Chapter 4 – The Ambush



Standing in front of him were Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle; their wands pointed at Harry.

'Don't you know it's dangerous to be wandering around on your own Potter?' Draco smirked, 'You just never know what's around the next corner.'

Harry's hand instinctively clasped for his wand in his pocket, his lightning reflexes ready to strike if Malfoy made a move.

'I suppose I could have run into something dangerous' Harry replied, 'but luckily I only ran into you three trollbrains.'

He pretended not to be worried, but a voice in the back of his mind couldn't help thinking he was outnumbered three to one. Goyle and Crabbe may have been total idiots, but even they were capable of cursing him if he was distracted.

'Well Potter, tell you what, admit that you're a disgrace to the name of wizardry and that all your friends are mudbloods and blood-traitors, and then maybe, just maybe, we'll let you go with your face intact.'

'Right, let me think about it. Hmmm nope, sorry. I'd threaten to curse your face too Malfoy, but no matter what I do it will be an improvement.'

'You don't seriously think you can take all three of us do you scarhead?' Draco said, and Harry noticed a psychotic glint in his eyes now.

'I could take you on blindfolded. I took your father on last year Malfoy, he was pathetic too. I say it's due to bad wizarding blood –'

At that moment Draco's face exploded into fury and he yelled impedimenta; sending a green streak of light right at Harry.

Harry's instincts took over and he yelled protego causing the jinx to rebound and fly right back at Goyle, who was forced to jump on the floor to dodge it.

Before Draco could launch another spell at him Harry yelled petrificus totalus and Goyle, who was still lying on the floor was unable to dodge in time. Just as Goyle's body went rigid, Crabbe sent a stunning spell at him and simultaneously Draco shouted impedimenta again.

Harry flicked his wand while he said specularis and a glowing blue mirror-like wall materialized in front him, reflecting both spells right back at their point of origin. Draco with a look of surprise recovered his senses just in time to drop to the ground, sending the spell flying over his head. Crabbe on the other hand had never been quick on the uptake, and was blasted in the face by his own stunning spell causing him to be flung backwards into a state of unconsciousness.

He turned his attention back to Malfoy who was lying on the floor unable to understand what was going on.

'Taking a nap Malfoy? Do you need a little rest before we continue?' Harry asked coolly. All the rage that had been bottled up inside had awoken a killer instinct within him; he felt power, and he was enjoying it.

Malfoy jumped back to his feet and yelled something Harry had never heard before, and a green streak of light shot right at Harry. He didn't recognize the spell, and had no idea how to defend against it, but somewhere in his mind his inner voice yelled it's green and his hand moved so fast it was a blur. Ancilus! The green streak hit the bright shield of light he had conjured and shattered into a dozen smaller beams which had been deflected harmlessly.

Draco was still shocked, but he instantly begun waving his wand again. This time, Harry beat him to it and yelled expelliarmus. Draco was knocked backwards as his wand flew out of his hand, and before he even got up Harry yelled accio wand and deftly caught it in his hand.

'Oh dear, did you lose something?'

'You … You got lucky' Malfoy blurted out, but his eyes were filled with fear now.

'You think so? Let's try again then shall we' and he tossed him back his wand.

Malfoy gaped at him, his face still contorted with fear but now there was surprise too.

'Are you waiting for a written invitation Malfoy? Or are you just scared?'

At these words Malfoy regained his composure, jumped up, and yelled conflagro and a jet of fire flew right at Harry.

Harry easily cast a protective spell and the fire dispersed all around him, all the while continuing to mock his opponent.

'You seem to know an awful lot of dark magic Malfoy, it's a pity you're no good at it'

Draco yelled another spell he didn't recognize and a streak of red light came out of his wand. By this time he was overcome with fear, and it had affected his aim. The spell shot well wide of Harry who immediately said expelliarmus again, and knocked him off his feet. Draco, his wand lying ten feet away, looked at Harry with a fearful expression again.

Harry pointed his wand at Malfoy, his arm trembling slightly while he debated something in his mind. The bastard deserved it, there was no doubt about that, but something inside him made him stop short of hurting Malfoy.

'Don't worry, I'm not going to curse you Blondie – this time.'

He spoke with a menacing but calm tone, and his lips were smiling.

