Well, at least this story is coming along, because really. I'm about to put Enticement into a choke hold and shake it. Also, I want pizza… I got pizza, I also got jalapeno cheese bread.… It's an addiction, I swear.
Right. I'm out of it. Thank you, everyone who's so far taken the time to review, favorite, kudos, etc. I would not be the writer I am today without this story. Lament was my first long multi chapter fanfic, so I'm very happy so many people are enjoying it.
For those who are in a panic, yes. I am working on Enticement, Harry and Tom are fighting with me over what happens next.
Warnings: It's shounen-ai, yaoi, slash, gay, whatever. Tom Riddle and Harry Potter, Harry Potter and Tom Riddle.
Notes: (X) pov change and or time jump
Chapter 19: Nascent Feelings
Harry blinked, the ceiling of the infirmary slowly coming into focus. He had no idea how long he'd been there or why. The last thing he remembered was… an overwhelming amount of rage. The emotion had consumed him, creeping into every part of his mind and body until he could no longer control it. The room around him, the students, his friends. All of them had vanished from his sight. He knew they'd all been there; his friends had been holding him. All he'd seen though was a single path before him, with Umbridge alone on the other side. Nothing else had mattered, but stopping that high-pitched laugh, that awful voice.
He shuddered and tried to push the anger away. There was no Umbridge here. Just Madam Pomfrey. He needed to stay calm.
Thunder shook the infirmary, lightning illuminating the room for a few seconds before everything went dark again. He pulled the duvet, frowning when it didn't move. He tried again, with no results. He didn't think Madam Pomfrey had bewitched the blanket. That would be stupid. He leaned towards the other side of the bed and froze, his hand touching something solid.
What in the…? A mix of fear and curiosity filled him. He pushed on the object, his heart beating faster as he realized it was an arm. But this wasn't the shadow's arm. It was a person.
Harry didn't think twice. He threw himself to the bed's edge and climbed off in what had to be some sort of record somewhere. He had no idea where his wand was and took a step forward to look for it. "Aahh!" He turned in midair and fell, landing on his bottom, wincing. "Shite." He grabbed the thing that had tripped him and scowled. "Stupid bag…." He untangled the handle from around his ankle.
His breath caught when he saw movement, a darker shadow amongst the darkness of the room.
"Where are you going?" The voice was tired and a tad grumpy.
Harry let out a breath. He knew that voice. "I didn't know who was in my bed," he said, feeling stupid.
"Who else would want to share a bed with you," the shadow asked, voicing Harry's exact thoughts.
"I thought I felt skin, and I panicked!"
"Is that a problem," he asked, sounding amused.
Harry shrugged. He wasn't sure of anything anymore. His life was changing at an alarming rate and he needed things to slow down before he went mad. "I just didn't expect it and I'm already on edge. I can't even figure out what happened in Defense. One minute I was okay and then I just kept getting hit with these waves of anger."
"Yeah. I noticed that when I opened the bond the rest of the way." Another round of thunder, but no lightning. No, that wasn't true. He could see the lightning shining through the windows at the other end of the room. "Get back into bed."
Using the bed, Harry guided himself back under the covers. The shadow's arm snaked around his waist and pulled him to his chest.
"You definitely have skin," Harry blurted, his face burning. He turned over, the shadow laughing.
"I never claimed otherwise. I promise I didn't steal it from anyone." Harry blinked. That hadn't even occurred to him. "And I promise, I was born and raised with this skin."
Scowling, Harry followed the shadow's arm until he found his face. He touched his cheek, unsure of how to understand this. While the shadow's form was always warm and solid, it was still a shadow. Now he could feel a different kind of warmth coming from him. "Is this why you weren't answering me during class? You were busy… growing a real human body?" Harry never thought a sentence like that would ever come out of his mouth. "Wait, did you say born and raised?"
"Did you think… Actually, if this surprises you, I don't want to know what you thought." He removed Harry's hand from his face.
