FLASH.
Whatever the hell it was, it wanted a bite out of Harry's hand. He had to quickly jerk it away. It didn't, however, stop the putrid thing from nearly melting his face off with a foul-smelling, acid-like discharge.
FLASH.
"I don't cry." Harry said in what could only be described as a pouting tone.
Tonks smiled a little, glad to see that Harry was starting to feel a bit better, at least. "You do too." She said, poking one of his shoulders. "Remember that time Leon accidentally clocked you in the pink bits with a snowball?"
"That thing had a giant stone in it! Any guy would've been crying if he got hit in such a sensitive spot...!" Harry argued back, making a face and squirming at the memory. "God, I felt like I was going to be sick for the rest of the day."
FLASH.
A burst of light suddenly shot through the kitchen door. It was all Harry could do to duck in time to avoid it. He had been waiting for this. And not eagerly,
either. Quickly rushing to the far side of the room, Harry aimed his wand at the door just in time to see the old man crash his way in.
"Been having a go, have you?" Growled the old Auror, aiming his own wand at Dudley and spitting out a few quick healing charms. These closed the wounds that Harry's curses had inflicted, but didn't stop Dudley's sobbing fit. Once he was through patching Dudley up, he looked to Harry with both eyes. "He could've bled to death."
"Pity you got here when you did, then." Harry said, smiling coldly.
FLASH.
"GET HIM!" Fudge shrieked, pointing a shaking finger down at Harry. "Stun him! KILL him! Just STOP HIM!"
Harry sighed quietly. He had come to the Ministry expecting things to boil over. But he was hoping to avoid a battle. Nonetheless, if these pathetic creatures wished to test his ability, then let them come. As a veritable army of Aurors flooded into the room, Harry's grin spread from ear to ear.
FLASH.
Pansy accepted the icecream and sat beside Harry on the sofa. She pushed the two scoops around the bowl for awhile before asking, "Why me?"
"Beg pardon?" Harry asked, mouth full.
"Why me, of all people? Why'd you contact ME instead of your little Ravenclaw buddies?" Pansy asked, staring at her food.
"You're the reason I'm alive." Harry answered, softly. "You're the one who put the idea of spell altering into my mind."
FLASH.
"Hi."
"Harry...?"
"Um... yeah... Hey, Tonks. I have a perfectly good explanation for everything that's happened, but I--mmph!"
FLASH!
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Harry groaned, clutching his head as he sat up. These dreams were getting really, really old! And what in the name of all that was magical was that stupid, shadowed thing moving about in them? It was enough to drive a man insane, it was. At least this one ended in a better way than his most recent versions had. Blushing faintly at the thought of an older Tonks tackling him and firmly planting a kiss on his lips, Harry wagered he'd get little sleep. It was almost morning, anyway.
Swinging his legs out of bed, Harry glared across the room at Terry Boot's bed. As usual, the boy was snoring loud enough to wake the dead. But before Harry went to leave the room, he was going to do something to hopefully allow his other dorm-mates to sleep a little better.
And they did. They would later tell Harry that, Terry's screaming aside, they had slept very peacefully the rest of the night. As for Terry... he would just have to spend the rest of his life wondering why Harry Potter had dumped a whole pitcher of ice water out over his crotch, seemingly at random.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"C'mon, Leon! Stay here with us this time!"
"Yeah, I'm sure your mum would understand..."
"Besides, we need you for something."
"Couldn't do it without your help!"
"It's a very important mission, y'know."
"Could mean making or breaking the whole operation!"
Solieyu watched as Harry and Tonks went back and forth, trying to convince him to stay at Hogwarts over the Christmas holidays. He had been intending to, since his mother was going off to visit her sister off in Prague. The two had been going on for a few minutes now. He would have stopped them if they would only stop making such horribly amusing faces as they went through their obviously-rehearsed speech.
Eventually, they started repeating themselves and looking more and more desperate. Solieyu held up a hand to stop them and murmured, "I was planning to stay. You didn't give me a chance to say so. What's the plan?"
Five minutes later, when the gaping and subsequent glaring had ended, Harry laid the plan out before Solieyu. It was going to be painfully simple if all went well. George Weasley would procure them a list of Slytherins staying over the holidays. From there, Harry and Tonks would decide on one boy and one girl and change their appearances accordingly. Solieyu would help distract the two Slytherins while Harry and Tonks infiltrated Slytherin to try and get information out of Malfoy.