'I'm going to let you walk out of here knowing that I showed you mercy, and you'll have to live with that shame. Next time though, I won't be so forgiving, and now that you've seen what I can do, you'd better watch yourself.'

With those words he turned around and walked quickly back to his common room. His whole body was shaking with excitement and shock by now. Not only had he been toying with Malfoy, but he had actually enjoyed it. Slowly he calmed down, his heartbeat slowing, and he felt a wave of nausea washing over him. He felt dirty, like he was no better than a deatheater, relishing in the fear of another.

Halfway to his common room he abruptly changed direction and headed for Dumbledore's office. He needed to talk to someone he thought would understand, and he quickened his pace almost to the point of running.

Harry was almost in tears as he explained what had happened and the Headmaster listened silently. When he was done there was a thoughtful moment of silence before Dumbledore softly spoke.

'I understand all too well Harry; the appeal of power has always been what attracts people to the dark arts. Even those of us who practice magic with the best of intentions are sometimes tempted by the allure of power.'

'So I'm really no better than Voldemort' Harry said bitterly, 'I feel the same things he does.'

'No Harry, you are very different from him. We all share similar experiences in life, what sets us apart is how we deal with those experiences. Voldemort decided he wanted more power after feeling what you just felt, while you were immediately overcome with guilt.'

'But what if I'm tempted again? What if –'

'- I have faith that you will do the right thing when the time comes Harry. We all have the same urges inside, its how we act upon them that defines us. I am confident that in a situation where you are tested, you will choose the right course of action.'

His eyes were staring at his lap and he nodded. Everything Dumbledore said made sense, but he was still having trouble coming to terms with what had happened.

'Thank you sir' and he got up to leave.

'Please come and see me anytime if there is anything, anything at all, you would like to talk about' Dumbledore replied, and Harry saw that there was an expression of pride and love on his face.

When he woke up early the next morning the events of the previous day were a distant memory. He woke up feeling refreshed and energized, as if he was a phoenix reborn from the ashes. He had gone to bed early and as a consequence it was only four am when he couldn't sleep anymore. Wondering how he could entertain himself, he realized he had already finished the entire book for DADA, transfiguration, and charms and his homework couldn't be improved upon any further. What he needed was more books, but he wasn't supposed to leave the common room in the middle of the night. The marauders would be proud, he thought to himself with a grin, as he covered himself with the invisibility cloak and snuck out of their dorm.

The castle was eerily silent as he crept through it, not even teachers were patrolling the corridors at this time. He checked the marauders map in his pocket and saw that the coast was clear. He cautiously made his way to the library and went straight for the restricted section. When Draco had used dark arts against him, he had been lucky to guess the correct blocking spell. If he was going to defend himself against dark wizards, he would need to know what they were doing.

     He reached the restricted section and after lighting his wand he started looking at the titles of books. Many of them were written in languages he didn't understand, and one book he passed seemed to be written in blood. He slowly browsed through the shelves until he found one that caught his interest. The dark arts and their use in dueling by Sigismund Sighisoara. He opened the book and read the foreword

The dark arts are expressly forbidden at all official and legal dueling tournaments, however everyone knows it is the illegal duels where you will need your wits about you. The so called righteous may frown upon the knowledge of this book, but when you defeat them you will have proven how wrong they were. No wizard or witch should consider serious dueling outside tournaments without the knowledge contained in these pages.

Harry felt a sense of excitement; this is exactly the sort of thing he had been looking for! He didn't want to learn how to use the dark arts but he did want to know what was coming his way, and he was sure that Malfoy knew a majority of this book too. He couldn't afford not to study this, he convinced himself, as he snuck back to his room with the book tucked under his arm.

He missed breakfast that morning, becoming so absorbed in the book that he lost track of time. It wasn't until Hermione came up to his room that he remembered the real world.

'Harry, what are you doing?'

'Nothing' he said, quickly hiding the book under his pillow. 'I wasn't feeling well so I thought I'd sleep in a bit'

She looked at him suspiciously for a moment, but didn't question him any further.

'We're going to be late for potions if you don't hurry up, and you don't want to be late for Snape's class. He's been obsessed with making you look bad since you took his class, so let's not give him any more excuses to harass you.'

