Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter.
AN: Looking back over the first few chapters of Dark Harry's dialogue... I found he sounds kind of lame, like some kind of bad movie villain. Oh well, he'll be a lot better than any other villains soon enough. This chapter hurts me... because I had to insult Ginny. Trust me folks, I was wincing every part of the way.
Chapter 12 The Fine Line
Harry Potter descended down to breakfast the next morning, dreading, despite Ginny's assurances the day before that nothing had changed, the reaction of several people, especially Snape. Actually, namely Snape.
If Snape hated him before, what about now, after some evil psycho version of himself tortured him?
You know he deserved it, that dark voice Harry finally associated with his evil half hissed softly.
He didn't. Harry countered firmly.
Oh that's right, the demon hissed again, you empathize with him because your dad was just like Dudley. Maybe once I'm done with your friends, I'll pay a little visit to our... family.
Despite everything, Harry was horrified to feel a certain sense of satisfaction at that thought, and he didn't know who it came from. The demon or himself. The lines between the two of them blurred so many times now, it seemed.
Resolving himself to avoid all people, especially a certain redhead, Harry steeled himself for what would be the longest, most arduous week of his life.
Harry wanted to groan out in frustration. Why did whatever powers ruled this universe hate him so much! All he wanted was to avoid his friends, make sure Snape did not try to kill him, and get through the week without seeing Ginny. And it worked fairly well, as Snape pretty much avoided looking at Harry, and when he did, there was a shiver of fear in the Potion Master's eyes, which didn't give him the pleasure the demon had every time he saw it, instead scaring him. Severus Snape was a man who faced Voldemort's tortures on a regular basis, but was now deathly afraid of what lived within Harry.
With good reason, you know, his darker half mused cheerfully.
That was another problem. The demon within was always talking, always making a comment on different things, sometimes with ideas of torture and pain that made Harry shiver with fear for those subjects of his talks. The dark presence kept making remarks all throughout the day, some sarcastic, some dangerous, and some that caused anger to rise within Harry. But he could do nothing.
As for his friends, they avoided him too, thinking he needed space and trying to deal with their own fears of the demon within. There was just one problem. Ginny kept seeking him out and knowing somehow that something was wrong. Every time. He could not escape her.
See Harry, doesn't love suck? You try and try to find it, then the moment you get it, you can't have it. Life's a bitch, ain't it? Dark Harry laughed at his own commentary.
And each time she knew exactly what was wrong, and Harry knew exactly what she would say and feel about his self-imposed isolation.
Obviously, Dumbledore's bond had some... unexpected consequences. When Harry confronted Dumbledore about this two days before, the Headmaster replied that feelings were needed to keep the bond stabilized, as that was a critical part of most Ancient magics.
Feelings, the demon snorted amusedly when Dumbledore said it.
Unfortunately, it also gave both Harry and Ginny the ability to find the other. Unfortunately in the way that Ginny always tracked him down, just like today, in one of Harry's secluded brooding areas.
"Harry! What the bloody hell is wrong with you! I already told you no one blames you for what happened!" Ginny snarled angrily.
"Would you just leave me alone! I'd like to process this myself, so just sod off for Merlin's sake!" Harry shot back caustically.
You're just a hit with the ladies, aren't you? His dark half commented sardonically.
Would do me a favor and shut the hell up! Harry roared internally.
No can do sport. This is all the entertainment I have left, Dark Harry responded cheerfully.
"Fine! Just be by yourself then you idiot! Don't come crying to me when you find yourself all alone!" Ginny hissed angrily, and Harry got out of his chair and turned quickly, stalking off.
And this is the girl you love, the demon remarked, You sure know how to pick em sport.
Harry had nothing to say to that remark, instead continuing his quest to find someplace to think and be alone. Except he was never able to find that place. Unknowingly though, this time, there was another person watching him.
From the shadows, Dean Thomas watched in jealousy as Harry Potter stalked away, watched intently by his girlfriend Ginny Weasley. Over the past week, Harry had been moody and distant as usual, but Ginny would always disappear and then all of a sudden there were blazing rows between Ginny and Harry, just like before. And both Ginny and Harry kept glancing at each other, and always seemed to know what the other was thinking for some odd reason...
It seemed like Ginny was Harry's boyfriend, and not Dean.
The idea that Ginny was cheating on him with Harry always stalked in his mind, in the shadows. He had always been a bit insecure on that front, what with her huge crush on him before and the closeness that she shared with him, especially now. Up until this week however, his jealousy and insecurity hadn't been this bad.
Finally, Dean decided to confront Ginny tomorrow, to see if she was just stringing him along or if Harry was just bothering her.
In a different set of shadows, this time of the mind, the demon allowed himself a small grin of triumph and anticipation of freedom. It was all moving according to plan.
The next day, Dean decided to quietly approach Ginny in the common room. Although something in him told him it might not be smart to confront her with Harry not too far away, something else insisted he do it now. She was sitting alone, studying a Potions textbook, but silently fuming and occasionally glaring at the Boy-Who-Lived.
