Chapter 08
• Psychology 101 •
At the appointed time, Harry showed up at the arranged place, knocking softly. Even with the confidence spell Tonks had put on him he was still feeling slightly weak in the knees.
No one answered, but Harry was expecting that. Together he and Tonks had discussed everything that Darrian would do to intimidate and scare him. Not showing up on time was one of the first things on the list. In three or four minutes, right when most people would think to leave, Darrian would rush up, breaking some of the hope Harry would have of getting away clean.
Just about the time that Harry was thinking about leaving Darrian showed up with a grin on his face. "Sorry about that," he said. "Got caught up at a meeting beforehand."
Harry just shrugged his shoulders like Tonks had told him to do. "Ah well," he yawned. "Shall we get this over with then?"
Just as Tonks had said Darrian was slightly perturbed, but he covered it up quickly. "Where are we headed?" Harry asked lazily.
Nodding his head towards the hill Darrian started off at a quick pace. Harry wasn't far behind, "James has offered to act as the referee. I'm leaving it up to you though, seeing that you're the one at a disadvantage."
"It's alright," Harry said, playing his part to a tee. "I already have someone that offered to act as referee."
From his vantage point Harry could not see whether the performance was getting to Darrian, but he was hoping it was. They continued on in silence, giving Harry more time to review the plan and wonder where exactly Tonks was. She was supposed to be following him under the invisibility cloak. But he hadn't heard her at all.
It was odd, since they'd been on the island she'd been completely different from usual. Not all the time, just… whenever something serious came up she acted serious about it. Actually she was starting to act more like herself now, coming up with this plan and all. Harry felt it was a little more serious than she'd played at, but somehow her ease had helped him to.
"It's just ahead," Darrian said after a dozen minutes had passed. Harry looked up to see a empty lightly forested area, it was part of the island that was completely uninhabited. He didn't respond to Darrian though, he just continued on, making a yawning sound again. The acting was almost too fake in his mind, but he was trying to make sure he did it as Tonks had instructed him.
Up ahead someone appeared to be waiting for them. When Harry noticed who it was, he smiled. He hadn't even thought about using something like that. Darrian slowed, his first time of showing real surprise.
"Wotcher Harry!" Tonks said,
"Hey Seona," Harry said, taking advantage of the situation as best as he could. She was not good at masking the surprise that Harry seemed to know who she was.
"I remember you," she said to Darrian as she approached.
Darrian turned to Harry and then glanced to Tonks. "You know her?"
"What, I can't bring friends to the island?" Tonks began, making Harry nervous, he didn't want Tonks to overstep her role and screw up. "Besides Harry here needed some fresh air, somewhere away from England."
"But…" Darrian sputtered. "You said you'd never watched the Broom races before."
Again Harry shrugged his shoulders. Darrian was losing confidence already and Harry didn't want to mess things up so he'd rather play the quiet one until the race was done with. For a moment Darrian almost looked angry. "You didn't even bet on her in the race, you bet on that Malfoy fellow."
Harry hadn't told Tonks about everything that had happened at the races and her eyebrow raised, looking at Harry with a questioning glance. Feeling that he was getting to a 'disadvantage' (like Tonks had explained) Harry felt the need to explain himself.
"Well, it was only a snitch then, wasn't it? Not much of a bet really. I figured she'd have her hands full with the broom she was riding," he said lazily.
The conversation was building and the little lies were becoming too much. Tonks decided to put a stop to it. "So? We going to play or are we just going to stand around and talk. Harry, I really wish you would've rescheduled to earlier. That way we could not have to use the day up. Would've been a good day to go watch the mermaids again," she said, taking Harry's hand into hers and acting a lot more personal while Darrian was watching.
"Yeah," Darrian said roughly. He turned away from the hurriedly and headed towards an open area. Several people emerged when he called out.
"Alright," said Darrian with a notable difference in confidence. "Do I need to go over any of the rules?" He asked while all the boys approached, talking excitedly between themselves.
Shaking his head Harry let Tonks's hand drop and looked up. "Nope, I pretty much got the idea down. This'll be over in no time." He paused, trying to remember what Tonks had told him to say. "It is okay it we use Seona as the referee right? She hasn't played in a while and wanted to referee this time."
"You play?" Darrian asked curiously.
Smiling, Tonks flipped her arm again and Harry could clearly see the mark on her forearm. Harry still didn't know what it meant, and wished he did now. Obviously it was something that was important, Darrian knew what it was immediately. "Viatori," he murmured just barely loud enough for Harry to hear. "They only replace members when one dies."
