Disclaimer: See Chapter 1. Chapter 14 updated 3-26-11
Halloween Horrors
Harry wiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed audibly. He looked back at his mentor with reluctance. "You may have a seat now." Instantly, Harry collapsed into the lavish black chair positioned to the right of him. "You have shown excellence in your spell-casting. Tell me, have you ever used any of these first-year spells in real life before?"
Harry stifled a yawn in front of the headmaster and nodded distractedly. "Yes, I used the levitation charm on myself. I was able to hover above the ground for a certain period of time."
"I see." For almost a month now, Harry had been attending lessons twice a week. The two wizards, mentor and apprentice, would meet in front of the Room of Requirement at promptly five o'clock in the evenings on Wednesdays and Fridays and have a one-on-one lesson. So far, the headmaster had only reviewed first-year material with Harry.
"Well Harry, I think that all of the assessment that we've been doing for the past few weeks will eventually pay off. Lesson seven: it doesn't hurt to start with the basics. But remember Harry; although your efforts were focused . . . ?"
"There is always room for more improvement. Yes, I get it." Harry grimly scribbled down the important things from the day into his diary. His gaze lingered a bit on the section of personal entries. He hesitantly looked back at the headmaster. His back was aching from having to stand up for an hour straight. "Is that all for today?"
Flamel looked at his watch. "We still have half-an-hour before seven. Let's continue and start with lesson eight. But you may remain seated for this part of the lesson.
"Let's suppose that you are in enemy territory. You have gotten past all of the sentries and guards. You are standing across from a door. On the other side of the door is very confidential information regarding the enemy's future plans. You need to acquire these plans at all costs. However, you also know that there are probably enemies stationed directly behind the door, waiting to ambush you. If the sign on the door says, 'Pull to open'; what do you do? What is the most efficient way to going about doing this?"
Harry frowned and thought about the logical scenario question of the day. He bit his lip as he forced himself to focus on the given situation. Not able to find a solution right away, Harry closed his eyes and began to scour his mind for possibilities, just like Uncle Nickel had taught him to.
Flamel patiently watched Harry meditate to himself. After a few minutes, Harry gave a desperate glance at his teacher. Sometimes, it was best to do the obvious. "Um . . . you pull the door, duck, and try your luck?" Harry shrugged. "I'm not really sure, sir."
"Nice try. However, you are incorrect." Harry nodded and adeptly perked up his ears to absorb his mentor's logic. "If you pull the door, you will lose a bit of ground. In addition, you lose the element of surprise. The best way to go about doing this would be by doing the unusual. Simply put, this is lesson eight: if you push hard enough, the door will open regardless."
Inevitable confusion dawned upon Harry's face. "But wait . . . isn't that going to break the door? And it would take up a bit of your magic to blast the door aside. That doesn't sound too efficient."
"But," Flamel flicked his wand in the air to empathize his point, "by blasting the door, you will be able to knock back the enemies directly behind the door. In addition, you will gain ground quickly. Essentially, you are using the environment to do some of the dirty work for you."
Harry furrowed his brows. "You are using up magical energy to destroy the door. Why not conserve this energy and use it to effectively stun the enemies? You can use a sticking charm on your shoes, use an invisibility cloak, and sidle your way in somehow."
The headmaster nodded. "That is creative but there is a chance of failure. Let me put it this way: when you push your magical energy into the door to break it, it will multiply into kinetic energy. This kinetic energy will impart through the enemy's main defense in all directions in the form of heat, sound, and etcetera. The sound waves will be enough to distract the enemies and catch them off guard. The blast itself will knock away at least a few foes. They will also be forced to defend themselves for a few seconds, buying you some time to rapidly infiltrate and gain ground."
Harry craned his neck sideways. "You lost me after the word 'kinetic' sir. I'm not sure where you're getting at sir."
The headmaster sighed. "That's quite alright. It seems that your logic is very weak."
Harry frowned. "But sir –"
"No, Harry. Accept that you are not perfect. You are not a logical person. I am not saying that your reasoning skills are atrocious. I'm just stating the facts. There is definitely room for improvement. That is all." Upon seeing the dejected look on Harry's face, the headmaster added, "Relax, Harry. You will get better, I assure you."
"Right . . . sir." Harry disliked all the unnecessary and arduous tasks that his mentor was forcing upon him, but he grudgingly accepted everything. Harry had never really liked logic anyways. He had solely relied upon instinct and luck. It had always seemed to work for Harry. But it was probably a good idea to listen to his mentor.
"It is vital that you continue working hard on school work and focusing on the little tricks I've taught you so far this semester. Next month, lessons will be every week. We shall go more into detail on strategic planning and logical reasoning. If you don't any further questions, you may leave."
Questions? Harry bit the tip of his tongue. If his mentor had asked him whether he had any question a month ago, Harry would have readily said no. But now . . . Harry truly did have questions.
Harry looked at the green diary in his hands and flipped to the last few pages. He bit his lip and focused on his personal entries. He pondered on whether to tell his mentor about his dreams or not.
Lately, he had been having a lot of strange dreams. They were always the same recurring dreams. At first, the dreams had seemed quite normal. After a few days, Harry thought that his mind was just playing dirty tricks on him. Very dirty tricks, pun maybe intended.
But now, he would dream of Aurora every other night. And he would usually wake up with his pillow soaked with tears the very next morning. And other times, he would dream about a blonde girl with blue eyes snogging the shizzle out of him. And the mornings following his dream sequence, he would wake up in wet sheets with a very uncomfortable lump in his pajamas.
These dreams were no longer a coincidence. These dreams were an embarrassment to Harry's self-control! Not that he had any self-control to begin with, but still. . . .
He had had these dreams so frequently that he practically knew both of them by heart now. He remembered his wet dream about a certain blonde girl quite vividly. After all, it was quite memorable.
A blond girl with blue eyes smiled before grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. Within seconds, she was dominating his mouth. Her tongue slithered through his, embracing the insides of his cheeks.
"Dreams, Harry?" The older man asked aloud, bringing Harry out of his thoughts.
Harry quickly looked up and felt himself redden. "Si-sir?" Was everyone around here psychic? "How did you know about my dreams?"
"I am a Pathosage, Harry. I can detect raw feelings and pick up streams of stray thoughts with much ease." That didn't explain shiznit.
