Harry Potter and the Golden Bell
Chapter 8
A Bleeding Scar, An Angry Bell, And A White Ball Of Fire

A/N: I had no idea what to call this chapter, but I finally thought of something. Anyway, This beginning part was probably suspected. My hints were clear in the last chapter, I wager. =oP I went to camp last week (I got back on Sunday the 25th) and I brought a black spiral notebook there so I could write the rest of chapter 8. I stopped writing before camp where Care of Magical Creatures ends (Harry's class) and I wanted to have a chapter ready when I got back. And I do!! I also have good news...I wrote part of one of the last chapters in the sequel to this one because I had a very good idea for it. Don't get too excited about finding out the whole story with the golden bell in this story because I decided that that information belongs in the sequel. haha. That way, you'll HAVE to read the sequel to find out what happens. Mwhaha. I also have an idea for the beginning of the sequel too. I think it's a good one lol. It starts at the Dursleys when Har - okay read this one instead of this author's note..I'm not giving away the beginning of a story of mine. =oP
P.S. I GOT MAIL FROM DAN RADCLIFFE!! I sent him a letter requesting a picture and he sent one signed!!!! WOOOOT!!! I sent letters to Emma Watson (that was returned saying I used the wrong address...), Rupert Grint, David Thewlis, and Kenneth Branagh, (I dont remember how to spell that..) can't wait until they all get returned!!!!

"Oy! Anna-Nicole!" Anna-Nicole turned around and walked over to Hagrid. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were in their Care of Magical Creatures Class. Hagrid had moved to even smaller animals. He had returned the Jarvey to its owner and had used the money he had asked for back to rent out two dozen Puffskeins. The students loved the Puffskeins, as they were small and fluffy with long tongues. They made quiet purring noises and many people often keep them as pets.
Anna-Nicole turned away from her Puffskein and walked over to Hagrid. She looked up at his head, eclipsing the sun and moved a hand over her head so that she could see his face more properly. He bent down so his face was nearer hers and made sure no one was listening.
"Talked ter Harry yesterday."
"You did? About what?"
" 'Bou' you."
"Me?"
"Yep. He really likes yeh. Wanted me ter tell yeh that." Hagrid smiled and Anna-Nicole returned the smile.
" 'ey - good luck wit' him. You're a lucky girl." Hagrid patted her on the shoulder and sent her back to her Puffskein.

"But, I don't like her, Hagrid!" Harry protested during his Care of Magical Creatures class. His Puffskein reached out its long tongue and licked his face. Harry bunched up his robes and wiped off his wet cheek, leaving the Puffskein very offended.
"Yes yeh do, Harry! The way yeh talk about her - watch it, Ron (Ron's Puffskein bit his finger. "AW!! STUPID ANIMAL!")."
"Hagrid...I don't like her. She asked me out, I said no - "
"Then yeh went back ter her - "
"I didn't have a choice! I don't want to hurt her feelings. If anything, I want her to just forget about me! Next Hogsmeade weekend, I'll take her out and then that's it." Harry turned around and began feeding his Puffskein a carrot, which it ate gratefully and began purring.
"Yeh know yeh like 'er, Harry," Hagrid said after a long time. Harry was quiet for a while. He did like her...a little. Not enough for Anna-Nicole to realize, though. Hagrid smiled and thumped Harry on the back.
"I'm gonna go check on Malfoy...make sure he ain't abusin' any o' me other animals." And with that, Hagrid left for the section of the yards that the Slytherins were at.
Hermione decided to change the subject immediately.
"Still have that bell, Harry?" Harry took the hint and nodded. He pulled it out of his robes and rang it a few times.
"I have no idea why you insist on keeping that thing. You're going to get into trouble and - "
"Hermione. He obviously doesn't care," said Ron. Hermione pulled out her wand and turned his Puffskein into a toad. Ron looked at his toad and frowned.
"Well, at least it won't bite me now." Hermione rolled her eyes and turned back to Harry.
"The thing is, Harry...that bell is trouble. Harry, if you keep that bell, you're - someone's looking for it, Harry. They'll kill you for it."
