A few hours earlier that day, Harry had wished he would be able to perform a single drying charm on his wet clothes. Now, he had lost count of the many times he had wanted to do spells and charms.
The once spacious and homely corridors of Erebor suddenly felt too crowded. He knew that he attracted attention on a daily basis but his improper state of attire made the following eyes weigh heavier on his form.
Today's incident had made him hyperaware of his surroundings and he knew he was overly exaggerating his situation. To be reasonable, it was highly illogical that the population of Erebor had suddenly expanded to the double just because of Harry's state of dress.
He wasn't wandering around naked and he knew that he didn't have anything to be ashamed of, but he would have been grateful for a simple "notice me not" charm.
Yet another wonderful discovery he had made about the dwarven life was that they, males and females alike, went commando. A discovery Karga had introduced him to when they had first gone out shopping together.
It didn't bother him and it had been a surprisingly good experience. Of course he had, at first, been slightly uncomfortable about not wearing any underwear but he had quickly adopted the custom.
It had proven to be unusually comfortable to walk without undergarments. But now, that only a towel protected his modesty, he misses the extra layer. The towel, which he still held tightly onto, was the only thing shielding his lower bare form from the people of Erebor. He briefly wondered if his bare feet were considered a more intimate body-part then his hanging manhood.
To preserve his dignity he had to leave the towel to pool along the floor to cover his feet completely. This had the unfortunately effect that he couldn't walk any faster than necessary to avoid tripping over the hanging fabric.
Nori, who had followed Harry willingly, had taken the lead and steered them through the corridors, not that Harry minded; he was too busy looking at the floor, trying to avoid eye-contact.
Harry was grateful for Nori's company. He would have had a hard time taking this walk alone and Nori, who Harry was sure hated all the attention, still bore with his slow pace and took mind to set an equally steady walk beside him.
Daring to take a peek up from the smooth stone floor, he caught a site mark on the wall. From the mark Harry could tell that they were walking away from the royal wing and towards his home. Confused about their current destination, he stopped and voiced his thoughts.
"Should we not go back to get my clothes?"
"I think it would be best not to," Nori answered. When he didn't stop but continued to walk away, Harry quickly followed.
"You may have intruded once already but I see no need to do so again." Nori glanced at him with an amused little teasing smile.
"Therefore, I will make an arrangement to have someone deliver it back to you later so you won't have to cause anymore mischief."
"Is that so?" Harry mused good-naturedly. If Nori thought that Harry would just lie down and be teased, he had another thing coming.
"Yes, I do believe that you are right. But, there is no need for the pot to call the kettle black."
"What?"
Harry didn't doubt that pots and kettles were common kitchen tools but it was apparent from Nori's answer that he didn't know the phrase.
"What I mean to say," he continued, "is that you have been following me around."
If Harry hadn't already suspected Nori of shadowing him then Nori's reddened cheeks were more than enough of a confession.
"Who knows, how many laws you have broken tailing me?" Harry pondered aloud, making sideway glances to Nori.
"My, my, Harry, are you sure that you want to pursue a job in the Hall of Healing?" Nori playfully bantered, not at all deterred by being called a law-breaker. "With your skill of observation you could make good detective work."
"Ha, so you admit it then?" Harry exclaimed. "We both know each other, yes, but not on the level you portrayed before half the people of Erebor moments ago. Also, I never told you that I applied for a job in the Hall of Healing."
"Indeed, you have caught me red-handed," Nori admitted, holding his hands palms up, in a guilty gesture. "What do you plan to do to me now? Did you take me aside to deal with me in private?"
Letting a laugh escape because of the absurd notion, Harry elaborated. "Not at all. To be completely honest with you, I did not want to walk this trip home all alone."
And it had been quite the clever idea; he had almost forgotten that they weren't alone in the vast corridors.
"I will take that as compensation, if you will, I'm quite possibly spoiling your image." He looked to Nori who only smiled in return.
"Also," Harry continued, "I wanted to thank you for speaking up in my defence. The king didn't heed my words and I'm scared to think what would have happened to me had you not interfered."
