Portrait AU Snippet
I got asked about this during a WIP game a few months back. Inspo for this came to me enough to write the opening, so I'm posting some of it here!
He's the most beautiful boy that Harry has ever seen. He stares at the sleeping face in the portrait, enraptured. Pale skin, long lashes, hair as dark and curly as Harry's. Petal pink lips. Three moles in a cluster near his left ear. Harry imagines how tall he'd be, how sinewy, if he were living, breathing. Breathless, Harry steps forward and brushes his fingertips to the paint strokes on the canvas. Those eyes snap open, and they're bright red. Harry gasps. He hadn't known anyone's eyes could be that color. The boy hisses at him. Harry nearly steps back, his breath still caught in his throat. Yet he's more enraptured by the unreal beauty of the face in the painting. He wants to know this boy. Who cares if he's hissing venom at Harry, those perfect features twisted into a piercing glare? He'd been woken up from a doze—of course, he's upset. Gathering his wits, Harry swallows and asks, "What's your name?" The boy stops hissing, surveying Harry with what he can only describe as deep suspicion. "Do you speak English?" Harry tries. "My name is Harry." Those burning red eyes narrow further. Determined not to be offset by such a grumpy face, Harry smiles at him and holds up his hands, palms up. "I'm harmless. See?" More hisses. An eyeroll. "Is that Parseltongue you're speaking?" Harry asks. "I've only ever heard of it before. It's so rare. Wow! I wish I could speak it back to you. Then we could have a real—" "Harry." He spins, his heart in his throat, pounding as fast as a Snitch's wings. The headmaster stands in the doorway to his office, and the afternoon sun at the window sends lengthening shadows over his tall frame. With how stern his voice had been, for the first time, Harry finds himself a little afraid of Dumbledore. "Professor!" he stammers. He takes a moment to calm himself. It helps when Dumbledore steps into the light, his blue eyes twinkling over their frames and a smile tucked at the corner of his mouth. "I was waiting for you—"
