Disclaimer: I don't won Harry Potter, or any of it's characters, so don't sue me!
Pairings: H/D and N/? so far…
Plot: Harry, a.k.a.; Guy, is coming back home. After the war and Voldemort was defeated, Harry walked away from his life and the after-effects of the battle, seeking refuge from the world in his persona - Guy. Now, it's time for him to face the music, and that which manages to scare him, when Voldemort always managed to fail.
Chapter Five
By the time Dumbledore gathered his wits enough to send Blaise Zambini after Harry, the majority of students had already seen the visitor wandering around the castle, in a seemingly random fashion. A few had been brave enough to ask him if he needed directions to the Headmaster's office, but Harry calmly turned down the offers and explained he'd already been there.
See, Harry's wandering was anything but meaningless. As he walked around the school, checking for any new hidden passages, and re-familiarising himself with the castle layout in general, the castle itself was filling him in on everything that he had missed.
For some reason the castle was fixated with relationships, the steamier the better. As a result, Harry decided the castle had to have a female personality, as only a female could take such pleasure in gossip. After having every student couple pointed out to him as he walked, the castle decided to divulge the interesting information that Draco Malfoy hadn't dated someone since the war ended. Why that piece of information should be of interest, Harry couldn't quite understand, but he followed his instincts and stored it away in his brain anyway. Understanding the warm feeling that came with the information, was from the castle 'fondly' thinking of Dumbledore again, Harry quickly asked for an update on the Professors currently employed at Hogwarts.
Draco was now Professor of Arithmancy, Remus had been reinstated as Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Blaise was in charge of a new subject, devoted to all kinds of sports; muggle and wizard, which had him co-teaching Quidditch with Madame Hooch. Other than those three, and Neville, who was official gardener and Professor Sprouts' assistant, there had been no major additions to the staff. Until now, anyhow. Thinking quickly, Harry asked the castle to estimate the stir his arrival was likely to cause.
After being reassured that nobody would think it too odd, as they had desperately needed a new Professor of Muggle Studies anyhow, Harry was about to ask after all the Professors' health, when Blaise managed to track him down and insisted on giving him a tour of the castle.
"Sure, that would be much appreciated, thanks." Ignoring the curious looks the other man kept throwing at him as they walked, Harry concentrated on the places shown to him, keeping up the appearance of a new comer by asking the occasional question.
Reaching the gardens, Harry felt vaguely surprised when Blaise insisted on covering them in his tour as well. Allowing the brown eyed man to lead the way across the fresh cut grass, Harry absorbed the fact that they were heading to the rose gardens, with a silent 'thank you' given to the castle in return.
Entering the sweetly-smelling circle of plants, Harry was vaguely surprised to see Neville bent over the beautiful blooms, delicately pruning them the muggle way. Blaise immediately went over to Neville's side, and engaged him in conversation, turning to include Harry occasionally. Keeping a vague ear on the conversation, Harry nodded in agreement on occasion, and murmured the expected responses, moving to examine the garden in better detail as he did.
The castle gleefully informed Harry of the fact that Blaise often wandered into the gardens when he had a free moment, as though that were cause to celebrate. It took the castle explaining its own hypothesis that Blaise liked Neville, in a more than friendly way, for Harry to recognise the implications of the original comment. Looking back over at the pair, Harry allowed a slight smile to appear on his face as he took in the light touches Blaise kept bestowing on the oblivious gardener, under the guise of showing Neville a pruning technique his mum used to swear by.
Aware that it was getting late, and he still had a few 'details' to iron out with Dumbledore, Harry bid the two men goodbye and briefly explained his intention of seeking the Headmaster out.
Gravel crunching under his feet was the only sound as he made his way around to the entrance of the castle again, all the noisy children long settled into their final lesson of the day, and the teachers either teaching or enjoying their free time by relaxing in some way.
Despite the lack of noise, or perhaps because of it, Harry became aware that the feeling of being observed was creating a tingling sensation between his shoulder blades. Moderating his pace to that of a casual stroll, Harry traced his route in his head, picking out the perfect place to 'vanish'.
The chosen corner fast approaching, and Harry was careful not to change his behaviour in any way as he began tracking the source of his audience. Licking his upper lip, Harry used the moment of exposure of his tongue to taste the air, using his enhanced fourth sense to flick through the taste spectrum for something out of place. The faint taste of mint and ferns made themselves known, out of place for the sole reason that they were intertwined, indicating the specific scent associated with an individual. Switching to his sixth sense, Harry managed to pinpoint a human-sized heat signature emanating from behind and to the right. Perfect, at just the right angle for his disappearing trick to work.
Turning around the stone corner, Harry shifted. A second later, a charcoal black raven settled itself upon the stone statue of a woman, wings snapping shut as it prepared to wait a while.
However, only a couple of minutes had passed before the raven was rewarded for its patience. Almost-silent footsteps approached the corner, indicating whoever it was were used to traversing the gravel pathway. The edge of a cloak brushed against the stone wall, and suddenly he was there.
Calm grey eyes surveyed the empty walkway in front of him, left eyebrow rising slightly as his gaze shifted to the undisturbed gravel in front of him. A graceful hand sweeping through platinum blond hair was the only sign of the frustration emanating off him, and even that was more than normally allowed. Schooling himself to act normal, Draco Malfoy used the muggle pretext of dropping something in order to visually scan the immediate vicinity in search of his quarry.
