Chapter 12: Banshee Attack
A long walk on the school grounds with the tigercats helped Harry calm down. He had known that the pain and anger bottled up inside him would come out eventually, he just hadn't expected it to happen so soon. His anguish hadn't lessened after all the yelling. After a while, when the cubs felt the havoc in Harry's mind reside, they began to enjoy their time outside. Harry let them roam freely and followed behind them at a sedate pace. Dinner was eaten in the kitchens before Harry left the cubs and headed for his extra defense class, his mind still on his conversation with Dobby.
During dinner, he had seen the house-elves' work even more frenzied than usual. When he asked Dobby about the house-elves who were rushing out of the kitchen with buckets, cleaning rags and mysterious tubes of goo, Dobby told him they were off to clean the North tower. However, there had been a hint of lie in Dobby's words which were confirmed by him banging his head into the table.
"They are cleaning the North Tower at dinnertime?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Yes, Harry Potter, sir." Dobby had replied dubiously before walking straight into the wall near him and howling in pain.
"Why?" Harry had asked cautiously.
"There is something big that is going to happen in Hogwarts, Harry Potter. The house-elves must prepare for it. We is not allowed to tell any students about it either" Dobby had answered looking pitifully at him.
Harry hadn't asked anything else but he was still very curious about it. But the extra class had put the matter out of his mind temporarily.
Professor Lupin was all business from the word go. The next two and a half hours were spent in deep concentration as Harry mastered the most complex sound blocking spell yet. It was hard work and by the time class ended, he was too exhausted to even think coherently. Professor Lupin told Harry to take a break and no extra class would be held the next day. Harry dragged himself back to the Tower and collapsed into a dreamless slumber for the rest of the night.
Harry had never seen Ron look as sick as he did the next day in Charms class and Hermione was nowhere to be seen. Later he overheard someone saying how Hermione was still lying sedated in the Hospital Wing since the day before. She had been close to breakdown the day before after the 'library incident' and the calming potion had absolutely no effect on her. Harry was surprised to find that he felt absolutely no guilt and very little concern for her. He was on his way to lunch when Professor McGonagall called him to her office.
When he was seated facing McGonagall, she tried to smile and offer him a ginger biscuit which he refused. Then she drew in a breath and explained why she had summoned him.
"Mr. Potter, you had been Gryffindor's Seeker since your first year here. It is time to take that place again. The Quidditch team will be beginning training sessions immediately this year for certain reasons and as such you need to start training with your team-mates. I presume you do not have a Quidditch uniform?" McGonagall looked almost nervous.
"No……No, my uniform was burned and destroyed by my dorm-mates" Harry's reply was serene.
"Well…yes…uhm, so you will be needing a new uniform….uhm…to start training..."
"Who exactly played Seeker for Gryffindor last year?" Harry asked leaning forward as if in interest.
"Uhm…it was Mr. Reed"
"And where is he now?"
"He is still here of course. He is in Forth Year" McGonagall answered uneasily.
"Why then am I chosen to be Seeker?"
"Well, Potter, you must know that you are an exceptional player. Youngest Seeker in century and all"
"Hmm…I did play well and I liked Quidditch a lot too…..But not anymore! I don't think I want to play Quidditch" Harry replied thoughtfully, leaning back in his chair.
"You don't? But you love Quidditch!" whatever McGonagall had been expecting, it wasn't this.
"No, I used to love Quidditch. I don't like it anymore and I don't want to join the team and play for Gryffindor" there was a ring of finality in his tone.
"But…you can't, Potter….the team needs you. We lost very badly last year. Surely, you want Gryffindor to win the Quidditch Cup."
"No, not really. To be honest, I really don't care whether Gryffindor wins or loses. It is of no importance to me."
"You can't be serious!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed.
"Indeed, I am very serious. I will not join the Quidditch team for as long as I am at Hogwarts. I think Mr. Reed will be able to play Seeker for Gryffindor. Hence, I don't need a uniform and I will not be training."
McGonagall could only stare at him.
"May I go to lunch now?" he asked.
She nodded mutely and he left the office.
