Secrets Revealed

Durmstrang, Aug. 23rd

Walking up the main staircase at Durmstrang, Harry quickly made his way through the familiar castle.

Harry knew he would be in trouble for leaving for Durmstrang early, but he just didn't care. He wanted to find out what Calypso had to say and sitting around at home thinking about it for a few more days would be pointless.

Besides, he had grown tired of his brother's attitude. Nathan had not only remained distant over the last few days, but Harry also caught him casting suspicious looks at him every now and then. The tension was present at every meal, and Harry was sick of it. He'd rather be at Durmstrang than putting up with whatever issue Nathan had with him at the moment.

His mother might send him a Howler, but Harry wasn't concerned with that. He'd send his parents a letter explaining why he left, and, hopefully, that would keep them from sending one. Even if they did though, it wasn't like the Howler would reach him. He wasn't sure why more students didn't learn how to cancel the magic that created those awful letters, but he wouldn't let some enchanted parchment embarrass him in front of his peers.

After dropping off his trunk and belongings in his room, Harry quickly made his way down the girls' corridor. Surprised at the amount of students already at the school, he weaved his way through the corridor until he reached Calypso's room. Knocking twice on the door, he waited impatiently for Calypso to answer.

The door opened a few moments later, and Calypso's eyes widened in surprise at seeing him.

Before Harry could ask her to show him the parchment, he felt the slight push of Legilimency against his mind. Instinctively, he cleared his mind and met her gaze. When her probe didn't recede, Harry grew annoyed and began projecting his anger and disappointment at her. Almost immediately the invasive feeling against his mind vanished, and Calypso looked slightly abashed.

"Do you want to come in?" she asked, opening the door, and revealing the standard, spartan, Durmstrang room. While Harry had managed to teach her the charms to expand her room and bed the year before, Calypso was not completely comfortable with how long her own receptacles would last.

Walking inside, Harry took a seat on Calypso's small cot. "How long have you been a Legilimens?"

"For a while. It was one of my first bouts of accidental magic." Calypso shifted on the heels of her feet before quickly adding, "Your Occlumency is impressive. I started working on it a little this summer as well, and, well, I'm still not that comfortable with it."

Harry nodded his head before carefully removing the book on mind magic Calypso had sent him from inside his coat pocket. "Thank you for the book."

Calypso smiled and relaxed somewhat. "You're welcome. I didn't expect you to be this advanced though. I actually thought we would work on Occlumency together since it's nearly impossible to learn from theory, you must have had a great tutor."

Growing slightly tired of the small talk, Harry said, "I did."

"Was the rest of your summer good? I know we didn't talk muc–"

Taking a series of calming breaths, Harry cleared his mind, completely repressing his growing impatience. "Calypso," he said evenly, "you know why we didn't talk much. I've mastered Occlumency, and I'd like to know what the big secret is now."

Calypso was slightly taken aback by Harry's empty tone, but she quickly recovered. "Okay Harry, but I need to tell you something first."

Looking completely impassive, Harry simply raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"I didn't ask you to learn Occlumency to protect your mind from a Legilimens." Calypso bit her lip and fidgeted slightly. "I mean, that's a great benefit, but that's not why I wanted you to learn it."

Blinking in confusion, Harry slowly said, "I don't understand. Why did you want me to learn Occlumency if not to protect myself from Legilimens?"

"Harry, I needed to know that you'd listen to what I say and not freak out. Occlumency allows you to have an incredible amount of control over your emotions. Just look at yourself right now, you're completely calm."

"I'm not," Harry snapped suddenly, causing Calypso to jerk away in surprise. Doing his best to reign in his anger, Harry took several calming breaths. "Learning Occlumency was one of the most difficult experiences of my life, Calypso. Having your mind ripped into is incredibly painful! Now, are you seriously telling me that you could have used a bloody calming charm on me instead?"

"Harry, I'm sorry that it hurt, I really am." Growing more and more uncomfortable as she watched her friend's face slowly morph from rage to complete detachment, Calypso quickly added, "When I told my father about our fight, and that you found out about the parchment, I didn't know what to do. You weren't supposed to find out about that parchment."

"Why not, Calypso?" Harry demanded. "What's the big secret?"

"It's not a secret, Harry." Calypso stood up and paced her small room. "I was going to tell you, but...not for a few more years. When you saw it, I knew what it probably looked like, and I could feel just how suspicious and angry you were with me over the last month of term. I just didn't know how to explain without making the situation worse."

As Harry followed his friend's uncharacteristically rattled pacing, he began to realize just how nervous Calypso truly was. Maybe it was him arriving at Durmstrang early to seek out answers, or perhaps it was her inability to use Legilimency on him now, but Harry could almost feel his friend's anxiety. "Calypso, I'd like some answers now."

Nodding her head, Harry watched as Calypso walked to the small desk across from the cot Harry was sitting on. Removing a piece of parchment from the desk, Calypso took a deep breath and, after a moment, appeared to calm somewhat, though she was still a far cry from the collected Calypso he was used to seeing. After spending most of his summer practicing Occlumency, Harry recognized that she was trying, and failing, to use Occlumency to clear her mind.

