Disclaimer: Still not mine, Still don't sue.
A/N: Wow…You guys…this has taken me FOREVER! This is why school officially sucks….anyways…I told you I would keep writing...even if it takes a long time…so here you are…
Chapter 11- Fights before Hogsmede
The sun spilled over the windowsill and into the great, stone Gryffindor common room. Harry had had Occlumency lessons with Snape and Harper the night before and had fallen asleep by the fire. His lids rose slowly and he had to squint until they were adjusted to the light. He reached for his right knee. The previous night's Occlumency lesson, you could say, hadn't gone so well. He hadn't been practicing. At all. It angered Snape when he could still not manage to clear his mind without his wand. Running his hand over the large, blue-green bruise, he closed his eyes and remembered the previous night, forgetting for a second that it was the Sunday before Halloween.
***
Ron and Hermione had escorted him to Snape's office five minutes late. Harry knew he would have to pay for that, but even though he was late, he didn't go in straight away. He heard raised voices, but they were muffled by Ron's speech on ways to curse Snape. One of the voices was definitely Snape, but the other voice didn't seem raised at all. "Harper" was the first though that crossed his mind. Why were they raising their voices to each other? It wasn't like they hadn't done it before, but Harry was catching words like 'dangerous' and 'naïve fool.' It didn't sound like a fight. It sounded much like a warning. Harry pushed the door open, and with the shrill creak, the voices ceased. He emerged into a room, the same one he had been visiting once or more a week now for lessons.
"POTTER!" Snape snatched his wand from his robes and pointed it directly at Harry's chest. They stared into one another's eyes, exchanging looks of hate. Harry dared Snape to send him away. Harper simply stood, and Snape dropped his arm to his side. She took a seat again, brushing her long curly locks from her face. She appeared truly flustered for perhaps the first time that school year. Harry noticed that she wore a gash on her face from her right temple to her jaw line. Harry shot a glance at Snape, wondering if he was to blame, but he cared little.
Harry had finally remembered to bring his pensieve to the lesson, and he scanned the room for a place to put it. Snape looked at the pensieve with squinted eyes, then eyed his own. He raked his tongue across his teeth, as he seemed to trail into deep thought.
"There, Potter." Harper held a bone-thin finger into the air, pointing at a small table that seemed to glow silver. Harry stared at this table for some time. He took off his glasses with the hand that wasn't clutching the pensieve, wiped them on his robes, and replaced them. Snape's pensieve was sitting on the left hand side of the faded cherry desk, but it wasn't alone. Yes, there, in the center of the table, was a second pensieve. Harry gaped and shot another curious glance at Snape. Snape arched a dark brow at the woman sitting in a corner desk.
"Harper?!" If it hadn't been for his bone-breaking grip on the pensieve, he would have dropped it out of surprise. Harper looked indifferent.
"Professor Harper." She said simply.
"But-" continued Harry.
"I've had it since I was a child. I was taught to sort through my thoughts long before I stepped foot into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was something my father valued. It was he who taught me that your mind can ruin you." She looked to the floor and ran her hand across her right leg, which was covered, as usual, by her extremely long robes. "It was he who taught me that a weak mind makes a weak person, and a weak person is only ever made weaker." She grasped her right shoulder and rubbed it, as if she was under great stress. Harry saw, out of the corner of his eye, Snape turn quickly away from Harper.
Harry didn't know what to say in response to this, so he simply placed his pensieve down on the table and read over the instructions again. Putting his wand to his temple, he thought hard about the night of Sirius's death. He tried to recall everything, until he was afraid he might burn with anguish again, and then he pulled his wand slowly away from his head. A silvery ribbon hung between his wand and his temple, and he let it fall into the pensieve. He couldn't recall anything else that he didn't want Harper of Snape to see; after all, they had probably already seen it.
"Here, now, Potter." Snape shoved his finger to the floor, indicating the place that he wished for Harry to stand. He had turned back to face Harry and Harper once again. Harry moved hastily, knowing that Snape was already irate. "If you would, Potter, give me your wand."
"If you would, Professor, tell me why." Harry smirked. He knew he was only getting himself into more trouble, but it was worth it, he thought.
"Mr. Potter. If I do recall, I am the instructor here. I will tell you what to do and I will tell you when to do it. If I choose not to tell you why, then you are not to ask. Am I clear?" Snape huffed.
"Clear that you are mad, Professor. I am not giving you my wand." Harry clutched his hip where his wand rested.
Snape sneered. "Give-me-your-wand-POTTER" His voice was cold and dark, it sent chills up Harry's spine.
"No. Not until you tell me what you are going to do with it." Harry stood strong.