Lunch was just beginning in the Great Hall. Harry ate his calmly. He had loved Quidditch before, but he knew the game would never hold the same exhilaration for him like before. Joining the team would only mean he had to speak and get along with his team members. He didn't even have a uniform or a broomstick anymore. Don't think about it! Don't think about it, he ordered himself as his thoughts strayed to the Firebolt and his godfather.
Once again Dumbledore announced that there would be no afternoon classes for the day. Even Harry was beginning to get intrigued about this. As he left the Great Hall to go to the library again, he ran into Professor Lupin.
"Harry, I'm glad I ran into you. You remember that there will be no classes tonight. Your magic needs to recover from yesterday's hard training. Professor Dumbledore asked me to give you extra lessons tomorrow too. It is a Hogsmeade weekend and you won't be able to go so you will get special permission the next weekend to go to Hogsmeade if you like" Professor Lupin explained.
Harry listened as he described the whole day long Saturday class that would be focusing on defense against Veelas. After bidding him goodbye, Harry continued on his way to the library and seeing a copy of the day's Daily Prophet on a table in the library, sat down to read it. There was an article on him in the third page about his history and his parents' deaths. He cold feel the anger wash over him in waves but he continued reading anyway. At the end of the article, the reporter promised an exclusive article on Harry for the next week.
And that is how Harry came to spend the rest of his day trying to find a way to stop the reporters once and for all. When he grew tired of staring at law books, he browsed through a few curse and charms books. It was in one of those books that Harry found the spell Dumbledore had used in the courtroom to show all of Harry's memories to the court. Harry decided to learn the spell. He got an idea and searched for the appropriate spell and as luck would have it he found a perfect spell. This spell could be cast on many people simultaneously depending on the caster's magical ability. People under the 'Monovesit' spell could not move or look away until the spell was lifted. This spell would come in handy to teach those meddlesome reporters a lesson. They wanted to know how he felt, what he had been through, what it was like? Well, what better way than for them to experience it first-hand for themselves?
Harry spent the rest of the evening mastering the 'Monovesit' spell. After dinner, he spent four long hours studying nonstop until he managed to get a headache before bed. It was worth it, he thought. It was worth anything to keep up with his studies and foil everyone's plan to reconcile him with Sirius or Ron or Hermione or anyone. The next morning, after his daily two-hour workout, he had an early breakfast before going to his usual haunt. The Library. I am becoming a nerd, he thought ruefully. Harry stayed there until it was time to go for his extra class.
When he reached the defense classroom, he found his arch-enemy, Draco Malfoy standing outside the class.
"What are you doing here?" both of them asked together.
Professor Lupin opened the door and ushered them both in before either could say anything else.
"Professor, why is he here?" Harry asked.
"He is here for lessons, same as you" Lupin answered.
"Why does he need lessons?" Malfoy asked fiercely.
"Same reason that you do. You are both here to learn to defend yourself against veelas. I can see some explanations are required."
"Harry, Draco here has veela blood. His father, Lucius Malfoy was half-veela. Half-veelas are slightly different than veelas. A half-veela can live like a normal wizard without any veela traits if left alone. But a half-veela takes on veela qualities if he or she is 'awakened' by other veelas. Veelas are a magical race with dwindling numbers so veela families are always on the lookout for half-veelas so that they can be 'awakened' and the veela race may not perish. Lucius Malfoy was 'awakened' when he went on a trip to Italy. An 'awakened' veela has the same need to bond with their chosen mates like other veelas. When Draco was born, we can say that Lucius was a veela so that makes Draco a half-veela. Draco does not wish to be 'awakened' and since he is now sixteen, veelas who are near enough can smell him and will try to 'awaken' him. That is why he is here."
Harry had a scathing remark on the tip of his tongue as he turned to Malfoy but noticed the look of misery in his eyes and decided to keep quiet. Malfoy must miss his dad terribly for him to mourn so long.
