Echoes of Time (Harry Potter)

January 10, 1944

Monday Afternoon

He was off to the train, again, for his return to Hogwarts now that the Yule break was officially finished shortly after the new year.

Progress had been decent in the last couple of weeks leading into the coming year, he'd spent valuable time with Corene and Sarah, the two he'd decided to focus on as his friends considering the resources they each held. Aster and Reinhard were strong friends of his too, ones that he'd like to ensure would stick to his side, though considering the friendship and past conversations that wouldn't be needing all that much effort on his part. It helped that Aster came as a companion to Reinhard too, so all Harry realistically needed to do was ensure Reinhard placed more focus on him than Elaine - something the large boy already did to some degree.

As for Elaine herself, Harry had thought extensively in the few days of solitude he had leading up to his return to Hogwarts.

Did he stay the course involving Slytherin's study in the dungeon? Should he try and use the stone she'd given him if it were the one he thought it was? Was it the real one in the first place? Should he return the journal in the chamber if it meant getting Elaine off his back; consequently, would that only further his guilt if she wasn't completely sure? There were many choices he'd have to make in the coming month and further still, but the foremost one at the exact moment was who he'd sit with for the return trip.

Corene, maybe.

He'd passed her relatively empty cabin on his way searching for Aster and Reinhard, then again, that could mean dealing with Elaine or Daphne considering those were two of the people most often in Corene's company thanks to her closeness to the former.

Sarah probably wouldn't be all that good to sit with either, she likely had her three sisters in addition to a friend or two with her.

Harry's walking through the partially-filled train considering the earliness of his arrival ceased when he caught a familiar person from the corner of his eye. He wasn't sure if he'd seen them correctly, nor was he certain if a spot was available, but he figured he may as well try considering he was standing in the hall like an absolute melon.

That being as it were, he knocked a few times on the compartment door and thanks to the curtains not being closed behind the glass, he could make out the one shape inside moving about. Not more than a few seconds later, the cabin door was slid open to reveal a very familiar ginger girl with a wide, toothy smile that showed bits of chocolate stuck between her teeth.

"Mornin' Pev! Looks like you ate well over Yule eh?" - Veronica prodded at his shoulders and gut - "Put on a few, makes you look a bit bulkier!"

Harry immediately looked where he'd been prodded, trying to determine the truth of her words considering he'd not noticed and nobody else had commented on it. When he realised he couldn't tell if she was right, he gave up with a shrug and looked back at the snickering girl.

"Yeah, maybe I did," He admitted. "Mind if I sit with you if the cabin's not already full up?"

There wasn't much of a reason to beat around the bush, so he didn't. Seeing as he'd found her and Marcus was never too far off, he figured now worked as good as any other time in getting to know his past relative in addition to Ron's. If he did that, maybe he could figure out why he'd never before heard about either of them.

Veronica pulled the door open the rest of the way and gave a mock curtsey… or he hoped that was what it was, otherwise, it needed some work.

"Feel free Pev! Christina's the only one joining Marcus and I - she's Gabe Selpie's sister if you didn't know," Veronica then began to describe the girl that'd be joining them with a small smirk on her face, "Short, pretty filled out, glasses, long hair similar to yours, reckon you'd love her if you saw her."

Harry stepped in and situated his luggage, giving a small nod of thanks to Veronica before he replied once he'd taken a seat nearer the window.

"You know I'm dating Elaine," He said, no threat or warning in his voice considering the amusement he felt at her blatant attempt of setting him up with another witch.

Veronica made a 'pfft' like noise and waved away his words, the girl choosing to sit across from him rather than one of the other spaces she could've picked.

"Oh please, she's too tall, thin and crazy. Wouldn't you want a fun-sized girlfr-"

Her next words were, luckily for Harry, cut off as the door to the cabin opened once more.

"Pev!" Was the first thing said by the newcomer who was soon revealed as Marcus. "You joining us for the ride back? And here I was thinking you'd be too busy with Elaine or one of the other pretty witches she has following her around!"

"Oh?" Veronica said before Harry could reply. "Just which of her followers are 'pretty-witches', Potter?"

Marcus inhaled deeply as he stepped into the small cabin and shot a hidden eye roll at Harry as he was tucking away his luggage. It was only then that Harry remembered the teasing the two would usually do to one another, though even a bloke as dense as him could realise there were feelings between them.

"Come off it Weasley, a wizard notices those sorts of things… innit Pev?" Marcus asked as he sat beside Harry, shooting the boy a pleading look.

"Go on then, Harry, tell us which of those witches so often around your girlfriend you find pretty," Veronica's wording and tone were warning enough for him to stay neutral, and as such, he did.

