Happy Easter everyone!

Quick note: I'm not sure Fizzing Whizbee is the password for this book, I'm sorry I haven't found it yet. If anyone knows it and it's not right please let me know and I'll change it. If I find it myself, I'll change it when I find it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. The name Aderes was found on Baby names. It means Protector. The origin is Hebrew, but I wouldn't worry about that. Just a posting for anyone curious. I really recommend that site for character names.

Thanks to: Cabuckeye for editing

Warnings: This story is Shonen Ai, Slash, Yaoi, Gay guys, whatever you want to call it. It's a Harry Potter/ Tom Riddle and possibly another pairing that I won't ruin for you guys later on.

Chapter 10: Living Nightmares

"What's this all about Professor," Harry yawned as Professor McGonagall and he walked down the dark halls towards the headmaster's office. Harry had already fallen asleep and he wasn't sure he even wanted to know what was going on. Harry had suddenly been awoken by his transfiguration teacher only to be led out of the Gryffindor tower. There McGonagall and he were met with Snape. That was never a good sign as far as he was concerned.

"I'm not quite sure myself Mr. Potter; please just come with us so we can get to the bottom of this."

Harry nodded figuring it's not like he had much of a choice anyway. He wanted to be back in bed of course, but things didn't seem to ever be going his way anymore. Hopefully though he could just get this figured out as quickly as possible and then he could get some sleep so, he could then possibly do some homework in the morning.

'Why didn't I do any homework during that care of magical creatures class…sheesh what was I thinking,' he asked himself rubbing his temples. However just as the thought went through his mind so did an image of Aderes. He growled a bit and hardened himself to block the thoughts and images out. If the shadow got wind of that student he'd be dead in no time.

"Are you alright Mr. Potter," McGonagall asked cautiously hearing the growl. Dumbledore had warned her that the Shadow that was following Harry would usually make some kind of hint that it was being angered before attacking.

"I'm fine," Harry, said shaking his head a bit. "Just thinking about all the homework I still have," he went on sighing. She smiled gently at Harry, which wasn't her usual style, but Harry took some comfort from it.

"Once you get used to the amount of homework things will seem a lot better I promise," she said.

Harry was surprised the teacher was using the exact same lie he'd told Professor Sprout and hoped that wasn't what this was about. Surely lying to a teacher didn't warrant getting him dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and being escorted to the headmaster's office by two teachers.

Harry nodded, Snape glaring even more, and McGonagall saying the password, "Fizzing Whizbee."

The gargoyle moved instantly the long wrap around staircase quickly moving up to Dumbledore's door. They walked up the stairs, all of them silent. McGonagall knocked on the door and opened it when the headmaster bade them come in. They all walked into the room quietly. Dumbledore was sitting across from them at his usual desk staring at the ceiling.

They walked over to him sitting in the now three chairs that were placed in front of his desk. A heavy and awkward silence fell over them and Harry felt the need to run out of the room as quickly as he could.

"Harry."

The voice made all of Harry's thoughts stop and he wondered what exactly he was in trouble for.

"Yes sir?"

"Can you call your Shadow here? Right now," Dumbledore asked calmly.

"Umm…sure," he said a bit surprised. He pulled the necklace out from his pocket and looked at it.

'Look I'd rather not get in trouble, could you please just come here…?' he asked hopefully.

The Shadow started to take form and appeared next to Harry. Of course, the only ones in the room who could see the Shadow were Harry and Dumbledore. The Shadow stood behind Harry, one hand on his shoulder the other draped over his left arm.

"Now then…I understand something happened while you were in detention just a little while ago?"

Harry thought it over a moment looking over at Professor Snape. Snape said nothing though, instead just staring straight ahead towards the Headmaster. Harry wasn't quite sure if he was supposed to let anyone know about the punishment that Umbridge was giving him.

"Yes," he finally said.

"Can you tell me what exactly happened? Why the Shadow seemed to get so mad?"

