Harry Potter and the Year of Unveiled Secrets

Chapter 6: The Past Can Come Back To Haunt, You Know

Draco, Blaise and Kalli were just coming back up from the common room when they saw Harry Potter on the staircase with his eyes closed, gripping the rail with a white-knuckled hand. Sensing something was wrong and seeing no one around, the trio went over to the stairs just as Harry was continuing down them. They had just reached him, when he halted and his eyes rolled back into his head. Acting quickly Blaise caught the young Gryffindor before he could land on the entrance floor. He wasn't so surprised to find how light the boy in his arms was, as he'd seen how thin he seemed to be after returning from his holidays.

With his friends behind him, Blaise made his way to the Hospital Wing quickly. As they walked along the quiet hallways, the three Slytherins discussed what could have brought on such an accident. By the time they'd arrived at the Hospital wing doors the third year Slytherins had come to the conclusion that it had something to do with the Gryffindors' sever reaction to the Dementors.

While Draco and Kalli went to find Madame Pomfrey, Blaise placed his crush on the bed at the back of the wing, behind the curtains. For the past few months, Blaise's thoughts had been constantly wondering to the raven-haired beauty that stayed quiet during their classes, though attracted the most attention. Blaise wasn't gay, but for some reason he seemed attracted to one Harry Potter. Though it seemed there was something about him that just seemed wrong.

Hearing footsteps coming towards them, Blaise placed a quick kiss to Harry's head then stepped back from the bed. The curtains opened and Blaise saw Draco and Kalli standing there.

"She's not here. Can you stay here while we run down to the Great Hall to get her?" Kalli's silent voice asked. At her friends nod, she and Draco rushed out the doors and down to the Hall. Composing themselves outside the Great Hall, Draco and Kalli slipped in through the double doors and quickly stalked to the Head Table where the staff sat. Moving to stand in front of the school healer, Kalli quietly whispered what had happened to her while the rest of the school and staff looked on curiously. When she was done, Pomfrey jumped up from her seat and bustled out of the hall with Kalli and Draco behind her as well as the Headmaster, Deputy Headmistress and Snape following behind the two students and concerned nurse. After they left the hall burst with noise with speculations of what might have happened while the remaining staff conversed on the occurrence.

Arriving in the Infirmary a few minutes after the Slytherins and Healer, the three Professors found Madame Pomfrey hurrying to her potions cabinet while Malfoy, Moon and Zabini sat talking on a bed, occasionally glancing at a closed set of curtains around a bed at the back of the ward. Poppy rushed past them and moved into the curtained area, closing them behind her. Seeing that they wouldn't be able to find out what was going on from the nurse, the teachers moved to the three students on a bed to the right. The friends had seen who had entered and turned to greet them.

"Good afternoon, would you happen to know what is going on here?" Dumbledore asked with a small twinkle in his eyes. The three explained to the best of their knowledge what they'd seen happen and their theory of what could have caused it.

Before the teachers could send the students to class, Madame Pomfrey came out from behind the curtains. Seeing the others were waiting for an explanation, she started to explain. "He seems to have a fever and a large case of exhaustion. I'll need to keep Mr. Potter here until at least tomorrow. Can I give you a note to give to his teacher?" she asked the Slytherins, who answered in the affirmative. A flick of her wand and a piece of parchment appeared in Poppy's hand, giving it to Kalli, she sent them out the door. By the time the trio reached Hagrid's hut, everyone was waiting for them. Walking up to Hagrid, Kalli, Blaise and Draco could see that the Gryffindors were getting really worried, as Harry hadn't arrived. Handing the new Professor the note, the three Slytherins moved over to their housemates.

Hagrid read the note before slipping it into his coat. Spreading his arms, he welcomed the class before having them follow him to behind his hut. Asking them to wait by the fenced paddock, he went into the forest. Once he was gone the Gryffindors started to discuss Harry.

"Where is he? He said he'd be down after lunch," Hermione went on and on about Harry saying he was just going to have a nap. None of the girls noticed Ron and the guys were walking towards the pack of 'Snakes'.

Ron tapped Malfoy on the shoulder. Turning from his conversation with Blaise, Draco found Weasley and the rest of the Gryffindor boys standing there. When he raised an eyebrow, Ron asked; "Where's Harry? I know you've done something to him. That's why you were late, torturing Harry weren't you?"

"It's not my place to talk, but we know where Harry is, though we didn't put him there, I swear," Kalli said pushing in front of Draco.

"Even though it's against my better judgement, I'm going to trust you enough to tell us what happened." It seems Hermione and the girls had joined them.

