Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter, and I never will! (Sobs) Just leave me alone!
Chapter 7 The Journey Home
Harry was let out of the hospital the next day, mainly because Harry kept glaring at whoever tried to suggest he stay there any longer.
Remus survived that attack, and would most likely survive the Healers said, but he would be out of action for at least a month.
It took about twenty minutes before Harry could talk without his eyes burning up and his throat tightening. He nearly cried in relief. Remus simply smiled at him and told him to keep his chin up. "Things will get better." Remus whispered, before pulling the Boy-Who-Lived into a hug.
Then Harry cried.
Harry drifted throughout the next few hours, days, weeks, until September 1st came around. He felt lost, disconnected from himself, watching the world from the third person. It was as if someone else was running his body, while his soul watched the world drift all around him.
For the most part, everyone tried to give Harry some space, even Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, the last of them acting strangely from time to time. She looked at him strangely, as if something would happen if she wasn't looking.
Harry didn't notice a thing. He felt numb. The course of events over this past month had nearly broken him, and now it was back to school.
As much as he despised Grimmauld Place, going to Hogwarts meant facing the ridicule and ever watching eyes of the student body.
For once, Harry didn't want to go to Hogwarts. It would bring back too many memories.
Harry felt certain that if he ever looked at the fireplace, the one-eyed witch statue, or any other landmark that even remotely reminded him of Sirius, he would almost collapse with grief again.
At least here and at Privet Drive, he had solitude. There was no solitude within Hogwarts.
And so it was with a heavy heart, Harry Potter boarded the Hogwarts Express, surrounded by the Weasleys, Hermione, and of course, his guard, feeling alone.
After Ron and Hermione had departed for the Prefects meeting, both of them looking concernedly at Harry before they left, Harry found a compartment sans Ginny, who left to find Dean (which caused Harry to clench his fist reflexively), the only occupants being a nervous looking Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, with the same dreamy look in her eyes as the first time Harry met the strange witch.
After exchanging a few greetings, they sat in silence for a moment, until Neville coughed slightly and pulled out a new wand. "Its my new wand, to replace my dad's wand." Neville managed, smiling at his new wand.
"That's great Neville," Harry said, almost choking on his own words when he flashed back to when it broke, "I'm sorry about your dad's wand."
Neville waved it off. "It didn't really work for me. Gram didn't even yell at me, she just kind of looked at me for a moment and took the wand." Neville smiled softly, remembering the proud looks his grandmother, the normally stern authoritarian face in smiles. 'I'm so proud of you', She whispered.
Again, they sat in silence, Neville occasionally stroking his Mimbulus mimbletonia, which made an odd crooning noise.
Quite a peaceful moment.
As if sensing a peaceful moment in the otherwise turbulent life of the Boy-Who-Lived, Draco Malfoy appeared at the carriage door, flanked, as always, by the ape-like companions Crabbe and Goyle.
"Still alive there Potter? That's a pity." Malfoy sneered.
"Get out Malfoy." Harry said coldly, waving his hand, hoping to some higher power that Malfoy, for once, for just one time, would leave.
No such luck.
"What, no rousing tales about how you successfully foiled another attack by the Dark Lord?" Malfoy asked, mock-horrified.
Harry felt the blood begin to pound, and his ire beginning to rise, always just beneath the surface. "Shut it, Malfoy, and get the hell out."
"Swearing Potter? That's not something the Golden Boy should be doing." Malfoy paused, smirking. "Are you upset because my aunt put down that little doggy of yours?"
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Harry roared leaping from his seat right at the Malfoy heir, who actually looked surprised and horrified as the Boy-Who-Lived tackled him the ground, landing a punch before Crabbe and Goyle realized that their leader was in danger, and lumbered over, and hit Harry right in the ribs with their feet.
This caused Neville to curse Crabbe, while Luna did the same to Goyle. The two lumbering Slytherins were hurled from the compartment, while Harry and Malfoy continued to tussle on the ground, before Harry lashed out, stronger than the pureblooded wizard, who shunned the menial activities that gave Harry sinewy and lithe muscles.
As the Malfoy heir lay on the ground, winded by the vicious kick, Harry Potter towered over him, glaring at him with such raw fury and dark rage that he shivered. His emerald eyes had darkened to an almost black color, and something truly dangerous flickered behind those orbs.
"Get out."
Malfoy's gray eyes hardened. "This isn't over Potter. The Dark Lord will come for you."
"Then tell him to come. I'll be waiting," Harry said dangerously, his eyes bleeding with power, his voice seething with fury. He slammed the door in Malfoy's face, turning around rapidly, before sitting back down.
