Disclaimer: not mine of course.

Chapter 6

Almost twenty minutes later, Hermione found herself lying in Draco's bed, tracing lines on his defined chest. They were both still naked and she was reminiscing about the events that had just taken place. It wasn't exactly as she expected; it didn't hurt as much as she thought it would but it was still pleasurable and as she watched the boy beside her, his peaceful face bathed in moonlight, she wondered if he'd liked it to.

Malfoy had his eyes closed and he was breathing was deep and slow but Hermione knew he was still awake by the small smile that played across his lips, daunting and teasing her until she cracked and leant across to kiss them.

"Have you ever had sex before?" she asked before she could stop herself. Malfoy's smile faded away and he opened his eyes to look into hers.

"Yes" he said, a little sadly, Hermione thought but she didn't say anything. She was a little disappointed that she hadn't been his first like he had been hers but that was something out of her control. "I regret it though, I only did it to look cool around the guys."

Typical.

"When?" Hermione asked, praying that it had been before she'd started liking him.

"When I was fifteen. It was at one of Blaise's parties."

"How old was she?"

"Thirteen, I think, maybe fourteen"

They lapsed into silence after that. He seemed generally upset about the whole affair and Hermione didn't want to press it. After a while he closed his eyes again and began stroking her hair.

"Draco" she blurted out suddenly, yet again unable to control herself. "I…" he opened his eyes again and turned his head to look at her. "I…Love you" she finished, glad that the dark was there to hide her furious blushing. He smiled warmly at her and tightened his hold on her.

"I love you too," he whispered before kissing her so deeply and passionately that it left her gasping for air.

She stayed with him for ten minutes longer before heading back to her own bed, afraid of being caught when morning came.

Harry was woken by Ron the next morning. The redhead was yelling loudly after accidentally dropping a stack of books on his toe. Harry tried to snooze for a few minutes longer but the rest of the house was awake and Laura was screaming downstairs and people were running past his room, unable to miss the squeaky floorboard.

"I'm up" he grumbled to no one in particular, swinging himself out of bed to get dressed.

Molly was serving up a huge breakfast of toast, eggs and sausages when Harry and Ron finally emerged. They ate quickly before hurrying out to pack again. Harry, of course, had already packed and was now standing in the hall, watching the rain pouring down outside over his prized car. Suddenly his scar throbbed heavily and he remembered, with some dread, that Voldemort's cease-fire was over.

"I heard you yell at Mrs Weasley last night" Malfoy came down the stairs behind him with a small smile on his face.

"I thought you might like some time with Hermione" Harry replied, rubbing his scar and turning to his friend.

"Thanks"

"How'd it go?"

"Score. That's all I'm going to say"

Harry grinned as Hermione came out of the dining room and wrapped her arms around Malfoy's waist.

"I'll leave you two alone" Harry muttered and turned away. He ran straight into Jenna who was grinning triumphantly.

"What do you want?" He asked angrily, trying to get past her.

"Thought you'd like to see this" she thrust today's Daily Prophet into his hands and he looked down on the front page in horror. Hermione and Malfoy came to read over his shoulder.

SCANDAL!

We all know that Potter thinks he's above the rest of the wizarding community, writes Rita Skeeter, but it seems that he thinks himself above muggle laws as well. Potter was recently caught with old girlfriend Hermione Granger, committing adultery in a muggle area. A few weeks later he was spotted yet again with French student Claire Bonvure who joined him at Hogwarts the previous year. Potter has also been viewed out in public, Drunk, with another Muggle boy. Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Ministry's top Auror, tried to rein Potter in but the boy refused help and…

Harry didn't need to read anymore; there were three large picture's spread across the page: one of him with Hermione in the tunnel, one with Claire in Diagon alley and one of him on the street with Drew. All there pictures were moving, making it worse by the fact that who ever read this was able to plot his every movement.

"Those bastards" Harry growled, tossing the paper back at Jenna. "Those Fucking bastards!"

"Your with him to?" Malfoy and Hermione started up behind him. "After everything I've sacrificed for you…and you just do this? Bung it on with my mate?"

"He was helping me!" Hermione cried. "I got caught by the police and Harry was just trying to help!"

Malfoy looked over at Harry who looked completely miserable.

"Is it true, Potter?"

"Yes. She robbed a bank. Ask Dumbledore or..."

