CHAPTER NINE: FIGHT!
Harry's bad mood continued for the rest of the rest of the week. In fact, it culminated in a fight in the Gryffindor common room on Saturday afternoon. It all started when Ron had tried to make up for the fourth time, and Harry had rejected him yet again, still saying he didn't mean it. In his exasperation, caused by his former best friend's obstinacy, Ron started yelling at the raven-haired boy, trying to make him understand that he genuinely did not believe Harry supported the death eaters, and bemoaning the other boy's stubbornness. Harry had just listened dispassionately, before replying.
"This isn't about me, Ron." he replied quietly, the iciness in his voice belying his anger, "You've been perfectly clear in your insistence that don't believe me to be a death eater, and I believe you. But while you continue to insist that Fangs is evil, I cannot be your friend."
"But he is," Ron yelled across the common room, "He's a death eater."
"No he's not." Harry replied, his eyes angrier than before, "Voldemort wants him dead." He resisted the urge to scream when the whole of Gryffindor flinched upon hearing the dark lord's name. He found it incredibly annoying and it only served to increase his anger, "He's even above me on his hit list.
Ron snorted, "Have you tried checking his left forearm recently? He's got a dark mark. He's a death eater."
"Which is exactly the reason why Voldemort wants him dead," Harry countered logically, albeit in a very cold voice, "He betrayed them, started spying for Dumbledore. When Voldemort found out he nearly died, he was lucky that the dark lord wanted him to die a long painful death; gave him time to escape using a portkey."
"Once a death eater, always a death eater," Ron snapped in reply, "He's probably on a mission to befriend you and turn you over to You-Know-Who. I'm only trying to look out for you Harry."
The last comment was a mistake as it only served to aggravate the other boy's already fraying temper. Ron found himself being slammed into the wall, pushed there by an enraged Harry, whose eyes were burning with an anger that he had seen only once before after he had made the comment about Harry being a death eater earlier that week. He found himself pinned there, against the wall, by his former best friend who was holding him by the scruff of his robes. Looking into the Boy-Who-Lived's brilliant green eyes, he felt like a deer caught in headlights. He radiated anger in a manner that would have caused most people to flinch away, but not Ron Weasley, whose natural courage and short temper kicked in.
"Stay out of this, Weasley," He sneered in a quiet but deadly tone that would make an arctic winter seem warm in comparison, "I can look after myself, and don't need some stupid half-brained weasel to do it for me, especially when the damn weasel knows nothing about the situation."
"Well fine then," Ron spat passionately, letting his temper get the better of him, "See if I care. But don't come looking for sympathy when your pathetic death eater father hands you over to his master, although…" Ron never get to finish his comment about his former best friend's loyalties, as it was drowned out by an enraged roar, and halted abruptly by a forceful punch to the jaw. He responded in kind, and soon the two boys were fighting fiercely, egged on by the majority of the Gryffindors.
Hermione, however, was distinctly unimpressed and extremely worried. After wracking her brain for a spell that could stop the fight and coming up short; she left the common room in search for Professor McGonagall, as Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinet tried, in vain, to break up the fight. She found her head of house in her office marking essays, and after a quick explanation both of them hurried back to the common room. Her presence immediately silenced the watching crowd, but had no effect on the two boys fighting, at least not until she recruited the twins to pull the two boys apart, even if Harry still struggled to break free from Fred's grip and continue the fight. He was eventually pacified, but not before threatening his former best friend, and making it perfectly clear that he wanted the fight to continue.
Muttering about how disappointed in them she was and how ashamed she was to be a Gryffindor, Professor McGonagall deducted fifty points each and escorted them to the headmaster's office, marching straight into the old man's office, without bothering to knock on his office door.
"Whatever is the matter Minerva?" Dumbledore asked, eyes twinkling in amusement at his Transfiguration Professor's anger, not even the sight of a bruised and bloodied Harry and Ron diminished the twinkle.
"These two boys were fighting in the common room," McGonagall explained, sounding extremely disappointed and angry.
