Angels and Devils

A couple of years passed in relative peace. There was the occasional spat with a new bully at school, but they quickly learned it wasn't worth it. I sat in my room late one evening thinking about what Hermione and had planned for tomorrow, it consisted of a trip to the cinema for a movie. At some point I fell asleep.

I dreamt of two figures, cloaked in white and black, playing chess while a third watched. I walked over curious about who they were, and why I was dreaming of them. The two playing were exceptionally good, better than most I ever seen. The third one looked on with a focused expression. The match was too close to call a definite winner before it ended. After a couple of moves the white one, who was playing black pieces, said, "we wondered when you would get here."

The black one said, "yes, I was almost convinced we would have to force the issue." I looked at the speechless, what was going on? Why were the people in my head?

The third smiled at my expression. "I think we should explain why we're here before we drive him nuts." An extra chair appeared and they motioned for me to sit down. "Well the easiest place would be to start at the beginning."

"I was standing in a hall of mirrors, much like a funhouse, when I walked up to two mirrors bathed in darkness and light. I was told to choose between becoming evil or good, but I wanted a third choice. Eventually these two," he gesture to the others, "appeared and informed me that all that would happen is that I would whined up alone or dead."

I could see the pain on the other two's faces as he continued. "We decided that the only way to prevent this was to start over. They used their combined magic to send me to the past with my original power of a seventeen year-old, but then something unexpected happened."

I sat trying to understand what they were saying. A light and dark me? Why would they work together? I voiced my questions. The third said, "we are all the same at the core. Both path's followed the same path up to a point, the point where I was to choose." I asked what was the thing that was unexpected.

"There were three life's worth of knowledge in us, some of it conflicting. Your mind at the time struggled to handle it. I was able to setup several patterns of thought before your mind rejected me to its depths. The result was basically the development of each group of memories into the personalities that you see us as."

"So you three are responsible for the way I act? What right do you have!" I could feel hatred boiling up inside of me.

Black gave me an amused smirk, "no one said that. At the most we helped you protect your aunt. While I would have let her suffer, the balance between us caused you to help protect her."

White chimed in, "we can't influence you, we've tried. While you have our knowledge in you, it was suppressed so your mind could adapt. It's a common mental defense."

Third spoke up, "You see, the only thing I really did was setup your mind so that you practice a skill called Occlumency naturally. You act older because your mind is much more refined than someone your age."

Deciding that either this was a very odd dream, or I was nuts, I asked, "are you the reason Hermione is so important to me?"

They all shrugged, very disconcerting when they did it at the same time. "Hermione figures heavily in all three of our lives, it might have some effect. There are other things we need to discuss." They began telling me what exactly happened when my parents died, that they were killed by a guy named Voldemort, or Tom Riddle. They seemed very insistent that I know that. They told me a prophecy was made that stated that I had a power the 'dark lord knows not'. Apparently there were several choices about this.

Light had defeated him by losing his love, pushing him beyond his limits. Dark had used dark rituals to cause him to develop more power, while this allowed him to stop Tom it made him into another version.

After awhile they said that it was almost time for me to wake up. While they would be aware of what happened around me, sometimes more than I was, they would only talk to me in my sleep. It would get me funny looks to be talking to myself, much less answering. They promised to teach me more magic, but told me I already had a powerful focus if I used it.

That day Hermione and I enjoyed the fact that we could watch a movie by ourselves. Petunia had let us pick a movie, as long as it wasn't a bad one, while she took the youngsters to a kid movie. After the movie let out, it was an early one, we walked around the shopping center just looking at various things.

The day was great until a former blob of fat showed up. Dudley had lost a lot of weight since we had last saw him, fortunately he was as stupid as ever. "I see you're on a date with your slut."

"She's not a slut," was my response. I knew I had implied that it was a date, but I personally found the idea pleasant. "Get lost Dudley, surely your parole officer is looking for by now."

Dudley sneered, "I've been practicing since we last met, you won't win so easily."

I frowned, deciding to keep him talking. He most likely wouldn't attack while he was gloating, and I wanted to get Hermione clear before I went on the offensive. I took in my surroundings, Petunia's movie would let out soon, and I would have to stand my ground. Great.

Dudley got tired of talking and raised his fist, he smirked, "I know you're to afraid to fight me, so if you want to play that dodging game again, I'll go after her."

I could feel darkness whelming up in me at his threat. I whispered to Hermione, "when he attacks, get inside. Do not stay with me." She looked scared but nodded. Dudley launched his attack, but I deflected it. I snarled at him as I grabbed his arm and used it to throw him to the ground. Hermione ran into the cinema and into Petunia. I returned my focus to Dudley with a smirk. He looked at me oddly for a second before the color drained from his face. Before anything could happen, a man interrupted. It turned out I was right, his parole officer was looking for him.

Hermione ran up and hugged me, crying that she was glad I was alright. Petunia was glad as well, but she had a look that said we would talk later. We returned home shortly afterwards, Hermione hadn't wanted to let go of me since the fight. When we got inside, Hermione was asleep on her feet. I placed her on the couch in the library so she could sleep.

