"A wall illusion? How cliche." Harry said, standing just outside of Platform 9 ¾.
Sirius rolled his eyes, "It's cliche because it works, now let's go."
Harry frowned and pushed his cart through the busy crowd of muggles, scowling at a few impolite ones who cut in front of him. He walked straight through the wall without breaking stride, and came to a stop just outside. Sirius appeared a few seconds later, and a smile on his face as he surveyed the familiar looking Hogwarts Express.
"Now just go straight to Dumbledore if you have any problems, he and your house head will be the only one that know about you." Sirius said as the pair approached the train. "Dumbledore thinks it's a good idea to keep your secret to yourself, so don't trust anyone. I don't want to see any articles in the Prophet about it, god knows what kind of stories they would make up."
"Yeah, wouldn't want to ruin my image." Harry said, rolling his eyes. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to be the savior of the wizarding world? I defeat one Dark Lord, and then they expect me to start saving people all the time! And if someone asks for an autograph, I'm gonna hit them with a severing hex."
Sirius froze in place and turned to Harry, "Where did you learn a severing hex?" he asked suspiciously.
"Please, the books at Black Manor are hardly based on disarming spells." Harry replied.
"I forbid you from using that hex." Sirius said a little to loudly, prompting stares from everyone within a few feet. He continued in a much more quiet, but equally stern voice, "You could go to azkaban for using illegal spells like that! What if you missed and instead of someone's hand, you took off their head? You are not to use any illegal curses, understand?"
"Whatever.." Harry said, not making eye contact and making no promises.
"UNDERSTAND, HARRY?" Sirius said loudly. He was obviously already hip to that trick.
"What am I suppose to do if I'm attacked by a giant squid and need to take off some tentacles? Huh? They can grow those back you know! Actually, they're very fascinating creatures, I got a book on them last year. Didn't you say they have one at Hogwarts? I think I'll go see it after I check out that secret passage to Hogsmeade you told me about a few years back...where did that come out, anyways? That candy shop, right? What's that called again?" Harry said, his speaking speed increasing with every word.
"I'm not falling for it, Harry." Sirius said, using the same stern voice that he always used when punishing his godson. "Promise me right now that you wont do anything illegal."
"Fine!" Harry said, throwing his hands up in the air. "But if I'm killed, YOUR explaining to the wizarding world how their savior got disembodied by a squid!"
Sirius eyed him for another few seconds with a stern expression, before a smile broke out on his face and he let out a chuckle. "The candy shop is Honeydukes, but only use that during the night, or you'll get caught for sure. James used to manage it during the day with his old cloak, but you wont be able to." He grinned, motioning for Harry to follow him as he led them up to the train.
"I could, I've been working on that invisibility spell! I've got it memorized and everything, but it's still just making me partially transparent.." Harry started, but was interrupted by the blaring sound of the Hogwarts Express horn.
"Alright, get on before you miss it, and tell me if you meet anyone we know, ok?" Sirius said, hurriedly lifting the opposite sides of Harry's trunk and pushing it on to the train. "I'll be moving to Hogsmeade in a couple weeks, so I'll visit you then, alright?"
Harry started to speak up and answer him, but found himself being pushed on to the train with his trunk. The train began to move, and Sirius grinned widely as he closed the door on Harry before he could get another word out. Harry watched Sirius through the circular window in the center of the door, his godfather getting farther and farther out of sight until the train reached the corner, and his view disappeared completely.
Harry let out a deep sigh, and prepared himself for the coming confrontations. If he was lucky, he could delay them by quickly finding an empty compartment before anyone saw him. This wouldn't be so bad if he had come in first year, at least then he wouldn't be alone in being new. But coming in third year, all the attention would be on him and him alone. He would have every person in the school staring at him as he was sorted. If not because he was joining late, than because of his name.
Pushing the nervous thoughts out of his head, Harry dragged his trunk around the corner and started looking for an empty compartment. Most of the compartments were completely full, all filled with friends chatting about their holidays and all the new things they've bought. Harry recognized several people from his visit to Diagon Alley, and quickly ran over everything Sirius had said about them. The information would all come in handy eventually. He found a compartment of what could only be a meeting of the school Prefect's, judging by the stuck up way they pushed out their chests to display the silver badges they wore. Harry was beginning to think that he might have to actually go into a half full compartment and introduce himself. Then the occupants of the compartment would bombard him with questions about who he is and why they had never seen him before. To Harry, this was something to avoid. Not because he thought he might embarrass himself, but because being asked stupid questions was highly annoying, and would fit in the same torturous category as being pushed through a book store at a brisk pace without any time to browse.
