A/N: the aftermath of freeing Sirius…
Oh, and I give thanks to Hir for leaving the funny review with the Kraken quote. Potential flame or not, it really made my day! I suggest you all check it out in the reviews page!
Although I'm still trying to figure out why so many like it were sent to the last chap and not, say, to Raikiri Triken…
These are snapshots of the last days at Hogwarts. If you want to know what that means, check out Uzumaki Harry, also on my profile page.
(Read 'Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds' by Sokai, story id 2502930)
Card Captor Harry
by Shadow Crystal Mage
Card 23, The Loop: Aftermath
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.
(Read 'Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds' by Sokai, story id 2502930)
Night at Hogwarts had a tendency to bring about mixed reactions from people. Some would find it scary; after all, there were ghosts lurking about. Some saw it as an opportunity; Harry and company (it doesn't matter which company he's keeping at the moment), as well as the Weasley twins, is very much into this perception. Others, such as 'regular' students, saw it as a period of rest. Others, such as the prefects and teachers, saw it as a period of involuntary lack of sleep. To the ghosts, it was merely a lack of light, another memory that they make palely theirs.
Thus, it was during one particular night that Harry lay awake in the hospital wing, wishing he had a toothbrush handy, or even just a glass of water. His mouth still tasted of all the chocolate he'd been fed to get rid of the effects of being Dementor-ized, and quite frankly, he was a little sick of it.
Idly, he pointed his wand into a convenient glass and muttered "Aguamenti," watching as his wand slowly filled it up with water. Tiredly, he reached for it and took a sip, swilling the liquid around in his mouth to try and wash out the aftertaste of black heaven, before swallowing.
Lying back, Harry stared at the ceiling, watching the play of shadows across it. He should be feeling proud of himself. Only a few scant hours ago, he'd helped Sirius escape right out from under Snape's oversized nose. He and Hermione were able to smuggle Buckbeak away with practically no one the wiser…
And he'd let Wormtail escape.
A small voice inside him that sounded like both Ron and Kero were telling him two out of three wasn't bad. A voice that sounded like Hermione and Winter were telling him that he'd done the best he could, that he should be content with that.
But a voice that sounded like Malfoy and Snape jeered at him for not getting everything right. And a voice that was distinctly Lee kept sneering a single word at him.
"Pathetic."
Harry clenched his eyes shut. For a moment, he wondered wildly if there was a Dementor outside the Hospital Wing. That would certainly explain why he was hearing depressing voices.
But no, he knew he didn't have that excuse. There was no cold, and he couldn't feel the utter nothingness that Dementors left in their wake. No, his voices were his own.
For a moment, Harry frowned, wondering if he was schizophrenic or something.
Shaking his head, Harry growled. He was the Card Captor, darn it! He had more power in his pocket than any student in the school! So why, why couldn't he save Sirius?
Tossing in the bed, Harry's gaze fell on the sleeping form of Hermione. She looked so peaceful lying there, seemingly without a care in the world. A small smear of chocolate was dabbed on the corner of her mouth, unnoticed an unattended. Like him, she was still wearing her day clothes, looking very rumpled and uncomfortable. Her shirt was wrinkled, and her collar was slightly open, a glint of gold shining in the night's dark.
The Time-Turner.
Almost on it's own, Harry's hand crept toward the pocket of his robes where he stored his Cards…
"Harry?"
The sound of his name being whispered shattered the still silence like glass, and Harry's head snapped to the side, one hand darting up to his neck and around the Key. Winter was standing next to the partially open door of the Hospital Wing, the light from the moon giving her a surreal quality as she looked at him in concern. Harry stared in surprise, wondering how the heck she'd gotten there and the heck did she manage to sneak up on him with his knowing. After all, he'd attuned himself to sensing her from a long way off so he'd have plenty of time to get the last word on Lee during one of their 'conversations'…
The reason immediately became clear as, with the distinct shimmer of an Invisibility Cloak being removed suddenly flickering in the air, Lee appeared, her crimson eyes looking positively dark in the gloom as she regarded Harry. In her hand was The Shield Card, and on her face a slightly smug, self-satisfied look. On anyone else, it might have just been a smile, but Harry knew his rival too well.
