Harry Potter and the Curse of the Gypsy
Author's Note: Yay! I've updated again! I know, I'm updating a lot now, it is because I am just as eagerly as all of you awaiting the new HP book and I must have this done before that comes out. Besides, now that I am nearing the end, I finally know exactly what is going to happen in every chapter, so it should all pass by pretty quickly. Well, tell me what you think...I hope you've enjoyed my little story.
Disclaimer: If Harry Potter was mine I'd be rich. I'm not rich.
Chapter Twenty-Four
"What do you mean?" Fudge said suddenly, a dark look coming over his face.
"I have the person who's been helping Isabelle...collecting information all year." Figg said. Her face was dark and her eyes were gleaming brightly.
"Who is it?" Dumbledore said quietly.
Figg pursed her lips. "It's who I said it was all along." She said icily, stepping aside. Harry gasped loudly, but all were so intent on the figure in the doorway that none heard. Behind Figg was a shadowy figure bound with silvery cords. Though dark, and Harry could see only the profile, he knew who it was...Cory.
"You must be out of your mind." Snape scoffed. Fudge stepped forward, pulling Cory harshly into the room. She was glancing quickly around the room, and was dressed in conspicuously muggle clothing...a worn pair of jeans and a dark black sweater.
"I assure you I am not. I found her in the hall, with a packed bag. Albus, she was slipping this under your door." Figg said angrily, pulling a sealed letter from her robes and brandishing it like a sword.
"Let me see." Dumbledore said warily, extending his hand to take the parchment. He took it from Figg and flipped it open. He glanced up quickly at Figg, who gave him a slow nod. He sighed and began reading the letter out loud. "Professor," he read, "You do not have to look further for the person who has been providing information to outside sources. It was I, and I have been doing so the entire time I have been at Hogwarts. I met Isabelle Black a month before I came...I would not have come if it hadn't been for her, but she showed me the truth. The Dark Lord will prevail." Dumbledore sighed and slipped the letter into his robes. "Cory Johnson."
Harry felt a leaden weight drop into the pit of his stomach and looked over at Cory. Her eyes were shadowed and she was staring down at Hagrid's wooden table. Hagrid was standing at the door. He gave a choked cry as he looked back from Cory to Dumbledore.
"Is this true?" Snape said quietly, turning to her. She shivered and gave him a quick, sharp nod. Dumbledore sighed.
"I told you about her." Fudge said darkly. "I told you...she's manipulative. I told you not to let her into this school."
"Enough, Cornelius." Dumbledore said. He was still watching Cory, his face vacant of expression. "What have you to say for yourself?" he said quietly.
Cory looked straight into Dumbledore's eyes. "I did what I had to for Him." She said, her voice like ice. "Now that my work is done, is does not matter what you do with me."
"She is working for Voldemort, as I have known all along." Figg snarled. "Never have I trusted..."
"This is ridiculous!" Fudge said, throwing his hat down on Hagrid's table. "She is trying to further hamper your senses! You-Know-Who has not returned...I am sure that when this girl has left Hogwarts, all these incidents you have been reporting will have stopped!"
"Cornelius, we have given you proof...this is yet more proof that Voldemort has returned." Dumbledore said coldly. Fudge took a step back.
"Now, now Albus. No need to get...to get angry." He recomposed himself and pointed once again at Cory. "I am simply saying that I have known this girl could not be trusted...she had befriended Harry Potter, do not you ask why? So she can fill his head with more of this..."
"Leave Potter out of this." Snape hissed. "He may be reckless, but he is not insane, nor is he a fool. As to Voldemort's return..." he paled slightly, "I have seen Voldemort myself."
Fudge recoiled slightly, giving Snape a dark look. "Yes, yes..." he whispered. "Another spy...though Albus trusts you." He took a deep breath. "You say the mark on your arm proves You-Know-Who has returned? Let me see it on this girl's arm..."
"I assure you that is impossible." Snape sneered. "The mark has not been given in fourteen years..."
"I have it." Everybody turned quickly to Cory, who had been silent until now. Figg pales and Dumbledore looked down at her. With a swipe of the wand, he removed her cords.
"Show us." He said darkly.
