A/N Here it is, the second part in the "Dark" trilogy, if you haven't read
"A Candle in the Dark" then I seriously suggest you do before you read
this. I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot.
The Second Darkness.
Chapter 1: The Recovery of Hogwarts.
A week had passed since the Battle for Hogwarts, the dying had died, the wounded were healed, Hogwarts was slowly recovering,
And Harry was a hero.
Even before the Battle, Harry had been a hero, but now he was revered beyond heroism, he was closer to being revered as a god. As he walked down the halls of Hogwarts, people stopped and stared at him, and when there was no-one else around a few even fell to one knee as a sign of respect, a sign of respect usually reserved for a king.
Only a few noticed the most unobvious change in him, the way he walked, they way he held himself. He had the walk of a warrior, he moved silently, with a posture that showed he had confidence in himself and in his abilities.
He had tried several times to explain that it was not only him that had fought in that battle, that the rest of the of the DA had fought but it changed nothing. The fact that he had led the DA was enough to distinguish him.
But not everyone held him in the greatest of awe.
The Slytherins hated him more then ever, the enmity rose so much between the Slytherins and the Gryffindors that they could no longer been in the same class together.
But still the fact remained; Harry Potter was the hero of the wizarding world.
******
Harry was late for breakfast, he sprinted down the marble staircase and towards the Great Hall, he slowed to a walk just as he got the double doors. He opened one and stepped through,
And the fighting instincts he had acquired in the battle tingled and as result he threw himself to the right, drawing his wand as he did so, he had learnt to trust his instincts, sometimes they were the only thing between you and death.
He heard the sound of spells thumping into wood. He stood up quickly.
Breakfast was the perfect time for an ambush as there were rarely any teachers present, Harry registered sub-consciously.
Draco Malfoy stood in front of him, about ten feet away, his pale face even paler and his eyes wild, bordering insanity, with sheer fury.
"My father is dead because of you." He hissed.
"Good, the bastard deserved to die." Harry replied calmly. The Slytherins hissed angrily. Harry pocketed his wand and turned away. Once again his fighting instincts took over and Harry ducked, a spell shot over his head. Harry spun round drawing his wand as he did so.
"My father deserved to live." Malfoy screamed.
"Your father murdered hundreds of innocent people on the orders of Voldemort, and you say he deserved to live?"
"My father deserved to live." Malfoy repeated.
"You're mad." Once again Harry turned round, almost at once he was hit by a spell that caused him to skid across the floor. Harry leapt to his feet. Malfoy was standing there, looking triumphant. To the surprise of everyone in the Great Hall Harry was still smiling.
"Voldemort threw his entire army against the DA and I and I came close to death a number of times yet I survived, in fact I've faced and cheated death more times then anyone else in this Hall, and you expect me to be scared of you?"
"I'll kill you, you killed my father so I'll kill you and I'll kill that old fool Dumbledore!" Harry's temper flared.
"I'd like to see you try." He sneered. Malfoy opened his mouth but Harry was quicker, he hit Malfoy in the gut with a slashing curse and then performed a banishing spell on him that flung him across the room. The Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs that weren't at the battle looked at Harry in awe, they saw not the kind, usually quiet boy, but the Boy-Who- Lived, standing tall, his face expressionless, yet grim determination and defiance in his eyes. They saw the boy who had faced and cheated death. They saw the Harry Potter who had led the DA to victory in battle.
Without a word Harry turned and strode out of the Great Hall. Four figures ran to catch up with him. They caught up with out in the grounds and Ron stepped in front of Harry and placed his hands on Harry's shoulders to stop him from walking away.
"Lucius Malfoy dead? Jesus, Harry, you're really gonna have to watch your back now!" Ron exclaimed.
"What's new?" growled Harry.
"No Harry, He's right. You're really gonna have to watch your back. Every opportunity he gets Malfoy will try to hurt you." Agreed Ginny. Harry turned away.
"Harry, please, Malfoy's insane," everyone turned to look at Hermione, her eyes were fearful and there were tears forming there.
"Don't be stupid." Said Ron, but he didn't sound convinced.
