Chapter 14: Dark Dealings

A week passed since the incident and no more sighting of Sirius Black could be found. The students were starting to think that he turned tail and left, although most didn't even know what he was doing at Hogwarts to begin with, while the professors all seemed to get more anxious as the days lingered on with no sign of him. Within no time everybody was back to their normal routines, and all seemed right in the school, with the exception of everybody looking over their back now.

Ron groaned as his head hit his open book. Hermione had dragged him to the library so that they could finish their Defense Against the Dark Arts paper, and Ron was having as much productivity with it as a lady bug humps a lion. Hermione, on the other hand, completely her first draft and was now looking over it to check for mistakes. She smiled and congratulated herself as she found none.

Hermione nudged Ron awake as she spotted a familiar blonde Slytherin making his way toward them. Ron wasn't really sure what was going on, in fact Hermione thought that he might have been sleeping the entire time. Draco finally made it to their table and sat down across from Harry's two friends.

"Didn't think I'd find you here," Ron gruffed.

"Well if you actually came here to study instead of catching up on your sleep you would have seen me here nearly every day." Draco said.

"It's true," Hermione backed him up. Ron wasn't sure what to say.

"Unlike most students, I like to finish my work at the top of my class."

Ron rolled his eyes and bit back a smart retort. Oh how he wished he could retort.

"So, why are you here?" Ron asked with gritted teeth.

"I wanted to know what's up with Harry," Draco said with a softer expression. "The only time I see him is in Potions and the Great Hall, and even then he seems to be in a rush to leave. Is everything alright?"

Hermione gave Ron a sideways look, and he pouted, but inclined anyway.

"We don't know," he said. "He always has his nose in that book Hermione gave him for Christmas."

"My book? You mean Spells and Chants of Old Times Forgotten?"

"Really?!" Draco asked a little excitedly. "Where did you find it? It's supposed to be really rare."

"It is?" Hermione asked. "It just looked like a fun old book. I didn't think it was rare."

"How much did you pay for it?" Draco asked, eyes sparkling like he just looked upon Harry's naked body.

"That's kind of rude don't you think?"

"Just tell him Hermione," Ron whined. "Maybe he'll go away quicker if you do," he whispered to her.

"Fine," she groaned. "I got it for fifteen at a used bookstore in Knockturn Alley."

"Knockturn Alley?!" Ron nearly shouted. The librarian ran towards them and put her finger to her lips demanding silence. Ron apologized and whispered, "What were you doing down there? Were you alone?"

"I was looking for a present for Harry, and I just found that cute little store."

"I can't believe you found Spells and Chants of Old Times Forgotten for that cheap, I would have assumed it would sell for at least two thousand."

"Two thousand!" Ron shouted this time. The librarian came back in full force and took out her wand. Ron gulped as she cast a silencing spell on him, and he sat down dutifully with his lips frozen shut. Draco sniggered.

"What's so special about it?" Hermione whispered to Draco, "It's just an old book with simple spells, right?"

"It's more than that," Draco said with a grave face. "My father's been looking for that book for decades, wouldn't shut up about it a few years ago when he got a tip about its whereabouts. From what I understand it's a normal book with forgotten spells on the surface, but when you activate it you can see powerful dark spells that have been lost to time."

"Activated?" Hermione said.

"Yeah, think of the book as a lock, and what you see is the door. When you use a specific spell, or maybe write a keyword in it, anything that can be used as a key, that book transforms into another book. Like you opened the door and what's on the other side are the dark spells that not even He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has never heard about it."

Hermione gasped. Ron's eyes budged out of his head in fear.

"What was it doing at a used book store? Did that nice old man not know what it was?" Hermione whispered furiously.

"That's what I'd like to know," Draco said.

"Mm-mmm-mm-hm-nmhm," Ron tried to say.

"Where's Harry right now?" Draco asked, feeling worried that Harry may have already found the key of activation. But what was troubling Draco even more was why Harry didn't tell anyone about it, why was he keeping this dark magic a secret if he indeed discovered it?

"He should be in his room, right Ron?" Hermione asked, Ron nodded.

"Then that's where I'll be," Draco said getting up and leaving. Hermione quickly packed up her stuff and ran after him. Ron was confused at what was going on and crumpled his paper as he ran out of the library. The librarian watched with cold eyes as the red head left her sanctuary, and she smiled as silence began entering the library once more.

Ron yelped as the magic disappeared once he left the library. His lips hurt as if somebody yanked a piece of duct tape off his mouth.

"Draco, wait!" Hermione yelled, trying to keep pace with the quick Slytherin.

"Why are we going too?" Ron asked, not really liking the fact that they are following Draco to the Gryffindor wing.

"He's a Slytherin, Ron. He won't be able to get through without us."

