Disclaimer: You guys know the drill.
Author's Notes
Twenty points to…er, well…to everyone who figured out the reporter's name! And to those who were asking, it is Liar Cheat.
Someone also asked for a fight of some kind in their review. I don't recall who it was – I'm also too lazy to go look – but you know who you are!
So here's a fight in all its yummy goodness. Watch out for the blood! And someone call Madam Pomfrey, 'cause this is gonna be a doozy…
Not Myself by Saerry Snape
Chapter 168 – A Fistfight, a Conversation, and a Certain Book
Mika was sitting in the Library with Ginny when a bird that looked distinctly familiar came swooping in and crashed onto their table in a mass of feathers and papers.
"What in Merlin's name…?" began Ginny as the bird struggled to its feet. It wavered then shook its head, which was tinged with gray whilst its body was black.
Wolf! Fox! it cried.
Mika blinked and said, "Did I just hear that bird talk?"
"If you didn't, we're both going insane."
Wolf! Fox! cried the bird again, hopping about. It clacked its beck and cried, Father bond need help!
"Father bond?" said Ginny in confusion.
"Wait…isn't this one of Jardin's chicks?"
Ginny's brown eyes widened as she looked across the table into Mika's.
"Harry!"
"Damn them!" shouted Mika, hurling his chair to the floor as he leapt out of it. He ran out of the Library, Ginny and Jardin's chick right behind him.
There, there! cried the bird Father bond is there!
"Where?" exclaimed Ginny, looking around frantically. Mika rushed over to a balcony near them and saw a fierce fistfight going on below them. Two students were already out cold with bruises aplenty on them and broken noses to boot.
The fight shifted and a bellow echoed up to them, along with a voice that snarled, "Get your filthy paws off my hair!"
"Bastards," snarled Mika, his eyes glowing amber. He jumped over the balcony rail and fell twenty feet to the floor below, landing with the unearthly grace of a werewolf. Above him, Ginny tried to still her madly beating heart and drew her wand.
Below, Mika threw off a seventh year Ravenclaw who tried to keep him from plunging into the fight, very nearly sending the other boy crashing headfirst into a brick wall. He made a conscious effort then to control the wolf inside but it was howling in rage. A member of its pack was being challenged and it didn't like that.
It didn't like that at all.
With a howl that was entirely wolf, Mika leapt into the fray, eyes flashing madly. He hurled two out of the fight then grappled with another, resisting the urge to sink his teeth into the sixth-year neck.
"Stupefy!"
The beam of red light sent the sixth year falling to the floor and Mika grinned up at Ginny before he blocked a punch thrown at his head. He shoved a burly fourth year back then found his forearm grabbed by a strong hand. Whirling, he threw a punch but it was easily blocked.
"Come to join the party?" quipped Harry, glancing at the werewolf.
"You looked like you needed a hand," growled Mika.
Harry grinned ferally, his emerald eyes glinting with a fierce light. The black of the Tethdaìr lingered on the edges of his iris' and shifted like angry shadows. He then released Mika, spinning around to deliver a battering roundhouse kick to a hapless Gryffindor sixth year.
"Give me a hand then," said the young man, grinning over his shoulder at his friend.
"I can't believe your obeying Dumbledore's rule," hissed Mika as he grappled with a crazed looking Slytherin, his back pressed against Harry's.
The other wizard grunted as he punched a fifth year into unconsciousness then snarled, "Its that or expulsion."
"And you'd rather stay in the school."
"Yes, please."
"Well - " Mika was interrupted as a Hufflepuff from the crowd that had gathered around them jumped on his back. He hurled the second year to the floor and casually placed one foot on his chest, holding him down as he punched a Ravenclaw in the gut. " – this certainly won't look good to Dumbledore, now will it?"
"They started it," defended Harry as he kicked another Ravenclaw's kneecaps out of their sockets. "Sorry, there."
