Marcus Flint did what the professor told him to do. Harry was only allowed out of the dorm under his escort or for classes, meals and detentions. What he didn't say to anyone was that he rearranged his own schedule to accommodate Harry's habits as much as possible. He took to rising early and going to a first floor classroom where he promptly dozed back off, so Harry still worked out with Neville without the rest of the school knowing. Despite Professor Snape, Harry's study sessions with Neville and Hermione continued just not the same way. On days that the Slytherin quidditch team practices were held Harry, Neville, and Hermione studied in the quidditch stands. The other afternoons were unchanged. His post dinner studies in the library took place the nights Marcus didn't have prefect's patrol. Patrol nights were spent in the the Slytherin common room where Harry was by turns tutor or tutored, by carefully selected Slytherins of all the lower years. When his hardline peers queried, Marcus muttered "orders" resentfully as possible.
The Slytherins Marcus selected had been decidedly nervous to be approached by a Flint. Knowing he was from a hardline pureblood family, they were surprised to be asked to interact with the Boy-Who-Lived instead of being threatened. Aaron Yaxley had been easy since he and Marcus were kissing cousins as it were, Harry had already done him a favor and he was already acting as a potions tutor for Harry and Neville. Marcus asked Harry to tutor Daphne Greengrass and Tracy Davis in Charms and Transfiguration. After a couple of weeks both girls had joined in on the study sessions in the library, and he was often seen with Tracey and Daphne when walking to classes.
Marcus got William Vessey and his friend Daniel Stout both of whom were in third year and half bloods to tutor Harry in defense since Quirrell was such a pathetic excuse of a defense teacher. . Both boys had a nasty reputation for being tough customers, purebloods had only harassed the two boys a few months their first year before it had become apparent it was unhealthy to do so. It helped that Stout's father was an auror.
It took most of a month but Harry no longer sat alone at the Slytherin table at meals. In the library Flint always sat at the next table to keep an eye on Harry as per his agreement with the Professor. Marcus knew he was walking a fine line and he prayed that word of this never got back to his father or he'd get, well more pain than he liked, he was sure.
He was relieved that Harry seemed to get what was going on. It allowed him to act as if he was only doing it because of the Professor, but both boys knew the truth. Harry's every now and again mouthing off as if he resented Marcus, and making no secret of the Professor's weekend detentions, allowed Marcus to maintain the fiction.
Harry meanwhile had a new burden to bear. Draco Malfoy, having already blown any hope of gaining The Boy-Who-Lived as an ally or a follower by calling him mudblood and insulting his godbrother, decided to make Harry's life a misery by doing his best to sabotage Harry's potions and other class work. Four times now he had added something to Harry's potion and twice it had ruined it. If that were not enough he kept trying to get Harry in trouble with the other Professors. Harry was getting seriously pissed off. Malfoy liked to lord around Slytherin and brag about how rich he was and how his daddy was on the board of governors, and how his daddy was a personal friend if the Minister of Magic. And how thanks to his Godfather being Professor Snape he could get away with almost anything. In fact he bragged about how stupid Harry was not to realize someone had added something to his cauldron.
Harry finally got fed up. Marcus and the other prefects were at a meeting but due back soon and Draco was posturing. The older students didn't like him any more than Harry did but were so political they hesitated to stop him. The only ones truly impressed were the kids of their year and the second years whose families had been Death Eaters. So Harry spoke up. "Yeah, yeah give it a rest daddy's boy. We all know your daddy was Voldemort's bitch and paid a butt load of gold to stay out of jail when he fell. All daddy's money can't make you less than pathetic, you're too stupid to excel on your own merits, too weak to go around without your bodyguards, and too vain to do more than throw your daddy's name and money around. Hell you spend more time in the bathroom than a girl. Ooo, I'm so scared, NOT." Part of Harry noticed all the squeaks, dropped jaws and the sudden snickers around the common room.
Draco opened and closed his mouth several times before exploding. He drew his wand and cast Reducto point blank at Harry. His timing couldn't have been better or worse depending on the point of view. The prefects, Professor Snape, and surprisingly Albus Dumbledore had just opened the common room door.
Harry having expected some response had drawn his wand from the holster on his forearm and already cast a protego in response to Draco's drawing his wand. When Daniel had taught it to him an hour ago he hadn't anticipated using it so soon. The shield held, mostly. Harry's training had taught him the value of a good dodge so he was already moving away. So when Harry's shield fell, all that really happened was the spell knocked him over onto the floor and as he fell back he hit his head on a table.
Dumbledore and Snape's simultaneous roars of "What is going on here?" brought the room to a standstill.
Draco and the rest of the Slytherins paled. Out of favor or not, provoked or not, an attack on the Boy-Who-Lived by the son of a Death Eater would not be overlooked by the Headmaster.
Harry rolled up to a sitting position as the stars he was seeing faded and rubbed his head where he hit it. He frowned as his fingers came away with blood on them. "Son of a bitch." Harry suddenly realized all eyes were on him.
"Mr. Potter is there a reasonable explanation for what I just witnessed?" Dumbledore asked.
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