Before the Storm

Chapter 12

"It's simple, really," Alphard said around an entire chocolate frog, already reaching for another, "say you fancy someone, right? If you want them to know it you would give them something, like candy or flowers, or do something special for them like make them food or offer to help them with a task. If they reciprocate then they would do the same for you. You gave them candy, they, in return, give you a roast chicken."

"A whole chicken?" Harry asked, brows raised more in amusement than exasperation.

"Don't be snarky I'm trying to tell you-"

"I think you're just hungry." Harry couldn't help but smile into his hot cocoa. He was buried in what felt like a ton of blankets, it was only two, though they thick and massively wooly, and he had been holding onto the mug mostly for warmth than the want of anything sweet, renewing the heat with a quick charm whenever it cooled.

He and Alphard had holed up in a small nook Harry had found a while ago, a quilted window seat and cushions done up in the colors of all four houses looked out over the rippling slate gray lake, giving them the allusion of basking in the joys of the outdoors, even as a storm thundered away on the other side of the window pane.

Harry hadn't been allowed to leave the Hospital Wing until Friday afternoon, feeling much rested and still far too cold for anyone's liking, and in that time Tom had been by his side almost constantly.

Until the next afternoon. Claiming he had a meeting to for a class project, he left Harry in Alphard's care and swept off somewhere in a flurry of black wool and righteousness. And finally Harry was able to ask his burning question.

What the hell was courting?

"So," he said, drawing Alphard back from his pouting silence, "you just give each other gifts?"

"Or do things for each other, yeah," Alphard shrugged, "and well, you know, spend time with each other. Snog. Cuddle. You know." He said again. And that part was very much like dating someone, so Harry nodded.

"Then, eventually, you start planning a marriage contract and-"

"Marriage!" Harry nearly dropped his hot chocolate. "Marriage?" He repeated incredulously.

"Well...yeah. That's the point of courting. That eventually you'll get married...if it works out and you decide you like the other person enough."

Harry sputtered, "I'm sixteen!"

"Well I didn't say right away, did I? I said 'eventually'." Alphard said petulantly.

"Tom's only seventeen, he can't be thinking about marriage."

Alphard shrugged again, swallowing another mouthful of chocolate, "he's seventeen, that isn't too early. Neither is sixteen, really. A lot of people have arranged marriages and end up needing to start the courtship early to try and...er...build a connection with each other."

Harry looked out to the lake, worrying his bottom lip as he thought. He and Tom already had a connection. It was, and yet wasn't, like the connection he'd had with Voldemort. What was between him and Tom was...good. It made him feel warm and safe and...loved. Not because he was Harry Potter. Not because he was famous, or a hero, or because he represented a shared loss. Tom wanted Harry because he was Harry.

"I still can't believe he told you he was going to court you!" Alphard exclaimed, jolting Harry once more, "you don't usually tell someone, you just start doing it."

"I don't know if he knew I was awake still..." Harry said softly, it was a wonder he could still remember it himself, everything from when he first woke felt fuzzy and distant.