Lil' Sphinx: Hi, just a small update. I added a paragraph of Dumbledore's and Snape's reaction after Harry's 'talk'. Thanks Ash Knight.
Chapter 11: Of Truths and Rumors
When Transfiguration class ended Harry and Hermione were one of the first ones to leave. As the two walked down the hall it became more and more crowded with the student body. Weaving their way through the throng of teenagers Harry caught snatches of conversations. Some of the talk wasn't all that bad, mostly consisting of; "Did you hear? Harry's gay!" or "I heard from so and so that Potter's gay." Which was followed by; "Shhh...here he comes." Or "Quiet, he's coming."
Harry rolled his eyes. Honestly, you'd think people would have more of a life. Annoying, every one of them. But in a twisted sort of way, Harry was amused by it all. That is until he caught more of the conversations going on around him.
"Harry's gay? That...sucks!"
"Oh." Snickering. "I'm sure he does."
"But the question is does he swallow."
"He could suck my..."
Harry's face burned hotly with horrified embarrassment. Picking up his pace he hurried to the potions' classroom. Hermione easily kept pace with long brisk strides. Spotting the dungeon classroom, Harry had never been so happy to see it before in his life. Rushing through the doorway with his head lowered he collided with a tall and solid object. The collision sent him stumbling backwards to fall on his ass, cracking the back of his skull on to the stone floor.
"Harry! Are you alright?" Hermione asked worriedly as she knelt next to him.
"Bloody hell, I don't remember there being a wall there," Harry muttered as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. He rubbed the back of his head with a small groan and winced when his fingers came back coated in blood. His head must have hit an uneven sharpened edge of one of the stone slabs.
"You!" hissed a voice from the doorway. Looking up Harry and Hermione caught sight of Ron towering over them. He had been the 'wall' Harry had run into.
Hermione started to snicker, and then it turned into full blown laughter. Soon she was laughing so hard that she had to sit down completely or risk falling over. Harry wasn't in any better condition and had to lean against Hermione. And they weren't the only ones amused. Everyone within sight of Ron was pointing and howling with laughter. There were even some on the floor rolling with mirth.
Harry had been right. This did brighten up his whole day. Now, no matter what happened all he had to do was picture this and it would be all good.
"You! You did this!" screeched Ron pointing down at a still laughing Harry.
Neither he nor Hermione could stop laughing long enough to defend themselves. Luckily for them Seamus came out of the classroom, pushing her way passed Ron.
"Honestly Ron. How could Harry have done it? He wasn't even in the class, so don't go blaming him for your lack of talent in potions. If you had been paying more attention that wouldn't have happened," Seamus chided, before stalking off down the hall with a quiet Dean by his side.
"I know you did it. And I'll get you back," Ron snarled before storming away.
Harry and Hermione watched him go. They had finally gotten their laughter under a semblance of control, but they couldn't wipe the silly grins off their faces or the small chuckles that escaped every now and then.
"Graceful as always, Potter," drawled Draco as he moved passed the still sitting duo and into the classroom.
Harry, chuckling stood up with the help of Hermione. Brushing himself off, he followed Draco into the classroom with a wide grin still present on his angelic face.
"Malfoy, not even you could rain on my parade today," Harry laughed. "I mean all I have to do is picture Ron with his bright neon pink and green hair." He could barely finish the sentence because he was laughing again.
Draco's lips twitched but he ruthlessly squashed the urge to smile. He did have a reputation to keep after all and smiling at Harry's statement wouldn't be a good idea, although, Harry did have a point. How could you get mad at anyone after seeing the weasel like that? All 6'2", gangly as hell, face an unflattering shade of red with anger and hair that was half nauseating neon pink and half shocking lime green. It was like the Joker and Two-faced gone completely and horribly wrong. All he need now was the evil villain costume. (Joker and Two-face from Batman, just in case anyone's confused.)
Draco sat regally in his usual seat at the front of the classroom on the left side of the room. He was soon joined by Blaise and Millicent, whom sat around him. Blaise sat next to him at his table while Millicent sat at the table directly behind them. She was joined by a smirking Pansy, which didn't brew well. The disgusting pug was up to something.
Harry and Hermione, who were still softly laughing moved to their seats. They sat at the table in the every middle of the classroom, so that they sat diagonal from Draco's table and next to Millicent's. They were the only ones in the potions' class that weren't Slytherins.
"Oh, stop laughing," Hermione moaned slouching over the desk. "My stomach really hurts."
"Sorry," laughed Harry.
"Hey Potter?" sneered Pansy. "I heard you're gay."
Everyone in the class went silent and directed there attention to the scene unfolding in front of them. Harry had stopped laughing and was staring calmly at Pansy. Hermione was glaring openly and about to give the pug- faced girl a piece of her mind. But Harry, knowing his friend well silenced her from speaking by placing his hand over one of her robe covered knees under the table and giving it a firm squeeze.
He gave Pansy a calm serene look. "You shouldn't believe everything you hear, Parkinson."
Pansy's eyes narrowed. She had expected Harry to become angry and try to curse her, which would have gotten him into trouble with Professor Snape whenever he came in. She didn't even count on having Harry calmly address her. "Well, are you or not?" she demanded agitated by Harry's lack of anger.
Harry blinked innocently at her. "Oh, Pansy I never realized that you harbored feeling for me. But alas I'm sad to say that you're just not my type, regardless of whether or not I'm gay. For you see I don't fuck dogs. Bestiality really isn't on my 'To Do' list. Ever."
Most of the Slytherins blinked or gaped in stunned surprise, with the exception of Blaise and Millicent who were almost on the floor they were laughing so hard. Draco cocked an eyebrow and his trade-mark smirk deepened. And Pansy, well...her face had taken on an unnatural, unhealthy red- violet color. She was shaking violently either with suppressed rage or tears. And Harry seriously doubted that it was the later.
Hermione appeared to be caught in between lecturing Harry for his foul mouth or laughing, because it was so funny. Finally, laughing won out, though only just barely.
"Oh...that...was...good. Can we...keep him?" Blaise asked between laughter.
Draco turned to Blaise with one elegant eyebrow raised. "He isn't a dog Blaise. That's why we kept Pansy."
"I know. But she isn't nearly as funny as he is," Blaise whined pointing at Harry.
"You do realize that then Millicent would be the only girl. Now, granted Pansy wasn't much of conversationalist, but she was still a girl."
Blaise blinked down at Draco. "You mean Millicent's a girl?"
"Hey!" Millicent shouted reaching across her table and punching Blaise playfully in the arm. "I may not be all tall, curvy and gorgeous like the bookworm over there, but I am still female. I could flash you if you don't believe me," Millicent said with a wicked grin.
"Please refrain from doing that. I value my eye sight," Blaise grinned at Millicent.
Draco shook his head. Those two were always quarreling. It was probably because they both enjoyed a good argument and he wouldn't give them one so they squabbled with each other. In fact it happened so often that none of the other Slytherins were even remotely fazed by it. As they continued to bicker back and forth, he turned to look at Harry.
"Not bad Potter," Draco drawled. "That was almost worthy of a true Slytherin."
