Echoes of Time (Harry Potter)

April 26, 1943

Saturday Evening

Harry fell into the chair with a heavy sigh. He was tired, exhausted even, following an impromptu lesson with Druella before he received Elaine's missive. How couldn't he be when Aster's sister was so strict a teacher?

He wouldn't have minded it all that much either, had Elaine not wanted for the pair of them to meet in the Chamber to discuss something not stated in her note. All that was written within it was the request for his presence and explicit instruction for him to avoid using the passage in the girl's bathroom. It seemed Elaine suspected another person had put their own wards around it even if she'd not said as much - why be so cautious with it otherwise?

With a huff at her paranoia, he looked around the wide-open main room of Slytherin's hidden quarters below the Chamber itself. It was beautifully decorated and well taken care of as always, but he didn't care much about that. What Harry cared about was Elaine's presence, and currently, it was lacking.

"Elaine?" He called out after another few seconds of waiting.

She didn't respond… or so he initially thought until a small parchment flew from Slytherin's bedroom and hovered outside the door.

To Harry, it looked like she wanted to play a game of some sort. That, or the girl had finally lost her mind enough that she'd speak solely in notes. He hoped it was the former.

Thus, with a sigh of exertion and complaints from his muscles, he got to his feet. Nearly three dozen steps, one groan from when he nearly rolled his ankle and a brief moment of hesitation as he closed in on the floating letter later, he found himself with the item in hand. Elaine being Elaine, he figured there'd be some convoluted instructions worded in an overly complex manner meant to throw him off as she made some form of grand revelation.

What he saw instead, with his eyes downcast at the parchment, was one very simple sentence.

' Join me in the tub.'

Harry had a multitude of reasons to outright refuse. Dozens upon dozens more crept up from the back of his mind if the early ones hadn't worked as enough deterrence. Memories of her crazy - crazier - counterpart followed after those, on and on the reasons that accepting her invitation was a bad idea flooded his mind.

Then, a soft touch of music started leaking out of Slytherin's bedroom door joined with dozens of pleasant smells. For a moment, Harry half feared the girl was using some form of enchantment magic on him, love potions or the like were a possibility too. He decided that wasn't the case when he didn't feel his willpower gradually dissipate, the lack of a headache or fog from his mind helped her case too.

I could see her naked. Harry's mind put forward, the thought of it utterly polarising in his mind. On the one hand, seeing a naked witch was something very appealing… on the other hand, it was his self-given mortal enemy.

"Harry, do come in," Elaine's voice wafted over to him, a touch of something unplaceable in it. "I'll not steal your innocence, you know, it's simply a way to destress together as we discuss recent happenings."

Did he trust that she wouldn't try anything? Merlin, no.

Did he trust that she wouldn't force something? For some reason, despite wanting to doubt her, he didn't think the girl would force an interaction. As he'd gotten to know her, especially when it came to schoolwork or post-Hogwarts dealings, he realised cop-outs were adamantly refused by the girl.

He heard a sigh that sounded so clear he expected to look up and see her stood in the doorway. It was followed closely thereafter by words that made his decision for him. "Retrieve my wand and a plate of cookies from the dining table since you'll not be joining me."

One look over to the aforementioned table to recognise that her wand was there, and Harry practically sprinted to the bathroom door; it was one of the few rooms he'd never entered before, and following how grandiose everything else was, he expected the room to be a massive showing of ancient beauty.

When he shrugged off his robes and top layer to leave himself in a white long-sleeved shirt along with a pair of boxers, his hand on the door after doing so, he readied himself to take in the wonderous room.

"Oh," He said the moment it was opened, the interior very… lacklustre.

Slytherin's bathroom was the size of his 'generous' bedroom following his removal from the cupboard under the stairs. Its tub made up nearly the whole room, with a small toilet and sink tucked away behind a second door. Unlike the rest of his quarters, there were no intricate designs or carvings.

"Is something the matter?" Elaine questioned, her raised eyebrow as intimidating as ever despite her position.

And Merlin, what a position it was.

She was sat in the farthest corner of the tub, the position that let her view the entirety of the small room. Her hair was frothing with soap, the bath was so bubble-ridden that only her head was visible through the water and the one other portion of her that was visible, a hand, was directed towards two instruments playing a tune he wasn't the least bit familiar with.

Needless to say, Elaine made for a very odd sight considering he'd expected a seductress and was met with an incredibly innocent bath.

"No," Harry finally said, Elaine's raising of her head serving as a reminder that it was his turn to speak. "I expected something… bigger, considering the rest of his quarters."