Now he knew why he hadn't been able to pick up Winter. Lee had made a rather annoying breakthrough a few days after they'd finally gotten out of The Create Card (once more, Harry thanked his lucky stars Winter was completely incapable of using the Clow Card). Shield could be used to block of more than physical attacks. Having it shield you from detection– well, detection from Harry, anyway, since he was the only in Hogwarts that he knew of that could feel Lee– made it useless as a physical shield, and he could eventually get around it by feeling for a 'void'– which caused it's own problems for him since it meant tuning people out and not knowing exactly who was coming towards him– but since he was seldom feeling for it, Lee had taken to sometimes using it to sneak up on him. It was actually how she'd managed to get The Libra Card during their last Card Captoring incident (as Winter had taken to calling them), which had involved a possessed statue of Justice asking them a bunch of embarrassing questions and judging their truthfulness. Lee had used The Shield to keep Libra from knowing if she was lying.
Harry really wished he'd been able to do that when Libra asked him whether he'd ever had fantasies about his friends.
He spared only a quarter second to glare at Lee– she glared right back for longer– before turning to Winter. "What are you doing here?" he asked quietly, trying not to sound rude.
She smiled at him and he wondered what he'd done to deserve her acknowledging his existence. Surely protecting the Philosopher's Stone and killing the Basilisk wasn't enough. "Keroberos told us you were here. He said something about time being messed up, and Lee said there were Dementors loose on the grounds. I got worried when Kero said you hadn't arrived at you dorm yet, so I had Lee use her Rashin board to locate you."
Harry's eyes flickered to Lee. Her expression clearly said she wasn't there of her own choice.
"What happened, Harry?" Winter asked, drawing his gaze back to her. Her brown eyes seemed luminous as she looked at him beseechingly, unaware of Lee rolling her eyes, shaking her head, and folding up the Invisibility Cloak behind her. "You're not hurt, are you? Was it the Dementors?"
"Yes, Potter, tell us," Lee said, the sarcasm audible only to his ears. "What happened to you that required a stay at the hospital wing? Did you have another encounter with Voldemort?"
Winter jerked in surprise as Harry stared at the Chinese girl, wondering where that had come from. This was the first time they'd ever talked about Voldemort. He was surprised to hear her call the man by name instead of using some elliptical statement. Regardless, it was a little too close to home…
By the end of his story, Lee was giving him the blandest look he'd ever received. "So basically, tonight you saw a supposedly dead man come out of Weasley's rat, Sirius Black is actually your godfather and innocent of any wrongdoing, you attacked a professor, released a dangerous Hippogriff in the care of an escaped convict, and only just realized that our Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher is a werewolf."
Harry narrowed his eyes. "You mean you knew Professor Lupin was a werewolf?"
For an answer, Lee reached into a pocket of her robes and pulled out… Harry's eyes bugged as he looked at the small, ornate pistol. With a rather satisfied look, Lee popped open the chamber and held out a bullet. The tip shined in the moonlight. "Pure silver, designed to break after penetration and release silver nitrate into the bloodstream. Dangerous to humans. Lethal to werewolves."
Harry and Winter boggled as Lee nonchalantly put the bullet back in the gun and the gun in her pocket. "Have you been carrying that around all year?" Winter asked breathlessly, staring at the pocket the weapon had disappeared into.
"Of course," Lee said. "One can never be too careful when dealing with a werewolf."
"You were planning to kill Professor Lupin?" Harry hissed, barely able to keep himself from yelling the words.
Lee gave him a withering look. "Don't be stupid," she said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a Card. "I carried it around in case he became dangerous… like he did tonight. Lupin's a good teacher, but not good enough to let him kill me."
She turned towards Winter. "I want my Cloak back tomorrow. Illusion!"
There was a shimmer, and she disappeared from sight, the Hospital Wings doors seeming to open and close on their own accord, leaving Harry and Winter alone in the hospital wing.
There was an awkward silence.
"You want some chocolate?" Harry offered, pointing at the still considerable block next to his bed.
Winter brightened slightly. "Thanks," she said, breaking off a not-so-small chunk and biting into it. "Hmm, tasty."
"Gets a bit too sweet after a while," Harry said, refilling his glass and taking another drink. "You might want to take it slow."
