Chapter 24: The Battle within the Lion's Den

"Mr. Potter!" McGonagall screeched as she glared at the young man before her.

The commotion between Harry, Neville and the mysterious girl caused the rest of the boys in the Sixth Year dorm to wake up. As soon as they saw the small brunette girl clutching onto Harry for dear life, they began asking questions, but with each question, they became louder and louder just to be heard over one another, which in turn woke the rest of the boys' dorm. It was a never-ending cycle of questions and shouts until one boy randomly asked why the little girl had no panties on. There was a moment of silence before a new wave of shouting started; namely by the Third Years and older boys, who followed the lead of a certain vindictive redhead. The younger ones were thankfully still too innocent to understand what the older ones were accusing Harry of. The boys' vicious shouting had also woken the girls up, who one of them had enough sense to fetch their Head of House, but the boys' shouting was frightening the little brunette girl, who was hiding behind Harry.

Neville stood by Harry; giving him his support, while the raven-haired teen took the accusations stoically as if not hearing them and staring coldly at his accuser. Although Neville was in a similar state of undress as Harry, which seemed to have inspired some of the more outlandish accusations, it surprised the timid wizard that all the accusations were directed at Harry alone. It was as if they did not see Neville at all. This sadden the teen a bit but soon felt a soothing purr in his ear. The quiet wizard smiled at Sirius, who was perched on his shoulder. Then he felt tiny hands grab onto his night trousers. Looking down, Neville was surprised to see the little brunette holding onto him. Wait, wasn't she holding onto…

"HARRY!"

Neville looked up in time to see Professor McGonagall raise a hand against Harry.

Sirius glowed hotly at the old hag for laying a hand on his Lord.

Silence permeated the air. No one was expecting the usually stoic witch to lose her cool and yet she did. She had heard the shouted accusations and could not believe that one of her students would so such a thing… Least of all Harry Potter!

"How could you?!" She demanded.

"DON'T TOUCH MASTER AND LORD GRYFFINDOR!" The little girl's voice boomed like thunder throughout the entire castle despite her diminutive size.

The castle shook violently at its foundation in tune with the girl's trembling rage.

The students scrambled and screamed; fearing the castle would collapse on top of them. The muggleborn students immediately ran for doorways, between furniture, anything they could remember from their primary school about earthquakes, even though they knew that England was not known for violent earthquakes. The magical-born students, however, did not fare well as they screamed and scrambled to be anywhere but the Common Room.

Surprisingly Harry and Neville were unaffected by the tremors that ripped through the castle as the little girl continued shouting at McGonagall. Ginny and Hermione, seeing the boys were standing still and unaffected by the quakes, rushed to their side and breathed a sigh of relief. The girls themselves were about to ask their own questions when the portrait-door violently swung open to reveal the Headmaster and other professors, all of whom were unsteady on their feet.

"ENOUGH!" The Headmaster roared; effectively silencing the screaming students, who upon seeing the sage Leader of the Light believed they were saved.

The little girl too fell silent when she heard the old man's command. She looked at him, and he at her with barely contained rage in his electric blue orbs. Her eyes grew wide in horrified recognition then she let loose a scream of pure terror and immediately barreled into the nearest and safest thing around… namely Harry, who this time saw her coming. He gathered the frighten child into his arms; noting that the castle had stopped shaking but the air itself held a frightening chill that he could only described as fear and hopelessness. He was clearly confused as to why the little girl was scared of the old, decrepit man. It was quite obvious that she was far more powerful than the old, decaying yathus; considering her accidental magik had caused the castle to shake. As Harry attempted to calm the girl down, his Deltas also reached out to calm the frighten thing. The Alpha smiled gratefully at Neville and Hermione.

"What is the meaning of this?!" The Headmaster demanded; not pleased that his perfect little world was seemingly falling apart.

However, no one answered. Many were stunned to see the little girl running to Harry after seeing the Headmaster. All were afraid of the angry patriarch of the Light Side for they had never seen the benevolent Headmaster so angry; not even when the Dementors were on the campus grounds.

"Minerva!" The old wizard snapped.

McGonagall did not know what to say. She was a bit fearful to answer, but most of all she was also confused by the little girl's reaction. Why would the little girl run to her abuser, and not to the one who could save her?