"You never once told me you had a body, how was I supposed to know!?"
"I thought it was self-explanatory. Do you know of a single consciousness that can separate itself from its object of origin and survive," he asked, the annoyance in his voice growing.
"You saw the people who raised me," Harry protested. "I don't know half of what's in the Wizarding world!"
He sighed and before Harry knew what was going on; the shadow pulled him close again until every bit of their bodies were touching. "It is your own fault for not trying to find out. But right now, it is three in the morning and I promise you do not want to deal with me if I don't manage at least seven hours of sleep."
"F, fine." The shadow leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
"Goodnight."
Are we? He didn't want to jump to conclusions, but the shadow had kissed him. They were sharing a bed. Their bodies were touching, practically on top of each other. He swallowed.
"Does me being human scare you that much?"
Harry leaned forward, kissing the shadow back. Somehow, he found his lips on the first try. They were soft and pleasantly warm. The shadow's hand went to the back of Harry's head, deepening the kiss.
"I'm glad you missed me," he snickered. A weight lifted from Harry's shoulders. There was no way they were kissing like that and not dating. He buried his face into the shadow's neck. The shadow wrapped his other arm around Harry. "I've missed you too."
(X)
"You awake, Potter?" Harry was, but he'd been pretending otherwise. The thought of opening his eyes scared him. He wanted to know what the shadow looked like but didn't either. Once he saw his human form, there was no going back. "If you don't get up now, you'll miss breakfast."
Fine… He opened his eyes. The only person in the room was Madam Pomfrey. There was no sign of the shadow or another person, nor did it look like anyone had been sleeping with him. He let out a breath, feeling both sad and relieved.
"Take this," she said, handing him a Calming Draught.
"Thanks." He swallowed the potion and handed the bottle back to her. He felt like he might need a few more of those to last the week.
"Try not to stress yourself out so badly so soon. You have all year to panic over O.W.L.S."
"R, right." Was that the excuse going around? That he'd collapsed from stress? Maybe that's all it had been. If he'd attacked Umbridge or anyone else, wouldn't he be handcuffed or something to the bed or his wand destroyed? But his wand was lying on the bedside table, his bag on the floor, just waiting for him to grab it. 'What happened yesterday?' He winced. For some reason, the bond felt raw.
'Before or after you made a complete fool of yourself?'
That was fast. Considering the shadow's lengthy, silent treatments from the day before. 'After.'
'I took pity on you and rearranged some of Umbridge's memories so you wouldn't be accused of attempted assault,' the shadow growled, his annoyance and anger clear. 'With all the witnesses, I could only do so much.'
'Shite…' He bent down and grabbed his bag and then put his wand into his pocket.
'That's actually the least of your worries,' he said, his annoyance giving way to worry. 'I was trying to find where all that rage had come from and I think I found it.'
'Where?'
Hesitation. 'You're not going to like it.'
'I don't like it now,' he said, angrily.
'I know. Are you coming down for breakfast?'
'Yeah.' He'd slept through dinner and his stomach refused to miss breakfast. 'What time is it, anyway?'
'7:45.'
'I need to grab my books for today and change.'
'Okay.'
Harry made it to the dorm and changed quickly. For the first time, he made sure he looked somewhat presentable. He changed out his books for the ones he'd need for the day and left for the Great Hall as quickly as he could. As usual, he did his best to ignore the muttered comments and looks as he made his way towards the Gryffindor table. He dropped down next to Ron on the bench, Hermione sitting across from them.
"… Are you okay," Ron asked. "You look…" He frowned and put a spoon-full of cereal into his mouth.
"What?" He grabbed some toast from a basket. He thought he'd looked fine when he'd checked his reflection, not that he'd given it too much time. He'd just made sure his hair wasn't any worse than it usually was.
"You're pale, and you have bags under your eyes," Hermione said.
"Do I?" He pulled off a small piece of the toast and placed it into his mouth. After the evening he had, it wasn't surprising that he looked bad. "I slept all night."
