One Tin Soldier
Chapter Eleven: Cross to Bear
Disclaimer: I woke up one day and wasn't J.K. Rowling. I was sad, so I decided to write Fanfiction, and this is what you get!
A/N: Okay, this is going to be incredibly confusing but I'm trying to write it from Harry's POV so it has to be. Sorry for the puzzlement, hope it doesn't drive you away!
~~~~~
In the night it seemed as if everything held a sort of pre-arranged, joyous humor, however Harry awoke the next morning to a very different world.
On September 1, Harry, the Weasleys, Lupin, Moody, and Hermione made the journey to King's Cross beneath the Autumn clouds and sporadic rain. Under the barren, unfriendly skies, Harry watched his luggage as it was loaded by a few of the orderlies. Something told him that his return to the wizarding world held completely different meaning than it had in previous years. There was little of the humor or calm of the previous day left within him, and instead he felt an ominous, trembling sensation. He found himself looking around as if he waited for something awful to happen. At the moment, a shadow fell beside him and he was instantly on guard, only to look up into the gray eyes of Remus Lupin. He stared at the last of the Marauders with a strange, faraway feeling through him.
It began to rain.
Memories of Sirius fell through him like the cold drops, his heart weighing him suddenly until he felt as if he were going to drown. Lupin only stared at him, a hand waiting, for a moment, featherlight on his shoulder. He looked so frail in the sickly light, and Harry had the terrible jolting impression that he might not see him again.
~Why do I feel like I am marching to war?~
The first warning whistle broke through the air, a light breeze clutching at him. He pulled his coat tighter, his throat clenching. He had the sudden desire to run back to the Dursleys, which frightened him in itself. He looked around as the rain began to fall harder, splattering roughly on the platform. There was suddenly a sound of fury behind him, then a scream and a heavy scuffle.
Harry spun around, shocked, as Lupin was on the ground, out cold, and Draco and Hermione were alternately punching each other. Draco had his wand out, barely visable beneathe the folds of his cloak, and a wave of dread went through Harry as Malfoy angled it up at her. Harry charged him, and pushed him aside.
All at once there was a hand on his shoulder, and Moody behind him, withholding a struggling and screaming Hermione around the throat.
"SCUM! MALFOY, YOU DIRTY RAT!" She screeched.
"YOU ARE GOING TO DIE, MUDBLOOD, LIKE YOU OUGHT'VE WITH YOUR DAMNED PARENTS! YOU TOO, POTTER!" The pale boy wailed.
Harry wanted to kill him. Ginny had both her arms around Ron's waist and it was enough for Moody to have to lift both the children off of the ground. The person holding Draco slipped, and his wand shot up. His lips barely began to move when there was a howl and Lupin ran into the boy, seizing him.
Hermione was struggling and making several strange noises, and as Harry relaxed, he noticed there was a large gash across her brow and her cheek was swollen. Ron, on the side, sported a black eye. Draco came out with a swollen nose and swore incessantly as Lupin continued to restrain him.
"You can't bloody well defend your boyfriend forever, he'll turn his back sometime!"
Lupin carried him onto the train, into one of the compartments with an escort of orderlies. Moody set them down, the last whistle echoing in the air. His face was a set look of fury.
"Come with me." He muttered.
Harry barely noticed that Lupin never left the train, and that all of Ron's brothers had boarded as well.
He waved ashenly to the two remaining Weasleys, and followed Moody, expecting the worst. Ron trailed behind, groaning, and soon they stopped before an empty compartment. They entered, and Moody closed the door behind them. Breathing deeply, he turned.
"Lucius Malfoy was put to death yesterday for crimes against the Ministry."
Harry looked around him, and his mouth hung open in silent shock. He would have thought that he would smile at this news, but something cold seemed writhe in his guts in place of the satisfaction.
"Miss Granger, I believe you have some explaining to do."
~~~~~
Hermione stared out the window without looking at any of them. Her brow continued bleeding, but nobody dared touch her. Finally she turned to them.
"He tried to kill Harry." She stared at the floor, face screwed up in some sort of silent fury, "I tried to stop him... he had a knife.. I'm sorry, I should have controlled myself, but there was no time to warn him... and he.." her voice broke off into a single sob.
Moody sighed, and looked at the three of them.
"You do know you will most likely get detention for your 'scuffle'?"
They nodded a bit, but Harry stood.
