Story Name: When the Truth Becomes a Lie
Rating: M
Warnings: Language, Slash, Detailed Violence/Abuse, Manipulation, AU, Weasley/Hermione bashing, Dumbledore bashing, Grey!Harry
Genre(s): Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Mystery, Fantasy
Summary: After Harry was severely injured during the summer at his relatives, he was taken to Head Quarters to heal. He meets a new boy that is also staying there, orphaned by a Death Eater attack and is intrigued by this strange person. Harry is also starting to question Dumbledore's motives in the war and begins searching for his own answers with the help of some people that share his views. Harry's life gets much more interesting with the new information he has acquired and he learns that not everything is as it seems.
*Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form. Any characters you recognize from the books/movies belong to J.K Rowling. The plot and added characters are my own.
Chapter Eight
Kaleb was walking down an empty hallway, after just visiting Severus' office about his grades. Apparently Kaleb was the first student that Severus had come across with an aptitude for potions much like his own and he had asked Kaleb to help him with a project of his. It was a potion that canceled out the cruciatus curse's aftereffects and he was so close to having it perfected, he just wished that someone was able to help him but he could not find anyone skilled enough in the art of potion making, until Kaleb came along that is.
The half demon was happy that his professor had asked him to help him with the project; he was even thinking of asking the man if he could become his apprentice after he finished school. He'd always liked potions, but it was a late interest. He didn't know that he even had the talent until after his mother took him back from The Realm. He was making his way back to the common room, it was well past dinner and he had already eaten in Professor Snape's office, when he thought he heard something move behind him. He stopped and listened carefully but he couldn't hear anything so he continued to walk. His senses all of a sudden became extremely sensitive and he stopped walking abruptly. Adrenalin pumped through his veins, and his subconscious was sending him messages that he was in danger. He closed his eyes and listened carefully and sure enough, he had heard someone breathing behind him. He stayed completely still and his eyes darted around him. He noticed the torches on the walls, fire burning from them and he concentrated on that.
The fire went out and the hall was plunged into darkness, though he was not worried. Because of his heightened senses and being half demon he had better night vision than most people and he slowly turned around. He could not see anyone but he could still hear the faint breathing. He drew the power the he had taken from the light of the fire and conjured it up to modify it into an orb of light. The part of the hall where he was standing was filled with a bright, fiery orange light but it was not enough to light the shadows in front of him. He sent it higher in the air and a little farther ahead of him and he could still see no one. He was sure that he could hear someone breathing…Kaleb sighed and extinguished the orb deciding that it was probably just a draft making noise in the hall. He turned back around to continue down the hall when he heard, seconds before he was pushed into the ground, hurried footsteps. Someone came up behind him and roughly pushed him down, trying to pin him, but with years of training and experience he was much too fast for the person.
He quickly elbowed whoever it was in the ribs and pushed himself over and flipped them so he was on top and turned sideways again to stand beside the person in a matter of seconds. They kicked out at him but he leaped back and aimed a kick of his own and caught them between the legs. He heard whoever it was grunt loudly and saw them curl up. Well that told him it was a boy. He conjured the orb once again and leaned over the boy and roughly grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him roughly.
"Who the fuck are you?" Kaleb growled. The teen looked up fearfully but said nothing. Kaleb glanced down and saw he was wearing a blue and black tie, Ravenclaw. He shook the boy again, making his head snap back and forward again painfully.
"I asked you a question,"
"D-Derrick Gunderson," the boy stuttered. Kaleb dropped him unceremoniously on the floor.
"Why were you following me Derrick?" Kaleb was pretty sure he knew the answer but he wanted to hear it from the boy's mouth.
"You're into dark magic. Your probably a Death Eater or something and Ron Weasley said that you corrupted Potter, probably put a curse on him or something to make him your little puppet," Derrick's voice became more venomous the more he spoke and Kaleb could see he was angry. He just shook his head and glared at the other teen.
"Is that what you heard? Well maybe you should get a mind of your own and stop believing what everyone else says. I thought Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart?" Kaleb scoffed and turned to walk away but he heard the boy quickly get up and swung back around pinning him with a dark glare.
"Are you looking for a fight because believe me, I will fight you and then when I've beaten the shit out of you I'll stand over you saying 'I told you so'. Get lost, and tell your friends to fuck off as well," Kaleb extinguished the light once again and marched down the hall angrily. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, but his legs carried him back to the Gryffindor common room and up to the dormitory. He flopped down on his bed with a large sigh and rested his forearm over his eyes, blocking out the light.
"Kaleb? Are you alright?" a meek voiced floated through the air. Kaleb started slightly, unaware that he was not alone. He sat up and looked to see who had spoken and saw Neville standing by his own bed with a book in hand, looking at Kaleb with slight concern. Kaleb smiled at Neville but it felt more like a grimace.
"Yeah, I'm ok, just tired," Kaleb replied. "What's that?" nodding towards the book in Neville's hand wanting to divert his attention. Neville looked down and shrugged.
"Just a herbology book. It's about exotic magical plants with poisonous affects. Most of them have healing properties too though, which makes them pretty rare," Kaleb heard the excitement in the boy's voice.
