Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to JK Rowling
Within the Shadows Chapter 9
The air was tense, in the back of their minds they knew their current path would lead them face to face with the Heir of Slytherin, but to see it first hand was terrifying. Harry could feel his heart about to fall out of his chest at the rate it was beating. The dark magic radiating off of them, the dark robes, and the sadistic grin of its face, it all scared him; he unconsciously took a step back.
Facing Quirrel felt insignificant compared to this moment. Last year he knew his professor was behind it, even if he suspected the wrong teacher, it gave him some sense of comfort knowing what he was up against back then. In this instance, he had no idea what the Heir looked like, the unknown was the worst part, but now seeing what the Heir looked like sent chills down his spine.
"No greeting? No bowing? I thought you were taught to respect your superiors Potter." The heir mocked.
Harry had to take several breaths, just hoping he could make some sound come out of his mouth. "I guess I missed that class." Harry joked trying to make himself calm down.
The heir apparently didn't find it amusing as it frowned at him. "Malfoy was right, you are annoying."
"You should know that everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie." Harry growled, the blonde git had done nothing but spread lies about him since the dueling club.
The heir smirked at this "On the contrary, thanks to him I've been several steps ahead of you and your pathetic group." It proceeded to pull something out of its robes, an old parchment. "Admirable effort on trying to follow him, but with this map, I can track everyone's movement wherever they are, even with an invisibility cloak."
Harry's eyes widen at that. 'How does it know about my father's cloak!?'
"I have eyes everywhere, there's nowhere safe for you to go, nowhere private where I can't hear you, and nowhere I can't kill you." It uttered the last part quietly, but loud enough for them to hear, Harry could feel his friends shaking behind them.
Little did he know it wasn't fear that was causing Ron to shake, but pure anger. The redhead shoved past him, fist curled, and his face matching the color of his hair. Even when Malfoy was jabbing them at, he'd never seen his friend this angry.
"You petrified my brothers, how could you do that, they did nothing wrong!" Ron growled, taking a few steps forward.
"I don't care about innocence. All that matters is the extinction of filthy blood traitors like your family." The dark wizard crossed its arms clearly not caring for Ron's words.
This only further infuriated Ron, Harry could see his hand shaking even more. "I will hurt you." Ron threatened pulling out his new wand. Molly Weasley had felt it was appropriate to get her son a new wand to defend himself.
The heir laughed at the wand aimed at him. "You can't hurt me, make your best shot." The heir raised its arms to its side showing no effort to defend itself.
Ron growled at its arrogance "Diffindo!" he yelled firing the severing charm. The spell soared at the heir at great speed, Harry was excited as he watched it about to hit, but he saw the heir smiling at him. At great speed he watched a wand spring into its hand from underneath its robes, followed by a quick swipe and the spell rebounded and hit the ceiling.
"That spell was a protego, a powerful shield charm." Hermione observed.
"I don't care how powerful it is, Diffindo!" Ron yelled sending another spell, only for it to rebound into the wall. That didn't deter Ron as he fired off numerous spells in the heir's direction.
Harry knew they didn't stand a chance; the heir was only toying with Ron and would eventually get tired of playing with them. He looked over and saw Hermione still rooted in the same spot, slightly shaking.
He ran over to her "Hermione!" That got the girls attention.
"Harry I'm scared." She whimpered, he couldn't blame her. All she heard was that the heir wanted to kill her for being a muggle-born, now it was right here and there was nothing they could do to defeat it.
"I know Hermione, that's why I need you to leave." Harry grabbed onto her shoulders trying to get her to focus.
"I, I, I can't leave you, it'll kill you." Hermione said quietly, tears prickling her eyes.
"That's why I need you to get help, Ron and I will distract it, just run and get help." Harry told her, he knew on their own they had no chance, they needed more wands.
"But Harry I ca-"
"Now!" He ordered, she bit her lip looking at him, she then looked behind him and she saw the spells just deflect harmlessly off the heirs shield. She nodded back to him and ran down the hallway, she gave them one last look before turning the corner.
Harry sighed in relief, knowing he had one last thing to worry about. He turned around and saw his friend getting tired from the consecutive spells, they needed to change tactics. He ran over until he was right beside Ron.