Cory looked him in the eyes as she rolled up the sleeve of her sweater on the left forearm. Like a vibrant red tattoo, the dark mark shone on her pale skin glaringly. Harry felt a flood of anger and revulsion sweep through him as he had never felt before.
"I see." Fudge said after a long moment. Cory turned to him, her face blank.
"Do you?" she whispered. Fudge froze her in an icy glare.
"Yes, girl. And I assure you, where you are going you will be joining your kind." He snarled.
"What?" Dumbledore said, stepping forward. "You can't mean..."
"Azkaban? I certainly do." Fudge retorted.
"She is a girl of fifteen. Some other..."
"Absolutely not." Fudge said darkly. "She will go immediately...there shall be no trial. I have seen what she was capable for the longest time. She is under my control now...Albus, you are released from her in any way." Fudge picked up his hat and put it on his head. "Rubeus, bring me my guard."
Hagrid gave Fudge and Cory a weary look as he exited. He returned a moment later with a wizard robed in black...Harry was thankful it wasn't a dementor. Fudge deposited his hat on his head. "Bring the girl." He said coldly. The man nodded and took Cory by the arm. Fudge came to the door and gave them a sharp nod. "Good night, all. I apologize for suspecting you, Snape."
"We must do something." Dumbledore said. "She can not go the Azkaban..."
"She will." Figg said. "And surely she will rot there."
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Harry ran. His heart was pounding chest, and he only focused on each step he took, each step that took him closer and closer back to Hogwarts. He tripped and slammed hard into the ground, the invisibility cloak coming off in the process. Without putting it back on he picked it up and ran back into the castle. He froze when he got into the hall and reclined, gasping, against a wall and slid slowly to the floor. He rested his forehead on his knees as it all rushed back to him.
'It was her...it was Cory all along.' He thought, disgusted. He shook his head, feeling the sweat on his face. 'How could she?' he thought, feeling pain such as he had never known before radiating through him.
"Harry?" He glanced up quickly. Hermione was standing there, a pile of books in her arms. "What is..." she froze when she saw his face, white and stricken with anger. "What's wrong?" she said quickly, dropping the books and moving to his side.
Harry stood shakily, holding a hand on the wall for support. "I can't...I just heard." He shook his head. "It was her, Hermione. Cory."
"What are you talking about?" Hermione said sharply. She glanced down at Harry's arm and cried out. "Oh! You're bleeding!"
Harry glanced down and saw that his arm was slit from wrist to elbow...he must have cut it when he fell. He didn't even feel it. "Yeah." He mumbled. "Guess so."
"You need to get to Madam Pomfrey, quick!" she said. "Or...or Dumbledore. Tell me what it is!" she cried out. Harry shook his head.
"I'm trying to...it was Cory, Hermione. She was working for Voldemort."
"What?" Hermione took a step back. "What are you talking about?" she said in a slightly panicked tone. "Harry, maybe we should..."
"No." He walked towards her. "I'm not ill, I'm not crazy. I saw what I just saw...Cory was leaving tonight, Hermione. She left a note for Dumbledore, but Figg caught her. She confessed everything." He sighed. "Even about leading me...us...on."
"Oh, Harry." Hermione gasped, putting her hands to her mouth. "This is awful! But...but mightn't she have been lying?"
"That's what I thought at first." He snorted. "Until she pulled up her sleeve to show me her bloody mark."
"Sweet...oh no, no." Now Hermione slumped to the floor, her hands still held over her mouth. "She...how is it possible? She might have been a bit...shrewish...but she was never like that, never at all."
"Yes, well." Harry sneered. "Maybe Sirius was right about gypsies, after all. They're nothing but traitors." He scoffed. "Look, one betrayed Sirius' brother, and Cory did the exact same thing...she pretended to like me and all the while she was using me. It's no wonder Snape finally turned away from Voldemort...it isn't because he went good, it's because betrayal is in his blood."
"Oh, Harry." Hermione stood slowly, putting an arm around Harry's shoulders. "Come on...why don't we go to the common room..."
"I'm going to my own room..."
"No." Hermione stopped him as he headed to the doorway. "I absolutely will not let you be by yourself...you are coming with me."
Harry smiled, the first feeling other than pain and hatred he had felt in over two hours washing over him. "Really? Are you forcing me?" he said warily.
