A Change of Feeling

Grahams' Loyalty

The morning that the seniors left for Hogsmeade, Professor Dumbledore's gaze was not stormy, moody, or suspicious. No, his eyes were twinkling with satisfaction. And that was a change. It was a fact that immediately hit Graham's mind, alarm bells started ringing and he immediately looked around for more changes.

However, he could not perceive a turn of events. He saw no distortions of normal reality. There was no evidence of his suspicion, and yet Graham couldn't shake the feeling of discomfort.

When most of Slytherin House left for Hogsmeade, peace returned. However, the feeling of displeasure continued to gnaw in the young Slytherin's stomach, preventing him from concentrating on the game of Exploding Snap, resulting in a black cloud spreading across his face after a loud bang.

Annoyed, he rubbed a cloth over his face, wiping the black soot from his eyes. As the cloth passed over his face, his attention was drawn to a group of Slytherins. Several girls were giggling a few yards away. They whispered loudly, their shrill voices shrieking now and then. Graham rolled his eyes, sometimes he had no idea how certain people had ended up in Slytherin.

He looked annoyed at the girls and saw them pointing at Harry's snake. In itself this was not strange, the snake had been the subject of affection once when girls had covered it with make-up. The event had stayed with him because it had so deviated from the snake's normal behavior.

It was no different now, Graham realized with a raised eyebrow. The snake didn't like the noisy girls who tried to catch him giggling. The normally laid-back snake appeared agitated and showed flight behavior as if the Grimm were hunting him.

Slowly he got up and walked towards the strange snake. He heard the serpent's loud hiss and watched the Ashwinder's abrupt and sharp movements.

When a girl bent down to pick him up, the snake struck towards the hand. The snake did not touch the hand but made it clear that he did not want to be caught. It was clear to Graham that he wanted something different.

The Ashwinder's red eyes suddenly looked sharply at him, an action that felt strange. It was as if the snake were more intelligent than had hitherto been assumed, that he wanted to make something clear to the young students of Slytherin.

Suddenly the snake bit Graham's trouser and he tugged at the fabric like a puppy.

"Hmm, that's different from normal," Graham thought, frowning.

He pushed open the door to the hallway and watched the snake skilfully slide through the crack, deeper into the dungeon. When Graham didn't immediately follow the snake, the snake hissed loudly and looked at him fiercely.

"That's definitely an anomaly," Graham thought with a grin, quickly following the snake.

***

Harry was pushed roughly into the room. Before he could recover- before he regained his balance- he was grabbed by the shoulders and pressed against Rabastan's hard chest. The dark man growled softly against Harry's soft lips, the vibrations of the growl felt against the warm skin of his mouth.

"I'd rather spend the night here," Rabastan said with a disappointed expression on his face. "My brother, however, managed to overrule me; the Aurors are watching you closely and will sound the alarm if the Boy-Who-Lived doesn't return."

Harry let out a stunning laugh, sputtering and uncomfortable. "Please don't call me the Boy-Who-Lived, you know I don't like that name. It just makes me uncomfortable."

Rabastan gave him a villainous smile. "Then what should I call you? Harry-Master-Of-Annoying-Snakes, or The-Boy-Who-Loves-Dick? Though I hope you just love my dick," he whispered in Harry's ear.