December 24, 1944
Wednesday Morning
"Staying?" Sammi asked as she closed up her book and glanced at him.
"Yeah, if that's alright. I don't want to press it any, but there's been some really interesting stuff so far," Harry marked where he was by using one of his fingers and partially closed the book he was reading from. "You were right too, there's tons of useful information in these books. That one that you were learning from just earlier today too… thanks again for letting me read a bit of it when you were done."
Sammi shrugged. "I don't mind, that's my reply to everything too. You're a friend of ours and we all trust you, so really, help yourself to whatever you'd like to read. I'm sure there's not a bunch that we have that you haven't seen before anyhow. Anyways, I've got to be headed out now. My mother is probably waiting for me."
"Sure, I'll see you later," Harry said, dipping his head once and holding the smile as Sammi left the room.
Once she was gone with the door closed and nobody else nearby, he let out a sigh. The books he had access to thanks to Sammi and Sarah were indefinitely a far cry from the ones he was used to. Nothing in the Peverell library, the Hogwarts library or anything else that he'd ever had access to contained spells that were so advanced or dark. Hogwarts possibly had ones that could be considered as advanced, but with the limited copies of books and the far higher count of students this time around, it was all but impossible to catch the books that really mattered.
But here he was in the Goldhorn library with spells that weren't even heard of by and large in Magical Great Britain. It was absolutely insane, without a doubt… there was no way he could pull himself away until he had to leave by the end of the evening. That sucked too, but he had too many plans and a recent change in them thanks to Elaine.
It always comes back to Elaine, Merlin, I just wish I knew what I could do regarding her.
Grindelwald had made a good distraction recently, but Harry had allowed him to take too much of his attention. It wasn't right, especially since the Dark Lord would be a road bump in comparison to Harry's future wife. No, no Harry wouldn't get bogged down in those details right now. They weren't important and they would eat his time; time that was much too valuable to be used pondering in a library where spells were practically running amuck.
I'll get a piece of parchment and a quill from my belongings. That'll let me write down the stuff that matters and regarding the stuff that doesn't, I won't bother wasting time on it.
Harry opened up the book he'd previously been reading and glanced down at the pages. His thumb had stopped on the exact paragraph he'd been reading, it was perfect.
' The brain is known by all to be especially important, how couldn't it be with it being what makes you, you? That is why in my many travels I searched for spells in every culture that are related to mind magic. It's my understanding that Europe seems to be especially heavy in them, but there were ones from India and China that were useful too; all of them will be in the following paragraphs with descriptions, incantations and other details written for you.
Beyond that, please allow me to share with you one that is vicious and horrible. Its origins are controversial with three distinct regions claiming it despite the lack of any variation. That leads me to believe many things regarding this particular spell, but I'll not share them with you. I wouldn't want to bore my darling nieces and nephews.
Sípsi Enkefálou
I'm sure that will ring a bell considering the root language of the spell, it precedes Latin as I'm sure you're aware of. Anyhow, the spell has the exact effect that you would think on account of its name. There is no counter-spell that I'm aware of, though many make claims that a number of recent spells or potions can stop it. I can't speak to those claims, however, so I'll leave you with what it does once cast on a person. These would come from reports gathered firsthand by yours truly too, so please worry not about how I've come across this information.
Effect-wise, the victim of this spell is unaware for the first week or so. It's nigh undetectable, with only incredibly thorough, talented and educated wizards or witches knowing how to discover it. It's those ones you'd likely need to be aware of too, as they're the ones who would likely know of any means to cease the spell's effects if not cancel it outright - you have my apologies once again for my inability to follow through on this research. Should it go undiscovered, the following week would show a very noticeable decline in intelligence, reaction-timing and the ability to form words intelligibly. Fast forward to one month later and the victim will be deceased in a very undignified manner, simple, isn't it?
Now, as we… '
Harry shook his head. He knew that Giannis seemed a bit unhinged or maniacal, the offer to work for the man and his friends despite the job had seemed as much. It still didn't make Harry feel any better that he confirmed that some of these spells were very… well, dark. He wasn't so stupid to believe entirely in dark versus light spells anymore, he knew there were plenty of good spells that could be considered dark and a few that the opposite could be said.
It still didn't make spells like this one feel right. At least the one he'd learned via his own means that ceased the heart of the victim was more glorified, less horrible. Elaine had said as much when he spoke with her about it and he agreed. An instant end was fine so long as it wasn't used on those who didn't deserve it. Grindelwald's followers did deserve it too, so in the event that he used it on them again, he didn't feel all that bad about it.
