Echoes of Time (Harry Potter)

November 14, 1943

Saturday Late Evening

Harry looked at Elaine weirdly, wondering just what she meant when she said 'all' of their activities.

He figured with the few times she'd tried - and likely succeeded - in entering his mind, she'd seen varying degrees of information, but he wasn't sure just what it was that she'd witnessed. In addition to that, Harry knew she hadn't gone in his mind or made an attempt to do so since he'd taken Slytherin's Journal. So unless she had the ability to pass through his mental defences without eye contact or making her presence otherwise known to him, that was still something she shouldn't have any knowledge about… though Riddle being Riddle was a factor he'd never be able to calculate towards any equation.

"All activities?" He asked, deciding to go with playing dumb rather than fessing up to anything, regardless of how minute it could be.

"Yes," Elaine answered, pulling her head back so she was no longer looking at his face, "I know you've agreed to visit Corene's family over Yule - Goldhorn too, though the latter being for longer than just the one day. You do realise that the Goldhorn's are incredibly intrusive, right?"

Yes, he did; that letter had told him as much considering the tough questions her parents had asked before he'd even met them in person.

"I do, Sarah doesn't come off to that same extent," Harry felt the need to defend Sarah, the girl had been incredibly helpful earlier today and throughout the year as a whole.

Elaine's grip on his hand tightened at his saying that; her breathing slowing ever so slightly a second later.

"You're right," Elaine said with a smile, "Sarah has been incredibly kind to you, I could say the same about her in regards to myself and those who've been with you when speaking with her. It's unfortunate that somebody with her level of cunning wasn't sorted into our house, Sarah's skill in information gathering is second only to me. Selling that information as she does is very wise too, so long as she doesn't give away too important a secret."

Why was Elaine complimenting a girl she'd shown contempt for in the past? Harry saw the red flag pop up almost literally.

"Sarah has been exceptionally welcoming and polite, I don't think she'd have done well in Slytherin - too many of our housemates wouldn't get along with her outgoing personality and lack for subterfuge."

Elaine looked over at him and raised a brow, "As you say, Harry," they turned another corner, only a minute or less out from the Slytherin Common Room entrance. Looking at Elaine, her confident smile was nowhere to be seen, nor was the impartial expression she'd worn during her discussing of Sarah; in its place were the rare shy, downcast eyes with blushing cheeks and uncomfortable twirling of her hair with her right hand… he knew something was coming based on how she'd shifted so suddenly, and he hadn't been wrong.

"Would you visit me during Yule?" her eyes had darted towards his face when she'd asked that, breaking away and looking anywhere but his direction when she decided to continue speaking, "Our break lasts for two weeks if you hadn't known, it should provide more than enough time for you to move from your family, to Corene, to the Goldhorns and finally, myself."

Harry mentally cursed.

He'd wanted to spend two days with the Goldhorn's, a half-day with Corene and have the rest of that time to explore Peverell Manor before inviting an incredibly small group of his mates over. Aster, Reinhard and Corene only, Sarah was a possibility but that all depended on how his visit with her family went.

Riddle asking for a day (as that was the maximum he'd spend with her, for both his sanity and safety) wouldn't hurt his plans too extensively, especially if it were at her home rather than his, but it could also spell more trouble than anything he'd yet done. She'd have him in her home, where any number of traps via wards or magic could be placed; he'd not thought about it until recently either, but love potions were another of the many obstacles he'd have to keep a careful eye out for.

Harry knew he sounded paranoid, he couldn't imagine what others would think of his raving at what seemed to be a typical - if perhaps a touch obsessive - relationship. Some blokes probably wouldn't even mind considering that Elaine was incredibly close to the very definition of beauty - she'd give Fleur a run for her money!

He sighed and noticed the slight downtick of her lips when side-eyeing the girl.

She'd not shown nearly the same level of instability that Voldemort had shown in his time, nor had she shown that same willingness for violence or punishment. Abraxas's arm injury that he'd suffered very early in the year, the one Harry feared could've been the first branding of her subjects with the Dark Mark, had turned out to be a bruise on the boy's skin that Elaine had given him when he'd acted 'especially out of order' in the Malfoy's own words.