Bickering ensued thanks to his stance of non-interference which was more out of necessity than anything else, until a girl arrived that matched the description Veronica had given - only her face was sad; watery eyes and tear tracks down her face were the highlights, but he could see other signs of sadness such as the redness of her nose or the shallow breathing she was still exhibiting.

Instantly and without delay, the two Gryffindors word games were halted as the both of them began trying to comfort the last arrival of their cabin.

Eventually, after Veronica had gotten the girl to sit beside her and had wrapped a blanket around her that she'd taken out of her luggage, the group found out why she'd been crying; she'd lost a cousin over Yule, literally. He wasn't dead, she affirmed with certainty, he'd last been seen in Knockturn Alley a day after Christmas and since then, he was just gone.

Multiple times her friends asked who it was while Harry remained silent, not wanting to interfere with her in fear of making it worse. Then, the silence he was keeping was almost dashed when he heard the name exit her mouth.

Cliff Yaxley was gone without a trace.

Suddenly, the absence of Aster and Reinhard made sense. Unexplainably, and with no small measure of personal bias, Harry's mind took him to that room Elaine hadn't let him enter - was that where his friend had gone? Was Yaxley, the boy who'd tried to warn him away and when he realised he couldn't, helped him in the way of notes, tucked away in that room with Elaine doing Merlin knows to him?

He hoped that wasn't the case.

He hoped Yaxley would be found.

January 14, 1943

Friday Evening

It'd been a few days since Hogwarts had started again, yet only yesterday had Aster arrived with Reinhard doing so a few hours later. Selfish as it was, Harry was thankful the two had returned, sleeping in the fifth year dorm with only Malfoy and boys that may well be strangers to him was horrible enough… having to pass by Yaxley's bed every time he entered though? That was gutting every time he did so, the possessions of his that remained carefully placed on his desk made it infinitely worse.

Thanks to Aster, that sight was tucked away behind curtains now, as the boy had extended them from the bed to cover the entirety of Yaxley's former space. They all knew it was a bandaid, eventually, his space would be taken down with his belongings sent home; that would be fine when the time came. Looking at it as they'd been doing, however, was only too sad a reminder of their friend who'd all but vanished.

Such was the reason Harry barely spent any of his time in the dorms unless he absolutely needed to. Even if it meant spending more time in the Slytherin common room and as a result, near Elaine's group that was constantly trying to speak with him or Walburga's that constantly sent him a myriad of looks. Either of those options was better.

"Hello Harry, would you mind if I joined you?"

He looked up from his textbook, lost in his thoughts as he'd been, and saw Corene standing a few feet from him; her face unreadable as always.

"Feel free," He responded, closing the book and focusing his attention on her.

"Would you be amiable to a distraction? Yaxley's status has many of us worried for him, none more so than the three of you who were closest to him - perhaps a conversation would do you good?" Corene offered him a small smile when she finished, and rather than seating herself beside him, she offered her hand.

For all of a second, Harry debated grabbing her hand. In the past, he may have taken longer or not taken it at all considering the closeness she had with Elaine, but such was a stupid notion. All that would accomplish would be a further push into Elaine's camp and further from his. Aside from that, his assumption that Elaine had something to do with Yaxley's missing was unfounded, and until there was any form of proof, speaking with her would result in hundreds of words that would accumulate to nothing.

"Sure, where'll we be going?" Harry asked as he pulled himself up using her hand.

"Your 'secret' classroom could work, unless you'd rather spend time in the library," Corene's teasing of his not-so-secret room he'd worked on was funny, her delivery with such a straight face was funnier still.

"Wherever works, so long as you remember that Sarah's group usually spends time in the library - we probably should spend some time with them too considering it's been a week already," Harry's words made Corene cringe with the slightest of motions to the point he half wondered if he'd seen things.

"Your classroom, then," Corene answered a bit quicker than normal. "My surprise at your inability to keep the room a secret is immeasurable, you know. I figured raised in secret as you were, the secrets you could keep would be infinite."

Harry nearly bit on her subtle shifting of the conversation, but he had to get a friendly jab in, especially with who it related to.

"Spending time with Sarah bothers you that much, huh?"

"Your friend has far too much energy," Corene raised her nose and held her arm to her side. "Classroom, we can spend time with her this coming weekend if you find doing so necessary."

Unfortunately for Corene, he did… he could always tell her that later.

Corene made a face at one of the dusty chairs before looking across the room at him.

"Has the thought ever crossed your mind to do something with these ?" - Corene poked with her wand at the offending piece of furniture - "Most would refuse to sit on them, myself included. It makes you want for a shower seconds after finding a comfortable position."

