Harry continued. Hermione faltered.
"It's really hard to find information on it in the library."
"Hermione, house elves get sick if they're not bonded to a house," Neville piped up, looking puzzled. "I thought everyone knew that."
"They what?" Hermione was round-eyed.
"Their magic needs the bond to balance it. Without access to the family magics that come from being bonded to a house, the elf's magic gets unstable and starts turning inwards. It's awful to watch, I've heard. Back in the olden times they could survive in the wild on the natural magic in the forests, but then the muggles started chopping them all down, so the house elves started bonding themselves to wizard families instead," Neville told her. Harry would bet anything a family like the Longbottoms had at least two house elves. According to Sirius, the Black family had one at every property, and the Potter family had two at their ancestral home and a few others scattered about. Harry wasn't old enough to claim the Potter properties and elves yet, but he would one day.
"Well… that doesn't excuse them from not being paid! If anything it's worse they can't leave, so they're forced to do all the work."
"House elves like doing work," Neville told her. "Our elf Hetty was devastated when I decided to start tending the greenhouse myself."
"Maybe you should do a little more research before you start jumping in where you're not needed, Hermione," Harry suggested gently, his heart going out to the crestfallen witch. She was just trying to do the right thing. "By all means, focus on laws to make house elves treated better with their owners. But don't assume what they want without even talking to them." He ran a hand through his hair, wincing against the brewing headache. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed. It's been a hell of a day."
"I'll head up too," Neville said quickly, clearly not wanting to be left alone with Hermione after that minor explosion. On the way up the stairs, he put a hand on Harry's arm. "Are you sure you're alright? Seeing that curse in Moody's class couldn't have been any easier for you than it was for me." His eyes were knowing, and Harry sighed. At that minute, all he really wanted was a hug, He hated Sirius and Remus a little bit, for getting him so used to seeking comfort over the summer. He didn't have that anymore.
"I just want to sleep," he admitted, dragging a hand over his face.
And yet, when he was in bed, curtains drawn, he found himself staring up at the ceiling of his four-poster bed, wide awake.
Harry should have Hermione wouldn't
known stay
Ron and oblivious forever.
Strolling into the common room after a quick meeting with Draco after dinner one of their rare pre-curfew meetings Harry was surprised to see Ron and Hermione sitting on the sofa by the fire. Hermione wasn't doing homework, which was a novelty in itself. "Where have you been?" she asked suspiciously. Harry shrugged.
"Library," he replied, his usual response to excuse his absences. Whether it was meeting with Draco or the other heirs they'd started their own study group early, because it turned out there were quite a few intelligent people in the group, and between them they had just about every subject covered. Sullivan said his grades had never been better. "No you weren't. I was in the library and I didn't see you there," Hermione argued. Harry bit back a sigh.
"It's a big library, Hermione. But I was there, and then I finished my Potions essay, so I went for a walk. If you must know." He sank down into the armchair, dropping his bag on the floor. "What does it matter where I was, anyway?"
"You're always disappearing on us these days, mate," Ron accused. "Feels like we barely see you anymore."
He wasn't wrong there, but Harry didn't feel entirely bad about it. There were so many parts of his life he just couldn't share with them, but a lot of them he just didn't want to. If he'd tried hard, he could have told them about his inter-house study group without saying a thing about them being heirs. Hermione was oblivious to all of that politics, and Ron actively hated anything that might give him something in common with Malfoy, so he wasn't knowledgable enough to put the pieces together either. But Harry liked having people in his life that weren't them. Ron and Hermione wanted to know everything. He thought about his first two years of school, when they acted like it was a personal offence if he didn't share every secret with them, and he went with it because he didn't know how else friendship was supposed to go. Even now they were constantly asking him if he'd heard from Sirius, as if it was any of their business. Harry was just glad they didn't know anything about the dream he'd had in the summer. And there was still that small voice in the back of his mind that said he couldn't trust them. The voice that said they were more loyal to Dumbledore than him. That voice had never been wrong yet.
"I just like having a little time to myself these days, is all."
"Hermione was wondering if you'd got a girlfriend you weren't telling us about," Ron teased, wiggling his eyebrows at Harry. The dark-haired boy went bright red.
"What— why would you say that? I don't have a girlfriend!" he spluttered. Ron laughed. "Exactly, that's what I said! I said you'd tell us if you did." He sounded confident.
"Not if she's someone he thought we wouldn't approve of," Hermione retorted. She turned to Harry, giving him a sympathetic look. "If you do, you can tell us. We won't judge you, Harry."
So many answers ran through Harry's mind at that. I've been hanging out with Slytherins. I like boys. I think I have a crush on Draco Malfoy. He doubted they'd be so accepting then. Instead he shook his head stubbornly.
"I don't have a secret girlfriend," he promised.
"'Mione, did you really think someone could date Harry Potter and keep it secret?" Ron pointed out, chuckling. "She'd be all over the school with the news."
Harry grimaced. Girl or boy, he'd never date anyone who was excited by his fame like that. Surely they knew that? "If I ever get a girlfriend, you two will be the first to know," he said, confident that would never happen. He was pretty sure that girls just… weren't his thing. Regardless of the blond Slytherin who seemed to be taking up far too much space in Harry's thoughts.
He ignored Ron and Hermione bickering about what sort of girl he might date, digging one of the muggle fiction books Remus had bought him out of his bag and settling in to read. It was hard to pay attention with so much going on inside his mind — when had his friendship with Ron and Hermione changed so much that he felt like they hardly knew him any more? And why was he still trying?
•
🚀New updates on my Ko-fi!🚀
Support me and read the novel, now available in PDF, with the advanced chapters.
•
https://ko-fi.com/cmrowling