Chapter Five

"I upset you again,"

Harry sighed and paused in what he was doing. Elbow deep in the soil he dropped his shoulders before looking up to see Barty wandering towards him.

"Yes you did," He nodded before carrying on planting the tree he had been working on before Barty interrupted his quiet time.

"I did not mean to,"

"Doesn't mean that you didn't though," Harry sighed.

"You do that around me a lot," Barty sat on the opposite side of the patch of grass that Harry had been working on, only four or five feet between them, but enough to put Harry a little more at ease, and something that he was aware Barty had done on purpose.

"Do what?" He asked shifting so that he was also sitting cross-legged, looking Barty in the eyes.

"Sigh,"

"You frustrate and confuse me," Harry admitted.

"I have always frustrated you, that is not something that is new," Barty snorted.

"That is true," Harry huffed. "What is it you want from me, Barty?"

"I like that," The man said instead of answering making Harry roll his eyes.

"Like what?"

"You saying my name when you're talking to me, not someone else's. It always annoyed me when we were together and we were sharing things when we were interacting as friends, and you would say his name. I hated it," Barty scowled.

"You know what I hate?" Harry narrowed his green eyes at the older man.

"What?" Barty straightened himself, seemingly ready to take whatever Harry was about to throw at him, bracing his shoulders as though he was expecting a physical blow. Harry tilted his head slightly and surveyed the other man.

"I hate that even though you betrayed me as well as Ron and Hermione, I still want to trust you, I am angry with them, I am just hurt by what you did, and at the same time I am relieved that you're ok and that you didn't get kissed that night, because a huge part of me hated you as equally as I mourned for you,"

"Harry…"

"You make me want to scream Barty. I don't know how to feel about you! I don't know what I should be feeling, and it drives me mad,"

"I'm sorry," Barty said honestly, not lowering his eyes, taking what Harry threw at him. "If there was anything at all that I could do to make it up to you, I would,"

"Lucius is going to the Dursleys," Harry said after a few moments of them just staring at each other.

"You told him?" Barty asked shocked.

"I need to start trusting him and opening up, I can't expect him to understand me and understand why I react to certain things if he doesn't know my history," Harry bit his lip.

"So he knows. He is going to them?" Barty asked with a spark in his eye.

"I told him where they are," Harry nodded seeing the shock in Barty's brown eyes at the confession.

"I tried to get out of you for months where they were," He frowned.

"What...what would you have done to them? You told me what Moody would have done when I asked why you wanted to know. What would you have done?"

"Tortured them, hurt them, made them regret every single thing that they had said to you, made them cry a tear for every time they hurt you. Make them scream for every single time they made you cry. What changed your mind?" Barty growled.

"I am not the little boy that wanted their love and hoped that they would still come to care for me. I have also realised that people will just carry on hurting you if you lie down and let them. I have had enough of being the punching bag and tool for other people to use. It is going to stop, starting with the first people to treat me as though I was nothing," Harry said firmly.

"Now you're starting to sound like a Malfoy," Barty smirked dangerously. "Let me go too,"

"That isn't why I told you," Harry frowned.

"I know, you told me because you're warning me that I won't be getting a third chance after this chance that you're giving me, and if I muck it up I will regret it,"

"I hate when you do that!" Harry huffed turning his attention back to settling the tree in the hole he had made for it.

"But I want to go as well, I have thought so often about what I want to do to them for how many times they hurt you,"

"Speak to...my father, it is in his hands now," Harry said slowly, testing out the words on his tongue.

"Indeed?" Barty raised his eyebrow, Harry not sure as to which part that he was addressing.

"Yes," Harry looked at him challengingly.

"Well then, I guess I had better go have a chat about it with him then," Barty stood and looked down at Harry as he went back to work.

"Was there something else?" Harry asked without looking up at him.

"Nothing else for now," He said before strolling off whistling to himself, leaving Harry to shake his head and carry on with his gardening, wondering what on earth he had meant by that.