Whether that meant Elaine was more stable, polite and all-around less dangerous, Harry wasn't sure. All he'd learned thus far from being around the girl was she showed very little reason as to why such powerful members of society were following her. Heirs and Heiresses wouldn't simply throw themselves at a person who was considered a prodigy in most fields, they wouldn't allow that person to physically harm them either, which left Harry wondering if she'd blackmailed them or showed a different side of herself that he'd not yet seen.

His lattermost thought was the most probable in his opinion, having witnessed at Professor Slughorn's party how the girl seemingly changed with every person they'd spoken with… Merlin, even her stutter from being offered the position in the Ministry from the Chief Advisor was something he'd never witnessed from the unusually well put together girl.

"Shall I be taking your silence as a rejection of my offer, Harry?" Elaine had paused them right beside the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room's entrance, the small downtick of her lips the only indication of her feelings.

Buckling up and knowing he needed to take a risk, Harry shook his head.

"No, I'll visit you, I'd like to get to know my girlfriend in a setting outside of Hogwarts."

Elaine broke out into a wide, beautiful smile with her dimples on full display.

"Wonderful," she leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips, her tongue running across his bottom lip in the process, "I'll see you on the morrow, boyfriend. "

She turned and entered without waiting for his reply, the speed at which she moved shocking him as it practically matched the jogging speed of most people he'd seen running through the halls of Hogwarts. In response to her enthusiasm, be it played up for his viewing or how she really felt, he shrugged and entered in - his destination was the boys' dorms to shower, speak with Aster and Reinhard who were probably sloshed, and finally, heading to bed.

As usual for Harry, his destination and plan that he'd thought of at the moment were dashed as soon as he'd passed by the fifth year boys' dorm.

"Peverell."

Harry turned towards the voice, seeing Yaxley leaning against the opening with the door fully opened.

"Yaxley."

"Just getting in from the party?" Yaxley asked, pushing himself off from his reclined position to step fully into the hall beside Harry.

"Yeah mate, you and the others returned what, ten minutes earlier or something like that?" Harry hadn't paid too much attention to the time that passed during his conversation with Professor Slughorn, or the time following that when walking back with Elaine.

"Something like that," Yaxley agreed, "What'd you think of the gathering? Quite a few people of note usually go, but not often the Chief Advisor or the Chief Warlock."

Harry shrugged, "I didn't think Hogwarts would be that lax, but I imagine with Professor Slughorn's personality he could get away with a lot more than other Staff could."

"Fast learner, eh? You've got it right in one, Peverell, Slughorn's nepotism has earned him countless allies and very few enemies."

It made sense to Harry, considering the man seemed to have invited everybody in the castle that had something of note in regards to them; from statuses as Heirs or Heiresses, those with impressively high marks in specific subjects or relatives of wizarding celebrities. Thinking about that, Harry wondered why Sarah's invitation was cancelled.

"I can see why," Harry responded instead of losing himself to his thinking.

"I'm glad," Yaxley said with a chuckle before stepping back inside the room he'd been loitering at the entrance of, "My apologies, I was waiting to speak with you about a few topics and realised I'd blocked your entrance - I'll be waiting towards that back couch you, Aster and Reinhard seem so fond of once you return from your shower."

Harry walked in after Yaxley to grab a change of clothes and check on the status of his two other friends… and Abraxas. As he passed Yaxley by, he thanked the boy for moving aside so he could get his business done for the evening.

Following that, Harry gathered up the clothes he'd need and checked in briefly to see how his mates were doing; Aster was completely passed out on the couch in the back left of the room, his satchel being used as a pillow and his chess set discarded haphazardly at his feet. Reinhard fared no better; the larger boy was still seated upright on the couch, but he'd slumped forward until his head was held up only by his chin.

Thankfully, the only bottle Harry found open and near the two was completely empty already, he'd of hated to waste the firewhiskey or whatever else Aster could've nicked from Slughorn's party.

With his friends fine (for the most part) and fresh clothes in his grasp, Harry darted off to the showers, taking a short one and heading back to see whatever it was Yaxley wanted to discuss with him before finally being able to sleep for the night.

