Chapter 12
Breakfast the next morning was the same as it always was while he was in Hogwarts, amazing. Harry had gotten up early, a habit he had struggled to break after the war, the nightmares dogging his every step.
Selina had accosted him a few minutes after he had sat down at the Ravenclaw table, shaking her head at the abysmal amount of food on his plate. She had piled on a bit more, and then stared him down as he ate it. When he was done, she began to eat her own food, humming happily.
“What’s got you in such a good mood?” Harry asked. “You look about ready to burst, and no sane person is that happy this early in the morning.”
Selina quirked her lips, the tea in her mug saturated with cream, her voice chipper when she spoke. “The Nargles said today would be a good one, and I’m back at Hogwarts, and this time with a friend. The morning is fresh and the day is fine. It will definitely be a good one.”
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It was most definitely not a good day. Though Selina and Harry shared most of their classes, the teachers often separated them with class seating. It was something new, something he hadn’t really encountered in the future, but he couldn’t do anything about it. The Charms teacher was young, and tended to babble on about the subject he was talking about, not really teaching them anything.
Most of his classes had been normal, and Harry made sure he was never on top, but never the bottom either. It was rather easy when you knew the material to be a good student, but nothing extraordinary. Everything got fucked up slightly when he entered the Divinations classroom though. Harry didn’t know what he had been expecting, but he was most definitely not expecting to have the teacher scream as soon as she saw him, backpedaling so hard, she toppled over a table, knocked herself out, and had to be taken to the Hospital Wing.
The class had hung around the tower awkwardly until the time for the next class came, scurrying away from the tower in a rush. It was enough trouble for him that day, until he got to Transfiguration, where he was stuck in a room with both Tom Riddle and Albus Dumbledore.
He was hoping that he would get to sit next to Selina, hoping to ease the uncomfortable feeling he knew he was radiating. Nope. Some deity must have had it out for him because he was put next to Tom Fucking Riddle. A steady inward sigh, and a quick prayer for the strength to put up with this bullshit, Harry sat down next to Tom Riddle, and stared at the chalkboard. Maybe if he focused hard enough he could burn two holes into the board. Maybe, Harry could get Dumbledore in the crossfire-
“Excuse me, I do believe I haven’t introduced myself, Tom Riddle.” Harry stared at the hand offered to him, and slowly shook the hand, suppressing a flinch when he felt warm skin instead of cool, scaly flesh.
“Hadrian Peverell.” He muttered, dropping the hand quickly, trying to regain his senses as they wizzed about in his mind. He tried his best to ignore the boy sitting next to him, focusing on Dumbledore’s lecture about the spell they were learning.
Harry could feel the irritation Riddle felt, he expected to not be ignored, Harry supposed. Harry might try to interact with Riddle sometime later in the year, but right now Harry needed to get his shit together. He needed to sort out the fact that he wanted to both hug and violently murder Ablus Dumbledore, and didn’t even want to touch the shitstorm that was Voldemort at the moment.
So Harry did what all wizards did best, and ignored the fuck out of his problems.
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At lunch, Harry slumped down at the table, pressing his face into his golden plate, wishing he could click his fingers and solve everything like a fairy godmother. Selina just looked amused at his suffering. Meanie.
Pulling together his shreds of sanity, Harry reached for some food, and ate to keep his mind off of things. He didn’t give any fucks about anything at the moment, Harry decided. He just wanted his stomach full, and his classes done so he could crash at the Ravenclaw tower.
In Potions, he was finally paired with Selins, and together they managed to make an excellent Calming Draught. Harry wished he could take one right now, to calm his buzzing mind.
Classes passed by in a blur, and so did dinner, and the common room finally brought him out of the haze he had sunk in. Harry’s head was on Selina’s shoulder as she worked on homework.
It scent of fire, jasmine, rainstorm, and old books followed him into his sleep, and that night, he dreamt of something beautiful.