"The problem with seemingly simple plans," Solieyu began after thinking over the plan for a few minutes. "Is the amount of unknowns. Harry, are you even capable of holding a different face? The most I've seen you do is switch hair and eye colors. And even then, it's only been in the Nest or wherever you two dragged me off to show me his latest progress..."
"Dunno. I figure it can't be that hard. Hair and eyes go a long way. Fixing the nose is the only thing I haven't tried too hard on..." Harry replied.
"I tried telling him to find a better way, but he convinced me that he'll be able to pull it off. Somehow." Tonks added.
"I will." Harry stated.
"You'd better. We're gonna get burned big time if something screws up." Tonks said.
"Someone else will be burned worse if we fail." Harry replied in an oddly calm tone.
Tonks and Solieyu exchanged a worried look.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"No no no..." Tonks sighed, kneeling in front of a sitting Harry. "Okay, look. You can't change your nose like you can your eye and hair color. It's different.
Your nose has stuff in it to worry about. Face shifting's not easy."
"I know, damn it!" Harry hissed, scowling in frustration. They had escaped to the Raven's Nest for a bit of training, and it was proving to be a very fruitless effort for Harry. For all his complaining, though, Tonks stayed calm and proved to be a surprisingly knowledgable teacher.
"Look, mate, it's not so much envisioning a new nose and then trying to just change yours to that one. It's working with the stuff underneath. You've got to deal with how the septum and cartilage are gonna be moving and shifting, too. If you screw up, it's painful as hell. I had to be taken to St. Mungo's when I was little because I screwed up. The thin pieces of bone at the back of my septum were pushed deeper into my head and I had a real fun time having everything magically fixed." Tonks explained. "And all of that doesn't even include how to deal with junk further behind the nose itself..."
"When'd you get so smart about the human body then?" Harry grumped.
"When I had pieces of it moved around for me." Grumped Tonks right back. "Unless you'd like to explain to Madam Pomfrey why your hard pallate's sticking out of the roof of your mouth, I'd suggest listening to me, too!"
"Yes, Professor." Harry replied in dry tones.
Tonks glared, but sat back on her legs and sighed. "Look, I just don't wanna see something happen to you, alright? I'm not trying to make you feel dumb, Harry."
"Yeah, I know... I just wish you had mapped out all of the internal bits I'd be having to worry about while doing this before I finalized things." Said Harry,
arms crossing as he glared outside.
"C'mon. If I can do it, anyone can." Tonks said, slugging Harry in the shin.
"Oww!" Harry yipped, head jerking back to glare at Tonks, who was smirking up at him with Malfoy's face. Harry toppled over backwards, clutching his heart.
"Don't do that, dammit!"
Tonks' face reverted to normal as she dissolved into a fit of giggles. She had only taken on Malfoy's face twice before. One of those times, it had been to see Harry's reaction upon being awakened to the blonde's head looming over him. Harry had blinked a few times, finally seemed to realize what was going on, and completely freaked out. He jackknifed in bed, fell out, and backpeddled up against Terry's bed, all while grabbing his wand and putting his glasses on so fast that Tonks was worried he might accidentally gouge an eye out.
He still hadn't forgiven her for that one.
It took a few more hours of practice on Harry's part, but he finally managed to change his nose to something large and fat, much to Tonks' amusement. She told him to hold it for as long as he could, and Harry was forced to make a 'nose running' joke in reply, which earned him an eye roll.
Harry managed to hold his new nose for roughly ten minutes before it began shifting back to a more familiar shape on its own. Harry wasn't expecting this to happen and was quite alarmed at the sudden, rapid revert. Tonks told him it was perfectly normal and wouldn't cause him any injuries... so long as he wasn't drunk or somehow unconscious.
"Won't do you any good to get punched out or somethin' while you're tryin' to hold a different shape. Accidentally fell off a baby broom when I was little... happened just after I learned to change my hair around. When I woke up, I was completely bald. Had to wait for it to grow back out before I could start trainin' again. Wasn't very fun." Tonks explained.
"Have you ever shown me your original face?" Harry wondered aloud.
"'Course I have." Smiled Tonks. "I've shown you and mum knows, of course."
"...What, that's it? Just me and her?"
