Does anyone else have friends that call at midnight, just to see if
you've finished with the DVDs they'd lent you??
howling wolf - Bingo! He's not qute fully insane yet, but he's a lot
closer than he was before.
We all know Harry Potter doesn't belong to the Itch by now, right?
---
Blackened Sunrise
Chapter Thirty-three: Plans
The Itch
---
Yuletide Holidays.
Normally, the students of Hogwarts were excited and oh-so-pleased for
the break in classes, for the upcoming getting of presents, and the
fact that the holidays meant the year was half over already.
Four students were not-so happy with the fact that the holidays were
rolling around. Well, Draco was certainly glad that he wasn't going
home this Winter Solstice-- he wouldn't have to deal with Lucius.
Unfortunately, the reason he was remaining at the school this year was
to catch up on the month of classes he'd missed. The Professors weren't
to pleased with this either, having had their break taken away from the
four students who'd disappeared for four weeks.
And now they had a two week break to teach the quartet everything
they'd missed.
For this oh-so-special occasion, Professor Dumbledore was either being
very intelligent, or very sadistic. Depended on whom you happened to
ask. Each day would be spent with a different teacher. Of course, this
also meant that each day would be spent in entirety with one teacher.
Albus had decided they needed to do their Potions classes first.
The day following the majority of the students heading home to their
families, found the intrepid group of Draco, Harry, Virginia and
Hermione trudging into the Potions classroom, to see a fiercely
scowling Severus Snape. The three Weapons were a bit more tired than
they let on, having spent the majority of the night retraining their
bodies, as they had since Draco had awoken. Hermione had woken extra
early in order to trace the counter runes over Harry's wards, without
getting caught by a Professor.
She'd finally decided to just go along with Harry, like she'd always
done. Sure, they'd had some dangerous adventures, but he'd never really
led her wrong before. She'd stick by her friend.
In any case, four sullen and tired youths entered the room, settling
into their chairs and wondering what was going to happen. Ginny _Was_ a
year younger than them, but they really couldn't see Severus as
teaching her alone. There was a few moments of silence, then Snape
sneered, "Miss Weasley."
Virginia looked up, trying to make the fact that she had one hand
tucked into her robes and was fingering the smooth metal of the grip of
one of her .9mm guns as non-visible as possible, "...Sir?"
"You will be joining your _friends_," again, sneered, although there
was a bit of a curious look towards Draco, as if wondering why the
pale-skinned teenager was even bothering to sit near the others, "in
your lessons for today. You will be learning sixth year curriculum, and
you _will_not_ complain."
"Of course, Professor," she muttered half-heartedly, withdrawing her
hand from the gun. She had really wanted him to do something stupid,
just so she could have an excuse to use it. Not that being a Weapon
made her violent, or anything, she just did not like the professor all
that much.
"Good," he glared her down a bit more, then returned to facing the
other three, "I don't know, nor care where you four have been. We will
begin with a Age Deceleration Potion..."
---
The seven or eight students in the Great Hall come lunch time quieted
down almost immediately as soon as the doors swung open. Two annoyed,
and two amused students stalked in, dressed in robes splattered with
Potions ingredients. The quartet settled at the single table left in
the hall for the remaining students, such that Hermione and Virginia
sat across from each other, and Draco and Harry sat across from each
other. Draco sat beside Hermione only because Hermione didn't want to
know what Ginny and Draco would do to each other if they were seated
side-by-side.
Not that seating Harry and Draco across from each other was all that
intelligent of a move, either. To the stunned gazes of the nervous
onlookers, the two boys used one hand to eat their lunches, while they
used their butter knives to duel one another across the table. It was a
unique experience, that ended all too soon, as they finished up their
meals, and the two girls with them, hauled the pair away from the table
and back towards the Potions classroom, where they would spend the
intervening hours between then and dinner.
It didn't really stop the boys from dueling with their butter knives,
it just meant that the other students didn't get to see it since they
were out the doors.
