Death's Son (Originally done by Little.Miss.Xanda)

Chapter 8

Harry woke up slowly. He felt warm and safe. He couldn't quite remember the last time he had felt it. Wanting to hang on to the last vestiges of sleep, he burrowed deeper into the warmth beside him. He grumbled when he felt his pillow shaking.

"Good morning," Barty's husky voice whispered near his ear. Harry stilled for a fraction of a second, as the previous night coming to him. When he felt the arms wrapped around him, he relaxed a little and pulled his head away from Barty's chest, his comfortable pillow. He smiled sleepily at the man next to him.

"Good morning," he whispered back.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Better than I have in a long time. I actually got to sleep until sunrise," Harry replied.

Barty looked at him in confusion, "Do you not normally sleep well?"

"Not normally," Harry replied, leaving it at that.

Barty nodded in slight understanding, "Glad you got a good night's sleep."

They stayed like that for a few more minutes, both enjoying their time together and wanting it to last. Harry, because he didn't really want to face people outside of his little bubble, Barty, because he just wanted to keep Harry close.

"We have to get up," Harry grumbled, not moving from his place.

"I know," Barty replied, tightening his arms around Harry.

Harry grumbled a bit more about anything he could think of, making Barty laugh, until he finally pulled himself away. He glared a little at the sun that was peeking through the curtains, blaming it for making him leave his newfound haven.

He felt the mattress shift and he glanced up to see Barty leaving the bed as well.

"You should go, before they start searching for you," Barty advised.

"I know," he stretched a little and transfigured his sweatpants back to his clothes from the previous night, "I need you to cover for me tonight. I have to go see Tom and I don't know how long I will be."

Barty turned to look at him, his eyes were unreadable and Harry frowned slightly.

"Of course, if anyone asks, I'll cover for you."

Harry smiled at him, letting the matter go, just like he had the previous night. He knew that Barty would tell him if he pushed but he didn't want to push. He wanted Barty to come to him on his own. He wanted Barty to trust him and for that to happen he couldn't push.

"Thanks," Harry said, walking towards the door, then stopped and turned around, "If I want to sleep here again... would you mind?"

Barty's eyes had their shine back and a small smile appeared on his lips, "Of course not. You can come to me every time you wish it."

Harry smiled brightly at him and left Barty's room. He couldn't quite keep the smile from his lips all the way back to Gryffindor tower.

He snuck back to his dorm, doing his best not to wake the others. He knew he would be teased endlessly if they knew he spent the whole night out. If they didn't see him then he could always say he had gone to bed after they had already fallen asleep and that he had woken before them. When he reached the bathroom, he congratulated himself on his sneaking abilities and took a quick shower to get ready for his day.

He was rather thankful that they didn't have any classes that day. He was quite tired. Controlling the elements was difficult. He hadn't truly tested it before the task, which wasn't too bright, but oh well. Sure he had played around with wind, water, earth, fire, and shadow, but he hadn't truly done anything to that magnitude, aside from giving Tom his body back. Though, he had reason to believe that he had felt so tired because he accidentally infused life into his fire dragon. The life element was one of the hardest elements to control, according to his father. But he hadn't really used any of the other elements. Sure he has shot a few jets of water at Barty and he also built forts and castles with earth and he had spent a great deal of time lighting the fire in a fireplace and controlling its intensity, but nothing compared to the dragon.