"You've sat in them before," Harry pointed out, earning himself a blank look.

"As have most, that doesn't change the lacklustre quality," Corene cast a cleaning charm at the chair, then she made a few modifications to it that visually improved the appeal of her seat; he imagined the changes were equally pleasant to the body as they were for the eye.

"Better?" Harry asked, only using a quick scourgify on the seat he would be taking before plopping himself down onto it.

"Slightly," Corene answered with a shrug.

"So…" He started, hoping that would work as a prompt for her.

"Yes?" She asked him, her head cocked to one side as she folded her hands in her lap.

"What was it you were going to distract me with?" He questioned, not bothering to beat around the bush.

"My hope was to speak with you in regards to the offer my family gave to you over the course of your visit with us, to do so, privacy was required - was I wrong in assuming that as a conversation topic would act as a distraction?" Corene kept her head tilted, though she had the manners to appear mildly apologetic with the blind-siding; she had said they wouldn't rush him.

"No," Harry said. "No, you weren't wrong, it'll make me think about something else… does your family suddenly want an answer faster than they'd said, or is this you trying to get a hint to what I'm thinking?"

Corene righted her head and looked at him with a small smirk adorning her face.

"You're asking the right questions, finally. For a time, I half thought you were far too naive and unable to navigate the poor imitations our housemates make of their families."

"What're you talking about?" Harry asked, wanting the girl to speak plainly rather than the fanciful way so many in the era seemed to do.

"It wasn't meant to be insulting if you took it as such," Corene responded. "You didn't seem all that Slytherin-like when you were initially sorted, the questions you'd ask and the way you acted around the group was noticeably different than the recent weeks. My pointing that out was meant as a compliment more than anything else - getting back on track, that question of mine is purely that."

Harry fought the urge to sigh, more so at himself than anyone else. His earlier caution, warranted as it'd been due to multiple factors, had drawn attention. Looking back on it, regardless of how lost he'd been, he should've stayed in hiding for a month or two. Then, he could've caught his bearings, realised Voldemort was around in some form, and then planned his way of dealing with hi- her.

"Go on then, be more specific with what you wanted to ask," Harry said, shifting in his seat to get more comfortable; he was half tempted to start the fireplace again, considering the coldness of the room.

Corene shrugged with a vaguely pleased look on her face, one he interpreted to be in relation to his not taking offence to her words as she presumed he might've.

"What has you so hesitant in making your choice, one way or the other? Most families would have made their intentions clear by now, yet, you've made no such movement."

Harry planned on accepting… Once he knew a good deal more about the contract they were hoping he'd sign. Non-interference and non-aggression sounded great, the way they'd explained it only built on his wanting to accept it without putting any thought into it, but he knew better. Corene hadn't worked against him the whole time he'd known her, not to his knowledge, but she was one of the two closest people to Elaine despite her assurances that she didn't answer to the older girl.

Even if that were true, the relationship the two girls shared was more than enough to warrant caution in any dealings, mundane as they could be, with her or her family.

"Wording and contracts as a whole are different now than the ones my family told me about," He started, figuring such a lie would be easily bought. "That's why I've taken as long as I have to sign it - once I go through every line of it, I'll sign and return the parchment. I do plan on doing so too, your explanation of it as well as the little I've learned thus far make it a very agreeable deal to strike."

"I'm glad, the joining of our two houses in any form of partnership would be mutually beneficial. More so when you regain your Wizengamot seat as well as the former holdings your family once held, undoubtedly the preserved wealth of House Peverell could fund a few business ventures in Diagon or Knockturn Alley," Corene's visage didn't shift to power-hungry or maniacal as Elaine's did when she was dreaming of power, she didn't even grin or smile at him as the latter girl would. It was eerie in its own way, the way Corene talked about strength and rebuilding his house as if it were so easy a task.

But… if it was that easy for her, his choice of pursuing her as right as he already knew it was, only further validated itself.

"It would certainly be helpful," Harry agreed, choosing not to comment on the rebuilding of political or economic power just yet; he would need to do that in the long term if he were truly stuck here, for now, his short term goal of dissuading Elaine from anything stupid or violent took priority.

"Would you like tea?" Corene asked next.

Harry blinked in response to her question, then he rubbed the small specs of sleep still at the corner of his eyes - he had to have misheard her, why else would she shift from serious talk of familial power to something as simple as a cup of tea?

"Could you repeat that?" He asked, giving her his undivided attention this time.

