Hi!  Just like I promised, here's chapter 13!  I hope you'll like it.  There's not much action but it's important to the story and I had to write it.  I think you guys will particularly love the last scene! ^_~ I'm not telling!  Read the story!

BIG, BIG Thanks to:

LadyKatherine16     Rynn     Tony Zelada     Comet Moon     Koosei     Bishienomiko1     Silverpaws the silver Nukachu

MarsMoonStar     Silver Pegasus     Usagi Asia Maxwell     Yadrianne     Sachi Nyoko     aznMi     Ancient-Legend

Baby Daydreamer Wiley     Lady Light     Koneko-hime     Miranda Compton     Prophetess of Hearts     Maiden Genisis

Silver Moon Princess     Heero's Bunny     Lady Aya     Crazygurl70     Chibi Koneko

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Father Mine

Chapter 13: Frustrations

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  It was really early when Usagi woke up the next day.  She went to Harry's bed and sat in a chair next to it.  "Harry…"  She stroked his black mop of hair gently.  "We'll have to talk later, won't we?"  She said mostly to herself.  She sighed, got up and went to take her clothes to change.

  She left the infirmary before the nurse arrived.  She wandered through the numerous corridors in search of something to do until she could see professor Snape, but found nothing to amuse herself with.  So she directly went to the dungeon and sat on the hard stony floor, huddled in a ball, leaning on the wall.

  In his office, Severus was grading essays when his floo activated.  He grunted at the disheveled nurse.  "What do you want, Pomfrey?  It's too damn early in the morning, leave me be."  The nurse completely ignored his lack of manners and said, frantically; "Have you seen Miss Tsukino, Severus?  She's missing from the infirmary!!!  Mr. Potter woke up and is with his friends, but Miss Tsukino is gone!  Her friends are worrying, and we don't know how she is fairing mentally with yesterday's events!"

  Severus frowned worriedly.  "I'll see what I can do."  The fire went out and the floo line closed.

  He made a bee line for his door and he almost bumped on something on his way out.  He was about to curse when he finally spotted the half awake girl on the ground.  "Miss Tsukino?"  He made a move to help her up but she shrugged off his hands.  She didn't look too happy with him, but why?  He was about to ask her if she was okay, when she turned away from him.

  "Why didn't he resist?  Haven't you taught him to?"  Was the only thing she said, before darting off to the Great Hall.

  For Hermione and Ron, it was clear that Harry wanted to be alone right now, so they separated and sat with Seamus and the others, while the green eyed boy sat alone.  It wasn't difficult to find a place; the other Gryffindors were so scared of Harry after his 'attack' yesterday, they changed places with a yelp when he went near them.

  He didn't need this right now.  Why weren't his friends staying with him?  Why was everybody scared of him?  Ok, he had an attack, but he was back to normal!  Instead, they were all ogling at him like he was going to hex them into oblivion.  And here was the worse part; he found out he had lost his communication mirror.  It was he who should've died instead of Sirius!

  His mind was clouding again and he found hard to resist the urge of destroying something.  He clutched his fork tightly, until his knuckles turned white and stared emptily at nothing.

  When Usagi arrived in the dining hall, everyone kept quiet.  Hermione and Ron were on their feet in an instant and running to her, while Dumbledore and Pomfrey started to get up.  But she ignored them and spotted Harry, marching to him in large steps until Hermione stopped her.

  "Serena!  You're ok!  You should leave Harry alone, he doesn't look so good."  She was clutching Usagi's arms and the blue eyed girl gazed at her hands with a hard look, before doing the same directly into Hermione's eyes.  The poor girl retracted her hands swiftly and gazed at her friend's arms.  "Serena!  What happened to your arms!?"  She gasped.

  Usagi tensed but replied nothing.  With her robes destroyed, she was only wearing her muggle clothes, which showed a large amount of her arms.  She looked back at Harry, but Ron intercepted her in his turn.  "You really shouldn't go to him, girl!  I don't think he wants to be disturbed!"

  Usagi hissed at him and fisted her hand in his collar, leveling him eye to eye with her, and he almost let out a gasp at the way she was looking at him.  "Some friend you turn out to be!"  She let go of him and he stumbled a little to regain his footing.

  She stopped in front of Harry.  He was fisting his fork firmly and she could feel waves of self-pity pouring out of him.  What was he thinking?!  It was in vulnerable moments like this one that Voldemort liked to take possession of his mind!  Vulnerable moments he should've been able to block a long time ago!

  She had enough!  She had to talk some sense into him, and right now before he unintentionally hurt someone again!  She raised her hand slowly, the other students intently staring at the movement, and they couldn't hold off their gasps of shock when she slapped him across the face strongly enough to leave a hand print on his cheek.