Harry glanced up as Narcissa walked into the room and sat down next to him, her hands clenched slightly on her skirts as she stared into the fireplace, not saying anything but clearly trying to figure out what to say.

Realising that this was going to be a serious talk, Harry set aside his book and waited for her to speak.

"Is...is this about what I told Lucius last night?" He asked softly when it seemed that she could not find the words.

"Yes," Narcissa choked out, shocking Harry at how broken it sounded. "He said...he said that they...hurt you,"

Harry reached out and took her hand, finding it trembling heavily. "Yes, they did,"

Narcissa let out a wounded noise and reached out for him, put paused clearly not sure how he would react to it. Despite the fact that they had been getting on better, better than himself and Lucius, there had only been a handful of times that they had really had contact.

He moved forward and pressed himself into her touch, letting her wrap her arms around him and hug him tightly to her, her hand sweeping through his hair in a repeated, soothing motion as she rocked them slightly. Whether to comfort him, herself or the little boy that had been abused, or all three, Harry was not sure.

"I want to see them all crushed, I want to see them all suffer and hurt and cry, I want them to feel what you have gone through, each and every one of them," Narcissa breathed out, and Harry knew she was not talking about the Durselys alone, but the light side as well.

He pulled back and looked into her blue eyes, and for the first time he saw it, truly and completely saw it. She was not expressing the words of Death Eater, a Dark witch, she was expressing it as a Mother, a Mother whose child had been hurt and neglected, a Mother who would do anything to get revenge on those who had hurt or been the cause of hurt to her child because there was nothing that she could do to go back and stop it happening to him.

She cupped his face, and brushed his hair away from his eyes, holding him as if he were the most precious thing in the world.

"It makes me angry, and hurt, being here and realising that instead…" He faltered and Narcissa hugged him close again, stroking his hair as he allowed himself to rest against her. "...instead of being there, being treated like...being treated the way that I was, I could have been here, growing up with love and a home…"

"Harry," Narcissa sighed sadly hugging him. "It can not be undone, but I can swear that myself and...and your father, we as your parents will do everything within our power to make sure that you are not harmed again, in any way, we will make sure that we do everything within our power to make sure that you are happy, even when you are fifty years old and married with children of your own,"

Harry laughed a little at her words, closing his eyes as he allowed them to wash over him, the promise in them and the truth in her words giving him hope. But he had to take the risk to believe them.

"I need your help," Harry sat back, took his breath and took the risk. "I am worried about the anger I am feeling, it overwhelms me sometimes, and I don't know how to cope with it,"

"I think that comes from my side if you haven't noticed Draco suffers from the same problem," She said dryly making him chuckled. "I have something that I think can help you,"

Meeting her eyes he knew she saw it for the olive branch that it was, the acceptance of the promise that she had just made. It felt so odd, asking his mother for help, putting himself into her hands and trusting her to help.

"I will be going with him," She said softly as Harry rested against her again.

"I know,"

"You… you will not judge us for it?" She asked concerned.

"I- I want them to hurt,"

"Good," She hissed before she closed her eyes and held him close.

"Could...could you tell me a little bit about your side of the family? The portraits have been catching me up on the Malfoy side, and they have been able to tell me a little about the Blacks, but they don't know as much,"

"Of course I will," She said, sounding shocked but there was a tone of happiness present as well. "Well, we are one of the oldest…"

"Harry is there a reason there is a portrait missing?" Lucius asked casually as he walked into the kitchen. "And can I ask what on the earth you are doing in here?"

"And why did you presume it was me?" Harry asked.

"Because the likelihood of it being someone else is incredibly low. Hello Killian," Lucius located the missing portrait who smiled and waved.

"I wanted to watch Harry cooking," Killian said in explanation.

"And the fact that you foisted Great great great great grandmother Hewet from her portrait for this?"

"It was the lightest and smallest portrait near the kitchen for Harry to remove and bring in," Killian shrugged.

"You're a bad influence on him," Lucius shook his head and wandered closer to Harry. "What are you cooking?"