He had almost lost all hope, when he came upon the last compartment. The compartment was almost completely empty, only having one inhabitant. Harry studied the man through the door window, a smile spreading out on his face. So THIS is what Sirius meant by people we know, Harry thought. The man appeared to be sleeping, and his bedraggled appearance and tacky robes only supported the fact. His face was hidden, leaning into the side window with his cloak hood pulled up. But Harry didn't need to see the man's face to know who it was. In fact, he didn't NEED to see the man at all, the scent was all to familiar.
Harry silently slid the compartment door open and dragged his trunk in to the room, closing the door behind him with a soft click. Placing the trunk on against the side wall, Harry took a step closer to the man. His mind scrolled over an entire list on ways that he could wake the man, most being unpleasant to say the least. Harry had just chosen a good freezing charm to use, and was trying to remember a thawing charm to defrost the man's lower half once he was awake, when he was caught by surprise.
"I wouldn't if I were you. Unless you want to lose points for your house before your even in one." he said, his slumped form still unmoving.
Harry grinned and slipped his wand back up his sleeve, then rushed forward to wrap the man in a hug. "What are you doing here Moony?" he asked.
Remus Lupin straightened himself up in the seat and returned the hug whole heartedly. "Not happy to see me Harry?"
"Of COURSE I am!" he exclaimed into Remus' robes. He smiled and slid in to the seat next to the man. "How did you know it was me?"
"That was easy," Remus smiled back. "Your not the only one with a good nose. You always smell strongly of whatever type of sugar you happen to be eating at the time."
Harry grinned and produced a half eaten muggle candy bar out of his jacket pocket, opening it up and taking a bite. "Want some?" he said, his mouth full of chocolate as he offered the bar to Lupin.
"Don't you eat anything else?" Remus asked, looking over at the chocolate in Harry's hand. "Sugar seems to be the only thing you ever consume."
"No it isn't, it's just that the other stuff goes bad every time I try to save some for later." Harry said, wrinkling his nose up at the thought. "But you didn't answer my question, why are you here?"
"What? Didn't Sirius tell you?" Remus raised an eyebrow. Harry shook his head a couple times with a questioning look on his face. "I guess he wanted it to be a surprise."
"Well why else wouldn't he tell me? He obviously wasn't trying to keep it a secret, because you're here, and I always find those out eventually anyways. So what is it?" Harry said impatiently.
"Dumbledore asked me to come and fill the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position." Remus stated, a small smile playing across his lips.
"Oh, well that explains a lot." Harry said, sitting back in his seat.
"What do you mean?" Remus questioned, looking sideways at Harry.
"I'm not stupid, you know?" Harry said, looking back at Remus indignantly. "Dumbledore tries to get me to come back to Hogwarts every year. I've been wondering why Sirius suddenly decided to make me go this year. I wouldn't put it past the old man to do something like that so he could get me over here.."
"You know that's not the reason, Harry. Dumbledore cares about your happiness, and he wanted to let you stay, but you need to start preparing for times ahead." Remus stated calmly.
"I wish I could believe that." Harry said, a far off tone in his voice. "But whether I trust someone or not is just not my decision. I've only met Dumbledore a few times, and I can't just trust someone I don't know."
An easy silence fell over the compartment. Harry had always loved talking to Remus, and the silences that followed were comfortable, both wizards getting lost in their own thoughts. Sirius was always fun to be with, no matter what, but Remus was so much more like him. The werewolf would stop by fairly frequently during the summer, sometimes bringing a book that he thought Harry might like. The two would have frequent debates on various matters concerning the Ministry, usually coming to the conclusion that the only way to fix things was to elect someone who wouldn't be influenced by money and bribes.
"Harry, there's a snake around your neck." Remus said, as calm as ever.
"Oh yeah, you haven't been introduced. This is Sasha." Harry grinned, nodding slightly towards where the orange and black snake was draped down his arm. The snake woke to hiss a quick hello, which Remus obviously couldn't understand, before dropping back off into a silent sleep.
"I imagine Sirius wasn't to happy about that." Remus said, giving a small smile.