"Here Harry," Calypso said, handing him the parchment. After a casual glance at it, Harry confirmed that it was indeed the same piece of parchment he had seen twice before. "This parchment is the culmination of all my research on you and your family. I did the research to show my father you could be a good candidate for a potential marriage contract."

At first, Harry thought he must have misheard her, but when he looked up from the parchment and saw Calypso looking nervously at him, he knew he hadn't. No amount of Occlumency could have prepared him for the onslaught of different emotions that hit him in that moment. His eyes widened and the parchment slipped from his hands onto the floor.

Seeing her friend's reaction, Calypso quickly said, "Harry, please say something."

When he remained silent, Calypso met his eyes, and Harry once again felt her trying to use Legilimency on him. Knowing that he would never be able to keep the various emotions he had bottled up, Harry broke eye contact with her, stopping the connection.

"A marriage contract?" He asked, looking down at the floor. "You want to marry me? You actually want to marry me?"

Had Harry been looking up, he would have seen Calypso flinch slightly at the question. "Harry, it's complicated."

Snapping his head up, Harry looked right at his friend. "But you just sai–"

"I know what I said," Calypso said tiredly. Walking over to Harry, Calypso sat down next to him on the small cot – slightly pleased that he didn't move away from her. "But...you weren't supposed to see this. It's only research, and it doesn't mean a lot. My father probably won't make a decision until I'm older. It's just... when you saw the parchment, I didn't know how to explain it. I wasn't sure how you'd take it. I can barely stand to think about it, and I've had most of my life to get used to the idea, so I had no idea how you would react."

Harry shook his head in utter disbelief. "You're seriously telling me that you had me learn Occlumency just to tell me that this parchment doesn't matter? I don't know if I actually believe that. What aren't you telling me?"

When Calypso couldn't meet his eyes, Harry's anger and suspicions came roaring back. "Tell me the truth, Calypso!"

"You're my friend, Harry," Calypso spoke so quietly that Harry barely heard her add, "and I don't want to lose that."

Months of suspicion, anger, and uncertainty finally boiled over, and Harry angrily stood up and drew his wand. Slashing his wand across his body, Harry sent Calypso's rickety wooden chair flying into the far wall of her room. The chair smashed into the stone wall, breaking off two of its legs and sending wood splinters across the room.

Before he could even think about finishing off the chair, Calypso quickly stood up. "For fuck's sake, Harry! What do you want to hear? That I like you? I do! I know father would never consider you as someone he'd send a potential marriage contract to, so I found information on you to show him just how good of a candidate you were. I wanted you to ask me out, and then maybe in a few years when I had to actually deal with this fucking marriage thing, it wouldn't have been as big a deal!"

The moment Calypso stopped speaking, her eyes widened comically, as if realizing who she just revealed that information to, and her pale face flushed in embarrassment.

His hands suddenly feeling sweaty, Harry could only stare at Calypso in disbelief. "You... you like me? I- really?"

Calypso could only sit down, bury her face in her hands, and nod, not wanting to further embarrass herself.

Using every technique Snape ever taught him, Harry did his best to control his emotions. In a moment of clarity, he acknowledged that perhaps learning Occlumency for this discussion wasn't such a bad idea after all. "Why me?" he eventually asked.

"What do you mean?" Calypso asked, looking up in confusion.

Doing his best to suppress his embarrassment, Harry asked, "Why do you like me?"

Calypso took a moment to compose herself, but she couldn't stop a slight blush from appearing on her face. "Before you got to Durmstrang, I didn't like it. I was the daughter of an infamously dark family, who tested into a third year Dark Arts class. I didn't get along with anyone until you showed up, but since then the last few years have been some of the best of my life. I like practicing to become an animagus with you. I enjoy seeing us claim the top spots in our classes while the rest of our year watches in jealousy. You're my friend...and I just like you."

Harry couldn't help but feel a little proud that Calypso thought so highly for him, but he was more than a little concerned about the possibility of a marriage contract. "Err, can you tell me anything about the marriage contr–?"

"Harry," Calypso interrupted, "I don't know if that's a good idea."

Giving Calypso a slightly suspicious look, Harry asked, "Why?"

"Harry, you weren't supposed to know about any of this. I didn't think I would have to deal with this until the end of my fifth year. It's not something I like talking about, and I just..." Calypso trailed off looking uncomfortable with the topic.

"I guess I understand," Harry said after a moment.

Calypso looked up at Harry with a small smile. "Thank you."

"Promise me that you're not keeping any other secrets though." Harry said, staring into Calypso's eyes.

Meeting her friend's eyes steadily, Calypso said, "I'm not."

Harry didn't know why, but, at that moment, he felt that Calypso was telling the truth, yet something still seemed a bit off. Brushing the thought aside as angst from the marriage contract, Harry smiled and trusted his friend.

Years later, he would look back upon that as his first use of Legilimency.