"Cookies and I am making chicken and parmesan parcels," Harry said, glancing up at Lucius unsurely. He knew that this wasn't a past-time that Lucius would agree with Draco taking part in.

"It smells wonderful," Lucius said, clearly pushing down his first reaction, and instead sat down on the other side of the counter to Harry.

"There are some that I have just cooked there," Harry said nodding to the parcels.

"Oh," Lucius perked up a little and reached for one. Harry watched anxiously as Lucius bit into the fried parcel. The noise he let out had Harry grinning, especially when he quickly took another bite before fully swallowing the last. "Harry, this is wonderful!"

"Thank you," Harry was aware that his cheeks were glowing.

"Merlin, this is amazing, what about your cakes?" Lucius asked before taking another quick bite and started looking around the counter.

"Here," Harry pushed the cupcakes toward Lucius. "They're prototypes, I haven't tried making cupcakes out of this recipe before,"

He watched nervously as Lucius took a bite before he groaned at that as well.

"What on earth are you eating Lucius, I could hear you from down the hallway, hello dear," Narcissa smiled at Harry before looking back to her husband confused.

"Harry is an amazing chef, you have to come and taste these!" Lucius quickly had a parcel and a cake on a plate and placed it in front of the stool next to him.

"I'm hardly a chef, I just enjoy cooking, it helps me think," Harry was bright Gryffindor red by this point.

"It smells wonderful," Narcissa said brightly before taking a bite. "Oh Merlin, Harry, this is wonderful!" She gasped happily.

"I told you so," Lucius nodded taking another parcel and biting into it. "Our son is an amazing chef!"

"He really is," Narcissa agreed after swallowing the bite of cake that she had taken.

"I erm...I also have these," Harry said as he pulled from the oven a freshly baked batch of Chinese Tea Biscuits, quickly plating them up and tapping the plate to cool them enough to be edible. His bright red cheeks at least could be put off as the heat from the oven, the pleasure in his chest at the words Lucius had said, and Narcissa's natural agreement settling in him even more.

Killian winked at him from over Lucius and Narcissa's shoulders.

"Do I smell Chinese Tea Biscuits?" Barty poked his head into the kitchen.

"Here," Harry rolled his eyes shoving a plate laden with goodies towards the man when he hesitated, for once looking unsure of his welcome.

"Oh I have missed your cooking," Barty hummed.

"Why are you here?" Harry asked curiously.

"We have a meeting tonight," Barty shrugged, and all of a sudden Lucius and Narcissa looked uncomfortable.

"Oh, right," Harry frowned a little.

"I will not be attending tonight, I thought that we could work on our project instead?" Narcissa smiled softly at him.

"You don't have to stay around all the time for me you know?" Harry smiled.

"We want to, besides we are a little worried leaving you and Draco unattended," she snickered.

"This house has been standing for the Malfoys for centuries, they don't want to risk it being brought down," Killian snorted.

"Great Great Grandfather!" Lucius scolded.

"Oh sorry, were you trying to not tell him?" Killian smirked.

"Wonderful, you're his favourite," Lucius sighed.

"Of course he is, he is interesting, unlike Draco he has a personality and thinks for himself," Killian huffed.

"Killian!" Narcissa snapped.

"After the way he has spoken to Harry, he deserves it," Killian sniffed before stalking out the portrait grumbling to himself. An old blonde woman with quite the impressive scowl slid back into her painting glaring at Harry.

"We had better get going," Lucius sighed popping the last of his cake into his mouth.

"Be careful," Harry said quietly, his eyes sliding over Barty before settling on Lucius.

"We will. Thank you for the food, it was truly wonderful," Lucius gripped Harry's shoulder, smiling at him, before turning and kissing Narcissa before grabbing Barty's arm when he went to say something and tugged him out the kitchen.

"Shall we take some cake and hot chocolate to the living room and work on our projects while they are gone?" Narcissa suggested with a soft smile.

