Me? Evil? Ha! You don't know the half of it! Well, I suppose you do by now, with my tendency towards shorty-story cliffhangers and the like. But, you get the gist.
Ah, and I see that I've got some questions…very, very good questions…wonder what the answers are? Mwua-ha-ha! Never fear, dear readers, all questions will be answered soon enough. I will tell you this, however: Harry's double is not from the future. Or the past. And he's not his long-lost twin, or anything like that. Things that make you go hmm…
As for the second guess, who knows? Besides me, of course, and I'm not telling. [Insert repetitive evil laugh]. And where is Draco, you ask? Well, I'll give you a hint: only three people know the answer to that. Tee hee hee…I will try to make the chapters longer, however. I didn't realize how short they were until I posted them. Who knew that four hours worth of work was only a screen and half long? (Yes, yes, I'm S…L…O…W…) A travesty, I tell you, a travesty…Thanks for reviewing, and sorry for the belated posting of the chapter!!! ~8]
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Disclaimers: Do Not Tear Mattress Tag…oh, wait…uh, see Chapter 4…
Chapter 5: Disappearing Act
Harry barely had time to flinch before Goyle belted a beefy fist across his face. He cried out in surprise, the impact knocking him sprawling onto his side. In his confusion, Harry's grip had loosened on the wand concealed in his hand, sending it skittering across the floor. Harry lunged for it. He let out a shrill cry when Goyle quickly crunched his foot down onto Harry's outstretched hand. Crabbe then stooped down and picked the wand up, flinging it away with all his might.
Harry lay on his back, protectively covering his battered hand from any further injury. Crabbe knelt down and straddled himself across Harry's stomach, circling his massive hands around the boy's neck. Harry gasped at the sudden pressure around his throat, gagging when Crabbe lightly pushed his thumbs into his adam's apple.
"Where's he, you bloody wanker?" Goyle demanded.
"Who?" Harry gasped.
Crabbe pressed his thumbs in even deeper, smiling when this elicited a strangled cry from Harry. Harry whimpered slightly, certain the behemoth was going to asphyxiate him before he even knew what the hell was going on.
"'Who?' Draco, you stupid prick. What'd you do with 'im?" Harry blinked his lashes free of the tears pooling in his eyes. "What…are you…talking about--'" He gagged quite loudly as Crabbe shoved his thumbs all the way into his throat, causing tiny black spots to float in Harry's line of vision. Strangled gasps escaped from his mouth as he labored to breathe. Where they really trying to kill him?
Crabbe finally released his hands from around Harry's neck. Promptly Harry began to suck in much needed air, though Crabbe's crushing weight still rested atop him.
"One more time, Potter," Crabbe snarled, "where's Draco?" Now able to speak freely, Harry in turn questioned them. "How should I know where that little shit ran off to? I wasn't the last person to see him," he asserted angrily. "No, but that Weasel bastard threatened him," Crabbe began. "And as far as we're concerned," Goyle continued, "you Gryffindor gits all look the same, anyways. Except you," he spat, "with that bloody scar on your damned forehead."
Crabbe finished. "What we're trying to say is: you, him, doesn't matter to us, as long as one of you gets it. No one insults a Slytherin like that without getting like in return." He chuckled along with Goyle, then pushed himself off of Harry. "Tell that little Weasel he can look forward to this the next time we see 'im." The two hoodlums then began to liberally kick Harry about the torso, occasionally striking his stomach and face.
"…stop it…please…" Tears streamed down Harry's face as he fought to deflect the blows assailing him from all sides. Crabbe viciously kicked him squarely in the crotch, leaving the boy to wail in agony. Harry received a final punt to the back of his head before Crabbe and Goyle stalked off to harass someone else.
Harry carefully wrapped his arms around himself, attempting to stifle the muscle spasms twinging throughout his body. Slow, shallow breaths helped to calm his anguished sobs from jarring his body even more. Certain the two swollen oafs had gone, Harry slowly raised himself up onto his side, and began to scan the dark hallway for his wand. He had no sooner turned himself around when he saw his accursed twin standing not more than five feet from him.
