Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters

Web of Lies: Revelations

Alec smiled slightly as he looked through the room. It was a very nice, peaceful room, with the walls painted in soft blue and the furniture made of white painted wood. The room was sparsely furnished; there was just a white leather couch in front of a roaring fire and a table with two chairs standing in front of a window. The rug covering the floor was a darker shade of blue, and it reflected the warmth coming from the fire. Every time he was there, Harry could feel peace fill him. A soft voice ran through the room, reminding him that he was there for a reason. As he had often done, Alec moved towards the table and sat down in one of the chairs facing the window. The view was astounding, changing from a sea to a forest depending on the mood he was in, but he didn't pay attention to it this time. Instead, the teen focused on the bright light standing in the middle of the table. The light was beautiful, and the first time he had seen it, he had become enthralled by it. Who would have thought that magic could be so nice to look at?

"Alec! Focus!"

The teen looked up startled and then blushed in embarrassment; it happened every time he was there. He just forgot what Rowena had told him to do and his teacher had to remind him about it. After glancing apologetically towards the fireplace, where a black raven was perched, he returned his attention to the glowing orb. If you looked closely, you could see several threads of light going out of the orb and through the window. What Rowena wanted him to do was to build a shield with his magic that would filter anything that came through the window into his room. That was easier said than done. For two weeks he had been struggling to get the barrier in place, but to no avail. Every time he thought he had it, something would interrupt his concentration and all his work would be for naught.

Placing his hands in front of the glowing orb, he closed his eyes lightly and started to concentrate his will. Under his hands, he could feel the orb shift and expand, all the threads coming together in the middle. Once they were all close enough, he forced the light to envelope the threads lightly, shielding them and protecting them. That was the easy part, and after two weeks, Alec didn't have trouble with it, but now came the tricky part. Carefully, he forced the light towards the window, to create a barrier that would not allow anyone else to enter his mind without his permission.

He was about to attach the light in place when something disturbed him once again, breaking his concentration and roughly ripping him away from his room.

"Alec!"

With a groan, he opened his eyes to see himself sitting in the Ravenclaw common room. Lan was at his side, shaking his shoulder forcefully.

"Alec! Come on, wake up, Sleepy Head, it's time for dinner, and you know Professor Dumbledore told you that if you missed it again he would force you to go up with him and to have dinner in his rooms."

Harry blinked and then glared up at her. He had a dreadful headache now, and he was feeling quite pissed off at the girl. He felt he had nearly done it, there had not been any of the usual interruptions, but Lan had just had to choose that moment to interrupt him. In a strained voice, he spoke to her.

"Go ahead without me; I need to get into another pair of robes."

The girl pouted. "You're no fun, Alec." She seemed to sense he was in a bad mood and shrugged. "Well, don't say I didn't warn you when you get in trouble with the headmaster."

Lan then turned around and joined Michael and Tatiana, two other first years that had befriended the vivacious girl. Once Alec saw the door close after them, he groaned and leaned back against his chair. Looking up, he saw Lady Ravenclaw looking down at him.

"I'm never going to get it."

A soft voice ran through his mind. "Of course you will; you nearly did it this time." The portrait studied him closely; she could tell he was exhausted, her lessons with him were not easy on the teen, and she knew that Salazar's were just as demanding. "Alec, why don't you go to the hospital wing?"

The boy snapped his eyes open, barely conscious that he had closed them. "Why would I do that? I'm fine!"

The portrait regarded him a bit amused. "Several reasons, my boy. You're exhausted; you need to get a good night rest, and I'm sure that nurse of yours can ensure that you get it."

"Salazar..."

The witch cut him. "I will speak to Salazar; you need a break or you will collapse. Besides, you should get something for that headache I'm sure you have."

The teen opened his mouth again. "I don't..."

The portrait continued as if not hearing him. "Besides, I don't think you want to explain to your grandfather why you're missing dinner for the third time this week."

That final reason shut him up quickly. Rowena and Lan were right; Dumbledore would not be pleased. Sighing, he stood up, ready to go up to the hospital wing. After all, a peaceful, silent room would be rather nice. After waiting for the dizzy spell to pass, Alec nodded his goodbyes to the portrait of his house's founder and slowly left the room.