"Draco, Harry might be a potential banshai. You have heard of banshees and how witches in terrible grief might become a banshee? A wizard can also become a male banshee otherwise known as a banshai. Though it is rare, we think it is a very real possibility in Harry's case. And you must have read about veelas and banshees being mortal enemies. Veelas can convert a banshai into a veela. We do not know whether veelas can convert a potential banshai but we won't take the risk."
"Now, I am aware that you two don't exactly like each other, but…"
The two students snorted at that statement.
"But, you will need to learn to get along at least a little. Both of you will be in Hogwarts for two years. If any veelas manage to trace either of you to Hogwarts, both of you will be….er…attacked. So you need to defend yourself and you need to learn to get along. You have more chance of survival if you stand together against any veelas. That is why you will train and practice together. First, we will start with the theory of these defensive spells…."
After almost two hours of studying the theory of the defensive spells, Lupin took the two boys outside for some practice. Neither student understood his reasons since they could have practiced in class just fine and both felt uneasy in case any other students were watching but they followed anyway. Lupin took them to a secluded part of the school grounds and they began practicing, sometimes working with each other when asked to do so by him. Harry learnt the spells faster than Malfoy.
Professor Lupin let them go for lunch before resuming the practice session outside again. The class ended late in the evening with Professor Lupin promising the worn-out boys that there would be more practice sessions in the next weeks.
That night, Harry had a strange dream. Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall were down in the dungeons in what looked like the potions classroom. The tables must have been cleared away, the room was almost empty. There was a cauldron bubbling with a pale yellow mist frothing out of it. The three of them had their wands out and discussing something seriously while taking occasional glances at the gigantic books that lay open on the table in front of them. Harry could see them but he couldn't hear anything except a misty hum. Then Dumbledore looked up and saw him and saying something to the other teachers, approached Harry. Snape went to the cauldron and filled a large bowl with whatever was in it. McGonagall carried one particularly dusty and worn book and the two teachers came to stand behind Dumbledore. Dumbledore waved his wand in Harry's face and he felt himself becoming lighter. Harry closed his eyes and the hum continued. Harry was feeling almost like in a normal sleep when there was a loud fizzing sound like a cauldron bubbling over very near his ear. Harry woke up with a jolt to find himself in his bed in the dorms. Harry lay back and thought how real the dream had appeared before sleep took him over.
On Sunday, Harry spent all day mastering the 'thought show' spell. It was called the Lidate charm and it projected selected thoughts onto a huge 'mist' screen. Harry learnt how to choose and project certain memories. It took a lot of concentration and too much practice but he didn't give up. He missed lunch because he had completely forgotten about it. He didn't really know if the spell would ever really come in handy but he learnt it really well all the same. Little did he know that he would be using the spell before the end of the week.
On Monday, Harry received his first subscription of the Daily Prophet. He had owled the subscription form on Friday. When he opened the third page, he discovered the reason for all the tension in the Great Hall. The reporters had come to Hogsmeade last Saturday in hopes of catching him for an interview. When they couldn't get him, they had settled for some of the Hogwarts students who were willing to speak about him. Harry read through the article, his face turning a furious red in anger. He was enraged by the time he finished the article. He rose from his seat so fast, he upset a goblet of pumpkin juice. The students fell silent as the goblet rolled on the floor. They saw the Daily Prophet crushed in his fist as he stormed out of the Great Hall. Everyone remained silent for another moment before hushed whispering began. The students who had given statements to the Prophet looked slightly nervous.
Harry walked through the corridors at a rapid pace, trying to keep his anger in check. He had a class in ten minutes, he couldn't afford to blow up at anyone. As he walked along the classes, the things the other students had told the reporters kept ringing in his year.
