"Harry Potter and the Brethren of Ares"

A sixth year tale.

Disclaimer: I do not own the majority of the characters and situations presented in this story. They belong to various companies, and, most importantly, J.K. Rowling. In short, please don't sue me. I have no money.

By: Merusa

Chapter 5: Hagrid's Folly

Percy walked briskly towards Fudge's office, his usual scowl fixed on his face for everyone to see. He didn't bother turning to view the intricate designs carved in the walls, nor to note that the doors became more and more lavish with every step he took. His head was throbbing painfully. His feet were carrying him more out of habit then anything, as he now knew the corridors around the ministry better than most people who had worked there for years. He hadn't been feeling well lately.

Percy gave a barely audible sigh as he reached the gaudiest area of all. Cornelius Fudge had horrible taste, but it fit perfectly with his personality.

The walls around the double doors were painted a horrible puce, which gave a ghastly contrast to the aqua blue trim of the floors and ceiling. The doors were more bearable: They were carved from solid crystal, with what appeared to be a meadow engraved into them. The meadow would have looked nice, had Fudge not decided to have carved pixies flicking about- literally- around the heads of Acromantulas, and, a new addition, Blast-Ended Skrewts.

Percy silently prayed that the git he worked for did not have much to tell him. He shuddered, as he always did, at the sudden remembrance of his rather pathetic hero worship during the previous year. Penny had been the only one to stand by him....Penny. A genuine smile spread across his face, as it always did when he thought of his wife. His wife. His stomach gave a small jump. Penny had married him, and she was pregnant with their first child, due in January. Penny had conceived before the marriage, horrifying his mother, but for once, Percy didn't care. All he cared about was how happy his Penny looked; especially after her parents had found out that they had eloped.

Percy looked down at the floor. He just wanted to get home.

Shaking himself out of his daydream, he walked briskly through the doors, slightly annoyed that he had lost himself, but not really caring.

***

Later that night, Percy woke with a start. He was back at home; he must have fallen asleep at his desk. He frowned. Something wasn't right...

"Percy, is everything ok?" Penny walked into the room, clutching her favorite book.

Percy walked to her and pulled her into his arms. His hands stroked her stomach. "Yes, love, everything is fine." His eyes were slightly troubled when he laid his cheek on her hair.

"Everything will be alright."

***

Harry found that the first day of school hadn't been bad. Advanced Transfiguration had been quite hilarious- Neville had transfigured a wooden coffee table into a marble birdbath on the first try, and so McGonagall had fainted dead away. Neville had been so proud of himself that he didn't even care. The rest of Monday had been taken over by new clubs and classes, such as Magical Cooking, and taking the first round of oral practice N.E.W.T.'s. Harry had failed dismally in everything but Defense Against the Dark Arts, in which Flitwik had told him he could take the actual N.E.W.T. now instead of waiting until the end of seventh year, which Harry chose not to do.

However, Harry was much more worried the next day. There was no more Potions, no more Divination, but there was one class he was regarding with half-fear, half-anticipation.

Advanced Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid.

Harry and the rest of the sixth years who had made it in, which was pretty much everyone but some of the Slytherins, were debating loudly on the subject of Hagrid's newest "interstin' creature" on the way down the front lawn to the half-giant's hut. Harry had never thought he would be so apprehensive for the first lesson of the year, but he was. His anxiety mounted when he saw the large caged in area right outside the Forbidden Forrest, Hagrid waving merrily beside it.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione made it there first. They looked anxiously at Hagrid, then at the cage, then back at Hagrid. The cage had an odd hissing noise emanating from it, and Harry thought he heard a few words.

Ron looked especially nervous. "Er, Hagrid, Aragog's not in there, is he? Or Grawp, taking a nap?"

There were a few speculative mutters behind them, only four people present knew whom and what Ron was talking about. Harry looked at Hagrid, feeling his anxiety reach its peak.

Hagrid let out his booming laugh. "Well, o' 'course not, Ron! Grawpy's Inglish tain't good 'nuff yet- Professor Dumbeldore's workin' on it- an' Argogy dun like tha sun too much. Or people, really."

Ron nodded. "Aragog tried to eat me and Harry, you know! Two poor, defenseless second years!"

Harry shook his head. "Ron, at least I tried to fight them off..."

A glare from Ron shut Harry up.

Hagrid was biting back laughter. "Well, gather 'round, everyone! Gotta real treat fer ya taday. 'Arry, if you'd just peek ov'r the fence?"

