A/N: None here.
Disclaimer: Harry doesn't belong to me, blah, blah, blah. I only own Amelia and Ebony-Crested Dragon snakes. Oh, and I do use some of the same techniques Rowling uses with some fun lines I always enjoyed, so please don't sue me! I need all the money I can get for my student ambassador trip!
Parseltongue will be "~...~"
Chapter 10: Falling Mirrors and Crystal Sleepers
------------------------------------------
Torches fllared up around them as the three Slytherins entered the room, which revealed a scene rather like a battlefield.
"It's a chessboard," murmured Blaise, stepping forward and looking across the room. "And it looks like we'll have to play across to get by. Harry, don't you know how to shrink these, or something?"
Harry shook his head.
"Not on the level one would need for this. We're going to have to go about this the legit way, unfortunately. Is anyone here good at chess?"
Blaise's camo-covered face broke into a large grin and jumped up and down with her hand in the air.
"Me! Me! I'm really good at chess! I beat Weasley twice!"
Draco moaned.
"Blaise is the only one that would be excited about this, Harry. What happened to the quiet girl at the beginning of this year?"
"Shut up, Draco, and take the place of the castle! Harry, you be the bishop, and I'll be a knight!"
The game was difficult and intense. It was like wizard chess with the pieces destroying those that were taken. Blaise had to save her comrades several times from being taken. She looked around the current board and at the queen.
"I have to be taken."
"What are you talking about, Blaise?" yelled Draco, looking around a black pawn to see his firend atop the great granite horse.
"I have to be taken. I'm going to move forward and let the queen take me. When she does, Harry, you move forward and checkmate the king. Don't worry about me!"
The other two could only watch as their friend moved to the appropriate space and as the queen knocked her into the wall. It was with shaking legs that Harry moved forward and checkmated the king. Draco turned in Blaise's direction, but Harry grabbed his arm and pulled him in the other direction.
"Come on, Draco! I know I'll need your help! She'll be fine!"
With a concerned look at their fallen friend, the two ran into the next room and stopped dead at the wide rug at the entrance to the room..
"Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"Is this Professor Lupin's trap?"
"I guess so."
The room was enormous, with a high ceiling and marble floor tiles. The two began to step forward, but no sooner had Draco layed his foot down on one of the steps that it crumbled under his feet, falling into a dark abyss. The blonde let out a scream and stumbled back onto the rug.
"Alright, Draco. We're gonna run for the door. See? It's right there across from us."
Draco turned wide-eyed to Harry.
"You think I'm gonna run across that?! I nearly fell!"
Harry rolled his eyes.
"We'll just have to run really fast, now won't we? Just to be safe, however, let's put shield charms on ourselves. Lupin was bound to put up some curses, and we won't have time to stop and fight them."
Each cast their own "Declino!" shield spell, and they ran. Sure enough, hexes and curses of all kinds flew at them as they ran towards the door, the floor crumbling from beneath their feet. Harry fired an unlocking spell at the door as they approached and it flew open just in time for them to scramble through.
"That was insane! Are they trying to kill us?!" shrieked Draco in a much higher voice than was natural.
"Generally when you're guarding something, that's what you do to intruders, Draco. What the?!"
For as they stepped through the threshold of the door, flames burst up in front of both the room's doors.
"Great," mumbled Harry, as he and Draco stepped forward and saw the vials of potions and the note. "Uncle Sev just had to do something like this, now didn't he? Well, what does the note say?"
Draco read out:
Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay forever more,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those that stand on either end,
But if you would move onwards, neither is yor friend;
Third, you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf or giant hold death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.
"Logic, it has to be logic, doesn't it?" said Harry, but Draco was smiling in the way when he knew an answer to something in class.
"Lucky I'm so good at logic, and that Blaise isn't the one with you right now," he said and began going up and down the lines. After about ten minutes, he let out a very unMalfoyish whoop.
"Alright, I've got it! The rounded bottle down here on the right will set us back, and the smallest one will send you through to the next room!"
Harry eyed the bottles.
"Draco-"
"I know, Harry," sighed Draco, picking up the rounded bottle. "You have to go on ahead. Besides," he smiled, "You know more curses than even the seventh years. You're the right one to go."
Harry nodded and added, "Go and revive Blaise. Use the broomsticks from the key room to get through the trapdoor and past Fluffy, and remember to pick up my harp! Go find Snape and lead him down here. If Tom or someone's down here already, we don't want a Light supporter on our hands."
