Disclaimer: This brilliantly thought out plot belongs wholly to J.K. Rowling, and I have only the style in which this story has been written, that belongs to me (sniff, I'll never be as good as her! Sniff).
AN: Um… this is my very first Fan-fic, I have just finished school and my KS3(thank-God) and this idea has been in my head scince I first read the Fifth book. I hope you all enjoy it, and I hope I live up to my sister's expectations. They have both been nagging me to write something since I found out about this site but I have not managed to do it until now. Please read on and review. I don't mind any criticism, and welcome anything anybody has to say, whether good or bad. This is only one moment kind of fan-fic, and has many Ootp spoilers, well here goes:
Chapter X: Heard by Other Ears
Storming out of the Great Hall in the early hours of an October morning and practically running to his only place of solace was Harry Potter. Finally managing to get away from his two friends' constant bickering, this boy sat himself down on the dusty floor, looking around at the ripped curtains of the four-poster bed and the blood stains on the floor, remembering how it all began.
Harry always went to the Shrieking Shack to just think and mull over all that was on his mind, which was usually a lot. He never had the privacy and time to just sit and think without someone bringing him back to his terrible nightmare that was reality, by questioning him and asking of him things he could not do. 'Harry I really think you should start your homework' Hermione's voice called out at him from within his mind. 'Hey, do you want to play some chess' he remembered Ron's voice asking.
It wasn't as if he didn't want to be around his friends anymore, but sometimes they were just a tad too nosy and interfering. It was mostly Hermione, Ron at least seemed to stop talking once he realised that Harry was not in the mood, but Hermione just never quit. What was worse, they seemed to think that Harry's moodiness was caused by the events happening at the end of his fifth year, and all that surrounded it, so they swamped him in pity and sympathy that Harry hated. But it wasn't really what happened, more like what he heard in Dumbledore's office after the whole fiasco.
The thing that kept taking over his mind all the time, causing him to fall back in his studies, to fail every homework assigned to him and to fail all the tasks they had to do during the lessons, was the words said by Professor Trelwany, his divinations teacher, 17 years ago. The words that made him wake up in the middle of the night, every night, drenched in sweat with his mind playing and replaying over all the images he had seen in his mind only moments before. The words caused him to shiver with dread every time he remembered them. The words caused him to drift further and further away from the ones who cared and loved him. Those words filled him with horror and fear, and sometimes even anger whenever he thought about them.
Through all of this torment he still did manage to see the distant but bright light at the end of the tunnel, and that was every time he hopped onto his broom and flew into the night across the glittering blue lake, the Forbidden Forest and the Quidditch pitch. It was like heaven for him whenever he flew, as it was like all the worries and thoughts in his brain were whipped away by the wind and the only thing that coursed through his head was the immense feeling of happiness.
SMACK! Harry whipped around his head so fast that he cricked his neck, but he still managed to find out where the source of that noise was coming from. It was a group of third years (missing out on lessons with no doubt the aid of Fred and George's 'Skiving Snackboxes') playing with the snow; they seemed to think it funny to swamp the windows with snow, even though the windows were covered enough in the pure substance.
Harry looked at his watch and realised that he should probably be heading back to the castle. He had already missed Transfiguration but the next lesson would be Defence against the Dark Arts, and he never missed a single one of those lessons since Lupin came back to teach. Raising himself from the floor and swatting the dust away from his robes, Harry descended the stairs and climbed into the tunnel. After the long trek through the tunnel he thought that he might have missed the beginning of lesson, but once he got out he realised that he couldn't have, as there were students still loitering around the lake, enjoying the sunshine.
It was then that Harry noticed Ron and Hermione sitting by the lake together seeming relaxed but watching the area like hawks for any sign of Harry, they stood up and started to walk towards the castle. Harry not wanting to be spotted by them, made his way around Hagrid' cabin, out of their sight and crept stealthily towards the castle, just as the bell rang signaling the end of break and the start of lessons.
Harry pounded away at the floor of the corridors; his feet had a mind of their own for they took him to the Gryffindor common room, and up to his dormitory. But he never noticed, as his mind was too preoccupied about other things.
'Harry!' He looked up, annoyed at being interrupted from his thoughts, it was then that he realised he was in his dormitory, but he didn't have time to notice anything else as his view was obstructed by a large mass of bushy brown hair.
'Harry, where have you been, we've been looking for you all over the place' said a relieved looking Hermione. He looked over her head and saw Ron sitting on his bed, looking uncomfortable and awkward.
'Hey mate', he said gruffly. Harry was not really in the mood for them, and so turned away from them both and started searching through his trunk, trying to find a reason not to look at them. 'We thought you would skip the next lesson and come back here so we came here waiting for you'.
