Ah darlings its good to be back I am re writing this story from the beginning much will change and much will stay the same I felt the characters needed much more fleshing out since I wrote the originally when I was like what 17?...god I'm old now….this is dedicated to my dearly departed Annette, the love of my life that used to spend her weekends sewing clothes and then using me as a doll to see what went well together. she was always my inspiration for this and now that shes no longer with us I don't want the hours of badgering me to get writing this story to go to waste…RIP baby…
A Walk Into Hell (Revisited)
A lot of things have changed and this is my message to you. The next time you see me things may seem very different, and they are. There's no doubt about it. Honestly I'm fed up with being The-Boy-Who-Lived, I hate just being a pawn. War is no game of chess. During the summer I've met some people who have helped me come to terms with the whole situation. There is no light or dark, only good intentions and doing what you truly believe in. Both sides have their greater good and I'm just not sure what *I* believe in any more. But know this, my side will be my own. I am no sheep following the heard blindly. I am finally my own man.
I'm sorry in advance...
Harry Potter
Harry looked down at the letter he had written it was the summer before his 7th year at Hogwarts and though this felt like some sort of convoluted manifesto it had to be said. It was only fair to give the people that had cared about him some fair warning. He blew on the ink waiting for it to dry before replicating it two more times and sighed admiring his handy work.
He stood from his desk chair stretching the kinks from his back and adjusting his skirt for modesty's sake. The shredded black tulle was bunched up in the back from being sat on for so long "boy are they in for a surprise…" he muttered to himself.
Now by no means was he strictly wearing only women's clothing these days, this just happened to be his favorite skirt and with the crowd he was running with these days, he felt that he could do and dress as he pleased. It was refreshing and he was embracing it to the fullest.
000Flash Back 000 ((queue pink sparkles, fade out, and cheep nostalgic music))
Harry aimlessly wandered down lacuna ave. a place he had recently discovered as it adjoined to the opposite end of knockturn alley. It was an eclectic mix of shops some windows were filled with bright colors and psychedelic posters calling for government reform while other windows draped in velvet were too dark to see in entirely.
He had walked this street a few times never gaining the nerve to actually enter and of the shops but the small diner at the end made an excellent chocolate tart that kept bringing him back. On today's adventure once his craving had been sated he noticed a shop he hadn't seen before, it was literally beckoning him in.
HELL was written in big block letters surrounded by painted flames above the door with neon arrows flashing pointing tword the door. He didn't know how he could have missed it all these times but there it was big and bold.
With great caution harry entered the shop not knowing what to expect or even what they sold, for all he knew it could have been some sort of brothel. Harry let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding as he saw the racks of clothes ranging from leather pants to what looked like Victorian ball gowns. He let the calming atmosphere wash over him breathing in the sent of cinnamon and oranges, his heart beating in time to the deep bass line coming from the overhead speakers. It just felt right, like he had wandered into somebody's home. There was a beat up red velvet couch that had seen better days and a strange multicolored swinging chair in the corner in front of a coffee table that looked like it had been through a battle. The thrown together décor made him smile everywhere he looked he could feel the love put into this place.
Some body tapped him on the shoulder and in a moment of panic he drew his wand on his would be attacker. She put her hands up in surrender the mass of rainbow colored plastic beads on her arms clicking against one another. She smiled, laughing "woooooah there, there's only one kind of wand I want waved in may face if you catch my drift" she pushed the bright orange section of her long platinum blonde hair out of her face. "I didn't mean to startle you man, I'm Sabrith I own this piece of insanity. Welcome to Hell…" she reached past Harry's wand still pointed squarely at her frontal lobe and put out her hand in welcome.
Harry blinked once …twice…three times and then holstered his wand "um hi?" he squeaked out embarrassed that he had drawn his wand on an innocent girl. He looked her over she vaguely resembled the snow white of fairy tails , red lips, skin as pale as snow and wearing an ungodly tight neon orange corset and long black skirt that trailed behind her. There was something else though something vaguely familiar about her.
The recognition must have shown on his face as she gestured to the couch for him to sit. "Hogwarts right?" she guessed winking at him. she laughed as he nodded vigorously "well then you've probably met my git of a twin that goes to Hogwarts as well...sadly I cant tell you who it is I'd rather be judged on who I am, not how their reputation proceeds them if you know what I mean." she said in a slightly cynical tone "oh I'm sorry how rude of me I forgot to ask your name" her odd accent not masking the mock sarcasm of her entire speech.
