Harry had never felt so particularly stupid. He couldn't believe himself, asking the dark lord to meet his friends. It was laughable. Simply ridiculous. But, it all worked out in the end, so was he really that stupid, or was he secretly a genius? Given the fact that he hadn't even told Blaise he was going to be meeting his courter but a man who was the Dark Lord, he would have to conclude that he was in fact just stupid.
Now that that was out of the way, he has to figure out how to tell Blaise without the boy getting extremely upset that he had hidden something huge about his life from him. Again,
He and Blaise had met on the Hogwarts Express when he had gotten lost on his way back from the bathroom-he really should learn the difference between left and right-but he had barged into what was seemingly his compartment but one at the opposite end of the train.
Harry had just plonked down and had decided to wait for the trolley witch, who would certainly know the way back to his compartment.
But the boy in the compartment in which he was currently sitting had not seemed to understand that he wanted to sit in silence and had begun talking to him; they had spoken for quite a while, in fact. Well, Blaise had been speaking, and Harry would add in sentences from time to time. In the end, they had ended up becoming good friends and it only solidified more when they were both sorted into Slytherin
Blaise had always known that he had a secret, one that no matter how many complaints he heard about it, he wouldn't divulge, so he had left it be. Waiting for Harry to tell him in his own time.
He would say he was fond of Blaise, in the way one was fond of a favorite uncle. He loved him to some degree and would do almost anything for his continued health and safety.
It had taken years for Harry to trust the other boy and finally tell him about himself, more than what Blaise had originally observed from living with him every single day. But Blaise had had an explosive reaction to the news that he was a disowned Potter and had a fit when he'd heard about the orphanage.
He had wanted to murder Charles, but Harry had quickly talked him out of it. Mostly by reminding him that it wasn't his revenge to take. After that, Blaise stayed by his side through everything.
So when he said he was worried about Blaise meeting the Dark Lord, he meant he was worried about Blaise having an aneurysm that his best friend was with the Dark Lord and also about the fact that Blaise was a little bit in awe of the man.
Understatement of the century
Regardless, he was worried about his own health and safety because Blaise was surely going to strangle him for keeping such a monumental secret. So Harry had to figure out how to break the news gently. which he was sure he could do.
After all, how hard could it be?
He had to ask. It had been hell, quite frankly. Blaise had gone insane. He was currently picking out an outfit for meeting Marvalo. For some reason, it had to be 'just right', it was like he had a crush on the man or something. Harry stays, sitting on the bed, waiting for Blaise to stop throwing his entire closet on the floor.
He had actually gone through the entire top shelf, so the floor around him was covered in clothes. He wished Blaise would either stop or maybe just pick an outfit because he didn't want to live in this mess of a room until the next Hogsmeade visit, which was almost 4 days away.
He sighed as another pile of shirts landed on the floor next to his bed. This wasn't going to end without interference. This wasn't going to be fun.
Why did these things always happen to him?
"Blaise," Harry called out as he rose from the bed, reaching out for the clothes on the floor. There was no response from the other boy; he seemed too engrossed in his current activity.
"Blaise," Harry called out again as he was ignored by the dark-skinned boy yet again. Frustrated, Harry threw the shirt in his hand at Blaise's head.
The boy in question finally turned around to look at Harry with annoyed eyes, plucking the shirt off his shoulder where it had landed after sliding off Blaise's face. Blaise raised an impatient eyebrow at Harry, asking him what was the matter.
"Blaise, we have to go to lunch and clean up the dorm before Theo shows up. You know how he gets when things are a mess—"
Harry was interrupted by the squeak of the door as it opened up slowly. Draco's head poked through the crack, and he paused, staring around the room in apparent horror.
"What the hell happened here?" Draco asked.
Harry glared angrily at Blaise, not even attempting to be subtle about who he blamed for the state of their room.
"Father is quite displeased that you didn't say goodbye to him, Harry." Draco began leaning against the door frame in a casual manner.
"Yes, well, I was quite busy, so he's going to have to get over it," Harry mumbled sullenly. His mother would be angry at him for not saying goodbye to his father. But, surely she would understand.
Draco raised his hands in defense as he stood up straight. "Alright geez, no need to be pissy Harry," he said with an easy smile.
"I am going to be meeting the Dark Lord," Blaise blurted out, apparently unable to keep it to himself anymore.
Draco's head snapped to Harry's face as he looked down with a guilty expression. He knew that he should have told Draco and his father, but he couldn't find it in himself to feel guilty enough.
"Really, Blaise?" Harry muttered as he plonked gracefully back onto the bed and heaved a sigh.
"What? He probably knows who I'm talking about, okay, and you really should have expected it, "Blaise started.
"He's right you know. You should have expected it since you insisted on having this rif-raf as your friend," Draco said distastefully, as he slid onto Harry's bed after parkouring through the mounds of clothes that littered the room.
Yes, Harry, we can't all be perfect like Sir Blondie, Blaise said, his voice sickly sweet as Draco went red at the insult, gearing up to return it tenfold or perhaps curse Blaise.
"Must you insist on fighting every time you are in a room together, frankly I tire of your endless bickering? And Draco, Marvalo is aware enough that he is going to meet Blaise next weekend, and he also knows about the Potters now, "he said angrily, as Draco's mouth snapped shut in surprise as he stared at his brother reproachfully.
Even Blaise looked properly chastised as he began picking his clothes off the carpeted floor, lest Theo actually walks in to see the room in an utter mess.
"You told him," Draco said after a moment of silence, blinking at Harry questioningly.
Harry nodded, "Today after the match, in fact," he said in place of an answer, which was enough of a clue that kept Blaise's curious questions at bay. the room had gotten clean quickly after Blaise picked up his pace in folding and even Draco helped after he was sent a pleading expression.
