Cry of a Restless Soul

Summary:
Chapter two of Cry of a Restless Soul, the reader is now introduced to a German Wizard and Harry is rushed away from Privet Drive where he encounters two "friend" the inevitable outcome with this seemingly yearly union was dodged through new influences inside of Harry.

Disclaimer:
I do not own any J.K Rowling created characters or names; I am merely duplicating her great work in the way I feel like articling events. The only character, for now, is Aran Schmitz who is introduced in the second chapter. I also do not own the title of the story or the chapter titles; they essentially belong to one of my favorite power metal bands, Lost Horizon. The next story will be the same, duplicating song titles from one of my many favorite metal bands. I do not intend to earn profit from this story and if I do end up selling it to someone I will distribute the profit accordingly to the owners of the many things in this story.

Chapter 2:

Denial of Fate

The summer weather felt sticky to most this year, the humidity kept most people of Privet Drive inside of their respective houses, though the newest event made Privet Drive residents strain, and omit the stickiness, to watch the actions of number four take place. Residents of Privet Drive always liked a good show, even though they despised the Dursley's extremely, they couldn't help but wonder what was going on.

At that very moment, in the house in question, Harry Potter's emerald eyes opened his vision groggy and distorted at first, but then clearing up, he saw his best friend, Hermione Granger, looking back at him, her face not showing any emotion at all.

"Morning," The young Witch said, Harry barely hearing it. He sat up; reaching for his glasses, he put them on and saw the world around him sharpen. Harry looked up to see his friend.

"Is it really morning?" Harry asked chuckling a bit at her shrug.

"You'll be leaving today, or so I hear." She told him, looking at him with blank eyes. Harry, who was running a hand through his hair, looked down at his blanketed feet and away from the emotionless stare.

"Really?" Harry responded after a minute of silence, Hermione nodded slightly, her face showing no emotion of happiness. "That makes you glad?" The Witch raised her eyebrows but nodded again, and he sighed.

"You know where'll you go?" She asked with a curious look on her slightly pale face. Harry sighed again.

"No I do not, you do don't you?"

"Professor Dumbledore said you'll be coming to my house." She answered, her tone still the same as ever.

"But wouldn-"

"Don't worry; he's got everything ready already." She said with a grin slowly creeping onto her face. Harry sighed, looking away from her. The silence that followed was only interrupted by Hedwig's non-patterned hooting from her cage.

"Err… what's wrong Harry?" She asked suddenly, breaking the silence. "Aren't you happy you're leaving?"

"Yeah I am, but it's not like there's any point of expressing it." Harry replied nonchalantly. Hermione looked stunned at this.

"What's wrong with you Harry?" She inquired. Harry couldn't help but relieve a small portion of the stress he had been feeling for the past few days.

"WHAT'S WRONG! VOLDEMORT IS BACK AND NOW INSTEAD OF INDANGERING THE DURSLEYS, who I wouldn't mind witnessing their murder, I ENDANGER ONE OF MY TWO BEST FRIENDS!"

"You're completely missing the point Ha-"

"I am not missing the poi-" but it was Hermione's turn to yell back.

"LOOK AT YOU HARRY! AS NOBLE AS EVER I SEE! THINK ABOUT IT WHY DON'CHA! DUMBLEDORE, who is possibly the most skilled wizard in the entire European Wizarding community, IS SETTING UP PROTECTIONS AROUND MY OWN HOUSE! JUST-FOR-YOU!" She emphasized each word of her last sentence quite clearly.

"Voldemort will find a way to break through, he always has. Didn't you see Bellatrix here? That's living proof that Voldemort's broken the shield left from my mother." Harry replied, in his usual casual, monotone voice.

"V-Voldemort will NOT find a way Harry, I can-"

"WHAT'S GOING ON UP THERE!" Harry sighed at this voice, his hands curling into fists; it was Uncle Vernon's voice.

"SHUT UP!" Harry yelled back, both Hogwarts students heard a distinct crack of wood, possibly furniture, and heard a roar of anger.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY BOY! COME DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" He replied with a tone that was even louder than his normal angry yell. Harry could sense the purple shade turning quite green on his face.