'Harry refused to join the Quidditch team. He's a good player, we need him but he won't play anymore. Guess he wants to punish us for not believing him last year.' Katie Bell
'Harry Potter brought pet tigercats to school. Pet tigercats, I tell you! Deadly vicious and dangerous and he lets them free reign. One of these days, they'll maul someone to death. And he is beastly to his dorm-mates too.' Andrew McCain
'Harry changed his electives. It's against the school rules actually but they let him. Everyone says it's because he doesn't want to forgive Professor Black. They say Professor Black, who teaches Care of Magical Creatures is Harry's godfather.' Hannah Abbot
'Potter has become unbearable. He walks around as if he were a king. He shows disrespect for the teachers and he loses points for his House on purpose. He taunts the teachers that they can't even give him detention without asking Dumbledore. He's gets away with everything.' Pansy Parkinson
'Harry has become a loner since he rejoined Hogwarts. Just two days ago he was in the library and his old best friends approached to apologize and to help him in his studies but he shouted and yelled at them. He never speaks to anyone anymore and when he does he is horrid to them. We know he has been through a lot but this is ridiculous.' Ernie McMillan
Harry felt like returning to the Great Hall and bashing their faces into the floor. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? How could they so easily forget what he had been through and what he had done for them all? If they expected him to accept apologies and go back to laughing and talking and being buddies, they were in for a shock. Harry remained in a foul mood for the rest of the day and even the teachers didn't admonish him for not paying attention. Later that day, he was summoned to Dumbledore's office.
Harry climbed the revolving steps to Dumbledore's office thinking he was probably called up for not paying attention in class or Dumbledore wanted to talk about the newspaper article. What he didn't expect was to see Professor Sirius Black seated in one of the two chairs facing Dumbledore across his enormous desk. Dumbledore welcomed him warmly and told him to take the seat beside Sirius. Harry sat down, waiting to know why he had been summoned. The brief glimpse he got of his godfather's face showed him as gaunt and bone-weary as his fugitive days even if now he was no longer as skeletal thin as before. Sirius tried to smile hopefully at his godson but Harry's glacial attitude discouraged him and his smile drooped pitifully.
Dumbledore explained that Sirius had just received Harry's guardianship approval from the ministry. He had applied after Harry's trial and now all the legal proceedings had been taken care of. Now all Harry had to do was sign the legal papers and Sirius would become his legal guardian. The Dursleys would receive an official notification that they would never be seeing Harry again.
Dumbledore tried his best to make it all sound great but even he realized Harry's great opposition to the idea by the way he had stiffened and his face became grim.
"I don't want Sirius Black to become my guardian. I am perfectly fine with the Dursleys and I shall remain with them for the next two summers. I will not sign this" Harry stated calmly although he was boiling with anger.
Once again other people tried to make all the decisions for him and tell him what he should do with his life. Truth be told, he was getting a bit tired of all this high-handedness.
"Harry, please think about this. Sirius has waited the longest time to take you home with him. Your parents made him your guardian. It was your parents wish that you stay with him. And I am sure Sirius will take better care of you than the Dursleys." Dumbledore pointed out.
"Yes, Ha-Harry. You can't know how sorry I am that I didn't…that…that I didn't believe you when you told me you were innocent. Please, please just give me a chance, Harry. I will make it up to you, even if…even if it takes the rest of my life, Harry. Anything for you. I truly love you as if you were my own son. I can't see you like this, all alone and suffering. Please, please just give me a chance, Harry. I'm begging you. You have suffered so much, you have suffered enough. I won't let anything bad happen to you ever again. I just want to see you smile again. Please let me take care of you. Please say you'll come back with me. Please come and live with me. Harry, I can't go on, I can't live with myself if you refuse. I don't….I don't know what I'll do if you don't let me at least try to make up for all you've been through." Sirius Black had lived through so much strife and never shed a tear. Now he couldn't hold back the tears coursing down his face.
Harry turned his face to look at him. He saw the anguish in his eyes. The pure torture he was feeling and the sincerity of his words. For a moment, he wanted to reach out and touch Sirius' face, to take away that pain and make him smile again. Just as his hand was about to rise, he caught himself and drew back in his chair.
"No!" he said instead, remembering that time when he had gone to Sirius filled with anguish himself. He had pleaded and begged with Sirius too. But Sirius hadn't believed him, hadn't wanted to look at him or listen to him explain. "No!" he said again, remembering how Sirius had turned away from him in his greatest moment of need. His rejection had broken Harry. It had destroyed Harry's zeal to go on fighting. "NO!" he shouted getting up when he remembered how much of the torture he had suffered at the hand of the dementors were caused by his godfather's memories.
