anyone else. Though there had been his Quidditch mates, however, they weren't in particular close to him. "So how have your summers been?" He attempted to start a conversation.

"Mine has been delightful," Su answered with a warm smile on her face. "I visited my relatives back in Hong Kong, it was very pleasant."

Susan shrugged her shoulders focusing on the book lying in front of her. "Mine was alright. But with what's going on it could have been much better."

"Why's that?" Harry's brows furrowed not understanding and suddenly found himself being on the receiving end of incredulous stares. His body shifted uncomfortably wondering if he had said something wrong. "W-what did I say?"

Daphne shot Susan a flat look. "Understand why I brought him here now?"

"Yes." The Hufflepuff ran her hand through her hair exasperatedly, switching her gaze towards him wearing a pensive expression with a tight frown. Her eyes flashed with a gleam that appeared too fast for him to interpret, folding her hands onto the table followed by a small sigh as her posture changed into a more business like stance. "Have you been reading the prophet as of lately, Potter?" She asked in a soft gentle tone carried with a sharp edge that caused bells inside head to ring.

"No. Why, should I?" His eyes narrowed suspiciously.

Susan nodded firmly. "Yes, you should have since it concerns you most of all."

"In what way do you mean?" Harry asked, pressing his lips together not entirely trusting to speak further. The quicker he received some answers the faster he'd be able to make some progress of where to go from there.

"Does the name Sirius Black ring a bell to you?" Daphne retorted not allowing a chance for Susan to speak.

This time his eyebrows furrowed themselves in confusion. "You mean the guy that was on the telly –err that's how muggles receiving the news," Harry added hurriedly, desperate to get some information. "He was on a news bulletin before I arrived here and ran into Greengrass. What does that have to do with anything?"

"A lot," Daphne said succinctly. "In fact, that man was not only You-Know-Who's right hand man and responsible for the deaths of twelve or so muggles, but he also happened to be close to your parents. Actually, from what I've managed to dig up Sirius Black was also responsible for outright selling your parents to the Dark Lord."

That piece of information hit Harry like a ton of bricks. His body froze in horror unable to fully comprehend what he had just been told; his hands shook with shock trying to regain control over them but to no avail. Swallowing thickly he stared into the sympathetic stares of Susan, drifting towards the stoic sorrow of Su and lastly the masked expression of Daphne as her words slowly began to settle in his mind. He could tell that what he had been told was the truth. His parents had been betrayed. They had been betrayed by someone that they had trusted. An array of feelings overwhelmed him as shock had dissipated turning into sadness, eventually into anger and hatred before finally deciding upon coldness.

He kept his thoughts to himself opting to observe the three girls since he did not entirely trust himself to speak. Why had Daphne told him this anyway, what purpose did it serve?

"Why tell me this?" Harry asked slowly, pressing his lips together frowning while he spoke.

"Regardless of what you may think of us Slytherins Potter, not all of us are out to get you, nor do we have any animosity towards you. Most of us anyhow," The Ice Queen clarified flippantly, briefly closing her eyes. "However, you suspiciousness is well founded. I cannot fault you for that, especially due to your encounters with Malfoy over the years. I assure you that I wish no ill intent upon you, whether you believe it or not, that is the truth."

"I've known Daphne growing up," Susan reassured backing the girl up. "You can trust her Potter-"

Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "And I should trust you, Bones? After the stunt you and the other Hufflepuffs pulled last year?"

The girl winced upon being called out of her actions. She had been one of the few that spread the rumor of him being Slytherin Heir, helping to encourage the rest of the Badger House to seek out against him. Upon discovery of his innocence, she hadn't been one of the few that apologized. By no means was Harry the type to hold childish grudges, with the exception of Malfoy and Snape, but that hadn't meant that he was going to forget; and a sting of guilt surfaced upon seeing the shameful look that appeared before he quickly stomped that feeling out. As painful as it had been, he needed to be provided a reason to trust them, too much was riding on this.

If this Black guy had been responsible for his parent's deaths he couldn't afford to allow the man to discover that his brother was alive. Harry refused to let any danger get close to his brother.

"You're right, you're absolutely right Potter. You have absolutely no reason to trust in me...in us." Susan began softly staring at him calmly. "I will admit that I have done you wrong in the past; slandering you, crusading against you and openly verbally assaulting you. I want to rectify that now; I'm sorry. I am truly, honestly sorry."

Harry could see the sincerity within her words. "Your apology is accepted, Bones. How about we start over?" He said with a gentle smile on his face holding out his hands towards her. "My name is Harry Potter, nice to meet you!"