"You were reading my mind?" Harry scowled. "Did you see anything that was –" Inappropriate. Harry smacked his cranium and brushed the palm of his hand down across his face in shame. Better not have.
"Don't worry Harry. I didn't see any of your dreams." Harry sighed with relief. "And no Harry, I was not reading your mind. I couldn't help but pick up your stream of thoughts. You see, one's subconscious is not completely part of the human mind. An individual cannot control his or her own subconscious. This area just outside one's mind is abstract and often where lucid feelings and raw emotions swirl around like tadpoles circling their own tails in pond water. It can be detected by sages, like myself, but never manipulated completely. I assure you that I was not intentionally trying to look into your mind. It just randomly popped up while I was studying your next move."
"What are sages?" Harry warily sat back on the polished wooden floor, feeling the color in his face return to normal.
"Sages are very much like mages. Mages and sages have almost equivalent power levels and are both very proficient when it comes with dealing with magic. However, a mage has slightly larger reserves inside of his or her magical core than a sage does. A mage is very powerful and able to conjure humungous amounts of raw magic from his or her core for a variety of spell casting.
"Mages can overpower spells but often lose battles to sages due to lack of endurance. Sages, although not able to draw such great amounts of magic, have much more magical stamina and usually specialize in one particular area. Sages can manipulate certain aspects of magic. Pathosages, or pathos-sages, like me specialize in the magic of the emotions. Pathosages can use emotions to manipulate their foes. There is a sage for almost everything."
"So, is there such thing as a Lumos sage?"
"Hypothetically, yes there might be. However, sages are very rare. Were one to exist, a Lumos sage would most likely be able to produce a lumos charm and do a number of things with this simplistic charm. The sage would be able to control the color of the light, manipulate the saturation of the light core, adjust the heat intensity of the light, and even direct how light waves reflect off of it. Lumos sages might even possibly be able to manipulate light to apparate at the speed of light, or in another words, teleport."
"That sounds pretty darn wicked." Harry grinned with thrill, his previous worry about dreams all forgotten. "How do you become a sage?"
Flamel sighed. "You cannot become a sage or a mage by studying a subject. You must be born a sage or a mage. However, by practicing, you can become just as magically skillful as a mage or sage."
A random idea popped inside of Harry's head. Without second's thought, Harry blurted out the question. It was an odd question. It was a question that does not pop into an average second-year Hogwarts student's mind often. "So there might be Patronus sage somewhere in the world?"
Flamel furrowed his brows. "A Patronus sage, Harry? Why, I doubt that such a sage would ever exist. Perhaps in a million millennia, one might come into existence, but that is highly improbable. A sage is born every few hundred years, and powerful sages every few hundred millennia. I might possibly be the only sage alive today.
"However, let's get back on topic. Would you share your thoughts on your dreams? When I caught a glimpse of your raw emotions, I sensed a longing for something."
Harry faced the older professor and gulped. "Can we not talk about my private dreams, sir? Please? They're kind of . . . awkward."
The older man bobbed his head. "I understand. However, if something is bothering you, feel free to talk to me about it. I am not only your mentor, but your counselor in every way possible."
Harry reached inside of his cloak and brought out the Half-Blood Prince's potions textbook. The book had been bothering him ever since he had picked it up from the Potions classroom in the beginning of the year. Maybe the book was the reason behind all these weird dreams. If so, it was imperative that he get rid of it. He didn't like having wet dreams every other day. It was a distraction to his daily routine.
"Um . . . sir. I do have this book. I actually found it in my Potions classroom. And I've been studying it for quite a while now."
"May I please see it please?" Harry looked a tad bit reluctant to hand over the book. "I assure you that I will not confiscate it. I simply want to check it for any jinxes." Harry handed over the battered-up textbook for inspection.
"Um . . . well . . . I've been using it study and improve my grades and such. But ever since I've come into possession of it, I've been having these odd recurring dreams. And there are often moments that I have these flashbacks. And these weird flashbacks are about things that I don't even remember. Maybe the dreams are linked to this book."
Flamel looked through the potions book and handed it back. "It is not jinxed or cursed. The flashbacks and the book most likely have no correlation whatsoever. However, this book does contain some gray magic."
Harry cringed. "Should I stop using it then?"
Flamel shook his head. "Not at all. I will not tell you to stop using it. I will just advise that you proceed with caution. I trust your judgment. If things do get out of hand, I shall temporarily seize it. Other than that, I commend you for doing out-of-school research. This book is actually quite convenient for spell construction. Study that section in particular and learn from the book. Put it to good use. This annotated book is quite useful. I also suggest that you share this knowledge with your friends."
"Do you know who the Half-Blood prince might be?"
"I'm afraid I do not know. Now if you have no further questions, you are dismissed. I believe that Runes club will be starting in just a few minutes."
Harry got up and dusted his trousers. "I should really get going. See you at the feast, sir."
OoOoO
Harry stepped out of the Room of Requirement and watched the door behind him dissolve into the blank wall. The seventh floor hall around him was deserted as always. Harry approached the moving staircase located eastward and descended the stairs as quickly as possible. Upon reaching the sixth floor, he looked around for the room 6B.
Harry looked at a clock mounted atop a portrait on the wall and silently cursed him upon reading the indicated time. The clock read 7:03. Harry swiftly sprinted down the long hallway and pushed his way through a pair of double swinging doors.
Upon entering the small sixth floor room, Harry felt all eyes on him. For one thing, he was late to the club meet. For another, his white Hogwarts cloak was very prominent amongst the masses of black cloaks.
The student tables were situated around the middle of the room in a large circle. The teacher's table was located in the middle of the small room. The only vacant seat was on the far right of the room, located towards the back.
"You are late again, Mr. Peverell," said the club advisor Professor Babbling. "Please refrain from being late every time we have a club meeting."
"Sorry, professor," Harry meekly apologized.
"Please take a seat and right to work. We are working on the runic alphabet. You can study any of the runes presented on the board. You can study Celtic runes, Norse runes, Medieval runes, or even Greek runes. Just make sure to study and master that specific runic alphabet by the next meet. Unlike last week, you have to construct an entire sentence and not just a single word in Runes."
Harry nodded and automatically walked over to the only empty seat available. He took the seat next to a girl with blonde hair. He opened his runic quill set and placed it on the wooden desk without even looking at his partner. The professor began to write meaningless information on the blackboard and droned on about the mechanics of formulating sentences with runes in general.