"YOU SHOULD KNOW HOW TO PROTECT YOUR MIND WITHOUT IT BY NOW!" Snape took two steps closer to Harry, bending down slightly so that they were eye to eye.
"SO. WHY DO YOU HAVE TO HAVE IT?!" Harry didn't really know why he was yelling, but he also didn't understand why he couldn't just keep his wand at his hip.
"ACCIO!" With unimaginable force, Harry's wand was pulled from his hip and was in Snape's hand within a second. Snape was panting with anger, and a bead of sweat dangled from his brow. "NOT EVERYTHING REQUIRES A REASON, POTTER. LEARN THAT EXTREMELY QUICKLY." Snape regained himself and straightened his robes a bit. Harry was absolutely fuming. He looked around at Harper, to see her reaction, but she was paying no attention. She was jotting things down in the same large book that Harry had seen in her class everyday since the beginning of school. "Legilimens"
Harry was leaning against a tomb, eye to eye with a great snake. Then, he was at the ministry of magic, watching Dumbledore and Voldemort duel.
"DAMN YOU, POTTER!" Snape grabbed Harry's shirt and lifted him to his feet, and pushed him away with a quick shove.
"I CAN'T DO IT WHEN I'M ANGRY!" Harry made his way over to the table of pensieves, grabbed up his own, and walked hastily for the door.
"WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING, POTTER!?" Snape pulled the two wands, Harry's and his own, from his robes and pointed them at the door. Harry turned to face Snape.
"I'M LEAVING!" He screamed forcefully. Harry turned around quickly, but was startled when he saw a woman in metallic blue robes leaning against the door, staring at him.
"You're not leaving, Potter. Come." Harper spoke softly, then shot a look at Snape who was pointing two wands at her. He dropped them and suddenly became very interested in his feet. "Come now, Potter." She held out her hand, which Harry was very hesitant to take. He did take it, however, and his scar did not burn this time.
She led him back over to the table of pensieves and instructed him to sit it back down. He did. Then, she led him across the stone floor to where Snape was standing. She pushed Snape gently out of the way with one hand and took Harry's wand from Snape's hand. "Here, Potter." The wand was passed from her hand to his, and Harry noticed that he wasn't angry any longer. In fact, he felt perfectly comfortable. He raised his wand, and tried his best to clear his mind. "Legilimens"
At first, Harry didn't feel or think anything. He was doing it! He was clearing his mind! But, the more he thought he was clearing his mind, the more he came to realize that Harper worked in mysterious ways. He was back in his dream, the one he had had not long ago. It was dark, and he heard the two voices. He got close enough to see the two white masks and hear, ""Any day. Any day we'll get back our finest, and we will rule once and for all!" Then he decided it was enough. He summoned all is concentration, and the images began to fade. Then he saw black, but it was not the black he saw when he collapsed on the ground. This, this was the black of success.
Harry opened his eyes and smiled, but the smile quickly faded from his lips. Harper was kneeling in front of him, with her elbow on her knee, propping her head up with her fist. She looked greatly concerned. She looked up at Harry for a moment with her blank emerald eyes, and simply said, "Perfect, Potter, but I wonder--" She paused and stood up. "I wonder how you came to see such a thing." Although Harry couldn't see it on her face, he could tell that she was concerned, about what, he did not know. This all reminded him of the previous year where Snape had seen the department of mysteries before Harry could clear his mind.
"What?" Asked Harry ignorantly. He cursed himself on the inside for not remembering to put that dream in his pensieve.
"What?! Potter! If you think you are going to get out of telling me exactly what that was, you are seriously mistaken. Tell me! Now!" Snape's eyes widened with interest as Harper raised her voice.
"No." Harry backed away. He had only seen Harper really angry once, when Ron had made fun of Lockhart for losing his mind. He was genuinely frightened of this woman, and he realized it at that point. She made everyone he knew uneasy, and he didn't trust her with this memory. However, it was beginning to look like she already knew about this particular dream, but Harry had no idea how.
"NO!?" Harry cringed, as did Snape. Harry had never heard Harper's voice this loud, and it sent an uncomfortable chill down his back and through his arms. "POTTER! NOW!"
Harry shook, "It-It was a dream, okay?! A dream!" He took a seat at one of the desks on the front row. Snape raised a brow, and then turned to look at Harper. Harper did not look at Snape, her eyes remained locked on Harry.
"A dream?" She smirked and shot Snape a look that Harry couldn't figure out. "Indeed." She turned around and walked to the table of pensieves, her robes billowing out behind her as she went. She touched the tip of her ornate wand to her temple and let the silver liquid fall into the bowl. Then, smirking oddly, she retrieved the gigantic book from the back of the room and left, shaking her head.