Of course, to the watchers' surprise, when the quartet returned for
supper those hours later, they were still going at each other with the
knives, leaving them to wonder if they'd even paused during their
make-up lessons. Then they'd think on who the four had to deal with
that day, and decided that if they hadn't, they were probably going to
be in detention into eternity-- or, at least, Potter was going to be.
They sat in the same places as they did at lunch, and finally, an
exasperated Hermione grabbed both of their wrists, halting the
movement, while Virginia nearly fell out of her chair, laughing. The
muggle-born witch growled, "Cut it out! I've had enough of watching you
two go at each other--"
"C'mon 'Mione, it's just practice..."
"--I don't care! Harry, I know you..." she trailed off as she realized
her voice had gotten a bit loud, and she ducked her head to hide her
blush from the watching students, and hissed to her friend, "I know you
want practice for your Balance-thing, but at the dinner table? For
Mer-- God's sake, Harry! You might not even get a chance to put all
your plans into motion if you screw up right now, and _show_ everyone
what you're capable of!"
He blinked owlishly at her for a few minutes then laughed a bit
nervously, "You know, I never thought about it that way."
"I know," she groused, "Why do you think I pointed it out?"
Draco snickered, and opened his hand to drop his butter knife,
"Alright, Granger. Now that that's out of the way... What are we going
to do tonight?"
"We're supposed to head back for another two hours of work with Snape,"
Virginia muttered, casting a sour glance at said Potions Professor, who
was seated at the staff table up front, "After that...?" she shrugged.
Hermione leaned back in her seat, glancing around the room, noting who
was there, and who wasn't, "We should contact Ron."
"Huh?" Ginny frowned, "Why? What's my idiot brother got to do with
anything?"
"We should at least let him know that he's welcome to help us," the
genius muttered, "He's still my friend, and I'd hate to have him find
out that he's not on the same side as us..."
"We are not a 'side'," Weapon intoned, and the others turned to look at
him, "We do the will of the Power, we enforce the Balance, but we are
not a 'side'. If the Power bids us to do what they call 'good', we will
abide by the rules of Light. If the Power bids us to do what is
considered 'evil', we will do that as well. That is what it means to be
an operative of the Balance."
The bushy haired Gryffindor nodded, "I know, I know. You've told me
that before. What I meant was that I don't want to have to hurt him,
because he doesn't realize that he is against... the Balance."
"You liiiiiiike him," trilled Ginny, "You've got a crush on my brother,
don't you!"
"Ginny!" she scowled, "I do not! He's my best friend... and yeah, I
liked him... _last_ year! It's the same as when you stopped crushing on
Harry!"
Virginia laughed, "Maybe, maybe not. Well, we'll talk to Ron. Any other
ideas for tonight?"
"Practice," came the stereo response from Draco and Weapon. Draco
leaned forwards, "I want to become one of the..." he trailed off, eyes
glazing over as Hak whispered something to him, then whirling to glare
angrily at a Ravenclaw fifth year who was leaning towards them in an
attempt to 'accidentally' overhear their conversation. At the frosty
look, he jumped back a bit guiltily, and turned back to his meal.
Draco lowered his voice, "Right, I want to become one as soon as I
possibly can. Harry's wards'll be coming off in less than two weeks."
"I will be most pleased with that," Weapon spoke in his normal
monotone, "Being restricted to this human form is truly disturbing."
"Disturbing?" Hermione looked curious; she'd never heard any of the
others refer to remaining in their human forms as 'disturbing'. A quick
glance at the other two revealed that they, too, had not considered it
disturbing before.
"Yes," he gave a slow nod, "As one of the Weapons, my natural form is
non-human. It may be humanoid, but it is not human. To remain locked in
this form is constricting, and should it last much longer, I may become
physically ill."
"What?!" Ginny yelped, staring at him, "Why?!"