"I SAID SHUT UP UNCLE! NOW JUST LEAVE ME ALONE LIKE YOU ALWAYS HAVE!" The boy-who-lived yelled back, he lay back and couldn't help thinking how great a morning he was having.

"Harry-"

"Save it." Harry replied, closing his eyes. Minutes ticked by in total silence, Harry heard a chair rub against the wooden floor beneath them. Hermione had gotten up; Harry opened his eyes to watch Hermione look in the mirror inside of Harry's cupboard.

"By the way," Harry started to say; startling the other Gryffindor. "Why are you here?"

"Dumbledore asked me to keep an eye on you." She answered coolly. Harry chuckled and turned his head to observe Hedwig's current activity which was nibbling on a dead rat. The snowy owl turned her head so her large beady eyes were staring at Harry's emerald eyes. Harry blinked and looked back at Hermione who was now in a sitting position. Harry couldn't help but chuckle at her expression, an expression of pure sadness and despair. Harry could not think of any optimistic side of this summer, besides the fact that they were about to leave the forsaken place of the Dursley residence.

"Come on Hermione," Harry took a stab at cheering up his friend, her head whipped out immediately. "There's always a good side of everything isn't there?"

"Always a good side-" she repeated. "Yeah you're right Harry, you're right… as always." Harry snorted at this comment but Hermione looked happier than she had before, her face no longer shone with misery, but rather happiness.

"You're the know-it-all Hermione." Harry said simply, deciding to look away from her.

"Yeah, but you're the real wizard Harry. Books and cleverness! There are more important things Harry! Friendship – bravery, and-"

"You said that same thing a long time ago Hermione." The boy-who-lived pointed out and his friend nodded slightly. Harry's head started to move toward her now cheerful looking face.

"And it's still as true as it was then." She stated. "You're the one who can stand up to the dark. Ron, Neville, Ginny… we can't. We need a hero to follow Harry, you ar-"

"I'm no hero, I just know if I don't stand up to them, no one else will." Harry declared, turning away from those chocolate brown eyes.

"You're wrong Harry." She said suddenly, Harry's head crooked slowly, emerald eyes clashing with chocolate eyes. "You are the bravest person I have had the fortune of meeting and because of that I've lived these five years of my life at Hogwarts. Without you…"

"You wouldn't have survived." Harry finished for her, and then added. "I can say the same thing about you! Without you…"

"You wouldn't have made it through all the O.W.Ls…"

"Snape's riddle,"

"I wouldn't have been able to rescue Sirius alone," this comment made the wizard shake a bit, he frowned nodding again.

"The Triwizard tournament," Harry pointed out.

"And probably many more things Harry, we need each other and Ron of course. The three of us make a team so don't-" she was cut off by a yell from downstairs.

"WHO THE RUDDY HELL ARE YOU!" Harry could tell instantly that was his uncle's voice, having heard it on many occasions before this.

"We're here for Harry, and you're not going to stop us!" Harry's heart lightened. That was his other best friend's voice. Ron Weasley. Then the male Gryffindor heard the voice of Mrs. Weasley.

"Ron! I'm sorry Mr. Dursley we're her-" then she too was cut off.

"YOU COME BARGING IN HERE AND EXPECT ME TO COOPERATE!" Vernon bellowed again. This time another voice spoke.

"Get out of our way." It was a calm voice, calm but stern all the same. Harry was surprised he could hear it with the door closed.

"GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!" Vernon yelled.

"NO ARAN!" This time it was Mr. Weasley's voice, panic echoed in his voice though. Harry supposed this "Aran" was the voice Harry did not recognize.

"DURANE!" The stranger's voice screamed. A few seconds passed in silence, presumably the spell's effect was in action right now. Then suddenly Mr. Weasley spoke again.

"That was unjustified Aran! Use the damn counter-curse!" Harry had never heard Mr. Weasley's voice sound that loud and angry.

"ARTHUR! NOT IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN!" Mrs. Weasley screeched.

"Very well Molly, but Aran has to-"

"I'm on to it don't worry." A few seconds of silence echoed throughout the house before Harry heard his uncle's voice again.

