Red: YEY!!! second chappie!
Valac: Weren't you talking about writing a thing about me and Kusaka?
Red: Valac! Bad Valac! That's still tbd!
Kusaka: You, are an idiot Valac.
Valac: Well at least I didn't lose my crystal like some people!
Red: Valac *sigh* you are an idiot. I suggest you run or warp or fly or ... just get away from 'Saka. Like now.
Kusaka: VALAC!!!!!
Valac: Yikes! *runs away*
Itachi: Disclaimer is same as always and no flames, I provide the hot stuff.
Red: Itachi!!!!! *glomps* Time now? You have the equipment right?
Itachi: *smirk* I'm always prepared. *drags Red away*
Naruto: Well ... that'll be interesting ... have fun reading!
For Lack of a Better Word: Chapter 2
Encounters of the Weird Kind
Harry had decided to do as Ron and Hermione asked of him and he had stayed up until 2 in the morning mulling it over and after he came to a conclusion on the best possible course of action he finally was able to fall asleep, and slept like a baby. The next morning he was overjoyed to learn it was the weekend, otherwise he would have overslept, and missed his morning classes … again … and he did not want to face the professors' wrath again … and breakfast, he would have missed that as well, but he did actually skip out on that and was now starving so he made his way down to the Great Hall just in time for lunch.
Halfway between Gryffindor Tower and the Great Hall, Harry came across the troublesome trickster of a ghost, Peeves, and decided that it would be much easier to circumvent said trickster ghost. Therefore, he backtracked and as he rounded the corner he realized that he was about to walk past Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
"Oh bugger," Harry whispered, annoyed. Just then, Myrtle burst through the wall and stared at Harry, tears streaming down her ghostly face. Vaguely Harry mused if it was possible for ghosts to cry and thought that obviously they could, or at least Myrtle could … as she was prone to doing.
"Oh! Harry, thank goodness! Come quickly! Someone's in trouble!" Myrtle shrieked, loudly, as if he wasn't standing two-feet away from her floating place. Then she had the presence of mind to ever so humbly add, "Not that I would mind sharing my cubicle with him. He's a very handsome fellow he is."
Harry simply stared at Myrtle, oddly used to these sudden outbursts and sported a look that said 'You've got to be kidding me,' and 'Who'd want to share anything with you' at the same time. Instead, of voicing either thought, Harry nodded his head once and agreed to help, racing after Myrtle into the bathroom, wand at the ready.
The first thing Harry noticed was the massive puddle of water on the floor. His gaze was then drawn to the broken sinks, still spouting said water and Harry was quite surprised that the mini lake hadn't extended to the corridor yet. He ventured further inside and observed a pair of feet sticking out from behind a row of stalls. The closer he drew to them, the more apparent it became that there had been a duel here and the owner of the feet had not come out the victor in any way that he could see.
"What happened in here?" Harry wondered aloud, awed at the destruction of the rest of the bathroom. "It's as if there were at least four different people dueling at once. With unfavorable odds for this poor bloke." As Harry rounded the last stall and stared at who Myrtle expected him to save he froze in shock, incredulous.
"Malfoy!? What the bloody hell happened to you?! No, wait, don't answer that. It's a stupid question really." Harry just stood there awkwardly at Malfoy's feet for a few seconds, his brain running a mile a minute trying to figure out what to do when it hit him. Malfoy wasn't responding smarmily to his comments or insulting his intelligence, he was petrified, completely. He waved his wand, muttering the countercurse for the full-body bind under his breath for good measure and breathed a sigh of relief when Malfoy's body visibly relaxed. Good, he thought, no more giant snakes to deal with … hopefully, he spared a glance back at the sinks then returned his focus to the prone figure of Draco Malfoy at his feet.
Harry took a deep breath to calm his nerves, baffled at his nervousness at the same time, and kneeled next to the unconscious bane of his existence.
"Well," asked Myrtle, hovering on Harry's left, "is he going to die," she added a hopeful expression plastered on her ghoulish face. Harry glared at her and she pouted at him, wailed when the glare did not diminish, and dove into the nearest toilet.