"Mmhmm..."
Harry tilted his head and closed his eyes, trying to think back. But it was hard to remember just what form the girl was taking at any given time. Only extreme hair colors stood out to him, as Tonks often had blonde or dark brown hair. Frowning, he opened his eyes again. "Can't remember... Show me?"
"You sure you don't want to try and guess some more?" Tonks asked. "Remember when we first met?"
Harry let his eyes unfocus as he thought back. He had been in the park... it had been awfully rainy... and then out of nowhere, a very tomboyish girl had shown up. Harry distinctly remembered that she didn't blink very often. He smiled, thinking back to that moment. Everything in his life had changed for the better because he had met Tonks. He really did owe her a lot... certainly more than he knew how to properly repay.
He heard a sudden gasp come from his friend and he focused his eyes on her once more. Her eyes were shimmering slightly and she was smiling, looking down from where she had previously been staring.
"What?" He asked.
"You remembered." Said Tonks, crawling over close enough that she could fall against Harry in a tight hug.
Feeling distinctly confused, Harry nodded. "Y-yeah, I remembered... how did you know?"
Tonks sat back on her legs, giggling quietly. "Because your hair suddenly up and changed. Your eyes went next. Exactly how my hair and eyes were back when we met."
Cocking an eyebrow, Harry lifted a hand up to touch his hair. Rather than being out of control and black, it was now short and quite spiked up. Harry had the distinct impression that it was blonde. He also had the distinct impression that his eyes were a piercing shade of blue.
"Blue?"
"Blue." Tonks said, nodding. She closed her eyes for a moment and shifted her own hair and eyes back to their original forms.
Harry figured he should probably do the same. It would be distinctly odd to walk around with short, spiky blonde hair. Malfoy would probably be jealous, too. And just the thought of the Slytherin toddling after Harry, asking for hair care advice, gave him the jibblies.
"Hey, Harry?" Tonks murmured.
"Yeah?"
"Wanna just spend some time relaxing up here before we have to get the plan going?"
"Sure."
Harry stretched himself out on the floor, crossing his arms behind his head. Before he could protest, Tonks flopped down next to him and promptly decided to use his shoulder as a pillow. He tried protesting, but she claimed that if he dared deny her such a comfy position, she'd hex his hair a permanent shade of puce.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Harry opened his eyes to find a pair of soft blue ones staring back down at him. Yawning, he smiled and murmured, "Morning."
"Not morning." Tonks replied.
"Nn? 'Course it is..." Said Harry, groggily.
"Harry...s'dark out." Said Tonks. "And we've just blown our first chance to go invade the Slytherin common room."
Harry stretched again, groaning as his body tried pulling him farther apart than he was capable of. Cracking one eye open fully, he smiled up at his friend. "Y'know, given the choice, I think I'd rather take an accidental nap with you than force myself to look like a Slytherin."
Tonks snorted. Rarely was Harry ever very coherent when he first woke up. Tonks liked trying to have conversations with him during this period, as he often said weird, if not adorable, things.
"Head hurts..."
"That's your brain trying to comprehend its own stupidity, mate. C'mon, let's get back to the Tower. Don't wanna get caught by Filch. He's been on a rampage lately." Tonks said.
Sitting up, Harry groaned as a few bones popped. "We're gonna have to learn to conjure some pillows and a matress or something..."
"Ohh? Plan to fall asleep with me up here often, do you?"
Harry let out a squawk mid-stretch, going a lovely shade of crimson. "I...I didn't mean it like that! I just... I meant that I... um..."
Biting back a grin, Tonks just gave Harry a quick peck on the cheek as she headed for the trap door. "Oh, don't worry. You should know when I'm teasing you by now..."
But the kiss didn't seem to help at all. Rather, Harry was even darker red now. Tonks blinked at this, then shrugged and giggled. "Boys."
"Sh-shut up!" Harry said, turning around to glare at the girl. "I was just... thinking."
"Ohh? About what?"
Harry remained silent, but rubbed at the spot Tonks had kissed. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize what must have been going through Harry's mind. It was rather cute to see him both groggy and flustered, though.
But then, seemingly out of nowhere, resolve made its way into Harry as he headed for where Tonks was. Opening the trap door, he smiled at his friend, murmured, "Bonam Noctem Tibi Exopto," and - for the briefest of moments - let his lips press up against Tonks'. This time he would be the one leaving behind a blushing and speechless friend.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"You kissed her?" Solieyu asked, sitting on the edge of Harry's bed.
