When We Were Young

C H A P T E R T W E N T Y - T H R E E

September 1st, 1944

"Hi Harry!"

"Welcome back, Harry!"

"How's it going?"

"Good to see you, Harry!"

Harry smile politely and waved at everyone that called his name, picking up his stride to get to an empty compartment as soon as possible. He winced as he saw Myrtle glance at him out of the corner of his eye, seeing the girl quickly turn away from him.

Myrtle had stalked him so badly last year, that Harry had to go to Headmaster Dippet and demand a restraining order against her. Thankfully, after a few stabs of hard facts and reality, Myrtle realized that she could get in serious trouble if Harry pressed charges against her for her stalking of his person. So, she signed a contract saying that if she continued to stalk or directly interact with Harry, he would press charges against her.

Harry didn't like seeing the sadness on her face as he did it, but she really did need a reality check, and he wanted to be able to walk around school without seeing Myrtle everywhere he went.

Harry sighed in relief when he found an empty compartment and went inside, locking the door behind him once Tom was inside.

As soon as Tom sat down, Harry cuddled up next to him, sighing once more.

Harry had been feeling very tense lately. He felt. . . Full? He couldn't describe it, but it was making him irritated enough to the point where Tom noticed and started to worry. It wasn't often for him to now see a crease in between Harry's eyebrows, his eyes unfocused and far away.

So, Tom started dropping random, innocent kisses on Harry's face whenever he was away in his head. Harry always got startled back to the present when he felt lips on his nose, his cheeks, his forehead, his jaw. Innocent pecks meant to fluster and focus him. However, Harry noticed that Tom never actually kissed him, and he was torn from being touched that Tom wouldn't until he asked or being disappointed that he didn't kiss him.

Feelings seemed so confusing some times.

Harry eventually got lulled to sleep, warm and comfortable against Tom with the older boy's hand buried in his hair, tugging and playing at his curls. And it was in that peaceful moment that both their window and door got knocked on.

Tom sighed, making sure that Harry stayed asleep before he looked over to the window to the the very raven that disappeared for nearly a full year.

"Why couldn't you have just stayed lost?" Tom scoffed quietly, reluctantly using his magic to open the window for the bird to come in, immediately closing the window once the bird was in so that the wind outside wouldn't make the compartment cold.

Next, Tom looked to the door, seeing his inner circle crowded around the door and waving at him. Raising his hand, Tom wrote: "Harry's asleep. Come back in an hour or two." in the air with firey letters and pushed his writing outside the compartment, drawing the blinds completely closed after with no regrets.

"How cold. We can be quiet," Orion said as he and the rest of the inner circle read the message Tom sent them.

Abraxas gave Orion a flat look. "As if. You're loud even when you're trying to whisper."

Orion gave the Malfoy an overexaggerated look of hurt. "Am not!"

Corvus Lestrange snorted. "Quiet? You don't seem to know her, Orion."

"Preach," Aurelius Avery piped in, turning around to lead the group to a new compartment.

Thaddeus Nott only nodded along with the conversation. He rarely spoke, and when he did, it was only because he felt that what he had to say was necessary. He was the type that value silence, believing that people didn't need to talk so much to get their point across. He was the perfect study buddy and local therapist, given that he was an expert at listening.