The halls were deserted as everyone was at dinner, so it didn't take him long to reach the infirmary. Once there, he saw that Madam Pomfrey was nowhere in sight, and reasoning she had probably gone to dinner, he moved to one of the beds and laid his pounding head down on a pillow to wait for her.

A hand was shaking him, but he didn't want to open his eyes. His head was still hurting, and he had a feeling that opening his eyes was not going to make things better. Through his tired mind he heard a voice calling his name worriedly, and he finally gave in and opened his eyes only just enough to be able to see who was disturbing his sleep.

Poppy was bowing worriedly over the groggy teen. She had been very surprised when she saw him lying on top of one of her beds. The Harry she had known would never have entered her domains out of his own free will so something had to be really wrong with the teen. Finally, she noticed the teen had opened his eyes a bit.

"Alec? What's wrong? Why are you here?"

The teen stayed silent for a second before whispering an answer. "Headache; do you have something for it, please?"

Madam Pomfrey blinked, not having expected such an answer, but from the lines marring the young face, she could tell his head must be bothering him a lot. Quickly, she left his bedside and went to fetch one of her potions. When she returned, Alec hadn't moved from his place. Quickly she drew her wand and ran a quick check up over him, to see if anything else was wrong.

Founding nothing except tiredness, that was not all that uncommon for the first weeks of school, she gave him the potion. After he had swallowed the whole vial, the woman muttered a few words, and the child felt his clothing change into pyjamas and the covers come over him, tucking him in snugly.

"You might as well stay here for tonight, the potion might take a few minutes to kick in and you will sleep better in here than in the common rooms." Once she was sure he was comfortable, she patted his head gently. "I'm going to warn your grandfather; else he'll overreact when he finds out."

Harry's only answer was to smile slightly at her words, knowing they were probably true. Silently thanking Rowena in his mind, he allowed his eyes to fall closed and he drifted off to sleep.

In her office, the nurse used the floo connection to call the headmaster. The old man was not there, but Minerva had seemingly been waiting for him there, so she was able to answer Poppy's call.

"Poppy? Is there something wrong?"

The woman nodded at her. "Well, not really wrong, but I thought Albus would like to know that Alec is in the infirmary."

Poppy saw the deputy headmistress sit up sprightly. "Has something happened? Is he ok?"

The woman smiled reassuringly. "No, nothing happened. It seems young Alec was suffering from a severe headache and came to find me, but I was in the Great Hall so when I returned, I found him sleeping on one of the beds. I thought it best to keep him in here, just in case, but there shouldn't be further problems, and he should be able to rejoin his peers tomorrow morning after a good rest."

Minerva nodded. "Thank you, Poppy, I will go tell Albus before he gets too worried."

The woman raised an eyebrow, and Minerva quickly explained that when Alec hadn't gone to the Great Hall for dinner, Dumbledore had decided to check on him. Poppy smiled slightly. "You might as well go before he has a panic attack; Merlin knows how protective Albus is of that boy."

Minerva chuckled in agreement and broke the connection. She quickly walked down the stairs and headed towards the Ravenclaw common room. She was there just in time to see Dumbledore come out, followed by a few seventh years. They all looked worried so she quickly approached them.

"Albus!"

The headmaster looked up. "Minerva?"

"You just got a fire-call from Poppy; it seems Alec is in the infirmary."

The old man looked alarmed, and before she was able to explain, he was already walking towards the hospital wing. Rolling her eyes, she turned to the seventh years, who were watching them, torn between worry and amusement. "You can go back to your common room; don't worry about Alec, he's fine. The headmaster is just overreacting."

The young men laughed and bid her goodbye as she headed towards the ward herself. Peeking in, she saw Dumbledore sitting next to Alec's bed, with Poppy speaking with him. Deciding they would probably take care of everything, she went to her own rooms. She would have to talk to Albus in the morning.

To be continued...

A/N: Thanks for all reviews and thanks to my beta-reader, Vinnie.