He With The Jewel Eyes // A Grey Harry Potter - Time Travel AU

Sneaking Out

A day before the first Quidditch match of the year, with the school buzzing with energy, Cato delivered a vermillion coloured envelope to Harry, and his eyes widened with delight when he read the name of the sender. He had been waiting for this one letter for quite some time, and it had arrived just a day away from being too late. Thankfully so, as he would have had to adjust his plans otherwise, not an arduous process, but still an unwanted one if not necessary.

Instead of opening it right then and there, Harry stuffed the letter inside the pocket of his robes, bewitched to become a dimensional pouch unbeknownst to others. He could feel his friends' questioning eyes on him, except for Luna, who only smiled knowingly, but he gave them a glance that conveyed it was private, and there it was left.

Harry was known for his obscurity by now and the students of Ravenclaw knew better than to ask, especially after a particular incident with an older Ravenclaw taking offence in the ravenette's held back knowledge, and decided to threaten him into confessing after the boy had refused to comply to his request (read: order) to tell him where he had found the several-hundred-years-old tome in his hands about Ancient Runes. He had tried to grab the book forcefully from the then first-year student, and found himself on the ground, fingers twisted in odd angles at the knuckles, and a serenely smiling Harry who hadn't moved an inch from where he had been sitting.

The boy's smile had held an animalistic glint to it, and his eyes had shone a spine-chilling avada kedavra green when they had met with his own, petrifying him in his position on the ground, and a minute later he had been seen running away sobbing, a significantly large area of wetness on the groin part of his robes, smelling distinctly of urine.

Nobody had dared to utter a word against the boy's reticent behaviour ever again.

Breakfast concluded a short time later. Harry informed his friends that he would be joining them later in the classroom of their current lesson before heading straight towards the girls' lavatory on the second floor, its emptiness attributable to a particular Myrtle Warren haunting the place. A perfect place to open his mail without being disturbed.

On his way, he passed the second year Gryffindors heading the opposite way -their first class was shared- and Rose, who noticed him as she conversed with her best friend, frowned when their eyes met but didn't comment, choosing to avert her eyes and focus more on the redhead blabbering excitedly to her side instead.

This was another difference from last year when Rose would have scoffed and sometimes insulted him if they had even come as close as twenty meters within each other's -unwanted- presence, and certainly an improvement if Harry could say so.

In fact, after the 'talk' they had had the day of James' 'fixing', the redhead had become much more tolerable, even going as far as conversing civilly with Harry sometimes, and while they were still pretty rare, the boy was happy that he could finally start getting along with his sister.

He had always wanted a family, and after his first life had ended with him unsuccessful in achieving that wish, he had acquired his greatest dream in his second. That had fallen apart by Lily and James' brainwashing, and they had spoiled Rose, turning her into a selfish, unlovable brat that disgusted Harry. He had felt disappointed that he was mistreated even in his second life, unable to achieve the sole thing he wanted the most.

Learning about the compulsions placed on both his parents -Lily's had been broken the day Harry had gotten his inheritance, after he had revealed his true feelings about being ignored, and before it could seep more deeply into her body, corrupting her thoroughly like it had James- had made him feel rage for the first time in years, a wave of cold, blood-chilling anger that had shaken his control on his magic and erupted into strong bursts of air pressure, shattering hundreds of trees in the forest behind their mansion and caused several earthquake-like shakes.