When he did finally sleep, his dreams were disjointed and full of strange sounds and colors, and left him with a vaguely hung over feeling the next morning, which he had still not shaken by the time the others rose.
It didn't help that Zabini started in on him right away. Harry was still gathering his toiletries to take to the shower room when his dorm mate said, "If you're never going to show up for our study group, Potter, you might as well not be in it. We'd rather have someone else anyway."
Stung, though he tried not to show it, Harry said, "Maybe you should petition our Head of House, then. You could ask him to let me out of detention so I can help you with your studies."
"I wouldn't need your help, even if the class was Retarded Muggles Through the Ages," Zabini snarled. "You're hopeless."
"Not useless, though."
"What the hell are you saying, half-blood?"
Harry smirked, knowing nothing set the dark haired boy's teeth on edge as much as the idea someone was mocking him. "Nothing more than you think. And by the way, not that it matters, but both my parents had magic, so if anything, I'm three-quarters blood. I realize that's higher math and all—"
"You little sh—"
"Shut it, Zabini," Teddy growled at him. He had his wand out, but it wasn't aimed at anyone, just held casually as you please on one hand, as he lounged against the wall like he hadn't a care in the world. "We're all getting a bit tired of your mouth."
"You can say that again," Draco said. The blond's eyes were half lidded, but he stared down Zabini all the same.
Teddy sneered and said, "We're getting a bit tired of your mouth."
"Why are you sticking up for this filth, huh? Daddy tell you to suck up to him?" Zabini glared at Draco, as if the latter had betrayed him in some way.
Draco shrugged, all casualness. "Slytherins have to stay on top, and I heard he's a great Seeker. Guess we'll see today."
Watching him, Harry wondered why he was saying that, if he was supposed to be angry about Harry getting on the team, like Teddy had told him while he was in the infirmary. But maybe Draco didn't like him for some other reason. Or maybe . . . Harry sighed. His head still hurt and he was tired of thinking about this. "Look, Zabini, I don't want to fight with you. We've only been here a week; we've got seven years to get through. I, for one, would rather get along with you than not."
"Try not, then." Zabini turned and strode from their dorm.
Harry frowned, but shook his head. It was just a stupid rivalry, and he didn't have the time or energy for it. It wasn't as though Zabini was the one who'd attacked him, unless he was a far better dueler with his wand than he was with his mouth. Turning to the others, he said, "Thanks for the assist, but I don't want you to get on his bad side, either."
Teddy laughed. "He doesn't have a good side. He hates pretty much everything."
"Well that's reassuring," Harry said
Draco laughed, too, and the three of them left Crabbe and Goyle still snoring as they made their way to the shower room. Zabini was already in a stall, and billows of steam poured out of it. The other boys stripped down, and Harry was glad Madam Pomfrey had taken care of the bruising from the attack, so he didn't have to suffer anyone's stares.
Draco took the stall next to his, and after both of them had water turned on, said, "So, I heard you have to help with tryouts today."
"Yeah, Marcus . . . er, Prefect Flint wanted me there to help challenge anyone trying out for Chaser or Beater." He smiled thinly, suddenly understanding where Draco's new buddy-buddy behavior was coming from. "You going to try for it?"
"Sure. I mean, my father says I could go either as Seeker or Chaser, so I figured why not? Wouldn't it be great if there were two first years on the team?"
"Uh huh." Did Malfoy think he was being subtle? Harry sighed and finished up in the shower, then dressed quickly and settled in the Common Room with his neglected homework. He'd woken early and gotten most of his Transfiguration essay done, but he was still behind in History of Magic. With one thing and another, he felt like he was never going to catch up.
Teddy joined him a little later, with his Potions book, and they read together silently until it was nearly time to march up to breakfast. The Common Room was pretty full by that time, and the noise level had reached the point where it was all but impossible to read.
As he went by to get everyone readied in line, Marcus Flint said, "All right there, Potter?"
Harry glanced up at him and smiled at the older boy's scowl. "Yeah, Prefect Flint. I'm good."
"It's Captain Flint to you, Potter." He squinted at Teddy. "But just you, mind."
Harry held in a chuckle. "Yeah, okay. Thanks."
"All right!" Flint called out. "Let's line up and get out of here!"
Breakfast was relatively quiet – at the Slytherin table at least. Harry nibbled on some toast, not feeling particularly hungry, and watched warily as the Bloody Baron coasted nearby, although the ghost did not stop to talk.
"Have you seen him lately?" Teddy asked in a low voice.
"Hm?"
"The Baron. He's showed up again and started putting Peeves in his place. Have you asked him if he knows about who attacked you?"
"Yeah . . ." Harry paused, thinking quickly. He wasn't supposed to tell anyone about what happened. But Teddy – and Millie – both already knew quite a bit about it. "But he didn't know much more than me, really," he said at last, which was the truth. Sort of. "Professor Snape said to keep my eye out for who might be trying to get me."
"Duh."
Harry snickered. But thinking of the attack made him remember something else. "Hey, Teddy, you didn't send me chocolate frogs, did you? When I was laid up?"
"No." Teddy frowned at him. "I told you, I don't give candy to whiners."
"Yeah, I know. It's just that someone left me another box of 'em, and didn't leave a note, so . . ."
"You're thinking they might be tampered with?"
"I was thinking maybe."
"Did you bring them back to the dorm?"
Harry nodded. "But I haven't touched them otherwise."
"Okay, that's good. We can do some diagnostic spells on them. Check for curses and such. I have a couple things we can try, but I'll have to double check in the library. Now, you have Quidditch tryouts this afternoon, so if we want to get this done soon . . ."
"Free period?"
"Mm-hm. Meet me in the library and you can help look stuff up."
Harry nodded again, but inside he was bemoaning the loss of yet more study time.
Looking up diagnostic spells in the library was almost as fun as it sounded. Teddy seemed to be really good at doing research, though, and he pulled book after book off shelves, making a neat pile on the table they were using. Harry had retrieved the box of Frogs from their dorm room, and they started with small spells that Teddy already knew, like Revelio and Finite Incantatem, and worked up to more specific kinds of diagnostics, like looking for poisons (Ostendo Virum) and particular curses (Quiest Vomica).
But none of them revealed anything untoward about the Chocolate Frogs.
"Face it, Harry," Teddy said as they returned the books to their shelves over an hour later, "someone gave you a perfectly normal box of chocolate. Probably a secret admirer or something."
"Yeah." Harry laughed. "Sure." He tucked the box into his book bag and they headed for Herbology. He was just as glad the sweets weren't poisoned or anything, but who had given the box to him? He went over the possibilities in his head for a while, and then gave it up. If it was a secret admirer, he hoped they'd give him more clues to their identity. Or maybe there was a spell to find that out, too. He said the last aloud, and Teddy nodded, considering. Harry added, "You know a lot of spells already. Did your parents teach you?"