The shock shined within her eyes, she was not expecting such answer before a soft smile stretched across her faces. She gripped the hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you, my name's Susan Bones."

"Yes, yes, we're all friends now. Whatever," Daphne rolled her eyes at the sentimental display, shaking her head. "Now that we have all of that out of the way how about we all get down to business?"

"Business?" Harry repeated confused.

Now she looked rather irritated. "Yes Potter, business. Obviously there are things that we need to discuss, don't you agree?"

"Like what?" He was still rather lost.

"Do try to use your brain sometime Potter, stupidity doesn't suit you." Daphne drawled out shaking her head and leaned against her chair. Her fingers moved to her temple for several moments as she recomposed herself. "It seems being in the Lion's House has dimmed you down somewhat, or perhaps this is Granger's influence?"

Harry's eyes narrowed at her words. "What's that supposed to mean Greengrass?"

"As smart as Granger is she doesn't really know when to stop and think about her actions does she? Always believing that her way is the right one," the Slytherin answered waving her hand dryly, cocking an eyebrow. "Looking up to authority figures as if they're the next Merlin believing in every little word that comes from their mouths-"

"That may have been right back when she first arrived but she's grown since then," Harry protested vehemently glaring at Daphne.

The girl was taken aback by the sudden defense blinking several times before masking her expression. "Is that so? Hm. We'll see once we get to Hogwarts now won't we?"

"What do you have against Hermione anyway? She hasn't done anything to you as far as I know." Harry stated rather interested in why Daphne had gone after his friend like that, granted there had been times where Hermione had gotten on his nerves but they were rare and far between. When it came to homework she did have a habit of nagging and biting his and Ron's head off, however, even he could not deny the fact that they had deserved it though he liked to think those days were in the past. Especially since did the majority of his work he did on his own, only asking Hermione for help if necessary. Not that he had ever actually copied off of anyone anyway; it never sat right with him.

That had been more Ron's thing than his own though perhaps that hadn't been the right mentality and he should have discouraged his friend from copying off of Hermione. Though in retrospect he highly doubted that Ron would have listened to him, besides Hermione always did make him work for it in the end!

"It is not that Granger is not an intelligent person, Harry. Rather she has a habit of being closed minded," Su began calmly trying to placate the table taking deep breaths as her gaze fell over the table until settling upon Harry, even though she kept herself stoic. "She has a difficult time believing that it is possible for others to be right thrusting her ideologies upon others without considering certain customs that Purebloods and Half-bloods were raised with."

Harry frowned at her words. "I... don't really understand." Why customs was she talking about anyway?

"I believe that may be another reason why Daphne has brought you here today," Su added with a gentle smile on her face.

"Is this one of that Pureblood supremacy bullshit?" Harry growled coldly, his eyes narrowed into slits looking at the three gripping the edges of the table glaring at them. After the previous year he was in absolutely in no mood to be dealing with such pointless propaganda least of which was used by Voldemort and his followers. "If it I'm out of here. I don't believe it and will not be converted into that way of thinking-" And he made his way to leave.

Susan quickly lunged forward grabbing onto his arm. "It's not what you think it is Harry!"

"Then explain it to me!" Harry snapped at her, eyes flashing brightly. His mood had progressively gone downhill since this little intervention had started, frankly he just wanted to go back to his room in the Leaky Cauldron and fall asleep. This was just too much for handle.

"Just...calm down Potter," Daphne began swallowing thickly raising her hands in defense with a flicker emotion passing within her eyes. "I promise none of us support the Dark Lord, his ideologies or anything like that. We can swear an oath to you if want authenticity of our words."

'Oaths?'He thought vaguely. What type of magic was that?

"Judging by the confusion that's written on your face Potter you have no idea what an Oath is do you? In layman's terms it's like an agreement with magic, you could say. We can put our anything we have on the line, something we own; books, moneys, materials, even our own lives and magic if needed be. If what we say is false we'll be punished by having one of those stripped away from us, but if we say the truth then nothing will happen." Daphne explained raising her hands to the air.

A tense silence reigned over them feeling the intense stares burning directly at him. No one dared to do anything in fear of causing something to happen as each of them exchanged wary glances; none of them certain of how to proceed. They waited for his answer. Wanting to see just how he would respond. That much Harry was aware of, but how? That was the question having never been placed in a situation quite like this before he didn't want to risk alienating potential friends and doing something stupid like he usually did.

There was only one answer he could honestly give.

"I don't think an oath is necessary Greengrass," Harry ran his hand through his hair shaking his head. "I don't know why but..I trust you."

