A/N: So we are getting nearer and nearer to the end of Tear it Up. Which is part of the reason I feel this chapter is so short, I'm trying to not rush to the end, as although I do still have the other two parts of this trilogy to come, I have a fondness for this particular one, as it was the first ever long multi chaptered fic that I've stuck with long enough to get to a proper 'ending' of it. … That possibly makes no sense to you, but it sorta does to me. But, yeah, apologises if this chapter does seem a little on the shortish side to you.
As always, my standard disclaimer applies.
Chris looked around himself, slight confusion etched into his features. One minute he had been lying in his relatively comfortable bed, absent-mindedly scratching Dog behind his ears, the next he was in a place he could only really describe as white space. 'Or the Nowhere Places,' a taunting voice in his mind recalled the name. The Nowhere Places were somewhere which Chris had no desire to visit again, having been trapped there for a short period after a miscast spell when he was 10. He looked around again, knowing from experience that he would see nothing, but couldn't help but want to see something.
"You haven't been doing as we asked you, young Halliwell," a pompous voice bellowed out, echoing all around Chris. His lip curled, almost prettily, as he looked around, his hands clenching into loose fists. "Why have you not been obeying us?"
"On protecting the Boy Wonder?" Chris scoffed loudly, "if you haven't noticed that kid's got more enemies than I have!" he yelled, trying to work out which one was speaking to him. "And not to mention, I have had slight concerns of my own to take care of, or were you never planning on tellin' me you made my mom into my friend's whitelighter?!"
There was a long and guilty pause, as the voice faltered on a few difference sentences. "It is none of your business on what we chose to do," it decided finally, causing Chris to roll his eyes.
"When its about my family it damn well is my business!" he snapped, glaring into the white mist which surrounded him, waiting for a response of some sort. Nothing came. Chris sighed. "I've never got a straight answer outta you lot all my life, why the hell would you start giving me one now," he muttered. "An' if you don't plan to answer me, send me back!" he bellowed, his hatred of the Nowhere Places outgrowing his ability to remain reasonably calm in front of the Elders. He waited for a few more minutes, growing bored rather quickly. "Ah, fuck it," he muttered, closing his eyes. "Hear my words, hear my cries, send me to the other side. From the Nowhere Place I wish to flee, send me where I wanna … be?" he finished with a shrug as golden orbs surrounded him. When they dissolved away he found himself sitting back on his bed in the dorm room.
"… Didn't expect that to work," he told Dog, who looked up rather lazily on Chris' reappearance. Chris lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling, almost with a hint of concern in his features. "We're getting near what Tommy's planned, ain't we Dog?" he mused out loud, gaining a small ruff in return from Dog. "Hm," was Chris' only response. He looked out the window, seeing the sky darkening, and feeling a slight rumbling in his stomach. "Come on Dog, let's go get food," he said, wandering out of the dorm room.
XXX
During the exam periods, Chris found himself wandering around the castle, pretty much bored out of his mind. He also found himself banned from the library, partly due to it being used for classes whose teachers were scheduled to watch the exams, and partly due to the fact that Dog tended to drool over the books. So it was in his boredom that he managed to discover the secret passages in and out of the school. He made a mental note of these places as well as making a mental note to come back and investigate some of them a little closer when it would be less likely that someone would notice his absent. It was due to Chris' non participation in the OWLs, unlike the rest of his year, that he was the first to notice that something was decidedly odd on the night of the Astronomy exam. For one, it was decidedly too quiet.
At eleven o'clock, he joined the rest in walking towards the Tower, having decided that he would simply go stand outside for a while during this exam. Dog followed, enjoying the fussing he received from some the female fifth years, who kept cooing over his sweet nature. Chris rolled his eyes, wondering what these girls would do should they see Dog in his natural form. Smirking and giving a sarcastic wave to those going up for their exam, Chris quickly made his way towards the front doors, relishing the feel of the cold air when he orbed outside, having not minded walking while inside the castle - it gave Dog the exercise he needed after all, but drew the line when it came to attempting moving open the heavy doors. He sat himself in one of the darker shadows surrounding the front wall of the ancient castle, making sure to hide himself should a professor look outside, watching as the hellhound moved around, studying their surroundings with a hawk-like eye.