Elaine did something very unlike herself, she snorted. "It is something, isn't it?" She looked around the small, barebones room for all of a second before her attention found its way back to him. "Fortunately for me, I doubt I'll need to worry about being let down by a lack of size - don't look like that, you should've expected some form of teasing given that you joined me in the bath."

"You invited me," Harry pointed out petulantly.

"I did,' Elaine said with a nod and a shrug. "Yet, I didn't force your hand. Enough," Elaine raised her second hand from the bath to cut him off. "Get in, I'd very much like to resume the music and relaxation, you'll like the news I'm going to share too."

Harry quickly threw off his shirt and - keeping his boxers on - eased himself into the warm, pleasantly-scented bath. It felt like nothing he'd ever experienced before as the warmth worked in tandem with whatever she'd mixed in the bath to ease the tension from his body. He must have groaned or made a face too, as Elaine's light laugh graced his ears.

"This is a wonderful treat, isn't it," Elaine rhetorically asked as she glided through the water towards him, not an ounce of skin visible that hadn't been already. "Would you like the wonderful news, the decent-enough news or my annoyance, first?"

"Annoyance? At wh-" Harry found himself interrupted with a finger across his lips.

"Annoyance it is," Elaine said sweetly, her smile just as angelic despite the girl being far from such a description. "I've heard that you're potentially investing in one of the Weasleys' ailing businesses. Considering the investor withdrew on my charitable sharing of information, I'd like you to cease as they had."

Harry narrowed his eyes at Elaine. "Before I ask why you'd want me to stop, tell me who shared the information with you."

To say he was bothered by that getting out was an understatement. He had told Veronica after she presented him with the most recent business papers that he would send it to a solicitor for review. Little did she know that he didn't have one yet and as such, wouldn't make a decision until the end of the month came around… but that wasn't the point. His point was that there'd been no decisive choice made yet, it was simply too early.

For her to go around sharing that there was a deal or even information about a potential one in the first place… Well, it felt like he was being rushed into something with added pressure now in the mixture. In other words, their friendship had a piece chipped away from it thanks to her inability to keep something private.

"Come now, Harry," Elaine said with a roll of her eyes as she glided closer still, her thigh brushing his under the water as the music finally resumed. "Do you think I'd be without contacts in the other houses? What of those new friends you made in Cade's circles or the Gryffindors who seat themselves away from the main body of their peers?" Elaine leaned forward and placed a kiss on the tip of his nose before she pulled back to flick it. "Think."

"One of her housemates overheard her speaking with Marcus or one of the others and told you about it. It wouldn't have been any of Cade's group, they rarely spend time with anyone aside from themselves," Harry didn't need to have his first sentence acknowledged as truthful anymore than he needed the second one to be, he knew both were right.

"Good job, Harry," Elaine cooed into his ear as one of her hands snaked its way up his back until it wrapped itself around his shoulder to pull him close, their bodies now pressed flush against one another. "I love that I can encourage your thinking, that I can help you grow as my equal as you're always meant to be."

Harry didn't respond verbally, he feared something incriminating would exit his mouth if he did. At the same time, he knew Elaine would use their bath element as a power dynamic considering the lack of shame she seemed to have.

So when he turned his head towards hers, used a hand to pull her the remaining distance towards him and snogged her for a good few seconds, he claimed a victory. It helped that he disengaged before she could get too handsy or react to him.

"You've changed your tune since we've first met, haven't you?" Elaine asked, her eyes heavily lidded as she stared at him, that same unplaceable tone from earlier present in her voice in addition to manifesting itself in the most relaxed posture he'd yet seen from her.

"You were domineering, intimidating and more when I first met you," Harry replied, his head held high as she reclined against the back of the bath.

Elaine smiled widely at him. "More is better fitting than I think you'd realise - your wording makes it sound as if I'm none of those things anymore too. Ah, I suppose I shouldn't pry too far into your mind, you don't like it and Merlin only knows what I'll see," Elaine took in a deep breath and exhaled, a small squeak coming out towards the tail end of it. "Wonderful news, or decent news?"

Harry had expected that their conversation would once more be directed towards his mind until she'd shifted it back to their first words. He wondered why she'd done that when the girl could've easily pressed on.

"Decent," Harry said.

Wonderful news going dead last didn't sound horrible, it meant he had something to look forward to.

"Walburga will be attempting to contact you over the summer break for a meeting on neutral ground - think a shop in Diagon Alley or the like. You'll accept it, of course, and upon doing so you'll likely be able to get something from her," Elaine looked knowingly at him. "Perhaps a book regarding my family, the Gaunts as you well know, could be handed over once you've finished with it by then."