"Ron when I tell you to, stop throwing spells." Harry told Ron, he just nodded back at him signaling he heard him. "Now!" Ron soon stopped; giving him the opportunity to cast the levitation charm on a suit of armor besides the heir. He smiled as the heir was caught off guard as the armor fell on top of it crashing onto the ground. "Fire Ron!" Ron nodded quickly and fired the severing charm, this time hitting its target on the occupied heir. They both smiled as it roared in pain. "Ron lets go!" He pulled Ron back and they ran off down a different hallway further into the dungeons, his plan may have worked but they wouldn't get lucky twice.
"Why aren't we running out of the snake-filled dungeon Harry?" Ron asked, struggling to keep up with him, clearly tired after using so many spells.
"Hermione is getting help, and plus that would leave Scarlet all alone with the heir, we have to warn him." Harry answered back taking another turn, they were nearly at the classroom.
"Oh right, sure." Ron agreed, remembering the reason why they came down originally.
Just as they were getting close they saw the door slowly open, panic hit Harry as he thought the heir might've beaten them here, but he relaxed as Scarlet slowly walked out engrossed with something in his hand.
"Scarlet!" Harry called getting the boys attention, his friend looked over and he saw a look of confusion on his face. They must've looked ridiculous running down the hallway. They soon stopped right in front of him, struggling to catch their breath.
"Where's the fire?" Scarlet asked Harry, he would've commented on the use of the muggle phrase if the situation weren't serious right now.
"Heir." Ron struggled to say catching his breath that only caused Scarlet to crease his brow. "I'm guessing you found information on your end."
Ron walked over to Scarlet, grabbed his shoulder and shook him "We didn't find information, we found it!" He panicked.
Scarlet pushed the redhead off him and looked irritated by it. "Harry what's this idiot talking about."
"I believe your friend is referring to me." A voice interrupted. The three of them turned around and saw the heir standing in the middle of the hallway. "I'll give you that Potter, I certainly underestimated you, but you won't get that lucky again." It growled at them, it soon started to walk over to them, wand in hand.
Harry saw Scarlet stand in front of them aiming his own wand. "Who the heck is that?" he asked.
"What we were trying to tell you, that's the heir we've been looking for." Harry answered back standing beside him, aiminghiss wand. Ron quickly joined them standing on the other side of Scarlet.
The heir laughed at them, clearly not intimidated by three-second year students, Harry just clutched his wand even harder. 'Get here soon Hermione.'
"You think three on one will do any good? Are you really naïve enough to think you have enough power to beat me!?" It roared as it charged them.
Scarlet was the first to react. "Expelliarmus!" Sending the disarming charm at their attack foe, Harry expected the heir to use the shieled charm again but was surprised when the spell hit the heir but then went through it, soon their target disappeared as if it wasn't even there.
"Decoy!" Scarlet yelled looking around for their foe.
Before either of them could react they heard it yell "Bombarda!" an explosion erupted on the floor they stood on sending them flying into the wall in different directions.
Harry was disorientated from the attack, the world was spinning around him and his body was sore, it took him a moment for his vision finally return, unfortunate the first thing he saw was a curse flying in his directions, just as it was about to hit him he saw a shield charm conjured in front of him sending the curse harmlessly away.
"Get up Potter!" He heard someone yell at him, he looked up and saw Scarlet close by, he was the one who cast the shield! He was never more thankful for Tonks teaching Scarlet a few advance spells.
"Finally someone who knows a decent spell, I don't think we've introduced ourselves Shade." The heir acknowledged.
"My name is more than enough." Scarlet snapped back.
"Malfoy spoke a great deal about you said you'd be worthy of joining my organization. It's a shame you've chosen to align with blood traitors, and mudbloods…I'll have to fix that." The heir darkly uttered.
"Shut up!" Scarlet yelled. "Glacius!" He aimed his wand in a circular motion encasing the ceiling, walls, and floor in front of them until a wall of ice separated them from the heir.
"That won't hold him for long." Harry warned, he ran over to Ron and helped him up; he was battered but still conscious.
"It's not supposed to, just to buy us enough time to formulate a plan." He told both of them.