"Yes I am." Hermione took him by the arm and escorted him to the common room...the books were still in the hall, forgotten. She pushed him down into an overstuffed chair in front of the fire. They sat silently...Hermione hushed Ron when he came and explained in muted tones what had happened. He paled and patted Harry on the back before taking the seat next to him.
"So..." Ron said hoarsely, after a moment. "Just the three of us, right?"
"Yeah." Harry said, looking up. "You're the only people I can trust, besides Dumbledore and Sirius. I don't know if I'll ever trust anybody ever again---I've been betrayed one too many times. It's a curse."
Hermione shook her head. Tears were glinting in her eyes. "Oh, Harry." She said weakly. "You must..."
"Just look!" Harry said, standing suddenly. "First it was Pettigrew...he betrayed all of us. Then it was Quirrel, and then last year Moody turned out to be Voldemort's right-hand man. I can't trust anybody, can't you see?" he sat back down, a dark look on his face. "I wouldn't be surprised if one of you really did try to kill me next."
"Harry, I..." Ron stopped when Harry held up his hand.
"It's not the time to argue." Harry said. "Listen, I don't know why things happen to me, but they do. I'm tired of it. All I want to do is go and have some type of normal life. Would it be so hard? Do idiots like Snape think everybody staring at my damned scar is enough to compensate for having a dead mum and dad, and for having every person I've ever started to trust stab me in the back?" he shouted.
"Shh, Harry..." Hermione said, looking around the otherwise empty room nervously. "Listen, we know it's hard for you, but you need to calm a little. We're all shaken to find that..."
"When we were fighting, besides Neville she was my only friend." Harry said. "I mean, when I think back years from now, remembering my first girlfriend won't exactly be a treat." Harry sighed. "I'll have to think of her, wasting away in Azkaban because Voldemort took over her."
"Azkaban?" Ron said meekly. Harry nodded.
"Yeah." Ron shuddered. Without a word both he and Hermione stood and went to stand on either side of Harry. They stood like that, the three of them, for the rest of the night, until the fire burned to only ashes in the grate and the last stars faded from the night sky.
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"Where's your girlfriend, Potter?" Malfoy sneered from across the room.
"Shove off, Malfoy." Ron said darkly. He turned back to Harry and Ron, shaking his head. "Why doesn't he ask his father? I'm sure he's well acquainted with that shrew." He hissed. Harry gave him a faint grin from across the table.
Snape looked glaringly at them. "Do not talk in class." He sneered. "Or I will be forced to take even more points from Gryffindor today."
Ron glowered as he began peeling jellied slugs. "He seems friendlier than usual." He snorted under his breath. "Usually he doesn't warn us before he takes points."
"Maybe he's still confused about last night." Hermione said. "If they hadn't caught Cory, they might not have believed her letter...they might still have taken him."
"Yeah, that's a bad thought." Ron sneered.
"Ron!" Hermione said darkly. "He's on our side."
"Yeah." Ron said darkly. "But that doesn't mean we can't hate him all the same."
The lesson passed calmer than usual...the potion had been made quickly, and except for a few foreboding hissings from Neville's cauldron, the lesson had gone without the slightest hitch. At the end of class, Harry packed up his cauldron and books and put them quickly away. He walked quickly to join Hermione and Ron at the door, but his path was blocked.
"So, Potter." Malfoy sneered. "Your girl left you, has she?"
"Don't start with me." Harry said darkly. "Not now."
"But I was just wondering if it was true?" Malfoy laughed evilly. "I mean, was she really working for the Dark Lord? Good God, Potter, can't you even find a girl who won't kill you?"
"Shove it." Harry said, trying to pass. Crabbe and Goyle pushed their ways beside Malfoy so that Harry couldn't move.
"No...I think I'd like to know a little more about this." Draco scoffed. "My dad heard it all of course."
"Where...over tea with Voldemort?" Harry said darkly.
Malfoy's eyes narrowed. "Watch it." he glanced over at Hermione and Ron, who were forcing their way through to try and get to Harry. He turned back and gave Harry a cruel smile. "I'm only disappointed that she couldn't kill the mudblood before she left."
Harry had had it. He leapt forward, forgetting his wand completely, and punched Malfoy full in the face. He reeled back. Crabbe and Goyle started forward, pounding their fists, but toppled over...Hermione and Ron had put leg-locker curses on them. One hand over his nose, Malfoy sent a punch crashing towards Harry and hit him full in the stomach.