"Didn't you see the look in Malfoy's eyes?" snapped Hermione, she turned to Harry. "Look at it this way, Harry. Malfoy respected his father because he was a Death Eater. And you killed him. You, his worst enemy, killed him. He isn't angry because he loved his father, he's angry because it was you that killed him and Malfoy just sees that as another victory to you, a victory that he can't beat easily. The only way he feels he can beat it is if he kills you."
"How do you know that?" demanded Ron.
"It's obvious, Malfoy desires power above all else, and power is easiest to obtain through conquest, through victory. Thus, Malfoy sees everything as victory or defeat, every time he sees Harry gain another 'victory' over him, he feels he has less and less power which makes him angrier and angrier. Power drives men insane, look at Quirrel for example, eventually it drives them totally insane, and thus they will kill to achieve it. And, if you ask me, I don't think Malfoy has ever been properly sane." Everyone looked stunned at these two speeches.
"Are you saying, that Malfoy will try to kill Harry?" questioned Cho eventually.
"I'm saying it's possible but," Hermione gave a weak smile, "I don't think he will try to kill him under Dumbledore's nose."
"Sweet Jesus." Breathed Ron. They all shot sidelong glances at Harry. He looked thoughtful but not scared.
"Does anything scare you?" exclaimed Ron.
"A lot." Harry said shortly.
"You weren't scared in the Battle." Said Ginny, an unusual admiring tone to her voice.
"I was. I just didn't show it." With that he turned and walked off.
"He has changed a lot." Ron said forcefully.
"Of course he has, I mean look what he's been through." said Hermione. They continued to watch Harry until he disappeared into the Entrance Hall.
******
Harry fought back the tears right until he got to the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy. Then he couldn't hold them back any longer. He slumped against the wall and let the tears fall silently. Hogwarts was slowly recovering, life for everyone else was slowly returning to normal.
But not for him.
It seemed that every corner he turned Death was staring at him. He fought hard to stay calm, to keep his face expressionless, to be strong.
It was becoming harder and harder to do so.
Just one more corner, he vowed to himself in his last moments of consciousness, just one more look at Death, and I give up. I can't fight this anymore. As he slowly blacked out a small voice reminded him,
There will be one more corner; it's in the prophecy.
******
The world swam back into view, for a moment everything was all right, then he remembered. The scythe was falling, time was running out.
He sat bolt upright. His vision still blurry.
"The scythe is falling, the hourglass is draining. The corner approaches and Death waits on the other side." He exclaimed loudly in a panicky voice.
He fell back onto the.bed, then he realised, he was in the hospital wing.
"Mr Weasley go get the Headmaster." He heard someone snap. Harry struggled to focus, Professor McGonagall, Ginny, Cho and Hermione eventually swam into view.
"Hold on, Mr Potter." Said Professor McGonagall.
"Can't," mumbled Harry, "Death.Death's scythe.the scythe.it's falling.the scythe is bloody.I see.faces.familiar faces."
"You're delirious, Mr Potter." He heard hurried footsteps and then Ron and the Headmaster appeared. At that point Madam Pomfrey appeared and she poured a potion into his mouth. A few minutes later Harry felt stronger.
"Could you leave us." Said Dumbledore. It wasn't a request, it was an order. When the room was empty Dumbledore sat down on the chair next to Harry's bed.
"What's wrong with me? Am I going insane?" asked Harry as soon as the Headmaster had \sat down.
"Not quite, I believe you are suffering from posttraumatic stress, more commonly known in the muggle world as 'shell-shock.' The responsibility upon your shoulders and your exhaustion is causing you stress." Harry thought about this.
"There's no way out is there?" Dumbledore looked sad.
"I fear not, usually a long vacation is recommended, but due to the current circumstances there is no time for vacation." Desperate to steer the conversation away from it's current depressing topic Harry searched around for a lighter topic.
"Professor, some people, they.kneel to me. Why?" The Headmaster chuckled.
"It seems silly doesn't it? They do it as a sign of respect, to them you are the hero that saved their lives. It is a sign of gratitude."
"You fought in that battle aswell, so did Ron, Hermione and Cho and a lot of other people so why do they just kneel to me?"
"Because you led the DA, I am famous for being the only person Voldemort was ever scared of. They kneel to you because you matched my ability at a much younger age, which raises you above me. It's hard to understand why people kneel to you when they do, but they do it for a reason." There was silence for a few minutes,
"What did you see?" asked Dumbledore, the question caught Harry off guard.
