CHAPTER 21 – THE BAD INFLUENCE

Ron and Hermione stared, open-mouthed, at the grizzly, tall man walking back and forth through the room. Alberforth was preparing things to patch Harry up and merely nodded as he continued with his task. Ginny, who had her seat next to Harry alongside his right leg, did not even notice.

"Harry James Potter! If you ever do anything like that ever again you better hope that HE gets you because I will not be as forgiving!" Her face was wrinkled up in a very Mrs. Weasley-ish expression and she kept hitting him in the arm.

"Gin, it's okay," Harry said with an amused smile. "See," he said as he grabbed her hands and put them on his chest, over his heart, "I'm right here. I'm alright."

"You won't be for long," she snapped. Harry suddenly turned to the sink where Alberforth was.

"What's wrong?" he asked him. No one else had noticed.

"You're just so much like them," Alberforth replied after a moment of silence. "Lily was like that, every time James went off and did something stupid. Sometimes I think he was more afraid of her than Voldemort."

"I know what that's like," Harry quipped and received another slap on the arm.

"Oh do you now?" Ginny said.

"H-Harry?" Ron had suddenly recovered. "Harry, you dueled with him. I mean, you actually dueled with him."

"Yes, I know Ron," Harry said, slightly amused. "I was there, remember?"

"Damn foolish of you too," Alberforth growled as he placed a bag of ice on Harry's newly healed ankle. "Clever trick though, I never thought you had it in you," he said as he walked back to the sink.

"How did you… ah," Harry said suddenly comprehending how the bartender discovered the events at Hogwart's.

"How is it," Alberforth started with a smirk, "that two goats…two very, very, old goats, could make it back here before a healthy seventeen year old boy?"

"Did Alberforth tell you that he was a member of the original Order of the Phoenix?" Harry asked his friends, who shook their heads.

"We didn't really talk a lot," Ginny replied. "We were…worried."

"And crying," Harry said, running his thumb along her cheek. She gave an offended look and started to deny it but Harry stopped her. "I can tell, your cheeks get blotchy when you cry. It's cute actually." Ginny blushed, Hermione smiled and Ron began making gagging noises.

"Maybe you should take a few notes," Hermione told him quickly and slapped him in the arm. Alberforth chuckled, shaking his head at the two couples.

"Anyway, Alberforth here also helped me out a lot this summer. Seems that he gets a few… talkative customers here at night. And to answer your question, at the time those bloody goats were in much better shape than I was," Harry replied. "Speaking of shapes of things, I think when the school reopens they'll have to find a new classroom for Transfiguration."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Well, the explosion demolished the corner of the second floor," Harry replied.

"It's done then?" Alberforth asked.

"It is," Harry replied. "Voldemort is now 100 mortal." Alberforth returned to the table and took a seat next to Harry.

"Albus would have been proud of you Harry," he said as he placed a hand on Harry's shoulder but removed it immediately when the boy winced in pain.

"Now don't go crying on me Alberforth," Harry smirked. "You know you sound like Hagrid when you do."

"Get that shirt off and let's have a look at that shoulder," Alberforth told him. Harry removed his shirt, showing several embedded pieces of glass where blood had dried after trickling down his back. The shoulder was hidden from the girls so they couldn't see. After seeing Harry with his shirt off, and already prepared for the scars, Hermione gave Ginny a look that said "Congratulations". Alberforth noticed the look and gave a chuckle.

"Yes Miss Granger, Ginny here is very lucky to have a young man in such great shape as Harry." Ginny blushed and Harry frowned in annoyance.

"You're enjoying this," Harry said grudgingly.

"Only too much," Alberforth replied. He took a pair of tweezers and removed one of the shards of glass from Harry. Harry winced slightly.

"You're enjoying that too," he said.

"Only slightly more," Alberforth answered. There was silence in the room for several minutes while he worked on Harry. Hermione was the first to speak.

"Harry, you were amazing back there."

"No, I was lucky," Harry said. Alberforth gave a stifled laugh behind him.

"You're damn right you were lucky. Playing with fire you are boy."

"So how do we end this?" Ginny asked.

"Eager to start a quiet life young lady?" Alberforth replied. "Or are you waiting to test that Weasley fertility that is so well known?" He raised an eyebrow giving her a mischievous smile.

"ALBIE!" Harry said menacingly. He knew that Alberforth hated that nickname.

"So you can make jokes but I can't?" Alberforth asked. Harry took Ginny's hand, giving her a smile.

"I think I've earned that honor," he replied.

"Okay, I think that's about enough," Ron annoyingly stated. "Seriously though, how do we finish this?"

"We bide our time," Harry said in a mock royal voice, "until that great battle is ready to be faced."

"You're an ass," Alberforth told him.

"Me?" Harry brought his hand to his chest to feign offense. "You can't possibly be serious."

"We are," Ginny told him sternly, ending the game.

"No, seriously," Harry said, "we wait. The last thing I want to do is run off searching for him when I'm not ready yet. Speaking of ready, are you done?" He asked Alberforth. "I'm ready to put my shirt back on. It's a little cold in here."

"How can you be so calm?" Ginny asked him. She took the tone of voice that Harry knew he needed to be serious. He gave a sigh before he answered.

"Because there's nothing else to be. It's over for now, we're not in danger and there's nothing we can do to change what happened. I'm happy because a horcrux was destroyed. I'm just releasing the adrenaline in a different form. I am taking this seriously you know."