Harry squinted his eyes and read the different runic alphabets off of the board. He frowned. This was beginner level work. It was all much too easy for him. He already had all of these memorized by heart.
Harry decided to put the next half-hour to good use. He pulled out the Half-Blood Prince's potion's book and turned to the back of it. He traced his finger to a passage written in ink. It was written by the Half-Blood prince himself. The passage included instructions on how to enhance spell casting. Uncle Nickel had suggested that he study it. He would do exactly that.
Magic is powered by intent. It is not like science. It does not require the splitting of an atom to create massive amounts of magical energy. All that is needed is a good thought. A thoughtful intent, as I like to call it. To construct an effective intent, one should use raw emotions to power his or her spells. Although raw emotions are not necessary to cast spells, pressing emotions into words and thoughts will help supercharge almost all spells. However, note that supercharged spells are difficult to control and may get very out-of-hand. Certain spells like the Patronus charm require emotions as a sort of default. These types of spells and charms are much more variable in terms of effects. Certain emotions can affect spells in different ways.
I tested this theory on the Stupefy spell and achieved interesting results. It was noted that when I focused on the raw emotion of anger, the spell was much more violent than expected. This particular emotion produced a spell that impacted the target with a larger radius and much less precision. I also attempted meditation to imitate serenity. After meditating, I was able to cast a Stupefy spell with great precision. This technique can be useful for hitting targets at long ranges. Finally, using the emotion of fear, I was able to produce multiple spells with minimal recoil. In addition, no time was necessary to recharge my magic, meaning I was able to throw consecutive spells in a row for a good ten to fifteen seconds. With practice, I would probably be able to defeat well-accomplished wizards and duelers.
"What are you reading?" Harry looked up at caught the intent stare of a very curious Daphne Greengrass. Harry finally took note of his partner.
"Oh . . . hi. It's nice meeting you again. I haven't seen you around Hogwarts a lot this year."
"What are you reading? Can I see it?" She gently pressed eagerly.
"Just schoolwork," Harry replied evasively. He closed the book and carefully set it atop his lap. He looked up at the girl and studied her face.
"I just want to see it." She frowned and huffed lightly. The girl bore her striking blue eyes into his. "Why are you doing schoolwork now anyways?"
"What are we supposed to be doing?" Harry looked around and watched other partners conversing amongst one another. Some of them were constructing runes on clean parchments of paper.
"Well, instead of fooling around, you should be practicing writing out the runes. By the end of class, we need to write a full sentence in only runes. You know that, right?" Harry nodded. "At least try to contribute to the group."
"Are you done with your little rant?" Harry grinned weakly.
The girl sighed exasperatedly. "Don't you want to learn something?"
"I'm just here for the club credits."
"Well, some of us are here to actually learn."
"Well, some of us here just for the credits," Harry replied mockingly, feeling his chest swell up with emotion. Why did he have the sudden urge to flirt with her? Was this normal for all teenage half-dragons like himself?
"You're impossible." Daphne groaned and tried to forcibly memorize the mechanization of forming different sentences in Runes.
"Is that a compliment?" Harry smiled. It certainly didn't seem like one, but Harry felt like talking to the girl. Just talking to her made him feel at complete ease.
Daphne rolled her eyes absentmindedly and mumbled, "You're such a twat."
"But I'm a rather handsome twat, aren't I?"
"Yes . . . I mean no! Definitely not!" Daphne sighed and looked back at him. "Look, if you don't get the lesson, just say so. We need to work together on this."
Harry shook his head. "I'm fine as I am. I get the stuff. Probably better than you."
Daphne looked away. "Fine, be an arse. See if I care."
Harry sighed contently, mesmerized by the girl. She seemed familiar. And she had pretty eyes too. Wait, what? Harry shook himself out of his thoughts. "I'm not being an arse. I'm just saying that I don't need to memorize anything because I know everything."
"You really are impossible."
"How so? You don't even know me that well." Harry narrowed his eyes playfully.
Daphne simply ignored Harry and buried her face into the book.
"Whoa, was it something I said?" Harry tapped the girl's shoulder, but she didn't budge. "How and why do I manage to piss off all the ladies?" He mumbled to himself. He went back to studying the Half-Blood Prince's book.
After a few minutes, Daphne let out a disgruntled cry of frustration. She slapped the book that she was studying onto the table with an audible slam. She clutched her forehead and began to rub her fingers in circles. Harry looked up and studied her face once again.
"Do you need help?" Harry asked cautiously.
"No!" She turned to face him, an incredulous look on her face. "Apparently, you're no help at all!"
"Relax, Green." Green? Since when did I give her a nickname? "What do you need help with?"
"How can I relax? I don't get anything!" She slammed her head onto the wooden table and moaned, either from frustration or from the impact.
Harry placed a comforting hand on her back but withdrew it awkwardly, feeling a tingle run up his forearm. "I'll help. What do you need help with?"
"Just help me write a damn sentence. Anything. Greek runes? Whatever you're good at."
"Okay, look." Harry whipped out his runes kit and took out the assorted set of colorful runic quills. "Runes are very abstract. There is no correct way to write a sentence in runic language. You can't technically translate directly from English to runes without sounding stupid or missing a letter here and there. There is a variety of runes so there is no such thing as a standard 'runic language.' The syntax can vary from person to person. Some Runescrafters prefer to have pronouns come after verbs or action words while others do not. Also, runes aren't used to communicate.
"There is no practical usage for formulating sentences in runes. Runes are used as alternatives to spell casting. They're used inside of wards and in battle. So really, all this 'formulate a sentence from only runes' is utter bull."
Daphne seemed a bit impressed. "You know more than I expected you to. Why couldn't the teacher explain it like that?"
Harry smiled coyly before grinning. "Not everyone can understand runes."
"Are you saying that the teacher is wrong? Are you any better than the teacher?"
"I'm not saying that Professor Babbling's wrong. I'm just saying that there's no point to writing sentences in terms of runes. It's not like you're going to go into battle and write poetry to ward off the enemies." Daphne actually smiled. "If you want to learn actual runes, you should borrow a book on it from the library. Or I could teach you some basic battle runes. This club is stupid."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because of the –"
"Credits. Right. But still, we need to make a sentence to get credit for this session."
