Harry Potter and the Time Fluke

Another Attack

The whole of the Great Hall had noticed Tom's stormy exit, and quite a few people were now gossiping about it. No one had ever seen the charming, perfect Slytherin prefect angry before. Harry had, of course, but was still incredibly startled that the other boy had left in such an obvious fury.

Dmitry's muffled groan brought Harry's gaze away from the doors and back to the Russian. "What?"

"I'm dead," Dmitry groaned, gripping his hair from the roots and resting his elbows on the table. "I'm so dead!"

Harry furrowed his eyebrows and tried to think of a reason why Dmitry would die soon. Had he forgotten to finish his transfiguration homework? "I don't understand..."

"You saw how angry Tom was! He'll murder me for sure."

Ah. "Uh, hate to break it to you Dmitry, but I doubt Tom will kill you for sharing a meal with me. He's not that petty," Harry joked, trying to better the other's soiled mood.

"It's not just that," Dmitry hissed, leaning forward. His fear-filled eyes flicked down to where Tom had been sitting. "Botolph was talking to them..."

"So?" Harry asked, still confused as to why Dmitry seemed so legitimately scared.

"'So?' I'm sorry, did you forget just who it was who opened he curtains not even an hour ago and caught us together in bed?"

Harry smirked, unable to resist. "You make it sound so dirty." He casually sipped his orange juice, grimacing faintly at the pulp and decided to take as much enjoyment as he could from Dmitry's fish-out-of-water expression.

"So," he said casually, looking down the table at the boy he recognized as the one who slept across from Dmitry. "His name's Botolph?"

"Yes–wait, you-you didn't know his name?" Dmitry asked in astonishment.

Harry half-shrugged. "I've heard it mentioned, but it never stuck."

"But... he shares a room with us–has shared a room with us since first year!"

"And the only people I've ever paid much attention to are you, Abraxas, Orion, and Tom," Harry easily dismissed. "Don't get me wrong, if my life was on the line or if I thought about it for a minute or two, I'd be able to remember his name, but since we never talk, ever, at all, it didn't click when you said it a moment ago."

In truth, their brief encounter with Botolph earlier had left his mind completely, replaced with thoughts of breakfast, but if he had, like Dmitry suspected, told Tom what he'd seen earlier, Harry didn't doubt it was the cause of Tom's uncontainable ire.

"Don't worry though," he continued when it looked like Dmitry wouldn't recover from his newest announcement. "I'll protect you from Tom and his temper.

The corned of Dmitry's mouth twitched into the beginnings of a small smile. "Will you end up shouting at him and throwing yourself into the path of his spells, using your body as a shield?"

Harry smiled sardonically. "Yes, and when you're in the hospital wing, petrified by the basilisk, I'll even owl-order you some mandrake drought and feed it to you."

Dmitry paled drastically at the thought, but grinned weakly, recognizing it as an attempted joke. "Mouth to mouth?"

"Aha!" Harry pointed dramatically at the startled Russian across from him. "Your proclamations of denial might have fooled an ordinary man, but I knew you were dreaming about me last night!"

Dmitry's eyes bulged as his head whipped around to make sure no one had heard, his cheeks rivaling tomatoes. "Harry–"

"But that's in the past, lets get to Care." Paying no heed to Dmitry's protests, Harry grabbed a last piece of toast to nibble on as he joined the rear of a crowd of second year Slytherins also making their way out into the chilly winds swirling around the grounds, to Herbology.