"I want to know why...I want to know why that that bell is worth killing for. What does it do?" At that, Malfoy turned around and looked at the bell in Harry's hand. He strode over to Harry, Ron, and Hermione and pointed at the bell.
"Where did you get that?" he asked. Harry turned to look at him.
"You recognize this?" he responded cooly, holding up the bell. Malfoy was quiet. He looked at it, then at Harry.
"Where did you get it?"
"Why do you need to know?"
"It doesn't belong to you," said Malfoy. He sounded scared. Almost as if he thought that Harry was going to attack him.
"Who does it belong to, then?"
"I can't...I can't tell you that."
"The only way you're getting it from me is if you tell me what it is and who it belongs to." There was a pause where Harry and Malfoy stared at each other as if trying to get information out of each other with their minds. Then, Malfoy spoke in his normal, icy tone.
"Then, I'll have to find another way to get it." Malfoy sneered and stalked off. When he was far enough away, Ron leaned in to his two friends.
"What does Malfoy want with the bell? Do you think it has anything to do with..."
"Lucius!" Hermione exclaimed in a hushed voice, "Lucius Malfoy - he's a Death Eater - Voldemort! He serves Voldemort...Voldemort must want the bell...But..why?"
"Lucius must have told Draco to be on the lookout for the bell. Voldemort knows it's on the school grounds. That's why he's here," said Harry.
"Do you think he knows that you have it?" asked Ron.
"I don't know," whispered Harry.
"But if Voldemort wants it back...he didn't give it to you," said Hermione.
"I don't know who gave it to me. I don't even know if anyone gave it to me - I told you, it just appeared on my nightstand when I woke up. "
"Just get rid of it," whispered Hermione, "That's the best thing to do."
"Allright, it's almost time ter go. Ever'one leave yer Puffskeins where they are and gather yer things ta'gether." Hagrid's loud voice rang over the crowd, many of its members looking like they wanted to stay and play with the Puffskeins. Harry Ron and Hermione decided to leave for their History of Magic class because they didn't want to bother Hagrid by staying longer. When they got up to the classroom, they sat down and waited for Professor Binns to arrive. When he did, he entered as he normally did, and drifted through the chalkboard. He opened up a book and began droning on about Magical Ability. Harry looked across the room at Anna-Nicole, who was staring him with a big smile on her face. He smiled back politely and pretended to be especially interested about Binns's lesson.
"She's looking at me again," said Harry to Hermione out of the corner of his mouth.
"Of course she is," replied Hermione, her nose in her History Book, "She likes you."
"She likes me a little too much if you ask me," said Harry frustratedly. He picked up his quill and began scribbling down some fake notes.
"It's just a crush, Harry," Hermione whispered, "She'll be over you in a few months and onto someone else before you know it. Now please do not disturb me again. I, for one, want to concentrate on learning this material. We have N.E.W.T.s next year, you know." Hermione went back to watching Professor Binns and listening hard. Harry looked from Hermione to Anna-Nicole who was now writing in a blue notebook. Harry sat up straighter to get a vague idea of what it was she was writing. It didn't look like she was taking notes. She had a content smile on her face. Her elbow was on the desk she was at and her head was propped on her hand. Harry frowned when he saw what it said: 'Anna-Nicole Potter. Mrs. Harry Potter. Mrs. Anna-Nicole Ginnesbrook Potter.' He focused his attention back onto Binns, who scratched his ghostly nose, still talking. Just then, Harry's scar seared with pain. He put his hand to his forehead and looked around the room for the source. His eyes landed right on Anna-Nicole as he remembered the day at the sundial the last time his scar hurt. She was now looking at him more intently than ever. He heard a gasp from his right and noticed it was Hermione. He turned his head to look at her.