Merlin, he probably would use it on Voldemort or the man's followers if he went back to his timeline now. There were so many problems that could arise from letting specific people - Malfoys father - live. Had Malfoy been dead and Bellatrix too, Harry knew that Voldemort's organisation would've fallen a good degree, his combat strength too.
He shook his head and looked at the next book, the Necromancy from yesterday that he had perused through.
' Necromancy is an art, with your magic intimately interwoven into the corpse you choose to breathe life into once more. The intelligence in most cases will be gone; the memories, the personality, everything that made a being themself would no longer exist. There are some spells, incredibly advanced ones, that could preserve the thoughts and memories of a fresh corpse but the personality… it would be simpler to say the divine spark as most call it would no longer be within the eyes of the body you're looking at. Some of those spells that can mimic it to a wonderful, near-passable degree are at the very end of this book. I would strongly recommend you avoid those spells, my darling nieces and nephews. Most will only lead to trouble for you, not to mention your parents would likely be cross with me for teaching you those very nasty magics.
On a brighter note and as you're familiar with by now, allow me to focus on a spell that I had a hand inventing myself. It's in English, not Latin, ancient Greek, Chinese or any other typically powerful and old spell would be. I found it amusing to put it in a newer tongue and all the more so should anybody else ever use it outside of this immediate family.
Friend Again, I call it. Like all spells, the incantation and wand movement aren't entirely needed once you've mastered silent-casting, the spell itself and so on. I suppose if you ever reach that point, a spell such as this won't be all that useful any longer. Regardless, the effects are simple, helpful and only minorly scarring.
Once cast on a lifeless body, magic would restore strength to it. I would suggest casting spells to keep the corpse fresh, clean and otherwise bugless, but it's not needed. You can use your will to convey simple orders, your voice works just as well until it degenerates too much. They're no stronger than the body was in life, save for the lack of exhaustion and over-exertion. Speed-wise they're very much the same as strength, but please, do not go around raising the local dead. I can tell you with firsthand experience that those who were relatives of the deceased wouldn't be all too fond of you doing so.'
Harry shook his head and rolled his eyes; Giannis, the man had a very morbid sense of humour that didn't quite sit right with Harry. Perhaps it was the amusement about the dead, the love for bringing them back to a sense of 'life' or an overall sense of uncaring that he conveyed. More than likely, it was everything combined…
Oh well, Harry would gladly copy a whole parchment full of spells. He knew the spell to do so, after all - courtesy of Corene - and so it shouldn't be all that hard for him to bring home a dozen or two. He had already begun practising a couple from two other books, so he could save the time that copying down those would take so long as he could remember the incantations and movements.
I'm a genius. I'll have all these new spells that nobody but Sammi will know about and even she won't know what ones I've picked. It's bloody brilliant, wicked, perfect.
Perfect was right. Harry had Slytherin's study, the rather boring and dated Peverell library, the dictionary that was Elaine and now the Goldhorn library. All he needed to do was further increase his standing with Slughorn since the man could be helpful the more he befriended him and continue on with his Goldhorn friendship… an argument could be made that he needed to raid Slytherin's study again too, especially since he hadn't gotten all the answers he needed, but he didn't feel it was all that important anymore.
Sure, some of those books were useful and the man had a routine you should follow through with, but what was the point? Harry had access to so many sources of information and those who came before him regarding Slytherin hadn't really done anything. The two most recent ones; Corene and Elaine's grandma was hidden away from the public eye while her older relative, a grandpa, great-uncle or father even, died in a cave with his friends.
Yeah, Harry liked his odds better when he was working by himself rather than with the portrait that still seemed off. The fact that it didn't match the one in Slytherin's chamber quarters made him feel ill still.
I'll deal with it later, I've done that long enough. Elaine, Grindelwald, the Goldhorns and Corene come first right now, Harry thought finally as he began using the spell to transfer pages of text onto a lengthy sheet of parchment. Once they're all wrapped up or not nearly as crazy, especially those first two… really only the first two, I can deal with those other issues of mine.
"Happy day before Yule, Sarah!" Harry said loudly, hugging the girl when as soon as she came over to him.
"Happy early Yule, Harry!" Sarah returned with a grin and ear to ear smile, her arms tightening around him. "It's still great that you're here - mama loves you, the family really likes you and I consider you one of my best friends. I can't tell you how much it means to have you here with us."
Harry smiled back at Sarah and dipped his head once at the girl, raising a glass of… some weird alcoholic drink they gave him in the evening. It tasted really good, for what it was worth, just exceptionally strong too.