It took no time at all as Draco reached the replacement portrait in front of the Gryffindor common room. It was of a knight in shining armor who pranced around on an invisible horse while raising his glorious sword to the heavens and shouted at anybody who came within sight.

"Halt! Who goes there?" The knight asked the Blonde boy coming up the stairs.

"Let me through." Draco demanded.

"Ha, unlikely. I see that you wear the green robes of Slytherin. You're a long way from home ain't ya boy? Did you get lost?"

Draco pulled out his wand and pointed it at the knight's head.

"Ha! I knew you it, you're a fighter you are. However, I was picked amongst the best of the portraits to guard the sanctity of the most glorious house of Hogwarts. It'll take more than a mere twig to sway me!"

"Oh, please," Ron mumbled. "You were picked, because you were too stupid to be afraid."

"How dare you, and one from my own stock too!"

"We have no time for this," Hermione said, exhausted at this new painting. "Pleasantry Jelly," she said.

"Fine," the knight grumbled, "You may have won this round snake, but watch your back! For Sir Cadogan always gets his mark!"

"Your guardian portrait is a mouthy one," Draco said annoyed as they walked through the opening.

His mouthed was left open as he walked into the Gryffindor common room. It was so much homier than the Slytherin's. The fireplace was blazing brightly, and the royal colors of red and gold painted the furniture. The room was full of Gryffindors, and once they saw Draco Malfoy and two of Harry Potter's friends together the whole room went silent.

"This way," Ron said as he led Hermione and Draco up the boy's stairs.

Ron opened the door and stepped through with Draco and Hermione at his heels. They saw Harry at his desk mumbling and writing furiously with his quill and parchment. The three kids looked at each other wondering if Harry did in fact unlock the secrets of his book.

"Harry?" Hermione asked gently putting a hand on his shoulder. Harry jolted upright and let out a squeal of surprise.

"Don't do that," Harry said grabbing his rapidly beating heart.

"It's not like we snuck up on you," Draco said, adding a little attitude as he started to suspect Harry was dealing with dark magic.

"Of course you did! And what are you doing here, Draco?"

"I was worried," he said, this time softly and caringly.

"Of what?"

"We're all worried, Harry," Hermione chimed in. "You've been skipping lunches, and bolting to your room after every class."

"I-I was…um, you know…just trying to catch up on homework," Harry stuttered.

"Uh-huh," Draco said unconvinced, "Then what do we have here?" he asked as he grabbed Harry's open book and revealed the cover for all to see. It was Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

"Like I said, I am catching up on my homework," Harry said angrily as he took back his book from a flustered Draco. "Just what did you guys think I was doing?"

"Um….homework?" Ron tried to sound convincing. From Hermione's incredulous stare Ron knew he had failed.

"Uh-huh," Harry said not convinced, "Now if you guys will excuse me, I have some homework to finish. If you'd like I'll come down at the start of dinner and hang out with you after that, but right now I really need some peace and quiet so I can finish."

Hermione was stunned. She never knew Harry to be so forthright with studying, and trying to be good at it to boot! She agreed to his terms and decided that studying was Harry's way of coping with stress. Draco and Ron followed Hermione out of the room and went down to the Gryffindor common room, where everybody went silent again as they watched the Slytherin leave with Ron and Hermione.

"That sure surprised me," Ron said once they were in the corridor.

"Yeah, I didn't think that Harry coped that way," Hermione said.

"No, not that. I'm surprised Draco wasn't bouncing up and down at the fact of being in Harry's room."

Draco and Hermione stopped and stared at the ginger, both their mouths open. Draco slapped his forehead and let out a groan.

"Damnit," he said.

"Ron, this isn't the time to—"

"I didn't even think about that!"

"What?" Hermione said surprised.

"Which one was his bed?" Draco pleaded Ron.

Harry waited for his friends to leave before he took out Spells and Chants of Old Times Forgotten. He had hid it away when his warning spell went off alerting him to anyone trying to gain entry to his room. I guess they finally figured out the true potential of this book, he thought. I didn't think Hermione would catch on if she didn't even know what she gave me. Harry took his quill and pricked his index finger. A drop of blood dripped from his body and splashed upon Spell and Chants of Old Times Forgotten, and a brilliant insidious glow surrounded the book as it morphed from a beat up green hardcover with silver letters, to a really old looking book with a ripped red leather cover and black words.

He opened the book to the page he was studying. It was about summoning elemental magic that was far more powerful than regular elemental magic, and it fascinated Harry. Like the instructions said, Harry took his wand and cast a lumos spell, and while chanting in the sacred tongue of old he traced the symbol for fire upon the palm of his hand. His skin felt hot, and he could have sworn his blood was boiling just a little as the tip of his wand traced the cursed mark onto his flesh. When he was done, Harry saw the mark glow golden and disappear, leaving his skin as pure as if he had never touched it.