Harry knew that question was coming ever since she'd revealed her heritage previously. He hadn't made a big deal of it then, and he wouldn't, not until he could determine what made the Gaunts as weird as they were. Her heritage could very well be a factor in why that other version of her had done what he had. Who knew?

Certainly not him.

"Why's she so bent on speaking with me?" Harry asked, no answer given as to her very direct approach towards the Gaunt book. Until he read the entirety of it twice over and ensured there was nothing secret within it, the old tome would stay in his - and Corene's - possession.

"You're a Peverell, Harry," Elaine said as if that was all the answer he needed.

She then finally stood up from the bath, her doing so nearly making him look away in case she wore nothing. His mind didn't allow that action, however, and he was stuck looking at her as she slowly rose from the protective barrier the bubbles had provided. Sadly, once she was completely visible with the frothing soap off her body, it was revealed she too had kept two small articles of clothing on.

"Done already? I thought you'd wanted to stay in longer, didn't discuss the final point yet either," Harry probably sounded a bit desperate, and to some degree, looking at Elaine with as little as she currently wore may have made him feel that way. Then again, any witch with as little on as she had would likely force a similar reaction.

Elaine laughed as one arm brushed the remaining bubbles from her. "No, I am not done with our first joint bathing," She indicated towards a few levers on the furthest wall that he'd not noticed before, and weirdly enough, one was glowing that same green all of Slytherin's torches did. "There's an effect that causes currents to form in the water, it's very nice to lose yourself to. I'll put one on for the both of us to enjoy, then I'll answer a question regarding Walburga and that foolish family of hers - speaking of another woman for too long given the circumstances we currently find ourselves in would be bothersome. Following that, we'll discuss something I know you'll greatly enjoy and finally, we'll have ourselves a relaxing night in Slytherin's quarters," Elaine's look that she sent him when she'd finished speaking was one he'd recognised without issue.

Harry had seen her use that strict, demanding visage many a time on those who followed her and seldomly on himself. On principle, he wanted to refuse and contest their plans for the evening, Elaine ordering him around was something he needed to cease after those first few months. When he forced that initial response from his mind and clocked her words again, there wasn't all that much to disagree with aside from spending the night in Slytherin's quarters.

He hoped he misunderstood her words, as spending a night together in the bowels of the school would likely result in a few people catching onto their absence. Rumours would circulate within the day if it were half as bad as his time, and from the few instances where something noteworthy had happened, it seemed to match what he'd known in his time.

"One question about Walburga and one about her family, or one between the two of them?" Harry started, with further inquisitions such as her meaning of the evening able to be brushed onto the back burner until the pair of them were out of the bath and fully dressed again.

There wasn't any doubt in his mind, Elaine would try to play him and with as much skin as she currently showed, it'd be a hard thing to resist.

"Between the two of them," Elaine said as she lowered herself beside him in the water once more, the lever flipped and the bubbles vanished with a flick of her wrist.

"Does she mean me harm, or is she trying to use me? I want a real answer too, not like the last one where you said a handful of words that amounted to nothing," Harry could've guessed himself that Walburga wanted him for his last name, and Elaine had said as much. What he'd wanted was information beyond that, something along the lines of wanting him for his wealth or possessions.

Elaine cocked her head at him as she bit her bottom lip. "Awfully demanding, aren't you, Harry?" When he stayed silent while looking at her, she raised a brow and eventually, sighed. "I suppose I'll let you have your way, that innocence of yours is too irresistible."

Harry figured that was as much a yes as he'd get from Elaine and after he readjusted himself to sit higher to lessen the height differential between them while they were in the tub, he nodded for her to go ahead. He hoped he made it known how a lack of an answer would be taken this time around by his serious facial expression - he'd learned how powerful body language could be thanks to her.

"Walburga would not physically harm you, of that, I'm certain. Mentally, I believe your mind would be at serious risk of being enthralled, and financially, your family would lose thousands of Galleons a day. Annually, hundreds if not millions when it comes to the large scale bribes House Black are used to giving," Elaine's attitude shifted again, this time from her serious one during the answer to something reminiscent of childish pouting. "Old Pureblood Houses such as hers have far too many advantages and yet they do nothing with them."

Harry watched her closely once he saw the childlike pout give way to something else, something more sinister; her eyes seemed colder and her expression filled with anger.

"My apologies," Elaine said quickly as she withdrew from the water, her eyes looking at him appraisingly. "It would appear I'm more relaxed than I thought if I'm spouting out words as impolite as those. Join me in the bedroom and we'll get dressed, we can continue speaking the whole while."

