Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
By: Krystal Lily Potter
Chapter Eleven: Hogsmead's Secret
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…
Quotes
"He sounds exactly like Moody," said Harry quietly, tucking the letter away again inside his robes. "'Constant vigilance!' You'd think I walk around with my eyes shut, banging off the walls...."
Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry, Hermione, Seamus, Dean, Lavender and Parvati all sat together outside the room of requirement. They had left the door open so it wouldn't change and they had proof as to what had happened.
About ten minutes later Neville returned with Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape and Evelyn.
"What happened-OH MY GOD!" Professor Evelyn yelled as she saw the bloody room.
Professor McGongall's lips were in such a straight line that they seemed to disappear, Snape looked like his birthday had come early and Dumbledore looked surprise.
"May I say Headmaster," Snape said suddenly, causing everyone to look at him. "That once again Potter seems to have been unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, or so it seems."
"Pardon?" McGonagall said sternly.
Before Snape could say anything Harry said, "I wasn't in the wrong place at the wrong time! I was led here!"
"By who?" Snape growled.
"Well…by a fake Hermione," Harry said with a sheepish tone to his voice.
Snape raised an eyebrow and looked at Professor Dumbledore skeptically.
"Harry," Dumbledore said. "Did anyone else see you with this other Hermione?"
"Erm…" Harry thought for a minute. "Yeah. Colin Creevey did."
"Minerva, would you please get Mr. Creevey?" Dumbledore asked and the Head of Gryffindor nodded sharply and pretty much stormed towards the Gryffindor common room.
Professor Evelyn kept looking from Harry, to the room, and then back to Harry again. She was shaking lightly and she was biting her lip nervously.
A few minutes later Professor McGonagall came back with Colin Creevey as well as a few other Gryffindors in his year.
"Tell them what you told me Mr. Creevey," Professor McGonagall ordered.
"You see sir…umm…well…when I spoke to Harry in the common room…" Colin's eyes trailed to Harry hesitantly then to the floor as he continued speaking. "He came from his dorm alone…he was alone when I spoke to him and when he walked away…he was alone."
"It's true sir," a few of the other mumbled.
Professor Snape smirked triumphantly and Professor Dumbledore sighed and said, "You may go."
They did so but not without sending worried looks behind them.
"Harry…why did you lie to us?" Dumbledore asked quietly.
"I didn't sir," Harry said, feeling as if the bottom of his stomach had just dropped out. "I swear I was with a fake Hermione."
"Where is she now?" Snape growled.
"I hit her with a stunning spell and she vanished," Harry replied sharply.
"Headmaster, it seems to me that Potter was making this…second Ms. Granger up and he probably created this room himself," Snape said silkily. "So I believe that lying would call for a detention…lying to four teachers as well as classmates should do for a week's worth actually."
Harry's mouth fell open and he turned to the others and said, "You guys believe me? Right?"
They all looked at him hesitantly.
He felt his rage build up and he faced Dumbledore. His face showed no emotion once or ever so nobody knew what was coming.
"Yes…yes you are right Severus," Dumbledore said and rubbed between his eyes. "A week's worth of detention Harry."
"Which will be spent with me," Professor McGonagall interrupted rudely.
"Not all of them can be spent with you Minvera," Snape said.
"Of course not," Professor Evelyn spoke up. "The other half will be spent with me."
Snape looked positively livid.
"I suppose that will do," Dumbledore said. He looked at the room, then at Harry then said, "Why Harry?"
"I DIDN'T CREATE THAT FUCKING ROOM!" Harry roared. "I ALSO WASN"T LYING ABOUT THAT OTHER HERMIONE! GOD DAMNIT! WHY WON'T ANYONE BELIEVE ME?!"
A suit of armor a little ways down the hallway suddenly exploded into shards of silver iron.
"POTTER!" Snape yelled.
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Harry yelled then turned to his friends and said, "WHAT'S YOUR EXCUSE EH?"
Without waiting for an answer he turned around and walked away, kicking Mrs. Norris as she walked close to him.