"I'm bloody open to anything, including running." Ron spoke up.
"That thing will kill us before we could make it out of the dungeons, we need to face him here and now, and luckily I have an idea." Scarlet said, before a loud bang could be heard behind them, the heir was attacking the wall of ice, and soon would break free.
"You have an idea to stop that!" Ron pointed out, in disbelief that anything they did could stop the heir, Harry had to agree with him.
"No, nothing permanent, but Tonks did teach me a few things about strategy in the Auror Academy, here's what I need you two to do…" He quickly explained his plan to the both of them, Ron and Harry seemed unsure if it would work but they had no other choice.
Just as they got ready in position the wall of ice shattered.
"Lumos!" They all shouted, pouring more energy into the spell than normal, blinding the heir just as it stepped past the ice wall, they saw it recoil and covered its eyes in the surprise attack. Just as its vision came back they were already in position.
"I see your friends abandoned you Shade." The heir said noticing his two companions gone.
Scarlet smirked at his response. "Not quite." He answered back nodding to someone behind the heir.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Ron and Harry shouted from behind the heir, having no time to react the Heir was frozen on the spot. Before either of them could react they saw the Heir slowly moving, though it was hit with two body binding spells the power behind them wasn't nearly enough to take full effect, merely slowing it down.
Scarlet quickly moved over in front of the heir and joined in on the attack. "Glacius!" At point blank range a blue beam ice hit the Heir and soon encasing it in ice. With Ron and Harrys spells in effect the heir didn't have enough movement to defend itself.
All three stopped their spells and took a few steps back. "Did it work?" Ron asked nervously.
"Looks like it did, good plan Scarlet." Harry praised looking at the giant chunk of ice in the middle of the hallway.
Just as Scarlet was about to respond he noticed the ice start to shake. "Ho- how could that thing get out! It's frozen solid!" Ron said taking several steps back.
The ice shattered pelting them with chunks, Harry brought his arms in front of his face to shield him, but it didn't stop it from cutting into his arms causing him to yell out in pain. Harry could hear spells being cast but he couldn't do anything about it, eventually, when he felt the ice stop he slowly lowered his bleeding arms.
The Heir was standing in front of Scarlet and Ron, both of whom were motionless on the ground, and bleeding 'No.'
"Ron?" He asked tentatively staking a few steps further, but he didn't get an answer.
"Scarlet!?" Panic enveloping his tone, they couldn't be gone!
Instead of an answer, he got laughter. Looking over he saw the heir laughing at him clearly amused by this; Harry couldn't help but shake with anger.
"You can relax they aren't dead, just knocked out, nothing a simple Stupefy couldn't pull off." The Heir said walking away from his friends.
"Why? Why are you doing this!? We did nothing wrong to you, why do you hate us this much?" Harry couldn't help but ask.
The Heir scoffed at his questions. "A child like you wouldn't understand the importance of this matter."
"Your right, I don't understand." Harry's words seemed to confuse the Heir. "I don't understand how bigots like you can feel you are superior to others when you're all nothing more than spoiled brats."
"Its words like that is what's wrong with the wizarding world. You don't understand how foul muggles are. You call me a bigot but how do you think muggles would feel if they discovered the wizarding world? Do you think they'd accept us? Or would they tarnish us as being different and use any means necessary to make us feel inferior." The Heirs words had caught him off guard, looking back to how his aunts and uncle reacted to him being a wizard, only further validated its words.
The Heir seemed to pick up his hesitation. "Perhaps you've experienced this first hand? Living with your aunt and uncle they must've shown disdain over your heritage?" Harry widened his eyes when his uncle and aunt were mentioned, how could this monster know that about them? "Harry, Harry, Harry. One does not get where I am without resources."
"What do you mean? How do you know that about me!" Harry roared clutching his wand harder than ever.
"You wouldn't believe me if I tried, but enough talk. Let's fight." Before Harry could react the Heir fired off a spell. It struck him on the chest and sent him flying down the hallway landing far away.
Harry groaned getting up, the power and speed behind it were unlike anything he'd seen before. He didn't have time think on it anymore as another spell was hailed in his direction, he rolled to the left watching it blast a small hole in the wall.
