IMPORTANT/FUTURE OF STORY:
Lately, I have been thinking of discontinuing my fics.
I just haven't been in a writing mood lately. Every time I start, I get discouraged and sidetracked. I'm either using my time for my artwork, or I'm working on my original stories, and I find myself just wanting to stop fanficiton.
At first I was just planning of going on a hiatus, but the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of just stopping. But I will not be deleting my stories off the site or off my computer, for I may comeback one day. But until then...it was nice writing for you.
Courtney
Chp. 11 More Problems than a Harry Can Take
Harry arrived to the commons room a little after class ended, so he entered on his fellow students either complaining about the day's work or doing said work. He would have been there earlier, but he had run into Cho soon after leaving the infirmary. But to his surprise, he entered an empty commons room, with not a soul in it, except for a cat strumming a guitar. Kitty, who had not noticed him, was hunched over in one of the living chairs, and was mainly focused on adjusting the strings.
"Hey, can you play this?" he asked suddenly, as he ran up behind her chair, catching her off guard with his speed, and snatching the instrument from her hands. "This is heavy." He remarked as he threw the strap over his head and hopped around, and away from Aureline's grabby hands, and pretended to play.
"Why are you always tormenting me?" Aureline whined as she finally managed to wrestle her toy from him.
"Because, Kitty," he told her as he threw an arm around her shoulder, preventing her from escaping, and pulling her to him. "You are fun to tease." He ended with a flick on her nose.
"OW!" she screamed in agony, as she clutched her nose, tears leaking from her eyes as she doubled over in pain. "Don't you know how much that hurts? OW!"
"Calm down!" he admonished her as he looked around nervously, "It was just a little flick!"
"But it still hurts, you ASS!" grabbing the guitar by the neck, Aureline took a running leap into the air and swung the body of it straight at Harry's head.
Seeing her come down, Harry readied himself and then ducked just as the guitar swung over his head, and as she landed he grabbed her ankles and pulled her down onto her back.
"Are we going to play this game again Kitty?" he teased as he leant over her. "Do you need a time out?"
"Give, THIS, a time out?" She growled from her position on the floor as she brought her leg up and kicked him in the crotch. As Harry keeled over, Aureline stood up satisfied and straightened her clothes.
"Now that's what you get?" she said smugly as she picked up her guitar and began to saunter off, leaving Harry to his wallow in his pain.
"Okay." Harry said gruffly as he tried to shake the pain off, and as he stood up he gave himself a visible shake. "Now I'm mad." He growled as he looked at Aureline with fire in his eyes, as they and his hair become infused with red streaks. Sneering, he took a step closer to her.
"Ooh." Aureline spurted as she looked at the enraged Harry with wide-eyed fear, as she felt the heat of his fury, literally, hit her from feet away. "No, don't do it. That's a bad Harry, bad, BAD HARRY! Don't fry, Kitty! Don't fry Kitty! Don't…kill…the…KITTY!" the last part she yelled in a frantic attempt to escape as she gripped the neck of her guitar and swung at Harry with all her might.
Harry, in his anger, didn't duck, didn't dodge, didn't acknowledge the attack at all and was hit dead on. Then his world went dark.
He came back to his senses, miraculously, without any pain. Opening his eyes, he found himself outside in the corridor. "Damn cat." He muttered. "Knocks me out then throws me into the hall."
Getting up he went to the commons room entry way, muttering as he went. "Just for that…I'm going to electrocute her. Light her up like a freaking Christmas tree. Barbosa" the last was directed at the portrait of the fat lady, but she was busy fixing her hair and didn't hear him.
He tried again a little louder. "Barbosa."
She continued to ignore him.
"Hey, do you hear me? I said Barbosa!"
She sighed and put her mirror down and looked at him.
"Barbosa!" he yelled.
She did nothing.
"What's wrong with you, it's me Harry? Barbosa!"
She continued to stare at him.
"Hey!" he yelled clapping his hands loudly. "Pay attention! Bar-bo-sa! Barbosa!"
