Disclaimer: I own nothing. Mostly everything in this piece of crap came out of the wonderful mind of JKR (mind the plot and a couple spells/charms), so please, don't sue me. I'm just a poor little girl with a keyboard…
The True Enemy
Chapter One: Solemn Warning
Harry Potter pushed open the door of Flourish & Blotts and looked around nervously. Then, sensing no danger, he walked in slowly. His robes were torn in random places and he had a large gash on his left cheek that was dripping with crimson blood. Harry tried his best to cover the cut with the left sleeve of his robe, but was stopped abruptly by a short, plump woman.
"Oh dear," the woman cried out. She had frizzy silver-blue hair and warm, honey colored eyes that were seething with worry. "What's happened to you child?"
"Err...I'm fine." Harry had a very hard time saying this because the woman had grabbed his face and began to examine the gash.
"Fine?! I don't see how you could be fine! I demand to know what happened." The woman crossed her plump arms across her chest and looked at Harry. Her honey eyes became wide. "Blimey, you're Harry Potter. How, what, well…I'm Laurel Grackle." She choked out, lifting a fat hand to Harry.
Harry smiled slightly and shook the woman's hand reluctantly. He had hoped the woman would've cared more about the gash on his cheek and the searing pain it was causing him more than a meet and greet with the boy who lived. "Nice to meet you…" Harry looked at the old woman and tried to figure out if she was married or not. This amused him. He was standing there looking like a beggar and bleeding out onto his robes and the bookshop floor while trying to figure out if a random old woman he just met was married.
The woman, sensing his confusion, finished Harry's sentence. "Mrs. Grackle." Harry smiled again and let go of the woman's hand. Mrs. Grackle gave Harry a look of disappointment and Harry looked back at her with bewilderment blanketing his pale face. The woman cleared her voice and waited a second or two, expecting some kind of response.
"Well then," she finally said. "I suppose you don't know who I am?" Harry shook his head and hoped the woman would notice the blood dripping down his face before she went on to tell her life story. "Hmmm…well, I can't leave you dumb, so might as well tell you." Harry's stomach sank. The woman cleared her voice.
"Ever since I was ten years old," she started, "I had this ability to…see things. Things from the past, the present, and the future. My parents, being Muggles, were frightened. Thought I'd flipped over to the deep end and that the Lord had forsaken me. They dragged me everywhere, doctors, psychologists, churches…nothing worked. Then I got my letter to Hogwarts. Do you go to Hogwarts, Harry?" Harry opened his mouth to answer, but was silenced by the impatient woman. "Of course you do. Anyway, that's when my parents came to peace with the idea of having a clairvoyant daughter. I did very well in my life, if I do say so myself. I even stopped an attack on a Muggle supermarket once, had a vision of Death Eaters comin' to slaughter them all. That old, dirty Lord Vold- well you know. I stopped the bastard right in his Muggle-hating, evil tracks. I bet you know all about that, don't you Harry?" Mrs. Grackle sighed and looked at Harry.
Harry looked down at Mrs. Grackle with pure enmity in his eyes. He cocked his head to one side and contemplated the thought of Voldemort bursting through the door and…Harry stopped. Mrs. Grackle, as pompous as she is, did try to help him. So, instead he spread as much blood on his face as possible in an attempt to scare Mrs. Grackle into helping him.
Unfortunately, she had his back to him and had begun talking to a young woman that overheard her story, so he had to find a way to get her attention back. He looked around and began chewing his bottom lip in deep thought. Of course, magic was out of the question, he couldn't use it outside of school and he couldn't throw something at her…that was rude. So, he decided to wait for the woman to finish, he was Harry Potter after all. What was a little cut to him?
The woman went on for ages, and by the look of it, the young woman felt like ripping out her larynx and shoving it into a box. Harry was near sleep when he remembered why he was in the bookshop in the first place. His torn robes and the gash on his face were the last things on his mind now. Sirius was probably going insane looking for him, and he had totally forgotten about Ron and Hermione. Then he remembered that stupid Imp that attacked him outside of the Magical Menagerie. He wondered why anyone would ever bring one of those things to Diagon Alley, but he was glad Ron came in time to punch it. The whole incident scared him out of his mind. There had to be at least two dozen other people besides Harry, but the Imp chose to tackle him. Now he was standing in a near-empty bookshop in torn, bloodstained robes and a gash on his face all because an Imp decided it was a try and kill Harry Potter day. The idea that the little menace would attack him out of all the people there scared him a bit. It wasn't like Harry was provoking him…much. All I did was throw a stick at him, he thought. And I didn't throw it that hard. Besides, Ron threw one too and the Imp didn't attack him. Maybe it just had enou-.
