TSS: Chapter 17: Snitches and Stitches

> *"As he opened the black journal in which he often wrote to Emily Riddle, he realized exactly how much he had come to rely on her as of late for assistance. It wasn’t a bad thing, per se. The questions he was asking were complex and, most of the time, not things he would have been able to answer on his own with the current resources at his disposal. It was certainly something to note, though he wasn’t about to go and spill sensitive information to her. He wouldn’t be writing about the Chamber of Secrets, for instance."*
>
>

— Harry realizing the closeness that he was starting to feel towards Emily Riddle.

## Summary:

Grace and Harry practice Occlumency and Grace ends up seeing more of Harry's past then anticipated. Harry reveals to Emily that he posses a near eidetic memory. The Daily Prophet publishes a piece about the events from Samhain night. Harry is invited to a Gala at Greengrass Manor on December 31st. Charlotte shows Ron what happens to those who pick on her friends. Lockhart asks Charlus private information pertaining to the House of Potter. The boy is unable to claim Harry as innocent and uses him negative feelings towards him as an emotional crutch to cast the spells taught to him by Mr. Bellona. Fred and George Weasley apologize to their sister Ginny for ignoring her since her arrival at Hogwarts. The Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match occurs.

## Plot:

**November 1st, 1992:** Due to the Samhain night, Calypso and her friends missed their dueling night so they decided to move it to the next one. As this was also Harry's normal practice night with Grace he manages to convince them to start their session earlier. After he finishes with the dueling club, he heads to the room where he practices with Grace. He is initially hesitant to enter recalling how the previous night he dragged Grace into his drama with Draco Malfoy. Eventually he enters, and, to his shock, Grace is not mad at him for his actions. Still, she asks him that in the future to excuse her and her friends from that kind of plots. They have a short conversation about the happening of last night from the Common Room and they then proceed with Harry's Occlumency lessons. These do not go as planned as on of Graces probes ends up latching onto a memory and Grace is so shocked by what she sees — parts of Harry's 'childhood' — that she forgets to pull back, as was agreed upon by the two. Harry eventually manages to push her back, and he promptly storms out of the room ignoring her repeated calls.

Some minutes later Harry is in the Speaker's Den preparing to write to Emily in the enchanted diary. He realizes right before that how much he has come to rely on her assistance, even though he still would not feel comfortable sharing sensitive information with her. Harry ends up asking her of an expedited way of learning to suppress one's emotions. This leads to him revealing his near eidetic memory, as that was the prerequisite for being able to learn via Emily's shortcut. They talk and Harry explains the reason behind his urgency and Emily explains how the shortcut works. She then confides that future subskills will not be as facile to learn as emotion suppression.

**November 2nd, 1992:** Harry arrives the next morning a little late to the Great Hall for breakfast as he has stayed up late late the previous night in the Speaker's Den. Once among his friends, he presented with the Daily Prophet which has an article from Rita Skeeter on the front page that depicts the events from Samhain night and paints him in a negative light. After Harry reads the article they briefly comment of the sudden change in tune that does not seem characteristic to Skeeter.

**November 4th, 1992:** After a successful Quidditch practice Harry arrives to the Great Hall for breakfast. There he is greeted by Charlotte who hands him an invitation to a co-hosted Gala to be held by the Greengrasses and the Weitts on December 31st.

Ginny, Charlotte and Laine leave the Great Hall after breakfast to head to their first class of the day. On their way there they are accosted by Ron Weasley and Charlus Potter. The former tries to chastise his sister for hanging out with Harry Potter. Ginny is not interested in hearing his non-sense and Charlotte ends up snapping at Ron — pointing out Charlus' blood relationship with Harry and what it would mean of him if Harry were the Heir of Slytherin. Upon hearing that Ron tries to escalate but is stopped by Charlotte slapping him over the face and then kicking him in his nether regions. With Ron incapacitated, the three girls decide to continue heading towards their class.

**November 6th, 1992:** After the DADA class, Charlus is asked to stay behind. When everyone left, Lockhart asks Charlus about the Potter family. He claims that Harry at the point is his main suspect and he ought to further investigate, unless Charlus is certain that Harry could not be behind the attack. As Charlus is still doubting Harry he is unable to do so. Lockhart asks him about any possible connection to Salazar Slytherin — connection that Charlus denies — and then urges him to look closely into his family history for a linkage with the Slytherins.

Later that night, after ditching his friends, Charlus goes to the abandoned classroom that he started frequenting on September 2nd after receiving a letter from Mr. Bellona with instructions for his expected training for the upcoming school year. Charlus continues practicing the spells sent to him by Mr. Bellona using his negative emotions towards Harry as a crutch.

Ginny is pulled after dinner by the Weasley Twins into a hidden corridor. Fred and George ward the area with privacy spells and then begin to apologize to Ginny for ignoring her since her arrival at Hogwarts. They explain their thought process and, after hearing them out, Ginny decides to forgive them for acting like idiots.

**November 7th, 1992:** The Quidditch match between the Slytherins and the Gryffindors takes place in the morning. At some point during the game the bludgers start focusing only on the Potter Twins. The game ends when Harry manages to catch the Golden Snitch thus winning the game for Slytherin. Charlus is hit by a bludger that sends him toppling off his broom and into unconsciousness.