Author Note: I managed to find time to update before work! Chapter twelve is complete but I need to clean it up a bit and do some more editing. Be expecting to see it sometime next week.
Edit 21/4/13: Once again, I have removed the sexual content as per FanFiction guidelines. Feel free to read the unedited version of 'The Courtesan' on HP Fandom or Archive of Our Own.
Drops of Nightshade x
Chapter Eleven
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
1996
After returning to his dorm room, which he now knew he shared with Seamus, Harry set about unpacking his school trunk. Folding his clothes he stored them away in his wardrobe and then contemplated his bare bedside table, biting his lip as he glanced from the plain wood to Seamus' colourful and decorated one.
He had no photos to display, no special items that meant something to him. In his life, it had always been his family and friends whom were what mattered. At last Harry placed Hedwig's empty brass cage upon the table, if only to have something sitting there.
Finishing up, Harry remembered the sealed letter that the Dark Lord had given him to deliver to Snape and realised that he should probably get it over and done with. He also had to get his timetable from the sour Potions Master so he might as well kill two birds with one stone.
But firstly he needed to work out where he could get Hedwig a more substantial meal than a few strips of leftover bacon. Suddenly remembering the school owlery, and feeling like an idiot for not remembering it, Harry clicked his tongue to summon his snowy companion to his shoulder.
Once Hedwig had secured her talons to the fabric of his robes he left the dormitory and walked back out through the empty common room, purposefully ignoring the snobbish portrait as he left.
Walking through the empty corridors of the castle Harry exited into a courtyard, pulling his robes tighter around him in the early autumnal chill that was beginning to set in. Moving quicker to warm his limbs he began climbing the twisting steps that led to the owlery.
By the time he reached the top he was pleasantly heated up, his pale cheeks flushed a delicate pink. Moving into the owlery and carefully stepping around the droppings that littered the floor, Harry located a bag of food pellets that were supposedly nutritious according to the advertising on the outside.
Filling a tray for Hedwig, he watched fondly as his owl hopped down to peck contentedly at the food, amber eyes glaring at the other birds in the owlery as a clear warning to stay away from her meal and her human.
A startled gasp was what alerted Harry to another presence in the open chamber and he looked around to see a small boy wearing the Hogwarts uniform, with disturbingly familiar cobalt blue eyes and crimped brown hair. Harry could only stare in confusion as he felt he should know who this young boy was and yet no name came to mind.
The younger student turned away and approached a rather large grey owl to attach a letter. An owl with a very distinctive black band around his breast. An owl that undeniably belonged to his ex-contractor, Rabastan Lestrange. He had seen it enough delivering mail to the man.
At last everything clicked into place in Harry's mind. The familiarity about the boy's features, his use of Rabastan's private owl, even the child's age, which looked around eleven- about the time the first Birthers would have graduated from Damara House…
Rabastan had a son.
Shock and perhaps a trace of hurt lingered in Harry as he watched the boy send off the owl, most likely with a letter to his father. Or perhaps his mother. Who was his mother? Wait, why did he even care? It wasn't like he had any claim on Rabastan. At least not anymore.
The boy left the owlery after that, oblivious to the burning emerald eyes that followed him on the way out, an echo of pain in their depths.
After recovering from the shock of discovering his old lover had had a son and had never seen fit to even tell Harry of his existence, the raven-haired teen had left Hedwig to socialise with the other owls and had made his way to the headmaster's office.
Reaching the office, Harry cursed as he was yet again confronted with a guardian demanding a password, this time a stone gargoyle. Resigned to waiting outside for Snape to show up, Harry leaned casually against the wall whilst viciously shoving all thought of Rabastan and his young son out of his mind. He was becoming quite adept at pushing unwanted thoughts away.
The tolling of the bell signalling the arrival of the final class of the day made Harry jump, unused as he was to the once-familiar ringing. Soon the halls flooded with chattering students whom gaped unashamedly at Harry and his gleaming collar. Some actually had the nerve to stop and cause a bottleneck in the hallway.
Harry had never been so happy to hear the snide tone of Severus Snape as he did then, the dark-haired man demanding to know why the students were hovering around like mindless buffoons. He soon came to the source of the problem, and his lips twisted into a sneer. 'Of course you would be behind this Potter.'
When he realised the students hadn't moved and were watching their interaction avidly, Snape gave them an onyx-eyed glare and asked in his deadly voice, 'Do you not have classes to go to?'
Harry had never thought people could run so fast.