"Harry, please calm down. You don't have to answer right now. Take some time to think carefully about this before you make up your mind. You don't have to…"
"NO! My decision is made. I will not accept him as my guardian. Nothing you say can sway me. I will not put myself through that kind of pain again. No matter what happens, I will not change my mind. Haven't I been through enough? Isn't it enough that I lived a year in hell and came back to rid the world of the monster called Voldemort? Why must I endure more? When will everyone just leave me alone to live my life in peace? You want me to let him become my guardian so he can feel better and get rid of the guilt. What about what I want? Doesn't anyone care about that? Can't I just live like I want to? I've done what was expected of me and I've had just about enough of all this meddling in my life. Just…just leave me alone. Stay away from me, both of you." Harry backed away and left Dumbledore's office, running down the stairs when he heard Sirius' voice calling after him and getting closer.
Siyaa and Tawreek found him by the lake a few moments later. Harry stayed there for an hour, running his hand through Tawreek's fur who sat quietly by his side while Siyaa played at the lake's edge running up to him occasionally to growl at him.
Harry spent the rest of his day, immersed in his studies which helped keep his mind off Sirius and all Harry's shattered dreams that were built around him. His attention began to waver during extra class with Lupin but he must have spoken to Sirius because he didn't tell Harry to concentrate like he usually did. Malfoy managed to catch up with Harry in the defensive spells by the time class ended.
After a restless night's sleep, Harry woke up with a foreboding sensation in the pit of his stomach. The morning's first lesson was Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. Once Harry saw Ernie there, he spent the rest of class glaring at him and Ernie in turn kept shifting so that something could block him from Harry's sight. Harry's attention was off enough that the dangerous carnivore plant they were handling managed to attack Harry. The wound in Harry's leg began to bleed profusely. Madam Sprout came hurriedly and cast a blood freezing charm on the wound. It looked as if the plant had tried to take a bite out of his flesh. After checking his leg closely, Madam Sprout told Harry to head for the Hospital wing in case the plant's sting-like thorns had released poison into Harry's leg. Harry refused to go and said he was fine. Madam Sprout would have argued but one look into his accusing eyes and she backed down. She was still ashamed over how she had behaved when Harry had been thought a cold-blooded murderer.
The wound didn't bleed anymore but as the day progressed, the pain got worse. At lunch, Harry stopped by the library and checked out a big book on plant poisons and healing charms and potions for them. By night-time Harry walked with a limp because pressure on the wound made pain shoot out throughout that leg. That night, after dinner Harry was sitting on his bed in the dorm, his legs stretched out to rest the wound. He had looked through the book and found a healing charm but he was so drained that he just rested on his bed. He took out his parents' picture and leaning his head on the pillow against the headboard, smiled at his parents. They still looked every bit as jubilant as when the picture had not been charred on the edges. They smiled up at him happily and he couldn't help but smile back even if his smile was a little sad.
It was at that moment when Dean and Seamus walked into the dorm. They saw Harry's sad smile and the singed photo in his hands and felt like the lowest dirt. Harry looked up and seeing them there, clutched the picture to his chest in an instinctive urge to protect it. The two boys felt like they had been kicked when they were down seeing Harry's distrust. Harry slipped the picture into his pocket glaring at them defensively. Neville walked into the dorm and turned to see what they were looking at. When he looked at Harry, he saw the open wound on his leg and made an exclamation.
He rushed to Harry's side and tried to help him out of bed, babbling about getting to the Hospital wing. Harry stopped him, saying clearly that he didn't want to go to the Hospital wing. Neville was clearly frantic. That was a very dangerous wound, the plant's poison could have lifelong effects. Harry had to take the antidote immediately. He had already wasted so much time since the morning, but Harry remained firm. Neville was clutching his hair in panic as he rushed out of the dorms. Harry had very good reason to not go to see Madam Pomfrey. He still felt bitter every time he remembered the night of the Third Task.