"What did yo-"

"Do not fret Muggle." Aran's stern voice said. "Just keep your thoughts; however demented they are, behind those disgusting lips of yours and go about your business." It seemed Vernon obeyed this command, for Harry did not hear his voice again.

"Who do you think that was?" Hermione whispered from Harry's right.

"I have a feeling he's part of the Order." Harry stated he did not hear Hermione respond again. Harry then heard hurried footsteps, and his door opened quite abruptly and a red haired head poked itself inside.

"Hey mate'!" Ron Weasley said pleasantly, entering the room and sitting on the edge of Harry's bed. Both of the magicians whose names started with 'H' replied with a manner of greeting. "So what'd you reckon about Percy?" Harry was cut off guard here, he was expecting Ron to keep quiet about it, but then again his parents weren't anywhere near.

"Er- I don't know what to make of it." Harry responded nervously, he was uncertain on how he should have phrased it.

"I personally think he's gone into hiding." Both Harry and Ron looked up at their only female friend.

"Why would he though? He rarely tries to hide anything does he?" Harry asked not just Hermione but Ron as well.

"He was connected to Fudge you know." The Witch pointed out. "Seeing as Voldemort – oh Ron I thought you would be used to it by now – is out in the open now, he'll probably try to get as much information as possible from whoever may seem… useable."

"And once he's finished with him or her…." Ron shivered slightly.

"Remember the whole Bertha Jorkins incident? Voldemort was behind that as well so I don't see why he wouldn't be afraid to do it again." The boy-who-lived stated, his eyebrows creating a slight frown. He omitted Ron's uncomfortable squirm and continued to piece his thoughts together.

Hermione had a fair point about Percy, but would Percy's information honestly prove adequate? Harry looked up at his friends and found them both watching him with a look of interest.

"You were mumbling." Hermione answered Harry's thoughts.

"Did you catch what I was saying by any chance?"

"It sounded… distant we could see your lips moving, your eyes dimmed too… it was weird." The red haired wizard said quite slowly and Harry could tell he was putting some effort into keeping his voice even.

"Isn't your mum waiting?" Harry dodged the inevitable awkward situation with a question of his own.

"Oh yeah, completely forgot, let's go." He got off the bed, walking towards the door he exited. Harry saw, out of the corner of his left eye, Hermione had a slight frown on.

"What's going on Harry?" She asked firmly yet Harry felt no threat come with her voice.

"A lot Hermione, a lot," Harry answered truthfully and she snorted. "I've got to change Hermione." Harry said simply, a soft "oh" came from his friend and she hurried out of the room. Harry rose from his bed, changing quickly; he managed to get his protesting owl into the cage securely enough before leaving the room. He found both of his friends waiting for him patiently enough. Ron's usual content look was absent and replaced by a frown while Harry could not see Hermione's expression, he somehow knew that it mirrored Ron's; they didn't seem to notice Harry's appearance.

"Er-" the 'er' seemed to startle the two of them rather extensively. "Are we going to leave now?"

"Yes, yes of course." Hermione stuttered, going first down the stairs.

When Harry managed to reach the bottom of the step without damaging his trunk or Hedwig's cage even more, he looked around for the Weasley's family and sure enough he found them in the living room, trying horribly to act natural and friendly.

"Ah, here he is! Well met Harry!" Mr. Weasley said enthusiastically, any trace of the anger was now gone. "Let's go shall we?" Harry nodded.

"Wait a moment Weasley." Harry turned around, looking for the stranger. "They need to be disillusioned right?"

"Right, good thinking Aran, Harry who performed the disillusion charm on you last year?" Mr. Weasley turned to ask Harry, his blue eyes still as curious as ever.

"Moody," Harry said simply, long used to the attention of more than two people.

"Too bad he's not here eh?" Mr. Weasley said to his wife. "Well I'll give it a try…" Harry winced slightly at the oozing feeling the charm came with free of charge, Harry closed his eyes unconscious, thinking something might leak into his eyes.

"Not bad Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley said and Harry opened his emerald eyes to see Mr. Weasley's ears turn dark red.