"There you go Ron," Harry said loudly. "I finally kicked her for you." With that he continued raging as he walked towards the common room. Occasionally a vase or mirror or suit of armor he passed would explode randomly.
He stopped halfways to the common room and took off in the other direction to the main doors. When he got there he pushed them opened and moved quickly across the grounds. His eyes glaring at the dirt he walked on as he kicked some stones roughly.
"'Arry?" Hagrid's voice boomed from his cabin.
Harry looked up and saw the worry on the half giant's face and said, "Hi Hagrid."
"Ya alrigh? Got pretty beat up yesterday ya did," Hagrid said. "Yea I knew bu' I didn't tell Dumbledore. Whas wrong?"
"Oh it's nothing you did Hagrid," Harry said with a sigh. "I'm just a little angry, you know?"
"Well what are ya angry bout?" Hagrid asked as he led Harry into his cabin.
Harry fended off Fang then sat down at Hagrid's large table and watched as his huge friend went around making tea.
"Would ya like a cuppa?" Hagrid asked then added with delight, "an' some of my new cookies? New recipe!'
Harry agreed on the tea and he was just to polite to this man to refuse his cooking, even if most of the time it was terrible.
"These are good Hagrid," Harry said as he ate a plain old chocolate chip cookie.
"I know eh? Muggle recipe! Imagine!" Hagrid said then his face went serious. "Now whas bothering ya 'Arry?"
"I woke up today and I went to the room of requirement with Hermione…or at least I thought it was Hermione. She opened the room and it was…it was covered in blood! I then realized that this person had blue eyes and Hermione's are brown so it wasn't her. I proved it by asking her a question that Hermione WOULD know but she didn't know it. I attempted to stun her but her body vanished when the curse touched her. Then the real Hermione along with my other friends shows up and Neville got Dumbledore. After explaining what happened, because of Snape, they got Colin who said I was never with Hermione and I got detention for lying to four teachers and six students but I didn't Hagrid! Dumbledore didn't believe me…"
Harry had said all that really fast and with little breath in between his words. He suddenly remembered how loyal Hagrid was to Dumbledore and said, "But I don't expect you to believe me."
"Why bloody not?" Hagrid asked. "I believe ya 'Arry! It's jus like wit Sirius and Ya-Know-Who! If ya say it 'appened…it 'appened."
Harry smiled warmly at his friend and said, "Thanks Hagrid...anyways how's Grawp?"
"'E's doin great!" Hagrid said, also glad of a change in conversation. Hagrid went on about his 'little' brother and how good he was behaving and how he was progressing with his English speech.
After he was done there was a pause and Harry was staring at the eggs curiously. They had left them with Hagrid for the weekend because apparently they were exactly two weeks old and they needed to have certain herb lotions put on them that only Hagrid was allowed to use because it was dangerous and nobody wanted the students to burn their hands off.
"Hagrid, what kind of animals come out of those?" Harry asked.
"Depends," Hagrid said. "I know yer learning bout inner animals and stuff but tis not those...they are differen' and they are more…like yer personality then yer inner animal."
"Oh," Harry said with slightly amusement at Hagrid's attempts of explaining things. He looked over and spotted his egg…it was the only one colored plus they were all in the certain baskets they had made for them.
"I guess I'll be getting back soon," Harry said and stood up. He stretched lightly and went to leave.
"Yea, ya've been 'ere for bout three hours now! And 'Arry?"
"Yeah?"
"Try ta get long with yer friends? It'll come in handy in war," Hagrid said. "Knowing yut allies."
"True," Harry said. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."
"Eh?" Hagrid asked, confused.
"Muggle saying," Harry said then walked off. "Bye Hagrid!"
"Bye 'Arry," Hagrid said and watched as the teenager got into the school. He shook his head lightly and sighed…he knew that Dumbledore crossing Harry like he was would not be a good outcome for the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
Harry spent most of his day avoiding Hermione and the others as much as possible. Eventually he was sick of dodging them and decided just to stay in one spot, besides he needed to do his homework and running around, although as healthy as it was for him in this large castle, defiantly wouldn't help him get it done.