Hermione gave a quick look around and leaned in towards Harry. "What happened," she asked in a whisper.
"Dehydration can also cause bags under your eyes," Aderes said. He put a glass of water in front of Harry and sat down on his left side.
"You're better than," Malfoy asked, sitting down next to Ron. "I see you can walk again on your own."
Harry felt his face flush. "That wasn't my fault. He made me go to sleep."
"And here I was thinking you'd started fainting again for attention."
Harry gave Draco a grim look before dropping it and smirking. "I think I have plenty of attention this year already, don't you?"
"Wasn't sure you ever got enough."
Hermione bit her lip, looking back and forth between the two.
Draco found some blueberries and began mixing them into a cup of yogurt. Ron looked like he was going to gag.
"So… about yesterday," Hermione started again.
"I see you stopped talking in Parseltongue," Draco said.
"It wasn't intentional yesterday." Though he had been randomly speaking in the snake language with the shadow. Maybe that's why he'd slipped into it so easily without a snake being present.
"Hey—" Hermione started.
"Draco," Aderes said so loud Draco dropped his spoon. The yogurt splattered onto the table, some of it spraying onto his robe and Ron's.
"Hey," Ron shouted. He started wiping at his robe frantically, like it was some foul substance.
"It's just yogurt," Draco snapped.
"For goodness' sake Ron." Hermione pulled her wand out and pointed it at Ron. "Scourgify." The yogurt vanished.
Draco used his wand to clean up the mess on the table as well as the bits that'd gotten onto his robe.
Harry noticed Aderes watching the three. He was shaking his head like he couldn't believe yogurt could send anyone into a frenzy. Yogurt probably shouldn't be capable of such things, but where Harry's life was concerned, the most harmless of items could easily become deadly.
"You get used to it," he said just loud enough for Aderes to hear. The Slytherin raised an eyebrow at Harry. "What you did yesterday, telling Umbridge off, thank you… And I hope my… weird outburst doesn't make you avoid Hermione."
Aderes snorted. "I think you had me beat there. Though I'm not entirely sure why you got involved at all. I had the situation under control."
"I was just trying to back you up, but…" Aderes didn't know half of what was going on. He didn't even know where the Slytherin stood when it came to Voldemort and his rise back into power, and he couldn't ruin Hermione's chance at a decent boyfriend. "I'll keep my mouth shut from now on when you're talking."
A frown crossed Aderes's face just as Ron pushed Harry with his shoulder. "Can you believe our schedule today?"
"No worse than yesterday," Harry said. He was glad for the distraction. It was so easy to get lost in Aderes's eyes.
"Well, there's no History of Magic today," Harry offered. Or Defense. He hated to think that way, but after yesterday, he needed a break from Defense and Umbridge. He also needed to find out what the shadow had done in scrambling Umbridge's memories. Had it been anyone else, he'd have been mad, but Harry couldn't get himself to worry about Umbridge. Whatever the shadow did to her, she deserved it.
"Yeah, but double Charms, Transfiguration, and Care of Magical Creatures," he groaned.
"Herbology isn't," Harry said, grinning.
"One class," Ron said, sighing.
"I warned both of you that our fifth year was going to be difficult," Hermione huffed. "Maybe if you'd listen for once in your lives, you would have spent the summer studying with me instead of fighting!"
Ron and Harry stared. Harry opened his mouth to say something, then decided against it. Hermione didn't understand what he'd gone through over the summer and he wasn't going to try to explain it, not right now.
'Careful.'
'I'm not the one—' he stopped himself, anger rushing him. 'Forget it.'
'Harry—'
'No. At what point was I even mildly in my right mind to try and study? I couldn't even manage a full day of classes yesterday!' He didn't know why the shadow taking Hermione's side angered him so much, but if anyone needed to be 'careful' right now, it was the shadow, not him. He could hear the shadow sigh in his mind.
He grabbed two muffins, wrapped them in a napkin and dropped them into his bag before standing up. His friends looked surprised at his sudden movement.