"Or leaves." Tonks said. "But it's not my membership that's in question. Am I gonna be the acting referee or not?"
"You know how?"
"…'course. Seen it enough times. 'sides, want to see how close Harry gets this time."
A few people were wandering along the path up the hill and Darrian nodded. "Sure. But there's one condition," he said, reaching the group of friends who were waiting for him. "I want a kiss when I win."
"Confident isn't he?" Tonks asked laughing and looking over to Harry.
As smugly as possible (he tried to imitate Malfoy) he grinned. "Sounds that way."
Neither of them looked back to Darrian immediately, but if they had they would've notice his confidence fading again. To him their ruse was working perfectly and had only been upped when Seona had ended up being Harry's friend. Now his confidence was overwhelming, not like when they'd left him with his mouth agape in the booth at the races.
"Brooms?" Darrian asked, trying to regain his edge. He wondered if he should've taken some more mist before he met Harry, it certainly would've helped him right now.
James handed Darrian a set of brooms. They were not the newest brooms either, and many were missing twigs and hadn't been polished in a while.
"Not much," Darrian said.
"But gets the job done, right?" Harry finished for him.
Tonks had gone over this too. The rickety brooms were a ruse, making people scared to even ride them. She said it usually didn't stop people from trying, but it really made them rethink things. The brooms were old for another reason, some of the protection spells were removed from them so that they could fly to the proper height and jump from their broom without it interfering at all.
"Right," Darrian said, pausing.
While he was quiet Harry prepared himself for the next confidence buster. Next to him Tonks was thinking about what she could do to break down the confidence Darrian had. "I guess I could live with giving the winner a kiss, do it enough already," she said smiling. "Let's do this race though, seems that there's a lot of people gathering."
"Always happens," Darrian said looking down below them. "They hear about a match and come to watch. I can't believe how they always seem to know."
James pointed to a rock on the hillside. "This'll be the apparating point. Try not to go too far off course."
"You're not ref this time James," Darrian said. "Seona here's gonna ref for Harry."
The plan was working, and not just on Darrian. Most of the boys were gaping when Darrian revealed the information. The woman that Darrian had been after was with Harry, holding his hand and acting as if she knew him quite well.
"Right," Tonks said. "We'll be using the same apparating point. We'll be jumping as soon as Darrian's ready."
"I'm ready now, but I can't say the same for Harry," Darrian said, using some of the same lines he always used. He really was confused and unsure how to act around Harry now.
Another line from the notes Harry'd read. Tonks seemed to know it all and had prepared him for it. Hopefully her potions would be enough to keep him from going berserk and apparating away as soon as they jumped.
"I've been ready my whole life," Harry said calmly, but his face betrayed him. Luckily Darrian wasn't paying attention to his face, instead he was spending time examining the brooms. Harry took the time to use another of the lines. That Darrian was likely to use. "Your choice on brooms. Don't want to give you too much of a disadvantage."
Though the brooms had nothing to do with the act of apparating away it was just another way of someone demonstrating their power and overwhelming confidence. It didn't matter to Harry that he was doing it. Darrian had been trying to do it the whole time.
The ride up was quiet, Harry fooled around on the broom a bit seeing what it could do. It was interesting that such an old broom could do so much and he'd have to ask Tonks about it later. Now that she'd revealed herself as Seona he could just ask her about the races too.
"Right," Tonks said loudly as the approached the height they would jump at. She knew it from experience, even though she carried a instrument with her that told her where she was. "You both agree on this spot?"
Harry just sort of shrugged nonchalantly again and Darrian nodded.
"Good," Tonks said, looking down. "Just about time to jump."
"I'll be waiting for that kiss," Darrian said with a smile.
Tonks laughed pretty harshly. "You're going to be waiting for a long time." She turned to Harry. "Ready to jump?" he nodded. Then she turned to Darrian. "Ready to jump?" he nodded.
Harry took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. He went over Tonks's mind exercise, breathing in and out slowly and focusing himself. She had told him that, above all, he needed to keep his concentration in the jump.
"Five."
Another deep breath and Harry opened his eyes, feeling his whole body tingle. The prospect of jumping off his broom was something that really made him feel restless.
"Four."
Harry glanced over to Darrian, Tonks had gone over what he was to do through the whole jump. He was supposed to catch his eye now. The problem was that Darrian was staring at his hands, concentrating fiercely.
"Three."