"Be careful, Harry." With that, Draco drank the bottle down and headed back to the collapsing floor room, casting a shield charm as he went. Harry picked up the tiny bottle.
"Well, let's get this over with," said Harry, and he drank down the little bottle in one gulp. Feeling as though ice water had just been injected into his veins, he quickly stepped through the flames to the next room.
As his eyes adjusted to the amount of light, a large chamber began to come into focus, and there at the end of the stretch were two figures dueling, curses flying every which way dangerously close to the Mirror of Erised, a loud din of chunks of wall and ceiling hitting the floor as spells collided into solid masses. Harry cautiously proceeded forward until he could see the two duelers, and he sweeled in fear.
"Tom!"
Sure enough, there was Tom, currently dueling the headmaster. Tom didn't even look around as the battle quickly forced Harry to the other side, standing with his back right next to the mirror. The headmaster spoke in a loud, dangerous voice filled with loathing.
"Tom, you never should have let Harry come to school if you wanted to keep your existence a secret!"
Tom growled and yelled back, firing a curse, "I would never have let him attend anywhere else, even if you are the headmaster, you manipulative old fool!" He looked ever so quickly at Harry.
"Harry, run now! I'll hold him off! Run, now!"
He never saw the green light or hear the headmaster say those awful words; all Harry saw was Tom's surprised face and his body falling to the floor, collapsing on the hard stone. Unfortunately, that was the last thing Harry saw. The Mirror of Erised, off balanced by the blasts of spells, finally tilted and came crashing down on the Dark Heir.
--------------------------------
Harry stood standing in darkness, looking around and shrugged his shoulders.
"I guess I'm dead. At least now I can see Tom."
Almost at once Harry heard a slight laugh.
"You won't see me on the other side, Harry."
Harry turned around, and there stood Tom, and Harry rushed forward and threw his arms around Tom, shaking his head and looking up into the flaming red eyes.
"But Tom! He hit you with the Killing Curse! I saw you fall!"
"Harry, I'm immortal," chuckled Tom, patting the eleven year old on the head much like an older brother, "Don't worry. My spirit was ripped from my body, but it still exists; you might well have died from our connection through the scar if I had truly died. I will come back, Harry, you know, and when that day comes, we will rule, Serpent Brothers locked forever in our dark world."
The world was becoming lighter around the two, however, and some force was pulling Harry back towards the real world. Harry just managed to get off a question.
"Why did you go after the stone, Tom?" Harry asked, and Tom replied, though it was hard to hear through the swirling whirlwind.
"For you, Harry. For you. I'll tell you one day. It's time for you to return to your friends. Remember, don't kill Dumbledore; play along with him until I come back. You can pull it off."
And the dream Tom disappeared, and Harry woke up.
-
"Harry! Harry, are you all right?"
"Of course he's not, Malfoy!"
"Shut up, Granger!"
"Amelia, he's up, he's up!"
"~You shake me one more time, psychotic girl, and I swear...~"
"Ouch! Amelia bit me!"
"You deserved it Blaise. Poor snake being shaken."
"Be quiet, Draco!"
Harry finally had enough.
"ALL OF YOU! BE QUIET!"
That shut them up.. for all of three seconds. Then Blaise jumped on him. Harry noticed she still had on her commando outfit, though fortunately someone had managed to clean the stuff off her face.
"Harry! We were so worried about you!" she squeeked, squeezing him hard, and Harry desperately tried to push her off.
"Ouchie, ouchie, ouchies!" yelled Harry, and Hermione pulled Blaise off while Draco shook his head.
"Blaise," Draco began, "Here's a question for you: If a huge mirror fell on top of you, shattered on you, and cut you up, would you appreciate someone jumping on you?"
While Blaise thought about it, Harry said, "What? What happened?"
"Well, we had just gotten through the trapdoor when we found Professor Snape coming towards us. We didn't even have to tell him. He just took Blaise's broomstick and went down the trapdoor. Next thing we knew, he was hovering you on a stretcher towards the Hospital Wing. You were pretty cut up; apparently that mirror fell right on top of you. And Dumbledore was levitating... he was levitating Tom's body after Snape."
Harry sat up quickly, never minding the fact he accidentally tore some wounds back open along his back and was beginning to bleed.