"Don't think the noise will attract anyone's attention, I've placed a silencing charm in this area, this won't end with that old fool saving you." The Heir growled before sending another spell at Harry.
"I'll stop you!" Harry growled dodging another curse, he managed to get a spell off but it was easily deflected, he used it as a chance to further the distance between them.
"If you had the power to thwart my plans you would've done it already." It started walking towards him, almost enjoying the terror it was causing him. "But I forgot, you're the savior of the wizarding world, the hero of this story." It mocked stepping closer, Harry could feel the anger radiating off the heir as it continued speaking. "The boy your parents loved, The hero this world worships, you have everything, AND DESERVE NONE OF IT!"
The Heir charged at him at incredible speed, Harry barely jumped out of the way just before a crater was formed where he was standing a second ago. The heir turned around and glared at him.
"I'm going to kill every single mudblood in this castle, just as I started 50 years ago. Then you'll have no choice but to bow down to me as your lord." It fired another curse at him and once again he was dodging to save his life.
Harry kept rolling out of the way, but at the rate, the spells were being fired at didn't give him time to counter. Eventually, he wasn't quick enough and a spell nicked his leg drawing blood. Harry fell down screaming in pain, he used his hand to put pressure on it but that did little to ease the pain. A shadow loomed over him and he saw the Heir standing over him.
"Who are you?" Harry asked, wanting to know the answer plaguing him for so long.
"I am the Heir of Slytherin." It said raising its wand at Harry.
"Petrificus Totalus!" A voice screamed, Harry saw the Heirs body freeze being paralyzed. A quick look over and he saw Scarlet on his knee's just about to pass out.
"Augamenti!" The spell did the job as a strong current of water erupted from his wand knocking the heir off its feet and landed harshly against the wall behind it, then falling to the ground.
Harry limped over as fast as he could; they needed to know who the heir was. He was about to reach for its hood when something grabbed his throat. The heir lifted him off the ground a firm hold on his neck, getting tighter. He could feel air escaping his lungs, he clawed at it trying to loosen its grip but the heir held strong.
"I want so badly to kill you, and I will. But you have to live a little while longer, long enough to see those closest to you die!" He was then thrown against the wall, landing roughly on the ground.
The heir gave him one last look before turning its back to him and walking away. Harry made a weak effort to reach out and grab it, but his body was too tired. The last thing Harry saw was the heirs departing form, before blacking out.
XXX
Pain, all he could feel was the pain. From his legs, chest, arms, even his eyelids, anytime he even considered moving his body would scream at him not to. He could hear vague voices but he didn't have the energy to concentrate.
Just as he was about to fall back asleep he felt the pain lessen. At first, he thought he his mind was tricking him, this wouldn't be the first time his body tricked him when it came to injuries, but then the pain continued to ease up. Deciding to try again he moved his pinky, and he found it moved much more easily than last time. It seemed the background voice got louder. This time he decided to move the entire hand, and again no pain. This was a big test, using all his strength he tried to sit up. He had to clench his teeth as pain shot through his body, not as much as earlier but it was still prevalent.
About to give up he felt a pair of hands on his back, he would've flinched if he wasn't so tired. Realizing that the hands were trying to help him he let them help sit up until he was in a fully upright position.
Opening his eyes he saw the owner of the hands that helped him.
"Hermione?" Scarlet asked groggily.
"Scarlet thank Merlin you're alright." Hermione said happily, but despite her words she looked very uncomfortable with him, he recognized the look, it was the same one people had when mentioning his parents, pity. He didn't know why she was giving him that look, he figured it was because he almost died, not wanting to continue looking at her face he looked to see where they were.
It was then that he got a better idea of his surroundings, they were in the unused classroom they had their weekly meetings, upon further inspection, he saw four more people in the room. Daphne and Tracey were looking over Harry and Ron who were both awake and seemed to be performing a spell on them.
Scarlet was confused, the last thing he remembered was fighting the heir before passing out, why were they all in here, better question was why they were still alive?
"What happened?" He asked Hermione. "And how did you find us?"
"Harry asked to me to get help while he and Ron fought off the Heir." She explained.
"Instead of professors, you grabbed Daphne and Tracey?" Scarlet asked unsure of her choice in help.