Finally he settled on sitting in the common room and finishing his homework that was due for tomorrow. Transfiguration questions, a summary about Demons for Defense Against the Dark Arts, 30 questions for Potions and a page on the sleeping charm for Charms.
"Joy to the world," Harry said and started with Potions first.
About two hours later Hermione returned from where she had been (which Harry had assumed was the library) and looked around the common room. She saw him sitting behind a pile of books writing with a bored look on his face.
"Harry," she said and walked towards her friend. She looked nervous, expecting him to snap at her as she asked, "Can I sit here?"
Harry cleared some of his papers from the seat beside him on the couch and said, "No but you could sit here. I have to talk to you about something and it's no one else's business what it is."
She sighed with relief and took a seat next to him. There was an awkward pause then Hermione said, "I'm sorry for not standing up for you! I do believe you! After I saw the startled look on your face and that burn on your arm…"
"It's ok," Harry said. "Sure we're going to get mad at each other, but what's good without bad? All friends need to fight to be true friends. Hagrid dropped hints about that in his speech about how well Grawp was doing lately thanks to his friends."
Hermione smiled and said, "So are we alright now?"
"Of course we are," Harry said. "We both lost Ron; we need each other right now."
Hermione nodded in agreement and her eyes trailed to his parchment, "That answer's wrong."
Harry looked at it, look at her and then in a mocking voice he said, "Stop being too smart."
She laughed and it seemed as if a large weight had been lifted from both their shoulders as they started getting along again.
On Monday morning Harry was pretty much dreading to find out what his detention was. He had never seen McGonagall look as angry as she had yesterday and he had detention with her rather then Evelyn today.
"Stupid Snape," Harry muttered as they walked into the Defense room.
Dean sniggered a bit then said, "Just curse him already."
"Wouldn't I love to," Harry replied honestly.
"I'd love to see you do that," Professor Evelyn's voice said to him. Everyone turned and stared at her with shock. "What? Can't teachers have enemies too?"
"I thought you were Canadian? How would you know Snape?" Hermione asked.
"I am Canadian, but I came to school here for three years…unfortunantly Snape was here at that time…bloody git," Evelyn muttered then walked to the front of the class as the bell rang. She seemed slightly mad today for some reason. "Pass your homework forewards. For every paper not done it's five points from your house."
"Wow," Seamus muttered as they left that class later on. "Who mugged her this morning? Jeez."
"Probably Snape," Padma said from the spot beside her sister. "Well I have Charms next. I'll see you all later."
"Bye sis," Parvati said and all the Ravenclaws in that class headed off towards Charms well the Gryffindors that were in Transfiguration headed to McGonagall.
It turned out that she too, was in an extremely bad mood. She had set them tones of difficult class work with little instructions and she didn't give out a single point. She also loaded them on with tones of homework.
"Mr. Potter," she called out to him.
Harry groaned and walked back to her desk, wishing he had been quicker to leave.
"You have detention with me tonight. Be here at 8 sharp," she ordered. "That is all."
Harry nodded and walked out of the classroom, mumbling things about cranky teachers.
After lunch Harry sat beside Hermione in potions listening to Snape's lecture and writing down notes. He didn't give a reason for Snape to criticize him in this class anymore…or at least tried not to.
"Potter, give me your homework," Snape said in a dark tone. The Potion's Master was even more livid to Harry when he was doing good in his class.
Harry handed him the parchment with all his answer on it (full sentences to, he was proud to add) and watched as Snape read them over. People from all around the classroom were staring curiously as to what Snape would say to his least favorite student.
Snape didn't say anything, he threw the questions back on Harry's desk and turned and walked away. Although Harry saw Snape's eye actually twitch.
A proud smirked appeared on Harry's face for a split second but it didn't last long. He wasn't about to start gloating like his father had done just because he did better then someone.