"Where is Tom's body?"
"Harry," began Hermione in a voice clearly meant to change the course off the conversation, but he let out a very real growl and asked again. She pointed at a bed with curtains drawn around it, nervously looking around for a sign of the matron. Harry got out of bed shakily and crossed the distance deftly, a little trail of blood following him, and pulled back the curtains.
"Oh, Tom..." There lay Tom, his red eyes shut, and black hair still slightly curling at the ends. He looked simply as though in sleep. Harry felt moisture on his face and realized that for the first time in many years, he was crying, and he couldn't stand the weakness of it.
"Draco, give me my wand."
"Harry, he's gone, you can't do-"
"My wand, please, Draco!"
Draco handed Harry his wand. The wand which was the brother of the yew wand lying on the bedside. Harry pocketed Tom's wand and pointed his own wand at Tom's serene body, whispering silently through the tears, "Crystallinus Converto." A huge shimmering glow descended on the bed where Tom Riddle's body slept in death....
And now where Tom's full-grown body had lain was now a small crystal figure of Tom, seemingly in an everlasting sleep. Harry pocketed it and put a non-shattering charm on it and Tom's wand, crawling back into bed.
"I'm going to kill Dumbledore for this, even if I have to wait for years," Harry said quite plainly, eyes dancing with lightning as he looked out at nothing. Draco put his hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Before you kill him, you might want to know what he's planning to do with you so you can slow out his death a bit more."
"What's he doing? Surely nothing worse than killing Tom?"
"It seems your mother has a sister, and you'll be going to live with her and her family this summer. You know what's worse? They're a bunch of magic-hating Muggles! I eavesdropped on Snape when he was talking to McGonagall about them. They hate anything unusual in any way, shape, or form. Snape said they nearly beat him out of their house after he told them about your arrival this summer. Bad luck."
Harry banged his bandaged his against the wall and one could see a patch of new red appearing in the white. Hermione scoffed while Blaise went to go get Madam Pomfrey to fix up the self-destructive Harry.
"Really, what's so bad about Muggles?" asked Hermione. Harry just groaned.
"Hermione! No magic! I can't get away with magic! I didn't grow up in a Muggle fashion! I need to figure out a way! Books! I need books! To the library!"
And before anyone could stop him, Harry jumped out of the bed and ran out of the Hospital Wing,
just as Madam Pomfrey walked in to check on him, and she went chasing out the door after her patient. Several loud noises and bangs were heard from the hallway, and a minute later Madam Pomfrey came in levitating an unconscious Harry. One could make out a very suspicious lump on his head, as though he were hit with something to knock him out, but no one dared bring it up to the tiny nurse. Snape came in a moment later, and from the smirk on his face, he had to have seen all the action.
"Why was Harry running out of the Hospital Wing?" he asked Draco, turning to the blonde boy as Madam Pomfrey finally fixed up all the reopened wounds, grumbling about Harry and "diversionary tactics."
"He was attempting to make it to the library to look up ways of using magic at his residence this summer. You didn't have any luck trying to keep Harry for the summer, either?"
Snape shook his head.
"Dumbledore won't let him stay with anyone but the Dursley's. Some sort of ancient protective magic. Apparently, he thinks all the Deatheaters are going to kill off Harry to have one of them become the next Dark Lord. It's completely ridiculous."
"Aren't you dropping him off at the house?" smirked Draco, knowing full well the reaction he would get from the teacher.
"Oh, yes," sneered Severus, "and won't that be pleasant. We've already contacted them, and they weren't at all happy with the situation to put it lightly. 'Oh yes, we're just going to let you harbor the next Dark Lord while all his followers are supposedly going to come after him to knock him off! Not bloody likely! Perfectly respectable people don't watch over freaks like you!' Imbecilic neckless Muggle. Harry's not going to have a fun summer."
--------------------------------
Declino- avoid, deflect
A/N: Don't worry about Tom *sniff sniff*. He'll be fine. Dark Harry at the Dursley's for the summer? Oh no! And what about the Deatheaters? Are they going to attempt to kill off Harry? Stupid old Dumbledore! I never liked the guy much.... And don't worry; we'll find out about the stone because Harry's going to have a ... pleasant... conversation with Dumbledore.
Review responses:
Nicoletta- I know! It's so hard to balance reading and writing. That's why it's taking me so long to
finish Anne Rice's vampire chronicles!