"They were the first people I found, and I didn't want to leave you three by yourselves any longer than necessary." She responded motioning her head towards the two Slytherin. "When we got down to the dungeons we followed the destruction, I started to get worried and then." She paused; she started to shed a few tears but tried to stop. "We finally found you three, I thought you were all dead. All of you weren't moving and there were puddles of blood, I nearly passed out upon sight." She sighed before speaking the next part. "Greengrass was able to snap me out of it, and we found out that neither of you was dead but passed out. We couldn't waste time getting more help, and we didn't want to move you all too far so we brought you here. Luckily Greengrass and Davis knew minor healing spells, and I read up on it so that's what we've been doing. " She performed the spell in front of him on his arm, Scarlet could feel the pain lessen a bit.
"No one else was there?" Scarlet asked it seemed odd the Heir wouldn't finish the job.
Hermione started to breathe heavily at his question, he could only figure she saw what it looked like and it terrified her. "The heir was gone when we got there, its been an hour since were alone."
Feeling like he sat down long enough, Scarlet started to stand up. Pain shot through his body at he started to use his muscles, Hermione was quick to his side putting his arm over her shoulder and helping him stand.
"You shouldn't be moving Scarlet, you're still injured." She told him.
"I know but I want to check up on the others." He said walking slowly with her help.
They soon reached the others with Daphne being the first to notice him. She had a look of relief on her face, which was soon replaced with a scowl. "Are you thick? Get off your feet or you'll hurt yourself."
"I know, I just wanted to check up on all of you." He said easing down to the floor.
A small smile formed on her face. "How are you feeling?"
"Body's in pain, but at least I'm not dead." He said looking over his body. "Thank you, all of you, I appreciate you putting your life for us." He said looking at all three of young witches.
"We'd be done if it weren't for you three." Ron said slowly getting up, he seemed to be in better condition than Harry and himself.
Harry got up himself and leaned against the wall echoing their sentiments.
Isn't the first time you Gryffindors injured yourself, almost a rite of passage with you lot, first time I think a Slytherin actually treated you." Daphne said getting up and wiping the dirt off her clothes.
"Its good thing one of my mum is a healer at, or else Daphne and I wouldn't know the Episkey spell." Tracey joined in standing up.
"I guess with all of us awake, and not dead we should tell the teachers." Hermione suggested.
"Yeah." Ron agreed.
Scarlet knew they were in over their head, they had to tell the teachers, and they could properly handle the dark wizard. He nodded his head in agreement.
"We can't." Daphne argued, surprising everyone.
"What do you mean Daphne? Look what happened to us, they have to know." Harry spoke up.
Daphne got a dark look on her face, she seemed to be reluctant to share her thoughts. "If we do that…they'll shut down the school."
The air was tense, no one knew what to say about that, the thought never crossed his or her minds.
"What do you mean they'll close down the school?" Ron was the first to ask.
"It means they'll close down the school, are you thick?" She asked annoyed at repeating herself. She took a deep breath before continuing. "Right now Dumbledore and the government have been trying their best to keep the attacks a secret if the world knew there would panic. However, the Minister is being pressured by Lucius Malfoy to inform the press. Minister Fudge told the headmaster if one more attack incurs they'd bring in Aurors and close down the school.
"How do you know about this?" Hermione asked she seemed in disbelief over Greengrasses words.
"Her father is in the government." Scarlet spoke first, giving Hermione a look to not start another argument.
"So if we inform the teachers, they'll have no choice but to shut down the school." Daphne finished.
"It's probably for the best, let the Aurors handle it, and then they'll open the school next semester." Hermione suggested logically.
Daphne laughed humourlessly at her comment. "I'm starting to think your thick as well Granger. They won't shut down the school for a few weeks, or even a couple months, but years. She looked at everyone in the eye. "That means muggle-borns won't be able to finish their education, some students would have to be homeschooled, others returning to their muggle guardians, and the others going to school in a different country further away from home. Add to the fact if the heir is a student and we believe they are, they'll be able to walk right out of this school and get away."