The twinkle disappeared and he gave Harry and Ron a stern look, not that it had any effect on Harry who was far too angry with Ron to notice, "Thank You Minerva. I will deal with them." the old man said. Knowing a dismissal when she saw one, McGonagall left the office slightly annoyed that the headmaster had not let her hear the reason behind the fight and his punishments. Professor Dumbledore watched his deputy leave and then turned his attention to the two students. He didn't say anything, merely watched them intensely until one of them spoke. It was a look, which made them feel like two naughty boys who had been caught stealing sweets.
"He attacked me, sir." Ron blurted after a few minutes.
"He insulted my father," Harry replied angrily, glaring at Ron, "Called him a pathetic death eater."
"But he is," Ron protested, "Everyone knows that, he is head of Slytherin." The implication was that Professor Snape's house allegiance was conclusive proof that he was a death eater.
Harry didn't need to reply because Professor Dumbledore intervened to defend his potions professor, "I assure you, Mr Weasley, just as I assured Miss Granger, that Professor Snape is no more loyal to Lord Voldemort than I am. He has my complete confidence." Harry was extremely disappointed that he didn't deduct points.
"But, the Slytherins…" Ron began to protest; again Dumbledore cut him off.
"The internal affairs of Slytherin house are none of your business, Mr Weasley," the headmaster reprimanded, "But I am told that the Slytherins are aware of Professor Snape's allegiance to the light side." Ron looked unconvinced but didn't say anything to contradict the headmaster.
"You will both serve two weeks of detention," Both boys protested the headmasters decision, especially Harry who still needed to master the spell to defeat Voldemort, as he was still having difficulty getting the incantation right, let alone actually casting the spell, "Professor Snape will be overseeing Mr. Weasley's detentions, and Mr. Filch will be overseeing Mr. Potter's," Both boys groaned convinced they had the worst deal, although Harry was glad Ron had detention with his father, who Harry hoped would assign his nastiest detentions, "Now Mr. Potter, I am aware of the importance of your training sessions with Mr. Lupin, as a consequence your detention will be postponed until after Halloween." Harry was extremely surprised to hear Dumbledore mention his training sessions; he wasn't supposed to know about them. The fact that he had postponed his detention until Halloween also surprised him; it implied the headmaster knew about their plan to defeat Voldemort too. The headmaster dismissed them, but Harry remained behind, if Dumbledore knew about the plan then he could tell him about the issue that had been agonising for the past few weeks.
They didn't actually get very much spell casting done during that evening's training session, as they discussed the implications of Dumbledore finding out about their plan. Of most intrigue was Dumbledore's comment that some order members didn't want Harry to defeat Voldemort using Decio's Slayer Curse, "for selfish reasons," nobody knew what these reasons could possibly be, but it wasn't going to stop their plan as the headmaster approved of it. Harry had been late to the session as well, after coming straight from the Infirmary where his wounds from the fight had been healed.
Harry didn't get much casting done during the next evening either, but that was because of a very different reason. Harry arrived in Remus' quarters at eight o'clock to find, much to his surprise, that not just Sirius and Remus were waiting for him, but Ron, Hermione, James and his father were there too.
"What's he doing here?" he asked Remus, while glaring at Weasley, "Shouldn't he be in detention?" The glare was returned with equal venom.
"He is," Remus replied, "His detention is to report here every night so you can practice Decio's Slayer Curse on him."
"But wouldn't it kill him?" Harry asked, he may not like the red head at the moment, but he certainly didn't want to kill him. Having said that he trusted Hermione and Remus to make sure his practice target was immune to the curse. He wasn't sure of the specifics of the curse; he knew it only affected the target, and that like most basic killing curses it didn't affect anyone magically linked to the caster. He also knew that some people were immune to it, but he didn't know whom.
"No, he doesn't have any link with the dark, unlike James and your father who have the dark mark, Remus who's a werewolf and Sirius who spent twelve years in Azkaban." Hermione explained in her lecturer voice. Judging by the look of shock on his face, Ron probably hadn't heard anything beyond the revelation that James was a death eater.
