Chapter Two
Harry woke up startled, rubbing the pain out of his stiff shoulder. He must have slept in a very uncomfortable pose. It felt like it was very early, although he couldn't see the light through the curtains of his bed. The room was strangely silent. Was Ron awake too? The sound of him snoring was usually the first thing Harry heard in the morning. The boy lay back on the pillows, trying to concentrate on the last thing he remembered from the previous evening.
Damn. He sat up straight. The artefact, his travel in time. It was a wicked nightmare, right?
Harry threw back the curtain of his bed and saw an emerald Slytherin banner decorating the wall.
Oh, no. No, no, no.
Reality came crashing down on his shoulders, and he felt the blood rush from his head. His breathing became rapid.
Don't panic, Harry. Don't panic. We can figure something out. We always did.
Dumbledore. He had to see the man in private. He was the only one Harry could rely on.
Determined to see him, the boy jumped out of his bed and noticed fresh school uniform, carefully folded on his bedside table. It had emerald and silver colours on it, and seeing it felt like the last straw. Harry felt vomit rushing up his throat. Slytherin uniform... This is what he had to wear now?
He dashed to the bathroom and threw the contents of his stomach into the sink. He turned the water on, washing away the mess, and rinsed his face with cold water.
He must see Dumbledore right now.
Harry returned to the dormitory to grab his wand.
- Tempus, - he whispered, and ghostly numbers appeared in the air, showing that it was only quarter past six in the morning. That was quite early for waking up a man for the second time in twelve hours. If Harry needed his help, he should at least show some respect. Perhaps, a shower then?
Harry walked back to the bathroom and shut the door behind him. He quickly found a spare dark-green towel and put it next to the shower booth. He stepped in, turned the water on and let its warmth carry him away.
Tom was unpleasantly woken up by the sound of someone retching. Merlin, how he hated humans. What was it now? Avery's hangover on a school night or another of Lestrange's sad attempts at being even skinnier than he was? What was wrong with his Death Eaters? They were supposed to be so much more than just teenagers.
He stretched in his bed in a lazy manner, then checked the time and was about to put his wand back, when he heard the water stop and someone scuttle back to the room.
- Tempus, - it was only a whisper, but it was close to his bed. Then there was a sigh and the sound of footsteps leading back to the bathroom, and a door being slammed.
Tom never let anyone slam the damn door. Silence was his first rule.
He heard the shower start. Another broken rule. Everyone in this room knew that it was always Riddle's turn first, no excuses.
That new boy. Harry Granger. He needed to be put in his place. But maybe just in fifteen more minutes... It was quite early after all.
Harry lost track of time in the comfort of warm water and the smell of soap. He was long clean, but it just felt too good. He liked showers.
He suddenly felt the water turn ice cold.
- Argh! What the fuck?!
He jumped out of the shower and slipped on a puddle of water, hitting his elbow hard on the edge of the sink. The pain was the worst. Harry began rubbing it out, but then heard a familiar voice behind the door.
- Bombardo.
He only had time to jump away as far as possible from the door that flew open and hit the sink. Thankfully, he ended up right next to his towel and grabbed it quick to tie himself up.
Riddle was standing in the doorway, his face very displeased.
- What the fuck is wrong with you?! - Harry yelled.
The tall boy swiftly waved his wand, and Potter felt his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth.
- Language, - Riddle said calmly, - Rule number one: no loud noises in the dormitory. I don't like being distracted. First the retching noises, then the slammed door - have you no respect for your fellow Slytherins at all?
Harry scowled at him. Respect? You wish.
- Next rule. No one uses the shower before me. I am always the earliest up, long before anyone is awake, so this rule should be easily followed.
Tom examined the room, his jaw moving in irritation.
- Look at the mess you made.
Harry growled in protest, still unable to talk. It wasn't him who broke the door down.
Riddle waved his grey wand, turning the still running shower off, drying the spilt water and finally, stepping into the room to fix the broken door. Damn, he was good at non-verbals. If Harry hadn't hated him so much, he would probably be fascinated.
Then Harry saw a small group of boys poking their heads into the room, with curious eyes. A black-haired boy with a head of curly hair, a boy with high cheekbones and fierce blue eyes, his head also curly, but with short copper hair, and a boy almost as tall as Tom, with blonde hair the colour of straw.
- Who the fuck is this guy? - the tall new boy asked Riddle.
- This, Avery, is our new housemate, Harry Granger, and he started with braking my rules.
The boy, whose last name was apparently Avery, whistled, looking at Harry as if he had done the stupidest thing in his life.
- Well? - Tom returned his attention to Harry, - Leave the room.
Potter was in no position to protest. He made his way out, giving young Voldemort a proper death stare, that Riddle shut the door to.
- Hello, - Harry was distracted by the boy with black curly hair, - My name is Frederic Lestrange. This is Eduard Rosier and Lucas Avery. Did you arrive last night?
Harry nodded his head, stiffening at the sound of Frederic's last name. He knew she was a Black, but the association was still painful enough. These boys might be the future Death Eaters. Or their parents.