"Yes, evidently having a poisonous snake and talking to it just doesn't fit in with my new image." Harry shrugged. "I suppose my label will be changed from 'Hero' to 'Next Dark Lord' as soon as they see Sasha, but I think I could live with that. Just think, I could rule the world. Wouldn't that be the coolest?"
Harry gave a lopsided smile, to which Remus chose to ignore with a shake of his head. Harry grinned and took out his copy of Hogwarts, A History. Maybe this school year wont be so bad if Moony is going to be there, he thought. Things had gone from 'Complete Disaster' to 'Livable, but Terribly Depressing'.
Ron Weasley sat at the Gryffindor table in the great hall, impatiently waiting for the feast to begin. In the two seats to his left, sat his best friends, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. The three Gryffindor's were all catching up on what they had done over the summer holiday. Ron was bewildered by his two friends talk of muggle things. Dean being muggle born, and Seamus being half muggle, they both knew a lot about the way muggles do things. Ron had always felt left out when the two engaged in a conversation concerning muggle things, which was really quite frequent. Ron had begun drifting more and more to joining Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger in friendly discussion, although now he avoided it, noticing the overwhelmed look on Neville's face as he listened to Hermione go a mile a minute about the new classes she would be taking this term.
Across the hall, on the opposite side of the Gryffindor table, was the Slytherin table, at which sat Draco Malfoy. Opposite Malfoy, sat Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. The two were eyeing Draco strangely, silently conversing about him in worried tones. The two were Draco's best friends, and were extremely concerned about his odd behavior of late. The Malfoy heir had been strikingly silent the entire day, spending the train ride in complete silence as all the others around him spoke in excited tones about what they had bought during the holidays.
Draco, however, had no idea that his friends were talking about him. This was uncharacteristic in itself, seeing as how the Slytherin always seemed to be looking for back stabbers. The boy was eyeing the great hall with a sweeping gaze, as if searching for something particular. Draco frowned as he finished his third sweep of every person in the hall, and couldn't find who he was looking for. Perhaps he would come in with the first years? He couldn't have been visiting the day before the new term starts, could he? His accent was slightly off, mostly British but a little bit of something else mixed in.
The blonde haired boy shook the thoughts away, realizing he was almost obsessing over the boy. There was just something different about him. Sure, he was a pretty face, but that wasn't what had compelled Draco to go introduce himself the day before. When he had first seen the boy in Flourish and Blotts with his father, he had been instantly entranced with him. The boy was visibly fuming, shooting dark looks at Black every few seconds. Maybe it was the way his green eyes seemed to burn in anger every time he scowled in Black's direction, or maybe it was the way he seemed to be so 'aware' of his surroundings. It was like he was in tune with everything. As if he knew exactly what was going to happen, and every one of his actions was like a strategical chess move. Whoever he was playing chess against had Draco's sympathy, because you could almost taste the confidence that dripped off of the boy, it was so potent in the air around him.
It was these characteristic's that compelled Draco to go introduce himself. Yet, when he spoke to the boy, he started to believe that he was imagining things. The boy he spoke to was nothing like the boy that he had witnessed leaving Flourish and Blotts. This boy had confidence, but it wasn't the same, it was over confidence. This boy didn't seem in tune with anything, his actions were all subconscious as he tried to get more comfortable in his char. Actually, getting more comfortable seemed to be the only thing he DID care about, because he certainly didn't care about meeting Draco. Of all the people Draco had met, the one he actually wants to meet doesn't seem to really care. In fact, he seemed annoyed that Draco was even standing there. Perhaps it was this change that had him thinking about the boy through half of the train ride that day. The boy seemed to have two different personalities.
Mean while, on the other side of the hall, no one seemed to be paying any attention to the youngest male of the Weasley clan. Ron was pretending to listen to Lee Jordan tell his brothers about something to do with quidditch, but had taken to just sitting there and rubbing his empty stomach. It was times like this that he wished he had extra money to throw around, maybe then he could buy something off that lady with the cart.
After what seemed like forever, but had actually only been about five minutes, the door to the great hall opened. Professor McGonagall carried a small stool in one hand, and the ragged looking sorting hat in the other. Behind McGonagall, came a fairly long like of first years, who all seemed to be nervously fidgeting, while trying to look invisible at the same time. McGonagall carried out the tradition of the sorting just like it had been done the last two years, the first of which being Ron's own sorting. Ron could still remember the intense relief he had felt at finding out that the sorting could not cause great bodily harm, as his brothers had suggested.