"I'm going to Charms," he muttered. 'And don't bother coming with or interrupting me.' He stood up, looks being shared amongst the remaining four.
"Class isn't for another fifteen minutes, why would you go early?" Ron looked like he might be sick.
"I didn't ask you to come with," he said. He hated that he was so annoyed, that everything was making him mad. Things like this wouldn't have bothered him last year. Because Cedric's dead…? He frowned and started out of the Great Hall, his friends calling after him. Where had worrying about grades gotten them? Cedric with all his good grades was still dead, and Harry who was lucky to have made it to his fifth year was again, somehow, alive.
"So, do you plan out these dramatic scenes or do they just happen?"
Harry turned, glaring and ready to fight until he saw who was actually coming after him. "What do you want?"
"I deserve an explanation," Aderes said, stopping next to him.
"No, you don't. You're Hermione's and Draco's friend, not mine. I don't even know you." Aderes's eyes narrowed and somehow, he looked oddly familiarly that way. "It's nothing against you," he added. Why am I being such an arse? He leaned against the wall and took a breath. "Sorry." For some reason that feeling of rage seemed to be lurking under every emotion. "I don't think I've been handling Cedric's death too well or Mrs. Weasley's." Why did I just blurt that out to a stranger? He didn't need to explain himself, not to Aderes, despite what the Slytherin claimed. The only ones he should be apologizing to was to his friends.
"Hmph." Aderes leaned against the wall so there were only inches between them. Harry looked up, their eyes meeting. "You're going to get yourself in trouble."
Harry couldn't understand how someone could look so cool just leaning against a wall. He was doing the exact same thing, and he was positive he looked nothing like that. Exhausted maybe, but not cool. "I'm already in trouble." The words broke the anger he was feeling. How could he tell the shadow to leave him alone after all he'd done for Harry? 'I'm so sorry. I don't know what's going through my head anymore. I think I might be losing my mind.'
'If you think you can speak to me that way, yes you are.'
'I don't expect you to forgive me. You said you knew where all this rage was coming from?'
Harry felt their minds link and felt the shadow's mild surprise. 'I didn't think…' he trailed off, but with their mental link there, Harry knew how the sentence ended.
'Who's influencing me,' he asked. He didn't even bother to try to hide his fear.
The shadow returned the bond to its half-closed state. 'It'll be okay. I'll talk with Dumbledore; we'll figure something out.'
'That's not an answer!'
'Just trust me, please. I'm going to try to get the source of the rage blocked, okay?'
"Hey." Harry's head snapped up, Aderes frowning at him. His hand was resting on Harry's upper arm. "Are you okay?"
"Y, yeah…" He couldn't tell Aderes he was fighting with his suddenly acquired a human body shadow of a boyfriend about some source of rage he was trying to block. Even the Wizarding world had its limits to what it accepted. And he really shouldn't be letting Aderes touch him either. "I'll talk to you later." He stepped back, Aderes's hand falling to his side, and headed for class.
Harry couldn't believe all the work they had to do. Everything seemed to be about their O.W.L.S, which he knew was important, but wasn't there a limit? Did the teachers forget that they had to survive the whole year in order to take the exams at the end? At the rate they were piling homework on them, he was pretty sure they'd forgotten. He figured about a good half of his classmates would probably end up having nervous breakdowns or jump from the Astronomy tower long before the actual tests got there, but then again. He was one to talk about being overly dramatic, and things were just getting started.
'Any luck?' He'd tried his best to remain silent throughout Charms and Transfiguration so he wouldn't have any outbursts. The other Gryffindor students whispered about him as usual, but none of them seemed any more scared of him than they had on the Hogwarts' express thank goodness. Ron and Hermione had remained near him but kept to themselves.
Now that they were outside walking towards Hagrid's hut, Harry felt somewhat good. It was nice out, with just a hint of a breeze. The rain from the day before had mostly dried up, and the other students around them were laughing. It was probably the most normal day Harry had enjoyed in months.