A couple of older kids watched the younger ones as Petunia and I sat down to talk about what happened. I explained what we did in as much detail as I could. I knew that we were supposed to have waited for them, but I had thought nothing bad would happen. I cut myself no slack, knowing that I had acted like a child who was enjoying himself. She nodded, the officer had told her that I hadn't done anything wrong, that I used less force than most would have in the same situation.

We sat enjoying our tea as the youngsters played. A couple had taken on a role similar to mine, watching over the young ones to ensure no one got hurt. Afterwards Petunia told me to keep an eye on Hermione, she seemed over stressed for some reason.

I returned to the library and began reading a book: The collected works of Edgar Allen Poe. I was reading the poem: To One in Paradise, when Hermione woke up. I closed the book and waited for her to get her bearings. She looked around slowly till she was looking at me. I smiled at her and she returned it.

"How long have I been out? The last I remember is arriving here, but not coming up here," she asked. She seemed embarrassed about something, but couldn't seem to say what.

"I carried you up here, you seemed exhausted." We sat in silence for awhile. I finally asked the question that had been bothering me. "Why did you react so bad when Dudley showed up?" She bowed her head, not answering at first. I continued with "you can tell me anything you know, I won't say anything unless it could endanger you."

"I ran into Dudley before we ran into him a couple years ago." I saw her eyes harden, "he started to pick on me, he and his friends pulled my hair and various other things." She wouldn't look at me. "They called me a lot of names and stuff." Tears appeared in her eyes.

I knelt in front of her and took her hands. "Was that it?" I really didn't want the answer, I would kill him if she said no. She looked at me for a minute and that was all the answer I needed.

She looked away, "I suppose you find me disgusting now." Her eyes turned dead, "I understand if you want this back." She held out the locket I gave her.

I knew shock showed on my face. I slowly closed her hand around it and pushed her hand towards her. "What does it say on the back of it Hermione?"

"Till the ends of time."

"And has time ended?"

"No."

"Then you keep it. I'm sorry for what that worthless piece of trash did to you, even more sorry that I'm related to him." She looked shocked. I told her about what had happened before Petunia had adopted me. She nodded slowly through it all.

"So that's why he attacked me, to get to you."

I nodded, tears were in my eyes but I refused to shed them. "I put his father in prison for a long time. Hatred does weird things to people." I smiled sadly at her, "are you ok?"

She nodded. We sat in silence for the rest of the day, just being with each other. Hermione had fallen asleep shortly after our conversation, but I didn't want to disturb her just to get my book. I looked at the book and slowly floated it towards me. Once it was in my hands, I opened it and began reading.

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

I felt someone shaking me slightly. I opened one eye to see Petunia looking at me with a small smile on her face. I had fallen asleep with my arm around Hermione. Petunia said her parents were here and left me to wake her. I slowly woke her up and relayed what I had been told. Hermione looked almost normal thanks to the sleep. After splashing some water on her face, she left with her parents with a small smile at me.

Petunia said, "so is everything alright?"

I shook my head, "I'm going to make him pay."

"Dudley," she asked. I felt sorry when I nodded. While she had let go of the idea she could save him, he was still her son. She knew that what ever this was about, it was about Hermione. She knew that if I was telling her about wanting to make someone pay, I wasn't going to just embarrass them, I was going to humiliate them. Petunia looked at me for a long time, neither of us saying anything. Finally she said, "don't do something that will get you thrown in jail." With that she went to prepare supper.

It would be three months before I would be able to exact my revenge. The two, apparently third decided to fade away as he was the least helpful, showed me how to setup things so that I wouldn't be caught. It was the day before Hermione's birthday when it happened. We were walking together, for some strange reason we stayed in the same class, when Dudley decided to push his luck. Threats were said back and forth, apparently he spoke a lot to his father, he used some language only an adult would use.

He finally lost it, he took a swing at me, but I attacked first. Not even moving I attacked his mind, showing him what he had done to Hermione. But so that he couldn't enjoy it, I distorted it so that it was a lot more personal. To anyone watching it would seem as if he had started attacking before a suppressed memory burst forward. No one, except Hermione, believed different.

Dudley was transferred to another school because of the event. Life became routine, Hermione and I were at the top of the class, a point difference separating us. I spent most of my time either at home or at Hermione's house. Her parents were uncomfortable with it at first, but gradually got used to having their daughter's best friend being a boy.

I enjoyed my time with Hermione, it was nice to be around someone you could relax around. No one really came around me because it was thought that I was antisocial. Eventually it became obvious that very few people who didn't know me wanted to get close.

Months passed until one morning there was a knock at the door. "Hello, my name is Remus Lupin. I'm looking for a boy named Harry Potter."


A/n: Ah! If this keeps up than I'll be over 10,000 words by chapter 5! (smirks) Remus is here! Next chapter deals with Remus, the scars that dead friends left behind and the cost of what's left unsaid. Believe me, I won't follow cannon on the next chapter. Thank you for the reviews.

TheFirstOne: I wondered if anyone was going to ask. Here is your answer.

Shadowed Rains: Your welcome, and yes you did.

Maxennce: Yes old friend, it is. Thanks

Griffin 14: Yes.