Black Truth

Chapter Twelve: Home is Where the Heart is... Isn't it?

For a minute there was absolute silence before both boys said two different things at the same time. "What the hell?" and "What is going on?"

There was then a second of silence as each boy waited for the other to repeat what he had said. Deciding then that this was not going to happen, Harry spoke.

"Do you mind explaining what you were doing in my bed, Malfoy?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Sleeping, what did it look like? And Potter, you'd better check again, because you were the one who climbed into my bed!"

Harry looked over his shoulder slightly to see his bed sitting there as if no one had slept in it at all during the night. Damn. Turning back to Draco he snarled, "Why the hell did I end up in your bed?"

"How should I know?"

"You're the Veriae." Harry replied in a droll tone.

"And so that makes me responsible for every little thing you don't like?" Draco was incredulous. "I don't exactly enjoy the idea of you sleeping in my bed either, Potter, but what am I going to do about it? Time travel isn't exactly one of the Veriae powers, you know, so I can't go back to last night and stay awake long enough to kick you out of my bed!"

"But I didn't crawl in your bed in the first place," Harry pointed out. He was absolutely sure that he had fallen asleep in his own bed, not in Draco's.

"Whatever." Draco sighed slightly and without another word disappeared into the bathroom to take a very long shower.

Lucius sat at the window of one of his rooms, thinking and sipping a cup of coffee (this time in the morning was too early for wine). It had been irking him since yesterday, that thing about impulses that Voldemort had been so happy about. What had it been... something about Harry walking right into a trap because of... those impulses.

Oh. Right. And Lucius remembered. Harry had given into the impulses to "save" his godfather, someone who was the closest link to family that Harry had... or so the Dark Lord was of the opinion. But then... if, and it was a big if, if Harry's impulses had stepped in to make him save Draco, then Draco's earlier assessment of Potter would prove to be incorrect.

And Lucius smiled thinly over his drink. Yes, though Potter didn't know it yet, he was slowly falling for Draco. One only had to have seen the way Potter had cradled his son's body almost protectively to himself as they emerged from the forest to know that... and the best part was that Potter himself didn't realize it. Draco wouldn't realize his feelings either, though, and that caused Lucius to frown slightly. Draco had been obsessed with Potter ever since... what, First Year? Second? Too young to realize those types of emotions when they started, but the Veriae inside him must have realized it at their first meeting. So Draco's life had begun to revolve slowly but surely around Potter. Except Draco assumed it was his hatred that kept him driving to best Potter at anything and everything.

Lucius smirked now, his eyes gazing out over the grounds of Hogwarts. Those two would be in for an interesting time when they finally figured out their emotions. It would take a while, but it would happen. And Draco would never need to go through the same pain that he did when Voldemort had killed his intended.

Lucius vaguely heard someone speaking to the portrait outside his room before the door opened and Snape walked into the room, stopping when he saw the serene look on Lucius's face.

"Alright, what is it that has you this happy at this time in the morning?"

Lucius smirked at the Potions Master. "Were I to tell you, you would most likely suffer cardiac arrest. Believe me, you do not want to know."

Snape looked questioningly at Lucius but didn't push the matter; after all he had First Year Ravenclaws and Slytherins to teach this morning.

By the time Harry had showered, dressed, and gotten the things he needed for classes ready, Draco had left the room without so much as a word in his direction. This suited Harry just fine anyway, as they'd been playing the "you don't exist and are just a figment of my imagination" game since that ever so interesting conversation they'd had when they woke up.

Walking down to the Great Hall where the sounds of breakfast could be heard, Harry's mind went over what happened on Wednesdays. Wednesdays were nice because he only had one class, even though it was doubled. It was that one class that made the day ever so boring. Divination. Yeah... boring with a capital B. But Harry had to take at least one elective and it was easy, so he was rather stuck.

Ron and Hermione had saved him a spot at the table and Harry gratefully sank into it and started in on breakfast.

"So how was the night with Ferret?" Ron asked over a mouthful of eggs.

Harry shrugged. "Nothing bad. We ignored each other the whole time." Until I woke up in his bed, Harry mentally added, but he felt that wasn't a mental picture that Ron needed.

"Nothing strange happened? Like with the bond?" Hermione asked.

"Not really. Malfoy had to touch me for an hour or so before the pain went away but that's all that happened."