'I think so.'
Relief flooded him. 'I don't know what you did but thank you. And not just for this, for everything. I don't know how I would have survived this summer without you.'
'You wouldn't have.'
'Probably not,' he agreed. They arrived at Hagrid's hut. Harry didn't see him anywhere. Professor Grubbly-Plank was standing behind a long table placing handfuls of something into cups. 'You promise Hagrid's okay?'
'I do.'
"Are you done pouting Potter," Draco asked, joining the trio.
"I'm not…" He sighed. "There's something going on, okay? He said he fixed it so… hopefully my random outbursts are over with." He'd give Draco a better explanation when no one could overhear their conversation.
"Did he say what?"
Harry shook his head.
They sat down together in the grass, Hermione checking to make sure it was dry first.
"Where's your plus one," Ron asked.
"Aderes?" Ron nodded. "Some girls clawed him away from me near first floor stairway."
"And you just left him there," Harry asked, laughing.
"I'm under no obligation to keep him safe from hordes of girls unless there are love potions involved."
"Must be nice to need protection from love potions," Ron muttered.
"Don't be stupid," Hermione snapped. "Love potions are awful and should be outlawed. They strip away a person's free will and force them into a relationship they would otherwise want nothing to do with."
Aderes sat down next to Harry and let out a sigh, his hair slightly messed up. "I'm glad someone has some common sense."
Harry stared at the Slytherin, wondering why he'd sat beside him and not Hermione. Did he plan on continuing their conversation from earlier? He hoped not, because he wasn't telling him anything. Aderes was an outsider where Harry's life and Voldemort were concerned.
"It's no better than using the Imperius Curse," she said.
"Alright, I think everyone's here," Professor Grubbly-plank said. She scanned the group of students, looked at a piece of parchment in front of her and back. "Now then, can anyone tell me what these creatures on the table are?" Upon the table lay what looked like a bundle of branches. He almost jumped when he saw one of them start moving.
Hermione and Aderes's hands went up.
He wondered if this was how all the classes Hermione and Aderes shared went, at least in the ones they were actually being taught and spoken to.
Professor Grubbly-plank looked down at her list again and then at the students. "You're the new student, Aderes Keaira?" He nodded. "You can tell us what they are… Hermione, do you know what they do?"
Hermione nodded eagerly.
"They're Bowtruckles," Aderes said, looking over the would-be branches. Harry's heart fluttered at the sound of his voice.
What in the hell was that? It wasn't like this was the first time he'd heard Aderes speak, but something about his voice suddenly resonated with Harry.
"Correct, 5 points for Slytherin and Hermione?"
"They're tree-guardians that usually live in wand-trees and eat woodlice. If they have a chance though—"
"They'll eat fairy eggs," Aderes cut in, his tone playful. Hermione grinned at him.
"That's right the both of you… 10 points for Gryffindor and another 5 for Slytherin," she said with an approving nod. "Bowtruckles are pretty gentle for the most part, but they can get pretty nasty if you make them angry. Those sharp fingers of theirs' can easily rip someone's eye out, so be careful. Take a cup with woodlice in it and one Bowtruckle. I want a complete sketch of one top to bottom, body parts labeled all by the end of the lesson. Three students per creature, you may begin." With that said, she nodded and took a few steps back to let the students form into their groups.
"How are we going to do this," Harry asked. They were going to need one more person if the five of them planned on staying together. The easiest solution was to drag Neville into their mix. If there was one person, they could count on not having a partner for anything, it was Neville.
"Draco and I can form our own group," Aderes said. "We don't need a third."
Pansy stopped. She'd just been about to take a seat next to Draco. "Who am I supposed to group with then," she demanded.
"Crabbe and Goyle for all I care," Aderes said.
The cold and detached tone of Aderes's voice was surprising. Even when he'd spoken to Umbridge the day before there had been some emotion in his voice. He spoke to Pansy like she was nothing.