Daphne let out a long relieved sigh, allowing a tiny smile to grace her features. "Perhaps you're not as bad as Malfoy had portrayed you, Potter. That was quite honorable, I know a few Slytherins that would have jumped at the chance to get me in an Oath."

"What Malfoy has told you is pretty much worth dragon dung," Harry retorted not unkindly shrugging his shoulders and returned the smiled. "I'm glad that I've managed to chance your opinion of me."

"Don't push it Potter, you're long ways off before you can ever think about asking me out," Daphne rebuked teasingly, flashing a flirtatious wink on response grinning widely seeing the blush that began to spread across his face. "Oh my... is the little golden Gryffindor blushing?"

Harry averted his gaze. "N-not blushing!"

"Sure you aren't," Daphne smirked at him playfully. "Don't worry Potter, I'm sure in the next year or so you'll be ready. Once we're done with you, of course."

"What's that supposed to mea-"

"Don't worry about that right now," Susan interrupted, effectively cutting him off and smiled. "How about we focus on the now rather than the later, right girls?"

Daphne nodded her head arrogantly. "Yes, I quite agree Susan."

"I concur," Su agreed with a smile on her face.

Deciding not to question it further he merely nodded in silence.

"Just a bit off topic but why aren't you with Ron and Hermione? You three travel together everywhere," The Hufflepuff brought curiously.

A frown marred on his face managing to keep himself from going on a tirade of annoyance. "You know the three of us aren't attached at the hip, right?" A teasing grin took the place of the frown as Harry watched Susan blush deeply. "I came to Diagon Alley on my own. And, I haven't really gotten a chance to owl either of them."

"That was a dangerous move. You could have gotten yourself killed," Daphne interjected instantly.

Harry sent her a pointed look. "Let me guess it's because Sirius Black is after me because I killed his precious master right? What else is new, Quirrel tried to kill me twice during first year and then Voldemort's memory attempted again the previous year. I fail to see what makes this year so different."

"Quirrell?" Came Daphne's gawked.

"Memory?"

"You're taking this quite well," Su commented sincerely not at all bothered.

"I'm rather used to attempts on my life by now." Harry informed her shrugging absently; such things were nearly inevitable especially if one's name was 'Harry Potter'. "Worst case scenario I'll end up critically injured ending up in the hospital wing under Madam Pomfrey's care until the end of June when the train is about to leave."

The Asian girl giggled softly. "She's rather protective of her patients isn't she?"

"I'm convinced that the bed at the far end on the left has permanently become my bed," Harry said in all seriousness nodding firmly.

"At least you have a bed to sleep in if the need arises," Su pointed out.

Harry blinked tilting his heads and chuckled. "You have a point there, I'll have to remember that sometime. That is if Pomfrey would ever let me sleep there if I wasn't injured." The image of the infirmary appeared in his mind playing out the scenario, eventually him ending up getting thrown onto a bed and inspected inside and out. It was rather full of humors.

"Never hurts to ask," Su pointed out sagely, nodding.

"You have a point there," He chuckled at the response.

Daphne stared at them head swiftly between them before throwing her hands up dramatically. "You're nuts. The both of you!"

"I can tell that there's never going to be a dull moment with you, Harry." Susan giggled smiling widely.

Harry blushed shyly. "I-I don't know about that Susan." His eyes flickered to the ground suddenly finding it fascinating, glancing back up to see the smiling faces of the girls. Slowly a smile began to form, he still felt rather odd being complimented in such a manner though it had been a rather nice change.

"From the rumors that circulate around the school," Daphne began seriously eyeing him. "You live a rather interesting life."

Rumors. It was a normal thing at Hogwarts which many students used as a way to get news no matter how ridiculous it sounded; they would eat it up like no tomorrow. He had encountered quite a strange number of rumors; one in particular that remained in his mind had been the so-called declaration he was the Heir of Slytherin, thinking back on the event a lot of them had reason to believe in it once he had revealed that he was capable of speaking parseltongue. Not that he had known it was something to be looked down upon; all things considered he probably would have been on their side if things had been in reverse. Yet, it had taught him a valuable lesson about thinking for oneself and his opinion overall for the students of Hogwarts.

Which was already rather low to begin with.

"I wouldn't trust in rumors, Daphne. You never really know if there's any truth in them," Harry stated easily, not confirming or denying the accusation.

Su's lips twitched. "You already brought up Quirrell and He-who-must-be-named's memory." She pointed out.

Oh...yeah...shit.

Thankfully, Susan seemed to sense his discomfort and came to his rescue. "So, what classes are you taking this year Harry?"

