Lettered

Disclaimer: J.K.R owns Harry Potter, not me. That's why she's making the big bucks, and I'm deciding between paying for books and buying food.



Warning: This is a Slash Story. That means boy/boy lovin'.



I'll reply to any and all comments in my livejournal, which is linked in my profile.



------

Harry had never been happier in his life. He'd just spent the last half hour snogging Tom, and he felt like he was walking on air. He walked up to his dorm, a big, stupid grin plastered onto his face. Nothing could bother him now.



Or so he thought.



"Hey, Harry!" Hermione's voice cut through his happy stupor. He rolled his eyes. What did she want now?



"We've been looking all over for you! Where'd you disappear to?"



Harry just looked at her.



"Fine, you don't have to tell me now. I'm really more worried about you and Ron." Harry snorted.



"I really don't want to talk about Ron right now, 'Mione." Hermione huffed.



"Well, he really needs someone on his side right about now, especially when he's dealing with... them."

"Them?"

"You know, Dean and Seamus."

Harry looked at Hermione, confused. "Yeah, what about them?"

"They're queer, Harry!"

"So?"

"So, it's just... eww! Don't tell me that it doesn't gross you out!"

"Hermione, I honestly don't give a damn about who anyone sleeps with, as long as everyone's above age and consenting. Really, is this any of our business?"

"So, you're siding with them. That's just great Harry, I hope you're proud of yourself." At that, Hermione stalked off.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Bunch of bloody nutcases, the whole lot of them."



------



Climbing into the common room, Harry noticed Dean and Seamus sitting in one corner. Nodding at them, he walked over to where Ginny was sitting doing homework. "Hey, Gin. How's it going?"



Ginny sighed. "Just wonderful. Have you run into Hermione yet?"



"Oh yeah, she gave me a nice lecture on not supporting the queers, or whatever. I think she's pissed off at me, because I told her that I really don't give a fuck." Ginny giggled.



"Besides, I never thought you went in for that whole self-loathing thing." Harry growled and swiped at her, while the red-head giggled and ducked.



"Hey, speaking of which, we gotta talk." Harry grinned, his emerald eyes glittering mischievously.

"All right, lead the way."



Harry lead the girl up into the dorm, ignoring the look Seamus gave him. "I think we're giving off the wrong impression, Gin." he whispered conspiratorially.

"Indeed." Ginny looked back at Seamus, inclined her head towards Harry, and winked. Harry snorted.

"C'mon, you trouble maker."



------



Neville Longbottom felt like shit. He didn't remember the last time he felt so sick. So, deciding that it would be better not to deal with people, he spent the day in bed with the curtains drawn. He was awoken several hours later by the sound of voices in the room. Still drowsy, Neville listened, trying to figure out who was out there.



------



"All right, Gin, what I tell you now cannot go any further than this room. Got it?" Harry sat on his bed, looking solemn.



"I get it, Harry. A thousand stampeding Hippogriffs couldn't get me to speak of it."



"Erm, OK then. So, at the end of last year, Dumbledore told me the prophecy."



"Wait, he knew it all this time, and he didn't bother to tell you? Bloody hell, he put you through all of that for nothing?"



"Yeah. But that's not the point. You need to know the prophecy before anything else will make sense. " Harry took a deep breath, and recited the prophecy.



"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches

Born to those who have thrice defied him

Born as the seventh month dies

And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal

But he will have power the Dark Lord knows not

And either must die at the hand of the other

For neither can live while the other survives

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord..."



"So, anyways, as I'm talking to Tom- who still doesn't know the prophecy- I've noticed that he refers to the Dark Lord as a separate person. And at least once he's mentioned that, since he came back in fourth year, it's felt like some part of his personality had died- the power-hungry lunatic. And I'm wondering if Dumbledore's interpretation of the prophecy is as accurate as he thinks. I mean, the first bit is straight forward, but the ending...



"Ginny, what if the Dark Lord was just an aspect of Tom's personality? I mean, over the summer, I managed to see part of a programme that talked about something called "Multiple Personality Disorder". Maybe it's something like that, with the Dark Lord being one personality? I mean, it makes sense. While the Dark Lord is around, I couldn't actually live, and Tom certainly couldn't live. But, maybe I'm talking out of my arse. You know, trying to justify being friends with him..."



"Harry, listen to me. What do your instincts tell you?" Harry frowned.



"He's not Voldemort any more. I can feel it." Harry unconsciously rubbed his scar. "You know, I can feel his emotions though that link of ours. I know when he's lying, and he hasn't really lied to me yet, for the most part."