Winter looked up, her lips smeared with chocolate and the block completely gone. "Sorry?" she said, licking her fingers. "I didn't get that."
Harry sweat-dropped. "Never mind," he said. Man, she can eat fast. Heck, she ate faster than he did! "So, why exactly are you here in the Hospital Wing, in a time and situation that many people and corporations consider fodder for hentai and lemons?"
Winter raised an eyebrow. "Hentai and lemons, huh? Should I be worried?"
Maybe, because I adore you and have since the first year ever since I set eyes on you–
"I was joking, Winter," Harry said. Rolling his eyes was the hardest thing he'd ever done. "Get your mind out of the NC-17 bin."
The two shared a laugh at the irony of that statement. After all, most of Harry's fics were in the 'NC-17 bin'.
Finally, Winter said, "Harry… are you all right?"
Harry plastered a smile on hi face. "I'm fine."
Experience should tell that these words mean absolutely nothing when spoken by Harry Potter.
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When Harry, Ron and Hermione left the Hospital Wing at noon the next day, the first person they saw was Winter.
"Hey," she said, ignorant of the significant looks and gestures Ron and Hermione were making behind her back as she peered at Harry closely. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Harry said, in much the same way he had last night.
Winter smiled, seemingly reassured by those words. Wrapping Harry in a hug, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek, muttering, "You and Lee still owe me chocolate," before turning around with a quick wave. "See you around, Harry!"
Harry raised a hand to his cheek as, in the background, Ron and Hermione snickered, made celebratory noises and, in the latter's case, lewd comments as to what Harry could later that night. He wasn't sure if his cheek really tingled, but he was pretty darn sure it was bright red.
"Maybe I should leave so that the two of you can get to fooling around," Harry said dryly, shutting them up pretty well and really making his day as both turned a shade of red that would probably look very nice on Winter.
Grinning, Harry wandered off, the two following behind him…
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Harry leaned back against the tree after talking to Dumbledore and Lupin, a part of him infinitely grateful to Winter for showing this place to him. A small smile played across his face. Had it really been that long since his first– dare he say it?– date with her?
Yes. Yes, it had been.
The young wizard opened his eyes, staring out across the lake. He'd come to like the liquid fire that burned across it's surface during sunset. The lake looked like pure gold when that happened, and from the rise, he could see every square inch of the lake's surface–
–including where he, Hermione and Sirius had almost been overrun by Dementors.
The next moment, Harry's fist was throbbing as he winced, rubbing his knuckles and pulling off grass and small pebbles. He wondered how Lee managed to keep from breaking her fists with those martial arts of hers. Heck, what he remembered of her fight against… well, Fight, involved her punching rock when she missed, which had been a lot.
Not for the first time that day, Harry reached into his pocket, finally pulling out the Clow Card that had been drawing it since last night. He stared at the seemingly innocent object in his hand (innocent. HA! He had to repeat THREE DAYS OF HIS LIFE because of this!), at the deceptively simple but, upon closer inspection, highly detailed illustration of an old man in a robe and holding an hourglass.
The Time Card.
It had made him repeat twenty-four hours three times. It had done so not by sending him back in time, as Hermione's Time-Turner had, but by actually reversing time to undo the events of the past twenty-four hours. He had literally traveled back in time the same way one would have 'traveled' forward. A moment at a time, or close enough for jazz. But it had happened backwards.
The start of yesterday's failure wasn't quite eighteen hours old yet…
Harry's hand was already going up to pull out the Sealing Wand when a voice suddenly spoke.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Keroberos suddenly found himself on the wrong end of a mundane wand as Harry started panting.
"Don't do that!" the boy snapped out angrily. "What do you mean?"
The Sun Guardian pointed at the Clow Card in his hand. "Winter told me what happened last night. I wouldn't use that if I were you?"
"Why not?" Harry demanded. "If I use The Time Card to reverse time, then I'll be able to fix what I did wrong. I'll be able to stop Wormtail from escaping, so Sirius can be free!"
Keroberos looked at him blandly, even more so than Lee had, which wasn't that hard considering what he had for a face. "You'll never make it," he said dismissively. "In fact, you'll only make things worse."