Giving Hagrid an odd look, Harry stepped forward and cautiously peered over the enclosure. A large smile broke out over his face as he looked back at Hagrid. "You're brilliant, Hagrid!" A few interested mutterings broke out among his classmates.

Hagrid beamed at everyone. "Now, yew lot, step on back an' watch 'Arry."

The class, with exception of Harry, who was still grinning broadly, walked back a few steps.

Hagrid reached a large hand into the cage, which hissed louder than ever. Several people backtracked a bit farther. Draco was paler than usual.

Hagrid withdrew his hand, and dropped a snake onto the ground.

Hermione gasped. "It's a Runespoor!"

Harry immediately bent down to examine the snake. It was about five feet long, not at its maximum yet, but still large. The snake- or perhaps snakes- stood out easily from the ground. It was stripped a poisonous orange and charcoal black, and its three heads were already arguing.

Harry vaguely heard Hagrid telling the class that Harry would translate the Runespoor's conversation, but he didn't listen, already engrossed.

The left head shook itself. "Damnit," it hissed, "that girl was really gorgeous. We should go back and talk to her more after that idiot puts us back into the cage."

The middle head appeared to be smiling. "Or, maybe, the giant thing will set us free and let us roam through the forest..."

The right head snorted, if a snake could snort. "You idiots! That girl looked exactly like us and like every other girl in there, and that great oaf wouldn't set us free! I am connected to two dunderheads! And don't you dare try to bite me off, I'll bite the pretty girl."

Harry was laughing when the Runespoor noticed him.

The right head appeared to look him up and down. "A Parselmouth, eh?"

Harry nodded. "I never thought that a Runespoor would be so funny!" he hissed.

The right head glared at him. "Oh, I'll give you such a bite-"

"Hey!" The left head protested. "Maybe this kid can help us; he's the one that killed the Basilisk!"

The middle head nodded. "That Basilisk was tough."

Harry frowned. "How do you know about that?"

The right head shook his, er, head. "Snakes can sense each other, don't you worry your little scarred head about it. Now, what Tweaddle-Dee and Tweaddle-Dumb are trying to say here is, there's an ea- a pretty girl. Can you help us get her?"

Harry blinked at them. They knew Muggle literature. He quickly recovered, however. "Nope, can't help you there. I'm definitely not the person to come to for helping figure out girls."

The middle head nodded. "I sense that you are surrounded by extremely shaggable women and are clueless when it comes to them!"

Harry nodded. "You've got that right."

A loud voice interrupted the conversation. "Oiy, 'Arry, wouldja tell us a bit o' whats 'appenin?"

Harry nodded at Hagrid, stifling laughter, and then turned back to the Runespoor. "I have to tell them a bit of what you're saying. Don't worry; I'll edit it a bit."

The right head's response made Harry's eyes widen in shock.

Harry stood up, and faced the class. He was better at public speaking after the D.A. The Runespoor slithered over next to him and began to do a sort of dance besides him, bobbing its heads in an Egyptian-pharaoh manner. Some people giggled.

Harry nodded at the snake, and turned to the class. "Now, what we have here is a Runespoor with a rather large crush..."
A little while later, Hagrid had the class sitting, doing drawings of the Runespoor in its various showy-off-y poses. Quite a few times, Harry had to step in and prevent the middle and left heads from biting off the right one.

As Harry finished off his drawing and went to speak to some of the other snakes, he realized that either Hagrid had gotten some sense, or he had gotten an idea from Ron and they were studying Aragog next lesson.

***

Back in the common room, Harry was engaged in a chess match with Ron, and was- shock- losing.

"Check," said Ron triumphantly. Harry put his head in his hands.

"Hey, Potter!" Harry looked up. Ryan...something, a seventh year, tossed a magazine into his hands. Harry groaned when he saw the headline:

Harry Potter, Orphaned Slave?: An Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Boy-Who-Lived's Home Life!

Hermione sniffed. "Really, they didn't even use proper grammar!"

Ron grinned. "Me English fail? Unpossibable!"

Harry let his head fall onto the table. He banged it a few times, before sitting up and rubbing his forehead. "You know, banging your head on the table doesn't help."

Hermione didn't answer him. She was frowning at a small group of first years who had gathered around their table. They were holding copies of the magazine. People in the common room were beginning to look at them and whisper.

"Er, hi?" said Harry uncertainly.

A girl prodded a slightly taller boy forward. He scowled at her before turning to Harry. "Uh, hi, Mr. Potter."

