Chapter 2: Power is a Good Thing.

A/N: I appreciated the comments that I did receive, and the people who are continuing to read the story a bit more.

Harry stared blindly, his screams had stopped and he was now rubbing his head irritably, blinking away the tears of pain that he had crept on him from an elbow to the head he received by the brunette who was currently on top of him.

"I'm so sorry Harry!" the girl squealed scrambling to get off of the already hurt boy who was lying belly-up on the floor. Hermione put out her hand to help him up, and he took it. Hermione was surprised at how easily she was able to pull him off of the floor.

She had a bright smile on her face as she put her things in the overhead compartment next to his. Like she as glad to see him or something, which he knew was probably true but that damned voice in his head kept denying it, causing him to believe it. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't talk to you. The Order forbid us from talking to you! You can imagine how furious Ronald and I were, I was pacing up and down my room just counting down the days until I was able to come and see you…and here you are…Harry!" she threw her arms around him and pulled him into a huge hug which he cringed away from.

An involuntary groan passed his lips from the sharp pain that was sent through his body when Hermione touched on healing bruises, cuts and scraps that lined his torso. And strangely he was even more hurt to see the sadness and confusion in her eyes when he did that. She opened her mouth to say something when more people filed into the medium sized compartment.

"Hello Harry!" Ron bellowed happily bounding forward and pulling him into a manly hug. Harry's eyes widened as his left eye twitched. Why was everybody in such a happy mood? And why did they feel the need to hug him? It caused him more pain than he was actually in…but he let that slide…he knew they didn't know.

But how could they? He was alone for two months…but nothing else was new.

Ginny looked at him strangely from his sickly pale face and to his hair and looked as if she might cry. "Hello Harry." She said, in that same sweet but forceful voice that was always so…so Ginny, and she moved in for a hug.

He cringed, but took the pain…yet again, trying to keep the tears that were welling in the back of his eyes from the stinging pain at bay.

"Alrigh' Harry?" Harry had to say that Neville's face had changed immensely. He still had that goofy look about him, but he wasn't as much of a butterball as he was the previous years, it seemed as if he had dropped some of his weight and his teeth actually looked proportionate to his head. Harry said nothing and only nodded as Neville moved in to give him a hug.

Harry couldn't take much more of it, and reeled back as if trying to defend himself. "No more hugs!" his voice was cracked, harsh and dry which could definitely be overlooked seeing that he hadn't talked for two months.

They all stared at him with immense confusion and he turned away from them, not wanting to face the concerned faces. He was silently thanking Luna for being the same, dreamy-eyed blond girl that didn't question the obvious, and didn't ask that obvious question that he could see on everyone's minds. What was wrong with him?

He knew why this was harder on him than it was supposed to be. If he had went through the summer months actually seeing them and writing to them, getting their opinions and finding closure and maybe once…just once hearing that the reason the sky was gray and why the grass was never greener on the other side wasn't his fault, he might have been happier.

Maybe.

But that didn't happen, and facing everybody that he saw now, dead in his dreams every night over and over again, and then waking up in that same damned chair only for it to happen again the next night wasn't closure.

It was torture…

He heard the hushed whispers and quiet tones that surrounded him as he stared out the window, and they continued until the train began to move only minutes later. He was grateful when they went back to their everyday lives…their everyday lives without him.

When he felt a hot prickly feeling in the back of his neck, he knew that a pair of brown eyes was watching him, and he knew that he wasn't out of the hole with her yet.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It was about an hour or two into the train ride, not even close to nearing the halfway mark. The whole train ride thus far consisted of Hermione and Ron arguing about which Quidditch Team was better; The Ballycastle Bats or the Chudley Cannons, and then they started arguing on why Hermione cared in the first place, which Harry thought was faintly amusing and he began thinking they were arguing just to make him laugh. Which would have been an incredible feat considering everything up to this point.

As expected by Harry and probably everybody else in the compartment a silver-haired ferret and his two baboons visited them. Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. He wasn't going to pay attention to them, they were now trivial players in a game of war, and they weren't noticing.

"So, if it isn't the Potthead, Loon, Weasel, Weaselette, the Mudblood and the Failure. You have the whole gang up for a tea party, then." To Harry they seemed to be laughing at something that was not funny in the slightest, but apparently calling them those names had been a big joke on his part, probably because his brain was the size of a pebble.