So just like every year, the hat did it's little song thingy about uniting the houses, and then the names were read out, at what in Ron's opinion was, a painfully slow rate. Everyone at the table seemed to be pleased that the sorting was over so they could finally eat, but then, just when everyone would prefer that the tradition be continued exactly so that the food would finally appear, it changed. McGonagall made no move to remove the stool or the hat, but instead stood there, a stern expression on her face that commanded silence. Once the hall was completely quiet, she spoke out in a loud, stern voice.
"We have one more student to sort before we are finished. The student will be joining the Third year, and must now be sorted." McGonagall said, allowing a silent pause before she continued. "Harry Potter!" she read out.
Half the people in the hall gasped at the name, while the other half remained completely silent in surprise. The student's had no time to begin the normal murmuring that would take place on such an occasion, because just then, the doors to the hall opened. The figure of Harry Potter stepped through the entrance, the door softly closing behind him as started down the hall, walking with an elegance all his own. It wasn't the kind of elegance that a rich pureblood would have, definitely not an elegance fit for royalty. No, this was an elegance that had no name, an elegance that could not be described, something that you need to see for yourself to understand. The boy never broke stride, never changed pace, and never moved his gaze from the stool directly ahead of him. He was about average height for his age and mostly straight backed, not overly, but a natural type that looked comfortable. And even though he seemed to be completely focused on the stool, it was as if he could see everything in the room, and was aware of every movement, whether it be an involuntary gasp, or a nervous twitch. All of these attributes combined gave the boy an astounding aura of confidence that could never be mistaken as false.
But once you looked past all of that, the boy looked normal enough. He had a slim figure that would have been almost feminine if it weren't for the way he carried himself. His raven black hair fell down over his ears in mussed locks, the complete opposite of the popular slicked back style. His face was perfectly shaped, with milky white, non-blemished skin that seemed untouched since birth. The long lashes that fell over his jade green eyes added to the weak, feminine look that his physical appearance gave off. But for everything about his physical appearance that made him appear weak, there were ten more things about his actions that made him appear powerful. The biggest thing being his eyes, they seemed to almost glow with green fire, and a few students found themselves wondering if he had used a charm on them and they actually WERE glowing.
Yet through all this, he presence didn't really seem threatening. He didn't give the dramatic show that Snape did, robes billowing and scowl in place. His face showed no threat, his relaxed stare giving off nothing that resembled negativity. He looked comfortable. Comfortable with his surroundings, and supremely confident in himself.
He wore a black cloak with the hood down, the bottom slightly sweeping the floor below him. Upon approaching the stool, his head inclined in a slight nod to the Headmaster, who peered back down at the boy, his eyes twinkling like mad over his half moon glasses. Harry took his seat on the stool, remaining as confident as ever as McGonagall slipped the hat over his head with a raised eyebrow.
Harry felt the hat slip down on his head, stopping with the brim just covering his eyes.
"A very tough decision here..very tough indeed.." came a small voice in the back of Harry's mind. "Been practicing Occulmency for a while, hmm? Very strong mind indeed."
"Let's get this over with, Hat. I don't want to be sitting here like an idiot all day." Harry grumbled in his mind.
"Patience is a virtue my dear..but then again, you already know that, don't you? You can't fool me deary, everything is up here in your mind..." the voice trailed off, lost in thought. "And stop messing around and trying to force me out, this isn't legilimens you know."
"Put me in Hufflepuff if you want, just do it in the next thirty seconds." Harry said.
"No..I sense trait's of every house in you, but Hufflepuff is the least pronounced...no I think you would do better in Gryffindor, or perhaps Slytherin."
"Slytherin? Well it might be worth it, for the Screamer I'll get from Sirius.." Harry mused, half talking to the hat and half to himself.
"Hmm, yet Gryffindor would be better in the end.." the hat contemplated.
"Yes, having the 'Hero' in Gryffindor would bring hope to the wizarding world. Much better than having another dark wizard around."
The voice giggled in the back of Harry's mind, "Very intelligent indeed..yet deep inside, hidden below all else, a thirst to make your godfather proud...yes, and bringing the hidden fear into consideration, it'll have to be --"
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hate proclaimed out loud, inducing a large round of cheers from the Gryffindor table.