"Oh cool, that sounds pretty interesting," Kaleb said. "I used to like herbology a lot when I was younger. I liked all the cool plants that moved around and tried to grab you…don't know why," he mused. Neville smiled slightly, glad that someone took an interest in plants like him, even if it was a small interest.
"Hey, you haven't seen Harry around have you?" Kaleb asked. Neville shook his head.
"No I haven't actually. Sorry," Neville replied. He stood there for a moment shifting from foot to foot, not sure if he should say anything else and feeling really awkward.
"Uh…well I've got some homework to do so I'm gonna go do that," he said quietly.
"Okay, thanks Neville," Kaleb got up and walked to the showers, thinking Harry would probably be back from wherever he was by the time he got out.
Harry wasn't back when Kaleb had got out of the showers and he was beginning to get a little concerned. It was half an hour to curfew and Harry was usually back by this time. He went out to search for him and twenty five minutes later he still hadn't found him. He gave up and headed back to the dorm when he heard someone call him. He turned and saw his head of house, Professor McGonagall.
"Mr. O'Neil, please follow me," was all she said.
'Am I in trouble? I didn't do anything, unless…it was that kid wasn't it. Oh I'm gonna kill him!' the transfiguration teacher lead him down a corridor he'd never seen and he was wondering where she was taking him. They came to a door and when she opened it, Kaleb was hit with a sudden brightness and realized that most of the room was white. There were beds lining the walls with curtains and metal trays and he realized that it must be the hospital wing, though he couldn't understand why his professor had brought him here.
"I'm afraid that Mr. Potter has been involved in a very serious accident," McGonagall spoke gravely. Kaleb was filled with a sudden dread. Was Harry okay?
"What happened? Is he alright?" he asked frantically.
"Well, he is stable but we're not sure as to what happened. It almost seems like he fell off the moving staircases, which is rather surprising although not unbelievable. He was unconscious when he was brought here, he did wake for a few moments and asked for you, but he fell back asleep. He suffered two broken ribs, a fractured skull and a dislocated shoulder. We've since healed all of his wounds but he has yet to wake up," Kaleb became more anxious when she listed off his injuries.
"So what? Is he in a coma or something? Is he going to wake up soon? What's wrong with him?" he exclaimed. Irritation flashed across McGonagall's face and her lips became thin
"Madam Pomfrey said that he is not in a coma, he's just resting. He had to recuperate, he was very lucky that he survived so yes he will wake up, but it may not be for a few hours, maybe a couple days. The matron said that his brain had swelled because of the impact but he should be alright," Kaleb sighed and felt a bit better, but he was still worried about his friend, how could he have fallen off the staircases?
"Can I see him," he asked, his voice was hoarse. Professor McGonagall nodded and showed him to one of the beds with the light green curtain drawn half way, blocking anyone from seeing him when they walked in. Kaleb went right to the side of Harry's bed and stared at him. He had a bruise on his forehead right by his hairline that had already turned purple and his arms had bruises as well. He noticed a few thinner, longer bruises on his upper arm that were quite faint, almost not even there but he knew what they were. Harry didn't just fall down the stairs; he was pushed, or thrown.
"It is past curfew Mr. O'Neil, I just thought you would like to know, but I'll have to escort you back to your common room now," Kaleb felt slight pressure on his shoulder, directing him away from Harry's bed. He followed without resistance, wondering who would have done this to Harry. His first thought was Ron, but he didn't think that just because Harry had chosen to be friends with Kaleb that he would all of a sudden try to kill him. Then he thought of the Ravenclaw, Derrick, but that didn't seem right either. The boys seemed more concerned that Kaleb had corrupted Harry than Harry being a dark wizard himself. There were plenty of people in the school that steered clear of Harry now, ever since Ron started his rumors but who would be so angry that they tried to kill him?
Back in his dormitory, Kaleb could not sleep. He had told Neville about Harry and the boy seemed deeply concerned and upset about it. He quickly went to go tell everyone else and left Kaleb alone in the dormitory where he was now three hours later, laying on his bed on top of the covers staring up at his canopy, but not really seeing it. He couldn't think of anyone that could have done this because he didn't really know anybody at the school. It was still the second week of September and sure there were plenty of people that didn't like him because he 'corrupted Harry Potter' but nobody here seemed malicious enough to actually try to kill his best friend.
'This sort of thing doesn't happen in schools like these! They happen in schools like Raascha. It doesn't even make sense; he's supposed to be saving everyone so why would they try to kill him? Unless, there's someone in the school, a student that's involved with the Death Eaters?' Kaleb sat up suddenly, his eyes wide. It made sense now. There was someone that was in the school probably a student that was somehow in contact with the Death Eaters and tried to kill Harry. That had to be it; it was the only thing that made sense. Kaleb got out of bed and looked at the time, one forty four in the morning. Kaleb grabbed a random book, he couldn't sleep there was no way, he was too riled up so he went down to the common room and read.