"Harry? HARRY?" Harry shook his head and looked up. He had drifted away in his thoughts and now Mrs. Grackle was shaking the life out of him. "Oy, Potter! Are you all right boy?"
"I-I'm fine… I was just thinking; that's all." He said nervously. The old woman gave him a penetrating stare and nodded. Her eyes were focused on the blood smeared all over his face and she smiled slightly.
"We should be gettin' you to a doctor. Where are your paren…" The old woman stopped. She had forgotten that Harry had no parents and met his eyes in a moment of embarrassing silence. "Sorry," she finally said. "I forgot…"
Harry nodded and swallowed hard. Whenever he imagined someone forgetting he was an orphan in his mind, he never felt like he did when it really happened. Mrs. Grackle gave him a warm smile and put her hand on his shoulder. She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't. Instead she fell to the floor and started writhing in pain.
The young woman she had been talking to yelled out in horror. The few people still left in the shop started panicking and were giving suspicious looks in Harry's direction. Harry stepped back ready to scream louder than the young woman. His shoulder felt like it was on fire right when Mrs. Grackle touched it. Then his scar started to burn. He looked around for the shopkeeper and spotted a little old man running towards him from the sales counter.
"What is the meaning of this?' The man asked. Harry shrugged and pointed to the old woman.
"She touched my shoulder and…and she fell. I didn't do anything to her. Please make her stop."
Mrs. Grackle was twisted and bending in all directions and screaming in a language Harry had never heard before. It sounded like the woman was asking for help and pleading with someone. Everyone watched in horror, but no one did anything to help. One man had said that she was a Seer and that she was having a vision. The others, not wanting to believe that it was anything else, agreed.
Harry started chewing his bottom lip while trying to think of a way to help Mrs. Grackle. He watched as she shouted things he'd never heard before. If only Hermione was here, he thought. Then, to Harry's relief, Mrs. Grackle stopped shouting and her convulsions had subsided. She was sprawled out onto the floor, her breath heavy. Then her mouth opened.
"Potter," she choked out. "Save him…"
There was a long silence. Harry looked down at the floor, but he still knew everyone was staring at him. He could feel their eyes burning through his flesh, looking for answers. He had none. He was just as shocked as they were. Harry felt like screaming, just to break the silence, but he didn't have to. Ron and Hermione burst through the door almost as if they were on cue.
"Bloody hell…Harry what did you do?" Ron asked. He stopped in his tracks along with Hermione who was staring wide-eyed at the woman on the floor.
Harry shot a disgusted and hurt look at Ron. "What did I do? I didn't do anything!" He turned to the door where his friends were standing. Hermione's eyes bulged out more, if it was even possible, and cupped her hands around her face. Ron's jaw dropped and he took a step toward his friend.
"Harry. What happened to you?" Ron asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.
Harry looked at Ron then remembered the blood he had smeared on his face. He ran to a mirror hanging on the wall and flinched at his reflection. The blood had dried up and left small, red-colored mounds all over his face. It looked like he was wearing a hideous mask. He started to pick at some of the tiny mounds to try and remove them. His index finger slid down his left cheek where the gash had been sealed by dried blood. Then, to Harry's surprise, the gash opened again and fresh blood started pouring down his face. Harry cupped his hands around his face to try and catch the blood that was coming out at a very alarming speed. He looked down at his hands and saw they were covered with blood. Then he looked back up at the mirror and saw no blood at all, except the dried blood he had when he first looked at himself. Harry removed his hands from his face and whipped around to face Ron and Hermione who were staring at him along with every other person in the shop.
"What where you doing?" Hermione asked quietly.
"What do you mean?" Harry answered back.
"Well…it's just. You were dancing around with your hands wrapped around your face like you were holding something. Then you yelled out. What you said, I won't venture to guess…" She replied.
Harry turned to Ron and Ron nodded. "It was like you were going insane, Harry." Harry ran his hand through his hair and tried to think of a believable excuse for acting insane.
"Er…I saw a, a spider. It was very big and I panicked." Hermione nodded at Harry's excuse, but her eyes showed nothing but disbelief.
The shopkeeper sighed and turned his attention back to the old woman on his shop floor. He lifted her up with the help of two other men and sat her in a chair in the corner. The shopkeeper knelt down and began examining her face when her eyes popped open.
"Harry!! Harry, where are you?!" She shouted. Harry turned to the old woman in the chair and walked over to her.
"Are you sure you still want to take me to the doctor. I can find someone else to…"
"Forget the doctor, boy. I need to tell you something." She interrupted.