Harry looked up at Snape, trying to figure out what had just happened, but Snape looked equally confused. Confused to the point that he forgot for a second to be nasty to Harry. "Tomorrow, Potter?" Harry was taken aback. Snape had asked it in the form of a question, but Harry thought this was probably just because Snape was still looking out the door and not paying attention to what he said.
"Tomorrow, Sir." And Harry gathered his pensieve and other belongings and walked out the door.
***
Ron and Hermione came bolting in the common room from breakfast, laughing.
"Heya Harry! You missed it! Malfoy got his nose shrunken." Ron continued to chuckle, "Apparently, he slipped a potion into Goyal's drink and then drank it himself by accident! Bloody hilarious the way he ran out of the Hall." Ron's eyes widened and he looked as if he were about to cry, he grabbed his nose and began screaming, "My nose! My nose! Bloody idiot why didn't you drink it! My nose! My nose!" Then Ron continued with his laughing. Hermione was red in the face and nearly crying with laughter. Harry was still thinking about the night before.
"So breakfast was good then?" Harry asked indifferently.
"Breakfast, mate? Breakfast was hours ago! Lunch, mate!" Ron moved Harry's feet out of the way and plopped down on the couch. Harry took out his watch.
"One in the afternoon? Why didn't you wake me up? Why didn't anyone wake me up? Not even the first years!" Harry sighed, disappointed that he had slept most of his free day away.
"Relax. We told them not to. So, rough lesson last night, then?" Hermione sat down in the plush armchair beside the fire.
"You could say that." Harry shrugged and sat up finally. "Did you know Harper has a pensieve?"
Hermione became interested at this, "Does she really?"
"Yes. I saw it beside Snape's." Harry reached for his glasses, which he had set on a near by table.
"That's interesting." Hermione narrowed her eyes, as if she were in deep thought. Harry saw Ron eying the bruise on his knee.
"Nasty that one is. Another screaming match with King Greasy?" Ron chuckled again.
"Yes, actually. He wanted to take my wand, what else was I supposed to do?" Harry took out his wand and brushed the surface of the wood with his index finger.
"So you didn't give it to him, then? Right-o Harry! That's the way you have to handle Snape!" Ron clapped Harry on the shoulder. Harry shrugged.
"No, I didn't give it to him. He took it."
"Oh, then how did you get it back?"
"Harper."
"What?" Hermione joined the conversation again, coming back from her deep thought.
"Harper took my wand from Snape, and let me use it against her."
"You let her get inside your mind, Harry?" Hermione was looking worried. She looked Harry up and down, and then shot Ron a questionable look.
"She's a better teacher than Snape. I can actually do it when I face her, but--" Harry cut his sentence short, afraid he might let something slip.
"So she didn't see anything?" Hermione waited for an Answer, but Harry didn't know what to say. "Harry?"
"Only part of a dream, that's all." Harry knew he was going to have to tell them about the dream now.
"Dream?" Hermione and Ron both moved to the edge of their seats, eager to hear the story.
"One about Death Eaters, said something about getting back their finest or the like." Harry shrugged as if it were no bid deal.
"What?! Harry! What did she say?" Hermione's eyes widened, and her mouth hung open.
"I don't know. She just got really interested, and really angry, that's all. Then she put something in her pensieve and left!" Harry stood up and headed for the common room door. He heard Hermione whisper something to Ron before joining him on his way to the library.
The rest of that day was pretty uneventful. Everyone was extremely excited about the next day's trip to Hogsmede and the fact that there was less than 12 hours before Halloween. Harry spent most of the day in the library with Hermione and Ron finishing a huge project for Defense Against the Dark Arts. They didn't want to have to work on it on Halloween.
That night's Occlumency lesson was uneventful too. There was another screaming fit with Snape, but Professor McGonagall heard this one. She stormed through the door, her lips so thin that you could hardly distinguish them from her skin.
"What in Merlin's name is going on in here!?" She was breathing heavily as if she had run the whole way down there. Snape and Harry froze. "WELL?" She eyed the two of them in turn. "Potter? Severus?" She shot a glance at Harper, who had not looked up through the entire ordeal, a look of question. "SOMEONE!"
"They were seeing who could scream the loudest. Seems to be an act of intimidation, predominately with the males. Rather interruptive, don't you think?" Harper snapped her book to and looked up at McGonagall, smirking sideways.
"Minerva, I was simply teaching they boy some respect." Snape eyed Harry.