"It is unhealthy for one such as I to remain in a form to small for my
strength and abilities. The Power can not flow through me unrestricted
as it is meant to while I am forced to remain in this body."
They blinked at his words, then shook their heads as one. Leave it to
Weapon to speak perfectly properly, when Harry couldn't even string two
sentences together without sounding completely deranged. It led one to
wonder if Harry and Weapon were really two separate souls, or just
split personalities.
A question to be answered another day, as they noted Professor Snape
standing from his seat and glaring at them in a way that obviously
meant for them to come, and if they didn't, they would be seriously
hurt. Or, at the very least, in detention for a month.
Sighing, they got up and trudged out of the hall, back towards the
dungeons. The only good thing about this was that they were getting
Potions out of the way first. Tomorrow would be Transfiguration. Draco
really did not want to deal with Professor McGonagal.
Just because she wasn't obvious about it, she still favored Gryffindor
above Slytherin, and had taken to finding the smallest of legimate
excuses to remove points from the House.
So, thinking on neither Potions, nor Transfiguration, the group made
their way to the classroom, and prepared for another two hours of work.
Already, plans were in the works-- both for practice later that night,
and for the revealing of the Balance and subsequently, the Living
Weapons, to the Wizarding World.
Harry's lips quirked as he and Draco went to work at the next potion
assigned. Yes, plans were being made, and current events were holding
steadily to his hopes. Everything would be perfect. So the problem with
Draco set them back a bit, but it had revealed a chink in their armor.
They were not infallible.
As was obvious by Daemen's mistake in trying to force the group apart.
The DADA professor would be getting quite the beating, just for the
attempt. Should he try again... well, Harry may have considering him a
father of sorts, but he was not adverse to permanently harming the man,
should he harm one of his students.
---
End Chapter
S'probably a bit shorter than my latest chapters, but I just couldn't
force it to go on any further without getting overly repetitive and
boring.
Yeah, that's right, pretty quick here, you'll be finding out what
Weapon looks like. Happy days, right?
you've finished with the DVDs they'd lent you??
howling wolf - Bingo! He's not qute fully insane yet, but he's a lot
closer than he was before.
We all know Harry Potter doesn't belong to the Itch by now, right?
---
Blackened Sunrise
Chapter Thirty-three: Plans
The Itch
---
Yuletide Holidays.
Normally, the students of Hogwarts were excited and oh-so-pleased for
the break in classes, for the upcoming getting of presents, and the
fact that the holidays meant the year was half over already.
Four students were not-so happy with the fact that the holidays were
rolling around. Well, Draco was certainly glad that he wasn't going
home this Winter Solstice-- he wouldn't have to deal with Lucius.
Unfortunately, the reason he was remaining at the school this year was
to catch up on the month of classes he'd missed. The Professors weren't
to pleased with this either, having had their break taken away from the
four students who'd disappeared for four weeks.
And now they had a two week break to teach the quartet everything
they'd missed.
For this oh-so-special occasion, Professor Dumbledore was either being
very intelligent, or very sadistic. Depended on whom you happened to
ask. Each day would be spent with a different teacher. Of course, this
also meant that each day would be spent in entirety with one teacher.
Albus had decided they needed to do their Potions classes first.
The day following the majority of the students heading home to their
families, found the intrepid group of Draco, Harry, Virginia and
Hermione trudging into the Potions classroom, to see a fiercely
scowling Severus Snape. The three Weapons were a bit more tired than
they let on, having spent the majority of the night retraining their
bodies, as they had since Draco had awoken. Hermione had woken extra
early in order to trace the counter runes over Harry's wards, without
getting caught by a Professor.
She'd finally decided to just go along with Harry, like she'd always
done. Sure, they'd had some dangerous adventures, but he'd never really
led her wrong before. She'd stick by her friend.