"I told you I wouldn't miss it, yeah?" Harry asked, giving Sarah a side-hug before withdrawing to take a long gulp of the drink still in his other hand. "I hope you and your family enjoy the gifts I got for you all too. No, you can't open them until Yule proper either, so you'll have to write me once you see what you got. Deal?"
Sarah huffed and poked him, but smiled after a few seconds. "Fine fine, you're the guest and you got the presents. We'll wait until twelve in the morning to open the gifts you got us, I'll write you as soon as we're done too. Since we're doing that too, you'll have to open the gifts we got for you at that same time."
"I can do that," Harry said easily, grinning as Sammi strolled over to them in a similarly traditional bit of clothing.
"Don't say a word, Harry. It's already awkward enough, wearing these things around you. If mama didn't absolutely insist, we wouldn't be in these ancient garments for our grandparents and you," Sammi plucked at her baggy, ancient-Greek clothing that Sarah had shown him in the earlier portion of the day. "You actually pull it off a bit better than I would have thought too, for an Englishman. Are you sure the Peverells don't have any Greek in them?"
"Not a clue, and thank you. I'd say you all look great as ever too, but I can't let some of you get too big a head, right?" Harry raised his hands when Sammi and Sarah teamed up to glare at him, both mockingly but the former with a tinge of heat in her eyes.
"Don't forget that us Greek women are the best you'll ever find in the world," Sammi said confidently as she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him.
"That's exactly right, my darling girls," Mama Goldhorn said, the woman coming over in an elegant, beautiful robe with golden jewellery covering almost the entirety of her forearms. "Would you be willing to open the gift from the whole of the Goldhorn family, Harry? It's something we'd like to see your reaction of before you return home this evening."
Harry nodded once, smiling as he looked between the three beautiful women. "Who would I be to deny such an offer? Especially from wonderful friends and beautiful ladies."
"Pfft, your smooth-talking still needs work, Harry," Sarah said with a giggle as she pulled on his arm. "Come on then, we'll follow mama. I think she wanted to catch a wizarding photo of you opening them too. I had to specify that it isn't the Muggle stuff since our family has one of those ones… I don't know how they work, not since they don't move and seem to jam up a lot."
Jam up? What're they doing to those poor Muggle cameras?
"Definitely. I'll make sure I hold a good smile but you'll have to take a few photos for me too. I can't be missing your faces when you open the gift I got for all of House Goldhorn, now can I?" Harry crossed his arms and shot Sarah a very Sarah-like look that he'd been practising.
If he had to guess, based on the snicker Sammi made and the look Sarah gave to him, it did its job. He was happy about that too, as it was but one of the many things he'd been working on recently - he wanted to be able to mimic that look of hers, some of Elaine's body language, the blank face of Corene. All of those combined could be useful in the future, especially Corene's face of pure neutrality or the friendly, teasing and semi-serious one that Sarah had mastered.
Not for the first time, Harry was thankful for the diversity amongst his friend groups. It meant had had opportunity after opportunity when it came down to bettering himself, and that was his most current goal.
"Here we are, Harry," Sarah said when they approached a couch. "Here's the giant box with your present wrapped inside of it. Open it the Muggle way, if you would. We wouldn't want you to open it like Sammi does with her wand."
"I rarely do that, Sarah. You're still mad about that?" Sammi huffed and shot a look to her older sister, but it went largely ignored. That wasn't really all that surprising though.
Allie Goldhorn pointed at the couch he was standing near and spoke. "Sit," she said, smiling at him as she motioned for Sarah to position the gift in front of him. "We know you're on a tight schedule, so the sooner you open this the sooner you can return home."
"Thank you, and I'm sorry for the rush this time around," Harry said, slightly bowing his head so that he could best show he was sorry for making them rush.
Sarah answered for her mother, waving his concerns and apology away. "Don't worry about it, Harry. As far as I'm concerned, you still spent two days with our family this time around despite all the other people pestering you for time. That definitely won't be forgotten, will it mama?"
Allie shook her head, smiling at daughter and transferring that happy look to Harry. "No, my darling daughter, it will not - open it, Harry, if you would."
Harry nodded once and got to it, not bothering to delay any longer with the three women and a few of the other Goldhorns nearby now waiting for him to open the present they'd gotten him. He used his hands as Sarah asked, carefully undoing the wrapping paper so that he didn't make too large a mess. It didn't take much to see that whoever had wrapped it had done so carefully and wonderfully. All of that effort, he didn't want to rudely destroy despite the likeliness of it going to the bin.
Sure, there was also the fact that he heard the fragility as he shifted the box and that he had nearly a dozen pairs of eyes on him. Allie, Sarah and Sammi were the ones that worried him the most in regards to that.
