As Harry went through his school days he didn't notice how often he was under watchful eyes.
The twinkly, blue eyes behind half moon spectacles watched him the most and had the inhabitants in the castle doing the same. In his opinion Harry was a disappointment in several ways, the boy was first of all a Slytherin. Second, the boy seemed to have no curiosity at all. Third, the boy had made friends with others in his house. Briefly he'd held hope when the boy's only two friends had been Lions but now over two thirds of the people he associated with were snakes. To be fair most were not from dark families but the portraits reported that Harry had frequent interaction with Marcus Flint and now he was interacting not just with Aaron Yaxley but also Cassandra Yaxley. Recently Millicent Bullstrode, Blaise Zabini and even Vincent Crabbe had taken to coming to the library study sessions. This wasn't good at all. Fourth there was all the legal wrangling that was going on in London that Harry had started.
Albus was quite put out that back in December, Rebecca Smythewick of Wizarding Child Services, the smallest department of the ministry had looked through the custody paperwork he'd gotten Minerva to fill out, and had simply looked up to him with her cloudy blue gray eyes and said. "I'm sorry this petition cannot be granted on grounds of prior desertion of the child. Lord Harry James Potter has an adequate guardianship contract filed two hours ago by his muggle physical guardian and a magical trustee board. If she wishes Professor McGonagall could file a challenge, but it would be an uphill battle for her to claim custody due to the stated grounds for the Guardianship contract that was filed earlier." He'd had to get additional paperwork filed so Minerva could challenge the initial decision.
It was horribly bothersome. His solution to the legal suits problem was no longer going to work, which left him in a vulnerable position.
Another pair of eyes that watched the boy had an obsidian hue. They observed that contrary to his previous belief the boy tended to treat everyone with a modicum of respect and actually got along with most everyone. Furthermore the boy was quite intelligent, he boy gave Minerva's lion, Miss Granger a run for her money without being insufferable about it. His essays were concise and thorough without the extra length trying to impress others with his knowledge. Now that his eyes were opened, he gave the boy the outstandings he earned. Of course, he docked Granger for her verbosity.
He was surprised that his sixth year prefect and the young boy had such a close relationship until he realized that Marcus had stepped in and fulfilled the role of mentor that he usually played for his snakes. But what really astounded him was the boy and the prefect played it like they were adversaries bowing to the political realities. It was only his years as a spy that allowed him to recognize it for what it was. It left him feeling ashamed and angry with himself because his observations had also shown him the boy wasn't quick to trust and was Slytherin enough to know when to be transparent and when to be opaque. He could have influenced the boy. A boy who showed amazing promise, a boy of prophecy. But no he'd been an idiot, willfully blind, and on the rare occasions he was honest with himself, he had become his own worst nightmare.
A pair of hazel eyes behind square framed glasses watched the boy when her schedule allowed, frequently doing so from slitted pupils. She watched him with a mixture of fear and regret. Fear of what he might one day become and regret because he so resembled his parents. Fear that she would never be forgiven and regret because there was no way to make up for her failure. In the course of her watching she saw Neville Longbottom's devotion to him and the way it was returned. She saw that he was pranked frequently but that he would neutralize it and go on. He showed a Hufflepuff's work ethic and a Ravenclaw like intellect. She was uncertain if she should do as Albus said or if she should leave things well enough alone. The last thing she wanted was the young man she watched angry with her. Sometimes in class she saw such looks of disdain and distrust in his eyes when their eyes met across the classroom. It shouldn't bother her as much as it did given the boy in question was a Slytherin, but somehow those eyes looking out of that face… it was just so hard.
Six sets of tennis ball shaped eyes watched somewhat mournfully as their dearly loved master went through his days and never acknowledged them. They supposed it was their just due for doing what the old one said. Coming to Hogwarts instead of waiting for their master to return. They did their best to serve him. Keeping his room clean and always doing his laundry as soon as he put it in his hamper. When he came to the kitchen they always served him, and they wanted more than anything for him to formalize his bond to them. They wanted their ache to ease.
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