Harry doubled over for an instant before standing back up. Angrily, he hit Malfoy once again, this time in the jaw. He had just swung back his fist for another blow, when...
"That will be enough." He froze and his fist dropped. He turned swiftly. Snape was standing there, his arms crossed. An unpleasant look was on his face. "This is despicable. Twenty points from Gryffindor...do not protest, Potter, I saw everything. You struck first."
"Yes, but..." he froze, wincing. He still hadn't regained his breath.
"Potter, do not talk back to me. I..." Snape cursed when Malfoy lunged forward and struck Harry hard in the back. Snape quickly grabbed Malfoy by the collar. "I am disappointed to find that one of my own house is acting this way. Regretfully, I take twenty points from you as well. Both of you will receive detentions."
He stood quickly and turned back. "You may go." He said coldly.
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It had to be the worst thing that Harry had ever experienced. This feeling...he felt stupid, for not knowing what Cory had been. He hated her for lying. He hated himself for starting to care about her.
As he drifted to sleep, the voice came to him. 'You should have joined her...' it hissed.
"No." he said angrily. "Never..."
'She was right, and you are wrong. The Dark Lord will never be defeated...my master knew what would happen. She protected me against him because she knew what he might do to me...you should have left with her. Now the Dark Lords wrath will face you as well. You will die, Harry Potter.'
"I will not." He said aloud. "Never."
'You will.' The voice hissed. 'You will die, he will take you...kill you...you should have joined us when first you came to this world, you might have been great...now because you are a fool, you will suffer with the rest.'
"I will not suffer." Harry said to the darkness of his room. "I will not suffer and I will not let him take me. Darkness will never win...not so long as there are those who have faith."
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Geez, I had to write a sad chapter! Still, Harry did get to kick Malfoy's ass...hah-hah. Anyway, you know the drill, please R & R and tell me what you think of the whole thing. The end is near...only six more chapters to go. I'm updating like crazy because from here on, I know exactly where every chapter is going. Please tell me what you think! Lol...
Megx!
Author's Note: Yay! I've updated again! I know, I'm updating a lot now, it is because I am just as eagerly as all of you awaiting the new HP book and I must have this done before that comes out. Besides, now that I am nearing the end, I finally know exactly what is going to happen in every chapter, so it should all pass by pretty quickly. Well, tell me what you think...I hope you've enjoyed my little story.
Disclaimer: If Harry Potter was mine I'd be rich. I'm not rich.
Chapter Twenty-Four
"What do you mean?" Fudge said suddenly, a dark look coming over his face.
"I have the person who's been helping Isabelle...collecting information all year." Figg said. Her face was dark and her eyes were gleaming brightly.
"Who is it?" Dumbledore said quietly.
Figg pursed her lips. "It's who I said it was all along." She said icily, stepping aside. Harry gasped loudly, but all were so intent on the figure in the doorway that none heard. Behind Figg was a shadowy figure bound with silvery cords. Though dark, and Harry could see only the profile, he knew who it was...Cory.
"You must be out of your mind." Snape scoffed. Fudge stepped forward, pulling Cory harshly into the room. She was glancing quickly around the room, and was dressed in conspicuously muggle clothing...a worn pair of jeans and a dark black sweater.
"I assure you I am not. I found her in the hall, with a packed bag. Albus, she was slipping this under your door." Figg said angrily, pulling a sealed letter from her robes and brandishing it like a sword.
"Let me see." Dumbledore said warily, extending his hand to take the parchment. He took it from Figg and flipped it open. He glanced up quickly at Figg, who gave him a slow nod. He sighed and began reading the letter out loud. "Professor," he read, "You do not have to look further for the person who has been providing information to outside sources. It was I, and I have been doing so the entire time I have been at Hogwarts. I met Isabelle Black a month before I came...I would not have come if it hadn't been for her, but she showed me the truth. The Dark Lord will prevail." Dumbledore sighed and slipped the letter into his robes. "Cory Johnson."
Harry felt a leaden weight drop into the pit of his stomach and looked over at Cory. Her eyes were shadowed and she was staring down at Hagrid's wooden table. Hagrid was standing at the door. He gave a choked cry as he looked back from Cory to Dumbledore.