Harry bristled at the snub. "Why the heck not?" he demanded.
"Because you'll be dead on your feet by the time you get there," Keroberos said evenly, not looking at all flustered, even if the sight of a plushy look-alike floating around with it's arms crossed and looking all serious was a bit ridiculous. "You will in fact be so dead on your feet you'll probably sleep through the whole thing and change history."
Harry didn't get the point, and his glare pretty much said so.
With an exasperated cry, Keroberos did the equivalent running his hands through his hair in frustration. "Every time Time reversed time, he'd be useless for the next twenty-four hours! And it was the power he was designed for! What makes you think you won't be completely drained if you do the time-rewind stunt?"
"What makes you think I will?" Harry countered, even though the idea had completely slipped his mind.
"BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT THAT STRONG, DARN IT!"Kero cried. "You're strong for a Wizard, heck you're probably the strongest student in the school, but this is still way out of your league."
"What if you're wrong?" Harry countered.
"Do you want to risk me being right?" was the comeback. "Because if I am– and I know I am– you'll just be making things worse."
Harry glared at Keroberos, his wand shaking in his grip. Finally, Harry thrust his wand savagely back into his robes, nearly breaking the piece of wood. He stared at the Card still in his other hand, before shoving back into the pocket with the other Cards. "Incredible power my ass," Harry growled.
Turning to face the sunrise, he plopped down beneath the tree staring determinedly at the setting sun, arms crossed in front of him and an expression somewhere between pissed and pouty on his face.
Sighing, Keroberos turned away. He'd already done all he could. He just hoped his charge wouldn't do anything stupid.
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"You planning to freeze to death, Potter?"
He didn't even bother to turn around. "Go play with Cloud or something, Slytherin Garbage."
Fei leaned back against the tree trunk, the sardonic smile never slipping from her face. "That would be a waste of time, Gryffindor Trash. " After all, she'd already let Cloud out for the day. While the Clow Card hadn't made as good a spy as, say, Sweet, and Little, Fei suspected she'd be useful for creating fog and other similar cover should the need arise. Not that she'd try it now. The stars were too beautiful to hide tonight. "Moon's wondering why you're not at dinner."
"I'm not hungry."
His stomach growled to mark the lie.
Fei rolled her eyes. "Starving yourself won't change anything, namagomi. If you want to, fine. But if you die, I swear I'm taking the Key and Cards off your corpse."
"Why so concerned, Yuri-teme?" Potter retorted, still not moving from his spot, even though there was nothing left to see but darkness. Not yet.
"I'm not. I just don't want my Card Sealer to die."
"Die painfully."
"After you."
The two kept sniping at each other, their voices whispering among the leaves above them as the moon began to shine, turning the lake to molten silver. The stars were very beautiful that night…
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Several days later…Harry stared out the window morosely as the Hogwarts Express started to pull out of the station. While the end-of-term feast last night had been fun, it still hadn't been enough to really knock Harry out of his funk. Tuning out Ron and Hermione's conversation, the Boy-Who-Lived-slash-Card-Captor watched as Hogwarts slowly migrated into the distance. It would be two whole months before he saw it again, to whole months with the Dursleys, before he saw Winter again. Lee might have managed to capture a Card or two by that time…
Harry felt his blood run cold. The Cards! He'd completely forgot! The Cards followed him around, drawn to the Book, the Key, and Keroberos. Heck, they were probably drawn by the other Cards by now too! And that meant…
Clow Cards were going to follow him to the Durseleys within a week, at least!
Oh, he was going to be so screwed.
"Oh, cheer up, Harry!" Hermione said, breaking into his thoughts.
That would have been a lot more convincing if you weren't sounding sad, Hermy, Harry thought. "I'm okay," he said. "Just thinking about the holidays." Nightmarish images of what would happen if a Clow Card showed up at Privet drive flashed before his eyes.
Ron, lacking such images, said, "Yeah, I've been thinking about them, too," Ron said. "Harry, you've got to come and stay with us. I'll fix it up with Mum and Dad, I'll call you. I know how to use a fellytone now–"
"A telephone, Ron," Hermione said, exasperated. "Honestly, you should take Muggle Studies next year…"
Ron ignored her.