Harry scrunched his forehead in concentration as he worked, glancing regularly to the pattern beside him and then back to his work, reassuring himself that he had not gone wrong.

"You're doing well there," Narcissa smiled at him glancing at his work and he tilted it for her to see it better. "It's really coming together,"

"It's really relaxing," Harry smiled happily, not really sure what to do with the compliment from her.

"I'm glad that you find it relaxing, are you enjoying it for itself?" She asked, turning back to her own work.

"I am, it is really nice seeing the image starting to come together," Harry said.

"No need to sound so surprised," Narcissa laughed.

"Oh no, I just didn't think that I would have the concentration for it," Harry said quickly before his eyes widened as she started laughing.

"I was just teasing you, sweetheart," She said before they both blinked at each other at the term of endearment. "Ok?" She asked nervously.

"Yeah, no, I really liked it," Harry looked back down to his work.

"So, are you going to tell me what you are making?" She asked moving the conversation on.

"No, you will have to wait and see," He grinned before going back to his sewing. When Narcissa had suggested it as a way to relax and focus his mind a little better he had been a little dubious, but the few testers that he had done with her and had found himself really enjoying it.

He also enjoyed the time spent with Narcissa, the quiet chatter that they could have while doing it another nice way to spend time with her getting to know her.

They were just starting to talk about the lesson Harry had had with Samuel when he let out a yelp and dropped his embroidery as his whole body tingled and he was surrounded by a powerful purple light.

"What's happening?" Harry asked panicked standing up. "Is it Dumbledore?"

"No no it's… Barty's magic," Narcissa frowned her wand dancing in the air as she tried to figure out what was going on.

"Barty?" Harry frowned and got angry at himself when he realised he had relaxed at that news.

"Yes...he...oh...oh that is interesting," Narcissa covered her mouth.

"What? What's he done now?" Harry sighed sounding so put upon that she couldn't stop herself from laughing.

"I can't touch you while it sinks in, you're going to have to wait it out. Barty has made a vow."

"...believe that you did that," Lucius said as he and Barty walked into Lucius' study. But before Barty could respond they realised that Narcissa and Harry were sitting on the sofa, clearly waiting for them.

"Harry…" Barty coughed.

"So, a vow for me huh?" Harry crossed his arms.

"Ah, you know about that huh?" Barty grimaced as Harry stood and moved towards him, Lucius edged around the side of his son and friend, and went to sit with Narcissa.

"Know about it? I bloody well glowed purple, Barty!" Harry scowled.

"You did? Huh, it's not a common vow, I didn't know that it would do that," Barty mused.

"You vowed to guard me at the risk. of. your. magic!" Harry started poking Barty in the chest.

"Yes I did, and there is no way to reverse it," Barty nodded, completely ignoring Harry's jabs.

"Why the hell would you do that! And what gives you the right to just decide to be my bodyguard! Do I not get a say in this?" Harry carried on poking him needing some outlet for his anger.

"Because I care about you and I won't see you hurt! It was the best way I knew to protect you!" Barty growled as he grabbed Harry's wrist and tugged him so that they were practically nose to nose. He held Harry's arm close to his chest so it was harder for him to tug free.

"Protect me from what?!" Harry snarled, shoving at Barty's shoulder with his free hand.

"From the Dark Lord and from his moronic minions that think hurting you would be a good idea. No one touches you," Barty said dangerously.

"And if someone hurts me and you can't protect me, then you lose your magic, you idiot!"

"Just by being tied to you will put most of the idiots off. It also gives us time to figure out who is a danger to you and get rid of them."

"It won't be your fault if something happens to me, but it will be mine if you lose your magic!"

"I've seen you fight and duel, it's not something that I'm worried about," Barty smirked.

"Damn it, Barty!" Harry growled shoving as hard as he could at Barty's chest, barely able to move him. "If you're doing this because you feel guilty…"

"It's because I care, not because I feel guilty!"

"Did you even think about how guilty I would feel if you lost your magic because of me?!"

That seemed to halt whatever words Barty was about to say next.