"My apologies, it was certainly a change of topic," Corene smiled demurely at him. "I was asking if you'd like a cup of tea. We have nearly an hour before curfew strikes and with my one curious question fulfilled, I was wondering if you'd like to spend it in conversation over unimportant matters. I've always found a hot cup of tea alongside a warm fire to be relaxing, especially so with the snow coming down outside as it is," - Corene shifted in her seat to get a better view out the windows - "You picked a wonderful 'secret' room, it reminds me of home."

Harry couldn't help but smile at Corene's shift. Sometimes she acted so robotically, like one of those robots from Star Trek Wars, then there were times such as these where she would be full of smiles and acted all personable. Her words from earlier only now registered when he made that jump from one personality of hers to another; the lot of them were still kids, legally at least, but he supposed mentally too. None of them was expert politicians or masters in a field despite the high marks they got in Hogwarts.

Elaine, as gifted as she was, would likely know less than a wizard or witch with decades of experience. Without a doubt, the girl he knew her as now wouldn't stand a chance against the monster Tom from his time had become.

Thanks to Corene's words, he began to doubt himself. Was Elaine the monster he'd come into the world seeing her as? Had she murdered someone already?

January 19, 1943

Wednesday Evening

"Hey Pev, mind if I sit with you?" Aster asked, the boy only having just walked into the boys' dorm for their year.

Harry shook his head in response. "Feel free mate."

Aster didn't say anything more as he usually would have, no joke or quick-witted reply, he simply plopped down on the cushions beside Harry and began resting his head on his arms atop the table. He'd been especially bothered since Yaxley's disappearance despite the slight drifting the two boys had done in the last year or two, one of the other boys of their year had explained to Harry how close Cliff had been with Aster earlier on in their lives. Unsurprisingly, the factor that'd made them drift apart had been Elaine, just as it would've been for Reinhard too had Aster not stuck like glue to the older boy.

Speaking of Reinhard, the larger boy had gone to bed some time ago. His sadness expressed towards their missing friend was done with less moping or visual queues altogether as Aster's was and instead, was filled with excessive eating or sleeping.

Neither of them had been snappy or rude, they just hadn't been their usual goofy selves - Harry wished for Yaxley's return more desperately than he already had when he initially learned of the boy's missing status. Aster and Reinhard were the only ones changed by his absence, not even Elaine or others in her circle were bothered for more than a day or two. Truthfully, Harry hadn't known Yaxley nearly as well as the other two had, nor did he have all that strong a relationship with the boy. Despite that, he couldn't help but feel like he should've helped Yaxley with whatever befell him.

Harry supposed he felt guilty for not being able to warn or offer any assistance to Yaxley as the boy had done for him.

"Harry?" Aster said, getting the boy's attention. "Could you help me with something? Reinhard would've done it, but he fell asleep early."

"Sure, what is it?" Harry replied, closing the textbook he was studying from.

"I want to go through Yaxley's things, see if there's any clue where he could've gone - if it was planned and he chose to leave, there's probably something, right?" Aster's voice was hopeful, and Harry couldn't blame him.

Yaxley had seemed like the sort that liked writing everything down based on the journal he'd given Harry… the journal… Harry would have to take a look at it later. It very well could contain information on his whereabouts if he'd chosen to leave rather than getting taken by Elaine or somebody else.

Try as he might, Harry couldn't help but think Elaine was involved due to Yaxley's repeated warnings of the girl. It was a long shot, Harry knew as much considering how much use Yaxley had due to the many times he would be near her or the fact that he'd been the reason she had the home that she did. Then again, maybe Abraxas had overheard the conversation they'd had or one of the warnings he'd given Harry. If that were the case, it would make sense why she'd rather get rid of him than risk his driving Harry away from her. Especially with Walburga attempting to draw him to her crowd.

Harry took a breath and nodded his head a few times for Aster's sake, all the while thinking that his rampant thoughts were doing no good.

"Yeah, I can help you with that - you're right too, there might be something on his desk or in his trunk that could help us find him."

"Thanks, Pev," Aster said with a small smile, "I know it's a bit weird going through his stuff, just hate not knowing what happened."

"Me too. I didn't know him for very long, but he'd been wicked helpful," Harry said, standing up and helping pull his mate up from his slouched position.

Aster didn't say anything more in response, he simply led the pair of them over to Yaxley's curtained-off portion of the room. Once they were at it, the boy took a brief pause, clenched his fists, and pushed the curtains aside. Harry was right behind him as he did so, and in silence, the two of them began going through Yaxley's belongings. If there was anything, regardless of where it was hidden, they would find it.

Harry knew they would.

"I'll take the desk and wardrobe if you'll take the trunk, under his bed and the bed itself," Aster whispered with a glance over his shoulder.

"Will do," Harry responded with a firm nod, closing the curtains behind the pair of them.