"Harry! Harry, your scar is bleeding!" Harry was panic stricken. He took his hand off of his forehead and watched a drop of blood trickle down his ring finger. He jumped up from his seat and sprinted out of the room so fast that only 3 heads turned. Hermione's, Ron's, and of course, Anna-Nicole's. Quite expectedly, Professor Binns wasn't phased at all by the outburst and continued reading. Harry dashed out of the room, down the corridors, and carelessly turned into the first bathroom he saw. He went to one of the sinks and looked at himself in the mirror above it. His scar wasn't bleeding as much now, but the blood was slowly seeping out of it and dripping down towards his eye. He hastily turned on the faucet, put his hands underneath the cool water and plastered them over his scar and closed his eyes. Moaning Myrtle flew slowly out of her cubicle and approached him from behind. She tapped him on the shoulder and fled up his faucet laughing. Harry opened his eyes just as Myrtle began to sneak out of the faucet of the sink next to the one he was standing in front of.
"Myrtle," he said, "I kind of have a problem. Don't bother me, please."
"Whats YOUR problem? It's probably nothing compared to mine. Living here in a toilet doing nothing day to day, my only fun being when i scare people away. Fine, tell Myrtle to go away. She will. She'll go away," she said and glided on top of the cluster of sinks in the middle of the bathroom. Harry opened his mouth to scold her, but heard the sound of the door creaking open. Someone had come in. They would see Harry there and think he was mad for coming into a girls' bathroom. He and Myrtle turned to look at the door and Myrtle grinned widely.
"Oh," she said, "I'll leave you two alone." Myrtle zoomed into her cubicle, cushioning her landing with the water in the toilet and peered over the wall of the cubicle to see what Anna-Nicole and Harry were going to do next. She giggled silently to herself.
"Harry? What are you doing in here? And why did you leave the classroom so quickly?"
"Er..." She had too many questions for him that he couldn't answer, so he just kept quiet and let her talk. She gasped suddenly and Harry noticed that she was looking at his forehead.
"Your forehead is bleeding!" Harry quickly covered up his scar better with his hand.
"Don't worry about it," he said, "I'm fine."
"No you're not," she said edging closer to him, "You better go and see Madame Pomfrey right away."
"No...I shouldn't...I'm fine, really." He tried to ignore the pain in his forehead as she leaned into him to get a closer look. Harry backed up against the wall. She grabbed his wrist and yanked his hand away from his forehead.
"Your scar! It's - "
"I know," said Harry frustratedly, pulling his wrist away from her grasp. "I gotta go now, okay? I'll see you later." Anna-Nicole's face seemed to drop off of the front of her head.
"Okay. See you," she said quietly, "Good luck tomorrow." Harry wasn't sure what she meant by that, but he pat her on the shoulder, took one last look at his scar in the mirror, and left the bathroom.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione sneaked down from their dormitories late at night. It was the only time the common room was empty and quiet. harry sat down on a couch in front of the smoldering fire, while Ron and Hermione positioned themselves in couches across from his. He looked into the fire remembering the night in his fourth year after dashing from the Forbidden Forest where he found out the first task of the Triwizard Cup, when he had met with Sirius there, his head in the fire. There was a cool breeze creeping through the half open window that blew the fire around in the hearth. Finally, someone spoke.
"So, what's up, Harry?" asked Ron leaning in closer to Harry and Hermione.
"I have a theory," responded Harry in a half whisper.
"About?" questioned Hermione.
"Anna-Nicole," said Harry, looking around the room. It was silent for a while until the fire cracked, breaking the silence, and the three remembered that they were in conversation.
"What's the theory?" prodded Ron.
"I think she's Lord Voldemort."
"Voldemort?" said Hermione incredulously. It was a question, but the way she presented it, it sounded more like a comment.
"How can she be Voldemort?" she added to further explain her question.
"Have either of you noticed that every time she's near me, my scar hurts? And, today it bled. God only knows what could happen next." Ron and Hermione looked at each other without moving their heads and then both looked back at Harry.
"It's just a theory. Neither of you have to believe it."
"No...I believe it...sort of," said Hermione, thinking, "You mean...you think Voldemort's...possessing her?"
"Exactly," said Harry nodding. He knew that Hermione would understand before Ron would. Either that, or Ron understood and just didn't want to say anything on the matter.
"What reason would he have to possess her?" asked Hermione, with a quizzical look on her face.
