Genre: Action/Adventure/ Romance
Main Character's: HP, DM, RW, HG, GW, PP
(...words...) thoughts
Chapter II
Harry stared at the headmaster, more than a little pissed at being told he had a 'second chance', which he bloody well knew he wouldn't need if he wasn't the one named in a stupid prophecy, especially since he neither wanted nor needed the responsibility or attention. Realizing in the few seconds it took to reach the great hall, that the one person who would have believed him had just brushed him off, Harry made a drastic decision.
After the usual welcome back speech Dumbledore added "Welcome back for another year at Hogwarts and I dare say a new wizarding world." He paused for the applause before continuing after it subsided. "For the sake of clarity I will be announcing the names of those in the Prefect's council and the head boy and head girl tonight. Now would the respective people please make their way up here?" Five minutes passed in the rustling of robes as five people from each house made their way to the head table and stood in order. Harry who'd come in through the side entrance with the headmaster, walked out of the shadows and stood in the middle, facing the school. He smiled as Hermione made her way to his left; she had the grace to look embarrassed for not looking for him on the train. He squeezed her hand discreetly to let her know it was ok. It wasn't like he had wanted to be found anyway. His eyebrow shot up when he saw who'd been chosen to head the Prefect's council.
Draco Malfoy once again found himself in the presence of the stranger on the train. He still hadn't figured out who the boy was and frankly that worried him, memory loss wasn't a really good sign for a wizard of his stature. He semi-pouted as he stood to the head boy's left, well at least he'd find out sooner or later, he thought as people stopped pouring out of the tables and Dumbledore started talking again. "Now, most of you recognize your classmates, but for the sake of the first years and our new additions; the two in the middle are the head boy and head girl, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger respectively their counterparts in the council are Draco Malfoy and Helga Smith..." Harry drained out the rest of the announcement as he watched Draco's reaction. The young Malfoy seemed to go rigid at his side, before carefully turning an un-gelled head of platinum blonde locks in his direction. Harry gave him his most charming smile, careful not to open his mouth much; Malfoy just turned away a scowl firmly in place.
(That bastard, all this time he's been playing us.) Draco fumed in his head for the duration of the mini- speech, looking at Pansy every now and then for support. She seemed just as miffed as he was, (I mean wasn't it enough that they humiliated us when we came to them for help?) He was slowly turning pink, a colour that made him look more constipated than angry with the expression he was wearing. In his defence though, he was fighting the urge to throw a tantrum and instead decided to focus on what was being said. It was Potter speaking, just another fact that made him even angrier.
"I would like to take it upon myself as your student representative to also welcome you back to Hogwarts and say that we are all one big family here and hope we may help your adjustment as easy as possible" He gave his most charming smile again, making more than a few girls swoon. "Unfortunately" the hall went silent and even Dumbledore looked confused "Though grateful for the honour, I will have to forfeit my position due to, personal issues and to take me place I would like to suggest one Draco Malfoy. Now if you'll excuse me." Harry took that moment to walk out of the hall, no one noticed however until ten minutes later when the headmaster had come out of his shocked stupor and regained control. He amended his earlier speech by declaring Draco Malfoy the new head boy, Harry had put him in quite a tight spot and he couldn't refuse to put the Malfoy heir in the recently vacated position. He wasn't happy though but he was careful not to let his displeasure show, he would have to have a talk with Harry later.
Draco on the other hand took the news in stride. It was about damn time he thought, he smirked and revelled at the first sensations of being out of the golden boy's shadow. His place was taken by the one who would have been second in command to him in the prefect's council and so on and so forth. He winked at 'Granger, who was staring mean murder at him before returning to the Slytherin table where more congratulation awaited him. This year will be different; he thought a malicious gleam in his eye.
Harry walked quickly to his room; he'd been assigned private quarters, three months before he beat Voldemort. His chambers existed of a bedroom, furnished with a beautiful oak double bed and matching armoire and vanity; a common room furnished same as the rest of the houses only smaller and having a small kitchenette and decorated completely in black and finally, a training room that was hidden by a tapestry of the Swiss alps on a wall in his common room. He entered his quarters and sat in an armchair by the fire, staring at the burning embers. He didn't like the way things were going, according to his sources Voldemort was amassing troops somewhere and he was getting more powerful each day, his earlier pleas being disregarded by the headmaster meant he had to act swiftly lest they be caught off guard. He walked to his fireplace and grabbed a handful of floo powder before stepping into the flames and flooing to another room in the castle.