Aster went back to being quiet as he began going through one drawer at a time, Harry watched for a few seconds in case anything popped out, though when nothing important came to fruition he went about opening Yaxley's trunk to start his own search. Right off the bat, he could see how disorganised the trunk was; quills, vials of ink, potion supplies, books, parchment, clothing… there was everything you could think of stored within the rather large trunk. If it weren't for the lack of smell, Harry would've assumed there were foodstuffs inside it too. Luckily, as messy as it was, there was nothing open that would ruin the contents of Yaxley's trunk. As good as it was for Harry, he assumed the boy's family would be just as thankful so long as they cared about their son more than Sirius' family had. He didn't think it was entirely common, a family practically disowning one of their children, though it was better to ask Aster or Reinhard about Yaxley's relation with his family at a later date.

"Find something already?" Aster asked, appearing right at Harry's shoulder.

"No, it's just… messy," - Harry took one step to the right and motioned towards the trunk - "I wanted to make sure there wouldn't be anything I could ruin before I dove in, didn't want anything sharp cutting me either. Figured he may have his potions knife or other things stored inside," Harry's explanation was a bit flimsy, really, he'd just been taking a look and cataloguing mentally the items he'd seen upon the first examination.

As packed as the trunk was, with how big of a bulk it had, there were undoubtedly many items within that Harry hadn't yet seen.

"Oh," Aster said, sounding a bit more like his put out self as of late. "Well, let me know if you find anything, yeah? I'll be getting back to the desk, best we do this quickly too, don't want Malfoy knowing we've been snooping in case he tells the Headmaster or Professor Slughorn."

Harry nearly asked Aster why, but if the boy was right in being that cautious, he figured the question could wait until they were back in that little windowed alcove they'd made theirs. As such, Harry went about plucking every item from the trunk that he could and laid it out on the bed. Once Yaxley's trunk was empty and nearly the entirety of the missing boy's bed was covered, Harry went about sifting through the items to sort them into categories based on importance.

If it were something that couldn't be written in and didn't look out of the ordinary, such as school supplies of ink or quills, he would place it back in the trunk in roughly the same place it'd been so as to avoid suspicion if Yaxley ended up returning on his own. Next, the second of the three piles were items that could have writing in them; textbooks, scraps of parchment, fresh parchment and closed books without labels made up the majority of it. His third pile, the one he'd placed a select few items, was set aside for those he knew nothing about; a few potions, what looked to be a muggle bullet, a coin that wasn't of British make and a pillow constituted the final pile.

He shrugged to himself and started with the second pile, disregarding the first after a quick once over to ensure there wasn't anything obvious like there was in the few muggle films he'd seen - blood on a quill or something equally cinematic and easy to spot; nothing was visible though, not to his eyes.

Yaxley's collection of books was fairly extensive, Harry realised as he began going through one after the other. It hadn't felt like there were too many when he'd been pulling them out, but now that he had to scour each one for notes or other connotations throughout them for clues if any existed, the scale of his task finally made itself known. Personally, Harry had a half-dozen books in addition to his school collection, while Yaxley had nearly three dozen.

"Pev?" Aster asked, the boy once more standing at Harry's shoulders.

"Yeah?" Harry responded, stepping to the side as he'd done previously.

"Finished going through the desk and wardrobe, there wasn't anything remotely useful - barely looks like he used the desk at all," Aster's tone conveyed annoyance at the lack of progress, but when Harry saw the boy's eyes look between the piles of texts and the few miscellaneous items, he could see the hope forming in his eyes. "Whaddya got mate? Think any of it could be useful?"

"I'm hoping so, but there's too many books here for us to go through," - Harry picked a few up to show off his point - "No way we can go through everything without having to make this trip multiple times, not unless we took most of Yaxley's books back to our beds."

"Can't be doing that, don't know when his parents will have his stuff picked up," Aster relayed the same thought Harry had earlier, which remained as unhelpful now as it'd been then.

"Know anything useful then?" Harry asked Aster, leaning against one of Yaxley's bedposts.

"No shot, my speciality lies in strategy and the like, not knowing random helpful charms," Aster sounded a bit more like himself with the confidence and wording in which he'd spoken.

Harry nearly remarked on it too, until a third voice joined them.

"I know something helpful."

Aster and Harry both whirled around, the pair of them going for their wands on instinct until they saw who it was that'd joined them.

Abraxas Malfoy.

"You two aren't nearly as quiet as you think you are, you know," Abraxas said, a friendly if slightly condescending smirk on his face. "I could hear your conversation the moment I'd gone to my bed, my innate curiosity drove me to come over in hopes of finding out what the fuss was about. Imagine my surprise when I see the two of you going through our missing friend's belongings… I suppose there's a reason for your actions?"

