Disclaimer: I do not own HP.  I repeat, I do NOT own HP.  But, of course, you lot know this, right?  If not, whack yourself repeatedly in the head with a blunt object until you do.

Chapter 17 – Find Our Way Back

Fifteen potions and three doses of sugar water later, Harry began to get better.  His muscles stopped cramping every time he moved and he could actually smile.  He still, however, couldn't sit up as his back protested the motion and was still too tired to open his eyes.  Which seemed strange because that was the only time he was tired.

Ginny refused to leave the room and Hermione with her.  It was strange to see the bushy-haired girl willingly giving up going to class.  Ethan, on the other hand, had to stay being as he was the one administering potions to Harry when the boy needed them.

When dinnertime came, Ethan summoned up Dobby, who gladly brought them a small feast.  McGonagall came in during the middle of their meal and chuckled.  She then looked at Ethan and asked, "How is he?"

Ethan put down his fork, which he'd been lifting to his mouth, and replied, "Fine.  I had to up the dosage on a few of the potions as he's closer to the pure Slytherin bloodline than Voldemort is, but beyond that its worked marvelously.  He may be able to sit up by the time we're finished eating."

McGonagall nodded but she was giving Ethan a very odd look.  The green/black haired boy frowned slightly at her and shook his head.  She glanced at Hermione and Ginny, who were both eating happily, then back at him.  Ethan shook his head and mouthed, "Not yet."

A few minutes later, the three teen's were finished eating and the four of them all entered the room Harry lay in, which was a spare bedroom McGonagall had incase her daughter visited.  The dark haired teen lay still, eyes closed as he slept peacefully.  Ethan frowned, not wanting to wake him, but moved forward to do so anyway.

"G'way," mumbled Harry, rolling over for the first time without crying out in pain.  Ginny let out a sob and latched onto Ethan's waist, nearly squeezing the air out of him.  Harry's shoulders twitched at the sound and he lifted his head, opening his eyes wide for the first time since he'd been put on the bed.  McGonagall gasped and fell back against the wall, causing him to stare at her.

"Professor?"

"Oh Merlin…"

Hermione's hands clapped over her mouth as she saw was McGonagall had seen.  "Oh, Harry…" she murmured.

"What?" said Harry, looking from one to the other.  "Did I grow another head or something?"

Ethan shook his head sadly as he pried Ginny off of him.  Or she let go, having seen what the other two had seen.  She fell to her knees beside the bed, brown eyes wide as she lifted a hand up towards Harry's face.  Her fingertips brushed the side of his left eye and she whispered, "No…"

"What?" demanded Harry, staring hard at her.  When she flinched away, he turned a cold gaze on Ethan.  "What's going on?"

Ethan didn't look at Harry, just walked across the room and took a mirror down off the wall.  He crossed back to the bed, the polished surface facing him as he looked at Harry, black eyes grave.

"I warn you now," he said slowly, "this may be a shock."

Harry scowled darkly and growled, "Turn.  The.  Mirror.  Around."

Ethan sighed and his shoulders slumped as he slowly turned the mirror, allowing Harry to see his reflection.

He looked like he'd been sick for months.  His skin had paled severely and his hair hung lankly about his face.  But that wasn't what had surprised Hermione, Ginny, and McGonagall.

It was his eyes that had done that.

Harry stared at his eyes for a long while, the whites showing all around the green orbs.  They looked even brighter than they had been before and he swore the green was swirling constantly clockwise.

But that too was not what had made them gasp.

His pupils had narrowed and were now those of a snake.

His eyes were just like Voldemort's, only green.

"That's an interesting look for you, love," remarked the mirror.  Harry scowled at it and promptly punched the glass, which exploded in a spider web of cracks from the impact point  As the mirror cursed him in a variety of languages, most of them dead, Harry curled his now bleeding hand against his chest.  Ginny reached out to take the hand from him but Ethan beat her to it, grasping the wrist tightly as Harry tried to pull away and pouring a phial of a bubbling potion over it.

"OW!" bellowed Harry as the skin that had been cut burned fiercely.  He stared at the hand as the black potion gathered itself together and seemed into the cuts made by the glass, hardening into thick blobs.

"Moron," muttered Ethan, putting the now empty phial back into the potion box.  "Bloody, bloody, moron of all morons, High King of all morons…"

"Thank you," grumbled Harry, jerking his hand back from Ethan.  "I really needed to be insulted."

"Yes, you did," agreed Ethan, ignoring the glare the other boy was sending him.  "Breaking a mirror…  Tut, tut.  Haven't you heard you'll get seven years of bad luck from that?"

"My luck's already bad," growled Harry, crossing his arms across his chest.  He was careful not to knock off any of the hardened black lines on his hand.

"It can easily get worse," growled Ethan back, snapping the box of potion shut hard.

"Wh-what happened?" gasped Hermione, staring wide-eyed at Harry.  At his eyes, to be correct.

Ethan sighed heavily and looked at McGonagall, who nodded.  "Minerva knows.  Voldemort's eyes have always been red.  Dark maroon, actually.  After Dumbledore cast that spell on him was when his eyes turned serpentine."  He nodded at Harry and continued, "I believe it has something to do with truly identifying an Heir of Slytherin or summat."

"How bloody peachy," grumbled Harry.  He peered around the room and scowled darkly as he added, "Well, there's one good thing that's come out of this."

"What?" asked Ginny, still on her knees beside the bed.