"Get ready, Sarah," Harry clocked Allie saying as he removed the last of the paper and saw the box that his present was inside of.
She said something in answer to her mother, but he didn't register whatever those words were. He was too lost in the sheer bulk of the gift, not to mention the surprising weight it had when he carefully lifted it into the air; that weight made him drop it to the floor just as carefully, making him opt into opening it from the top. Thus, with that as his plan, Harry very carefully opened the top of the box and saw his present; it was a glass wine-stand, only all of the spots within were filled with vials of potions, each with a label on them.
"Whatever you could ever need," Sarah proclaimed proudly, smiling at him as she took a photo with another following soon after, when Harry withdrew one to observe.
'Bone-Regrowing' was the one he picked up to read, below it he could make out one meant for blood replenishment. Altogether, he counted nearly two or three dozen. The total number of them was somewhere in that range, with the bottom ones having another park on the vials that seemed to signify a higher degree of importance.
Needless to say, those ones inter-
"Towards the bottom are the ones that were very hard to brew ourselves or purchase from potioneering masters," Allie said, the woman coming to stand beside him. "I should warn you, Harry. Some of those potions may not be legal in your homeland and others, well, they may as well be banned like the others. Tread lightly with them."
"I will… thank you, Allie. It means a lot, I won't forget this," Harry hugged the holder woman then, surprising her just as much as himself. "If there's anything I can ever do for you, please, just say the words."
"I'll remember that, sweet boy. Now please, hug my daughters and enjoy the rest of your evening before you must return to your home," Allie turned him around, slapped him on the rear and sent him towards Sarah with a laugh.
Harry would have usually felt a hint of awkwardness at that. This time around, however, there was no such feeling. Not after he received such an amazing, thoughtful gift from the Goldhorns. There wasn't a chance he could have a negative feeling about the matriarch of the family that had just helped him so much.
December 25, 1944
Thursday Morning
"Welcome home, Harry," Elaine said to him as soon as he exited the floo, his future wife waiting for him with a glass of wine in her left hand whilst seated in the chair directly across from where he had to make his entrance.
He was drunk… buzzed, if he were to describe the feeling himself. Harry didn't get drunk easy, much less when he was in the company of Elaine or the Goldhorns. They needed his full attention regardless of how good their alcohol could be.
"Hi," He said back to her, blinking and rubbing at his eyes. "Did you wait up all this time for me? It's early morning, really early."
"It is," Elaine agreed with a nod. "It seems you were having a bit more fun than you thought while at the Goldhorns residence, hmm?"
Harry shook his head quickly. "No, no. They gave me a few gifts that needed transporting back, so I had to stay and take care of that. There was something else too… ah, right. I had to see to it that their gifts were all good and ready for opening in the morning. Yours should already be under our tree too, in case you wanted to get to opening them right this second."
Elaine shook her head. "We'll wait to do that when the proper hour of morning comes, I should think. Until that time, why don't we get you in the bath and changed, then we'll head to bed. How does that sound?"
Before he could even make an answer, Elaine was already up and moving towards him, her arms wrapping around him as she started walking. What first took him within her presence was the strength she had; those cold hands of hers, the muscles in them and the rest of her arms… she moved him easily no matter what he wished. It didn't make much sense, especially since she was now smaller than him in the last few months.
"You never said how many rituals you did," Harry said, side-eyeing her as they moved through his halls. "Tell me."
"That can wai-" Elaine started softly, her honey-like tone interrupted quickly by a confident-feeling Harry.
"Tell me how many you've done, Elaine. I've been patient, really patient. You skirt around everything, never really giving answers. Not anymore, I want them, I always want answers whenever I ask something," Harry braced himself against a wall and looked her in the eyes. "No more non-answers. Answer me honestly, no matter what I ask. Right?"
Elaine raised her eyebrows as her face morph into something he wasn't happy to see; annoyance… and then something else, something that he was very pleasantly surprised by, confusion.
"What's brought about this change in you, my darling?" Elaine asked after a few seconds of hesitation as she attempted to control her emotions.
She failed.
The annoyance and confusion were still present despite the back priority they took. He knew she was off-kilter not only from his words and actions but something else too. It wouldn't be too long before he squeezed it out of her. Elaine thought she was splendid at keeping secrets from him, but enough time had finally gone by that Harry could read her. He wasn't infallible with it, but his insight into Elaine and her actions had gotten to a good enough point that he could detect her bullshite.