Before Harry could reply the dungeon door banged open and Snape stormed in, in his usual manner, fluttering robes and all. His mere presence commanded silence, but his sharp tongue instilled it. And he was cutting people down left and right before he had taken two steps into the room, starting with Pansy who hadn't sat down when he had entered.
"Miss. Parkinson what didn't you understand about 'sit'? Your slow thought process is something I'd expect from a 1st year Gryffindor. Now sit down," Snape hissed. With a swish of his robes he swept to the front of the room and glanced out over the classroom. "Now this is Advanced Potions, how some of you," he started giving Harry a pointed look and a sneer, "got into this class I wouldn't even want to begin to guess."
But Harry barely registered any of it. Nope. He was too busy suppressing the urge to jump up and down clapping his hands and squealing like a giddy little schoolgirl and grinning like an loon and all because Draco had given him a slight compliment. Slight, because not too many people would want or be pleased to have their action accused of being Slytherinish. But Harry was pleased.
Gods if he was this ecstatic over such a small slight compliment he'd hate to see how he would act if Draco was actually friendly to him. And if Draco actually smiled, not one of his smirks, but a real honest to goodness smile, then Harry was so doomed.
"Today," Snape continued on finally gaining Harry's wandering attention, "You will be making Veritas Quaeso. Can anyone tell me what this potion is?" Snape paused for a moment looking around the room. "Mr. Potter."
Harry jumped as his name was called and straightened up in his chair. For a moment he panicked trying to remember if he had even heard of the potion in question. He hated when Snape called on him, because he always got flustered and forgot what the potion did. Not to mention it was habit for him to mess up in Potions so that Snape harassed him and not anyone else in Gryffindor. But now he didn't have to do that, there was no Gryffindors besides Hermione, who could take care of herself, to protect. Oh sure, he wasn't as good at Potions as Draco or Hermione were, but he wasn't nearly as bad as he pretended to be either. After all potions was a lot like cooking, more precise to be sure, but the concept was the same and he had been cooking since he was tall enough to reach the stove.
While he thought, Snape smirked smugly. "I didn't think so. Mr. Malfoy why don't you..."
"It's a truth potion." Harry interrupted glaring at Professor Snape. "Veritas means 'truth' and Quaeso means 'to seek' or 'beseech'. The potion isn't as strong as Veritaserum. It's alsobased off of emotions and not words like Veritaserum is. Veritas Quaeso was made based off the 'Truth Sayers' ability that hasn't been seen in over 1,000 years." Harry answered.
Snape narrowed his black eyes at Harry. "Don't be so smug over something so trivial," he sneered. "Well now, since Mr. Potter here thinks he's so smart...What is a Truth Sayer?"
"A Truth Sayer is a person who, through skin to skin contact, can tell based on a person's emotions if they are telling the truth or a lie."
Snape snorted and stormed away to the front of the class mumbling something about Harry being a brat. "The ingredients are on the board. Get to work and try not to blow anything up or dye your hair pink," he commanded as he sat down behind his desk.
The class quickly jumped to do Snape's bidding, none of them wanted to be yelled at. The only one who moved calmly about the room was Draco Malfoy. Harry watched Draco move to the storage room to get his ingredients and was in awe of his graceful yet detached movements. Harry wondered how Draco could be so calm. Personally, Snape scared the living daylights out of him. Snape was scarier than Uncle Vernon, and that was saying something because Snape had never hit him like Uncle Vernon had. Harry shook the thoughts from his head and watched as Draco pulled back his long white-blonde hair into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. And god, did he have a lovely slim and pale neck, it just made you want to run kisses down it.
Harry was jerked from gawking and his wayward thoughts by Hermione's elbow in his ribs. He followed Hermione to the storage room and they got their ingredients and made their way back to their table.
Both set up their cauldrons and got to work. Harry cut the iris flowers into thin strips. He chopped the fairy wings, diced the moonflower and ground the hematite into a fine smoky power. He placed the ingredients into the cauldron in the right order and time they were suppose to go in. An hour later, when he finished, his potion was a silvery color that sparkled as though glitter and pixie dust had been thrown in and had a soft silvery-black glow around it. He looked around the room and noticed that some of the other potions were a bright blue-violet color. One was even a pale pink. He bit his bottom lip. Did he do something wrong?
He looked over at Hermione's and saw that hers was a pale gray, and not as silvery, glowing or sparkly looking as his was. Continuing his search around the room he noticed that the only ones that were a gray color were Blaise's, Millicent's, and Draco's. Blaise's potion was a charcoal gray; Millicent's a pale, pale gray that was almost white, and Draco's was a mercury color. Obviously he did something right, although his was still the only one that was glowing and sparkly looking.
"Five minutes," Snape called.
Everyone who hadn't finished their potions yet quickly rushed about trying to do so in the next five minutes. The one's that had finished their potions simply sat down and waited. Five minutes later Snape stood from his desk and made his way around the room giving points to those that brewed the potion correctly and giving detentions for those who didn't. Finally he came to Harry's and Hermione's table.
Snape glared down at Hermione's potion first. He snorted and rolled his eyes but said nothing. Then he moved towards Harry's potion. His glare intensified and he reached for the ladle and stirred the potion. He poured some of the potion into a vial and held it up to eye level. The sparkling and silver-black glow remained. Lowering the vial he turned to address the rest of the class. "Those of you whose potions are correct can test them and then pour it into a vial and hand it in. The ones that got it wrong will come back at lunch time to redo it. And clean up." Snape looking around the room to make sure everyone was doing as they were told. "Mr. Potter you will see me after class."
"Yes, sir," Harry sighed and got up to clean away his supplies. He looked around at the ones that had taken the potion as he cleaned. When they had first taken the potion they glowed silver for a brief moment then returned to normal. He watched as Snape went around the room again, paring people that had taken the potion with people that hadn't to test out the effects of the potion.
A few minutes later the bell chimed signaling the end of class. Students began to leave; the ones that hadn't brewed their potion correctly were the first out the door. The ones that had took a little long as they hadn't had time to clean up first. As they were leaving they were told that the potion would were off by dinner time. And if the potion hadn't they had to come back and see Snape for the antidote. Hermione stood up and told Harry that she'd tell Hagrid that he'd probably be a little late.
"Potter," Snape called once the classroom emptied out.
Harry stood up and moved to stand in front of Professor Snape's desk. "Yes?"
"You can't do anything normally can you," Snape muttered.
"I beg your pardon," Harry said blinking at Professor Snape.
"You will take this," Severus said handing Harry the vial filled with his potion. "And go to the Headmaster's office. There is obviously something you don't know and he hasn't told you. You will go now and the password is 'Shock Tarts'."
Harry nodded and turned to leave. That, one sided, conversation had been way too weird. Snape had been almost...civil. He shook his head grabbed his bag and left. As he strolled down the empty corridors to the 3rd floor he couldn't help but think over what Snape had said. What was it that he obviously didn't know about himself, but the Headmaster and Snape did? And what did the potion have to do with anything? And goddamn it, Dumbledork was hiding shit from him, again.
Lost in thought he didn't realize that he had reached the stone gargoyles that guarded the Headmaster's office. Or that he had been standing there for over five minutes. Finally, Harry zoned back in, "Oh, shock tarts," he muttered.