"It's the Quidditch World Cup this summer! How about it, Harry? Come and stay, and we'll go and see it. Dad can usually get tickets from work."
That cheered Harry up slightly, allowing him to push back the images of the massacre that would ensue when the Clow Cards come knocking on the Dursley's door. "Yeah… I bet the Dursleys'd be pleased to let me come… especially after what I did to Aunt Marge…"
Anything else Harry had to say was cut short as two things happened at once. One, his Clow Card Sense blared.
Two, there was a grinding sound and everyone was suddenly flung towards the front of the train. There were crashes as assorted luggage fell from the overhead racks. Harry himself got hit in the head by Hedwig's cage.
"What happened?" Harry said, rubbing his head where Hedwig's cage had hit it. Said owl was hooting indignantly and quite loudly, fluttering around inside her cage. Harry picked it up and was about to set it straight when he caught sight of something that made him dearly wish he had a camera.
"Hermione," he said, trying his very best to keep his face composed and his voice nice and even, because he didn't want his face to break into a wide, silly grin, or to crack up with hysterical, uncontrollable laughter, or sell tickets, or call the twins and Ginny, or… "what is your head doing on Ron's lap?"
The witch moved back with incredible alacrity, and for a moment, Harry pitied the fact she didn't play Quidditch. Such quick reactions would make her good for most positions. An amused and slightly perverted smirk came to his face. Of course, it would be a little hard to play with her head on Ron's lap…
"Why'd we stop all of a sudden?" Hermione said, looking rather red as she looked out the window.
"No idea," Harry began to say, then paused. Was that a snowflake that just drifted past the window? He frowned, concentrating. Up ahead, he could dimly feel a Clow Card…
"'Scuse me, I have to go," Harry said, discreetly patting his inner pockets. Good. He'd remembered to bring his Invisibility Cloak with him.
Slipping out the door before either of the two could react, Harry made his way to the loo near the front of the car.
He was halfway to it when the door to the compartment he'd just passed opened abruptly, and Lee stuck her head out the door. "Potter, what's going on?" the Slytherin said, looking annoyed.
"Sorry, fruitloop, I've got more important things to do than chat," Harry said, not even slowing down as he opened the door to the stall– thank goodness it was empty, or he wouldn't be able to pull this off– and entered it dramatically– or as dramatically as one can enter a john– the door cutting off anything Lee might have had to say. Quickly, he slipped on the Invisibility Cloak, grateful that the stall wasn't cramped. Thank goodness for space-expansion magic.
Reaching for the Key around his neck, he pulled it off and quickly converted it into a wand as he pulled out a Card from his robes. "THROUGH CARD!"
There was a burst of power as The Through Card appeared, her robes rippling on unseen winds of magic. For an infinite moment, the two stared at each other, boy to sprite, Captor to… captive? No, not captive. Never captive. Partner. Yes, that's the word. Partner.
A moment, and then The Through Card was dissolving once more as Harry called on her power. This was something he'd come across not so long ago: Through Card plus Invisibility Cloak equaled total undetectability.
Harry tingled as Through's power came over him. There seemed to be a slightly… off feeling to his body, one he recognized from the previous time's he'd used the Card. With a grin, he thrust his hand against one of the walls of the stall. His hand passed through easily, even though he couldn't see it because of the Cloak. The rest of Harry soon followed.
He nearly fell as he found himself outside the train, barely managing to put his Quidditch-and-Clow-Card reflexes to good use as he managed to land in a crouch, wincing at the pain that shot through his ankles. Deactivating The Through Card's effects, he ran as fast as he could to the front of the train, careful to keep his Cloak's hood up and the folds closed.
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"What do you think you're doing?" the bossy voice demanded.
Fei barely managed to suppress the urge to wince and/or swear. Casually, she took her hands off the door, keeping them in sight as she turned around to face the one who'd busted her. A wave of extreme annoyance–– she was a Lee, and hence, never lost her temper, so she didn't get mad– washed over her as she caught sight of the extremely annoying individual.
"What do you think you were doing there?" Weasley repeated, his Head Boy badge thrust almost insultingly forward.