She yawned loudly and continued to stare at him.
"La donna grassa maledetta dell'asino… non può levarsela in piedi! Siete pazzi o qualcosa? Che cosa è esso? Maledicali! Devo regolarlo su fuoco!" in his anger, Harry began pacing and had slipped into Italian unknowingly.
He heard someone talking behind him, looking up he saw Seamus, Dean, and Neville heading his way.
"Hey, guys," he called out happily heading towards them, "the portrait won't let me in, I think she may be…" but he never finished his sentence, because at that very moment, Neville had walked right through him. It was a disorienting feeling as he and Neville had become one for a second, and it took him a minute to regain his senses after the three had walked off.
"Whoa!" he breathed out as he looked after Neville, who visibly shuddered.
"What's the matter Neville?" Seamus asked.
"I don't know…just…just got a strange feeling just now…like…I don't know but it was weird."
"Probably just a spirit walking through you." Dean answered him. "No biggy, now come on. Barbosa!"
"Don't worry, sweetie," the fat lady reassured him as she swung open, "spirits are harmless as long as they don't stay in you for too long, or else they'll take over."
"Thanks." Neville squeaked, sounding anything but grateful at the fact that something had almost taken over his body.
"So I'm dead…" Harry said aloud to himself, wondering why he didn't feel scared or upset. "…about damn time! I mean really! How many life or death experiences was I going to have before I kicked the bucket! And now I'm finally dead…from getting hit over the head by a guitar playing cat. I should go thank her."
"Potter. Potter! Wake up!" a frightened Aureline screamed as she hit the lifeless body of Harry Potter in the chest. "You're not dead! I won't allow it!"
When she had hit Harry with the guitar, the force had sent him flying into the wall. She had merely thought he was unconscious at first…but she could hear no heart beat.
"Oh shit I'm going to die." She muttered as she stood up and ran a nervous hand through her hair.
"I didn't even hit you that hard!" she growled kicking his body. "What am I going to do?" putting her head in her hands she groaned, but then a thought hit her. She had to get rid of the body. Slowly she moved her hand from her face to her chin and turned her head towards the window.
Looking around inconspicuously, she grabbed Harry's listless foot and began dragging him across the floor. "Well…Potter may be dead, but at least Potter's dead."
She hadn't gotten him halfway across the room when she heard the portrait begin to swing open.
She froze. Her current situation didn't exactly look good. She had two options. 1. Kill whoever it was coming through the door and hightail it out of the school, or 2. Hide Potter's body under the couch and pretend like she was innocent. Decisions.
As quickly and quietly as she could, she tipped the couch up and kicked Harry underneath. Just enough time to arrange herself in a leaning position and plaster a big smile on her face before Dean, Seamus, and Neville appeared.
"HI!" she yelled unknowingly, making them halt in their tracks and stare at her strangely.
"Are you okay?" Seamus asked her concernedly.
"Just fine. Not like I killed anybody."
"Great. Kitty." Dean said slowly, as they began to back away from the overly smiling girl. "We're…going to go now…okay." He continued as they reached the stairs.
"Harry said she was out of her mind." She heard Seamus whisper as they disappeared into the darkness of the stairwell. Once she was sure they couldn't hear her, she dropped the smile from her face and sighed contently.
"That went smoothly." She spoke aloud to herself as she turned around, only to scream in fright as she found Harry standing directly behind her with a smile on his face.
"Hello my darling. Did you miss me?"
"Like a vampire misses the sun." she growled. "I thought you were dead, you ass!"
"My dear Kitty, I am dead."
She narrowed her eyes and peered closely at him. "…no you're not." She said simply, letting out a breath of relief.
"Then what the hell do you call this?" he asked as he briskly walked through her.
"Molestation." She answered as she shuddered at their brief moment of unison. "Listen…you're not a ghost…you're a spirit…ghost have no color…you do. You're having an out of body experience."
"Oh…" he said gloomily.