"You didn't! You're infuriating!" Harry exclaimed as he stamped his foot.

"Well, so are you!" Barty growled back.

"For Merlin's sake!" Harry scowled. "Do not smirk, I will hex you if you smirk!" He warned.

"There is nothing that can be done now, the vow is made and will hold for the next five years."

"Barty!"

"Harry!"

"Ugh!" Harry yanked himself free and stormed out of the room and Barty threw up his hands and apparated away.

"Well, it seems as though we may be gaining a son-in-law as well as our son," Narcissa hummed thoughtfully from the sofa. Where it seemed they had been forgotten about.

"Yes quite...wait what?!" Lucius turned sharply to look at her.

"Morning,"

Harry screamed and sat up in bed, brandishing his wand as his heart pounded in his chest. Looking around to locate the speaker, he found Barty stretched out across the bottom of his bed.

"Barty!" Harry dropped back down onto his pillow clutching his hand to his chest.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" Barty smirked and then yelped when seven of the pillows from the bed flew at him and managed to knock him to the floor. "What the hell was that for!?"

"How long have you been in here?!" Harry glared.

"About half an hour, your mother sent me up to wake you, but you were sleeping so peacefully I decided to wait,"

"Bloody creeper!" Harry grumbled as Barty heaved himself back onto the bed.

"I was being nice,"

"I still haven't forgiven you, so don't think that I'm just going to banter with you and everything will be fine," Harry glared.

"Is this about that pesky little vow thing?" Barty sighed flopping back onto the bed.

"I don't need a bodyguard."

"No you don't," Barty agreed seriously sitting up and looking at Harry intently. "You are more than able to look after yourself, and you're bloody scary when you're angry. But you don't need to look after yourself all the time anymore, and I wasn't going to stand by and watch your life be made even more difficult for you when there is something that I could do to help. I am untouchable right now, I brought back the Dark Lord, even he can not risk offending me. By the rights of our most sacred laws, he owes me a life debt. By doing what I did I was able to give you the breathing space that you needed."

"You confuse me," Harry sighed, tipping his head up to look at the ceiling.

"How?"

Harry could hear the smugness in his question as Barty clicked onto the fact that the anger had completely drained out of Harry's voice.

"Because I can't figure you out. What you did was not something that you would do for someone you just thought of as a friend, and I had already started forgiving you, and you knew that, so you have earned nothing you weren't getting anyway," Harry sighed.

"There is that beautiful Slytherin mind," Barty laughed and Harry felt him moving. He started when Barty suddenly came into view, kneeling on the edge of the bed as he leant over to fill Harry's vision with the older man.

"Barty…" Harry frowned, confused at the expression on his face.

"Now isn't the right time for that explanation, all I will say is that I did it because I care," Barty said.

Before Harry could say anything else he leant down and pressed their lips together in a kiss so quick that Harry barely had time to blink before he was pulling away. Harry lay there completely confused, touching his burning lips as Barty made his way to the door.

Harry sat there for a long while, unaware of how much time passed until Missy popped in.

"Master Harry, the Mistress is being asking if you are coming for breakfast?"

"Oh, yes, I'll be right down, Missy," Harry forced himself up and shook his head free of all thoughts of the annoying man that he could not seem to get rid of. Hurrying to get ready for breakfast.

"I don't understand why he has to be here!" Draco was snapping when Harry walked in. He presumed that it was about him, but then he spotted Barty sitting smirking at the blond, clearly winding him up.

He dropped down into the seat next to Barty, a little baffled at the mixture of a glare and a pout that Lucius was aiming at Barty. He had seemed ok, if a little shocked at Barty's decision to make the vow, and the fact that he was here for lunch meant that Lucius wasn't that perturbed by it, but he definitely wasn't happy.

He decided to ignore it for now and instead reached for the toast feeling his stomach grumbling at him. As he reached out a fork suddenly appeared from nowhere aiming straight for his hand, and it was something that he could not stop, he knew from experience that he wouldn't get his hand out in time, despite his seeker reflexes. It wasn't the first time that Draco had pulled this.