He looked at her weirdly as she made her way to the exit. Not once did she look over her shoulder at him as she usually would've to ensure he was close behind, and while that struck him equally as odd as her hasty departure, there was something more. Why had she seemed shocked, if only for a moment, that she'd said what she had?

Was it the connection she insisted existed between them, or something else?

Whatever the cause may be, Harry hastily made his exit from the all too relaxing bath he'd gotten to enjoy. He didn't think she'd curse him, not after all the opportunities she'd had to do so, but it didn't feel right letting her be out of his field of vision with her wand in the main room as it was. At least in the bedroom, getting changed alongside her as she'd suggested, he could ensure nothing would happen… sure, there was also a portion of him that would enjoy the visuals she provided too.

For the most part, his cause was a noble one though. He told himself that when he entered the room and saw her just barely changing into a new pair of underwear, he repeated it when she turned around to fix him with a teasing smile. "You took too long, I'm afraid," She cooed as she practically swam through the air towards him, her grace never as perfect as it was now.

Harry swallowed and kept his eyes on her face as he stepped aside, the pair of them had both left their clothes on the same large dresser. "Why change when you could remove the moisture?"

Elaine looked to where his wand was, the piece of wood in his hand from where he'd picked it up as he left the bath. "Some magic is too advanced without a wand, for now - considering you have yours, why don't you dry the both of us?" Elaine's tongue darted out and swiped her bottom lip as one hand ran down the middle of her chest until it stopped at her navel. "Then again, you could go about doing it in a more traditional sense, I wouldn't mind."

"We wouldn't want children this early," Harry said, smirking to himself when Elaine's eyes rose considerably. Seldomly did he ever catch the girl off guard, and when he did, the moments were all too sweet.

On the flip side, those words of his only seemed to instigate her as she took another few steps closer to him, her pyjamas momentarily forgotten along with the dripping of her hair. "Time isn't an issue with those as powerful as we are. I would advise you caution with your words unless you'd like to follow through with them too, Harry."

He smiled at her and gave a mock bow, his courage as strong as it ever was. "Of course, Elaine."

Nearly half an hour later, and with the pair of them dressed, they sat on the singular large couch in Slytherin's main room. They had a plethora of food on the coffee table in front of them too, along with whatever drink they'd like.

"What was that good news you thought I'd like?" Harry asked as he pulled the stem from a cherry. "You never told me."

"I hadn't the chance, your words and actions required a sufficient snogging to ensure you didn't get too full of yourself," Elaine responded, her eyes seeking out the few marks she'd left on his neck with a satisfied look about her.

"Too full of myself, is that right?" Harry shook his head and scoffed, earning himself an affectionate pat on the cheek from Elaine. "Well go on then, tell me, what's the wonderful one that you'd wanted to tell me?"

Elaine smiled, cuddled into his side and while looking away from him, she said the words so casually he half thought he'd made them up himself.

"Yaxley's alive."

Harry had to let the seconds pass in silence, he wasn't sure what to say in response to those words. Everyone had thought there was a chance for the boy upon the sighting in Dover, but for Elaine to say the words so matter-of-factly as she just had… he needed to know more.

"More details," He demanded, leaning forward to look at Elaine's face.

Her eyes caught his for a moment, and with a shrug, she did as he requested. "Cliff's alive. More than that, he's well-off and in a position I half thought impossible thanks to his paranoia. This news won't be made public for some time, the details would prove disturbing for the general public, sheep that they are."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked again, the lack of details given starting to bother him.

Elaine used his lack of focus to flip over into a straddling position astride him. With one hand, she grabbed him by the chin and with the other, she gripped the hand that held his wand.

Harry's initial response to her maneuvring was to buck like a wild animal - he was fully convinced Elaine had finally snapped with the aggression she'd suddenly shown. When her hand wrapped around his wand in addition to his, the fear he felt only ratcheted up further… until he felt what she'd done. Rather than in opposition, her cool fingers joined his in gripping the wand and once her grip was strong, she pulled back to look at it.

It was then, with her ringed hand on his face and his wand in their grips together, that he finally felt an inclination as to what she'd go on about. There was something between them, and as he gazed up at her, that was made all the more certain when he felt what he now knew to be her emotions. All those prior 'dreams' he'd had as he lay in his bed made sense, so did the irrational feelings that would so often accompany them.

They were connected. Whatever being had sent him back had done something to him, to the both of them, that connected them on some level. Looking up at Elaine's face once he realised his worst fears weren't about to come to fruition, he took in the expression on her face.