Aster didn't look impressed, and Harry even less so.

"Come off it, we're looking for something that could help us understand where Yaxley's gone. You know neither of us needs to resort to petty thievery as if we were some up and coming Pureblood family," Aster's voice had shifted to the seldom-used serious tone he could use.

Harry added on to his mate's words.

"You said you know something helpful, go on then, help us out."

"I could do that," Abraxas said, walking further in and closing the curtains behind him. "We could see what Yaxley recently touched, a spell that reveals as much isn't too difficult to cast. My question for the pair of you is why should I do it? For all we know, Yaxley left without wanting to be found - if something more insidious happened, would you want whatever forces behind his taking targeting you next?"

Harry subtly shifted his body so that he was partially in front of Aster in case the boy took offence to any of Abraxas' words, not that Harry thought him to be that easily riled up.

"We wouldn't need to tell anyone where he went, so long as we know everything's alright for him. If something more 'insidious' happened, as you said, then I for one would be wanting those forces dealt with rather than left at large. Who knows who they'd target next, with or without provocation?" Harry ended with a look back over his shoulder towards Aster to offer the boy a chance to add anything, and when he saw the boy smiling smugly with his arms crossed across his chest, he figured his words had been good enough.

"Some things aren't so easily beaten, Peverell… though I suppose I'll humour the both of you," - Abraxas began walking over as he withdrew his wand and began aiming it at the closest book - "I doubt anyone as intelligent as Yaxley would've left behind any inclination as to his whereabouts in some forgotten book within his trunk."

"Yaxley was cagey the last few weeks before break, you know that as well as we do," Aster said, his eyes narrowed at Abraxas all the while the latter boy didn't pay any mind to the former.

"Yaxley had been acting in such a way since halfway through last year, you know that as well as I do," Abraxas' voice mimicked Aster's in the second half of his sentence, and as annoyed as it visually made Aster, the boy didn't respond with anything that would escalate the verbal sparring match into something more.

Harry had to give credit where credit was due to his friend, for even as he'd become now thanks to months alongside too many Slytherin peers, he still would've upped the ante. Everyone like Abraxas deserved a good thrashing, the smugness on their faces only reinforced that feeling Harry held towards the Malfoy family in general. Maybe time would afford him another chance at duelling the boy into submission, though likely not with how the pair remained separated thanks to the tension it seemed to cause during class - they were always trying to one-up one another since that specific lesson, and Harry had always come out ahead thanks to the year extra he'd had.

"I'm halfway through the collection with not a single one of the books touched recently save for Peverell's withdrawal of them, would you like me to stop now or persist until they're all completed and we've wasted more time?" Abraxas asked, boredom evident in his voice.

"Keep going until they're all done, why bother stopping early?" Harry asked quickly, jumping ahead of anything Aster would say in case he fired back with some form of passive-aggressive remark.

"To save time as I'd said, but very well," Abraxas shrugged in a way that made him look like a rich ponce, which Harry didn't understand how he'd managed it considering shrugging was usually the same regardless of who did it.

Harry didn't bother adding anything else while he and Aster watched Abraxas cast the same spell over again another dozen times or so. All he did was watch as each book showed one set of fingerprints that were vibrant with dozens of others that were so dull you could barely make them out, one after another; the unlabeled journals, parchment pieces and fictional books, everything came up with only one set of recent prints.

Truthfully, Harry hadn't been expecting anything, rather, he'd been holding out hope more so for Aster than anything else.

"See? It was a waste of time," Abraxas said, putting his wand back in its holster and moving back towards the curtains. "I'd suggest you two get back to your beds once you've put everything away… for what it's worth, no sign isn't inherently a bad one."

With his parting remark made, Abraxas dipped his head and exited the enclosed space that was Yaxley's.

Aster didn't say anything for a good while. Not during the whole time they'd put away Yaxley's items, not when they'd exited the boy's space, not when they'd gone back to their initial seat in the alcove where one could look out into the vastness of the lake. He stayed silent for nearly thirty minutes even then, and when he finally broke that silence with a partially choked up voice, it was to tell Harry he was going to bed - Aster thanked Harry after a few steps when the boy realised he hadn't done so yet.

Harry waved it away with a friendly look, wave and a parting remark.

"Come to me if you want to talk, mate, or if you need any more help like tonight. You know I'm always here for you and Reinhard, the both of you have helped me just as much," Harry felt bad saying that in the moment as he had, it almost felt like taking advantage of the situation to draw the two closer to him considering Elaine hadn't made any offer of aid.