Then a spell shot from his side and hit Draco perfectly on the wrist causing him to yelp and drop the fork. Narcissa and Lucius started from where they had been talking to each other and looked over in time to see Harry snatching a couple of rounds of toast, Barty sitting smugly and Draco rubbing his wrist.

"Burnt it on the teapot," Draco muttered looking darkly at Barty.

Narcissa and Lucius went back to their conversation, though a little suspiciously, and Barty took the chance too waggle his finger at Draco and shake his head. Draco essentially snarled at him, his eyes glittering fiercely while Harry sat munching on his toast watching them curiously.

Barty seemed determined to protect Harry from Draco, as he had been really in Fourth year. He glanced between them, like watching a tennis match as they seemed to be squaring each other up. Barty reached for the sausages and bacon, sliding them onto Harry's plate, then an egg, his eyes constantly challenging Draco to take a stab at him the way the three of them knew he would have done had it been Harry.

"So, what are your plans for today everyone?" Narcissa thankfully broke into the staring match.

"I am going out with Blaise and Theo," Draco said promptly.

"I have lessons today," Harry said, going to shrug but then remembering they did not like him doing that at the table.

"I'm researching Dark curses for Our Lord," Barty said with a pointed glance at Draco who paled slightly.

"Wonderful the accountant is nearly finished with the paperwork for you to claim the Potter vaults Harry," Lucius mentioned.

"Oh right," Harry hadn't really realised that Lucius had been moving to get that sorted, after their fight it hadn't really been mentioned, they had been busy trying to find level ground between the two of them.

"Wonderful," Lucius nodded and then went back to reading his papers.

And Barty and Draco went back to glaring at each other and exchanging jabs and jibes. When Harry glanced over Narcissa met his eyes, clearly having been watching the interaction as well. She looked amused rather than annoyed as he had expected, and when they're eyes met she winked at him. For some reason, this took his mind back to the kiss this morning, and he felt his cheeks staining a little red at the thought.

Honestly, this whole thing was going to be the death of him even without the threat of Voldemort and Dumbledore. Though his death might come from Draco he reckoned as the blond glared darkly at him as Barty turned to answer Lucius.

"Here," Harry slid down the piece of cake in front of Barty, the older man staring at him confused. "It's called cake, you eat it,"

"I know what it is," Barty huffed before pulling the cake closer and took a big bite of it, groaning happily at the taste. "I'b bissed youb booking,"

"You missed my cooking?" Harry translated, snorting when Barty nodded enthusiastically before taking an even larger bite.

"Soooo goob," Barty groaned.

"So…" Harry drawled and those brown eyes snapped onto his face.

"This is sneaby cabe!" Barty accused, pointing dramatically at the cake.

"Yup!" Harry smirked. "I want information. I want to know what Voldemort wants from me, and I want to know where my family stand with him, especially with me being involved now,"

"You didn't have to bribe me for that," Barty rolled his eyes before snatching his cake when Harry reached for it. "But I won't say no to your food,"

"You would just tell me?" Harry raised his eyebrow.

"Anything that you want to know," Barty shrugged as he placed his cake back onto the table between them and cut another bite. "I don't want to have to lie to you again. And in case you hadn't noticed we're sort of on the same side without being on the same side,"

"We're not on the same side," Harry said, but it felt a little bit more like an automatic response right now.

"But neither of us are on the side of the light, and were you to throw your lot in I would guess that you would choose Voldemort,"

"He tried to kill me, multiple times," Harry raised his eyebrow.

"That is unfortunate," Barty said dryly.

"Mm unfortunate," Harry rolled his eyes. "So, my question?"

"Your family are in good standing, they always have been Lucius funds a lot of the money that the Dark Lord needs, and the Malfoys have had a great reputation among the Purebloods for a very long time, something that Abraxus, your Grandfather, truly brought back that to the community, and so the Malfoy name is held in great esteem," Barty explained as he made his way through the cake.