The next morning Kaleb got up and did his routine and went to go see Harry before his classes, skipping breakfast entirely. He was still asleep and he showed no sign of waking up anytime soon.
"You just can't keep yourself out of trouble can you Harry?" Kaleb said, smiling softly and shaking his head. He visited again at lunch and had every intention to spend it in the hospital wing but Madam Pomfrey made him go to the Great Hall to eat, since he missed breakfast. He wasn't concentrating on his classes, far too concerned over finding out who did this to Harry. The professors seemed to think it was just a freak accident, that Harry fell off one of the staircases, but Kaleb saw the bruises on his upper arm in the shape of fingers. He had pointed this out to the matron but she insisted that it was just from the fall.
Kaleb continued to visit Harry any chance he got, and couple of times he ran into people like Neville and a very strange blond girl that was in Ravenclaw. He'd met Tonks in the hospital wing once and had a nice chat with her beside Harry's bed before they both had to head to their classes. Once he saw Hermione leaving the hospital wing with an odd expression on her face and he became suspicious at once, but he did not make his presence known, instead stepping into the shadows. It wasn't until four days later that Harry woke up.
When Harry opened his eyes he closed them right away to shut out the bright whiteness. He tried again, slower this time and was able to squint a little and make out the curtain by his bed. He'd woken so many times in the hospital wing that he knew exactly what it looked like and so knew right away where he was and groaned.
"Harry!" a body flung itself on top of him and hugged him quickly and he gasped in surprise. When the person pulled back he saw it was Kaleb and relaxed immediately and smiled.
"Happy to see me are you?" he croaked. Kaleb just shook his head.
"You've been out for four days," Kaleb stated. Harry was surprised; he didn't think he'd been asleep that long. Kaleb looked tired and worried but extremely relieved.
"Do you remember anything?" the half demon asked in a low voice. Harry searched his memory and it came to him quickly. There were parts that were hazy, but he definitely remembered being physically thrown down the staircase and falling for what seemed to be forever and he remembered the impact that he felt when his body hit another staircase. The one thing that he did not know however, was who did it.
"Yeah, I remember it. I don't know who did it though, I never got the chance to see them because they surprised me, came up from behind," Harry was frustrated and by the look on Kaleb's face he knew that the other teen was as well.
"Right, well the teacher's seem to believe that it was a 'freak accident'. I met Tonks here once though and she didn't seem to be so convinced. You had some bruises on your arm here," Kaleb lightly touched Harry's upper arm. "It looked like someone had grabbed you really hard and I pointed them out to her. That was a couple days ago, they've healed now," Kaleb explained to Harry.
"Well I remember someone grabbing my arm really hard and then I struggled a bit but they overbalanced me and, well, I guess I fell then. Why would the teacher's think that it was an accident?" Harry asked.
"Well, like I said, Tonks was thinking along the same lines as me but the matron and Professor McGonagall keep saying it was an accident. There apparently was no evidence of someone having done this on purpose, except for the bruises which they decided to turn a blind eye to," Kaleb said bitterly. Harry frowned.
"Do you think Dumbledore's got them under his thumb as well?" he asked quietly.
"I wouldn't be surprised. What I don't understand is why they're ignoring this. Someone obviously wanted to hurt you," said Kaleb.
"Well what am I going to say? That someone came up behind me and purposely pushed me down a moving staircase?"
"Uh, yeah?" Kaleb frowned at Harry. "Why wouldn't you?" Harry just shook his head slowly.
"I dunno, I just have a feeling it wouldn't go over too well if I did. I mean, they'd probably brush it off. Nobody has fallen down those stairs that I know of, and even if they have it hasn't been for many years so why would they just assume that it was an accident? Just doesn't seem right to me," Harry muttered, lost in thought and confusion. Kaleb nodded, agreeing that it didn't quite add up.
"Well the only reason I can think of is that Dumbledore is a manipulative bastard, which we already knew, and he doesn't really care about your well being and wouldn't care if you fell off the face of the earth," the half demon grinned, showing he was joking…partly. Harry just half smiled and stretched, testing his healed injuries. He was a little sore, but other than that he felt perfectly fine and he couldn't wait to get out of the hospital wing.
"So did anyone else care to visit me, or does everyone hate my guts?" Harry asked lightly.
"Yeah actually, Neville visited a few times, Tonks like I said and some blond chick from Ravenclaw; she had a bit of a weird expression on her face," Kaleb replied.
"Oh, that was probably Luna. She's a little…odd, but she's a good friend. Definitely got a mind of her own that one," Harry chuckled. "Anyone else?" Kaleb hesitated a moment, wondering if he should tell Harry about Hermione visiting and decided he should.
"Well Granger showed up once that I know of. Had a bit of a weird look on her face too, kind of like she was there against her better judgment or she would be in trouble being there and, I dunno, something," Kaleb said.
"Hmm…that's odd, I wouldn't have expected her to visit. Maybe she's had a change of heart?" Harry sounded hopeful, and Kaleb gave him a weak smile. He knew Harry missed his friends, he would too. They talked for another couple minutes before the matron came to check up on Harry and exclaimed when she saw Harry awake.