After Aster left with a final thanks and Harry was back in bed, he took hold of Yaxley's journal that he'd given him. He breezed through the pages once, looking for anything that could remotely count as information to his friends' whereabouts. He couldn't for the life of him remember all the spells or other useful information considering the sheer volume of the book, but he figured this was the best bet they had.

There was nothing… that couldn't be right, Harry had just skipped through it too quickly.

Harry reread the journal page by page in a much more attentive manner, sections he'd read previously were gone over with the same level of care as entirely new portions of the book, but the end results were the same as everything else had been that evening; no information was present that could hint towards Yaxley's location.

January 21, 1943

Friday Evening

On the next morning and after a restless sleep thanks to how late he'd stayed up, he found himself nearly alone in the boys' dorm. There were a few other beds with their curtains closed as his had been only seconds prior, but they belonged to boys in his year that he'd pushed so far towards the back of his mind he could barely recall their names much less develop any sort of friendship with them.

Once he saw that neither of his two closest friends was inside and Abraxas was already gone, Harry chose to lazily start his day. He grabbed his change of clothes after procrastinating in bed for nearly fifteen minutes, then it took another five before he made it to the showers where another fifteen passed as he allowed the hot water to soak his body in one of the most comfortable feelings known to him. Once all of that was done and he was freshly dressed, he finally made his entrance into the common room.

Unsurprisingly, it was near empty due to the late-morning timing he'd made his entrance on.

Elaine and her group were gone, likely in the library, a courtyard or an empty classroom; Walburga's group too.

"You've finally risen, Peverell. I half thought you'd passed in your sleep as the time kept ticking by," Daphne's voice made him turn sharply towards the direction it'd come from - she'd been concealing herself behind the set of high-backed chairs Elaine often occupied.

"Evidently not," Harry said as he smiled at the girl and took a few steps towards her. "What's Elaine want?"

"Not mincing words for a change?" Daphne asked.

"Don't see the point - what's Elaine want? Unless it's something you want to speak with me about?" Harry had closed the distance and now stood only a few feet from Daphne, as he eyed the girl up, he made out nothing discernible from her features.

"My family received your cordial letter that relayed your wish of friendship and familial relations. Consider my opinion on you moderately improved, so long as you continue your writing to my family," Daphne looked as if she were ready to pause for a few moments, then the girl thought better of something and continued with his original assumption, confirming it for him. "Elaine's waiting for you in that room of yours, I'll not call it a secret on account of so many knowing about it… I do hope you can keep secrets better than that."

"I planned on writing to them more often, there's no need to warn me. Wicked - everyone knows how easy to read I am," Harry smiled once more at Daphne and made his leave. As soon as his back was turned, his smile turned to silent laughter; if only she knew about the secrets he'd kept from all of them so far.

Elaine included… hopefully.

Harry didn't waste any time in heading towards his semi-private classroom, he didn't see the point in doing so. So long as he was at Hogwarts, Elaine would have any conversation or amount of time with him that she wanted. Her connections with staff and students alike would see to that, especially as her marks improved in sync with her list of followers through the already extensive network she had.

As annoying and inconvenient as that was for him, the more troubling fact was what she wanted from him right at this moment.

Thus far, thanks to Yaxley's having gone missing, he'd been allotted half the month for barely any interactions with her in favour of spending that time alongside Aster and Reinhard. Initially, he'd guessed it was her way of showing empathy by letting the boys spend time together ensuring one another were alright. Harry began to catch on through his limited interactions with Elaine during that portion of time that she didn't seem all that bothered by the absence of his two friends or the other that'd gone missing, her actions had focused solely on him.

He wasn't even sure if it was completely for Yaxley's missing status either, as that'd only come up once during the half dozen or so small talks they'd had. What had come up more often than not, was how 'wonderful' their Yule time was with one another and how she looked 'so very forward' to learn more about him.

Harry liked to think he'd come a long way, he knew that Elaine had been buying time for herself and likely thinking up some way of conversing with him in regards to the prior conversation they'd had, but he'd been using that time for similar reasons. Aster and Reinhard had spent most of their time with him since the two boys had withdrawn from most of Elaine's circle in favour of their small trio. Whilst potentially harmful for themselves, it'd gotten the both of them a lot closer to Harry.

Corene's minor conversations as well as the one big one in the very same room he was meeting Elaine had seen a level of progress too; he'd learned her family wanted something from him, why else would she be inquiring so soon after the initial conversation?

In addition to that, the time he'd spent with her was always relaxing, whereas time with Elaine was usually the polar opposite.

Harry sighed as he finished climbing the staircase and began turning the corner of one of the final halls until he reached his destination.