The stone gargoyles leaped aside and the spiral stair case began to climb up. Harry stepped on to the stairs and rode them all the way up to the top. He didn't even bother knocking before entering the office. After all, the old geezer didn't have the common courtesy to tell him things that involved his life and 9 out of 10 times would have kept him from getting into trouble if he had known. So therefore, he didn't either. Ha. Take that ya old geezer.
The Headmaster was nowhere to be seen so Harry flopped down on to one of the overstuffed armchairs that sat facing the Headmaster's desk and steeled himself for a long wait. Stupid old goat was making him miss Care of Magical Creatures. He enjoyed that class, mostly because Hagrid taught it. He could even overlook the fact that the majority of the animals wanted to eat them or simply stomp them to death. But he had to admit that it added to the appeal; the danger of losing life or limb. Now, granted Care of Magical Creatures wasn't his all time favorite class, but he did enjoy it and he was going to miss all of it if the old geezer didn't hurry up.
As if on cue Dumbledore walked into the office from a side door that Harry hadn't noticed before. One would think with as much time as Harry spent in the Headmaster's off he would have noticed everything there was to notice about the room. Obviously not.
"Harry?" questioned a surprised Dumbledore. "What are you doing here? Oh, don't tell me you've gotten into trouble already. It's only the first day of classes and it's not even lunch time yet."
"Snape sent me," Harry said shortly choosing to ignore the old man's accusations.
"Oh Merlin," Dumbledore muttered. "What did you do this time?"
"I. Didn't. Do. Anything," Harry gritted out. His eyes blazing Avada Kedava green as he glared at the Headmaster. What was the deal? Why did everyone always think that he started everything? It's not like he went out looking for trouble, trouble just usually found him. Okay, okay, that was only true in his first couple of years at Hogwarts. Now, well he didn't purposely go looking for trouble but he did have a knack for finding it, usually when he was trying to solve some mystery.
He loved puzzles and that was the problem. When things didn't add up he had to go out and find the answers so that everything fits in place and makes sense, which is what, got him into trouble. He was just too damn nosy. That was probably the outcome of being locked in a cupboard for most of his life and never knowing what the hell was going . Stupid relatives.
"If you didn't do anything, then why are you here?" questioned Dumbledore.
"Why don't you tell me?"
"I'm afraid that I'm at a lost Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said calmly.
Harry snorted. "Snape told me to give this to you," he started dropping the sealed vial on to the desk. It clattered and rolled towards the Headmaster. "He also said that you knew something that you've apparently have not told me. So spill," Harry demanded.
"Harry...I..."
"Don't even think of lying to me, Headmaster," Harry snarled.
"What kind of potion is this?"
"Veritas Quaeso," Harry answered shortly.
"Really? That's odd, it shouldn't be sparkly. Or glowing," Dumbledore muttered his brow creased in thought. He stood up and moved over to the fireplace. Grabbing a fist full of floo powder he tossed it into the fireplace. When the fire flared green he called Professor Snape to come to the office as soon as possible. A few seconds later Snape emerged from the fireplace.
"Severus," Dumbledore acknowledged and gestured to one of the empty chairs. "If you could be kind enough to explain why young Harry is here."
Snape arched a black eyebrow and smirked. "So you really don't know. And here I thought you were just hiding things from him, again," he muttered. He may not have liked Harry, but he had never agreed with Albus about keeping things from Harry. Honesty, the boy could have stayed out of a lot of trouble if he had just had things explained to him.
"Why does everyone always think that I'm hiding something?" the Headmaster murmured.
"Oh I don't know, maybe because you do," Harry replied sarcastically.
Snape's smirk deepened. He had to admit, at least to himself, that Harry really wasn't all that bad. In fact, he didn't hate the boy at all, he actually kind like Harry. Harry was amusing and always kept things interesting, never a dull moment around the boy. The only reason, besides pretending to be a Death Eater and having to uphold that image, that he was so harsh with Harry was because the boy never put any effort into anything. Harry got by on pure talent. The boy would be so much stronger if he actually tried and that pissed Snape off. That Harry had all that potential going to waste because he didn't put any effort into it.
"Mr. Potter, tell me what you know about 'Truth Sayers'," Snape demanded.
"It's an ability that someone is born with and they don't have to be wizards although the majority of them are. The ability allows the person, through skin to skin contact, to tell if another person is lying. Truth Sayers are like a walking lie detector and it's impossible to lie to a Truth Sayer because they get into the person's mind and feel their emotions and thoughts. It was believed that the really powerful Truth Sayers could not only feel your emotions but actually see your entire life up until that point in time. It was also thought that physical contact was painful to Truth Sayers and that eventually they went insane or killed themselves because of, not just the pain, but the over stimulation of images and emotions. They were also hunted down and killed because of their gift, which is why there are none today. Or at least why no one is admitting to having the gift," Harry answered. "Why? What does this have to do with anything?"
"Do you know what the potion would do if you drank it?" Snape asked completely ignoring Harry's questions.
Harry sighed in frustration. "Just that the potion was based off of the Truth Sayers ability, drinking the potion allows a person to be able to feel another's emotions through touch. And if that person was questioned while in contact with the drinker then he or she would be able to tell if the person was lying or not," Harry answered.
"Severus, you don't think that Harry..." Dumbledore drifted off leaving the question hanging in the air.
"You just turned 16, correct?" Snape inquired.
"Yeah, July 31. Why?" Harry asked slowly.
"Have you noticed anything different?"
Harry tilted his head to the side as he thought. He did have a guardian angel, but he didn't think they needed to know that. Not to mention, he figured Snape meant physical changes. "No. Now tell me what's going on."
"Nothing at all?" Dumbledore probed. "Nothing when you touch people?"
"No," Harry gritted out. Truth was he wouldn't know if things were different if he touched someone, because he didn't touch people. He didn't like physical contact. It always made him feel awkward and uncomfortable. That was probably due to the fact that he hadn't been held or hugged growing up. So that now, he never willingly touched someone or allowed someone to touch him. Just another thing he could blame on his stupid relatives.
"If you would," Snape said holding out one of his hands for Harry to touch.
Harry glared at the outstretched hand and crossed his arms over his narrow chest. "No. Not until you tell me what the hell this is all about."
Snape shrugged. "Fine. The Veritas Quaeso potion we brewed today, when done correctly, comes in shades of gray. The color gray varies depending on the potency of the potion. The average wizard gets a pale gray while a Potion Master or someone like Mr. Malfoy who excels in potions, gets that mercury color."
"But, than why was mine all sparkly and glowing?" Harry interrupted.
Snape ignored Harry's interruption and continued talking as though Harry had never spoken. "Drinking the light gray potions would allow the drinker to feel another's emotions but just vaguely, while the mercury potion would allow the drinker to be almost overwhelmed by another's emotions. Now, your potion was a true Veritas Quaeso, the kind that only a Truth Sayer could create, hence the sparkle and glowing effect."
"Why would a True Sayer even need a potion that does the same thing their ability already does?" Harry asked slightly confused.
"The Veritas Quaeso was created to enhance the Truth Sayers natural ability. Now, if someone were to drink your potion not only would they be able to feel another's emotions, but their thoughts and memories as well."
"And you think I have this ability?" Harry asked doubtfully, looking back and forth between Snape and Dumbledore. "Wouldn't I have noticed it before?"
