Chapter 11: Confusion

As soon as Harry had felt Daphne's lips leave his own, there was a massive amount of confusion that rushed straight to his brain. Harry may have found Daphne attractive, almost all of the boys in his year did. She had turned every other boy that had asked her out in the year down, and Harry had gone with the assumption that if he asked too, he would be given the exact same answer.

So when she had left his immediate view, Harry almost could not walk, although he did not show it. He felt his whole body shaking, his hands quivered and his legs were almost about to fall off. Was it really all real? Was it all a dream? He would definitely be lying if he said he had never really thought about Daphne in that way, he had. The silky smooth hair, the beautiful blue eyes, the curves that made her look almost impeccably beautiful, it was as if there was never a single flaw of Daphne Greengrass. She was cold to most, ignoring them at best and cursing their nether-regions at worst.

As he skipped back, he had looked back at the painting that used to house the Fat Lady. Apparently, Sirius Black had been seen prowling throughout Hogwarts and specifically around the Gryffindor common rooms. At first, Harry had been terrified, almost failing to sleep for three nights straight. He had his wand right next to him in bed, ready to be fired in case Sirius Black waltzed in and tried to do whatever he would do.

Soon the nights when quicker and quicker, and Harry had soon let his guard down. However, when he made his way to the Gryffindor common rooms after being kissed by Daphne, his guard was almost down completely. He was caught completely off guard when he nonchalantly walked into another one of Ron and Hermione's arguments.

"Well, where is he then? Where's Scabbers?!" Ron yelled.

"I don't know, Ron! It's not my job to look after your stupid rat! It's your fault he's gone!" Hermione quickly replied.

"It was that bloody cat, I bet! You and your bloody Crookshanks, you let Crookshanks eat him didn't you!"

Harry had soon been thrown off by the argument. The fact that it was so insignificant as Ron losing Scabbers again for the fifth time that year, had made it that much more annoying. Ron just could not take the responsibility for one second, and Harry knew that if he ended up losing Hedwig then he would have to take responsibility, who else would there be to blame? Ron? Hermione? Neville? None of them would face the blame except Harry.

The only difference between Harry and Ron was that Harry knew went to back down and admit his faults.

Occasionally.

"Harry, tell Ronald here that it is not my fault that Scabbers has disappeared!"

"Harry mate, tell Hermione that she needs to control that bloody beast of hers!"

As Harry had expected, the conversation had now turned to him as it always had done since the year had started. They both wanted Harry to take their side, and if he picked one over the other, then the other would moan and sulk and complain to the rest of Gryffindor.

Harry was done, he'd had enough.

"No, I won't. Hermione, I won't tell Ron to look after his bloody rat. Ron, I won't tell 'Mione that she needs to control Crookshanks. Ever since this year has started, you've done nothing but constantly tear at each others' throats. I've had enough of it! I've had enough of the arguing! Both of you need to grow up and get a grip! Ron, you need to look after your pets. 'Mione, you need to keep Crookshanks on a leash or something."

"Harry, I thought you were my mate! I thought you'd take my side in this!" Ron exclaimed.

"Harry, I thought you'd be more sensible than this!" Hermione squealed.

"Stop! This is what else annoys me! You don't care about what I have to say! I can barely talk to either of you without angering the other one! Ron, if I talk to Hermione, stop having a hissy fit about it!'Mione, if I talk to Ron about the weather or something, don't squeal at me like you're my bloody mother! Don't you realise what you've done? Don't you ever realise where I go now during lunch and dinner? I have to go to the Hufflepuff table, because at least there people like Susan and Hannah actually treat me like a friend! God forbid, even Neville joined me! You know what? Neville isn't even that bad, he's not a bad wizard, but you still take the bloody mick out of him! You, most of the people in Gryffindor say the Slytherins are the worst, constantly insulting and denigrating others for their lack of skill, but Ron, you're a hypocrite and it's really bloody ironic! You constantly mock the Hufflepuffs for being a house of nobodies, and you mock Neville for being a rubbish wizard! Have you looked in the mirror recently, because I don't think you have! You are possibly as bad as Malfoy, and that takes some doing, Ron! That takes some fucking doing!"

There was an eerie silence, as the entire Gryffindor common room turned to look at Harry after his outburst. Harry could see on the edge of his vision that Dean and Seamus had their jaws on the floor, their game of chess dropped to watch the argument. Angelina, Katie and Alicia were meant to be doing some kind of arduous homework, but it had been abandoned in favour of Ron and Harry's argument. Hermione had simply seemed to gawp at the pair, almost as if she were about to faint then and there.

"That's it. I've got nothing else to say to you any more. I've said my piece. Goodnight, Ron. Goodnight Hermione." Harry simply finished, and he just managed to carry himself to his bed.

X-X-X

Daphne was unable to even consider the consequences of her actions. What she had done was stupid, idiotic, a hallmark in unsurpassed mindless, unintelligent, insane stupidity. What Harry had done was just a simple joke, it had to be. All Harry had done was kiss her on the cheek, that was all! Why did she go and kiss him on the lips? Why had she gone and done something so amazingly stupid just so she could prove a point? Why did she even kiss him in the first place?