Mark Evans- Don't worry; I won't leave this story at first year.
hermionegreen- Hehehe. I wonder why you wanted Hermione to go, hermionegreen. Well, now you
know the encounter. So sad.
asdfds-are you silverknight, too? Do you have multiple pesonalities? We have those, too, and
luckily we haven't been stuck down for a shrink visit yet! Though, is it bad that my present
for Christmas from Shorty is a free session with her psychiatrist father? All my friends
thought was very funny, but we're starting to worry they might be serious. Anyway, hehe,
we're glad you enjoyed the update. We understand why you're slowly backing away.
Aravis Traitre- I like twists in fanfictions. I like your riddle!
ER- Hehehe. The commando just came as I typed; I wsn't even aware of it until I went back and
read it. It was the pumpkin pie's fault!
linky2- glad you likey
Fiery Phoenix- Another commando lover! I'm seriously going to have to draw a picture of them in
those outfits. Glad you like my story so much!
Falafal- I think everyone enjoyed the commando outfits! I'm so appreciative of you response on
Harry's gifts to Remus and Sirius! Thank you!
Shorty- Ah, my short Ravenclaw friend, how are you this fine afternoon? Does it strike you that
here in Las Vegas we think forty degrees is freezing when we could be living somewhere
where it actually snows and gets below zero? Then again, we put up with humid, 121
degree summer days, so I guess it trades off. Thanks for your quotes; yeah, my parents'
accident was pretty bad, but caring for them over the summer wasn't THAT bad, I guess.
Hehe, yes you do see the "psychotic Harry smile" quite often, now don't you? Ah well,
you know the risks of sitting next to little, eccentric me. :)
Stupid Gryffindor- You can have Sirius for now, but don't forget to return him in good condition for
third year. Yes, folks, we are going to see Remus and Sirius third year! Hehehe
You idiot. You know I'm more eccentric in the morning, and the art teacher just
had to ask what sold in pairs always. With that illegal baby adoption market
on the news, I had to say twins. Yes, I'm a bad person. You seemed to think
it was pretty damn hilarious, however. You're now Stupider Gryffindor!
*cackles maniacally*
(November 29, 2003)
Disclaimer: Harry doesn't belong to me, blah, blah, blah. I only own Amelia and Ebony-Crested Dragon snakes. Oh, and I do use some of the same techniques Rowling uses with some fun lines I always enjoyed, so please don't sue me! I need all the money I can get for my student ambassador trip!
Parseltongue will be "~...~"
Chapter 10: Falling Mirrors and Crystal Sleepers
------------------------------------------
Torches fllared up around them as the three Slytherins entered the room, which revealed a scene rather like a battlefield.
"It's a chessboard," murmured Blaise, stepping forward and looking across the room. "And it looks like we'll have to play across to get by. Harry, don't you know how to shrink these, or something?"
Harry shook his head.
"Not on the level one would need for this. We're going to have to go about this the legit way, unfortunately. Is anyone here good at chess?"
Blaise's camo-covered face broke into a large grin and jumped up and down with her hand in the air.
"Me! Me! I'm really good at chess! I beat Weasley twice!"
Draco moaned.
"Blaise is the only one that would be excited about this, Harry. What happened to the quiet girl at the beginning of this year?"
"Shut up, Draco, and take the place of the castle! Harry, you be the bishop, and I'll be a knight!"
The game was difficult and intense. It was like wizard chess with the pieces destroying those that were taken. Blaise had to save her comrades several times from being taken. She looked around the current board and at the queen.
"I have to be taken."
"What are you talking about, Blaise?" yelled Draco, looking around a black pawn to see his firend atop the great granite horse.
"I have to be taken. I'm going to move forward and let the queen take me. When she does, Harry, you move forward and checkmate the king. Don't worry about me!"
The other two could only watch as their friend moved to the appropriate space and as the queen knocked her into the wall. It was with shaking legs that Harry moved forward and checkmated the king. Draco turned in Blaise's direction, but Harry grabbed his arm and pulled him in the other direction.
"Come on, Draco! I know I'll need your help! She'll be fine!"
With a concerned look at their fallen friend, the two ran into the next room and stopped dead at the wide rug at the entrance to the room..
"Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"Is this Professor Lupin's trap?"
"I guess so."