"Why didn't you come get me? I should have known the second he was awake!" The woman reprimanded and bustled around to check Harry's vitals and make sure his wounds were completely healed and his brain's swelling had come down. Once she finished her checkup she gave him the clear to go but he wasn't allowed to join Quidditch practice today. He quickly changed from his hospital gown and left with Kaleb.
It was a Saturday morning and Harry was disappointed about missing Quidditch but he was not about to disobey the matron, she could become quite the dragon lady when she wanted to. Instead he told Kaleb he wanted to do some research in the library.
"Do you want me to come with you or no?" Kaleb asked. Harry smiled at his protectiveness.
"If it'll make you feel any better," He replied smirking at Kaleb.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just that you're reminding me of Mrs. Weasley," Harry spoke smoothly and smiled innocently, knowing that Kaleb hated being referred to as a mother hen.
"Okay, okay, I'll back off for a bit, jeez," Kaleb grinned at him and made his way to the dungeons. He knew that Severus had heard of Harry's 'accident', but he figured he'd like to know that Harry was awake.
Harry walked at a leisurely pace to the library but kept himself aware of his surroundings. He doubted that anyone would try anything again just after he got out of the hospital wing, that would seem a little suspicious so he felt he didn't really have anything to worry about.
When he reached the library he walked towards the section of defense spells and hexes and looked around to make sure no one was watching him. He pulled a thin book down from one of the higher shelves that was very old and frayed. He brushed the dust off the spine of the book and read the title that was in tiny letter.
"Book of Curses," Harry muttered. He opened it and found that most of the pages were stained, folded ripped or burnt, rendering the text nearly unreadable. He frowned and put the little book back and searched some more. A few minutes later, he had an armful of books on curses and counter curses, protections spells and some that touched on the Dark Arts. He piled them onto a table in a corner of the library that was normally empty. He grabbed a book on protective spells and read the index. He read a title that seemed interesting and flipped to the page and began to read. Half an hour later he pushed the book away, it was mostly things that he had learned last year in Defense Against the Dark Arts and was very basic. He grabbed another book, this one called Curses and Their Counter's. He flipped to the first page and saw that it was a list of curses with their pronunciation, meaning, origin and effects and under each curse was its counter curse. He found that most of the spells were Latin and they were all dark spells. He wondered briefly why this book wasn't in the restricted section. He grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote down some spells that he thought to come in handy and their information.
Harry spent almost two hours in the library researching curses and protection charms before Kaleb found him and dragged him away from the library claiming that he had to eat something and rest.
"You're supposed to be taking it easy, remember?" Kaleb told him. Harry rolled his eyes.
"She only said that I wasn't allowed to go to Quidditch practice," Harry responded. Kaleb cocked an eyebrow at him, which he pointedly ignored.
"So I told Severus what happened," Kaleb stated. Harry gave him an odd look.
"Again with the first name, creepy," he said and shuddered. Kaleb huffed in amusement and continued, choosing not to reply to the comment.
"He reckons that we're right about it not being an accident. He said that he'd talk to Tonks and Remus about it when he gets a free moment. I've been thinking about it though, and I couldn't think of anyone that would hate you enough to actually attempt to kill you, or hurt you that bad at least and then I remembered," Kaleb stopped walking and turned Harry to face him.
"You remember on the train, you walked into that guy, the hot blond," Harry's eyebrows shot up at that but nodded his head.
"Well you two seemed to have a shaky past or something, I don't know you never mentioned him before. But I was thinking, maybe he was pissed off that you'd insulted him, pissed off enough to hurt you," Harry thought about it, and about all the other times that Malfoy tried to get the best of him and narrowed his eyes.
"It's a possibility, but I don't think we should go accusing anyone yet," Kaleb scoffed.
"Why not? Someone did it, we've got to accuse somebody so why not start with the one's that seem most likely and have a reason?" Kaleb countered. Harry just shrugged his shoulders, knowing that Kaleb was right but still not wanting to jump to conclusions.
"I guess," He said reluctantly. "I mean, his dad is a Death Eater so maybe it's his way of getting back at me for, well, everything," they threw people's names back and forth, people that seemed most likely, lest likely, people that Kaleb didn't know, people that Harry had never met. They brainstormed for about an hour before Harry yawned, unsuccessfully trying to stifle it.
"Come on, you can take a nap. I've been meaning to do some blades training for a while anyways," Kaleb pulled Harry up and tried to steer him towards the dorms but Harry turned around to face him, his head tilted in that cute ways of his.
'Ugh, not again, don't think about that…' Kaleb had been trying very hard not to notice things like that but it seemed almost impossible.
"Blades training? Are you going to teach me that soon? Can I watch?" Kaleb laughed at Harry with good humor, reminded of an excited child.
"Firstly, you've got to become at least mediocre at physical combat before you can do blades combat…and when I say mediocre I mean pretty damn good. Secondly, you shouldn't look so excited about blades training, it's painful, difficult and dangerous…I can see that gleam in your eyes! Thirdly, no you can't watch, you've got to rest," Kaleb crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Harry and smirked as the brunette pouted.