There was no sign of the newest edition to staff though, and Draco fumed at the fact that he didn't know what was going on. After his talk with Neville, Draco had been called up to the Headmasters office, where he had had quite possibly the strangest talk with Dumbledore as of yet. Slyly suggesting Draco keep a close eye on the newest member of staff, and yet emphasising the fact that he was to be trusted. Spying on someone and trusting them at the same time was not something Draco was accustomed to doing, and he could practically feel the Headmaster trying to tell him something else, but for some reason not coming right out and saying it. Merlin, but conversations filled with hidden meanings gave him a headache!
And now the man he'd been following had vanished on him, which was not a good start to keeping an eye on someone. Trustworthy or not!
Briefly flicking a glance at the black raven perched on top of the statue of Guidervre, Draco felt a shiver pass through him when his eyes met its green gaze head on, but then he was heading back to his own rooms, and quickly shrugged it off as a chill breeze.
Harry looked in the direction Draco had just gone, feeling vaguely shaken by everything he'd just felt coming off the man. Normally only able to get a sense of emotions through his eighth sense, his bond with Draco was so strong his senses had opened right up and he'd managed to pick up an exact replication of Draco's meeting with Dumbledore, when their eyes had met that instant. Shaken by the intense feelings of longing and loneliness he'd felt pouring off the other man, Harry tried to shrug it off by focusing on the anger he felt at the Headmaster's manipulations instead.
Storming up to the gargoyle, Harry had to swear he meant the Headmaster no physical harm before the castle would grant him entry. Luckily the castle understood his need to vent enough not to place a restriction on his yelling as well. Taking the stairs two at a time, Harry wasn't even breathing hard by the time he reached the top and opened the door without knocking on it.
Seated behind his desk and knee deep in documents, Dumbledore looked up in surprise at Harry's abrupt entrance. He had barely begun to narrow his eyes in thought before Harry slammed his hands down on the desk in front of him.
"Ah, yes, Harry? I trust you wanted to see me about something…? Unless you just felt like entering my office for no reason, which you'd be surprised how many people…"
"Albus, stop it. I am not in the mood for joking, and I am definitely not receptive to your attempt to lighten up the 'atmosphere'."
Glancing down at his desk momentarily, the Headmaster looked strangely reminiscent of a naughty boy caught doing something he shouldn't be doing. Unable to keep a hold of his rage, Harry just felt strangely hurt by the whole thing.
"I know you said you would drop hints about who I am, as you are against my hiding my identity. But…getting Draco to follow me? In the hope that, what? If he watched me long enough he'd realise how much I resemble Harry Potter? If he watched me long enough I'd slip up and accidentally reveal myself?"
"Why Dumbledore? Why won't you let me just see how everyone is doing and then go my own way again? I did what you wanted of me, I did what everyone wanted of me! Why can't you let me have what's left of my life for myself? Is that just too much to ask?!"
Shrewd blue eyes snapped up, as the stress of everything caught up with Harry and two silent tears made their way down his cheeks. Rising from his seat, Dumbledore came around his desk and gently eased Harry into the plush armchair used for guests. Standing over the silent young man, Albus Dumbledore looked down at the hero of the wizarding world and felt the regret he had been consumed with for years.
"I want you to have the life you deserve my boy, I always did. I hoped that by helping you defeat Voldemort, I'd enable you to live the rest of your life free of that damn prophecy, live it as life should be lived. I neglected thinking the pain it must have caused you to have that amount of responsibility put on you so young."
Shaking his silver head wearily, Dumbledore lowered himself until he was perched on the arm of the other guest armchair. Blue eyes hazed over, as the Headmaster recalled the events that had led up to this moment, and tried to think how best to soothe the unhappy young man before him. A compromise appeared to be in order.
"I did things so wrong back then, but I'm glad you were able to get rid of Voldemort, and since that day I have been working to make things up to everyone."
"Some people I will be unable to make thing up to until they know you are safe and well, and are able to see you with their own eyes. I'd almost lost hope on making things up to you, and to have you here but be unable to tell anyone…I just want to make things better, and I feel that, for you, things will never be better until you can learn to accept what you did and everything that goes with that!"
"Allowing people to know where you are is the first step towards that in my eyes, and I apologise for trying to force you to take it. I tell you what, I won't keep trying to make you trip up, but I still won't actively hide who you are, and…when you're ready, you can tell me and I'll help you face everybody. Okay?"
Touching his fingers to his cheeks, Harry stared for a moment at the tear drops he found there, his eyes looking beyond the material as he pondered Dumbledore's words.
Snapping out of it, the boy wonder turned sharp emerald eyes on his old Headmaster, all anger and sadness wiped out as he nodded his head in acceptance.
I know, I know - this chapter was really crap! And you're going to hate me, because I've decided to concentrate on furthering some of my other fics for a while, which means it'll take me even longer to update this one than it does already! dodges projectiles thrown at me
Still, I hope to maybe finish one of my fics, although I only seem capable of starting them, not finishing them - the only one I've managed to do that to I started a sequel on, and still haven't finished that!
Anyway, R&R please? If only to yell at me for taking a break, when that is all I seem to do! lol