E Pluribus Unum

A/N - I have revised the whole story and am updating everything. Len - you cracked me up last night. The name change is because a friend who actually studies Latin corrected my spelling. Ghaeth - fret not, my child, the Lemons are coming. But first, a little fluff.


Chapter 14 – Dark of the Light

Minuet started when Harry called her name. She had been in the library for the past few hours reading up on legends and stories of Dark creatures, looking for something that prayed on le’sle’s desires. What she found was disturbing and sad. There were dozens of creatures and they had no problem finding food.

Harry flopped down in the chair beside her and craned his head to read the title of her book.

“Dark Creatures and Their Habits?” He asked with curiosity.

“I was trying to figure out what Fauna got involved with.” She replied and he sd atd at her.

“Good idea.” He nodded and reached for one of the books. “I’ll help. Besides, if I know Professor Leblanc, this is going to come up as homework soon.” He added and she giggled. Min clapped her hand over her mouth in horror. “What?” He asked in amusement.

“Slytherins never giggle.” She informed him primly.

“Not even when they’re tickled?” He asked with wide innocent eyes. She was just not quite fast enough to escape and his fingers found their way with practiced ease. She clamped her jaws shut in a desperate attempt to not be expelled from the library for shrieking. Her face was red and tears were leaking when he relented with a sigh. “But I like your giggle, Min.” He said so forlornly that she had to smile, while wiping the tears from her eyes and taking deep breaths.

“Harry, we are supposed to be studying.” She pushed a book in front of him and opened it for him to read. He gave an exaggerated pout and huge gusty sigh before he bent his head obediently to the page.

“Slave driver.” He teased her and they settled in to study.

Minuet found it far harder to study with Harry sitting next to her than she had thought it would be. It was warm and comforting to be with him but there was also this little tickle of sensation that ran up and down her body every time he shifted in his seat.

His glasses glinted in the light, his thick black hair slid across his eyes, and she found herself watching him more often than the book. There was a tension in her and she had read about it but she had never experienced it before. She berated herself mentally for losing sight of the fact that he was seventeen, one of the more popular boys in school, a Gryffindor and a hero. To her he was just Harry and that was more than enough to make her weak and shivery.

A thud in front of her made her jump almost out of her chair. Several of the seventh-year Slytherins humpeumped their books on the table before Harry and wereringring at him. Amend the previous thought: most popular with everyone but her own House, she groaned inside. She would suffer for this; she should have known better than to let him sit with her in so public a place.

“He bothering you, Ravagienne?” Zabini asked with a menacing growl. The others were looking at Harry as though all they needed was a tiny excuse to hex him back to the Dark Ages. Before she could say a word, Professor Leblanc leaned out of the stacks nearby. Min hadn’t even known she was there.

“I didn’t tell you to stop, Miss Ravagienne, or you Mr. Potter.” She said in a severe tone and they both dropped their heads back to their books quickly. The other Slytherins, thinking that Harry and Min were serving a detention, fled the library quickly. The Gryffindor and the Slytherin grinned at each other and then smiled at Professor Leblanc.

“Thanks, Ma’am.” Min called after her as she returned to the stacks.

“C’mon, Min.” Harry looked around, grabbed the books and floated them to Madam Pince. Min followed him as he marched them both off to the Room of Requirement, making sure not to be seen or followed.

Once they were inside, it looked like a library with hundreds of books on Dark Magic and Defense. A small couch sat in front of a fireplace and a table with quills and ink sat in the center. Harry plopped the books down and went to wander the stacks

Min read, skimming through unrelated subjects, searching for a clue to what they were up against. Hours passed and she got nothing more than a headache and a deep fear of being afraid. Every one of these creatures seemed to feed on fears.

“I am scared of being scared.” She murmured and slammed shut the latest volume.

“I don’t think its just fear, per se.” Harry must have heard her low-voiced comment. He raised his head from his own book. “There’s being afraid of something and then there’s letting your fears control you.” Harry elucidated.

“Fauna was in love, not afraid.” Min argued. Harry shook his head in negation.

“No, she was afraid. She was afraid he’d marry someone else, she was afraid he’d never love her back. She was afraid of being alone” His voice was sure and she found herself nodding; he was right she realized.

