Chapter 4

Gone

            "No, I haven't seen her," Lavender Brown said as Harry and Ron stared at her. It has been hours since Harry saw the kiss, and he couldn't take it anymore. He walked away from the table and grabbed Ron as he went out the Men's room and pulled him towards the exit, much to Ron's protests. Now they were back at the common room, where they waited for Hermione. Unfortunately, she still wasn't there. "Last time I saw her, she was dancing with Draco, and we all know what happened…" she looked at Ron and batted her eyelashes. "Don't worry. I'm sure they're fine. She'll be back."

            Ron looked disgusted. "Uh… okay. Well, um, thanks Lavender," he gulped.

            "Anytime," she replied as she ran a finger down Ron's cheek. "I'll see you around." With that, she turned around and left the boys to themselves.

            After a brief silence, Harry yelled. "I don't believe it!"

            "Me too!" Ron agreed, raising his voice. "First Lickorpuss, now Lavender!"

            Harry glared at his friend. "I'm not talking about that Ron," he said monotonously.

            "Oh,' Ron blushed sheepishly. "Sorry."

            "Aurgh!" Harry yelled once more and ran his hand through his hair. He took off his coat and threw it on the floor. "Hermione's with Malfoy and she didn't even tell us! God,  I don't even want to imagine what they're doing right now. She beginning to lose her senses, damn it! What did she see in Malfoy anyway?" Harry was pacing around the room, throwing his arms in the air. Ron was simply following his friend with his eyes and head.

            "Good looks?"

Ron shrugged.

"I have that!"

Ron nodded.

"Money?"

Ron shrugged.

"I have that too!"

Ron nodded.

"So what's wrong with me?" Harry roared, his veins coming out of his neck. "God damn it, I bet I've even got a bigger willie that him—"

"Watch your language boy!" a painting on the wall of the room suddenly burst alive. An old man holing a candle looked sternly down at him.

"Eww, that's disgusting!" Ron suddenly put his hands over his ears and shut his eyes closed. "Aurgh…"

"What?" Harry yelled.

Ron opened his eyes. "Look Harry. Shut up. Sit down and let me get this straight first." He ordered.

Harry flopped down on one of the couches.

"So… You like her? Are you in love with Hermione?" Ron asked, folding his arms across his chest.

Harry blew his bangs away from his forehead. "Aren't we both?" He said exasperatedly.

Ron stared at his friend in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

"Well, don't you like her?"

"What are you saying?" Ron shook his head. "I had a little crush on her back then, but that was it!" He raised his eyebrows. "You, on the other hand, sound like you're obsessed with her."

Harry remained quiet. For once, the boy who lived didn't know what to do.

Ron got the impression that his friend needed him the most right now. He went up to Harry and sat beside him.

"When did this start?"

Harry let out a deep breath. "I don't know. First I thought it was nothing, then it just happened. The more I saw her, the more I felt this way about her. I-it's hard to explain, you see…"

Ron nodded. "So why didn't you tell her?"

"'Coz I didn't want to ruin our friendship!"

"Oh come on, nothing's going to ruin that," Ron argued.

"Yes it will. I don't want that to happen. " Harry shook his head. "And now, Malfoy's got her. That bastard."

Ron laughed. "You got that right. She doesn't deserve him at all."

"And neither does he."

"So what are you gonna do about it?"

Harry lay silent. "I don't know yet." Slowly he got up and gathered his coat from the floor. "Listen, I'm going upstairs and change. You stay here and wait for Hermione. She might come back."

Ron shrugged and put his legs on the chair. "Sure," he said as Harry went up to the door leading to the boys' dormitories.

It was already late in the evening, and early in the morning. Ron opened his book on Quidditch Skills and Thrills. He first read all the passages about learning how to fly using the Skateboard method, from a muggle sports that wizards have used. But then he grew busy and just looked at the colorful pictures instead. He looked in awe as the players swept past the pages with such speed that all you could see were the colors tearing through the air. He was so engrossed in the book when all of a sudden someone placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Ahh!" Ron screamed. He jumped up and spun around and saw that the hand belonged to Harry, who was already dressed in his pajamas, which was too big for him.

"Harry!" Ron exclaimed, grabbing his heart. "You scared the shit out of me!"

Harry looked startled and grabbed his heart as well. "Weasley… Ron! I didn't know it was you! I-I thought you were Hermione…"

"Hermione!" Ron yelled in disbelief. "Can't you tell the difference? Short hair, flat chest, hairy legs?"