He smirked at her knowingly, relaxing finally "Sadly I can't tell you who I am I'd rather be judged on who I am not how my reputation proceeds me if you know what I mean." He repeated laughing as she giggled "just call me Aodh I uhh..I think I need some new clothes"
000End Flash Back000
That was almost two and a half months ago. Now it was 3 days till he had to go back to Hogwarts. He felt a pang of regret seeing this summer come to an end it had been the happiest he had been in a long time, enjoying being anonymous, just a normal person for once in his life. Harry had started working in hell after about the 6th day in a row he had come back to talk to Sabrith, enjoying her company immensely. They had become fast friends knowing exactly what buttons to push to piss each other off and protecting each other when It was necessary. When they weren't working they were in the store any way. Sabrith lived above HELL in a loft of sorts. On the weekends the store was run by Sabrith's best friend Dallas he was a strange guy but in a good way some times got lost in his own mind and had to be reminded of what was really going on "too much psychedelic enhancement" Sabrith had said once, he was a squib, and seemed to be unaware of just how attractive he was which often made Sabrith roll her eyes. He was going to be taking care of the store while Sabrith went back to Canada for her last year of school she was older than Harry but in the same year.
Dallas always wore almost the exact same thing every day with little deviation, a band t-shirt and black jeans, that was it day in and out. His hair was shaggy a little past his nose and he had dark brown eyes the color of rich chocolate. Dallas was weird to say the least and always loved to bring up bad subjects at inappropriate times, not tactless necessarily but always hungry for information.
000Flash Back000
Dallas picked up a box putting it behind the front counter. He stood up and dusted off his hands smiling "so Aodh what side of the war are you on?" he said nonchalantly while putting some stuff back on the racks
Harry just looked at him shocked usually people were kind of wary of talking about things like that around him but then again they didn't know who he really was. He sat down in one of the stools next to the counter "the light of course" he said it as if it were the most obvious things in the world.
Dallas looked at him cautiously "ah I see your one of those people who would follow Harry Potter to the ends of the earth.." he smirked not noticing Harry was attempting not to laugh "well I don't know about that kid, to much pressure if you ask me. Hes going to crack one day….and turn to crack…. I prefer to be a neutral party I see what Moldie Voldie is getting at but I don't like how he's doing it, and then there's Dumbledore...that guy seriously needs to re think what he's doing I mean really if your entire point of being in the war is to kill the other side doesn't that make you just a death eater with government funding?"
Dallas said sitting down beside Harry who was too stunned to say anything besides "what do you mean you see what he-who-shall-not-be named is getting at?" he fidgeted under Dallas's apprehensive gaze, trying to keep up the façade of being a normal wizard and not the-boy-who-lived.
"As you know I'm squib-tastic so I grew up in the magical world but went to a muggle school its given me an unbiased view of things from the outside looking in " Harry nodded "well Voldemort is just a hypocrite on a power trip if you ask me, but he's so right about so many things. Like if you keep letting muggles into our world they tell their family, their family lets it slip to family friends, family friends let it slip to acquaintances and so on and so forth until and an entire town knows then a city and then a country then a continent and then the world" his voice grew deathly quiet "and wizards and witches every where would be treated like cattle. Caged like animals only to be used for magic and entertainment by muggles. They would destroy us!" Dallas ended his speech throwing his hands up in the air for emphasis. "Then it would be all bye-bye unicorns and cauldron cakes!"
Harry was taken aback by the bluntness of his statement, his brain spinning as he processed the entire speech. "I guess I had never really thought of it that way…" harry looked down at his hands going deeper into thought missing the shared look Dallas and Sabrith gave each other.
000End Flash Back000
TO BE CONTINUED
So how are you guys liking the re write so far? I'm feeling it's a definite improvement…OPTIMISM! Though reading the reviews for the old story I had to giggle at the people claiming to be "true goth" yes harry wearing a skirt has nothing to do with him leaning tword a lovely gothic fashion sense it has much more to with him flexing his individuality in a way he never had the opportunity to do before, Sabrith never claims TRUENESS shes a mishmash of "cyber pastel goth kandi kid" lol as I am in real life drives my friends crazy. But you know you can wear your black and claim you're the truest but end up being just another sheeple in a different darker herd :P