Harry never felt himself hit the ground, though he felt the wind chill his face. He never saw a thin white light emit from his scar pull him into a standing position, though he felt a strange jerk. He never saw Ron, Hermione, and Lupin's faces along with the Gryffindor House watching him as he crumpled to the ground, though he thought he saw in his mind a familiar face with black hair and strong red eyes telling him to hold on........
Harry lay in the Hospital Wing, unconscious, Madam Pomfrey furious as Ron and Hermione sat next to Harry's bed; Lupin had gone to the Headmaster to tell him of the events of that night. A strange red light had wrapped itself around Harry, and it was preventing Madam Pomfrey from performing any sort of treatment. However, the light itself seemed to stabilize Harry, and Ron heard Madam Pomfrey mutter something about "forces" before leaving for her office. They watched their friend for perhaps ten minutes before a loud bang from the door caused them to turn and gasp.
There, standing in front of Professor Dumbledore and Lupin, was Lord Voldemort.
Or should it be Tom Riddle?
For as he approached, they noticed he didn't look as Harry described him as too thin and too white with vertical slits for pupils. The person in front of him looked in his early twenties, with smooth black hair and natural silver eyes. He looked down at Ron and Hermione, sniffed disapprovingly at them, and came to the other side of the bed. The light surrounding Harry became brighter.
Everyone watched entranced as the Riddle man put his finger up to Harry's scar, softly touching it and speaking calmly to Harry.
"Harry, why did you do such a stupid thing? Just because everything seems to be going wrong doesn't mean you are of no importance to this world. What about your project you've been working on? You're so close to finishing something that could help people like Remus Lupin. Are you just going to throw away something even I couldn't manage at my prime? I know you're stronger than that, so don't expect much sympathy from me. And quit sucking on my life force, it really drains me out and makes me talk and think and look like my other self. You foolish child..."
As he was saying this, the light went dimmer and finally died. As it did, they noticed that Tom Riddle's skin was going paler, and his fingers were becoming large and spiderlike. He turned to Dumbledore.
"I don't have much time before I revert, so I shall leave now. He should come around pretty soon. Take care, Professor." And he left out the door.
While Lupin and Professor Dumbledore looked calm, they were the only ones. Everyone else seemed to be stuck in a silent scream. None noticed when Harry woke up, looking around.
"Where did Tom go?"
---------------------------------------------
Even though Tom's life force had helped stabilize him, he still was badly injured and received quite a reprimanding from Madam Pomfrey once he came around. Everyone in school had heard about what happened on the Tower from Gryffindors sitting next to the windows. They told of seeing a blur past their eyes and a crumpled Harry on the ground below. While no one could get in to see him except professors (he had told Pomfrey to please not let Ron and Hermione in) , he could still get rumour reports from an anonymous person. A white raven just like Black Ruby except with grey eyes would bring in letters telling what was going on in the student body. Pomfrey had snuck a peek at one such letter whle Harry was asleep, but she got no idea of who it was as the person had signed "Zurui" as their name. No one could get him to tell who the person was.
"Come on, Harry," prodded Lupin, sitting with Harry on Sunday and eating one of Harry's many chocolate frogs.
"I'm not telling who it is; they're not posing me any harm by telling me what's going on outside of the wing."
"You'd know if you let Ron and-"
"No."
"Harry, they've profusely apologized..."
Harry muttered something about "not good enough for invading one's private memories" while looking out the window. He then asked quite abruptly," When is the next full moon?"
Lupin looked a tad startled, but said," In about 3 weeks."
"I only have 3 more weeks..."
"What are you talking about?"
Harry stifled a yawn, and his eyes were drooping down. "I can't tell you right now because I'm about to doze off, but I'll tell you where to find my journal that has the information in it. Go to the sixth floor corridor and the cobweb wall; tap the stone spider. It will lead to a secret entrance in my room that I found. The journal's setting on... my ...... desskkk....."
Remus chuckled as Harry fell asleep midsentence and decided to go see what was so important in relation to the moon. Following Harry's directions, he found himself in Harry's new room 15 minutes later. He took the journal from its spot on the desk and sank into one of the sofas. What greeting Lupin was Harry's handwriting and as he read, he was enthralled.