"You suck," he said before going up the stairs and throwing a grin over his shoulder half way up. Kaleb just shook his head in amusement and chuckled before going to the Room of Requirement. Harry had shown him where it was and how it worked the first week in school so that they could have peace and quiet while training.
Kaleb walked past the wall three times thinking, 'I need a place to practice blades,' and walked into the room. In it there was a wall lined with different blades weapons: daggers, swords, knives, there was a claymore and fencing swords. On the other side of the room there were three dummies made of wood and on the floor in front of the practice area, four pillowy cushions for people to sit and watch. It looked almost identical to the practice rooms that he had used in The Realm. He took off his shoes and clothes and thought of spacious sweat pants and a t-shirt and changed into those. He walked to the wall with the blades and decided to start with the sword. Although a dagger is smaller and much easier to handle, it is a bit riskier in the way that you have to get closer to the person that you are fighting to hurt them, therefore risking more damage to yourself. For Kaleb, a sword was the easier one to start off with, especially since he hadn't practiced in a long time. Kaleb did the mandatory stretches and warm up exercises before heading over to the dummies. He paused for a moment and closed his eyes while breathing deep. When he exhaled he opened his eyes and got into the ready position and willed the dummy to come to life. It was a poor job really; the dummy had horrible reflexes and wasn't lifelike nor was it really able to spar with him but for the mean time it would do.
Kaleb did this when he was stressed or really upset about something and right now, he was both. He was starting to feel out of control and if there was one thing that Kaleb hated, it was feeling out of control of himself. There were so many things that were going through his mind, and there were so many feelings that he wasn't familiar with. He was pissed off first and foremost because somebody had tried to jump him in the hall, alone, in the dark because they thought that he had corrupted Harry somehow, and secondly, he was pissed that someone had tried to kill his friend on the same night. Which brings him to Harry.
Kaleb was worried about him, and this was not something that Kaleb was used to. He had only ever been worried about one person in his life, his mom. Even his friend that he had in The Realm he was never worried about because she was a bit crazy and nobody dared to mess with her…even as a kid. So this is where Kaleb becomes uncomfortable, because he's worried and he's not really familiar with being worried and if he's worried that means that he cares for Harry…and not just as a friend. Thinking this, Kaleb lashed out quite viciously at the dummy and nearly severed its head off. He paused to catch his breath and switch weapons, moving onto the Samurai Sword. Now that he was holding a more violent weapon, he felt more in control and he began to circle another dummy, swirling the sword from side to side.
He couldn't believe it at first, and he even tried to straight out lie to himself about his feelings towards Harry but as we all know, the truth comes to bite us in the ass sooner or later, and it usually really sucks when it does. Kaleb first admitted it to himself the night after shopping in Diagon Ally, and he realized that his body could not lie, and he was definitely turned on by Harry but it was more than just lust, there were actual deep, true, heavy feelings towards Harry. Kaleb rolled his eyes at himself as he slashed relentlessly at the dummy, digging out huge chunks of wood.
'C'mon mate, you're starting to turn into a girl, pull yourself together man,' He tried to stop thinking and start dueling properly, because that was what he was here for, to clear his mind and keep in practice. He made side steps and lunges and fancy hand work while thrusting and slashing the sword again and again into the wooden dummy and once he had maimed one he moved onto another. Kaleb practiced until his arms felt as heavy as lead and he could hardly move without his muscles screaming at him. He hung the sword back in its place and changed back into his regular clothes, very slowly and exited the Room of Requirements. He made his way back to the dormitory for a long hot bath to soothe his muscle aches. When he entered the dorm, it was completely dark and looked over to Harry's bed and saw he had passed out on top of the covers. He smiled and shook his head.
"Yeah, and you told me you weren't tired," he uttered to himself. He went over to his bed and grabbed a spare blanket and put it over Harry and removed his shoes then headed to the bathroom for his bath.
~*~*~*~
Harry woke the next morning feeling completely rejuvenated and content. He opened his eyes, smiled and stretched while holding onto his blanket. He pulled it up and snuggled back into his bed for a moment and breathed deep. He noticed that his blanket smelt different, really different and pulled back a bit to look at it. Instead of the regular red comforter that he usually slept with he was holding a dark green blanket with brown threads woven in. It was warm like wool but it felt so soft, softer than cotton and he pulled it up to smell it again. He smelt sandalwood, musk and…something else that he couldn't place. It smelt delicious and he inhaled again and closed his eyes to savor the scent. His peaceful moment was abruptly interrupted by the bathroom door opening and he quickly sat up and groaned from the head rush.
"Hey, you're awake I see. Have a good sleep?" Kaleb walked through the door, steam billowing behind him. His hair was wet and droplets of water were dripping onto his white shirt. Harry blinked rapidly to make the little black dots go away and yawned.
"Mmhmm, yeah I did actually. I didn't realize I was so tired," he smiled at the half demon who smiled back and dumped his clothes on his bed.