"What about the other two?" Aran asked, his body leaning on wall opposite of Harry.

"I don't think they'll need it as much Aran." Mr. Weasley answered coolly, his tone of voice changing abruptly. To answer this Aran seemed to nod toward Hermione. Mr. Weasley looked confused for a point, then a second later a look of realization emerged, out of nowhere, on his face.

"Ok you two, it seems like you'll need to be disillusioned as well." Mr. Weasley told Harry's two friends. He mimicked the disillusionment of Harry on both Hermione and Ron. He then looked at Aran, who nodded. Mr. Weasley nodded back at him, a frown appearing on his face, he tore his gaze from Aran and looked back at the three sixth year students, a smile returning.

"Are we leaving soon? I'm getting tired of this nastily clean house." A voice spoke up from outside the room just as Mr. Weasley was starting to say something, Fred, and his twin George; Weasley entered the room, Harry couldn't see their expressions well enough, it seemed his glasses lost their effect with the disillusionment charm.

"Yes George. Oh Fred sorry. Yes we're going to leave soon, when we get the signal." He pointed his wand toward the window. "The sparks last year seemed quite daring, so we're trying something new." Mr. Weasley explained.

"What do you reckon the signal is?" Ron muttered to Harry.

"I don't know. Something not as obvious I'm guessing." He answered. Hermione snorted from behind the two.

"What's so funny?" Ron asked with a touch of anger in his voice.

"Harry's response," She answered simply and truthfully. "He just repeated what your dad said."

"Is that the case?" Ron replied, his anger rising drastically.

"Don't make a fuss please Ron." This reaction did not help dim Ron's anger, for the red haired Wizard's face was now a nasty shade of red.

"I'm tired of your know-it-all attitude Hermione! Just give us idiots a break will ya!"

"Well, it's not like you-" It seemed Ron was now competing with Harry's uncle's mad face.

"I DON'T CARE! DON'T YOU GET IT! I DON'T CARE!" Now every eye (except for Vernon Dursley's, who seemed to act like nothing had just happened) was on Ron Weasley. Hermione did not have tears in her eyes, but her sadness was evident.

"Fine Ron, I'll just shut my know-it-all mouth." Hermione then turned around and walked to the front door of the house, and out of sight.

"About damn time," Ron muttered so quietly that only Harry could hear him.

"Ron you shouldn't ha-" but Ron cut him off.

"Not now Harry, I need to savor the silence." Ron said shortly and coolly. Harry guessed that he didn't like Harry taking sides with Hermione, but in fact Harry didn't mind the silence that much. Though with the silence came the fuming attitudes of both his friends. Harry decided not to take sides; he knew it would lighten one's mood it would anger the other dramatically.

"You're Potter eh?" Harry's eyes darted from the floor to meet a face that was covered by a hood. Harry immediately reached for his wand, though he heard a chuckle come from behind the hood. "Good reflexes kid, though unneeded in this present moment, I am no enemy. Aran Schmitz," he said lowering his hood.

"That's not a British name is it?" Harry crooked to see Hermione walking over. The boy-who-lived also saw a scowl come from his other friend, Ron Weasley who quickly moved over to his father.

"No it is not, I come from Germany. I recently learned of the Order of the Phoenix and their objectives concerning the destruction of the Death Eater race." He answered quickly, Harry noticed (for the first time) his accent and how different it sounded then the rest of people he knew.

Hermione continued to pester him with multiple questions concerning Germany and its many attractions; Harry felt his interest quickly slip away. He decided to soak in Aran's appearance. He could not tell what eye color Aran had but all he could see was that they were a dark color. His white face was far from pale but yet it had no dark look on it, it seemed it was a normal color, not pale, not dark. Harry looked away from the newest wizard to enter his life and just in time too. It seemed Mr. Weasley had spotted the signal.

"The signal's gone, let's go." He said quickly and suddenly, he turned away from the window and beckoned the few wizards and witches in the Dursley residence away. When everyone except Harry and Mr. Weasley left, he motioned for him to stop just outside of the front door.

"I didn't do it." At this comment, the father of seven red haired children smiled widely.