"Professor Grubbly-plank said groups of three," Pansy said, stomping her foot.
"Fine," Aderes said, his eyes narrowing slightly. He grabbed Harry's hand. "Harry's our third member."
"W, what?!" Harry's body instantly caught fire. He tried pulling his hand out from Aderes's but couldn't even get his fingers to twitch. Draco started laughing, Harry shooting a glare at him. He of all people should know how bad this way. If the shadow just happened to appear and caught Aderes holding his hand, there was no telling how he might react.
"You're horrible!"
"I never claimed otherwise," he said, smiling. "Now do all of us a favor, go away, and preferably, don't come back." Pansy's face turned scarlet, and she ran off. Harry had no doubt that she'd gone somewhere to cry. "Pathetic."
Was he always like this? He'd been so nice the day before in Snape's room, and he hadn't been rude during breakfast. Maybe Pansy had done something to him? It wouldn't be that far of a stretch. Pansy did plenty of stupid things.
"Aderes?"
The Slytherin turned, his eyes now longer narrowed. "Hmm?"
"My hand?" He needed to get his hand released before the shadow saw and… he shuddered at the thought.
"What about it?" He lifted Harry's hand and examined it, his eyes taking in every inch. "I see no problems here."
"You're holding it," Harry said, sure he was going to burst into flames and die on the spot. Why was Aderes teasing him like this? And why had he chosen Harry to be in his group? Hermione was just as close and much smarter. He was willing to bet she could draw better too.
He squeezed Harry's hand, his amusement clear. "And?"
"And… my… my boyfriend will kill us if he finds out I'm holding hands with someone else," Harry managed. He really was going to die from embarrassment if this kept up, but better embarrassment than downright murder.
"What," Ron screamed, his quill falling out of his hand.
Harry muttered a curse. Could Ron have been any louder? Other students were staring and, as always, whispering. Why couldn't he have one day, just one day, where everyone's attention was on someone else?
Aderes raised one of his perfectly formed eyebrows. "You have a boyfriend? Funny, I haven't heard anyone say as such."
"I haven't told anyone," he whispered. "I don't want my life dragged through the mud any more than it already is."
"Or maybe you're lying. If your boyfriend is so possessive of you that you aren't allowed to hold hands with anyone else, I'd like to think everyone in the school would know about him already."
"It's not that simple…"
"If he's worried about the world judging him for being in a relationship with you, then he's not worthy of being your boyfriend."
"That has nothing to do with it," he screamed. He jerked his hand away, Aderes smirking. "If he could do those sorts of things, he would, but he can't, so belt it and keep your thoughts to yourself!" He hoped no one had heard the reason for his yelling. He didn't want the world to know about the shadow. If others knew about him, they might try to take him away and Harry would lose him, plain and simple. He may be the only one crazy enough to want to be with the shadow after everything he'd done, but if the shadow had a choice, Harry was sure he'd choose someone, anyone else.
"So, he isn't real, or he's a ghost," Aderes chuckled.
"He is real," he said, his voice weakening as he remembered the feel of the shadow's skin. The kiss they'd shared. "Hermione, come deal with your boyfriend," he begged her. More students were whispering, and almost every girl in Slytherin was giving him the darkest looks they could.
"He's not my boyfriend," she said matter of fact. She sat her Bowtruckle down and opened her book without even bothering to look at him.
"Ugh…"
"Tell you what. Introduce me to your boyfriend and I'll stop harassing you. Until then," he grabbed Harry's hand again. "You're mine."
"What!? I didn't agree to that!"
"Here," Draco said, setting the Bowtruckle down.
Aderes stared at the Bowtruckle as if memorized and dropped Harry's hand. He leaned forward, holding one hand out to the creature. It hesitated a second before walking towards him and climbed into his hand. Grinning, he used his free hand to hold woodlice up to it. The Bowtruckle took one and started nibbling on it.
