Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
By: Krystal Lily Potter
Chapter Ten: The Second Sign
Rating: PG-13 (more on the AA side)
Couples: HP/HG, DT/LB, PP/SF, LL/NL, DT/GW, LB/RW, LL/RW, HP/PP (other twin), HP/EM, HP/CC…you know the whole raging hormone thing…
Summary: As Harry and his friends enter their sixth year at Hogwarts they don't enter the cheerful world they left behind. They enter a world covered in a thick blanket of fear. It only hits Harry how important he really is when people start seeing him as the light that allows them to see under this blanket. Along with his friend he must battle the horrors of the past, present, and possible the future to begin the end of the war, hopefully before it hits Hogwarts. What happens when people start disappearing from under Dumbledore's protection, and one of the famous 'trio' disappears? It's up to the last two, plus some more friends, to find a way to save all the people that disappeared because they can't fight this war on their own…
Warning: Dark themes will be mentioned a lot and there's going to start being a lot more dark themes described and if worst comes to worst I'll rate this R because of that. There's swearing, mentions of suicide, murder, gore/bloody scenes, mentions of rape and other dark things like that…
Randomness
"Well, I had one that I was playing Quidditch the other night," said Ron, screwing up his face in an effort to remember. "What do you think that means?"
"Probably that you're going to be eaten by a giant marshmallow or something," said Harry, turning the pages of The Dream Oracle without interest.
Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The next few weeks at Hogwarts were the dullest ones Harry had ever lived through. Nothing interesting happened to him yet, he barely even had encounters with Malfoy anymore because everyone from fifth to seventh year was too busy with homework, and it was only September! The phrase 'the calm before the storm' never occurred to the boy who lived once.
Harry had formed new opinions about all his classes that he'd be taking for his last two years at Hogwarts. The main one was, thanks to Hermione forcing him to study and do all his homework right and on time, the classes seemed much easier. Hermione mentioned to him that it would seem like that because he knew what was going on.
Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Evelyn was his favorite class by far. She didn't show favoritism in front of a large group of students but like last year when you could tell Professor Umbridge hated Harry, you could tell that Professor Evelyn had a soft spot for him, probably because of his grades in that class and his experience.
Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall proved to be interesting. They all learned what their Animagi forms would be. She, of course, didn't focus only on that, only every Monday and Friday. For the rest of the week she would do normal classes that she through were important. Harry found the practical work a little harder then in Defense but of course Transfiguration was never his strongest point.
Potions with Professor Snape, now everyone had mixed feelings about that particular class. All the non-Slytherins agreed that the work was extremely interesting and not as dull as the five pervious years but Snape was making all their lives a living hell, well almost all their lives, he never said anything bad about his Slytherins.
Charms with Professor Flitwick was, needless to say, the most exciting class. Flitwick showed them a charm, by request of Parvati, to create a rainbow. It was an interesting class though; Harry and the other guys took to putting rainbows on just about everything in the classroom from amusement. Professor Flitwick had been delighted that they all did the charm so good that he gave each of them five points! His class was the most relaxing one.
Ancient Ruins, which Harry had never been in before, was taught by Professor Morgan. He was about 40 but acted like a 10 year old. He apparently had a passion for trying to figure out puzzles, especially when it came to other languages and what certain ruins meant, that's why he applied for the teaching job. Harry found this class interesting, needless to say, although it wasn't the easiest one.
Healing was taught by none other then Madam Pomfrey. This class Harry didn't really enjoy but he knew it was an extremely helpful class. Madam Pomfrey often used him as an example for healing things. As Pomfrey put it she had a bed with his name on it by now so he should be used to pain to handle a little bit more in class.
Care of Magical Creatures was, at least to say, boring. Hagrid actually didn't have them taking care of a creatures yet…they were more or less building houses for a creature. Surprisingly a lot of people signed up for that class, and so far everyone seemed to be slightly disappointed.