"Today, we will be making the magical strengthening potion. If made correctly it will strengthen your weakest ability, if made wrong it could poison you, petrify you, or make your strongest trait your weakest one," Snape looked directly at Harry when saying this. "You may work in pairs. I don't care who you work with, I'm not putting you in partners, it's just a waste of my time. The ingredients and instructions are on the bored. This potion will take a week to make…now START WORKING!" Snape roared. Obviously he was very angry about something today…he usually never lost his cool like that.
Hermione and Harry exchanged looks and mentally agreed to be partners. The two both started working on the potion, but Harry couldn't help but notice that Snape's cold glare seemed to be directed at him as much as possible during that class.
Harry entered McGonagall's office at 8 o'clock sharp like she had asked him too.
She looked up as he entered and said, "Sit here Harry."
Harry was a little surprised to see she wanted him to sit opposite of her and that she had called him Harry.
"Potter," she said with a sad look on her eyes. "I just wanted you to know that I believe you in saying there was another Ms. Granger. Although it is disturbing and but it's also a comfort to me, to at least know I'm not going insane."
"Pardon?" Harry said, slightly startled.
"I too have seen a double of certain people lately," McGonagall said. "Needless to say it is very disturbing. Especially if you see the fake person and then moments later the real one comes up to you. It's quite confusing. Professor Snape has been blaming it on my age."
Harry shook his head and said, "I can saw it too though."
"Which is a great relief on my part, I assure you," Professor McGonagall replied. "The reason I volunteered to take you for detention was because I didn't believe you deserved it. Although I do need help with one thing…sorting my books…"
Harry sighed, he was thankful to the transfiguration teacher but this was going to be along night…at least that was his opinion, seeing the several book cases with messy books in them…
"Professor?" Harry asked suddenly.
"Yes Potter?"
"I'm still allowed to go to Hogsmead this weekend, right?" Harry inquired. Originally he and Hermione had planned on going to Charlie's funeral but it was post-phoned because Bill was getting much better and he wanted to see his brother's burial…although he would be out of the hospital in two weeks so they decided to wait.
"Of course you are and if Severus gives you any trouble just tell him you have my permission," she said briskly as she led the way to the first bookcase. "Now I want these in alpabethical order and in order by subject…"
"Long night…" Harry thought dully.
The rest of the week pretty much flew by without much incident. It took Harry all three of his detentions with McGonagall to help her sort her book case and his two detentions with Evelyn proved to be interesting…all she wanted him to do was to write down everything she ranted about but aside from that all he did was read, which he didn't really mind because they were interesting books.
Actually saying the week flew by was over stating it…the week seemed to move at snail pace. Potion's with Snape was getting worse and worse towards Harry, who was at the top in that particular class now.
"Maybe I should just start failing on purpose," Harry yelled angrily as they left the potions classroom one day, his temper was getting the best of him. "At least then that bastard wouldn't just lash out at me for no reason!"
Hermione hadn't taken that very well and had growled him about keeping classes and ignoring Snape as much as possible. She had also pointed out that Malfoy seemed to be too frightened of Harry to go near him anymore.
"Harry," Mark said as he walked over to his cousin.
"Yeah Mark?" Harry replied.
"You're going to Hogsmead tomorrow right?" the brown haired boy asked.
"Of course I am," the boy who lived replied.
"Well can you get me some candy or something? I'll give you the money," Mark said pleadingly.
Harry forgot that the first and second years were allowed in the village.
"Sure Mark. Have you talked to Nicola, Richie or Rose lately?" Harry asked, catching Hermione's attention to.
"Not really," Mark said sadly. "We haven't really had the chance to talk. By the way, you're Lavender Brown right?" he was glancing at the girl beside Hermione.
"Yeah I am, why?" she asked.
"Your sister's Ashleigh Brown right?"
"Yeah…"
"Poor you, she's really annoying," Mark noted.
Lavender whooped then said, "I love this kid! He agrees with me!"
Everyone just shot her weird looks and went back to whatever they were doing before and Lavender's face went scarlet from embarrassment.