"Great, now I have to talk to myself and pretend I'm not insane for helping Malfoy of all people." He listened for Malfoy's breathing and felt for his pulse. "Well … everything seems normal … other than the fact that he's going to die due to hypothermia if I don't get him dry and out of the freezing water relatively soon and the bruises and fractures that are evident from the … and I should get a message to the Hospital Wing but … he really needs to be warmed up first … but a teacher would be … Dobby!"
With a crack Dobby was standing where Myrtle had been floating only minutes ago.
"No time to talk Dobby," Harry immediately began talking, "I need a favor."
"Anything for Harry Potter! What is you needing sir?"
"I need you to go fetch Madame Pomfrey and-"
"Is Harry Potter hurt? Should Dobby be-"
"Dobby! I'm fine! It's him who needs help." Dobby finally took notice of where they were and what was around them, including, lastly the figure of Draco Malfoy lying flat on his back and out cold.
Dobby gasped, "Master Draco! But why is Harry Pott-"
"Dobby! Please! Just go get Pomfrey and tell her to hurry to Myrtle's bathroom. He's really in trouble here." Harry interrupted the odd little elf.
"Harry Potter is very noble he is. Dobby will go right away Harry Potter sir." With a snap of his fingers and another crack, he was gone.
"Good," sighed Harry, relief flooding him with the knowledge that Pomfrey was on her way, he sighed again and began to help Draco Malfoy as much he could. Which was actually a whole deal greater than he gave himself credit for, considering the way Harry had been using his free time.
Harry had taken to spending his free time, his alone time, in the Room of Requirement. He had decided that he wanted to, and for his own good should, learn more spells of various types. Since it was the Room of Requirement, he had plenty of study materials and various things to practice on. He had discovered that he had a strange affinity for healing magic and had furthered his limited knowledge on this subject by learning and practicing, just about mastering, almost all of the healing related spells the Room of Requirement had to offer him. This seemingly immense feat was only made possible due to the myriads of people that avoided him like the plague. Therefore, by the time Madame Pomfrey had arrived, with Snape in tow, he had already had Malfoy lying in a transfigured bed, wrapped up in fuzzy and warm thick blankets, and in dry clothes –that part had been tricky seeing as he wasn't very adept at drying charms. When the two staff members burst into the lavatory, he was in the midst of a simple diagnostic spell to check for further damage, it was about the fifth time he had done so and as he narrowed his scope to center on Malfoy's magic he noticed something off and was trying to search deeper when his wand flew out of his hand into the open palm of his most favorite least favorite professor.
"Snape," Harry said, as he followed the path of his wand with his eyes, "can I have my wand back please?" He held out his hand as stood and moved out of the bustling medi-witch's, Madame Pomfrey's, way.
"Your wand will be returned to you, Mister Potter," Snape sneered in his usual manner when confronted with Harry, "after I have determined if it contributed to cause harm to Mister Malfoy."
"Really Severus," huffed Madame Pomfrey, "all he was doing was helping the poor boy. How else do you suppose Mister Malfoy ended up in such good conditions like this?" She turned her attention to Harry, with a small smile and added, "Good job Mister Potter, there's nothing more for you to do here." With a flick of her wrist Malfoy was levitated out of the room, trailing after Madame Pomfrey, still wrapped up firmly in his blankets, as she bustled off to the Hospital Wing.
"The Headmaster will call you to his office later today Potter," Snape barked out as he tossed Harry back his wand and stalked out of Myrtle's bathroom in a flourish of robes.
"Well that was fun," Harry commented sarcastically as he flicked his wand in the direction of the bed he had transfigured and it turned back into a cubicle. "I've gotten good at transfiguration. I guess all that time in the Room of Requirement was well spent for a change … guess I found myself a new hobby … Man, I'm hungry." With that, Harry preceded on his original course to the Great Hall … for some much needed sustenance if anyone cared to ask him.