"Yeah... I guess I did. But it was only fair! She randomly did it to me, too..." Harry said, still rather flushed.
"Yes, I suppose so. So what did the random Latin mean?"
"I wished her a good night." Harry said. "I've been reading too many spellbooks lately. One of the authors, in a bit of scrawling along the side, said she always said that to her husband before they went to sleep. I just thought it was... was..."
"Cute?" Solieyu offered.
"Yeah. Well... I wouldn't say 'cute,' exactly, but... Something like that." Harry said, fidgeting as he poked at his bedsheets. "Wonder what's going through her mind right now..."
"Probably the same that's going through yours." Solieyu said. "Harry... Really. How do you feel about her?"
Harry let out a weak laugh as he keeled over backwards. "I can't explain it without being horribly sappy about it. She literally saved me, Leon. If it wasn't for her, befriending me in the park that day and then telling me about the wizarding world. I dunno where I'd be right now. Probably still getting beaten within an inch of my life at the Dursleys... How do you tell a girl something like that?"
"I think it just has to happen... You have plenty of time to figure out how to phrase it, Harry." Said Solieyu, reaching out and placing a reassuring hand on Harry's arm.
"Do I? With that... whatever-it-is going around and petrifying students, who knows? For all we know, I may be next. She may be next. I dunno what I'd do if anything ever did happen to her, Leon... But just thinking about it hurts. Does that make any sense at all...?"
"It does." Solieyu said, nodding slightly. "My mother once told me a story about when she and father were dating. She said they had a big row at one point and nearly broke up. She said the pain was almost too much to bear... and that she felt happier than she ever had before when they finally made up. She told me it was like a tightness in her chest that wouldn't go away. Especially if she thought about him finding someone to take her place..."
Harry closed his eyes. "Oh, god, I don't even want to think about something like that. But... the tightness, it is there. Sort of. I don't mean to, but sometimes I feel weird when I see her chatting with other guys..."
"Jealousy."
"Jealousy? ...I don't want to be the type of friend who gets that way, though. I'd be just like that prat Ron! Now there's a scary thought." Harry said, snorting.
"Indeed."
A silence fell over the two then.
"...Hey, Leon?"
"Yes?"
"...Do you think we're too young to fall in love?"
"Well..." Solieyu began. "I'd answer, but I'm afraid I just don't care about you in that way, Harry."
Harry sat up long enough to whomp Solieyu in the arm. Giving him the evil eye, he stretched back out and said, "You know what I meant."
"Yes, I did. But it was too good a chance to pass up." Said Solieyu, smirking. "...To be truthful, I don't know, Harry. I've never been in love before, so I can't comment on it. However..."
"However...?"
"However, I think that, if the time is right, and the people are right for each other, things will work out somehow, in the end."
"I hope they do. If I think too much about the future, and Tonks isn't there beside me, that tightness in my chest comes back." Harry said, sighing. "I just don't want to make a fool of myself and say something I shouldn't..."
"You won't. When the time is right, everything will just click. I'm sure it'll work out perfectly fine between the two of you."
"I hope so, Leon. I really, really hope so."
Getting up, Solieyu looked down at Harry and asked, "Should I tell the guys to be quiet when they come up?"
"Yeah. I think a good night's rest will do me some good. We've got a long day ahead of us. Wish those idiots had gone home. I was kinda hoping it'd just be the three of us, getting the Tower to ourselves. Woulda been fun." Harry said.
"I'm sure it would have been. I'll tell them, then. Goodnight, Harry."
"Staying up again?" Harry asked, cracking an eye open enough to watch his friend head for the door.
"Don't I always?"
"One of these days, I'm going to figure out when you manage to sleep."
"And if I don't need it?"
"...Then you wouldn't be entirely human."
"I never said I was, Harry."
With that, Solieyu slipped out of the second year boys' dorm room.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"Crikey, this looks stupid." Said Tonks, frowning as her relfection showed Pansy Parkinson's face staring back at her.
"Who says 'crikey' anymore?" Harry asked.
"I do! You don't look so hot yourself, Mr. Boy-Who-Lived."