"That's good. When I came back you were completely gone, fell asleep on top of the covers and everything so I put that blanket over you. I'll need it back though, kind of a sentimental thing," Kaleb said. Harry looked down at the blanket he was still holding.
"This is yours? Oh well thanks, here," he tossed it back to Kaleb, although he was a bit reluctant to. The teen folded it carefully and put it on the end of his bed. He stood up and went to his trunk and pulled out a stack of papers and plopped them down on Harry's bed.
"Here's all your homework that you've missed. I'm sure I've got everything there and I copied notes for you in the classes we have together. It's all fairly easy stuff…well to me at least," Kaleb grinned as Harry glared at him, knowing full well that he was much more advanced than Harry was in most of the subjects.
"Thanks," said Harry dryly. He stood and stretched again before grabbing some clothes and going to the bathroom and told Kaleb to head down to breakfast.
They made light conversation at breakfast, mostly just discussing what Harry had missed in class and what would be easiest to catch up on.
"So McGonagall has set a test on the rules and risks of transfiguring body parts for Tuesday and Tonks brought in a couple Chinese Imps to deal with on Friday, those were nasty little buggers they were. One almost bit off my bloody finger, then I accidently killed it…" Kaleb gave Harry a sheepish grin at that and Harry looked slightly alarmed before laughing at him.
"How'd you manage that? I thought they were supposed to be stronger than people? I bet Tonks wasn't too impressed," Kaleb just shrugged.
"Yeah, well, she gave me a little lecture but I'm pretty sure she was trying not to laugh the whole way through, her face kept twitching in an odd way. And I'm half demon remember?" Kaleb smirked and Harry just chuckled at his friend.
"So what else is there?" Harry asked.
"Not much really, just a bunch of notes and lectures and blah, blah, blah. All the boring stuff. Oh hey, I know today we're supposed to be doing the physical combat but if you're not feeling up to it that's fine," Harry looked at Kaleb as if he was crazy.
"Why would I not want to practice today? I'm fine, just because I fell down a couple floors doesn't mean that I'm a china doll. We'll practice; I really want to get that dodging technique down," Harry said firmly. Kaleb smiled at him.
"That's what I like to see! But seriously, if you start feeling dizzy or something we'll stop kay? Just 'cause you're fine now doesn't mean you'll be great later," Kaleb shook his head and smirked. "You know, you're an absolute magnet for trouble. You must have nine lives or something," Harry snorted.
"Yeah, right, I think it's more like twenty."
After breakfast they made their way to the Room of Requirement and after checking that no one was around, slipped inside. Their sparing room looked a bit like Kaleb's blades training room. It had dummies on the far wall and cushions on the floor in front of the practice area. There were beams and bars pushed up against the walls and a couple punching bags hanging in two corners. Harry and Kaleb transfigured their clothing into more suitable sparing attire and walked to the center of the room, the training area.
"Alright, so you wanted to keep practicing the dodging move that I showed you?" Harry nodded.
"Ok, watch me carefully, I'll do it once and I want you to repeat my movements exactly," Kaleb stepped back a bit and got in the fighting stance. He waited a moment and then quick as lightning, he threw himself to the left and rolled swiftly and came out of it landing on his feet in a crouched position. He stood straight and nodded at Harry. The brunette took a deep breath and took the same stance as Kaleb had. He tried to do the move as smoothly as Kaleb had but he didn't land quite right when he tried to roll and ended up having to steady himself when he came out of it with his hands on the ground. He grit his teeth and stood up straight, rubbing his arm where he landed funny. Kaleb was watching him with a critical eye and pursed his lips slightly.
"You're not going into the roll part of it properly, which is making you unbalanced. Try not to throw yourself so harshly and use your arms to direct your roll, push off with them instead of landing on them. Try it again," He sat down on one of the cushions while Harry took position. He did it once more and tried to follow Kaleb's advice. Although it looked very simple when Kaleb did it, the maneuver turned out to be quite difficult and a strain on Harry's body. He had accomplished how to fall properly as to cause minimal damage, but it was different when someone was pushing you off something than when you were throwing your body in a direction level with the ground. Harry tried the dodging tactic once more and failed miserably again. Kaleb told him to repeat it again so he did and he came out with the same result. Kaleb stood and walked over to him.
"Alright, let's try this. Get into position. Ok, now you're moving too harshly to the side, see your doing this;" and Kaleb copied Harry's movements. "When you're supposed to be doing this;" He repeated the proper movement again. "Your goal isn't to jump as far as you can out of the way, it's to give yourself momentum to roll far enough away and fast enough that you can get back on your feet and retaliate," He did the maneuver once again and turned to Harry who had a look of intense concentration in his features.
"Ok, I'll try it again," He closed his eyes and replayed Kaleb's movements in his head and concentrated on how he launched himself. He opened his eyes and took a breath and tried to copy the movements. He didn't land as hard on his arm and he tried to use it to help him push off farther into the roll and ended up over compensating and landed flat on his back. He heard Kaleb try to stifle a laugh and grumbled as he stood up and brushed his sweat pants off. How the hell did he do it so flawlessly?
