Harry was not at all surprised when he couldn't sleep. It had been a highly upsetting day, and after all, he had slept for a good portion of it already. He lay in bed, staring in the direction of the ceiling and listening to Ron's snores. Every time he heard the house creak, or some other noise outside, he wondered if it heralded more Inferi.
Somewhat against his will, he wondered if Malfoy was all right back in his room. That had to have been a nasty shock. Perhaps close to the sort of shock you get when discovering the person you'd been snogging had cast an Unforgivable Curse on you?
Maybe not. But maybe close.
A lick of power tried to escape, and Harry reeled it back in. There was no point in making himself any more of a target than he already was.
He didn't want to think about Malfoy any more. It was too depressing. So instead he turned his mind inward, to his magical core. He'd dropped the meditation Professor Dumbledore had recommended pretty sharpish, upon discovering the Imperius Curse and breaking it. He might as well see if he could focus his power and get it under control, since he clearly wasn't going to sleep anytime soon.
Further and further inward he sank. Little zips of power kept darting past him, towards the outside world; he grabbed them and dragged them with him as he went. He arrived at his core rather sooner than he expected, his arrival heralded by a wash of heat and electric tingles.
He spent a long time submerged in this ocean of power, getting used to its feel and its rhythms. Soon he was moving gently in tandem with its pulses, and found that the stray bits wove easily back into the whole. Feeling much more settled, he allowed his mind to surface, and opened his eyes.
The power stayed quiescent within him, but he could now see the haze of spells on the walls and faint shadows of the wards on the outside. He could see the pattern of the ward he'd put on the door and even the fitting spells he'd put on Ron's jeans, which lay discarded on the floor.
Ron snorted and snuffled, then moaned, "'Mioneeeee…"
Harry grinned. Then the grin melted into slight alarm as Ron's breathing picked up and he continued to make little moaning noises. "Silencio," Harry whispered, pointing a forefinger at his friend. He saw the spell dart from his finger and form a net over Ron's bed, and Ron's sounds cut off abruptly.
This was cool.
He wondered suddenly if he could wander through the house the way Dra – Malfoy obviously had, out of his body. That would be seriously cool. He wondered how you went out of body in the first place.
He lay back and let himself drift, then tried to push his mind out. Nothing happened, that time or the several other times he tried. Finally, he got grumpily out of bed to go down to the library and see if he could find a spell to do it.
There were lights and voices still coming from the parlour, so he slunk by there with all the stealth he could muster, missing his Invisibility Cloak something fierce. A Marauder's Map would have come in handy as well, he mused, then started as Remus came out of the parlour and spotted him.
"Everything all right, Harry?" Remus asked, smiling at him. "Nice pyjamas, by the way."
Harry ran one hand down the blue silk sleeve (the blood had come out nicely) and said, "Thanks. I'm fine. I, uh, just wanted something to read. I can't sleep."
"Zabini is gone," said Remus with a concerned frown. "And there weren't any other Inferi around. We've put up a fire ward as well."
He'd seen it. Just as he could see the shadow of the wolf in Remus's aura now. "I slept a lot today. I'm just not tired."
Remus smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't pick anything too Dark," he said. "Good night, Harry." He went upstairs.
"Night," said Harry, and continued towards the library. As he reached for the door, it opened and Snape came out, face unreadable.
"Don't go in there, Potter," he said brusquely.
Harry scowled. "It's my library."
"Don't be childish. It's nearly midnight," said Snape. "You'll be working hard tomorrow. Go to bed."
Harry blinked away from realising that the charm on Snape's hair was not a Glamour, but actually meant to hold his hair together and keep it from shedding, and said, "I'm getting a book." He started around the dour Professor.
Who caught his arm. "Mr Malfoy is asleep in there," he said coldly. "He has had an upsetting day; you will not disturb him."
"He's had –" Harry cut himself off; Snape didn't know about the Imperius (and would likely approve if he did), but he did know Zabini had been Malfoy's friend. "I won't wake him," Harry said after a moment. Snape gazed piercingly into his eyes for a moment – Harry pushed off a brush of Legilimens; did the man have no manners? – and let him go.