"No, you were reading… It's kinda dark… Didn't notice, sorry…" Harry said as he shook his head. "So where's Hermione?"

Ron took a deep breath as his heart began to beat normally again. "Still gone. Hasn't come back yet."

"Yet?"

"Yeah," Ron looked at his friend quizzically. "Hello…"

Harry laughed nervously. "Oh."

Ron stared at his friend. "What happened to your clothes? The whole Gryffindor can fit inside there."

"I uh, well…"

"Oh. Don't tell me. Those belong to Dudley, right? Damn that pig." Ron shook his head as he remembered seeing his friend's cousin.

"Right." Harry said. "Well, um, listen. I forgot my books in the library. I think I'll go get them first…" He began to walk away from Ron.

"Huh? Dude, tomorrow's a Saturday. It's fine there."

"Really." Harry replied as two droplets of sweat trickled down his forehead. "Damn, it's getting hot in here, don't you think?"

Ron eyed his friend cautiously. "Yeah, I guess." He looked down on his wardrobe. He hasn't changed his clothes yet and he was still wearing the jumper. It was chilly last time he checked. Something's wrong. "Hermione danced fine, didn't she? Tonight? With you?" he asked suspiciously.

Harry nodded his head furiously. "Yeah, yeah… she was lovely."

Strike one. "Good thing no one was there to ruin your night, right?"

Harry nodded once more. "Yeap, my night was perfect."

Strike two. "She is fun to dance with, after a couple of shots of Martini, right? Nothing gets her pumped up than her favorite drink…" Ron said slowly.

"Yeah, she can't have enough of it."

Gotcha. Ron stepped closer to the boy. This isn't Harry, he thought.

"Ron! I can't find anymore clean shirt! Can I borrow your…" The real Harry stepped up from the boys' dormitories, hair dripping wet from the shower. He was wearing his flannel pants and his torso was still glistening from the water. . "What the—" he exclaimed as he saw a mirror image of himself downstairs standing in front of Ron.

"Oh shit."  The perpetrator started to run for the exit.

"Oh no you don't!" Ron yelled as he lounged forward and pulled the boy down to the floor. Suddenly they started wrestling. Ron was trying to hold him down but the boy drove his knee on his stomach. "Oof!" Ron gasped.

Harry ran down the stairs, feet thumping on the floor to help his friend. "Ron, get away from him!" Harry shouted as he took his wand out and yelled. Ron ducked.

 "Petrificus Totalus!" The boy who looked like Harry froze on the floor in mid-shuffle.

The body lay there, motionless, arms spread on the floor and one of the legs folded.

"Damn," Ron muttered as he stood up and dusted himself. Harry stepped forward and peered closely at the trickster.

"Hey, I look good," he joked.

Ron shoved his friend. "Shut up. Your evil twin almost took the lights out of me."

Harry snickered. "Sorry… He's probably high on Polyjuice…"

"You think we found Hermione's guy?"

Harry continued to stare at the body. Truth be told, it was weird to see himself sprawled on the floor. But this wasn't him. He had to remind himself. This was someone else who had the damned intention to shag Hermione. "I think so. But now it's time to see who he is." He aimed his wand at his mirror image. "Finite Incantatem."

Soon, the body was moving again. The boy who looked like Harry groaned as he held up his hand and rubbed his head. Then it happened. Slowly he began to change. Both Harry and Ron looked in astonishment as a big belly larger than what was called proportional bulged up from his stomach. The clothes which seemed too big for him now fit perfectly. His fingers became stubby and thick and his hair grew back to a crew cut. They didn't dare blink as finally, the scar on the forehead disappeared.

"My head…" An ogre-like voice came from him as he stood upright.

"Goyle," Harry breathed.

*          *          *

She was exhausted after that Offering for Gedebesh, but she didn't show it. The moon was round, and the dark clouds around it were watching them. Slowly she stood up from the ground and put her white transparent dress back on her body. He silver hair fell down to the back of her waist, and it was swinging to the direction of the moon. She was feeling sore all over, but she ignored the ache. Someone did tell her once that to show pain is to show weakness, and she was nothing but weak. The others were starting to get dressed again.

"Hurry, it's almost time for them to come back," she said. She looked at the place where her followers had gone just a while ago and waited for their arrival, with the person she wanted the most.

I'm going to see him again. What will he look like? Will he still look like me? Will he remember me? She took a deep breath as her heart began to throb louder. Different questions formed inside her head, each one as insignificant as the other. He will take his rightful place, and I along with him. Together with Voldemort we will make all them pay.

