Chapter Text
The forest was dark and quiet around this time of year. The winter weather made the perfect atmosphere for fun and games but Harry wasn’t having any fun and he didn’t want to play any games.
Shadows and light danced around the forest as the wind gently blew around the area. Harry’s own shadows danced around him in soft patterns. He stood barefoot in the moss, breathing in damp earth and pine sap as the wind nipped at his skin.
“Stop,” he muttered softly to the shadows around him.
The shadows at his feet trembled but they did not obey.
They stopped listening to their masters orders weeks ago.
A letter crumpled in his fist with thin parchment, familiar looping handwriting.
Hermione had written to him but recently it had been rarer for the two to speak as much as they used to. Harry had believed she outgrew him, they were in completely different countries after all but now he had answers.
“The Ministry is inspecting Hogwarts now. Umbridge is worse than we thought. She says you’re unstable. She says Dumbledore encouraged delusions…”
Harry swallowed hard.
Unstable.
Delusional.
Liar.
The words echoed in his skull and something answered.
That dark, taunting voice kept whispering in his head. Harry felt like he was just floating in darkness, his whole world was spinning but he just sat there and took the punches.
“I said stop,” Harry whispered, but his voice no longer sounded alone.
He wanted to be alone.
The darkness around him convulsed violently lashing outward against tree trunks, snapping twigs, sending a shudder through the undergrowth. His scar flared white-hot. He tried to call them back but they refused his word.
Tree after tree fell, logs and stones shattered at his mercy.
But Harry didn’t have any mercy to give.
“Monster.”
”Unstable.”
”It’s your fault they are dead you know.”
Voice upon voice flowed through his head like a river.
“Get out of my head.” Harry hissed out.
The shadows stopped their voyage and headed back to the boy seeping back into his personal space. The noise stopped then but the pressure was still fresh on his mind. Another scent hit his face but the hybrid stayed still.
“Harry…Did it happen again?” Theo said quietly from behind him.
Harry didn’t turn.
Theo…
Harry remembered when he told Theo about the Horcrux. Theo had tried to mask it and he did it well but for a split second…just a second Harry was able to catch it.
Fear.
His Theo was afraid of him. Harry didn’t blame him he even noticed some of the coven members staring at him.
A soft kiss to the back of his neck caught his attention again.
Theo held onto the boy as he snuggled his nose on the messy mane he loved so much.
”Tesoro?”
“He’s looking for me,” Harry replied softly.
“He can’t reach you here,” Theo said pulling Harry’s body closer to his own.
Harry almost laughed. He hadn’t laughed in months. ”He already has….no matter where I go he knows where I am.”
“But he doesn’t know your…a part of him.”
Your a Horcrux.
”No but he knows we have a connection.” Harry said.
Theo laid his head above Harry’s shoulder and hummed softly holding the boy close to him.
”Tesoro we will figure this out, it doesn’t help anyone when you get into that pretty little head of yours.”
”But things at Hogwarts are getting hard Theo, Moine says Umbridge is making things hard for everyone. Detentions are hard and she’s…she’s hiding things from me.” Harry said softly.
Theo looked at Harry then at the letter. Gently taking it from him the boy reread what the witch had sent the hybrid.
Things had gotten worse over the last couple months. Dumbledore…useless as he was, had been removed from his position at the school. Umbridge had been sent in by the Minister and everything seemed to go downhill after that.
”We will figure it out Harry we always do besides you’ve never been one to let people tell you what to do.” Theo said softly.
Harry looked over at the other wizard. His eyes landed on the now healed scar on his Theo’s face from the attack months ago. Theo”s father had all but cut contact with his son after Theo had managed to get his late mothers inheritance and properties. Theo had been taken in by the Denali coven and even used their name in his own.
Theodore Denali…
“You always have something to say don’t you.” Harry smiled softly taking Theo”s hands into his own.
”Someone has to keep you in check besides Hermione is smart I’m sure she can figure out a plan for that pink piece of old bubblegum of a Headmistress all on her own.” Theo said as he pulled Harry back to the house blissfully ignoring the destroyed trees.
Harry stumbled behind him.
”Yeah I guess you’re right, besides what’s the worse that old toad can do I’m sure we would have heard about extremes by now.” Harry reasoned.
”See now come on we have dinner soon.”
The two wixen sped off out of the clearing Harry had created . They were in for a rude awakening this year unfortunately as certain events would come banging on their door.