In Every Darkness
Chapter Sixty Nine: Unity
20.10.1996
Harry swirled in midair as Hermione hailed him from the ground. She'd come to watch Unity's first practice, and had arrived a few moments after Malfoy had tried to curse Harry.
He turned his Firebolt into a downward plunge, levelling off to land beside her. "Yeah?" he asked.
"Shouldn't you do something about Malfoy?" She asked. "We can't just leave him lying there all night."
Harry turned to look at Malfoy's prone form, lying on the ground some ten metres away. He wasn't sure what had happened. One second, a beam of white light was heading straight at him, the next second it had changed into a millions of tiny strands.
Somehow, he didn't know exactly how, he'd moved some of those threads around, and when the beam had struck him, it had rebounded. "No," Harry replied decisively.
"He could die," Hermione pointed out.
"Then it's his own fault for using the curse on someone else. The Slytherin team went running back to the school, I'm sure someone'll turn up soon. I don't know what the spell was, and I don't know what happened," Harry said coolly.
"Oh fine," Hermione sighed. "I just wouldn't want him to die – you'd get blamed for it. They might expel you, or imprison you … Though that wouldn't be as bad as it used to be, since there are no Dementors anymore."
"Don't worry about it – there's nothing we can do that isn't already being done. Look, someone's coming now," he pointed up the grass. "I think it's Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey," he added, kicking off again to go back to hunting for the snitch, which he'd let out five minutes ago when they first arrived.
Somewhere behind him he could faintly hear Hermione sigh, but he was more interested in the Snitch than anything else at present – he didn't want to lose it.
"Mr. Potter! Can you come down here?" Dumbledore called up at him.
Harry sighed and dived downwards again, at the same time seeing a glint of gold to his left. "Just a second!" he yelled back, swerving after the tiny golden ball.
In seconds, he'd caught it, and was heading straight for the group around Malfoy. "Sorry sir, I didn't want to lose the Snitch in the dark," he said to Dumbledore.
"Quite alright," Dumbledore assured him, smiling slightly. "I wouldn't want to lose such an important and expensive ball. Do you know what happened to Malfoy?"
"No, Sir," Harry replied.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
"Yes, Sir," Harry replied.
There was silence for a moment. "Malfoy was leaving the pitch with his team. He was annoyed because you'd given me permission to use the pitch – he'd thought that he'd be able to over rule us with a signed note from his head of house. Just as he was walking past me, he yelled something. I don't know what it was, but it was a curse so some description."
"It was a pain curse, Sir," Hermione put in, and Madam Pomfrey's eyebrow's snapped together angrily.
"Suddenly the beam from the spell seemed to become lots of little beams, and, I don't know how, but I managed to change some of them around. I don't know what it did to the spell, but it did make it rebound on Malfoy," Harry finished his explanation.
"Well, Mr. Malfoy will lose his Prefect badge for this," Dumbledore rumbled angrily. "Using a pain curse on another student – another Prefect, no less – is not allowed. Poppy, can you heal him?"
"Yes, Albus. It will take time though."
Dumbledore nodded. "Do so. Alert me when he awakens and is well enough for being told off."
Poppy nodded and conjured a stretcher and levitated Malfoy onto before heading in the direction of the school, muttering angrily under her breath.
"Harry, I'm afraid I have no idea what you have done, but I think I know one who does," Dumbledore continued, looking at Harry. "And I think that you might know what you did, even if you don't know how."
"It's the beginnings of my Modifier talent," Harry replied, knowing this instinctively. "I have to talk to Tatsu, soon. He's coming up tomorrow though, so I'll wait until then. Right now, I have a Quidditch practice to attend to, if that's alright Professor?"
"Yes, yes of course. Could you ask Tatsu to come and see me when you two are finished? There is something that I wish to discuss with him … and something that I wish to speak with you about also," Dumbledore said.
"Yes, of course," Harry nodded, mounting his broom and kicking off again.
"I'm going back inside!" Hermione yelled at him, "it's cold out here!" the team waved in a cheerful, but distracted, farewell, already concentrating on their practice.
Not wanting to let the snitch loose again this close to sunset, Harry threw himself into a set of moves. Loop the loops, barrel rolls, dropping into swift dives, then pulling out of them, moments before he crashed.
Darkness fell, but Harry and his team battled on, practicing as best they could in the fading light. "Everyone land!" Harry called suddenly. It was fully dark now, and he'd ordered the Bludgers away about an hour ago when the light had started to dim. Now practice was impossible.
The team sank to the grounds, looking very weary. "Well, that went on for longer than I thought it would," Lily remarked.
"I am vorn out," Gabrielle panted, not looking quite so veela-perfect any more, but still remarkably beautiful.
"I'm not going to promise that I won't do that again," Harry said, grinning widely, "but I will promise that I won't do that often. But it's the first training session of the season, and I thought we may as well keep going for a while longer than normal."
"I should hope we don't do that often," Ginny muttered under her breath, but Harry caught it. He didn't say anything though.
"Clean up and let's get back up to the castle, it's nearly dinner time," he said, stepping quickly behind a screen to change into his clothes before heading up to the Castle to use the Prefect Bathroom – it was more comfortable …
And more comfortable still knowing that when he woke up, Malfoy would not have the pleasure of using it. It was a nice thought, that one.
Dinner came and went, and Harry and his friends returned to the Room of Requirement, in a desperate attempt to stay on top of the workload.
Harry was looking forward to the next day – a) he wanted to find out what Dumbledore wanted to him about and b) he was looking forward to seeing Tatsu.
