A Series of Very Weird Events

Part 3:

Harry woke up in the middle of the night and sat upright within a matter of seconds. He looked around, almost panicky, having the distinct feeling that something was horribly wrong. He looked around, and saw Crabbe sleeping in the bed to his right, and Goyle sleeping in the bed to his left. They'd tried giving him Draco's old bed, but he'd made Goyle trade beds with him so he didn't have to sleep in the old bed of a Slytherin backstabber. Of course, Goyle hadn't objected. But now he was up, suddenly feeling extremely out-of-place. He got up and paced out of the room, and walked into the Slytherin common-room. It was bigger than the Gryffindor common-room, wasn't it? Of course it was. And better. The fire in the fireplace burned more vibrantly, here, as well. It was better here, he felt more at home, here. He sat down in one of the chairs, which had been deemed Harry's chair the second he walked into the room for the very first time, and stared into the fire. It was better here. He knew it was. This was the way it was intended to be. He yawned and stretched, trying to wake up. He didn't know why, but he didn't feel like sleeping. It probably had something to do with Quidditch practice, tomorrow. Draco had been the Slytherin seeker, and they'd been missing one person ever since he left. They'd announced that Harry was their new seeker the second he had been placed in Slytherin. They'd been worried, before, because they had a game coming up with Gryffindor the next month, and they had been worried they'd have to forfeit.

Harry had solved that problem.

He must have dozed off for a while, because he could have sworn the flames were bigger when he last checked, and that there had been more firewood in there. He furrowed his brow and studied it for a while, before he sat up straight and stretched again. He had to have dozed off. He only felt like this after he'd slept. Suddenly, he became aware of that there was a sound of someone sobbing in the room. Confused, he looked around, until his eyes finally rested on the small, shivering body of Dobby.

"Dobby?" he said and stood up, stepping towards the sobbing house elf, "Dobby, what are you doing here?"

"Dobby came to see Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby said and looked up, his sobbing coming to an abrupt halt as he stood up and looked into Harry's eyes, "Dobby came to tell Harry Potter to go back to Gryffindor, sir! Harry Potter is a good Master, sir, he doesn't belong in Slytherin! Draco Malfoy is a bad Master; he should be in Slytherin, not in Gryffindor, sir!"

Dobby suddenly whimpered and started beating himself over the head, ordering himself not to speak badly about his master again. Harry rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh, please, Dobby; give it a rest. You don't even work for them, anymore. It's stupid to keep punishing yourself when you don't even work for them. Mind you, I never said house elves were very smart, anyway."

Dobby stared up at Harry with large, astonished eyes.

"But...but...Harry Potter has never spoken badly of Dobby, sir..." he said, looking up at him with tears in his eyes, "Doesn't Harry Potter like Dobby, anymore, sir?"

Again, Harry rolled his eyes before he turned his back on Dobby and returned to his chair. It was a very comfortable chair. He already liked it better than his chair in the Gryffindor common-room.

"Get a grip, Dobby," he said, before he added, as an afterthought: "And stop referring to yourself in the third person! It's annoying."

Dobby gasped from shock and covered his mouth with both his hands. Harry had never before noticed what a drama-queen that house elf was, especially since he - or rather it - was only a servant, and couldn't help but roll his eyes again.

"Go away, Dobby. You're getting on my nerves, and I was trying to enjoy myself, here."

Dobby broke out in tears again, and sat down on the floor, sobbing loudly. Harry nearly growled with aggravation, before he threw a pillow in Dobby's direction. He missed, something he immediately regretted.

"Go away before I throw you into the fire," Harry said to the sobbing house elf. Howling, Dobby snapped his fingers and vanished into thin air. Harry smirked and looked back into the fire, quite pleased with himself. But suddenly, it hit him. That strange feeling he'd had earlier, the feeling that something was frightfully, frightfully wrong.

He woke up in his bed the following morning to the sound of Crabbe and Goyle arguing about something. He rolled over to his side, moaning quietly, before he swung his feet off the side of the bed and stood up. Crabbe and Goyle kept arguing, apparently not even noticing that Harry was up.

