Shadow Magic • Harry Potter X Theodore Nott •

(4) Shadows In His Eyes

The summer is wonderful. Harry has never lived in a house so large, or had the ability to wake up when he wants and do what he wants exactly then. Even staying in the Leaky Cauldron last summer, he had to wake up at certain times so he could get breakfast and lunch. Here, the Nott house-elves will serve him whenever he wants.

He soon explores all the shadowy corners in the manor, and finds a secret of Aethelred's that makes him smile to hold onto. Then he can concentrate on spreading out into the shadows of the forest and finding the hiding places of the unicorns that live there. Wild beasts scatter before him when he pops up. He finds a patch of Potions ingredients that Aethelred has warned him to let alone and watches from shadows for a long time before he sees the fine webs of guardian spiders spun among the herbs.

Spending time with Theodore gets easier and easier. He's happy to talk as much as Harry wants or as little as he asks. He'll lean back with his eyes closed and his hand waving as if he's conducting music while Harry talks about the Dursleys. He'll come up with absurd ideas for revenge on Harry's relatives and laugh about them with him.

And he buys Harry a birthday gift that has Harry giving him a long, narrow-eyed glance when he takes it out of the wrapping.

"What?" Theodore asks innocently.

"A historical book about Dark Lords was one thing, but this is a less than subtle hint," Harry replies, turning the book over. It has a cover picture, not always the case with books in the wizarding world, and it depicts a woman holding a bat in one hand and a snake in the other. Take Over the World With Dark Arts! says the title. There's no author listed.

Theodore doesn't say anything. Harry looks over at him to see if he's going to laugh, and finds him leaning towards Harry and staring, the way he did sometimes during the past year at school when he almost caught Harry using his shadow powers.

"You're the likeliest candidate I know," Theodore says softly.

"To take over the world?" Harry snorts and opens the book. There are a few spells listed, but most of the book seems to focus on manipulation techniques. That might be interesting. "I don't care enough about most people to want to rule them. Thank you for the book, though," he remembers to add.

"I think it's a requirement that you not care much about most people, in order to take over the world," Theodore says, smiling as he picks up the breakfast tray he and Harry have been eating from. "And you're welcome."

Harry rolls his eyes as he watches a house-elf pop up to take the tray from Theodore. "Why don't you do it? You don't care that much about most people, either."

"I never had the power. You do."

"You know I don't care that much about being the Boy-Who-Lived." And honestly, it seems that most people don't care that much about it anymore, either. That's something Harry is proud of. He acted like an ordinary or average student all year, at least on the surface, and so people have to treat him as ordinary and average.

"I wasn't talking about that."

Harry laughs a little uneasily. Theodore's eyes are so piercing that he may actually see through shadows, both the kind Harry travels through and the kind Harry tries to throw. "I don't have that much magical power, either."

"You deflected the Bone-Breaking Curse with a fourth-year spell. Do you know I studied the Shield Charm after you started teaching it to me and Thomas? It shouldn't be able to turn back that spell anyway, unless practiced by a wizard seventh year and up."

"Quirrell was a horrible teacher and half our books for that class are wrong. You know that. And will you call him Dean? You gave him permission to call you Theodore."