Forever Entwined : Chapter 4
When Harry woke the next morning, he did not rise right away. He was content to lie on his back, taking in the blurry view of the "roof" over his bed. With his hands folded over his stomach, he concentrated on slowly breathing in and out, using the simple task to hover in the state just before sleep, creating the perfect moment to relax where he didn't have to face the world just yet.
He had no idea what time it was, but he figured he was safe to assume it was not time for him to get up or Ron would have shaken him awake by now.
It would be a while until he grew used to waking up early again. At home, he was afforded all the time he needed to gather himself to start the day. Here, he was bound to designated meal times and set class schedules.
"Harry!" The hiss effectively pierced through his bubble of tranquillity. It was time to get up it seemed. He drew his curtain back, reaching for his glasses with one hand. Once his vision adjusted, he was afforded a clear view across Draco's empty bed to Ron frantically buttoning up his uniform shirt.
"Get up, mate. We have thirty minutes left for breakfast. The Slytherins left without waking us up," he complained. Indeed, all the Slytherin beds had their drapes drawn and their duvets neatly turned back.
"You wouldn't have woken them either," Neville pointed out, dragging on his trousers.
"Probably not, but still," Ron continued to grumble to himself.
Harry waved his wand, retracting the drapes and throwing his sheets back, cringing when his bare feet touched the cold floor. He joined his hands together, stretching his arms above his head and groaning at the relief of his stretched muscles.
He grabbed his uniform from his trunk, dressing as quickly as he could. He went to the bathroom to wash up and finish getting ready, and found Dean doing the same.
"Morning." Harry reached for the soap, working a lather between his palms.
"Morning." Dean paused mid-downward stroke with his razor.
"No depilatory charm for you?" Harry himself had taken to using the charm once he had the need to shave. Ron had taught it to him.
"Nope. I used to watch my stepfather shave in the mirror when I was little." The dark skinned boy shrugged. "I guess I always looked forward to this. Proof I was becoming a man. Maybe if I'd grown up watching my real father use a charm, I would too." His words were matter of fact and carried no heat, but Harry felt a little uncomfortable nonetheless.
"I'm sorry about what happened during last year," he offered. He knew the absence of his natural father had not helped his case when they couldn't prove Dean had a magical parent, which had in turn forced him to be registered and go on the run.
"I should be saying the same to you, mate, but we survived, didn't we?" Dean finished one last sweep against the forming bristles under his chin. He splashed water across his face to do away with the remaining bits of hair and soap. "I should be thanking you for helping us get out of Malfoy's place."
"It was all Dobby. He saved us all," Harry corrected, bending his head closer to the sink. He scrubbed his hands against his face, scrubbing his hands over his closed eye lids a little rougher than was comfortable. Maybe water would hide the glistening of his eyes as he thought of the toddler sized grave by Shell Cottage.
After he finished drying his face, he was surprised to see Dean still standing beside him as if he was waiting for him.
"I just wanted to say that I support you," Dean said quietly.
"Thanks, I guess, but with what?" For a horrifying moment, he thought Hermione might have mentioned something about his current condition in some well-intentioned plot to make it easier for him.
"What you said last night," he explained, allowing Harry to relax. "Seamus and I were never in the thick of it, but we'll help keep the antagonising between us and the snakes at a minimum."
"Oh, okay. Thanks," he replied a little uncomfortably. "Look, I'm not advocating love for all Slytherins," he clarified before he was seen as some kind of philanthropist with a much more noble reason to wanting the griping to stop than his need to satisfy his own uncertainty and emerging guilt.
"I know you’re just asking us to be fair. I don't expect to see you in the stands waving their flag just yet."
"Not likely. I think Ron would be the first to hex me if I tried." They shared a laugh, imagining the red head’s reaction if he saw him pledging allegiance to the Slytherins.
What would Ron's reaction be if he learned the Sorting Hat has considered Harry for Slytherin? Harry didn't think he would ever want to find out. It was yet another thing he should keep to himself.
"I'm glad you decided to come back."
"What can I say? Hermione convinced me....something about a chance to do it right."
"It will definitely be different than the year you two spent camping and on the run from Snatchers," Seamus interjected, catching the last part of their conversation when he stepped into the communal bathroom.
"I hope so," Dean agreed, cuffing his friend on the back of the head for the dark humour.
"I heard you got back with Ginny. That will be different. You’ll have a proper girlfriend to snog in dark corners. You'll be sneaking off to the Astronomy Tower with your lovely red head," Seamus teased with a grin.
Harry was caught up in his comment about the tower, though he didn't think there would be any more assignations at the Astronomy Tower. At least not any he was a part of. Not after what occurred there.
He just shrugged at Seamus's comments; he didn't think he and Ginny were going to be sneaking off anywhere if he could barely manage getting comfortable when they were in public.
"Congratulations, by the way, for getting back together," the dark skinned boy said congenially. He didn't seem too concerned, but Harry felt awkward because of the history between Dean and Ginny. What if he still had feelings for her? Somewhere between escaping the dungeon and Dobby's funeral, one of the first things he'd asked was Ginny’s welfare.
"Yeah," Harry murmured, "I don't think I ever apologised for, well, you know, getting together with her so quickly after you broke up." He said it guiltily--he could recall their last argument being about the supposed shove Dean had given her at the portrait hole, how it had really been Harry under the invisibility cloak.
It had not been on purpose, but he’d thought about it from time to time, especially this past summer. Would Dean and Ginny have worked out whatever problems they had, been brought closer together through the worry of the war like Hermione and Ron had?