  Surprised by the gesture, Harry put a hand on his cheek and winced.  "What was that for?!"  He winced again and rubbed his stinging cheek.  'Jeez! That girl can sure slap!'  He said to himself.  Her eyes didn't softened one bit, and instead hardened even more to make him understand she was serious.

  "Get a hold of yourself, Damnit!  Wallowing in self pity won't do you any good, Harry!"

  Harry looked at the ground shamelessly.  She sighed and took something out of her pocket, tossing it on the table.  Harry immediately recognized the object on the table and clutched it fiercely to himself.  "But how?  I thought I lost it!"  Her eyes softened a bit.  "I found it on Hogwarts ground.  I thought the thing must've belonged to you.  It must've fallen out of your pocket yesterday.  I'll see you later, Harry.  We need to talk anyway."

  She left the hall for her class, leaving a curious green eyed boy behind, along with some gaping people, including Remus and Dumbledore.

*~*

  "Ok, class, that's enough theory for today.  We'll begin practice, now.  Put your books in your bags and listen."  Minerva gave the children time to clear out their desk and continued.  "To become an animagus is not an easy task.  You've often seen me transform into my cat form but even though it looks simple, it is in fact quite the contrary.  It took me years of practice to do it without putting myself into danger.  Yes, Mr. Longbottom?"

  The teacher raised her eyebrow at Neville, who had raised his hand.  "Well ma'am" he started, "I was just wondering; how can it be dangerous to become an animagus?"

  Mc Gonagall snorted.  "You don't have any idea of how many careless people got stuck between their human form and their animagus form because they couldn't finish the transformation properly."  She finished dryly.  Neville gulped.

  "But don't worry; I don't have any intention on making you transform today, not by a long shot.  I just want everybody to focus on an animal.  It can be an animal you love, or an animal that connects you to something or someone.  Not everybody will be able to sense the link, but those fortunate enough will be rewarded several points.  Just focus your thoughts on an animal and nothing else, and then push it up on the surface.  Concentrate, Miss Brown!"  Lavender stopped talking with her friends and closed her eyes.

  While Ron was busy fantasizing about all the more imaginative animals, Harry was focusing on only one thing; Sirius.  It hadn't taken him long to become an animagus, so Harry only wanted to push his limits.  He was trying so hard to concentrate on a dog form, but it didn't seem to fit him.  The mental image kept fleeing away.  He was about to give up when the image of a snake invaded his mind.  He shook his head frantically, trying to get rid of it, when another animal appeared and attacked the serpent, making his mind focus again.  Gleaming yellow eyes gazed back at him with assurance and pride.  He knew he had found the right animal, and it was a good compromise, almost like his godfather.

  At the same time, Usagi had trouble concentrating.  Any animal image she came up with disappeared instantly.  Nothing seem to fit her and focusing even more didn't seem to do anything more than give her an annoying headache.  She sighed and opened her eyes, watching the students think away.

  'Looks like I don't have any animal to connect myself with, it's a pity.  I've always wondered how it would be like to be a cat or any other animal…It proves that I'm really not cut out to be a witch.  What I do best, I do it as a warrior, nothing else.'  She sulked a little.

  After giving all the instructions about how becoming an animagus, Mc Gonagall gave them the task to 1: write about their chosen animal for those who hadn't found any link, or 2: begin a slow transformation for those who had found their match.

  In potions class, Usagi ignored Snape all the while, making him squirm in his seat.  She glared accusingly at him every time he dared to look at her at it was making him crazy.  He knew what he had to do to earn her respect again, but damnit!  He really didn't want to do this.  But he did it nonetheless.

  After the class, Ron, Hermione and Usagi wanted for Harry to come out.  Snape had asked him to stay to talk and when the green eyed boy finally emerged from the class, they were greeted by a dazed Harry.  "What happened, mate?  Did the git give you detention again for not doing anything wrong?"  Ron asked angrily.

  Harry shook his head negatively.  "Actually, no.  He asked me to come back on Tuesdays and Thursdays for Occlumency lessons."  Ron gaped.  "But I thought he never wanted to see you again after the pensieve accident!"

  Harry nodded.  "So do I.  He was really mad, and it didn't matter how many times I had apologized."  Hermione put a hand on her shin pensively.  "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you've been possessed by Voldemort again…Oh Ron!  Honestly!  Stop cringing, it's just a name."

  They started to walk up the stairs and didn't see the triumphal smirk Usagi gave off.  Ron called out, behind his shoulders; "Hey Serena?  You coming or staying there all day?"

