Harry Potter and the Betrayal of the Phoenix
Chapter 10 - The Aftermath
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, the canon herself JK does…or maybe Warner Brothers does…maybe Scholastic…who knows? Anyways, it's not me, and I am not here to make any money…and I got a Beta reader who is new to the job…so forgive her and me for the mistakes :-) Also…if you plan on posting my story anywhere, you must ask me permission first, and tell me the site.
The next morning, Harry was at breakfast waiting for a copy of the Daily Prophet. He was looking for why Voldemort was so happy the night before. If Voldemort was happy, then the rest of the world should be frightened, but there wasn't anything in the papers about it. Harry was quite unnerved when there wasn't anything that would cause Voldemort to be so happy. Harry began to think about what that could mean when Hermione tapped him on the shoulder.
"Morning Harry."
"Hi Hermione."
"So what exactly happened with you and Ron last night? All the people in the common room would tell me is that you two got into a fight. What about? Did you tell him about his grade?"
"What do you think started the fight? Yes, I told him about his grade."
"Oh. It sounded a little more heated then a fight about a grade. Tell me what it was about!"
"I'm not going to tell you."
"And why NOT?"
"Because…Hermione…" Harry didn't want to tell Hermione what Ron said about her, but at the same time he knew that she wouldn't let it go until he said something, "Ok, he was getting all defensive about me studying so much with Blaise."
"Well…although I can see why he'd be upset, she is a Slytherin after all, she seems to be a decent person."
"That's what I think!"
"Harry…I know that's not all there was to the fight. I'm not stupid after all, but since it's obvious you don't want to tell me I won't pester you anymore."
"Thanks Hermione."
"I'll just go ask Ron whenever I see him next."
"Fine. Whatever. I'm heading to potions, I'll meet you in there."
Harry had a horrible potions lesson. He just couldn't seem to concentrate any time he saw Blaise or Hermione…every time he saw one of them he would think back to what Ron said and get so angry that he would do accidental magic, causing a particularly nasty accident in Potions that sent him up to the Hospital wing.
"Welcome back Mr. Potter…I think we should have a bed permanently reserved for you."
"Ha ha."
"What happened this time?"
"Jar of newt entrails exploded next to me."
"Oh, we'll get that cleaned up in no time."
"Thanks."
As Madame Pomfrey tended to Harry's wounds, he began to lose himself in his thoughts.
If this happens all day today, I'm in trouble. I can't even imagine what will happen in DADA when I see Ron for the first time today. I wonder if anything Ron yelled at me last night was true…am I leading Hermione on? Blaise on? I don't think I am…I don't think I could imagine either of them like that at the moment…I mean look at what happened last year with Cho! As if I don't have enough to worry about, going out with someone might just add to the worries, although I really do seem at ease when around Blaise and Hermione…and why was Ron just so angry at me? Did I really do anything wrong? Maybe I just didn't know him as well as I thought I did…although I can't imagine how I could have overlooked something such a big, well, side of him…Maybe…"
"All finished Mr. Potter, now back to classes with you. The bell just rang for you to get to your second class, so scoot!
In Transfiguration, Harry wasn't much better although he managed to avoid causing any harm to himself, or anyone else for that matter. He did, however, get a detention from Professor McGonagall for missing the previous day's practicum. Charms went the same way, but it was time to see how well Harry could control him emotions when Defense Against the Dark Arts came.
Harry was one of the first students to walk into the class. He hadn't walked with anyone or spoke with anyone on the way there and sat near the back of the classroom. He really didn't want to be called on in this lesson. They were to be talking more about the ethics behind killing dark creatures, and Harry didn't want to deal with philosophy today. Most of the class began to roll in, and eventually Ron came in talking with Hermione. Hermione looked at Harry with sorrow in her eyes, but decided not to sit next to him and sat near the front instead. As Ron passed Harry, Ron "accidentally" knocked Harry's belongings off his desk and onto the floor and kept on walking without apologizing.
Gee…thanks Ron. Git. And what's with Hermione tagging alongside Ron all the sudden? I wonder what in the name of Merlin he told Hermione about that bloody fight yesterday.
"Harry…why you sitting all the way back here?" asked the familiar voice of Blaise Zabini.
"I don't want to talk about it now. Ask me later."
"But why aren't you sitting up there with the other two thirds of the Dream Team?"
"Later Blaise."
"OK, but you owe me an explanation about what happened in potions this morning. Same time, same place for the potions HW?"
"Sure Blaise."
All day long, Harry was off in his lessons. He didn't speak up in any of his classes, and in his class on the Return of Voldemort, Dumbledore stopped to question why.
"I had a big fight with Ron."
Immediately, a look of concern crossed Dumbledore's face, surprising Harry.
He must be worried for my sanity…Merlin I would be too.
"That's not the worst thing though…all day long I've been wondering what this feeling I had last night was all about. I got a feeling that Voldemort was extremely happy about something. The last time I felt that was when Azkaban was broken last year…but there was nothing in the papers about it this morning."
"Curious indeed Harry…nothing major did happen last night that I know of. Curious indeed…"
After a long pause…"Harry, I hope you don't mind, but your news concerns me, and I need to get the Order acting on it to see if we can find out what is going on. I hope you work out your fight with Ron, and I will see you here on Tuesday."
"Sure…I wasn't up for much of a lesson anyhow. Let me know if you find out anything please!"
