Disclaimer: You guys know the drill.

Author's Note

Just discovered that I didn't explain something in the chap. And that FFN isn't showing the little sideways triangle thingies anymore (I can't remember what they're really called). So…editing.

Not Myself by Saerry Snape

Chapter 178 – Interludes of Discussion, Relationship Bashing, and a Little Giggling

"She hasn't snapped out of it yet?" asked Mika as he looked curiously at Harry. The dark-haired young man nodded silently as he sat down on the edge of the bed, his hand reaching out to grip Niamh's much smaller one.

It had been two weeks since Niamh had proclaimed Voldemort was coming.

She had been in a sort of trance since then.

"When-when do you think he's going to come?" asked the werewolf softly.

"Soon," came the reply. Harry lifted his head and Mika was startled by the grim smile that twisted the older wizard's lips.

And even more by the slightly crazed look in his emerald eyes.

"Harry," he said slowly. "You're scaring me."

"Sorry," mumbled the young man, ducking his head. "Its just…for six years of my life, he's been haunting me. He's killed one friend of mine, injured three more of them, and forced me to kill my first friend. I want this over."

Mika nodded, saying, "I know how you feel, mate. I want this over too. But sometimes you really scare me when you look like you just did."

"Like what?"

"Like you've gone crazy."

Harry looked at him with a gaze that was a mix of shock and slight fear. He then laughed, a raucous laugh that made his shoulders and chest heave with its force.

Mika just arched an eyebrow at the other wizard and waited patiently until the laughter subsided, leaving Harry sober. He huffed out a breath then looked at his friend with a small smile on his face.

"Crazy?" he said after a moment. "Yes, Mik, I think I am a little crazy. But who wouldn't be after what I've seen?"

"After what we've all seen," amended Mika. He looked down at his hands for a moment then added, "You know Cha will want to fight."

"Your dad would flip. And probably kill whoever let her out on the field if anything happened to her."

"Harry, mate, I'd kill whoever let her out onto the field if something happened to her before my father even got the news."

"I know, Mik."

They sat in silence for a few moments that seemed to stretch unto eternity before Mika said, "You do know that if Niamh is up before the battle, she'll want to go out there."

Harry looked up in surprise and stared at his friend in fear.

"I know," he whispered, looking away. His hand clenched about Niamh's as he hissed, "That's why I hope she doesn't come out of this till its over."

"I hope she didn't hear that," said Mika.

"I doubt it. When she didn't snap out of it after a few days, I asked Jar to come look at her, see if she can hear what we're saying." Harry turned and looked at his friend as he finished, "She's trapped within her own powers, Mik. Her Sight…it's…it's taken over. She's been stuck for two weeks seeing what's going to happen. Or what may happen."

" 'May?' " repeated Mika. "What do you mean 'may?'"

"What do I mean? You remember the Gauntlet?"

"How could I not? She wore it, you wore it…Hell, you have its runes on your arm, man! Of course I remember the Gauntlet!"

Harry nodded and looked down at his right arm. He had rolled up the sleeves of his button-up bottle green shirt when he'd entered the hospital wing, completely forgetting about the runes on his arm.

No one had seen them since his return from the Elven plane.

Of course, Mika with his photographic memory would have remembered the runes etched onto the Gauntlet's surface and recognized them. With his worry over Niamh, he had forgotten that.

Not that it mattered much.

"How did the runes get on your arm?" asked Mika curiously. "They weren't there last year when the Gauntlet came off."

Harry sighed and said, "They appeared four ye…two months ago when I began my training. Aunt Shee said it meant that the Gauntlet was no longer evil. She said that it had allied itself with me."

"You mean…it had a mind of its own?"

"Has," corrected Harry. "It never was destroyed, Mik. When it vanished, it melted the skin off my bones. After that, it kind of…rebuilt my arm, making itself a part of me at the same time."

"Why?"

"Apparently there was a failsafe set into its make-up. If a descendant of its creators – the Elves of Aerilsed – wore the Gauntlet for a certain amount of time, the Dark Magick in its make-up would be nullified. That's just a short explanation of it, mind you."

Mika grunted then asked, "What did you mean when you said 'may?'"

"Ni saw herself die. Hence the 'may.'"

"Oh."

A small silence dragged between the two wizards before Mika spoke.

"So…we have a plan?"

"How can you plan a battle when you don't know when it's going to happen?" asked Harry. "Or do so when you are not the one who will be in charge of it?"

"Since you mentioned being trained by five Masters of War for four years, I'd think you'd be pretty helpful in plotting any battle plans."

"That's true…"

The two sat in solemn silence for a long moment before a flying black missile that nearly took off Harry's head interrupted them. It barely avoided crashing into the door that led to the solitary ward then came back and fluttered about the two wizards heads.

Danger!

"Another of Jardin's chicks?" asked Mika with a raised eyebrow.

Harry just nodded and extended his forearm towards the bird. He softly said, "Come here, Bram."

"Bram?"

"Bramwell. For some odd reason, Jar and Mordi named all of their chicks names starting with 'B.'"

"Oh," said Mika, eying the bird as it landed on his friend's arm. "Well, what's he so excited about?"

"Dunno," replied Harry with a shrug as he brushed his fingers over the dark bird's wings and back. "Eh, Bram? What's the fuss?"

Fox brother fight with Dragon mate! exclaimed Bramwell. He hopped from one talon to the other and chirped worriedly. Bad, bad fight!

" 'Fox brother?' " repeated Mika. " 'Dragon mate?' "

"Ron," growled Harry as he gently laid Niamh's hand on her waist. He slid from her bed as he added, "And Hermione."

"Oh…hell."