Elaine was wholly unpredictable, it was what made speaking with her or interacting with her so… dangerous? One word alone couldn't describe it, no, not even one sentence could, speaking with her was simply off-putting in a way he couldn't describe. Yet, he was about to have a conversation with her regarding a topic he could only take guesses at.

"Ah, there you are, and here I was coming to wake you myself," Elaine's voice startled him from his thoughts - he hadn't expected to run into her in the halls, but there she stood only feet from him.

"I'm here," He said with a shrug and yawn, the latter fabricated in the hopes it'd make him look more recently awakened.

"You are," - Elaine closed the distance between them, pulled him close for an aggressive kiss that nearly drew blood from his bottom lip, then looped her arm through his - "I've missed your presence, the brief moments we've spent together since Hogwarts restarted have been entirely too fleeting. You'll be happy and put at ease knowing there's nothing serious for us to speak about, not tonight at least, though I have done something you'll be sure to enjoy."

"Surprises aren't th-" Harry didn't have the chance to voice his complaint, or more aptly, wariness before Elaine cut him off again.

"I completely agree, surprises are horrible . We agreed to put everything out on the table between ourselves, didn't we? So if you were to ask me something, I'd answer it truthfully for you," Elaine leaned in, her soft breaths exhaling directly into his ear. "Only. For. You," She pulled away again and looked at him with one of the sweetest looks he'd ever seen her give. "Wouldn't you do the same, Harry?"

He wasn't sure how to respond, not with something so serious affirmed by the girl. If he said yes and she immediately asked him something, he'd be in murky water trying to tell partial truths. On the flip side, if he responded negatively, her suspicion of him could reach new levels… having Elaine of all people feel that way towards him was very bad for any future plans.

"I would," Harry replied, the conviction in his tone surprising himself more than Elaine, though that wasn't hard considering how unreadable she could be at times.

"Perfect, I knew we fit together well," Elaine smiled at him with that same sweet look on her face as she pulled him towards his room in silence.

There wasn't any more conversation to be had as the pair of them walked to the room, he was equally as content as she was to move in silence. Her leaning and rubbing against him was a bit different than usual, though her constant touching was something he didn't mind all much considering how often she'd done it.

Once they'd entered, he saw just what she'd meant by having a surprise for him too.

He'd been reaching for his wand the closer they'd drawn to their destination, her taking his left side had only facilitated the ease in which he could withdraw it if necessary. Possibilities of what he could be walking into had been endless as they closed in on the entrance; ward-traps, other followers of hers, the Basilisk - he hadn't a clue as to what she meant by 'surprise', though furthest from his mind was what greeted him upon his entrance.

"Does it please you?" - Elaine separated herself from him and discarded the robe she'd been wearing to reveal a dress underneath it as she gestured about the room - "This took no small amount of preparation in advance to coordinate."

"It looks great," Harry responded before his eyes darted over to her. "You look great."

"I do, we both do," Elaine took a few steps towards one of the chairs then, and upon her feminine cough as she glanced at it, he guessed what she was wanting him to do.

Thus, passing by the finely set table with food and wine on it, he made his way over to the chair she was standing in front of so he could pull it out for her.

"Such a gentleman," Elaine cooed, brushing his upper arm with her cool hand. "This'll make fine practise for this coming weekend."

"Hogsmeade?" Harry asked her as he took his own seat.

Elaine smiled widely, revealing her perfectly kept teeth.

"Why Harry, I'd love to go with you - as it just so happens to be, Professor Slughorn made reservations in advance for me and one other at a very fine establishment meant only for the upper class of wizarding society. It's rather perfect, isn't it?"

"Yeah, Professor Slughorn really seems helpful," Harry didn't bother trying to weasel himself out of a date with her; anytime he was beside her was time he could try softening her touch, he felt secure enough in his position now to think she wouldn't hurt him after how many assurances of love she'd given him.

"Oh you've no idea, he's been the epitome of the word," Elaine smiled at him again, the width of it slightly thinner than usual. "Why don't we go about enjoying this meal? I'm sure you'll find a very enjoyable reward as the evening progresses and we retire to the couch."

"Reward? Aren't we spending time together?" Harry was curious to see what she meant, and with his gesturing towards the couch as she'd done, it was the perfect time to check the meal for any tampering; he thanked Yaxley, wherever the boy had gone, for the helpful spell.

"It's not only etiquette one must prepare for," Elaine tapped her lips to emphasize her point. "Were you hoping for something more?"

Harry shook his head and deferred as any gentleman would, sleeping with the enemy was still a ways down the pipeline, though if he were to bet, the Hogsmeade trip would be where she made her moves.