Shorter chapter for you as this is pretty much just the book reading reaction. Hope you enjoy anyway.

Disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters and this is not a way for me to criticize the books. It's just how I believe the characters would react if they read JK Rowling's brilliant work.

In This Chapter: Harry has his second quidditch game, the trio finally find out who Nicolas Flamel is, Neville and Ron defend themselves against Malfoy, and Harry overhears a conversation between Snape and Quirrell that makes Snape seem even more guilty.

Chapter 13

If Harry thought his fame was unnerving before, it had nothing on how it was now. He was sure, before, that it was impossible for him to get more famous. Especially considering he had been schooling with his peers for five years and they hated him every other year. But the damn books, they were ruining everything.

He was starting to be convinced that somewhere among the students there was a fanclub made. Colin, who had calmed down a bit since Harry's second year, was back to his excited fanboy ways. People whispered in every hallway he turned in and they were so obvious about it he wondered why they bothered whispering at all.

As if all of this weren't annoying and invasive enough, he found that his relationships seemed to be getting a lot of attention as well. Not him and Cho, not yet at least. Cho was an entire other issue. It wasn't even specifically romantic relations that caught people's attention. His friendship with Ron and Hermione had gotten very popular. They had been pretty much officially dubbed the Golden Trio in the last week. Being called a trio wasn't entirely new, as every so often they would be named as such by their housemates affectionately. But now everyone was calling them that.

"It's such a great mix, isn't it?" said a girl who hadn't known the 'Golden Trio' was just a few paces behind her and her friend. "Hermione's the brain of the Golden Trio, Ron's the brawns of it, and Harry's a mix!"

All three looked at each other with similar expressions of ire. While the girl likely thought she was paying them each a fantastic compliment, even if she didn't know she'd practically said it to them, they disagreed.

"Lovely to be reduced to one single aspect of a brand," Hermione muttered.

"At least you've got brains." Ron said.

"Just think, we've got seven books of this." Harry shoved his hands in his pockets.

Eventually, the three would have to accept this sort of talk and find a way to put it out of all of their minds. It was not the only part of the books that Harry wanted to put out of his mind. He wanted to forget all about the beginning of the book with the Dursleys. He tried to put them out of his mind while at school, and he certainly hadn't appreciated them being brought up in the way it had been. The school seemed to be moving on from the subject, at least a little, as everyone was as engrossed with the mystery of Nicolas Flamel as he and his friends had been at eleven. It was a little annoying how often he'd been asked about who Nicolas Flamel was, especially considering it would be explained in the book very soon. But Harry would rather answer questions about Flamel than to answer questions about what went on when he was in Number 4, Privet Drive. One person in particular, however, didn't seem to get the hint.

Harry's relationship with Cho was arguably the best it had been since it started. This wasn't saying much about the relationship itself considering Harry had reduced the girl to tears twice since they'd last restarted things. Not that it was hard.

Cho seemed to think that what Harry really needed was to talk about what his aunt, uncle, and cousin put him through. She would push and push, asking questions, wanting to know more about what they did to him. When she would push too hard, Harry couldn't help getting short with her, which lead to, yeah, crying. He knew her heart was in the right place, she wanted to be his shoulder to cry on, to get all of that oppressive childhood tension out of him so she could fully be there when he broke. (These were Hermione's words when he asked her about it. He had been quite annoyed with her when she said he would break and even debated not talking to her for the rest of the day but she realized she upset him and apologized at once.)

All and all, the books were nothing but a nuisance to him. He doubted anything would change his mind about this. While his friends weren't so happy about the books either, there was at least one person who hated the books probably as much as him, and that person and his friends had just finished reading the thirteenth chapter.

Draco Malfoy sat gloomily on his bed, reflecting that not long ago he was in a similar position with a completely different opinion on the book he'd just finished reading. Before he was eager to read, not anymore. The only thing that made him feel better was the fact that Potter didn't seem to be enjoying things better than him. He had no urge to contact any more reporters about Potter's life, partially because nothing really came of it last time. Also partially because something just told him not to.

Draco put his quill away. Blaise, the secret nerd he was, was serious about analyzing Weasel's behavior for any potential Slytherin qualities. Therefore in response to such a ridiculous time waster, Draco did the opposite as he said he would. He didn't really enjoy it but he would be damned if he were proven wrong. Blaise also went above and beyond and started looking into qualities of Slytherin in Potter and Granger, so Draco did the same and glared at Blaise as much as possible as he did it.