"Don't worry; you're not in trouble Harry. I just wanted to mention that your aunt and your cousin are both at the… what was it called? The sick people place." Mr. Weasley started to scratch his chin.

"Er… hospital?" Harry pointed out tentatively.

"Ah yes! The house-pitol." Mr. Weasley said cheerfully. "Yes, your aunt and cousin went there to visit a sick family member. Forget which though. An aunt with lot's of dogs I think." Harry snorted, seeing, in his mind's eye, Aunt Marge chocking on a doggy biscuit.

"So?" Harry asked coolly, starting to walk on.

"I – I just thought you ought to know Harry. Seeing as they ARE your only relatives alive today." Harry snorted at this.

"They don't care I'm related to them, so why should I?" Mr. Weasley stopped and stared at Harry; the young wizard chose to ignore this and kept walking without looking back.

"What'd you say to my dad?" Ron asked curiously when Harry managed to find him and Hermione (the non-talking issue seemed to have passed).

"Nothing," Harry answered a bit too quickly.

"Well he looked a bit shocked at 'nothing'." Hermione said, her tone cool.

"I thought I just told you to keep your mouth shut." Ron said sharply, a frown appearing on his face.

"What's gotten into you Ron?" Hermione countered, not trying to sound offensive; however Ron seemed to think of that response as a declaration of war, by his first snort Harry had ever heard come from him. "We're friends remember?"

"The way you're acting, Granger, I doubt we'll be friends any longer." He said nastily, Harry couldn't help but see some resemblance in Draco Malfoy in that statement.

"Ron, can you hear yourself!" Harry asked, letting his anger seep out. He could sense Ron's surprised look.

"Harry – you're siding with her?" Even a blind person could see the surprise on his face.

"You don't have to pity me Har-" Hermione started but Harry's anger was now great.

"Are you saying that; you, Ron, are absolutely tired of Hermione's "know-it-all" attitude!" He interrupted.

"Yes I am Harry, and if you're siding with her, then you… you…"

"I'm… I'm WHAT!" Harry asked, not bothering to hide his frustration. He could tell that Ron had winced because of that even though he was party imperceptible. "That if I'm Hermione's friend then you won't call me a friend anymore?"

"Well… no not really…"

"THEN WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO-"

"Harry! Please stop, this is just one of our usual bitter arguments about nothin-" Hermione cut him off, her tone pleadingly.

"No really Hermione, let him answer." Harry fell silent, looking at (he thought) Ron's face. Ron made several attempts at a start of a conversation.

"Mate, I'm sorry." The red haired wizard said defeated.

"You're forgetting someone." Harry pointed out coolly.

"Sorry He-"

"Save it Ron." Hermione cut in and Harry sighed, knowing this was going nowhere.

"I'll leave it at that I suppose… you sounded too much like Malfoy for my liking Ron. I had to cut in, now, it seems like the rest of them are well ahead of us and seeing as we aren't… aren't…"

"Visible." Hermione ended.

"Yeah, they don't know we're this far behind. So, let's go." And so they did, leaving the Dursley residence far behind.

When the three friends caught up with the rest of the group, they had arrived at an intersection Harry did not recognize. He looked for a sign but before he found it, someone spoke up.

"Where are we Arthur?" It was Mrs. Weasley.

"It's weird looking at it at this angle, but this is the rendezvous point, according to Alastor." Harry had to think for a moment to realize who they were talking about, then he figured out it was Mad-eye Moody, their supposed Defense against the Dark Arts teacher who actually didn't teach for a minute of the entire year.

"Why didn't we just use a Portkey? Isn't the Ministry on our side now?" Harry muttered to the closest person to him, who happened to be Hermione, she responded with a somewhat shrug (it was difficult to tell, seeing as all of them were fairly invisible).

"Apparently they're electing a new Minister of Magic, at least that's the rumor, it makes sense too since the Ministry is in a reckless state. They've been punishing people for the smallest of things." She answered whispering sharply.

"Why?"

"So Fudge would gain favor, people would think he thought every law should be approved. He's trying to show the public that he honors everything, except maybe a select few things." She mumbled back to him.

