Harry Potter and the Curse of the Gypsy

Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews! I hope you like the story, it hit a snag and slowed down for awhile but now it's right back on track! I hope you like it, and be sure to review, read my other works, and please e- mail me at megx87@yahoo.com with any questions, comments, requests to read your masterpiece, or whatever. I'd love to hear from you!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I own only Cory Johnson and the plot. Bah.

Chapter Twelve

Sirius rushed into the cabin. Hagrid had paled and was looking back and forth from Sirius to Madame Maxime wildly. "She saw yeh, Sirius! What're we goin' to do?! We can't have 'er..."

"Relax, Hagrid." Sirius said patiently, raising his hand. Hagrid wasn't listening.

"Have ter use mem'ry charms, er summat...yeh reckon Dumbledore knows one that won' do anythin' to er? I..."

"Hagrid, calm down." Professor Figg looked pointedly at Hagrid, raising a brow.

"She'll tell em, I know it! She ain't bad, but she won' let yeh run around, if she knows yer aroun' here, no..."

"Hagrid..."

"Yeh'll go back to that awful place, an..."

"Hagrid!" Sirius stressed, talking louder.

"An then 'Arry won' ave 'is Godfather, an..."

"HAGRID! LISTEN TO US FOR A MOMENT!" Hagrid froze and looked down at Harry, baffled. "She didn't see Sirius." Harry said, emphasizing every word.

"But...but..."

"She saw a grim." Sirius said, looking at Hagrid pointedly.

"A GRIM?! Where?"

"I'm the grim Hagrid." Sirius stated with exasperation.

Hagrid got a strange look on his face as he began working things out. "Oh...yeh mean, she didn' see yeh? I mean, no' in 'uman form?"

"No. She only saw Snuffles." Harry said, grinning. "The cute and lovable stray that haunts Hogsmeade."

"Oh...well that...that's a relief..." Hagrid, looking flustered, knelt down over Madame Maxime. "Max? Wake up...wake up..." Harry grimaced as he loudly 'tapped' Madame Maxime on the face.

"Doesn't that hurt?" he queried, flinching.

"Nah...don' hurt, she can take it. Us big folk can stand much worse." He looked down at the woman on the floor. "Maxime? You all righ'?"

She moaned. Sirius had already transfigured back into a dog by the time she sat up, moaning as she rubbed her back.

"Oh, 'Agrid, I am sorry, I deed not mean to faint...I saw ze Grim...I thought I had, though...it might have been my imagination..." She froze as Sirius trotted up to her, wearing an expression that, even on a dog, Harry could only describe as mischief. She shrieked as Sirius trotted up to her, reaching to plant a slobbery kiss on her chin.

"Oh, sorry if Snuffles scared yeh, Max. 'E's Fangs new friend...he runs about Hogsmeade some...don' know who owns him."

"I do." Everybody turned to look as Remus strode into the room. He winked at Harry. "He was coming with me to visit Harry and Hagrid here and managed to get away from me. Imagine that." Harry could only just contain his laughter as Sirius, in dog form, looked up at Remus with a look of pure annoyance.

"Oh, really?" Madame Maxime shivered. "Just...keep ze thing away from me...my muzzer saw ze Grim before she died...they tend to startle me."

'Scare the buggering daylights out of you, is more like it.' Harry thought smugly.

"So...who's takin' care of Beauxbatons while you're here?" Hagrid prompted, eager to change the subject. Madame Maxime smiled, obviously relieved.

"Oh, Angelique Delacour, Fleur's aunt. Ze students like her, and I needed to come...talk about matters zat 'appened over ze summer."

"Yes, yes. Tell yeh what, why don' we meet later? I need ter talk to Harry and Remus about summat. 'Bella, why don't you show Max the Chimera?"

Madame Maxime paled considerably. "Ze...ze...chimera?"

Professor Figg smiled and took Madame Maxime by the arm...a difficult task. She led her sputtering from the cabin to the pen. They heard the strange growls, but the ground didn't shake...Harry took that as a good sign.

"Here, Hagrid, let me repair the table for you." Remus said good-naturedly, extending his wand. In a moment the splinters regrouped and the table was once again standing upright, much to Hagrid's relief.

"Righ', thanks." He frowned. "Sorry, looks like the cakes were destroyed."

Sirius smiled as he stood, having just returned to his natural form. "Oh...too bad, then."

"Don't look so sorry." Harry muttered out of the corner of his mouth. "They were actually good for a change."

Sirius laughed as he put a friendly arm around Harry's shoulder. "Dumbledore told me about what happened last night. Are you all right?"