"Right, what's up Yaxley?" Harry stifled a yawn as he slid into a seat on the circular couch.

"Nothing all that important, I was just wanting to speak with you about Elaine for a few minutes, maybe get to know you better too - we've really not talked all that much when it's not in relation to a warning or bits of pleasantries that are observed entirely too often."

Harry mentally shifted to defensive if the boy was hoping to warn him away from Elaine again, but more than, he was hoping Yaxley could finally shine some light on why he was so adamantly against the girl when Harry hadn't seen anything to warrant it. Moreover, why spend time with Riddle or her lot at all if you were so worried about them!

His eyes widened and he edged closer to the edge of the seat - maybe Yaxley was the same as him, and trying to subtly subvert her control the same as Harry.

"Let's talk about Elaine then, and you're right, I look forward to getting to finally know more about you, especially with how high a regard Aster holds you in," Harry hoped a bit of buttering up wouldn't harm his chances at getting extra information, and he wasn't opposed in the slightest about discussing his 'girlfriend' with somebody who likely knew far more in regards to her personality and business.

Yaxley nodded, and without delay, questioned Harry far more bluntly than he'd of thought.

"Do you know what you've gotten yourself into now that you've made known to all of Hogwarts that you're actively in a relationship with her? I don't mean only in regards to her either, there were more than a few witches who were actively trying to earn your affections, Walburga included despite her current engagement status; none of them will stop simply because you're in a 'relationship' with Riddle - I take that back, some will stop, others will double down on their efforts or start them now that they know you're 'fair' game."

Harry's initial response was confusion considering he'd seldomly been approached by Walburga or those within her group; no other woman had shown interest romantically either. Yaxley could be mistaking the time Harry spent with Corene, Daphne, Sarah or even Veronica Weasley for all he knew. Still, confused as Harry assumed Yaxley was, this could make for valuable information gathering should the boy out those who he 'thinks' are actively interested in him as well as those who'd likely be 'doubling down' in whatever efforts they'd make or made.

"I'm not completely oblivious to Elaine's dealings, though you or anybody else in her closest circle of friends likely know far more about her than I do. Hopefully, you'd be willing to share a bit about her too, though I can understand if you'd prefer to keep it to yourself," Harry was briefly shaken from his speaking by a grown from Aster, the boy swatting at an invisible pest with his hands before slumping back over, "As for other witches, I've not seen any of them approach me with dating in mind. Really, the only ones I speak with on a regular basis are Corene, Elaine, Sarah and Veronica, Daphne I've only shared the occasional conversation with considering her… less than friendly disposition towards me. Who exactly do you think will be doubling down, and if I could ask you further, why would they bother?"

Yaxley withdrew his wand slowly so as to avoid alarming Harry, and once he'd done so, repeated the usual privacy spell that all the boys in Slytherin (and likely the girls too) put up around their canopy beds. Satisfied they were in silence and with Harry wondering why he hadn't done that to preface their conversations starting, Yaxley replied.

"Elaine's dealings are incredibly complex, as is her personality, as I'm sure you've witnessed during those meetings you'd joined her in; I'll touch back on this only minorly tonight, I'm never too sure if Abraxas is listening or attempting to, you see?" Yaxley didn't help his case by glancing suspiciously towards the boy in question's bed, "To answer your other question too, numerous other witches were interested in you until your dating Elaine was made public knowledge. While a majority such as Ophelia Greengrass and those like her were hoping for an easy life post-Hogwarts by marrying into your family, a few were hoping to go further, using your political power along with the wealth of your family to further their own goals."

"Ophelia only met with me once," Harry pointed that out when Yaxley paused for a breath.

"Yes, Elaine put an end to it before the girls' first stage of planning had come into fruition; it's no surprise either, House Greengrass is wealthy, powerful and respected alone - a joining to the Peverell's could make them one of the strongest families in all of Britain. As for the others you'd mentioned, the ones anybody who spends a modicum of time around you would realise were your friends, they're not ones I'm counting towards the list of witches who'd been making inquiries about you," Yaxley had done his work on this, Harry would give the boy that, "Walburga is the most dangerous of the ones still willing to chase you despite Elaine's warnings, Olivia Thornby and Indigo Birch are behind her; far behind her at that. Any others still willing to try and earn your love or lust are assuredly far more stupid in whatever scheme they'd cook up."