With a sigh, Draco rearranged the mess of a cupboard into something of an organized pile, and he even smiled slightly as he put in the last shirt and shut the door with his leg.
"Does this mean you have accepted the courtship, Harry?" Draco asked. Harry glared at him when Blaise swirled around to look at him.
"You haven't accepted it yet?" Blaise asked as if he couldn't understand why he would commit such a heinous crime. Harry considered lying for a moment just to get out of this conversation but breathed deeply as he nodded.
"Why I haven't said yes or when I do is none of your business. In the end, it is and will remain my decision. And if you ever do that again, Draco, you won't know what came for you, "Harry threatened in a dark voice, glaring at both of them in anger.
Draco nodded fearfully as Harry huffed and pushed Draco off his bed.
Walking out of the dorm for lunch, he ignored a staring Draco and a sluggish Blaise and trudged on for the rest of the day, keeping to himself because he was not feeling up to talking.
As he plonked on his bed after his designated nightly rituals, he shifted his comforters in bed, trying to get comfortable as he pulled the covers over his head and lit his wand underneath it. He had some reading to get to.
Harry didn't understand, and he hated that everyone around him was probably right. Harry had been procrastinating his health checkup for the past 2 days. Madam Pomfrey had finally put her foot down, saying he wasn't permitted to go to the next Hogsmeade weekend if he hadn't gone to the check-up.
He dreaded it. He hated healers and mediwitches alike. They had poked and prodded him, trying to figure out what was wrong when he when he had been young. Safe to say it had left him with a lasting hatred for all things medical, maybe that was why he was shit at healing spells.
it's not as if he is afraid of the healers. He simply doesn't like them, and it's not as if he was required to love them.
Frowning he put on his robes and stalked out to the common room frown deepening when he saw Severus Snape standing there with his signature scowl
Harry glared at him and was rewarded with a small smirk for his efforts, which were promptly doubled in reaction to the amusement that was being directed at his anger.
He couldn't believe his parents assigned him a babysitter as if he was 8 again. Well, to be fair, he had slipped out of the last two sessions. He supposed that's why they had to send in Snape.
He and Snape had a complicated relationship. He was Draco's Godfather, so by default he had to cater to Harry as well. But since he was considered part of Harry's family, he knew that Harry had once been a Potter. This conflicted with his protective tendencies, but after he had learned of the abandonment, he had doubled his efforts to be someone in Harry's life.
He was successful, but Harry wasn't going to tell him that. It was funnier to watch him try to be subtle about it and fail miserably.
"Congratulations on winning the first match of the season," Severus Snape said as his voice jolted Harry out of his thoughts.
"I couldn't have done it without you, sir", Harry said with a glance at the man walking beside him.
"Mr. Malfoy, I think you were the only one playing the game between the two of us," Snape said carefully.
They walked in silence the rest of the way, Snape's occasional deep breaths and the click of his shoes against the stone interrupting that blissful silence.
As they reached the hospital wing, Harry turned to look at the man who was somehow family.
He also didn't match the aesthetic of the Malfoy house, but that seemed like a topic for a different time. But would it kill him to wear a different color? Probably
"Sev, I know you chipped in almost half the money for the Firebolt I got for Christmas. You might not want to hear it, but thank you," Harry said with a smile as he heard the intake of breath behind him.
He swung the door open and walked to the appointment he had dreaded since this morning.
Surprisingly, talking with Severus had made him feel much better. So the frown was now nothing but a grimace on his face.
Madam Pomfrey bustled up to the bed he was sitting on as she told him to lie down and stay still. Sighing and leaning back on the pillows he sat still sagging slightly when Madam Pomfrey walked towards her office
He didn't hate the woman; he was sure she was quite nice, but quite frankly, he didn't want to be here and wasn't going to pretend otherwise.
It wasn't worth the effort and he was already trying to pretend he didn't want to snatch the wand that she was pointing at him from her hands.
His magic swirled around him in his current mood as it sizzled with the wards in the room.
Harry jolted as he felt another presence, of magic in the wards. It was strong and light... But that wasn't right. Interaction with wards and magic was considered taboo and dark.
The practice was banned long ago by the ministry, which made it difficult to even know about in the first place.
His magic cautiously reached out to the presence, trying to interact with it as he tried to stay still on the hospital wing bed.
At least he had something to do now.
The presence seemed to be pulsating as if giving or taking magic from the wards. But the ward stone and ambient magic should have been strong enough to power the wards of the castle.
After all, the building was old and the magic that surrounded it was plenty. Along with the magic that the forbidden forest residents provided, it was more than enough to sustain the strongest wards.
So the presence was a leech. His magic poked at the leech as it jerked, but didn't move from its activity.
Harry stays furious in the hospital wing. He couldn't allow this to continue in all good conscience, considering that Hogwarts had been nothing but kind to him in his time here.
Its alcoves and moving hallways provided him solace and the space he craved from time to time.
He had loved the castle like it was his own, so surely he couldn't leave the leech. After all, wasn't it stealing magic that wasn't theirs?
His magic gathered up to strike the leech on the wards, his apparent anger with the threat only urging it on significantly. Harry hoped this would happen as his magic struck the leech. The castle shook.
The foundation itself trembled as the dust rose in the air around the castle. Smaller trees in the area fell and the Whomping Willows branches swirled around in panic. Herds of animals stomping their hooves could be heard throughout the castle.
The students felt the earth tremble under their very feet and screamed. The panic spread like wildfire, each scream fueling the panic and only serving as a distraction. The teachers stilled with panic, frantically messaging the one man who probably had answers.
Hogwarts was free and she was not happy.