The room was enormous, with a high ceiling and marble floor tiles. The two began to step forward, but no sooner had Draco layed his foot down on one of the steps that it crumbled under his feet, falling into a dark abyss. The blonde let out a scream and stumbled back onto the rug.
"Alright, Draco. We're gonna run for the door. See? It's right there across from us."
Draco turned wide-eyed to Harry.
"You think I'm gonna run across that?! I nearly fell!"
Harry rolled his eyes.
"We'll just have to run really fast, now won't we? Just to be safe, however, let's put shield charms on ourselves. Lupin was bound to put up some curses, and we won't have time to stop and fight them."
Each cast their own "Declino!" shield spell, and they ran. Sure enough, hexes and curses of all kinds flew at them as they ran towards the door, the floor crumbling from beneath their feet. Harry fired an unlocking spell at the door as they approached and it flew open just in time for them to scramble through.
"That was insane! Are they trying to kill us?!" shrieked Draco in a much higher voice than was natural.
"Generally when you're guarding something, that's what you do to intruders, Draco. What the?!"
For as they stepped through the threshold of the door, flames burst up in front of both the room's doors.
"Great," mumbled Harry, as he and Draco stepped forward and saw the vials of potions and the note. "Uncle Sev just had to do something like this, now didn't he? Well, what does the note say?"
Draco read out:
Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay forever more,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those that stand on either end,
But if you would move onwards, neither is yor friend;
Third, you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf or giant hold death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.
"Logic, it has to be logic, doesn't it?" said Harry, but Draco was smiling in the way when he knew an answer to something in class.
"Lucky I'm so good at logic, and that Blaise isn't the one with you right now," he said and began going up and down the lines. After about ten minutes, he let out a very unMalfoyish whoop.
"Alright, I've got it! The rounded bottle down here on the right will set us back, and the smallest one will send you through to the next room!"
Harry eyed the bottles.
"Draco-"
"I know, Harry," sighed Draco, picking up the rounded bottle. "You have to go on ahead. Besides," he smiled, "You know more curses than even the seventh years. You're the right one to go."
Harry nodded and added, "Go and revive Blaise. Use the broomsticks from the key room to get through the trapdoor and past Fluffy, and remember to pick up my harp! Go find Snape and lead him down here. If Tom or someone's down here already, we don't want a Light supporter on our hands."
"Be careful, Harry." With that, Draco drank the bottle down and headed back to the collapsing floor room, casting a shield charm as he went. Harry picked up the tiny bottle.
"Well, let's get this over with," said Harry, and he drank down the little bottle in one gulp. Feeling as though ice water had just been injected into his veins, he quickly stepped through the flames to the next room.
As his eyes adjusted to the amount of light, a large chamber began to come into focus, and there at the end of the stretch were two figures dueling, curses flying every which way dangerously close to the Mirror of Erised, a loud din of chunks of wall and ceiling hitting the floor as spells collided into solid masses. Harry cautiously proceeded forward until he could see the two duelers, and he sweeled in fear.
"Tom!"
Sure enough, there was Tom, currently dueling the headmaster. Tom didn't even look around as the battle quickly forced Harry to the other side, standing with his back right next to the mirror. The headmaster spoke in a loud, dangerous voice filled with loathing.
"Tom, you never should have let Harry come to school if you wanted to keep your existence a secret!"
Tom growled and yelled back, firing a curse, "I would never have let him attend anywhere else, even if you are the headmaster, you manipulative old fool!" He looked ever so quickly at Harry.
"Harry, run now! I'll hold him off! Run, now!"
He never saw the green light or hear the headmaster say those awful words; all Harry saw was Tom's surprised face and his body falling to the floor, collapsing on the hard stone. Unfortunately, that was the last thing Harry saw. The Mirror of Erised, off balanced by the blasts of spells, finally tilted and came crashing down on the Dark Heir.
--------------------------------
Harry stood standing in darkness, looking around and shrugged his shoulders.
"I guess I'm dead. At least now I can see Tom."
Almost at once Harry heard a slight laugh.
"You won't see me on the other side, Harry."
Harry turned around, and there stood Tom, and Harry rushed forward and threw his arms around Tom, shaking his head and looking up into the flaming red eyes.
"But Tom! He hit you with the Killing Curse! I saw you fall!"