"When I was delirious?"
"Yes, you see, when you are delirious it can often be a form of divination. Sometimes you are foreseeing the future, but it is often seen in the form of a riddle." Harry thought back, it is hard to remember things when you are delirious.
"I saw.Death, and he had a scythe.the scythe was bloody and.I saw faces, familiar faces." For a moment Harry could have sworn he saw a spasm of fear cross the old mans face, but when he next spoke it was in his usual calm voice.
"The scythe was bloody? And you saw familiar faces?" Harry nodded. Dumbledore sighed.
"I will do something I would usually not do. I will tell you the meaning of your vision. First you saw Death, if you saw only Death without his scythe it means that someone could die, if you see Death with his scythe, it means that someone will die. If the scythe is clean it means that someone will die at any point, they could die in seventy years time, they could die in seven minutes time, if the scythe is bloody then at most they have a year to live. The faces are those who will die. The faces you saw are the people who have at most a year to live." Harry's eyes widened in shock and he leapt out of bed,
"You're lying, this can't be happening, YOU'RE LYING!"
"Harry," Dumbledore said urgently, you mustn't tell anyone who you saw and you mustn't try and change it, they are destined to die and there is nothing you can do."
"You're lying." Harry repeated once more before falling to the floor in a dead faint.
He woke to see Ron, Hermione and Cho standing by his bed looking at him anxiously.
"You have got to stop doing this to us." Demanded Ron before throwing his arms around Harry in a brotherly hug. Harry grinned at him.
"Sorry, mate." Harry was determined to stay cheerful, as he didn't want any awkward questions asked.
"What's wrong with you anyway? How come you keep fainting all the time?" Asked Ron.
"Dumbledore reckons I'm suffering from posttraumatic stress." Hermione nodded,
"That would make sense." Cho caught Hermione's eye. Hermione nodded.
"Ron let's go." Ordered Hermione. Ron looked up from where he was handing Harry a chocolate frog.
"Why?" he asked confused. Hermione sighed. She looked pointedly from Cho to Harry and back again. Ron looked at her blankly. Hermione did it again. Same result. Eventually Hermione had to repeat the movement another three times before Ron got it.
"Ahh." He said on a voice of dawning comprehension, he gave Harry an enormous wink before following Hermione out.
"Subtlety really isn't Ron's strongpoint." Said Harry. Cho laughed softly. Harry sat up and Cho sat next to him. Harry put his arm round her and pulled her closer to him. They talked softly for an hour before Cho had to go.
"Get better soon, Harry. I hate it when you're ill." Harry smiled at her.
"Don't worry, I will."
The next day Harry was allowed to leave the Hospital Wing. It turned out that Hermione had been right. Malfoy didn't seem sane. He would stare at Harry with the deepest loathing in his eyes for minutes on end while they were waiting for class. Harry tried hard not to let it affect him but he couldn't help being slightly unnerved by the cold, grey eyes that followed his every move.
Harry was waiting for Defence Against the Dark Arts to begin and, as usual, Malfoy was watching him. Hermione and Ron proved their friendship for Harry once again by positioning themselves between Malfoy and Harry. Ron had his wand out and was casually twirling it around his fingers, carefully watching Malfoy out of the corner of his eye.
As he entered the classroom, glad to be away from Malfoy's staring, it struck Harry once again that the Weasley's were putting themselves in an incredible amount of danger because of him. The thought saddened him as, once again he realised that he should not allow them to remain close to him.
He took his usual seat next to Ron.
"Your family shouldn't be my friend." Ron looked highly disconcerted,
"What?"
"Your family shouldn't be my friend." Harry repeated slightly angry.
"Why not?"
"Because you're putting yourselves in too much danger." Ron looked at him.
"Don't be thick, Weasley's never abandon family, whether or not it would put them out of danger by doing so." Harry was touched. He felt a rush of gratitude towards Ron.
"Thanks." Ron grinned at him. They turned their attention to Moody who was explaining the concept of the advanced banishing charm, one that could be used in battle. Harry was tempted to start daydreaming, he knew all this already. He resisted the temptation as Moody could be incredibly unpredictable and you never knew what he would do next.
Moody instructed them to practise on a few life-size dummies. Almost lazily Harry expertly banished one of the dummies across the room. He then lay back on his seat and closed his eyes.
