19. Visions in Shadow
Harry, of course, spent the next week agonizing over what the drops of vengeance could possibly do. Ron and Hermione tried to ensure it would be nothing but Harry could tell that they were worried as well. Malfoy seemed to be absolutely ecstatic, every time they say h im he was positively leering with joy. Though Harry would have done almost anything to stall it, the day arrived and he, Hermione and Ron trudged down to the dungeon where Professor Dameron and their classes were waiting.
Professor Dameron nodded amicably as Harry entered, "Ah yes, here we are."
Malfoy couldn't keep the evil grin from his face. "So good of you to join us Potter."
Professor Dameron caught a bit of Harry's apprehension and smiled. "Don't worry, Mr. Potter, you have nothing to worry about."
Ron rolled his eyes, "Nothing to worry about," he whispered to Hermione, "isn't he the one who told us it was a controlled substance?"
Hermione, her face pinched with stress, managed to murmur, "I'm sure it will be fine."
"Well then, let's have our test subject come forward shall we?" Professor Dameron revealed the tiny vial again, but now it had a few drops of golden liquid in it. Harry stood resignedly and made his way to the front of the class.
Professor Dameron handed him the vial and nodded in a very matter of fact manner, "Here you are Mr. Potter." Harry eyed the golden liquid dubiously. "I assure you everything will be all right Mr. Potter, now please test the potion."
Harry took a deep breath and pulled the stopper. He spared a glance at Ron and Hermione who were both trying to look encouraging but instead just looked scared, then he took a deep breath and upended the vial into his mouth.
Fire flooded into his veins in an indescribable rush. Details snapped vividly into focus and Harry's nerves seemed to charge with electricity. Harry felt as though his entire body was crackling with current, but after a moment, the feeling faded and he stood there, feeling quite normal and a bit awkward.
Malfoy's face fell in disappointment, "Did it work? Shouldn't he fall down or something?"
Professor Dameron stepped forward and crumpled up a ball of parchment. "We'll see if it works. Mr. Malfoy, please throw this parchment at Mr. Potter."
Malfoy sneered anew and lobbed the ball of paper at Harry. The feeling of electricity returned for a moment and without meaning to, Harry cocked his arm and smashed the paper ball back at Malfoy. The parchment winged into Malfoy's face about ten times harder than it had been thrown and exploded in a bright gold burst that knocked Draco out of his chair.
Dameron clapped his hands in delight. "It works! I would suggest you all be very nice to Mr. Potter for the next twenty-four hours. The Drops of Vengeance will allow him to predict any act of malice towards him and he will reflexively reverse it at about ten times the initial force." Here he turned to Malfoy who was pulling himself of the floor with murder in his eyes. "As for you Mr. Malfoy, you should have known that we would never test a dangerous potion on a student. If you had been thinking at all, you would have chosen a friend or even yourself, not someone whom you would obviously wish to harm."
With that he turned and strode to the board where he began a new lesson for the day. Malfoy continued to glare pure venom at Harry but judging from the singed look the exploding parchment had lent him, Harry guessed he'd be safe from reprisals for the rest of the day at least.
After class had ended and Harry and his friends were making their way back to the main part of the castle, Ron remarked, "I'd better warn Fred and George not to test any of their creams tonight."
* * *
That evening, Harry was making his way to dinner when suddenly he felt as though the surrounding hallway had just been vividly brightened. Details stood out brilliantly and time seemed to slow minutely. Harry's attention was drawn to the shadows beneath a staircase and he thought he saw a figure in a hooded cloak beckoning him with a crooked finger. Then he started, realizing it was just the barest outline of a person, but it seemed to be beckoning him none the less.
Harry blinked a few times and, to his astonishment, instead of fading, the fuzzy outline seemed to grow even sharper, gaining definition and focus. The students crowding all around seemed to take no notice of the figure they rushed past blindly, laughing and chatting. A good deal of them also didn't appear to notice Harry, even though he had stopped near the center of the corridor. Harry swallowed hard and took a step towards the beckoning figure.
The charged feeling rushed back into his veins and somewhere there seemed to be a warning going off in his mind. Despite the sense of danger he was feeling, Harry slipped his hand into his pocket and gripped his wand, then he took another step.
The figure continued to beckon but in his mind's eye, Harry saw a knife being eased out of its sheath. His imagination captured the wicked serration that ran along it, he saw it being raised stealthily beneath a cloak.
Suddenly, a hand dropped on Harry's shoulder.
Harry let out a surprised gasp and a gold charged blast flung the hand away, sending it and it's owner crashing to the corridor floor. Harry spun around to see Ginny sprawled on the floor with a stunned expression dominating her features. Harry stepped towards her with his hand extended to help her up but she scrambled back and pulled herself to her feet.
Her shocked expression was quickly replaced by one of hurt fury. "I just wanted to know what was wrong!" Tears began to leak down her cheeks. "I thought maybe you needed help, standing dazed in the corridor and all."
Harry shook his head, "I-"
Ginny hugged her bag to her chest. "If you didn't want to talk you could have just said something, you didn't have to shove me!" With that she began to cry harder and fled towards the Great Hall.
