Harry Potter and the Mind Mage

By James Milamber

A/N: This one's a short one, but the next will be the Ball, and will be really long.

As the Halloween Ball drew closer, Harry was increasingly convinced that Dumbledore had done the right thing. Student morale was higher than it had been since the Yule Ball two years ago, and it was a brilliant way to distract attention from what was happening beyond the safety of Hogwarts. Everywhere Harry looked there were signs of the upcoming Ball, from the massive pumpkins growing in Hagrid's garden to the spell Flitwick taught them to summon live bats.

Ginny seemed to have recovered fully from her second possession, but every so often Harry would catch her with her guard down, and see the look of pain in her eyes. Without fail in those moments, a white hot rage flowed through him, and he felt the powerful need to lash out at the one who had hurt her so badly.

The Friday before the Ball, Harry cancelled his Defense class, as he had a feeling that study was the last thing on most student's minds. Even McGonagall seemed to have bowed to the inevitable, and allowed them to simply practice what they had learned so far this year. That ended rather abruptly when Neville somehow managed to transfigure his desk into a huge spider. The class was immediately thrown into chaos, scrambling over each other in an effort to get away. Harry, Ron and Hermione managed to Stun the spider between them, and McGonagall changed it back into a desk.

'You foolish boy!' she snapped at Neville, who hung his head meekly. 'Ten points from Gryffindor. What were you thinking?'

'Sorry,' Neville mumbled. 'I was trying to…'

'Obviously you weren't trying hard enough,' McGonagall said coldly. Harry had to wonder why she was acting like this. He had seen her get angry before, true, but she had always been fair and not put the students down, like she was with Neville. She had always been patient, but recently it seemed like almost anything could set her off.

'It's my fault,' Isabelle said later when they met her later that evening in the common room. 'Apparently she's really annoyed that a Slytherin managed to get into her House. She thinks I'm a spy, or something.'

'But she's not like that, is she?' Ron asked, obviously confused.

'Wouldn't have picked it,' Isabelle shrugged. 'Maybe it's my mother or something, I don't know. But Professor Dumbledore warned me to be careful around her.'

'McGonagall?' Harry asked, startled. 'Why would you need to be careful?'

Isabelle looked at him strangely. 'Because she might take points or put me in detention, why do you think?'

'Oh.' Harry felt slightly foolish at jumping to conclusions. 'Never mind.'

'You thought McGonagall could…that she could…' Ron's face was disbelieving.

'Drop it, Ron,' Harry said quickly.

Ron shook his head. 'Mate, you're getting paranoid, you know that?'

Harry shrugged non-commitally, but he considered Ron's words carefully. Maybe I am getting paranoid…

Suddenly a mass of red hair appeared in his vision, and he looked up to see Ginny smiling down at him impishly. 'Whatcha thinkin'?'

'Nothing much,' Harry said, wrapping his arms around her. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Ron, Hermione and Isabelle were moving quickly away.

'Don't believe you,' she said, then kissed him softly. 'Now will you tell me?'

Harry widened his eyes in an exaggerated expression of innocence. 'I was just trying to figure out a way to get you to come over here and kiss me, but I suppose that's already happened…'

Ginny giggled and punched him lightly on the shoulder.

'Ouch,' Harry said, rubbing his arm exaggeratedly.

'I'm sorry,' Ginny said contritely. 'Did I hurt you?'

'It's alright dear,' Harry assured her. 'We mighty heroes can endure anything.'

Ginny laughed, then sat next to him on the couch and snuggled close. Harry placed one arm around her, and for some time they were silent, just enjoying each other's company. Harry stared into the fire, his mind pleasantly numb.

'Harry?' Ginny asked hesitantly after a few minutes.

'Hmm?'

'Do you…' she trailed off, and Harry glanced at her curiously. She was biting her lower lip, looking anxious about something.

'What is it?' he asked, cupping her chin in his hand and raising her head so he could look into her eyes.

'Do you like Isabelle?' she blurted, and blushed a very deep Weasley red.

'Of course I do,' Harry looked at her strangely. 'She's a good friend. Why?'

'Not that,' Ginny shook her head. 'I mean, do you like her?'

'What, you mean…as in…' Harry shook his head to clear it. The question, to his mind, was slightly ludicrous. 'Of course not,' he said finally. 'I like you, silly. Why do you ask?'

Ginny bit her lip again, then sighed, running her hands through her hair distractedly. 'I don't know, but she seems to like you a lot.'

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand. This could get complicated…'Alex!' he called.

'What?' Alex's voice came from the other side of the common room.

'Get over here!' A minute later, Alex reached them.

'What's up?' he asked, sinking onto the couch beside Harry.

'Does Isabelle like me?' Harry asked bluntly. Alex looked surprised, then laughed.

''Course not,' he said dismissively.

'Are you sure?' Ginny asked intently.

'Absolutely,' Alex grinned. 'No offence, Harry, but you're not good enough for her.'

'What, so he's not good enough for her but he's good enough for me?' Ginny's eyes narrowed dangerously.

Alex's eyes widened as he realised what he'd said. 'Not what I meant!' he said hastily.

'Alex, you're a good friend, but please don't be on my side anymore,' Harry said in a pained voice.

'Umm…got to go!' Alex said, standing quickly and almost bolting across the common room and up the stairs to the dorm.

'The bloody git,' Ginny said darkly, glaring at the stairs where Alex had disappeared.

'That's not what he meant,' Harry said gently, giving her a small squeeze. 'And you heard what he said. Isabelle's not interested in me that way. Can we drop this now?'