"I-I don't know…" She confessed then began to ramble about being woken up by one of her students, and when she arrived, she saw the little girl that Harry was trying to hide then she heard what the boy had done to the small child. The faculty gasped in horror as they looked upon their Savior with thinly concealed disgust.

The Headmaster's eyes widen as eyebrows rose high into his hairline. His manipulative mind began formulating possibilities of using this information to submit the boy to his will, or at least bind the boy as his ward.

"That's ridiculous!" A voice drawled in rage.

Severus pushed his way through the crowd and glared viciously at his former teacher.

"Have you lost what little sense that God gave you?!" Severus growled, "You actually believed that Potter could commit such a heinous act?! And to a child?!"

Severus' fist were clutched so tightly that his knuckles were white as bone and his nails digging deeply into his palms. However, he was oblivious to it all as he tried to contain his anger at what was happening. How could anyone make such an accusation, and make it towards Harry? And most of all how could anyone believe such blatantly false accusations, especially with no proof?! Severus trembled with hot rage; unaware that his magik was humming to the surface and was visible as a faint silvery-opal hue against his pale skin.

"Ehwu tjiesskit mehe, IX."

Suddenly a mop of brown hair shot up; colliding with Harry's chin; however, only Harry was effected by the collision as he saw little stars dancing in his vision.

"LORD AND MASTER SLYTHERIN!" The girl squealed happily; startling everyone into silence again, including the Headmaster as he eyed his slave suspiciously.

Severus snapped around and faced Harry, who held the small girl in his arms and rotating his jaw. A breath lodge itself in his throat as his eyes grew wide at the sight of the petite thing who held its arms out to him.

"Evie..?" Severus' voice was pained and barely audible to all, save for Harry.

Harry glanced between the little girl and his Severus. They know each other? Harry mentally asked. He gently placed her down. As soon as her bare feet touched the cold stone, she barreled into Severus' strong chest. Harry tensed as he expected the taller wizard to fall back with the girl in his arms as Harry had done, but it was immediately apparent that the dark wizard was accustom to being barreled into.

Severus instinctually dropped to one knee. Equal level to the little girl. The older man then scooped the tiny bundle of energy and rose to his feet with precision that suggested years of practice. The little girl wrapped her limbs around Severus' torso and buried her face into the nook of his neck. Severus was stunned as he held onto the young child. She felt warm and solid as any living being but it could not be her… It was impossible for it to be her, for it to be her at this age. Was this some cruel joke played on him by his cruel master? A new tactic to keep him enslaved to the elder wizard? Severus did not know, but he was outraged that whatever it was had taken her face as its own. Before Severus could denounce the creature in his arms, the Headmaster spoke; scaring the strange, little doppelganger into seeking further safety in his arms.

"What is meaning of this!" Dumbledor demanded once again. His magik rising with his ire.

Harry growled at the threat that underlined the Headmaster's tone. /How dare the inferior wizard threaten him and his in his Territory?!/ The inner beast growled. Harry moved toward Severus and the mysterious 'Evie'. He paused. Uncertain why, but he could smell Severus' anger; it was a strange spice the younger had scented once before but could not remember its name. It was subtle, strong and spicy. But why was his Severus angry? Was Severus angry at the Headmaster, the situation or perhaps the little girl?

"I hate meanie-head!" The girl sobbed into Severus' chest, "Meanie-head hurt me! Please, make meanie-head go away!"

Harry openly growled as his eyes flashed dangerously at the Headmaster. It was obvious who 'meanie-head' was by her reactions. The beast within roared at the idea that a pup in its territory was harmed, and the human within was equally angered that such an abuse occurred to a small child by someone who was suppose to protect her.

Severus reacted with similar anger. He may be angry that the creature bore her face, but he was doubly angry that anyone would harm her. Despite the creature's creation, it was still a child, and the fastest way to meet one's end by Severus' blade was to mention 'child abuse' and point out the perpetrator in his presence.

"Please, Masters! Please, Lords! Make meanie-head go away! I be good! I promise! I be good! I promise!" The girl's eyes were large in sincerity and watery from tears.

With pleasure! Harry growled as he attempted to move forward.

"A trick by the Dark Lord!" Someone shouted from a safe distance beyond the center of the Common Room, which naturally caused a chain reaction of commotion and chaos.