Harry noticed that the extra sensory awareness seemed to have gone and left him with normal understanding and, if it came to that, he had the distinct feeling of understanding even less than he normally did. He also noticed that a good number of students were sparring him odd glances as they passed.
With a sigh, Harry adjusted his glasses and started for dinner. He spared a glance at the shadows but the figure, if it had even been there to begin with, was gone. Harry sighed again and went on his way.
By the time he arrived at dinner, the meal had already begun, he dropped in next to Ron just in time to hear Hermione ask, "I wonder what's wrong with Ginny?"
Ron shrugged, "Probably hung up over whoever the boy of the week is." His face hardened a bit, "But if anyone hurt her…" Harry silently contemplated his food. Ron shook his head, "Well, whatever, whoever it was, she'll get over him I'm sure." He turned a joking smile towards Hermione, "So Ms. Prefect, anything we lowly houslings ought to know about and be aware of and prepared for?"
"They'll be sending the Christmas sign-up around later this week. What are your plans Harry?"
"I suppose I'll stay here as always." Harry pushed a bit more of his food to the other side of his plate and wondered silently if he might be going just a little bit crazy.
Ron smiled, "I'm staying too, but watch out, Fred and George are hanging about as well." Harry's belief that he was going insane seemed to get a bit more credible as a vision of a descending knife flashed before him.
"Well I asked my parents," Hermione chimed in, "and they're all right with me staying. So it looks like we'll all be here."
Harry watched an invisible figure slide along the wall. Then he toyed with the idea that this probably proved he was insane since there was no way he could watch an invisible person.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Could you please try and follow along Harry?"
Harry blinked a few times before uttering, "Huh?"
"You realize you're impossible?" Hermione asked with a shake of her head. "Ron asked how you were doing with the Drops of Vengeance."
"Oh, that."
"Yes, that." She rolled her eyes yet again. "Utterly impossible."
"I think I'm seeing things." Harry admitted after a moment.
Ron leaned forward to get a better look at Harry, "Seeing things how?"
"Well, when I was walking here to dinner, I thought I could see an outline of a person hiding in the shadows, someone with a knife. And just now I've been seeing another outline, or maybe it's the same one, sneaking along that wall." He pointed.
Ron squinted hard at the indicated spot, "I don't see anything." Hermione nodded her assent.
Harry shrugged, "Neither do I."
Hermione looked a bit taken aback, "I thought you just said…"
Harry shook his head, "I didn't say it made any sense. And I keep seeing a hand holding a knife."
Ron turned to Hermione, "What do you know about the Drops of Vengeance?"
"Not much," Hermione admitted. "It has something to do with predicting bad things that are directed towards you and being able to repel them."
Harry felt his stomach sink a bit, "How does it repel them?" He silently cursed himself for not thinking to ask this before.
Hermione looked at him quizzically, "I assume it generates some sort of magic field."
Harry's stomach sank a bit further. "And the stronger the malice?"
"The stronger the field," Hermione finished matter-of-factly, obviously not understanding what was upsetting him so much.
Harry wondered if Professor Dameron had unwittingly made the assassin's job a lot easier. Then an even nastier thought coiled it's way into the pit of his stomach.
Ron gave him an inquiring glance, "Harry? Are you all right? You've got nothing to be worried about, nothing can touch you for the next twenty hours."
Harry grimaced and pushed his food away. He saw the silhouette, whatever it was slinking out of the Great Hall. "I need to talk to Professor Argano right away. I want to find out as much as I can about whoever this Professor Dameron is." He quickly left the Great Hall and headed for Professor Argano's office.
He arrived a few minutes later to find Professor Argano's office cold, locked, and empty. The hour was drawing late and a few of the wall sconces had been dimmed, leaving deepening pits of shadow all along the corridor. Harry turned uneasily away from the locked office and his eyes fixed on one of the deeper shadow areas.
The invisible figure had followed him. It stood in still in the deepest shadow, not moving, not making a sound. Harry backed away, till he bumped into the heavy door of Argano's office. He fished his wand out of his pocket and pointed it at the figure. "Who's there?" The figure became even more still, seeming as though it were trying to slowly press its way back into the wall. Harry brandished his wand angrily, "I can see you, now show yourself and tell me who you are!"
In answer, the figure lunged at Harry and a hand holding a wicked knife burst into view. Harry cried in surprise as a burst of golden particles exploded from his outstretched arm and slammed the figure back into the wall. The knife had been knocked out of its hands and was now smoking and embedded in the wall. Harry saw brown hair and triumphant eyes just before the hand that had held the knife made a pulling motion and vanished, taking the image of a face with it. The invisible figure fled.
Harry's eyes blurred in and out of focus and he slid slowly down the door to crumple at its foot. He felt as though something brittle inside of him were about to snap. The mark on his chest began to give off fierce heat and a tendril of acrid smoke whisped out of his shirt collar.
Something in his chest gave a mighty twist and the spell mark burned even brighter. The searing pain slammed into the base of Harry's skull and he moaned. The darkness that had been nibbling at his vision closed in and consumed him.