'Harry, please talk to us, lately all you do is just shrug us away, we're your friends, we want to know what is bothering you, if it has anything to do with… with Sirius - ' Hermione began but was cut off, the moment she said Sirius, by Harry.
'It has nothing to do with Sirius! For God sake! So don't sympathize with me, I'm fine, okay', Harry yelled, his temper so close to the surface broke free.
'Look we care about you, and we know you, so don't go telling us that there is nothing wrong with you, there obviously is something bothering you, and if it is not Sirius then what is it?' Hermione, matching his anger, shrilled loudly. It seemed she would not take 'no' or 'I'm fine' for an answer this time. But Harry still persisted, as being stubborn he said, ' it is nothing, okay'.
'Mate you can't fool us, we know there is something wrong so just tell us' Ron said quietly, he looked very wary of Harry at the moment and was taking heed and precaution with what he said.
'What harm can it do to just tell us? You always told us everything before' Hermione added. Harry could not take it anymore, what harm could it do to tell them? They would never stop bugging him until they know, so there was really no point in persisting, and he was going to tell them someday he might as well tell them now. Harry shuddered noticeably as the words of the prophecy rose unbidden in his mind, he breathed a great sigh and started with 'fine, fine, I'll tell you what is bothering me, but you have to promise me not to over react, okay?'
'Okay' Ron and Hermione said in unison. Harry shuddered once more and collapsed onto his bed through exhaustion of keeping his secret to himself for so long. All those times he wanted to tell them but never could, all those times when he wanted to confide in someone, to share the burden with someone but they were never there at that moment. Hermione looked at him expectantly, and Ron just stared at the floor but was tensed up in preparation for what he was going to say. He wondered why he never told them before, what could have possibly held him back from telling his secret to his two closest friends?
Hermione realising that Harry was drifting into his own thoughts again, said ' um… Harry if you don't want to tell us now, you can tell us later as long as you do tell us'. But Harry shook his head and replied back that he wanted to tell them now.
'Alright… here goes… I…I…remember that prophecy that we found last year, the one with my name on it?' Ron and Hermione nodded. 'Well… do you remember how Neville smashed it and no one heard it?'
Again they both nodded but Hermione added 'actually, we were not there at the time but Neville told us later'.
'Yeah well… I actually did hear it, but it wasn't then, it was afterwards' he paused and looked at Ron and Hermione's puzzled faces. He sighed and resumed 'afterwards when I was in Dumbledore's office, he told me that the prophecy was said by Trelwany 16 years ago, and that it was about me and Voldemort'.
'Trelwany! I don't believe it, that old fraud', screeched Hermione in disbelief.
'Yeah, it was her, and she said-' here Harry, took a deep breath and closed his eyes, 'the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…' Harry said all this in a mechanical sort of voice as though he had heard it so many times that the words were etched on to the surface of his brain, and would remain there forever, haunting him until he dies. He opened his eyes to see Hermione and Ron looking thunderstruck at him, and Harry could tell from the looks on their faces that whatever they had been expecting it was definitely not remotely close to what he had just said.
The bell rang at that precise moment, it was the end of lessons and the other sixth year boys would be coming up soon. They continued to look at Harry with absolutely no idea what to say. It was the first time, Harry noted with slight amusement, that Hermione had nothing to contribute but was silent with shock. The air was stiff from laying silent with no movement. And the silence had reached a point of eeriness. It was too much for Harry to take, and so he did what he always did. He grabbed his broom from his trunk and ran from the common room all the way to the Quidditch pitch, leaving Hermione and Ron to think over what he had said.
He hopped onto his broom, and with a yelp of longing, soared up into the stands and down again, enjoying the brief time in which his head and heart would be as light as the air surrounding him.
The End
AN: well, what do you think? It is my first fanfic so I don't really know what to expect from all that read it. Pease review and tell me anything as long as you comment on the story, because I want to know what other people think. I have this major story sill in planning, it will be like a proper Harry Potter book, he will be in his sixth year and there will be twists among other things. If I get enough reviews, meaning if a lot of people like this story, I think I will start the other, but if not then I won't. Please, please tell me what you think, you only need to write a couple of words like it was crap, or it was great, I just want to know what you think, it doesn't even take that much time to review. Thank you so much if you just read it.
I would like to thank my two sisters for giving me that push to write this, if it weren't for them I would never have gotten started on this.
Oh, one last thing, check out all my favourite stories because they are really good, and check out this new story I recently started reading, it is quite good. It is called 'Through the eyes of a lost mind', by Freebird3000.