Pure joy, rapture, happiness, all the positive terms or emotions he could think of described the look she was shooting off towards Slytherin's Quarters entrance.

Hours drifted by after that moment had ended, all of them spent in near-silence as Elaine cuddled up to him with all the affection she'd ever had before and more. He tried getting the rest of the Yaxleys news from her, and he tried telling her that the pair of them should make their exit before their absences were noted so far into the night.

Neither dissuaded her from keeping him on that couch until the pair of them had eventually lost themselves to sleep.

April 27, 1943

Sunday Evening

"Where're you off to, Pev?" Aster asked through a yawn, the thin boy noticeably different since Harry had shared the Yaxley news with him.

Elaine may have told him to keep it a secret from all, but she didn't control him. It wasn't as if he'd done it to be petulant or rude in the first place. She had to understand how much Yaxley meant to Aster and Reinhard. If he could ease their worry in so much as confirming Yaxley was alive and well, he would do so.

There wasn't any chance he'd keep important news such as that to himself, regardless of the additional information that would come with it and could be considered… disparaging.

"Think I'll take a walk, clear my head, you know?" Harry hadn't bothered Aster nor Reinhard when they needed time and doing that allowed him the same courtesy.

Aster nodded a few times and with one hand patting Harry's shoulder, the boy made his way back to his bed in silence. Ever since the news had dropped that morning, he'd spent a good deal of time alone and contemplative in the quiet confines of his bed.

Harry couldn't blame him.

Who would think that Yaxley would essentially fake his death following the loss of another close associate of Elaine's? Nobody that Harry knew had thought along those lines, Elaine herself certainly hadn't - her acting was very good, so he did take that with a grain of salt despite the promise between them for honesty.

With the news of Yaxley alive and his sighting in Dover confirmed, the guess that he was going to the continent made sense. Most of those who believed in the sightings had theorised he'd gone off to fight alongside the French, Belgian or Dutch resistance until the New World came to free them in all of its might. When Elaine revealed to him that Yaxley was seen alongside Grindelwald's Lieutenant, a Rosier that was a close cousin of Aster, it filled him with dread.

He hadn't known of a Cliff Yaxley serving Grindelwald, granted he wasn't a history buff, but that was something he assumed would've been slightly reminiscent had he heard it. As hard as the news struck Harry and worse, the thought he'd caused that with his presence, Aster handled it worse still. Reinhard and Harry had both tried to speak to the boy when he'd gone off rambling about that Rosier cousin of his.

Many things had been said during that venting session, some of which Harry wouldn't bring up again considering the point of weakness Aster had been in when he'd said them. Ideas were had too, all of them being attempts to get Yaxley back to them… Harry was thankful he and Reinhard had convinced Aster that contacting his relative was stupid. He wasn't an expert on law enforcement, but he imagined there was a crime that saw to speaking with wanted fugitives through the post system.

Harry had been making his way through the boys' dorms and towards the Common Room at a slow pace thanks to how deeply in thought he'd been. Upon his finally leaving of the boys only space, he immediately bumped into a girl that'd been all too common in recent times and another that he tried speaking with weekly.

"Is Aster doing fine, Harry?" Druella asked without hesitation once she'd whisked him away to the nearest corner of the room.

Corene's wand in her hand and a familiar privacy charm heard exiting her mouth assured him that the conversation had its privacy ensured at a startling pace.

"Of course he is, why?" Harry waved away Druella's concern and asked a question of his own. Just because he'd told his two mates about Yaxley didn't mean he'd tell anybody else about the boy, and he'd ensured neither of them would either.

Aster and Reinhard weren't ones to go back on their word.

Druella levelled him with a serious look and gave him the same knowing look that Molly would often send her children - him included - when they'd gotten up to something reprehensible. "Elaine shared the news with Daphne and me."

Harry turned his attention towards Corene then, an eyebrow raised.

Corene cocked her head at him in return, the look on her face making his unasked question seem stupid. "Who do you suppose retrieved such information, Harry? I'd shared it with you the same evening I'd given it to Elaine, it would seem you need to check your trunk more often than you currently do."

He very nearly asked how she got into his trunk and had he done that, he would've surely missed the questioning look Druella sent Corene. As for Corene's response, he would've seen that either way - Corene raised her nose and tried to look down at Druella despite the height difference between them, she didn't seem bothered by whatever the look from Druella was supposed to mean.

Druella let it drop easily enough and returned to her previous question, the one that'd seen him pulled to the dark corner in the first place. "Aster, is he holding up with the news? Please, don't deny the fact that you've told him. I've seen how close the three of you are to know you'd share the news with him within hours of it reaching you," Druella's stern, serious expression softened. "You're kind-hearted, Harry, and braver than I imagined if you're willing to go against Elaine's instructions."