Feeling a bit of panic Harry looked over to Tonks who was staring at him, smiling. She mouthed a quick you can do it, and then smiled again. The alarm he'd felt went away and he looked over at Darrian. Tonks had been trying to teach him more about thinking on his feet when he'd been training with her. Maybe it was best to do that now. He needed to break Darrian's confidence.
"Two."
It came to him and suddenly Harry was laughing. There was a belated breath as Tonks looked over to Harry, slightly confused at his actions. The harsh laughter broke Darrian's concentration too and he looked over to Harry, confused. He released the grip he had on the broom and looked straight at Darrian.
"One," Tonks said after a slight pause.
Two sets of eyes connected and Harry winked. Then after blowing a kiss in an over exaggerated motion he heard the last word.
"Jack."
It all happened so fast that Harry didn't even realize he'd jumped. Darrian wasn't far behind, likely more because he'd done it so many times it was habit. The kiss and the wink had thrown him off the most. It wasn't just the wink either, when he'd stared at Harry's eyes he'd seen something that surprised him, the brown eyes that he'd stared at only a few minutes before were now brilliantly green.
The cold air whipped around both the boys as they fell. Harry was feeling a rush like he'd never experienced before. This was not flying, not like on a broom. He extended his arms to the side and his lose clothing caught a drift, slowing him. The wind still whipping at his face, Harry barely felt the urge to breathe, he simply wanted to hold the feeling forever.
"WAHOOO!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as he turned slightly and the wind rolled him through the air like a doll. He spun and dove, twisted and turned, playing around in the air like he'd grown up doing the stuff.
Darrian was miffed to say the least.
At first he'd thought Harry was just over courageous, and then maybe that it was a farce. Now, hearing Harry scream out in pleasure and seeing him fooling around in the air he wasn't sure about himself anymore. He tried to reason with himself, he'd been the one that had picked Harry as the target, right?
Not really, Harry had shown up at the house with Riana who was known to work with him during her stays.
The night club had been his idea, right?
Yeah, for the most part. But Harry had not acted as expected. He'd loosened up almost immediately and between the drinks and the girls Darrian had almost decided to not trick him into playing. The one thing was that Harry had disappeared with Korina when the night was ending and then slipped out of the house before the morning. Darrian didn't like that, not because he was overprotective, but because he was jealous.
Then there was the races.
Harry was obviously lying about that. Surely if he knew Seona he'd been to a race or two. Hell, he was probably pretty good at them. He did seem to know a lot about racing and he did have a Firebolt.
And last, the game.
It would have been just as easy to con a ten year old. It was almost too easy now that he looked back on it. Harry had signed it without even a glance or thought. Then he'd collapsed when he found out that he had to learn to apparate. That must have been a lie too because he was four yards away and didn't seem too have the slightest worry in the world. Maybe it had been a part of his con. Make it seem like he'd been given the worst circumstances imaginable and then snap Darrian over his knee easily.
The overwhelming proof that he'd been the one conned filled Darrian and he glanced over at the over zealous Harry. There had been stories about con men conning the con men, but he'd never believed them until now. How could this boy, someone not even 16, have so easily manipulated him?
He refused to lose. He was the best on the island, and he'd never lost. But then he'd never gone against someone that was really good at it either, not since the first time when he'd been conned and won. He'd one out of shear stupidity though, the guy he'd been playing with screwed up and he took advantage of it.
Something was different about Harry this time. Darrian stared, trying to figure out what it was.
It caught him by surprise when he did notice. The hair, which had been completely blond earlier was now completely black. There was something odd going on but Darrian couldn't pinpoint what it was. Harry yelled again and turned to his side, looking like a fool, but his eyes connected to Darrian's again.
Most easily recognizable by the green eyes and the lightning shaped scar on his forehead, Harry Potter is one of the most famous wizards of our time. Through continual battles he shows his aptitude at all sorts of magic. Albus Dumbledore, another great wizard, is believed to be teaching Harry many of his own tricks. In the first trial of the TriWizard tournament held at Hogwarts…
The words of the book he'd reread two days ago came back to him as he stared at the lightning shaped scar that was now etched across Harry's forehead.
It was impossible.
Then he remembered something Seona had said about being in love with Harry Potter. It was obvious that Seona was showing Harry some affection. She'd mentioned she kissed him a lot. Then there was a comment from Korina, she'd told Darrian not to mention Harry Potter around him, that he has some pretty strong feelings about him and didn't seem to like to discuss it.