"Yes, well, I'm dressed up as Slytherin's biggest sexual ambiguity problem, aren't I? How am I supposed to even act? Or talk? I haven't heard Blaise Zabini speak before." Harry grumped.
"Just sound like you have a head cold or something. If anyone asks, 'Potter' is in the hospital wing for some dumb reason and you'd rather deal with the annoyance than be in the same room as him." Said Tonks.
"I'm glad you're better at this than I am." Harry said, frowning as he wiggled his - or rather, Blaise's - nose. "This feels weird."
"You'll get used to it. C'mon, we'd better go. I'm sure Leon's gotten to the Great Hall by now." Tonks said.
Harry and Tonks had already charmed their robes to show Slytherin's colors. To anyone who passed by, it seemed as if Pansy and Blaise were heading somewhere. Which apparently wasn't as uncommon as the Ravenclaws originally thought. Via George, who had been more than happy to procure everything they needed to pull this infiltration plan off, they had gotten directions to the Slytherin common room. When asked why on earth he would even know, George told them that he and Fred enjoyed rigging things up nearby.
And so they set off. Their plan wasn't great, nor was it foolproof. Tonks estimated that they had roughly a half hour to get there, get in, talk to Malfoy,
and escape. Harry just wasn't good enough to hold a different set of facial features for very long. It was calling it close, but it would have to do. It was too late to change the plans now, anyway.
Once they reached the entrance to Slytherin, Harry and Tonks exchanged a glance before speaking the password - "Mudbloods" - and gaining entrance.
To say the Slytherin common room was dreary was an understatement. The coldness from the lower corridors filtered through, chilling the inner room, despite the nearby fire's best attempts to keep the place warm. The furniture was similar to that in Ravenclaw, only it seemed... more rigid, somehow. Less comfortable. As Harry and Tonks stepped in and walked around, they realized that no one else was there at the moment.
"This is bad." Whispered Tonks.
"Yeah. We don't have time for something like this to happen..." Harry whispered back.
"Well... Let's sit down. We can spare around ten minutes here, total. So long as Malfoy shows up soon and doesn't prattle on endlessly, we should still be okay." Said Tonks, tugging Harry over towards the chairs nearest the fireplace.
The two sat and waited nearly five minutes before they heard footsteps. They looked over, worried about who it might be. Thankfully, it was Malfoy. Unfortunately, he had his two gorillas with him.
Malfoy stopped in mid-sentence to Goyle to give Harry and Tonks a strange look. "How did you two beat us back?"
"Uh... shortcut." Said Tonks, trying to imitate Pansy's voice as best she could.
"...You sound a bit funny, Parkinson." Said Malfoy, sauntering over and leaning back against a nearby table. "Something wrong?"
"We were both hit by a couple weird spells from that big-headed Potter idiot and his friends." Said Tonks, turning her nose up. "We got them back, of course... But we overheard them talking about going to the hospital wing. I don't know about you, Draco, but I certainly wouldn't want to be stuck alone in a room with them."
Harry marvelled at his friend's acting ability, mentally noting that he would have to have a word with her later about calling him big-headed.
"Yes, well... I suppose you have a point." Said Malfoy airily. Looking over to Crabbe and Goyle, he gave a slight nod. Whatever this meant, it seemed to indicate that their services were no longer needed. The two headed off toward the staircase at the back of the room. To Harry's surprise, both sets of staircases appeared to head even further down.
Malfoy sighed, shaking his head. "Honestly, do those two fat idiots have to eat all the time? I nearly hexed their mouths off for getting crumbs on my robes. Mother had to import these from China. They cost more than those two combined."
"Oh, that's terrible, Draco." Fauned Tonks. "Well, now that you're here, let's talk a bit, shall we? Have you heard the latest rumors going around?"
Raising an eyebrow, Malfoy shrugged. "It depends. The latest rumor I heard had to do with Potter and that long-haired friend of his being found in a broom closet on the fifth floor."
Harry choked.
Malfoy sent him an odd look. "Problem, Zabini?"
"Nothing." Harry replied. "Still not feeling well. I, uh...hope those idiots get out of the hospital wing soon. I hate to go around sounding like I was related to Goyle all day."
"Yes, I can see where that would be annoying. Well, go on, Parkinson. What's the latest rumor?"
