AN: Guys, you're confusing London's streets with some sort of Russian Gulag or with Auschwitz. Harry grew up on the streets, in a period when London was quite chaotic (back in the 90s). Yes, he had seen people get beaten up or robbed and he had even seen someone dying from being stabbed. But there were no gigantic beasts ripping people in half and devouring them. He didn't see anyone dying in such a gruesome way and he certainly hadn't caused anyone's death before. This isn't something that you just brush aside. I like to believe that Harry's reaction was appropriate, especially for his age.
"Hello" - normal talking.
'Hello' - thoughts.
Chapter 8 - You like me!
He was making a real effort to stop himself from pacing around the corridor due to how restless he was. Noticing how his hands were shaking, he shoved them in the pockets of his pants to hide it from others. Though, in all the fairness, those other students that were next to him were not any calmer than he was. The reason for that was that they felt like criminals about to be prosecuted. Together with the other 5 students that witnessed Marcus Flint's death, Harry Potter was waiting in line to be interrogated. Among them, there were 4 Aurors, silently glaring daggers at everyone.
While not outstanding, nor illustrious, the Flints were still a very old pureblood family. Marcu Flint's death was not going to pass without creating a storm. In the eyes of the Ministry, he was definitely more important than someone like Moaning Myrtle was. Because of that, 2 weeks after the incident, the matter was finally decided by the Wizengamot: the students AND the professors that were supposed to patrol the corridor that night were going to be interrogated under the effects of the Veritaserum, also known as the Truth Serum.
The interrogation of each student was very short, taking less than 5 minutes for the next to be called in. Eventually, it was Harry's turn. Coincidentally or not, the interrogation was held in a classroom on the third-floor corridor - it was the place where the classes of Defence Against the Dark Arts used to be held before Quirinius Quirrell replaced the previous DADA professor. It's been abandoned because the third corridor had been deemed by Dumbledore as off-limits for the students. That said, currently, the classroom was all dusty and desolate, giving off a vibe that did nothing to ameliorate the anxiety of the ones that were about to be interrogated; it only amplified it.
One simple wooden stool was placed in the middle of the classroom and Harry was directed to take a seat on it. Then, one of the three Aurors in the room offered him a cup of tea.
"Take a sip from it, please." a middle-aged man said in a kind voice but that faked amiability put Harry on edge more than if he were to be screamed at.
Harry looked at the greenish-black liquid in the cup. Unconsciously, he grabbed at the stone pendant around his neck, anxiety resurfacing anew.
'What if the Gorgoneion can't stop the effects of the Truth Serum?'
One of the three Aurors misjudged Harry's action of grabbing at his chest a sign of him experiencing some sort of chest pain. He thought that the boy was about to have a panic attack so he said:
"You don't have anything to worry about... unless you are guilty, that is."
"The use of Veritaserum is heavily regulated by the Ministry of Magic so nobody would dare to question you about your personal information as long as it is not related to the matter at hand. The questions we are going to ask have been decided beforehand by the leading figure of this investigation and they are meant to target only the information related to Marcus Flint's death."
The Auror's words did nothing to lower Harry's anxiety but, at that moment, the Gorgoneion heated up and a feeling of calm washed over him. He took it as a sign that the divine resident of his pendant was aware of the current situation. Visibly less distraught, Harry brought the cup to his lips and took a few generous gulps of the liquid. It tasted just like an average green tea. Had he not known that the tea contained Veritaserum, he would have never been able to notice any difference.
Harry's green eyes became glazed and he felt his consciousness slip away. It was as though he was suddenly shoved out of the figurative driver seat and thrown onto the backseat, forced to watch how his body acted out of his control.
'I put my faith in you. Please don't let me down this time. Otherwise, I'm finished. It'll be over for me.' he prayed.
The amiable looking Auror nodded towards the other two Aurors in the room to confirm that they were ready before coming close to Harry and beginning to question him:
"Tell me your name and age, please."
At that moment, a glint of silver, a barely visible spark, flickered in the pupils of Harry's eyes. But the Auror did not notice it, as he was too focused on the answers that he was about to get from him.
"Harry James Potter. Eleven years old." Harry said, his face blank and his voice monotone, seemingly fully ensnared by the truth serum's effect.