Ancient Magical History was defiantly more exciting then History of Magic. This class was taught by a young male teacher name Professor Mathers. Needless to say this teacher was sarcastic but didn't take favorites by houses and he didn't ridicule Harry because he was famous. If you got your work done he was like your best friend, if you goofed off he called you stupid. Harry would often goof around in that class on purpose just to get a laugh when the teacher insulted him.
Herbology was pretty much a continuation of the last five years. The only reason Harry took it was because he knew in the field of an Auror it would be handy to know ways of curing somebody on the spot with herbs and he knew that there was many poisonous and deadly plants out there that somebody could stumble across. Look at what the Devil's Snare did to that poor bloke Bode, last year.
Hermione was always going on about how good Arithmancy was, but Harry just rolled his eyes. He was glad he wasn't taking another class otherwise he'd be too over loaded. Katie had a habit of running over to him in the common room telling him all this stuff about Quidditch, and the prefect's meetings and duties kept him far beyond busy.
Currently Harry and Hermione were heading down towards Hagrid's hut for their Care of Magical Creatures class. They finished their little 'habitats' yesterday and were waiting to see what Hagrid was planning on allowing to live there.
"I'm sure they're interesting," Hermione insisted earnestly.
"No offence to Hagrid but I'm sure it's something that would want to eat us," Lavender said. All of the sixth year Gryffindors had taken to sticking together as much as possible, although it wasn't very surprising considering most people were acting as if Voldemort would jump out at them any minute. Actually Harry noticed how everyone seemed to want to be around him lately. He voiced this to Hermione and all she said was, "Well of course they do. You defeated Voldemort when you were a baby, when you were 11, 12, 14 and 15 plus you have the highest Defense mark since Dumbledore!"
"Hi Hagrid," Harry called out to them when they got down to Hagrid's house.
"'Arry, 'Ermione," he said with a large smile. "Can't wait ta show ya what I got fer this class." He was positively beaming with joy. He looked around eagerly and said, "Is all of yer class 'ere?"
They all looked around and Neville said, "Yes."
"Alrigh' then. I've got a treat for ya toda'…Mystic Eggs!" Hagrid beamed with pure happiness.
"What?" Most people echoed around him but Hermione's mouth fell open and she said, "Where did you find them Hagrid?"
"Dumbledore got them fer me…great man Dumbledore. Got one for each of ya."
"What are Mystic Eggs?" Zacharias Smith asked.
"They're eggs obviously," Hagrid said. "They take 'bout three weeks to 'atch. The animal inside depends on the person 'ho owns it. For instances if…er…lets just say You-Know-Who had it, I'd bet that it'd turn ou' to be some type of Snake… not a Basilisk though cause those are onl' created in a certain way, as Professor Evelyn was suppose to have explained."
"How do we take care of them until they hatch?" Mandy Brocklehurst asked.
"Keep em warm," Hagrid explained. "That's pretty much all ya can do. The class gets more intestin' once they've hatched."
"So it's like a personalized animal for us," Justin Finch-Fletchy said. "Do we get to keep em later on?"
"Depends on the animal," Hagrid warned. "Ya don't take care of em and they won' stay. Now line up ta get one!"
Hermione pretty much ran to the front of the line, dragging Harry close behind her. This was obviously going to be a good class if Hermione Granger was THIS excited about it. Care of Magical Creatures was never anybody's favorite class because of all the odd creatures Hagrid showed them. A few people had been voicing this in the common room and Harry said loudly to Hermione so the others could hear him that if they weren't supposed to see odd creatures then what was the point of the class? That silenced those people…that was for sure.
Harry got his egg and looked at it curiously, it looked plain white with a couple rainbow speckles on it. Suddenly it started glowing.
He jumped with surprise and Hagrid looked at him, then smiled widely and said, "Chose its elemen' already…good on ya 'Arry…it takes a powerful wizard or witch to do that within a few minutes."
The raven haired boy looked at the scarlet red egg curiously and Hermione said, "There are four elements…air, water, earth and fire. There's no doubt that yours is fire."
Harry smirked and said, "No doubt…you know me…the little pyro."