Then that slightly terrifying gaze was pinned on him and Harry gulped, before steeling himself and pulling the sealed letter out. Before Snape could begin either insulting him or dismissing him, Harry offered it up and said, 'The Dark Lord asked me to give you this.' He decided to not disclose what was probably inside the message seeing as Snape would most likely incinerate the paper and Harry's hand while he was at it.
With that trademark curl to his lips, Snape took the letter, eyes expertly tracing the seal to check its legitimacy. At last he spun on his heel, black robes flying and didn't even give the password as the stone gargoyle leaped hastily aside. Harry didn't blame it.
Snape was halfway up the stairs before he realised Harry wasn't following. With a curt, 'Potter!' he had the green-eyed boy scampering up the stairs which had not moved ever since Snape decided it made him dizzy with the corkscrew turning.
Harry entered the office to discover Snape already sitting behind his impressive desk, opening the letter with a tap of his wand. The seal crumbled away and Harry hovered near the door, not wanting to take the available seat and be closer to the volatile man than he already was.
Snape unfolded the note and began reading, his face growing stormier as he read its contents. At last he pressed two spidery fingers to his temple as though easing a looming headache.
'It appears the Dark Lord believes you require lessons in Occulemency. And as I am the only competent teacher in this institution, he has seen fit to grace me with this task.' Harry already knew this but he held his tongue.
'Furthermore, he has informed me that the Potter vault at Gringotts has been unfrozen and officially returned to your name. The Dark Lord has arranged for you to have a weekly allowance, which he will regulate. You are to go to the new Gringotts branch in Hogsmeade this weekend to receive your first payment.'
Harry thought his heart might have stopped beating. He now had money and an account, which would have been in the Potter family for centuries. Gratitude and wonder rose in him, directed towards his contractor. He was entirely lost for words, and apparently Snape noticed this for his lips tightened and he said firmly, 'I cannot deny the Dark Lord's request for your lessons. So be here in this office at eight o'clock sharp on Friday night. Do not be late. The gargoyle will be expecting you.'
Knowing a dismissal when he heard it, Harry nodded respectfully to Snape and hurriedly left the office, mind going at a million miles an hour. He knew his contractor was lenient towards him and gave him honours and privileges like no other of the Servile caste, but this was something entirely of a different calibre.
He now had financial support behind him and with his weekly allowances, a chance to purchase items he had never been able to before. Then another thought struck him. It was commonly known that one of the ways a person could escape from their servitude to their contractor was to essentially pay back what their contract was initially bought for.
If Harry gathered enough money from his weekly allowance he could potentially buy his freedom. He knew Rabastan had bought his contract for an obscene amount of money but he didn't know exactly how much. Once he knew, he would be able to begin building up enough funds to purchase his contract from Lord Voldemort.
Unexpectedly, Harry felt a twinge of remorse at that thought. But that was ridiculous. Harry wanted to be free.
Didn't he?
Suddenly a piece of parchment chose that moment to smack into his face and Harry pulled it away with confusion, noticing the traces of magic leading back towards Snape's office with his unique ability. It was his timetable, accidentally forgotten while he had been meeting Snape. The man had chosen to send it to Harry by hitting him in the face with it.
Some people just never changed.
It was oddly comforting in a way.
Scanning the neatly outlined boxes Harry's eyes found his schedule for Wednesday, which was the next day and when he was beginning classes.
He started off the morning with a double of Potions. Luckily Snape no longer taught the subject, instead teaching Alchemy for the most advanced Potion students in the sixth and seventh years only. Professor Slughorn now took the classes, Harry drawing on an image of a blading, pot-bellied man from his time earlier on at Hogwarts. The man had always thrown an elaborate Yuletide party every year with only the most elite students invited to the event.
After his lunch break Harry groaned as he realised he had his once a week Duelling class with none other than Rabastan Lestrange. Well, at least he could get that meeting over and done with. And on the bright side he wouldn't have to see the man for another week.
After Duelling Harry would finish off the day with Curse Breaking with Professor Wester. He was quite looking forward to the class, having read many books on the topic.
Folding his timetable and tucking it in his pocket for safekeeping, Harry headed back to the sixth-year dorms trying keep the confident smirk of Rabastan Lestrange from haunting his thoughts.
Later on that night Harry sat in the common room in front of the blazing fire surrounded by the elitist members of the sixth year. He listened to their chatter but was not really paying attention as he struggled with his tiredness. It had been a massive day for him filled with a mixture of good and bad surprises.