"I know you've been thinking of ways to mislead me, to throw me off your case or whatever. I just want to know about the rituals that you've done. Isn't that fair, Elaine? Don't I deserve to know what my future wife has done?" Harry felt the alcohol within him fight him as he spoke, but his words were hardly slurred.
"That's how you think this works? You demand to know what I've done and how I've done it?" Elaine laughed gently and kissed his cheek, her free hand then coming up to gently caress that same spot. "Please, Harry. Honesty is something we should have with one another in nearly every aspect, but rituals… you would do well to leave them to me. I suppose what I need you to understand is this - the die is cast, there's no undoing the rituals I've completed."
Harry felt her hand again, his warmth seeping into that appendage. "Did one of them keep you permanently cold or chilly? I know you're stronger than you should be, a lot stronger."
"One was for physical strength on account of unpleasantness when I was a child. Don't give me that look, it wasn't something nearly as horrible as you're thinking. One little boy at the orphanage I lived in until I was given my own home pushed me, then he stole something," Elaine laughed and picked Harry up, his drunken state making it too hard to fight her; he didn't want to either, not with her revealing her backstory as she walked them to his bedroom. "From that moment on, when I realised how easy it was to be beaten in a contest of strength… to be humiliated and stolen from. I suppose it was that instance, however minute it may seem to you, that made me wish to stand up for myself."
"You did a strengthening ritual just for that?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes up at her as one of the lids blinked of its own accord.
"Just for that?" Elaine repeated back to him with a shake of her head and rolling of her eyes. "I took it so that when I went back the next year, I could break both of his hands without the usage of my wand - the Ministry is never happy when you whip it out on a Muggle. Anyhow, that was what I did, my love. I broke both of his hands and stole from him that time around, and in addition to snatching back my rightful belonging, I stole something precious to him. You're right too, the cost was never feeling warmth again."
Harry blinked up at Elaine as they finally entered his bedroom, his fiancee casually, easily, putting him on their bed. "Was it worth the cost?"
"That's just the thing, Harry," Elaine started with a grin as she pushed her face close to his and then licked the tip of his nose. "That bond of ours that we've both felt for quite some time, the one responsible for those shared dreams and the bridge for our emotions. It brought back my ability to feel warmth, to not have a bitter cold always running through me as if Dementors were hovering above me at every passing second. In simple terminology, it's but another reason that you'll be mine in perpetuity."
"Others?" Harry asked as he fought his body to keep his eyes open, the battle a losing one ever since he felt the soft, comfortable mattress beneath him.
"The other rituals I've done are nothing in comparison. Most of them have too steep a cost as you said yourself," Elaine stripped down to her underwear, the sight slightly rousing Harry from his tired, drunken state. "We need to have you washed, the alcohol still has you reeking. Will I be doing this without assistance or will you be staying awake?"
Harry scoffed, the action making him partially choke as liquid pooled in the back of his throat.
"I suppose we'll see then, won't we?" Elaine asked with a mocking roll of her eyes as she carefully and almost lovingly began to remove his clothes until he was down into nothing but his underwear. "We'll leave those on for you, preserve the modesty and innocence you've been fighting so hard for."
He muttered something, and then… he was out like a light.
When Harry next woke up, that being with a sudden jolt and a panicked look around as he thought he was underwater, he saw a very naked Elaine beside him in bed. He couldn't make out much, not with the covers on over her. No, what it came down to was her nakedness against his underwear-clad body under said covers.
He could feel almost every bit of her pressed against him, and it felt as pleasant as it did awkward or wrong.
Wrong, He mentally scoffed. Wrong's the wrong word… Elaine's my wife come a few more months or years, it doesn't matter much when I see her naked. With how barmy she is, I doubt her lack of clothing even bothers her.
"You're awake," Elaine said suddenly, her eyes still closed and her body barely moving. "I feel it."
Those simple words annoyed him more than he ever thought was possible. That bond she insisted had grown stronger was becoming more and more of a hindrance to him with Snape's 'lessons' providing next to no barrier for Elaine. However good they were supposed to be, the real power they had was minuscule at best.
"Will you ever truly stay out of my mind, or is it your favourite place to be?" Harry asked with a shake of his head as he looked at Elaine, her eyes still closed and his own joining her - there wasn't any anger in his tone, more so resignation.
That anger and confidence he had the previous night were mostly used up now.
"I can't actively avoid it one-hundred per cent of the time, Harry. Believe me when I say it's not like I'm actively trying to see your thoughts, feelings or sights. That last one especially can make my life very difficult and cumbersome when I'm trying to brew potions while occasionally seeing out of another pair of eyes," Elaine pulled him closer, then, she pressed a kiss to his cheek, continuing across his torso.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked when her affection started progressing more than was usual from her.