Harry shrugged. "Writing sentences is pretty simple. I learned a few runes that can translate from English while retaining the same meaning. Using –"
"Okay I get it. You're good at this stuff. But can you just do the work so we can get the heck out of here?"
"And you called me insufferable? I thought you wanted to learn?"
"Just shut it, Peverell." Daphne punched Harry's arm.
Harry grinned before grimacing. Suddenly, his vision began to blur as the room around him began to spin. The colors began to blend into a blob. Voices began to reverberate from ear to ear.
A shaky image rushed in front of Harry's bleary eyes.
Two figures were sitting on a window sill. One of them was female, the other male. The female was leaning up against the male. The male whispered into the female's ear.
The female scowled and withdrew from the boy's whispering. "Shut it Potter." The teenage girl punched the boy's arm. "Sometimes, I wonder why I'm your girlfriend in the first place."
The boy grinned, ruffling his own black hair. His green eyes sparkled with mischief. "Because I'm Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Likes-Greengrass."
"Very cheesy." The blond girl with blue eyes smiled before grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. Within seconds, she was dominating his mouth.
"Peverell?" Harry blinked his eyes as reality slowly ebbed back into his eyes. He looked up at Daphne. The same blue eyes stared back at him. Harry felt his face heat up with embarrassment.
That's why she was so familiar. Daphne was the girl from his dreams, literally. And he usually had wet dreams about her! This was wrong on so many levels!
"I'm going crazy." He muttered to himself. Stupid sexual fantasies. Damn my hormones!
"What was that?"
"Nothing." Harry sighed. "Where were we?"
"You were going to write something," Daphne motioned towards the quills. "By the way, those are nice quills. The school only gives us minimal equipment. Where'd you get them from?"
"You want to keep this one as a souvenir?" Harry gestured towards runes set. "I have two other identical sets in my trunk. You can keep one."
Wait, no! She can't keep my special quill! Stop yourself, Harry. Don't give her the quill! What are you doing! Snap out of it!
"Can I?" She asked eagerly picked out a green quill with gold engravings all around the center. She looked up at him. "Are you sure that I can keep it?"
Nooooo! Of course she can't keep it! Take it back from her, Harry. Harry's mind tried to snap him back into disregarded his mind's advice and nodded, "Of course."
Die, you bananahead, Harry's mind cursed.
"It's beautiful." She admired the embossed letters.
"Not as beautiful as you," Harry automatically mumbled to himself before covering his mouth. Wait, she was beautiful? Since when? What was happening to him?
"What did you say?" Daphne turned to face a very embarrassed Harry Potter. "Stop whispering to yourself."
"I did not just say that." Harry sighed. "I'm going crazy."
"Are you alright?" Daphne looked a bit concerned. "Do you always talk to yourself?"
"Erm . . . not really. Anyways . . . yeah." Die you bananahead, something in Harry's mind repeated.
"What does this say?" She pointed the letters embossed around the center of the quill.
"It's . . . um." Harry cowered away upon catching sight of the Raiden insignia engraved on the quill in Daphne's hand: Җ.
"Why does this symbol look familiar?" Daphne scrutinized the pen. "I saw this somewhere before for sure."
"It's . . . nothing." Harry fidgeted. Why was everything going wrong today? What the fuck was wrong with him? Why did he just offer Daphne Greengrass one of his special green quills? He didn't even know her that well! And why the hell was this voice inside his head calling him a bananahead?
Just then, Professor Babbling mysteriously crept up from behind. She spoke up, startling both teenagers. "Are you two done with the assignment?"
"Wha!" Harry yelped and fell off his chair, straight onto the musky ground. Daphne brought up a hand to muffle her giggle. Why did the giggle feel right to his ears? "Pro-professor. H-hi."
The professor raised her eyebrows. "Are you two done with the assignment? With all this chitchat, I thought you two would be done by now."
"Professor, we just need five more –" Daphne tried to speak but the professor held up her hand.
"You have had much too much time already. Mr. Peverell, do you have anything to say for yourself?"
"Um. . . ." Harry's gaze wandered across the table. Harry quickly grabbed a golden quill from his set and began to scribble something on a blank piece of parchment.
The first thought that came into his head was easily converted into Greek runes. In just seconds, he was able to successfully construct twenty individual Greek runes, all from pure instinctual thought: Πράσινο χόρτο είναι αρκετά. Harry handed the paper to the teacher and looked at her with a hesitant look on his face. "This is all that I have to say for myself, professor."
The professor frowned as she deciphered the runes into English. "Good. However, the adjective should have gone after the noun. And I would have put the article 'the' before the noun to make the subject clearer. Other than that, nice job. Also, the next time you are given an assignment, please do a bit more teamwork."
"Thanks." The teacher nodded and walked over to the neighboring station for inspection.
Harry began to pack up his notebook and quills, stuffing the potions textbook in his white cloak. He needed to get away as far away from Daphne Greengrass as possible. He was doing all sorts of strange things around her. "How'd you write the sentence so quickly?"
Harry looked at Daphne, who was in a state of awe, and shrugged. "Practice, Green. All you need is . . . practice. Um . . . see you later."
Harry got up to leave. Just as he turned around, Daphne placed her slender hands on his right shoulder, holding him in place. Harry shivered and cursed his hormones. "Wait." He turned around. "What does the sentence mean in English?"
Harry looked at the foreign runic Greek characters. Πράσινο χόρτο είναι αρκετά. He had written the entire sentence all out of instinct. The sentence was the first thing that had popped into mind. He hadn't put thought into the sentence beforehand. What did it really mean?
Harry slowly translated the words. With each word that he read aloud, he turned a brighter shade of red. "It translates into: green grass is . . . pretty."
Fuck! Something is wrong with me!
You fucking bananahead! Something in Harry's head berated his stupidity.
OoOoO
"There he is." Astoria squealed in a hushed voice. Daphne Greengrass, Astoria Greengrass, and Blaise Zabini were in the library. They were seated on a table not too far away from the Black brothers and their trusty sidekick, Cedric Diggory.
Blaise sighed and gave Daphne a feigned serious look. "Okay fine, we'll all share him."
Daphne looked up and frowned. "What?"
Blaise smacked her forehead. "If you don't have the courage to ask him, then stop blabbing on about him. He won't stay single forever. If you don't like him, let go of him. At least give the rest of us a chance."
"Wait, who the heck are you talking –"
"But she obviously likes him, Blaise. She can't just let go of him. She admitted it herself last night, didn't you Daph?" Astoria smiled sweetly.