He stumbled into a room twice as big as his own common room. It was similarly furnished but had a bit more colour and more of a feminine touch. Soft music was playing from an old recorder in the corner of the room and incense was burning in other places. He walked forward and towards the small kitchenette in the room. There he saw a lithe witch bending over what looked strangely like a refrigerator; she rummaged in the strange box for a while before coming up with two Styrofoam cups and a chicken leg in her mouth. She was dressed in muggle pyjama's and her hair was tied up on her head messily a few strands escaping here and there, she banged the door closed with her foot and turned around before gasping and almost dropping the bottles she was holding. "Damn it Potter what did I tell you about sneaking up on me?!" Harry just stared at the witch who was staring daggers at him "You dropped your chicken." He turned and walked back to the fire place discarding his robe on one of the chairs, before turning back to face the witch. "We have a problem -" He stopped at the sight that greeted him. "What eh what! You got something to say?!" The witch semi screamed at him almost hysterically, the two Styrofoam containers she was holding were neatly placed on the table and she was currently sitting cross-legged on the rug chewing on the chicken leg that had formerly been acquainted with the floor. He just shook his head and tsk'd before going on "Dumbledore didn't believe me. I think it's time to meet with the elder's Tora". The young witch got up " You sure about this, there's no going back you know". The young man just turned away from her. "It's not like I have much of a choice here and I need to go back to the realm anyway, I'm running low on supplies. May I?" He pointed at the containers on the table, "Yeah. You know you won't need those supplies after you summon the council, you can only use them for three months after." The young man's shoulder's sagged and she could tell he didn't want to talk about it right now, so she changed the subject. "What's this I hear about you causing a ruckus in the great hall?" Harry smiled at her with rosy lips "How'd you hear about that?" Tora laughed "Oh my friend, the walls, they talk to me!" they both broke out into fits of laughter.
Tora had come to teach in Hogwarts that year; she replaced old history teacher, who'd gone off to research some alleged quatrains of Nostradamus. His new teacher and close confidant had been a god sends, especially after the events of his summer, speaking of which, he had yet to tell his friends. He promised himself he'd tell them the next morning; tonight was going to be spent in enjoyable company trying to forget what he was going to have to do. He retired to his chambers shortly after curfew where he spent the rest of the night in his training room.
The next morning Dumbledore summoned Harry to his office to discuss a few things and Harry being Harry decided to take his sweet time getting there. As he entered the office he noticed Hermione sitting opposite Dumbledore, who had quite a sour expression on his face. "Good morning Harry, Please have a seat." He motioned to the chair next to Hermione's. "Sir?" he asked and felt more than saw a presence behind him. "I called you all here because there are a few things I wanted to share with you. Firstly your announcement last night caused quite a commotion Mr. Potter; I discussed your situation with the other teacher's and have seen fit to respect your wishes as well as those of instating Mr Malfoy here to the position of head boy. Now since we so graciously accommodated you it is only proper that you compromise with us as well. It has been decided that you will act as advisor to Mr. Malfoy who WILL follow or at least consider your advice" he added the last part at Drcao's disgruntled look. "And you will have to relinquish your private chambers and take up residence with Hermione and Draco here." Harry was about to protest when the person behind him beat him to the chase. "I don't see why I have to have Potter here as an advisor. I can do the job myself probably even better than potter ever could and I don't see why we" he waved his finger between himself and Hermione "Have to share chambers if he get's his own" The headmaster held up his hand and stopped Malfoy's tirade. "Now now Mr. Malfoy, there's no need to feel threatened by Harry, he already relinquished the position, he will just act as your confidant" Malfoy smirked and Harry seized the opportunity to cut in "Sir, if I may. I'd like to thank you for meeting me half way so to speak but with all due respect my chambers were never part of the package and as such I will be retaining them." He challenged the headmaster's stern look with his own. Giving in, the headmaster sighed and crossed his hands on his desk "Fine Harry, your quarters will however be connected to theirs by a door and the three of you will have monthly meetings with the professors and the prefects council to discuss the state of affairs. Understood?" They all nodded and he dismissed them. He was getting too old for this job; he popped a sherbet into his mouth and started writing some letters.