The library was dim and quiet. Harry saw numerous spells on the shelves and on the books themselves – security and preservation mostly, he supposed. He saw the huddled shape on the couch in front of the fire and moved away from there, into the stacks.
It was mighty dark in there. Harry drew his wand and cast Lumos. Instantly a bright white light beamed forth, lighting up the whole library so harshly that Harry's eyes closed involuntarily; it was like looking directly into the sun..
"Wha --?" came the voice from the couch.
"Dammit. Finite Incantatem," said Harry, then raised his voice. "Sorry, Malfoy. Just getting a book. Go back to sleep." He blinked afterimages from his vision, hoping Malfoy would take the hint, he was the subtle Slytherin, after all.
But no. Footsteps heralded Malfoy's arrival at the corner of a nearby bookcase. "What are you doing?"
Harry gritted his teeth, determined not to feel sorry for the other boy. He was sure Malfoy was unaware of the tear tracks gleaming on his face in the muted light from the lamp at the end of the bookcase. "I'm just getting a book."
Malfoy smirked and folded his arms. "Lumos got away from you?"
"Obviously."
"Perhaps you need a book of first-year spells, then."
God, what a git. "Spells, yes," said Harry, moving along the row to the next case and squinting at the titles there. Ah, that looked good: Useful Spells For All Occasions. He pulled the book down and turned. "Good night, Malfoy."
Malfoy was watching him solemnly. "Be careful," he said, and turned and went back to the couch.
Harry gritted his teeth and left the library. He obviously couldn't study in there.
After some consideration, he ended up in the parlour, now vacant. The couch was comfortable and the light good, and the heavy drapes were drawn securely across the window. The sound of the rain in here was peaceful rather than threatening as he opened the book.
It was very well organised, with simpler spells toward the beginning, growing more complicated toward the back. Harry flipped to the back and found a healing spell for use only as a very last resort, when someone was nearly dead. He made a mental note to check it out later and turned back to the front.
The section on Lumos had some good information. He discovered how to do "Lumos Minima," for a nightlight-level spell, and of course "Lumos Maxima." The Maxima spell wasn't supposed to produce a light as bright as he had just done in the library, but it produced a good strong light when he tried it without his wand. He tried Lumos Minima with his wand and got a slightly-brighter-than-ordinary Lumos, and the tiny glow in his palm when he tried it without.
This was a disturbing trend. Clearly he needed to work more on control with his wand. He decided Lumos Minima was a good spell to practise with, and set himself to it, watching carefully as he cast the spell.
Two hours of unrelenting concentration had him partially successful. He could see the spell pass from his hand into his wand, and see that the wand was doing something to amplify it. He tried to work on regulating the amount of power he put into the spells, but that was harder than he had thought. He decided after a while that the wand was supposed to do the regulating, but his wasn't for some reason.
It was now nearly three in the morning, and he was tired. He took the book and headed upstairs, stopping short when he got to his room; there was a white T shirt hanging on the doorknob.
Argh! Well, he sure wasn't going in there now. He just hoped Ron and Hermione weren't minding the silencing spell on Ron. Meanwhile, where could he go? Not Draco's room. There were no more unoccupied rooms on this floor. Sighing, he went back down to the parlour. Fortunately the couch was very comfortable. He was asleep in minutes, snuggled under an afghan.
Distantly, towards morning, he felt something tearing at his Occlumency shields, and shored them up. The presence faded again, and Harry retreated back to his dream, which for once was a pleasant one. He was dreaming of Draco, and the afternoon they'd spent playing Quidditch in the ballroom.
"Harry…" Draco was saying.
"Yeah?" Harry asked, turning his broomstick to face the other boy.
"You need to get going," said Draco, smiling at him. He flew closer and reached out, putting an arm around Harry in a quick, affectionate hug. "I'll see you later."
Harry hugged back. He did like the way Draco smelled. "Later."
"Harry!" That voice was sharp and worried, and not Draco's. Harry opened his eyes and found Hermione bending over him. "Harry, are you all right?"
"I'm fine," said Harry, and he couldn't help it; he smirked. "How about you? Sleep well?"
She blushed. "I'm sorry," she muttered. "We didn't think…"
Harry sat up, grinning. "It's fine; I was comfortable down here."