In any case, four sullen and tired youths entered the room, settling
into their chairs and wondering what was going to happen. Ginny _Was_ a
year younger than them, but they really couldn't see Severus as
teaching her alone. There was a few moments of silence, then Snape
sneered, "Miss Weasley."
Virginia looked up, trying to make the fact that she had one hand
tucked into her robes and was fingering the smooth metal of the grip of
one of her .9mm guns as non-visible as possible, "...Sir?"
"You will be joining your _friends_," again, sneered, although there
was a bit of a curious look towards Draco, as if wondering why the
pale-skinned teenager was even bothering to sit near the others, "in
your lessons for today. You will be learning sixth year curriculum, and
you _will_not_ complain."
"Of course, Professor," she muttered half-heartedly, withdrawing her
hand from the gun. She had really wanted him to do something stupid,
just so she could have an excuse to use it. Not that being a Weapon
made her violent, or anything, she just did not like the professor all
that much.
"Good," he glared her down a bit more, then returned to facing the
other three, "I don't know, nor care where you four have been. We will
begin with a Age Deceleration Potion..."
---
The seven or eight students in the Great Hall come lunch time quieted
down almost immediately as soon as the doors swung open. Two annoyed,
and two amused students stalked in, dressed in robes splattered with
Potions ingredients. The quartet settled at the single table left in
the hall for the remaining students, such that Hermione and Virginia
sat across from each other, and Draco and Harry sat across from each
other. Draco sat beside Hermione only because Hermione didn't want to
know what Ginny and Draco would do to each other if they were seated
side-by-side.
Not that seating Harry and Draco across from each other was all that
intelligent of a move, either. To the stunned gazes of the nervous
onlookers, the two boys used one hand to eat their lunches, while they
used their butter knives to duel one another across the table. It was a
unique experience, that ended all too soon, as they finished up their
meals, and the two girls with them, hauled the pair away from the table
and back towards the Potions classroom, where they would spend the
intervening hours between then and dinner.
It didn't really stop the boys from dueling with their butter knives,
it just meant that the other students didn't get to see it since they
were out the doors.
Of course, to the watchers' surprise, when the quartet returned for
supper those hours later, they were still going at each other with the
knives, leaving them to wonder if they'd even paused during their
make-up lessons. Then they'd think on who the four had to deal with
that day, and decided that if they hadn't, they were probably going to
be in detention into eternity-- or, at least, Potter was going to be.
They sat in the same places as they did at lunch, and finally, an
exasperated Hermione grabbed both of their wrists, halting the
movement, while Virginia nearly fell out of her chair, laughing. The
muggle-born witch growled, "Cut it out! I've had enough of watching you
two go at each other--"
"C'mon 'Mione, it's just practice..."
"--I don't care! Harry, I know you..." she trailed off as she realized
her voice had gotten a bit loud, and she ducked her head to hide her
blush from the watching students, and hissed to her friend, "I know you
want practice for your Balance-thing, but at the dinner table? For
Mer-- God's sake, Harry! You might not even get a chance to put all
your plans into motion if you screw up right now, and _show_ everyone
what you're capable of!"
He blinked owlishly at her for a few minutes then laughed a bit
nervously, "You know, I never thought about it that way."
"I know," she groused, "Why do you think I pointed it out?"
Draco snickered, and opened his hand to drop his butter knife,
"Alright, Granger. Now that that's out of the way... What are we going
to do tonight?"
"We're supposed to head back for another two hours of work with Snape,"
Virginia muttered, casting a sour glance at said Potions Professor, who
was seated at the staff table up front, "After that...?" she shrugged.
Hermione leaned back in her seat, glancing around the room, noting who
was there, and who wasn't, "We should contact Ron."
"Huh?" Ginny frowned, "Why? What's my idiot brother got to do with
anything?"
"We should at least let him know that he's welcome to help us," the
genius muttered, "He's still my friend, and I'd hate to have him find
out that he's not on the same side as us..."