' This incantation spell will seperate two entities from eachother. It is a more powerful version of a spell that you use to turn an Animagus back into a person. In that spell, however, you are only switching one entity for another. This spell makes two seperate bodies for them to work in. This could be applied to Professor Lupin being a werewolf. When the spell is completed, it would seperate his life force from the werewolf's and they would become two seperate beings.'
This was followed by a large quantity of formulas and dates. The latest section read "Got through second to last hurdle before testing. Need to get white and black roses for last part before practicing. Talk to Lupin about seperation from werewolf."
At this last part, Remus' breath caught. They could be seperated? He no longer would have to live with this other presence that caused so many problems in his life? Harry could be on the verge of a major brealthrough for people living with this curse. They could truly be free. The last true Marauder walked down to the Hospital Wing again, waiting for Harry to wake up to tell him he'd help with testing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hey. You there?"
"Yeah, near the stairs. Get under the cloak quick!"
With slight muffled laughter, Harry watched as his friend tried to get under the Invisibility Cloak. His friend finally growled with frustration and said through clenched teeth," Quit moving!"
"How did you know I was evading you?"
His friend just chuckled, "You just told me!"
"And you wonder why I named you Angel of Cunning?"
The young man addressed ran his hand through his perfect hair. "As if anything else could personify me better?"
Harry smirked. "Just shut up and get under it."
Cunning scowled and traded spots with Harry. He opened the door, and the two stepped out onto the silent Hogwarts grounds. No noise was heard from anywhere as it was 3 in the morning, and Harry shivered slightly. He turned to his friend. "Are you ready? You sure you won't flip out or anything?"
"It's okay," said a disembodied voice. "We need to get going if we're going to have any decent time to set this up."
Harry nodded rather nervously, and focused on the image of the skeletal horse creature and changed. He felt a strong yet gentle hand stroke his soft mane softly before it hoisted itself onto the thestral's back. With a mighty kick to the ground, Harry and the invisible boy took off over the Forbidden Forest, going to the spot where they first met their true selves.
And there the thestral landed. The misty clearing was the same as the night he confronted Lupin about Ron and Hermione's treachery with the babble of the brook the only backdrop of noise. The thestral turned its head to its back and a misty voice was heard saying," It's all right to get off now. No creatures come near this part of the forest anymore." He felt a shift of weight as the cloaked friend got off the bony back of the thestral. Harry transformed back, walking to a perfectly flat rock, feeling nervous about what he was going to do. The Angel of Cunning just pulled the cloak off, rolled up his sleeves, and laid his bare left arm on the stone. He smiled at his friend's nervous face.
"It's all right Harry. I want to do this. This will prove myself to you that I am truly loyal. And that I'll always be a good friend."
Harry smiled, pulling out his wand, and pointed it at the spot just above his wrist. A warm tingling sensation came over both boys as Harry began an ancient incantation he found in a book on magic from the east.
"Zurui desu. Zurui no tenshi.
Kare ni irezumi o tsuzuri taidesu.
Yoi tomodachi. Yoi shin.
Watashi ni kare o tsuzuri masu yo!"
As Harry looked down at his friend's arm, he realized it had worked beautifully. Now against the boy's skin was a beautifully enchanting tattoo. The head of a black rose was nestled in the crook of a shining silver crescent moon while a perfect white feather was drifting to the right of the pair of objects. Both were entranced with it for a few minutes until Harry reached in his enchanted robe pocket and pulled out a white feathered quill and a small black leather book with a single feather drifting on the front. He opened the book to one of its first black pages and handed both to the newly tattooed friend. He smirked.
"Thanks for the feather. I was needing a special quill for this."
"No problem. Where's the ink?"
"Remember what we use for ink in the first signing of our names to the book?"
Harry's friend grimaced. "It won't scar, right?"
"No," said Harry, looking at his own right hand. You could still lightly see 'I will not tell lies' on it. "It will hurt, but it won't scar.
"All right.."
The young man kept a straight face as he began writing on the page. The signing of the book, the two had decided, should be done in their own blood so it would form a magical pact. Harry could clearly see the elegant writing appearing on the back of his friend's hand as he wrote: "The Angel of Cunning, Zurui, has been tattoed and confirmed on this night of Monday, November 9, 1996. To this pact I, Draco Malfoy, swear to abide by."