The stars shone on them. In the dark, six images of black coats appeared out of nowhere, rippling through the air. One by one they took off their hoods, and each was smiling with contentment. They have done their job.

"High Priestess, we did it," Anna said as she walked towards Phoenix. Her blonde hair was falling over her eyes.  "Just as you have told us."

"Very good, Anna." She nodded her head. She looked at the women and the men, then back to the spot of arrival. "Tell me again. What is a coven?"

She was asking no one in particular, but Lana answered her anyway. "A coven is a group of witches and warlocks who gather everytime the Moon tells us to, celebrate life with everything we have and respect each other above all else."

Phoenix smiled. "That's right. And what is the name of our coven, Lana?"

"It's called the Temple of the Dragon, High Priestess."

She nodded her head and her hair followed it. "Do you know the reason why I named it as it is?"

Lana shook her head. Phoenix laughed softly as she let a momentary silence fill her coven. The others didn't know where she was getting at, but they were interested in the answer. They knew nothing about her. They know she goes to the same school, study the same lessons, has a family (though she doesn't want to talk about them) and is incredibly good with all this Wicca stuff, but they knew nothing about her whole being. This time they each felt they were finally getting to a conclusion.

"Someone from my past has a name which means Dragon."

The others looked at each other. Past? Was she hiding something from them?

Phoenix sensed that her friends were getting confused, but they would know soon. "Now make way. My brother is coming."

*          *          *

"You son of a bitch!" Harry's fist landed hard on Goyle's left cheek and he hollered with pain.

"Harry! Stop it!" Ron yelled as he tried to slide between the Gryffindor and the Slytherin.

But Harry didn't listen. Son of a bitch! His imagination raced despite himself as he could see this bastard kissing Hermione's lips, touching her skin, fingers running up her thighs…His fist landed one more time on Goyle's stomach. The ogre fell on the floor again. His mouth spat blood.

"Harry! We don't hit a man when he's down!" Ron grabbed his friend's shoulder and shook him hard. "Get a grip!"

His blood was raging, his nostrils were flaring, but he told himself to calm down. "Get his face away from me before I punch him in the nose."

"No." Ron couldn't believe it. He was being the rational one around here. He hated being the one to call the shots, but he could see that love has changed this. He took out his wand and pointed it at Goyle.

"You. Stay. We want some answers."

Goyle stopped moaning on the floor and stared at the wand stretched out to him. "If you move a freakin' muscle, you're dead." Weasley told him.

God damn it, I'm dead. Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid.

"Why did you do this?" Ron asked him. Goyle looked darkly at him from his beefy eyes.

"Because I wanted to." His teeth were a bit red from the blood from his gums, but he seemed to ignore this.

Harry snorted. "Asshole. How did you do it?" he looked at Malfoy's sidekick with disgust.

Goyle's mouth kept shut as he continued to glare at the Gryffindors. Bloody hell. Asswipes. Freakin Assholes. Booger eating Scarhead and Weasel. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you.

"Did you do it with Polyjuice? Who taught you? How could you?" Questions were flying out of Harry's mouth.

Poly what? What the hell was he talking about? "I didn't do it with any freakin juice." Moron. Nah nah nah nah nah…. Goyle was thinking of a way to get away from here. Have to get away. How? I can take Potter, but what about Weasley? Shit shit shit.

"Then tell me how you did it!"

"No!"

"Is Malfoy involved in this?"

Goyle only smirked. "You know the problem with you, Potter? You think you're right all the time. I'll have you to know that Malfoy should be the least of your concerns. Something is going to happen and it's going to hit you hard. If you think—"

But Goyle didn't finish his sentence. Before Harry and Ron got a clue to what was going on, The Horny Pig popped into thin air. Just gone. No traces left of him whatsoever. Ron's wand was aiming at nothing.

"Damn it!" Harry cursed under his teeth. "What the hell is going on here?"

Ron shook his head. "Shit happens."

Harry grabbed his hair and tried to pull it out. "Shit!" He sat himself on the couch near the fireplace. "Okay. Hermione and Draco are missing, Goyle is suddenly the bad guy here, and he didn't do it with Polyjuice? But that's the only way of being something else, right? That's what Hermione said before."

Ron nodded. "Yeah… so he must be getting help from someone…. Malfoy?"

Harry shook his head. "No, he said he wasn't in any of this."

"Lucius?"