As soon as they left his office Hermione started admonishing Harry, "Honestly Harry, have you finally lost your head that was the headmaster you were talking to. You could have at least tired to show some respect." Harry just rolled his eyes. "Ha-ha looks like Potty here's got balls" Both Gryffindor's turned to stare at Malfoy. "What" he said in reply before walking away. "Hermione I need to talk to you and Ron tonight. There's something I need to tell you." His friend looked at him concerned before agreeing to rendezvous in his common room after dinner. Only later did Hermione remember that she had absolutely no idea where his chambers were.
Harry sat in his room's, wondering where his friend's were. It was forty five minutes past dinner and they still hadn't shown. He had places to be, people to see; the first time that year e actually asked them for something and they blow him off. He stared at the door; Dumbledore had had installed to magically connect his rooms to the heads' chambers and willed it away. His privacy would soon be a thing of the past. Harry was busy staring down the door and thinking up colourful adjectives to call the headmaster when it suddenly hit him. He blushed for a moment embarrassed at himself; he hadn't actually told his friends where his rooms were. He progressed towards the door that was supposed to connect them trying to think up a suitable apology. But wait, if he had a door on his side, shouldn't that mean they had one on theirs? Meaning they should have been able to come through to his chambers. Anger flooded him again at their blatant disregard for him, if they couldn't come the least they could have done was told him. He was assaulted by the sight of Hermione astride Ron in a heated make out session as soon as he walked through the door. (So this was why they couldn't come see me, bloody great. Let's just blow off little Harry, after all he doesn't really matter.) Realizing he was scowling at Hermione's back and talking about himself in third person which mind you is a sign that something is going horribly wrong, he walked towards the mini kitchen they had in the back and fished around for something to eat. He came up later with a juicy red apple. He walked back towards his friend's dragging with him a chair he removed from the study table they had against the wall, and perched himself on top of the back rest just watching them.
He waited patiently or his friends to finish, slowly counting the minutes away. Five minutes passed then ten and frankly Harry was getting tired of it, the last straw came when Ron slipped his hand up his girlfriend's skirt. Half eaten apple in hand he whistled loudly, "Hey! Remember me?" The two love birds on the couch were startled out of their embrace Hermione falling to the floor and Ron ready to run. "Harry! Sorry, we lost track of time" Hermione stood up brushing down her uniform. "I can see that." Ron blushed before awkwardly waving in Harry's direction. Harry replied with a nod before throwing the apple pip into a trash can in the corner "Where's Malfoy?" Hermione pointed towards his room. "Good, I needed to talk to you two in private." He got off his perch on the chair and began to pace in front of the crackling fireplace, "I don't really know where to start so-"
"Voldemort isn't dead." He heard a gasp from Hermione and Ron paled considerably. "I know on the battlefield that day it looked like I killed him, but I didn't. I only figured it out a week later and even then I wasn't sure enough to say anything about it. You remember how he kept acting really weird when I went up face to face with him?" His friend's nodded. "He was acting as if he didn't know where he was, it's as if someone cast an obliviate on him or something, but we know that can't be possible because he's a very powerful legillimen's. Not to mention there were a few incidences when he could have very easily done away with me but he hesitated."
"Maybe your just lucky mate..." Ron stared at him not wanting to believe what his best friend was telling him.
"Ron, this has nothing to do with luck, Voldemort knew about the prophecy, that I was the only one capable of destroying him for good, why would he let me live? I spent some time at Sirius' place when I was recovering and found some books in his attic, they looked as if they hadn't been used for years; I was bored so I decided to go through them. They were mainly books on potion brewing and dark magic, but there was this particular book that was older than the rest, it was practically falling apart and the title had all but faded. It mostly talked about old magic and how they used to use the elements back then, what caught my attention though was a small article in the middle of the earth element chapter that referred to Grindenwald."