"Thank you," Kalli started to explain. Just as she was finishing, Hagrid came back with what looked like half-eagles and half-horses.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That night after dinner the 3rd year Gryffindors were allowed in to see their fellow member. When Harry was able to breath again, as the girls' hugs were tight as hell, Hermione started on a rant that lasted 10 minutes about saying something if he was sick. Done with the rant, she hugged him again and asked how he was. Harry answered honestly that he was a little tired though not as much as before. The girls started to bundle the boys out the door at Harry's admittance of being tired. Saying goodnight, the group left for the Tower. Finding he couldn't keep his eyes open much longer, Harry set his glasses on the bedside table before drifting off to sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next few days were mostly uneventful, with just classes and the girls constantly asking Harry if he was all right. But that stopped when the 3rd years all had their first DADA class. This year it seemed that Dumbledore wanted every grade to have the one DADA period, so all four house 3rd years were in the class.

The Gryffindors were the first to enter and took places in the row furthest from the door wanting a clear view of the other students. 7 minutes later and the class were waiting on the Professor, who had only just entered through the classroom door. He smiled lightly when he saw the students quietly waiting for him with their books out.

"Good afternoon," he said. "Would you all please put your books back in your bags. Today's will be a practical lesson. You will only need your wands."

Some curious looks were exchanged as the class stored their books away, all thinking of their only other practical lesson with the fraud, Lockhart. When they were done, Lupin beckoned them to follow him.

Puzzled but interested, the class got to its feet and followed Professor Lupin out of the classroom. He led them along the deserted corridor and around a corner, where the first thing they saw was Peeves the poltergeist, who was floating upside-down in mid-air and stuffing the nearest keyhole with chewing gum.

Peeves didn't look up until Professor Lupin was two feet away, then he wiggled his curly-toed feet and broke into song.

"Loony, Loppy Lupin," Peeves sang. "Loony, Loopy Lupin, Loony, Loopy Lupin-"

Rude and unmanageable as he almost always was, Peeves usually showed some respect towards the teachers. Everyone looked quickly at Professor Lupin to see how he would take this; to their surprise, he was still smiling.

"I'd take that gum out of the keyhole, if I were you, Peeves," he said pleasantly. "Mr. Filch won't be able to get in to his brooms."
Filch was the Hogwarts caretaker, a bad-tempered, failed wizard who waged a constant war against the students and, indeed, Peeves. However, Peeves paid no attention to Professor Lupins' words, except to blow a loud, wet raspberry.

Professor Lupin gave a small sigh and took out his wand. "This is a useful little spell," he told the class over his shoulder. "Please watch closely."

He raised his want to shoulder height, said "Waddiwasi!" and pointed it at Peeves. With the force of a bullet, the wad of chewing gum shot out of the keyhole and straight down Peeves' left nostril; he whirled right way up and zoomed away, cursing.

"Wicked, sir!" Ron exclaimed in awe,

"Cool!" Dean said with amazement.

"Thank you boys," said Professor Lupin, putting his wand away. "Shall we proceed?"

As they set off again some of the class looked at shabby Professor Lupin with increased respect. After moment or two they were standing outside the staff-room door. Opening the door, the Professor stepped back and gestured for the 3rd years to enter.

The staff room, a long, panelled room full of old, mismatched chairs, was empty except for one teacher. Professor Snape was sitting in a low armchair grading papers, and he looked around as the class filed in. his eyes were glittering and there was a nasty sneer playing around his mouth.

When he entered, Lupin was surprised to see the other Professor there. "I hope we're not disturbing you, Severus."

Snape turned to face the DADA teacher, "You are but I shall deal with it as I must grade these papers here because some little imprudent brats destroyed my office and the house-elves are still cleaning it out." He turned back to his papers and continued marking.

"All right then," Lupin started as he walked towards an old wardrobe at the other end of the room. As he moved closer, the wardrobe began to wobble, banging off the wall. "No need to worry," Professor Lupin said calmly, as some people jumped backwards in alarm. "There's only a Boggart in there."

Most people seemed to think this was something to worry about. Neville looked terrified and others eyed the now rattling doorknob apprehensively.

"Now, Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," said Lupin. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks – I once met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the Headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third-years some practice.

"So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a Boggart?"

Hermione's hand was up in an instant. "It's a shape-shifter," she said when called on. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us the most."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Remus said and Hermione glowed. "So the Boggart sitting in the darkness within had not yet assumed a form. He doesn't yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a Boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears.

"This means," Professor Lupin said. "That we have a huge advantage over the Boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"

Having to answer a question with Hermione next to him, bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet with her hand in the air, was a little off putting, but Harry knew the answer anyway.

"Since there are so many of us, the Boggart will get confused and be unable to take the shape most frightening as it would try to form each fear at the one time," Harry explained quietly. The students in the class looked at him in shock, with Hermione's hand falling to her side slack with shock that Harry knew something like that.

"Brilliant!" Remus smiled. "You explained it better then I ever could. Now, I'll be showing you a simple charm that repels the Boggart but you must remember it requires force of mind. You see, laughter is what really finishes it off. You need it to assume a shape you find amusing.

