Jonquils And Lightning

Clash

"Are you sure that she's going to be all right?"

"Of course she will. She's going to deliver the lamb without any trouble. And it's healthy, as far as I can determine without cutting open her womb to check."

"Then why was she starving herself?"

"That was her disdain for the grass and the grain that you were feeding her. Let her graze more often in your other pasture, Stephen. I know that you think she was eating too many forbs, but she needs them. She's just picky."

Tom stood out of the way and watched quietly as Harry reassured the anxious farmer—Stephen McMaster, apparently—that his pregnant ewe wouldn't actually starve herself to death. It seemed incredible that he would waste his magic and his time doing this. Tom knew what ambition was. He had it. Dumbledore had it. Plenty of wizards in his world less powerful than Harry had it.

How could someone this strong have stifled every trace of it?

McMaster sighed heavily and wiped one hand across his unfortunate eyes, one of them blue and one brown. "You know I can't pay you everything I owe you for today, Harry. Can you wait until—"

"It doesn't matter. You don't need to pay me for today."

Tom wanted to shake his head. He only stood and watched as the ewe began to eat something, perhaps the mysterious forbs, and McMaster gaped at Harry. "You've done so much for me, I have to do something."

"And what I would like more than anything, at the moment, is simply for you to let it go." Harry ran a gentle hand down the ewe's side. She butted up against him for a second without raising her head from her eating, which Tom found depressingly like the way other people treated Harry. "I don't do this for the riches and fame. I do this because I like to help people and animals."

Did he practice the sickly sweetness in front of the mirror?

"Well, if you're sure...I can't deny that I could use the money..."

"Of course. And make sure that you let me know when the lamb is born." Harry smiled at McMaster and stepped away with an easy grace, moving back to the Apparition point through the small village of Bluewater. Tom followed him, eyeing him. Yes, he walked as if he was ready to guard his back any second. That alone would have told Tom he'd been in a war even if nothing else had.

"Had your fill of staring at me?"

Tom rolled his eyes a little and jogged up until he was walking beside Harry. He could feel McMaster staring at his back curiously, but he wasn't here to explain himself to idiots. "I'll never be done staring at someone who ignores his talents this way."

"I don't see how you can say that. I do have a talent for healing animals, and it's easy to work on."

"You have a gift for war. You must have, to survive it. Why can't you see that you belong in the middle of a war, with someone fighting at your back?"

Harry choked, and then said, "That was the clumsiest seduction attempt I've ever seen you make, Riddle. Offering to bring my parents back when I was eleven was more subtle."

"My name isn't Riddle." Tom made his voice quiet. If he was right about Harry, then guilt would prick the other man soon, and cause him to soften his stance towards someone who hadn't hurt him yet.

Harry breathed out strongly. Then he said, "Focus your seduction attempts on Jonquil. It doesn't please me, but she's old enough to make her own decisions and go with you if she wants to."

"She doesn't have your power."

"If you think power is all that's necessary to winning a war, Riddle, then you aren't worthy of having her after all."