Earlier on he had entered the Great Hall for dinner and had sat down with Draco to one side and Daphne Greengrass to the other. There were eight tables in the hall including the teacher's raised one. The students' tables were round and scattered through the hall with the first years closest to the teachers and the seventh years the furthest away and nearest to the door.
Year levels sat together at their respective tables, and Harry had seen Luna sitting at the next table over, a space next to her on either side. It appeared she wasn't very popular. Having felt a surge of overprotectiveness he had given her a reassuring smile when he caught her eye and a small wave.
Pansy's sharp eyes had witnessed whom he was gesturing to and she had asked in her shrill voice over the low hum of voices, 'You know Loony Lovegood?'
Her loud voice had carried to the rest of the table whom looked up from where they were having their own separate conversations. Harry had stiffened and given her his coldest glare, his emerald eyes like frozen jade.
'Yes, I know Luna Lovegood. I consider her to be a friend of mine,' he informed the brown-eyed girl stonily.
Pansy shrunk from his menacing glare and once Harry was sure she had gotten the message loud and clear he turned away to face Daphne and engage her in talk. He had discovered as he spoke with the blonde girl that she was the eldest of two and the heiress to the Greengrass family fortune. She had a little sister named Astoria in the fourth year and she had pointed her out sitting a few tables down, talking with a knot of friends and giggling about something or other. The two sisters looked very similar except Astoria's hair was more golden than her older sister's and her hazel eyes had more green in them.
Harry was surprised to discover that Astoria was betrothed to none other than Draco Malfoy, but Daphne assured him that pureblood marriage contracts rarely held and they would probably not end up wedding. Astoria was not the only Greengrass daughter to have her marriage arranged, Daphne telling him laughingly that her parents had arranged her to marry Theodore Nott who sat a few seats down from them.
Theodore, or 'Theo,' as he had told Harry to call him seeing as his father was also named Theodore, had heard his name mentioned and glanced their way with a grin on his lips. He gave Daphne a mock wink and she chuckled quietly.
'Well you seem to like each other,' Harry had mentioned after witnessing their short interaction.
'Of course we do, we were practically raised together. He's one of my closest friends,' Daphne said.
Theodore had then started talking with Millicent and the two began a debate on which book more accurately covered the Transfiguration course. The two appeared to be bookworms of some sort.
Now sitting next to Draco once more in the warm common room, Harry politely excused himself announcing that he wished to get a good night's sleep before his first day of classes. He was given a round of goodnights and he offered the gathered students a warm smile in return before heading up to his dorm room.
Upon entering he saw Seamus sitting cross-legged on his own bed, reading a Wizarding magazine. The Irish boy looked up when Harry entered and gave him a crooked smile before looking back down at his magazine.
Harry prepared for bed, getting into a pair of soft pyjamas and discovering a small bathroom leading off from their shared bedroom. He hadn't even seen it earlier. Brushing his teeth Harry stared into the framed mirror and noticed the faint bags under his eyes. He really needed to get some sleep.
Walking back into the dorm room he sat on his bed and snuggled into the covers. Noticing the tied back drapes around the bed he cast a glance towards his silent roommate and wondered how he would react if Harry wandlessly and wordlessly closed them. His wand was at the foot of his bed lying on top of a pile of clothes and he couldn't be bothered rising from the soft warmth of his bed.
Seamus wasn't even paying attention so Harry flicked his magic out and nudged the drapes to close around him, screening him from view. When there was no shocked cry of surprise, he settled in and said quietly, 'Goodnight, Seamus.'
There was a pause before the taller boy called back, 'G'night.'
Harry cast another wandless spell, this time setting up a silencing charm around his bed before he lay down and closed his eyes. He was asleep the second his head touched the pillow.
Their tongues were tangled, battling for dominance as passion and arousal throbbed between them both. At last Harry allowed the other man's tongue to dominate his own, moaning slightly as the tip mapped out his mouth, claiming every inch of it for his own.
The scrape of the other man's teeth against his lip drew a growl of lust from Harry and with boldness he didn't knew he had he pushed his lover's chest down and straddled the other man's hips.
There was a flash of lust-darkened crimson eyes in the shadows before-
Harry woke with a start, flushed and aroused in bed. Sitting up he cast a wandless Tempus and saw it was half past six in the morning. Breakfast began at seven and classes started a nine so he had plenty of time to handle his…problem.
Thanking Merlin he had thought to cast a silencing charm the night before, Harry dismantled it and shuffled out of bed noting Seamus' closed drapes around his bed. Light snores emanated from behind them indicating the other boy was still fast asleep.