"Bored?" Moody growled a few minutes later.
"Very." Replied Harry without opening his eyes. He then opened his eyes and grinned up at Moody's scarred face. "How you doing, Moody?"
"The word, Potter, is sir." Moody growled good-naturedly, "You're like Sirius, you never did have much respect for your superiors." Harry grinned again.
"Sorry, sir." Moody laughed softly.
"Here's a tricky little spell I thought I'd give you to practise, it can be very useful, but it is very difficult, not many wizards use it as it is so difficult and that would give you an advantage in battle. It's called the blinding hex and it will temporarily blind an opponent for about ten seconds." Moody showed Harry how to perform the blinding spell. A jet of white light shot out of the end of Moody's wand and hit the opposite wall. Harry then p tried it.
"Noculus" Nothing happened, Moody smirked at him and walked off. Harry was determined to be able to do the spell and after half an hours hard work he could sometimes achieve a very faint white jet of light.
"Homework tonight, write a foot long essay on the theory of the banishing spell, Potter your homework is a foot long essay on the advantages and disadvantages of the blinding curse.
"You didn't do the banishment spell?" said Ron.
"I can do it already, Moody gave me the blinding hex, it's seriously difficult though."
"Cool," said Ron, "Are you going to teach it to the DA?"
"Probably, but first I've got to get the hang of it."
Neither Harry, Ron nor Hermione noticed Malfoy watching them.
'He's taken everything I ever wanted' Malfoy thought to himself, 'and now he's suffering from stress, I could use that to my advantage. Potter is going to regret killing my father.'
A/N Ok, that really was not too great a chapter. The first few chapters, especially this one, are introductory, this chapter is an introduction to some other things, alongside the main plot, that are going to be going on in this fic, Harry's stress, his vision etc etc, that's why it is so jumbled. You will find out who Harry saw in his vision at the end on the trilogy.
LogicalRaven - Keep the reviews coming, pal, your support really helps!
Sarah - Sorry about not e-mailing you but my e-mail is currently not working.
I hope you enjoy The Second Darkness.
Looking forward to getting peoples reviews.
Keep reading and reviewing 'cos I'll keep writing!
Fireboy
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot.
The Second Darkness.
Chapter 1: The Recovery of Hogwarts.
A week had passed since the Battle for Hogwarts, the dying had died, the wounded were healed, Hogwarts was slowly recovering,
And Harry was a hero.
Even before the Battle, Harry had been a hero, but now he was revered beyond heroism, he was closer to being revered as a god. As he walked down the halls of Hogwarts, people stopped and stared at him, and when there was no-one else around a few even fell to one knee as a sign of respect, a sign of respect usually reserved for a king.
Only a few noticed the most unobvious change in him, the way he walked, they way he held himself. He had the walk of a warrior, he moved silently, with a posture that showed he had confidence in himself and in his abilities.
He had tried several times to explain that it was not only him that had fought in that battle, that the rest of the of the DA had fought but it changed nothing. The fact that he had led the DA was enough to distinguish him.
But not everyone held him in the greatest of awe.
The Slytherins hated him more then ever, the enmity rose so much between the Slytherins and the Gryffindors that they could no longer been in the same class together.
But still the fact remained; Harry Potter was the hero of the wizarding world.
******
Harry was late for breakfast, he sprinted down the marble staircase and towards the Great Hall, he slowed to a walk just as he got the double doors. He opened one and stepped through,
And the fighting instincts he had acquired in the battle tingled and as result he threw himself to the right, drawing his wand as he did so, he had learnt to trust his instincts, sometimes they were the only thing between you and death.
He heard the sound of spells thumping into wood. He stood up quickly.
Breakfast was the perfect time for an ambush as there were rarely any teachers present, Harry registered sub-consciously.
Draco Malfoy stood in front of him, about ten feet away, his pale face even paler and his eyes wild, bordering insanity, with sheer fury.
"My father is dead because of you." He hissed.
"Good, the bastard deserved to die." Harry replied calmly. The Slytherins hissed angrily. Harry pocketed his wand and turned away. Once again his fighting instincts took over and Harry ducked, a spell shot over his head. Harry spun round drawing his wand as he did so.
"My father deserved to live." Malfoy screamed.