"We will practise the charm without wands first. After me please… riddikulus!"

"Riddikulus!" the class chorused.

"Good, very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where I want a student to help. How 'bout you Ron?"

The wardrobe shook again as Ron walked forward to stand next to his Professor.

"Okay Ron," Lupin said. "First things first: What would you say is the thing that frightens you the most in the world?"

Ron paled but said, "Spiders."

"Yes, I believe they can be deadly…hmmm… you have a set of twin brothers is that correct?"

"Err-yes." Ron wondered where this was going.

"Well, this is what I want you to do…" Remus leant down and started whispering in his students' ear. When he pulled back, Ron's face had an evil smile spread across it.

"If Ron is successful, the Boggart is likely to turn his attention to each of us in turn," explained Professor Lupin. "I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most and imagine how you might force it to look comical…"

The room went quiet. Harry thought… What scared him most in the world?

His first thought was Lord Voldemort – a Voldemort returned to full strength. But before he had even started to plan a possible counter-attack on a Boggart-Voldemort, a terrifying memory from the summer came floating to the surface of his mind…

A small dark room… a large man standing over a small shaking form… the sound of a zipper being undone…

Harry started to tremble and quickly opened his eyes to escape the painful memory. Many people had their eyes shut tight.

"Everybody ready?" Remus asked.

Harry felt a lurch of fear. He wasn't ready. He couldn't go in front of the Boggart; he didn't want everyone to see his fear or to hear what he knew Vernon would say. Deciding it best to stay away from the wardrobe, Harry moved to stand near Professor Snape, who was near the back of the class.

"Alright then, Ron, we're going to back away and let you have a clear field, alright? I'll call the next person forward… everyone back now so Ron can get a clear shot-"

The class moved back, leaving Ron right in front of the wardrobe, with is wand out and ready.

"On the count of three Ron," said Remus, who was pointing his own wand at the handle of the wardrobe. "One-two-three-now"

A jet of sparks shot from the end of Professor Lupin's wand and hit the doorknob. The wardrobe burst open. Long, hairy black legs stepped onto the floor followed by the rest of the giant spider.

Ron stepped away, his wand up, mouthing wordlessly. The spider was coming closer now; all of its eyes trained upon Ron and its pincers were clicking, smelling the air.

"Riddikulus!" squeaked Ron.

There was a noise like a whip-crack. The spiders stopped and turned, behind it caught in spiderweb were two small insects. But these insects had the heads of Fred and George and were crying out for help in high, squeaky, little voices.

The Gryffindors burst out into laughter at the hilarity of the scene, while the other houses just snickered.

The Boggart stopped confused, and Parvati stepped in front of Ron. The spider rounded on her. There was another crack and where it stood was a blood-stained, bandaged mummy; its sightless face was turned to Parvati and began to walk towards her, very slowly, its feet dragging, its stiff arms rising-

"Riddikulus!" dried Parvati.

A bandage unravelled at the mummy's feet; it became entangled, fell face forwards and its head rolled off.

Terry Boot darted past Parvati. Crack! Where the mummy had been was a dark haired man with pale skin and full black eyes – a vampire. He opened his mouth and his fangs lengthened, about to lunge when Terry shouted, "Riddikulus!"

The vampires' fangs fell out and its claws detracted back into his hands. Taking a chance, Hannah Abbot stepped towards it. Crack! The vampire turned into a rat, which chased its tail in a circle, then – Crack! – became a rattlesnake, which slithered and writhered before – Crack! – becoming a single, bloody eyeball that rolled across the floor to stop before Harry.

Seeing it in front of him, Harry began backing away from it but the wall stopped him. Crack! And the eyeball was now a large, beefy man with no neck and a large moustache on his purple face. He stalked to Harry the whole time yelling at him. "Come here you little slut, I'll show you what you deserve." Harry slowly slid down the wall and pulled his legs to his chest, tears streaking down his pale cheeks. "God, how a freak like you could fool those freaks you call friends into thinking you're a boy is beyond me. But I know just the thing to teach you for being a little freaky bitch." Before Boggart-Vernon could do anything to Harry, he was turned into a pig and banished back into the wardrobe by the trembling form of Talia.

The room was silent as everyone looked at Talia in shock. Seeing this, Talia got up and ran from the classroom heading for the Hospital Wing and Poppy.

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Well, now they know that Harry's a she not he. From now on, she's being called Talia, Harry's officially dead, though she still looks like a boy at the moment because the illusions haven't dropped. Now, tank you for reading this story so far and for the wonderful reviews I've gotten so far. I'll update soon.

Oh and don't forget to press the little blue go button to the bottom left, please. I'd really love to hear all of your thoughts of the story.

Au Revoir for now,

The Love Dragon.