[HP] Dearest Enemy

Harry was dictating the day's letter to Tom into his shorthand quill when Alex pushed the door open.The letter had come to an end, and Harry held up a finger to signal Alex to wait a moment.Alex sat down in his old seat and watched quietly as the quill finished Harry's last words before being put away by his master.Harry folded the letter, went to the window and tied it to the leg of the white snow owl.Harry tilted his head and whispered a few words to his messenger, and patted Hedwig's head, his expression was as gentle as if he was looking at his beloved lover.Alex felt a little parched for no reason, and turned his eyes in another direction without showing any signs.

Harry watched the little white dot disappear into the night sky before returning to his hospital bed.

"You guys keep using owls?" Alex asked.

"Yes." Harry nodded, "Although I bought him a two-way mirror, it's not suitable to use it for communication now."

"Mr. Bryan checked?" Alex asked.

"Come here half an hour ago." Harry lay down, took off his glasses and put them aside. "He said I'd better sleep to replenish my strength."

"If you can't fall asleep, I'll get you some sleep aid medicine." Alex said and stood up.

"No, I am completely forbidden to take similar things now." Harry reached out to stop him, "The therapist gave me a new medicine, and he said it contains ingredients to help sleep."

Alex had to sit down again.Harry's condition took a new turn the day before yesterday when he suddenly fell into a deep sleep while having afternoon tea with Alex, scaring both Alex and the therapist.Harry had a high fever when Dumbledore and Dippet arrived after hearing the news.Harry was clearly in a nightmare again, slurring his speech and struggling so hard that the therapist had to hold him down and give him a large sedative potion before he settled down.The next morning, Harry's high fever finally subsided, and the four people who had been guarding him all night were relieved.The therapist's brow was furrowed tightly. He tried everything he could to find out the reason for Harry's sudden fever, but he still couldn't find anything.

Dumbledore speculated that it was a symptom caused by some unknown dark magic, and the healer agreed, but there was no evidence for this.When Harry woke up, he had no memory of having a fever at all, and his consciousness was still stuck on the conversation with Alex before the fever.Harry was shocked to learn he had a fever, something he had never experienced before.

"Has Harry ever been exposed to black magic like curses?" Dumbledore asked Alex.Alex shook his head and said he didn't know anything about it.He only knew that Harry was proficient in black magic but he didn't like it. Everything was to facilitate his research on time magic.But even Harry, the research he almost paid for his life, rarely talked about.Alex has always found it strange that everyone likes to share the joy of their results with others, except Harry.In fact he always changed the subject when Alex brought up his research.Harry had a thick collection of his research, but Harry always kept it in the bottom drawer and locked it up with magic.

The therapist's new medicine was undoubtedly effective, and Harry quickly closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.Since his fever subsided, Alex would come to St. Mungo's every day before dawn to stay with him, and he didn't leave until midnight when Harry fell asleep.Dumbledore told Alex he must keep Harry safe, but did not say why.Alex hadn't thought about why Dumbledore suddenly started to care about Harry's condition before, but after Dumbledore's revisit yesterday, he noticed some subtleties that were different from usual: Harry changed his previous attitude towards Harry. Dumbledore was careful about the state of contact, and asked his colleagues vaguely if they continued to pay attention to his godson.This was very unusual, and Harry must have had a long conversation with Dumbledore before he returned home, probably right after Harry's admission to the hospital.Alex knew that it was Dumbledore who first found out about Harry's accident and took care of his buddy until he returned home.

Harry is a person with secrets, and Dumbledore may have known part of Harry's affairs, which made Harry's attitude change.No one can deny that Dumbledore is very skillful in conversation, and knows how to let the other party follow his train of thought, and finally get what he wants to know.So Alex wasn't surprised to find out that Harry had been beaten by Dumbledore.

Alex stared at the sleeping face of the man breathing steadily on the hospital bed.There is a scar on Harry's forehead, which is a mark left by some dark magic, which is usually hidden by Harry's bangs and only shows up in a few cases.When Alex asked, Harry said that it was left to him by a wizard when he was young, but there was no other explanation, so Alex wisely didn't ask again.

Now that the scar was visible between his hair, Alex stood up and walked softly over to Harry's bed, leaning over, and carefully brushing his forehead.That scar was indeed quite old, only a faint white scar proved that the skin here had been injured before, and there was nothing special about it except for the shape of lightning.Alex took a closer look to make sure Harry was asleep, then hung his finger a centimeter or so from the scar to trace its trajectory.Harry seemed to have sensed it, and turned his head slightly to one side.Alex was startled and held his breath immediately, only to realize that Harry hadn't woken up, it was just an unconscious movement of his.Harry has been through the war, and his body is alert to everything that comes close to him, even when he is asleep.

Alex slowly straightened up and exhaled, giving up the idea of ​​continuing to observe Harry's sleeping face closely, and returned to the chair to sit down.In fact, Harry still looks better without glasses. He is not very handsome, but his eyes are very beautiful, the color of emerald.Brown pupils are inherited from the Potter family, and Harry's eyes apparently came from his mother.Alex had always thought that Harry might be some offshoot of the Potter family, but there wasn't enough drama to prove it, and Harry wasn't bothered.Harry was actually the type that was very popular in gay bars, but Alex knew that Harry never went there, otherwise he wouldn't be unaware of his godson's hot gaze, and he was always conscious of himself. The gesture of intimacy made was unresponsive.