"Not necessarily. It's true that most Truth Sayers had the ability at birth but some didn't gain it till after their sixteenth birthday, when a wizard's power grows and the ones that have hidden abilities come out," Dumbledore answered.
"Then wouldn't I have noticed after my birthday?"
"Did you have any physical contact with anyone afterward?" Dumbledore asked.
"Well...no," Harry said slowly while he thought. The only physical contact he had after his birthday was the beatings that his Uncle Vernon put him through. So therefore it wouldn't be surprising that he hadn't noticed anything different. Pain had a funny way of blocking everything else out. "Wait...I touch Hedwig and Amethyst all the time and nothing happens or feels any different with them."
"Animals have a different thought process than humans, so you probably wouldn't feel a difference," Snape said.
"Well, there's only one way to find out." With that Harry reached over and nonchalantly grabbed Snape's hand. He jerked back with a strangled cry seconds after his skin made contact with Snape's. He cradled his injured hand to his stomach and brought his knees up to rest his forehead on.
"What happened?" shouted Dumbledore as he rose from his chair.
"Burns," was all Harry could manage to get out. Slowly he rocked back and forth trying to ease the pain. It was an instinctive movement of someone familiar with pain.
Dumbledore rounded his desk and moved towards Harry.
"Don't touch him," snapped Snape when Dumbledore moved to touch Harry. "You'll just cause him more pain."
Harry took several deep breaths before straightening up. He looked over at Professor Snape. The Professor's facial expression didn't give anything away, but Harry knew that Snape took no pleasure out of hurting him. He wasn't really sure how he knew that, just that deep down he knew that he was right. It could have been his Empathic ability, but he was only slightly empathic. He could only feel really strong emotions, like violent anger or earth shaking fear. So that shouldn't have anything to do with it, unless his Empathy had gotten stronger without him being aware of it.
"What did you feel?" Snape asked, his voice lacking its usual bite.
"Burning. When my hand touched yours it was like my hand had caught fire and it raced up my arm to my chest and then to my brain." Harry paused for a moment after that to try to think. His head felt cloudy and detached, like there was too much going on in his mind to even begin to comprehend. "There had been images, a scene of some kind. But it had played out to quickly for me to catch. And I felt...pain and...fear, whatever that scene had been it hadn't been a good memory," he muttered. "Will it always be like that?" Harry hoped not. His body was still racked with pain and his head throbbed, it felt like a sinus headache and a migraine rolled into one. His chest hurt and it felt like he couldn't breathe. And he was cold.
Snape shrugged and shook his head. "The few records on Truth Sayers simply say that the pain varies from person to person. Some Truth Sayers didn't feel any pain, but their gift wasn't that strong either. The more powerful ones said that the pain varied with each person, sometimes being nothing more than a nagging tingle, other times feeling as though someone had ripped their heart out."
Harry sighed. This was just great. Not only did he have to be the Boy-Who-Lived, but now he couldn't even have physical contact without ending up in pain. God did his life suck ass. Apparently someone upstairs really hated him.
"Harry's a Truth Sayer. Can you imagine!? There hasn't been a record of one in over 1,000 years. This is marvelous," Dumbledore muttered, his pale blue eyes twinkling.
Harry's green eyes narrowed and he jumped up from his seat. "I'm glad you find this so fucking fascinating," he snarled at Albus. "But if you haven't notice this is my goddamn life you're finding so bloody marvelous. God forbid that something in my life was normal, but noooo! I'm the bloody Boy-Who-Lived and couldn't possibly have a semi-normal life unless hell froze over and pixies took up residence there. Next, I'm going to find out that Voldemort is really my father and that my mother was his sister and that's why he wants to kill me, because I'm a child of incest and an abomination and therefore most be destroyed. Or maybe my life mate is my worst enemy and not even human and I'll have to spend the rest of my life, as short as it may be, with him or her, or risk him going insane and killing himself. And Merlin knows I can't let that happen because I'm the stupid fucking idiot that lived!" Harry ranted.
He stormed to the door then spun around. "Oh and if you so much as even think of telling anyone that I'm a bloody Truth Sayer, Voldemort won't have to worry about getting rid of you to carry out his world domination plans, because I will do him the favor," Harry snarled. "And don't even think about using this 'gift' in your little game of pawns either. Now I'm going to lunch. Good day," he sneered before storming out of the office his robes whipping behind him angrily and the door slamming shut with a loud crash that resonated off the stone walls.
Dumbledore blinked at the closed door in surprise his mouth hanging slightly opened. "What was that?" he asked but he didn't really expect an answer.
He got one.
"That, that was entertaining," Severus smirked. "And you have to admit, the boy has a flair for the dramatics," he added as an afterthought. Then he stood and went back to his classroom through the fireplace. Gods, that had been way too amusing and it was only the first day of classes too. He wondered what was going to happen next. Because something was going to happen and wasn't it Shakespeare that said, "Trouble comes not in single spies but battalions." Or was it sorrow? Either way worked. Oh, yes, some more entertainment was on the way. If Snape was a betting man, he'd say by dinner time there would be another amusing scene brought to them by the Boy-Who-Lived. This year was proving to be quite interesting.
Albus shook his head. He understood that Harry was a little upset, but that was uncalled for. Oh well, at least the boy was letting out his frustration and not holding it in. That would cause a lot more problems later on. And his office was still intact, so he wasn't going to complain or get all bent out of shape just because Harry hadn't been all that respectful. The boy did have a lot on his young shoulders and was therefore excused from his unseemly behavior. Did he mention his office was still intact? Well, if not, it was still in one piece, unbroken, undamaged, completely unharmed. Just the way he preferred it. Dumbledore sighed. That could have gone better, but at least nothing was broken.
Harry stomped to the Great Hall in a foul mood; not even picturing Ron with his two-toned hair helped. And being stopped every other minute by a student wanting to know if the rumors were true or not didn't help his disposition any either. So, by the time he actually entered the Great Hall for lunch he was almost breathing fire. By the time he actually sat down, glasses all around the hall were shattering and ceramic dishes were cracking and spilling their contents all over the tables. Liquids and foods were flying everywhere along with shards of glass and ceramic. Students were screaming and rushing from the hall trying to escape the glass and the bites of food. Harry didn't even notice he was so pissed off.
"Ummm...Harry, I think you need to calm down, at least a little so things stop breaking," Hermione whispered leaning towards Harry.
Harry blinked and took deep calming breaths. Things around the hall slowly stopped breaking. The students who hadn't rushed out of the hall calmed down and tentatively sat back down. They began whispering about the strange phenomena that had just happened. Only one student and the three teachers on duty knew what or more precise who had caused the destruction of the Great Hall.
Silver-gray eyes stared at the small slim raven-haired boy who sat across the hall trying to calm himself down. Draco frowned thoughtfully. He wondered what had happened to piss Harry off so badly. Did the weasel have something to do with it? If he did, he was so going to pay for it. Draco would see to it.
"Shit," Blaise cussed.
Draco looked over and saw Blaise dabbing a napkin to the corner of his eye. He reached out and pulled the napkin away. There was a good size cut running from the corner of Blaise's eye to half way down his cheek where a piece of glass had nicked him. Blood started streaming down his cheek now that the napkin had been removed.
