Harry was pretty sure he had just broken Severus. The man wasn't blinking, and he was positive that the last time Severus had taken a breath was right before Harry had asked the man his question. If Severus dropped dead, Harry would deny everything! The man had given Harry permission to ask him any question he wanted. A wheezing sound to the left of Severus drew Harry's eyes to Professor Flitwick, who had burst out laughing the minute Harry had finished asking his question.
"I'm sorry, Harry," Flitwick wheezed out through trying to catch his breath, "but I don't think Severus heard you." That appeared to snap Severus back to life as the man turned his head and glared at the Charm's Professor.
"I heard him loud and clear, thank you very much." Severus hissed out.
"Then why not answer the poor boy." Flitwick said with a teasing smirk. "Unless you would like for me to explain to the boy what a crush is and how you know when you have one."
"You will do no such thing!" Severus snapped before sighing and resting his head in his hands with a small groan. If Harry had known that asking them what a crush was would cause this much trouble for Severus, then he would have gone to the Weasley Twins and ask them. "Harry, just answer me this: Who am I killing?" Harry squeaked in surprise as Flitwick fell out of his chair laughing.
"K-kill?" Harry asked in shocked fear. Severus was going to kill Draco?
"Yes, I want to know who you have a crush on so that I can kill them. You are too young to start liking anyone! You are to stay young and innocent forever!" Severus told him. Harry looked into Severus's serious eyes and began to worry for Draco's life. Would Severus really kill his own godson? Should he risk telling Severus that he thought he had a crush on Draco? The two stared at each other. Harry didn't want to be the reason Draco died.
"I never said I had a crush on anyone." Harry quickly told Severus, looking away from the man to pick at his robe. "I was just curious. I tried looking up what a crush was in the library, but all I found was romance novels. So, that's when I decided to ask you." Harry finished looking back at Severus with wide, curious eyes, having figured out that the man could never deny him anything when Harry looked at him like that.
"What got you so curious about crushes?" Severus asked and Harry's mind raced for a believable answer that wouldn't end with Draco's death.
"I've noticed that whenever I'm around Draco, his face gets all red and he gets flustered. At first I didn't think anything of it, until I saw how Ginny reacted around Haiden. It was just like how Draco reacted around me. When I brought up Ginny's reaction to Haiden with Fred and George, they told me it was because of her crush on Haiden. And that got me wondering what a crush was. How did one know they had a crush? Did Draco actually have a crush on me? How did one get a crush? What did one do when someone had a crush on them?" Harry said, thankful that he was able to keep his heart and body calm when he brought up Draco.
"Really?" Severus asked and Harry, making sure to keep his face blank, nodded. When the man stared him down, Harry made sure to keep eye contact and not fidget, an obvious sign someone was lying. "Well, Harry, crushes are actually hard to explain. They can come in many different forms. Basically, what it all narrows down to is: Someone likes someone else."
"Oh." Harry said as his mind raced. So, saying someone had a crush on you meant that they liked you? "When you say they like someone, you mean as more than a friend, right?" Severus nodded. Did he like Draco as more than a friend? What did liking someone as more than a friend mean? Did he want to be Draco's boyfriend? What did being someone's boyfriend mean? "How does one know they have a crush?"
"Your heart starts beating fast. You can't stop thinking about that person. You want to spend as much time as you can with them." Severus started listing off, a far off look in his eyes. "There are more examples, however, those are just the main ones." It fell silent as both Harry and Severus allowed their minds to race.
"Is there anything else you'd like to know, Harry?" Flitwick asked after a moment, snapping the boy back to the present. Harry shook his head and Flitwick clapped his hands, like he always did at the end of his lectures. "Right, well, the feast is about to start, and I believe that Professor Lockhart wanted to speak with me before the feast." Harry saw Severus roll his eyes at the mention of Professor Lockhart. Harry had yet to have a Defense Against the Dark Arts class; however, Fred and George has, and they didn't have any nice things to say about the man or the class. Harry stood up and went to leave.
"Oh, and Harry." Severus called out as Harry's hand touched the door handle. Harry turned and looked at the man. "I was serious about you being too young to like someone. You're not allowed to start liking anyone until I am good and dead." Harry was shocked at how serious Severus was. Harry nodded and left the room as Flitwick began laughing again.
~Keep Me In Your Memories~
Harry, mind still racing from his meeting with Professor Flitwick and Severus, was walking aimlessly through the halls. He had left that meeting with more questions than answers, however, he knew that the only one who could answer these new questions was himself. Did he have a crush on Draco? It wasn't until he realized Draco had a crush on him that his heart began to beat fast, and his face began to heat up. Harry always enjoyed hanging out with Draco, he enjoyed talking with Draco or even just leaning against the boy as the two of them silently read. But did that mean he liked Draco as more than a friend?
