Chapter 55: Wizards Idiotic Names!

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Harry glanced around the hall, observing his peers. In the weeks since the First Task, not much had changed in their opinion of him, but that might've been due to the fact he had been avoiding interacting with the general populace in order to maintain an air of mysteriousness.

Most of Gryffindor remained firmly in awe of him. Ravenclaw's curiosity had only increased, and, if anything, Hufflepuff, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang hated him even more.

His performance in the task had been spectacular to the level that it had completely eclipsed that of the others, even if he had won the least points.

The media coverage had reflected that. Rita Skeeter hadn't even referred to him as a budding dark lord once, though that was probably due to her being terrified of him, or more precisely, dream-Darth Vader.

That said, quite a few people had interpreted him as "dark," though that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Being perceived as evil had made quite a few Slytherins like him more. It combined with the fact he had been widely thought of as unintelligent due to events such as his forgetting of the egg made him a rather easy target for manipulation. And if the Slytherins thought they were good at anything, it was manipulation.

Harry cast his gaze over the Slytherin table. 'Perhaps a Slytherin would be a good acquaintance to the ball. It would be good to start building connections within the house; a spy too, perhaps,' he said.

'Maybe. Purebloods also seem to be more attractive than average,' Loki observed. 'That's probably due to centuries of breeding - and inbreeding, of course, though I'm unsure the latter tends to provide good results. And as you were saying, a spy or someone like it might be useful. We must find a way to do it without the Gryffindors turning on us, however.'

Harry looked back to the table he was sitting on, and didn't doubt that it wouldn't take too much for these people to dislike him.

'Perhaps I should beat up Malfoy,' he suggested, 'or maybe say whichever girl I choose - if I choose a Slytherin, that is - to take is Malfoy's crush and I'm only doing it to hurt him.'

'That might work, but the Gryffindors have a tendency to not keep their mouths shut, so you should probably inform your spy that you are merely deceiving them.'

Harry sighed, and said, 'This sounds like a lot of unnecessary work.' He looked over to the Ravenclaw table. 'Maybe I should just go with Maria.'

'If you do, you'll still have to work on the spy. The one who put your name in the Goblet of Fire and paid Rita to slander you likely has connections to Slytherin. And with the lack of cunning Slytherins seem to have, it's hard for me to imagine anyone who knows anything not bragging or letting something slip.'

'Not all of them will be that stupid. Well, they hopefully won't be if we're to have a spy operate within their ranks.' Harry leaned back in his seat, glancing towards the Slytherin table once again.

There was no way it wouldn't look suspicious if he just randomly approached them. He would have to be creative.

Making first contact with Slytherin was quite a bit easier than Harry had expected. As he had predicted, many a Slytherin sought to have him in the palm of their hand.

He had decided on going to Hogwarts' library, which would hopefully bear students slightly more intelligent than Malfoy was.

Whenever a student who wasn't a Slytherin approached Harry, a very subtle illusion of fear easily drove them away. It wouldn't work if their resolve to speak to him was even slightly strong, but most were terrified to speak to Harry anyway, and any willpower they might've had easily crumbled under a fraction of his power.

Harry had spent his time pretending to read a book concerning defensive spells, most of which were utterly rubbish. What was the use of a five-syllable curse that tickled you?! He was resisting the urge to incinerate the useless text when, finally, a Slytherin approached.

Harry didn't take his eyes off of the book as they approached, or at least he didn't look like he did. His eyes, after all, had been some of the things he had focused on where illusionary were concerned.

It was vital if he desired to conceal Loki's presence or look like an angry god, but it also proved useful when he was trying to make himself appear to be looking in one direction when he was actually looking in the other.

The person approaching was a girl. That necessarily been vital, seeing as he could take Maria to the Yule Ball, but it was still useful.

Manipulation was considerably easier when he could take advantage of his good looks and any romantic feelings.

From what he could see of the girl and the fact that she had approached him, it wouldn't be too far-fetched a guess to say that she also thought manipulation was easier when you were attractive, for she certainly was.

She was nowhere near Fleur's level, and maybe not even at Maria's, but those two were not Slytherins.

Long blonde hair flowed halfway down her back, and her eyes were a blue light enough that it verged on grey, and might have been called icy.

As she arrived at his table, she smiled and asked, "I don't suppose you mind if I sit?"

Harry looked up to her face for a brief moment, before letting his gaze wander down to her breasts. Her lips twitched into a smirk for an amount of time so small that most wouldn't have noticed, but Harry did. Now she thought he had taken her bait, it would be far easier to feed her his.

Grinning, he turned his attention back to her face. "Sure," he said with a wink. "You probably know who I am."

She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Of course. I'm Daphne Greengrass."

'Wizards and their bloody idiotic names. Greengrass as opposed to what? Redgrass?' Harry demanded incredulously.

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