"WHAT! No you weren't you filthy--"
"ENOUGH!" McGonagall's high-pitched voice pierced the air, and all fell silent. "Do NOT let this happen again! Do I make myself clear? Potter, I think it is time you took your leave." McGonagall summoned Harry's Pensieve and motioned for him to come with her. He did so without any hesitation. As he walked away, he could hear the faint whispers of Snape and Harper fading.
***
Harry was standing in what seemed to be mid air, catching the crisp autumn wind with his face. He heard voices, many voices, and piercing cries. Lost souls. Before him he could see a disturbance in the dark. A deeper dark in the shape of a grand building. He felt himself smirk deviously as a ball of indigo light ripped blindingly through the scene. He laughed as the silent spell dispersed into the night and all fell dark again. He had an unsettling urge to get nearer to the scene, but felt as if it were being handled correctly and shouldn't be interrupted. Instead, he turned from the spectacle and was gone.
***
"SHUT UP, HARRY!" Harry felt a soft object, a pillow, collide with the side of his head as Ron's voice echoed through the dormitory. "SOME of us are trying to sleep!" Harry threw back his blankets and noticed that Ron, Seamus, and Neville were all awake, staring at him. He rubbed his eyes and put his glasses on. "What were you laughing about, anyway?" Ron questioned eagerly.
"Er—I don't know." Harry lied. He reached up to touch his scar, which was searing, and hot to the touch.
"Oh come on, Harry! Honestly! What was it?" Ron glanced at the clock and sighed. "Ah well, no sense going back to bed. We're supposed to be up in half an hour anyway." Ron squinted, and looked at the clock again. "Wait a tick! It's Halloween! Hogsmede! Feast! Food! Hogsmede! F--"
"Yes! We—get—it, Ron" Harry snapped, massaging his temples with his middle and index fingers.
Ron eyed him suspiciously, "What's wrong Harry?"
Harry looked at Seamus and Neville who had been suspiciously quiet the whole time. He decided to take out a piece of parchment and write, simply, "I think something bad has happened." He slipped it in his pocket, threw on an old tee shirt and some of Dudley's old trousers and began heading for the great hall without waiting for anyone.
As he walked slowly through the corridors, he could hear the faint sounds of the Hogwarts Ghosts singing tunes of Halloween. He had nearly forgotten the joy that Halloween brought to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He swore he saw Slytherins talking to Gryffindors on his way to the great hall. It didn't take Harry very long after finding a seat at the giant oak table that something was different about the scene in the Great Hall. He looked to each of the house tables and saw a maximum of twelve people in the entire hall, all of which had their eyes transfixed on the front of the room. Harry looked too. He gasped aloud, for there, right in front of him, sat two professors. They sat next to each other, lost in deep conversation, plunging a finger down on a piece of paper and cursing every now and again and occasionally shooting each other nasty glares. Snape and Harper. However, Harper was cloaked in black with her hood over her head; the only way Harry could tell it was Harper was by her eyes. Her circlet emitted a soft glow on her face, illuminating her eyes and leaving the rest of her face in shadows. Harry shuddered. As he was quickly losing interest in the situation, he stood and turned to walk to the library, but as he turned for one last look, he saw Harper crumple the papers on the staff table and peg Snape in the chest. She turned and stomped of in the opposite direction as Harry walked with a smirk of appreciation and confusion on his face.
Harry spent the majority of the day in the library reading about Quidditch. He found it quite odd that the Daily Prophet hadn't come today. He shrugged it off. He also found it quite out of the norm that no one had come looking for him yet. Ron hadn't even bothered to follow him to the Great Hall. This, he didn't just shrug off. Harry placed his book back on the shelf as he remembered he hadn't had lunch yet, and headed back in the direction of the Great Hall. When he stepped out of the library and into the corridors, he knew right away something was going on. People were running in a mad dash down the stairs, toward the Great Hall. He watched at least fifteen people race past him in a speeding blur.
"What the--" He thought aloud as he started to run as well. He followed the crowd down the stairs, through winding corridors, his heart racing all the while. He came to a dead halt when he heard and saw the crowd gathered around the oak doors of the Great Hall. He couldn't see what was going on inside the hall, but spotted several professors being held back by the crowd of students. He spotted Neville in the sea of people. He rushed over to him.
"Wha-what's going—on,--Neville?" Harry managed between breaths.
"Harper and Snape!" Neville shouted over the roars.
"What?!" Harry hadn't heard.
"I said...HARPER AND SNAPE!" Neville jumped to try to manage a glance.
"WHAT ABOUT THEM?!" Harry yelled back.