Daphne's words cut deep, she managed to point out how every one of them would lose in this situation, he looked over at Hermione, she wouldn't be accepted in a different school and would be forced to finish her education in the muggle world. Ron would be homeschool, he wasn't sure about Harry. There was no guarantee he would end up in the same school as Daphne, and Tracey, he wasn't even sure he would be accepted in another school. The thought of not seeing them and being alone again terrified him; he couldn't go back to his old life.
"She's right." Everyone looked at Scarlet in surprise. He'd always been the one to think logically, and he knew he was throwing that out the window, but it felt right being selfish in this instance. "We lose so much if we do this, neither of us wants to leave Hogwarts." He said looking at everyone. "But, whatever decision we make it has to be unanimous, everyone here has an equal say, we are in an alliance after all."
"Well, I vote for keeping quiet." Daphne was the first to say. Scarlet nodded at her and raised his hand in agreement.
Everyone else looked unsure, honestly Scarlet wasn't sure what everyone would do. Tracey was the next to step forward. "I'm in as well, if Hogwarts closes down then the heir wins, as someone who's been ridiculed behind my back by purebloods, this is the first time I have to stand up to one, and I want to do that because I have all of you on my side." She spoke with conviction.
"I'm in too." Ron spoke up, he slowly stood up and limped closer to all of them, leaning on a desk. "Honestly, that heir bloody scares me, but having that out there at any moment could attack my sister scares me more. I won't be able to go home knowing I let down my family."
Since the new year Scarlet had found a new respect for Ron, he'd taken his studies and this matter a lot more serious than he thought, and had proven to be an asset in this mystery rather than a liability.
That left Harry and Hermione, Scarlet had a hard time imagining either of them would keep quiet about this, Hermione was brave but not stupid, the look she gave him said that she realized they were overmatched, Harry probably would give anything to go home away from all the bullying and rumors he'd been on the receiving end of the past few months.
"I'm in with you guys." Harry said, much to the surprise of Scarlet. "The heir knows a lot about us if we run there's no guarantee we'll be safe, and I don't think any of us wants our families to be targets.
Hermione looked annoyed at the turn this conversation had lead to, she seemed to be internally debating what to do, as someone who followed the rules, for the most part, she seemed conflicted.
"Hermione." Harry called out moving closer to her. "Remember what we talked about around the holidays, we can't stop now." Scarlet didn't know what he was referring to but hoped it would convince the brunette.
"Alright." He heard her say quietly.
"Does this mean?" Tracey asked, nervous to finish the question.
"Yes, I won't say anything to the professors." She nodded to Tracey.
"Good." Scarlet said placing a hand on his side, despite the amazing spell work the witches did he was still sore, and it would be a few days before he and the other two walking around without a limp. "I suggest we leave before the teachers or prefect find the damage done to the hallways." He started walking towards the door.
He'd just stepped out into the hallway when he felt someone close behind, glancing back he saw it was Hermione. She was still giving him that same look from when he first woke, pity. "I'm fine Hermione, you did a brilliant good with the episkey spell, I'm just a tad sore."
She stepped closer to him; she seemed nervous, sad, and a bit frustrated at the same time. She wouldn't look him in the eye, just glancing down his body. Minutes passed by and she still didn't say anything, just as he was about to say something she spoke first.
"I'm so sorry you went through that." She said quietly taking another step closer.
"Like I said, I'm just sore, it's alright." He reassured, he turned around and continued walking down the hallway.
"I'm not talking about that." She said grabbing his attention.
Scarlet turned back and saw tears streaming down her face, she ran over and wrapped her arms tightly around him. Unsure on what brought this on, he merely accepted it and reciprocated. Rubbing her back as the crying continued.
It wasn't long before Hermione calmed down. "I'm so sorry." She said, her voice muffled by his shirt.
Scarlet couldn't help but smile. "I told you I'm fine." He laughed; sometimes she was just too worried for her own good.
"It's not that." She said quietly.
"Then what is it?" Scarlet asked.
"I saw your scars." She uttered.
The hallway went quiet, the sound of candles couldn't be heard, the sound of cracked stone was mute, even eerie sounds from the pipes couldn't be heard. All Scarlet could hear was his heart beating faster and faster. 'No, no, no, no she can't know!'