After Professor McGonagall had taken Harry to Gryffindor Tower to retrieve his non-existent belongings, they exited through the portrait hole, Harry clutching his parents' picture to his chest. Stepping outside, McGonagall noticed for the first time the blood footsteps that Harry had made coming up with her earlier. Glancing at his still bleeding leg, McGonagall's lips had thinned and she told him to follow her to the Hospital wing, glaring fiercely at him as if he had wounded himself just to irritate her.
Harry had followed her miserably, thinking that as numb and unreal as he felt, maybe things would be alright anyway. Madam Pomfrey would snap at him and curse the world in general for being dangerous before ordering him into a pair of pyjamas and feeding him some foul potion. Harry would go to sleep in the empty Hospital wing and when he woke up the next day, everything would be alright again. A small part of his brain knew it couldn't happen but the suggestion was strong in his mind only to be shattered as he entered the Hospital wing. Dead bodies and severely injured people occupied every bed, people rushing around, trying to ease the pain or hold the hands of their hurt friends or relatives.
Harry stayed by the door as McGonagall called Madam Pomfrey. One young man rose from a woman's bedside and made to come towards Harry with murder in his eyes only to be held back by two girls. Madam Pomfrey cast an ugly look at Harry before enquiring why McGonagall was there. McGonagall explained about Harry's leg and Madam Pomfrey turned to him, taking a brief glimpse at his bleeding leg. She crossed her arms across her chest.
"Well, it doesn't look life-threatening. And even if he loses the leg, I won't be the least sorry. He deserves all the pain he gets. YOU here me boy? I wouldn't help you even if you were dying. Get out of my Hospital wing and don't you ever come here looking for help. I hope to God you die a slow, painful death. Now, GET your filthy self out of here. Don't come back. Don't ever come back. You deserve no mercy. Get out. GET OUT!" Madam Pomfrey lost her composure and shouted at him. Everyone in the hospital wing stared at him hatefully before he turned away and walked out.
Harry was brought back to the present by the commotion that came from the Common Room. Thundering footsteps clambered up the stairs and Neville ran in followed by Madam Pomfrey. She looked exactly as he remembered her. Only he had never seen her look so very distressed and pained.
"Mr. Potter, oh what have you done? Why didn't you come to the Hospital wing when you got hurt? Here, let me look at that..." she approached his bed.
Harry retreated, sliding back away from her. She stopped for a second, a tormented expression on her face. Then she was moving again.
"No! Stay away. I don't want your help. Go away, just leave me alone." Harry couldn't hide the pain in his voice. The memory had just resurfaced after so long, he felt raw all over again.
Madam Pomfrey stopped, her eyes filling with tears. She knew only too well why he hadn't come to her when he was hurt. She had broken the oath she had taken when she graduated as a Healer. She hadn't accepted every patient and done her best for him without any animosity or bad feeling stopping her from doing what was her sworn duty.
"Don't be silly, Mr. Potter. Now let Madam Pomfrey look at that wound. I cannot comprehend why you didn't go straight to her when you got hurt" Professor McGonagall said briskly as she walked in and came to the other side of his bed.
Of course, she knew only too well why he hadn't gone to see Madam Pomfrey. He had a proud and stubborn streak she had noticed ever since she had met him. Her heart ached for this student who had grown to be so dear to her over the years. She blinked back the tears, snapping at Madam Pomfrey to get going.
Madam Pomfrey was shaken out of her stupor and sat down on the bed beside Harry. After checking the wound, she applied a salve on it. She told Professor McGonagall that the antidote was in the Hospital wing and she would need to keep him under observation for the night. Harry protested indignantly but it was a weakened objection. The poison was finally taking over, making him drowsy and lethargic. He was rushed off to the hospital wing despite his protests and fed a foul potion before being put to sleep in one of the beds. What had once been his dearest wish was becoming a reality over a year later. Funny, he didn't feel all that happy. He fell asleep with that thought.
Harry woke up early the next morning as had become his habit. The tigercats were there with him, Siyaa curled up on his side and Tawreek near his feet. He found Madam Pomfrey asleep in a chair by his bedside. When he moved, the bed creaked and she woke up.
"Mr. Potter, you're awake. Here, let me check your leg. Yes, it looks almost healed."
