Gold Tinted Spectacles (Hecatemus Book #1)

Chapter 14 - The Aftermath (pt2)

By the hour lunchtime arrived Harry was ravenous and he didn't need to be in contact with his lover to know that the same was true of Draco. The last few weeks had been a matter of eat on demand and moving back into a schedule was more difficult than it might have appeared. Both of them swooped on the Gryffindor table as if their lives depended on it.

"Are you two hungry?" Ron asked as he looked at the plates the pair had in front of them.

Harry glanced up from where he had just stuck his fork in the large pile of mashed potato on his plate. Sausage, mash and gravy was not the most sophisticated of meals, but it looked like heaven as far as his stomach was concerned. Draco had chosen steak and kidney pudding for a similar reason.

"Starving," Harry admitted, and, for his part, Draco grinned at Ron.

Without further ado, Harry set about demolishing his lunch and it wasn't for a good five minutes that he noticed some of his friends were not doing the same. He looked up to find that Dean and Neville were looking at him and Draco.

"You weren't kidding, were you," the Muggle-born Gryffindor said a little incredulously.

"Their metabolisms are running at two or three times normal," Hermione said helpfully as she sat down beside the group.

"Really, that much?" Harry hadn't picked up that piece of information yet and he was quite interested.

He knew his appetite had increased considerably and he was still under strict instruction to eat heartily and well, but he had had no idea by how much.

"Could be more at the moment," Hermione provided as she poured herself a goblet of water.

"I still don't see how one person can eat that much food in one sitting," Ginny said, "except Ron of course, but everyone knows there's nothing inside him but space for what he consumes."

Harry grinned as Ron glared at his little sister, but no one in on the conversation failed to notice that Ron did not argue the point. However, even the legendary eating ability of the Weasley males could not match Harry and Draco any more.

The morning had been tiring for Harry, but, as he ate, the food seemed to be helping. If he had been back in their room in the hospital wing he would have taken a nap, but as it was he tried to banish the lethargy he was feeling to the back of his mind.

People had been staring at them all day and Harry was pretty sure all the Slytherins now viewed him as the spawn of the nastiest thing to ever crawl the earth. Draco had out glared several of his Slytherin housemates over the morning and so far there had been no more serious incidents.

The Gryffindors seemed to be protecting them from all the other houses and there had been little interaction, which was very good as far as Harry was concerned, because he did not have the energy to deal with anything like that today.

[Maybe you should take the afternoon off,] Draco suggested silently as Harry paused eating, [now that there's no need to hide you don't have to push so hard.]

Harry rewarded his soulmate's concern with a warm smile, but shook his head slightly.

[I'll be fine,] he replied cheerfully, [it's bound to be tiring the first day, and I want to get back to normal as fast as possible.]

Draco snorted a laugh at that which earned him several looks, since nothing anyone had been saying out loud was particularly worthy of the reaction. Harry had to hide his own smile as Draco smirked mysteriously at the Gryffindors.

[The day you and I are normal is the day Snape awards you house points and Dumbledore actually appears sane,] Draco said silently. [I have never been normal and I don't intend to start now.]