"Did you kill Marcus Flint?" the Auror asked.
It was the moment of truth. From the figurative backseat of his mind, he cringed in preparation. Harry himself was not aware of it but the silver glint in his eyes spiked for the splint of a second before his voice came out:
"No."
One of the other two Aurors noted down his answer and the amiable looking Auror, the one that was speaking, asked :
"Did you participate in any way to Marcus Flint's death?"
"No."
"What were you doing on the corridors after the curfew that night?"
Harry's monotone voice was heard again:
"I've learned of a secret passage on the 4th-floor corridor and wanted to check it out. On my way back to the Slytherin Dungeons, I heard a scream. When I reached the 3rd-floor corridor I saw Flint's corpse."
The amiable Auror's face scrunched into a frown. Harry Potter was the last student that he was interrogating out the ones that were caught on the corridors during the night of the incident. Furthermore, from what he gathered, there were rumours that Harry Potter might have had a hand in it. Furthermore, his instinct was telling him that something was not right with the situation. Therefore, he asked another series of questions:
"What's your opinion of Marcus Flint's death? Are you glad that he died?"
When he asked those questions, the other two Aurors present in the room looked at each other not sure what to do. The question that the amiable Auror just asked was not included in the set of questions that they had agreed upon before the interrogation started.
"William-" one of them tried to say but the leading Auror lifted his arm to stop him, his attention entirely focused on Harry.
"I hated him. He was a bully and a retard. But I never wished his death. I'm not happy about it."
''Were you the one that assaulted Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle a few weeks before?''
''That's quite enough!'' one of the Aurors on the side intervened. ''You're overstepping your boundaries again, William. I'll make sure Director Bones hears of it.''
William, the Auror that had been asking the questions frowned. He looked like he wanted to ask more questions but the pointed looks from his coworkers made him stop. He had already bent the rules by asking a personal question. He didn't dare cross the line too far.
§§§§§
"Chocolate in the library?! OUT!"
"OUT I SAID!"
Despite her thin body, Madam Pince looked like a vulture as she kicked Ronald Weasley out of the library, his possessions also thrown out after him, in a heap. The boy had been eating a chocolate frog when the fanatical librarian caught him.
Harry sighed to himself.
'Instead of helping us find the books we need, she's more interested in kicking out those who don't follow her exaggerated rules.'
He had been browsing the bookshelves for 20 minutes already with no luck in finding what he was looking for. And the librarian was just as unhelpful as always. She refused to aid the students in any way that would ease the process of them taking books out of the library. If it was in her power, she would forbid the students to even touch her precious books, let alone take them out of the library's premises.
A muffled giggle came from his right when Ron Weasley was thrown out. Muffled because, among many other things, laughing was also forbidden in the library. So was talking, whispering and even sneezing.
Harry shot a dirty look at his side. He didn't want to get kicked out of the library too, not after having already spent more than 20 minutes searching for a book.
When he saw who was the one that laughed out, his frown turned into a glare. The girl's waist-length silvery white hair made it impossible to possibly mistake her for someone else - it was the foreign student, Lilith Argyris. Harry was still holding a grudge on her for throwing a ball of mud and shit at his face during their detention with the Herbology professor.
"You want us both to get kicked out? What are you even doing here? Are you following me?" Harry whispered at her in annoyance.
In all the fairness, Hogwarts' library was immense. To Harry, it felt like too much of a coincidence that Lilith of all people just happened to be next to the same bookshelf as him.
"Hmpf! Jump off your tall horse, you're not as important as you think you are!" the girl huffed at him.
"It's: get off your high horse." Harry corrected her and a smirk appeared on his face when she snapped at him.
"Shut up!" she yell-whispered at him, her cheeks becoming a faint colour of red. While her English was very good for a non-native English, she would still get some words and idioms wrong once in a while. And Harry never missed a chance to point it out if he happened to be around.
The glare she directed at him was severely weakened by the sight of her embarrassed face and Harry felt his stomach twist.
"You're doing that thing again!" he suddenly said and distanced himself from her.
"Doing what?" she asked confused.
"Stop playing stupid, you think I'm an idiot?" Harry retorted heatedly.