- Looks like Riddle made him shut up for cursing. I used to get that a lot, - Avery, the tall boy, shrugged, - I think he grew tired of correcting me in the end. Ed, can you help the guy out?
The boy with copper-coloured hair, who kept silent to this moment, stepped closer to Harry and waved his wand. Harry felt his tongue return to his command.
- Th...thank you.
- You shouldn't break Riddle's rules, - Rosier answered dryly, - He is our prefect and the strongest wizard in the school, and quite possibly in all of Britain.
- Not stronger than Dumbledore, - Harry couldn't control the words he said.
The reaction was interesting. Avery's brows flew up, Rosier frowned and Lestrange gasped.
- Dumbledore is a mudblood-loving crazy old man. He is a disgrace to wizardkind. Don't ever say that again, - growled Rosier.
Harry felt his face heat up with anger. Before doing anything without thinking again, he turned back to his bed, picked up the uniform and hid behind his bed curtains to get dressed.
- Not gonna tell us where you're from? - asked Lucas Avery, but Harry ignored his question and stormed out of the room, purposely slamming the door again.
Dumbledore. Fast. Now. He almost ran to his office and was drumming on the Professor's door in no time. Harry decided to tell him everything, and any time travel rules about keeping low and quiet couldn't matter less to him right now.
Finally the door was opened showing Dumbledore in a nightcap.
- Harry Granger? What a pleasure so early in the morning. How may I help you?
- Professor, you don't know me yet, but I know you very well because I am from the future, - Harry blurted out in one breath, panting.
Dumbledore observed him with all seriousness.
- Please, come in.
Harry ran into his office and started pacing it feverishly.
-Would you possibly like to sit down? - the Professor looked at Harry through his half-moon spectacles.
- I can't, sir, thank you. And my last name is not Granger. It's Potter. I'm Harry Potter. I came here from nineteen ninety-six.
Dumbledore looked suddenly very concerned.
- Do you mean to say you are a time traveller?
- Yes, sir. And...
- Stop right there, Harry, please.
- But, Professor...
- This is too risky. I cannot know what happens in the future, as it might change the outcome. Think of the consequences - you might end up not being born. Your parents might not end up being born.
Harry felt broken. If Dumbledore couldn't help him, then this might be the end...
The man walked to his table and sat in his chair.
- Harry, please sit down. Have some tea. It has calming herbs in it. I actually bought it from a muggle shop, can you believe that?
With a wave of his wand he conjured two teacups filled with the drink. Harry slowly sat in the chair opposite and took his cup.
- How did you end up here? Was it a time-turner?
Harry tried to remember how the artefact looked.
- No, I don't think so, sir... It was a box, I opened it and... I didn't even get to see what was inside.
Dumbledore let out a thoughtful "Hmmm" at that.
- Drink your tea, Harry. Trust me, it helps. What you are describing sounds like a cursed object. I've actually heard of similar cases before.
- You have? - Harry practically yelled at the man.
- Yes. And you say we know each other in the future?
- Yes, sir.
- Then I might be able to help you.
Harry felt the weight fall from his shoulders. He leaned back in the chair and drank the whole cup in one gulp. What a relief...
- Although, I cannot guarantee it, - Dumbledore continued.
Harry choked on his tea.
Augustina was grinning at Tom from the other side of the table. She looked around the Great Hall, checking, of course, if Malfoy was anywhere to be seen. But Abraxas never came to breakfast this early, and so her path to Riddle was clear. She came up slowly, moving her hips like a feline, and sat at the bench next to Tom.
- Good morning, love, - she stroke his shin with her foot under the table.
- Good morning, future Mrs Malfoy.
- Oh, shut up, - she rolled her eyes, - I've met my cousin in the hallway, and he had a quite interesting piece of gossip for me.
Of course, Frederic couldn't miss a chance to talk with his gorgeous cousin.
- Yes, we have a new housemate, Harry Granger.
- Granger, - Augustina pouted, - Is he a mudblood?
- Probably. We don't know anything about him yet, except that he is a loud impulsive brat.
- That's harsh, - the girl raised her eyebrows, and then her eyes shifted to the entrance of the Hall, - Oh, that must be him.
Riddle turned his head. Yes, that was Harry Granger, walking with his shirt untucked and his collar unbuttoned. Disgraceful, but... cute.
- Can you tell me more tonight? - Augustina pressed her hip to his.
- I wish I could, Tina, - Tom looked at her apologizing, - But I'm on duty for the rest of the week.
She rolled her eyes again.
- Couldn't you see me after prefect duty? It's been too long.
- You wouldn't want me sleepy. We've been there, sweetheart.
Augustine sighed.
- Fine, - she flipped her platinum hair and stood up from the bench, - Let's not wait 'till Abraxas shows his constantly dissatisfied face.
- Maybe you should ask him to come tonight instead? - Tom smirked.
- I'll have that honour for the rest of my life after we marry, - she sounded very irritated. Oh well. The drawbacks of being a pure-blood. Your future partners were prearranged sometimes even before your birth.
She came up to the end of the table, where Harry decided to sit.
- Good morning. My name is Augustine Lestrange. And you must be Harry Granger?