"Where are my clothes?" she looked saddened by his abrupt question but she got up and retrieved them.
She handed him his clothes, before saying in a subdued voice that she would get the goblet of reviving potion for him while he changed. Harry put on his uniform behind the curtains and she was ready with a goblet when he came out. Harry took it and drank the contents, handing it back into her waiting hands. Then he called the cubs and left without a backward glance. He couldn't help but feel guilty for being so brusque with her. She had helped him after all. Harry forced the matter out of his mind, limping slightly as he descended the stairs to the Entrance Hall. As he was approaching the Great Hall, Professor Snape came up the stairs from the dungeons, stopping him just outside the Great Hall doors.
"Well, well, well, Potter! I heard you refused to join the Quidditch team. What is this, a new attention-seeking ploy? You are just arrogant enough to think everyone would go down on their knees to beg you to join Quidditch. Well, you can wait all you like, no one is coming to beg you. When will you turn from your pompous ways? One would have thought living in Azkaban for a year would put a damper on that ego, but no. Still every bit as bigheaded as before. You father was like that too. Every bit as conceited as you. Wasn't good at anything else except a little Quidditch. He thought he was above the rules too, just like you. See where that got him? If he were…"
"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! Don't you dare say another word about my father! I've had just about enough of you. You are so sick, you won't even let go of a little schoolboy rivalry even after he is dead. What the hell are you trying to prove? That you are better than him? I'm sick of hearing you taunt me or my father. Just shut up about it. My parents are the only two people in this WORLD who mean anything to me. I will not hear another wrong word about them. I'm sick of this! If you have a bone to pick with my father, you will have to wait until you die then you can go find him and the two of you can fight and argue all you like. Just keep your mouth shut about it." Harry stormed into the Great Hall.
The students had whispered and watched Snape speak to Harry outside. Everyone had of course heard him shouting at Snape. McGonagall was rushing down the Hall to try and calm Harry. Snape was stalking in after Harry. None of the students had ever seen him so livid before.
"Mr. Potter, please follow me to my office. We need to speak…"
"I'm not going anywhere. If you have to speak, then speak to him. I cannot take it anymore. I've had enough of his taunts about my dead father. If he opens his mouths again, I will hex him and to hell with the consequences." Harry pointed an angry finger in Snape's direction.
"I'm sick of it. I'm sick of it all. People discussing me, my family as if we were just something made for their entertainment. My parents have been dead for fifteen years yet their deaths are discussed in detail in the Daily Prophet just last week. Their death wasn't some circus show that was done for everybody's amusement."
"And me…what about me? Am I just some freak put on show for this world? How dare people assume they can write about me or speak about me? How dare you think you are allowed to say how I should and shouldn't act? How dare you speak to reporters giving interviews about my behaviour?"
Harry spun around glaring accusingly at the students there.
"We have the right to say what we fe-feel" Ernie McMillan's defying statement froze when Harry spun around to glare at him.
"No, you have no right to say what you feel. What do you know about what I've been through? Have you ever suffered a thousandth of it? No, never. You've all lived happily, safe with your friends and family while I have suffered alone. You have all worried about tests and exams when I have had to worry about Voldemort. Look at you, even now you flinch at his name, even when you know he is already dead. I was the one who killed him. I was the one who suffered in Azkaban for a year for your ignorance. Yes, your ignorance. It hadn't been Death eaters who put me in Azkaban, it had been all of you, who were supposed to be on my side."
"Do you even know what I have been through? Do you have any idea? My best friends and people I thought of as family turning their backs on me. Sent to the most fearsome wizard prison. Guarded by my worst fear. Yes, my worst fear are dementors. Having visions of Voldemort's doings every night. Suffering every Cruciatus that Voldemort cast, through the link of my scar. Suffering the pain of death every time he killed someone."
"No, you have no idea. That is why you could condemn me when I was accused a murderer. That is why you can say today that I'm not acting like I should. You expect me to forgive and forget? Go back to laughing and pranking like any other student? You think the horrors I have suffered can be put behind me so easily? You don't know what it was like. You don't know what it was like, until now. Now, you will know a taste of what I have suffered." Harry smiled coldly.