"What are you –"
"I guess we'll all have to share him then, won't we?" Blaise gave Daphne a pointed look.
"Share a person? Who are you –"
"But we can't all date him at the same time, can we?" Astoria huffed in mock disbelief.
"Who in the bloody hell are we talking about?" Daphne harshly cut in, a tad confused.
"Oh Merlin, are you that thick woman?" Blaise shook her head.
"Can't you guys just talk normally?" Daphne looked from Astoria, then to Blaise.
"We're talking about the same guy that you've been ogling for the past ten minutes straight," Astoria explained.
"Who are you referring to exactly . . . ? Because I could have been ogling a number of people and –"
"Stop being stubborn, Daph! We're talking about the same guy that called you hot in Runes club about twenty minutes ago."
"I'm telling you guys," Daphne blushed slightly, "it's no big deal. It was probably a coincidence."
Blaise sniggered and covered her mouth. "'Green grass is pretty?' Hmm, Daph . . . I wonder. What could he have ever meant?"
Daphne blushed before letting a cool look settle onto her face. "It was nothing."
"Admit that you like him," Blaise crossed her arms across her chest.
"Who are we talking about again?" Daphne wittingly tried to change the subject but failed to do so. "You know, the headmaster is –"
"Do you want me to shout it out loud?"
"What . . . no!" Daphne's eyes widened. She instinctively brought up a hand to hold Blaise down but missed her by a centimeter.
Blaise got up and carefully balanced herself on top of the wooden chair that she was sitting on. She quickly got everyone's attention. "DAPHNE GREENGRASS LIKES!"
"No Blaise!" Daphne rushed around the wooden table to pull Blaise down from the chair. Heads began to turn towards the commotion. Daphne caught sight of Harry Peverell looking at Blaise and panicked. "Shut the fuck up! Please, get down Blaise!"
"PE –" Blaise didn't get to finish the sentence. Daphne quickly yanked Blaise's arm and tackled her to the ground. Students swooned their heads to watch a very red-faced Daphne Greengrass wrestle Blaise Zabini.
"What is going on here?" The librarian quickly rushed over towards the two girls on the floor.
"You fucking arse!" Daphne fervidly whispered and began to slap her best friend's arm. "Why the hell did you just do that?" She looked at Harry Peverell Black and quickly turned away. "He could have found out!"
Blaise grinned and gently pried Daphne off of her. "That proves that you like him."
"I do not! And he doesn't either!" Daphne narrowed her eyes.
"What is going on here?" Madame Pince finally towered above the two girls on the floor. "You should know by now that yelling, shouting, and above all bad behavior is not allowed inside the library."
"It's all her fault." Blaise immediately pointed towards Daphne.
"My fault?" Daphne's jaw dropped. "No it was not!"
"Oh right." Blaise nodded and pointed towards the grinning face of Astoria Greengrass. "It was all her fault."
"Don't bring me into this!" Astoria rolled her eyes.
"Fine," Blaise sighed, "it was actually your fault ma'am, for not having informed us about the rules." Blaise faced the librarian. "None of us should take the blame."
"That's quite enough nonsense! Out! All three of you!" The librarian scathingly scolded the trio of Slytherin girls. "You are not longer in the library for a whole month!"
"You can't do that! We have homework to do!" Daphne immediately protested.
"I don't care. Rules are rules. If you break them, you pay for them. Now out! Get out before I have to give you all detention. And five points from Slytherin for the each of you!"
"Bu-but –"
"Come on, Daph. I'm hungry." Blaise collected her bag and dragged Astoria and Daphne out of the library.
"This is your fault." Daphne grumbled once the three were outside the library.
"Daph, if you would have just admitted that you like him, none of this would have happened."
"But I don't like him." Daphne's face flushed.
"Yeah you do," Astoria grinned and hugged her older sister from behind. "I can see it in your eyes."
"You know what," Blaise grinned maniacally, "since we're you're friends, we'll help you out."
"Look, the only thing I need help with is my homework. Just please . . . don't –"
"I triple dog dare you to ask Harry Peverell Black out by the end of this year."
Daphne immediately jumped in place, turned around, and screamed. "You what!"
Astoria smiled sprightly. "That's a brilliant idea Blaise. Why didn't I think of that before?"
"You can't do this to me! I'm your friend!"
"Oh Daph, we're acting in your best interests." Blaise comfortably wrapped an arm around both Astoria and Daphne. "Let's go see what they're serving for dinner. I'm starving. They better have a swell feast today."
OoOoO
"Stop looking at her."
"Looking at who, Harry?" Cedric raised his eyebrows.
"At her." Harry stressed the end of the sentence.
"Do you mean stop looking at Bell?"
"Yes!" Harry sighed and closed the Half-blood Prince's potions textbook.
"Why can't I check her out?"
"Just because!" Harry gave an exasperated sigh. He was confused. One minute, he felt attracted to Katie. The next, he was all over Daphne. And at other times, he was checking out Daphne's little sister!
"Are you and Bell dating or in some sort of relationship?" Cedric asked.
"It's complicated." Harry said, being careful to not elaborate.
"Um . . . okay." Cedric looked around the library and caught sight of the Greengrass sisters. "Do I need your permission to check them out?" He asked jokingly.
"Actually, you can't check them out either." Harry gave an uneasy chuckle.
Cedric frowned. "You're serious? What do you have going between the three of you?"
"It's complicated."
Cedric's gaze wandered off towards a fellow Hufflepuff girl. "At least she's not –"
"I wouldn't if I were you." Harry cautioned. "Draco has a thing for Susan Bones."
"Do you Blacks have some sort of monopoly over all the hot girls in Hogwarts?" Cedric groaned. "And I thought you said that Drake already had a Muggle girlfriend back at home."
Harry grinned. "Us Blacks know go for the real deal."
"You're a bunch of losers," Cedric shivered at the thought of having multiple wives. "How can you handle so many women? I tried dating this one girl last year . . . and it was a nightmare! She wanted me to give up all my free time, just for her. I can't imagine having two girlfriends, much less three or four."
"We're just really good." Draco cut into the conversation, taking a seat across from Harry and Cedric.
"Where were you?" Cedric looked at the book in Draco's hand.
"He was researching stuff for the pranks, weren't you Drake?" Harry directed his question towards Draco.