"Here," Draco murmured pulling out his wand and casting a healing spell. The cut glued itself together and blood stopped flowing but there was going to be a scar. Draco didn't want to be around when Blaise saw the pale scar. And people said he was vain, they clearly hadn't seen Blaise in one of his moods.
"Thanks," Blaise smirked. "What the hell happened?"
"Potter," Draco whispered.
"You're kidding right?" Blaise asked dryly.
Draco shook his head and reached for his fork. Until he realized that although he had gone unscathed, his food hadn't. Sighing he replaced his fork on to the table and turned back towards Blaise.
"You're tellin' me, that Potter did all that?" Blaise said waving one of his hands towards the rest of the hall and all the shattered glasses, cracked ceramics and spilled food.
Draco nodded.
"Why?" Blaise asked.
"Something really ticked him off. He had built up too much power due to his anger and it was lashing out."
"What do you think pissed him off? That whole gay thing?" questioned Blaise.
Draco shook his head 'no'. "I don't think that was it. He was handling that whole situation rather well," he muttered. "It has to be something else and it had to have happened in the last hour."
Blaise shook his head and sighed. "Man, Dray. You sure know how to pick 'em."
"Blaise."
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
"Harry, are you okay?" Hermione asked.
Harry just nodded and kept his eyes closed.
"Things must have gone really bad with Snape," Hermione muttered.
"I don't wanna talk about it right now, okay 'Mione," Harry pleaded opening wide green eyes to stare at Hermione.
Hermione sighed, she couldn't say no to that look. She was such a sucker, at least when it came to Harry's puppy dog look. He was just too adorable. "Okay. But when you need to talk, I'm here," Hermione whispered.
"I know. Tell me how Care of Magical Creatures went. Did the beast Hagrid bring in try to kill anyone?"
Hermione started laughing. "No, the animal didn't try to kill, eat, claw, or stomp on anyone. It was rather tame actually."
"Oh, Hagrid must be getting sick if he brought in a tamed animal," Harry joked. It was a well known fact that the animals Hagrid liked had lots of teeth and claws and usually a bad disposition. Going to Hagrid's class was like willingly signing your life away in blood.
Hermione giggled. She opened her mouth to tell Harry everything that had happened in CoMC (Care of Magical Creatures) class that he had missed but they were interrupted.
"Harry," Remus said sitting down on the empty chair next to Harry's. "Is everything okay?"
Harry shook his head. "No, but I don't want to talk about it right now. Can I come see you later?"
"Of course. Come see me after your M.A. class," Remus said softly. He smiled gently at Harry before getting up and heading out of the hall.
"You'll come with me?" Harry asked Hermione.
"If you want me to," Hermione answered. Harry nodded and gave her a weak smile. "Then I'll come." She nudged Harry with her shoulder and gave him a cheerful smile. "Come on, let's head to class. Lunch is almost over anyways and DADA is next. I know that will cheer you up. And hey, I believe we have it with the Slytherins. After jinxing a few of them you'll feel so much better. After all, who wouldn't?"
Harry stood and followed Hermione out of the hall. He smiled softly, what would he do without her? It's a good thing he was never going to have to find out. But he wanted her to know everything; he didn't want to keep any secrets from her. She was family after all, his little sister.
"Hey, 'Mione, I have something else I want to tell you after we talk with Moony," Harry said.
"Okay, now come on," she laughed grabbing the sleeve of his robes and pulling him down the hallway.
The two made it to the DADA classroom with plenty of time to spare. Since they showed up so early, Remus asked them to move all the tables and chairs to the side of the classroom. Once they were finished other students began entering. And Hermione was right; they were sharing the class with the Slytherins, and Ron. This was going to be interesting.
"Everyone here? Good. Today is going to be review, over everything you've learned through the last five years," Professor Lupin announced. "How we are going to do this, why with a duel of course."
Harry grinned. He loved duels. He had a feeling Remus had decided on this to cheer him up.
"First couple shall be...Dean Thomas and Gregory Goyle," called Remus.
And so it began. Couple after couple went up on to the dueling platform and dueled. The one that lost had to sit down and another would take their place, while the winner stayed up until he or she lost. Dean won the first round against Goyle, but lost the second round against his boyfriend, Seamus, by a well aimed tickle charm. Seamus then beat Crabbe, but lost the next round against Harry. Harry so far had stayed on the dueling platform the longest taking down anyone he was put up against. He had battled nearly everyone, but Hermione, Draco, Ron, and Blaise. He, of course, was looking forward to dueling Ron, who still had the two toned hair.
"Okay, Mr. Weasley, you're next," yelled Remus.
Ron and Harry stood facing each other at the center of the long dueling platform. Harry grinned sinisterly while Ron glared. Remus raised an eyebrow at their reactions to each other, but filed it way as the usual tension between long time friends.
"I told you I'd get you back," growled Ron.
Harry smirked. "You haven't won yet, weasel."
"Scared Harry," Ron taunted.
"Of you? Yeah right. I'd be more scared of the pug trying to hump me," he snickered tilting his head towards Pansy.
"Sometime today gentlemen," Remus interrupted, but one could tell that he was trying to hold back a laugh.
Harry nodded his head towards Ron then turned and marched ten paces. On the tenth step he pivoted swiftly his robes swirling around him and he fired his first shot. Ron had too, and their spells collided in mid air. The spells should have canceled each other out, but Harry's spell was far stronger then Ron's and continued towards the surprised red head, err...I mean pink and green haired boy. Ron erected a shield spell and Harry's already weakened spell disintegrated.
Harry smirked. He had thought about toying with Ron, but now decided to just humiliate him and defeat him quickly. "Chiamare Ragni," he whispered. His wand flash a bright red light before spiders began pouring out of it. Thousands of spiders, from Daddy Long-Legs to Black Widows to Tarantulas, covered the platform and crawled over each other on their way to Ron. Ron, who had gone a sickly pale that made his hair stand out even more, screamed like a little girl, dropped his wand and ran from the room waving his hands in the air above his head. Ron's reaction couldn't have made Harry happier, unless of course he fainted and the spiders had crawled all over him, and he had come to while they were still on him. That would have been good.
"Finite Incantatem," Harry laughed once the door closed behind Ron. The mass of spiders disappeared from sight with soft popping sounds.
Hermione was almost in tears she was laughing so hard and she had to use Professor Lupin as a support beam to keep herself standing. She wasn't the only one either. Pretty much everyone in the class was laughing even the Slytherins. The only ones who weren't were Remus and Malfoy. Remus was trying really hard not to laugh and quiet everyone at the same time. He finally just gave up trying to quiet the class down and gave into the laughter, leaning against Hermione. Malfoy wasn't laughing, because he just didn't. He did have a truly pleased smirk on his face though.
"Okay...We have time for one more. Mr. Malfoy since you're the only one not laughing and still coherent it's now your turn," Remus instructed.
"Just saving the best for last," Draco stated as he stood facing a still laughing Harry. And god was that a breathing taking sight. His green eyes sparkling and his face all flushed and glowing with amusement. Draco just wanted to reach across the short distance that separated them, pull Harry into his arms and kiss those perfectly sculpted red lips until Harry was a puddle of goo at his feet. He didn't of course and his facial expression gave nothing of his thoughts away.
