Better Be Slytherin!

'Will the . . . remnant give you their name?'

Teddy shook his head. 'No, but you'll be able to compare it to the signature of people who it might be, to see if it matches.'

Harry couldn't help but laugh. 'So . . . I'd need to go 'round to all the girls in school and see if any of them has the same magical signature as what's on the box?'

'Well, yeah.'

'It might be faster to make that announcement. Less likely to get me hexed, too.'

Snorting a laugh, Teddy admitted it was a long shot. 'There are other things we can try, though. It would take a bit of research . . .'

'Aw, admit it, Teddy, you just like spending time in the library.'

'Okay, fine! But it does have far more books than my father's, and on so many different topics. It's amazing, really. And the section on counter-curses is just—'

'Amazing. I know.'

'Prat.'

'Bookworm.'

'Quidditch Bat.'

Harry laughed. 'At least I'm not a snitch.'

Grinning, Teddy said, 'True enough.' He cast a quick Tempus and sighed then started picking up the table. 'We have Herbology in twenty minutes.'

'Don't you like playing with plants?' Harry asked as he collected several books and reshelved them.

'I'd rather play with Potions.'

'Yeah, me, too.' When Teddy turned to him, looking surprised, Harry added, 'Well, it's an interesting class when Snape isn't calling me names and stuff. And I finally understand about adjusting the acidity of the base, depending on what the first ingredient you add next is, so I might do well in the next practical. He explained it to me last night.'

'Good deal,' Teddy said.

'Yeah. He's really been, I don't know, different with me. Since . . . you know.'

'Since you almost killed yourself on the pitch.'

'I didn't!'

'You almost did.'

'I wasn't trying to!'

'I know.' They finished putting the books away before Teddy steered them quickly out of the library. Harry was getting louder and having a harder time holding his temper, and Madam Pince was glaring at them from her desk. 'But all the same, you could've died.'

Silently fuming, Harry shrugged up one shoulder. He hadn't really thought of it that way. But he supposed Teddy was right. He never wanted to lose himself like that again, and if maybe Snape wouldn't assign him a gagillion detentions for no reason, he probably wouldn't. It had been . . . frightening, that red haze of rage, the feel of the Bludger crushing his arm, the rawness of his screams . . .

Teddy was giving him another odd look, and Harry pushed memories of his near-breakdown away. 'Wonder what we'll plant today,' he said to change the subject.

'Probably something with thorns,' Teddy griped.

'Or mucus.'

'Or teeth.'

Harry laughed and they went out to the greenhouses together.

It was two more days before Harry got the go ahead from Madam Pomfrey to fly again, and he could not wait to get out on the pitch. She told him her ban was lifted during his morning check-in, which was just after breakfast on the day of his next Quidditch practice. He was so excited, he could barely sit through morning classes. At lunch, he was bouncing in his seat.

'Ants in your pants, Harry?' Millicent teased.

He shook his head and swallowed his bite of sandwich. 'Going flying today.'

'But you'll stay out of the hospital wing, yeah?' asked Draco, smirking.

'Certainly hope so,' Harry said, grinning back. 'But you never know. Rogue Bludgers. They're everywhere.'

His friends laughed, and the bunch of them carried on in like vein for a few more minutes before Draco looked up, surprised. 'Owl alert,' he called, and everyone covered their dishes. One of the second year Slytherins had an owl with . . . incontinence issues, and they never knew when the bloody thing was going to visit. 'Safe,' Draco told them a minute later. 'No Icarus. But there is a package coming. . . .'

Harry peered up, along with everyone else at their end of the table, in time to see six large screech owls dipping down towards him, carrying a long, thin package between them.

'Heads up, Harry!' Millicent called, and Harry jumped from his seat and stretched up, just as the owls let go of their delivery. The package dropped like a stone, and Harry snatched it out of the air. A final owl zoomed past his head, dropping an envelope with the words, 'OPEN THIS FIRST' scrawled on the front in a very recognizable