"Yeah," Draco nodded. "I was looking up weird charms and spells. Harry asked me to research some good ones. We were going to do a small, test prank tonight at dinner. It's just to get a feel for the real pranking."
Cedric slowly nodded. "You're starting the Marauder thing today?"
"The induction ceremony is next month," Harry informed Cedric. "And as of now, there's only three of us in it. But we're setting everything up starting today."
"Hey, check this out Harry." Harry got up from his chair and circled around the table. He huddled around and looked at the page that Draco was pointing to. "The Petulant Jinx."
"Let me see." Harry keenly leaned forwards to look at the spell. "It says that it turns the object in question into any desired color. It also irritates the skin if it comes in contact with it." Harry looked up at Draco and then at Cedric, who was still on the other side of the table. "This looks like a good spell. We should totally try this out on Snape."
"He'd probably figure it out though." Draco said. "We need to be as discreet as much as possible. We don't want anyone finding out about it beforehand."
"We should prank ourselves so the others don't realize that it was actually us. That way, we won't get caught easily." Cedric advised.
"Are you willing to help us?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, sure. Why not?" Cedric nodded. "It seems alright. It's something to take my mind off of boring schoolwork."
"Okay, so the game plan is that –" Harry was cut off by Blaise's sudden outburst.
"DAPHNE GREENGRASS LIKES!" Harry's head suddenly swiveled to his right.
"PE –" He frowned and watched a frustrated Daphne tackle Blaise Zabini to the ground. Daphne Greengrass looked up at him and gasped before quickly turning back around. She began to slap Blaise's arm. Harry frowned and turned back towards his friends.
"What was all that about?" Cedric looked over Harry's shoulder and frowned.
"Who cares?" Draco shrugged and continued to study the book in his hand. "Just some damn teenage drama."
Harry felt something inside of him squirm uncomfortable. Who did Daphne like? The dragon within him felt like eliminating all competition. He tapped Draco's shoulder. "Hey mate, is there a guy whose name starts with a P and an E?"
Draco looked up and raised his eyebrow. "Um . . . pentagon, pentahedron, pentameter –"
"No, I mean like names of people. Do you know any guy's name that starts with a P and an E?"
Draco grinned. "Pentatetrachloride, pentamerous, pentamethylenetetrazol –"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Eh, Cedric?" Cedric looked up. "Do you know any names?"
"Peter is a very common name."
"Is there a Peter in this school?"
"Well, yeah. There's a Peter McDaw in Ravenclaw."
Harry instantly narrowed his eyes. "I hate him."
"Why?" Cedric asked. "You don't even know him."
"No reason," Harry shrugged and went back to watching the Slytherin girls. He watched the librarian usher the three Slytherin girls out of the librarian.
"So . . . do we have a game plan?" Draco spoke up. He waved his hand in front of Harry's face. "Are you still with us mate?"
"Erm . . . yeah."
"So . . . ?" Cedric got up and walked around the table. He huddled around the Black brothers. "What's the plan?"
Harry sighed. He felt nervous. Something big was going to happen. His gut was trying to warn him about something. But . . . what? Was their prank going to fail?
Brushing aside his fears about the forthcoming evening, Harry cast an advanced version of the silencing charm, "Muffaliato." An invisible bubble covered the three Marauders-in-training.
Cedric looked around as an eerie silence filled their vicinity. "What did you just do?"
"It's the Muffaliato charm." He waved the Half-blood Prince's book. "All thanks to this little guy. If you want, I'll lend it to you. It's helped me understand my coursework better and helped me improve my spell-casting."
"Yeah, okay. What's the plan?" Draco asked.
"Okay. So in the middle of the feast, we'll. . . ."
OoOoO
Katie Bell was a lovely girl of age thirteen. She was simply wonderful. She had pretty eyes. Very pretty eyes, if you ask me. Or any other teenage guy as a matter of fact. She also had beautiful hair that always seemed to fall perfectly into place. Her hair was naturally frizzy and had streaks of silver and brown here and there. She seemed like the perfect girl.
And for this, most of the girls her age envied her. In fact, many girls in the upper years also envied her. She had unusually perfect curves. And was it really coincidental that her Hogwarts robes were tight enough to show these curves to all those who were willing to look?
Perhaps. Or perhaps not. Fate is a real mindblower.
Most boys liked Katherine Bell for her hips. They would always comment on her build. They would claim that she was a goddess made fit for the Greek gods. She seemed perfect. Her breasts weren't too bad either.
And for this reason, she had absolutely no close friends. No boyfriends, no girlfriends. The boys would always drool stupidly. And the girls would always throw her contemptuous looks of jealousy, although many tried to hide it.
But Katie Bell was not perfect! No, sirree! She was far from it. Yet, the Hogwarts population had a tendency to disagree with the logic of things.
Katie Bell had many problems. For one, she was dyslexic. She often had a problem reading. She had a very difficult time concentrating on her homework and class work in general. She was very inefficient in Transfiguration. Her grades were of poor standard, except for maybe Magical Creatures and Potions. She was ranked average amongst her classmates. She was far from being the top student. She was not perfect. If one were to think otherwise, he or she would be deeply mistaken.
Katie tried to improve her grades by working extra hours each night. Every day, she would go to a corner in the girls' dormitory and turn on a frail table lamp. She would study for hours at minimum. She would stay up all night if she had to, just to get a better gist of the subjects. And because of all this extra work, she often overworked herself. She had a very difficult life at Hogwarts, to say the least.
Katie was very antisocial as well. The only people she associated herself with were her teachers, her family, and . . . well that's about it actually. However, although she was very reserved, Katie had a very dynamic personality. She was a strict believer in true love and was very bubbly around her family.
For quite a while, she had considered that her bond mate would come and bring her out of her pretty dreary life. She thought that he would give her everything that she had been lacking for the past few years – love, fun, and a proper place in society.
Yet he had not given her anything yet. Harry Peverell had not given her what she desired in life. He had not given her a purpose in life, like most bond mates did. Yet, Raiden had. And he wasn't even her bond mate.
After a while, Katie had decided that Raiden had provided her with what she was lacking all this time. He had provided her with love – he had saved her. He had provided her with fun – he had kissed her. And he had given her a place in society – inside his heart. He had promised to protect her at all costs.
Harry Peverell had yet to strike a conversation with her. So today, she would strike up the conversation. For once, she would do take the initiative.