Harry nodded and followed Mrs. Grackle as she waddled out the door. The woman stopped and turned to Harry. "Remember how I told you I was a Seer?"
"Yes."
"Well…I had a vision about you in that shop. A horrible vision."
Harry rolled his eyes and prepared for the worst. Maybe she'll tell me that I'm being chased by something evil, he thought. Or better yet, maybe I'm going to die! Mrs. Grackle, to Harry's luck, missed the look in his eyes and continued to tell him about her vision.
"Now it wasn't a normal vision…I usually see scenes played out in front of me. But with you…with you I saw symbols. They came out very, very clear. I don't know how to put this…just beware the person who hands you a deck of colorful cards. I don't know what they mean…just be careful. If my vision is correct, that person will bring you death."
Harry nodded and thought for a couple seconds. The vision really made no sense whatsoever. He decided to dismiss the whole thing and get on with his life. If he lived his life worrying every time someone told him he was going to die, he'd be locked up in an institution somewhere.
"Thank you Mrs. Grackle. Er…I have to go now. Bye, thank you again." Harry smiled at the woman and walked back inside the shop. The woman never smiled back, but kept a stern eye on him until he was out of sight.
Mrs. Grackle walked to a nearby stand that was unattended. She flipped over a sign that read "Open" and started to place different items on a tabletop. She kept looking up nervously until a tall man in black hooded robes walked up to the stand.
"Grackle…" He whispered.
Mrs. Grackle jumped and knocked over some of her merchandise. She looked up at the man and smiled when she realized who it was. "Yes?"
"Did you tell him?" The man asked.
"Yes, I did. He didn't believe me though; I think we should make things happen a bit…sooner. That way the vision will be fresh on his mind."
"Very well then. Good job." The man placed a glowing orb on the tabletop and Mrs. Grackle quickly shoved it into her bag. In the process she took out a small box.
"Thank you, my Lord." She bowed her head slightly and watched as the hooded man walked away and slipped through and exit to a smaller alley. Then she placed the box on the table and scanned the crowd. Her eyes brightened when she spotted who she was looking for.
"Sibyll! Sybill, come here! I have wonderful new items for you!" Mrs. Grackle waved her hands like a madman and shouted until Sibyll Trelawney looked up. She was walking out of Flourish & Blotts. She bumped into a boy who recognized her as the Divination professor.
"Hello Professor Trelawney!" He said happily. Professor Trelawney smiled at the boy and started a small conversation.
Mrs. Grackle frowned and shouted again. "Sibyll! You really should take a look at these." She took the small box in her hand and tapped it with her wand. A crescent moon and a sun appeared on the top.
Professor Trelawney turned to Mrs. Grackle and then said good-bye to the boy. She walked over to the stand and smiled.
"Hello Laurel. How have you been?"
"Fine. How have you been Sybill?"
"Wonderful! I was looking for a book and bumped into Harry Potter and his friends. He seemed very…startled. I just hope it doesn't bleed into his schoolwork. The Sixth Year at Hogwarts isn't an easy one."
"I'm sure…" Mrs. Grackle paused before and thought for a moment. "Well, what about starting the school year off with some new supplies?"
Professor Trelawney nodded. "Well, what do you have for me?"
Mrs. Grackle lifted up the box with the moon and sun on it. "New Tarot cards. I bought them off a merchant in Germany. He said a Seer in Italy enchanted them about a hundred years ago. Very accurate I would hope…"
Professor Trelawney smiled. "I'll take them. How much?"
Mrs. Grackle thought for a moment. "Nothing. Consider it a gift…between old friends."
"Laurel…I mean I have to pay you some…"
Mrs. Grackle waved her hand in front of Professor Trelawney's face. "No, Sybill. A gift."
Professor Trelawney put the box of cards in her bag reluctantly and smiled. "Have a good day, Laurel. Thank you."
Mrs. Grackle smiled and watched as Professor Trelawney walked away. She spent a good hour sitting at the stand and selling things to random people. Then, in the middle of a sale, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked out of the bookshop. Mrs. Grackle shoved the merchandise into the customer's hands, tapped the edge of the stand with her wand, and walked away. The stand had closed up and was bare and the customer stood wide-eyed.
"Ma'am! I need to pay you!"
Mrs. Grackle ignored the customer and slowly followed behind Harry and his friends. She did this until they came to the entrance to Diagon Alley. She watched them go through the brick wall and into the Leaky Cauldron. When they were gone, she leaned against a post and twisted her face into a disgusting smirk.
*There's chapter one! Please review or e-mail me or do something. I don't care if you have nothing nice to say…everyone needs constructive criticism.
Harry