Trying to ignore the hardness in between his legs, Harry grabbed his clothes for the day and entered the bathroom, locking it behind him. It wasn't like this was the first time he had woken up aroused. But it was the first time that his bed partner had been Lord Voldemort. Those ruby red eyes were unmistakable and Harry knew once and for all there was now no way he could deny his attraction to the man.
When he decided the water was the right temperature Harry stepped in and dealt with his hardened flesh, bringing himself off with firm strokes. After coming he washed all trace of his arousal from the shower and scrubbed himself clean.
Feeling refreshed Harry dressed in his Hogwarts uniform and towelled his raven hair dry. He cast another Tempus, noticing he had spent half an hour dealing with his problem and getting ready for his first day before he strapped his wand to his holster on his arm.
Seamus was still sleeping deeply and Harry wondered whether or not he should wake the boy before deciding he probably had an alarm set to stop him from sleeping in too much. If Seamus was still asleep when he got back from breakfast then Harry promised himself that he would wake him.
Leaving the sixth year dorms Harry made his way to the Great Hall. There were not that many people about; obviously most of the students came down for breakfast closer to when classes started. A few boys and girls were sitting at the sixth year table but there were none that Harry were that familiar with. Resigned to a quiet and lonely breakfast Harry was surprised when an arm looped into his own and he was tugged toward the empty fifth year table.
Luna smiled at him as she pulled him with her and sat him down beside her own seat. Food already sat ready and waiting, prepared as Harry knew by the busy house elves. As he and Luna served themselves Harry ignored with practiced ease the incredulous stares directed their way.
Once he felt full and ready for the day, Harry sat back and watched as more people filtered in, yawning and rubbing their eyes, making beelines towards the pots of fresh coffee available.
Luna had procured the magazine from yesterday and was reading it quite happily, upside down yet again.
'What's that magazine?' Harry asked her.
'It's the Quibbler. My father owns the company,' she told him as her eyes focused on the page in front of her.
Surprised at this new titbit of information on Luna's life Harry looked around to see the cover and saw the name, 'Xenophilius Lovegood' printed on the front in flashing colours.
Soon the fifth year table had begun truly filling up and so Harry offered his goodbye to Luna and made his way back to his room to retrieve his books for his classes that day.
Seamus was in the shower, cutting things a bit fine, but he was up and about at least. Harry gathered his books after double-checking his timetable and wondered whether or not he should wait for Seamus. They would have Potions together after all seeing as students took classes in their year levels except for some electives such as Healing or Alchemy where students from different years were in a class together.
The Irish boy had been a bit distant around Harry, but he didn't blame him. The emerald-eyed boy had been accepted into the elite group and Seamus was at the bottom of the social ladder. The other boy probably thought Harry wouldn't want to associate with him.
Determined to win his roommate over Harry sat on his bed and waited for Seamus to come out of the bathroom. When the blue-eyed boy appeared, Harry said quickly, 'I decided to wait for you so we could go to Potions together.'
Seamus frowned as he rummaged around in his wardrobe pulling on a fresh set of black robes over his casual clothes. 'I thought you said you knew your way around?'
'I do know my way around, but I thought we could go together,' Harry said simply.
Seamus paused and looked Harry over before smiling that crooked smile of his and saying finally, 'All right then. But I need to swing by the Great Hall to grab a bit of toast. I'm starved.'
With that, Harry knew he had been given a chance to become friends with the sandy-haired teen, and he wasn't going to let that venture fail.
Potions was long and arduous for Harry whom was forced to deal with Professor Slughorn asking this or that question about the Dark Lord. It didn't help that the entire sixth year were listening in to hear how he responded to those questions.
Well, the entire sixth year but for the two hulking bodyguards of Draco's whom hadn't gotten good enough grades to continue Potions.
When he wasn't interrogating Harry the man was reminiscing about his time teaching Lord Voldemort, claiming to have been the young man's favourite teacher. Somehow, Harry found that hard to believe.
What shocked him was that Professor Slughorn had taught his mother, Lily, and had been rather fond of her. He had hoped that Harry would have inherited her talent at Potions, but the teen was only a bit above average at best.
Sitting beside Seamus, Harry stirred his potion five times clockwise and three times anti-clockwise before sitting back to let it simmer away for a few minutes. Seamus was struggling with his own potion, which had turned slightly gelatinous.