"Don't even joke," she replied flatly. In the summer, during one of their training sessions with Moody, Harry had found a very interesting spell with fire. Apparently the fire changed to a color that described you some how and it couldn't be put out by any person expect for the caster. Harry had constantly used it against Hermione and Moody, locking them in fire cages and such. It happened that his flames were emerald green. Hermione had come to the conclusion that it wasn't because he should be in Slytherin but because of his eye color.
Harry smirked and said, "I should use that spell on Malfoy."
"That'd be interesting," she admitted, knowing what he was talking about. She then looked down at her plain egg and muttered, "Hope you change soon…"
Saturday couldn't come fast enough for the students of Hogwarts. Although there was no trip to Hogsmead this weekend it was better then being stuck in class all day.
Harry was lying on the grass in front of the lake with a bored look on his face. Hermione sat next to him with both their Mystical Eggs beside her. A little closer to the lake sat Seamus and Lavender, both who were rubbing their arms with a look of pain on their faces. Harry assumed that they accidentally elbowed each other. Parvati sat a little away from them and beside her sat both Dean and Neville.
"You know Harry," Neville said. "You should start the DA again." Neville had been very proud of his marks so far. Thanks to his new wand he could to practical things better…that didn't mean he did everything perfect…who does?
"Hey Harry, isn't that your owl?" Dean asked suddenly.
Harry looked up and saw Hedwig flying towards him with a letter clutched in her talons. She landed on his shoulder and hooted proudly.
"What do you got there girl?" Harry asked her and took the letter from her. In return he gave her some Every Flavored Beans he found in his pocket. Hedwig didn't really care though, it was an award.
"Who's it from?" Hermione asked.
"Fred and George," Harry said with a slight wince. "Charlie's funeral is next weekend and they want you and me to come Mia."
"Charlie Weasley?" Parvati asked with a surprised tone. "I didn't know he died."
"Yeah," Harry said with a sad tone. "In the attack on St. Mungo's…wait a minute…what do you mean you didn't know? They reported that in the Daily Prophet!"
"They did but they said there was no statistics," Seamus said. "They only said that five Weasleys were taken hostage by You Know Who…they didn't mention anyone else was hurt."
"Those bastards! They can't even get the story right!" Hermione yelled with anger. Tears were building up in her eyes. "Those stupid Death Eaters killed Charlie and put Bill in a coma!"
Harry placed a comforting arm around her although he too felt as if his insides were twisting painfully. He also felt sheer rage flowing through him.
"I'm gonna find out who killed Charlie and who hurt Bill," Harry said, with an icy tone that made them all shiver. "I swear I will…and when I do…"He didn't finish that sentence and everyone else around him didn't know if they wanted to hear the end of it.
"Well, well, well…what do we have here?" a sadistic voice said.
All the Gryffindors turned and faced Malfoy, all of them with scowls on their faces.
"Sod off Malfoy," Seamus said darkly, his Irish accent seemed to grow thicker whenever he spoke to someone he didn't like.
Malfoy ignored Seamus and said, "What's wrong little Mudblood, made that your boyfriend's gone?" He smirked as he saw both Harry and Hermione stiffen. "Then again, I don't see why you would be. Weasley disappears then you run to Potter…when he's killed who are you gonna run to? Longbottom? You're nothing but a slut."
All of the Gryffindors there looked at the Slytherin with rage, his followers behind him laughed at his comment but everyone looked startled as Draco Malfoy suddenly ended up on the ground.
Harry stood over him, breathing rapidly and his hand crunched into a tight fist with a bit of blood on it, but it wasn't his. Malfoy's nose was bleeding and it was obvious to everyone that Harry had punched him in the face.
"Don't you call her a Mudblood, or a slut or anything else Draco Malfoy or else you'll regret it you son of a bitch," Harry said in a deep voice.
Malfoy stood up and said, "Don't call my mother a bitch Potter."
"Well she is, isn't she?" Harry said. "What's she been doing lately now that I've put your father into Azkaban, eh?"
There was along heavy silence floating around now. People from other years and houses that were nearby stopped to look at what was happening.