"No sir, I was just writing lines and…" his voice trailed off as he saw the look in Dumbledore's eyes. He knew that something was obviously up and that the headmaster knew he was lying. Harry felt horrible no matter how much he'd been against Dumbledore over the summer. "….The lines…when I write the ink is my own blood from my hand-"

"What? Albus this is an outrage," McGonagall cut in looking completely horrified. "I know he needs to be punished for attacking a teacher, but-"

"Calm down Minerva, I'm aware that this may seem unjust, considering also the fact, young Harry here had no say in the Shadow's attack, rather it was just protecting him during the class…and now the detention." A smile crossed his features as he looked over to Snape. "And I believe I explained that for the most part to Umbridge in complete detail…considering such, she put herself in danger, though that does not what happened right," he said folding his hands together and looking directly eye to eye with the Shadow.

'If he thinks I'm going to back off he'll have a better chance talking to a wall,' the Shadow warned Harry. Its grip on his arm tightened slightly and Harry was forced to hold back a wince.

"Sir…I don't think…you're not…" He couldn't finish the statement. His thoughts were being clouded with the Shadow's anger and perhaps a bit, of his own making him feel dizzy and light-headed.

"No Harry, I do not plan on taking your Shadow away. Put bluntly I am not even sure if I could do that." He paused for a few seconds hearing Snape scowl and Minerva gasp. "Now then…Harry there must be some way though that you can get this under control. I cannot allow this Shadow, no matter how much you've become dependent on it, to attack teachers or worse, other students."

"I know Professor," Harry answered honestly, as some of his mind began to clear up. "It's just hard…when something tries to harm me it automatically attacks…I usually lose myself and I don't even know what's happening…" Harry blinked a bit at his own words and realized that what he just said wasn't a good sign.

"I'm aware Harry. Even so…."

'I'm not going anywhere,' the shadow snapped.

"He said he wasn't going anywhere," Harry offered.

"I'm not asking him to. What I am asking is that he refrain from attacking others. There are other ways to keep you safe Harry, without turning Hogwarts into a dangerous place." He let the words sink in for a moment. "I have sent word to Fudge that I will not tolerate such a detention being carried out at my school. If he won't listen, I plan to make it known to the parents."

The two teacher's eyes widened slightly.

"Are we really going to openly stand against the ministry?" McGonagall asked quietly.

"Do you really believe it proper for students to have words carved out of their hand?"

"No," she replied instantly. "Of course not, but Albus…"

"I do not wish to play such games. With any luck Cornelius will deny any knowledge of Delores' detentions and warn her away from such things. If he does not…then yes. I am much more worried for my students than I am of my reputation."

The room went silent then, no one seeming to know what to say. Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was glad he wouldn't have his hand carved into anymore, but to think that Dumbledore would openly stand against the ministry of magic this way, it made him happy that the headmaster was willing to do such a thing.

'Then I shall help you both,' the shadow said wrapping both arms around Harry's neck. 'That's what I'm here for.'

"He said he'd help," Harry blurted out all eyes going onto him. As much as that happened he hated it. "He wants the ministry out of the school."

"Please, return to your room and get some rest. This can be dealt with tomorrow just as easily as tonight…I hope. You can make it safely back to your room no doubt?" Dumbledore asked suddenly.

Harry nodded wondering why the headmaster wasn't answering about the shadow's agreement to help and stood up.

"Goodnight Professors." He bowed his head and walked out of the office. As he proceeded down the stairs, he nearly had an attack at the sound of something moving just off to his side.

He looked around wondering if it was just maybe the Shadow, but decided against it. The shadow would have said something already if it were him.

'Hey, are you-'

His thoughts were cut off as he was slammed into the wall behind him. He let out a gasp of air as the wind was slightly knocked out of him. He tried to move, but his body had been pinned, his wrists immobile above his head.

"What a bunch of fools they are, thinking that someone would just stop protecting the one they care for, because it hurt a teacher," the voice said sarcastically. It was then that Harry noticed all the light in the hall had vanished and he couldn't see the figure at all.

"Let go!"

"Come now Harry, if I let you go you'll just run," he said amused nuzzling him gently and bit down on his earlobe. Harry's eyes widened and he struggled harder to get free. Where was the shadow when he seriously needed him!

"No! I have-"

"You're getting cut off more and more these days. Didn't I tell you if you followed me then you'd be in control of your life again?"

"No you can't be…"

"Oh, but I am," he said smugly letting go of Harry's wrist. He didn't run this time knowing he had told no one about what the Shadow had said. Rather he just stared up at the Shadow that had seemed to have taken a physical form and wondered what to do next.