"Isn't it obvious? She likes me. That's Voldemort's chance to kill me. If he could be someone who follows me around all the time, then there would be some moment that he could attack me...when she and I are alone."
"Why didn't he bother to be me or Ron then? If he wanted to be someone that follows you around?" asked Hermione.
"I don't know."
"It makes sense," she said, looking at Ron for his input. Harry was waiting as well.
"So, Voldemort's here. Right under our noses. In the Ravenclaw girls' dormitory," said Ron, his fearful tone accenting his voice.
"Yes," said Harry. He had stuck gold. His two best friends believed him. That's all he needed.
"Best thing to do is stay away from her," suggested Hermione.
"How am I supposed to stay away from her? She follows me like a...a -"
"Like Voldemort following you. Like Voldemort following the - " Hermione gasped.
"Shh!" hissed Ron.
"Voldemort wants the golden bell; you have the golden bell. If he follows you around, he can get it back, and kill you off, so no one would know it was gone. It wouldn't be missed. Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater...he's in contact with Voldemort and he probably told Malfoy to tell his son to get it from Harry, because he knows Harry goes to school here with him. So, Harry has two spies on his wanting this bell."
"Pipe down, Hermione! You're going to get us in trouble for being out of bed!" said Ron in a loud whisper. Hermione lowered her voice a few notches.
"Are you listening to any of this? We're missing only three pieces of the puzzle," she said, and counted on her fingers, "What the golden bell does, why Voldemort wants it, and exactly how it came into Harry's possession. And, Harry...you're so close to Voldemort when you're close to her. That's why you should do as I say and stay away from her."
"I can only say that I can try. And I will try. The last thing I want is to be killed."
"Oh," Harry, Ron said with alarm, worry, and excitement in his voice, "We have Quidditch tomorrow." Ron was right. Quidditch was tomorrow - the first game of the season. Harry had, as was expected, been accepted back onto the team and he couldn't thank Dumbledore, of flatter his team much, by not showing up at the first game. Harry had forgotten entirely about the game. He wasn't even sure that he had come to all of the practices. He might have forgotten about a few of them, along with the season-opening game.
"That's right," said Harry neutrally, "Quidditch tomorrow." he lied, "She'll be out in the stands, cheering me on. Or her own team...the game tomorrow is against Ravenclaw."
"No doubt she'll be cheering you on as well," said Ron, "She practically is infat - "
"Who cares who she's going to be cheering on? The point is to stay away from Anna-Nicole and to keep that bell."
"I thought you wanted me to get rid of it," said Harry, smirking at Ron briefly.
"Well, I changed my mind. Keep it for now. Just in case we need it for something. And, right now, I want you to fetch it for me. I'm going down to the library with it.
"Don't you want us to come?" asked Ron.
"You can come. I want Harry to rest. He has to be ready for the Quidditch game tomorrow," said Hermione, getting up.
"Hey, I have Quidditch tomorrow too! Remember? I'm keeper!" boasted Ron angrily, "Have you forgotten that?"
"No I haven't," said Hermione, "Ron come. Harry stay." Harry nodded, stood up, and went up to his dormitory to retrieve the bell for Hermione. When She and Ron heard the door of the dormitory shut, they continued arguing.
"Why do you always go out of your way for him?" asked Ron, standing up," How come you never act that way towards me?"
"I don't see anyone trying to kill you, Ron," snapped Hermione, "No one would have a reason to, anyway," she added.
"I never did think that you actually liked me."
"You're my best friend!!"
"Harry's your best friend." Ron shook his head and went up to his dormitory, slamming its door behind him. He sat on his bed and began taking off his socks. Harry spun around to look at Ron.
"Ron be quiet! You're going to wake everybody up! I thought you were going with Hermione, anyway."
"Who?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. Harry paused and said it a little slower.
"Her-my-own-ee. You were going with her to the library."
"Who's Hermione? Honestly, Harry. You might be coming down with something. I've never heard of any Hermione." Ron snapped the curtains to his four-poster shut.
