Butterfly 15 - LM/HP

Sep 22, 2009 20:34



PREVIOUS HERE

Here is the next chapter. Sorry, still no updates for Brothers in Arms or Black Complication, sorry. But I do have FOUR chapters planned out so far for New Divide. If I can finish planning, I can start writing chapters and then you’ll all have a new LV/HP fiction to read…

This would have been up Sunday, but Supernatural distracted me. On the plus side, I have an idea for the Soul Music/Soul Mates sequel. This would have been up Monday, but I got called into work, after asking for the day off already. She guilted me into going in anyway…

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Words: 3,982
Chapter 15

September 4th 1991. Hogwarts. The Forbidden Forest.

Evan watched him silently. Harry was usually quite graceful, but apparently the roots of the trees in the Forbidden Forest seemed to have it out for him. It was after the third time that Evan saw him fall that Harry noticed him there. Green eyes met brown, and a scowl settled on Harry’s mouth.

“Well thanks for the help,” he drawled sarcastically.

“Anytime.” Evan smirked. He waved his wand, and the roots that still lay in Harry’s path all sank back into the ground. It was the new moon of the month. It was pitch black without the moon or any stars, and Harry could barely see a foot in front of himself. He’d given up on maintaining a ‘Lumos’, since every time he fell over, it extinguished itself anyway.

“I’ve missed you,” Harry said softly. A moment later he was pressing himself tightly to Evan’s chest. The Death Eater’s arms came around him, squeezing him tightly, and a soft kiss was pressed to the top of his head.

“It’s been a week, and yet it felt like eternity. Time surely does fly, Caen.” Evan mused, his arms still holding his son.

“I thought that only happened when you were having fun?” Harry pulled back a little, and Evan taking the hint let him go completely. They stood facing each other, a soft smile on Harry’s face, but Evan’s was blank.

“I’m this close to grabbing you and making a run for it.” A hand came up to cup Harry’s cheek. The child frowned, then placed his hand over Evan’s.

Evan wasn’t usually a very sentimental guy, nor was he one to talk about his feelings often. So Harry did what he always did when even was having a ‘chick-flick moment’. He ignored it. “How’d you get here anyway?”

“I apparated to Hogsmeade and flew the rest of the way. My wings are very tired,” he trailed off slowly. Harry had to chuckle at his tone of voice and the way he dragged the words out for at least three seconds each. “How did you get here?” He asked, a grin finding its way back onto his face.

“I followed the yellow brick road.” Harry said with a straight face. If Evan had been stupid, he might have believed Harry was being serious.

Remembering the way Harry had stumbled and tripped and fallen, all in the time where Evan could see him, and undoubtedly during the time Evan couldn’t either, the Wizard snorted and said, “more like the road less travelled by.”

“And that made all the difference,” Harry agreed, while giggling. “I wanted to ask you something.” He said, turning serious. There was no point asking why Evan had asked to meet him. Harry knew it was because he had been missed, but he also knew Evan well enough to know that Evan would either admit and change the subject, or lie and say he came for a different reason. Harry knew Evan had missed him. Whether Evan said it or not didn’t matter.

“Oh? About the lovely Miss. Granger? Well I’m afraid you don’t have my permission to marry her. You’ll have to elope to Gretna Green, my boy.” Evan steepled his fingers beneath his chin and peered at Harry through fluttering lashes.

“It’s a good thing I’m already in Scotland,” Harry drawled.

“I see you’ve given this some thought. Be made aware,” Evan continued to tease his child, “that if I hear a word about you taking the lady away and not marrying her, well, you’ll be worse for wear, chap. The virtue of a lady must never be in question. For once lost, you’ll never get it back.”

“Ok that’s enough Jane Austen-esque. Can we get back to what I wanted to ask?” Evan gave a chuckle, but he nodded his head. “Was Theaodore Nott a Death Eater?”

Evan’s head jerked to the side when he heard the name. “Yes,” he said, but he didn’t turn to look at Harry. “Why?”

“I wanted to know about his sons. Evan, are you ok?”

Rosier grabbed Harry’s arm, pulling the boy with him towards a large tree that had been a little way behind them. One of its branches was low enough and thick enough to sit on. Evan lifted Harry slightly, and the boy wiggled his way into a comfortable position on the branch and waited. The Death Eater leant against the trunk of the tree and folded his arms across his chest. “Why do you want to know about the Notts?”