"We are not a 'side'," Weapon intoned, and the others turned to look at
him, "We do the will of the Power, we enforce the Balance, but we are
not a 'side'. If the Power bids us to do what they call 'good', we will
abide by the rules of Light. If the Power bids us to do what is
considered 'evil', we will do that as well. That is what it means to be
an operative of the Balance."
The bushy haired Gryffindor nodded, "I know, I know. You've told me
that before. What I meant was that I don't want to have to hurt him,
because he doesn't realize that he is against... the Balance."
"You liiiiiiike him," trilled Ginny, "You've got a crush on my brother,
don't you!"
"Ginny!" she scowled, "I do not! He's my best friend... and yeah, I
liked him... _last_ year! It's the same as when you stopped crushing on
Harry!"
Virginia laughed, "Maybe, maybe not. Well, we'll talk to Ron. Any other
ideas for tonight?"
"Practice," came the stereo response from Draco and Weapon. Draco
leaned forwards, "I want to become one of the..." he trailed off, eyes
glazing over as Hak whispered something to him, then whirling to glare
angrily at a Ravenclaw fifth year who was leaning towards them in an
attempt to 'accidentally' overhear their conversation. At the frosty
look, he jumped back a bit guiltily, and turned back to his meal.
Draco lowered his voice, "Right, I want to become one as soon as I
possibly can. Harry's wards'll be coming off in less than two weeks."
"I will be most pleased with that," Weapon spoke in his normal
monotone, "Being restricted to this human form is truly disturbing."
"Disturbing?" Hermione looked curious; she'd never heard any of the
others refer to remaining in their human forms as 'disturbing'. A quick
glance at the other two revealed that they, too, had not considered it
disturbing before.
"Yes," he gave a slow nod, "As one of the Weapons, my natural form is
non-human. It may be humanoid, but it is not human. To remain locked in
this form is constricting, and should it last much longer, I may become
physically ill."
"What?!" Ginny yelped, staring at him, "Why?!"
"It is unhealthy for one such as I to remain in a form to small for my
strength and abilities. The Power can not flow through me unrestricted
as it is meant to while I am forced to remain in this body."
They blinked at his words, then shook their heads as one. Leave it to
Weapon to speak perfectly properly, when Harry couldn't even string two
sentences together without sounding completely deranged. It led one to
wonder if Harry and Weapon were really two separate souls, or just
split personalities.
A question to be answered another day, as they noted Professor Snape
standing from his seat and glaring at them in a way that obviously
meant for them to come, and if they didn't, they would be seriously
hurt. Or, at the very least, in detention for a month.
Sighing, they got up and trudged out of the hall, back towards the
dungeons. The only good thing about this was that they were getting
Potions out of the way first. Tomorrow would be Transfiguration. Draco
really did not want to deal with Professor McGonagal.
Just because she wasn't obvious about it, she still favored Gryffindor
above Slytherin, and had taken to finding the smallest of legimate
excuses to remove points from the House.
So, thinking on neither Potions, nor Transfiguration, the group made
their way to the classroom, and prepared for another two hours of work.
Already, plans were in the works-- both for practice later that night,
and for the revealing of the Balance and subsequently, the Living
Weapons, to the Wizarding World.
Harry's lips quirked as he and Draco went to work at the next potion
assigned. Yes, plans were being made, and current events were holding
steadily to his hopes. Everything would be perfect. So the problem with
Draco set them back a bit, but it had revealed a chink in their armor.
They were not infallible.
As was obvious by Daemen's mistake in trying to force the group apart.
The DADA professor would be getting quite the beating, just for the
attempt. Should he try again... well, Harry may have considering him a
father of sorts, but he was not adverse to permanently harming the man,
should he harm one of his students.
---
End Chapter
S'probably a bit shorter than my latest chapters, but I just couldn't
force it to go on any further without getting overly repetitive and
boring.
Yeah, that's right, pretty quick here, you'll be finding out what
Weapon looks like. Happy days, right?