"Nothing's wrong, I'm simply enjoying my time with you. It's not often we lay together in bed with barely any clothing keeping us from touching one another intimately. Needless to say, this sort of gesture albeit without sexual connotations feels rather wonderful to me. If I had it my way, this affection would be had at all times," Elaine sighed and then ceased her kissing, content to lay against him.
Until she wasn't.
Suddenly, all too abruptly, Elaine bolted forwards.
"I nearly forgot, today's Christmas," Elaine said, looking at him from the foot of their bed and cocking her head when he pointedly looked away from her. "What's wrong? Is everything alright?"
Looks like I was right about her not caring about being naked.
"You're still not dressed since that bath last night," Harry said, coughing and only taking a glance at Elaine; he was a bloke, after all, there was only so much willpower he had.
Elaine went red, very red. He didn't think he could ever recall seeing her cheeks, neck, upper chest… all of it nearly as red as it was when he glanced at her that second time around.
"I forgot to dress once I slid your boxers back on," Elaine said, the girl bolting back to the bed and lifting the covers so that they concealed her nakedness. "I'll assume that this vision will be replaying in my head tonight. When you're asleep and thinking about it… I do hope there's nothing negative from your side when I see that dream of yours either. That'd be very displeasing considering the circumstances."
Harry couldn't help it, he laughed. It was only Elaine, really, that could make light of such an awkward, weird and funny scenario; he figured she was one of the few that would bathe him without taking liberties too. It was a weird thought that he could feel so comfortable and trusting with her in those instances, but so distrusting when it came to those damned rituals or other magical information.
He swore she was two people wrapped up in one body. There was the huskier-voiced, dominant, aggressive side of her and the other side that baked, gently took care of him and held him in her sleep.
"What was the thing you, uh, said you forgot… earlier?" Harry asked, coughing and trying to move past Elaine standing at the foot of the bed with only sheets covering her.
"I invited people over for you, for our Christmas," Elaine said, her tone strangely apologetic or hesitant - it was one of those emotions, he just couldn't make out just which one it was. "Corene, Aster, Emilene, Reinhard and Druella. Daphne couldn't make it, or else I would have invited her too. I know it was overstepping since this is your home, but I deemed it a matter of the utmost importance."
"Why's that?" Harry asked, strangely calm as Elaine admitted to inviting guests over to his home.
"I have more information regarding Grindelwald and our friend Yaxley. It's better to tell them all when we're together," Elaine raised a hand, smiling at him and dipping her head once as she clutched the sheets closer to her chest. "I'm going to tell you soon."
Harry shook his head, "Can't you do i- oh, right."
Dolt, did you forget she was naked and blushing redder than Vee's hair?
He supposed that he had, indeed, forgotten how naked and shy Elaine was acting… physically. It wasn't like she was too embarrassed about it, not if she could form words just fine. There wasn't so much as a stutter or choke from her. Really, with what Harry knew about her, even this shy act could be a ploy.
Oh, right.
Harry grinned to himself and smiled at Elaine, motioning for her to do as she'd like. She returned the smile and pulled on the top sheet, taking it with her as she strolled to the bathroom. There was a closet attached, so he figured she would go there to dress privately. It was weird, in all honesty. He'd already seen everything and if it were - Merlin, he'd got thick again.
He took in a deep breath, concentrating on the link she insisted was between them. Harry searched for it, he yearned for the blasted thing, and he felt it. The bond was in the very back of his mind with a weird feeling surrounding it as the thing began calling out to him. He felt it practically begging for any sign of acknowledgement or power.
With another breath, this one even deeper than the previous one, he forced a connection to it. There was a blast of power, and pain, pain that reminded him of Tom's touch on his forehead all those years ago when he was hitching a ride on Quill. It wasn't quite as prominent or powerful, but he could feel that familiar sensation at the front of his head. In a way, it felt like… he'd unleashed it.
Well, he wasn't quite sure about that until he opened his eyes again and saw a very naked Elaine in the mirror. His hands were on her… her…
"Harry!" Elaine's voice yelled, the woman going straight to the bathroom door and flinging it open.
It's weird seeing me from somebody else's eyes.
Harry shook his head, or rather, he tried to. His body didn't respond to his demands, he was stuck in Elaine's mind, in that infernal link, looking at himself as she strolled closer in all of her glory. He couldn't see anything, not thanks to her looking straight at him.
"You're in my mind, Harry," Elaine said gently, her face paler than he remembered it as one of her pale arms reaching out to run across his forehead. "Leave it, as you always request of me."