She glanced away, and her eyes lit on the book he had been using. She picked it up. "Looking for new spells?" she asked, flipping pages.
"Old ones, actually," said Harry, running his hands through his hair. "I'd better go up and get dressed."
Hermione blushed again and let him go. Harry left the book with her and headed up to his room.
Ron was just stirring when he came in. "Where've you been, mate?" he tried to ask, but no sound came out of his mouth. He pointed to himself and raised his brows.
"Finite Incantatem. Sorry. Downstairs," said Harry, getting out of his pyjamas. "I didn't think you and Hermione wanted my company last night."
Ron blushed even brighter than Hermione had. "Oh. Uh, sorry. I sort of thought you were with Malfoy, especially when he didn't come slinking in for the morning snogfest."
Harry scowled at the inside of his T shirt. "That won't be happening any more," he said when he had pulled it all the way on.
"Why not?" Ron asked, sitting up. He scowled suddenly. "What did he do?"
Harry found he couldn't meet Ron's eyes. He'd defended Malfoy to Ron, after all, and then this had happened. "Never mind. I took care of it."
"That's why you took the spell off his tongue ring, isn't it?" said Ron, getting out of bed and going for his clothes. "He cast something on you, didn't he? I'll kill him."
"No, I mean, yes, he did cast something on me, but I found it and broke it," said Harry. "Don't kill him, it's not worth it."
Ron really could be good at putting pieces together. "He tried to Imperio you," he said in deadly tones. "It is so worth it. I am going to kill him!" He headed for the door.
Harry jammed his foot into his second trainer and chased after him, slightly relieved that he was heading for Malfoy's room, where Harry knew Malfoy wasn't, rather than the stairs. "Ron! I don't want you to get in trouble! He didn't succeed, I broke the spell. I dealt with him myself! Come on!"
Ron stopped. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides. "Who does he think he is?" he ground out. "It's because of you he even has a place to be, after his dad threw him to V – You-Know-Who."
"Believe me, I am well aware of that," said Malfoy from the bottom of the stairs. Ron and Harry spun to face him. He looked at Harry and said quietly, "Good morning." Then, as Ron started towards him, he turned and headed for the kitchen. He was joined by Professor Snape before Ron could catch up with him. Harry trailed in after Ron and found all the house's occupants already there, along with Professor Dumbledore.
"Ah, good morning, Harry," said Professor Dumbledore. "How are you feeling today?"
"Better, sir," said Harry, taking some porridge and studying it intently, rather than looking up and meeting Malfoy's eyes. Malfoy was seated directly across from him.
"You did an excellent job Healing Miss Weasley," said Remus. "I checked her over, and there's no sign of the break."
"Yeah, thanks, Harry," said Ginny. "I won't even have a scar."
Harry shrugged and gave her a little smile. "It was my fault; it was the least I could do," he said.
"We will be working on spell casting again this morning," said Professor Dumbledore. "I understand you had a visitation last night. Have there been further developments?"
Malfoy winced and studied his own porridge.
"We put up a flame ward," said Mr Weasley. "No more Inferi seem to have come near the house after that one was driven off. I don't think we need to leave the house just yet."
"I agree," said Snape. "As long as Mr Potter can get himself under control, we should be safe here for the remainder of the summer."
"I've made some progress with that," said Harry, eagerly drinking tea. He was still sleepy, but he knew the two Professors would have no mercy on him in practise.
"Good," said Professor Dumbledore, twinkling at him. Harry saw a tendril of Legilimens start across the table towards him, and shoved it back, perhaps a little harder than he meant to, but he was irritated. Why did the Professor keep doing that? Professor Dumbledore rocked back in his chair and frowned a little, but said nothing.
"We should be able to finish our homework today," said Hermione.
"I will require Mr Malfoy's presence in my laboratory this morning," said Professor Snape. Malfoy nodded. "Lupin will be working with you, Potter."
Remus smiled at Harry and said, "I'm looking forward to seeing your spell work in action, Harry."
"Well, on that note, let's get to it," said Professor Dumbledore, rising from the table. Harry gulped more tea, abandoned his toast, and followed him down to the practise room.