At that moment, however, he forgot that he was in the library, where even whispering could get one kicked out by the librarian, let alone shouting. A few moments later, Harry and Lilith both found themselves kicked out of the library and their backpacks also thrown out after them.
"Don't throw that!" Harry yelled.
It was too late however as the librarian, looking like an irate owl with ruffled feathers, had already thrown his backpack. He was too far away to catch it by hand and if the backpack dropped on the floor, all of his books and notebooks would be wasted - there was an inkwell inside too.
Just as it was about to hit the floor the backpack froze in mid-air.
"Wow, that's really impressive!" Lilith exclaimed when she saw Harry apparently casting what looked like a both wandless and non-verbal Levitation Charm. She had not thought that anyone below the 6th year was able to cast non-verbal charms. Of course, there was no way for her to know that levitation charms were the thing Harry was the best at and that he had been casting them for years, long before he even found out he was a Wizard.
At her praise, Harry felt his chest become warm again but instead of feeling smug about his rival being amazed at his feats, he became guarded.
"I don't understand what's your problem!" Harry said, his face showing signs of anger. "What do you want from me?"
The girl looked at him perplexed.
"What do I want...?"
"Don't play stupid! Every time you see me, you try casting that magic of yours! You think I don't notice it?!"
While Harry didn't know exactly what he was talking about, Lilith understood what he referring to. Taking a second look at herself, she made sure that she was not using her allure at all, not even unconsciously.
"Hey, just so you know, I only used my allure on you once, on the train! Actually, I never used it on anyone else again from the start of the year!" Lilith retorted.
The two of them kept glaring at each other none of them willing to back down. Eventually, Lilith said:
"Stop accusing me of something I'm not doing! You want to see what my allure feels like again? THIS is how it feels when I actually use it!"
In Harry's eyes, Lilith's face suddenly appeared more beautiful than ever. Her long, silvery-white hair appeared to shine in the dim lit corridor, her eyes appeared to have become slightly bigger and their blue colour more intense, her eyelashes longer and thicker and when his eyes fell on her the soft curves of her lips, he unconsciously wet his own.
But then, just as it always happened when something tried to influence Harry's mental state, a wave of warmth coming from the Gorgoneion around his neck flooded his body. The magical moment was suddenly broken and Harry stepped back warily, watching the girl intently.
'The spell was broken. She's not like before but...bloody hell, it's unreal how beautiful she still is.'
Harry was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard her amazed voice again:
"So it wasn't a fluke back then. Oh my god, you really can resist the allure!" she exclaimed in what Harry interpreted as excitement.
A familiar warmth appeared in his stomach again when he heard her words. It vexed him to the point where he couldn't help exteriorizing it:
"If your allure or whatever was stopped, why do I still feel like my stomach and chest are warm when you're around? You've gotta still be doing something!" Harry said in an accusatory manner.
Whatever reaction Harry expected Lilith to show at his accusation, it was definitely not the one that he had gotten out of her! Her blue eyes became wide, her mouth slightly opened and her cheeks a deep shade of red.
"W-What are you saying, idiot!" she stuttered out and quickly looked down, her tresses of white hair covering part of her face, making a great contrast with her flushed face.
Harry felt his own face inexplicably heat up at the sight of her and his voice was higher than usual when he asked out:
"What's with that reaction!?"
His breath was caught in his neck when she mumbled:
"It's my first time."
Her face was still red and her eyes still pinned to the floor, not daring to look at him.
It was the second week of November and the corridors of the castle had already started to become very cold but at that moment, Harry felt that it was so hot that he was sweating.
"What first time?" he croaked out.
Despite her deep embarrassment, Lilith raised her eyes and looked at his face, trying to see any signs of him making fun of her. But there was none. Harry's face was red, just like hers, the pupils of his eyes dilated and she could even hear the sound of his heavy breathing.
"It's the first time someone confessed to me...wait, don't tell me, you don't realize what you just said?" Lilith asked. Unlike the snappy way in which she usually spoke to him, this time, her voice came out soft, almost as a whisper. "You just sais that you like me!"
Now it was Harry's time to stutter:
"W-Wait, what?!"