Harry woke up on Saturday gasping for breath. It wasn't because of a dream or anything, it was because something…or rather someone had just launched an attack and landed roughly on this stomach.
He heard laughter and saw Neville on his bed laughing. This woke Dean and Seamus up.
Harry looked up and saw Hermione laying on top of him with an innocent smile as she said, "I had to get you up somehow."
"Did you really have to jump on me though?" Harry groaned.
"What the? Hermione, didn't know you were that kind if girl," Seamus said teasingly.
Her cheeks went pink and she grabbed Harry's pillow as he sat up and started beating Seamus with it yelling, "TAKE IT BACK!"
"Alright already! Honestly woman! You are mental!" the irish boy cried out.
Dean laughed and shook his head then said, "Neville why are you trying to make an early escape?"
"No reason," he said, blushing slightly.
"Oh!" Harry said with a smirk. "Seems like our little Neville Longbottom here has a date."
Neville's neck went red much like the way Vernon's would but then the teenager smirked and said, "Yeah and I'm not going to mess it up like some people did, eh Harry?"
"BURN!" Seamus yelled.
Harry laughed, knowing they were referring to his date with Cho last year. "Excuse me, I had to go meet my friends!"
"Speaking of your friends, mind leaving Hermy well we get change?" Dean asked.
"Like I'd want to watch you three," Hermione replied with a playful tint to her voice as she followed Neville out of the room. "So Neville, who are you going to Hogsmead with?"
"Promise not to tell anyone…aside from Harry?" Neville asked after a minute.
"Of course," she replied.
"OK. I'm going with Luna," he said.
"Luna Lovegood? Well that's nice," she said honestly as they reached the common room. He left and she sat on the couch and waited for the three boys to come. She was spending the day in Hogsmead with the three of them. Parvati and Lavender asked if she wanted to go with that but she refused.
A few minutes later the boys entered the common room.
"Well let's get going!" Seamus said and led the way to the door.
"Irish people," Harry muttered. "So impatient."
"Actually they're said to have tempers," Dean said out of the blue. "Much like red-heads."
"Funny," Seamus replied.
Harry and Hermione burst out laughing and followed the two boys through the common room door.
After checking out Honeyduke's, Zonko's, the bookstore (Hermione threatened them…and she's not the person you want to be threatened by) and they were currently sitting in The Three Broomsticks.
A young waitress came and gave them their Butterbeers. She glanced at Harry and her eyes trailed on his visible scar.
"Is there a problem?" Hermione said roughly.
The waitress looked startled then said, "No. Enjoy your drinks."
They waited until she was out of earshot then Hermione said, "Honestly! That was rude!"
"No it wasn't she was hot!" Seamus said then turned to Harry and added, "She was checking you out mate."
"Oh yes…all four inches of my scar," Harry said sarcastically.
Dean rolled his eyes then said, "So speaking of hot and things like that…who does everyone here fancy. Yes that includes you Hermione."
"That's none of your business Thomas," Hermione said simply.
"We hit a nerve," Seamus said.
Harry rolled his eyes then said, "Leave her alone guys." Although he soon wished he hadn't stood up for his friend.
"Who do you like then Harry?" Dean said.
"Yeah, I noticed a few girls looking at you from all houses. Padma Patil, Daphne Greengrass, Ebony Moon and some little kids in Gryffindor," Seamus said with a snicker.
Hermione glared at him and Harry said, "I don't have time for a girlfriend now. There are some more important things happening."
"No kidden," Hermione piped up, glad for a change in subject. "I mean with Voldemort and all. Oh stop it you two, your Gryffindors! Don't wince at that stupid name!"
"You know what Dumbledore told me once?" Harry said suddenly.
"What?" Everyone else asked.
"Fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself," Harry explained as he drank the last of his Butterbeer and noticed he was the last one done. "Lets go look around the outer parts of Hogsmead…just see if we can find anything interesting."
"Alright." The others had no complaints about that idea…to be honest Dean and Seamus had never been out of the main part of the village.
"Oh wow guys, look at this!"
