CHAPTER EIGHT: WEASEL
September rolled into October, and the planning continued. Hermione could generally be found in either the library, the rooms allocated to the three Marauders or the common room doing homework and researching the exact spell that was going to defeat Voldemort once and for all. Harry was very busy as well, in between his duties as Quidditch Captain and schoolwork he was also being given extra Defence Against the Dark Arts by Remus and Sirus, occasionally his father would help as well, but generally his teaching and Order duties took up too much time.
All in all Ron Weasley was feeling somewhat left out of his friends' escapades. He had of course asked where Harry went virtually every night, the raven-haired boy, had made some references to extra DADA lessons with Professor Lupin and left it at that. Hermione was far busier with schoolwork than usual, so most evenings Ron was left alone in the common room without his two best friends, as a consequence he had spent a lot more time with Dean and Seamus than was normal. He didn't bother nosing into Harry's business or checking his best friend's story, Harry was Voldemort's prime target so it was only natural that he would be at the centre of the war effort, but still he would have preferred to spend more time with his best friend.
It wasn't until a fortnight after the start of term that the planning group found a spell that would defeat Voldemort once and for all, after having to sacrifice Harry in the process. It was that qualifier that had caused the problem, Harry's link with Voldemort created with the rebounding killing curse fourteen years previously, and strengthened by the use of Harry's blood in the rebirth ritual meant that most curses that would have had any chance of destroying Voldemort's soul would also kill Harry as well, something that the group was trying to avoid. Of course there was the possibility using one of the weaker death curses, but seeing as Voldemort had survived the strongest of this group of curses before they didn't want to take the risk.
It wasn't until just after Decio's Slayer Curse had been uncovered in a dusty old tome from the restricted section of the Library that Ron got caught up in the plans, and even then it was only because of a security lapse on James' part. To be precise it was in the early hours of October eleventh that the last member of the trio found out about the plans for that Halloween.
It was during that particular evening that Ron and Hermione were in the Gryffindor common room, long after everyone else had gone to bed, waiting for their best friend to return from his training session. The two Gryffindors were worried that their best friend hadn't returned, despite the fact it was nearly midnight, especially because they wanted to tell their best friend about a confrontation she had with Draco Malfoy in the Library earlier that evening, that had hinted at the location of the death eater attack that was due to take place on Halloween. When the clock struck midnight they resolved to go out and find their best friend, afraid that he had been kidnapped on death eaters. Collecting the invisibility cloak they walked through the portrait hole and along the hallway towards the entrance hall.
Harry, meanwhile was in no such danger, instead his training session had merely overrun by several hours. Remus was a hard taskmaster, especially considering that Halloween was three weeks away and Harry had yet to learn the spell that they hoped would dispose of Voldemort once and for all. As his best friends fretted about his whereabouts in the common room, Remus was trying to teach him Decio's Slayer Curse without much luck, Harry simply could not say the incantation correctly, and Remus had refused to let him go until he had finally got it right, which hadn't been until just before midnight. Frustrated and exhausted Harry left the dungeon set aside for their training session and made his way to the common room via the entrance hall, where he met James returning from a death eater meeting. Unsurprisingly the spy wasn't in the best of moods, but even so he offered to accompany Harry to the portrait hole, so he wouldn't receive detention if Filch caught him out after curfew. The pair walked in silence, both too tired and frustrated to speak.
To say that Ron was surprised to find his best friend accompanied by his supposedly dead father was an understatement; stunned beyond words was a more accurate description. But, as is inevitable with Ron this was accompanied by anger.
"When were you planning to tell me your father was alive?" the red head shouted angrily, hurt by the fact his best friend had deceived him and not told him the truth, "I thought you trusted me?"
Harry sighed. He had hoped that his best friend would not find out about James, afraid that if he did he would be forced to tell the red head the truth despite the fact he wouldn't be able to handle. Ron had many good qualities, unfortunately in this instance, tolerance and understanding were not among them, and without those qualities he would let his innate prejudices against his father and homosexuals control his actions, rather than his loyalty, "He's not my father, Ron." Harry explained with a heavy heart, hoping that his guesses as to how Ron would react to the truth were wrong. If he was right Ron's actions would make his attitude towards Harry during their fight last year look friendly.
Unsurprisingly Ron refused to believe him, his snort of disbelief made this perfectly obvious. He even refused to believe James when he confirmed what Harry said, saying that the raven-haired boy had told the older man to say that, "I know what your father looks like Harry, I have seen pictures." Ron continued refusing to calm his tone.
Harry sighed again, more out of frustration and the fear that he knew his best friend far too well than out of despair, "You know what my godfather looks like, Ron. James Potter is not my father, Fangs is."
"I suppose you weren't planning to tell me that git was your father either huh?" Ron yelled feeling doubly betrayed. He was about to launch into another tirade when he found himself being blown across the corridor, the victim of a banishing hex from Harry and a painful boils curse from James. Bruised, battered and lying on the floor he found the two Potters, young and old, false and real, standing over him wands pointed at him looking furious.
"Nobody insults my father," the younger, angrier, fake Potter growled, "Not even Sirus, and especially not my so-called best friend." He was met by a defiant glare, full of anger and malice.
"My best friend doesn't stand up for death eaters," the red head bit back, his tone full of malice and hatred, "But then you're no longer my best friend, traitor. Hope you have a nice time kissing up to your master, death eater." He regretted his words instantly, initially because of the effect they had on Harry, and latter on because of what he said and what they represented.