"Oh hell indeed. Lead us, Bram!"

Yes, yes! chirped Bram. I shall lead Wolf and Father-bond to Fox brother and Dragon mate! Follow! Follow Bramwell!

The dark bird launched himself from Harry's arm and flew from the hospital wing with Harry and Mika following close behind him.

"Malfoy? Malfoy? What are you doing dating bloody Malfoy?"

"That's not any of your business!"

"I'm making it my business! You can't date Malfoy!"

"I can date any bloody person I want, Ron Weasley! You're not my father, brother, or any relation to me. So bugger off!"

"I am not going to bugger off!"

"Let go of me!"

"No! I'm going to make you see the light! Ow!"

"Let go of me or I'll do more than bloody your nose!"

"You nearly broke my nose!"

"Next time I'll break your jaw! Now let! GO!"

"What's going on here?"

The two figures fighting in the corridor froze and turned towards the new voice. Only a few feet away from them stood Harry, his arms crossed over his chest. His green eyes blazed with slow fury as he shook his mane of hair out of his eyes. Behind him, Mika's false eye reflected the light from the torches about them. His other eye glowed dark amber as his hands clenched and unclenched – as though he were testing a pair of claws.

"Well?" said Harry, glaring at the two. "Explain."

"Hermione's going out with Malfoy!" exclaimed Ron, pointing at her with his right hand. His left encircled Hermione's wrist as he held her arm above her head.

"Tell us something we don't know," growled Mika.

Ron's jaw dropped and he gaped at them.

"Y-you knew?"

"Since Mione's parents were murdered," snarled Harry. "Or didn't you remember that, Ron?"

The gangly redhead winced but made no move to release Hermione, who was glaring daggers at him.

"I did. I just…Malfoy?"

"Oh for Slytherin's sake, Ron," growled Mika, flapping his arms. "If Niamh can be civil to him, so can you!"

"I can be civil to him!" snapped Ron, earning a disbelieving snort from Hermione. "I just don't want to see one of my best friends dating him!"

"Well, too late!" snapped Hermione. She wrenched her arm away from Ron as she added, "We've been dating since last year and there's not a damned thing you can do to stop us from continuing!"

"But…Mione…"

"Don't 'but Mione' me! Or I'll hex you till your blue in the face!"

"We are such a bad influence," muttered Mika.

Harry chuckled and muttered back, "Tell me about it."

"Harry!" exclaimed Ron. "Talk some sense into her!"

"What? That she shouldn't date Drake?" Harry sighed, shaking his head. "Actually, I think its good for the both of them. And I know for sure it will royally piss off Malfoy Senior when he hears it – if he hasn't already."

"Pissing off him is probably not a good thing," commented Mika.

"Yeah, but its so much fun," said Harry.

"This is true."

Ron gaped at the two of them and gasped, "You're – you're not going to do anything?"

"Why should we?" asked Harry. "Mione's happy. Drake's happy. As long as they don't kill each other or shag each other senseless in the middle of the common room, I'm fine with it."

"Hear, hear!" said Mika as Hermione flushed darkly at Harry's words.

The bushy-haired girl smiled at the two Slytherin's then turned towards her Housemate. She batted her eyelashes at him and pouted, affecting a nearly flawless Kicked-Puppy Expression.

"Can't you be happy for me, Ron?" she asked in a soft, pleading voice. "Please? I know you don't like Draco but…you and me…we'd never have worked out. We'd have killed each other."

"Yeah, I know," mumbled Ron, his shoulders slumping. He stuffed his hands into his pockets as he sighed, saying, "Its just…I've got this feeling your going to get hurt with him."

"He's not the way he used to be," said Hermione, touching his arm. "He's…different. Not just some childish git following in his father's footsteps with no mind of his own."

"Don't forget murderer."

"Hey," said Harry sharply, "only I hold that title."

Hermione, Ron, and Mika all gave him hard looks at that.

Mika's false eye glinted as he growled, "That's not funny, Harry."

"I know its not. But I'm not afraid to admit to what I've done." He then smiled and looked at Ron, saying, "So, what do you say, Ron? Give Drake a chance?"

"I don't know about that," said Ron. Hermione's face fell at his words but a grin plastered itself across the redhead's face as he added, "But I will try to be a little bit civil for your sake, Mione. What else can I do for a friend?"

Hermione's face lit up and she squealed happily, throwing her arms about Ron's chest.

"Oh, thank you, thank you!"

"Welcome!" choked out Ron.

Harry laughed as Mika called out, "Give him a little air, Mione."

"Oh! Sorry, Ron."

Ron coughed for a few minutes before finally choking out, "S'okay."

"Great!" exclaimed Hermione, hurling her arms about him again in a crushing hug.

"Ack! Help! Medic! Can't…breathe…"

"Group hug!" cheered Harry, striding forward to hurl his arms about a reddening Ron and a beaming Hermione. Mika laughed and leapt after him, his momentum sending the four of them tumbling into a giggling heap on the floor.

A group of second year Hufflepuff's passing by shook their heads at the silly seventh year's and strode off down the corridor muttering about not acting like that when they were their age.

Author's Notes

There! I finally got it finished! Three cheers for me.

Next chapter should have some action from all the major chars if my plan goes well. Soooo, expect to see Harry, Ni, Ron, Mione, Drake, Mik, Sev, Nev, Manda, Eti, Jar, Gin, a dash of Dumbledore, and perhaps even a smattering of Voldie and the Death Eaters to give it some flare!

Dear Merlin, that sounds like a rock band. And now presenting…VOLDIE AND THE DEATH EATERS! Drumroll please! :D Heheh. Now I'll have to draw a picture of that.