"DEAD LOCKED IN A DUEL!" Neville disappeared into the masses, and at those words, Harry knew he had to find his way inside.
He dropped down on all fours, and began making his way through the legs of his classmates. Soon enough, he found himself able to stand up and catch a glance of the events. "HARRY!" Harry had popped up right beside Ron and Hermione. He was thankful for this.
"WHAT'S GOING ON?" Harry was anxious to know how this started.
"I DON'T KNOW! ONE MINUTE, THEY WERE EATING AND READING A PAPER, THE NEXT MINUTE I SEE THEM ON THE TABLE WITH WANDS POINTED AT THE OTHER'S FACE." Called Hermione.
Harper and Snape stood on the Ravenclaw Table, wands outstretched and circling each other like Harry had seen in his Occlumency lesson, only this time, they looked more fierce. Harry could see their mouths moving, but he couldn't hear what was being said. It appeared calm enough, until a streak of maroon light ripped across the room. Snape was on his knees, grasping onto the table. He was trying to pull his legs out from under him, but they were stuck, obviously an effective spell. He was pulling so hard, you could see his arm muscles bulging, even through his thick black robes. When he couldn't free himself, he picked up he lifted his wand, made a few circular motions with it, and made two quick jabs which made Harper twitch violently for a few seconds while Snape cast a reverse spell to free his legs. Harper stopped twitching when Snape was on his feet once again, and she didn't hesitate to send one spell after another at Snape, who had to use very quick footwork to dodge all the thin streams of black light coming after him. He escaped most of them, but one managed to graze his shoulder, ripping his cloak and searing his flesh a bit. He bit his lip, and thrust his wand forward in fury. Harry felt a strong gust of wind ruffle his hair and carry him to the right for a couple of steps, but Harper saw it coming, and stepped out of the way, however, she didn't escape it completely.
The whole room fell silent and grabbed onto one another with what they saw next. The gust of wind that Snape had sent missed Harper, but she was still near enough to it for it to lift her robes slightly above the knee. Harry gaped. Harper gaped and glared and clinched her fists so tight that they started to turn white. Snape backed up so far; he nearly fell off the table. His hand was covering his mouth, for when he sent that spell, it had exposed a secret that Harper had been keeping. He right leg, from the ankle to calf, was nothing but wrinkled scar tissues. A severe and nasty burn wound. Anger welled up in Harper's eyes, and since they room had fallen quiet, except for McGonagal's high pitched screams, Harry could hear what was being said. Snape clinched his wand to his chest. "Harper, I didn't me--" He was cut off as a gleam of orange light shot past his right leg. "PROTEGO" he shouted. The light bounced back to Harper, who ducked, but still caught the charm on her left shoulder. It melted the sleeve of her robe, and once again, the whole room gasped. There, on her shoulder, was another apparent burn, but it wasn't an ordinary scar. This scar was in the shape of a dragon. A dragon eating another dragon. It was a grotesque image.
"Why would anyone get a tattoo of that?" Whispered Hermione to Harry. Harry looked once again at the table. Harper was panting in anger. Her circlet was glowing red. There were reflections of flames from the torches in her eyes. Snape had laid his wand down and was kneeling, eyes fixed on the floor.
"Somehow, Hermione, I don't think that's a Tattoo." Harry turned back to watch the scene.
Harper had put away her wand, but was holding her hand outstretched in Snape's direction. He was looking at her, head tilted and wondering, but his face quickly changed when he saw a blindingly blue ball of light forming in Harper's hand. Snape squeezed his eyes shut, and a bead of sweat dropped down his nose. As light began to grow in Harper's hand, it started to fade from the Great Hall. Harry could hear McGonagal shouting furiously, "NO! STOP THIS! NO! LET ME THROUGH!"
In the dark, every eye was fixed on the blue, and all you could see was Harper and Snape, both glowing blue from the ball of light. Harry squinted his eyes to see better in the darkness, and noticed something extremely unnerving. Snape looked genuinely frightened. Snape lifted his head for a moment, and opened his eyes, pleadingly. "Naomyn, you know this was not my intent." And with those words, Harper seemed to snap out of her trance. She shook her hand vigorously, and light flooded the room as the ball of blue left her hand. She gazed down at her hand, squeezed it into a fist and closed her eyes. Her whisper of a voice could be heard throughout the hall, but no one could understand what she was saying. It almost sounded as if she were speaking a different language. Heaving a deep sigh, she turned on her heel, brandished her wand, and flicked it upwards, lifting students out of her way as she walked through the oak doors and disappeared into the Hogwarts grounds. Snape picked up his wand, brushed himself off and headed the opposite direction, his nose in the air like nothing had happened.