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW!" Harry flinched visibly as Molly screamed at him from the kitchen. Slowly, bracing himself for a cyclone, Harry trudged through the dining room to the kitchen where Molly, Sirius, Lupin and Arthur were waiting for him.

"What is this?' Molly hissed, jabbing at the picture of him drunk. "You go out with muggle scum like that and get drunk? In public?"

"It was one day" Harry replied wearily. "And Drew's my friend, I'd rather you didn't call him scum, Mrs Weasley"

"I'll call him what I like! The point is you've been out doing stupid things and you need to be punished!"

"I already talked to him about the alcohol thing, Molly" Sirius said softly with a strange look at Harry.

"Yes but what about this?" she pointed at the picture of him and Hermione. "You shouldn't treat girls like that, Harry, it's disrespectful"

"I know but…"

"Then why did you do it?"

"I was helping Hermione out, she…"

"By cheating on your girlfriend? I'm disappointed"

"How do you think I feel?" Harry said, suddenly angry that she wouldn't listen. "Every other day the fucking paper is having a stab at me! Do you think I find it funny? I try and help a friend out of a hard spot and all I get is crap! Because of this Hermione and Malfoy will probably break up and no doubt Claire will never speak to me again! I can't deny the drinking thing but I would never cheat on Claire"

"Its ok, Harry" Molly said quickly, she suddenly looked afraid of him. "I underst…"

"Let me show you" he cut in. "I'll show you what happened!"

"No really, Harry" Molly gave a short, harsh laugh. "It's ok…"

But before she could finish, Harry had forced the memory of his and Hermione's brief kiss into her mind. He then invited Malfoy, who was fuming upstairs, into his head to see it as well.

When it was over, both viewers were quite in thought. Then Malfoy disappeared from Harry's thoughts.

The blonde sat on his bed thinking. They probably were telling the truth about this unlawful kiss but that didn't make him any less mad. They, his friend and girlfriend, had deceived him and now he didn't know what to do.

Hermione knocked softly on the door. "Draco?" she opened the door slowly and stepped carefully into the room. He surveyed her with an emotionless stare as she sat beside him. She'd been crying; there were tear stains down both cheeks and her eyes were red and slightly puffy.

"Tell me what happened," he said blankly, guessing that the only thing to do was to compare their stories. Hermione didn't have as good a memory as Potter but their stories were pretty much exactly the same. "Draco I'm so sorry. If I'd known it would turn out like this then I would have let the cops take me. Is…is there anything I can do?"

He sat quietly for a moment longer before turning to her with a slight smile.

"Kiss me"

It took almost an hour for Harry to convince the adults that he was telling the truth. Each in turn, he had shown them the memory and, each in turn, they had forgiven him. But then there was still the issue of the alcohol. By the time they had pressed the entire story out of him, he was feeling tired and entirely miserable.

This was when the rush began. Trunks had to be taken to the hallway to be loaded into one of two cars making the trip to the station. The house had to be scoured for lost possessions. Molly had to check over each of the leaving students, just for mothering sakes.

Ginny was sobbing hysterically over having to leave her daughter until Christmas, Hermione and Ron were bickering about the Daily Prophet article and Harry got into four separate fights with Jenna; each so violent that someone else had to step in with a wand.

Finally they were loaded into the cars and ready to go. Harry was just starting his car, filled with Ron, Ginny, Lupin and Kingsley, when Sirius came to his window.

"Your not coming?" Harry asked, not really surprised.

"I cant, I'm taking Jenna to the airport" he replied. "I'm sorry"

"That's fine. I'll see you at Christmas, then?"

Sirius, looking suddenly relieved, smiled broadly. "Count on it"

The trip to the station was extremely slow, considering the rain that bucketed down above them. Harry's scar throbbed the whole way there and by the time they had arrived and gone through the barrier, it was practically searing with pain. He pushed it aside carefully, as he had taught himself to do, as he looked around the packed platform, studying each face carefully. It was then that he saw a tall stranger wearing long black robes and a hood that covered their face completely in shadow. They were watching him.

Harry glanced at his guard, most of whom had been on edge since arriving, then excused himself and wandered over to the stranger.

"His name is Abu Kahim" Voldemort said in barely a whisper.

"Huh?" Harry replied, completely confused.

"That thing you resurrected in the desert. His name is Abu Kahim."

"How do you know?"