"For the most part?" Ginny raised one eyebrow, snorting as Harry went pink.



"Yeah, well, I kinda snuck out earlier, and we were talking, and I asked him what he was thinking about. He's a bad liar, by the way." Harry grinned, then flopped back.



Ginny snorted. "Oh, come on. That can't be the whole story. What happened next?"



"Um, well, we were talking anIkinnakisshm." Harry mumbled.



"What was that?"



"I kinda kissed him." It came out as a whisper, and Harry's face was a brilliant red.



"Well, finally. It took you long enough." Harry was about to respond when someone sneezed.



Harry looked around frantically. He stopped as he noticed that the curtains on Neville's bed were shut.

"Nev? Is that you?" Neville's face poked out from behind the curtain, hair messy, nose red, and eyes bleary.



"Why you guys have to talk so loud. 'M sick." At that, the boy pulled his head back into the privacy of his bed, and sneezed again.



"Nev? What exactly did you hear?" Ginny asked.



"No' much. Dumbledore made a mistake, You-know-who's not You-know-who anymore, and Harry's gay."



Harry gaped. "Ok, first of all, I'm not gay. I like girls too, you know. Second, Nev, you need to keep this a secret. No one can know, got it?"



"Yeah, sure. Probably a hallucination from the medicine, anyways. Now, you gonna be quiet, or what?"



------



Harry and Ginny were in the library, doing homework. At least, Ginny was doing homework. Harry had pulled out a think text on mental illnesses, from a wizarding perspective.



"Hey, Gin, look at this. In the 1940's, a group was doing a study on the causes of multiple personality disorders, but were shut down after the Ministry received accusations claiming that they were implanting false personalities. Lets see... Johann Westhover and Artemus Zephyrwilde... " Harry froze. On the page in front of him were four smiling faces, two of them very familiar. The caption underneath read "J. Westhover and A. Zephyrwilde with Albus Dumbledore and an unnamed test subject. Records regarding the subjects in these experiments have unfortunately been lost." The test subject was none other than Tom Riddle.



Harry quickly marked his page in the book, and slid it into his bag. He would have to talk to Tom about this later.



------



Ron and Hermione were continuing their campaign against Dean and Seamus, much to the chagrin of everyone else in Gryffindor tower. It got so bad after a while that anyone with any common sense vacated the common room whenever one of the two entered. Harry and Ginny took to spending all of their free time in the library with Neville, Luna, Dean, and Seamus, as well as any other Gryffindors who felt like avoiding the vocal duo.



"Hey, Nev, what affect does the acidity of the soil have on mandrake roots?" asked Ginny, who was working on a potions essay.



Harry tuned out the conversation buzzing around him. He'd been searching for information on the personality studies for weeks, and every fact he had come up with scared him a little bit more. According to some of the books, the men had found a way, using a corrupted form of legimency, to force a person to develop multiple personalities. It wasn't identical to the actual mental condition, but it was close. In some cases, the artificial personality would become dominant, and each personality would contain whatever features the creators wanted. Like, for instance, an obsessive hatred of muggles and muggleborns. What was worse was that Albus bloody Dumbledore appeared to let the use Hogwarts students as test subjects! Harry felt sick. If his suspicions were correct, not only did Dumbledore let them turn Tom into a homicidal maniac, he actually actively encouraged it.



"...Right, Harry?" Harry looked up, to where everyone was staring at him.



"Er, what? Sorry, I missed that." Seamus grinned.



"Nah, don't worry about it. We're just talking about what a shitty couple you and the red-head make." The entire group laughed, earning a glare from Madam Pince.



Ginny rolled her eyes. "It would work out a lot better if Harry wasn't gay." Harry glared at the red-head, while Dean and Seamus snorted.



"How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not gay?" she rolled her eyes. "No, seriously. A person's sex just isn't a deciding factor for me. Not that it's anyone else's business, anyways."



A stiff silence descended over them. After a few moments, Dean turned to his boyfriend.



"Well, Seam, it looks like you owe me a Galleon."



"Wait, you two were betting on my sexual orientation?"



"Well, yeah. It's not like there's anything else to do around here, is there?"



Harry rolled his eyes and stood up. "Well, as much as I hate to rob you of your entertainment, I'm gonna go."



------



Harry walked out to the broomshed, intent on grabbing his firebolt, heading out to the pitch, and flying. He couldn't believe his friends. Bloody wankers, the whole lot of them. Unfortunately, he was focusing so hard on the incident in the library that he walked straight into Malfoy, who also appeared to be headed to the broomshed.