"How in the.. how's that fair?! He bloody well tried to kill me!"
"There is," Moody held up a hand, easing him back down, "no proof that he did. The only person who saw it was Miss Granger. Now, I believe her, and I am almost certain Albus will as well, however it will not be grounds for expulsion on his part," the three of them opened their mouths but he raised his voice, "BECAUSE he just lost a parent, and unfortunately there are certain rules which give leeway, very slight leeway, for violent outbursts in individuals under his circumstances."
"That isn't fair! They'd expel one of us in the same situation!" Ron yelled.
"No, they won't in this case." Silence fell over the cart. "because Miss Granger is in the same situation, despite the fact that this will most likely be looked upon as an unprovoked assault on Malfoy, since most present missed sight of the knife. I'm afraid that what you have done, Hermione, is rather serious."
There was no response from her. She stared out the window.
"But... but he threatened their lives... he called her a mudblood..." Ron stammered.
"We all heard that, and while that will be taken into account, I am still afraid it will not be grounds to expel him. In fact if it weren't for past circumstances, then in this case Miss Granger would be in a rather worse situation than he." Moody looked extremely grave, but there was a cold note of resentment and fury in his voice that was not directed at them.
Hermione only stared out the window, but in the reflection Harry swore he caught sight of a few tears.
The door opened and Lupin walked in. Harry and Ron stared in shock at this. He stood beside Moody, his eyes on Hermione, filled with anger.
"How could you have been so stupid as to do that in public?" he hissed.
She turned, froze, a look of horror coming upon her face suddenly. "Oh... oh no...Sir... I... I had to, Harry was.... I had to protect him!"
"They could have seen you, Hermione. HE could have seen." His voice was terribly cold. "You know that if..."
"I KNOW, I know... but he was... Lupin... oh... he was going to..." She was cut off.
"You could have asked us for help." His tone became a bit less cold, "I know you meant well, but they do not know, and nobody can. Even all of you." He eyed the others wordlessly, and by the quiet fire in his eyes, each knew to be silent. His gentle tone and demeanor of the past seemed utterly separate from this alien fury. Beneath all of the anger, Harry swore there was only one driving emotion in his eyes.
Fear.
"You know what they are trying to do and what he has become. I expected better, and if you do not prove to be less careless than this in the future, then I will leave." He stood.
Hermione looked horrified. "No... Please... Lupin, I will try harder... please, just let me have one more chance...."
He went over wordlessly tipping up her chin, and moved his wand to her forehead, healing the wound gently, sighing with a deep sorrow.
"That is one more than you will have in the end..." He murmured. He held her eyes for a moment, and then wordlessly, left the room. Ron turned to her, mouth opening, but she held up a hand.
"Don't ask, because I can't tell either of you. I'm sorry, but please, promise me you won't try to find out..."
"Hermione, we're worried though, I mean..." Ron stammered.
"Don't."
Harry's head spun with confusion.
She turned and looked out of the window.
Harry had a horrible feeling about what had just transpired. He looked up at Moody, but he man just wordlessly began to heal Ron's black eye. He stood and sat beside Hermione. She stared at the discolored sky and the heavy drops on the panes. He placed a hand on her arm.
He paused a moment. "Thanks.... for saving me..."
She looked at him quietly, and only blinked. Her eyes were full of tears, but they refused to fall.
Outside, it rained, the sky crying for her. He wanted to tell her how angry he was, how unfair it was that events had gone as they had, but it all seemed to matter so little, argument and fury over the injustice of the system seemed to have been left in the dust of years past. He pushed back his ranting confusion and waited. His hand hovered for a few more moments on her arm. Moody exited at this, and left the three of them alone.
She stared at him. The door clicked open and shut twice.
Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood, who now had blue hair, walked into the compartment along with the woman with the food cart. Harry vaguely handed the woman some money and she loaded an array of sweets off of the cart for all of them. Although none of them really felt particularly hungry, Harry, Ron, and Hermione reached out habitually for a piece of chocolate. Luna and Neville sat down with them, and each unconsciously grabbed a bag of Bertie Bott's. Neither payed attention to whatever flavor they chose, though. After a few moments Ginny also slipped in from the prefects car and sat beside Ron.
As if they had purposefully convened, Luna cleared her throat after Ginny had taken a chocolate frog.