"It was nothing. It is my duty to serve the king and I truly feared for his safety. You would have too, if you could have seen yourself in that moment," Nori joked, partly to cover up his unease over Harry's gratitude.
When he thought about the handsome king, he was lost. The king had acted completely irrationally and insulted him most cruelly but somehow Harry felt it was his fault. If he hadn't been vain about his appearance the whole incident wouldn't have taken place. It wouldn't even have mattered if he had walked home with his clothes soaking wet, it wasn't like he was anything special; people wouldn't have cared.
Thorin had seemed deeply sorry about his actions and while he may have insulted and manhandle him, he wasn't worse for wear.
"What do you intend to do now?" Nori asks suddenly, breaking Harry away from his train of thoughts.
"What do you mean?" he inquired.
"Well, the king owns you a huge debt and you said that you did not want restitution thereby taking his opportunity to make amends away. I was just wandering how long you plan to let Thorin suffer? In a day or two the whole mountain will be calling out for his blood."
Dumbstruck, Harry came to an abrupt stop and this time Nori didn't continue on but stopped beside him; waiting expectantly for an answer.
"Oh by Morgana's tits, what have I done?" Harry asked himself horror bound; his free hand came up to cover his face in a sorry attempt to hide from the whole situation.
"Harry, what's wrong?"
When the king had dragged him away, he had thought that he was to be carried off to prison. He hadn't resisted for he had, after all, broken the law by illegal breach of property. When the king didn't drag him to a cold, clammed cell but had instead drawn a knife, he had been momentarily scared for his life and thought that he would be executed like a thief in the middle ages.
None of that had happened and Harry couldn't stay mad at Thorin. The whole thing was absurd; having his hair cut off wasn't really a big deal for him and it could hardly be called a punishment.
Thorin hardly deserved this fate. When he had first travelled to the mountain with Bofur, Bifur, and Sanix all those days ago, they had all talked about king Thorin with great admiration. Harry had ruined that. Even if it was unintentional, he had still ruined Thorin's image in the eyes of his people.
"I have to go back and apologize." Briefly, forgetting his state of undress he turned around in the hallway to walk back the way he came. But he was stopped by a hand to the shoulder.
"Harry, you cannot go back," Nori explained softly.
"But I have to," he said as he turned to face Nori. "I have no intention of leaving king Thorin to this punishment. I will have to tell him, tell everyone that it was a mistake."
"You cannot do that, not without worsening the situation. What he did to you was unforgiveable and even if you, as unbelievable as it is, forgive Thorin, he will still owe you a debt. You cannot go back on your words now people will just think that he has threatened you."
"No, I cannot accept that, I have to make things right. What should I do Nori?" He felt horrible and from the worried look on Nori's face it clearly showed.
"First, I think we should get you home," Nori said kindly, while he steered them in the right direction.
"Then you must know that there is nothing you can do to right the situation. I am sorry Harry but it is all in Thorin's hands now."
"How can he compensate for a, supposed, unforgiveable act? Please tell me that I won't have to willingly accept money or material goods. I won't do that!"
"No, he cannot just pay you off, that would be dishonourable for both of you. There are only a few possible retribution methods, each of which have to be handled very carefully. He can choose to gift you with a highly prized family artefact, he can give you land, offer you his hand in marriage, or fulfil sevel..."
"NO, no, no, I will not marry him. How does that even count for retribution?" Harry interrupted, brows furrowed together.
"No fears, dear Harry, I do not think it will come to that," Nori explained calmly. "It would be considered a great honour to marry into a family with such a noble lineage as the Durin's. By taking your hand in marriage, Thorin acknowledges that the shame your hair symbolizes has no meaning."
Harry seriously doubted that he would ever make heads or tails of dwarfish traditions. He could see neither sense nor logic in their customs. Even though, he was a living breathing dwarf, he suspected that he would never come to understand these traditions.
"So, since marriage is off the table, he will give me either land or relics of personal value?" he asked.