Scarlet pushed Hermione off him and held her by her shoulders. "What are you talking about? I'm bruised not scarred." He said trying to brush it off, but she shook her head at him.
"Don't lie please Scarlet." Hermione pleaded.
Scarlet's heart just continued to beat faster, the one thing he feared was happening. "I don't know what you're talking about." He said simply turning around and trying to get away from the situation.
"Scarlet don't do this!" She ran quickly behind him and grabbed his arm.
He tried pulling his arm away but Hermione held on. "Let go!" He snapped.
"Not until you explain this!" On cue, she pulled his sleeve up revealing all of his lies.
Along his arm were scarring; slashes littered his arm, each of varying in sizes. He was annoyed he couldn't hide it, the battle against the Heir had left him weakened and he couldn't hide them with his metamorphmagus abilities.
He narrowed his eyes at her; angry that she had the nerve to do this to him, how dare she try to force this, how dare she invade his privacy when he was unconscious. "Stop." He growled.
"No, this is what's causing you to lose sleep isn't it? Something's been bothering you for awhile now, and you've never talked about it, but I can't ignore this any longer." She challenged, she waved her wand around them, he assumed it was probably a silencing charm.
"This is none of your business Hermione." He seethed; frustrated that she wouldn't drop this.
"Scarlet I can't keep watching you suffer, every day you come into the Great Hall looking worse and worse, I'm dreading the day Ron and Harry come to me and tell me your gone." She said worriedly, she pulled down his sleeve, once again hiding his scars.
"I'm handling it Hermione, and I've done it long before I knew you." He said pulling his arm back.
"You call this handling it? You're falling asleep in class, your grades are slipping, and getting easily irritated." Hermione countered, she just didn't know when to stop.
"What do you want me to say Hermione!?" Scarlet snapped, he was getting tired of this.
"The truth." She simply stated.
"Fine, I've been abused!" He yelled. "I was abused for years, reminded every time I change my clothes, happy?" At this point he was livid, exhaustion mixed with the stress was finally getting to him.
"Why didn't you say anything, its been affecting you all this time, you could've told us." Hermione responded sadly.
"Why? So you all could give me the same pitying look you just gave me earlier?" Scarlet took a deep breath; he needed to calm down before he let his anger control him anymore. "Ron, Harry and you all lived with a family that loves you, I didn't, how could anyone of you help me when you can't even relate to my issues."
Hermione just looked at him, with the same damn sad eyes he hated to be looked at with. He knew the answer to his question, neither her nor the others could understand the pain he felt for years, the physical and emotional abuse he suffered. Waking up every day scared at what the people who are supposed to protect you would do to you, hiding under the bed hoping the monsters that were his parents wouldn't find him, begging countless times to stop the pain. Scarlet realized he was unconsciously rubbing the burn mark on his chest, something that didn't go unnoticed by Hermione.
Scarlet walked away done with the conversation, he'd made his point.
"Harry does." He thought at first he imagined it said, but when he looked over at Hermione the tears in her eyes confirmed she'd said it.
"What are you talking about?" He asked, he knew he should've just walked away, he went off by himself today to put his issues away, but this conversation was just bringing up almost every single problem he had and highlighting it.
She bit her lip as he looked at her. "You said we all live with a family that loves us, but you're wrong."
He raised his eyebrow at that, he doubted any of them experience anything similar to what he'd handled. "Oh? Are you telling me Potter was used as a knife sharpener?" He sneered.
She flinched at his tone; she looked uncomfortable at the details on how Scarlet was abused. "No. At least not that I'm aware of, but he's been abused."
"I don't believe you." In all the time he'd known Harry the boy wonder had not shown the same signs he had dealt with the past year.
"He has, and just like you its been affecting him, and he's too stubborn to ask for help." She responded. "He's been verbally abused by his aunt and uncle all because he's a wizard." She told him.
Scarlet's eyes widened at that, the source of his abuse was when he first showcased his magical abilities. 'No, no I would've noticed if he was abused.'
"Harry almost didn't go to Hogwarts this year." She continued breaking him from his thoughts. "They weren't happy with him so they locked him in his room, and placed bars on his windows so he couldn't escape. If it wasn't for Ron and his brothers Harry would still be there."