"Don't sound too excited…it's just you're still alive, nothing to get excited about." She told him sarcastically.
"How can you see me?" he asked, ignoring her statement.
"Felines are gifted with an all seeing eye." She said in reply as she pointed towards her, now, golden, slanted, elegant eyes.
"More like a mutation." He told her curtly.
"Oh, you're hilarious. Now get inside that body before I'm convicted of murder." She muttered, pointing toward the couch.
"I don't think so." He replied flippantly, putting his arm behind his head and turning away from her.
"Say what? Don't play with me Potter; your body is lying lifeless under the couch."
"Perfect. Means nobody will mess with it. So I'll leave it in your care, while I'm off."
"I don't think you understand me. There's a lifeless body under the couch and if anyone finds it…they'll know I had something to do with it…and I most likely will die! Now get inside that damn body before I cram you in there myself!"
"You should have asked nicely." Harry reprimanded her with a smile as he began to sink into the floor.
"Potter! It looks like I murdered you!" she yelled.
"Frankly Scarlett…I don't give a damn!" he told her just before he disappeared.
"Potter, get inside this body now! Potter! Come back here and get inside this body!"
"Told you they were doing it!" Seamus told his companions as they entered the commons room, only to find Aureline yelling at an unseen Harry to get inside her body.
"Hermione…I'm scared." Ron whispered to his equally frightened companion as they huddled together and stared in fright at their nemesis, Draco Malfoy, who was busy smiling at them in a friendly manner.
They had been discussing Harry's disappearance from the hospital wing, when he had appeared from behind them and threw his arms around their shoulders in greeting. Truly a horrific experience.
"Where have you guys been, I've been searching everywhere for you?" Malfoy asked loudly, smiling broadly.
"Are you okay?" Hermione called out timidly.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be…oh…that's right….I'm Malfoy." Malfoy's smile faded from his face. "I forgot…well…um…blah blah blah Measly, yap yap yap Mudblood! Grumble grumble grumble I'm a pompous ass! Is that better?"
"Yes…perfect!" Ron answered, and then more quietly so that only Hermione could hear, "Let's get the hell out of here!"
"blah blabbity blah, I'm going to leave you filthy Gryffindors, although your house is much cooler, and find Crabb and Goyle…those guys give the best hugs, ESPECIALLY IN THE SHOWER, and make a nice, big Malfoy sandwich, I'M THE MEAT!" and still talking about hugs and sandwiches, Draco Malfoy, the scourge of Hogwarts, skipped down the hall and out of sight!
"Ron…" Hermione began after a pause, clutching to her red-headed friend like a life line.
"I know Hermione…I know. This shall also haunt my dreams for ever to come…and I'm hungry."
Harry fell to the floor laughing. He hadn't meant to take over Draco's body. He just so happened to be in the wrong place at the right time.
After departing Aureline's presence, by sinking into the floor, he had fallen, gracefully I might add, from the ceiling of the next floor, laughing and not paying attention to where he was falling, and Draco Malfoy just so happened to be standing directly under him…and to make a long story short, Harry ended up wearing a Draco suit.
"What happened?" he heard the young Malfoy mutter.
"You've just been hijacked." Harry answered, although he knew no one could hear him. Turning on his heel, he started to leave the bewildered child to his own devices, when said boy collapsed onto the ground, clutching at his forearm.
"Bloody demons." He moaned, catching Harry's attention.
Stopping in his tracks, Harry backed up til he was standing near Malfoy's head. Crouching down, he waited for the boy to repeat himself, or at least say something else, but it never came.
Harry studied the falling boy. His face, pale and clammy, was clearly screaming of pain. His hair was unkempt and grimy, and his robes reeked of dried sweat. He was merely a shadow of his former self.
"What have we been up to?" Harry remarked to himself, watching as Draco shook and whimpered about some pain that he couldn't do anything about. "Messing with demon's dear boy…is no laughing…" Harry started as Draco's eyes snapped open, fixing directly on him.
