Chapter 3: Talk of Loyalty
Harry found himself once again surrounded by darkness. And like before he was unafraid. But instead of wandering around like last time, he simply sat down and made himself comfortable. He was perfectly content to wait there in the darkness.
"'Ello, green-eyes," whispered his protector from the darkness.
"Will it always be like this? Going to sleep and coming here to talk to you," Harry asked.
"No. There will be times when you will dream normally."
"I don't want to dream," Harry whispered to the dark.
"I would like nothing more then to protect you from your nightmares," Miss Protector started.
"I sense a 'but' in there," Harry muttered.
"But, dreams and nightmares are a mind's way of sorting everything out."
Harry sighed. "I know that. I just wish my mind wasn't a broken record. It seems to be stuck on everyone's death."
"In order to stop that nightmare, you are going to have to come to terms with their deaths."
"I can't. Two of those deaths were my fault."
"But one of them isn't dead."
Harry blinked and looked up. "Sirius?" he questioned softly. "You...you said that when..." he let his voice drift off as he traced a finger down the scar on his left wrist. He still couldn't believe he had done that. Truly it felt like it had happened to someone else.
"I told you the truth. Your Sirius isn't dead."
"Then where is he?" Harry yelled surging to his feet.
"He's in a coma. When he wakes-up I'll bring him to you. You have my word," she said solemnly.
Relaxing, Harry nodded and sunk back to the floor. He didn't know why he trusted her, but he trusted his instincts, which were telling him that there was no one safer then her. His instincts had never been wrong.
"Now on to a lighter note. I see you've been busy today," laughed the guardian.
Harry looked down and realized that he was wearing the clothes he had bought early that day. He was glad he didn't appear here in what he went to bed in. That would be a little embarrassing.
"Yeah. I decided I needed a change," he replied.
"That's good. It's about time you did something for yourself. And let me be the first to tell you that you look fabulous."
A light blush tinted Harry's tanned cheeks. "Ummm...Thanks."
"Oh how modest. That's so cute," teased the guardian.
The blush deepened and Harry ducked his head so it wouldn't be seen. He didn't look up until the blush had faded. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course. That is one of the purposes of these little dream visits."
"One? What are the other reasons?" Harry asked curiously.
"To provide you with information and helpful advice. Though I should warn you, the advice is usually cryptic," the guardian said cheerfully.
"But of course. Can't have anything too easy," Harry muttered.
Miss Guardian Angel laughed. "You know you wouldn't want it any other way. Now what was your question?"
Harry shook his head. She had a point; if things were easy he'd either doubt them or be bored out of his mind. That was kind of the problem when you faced death head on when you were eleven and pretty much every year after that. He needed those life or death moments now to feel alive.
"How do you know if someone is loyal or not?" Harry asked.
"Sometimes you just know. But if you doubt your instincts or that person's integrity then the simplest way is to tell them a secret. The secret could be real or not it doesn't matter. You could use the secret in two ways. One, tell the person to judge their reaction to the secret, you might not want to even associate with them depending on their reaction. And two, swear the person to silence and see if the secret spreads. There's a problem with this one, 'cause someone could overhear. Let's see, another way would be to eavesdrop. See how they act and what they say when you're not around. Though I warn you, you may find things out that you didn't need or want to know."
"Hmmm...okay," Harry said absently his mind already wandering off.
"Alright then, it's time for you to go..."
"Wait. Aren't you going to ask my 'why'?" Harry asked interrupting Miss Guardian.
"No. If you wished to tell me you would. Now, it's time for you to wake-up green-eyes."
Lil' Sphinx: Thanks to everyone who sent me a review. Glad most of you enjoyed the story so far. To answer a few questions;
Smackskiller- Yes this is slash. I'm sorry if you don't like that and I should have mentioned it earlier. I do have another story that I'm working on that isn't. If I post it, I hope you'll read it.
Anna May- Yes Harry gets a tattoo. It happens in the next chapter, but you won't find out what he gets till later on in the story. Meaning I have no clue what kinda tattoo I gave him. If you have any suggestions, I'm open.