"I know," Ginny replied. "It's just… we could of lost you. I could have lost you."

"Gin," Harry took her other hand and looked into her eyes, "you always could have lost me. I was always in danger because of who I am."

"The boy who lived," Ron said.

"No," Harry spat, "because of my personality. Dumbledore explained it to me last year. Forget you ever heard anything about a prophecy, or anything about 'the Chosen One'. What did I want to do my first five years at Hogwart's?"

"Play Quidditch," Ron answered.

"Chase girls," Alberforth said.

"Fight Voldemort," Ginny said.

"That's the one," Harry said. "That's what I wanted to do. Because he killed my parents and caused so much pain I wanted to kill him. He gave me the focus. He gave me the determination. In short, he gave me the tools to stand up to him. The prophecy doesn't mean anything."

"But it said you had the power to kill him," Hermione stated.

"Yes but nothing would have ever happened if Voldemort hadn't taken it seriously. If he hadn't acted that night I might feel differently. Because of the prophecy he's going to come after me to kill me. And I want to kill him because of what he did." Harry suddenly thought of something. "I wonder if Trelawney changed the prophecy."

"What do you mean?" Alberforth asked, suddenly very serious.

"What I mean is, Snape only heard the first part before you threw him out right?" Alberforth nodded. "What if when he found out it changed the original prophecy? When Snape heard the first part it changed the way things were to be done. Because of what he heard, Voldemort acted. Because Voldemort did what he did, I want to kill him."

"Either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives." Alberforth recited. "Interesting theory but I don't know how it helps."

"It doesn't," Harry said dismissively. "It just struck me as I was explaining. The thing is, the prophecy was for Voldemort. He marked me as his equal. He made his own enemy. I could choose to not go after Voldemort but I want to kill him."

"It all goes back to that night," Hermione said.

"Yes it does," Harry said. "Many things would be different if Voldemort never showed up at Godric's Hollow sixteen years ago."

"How are you supposed to kill him?" Alberforth asked. "His power and magic is still greater than yours."

"But that's not what it's about," Harry told him. "When he 'marked me as his equal' he gave me tools. The intangibles that I talked about before. My greatest power is his greatest weakness. I don't know exactly how it's supposed to work but it will."

"So what do we do now?" Ron asked.

"I'm guessing you eat," Harry said with a chuckle. "As far as a plan, I don't know. He'll be pretty pissed at what happened so I imagine he'll want to strike out at something. I trust you sent word along to prepare," he asked Alberforth.

"Yeah, and I sent your ruddy bird along too," Alberforth answered. "The damn thing wouldn't leave me alone until the goats came back. When I told her you were okay then she left."

"She's pretty protective," Harry stated. "I think we should probably stay here for a couple of days and then return to the Order. We can decide what to do then."

"I expect you want me to fix something to eat," Alberforth said, annoyed.

"I don't bloody think so," Harry replied. "If you're going to cook we might as well start gnawing on the damn table."

"I noticed," Ginny said disapprovingly, "your mouth has gotten dirtier since you arrived here."

"Maybe you should clean it out for me," Harry said seductively. Ginny blushed slightly before she hit him on the arm.

"Harry!" She said, quite surprised.

"OI!" Ron said angrily. "You better be careful Potter!" Alberforth was laughing aloud.

"Sorry," Harry said. "This place just brings out the bad in me."

Instead of cooking dinner, Alberforth decided to open a bottle of firewhiskey, in which the girls declined but the boys more than happily accepted. An hour later, all three men were laughing very loudly while the girls were getting very annoyed.

"So I said to him," Harry continued laughing, "I said, 'but I, unlike you, are a git, so get out of here." The men laughed even more, slopping their drinks on the table and clutching their sides.

"You know," Hermione whispered to Ginny, "that wasn't even that funny when it happened, let alone the horrid retelling that we just witnessed."

"Alright," Ginny said standing up, "I think I've had about enough of this foolishness. Hermione, would you like to accompany me to our room so we can get some sleep?"

"I think that would a spectacular idea," Hermione replied standing up from her seat. "Boys, try not to fall down too much on your way up the stairs. We'll see you in the morning."

"Gin," Harry said before he was interrupted.

"Don't 'Gin' me Harry Potter," she snapped. "You are acting like a fool and I don't like it very much. I think that this place is a very bad influence on you and you will deserve every ache and pain you get in the morning."

"Ronald," Hermione started, "I expected you to behave properly and be a good influence on Harry. I guess I expected too much."

The girls turned with a huff and left. Harry rose out of his chair to follow them. He stumbled to Ginny, partly because of his injury but mostly because of the firewhiskey, and grabbed her arm.

"I'm sorry Gin," he said.

"You will be when you wake up tomorrow," she replied sharply. "What are you grinning at?"

"It's just," Harry paused deliberately, "you're cute when you're angry."

"That will not work on me Harry," she said, suppressing a smile. "Just so there is no misunderstanding, I am mad at you and will be tomorrow when you wake up. You would do well to remember that." Then she turned swiftly and stomped up the stairs, hiding her smile from Harry. Harry hobbled back to his chair where the other two were laughing at him.

"The Potter charm strikes again," Alberforth said between his wails of laughter.

"Shut up you two," he told them as he looked at the stairs where Ginny had just disappeared. "That girl will be the death of me."