"I see… why's Walburga so invested or dangerous if she's not done all that much?" Harry had been given a book by a middle-man, approached independently by the girl herself once, and occasionally been beckoned to visit her. Those three events or interactions, whatever you'd call them, screamed anything but dangerous. If anything, they seemed poorly planned and with minimal effort.

Yaxley wagged his finger at Harry's words, "You're underestimating her, which is something I'd wholeheartedly advise against, Peverell. You've already gotten yourself far too deep into Elaine's group to leave without incident, the last thing you'd want to do now is have the same happening with her strongest opposition, especially with the current Lord Black," Yaxley paused and looked as if a thought had struck him, the boy getting up to run over towards his bed. He rummaged through his wardrobe, then his satchel when the latter failed to produce what he'd gone looking for, finally pulling out a tattered old journal. Upon his grabbing of it, he returned to his seat near Harry and slid it towards him, saying "This journal of mine was made solely for your usage when I realised you'd not be leaving Elaine's circle. It's my hope that you'll not get drawn too far into her seemingly endless schemes, Harry."

Harry looked at Yaxley weirdly at the usage of his first name rather than his last, nonetheless, he took the offered journal with a smile and 'thank you', asking what its contents were after doing so.

"There's numerous spells and ward schemes, none of them complex or advanced for either of us. I'd say the most important one for you to use starting tomorrow is the one that lets you check your food or drink for anything spiked within."

Harry was feeling incredibly uneasy now; he thought he'd been paranoid in some of his thoughts or actions prior to this evening, but Yaxley took the word to a whole new meaning for Harry's mind. Checking your food or drink for poison at Hogwarts? Merlin's beard.

"Thanks, Yaxley, I appreciate this," Harry said so respectfully and with a smile on his face, "Mind if I ask you a few questions I have too? Figured we'd talked seriously enough tonight, yeah?"

Yaxley nodded a few times, mumbling something more so for himself than Harry.

"What was that?" Harry asked, leaning forward.

"You wanted to know a bit about Elaine's dealings, didn't you? If you've had too much to drink and won't remember, we could pause our conversation here," Yaxley's offer was more a request, but Harry shook his head; learning about Elaine was important enough that the lingering fog in his mind was pushed to the back as clarity returned.

"I did, err, I do. I'll remember too, I've been incredibly curious considering the way she's practically treated like royalty around here," Harry hoped Yaxley's words weren't something stupid almost as much as he hoped the boy wasn't trying to set him up.

"Are you absolutely certain?" Yaxley's eyes were ever so slightly narrowed, his expression had turned serious (well, more than it usually was) to match.

"Yes," Harry responded with one word, looking the other boy in the eyes as he did so.

Yaxley nodded to himself again, "Elaine is almost like a thousand people in one body; her personality shifts, her mannerisms change to match and her voice reflects that too - you've probably seen exactly what I mean," Harry had indeed seen what the boy meant, "While she'd been aggressive with you or those you'd met with, the same couldn't be said for all. It started in her third year, Elaine had worked for two summers as well as during every break to further her learning and it showed . She'd gone from third in her year to first, her demeanour changed from casually spending time alongside the Purebloods like myself or Aster to actively ordering us around."

Harry raised a finger to indicate he wanted to speak during the boy's pause, and when Yaxley nodded once, Harry did just that.

"Why did you all include Elaine in your group?"

"It wasn't my choice, it was Flint's - he was long gone by the time you arrived. Flint sought to use Riddle's intelligence for himself, and by extension, the lot of us. It was clear from early on she had power and the sense to use it. Her self-sufficiency was something that appealed to so many of us too, it was something we all wanted but couldn't have for various reasons," Yaxley shook his head and looked away from Harry for a brief few seconds, "When Flint graduated and Riddle returned the next year, she bega-" Yaxley abruptly stopped his speaking and looked towards Abraxas' canopy where the boy emerged, stretching his arms casually while glancing towards the corner of the room where all four of his dormmates were.