Means a lot coming from her, Harry thought to himself before he finally relented with a nod.

"I did tell him, and he's handling it about as well as you probably imagined he would - potentially better. He's angry, Reinhard is too, neither of them gets why Yaxley would join Grindelwald… I don't either. From everything I've heard, the man's pure evil," Harry shook his head and got back to the main point of Druella's question. "Aster's in bed and doing a lot of thinking. Don't worry, he's not going to do anything stupid."

"Swear on it," Druella said as she took one step closer to him, the green torch lights dimming behind her.

"Druella," Corene said, the warning evident in her tone.

"I'll not harm him, I need the peace of mind," Druella shot towards Corene, her eyes not once leaving Harry's. "Our lessons, I'll offer two a week if it means you'll keep a close eye on Aster so long as you're near him and after lessons, during them too."

Harry knew based on the hint of desperation in her tone that he could likely get more from her. There was a line that she'd have, everyone had one regardless of how dear the person you were trying to protect was. Still, that he could push that line in Druella's mind wasn't lost on him. Should he want to, he knew there was more he could get out of the older girl in return for his 'watching over' Aster.

Had she been more observant or clear-headed, the fact that he spent a great deal of his time with her little brother would've seen that he already did that to some level. Surely she'd seen the instances where Aster and Reinhard would choose him over Elaine, right? What about the meeting in which they were excluded alongside Harry?

Corene's eyes sought his out from the side while Druella waited for his answer, he could see the latter was getting nervous based on the fact she brushed her hair behind her ears every ten seconds or so. As for the former, Corene was staring at him with a blank look that confirmed what he'd just thought. That she was watching him make the decision and would be witness to it in the future wasn't lost on him.

He could accept Druella's deal, that much was an obvious choice. As he'd thought only seconds earlier, he could also extort her deal for more - who knew the secrets in her mind that related to Elaine or those close to her? Finally, he could do what he'd already done successfully with Aster and Reinhard, and what he'd done semi-successfully to Corene; he could begin pulling her to him, away from Elaine's influence.

It was easier said than done with how deeply rooted her loyalties likely were in comparison to Aster's, or so he initially thought. What was to say she hadn't made a similar deal with Elaine to keep the girl away from Aster in return for her services?

Asking for nothing from Druella where Elaine might have taken a similar deal sounded smart to him. Even if Elaine hadn't pulled something like that from Druella, it was no secret that she had most of her 'friends' do tasks for her. If he showed that he'd keep an extra eye out for Aster at no cost to her, it would hopefully go a long way in further establishing the tentative friendship between them.

Merlin, he'd learned .

"You don't need to do that, I'll make sure he stays out of any trouble… beyond what he usually gets himself into," Harry felt the need to inject some levity, the seriousness from Druella and the anxiety she showed threatening to spill over onto him. Seeing a woman as composed as she usually was as anything less than that was weird, Elaine being all lovey-dovey the first few times had caused a similar feeling of unease.

"Thank you, Harry," Druella said with a dip of her head. "Truly, your kindness is appreciated. I'll see you at our next lesson."

Druella left before he could say anything back to her, leaving him alone with Corene in the silenced corner.

"Elaine had been warned about Yaxley's possible departure, you know," She said, looking towards Druella as she joined Ophelia Greengrass at their usual sitting space.

Harry had to fight to keep the confusion from his face. Elaine hadn't told him that, granted he hadn't asked, but he felt that asking for news about their missing friend in a general sense would've had that shared with him.

He needed clarification. "Explain, please."

"You know I keep information on others, remember one of our earliest meetings?" Corene inquired in return.

Harry very quickly affirmed her words, Corene's lips went up, if only barely.

"Abraxas has aided me in the past with that specific duty, and once Yaxley began acting different towards the end of his fourth year, I had Abraxas check in on him from time to time - he's very good with the disillusionment charm," Corene finally turned to Harry. "Yaxley's unease, the warnings he'd given to you and his general edginess had all been signs of an imminent issue. When it was found, a letter that is, addressed to one of Grindelwald's lesser-known followers, I warned her he may attempt an exit from our circle."

"Why didn't she stop him then? Why didn't anybody?" Harry was thoroughly confused at the revelation. Surely Elaine of all people would've wanted to keep Yaxley in addition to her other followers, the wealth and status of his family working in tandem with her would only be beneficial.