It wasn't just Draco that Harry enjoyed to spend time with. He enjoyed debating things with Hermione. He enjoyed talking about Herbology with Neville. He enjoyed planning pranks with the Weasley Twins, he like listening to them talk about their dream joke shop and planning how to make it possible. And, whenever he was able to get Haiden away from Ron, he like to spend time with his brother.
However, if you were to ask him to pick just one person to spend all of his time with, he would have to pick Draco. But was that because Draco was his best friend? Or was it because he like the boy as more than a friend?
Harry was shocked out of his thoughts when two pairs of arms were suddenly thrown around his shoulders. Heart racing and adrenaline pumping through his body, Harry looked around and saw that Fred and George were on either side of him. "Hiya Kitten." Fred said.
"We noticed you wandering around deep in thought." George said.
"Want to tell your favorite big brothers what's on that brilliant mind of yours?" They finished together causing Harry to chuckle at them.
"It's nothing really. I just came from talking with Professor Flitwick and Severus." Harry told them and saw them share a worried glance.
"Everything okay?" They asked.
"Yeah, I just had a few questions for them." Harry told them.
"About what? It's only been a few days since the start of term, did you already have some questions about the lessons?" George asked.
"Oh, no. I was just curious about how one knew they had a crush on someone." Harry told them, shocking them enough to cause the two boys to stop. Harry turned and looked at them.
"You have a crush on someone?" They asked him in shock, confusing him. Why was everyone shocked that he might have a crush on someone? Was he not allowed to like someone? Was Severus right when he said Harry was too young? Why was he too young to have a crush on someone, while it was okay for Ginny, who was younger than him, to have a crush on Haiden?
"Best not let Draco hear about this crush of yours." Fred warned.
"Why can't Draco know about my crush?" Harry asked. He was so confused. From everything he read, crushes were good things. And yet, everyone that learned that he might have a crush was acting as if it was a bad thing.
"Terrible things would happen!" George cried.
"Not to mention how pissed he'd be!" Fred added. Harry didn't know what to do. He didn't want Draco to be mad at him. He didn't want to lose his friend! But didn't Draco have a crush on him? Shouldn't he be happy to hear that Harry might also like him back? Why couldn't feelings and relationships be simple and easy? Confused, conflicted, and just fed up with how complicated this was turning out to be, Harry started to cry.
"I don't want Draco to be mad at me! I don't want these feelings if they'll just make him hate me!" Harry cried.
"Oh Kitten!" The Twins said and pulled Harry into a tight hug.
"It's okay. Feelings are complicated, and frustrating and there are times that I want to just turn off my feelings as well." George told him softly.
"It will get easier to navigate your feelings as you grow." Fred told him soothingly. Harry sobbed in their arms, just letting out all of his frustrations with the situation he found himself in.
"Come…" Harry heard a guttural whisper and tensed up at the darkness that voice carried in it.
"What?" Harry asked pulling away from the twins to look around them, trying to find the owner of the voice. They were the only ones in the hallway.
"What's wrong?" George asked him.
"Come to me…" That guttural voice whispered again; Harry couldn't find the owner. None of the portraits had spoken, and that voice didn't belong to either of the Weasley Twins.
"You guys don't hear that voice?" Harry asked as panic filled him. He had heard a voice in his head last year, he had hoped to never hear a voice that no one else could hear ever again.
"Let me rip you…" The voice continued to whisper. A shiver of fear ripped through him; the voice was getting louder. It was coming towards them.
"What voice, Kitten?" Fred asked looking around them.
"Let me tear you…" Even though Harry knew there was no one behind him, he swore that he felt someone's breath against the back of his neck.
"Are you hearing a voice? What's it saying?" George asked, a hint of fear in his voice as Harry's body began to shake.
"Let me kill you!" Harry saw an image of himself lying motionless and lifeless in what appeared to be a sewer.
"No!" Harry yelled and took off down the corridor trying to get away from that image and the voice that brought it.
~Keep Me In Your Memories~
That night, after the feast, Harry found himself curled up on his bed, blanket covering him as he held a very annoyed Loki to his chest. Every time he tried to close his eyes and sleep, that image of him lying dead in a sewer would pop up and his eyes would snap back open. He jumped at every little sound, because his mind whispered that it was the owner of that voice coming to drag him from the safety of his tower and into that sewer and kill him.
Harry silently cried and held Loki closer, gaining an annoyed mew. He didn't want to die. And every time he tried to tell himself that he was safe and that he wasn't going to die, a voice in the back of his mind was whispering that he was going to die at the end of the year. Harry sat up and looked across the dark dorm toward the door. He didn't want to be alone, he wanted Draco to hold him and wash all of his fears away. However, he didn't want to walk through the dark, empty corridors all the way down to the dungeons alone.
With a sigh, Harry reached over towards his desk, and grabbed a vial of Sleepless Dream potion.