As of the moment, Katie Bell held two letters in hand. One of them was from her parents. Her parents had finally decided to formally thank Lord Peverell for his valiant deed. After all, it was he who sent Raiden out on the mission to save Katie from Malfoy Manor, right? The other letter was a letter that Katie had written.
The other letter wasn't for Lord Peverell, however. It was for Raiden. Katie needed an advisor. And Raiden seemed like the perfect candidate. Her parents were too close-minded and her teachers could probably care less.
Even if Peverell didn't love Katie, at least Raiden would always be there for her. And if Peverell truly did love her, then Raiden would still be there.
Today, Katie would take the initiative. And either way, she would win something; someone; somehow.
OoOoO
"You think it'll work?" Draco whispered. He twirled his fake mustache.
"Um . . . sure it will Drake." Harry gave his unofficial brother fake reassurance. "What makes you think otherwise?"
Draco bit his lip and played around with his hat. "I dunno. Won't it look a bit suspicious if we just take a stroll outside in the middle of the Halloween feast? Not to mention the miraculous fireworks that will take place during our coincidental absence from the Great Hall?"
Harry shook his head. The ear bud inside his right ear promptly fell out. "We'll say that we had to use the bathroom." Harry readjusted the ear bud.
"All three of us had to use the same bathroom at the same time?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow.
Harry shifted uncomfortably. He adjusted his black shades. "Hey, it's possible."
After formulating a plan, the three friends had left the library to change into their Halloween costumes inside the Hufflepuff dormitories. Cedric decided to dress up as a Muggle magician; he claimed to know a few card tricks up his sleeve. Draco decided to dress up as a replica of Charlie Chaplin. Harry decided to dress up as an undercover Muggle agent.
The costumes were all Cedric's idea. He suggested that they dress strictly like Muggles to show a certain aspect of respect for them. Cedric added that by wearing Muggle-themed clothing, the Muggleborns and half-bloods would feel at ease around the Black brothers. It was all about trust and social relationships. In short, it was a way to show the Hogwarts population that they were in fact not Pureblood fanatics.
Right now, the three friends were receiving very odd glances from Professor McGonagall. She seemed to be scrutinized upon the Muggle coat that Harry was wearing.
"Do you think we overdid the Muggle costumes a bit?" Harry whispered to Cedric.
"Probably," Cedric whispered back. He took off his black magician's hat from his head and placed it on the table. From inside, he found a pack of Muggle playing cards.
Harry sighed. "Okay, change of plans. I'll do it all alone. You guys just watch my back, okay?" The other two friends nodded.
"Attention everyone," the headmaster, Professor Flamel, stood up and addressed the student population. "We are gathered here to celebrate one of the many holidays that are celebrated annually at Hogwarts School. If you would like to stay after the feast, we shall do a group photograph of all those who are wearing costumes. And now, let the feast begin!"
Promptly, plates of food appeared on the long tables. At once, the noise level rose and students began to converse amongst their fellow peers.
"When?" Draco whispered into Harry's ear.
"Soon. I'll give you guys the signal." Harry assured the other two friends. "Then I'll sneak out."
Suddenly, firecrackers erupted from the middle of the hall. Red and golden sparks spread throughout the air. Dense, red smoke rose towards the ceiling of the Great Hall. As if everyone had been expecting it, the Great Hall filled up with laughter.
"Was that you?" Harry looked around and gaped. "Drake? Cedric?"
"Nope," Cedric wrinkled his nose and waved his hands to drive away the smoke.
"Was this part of the plan?" Harry began to cough. Slowly, the smoke began to dissipate.
"Nah," Draco shook his head in amusement. "The Weasleys beat us to it."
Laughter rang from the Gryffindor table as a few more firecrackers shot up towards the ceiling. Professor McGonagall sternly walked over and handed out a few detentions.
"Do we still do our prank?" Cedric asked.
"Of course we do," Harry gave Cedric an exasperated look. "I do the flash bangs. You guys do the Petulant jinxes but stay here."
"Do we follow you?" Draco asked.
"Nah, change of plans, remember? It'll look really suspicious, so you stay seated. Use your sunglasses to block the effects of the bang."
"That's what I told you earlier," Draco said gruffly. "But you didn't want to listen."
"Well, I should have listened to you earlier," Harry rolled his eyes and grinned. "Okay, are all the teachers properly distracted?"
The three looked up at staff table. The teachers were too busy with their own celebrations. Harry frowned upon catching sight of an empty seat next to the Herbology teacher. "Hey, where's Dumbledore?"
Cedric got up and looked around. "Dunno. Maybe he couldn't make it. Maybe he was sick or something."
Harry began to panic. "What if he catches me outside of the Great Hall? He might give me detention! That'll mess up the prank!"
Draco sighed. "Mate, you're worrying too much. Just go and get it over with already. We'll back you up from inside."
Harry took a deep breath and nodded. As quietly as possible, he pulled out a few flash bangs. The flash bangs were Draco's idea. Harry pulled on his black sunglasses and signaled the other two to do the same. The sunglasses were invulnerable against the flash bangs.
And then, Harry slammed a single flash bang on the ground. There was a loud deafening bang and everyone in near vicinity screamed. Harry got up from the table and dashed towards the exit, hoping that the flash bang had been a good enough cover. He continued to throw flash bangs in the air on the way out, producing numerous explosions in midair.
The flash bangs each produced a bright light that blinded everyone temporarily. Cedric and Draco, who had charmed sunglasses on, began to cast Petulant jinxes at random. The murky brown spells multiplied and struck students and teachers at random. As the bright light faded, everyone gasped. The Great Hall was now full of students and teachers with multicolored clothing, blue or green hair, and purple fingernails.
"What the hell happened?" George Weasley cried out. He looked at his clothes and gaped.
"Bloody hell," Fred grinned, "we've got competition." At this, the twins began to laugh hysterically.
The Great Hall filled with raucous laughter once more. Cedric winked at Draco. Draco grinned and gave his fellow Marauder a thumbs-up. They looked up at the staff table and noticed that only the headmaster had been able to dispel their prank with ease.
"Mission accomplished," whispered Draco.
"Yeah," Cedric whispered back. "Let's hope Harry doesn't get caught."
OoOoO
Meanwhile, Harry stood right outside the Great Hall with a silly grin on his face. He had accomplished the first step. Soon, he would become an official Marauder. He would make his father proud. And his godfather, as well.