“The youngest is in my year. Draco and the others, well they aren’t very nice to him, even though he is in Slytherin. Why is that?” Harry was genuinely curious. Theodore hadn’t really done anything wrong as far as Harry could see; yet the others were almost unbearably cruel to him. He was treated the same as Harry supposed the Gryffindors would have treated Draco had the blond been in their House (as unlikely as that would be). How would Theodore have been a traitor? He wouldn’t have been old enough to have betrayed the Dark Lord.

Evan sighed. “It was a long time ago, Caen. Theaodore Nott was never a nice man, and,” Evan was interrupted by Harry, who gave a snort of laughter, “ok, I’m not a very nice man, but you know I would never hurt you?”

“I know.”

“Theodore and Terrance do not have that assurance. He wasn’t always so bad, I suppose. I was never close to him, never spent much time with any of the others to be perfectly honest. I much preferred to spend my time annoying Bellatrix or trading banter with my Lord. There was a time, when Theaodore’s loyalties were tested and he failed that test. The Ministry kidnapped his wife, and the Dark Lord refused to rescue her because he knew it was a trap. The Ministry had proof that Theaodore was a Death Eater, and they hoped that by taking his wife, they’d have the chance to ambush the others that came to her rescue.”

Evan trailed off, running a hand over his face. With a sigh, he continued. “Theaodore wasn’t happy with our Lord’s decision. He went to the Order, begged them to save his wife in exchange for information about our side. He was inducted into the Order of the Phoenix, a group of misfits led by Dumbledore in the hopes of driving back the forces of darkness.”

“And stealing from the rich to give to the poor?” Harry quipped, watching the way Evan kept clenching and unclenching his hands until his knuckles were bone white.

The brunette gave a chuckle. “They believe they are righteous. And we believe we are right. But who is wrong?” He waved his hand, brushing off whatever answer Harry might have given, and got back to the topic they had been discussing. “After Theaodore’s induction, he led the Order to Voldemort’s safe house. Many of our side, not even fighters, just wives and children and the elderly, those who had no choice but to hide because maybe a son or daughter or grandchild joined the Dark Lord, many were killed. While this was happening, Voldemort had relented, and he, another called Mason and myself went to the Ministry to rescue the Mrs. Nott. We managed to return her body. When Theaodore realised she had been killed, and that the Order hadn’t saved her, he begged the Dark Lord for forgiveness.”

“And because he is a merciful Lord, he forgave.” Harry whispered. His face was pale, and briefly he wondered if Theodore had ever been told why his father was considered a traitor.

“Yes, he did. But Theaodore was evicted from the Inner Circle, delegated to mainly grunt work, meaningless raids and the such. He drank a lot more, or so I was told. The boys were very young at this point. Terrance would have been 2, and Theodore merely a baby, not much older than you and you would have just been born around then. I’d wager that the elder boy got the brunt of his father’s anger.”

Harry jumped down off of the branch. He wrapped an arm lightly around Evan’s waist, inviting the man to hug him closer, which he did. “That’s horrible. But it’s not really Theo’s fault, is it! The others should be a little nicer to him.”

“What is with the sudden interest, my child?”

“He reminds me of me,” Harry said softly, scuffing his shoes in the dirt. “He seems so resigned to being hated, and to never having friends. It isn’t fair. I have you now, and Draco and Lucius. He should have someone.” Harry stared at the floor sadly.

Evan grabbed Harry’s chin, and lifted his face up. “I believe he has you. If you wish to befriend the boy, by all means, do so. He is a Pureblood. Just because his father made a grave mistake, does not mean he will.” Evan pulled something out of his pocket and unrolled it. A chuckle escaped him. “This arrived for Lucius. Draco sent it. Lucius thought it would amuse me to read, though he was not so impressed. Shall I read you some?”

“Ok, sure.” Harry gave the letter a confused glance. “Why not.”