"Your father murdered hundreds of innocent people on the orders of Voldemort, and you say he deserved to live?"
"My father deserved to live." Malfoy repeated.
"You're mad." Once again Harry turned round, almost at once he was hit by a spell that caused him to skid across the floor. Harry leapt to his feet. Malfoy was standing there, looking triumphant. To the surprise of everyone in the Great Hall Harry was still smiling.
"Voldemort threw his entire army against the DA and I and I came close to death a number of times yet I survived, in fact I've faced and cheated death more times then anyone else in this Hall, and you expect me to be scared of you?"
"I'll kill you, you killed my father so I'll kill you and I'll kill that old fool Dumbledore!" Harry's temper flared.
"I'd like to see you try." He sneered. Malfoy opened his mouth but Harry was quicker, he hit Malfoy in the gut with a slashing curse and then performed a banishing spell on him that flung him across the room. The Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs that weren't at the battle looked at Harry in awe, they saw not the kind, usually quiet boy, but the Boy-Who- Lived, standing tall, his face expressionless, yet grim determination and defiance in his eyes. They saw the boy who had faced and cheated death. They saw the Harry Potter who had led the DA to victory in battle.
Without a word Harry turned and strode out of the Great Hall. Four figures ran to catch up with him. They caught up with out in the grounds and Ron stepped in front of Harry and placed his hands on Harry's shoulders to stop him from walking away.
"Lucius Malfoy dead? Jesus, Harry, you're really gonna have to watch your back now!" Ron exclaimed.
"What's new?" growled Harry.
"No Harry, He's right. You're really gonna have to watch your back. Every opportunity he gets Malfoy will try to hurt you." Agreed Ginny. Harry turned away.
"Harry, please, Malfoy's insane," everyone turned to look at Hermione, her eyes were fearful and there were tears forming there.
"Don't be stupid." Said Ron, but he didn't sound convinced.
"Didn't you see the look in Malfoy's eyes?" snapped Hermione, she turned to Harry. "Look at it this way, Harry. Malfoy respected his father because he was a Death Eater. And you killed him. You, his worst enemy, killed him. He isn't angry because he loved his father, he's angry because it was you that killed him and Malfoy just sees that as another victory to you, a victory that he can't beat easily. The only way he feels he can beat it is if he kills you."
"How do you know that?" demanded Ron.
"It's obvious, Malfoy desires power above all else, and power is easiest to obtain through conquest, through victory. Thus, Malfoy sees everything as victory or defeat, every time he sees Harry gain another 'victory' over him, he feels he has less and less power which makes him angrier and angrier. Power drives men insane, look at Quirrel for example, eventually it drives them totally insane, and thus they will kill to achieve it. And, if you ask me, I don't think Malfoy has ever been properly sane." Everyone looked stunned at these two speeches.
"Are you saying, that Malfoy will try to kill Harry?" questioned Cho eventually.
"I'm saying it's possible but," Hermione gave a weak smile, "I don't think he will try to kill him under Dumbledore's nose."
"Sweet Jesus." Breathed Ron. They all shot sidelong glances at Harry. He looked thoughtful but not scared.
"Does anything scare you?" exclaimed Ron.
"A lot." Harry said shortly.
"You weren't scared in the Battle." Said Ginny, an unusual admiring tone to her voice.
"I was. I just didn't show it." With that he turned and walked off.
"He has changed a lot." Ron said forcefully.
"Of course he has, I mean look what he's been through." said Hermione. They continued to watch Harry until he disappeared into the Entrance Hall.
******
Harry fought back the tears right until he got to the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy. Then he couldn't hold them back any longer. He slumped against the wall and let the tears fall silently. Hogwarts was slowly recovering, life for everyone else was slowly returning to normal.
But not for him.
It seemed that every corner he turned Death was staring at him. He fought hard to stay calm, to keep his face expressionless, to be strong.
It was becoming harder and harder to do so.
Just one more corner, he vowed to himself in his last moments of consciousness, just one more look at Death, and I give up. I can't fight this anymore. As he slowly blacked out a small voice reminded him,
There will be one more corner; it's in the prophecy.
******
The world swam back into view, for a moment everything was all right, then he remembered. The scythe was falling, time was running out.
He sat bolt upright. His vision still blurry.