Harry was just eleven. Until he met Lilith, he had never liked anyone that way before so he had not known what to make of the strange warmth and the feeling that tugged at his chest every time he saw her. So when he was finally confronted with the truth, he didn't want to accept it.
"I don't!" he shouted petulantly. "You're the most annoying girl I've ever met!"
It was like he was saying that more to convince himself than her. He was annoyed at her but even more at himself. How did that come to be? He was supposed to hate her for trying to manipulate him a few months ago on the train...not like her!
"And you're an idiot!" the girl shouted back at him.
And now, they were back at step 1, both glaring daggers at each other, their previous shyness and embarrassment forgotten.
'Better like this.' he thought, secretly relieved.
The change in their relationship would have been too abrupt otherwise. He was ok with him and Lilith treating each other like some sort of rivals during classes. It spurred him to give his all to perform at a level where she would not be able to mock him, even despite not having a wand. He couldn't imagine himself all of sudden starting to act like his roommate, Zabini did around girls.
Taking his backpack and getting it on his back, he was about to leave. However, at feeling how her eyes were burning a hole in the back of his head, despite what his brain was telling him to do - to ignore her and leave - he turned back to her and asked:
"What is that allure you're talking about?"
Lilith studied him carefully. Her own feelings were in disarray - she was also annoyed at Harry for getting her into detentions two times until then and for always antagonizing her during the classes they shared. But, unlike Harry, she was more aware of her changing feelings about him during the past few weeks. At the very least, she was aware of the fact that she no longer disliked him as much as she used to in the beginning and she even started to enjoy the little rivalry going on between the two of them. That's because, after 2 months of school, it became clear that the two of them were among the top students in their year, with only Hermione Granger from Hufflepuff being on the same level.
Lilith decided that she would like to take the chance to know Harry better.
'He's really smart and he's cute too.'
She had to fight off a blush when she thought about the last part, managing to do so only by telling herself:
'He can resist my allure too. I'm really curious how he's doing it.'
Normally, a teenager that just entered puberty would be completely defenceless against a Veela's allure. Though, truth being told, things were not that different for mature people either. Many men would easily lose their rational thoughts in the presence of a Veela, especially if the Veela danced or sang in front of them. Those that could resist the allure were rare - they were either very deeply in love with someone else or they were masters of Occlumency. But even then, it was not absolute.
A small smile appeared on Lilith's face when she thought of what would Harry's reaction be at what she was about to say:
"It's noon. We can talk more at lunch, in the Great Hall if you want."
§§§§§
"What is she doing with him?"
"Why is nobody from the Slytherin table telling them off?"
"Oh, you haven't heard? Rumour goes he's the one that offed that 7th-year guy. Draco, Crabbe and Goyle were also beaten to a pulp by him."
"You think he's forcing her to sit with him?"
"How is Snape not saying anything either?"
These and other similar things were being said in hushed voices by many of the students in the Great Hall when they saw Lilith Argyris taking a seat at the Slytherin table next to Harry Potter.
From the Professors' table, Severus Snape glared at the two teenagers and was about to stand up when Dumbledore made a sign to stop him. The Potion Master looked downright murderous as he clenched his jaws but he did not disobey Dumbledore's order.
"I don't think it's a good idea for you to keep on staying next to me." Harry said uncomfortably.
Lilith acted as if she was not aware of the dozens of eyes intently watching the two of them, amongst whom there were even professors.
"Why? Did something happen?"
"You know that we're not supposed to mix anyone not from our house. Do you see anyone else sitting with at the tables of other houses?"
"I've read the rules, what I'm doing is not forbidden." Lilith said playfully.
Harry sighed in frustration. He was in no mood for bantering.
"Haven't you heard the rumours? One of your idiotic housemates even thinks I'm forcing you to sit next to me. Apparently, I'm a soon to be Dark Lord or something like that."
A few days after the interrogation held by the Aurors sent by the Ministry of Magic, despite Harry being found innocent, the schools' opinion of him actually got worse. Because of the rumours already circulating about him, they thought that he managed to bypass the effects of the Veritaserum - which only increased his level of danger in their eyes. The way Harry's housemates were acting towards him only fuelled the rumours even more.