"And those few things are…?" The boy-who-lived asked uncertainly.

"MUGGLE-BORNS!" Hermione shouted, everyone around them turning to her.

"Look at her babble again…" Harry heard Ron mutter disgustingly.

"Hermione, keep your voice down, remember where we are!" Mr. Weasley muttered sharply as a few people glanced right at her. It seemed like Hermione nodded again.

"I seem to be messing up a lot don't I?" Her voice sounded as though it were raised by two octaves from her usual tone.

"Everyone's on the edge don't worry Hermione." Harry told her, trying to comfort her.

"You seem to be the only one on my side right now Harry." She told him honestly, Harry glanced around at the rest of the party and noticed no one gazed, even remotely close, to where Hermione and Harry were. From what the wizard could see, he saw Mrs. Weasley muttering, trying to make her lips look still, to where Ron seemed to be.

"You're right. It seems like the Weasleys have tried to distant themselves from you. Oh yeah, what were you saying about Fudge?"

"Uh?" Hermione's confused voice replied. "Oh right, er- he's been… very… I don't know how to say this… he's been acting violent towards Muggle-borns it seems. He's been babbling about all Muggle-borns being made of trash… and other gibberish like that."

"Has he? That's interesting; he'll get the pure blooded votes. That's about it. Come to think of it, how does the voting system work here?" Harry was planning to pass the time through learning as much as he could of what had happened recently.

"Ah, there he is." Mr. Weasley's voice spoke up abruptly. Harry squinted, and recognized the familiar hat of Mad-eye Moody. It seems they had been waiting for the other, and older, Order member.

"Sorry about the wait, I ran into some trouble back there. Let's leave quickly." He grunted quickly.

"Wait Moody, what trouble?" Moody snorted, pointed a finger behind him. When Harry finally got a chance to look at what Moody was pointing at, he gulped. Two people, in long black cloaks, were walking calmly right toward them; pushing innocent Muggles who were going about their business as usual, out of the way, not caring about their surprised expressions.

"RUN!" The father Weasley yelled, though he didn't need to yell that, since everyone had started to run amok before he said that. Harry heard no footsteps coming from his Witch friend; he reached out in mid-air and grabbed Hermione to push her forward. She started to run ahead, stopped to turn around and gaze at Harry, who was standing firmly his back to Hermione and his wand out.

"HARRY! WHAT'RE YOU DOING!" The Witch shrieked. "THEY'RE HERE FOR YOU!" She didn't seem to care that the Muggles were now watching her very intently. Harry just noticed, as he turned back to look at her one last time, that he could see Hermione, he looked at his arm and he could see his white hand gripping the yew wand tightly. The disillusionment charm was gone. Harry ignored that, keeping to the situation at hand.

"Keep running Hermione. Like you said, they're here for me, I'll give em' what they want."
"You're giving up?" Hermione asked, now confused.

"Hermione, have I EVER given up!" The Boy-who-lived asked frustrated.

"Well no-"

"EXACTLY, NOW GO!" Harry shouted, turning away from his shocked friend's face, and toward the two, newly emerged, opponents.

"Looks like Potty's had some sense knocked into him at last." Harry instantly recognized the voice's owner, Lucius Malfoy.

"Ah, he has finally seen there can be no fight against the Dark Lord." Harry did recognize this voice, yet he was his own age.

"Malfoy! What the hell are you-"

"Potter, I'm going to prove to you who's better then who now, this is for the Dark Lord!" Malfoy's voice did not sound cocky and arrogant like it usually did in school, he sounded cold… heartless now even. For the first time in his life, Harry felt a sense of fear toward Malfoy.

Harry frowned, his wand up and in front of him.

"So the Dark Lord's got you Pure Bloods doing his dirty work for him eh? You come here, with no backup in sight, into a crowd of Order members begging for me?" Harry laughed openly spitting on the ground. "Dumbledore's said a couple of times that Voldemort's resourceful, I don't see any resourcefulness in this "attack" just utter stupidity."

"We do not question the Dark Lord's orders; we are his most faithful servants." Harry laughed again.