"Will you two shut up?" he said after a short while of listening to their nagging. Immediately, the two boys stopped arguing and turned towards Harry. He looked them over, and instantly got disappointed. Were these two supposed to be his closest circle? What a joke. But it was a good joke, at least. "What's happening, today?" he asked as he produced his robes from a drawer and started changing.

"Potions with Snape, Harry," Crabbe said, "and then we have Care of Magical Creatures."

"Care of Magical Creatures? What a waste of time."

Immediately after he'd said it, Harry felt that something had gone wrong, that something had happened that really shouldn't have happened, but he didn't understand what it could be. He found that he was furrowing his brow in confusion, and so he shook his head to snap out of it.

"What is it, Harry?" Goyle asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Nothing. I just... Nothing."

He put on the last of his robes and looked down at the Slytherin insignia on his cloak. He suddenly felt proud that he was carrying the snake, the greatest animal of all. The Gryffindor lion might appear to be strong and proud, but the Slytherin snake could easily sneak up behind the lion and bite him in the leg, filling him with all sorts of venoms. A lion would never stand a chance against a snake; he was sure of it.

He turned to Crabbe and Goyle again, looking them over to see if they were presentable. He didn't want to spend his first day as a Slytherin walking around with two hobos. After a little while, he decided that they looked good enough; presentable, yet not better than him, and so he nodded approvingly at them, which seemed to be exactly what they were waiting for. He turned away from them and walked towards the door, with Crabbe and Goyle following right behind, but suddenly he stopped.

"Crabbe?" he said in a disappointed tone of voice.

"Yes, Harry?" Crabbe answered, sounding almost nervous.

"My books?"

"Oh!" Crabbe exclaimed and ran back into the room, soon returning with Harry's books.

"Good boy," Harry said, before he continued out the door and set a course for the Potions classroom.

Harry and his gang were some of the last to arrive to Potions class, but they were still before Draco, Hermione and Ron, and were already seated and comfortable when they got there. Harry sat next to Crabbe, while Goyle had chosen a seat on the bench behind them. Draco, Hermione and Ron ran into the classroom, and Draco and Ron chose the bench beside Harry and Crabbe. Harry could feel Ron's eyes on him, watching him with a kind of sombre quality to them. Hermione stopped beside Harry's bench and looked at him, her eyes saddened as well.

"Hi, Harry... How are you?"

Harry looked up at her with a sceptical look in his eyes.

"What's it to you?"

Hermione gaped, but quickly shut her mouth. Her saddened expression seemed to have grown more sad, and Harry felt a surge of pride going through his body.

"Harry?" Hermione suddenly said, and reached out a hand towards his head. She held a lock of his hair between her thumb and index-finger, studying the lock with a confused look in her eyes. Harry quickly pulled away, almost like he couldn't stand to have her touching him.

"What do you want?" he said in an annoyed fashion.

"You..." she started, but hesitated, "You have...you have a blonde streak in your hair."

She tried touching his hair again, but her hand was quickly beaten off by an annoyed Harry.

"Don't touch me!" he exclaimed and pushed her away, immediately noticing that that strange sensation he'd been experiencing lately was back. Hermione backed away, looking positively hurt, before she turned from him and walked to her bench, sitting down next to Parvati Patil. He watched them for a while, watched Hermione say something to Parvati, and then watched as Parvati turned to him and glared fiercely at him, to which he responded by furrowing his brow in an amused manner. He turned to Crabbe, who was smiling as well, and shook his head.

"Stupid Gryffindors," he whispered, before a loud bang at the back of the classroom made everyone turn in surprise. Some of the girls gasped and almost screamed, and Harry immediately noticed that Draco did the same, but Harry was completely relaxed. The loud bang at the door, the violent opening that nearly sent the door off its hinges, was a sure sign that the Potions Master had arrived, and if you didn't keep your mouth shut now, you were in trouble.