Again, he tried to do just as she asked, but he couldn't. Not until he felt himself forcefully thrown from the back of her mind and back into his body. Once again he was looking at a very undressed Elaine with her hands on her hips and a glare on her face. That glare wore off when she blinked at him a few times, her arms stretching out to touch him as she used to do so fervently in the first year they knew one another.
"It's stronger," Elaine said in an awed, strange voice, once again her shame gone as one hand rested on each of his cheeks. "What'd you do?"
Harry shrugged, then he stopped before the motion was completely done. He would be honest with her as she was meant to be with him. That was the only way their partnership could work going forward.
"I reached out to that connection you insist we have and I felt it. I really felt it," Harry said, nodding to himself as curious thoughts flowed freely through his mind.
"You finally embraced it," Elaine said with a smile, perhaps the widest and truest he'd seen from her in a long time.
"I've let it come free, yes. We both deserved that and I guess it's thanks to you that I finally focused on it as much as I should have," Harry swallowed and put a hand to his head, the pain from earlier still a dull throbbing sensation. "You can go finish bathing now. I won't be going anywhere and I'm pretty sure you'd want to talk about this once you're not standing naked directly in front of me."
"I don't mind something as trivial as that. Yell out to me, or better yet, reach out to me if you need anything - that bond of ours is powerful, you've finally felt as much now," Elaine smiled with a manic look about her before she turned, her hair flowing freely behind her as she skipped back to the bathroom.
Had his head not been in as much pain as it currently was, perhaps he would have laughed at such a sight.
"Hello again, Harry. It's nice of you to join me after such a busy past few days."
The voice wasn't Elaine's or any other earthly person that he knew; the woman, being or whatever she wanted herself called had taken him while he napped. That headache from his focusing on the bond had been a bit too much for him to handle without the urge for sleep but he should have known doing so would call out to the womanly figure that had only recently begun to speak to him in earnest.
"Why are you talking to me again?" He asked with a mixture of curiosity and demanding in his tone. "Thrice now, it's been in recent months. That's after a whole year with only one visit… why are you coming to me so often now?"
"My situation changed just as yours has and that means I need to communicate with you more often than either of us should like," The woman shook her head and moved closer to him, that hood keeping her face as hidden from him as it always had. "I've told you why I speak similarly to those from your time, I've mentioned that a boy swapped worlds with you and I've mentioned how there are others who share your circumstances in this world."
Harry chuckled bitterly, shaking his head as he did so. "You did. You said all of that without giving them or anything useful up. It's not at all helpful, you know."
"I know," The woman said quickly once he was done speaking. "I can't help you, not the way that you'd like me to. It's nothing personal either, in fact, it's partially because of our agreement not that you can recall it. I'm sorry about that too, but I - nevermind any of that, I suppose I'd like to give you my name and another nudge in the direction that you need."
"Your name? Won't that give away too much?" Harry asked, his earlier bitterness receding ever so slightly as he drew closer to the cloaked feminine figure.
"If I gave you my truest one, yes. With this nickname and the lack of it being all that straightforward, I should think this will keep you guessing while also giving you something to call me. That's fun, isn't it?" The woman laughed when he scowled. "You can call me Mortem, M, or any other M-related nickname you can think of. Now regarding the hint I'd like to give to you; avoid the third choice on the seventh question you're given."
"That's not really a hint," Harry pointed out.
"How's that?" Mortem asked with a giggle and cocked head at him, two actions that nearly struck him still with how out of sorts they seemed for a deity-like figure.
Harry tucked those details away and answered the question he was given. "Pretty simple, that. You just told me exactly what to avoid and when to avoid it."
"I did, but at the same time, questions and choices can be up for interpretation, can't they? One thing I know for certain is that your counterpart with whom you swapped certainly seems to think so, weak-minded as he is," Mortem suddenly straightened out, her tone switching to one that was near-emotionless. "Be careful going forward, Harry Potter. Your true trial begins upon your return to Hogwarts, so let us hope that you have chosen your friends and allies wisely."
"Wha-"
Harry wasn't given the chance to ask his question before he found himself looking up and into the face of Elaine.
"Good morning, my love. Is there anything I could get for you now that you're awake and well-rested?" Elaine pressed a cool hand - one that felt entirely too ominous now that he knew why it was always so cold - to his head and held it there for a few seconds, seemingly relishing in the touch. "Your head seems cooler than it was earlier, I suppose whatever had bothered you is nearly gone. The timing is wonderful, for our guests should be arriving within the next half an hour."
Guests? What guests?