"Snape, dear God. How can one innocent man be so suspicious? The mystery is solved and everyone knows he's not the one behind it all and even I suspect him." Blaise said.

"Agreed. I mean he asked Quirrell if he managed to get past Hagrid's beast yet." Pansy said. "He couldn't be more suspicious if he tried."

"Potter shouldn't be following Snape anyway, though." Draco said. "He should mind his own, bloody business."

"What's up your ass?" Pansy asked irritatedly.

"Didn't you read Dumbledore coming down and thanking Potter directly after the game?" Draco asked looking very likely to spit on the ground in the same manner Snape had in the chapter. "Who else would he do that for? Name another student? In fact, name another headmaster who has ever done that for a student!"

"I don't know other headmasters, Dumbledore's been around for like a thousand years." Blaise said.

"I'm just saying, it's times like these that remind me why Potter can get away with bloody everything." Draco grumbled.

Pansy opened her mouth, but quickly closed it. Draco noticed though.

"Oh go ahead, defend your boyfriend." Draco's voice was calm but it was obvious he was frustrated.

"Now you're just being stupid. I wasn't going to defend him, I was just going to play devil's advocate for a second. But I know how you freak out and get all pissy and sensitive about this subject so I thought better of it." Pansy shot back.

Blaise let out a long sigh and debated, not for the first time, finding new people to read with. Pansy and Draco were always going at it. Pansy didn't so much defend Potter as she understood it was difficult not to see things from his perspective when they were reading from it. Blaise understood that, in fact, most people understood that. But Draco was too stubborn to admit to the same thing and only got angry anytime anyone so much as suggested anything in Potter's favor. It didn't mean they were all cosying up to Boy Wonder, or that anyone even liked him any better and they certainly didn't treat him differently. It was just about recognizing there are always at least two sides to everything and they were now seeing the other side. Draco didn't see it this way.

"I'm not getting pissy, I mean it. Go ahead and say what you're thinking. I'd love to hear it this time." Draco sat up and put on a fake attentive face.

"No, because you'll say something in response that will make me have to hex you." Pansy crossed her arms.

"She was probably going to say that he finds himself in situations that require him to have a little more attention." Draco's betrayed eyes snapped to him. If Blaise knew him, he probably was feeling ganged up on. Blaise thought he knew Draco pretty well even if before this year they weren't really friends as much as they were dormmates. "He's a student that requires special needs. Of course it's not a regular thing for the headmaster to take time out of his day to watch a quidditch game, but if there's the chance a student is going to buck off his broom, he's gonna be there to make sure he can prevent said kid from dying. And maybe see if anyone's being suspicious."

Draco's nostrils flared in that way they do when he's angry but he only said, "Whatever."

"I agree, though." Blaise said. "There are times the teachers go far too easy on him and his little friends."

"I know!" Draco practically exploded. "That's all I was saying, and you two act like I was saying something wrong! You wouldn't care if I said that about Saint Potter before-"

"But we also never had all the facts! It's confusing okay?" Pansy finally admitted. "I mean, for years he was just a symbol of everything I stood against! And he was favored by all of the teachers but Snape, and he had his little mudblood friend Granger and the blood traitor Weasel. That was all I knew! But now, well now the books are making him human and it's... weird. Everything I knew about him is still true only I know more about him, but you always get angry at me whenever- Oh just forget it." She had seen the look on Draco's face and he didn't look any ready to budge.

"Look, Draco, if Potter had an entire book on your life, I'm sure he'd be just as confused." Blaise said. "Although I bet he'd be more understanding than you're being, based on what we've read so far. In fact, I reckon Weasel would be the difficult one. Maybe you two are more alike than you think."

"That's not funny." Draco said scowling at Blaise's smirk. "I still think what I said is true, the Gryffindors recruit based on who's most pathetic. I especially think so now that Weasel King's on the team. He's got no money, no brains, and no skill."

Blaise and Pansy couldn't help but laugh at that, and Crabbe and Goyle, who were in the room but easily forgettable, seemed to realize it was okay to laugh again too. For a moment, Draco didn't feel like his whole world had turned upside down. He smirked.

Until Pansy said, "Well sure, but why'd you have to go on and say that to him?"