"Hey, Potter, walk much?" growled Malfoy from under Harry. The tentative truce between the two had kept them from actually getting into any fights, but they still weren't nice to each other or anything.



"Oh, shut up, Malfoy. I don't have the patience today." Harry clambered up and straightened his robes.



"Another run in with the happy couple?" At that point, everyone knew that there had been a split between Ron, Hermione and Harry, as there had already been two screaming matches and one brief scuffle, but no one was quite sure what was going on.



Harry snorted. "If only. I had to leave before I ended up beating on Dean and Seamus. Oh, and Ginny, too. Bunch of bloody gits."



Draco laughed as he climbed to his feet and continued on his way to the broomshed. "Found out about the betting?"



"Yeah, I- wait, you know about that? How big is this thing?"



"I hate to break it to you, Potter, but half of Hogwarts is avidly following your sex life."



"Bloody hell! I know it's boring around here, but damn." There was a pause, while Harry tried to wrap his head around the situation.



"So, which bet was is?"



"There's more than one?"



"Hell, yeah. There's the main one, which is whether you're gay, straight, or bisexual. Then there's subsidiary bets in each of those groups regarding who you fancy. It's actually a complex system. I think a bunch of Ravenclaws figured it out." Harry stared at Draco, shocked.



"Bloody hell... Is there anyone in the bloody castle who's not interested in my sex life?"



"I dunno- Snape?"



"No, I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm shagging the Dark Lord or something."



Draco started laughing, then froze. "You aren't, are you?"



Harry laughed. "Nah, I'm not shagging anyone. I'm guessing big money's on me shagging Ginny?"



"Nah, the Weaslette bet on 'Gay', and hasn't bet on anyone for your fancy."



Harry rolled his eyes. "I swear, I've lost count of all the times I've told her I'm not gay. I think she does it just to piss me off." Harry grabbed his broom from the shed, climbed on it, and flew at an easy pace toward the pitch. Draco was right behind him.



"So, not to change the subject or anything, but what's with you and the happy couple?"



Harry snorted. "Oh, Ron pitched a fit when he found out about Dean and Seamus. Hermione gave me a nice lecture on how we have to stick together to avoid running afoul of "the queers" or whatever. It's pretty pathetic. I'm surprised that the whole school doesn't know. Who knows, maybe the old coot's running damage control."



"What, Dumbledore? He hasn't stepped in to bring peace and harmony back to the golden trio?"



"Nope. You know, I haven't seen him since the sorting, actually. It's weird." The two students were circling the pitch, flying at the same easy pace.



"So, does this mean I still have to be nice to the couple?" Draco looked at Harry.



"Well, technically, yeah, but, you know, you could always mention the reason they're so unpopular to someone who might take offense to it, or someone with a big mouth..." Draco chuckled.



"How underhanded of you. Are you sure you weren't supposed to be in Slytherin?"



"Well the hat did say I'd do well in Slytherin, but I had just been introduced to this awful prat, who happened to be sorted there..." He grinned at the blond, who rolled his eyes.



------



After his conversation with Draco, the Gryffindors found that the started having fewer problems with Ron and Hermione. It may have been due to the fact that they could barely leave the common room without being locked into a closet. When asked, Draco told him that it was suggested by a Ravenclaw, who thought that it would be poetic justice, or something like that. Harry just thought that it was a good way to shut them up.



The group in the library soon expanded to include Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson, and Blaise Zabini- after they had promised that they had "no more involvement with the Dark Lord than Potter here" No one else understood why Ginny and Neville found this so funny. Blaise spent most of his time chatting with Ginny, who in turn blushed any time his name came up. Neville finally asked Luna out after Harry took his mimbus mimbletonia hostage, only returning it when Luna confirmed that he had asked her out. Draco was still trying to convince Pansy that they weren't meant to be; she was currently musing about a wedding in Venice. Neville was no longer so afraid of Draco, but he still squeaked whenever the blond boy glared. Ginny would often punch both boys after one of these incidents, Draco, because he was a git, and Neville, because he needed to toughen up.



Harry, for his part, was sneaking off to see Tom at least once a week, snogging in the cellar of Honeydukes, and talking about life, the universe, and everything. When Harry had shown him the first book he had found mentioning the multiple personality study, Tom had nearly had a fit. Westhover and Zephyrwilde had spent many weeks explaining to Tom the key tenets of pureblood supremacy. To find out that Dumbledore had actively facilitated their actions...



