The Contract

Chapter 16

For the entire week after reading Corvus' words, Harry had been floating through life. Nothing, absolutely nothing could bring him down. Although he did feel a little bad for declining Hagrid's offer of tea for a second time. It was no fault of Hagrid's own, Harry just didn't have the energy to make his way down there after school. That time was solely for 'decompressing', Corvus' words not his, although it was clear Corvus did not approve of Hagrid like at all, he'd gone to school with him apparently, and found him to be utterly idiotic, a danger to society with the creatures he kept and anyone who spent any time with him their IQ would decline rapidly. That was a polite way of thinking of what Corvus actually said. Corvus' hadn't actually told him not to talk to Hagrid, just informed him to have care when speaking to the half-giant, that number one, he was very much in Dumbledore's camp, and he couldn't keep a secret if he tried. So, take what he said with a grain of salt, or assume it was meant to be overheard. He'd stopped his tirade when he realized Harry had no intentions - or the ability - to go down to Hagrid's hut.

"Hey, you going to the library? They're having a little mini-tournament in Rune dominoes." Harry's only roommate questioned, well aware that Harry absolutely loved playing Rune Dominoes. Terry Boot quickly gathered everything he would need for the day, which wasn't much, it was the weekend after all. "Unless, you're going to disappear on us again?" they had noticed Harry was curiously absent for hours on a Saturday. He was pretty predicable, he spent most of his time in Ravenclaw common room or the library like most other Ravenclaws.

"Mini-tournament?" Harry perked up at that, "Sounds fun!" completely ignoring his other statement. He was allowed to do whatever he wanted, he didn't need to answer to anyone let alone his roommate. It wasn't as if he was breaking school rules after all, no, he was doing everything correctly.

"Yeah, if you say so," Terry snorted, he couldn't stand Rune Dominoes, plus nobody under thirteen usually played that game. Anyone that did was very smart and had rudimentary understanding of runes.

Harry rolled his eyes, it was still early, he wasn't due to leave for a few more hours yet.

"I'll see you later," Terry added once more before he left the room, the door slightly ajar as he exited eager to get down to breakfast then to the Quidditch pitch.

Harry slid out the box from the bedside cabinet, and opened it, as always he found the mornings worth of potions he had to take. Corvus was already awake and had put them all in place. With a resigned sigh, he shrugged his shoulders, he begun to take the potions, swallowing them down without grimacing. Yes, they tasted foul, yes, he couldn't wait until he no longer had to take them, but he'd rather take them than...well the future the healer had envisioned, which summarily didn't have him in it. Once each was taken, he corked them and placed the empty vials back inside. When he came back up he'd find the vials gone and new ones in place. They always lay heavily in his stomach though, after taking them, but he never regurgitated them back up.

Closing the box back up, he slid it back into the drawer and closed it. His brow furrowing, conflicted on what to do, play Rune Dominoes or go to the kitchen and make some things for both Rabastan and Rodolphus. Well, there were two hours, he could play for a while then go to the kitchen. The mini-tournament surely wasn't all that big. Especially if it was being played in the library, there was no way Madam Pince would endure it. She didn't tolerate noise or rowdiness from anyone, not even the Ravenclaws who were frequent visitors.

With his mind made up, Harry scrambled out of bed, and got dressed in his normal attires when he wasn't in his school uniform. A lot of his weekend he spent with the Slytherins and they too dressed similarly. So, he didn't feel too out of place. They unlike everyone else actually knew where he was going on Saturdays, and they always conveniently had some chocolate on them that they decided they were 'finished' with to offer him. As if he didn't have his own chocolate, which he did, he bought a little bar for himself when he was practically bulk buying Rabastan's stash every week. Whoever put his delivery into boxes must think he was going to become a fat pig like Dudley. Harry shuddered at the mere thought, and he vowed never to let that happen.