"Hm? Oh, I decided on Care of Magical Creatures and Divination." Harry answered her. He didn't know what to sign up for, eventually settling on some that sounded rather interesting. "I've always liked animals growing up, so that's why I decided to take COMC-"

"And Divination?" Su prompted with curiosity.

Harry shrugged sheepishly. "It sounded interesting, being able to see into the future and read signs. And..."

"And?" Daphne raised an eyebrow.

"No one really bothered to tell me what Ancient Runes and Arithmancy were. I tried talking with Percy about it but all he told me to do was play by my strengths," When he had asked the third eldest Weasley he hadn't given him much information merely saying that piece of advice before heading somewhere else. When he tried to talk to Fred and George, neither of them had been much help due to being busy with developing a new prank and he was unable to find Angelina, Alicia or Katie to get their opinions and Oliver...

He thought it was best to leave Oliver to his own devices all things considered.

"I've always heard that Divination was a complete and total waste of time from what the upper years have said," Susan mentioned thoughtfully, tilting her head. "I don't know if that's true or not though. I think it's best for you to find that out for yourself."

"You could always drop it and take something else up instead," Su continued politely nodding.

"I guess," Harry murmured quietly, in all honesty his thoughts hadn't been on school at all and more focused upon finding his brother than anything else, if Divination did turn out to be useless at least he'd be able to use that class as an excuse to further his search instead of wasting time. "Are any of you taking Divination or Care of Magical Creatures?"

"I'm taking COMC, Ancient Runes," Susan answered with a giggle. "And Arithmancy, my Aunt Amelia pushed me towards it if I wanted to take over for her once I was of age."

"Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. They were the only courses I found practical and useful for the future," Daphne drawled out with a shrug. "My father is on the ICW and my mother is on the Healer Board at St. Mungos, inevitably I'll end up going into one of those careers. I'm leaning towards being a Healer rather than dealing with childish politicians."

"I'll be taking the same as Susan and Daphne. As the heiress to the Li Family I have a duty to my family to take over the company one day," Su said in a very calm and proud tone, her posture was straight upon saying this. "It's been passed down from mother to daughter for centuries ever since we lived in China and continued to grow when he re-located here to Britain, it deals with both the magical side and muggle side equally. We don't believe in any of that blood nonsense, just because one person has magic and the other does not means nothing. My father is actually a muggle believe it or not."

"My aunt is the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," Susan followed up after the other two girls, smiling. "I've always wanted to succeed her one day!"

For the first time in what seemed like forever a feeling of jealousy seemed to surface listening to the three talk about their family and their history's with such ease, he barely knew anything about his own parents other then they had been in Gryffindor and his father had been a Chaser; and it hadn't been for the lack of trying. He had tried to access the school archives and photos trying to find any of his parents friends only to turn up empty, even after asking Madam Pince for help hadn't done much either. When he had asked Hagrid about his parents his friend would instantly change the subject back to school, at first he had thought it was because the man didn't really know much but now that Harry was honestly thinking about it clearly now, maybe he had been hiding something?

It would explain why Daphne had brought up Sirius Black to him and perhaps why Hagrid was being so tight lipped about everything. Could that mean that they knew of his brother's existence? A moment of hesitation flicker within before dissipating, he highly doubted that.

The real question was where could he access information about his family anyway? The obvious answer had been Gringotts. But, he highly doubted that they would bother helping him with his family issues...right?

"What other things does Gringotts handle other than money?" Harry asked without beating around the bush.

The three girls had been rather surprised by the question, remaining quiet for another several moments before Susan answered. "Other than money? Not much from what my Auntie tells me, I know that they hire curse breakers, Wills, and all that."

"They also have a hand in travel too," Su Li piped him. Her eyes seemed fixated on him never blinking. "Why do you ask?"

"Just...curious," Come his stuttered answer, ignoring the air of disbelief that appeared. "That's all."

Daphne made a move to say something only to be stopped by Susan, who touched her hand sending a stern look at her causing the Slytherin girl to back down. Who knew that Susan had such a strong hold over the Ice Queen? It was rather funny.

But now he knew where to go and what needed to be done. That would be the first thing on his list to do once the next day came, leaving now would only elevate unnecessary suspicion. For now he would spend the day with his three new friends.

But once tomorrow came around he planned on springing his plan into action.

Chapter end.

And so ends chapter 3! I apologize for the long wait, this chapter was giving me a bit of grief in the beginning, but after beating it down it finally decided to cooperate with me! I also want to thank my beta; Shanagi95 for the awesome job that he did and all my readers and reviewers for giving their support for this fic!

For those who are questioning why Daphne knows about Sirius Black that will be revealed down the line in the chapters!

Make sure to have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

With that until next time and make sure to leave constructive criticism in your review!