As for the others, Abraxas, Corene and whoever else knew, keeping Yaxley alongside them had limited downsides and a fair few upsides that Harry could think of; chief amongst the latter was Yaxley's personality, as Corene had mentioned. So long as he was around and acting as weirdly as Harry had witnessed, the focus would never be predominantly on you. With Elaine being as she was, something which Harry had begun to see more of recently when her demeanour was thrown off-kilter, Yaxley's presence was paramount to the success of any scheming.

Corene shrugged, unbothered by the events that'd transpired. "Elaine chose to let it run its course, why should I do any different? Abraxas and Daphne cared less than she did too, Abraxas especially considering Yaxley was his main source of competition at working towards a position as her fourth."

"Everything's based on that, isn't it?" Harry asked with a sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yes," Corene agreed, her eyes finally looking towards his satchel. "You were coming down relatively late this evening, am I to assume you're headed out to continue our reading?"

Originally, he had planned to read alone in the safety of Slytherin's study. It'd been too long since he last visited it, Elaine and further studies with the others taking over a majority of his time. Slytherin's journal hadn't been very helpful in determining what would happen when he signed his name in that book either, and paranoid as he was, the risks still seemed too great.

Had he had zero progress in the Gaunts book or with Yaxleys journal, the urge to sign his name more than likely would've gotten to him. As he was currently, his progress was faster than it'd ever been thanks to the different lessons provided by three older instructors and additional sessions with Sarah's group in the library. The latter especially had proven helpful in more ways than one, as it allowed him to continue a build-up of friendship with those outside of Elaine's immediate influence.

"I am," Harry confirmed to Corene.

She cocked her head at him in that all too familiar way. "Is company welcome?"

It took only a moment for him to relent, he could change his plans, waiting another week to speak with Slytherin's portrait wouldn't kill him - that was something else too, he needed to speak with that portrait and determine why it looked different from the one in Slytherin's quarters under the Chamber. He knew very well he couldn't trust what came out of its mouth, that'd been proven after Slytherin's journal barely touched on the study.

"It is," Harry said again, noticing Corene's eyebrows raising almost imperceivably.

Merlin, Harry thought to himself, Corene certainly didn't make it easy to see how she felt. Ah well, he credited her just as much as he did Elaine when it came to his improvement in reading people. Elaine's sporadic nature and Corene's lack of emotion had made it very necessary.

"Wonderful, let's get going," Corene whirled around on the balls of her feet and made her way towards the exit of the Slytherin Common Room. She didn't look back once to ensure he was behind her.

Corene and Harry had made a rather quick trip to the room they so often resided in with other close members of Elaine's group. As it so often was in the later portions of the evening, the room was without any other occupants. It didn't take long for the pair of them to reignite the fireplace to fight off the evening chill from the rainy outdoors, nor did it take long for them to pull two chairs close together so they could once more read the book of Gaunts.

Last they left off, they'd read the final accountings of Laurent Gaunt and the two friends of his that'd gone on many adventures. Ultimately, his fate had been left unknown, with two possible locations being his most likely resting place.

Why nobody had ever gone after them and the treasure they'd been sponsored to seek seemed just as big a mystery as their disappearance in the first place. Laurent, from all accounts, had seemed the epitome of cautious and talented, that he would fail without any backup plan seemed sloppy.

Corene tutted as they progressed through the pages immediately after Laurent's demise, drawing Harry's attention as he paused in flipping through them.

"What is it?" He asked as he brought a hot cup of tea, courtesy of her favourite house-elf, up to his mouth.

"Disappointment with the managing of their family, mainly," Corene responded with a dainty finger pointed at the listing of their family alive during the decade that followed Laurent's passing. "I can't speak as a Head of House, nor will I ever, but one would think some sort of initiative would be taken to bring births and population back up. By this time, the family is down to a little more than half a dozen living. Your family had a similar misfortune from what I've read of them, yet here you stand - come another decade or two from now, and the Gaunt family name will be lost."

Harry followed where her finger was and saw exactly what she pointed out. There were but a few living Gaunts in the mid to late 1800s, and without dates of birth, they could only cross-examine from earlier lists provided. Two seemed to be old, nearly a century, three were likely middle-aged and the last three were newer, only one name out of the lot stuck out to him.

Marvolo Gaunt, the father of the last living Gaunt who was currently in prison. As for the two others, one name was too badly damaged, crossed-out as it was, and the final one of the three was Kyra Gaunt.

"Do you know who Marvolo Gaunt married? Assuming he married somebody… curious as to who bore him his two kids," Harry looked to Corene and tried to hide the intensity of his question. He had a feeling that the second missing Gaunt had their name right in front of him, and with them being born more recently, the likeliness they were alive was far higher than that of Laurent.

