Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.
Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.
Author's Note: This series/collection isn't forgotten! At least, not entirely. I kept meaning to come back to it. Have a small teaser thing for it anyway!
Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 14); MC4A
Individual Challenges: Shadow HP Bribery (Y); Gryffindor MC; Slytherin MC; Neurodivergent; Ethnic & Present; Rian-Russo Inversion; Ethnic & Present; Rian-Russo Inversion; Claimed; Ship Sails; Lunar Era; Old Shoes (Y); Bucket Listing; It Continues; Green Ribbon; Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y)
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 14 – Assignment 03
Subject (Task No.): Spell Origin & Creation (Task#4: Write about someone being the 'light' in another character's 'darkness'.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Fantastic Beasts [14](an unfair punishment); 365 Prompts [281](Romance); Scavenger Hunt [16](Romance); National Weddings Month [08](Bouquet); Penguin Awareness [08](Spiteful); Colours [09](Pine Green); Crystals & Gemstones [08](Set within a dream); But Can You Spell It? [E](Energy); Stop! Hamper Time (Sandwiches)[Ham & Cheese](Character A tries tell Character B they love them without using the words "I love you"); You Get My Love (Love Languages)[11](Hiking); Fantasy February (05)[Book triggers Memories]; Gwen's Candy Shop [Bowl 1](Chronic Health Issue);
Other MC4A Challenges: FaB [5C](Equinox); Set [4D](Forest/Woods); WiB [1D](Awakening); Vocab [5C](Oath); Ship (Heroic Shadow)[Fa Big](Book); Fire [Hard](It Continues); Chim [Karma](Copper); Hangman [05](Queer Relationships); Hunt [Fa WD](Arthritis)/[Fa Set](In a Storm);
Representation(s): Autistic Harry Potter/Blaise Zabini; Persephone/Hades AU
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Tootsies; Second Verse (Not a Lamp; Nontraditional; Unwanted Advice; Lovely Coconuts; Muck & Slime; Bad Beans; Under the Bridge; Easy Zephyr); Chorus (Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Creature Feature; Abandoned Ship; In the Trench; Surprise!; Seven Gates; Forked Path; Sitting Hummingbird; Some Beach; Hot Stuff; Toto's Tribute)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3(Terse; Tether); SN(Rail; Negate); FR(Satisfaction); O3(Oath); SHoE(Terse; Oblique); AD(Amphipian); War(Sanctuary; Ennui); TY(Enfant); DP(Keen; Immemorial); Share(Ameliorate; Dragoman)
Word Count: 985 words
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Dreams of You
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Harry learned early that hiding in the library—either the tiny one at school or the bigger public one between the park and the shops downtown—was the best way to avoid Dudley and his gang. None of the librarians at either location would tolerate any kind of ruckus in their domains. The teachers at Brickman Primary noticed Harry's habit fairly quickly, though, which was a problem given how often he was blamed for things that Dudley did. Having his library privileges suspended as their default punishment may have been easier to hide than being kept after to write lines, but it also meant he was frequently without the sanctuary he had found among the shelves.
He took to reading the books while he hid. He couldn't take them home, of course. Aunt Petunia would never have allowed Harry to do something as freaky as read. Dudley would probably tear up any books just to get Harry in trouble. But he could read while he was still in the library, and he took every advantage of that.
Which is how he found the Book, misshelved in the Mechanics section of the public library instead of in the Mythology one where it should have been.
It had a strange energy about it. The feeling wasn't bad, or at least, Harry didn't think it felt bad. It was just… He rubbed his fingers over the pine green cover with its copper embossing. It was just intense. That was the word to describe it. It was intense, strong, powerful.
The topic of the book was not all that different than the majority of the books in Mythology section. Greek myths was a popular topic, after all. But this set of myths had slight variations from the usual ways the tales went. Sometimes it was small things like a description or an added element. Sometimes, it went an entirely different way or had something which fundamentally changed the story.
And even more oddly, were the memories that stirred within him. They felt familiar, not like he was imagining a story that was told to him but more like they were his own memories. They flitted around his mind like butterflies, and they scattered just as thoroughly if he tried to reach for them. It was frustrating, even more than how he could never do anything good enough for the Dursleys.
Then on the night of the first fall equinox after he had found the Book, Harry dreamed.
The trees in the forest he found himself in was larger than any he had ever seen. Their leaves were so closely packed that none of the rain or wind he could hear pounding against them could reach him. It should have scared him, being out in such weather and alone, but all he could feel was safe. Even the unpleasant ache that always showed up in his limbs when it rained was absent.
He was walking down a path that wound through the trees. As he went, he gathered the many flowers which grew along the path. Every once in a while, he would pause in his meandering to press his face into the bouquet just to enjoy the perfume from the blossoms.
Everything was perfect, even if he could feel the impending doom that came with the knowledge that he would eventually have to return to the Dursleys and Aunt Petunia's spiteful instructions of how to go about the chores which awaited him back in the real world. Maybe one day, in the future, he would be free from them for good, and then he could search until he found this place for real.
Something waited for him here.
It was important that he find it.
"You've finally come," said a voice from up ahead on the path. Harry looked up to see a very tall man with pale gray skin and dark hair. At first glance, the man appeared stoic, as if he had been carved from granite. But Harry knew how to look for tiny signs of what people was thinking or feeling, and the man's eyes were full of a hunger that Harry was intimately familiar with, having been locked into his cupboard without food so very often. "I had almost lost hope."
"I was always coming here," Harry found himself answering in a voice which did not sound like his own. "I will always return, because you are my home."
"And you are the light in my darkness," the man replied without missing a beat. It was as if the word were some private ritual shared just between the two of them, a renewal of vows made so long ago that the actual event had been forgotten and only the oath itself remained to bind them. Harry could feel his heart soaring on wings fashioned out of hope and determination and most of all, love. "My life will be cold and lifeless until you are back in my arms, my love."
A pounding started, echoing around the forest around them like a klaxon. Harry dropped his bouquet of flowers as he took off running towards the man who was reaching for him. Just as the tips of their fingers brushed against each other, Harry was yanked from both the dream and his cupboard by a spitting-mad Aunt Petunia.
Even at just eight years old, Harry already knew better than to expect forgiveness for having not answered her first summons. He still took a moment to press the fingertips which had touched the man's hand to his lips and whispered a promise to find him again.
And years later, as he drifted off to sleep wrapped in Blaise's arms, he whispered the ritual words again.
"You are still my home."
Blaise pressed a kiss to the back of Harry's neck and barely lifted away to murmur the return.
"And you are still the light in my darkness."
