Harry
Potter and The Prince of Slytherin
An original fanfiction by
badspeler
-
CHAPTER FIVE -
Put our Heads Together
-H-
"Tree
at my window, window tree,
My sash is lowered when night comes
on;
But let there never be curtain drawn
Between you and me…
…
That
day she put our heads together
Fate had her imagination about
her
Your head so much concerned with outer,
Mine with inner,
weather."
Tree at my Window, by Robert Frost
-H-
CRASH.
Harry looked from down the stairs into the living room. Tonks was sprawled on the floor, limbs sticking out at odd angles and looking very embarrassed too.
"Sorry about that…" Tonks stuttered out, gathering herself together. "Damn flesh-coloured strings lying all over the place…I see them all over the place and can't help but trip over them…"
Fred and George sniggered, and went over to clear up the pile of Extendable Ears. As they grabbed one after another out of hiding places, they went up the stairs, brushing past Harry. As they went by, Harry heard one of them hiss: "Meet us in your room after dinner immediately. We need to talk."
Harry cast a quizzical eyebrow, but the two of them ignored him and continued up. He was about to stop them when Tonks noticed Harry, and beckoned for him to come down and join the small group in their meal.
"Oh, awake at last Harry dear," Mrs Weasley had noticed too, "Come sit, come sit. Hermione and Ginny have finished already and are upstairs in Ginny's room doing who-knows-what. Ron's outside practicing Quidditch. I'm so happy that he's finally been accepted into the Quidditch team, don't you agree? Erm…erm…"
She subconsciously pulled the seat out for Harry, and she seemed nervous about something.
"What is it Mrs. Weasley?" Harry was expecting the worst- had she found out that he had kissed Ginny? Or worse, discovered his powers for Legilimency?
"Well, it's just that Ron has refused to tell us his O.W.L score, and I really don't want to argue with him over this. Do you know, by any chance?"
Harry let out a sigh of relief, which Mrs. Weasley misinterpreted.
"Oh, so it's good then? Well, no problems then, no problems then. He'll tell us in due course. Thanks Harry, you really are a good friend…" And with that, she bustled off, busying herself with other matters.
Harry groaned inwardly. He'd messed up, again. What would happen when Ron realized that Harry had told his mother his score had been good? Well, if he was lucky, Ron would never find out, but…
He turned to look at the others sitted around eating. Mundungus and Tonks were sitting in a corner chatting, though Tonks seemed very displeased with the arrangement. Lupin sat in the other corner, brooding, his fork twirling the lettuce around his fork, but not eating it.
"What's the matter, Lupin?"
The werewolf jerked his head up in surprise, as though he just discovered that Harry was there. "Oh…nothing…nothing at all…"
"No really, what's wrong?"
Lupin cast his eyes down to stare at his plate. "It just seemed to occur to me that we're at the Burrow this year, and not…you know…at Grimmauld Place. No one's been back there ever since…you know….he passed through the veil."
Passed through the veil. Harry liked the sound of that. It made it seem almost magical, almost surreal, almost ethereal, almost unreal. But it was real. Sirius had died.
Harry looked up to see Lupin's eyes, deeply saddened and concealing intense grief beneath. It was almost a reflection of his own feelings. Tonks and Mundungus had stopped talking now, and both hung their heads low, feeling the pain of the moment. Harry got up, walked over to Lupin, swung his arms around his neck, and broke down together. All the regret, all the horrible emotions, all the guilt, all the longing, all the rejection, all the pain, all the burden, everything- it all came out then. Two friends, crying for the third, missing from their midst. Tonks and Mundungus could only watch helplessly from the sides. Each tear drop represented a thousand feelings, each sob spoke a thousand words. Then the moment was over, dinner had to be eaten, and the group ate with a new melancholy not previously there.
Harry ate lightly, surprised that he wasn't ashamed of his outburst earlier on. They were all still grieving, after all, he reasoned, and there was nothing to be ashamed about. With a new calm in his heart, Harry finished his meal, and went up the stairs to meet Fred and George.
Bounding up the stairs, he entered his room to come face to face with two grim-faced twins and a mane of red hair- Ginny.
"Good to see you Harry." Fred didn't look pleased at all, if anything, he looked as displeased as he ever could get. Uh-oh, Harry's sensors were beeping. He dare not look at any of the three, and nervously kept his gaze on the floor.
"Now mate, you must be wondering why we've called you here."
Harry nodded briefly.
Fred put his arm around Harry roughly. "You did something you shouldn't have done, haven't you Harry?"
Harry could feel his face heating up. "I'm…I'm sorry…"
The twins burst into laughter. "Sorry for what? Great job mate!"
Huh? Harry jerked up in surprise. "What...?"
"You caught Ron and Hermione snogging! What a joke! Those two should have gotten together years ago, arguing and arguing all day like a couple…"
"Now with your information, we can laugh at them a bit. So we've called an official meeting to discuss what we're going to do with them." George's eyes had a dangerous glint to them.
"But…" Harry was still overtaken by the shock, "but…how did you know I saw them?"
Fred gestured towards Ginny, who seemed just as determined as Harry not to look at each other. "Ginny told us so. She accidentally let slip that she saw you peeping in on the two love-birds." Fred and George chuckled.
"Alright, here's the plan. We're going to monitor their relationship, and catch them in the act. Oh…it's going to be so funny. The Extendable Ears aren't working, they probably don't say much when they're together, or Hermione's used some silencing charm of sorts."
