Harry POV
It is early the next morning when I return to the Slytherin common room. I'm half expecting to be bombarded with questions from my friends when I enter the common room but am surprised to find it virtually empty. Shrugging, I head up to the room I share with Draco and quietly open the door in an attempt to not wake him up. Shutting the door behind me, I turn at the sound of a groan.
"Harry?" Seems I woke him up anyways. I turn around and see the blonde on his side, keeping himself up with his arm.
"Good morning Draco, sorry for waking you up."
"It's fine, what time is it?" He sits up all the way while I head towards my bed and grab some clothes.
"About six I think," I chuckle when he groans and flops backwards onto his bed, "go back to sleep, I'm going to go shower then we can talk."
"Mmk." Is all Draco manages to get out before falling back asleep. Smiling I head towards the bathroom.
By the time I come back to our room, Draco is awake and reading a piece of parchment. He looks up when I walk in and moves it to the table next to him. Sighing I put my stuff away and sit next to him.
"What happened, Harry?" Draco's voice is quiet, practically a whisper as though afraid to say the words.
"Dolores Umbridge had me use a blood quill to write lines during detention. She did this last time as well and I just... I didn't know what else to do other than push everyone away. I didn't want her to get to you guys. And now McGonagall is digging into my life so I'm even more weary of what is going to be happening in the near future. I'm sorry, Draco, this won't happen again."
Draco heaves a sigh, running a hand through his already sleep mused hair, "I was worried Harry. We all were. Pansy and Blaise are so confused I didn't know how to try and tell them anything without giving away that you aren't from this time. They need to know, too." I nod along with his words, knowing he is right.
"And I will tell them the first chance I can. Tom and Severus already know. I told Tom after waking up and had him tell Severus for me."
"How did that go?"
"About as well as expected." I flinch slightly at remembering Severus glaring at me when he walked into the bedroom, shocking me when he enveloped me in a crushing hug. He's never hugs anyone so that was the last thing I had been expecting, "come on we need to be going to breakfast. I'm sure Blaise and Pansy are already waiting for us." I stand up, Draco following and we gather our stuff for class before heading downstairs.
"Harry!" Pansy nearly shouts when she sees me, walking quickly to meet me as I walk into the common room, bringing me into a quick hug.
"Hey Pansy, I'm sorry about scaring you. You too, Blaise." I look over at the other male who had followed Pansy over to us.
"Like hell, Harry. You have a lot of explaining to do later." I hold in a flinch at Blaise's unwavering stare, nodding instead.
"I know. I will explain once we can get away and be alone. No one else can know about this."
"Aside from Draco, who has known for a while now." I pause, not expecting Blaise to have realized Draco knows. 'Then again, that doesn't surprise me. He is extremely observant.'
"I'm sorry. I didn't know how you would take it."
"Come on boys, unless you want to miss breakfast. We can talk about this more at a later time." Pansy huffs out, turning to leave. We silently follow her.
Once we enter the great hall, we are greeted by a few moments of silence before every table bursts into harsh wispering. Rolling my eyes, I lead us to the Slytherin table to take out seats. I can already feel Severus staring at me from the Head table so I like my plate up with eggs and bacon, and get orange juice in my glass. Thankfully I manage to eat almost all of it before my stomach begins to complain about the amount I am giving it.
"Hey Harry, can you come to the Manor for the holidays this year?" Draco asks while we head to class and I pause. 'Well, Remus and Sirius could do with more alone time during the holidays and I do want to visit Tom to make plans for the war. So it wouldn't hurt to stay with the Malfoys.'
" Alright, I will just have to grab some stuff before coming over." I smile at him, Draco giving an answering grin.
"Of course."
I sat up in my bed, gasping for air and sweat rolling down my neck. My hand automatically reaching for the journal and quill tucked under my pillow but I pause, realizing how late it is. 'I want to send him a message but I don't want to risk waking him up.' Sighing I leave the journal where it's at and move to get out of bed, but Aeron stops me.
~Where are you going? Shouldn't you be sending your mate a message? That's what one does while distressed yes?
~He's not my-
~Do not deny it Harry. You love that squishy snake human and he loves you.
~Sure, I will believe that when I see it.
Aeron gives a small snake-like shrug in response.
~Just message him so we can go back to sleep. He will not care. You did agree to let him in so he could help you.
~How do you know about that?
I don't get a reply aside from a hissed laugh. I pull the journal out and open it.
Tom?
What's wrong Harry?
Nightmare. I'm sorry if I woke you up.
It's okay, I told you I would help you if you let me. I am not mad. Now tell me about your nightmare.
