Harry, Luna, and Neville all shared a carriage up to the castle. Harry was surprised to see the thestrals pulling the carriages since they'd been invisible to him before he had seen Cedric Diggory die just a few months before, and he was even more surprised when they weren't afraid of him as every other animal besides Hedwig had been. "Thestrals are lovely creatures," Luna assured him as she petted the one that would be pulling their carriage after explaining what they were to her new friend. "I'll take you to see them in the forest soon. I think you'd particularly enjoy the colts."
"I don't think I'd call a skeletal horse a lovely creature," Neville said with a grin from where he held the door open to the carriage. "Interesting might be the better adjective."
"No…Luna's right. They are definitely lovely," Harry said quietly, the horse's aura pulling him in. It seemed to welcome him as a friend and kindred spirit when he reached out and ran a hand down its long nose. "Thank you, Luna. I'd love to see the colts. Let me know, any day."
Luna grabbed his hand and pulled him behind her into the carriage. "Of course, Harry. I have so many things to show you."
By the end of the welcoming feast, Harry wished he was back in the basement of Grimmauld and never had to leave. She's not here for me…she's not here for me… Harry kept repeating over and over in his mind as he followed along behind where the new first years were being led to Gryffindor Tower by Ron and Hermione. The new ministry official that had taken over DADA was going to give him a nervous breakdown. If she found out what he was, he could kiss spending time with his friends and being out in the normal world goodbye. If all the dementors guarded Azkaban, then the ministry must have some way of making them stay there, and Harry didn't want to find out what that way might be.
I'll just keep my head down and not cause trouble. Harry promised himself, trying not to remember how ineffectual that had been in the past.
Harry sat on the edge of his bed in the fifth-year boys' dorm. Hogwarts wasn't as he remembered it. Well, it was…but he was different. Gryffindor Tower was no longer a comfortable and safe feeling haven for him. The reds were too bright, and the gold wasn't shiny at all. Something about its location in the castle and aura just weren't right either. For the first time since his sorting, he wished he hadn't talked the hat out of putting him in Slytherin. The dungeons sounded like a much more enjoyable location. He was actually happy he couldn't sleep anymore because he was certain the uncomfortable aura in the tower would keep him awake tossing and turning every night.
As was becoming usual with his new pet, Harry was also concerned about leaving Jamie alone and defenseless in the room. He trusted his dormmates, but the soulless body couldn't take care of itself. What if something happened when he wasn't there to look out for it? Or, what if Ron tried to wake him up and realized he wasn't responsive?
The dementor decided to pull a page from Hermione's book and take out his anxieties on research. As soon as the last boy in the dorm pulled his curtains closed, Harry left Jamie and wandered out of the tower, invisible in the shadows. There had to be a book on wards and security spells in the library. If he could find a ward to place on his bed or Jamie himself to alert the dementor to danger or someone trying to wake him up, then he would breathe much easier. Hedwig met him halfway to the library and flew along beside him, keeping him company. "I'm looking for a book on wards, Hedwig," Harry told her in a series of inhuman screeches while he scratched her head with a long, skeletal finger. "If you can read, then hoot if you see one." The owl flew to the top of a bookshelf and ignored the instructions.
It was almost too easy to sneak about now. He didn't need his invisibility cloak, and since he hovered instead of walked, he made absolutely no noise as he searched the library. He didn't even need a light to read by since he didn't have eyes and was using some sort-of extra-sensory-vision-thing to see with. He didn't even think Snape could catch him now…it almost took all the fun out of it. Though…it would be beyond funny if Snape were to walk into the library to see a dementor hovering at a desk and reading a book with an owl beside him. Harry chuckled quietly at the thought.
Harry's nighttime sneaking paid off with an entire shelf of warding books. He pulled one on medical wards, one on security wards, and one geared towards parents for their children (why was that one in a school library?). Anyway, he settled into a long night of research and studying up on wards. Sometimes it was nice to not need to sleep anymore.
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