“But you can’t make people feel things. They either do or they don’t and if you really love someone it doesn’t matter if they are with you or not anyway; you just want them to be happy.” She was angry at Fauna for trying to take what should be given freely. Harry was looking at her with a strange kind of intensity.

“Are you really only fifteen? At fifteen I was a jerk.” Harry admitted and Minuet laughed.

“Girls mature faster, or so I hear.” She teased him and he smiled, but it was almost wistful.

“You matured faster than most, I think.” His words made her remember her father’s arrest, the Aurors looking at her as if she were trash. Images of the witches and wizards who spat at her and her mother passed through her mind. There were shops that wouldn’t sell to them and friends who wouldn’t owl them anymore. Yes, she had grown up quickly.

“You know what I learned, Harry?”

“What, Min?”

“I learned that friends are more important than wealth and status. I learned that you can be innocent and people will still think you’re guilty. I learned that your parents are human and they make bad decisions and do stupid things.” She felt a tear slide down hheekheek and brushed it away angrily. Harry came around the table and pulled her up from her chair.

He led her to the couch and they settled into it side-by-side and stared at the flames.

“Everyone thought I was the Heir of Slytherin in my second year. They whispered about me behind my back.” He looked at her, his glasses flashing in the firelight. “They judged me for being a parseltongue, like that made me intrinsically evil.” Minuet nodded. He draped an arm across her shoulder and she leaned against his warmth.

“Everyone thinks I am some purist bigot. I don’t hate Muggle-borns. I like Hermione. I think Finch-Fletchley is a git, but not because he’s a Muggle-born.” Harry laughed and she could feel his body convulse with it. It was nice to able to make him laugh. She punched him gently in the ribs and grinned.

“You never act like I’m anything special, Min. I like that.” It was a total non sequitur and it surprised the truth out of her.

“You are special -- you’re Harry.” She replied and he went silent, staring at her in shock. “What did I say?” she asked in confusion.

“Min.” His voice was soft and full of wonder and he leaned in and kissed her. It was so welcome and so unexpected that she was stunned. His mouth was warm and moist and it was sending tendrils of feeling into parts of her body she hadn’t known could feel that way. She wrapped her arms around his neck, sure that she was dreaming but not willing to wake up. He held her like she was made of glass and then he ended the kiss and stared at her some more.

Minuet stared back, unsure of what had just happened. Did this mean he liked her? She had never been kissed before and she wasn’t sure she had done it right. Why was he staring at her as if she had suddenly appeared from nowhere?

“Harry?” Her voice was breathy and she wasn’t quite sure what she was asking. He seemed to guess though, because he kissed her again and it was even better the second time. With her wits a little less scattered she could try to kiss him back. She was dizzy and euphoric when he pulled back and she wasn’t sure what the look was on his face, but it was doing things to her insides. His glasses had come off somewhere in all of this and his green eyes were dark and filled with some nameless emotion.

She shivered and he visibly controlled himself.

“Fifteen, right fifteen.” He muttered and Minuet was both relieved and obscurely disappointed. She wanted him but she wasn’t sure she was ready yet. She also knew she would give Harry anything, ready or not, so maybe it was a good thing that he had some restraint.

He pulled back with some reluctance and sighed.

“This is going to be a problem.” He ran a hand through his hair and she felt her heart sink; did he regret the kiss? “Malfoy’s gonna kill me.”

“For kissing me?” How would Draco ever find out?

“No, for dating you.” He gave her a lop-sided smile and her heart swelled with joy.

“Really?” She was grinning like a fool and Harry hugged her against him, holding her tightly. “You want to date me?”

“No, I just go around kissing girls randomly.” He rolled his eyes in exasperation. Minuet pulled back to look him in the eyes.

“I just thought there was no way that you would ever be caught dead dating a fifteen year old Slytherin, daughter of ath Eth Eater.” She said all in one breath. He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ears and gave her a sad smile.

“I thought you would never like a seventeen year old Gryffindor who still has a Dark Lord to face.” Understanding grew in her heart and she kissed him lightly on his mouth.

“Idiot.”

“Sneak”

“Harry.”

“Oh Min.”