Tonks smiled and, lowering her voice, whispered, "We overheard Snape and McGonagall talking. Snape seems to think he knows who the Heir of Slytherin really is..."
Malfoy snorted. "If he did, he'd tell the rest of us, wouldn't you say?"
Tonks pouted slightly. "I suppose... you don't have any ideas on who it could be, do you?"
Making a face, Malfoy's eyes narrowed as he looked into the fire. "I've already told half the idiots here that I don't. It would be nice if someone started believing me. And father won't tell me anything, though I can tell he knows something about it. Mother wasn't any help, either. And she'll usually tell me things father doesn't want me to hear, if I ask."
Tonks exchanged a look with Harry and was about to say something to Malfoy again when she blinked and jerked back to look at Harry again. His nose had shifted back to normal. Eyes glancing aside at Malfoy quickly - he was still lost in the fire - Tonks mouthed 'nose!' at Harry, whose eyes widened.
"Uh... I think I should go check the hospital wing out now. If those idiots are still there, we'll hex them down the stairs." Harry said, covering his face with a hand. "I'm starting to feel worse."
"I'll go with you." Tonks said. "Just in case they decide to try cursing us again."
As the two disguised Ravenclaws stood, something happened that definitely was not a part of their plans. The entrance to the common room opened once more and someone came dashing in. His eyes glanced around quickly and, seeing only three fellow Slytherins, rushed over.
"And what's wrong with you, Nott?" Malfoy asked, snapping out of his daze.
"It's...it's happened again..." Panted Theodore Nott, leaning over and breathing heavily. "They just found them..."
"Them?" Asked Harry, around his hand.
"Yeah... we've been hit this time, Draco."
Malfoy's eyes darkened. "Show me."
Nott nodded, standing up straight again. "Pansy, Blaise, you two coming?"
"They need to go to the hospital wing, so I'm sure they'll see, anyway." Malfoy said. "Come on, let's get going."
As Malfoy and Nott headed for the entrance again, Nott began, "Well, I was coming back from the lake and there was some commotion in the Entrance Hall. Then someone upstairs screamed. Everyone ran up and..."
They were gone then, leaving Harry and Tonks in the Slytherin common room, alone. The two looked at each other, nodded, and began after the other two. As dangerous as it was, they needed to know who had been attacked this time. Whoever it was, it was apparently another Slytherin, judging from Nott's explaination.
As they ran along the dank corridors of the dungeons, Harry and Tonks ducked into an alcove to change their faces and robes back to normal. Harry was very thankful for this, as his face was mostly back to normal at that point, anyway. They then set off in a dead heat towards the Entrance Hall.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"As you may have heard, two more victims have been found today." Said Dumbledore that night at dinner. Since so few students had stayed, everyone - staff included - was eating at a shortened version of one of the house tables.
"Millicent Bullstrode and our resident poltergeist have been placed in the hospital wing. While we are sure the mandrake brew will cure Miss Bullstrode, we are still a bit unsure of how to go about administering it to Peeves." Continued the headmaster, glancing at all the students present.
"What's going to happen if this keeps up?" Asked George Weasley, who was sitting across from Harry.
"I am afraid... we will have to close Hogwarts, Mr. Weasley." Replied Professor McGongagall, gravely.
Harry felt as if he had just been kicked in the chest. The infiltration had brought no new information to light, another attack had taken place during it, and Hogwarts might have to close if it all continued? That would mean returning to the Dursleys. If there was a fate worse than death, returning to Number Four was it.
"There's got to be something we can do..." Said the real Blaise Zabini, who was sitting down near Professor Snape. His eyes were narrowing and he had his elbows up on the table with his hands folded. "No one attacks Slytherin house and gets away with it..."
"Why don't get get Professor Lockhart to investigate?" Tonks suggested dryly.
All eyes turned to the Defense professor, who was halfway into a large bite of pie. Blinking, he swallowed hard and gave a nervous chuckle. "Come now... We don't even know what it is that's causing the attacks. How could I possible know what tracking method to use? I might use the wrong one, and then where would I be?"
"Dead, if we were lucky." Muttered Snape as he lifted his goblet.
"I'm sorry, Severus, I didn't quite get that." Said Lockhart, still smiling jovially as he turned to the Potions Master, who simply glared in return.