Hermione looked as if she didn't really believe him, and Ron looked like he was trying really hard not to throw up his food because of whatever image his brain was supplying him with.

"Not like that, Ron." Harry sighed and his friend looked visibly relieved.

Halfway through breakfast, with all the mail owls flying around, a tawny school owl dropped a note on Harry's plate, narrowly missing the pool of syrup that had flowed off his pancakes. Harry read it and frowned slightly.

"What is it?"

"It's a note that allows me to get out of any of my classes should Malfoy feel threatened," Harry muttered, passing the note across the table.

"Hey, you should use that to get out of Snape's classes!" Ron exclaimed.

"Except for the fact that Malfoy is in his Potions class," Hermione pointed out.

"Oh..." Ron didn't look so excited.

The Divination room looked the same as it always had, now that Umbridge was gone and Trelawney was back. Harry and Ron sat at their customary table in the back of the room and waited for their Professor to arrive.

"Welcome all," came the misty voice, "Today we will begin learning the use of Tarot cards to help bring out your Inner Eye-"

"But what happens if my Inner Eye is shy and doesn't want to come out?" Ron muttered and Harry grinned.

"-oh, and Harry, in ten minutes don't feel as if you have to ask before you leave, dear. He will be waiting for you in the Great Hall."

What? Harry thought as the rest of the class looked at him questioningly. Okay... maybe he should just use that prediction as an excuse to leave the class in ten minutes...

"Now, there are many different spreads that are used for a Tarot reading, so pay attention dears, for many of you will not understand this for a week because you have not listened. The one similarity for all these spreads is that they invoke your Inner Eye to interpret their meaning, not just recognize it. One must know if a card has appeared in the reversed position and what that means verses when a card appears in the normal position. There are also many kinds of Tarot decks that can influence the accuracy of the reading based on how they relate to your Inner Eye. And within these decks there are the Major Arcana cards and the Minor Arcana cards. You will begin to memorize the differences in these cards for our next class, but only four of you will have memorized the meanings of all the Tarot cards in the deck that you will receive at the end of this lesson. Now the Major Arcana is used for general-"

Harry's eyes widened slightly as he felt a familiar burning sensation beginning to creep down the walls of his stomach and settle in a coil around his belly button. Oh no.

Not bothering to ask to be excused from class, Harry got up and left the room.

Ron looked at the clock on the wall and grinned. It was nine minutes into class, not ten. Should he point that out? Hmmm... of course. Smirking boldly at the Professor, he raised his hand.

Harry ran into the deserted Great Hall to see Draco sitting calmly at the Slytherin table waiting for him.

"What's wrong now?" Harry demanded and sat down angrily next to Draco. As Draco's hand found its way underneath his shirt again he added, "I sure as hell wasn't in a dangerous situation."

"No, I was."

"Were you in Defense Against the Dark Arts or something?"

"No."

Harry tried to think of more dangerous classroom situations. It couldn't be care of Magical Creatures, Harry took that with him. "Herbology?"

"No."

"What class?"

"Ancient Runes."

"WHAT? What, pray tell, is so dangerous about ANCIENT RUNES?"

"Pansy," Draco replied calmly as if that explained everything. Seeing the skeptical look on Harry's face he continued. "She won't take a hint."

Harry sighed and fought the urge to bang his head on a hard surface. Oh well, at least he didn't have to go back to Divination.

When Harry entered his and Draco's rooms that night he was amazed to find Draco locked in the bathroom with the shower running. How many showers did that boy take? Did he have some kind of weird fetish for them or something? No-bad thoughts, and why did Harry care anyway? It wasn't as if the water in Hogwarts got cold if one took an extremely long shower after all. Shrugging off his clothes and changing into pajamas, Harry climbed into his own bed and decided to test a recent idea of his. Maybe if he fell asleep first, he would remain safely in his own bed.

Harry was out like a light before Draco had gotten out of his shower.

Harry awoke from a very pleasant dream about absolutely nothing (which suited him just fine as that meant it was a very safe dream) to find that he was in no hurry to get out of bed, lounging on his stomach with his face buried on the nice soft pillow. At least he was until a slightly muffled voice from his chest area decided to comment on the morning.

"Okay, now this cannot become a normal occurrence, Potter. If you insist on sleeping in my bed, than I insist on being on top."

Harry balked and promptly fell off Draco and off the bed, landing harshly on the floor. Oh, wasn't that a wonderful way to start the morning.