"Is this true?" Snape said quietly, turning to her. She shivered and gave him a quick, sharp nod. Dumbledore sighed.
"I told you about her." Fudge said darkly. "I told you...she's manipulative. I told you not to let her into this school."
"Enough, Cornelius." Dumbledore said. He was still watching Cory, his face vacant of expression. "What have you to say for yourself?" he said quietly.
Cory looked straight into Dumbledore's eyes. "I did what I had to for Him." She said, her voice like ice. "Now that my work is done, is does not matter what you do with me."
"She is working for Voldemort, as I have known all along." Figg snarled. "Never have I trusted..."
"This is ridiculous!" Fudge said, throwing his hat down on Hagrid's table. "She is trying to further hamper your senses! You-Know-Who has not returned...I am sure that when this girl has left Hogwarts, all these incidents you have been reporting will have stopped!"
"Cornelius, we have given you proof...this is yet more proof that Voldemort has returned." Dumbledore said coldly. Fudge took a step back.
"Now, now Albus. No need to get...to get angry." He recomposed himself and pointed once again at Cory. "I am simply saying that I have known this girl could not be trusted...she had befriended Harry Potter, do not you ask why? So she can fill his head with more of this..."
"Leave Potter out of this." Snape hissed. "He may be reckless, but he is not insane, nor is he a fool. As to Voldemort's return..." he paled slightly, "I have seen Voldemort myself."
Fudge recoiled slightly, giving Snape a dark look. "Yes, yes..." he whispered. "Another spy...though Albus trusts you." He took a deep breath. "You say the mark on your arm proves You-Know-Who has returned? Let me see it on this girl's arm..."
"I assure you that is impossible." Snape sneered. "The mark has not been given in fourteen years..."
"I have it." Everybody turned quickly to Cory, who had been silent until now. Figg pales and Dumbledore looked down at her. With a swipe of the wand, he removed her cords.
"Show us." He said darkly.
Cory looked him in the eyes as she rolled up the sleeve of her sweater on the left forearm. Like a vibrant red tattoo, the dark mark shone on her pale skin glaringly. Harry felt a flood of anger and revulsion sweep through him as he had never felt before.
"I see." Fudge said after a long moment. Cory turned to him, her face blank.
"Do you?" she whispered. Fudge froze her in an icy glare.
"Yes, girl. And I assure you, where you are going you will be joining your kind." He snarled.
"What?" Dumbledore said, stepping forward. "You can't mean..."
"Azkaban? I certainly do." Fudge retorted.
"She is a girl of fifteen. Some other..."
"Absolutely not." Fudge said darkly. "She will go immediately...there shall be no trial. I have seen what she was capable for the longest time. She is under my control now...Albus, you are released from her in any way." Fudge picked up his hat and put it on his head. "Rubeus, bring me my guard."
Hagrid gave Fudge and Cory a weary look as he exited. He returned a moment later with a wizard robed in black...Harry was thankful it wasn't a dementor. Fudge deposited his hat on his head. "Bring the girl." He said coldly. The man nodded and took Cory by the arm. Fudge came to the door and gave them a sharp nod. "Good night, all. I apologize for suspecting you, Snape."
"We must do something." Dumbledore said. "She can not go the Azkaban..."
"She will." Figg said. "And surely she will rot there."
************************************************************************
Harry ran. His heart was pounding chest, and he only focused on each step he took, each step that took him closer and closer back to Hogwarts. He tripped and slammed hard into the ground, the invisibility cloak coming off in the process. Without putting it back on he picked it up and ran back into the castle. He froze when he got into the hall and reclined, gasping, against a wall and slid slowly to the floor. He rested his forehead on his knees as it all rushed back to him.
'It was her...it was Cory all along.' He thought, disgusted. He shook his head, feeling the sweat on his face. 'How could she?' he thought, feeling pain such as he had never known before radiating through him.
"Harry?" He glanced up quickly. Hermione was standing there, a pile of books in her arms. "What is..." she froze when she saw his face, white and stricken with anger. "What's wrong?" she said quickly, dropping the books and moving to his side.
Harry stood shakily, holding a hand on the wall for support. "I can't...I just heard." He shook his head. "It was her, Hermione. Cory."