Harry found that potion making was similar to cooking, which is something he knew how to do very well thanks to Mrs Weasley growing up. One had to follow the instructions carefully and keep their wits about them and they were fine. Harry did however sense that there was more to the art than that, and that Snape would probably have a fit if he heard his precious subject simplified in such a way, but it worked for Harry.
Thankfully the double period was coming to an end, and Harry couldn't wait to escape to lunch and get away from the ambitious Professor. He made a few samples of his potion into his new set of glass vials and noted proudly that it was the right colour, if not a shade or two lighter than it should be. It was very good for his first time.
Professor Slughorn set them a short essay on the potion they had just made, wanting to know its properties and various uses. It was due the first lesson on Friday morning.
Leaving the dungeon room where their lessons would be held, Harry walked along beside Seamus who was talking with two of his good friends and fellow half bloods. The other boys had kindly reminded Harry of their names, as he had already forgotten. They were Terry Boot and Michael Corner and seemed to be quite close with Seamus.
On Harry's other side were two twin girls named Padma and Parvati Patil that hadn't said much to him beside giggle whenever he came into sight. They reminded him a bit of Lavender and he knew they would have gotten on wonderfully with her.
Together, the six of them including Harry made up the half blood presence in the sixth year. So few had passed the entrance exam to get into Hogwarts, but Harry saw that the three boys and two girls had strong magical cores and intelligent minds.
They deserved to be here, had proven themselves to be worthy enough to learn beside the purebloods. Harry had taken no entrance exam. Whilst he knew he would have passed it, it still didn't sit right with him that the Dark Lord had pulled some strings and enrolled him without any testing. He hadn't even taken his O.W.L's for Merlin's sake!
Daphne tugged him over to sit next to her when he reached the Great Hall and sat him down between herself and Millicent. Harry noticed quite a number of females casting looks out of the corner of their eyes today towards the teacher's table, blushes on their faces.
Following their gazes he felt a thrill race through him when he saw Rabastan Lestrange sitting at the teacher's dais talking quietly with Professor Vector, the Arithmancy teacher. He must have just Flooed in, only having the sixth year class today after the break.
Harry found he couldn't take his eyes off the man, looking over his cobalt blue eyes and wavy brown hair.
'I see you've spotted Professor Lestrange,' Daphne murmured with a slight grin.
'Isn't he dreamy?' Pansy sighed, staring with longing at the handsome man.
'I heard he's not interested in the fairer sex,' Millicent remarked clinically, staring shrewdly at the Duelling Professor as though trying to dissect him with her eyes.
'Don't be stupid, of course he's interested in women,' Pansy snapped back.
Wanting to put her in her place, Harry informed her blandly, 'As a matter of fact he truly isn't interested in women.'
'How would you know?' Pansy asked dismissively.
'He was my contractor for a month,' Harry told her lightly.
Silence descended over the table as nineteen pairs of eyes locked on him.
Pansy was sitting there gaping unattractively like a fish, struggling to find something to say. Suddenly Parvati giggled and asked him, 'Well…how was he…you know. In bed,' she finished nervously.
'Don't be so common,' Daphne growled at the other girl, leaping to save Harry from having to answer the question.
Parvati flushed in mortification, not believing she had actually just asked that. It had just sort of slipped out. But then again, it was what everyone at the table was privately wondering.
Regretting his hasty decision to reveal his past relationship with Rabastan Harry sighed and sat down a little lower in his chair. Sometimes he just didn't think before he acted. But he had been so eager to get one up on Pansy.
With his eyes wandering back to the teacher's table he muffled a gasp when Rabastan's dark blue eyes bored into his own, unidentifiable emotions warring over his aristocratic face. Harry knew his cheeks were flushed but he couldn't find the strength to look away.
At last Rabastan offered him a small smile, which Harry returned slowly, memories of their admittedly short time together coming to mind. Blushing even deeper as some particularly inappropriate ones crossed his thoughts, Harry saw a flash of heated desire enter Rabastan's eyes.
Harry knew two things in that moment.
Rabastan was still attracted to him.
And he found that didn't bother him.
Author Note: So there is the promised classes/Rabastan (or in this case, just Potions). Next chapter Harry has his Duelling class and a revealing talk with his ex-contractor….
PS: I actually love Snape even though I might make him seem like a greasy git ;)
One last thing, unfortunately chapter twelve ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, nothing too painful but because I have to slow my updates, you guys could be in for a bit of a wait for the following chapter.
Sorry, again!
Drops of Nightshade x