Harry looked at the book again and held his palm up to the ceiling. He chanted the first sacred word and a ball of black fire erupted from his palm. It swirled like a tiny globe, one that he could fit in his fist. Harry closed his hand and the fire whooshed out of existence. He had a vile smile plastered upon his face as he thought he was one step closer at catching up to Black.

Over the next week, Harry tried his best to hang out with his friends more. He didn't want to give off any more hints that he was studying the Dark Arts when no one was looking. He had even managed time to hang out with Draco more, and Harry had to admit that having Draco close by helped ease his burning passion to turn the castle over and slit Sirius Black's throat.

"Ready for today Harry?" Seamus asked one morning at breakfast. Hermione looked up in a questioning manner.

"What's today?" she asked.

"Come on, Hermione. Even you can't be that daft!" Ron said rolling his eyes.

"Me daft?!" she screeched trying to get ahold of Ron. He panicked and ran out of the Great Haul as if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named asked him to the prom.

"He's talking about the Quidditch match, Hermione," Seamus said politely.

"Oh. That."

"So Harry, you feeling in top shape? I already bet five galleons on Gryffindor."

"Yeah, I think we'll do fine this time around. The weather is definitely nicer than before."

Seamus continued to geek out about Quidditch to Harry as Hermione tuned them out. She was perfectly happy eating her pancakes and thinking how she was going to approach her Arithmancy essay.

The day went as smooth as it could possibly go, and as the sun rose to the highest point in the sky everyone from Hogwarts gathered at the Quidditch pitch, and assembled upon the precarious stands where they could watch the game. Ron practically dragged Hermione to the best spot up front, pushing people out of the way and saying things like "Harry's best friends coming through!"

Hermione rolled her eyes for the thousandth time as Ron got into an argument with Neville over Quidditch. A tap on her shoulder brought her out of her thoughts, and Hermione broke out into a smile at who she saw.

"Pansy! It's so good to see you, feels like you've been missing lately."

"I know what you mean."

"How come you're at the Gryffindor section?"

"I figured lover boy would like to be rooting for Gryffindor today considering we Slytherins have a thing against Ravenclaws," she said playfully as she pointed to the embarrassed blonde behind her.

"Oh?" Hermione held back a giggle, "I thought Slytherins had a thing against everyone."

"Oh, we do," Pansy said smiling.

"And here comes Gryffindor stomping the fields with pride!" Lee Jordan said into his microphone, hushing the excited crowd.

Madam Hooch tooted her whistle and the players were off grabbing for balls, and flying around the field to get into position. The crowd was electric with roars of applauses, and one girl whose hat had actually roared. The players flew with expert speed as the sun beat down upon them, making them sweat as their muscles ached from riding their brooms.

Harry scanned the field, his eyes making precise motions to grasp everything around him. He had trained his beautiful green eyes for the slightest hint of a shimmer. So far nothing, and Harry found himself being engrossed in the game. His team was leading, but just barely. The Ravenclaw captain was ruthless in ordering her beaters to take the pace. Harry's eyes wandered over the crowd cheering his team on, and to his surprise he saw two people wearing green and silver among the flood of red and gold. Draco was cheering him on, and for some reason Harry could feel such happiness spring forth from his chest. He unknowingly smiled as he continued to stare at the blonde cheering him on. He felt invincible.

Then, the weather took a turn for the worst. The winds raged, and the clouds grew darker. The professors looked up in concern as everybody else was paying attention to the game. Soon rain droplets were coming down hard, and Harry had to press his goggles close to his face so that they wouldn't come loose. A lightning bolt raced through the sky, lighting up an ominous image that no one saw: a gaggle of Dementors that were approaching the pitch.

Harry squinted out of his goggles, trying to find his teammates. He could barely see in front of him, and the people in the stands were all obscured now. Harry felt a cold sensation flow through his body. Almost as if all hope was disapparating from him. He could feel the pain of learning that Sirius Black had sent his parents to their deaths bubbling up inside him, hopeless rage coursed through his veins as he felt death itself try to hug him.

Dumbledore screamed out in rage as everybody in the stands knelt down and covered themselves, although they did that mostly from the rain. Dumbledore cast a spell that no one could hear out into the black void that the pitch had become. It erupted like a dying star and exploded a light so bright that people could see the shadows of every player, and the disappearing figures of what looked like twenty Dementors.

Everybody in the stands were talking and panicking. Some players fell off their brooms and were plummeting to the ground. The professors expertly swept their wands out of their robes and levitated their students to safety, before they became a splatter on the grass. Ron and Hermione were screaming for Harry, but Draco screamed louder, and still they were not heard over the roaring of panic that was rippling through the population of Hogwarts. Hot heavy tears rained down from Draco's face, and all he could do was hope that Harry was alright, because his heart was starting to ache.