Harry winced under the hat, the loud cheers reverberating off the wall's and pounding at his sensitive ears. McGonagall removed the hat, and Harry's eyes shot straight to the Gryffindor's, clapping and cheering like mad. He stood up from the old stool with the same elegance as before, proceeding to the Gryffindor table. As he got closer, he began to wonder if that hat had somehow managed to addle his mind, because he would have to be insane to join this loud, cheery, talkative bunch of blind fools. By the time he reached the table, he was cursing the hat to the seventh level of hell.
Harry slid in to a vacant seat near the end of the table, still trying to block out the loud cheering. All of the Gryffindor's eyed him as he sat down, and the resulting feeling was strangely unsettling. Normally, Harry wouldn't be afraid of something without cause. These Gryffindor's weren't about to attack him, so why did he even care that they were looking at him? The nervous feeling was extremely uncomfortable as it spread from the pit of his stomach, but he found it easy to ignore, and made sure that his mask didn't slip at all.
At this, the Headmaster began his speech, which was surprisingly short. But then again, the old man never seemed to say much, even though he probably knew ten times more about something than he ever let on. The man knew entirely to much for his own good. Sirius would always tell Harry that he was the incarnation of Dumbledore, yet Harry had never detected any resemblance between himself and the overly jovial old wizard.
As soon as the food appeared, Harry was bombarded with questions, to which he gave one word answers where ever possible. Eventually the Gryffindor's shied away from his abrasive attitude and left him to his peace. Harry played with the food on his plate for a while, pushing it around with his fork. He eventually gave up on pretending to eat, and spent his time listening to the various conversations until the desert appeared. He assumed correctly in thinking that he was the main topic of discussion at the table, but was surprised that none of the Gryffindor's seemed to hate him. In fact, they were all wondering if he was just annoyed with something, or was having a bad day, never suspecting that one of their own could just be an evil and rude person.
The desert's finally arrived, and Harry immediately searched the table for a good sugar based one before filling his plate with it and gleefully feeding his addiction. Harry caught a few comments about his eating habits, but most people at the table didn't judge him. He felt the eyes of the other houses on him as well, but his senses were to jumbled up in the packed room to pinpoint who was who, and he took to listening to tidbits of conversations at the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables, the Slytherin being to far away to make out with all the sound in the hall.
Just as Harry was going for his third plate of whatever multicolored sugary candy he was eating, the desert disappeared, and he gave a small sigh of disappointment. He allowed the Prefects to round everyone up before he left the table, and was the last Gryffindor out of the hall. He walked by the wall as he followed the pack of Gryffindors through the castle, his movements gave off no sound, and the shadow wrapped a protective cloak around him, leaving only his outline visible.
Everyone in the Gryffindor common room eyed him as he walked through the portrait, but it already seemed to be common knowledge that he was not approachable at present time. He quickly moved up the stairs to the door marked Third Year Boys, and walked in. The other four boys were already in the room, and their conversations ceased as Harry walked in. Once they found that Harry would not be speaking to them, they began to talk again in murmuring tones, but mostly stayed silent as he changed and slid in to his four poster, closing the hangings around him. Out of pure habit, Harry hit the surrounding hangings with a powerful and complicated locking charm. Feeling secure in the knowledge that no one in entire house could even have a chance at breaking the locking charm unless they knew which one he used, Harry cleared his mind and drifted off in to a cold vampiric sleep.
Draco Malfoy was still being uncharacteristically silent as he sauntered in to the great hall, his large, bulky, and presently confused cronies Crabbe and Goyle walking at his side. Draco was still deep in thought about Harry Potter, his eyes holding a far away look as he took a seat at the Slytherin table and began piling random food on to his plate. Harry was still confusing him immensely, seemingly slipping back in to his original personality the night before. Draco smiled at the way Harry had slightly overacted as he was walking down the hall. He was probably the only one that noticed it because he had something to compare it to, but Harry was a little bit more elegant than he had been that day in Flourish and Blotts.
Of course, Draco had been extremely shocked at hearing the name of his recent obsession. He understood why Harry hadn't told him his name in Diagon Alley. Draco had thought that he must have been a mudblood, but he knew now that the boy obviously had other reasons for hiding his name. Draco had thought long and hard the night before, and came to the conclusion that he wouldn't judge Harry by his past. The boy seemed to shy away from all attention given to him, the complete opposite of the idiot DADA teacher they had last year.