“You’ll never guess what father. You will not guess, so I will inform you immediately. Harry has a crush. He could possibly have a boyfriend by the time you reply, I am in no doubts. He seems quite taken with Theodore Nott, you know, the traitor’s son. Calls him ‘Theo’ and everything, and they’ve partnered up in Potions. And Nott stares at Harry all of the time, I don’t like it, father. But I suppose Harry does, so I’ll leave it alone. Well, obviously I’ll tease him terribly. Perhaps you should buy me a camera for Yule and then I can take embarrassing photos of Harry and Nott together?” Evan stopped reading, smiling at the flush that had inflamed Harry’s face. “What embarrassing things could a pair of eleven-year-olds be getting up to, I wonder?”

“I don’t fancy Theo.” Evan raised an eyebrow. “-dore.”

“So it is Miss. Granger who will win your heart? Perhaps, as you age, Theo, dear Theo, might be in with a fighting chance?” A slow smirk worked its way across Rosier’s mouth. “Or maybe… it will be Draco who sweeps you off your feet?”

Harry thought of Lucius, who looked so much like Draco, with those grey eyes and the soft blond hair, and he smiled. And then he thought of Draco. Draco who looked so much like Lucius, but who wasn’t. Draco who was his friend. His first friend his age, his only real friend his age, and he tried to imagine kissing Draco. “NO! That would be so wrong. No, Evan, gross!” Then he thought about kissing Lucius, and his heart beat faster. Harry frowned. Did that mean he wanted to kiss Lucius, or did it mean it was also wrong, but not ‘gross’ wrong because Evan hadn’t been implying that?

Relationships were confusing, Harry decided. There was a reason people waited until they grew up.

“Look, I don’t have a crush on Granger, or Nott, and I will never have one on Draco.”

“Never say never, my Caterpillar.” A hand came forward, brushing back the fringe from Harry’s eyes. “Whoever wins you will be very lucky indeed. But you have years yet until you need make a decision. Who knows, it may be the Dark Lord himself who claims you.”

The look on Harry’s face was priceless. Wide eyed and with his mouth open, he turned to stare at Evan. The man laughed, softly at first, but then louder and bolder until he was clutching at his stomach, completely overtaken by mirth. The sight of Evan so out-of-character shocked Harry a second time.

“Lord Voldemort has no interest in taking a lover. He is above such menial pursuits.” Evan drawled after he had calmed down.

“A man after your own heart then?” Evan glowered. “Hey, if you can tease me, I can tease you. Does little Evan have a crush on the big bad Dark Lord? Oh I bet he does.” Harry cooed.

Evan’s hand clipped him lightly on the side of the head. “If you have nothing else to pester me with, may I suggest we enjoy our remaining time together in blessed silence?”

Evan slid down the trunk of the tree until he was sat on an exposed root at its base. Harry curled up in his lap. In the dark, they stayed like that, not moving until the sun began to rise. “Here.” Evan said, handing Harry a potions vial. “Pepper up,” he told him. “It should keep you going until lunch.”

“You’re a bad influence on me. Most parents give their kids a bedtime. You keep yours up all night.” Harry groused, before downing the potion in one mouthful.

Evan hummed lightly. He pressed a light kiss to the top of Harry’s head, just a bare brush of lips against hair, and when Harry looked up, he was gone. A green-and-brown butterfly hovered in front of his face. Harry reached up to brush the tip of his little finger against Evan’s wings, and then the butterfly flew away.

With a smile on his face, Harry made his way out of the Forbidden Forest.

XXX

September 12th 1991. Hogwarts.

Flying lessons were starting that afternoon, and unfortunately Ravenclaws were paired with the Gryffindors. Harry was convinced that Dumbledore was out to get him personally, because he had been assured by every Slytherin he knew that he could avoid both Ron and Granger because for every other year previous the Gryffindors had been paired with Slytherins. It was either an unfortunate coincidence that this year was the year they decided to change that practise, or a conspiracy.

“Hello Harry,” Hermione said softly as she came to stand beside him.

“We’re meant to line up, in our Houses. Gryffindors are over there.” Harry pointed to a line of children standing two feet away from him. Not very far, but further away than Granger was right then. She was practically on top of him, smiling at him with watery eyes that made him feel extremely guilty for not begging for her friendship, even though he didn’t actually like her.

“You know, it’s my birthday on the 19th.” Hermione told him. “The Gryffindor ghost, his name is Sir Nicholas, well he suggested I have a party. He’s invited, of course, and I was hoping you would come.”