"Think you're good enough to beat me?" Harry questioned.
Draco simply smirked and cocked an eyebrow. "I'm the only one who could."
Harry grinned. The two turned away from each other at the same time and paced down the platform. Both reached the tenth step at the exact same time and both spun around casting 'Expelliarms'. The spells collided and nullified each other out.
"Rictusempra!" called Draco.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry said.
Again their spells hit and disintegrated. They kept firing spells only to have them collide and disintegrate or were dodged. Finally, Harry caste a 'Stupefy' that Draco didn't dodge quickly enough.
"Even though you've never beaten me Malfoy, you always give me a run for my money," Harry muttered down to Draco before releasing him.
"And Harry's the winner. Alright, class the homework is to read chapters one and two and I'll see you all on Wednesday," called Remus.
Everyone left the classroom and headed for their last class of the day, unless they had the new M.A. class, then it was their second to last class of the day. Harry and Hermione walked down the hall towards their Charms classroom.
"You were right 'Mione. I do feel better."
"Of course I'm right."
"Hey Potter, is it true that you play for the home team?" interrupted a Hufflepuff by the name of Owen Cauldwell.
Harry sighed and rolled his eyes before turning around to look at the boy. "Is it true that you fucked your sister?"
While Owen sputtered, Harry grabbed Hermione by her robes and made their escape.
"Was that true?" Hermione asked as they entered charms.
Harry shrugged. "I have no idea. I didn't even know if he had a sister. Evidently he does."
The two took their seats and waited for class to start.
Thankfully Charms went by uneventfully. There were only a few mild incidents where Harry 'accidentally' cursed some of the students that wouldn't stop harassing him about the whole homosexual thing. When the class ended Hermione and Harry walked side by side down the hall towards the Gryffindor common room. They had three hours before dinner and wanted to relax and in Hermione's case get some homework done. All the way to the tower Harry was harassed by students concerning the whole gay rumor. When they finally entered the common room Harry collapsed on to the couch before the fireplace and buried his head in a pillow and screamed bloody murder.
"Feel better?" Hermione asked sitting in a chair next to the couch with her Transfiguration's book in her lap.
"No, I wish they would just stop already. It's getting old," Harry muttered. He sat up and looked around the half empty common room. It hadn't changed over the years. The huge circular room was done in dark red and bright gold. There was one huge fireplace that sat on the same wall as the portrait door opening. There were windows along most of the back wall. Two stairways that lead to the girls' and boys' dorm rooms were also on the back wall. There was a scattering of dark red velvet chairs and couches around the room with gold and silver pillows. It was a warm and comfortable room. But Harry had the nagging feeling every now and then that he didn't really belong here. Not completely anyway.
Dean, Seamus, Neville and Ginny scrambled into the common room and made a bee line towards Harry and Hermione.
"Oh, good you guys are here," chirped Ginny as she flopped on to the couch next to Harry. Dean took the other chair and Seamus sat on the floor in front of Dean. Neville pulled up another chair next to Hermione's.
"We have so got to tell you about potions," gushed Seamus.
Harry arched any eyebrow. "Well it obviously worked. But I would love to hear the details."
"It couldn't have gone better if we had a month to plan," Seamus laughed. And so it began. The trio went back and forth telling Harry, Hermione and Ginny all that had happened during potions. About how they had actually been brewing a dye potion and that Ron had gotten paired with Neville. That the potion had turned pink when it was really suppose to be blue and that the potion had blown up and coated Ron in pink goo.
"It was so easy to dump the potion on him," Dean grinned.
"Speaking of the potion, where did you get it?" Neville asked.
"Oh, from Fred and George, they wanted me to try it out for them. Speaking of which, I'll have to send them an owl to tell them how it worked," Harry muttered absentmindedly. "I think I'll go do that now." With that Harry stood up and went up stairs to his dorm. Sitting on his bed he pulled out a piece of parchment from his trunk and scribbled a quick note to Fred and George about the potion, telling them he'd write again when the potion finally wore off.
Hermione closed her Transfiguration's book and shared a glance with the others. She stood up and followed Harry up the stairs, motioning for the others to stay put.
"Harry, do you want me to take the letter to the Owlry for you?" Hermione asked upon entering the room.
"No, that's okay. I'll do it," Harry answered.
"Are you sure? You'll be harassed once you set foot outside of the common room," she stated as she sat down on the bed next to Harry.
"I know that's why I'm not going to go through the halls."
"Then how are you going to get to the Owlry?" asked Hermione.
Harry smiled at Hermione and stood from the bed. He placed the letter into one of the inner pockets of his robe and reached for his Firebolt. "I'm going to fly of course. Once I send off the letter, I'll be at the Quidditch pitch if you need me."
"Okay. But I don't see..." Hermione started only to stop with a gasp as Harry opened one of the windows and jumped out. She rushed to the window and leaned out. She caught sight of Harry mounting his broom and pulling up at the last possible second. Closing her eyes she gave a shaking sigh. "I'm going to kill you, Harry James Potter. Once my heart returns to its normal pace and I don't feel like I'm having a heart attack," she mutter sliding down to sit on the floor with her forehead leaning against the cold stone wall.
Amethyst padded over to Hermione and crawled up on to her lap. The kitten purred and rubbed up against Hermione. Hermione sighed down at the kitten. "Does he worry you too?" She murmured to Amethyst stroking the kitten's soft fur. "He's so going to be the death of us." The kitten meowed as though in agreement and Hermione gave another sigh. Merlin, even the cat agreed with her.
Harry flew through the air with a soft smile on his face. He loved flying; it was the only time he felt truly at peace. He kept himself from getting to carried away remembering that he had to drop off that letter. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to enjoy his flight until after he sent the letter, he flew off to the Owlry and landed lightly at the side of the building. He peeked around the stones and made sure no one was there before hurrying into the huge structure. He called Hedwig down, gave her a treat, tied the letter to her leg and sent her on her way with a finally caress.
He then left the Owlry and went to the Quidditch pitch. He flew over the green playing field and around the towering stands and throw the goal hoops. God, he loved flying. It was so freeing, so carefree and relaxing. For a few hours all his worries just drifted away. There were no annoying students asking about rumors, no vindictive ex-best friends, no sneering pug-faced bitches, no Dumbledork, there was nothing. Nothing but the wind and opened space.
Draco wandered around the lake after classes. Blaise and Millicent had been arguing in the common room and he had left mumbling about going to the library. He had gone to the library and had finished most of his homework before becoming annoyed with all the students gossiping about Harry Potter. It had pissed him off to hear some of the things whispered about Harry and to keep from lashing out at them he had left. So now, he found himself strolling along the lake. As he reached the far end of the lake he spotted the Quidditch pitch off in the distance and slowly ambled his way towards it.
When he reached the pitch he spotted a lone figure flying up and down the length of it. Watching the figure's graceful movements and obvious talent on the broom, he knew that it could be only one person. Only Harry could fly like he was part of the broom. Harry was a true joy to watch fly, his ability unsurpassed by any others and the bliss he took from flying was clearly evident on his angelic face.