Harry took his chance and crawled away from Aderes and over to Hermione. "What was that," he demanded in a harsh whisper. "I thought you two hit it off."
"We did," she said, looking up from her own Bowtruckle. "We're friends."
"That's not what I meant," he hissed.
"Oh, he was quite clear yesterday he was after you, not me." She added a leaf to the top of her sketch.
"And you couldn't warn me?!"
"I didn't think it was an issue."
"Of course, it's an issue!"
"Well, I didn't know you were dating anyone," she said, making a face. "You never told me."
Harry sighed and dropped his head into his hands. 'You can't kill him. I will deal with this, somehow. I will get him to stop.'
'Hmm?'
'Aderes. You can't attack him. His father is the head of the Unspeakables. They might come after you.'
'Huh?'
'… Are you even paying attention?'
'Yeah. You're fine. Don't worry about it. I'll handle it.'
Harry blinked a few times, the rest of the bond shutting. What just happened? How could the shadow abandon him at a time like this? Sure, Aderes could only do so much, but that didn't mean the shadow wouldn't retaliate with fury when he realized what was going on. Maybe he could use this time to convince Aderes to stay away before the shadow figured anything out. He glanced at the Slytherin.
Aderes was completely absorbed in the Bowtruckle, feeding it woodlice with one hand, and sketching it with the other. He had a feeling even if he yelled in the Slytherin's ear he wouldn't notice.
At some point Draco had joined Hermione and was sketching from her Bowtruckle. He knows the shadow. How can he not be worried about this?
Ron was the only one who kept sneaking wide eye looks at Harry. At least he understood the danger and importance of all of this. Probably because the shadow had attacked him already. He moved towards Ron, making sure to stay out of Aderes's line of sight.
"You have a boyfriend and you didn't tell me," Ron demanded in a whisper when Harry was next to him.
"I didn't know myself until last night," he said just as quietly. "The shadow kissed me."
Ron stared at him like he'd just claimed he could remove his head and put it back on. "That's not a real boyfriend," he protested.
"Turns out it is," he said, opening his book to the page with all the labels for the Bowtruckle's body. "He was human last night. All human, and… I kissed him back so…." It was strange saying it out loud, even if it was to Ron. Even when they'd been trying to find dates for the Yule ball, they'd hardly ever talked about girls. Now he was over here telling his best friend he'd kissed a guy.
"You mean some git hitched a ride in your necklace and had a laugh by throwing me into a wall?"
"I… I guess?" He didn't know how the necklace worked or anything else about what was going on.
"… Well, who do you like more?"
"Huh?"
"Which one would you rather be with? Some weirdo who mailed himself to you inside a necklace or Aderes?"
"I don't even know Aderes!"
"Will you two be quiet and do your assignment," Hermione yelled at them.
The two muttered an apology and began sketching.
Harry's sketch didn't turn out too bad. He was by no means an artist, and with every thought running through his head, it was a miracle he even managed to add ink to the paper, but you could at least tell what it was. He handed the drawing over to Professor Grubbly-plank and rejoined Ron and Hermione in the grass. He could see Aderes's perfect sketch to his side, completely forgotten. He'd never seen anyone so obsessed with a magical creature, except maybe for Hagrid. It worked out for him, at least. As long as Aderes's focus was on the magical creature, Harry didn't need to worry about him trying to hold his hand.
"Kind of weird," Ron muttered. "It's like the rest of the world doesn't exist."
"That's a good thing for me right now."
"I guess. He reminds me of Charlie."
"I thought Charlie didn't care about dating?"
"Does that look to you like a guy who cares about dating people?" He motioned to Aderes. The Bowtruckle had climbed into his hair and was crawling through it. Aderes was grinning from ear to ear.
"I guess not," Harry said, feeling both relieved and a little disappointed. If Aderes cared more for magical creatures than humans though, he wouldn't have to worry about the shadow retaliating. That would be best for all of them. Though, he couldn't deny how nice it had felt to be wanted by someone so good looking for a few minutes.
(TBC)