"The scythe is falling, the hourglass is draining. The corner approaches and Death waits on the other side." He exclaimed loudly in a panicky voice.
He fell back onto the.bed, then he realised, he was in the hospital wing.
"Mr Weasley go get the Headmaster." He heard someone snap. Harry struggled to focus, Professor McGonagall, Ginny, Cho and Hermione eventually swam into view.
"Hold on, Mr Potter." Said Professor McGonagall.
"Can't," mumbled Harry, "Death.Death's scythe.the scythe.it's falling.the scythe is bloody.I see.faces.familiar faces."
"You're delirious, Mr Potter." He heard hurried footsteps and then Ron and the Headmaster appeared. At that point Madam Pomfrey appeared and she poured a potion into his mouth. A few minutes later Harry felt stronger.
"Could you leave us." Said Dumbledore. It wasn't a request, it was an order. When the room was empty Dumbledore sat down on the chair next to Harry's bed.
"What's wrong with me? Am I going insane?" asked Harry as soon as the Headmaster had \sat down.
"Not quite, I believe you are suffering from posttraumatic stress, more commonly known in the muggle world as 'shell-shock.' The responsibility upon your shoulders and your exhaustion is causing you stress." Harry thought about this.
"There's no way out is there?" Dumbledore looked sad.
"I fear not, usually a long vacation is recommended, but due to the current circumstances there is no time for vacation." Desperate to steer the conversation away from it's current depressing topic Harry searched around for a lighter topic.
"Professor, some people, they.kneel to me. Why?" The Headmaster chuckled.
"It seems silly doesn't it? They do it as a sign of respect, to them you are the hero that saved their lives. It is a sign of gratitude."
"You fought in that battle aswell, so did Ron, Hermione and Cho and a lot of other people so why do they just kneel to me?"
"Because you led the DA, I am famous for being the only person Voldemort was ever scared of. They kneel to you because you matched my ability at a much younger age, which raises you above me. It's hard to understand why people kneel to you when they do, but they do it for a reason." There was silence for a few minutes,
"What did you see?" asked Dumbledore, the question caught Harry off guard.
"When I was delirious?"
"Yes, you see, when you are delirious it can often be a form of divination. Sometimes you are foreseeing the future, but it is often seen in the form of a riddle." Harry thought back, it is hard to remember things when you are delirious.
"I saw.Death, and he had a scythe.the scythe was bloody and.I saw faces, familiar faces." For a moment Harry could have sworn he saw a spasm of fear cross the old mans face, but when he next spoke it was in his usual calm voice.
"The scythe was bloody? And you saw familiar faces?" Harry nodded. Dumbledore sighed.
"I will do something I would usually not do. I will tell you the meaning of your vision. First you saw Death, if you saw only Death without his scythe it means that someone could die, if you see Death with his scythe, it means that someone will die. If the scythe is clean it means that someone will die at any point, they could die in seventy years time, they could die in seven minutes time, if the scythe is bloody then at most they have a year to live. The faces are those who will die. The faces you saw are the people who have at most a year to live." Harry's eyes widened in shock and he leapt out of bed,
"You're lying, this can't be happening, YOU'RE LYING!"
"Harry," Dumbledore said urgently, you mustn't tell anyone who you saw and you mustn't try and change it, they are destined to die and there is nothing you can do."
"You're lying." Harry repeated once more before falling to the floor in a dead faint.
He woke to see Ron, Hermione and Cho standing by his bed looking at him anxiously.
"You have got to stop doing this to us." Demanded Ron before throwing his arms around Harry in a brotherly hug. Harry grinned at him.
"Sorry, mate." Harry was determined to stay cheerful, as he didn't want any awkward questions asked.
"What's wrong with you anyway? How come you keep fainting all the time?" Asked Ron.
"Dumbledore reckons I'm suffering from posttraumatic stress." Hermione nodded,
"That would make sense." Cho caught Hermione's eye. Hermione nodded.
"Ron let's go." Ordered Hermione. Ron looked up from where he was handing Harry a chocolate frog.
"Why?" he asked confused. Hermione sighed. She looked pointedly from Cho to Harry and back again. Ron looked at her blankly. Hermione did it again. Same result. Eventually Hermione had to repeat the movement another three times before Ron got it.