He froze.
Did he see him, did he know he was…no…Draco's eyes were unfocused…staring through him…not at him.
Harry reached a hand out to touch him, but before his spiritual hand could lay a hand on the boy, the sound of someone charging down the hall stopped him.
"What do you think you're doing?" Severus Snape demanded, barely missing stepping on Harry, and snatching Malfoy off the ground by the scruff. "Do not draw attention!"
"But that stupid demon…he…he messed it up! It's not supposed to hurt this much is it?"
Growling to himself, Snape did a quick survey of the surroundings before seizing up Malfoy's sleeve.
If Harry hadn't been looking so intently at his professor, he would have missed the surprised look on his face that vanished seconds after it's appearance. Moving stealthily, which was meaningless, Harry moved to Snape's side in order to get a better look at the mark. What he wasn't expecting was for the mark to be looking at him.
It was an eye, a blinking, staring, realistic, tattoo of an eye, and it was looking directly at Harry.
'Harry Potter!' It screamed in his head.
The pain was sudden and intense. His body was filled with cold fear and scolding hatred. He screamed and stumbled back from the mental attack. His vision went white with pain, and his hearing was filled with the crackling of fire and yells.
"Get out of my head!" he screamed fruitlessly.
'I see you…and I'm coming!' the mark screamed again before its presence began to fade.
Stealing a peek from his clenched eyes, Harry caught sight of Snape looking terrified at him, an unconscious Malfoy in his arms, and on Malfoy's are, a tattoo of a closed eye.
Steadily holding his head, Harry stumbled off, pass the frightened and confused professor, who was most likely a traitor, the unconscious Slytherin, who had just brought the devil into the castle, and a tattoo of an eye that was Satan incarnate and wanted him dead.
Good thing he was already semi-dead or else he'd be worried.
He hadn't known what he was doing when he put his head on the wall. He was just going to let it rest against the cool stone. He hadn't expected for it to go through, he'd forgotten he had no physical body, and so when he suddenly found himself staring into the girls' bathroom he froze for a few minutes as he tried to comprehend what was going on. Then a few minutes more just to be safe.
'Why do they get a huge Jacuzzi tub, when all we get are some busted showers? That isn't fair…but this will make up for it. I blame this all on Jared's influence in a past life.' He thought to himself as the girls bathed. He couldn't see anything, there was too much steam and bubbles, but if he squinted and turned his head…
"What do we have here?" a voice suddenly asked loudly, as Harry felt something grab his collar and pull him back into the hall and into the air.
"Hi, Peeves, I was just…I umm…I fell!"
"Is that so ickie Pottikins! Looks to me like you were being a peeping Tom!" The poltergeist replied with a wicked grin.
"Your word against mine." Harry answered. "Who's going to believe you?"
"Oh you want to play eh Snotter! Well let's see how smug you look now?" Peeves cackled as he, pulling Harry along, phased through the wall of the girls' bathroom. "Looky, Looky what I've got girlies!" Peeves yelled over their screams as they rushed to cover themselves up.
"What do you think of your hero now? Peeping in on you, what a naughty, naughty boy he is."
"Get out! Get out of here, Peeves! You're such an ass!" The girls yelled at him.
"Hey, Peeves, guess what?" Harry whispered to the slightly confused poltergeist, "They can't hear or see me. And do you remember all those occasions you've dumped things on me, ratted me out, gotten me into trouble, and just damn tormented me? I just got one word for you: PAYBACK!"
The Hufflepuff girls were confused out of their minds. One minute they had been taking baths and showering, when Peeves popped in calling himself their hero, and the next they watched Peeves go insane, screaming bloody murder as he phased through the wall.
"I told you all he was going to go insane and implode." A 6th year girl told them all with a superior look, "Now all we have to do is wait for Crabbe and Goyle to come out of the closet."
Harry was drunk with power! Nothing could ruin his day now, infact it got even better, it got weird, but it didn't get bad. After beating up on Peeves for a little while, he went off for a stroll around the grounds, witnessing what others were meant to be kept secrets.
