Just a little before info…the deafening spell Harry's under, he can't hear anything unless he's in direct contact with it, okay?
I would like to thank Emeralde Dragon, Rock and Sarcasm, AgoraEmily (I love leaving you guys "in the lurch" and you're lucky I'm posting this after that little bit with the whip), Zaria Riddle, SlytherinSnake-Goddess, HoshiHikari (Harry'll get his sight back after he becomes a full vamp…so sometime before the fic ends), Grinedel (Amen to that, but I'd totally be a vamp anyway), Sophie Malfoy, LeeAnn, riantlykalopsic (wickedly awesome name /is going to name an alien after you/), purple raveness, AJ of the Underground (don't freak out but I don't watch buffy, so no crossover), Irihi Safaia (you'll see what Hogwarts is doing this chapter), Madd Girl (what is it with you ppl and whips? I like leather as much as the next girl, but come on…), Barranca, websurffer, Ayla (Sin loves that you wished him a merry x-mas, but he also says that it might be stressful because Harry gets himself into so much trouble), Indigo Cat, chaser1, nemoralis, sweet-single, lothirielwen, Toki Mirage, and sliver of melody for reviewing.
Xenia Marvolo: In case you missed it…I hadn't updated in seven months when I came out with the last three chapters…I'm horrible at updating regularly, and so you might not look forward to monthly updates…
Sahrious: /stares in shock/ oookay, first, how old are you, just for census reasons of course? And precognitive means psychic, which means seeing the future…so if Harry's having precognitive dreams, then that means he's dreaming about himself making out with Voldemort, sometime in the future…
Ann Riddle: I can so totally make a list for you…it'll be at the end of the chapter
Xelena: What am I on? I love giving ya'll cliffies, you all react like I'm offending you personally, rather amusing…I hope you enjoy the one at the end of this chapter. BTW, I am so totally an angel with horns…Voldemort was breaking into Hogwarts to kill Ron, but well, you'll see what happens…Ginny's a pretty strong seer, not strong enough to pull them on anytime, but enough to see what's going on in the game—the biggest cult in the world…maybe even bigger than Christianity? Harry is slightly psychic, but mainly because of the large amount of power he has and his big effect on the Game.
Heir to the World: All right, the prologue ties in with the rest of the story because that's where the story was born, I woke up thinking I'd read a fic that started with "I should have never let him kiss me" but it turned out to be this one /grins/ lucky all of you huh? But the reason it got posted is because this is a romance story…somewhere in here that's what it is /nods/ and that's pretty much it…
Selene Ravenclaw Slytherin: okay, I'm glad you're not blind and that you like my story, and I hope you review the right story with the right review from now on…so what happened with that exactly, because I was kind of confused, or have you forgotten…
Butterbutt: Well, as you will see later on, this chapter is based off of your review…There's another bad pun for me "wild goose chase"
Kumak: Yes, Snape and Remus are definitely going to go at it (Score!). I'm glad you like it thus far…I hope this chapter goes under the "witty" banter category.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Harry slid down the stairs, bouncing from one step to another; just like a toddler…he hoped to god no one could see him. This would be beyond embarrassing…
Suddenly the, now soothing, pulse of the castle sped up…Harry did as he'd learned to do and slid flush against the railing. Seconds later, a flash of something cold flushed by him and Harry returned to going down the stairs. A thought hit Harry and he felt his eyebrow rise…he was an Animagus, wasn't he?
A second later, Harry the seeing and hearing Norwegian white goose was fluttering/waddling down the hallway, which looked nothing like it normally did to Harry's eyes.
The thumping of the school appeared to be accompanied by a rather shrill alarm, something Harry had never heard before. He reached the top of a staircase and flapped his way down it nervously…he'd never flown before…
It didn't go so badly, the actual flight...but the landing was so sucky he got knocked back into human form. Harry rolled his eyes and focused on transforming again, seconds thumped by with the pulsing of the alarm, and then finally, just when Harry thought he wouldn't be able to go back, he shifted.
Harry quickly returned to waddling down the hallway, sticking close to a wall, because the shrill alarm and pulsing of the castle was getting quicker…
Harry could now see the thick wall of dull purple; it must be a spell…something having to do with the alarm. It was about the time that the spell flew past Harry, that he realized what was going on.
The wards of Hogwarts had been breached. (Yesssss…/dances/)
"Slytherin House has just been evacuated," Snape announced to Dumbledore, "all of the children, except the ones in the hospital wing are secure in the Great Hall."
Not to say the children in the hospital wing weren't secure, they were perfectly safe there. So, simply put everyone, except the teachers, who were supposed to catch and destroy the threat, was safe…theoretically.
While it was neigh on impossible for an intruder to get into the safety zones, it was incredibly simple for a student to leave.
"Ron," Hermione whispered as she, Ron, and Neville carefully wound their way out of the Great Hall. "I think this is a bit dangerous."
"Harry's in the infirmary," Ron replied, "he's not safe there…he needs to be in the Great Hall."