Suddenly Harry was on the ground as Malfoy punched him in the stomach and soon the two were in a full fledged fist fight.
"STOP IT!" Hermione screamed and watched as Seamus and Dean grabbed Harry's arms and pulled him away from Malfoy. Theodore Nott and Pansy Parkinson did the same with Draco.
"Wanna know what Potter?" Malfoy spat. "I don't care what you say, at least I have parents!"
Harry felt his blood boil to the breaking point here and much to everyone's shock a bunch of boulders nearby exploded from his rage and a few trees started cracking.
"Harry calm down," he heard somebody yell but he couldn't tell who it was anymore. One minute he was being held back by his friends and the next minute he was face to face with Malfoy, who looked extremely stunned.
"Want to repeat that Malfoy?" Harry hissed.
Malfoy's face went paler then normal (as impossible as that seems) and took a few steps away from Harry. "You'll regret this Potter." He turned from Harry then in a split second before anybody else could do anything he shot a curse at Harry.
Harry winced as it hit him in the chest before he could grab his wand and flew backwards onto the ground. Malfoy and the other Slytherins took this as their chance to escape and did just that.
"Harry! Are you ok?" Hermione asked as she knelt down next to him.
"Fine…I just need some sleep. Don't worry…that curse was a dud," he muttered before falling asleep right there in the middle of a large crowd.
Harry felt a sheer pain in his head as he woke up but did not open his eyes yet.
He groaned angrily and forced himself to open his emerald orbs, only to see, much to his surprise, that he was in his bed rather then in the hospital wing like he expected to be.
"Hey, its about time you woke up," Neville said from his bed when he first noticed that Harry was awake. Dean and Seamus looked up from their chess game and at their friend.
"What happened?" Harry asked as he sat up.
"You got in a fight with Malfoy," Dean said.
"It was pretty awesome," Seamus blurted out. "Malfoy pretty much pissed his pants when he ran away from you."
Harry had to think hard for a minute until he suddenly remembered what happened. A smile appeared on his face then he said seriously, "Why aren't I in the hospital wing?"
"Well you always get banged up and you always end up there so we figured that you could use something else to wake up to after getting yourself beat up somehow," Dean said.
He rolled his eyes and said, "Thank, that's thoughtful of you. Where's Hermione?"
"That crazy girl just left," Seamus said. "Ron was right…she's mental. Didn't leave until I said I was going to start getting ready for bed."
"Took off pretty fast then," Neville said with a smirk.
Harry laughed then winced in pain and said, "How bad does my face look?"
"Not that bad after Hermione got done with those healing spells," Neville said.
"You've still got a couple bruises though," Dean said.
"It makes you look tougher," Seamus said off handedly. "By the way, what was that spell Malfoy hit you with?"
"Dunno, but it must have been a dud," Harry said. "I don't feel or see any side-effects from it."
"You know Harry, Malfoy wasn't the only one you scared," Neville admitted sheepishly.
"I'll say! When you spoke to him it was just like getting a bucket of ice cold water poured down my spine!" Dean agree.
"No kidden," Seamus added.
"Oh, so I guess I did do my job to intimidate Malfoy," Harry said and laid back down. He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "Next week is Charlie's funeral…I hate them…they just seem so…final."
Sure, Harry was really sad and sorry about Charlie and all, but the real reason he seemed depressed at the moment was he realized Sirius had not had a funeral! "Come to think of it," Harry thought dully. "They don't even have a body to bury."
He ignored the conversation going on around him and slowly but surely fell into a deep sleep. In fact he didn't even notice that under his sheet's his wounds were slowly, but visibly, healing himself.
Harry once again stood down the blood hallway. He groaned angrily and said, "Alright you bastard, come out! I know you're here!"
There was a dark chuckle then the second version of Harry appeared. He looked at the real Harry with interest and said, "Now, now Potter…hold your temper."
"What do you want?" Harry growled.
"Straight to the point I see," Harry2 said. "I simply want power."
"That's what you said before," the real Harry snapped back.