"Of course Harry…of course."
After dinner and the Charms practicum, Harry met up with Blaise in their usual spot in the library. The immediately began work on their Potions assignments, until Blaise slammed her book shut.
"Harry! What has been wrong with you ALL DAY? I can't stand to see you in a rut like this, amd you promised to tell me what was bugging you, so dish."
"I got into a big fight with Ron last night."
"About what?"
"About a LOT of things…"
"Like…"
"I can't tell you all of the fight, because there is some stuff that you don't know yet…but I'll tell you the part that involved me."
"You had a fight about ME?"
"Well…kinda….yah. He pretty much called you trash. He berated me for being friendly with you, and he thinks that me and you are in some sort of relationship, and that I'm leading both you and Hermione on at the same time, and its still really confusing, and I'm worried he may be right…am I leading you on?"
"Oh Harry, of course you aren't. Don't listen to the git; he doesn't know what he's talking about. He is just jealous we can be friends when he can't seem to be friends with anyone but you and Hermione. And you say he called me trash?"
"Well…he didn't say that specifically, but he pretty much said that I'm betraying the house by being friends with a 'slimy Slytherin'?"
"He WHAT?"
Ron Weasley picked probably the worst time he could have thought of to enter the library. As soon as he walked in, Blaise stormed over to him and slapped him.
"Ron Weasely, how DARE you call me Slytherin trash!?! What is with you and your prejudices against Slytherin anyways?
"Oh, I dunno, Voldemort? Malfoy? Those sound like two good reasons to me, and never touch me again. And what are you two doing in the library this late? I'll have to write you up for this, and for assaulting a prefect…"
"Oh, that's right…I forgot how I look like, act like, sound like either of them, and for your information dingbat we have an excuse from Snape."
"You're like them, you're in Slytherin, close enough, and an excuse for what? I doubt you two are working on homework…"
"What's that supposed to mean…and so WHAT? I'm ambitious…so sue me! Who ever said that was something undesirable? I happen to want to be as strong as I can possibly come…"
"See! All you want is power!" interrupted Ron.
"I want that power so I can put it to good use! I plan on being an Auror thank you very much."
"Big whoop…that's what I plan on doing too."
"But I'll be able to follow through with my plans Weasley. What classes are you in? I doubt Intermediate Charms will get you very far…and you aren't even in potions! You can't be an Auror…and I can…and Harry can…and Hermione can…and it must eat you alive on the inside."
"That's what you think you Slytherin trash. I can be an Auror if I want to be…I'm the son of the Minister of Magic."
"Using your family ties? You sound more like a Malfoy than you do a Weasley. You're only the son of the Minister of Magic because of Harry, don't you forget it. The Aurors wouldn't care what Minister Weasley told them to do…you still have to be competent to be an Auror."
"What would YOU know about anything Zabini? You're family are nothing but Slytherin trash. You're whole family have been a disgrace to the world…you and your family are nothing but trash, and not worth the food that you eat, which seems to be a lot."
Blaise slapped him again. .
"Never talk about my family again."
"How DARE you slap me again? I let you get away with one, but not again. Odium!" shouted Ron.
Harry, who had his wand ready ever since the fight broke out, immediately shouted "Nullus Odium."
"Ronald Weasley," shouted a livid Madame Pince, who arrived just in time to see Ron try to curse Blaise, "how DARE you try to curse another student in the library. Such behavior from a PREFECT no less. I shall see to it that Professor McGonagall takes your badge awayt. Thank goodness Mr. Potter was here to prevent any damage."
Madame Pince dragged Ron away from the table, and out the library.
"Harry…what was that spell he used? And what spell did YOU use?"
"Odium is a nasty curse…if he had succeeded then it would have you to hate yourself to the point of self-mutilation, both physical and magical. I wrote about it in that essay for Advanced DADA on a spell that should be unforgivable but isn't…and I know Ron didn't use that spell…he told me he used a different one…so why would he know how to use it?"
"Beats me…but what was with that Nullus thing?"
"Nullus is a spell that I taught in Dueling and the D.A., which surprises me that Ron wasn't expecting it…I mean he is in the class after all…anyways, you cast Nullus right after another spell has been cast. If cast in time, Nullus will immediately cancel out a spell…its sort of like the anti-spell for that spell. It will immediately dissipate the spell into thin air, but the tricky part is being fast enough to cast it."
"Wait a second…what the hell is 'Dueling and the D.A'? What do you mean you teach it?"
"Oh…well…me and Hermione teach this class called 'Dueling and the D.A.' Last year we started up the DA so we could learn real DADA instead of that lousy Umbridge, where we weren't learning anything useful. Dumbledore decided to make it a class, and open it up to the whole school after the first term."
"I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for that one. I am going back to the Slytherin common room…this has just been too much to absorb. You keep on surprising me Pigeon…but in a good way. Good night."
A/N: Yah, I know I took forever with this chapter. I had a really busy week…but expect other chapters to come out on an around-weekly basis…thanks to all the reviewers…you guys rock my world :-) HPBetrayalOfThePhoenix@yahoogroups.com is the yahoo group for this fic…and I send out announcements when the next chapter's been uploaded. And Check out my songfic based off of Bjork's "I have seen it all" which is from her awesome musical "Dancer in the dark." It made me cry, I swear!