"Harry?" She looked at him curiously, her eyes roving to Ron in amusement at that moment. Neville shuffled a bit beside her, and as Harry replied she looked at him with mild surprise, as if seeing the awkward boy for the first time. She smiled at him.
"Yes?"Harry murmured.
"We're all a bit curious. Will there be a DA this year?" She looked at him expectantly, the half-dreaming look in her eyes wandering vaguely to Hermione. Harry was sure he saw Luna's eyes change color then, and tried not to react to it as he spoke.
"Well... uh... um... I don't really think there is a problem... so yes, of course... if Dumbledore will let us have organized meetings. I mean, I don't know who is going to be the Quidditch captain..."
They all stared at him.
"What?" Harry felt terribly confused, and he was beginning to forget what it felt like to not be so.
Luna smiled serenely, tugging vaguely on her nose and staring at Ginny's feet. "Oh, you'll be the Quidditch captain, it's fairly obvious to everyone."
Harry felt a bit more ill instead of happy. The last thing he needed at that moment was more responsibility. He groaned.
Ron seemed to read his mind and immediately piped up. "We could go out for captain together, kind of help each other, I mean, if you want to... With your Occlumency and everything else, I'm not busy this year..." Ron fidgeted a bit, and Luna watched his ear dazedly.
Harry just gave him a look of complete smiling relief, and the matter was settled.
Slowly, the conversation traveled from the DA to more soothing matters. Harry leaned back, watching the ceiling silently, the shadows deepening to darkness and the lights coming on somewhere within the expanse of his detachment. He felt as if someone had just stuffed his head full of cotton tissue, mind spinning into darkness. Gradually he dozed off. The train slowed suddenly, and Harry was shaken out of his light sleep by the movement, realizing that they had already arrived.
He braced his shoulders as he, Hermione, and Ron walked off of the train, led by Lupin, who was still very tight-lipped and flashing angry glares at Hermione, up to the Castle. They bypassed the Great Hall and were lead to the Headmaster's office which was, thankfully, no longer inhabited by Madam Umbridge.
"Peppermint Patty"Lupin muttered.
Silently, they filed up the stairs, and into the room where the Professor was facing a white-blonde head. The boy in the chair was moving strangely, and a quiet sort of sound echoed in the room. They froze.
Draco Malfoy was crying.
~~~~~
Chapter Eleven: Cross to Bear
Disclaimer: I woke up one day and wasn't J.K. Rowling. I was sad, so I decided to write Fanfiction, and this is what you get!
A/N: Okay, this is going to be incredibly confusing but I'm trying to write it from Harry's POV so it has to be. Sorry for the puzzlement, hope it doesn't drive you away!
~~~~~
In the night it seemed as if everything held a sort of pre-arranged, joyous humor, however Harry awoke the next morning to a very different world.
On September 1, Harry, the Weasleys, Lupin, Moody, and Hermione made the journey to King's Cross beneath the Autumn clouds and sporadic rain. Under the barren, unfriendly skies, Harry watched his luggage as it was loaded by a few of the orderlies. Something told him that his return to the wizarding world held completely different meaning than it had in previous years. There was little of the humor or calm of the previous day left within him, and instead he felt an ominous, trembling sensation. He found himself looking around as if he waited for something awful to happen. At the moment, a shadow fell beside him and he was instantly on guard, only to look up into the gray eyes of Remus Lupin. He stared at the last of the Marauders with a strange, faraway feeling through him.
It began to rain.
Memories of Sirius fell through him like the cold drops, his heart weighing him suddenly until he felt as if he were going to drown. Lupin only stared at him, a hand waiting, for a moment, featherlight on his shoulder. He looked so frail in the sickly light, and Harry had the terrible jolting impression that he might not see him again.
~Why do I feel like I am marching to war?~
The first warning whistle broke through the air, a light breeze clutching at him. He pulled his coat tighter, his throat clenching. He had the sudden desire to run back to the Dursleys, which frightened him in itself. He looked around as the rain began to fall harder, splattering roughly on the platform. There was suddenly a sound of fury behind him, then a scream and a heavy scuffle.
Harry spun around, shocked, as Lupin was on the ground, out cold, and Draco and Hermione were alternately punching each other. Draco had his wand out, barely visable beneathe the folds of his cloak, and a wave of dread went through Harry as Malfoy angled it up at her. Harry charged him, and pushed him aside.
All at once there was a hand on his shoulder, and Moody behind him, withholding a struggling and screaming Hermione around the throat.
