chapter 3: Midnight walks, Midnight Talks
Harry woke up at sunrise and just lay in bed for a long time, thinking. He thought about everything that was expected of him. Hehad to not only fight the most evil dark lord of his time, but he was also expected to actually win! Everyone expected Harry to be perfect, sweet, and selfless. Couldn't anyone see that Harry just wanted to be a normal 17 year old wizard...well he couldn't exactly be entirely normal seeing as now he's some kind of creature that no one knows anything about. Harry sighed and decided that he might as well get out of bed seeing as there was no way he could go back to sleep. He padded across the floor into his private bathroom and jumped into the shower.
Harry groaned softly as the hot water worked out the kinks in his body. He began to wash his hair, which he had cut so now it reached just below his chin. After a while, Harry got out and dried off. He wrapped a towel around his waist before he brushed his teeth and washed his face. He walked back into his room and dressed quickly before walking to the common room. The grandfather clock in the corner told Harry that he had about an hour before it was time for breakfast. He sighed and plopped down onto a chair, letting his thoughts drift towards yesterday and the scent that overpowered his mind. Who did it belong to? Was it a girl? A guy? Harry knew that it couldn t be anyone in his house or he would have found them already.
Hermione's voice brought Harry out of his thoughts as she warned him that if he didn't leave now, Harry would be late for breakfast. Harry nodded and followed his friends toward the great hall where he took his seat next to Ron. He picked at his eggs as he ignored the noise around him.
"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked, "You seem awfully quiet today and you hardly touched your food."
"I'm fine Hermione, I'm just not hungry." Harry told his friend, pushing his plate away.
Hermione gave a look that said that she didn't believe him, but didn't dare to push the subject any further. She was worried about the well-being of her friend, but she also knew that getting Harry angry was dangerous. Harry took one last look around the great hall, and not sensing that his mate was near, stood up.
"I'm going to go to class." Harry told his friends softly before exiting the great hall, leaving his shocked friends behind him. Harry never went to class earlier then he had to and normally on days like this, where they had double potions first, he would lag behind.
The Boy Who Lived walked into the empty potions class and sat down in his usual seat. Harry was so early that not even the professor was there yet. As he waited for the rest of the class to walk in, Harry's thoughts began to run away him once again. This time he was thinking about Sirius; oh how he missed his godfather! Harry knew that Sirius would be there for him whenever he needed him and just that fact alone had Harry wishing that he could go through the veil to retrieve his godfather. Of course Harry did try to go into veil the night that Sirius fell through, but Remus stopped him, not wanting to lose two of his most cherished people in one night.
Slowly, children began to filter into the classroom, with the professor not far behind them. Harry ignored the looks he got from his worried friends as he focused on the potion they were working on. Harry has been getting better at Potions since he didn't have a snarky professor breathing down his neck, waiting for Harry to slip up.
"Hey, Harry, are you okay?" Neville asked as he stood next to Harry's desk.
Harry looked up at his friend and smiled, "yeah, I'm perfect, why?"
"Well...class ended five minutes ago and your still sitting in your seat. You haven t moved in half an hour." Neville told him, a little wary, his expression puzzled.
Harry looked around and noticed that the classroom was indeed empty. Harry had finished his potion early and spent the rest of his class time staring off to space so he did not noticed when Slughorn dismissed the rest of his classmates.
Harry smiled at the other boy, "Thanks for telling me Neville, I was just...staring off into space actually."
Neville nodded and walked out of the classroom. Harry smiled at his friend, left the classroom, and went on to his next class, Charms. He luckily managed to get to class just before his teacher arrived. Harry tried very hard to pay attention while Professor Flitwick droned on and on about some charm that they weren't even going to attempt anytime soon, but he soon felt his thoughts drift away from him. Harry's mind was vacant for the rest of class and the rest of the day passed by in one huge blur of classrooms and boring teachers.
