Chapter 1
It started on the astronomy tower. As most things already do, this matter involved the stars.
Mercury was in retrograde and all that rot.
Harry hadn’t meant to wander through the halls but the Gryffindor Tower was stifling. Ron was being an idiot, as he normally was, but this time he had gotten the rest of the house to rally against the so-called “traitor”.
The Prophet had already ruined his mood with the news of Dementors, truly Fudge’s incompetence knows no bounds, but with the reinstatement of the TriWiz Tournament as well? He was pissed and his day was effectively ruined.
Harry sat at the edge of the tower, his legs dangling over the edge.
Really, what do I have to lose? There’s not much for me here, Ron’s not really my friend, Hermione sided with him because of her stupid crush, and nobody seems to fucking realize this is a plot to kill me!
Harry fiddled with his shirt, one of Dudley’s tattered castoffs. He poked his finger through one of the holes and chuckled; stretching out the shirt and staring at all the stains and rips and the way it seemed to balloon over his body, he laughed a little harder.
‘And no one even seems to even notice…’
Harry laughed a little harder, hysterical little giggles spilling over his lips and into the empty night. The billowing wind swallows his midnight snickers, because he is not himself when he’s hungry, and he’s been hungry for a while now.
Hugging his middle, Harry bends at the waist and peers over his legs. He watches the way the grass shifts and flows, the way the pebbles delicately slip down on zephyrs and land on the grass.
It looks soft...would I land like a pillow? Finally have my rest?
He leans forward, slowly dragging himself towards the edge when a cold chill runs up his spine.
Squinting up in the darkness, he spies a cloaked figure floating towards him. The area grows colder and his eyes widen.
Quickly scooting back he presses himself up against the tower wall and ransacks his robes for his wand.
‘Your traitor Potter! You don’t need a wand to cause harm so why have one?’
Harry lets out a shaky sigh and makes a mental note to strangle Ron in his sleep.
The chill creeps closer and he hears a rattling sigh.
“Hello Harry Potter,,,”
He startles with a jolt and stares.
“W,,,what?”
“Hello Harry--”
“See I got that part” Harry says with a sigh. He rubs the bridge of his nose and leans forward from where he was pressed against the wall.
Looking back at the dementor he notices they don’t look like the one he saw last year. While those were skeletal and grey, with gaping maws and sharp fingers, this one had a pale but human face, reminiscent of what he’d imagine a vampire would look like, while their hands are thin and bony and their mouth, their mouth instead is human rather than beast-like with full lips colored light grey with the barest hint of pale blue, giving them a distinct frostbitten look.
Looking higher, he notices their eyes, a deep dark plum colored, a gem like hue reminding him of Voldemort’s ruby-like stare while this one was warm where his was sharp and curious where his was malevolent.
‘Their cloak seems to even be dark purple? I didn’t know they could change.’
“Have you observed me to be to your liking Harry Potter?”
Harry jumps and is double surprised when he blushes and a thought flickers past.
‘They're kinda pretty…’
“Sorry! I just--you don’t look like any of the Dementors I’ve seen? And I can understand you? Or is Dementor-speak also a language I seem to have the aptitude for?” Harry rambles as he rubs the back of his neck.
The cloaked figure chuckles, “You have many questions Harry Potter.”
Harry pouts and gestures for the figure to stand closer.
“And you seem to have none of the answers. Or you’re simply not giving them to me.”
The figure seemed to play along with Harry’s demands, standing closer to him, which intensified the chill they naturally gave off, but he noticed it was more of a cool breeze rather than the freezer burn normally occupying Dementors.
“And what is your name? You continue to call me Harry Potter, which just Harry please, also shows you know my name. I understand if you found it in the Prophet or, can you even read the Prophet?”
Harry takes a breath at the end of his rant and the figure comes to stand in front of him.
Curious, Harry looks up and notices their wide-eyed stare. Embarrassed a bit, red starts to spread from Harry’s cheeks to his ears.
“Sorry?”
That seems to snap the figure out of it and they wave their hands in acknowledgment, a decidedly human gesture.
“I am,,,Umbra.” They pause for a few seconds and continue a bit hesitant, “I didn’t actually expect you to ask my name or for this to go so well either.”
Harry gestures to Umbra to sit beside him and they pause again for a few seconds.
“Why--Why are you so unafraid Just Harry?”
Harry chuckles at the form of address and ponders over the question.
“Well” He starts, “I think I’ve hit my bullshit meter for the week. I'll probably spaz out sometime tomorrow, but today I’m interested in why you’ve sought me out.”
Umbra nods and slowly sits down beside Harry. Though “sit” might not be the right adjective as he notices their cloak covers the majority of their body and he cannot see any legs, so he assumes they float next to him.
“Now about those answers?”