"Open your books at page 247, Chapter 13," Snape said as he strode towards the front, and the class obeyed, "Personovo Potion is a powerful remedy which will, if digested, allow two people to switch personalities. In its concentrated state, the Personovo Potion can be lethal, and must therefore be inserted into something edible. If the concentration of the Personovo Potion is more than 27 percent, it is illegal, as a strong enough Personovo Potion could lead to full transformation and also cause severe harm to the individuals concerned. Today we will be brewing a mild version of the potion, which will allow you to adopt some of your partner's personality traits for five to ten minutes. We will-" Snape stopped suddenly, and looked as though something had just occurred to him. With a flick of his hand, all the books slammed shut, and a startled yelp came from the Gryffindor side of the classroom, where Ron was cradling his hand that had been resting on the book as it slammed shut.

"Bloody sodding hell!" he exclaimed, and suddenly noticed that everyone was staring at him. Snape was looking at him with a sour expression in his face, one that Ron dreaded more than anything.

"Five points from Gryffindor for foul language," he said, his voice calm and steady, "This lesson is over," he continued, "Get out," he turned and started walking towards the door leading into the Potions storage room, when he suddenly stopped and added as an afterthought, "Now." He gave the class a sour look which made the entire class scramble for their books, eager to get out as soon as possible, before he again started walking towards the door. Only Hermione didn't move.

"But Professor, we've only been here a few minutes!" she said, her hand reaching eagerly into the air, and Snape stopped walking again.

"Five more points from Gryffindor for being outright annoying," Snape said and started walking. Harry broke out in laughter, and was soon joined by Crabbe and Goyle. Snape stopped again, and slowly turned around to look at Harry with an astounded expression in his face.

"Potter, you are excused," he said before turning from him and walking briskly into the Potions storage room. Harry frowned at his retreating back, before he slid his book over to Crabbe and stood up.

"Get my books," he said in a sour tone-of-voice, "we're leaving." It was the last thing he said before he strode out the door, soon to be joined by Crabbe and Goyle. Hermione remained, opening her book at Chapter 13 again, and reading a few lines, before she all of a sudden gasped and slammed the book shut.

"Of course," she whispered and started gathering all her things, before she got up and sprinted towards the door, while she cried out a loud: "Ron!

He walked together with the other Slytherins down to Hagrid's cottage, making his opinion about this class clear with every step they took.

"It's a waste of time, going down to that goon's house, like this," he said as they approached, but lowered his voice when he noticed that Hagrid was outside. The Gryffindor bunch had already arrived, and was standing around him like keen puppies. Harry snorted with amusement, but hid his laughter when they arrived to where they were standing.

"Well, now," Hagrid started, "now that you're all here, I can start. I have something really special for you guys, today! It's a real beauty!"

Most of the class got worried frowns, as they all knew perfectly well that Hagrid's perception of beauty was somewhat different from other people's. Hagrid darted back inside the cottage, and soon came outside with a medium-sized box. He set it down on a home-made table he'd carried outside for this purpose alone, before he carefully removed the lid. A giant spider, larger than Hagrid's hand, popped out and scowled at the watching students. Ron's whimpering could be heard over the gasps of amazed students, and Harry saw both Draco and Ron backing away.

"Is that it?" he said, laughing at the sight of the spider, "That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen!"

All the other Slytherins laughed along with Harry, who was pointing at the thing and saying how "utterly ridiculous" it looked. Suddenly, the spider pounced and landed on Harry's chest. Harry jumped, but didn't react fast enough, because by the time he'd gathered his senses enough to do anything, the spider had sunk its fang into Harry's shoulder.

"Ow! Bloody animal!" Harry screamed and brushed it off onto the ground, pulling his wand from his pocket and directing it at the spider. He was about to say the incantation when Hermione suddenly leapt forth.

"Harry, no!" she yelled and pushed his hand out of the way, giving the spider enough time to dart away into the forest. Harry quickly backed away with disgust in his eyes.

"Get your hands off me, you filthy Mudblood!" he exclaimed, and the entire crowd was suddenly quiet. Hermione looked into Harry's eyes with a hurt expression across her face and tears welding up in her eyes. Ron jumped forth with his fists up, shouting a cry of rage at Harry while he pounced at him.