Harry quickly got his school things and they ran to their potions class. Luckily they arrived before Snape and quickly sat at their seats. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were there, and they were carefully avoiding eye contact with Harry. Malfoy looked thoroughly livid, a look of humiliation on his face. Harry had taught him a lesson he would not soon forget, and he knew that Malfoy would want to hurt him more than ever now.

At that moment Snape walked into the room and everyone fell silent.

'Today you will be testing your polyjuice potions, and we will see if any of you have grasped a single thing I've tried to teach you. You will all partner up and take a hair from each other to test out your own potion. Those of you who did not follow my instructions will of course suffer at the hands of your own incompetence.'

Snape smirked and looked around as the Hufflepuff girls trembled. Their polyjuice potion was entirely the wrong color and they would probably have to be sent to see madam Pompfrey, but that didn't stop Snape from enjoying his vindictiveness.

'Now everyone sit with their partners.'

Harry and Hermione looked at each other; it would be weird to be the opposite sex for an hour but they weren't going to partner with a Slytherin.

'I think not' Snape said with an evil grin. 'Let's split up the dream team shall we? Granger you will be with Pansy, and Potter you will partner with Malfoy!'

'WHAT?' all four of them shrieked.

'I don't want to be become her for an hour!' Pansy shrieked

'Yeah like I want to turn into you' Hermione scowled at her

'Professor I don't want to be Potter!'

Harry was simply silent. The look on Snape face showed that he was thoroughly enjoying this.

'You will all do as you are told, or it's detention for all of you! Now take your places!'

Harry carefully took his potion and switched seats with Pansy Parkinson.

'Great, now I'm going to have a stupid scar on my forehead' Malfoy muttered under his breath'

'And I'm going to leave grease marks on everything I touch' Harry whispered back

'Don't know what you're complaining about, maybe some good-looking girls will finally talk to you now. I'm the one who's going to be a total freak for the next hour.'

'Thankfully it won't affect my brain, or I'd –'

'SILENCE!' Snape snarled, 'drop the hair in the potion now and drink it'

They reluctantly exchanged hairs and dropped them in their potions, causing it to change into a sickly yellow color. All around him students were changing into each other, and examining their own appearances carefully. Neither of the Hufflepuff girls turned into each other, instead their skin grew purple and various parts of them started swelling up.

'Did I not clearly instruct you to add exactly two pinches of powdered bicorn horn?' Off to the medical ward you go then' he said lazily.

Here we go Harry thought to himself, and drank the potion in one gulp. The familiar burning sensation spread rapidly from his stomach over the rest of his body. His hands began to change before his eyes, and he felt a melting sensation over his whole body.

And then it stopped. He took of his glasses and looked at Malfoy. It was a shock to see a mirror image of himself standing next to him; it was like looking into a mirror only more real. It was one of the creepiest things he had ever experienced.

'Aaahh I can't see properly Professor' Malfoy shouted

'Here you twit, put my glasses on' and he thrust his glasses into malfoy's hands.

'This … is … horrible'

'For once we agree on something'.

He was staring at Snape, who seemed the happiest he had ever seen him. He was watching the horrified reactions around the room with a grim satisfaction. He then stood up and went around inspecting everyone's appearance. When he came to Harry's table he stopped and smirked.

'Well Potter, it seems you were lucky and your potion was successful. It's too bad your appearance isn't permanent, I'd say it's rather an improvement.'

He went to the next table where the Ravenclaw boy had mostly taken on the appearance of his partner, but had some strange rashes on his skin.

'You didn't add enough knotgrass as I instructed you to, but the effects will wear off in an hour. Hopefully the rashes will remind you to pay attention.'

Harry turned his attention back to Malfoy, who was examining the scar on his forehead with a look of disgust.

They spent the rest of the class cleaning up the remains of their potions while trading insults.

'Bet you wish you could be me forever don't you Potter?'

'Don't act like such a slimy git Malfoy; it doesn't suit your dashing looks'

When the class finally finished the potion was starting to wear off and Harry snatched his glasses back from Malfoy. Hermione was furious as they walked out together.

'That was really evil of Snape! Ron is going to laugh his head off at us'

'Yeah, I think I'll go take a shower. I still feel all greasy even though I'm no longer him'

They went back to their dorm and Harry scrubbed himself longer than he had ever done with soap.