"Harry, I'm immortal," chuckled Tom, patting the eleven year old on the head much like an older brother, "Don't worry. My spirit was ripped from my body, but it still exists; you might well have died from our connection through the scar if I had truly died. I will come back, Harry, you know, and when that day comes, we will rule, Serpent Brothers locked forever in our dark world."
The world was becoming lighter around the two, however, and some force was pulling Harry back towards the real world. Harry just managed to get off a question.
"Why did you go after the stone, Tom?" Harry asked, and Tom replied, though it was hard to hear through the swirling whirlwind.
"For you, Harry. For you. I'll tell you one day. It's time for you to return to your friends. Remember, don't kill Dumbledore; play along with him until I come back. You can pull it off."
And the dream Tom disappeared, and Harry woke up.
-
"Harry! Harry, are you all right?"
"Of course he's not, Malfoy!"
"Shut up, Granger!"
"Amelia, he's up, he's up!"
"~You shake me one more time, psychotic girl, and I swear...~"
"Ouch! Amelia bit me!"
"You deserved it Blaise. Poor snake being shaken."
"Be quiet, Draco!"
Harry finally had enough.
"ALL OF YOU! BE QUIET!"
That shut them up.. for all of three seconds. Then Blaise jumped on him. Harry noticed she still had on her commando outfit, though fortunately someone had managed to clean the stuff off her face.
"Harry! We were so worried about you!" she squeeked, squeezing him hard, and Harry desperately tried to push her off.
"Ouchie, ouchie, ouchies!" yelled Harry, and Hermione pulled Blaise off while Draco shook his head.
"Blaise," Draco began, "Here's a question for you: If a huge mirror fell on top of you, shattered on you, and cut you up, would you appreciate someone jumping on you?"
While Blaise thought about it, Harry said, "What? What happened?"
"Well, we had just gotten through the trapdoor when we found Professor Snape coming towards us. We didn't even have to tell him. He just took Blaise's broomstick and went down the trapdoor. Next thing we knew, he was hovering you on a stretcher towards the Hospital Wing. You were pretty cut up; apparently that mirror fell right on top of you. And Dumbledore was levitating... he was levitating Tom's body after Snape."
Harry sat up quickly, never minding the fact he accidentally tore some wounds back open along his back and was beginning to bleed.
"Where is Tom's body?"
"Harry," began Hermione in a voice clearly meant to change the course off the conversation, but he let out a very real growl and asked again. She pointed at a bed with curtains drawn around it, nervously looking around for a sign of the matron. Harry got out of bed shakily and crossed the distance deftly, a little trail of blood following him, and pulled back the curtains.
"Oh, Tom..." There lay Tom, his red eyes shut, and black hair still slightly curling at the ends. He looked simply as though in sleep. Harry felt moisture on his face and realized that for the first time in many years, he was crying, and he couldn't stand the weakness of it.
"Draco, give me my wand."
"Harry, he's gone, you can't do-"
"My wand, please, Draco!"
Draco handed Harry his wand. The wand which was the brother of the yew wand lying on the bedside. Harry pocketed Tom's wand and pointed his own wand at Tom's serene body, whispering silently through the tears, "Crystallinus Converto." A huge shimmering glow descended on the bed where Tom Riddle's body slept in death....
And now where Tom's full-grown body had lain was now a small crystal figure of Tom, seemingly in an everlasting sleep. Harry pocketed it and put a non-shattering charm on it and Tom's wand, crawling back into bed.
"I'm going to kill Dumbledore for this, even if I have to wait for years," Harry said quite plainly, eyes dancing with lightning as he looked out at nothing. Draco put his hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Before you kill him, you might want to know what he's planning to do with you so you can slow out his death a bit more."
"What's he doing? Surely nothing worse than killing Tom?"
"It seems your mother has a sister, and you'll be going to live with her and her family this summer. You know what's worse? They're a bunch of magic-hating Muggles! I eavesdropped on Snape when he was talking to McGonagall about them. They hate anything unusual in any way, shape, or form. Snape said they nearly beat him out of their house after he told them about your arrival this summer. Bad luck."
Harry banged his bandaged his against the wall and one could see a patch of new red appearing in the white. Hermione scoffed while Blaise went to go get Madam Pomfrey to fix up the self-destructive Harry.
"Really, what's so bad about Muggles?" asked Hermione. Harry just groaned.
"Hermione! No magic! I can't get away with magic! I didn't grow up in a Muggle fashion! I need to figure out a way! Books! I need books! To the library!"