Tom had been keeping most of his Death Eaters busy with minor duties, meant to cause fear without leading to any major injuries. A select few were sent to gather as much information as possible on the Multiple Personality Experiments- for all anyone knew, there could be dozens of others who had been living with an artificial personality, both from the experiments themselves, and from those who had used the information gleaned. So far, they had uncovered the name of two other subjects in the experiment, both deceased.



Snape was still as snarky as ever, glaring at Harry at every opportunity, although for some reason he was reluctant to take points from the boy. It may have had something to do with the Dark Lord's affection for the Gryffindor. Dumbledore was still nowhere to be found, although Fawkes was constantly traveling back and forth, carrying messages.



And thus, the scene was set for Halloween.



------



Tom had decided that there needed to be an incident on Halloween, to keep everyone on their toes, and to keep anyone from getting suspicious. Besides, it was almost a tradition, after all.



Harry was the one with the bright idea, though. There was a match-Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw- on the Saturday before Halloween, creating the perfect opportunity for Harry to sneak Ginny, Draco, and Neville through the secret passage into the cellar of Honeydukes. There, the five of them managed to plan out the Halloween incident. Assured that everyone knew their parts, he sent the other three students back up to the school, sending the map (and instructions for her to redirect anyone who should come to close to the statue) with Ginny and keeping his cloak for himself. Ginny and Neville snickered, confusing Draco, who knew nothing other than that, according to his conversation with Harry on the pitch, Harry and Tom weren't shagging. He finally let the two Gryffindors drag him away when they promised to explain it all to him on the way back.



"Tom," Harry looked up into the eyes of his boyfriend, "have I told you how great you are?"



"Well, not in the last twenty minutes, anyways. Why?"



"Oh, nothing. Just thought you should know." Harry smiled at the older man's confused look before drawing him into another kiss.



------



At last, it was Halloween. The group thought that it would be easiest to pull off during the feast.



About fifteen minutes after the feast had begun, Draco and Blaise (who wasn't sure what exactly was going on, other than a large scale prank) ran into the great hall, calling for Madam Pomphrey. Getting her attention, they lead her to a stupefied Ginny, lying in a hallway chosen at random. Once she was enneverated, and shown to be alright, they asked her what happened. Like the wonderful actress she was (all those years of living with Fred and George had taught her something, after all), she told a simple story- "We were walking to the great hall, and I thought I saw something, so I stopped, and then I heard a mumble, and Neville fell down, and then Harry fell down, and I went to run, but something hit me, and is Harry ok? What about Neville? Where are they?" The subsequent panic assured that no one would question any holes in her story- Harry and Neville were missing! Obviously kidnapped! Of course, no one but Draco and Ginny knew that they were currently sitting in the cellar of Honeydukes, eating chocolate frogs. In a few hours, they would head outside (under the invisibility cloak, of course), and Tom would stun them and pin a note to Harry's robe referring to the dreadful security of the school.



While the rest of the teachers searched the grounds, and Madam Pomphrey got the infirmary ready- after all, it wasn't a real adventure if Harry didn't end up in the infirmary afterwards- Severus agreed to question the students involved to see if they had any other information to give.



Leading the three students into a room, which he quickly locked and warded, Severus paced to the center. Draco and Ginny, who had been doing their best not to laugh while they were surrounded by teachers and other students, broke out in laughter. Blaise, who was completely in the dark, didn't see what was so funny.



After giving them a moment to calm down, Severus asked in a careful, flat tone, "Alright, Mister Malfoy, who's idea was this?"



Draco smirked. "It was Harry's idea. He wanted an excuse to sneak out and visit a friend tonight. Neville agreed, and they enlisted us. Blaise was only involved because of Ginny, and he didn't know anything other than the fact that we were planning a prank."



The Potions Master looked over at the black boy. "It this true, Mister Zabini?" Blaise gulped.



"Yes, sir. "



"Alright, then, you may go, Mister Zabini."



Blaise shot to his feet and ran to the door.



Once the boy was out of the room, Severus took a deep breath. This was not going to be a fun night.



"Alright. What exactly do each of you know about Mister Potter's current circumstances?"



It was Ginny who spoke up first. "Do you mean, current as of this night, or current as of the time he started writing letters?"



"Current as of this summer."