"Fuck you!" spat the Ravenclaw, grabbing Harry's foot and trying to pull him to the floor.
The emerald eyes hardened and Harry sneered, "Now, that's not nice. That's not nice at all." He lifted his other foot and kicked the Ravenclaw in the face, breaking his nose and leaving the impression of his combat boots there.
"Stupefy!"
"Petrificus Totalus!"
"Obvolvo!"
"I think the cavalry just arrived."
Harry and Mika, once again with their backs together, turned to look at the balcony above them. Ginny was still there, her eyes flashing fire, and she'd been joined by a severely enraged looking Hermione. Harry had learned by watching several tirades between the bushy-haired girl and Ron that she was not a person you wanted to piss off.
And comes slowly down the stairs, her eyes as cold as the North Wind, was Niamh. Her ebony wand was extended out in front of her, ready to cast spell, hex, or curse – whatever she deemed the situation needed.
"You okay, Harry?" she asked, her eyes on the crowd of students.
"Fine, Ni," assured Harry. He did have a few bruises from where a couple of the brutes had landed their punches and kicks but he'd had a lot worse.
"Good," said Niamh as she reached the bottom of the steps and started towards them. She reached the sixth year who was now completely wrapped in duct tape (except for his eyes) and stopped. A slow smile spread over her face and she reached out, placing a hand on his chest.
"Bye, bye," she whispered before she gave him a gentle shove backwards.
Mika winced as the sixth year hit the floor with a crack! and grumbled, "I bet that hurt."
Harry grinned at him and said, "And that's exactly the reason why I'm glad she's on our side."
"And why is that?" demanded Niamh, frowning at him.
"Because you can be so wonderfully vicious when your pissed off."
"Only when it involves you."
"Well, of course."
"Please stop the lovey-dovey crap," groaned Mika. "Are we done?"
"I think so," said Harry. He looked at the crowd that had gathered around them during the fight and spread his arms wide. "What? Nobody else want a go?"
Half the students looked like they were quite willing to jump him while the rest shifted nervously and stepped back. The other half hurriedly moved back as Niamh lifted her wand threateningly.
"If anyone else wants a go," she said in a cold voice, "they can have one with me. That goes for any of the slugs on the floor too."
"Don't think they'll be trying anything for a long time," commented Mika, looking at the beaten students. He felt a little ashamed about giving them the beating he had but the wolf was proud – it had protected a member of its pack. Why shouldn't it be proud?
"What is going on here?"
"Just what I need," grumbled Harry as McGonagall pushed her way through the crowd. She looked at the beaten students then at Harry, Mika, and Niamh. The three stared back at her, waiting.
"Wait for it…" whispered Mika.
"MISTER DAVIDS, MISS O'FEIR, AND MISTER PO-SNAPE! What is the meaning of this?"
"They attacked Harry, professor," said Mika. "And sixteen against one just aren't fair odds."
McGonagall looked so enraged that it looked like she might blow steam out her ears. Or transfigure them into something nasty for the rest of their natural lives.
But she took a deep breath and extended her arm, growling, "To the Headmaster's office with the three of you!" Three shocked cries came from the balcony above and she looked up there, snapping, "You all well, Miss Granger, Miss Weasley, and Mister Weasley! The rest of you clear off! Prefects, help me get these students to the hospital wing."
"I can't believe her!" exclaimed Niamh as the six of them walked towards Dumbledore's office. "They started it and we get sent to Dumbledore's office for it!"
"Well we did kind of finish it," said Ginny.
"That doesn't matter! If we get punished for what they started, I'll…I'lll…I'll eat my wand!"
"Then what would you do magic with?" purred Harry into her ear. She jumped, not knowing he was right behind her.
"Braggart! Don't scare me like that!"
"Sorry. I think I may need to go to the hospital wing myself." He winced and rubbed the side of his head, one eye slipping closed.
Hermione frowned at him and asked worriedly, "Did one of them hit you in the head?"