"Ok, well you did better with the launching part and worse with the rolling part," He smiled at Harry and sighed.
"You'll get it, you're getting better. Remember when you first tried it?" Harry shuddered at the memory of landing on his elbow in a very odd way and cracking the joint and the blazing pain that had shot through his arm. Ever since the beginning of his melee practice with Kaleb he had taken to looking up some basic healing spells for cuts, scrapes, bruises and broken bones. He wasn't great at them but he was good enough and anything he couldn't fix he had Kaleb help him. It would be a little suspicious if he showed up in the Hospital Wing every weekend with a broken or dislocated bone and numerous bruises.
"Let's try it again," Harry said. He did it two more times and almost knocked himself out the second try when he hit the wall. He stayed on his hands and knees shaking his head trying to clear the humming in his brain. Kaleb walked over and pulled him up and looked at his eyes checking to see if his pupils were the same size.
"You alright?" he asked. Harry just nodded his head and sat down on the cushions and grabbed a bottle of water.
"I've been doing this for two weeks and I can't get it right. How long did it take you?" Harry asked Kaleb.
"About four days," he responded. Harry's eyebrows shot up and then he groaned and flopped down on the floor wincing when his head hit the ground.
"That is so not fair. Why is it taking me so long?" He grumbled. Kaleb just shrugged his shoulders.
"Everybody's different, some take longer, and some take shorter. There are a few things that took me months to perfect. Is your full concentration on the movements, or is your mind wandering?" Harry shook his head.
"That's just it, the only thing I've been thinking about is the way that you do it and how I can copy it. I can see it in my mind's eye but I can't put it into practice, you know?" Harry sipped at his water and gave a frustrated sigh. Kaleb frowned, if Harry was concentrating on it and knew how he was supposed to do it, why wasn't his body following his directions? Maybe he was just one of those people that were clumsy and didn't have much of an aptitude for physical training. But that didn't make sense, he played quidditch, and he was damn good at it. His reflexes were amazing and he always made it seem like he wasn't even on a broom he flew so well. He was graceful in his movements, quick and sure so why couldn't he do this? Then it clicked.
"Stand up, get into position," Harry quickly obliged and looked at Kaleb with curiosity.
"Figured something out?" Kaleb didn't respond but instead just stared at Harry. Finally he spoke.
"Think about the motions of the maneuver, quick," he waited a moment. "Now think fast!" he shot a spell at Harry and in a second the boy had flung himself sideways, rolled and landed on his feet, crouched. They both stared at each other for a moment before realization kicked in and Harry's eyes widened. He stood up and stared at where he was standing only a few seconds ago and back at Kaleb.
"What the…?" Harry sounded completely blown away. Kaleb grinned at him.
"You respond better to pressure, you make decisions in a split second and your reflexes are amazing. When you're in danger or are threatened you react rather than strategize. That's something that we should work on, but later on in your lessons. You did that perfectly!" Harry grinned and gave a whoop of joy.
"Finally! Took me long enough, thanks Kaleb!"
"Hey, no problem. Told you you'd get it soon enough," Harry stuck his tongue out childishly and Kaleb leaped at him. They landed on the floor in a heap of tumbling limbs and they wrestled for a few minutes before Harry surrendered, too tired to try and win when he'd already spent hours on leaping and rolling. They lay side by side on the floor, their heavy breathing the only sound in the room.
"So what are you gonna teach me next?" Harry asked after a while. Kaleb scrunched his nose slightly and hummed.
"I dunno, probably basic foot work and blocking or something like that. Have to think about it," They fell silent again and Kaleb felt a sense that Harry wanted to ask him something.
Harry was feeling a bit awkward. Ever since Kaleb had said "That hot blond" when talking about Malfoy he'd been wanting to ask him what he meant by that. Harry had gotten used to his teasing and innuendos but that was basically a right out confession. Finally he pushed aside his uneasiness and took his chance.
"Hey Kaleb?" the half demon hummed in acknowledgement.
"Do you remember yesterday when you said, um…Well you said that Malfoy was hot. Did you actually mean that or were you just, I dunno, joking around?" Harry didn't meet Kaleb's eyes and he felt his face grow a bit warm. He heard Kaleb shift a little, but the boy didn't answer right away.
"Yeah I did, why?" his tone was slightly cold and Harry knew that Kaleb thought that he was disgusted or uncomfortable. He quickly flipped over on his stomach to face him and looked at him in the eyes.
"I was just wondering. I don't care. Well I mean, I was a little shocked that you think Malfoy of all people was good looking but that's all really," Kaleb stared back looking for any sign of a lie and apparently couldn't see any and smiled slightly.
"Well he is, for a blond anyways. They're not usually my type but I wouldn't mind a little romp in bed with him," He gave Harry a wicked grin and a saucy wink and laughed when Harry's eyes bugged and he choked slightly.
"Oh ew…Malfoy? Seriously? Ugh," He fake shuddered and then grinned at Kaleb who shook his head at the teen.
"So does that mean that you're…?" Harry trailed off. Kaleb's eyebrow rose and his lips twitched.