"SCUM! MALFOY, YOU DIRTY RAT!" She screeched.
"YOU ARE GOING TO DIE, MUDBLOOD, LIKE YOU OUGHT'VE WITH YOUR DAMNED PARENTS! YOU TOO, POTTER!" The pale boy wailed.
Harry wanted to kill him. Ginny had both her arms around Ron's waist and it was enough for Moody to have to lift both the children off of the ground. The person holding Draco slipped, and his wand shot up. His lips barely began to move when there was a howl and Lupin ran into the boy, seizing him.
Hermione was struggling and making several strange noises, and as Harry relaxed, he noticed there was a large gash across her brow and her cheek was swollen. Ron, on the side, sported a black eye. Draco came out with a swollen nose and swore incessantly as Lupin continued to restrain him.
"You can't bloody well defend your boyfriend forever, he'll turn his back sometime!"
Lupin carried him onto the train, into one of the compartments with an escort of orderlies. Moody set them down, the last whistle echoing in the air. His face was a set look of fury.
"Come with me." He muttered.
Harry barely noticed that Lupin never left the train, and that all of Ron's brothers had boarded as well.
He waved ashenly to the two remaining Weasleys, and followed Moody, expecting the worst. Ron trailed behind, groaning, and soon they stopped before an empty compartment. They entered, and Moody closed the door behind them. Breathing deeply, he turned.
"Lucius Malfoy was put to death yesterday for crimes against the Ministry."
Harry looked around him, and his mouth hung open in silent shock. He would have thought that he would smile at this news, but something cold seemed writhe in his guts in place of the satisfaction.
"Miss Granger, I believe you have some explaining to do."
~~~~~
Hermione stared out the window without looking at any of them. Her brow continued bleeding, but nobody dared touch her. Finally she turned to them.
"He tried to kill Harry." She stared at the floor, face screwed up in some sort of silent fury, "I tried to stop him... he had a knife.. I'm sorry, I should have controlled myself, but there was no time to warn him... and he.." her voice broke off into a single sob.
Moody sighed, and looked at the three of them.
"You do know you will most likely get detention for your 'scuffle'?"
They nodded a bit, but Harry stood.
"How in the.. how's that fair?! He bloody well tried to kill me!"
"There is," Moody held up a hand, easing him back down, "no proof that he did. The only person who saw it was Miss Granger. Now, I believe her, and I am almost certain Albus will as well, however it will not be grounds for expulsion on his part," the three of them opened their mouths but he raised his voice, "BECAUSE he just lost a parent, and unfortunately there are certain rules which give leeway, very slight leeway, for violent outbursts in individuals under his circumstances."
"That isn't fair! They'd expel one of us in the same situation!" Ron yelled.
"No, they won't in this case." Silence fell over the cart. "because Miss Granger is in the same situation, despite the fact that this will most likely be looked upon as an unprovoked assault on Malfoy, since most present missed sight of the knife. I'm afraid that what you have done, Hermione, is rather serious."
There was no response from her. She stared out the window.
"But... but he threatened their lives... he called her a mudblood..." Ron stammered.
"We all heard that, and while that will be taken into account, I am still afraid it will not be grounds to expel him. In fact if it weren't for past circumstances, then in this case Miss Granger would be in a rather worse situation than he." Moody looked extremely grave, but there was a cold note of resentment and fury in his voice that was not directed at them.
Hermione only stared out the window, but in the reflection Harry swore he caught sight of a few tears.
The door opened and Lupin walked in. Harry and Ron stared in shock at this. He stood beside Moody, his eyes on Hermione, filled with anger.
"How could you have been so stupid as to do that in public?" he hissed.
She turned, froze, a look of horror coming upon her face suddenly. "Oh... oh no...Sir... I... I had to, Harry was.... I had to protect him!"
"They could have seen you, Hermione. HE could have seen." His voice was terribly cold. "You know that if..."
"I KNOW, I know... but he was... Lupin... oh... he was going to..." She was cut off.
"You could have asked us for help." His tone became a bit less cold, "I know you meant well, but they do not know, and nobody can. Even all of you." He eyed the others wordlessly, and by the quiet fire in his eyes, each knew to be silent. His gentle tone and demeanor of the past seemed utterly separate from this alien fury. Beneath all of the anger, Harry swore there was only one driving emotion in his eyes.
Fear.