  "I'm coming, Ron.  Don't put your knickers in a twist!"  She called back.

*~*

  "You're doing it, Colin!  Just put more magic into it!"  Harry was urging Colin Creevey to make his patronus.  Classes were finished and the small group was reunited again for another DA meeting in the room of requirement.  Most of them could now reproduce a patronus, although see through and not so strong as Harry's.

  Hermione's was an owl, and Ron, a fox.  Go figure!  Maybe it had something to do with his red-head color…Anyway, the only person who wasn't be able to do it, unexpectedly, was Usagi.  She tried her best, really, but her 'wand' refused to cooperate.  Duh!  Her staff wasn't meant to do things like that!

  Their meeting ended rather late, and Usagi huffed desperately, sitting on a sofa she made appear.  Harry turned to her with a sympathetic smile and sat beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.  "You shouldn't be impatient, Serena.  All the others had at least 2 years to practice.  You've been here for only a couple of weeks.  Nobody can create a good corporeal patronus in one shot."

  They gazed in each other's eyes and Harry started to speak again, when a girl's voice echoed in the room.  "Hey Harry, I wanted to talk to…you.  Did I interrupt something?"  Cho said, raising her eyebrows speculatively at their position.  Harry glared at her for braking the moment, and then retracted his hand from Usagi's shoulder.  "What is it, Cho?"  He asked more harshly that he intended.

  The girl stuttered and fidgeted.  "Nothing, it can wait until tomorrow.  Ummm…Good night."  She finished lamely.  Harry sighed and sat back on the couch, willing himself a glass of pumpkin juice.  Usagi looked at him uncomfortably.  "What did she want?"

  Harry finished his juice and muttered; "It's not important.  You know, I had a crush on her and she's actually the first person I ever kissed.  It's stupid, really. But when she kissed me, nothing happened.  No sparks, no thrills, nothing.  It was only a silly crush."

  Usagi fidgeted.  "And you're telling me this, because?"  Harry put his head in his hands.  "I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable, I'm sorry.  But I wanted you to know this.  Ever since that kiss we shared…"

  Usagi cut him.  "About that kiss-"

  "It was the most mind blowing experience of my life."  Harry finished.  Usagi stared wide eyed at him.  "I tried to keep my distances, just because I thought you would be put in less danger than by being with me openly, but I just can't go on like this anymore!  Damnit!  I lost too many people and I want you to be by my side!"  Harry blurted all the things he kept in his heart in one go.

  Usagi almost snorted at the irony.  "Well, that was pointless."

  "What do you mean?"  Harry asked.

  "Well, I thought about the same thing as you, as it seem.  How foolish of us.  But really, Harry, these scars I have are proof of it; I can take care of myself, and I've seen a lot of things.  A little too many."  She finished quietly.  Harry took her hands in his and he urged her to look at him.  "I just don't want to loose you, that's all."

  "You won't, Harry.  I'll always be there for you no matter what, and everything will work out in the end, don't worry."  Harry caressed her cheeks with one hand and slowly, their heads bent to meet one another.  The kiss was nothing short of sublime; soft, tempting but still innocent.

  As Harry's courage grew, he licked Usagi's petal soft lips and he took advantage of her gasp by plunging his tongue in her mouth.  The intensity of the kiss grew and their tongues battled for dominance, until the rabbit decided to let him win.  It was too good of an opportunity to pass up anyway.

  When oxygen became an issue, they both parted, gasping for air, cheeks red and lustful eyes.  "I don't know how I've been able to survive without this."  Harry said between too breaths.  "Be my girlfriend?"  Usagi leaned her forehead against his and smiled warmly.  "Yes.  I love you, Harry."

  "I love you too, so much!"  Harry beamed.

  Usagi giggled.  "Though, you'll have to face my father eventually!  I just can't wait to see his face when I tell him!"  She giggled again when Harry paled.  "Oh, don't worry, I was just kidding.  You won't have any problems, I swear.  He'll be ecstatic to see you, actually."

  "Oh really?"  Usagi didn't respond.  Instead, she kissed him lovingly and got up, stretching languidly along the way.  "Come on, we should get going, or Filch will catch us wandering at a late hour."  Harry gasped.  "You're right!  I know a shortcut, follow me!"  He took her hand and they started to run in the corridors, laughing.  Everything was as it should be, at least for today. 

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He! He! What is Harry's animagus form?

I'm trying to get the plot going a little faster.  So don't despair! ^_^    Next chapter: Helios' gift! 

I want REVIEWS, people!  If you want me to update Wednesday, you know what to do!

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Eternal Cosmos ^_~