"Oh, in that case, Harry wrote a letter to the dark lord after he had a rather disturbing vision-" At this Severus started to go pink. "-And they kept writing on a daily basis until Harry was moved to the headquarters. I found out while we were in Diagon Alley, when I followed Harry to the Leaky Cauldron and recognized Tom from second year. Then they didn't talk until we got back here, and then they started writing, and Harry found a way to sneak out to see him- which he hasn't shown me, so I can't tell you, sorry- and they are quite possibly snogging right now." Snape blanched, he really hadn't wanted to know that, although it explained a lot. The young girl continued. "Neville overheard us a few weeks ago, we didn't realize that he was in the room, he was sick and had spent the day in his bed with the curtains closed- at the time, he said he couldn't be arsed to care with so much medicine in his system, and by the time he was better, he'd thought it over and figured that Harry knew what he was doing. You already know how Draco found out- he told me already."



Severus was shocked. He didn't expect the girl to be so... forthcoming. Nor did he expect her- or Longbottom for that matter- to take it so calmly. "And as for this... prank of yours?"



Draco answered this time. "Oh, Potter and Longbottom are going to sit around and eat junk food until midnight. Then they're going to head out into the middle of Hogsmeade, Tom's going to stupefy them, and pin a note to Longbottom's robes talking about the "lax security" we have. You may want to find a way to keep anyone from searching Hogsmeade until after midnight."



Severus sighed. Was it him, or were his students getting more idiotic as the years went on? He was surprised to hear that the bloody werewolf hadn't had a paw in this.



"Alright. Get out of here. I'm sure you'll both be informed when Potter and Longbottom show up. " The Potions Master sneered at his students, who just smiled at him. Bloody Gryffindors, corrupting his Slytherins!



------



Of course, the reappearance of Harry and Neville only brought about another slew of rumors, as did the announcement of new security measures- which, as far as anyone could tell, had no effect on the existing passageways. Dumbledore was still nowhere to be found, and speculation abounded, from the tale that Voldemort had captured him and was keeping him locked up in a dungeon somewhere (Harry just about choked on his cereal when Ginny passed that gem to him at breakfast one morning), to the woeful story told by the Hufflepuffs, who claimed that he had choked to death on a lemon drop.



Defense Against the Dark Arts was still just as engaging as it had been in third year. There had been a rough patch with Ron and Hermione there for a while, but that problem was solved as soon as Professor Lupin learned not to place either of them with any of the other students, lest someone end up in the infirmary.



Currently, they were discussing the boundary between dark spells and light spells, and Lupin was explaining the role of intent in casting any curse, hex, or jinx. Harry found these lessons enlightening, as they examined the reason for the ministry's seemingly arbitrary classification of spells as dark.



One day, not long after Halloween, Remus asked Harry and Neville to stay after class. After the room emptied, the DADA Professor tossed up a few simple but sturdy wards.



"Alright then, we need to talk about what happened on Halloween. I know it didn't happen like Miss Weasley said-" he raised his hand as Harry and Neville both started to deny it, "- and I know that you were not in Death Eater custody. If you were, we would have likely received you back in pieces. Now, remembering that I enjoy a good prank as much as the next person, what happened?"



Harry started to blush and mumble an excuse, when Neville blurted out, "We needed something to do and Harry wanted to see his boyfriend-" Lupin looked at Harry, who was bright red and wishing he could become invisible, "-and Ginny and Draco thought it sounded like fun, so we set it up." Neville fell silent, looking at Harry apologetically.



"And would this boyfriend happen to be the new clerk at Honeydukes, by any chance?" Harry nodded, swallowing thickly. "I thought so. Neville still had a chocolate frog in his pocket when we found you two." Harry glared at the other boy, who was turning a fair shade of red himself.



Suddenly, Lupin started laughing. "Ok, Harry. Officially, as a teacher, I'm supposed to tell you not to do anything like that again. However, unofficially? Next time, let me know first, so I don't spend the night worrying about you, OK?"



Harry let out a sigh. It looked like he was off the hook.



"I also have one more thing to ask. What is happening with Ron and Hermione? I've heard the rumors, of course, but there are always rumors in this place."



"Well, in this case the rumors are true. They attacked Seamus and Dean and anyone who stood up for them, so we started avoiding them. Then, the news spread to the other houses, and some people started to get offended by their behaviour, and started retaliating."



"And that's why I had to pull them out of another closet this morning?" Lupin asked, amused.



"Some of the Ravenclaws thought it would be poetic justice. All I know is it shuts them up for a few hours." Harry smiled softly.



"I see. Well, Harry, we really need to talk more often, but I'm sure you want to get to lunch." The werewolf smiled at his students as they ran off. He got up, put on his cloak, and left the classroom. Lunch could wait, right now, he had a shop clerk to question.