"No and yes," was Nori's quick answer. "Because Thorin is king he cannot simply give you land. Essentially everything he owns also belongs to the people of Erebor. I know that you do not like it Harry, but if you want to put an end to this mistake you will have to be accepting to whatever Thorin decides; be it artefacts or fulfilling favours."
"I don't like it but of course I will do it," he mumbled softly, "will you please tell Thorin that I am so very sorry for…"
"No," Nori interrupted. "You do not have to apologize to Thorin. He let his anger cloud his judgement, it is his fault."
"Still Nori, I want you to tell him that I did not intend to put him in this difficult situation. I did not know what I condemned him to."
By the time they reached the corridor Harry's house was stationed in, Nori had reluctantly agreed to deliver his message. He left with a final nod and disappeared back the way they came from and Harry suddenly realised that he had completely forgotten to ask how Nori knew Thorin.
He would be sure to remember to ask the next time he caught him.
Now, that he was alone, his footsteps quickened with intent to escape the many glances that were being thrown in his direction.
Though Nori's words had been reassuring, he couldn't help but be worried. Somehow, from his perspective, it seemed very unlikely that the people of Erebor would turn their backs on the king for something as trivial as hair. He understood that hair, wherever on the body it may grow, was very important for the dwarves. But Thorin had apologized and what more could Harry ask for then a heartfelt apology?
He feared when the news reached the whole mountain. Surely, he would be declared a villain and thrown out.
Should he pack his few belongings together and leave the mountain peacefully while he still could? He didn't get much time to think things over, for standing before his golden front door stood a group of anxious dwarves.
There was twisted fingers, pacing, and furrowed brows among the jolly family that so selflessly had opened their home to him. Harry would bet his life that they had all rushed to his home, in a great hurry, when they had heard the news of his meeting with the king.
Karga still held onto a piece a chalk that she undoubtedly had used in her lesson. Then there was Sanix, who had a blunt training sword in hand and drops of sweat on his brow; a result from the hard training he had been in the process of doing.
It was Karga who saw him first.
"Oh Harry, you are alright tha.. What in Mahal's name are you wearing?" At the sound of his name, the other dwarves looked up but Karga had already closed the space between them and tackled him in a bear hug, the piece of chalk forgotten and left on the floor.
"Let us get you inside and into some proper attire," she continued.
It was obvious that the group hadn't heard all the details about what had happened. They had only heard that he had had a run in with the king; a very angry king.
Showing the group inside his home, Harry made a quick trip to his room to drop the towel and change into a set of spare clothes. Back in his living room, his friends had all found themselves a seat with cups of hot beverages passed out between them; waiting expectantly for his story.
It wasn't an easy feat retelling the tale. He was, more often than not, interrupted by his friends' disbelieving cries and questions.
"He is as mad as his forebears!" came the angry statement from Sanix, by the end of his tale. Sanix had shot out of his chair, kicking it back in the process, and was standing with clenched fist, staring helplessly at the floor.
"I trained for his course, believe in his rule, but he is just another madman," Sanix said disbelievingly. "I won't forgive him for what he did to you, Harry."
Sanix's eyes met Harry's before he stormed out of the room.
He stood up to follow but was cut short by Bifur.
"Leave him be, Harry, he needs to cool down and sort out his thoughts. He will come around."
He wasn't happy about it but sat back down in his seat just in time to see Bifur handle Bofur a small brown leather pouch.
"What is that?" Harry asked curiously.
"Oh, I'm just reaping the benefits of a very unfortunate outcome," Bofur answered.
Bringing forth the brown pouch he had been about to put in his trouser pocket, Bofur showed the pouch's golden contents.
"You see dear Harry," he said, as he drew the strings around the pouch back together, "I made a bet with my dear cousin."
To this, Bifur gave an unsatisfied grunt. "I still think that it's a draw," he said, his arms folding over in a sour pose.
"What did you bet about, was it about me?" Harry asked. He already had his suspicions about being involved.
"It is actually a bet we made a long time ago, a couple of days after we meet you," Bofur answered. Suddenly forlorn, Bofur's hand came up to lightly rub at the side of his chin. He sent Harry a strained smile before continuing his explanation.