Harry sat up from the table, grabbed his backpack went to exit the Great Hall, leaving Lilith behind. Not for the first time that week, he was going to eat together with house-elves in the kitchen.
"Hey, don't leave just like that! How rude!"
She sat up too and ran after him, catching up after they both exited the Hall.
"Why did you leave? Let's go back and eat, don't listen to everything some morons say!"
"I'm not in the mood to eat with a few hundred people breathing down my neck. Haven't you seen how that slimy git was glaring at me?" Harry said, talking about Severus Snape "Go back by yourself. We have Charms together today. We can talk a bit then, no need to lose your lunch over this."
But as he kept walking, Lilith didn't leave his side.
"Where are you going now?"
Harry looked at her, undecided on whether to let her in on his small secret or not. After all, they hadn't had the greatest relationship until then. They weren't friends; if it wasn't for the strange moment they had together today, they wouldn't even be talking like that to each other, in a civil manner.
But when he thought of how Lilith was now skipping her lunch because she followed him to make sure he was alright he decided to tell her too. What was the worst that could happen anyway? It wasn't like it was some sort of life-and-death secret.
"I'm going to the Kitchens."
"Isn't that against the rules?" Lilith asked curiously, secretly giddy at the thought of doing something of that sort.
Harry shrugged.
"As long as nobody else sees us, it's fine. The House-Elves don't mind it. They always looked very happy to give me as much food as I wanted. So, unless you're gonna snitch on me to a professor, nobody is gonna find out."
"Hey, I'm not a snitch, ok? Besides, I'd get in trouble too if I did that. I'm not stupid!"
Harry gave her a snide look, making her shove him to the side in annoyance.
"Jerk!"
Soon, they found themselves in front of a gigantic painting, that depicted a very large silver bowl filled with fruits. Harry brought his hand up and softly rubbed the green pear which turned into a door handle.
The Kitchen of Hogwarts was a very large room with a high ceiling and of the same size as the Great Hall which was located right above it. Four large wooden tables were placed in the middle of the room, mirroring the position of the four house tables in the Great Hall and pots and bowls of all sizes were stored in tall stacks on the sides of the room. In the back of the room, a fire was burning in a very large hearth and dozens of House-Elves were busily and happily working together to prepare and serve the lunch for the students and professors above, in the Great Hall.
Harry and Lilith were immediately greeted by a House Elf who eagerly brought them two trays with all the dishes they wanted. Seeing Harry thanking the House Elf for the food (making the little creature skip like a schoolgirl on his way back to the other House Elves) Lilith couldn't help saying:
"You're nice with House-Elves."
Harry looked at her as if she had grown two heads.
"I'm nice to them? They are nice to me, look at how much food they brought us!"
Lilith hmmed in thought.
"Ah, you must have grown up with Muggles! That's why you probably don't know that most wizards don't treat House-Elves well."
Harry shrugged as he took a large bite from a sausage.
"I don't care. House Elves give me food every time. For all I know, they've been nicer to me than any other human has ever been."
Lilith looked at him startled, momentarily forgetting her own food.
"Even better than your parents?"
"I'm an orphan."
"Ouch. I'm sorry." Lilith apologized.
After that, they were silent for a while, just eating their lunch. But eventually, the girl broke the silence exasperated:
"Jesus, are you eating like that, on purpose, to annoy me?!"
"Wha'?" he asked, his mouth full.
Lilith palmed her forehead. She would have asked him if he was raised by pigs given his manners but when she thought of how he told her that he was an orphan, she stopped herself.
Fortunately, she did not have to watch him devour the food for too long because Harry wolfed down all of his food in a matter of minutes - she was barely half-way through the main course when Harry practically inhaled his desert. Even after the month spent at The Leaky Cauldron and the 2 months spent at Hogwarts with an abundance of food, his eating habits have not changed at all. He was still eating like when he was homeless, as though he was preparing to not have food for the following two days.
That said, when he was done eating he started to ask her one question after another:
"You said that the magic you cast to manipulate me was your allure or something. What is it exactly?"
She bristled at him for saying she was trying to 'manipulate' him. It sounded a bit too heavy but she knew that he was technically right.
"I'm a Veela. My kind is very well known for their ability to charm others. Don't tell me you've never of it, we're basically every man's wet dream."
Her words sounded vain but Harry did not think she was exaggerating.
"If all the Veela look like you, they might as well be." he said without thinking.
It was only when he heard Lilith choking on her food that he realized his words. He suddenly felt the temperature rise with at least 10 degrees in the kitchen and he quickly changed the subjet to prevent her from commenting on what he had just said:
"You referred to Veela as your kind..."
Answering his unspoken question, Lilith said:
"Yes. We are not humans. We are seen as beings."
"Humans are considered beings too." Harry said, remembering the Ministry of Magic's classification they were taught in the classes of DADA at the beginning of the year.
Lilith snorted.
"I know the definition of a being - any creature that has sufficient intelligence to understand the laws of the magical community and to bear part of the responsibility in shaping those laws. But that's only on the paper."
"Humans form the majority. They are the strongest and most populous species and they rule over everyone else. You, as a human, have a different status than me altogether. For example, in England, I'm seen as little more than a sentient magical creature."
From the way Lilith was gripping her fork Harry understood that it must have been a sensitive topic for her.
"To put it in a way that you'd understand, most of the time, non-humans are seen like black people used to be a few decades ago. As second-class citizens."
Lilith sighed and said.
"Oh well. There are some countries where it's not as bad as in most of Europe - I've heard that the USA made significant progress in accepting non-humans as equals to humans."
"Romania is also more open to Vampires - but it's more like they are forced to be like that there because of the threat of the hidden Vampire Kingdom in the Carpathian Mountains." Lilith said and laughed at the last part.
"In Norway, Sweden and Finland Trolls are not as discriminated against as in the rest of Europe - they're actually given plots of land in the mountains, away from human settlements, where they allowed to live autonomously in their tribes, as long as they don't harm any passers-by. Not surprisingly, recent studies show that, because of their peaceful relationship with the humans, the trolls from those countries have become smarter than the ones in the rest of Europe."
"My kind, the Veela, is also much more respected in Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece. Actually, my uncle happens to be the Minister of Magic in Greece - that's how I was chosen to come to Hogwarts in this trial internship program."
While they were talking, they left the Kitchen and headed towards the Charms classroom - Slytherin and Ravenclaw first years were going to have a joint class soon.
Harry was momentarily silent. What Lilith told him had considerably broadened his horizons. He had never thought about other creatures before. He knew of the existence of Goblins, House Elves, Vampires and Werewolves, but he had never thought about how their life was or about their place in society. He had also never thought about how the other countries were. It was the first time he was hearing about the secret Vampire Kingdom from Romania or about the semi-civilized trolls in Scandinavia.
'There are still so many things I don't know!'
He was almost like a baby, having discovered the Wizarding World only 3 months ago. There was a lot of background information that he missed, things that would probably be considered common knowledge for someone that grew up in the Wizarding World.
"Wait, you said your uncle is the Minister of Magic in your country? Then, you're probably filthy rich! Why the hell did you use your allure on me only for a few sickles?!"
When he put it like that, Lilith realized it herself too how embarrassing it was that she had created such a big scene only for a few coins.
She did not dare meet his eyes as she mumbled:
"My parents give me a very small allowance every month and not even a knut above that. In their words - they don't want me to become spoiled or something like that."
"More spoiled than you already are?" Harry ribbed at her.
Instead of snapping at him like she would have done in the past, she only stuck out her tongue out and made a face at him.
They both started to laugh. They really hit it off once they stopped antagonising each other. After only one hour in each other's company, they realized that the other wasn't as horrible as they had thought at first. Harry was also much more open to the idea of having an amicable relationship with her now.
'She's surprisingly fun to be around.'
Putting aside her beauty, he also liked how smart she was. He learned a lot of new and interesting things from just a simple conversation with her.
Starting with that class of Charms, Lilith and Harry became partners whenever Ravenclaw and Slytherin first years had a class together. They were still trying to outdo each other, just like before, but there was no more hostility between the two of them. It was just a fun rivalry.
AN: poor little Harry was beginning to like Lilith without even realizing it, blaming it all on her allure lol. Hope you liked the chapter!
(Not an English native and I have no beta either. Sorry for any mistakes I may have made.)
