Foul Fuath

"So..." Hermione plops herself next to him Harry in the library, "Do you have any plans for Christmas?"

He crooks a brow at her over his book, "I thought you were ignoring me?"

"No... I just needed to get my head straight, you did drop a lot on me, Harry..." she admits.

"Plans... I'll be spending the two in Italy, Rome has one of the most populous magical settlements from what I've heard. Slightly larger than Diagon Alley actually...?" he states.

"Oh?" she slumps slightly, "That's a shame, my parents wanted to invite you for Christmas lunch. It's fine though if you're busy, they've just... Heard a lot about you." she flushes lightly.

"Heard about me...?"

"I may have written about you to them, they wanted to know about my friends here..." she trails off, trying to spot if he was upset with her or not.

He glances at her, "Why me? I'm not the most sociable, and I'm sure you have other, more 'normal' friends."

She shakes her head sadly, "I don't really think I have anyone I can call friend here, other than you maybe. Parvati, Neville, Lavander, Kellah, they're all more just acquaintances than real friends... And don't get me started on the other Gryffindors, most of them ignore me while others like Ronald think I'm a Ravenclaw homework dispenser."

"So... You've only written to your parents about me, a boy your age, presumably you've mentioned how 'brooding' I am?" he questions and she can't help but look away, "I think I've read in a romance somewhere, you're not going to try and change me, are you, Hermione?"

"T-this is nothing like that! I-I just mentioned that you had trouble making friends and-"

"And you pitied me, found out my secrets, and are now falling in love with my dark demeanour." he drawls and grimaces as she blushes even harder. There were three main reasons cliches existed, because they were either easy to write, popular amongst the target audience, or too common in reality to ignore. He suspected this was the latter of the options.

"F-forget it, if you can't come then can't come." she quickly says, "Can I at least get your phone number? I'd like to hear about what you find in Italy."

He shakes his head, "I don't have a phone, you'd have to purchase an owl if you wanted to keep in contact. Even then, I might be somewhere that the owl can't reach."

"T-then, I'll ask my parents to buy one. I-if that's fine?" she asks, starting to feel like he didn't want to talk to her outside of school, which somewhat mirrored how her other classmates felt about her. Was he too just keeping her around to help his studies?... She shakes her head, all evidence pointed to the contrary, hopefully she wasn't sounding too clingy though?

"That's fine, just don't tire the bird out too much, they might be magically enhanced but they still have to eat and sleep. I've read about overly enthusiastic owners causing their owls to fall out of the sky... That's actually why the owlery in Diagon Alley was built, they didn't want to hire people to keep cleaning up bodies."

"A morbid yet fascinating fact about our world, Mr Potter." Professor McGonagall suddenly interjects herself into their conversation. "But I'm afraid I have to interrupt your study, the Headmaster wishes to speak with you."

...

Harry shoots Hermione a quick glance before nodding and standing, "Who am I to deny 'his grace'."

"W-what's this for, Professor?" Hermione asks.

"Nothing negative I assure you Miss Granger, now come along, I'm sure you're eager to continue your discussion."

"I'll be back." Harry tells his friend as he leaves.

--------------------

"We meet here once more, Mr Potter." Dumbledore starts, interrupting their staring contest.

"How convenient." Harry dryly retorts, "Why don't you get to the point so I can go back to what I was doing?"

Albus strokes his beard, "I wish to speak about your plans for Christmas break, I would like you to stay in the castle-"

"I refuse. Is that all?"

The old man sighs and takes off his spectacles, "I'm very sorry, but I am having trouble accepting that, Harry. You see, while you may have been safe with your current guardian before, now that you've ventured back into the public eye, you will be in danger. And I do not think my conscience can endure you receiving another tragedy."

"The only tragedy I can see is you imprisoning me here. You don't need to worry about my safety, I'm going on vacation out of the country while I'm away."

"Harry please, you must understand-"

Harry cuts Dumbledore off by slowly getting to his feet, "Do you have any legal authority to prevent me from leaving? No? I'll see you after Christmas." he states and goes to leave.

"Harry! You do not realise how much danger you are in! You must stay, your very life may depend on it!" Dumbledore exclaims.

"I'll be sure to watch my back then, I'll see you in two weeks, Headmaster."

------------------

"Nick," Harry greets with a 'friendly' smile as he steps into their shared bedroom. "I've got something for you."

"What is it?" the boy questions as he takes the gift... It's a... Black pearl?

"It's called a Fuath Stone, think of it like a tooth for the tooth fairy, you put it under your pillow and you get stronger. By the time we see each other again in two weeks you won't need me to handle the bullies, you'll deal with them yourself."

...

Nick twists the stone in his fingers and looks up, "Are you sure... T-this isn't a prank is it? It's really magic?"

Harry nods, "I promise. Just remember not to show it to anyone, it's safe to use but very expensive. Anyone who sees it will try to steal it, believe me, you think people would pass up the chance to get stronger?"

"W-why don't you want it though?"

Harry shrugs, "I don't need it, I'm strong enough already. That isn't the only stone I have either."

"Thank you... T-this really means a lot to me!"

"No problem." Harry smiles, "Just focus on getting stronger and you'll never be hurt again."