"Harry Potter and the Brethren of Ares"
By: Merusa
Disclaimer: See prologue.
Author's Note: Have the song "The Young and the Hopeless" by Good Charlotte. Put it on repeat and blast it while listening to this chapter. Go ahead. You know you want to.
Chapter 10: Just Around the Corner
By the time the students were back at Hogwarts, Harry was ready to strangle something. The remainder of Christmas Holiday saw everyone walking on eggshells around the Boy-Who-Lived. On top of this, Harry felt guilty about not feeling guilty about snapping at Remus. He knew that he shouldn't have said what he said, but he didn't regret it, and that got to him.
Christmas without Sirius was harder than Harry had imagined. His friends had mostly kept his spirits up, but that was beside the point: he'd never see his godfather again.
The announcement of the Valentine's Ball one early January morning had Ron banging his head on the table- figuratively and literally- Harry glancing thoughtfully at the Ravenclaw table, Hermione NOT looking at Ron, and Neville alternatively whispering nervously to Ginny and glancing fearfully at Luna.
Harry steered himself. Padma was walking out of the Great Hall. He could do it. He slipped outside the doors to see she was walking outside. He took the steps quickly, knowing he could make it through the rapidly closing door, and-
The wooden door slammed into his face.
"Oww..."
Harry grabbed his nose in pain. He heard a muffled exclamation outside, and the door opened to reveal the pretty Ravenclaw, who came back in and grabbed his wrists, trying to take a look at his nose. Her glasses had slid down and were hanging off one of her ears.
"Harry, are you ok?" She was still trying to wrench his hands away.
"I'm fine. Really." He didn't force her hands away, mostly because he didn't mind her touching him.
"Harry, I can heal it, I know a spell-"
"Heal what? Just a bru- OWW!"
Padma had wrenched his hands away, tweaking his nose in the process. With a quick tap of her wand and a mumbled word, the pain disappeared.
Harry looked at her. "You're amazing."
She blushed.
Her glasses were still hanging off her ear. Harry took them and careful slid them back into place, letting his fingers slide over her cheekbones.
She looked at him.
Harry abruptly remembered the reason he had wanted to see her. He swallowed nervously. "Padma, I wanted to ask you something."
She blinked, as if coming out of a trance. Her head tilted slightly. "What's that?"
Oh, bless your blissful little empty head.
Harry swallowed again. "Er, Padma, would you, uh, ball dance- I mean, go would you the to me with ball? Er, no that's not right..."
He noticed she was laughing at him. He cocked an eyebrow, or tried to; he wasn't very good at raising just one. "What's so funny?"
She grinned. "What are you trying to tell me, Mr. Potter?"
Ok, flirting. He could deal with this. He was the Boy-Who-Lived, after all.
"Well, Miss Patil, I was wondering if I could escort you to the Valentine's Ball."
There. He'd said it.
The doors to the Great Hall streamed open, and students pushed their way outside to get to class, separating the Ravenclaw and the Gryffindor. Harry felt himself being tugged further away, presumably by Ron, but he fought to stay where he was.
"HARRY!"
He saw her again.
"I'D LOVE TOO!"
Harry felt a wide grin spread across his face as he watched his date be pulled through the doors to get outside.
The doors that had began it all.
***
It hurt...oh, how it hurt.
Harry shook uncontrollably, and buried his forehead further into the pillow, trying to stop the pain, and, at the same time, muffle any screams that may escape. His scar burned uncontrollably, and his shaking increased. The pain reached a crescendo, and Harry bit into his pillow to muffle his screams. He vaguely heard the sound of his curtains being thrown back, but he did hear the chorus of his name being called.
The pain abruptly stopped, and he relaxed, staying in that position for a moment, before flipping onto his back. He snatched his glasses off the bedside table, and put them on. Four worried-looking young men came into focus.
Harry sat up; not looking at his roommates, for fearing that the boiling hate he was currently feeling will spill over. They didn't have to go through this. A searing resentment shot through his chest, and he stood up, pushing past Ron and Neville perhaps more forcefully than needed. He filled a goblet with water from the water jug, and drank it quickly, letting the cool liquid course down his throat and quell some of his anger. He waited for one of them to say something.
"Harry?"
Ron. How unsurprising. Weasley is Our Brave, Brave King, after all.