He felt it had been roughly 40 minutes since the exam started when he heard the heavy doors open. Shifting himself further backwards into the dark corner, Chris watched carefully, seeing roughly half a dozen figures walking over the lawn. "Well that's unusual," he muttered softly, hearing a soft growl come from Dog. Though it was true that Dog was unusually docile for a Hellhound, he still did sense danger, but Chris had never once heard his 'pet' growl before. Perhaps, Chris mused lightly, it was due to who was so obviously leading the ground; Umbridge did have a rather distinctive walk. He heard a somewhat distant knock, which echoed throughout the grounds, and was followed almost immediately by frantic barking from what had to be a large dog. Looking out across the grounds, Chris could see lights on in Hagrid's windows, and the group who had marched towards Hagrid's home, were now silhouetted against them. The door opened creakily, and the six entered, each sharply defined, closing the door behind them, leaving an almost uneasy silence. Chris watched in a fixed manner, the lights from the windows flickering across the lawn as people moved around inside the cabin, as though they were trying to hide what they were doing from any prying eyes which may fall upon the hut.
Chris' gaze didn't move from the hut, and he wasn't all that surprised when a roar echoed out from the cabin and through the darkness, and Chris wouldn't be surprised if it could be heard at the very tip of the Astronomy Tower. A loud BANG came from the cabin, and Chris' head rose slightly, still watching with only a little interest in what might happen. The door to Hagrid's home had been burst open, and the light from inside flooded out, clearing showing Hagrid's massive figure roaring and brandishing his fists. It appeared to Chris that the six people were attempting to cast stunners at the half-giant, obviously not paying attention to the fact that Hagrid was a half giant. "Be reasonable, Hagrid," a familiar voice called out, causing Chris to give out a soft laugh. That guy always seemed to pull the short straw.
"Reasonable be damned, yeh won' take me like this, Dawlish!" Hagrid roared in fury, Fang leaping at the wizards surrounding his master, in an attempt to defend him. A Stunning Spell hit him and he fell heavily to the ground, causing Hagrid to let out another howl of fury. Dog growled at this, moving as if to pounce, but Chris placed a hand on his back, still watching the scene, though a look of almost perverse glee.
"Wait, let's see how this'll play out," he whispered calmingly to the hellhound, who gave a huff of annoyance. He jumped slightly, as he heard the doors to the castle being flung open once more, watching as the person who had come through them sprinted towards the battle which was taking place outside Hagrid's cabin.
"How dare you!" The voice yelled, as the figure ran. "How dare you! Leave him alone! Alone, I say!" It was amazing how, for someone quite small really, loudly and clearly McGonagall's voice echoed out across the grounds of Hogwarts. "On what grounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing, nothing to warrant such - " Four stunners were shot at McGonagall and at the halfway point between the castle and the cabin they collided with her, making her glow an eerie red for a moment. The force of the stunners lifted her right off of her feet, throwing her backwards until she landed hard on her back, without a single other movement.
"COWARDS! RUDDY COWARDS! HAVE SOME O' THAT - AN' THAT - " Hagrid bellowed. Chris had ran out to the prone figure of McGonagall, reaching her quicker than he would have thought, checking quickly for a pulse. He gave a small smirk on finding one, somehow never doubting that he wouldn't, McGonagall was a tough old bird after all. He looked up, noticing that while four of the attackers remaining focusing on Hagrid, two ran over to face him, obviously fearing him as a dangerous threat.
They were right to.
"You hurt my teacher," Chris said calmly, looking up at them with an even expression. "The only teacher in this damn place that's actually worth anything," he added thoughtfully. The two stared silently at him, their grips on their wands tightening. Chris looked back down at McGonagall before looking back up at the two. "I'm sorry guys, but I can't stand and let you hurt the only teacher I'll actually do the work for," he said with a small shrug of his shoulders. "I'm afraid I'll have to kill you now," he smirked, getting a small chuckle from the pair, who believed that he was joking. Chris' smirk grew, and the pair's chuckles slowly diminished, as they realised, with that sudden strike of fear, that this boy was most undoubtedly not joking. Raising both his hands, the smirk never disappearing, Chris flicked both his hands rounds, clenching them into fists, effecting grabbing the pairs throats, slowly choking them.