Harry blinked a few times, the sleep in his eyes and confusion messing with his head until he remembered exactly what Elaine meant; Corene, Emilene, Aster and Reinhard would all be visiting his home this evening. They would be staying all throughout Christmas day too. It wasn't his plan or invitation, rather, Elaine had acted of her own accord to invite people over to his home.
He won't forget that, but there were other matters currently on his mind that were all the worse. Chief amongst those as of recently were the dreams of his real world, or rather the thoughts he was having about it now that he knew somebody else was on it. Whoever he'd swapped with, the real Peverell or what have you, he seemed reckless or simple based on what Mortem had said.
Mortem… right, he'd have to look up what that word meant. Initially, he had thought it meant Death but that couldn't be right. Death wasn't a vaguely attractive-sounding, thing, feminine figure with shapely calves. No, not in the slightest.
Death was a skeleton with a scythe and boney hands. He even had a gravelly voice too, that was what most depictions claimed. Harry didn't know what the woman he spoke with was trying to do, but he knew he didn't trust her just like he didn't really trust Elaine. They were both equally suspicious, vague in their wordings and emotionally conflicted as far as he could tell.
"Harry? You don't seem to be completely recovered, should I have your pets whip something up?" Elaine pressed her lips to his forehead, her soft breath that smelled like mint splashing across his face. "If you'd like, I could brew a few potions that should restore your strength and energy."
He shook his head then. "No, no I'm fine. I was waking up, that's all," he stretched his arms and put them around Elaine once he was finished doing so, drawing her into a hug.
There wasn't any strategy or real reason for doing so, he just wanted the contact. It didn't matter how trustworthy or untrustworthy she was, he knew Elaine was as touch-starved as he presently felt.
"Come, my love," Elaine cooed, her arms steadying him as she stood up and pulled him with her. "Let us go and greet our guests. Tonight, I promise you, will be enjoyable in the relaxation we can feel; a hot bath, warm wine and the embrace of one another will make it a most wonderful end."
Harry straightened himself out, rolled his neck around and then moved towards his wardrobe. He knew there'd be a lot of talking that would need doing tonight, and as unexciting as that was, it was necessary. Especially with those frightening words about his 'trial' starting once he returned to Hogwarts.
It was a good thing he'd been bettering himself magically and physically for nearly the entire year, he thought. Not only had he vastly improved to the point of getting a rarely-given Elaine compliment, but his social skills had also improved even if they still weren't perfect. The Carrows, the Rosiers, the Goldhorns and the Potters - all of them could be considered his friends even if his relationship with some were stronger than others.
Now all he had to do was maintain those while hoping they were enough for whatever that woman was warning him about.
"Elaine, would you mind if I stole Harry away for a tour of his museum?" Corene requested cordially, her dark eyes focused solely on his fiancee.
"So long as he's brought back in one piece and without any children or signs of your lipstick on him, feel free to do whatever you'd like with him," Elaine said with a shrug and laugh, her wineglass being refilled for the third time. "Fine, fine, I'll answer seriously, Harry. Corene, make it short if you would, dinner should be out soon and I'd enjoy a meal with all of my friends together, for a change."
Corene's blushing face, red as it was, didn't affect her response to Elaine. "I'll ensure that we're not late in returning, Elaine, thank you."
Elaine waved them off and Corene slowly, methodically, strolled away with her arm casually looped through his. It was only once the two were out that Corene looked at him with her usually cocked head and blank, slightly friendly expression on her face.
"It's good to see you, Harry. Would I be correct in assuming Elaine's kept you up to date in the happenings of our world?" Corene reached across to straighten out his collar as she waited for his response, her warm hands felt even through his two shirts.
That action of hers made him fidget too, but he swallowed and nodded. "She told me about the Pureblood bill for keeping members of the families out of the conflict and the Potter bill for orphanage funding… I think she supported both of them, last I recall."
Corene nodded once, her hand moving back to her side after she pointedly gazed at the collar of his shirt. "Elaine's history would assuredly mean her support for the Potter bill. Surprise - I express that regarding her view of the Pureblood bill," Corene cocked her head to the other side then as they turned a corner, and as soon as they did so, she pulled out her wand while saying something.
Harry nearly went for his own until he realised hers was stowed away again. "What?" He asked, blinking as Corene stared up and into his eyes.
"You didn't tell her," Corene said unblinkingly, her gaze growing stronger.
I told her I wouldn't, why's she so surprised?
He huffed and crossed his arms. "I told you I wouldn't."
"Good, you have my thanks," Corene smiled then, genuinely smiled with her lips up and all, then she spoke again. "That means I can do this," She shot forward faster than he could register and before he knew it, he was enfolded in warmth.