It was just the form of chaos, which Dumbledor knew best on how to exploit. He had not liked how the little monster had easily manipulated his pawn and slave to turn on him, the Greatest Wizard of All Time!! Dumbledor had thought that his slave would turn on the creature since it bore a striking resemblance to his slave's dearly departed sister, but apparently the monster knew how to pull at his slave's heart and morality. Dumbledor made a-side note to remove that heart and morality from his slave, once and for all. As for his 'Golden Goose', Dumbledor belittled himself for not realizing that the brat would side with the little monster. After all abused children tend to stick together, was Dumbledor's rationale, However, the little beast had yet to learn the true meaning of abuse and pain!

Dumbledor sized his two opponents up. He knew he could easily defeat the brat for the boy was undisciplined in the arts of dueling; however, it was his slave that he was more worried about. Dumbledor knew that his prized possession had been trained since a child in the art of fighting and assassination. His slave would not be easily defeated, but if both his pawn and slave were to join forces then Dumbledor knew he would be doomed.

Severus placed the mysterious being, who immediately sought shelter with Harry's three friends, on the ground and readied himself.

Dumbledor briefly glanced toward a pair of eely-black beads; mentally conveying his thoughts to the owner.

The owner understood.

"Douleur de mille douleurs." A malicious voice responded without so much a warning.

"Filazava." Severus immediately responded. A protective shield enveloped around the Potion Master and held against the onslaught of the French spell cast.

"NO! NO HURT MASTER AND LORD SLYTHERIN!" The girl shouted in tantrum; causing the castle to shake violently once more.

Again students and faculty began running for cover. Only the combatants amazingly remained on their feet.

"YOU MEANIE HEAD! YOU DON'T HURT MASTERS! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! HATE YOU! HATE YOU!" The girl screamed and stomped her foot to prove her point.

With each stomp, the castle shook even more violently; even pieces of the ceiling came raining down upon them, and portraits spelled to eternally remain on the walls came crushing down.

"I AM MASTER OF HOGWARTS!" Dumbledor roared; having enough of the damned creature's tantrum. "I AM THE HEADMASTER!"

Harry, having enough of the Headmaster, rushed the old man; unaware that in his hand was a small orb of darkness. Not knowing exactly what he want to do to the Headmaster, but knowing that he wanted the yathus gone from his territory, Harry charged the Headmaster.

"YOU NOT MY MASTER!" The girl screamed.

That simple little sentence silenced all; even the castle stilled into silence.

Harry ceased his charge; performing a perfectly executed back-flip away from the clearly stunned Headmaster.

Severus' concentration broke as his mind went a mile a minute by the implication of that one simple statement. From the corner of his eye, Severus noted a red gleam hurtling toward him, the child and his students. The dark wizard instinctively shoved the little girl further out of harm's way and placed himself in the path of the red-colored curse. Defensively Severus crossed his arms and whispered the protection shield charm a second time over himself in his native tongue, Romani.

There existed two types of spell casting. One was in the Traditional tongue, which was Latin, and the other was in the vernacular tongue, the language of the common people. Majority of Europe taught their students spell casting in both languages; however, England was the only country that remain traditional. It was the belief and goal that England was the only country to remain and would remain 'pure' to the superiority of the Wizarding Heritage; despite certain individuals' beliefs that the British Wizard was above such arrogance.

A French spell cast was considered powerful since the French language conveyed emotions through influxes of pronunciation of a word or phrase. However, while French spell cast was powerful, nothing was more powerful than Romani spell cast for the Romani language was magik itself! After all, aside from a witch and wizard, who else could be expected to be magical? To outsiders, they were called Gypsies, but among themselves, they were Roma!

Severus gave a slight grunt as he felt the French spell cast physically push him across the floor. His own Romani spell cast, however, protected him from serious harm and held against the powerful curse.

"I HATE ICKY, STINKY-HEAD!" The girl screamed as she stomped; causing the ground to roll and effectively knocking Chauvelin on his ass!

"Professor!" Several voices cried.

Severus remained still when he heard the cries but was quickly startled when he noted his three students rushing toward him!?

Translations:

Douleur de mille douleurs (French) - Pain of a thousand pain

Ehwu tjiesskit mehe, IX (Parseltongue) - You disgust me, Bitch

Filazava (Romani) - Guard

Yathus (youma-lingua) - bastard