And before anyone could stop him, Harry jumped out of the bed and ran out of the Hospital Wing,
just as Madam Pomfrey walked in to check on him, and she went chasing out the door after her patient. Several loud noises and bangs were heard from the hallway, and a minute later Madam Pomfrey came in levitating an unconscious Harry. One could make out a very suspicious lump on his head, as though he were hit with something to knock him out, but no one dared bring it up to the tiny nurse. Snape came in a moment later, and from the smirk on his face, he had to have seen all the action.
"Why was Harry running out of the Hospital Wing?" he asked Draco, turning to the blonde boy as Madam Pomfrey finally fixed up all the reopened wounds, grumbling about Harry and "diversionary tactics."
"He was attempting to make it to the library to look up ways of using magic at his residence this summer. You didn't have any luck trying to keep Harry for the summer, either?"
Snape shook his head.
"Dumbledore won't let him stay with anyone but the Dursley's. Some sort of ancient protective magic. Apparently, he thinks all the Deatheaters are going to kill off Harry to have one of them become the next Dark Lord. It's completely ridiculous."
"Aren't you dropping him off at the house?" smirked Draco, knowing full well the reaction he would get from the teacher.
"Oh, yes," sneered Severus, "and won't that be pleasant. We've already contacted them, and they weren't at all happy with the situation to put it lightly. 'Oh yes, we're just going to let you harbor the next Dark Lord while all his followers are supposedly going to come after him to knock him off! Not bloody likely! Perfectly respectable people don't watch over freaks like you!' Imbecilic neckless Muggle. Harry's not going to have a fun summer."
--------------------------------
Declino- avoid, deflect
A/N: Don't worry about Tom *sniff sniff*. He'll be fine. Dark Harry at the Dursley's for the summer? Oh no! And what about the Deatheaters? Are they going to attempt to kill off Harry? Stupid old Dumbledore! I never liked the guy much.... And don't worry; we'll find out about the stone because Harry's going to have a ... pleasant... conversation with Dumbledore.
Review responses:
Nicoletta- I know! It's so hard to balance reading and writing. That's why it's taking me so long to
finish Anne Rice's vampire chronicles!
Mark Evans- Don't worry; I won't leave this story at first year.
hermionegreen- Hehehe. I wonder why you wanted Hermione to go, hermionegreen. Well, now you
know the encounter. So sad.
asdfds-are you silverknight, too? Do you have multiple pesonalities? We have those, too, and
luckily we haven't been stuck down for a shrink visit yet! Though, is it bad that my present
for Christmas from Shorty is a free session with her psychiatrist father? All my friends
thought was very funny, but we're starting to worry they might be serious. Anyway, hehe,
we're glad you enjoyed the update. We understand why you're slowly backing away.
Aravis Traitre- I like twists in fanfictions. I like your riddle!
ER- Hehehe. The commando just came as I typed; I wsn't even aware of it until I went back and
read it. It was the pumpkin pie's fault!
linky2- glad you likey
Fiery Phoenix- Another commando lover! I'm seriously going to have to draw a picture of them in
those outfits. Glad you like my story so much!
Falafal- I think everyone enjoyed the commando outfits! I'm so appreciative of you response on
Harry's gifts to Remus and Sirius! Thank you!
Shorty- Ah, my short Ravenclaw friend, how are you this fine afternoon? Does it strike you that
here in Las Vegas we think forty degrees is freezing when we could be living somewhere
where it actually snows and gets below zero? Then again, we put up with humid, 121
degree summer days, so I guess it trades off. Thanks for your quotes; yeah, my parents'
accident was pretty bad, but caring for them over the summer wasn't THAT bad, I guess.
Hehe, yes you do see the "psychotic Harry smile" quite often, now don't you? Ah well,
you know the risks of sitting next to little, eccentric me. :)
Stupid Gryffindor- You can have Sirius for now, but don't forget to return him in good condition for
third year. Yes, folks, we are going to see Remus and Sirius third year! Hehehe
You idiot. You know I'm more eccentric in the morning, and the art teacher just
had to ask what sold in pairs always. With that illegal baby adoption market
on the news, I had to say twins. Yes, I'm a bad person. You seemed to think
it was pretty damn hilarious, however. You're now Stupider Gryffindor!
*cackles maniacally*
(November 29, 2003)