Harry was saved from having to answer when Professor Hooch cleared her throat loudly, “everyone place their hands over their broom, and say ‘up’.”

“Up,” came the calls from all of the students. Harry’s broom zipped instantly to his hand, along with a handful of the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors that he knew to be Pureblood. Amusingly enough, Ron’s shot up like a rake and smacked him in the face. Hermione’s rolled around on the ground, shaking lightly, and the Muggleborn from his dorm, Cornfoot, was holding his hand against his chest while crying.

“Oh dear.” Hooch said, walking over to Stephen. “Looks like you’ve broken a finger or two.”

“The broom just, just,” he gave a soft sob as he spoke, “it just came up and smashed me in the hand.”

“Not to worry, dear. Nothing unusual. Someone broke an arm an hour ago you know.2 Come on then, I’ll take you to Madam Pomfrey.” She whiled around, narrowing her eyes at the rest of her class. “Now the rest of you better behave. I’ve already had to deal with two others for showing off on the brooms while I was gone.”

“But we didn’t even get to mount the brooms!” Ron complained, his face turning a nasty shade of red.

“When I come back, we can finish our lesson, Mr. Weasley. But for the meantime, try and have some compassion for a year mate.” She strode away, pulling Stephen after her.

“That big baby ruined our class.” Ron muttered. A few of the other Gryffindors agreed with him, mumbling about how they had been looking forward to flying for a fortnight and now their class was postponed.

“Oh honestly,” Hermione chided, “it isn’t the end of the world you know. That boy could have been killed, and all you are worried about is showing off on a stick?” She clucked lightly and shook her head. “Honestly, Ronald.” She sounded so much like his mother that Ron blushed, then, catching himself, he shot her a vicious glare.

“Shut your mouth Granger. Filthy little know-it-all, always butting into other people’s business, telling people what to do, how to cast spells, it’s a wonder you have no friends.” He sneered at her.

“That’s not true!” Hermione said. Her hands were trembling, and she hurriedly placed them on her hips, trying to hide how his words were affecting her. “I do so have friends.”

“Prove it. Name one,” Ron spat, with an ugly sneer on his face.

He was reminding Harry more and more of how Dudley used to be. Hermione looked around the group. The Ravenclaws stared at her, all of them knowing that they were not her friends. Her own Housemates turned their faces away, refusing to meet her pleading glances. Hermione moved towards Harry. “He’s my friend,” she whispered. Her eyes were teary, her bottom lip trembling, and Harry could hear the desperation and hope in the wobble of her voice, but he still turned his face away from her.

Ron chuckled, loudly, clapping his hands together with glee. “See, Granger. No one wants you here. Why don’t you piss off back to the library?” He turned away from her, nodding in Harry’s direction and offering him a small smile. “Hey mate, how are you?”

Harry’s eyes widened. Completely confused he just continued to stare at Ron until the redhead turned away again, distracted by something else.

Hermione stood sobbing, ignored by half of her year mates. Eventually, Harry couldn’t take any more. “Stop crying!” He shouted, turning to face her for the first time. Once again, she looked at him, so utterly betrayed and red-faced. He flinched and lowered his eyes. When he looked back up, Hermione was half way across the Quidditch pitch, sprinting back towards the school.

“What was that about?” Professor Hooch asked as she hurried back towards them, without Stephen Cornfoot.

A few of the Ravenclaws looked ready to tell the truth, but before they could, Ron butted in. “Potter made her cry, ma’am.” Weasley turned to Harry and shrugged his shoulders half apologetically, before looking back to the Professor.

“Well.” She frowned. “Detention tonight, Potter.”

“Sorry, mate,” Ron whispered as the lesson started up again. “Mum would kill me if I got detention so close to the start of the year.”

“Considering I don’t have a mother, it must be ok for me then.” Harry drawled. Ron’s eyes widened in horror, but before he could say anything, Harry had mounted his school-designated broom and shot up into the sky.

“Very good, Potter!” Hooch shouted after him. “You should try out for the team next year!”

Harry watched them all. Most of them only got a foot or so off of the ground, even Ron who had previously claimed to have engaged in aerial dogfights with Muggle helicopters. Harry, who was lazily floating around the highest reaching Quaffle hoop, gave a sigh. It was amusing, he thought, how insignificant everyone looked from up high. Like ants. All small, and puny, regardless of blood status. All so easily crushed. And then there was him, the only one of them that could watch them all at the same time, who could track them, and keep an eye out, the one who was high enough to protect himself. His eyes narrowed as he caught a glimpse of red hair.

