Harry potter : Forgotten Lord

Most of you haven't done anything to prove yourself worthy of my time or my friendship! I only consider one of you my friend so far, and I've helped her with the spell. The rest of you have yet to prove you're worthy of my time and energy, let alone friendship."

"And with all your childish moaning, I feel even less inclined to help you. Help yourselves, don't rely on others to do it for you," he preached, before picking up his schoolbag and his books and heading up to his bedroom, so he could study in peace.

...

He threw himself on his bed before taking some deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.

Reflecting on what he had just said, in hindsight it may have been unwise to be so direct, but he was tired and annoyed with their attitudes. Besides, he had no one to help him learn the spells. The only ones he would help would be the few that proved themselves capable.

Picking up his book, he was eager to finish the final chapter of this year's Potions material, because then he would only need it for referencing. He would also use it to help hide his developing codex from staff. They would notice if he didn't carry any books around anymore and eventually they would put two and two together.

Several minutes passed before there was a light knock on the door. Harry wondered who it could be; he had just put most of his year mates in their place. The only one he could think of was Padma, unless it was an older student. Opening the door proved he was indeed correct in his assessment.

Before he could say anything, Padma spoke in a quiet voice, the same one she used on train then she was nervous, or unsure, "May I come in?"

Weighing his options, he decided to let her in. She wasn't the cause of his annoyance and anger, and it wouldn't be fair to take it out on the girl.

"Sure, make yourself comfortable," he said, gesturing towards the bed, since the room was yet to be decorated.

Both of them made themselves as comfortable as possible, while Harry decided to let her start the chat. "Do you really consider me a friend and not some type of burden, like you implied the others are?" she asked, looking down at floor.

Harry looked her over, "Of course you are, otherwise I wouldn't have helped you in class. Out of our esteemed year mates, you are the only one that has shown any of the talents or traits I value. When we had our free period today, you were the only one that joined me in reading ahead. The rest of them just played games and joked around. And in Herbology, I saw you display insight and knowledge, whilst the others just complained and moaned about the unfairness of being partnered up with the Slytherin students."

He saw her nod before continuing, "I had no wizard to teach me before school, all my knowledge I have gained since getting my acceptance letter. I had no idea that the magical world was real before this summer."

"Really?" Padma questioned, clearly not believing that he had learnt so much in such a short space of time.

"Really, I only learned I was a wizard on my eleventh birthday. My muggle Aunt and Uncle decided to keep me in the dark about my heritage," he explained calmly, trying to keep his anger in check. "Simply put, my relatives had no desire to help me. They can't understand magic, and frankly they feared me since I can cast magic, whilst they can't."

Taking a moment to catch his breath he continued, "From the moment I was placed in their care, they forced me to become self reliant. They didn't want to help me, if I wanted to have anything I had to work for it," he said, whilst thinking that he was treated more like a slave than a child. But Padma didn't need to know that, or about the abuse he had suffered while under his relatives care.

"My childhood was far from perfect and I had to grow up fast," he explained, making it clear his upbringing wasn't normal even by non-magical standards. "Now you can understand why I am a rather cold person. It's because I have been brought up in a world where I had to rely on myself, not others. Hence, it's not in my nature to help people out of kindness of my heart. After all, give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a life time," he said sagely, whilst watching his friend's thoughtful expression.

"Do you understand what I am trying to say?" he probed, hoping his friend could see where he was going.

Padma nodded before saying, "Yes I understand. You only help people who help themselves, and can be of value to you later."

"Now, do you want to join me in reading this potions book?" he said while making a gesture at his book on the bed side table. "After all, we have Potions tomorrow. And remember that the older students warned us about the potions master here being a bastard of a teacher," he said with a grin, trying to cheer his friend up.

"I also happen to have some chocolate frogs left from the train," he said, attempting to bribe his friend, before going over to his trunk and throwing a couple of chocolate frogs onto her lap.

Getting a smile from his friend at the gesture she said, "Sure, just let me get my book," before disappearing out of the room.

A couple minutes later she returned with her potions book in hand. As he read over the text book, adding the necessary facts to his codex, he privately wondered if the rest of first year Ravens remembered his advice about the professor. Somehow he had the feeling that they wouldn't, but that wasn't his problem, it just made him look better.

The rest of the evening passed without an interruption, both of them reading in comfortable silence. It was only broken when one of them had a question on how to pronounce a word, all the while sharing the remaining chocolate frogs. Around nine o'clock Padma started to fall to sleep, but he didn't notice until he felt her head resting on his shoulder. Letting her rest, he carried on reading and didn't wake her for another 2 hours.

Finally realizing just how late it really was, having been lost within the book, he woke her with a soft shake on the shoulder, his own shoulder aching slightly from being used as a make shift cushion. This resulted in Padma quickly fleeing the room in embarrassment, not even brothering to say good night.

He just waved his hand as she left before turning back to his own reading, saying to no one but himself, "Chocolate solves everything. Unless you happen to be overweight, then it just makes matters worse," he continued with a rather cheeky smile.