Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
A/N: I will do my best to update this story every day or two, if it goes longer than that between postings and I don't give a reason why, hound me, otherwise I'll forget about it. This is my first, posted, Fanfiction, so work with me here.
Chapter 1: The First Stone
Nothing is ever as it seems.
A young man with coal black hair shot up into a sitting position, the words spoken to him by someone he should know beginning to fade as the dream itself seemed to flee from his conscious mind. Sweat poured down his face as sat there for a moment, trying to regain his bearings. Opening his eyes fully for the first time, he glanced around the room, wondering what had woken him. Not giving a passing thought to the feeling that he was forgetting something extremely important. His eyes fell on the bed across from his as the memories of the night before came rushing back to him, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.
'Will my life ever be normal?'
Climbing from the bed, he moved to the restroom attached to the dorm. Walking over to a sink, he filled it with warm water before proceeding to splash his face with it; trying, in vain, to clear his clouded head. A stray thought entered his mind as he looked at his reflection, noting nothing of worth.
'Am I destined to forever be alone? Is that why my life has always been this way? Ron has abandoned me, how long will it be before Hermione does as well? If she hasn't already.'
Thinking so little of himself was not something new to this young man, for unknown to those around him, he had not thought himself of worth for as long as he could remember. Subconsciously waiting for everything he had cared for to walk away, to abandon him as his parents had. After all, one can only hear something so many times before they begin to believe it, whether or not they gain the knowledge that it was all false.
Sighing in a bout of self-loathing, the young boy reached up and brushed his hair from his face, revealing a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt for but a moment. Glancing once more into the reflection of his own bright, emerald, eyes, he made his way back into the dorm room before proceeding to get ready for the day ahead. Stealing himself for the abandonment of the one person in all the world he could actually say he cared about; knowing that there was no chance that they too would stand by his side, when his first friend couldn't even look at him without his whole body screaming 'hate!'.
It wasn't even 20 minutes later that he found himself sitting in front of the fire, in the common room. It was still early, even for a school day, being only five o'clock in the morning. So lost in thought, of what he was sure to come, he didn't notice the soft footsteps coming down from a staircase opposite to the one he, himself, had previously descended not too long ago.
"Harry?" His whole body went stiff as a rod, the moment he heard her voice, his brain not comprehending the worry laced within their depths. When he didn't answer after a moment, she spoke up once more. "Harry? Are you alright?" The tone of the voice changed drastically in the final moment of the last question as she quietly began lecturing herself. His shoulders sagged in recognition of what he knew was about to come, she had remember what had happened the night before, she would soon stop telling herself about caring before telling him how much she hated him. "I'm sorry Harry that was a really stupid question. Of course, you're not alright." Of all the things he was expecting in that moment, the words that found their way past her lips were definitely not them.
The couch dipped slightly next to him as she took a seat; a warm softness wrapping around his left hand seemed to finally draw him from the personal mutilation of his own self image. Glancing down to find out what was touching him, he found himself surprised to realize that someone was holding his hand. Looking up and to his left, he found himself coming face to face with one Hermione Granger. Her chocolate brown eyes were filled to the brim with worry, causing a shock to run violently through his system when he realized it was him she was worried about. "Harry?" This time fear was easy to locate among her emotions; not wanting to be the cause of any such emotion he finally spoke up.
"Why are you talking to me? After everything that's happened? Ron won't appreciate you even looking at me in a kind way." Luckily, in the final moments of his question, Harry looked away; back down toward where her hand now seemed to have a death grip on his. Do to this slight shift he completely missed the uncontrolled rage that passed over her face and thru her eyes as the fire in the fireplace roared and climbed to new amazing heights, the glass on the old grandfather clock in the corner shattering. The sound of glass hitting the ground and braking into even more pieces being what finally drew Harry's attention from his doom and gloom filled thoughts.
Turning to see what had happened, the only thing he could locate was the colored glass that once made up the stained face of the 300 year old clock. "How could you honestly ask me that?" Harry couldn't stop his body's natural reaction to the fierce sound of her voice as she ground out the words. He found himself flinching away from her, he likely would have ended up on the other side of the couch or even the floor, if not for the fact that she still had not let up the grip of death she had on him. As it were, he found that he couldn't stop his body's shaking as he slowly turned to look at her. It didn't matter how many times he screamed at himself within his own head to stop thinking she was going to hurt him, he couldn't stop the fear rising up inside himself.