Harry looked at her like she was doxy crap. Tom stifled a snigger with his hand. If he and Harry hadn't started out that bad, he would have liked this impudent boy.
- Hi, - he finally said reluctantly, his mouth full with toast.
Tina looked back at Riddle, her eyes wide. And right at that moment Abraxas showed his stuck-up face behind her shoulder.
- What is this? - he asked, looking at Granger like at dirt on his shoe.
- This, my dear, is Harry Granger, our new housemate, - Tina purred.
- Granger? Are you a mudblood? - Malfoy grimaced.
Harry shot out from the bench, making it scrape the floor loudly.
- What if I am? What are you gonna do about that? - Granger nearly yelled, and everyone in the Great Hall was staring at him by now.
Malfoy was taken aback by such a reaction.
- If you wanna have a duel, just let me know, - continued Harry, after which he grabbed his leftover toast and stormed out of the Hall.
The lessons where too hard without Ron and Hermione (well, mostly Hermione) by Harry's side. What were they doing in the future? Will he ever get to meet them again? Dumbledore's vague promises of help didn't improve Potter's mood much. Judging by what the professor said, now that he knows that Harry is a time traveller, the Dumbledore in the future might send a "time anchor" back to him. Although, that thing needed to be invented first.
INVENTED. Merlin, why was this so hard?
Harry tried to keep himself awake during History with Professor Binns, but the ghost's toneless voice combined with extreme stress and just as extreme a fatigue were slowly, but surely dragging Potter off to a snooze. Harry wondered whether being so tired was a result of time travel, but Dumbledore made him do a check-up yesterday in the Hospital Wing, and apparently he was totally fine.
BAM! Harry felt a dull pain in his forehead as his head slipped from his arm to the table. He heard sniggering from a pair of Ravenclaws from upfront and Rosier's dry remark from the side.
- What a disgrace to our House.
- Tell me about it, - sighed Tom and gave Harry yet another displeased look.
That prick. Like he wasn't the one who's going to be responsible for making Slytherin even more associated with a factory of dark wizards.
The Slytherins, lead by young Voldemort himself, weren't going easy on Harry. The past thirty-six hours or so have been a total nightmare for him. It was like being bullied by Dudley all over again, just without the punches. Harry could hardly find a place where he could relax.
First that yesterday morning's shower situation, then Abraxas with his vitriol. Next were flobberworms stuffed in his school bag after Herbology, Augustina fucking Lestrange "accidentally" spilling boiling water down his back during lunch, Cassandra Vablatski, the current Divination professor, taking off twenty points from Slytherin after Harry, like he always did, made up some codswallop about what he saw with his inner eye. This last mistake flared up hate from the rest of Slytherin House, and then it was Tom again with his stupid dormitory rules and a passion for absolute domination. Oh, wrap that up with bubotuber pus in his salad that evening.
So by noon of the following day he was hated by all of the Slytherins, despised by most Ravenclaws, pitied by some Hufflepuffs and plain ignored by all Gryffindors, because who of them cared if a Slytherin had problems?
Harry was exhausted and desperately wanted to get home. To relax in the Gryffindor common room, play wizards chess with Ron, hear the Weasley twins' hilarious jokes and watch Ginny smile.
Ginny. He missed her. And he hadn't even gotten a chance to fully understand what he felt for her.
The bell rang, and Potter dragged his body out of the chair determined to get to the Great Hall, check his food for surprises, sit as far from anyone as possible and try to get at least some energy from food.
His plans were interrupted by Abraxas waiting for him in the hallway.
- What now? - Harry demanded.
- Show some manners when you're speaking to a Malfoy, you filthy mudblood.
Great, just fucking great.
- Get to the bloody point.
- I accept your offer of a duel.
Harry blinked.
- What?
- Backing out, are we? - Malfoy sniggered.
- You wish. I would be most happy to kick your arrogant ass.
Abraxas grounded his teeth.
- This Sunday, then. At noon. The Clock Tower Courtyard, so that the whole school could witness your failure.
- See you, asshole.
Potter turned his back on him and stormed off before this stupid dispute could continue. He was happy there was a duel arranged; that would help him put some steam off.
As he walked past Riddle, Harry was sure he saw him grinning.
Author's note.
So, Harry's laned with a duel, and Tom's got Tina ;)
First of all, I would like to thank everyone that followed this story :) You wouldn't believe how happy that made me. The reviews had me smiling all day long, and I'm just generally a happier person now.
Next, I would like to tell you how this story is being built. This chapter originally was twice as long, but I had to split it in two for a number of reasons. This means (and it's a great thing for those who are waiting) that the next chapter will be out in a week or so, when my Editor (that's how we've decided to call him) has made all the checks and advice, and then he's off for a break, so to keep a balance I'll post the next part somewhere in between his break. I'm extremely lucky to have his help, and it truly makes this story more comfortable to read, so this is worth the waiting.
And the last thing I wanted to say is I've started a Tumblr blog to help me stay organized on my work here and just to joke around. You can ask we stuff there if you'd like that, I'm a very friendly fella. My nick there is shehonessky.
Please know that English is not my native language, so if anything doesn't feel right - don't hesitate to let me know. Although, I have tried to keep this as good as possible.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.