Harry reached over to the bureau of drawers and picked up his glasses, which were laying on top of it.  He twirled them in his fingers and promptly threw them at the wall.  As the glass lenses shattered, he smiled grimly and said, "I can see perfectly."

* * * *

"How are we going to hide this?  I can't just suddenly go around with magically fixed and serpentine eyes!  Its enough being the bloody Heir of Slytherin, I don't need the entire school population to know it too!"

"There's not a way to charm your eyes to look normal," said Ethan for the hundredth time.  "And why don't you wear those sunglasses like Mione suggested?"

Harry narrowed his now serpentine eyes at him and hissed, "Because I'll look rather foolish walking around in a pair of sunglasses all day, won't I?"

"Which is worse: looking foolish or the school finding out you're the Heir of Slytherin?"

"You.  Are.  Not.  Helping."

"And I was so trying."

"Ethan, stop it," snapped Hermione as she entered the room, slapping her boyfriends shoulder.  She then handed Harry his glasses.  The dark haired boy eyed them then looked up at her with a curious expression on his face.

"Professor McGonagall and I charmed them," she explained.  "The lenses are just normal glass now but as long as you have them on, they'll make your eyes look normal."

Harry took the glasses and turned them over in his hands for a moment.  Then he heaved a sigh, shoulders slumping, and said, "It's the best we can do, isn't it?"

Hermione looked at Ethan, who nodded and said, "I tried many times to reverse that effect.  To no avail.  I'm sorry, Harry."

"Not your fault," mumbled Harry.  He slammed his right hand down on the arm of the chair he now sat in and cried, "Why?  Why, damnit, why!"

"Please refrain from injuring that hand anymore," remarked Ethan, nodding at Harry's right hand, which was still lined with the hardened black substance from where he'd almost broken the mirror earlier.  "That stuff won't spread to any new cuts."

Harry glared at him then slumped down in the chair, his hands over his face.

"I don't understand…"

"Harry?"

The three teens looked up as Ginny came into the room.  She said tightly, "Dumbledore's outside.  He wants to see you."

Harry scowled darkly and growled, "Tell him to piss off."

"Y'know," said Ethan, "I'd say that was a good manner to have but not right now.  Harry, this is no time to start a war with Dumbledore."

"This is the perfect time to start a war with Dumbledore, Ethan!"  Harry leapt to his feet, fists clenched as he bellowed, "First he doesn't trust you, next he tries to kill me.  As far as I'm concerned, he can – in your own words, Ethan – fuck off!

Ethan winced and said softly, "My words may have been a little harsh…"

"Bullshit!" snapped Harry, eyes flashing.  "You're as angry at him as I am and don't you bloody try to hide it!"

"Fine!" yelled Ethan, hands clenched about the arms of his chair.  "Fine, I am angry at him!  But you have to calm down.  We must look at this rationally."  He turned to Ginny after taking a deep breath and said calmly, "Please tell the Headmaster that Harry is currently indisposed."

Ginny looked at Harry, her eyes locking with his now serpentine one's and taking in his still pale face.  Her expression hardened and she spat, "With pleasure," turning on a heel and marching out.

"There's a spitfire if I ever saw one," remarked McGonagall as she came into the room.  When she saw Harry's murderous expression, she said, "Be calm, dear.  I'm not going to let him get you."

Harry sighed, letting his anger go, and looked calmly at his Head of House.

"I appreciate that, professor, I really do, but…"

"Don't tell me I don't have to do it, child.  I do.  If only for my peace of mind."  McGonagall smiled at him then asked, "Do you feel ready to head back to Gryffindor Tower?"

Harry nodded towards the door and asked, "What about him?"

"I'll handle him.  Severus, you know the secret passages that will get the four of you there, don't you?"

"Of course I do, Minerva.  If you don't recall, I slipped into that passage after I planted that Dungbomb outside the Tower entrance."

McGonagall's eyes narrowed.

"So you're the one that did that…"

"Er…come along now.  We should move quickly."

Harry chuckled for the first time the entire day as he watched Ethan pale considerably.  McGonagall smiled reassuringly at him then frowned at Ethan before she left the room again, Ginny taking her place.  The redhead moved over to stand beside Harry and, surprisingly, drew him into a hug.  He peered down at her for a moment then draped an arm about her shoulders.

"He looks furious," remarked Ginny, her voice muffled by her face pressed against the front of Harry's sweater.

"Good for him," growled Harry, slipped his glasses onto his face.  He checked the mirror above the fireplace and saw a pair of normal green eyes staring back at him.  A scowl slipped onto his face as he realized he'd never have those eyes again.

Ginny must have noticed where he was looking because she slipped one hand up to his chin, grasping it and pulling it down so he looked into her brown eyes.  She smiled tightly and whispered, "I don't care what your eyes look like, Harry, or that you're the Heir of Slytherin."

"Gin…"

"You are not him," said Ginny stonily.  "I know that.  So should you."

"I know it," said Harry, shifting his gaze away from hers.  "I just…I don't want to bring back bad memories."

Ginny smiled up at him and murmured, "You bring only good memories, Harry.  You know my best memory of you?"

Harry shook his head and the brown eyes twinkled.

"Me waking up in the Chamber and seeing you there."

Harry smiled and said, "I guess I can live with that."

"You'll have to," remarked Ginny as Ethan pulled down a gargoyle carved on the fireplace and a passage opened in the wall beside it.

"Mmm," was all Harry said as the two of them followed Ethan and Hermione down into the passage.