"Yes?"
"Are you alright?"
He still didn't look at them. "Ruddy wonderful, Ron."
Seamus blurted out something next. "Harry, what does your scar hurting mean?"
Harry knew that they could tell it was his scar because it was probably an angry red at the moment. He really was in no mood to talk to anyone. "Who knows? I'm just some mad bugger, remember?"
A shocked silence fell over the dormitory. Neville was the one who broke it. "Seriously, Harry, what does it mean?"
Harry didn't want to snap at Neville, who had been to hell and back as well. But, something pushed at Harry's mind- Neville almost had the burden. It could have fallen on Neville's shoulders, and it didn't.
His answer was curt but truthful. "Something's going to happen. Something big. Or, it's happening already."
"What?"
Harry didn't answer at first.
"If I knew, I'd sure as hell do something about it."
He walked back to his bed, and tugged the curtains around it, signifying that the conversation was over.
He looked at the clock- 3 am.
"Good night, Harry."
He chose not to answer.
***
The next day, Harry didn't feel much better as he walked down to breakfast in silence with his two best friends and Ginny. Ginny appraised him for a moment, as if saying she knew something was going on, but she turned and engaged Hermione in conversation right away. Hermione had given him a similar look earlier that morning.
Girls are too damn observant for their own good.
Harry decided to throw them off by humming 'happily'. A muggle song popped into his head, and he starting humming.
Hermione grinned at him. "Too far away for me to hold..." she sang along softly.
Harry grinned back. "She calls me from the cold..." His voice was rough.
He sang softly as they walked through the hallway, his companions bobbing along to the music and laughing.
"She dreams a champagne dream, strawberry surprise, pink linen on white paper...lavender and cream..."*
Ron stopped dead in his tracks. Hermione ran into him, Ginny ran into her, and Harry ran into Ginny. They fell on the ground in a heap.
"What in the hell, Ron..."
Ron was gaping like a goldfish at the entrance hall. Harry began to hear strains of chanting as he disentangled himself from Ginny. He pulled the small red head to her feet.
"You guys..." Hermione pointed. The golden apple was floating innocently at the top of the Entrance Hall.
The chanting had become clear- "No pay, no work!"
The three gasped, and Ginny looked at them, confused. Hermione looked down in the entrance hall....
...and an expression of pure ecstasy crossed through her face.
Ron, Ginny, and Harry looked down, and froze.
The House-Elves of Hogwarts were on strike.
***
*Lyrics: "Fuel- Shimmer". Yes, I love the idea of Harry singing. I picture him as being very bish (bishounen) in the books, and male singers get me. Get over it. For more information, check out the soon to be posted "The Songs". W007!
Author's Note: SCHOOL HAS BEGAN! And with school has come soccer, voice lessons, four dance classes, homework, choir, newspaper, Student Council (me for President!), and a whole mess of things. Re: relationship problems. Also, I'm going through the "dark" teenage stage. I'm enjoying it. It freaks people out!
Review Responses:
Linky2: squeak.
EriEka127: I know. That's why it worked so well!
PhoenixPadfoot89: Sorry, no POVs of the other chars on the Prophecy here. I may put some other POV's in the next chapter, though.
Facade1: You can't kiss him on the cheek if I can't! Lol.
Bob33: Thank you for the honest review. The best reviewers are those who say what they didn't like. It really makes me feel like you are paying a lot of attention to the story. As for the O.W.L.'s, the way I graded them is different then what most people think they are graded. Harry actually did quite well. The career I have in mind for Ron doesn't require as many.
Slycat-blaze1: Yes, poor Remy. I love Remus. Writing that hurt. *hugs imaginary Remus plushie*
Samantha: Jason Isaacs makes an incredibly bish (hot) Lucius. He is perfect. Yes, Lucius is quite the pansy...
Hermione 'DB' Granger: Yes, the site often goes weird for me too. Yay! I hoped someone would pick up on the Eagle owl! Although only one person has actually caught on to any part of the plot, which I think is a bit obvious....ahem. I'm writing "Cell Block Tango" and another parody called "Ginny from the Block" right now. One of them should be out soon!
Thank you, thank you, I love you all! Silent and loud readers alike! Loud isn't a bad thing! I'm loud! WHEEEE!
~Merusa