He snickered a bit at the glare he was getting from Harry and couldn't help, but want to pull the boy into an embrace, but he held himself in check and didn't give in. Instead, he pushed his own body closer to Harry's so he could see his eyes clearly; the same glowing red eyes Harry had become so familiar with.

"Do you understand Harry Potter, just what it is that's going on," he asked his lips going to Harry's neck. Harry instantly felt the need to pull away, the aura around the solidified Shadow reeked of darkness and evil, but while he wanted to pull away, he couldn't. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew if he did, he'd regret it.

"Stop…"

"Heh. Come on, I'll walk you back to the tower," it said pulling away. He'd given in to Harry's request. He relaxed a little, that thought alone comforting him as they walked down the hall together quietly.

As they went it dawned on Harry that as he was following, a strange aura coming from off the boy in front of him, that all the other lights in the hall automatically went out before he could even caught a glimpse of what he looked like.

"Are you coming to bed," he asked finally when they made it to the portrait of the fat lady. He really couldn't believe he was asking this after all the feelings he'd just experienced when he was pinned to the wall moments ago, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't even think of going to sleep unless the Shadow was next to him or at least in the same room.

"Do you really think I'd let you out of my sight? Go, I'll be up there soon enough," he said walking off. The lights in the hall came back and the portrait woke up with a bit of a start.

"Back so soon," she asked yawning. "Password?"

"Mimbulus Mimbletonia," he muttered.

"Correct," she said smiling and swung foreword to revel the entrance to the Gryffindor tower. He looked down the hall again one last time wondering if maybe he'd actually just gone insane and in some kind of weird daze made his way back to the tower.

There were so many things to consider now that he knew the shadow could take on a solid form. He didn't have the energy to consider any of them at the moment and instead went straight to bed.

(X)

The next day Harry wasn't called down to Dumbledore's office, nor did Snape, Umbridge, or McGonagall pull him aside to talk. He figured he still had detention though later that night and wondered if he could persuade the Shadow to give her more hell.

'It's not like anyone really seems to like her, and by far, I hate her more than Snape right now,' he thought to himself as he walked down the hall. He really didn't want to go to the detentions anymore, but it's not like he had much of a choice.

When he walked into the room for detention, Umbridge looked up a wide smile on her face. He'd hoped she had snapped after last night, but he had no such luck, which in all honesty didn't surprise him.

"This time we're going to do it right Potter," she said in her venomous sweet voice placing a quill down in front of him. It was a black one with red markings on it this time.

'Well, Dumbledore said he warned her…and I'm going to assume the minister might have,' he thought to himself tiredly. He had really thought this wouldn't be happening again and was actually surprised to see the quill and paper in front of him once more after the events from the previous night. Even so, he wasn't about to give the toad the satisfaction of knowing he was surprised.

He took the quill and sat down quietly staring at the paper. He nodded and started writing the same thing he had the day before and held back a wince when the letters began reappearing in his skin. It didn't take as long this time for his hand to start becoming red and he wondered why the Shadow wasn't coming to help him.

'Is this some kind of endurance test? Or are you mad about last night…?'

He started to feel a bit uneasy not getting a reply and wondered if he really had done something wrong to drive the shadow off. His senses started to increase trying his best to feel out the Shadow's presence, but in the end, all it did was make the pain seem all the more worse. He didn't understand this at all. He'd still woken up in the shadow's arms that morning, it wasn't like he'd rejected him. He'd listened in all of his subjects for once so the shadow wouldn't accuse him of slacking off for OWLs. He had managed to avoid Aderes all day, what had he possibly done wrong?

By the time he was finished and walking down the hall back to the tower he had it stuck in his mind that the Shadow had abandoned him and that he was going to die.

'Never going to abandon me, always going to be by my side, just what in the-'

"What's wrong with your hand?"

Harry jerked his head up and stared at Draco and Aderes who were standing in front of him. His hand had started to bleed again.

"Nothing…just cut it is all," he lied to them not wanting to look like he was weak. He wouldn't go out and complain to anyone about this, he'd bear it and then laugh at Umbridge for her failed attempt at punishing him.

"Doesn't look alright," Malfoy went on giving him a serious look. "Looks like someone cut your hand open with a knife."

"It's nothing…"

Aderes took Harry's hand in his own and began examining it curiously. He ran a finger over his hand gently sending a shiver down his spine and then looked over at Malfoy.

