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Chapter 3:
Harry woke the next day in a bit of a daze. Yesterday moved so quickly. Questions burned inside of the 6th year. He wanted to know more about the young Voldemort, the "Tommy" that Aurian had fallen in love with. He wanted to know the story and what had happened between them. The other burning question that seemed to be more pronounced than the others was, what was Aurian sorry about, and to Harry?
"Ready to go Harry?" Ron asked. Harry took a moment before answering.
"Oh, yeah. You?"
"Um, yes?" Ron motioned to his school robes indicating that he was completely ready for the next school day that was ahead. Harry noticed that he wasn't wearing his uniform and quickly changed into it.
At breakfast everyone was busy going on and on about how beautiful and dangerous Aurian was. Girls wondered what it was like to be bitten and boys dreamed of what it was like to be immortal. Harry sat in silence. Even Ron and Hermione were talking about the vampire. Harry knew that behind that beautiful face there was a man who desperately wanted redemption. He didn't want to die a condemned soul. He wanted to be forgiven more than anything.
"Harry do you actually think Hermione would have a chance with him?"
"Aren't students forbidden to date teachers?"
"Harry, Aurian isn't a teacher! He's only a visitor! There is no rule against it!" Hermione gleefully announced.
"I don't think he has much taste for schoolgirls."
"Wow, shutdown! Harry doesn't even think he'd even want to feed from you!" Hermione seemed to look hurt and Harry quickly rushed the words out to explain what he meant.
"No! I mean, I just don't think he wants to be in a relationship with girls our age, or even a little older. He seems to like, extremely intelligent people."
"And how would you know?" Hermione snapped.
"Because he and I talked to each other for a bit yesterday night."
"What?" Everyone seemed to gather around Harry. He felt exposed and very nervous. He knew that Aurian didn't want the world to know of his relations to Voldemort. He only confided in Harry because of the connection Harry had with the Dark Lord.
"Well, go on! Details!" Ginny shouted enthusiastically.
"We just talked. He just seems to be too intelligent for anyone here. Besides he's over 2,000 years old. Why would he have any interest in people who are like, babies to him?"
"I don't know, why would I?" a smooth voice questioned from behind the group. They all turned to see Aurian standing there. "And to answer that question, I wouldn't because I'm already with someone."
"Who?" Hermione asked.
"Is she a vampire?" a girl questioned.
"No, not a vampire. And she's actually, a he." Aurian smiled his crooked smile directly at Harry. Harry's eyes widened. 'Oh no. He's pretending he's with me!' Everyone's eyes traveled to where Aurian was looking. They all gasped as they saw Harry's shocked face.
"Harry! You didn't even tell me you were gay!" Ron shouted. "I'm not upset or anything but seriously, did you think you couldn't trust me and Hermione? I mean come on! We're your best friends!"
"I'm not gay Ron! Aurian stop playing around and tell them the truth!"
"I am. I'm with a boy; I didn't say whom though. Bye Harry, see you in class." Despite Harry telling everyone over and over that he wasn't the one he was with, no one seemed to believe him. Everyone had his or her heart dead-set on Harry being the one Aurian was referring to. Harry wanted the day to end. He was sick of people coming up to him in every class asking what it was like to be with a vampire or if he'd been bit. It was pathetic really to Harry. He eventually gave up trying to defend himself and started just answering everything with, "I don't know." People eventually seemed to lose interest when that became the only answer they'd get. However, things changed when he set foot in his Defense against the Dark Arts class. People were waiting anxiously for Aurian to appear and show some kind of affection towards Harry. The teen wanted nothing more than to die. The killing curse looked really appealing right now.
Professor Snape strode into the room with his black robes trailing behind him. To most of the class, this man was scarier than Lord Voldemort himself. His black eyes scanned over the class. He looked to Harry for a short moment and quickly looked away. Harry recalled the night before. He wondered if seeing Snape in that state made him have some kind of power over the professor. Something in the way Snape moved however made Harry doubt it. The former Potions teacher didn't seem to be affected by the night before. Snape droned on about counter curses and who originally invented them. Harry looked around the room surprised that Aurian wasn't around to torment the 6th year. 'Maybe he and Snape, are in a fight?' Hermione elbowed Harry and shrugged her shoulders with her eyes wide, indicating that she wanted to know where Aurian was. Harry shrugged and rolled his eyes. He didn't know and part of him didn't care. After class Harry took a bit more than usual in gathering his things together. Ron and Hermione were waiting at the door for him.
"Potter, may I have a word?" Snape asked coolly. Harry wanted to say no and run but part of him was a little curious. He motioned for his friends to go without him and turned back to Snape. "Last night…"
"I won't tell anyone what happened or what Aurian has told me."
"It was wrong of me to step in. Aurian makes his own decisions and I've got to just agree on what he chooses."