If he had not stumbled into her on his rush to take advantage of the Felix Felicis before it ran out, would he now be on the outside, looking in on Dean and Ginny together? He'd thought of the event as being lucky for both of them. It had freed Ginny to date him, but now he wasn't so sure.
Maybe Ginny would have been happier because she didn't seem very happy now. There were times when she seemed content, and then, almost as if she could sense the uncertainty and detachment rise in him, her mood shifted accordingly.
"It's all right," Dean shrugged. "I think you were all she wanted from the moment she saw you in second year. Maybe it's meant to be and all that rot." He patted him on the shoulder. His smile was genuine, and Harry gave him a small smile before shoving his toothbrush in his mouth.
"Do you want us to wait for you?"
"It's okay," he answered Seamus through the foam in his mouth. "I'll go as soon as I'm done."
"Okay, come on, Dean. We should really go down and try to grab some breakfast."
Once he was alone, he observed his reflection in the mirror, always a little surprised he still looked so young. He watched himself practice his smile for the day around the bristles, and almost laughed at how clearly it showed he was trying too hard.
"Ready, Harry?" Ron called from the doorway.
He nodded, rinsing a few times before following him out of the bathroom. He accepted his school bag from Ron with a quick thanks, and made it down the stairs after his friend. Harry was not surprised to find Hermione waiting in the common room, seated on one of the larger couches.
"Finally! You need to set your alarms," she cried, pushing up from her seat. "I have your time tables, and we only have fifteen minutes at the most to eat something before Transfiguration."
Harry let himself be pushed out the portrait along with Ron, ignoring the amused look on Snape's face as he watched them go.
X x x X x x X
"Where were you guys last night? I tried asking our new head of house, but she just said you were okay." Ginny raised her voice a little to be heard over the sound of the morning rush of students busier chatting than actually eating.
They were gathered in the corner of the table beside the seventh years, and Harry was once again facing the Slytherin table. He could not see any of his roommates; they were probably en route to Transfiguration.
"We have separate accommodations," Hermione answered for them.
"You don't have to do this!" Ginny declared as soon as she was brought up to speed about their living conditions.
"It's what McGonagall wants." Harry didn't look up from his timetable, absently accepting the piece of bread that was floating next to him.
"You can't really want to share a room with them?" she pressed on disbelievingly.
"I don't really mind," he answered vaguely, sipping his orange juice. As soon as he was done, a small plate of sausages shifted across the table.
This was getting a little ridiculous.
"Kreacher, I don't want anymore," he muttered. Harry reminded himself to speak to the elf as soon as possible before he ended in the hospital wing from overeating, though that would be a welcome change from his prior visits.
"Harry?"
"Sorry, Kreacher again," he shrugged. Ginny did not seem very appeased with his explanation, but she just shook her head and decided not to comment on the house elf’s attempts to mother him.
"You’re really okay with this?" she asked again. She shook her head in consternation. "Do you really think that's going to be best for you? To have to play nice and live with the snakes?"
"Am I supposed to fight them until I die?" he asked softly, folding his timetable. After Transfiguration, he had an hour break before Muggle Studies and Potions, followed by another break before finishing the day with Herbology and art.
"No, of course not." She looked torn between sticking to her reservations and being supportive. She confirmed it when Harry saw her look toward Hermione and receive an encouraging nod.
"So, you do get some classes with us, don't you?" she said finally.
He handed her the schedule so she could see for herself; he had no idea what her timetable looked like.
"The only class we have together is Charms on Thursday and Friday," she complained after looking it over. Ron reached over, grabbing Harry's schedule from her lax hands, spreading it beside his own.
He didn't think it was good he felt blasé about their lack of shared classes. It was probably worse he felt a little relieved. He only shrugged in reply. There was something that flickered in her brown eyes before she turned her attention to folding her schedule into a small square before shoving it into her pocket.
"You'll be able to see each other plenty." Hermione patted Ginny's shoulder. "Ron and I only have so many classes together because of the eighth year program."
"So even the Slytherins will see him more than I will," Ginny muttered. Harry heard her comment, but decided not to reply. He couldn't think of what he could say to sooth her temper. Maybe it was for the best they didn't integrate all the classes. He could easily see Ginny having rows that ended in her cursing Zabini with a Bat-Bogey Hex.
"How is it we have such different schedules?" Dean asked from the other side.
"The professors took on extra classes so they could include us and not overflow the classrooms," Hermione answered, grateful to get a change in topic.
"It's why the headmistress is going to teach us Transfiguration while Professor Clarke teaches all the other years."
"You have art, Harry?" Ron interrupted and pointed to the block right after Apparition. His ginger eyebrows inclined in question."I thought you were going to take Divination. That's why I chose it."
"I didn't want to fake my death in Divination anymore. I thought art would be more interesting."
"What's so interesting about manipulating paint with your wand?" The redhead really was taken aback by his decision. Sure, Divination was a crock, but at least it was an easy grade and they would have been together.
Harry's eyes widened. "More interesting than I thought. I just assumed they gave you paintbrushes and canvas."
Harry smiled, a little more pleased with his decision. He'd picked it on the whim because the class seemed like it could be fun.
When he looked up at Ron, his friend was no longer griping. He just patted him on his shoulder and simpered playfully. "Draw me a picture, yeah? So I can hang it on my bed, and show everyone little Harry's creation." Harry knocked shoulders with his friend, glad he'd accepted his decision without too much fuss.
"Well, Ginny and I have Arithmancy and Ancient Runes together," Hermione informed them.
"Don't worry. We’ll see each other plenty," she reassured both Weasley siblings.
X x x X x x X
Part Two