"No," growled Harry. "One tried to scalp me using my own hair."
"Tell me who and I'll show them the real meaning of scalping," snarled Niamh, her eyes glinting.
Harry smiled down at her and said, "Much as I would enjoy seeing that, I don't think the Headmaster would allow it."
"I'm fairly sure I wouldn't, Harry," said Dumbledore, appearing suddenly in front of them. He allowed the stone gargoyle that guarded his office to slide shut behind him before he said, "Minerva just told me that the six of you were in a fight of some sort."
"They started it, professor!" exclaimed Ginny. "They jumped Harry!"
Dumbledore frowned and looked at Harry expectantly.
"Harry?"
"Fifteen of them, sir, from every House." The young wizard smiled grimly as he added, "A few of them will have missing teeth to remember me by."
"I'm certain more of them will remember your boot," commented Dumbledore, gesturing at the blood spattered on Harry's combat boots. "Who were they exactly?"
"They're in the hospital wing now, sir," said Ron. "Are they going to get detention for this?"
"Of course," said Dumbledore. He looked gravely at Harry and added, "I am sorry that the truth being revealed could not be easier for you, dear boy."
Harry just shrugged casually at that, snorting.
"Professor, I've been in fistfights worse than what that was since I was six. Its not like its anything new. Its just for a different reason."
"What was the old reason?" asked Mika curiously.
"They were in our territory or we were in there's."
"Oh."
"It still saddens me to see my students come to this," said Dumbledore. "Sad indeed."
Harry smiled tightly and said, "It can only get better, professor."
"I hope you are right, my boy. Now…off with you all. And please, all of you, keep your spell-slinging to a minimum. That means none of those curses in your book, Miss O'Feir."
"Yes, sir," sighed Niamh as Dumbledore nodded to them before he walked off in the direction of the hospital wing.
The six of them stood there for a moment before they began to slowly walk back the way they'd come.
"How'd he find out about the book?" asked Harry, looking curiously at Niamh.
"How should I know? He does say he enjoys the Destruction Curse though – apparently its good for spring cleaning."
Harry snorted in disbelief and laughed.
"Trust Dumbledore to find a practical way to use a deadly curse! Ha!"
"What are you two talking about?" asked Ron.
"Their book of spells, hexes, and curses," said Ginny, Mika, and Hermione in unison. Ron blinked and stared at them in awe.
"You all knew?"
Three heads nodded.
"And you never told me?"
Three heads nodded again.
Ron frowned then grumbled, "Well that's nice."
"Here, Ron," said Niamh, tossing him a small book. "That's one of the copies I made."
"When'd you make copies?" asked Harry.
"Christmas hols."
"Ah, so that's why you wanted all the paper."
"Yeah."
"Heh."
There was silence between the six of them until Ron shouted, "What kind of insane people are you two, creating spells like these?!"
"Highly insane," said Harry.
"Indubitably," added Niamh with a grin.
"Your both nuts."
"Thank you!" chirped the Lord and Lady Hex, causing Ron to shake his head. His sister just grinned at him and laughed.
"You know its no use, don't you, Ron?"
"Yeah, I know. But somebody's gotta be the voice of reason here!"
There was a short pause before everyone but Ron burst out laughing. He stared at them in confusion for a moment, one eyebrow arched slightly.
"What'd I say?"
Author's Note
I don't know why I didn't write a fight like that earlier. Oh yes…I had Draco!Bashing then. Ah well.
And lookit the confused Ron! pats his head Poor dear…
I shall note that Jardin's chicks have trouble speaking telepathically because they are only half Altair bird. They don't have the ability to bond to a person like Jar does but they will, should they ever choose a mortal companion, be very devoted to them. Only ability of Jar's that they share is that they're immortal except to the Killing Curse. Same goes for Mordiana (who cannot speak telepathically but is a very intelligent bird nonetheless).
And could someone call Filch? We need a clean-up crew in the entrance hall…