"I-I think Her-Hermione's right," Neville stuttered. "It's not safe out here, and I do-don't think Dumbledore would let Harry get into danger."
At that Ron and Hermione shared a look, knowing just how much danger Dumbledore would let Harry get into.
"On second thought," Hermione replied, pushing herself up into a crouching position, "we'd better get going."
Harry flapped his way around a corner, and a spell smashed into him. He slammed up against a wall, and again lapsed out of his animagus form…he really needed to work on that.
Harry pulled himself up so that he was sitting and tried again to transform, a hand fell onto Harry's head, and he could now hear the person.
"Well, look who we have here," A cool voice, countering the burning hot hand on Harry's head, said smugly. "The Boy Who Lived."
"Glad to see your eyes work," Harry retorted, hoping that wouldn't draw notice to the fact that his eyes didn't at the moment.
"Ah, but yours don't."
Damn!
"I'm not bitter," Harry replied waving it off, "shit happens…and all that jazz."
This drew a slight chuckle, and that spell was about to come through the hallway again, and since Harry was already against a wall he just pulled his legs against his chest and waited.
The spell flashed by him and the man lost contact with Harry's head…he must've not been up against the wall.
"Loser," Harry muttered, and then he decided now would be a good time to turn into a duck, so that the person wouldn't be able to figure out that he couldn't hear too…
However, just when he was about to transform again, the man grabbed him and Harry could hear him breathing hard.
"How did you avoid the spell?" The man demanded.
"Yeah, I'm definitely going to tell you," Harry scoffed, "for all I know, you're the one that set the alarm off."
"Between you and me," the man replied, pulling Harry up against his chest and Harry could hear the man's heart beating, "I am the one that set the alarm off."
The man started moving, pulling Harry along. Harry began fighting and tried to anchor his feet, but he was too short and the man was holding him up too high.
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Harry yelled.
"I beg to differ," the man replied, "you're going with me and the next time the spell comes through, you'll just have to tell me what to do or get hit."
"I guess I'll just get hit," Harry replied. "Because I'm not telling you."
"You're a stupid, brave little thing, aren't you?" The man asked.
"I prefer vertically challenged," Harry replied, kicking back at the man viciously, and succeeded in hitting him. The man dropped him and Harry heard half a curse before the man lost contact with him. Harry began crawling away, thinking hurriedly about being a goose, and being a goose now!
He transformed with a pop and began flapping furiously, trying to get off the ground. Then, finally, he began gaining altitude, Harry couldn't help but feel very smug as he rose above the man, who was trying to catch him, but wasn't doing a good job.
Harry decided he had this flying thing down.
"Where could Harry be?" Hermione demanded, as the three of them looked at the empty Hospital Wing.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Neville mumbled softly, earning himself a glare from Hermione and Ron.
"He must've headed out of here," Ron replied, thoughtfully. "If I was Harry where would I go?"
"The place that could get me in the most trouble," Hermione replied, flashing a grin at Ron.
"Where would that be?" Ron asked.
"Who knows?" Hermione replied.
Then Ron snapped, and exclaimed, "The map! We can find him with the Marauder's Map!"
Harry stared down from the rafters at Voldemort, who was glaring back up at him (In case you hadn't gathered the man from before is Voldemort…yeah).
"Get down here," Voldemort demanded, "I'm warning you."
Harry flapped his wings and hissed down at him.
Voldemort drew his wand and began counting, "One…"
"HONK!"
"Two…"
"Honk, honk!" Harry called and then he began hissing.
"Three." Voldemort waited a second and then yelled, "Stupefy!"
Harry dove off the rafter, and missed getting hit by the spell. He began flying out of the room, honking triumphantly…when Voldemort got an idea (horror upon horror!).
"Accio Harry Potter," Voldemort called, and it worked like a charm (/snickers/ get it? Worked like a charm...yeah, I'm a loser).
Harry decided, as he landed on Voldemort's chest, fully human, that he was really going to have to work on holding his animagus transformations.
Voldemort had Harry pulled up against a wall when Ron, Hermione, and Neville found them. The spell was about to come through the hallway, and Harry had decided that it was better to share the small bit of information of how to avoid getting hit by the spell than actually get hit by the spell.
"Harry!" Hermione yelled, and she started running down the hallway to catch Harry, Ron and Neville close at her heels.
"Your friends have found us..." Voldemort informed Harry. "I don't recognize one as well as the other two. I'm afraid you must introduce us."
Harry could feel the impending spell coming up faster and he yelled out, "Ron, Hermione, get up against the wall!"
Hermione heeded his advice immediately and grabbed hold of the wall, but continued on her way to gather Harry. Ron and Neville were a bit slower on the uptake, but they managed to make it before the spell hit.
As soon as it passed, Voldemort released Harry—he wasn't worried about him getting away—and drew his wand.
Hermione noticed him first, "Who…?"
"You-know-who," Neville breathed, appearing to be stuck at some emotion between awe and spine-numbing terror.
"Precisely," Voldemort replied, spinning his wand into attack position.