Harry returned the scowl Abraxas sent his way, laughing when the Malfoy boy pointedly turned with a raised nose and left in the direction of the loo.

Turning back to Yaxley, Harry saw the boy scowling and muttering, the latter unnerving him as much as the sudden snapping of his head towards Harry.

"We'll speak more about this later, perhaps in that room you're so fond of; the one Elaine warded for you."

"What about a casual discussion then?" Harry asked, "You yourself pointed out earlier that we don't know all that much about each other, reckon we could remedy that, yeah?"

Yaxley nodded a few times and scooched away from Harry, raising his feet to rest them on the couch as Aster had done.

"What would you ask of me?" He asked Harry as he settled into a comfortable position.

Harry mimicked the boy's relaxed posture and settled back into the comfortable couch, "You talked to me about Quidditch at the start of the year, figured we could talk a bit about that if you're game?"

"Certainly, it'd be refreshing talking Quidditch with somebody that's not on the team - all our fellow fifth years aren't very fond of it, too busy with their pranking or chess," Yaxley smiled and looked happy with Harry's offer; he took that as a good sign after their conversation that'd been very serious.

"Oh yeah mate, I still can't fathom how Aster's fondness for pranking and messing around during classes doesn't negatively impact his absolute love for strategy games like chess considering the attitude you have to have when playing it," Harry chuckled with Yaxley at their mutual friend's weirdness, "Don't think I've ever asked you, what position do you play?"

"Keeper," Yaxley responded, offering more details when Harry made a gesture for him to expand, "Once a year until the war kicked off, my entire family would come together; be it from the United States or those relatives in New Zealand, they'd all visit. Naturally, Quidditch was something a bunch of bored boys played while the adults were off drinking or what have you. Only two of them enjoyed playing Keeper, and when poor weather reports ended up leading to one of them falling from his broom, they needed somebody to step in, so I volunteered - best thing I've ever done, I found something that'll likely never be replaceable in my life."

Harry was nodding along and smiling during the boys retelling of what led to his playing, the story being something Harry found added depth to somebody with who he'd never really chatted casually until a late Saturday evening after multiple sips of alcohol. He snorted, maybe firewhiskey or other fanciful drinks were all that he'd need to get people to open up going forward.

"Think you'll ever try out for the squad? If you're half as good at flying as you are in DADA or Transfiguration, you'd make the team on the first day of tryouts."

"I'm not entirely sure if I'm completely honest with you, it's something that looks incredibly fun and I'm sure the members of the team would be helpful, but I've already got a lot going on. Balancing Quidditch on top of everything might end up making me fall behind in the lot of it," Harry knew it was incredibly fun, but he sincerely doubted the positive impact he'd have on the team given all the distractions he'd bring to it.

"Bummer that," Yaxley said in passing and with a yawn, "Think I might turn in mate, Druella's birthday's tomorrow, you may want to do the same if you'll end up going to it; I strongly suggest you do, too."

Harry nodded a few times at the other boy's words and stretched out his arms, the muscles in them being as tired as the rest of his body.

"That's probably a good idea. Say, will Druella's birthday be similar to Aster's? I mean with everyone sort of loitering about in the common room."

Yaxley was already halfway to his bed when he replied, looking over his shoulder at Harry when doing so.

"Yes."

It was as simple a reply as could be given, and one for which Harry was thankful for; he'd talked a lot today, possibly more than he'd done in one day for the entirety of his life. Thinking about something like that and how likely the truth of it was, well, that was a pretty funny feeling considering who a majority of it had been with.

Harry thanked Yaxley - though he was unsure if the boy heard it on account of his already having ducked into his canopied bed - and once he'd done that, he went off towards his bed, ready for sleep to finally claim him.

As was becoming increasingly rarer as time dragged on, Harry found himself able to sleep without any strange emotions flooding him.

Thank Merlin.

November 15, 1943

Sunday Morning

"Merlin's sagg- Harry!"

"You finally gone mental, Aster? I'm dead sure that it's Merlin's sa- Harry, good morning mate!"