"Wait, you just said it was a really old book, so I'm guessing it was written before Grindenwald was even born? How could they reference him then?" Ron asked looking confused. "It's a magical book Ron, back then author's used to pour their magic into their books so they can magically update events from their sister books relevant to what it was they were writing" Ron nodded gratefully at his girlfriend.
"So as I was saying, I read through the chapter and it mentioned something about 'terra firma alchemy' or earth magic, which used to be harnessed by the Earth's earliest civilizations. It mentioned something about him, Grindenwald trying to harness it, right before his demise and that was it. I was interested in it so I looked it up in the other magic related books in the house but all I could find was a small article about how the ways of Harvesting earth magic had died out with the last of the Inca sorcerer's thousand's of years ago. I asked Remus about it and he promised he'd bring me a few books from his own collection to read on but they were all like the rest of them, they either mentioned minor use of it in the last millennium or how it was near impossible to harness it anymore. The articles they did have however on the Inca's and Aztec's seemed to imply that the head sorcerer's would, under the request of the ruler at that particular time use it to brew him a soul transferring potion. They used to take it when they were nearing their death and transfer into a younger body, hence continuing their rule. They did this for thousand's of years before it all just suddenly stopped. None of the books mentioned how or why. Now according to the potion's gazette of today's world, the potion has yet to be brewed successfully, the test usually ending in certain death for both parties involved. I don't mean to give you a history lesson; I just needed to lay down a platform for you. The night I killed Voldemort, I didn't use the Avada Kedavra curse." they both stared at him quizzically. "I used an ancient Latin soul dispersion curse; that should have ensured he never rose again."
"Harry, that's really dark magic." The room was getting colder as the fire died down. He wandlessly transferred more logs onto it from the side and watched for a minute as it rekindled itself. "The end justifies the means Ron that was all I was thinking about. When I shot it at him, a black orb was supposed to rise from his body and scatter all over the earth, like self combust. What happened instead if I remember correctly was it collapsed in on itself and disappeared. Given Voldemort's power and magical capability that wasn't supposed to happen. Hence concluding I didn't kill him that night I killed someone else in his body." He rubbed his hand over his eyes and let out a deep sigh. Hermione looked pensive, "Then why the whole earth magic lecture?" Ron asked. "Because Ron, If Harry didn't kill Voldemort that means he transferred his soul to another body which means he's found away to harness a very dark very ancient form of magic, that could very well be the end of us all."
"But you can't be sure of that right? There still could be a possibility that it was just a fluke a one time thing?" Harry stared at his friend before walking back to his room and retrieving a file.
Ron looked at him questioningly "Open it." He did as he was told, his eyes widening at what he read. The file contained a mass of articles on various disaster's that had recently hit the globe, there were land slides in east Asia, hurricanes in the south pacific, earthquakes in Europe and the likes. Each disaster claiming at least a thousand lives, magical and muggle. "Those areas hit worst were peace zones, neutral grounds for dark and light or where wizards and muggles lived with full knowledge of each other.
Silence reigned in the room for the next ten minutes as they all tried to take in what their friend had told them; during this time Malfoy had left his room and gone off in a rush and Harry had taken up his previous position, perched on the chair. "So, now that you've told us the bad news there's some good news right?" Harry smiled at the hope full look on Ron's face. "I wouldn't throw a party just yet mate. It really depends on your conception of good and bad and this is more personal. Just listen to me before you do or say anything ok?" They nodded.