I really don't know whether this slowness is his luck or misfortune.Alex smiled faintly, and cast his gaze out of the window.The sky has already begun to turn white, and the sun will rise in a few minutes.The gray-eyed man put his feet on an unoccupied table as usual, folded his arms and leaned against the back of the chair, tilting his head to watch the clouds in the sky gradually become brighter.

Because of repeated illness, Harry's discharge plan had to be temporarily shelved.Headmaster Dippet hesitated to re-hire a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, but Harry insisted that he would return to the classroom.All he asked was to teach for another year, and if by the time Tom graduated he was still not physically able to support him, and he would resign himself.

The therapist disagreed with Harry's dogged insistence.Harry had a new condition after this high fever, that is, once he used magic, he would feel inexplicably tired.At first everyone thought it was an inevitable condition when the body recovered after the fever subsided, but after Harry didn't use any magic one day, the condition disappeared.

Harry was nervous, and if he couldn't get over it, it would mean the end of his teaching career.The class of Defense Against the Dark Arts requires a lot of demonstrations and demonstrations, and Harry focuses on practice, so it is impossible not to use magic.He was only 36 years old, at the peak of a wizard's magic and control, unable to use magic at this time... Harry couldn't imagine being forced to live as a Muggle.He is very familiar with how Muggles live. He has lived with them as a Muggle for a long time, but voluntary and forced by the situation are completely different things. In addition, he has not been able to leave the hospital for half a month after being hospitalized. Harry was restless.

Alex really couldn't stand it, so he asked Harry if he had any things to relieve boredom left at school.This question reminded Harry, so he told his friend that he wanted to smoke, and asked Alex to go to Hogwarts for him and bring his pipe and tobacco jar.

"I never knew you smoked." Alex narrowed his eyes. "Mr. Brian will be very angry, Harry."

"I can smoke outside the tea room on the sixth floor," said Harry. "You won't tell Mr. Bryan, will you?"

Alex shrugged helplessly.He wouldn't tell the serious therapist about such a small request, as long as it would calm Harry's nerves.

Alex came to Harry's office and found his pipe and tobacco tin in the drawer Harry had mentioned.Alex thought Harry would prefer Muggle paper cigarettes, but he didn't expect him to use this old-fashioned pipe.

While leaving school, Alex ran into Dumbledore who was going back to school.

"Alex, what are you doing here?" Dumbledore asked.

"Bring something to Harry," Alex replied. "He's not in a good mood."

Dumbledore nodded: "I will find time to see him the day after tomorrow. By the way, do you have an appointment for afternoon tea tomorrow?"

Alex narrowed his eyes slightly and shook his head: "If you need, I can spare an hour."

"Great." Dumbledore said with satisfaction, "One hour is enough. See you at Hogsmeade's Hog's Head pub tomorrow afternoon at 03:30."

"Okay." Alex replied.Dumbledore bade him goodnight and strode off to the school.He took out the pocket watch in his pocket and checked the time. It was almost time for the therapist to examine Harry, and immediately Apparated to London.

Alex arrived a little late, and the therapist was already sitting in his office drinking coffee.He went to inquire about Harry's condition first, and after knowing that there was nothing abnormal, he walked towards Harry's ward.

"Aaron, you're so slow." Harry just came out of the bathroom, his wet hair was not as hawkish as usual; his eyes seemed to be a little scattered because of his short-sightedness, and his eyes without glasses were surprisingly green.Alex took out the shrunken tobacco jar and Harry's pipe from his pocket and put them on the table, watching Harry with some regret as he took his glasses back.

"I met Dumbledore on the road and said a few words to him." Alex said, watching Harry skillfully fill the pipe with tobacco, with a slight smile on his face, he couldn't help laughing Get up, "Do you want to smoke now?"

"You can't take away my little hobby." Harry winked at him innocently.Alex shook his head a little resignedly, walked over and picked up the towel that Harry had draped over his shoulders.

"You have to dry your hair, don't you?" Alex put a towel around Harry's head. "What if you catch a cold?"

"Oh, glasses!" Harry protested, taking them off to escape Alex's ravages of his hair. "Just a simple spell—"

"It's better for you to use less spells." Alex said with a chuckle, "What if you suddenly faint again? Sit down."

Harry rolled his eyes, reluctantly let Alex Hulu his disobedient hair, and sat down on the hospital bed.

Seeing that Harry no longer resisted meekly, the smile on Alex's lips deepened, and he waved his wand at the wet towel in complicated patterns, and a stream of steam evaporated from the towel and dried it instantly.Alex put the towel back on Harry's head, who simply closed his eyes and let his friend do whatever he wanted with his hair.

Alex followed Harry's neck and open neckline.The shape of Harry's collarbone is very good, because he and the house elf have taken good care of his skin these days, his skin has improved a lot, but he hasn't grown any flesh, and he's still a bit skinny.He moved his gaze to Harry's neck, and was about to secretly admire his friend's perfect nape, when his eyes were immediately attracted by something, and he stopped his movements.

"What's the matter?" Harry raised his head in confusion, but Alex stretched his hand over his shoulder to his neck, touching a piece of skin on the back of his neck indistinctly.The touch from the gray-eyed man's fingertips made Harry shiver uncontrollably.

It was hot, the temperature of that place was higher than the temperature of his fingers.Alex was about to move his finger elsewhere to check Harry's temperature, but the harassed person had already turned his head away.

"Aaron, what are you doing?" Harry asked a little unhappy.

"You've got a mark on your neck," said Alex, looking serious. "It's a little darker than the skin. What's that?"