It simply stood there staring at him, its penetrating gaze chilling Harry to the very core. The young wizard's breath hitched in his throat, frightened by the very presence of his Other. His heart quickened in pace the longer it remained there, until Harry thought the beating of his heart might very well deafen his ears. He then slowly opened his quivering mouth, desperate to form words. "Wha--what do you…want…?"
Harry's other self said nothing. It instead spread the most malicious grin the young man had ever seen across its face. Harry shook with unbridled fear until he felt his eyes slip back into his head, and his head onto the ground.
After that, Harry was quiet.
* * * * * *
The first thing Harry noted upon waking was the incessant chattering emanating from the Dining Hall. This meant the students were still eating, so he hadn't been out long. Otherwise, someone surely would have noticed him lying sprawled across the floor. He opened his eyes, blinking them into focus. As he sat up slowly, Harry checked his surroundings to make certain of no more unpleasant appearances by his double. Convinced that he was alone, he stood up and took a few stumbling steps towards the nearest staircase, at the end of the short corridor. Harry nearly fell once more when his foot rolled atop something smooth. Regaining his footing, he bent down and latched a firm grasp around the object.
It was his wand.
Harry kissed it with relief and grinned slightly; the soreness of his cheek prevented anything greater than that. He slid it back into its rightful place within his robes and hurried up the staircase the best he could, hoping that Ron and Hermione hadn't left the library without him.
* * * * * *
Although the library was generally reserved to be a sanctuary of knowledge and silence, its lone occupants were doing their best to disregard the latter of its tenets.
"But that doesn't make a lick of sense, Hermione--!"
"No, Ron, it makes perfect sense. You see, right here it details--"
"No! I mean, yes, I've seen it, over and over again, but why is it here?"
Hermione shrugged nonchalantly. "Why not? These things don't have a reason for appearing, they just do. It's says so right here in the book--"
"Agh, the book! Enough with the book, Hermione," Ron exclaimed in disgust. "I'm just not yet sold on the idea, that's all." Hermione moved to close the tome in frustration when Harry entered from her right, looking a good deal worse than they had left him.
"And what idea would that be?" His friends gaped in shock at his appearance. Hermione was the first to hurriedly skid her chair back and rush to Harry's side, who looked quite ready to collapse at any moment. She gently pushed him into her chair and knelt down, brushing the hair away from his bruised face so that she could have a better look. Ron squatted on his other side, grasping hold of his best friend's shoulder firmly, who looked to be in a bit of a daze. "Harry?" asked Hermione in a hushed voice, "who did this to you?" Harry perused his classmates' worried expressions before continuing. "Crabbe," he replied in a subdued manner, "and Goyle. They wanted to know where Draco was."
"Malfoy? Are they sure he didn't flush himself down the loo or something?" Hermione shot Ron an exasperated look as Harry continued. "They had been looking for you, Ron, but ran into me first. It didn't matter who 'got it,' because we 'Gryffindor gits' all look the same to them, anyway." Harry glanced at Ron, who looked utterly crestfallen. Ron closed his eyes for a moment, then looked back at Harry. "Gods, Harry…they did this to you because of me," he paused, shaking his head slowly, "I'm so sorry. I never meant for anything like this to happen." Harry turned to him angrily. "Ron, I'm not going to let you think for one second that this was in any way your fault. Malfoy's gotten lost on his own accord, and no one else should be blamed for his own stupidity."
Hermione nodded in agreement. "He's right, Ron, you've no reason to blame yourself for this." Ron nodded slightly, though not wholly convinced. Hermione turned her attention back to Harry. "Did they hit you anywhere else?" He opened his mouth, surprising himself when he replied, "No." He supposed he didn't want them to worry about him anymore than he wanted to add fodder to Ron's guilt trip. Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? You still look a little peaked. Do you want to go to the clinic and have those bruises looked at? And what did they hit you with anyway, because that mark on your face looks like a shoe print--" Harry sighed, exasperated. "I'm fine. Besides, it's nothing that won't heal in a few days, anyway." Before she could protest, he started on a different subject. "So," he began, grabbing the large book Hermione had last looked at, "have you found out anything?"