"What are you talking about?" Hermione said sharply. She glanced down at Harry's arm and cried out. "Oh! You're bleeding!"
Harry glanced down and saw that his arm was slit from wrist to elbow...he must have cut it when he fell. He didn't even feel it. "Yeah." He mumbled. "Guess so."
"You need to get to Madam Pomfrey, quick!" she said. "Or...or Dumbledore. Tell me what it is!" she cried out. Harry shook his head.
"I'm trying to...it was Cory, Hermione. She was working for Voldemort."
"What?" Hermione took a step back. "What are you talking about?" she said in a slightly panicked tone. "Harry, maybe we should..."
"No." He walked towards her. "I'm not ill, I'm not crazy. I saw what I just saw...Cory was leaving tonight, Hermione. She left a note for Dumbledore, but Figg caught her. She confessed everything." He sighed. "Even about leading me...us...on."
"Oh, Harry." Hermione gasped, putting her hands to her mouth. "This is awful! But...but mightn't she have been lying?"
"That's what I thought at first." He snorted. "Until she pulled up her sleeve to show me her bloody mark."
"Sweet...oh no, no." Now Hermione slumped to the floor, her hands still held over her mouth. "She...how is it possible? She might have been a bit...shrewish...but she was never like that, never at all."
"Yes, well." Harry sneered. "Maybe Sirius was right about gypsies, after all. They're nothing but traitors." He scoffed. "Look, one betrayed Sirius' brother, and Cory did the exact same thing...she pretended to like me and all the while she was using me. It's no wonder Snape finally turned away from Voldemort...it isn't because he went good, it's because betrayal is in his blood."
"Oh, Harry." Hermione stood slowly, putting an arm around Harry's shoulders. "Come on...why don't we go to the common room..."
"I'm going to my own room..."
"No." Hermione stopped him as he headed to the doorway. "I absolutely will not let you be by yourself...you are coming with me."
Harry smiled, the first feeling other than pain and hatred he had felt in over two hours washing over him. "Really? Are you forcing me?" he said warily.
"Yes I am." Hermione took him by the arm and escorted him to the common room...the books were still in the hall, forgotten. She pushed him down into an overstuffed chair in front of the fire. They sat silently...Hermione hushed Ron when he came and explained in muted tones what had happened. He paled and patted Harry on the back before taking the seat next to him.
"So..." Ron said hoarsely, after a moment. "Just the three of us, right?"
"Yeah." Harry said, looking up. "You're the only people I can trust, besides Dumbledore and Sirius. I don't know if I'll ever trust anybody ever again---I've been betrayed one too many times. It's a curse."
Hermione shook her head. Tears were glinting in her eyes. "Oh, Harry." She said weakly. "You must..."
"Just look!" Harry said, standing suddenly. "First it was Pettigrew...he betrayed all of us. Then it was Quirrel, and then last year Moody turned out to be Voldemort's right-hand man. I can't trust anybody, can't you see?" he sat back down, a dark look on his face. "I wouldn't be surprised if one of you really did try to kill me next."
"Harry, I..." Ron stopped when Harry held up his hand.
"It's not the time to argue." Harry said. "Listen, I don't know why things happen to me, but they do. I'm tired of it. All I want to do is go and have some type of normal life. Would it be so hard? Do idiots like Snape think everybody staring at my damned scar is enough to compensate for having a dead mum and dad, and for having every person I've ever started to trust stab me in the back?" he shouted.
"Shh, Harry..." Hermione said, looking around the otherwise empty room nervously. "Listen, we know it's hard for you, but you need to calm a little. We're all shaken to find that..."
"When we were fighting, besides Neville she was my only friend." Harry said. "I mean, when I think back years from now, remembering my first girlfriend won't exactly be a treat." Harry sighed. "I'll have to think of her, wasting away in Azkaban because Voldemort took over her."
"Azkaban?" Ron said meekly. Harry nodded.
"Yeah." Ron shuddered. Without a word both he and Hermione stood and went to stand on either side of Harry. They stood like that, the three of them, for the rest of the night, until the fire burned to only ashes in the grate and the last stars faded from the night sky.
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"Where's your girlfriend, Potter?" Malfoy sneered from across the room.