"Well, she can't go alone!" Harry half-shouted, trying to be quiet. He rolled his eyes, guessing that the two had had another argument. He went back to rummaging through his trunk. He had buried it in there purposely to hide it from everyone else, but now he couldn't find it. Then, a sound came from somewhere near Harry's bed. Neville sat up in his bed and parted his curtains. His hair was a mess from sleeping and his eyes were barely open. He looked like he would just drop back down to his pillow any second. Harry looked up at him.
"Good morning," he said smirking. He'd laugh, but he didn't want to wake up anyone else. He was breaking a rule - he wasn't supposed to be out of bed so late at night. He didn't want to be reported to McGonagall. He'd get into great trouble.
"Who's shouting?" asked Neville blankly, ignoring Harry's comment.
"Well, I WAS talking to Ron," said Harry glancing at the closed curtains of Ron's bed.
"Go talk somewhere else," said Neville groggily, "I'm trying to sleep."
"I see that. Sorry. You can go back to sleep." He picked up a pair of his pants and a small shining object dropped to the floor, ringing joyfully.
"What's that, Harry?" asked Neville with surprise on his face. He seemed very much more awake now. Harry bent over to pick the shiny bell up, but Neville reached out his hand and grabbed it before Harry could. This action caused him to fall off of his bed. He sat up and looked at it in his hands.
"Neville," said Harry impatiently, "It's nothing, give it back."
"Well if it's nothing then why do you want it back?"
"Because...It's my nothing. Give it to me." Suddenly, Neville realized what the object that he held in his hands was.
"It's not nothing, Harry. Nor is it your nothing," said Neville. He gasped. "This is that golden bell thing, Harry! That bell we learned about in Divination! But, how did you get it?" Neville's eyes grew wide. "It's bad luck! You have bad luck, Harry!"
"Can I have that back, please? Thanks," Harry said (A/N: i think I put a few too many Harrys in there lol), reaching out to grab it from Neville. But, something strange happened. The ruby dangling from the string in the middle of the bell glowed brightly and began shooting red and green sparks at Neville - the red to stun him, and the green to kill him. If it didn't stun him, it would kill him; and if it didn't kill him, it would stun him. Harry couldn't think. He was so afraid for his friend that he just screamed whatever came into his mind.
"NEVILLE MOVE!" Neville dropped the bell and jumped out of the way. Harry grabbed two pillows from Neville's bed. The bell was now spinning in circles shooting sparks everywhere. He tried the best he could to block himself and Neville from them for a long time. Seamus awoke, hearing the commotion, and tore open the curtains to his four poster. He too picked up pillows and blocked himself from being hit. Neville crawled behind Harry's trunk and whimpered, and Harry dropped to his knees, feeling that he couldn't hold himself up anymore. Luckily, the door of the dormitory burst open and a familiar voice shouted: "IMPEDIMENTA!" just as a red spark hit Harry square between the eyes.
The room swirled around him and he found himself in a white room...although it wasn't a room...it was more of an open area. The whole space seemed to be a dark black, but a large ball sat on a pedestal in the middle of the space that gave off a blinding white light. A dark figure stood behind the pedestal and Harry moved a hand in front of his face to shield the light from his eyes, hoping to make out who the figure was. The person stepped closer to the pedestal until they were right behind the white ball. They were not, in fact, wearing black robes, but white robes. They had long hair hanging just to their shoulders and a beard...
"Sirius!" Harry gasped. He ran for his godfather, who smiled and outstretched his arms. Harry entirely forgot that the pedestal was between them. He slammed into the white ball with great force. Harry's stomach burned, and he looked down at himself. There was a hole in his shirt that revealed a large red circle on his stomach.
"Harry! Harry! Harry!" Sirius began saying over and over. He went to the other side of the pedestal and caught Harry as his eyes rolled back and he began falling to the soft white ground.
"Harry...Harry..." He opened his eyes, to see a blurry Hermione hovering over him. She held two halves of his glasses in her hand.
"What happened to me?" he asked blankly.