"Ok," Harry nodded.

"As for you, he is relieved that you are no longer a beacon to be held up against him on the side of the Light, and his political mind sees the huge potential that this has for him, how can the Light side propose to be light when they stole a child. Also, there was a prophecy that said neither of you could live while the other survived, he thought that meant that one of you had to kill the other, but myself and Lucius pointed out to him that you were only surviving before now, with you being in the home of your family you can live now, and so with how flexible prophecies can be that gives the fluidity that is needed to move you away from being a danger to him. And with that not risk isolating himself from a large number of his followers,"

"Ok," Harry nodded.

"He wishes for you to join him and fight on his side, however, he acknowledges that that is unlikely due to your past, he would be content with you just to stay out the way, and he has little desire for the two of you really to meet. I explained to him that you were very little like your family in regard to their bloodthirstiness, and while you can fight, and can fight quite well, you have very little desire to actually do so. He is stuck between a rock and a hard place and does not like it, but for him to get ahead he has to accept it,"

"Ok," Harry hummed standing. "Thank you," He said absently, his brain spinning as he took in what Barty had just told him.

"Harry," Barty caught his hand before he could move away, the contact stunning Harry as he turned to meet those brown eyes. He had such an intent look that Harry felt his heart thrumming a little in his chest, and to his annoyance, the kiss from this morning jumped into his head.

"What is it?" He licked his lips.

"Lucius has said that I can go with him and Narcissa to the pigs' house. We are going tonight,"

"Oh…" Harry wasn't sure how he felt about it.

"I will get revenge for you," Barty said firmly, drawing Harry's hand to his lips, and pressed a lingering, warm kiss to the skin there.

"Thank you for telling me," Harry squeezed the hand in his as Barty went to let go. Brown eyes met his shocked before they warmed and Barty nodded.

"Always,"

Harry absently walked back into his living room and dropped onto the sofa, collecting the book that he had left behind for his break, and stared at the page for a few beats.

"Is everything ok?" Samael asked concerned.

"What?" Harry blinked at him.

"Is everything ok?" He repeated, placing down his own book and peered at his student.

"I think so?" Harry frowned. "I went to speak to Barty he gave me a lot to think about,"

"Anything in particular?"

"He and...my parents are going to the Dursleys tonight," Harry frowned at the book before placing it down and focussing his attention on Samael.

"Oh right, and how are you feeling about that?" Samael dropped his own book and leant forward.

"Relieved...eager...angry,"

"Why angry?" Samael tilted his head curiously.

"I'm angry for what they have done to me, it is like with knowing they're going to be punished for what they did to me, all the anger at what they did has come rushing back,"

"I believe that that is understandable Harry, but they will soon be well and truly punished for what they have put you through,"

"I know," Harry frowned down at his hands.

"Shall we continue your lesson? Try and distract your mind as much as we can? I will stay after supper," Samael promised.

"Ok," Harry took a breath and picked up his book, determined to distract himself as much as he could.

Harry muttered slightly in his sleep, shifting and cracking his eyes open as he was sure that he heard something.

He gazed around the room confusedly before closing his eyes again when he could see nothing. He lifted his head off the pillow not a second later as he heard another noise, a soft snuffling. He gripped his wand from under his pillow, worried that Draco had snuck into his room to take revenge for Barty earlier.

He cast a quick lumos and then blinked more than confused, and wondering as to whether he was in fact still asleep.

The jaguar just stared straight back at him, it's tail thumping lightly against the floor, before it let out a small chuff, turned and hopped up onto his sofa. It turned in a small circle, reached out to knock down a couple of pillows before laying down, resting its front paws and head on the pillows.

Harry met the Jaguar's eyes and blinked slowly as it just calmly lay there and blinked back at him. He snorted to himself and flopped back onto his pillow, wriggling further under his sheets with a sleepy yawn of "Nox."

"Night Barty," He muttered before falling back into sleep, feeling a lot less worried about Draco sneaking into his room.