Draco wandered out on to the pitch and sat down to watch Harry fly. It was relaxing to watch Harry fly, envious, but it was still relaxing. Even when Harry pulled stunts that made Draco's heart stop. God, he loved watching Harry. Whether in class or in the air, Harry was a joy to observe. Like now, watching the wind threading its way through his short hair and whipping his robes out behind him. His lean trim body arched over his broom and Draco couldn't help but want Quidditch season to start so that he could look at that sight hours on end. Too bad they couldn't actually have a conversation. Then he could stare at Harry and listen to that husky purring voice.
As Harry flew through the air he noticed someone sitting on the field. He didn't even have to slow down to find out who it was. He only knew one person that had that white-blonde hair and moonbeam complexion; Draco Malfoy. But what was he doing here? Having only one way to find out he pulled into a sharp turn and a dive and landed gracefully in front of Malfoy.
"Can I help you with something, Malfoy?" Harry asked pleasantly.
Draco stood up and dusted himself off. He looked down at Harry with a smirk. "Tell me, Potter, did you dye the weasel's hair or was it really a potions accident?" asked Draco.
Harry shrugged. "My idea, but I had help executing it," he answered.
Draco arched an elegant eyebrow and smirked. "Do tell," he drawled.
Harry smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know."
"That's quite the Slytherin comment. You should be careful, Potter," Draco drawled stepping closer to Harry. Silver-gray eyes look down into emerald green ones. "You wouldn't want anyone thinking the Boy-Who-Lived was becoming a Slytherin."
Harry smiled a mysterious little smile and stepped even closer to Draco so that they were almost touching. "It wouldn't surprise me if they did, Malfoy. I was almost put into Slytherin after all," he whispered. His smile deepened as he brushed passed Draco, heading towards the school. He didn't give Draco anytime to respond, just left him standing there.
Draco watched Harry's lithe form walk away from him. He didn't really mind; after all Harry had a killer backside. But he was a little confused. Did Harry just say he was supposed to be in Slytherin? And if so, then why wasn't he? Draco shook his head he'd figure that out later. But for right now, he was simply going to bask in the afterglow of the moment. He let a secret smile drift briefly across his aristocratic face. They had had a conversation. With a slight bounce to his step he headed for the dungeon to get Blaise and Millicent so they could go to dinner.
Upon returning to the Gryffindor tower via the open dorm window, Harry replaced his broom and went down to the common room. He spotted Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Dean, and Seamus sitting in front of the fireplace where he had left him. Hermione stood up when he walked over to them, along with Ginny who were ready to head to dinner. The boys took some prodding before they were ready to go. But once food was mentioned Seamus pulled Dean out of the common room before any of them could blink. Neville walked next to Ginny talking quietly and Hermione and Harry brought up the rear. On the way there, Harry was once again assaulted with questions about 'the rumor' as he was being to call it.
"I swear to the gods, 'Mione, one more person so much as whispers the word 'gay' anywhere near me and I'm going to go ballistic," Harry gritted out as he sat down on his usual seat at the Gryffindor table. Hermione sat next to him and patted him on the shoulder before rubbing his back in a soothing gesture.
"I know Harry, they're being aggravating. Now, just relax. Take deep breaths, become one with Zen," muttered Hermione.
"Poor Harry, try not to let them get to you," murmured Ginny from across the table.
"Yeah, Harry don't sweat it, we're here for you," Dean said.
"Hey Potter, I heard that you were gay. So you like things shoved up your..." taunted Malcolm Baddock, a Slytherin.
"That's it!" Harry screamed slamming his hands on the table as he lunged to his feet. He turned to Hermione, "Fuck Zen," he snarled. He then proceeded to climb on to the top of the table. "Excuse me, may I have your attention, please!" Harry yelled out over the Great Hall.
Every person present whipped around and stared at the Boy-Who-lived. Snape smirked, Gods he was good, maybe he should take up betting. Draco, Blaise and Millicent, shared a looking before giving Harry their undivided attention. This promised to be entertaining.
"Everyone has heard the rumors going around that I am gay. I'm going to confront those rumors now. Not that it's anyone's business what gender I prefer, but I'm getting sick to death of being trapped against wall, cornered in hallways, pinned to my desk, having crude remarks thrown at me and groped. So, I expect all that obscene behavior to end once I correct the rumors. And if it doesn't...well, you will be paying Madam Pomfrey a visit, just like the thirteen other people I sent there today. Now, that I've gotten that out of the way. No, I am not gay."
"So you're straight?" questioned Blaise. He figured he would ask since he knew Draco couldn't and wouldn't.
Recognizing the voice Harry turned to the Slytherin table. He smiled and shrugged. "I never said that, Zabini."
"So you're not straight, and you're not gay, then what the hell are you?!" shouted someone from the Ravenclaw table.
"What's not really straight but not completely gay?" Harry asked.
"UH?" shout someone else from the Ravenclaw table.
"Bi-sexual, Harry is bi-sexual!" shouted Hermione, "As in, bi meaning two, so therefore he likes both sexes. Honestly, I thought you people were supposed to be the smart ones?!"
"Well, now that, that's taken care of, I expect all of you to leave me alone now," Harry started. Before he could continue almost every hand in the hall went up. "And no I will not go out with any of you," Harry stated and half the number of hands went down. "And no, I will not be anybody's fuck buddy either." The rest of the hands went down. Only about three hands remained up. Harry looked straight at Colin Creevey whose hand was waving frantically in the air. "No, I'll not pose nude for any pictures." Colin's hand went down and he pouted at the table top. Harry then turned to look at Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown and a Hufflepuff girl by the name of Stacy, all of whom were known as gossip queens. "And no, I'll not tell any of you about my sexual exploits." The girls' hands went down and no one else raised their hands. "Thank you for your time and enjoy the rest of your meal." With that he hopped down off the table.
Neville shook his head. "Man, Harry you have some guts."
Harry snorted and shook his head. "Nope, that was just a moment of insanity. I'm sure I'll regret it later."
"Well, my insane friend, you might want to start eating. We have that M.A. class in fifteen minutes," announced Hermione. With that conversation around the table died as food was shoveled into mouths.
Harry, Hermione, and Ginny stood up and waved goodbye to the boys. They left the Great Hall and headed for the M.A. classroom, which was in one of the towers, the second highest tower to be precise. Halfway up the spiral stairs Ginny was complaining.
"Why? Oh why did it have to be in a tower room?" she whined as she slumped up the stairs.
"Gin, we live in a tower, you should be use to it," Hermione stated not even slightly out of breath.
Ginny stuck her tongue out at the back of Hermione's head.
"I saw that," Hermione said.
Ginny gaped and looked over at a softly laughing Harry. Harry just shrugged and grinned at Ginny.
"Don't ask, even I don't know how she does it."
The trio continued up the stairs to the tower classroom. They entered the room and saw that they were the first to arrive, which wasn't surprising with Hermione as a friend. She was Miss Punctual. The room was dark with deep shadows around the front of the classroom where the teacher's desk sat. The rest of the room wasn't much better. It looked like it hadn't been used since Dumbledore was a student. There were spider webs, dust, dirt and grime everywhere.
"Are you sure this is the right room?" Harry questioned as he gingerly side-stepped around one of the spider web covered chairs.
"Yes," Hermione whispered.
