the words of my wrist (the devil in silk and yet I yearn)

chapter 3

last night i was happy (what a strange feeling that was)

LORD NOTT GRANTED GUARDIANSHIP OF HARRY POTTER

Harry sighs as he reads the heading and whispers rise in the Great Hall. A quick glance shows Theodore eating his food calmly, looking entirely unperturbed, while the rest of the Slytherins choke and startle at the news.

All the rest of the Houses seem to be the same and all the Gryffindors seemed to have collectively turned to stare at him.

He sighs as he eats a spoonful of porridge.

The peace had been good while it lasted.

---ooo---

Harry manages to make it all the way to the Gryffindor Common Room and almost to the boy's dormitory stair case before he's accosted by Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.

Despite his rather audible protests, he's dragged to a corner of the Common Room. He glowers at them as they flick up a silencing ward and Hermione stands in front of him, her arms crossed over her chest. Only to look a bit startled when she registered the glare on his face.

"What do you want?" he asks, rather rudely, but they started it first by dragging him, instead of just asking, like a normal person.

Hermione speaks up first. "Lord Nott is a known follower of... V-Voldemort," she says, stumbling over the words, looking off put by Harry's percieved hostility. "And after last year—He's back Harry. And now a known—suspected since he's wealthy—Death Eater is now your guardian? This reeks of something nefarious, Harry!"

At one time, Harry would've agreed with her.

When he was walking into Hogwarts, still boiling with anger and wanting to take it all out on the world. Before he split his hand open every night because there was a woman who decided that every truth from his lips was a lie. Before the only comfort he had was his godfather and the soulmate who didn't even know if he would accept him or not.

"It could be," he says non-committally. "But it's also an opportunity, right? Besides, the Ministry likely isn't going to fight back if their put against fighting the choices of an insane, hallucinating boy and an upstanding member of society."

All of this is true.

The assumptions they make of it are not his problem.

Ron looks at his skeptically, but it gives way to understanding. "You can spy on Nott and give information to the Order. He can't just kill you and then expect the people to believe that whatever replacement they may use is actually you. That's just bonkers, mate," Ron says with all the confidence, naive confidence, but confident nonetheless.

The wizarding public will believe what they are told and what they want to believe. Not what is actually true. But they'd never been in the spotlight enough to understand that—maybe Hermione, but if push comes to shove and none of it can be proved, she'll start believing it also.

"Yeah," he says hushedly, pressing forward a little bit to escape the circle they've made around him. "I can do that."

But that doesn't mean I will do it, he finished inwardly as he travels up to the dorm rooms.

Harry knows, now, that Dark Magic is far mor diverse than they think. It's more than just blood and death and outright slaughter. Some of what is classified as Dark is subtle, poison waiting to conquer, and shadows creeping closer until they're at a safe distance to devour you.