The only sound for a while was the slow rumbles of the train, strangely ominous and foreboding, like the gatherings of a storm.
"Harry, what did you do to Malfoy!" Hermione cried out, looking very disappointed at her friend.
Ron was having the opposite reaction, looking like he could dance, possibly on a certain Slytherin's grave. "That was bloody brilliant Harry! Malfoy and his goons are seething!" Ron said gleefully.
Harry, for the most part, ignored them. Something was wrong with him. It was getting easier and easier to fly off the handle, even without Malfoy's taunts. Was Voldemort tapping into his emotions? Was it grief? Was it… something else?
Harry didn't know, but after he got angry, he felt a sinking, retreating feeling, akin to a snake slithering off into the darkness…
And it didn't feel right. It wasn't Voldemort, Harry knew. He remembered, in every painful detail, Voldemort's possession of him and the moment when he felt the snake retreat from his body. When this snake retreated, it went deep within him, burrowing into his very soul.
"Where's Ginny?" Ron asked, scanning the compartment.
"I, uh, she went up to see Dean." Harry said cautiously, backing up slowly, his musings broken by the redhead. There was no telling what Ron's reaction would be. Oh wait, yeah there would. Just one kind of reaction. Harry counted off mentally, 1,2,3.
"WHAT!"
That one.
It took the combined force of Hermione, Harry, Neville, and Luna to keep Ron from tearing out of the compartment, ripping Dean's head off, and shipping Ginny off to a nunnery.
"Honestly Ron," Hermione began, and nearly everyone just tuned out, sensing a speech the way that animals sense incoming earthquakes. Hermione's various lectures and speeches could be classified under several categories.
1) Ron's a prat.
2) S.P.E.W. speech.
3) It's not spew, its S.P.E.W.!
4) Study.
5) Grow up Ron!
This one would go under category five, Ron and Harry noted, meeting each others eyes and, despite the turbulence of their friendship over the past few weeks, shared a silent grin, rolling their eyes in unison.
Finally, they arrived at Hogwarts.
Harry looked out towards the carriages, wincing as he saw the thestrals. Neville whispered softly, "I can see them."
Harry's head whipped around, piercing Neville, before turning to the ground. "Sirius…" Harry whispered brokenly.
Ron and Hermione tugged Harry towards the carriage, who moved blindly, with Neville and Luna following behind, watching the broken Boy-Who-Lived.
Harry, despite the terrible events before and after he left Hogwarts, smiled to himself. Hogwarts. The magic never truly left him.
He smiled, small but noticeable to those around him. It faded after a moment, when Harry caught an unwelcome sight.
"Damn. I had hoped Snape died over the holidays," Ron muttered, shaking his head in defeat. He turned towards Harry and gave him a pitying look. "Can't believe you decided to take Potions again, mate."
Harry smiled again, but it was tinged with sourness, from having to endure Snape once more. Although he had only achieved an E on his Potions Exam, McGonogall had come through for him, that, and the fact that they would not offer Advanced Potions if there were only about three people, all of them save Hermione Slytherins, taking the course. Harry had cracked a grin, the first in a while, when he imagined Snape's face when he had to admit all the students who got an E in the course.
Snape turned his cold black eyes and for a moment, he and the Boy-Who-Lived met eyes, and that same hatred passed through both of them, one because of an old grudge, one a newer grudge.
Harry stopped however, when he caught sight of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. "Sweet Merlin, it's Tonks!" Ron said in amazement. "This is loads better than Umbridge!"
Harry knew that nothing could be worse than Umbridge, hell, he would have preferred anyone (well, maybe not Snape), but Tonks was a welcome addition.
He saw the clumsy Auror wave to them, mouthing the words 'Later.'
Harry smiled, and took his seat. He looked around, seeing the various awed, cautious, and downright hostile looks from various members of the crowd. Harry sighed, losing his smile. This definitely seemed familiar.
He looked up to avoid the gazes of the student body, but crossed eyes with Dumbledore, who looked at him intently. Harry glared back.
He saw the Headmaster sigh in defeat, and look back to his plate for a moment.
Harry looked up, feeling that every year, Hogwarts lost a little bit of its magic every year, that appeal that captivated him first year was waning.
The world just hadn't felt the same since Voldemort had come back. Or maybe he was just starting to learn the real world. After all, his destiny was tied in with Voldemort's. He was destined to face Voldemort, and the world was righting itself.
It didn't seem to occur to the world that Harry liked his world just the way it had been at the end of third year, with Sirius alive, hope for a new life ahead. Now that was gone.
Harry felt the snake beginning to crawl back up again…
After the Sorting (With Zelpher, Nel going to Gryffindor), Dumbledore stood up, locking eyes with Harry for a moment before smiling to look at the student body.