"Ron, don't!" Hermione said and grabbed hold of him, stopping him before he reached Harry, "Remember what I told you!"

"I don't care!" Ron screamed, "He deserves a punch in the nose!"

Hagrid stepped out of the crowd and placed himself between Hermione and Ron and Harry.

"Harry! How could you say something like that to our Hermione?" he looked down at Harry with disappointment written all over his face, but Harry merely scowled up at him in return.

"What do you care, you ignorant oaf?" he shouted, and Hagrid nearly gasped. He could see him struggling to keep a straight face and not turn away, he could see him struggling with his hurt expression, and he felt good. He felt proud. Everyone around him was staring at him in astonishment, yet he merely stood there, glaring up at Hagrid, who in the end looked away, and instead focused on Crabbe and Goyle.

"You two: get him to Madam Pomfrey's so she can tend to that bite," his voice was shaking, and it was easy to hear that he was fighting with the tears that so eagerly wanted to escape. Harry smirked as Crabbe and Goyle nudged at him to tell him to follow them, and then he turned away and started up the trail leading up to the castle. "And the rest of you," Hagrid continued when they were well away, "class is dismissed, so you might as well go back to the castle." As the rest of the students walked up to the castle, Hermione came to Hagrid's side and put a compassionate hand on his arm.

"It's alright, Hagrid. It wasn't Harry saying those things. Come on, I'll explain it to you," she tugged at Hagrid's arm, and he obediently followed her and Ron into the cottage.

When they got halfway to Madam Pomfrey's, Harry suddenly collapsed, and Crabbe and Goyle were forced to carry him the rest of the way. When they arrived at the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey nearly screamed of shock. Harry's face had turned completely white, and he was shivering violently in the arms of his two friends. She had them place him in a bed while they told her what had happened, and once she had the full story, she darted into the back and retrieved some medicine she assured them would help.

"Spider bites are tricky," she said, "What was Hagrid thinking, bringing that thing to class? Here, dear, drink this," she poured some kind of liquid down Harry's throat, something he nearly choked on as it slipped down his throat. Somehow, however, he managed to swallow the liquid, and not long after he stopped shaking and went to sleep.

"You are more than welcome to stay here with him," Madam Pomfrey continued, "but you might as well leave. He won't be conscious for at least another day."

After a lengthy argument, Crabbe and Goyle came to the conclusion that they'd leave him there and come back with reinforcements in the morning, when he'd be awake, and so they left. Madam Pomfrey frowned as she watched them leave, and turned to Harry's sleeping body.

"You've got yourself some right friends, there, lad. If I were you, I'd go back to them other two."

She winked at him before she walked away, completely aware of that he wasn't able to see, and probably even hear, her, and left him to sleep while the medicine fought against the spider's poison.

It was the middle of the night, and the sound of squeaking and moaning filled the air. Harry Potter was tossing and turning in his bed, sweat running down his forehead, as he dreamed of a past that had seemed so distant these past few days. He could see himself laughing along with his old friends, he could see himself studying along with Hermione, eating Every-flavoured beans with Ron, he could see himself taking strolls around the castle with Ginny, he could see the smile on Hagrid's face as he handed him his first real birthday cake and told him he had made it himself - words and all, he could see himself studying the Patronus charm with Lupin, he could see Sirius smiling at him and asking him to come live with him, he could see his parents reaching for him... And in the midst of it all, there he saw himself, asking him a whispered question that he could not hear. He screamed for him to speak up, to tell him what it was, and finally he heard it, a faint whisper blowing in the wind.

"Where did you go?"

He suddenly awoke and sat upright, breathing heavily and looking around with frantic eyes. He tried to scream out for help, but his voice wouldn't carry the cry, and so what emerged was nothing but a muffled sound. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to calm his raging heart.

"Something is wrong," he whispered to himself, "This isn't right."

His pulse slowed, his heart started beating regularly again, and finally he sagged backwards into a lying position, passing out once more, and forgetting everything he had just dreamed.

...to be continued