He turned in a swirl of robes and left the Infirmary in several long strides. The door swung shut behind him with a soft sound, leaving the room in silence. Harry stared after the professor, wondering if he had just been abandoned to the metaphorical wolves. No. Snape wouldn't do that to him. Probably.
The Headmaster caught his stare and smiled benevolently. "I'm sure we'll work it out, Mister Potter," he said, not unkindly. "Professor Snape will come around. We don't want you to have a vision while you're up on your broom, for instance, do we?"
Harry barely kept from rolling his eyes. He wasn't a baby, for pity's sake. "No, sir. Of course not."
"No, of course not," Dumbledore repeated and nodded, seemingly to himself. "I'll let you get your rest now, Mr. Potter. Sleep well."
Before the Headmaster could reach the doors, however, Harry called out to him, "What about the unicorns, sir?"
Dumbledore cocked his head a bit as he looked back at Harry. "What about them, child?"
"Who's going to protect them, you know, from You Know Who? What if he tries to kill another one?"
"Don't you worry about that," the Headmaster said, smiling his kindly smile. "Just get some rest. Everything will be just fine in the morning." With that, he was gone, and Harry was absolutely furious, at having been condescended to. Again.
The next day, after he was released from the Infirmary, he sought out Millie and Teddy as soon as he could. He told them about the weird vision he'd had, and about other unicorns being killed in the forest, which had been confirmed by Hagrid. And he told them how he was almost certain that the creature killing the unicorns was going to try to steal whatever it was that the cerberus was guarding. Not immediately, but soon. Though he didn't say so to his friends, he had gotten a strong sense about the creature's plan, while he had been watching through the creature's eyes.
"So . . ." Teddy gazed at him through narrowed eyes. "What do you want to do about it?"
"I think we have to find out what it's guarding and figure out why You Know Who wants it. I'll wager it has something to do with keeping him alive."
"I don't know, Harry," Millie said. "I don't really like dogs all that much."
Harry smiled grimly. "Hopefully it won't come to us having to go in that room. But I think, if we can figure out what he wants with it--"
"Harry," Teddy interrupted. "Why don't you just tell Professor Snape about this?"
Harry gaped at him. "Tell the professor?" he asked after a moment.
"Yeah. I mean, if he's helping to guard whatever-it-is, he'd want to know that creature's going to try and steal it, right?"
"I . . ." Harry frowned. Tell a teacher? Tell Snape? "I don't know, Teddy." What if they told him and Snape didn't care? What if he laughed at Harry's fears, or didn't listen, or worst of all, just blew off his concerns as those of a stupid, attention-seeking brat? What if he ignored Harry, like practically every other adult he had ever met had done? Hell, instead of ignoring him, he might even give Harry detention for knowing about the cerberus at all, since the third floor corridor was supposed to be forbidden.
"What don't you know, Harry?" Teddy asked softly. "I mean, this seems like the sort of thing we ought to warn him about. After all, we can't be expected to do anything about it; we're just first years." He paused, then, "What are you afraid of?"
"I'm not afraid!" Harry said. "I'm not. But . . . well, you can't trust them."
"Them?"
"You know, teachers. Professors. Upperclassmen." Harry shook his head. "Nobody."
Teddy held his gaze for a long time, then said, "Is that a Muggle thing?"
Harry frowned, not understanding, and Millie, who had been looking back and forth between the two of them, like at a tennis match, now she spoke up. "It isn't, is it, Harry? Not just Muggles. You really don't trust anyone."
He shrugged, still a bit confused. "I trust you guys. And Hermione."
Millie gave him a sly smile. "That's 'cause we're naturally trustworthy. Well, maybe not that Gryffindor, 'cause of how she cursed your Frogs--"
"She didn't!"
Millie laughed. "I was just kidding, Harry. But really, I wouldn't say we could go to any teacher, like not McGonagall or the Headmaster, obviously, but we can trust our Head of House . . . I mean, once he started treating you decent, he's been okay." Then suddenly, she frowned. "But what do you mean by 'upperclassmen'? Did that worm Gaius bother you again?"
Harry winced. He'd meant to tell them before, but hadn't gotten around to it . . . no, if he was honest with himself, he'd admit he hadn't wanted to tell them; he'd been embarrassed at getting himself cornered by the git so easily.
"He did!" Millie exclaimed. "Damnit, Harry, why didn't you say anything?"
Harry shrugged and looked away, but when Teddy said, "C'mon, you can tell us," he admitted, "'Cause I was stupid," he mumbled. "And I didn't want you to know."
"Well, that's the part that's stupid," Millie told him. "What did he do to you?"
"Nothing."
"Bullshit."
"Millicent!"
"Oh, shut it, Nott. You know it's bullshit, too."
Teddy rolled his eyes. "Of course it is, but your vulgarity is uncalled for."
"Prude," Millie muttered. "So, spill, Harry. What did he do? Did he hurt you?"
Harry snorted. "That's what Snape asked."
"You told Snape!? How--"
Teddy interrupted Millie mid-rant. "Good for you, Harry. That must've been tough."
Harry shrugged one shoulder. "Yeah, but I had to. We made a deal."
"What kind of deal?" Millie asked, but Teddy gave her a pointed look.
"We're getting a bit off track, Bullstrode."
"Oh, yeah. Right. So when was this, with Gaius?"
"Saturday night." Harry looked down at his hands, unable to deal with his friends' expressions. He knew he'd been an idiot to let himself be trapped alone. "He followed me into the toilet."
"Was anyone else in there?" Millie asked.
Harry shook his head. "No . . . he just followed me in, and when I was washing up after, he came up behind me at the sinks." He swallowed, feeling his hands shake and his face get hot. Stupid, he'd been so stupid.
"What did he do?" Teddy asked, real soft, like he thought Harry was going to cry or something. But he wasn't. He hadn't, in years.
"Just grabbed me," he said, real quick, to get it over with. "My arms. And he pressed up against me. I shoulda just shoved him or something, or told him to leave me alone. But then he just said some stuff and let me go." He shrugged again. "So, it wasn't any big deal anyway."
Millie and Teddy exchanged a look. Harry could see it out of the corner of his eye. "Look, you guys, he didn't do anything. It's not that big a deal."
"Okay, Harry," Teddy said, too quickly for Harry not to know he was just placating him. "But you told the professor all this?"
"Yeah. Well, most of it." Sort of. Except he'd not said who it was before the vision knocked him out. Stupid visions.
"Okay, that's good." Teddy glanced at Millie again. "So, will you tell Professor Snape about the whatever-it-is being in danger of larceny, or do you want me to?"
Harry stared at his friend. Teddy seemed perfectly serious. But if anyone was going to take the fall for this with the professor, Harry would not let it be one of his friends. He sighed. "I'll tell him."
Teddy smiled. "Excellent. Now, we still have an hour before lunch. I say we start our Transfiguration essay before it gets too noisy out here."
And so they did, with Harry trying to put all his various worries out of his mind. He hadn't told his friends about the training he might have with Snape, or the mess about his summer holidays, since none of that was definite anyway. But he was glad he'd told them about Gaius. That was one less secret he had to hold by himself.
TBC . . .
A/N: Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews! I know there's lots of readers, 'cause we've reached over half a million hits! Have I mentioned the "da bombness" of y'all lately? But, since I know you hate cliffies, I figured I'd get this new chapter out now, just to say thanks a million . . . or a half a million, in this case. Hehe (If you want, you can also thank MLK, Jr. for giving us Americans this fine holiday, so I had time to write . . .)