It started here at Hogwarts, and Voldemort was there. He had Draco and was torturing him and all I could hear was Draco screaming. After the scene finally changed, I seen everyone around me dead. Draco, Severus, Pansy, Blaise. And I was the one who killed them, and I was enjoying it and you were the last to show up. You tried to stop me, you were begging me to come back, to stop killing people. You were crying and I just laughed, taunting you before...before I started to torture you. You were screaming, and you wouldn't stop staring at me trying to plead with your eyes instead since...since you couldn't stop screaming. And...and I cast the sectumsempra spell and just let you bleed out. You wouldn't stop asking me to stop. And I just laughed as I watched you die. I just watched. Oh Merlin I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Tom. I would never do that. I'm sorry
I was bawling by the time I had finished writing all of that. The nightmare was still fresh in my mind and it was gut wrenching. Why would I do that? How could I do that. I love Tom. I couldn't do that to him no matter if I ended up turning into something similar to Voldemort. But he would never allow me to turn into something like that. Not now.
Harry, it's okay, it was just a nightmare. I know you would never do that. Severus, Draco, Blaise and Pansy are all in perfect health and Voldemort doesn't exist anymore. You're okay, you are nothing like him and never will be.
Thank you, Tom. Can we talk about something else now? Otherwise I won't be able to sleep again tonight at all.
Of course, what do you wish to talk aboht?
Well, I have plans to contact a friend of mine, Luna Lovegood. She's a little odd to those who don't understand her but she would be an asset to have with us.
I've heard of the Lovegood family. You're sure she would be agreeable to join us? Last I knew the family remained neutral still.
I am certain. I met her a few times after coming to this time and it seems she has some idea of the truth.
If you are sure then, I trust your judgement. Keep my in the loop of how the conversation goes.
If course. I plan to ask her to meet me later in the day in the library, or something like that.
I will continue to keep the journal on my person so I know when you send a message. For now try and get more rest.
Okay, I will try. Goodnight Tom.
Sweet dreams, Harry.
Surprisingly I do manage to fall back asleep, and this time I had good dreams centered around Tom.
"Did you ever send Lovegood that note?" Draco asked, stirring the potion smoking in front of him. I glance over from my own smoking cauldron for a second.
"Yeah, I sent Aeron this morning before breakfast. He came back after a few minutes with her confirmation. We are meeting in the library after dinner."
"That's good."
"How are the twins? I've noticed you exchanging letters pretty frequently." I grinned as Draco spluttered, face going red.
"It's - it's good. Very good. I never expected to fall for one Weasley let alone two of them."
Snorting slightly I rolled my eyes, "they are hardly Weasley's, they have the last name but they are complete opposites from the rest of them. But regardless I am pleased to hear you are falling for them." There's a pause in our chatting as we begin putting in the next ingredient. That's when I realize Ron Weasley is practically glaring holes through me instead of focusing on his potion, which isn't supposed to be smoking quite that much. Ignoring him, I drop the final crushed beetle and began stirring again.
"What are you guys planning for the holiday?"
"I believe mother and father plan for a party. Other than that I can't think of anything."
I nod, giving one final stir and turning the heat off to begin bottling it up, Draco following suit.
By the time I sit down at the library table to wait for Luna, Weasley has gotten on my nerves with his non stop staring. I know he is going to try something, the only problem is I don't know what or when so I can't make the proper precautions to stop it.
"Hello Harry." Luna sits down across from me, a faint smile forming.
"Hi Luna, thank you for coming here."
"It was no trouble. The nargles insisted it was a good time to talk."
"I see, hopefully they aren't giving you too much trouble?"
"Oh, no not yet. My dad has agreed to give you life long free subscription to the Quibbler for saving us."
"Thank you, though saving you was no problem at all. Please give your father my regards." I smile, and she give a small nod in acknowledgement.
"So this meeting has a purpose yes?"
"I wanted to know if you would join me in my endeavours?" I asked quietly, not wishing to be specific.
"Very well. I find no reason to say no. My only requirement is that my involvement be secret for now."
"That is fine, thank you for agreeing"
"Of course. Hogwarts has assured me it is the correct path to take." Luna has a distant smile and I move to stand.
"I should return to my common room. Thank you again, Luna. I will be in touch." I smile slightly for a few moments before leaving when she nods.
I am halfway to the common room when Weasley suddenly slips out of the shadows and raises his wand. Too quickly for me to react. I hear him whisper a spell too quiet for me to hear, before running, a grin spread across his face in triumph. I feel the spell hit, almost like a dozen swords being shoved into me and I scream from the pain before collapsing onto the cold floor, blood oozing from the wounds. Distantly I think of sectumsempra but the spell used was too precise and too few wounds to be that. I watch as his feet fade out from view, and I lose my grip on consciousness. 'I should have known.'
It's almost half an hour before Severus finds Harry bleeding out on the cement floor of a corridor halfway to the Slytherin common room. He is stunned for a split second, before snapping wand out and sending off a patronus to fetch Poppy and he kneels next to Harry with his emergency first aid potions. The blood soaks through his robes but he doesn't care; saving Harry's life is what matters. His hands are faintly shaking as he forces potions down Harry's throat, and the only other thing he can do is hope to Merlin Harry does not die on him.