"Blood inking."

"Potter, just what in the world are you doing," Draco demanded glaring at him. "Do you-"

"Look, it's nothing. I just left detention and I got cut, nothing more Draco," he stated firmly and felt a bit of confidence rush into him for cutting someone off for once. "I'll be fine, look I have a lot of homework to do and I don't even want to know right now why you're still awake. I'm going to go do some work, I'll see you guys tomorrow morning." With that said, he walked off leaving Draco and Aderes alone.

"Going to attack Umbridge tonight then?"

"With complete pleasure," Aderes growled.

(X)

A dark chill began to form in the room as Umbridge finished packing up her belongings and began heading towards her private quarters. She didn't seem to notice it at first, but she stopped when a burst of cold air hit her all at once.

She staggered backwards a few steps dropping the bag in her hand that was holding the parchments that Harry had used during the detentions. She looked around for the source, but instead of finding anything, she tumbled backwards down the stairs from some unseen force. The last thing she saw was a pair of red glowing eyes.

(X)

Harry managed to finish most of his homework that night before staggering off to bed and getting a bit of sleep. The rest of his day was somewhat hazy and he wondered if he'd even make it to detention without falling asleep first.

He at least managed to get Draco and Aderes not to tell anyone about his hand and then got safely through the rest of his school day, though he wasn't exactly sure how.

When he made it down to Umbridge's room for another detention, no sign of the Shadow anywhere, he began to wonder if maybe some deal had taken place between the Shadow and someone else.

He hoped that was the case rather than the Shadow actually ignoring him and sat down in the usual chair, especially since the Shadow hadn't even slept with him the night before. He took up the quill without a single complaint, Umbridge was on the other side of the room doing something, and began writing lines.

As the night went on though and he continued to write, the words didn't heal as they had before. Instead, they remained etched onto his hand as a painful reminder. He wondered how he could possibly hide this now from Ron and Hermione.

"Do I have to come back tomorrow then," he asked casually. He refused to show her any kind of pain.

"Why yes of course you do," she replied her eyes dancing madly. "You will return tomorrow and finish your detentions like you're supposed to. I believe we can make those words a bit deeper," she went on grinning from ear to ear.

Harry ignored her though seeing his fate sealed and got up grabbing his bag with his left hand this time and walking out of the room.

'Just one more day,' he told himself repeatedly in his mind as he walked up the stairs to the tower. He was almost there when he saw some movement out of the corner of his eye and thought immediately that it was the Shadow.

"Show yourself now or I'll smash the necklace," he said quickly sounding a bit more desperate than he'd hoped for. His nerves were almost completely shot, because of how much he wanted the Shadow back.

"What?"

"Ron?"

Said boy let out a small curse and got out from behind a statue of Lachlan the Lanky. He was holding his Cleansweep Eleven behind his back trying to hide it from Harry's view.

"Ron what are you doing," Harry asked frowning slightly. "It's really late…"

"I was just…umm…y'know I saw Fred and George go off with a bunch of first years…and…" he trailed off noticing that Harry wasn't buying any of it and let out a long sigh. "Alright fine, I was out practicing…I want to try out for the Keeper…alright go ahead and laugh."

"I'm not going to laugh," Harry, answered seriously a grin crossing his face. This had been some of the best news he had heard all week. "No seriously Ron, this is great! I hope you make the team, wish I could be there to see it though," he muttered sighing.

They made their way to the Gryffindor tower then, both of them chatting about the team and how cool it'd be to work together to defeat the other teams.

"And best of all, I can beat Malfoy," he said with a huge smirk on his face. Harry just rolled his eyes saying the password and stepped through the portrait hole.

"Sure, now that Draco and I are on good terms you want to try and kill him even more than you did before," he said as they made their way up to the dorm.

"Look mate, I'll prove to you once and for all that, that guy is evil. I'm not sure how yet, but he is. Aderes is pretty cool though, you should befriend him."

"Only if it means killing Umbridge," he said twitching a bit, as he laid his bag down quietly next to his bed. The two boys had begun talking in whispers and Harry was grateful that he'd finished all the homework he had to turn in the next day the night before. He could finally get some sleep now.

"Yeah well, we both need our sleep so I'll see yeah in the morning Harry."