"Shove off, Malfoy." Ron said darkly. He turned back to Harry and Ron, shaking his head. "Why doesn't he ask his father? I'm sure he's well acquainted with that shrew." He hissed. Harry gave him a faint grin from across the table.
Snape looked glaringly at them. "Do not talk in class." He sneered. "Or I will be forced to take even more points from Gryffindor today."
Ron glowered as he began peeling jellied slugs. "He seems friendlier than usual." He snorted under his breath. "Usually he doesn't warn us before he takes points."
"Maybe he's still confused about last night." Hermione said. "If they hadn't caught Cory, they might not have believed her letter...they might still have taken him."
"Yeah, that's a bad thought." Ron sneered.
"Ron!" Hermione said darkly. "He's on our side."
"Yeah." Ron said darkly. "But that doesn't mean we can't hate him all the same."
The lesson passed calmer than usual...the potion had been made quickly, and except for a few foreboding hissings from Neville's cauldron, the lesson had gone without the slightest hitch. At the end of class, Harry packed up his cauldron and books and put them quickly away. He walked quickly to join Hermione and Ron at the door, but his path was blocked.
"So, Potter." Malfoy sneered. "Your girl left you, has she?"
"Don't start with me." Harry said darkly. "Not now."
"But I was just wondering if it was true?" Malfoy laughed evilly. "I mean, was she really working for the Dark Lord? Good God, Potter, can't you even find a girl who won't kill you?"
"Shove it." Harry said, trying to pass. Crabbe and Goyle pushed their ways beside Malfoy so that Harry couldn't move.
"No...I think I'd like to know a little more about this." Draco scoffed. "My dad heard it all of course."
"Where...over tea with Voldemort?" Harry said darkly.
Malfoy's eyes narrowed. "Watch it." he glanced over at Hermione and Ron, who were forcing their way through to try and get to Harry. He turned back and gave Harry a cruel smile. "I'm only disappointed that she couldn't kill the mudblood before she left."
Harry had had it. He leapt forward, forgetting his wand completely, and punched Malfoy full in the face. He reeled back. Crabbe and Goyle started forward, pounding their fists, but toppled over...Hermione and Ron had put leg-locker curses on them. One hand over his nose, Malfoy sent a punch crashing towards Harry and hit him full in the stomach.
Harry doubled over for an instant before standing back up. Angrily, he hit Malfoy once again, this time in the jaw. He had just swung back his fist for another blow, when...
"That will be enough." He froze and his fist dropped. He turned swiftly. Snape was standing there, his arms crossed. An unpleasant look was on his face. "This is despicable. Twenty points from Gryffindor...do not protest, Potter, I saw everything. You struck first."
"Yes, but..." he froze, wincing. He still hadn't regained his breath.
"Potter, do not talk back to me. I..." Snape cursed when Malfoy lunged forward and struck Harry hard in the back. Snape quickly grabbed Malfoy by the collar. "I am disappointed to find that one of my own house is acting this way. Regretfully, I take twenty points from you as well. Both of you will receive detentions."
He stood quickly and turned back. "You may go." He said coldly.
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It had to be the worst thing that Harry had ever experienced. This feeling...he felt stupid, for not knowing what Cory had been. He hated her for lying. He hated himself for starting to care about her.
As he drifted to sleep, the voice came to him. 'You should have joined her...' it hissed.
"No." he said angrily. "Never..."
'She was right, and you are wrong. The Dark Lord will never be defeated...my master knew what would happen. She protected me against him because she knew what he might do to me...you should have left with her. Now the Dark Lords wrath will face you as well. You will die, Harry Potter.'
"I will not." He said aloud. "Never."
'You will.' The voice hissed. 'You will die, he will take you...kill you...you should have joined us when first you came to this world, you might have been great...now because you are a fool, you will suffer with the rest.'
"I will not suffer." Harry said to the darkness of his room. "I will not suffer and I will not let him take me. Darkness will never win...not so long as there are those who have faith."
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Geez, I had to write a sad chapter! Still, Harry did get to kick Malfoy's ass...hah-hah. Anyway, you know the drill, please R & R and tell me what you think of the whole thing. The end is near...only six more chapters to go. I'm updating like crazy because from here on, I know exactly where every chapter is going. Please tell me what you think! Lol...
Megx!
