The Darkening of Your Soul

Chapter 41

Chapter 41

“And then my father said when I become Slytherin’s seeker next year, he’ll hire Maxime Flaunt from the Wimbourne Wasps to personally train me during the summer,” Draco boasted as he held court surrounded by his usual sycophants. He’d been boasting about everything and anything for over an exceedingly long hour now.

Harry sat between Theo and Blaise on a nearby sofa and regretted many of his recent life choices as he stared ahead, barely taking in a word Draco said. Beside him, Theo, that annoying little blighter kept shooting Harry amused looks while hiding his smile behind the rim of his brightly coloured children’s cocktail they were served by an antsy house-elf. Blaise also looked vaguely amused but honestly, that was how Blaise almost always looked no matter the situation. But Theo seemed to have developed sudden psychic powers because Harry could tell Theo knew exactly how much Harry disliked being 11 years old at that moment.

After Harry and Tom had returned from the wonderful day they spent at Tom’s real home, they had enjoyed an early but delicious dinner in the observatory with Dorus, Theo and Barty, where they’d eaten several dishes cooked with the chickens they’d used as sacrifices during their Yule ritual. Afterwards they’d all gone separate ways to their rooms to get ready for the Malfoys’ annual Yule party. In Harry’s case this meant taking the antidote to the aging potion Tom had gifted him. And suddenly finding himself in his 11-year-old body again, after having enjoyed being his adult self for barely two days, was a real disappointment somehow.

Worse yet, since Harry was going to visit Sirius the next day to spend a few days with his godfather he wouldn’t be able to put more of the aging potion to good use until almost the end of the Yule holidays when he’d return to Nott Manor.

If Sirius even let him return that was.

Harry sighed and sipped his own fruity cocktail which sadly lacked any alcohol. Somehow he’d envisioned attending an official Malfoy party as something a little more exciting than being stuck in a small reception room while Draco bragged about his life in excruciating detail. But as it turned out, it was tradition that during parties held in the evening children below Hogwarts age weren’t even allowed to attend, and children of Hogwarts age could attend but in a separate room away from the adults. Only those Hogwarts students that were of age could join the grown-ups.

Not that Harry could really blame the adults, mind. He understood all too well that the adults wanted a chance to socialize and talk about adult subjects without a bunch of children and young teenagers running around.

This was also the reason Harry himself hadn’t even received a personal invitation, because Harry wasn’t personally invited.

Theodorus Nott was personally invited to the party, and since he had two children of Hogwarts age in his care at that time, he could bring them with him as long as those children understood that they were supposed to stay out of sight for pretty much the whole evening.

Harry sighed again, ignoring Theo’s quiet chuckles while Draco had moved on to the topic of shoes and how his mother had taken him shopping in Prague by portkey for the very special new shoes he was currently wearing.

Since Harry could feel himself become more and more agitated while coming closer and closer to hexing Draco with some amusing animal body parts he decided the best thing he could do was tune out the room all together and think about more pleasant things.

Such as the amazing day he’d had with Tom. How welcoming Tom’s home had felt. And how absolutely mind-blowing it had been to actually kiss Tom.