"You're a death eater?" Ron asked incredulously, he also sounded slightly disgusted.
James hung his head in shame and nodded solemnly, "Yes, a stupid, stupid mistake born out of jealousy" he whispered in the familiar voice of self loathing that James reserved for when he was talking about his past. He began to tell the familiar story of the reason why he became a death eater and its consequences to a shocked and horrified Ron, leaving out any mention of his relationship with Sirius. Harry was surprised to note that Ron actually seemed to believe James, but then Harry guessed that not even James, who had proved himself over and over again to be an excellent actor, could fake such emotions.
As James ended his speech with his mutterings of self-hatred, claiming that he was evil, and would forever be so. Ron turned to Harry's father and said, "So you're not loyal death eater and never have been then?" It was a statement that made Harry laugh, mainly because of how incredibly stupid Harry thought it sounded. He had after all, despite his anger, been trying to tell Ron that all week. After Harry's father had confirmed that statement, he turned to Harry and, fortunately, in doing so missed the sight of Sirius comforting James, arms wrapped around his lover, stroking his cheek, whispering words of comfort.
"I've been a stupid git. Haven't I?" Ron moaned, "As your best friend I should have trusted you, but I didn't. Can you forgive me?"
"I don't know," Harry replied. He felt somewhat now better that Ron had finally realised the truth, but at the same time he didn't trust him anymore. He didn't know if they could ever be true friends again, but there was no harm in trying. He turned to Hermione, who was smiling and looked genuinely happy, and made up with her too. He trusted her more, he couldn't help it, besides she had actually believed him, but had stayed with Ron all week. Later on that evening he realised that he had been the reason why she was hanging around with Ron and apologised for snapping at her, and for being such a miserable sod.
After the trio had made up there was a moment of silence. Ron was looking at James, as though he was on the verge of saying something. Everyone waited for him to speak, afraid that he had seen Sirius comforting James and was going to say something homophobic.
"You're not evil, James," Ron said eventually, "You were just stupid enough to let your jealousy get the better of you. It doesn't mean you're evil. I did the same thing last year."
James sighed, "I just wish I could start over and forget everything that happened." It wasn't a serious comment, but it gave Harry an idea that might just solve a problem he'd been dealing with for several weeks.
"Do you know any permanent de-ageing potions?" Harry asked, his twinkling in a manner reminiscent of Dumbledore.
"Of course," James replied confused by the question. He wasn't the only one.
"Could you brew one to make you fifteen again, that would be ready by Halloween?" Harry asked, a small smile gracing his lips.
"Yes," James replied looking even more confused, "Who for?"
"You." he replied, his grin broadening. There was a moment's pause before James worked Harry's plan, causing him broke out into a broad grin at about the same Hermione's gasp indicated that she too had worked out Harry's intentions.
"I'll do it," James replied confidently, "After all I'm sure Padfoot would make the perfect godfather."
I didn't have Ron and Harry make up completely because I thought it unrealistic. After such a massive fight, It would be strange if they suddenly trusted each other again, in fact that fact they made up so soon is unusual. And why does Harry trust Hermione so quickly? There are several reasons, the first is mentionned in the chapter, the second is the fact the sequel will be H/Hr, so although Harry hasn't admitted it yet, he fancies her. There will be three more pairings involving key characters, one of which will be slash. There are some major hints as to the plotline of the sequel, or at least elements of it, in this chapter. I can also tell you that the sequel will be called "The Deception of the Redeemed." Thank You for your feedback and your reviews, keep them coming. I'm not a review junkie, but I cannot write without feedback.
Pink-Crane: There was never any question of Harry and Hermione not making up. My concern was that in cannon Harry hasn't really shown his temper, but I agree he is allowed to blow up once in a while.
Sabs: Glad you like it.
Lirael: I started posting it at about the same time as this one, so the earlier chapters are already up. I like a bad Harry too, in fact unless its well written Paradigm-of-Virtue! Harry makes me sick.