If they tested him, he could crush them.

XXX

When his detention had finished, Harry had expected to head straight back to his dorm and just collapse into his bed. All of these late nights couldn’t be good for him. Unfortunately for him, when he left Filches office, Theodore Nott was waiting outside.

“It’s after curfew.” Harry said softly, eyeing the other boy warily. “What do you want?”

“Filch doesn’t bother the Slytherins. We receive privileges every time we pass on information to him about other students.”

“You sell your year mates out to Filch, so you can get away with things?” Theo nodded, a small smirk on his face. “Sneaky. I like it.”

“Yes well, I didn’t think it up, but I’ll pass on your approval. As for what I wanted, well, I thought maybe we could talk. Or hang out, or I could walk you to your dorm maybe?” Theo’s eyes were the same colour as Evan’s, and when Harry caught their gaze, he couldn’t make himself look away. He imagined Evan as a child, around Theo’s age, and wondered what his family life must have been like. “Never mind. I just thought.” He said when Harry didn’t reply.

“Look, whatever Draco has said, he’s being a prat. I don’t fancy you. I like girls!” Harry insisted. “Actually, I’m too young to like girls either. But I’m sorry, anyway, for what it’s worth.”

Theo chuckled, his face turning red. “Actually, Malfoy made it pretty clear to me that you would never, ever fancy me. So, yeah, we’re clear on that score. But I thought maybe we could be friends?” Harry stayed silent again. “Unless you’d rather have Granger?”

They both laughed, lightly and softly, and Harry turned to Theo and grinned. “I’d pick you any day.”

“Good.” He held out a hand, and while it didn’t shake at all, Harry knew he was nervous. After what Evan had told him, and seeing what he had of Theo’s relationship with his dorm mates, Harry knew that the boy didn’t have very many friends, if any. “Friends?”

Harry took his hand and gave it a firm shake. “Frien- Ah!” He gave a cry. He fell to the left, crashing into Theodore as the staircase they were on suddenly swung sideways. “What the hell?” He cursed, looking around wide-eyed. Their staircase was the only one moving right then, the others were all still. It was rather strange. Harry didn’t he had seen a staircase move on its own before, usually they were all moving simultaneously. But this was only his second week, so what did he know?

“This is the third floor corridor we’re forbidden from being on!” Theo exclaimed. He was grinning, his eyes darting left and right, checking to see if anyone had noticed them. “Wanna check it out?”

Harry thought about it. Ravenclaws were studious and curious about knowledge. If he was caught, he could just say that he had been taking the opportunity to learn something new. Professor Flitwick liked him very much, so he’d probably get away with it. And Snape wouldn’t let one of his Slytherins be expelled, so Theo was safe.

“Of course I do,” Harry said.

Ten minutes later, as they were running back down the stairs and away from the three-headed-dog that had tried to bite of their heads, Harry wondered if maybe he should have been in Gryffindor after all. It had been a rather stupid thing to do, opening a locked and warded door, just to see what was inside. A door that was locked and warded in a forbidden area of the school as well. No. He was definitely not Gryffindor material, he decided as he split up with Theodore and headed back to his dorms.

A Gryffindor would have tried to go inside. Whereas Harry wasn’t afraid to simply run away. Self-preservation as opposed to bravery.

Maybe he should have been a Slytherin?

XXX

1 - “The Road Less Travelled”, by Robert Frost.
2 - Obviously not Neville, since he is in Harry’s class. But I doubt it would be unusual to have someone hurt him or herself learning to fly. Let’s say it was a Hufflepuff, since in canon all of the Slytherins were fine flyers.


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I skip weeks at a time, have you noticed? That’s because I am using the time line on HP-Lexicon. Not much really happens in canon, does it, not when you consider that it’s spread out over the space of more than a year. Wow.

Enjoy. And please review…. I want to reach 1000 (at least) before the story ends.

Words: 4,921
Chapter 16
NEXT CHAPTER HERE

harrypotter, luciusmalfoy, evanrosier, butterfly, harrylucius, lordvoldemort, dracomalfoy

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