The right path

Twenty three

Harry was sitting in the shade of an oak tree near the lake, watching Hagrid feed the giant squid. With the easter hols came a very pleasant weather, and he wanted to make the most of it. And what's more important, he had literally nothing else to do, so lazing around a bit wouldn't hurt.

Two days ago he had deciphered the last part of the anti-trace pendant, and enchanted two pebbles alongside with Tom to see if it worked. They were going to test it today, after curfew, when no one would suspect of them if anything went wrong.

They had also finished the mechanisms for the map, slowly adding the corridors, rooms and crevices of the castle. It was simple, really, they had to scan the place they intended to copy into the paper, and transfer the dimensions and layout. There were two separate copies, for them to work on they own, too, and the other copy would be self updating. That way they could cover more ground, and Harry could add the secret passages James told him without giving an explanation. Currently, they had all of the principal pathways mapped out, and most of the well known areas, too. They were missing some secret passageways and unused classrooms, but they would get there.

In the time they had been using it, though, they had noticed that people didn't appear in areas they hadn't finished mapping, so they had to stick to the places they could see whenever they were out after curfew, which was, admittedly, very often.

Usually, Harry and Tom would be working on the missing things on days like this, or maybe sparring and practicing parselamagic, with Nirali curling next to the fireplace in the RoR. Not today, though, since Tom was currently 'holding a tutoring session' in the boy's room, with the rest of their classmates. Of course Harry knew it wasn't a tutoring session, he was not a fool, but decided to let it be for now. He had come to appreciate the beauty of observing and planning, instead of rushing into things.

James had already told him about the 'Knights of Walpurgis' earlier that day, and he had to admit, he was very curious to see what all that was about. And it also made him wonder why Tom hadn't tried to get him there, it provoked conflicting emotions within himself. He was relieved he hadn't had to fight with Tom for not being one of his minions, but he felt disappointed by the fact that Tom had not considered him good enough to try and get him to join. It was strange, how much he wished to get Tom's attention, to prove himself to the boy and challenge him. Yet, he knew he would never bow to Tom, they were equals and Harry knew it. He was not a follower, but a natural leader, and so was Tom.

So, that's how he would feign to be oblivious about the real reason of those meetings. Unless he got wind of the sadistic tendencies he wanted to erase from Tom's mind. Well...not erase, really, there were people who deserved Tom's ire, but not his followers. People who are loyal to you and your cause should not be loyal out of fear, but out of admiration, as far as Harry was concerned.

And that brought another issue. Harry realized he really didn't know what Tom was aiming for, not really. That was another reason to let him start his plans, maybe that way Harry could make up his mind about his approach to the matters at hand. He knew he didn't want what James fought for in the future, he wanted all magic to be legal, but still, the thought of torturing and killing innocent people didn't sit well with him. At all. It made him nauseous, and he knew that he could find a better approach to reach his goals.

One thing was settled, though. He would not ever let Tom become Voldemort. The boy was too good for that, and even if Harry didn't admit it, he knew he cared deeply for Tom, as he now considered him a good friend. There was absolutely no way he would let Tom go all the way to insanity. He would be failing Tom, himself, and the future he was sent to avoid. No, he was going to fight for what was right, always.

Just as he was thinking of leaving to do something more productive, he saw Ner leave the castle in her quidditch robes. It had been some time since Harry spent a decent amount of time with her, so, quickly, he jogged to where Hagrid was and excused himself.

"Ner! Wait up. Merlin, you walk fast. Are you going for a quick fly?"

Minerva stopped, waiting until Harry caught up. She had had a difficult week, studying for her OWLS and preparing her schoolwork, so a flying session to let go of stress was due. The Easter holidays were like a lifeline in this chaotic time.

"Yes, just to relax a bit. You coming?"

"Of course."

Harry summoned his broom, still walking towards the quidditch pitch. A good fly would help him loosen up, no doubt.

Halfway through their descent, Harry's broom arrived, stopping swiftly next to its owner. The new breaks shining through, judging by the expression in Minerva's face.

"Merlin, Har, your broom's got some breaks. What model is it? I definitely need it. Although I haven't heard of anything like it."

Harry didn't know what to say. He thought nobody would notice. Hell, his own team hadn't noticed in months. But then again, Ner was a genius in her own right.

"I...may or may not have tweaked the breaks of my cleansweep..."

Minerva wasn't even surprised, she had expected that answer, or something similar. She hasn't read any reports on a break system such as that one, and she was always updated. So the only explanation would be that Potter modified his broom, and the boy certainly had the capacity to do it. If it was a legal move or not, she didn't know, nor cared.

"I see...well, I'll give you ten galleons if you tweak mine too."

At first Harry didn't process what Ner had said. But when it sank in, his eyes became wide with disbelief, mouth hanging open.

"Wh-what?! That's almost the sum of a brand new broom, Ner! And I'm not even sure if it applies to your model too."

"Come on, Har. I promise to not tell anyone if that's what you want."

"That's not it, really. But that's a lot of money, Ner. I'll do it, but you don't have to pay."

At this, Minerva stopped. Someone needed to teach Harry how to make business, it seemed.

"Nonsense. You worked hard to achieve that, and I will pay for it. Honestly, Potter, one would think that you knew how to make business. Mind you, now I'll make my whole team pay you for your services. Ten galleons, no less, understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good, now let's go. Let me fly a little bit before you take my broom away."

And with that, she winked, tossed him a money pouch with the ten galleons, and ran down the path to the quidditch pitch. Harry caught the small bag and started running behind her. Who would have thought he would make money out of this? Of course, he now would do all of the Slytherin's too, he wouldn't give the Gryffindors any advantage.

They did some lapses around the pitch, raced each other, and tried to outdo the other with difficult moves. The both of them were great, a truly energetic duo, pretty entertaining to watch.

After an hour or so, they noticed it was lunch time already, and so, they decided to land and go to the Great Hall. Harry was happy, he had had a great day, and it would only get better now that Tom was free to actually practice with him.

When Harry entered the Great Hall with a big grin, all sweaty and accompanied by Minerva Mcgonagall, Tom could not help the growl that escaped his lips. The other boys sitting with him were startled by his change of mood, since he had been great seconds ago, but didn't comment on it.  They were still edgy in his presence, even when they had received tutoring in dueling today, without having to ask for it.

Tom, though, didn't care about the others. He could only think of how jealous he was right now, and how angry he felt. And how he didn't know why he was feeling this way. One thing was sure in his mind, though. Harry Potter was his and nobody would take him away.

Tom was so busy glaring at Mcgonagall that he didn't notice when Harry arrived, still with a big grin. And Harry was so busy looking forward to having a nice afternoon practicing parselamagic with Tom to notice the other boy glaring daggers at his best friend.