He saw Anna Habbot shaving off her mustache, he saw Fred and George's secret stash of Butterbeer, he saw Ron and Hermione trying not to be attracted to each other, he saw his godmother manhandle Remus one minute and play fetch with Sirius the next, and he also saw a cult of teachers get together and head up to Dumbledore's office.
"Oh no…what do we have here?" he asked himself before following after them. He wasn't going to eavesdrop, no, he was going to go see Dumbledore, and if he just so happened to hear something…was just coincidence.
About 10 minutes into the meeting, his playful attitude changed, and now it was all about business. He found out that demons were rampaging across the country, maybe worldwide, and though the ministries were trying to keep it quiet, the magic community, and maybe muggles, was starting to notice things. Not only had this ruined his mood but his name had come up, frequently, this meeting was mainly about him.
"What are we going to do about him…he's endangering himself and everyone by not telling us everything." One of the said.
"I've heard some of the boys say he's badly scarred under his clothes." The Charms teacher, added.
"He's changed over the summer. Something's happened to him…I can see it in his eyes." Prof. McGonagall informed the table. "Not to mention he and Mr. Malfoy's colaspe the other day."
"What do you think he...?"
"He's grown in power." Snape interrupted, "after Voldemort recruited the demons, he sent one and a few deatheaters to capture him. The deatheaters were beaten severly, by physical means, and the demon came back a charred babbling mess. From what it told us, Potter fought them barehanded, and used some type of wandless magic to blow it up. He said that Potter moved with lightening speed, he had acquired phenomenal strength, and his tolerance fore pain was inhuman. The demon also said that Potter enjoyed it. He called him the, and I quote, 'the evil against evil'. I'm not sure if he's fought any other demons, but I'm sure that's where the scarring originated. Voldemort has been intrigued by Potter's new abilities. He's ordered the remaining demons' we've had with us to stalk around the grounds, in hopes of capturing Potter and keeping an eye on him. The main demon however, the one the assassin mentioned, seems to find Potter a threat, and has sent in his owns spys under Voldemort's orders. I fear he means to kill the boy."
The others at the table were silent after this revelation. He'd fought the demons and lived, he enjoyed beating the deatheaters to near death, demons on the grounds, the evil against evil, was the boy who lived, turning into another Dark Lord? They turned towards Dumbledore, who was silently contemplating something of his own thinkings.
Harry could see the accusations clearly in their eyes. He sneered at them; they'd love him one minute, but were quick to label him the next. He groaned in annoyance, because of Snape's bigmouth, now they knew about his powers or at least some of them. He too turned towards Dumbledore, in hopes he'd draw their attention away, make them stop accusing him, make them know he wasn't a problem.
"This is a problem." Dumbledore finally said after a while.
"Damnit! I hate old people!" he yelled in outrage, hitting himself in the head before he started to pace angrily.
"Due to circumstances, I want you all to keep a close eye on Harry. He doesn't want us to know or tell us anything himself, and we won't push him. But if we could catch him in the act, or get any substantial evidence, then we could coax the rest out of him. I suggest testing him in the classrooms, Severus, Minerva, and the rest of you; maybe try to question his peers."
The teachers nodded in agreement.
"Manipulator!" Harry yelled at him, "I trusted you, I looked up to you! If you wanted to know so badly you should have come to me, not go behind my back."
"We still have so many unanswered questions and loose ends. Although all the students were helping, I have a strong feeling Harry was the one to fully vanquish our apparitions. Who exactly is Jared Gallo? No records could be found on him, but I'm sure Harry knows, and that why we need…"
"Dumbledore, help! He's…" Peeves yelled frighteningly as he burst through the walls, but upon seeing Harry, he halted.
Harry glared up at him and Peeves whimpered.
"Peeves, what is it now?" McGonagall questioned him in annoyance.
Peeves ignored her, as Harry continued to glare and shake his head 'no' at him.