"I wagered that the king would give you… an extravagant welcome, a welcome that would draw a lot of the public's attention. Bifur had something more private in mind."
"Though, none of us would have expected this to happen," Bifur added.
Shifting awkwardly in her seat, Karga hesitantly asked, "Would you allow us to see the damage done to your hair?"
They stayed with him to dinner and the topic, thankfully, shifted to something else. It was quite the interesting evening with embarrassing childhood stories and jokes. But the distraction was rather short lived. When the group departed that night, he lay awake, heavy with doubt, about how he should proceed tomorrow.
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When Harry had first arrived at the Leaky Cauldron and taken his first real steps into the wizarding world together with Hagrid all those years ago, he had been congratulated and consoled from strangers; wizards and witches alike who had known him and his history before he himself had learned it.
His private life was but common knowledge and could be purchase and read in the history books at Flourish and Blotts or the weekly newspapers.
He really should not have been surprised by this outcome.
Now he felt like his eleven year old self again; confused and tongue-tied by the consulting dwarves that swarmed him every time he stepped foot out of his front door.
Like all those wizards and witches had done, the dwarves supported and commended him for his actions against the king. And while Harry couldn't say that he was ungrateful for the support he was also partly blindsided.
He had not fully believed that Thorin could lose the support of his people because of a few strands of his hair. So, when he had woken up the morning after, he had hesitated to open his front door; expecting to be chased out of the mountain by an angry mob.
When he finally gathered his Gryffindor courage and swung the door open, he didn't find an angry mob on the other side.
The heap of socks, in every imaginable colours and sizes, had doubled in number since yesterday evening.
Somehow this sight alone laid rest to all his worries and warmed his heart. This custom, whatever it meant, was a positive sign, of that he was sure.
Dutifully, he made his usual trip to the kitchens for another day of work. All activity seemed to stop in his wake; conversations were cut short, hurried steps down the corridor came to a standstill, and when he reached the kitchen all his colleagues stared, gobsmacked.
Like a broken dam, everything came pouring out at once; each yelling dwarf overlapped each other. They had all heard the shocking news and were angered by the king's unreasonable behaviour.
They all agreed that it had been in his right to deny the king his chance for forgiveness; for a king should know better and he would have to learn that lesson.
But how that haunted him! He wasn't perfect, far from it, so what had he done to deserve such support? They all acted like Harry was some kind of hero that had showed them king Thorin's true colours.
Hero or not, he had been forced on holiday, by Bombur's leave, and now he had nothing to occupy himself with.
He had spent some days over at Bofur and Bifur's toy-store; conversing with the cousins and Khîm when they didn't have customers. After three days of continuous visits to the shop, Harry stayed at home on the fourth.
He always had a good time in his friends company but at the store he always felt that he intruded upon their work and was a bother. Very often the shop would be completely full, surprisingly only with adults, leaving all three of the shop's staff occupied.
By the end of the fourth day, Bofur came by after working hours to see if he had taken ill. When he had explained himself, Bofur had only laughed and said that it was a shame that he hadn't been by the shop today, as they hadn't been busy at all.
Still, Harry thought it would be best if he started visiting after working hours.
Out of sheer boredom, a sigh escaped him. He hadn't even bothered to roll out of his bed today. The previous day he had spent on his far less comfortable couch so he thought the bed a much better choice today.
He would go insane if he stayed at home one more day but he was tired of the attention he got whenever he stepped a foot outside.
Everyone was talking about him, to him, while discreetly stealing glances at his hair. He had chosen to leave it hanging loose down his back which completely covered the uneven mess at the back of his neck.
To make matters worse he hadn't seen Nori, Sanix, and Ralec since the incident.
What was that?
`Knock. Knock. Knock.´
Someone was at the door.
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AN
Massive thanks to all my amazing readers for the follows, favourites, and fantastic reviews! Every time I open my mailbox I see the support for my story grow and I'm moved to tears.
I have a busy week from time to time so does my beta, and I know that it can be days between my updates but I won't abandon this story. Please have faith!
Anyway, I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter!