Roommates Chapter 7

As usual for this story, long chapter. Took me two days to do and is about double what I usually write length-wise, so keep that in mind when you start reading.

A week had passed since Parents weekend. Wednesday’s parents gave him hearty and heartfelt goodbyes, but Harry had definitely been most moved by Morticia and the principal’s show of gratitude.

Classes resumed and the status quo had been restored. Mostly.

It was a Saturday morning, yet Harry watched Wednesday suit up in her usual dark clothes and sturdy boots.

“Going somewhere?” he asked.

“To investigate,” Wednesday said.

“You’ve been doing a lot of that,” he said. “Do you want some help?”

“I’ll be able to handle a task like this,” Wednesday said. “Eugene will be coming with me as well, so I won’t be alone.”

Eugene was a friend of hers through her club. Harry had met him a handful of times. The small boy was a little bit quirky (as expected of a Nevermore student) but his personality was completely dependable. Harry’s only worry was that Wednesday’s abilities were the visions she saw and Eugene’s power was an affinity toward bees. If they got themselves in trouble, could they get out of it?

“I could still come. Back you up,” Harry said.

“That won’t be necessary. I’ve calculated the risks,” Wednesday said. “No one will even see us.”

Harry shrugged and let her go. Since her stay in jail Wednesday had committed to the case of the town murders much harder than before. It came out that the sudden death of the local coroner was what caused Gomez’s murder case to be reopened in the first place. Now, Wednesday felt it was personal between her and the hyde that Harry had battled with… and the mysterious master controlling the hyde from the shadows.

People were dying, so Harry didn’t think it was a bad thing to investigate. It even gave him deja vu by reminding him of his days chasing the basilisk and other mysteries around Hogwarts. He just hoped Wednesday wasn’t being slightly too confident.

“I will return by midday,” Wednesday said, leaving the room.

It would be fine, Harry decided. She was tough. Even when she did get into trouble, she had a good habit of wriggling out of it. 

Harry was left with a free day then. He stood up and stretched. What to do? He didn’t have any homework to deal with. Ultimately, he found a book on potions under his bed and took it to read outside. He was still studying magic independently, trying to make sure he’d be ready for magical employment when he returned to the wizarding world.

He read by himself in the shade of a tree for a few hours, then wandered to lunch, eating alone because Wednesday wasn’t back yet. He wasn’t sure what Enid was up to. It was while he was alone in the corner of the commissary that he got unexpected guests.

“Hey.” Bianca Barclay stood in front of him, drawing eyes without even meaning to. She WAS the unofficial queen of Nevermore. Yoko Tanaka was right behind her. Harry lifted an eyebrow waiting for her to go on.

“Do you want to sit with us?” Bianca asked.

Harry looked at their table. It was full of the popular kids, including the siren siblings Harry clashed with ages ago. It was the table right in the middle of the whole room with the most attention on it.

“I’m good,” Harry said. “Thanks, though.”

He enjoyed anonymity/outsider status at the academy. Sitting with that group would only put him more firmly in the attention of the rest of their classmates.

“I thought you would say that.” Bianca actually sounded sad. “You and Wednesday have been apart more this week.”

“That’s true,” Harry said, wondering where this was going.

“Does that mean you won’t be attending the Rave’N together?” Bianca asked.

Harry’s face was blank. “The… what?”

“The biggest night of the Nevermore year,” Yoko said. “It’s a dance. There’s punch, and I’ve heard it’s often spiked. Not that I care. Blood is my only treat.”

“Since you didn’t even know what it is, she must not be bringing you,” Bianca said. “Go with us, then!”

“Both of you?” Harry said.

“Bianca would be your date,” Yoko said. “I’ll be your shadow. I’m most comfortable in the dark. But whenever we get to the good part…” She smiled and showed her fangs. “I’ll be there.”

Harry mulled it over. He didn’t actually have to think very long. He’d been bored on his own.

“Let’s go,” he said.

“YES!” Bianca pumped her fist. A moment later she realized that EVERYONE was looking at her and schooled her expression. “I’ll see you at seven.”

“We both will,” Yoko said. 

The vampire girl took advantage of the attention Bianca was drawing to covertly blow Harry a kiss. Harry returned to his food. This sounded better than spending the evening alone in the dorm room while Wednesday chased another lead. He’d still let her know in advance about this, though. He doubted she would mind.

LINE BREAK

“You’re going to the dance with Bianca?” Wednesday said.

Harry told her as soon as she came back to the room. Somehow she had been somewhere that got paint on her clothes, although she insisted the investigation today had been profitable.

“Technically, I’m going with Yoko as well—” Harry said.

“I’m going for a shower,” Wednesday announced.

Harry was confused. It was already 6:30, while the girls would be arriving at 7:00. Wednesday took a particularly long shower and, as soon as she returned, dug into her closet. She shed her clothes down to her underwear shamelessly (why not, with how many times Harry had seen her naked?). From storage, Wednesday got out a flashy black dress.

“You’re coming too?” Harry asked.

“Why do you sound surprised?” Wednesday said.

“It seemed like the kind of thing you’d rather DIE than attend,” Harry said bluntly. “I assumed that was why you didn’t tell me existed.”

“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to bother with such an event,” Wednesday said.

“So it’s because I agreed to go with Bianca?” Harry said.

Wednesday shimmied her tight body into the dress. When she had it on, she walked to Harry and bent into his face. She kissed him hard with extra tongue.

“I don’t mind if you take Bianca. In fact, I consider it a most arousing idea,” she said. “But I will be supervising the evening. Do you understand?”

Harry grabbed the back of her head and kissed her again. That was enough of an answer for Wednesday. They made out for so long that Harry barely had time to get changed into his own clothes. Luckily for him, dress robes were close enough to Muggle suits that it didn’t look out of place, especially in Nevermore where tastes were so out there.

When Bianca and Yoko knocked on the door, Harry and Wednesday opened the door together. The girls looked at Wednesday.

Bianca was wearing a purple dress that was well fitted for her. As a siren, luring men in sensual ways was her heritage, and she didn’t just rely on her voice to do it. Her dress accentuated her big black backside perfectly. Yoko’s dress was red. It made her look like a femme fatale from an old movie. Because it was dark she didn’t need her glasses, showing her whole face in a way that was unheard of during the day. She’d done her hair nicely so that it hung over her shoulders. 

Wednesday’s dress was pure black and sleeveless with frills around the neck and over her shoulders. She’d JUST had time to pin her hair up short after her and Harry’s kissing session. Some of the strands were loose in front of her face but it only made her look better.

“I hate how good you look in that dress,” Bianca said. “I assume this means you’re coming too?”

“Is there a problem with that?” Wednesday asked.

“No,” Bianca said. “I mean, if I complain, you’ll just take Harry away.”

Wednesday was silent, meaning that yes that was exactly what she would do.

“Shall we go?” Yoko asked. She seemed mostly amused by this situation. Adding Wednesday to the mix was only going to make the group shine brighter, creating even more metaphorical shadows for Yoko to stay out of notice. It seemed like she couldn’t be happier.

The quartet headed to the room on campus where the Rave’N was being held. Plenty of other students were heading the same direction. Between Wednesday (who had become a minor celebrity after the Poe Cup for dethroning Bianca) Bianca herself (the queen of Nevermore) and Harry (the suspected Normie) they were not just a strange match but a collection of some of the school's most notorious inhabitants. Yoko walked just far enough behind them to avoid notice, which was incredible given how beautiful she looked. 

As they got close to the dance hall, Bianca grabbed Harry’s arm and linked it with her own. Seconds later Wednesday did the same thing with his other arm. Suddenly people weren’t just looking at Harry, they were glaring at him. He could hear Yoko laughing her ass off behind them. 

Fortunately for Harry (who was starting to worry that this was going to be an utterly exhausting evening) the decor inside of the dance was dark and hard to see through. The shadows ran deep, and a fog machine or something like it was pumping mist into the room, further obscuring vision. Only the dance floor was moderately illuminated. By the time all the attendees were present there was still a good amount of empty space. Harry was grateful for that.

“What now?” Harry asked.

Yoko’s arms wrapped around him from behind. She was taking advantage of the low light to get closer to him without attracting attention, joining the rest of the group properly.

“You take those two hanging off your arms dancing,” Yoko said. “Unless you’re not brave enough for it. In which case, liquid courage is that way.”

She gestured with her head at the bunch bowl in the corner. Apparently, she wasn’t joking earlier when she said it was alcoholic.

Luckily Harry learned his lesson in fourth year. When you’ve got a beautiful girl on a date, take her dancing. He still felt bad for the Patil twins, saddled with morons like he and Ron had been at the time. 

Harry took his arms back from Wednesday and Bianca. He stepped forward, turned around, and held his hands out to them.

“Who wants to go first?” Harry asked.

“I am not one for ballroom dancing,” Wednesday said. “It’s not my style.”

“If you insist,” Bianca said.

She took Harry’s hand. He pulled her over to the dance floor. They were two of the first there, meaning that when the music started they were right in the middle of the room.

Harry took Bianca’s left hand in his right one, placing his other arm on her lower back just above her ass. It wasn’t a risque position, but the proximity was close enough to Bianca’s butt to get her excited.

“You better know how to dance,” Bianca said.

“I took lessons at my last school,” Harry said. “It’s been a bit since I used them, though.”

He was worried for nothing. As the two of them moved around in time with each other, McGonagall’s tips were still completely ingrained in his muscle memory, like riding a bike. 

As the music got louder he and Bianca went faster. They started to throw in some fancier moves. Harry spun Bianca in a circle, catching her again and pulling her closer than she had been. Both of them were too dexterous to step on the other person’s toes. After a while even some of the other couples stopped dancing just to watch them.

When the number ended, Harry led Bianca off the dance floor. It seemed like she didn’t want to go. Yoko was applauding when the two of them came back.

“Now THAT was something,” said the vampire.

“Fancy going next?” Harry asked her.

“I think someone else has called dibs,” Yoko said.

Wednesday grabbed Harry’s hand and pulled him back onto the dancefloor. She took up the same position Bianca had been in with an intense look—even by her standards—on her face.

“I thought you weren’t into dancing?” Harry asked.

“It’s not my favorite. But I certainly know how. Like using a gun when murdering someone.”

That little bit of “Wednesday” charm at the end couldn’t hide what Harry had noticed. She was feeling jealous. Maybe competitive, as well. She didn’t like feeling like Bianca was beating her at something… and she DAMN sure didn’t like the idea of Bianca getting Harry.

“We are going to do this my way,” Wednesday said.

Harry wasn’t sure what that meant, and he didn’t care. He figured it would be fun.

“Let’s show them a thing or two,” Harry said.

For the first ten seconds, Wednesday danced normally. After that her quirks appeared suddenly. She spun around so that her back was to Harry, his arm that had been around her back going over her stomach instead. The position was kind of risque, like she was grinding on him, an implication that Wednesday might not have been oblivious too; she was moving her hips backwards into Harry’s crotch. Some of the other students had their jaws hanging open.

Eventually Wednesday spun back around. She put a little bit of distance between them. The reason became clear when she performed a high kick, flashing her foot above her head like a martial artist. A BOLD move while wearing a dress. To make matters more intense, she put her ankle on Harry’s shoulder, resting her leg at a high angle for a few seconds. While her leg was there, Harry could see down the bottom of her thigh and spot her panties. Only the dark lighting in the room kept the show private from the others looking on. Harry felt an erection that had started when Wednesday grinded against grow a few extra inches.

He couldn’t let Wednesday put on a show alone. As the music hit a frenetic point, Harry grabbed her hips and threw her into the air. Some of the girls gasped. Wednesday was so small that Harry could get her respectable high in the air. On her way down, they were both on the same page. Harry caught her, both his hands holding her ass. It was both the easiest place to grab and a way of sending a message. Wednesday wrapped her legs around his hips and put her arms behind his neck. They kissed the way they’d been doing back in their dorm room, heedless of the crowd they had ended up with. They were still kissing when the music ended.

Finally Harry set Wednesday down. The two of them left the dance floor. The students in their way actually cleared a path, treating them like royalty while wearing shocked faces. There had been rumors that Harry and Wednesday were dating for a while now, but that much boldness surprised everyone, especially since they had seen him and Bianca dancing right before.

They made it back to Yoko and Bianca. Bianca had her arms crossed but also looked like she grudgingly respected the show. After their threesome with Harry (and maybe some more interactions that Harry wasn’t privy to) Bianca had moved on from seeing Wednesday as a threat to seeing her as a worthy rival.

Suddenly, Wednesday turned to the side. She saw something that Harry couldn’t see and said: “I’ll be back later.”

She abruptly left into the crowd. Bianca shook her head.

“She’s a strange one,” Bianca said. 

“She sure is,” Harry said warmly.

Bianca looked at him and scoffed quietly at the affection in his voice. Yoko laughed. She seemed to be having a great time tonight, watching everyone else become spectacles.

“Ready to take your turn?” Harry asked Yoko.

“I think I just might be,” Yoko said.

She grabbed his hand. Instead of pulling him to the dance floor, though, she dragged him to the very corner of the room.

It was exceptionally dark. Harry would have barely been able to see Yoko right in front of him if it wasn’t for the way her eyes glowed. 

“It’ll be hard to put on a show from here,” Harry said.

“I plan to put on a show alright,” Yoko said. “A private one. Those are MUCH more my style.”

She lowered herself onto her knees, pulling out Harry’s dick. He was already close to erect. Yoko rubbed her hands along him a few times to finish the job.

“I should thank Wednesday later for getting you ready like this,” Yoko said. “I KNEW she was flashing you during that high kick. Now, I just have to help you let off some of this tension.”

She opened her mouth wide, her fangs glinting the same way as her eyes.

Yoko was very careful not to scrap Harry’s dick with her sharp teeth. It must have been incredibly alluring to her, sucking on a member that was throbbing with blood. The thought of her losing control briefly made Harry consider backing out now in fear of her biting. Luckily, Yoko was on her best behavior. 

She favored licking him over deepthroating him. Probably because it was hard not to scratch him with her fangs. She had a long tongue that she used well. She stuck it out of her mouth and held Harry’s dick smacking it into her tongue before giving him a lick. Her eyes shined in the dark the whole time. Harry’s quiet moans were lost amidst the noise of the dance.

“I knew you were up to something.”

Bianca Barclay appeared. Her arms were crossed as she looked at Yoko on her knees in front of Harry.

“You’ve always been like this, Yoko,” Bianca said. “Once you want something, you chase it so hard that you forget about everything else.”

“Thank you,” Yoko said.

“It wasn’t meant as a compliment,” Bianca said. 

It was hard to get a read on what she was thinking. She didn’t have glowing eyes like Yoko, and her dark skin made her even more difficult to see. Eventually, Bianca sighed.

“Scooch,” she said.

Yoko graciously shifted to the side. Bianca joined her on her knees, looking up at Harry.

“Seriously?” Harry asked.

“Come on. It’s not like we haven’t done this before,” Bianca said, looking at his dick instead of his eyes.

“She was hoping the night would end like this when she first invited you,” Yoko said. “Let’s not disappoint her.”

Bianca restarted the blowjob. They both licked Harry from opposite sides, grabbing the top half of his dick and rubbing it with their hands while they licked the lower half. Eventually Bianca moved to his tip and started to deepthroat him with her slippery throat. The sounds her mouth made were loud enough to make Harry look at their surroundings again. Luckily the music was loud. Yoko had picked a spot that was partially behind a wall of curtains, blocking them from sight. The girls’ legs still stuck out from behind the curtain below the ankles. Fortunately, nobody had noticed.

Yoko took her hands off Harry’s dick to pull the straps of her dress down and expose her tits. Bianca momentarily choked on Harry’s dick forgetting to relax her throat properly in her shock at how daring her partner was being. Yoko stood up and pushed her boobs on Harry’s chest.

“Kiss me Harry,” she whispered. “I’m not like Wednesday. I’m not trying to stake a claim on you in front of everyone. I just want you in the dark, your body against mine, doing what we both deeply desire…”

Harry treated her to a kiss. His tongue brushed one of her fangs too hard as he kissed her forcefully, resulting in a small cut. It stung his tongue but made Yoko’s whole body shake with incredible pleasure as she tasted his blood. She kissed him harder, relishing it when Harry grabbed one of her respectably large boobs and squeezed it.

Bianca took him out of her mouth for a second to lick Harry slowly on all sides of his dick. When she finished she ran her tongue in a circle around his cockhead. After she’d gotten all of his taste on her tongue, she started to gag again as she shoved herself down his meat. Wednesday wasn’t around to force her head down this time so she had to be content with taking most but not all of his manhood inside her.

Bianca got increasingly worked up, pushing herself harder on Harry’s dick. Her efforts earned Yoko’s attention, who dropped back to her knees to help Bianca out. While the black siren slurped on Harry with all of her might, Yoko got underneath his crotch and licked his balls. It wasn’t long before Harry was ready to cum. 

At the instant Harry came in Bianca’s mouth, Yoko moved to the siren and bit her neck. She didn’t chomp down for long, but it was clear that she had helped herself to some of Bianca’s blood. Bianca swayed on her knees, cum dripping out over her lower lip. It took her a while to manage to swallow Harry’s cum properly, by which point a decent amount had dripped down onto her dress. 

“Is this going to be a recurring problem with you?” Harry asked Yoko.

Yoko was covering her mouth with a dainty hand like she’d just tried a delicate pastry. “I only took a little bit! Since she got your cum, this felt like a nice compromise.”

“I feel… light headed…” Bianca said.

“That will pass,” Yoko said. “But don’t you feel GOOD as well?”

“I do,” Bianca said, sounding surprised about that. “My mind feels wonderful.”

“We vampires do that,” Yoko said. “It helps us stay alive if our prey gets something out of it. We activate your brain a lot like the feeling when you orgasm. Unfortunately, weak willed individuals sometimes get addicted to the feeling if a vampire feeds on them too much. That’s where all the old stories about village girls being kidnapped by vampires come from; they run away themselves after they get bitten. Grandpa had it happen to him once back in the fifteenth century.”

“I never cease to be amazed by all the different scary abilities people running around Nevermore come with,” Harry said. “There’s nobody they won’t except here.”

“That’s ALMOST true,” Yoko said. “Only one type of outcast has been banned. About thirty years ago, they stopped letting hydes in. They were too dangerous. Super strong and fast, without any problem killing when their master gave them an order.”

“You know that off the top of your head?” Harry asked.

Yoko giggled, trying to look innocent. “It was kind of a big deal for vampires. We were worried that we were next, so we’ve all been told to be on our best behavior while at the school, so we don’t get a punishment like that.”

“But you’ve been biting every girl you have a threesome with,” Harry said. 

“That IS me being careful,” Yoko said. “Otherwise, I would’ve bitten WAY more people.”

She was friendly and had tried to help Wednesday out before, but as she kneeled there with her eyes gleaming in the dark, Bianca woozy off of brain pleasure from Yoko’s bite, Harry considered that Yoko was even scarier than Bianca. Maybe that was only because he could resist Bianca’s siren mind control, though.

Without warning the sprinklers went off.

It was so sudden that everyone shouted. Harry and the other two stayed mostly dry because they were so far in the corner. The entire dance went from perfect to a mess faster than you could blink. Yoko took advantage of the chaos to pull her dress on properly.

“What’s happening now?” Yoko complained. “I was looking forward to getting my pussy fucked while trying not to let anyone notice. That would’ve been a TRUE test of my stealth.”

Harry’s eyes picked one person out of the crowd. Wet like the rest of the attendees, Wednesday didn’t seem to care. She ran for the door while pushing over anyone in her way. She didn’t slow down when she actually got to the door, hurling it open and running away.

“I don’t know about the sprinklers,” Harry said. “I’m sure someone will figure it out.”

He fixed his clothes as fast as his hands could go. He’d brought his wand just in case. A wizard never goes anywhere without it. He drew his wand and followed Wednesday. The other girls followed him.

“Why are you running all of a sudden?” Yoko asked.

“It must have to do with Wednesday,” Bianca said. The effect of Yoko’s bite had disappeared quickly, maybe because she was partially drenched with cold water. “That’s the only time he makes a face like that.”
Harry wasn’t aware he was making any particular face, but apparently he must’ve looked more serious than usual.

“I think she saw a vision,” Harry said. “She just ran out of the dance at top speed. If she’s in a rush, she might do something risky. She should have gotten me!”

“Maybe she thought she didn’t have time,” Yoko suggested. “We were pretty hidden.”

She sounded proud of that fact. Her suggestion worried Harry even more. What could be that urgent?

They were going the general direction he’d first seen Wednesday run in, but as they went Harry used a tracking spell to make sure they were on the right track. Following the direction his wand pointed, the trio chased after Wednesday. The pursuit led them across campus and into the woods. Harry was given flashbacks to his first day with Wednesday where he saved her during the festival. It was an ominous night to suddenly be remembering.

“I’m going to go faster,” Harry said.

So far he had been jogging to conserve stamina. He sped up to a sprint now. This evening gave him a bad feeling for some reason.