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." Daphne repeated to herself, as if it were a punishment for her idiocy.

Daphne had quickly made her way to the dungeon. She had to be there quickly, before anyone noticed that she was gone. She knew that Draco would be onto her almost immediately, it was just impossible to try and stop it. She knew that he would confront her, mention that Lucius Malfoy was still trying his hardest to make a marriage contract between his pathetic son and her. She had hope that her father would never allow that to happen.

She shuddered at the thought as she entered the Slytherin common room, she shuddered at the mere thought of having to marry a Malfoy. She wanted to be sick just looking at the white weasel that was Draco Malfoy. No, she did not simply dislike or detest Draco Malfoy, she loathed the creature. She abhorred Draco Malfoy.

The times when Arthur and his older sister Guinevere had tutored her in their free time. The times whenever they spoke of the Malfoys, it was with a clear hatred of them. It would always be worse whenever Arthur had argued with his father about working with them. It seemed that Arthur would always go to his sister whenever something like that happened. One time when she was meant to be learning potions from Guinevere, she had heard Arthur mutter about Lucius Malfoy also being 'Death Eater scum'. From that moment on, Daphne had been very wary around either Draco or Lucius Malfoy.

The moment she wandered into the main room of the dorms, she could see Pansy Parkinson pawing over the 'traumatised' Draco Malfoy for the hundredth bloody time. It pained Daphne whenever she heard Draco's dramatic retelling of his near-injury due to Professor Hagrid's hippogriff. The word around the common room was that Professor Urien had manhandled Draco, the story being twisted so they made mention of Arthur pushing Draco closer to the great beast. That very same day, when Daphne had been studying her arithmancy when she heard Draco march in, muttering about 'stupid Professor Urien' and he had began whispering 'I'll make sure Father handles him like he should be'.

Daphne had to laugh at Draco's anger. Lucius Malfoy thought that he could throw around money and problems just seemed to disappear, he thought that because he had the most money he could become a major player. It seemed that the House of Malfoy took the silence and observations of House Urien as a message to become the man of the house. Well the house would be the Wizengamot. Edric Regis Urien, Arthur's father, may not have bothered himself with the petty affairs of the smaller houses.

It was needless to say that Edric Regis Urien was not looked kindly upon by the Wizengamot. He never showed up, too busy revelling in his immortality to care about the problems of others. From what her father had said to Daphne, the other members of the Wizengamot would be a lot more agreeable with whoever else took over the seat when Lord Urien passed, if he ever was going to pass.

"Oh yes, I wrote Father that very day. He said he was going to make sure the beast would be put down and those oafs Hagrid and Urien would be given the sack. It's just like I said, Hogwarts has been going to the dogs, like I've been saying all this time!"

Daphne had to chuckle. If anything had never gone Draco's way, then it would be up to dear old Daddy Malfoy to fix it. From the time when Lucius Malfoy was one of the school governors, Daphne could remember in second year that he seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face as he marched through the halls of the school.

Daphne could hear Blaise Zabini and Theo Nott beginning to giggle at Malfoy's proclamation, before they ended up receiving pointed looks from both Draco and Pansy. Pansy crawled away from the blonde ponce, allowing Draco to stand up and march towards to his two fellow Slytherins. The two seemed to cuddle up to the green leather in the chairs and tried to stifle their laughter as Draco marched over to them, confident in his ability to stop them from making fun of someone such as himself.

"What do you two think you're doing?" Malfoy asked them, staring intently as he waited for an answer.

"Sitting here, doing homework. What does it look like, Malfoy?" Nott tried to reply.

"Shut up, Nott. Let Zabini and me talk now, let the adults talk." Malfoy interrupted, ejecting Nott from the conversation.

From what Daphne had been observing since she had been made part of Slytherin, there had always been a territorial contest between Blaise and Draco. The weasel had been determined to become the so-called 'leader' of the house of Slytherin, but the Italian wizard had taken it upon himself to undermine Malfoy every chance he got, damn the consequences.

"If you wanted to chat, you merely need to ask, dear Draco." Blaise had begun.

"Don't 'dear' me, Blaise. You know exactly what you've been doing, Blaise. You've been mocking me behind my back. How subtle of you, but I caught you! Apologise to me, right now!" Draco ordered, smiling as if he were the cat that caught the canary.

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"No, I won't apologise, Draco. I won't apologise for laughing at you. I will apologise to your dear mother though, I thought your father would create a better child than you. Then again, he is a Death Eater." Blaise had began to mention nonchalantly.

"How dare you insult my father! You have the nerve to even speak his name! You'll pay for that!" Draco went to draw his wand.

"Keep your wand in your cloak before you hurt yourself, Draco." Daphne began. "The last time you got cocky, that hippogriff nearly killed you. If I were you, I'd sit down and let Parkinson fawn over you like she's your mother."