_____________________________________
A/N: I'm sorry if you wanted me to continue or explain, but it seemed like a good stopping point, so all, or most, will be explained next chapter. Hopefully school won't pummel my muse as badly as it has these past 2 and a half weeks. hehe.
Harry lay in the Hospital Wing, unconscious, Madam Pomfrey furious as Ron and Hermione sat next to Harry's bed; Lupin had gone to the Headmaster to tell him of the events of that night. A strange red light had wrapped itself around Harry, and it was preventing Madam Pomfrey from performing any sort of treatment. However, the light itself seemed to stabilize Harry, and Ron heard Madam Pomfrey mutter something about "forces" before leaving for her office. They watched their friend for perhaps ten minutes before a loud bang from the door caused them to turn and gasp.
There, standing in front of Professor Dumbledore and Lupin, was Lord Voldemort.
Or should it be Tom Riddle?
For as he approached, they noticed he didn't look as Harry described him as too thin and too white with vertical slits for pupils. The person in front of him looked in his early twenties, with smooth black hair and natural silver eyes. He looked down at Ron and Hermione, sniffed disapprovingly at them, and came to the other side of the bed. The light surrounding Harry became brighter.
Everyone watched entranced as the Riddle man put his finger up to Harry's scar, softly touching it and speaking calmly to Harry.
"Harry, why did you do such a stupid thing? Just because everything seems to be going wrong doesn't mean you are of no importance to this world. What about your project you've been working on? You're so close to finishing something that could help people like Remus Lupin. Are you just going to throw away something even I couldn't manage at my prime? I know you're stronger than that, so don't expect much sympathy from me. And quit sucking on my life force, it really drains me out and makes me talk and think and look like my other self. You foolish child..."
As he was saying this, the light went dimmer and finally died. As it did, they noticed that Tom Riddle's skin was going paler, and his fingers were becoming large and spiderlike. He turned to Dumbledore.
"I don't have much time before I revert, so I shall leave now. He should come around pretty soon. Take care, Professor." And he left out the door.
While Lupin and Professor Dumbledore looked calm, they were the only ones. Everyone else seemed to be stuck in a silent scream. None noticed when Harry woke up, looking around.
"Where did Tom go?"
---------------------------------------------
Even though Tom's life force had helped stabilize him, he still was badly injured and received quite a reprimanding from Madam Pomfrey once he came around. Everyone in school had heard about what happened on the Tower from Gryffindors sitting next to the windows. They told of seeing a blur past their eyes and a crumpled Harry on the ground below. While no one could get in to see him except professors (he had told Pomfrey to please not let Ron and Hermione in) , he could still get rumour reports from an anonymous person. A white raven just like Black Ruby except with grey eyes would bring in letters telling what was going on in the student body. Pomfrey had snuck a peek at one such letter whle Harry was asleep, but she got no idea of who it was as the person had signed "Zurui" as their name. No one could get him to tell who the person was.
"Come on, Harry," prodded Lupin, sitting with Harry on Sunday and eating one of Harry's many chocolate frogs.
"I'm not telling who it is; they're not posing me any harm by telling me what's going on outside of the wing."
"You'd know if you let Ron and-"
"No."
"Harry, they've profusely apologized..."
Harry muttered something about "not good enough for invading one's private memories" while looking out the window. He then asked quite abruptly," When is the next full moon?"
Lupin looked a tad startled, but said," In about 3 weeks."
"I only have 3 more weeks..."
"What are you talking about?"
Harry stifled a yawn, and his eyes were drooping down. "I can't tell you right now because I'm about to doze off, but I'll tell you where to find my journal that has the information in it. Go to the sixth floor corridor and the cobweb wall; tap the stone spider. It will lead to a secret entrance in my room that I found. The journal's setting on... my ...... desskkk....."
Remus chuckled as Harry fell asleep midsentence and decided to go see what was so important in relation to the moon. Following Harry's directions, he found himself in Harry's new room 15 minutes later. He took the journal from its spot on the desk and sank into one of the sofas. What greeting Lupin was Harry's handwriting and as he read, he was enthralled.
' This incantation spell will seperate two entities from eachother. It is a more powerful version of a spell that you use to turn an Animagus back into a person. In that spell, however, you are only switching one entity for another. This spell makes two seperate bodies for them to work in. This could be applied to Professor Lupin being a werewolf. When the spell is completed, it would seperate his life force from the werewolf's and they would become two seperate beings.'