In the evening he went to Dumbledore's office for his private lesson. Hermione and Ron were becoming very suspicious, and he felt bad about having to lie to them all the time. Dumbledore had been satisfied with his occlumency skill after the last lesson, and today would be his first time learning to apparate. He wondered how he was going to learn if you couldn't apparate on the Hogwarts grounds, but he was sure Dumbledore would have thought of that.

'Ah Harry, how are you? Sit down please; I'm almost done with this letter'

Harry sat down as Dumbledore finished writing something on parchment, occasionally pausing to think. When he was finally done he folded the parchment and put it in a pocket of his robes.

'Now then, we're going to have to leave the Hogwarts grounds to apparate. I have arranged a room in the ministry of magic and I will create a portkey to take us there.

He waved his wand at an empty teacup and then said 'ok on the count of three. One – two – three'

Harry felt himself being pulled again, and when the swirling stopped they were in an empty white room.

'Now then, the incantation used is appareo, but it takes much more than that to displace yourself. You must imagine yourself being at the place you want to be and then point the wand at yourself and say the spell. Now, why don't you focus on the other side of the room and try?'

Harry looked across the room and focused intensely on a spot on the ground, and then pointed the wand at himself and clearly articulated appareo. He felt a strange sensation through his body, a blend of seasickness and rollercoasters, which made him lose focus.

'The sensation will take some getting used, keep trying please'

He focused again on the spot and repeated the incantation. This time when he felt his stomach going into his brain he remained focused on the spot. His body suddenly became very light and the next instant he was one meter closer to the spot.

'Excellent! You actually moved that time. That was very quick.'

Harry stepped backwards a few steps and then focused on the spot again. This time when he felt the nauseating sensation he forced himself to focus even harder and next thing he knew he heard a loud pop and he was hanging in midair above the spot. Gravity immediately caught up with him and he fell to the ground on his rear. Despite his bruised rear-end and Dumbledore's chuckling he was excited that he managed to displace himself.

After another hour of practice he could disapparate and apparate anywhere he wanted in the room, and he no longer materialized in mid air.

'Very good Harry, but the hard part is learning to focus on the point you want to go when you can't see it. That is why apparating long distances is very unreliable.'

Dumbledore took out his wand and with a wave he conjured up a curtain dividing the room.

'Now you cannot see the other side of the room anymore, try and displace yourself through the curtain'

After two more hours of practicing he was exhausted and Dumbledore called the lessons to a halt. He managed to get through the curtain every time, but never ended up in the place he wanted to.

'Now before we go back to Hogwarts I have to give something to the minister. Please follow me; it will only take a moment.

Harry followed Dumbledore through several doors and then up the elevator. They went from level six to level two; the department of magical law enforcement. Lots of people gave them stares as they walked by. Some people greeted Dumbledore and winked at Harry, others just stared at them with a look of awe.

'Ah Minister, I was just looking for you' As Fudge walked out of an office. He took the parchment out of his robes and handed it to Fudge who seemed very embarrassed when he saw Harry.

'Thank you Dumbledore, this will really help us.' He looked at Harry a moment and then turned slightly pinkish

'Harry, it's err nice to see you… I mean, well, you know about, err, last year'

Dumbledore eyes twinkled; he obviously thought this whole scene was rather amusing.

'No hard feelings Minister, we need to work together to defeat Voldemort.'

Fudge flinched when Harry mentioned the name, and continued looking very awkward.  They were just about to touch the portkey back to Hogwarts when Percy walked into the room. He looked very stressed out and was carrying some papers to give to Fudge when he saw them.

'Headmaster' He gasped, 'and h-h-Harry'

'Hello Percy. You'd better not hang around, I've been known to get violent you know? I'm very unbalanced.'

Percy turned red and tried to stutter an apology.

'Save it, but you owe me one.'

Percy gave him an awkward smile and nodded.

'Look I'm sorry, I've been a bit of an idiot.' he muttered 'I'll try to make it up to you.'

'Harry nodded. Percy wasn't a bad person, he was just misguided. Maybe this experience had finally knocked some sense into him.

They took the portkey back to Hogwarts and Harry bid the headmaster goodnight before returning to the dorm. He was so tired that he collapsed in his bed from exhaustion.