"Harry?" The voice was much softer than he thought it would be, causing his body to tense on reflex, only for emerald to clash with chocolate as he whipped his head up in shock. His subconscious having told him that she was worried once more; her voice and actions, for she had loosened the grip on his hand, now only spoke of how fearful she was for him. "Harry, what's wrong? You haven't acted anything near like this since your first year, and even then it was never this bad. Of all things, even more so, you've never had such a reaction to my anger, even when it was pointed at you." There was a small passing thought that, even though it seemed to be screaming, could only be heard as a whisper coming from the depths of his mind. As quickly as it had come though, it was gone, and all knowledge of it forgotten.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Pulling back as quickly as possible, he stood and backed away from her. He watched as the shock came over her face the further from her he stumbled backwards, trying to put as much distance between them as possible. The last thing he remembered after that was his legs making contact with the chair behind him, then nothing but blackness welcomed him.
'Oh Merlin! Oh Merlin! What did I just do!' Hermione Granger quickly found herself going into panic mode as she looked down upon the unconscious form of her best friend, she honestly had only meant to freeze him, but no. Her emotions going haywire had tested her control to the point that she had lost it and put too much power behind the spell, knocking him out when his body had snapped into place too violently.
Running over, she bent down over him; luckily he had landed in the chair, though at an odd angle because of the paralyzes. Releasing him from the full body bind, she watched as he slouched more comfortably into the chair. A breath she hadn't even realized she was holding fell past her lips as she watched the steady rise and fall of his chest, he was clearly only unconscious; she hoped. The one thing she found that was truly bothering her was how he was acting completely out of character, Harry had been skittish at times, but never like this. Of all things, he had never had such a low self-esteem after he had sat down with her and Professor McGonagall during first year, so that they both might adjust to the changes.
Glancing around to make sure no one had decided to get up earlier than usual while she was distracted, Hermione once more drew her wand and pointed it at Harry. 'Maybe Madam Pomfrey or Professor McGonagall will know what's going on.' She flinches slightly the moment the thought registered, once more processing what happened only moments before. 'Maybe they could also find out whether or not I hurt him just now.'Swishing her wand, in the well-practiced manner of hours of hard study, she levitated him and began to make her way out of the portrait hole and toward the hospital wing. 'Don't hate me when you wake up from this Harry, but I don't know what else to do. That is, if you even wake up back to your usual self. Oh Merlin, I hope this is just someone's version of a cruel joke for what happened last night.' Shaking slightly in fear that this wasn't as simple as she had originally thought it would be; Hermione began to unconsciously take larger, faster, steps.
It wasn't long before she found herself coming upon the hall that lead to the Hospital Wing; taking that final corner, she made her way to the door, not even noticing when her magic once more reacted to her need for haste and threw open the doors. The loud noise quickly bringing Poppy Pomfrey from her person chambers, to see what exactly was going on.
"Miss Granger! What is going on here!" Hermione, seeing that help was near, quickly moved Harry to his normal bed before tuning to speak, but finding her fear of the situation clouding her cohesiveness. "Slow down Miss Granger! You're not making any sense!" Taking a deep breath, Hermione forced herself to relax long enough to explain what she could.
"I don't know exactly what happened, but I came down into the common room this morning, as usual, but Harry was already there. Which is, very, unusual. I started talking to him, but he wasn't acting like himself, it was like all his self-confidence just vanished overnight. He was acting like a child that had grown up in an extremely abusive home and was coming in contact with the outside world for the first time. Now, I know Harry doesn't have the best of home lives, but even if it was this bad, his whole personality wouldn't just up and pull a whole 180 in the middle of the night. Right?"