As he approached, he had no idea of where this conversation would lead to, or the consequences of his actions... or the horror that would follow.
"Ginny? I need to talk to you." Dean said quietly to the redhead.
The youngest Weasley turned her head up startled, and she gave Dean a tired, obviously forced smile. "Can it wait? I'm kind of-"
"Now." He said brusquely.
Ginny, startled by his sharpness, dropped the book and turned her eyes curiously at him. "Is this one of those- "I'm-sorry-I-really-like-you-but-we-should-just-be-friends speeches?" She asked, half-jokingly, half serious.
"You would like that, wouldn't you?" He sneered, startled at his own actions. What was going on?
"And just what the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?" Ginny shot back, disturbed by Dean's tone of voice. Sure she hadn't been around for him in a while, but it was her O.W.L. year...
"You know. So you can hang around with your other boyfriend? Or are you just stringing him along, like me? No wait, that's just how you treat me?" Dean's sneer grew to match Snape's, and the venom in his voice would have made a Basilisk seem harmless. But this wasn't at all how he wanted to approach this... what was going on?
"What the Hell are you talking about!" Ginny said indignantly, standing up quickly to look him in the eye. Now the couple were drawing the attention of all the Gryffindors, but they had enough common sense to stay out of Ginny's ire.
"Oh don't give me this shit! You're constantly hanging around bloody Harry Potter instead of me, like he's your boyfriend and not me!" Dean roared, before his voice dropped to a deadly hiss. "How far have you gotten with him, you little slut!" Dean wanted to take the words back. There was something making his emotions out of control, something that was making him say words that he didn't really believe...
Ginny's mouth dropped open, and her eyes widened. Before Harry, Ron, anyone could defend Ginny, she did the first thing that came to mind.
She punched Dean right in the face.
The Gryffindor went flying backwards, landing with a hard thump against the wall. Glaring at Ginny, he staggered away with his nose bleeding badly.
From the corner of the room, Harry moved to help Ginny and apologize for causing her this trouble, but his darker half's comment nearly stopped him. Come on man, you totally wanted that girl! I don't see why, when you could be doing some other tart, but hell, to each his own.
I didn't want them to break up! I don't want to be with Ginny! Harry shot back as he stepped closer.
Of course you do... you're just afraid I'll kill her, or Tom will. Don't worry... I'll kill Tom first if I have my way. We can have a little fun with her... who knows, maybe I'll even let you have a turn, if you're a good boy.
Harry ignored the voice, but couldn't ignore the idea that maybe, just maybe, he really did want Ginny and Dean to break up.
As she stood in the middle of the common room, shocked beyond belief, Ginny felt ire rise at Dean for not trusting her, at Harry for invoking feelings that were unwelcome, at this Merlin damned bond that bound the two of them together, making her want to help Harry get out of his funk! Why did it have to be her! Damn it all! Why her! Would she keep paying for her mistake with Tom Riddle's diary forever! Was this some cruel joke that the universe thought was funny! Was there some higher power that hated her for some reason!
She could hear Harry coming up behind her, probably to apologize, which only incensed her further, her feelings out of control for some odd reason...
"Damn you Harry! Damn you! Damn you, damn that stupid bond Dumbledore put on us! Damn it all!" Ginny raged as she turned around, eyes full of anger and hatred which echoed her soul, hating Harry with all her might because Dean's words struck chords and struck deep within her heart, because hate was so much less painful than love, because she hated Harry in the darkest part of her heart for making her feel this way. Hating him because she loved him.
After all, there is such a fine line between love and hate.
Although she could feel Harry's pain at her words, it only made her angrier. What right did he have to feel that way, when she cried herself over him so many times! What right did he have to feel compassion for her, when she loved him her whole life!
Harry stumbled back, wincing at each angry word from Ginny's mouth, feeling her rage, her anger, and her hatred towards him through the bond, which broke his heart. He felt as though it would break, like a fragile glass ornament caught in a violent whirlwind, with no possible defense, no defense, not one thing separating his heart from utter oblivion.
"I hate you Harry Potter!"
As if to punctuate this statement, Harry felt the rippling anger and hatred through their bond, like an earthquake or the hand of the Almighty God himself about to strike upon a an ancient and fragile glass pyramid that was built with the shoddiest, worst materials possible. The glass, their bond, shattered at that moment, and Harry felt himself succumbing to darkness, darkness of the heart…
As Ginny began to move into the full-fledged onslaught of every bitter and angry feeling held within her dark corners of her heart, her soul, her tirade was interrupted. Quite forcefully.
It was akin to the rising of something from the depths of an abyss, an angry and vengeful god rising to destroy everything in its path.
The chairs, tables, and other assorted furniture of the Gryffindor common room suddenly exploded from around Harry as if an invisible and incredibly powerful explosion had just unleashed itself from the Boy-Who-Lived like a rising tornado whose eye was centered on the seemingly oblivious Harry Potter. And it didn't stop there.