Harry got up from his last class and trudged toward the tower. He said the password and was allowed entrance into the walked over to his favorite chair by the fire and plopped down onto the plush red seat. Harry closed his eyes and allowed thewarmth from the fire to relax him. Of course, his relaxed mood was ended suddenly when Hermione and Ron came into the common room, arguing like they do every day. Harry sighed and opened his eyes, watching his friends argue loudly about something stupid that Ron had done; he always managed to find a way to piss Hermione off.
Getting tired of the noise that the two Gryffindors were making, Harry sighed and interrupted them, "What are you guys arguing about now?" he asked tiredly.
Hermione turned to Harry, "Ronald is completely insensitive Harry! He has no regards for the people around him."
"What are you talking about!" Ron yelled, appalled.
"I am talking about you setting off fireworks in the library while I was trying to work!" she shrieked.
"I was bored! What else did you want me to do?" He asked.
"How about study for once in your life!" She screamed at him.
At this point Harry began to tune out his friends' uselessarguing. He really didn't have enough patience for anyone today and heknew that if he didn't get some peace and quiet, he was going snap at someone. Harry suddenly stood and gracefully walked out of the room. He headed down the stairs and away from the tower. He wasn't sure where he was going; he just let his feet carry him anywhere.
"What are you doing here Scar Head?" Someone drawled.
Harry, jolted from his thoughts, looked up and noticed that hehad walked into the dungeons, "just walking Malfoy." Harry told the blonde.
Harry looked at the blonde wizard and noticed that he wasn'talone; he was with his fellow snake groupies. Harry began to roll his eyes when his mind started to grow fuzzy. There it was again, that scent. That wonderful scent and it was coming from the Slytherins! Harry looked at the students in front of him and frowned when he realized that all these people in this group hated Harry with a fiery passion. The group was made of Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Theodore Nott, and Draco Malfoy.
"What are you looking at, Potter?" Pansy spat the name.
Harry frowned, "not your ugly mug that s for sure." He sneered, realizing that scent wasn't coming from the female Slytherin.
Silently, Harry thanked Merlin that Parkinson wasn't his mate, because Harry hated the girl, but mostly because Harry was completely and utterly gay. So that meant that Harry's mate wasNott, Zabini, or Malfoy. The young creature groaned at his luck, he just had to have a mate that hated him.
Pansy glared at Harry, but he just turned around and walked away from her and the rest of the Slytherins. He continued to walk until he arrived at the Entrance Hall. Harry looked at the stairs and was trying to decide if he wanted to go back to the Common Room to listen Ron and Hermione argue, or if he wanted to take a walk outside. Shrugging and deciding that he had some time before curfew, Harry walked out the doors and onto the castle grounds. He smiled softly as the moon shone above him. God, he loved walking around at nighttime. It was easier to clear his head if there is no one around to bother him. Harry walked around the castle grounds slowly, and thenstarted to make his way into the Forbidden Forest. Usually, he would try to steer clear of the forest, seeing as most of the creatures in the forest didn't like it when the students bothered them, but Harry didn't really feel nervous walking around the forest, seeing as he himself was some type of creature now.
"Ah, Mister Potter, aren't you out late?" a soft female voice hissed.
Harry looked around but saw no one.
"I am up here young one." The voice called out.
Harry looked up and saw black and gold snake hanging in the tree above him. He smiled at the beautiful snake and climbed the tree to sit next to her.
"How did you know who I am?" he asked.
"Every snake in these woods knows about Harry Potter, the boy who lived and the one who speaks the language of snakes." she told him.
Harry frowned at the Boy Who Lived part, Merlin how he hated that name, but it did make sense that he would be known by thesnakes in the forest, it s not every day that there is a child who can converse with snakes. For the rest of the night, Harry sat in that tree and talked with the young snake whose name, when translated into English, was Midnight. It wasn't until the wee hours of the morning that Harry finally made his way back into his empty room and slipped under the covers, falling into a deep sleep.