"Just checking to make sure the door was secure," Fei lied smoothly. One good thing about ending up in Slytherin: you pick up so many skills, such as lying through your teeth. She doubted her Aunt would know if she was lying now.
Fei frowned.
Okay, maybe her aunt.
"We wouldn't want anyone falling off the train now, do we?" Fei continued, switching to her 'talking to idiot prefects to piss them off without really being insulting' voice.
Surprisingly, it seemed to go right over his head. "Very civic of you, Miss Lee," Weasley said, sounding approving. Fei twitched. Like she needed this idiot's approval for anything! "Why don't you come help me make sure all the doors are secured?"
Unable to really refuse such a direct request-slash-order, Fei had no choice but to comply, all the while glaring over her shoulder in the direction she knew Potter had gone…
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Four cars from the front end of the train, Harry was walking on snow.
Three cars from the end, he was shin deep in it.
Two cars from the end, he was wading through the stuff.
By the time he got to the train engine itself, he'd had to use Jump to reach the roof of the train just to have somewhere to walk on.
Harry let out a low whistle as he pulled the hood of his Cloak higher over his head, trying to keep it closed with one hand. No wonder the train had stopped so abruptly. It had plowed right into a ten foot high bank of snow. I'm thinking this Clow Card has something to do with snow, Harry thought dryly. What do you think, Slytherin Garbage?
Oh, I think you're absolutely correct, Harry-sama! a Lee sounding voice declared.
Harry grimaced. Even in his imagination, Lee was sarcastic.
Hefting the Sealing Wand, Harry slowly approached the drift, his senses alert. The feeling of the Clow Card seemed to be coming from everywhere. Frowning, Harry raised the Wand over his head. "I am the Card Captor, and I order you to return to your true form! SNOW CARD!"
Before Harry could slam down his wand, he was struck from the side by a large wave of snow. He just barely managed to grab on to the edge of the car to keep himself from falling. Looking down, he let himself drop, sinking into the snow beneath him.
A kick with his still Jump-enabled legs and he was out, dodging more blasts of snow as he twisted in the air. There was movement in the snow beneath and Harry was barely able to make out a vaguely feminine form.
It was official, Clow Reed had been a pervert. That was the only explanation of why The Snow Card was a girl instead of, say, a snowman.
Landing off the front of the engine car, Harry kicked of again, pulling another Card from his holster. "Thunder Card!"
Privately, he hoped this Card wasn't as loud as it implied.
It was a simple equation in Harry's head. Thunder Card makes lightning (no matter how much of a misnomer that was). Lightning always beats water (ask anyone). Snow is frozen water.
Hence, Thunder Card beats Snow Card.
Thankfully, he was right on both counts. Thunder wasn't as loud as his name implied. And he did beat Snow.
However…
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"Please, please don't cry…" Harry begged, head darting from side to side, wondering why no one had yet come out to check out the damage and very thankful for it.
"BWAAAHHH!" Snow bawled, rubbing her eyes as the tears (which turned into ice droplets) cascaded from her eyes.
"Look, I'm really, really sorry I had to make Thunder shock you –" off to the side, Thunder backed away and gave him a look that plainly said 'Hey, don't get ME involved in this!' "– and I'm really sorry if I got you hurt but, I really, really need you to get rid of all the snow around the train," Harry begged.
"BWAAAHH!" Snow kept bawling.
Harry looked at Thunder for advice– said Card promptly looked somewhere else and seemed to start whistling; well, no help there– then looked beseechingly at Snow. "Please stop crying. Look, um, what can I do to–?"
That was all he was able to get out before Snow suddenly stopped crying. He was just about to sigh in relief when he was suddenly tackled by a not-at-all-chilly snow maiden.
Up above, Thunder chuckled, idly looking over the edge to look at where the two had conveniently landed in a snow bank. He had been so asking for that.
Now he'd just have to unweld the doors without his Master noticing.
Snow so owed him one…
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It was hard staying on top of a moving train, Harry realized, especially when you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak.
Moving carefully and staying as low as possible to present the smallest profile (where did that come from?), he tried to feel for an empty compartment beneath him, where he could use Through to get into and leave discreetly. Maybe he'll get lucky and not have to drop down into a lavatory…
He felt a familiar presence beneath him and grinned.