Ginny felt it too, as did everyone else in the common room, each of who were thrown bodily through the air, that same wave that had blasted away the furniture tossing them like rag dolls caught in a cyclone. She felt a sharp pain in her back as she was flung against the wall, and she fell to her knees, struggling to put her head up to look at the source, the eye of the storm.
The eye in question, Harry James Potter, had his head up at the moment, eyes heavenward, and his features impossible to tell. Around him, the air was actually visible, whipping and twisting and churning violently, as if the very air shook with violent fear of the man it surrounded, as if he was some incomprehensible force that would destroy nature itself, disrupt the balance and harmony that nature held. As if his mere presence was terrible enough that the wind itself shook with fear, that the earth trembled with every breath at what this one wizard, this one person, this one man, could do.
The wind seemed a reflection of the man in the center, violent, angry, furious, unyielding, untamable, and powerful.
After a few more moments, his head quickly fell down, as if his neck no longer supported his head. His head was down now, his chin at his chest, his long, shaggy black hair obscuring his face like a dark curtain that tried, but held no shield for the world from the horror that was to come.
Around them, the room grew colder and darker, as if a storm was setting in. A storm where there was no shelter, nothing protecting anyone from its undiluted fury. A fury strong enough to take the world and send it to ashes with its force and fiery power.
And then, the most unexpected thing happened.
Harry began laughing.
Thanks to CharmedMilliE, Gyre, brilliant-author16, japanese-jew, Hunter101, Quillian, harrysmom, VFPC, Tanydwr, RealityIntrovert, David M. Potter, Maxennce, Zeromaru: Chaos Mode, PinkyTheSnowman, FroBoy, QueenWeasel, Samurai Demon-God Sekikage, Emma Barrows, HedwigPig, BladeofUltio, Lady of Masbolle, Ginny M, mashimaromadness, Pleione, YamiClara, HPbabe143, spike blade, Queen Weasel, Evil Penguin Slayer, Rift120, CuRiOuSiTy KiLlEd ThE rAt, Tondo-the-half-elf, ThrainTalonWater, Moonlight Flowers, Mark Turnlach, Talix, and Garnet Runestar for reviewing!
Q&A
Hunter101- True, but Harry doesn't know that yet.
harrysmom- Ginny having a power that can help/save Harry? A bit too cliché, don't you think?
Tanydwr- Yes, you should be. And yes, Harry does get strength from having people who care for him, who would fight and die for him. But Harry knows that hurts too, so he's pushing them away. A mistake, and one that just might be too costly...
David M. Potter- Love conquers all? Pah, I'm a romantic, not a fluff writer.
Maxennce- Nice analysis, and you've hit the nail on the head. But Harry isn't a savior... yet.
Zeromaru: Chaos Mode- Thanks!
PinkyTheSnowman- Thanks. And yes, you were right. There's going to be more angst and death than you can shake a stick at. (Why do people say that, anyway) As for who is going to die... lets just say that I'm preparing my computer for flames. BWHAHAHAH!
Samurai Demon-God Sekikage- I should have made this clear earlier. The "demon" references are NOT literal. And as nice as your idea about the Killing Curse is, my version is it KILLS people, by taking their soul. No summoning demons. Now, I know you're confused by why the "demon" (remember, there are no REAL demons here, just metaphorical ones) hasn't come out before. Here's a tip. Re-read Chapter 10, when the demon is under Veritaserum, and the summary of the whole story. It wasn't awake UNTIL after Harry got possessed by Tom. I'll forgive the slightly arrogant remark at the end, and give you this one piece of advice. Don't assume anything about any of my stories. There's always one more twist. And this story was made with MY theory in mind. So... let's keep those remarks to yourself, it makes you sound a bit pompous, okay?
Lady of Masbolle- Voldemort vs. Dark Harry... highly anticipated, at least by me. And by that time in the story, you won't know who to root for! As for what happens if the demon is ever gone... who says it can be taken out? (On a side note: waltzing in to Bohemian Rhapsody?)
mashimaromadness- Thanks for the alert, that was a typo. I know the feeling about having nothing to do over vacation... at least until Christmas hit!
Queen Weasel- Trying to understand me and my cryptic comments does that to people. There are moments when Harry will be... how shall we say... "inside" the demon, but its really more like he's gone to sleep and the demon's taken over.
Rift120- Dang... that sounds cool! It kind of reminds me of this story the way you phrase it... except that there's little chance of Harry becoming a whole person again, and there's really only two people in there. Harry and Dark Harry.
Moonlight Flowers- I'm glad I could be of service. An angsty Dark Harry isn't nearly as fun as a sadistic monster.
Mark Turnlach- You're right, of course. It was tough writing this chapter... mainly cause I was lacking any sadistic torturing. Oh well... plenty of that to come.
AN: Guess whose back… All that anger towards Ginny's making me wince... I'm going to go and cheer myself up by blasting some alien scum in Halo. Thanks for reading and please review!