"That's none of your business, Potter. Here" he thrust a sheet of yellowing parchment into Harry's hand. The moment those spidery white fingers touched Harry's; the boy felt pain burn, not only through his scar, but also through his entire body. He jerked away quickly and Voldemort smirked.

"Give that to Dumbledore the moment you get in those stupid gates."

"I suppose you've joined sides with this…Abu Kahim"

"That's none of your business," he said again. "Just make sure you give it to Dumbledore"

"You're not going to kill me?" Harry asked, a little shocked as his arch nemesis turned to walk away.

"Not today" was all he heard before Voldemort disappeared into thin air. Harry suddenly felt like a weight was lifted from his head. He stared at the spot where Voldemort had disappeared for a moment longer before he was hailed back to the group by Mr Weasley.
"Who was that?" he asked, trying to sound casual but Harry knew that the whole group was listening intently.

"…No one." Harry replied, deciding not to tell them in case they took the parchment before he could read it.

The train whistle blew loudly and the students said final goodbyes before hurrying to the train.

They found an empty compartment almost immediately and the five of them, Hermione, Harry, Draco, Ron and Ginny, sat down.

Harry listened to their excited chattering for a while before getting up and declaring his intentions of finding Claire.

Once outside in the slim corridor, Harry took out the old parchment that Voldemort had given him and opened it. It was a page torn out of a book and was written in ancient Egyptian script.

A little annoyed that he couldn't read it, Harry stuffed it back in his pocket and set off down the train in search of his girlfriend.

Claire, not having any girlfriends at all, was sitting alone in the very last compartment. She was staring out the window into the pouring rain with a wistful look on her face.

"Claire?" Harry said gently, sliding into the compartment and sitting a safe distance away from her. She looked at him then continued to watch the miserable weather outside.

"Can we talk?" Harry asked after an agonising moment of silence.

"About what?" Claire snapped, turning to face him sharply. "Your finally going to break the news to me that you found someone better? Well I already know, Harry. I saw the paper this morning. I know what's going between you and Hermione"

"Claire…"

"Your just like all the other men I've dated. I'm more than a pretty face you know, Harry, I am an individual and I do feel pain" –she paused for a second before- "you told me you loved me…"

Harry was slightly proud of how she held herself together. She was on the verge of breaking down but she held back her tears. Harry had never seen her do this before. Claire was usually very emotional.

"I do Love you! I still Love you! If it's possible, I probably love you more then ever. Can you just hear me out, please?"

She took this into great consideration before nodding shortly and turning back to the window. Instead of talking, Harry showed her the memory like he had with everyone else. When it was over, she sat quietly, staring at her shoes. Harry moved closer and put a tentative arm around her shoulders. She neither accepted nor rejected his touch and after a moment he pulled away.

"I…I think I need to think about this, Harry" she said quietly. "How do I know your not just putting any old made up excuse in my head?"

"You don't. You just have to trust me. I trusted you, remember?" he lifted a hand and touched the spot on her shoulder where he knew the dark mark was. She winced slightly but didn't say anything. Harry felt an overwhelming amount of emotion filling his chest.

"Are you breaking up with me?"

"No, Harry" she gave him a small smile. "I just need some time alone to think. I'll talk to you at dinner, ok?"

Harry nodded and kissed her softly on the forehead before going back to his own compartment. Ron and Malfoy had prefect duties to attend to and Hermione had gone to suss out the head boy, leaving only Ginny waiting for Harry to return.

They talked a while about Ginny's summer with Laura before Ginny attacked Harry with a surprise question.

"Who was that man, Harry? At the train station?"

"No one!" Harry lied earnestly. Ginny gave him a dubious look.

"You wouldn't just talk to anyone. I know you, Harry. Who was he?"

"…Voldemort" he finally gave in with a sigh. Ginny's eyes widened in horror and she automatically moved away form him.

"He had to tell me something about that desert demon" Harry explained, pulling out the old parchment and handing it over. Ginny looked at it then gave Harry a confused look.

"I can't read it," she said, handing it back. "Maybe Hermione…"

"No!" Harry grabbed her arm quickly and she winced slightly as Claire had done. Though this was more fear then Claire's pain. "Nobody can know. He gave me that to give to Dumbledore and the last thing I need is Hermione confiscating it. Your not to tell a soul."

Ginny agreed quickly as Hermione returned.