Harry glanced up to the see look of intense concern in Sirius' eyes. He moaned inwardly...this could not be happening. "I'm fine, Sirius. I've got my own room now. Nobody but Dumbledore is going to know where it is."

"I've heard." Sirius looked over at Remus. "I told you that there was something wrong with the gypsy. I can tell you, somehow she's behind this."

Remus shook his head. "Sirius, you're my friend, but you can't be biased. I know what happened to Donovan. He was like a brother to James and me. The only one we had besides you. I don't know what went wrong with her, but...you can't base your opinion of this girl on her."

"I can't believe that." Sirius sighed and paced away from Harry. "There's something wrong here. She just shows up, out of nowhere, and these things just start happening? And all right after Voldemort returns? That is too much of a coincidence. Something isn't right."

"Sirius, you know she wasn't the way she was until the very end. Something happened to her. We just don't know what."

Sirius turned to Remus, a dark look on his face. "I know you still kindle fond feelings towards her, in part because she was the one who concocted the recipe for Wolfsbane potion. But we trusted her, Donovan trusted her, and looked what happened?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably---this sounded like an argument that had been fought many times. It made his weary to know that much of it was had been caused by him. Remus sighed, looking tired. "Not now, Sirius. Not now. We didn't come for this. We came to talk to Harry." Sirius stilled, running a hand through his hair---it was as long as it had been when he had last seen him, though it was now much neater, and trimmed.

"Yes...yes, I know. I let too much of the past get to me." Sirius sighed, shaking his head. He turned to Harry after a long moment. "About the blood...where was it? On the ceiling?"

Harry nodded. "Yes. I felt it on my face, and looked up...it was the Dark Mark. I don't know about after that. I sort of... sort of blacked out."

Sirius nodded. "Yes, yes, I heard. The Weasley and Longbottom boys got you to the hospital wing, I heard. With this blood, you say you heard voices?"

"Yeah. I thought they were my own thoughts at first, until..."

"Until?"

Harry turned red, looking down at the floor. "I realized they were talking to me. Not in my head."

Sirius sighed. "Don't think you're mad. None of the other boys in the dormitory heard any such voice. I wonder..." he paused, thinking. "Have you ever heard voice like this? That nobody else heard?"

"No, I..." but Harry paused. He thought back to second year...then he had been hearing voices, coming from the pipes. It had turned out to be the creature of the Chamber of Secrets, a basilisk...but it was dead, Harry had killed it. He told them so, and Remus scratched his head thoughtfully.

"Yes...yes...Harry, do you think that it might be some sort of snake? Not the basilisk...just a snake? Somebody might have a pet, or something. I don't know if anybody else speaks parseltongue."

Harry thought back a moment before something he had hardly thought about clicked. "Yes...yes, of course. Back in the summer, around my birthday, we went to that festival. There was a white snake...it said its master was coming to Hogwarts. She said that her master spoke parseltongue, too..."

Sirius paled. "This isn't good, Harry. Have you told Dumbledore?"

"No...no, I forgot."

"Then we'd better tell him soon. Or you might be in more trouble than ever."

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Harry stood at the doorway, thinking about the password Dumbledore had given Harry to enter his room. It wasn't like an ordinary password...not like one that had to be spoken, or written down. Harry had only to think it, and he would be taken back to his room. The thought of the travel made him sick...he could only hope it would not make him as sick as Floo.

The thought hard for a moment of the password before stepping into the doorway that would usually have taken him to the Gryffindor common room. Instead, he got the sudden sensation that he was caught in a muggle revolving doorway---he was spinning around quickly, so that everything was a blur. However, he noticed that as he spun, the colors around him were slowly beginning to change. As his rotation slowed, the room came into focus. He lurched forward from the doorway and stepped into a long stone hallway.

Torches lit the hall as Harry slowly made his way to the large wooden door with the Gryffindor marked proudly in gold on its front. He pulled his trunk up behind him and pushed at the door, stepping inside the dark room.

He pulled out his wand in preparation to use the lumos spell, but found that he had no need. The moment he stepped into the room, a large fire leapt from the grate and from several candelabras along the walls. It lit the room considerably. Harry put away his wand and gazed around him in awe. It wasn't just a room. It was...

"Incredible." He started along the walls to walk the length around the entire room. It was larger than the Dursley's living room, and twice as comfortable. A shelf on one wall stood empty, ready for Harry's books, and two large and very cozy looking easy chairs sat before the fire. The bed was along the back wall. It was huge. At least three quilts, which looked as if they had been sewn by Mrs. Weasley, as they were proudly decorated with gold and scarlet, lay on the bed, and a mass of more pillows than Harry had ever seen were thrown on top.