"You shut up Malfoy, don't you dare call her that!"

"And what are you going to do if I don't Weasley? Get Potter over there to come and kill me too? Just like his criminal Godfather?"

At this Harry's head snapped up, and he could feel the blood bubbling under his skin. The heat coming from his was so great that those around him cowered away in fear, Malfoy, however, did not see this.

"Oh yeah Potter. I know. I know everything. How The Dark Lord lured you and your idiot friends to the Department of Mysteries, how you were cornered.." he chuckled and folded his arms over his chest with a knowing smirk. "And I especially know how my Aunt Bella killed your dear Godfather, Sirius Black, with the killing curse, before he could even defend himself."

Harry balled his hands into fists so tightly that his nails were cutting into his skin and the crimson blood was clearly visible as it dripped from his hands and onto the floor. It happened lightning fast, within a fraction of a second he was nose-to-nose with the Ferret, his head cocked to the side with a look of sheer insanity that caused Malfoy's eyes to widen. But there was something else there…more than a slight fear…Malfoy was terrified and looked to be to the point of pissing himself right then and there.

That was too much to say for Crabbe and Goyle who had already ran away.

With the same lightning quick speed he had one bony hand on Malfoy's neck, squeezing with force that did not come from the frail, malnourished boy he was over the summer, but that of an eviler sort. "Say his name once more and you die." His voice held that same cracked tone which only caused him to seem more maniacal than actuality. Harry seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, his own body, and his own mind. He wasn't himself, and he vaguely remembered Malfoy sputtering and coughing curses and threats, and Hermione' shrieks of horror, trying to tell Harry to let him go.

The other's just sat there.

"I'll…I'll get you for this Potter!" He knew what Malfoy was saying was a lie, seeing the look in the boy's eyes reminded him of a mouse caught in a trap, knowing that soon would be the end for him.

"I'll murder you in your sleep."

That only seemed to make the compartment louder, now with Ron joining in, and Hermione's insistent crying. He felt a soft hand on his shoulder and he looked back to see the owner of it. It was Hermione. Her tears had stopped falling but they left slight gray smears down her face, and it was then that Harry realized something insanely stupid.

She was wearing make-up.

"You're pretty…" he said dreamily, staring off at her face strangely and that's when he felt everything melt away. The heat emanating from him was gone, and the strength he once had diminished, and he was suddenly very, very tired.

When he turned back to the scene he found that Malfoy had gone, and he felt immediately calmer. He looked at Hermione once more and found that she looked more distressed and confused than she had been before.

Harry looked her up and down, curiosity playing across his face before he sat down, leaving himself to think.

'What just happened?' he asked himself. 'Power happened Harry, you now have power.'

'Is that a good thing?' Why he was talking to the sinister voice in his head was simple, because that had been his only source of companionship because Hedwig was completely ignoring him.

'Power is always a good thing.'

And Harry left it at that for now.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

The train had arrived in Hogsmead station multiple hours after the departure from the King's Cross Station, but to Harry it felt like a lifetime.

They left shortly after that for their Prefects duties, and Harry was left alone with Ginny, Neville and Luna. The four of them sat in silence, Neville reading a book on Herbology, Ginny staring at the ceiling occasionally stealing glances at the black-haired boy and Luna wasn't even trying to hide her staring. Harry wished she would stop, it didn't even seem like she was looking at him…it was like he was looking inside him and picking him apart with her eyes. That was why he was thankful to go put on his robes, as a reason to leave.

They all left the train in silence, Ron and Hermione had come back now, and as Harry stepped off the Scarlet locomotive he took in a breath of fresh air…

And almost threw it back up.

The butterflies in his empty stomach made him feel horrible, and just looking at familiar surroundings was enough to make him silently dry heave. He stopped quickly, hoping it wouldn't be noticed and hurried on to catch a carriage by himself. He couldn't think clearly anymore…he was tired of thinking actually, but thinking about Sirius made him think about the Department of Mysteries which made him think about the Prophecy, which made him think about Voldemort…and strangely, every time he did he got this strange feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Not fear or loathing, as usual but something else…something he couldn't quite place…but what was it?

A/N: I know this chapter was confusing, but I'm sorry, I had to put some of the stuff in there. Tips are welcome.