"You were lucky...a stunner hit the bridge of your glasses. You just got scared and passed out." Hermione smiled a little at the thought. She pointed her wand at his broken glasses and fixed them, just as she had done about a dozen times before. Harry looked at his stomach and saw that the hole in his shirt was gone, but still, the spot where the white ball burned through twinged a bit.
"How long was I out?" he asked, trying to act like nothing odd had happened at all. He wasn't going to tell Hermione about what he had seen yet. Not in front of Seamus and Neville. He sat up and looked at the bell, which lay motionless on the floor. He then looked at Ron's four-poster, where the curtains remained shut as they had been before everything had happened. Hermione stood up, put her wand in her pocket, and picked up the bell from the floor.
"Maybe I should come with you to the library..." suggested Harry tentatively, "That is, if you're still going."
"No, I'm still going. But I want you to stay. You need your rest for tomorrow," she replied, pocketing the bell as well. "Just climb into your bed and get to sleep."
"But what if it tries to...what if it tries to kill you?" he asked, looking around at Seamus and Neville, who were both staring wide-eyed at Harry.
"I'd like to see it try," said Hermione, forcing a smile. "Harry, I'll be fine. Trust me. I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"See you." Hermione left the dormitory and Harry stayed silent until he heard the portrait hole close. He looked at Neville and Seamus again, and, reading their faces, grabbed his invisibility cloak from his trunk.

A/N: That was A LOT longer than I had expected it to be. You should see the original version of that chapter in my black notebook. WHOAH. I added SOOO much while typing. I was originally going to just have Harry lower his pillows and say: maybe I should come with you to the library. But I decided to knock him out. And after going further into that, decided to go back and add a little dream sequence in there. I love the way this chapter turned out. It's so much different from the other 7 and I love it. I'll have to read it again tomorrow (which is actually today...it's 2 AM on Wednesday July 28th) to see if it's still awesome. I get my ideas at night, really. haha. Read the extra below and then the other author's note and you're outta here. Review!!!

I just thought this was a funny author's joke...so I stuck it in here. This is from a chat with me and my friend Liz...I'm MrsDanJRadcliffe

HippieChick2416 (5:44:19 PM): hi
MrsDanJRadcliffe (5:49:06 PM): itchy itchy eyeball
HippieChick2416 (5:49:22 PM): that's nice
MrsDanJRadcliffe (5:49:26 PM): lol
HippieChick2416 (5:49:32 PM): i'm enthralled by that information
MrsDanJRadcliffe (5:49:38 PM): hahahahaha wtf
HippieChick2416 (5:50:07 PM): let me put it in a language that you will understand.
HippieChick2416 (5:50:18 PM): i don't give a f about ur eye.
MrsDanJRadcliffe (5:50:26 PM): hahahaha no i kno enthralled
MrsDanJRadcliffe (5:50:28 PM): im a writer
MrsDanJRadcliffe (5:50:31 PM): doi
HippieChick2416 (5:50:32 PM): oh sure
HippieChick2416 (5:50:38 PM): that's what they all say
MrsDanJRadcliffe (5:50:44 PM): erm
MrsDanJRadcliffe (5:50:45 PM): lol
MrsDanJRadcliffe (5:50:46 PM): chapter 7 of my story is up by the way.
HippieChick2416 (5:50:48 PM): okay!!
HippieChick2416 (5:50:50 PM): give me the link
HippieChick2416 (5:51:08 PM): pleeeeeeez

A/N: I was going to end the chapter right at: "Harry! Harry, your scar's bleeding!" also, but the chapter wouldn't be long enough. So, i decided to make it very very long to hurt your eyes as you sat at your computer reading. I was planning on putting the bleeding thing in there but I didn't know who I should make say it and when I should make it happen. I was going to have it be either Anna-Nicole, Ron, or Hermione. And, I was thinking about it happening during Harry and Anna-Nicole's date (wink) but I felt it should go during a particularly boring class...History of Magic. And I liked the idea of Harry meeting Moaning Myrtle again when he, without thinking, ran into her bathroom. I wanted to fit her in somewhere and it fit in perfectly with the History of Magic scene.