"I believe he married his cousin, Kyra Gaunt, why?" Corene's finger retracted as her hand moved to flip the page over once more.

Harry figured he could ask one more question before it would be pushing too much on one specific portion of the Gaunts time. He wasn't sure if Elaine was in the book yet, nor was he sure if Corene knew of Elaine's parentage, but informed as he was by the girl himself, he desperately wanted to learn as much as he could about her family - especially the recently lived ones.

"What happened to her or the other one for the Gaunt name to die out?" Harry flipped the page for her once he asked that, hoping it would assist him in hiding at least a portion of his interest.

Corene's brows furrowed as a look of deep concentration settled on her face. All her times of feeding him information in the past hadn't seemed to draw such a deep look from her, and when he finally saw a flicker of recognition flash across her face, he realised Corene was infinitely more valuable than the friendship she provided.

"I'm unsure of the other Gaunts name, they did a good job of burying her existence," Corene's words immediately dampened his previous thought, but she hadn't finished speaking. "I can tell you the rumour behind her banishment from the family was she'd fallen in love with a Half-Blood, one of no notoriety or renown. Should you buy into that, the rumour continues that they adopted rather than have children of their own, as she considered her bloodline too impure or tainted. Madness seems to run in their family, that's what happens when inbreeding is done too frequently with close relatives."

Corene paused and took a leisurely sip from her tea as Harry waited for her answer on the second Gaunt. Once she placed her cup back down on the table and took a breath, he cut off all his thoughts to fully embrace her words once more.

"Kyra Gaunt's tale will likely be covered by this very book. It's a queer tale, one which is left with many endings. I'll attempt to focus on the few uncontested points so it isn't jumbled. Kyra Gaunt had two children with her husband, Marvolo Gaunt. She remained in their lives until her daughter was two years of age, and then, she vanished without a trace," Corene then raised her left hand, the one that was closer to him. "Her wand was left behind at the place of her last known sighting. A small brush fire was present too, though it eventually grew large enough for Muggle fire-handlers to deal with, from then on, only speculation can be had."

Harry figured that was all the information he would get without being seen as questionable - had he asked her earlier, the thought had not even struck him, he wondered if it would've made its way back to Elaine… then again, it still could. Perhaps he should've asked her regardless of the repercussions, but the natural way as they progressed felt… right, something within him told him as much.

Still, the information, to him, wasn't enough in the slightest. There was more he wanted to know of the second missing Gaunt, assuming it was Kyra.

Raking his brain for anything helpful, he remembered the portrait had said the last visitor before Harry had come in the late 1800s to the early 1900s, sometime around then. From what he and Corene had learned thus far, the Gaunts rarely attended Hogwarts and he was certain the last visitor had been a Gaunt.

"Why did they so rarely attend Hogwarts?" Harry asked off-handedly, his eyes already scanning the new page as he asked his question.

"Learning at a premier school rather than one of the smaller wooden cabins in the forests comes at a cost. There's a reason so few Half-Bloods and Muggleborn attend Hogwarts, the cost is too high. Some of those in attendance are of course sponsored by Pureblood families or the Ministry themselves, the former get tax breaks applied should they do so," Corene flipped the page back to the one they'd just been on and quickly found what she'd been looking for. "It would seem Kyra and the other girl were sponsored by a redacted family, Marvolo wasn't so fortunate," She flipped the page back to the one they'd been on, one that was filled with minute information.

"Wonder who would sponsor them… think it was the Half-Blood the other Gaunt girl went off to?" Harry's question seemed to reflect what Corene was thinking.

"Possibly, though why would he send them both lest he wanted a Gaunt bride in general rather than the one he'd picked?" Corene looked contemplative for all of a minute before she shrugged and went back to sipping from her tea. "Would you flip the page over? The room's chill is getting to me."

Harry nodded his head and did as she bid, he went a step farther too when he conjured a blanket to be draped around Corene's shoulders. It was a hard thing to keep the aesthetics of it old-timey.

Corene's small smile of thanks as she began reading aloud for the pair of them was great. Her slight French accent, only noticeable when she spoke too quickly or was tired made listening to her lul him into a dazed, relaxed state.

As the minutes turned to hours and the night grew ever darker, he gradually found himself fighting to keep his eyes open as the weekend's revelations raced through his mind. Chief amongst those were Corene's usefulness, Elaine's promiscuity and Yaxley's survival turned treacherous.

It went without saying that this weekend had to be one of the most eventful ones he'd yet experienced, and next weekend's Slug Club meeting wouldn't match it, there wasn't a chance of that.