"Yes, it is," the fake said. "But that's not what I'm here to tell you today."
"What?" Harry said.
"I like toying with my victims," Harry2 said. "I like leaving them on edge with fear running through their veins."
Harry didn't say anything but stared at his clone with confusion.
"Don't get it yet?" Harry2 asked him. "This is your second warning Potter. You were already given the first one." He grabbed Harry's arm roughly, causing it to burn but then Harry was jerked away from him by a second spirit.
He noticed that the female ghost had appeared once again. Her brown eyes were narrowed and she said, "For the last time LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
Harry2 growled at her and said, "You can't protect him forever you bitch."
"I can sure as hell try," she snapped back.
"Why don't you go back where you came from?" Harry2 suggested.
"Why don't you go to hell?" she replied then faced the real Harry and said, "Don't trust this guy Harry. Hell…that's exactly where he came from and exactly where he belongs. DO NOT trust me and DO NOT ignore anything suspicious. A shield over your mind won't protect you from this…nothing but yourself will."
"Who are you? Both of you?" the real Harry asked.
"I'm someone you can trust…I promise you that," the girl said. "But he's someone out to destroy you Harry. Don't trust him…don't…"
Everything slowly faded out of focus until Harry couldn't see anything out of the ordinary except for the normal swirling colors on a black surface that almost everyone sees when they close their eyes.
On Sunday morning Harry woke up refreshed and ready to go. He had slept for about 13 hours straight and was glad for it. His jaw hurt a little but it was much better then yesterday and the burning pain in his chest was gone.
He was slightly annoyed thought. He knew he had a dream but he couldn't remember what it was about for the life of him.
"Don't trust him…"
He looked around wildly until it hit him that nobody said that, it was just a memory from his dream.
"Don't trust him…" Harry muttered under his breath.
"Don't trust who?"
He nearly jumped out of his boxers when Hermione's voice came from out of nowhere.
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that," she said with amusement in her voice. But that didn't meet her eyes. Their blue hue held pain, sadness and worry in them.
"Next time just don't make me almost have a heart attack," Harry stated.
She seemed to think about it then said, "Well I guess I can work with that."
He rolled his eyes and noticed no one else but they were in the dormitory.
"Umm yeah…can you turn around well I get changed?" Harry asked her.
Hermione's cheeks got a bit of a pink tint to them from embarrassment and she turned around and faced the door.
Harry quickly pulled on a pair of his jeans and a black t-shirt. "Alright Mia, I'm decent now."
She turned around and noticed him digging around for something.
"What are you looking for?" she asked him.
"My wand and my sweater," Harry replied.
"You're wands on your dresser," Hermione noted. "And your sweater's on the floor under that…very old looking bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans."
Harry looked down and sure enough there was his zip up black sweater with white streaks running down the arms. He smiled and pulled it out, noticing for a minute that the beans that spilled did look very old…and they weren't his, that was for sure. He threw it on and grabbed his wand then said, "Let's go."
"Where?" Hermione asked as she followed him out of the dorm.
"Not a clue," Harry said happily, missing the odd look his friend shot him.
"Hiya Harry, glad to see your better," Colin Creevey said excitedly, like always.
"Hullo Colin," Harry said as if on autopilot.
"Harry can I get a picture of you with that bruise?" Colin asked.
"No," Harry said and Hermione burst out laughing as she pushed Harry out of the common room.
"I promised the others when you woke up we'd go find them," Hermione explained as she started leading him away.
"Where are they?" Harry asked.
"The room of requirement," she replied.
They continued towards the previously mentioned room in silence. Harry had to admit when they got there that watching Hermione walk back and fourth in front like she was lost was pretty funny.
When the door appeared Hermione shot him a glare and walked into it. Harry almost followed her when he stopped.
If Dean, Parvati, Neville, Seamus and Lavender were in there already then the doorknob would have been visible. That's when a memory flew back into Harry's head and he felt like he was struck by lightning into shock.
"Don't trust him…" Harry muttered under his breath.
"Don't trust who?"