Many students were standing up in fear. The teachers had all left their seats too and McGonagall and Snape were standing not far away from him. Harry didn't care. They couldn't stop him. He whipped out his wand and cast the most powerful locking charm which he had learnt on the Great Hall doors. They slammed shut with finality. Harry raised his wand straight above his head and cast the 'Monovesit' charm. Immediately, all movement in the Hall stopped.
"Now, you will know a little of the horror I have suffered. Ernie, you were very much ready to share how you felt about it all. The next time you see a reporter, I'd like to see you try and explain how you feel about this. Last year, Voldemort had personally killed a family. They had the same last name as yours. A husband and wife with a son and a younger daughter. Cousin family, perhaps? You probably only heard of their deaths and went to the funerals. Would you like to see how they died? Would you like to feel what I have felt every night while I was in Azkaban? You shall, you all shall. May you will learn something from it" another cold smile at Ernie's terrified and frozen face, before Harry turned to the closed doors and conjured the misty screen.
What followed that was an incident so gruesome that it was etched into the memories of everyone forever. The vision started with a family having dinner together happily. Then the cozy house was raided by Death Eaters before Voldemort himself arrived. The painfully slow and torturous deaths of the family was carried out by Voldemort himself. The whole episode was beyond horrifying. Many of the students would have ran out crying or vomited if the charm hadn't held them frozen. They had no choice but to watch until the memory ended. Once the misty screen faded, Harry turned to look at everyone there.
"My head is filled with such memories. I have had to live with them, have them replayed again and again whenever dementors came near my cell in Azkaban. I have had to live with it because you, all of you abandoned me. You put me in Azkaban. You forced me to live with all that all alone. So, how do you expect me to be normal, to behave normally?" Harry asked before he raised his wand and released the freezing and locking charm.
Ernie McMillan collapsed, crying unrestrainedly. Hermione and Ron were huddled together, tears streaming from their eyes. Many students began to run out of the Hall. Others remained frozen in their places, looking at him through tears. The teachers stood unmoving.
Slowly, tiredly Harry exited the Great Hall. He walked over the school grounds and sat down in front of Hagrid's cabin. It was too much, he didn't think he had the strength to go on. He didn't think he had the strength to face all this anymore. He wished Hagrid was there. Maybe Hagrid could have calmed him, taken away all this agony with his bucket-sized mug of tea, offerings of rock cakes and effusive smile. Harry leaned his head wearily against a pole. His mind was oddly numb in that moment. And then he heard a faint scream. The faint scream began to grow closer, and now there were two screaming voices. And then there were three. Some instinct inside him was telling him to run. Harry got up and began to walk briskly towards the castle.
Professor Dumbledore strode swiftly into the Great Hall to find it in complete turmoil. Students were crying everywhere and teachers were just standing frozen. Seeing McGonagall and Snape halfway down the Hall, he walked to them.
"Minerva, Severus, where is Harry? It is of the utmost importance that he be found right now."
"I…he…I…I think he went outside" Professor McGonagall didn't seem like herself as she said it.
"Good lord" Dumbledore's exclamation brought many out of their stupor. The forever calm, headmaster almost ran out of the Hall and all the teachers and most of the students followed behind him urgently.
They walked outside to see Harry walking back towards the castle from the direction of Hagrid's hut and shrill screaming noises coming from far away. They followed the headmaster's gaze and saw movement in the gray, cloudy morning sky. As they watched, the small spots in the sky grew and came closer. Before anyone of them could think much, the creatures in the sky landed. They were a colony of banshees and they had landed all around Harry. The teachers and students could only gape. Harry looked their way, there was despair in his eyes. They began to run towards him.
Before he knew it, Harry was surrounded by banshees. He looked around and couldn't see a way out. He looked back to see Dumbledore, teachers and some students standing in front of the castle. They were running towards him. They wouldn't be able to get to him, the banshees had surrounded him in two wide circles. The first circle, turned to face him, the second facing outwards. Harry took out his wand and prepared to fight their assault.