"Professor, may I ask…how long have you known Aurian?"
"Since my first year at Hogwarts. As you already know from gazing into my own past last year I wasn't very well liked. Aurian was my only friend throughout those years here. If it weren't for him-"
"You never would have lived," a gentle voice stated from across the room. Both Snape and Harry looked to see Aurian sitting on one of the desks with his knees tucked under his chin. To Harry's dismay the vampire looked almost too innocent and beautiful for his own good. Snape smiled a broken smile and looked away from the vampire and at the chalkboard.
"Never would have lived?" Harry asked curiously. Aurian looked to Snape to seek permission to explain, Snape didn't object.
"For a long time, Harry, I myself had no one. I had no friends, no family, nothing. I wanted to die. After Tommy left me I felt like I had no reason to live anymore so I came back here for one more time before I…killed myself. I saw your father teasing Sevi, and well, my heart changed. I wanted to protect him. I wanted to save someone because I had failed at saving my lover and myself. I thought, that maybe, maybe it would cleanse my soul, just a bit. So I pretended to be a student, a transfer. I befriended Sevi and he told me his story too. If it weren't for me, he'd have killed himself too. Dumbledore wasn't a fool though. He knew I was there but also knew that I wasn't a threat. Even though he knew whom I used to be with. I promised him to help him in any way that I could. I swore that I would never betray him. I never have and I never will. Sevi and I are really similar in the fact that we are, or used to be prized possessions by Tommy, yeah possessions. It's funny though. Tommy entrusted me with something so important to him and yet, he told me to leave."
"What he trust you with?" Harry asked.
"It's private. I'm not willing to tell anyone. Not even Dumbledore." Snape cleared his throat indicating that the conversation needed to end. Aurian smiled over at the man and obeyed.
"Potter, you're going to be late for your next class. I'll write you a note excusing you." Harry waited for Snape to finish with the note and just looked at Aurian. He noticed how broken the vampire was. Harry looked directly into those red eyes and saw something that he didn't see before. That "boy" he was with, was still to this day "Tommy."
"Harry, you haven't even touched your dinner. Are you sure you're feeling ok?" Hermione asked as she looked carefully over Harry's distant features. His eyes seemed to be lost in some other world.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Did Aurian dump you so soon?" Ron teased.
"We're not dating Ron," Harry's voice was flat. There was no emotion to the sentence. Ron looked over at Hermione worried. "Maybe Aurian sucked his blood?"
"Dumbledore would have cast Aurian out as soon as he did a thing like that. Harry, please eat. You're worrying me."
"Sorry. I'm just not hungry." The tone was still flat. Hermione sighed. Ron looked over at the professors' table and saw Aurian and Snape, laughing.
"Well, would you look at that? I didn't even know he could smile!" Harry broke out of his trance and looked over at Snape and Aurian. They seemed to be enjoying each other's company. He returned to his thoughts though moments later. 'What is he sorry about? What does he have? If I could just get him to say what Voldemort entrusted to him, maybe I could finally kill him! Ugh! He would never do that though. He still loves him. How could he though? He treated him like dirt! He just cast him away like yesterday's news! I would have gotten over it by now. There has to be something more. I'm just missing it.'
"HARRY!" Hermione shouted into his ear. The boy finally snapped out of his trance and turned to look at Hermione wide eyed.
"What?!" he shouted.
"Everyone's leaving." She gestured to around the room as all the students were filtering out and going to their dormitories.
"Oh. Yeah. Right." Harry followed his friends out of the room and up to the Gryffindor tower. As soon as they were inside he was back in his trance again.
"What's gotten to him?" Ron asked. Hermione shook her head, completely puzzled.
"I haven't the slightest clue."
"Well, I've got Charms homework to do. Care to help?"
"Ron you know I shouldn't do that! You need to pay attention in class or you're never going to get anywhere in life!"
"I do pay attention!"
"Really?"
"Yeah! I always seem to catch the jokes!" Hermione threw up her hands in defeat.
"Fine, fine. I'll help you. But one of these days you're going to need to actually pay attention when Professor Flitwick is lecturing!"
"Thanks Hermione. And I'll work on that." Hermione rolled her eyes and sat down next to Ron as he got out his books. Harry finally snapped out of his trance and looked about the room. Obviously this wasn't going to get him anywhere faster by sitting here. And he also had homework to do.
"Sorry about earlier? I just, was kind of thinking about Voldemort."
"Why?" Hermione asked.
"Aurian knew him." 'I don't know if I'm supposed to tell them anything, but that can't hurt…can it?'
"Really? How?" Ron asked enthusiastically.
"They met when Voldemort was in school. They were friends." 'Hopefully this won't hurt.'
"Wow. And you think Aurian may know something?"
"Yeah. So I'm just trying to figure it all out." The friends seemed to understand and nodded their heads. They all let the subject drop and began working on homework.
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