"I have to…" Peeves whispered to him fearfully.
"Have to what?" Dumbledore asked, following Peeves gaze to the spot where Harry stood, he drew his wand, and the other's followed suit.
Harry cast a glance their way but was mainly focused on Peeves. "Just get out here!" he hissed vehemently to the poltergeist as he walked around the oblivious wizards.
"I can't. I have to tell or else you won't…or else you'll keep hurting me. DUMBLEDORE HE'S RIGHT HERE!" Peeves shouted, pointing to Harry's new position, before skirting off as fast as he could.
Growling, Harry turned around just in time to see the spell, but not soon enough to dodge it. He was hit in the shoulder, the shock pushing him to the wall, and the pain spreading all over his body.
"Who are you!" Dumbledore demanded angrily, his voice booming and loud to Harry's ears.
Lurching to his feet, he headed towards the door only to get hit again by another spell in the back. He teetered to the floor and looked up to see that all eyes were upon him. They could see him, he realized with a jolt.
"It must be a demon!" Professor Flitwick spoke up.
"Scum!" Snape sneered.
Not knowing what to do, Harry simply stared at them and jumped when Dumbledore's wand rounded on him.
"Necfu…" he heard the aged wizard begin, but all sound was blocked out a second later as an unnatural breeze began to blow on Harry alone.
"What's going on?" he heard himself say as the breeze got harsher and he felt himself move.
Dumbledore and the teachers simply stared at him as Dumbledore continued to chant. With every word that Dumbledore chanted, the breeze got harsher and harsher to the point where it was unbearable. He screamed as he felt, what he thought, was his skin peeling away. Bit by bit a part of him flew off painfully till there was nothing left but his mind and when that went, he blacked out.
"Does anyone else notice how much Prof. Zhoun likes that dog of hers?" Dean suddenly asked those around him as he and Seamus played chess.
"What are you getting at now, Dean?" Ron asked exasperatedly, upset with the fact he couldn't tell Seamus what move to make next.
"Nothing, I'm just saying. She really likes that dog. She needs a man in her life."
"Oh really." Hermione cut in. "Just because she loves her pet, she needs a man in her life? And what, you're that man Dean."
"No I'm the boy, and yes it does."
"I think she's with Professor Lupin? They're always together. And he's always whispering things to her." Parvati added from the couch where she was braiding Lavender's hair.
"Hey Lin, what do you think?" Ron asked the jumpy girl, who, for the pass three days had been a paranoid wreck, yelling at everyone who sat at the couch she now occupied.
"About what?" she asked irritably.
"Is professor Lupin schnooking professor Zhoun?" he asked her.
"Schnooking, Ron?" Hermione questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah. I…I learned it over the summer, and thought I'd try it out. Why? Doesn't work?"
"Not on you." She answered him truthfully.
"Oh." He said a bit disappointed, "So what about in Lin, are they an item?"
"I don't know," she answered with a shrug, "looks to me like WHOA!" she suddenly yelled as the couch tipped over and threw her out.
"What did I miss?" Harry asked sleepily, as he stood up.
"Harry! You've been under the sofa all this time? What were you doing under there?" Hermione exclaimed loudly as everyone hopped to their feet to greet the boy-who-had-been-missing-for-three-days.
"We thought you were in the hospital wing!" Lavender gushed as she hopped to his side.
"Why were you under the couch mate?" Ron asked.
"I…I don't know!" Harry told them truthfully. He couldn't remember anything pass fighting with Aureline.
"What wrong with your hair?" Seamus asked as long tufts of black hair fell to the floor.
What?" Harry asked bemusedly. Heading for the nearest mirror, his breath stopped short. "Oh my God! Okay…" he started as he turned to face them all suspiciously. "okay who…shaved my head into a mohawk!" he demanded, just seconds before they saw Aureline run out the portrait door.
"Damnit!" Harry cursed.
"It doesn't look that bad." Lavender reassured him.
"It's not that...its just...I don't know...old people!"