Draco searched the hall for Harry, only half expecting him to be there. The Gryffindor's were usually the last in the hall for breakfast, but Harry was nothing like the others in that house, was he? It certainly didn't seem like it. As it turned out, Harry was one of the few people already at the Gryffindor table. The boy was sitting alone reading a book, ignoring all the food surrounding him. The Granger girl spotted him as she entered the hall, curiosity coming to her face as she approached Harry and took the seat next to him. She glanced at the page and a warm smile spread to her face. The nerdy girl began talking to him at rapid speeds, the topic evidently being the book. Draco figured that Harry would shut out the girl, just like he seemed to be doing with the rest of the school, but he looked on as Harry first raised an eyebrow at the girls rambling's, and then let a small smile come to his face as he began talking back to the girl.
Draco was surprised at the sudden friendliness Harry was showing to the girl. Well, not quite friendly, but definitely better than the neutral personality he seemed to have the might before. Draco wanted to keep watching, but was rudely broken out of his thoughts as a schedule was shoved in his face by one of the more rude Slytherin prefects. He scowled at the offending fifth year, and took a look at his schedule. He smiled widely as he read it, scaring half the Slytherin table in to shock with the even more uncharacteristic action. Much to his joy, he had DADA with the Gryffindor's first.
Draco checked the time, and jumped up from his seat, deciding that he would be the first one to DADA class. He wanted to get in the new professors good graces, and maybe find out what the lesson would be for the day. He could study up on whatever they were doing in the next half hour, and show off with his superior knowledge. Although he never even told Blaise and Pansy, this was his secret to success in potions. He was naturally good at the work, but the theory behind it all was memorized right before the lesson.
As it turned out, Professor Lupin seemed to be nice enough, but when he asked what the lesson would be on, the bedraggled man just gave a small smile and tell him it was a surprise. The slightly mysterious was he said it sparked intrigue in Draco, but instead of wasting time pondering on it, he opened his DADA book and began to skim through it. Students slowly trickled in to the room and took seats with their friends. Every time Draco heard someone entering, he would look up and see if it was Harry, but the boy never showed. It was only when class started and Lupin called roll did he find that the boy was already and had come in without Draco's knowledge. He was seated in the back corner, Gryffindor's taking seats around him and trying to spark the same interest in him as Granger had at breakfast. But one conversation seemed to be enough for him, because he ignored most students, sending amused looks at people every once in a while at a student who made an incorrect statement, or made poor attempts as sounding smart like Granger always did.
"Please take out your wand and follow me, we will be doing a practical lesson today." Lupin said, causing the entire class to light up in excitement.
Lupin led the class out of the classroom, leading them down a series of unfamiliar twisting corridors. Draco noticed that Harry seemed to lag a little behind and to the side, sinking in to the slight shadow that was by the wall. The Professor led the curious students in to a room that Draco recognized as the staff room that Snape had led him to once in his second year. The room was now vacant except for Snape, most teachers having classes at the time. Snape made a few scathing comments before exiting the room, sending a slight nod at Draco, and a strange, unreadable look at Harry, who had been last in the room. Snape shut the door with a loud slam, and the class now looked curiously at Lupin.
"It seems the cupboard here in the staff room has been inhabited by an unwelcome visitor since sometime over the summer. Professor Snape seemed to be looking forward to removing it, but was nice enough to allow my third year class to give it a try." Lupin smiled, and walked over to the cupboard, giving it a strong kick near the bottom. Most students in the room gasped and stepped back when the cupboard began to shake a little to violently. The shaking stopped abruptly after a few seconds, and Lupin took a step away. "Now who here know's what a boggart is?"
Draco listened on with interest as Lupin went into a short lecture about boggart. The creature sounded extremely fascinating to Draco, who had been trained since birth to fear nothing. He grinned as he watched Weasley shudder upon hearing that boggart took the form of your greatest fear.
"Now, who would like to help me demonstrate?" Lupin asked. Most of the class shied away, scared of being the first to go and embarrassing themselves. However, it was then that Harry stepped out of his silent corner, and gave Lupin a smile. The smile dropped of Lupin's face, and he gave Harry a slight shake of his head.