"Ahh." He said on a voice of dawning comprehension, he gave Harry an enormous wink before following Hermione out.
"Subtlety really isn't Ron's strongpoint." Said Harry. Cho laughed softly. Harry sat up and Cho sat next to him. Harry put his arm round her and pulled her closer to him. They talked softly for an hour before Cho had to go.
"Get better soon, Harry. I hate it when you're ill." Harry smiled at her.
"Don't worry, I will."
The next day Harry was allowed to leave the Hospital Wing. It turned out that Hermione had been right. Malfoy didn't seem sane. He would stare at Harry with the deepest loathing in his eyes for minutes on end while they were waiting for class. Harry tried hard not to let it affect him but he couldn't help being slightly unnerved by the cold, grey eyes that followed his every move.
Harry was waiting for Defence Against the Dark Arts to begin and, as usual, Malfoy was watching him. Hermione and Ron proved their friendship for Harry once again by positioning themselves between Malfoy and Harry. Ron had his wand out and was casually twirling it around his fingers, carefully watching Malfoy out of the corner of his eye.
As he entered the classroom, glad to be away from Malfoy's staring, it struck Harry once again that the Weasley's were putting themselves in an incredible amount of danger because of him. The thought saddened him as, once again he realised that he should not allow them to remain close to him.
He took his usual seat next to Ron.
"Your family shouldn't be my friend." Ron looked highly disconcerted,
"What?"
"Your family shouldn't be my friend." Harry repeated slightly angry.
"Why not?"
"Because you're putting yourselves in too much danger." Ron looked at him.
"Don't be thick, Weasley's never abandon family, whether or not it would put them out of danger by doing so." Harry was touched. He felt a rush of gratitude towards Ron.
"Thanks." Ron grinned at him. They turned their attention to Moody who was explaining the concept of the advanced banishing charm, one that could be used in battle. Harry was tempted to start daydreaming, he knew all this already. He resisted the temptation as Moody could be incredibly unpredictable and you never knew what he would do next.
Moody instructed them to practise on a few life-size dummies. Almost lazily Harry expertly banished one of the dummies across the room. He then lay back on his seat and closed his eyes.
"Bored?" Moody growled a few minutes later.
"Very." Replied Harry without opening his eyes. He then opened his eyes and grinned up at Moody's scarred face. "How you doing, Moody?"
"The word, Potter, is sir." Moody growled good-naturedly, "You're like Sirius, you never did have much respect for your superiors." Harry grinned again.
"Sorry, sir." Moody laughed softly.
"Here's a tricky little spell I thought I'd give you to practise, it can be very useful, but it is very difficult, not many wizards use it as it is so difficult and that would give you an advantage in battle. It's called the blinding hex and it will temporarily blind an opponent for about ten seconds." Moody showed Harry how to perform the blinding spell. A jet of white light shot out of the end of Moody's wand and hit the opposite wall. Harry then p tried it.
"Noculus" Nothing happened, Moody smirked at him and walked off. Harry was determined to be able to do the spell and after half an hours hard work he could sometimes achieve a very faint white jet of light.
"Homework tonight, write a foot long essay on the theory of the banishing spell, Potter your homework is a foot long essay on the advantages and disadvantages of the blinding curse.
"You didn't do the banishment spell?" said Ron.
"I can do it already, Moody gave me the blinding hex, it's seriously difficult though."
"Cool," said Ron, "Are you going to teach it to the DA?"
"Probably, but first I've got to get the hang of it."
Neither Harry, Ron nor Hermione noticed Malfoy watching them.
'He's taken everything I ever wanted' Malfoy thought to himself, 'and now he's suffering from stress, I could use that to my advantage. Potter is going to regret killing my father.'
A/N Ok, that really was not too great a chapter. The first few chapters, especially this one, are introductory, this chapter is an introduction to some other things, alongside the main plot, that are going to be going on in this fic, Harry's stress, his vision etc etc, that's why it is so jumbled. You will find out who Harry saw in his vision at the end on the trilogy.
LogicalRaven - Keep the reviews coming, pal, your support really helps!
Sarah - Sorry about not e-mailing you but my e-mail is currently not working.
I hope you enjoy The Second Darkness.
Looking forward to getting peoples reviews.
Keep reading and reviewing 'cos I'll keep writing!
Fireboy