Hermione watched as a million of emotions, a majority she couldn't place, flew through the Healer's eyes and over her face. "Miss Granger, what do you mean that Mr. Potter hasn't had the best of home lives?" It took Hermione a moment to realize that she had spoken on something that she had sworn to Harry she wouldn't mention to anyone else; it had been three years since she had made that promise, but still. After Professor McGonagall had hinted at wanting to know about their home lives and Harry hadn't wanted to talk about it, more than to say everything was fine. Hermione had later convinced him to tell her somethings, but that was all that he was willing to give her, except that he and his relatives didn't get along very well. "Miss. Granger?"
Snapping back to the present, Hermione looked at Madam Pomfrey and decided she had already said too much. "I can't, I promised, but that doesn't matter right now. What matters is what in Merlin's name is going on with Harry!" Madam Pomfrey seemed to hesitate for a moment before letting it slide for the time being; shifting into full on Healer mode, she quickly kicked Hermione out of the room and told her that she could come back later.
Poppy Pomfrey definitely wasn't expecting what, would have been a wake-up call had she not already been up, she received the day after Halloween. The loud bang that filled the main chamber of the Hospital Wing caused her to drop the papers she had been filing in her office; not even taking a moment to settle her racing heart she ran out to see what had happened. Poppy quickly found herself trying to be surprised that it was Harry Potter being brought in, but couldn't find it in herself.
"Miss Granger! What is going on here!" Said student ignored her long enough to settle Mr. Potter onto his most frequented bed; even Poppy was at a loss as to why they hadn't put his name on it yet. She quickly found herself snapped out of these thoughts when Miss. Granger began to speak, usually the young witch is very much in control of herself, but not even Poppy could understand what she was saying. "Slow down Miss Granger! You're not making any sense!" Taking a deep breath, she tried again, this time accomplishing to make partial sense.
"I don't know exactly what happened, but I came down into the common room this morning, as usual, but Harry was already there. Which is, very, unusual. I started talking to him, but he wasn't acting like himself, it was like all his self-confidence just vanished overnight. He was acting like a child that had grown up in an extremely abusive home and was coming in contact with the outside world for the first time. Now, I know Harry doesn't have the best of home lives, but even if it was this bad, his whole personality wouldn't just up and pull a whole 180 in the middle of the night. Right?" Later beating herself up for the slight slip, Poppy found herself focusing solely on the part about a not so favorable home life. Minerva and her had been so sure that that place would be bad for him, but Albus had insisted that he was safest there, that nothing could hurt him. The young lion's Head of House was not going to be pleased when she found out the extent in which he had stretched those words, but first she thought it best to find out just how far it had gone.
"Miss Granger, what do you mean that Mr. Potter hasn't had the best of home lives?" Poppy wasn't pleased when the young girl hesitating in answering her, but she waited patiently instead of giving into her urge to shake it out of the witch. "Miss. Granger?"
"I can't, I promised, but that doesn't matter right now. What matters is what in Merlin's name is going on with Harry!" The seasoned Healer was very ashamed to say that she hesitated before letting it slide, at least, until she had a chance to have a word with Minerva. Taking control of the situation, Poppy quickly dismissed Miss. Granger and informed her she could return later. Waiting until the moment she was out the door, the Healer began throwing diagnostic after diagnostic spell at the young man. After 20 minutes of hard searching, Poppy leaned back in pure bafflement. Clearly from Miss. Granger's description, something was clearly wrong, but for the life of her, Poppy couldn't find anything wrong. She had stood there for five minutes before something seemed to jump out at her from the back of her mind. 'That's the problem now, isn't it? I can't find anything wrong with him. The Diagnostic spells should have showed every ailment he has, including his need for glasses, his scar, any incorrectly healed bones, malnourishment, even stunted growth, but none of things were showing up.'
One would have to think very little of Poppy Pomfrey to think that she hadn't also noticed the signs of neglect from one Harry Potter, but every spell she had cast had said there was nothing wrong. She even had a vague recollection of going to inquire to some fellow colleagues about it; she had even gotten as far as throwing the floo powder into the fire, but then everything got a little hazy. Shaking off the feeling of uneasy this left her with, Poppy straitened her shoulders and prepared herself to do something she had never thought she would have to do. Resting her wand so that it was directly above Mr. Potter's head, Poppy began to softly chant in Old Latin. After only a few moments a ball of light rose up from him and settled into a position just under her wand, slowly pulling back, Poppy stared in absolute horror at was before her.