This was followed by a large quantity of formulas and dates. The latest section read "Got through second to last hurdle before testing. Need to get white and black roses for last part before practicing. Talk to Lupin about seperation from werewolf."
At this last part, Remus' breath caught. They could be seperated? He no longer would have to live with this other presence that caused so many problems in his life? Harry could be on the verge of a major brealthrough for people living with this curse. They could truly be free. The last true Marauder walked down to the Hospital Wing again, waiting for Harry to wake up to tell him he'd help with testing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hey. You there?"
"Yeah, near the stairs. Get under the cloak quick!"
With slight muffled laughter, Harry watched as his friend tried to get under the Invisibility Cloak. His friend finally growled with frustration and said through clenched teeth," Quit moving!"
"How did you know I was evading you?"
His friend just chuckled, "You just told me!"
"And you wonder why I named you Angel of Cunning?"
The young man addressed ran his hand through his perfect hair. "As if anything else could personify me better?"
Harry smirked. "Just shut up and get under it."
Cunning scowled and traded spots with Harry. He opened the door, and the two stepped out onto the silent Hogwarts grounds. No noise was heard from anywhere as it was 3 in the morning, and Harry shivered slightly. He turned to his friend. "Are you ready? You sure you won't flip out or anything?"
"It's okay," said a disembodied voice. "We need to get going if we're going to have any decent time to set this up."
Harry nodded rather nervously, and focused on the image of the skeletal horse creature and changed. He felt a strong yet gentle hand stroke his soft mane softly before it hoisted itself onto the thestral's back. With a mighty kick to the ground, Harry and the invisible boy took off over the Forbidden Forest, going to the spot where they first met their true selves.
And there the thestral landed. The misty clearing was the same as the night he confronted Lupin about Ron and Hermione's treachery with the babble of the brook the only backdrop of noise. The thestral turned its head to its back and a misty voice was heard saying," It's all right to get off now. No creatures come near this part of the forest anymore." He felt a shift of weight as the cloaked friend got off the bony back of the thestral. Harry transformed back, walking to a perfectly flat rock, feeling nervous about what he was going to do. The Angel of Cunning just pulled the cloak off, rolled up his sleeves, and laid his bare left arm on the stone. He smiled at his friend's nervous face.
"It's all right Harry. I want to do this. This will prove myself to you that I am truly loyal. And that I'll always be a good friend."
Harry smiled, pulling out his wand, and pointed it at the spot just above his wrist. A warm tingling sensation came over both boys as Harry began an ancient incantation he found in a book on magic from the east.
"Zurui desu. Zurui no tenshi.
Kare ni irezumi o tsuzuri taidesu.
Yoi tomodachi. Yoi shin.
Watashi ni kare o tsuzuri masu yo!"
As Harry looked down at his friend's arm, he realized it had worked beautifully. Now against the boy's skin was a beautifully enchanting tattoo. The head of a black rose was nestled in the crook of a shining silver crescent moon while a perfect white feather was drifting to the right of the pair of objects. Both were entranced with it for a few minutes until Harry reached in his enchanted robe pocket and pulled out a white feathered quill and a small black leather book with a single feather drifting on the front. He opened the book to one of its first black pages and handed both to the newly tattooed friend. He smirked.
"Thanks for the feather. I was needing a special quill for this."
"No problem. Where's the ink?"
"Remember what we use for ink in the first signing of our names to the book?"
Harry's friend grimaced. "It won't scar, right?"
"No," said Harry, looking at his own right hand. You could still lightly see 'I will not tell lies' on it. "It will hurt, but it won't scar.
"All right.."
The young man kept a straight face as he began writing on the page. The signing of the book, the two had decided, should be done in their own blood so it would form a magical pact. Harry could clearly see the elegant writing appearing on the back of his friend's hand as he wrote: "The Angel of Cunning, Zurui, has been tattoed and confirmed on this night of Monday, November 9, 1996. To this pact I, Draco Malfoy, swear to abide by."
_____________________________________
A/N: I'm sorry if you wanted me to continue or explain, but it seemed like a good stopping point, so all, or most, will be explained next chapter. Hopefully school won't pummel my muse as badly as it has these past 2 and a half weeks. hehe.