"Oh don't go defending Weasley as well!"

"I'm not defending him, Draco. I'm calling you an idiot. It's like you're asking to get beat up by antagonizing them." Pansy rolled her eyes.

"You do the same thing to Granger and the other Gryffindor girls." Blaise shrugged.

"Well yeah, to girls. Girls don't really fight physically, all they'll do is try to insult me." Pansy said. "But Draco, you push their buttons enough for little Weasels to give you a black eye. And just this year, you got even Potter provoked enough to beat you senseless with one of the Weasley twins, don't ask me which one."

"Yeah but look at what happened. Pomfrey can fix me up in a minute, but they all got a lifelong ban on quidditch." Draco folded his arms. "Believe me, I know what I'm doing."

Pansy rolled her eyes but looked amused. "If you say so."

"At least I know where Longbottom got that ridiculous 'worth ten of you' thing. Potter should stop putting thoughts like that in his head. It's how he ended up knocked out in the hospital wing when he thought he could actually take on Crabbe and Goyle." Draco snickered, as did Crabbe and Goyle when they thought of that day. "And then Weasley saying he should stand up to me, that's a laugh. He can't even stand up to his own bloody toad!"

Blaise and Pansy snorted and all five friends laughed at the expense of Longbottom. "That's not the only mystery solved. I told you it was smarter to just wait and see if they figure out who Nicolas Flamel is in the book rather than to attempt and research it."

"I knew who Flamel was." Pansy said inspecting her nails. "I'm surprised you two didn't."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Draco asked. Pansy shrugged.

"I liked knowing something you didn't."

Blaise laughed while Draco leaned back on his bed, not really annoyed but not quite amused enough to laugh. His mind was on something else as well.

"The only one I pitied during this chapter was Snape." Draco said.

"What are you on about now?" Pansy sighed.

"I'm only saying, because Potter couldn't stay on his broom, Dumbledore probably wanted someone actually competent to referee the game. But of course that didn't occur to Potter." Draco said. "And that perhaps Snape was bitter because he felt he had better things to do than to sit and make sure Potter doesn't get killed."

"What are you trying to say? That Potter doesn't think? Because I'll agree with you there." Pansy said and Draco smiled like he'd been waiting for that all afternoon. Because he sort of had. He wanted to say something bad about Potter and have Pansy just bloody agree with him. Like she used to. Like she still did, but not without 'playing devil's advocate' as she would call it.

"Are you happy now?" Pansy asked with a raised eyebrow. Draco shrugged for an answer, trying to look casual. He leaned back on his bed. "Well are we done with this chapter? Can we move on to chapter fourteen?"

"No," came the unexpected answer from Goyle.

"Why not?" Blaise asked. "You have something to add?"

"Erm, no." Goyle said. "But we can't go to chapter fourteen."

He showed that he was trying to turn the next page but it was stuck. "Oh, Umbridge hasn't opened it up for us yet." Pansy realized.

"But didn't she tell us she wanted us to have finished the first book by Monday?" Draco asked.

"We'll have to read it this weekend. I think she said there were seventeen chapters in total. So we'll read fourteen and fifteen tomorrow and sixteen and seventeen Sunday.. Merlin, can you believe that by Monday we'll have read all of the first book?" Pansy asked. "And we'll move on to the second book."

"Which is probably our second year. What happened that year again?" Blaise asked thoughtfully. "Oh right, we almost lost all of the mudbloods didn't we?"

"Pity that didn't work out." Draco said in a tragic voice.

So, this is the last chapter with the Slytherins until next book. I'm so excited to get to the later books!

Anyway, I don't want to leave a long A/N like last time, I still have nightmares about that one. But I do want to say, my beta (bookhater, check out her stories if you're unfamiliar with her. She just put out a new one called All In The Family and it's great) told me the Slytherin commentary is her favorite opinion to explore of my story. Of course she gushes about all of them, but I wanted to know what yours are. Is it the Slytherins as well? The Teachers? Sirius and Remus? The other students? And also just tell me what your favorite chapter is and if who're reading it has anything to do with it! The day or two right after I've put up a story is my absolute favorite, I can't tell you how much your opinions mean to me. I just looked at my traffic count, 43 THOUSAND people have viewed this? Okay, no pressure, geez. Ok that's it. Damn it's still kinda long…