He woke up the next morning and found Hermione sitting in the great hall writing a letter. He sat down across from her and ate his breakfast, and soon after Ron woke up and joined them. Ron talked about their first quidditch game coming up in November.

'Ravenclaw have a tough defense and a good set of chasers, but Cho has been a lousy seeker lately. I reckon you should grab the snitch as fast as possible so they don't score much. When we play Hufflepuff you should hold off catching it as long as possible, we want to build up the score so we have a big lead over Slytherin. Speaking of Slytherin, they booked the pitch for their practice the entire weekend, so I've moved our training day to Tuesday.

Harry's heart sunk; Tuesday evening he had his lessons with Dumbledore.

'Oh, I'm afraid I can't on Tuesday Ron'

'Why not? It's the only day the pitch was available, we have to train on that day!'

'Look I just can't ok?' he said uncomfortably, 'You'll have to train without me'

'Fine' Ron said coolly, 'it probably doesn't matter anyways. You're the one player who doesn't really need to train.'

There was an awkward silence for a moment, during which Ron noticed Hermione writing a long letter.

'And what are you doing Hermione?' Ron asked

'I'm writing a letter to Viktor, he's trying to get a job over here you know? But he says the immigration is very strict.'

'You still write to Krum?' Ron said incredulously

'We keep in touch; it's rather interesting to be pen pals with him. He really gives a unique perspective on things'

'So you still like him do you?' Ron said in an annoyed tone, and he seemed to be turning slightly pinkish.

'Oh really Ron, I never really liked him. I just agreed to go to the dance with him because he caught me by surprise. He is a nice person and all, but he's not my type.'

'Oh, ah, I was just wondering you know …' but Ron seemed to be turning even redder 'I have to go, meeting someone' he said promptly and strode off

'What's up with him?' Harry asked

'Oh isn't it obvious? Hermione said, 'I wish he'd just ask me and be done with it. I've tried to encourage him but men are just so clueless.'

She rolled her eyes and continued writing the letter.

'What? You mean he likes you?' Harry blurted out 'and … and you like him too?'

'Well we have been spending an awful lot of time together since you keep sneaking off to wherever it is you go without telling us.'

Harry felt guilty. He had been going every week to get private lessons from Dumbledore. He had also been reading the book he stole from the restricted section in a place where he thought no one could find him.

'Ah well, err, you see…'

'It's ok Harry; we understand there are things you can't tell us.'

He felt a sense of relief, but then he remember what they had been talking about

'But … but … you two are always bickering'

Hermione frowned at him.

'You know, most people wait until they're married to start bickering like that' he said, trying to contain his laughter as Hermione punched him in the arm.

Later on he went up to the dorm and found Ron sitting there looking completely flustered.

'Hey Ron, something on your mind? He asked.

'No.' He paused for a while and then said 'Actually, Yes. Do you think that, err, friends can, err …' He paused again, trying to find the words.

'Why don't you just ask her on a date Ron?'

'Wha… I can't do that! I mean, what if she says no! I'll die on the spot!'

'And I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be brave' Harry laughed, 'Honestly, I have a feeling she'll say yes you know, so just go for it. There's a Hogsmeade trip next week; that would be perfect.'

'You really think so?!'

'What are you waiting for you big goof?'

'Right' Ron grinned, 'Well wish me luck'

'Good luck!' Harry shouted after him as Ron ran back to the great Hall.

He read his book for half an hour and then no longer able to contain his curiosity he went to the great hall to get the latest news. When he arrived he saw Hermione was sitting alone studying out of a book.

'So' he said as he sat across from her, 'fill me in, I want all the details.'

She looked up with a smug smile and then said

'Well he asked me if I wanted to go to Hogsmeade with him, and then I said I would love to, and then he said 'great' and left.'

'He left?! What for?'

'He was muttering something about a cold shower, his face was rather red you see, and he was sweating a lot. Not much of smoothtalker, but at least he finally worked up the nerve to ask me.'

'Well I told him to ask you' Harry grinned, feeling rather pleased with himself.

'I knew you would, that's why I told you. Men are so predictable' she said with an evil smile. 'Now if you'll excuse me I have to go to class.' And she left leaving a confused Harry wondering what just happened.