They had been exploring the bottom of a mountain just outside of Hogsmead. Dean and Seamus were having a great time seeing who could find the biggest boulder around. Hermione just rolled her eyes at them.
Harry, Seamus and Hermione rushed over to where Dean was and found him holding some branches to a normal weeping willow tree which blocked…
"A cave?" Seamus asked.
Harry looked at the entrance then pulled out his wand and said, "Lumos." He shined it around to see if there was anything remotely dangerous but he couldn't see anything beyond 10 feet into the cave. He smirked and Hermione knew that look.
"No Harry! We don't know what's in the cave!" she growled. "Besides we're prefects, we have to set a good example for students."
"Well I've done a great job of that already," he replied sarcastically. "Yelling at teachers and everything. Come on Hermione, nothing's going to happen, trust me."
She looked at the cave hesitantly then said, "Fine but if we hear one sound that's out of the ordinary we're leaving."
Harry led the way into the cave. It was pretty amazing. It was lined with broken jewels and what looked like broken pottery made of gold and silver.
"Let's not tell anyone about this place," Seamus said.
"I'm for that," Dean replied.
Hermione suddenly gasped and grabbed Harry's arm so he would stop.
"What?" he asked her.
"Listen," she hissed and none of them made a sound. Although they did hear growling, and it was getting louder.
"It sounds like a werewolf," Seamus said with horror.
"It's not a werewolf! One, it's not night, two, there's no full moon," Harry growled at him.
"Come on, lets get out of here," Hermione said and started pulling him back.
Harry was about to argue when he could actually HEAR the footsteps of whatever it was.
"RUN!" Dean yelled and all four of them took off towards the entrance. The creature was picking up speed as well. They got out of the cave and suddenly there was a terrible sound, then the growling vanished.
"What the hell was that?" Hermione said with terror in her eyes.
"I don't know…" Harry said. "But it obviously can't leave the cave. Let's cover it back up and not mention it to anyone again."
"But what if somebody else stumbles into it?" Hermione argued.
"If we tell somebody they'll just go check it out and probably die or something and someone else will check and they'll die and so on. If no one knows about it maybe no one will find it again," Harry said. "It might not sound logical but it's all we've got."
Hermione bit her lip then sighed and nodded, "Nobody say anything about this and nobody come back here. Got it?"
They all agreed, and walked back towards the castle.
Up on the cliff a figure started at the four retreating students. It sighed and said, "Almost all the pieces are set only a few more and then…let the games begin…"
Author's Random Babbling
Well I'm done again. Yes I know that this chapter is a little boring and random and all but trust me, there are some major hints in here. Trust me on that one! There are a few there.
So did I do good with the update for this chapter? I personally don't think I did that bad.
Yeah this chapter is a little stupid, but it's important. I didn't need many details and the things that were important were added in there with a couple random things. The next chapter will be more exciting, promise!
Well I have nothing to rant about now and my friend Jess is getting impatient for me to update this (lol) so I'll put him out of his bordom and write down the reviewers and upload this!
Catch ya later!
Thank you to:
Jess the Rockstar Psychiatrist
I'm not the weakest link
Aqua Mage
LJstagflower4e/JCtigerwolf4e
Athenakitty – Maybe. It was just a dud…nothing special. Maybe. Yes. Not telling. That's a good idea.
Chocolaterogue
Doughgurl2008
Padfootmoony13 – There was no point to it which makes it good for the fans! (referring to the movie here)
Pisces411
Wise Man Domingo
Gorav1
HarrysGirl
Krazy lunitiK
Desolation Lily
CastusAlbusCor
Joseph Schuler – In the books Hermione is probably an only child and Lily probably didn't have a brother either.
Quizgirl – I'm gonna update right after I finish writing these reviewers down and answering questions. How long does it usually take me? Oh lord I don't know…can be anywhere from two days to two weeks. I don't make a time limit for myself, I just write and when I'm done…I'm done.
Black Vengeance
Trumpet-Geek
Runaway Spirit
PLEASE REVIEW!
Krystal Lily Potter