Ron began fumbling for his wand, his freckles livid on his pale cheeks.
Voldemort smirked and said, quite calmly, "Avada…"
Ron's wand fell from his hand, and Hermione was far to shocked to do anything.
"Ke—"
"Hello Tom," Dumbledore's regal, calm voice broke through the tense air.
Voldemort muttered something and turned around, summoning Harry, who was, yet again, a goose.
"Tom, give me Harry," Dumbledore demanded holding his hands out.
"What do you think, Harry?" Voldemort asked, his breath teasing along Harry's jaw, "Do you want to go to Dumbledore?"
"What do you think?" Harry retorted.
"I think you don't," Voldemort replied, "I think you'd much rather stay with me…"
"I'd much rather see you dead," Harry replied, "or better yet, strung up to the ceiling by your toes getting the piñata treatment."
"Such an imagination," Voldemort said, looking pointedly up at Dumbledore. "He could be a wonderful asset to someone someday…"
"Bastard," Harry muttered.
"What was that?" Voldemort demanded, gripping Harry painfully hard.
"You heard me."
Dumbledore began walking toward Voldemort, who still had Harry in his grasp. Then Severus and a few of the other teachers rounded the corner, Remus was with them because he happened to be in the castle when the alarm went off (we all know what that means /winks/ just kidding they aren't 'up' to anything yet...Christ! what is it with me and puns!). Snape caught eyes with Voldemort and then looked at Ron Weasley who was still alive and kicking.
Then, slowly, Snape shook his head.
Voldemort felt a smirk coming on; they'd just made his job easier, but he couldn't help but wonder at the change of plan... He hoisted Harry up, and began heading away from the group of teachers, the Potter boy would be his ticket out of here.
"Whoa!" Harry yelled, swinging his arms wildly, "where are you going!"
"We are going to an undisclosed location," Voldemort replied.
"Like hell we are," Harry replied, putting up one hell of a fight.
"You're my hostage, so you're coming with me," Voldemort replied and he sent a glare to Dumbledore daring him to try something.
"Tom, you will not be taking Harry anywhere," Dumbledore replied forcefully.
"I beg to differ," Voldemort replied, pulling his wand and pointing it at Ron, "take your pick: The boy's life or Harry Pottermissing for a couple of days."
Hermione gasped in horror, and grabbed Ron's arm, he was extremely pale and shaking.
Dumbledore sighed painfully, "Fine—"
"He's going to let you take me, isn't he?" Harry demanded, "I bet you anything he will."
"He has," Voldemort replied, "I must apologize in advance," Voldemort added to Harry, pushing through the crowd of shocked and betrayed teachers dragging Harry behind him, "I might not be very hospitable. I've never had a live hostage before."
"Dumbledore!" Harry yelled, digging his nails into the arm that was holding him and anchoring his feet to slow him down, "If I ever see you again, I'm going to strangle you with my bare hands!"
They rounded the corner and were now out of sight, all of the teachers were glaring at Dumbledore.
"Don't you dare turn into a duck again!"
"I'm a goose! I'm a Norwegian White Goose! And I will turn into a goose any-fucking-time I want!"
Very fun chapter…completely different tone from the other chapters…but anyway…I enjoyed it…and I'm sure I was partially high at some point…you can tell from all my comments in parenthesis…
Also, I have had a request to give you symptoms/stages of Harry's transformation so you can keep on the upside of things…all right let's see if I can do this and not change anything later /cracks knuckles/
1)Victim is picked out (I hope none of you actually needed to know that…)
2)Victim begins receiving blood at regular daily intervals, some side effects may occur: (while taking this drug and they are fainting, nausea, vomiting…) sensitivity to light, heightened senses, lowered body temperature, nausea when presented with food, strange dreams, and shift to nocturnal bio-clock (I hope none of you are biology or psychology majors…or strange people who obsess over body rhythms like I obsesses over pregnancy /grins/ a little trivia for you: one in six pregnancies is terminated, naturally, before the baby is even known to exist...)
3) Victim may begin sensing blood of humans, but will only crave their sire's (thus the major wrist action between Harry and Sin…)…unless starving.
4) Victim's heart and breathing rate being to slow, and the transformation begins in earnest. The victom may begin to develop fangs around this point.
5) Victim is slowly weaned from sire's blood, which begins to loose flavor for the victom, and the victom is taught to hunt, must have fully developed fangs and some heightened senses to reach this stage.
6) The power transfer between sire and heir (aka "the victim" or Harry Potter) occurs. A possible side effect is a temporary or permanent telepathic bond.
7) Victom becomes vampire, normal body functions shut down, senses heighten and level off, uncomfortable side effects cease (if not, please see a doctor and don't call a medi-witch or wizard and say "I vant to suck your blood" because they might take it the wrong way and call the proper authorities), and victim becomes independent of sire.
So, yeah, there you go…hoped you enjoyed the comments…
But onto other matters, after a rather horrible weekend with no one to talk to, I was wondering how many of you have MSN messenger accounts…purely for census reasons, of course. You understand…