"I know what your thinking, and I don't even know what he looks like." Harry said plainly, answering the silent question and confusing the entire class at the same time. Lupin gave Harry a nod and a slightly apprehensive smile before taking a step to the side, allowing Harry to move directly in front of the cupboard.
"Ready?" Lupin asked, a slightly unsure tone in his voice. Harry assumed a stance, wand arm raised, and gave a nod. Every student in the class held their breath as Lupin murmured a spell and blew the cupboard doors wide open, and Harry stepped out of the confined space.
Draco looked at the figure of Harry Potter, standing there in front of the open cupboard, his eyes locked on the real Harry. This new Potter was exactly the same, except he wore no Gryffindor tie, and his robes bore no Hogwarts insignia. The new Harry's face gave off a completely relaxed feeling, his eyes closed with a peaceful look. Draco's eyes flipped back to the real Harry, and for the first time, it appeared that the boy had not expected this new turn of events. Harry's wand arm dropped back to his side, a surprised look coming to his face as his eyes widened slightly. The surprised look didn't last though, and a flash of realization passed of Harry's face, closely followed by his eyes widening even more.
Draco and the rest of the class looked on, and for the first time, Harry was not be in control. His pose was stiff, his face unrelaxed, and his eyes no longer held the same intensity, but were now a dull green. His confidence had evaporated in to nothingness. The class watched on in confusion, their eyes flipped between the relaxed but fake Harry, and the shocked and apprehensive one. This boggart seemed to have reversed Harry's emotions, and only Lupin seemed to understand what was happening, a look of extreme concentration and worry on his face as he slipped out his wand.
Just as Lupin was about to step forward, it happened. Suddenly, the fake Harry's eyes SHOT open! But instead of the green emerald intensity that was suppose to be there, the eyes were BLOOD red, hot fire burning inside them. The entire class took shocked and fearful steps back until they hit the wall behind them, even Harry and Lupin each taking a step. The boggart Harry's eyes seemed to glow with an evil burning intensity, and his face shaped in to a twisted smile. The long eyelashes that had adorned the boggart Harry's face were now gone, and the burning red in it's eyes was now spreading like a pool of blood, taking up the entire pupil.
The boggart took a step forward, and Harry held his ground, wand arm twitching as he seemed to be thinking of what to do with the 'Ridiculous' spell he needed to use. Just then, a low hissing began emanating from the boggart mouth, and Harry's eyes widened even farther as he took another step backwards, fear flashing across his face once more. The low hissing sound continued, and the boggart Harry took another step forward, slipping his wand out of his sleeve as he did.
A magic induced gust filled the room, all centering on the boggart Harry. It almost seemed as if he were building up his power, his blood red eyes now unmistakably glowing with the intense murderous fire within them. The boggart was just raising his wand to cast a spell on the frozen form of the real Harry, when Lupin stepped in. The Professor stepped between Harry and the boggart, and with a loud pop, the gust was gone, and the boggart was now in the form of a glowing orb. Lupin sent a spell at the eerily floating orb, effectively forcing it back in the cupboard. Firing off another spell, he closed and locked the doors.
As Draco turned back to Harry, he found that the shock must have worn off, because even though his confidence was still absent, his expression was neutral.
"Class dismissed, we will continue this lesson next time." Lupin said, looking much older than he was.
The class shuffled out of the room, conversing in hushed whispers about the scene that had just took place. Draco took one last look at Harry, who was now conversing with Lupin in low voices on the opposite side of the room. Draco watched for as long as he could without looking suspicious, and then left a few seconds after the last person was gone. Crabbe and Goyle flanked his sides as soon as Draco was out of the room, and he sped up his footsteps so he could listen to the confused students ahead.
No one appeared to know for sure what had happened, but there was mostly guesses that Harry had some secret twin brother that was deep in the Dark Arts, and was out to kill him. Draco felt that this idea was preposterous, but as he walked back to the Slytherin common room, he found that he could find no better explanation than what the others had come up with.
AN: I hope you guys liked this chapter, I ended up finishing earlier than I thought. I hope I didn't make any of the same mistakes as I did in the last one :P
Anyways, what did you think? Did you like or dislike the way that the point of view changes between Draco, Harry, and a little bit of Ron, or did you just find it confusing? Also, do you like the direction the plot is headed?