Hermione grabbed the book, and flipped through it about halfway, finally settling on a page. "As a matter of fact, we did. Or, at least I did anyway," she said, glancing at Ron. She showed Harry an article she had come across, entitled 'Mysterious Muggle Mishaps.' "It tells the story of a muggle schoolteacher," she began, "who began seeing her double every place that she went. The intensity of sightings culminated in her getting fired from her job. Apparently her double liked to pick flowers in the garden outside of the woman's classroom while she was teaching, confusing and distracting her students because they weren't sure which teacher to pay attention to."
Harry furrowed his brow in thought. "Does this thing have a name?" She nodded her head. "Yes. It's called a 'Doppleganger,' which essentially means 'double image' or 'double person' in German, I believe." He asked her another question. "What does this…doppleganger do?" She shook her head. "I can't find much on why it does what it does, or where it comes from, for that matter. It seems to be perfectly harmless, though, and usually disappears after awhile." "Did the schoolteacher's ever go away?" Ron asked. Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "None of these books say anything else about her. I guess the best thing we can do at this point is ask Professor McGonagall or Prof--" She was quickly silenced by a barrage of "No!" from her classmates.
"Hermione," Harry began, "I know you mean well, and all, but I still think we should sit this one out for a bit longer, until something else happens. I don't want to cause any undue alarm until I think there's reason to." Ron nodded in agreement. "He's right. Plus, look at what else we've got: a missing Draco. How are we to know that he hasn't downed a Polyjuice potion, or something?"
Hermione sighed loudly. "But wouldn't he at least tell Crabbe and Goyle about it? I don't think they attacked Harry for no other reason than to find out where Malfoy was. Besides, Harry saw his doppleganger before you stood up to Malfoy, Ron. If what Harry saw really was Draco, then why didn't the Slytherins come forward sooner? Because he disappeared, or whatever, after you threatened him--" "You say threatened like it's a bad thing--" Ron began to retort back. "Guys, please!" Harry interjected. "We're not solving anything by arguing." He glanced at the clock. "Look, it's almost time to go to bed, and we've still got homework to do. Why don't we sleep on it for now, and have another go at it at lunchtime, after Transfiguration?"
His friends gave each other an embarrassed smile, and nodded slightly. "Alright, then," Harry said, getting up from the table. "Besides," he smiled, attempting to lighten the mood, "if we start on our Potions homework now, we may even finish it by next year." The trio left the library together, wary of Madame Pince's eyes carefully following their departure up the staircase. As Harry climbed, listening to Ron ask Hermione for advice about a particular spell he was having trouble with, he could feel the brunette glance worriedly in his direction every so often, as if she knew he was holding something back.
He didn't know why he hadn't mentioned the unnerving encounter with his doppleganger to them, or how agonizing Crabbe and Goyle's beating really was. He imagined he didn't wish to burden them with any unnecessary fretting on their part, as there really was no reason to tell them. It wasn't as if his doppleganger had actually spoken to him, or anything, just grinned…Harry convinced himself that it was the draftiness of Hogwarts' Halls which coursed a frigid shiver through his body, and not the thought of his other's malevolent sneer. He shook his head free of the lingering image, and continued to climb the series of staircases which led to the Gryffindor's common room.
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Hello, all. Sorry again about the lateness of this, but school and its blasted assignments beckoned…all bloody weekend. Oh, well, at least I got this chapter up. The bit about the schoolteacher is true, by the way. It happened back around the 1920s or so, in France. I can't remember where I last read about it, 'cause it's been awhile, but it's out there, somewhere. Coming in the next chapter: Where is Draco? Does anybody really care (besides the Slytherins, of course)? Will Harry see his doppleganger again? Who knows (besides me, that is)!? Anyhoo, hope you enjoyed this posting, and remember: Religion may be the opiate of the masses, but reviews are the chocolate bars which feed the monster of creativity inside my stomach, or something equally confusing…hoo, it's late… ~8]