Wow, he didn't think he'd get this lucky…
Winter yelped– quite loudly, really– when Harry suddenly phased through the ceiling of her compartment. She fumbled the notebook and pen she was holding, the items bouncing off her fingers as she tried to catch them. She made a lunge for the notebook and barely managed to get it in her grasp, sliding to the floor.
Harry plucked the pen out of the air and looked very pleased with himself. "Gotcha."
"Don't do that!" Winter said, giving Harry a very pouty look.
Harry rolled his eyes as he folded his Cloak to hide back in his robes. "Okay, I know when I'm not wanted. Guess you don't want to know how I captured The Snow just now." Harry raised a hand to open the door. "Well, I'll be going now…"
Winter's hand suddenly came up and slammed the barely opened door shut. Harry was hard-pressed to keep the smug look off his face.
"Tell me everything!" Winter demanded eagerly, her pen poised to write…
Harry had just managed to get Winter to stop giggling– try as he might, he hadn't been able to get around telling her about Snow's… assault, when the door suddenly opened and a familiar voice said, "Excuse me, but have you seen– Harry!"
Harry moved his hand in a despondent wave. "Hey, Herm."
"Oh, Harry there you are!" Hermione said, a rather pleased looking expression on her face. Next to her, Ron took one look and ducked out again. Harry heard something that sounded suspiciously like snickering soon after. "We were wondering what was taking you so long. Luna Lovegood said you might have fallen off a train and seduced by some kind of snow-maiden. Honestly, I don't know where she gets her ideas… 'Course, she also said you might have to watch out for Schorlacks, or whatever…"
Maybe she's a Sear,Harry thought. That was disturbingly close to home.
"Nope, he's been here with me," Winter said, who was doing a very good job of not laughing at Hermione's words as she packed up her notes. "We've just been discussing the mechanics of a wrist-mounted wand holster. You know, kind of like what Jim West had in those old American cowboy shows?"
"Really?" Hermione said. "Intriguing…"
"Well, see you around, Winter," Harry said as he stood up and tried to hustle Hermione away. Ron was still too busy snickering to be a problem.
"Harry, wait!" Winter said as she pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to him. "Here's my number and e-mail address. Call me, keep me updated, okay? I want to know what's happening to you."
Harry went red. He knew she was talking about Clow Card stuff, but he could just imagine how those words would translate in the Dark Lady Hermione's perverted mind… "Thanks! Have a nice summer!"
"You too!" she said. He waved and closed the door behind him.
"Harry," Hermione said as they made their way back to their compartment. "You are a wuss."
"Oh, shut up, Herm…"
(Read 'Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds' by Sokai, story id 2502930)
- To be continued...
(Read 'Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds' by Sokai, story id 2502930)
A/N: I guess I've been reading one too many drabbles. I seem to like using the word 'Aftermath' in my titles for some reason…
The schizophrenic thing is because Harry keeps hearing so many voices in his head in the book. Ought to make for a weird fic, really…
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Clow Cards…
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Somewhere, a Clow Card was glaring at Snow. Well, not really 'glaring', since they weren't in physical form, but let us speak as if they were.
Anyway, a Clow Card was glaring at Snow.
"YOU DELIBERATELY THREW THAT TEST!" Mirror screamed at Snow, who was lounging around with a slightly goofy look on her face.
Snow shrugged without the slightest bit of guilt. "Hey, I was getting tired of waiting around. You're right, Light. He is a very good kisser."
Mirror threw Light a disgusted look. "You helped her?"
Light shrugged. "So did Thunder."
"I can't believe you people! What happened to integrity? What happened to honor? What happened to testing his worth?"
"Hey, you're the one who sleeps with him," Dark pointed out.
"No, Dash does that," Mirror said, annoyed. Dash preened. Was everyone going to be so blasé about Snow throwing her test just so she could get a little lip?
"You're just jealous because he doesn't call you up as much anymore," Windy said airily.
"Shut up, Windy…"
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End
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Yes, Snow did throw the test…
Please review, C&C welcome. Flames will be used to bake the perfect Ja-Pan!– este, I mean, the perfect Filipino Bread! Now I just need to work on these solar gauntlets…
Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.