To say those words enraged Harry was like saying that a red flag has little effect on a bull. If Harry had been angry before then it was nothing compared to how he felt after Ron's accusation. To Harry it was the ultimate betrayal, almost as bad as if Ron had joined the death eaters, he knew that Harry would never ever join the creature, in Harry's mind no man could ever be evil as Lord Voldemort, that had killed his parents and made his life a misery. Incensed by Ron's words he saw nothing but red, and launched himself at Ron, obeying his most primal instinct, ignoring the fact he was a wizard and had a wand in his hand. He didn't even seek to defend himself with words preferring to let forth a roar of anger and defend himself with violence.
It was a reaction that shocked Hermione. Harry never reacted this way to Malfoy, normally it was Ron that was seeking to beat the Slytherin into pulp, while Harry duelled him with words, but then Malfoy never accused Harry of being a death eater and if anything was likely to incense it was the accusation that he was in any way evil. She never perfectly well that Harry was scared of becoming the next Voldemort, just as Ron was jealous of Harry. After the shock had passed she reacted quickly to end the fight by stunning both of the boys and getting James to help restrain them as she removed the stunner. The two boys glared at each other, hatred and anger etched in their scowls. Harry was struggling to get free from James' firm grip seeking to continue the fight. At least Ron wasn't trying to do the same, for if he had Hermione wouldn't have been able to restrain him.
"This isn't over, Weasley." Harry sneered as he was led away from the portrait hole by the man everyone thought was his father. When they were out of sight Ron and a disapproving Hermione followed.
The tension between the two boys had not diminished the next morning. Harry wasn't at breakfast, but was waiting in their first class of the day when Ron and Hermione arrived. The look he gave Ron showed that he was just as ready to jump on the red head and pound him to pieces as he had been the previous evening, he also gave a Hermione a murderous glare figuring that she had chosen Ron's side in the argument. Hermione approached him at lunch, in order to show that she had not taken sides in the argument, but Harry immediately beat her back.
"Nice words, Hermione," he snapped in response to her peace offering, "But judging by the fact you've been hanging around with Weasley all morning you don't seem to mean them. You had your opportunity to show you weren't going to take sides and the fact you've done nothing until now shows you don't mean it."
He stood up angrily and was about to walk out of the hall when they were interrupted by the drawling voice of Draco Malfoy, "What's this?" he asked, "Finally realised that Weasels and Mudbloods make good friends Potter? My offer remains open." Harry spun round to see Malfoy had his hand held out, and was wearing the sort of smirk that made Harry want to punch him. All conversation ceased as the great hall waited for Harry's reaction.
Choosing to humiliate the Slytherin instead, Harry smiled sweetly and took the hand instead, to resounding gasps from all four tables. His expression changed back to one of malice when he threw his enemy over his shoulder onto the Gryffindor table using a perfect Judo throw, causing resounding cheers from three of the house tables, who loved seeing a Slytherin humiliated, especially one as annoying and nasty as Draco Malfoy. The look of triumph that had appeared in the blond's eyes for a few seconds was replaced with an evil sneer full of pure hatred.
"The day I become friends with you, Ferret boy, is the day Voldemort expresses his undying love for Professor Trelawney." Harry sneered, making sure to spit in Malfoy's face. Glaring at the silent crowd, he swept past the silent house tables out of the Great Hall, his robes billowing behind him, only to be caught by Ron Weasley in the entrance hall.
"Look I'm sorry for what I said, Harry," the red head gabbled, nervous due to the raven-haired boy's obvious bad mood, "I know you wouldn't join You-Know-Who, I was just angry because you didn't tell me. I mean we're best friends we're supposed to tell each other these things…"
He was cut off by the realisation that the stern glare had not wavered, "I don't care, Weasley." Harry sneered, his tone sounding eerily like that of his father, "You're obviously not sorry, so don't pretend you are." Ignoring the stammering Ron, he swept off towards his godfathers' room.
I know Harry may seem OOC, but we've never really seen Harry in a really really bad mood in cannon, but then Ron hasn't called him a death eater, so I modlled his bad mood on Snape. I should have said this in the story, but Harry has two godfather's, James and Sirius, after all Severus would never allow his worst enemy to be his son's godfather, but it would have been suspicous if anyone other than Sirius had been named as godfather. On another note, pairings for the sequel have been decieded, but I'm not going to say anything. I also said that I wouldn't post my next story until after I finished this one, well I changed my mind. It's called "Snake Healer: The Malfoy Muggle Lover", and to summarise is a Lucius Malfoy as Harry's Father Fic, so go read it. Thank You for your feedback and your reviews, keep them coming. I'm not a review junkie, but I cannot write without feedback.
JoeBob1379: You can use the quote, although I am somewhat surprised that you asked. Your argument about Slash was one of the reasons why I dropped the idea, along side various plot considerations. As for Ginny I already have her paired with a student, although the pairing is subject to change. I do not do teacher/student relationships, I find the whole idea disgusting. But Ginny/Sev seems especially cliche as it involves the whole Ginny as representing Lilly idea, which personally I do not like, having said that my proposed Ginny pairing is quite cliche too for different reasons.
dedbabydoll: Thank You for the review. I do try to be original, I don't like writing cliches.
Jessica Black: Thank You for your opinion. Cho however will feature in the sequel, in a positive light.
Pink-Crane: I am willing to accept the blame, it is after all a compliment. Thabk You for your review and the opinion expressed.