"Something..." This was harder than he thought it was going to be "Something happened to me during summer that kind of changed me and this is not about Sirius." He said that to wipe out the sympathetic look Hermione sent his way. "My uncle Vernon Company started reorganizing itself, you know laying off some worker's and such and he was on the watch list. So frustrated, he started drinking and you know how that goes; alcohol plus stress equals, domestic violence and such. Now before you go off Ron, I wasn't his main target, we all were. The first two weeks were relatively fine, until he came home completely drunk and pissed and just lost it. He started tossing my aunt around and throwing things so I stunned him and ran before the ministry got there. Hermione, I just don't trust them alright, so don't even go there." She closed her half open mouth. "I was kind of in a daze and didn't know what to do or where to go, so I just wandered around London for sometime, before I was jumped. My memory about that's quite hazy, all I know is I woke up three days later in some old castle in Scotland. I got bitten by a vampire." He looked up at his friends, uncertainty in his eyes. Hermione's back was pressed against the couch and Ron was holding onto her hand, trying to look brave. Hermione spoke first "But your ok right?" Harry laughed. "If you call semi- dead alright then yes, I'm just peachy." Seeing it didn't help his friends calm down he went on. "The vampire that attacked me was a rogue; he let me there for dead. I was found by another vampire called Raven; my surrogate guardian who was in town for a conference and her husband Alexander. I was bleeding out in that alleyway, so she took pity on me and turned me." Hermione tried to stand up "Harry I really don't think I want to…." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Damn it Hermione, just hear me out. Raven and Alexander took me to their coven; a castle in Scotland. She barely knew me yet gave me her blood to save me and she's not really a vampire so she didn't have to but she did. I stayed with them for the rest of the summer and they introduced me to the coven and taught me the ways of the realm. In some ways it's a good thing, because they treat me like their own son which means technically I have a new family and Voldemort can't kill me now, because I'm already dead." He looked up at his friends again, who still looked scared. He got off his seat and walked over to a window that overlooked the black lake.
"Um but if Raven gave you her blood and she's not a vampire, how are you a vampire and if you are one doesn't that mean you can't go out in the sun?" Ron tried to keep a brave face in front of his friend but failed miserably. "Alexander's a vampire and Raven, who's half veela is his mate. Since she's not a vampire and I'm a powerful wizard I'm not completely turned. I am still somewhat of a vampire because I was killed by one though I still have my soul. This," He held up his right hand exposing a platinum ring embossed with runes. "Prevents the sun from harming me, Alexander warmed up to me and had it made for me." At least Ron was trying he told himself with another look in Hermione's direction. "What's 'The Realm'?" Ron's courage was coming back. "There's different coven's all over the world hierarchically headed by an elder who's also a member of the council. Even though we all belong to different coven's we're all citizens of the realm, which is all the covens together headed jointly by the council. The realm is like common ground for all of us, like all the houses in Hogwarts with magical access to one common room." Ron nodded. Harry risked a glance at Hermione who was looking down at the moment, but looked up just before he looked away. She could see the hurt look on his face. "Harry, I'm sorry I just can't do this. You know my aunt and uncle were killed by vampires. I just don't know how I can trust you now that your one of them" She looked as distraught as she sounded.
"Hermione, I don't go around killing people. The only one's who do that are rogue vampires, who are bad humans or dark wizard's that have been turned. Plus I'm not a full vampire really, I still have a soul, I would never kill or even think of killing an innocent person." Hermione just shook her head "But you still drink human blood" He looked at her willing her to understand him "It's willingly given Hermione, from blood banks and such, never forcefully taken." She dragged Ron off the couch with her whispering sorry to Harry and dragged him up to her room."
Harry cursed colourfully as soon as the door closed behind them and walked back to his own room. He went straight to his training room where he vented off his frustrations on conjured opponents with his sword.
He emerged two hours later, sweat dripping like a fountain off him and millions of tiny little cuts and bruises littering his body. The worst cut was on his collar bone which wept blood onto his white vest turning it crimson. He pulled off said clothing and threw it in a corner before proceeding to his kitchenette. "What in the hell happened to you?" Harry stiffened before relaxing and withdrawing an opaque bottle from his ice box and drinking from it. "None of your business Malfoy now what are you doing here?" He turned around to face the blond. "How'd you do that?" He asked, staring at the gashes on the raven haired man's torso. "Pine cone and mint right? I smelled you. Answer my question." He watched as Draco walked up to him.
"May I" He asked pointing to the bleeding wound, Harry nodded. Malfoy placed his hand n the open gash and whispered something. His hand glowed as Harry felt the wound heal. He watched as Malfot wandlessly scourgified his bloody hand and stored the information for later use. "Thank you." Draco nodded and went to sit on one of the chairs (You've got to give some to win some he thought. "To answer your question, your friends are in there and at it like rabbits from the sounds of it they haven't learned the use of a good silencing spell. Frankly it's disgusting." Harry laughed before screwing his face up as he got a mental picture "Ugh. Fair enough." He walked to his room. Before he could open the door however Malfoy's voice floated over to him and he froze.
"Is it true that Voldemort's back?"