Harry had emerged from his bed just in time to see Aster and Reinhard down a potion each, both boys spitting into the bottle after drinking it while making wretched faces. Apparently, they'd been surprised to see him so early too, despite the fact that he'd begun waking up at earlier times after his initial couple weeks of sleeping in.

"Good morning Aster, Reinhard - Cliff and Malfoy already gone?" Harry rolled his neck around, getting some minor cracks out from the action as he made his way towards his two hungover friends.

"Yeah, Abraxas left about an hour ago and Cliff maybe ten minutes; how're you not as hungover as us?" Aster questioned him loudly, the boy cringing halfway through at his own voice, but continuing until he'd finished nonetheless.

"Pretty easy question to answer," Harry leaned in as if he knew some major secret to avoid a hangover, Aster and Reinhard both mimicked his action, "I didn't drink nearly as much as you two."

Aster narrowed his eyes and made a motion to hit Harry's arm, but the flopping of his limb only managed to glance its target.

Reinhard on the other hand had a very different reaction, that being light laughter while shaking his head before responding with, "That's why you didn't have nearly as good an evening as us."

Harry wanted to contest that - his evening had involved a great deal of speaking with very important people while also advancing his 'relationship' with Elaine… maybe she'd snogged him a couple of times too, but it was something he supposed he could tolerate if it kept the beautiful girl friendly with him.

Rather than doing as he wanted, Harry shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe you're right, maybe not; either way I think we've got a birthday celebration to head down to, some proper fit witch too from what I hear."

This time, Reinhard's laughing was anything but light, in fact, it was almost his complete deep-bellied one that you'd hear when something especially fantastic had been said. While Harry very much enjoyed hearing the sound and being the cause of it, such a thing was especially sweet considering he was essentially poking Aster who couldn't do all that in retaliation considering the state of him.

"Merlin Pev, you're liable to get pranked worse than he's ever done before if you keep that up," Reinhard wiped at his left eye, a single tear rolling down the boy's stubbled cheek.

Aster had stayed silent during the exchange, and when Harry looked closely, he swore he could make out the slightest of approving smirks; it seemed even when he was the butt of a joke or was the one getting poked fun at, it'd be something he could take without getting offended.

"Pev's learned well, taught by the best of Slytherin so I'd expect nothing less," Aster raised his nose proudly, the bags under his eyes and hoarse quality to his voice lessening the sophisticated presence he was hoping to achieve, "Reinhard's right too, I'll be getting you back for that one… depending on the quality of the gift you ended up getting for her. Unlike some people-" Aster looked directly at Reinhard with narrowed eyes, "I'm hoping you didn't get something that bursts out ink when opened."

Harry's eyes widened, surely Reinhard hadn't… that was brilliant! Reinhard's eyes and facial expressions clearly showed his guilt, the event must've been wicked to see firsthand - Harry would have to be taught the charm or grab the item that'd been responsible. His imagination ran wild with using such a thing on either of the two friends he'd made.

Abraxas could make a good target too, Daphne most definitely wouldn't; she'd likely curse him or worse, even if Elaine told her not to.

"Right, why don't we get moving on down then? They're probably waiting for us before she starts op-"

Aster shook his head and scoffed, "Druella, waiting for us to open her gifts? No chance mate, she's probably already done a majority of them."

Reinhard nodded along with Aster's words, "Impatient she is, guessing you've never seen her when she's gotten parcels at the table."

He hadn't.

"Shouldn't we head down so she's not waiting for our gifts then?" Harry scratched his head after asking, looking between the two other boys who didn't show nearly as much drive to exit the dorms.

Finally, Aster shrugged, "Probably should, yeah,"

"Druella still likes those weird porcelain dolls, yeah?" Reinhard questioned Aster while headed in the direction of his chest.

Harry went off to do the same, retrieving Druella's gift from its secure location while listening in for the response Aster would give; it came in the way of a groan from Reinhard followed very shortly after by a yelp from Aster. Not having heard anything else, Harry peeked around the corner of his bed, the canopy concealing him in the process, and saw Aster with his wand out with Reinhard standing menacingly above him

Seeing that the two were play fighting or something along those lines, and further seeing the gifts they'd gotten Druella discarded on the floor, Harry made the decision to wait beside the door - he'd not be having anything happen to the gift he'd gotten, especially since it's already been a costly enough joke.