Draco seemed to scowl back at Blaise, and then grimaced before growling at Daphne. Draco marched over to Daphne, and Blaise smirked as he realised that Draco had found another target. Theo seemed to shy away from Daphne, as if he were going to try and merge with rich green leather in his seat. Daphne got on well enough with the two other boys, the only two boys that didn't seem to be obsessed with following Draco around all day, and they seemed to be friendly with Tracey as well, so Daphne didn't have a problem with them.

"And where have you been, Greengrass? Frolicking with a mudblood in a broom cupboard? Wouldn't surprise me, considering your father seems hell-bent on not allowing me to take you as my bride. No, you seem to be content on allowing some inferior mudblood or half-blood have his way with you, don't you? I bet you fondling the older ones, don't you? Well, let me tell you that you'll never find a better specimen that will make you feel loved better th- OW! AH, THAT'S COLD!"

Daphne had been mindlessly ignoring Malfoy's rants and promises to her every since first year. He had been so insufferable even in first year it gave Daphne a headache just listening to him speak. The more he didn't realise that he had been fantasising about doing the various salacious and indecent things that Daphne dared not even think about when combined with the thought of Draco Malfoy. Although Draco may have thought that Pansy was completely enthralled by him, that was far from the truth. Pansy constantly complained to some of the other girls in the house, whining about how Draco never paid any attention to her or never pleased how she thought he would.

Well, if he didn't know then, he definitely knew afterwards. The growing block of ice that had begun to encase his 'tools' began to slow, leaving Malfoy a mewling mess on the cold stone floor of the dungeons. Blaise and Theo had began to burst out into laughter, and some of the younger years had begun to laugh as well, trying to contain their laughs as Malfoy growled in pain on the floor. Tracey and Milicent Bulstrode had heard the high-pitched wailing coming from Malfoy, before bursting out into tears as they watched Malfoy try and cover his crotch as he seemed to be trying to hide from the universe, only to realise that he was still on the cold stone, weeping in pain as the ice on his genitals began to harden.

X-X-X

Arthur had been bored.

Extremely bored, there was barely anything happening now.

It had been the end of the month, the time of the full moon. Remus had not taken his potion for the night, and he had asked Arthur to join him on an adventure. The pair of teachers had quickly evacuated from the castle to keep the lives of the children safe. Either of them would be distraught if they hurt one of the kids, and they would be even worse if it was Harry that was hurt.

Throughout the month, both Remus and Arthur could not even even fathom what had been allowed to happen to Sirius Black. The two were talking about that time where Sirius had been caught 'red-handed'. The finger of Peter Pettigrew and the mutilated corpses of thirteen muggles lying all around him whilst he laughed. The Aurors had simply stunned the hysterical Black before throwing him into Azkaban, letting him rot in the ward, most likely next to the other Death Eaters like the Lestranges and Barty Crouch. Remus and Arthur had no idea as to how to react when they found out that Sirius Black was meant to be the original magical guardian of Harry. Were they meant to be scared or happy?

But it didn't matter. At least not for that night.

As soon as the two teachers made it out of the school, they had made their way to the Whomping Willow. The old tree seemed to be sleeping, but not for long. As soon as the moon fully shone upon Remus, he seemed to want to crawl into himself. His nails began to blacken and grow out of his hands, forming the claws of the Werewolf Lupin. The old suit jackets began to rip and tear, the wool and fabric breaking at the seams as Remus' shoulders began to hunch forward. His nose and face began to push forward, and his ears began to grow out and fur began to prick up from every follicle of skin that was visible. Soon, he was naked and instead of the normal Remus Lupin, it was replaced by the form of the fully transformed Werewolf Lupin.

The werewolf turned to see Arthur standing just a few steps away from it. The werewolf seemed to be challenging Arthur, as if taunting him and showing it's strength before howling loudly in the night sky, the moon casting an ominous shadow of the werewolf in front of him. As soon as the wolf began to march in front of him, Arthur could feel the similar feeling that he used to feel all those years ago. The feelings of when he could roam the fields as a grizzly bear.

Arthur closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as soon as he heard the wolf walk right in front of him. The smell of the lupine creature in front of him had started the process, and Arthur could then begin to picture what he wanted. The titanic grizzly bear that wandered around the Forbidden Forest alongside the werewolf in front of him came to mind. He soon felt the process begin to change his body. He felt his arms and legs become wider and larger. He felt fur begin to erupt in his skin, and soon he was crawling on the sweet grass, in front of him standing the werewolf that then ran off into the forest. Soon, the grizzly bear gave a mighty roar and leapt forward, following the werewolf into the forest.

X-X-X

Exams are over!

As you may have guessed already, exams have finally finished. I may or may not have done completely crap, but whatever, this isn't where I talk about exam results, this is where we all admire and criticise each other's work. So, you can all expect much more content coming now, as I have so much more free time now!

SHAMELESS PLUG: Check out some of the other stories I have on my profile if you ever feel like reading something else. Some of my other stories may not be up your street, but some might be, we'll never know if we don't see, will we?

Make sure to review, I'd love to see more and more criticism coming from the audience that read my content. I want to continue improving and bettering my work so you continue reading it boys and girls.

~The Real Italian Stallion~