"Locked up, remember?"

"You-Know-Who?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Give me a break!" He bit his lip as he thought deep.

Ron only looked at his friend. "Something is definitely wrong here."

*          *          *

"WHERE THE HELL IS HE?"

Phoenix was screaming at everyone. It's been half and hour already and her brother wasn't there yet. She didn't understand it. He was supposed to appear on the Spot of Arrival only a few moments after the ladies arrived. Everything has gone according to plan. They followed the cycle of the moon, did the precise rituals, said the right incantations… What went wrong?

"Anna!" Phoenix shouted as the blonde came forward. "Did you get help from someone at the Covencraft like I told you?"

"Yes, High Priestess. The fat boy did as he was told. We saw it."

Her face was becoming as red as a poisonous rose because the blood was all going to her head. "Is that so? Well, let's just hear for ourselves, shall we?" She should have known better than to trust a pig. She took her necklace from inside her dress and held up a little bottle which served as one of the pendants around her neck.

"Bumalic cah sacin Greggory Goyle. Puntahan mo aco."

Her hair began to fly around once more. Lightning flashed. Someone screamed. Then an ugly boy with a huge tummy appeared in front of them.

The others were beginning to frighten. All this magic was too much for them. But they were also scared to show it. They all stood close to one another on the other side, away from Phoenix and the boy.

"Phoenix! Oh, thank God. You saved me." Goyle gasped as touched his cheek gingerly. His teeth were beginning to protest.

She only raised her eyebrow. "It wasn't my intention." She said bitterly. Slowly her arms folded across her chest.

"Your friend isn't here yet."

Goyle frowned. "Malfoy?"

"Draco." Phoenix corrected him. "Don't say that name in front of me." Her eyes didn't let go of him.

"But… I thought…" Goyle didn't understand anything at all.

Phoenix held her breath. "Tell me exactly what you did at the club tonight."

Goyle thought hard. Trying to remember something for the last five hours? His head was about to explode. "Well…. I put the charm like I told you. I put it inside his pockets… Then I saw these girls do their stuff. He was gone. With Hermione Granger." He said the last part with a different tone of voice.

Phoenix gritted her teeth. "Who the hell is Hermione Granger?" She shook her head. "Never mind that. We can make use of her later. Did you do anything before you put the charm inside Draco's pockets?"

Goyle thought hard again. Damn, all these thinking made his head ache. "Let's see. Well, I was outside, on the doors, with Crabbe. I was holding the stone… I mean, the charm on my left hand. I didn't want to let it go." He paused for a while as he recollected his thoughts. "Then a group of older people wanted to go inside the club, but we told them it was only for teenagers below seventeen….We got into a bit of a fight… I put the charm down for a while… Then when it was all over… I picked it up…" Then he hit himself in the forehead. Shit. Stupid stupid stupid stupid.

"Goyle!" Phoenix screamed at him. "You stupid, thick, dense fuckin' prick! You dropped the stone! Didn't you think that it could have looked like any other rocks? Damn it!" She started to pace around the soil of the mountain forest. The others were witnessing one of Phoenix's temper tantrums, when she didn't get what she wanted. "That stone that we gave you is from this mountain!" She pointed at the ground. "Which means that after the right incantations, it will bring him here! But of course, you had to be your usual stupid self, so everything went wrong!"

Her chest was rising up and down, and Goyle was just looking at her. What a scary bitch, he thought to himself. "So you must've gotten the wrong stone! Where did it come from?"

Goyle's brain was on the verge of explosion. I think I know where.

*          *          *

Draco's eyes slowly opened as his head was throbbing painfully. He was lying on a pavement, and his back was aching. He must have fallen. Last thing he remembered, He was still inside his club. Then there was darkness, like going through the void. And then he was here. He didn't know how he got there, and he had no idea to what has just happened. He looked over to his other side, and saw that Hermione was getting up as well.

"Ow…" She winced slightly as she held her hand on her head.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" She said, still dizzy from the fall. What the hell just happened? Her head turned up, expecting to see the starry night. "Oh my god…" she gasped as she stared at the huge sign above her.

Draco curiously followed her direction and looked up as well. "So we're back to where we came from…"

A huge sign full of fluorescent lights shone down on them: COVENCRAFT: HOGWARTS NIGHT.

TBC

So sorry nothing much happened here… Just thought I'd make the story a bit more complicated. How'd you like the twist? Mwahahahhahaha!!!!

Please review! I'm dying to know what you think! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!