Chapter 2
The weekend seemed to last an eternity for Harry. He couldn't concentrate on his homework at all, and his thoughts kept drifting back to Draco's letter, safely stashed away in Harry's trunk. Harry was running his plot through his mind over and over again, planning even the slightest detail.
He knew he would have Care of Magical Creatures with Slytherin house on Monday, and doubtless Draco would be there with his two goons Crabbe and Goyle. The lesson would proceed as usual (Harry hoped), and at some point Hagrid would let them "meet and greet" with their creature of the day. It was then Harry hoped to pounce.
The hardest part of the plan would be how to separate Draco from his flock of goons. Harry spent hours trying to decide what was the best way to get Draco away from the others, without drawing suspicion to himself. The roughly 10-15 minutes of time Hagrid gives them to get aquatinted with pets would give Harry the chance he needed to get Draco's attention.
The later details Harry didn't worry about. Threaten Draco with blackmail, Draco gets frightened, Harry lays out his demands. Compared to the first step, Harry thought, the rest would be a breeze.
Another difficulty arose over that eternity of a weekend. Ron, Hermione, and some of the other Gryffindors were becoming worried by Harry's recent apathetic behavior. Harry seemed distracted, aloof, and uncaring about anyone or anything. For two whole days, any answer Harry gave was a short as possible, and any attempt to draw Harry into a conversation was futile. Harry didn't notice how oddly he was behaving, but every one else did. By the time Monday morning rolled around, almost every Gryffindor that knew Harry on sight (which is to say, all of them) had their eye on Harry.
Harry became aware of everyone's sudden interest in his welfare when he was asked how he was from about twenty people in the time it took him to walk from his room to the Gryffindor common room. The constant staring set him on edge, and he about jumped out of his pants when Ron came up behind him and tapped his shoulder.
"Careful, Harry. You jump like that, and everyone will think spiders have decided to nest in your pants." Ron said ruefully. Ron shivered at the thought of spiders, but went on as if it were his normal greeting. "You'll never believe what I heard!"
"What?" Harry asked, only listening with half and ear. He was going through his plan again, despite his best efforts not to.
"Hagrid's brought in a Chimera. A Chimera! You know, the gigantic lions with the big teeth, the bat wings, and the scorpion tale. Harry, are you even listening?!" Ron's voice was a mixture of excitement and annoyance.
"What? Oh, yeah, Ron. I'm listening. A shamera. Cool." Harry replied absently.
"A CHIMERA" Hermione corrected, coming up on Harry's other side. "Seriously, Harry. When was the last time you even opened your Care for Magical Creatures text book? The Chimera is a malevolent intelligent magical being, incredibly deadly and almost as resistant to magic as dragons. I hear tell that control the Chimera, five wizards had to place the constraints on him. He'll be no danger to us, but this is a rare treat to see something so dangerous in captivity."
A grin grew on Harry's face. Even better! Crabbe and Goyle would stare at anything as dumb and beastly as they were. Harry's plan couldn't be proceeding any better.
Hermione misinterpreted Harry's smile for a look of excitement. "That's right, Harry. A real live Chimera, here! Oh, I want to get pictures!" With that, Hermione turned and ran back up to her room, leaving Ron and Harry plodding outside to Hadgrid's home.
It was an overcast day, the sun hidden behind thick clouds that bore no hint of rain. The temperate was wonderful, a little on the warm sighed, but a soft, cool breeze flowed across the lake and onto the students. Harry's day was feeling brighter already.
Harry was surprised to find that he could descry the Chimera against the forest back drop the instant he stepped out of Hogwarts. Harry had know that it was massive, but he had been thinking of something the size of a large pony, but not much bigger. Though it was hard to be certain at that distance, Harry believed the Chimera was bigger than any normal horse he'd ever seen, even bigger than the draft horses he'd seen on the Dursley's television set. Maybe even larger than the horses that had pulled Madam Maxine's coach the year before.
As the students walked towards Hagrid's hut, a roar split the air and the Chimera flexed it's huge scorpion tail and bat-like wings. A hush fell over the students, until the Chimera's little display was over. Harry couldn't help but wonder what Hagrid had to do to have gotten permission to bring something so obviously dangerous to Hogwarts, especially after the Hypogryph fiasco two years earlier.
"A'right, everyone." Hagrid's voiced boomed, louder even than the roars of the Chimera. " Listen up! This 'ere Chimera is not your typical cute and cuddly critter." Those words had a lot of meaning: Hagrid thought that even dragons and Cerebus were cute and cuddly. "This one is real dangerous. Had to get a control put on him by professional wizards, we did. He won't hurt ye if you don' get too close, but... ahh... don't provoke him."
Harry shuddered at the thought of provoking that thing. Up close, the Chimera was even more intimidating than at a distance. It's mouth was filled with teeth the size of steak knives, and it displayed them every time it roared. Under the fur, the chimera's skin seemed to sparkle, as if it had scales. It's claws were black and a long as daggers, and it's scorpion tail glistened with poison. Most frightening of all were it's eyes: Dark orbs that seemed to root you to your spot, filled with hate and rage at being captured.
So engrossed was Harry that at first he didn't notice Draco standing off alone to the side of the Chimera's pen. Harry's heart jumped. Now was the perfect chance.
Moving slowly, Harry made his way towards Draco. Luckily, the Chimera held everyone's attention, so no one even glanced in his direction. Not even Draco. Bracing himself, he leaned forward and whispered in Draco's ear.
"I have the letter." Harry said quietly.
Draco practically jumped from his skin, his face terror stricken. "Potter... you..." He stuttered, then shut his mouth. Draco looked as if he were about to wet his pants. His eyes held little hope, and his bottom lip trembled as if he were near tears.
"I didn't tell anyone what it said." Harry whispered, trying to keep Draco at least somewhat sensible. "And I won't, so long as you give me what I want."
"What do you want, Harry?" Draco asked hollowly. He feared what Harry might ask almost as much by what Harry had. Almost.
Harry opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He had spent so much time planning the confrontation, he had not spent any time at all thinking about why he wanted to do it in the first place. Harry's mind raced to think of something.
"Well?" Draco asked angrily. "What do you want? Don't tell me you don't want anything. You wouldn't have told me you had it, in that case."
"I want... I want you to stop trying to hurt me and my friends!" Harry said quickly, trying to recover.
"That's it?" Draco asked. He no longer seemed angry, only confused. "After all I put you through, that's it? You just want me to leave you alone? And you won't tell anyone about the letter?"
Harry nodded. "I swear, no one will ever learn of it, if you keep your end of the bargain." It was not the revenge Harry had hoped for, but then, it was his own fault. His single mindedness had cost him the sweet taste of revenge. But it had not been for nothing. At least one minor annoyance was gone from his life.
"Potter... Harry..." Draco began, but stopped once more. He looked almost thankful. Instead of finishing, he just shook his head and turned away.
Harry smiled. He had won, after all. He should feel ecstatic. Instead, he felt only relief that his plan was done. Shrugging off his thoughts, Harry turned to search for Hermione and Ron.
Another roar came from the Chimera, and though Harry jumped at the sound, Harry didn't bother to turn around. The Chimera had been roaring regularly since Harry had gotten them. This time, however, shouts and a loud crash followed the roar. Harry turned just in time to see a massive stinger flying straight towards his head. Harry had no time to do anything except turn to shield his face before the stinger hit.
Pain wracked Harry's body. Harry's world was pain, a pain that was eating him from the inside out. Harry's last thought before everything went black was that Voldemort was going to be very disappointed.