"Halliwell!" Umbridge's horrified screech reached Chris' ears all too soon for his liking, and scowling more than slightly, he released his telekinetic grip on the two unnamed Aurors, who dropped to the ground, gasping for any air they could pull in. "Halliwell! You … You … " she stuttered, unable to say anything, but glaring at him with a hint of obvious pride in her face, as though she had caught him red-handed.
"I acted on the defence of my Head of House, Professor," he sneered at her, "who was so cruelly struck down by your idiotic goons." Umbridge glared silently at him, both of them knowing that they had solid arguments against each other. They were at a stalemate, and were both aware and in hate of it. "And now, if you move your toadie self, I'm gonna try to get hold of a Healer or something, 'cause tough as she is, I don't think anyone's got a good chance of surviving four Stunners in the chest," Chris smirked at Umbridge.
"But, of course Mr Halliwell, I do care what happens to poor Professor McGonagall," Umbridge said through gritted teeth and a forced smile. Chris returned the forced smile with a highly sarcastic one of his own, kneeling back down and placing a hand on McGonagall's shoulder, orbing them out of the grounds of Hogwarts, straight into St Mungo's, where a Healer immediately saw to the injuries Professor McGonagall had sustained, recognising the older woman from her own days at Hogwarts - though this Healer, Healer Moon, had been a Ravenclaw. Chris found himself hanging about the corridors for a few hours, not really wanting to return to the school until he had made sure that McGonagall was going to survive past this incident at least.
"You're the boy who came in with Professor McGonagall aren't you?" Healer Moon had returned to the waiting area where Chris had been sitting. He stood on hearing her voice, walking over to her swiftly. She gave a soft smile. "Don't worry, if there's one thing we can be sure of with Professor McGonagall, it's that she'll bow out on her terms, and her terms alone." Chris gave out a soft chuckle, somewhat glad to know that it wasn't only him who had realised this fact. Healer Moon gave Chris a rather matronly look, "would you like to see her? She is awake you know," she said softly. Chris looked around, making sure no-one was watching him, before quickly nodding.
XXX
At nearly four in the morning Chris orbed back into the Gryffindor common, sitting down on the empty couch, feeling unusually tired. Dog looked up from his spot in front of the fire, giving a small ruff of greeting. Chris leaned back, looking up at the ceiling of the common room, not glancing round when he heard footsteps on the stairs. "Loitering isn't your style Wonder Boy," he muttered slightly. Harry came down, sitting in the armchair nearest the fire.
"So, she's okay?" Harry enquired. Chris nodded, causing Harry to nod himself. "Didn't think you'd be back if she wasn't.," he admitted, with a small shrug. There was a silence between the two. "What were you doing to those guys?" he asked, curious. Chris gave a small smirk, but didn't answer. Harry rolled his eyes. "You could try the conversation thing Halliwell."
"I do," Chris responded quickly. "But unfortunately Dog's not talking right now, and it's such a pain to converse with those of sub-normal intelligence." The end of Chris' sentence found Chris ducking to avoid a cushion hitting him. "Now, now, now, little Wonder Boy … " Chris began. Harry interrupted him.
"I know, I know, violence doesn't solve anything."
"Course it does," Chris smirked, "it solves the question of who's the better fighter," Harry rolled his eyes. "Anyway, don't you have an exam in the afternoon?" Chris said, frowning slightly confused. Harry shrugged.
"Yeah … suppose I should get some sleep," he muttered, standing up and moving over to the stairs. He muttered a night to Chris, wandering up the stairs. Dog looked at the retreating figure, turning to look at Chris with a questioning glance.
"He's an annoying martyr," Chris admitted with a shrug. "But I don't think he should die just 'cause Tommy doesn't like him," he said, scratching the hellhound behind the ears when he came over. "He's got no chance, and I don't find that all that fair. Everything's a choice Dog … and Wonder Kid doesn't seem to realise he hasn't got one."