"You know what they are trying to do and what he has become. I expected better, and if you do not prove to be less careless than this in the future, then I will leave." He stood.
Hermione looked horrified. "No... Please... Lupin, I will try harder... please, just let me have one more chance...."
He went over wordlessly tipping up her chin, and moved his wand to her forehead, healing the wound gently, sighing with a deep sorrow.
"That is one more than you will have in the end..." He murmured. He held her eyes for a moment, and then wordlessly, left the room. Ron turned to her, mouth opening, but she held up a hand.
"Don't ask, because I can't tell either of you. I'm sorry, but please, promise me you won't try to find out..."
"Hermione, we're worried though, I mean..." Ron stammered.
"Don't."
Harry's head spun with confusion.
She turned and looked out of the window.
Harry had a horrible feeling about what had just transpired. He looked up at Moody, but he man just wordlessly began to heal Ron's black eye. He stood and sat beside Hermione. She stared at the discolored sky and the heavy drops on the panes. He placed a hand on her arm.
He paused a moment. "Thanks.... for saving me..."
She looked at him quietly, and only blinked. Her eyes were full of tears, but they refused to fall.
Outside, it rained, the sky crying for her. He wanted to tell her how angry he was, how unfair it was that events had gone as they had, but it all seemed to matter so little, argument and fury over the injustice of the system seemed to have been left in the dust of years past. He pushed back his ranting confusion and waited. His hand hovered for a few more moments on her arm. Moody exited at this, and left the three of them alone.
She stared at him. The door clicked open and shut twice.
Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood, who now had blue hair, walked into the compartment along with the woman with the food cart. Harry vaguely handed the woman some money and she loaded an array of sweets off of the cart for all of them. Although none of them really felt particularly hungry, Harry, Ron, and Hermione reached out habitually for a piece of chocolate. Luna and Neville sat down with them, and each unconsciously grabbed a bag of Bertie Bott's. Neither payed attention to whatever flavor they chose, though. After a few moments Ginny also slipped in from the prefects car and sat beside Ron.
As if they had purposefully convened, Luna cleared her throat after Ginny had taken a chocolate frog.
"Harry?" She looked at him curiously, her eyes roving to Ron in amusement at that moment. Neville shuffled a bit beside her, and as Harry replied she looked at him with mild surprise, as if seeing the awkward boy for the first time. She smiled at him.
"Yes?"Harry murmured.
"We're all a bit curious. Will there be a DA this year?" She looked at him expectantly, the half-dreaming look in her eyes wandering vaguely to Hermione. Harry was sure he saw Luna's eyes change color then, and tried not to react to it as he spoke.
"Well... uh... um... I don't really think there is a problem... so yes, of course... if Dumbledore will let us have organized meetings. I mean, I don't know who is going to be the Quidditch captain..."
They all stared at him.
"What?" Harry felt terribly confused, and he was beginning to forget what it felt like to not be so.
Luna smiled serenely, tugging vaguely on her nose and staring at Ginny's feet. "Oh, you'll be the Quidditch captain, it's fairly obvious to everyone."
Harry felt a bit more ill instead of happy. The last thing he needed at that moment was more responsibility. He groaned.
Ron seemed to read his mind and immediately piped up. "We could go out for captain together, kind of help each other, I mean, if you want to... With your Occlumency and everything else, I'm not busy this year..." Ron fidgeted a bit, and Luna watched his ear dazedly.
Harry just gave him a look of complete smiling relief, and the matter was settled.
Slowly, the conversation traveled from the DA to more soothing matters. Harry leaned back, watching the ceiling silently, the shadows deepening to darkness and the lights coming on somewhere within the expanse of his detachment. He felt as if someone had just stuffed his head full of cotton tissue, mind spinning into darkness. Gradually he dozed off. The train slowed suddenly, and Harry was shaken out of his light sleep by the movement, realizing that they had already arrived.
He braced his shoulders as he, Hermione, and Ron walked off of the train, led by Lupin, who was still very tight-lipped and flashing angry glares at Hermione, up to the Castle. They bypassed the Great Hall and were lead to the Headmaster's office which was, thankfully, no longer inhabited by Madam Umbridge.
"Peppermint Patty"Lupin muttered.
Silently, they filed up the stairs, and into the room where the Professor was facing a white-blonde head. The boy in the chair was moving strangely, and a quiet sort of sound echoed in the room. They froze.
Draco Malfoy was crying.
~~~~~