He nearly jumped out of his boxers when Hermione's voice came from out of nowhere.
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that," she said with amusement in her voice. But that didn't meet her eyes. Their blue hue held pain, sadness and worry in them.
"Hermione's eyes aren't blue," he said under his breath.
"Harry?" Hermione…or rather that person called out.
"Who the hell are you?" Harry growled at he looked into the room and stared in horror and the bloody walls that were in it.
"What do you mean Harry?" she asked innocently.
"You're not Hermione," he replied.
"Yes I am."
"What's my middle name?"
"James."
"What's my mum's name?'
"Lily."
"Who was my godfather?"
"Sirius."
"What was my mom's full name before she was married?"
Hermoine seemed stumped and Harry knew it wasn't the real one, he had told Hermione his mother's full name when they were looking at the family tree things at Grimmauld place.
"Lily Petunia Dursley," the fake Hermione blurted out.
"That, I will take as a major insult," Harry said and took out his wand and yelled, "Stupefy!" It smacked the fake Hermione and then, much to his shock, the person vanished!
"What the bloody hell?" He said, using Ron's infamous catchphrase as he stumbled backwards into the hallway and against the wall.
"Harry?"
He looked around to see Hermione (brown eyes included) along with the rest of the Gryffindor sixth years.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"What was my mom's full name before she was married?" Harry said, realizing he sounded quite insane.
They all gave him an odd look but Hermione said, "Lily Marie Evans."
He sighed then said, "There was a fake you."
"A fake me?" she asked.
"Yes, I knew it was a fake because she had blue eyes. Look at the room she created!" Harry said wildly.
Parvati was the closest and looked in. Her skin went the same color of that of a procleine doll and she turned around and threw up on the stone floor.
"What's wrong?" Lavender asked her friend.
"The room's made of blood," Parvati replied and everyone looked in, only to get disgusted faces.
Hermione looked over at Harry and was about to ask what happened to the other her when she noticed something on the slightly rolled up sleeves of his sweater. "Harry, where did you get that burn that looks like a handprint?"
Harry looked at his arm, opposite the one of his cuts, to see that there was indeed a burn on it. One that looked like someone with a hand of fire had grabbed a hold of him.
Suddenly it hit him, "My dream…"
Everyone gave him an odd look but didn't say anything. They all stood in silence and Neville went to get Dumbledore to show him the room and tell him what happened.
Author's Random Babbling
Hey people! Well I don't really have anything to complain about today…
All my nice little quotes from Harry Potter books, movies, other movies, random quotes and random song lyrics will be at the first of the fic where that part about the marshmallow is (LMAO! I LOVE THAT PART)
Well thank you to everyone who reviewed but like I mentioned I'll only REPLY to a review for now on if there's a question in it. Everyone else still gets mentioned though.
Now nobody probably noticed this but I changed a bit of the wording of the summary. That should allow many of you to guess what's going to happen, but remember not everything is as it seems! I'm also a strange girl so no one really knows what I'll do in fics…just ask anyone who knows me! lol.
I'm also look at the reviews and a lot of people asked random questions…lol but like I said I'll answer QUESTIONS, nothing else.
Well I'll catch ya'll later!
Reviewers:
Jess the Rockstar Psychiatrist
Be0t – I don't really have a certain update time. I write and when I finish it I post it.
Athenakitty – yes. 30 people. Pretty good. Not in this story.
Destined Enchantress – Yeah I like looking up names but I just go to google and type in 'name meanings' or something…no specific website.
Fallen-angel-scorn – Do you really think I'll tell? Maybe, and you caught a name in that that I didn't mean to let anyone see, it's not there anymore though.
Maylay
Lady Nicole Potter – I might put elves or vampires in…I don't know much about them myself though.
Desolation Lily
CastusAlbusCor
Katisha
Aqua Mage
I'm not the weakest link
Aldebaran Vipertooth
Anonymousperson7 – That was just a mistake I made I guess
Gorav1
Wise Man Domingo
Gryffindor-girl2004
Thank you to everyone and please read and review!
Krystal Lily Potter