Just then, the grand oak door opened. Harry yelped and ducked to his right. He sidled against the cold stone wall. He held his breath, hoping that the person wasn't a teacher.
Katie Bell frowned as she pushed open the grand oak doors. She quietly closed the doors and successfully exited the Great Hall without attracting too much attention to herself. She turned to her left, and then to her right. She caught sight of Harry Peverell.
"Hello, Lord Peverell," She walked forwards and extended her hand.
Harry yelped and jumped backwards. He fell onto the floor. He looked up and gaped. "Um . . . hi."
Katie Bell had seen Harry activate the first flash bang. "Is it safe to assume that you are the new troublemaker at Hogwarts?"
Harry smiled sheepishly. He got up and scratched his head. "Erm, yeah."
Katie nodded. Lord Peverell seemed much nicer in reality. Maybe all these rumors were exaggerated after all. "I have two letters for you."
Harry took the two letters. "Who are they from?"
Katie licked her lips. "One is from my parents. They wanted to thank you for your help."
Harry felt the heat in his face rise. "It was nothing, really. You should thank Raiden, really."
Katie frowned. Was Lord Peverell always this nice? And chivalrous? "Well, you still deserve something in return."
Harry nodded. "What's the other one?"
Katie blushed. "Do you know Raiden?"
"Err, yeah." Harry scratched his nose. "We're . . . pretty close friends."
"Well, I wrote this letter to him." Then, she added, "His efforts were very valiant."
Harry nodded. He began to open the letters when Katie brought up her hand to stop him. "You can't read Raiden's letter."
"Why not?" Harry looked at it cautiously. "Is it confidential?"
"Promise me, that this will reach him safely. And that nobody else will read it, except for him."
"Erm . . . Raiden and I are pretty good friends. I'm sure that he wouldn't mind – "
"Please?" She asked with a serious face.
Harry sighed and nodded. He put the letters into his coat. "Okay, I promise."
Katie fidgeted and thanked him. "Thank you."
There was an awkward silence. Katie looked up at Harry expectantly, hoping that he would do something. What did she expect from him?
Kiss her, you bananahead! A voice echoed inside of Harry's head.
What? Harry looked around. He finally recognized the voice as the same one he had heard earlier in Runes class. It was the animalistic, instinctual voice within.
"Well," Katie looked a bit put down, "I guess I'll get going." She reluctantly turned around.
She wants you to kiss her, you bananahead! The voice screeched inside of his head.
Why? Harry asked the voice inside of his head.
Just do it! Girls always want this kind of stuff, the voice advised.
Harry sighed and decided to listen to himself. He held out his hand and stopped Katie, "Wait."
Katie turned around, a hopeful expression on her face. "Yeah?"
Harry internally groaned. Do I have to do this?
Yeah you do, bananahead. Just do it. It'll be worth it.
Harry gulped and leaned forwards to give the girl a kiss on the cheek. However, he missed and 'accidentally' kissed her full on the lips. He slowly pulled backwards. "I-I-I'd better get going." Harry stumbled backwards and dashed away. He rushed towards the Grand staircase. He needed to cool off. And what better way to cool down than walk around Hogwarts castle at random?
You tart! Harry grumbled as he climbed the large moving staircase. You forced me into this, didn't you?
That I did, bananahead. The voice mused. Harry got off on the second floor.
Who the hell are you? Harry began to aimlessly stroll the abandoned corridors of Hogwarts.
I am you alter-conscious, bananahead, the voice responded.
Stop calling me that. I'm not a bananahead, Harry grumbled. He rolled his eyes and kept walking, not looking at where he was going in the first place.
Hey, watch where you're going, bananahead, the voice warned.
"Why?" Harry wondered out loud. Suddenly, Harry bumped into a wall. Harry rubbed his forehead and backed up. He looked up at the wall and frowned. It was covered in blood. "Merlin."
Harry stumbled backwards and fell into a puddle of water. Harry jumped to his feet and attempted to dry his wet clothes. He looked around. A few feet away from him was a second-floor girls' bathroom. The corridor around him was flooded.
He felt something crawl over his hands. Harry looked down and saw hundreds of black spiders making their way out through the window. "Ah!" Harry jumped up again and shook off the black spiders from his hand. He backed up against the opposite the window.
Something furry brushed against the back of Harry's neck. Harry gulped and turned around. His eyes widened. There, on the wall, was Filch's cat. It hung from the wall by its tail.
"What the bloody hell?" Harry whispered to himself.
Bananahead, get the hell out of here. The voice commanded. However, Harry stood still on the spot.
Under the cat, words were smeared on the wall in fresh blood: 'The Chamber of Secrets Has Been Opened. Enemies of The Heir, Beware.'
Get out of here, bananahead! Now! Harry snapped out of his daze and looked around. Harry saw a shadow of someone approaching around the corridor. Not wanting to get caught, Harry began to walk the other way. And then, as casually as possible, Harry sprinted back to the staircase and rushed to the Hufflepuff dormitories.
In midway, Harry heard the agonizing cries of Argus Filch. Fortunately, Harry met no resistance on his way back to the Hufflepuff dorms. Who would have ever guessed that Halloween would be such a hectic holiday?
A/N/1: Sorry for long wait. I finally got around the uploading problem. Hopefully, this chapter is long enough. Please review. Please take note that Chapters 1-9 have been updated. Chapters 10-14 are still in the beta versions. There will be inevitable changes in characterization, dialogue, and style/tone.
A/N/2: The voice inside his head is supernatural . . . if you get what I mean. Probably not, but whatever.
A/N/3: Thanks for the reviews. Please continue reviewing and adding this to your favorites. Thanks: bitemexox; shubhendu (took your suggestions into consideration, thanks); Scandinavian Snapper; hortensia; Arfa; WolfWings-MoonNight; Sweet Heavens (trying to add more action, hopefully, this chapter is better in that aspect); Lord Hadrian Black (Year 2, 1); wiccan believer; god of all; WhiteElfElder (I didn't mean to bash Minerva. It's a minor grudge between her and the Blacks, she'll act better in the next chapter; also, this new voice inside of his head will help him in attaining his goal); cah11 (added Daphne action); Hanzo of the Salamander; Zicou; Ravenic Tauro; Awsomeness7; Aaron Leech.