"Welcome, first years. To our returning students, welcome back. I know you are all anxious to get to feasting, and so am I!" Dumbledore clapped his hands, and the food appeared.
Once the sumptuous feast was over, Dumbledore stood up again. "A few announcements before we turn in for the night. First of all, I'd like you all to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Nymphadora Tonks."
Tonks flushed with the praise and the use of her first name, bowing her head. Snape ignored Tonks, as per his usual modus operandi with DADA teachers.
"She is a Ministry Auror who is one of those assigned to guard our school, and she has graciously accepted the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts as a supplement. I am sure you will all learn much from her." Dumbledore smiled. "Now, as always, the Forbidden Forest is forbidden, despite what some of the older students have told you." Now Harry colored a bit. It wasn't his fault he ended up there every year, he just… couldn't help his saving-people thing.
His mood soured. Harry tuned out as Dumbledore read out a few more pointless and meaningless (to him) announcements, and scanned the tables, feeling a not so tiny rush of anger as Ginny sat next to Dean, as irrational as it was. He looked back towards the crumbs on his plate, studying them to ward off the intense anger at Dean (which was completely insane, he had no grudge against him), and the numbing feeling of drowsiness seeping into his bones.
Ron shook him. "Mate? Come on, lets go up to Gryffindor tower. You're exhausted. And come on, you have to help me keep an eye on Dean!" Ron said, but tried to hide his voice so neither Hermione nor his not so little sister heard him.
Luckily, they didn't catch him, and Harry nodded, thinking he'd rather not catch Dean and Ginny snogging…
In what seemed like an eternity, but was probably a mere minutes, Harry found himself stumbling into his dormitory, blindly putting his glasses on the nightstand before hitting his head on the pillow, passing into the deep oblivion of sleep, untroubled by Voldemort, Dean and Ginny snogging, or Potions class.
Thanks mashimaromadness, Freya4, madskillzpro, Samurai-Demon-God-Sekkikage, Lady of Masbolle, Wren-Truesong, FroBoy, Hunter101, BalrogMan65, Zeromaru: Chaos Mode, Pleione, SanityEscapesMe, RealityIntrovert, Night-Owl123, harrysmom, DarkPhoenix011, jbfritz, CharmedMilliE, Kathyrn Black, Maxennce, Tanydwr, arekuruu-inabikari-no-She, ShadowWalkerZero, Phoenix Man, Lunatic Pandora1, and japense-jew to for reviewing!
Q&A
Samurai-Demon-God-Sekkikage- I never said he was going to be like something off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the literal sense. He and Harry will be somewhat like Yami/Yugi, without the merging. I simply said that Demon Harry will end up acting like Angelus, who is the best evil guy I've ever seen.
Lady of Masbolle- Perhaps someone will pick up on the clues, someone I've hinted at…
Wren-Truesong-I'm glad you liked the Wormtail trick, and as for Henry V being Sirius-like is an accurate assessment.
Hunter101- I'm glad you think the dual personality thing is original, and as for demon blood, I'm not going to do that here.
Zeromaru: Chaos Mode- Nothing so grandiose. I'm afraid no one else is going to change sides, and Dark Hermione would interfere with the plot… (begins laughing insanely, before coughing and looking nonchalant) As for the song, thanks for the tip!
harrysmom- I'd love to answer but… well, I can't. And I don't take offense, understanding evil Harry is key to the story. But no character knows all the facts, not until the end.
DarkPhoenix011- Harry v. Harry? Crazy. Absolutely crazy. Was the dream just a dream, or a foreshadow of things to come? You'll have to guess.
Maxennce- Oh no, Wormtail's definitely dead. Your assessment is nice, but off a bit. You're forgetting I've been making a distinction between Harry and his dark side from day one. He hasn't lost his soul, but he does stand close to falling into darkness. But he's far from being unable to be saved by Ginny.
Tanydwr- You've misinterpreted my use of the word relationship. Its definitely not a boyfriend-girlfriend thing I'm setting up for Dark Harry and Ginny. Mental torture is Dark Harry's modus operandi, but other types of torture are also vicious and breaking. Dark Harry is a fan of all forms of torture.
japense-jew- Yes, wizards do need incantations for magic in general sense. (Interpret the cryptic message however you like) As for it being close to the Yu-Gi-Oh manga… that was part of the intent, but for this part of the story, it has to be close. It will get very different later on. Dark Harry is so not ending up like Yami, all tame and righteous.
AN: I don't own the name Nel Zelpher, which is property of Tri-Ace. Thanks for reading and please review!