"I thought you Malfoy's would be above this, you must have at least something stuck in that rock on your head. Just leave, and tell your very forgiving master that you couldn't kill innocent Harry Potter."

"HARRY!" Harry winced slightly, losing the edge on the inevitable fight.

"I knew this would happen, I shall deal with her." Lucius's wand came out with a snap it pointed directly at Hermione.

"NO! HERMION-" even before he finished saying her name, Lucius had uttered the curse.

"Crucio," the incantation was simple enough, yet watching Hermione crumple on to the ground, her bag flying away, and her screams echoing around the now crowded street.

"We have to let her live you see. That's why we've come here, to punish you in a different way." Malfoy's voice came from behind Harry, who did not seem to have noticed, he felt helpless, watching his best friend crumple on the ground, crying out words barely audible.

"Ha- H…" Hermione whispered; her wand still clutched in her grasp. Harry let his fury release itself; he turned to Lucius Malfoy, who had a sneered grin plastered on his visage. His anger could not be grasped at this time; no spell could comprehend his rage. He leaped at Lucius, the elderly wizard was caught off-guard, the spell broke contact, and Lucius fell to the ground with Harry on top of him, slamming his fists into his skull.

"Ha-Harry no!" Hermione's cry came distinct; Harry just started to notice the cries coming from Malfoy about his father. Harry ignored both and continued to pound the defenseless wizard.

"REDUCTO!" The spell shot Harry off the elder Malfoy's chest and he felt his back smash into a nearby fence. He omitted the pain though, and started to run toward the now rising and weak Lucius Malfoy.

"HARRY! STOP!" Harry continued to ignore his friend's howl's, but let his foot crash into Lucius Malfoy's face, sending him back onto the ground, clutching his cheek.

"You… wil-l n-n-ever to-u-ch her AGAIN, you hear me! TELL THAT – to your idiotic master." Harry panted his rage still fully evident.

"YOU will pay for that Potter." The younger Malfoy came forward, pointing his wand at Harry, his mouth opened to utter a curse but Harry fixed his stare right on Malfoy, catching his rival off-guard and saw his wand fall to the ground, Harry laughed eerily, the Boy-who-lived noticed the change in his tone, the new growl added in.

"H-harry… what…?" Hermione's whimper echoed around the silent street. Harry's eyes moved to her and he raised his eyebrows.

"I feel… different Hermione. In a good way too I might add." He said simply, a smirk appeared on his face, a smirk that Harry doubted Hermione had ever seen before.

"Harry." The girl said simply, rushing to her bag and pulling out a mirror. Harry put a look of puzzlement on his face and looked back in the mirror after Hermione brought it back. The Boy-who-lived couldn't hold back a gasp at what he saw.

His emerald eyes had been replaced by fiery red; it actually looked quite fiery, since flames danced inside of both eyes. His face seemed a bit paled too, other then that though, Harry still looked as tired as ever.

"Hermione, what…?" Harry asked her, completely lost.

"May… I interrupt…?" A pant rose from behind Harry, he spun on his heels to face the panting Lucius Malfoy. "You… WILL pay-y for this Potter, I have escaped Azka-caban and Bellatrix will as well… will as well, we'll both see to it that we share your kill." With that he disapparited, it seems that the younger Malfoy did as well, for he was nowhere in sight.

"Sickening, aren't they Hermione?" His tone sounded cold and distant, Harry could not hear himself it seemed.

"Harry, you're not yourself." His whole body whipped around, his night black hair covering the top of his eyes, yet he doubted Hermione could not see the burning red eyes.

"You don't think this i-" Harry started, but then he noticed their other friend running madly towards them. Panting and sweating, Ron Weasley came to a sudden stop in front of the two of them. Hermione was still had the mirror in her white knuckles, she hadn't seemed to notice Ron's presence.

"Where've… yo..u two been!" Ron slowly regained his breath back and Hermione just turned to face him after he was half way through his dialogue. "I've been searching… for you… everywhere." Ron had his hands on his knees, panting still.

"Except for here it seems. Harry stayed to duel with the two visitors." Hermione said simply, her gaze moving speedily from Ron's face to Harry's. Harry knew instantly that she wanted an explanation to his action.