Bianca and Yoko kept up with him easily. One was an exceptional athlete and he suspected they were both superhuman in certain ways, especially Yoko. A roar passed through the forest. Ahead them, Harry watched a huge figure charge two people. He apparated ahead without a second thought. 

One of the people was Wednesday and the other was Eugene, her friend that had been helping the investigation progress. It looked like the hyde was attacking Eugene. Wednesday had jumped in front of him to protect him. Harry appeared in front of both of them.

Right as the hyde attacked, it was vulnerable. Harry repelled it with a powerful banishing curse, sending it flying away and tumbling.

The hyde recovered dexterously, flipping back onto its feet. If Harry had been any later, Eugene and possibly Wednesday would have been killed. This must have been what Wednesday saw: Eugene injured by the monster in front of them. He understood she was desperate to save her friend, of course, but he couldn’t help saying: “Next time, bring me!”

“Sorry,” Wednesday said.

It was rare to hear her give any kind of apology. The brevity of this one didn’t make it any less impactful to hear. It also convinced Harry that she really hadn’t had a backup plan. If he didn’t arrive then, she would’ve been in real danger.

His eye twitched as he faced the hyde. Yoko and Bianca arrived, pulling Eugene to a safe distance.

“I can help!” Yoko said.

“I don’t think he needs it,” Bianca said.

Harry had called on his magic. This time, he did everything in his power to end the hyde here and now. He was SICK of this monster. 

The trees of the surrounding trees came to life and shackled the hide. It ripped through them and tore the bark, charging him with speed akin to Fenrir Greyback. Harry hit it in the head with a blasting curse that made leaves in the area shake from the explosion. The Hyde jerked its head down but didn’t fall, still coming forward. 

Harry used cutting curses, making gashes on its body. If he was alone he could’ve apparated away, but the girls were behind him. He stood his ground and used a shield charm.

The hyde hit his shield with all its might and Harry sensed the magic buckling. Shields could even stop bullets, yet a few more hits from this monster would break his. 

Harry delved into stronger magic. A few of them were borderline dark. Cutting curses had been effective before, so Harry kept it on the tip of his tongue: the Sectumsempra spell created by the late Severus Snape. Awful person, wonderful spell. 

They hyde pounded his shield from either side. Harry’s eyes practically glowed bright green in the dark forest. He used a bludgeoning charm on the hyde’s face, cracking three of its teeth in half. The hyde hit his shield again, its attack funneled by rage, and this time broke through.

One of the girls screamed his name. Harry thought it was Yoko, but it could have been Bianca.

He hit the hyde’s arm with a spell to slow momentum, lessening its swing. The claws on the beast still sank into his stomach. The wound wasn’t deep enough to touch his organs so it wasn’t seriously dangerous. Damn if it didn’t hurt though, and bleeding would soon be a problem. 

The hyde tried to press its advantage and crush him with its other arm. Its bulging eyes and ugly face almost looked victorious. No follow up attack happened, though.

Its other arm was already in the dirt, spasming and twitching after being severed.

“Sectumsempra is a hell of a spell,” Harry said viciously. 

The hyde pulled its claws out of him and ran into the woods profusely bleeding murky blood. Harry shot spells after it, but it was wary of his attacks now. It managed to dodge with its incredible speed, getting away.

“Shit,” Harry said. “I really wanted to kill it here.”

He swayed on his feet slightly, then sat down. Wednesday was instantly at his side.

“I’m used to seeing wounds,” she said. “It’s a hobby. I know how to treat this.”

She ripped off parts of her dress without hesitation to tie them onto Harry’s wound. Harry was surprised the others weren’t helping. He looked back.

Eugene was in shock from everything, including the fact that a terrifying monster nearly killed him. The other two were also in shock now: staring at the damage Harry had done.

Trees were warped after responding to his will. Chunks of earth were missing from having been exploded. At least two trees had been cut down by his curses that missed. Then, there was the hyde’s arm twitching on the ground.

“And the rest of the kids… still think YOU’RE the powerless one at the school?” Yoko said.

“I’m never listening to another rumor again,” Bianca said.

“Thanks,” Harry said, smiling weakly. The wound hurt more than he expected. “I’m going to lay down for a second now. I’m feeling a little… winded.”

He reclined gently as Wednesday helped him put his weight back. Soon, he was drifting in and out of consciousness. This time Yoko and Bianca really did run to his side, but he didn’t have long to appreciate it before Harry fell into an uneasy sleep.