Now that his ability to 'modify' spells seemed to have come into being, he figured that his guardian would teach him.
"Hello Harry, it's been awhile," Sirius greeted Harry, his voice low as he pretended to be a ghost or such like.
"It's not Halloween yet, Sirius," Harry told his godfather with a smile.
"No harm in practicing," Sirius replied with a shrug. "But I'm right – it has been awhile."
"Yeah, you are. That might be because I was unconscious for two weeks and two days," Harry said, shrugging his shoulders dismissively.
"Oh that expl – what?!"
"I was unconscious for two weeks," Harry repeated calmly.
"Explain yourself!" Sirius demanded.
Harry laughed and sat down to tell
Sirius all about what had happened since the last time they'd spoken.
"And," he said, "I've now completely caught up in Ancient Runes – I got 90% in the last test I took."
Sirius smiled proudly at his godson. "Well done," he said with an encouraging smile. Harry shrugged his shoulders modestly.
"What did you get in that assignment on Tatsu for Tonks?" Sirius inquired.
"110%. Hermione only got 105," Harry replied with a proud smile.
Sirius grinned. "Well done!" he said approvingly. "And you won the court case against that Marge woman … tell me, have you gotten what it was that she tried to get off you?"
"No," Harry said shaking his head.
Sirius looked at him oddly. "You should ask Dumbledore about it. It's probably important," he said finally, then seemed to forget the subject completely.
"You've got your own Quidditch team? Tell me about it," he ordered, smiling.
Harry did so. As an afterthought, he also told his godfather about Lily Adams being a Wild Child.
"I've heard of those. They made a really bad name for themselves back in the last war against Voldemort. But this Lily sounds nice, from what you've said of her. She also warned you about falling for her … I think you can trust her," he said finally.
Harry nodded, smiling. "But … I don't see how I can stop myself feeling for her," he confessed. "She's perfect, in human form, just like she said. Even though my mind knows that falling for her would be fatal, my heart isn't just going to accept that … is it?"
"No," Sirius agreed. "You'll have to use a love-me-not potion," he said decisively after a few moments thought. "It'd be hard to find it in the Hogwarts library, I'm not sure what book it is in, but I'll show you how to make it, if you like, and then you can make it in secret with Lily when you wake up."
"Thanks Sirius," Harry said in relief.
They spent the rest of that night making the potion, Harry trying to fix everything in his mind so that he'd remember it when he woke up.
"Don't worry – whatever you forget, I'll remember for you," Grypis assured him.
Harry started slightly – he'd forgotten that Grypis could enter the Realm of Dreams with him when he went to see Sirius. Most of the time, Grypis hid himself, not speaking but always there. He knew that Harry wanted to spend time with his godfather, and respected that.
"Thanks," Harry sent back along their link.
In the early hours of the morning Harry stirred from his dream, opening sleepy eyes to face the new day.
Lying on his back on his bed with the warm, comfortable and rather large form of Grypis beside him, Harry smiled.
Today he would ask Dumbledore what it was that Marge had tried to take from him.
***
Ok, a little short, but I decided this was the best place to end it. Review please!
Thanks:
HermioneGreen, PhoenixPadfoot89, Dumbledave, Hpfunkypunk, flame of shadow, Mr. Happy Java Man, a person, FlyingGoat, LonelySpirit, LilyPotterFan, Penny, DaBear, Nicoletta, ER, Stix-the-Rebel, Songbreeze Swifteye, AthenaKitty, Wynjara, Maxx77, Andromeda's Kitty, limar, Nasser Himura, Butler, Kurbani, Jaded Angel, Vicious Pixie, MikiBaby, Ping*Pong5, Kaye, AltonShadeFoot, Lone Statistic, TuxedoMac, Jbfritz, Evil Anti-Patriotic Elf Named Cin, Tamsy, SpacyRicochet, dnd4ever, Rhinemjr.
To Mr. Happy Java Man, High Lord of Coffeenia,
We wish to remind Our Royal Cousin that We update one story every day, and that updating sooner would be difficult, if We wished to keep up with Ourselves and keep the chapters long. We are glad that you liked Lily's secret. We give Our blessing to Our good friend and long time ally, We are sure that you will be able to win your Mochania. We will think of what else We may do to give Our friend aid. We thought of the Happy Hugging Hamsters, who are armed with the Lick of Destruction and the Hug of Death … But We are as yet undecided.
Sincerely,
WolfMoon,
Lady Death,
Queen of Tenebralia,
Goddess of Darkness and Evilness.
To the Vicious Pixie,
We reply like this to anyone who writes a letter review. Our Royal Cousin, Mr. Happy Java Man, began the tradition, and We have decided that We would keep answering reviews like this as they are Funny. We are not sure is Harry is destined to become a Wild Child as yet, but will consider the matter. A Wild Child may change his or her appearance, though it is often difficult.
Sincerely,
WolfMoon,
Lady Death,
Queen of Tenebralia,
Goddess of Darkness and Evilness.
To Evil Anti-Patriotic Elf Named Cin, and All Titles which do apply,
We wish to, yet again, point out that thy title be in bold. We are please that thou continues to enjoy Our story, and shall do Our best to make sure that thy art never without.
We would be happy to join thee for thy sixteenth birthday celebration, but thee must forgivith Us if We are a little preoccupied or tired, as this date falls within Our first week back at the monstrosity named School.
Sincerely,
WolfMoon,
Lady Death,
Queen of Tenebralia,
Goddess of Darkness and Evilness.