"Gay?" he offered. Harry nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I'm gay. Don't worry; I'll save all the gory details for you," Harry rolled his eyes.
"Thanks," he said wryly. They were quiet for a moment and then Kaleb chuckled.
"I can't believe it took you that long to figure it out, shows how observant you are," he teased. Harry scoffed.
"Yeah, well I didn't know if you were just one of those guys that tease all the time or what. I mean, Seamus acts like that sometimes and as far as I know, he's not gay," Harry defended. Kaleb gave Harry a funny look.
"Seamus? The Irish guy? He's so obviously not gay it's not even funny. Although, his accent is kinda hot," Harry snorted laughter and shook his head. He got up and transfigured his workout clothes back to his original clothes and stretch and winced.
"Ouch, I stayed still for too long," he groaned.
"Oh stop your whining you pussy," Kaleb said. Harry shoved him lightly and grabbed his water bottle. They walked to lunch and had a mini food fight but stopped when Kaleb accidently threw a bit of mashed potato too far and hit some Ravenclaw kid in the back of the head. They snickered to each other and just talked for the rest of the lunch hour. Now that Kaleb had 'come out' to Harry he felt a lot lighter, and he was really happy that the teen didn't seem to mind. He felt like a layer of something keeping them slightly distanced from each other had been peeled away and they were that much closer to one another.
"Oh hey, he's good looking right? Why don't you go ask him out or something?" Harry subtly pointed to a boy around their height with light brown hair and tan skin. He had a nice face, wasn't the best looking bloke in the world but he was handsome enough. Kaleb caught a glance and turned back to Harry with an eyebrow cocked, a half smile on his face and mirth in his eyes.
"So now you're trying to play matchmaker are you? You're tired of me already?" Harry's eyes widened slightly.
"No! I just thought that maybe you'd want to hang out with someone or something or…I don't know!" Harry's expression was that of an irritated child and Kaleb couldn't help but laugh at him.
"Harry I'm teasing! He is pretty good looking yes, but I'm not interested in having a boyfriend at this moment…besides, I think almost everyone in this school hates me for 'corrupting you'," Kaleb said. Harry frowned.
"Who said that?" He asked. Kaleb's fork of mashed potatoes paused half way to his mouth. He hadn't told Harry about the Ravenclaw jumping him in the hallway.
"Well, Weasley's been saying it. You know that, and everyone is glaring at me, so he's obviously spread the rumor," He said smoothly. Harry narrowed his eyes at the half demon suspiciously.
"Oh yeah? Then why do I get the feeling that your lying, again," Kaleb flinched slightly at Harry's tone.
"Ok fine. Some guy tried to attack me when I was coming back from a meeting with Severus and blamed me for corrupting you. He said that Weasley had told a bunch of people that I was a Death Eater or something and I was trying to get you to become one or some kind of bullshit like that. It was the same night that you got attacked, so I didn't want to put any more stress on you, and I kind of forgot," Kaleb explained. Harry stopped eating and glared. Kaleb saw a muscle in the teen's jaw twitch and knew that he was really pissed off.
"Do you know who this guy was?" He asked tensely. Kaleb just shook his head.
"No I've never met him before, he was in Ravenclaw though. I think his name was…Davis? No, Daren, uh, Derrick! His name was Derrick something. I don't remember his last name. It's fine though, I scared the shit out of him and he hasn't even looked at me since so it's all good," Harry didn't relax though instead he became more tense.
"You don't think that our attacks could be related do you?" Harry asked. Kaleb put his fork down and stared at him.
"Shit, I didn't even think of that. He came at me from behind too, just like your attacker did. Either it was the same person or there were two and they tried to do us in or hurt us enough to knock us out without us seeing who it was. Why though? I mean he told me that it was because I had supposedly corrupted you…why would they attack you too?" Kaleb spoke in a whisper as not to attract attention to their conversation. It made enough sense except for attacking Harry, but it made sense.
"What time was it when he attacked you?" Harry asked.
"I don't know when it was when he attacked me but I got back in the dorm about half an hour before curfew, then I went to look for you and McGonagall found me and took me to the Hospital Wing to see you. What time was it when you were attacked?" Harry bit his lower lip and his brows furrowed.
"I'm not sure; I never looked at the clock. I was just heading back to the common room when I was attacked," Kaleb swore under his breath.
"We have to go to McGonagall and ask when you were found. Her or Madam Pomfrey,"
"Let's go to Pomfrey first," Harry said. "I don't think she's as close to Dumbledore as McGonagall," Harry said. They left the Great Hall quickly, but did not notice two pairs of eyes watching them, one pair blue, one pair black.
A/N: Eek! So sorry for the slow update! I just got two puppies imported from the states and they are a handful and a half! All my time at the moment is devoted to those two beautiful creatures and house breaking them. I'm writing whenever I have a spare moment which isn't often because I have school work to do, and a horse to look after that almost died this past weekend. But I'm trying I really am! Please keep reviewing it helps remind me that I have a story to write and people are waiting for updates and they also help to inspire. Thank you everyone that has reviewed and has been patient for these past couple of weeks.