Harry snorted. "Evidently our new teacher isn't much of a house keeper," he muttered then added, "And the House Elves went on strike."
"Bloody Hell! I hate stairs!" Blaise gasped out as he entered the room. He was followed by Draco who wasn't even ruffled by the climb. Blaise glared at Draco's perfect appearance. "I hate you," he muttered.
Draco smirked smugly at Blaise. "Don't you want to try out for the Quidditch team this year? If so, you might want to get into shape," he sniggered.
Blaise just huffed and looked around the room. Draco followed suit. They noticed the less than desirable state the room was in and the three other occupants. The five of them stood staring at each other in awkward silence. None of them knew what to say; Ginny because she really didn't know the two other students, being a year younger than everyone else. Hermione and Harry said nothing because they didn't want to start a fight, each for different reasons of course. Hermione didn't want to start anything because for one, the bickering was getting old and childish and two, she didn't want to get into trouble quite yet with the new teacher. Having Harry as a friend meant that you were bound to get into trouble with a teacher at some point in time, so one might as well start off on a good foot. Harry didn't want to start anything because he had a crush on the blonde Adonis and if he had the opportunity to at least be civil with the lust of his life then he was going to. It had proven to be possible earlier when they were on the Quidditch pitch.
Blaise wasn't going to say anything because a) he knew that Draco was crushing on Harry and had been for years and b) his own crush was in the room.
Draco hadn't said anything so far because he didn't have to keep his reputation up right now. There was no one there watching to see if he insulted Potter, so therefore he wasn't going to. But he did want to talk with Harry. That brief conversation, if it could actually be called a conversation, they had had on the pitch just hadn't been enough. He had to hear Harry's voice again. He knew they would probably never be friends, but they could at least be civilized acquaintances. Right?
"Potter," Draco acknowledged.
"Malfoy," Harry greeted nodding to Draco.
Hermione raised an eyebrow at the two but said nothing. She simply waited to see what would happen.
"What was that spell that you used on the weasel in DADA?" Draco asked.
"Actually I took a page out of your book Malfoy," announced Harry.
Draco frowned thoughtfully. "The only spell I used that was even close to that was the Serpensortia spell," he muttered.
"Yeah, just your rotten luck that I wasn't afraid of snakes. I like snakes actually, find them quite fascinating," Harry said.
Hermione cocked her head to the side and watched the two talk. If she didn't know firsthand how innocent and clueless Harry was, she would swear to every god known to man that Harry was flirting with the blonde Slytherin. She shook her head. She must be stressing out about something and not realizing it.
"So I take it Ron's worst fear is spiders?" Blaise asked.
"Yup. I created the spell over the summer using the base of the Serpensortia spell. When I created it I didn't have any plans to use it on Ron. I didn't actually even know if it would work or not."
"Are you stupid?" Blaise shouted.
"I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I agree with him," Hermione yelled pointing at Blaise. "Are you stupid? Using a spell in the middle of a duel against a person who'd like nothing better than to stab you in the back, and not know if the spell would even work or not!"
Harry shrugged. "I don't see the problem. I had to find out if it would work. It did."
"I think it was brilliant," Ginny said. She had heard the whole account of what had happened in the DADA class from Dean and Seams.
"Wait a minute," Hermione muttered. "Did you say you created the spell?"
"Well...I wouldn't really say that. I basically just used the Serpensortia spell and tweaked it a little bit."
"Tweaked it? Harry you can't just go and tweak spells," Hermione huffed.
"Why not?" asked Harry.
Hermione sighed in frustration. Honestly didn't anyone read now days? "Because Harry, tweaking spells as you put it, is not something someone our age can do. It's impossible. We don't have enough magical ability or control to do it. In fact, most wizards can't even do that," Hermione explained.
Malfoy smirked. "Not too impossible, Granger, after all, we saw that spell first hand."
Before Hermione could respond to that the door to the classroom opened and three Ravenclaws entered, one of them being Luna. Blaise and Draco moved to the back of the room and stood leaning against the wall. Other students began entering after that until the room was filled with thirteen people. There was the original five, Luna, Terry Boot, Michael Corner and Mandy Brocklehurst from Ravenclaw, Ron from Gryffindor, Susan Bones, and Hannah Abbott from Hufflepuff, and Nisha Zabini, a Slytherin and Blaise's little sister. The group of students pretty much separated into smaller groups based on their houses. There were only a few exceptions. Ron stood by himself in the corner of the room, Michael Corner was flirting with Susan and Hannah, and Luna was talking with Harry, Hermione, and Ginny. The conversations were quiet and nobody was sitting, too afraid of what could be growing in the dirt and grime.
"Don't worry about the mess, we won't be in this room for long," whispered a voice from the shadows at the front of the room.
Lil' Sphinx: Hi. I'm back. Sorry it took so long to update. But I did have a legitimate excuse. I would have updated sooner but, I had to fly home and spend a couple of days actually being social with my parents, or they get pissy. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter as much as the other ones. I also hope it was long enough for everyone. And yes I'm sure most of you hate me right now for leaving off where I did. I'm evil, I know. Now, time to answer questions, I had quite a bit of reviews, which I love, so if you asked something and I didn't answer it and you really really wanted an answer then send me the question again.
Shortstuff- Give yourself a pat on the back for figuring out that Draco's mini dragon was also a night creature. Go you. Even if others figured it out, you were the only one that mentioned it. What else...oh yeah, M.A. will be teaching them new magic along with some other things that I'm not disclosing at this time, it's not a class designed to help Draco and Harry get together, though it will help. Yes, Shadow (who didn't have a gender before but is now female) has a connection with the guardian, and she's (Shadow) not part of Dumbledor's inner circle, fact is she doesn't even like the old goat. And since you keep bringing up the howler I'm going to use it with one of my ideas, the feathers, which is why they didn't show up in this chapter but it'll show up in the next one, promise. Oh and the tattoo job Harry has will also show up in the next chapter. Okay, I think that was it...Man, I think I'm going to banned you from guessing, you just get way to close for comfort.
Vel- No Ron wont be turned into a chicken...not quite anyways. It was suppose to be in this chapter but I'm incorporating it with someone else's idea (see above) so, it'll show up next time.
Dark Illusionst- Fred and George will help Harry and Co. But if they actually show up and make an appearance in the story, I don't know. Oh and you wanted to use Amethyst in your story...well I don't see why not. As long as you don't change her (a few minor changes are okay, just nothing drastic), then you're free to use her. Any questions just ask.
Madness- 50 points for figuring out what I was going to do with the feathers.
Natasha- Thanks, I'm glad you like my writing, it's quite flattering. Ummm...you wanted to know about me...not much to say really. I'm female, if nobody has guessed yet, I act like I'm thirteen, (though I'm not) and my mind is in the gutter more times than not. I'm also quite eccentric. What inspired this story...I have no clue. I just started writing it with the thought that I wanted Harry and Draco to get together, and this is what happened. I have a lot of strange ideas that will probably never ever making their way on to paper. I also never know where any of my stories are going. I just sit down and start writing, with little or no planning ahead of time. Hope that feeds some of your curiosity. But probably not.
The next chapter will probably take awhile, 'cause I think I used a lot of my creativity in this chapter and I have no clue where I'm going at the moment. With any luck it won't take too long.