Scarlet looked back at all the interactions he'd had with Potter trying to find anything he might've overlooked when he was with the boy, it couldn't be possible he'd missed this.
The memories of him traveling to Hogwarts with him, how he'd been vague about his home life in the summer, the lack of mention of his relatives, how Ron had shut up mid-sentence when he was talking to him at his night-time escapades with Harry, the lack of friends.
He then remembered how critical of the boy he was in the first year, wondering how the savor of the wizarding world couldn't answer a simple question in potions when everyone else in the class could, it would explain his sub par performance in class.
Scarlet then thought on how despite his popularity Harry wasn't consumed by it like Lockhart was, instead he was a shy boy who had only a few friends, and never once he thought he was better than anyone, if anything learning this he felt as though Potter may have thought himself less important than all of them. In fact, he didn't even engage in physical contact, Scarlet used to be like that before Tonks, even then he wasn't completely comfortable with it.
Then he remembered how his aunt had reacted to him when he visited during the summer. His aunt stared at him with the same look he saw his own mother gave him when she abused him, hatred.
His head was shaking at this. 'How could I have missed this? The signs were obvious but I chose to ignore them.' He needed to leave, all this information was overwhelming, this entire day had been stressful and this wasn't helping, even though he believed Hermione he couldn't focus on this, he had other things to do.
"Sorry I just can't Hermione." Scarlet shook his head at her.
"But Scarlet, if you can't open up to me then maybe talking to Harry can he-."
"No!" He stared hard at her, almost challenging her to try and continue, but one look at him and she backed down.
He turned around and walked away for good.
XXX
The torches lit up upon it entering the chamber, the Heir took a deep breath to enjoy the solitude of its chamber. Some people would pause at the look of the room, but to it, the Chamber of Secrets was the most beautiful room in this pathetic school.
The stone carvings on the room had been expertly crafted, something only truly powerful would be able to create this with such detail. It made its way across the cold stone floor and stopping in front of the statue of the greatest Slytherin in history, whos legacy lived on till this day. The founder commanded such power and respect, it hoped that once its plans came to fruition that it would be seen with that same respect and power.
Today had been both a success and disappointment in its eyes. The goal of its attack was to determine the strength of Potter, to see how a child could defeat the Dark Lord. What it saw was a disappointment, Potters knowledge and prowess of magic was no match for it, and he was easily taken care of. Potter was the only obstacle for its plan because he was an unknown, it heard stories about the boy, but now facing the child realized they were nothing but stories, and he was no savior.
The Heir snarled that despite him having no special gifts the boy had managed to kill Voldemort, truly embarrassing. At least now it knew no one would get in the way. 'I would've thought Dumbledore would be my biggest problem, last time the chamber was open he didn't relent until Hagrid was framed. Now it seems as though thinking of putting a few teachers and prefects on patrols is enough to thwart my plans, the old fool must be losing it with his age.' The heir chuckled to itself at the thought of the old man.
If anything it felt the boy Shade proved to be a bigger threat than Potter, the boy had successfully produced a Protego at his young age, and stopped its attack. Keeping an eye on the boy the past few months it was clear Shade was above his class, and at the rate, his magic was growing would prove to be a powerful wizard. The Heir pondered on what to do of the boy, being a pureblood he would be a valuable asset, perhaps it was time it does something about it, not now but soon.
A smile formed on its lips. "Yes, perhaps I've overlooked Shade for too long, he'll prove most useful."
Authors Notes: Well that took an interesting turn, didn't expect Scarlet's big secret to be found out did you? Now that his secret is out Scarlet will have a difficult time ignoring it and will be forced to handle his problems in a healthy way. Also gave a bit more in-depth look at the Heir, was nervous handling another fight scene but I think I did a solid job with it, hopefully, you all can comment on it, as I'm getting used to it.
The Shadow Alliance took a hit, but I feel as though this will force them to open up with one another, and in a way to bring them closer together, as the main reason they lost was they weren't working together and let their distrust get in the way.
Big news as I broke over 100 followers a few days ago, thank you so much, I only write this because of the great messages and feedback you all give me, and always coming back to see every new update. If you have any questions I'm always free to answer them. Till next time!