Lastly there was the name. It should have been obvious, but really how many people who attend Hogwarts would be named Harry?
Surely a few, but would they be the right age, have the same hair color and eye color? A lightning shaped scar? It had been hidden before, but Darrian knew he'd had green eyes before in the club, but he'd figured it was just something with the lights because even without Harry using a wand (Darrian was always watchful of wands) his eyes had changed back.
Harry Potter.
There was no doubt it was him anymore as Darrian glanced over to a person he'd idolized since he'd found about magic. Maybe it was because he was a orphan too and had grown up with muggle parents. His parents also hated him, not enough to abandon him, but there were stories in the book he'd read.
Harry Potter was conning him.
Not sure whether he should be honored or feel betrayed Darrian just stared. Harry Potter, he repeated in his head.
Still, he would not allow himself to lose. He couldn't. His most precious object he'd spent four weeks to get, conning a Breeding Maven to get one of her experiments. It was one of the only times he'd done it himself, keeping everyone out of it because he wanted the prize all to himself for once.
Then Harry did something that he'd never even thought of, something so unexpected that Darrian knew he'd lost. The ground wasn't far and Harry had stopped spinning, but he was facing up, not down.
It was even a surprise to Harry, the confidence potion seemed to be working wonders for him after the initial jump. There was still a chance of loosing if he didn't scare Darrian more and so he'd just done whatever he could to scare Darrian. It seemed to be working. Darrian was gone in the next instant.
Feeling happy, Harry concentrated on the place that he'd been told to apparate to. A hole didn't appear though. Harry tried again, a little more frantic, he wasn't looking at the ground but he could feel it closing in on him. The feeling of the jump was still overwhelming him and he concentrated harder, pushing it from his mind.
Just in time the hole appeared and he fell right through it.
An deep explosion seemed to have gone off as Harry reappeared, rocking the whole area violently. Most people were blinded by the light that was created from the movement.
Signing with relief Harry opened his eyes, which had been shut in fear, to Darrian's face standing over him. "Potter," he whispered. "You're a real freak, you know that?"
"YOU IDIOT!" Tonks bellowed over him. "I told you to apparate as soon as he apparated. The first thing I told you was to not be overwhelmed by the feeling, wasn't it?"
"You mean…" Darrian stared at him in disbelief. "That was your first time? But… you got a yard from the ground. I thought you were going to hit."
Harry scratched his head sheepishly, not really understanding how close he'd come to death. "Yeah, well, had a problem concentrating enough to apparate."
Someone snapped a picture and Tonks threw her arms around Harry protectively. "Better change those features," Darrian whispered. "It's not every day that the great Harry Potter makes appearances."
Several people began to close in on them and Tonks pulled Harry into a kiss, hiding him partly with her cloak while her lose hand used four spells on Harry in quick succession. When Harry stood up he didn't look anything like himself, and not just the hair and eyes. His whole face was different, longer with a light scar from the above his right eye all the way down his cheek.
"What's his name?" Someone asked as snapshots were taken. Harry glanced at the crowd, almost awed. There'd been as many people at the Tri Wizard tournament.
"Sly," Darrian answered. "I wasn't sure until now, but it seems he's got bigger balls than I do."
"Will there be a rematch?" another person asked. Harry continued to stare. In the 10 minutes that they'd take n to make the climb it seemed that they'd made a festival of it.
"No rematches, not that I know of. I think one's good enough for now. The best man has won and I'm willing to admit it."
"What were the prizes up for bid?"
"I think," Darrian said quietly, turning to James. "That it's about time we took our leave."
James nodded and pulled something from his pockets. Turning away from the crowd Darrian looked at Harry and Tonks. "Meet me back at my place, alright? Oh, and I'd close your eyes for a few seconds."
Harry squeezed his eyes shut and there was a flash. When he opened his eyes the whole area was covered in a sort of smoke. "Hurts the eyes and throat for a few seconds, good for getting away from somewhere." Harry heard Darrian say before a slight popping sound announced that he'd left. Tonks knew where she was going so Harry just concentrated and headed there himself.
Harry, who now felt a lot better about apparating announced his presence in the house with the usual slight rumbling. Darrian was already there, waiting for him. Tonks didn't show up right away and Harry recalled that she'd never actually been inside the house so she had no place to apparate to except outside.
When a knock sounded Harry knew it was her and headed for the door. "I'll get it," Darrian told him. Harry nodded and waited.
A room door opened and Harry turned to find himself in front of Korina in a towel. He stood there for a second, not sure what to say.
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