The rest of the meal was spent trying to work out just what could be done against the unknown menace. The Slytherins were all for hunting it down and killing it. No surprise there. George seemed to almost want to torture the whatever-it-was. Harry couldn't say as he blamed him. Ginny was sitting next to him, looking a bit pale. She didn't seem to be eating much. Probably thinking about Fred, too, Harry figured. Solieyu was quiet, though Harry knew he had to be feeling the same way George did. He knew that his friend missed the little oddball of Ravenclaw. Almost everyone seemed to, whether they admitted it or not. Several had stated how much quieter it was now that she wasn't around.
Harry and Tonks excused themselves, citing that they wanted to get an early start on the following day. Solieyu caught up to them as they were halfway up the main staircase.
"Well, that idea went balls-up." Tonks grumbled.
"What happened out there, Leon?" Harry asked. "Nott burst into the common room. We had already found out that Malfoy, as usual, was completely useless..."
"I had managed to charm a pair of oranges to fly around Pansy and Blaise, smashing into their heads every so often. I was trying to lure them away from the dungeons as much as I could. Thankfully, George came to help. I'm afraid I'm not terribly brilliant at causing a distraction." Said Solieyu.
"Yeah, you had one made for you, though." Tonks said, shaking her head.
"Indeed. I was one of the first at the scene. Bullstrode was laying face-down and had something pink in her hair. Looked like gum. Peeves was just sort of floating upside-down."
"How could they tell he had been attacked, too?" Harry asked.
"He hadn't made a snide comment or tried throwing water balloons at anyone in over a minute." Solieyu replied, dryly.
"Works for me. Go on." Harry said.
"Well, Dumbledore arrived shortly after I did. Then everyone in the general area seemed to pop out of the woodwork. Dumbledore levitated Bullstrode and Peeves to the hospital after that. He told Snape to grab Bullstrode's 'personal items,' which I'm afraid I didn't get a clear look at."
"Any odd feelings today?" Harry asked.
"I felt rather ill just before the attack happened, but... That isn't saying much, is it?"
The three were silent as they gave the password to Walter and entered the common room. None of the others were back yet. Flopping down on the couch in front of the fire, all they could do was stare at it as it flickered.
"Tomorrow," Harry said after awhile, "I'm going to the library. And I'm not coming out until I find every damned creature, artifact, and spell that can petrify both humans and poltergeists. I'm not going to be sent back 'home' because of this. I won't let whatever's doing this make me go back."
Leaning forward, Harry stared more intently into the flames. Tonks and Solieyu exchanged worried glances behind his back.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Author's Notes: Oho! Another fun little sequence of are-they-real-or-not? dream bits! And yes, I'm quite aware of putting one of the same lines in again. It was entirely intentional. Again, I'll state that I may or may not use bits and pieces of things, but Harry is STILL not a Seer, nor will he ever BE one in this fic. So don't get uppity and I won't force something to get stuck in your craws.
Sorry this was later than I planned. Real life came up in a number of ways. As of July 2nd, however, I'll have a distinct lack of anything to do with my free time. My best friend will be moving in with his girlfriend, so I'll no longer be able to sit around and crack jokes and such with him most of the evenings. This, in turn, opens up a LOT of free time for me. Hopefully I'll be motivated now that I'm officially over the 'hump' in book 2. Ten more chapters are planned.
Sadly, as with most people who're reading this, Half-Blood Prince will officially put me off of doing much of ANYTHING for a few days around its release. Before AND after. I was spoiled about the death in book 5. I'm not going to make THAT mistake twice. No worries, though. I'll definitely have Chapter 12 out by then.
Um... I hope no one minded the fluff I just randomly decided to add. I figured it was Harry's turn to pull a sneak attack. Besides, I needed to place grounds for his worries. I don't have a lot of notes on the next chapter. Thankfully, a bit of improvisation on my part in this chapter GIVES me more to add. Only now I have to research spells and such that can petrify. Oh well. I'll figure it out later. It's four thirty-nine in the morning and I've been writing for a bit over an hour. I started at three thirty, saying I'd only write for half an hour. But I decided to get the damn chapter DONE. So um... Yeah. Next chapter's title is going to be Valentine's Nightmare. Have fun imagining the stuff I'll be putting THERE.
And as a final, "I just finished editing this" note... I do hope I got all that nose bit right. It's been awhile since I did anything that required the inner workings of the human body, I'm afraid.