"Hermione moans quite loudly when Ron kisses her…" Harry blurted out. Almost immediately he realized what he had just said, and covered his mouth in horror. Ginny looked scandalized. Fred and George just roared with laughter.
"Attaboy Harry! Great job…oh, we're so going to see brainy, perfect Miss Granger in a compromising situation…Alright, back to our plan. Ginny, try and coerce Hermione into telling you more, okay? I can almost imagine the look on her face when we repeat her love life back to her word for word…"
"No you can't."
"Can't, what?"
"You can't imagine the look on her face when you repeat all her dirty secrets back to her."
"Yeah, you're right. I can't." Fred and George smiled evilly.
"Harry, you take care of Ron. After enduring these two for all these years, we've got to have our revenge. Are we all in on this?"
Fred and George stuck out their hands. Harry reluctantly joined the group, and shortly after that, an extremely embarrassed Ginny put her hand over Harry's. They had signed a pact. Boy, Harry could almost imagine the look on Ron and Hermione's faces when he had his revenge.
Just kidding, he couldn't really.
-H-
There were only 3 more days till Hogwarts, and the Burrow was in a mess. Dumbledore had left no clear instructions, so the Advance Guard had taken upon itself the duty of sending all of them to school. Or at least, Tonks, Remus, and Mad-Eye did.
Mrs Weasley had went herself to buy the books, and the children had to contend with staying home and whiling the time away, much to the dismay of Harry, who had been hoping to dodge Ron, Hermione and Ginny at Diagon Alley. Instead, he spent all the remaining time with them, and it was very awkward and embarrassing. There was no conversation or any eye contact at all, and Fred and George got so fed up trying that they stormed off to their shop at Hogsmeade.
Three
more days…
Harry waited in his room till he was sure Ginny had
passed. Hearing footsteps pass him by, he quickly made his exit and
dashed to the toilet. He had successfully avoided contact once again…
Two
more days…
Ron and Hermione sneaked off last night. Ginny
noticed, and she spent the night cuddling her pillow trying not to
imagine what her brother and Hermione were up to, though it was hard
when she was fantasizing the exact same things with Harry Potter
herself, no matter what she told herself.
One
more day…
Ron and Hermione didn't wake till lunch. Harry knew
what had happened, but had managed to control himself. He would not
delve into their minds, not theirs, not anyone's. It was wrong. He
would try to apologize to Ginny. Soon. As soon as. In the meantime,
he would stay out of her way. She could be dangerous if she wanted
to. Ginny spent the whole day trying to get Harry's attention, but
she was snubbed. She wasted the rest of the day in conflict with
herself: had Harry really kissed her? Why had he? After all these
years that she was infatuated with him, she had finally got over him
last year. He just had to remind her when he kissed her that day, why
she loved him. Damn him, she thought, damn him.
And then it was the day to depart for Hogwarts. Harry felt relieved as he carried his trunk downstairs. No more Burrow, no more awkward situations. Hogwarts was enormous, so they would never meet, he told himself. The security of Hogwarts put him at ease, and he resolved to meet Dumbledore soon to find out what was happening with the Order (he had given up trying to ask any one of them), and to tell him about his power.
Hermione and Ron were given a magical carpet (they had been approved by the Ministry last year) to ride, but Harry had declined, preferring to ride alone on his broomstick. He missed the liberating feel of the wind against him, the pulsating tremors of riding a broom. Anyway, he would leave the two lovebirds alone on the carpet. Who knew what they would get up to when left alone…As they lifted off, he caught Ron fingering Hermione once or twice, much to the embarrassment of the girl and the amusement of everyone else (especially Ron). Harry grimaced. He would get through this year even without his friends.
-H-
The two of them snuck off to the prefect's meeting in the train, so he found himself alone with Ginny. He had purposely fallen asleep, so he got a rude awakening when he was knocked off the seat, colliding into baggage as he tumbled to the floor. Suddenly, screaming erupted all around him, stampedes of students as they rushed around carraiges, screeching, crying and laughing everywhere. Harry drowsily got up.
"Whassimatter..." he mumbled, rubbing his eyes heavily.
He was roughly pushed along the throng of students, a chaotic mass of mindless rats scrambling down a tunnel of doom. Harry cleared his mind at last, and cast his eyes out of the Hogwarts Express. There were cloaked figures riding alongside the Hogwarts Express, broomsticks working as fast as the train. They all had bared their shoulders to reveal a dark green symbol Harry had grown to loath and fear.
They were Death Eaters.
And as the students bustled around in terror trying to work out what was happening, the Death Eaters swirled around the train in formation, circling it, teasing it, frightening it. They were laughing hysterically, and their hoods were down to reveal who they were.
Harry caught sight of Bellatrix. Her eyes were red with glee as she cackled at the students. But Harry could tell that Voldemort had punished her; her eyes were sunken in, as though she had been "crucio"ed.
Bellatrix came right up to the carriage, smashing the windows and peering right through. She seemed to stare straight at Harry as she delivered her message, her voice mechanical and toneless:
"The Dark Lord has risen, and will rise once again. Where the heir of Slytherin failed, the prince shall not. The Dark Lord sends his regards, Harry Potter. Remember, Harry Potter, there will be no Dumbledore when you shall meet again."
And then they were gone.
-H-
Harry Potter and all related characters and events belong to J.K.Rowling alone. And if you were silly enough to believe I created them then I can only thank you for regarding me so highly. The poem, by Robert Frost, is quoted as an extract, and was retrieved from A Choice of Poets, New Ed edited by Dr David Edwards.