'I suppose,' Ginny said doubtfully, settling back against Harry.

'Ginny,' Harry said firmly. 'I'm not interested in Isabelle, or anyone else for that matter. It's you I'm interested in. No one else.'

Ginny sighed, raising her head so she could look into his eyes. All her uncertainty seemed to flow into her gaze, and Harry felt his heart clench as he saw the raw pain in her chocolate brown eyes. The logical mind of Harry James Potter was momentarily overridden by the more primal awareness of the Basilisk, which screamed in impotent fury. Then Harry was back, staring into the eyes of the girl he…loved? He still wasn't entirely sure. But he knew he held very strong feelings for her, feelings that he couldn't put into words.

If Ginny caught his momentary loss of control, she didn't show it. She simply said a single word that somehow contained the entirety of her feelings for Harry combined with her current vulnerability within its syllables.

'Promise?'

'I promise,' Harry assured her, leaning forward to kiss her gently.

I will cause hurt to the Dark One for this…

========

Later, after Ginny had gone to bed, Harry was still sitting in front of the fireplace, staring into the flames moodily. His mind was whirling with ideas, but inevitably it kept coming back to the one question Harry found impossible to answer.

How the hell am I supposed to stop him? How?

With a roar of frustration Harry slammed his fist down onto the arm of the couch, splintering the wood. He lifted his hand and stared at it abstractly, like it belonged to someone else. Blood dripped slowly down his finger where he had cut it on a splintered piece of wood, and he watched the droplet slowly make it's way down across his hand, catching the flickering fire light briefly, then fall soundlessly to the floor.

There was a faint sound of movement behind him, and Harry's hand twitched almost involuntarily towards his wand. A figure entered the dim light from the fireplace, and Harry relaxed when he saw it was Tonks.

'Wotcher, Harry,' she said quietly, dropping onto the couch next to him. 'Thought you could use someone to talk to.'

Harry noticed something silvery in her lap, and raised one eyebrow slightly as he recognised an invisibility cloak. He didn't comment, however.

'I know it's difficult,' Tonks began, but Harry cut her off.

'No you don't,' Harry said dully. 'You have no idea. No one does.'

'No, I suppose we don't,' Tonks said heavily. They were silent for a long moment, until Tonks spoke again. 'Dumbledore told us, you know. About the Prophecy.'

'Wonderful,' Harry said, his eyes still on the flames in the fireplace.

'I know I wasn't around last time,' Tonks continued, her violet eyes watching Harry carefully, 'but I've been on the front line this time, and I know what it's like out there. We've been lucky so far, and we haven't lost too many people, but it will get a lot worse before it gets better. People are dying, Harry, and you may be the only one who can stop it. I know you didn't ask for this, but no one ever does.' She sighed, dropping her head and rubbing the heels of her hands into her eyes. 'I know how many casualties there were last time,' she continued finally. 'People close to you lost loved ones. I just don't want to see history repeat itself.'

Her words brought back memories of speaking to Sirius on the Dream Plane, about how he had lost his fiancée…he thought of his parents, and Neville's parents. Finally he thought of the photo Mad-Eye Moody had shown him last Christmas at Grimmauld Place, of the last Order, as he described their fates. The thought chilled him as he imagined himself in twenty years being like Mad-Eye, pointing out Ron and Hermione in an old photo, and describing how they had died messily in battle…

'What can I do?' Harry asked, finally turning to look at her. 'What can I do against him?'

'You can win,' Tonks said simply, laying one hand gently on his shoulder. She suddenly stood, nodded briefly, and swirled the invisibility cloak about herself.

Harry sat on the couch for a long time after she left, his mind comfortably blank as he finally drifted off to sleep.

A/N: Ten points to whoever tells me exactly where the 'mighty hero' reference comes from.

Review Responses:

gpotter: Sorry, no Alex/Isabelle in this one, but there will be MUCH FLUFFY GOODNESS in the next chapter (the Ball! Finally!). As for length… I'm going to do the whole Sixth year, and I'm only two months in at chapter 30. This one could take awhile…and then, of course, there's always seventh year…Ye Gads, what have I gotten myself into?

Jimmy: Thanks for the advice, but I'm using the Telstra Infinite plan (which means Unlimited Hours and Download) so I'm good now. I'm from Mount Eliza, way down south on the Mornington Peninsula. And the misspelling was deliberate, as a reference to the second movie (when Harry uses the Floo from the Weasley's he says, "Diagonilly" instead of "Diagon Alley")

Mistress-Genari: Silver coloured, not actual silver. Good point, though. No idea how you could fit Isabelle into UAaCA, but I'll let you know if I think of anything.

Julia: Last chapter? Not even close…I suppose there are some similarities between Harry and Neo, but the Centaurs simply meant he is the one marked by the Prophecy.

Whimsical Firefly: Aww, you're too kind. Stop rubbing it in! Evil woman…don't make me break out the blonde jokes…As for Cassie, I don't know about pairing her up. Maybe. Any suggestions as to who? And no, this is not stupid or pointless…but, "Are you a poof, little man?" is. As you said, deleted.

Crazy Go Nuts: The name doesn't exactly promote confidence in your sanity, my friend.

Katy: I know what you meant, but you'd have to know me to see why that was funny. As to Sirius, he is more Padfoot than Sirius Black, but Sirius is still in there, somewhere.

HarryGinny: It's not really something you can just bring up in casual conversation, is it? "By the way, we restarted the Marauders!" Nope, doesn't sound right. Lupin will find out though, eventually.