"WHAT! WHERE ARE THEY!" Ron looked around wildly then Hermione suddenly snorted, his head whipped back to the witch's at once.

"Do you think Harry and I would still be here if they were here at this moment?" Hermione asked coldly.

"What's wrong with trying to help me friends?" Ron contradicted with another question of his own.

"It's just panicking isn't going to do us any good. What we need to do right now is find your family. Without them…" Hermione speech trailed off, knowing full well what Harry and Ron knew would happen.

"Hermione's right, we'v… I've wasted too much time. We should've been at your house by now! Come on." With that said, Harry ran off in the direction Ron had come before.

"Harry! Ron should lead!" Harry's best female friend cried out, making him stop and turn around. Nodding to Ron, he fell in step behind him and next to Hermione.

"Now where was it? It looks so different from this angle…" Ron mumbled to himself.

"You two will never stop bickering will you?" Harry muttered to his friend next to him who ran a hand through her hair. Breathing a bit, she gulped a bucket full of air and then started to speak, panting all the while.

"It's our nat…ture, I can't help-p bu-but insult him at ev-very little thing… he does." Harry nodded and kept his mouth shut, he knew talking and running at full speed was not a good combination, especially for someone like Hermione; who, for one was female, probably did not exercise a lot.

Though that's why Harry was so fond of her, she didn't care what other people thought of her, just that she satisfied herself. She didn't need to use all these useless products to make her look "prettier" like other girls her age. She didn't need to spend hours in front of a mirror just to spend a day with a couple of friends and attend classes. She just didn't care what other people thought of her. Harry thought this was the best attitude someone could have, just to look like you not some model taken out of a store or movie, just look and feel like yourself.

Harry noticed his feet were moving his body for him, while he had been thinking, his feet had turned around streets, corners, cars, and other paraphernalia, he also noticed Ron was getting farther and farther away from Hermione and him. Harry Potter then noticed Hermione's tired expression, sweat pouring down his face; he stopped his friend and called out to Ron.

"RON! RON WHERE ARE YOU?" He called out, Hermione looking puzzled. He looked back at Hermione's tired face. "You need a rest, someone like you who hasn't done this much running ever needs some rest."

Harry's eyes darted back up to the misty road. Harry squinted, trying to find any indication of where Ron had gone.

"Why is there so much mist?" Hermione asked breathlessly, it seemed she did in fact need rest.

"Come to think of it, I didn't notice the mist before." Harry said more to himself than Hermione. He set Hermione on the ground, where she took a few deep breaths, and pulled his wand out. Letting his eyes dart around the two of them.

"RON!" He attempted another feeble cry to find Ron. But to no avail, the Boy-who-lived sighed and turned back to Hermione and shrugged.

"We're lost aren't we?" She asked, knowing the answer even before Harry nodded.

"I've never seen this area before." Harry stated, setting himself down beside his friend and leaning against the fountain wall behind him, he thought about their very limited options. "Got any ideas?" He asked closing his eyes.

"I say we wait, Ron will notice we're gone soon enough and he'll retrace his steps." Harry opened his eyes to reveal two emerald dots; he turned them to face Hermione's chocolate brown ones.

"Now the question is-" Harry started.

"Will he be able to do that?" Hermione finished, and the two of them chuckled. Hermione released the eye lock, and looked around them. "The fog has increased hasn't it? There used to be a building over there." She indicated a now large patch of white mist.

"Yeah," Harry mumbled his agreement. "Hey, why aren't any people around?" Hermione got up suddenly and Harry looked up at her with a questioning gaze.

"I just remembered," She stated abruptly. She turned to face Harry, her eyes wide. "Dementors, create fog when they're close by don't they?"

"Yeah… yeah they do." Harry said getting up; he distinctly remembered the fog from his brief encounter with Dementors the previous summer. He got out his wand again and Hermione mimicked him.

"Why haven't we felt the effects of the Dementor yet?" Hermione asked no one in particular. Silence echoed eerily around the square. Both of the Gryffindors decided to keep the silence going so they would be alert if something were to approach. And indeed something did approach, though it was neither a Dementor nor a Death Eater.