Despite what Dumbledore had said, the room was quite clean. Harry suspected some sort of cleaning charm was at work. The fire from the fireplace provided ample warmth, though the room was stone from wall to floor. A large rug with thick knit was thrown over the floor.

"I wish Hermione and..." he froze, frowning. No, he didn't want to think about Ron. Not when he was in the middle of...this. He imagined that he wouldn't mind being alone, so long as this was where he was staying. He had been imaging ever since Dumbledore told him about the arrangement he would be returning to a small, cramped sort of space...in other words, the Dursley's cupboard, except here at Hogwarts.

He wondered for a moment if all of the bedrooms at Hogwarts were like this. Dumbledore had taken the time to explain to Harry that this had been the system used for years to give the Professors living quarters separate from the students. It was with grim amusement that Harry imagined Snape living in the room he had envisioned for himself...with millions of spiders, everywhere. He chuckled.

He debated on unloading his trunk, deciding against it. All he wanted to do at the moment was see if his new bed was as comfortable as it felt. He changed quickly into his pajamas and jumped down, letting himself sink into the layers and layers of bed.

And as he was drifting to sleep, he couldn't help but think that he might have been happy if it weren't for the overwhelming sense of loneliness he felt.

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Harry awoke with a start, and had to think for a moment to remember where he was. A quick glance around the room reminded him. He stretched and jumped out of bed, pulling on a pair of clean jeans and a T-shirt. It was still the weekend, to his relief. He wasn't in the mood yet to deal with classes.

He walked through the door---this time not so startled by the quick revolution, if a little dizzy, and made his way to the prefect's bathroom. And met with quite the unsettling surprise.

"Well, if it isn't little Harry. Having bad dreams, are we? I heard you got a nursery all to yourself." Harry yawned as he looked at Draco.

"Isn't it a little early in the day for parasites?" he murmured, rolling his eyes. Draco sneered.

"Watch it. I wouldn't want to do anything you'd regret."

"Like you could do anything." Harry scoffed. "Remember, the bathrooms are magic-proofed."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "Whatever. I don't need to deal with this. I'm done...go ahead, wash away your tears." Harry rolled his eyes and continued with his morning routine...struggling to ignore Moaning Myrtle, who was floating about near his shoulder for most of his bath.

After he was done, he debated on making his way to the Quidditch field for some individual practice, but decided against it. He needed to relax. So instead, he headed for the common room, climbing in.

When he got there, he found it wasn't exactly the place of relaxation he had intended.

"I haven't got time for this, Weasley! What are you trying to do, alienate us all?" Cory screeched, glaring at Ron through her lashes.

"Listen, I'm sorry about what happened to Neville, but you don't understand! I needed that broom...it was important!"

"And Neville isn't?"

Hermione crossed over to Ron's side. "Listen, you have to understand. Ron is sorry, truly. But...he isn't like you, Cory. He can't afford to just get another broom, like you could...can't you understand?" Ron kept a straight face, but Harry could see his ears going red.

"I don't understand." Every Gryffindor in the room turned to look at Harry. He stepped forward, crossing his arms. Neville trembled...Harry, though still small and scrawny, looked somehow terrifying. "I don't understand how a broom can mean more than a friend."

"It doesn't!" Ron said fiercely. "I'm just tired of losing everything I have! I want something of my own, for a change! That broom was mine!"

"But a broom still shouldn't make you lose your friends." Cory said, crossing over to stand beside Harry and Neville.

"But..." Everybody turned. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were standing side by side, looking at Cory ferociously. "But, that still doesn't mean you can't try and forgive him. Ron didn't mean to do anything."

"But friends are more important." Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan crossed over to Harry.

"I agree!" Fred said loudly. Everybody turned...and got the worst shock ever. Fred and George were standing beside Harry, with the straightest faces they had ever worn. "Isn't that right, Angelina?"

The entire room turned to look at the Head Girl. She trembled as she looked from Harry to Ron. "I...I..." she shook her head. "I think Ron is right. He can't help being angry...some people just don't have what others have." She crossed over to Ron, looking mournfully at Fred. "Sorry."

Katie and Alicia crossed to stand beside Ron. And, as they did this, the entire room began to separate into two parts. Friend against friend...brother against brother.

It would be the worst battle seen in Hogwarts history.

The Gryffindors were at war...with themselves.

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Oh, my! I just had to leave this evil cliffie, didn't I? Poor Gryffindors, it's really going to hurt, them all being at war with one another. Please Read and Review and tell me what you think, I need to know!

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