Thus having removed himself from the general area, he waited nearly ten minutes until the boys stopped their horsing around and finished their getting ready. Again, neither showed any signs of caring tremendously for going down to the 'celebration' they were having. Not until Harry kicked them into gear by offering up a few matches of chess in the evening; that proved to do the trick enough for the three boys to finally cease their dawdling and see the birthday girl, Druella.

Druella, as it turned out, had done exactly as predicted in the sense of opening every gift she'd received. Only the trio who'd arrived had yet to give the girl her birthday presents (from Riddle's group, that is) and no sooner had they exited the boys' dorms did she strut on over with her friends near her, all of them raising their noses or taking up some other form of arrogant posturing.

"Good morning, Druella, and happy birthday," Harry smiled kindly at the older girl, holding out his gift as he greeted her before turning to the company she'd come over with, "Good morning Greengrass- " he then went along and named the other four girls, Druella already ripping off the wrapping paper he'd semi-successfully put around it during his doing so.

"Pevere-"

Harry didn't hear the rest of Aster's angry words, the chorus of 'ooh' from the surrounding girls interrupting his friend; the reason behind it was simple, Druella had already pulled from its box the piece of jewellery he'd ordered for her.

As any person would do with something they appreciated greatly, or, knew others would, Druella passed the precious necklace around. Each of her friends was given a chance to gawk at the golden necklace, silver pendant and singular sliced emerald within.

Happy with their reaction, he looked over to see Aster's visible response since he couldn't hear the verbal side of it; Harry was greeted with a glare and maniacal chin-stroking that he'd only ever seen on muggle kids shows.

Without a doubt, Harry knew there'd be revenge, the likeliness only growing when he was kissed on either cheek by Aster's sister, the older girl obviously incredibly appreciative of such an expensive, stylish gift.

" Again, you study the journal in which I sent you to retrieve, but you doubt my intentions… I confess myself disappointed in you, Harry Peverell. All others who've come before you were far from this cautious, sure of the power I could grant them at incredibly low cost to themselves," Slytherin flicked his small beard, perplexity and amusement being made out very easily, " I do so look forward to the day you finally sign your name where your predecessors have; a bittersweet moment it'll be, " with that being said and seeing that the teen wasn't looking for a conversation, Slytherin mockingly bowed, exiting the portrait.

Slytherin hadn't gone to the one above the door either, Harry having immediately checked to see if the founder of the school moved back to where he'd belonged - the lack of Slytherin from either in the room caused an uneasy feeling to rise from Harry's stomach. Perhaps Slytherin was speaking at this very moment with Elaine, or hopefully and far less risky to Harry, maybe the location of the portrait he'd gone to was somewhere out of the castle as a whole.

Wherever he'd gone, Harry decided a few moments too late that he much preferred being able to see (and get pestered by) the founder, then being unable to see him to any degree.

On the bright side, at least it meant he'd be able to read through the man's journal without any interruptions… hopefully he'd gotten close to the source of a few new spells, or bar that, a much more detailed explanation of this room's intentions - Harry still had little to no clue why you'd make an expansive, information-filled chamber so hard to find that not even the greatest of minds could do so only to have a second room with a book seemingly as important as the one still tucked in the desks upper right drawer.

Harry snorted once, amused by his previous thought.

He followed up his snort by opening the journal he'd placed on the desk to the point where he'd last stopped; he wanted to glean as much information from the object as he could tonight, the rather fluid schedule and inconsistencies in available time making what he was doing all the more precious.

Maybe if he were lucky too, he'd end up having some spare time to work on his Rune's homework, or more importantly, the ward scheme he'd recently learned about when studying with Elaine.

It may have taken getting sent to the past and in very extreme circumstances, but Harry could finally say he'd learned to appreciate Ancient Runes.

Hermione would've been ecstatic to hear him say that.