Harry was immediately taken aback. He looked at the boy oddly. "Please, call me Harry. Please."

There was some flurried whispering inside the group. The boy looked scared. "Well, uh, H-H-Harry, I was- we were wondering- I mean, uh, you probably get this all the time, but, er, could you autograph our magazines?"

Harry stared at them. How pointless. How utterly and completely pointless. There was a magazine article about him again, and suddenly people wanted his autograph.

Anger bubbled inside of Harry. "Excuse me," he said abruptly. He walked around the first years and, painfully aware of how the entire common room had their eyes on him ran up the stairs to his dormitory. He slammed the door shut behind him, and sat on his bed. He curled his legs up and rested his head on his hands. They thought he was going to give out autographs. They thought he liked the fame, no, thought that he loved it. He slammed his fist into his pillow. He began to punch it, taking out all his frustration.

If he wasn't famous, his parents would be alive.

If he wasn't famous, Voldemort probably wouldn't have been defeated.

If he wasn't famous, he may have never met the Weasleys.

If he wasn't famous, Wormtail would still be good, he'd be an uncle.

If he wasn't famous...Sirius would be alive. Sirius would never have been in Azkaban...

"Damnit!" Harry stopped punching his pillow, his hands still curled up into fists. Sirius still hadn't come back, and Harry knew he wouldn't. But Sirius had promised that he'd always be there, in one way or another.

Harry chuckled bitterly. "So, Sirius," he muttered sourly, "how are you going to help me today?" He waited.

A soft knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. "Harry?" It was Ginny's voice.

"C'mon in, Gin."

Ginny walked in, her usual ponytail absent and the twinkle in her eyes missing. Wordlessly, she walked over to the bed and sat down next to him.

Harry glanced at her as a thought occurred to him. "Did Ron yell?"

A tired smile crossed her face. "No, Hermione stopped him." She paused. "They didn't mean anything, Harry."

He looked down at the comforter. "I know."

They sat in silence for a few moments. Harry chanced a few glances at her, and it seemed that she was steering herself to do something.

He studied her. She really was very pretty. She was wearing a thin green jumper with her fiery red hair loose over it. Her chocolate brown eyes were focused on the floor, but Harry could still see the flecks of gold shimmering in them. She had a tiny frame, the perfect build for a seeker, and you could tell that she was short, but not very short.

Harry was pulled out of his reverie when, without warning, Ginny pulled him into a hug.

Harry froze. Then, slowly, he returned the hug, wrapping his arms around her and resting his head on her shoulder. At first, he wasn't sure why she was hugging him, but then it came to him. She was comforting him. She didn't know what was wrong- or maybe she did- but she was trying to make it easier for him. Harry's heart swelled. He breathed in her scent, and felt her tighten her arms. She really was beautiful...

Abruptly, an image of Padma winking at him came to Harry's mind. He managed not to stiffen.

You're not doing anything wrong, he told himself, you and Padma aren't dating yet, and Ginny's your friend. She's your friend!

Nevertheless, the hug didn't break for a long time.

***

Sirius nodded at the scene in front of him. "I liked Ginny a lot."

Lily smiled at the sight of her son hugging the pretty redhead. "She is nice. But, he has that crush on one of the Patil twins."

James shook his head. "I can't believe he didn't go for the redhead in the first place."

Lily snorted, and tossed her own red hair over her shoulder, letting the ends flick over James's face. "Aren't you a little biased?"

***

Author's Note: I loved that chapter. I really loved writing it. Really, really. I can't wait to read all the wonderful reviews...hopefully.

Review Responses:

Grib: Wow, another person who likes the Harry/Padma! Thanks for reviewing!

Graphicrockstar: Did you see your cameo? Anyway, thank you for reminding me of Percy. I was going to have the Percy scene in another chapter, but I decided to put it here because of your comment. Thanks! As for skipping around, the last chapter was supposed to be like that. It's from Harry's POV, and there was a lot on his mind. I tried to settle into a more JKR-like style this chapter. As for Harry's occupation, that will come up later. Thanks for the reviews- both of them!

Magee: I had already posted Chapter 5 when I got your review, so I get to replace it now! Yay! No sarcasm. I'm a fantastic writer? *e-hug* You're an awesome reviewer! What is the Golden Apple? What is Ginny's idea? I'm not telling! Hee hee hee...

gg? Hermione "DB"? Elessar? Where did you guys go?

~Merusa

Note: Chapter 6 should be up soon.