In Somnis Veritas

24

I will not talk during class.

I will not talk during class.

I will not talk during class.

Harry exhaled, setting down his quill and flexing his aching hand. The hour had passed quickly, and somehow he'd managed to fill the two feet of parchment he'd been given.

"P-problem P-potter?" Professor Quirrell asked, looking up from his desk.

Harry shook his head. "No sir. I think I'm done."

"Very well, bring it here," Quirrell gestured him over.

Standing up, Harry took the parchment over to the professor's desk.

Quirrell cast his eyes over it before looking back at the boy.

"Everything al-alright Potter? N-not like you to t-talk in class," he said.

For a second, Harry wanted to point out that it was Ron doing most of the talking, but instead he shrugged his shoulders.

"W-what was s-so urgent that y-you needed to d-discuss it during D-Defence?" Quirrell probed. "Is P-professor Sn-Sn-Snape treating you w-well?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, sir."

"So th-then what, p-pray, was so important?"

"I asked Professor Snape if I could stay with him during the summer holidays," he said glumly – it didn't really matter who he told now, anyway.

"Oh? Is that p-preferable t-to your relative's home?" Quirrell asked.

A nod.

"Th-then why s-so glum, P-potter?"

"He asked Professor Dumbledore, and he said no," Harry said quietly.

"Wh-why?" the professor asked, curiously.

"He says I have to stay with my aunt and uncle. There's some kind of magic that protects me whilst I'm there," he said, fiddling with the sleeves of his robe.

"M-magic?"

"Some sort of... blood thing, I don't know," he said without thinking.

"Blood wards..." Quirrell murmured, more to himself than to Harry.

But Harry nodded. "That was it."

A silence followed, during which Quirrell studied the boy's face closely.

"T-terrible b-business about that dr-dragon," the professor said suddenly, as if out of nowhere.

"Norbert?" Harry frowned – it had been a while since that whole escapade.

"Is th-that what he called it?" Quirrell chuckled nervously.

"Hagrid loved that dragon," Harry said, testily. He knew that Hagrid had been crazy to take the egg from a stranger, let alone hatch it. But that was Hagrid, and Harry suddenly felt fiercely protective of his friend.

"I'm s-sure he d-did. Wh-what h-happened to it?" the professor asked him.

"Went to live in Romania, in a colony," he said.

Another pause.

"Well, I better get back to my dorm..." Harry said eventually, feeling a little uncomfortable. His scar had started to prickle, much like it had that first day in the Great Hall, and he didn't like it at all.

Quirrell nodded, as if snapping out of a trance. "R-right you are, P-potter. St-straight back and no dawdling."

Harry left the DADA classroom and did exactly that – he had a Charms exam in the morning and Herbology in the afternoon, so he wanted to get an early night.