"Sure thing, night Ron," he said yawning and took off his glasses. There was still no sign of the Shadow anywhere, but he was too tired to really care anymore. He could worry about it in the morning when he had gotten some sleep under him.

(X)

"Ever get Umbridge back," Draco asked as they made their way back into the Slytherin dungeon. Malfoy had been on his prefect'swatch to make sure all the kids were in bed where they were supposed to be. Of course, he'd let Aderes come with him so he'd have someone to talk to.

"I didn't have to…someone else got to it before I did," he said shrugging. "Doesn't really matter though, I can get her later," he said stretching a bit of a smirk forming on his face. "And she'll be screaming and begging to leave Hogwarts by the time I get through with her," he vowed evilly.

"I like your style."

"Just keep your father in place," he said before heading off to his own room. Draco just nodded heading to his own.

(X)

"You said you were going to stop Umbridge," the cold voice said.

Dumbledore sat calmly at his desk watching the shadow standing in front of him. He'd be scared of it coming to this.

"I take it then Fudge has done nothing," he said not bothering to hide his distress.

"Does that surprise you?"

"Hardly," Dumbledore snorted. "Harry has said nothing to me. I will send the evidence to the daily prophet then as well as letters to each parent."

"You know I'll already be acting on my own."

"All that I ask is you do not harm any students or innocent professors—"

"Do you even have any of those here?" the shadow asked with a snicker. It didn't bother to wait for an answer. It gave him a small wave and vanished before his eyes leaving the headmaster more stressed than ever. He hoped it could tell the difference between Snape and Umbridge.

(X)

'Last detention, just this last one, it's all I'll have to put up with and then I swear I'm never getting myself thrown into this place again,' Harry thought to himself with a completely steeled mind. He refused to let Umbridge get to him now or anytime soon and walked into her office.

Standing in the room with her though this time was Snape and Filch who were both behind her, smiling evilly.

"Good evening Mr. Potter," she said all too sweetly and Harry wondered if tonight he'd be doing some kind of different punishment.

"Good evening Professor…umm…did something change," he asked a bit curiously.

"Oh no, no, no, of course not. No you will still be writing lines," she said with a huge smile on her face. "I want that in there cut deep," she said and pointed to the quill.

Harry shrugged and walked over to the desk as he had so many other times and sat down. He managed at least to get into a leaning position so he could watch the Quidditch game from one of the windows inside.

Neither Filch nor Snape said a word when he looked up every now and then to watch the game, something seemed completely off at that, but he shrugged it off leaving it as his first stroke of luck he'd had in days. Of course, by wanting to remain focused on the tryouts while not getting in trouble, he had written the sentence 'I will not tell lies' so many times there was blood running down his wrist.

Snape seemed to be getting a bit uneasy at this, shifting from one foot to another as he watched how much blood was in fact coming out and beginning to stain Harry's robe. Filch seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself though and Umbridge was completely ignoring the matter altogether.

An hour went by and finally Umbridge ordered Harry to stop and to show her his hand. He stood up walking over, the darkness having long ago made him give up trying to watch the Quidditch pitch and he held his hand out.

"What in the…" She seemed a bit shocked seeing the amount of blood that had gone down his arm and then began soaking into his robe sleeve. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"I watched the entire time Umbridge, your little punishment alone caused that blood flow," Snape said coldly. Umbridge paled at that looking around the room. How in the world could shekeep this a secret if Harry Potter walked out of her office with his robe stained with blood, his own blood for that matter?

She grabbed Harry's forearm pulling him closer to make sure that he wasn't just screwing with her, that there really was a good amount of blood soaked into his robe and no spell was being done.

Yet, as she did so, a searing pain ripped through Harry's forehead, eyes widening he jerked his arm back scowling, one hand instantly going to his scar. Snape's frown deepened. He knew what that usually meant.

"Give me your arm back this instant!"

"Professor Umbridge, I would not do that," Snape cut in knowing very well what would happen if she pushed this too much.

"Stay out of this Snape, Mr. Potter give me your hand," She growled grabbing him by the wrist tightly. Harry let out a loud scream and the quill that he'd been using snapped. All the lights in the room went out instantly and the cold feeling Umbridge had felt from the night before returned.

"Next time listen," Snape growled letting out a curse. This wasn't good.

TBC

So Happy Easter again and I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. See you guys again next update!