November 15, 1943

Sunday Afternoon

He'd read through well over two hundred pages of Slytherin's journal, but even as many as that made it seem as if he'd barely gotten a tenth of the way through the seemingly small journal. Harry had no way of seeing for sure how many pages existed, something about the book seemed almost sentient based on how unintelligible it made itself be passed a certain point; it was almost like he could only skip five to ten pages until the text went wonky.

Some form of incredible enchantment that he hadn't a clue to work around, it had to be something along those lines.

Whatever it was, it stumped him, making him progress in the reading of the lengthy tome with the speed of a small child trudging through a swamp.

Harry was five pages of thoughts, ramblings and general information he couldn't care less about away from giving up for the day - thank Merlin he'd not done so. For not three pages past his hitting of two-hundred - Harry having been counting the whole time on account of there being no real way to ensure his progress - another of Slytherin's spells made itself known to him.

Its incantation was incredibly simple and could be said in the smallest of voices.

'Proditors Anxietas'

Wand movement for the spell was incredibly basic too, Harry imagined should he try it, the spell would be done successfully without issue on the first try. Slytherin's spell earlier, the one in regards to privacy, was more advanced than this one; it was weird considering how further ahead it was.

Shrugging to himself, Harry continued along with the pages and finally made it past what amounted to common issues during the usage of the spell. Most of those 'common issues' resolutions were saying how to adjust wand movements or pronunciation, the one that covered getting your hearing back, however, stood out to him. Three paragraphs later and it made incredible sense to Harry why it'd come up - the spell was keeping in line with the paranoia Slytherin's journal seemed to highlight, this one not being for privacy but for listening in.

You would cast it towards a corner, crevice or other dimly hit and untrodden area, and in response, you'd be able to hear the conversations nearby that were happening so long as there weren't any countermeasures being actively used. They could be as simple as the spell the Slytherin boys used on their beds, or as rare as Slytherin's own earlier on; even if you knew the counter to it, you couldn't do anything for the ear.

One big negative mentioned during the first paragraph of the spell was that it had to be somewhere dark or unused. For whatever reason, be it one Slytherin was unwilling to get into or didn't know and refused to convey as much, when excessively walked through, the spell would cease.

Such limited usage resulting from peoples general paranoia and the possible disruptions from it being cast in too public an area could easily make it a spell not worth knowing, but the rare chances of being able to cast it in the home or some other form of private dwelling where one would feel safe were too good to pass up.

So Harry stood up from his seat, took out his wand, and concentrated with the utmost attention before waving the motion while speaking the incantation.

He looked around after having done so; his expectations were a sudden feeling of a third ear or some similar form of the magic-making itself known to him, but nothing of the sort happened. Harry grunted and shook his head, going back to the journal in the area where help had been conveniently offered.

Harry stopped almost as soon as he'd completed the two steps back it took until he was at the desk, his accidentally bumping the chair into the solid wooden table causing a loud bang that he swore he heard twice.

His first reaction to hearing the loud sound hadn't been to jump as most people's would've been, it also wasn't celebratory at having done it right. What he'd done the moment he realised there was a chance he'd completed it on his first try, was make a second sound in the direction of where he'd cast it.

One second later and having cast a simple spell that made a book fall from its shelf, Harry confirmed that he had indeed done it on the first try - his earlier assumption of the spell being cast very easily proven correct.

That was fine and dandy, maybe even wicked that the spells were so easy to use. It was also incredibly annoying to a boy who'd expected incredibly dangerous combative magicks or spells of such great utility but remained little known to the public that Harry could appear far more advanced than he actually was.

Scoffing and wishing it was so easy, Harry tucked the journal back into his satchel while retrieving his book on runes.

Slytherin's journal may have been a bust today, but he knew it'd only be a matter of time before he'd make it to content that mattered. Everything about the deceased founder screamed dark or dangerous, and that reputation when compared with the sometimes nonsensical ramblings were more than enough assurance that the spells he'd hoped for had a chance of existence.

But in the meantime and while taking a break from Slytherin's mind, Harry would work out the inner workings of runic chargings for security wards that he'd been told could prove more decisive in one's safety than any amount of spellfire.

If only he'd taken Ancient Runes during his time…