Pass the Glamours

Chapter Three: Seeing Tears

Harry felt exhausted by the time dinner was around. Mentally, emotionally, and physically. It felt like he was thrown through the wringer, and he already had to deal with detention thanks to a girl in Ravenclaw deciding to get him in trouble with McGonagall. He was currently lucky that Umbridge was getting her class ready, so he currently didn't need to directly deal with her-even if they still had to do homework.

The boy rubbed his face, leaning against a wall in a thankfully portrait-less hallway. He didn't really like the moving portraits all that much. He knew that they reported what he did with who to Dumbledore, a man who was a bit too creepy in his eyes. The man had felt the need to keep some major things from him, and always seemed to have this glimmer in his eyes that just felt wrong.

"Hey..." The soft voice made the Boy-Who-Lived jolt before relaxing. "Hug?" The young witch opened her arms, a worried look on her face.

Tears sprang to the teen's eyes as he gave a hurried nod, his arms tucking close to his chest. He didn't have to wait long before he was pulled into his sister-from-another-mother's arms. Her hold was protective and loving, causing him to quietly break down in her arms. He felt like a little child holding onto her the way he was, but there was really no other way he could truly describe it. He felt safe in those slender arms, even if he wanted to run to someone else's at the current moment.

The two younger mates were quick to tell the older blond, furious looks on their faces, about who their Heart was. Lucius could understand the fury, he really could, yet he thought they were being a bit ridiculous! The boy was their mate, they had to accept that, but also...

"Isn't he only fifteen?" He thought aloud, watching as those angered looks slowly slipped into masks of indifference. Their thinking masks. "He matured quite fast." His grey eyes scanning the surrounding area.

Suddenly the three of them stopped, the scent of tears and sadness filling their noses. Quietly, they rounded the corner to see Granger holding Potter to her chest?

The three Slytherin blinked in confusion as they saw her hurt and pained expression filled with vengeance and rage. A thought seemed to pass her mind, causing her plain eyes to narrow and her hold on the other to tighten. It was then they noticed that the boy's body was shaking. He was the reason for the scent of sadness and tears.

At the acknowledgement, the three winced as they had to ground their feet into the stone floor to keep themselves from rushing over to the pair and demanding what had caused the upset! Doing so would not be good for them. Instead, they watched.

"Why don't you go to McGonagall? Tell her what really happened?" She whispered.

Quickly, the boy shook his head, not a sound passing through him. Yet, his denial made her frown and look worse.

"She had no right to do that to you. There wasn't any need for her to hurt you like that." The young witch hissed. "I've seen how that Ravenclaw casts her spells, she can barely do a Levitating spell properly! She's the worst Ravenclaw that I've seen." She huffed indifferently. "You're not taking a detention you don't even deserve."

The three eavesdroppers held small looks of surprise. They hadn't heard the Mudblood talk so venomously about other Houses before. Even about Slytherins. She just seemed to hate Purebloods that were similar to Draco. Though, they were curious on why Potter was in trouble, what had gotten him detention. Surely, he would go to his Head House and explain things.

"Have too... I-I did do something wrong..." The proud Lion's voice was meek and soft, the three finding their hearts sinking at the sound.

"You did nothing wrong." At her declaration, she practically yanked the other from her body, a white-knuckle grip on his biceps. "She wasn't there. None of us were there to see what happened. But we know you, I know you. You don't lie like that; you wouldn't lie like that." She growled, a bright fire in her eyes. "You say you saw him rise out of a fucking cauldron, then he rose out of a fucking cauldron. You say you dueled him, and the ghosts of his victims helped you, then that's what fucking happened." She nodded her head in emphasize. "You're not-"

"'Mione... Please... Skipping will only make it worse..." The boy's head dropped low, his body shaking.

The fired girl looked defeated at his words, her expression turning tight and stern, looking ready to hit him. They expected such a violent girl to do so. She then pulled him back to her body, allowing him to go limp in it with a few shivers and shakes. Her eyes screwed tightly shut, her just holding him there in the empty hallway.

A few more moments passed before the two finally pulled apart. Harry was quick to wipe his face on his sleeves, quiet sniffles being heard as he straightened himself out. He didn't want anyone seeing him so messy, especially on the first day of classes. He knew he'd be teased for it; he's heard about it, and he doesn't want his school life mirroring his house...

Hermione gave her friend a sweet smile, easily casting a cleaning charm on her tear-stained robes and on his face. She's knew that seeing the stains would ask questions she wasn't at liberty to answer, nor did she really want to answer to a bunch of idiots that wouldn't help.

"Are you ready?" She kept her voice low, a hand being offered to him. She knew that for some more moments, he would need a gentle holding, soft and kind words to soothe him.

The teen nodded, shuffling a bit to cling to her side. The hidden group of creatures narrowed their eyes, notes of confusion and anger biting at them. That wasn't the boy they had known for some years, that person was nothing more than a child. The boy they knew was a brave and stupid lion that didn't understand the world he was suddenly thrusted upon at the age of eleven. That boy was only an annoyance, the Golden Boy. Yet, seeing all that, made the trio reconsider. Was Harry Potter hiding behind the mask of a hero? If so, what more is there to him then that the three of them were missing?

"We need to learn more about him." Lucius mused softly, turning to continue on to where they were originally going.

The other two made little noises of complaint, also curious to do otherwise. Besides, maybe if they knew what was going on then maybe they could get their instincts under control.