"It's Ernie Macmillan," she said with a small smile. Harry and Ginny smiled back. They must have looked guilty because Hermione gave them each a suspicious look before demanding that they tell their secret.

"We're dealing drugs" Harry said on impulse, not sure why he chose something so unbelievable as drugs. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.

"Fine, don't tell me"

Ron and Malfoy came back when half the train ride was over. Ron challenged Harry to a game of chess while Draco turned to close the door. Before he could sit down, the door slid open again and Pansy Parkinson entered. She stepped right up to Draco and gave him a seductive smile. She didn't even bother to acknowledge the Gryffindors who were watching with looks of disgust.

"Do you like my hair, Draco?" she simpered, brushed a few strands away from her face. She'd dyed it a golden blonde with random pink hair extensions through it.

"Look" she said, picking up the closest extension and tapping it with her wand. It slowly changed to gold, then green, then blue, then black, then orange before back to pink. "Cool, huh?"

"Its…nice" Malfoy said with a slight smirk. The train suddenly jolted as some unknown creature raced across the tracks. Pansy was flung further into the compartment and Malfoy caught her under the arms. This left them with an inch or so between their faces and they simply stared at each other.

The present Gryffindors watched in silence. Harry held Hermione by the wrist to stop her hitting the Slytherin girl as Pansy leaned into Draco, eyes closed, waiting patiently for a kiss. Malfoy let her drop to the ground as he stepped away, looking both amused and horrified.

"You'd better leave, Pansy," he said, smirking as she composed herself.

"I'll talk to you later" she mumbled, bringing the seductive smile back to her face before leaving.

The rest of the train ride went by quietly and it wasn't until they were entering the great hall that Harry wondered when to give the note to Dumbledore. Voldemort had said straight away but he couldn't exactly go waltzing up to the staff table now that the sorting had started.

Harry tried to listen to the sorting hats song but he found it hard to concentrate through the gentle throbbing of his scar. He pushed the pain aside when the first first-year, a girl called April Abraham, was sorted into Gryffindor.

McGonagall worked her way effortlessly down the list until she reached the Ds.

"Diggory, Malcolm" she said quietly after a pause. Harry's head snapped up and he watched the small blonde boy stagger over to the hat.

It was only when the hat declared him a Hufflepuff that Harry realised that the whole student body had been holding its breath. As the boy walked past his table, Harry noticed he looked exactly like his older brother.

Images of Cedric's still, dead body flashed through his mind and Harry was reminded forcibly of the night in the cemetery.

"Are you ok, Harry?" Claire asked, touching his arm gently. Harry's eyes snapped open and he looked around the hall. The sorting was over and Claire had come to sit next to him.

"Just a headache" he mumbled and focused his attention on Dumbledore who was standing up making the usual start of term speech. The forest was out of bounds, congratulations to the new head boy and girl, welcome to the first years, List of confiscate able items posted on Filch's door, and welcome to the new defence against the dark arts teacher, Professor Tweed.

Tweed was a young ministry official with long blonde hair tied back in a knot and a stern look apon her face.

Harry guessed, as the feast arrived, that she was here on his account. Someone had to spy on him.

Harry snuck a glance at the staff table as he loaded his plate with pork chops and found that Dumbledore was watching him with a curious expression on his worn face.

Harry turned back to his food and began to eat, thinking longingly of the bottle of tequila stashed away in his trunk upstairs.

Suddenly his head burst open as Voldemort's voice entered.

"Did you give it to him?" He asked as Harry knocked his fork off the table as he fought for control of his mind.

"No"

"Well give it to him. NOW!"

The last word vibrated around Harry's head, causing him excruciating pain, before Voldemort disappeared and the hall came into focus again.

"Harry, what happened?" Hermione asked, staring at him from across the table. Ginny was staring at him to but she seemed to have a knowing look on her face.

"Nothing" Harry lied, fetching his fork from under the table and dropping it on his plate before getting to his feet.

"I have to talk to Dumbledore"

Dumbledore, who had been watching Harry the whole time, was slightly shocked to see the boy walking determinedly towards him.

Harry, ignoring the stares of his fellow students, found that he was shaking uncontrollably as he climbed onto the stage and stood in front of Dumbledore.

"Come with me" Dumbledore said as Harry opened his mouth. The headmaster had just noticed Tweed listening to them intently.

Dumbledore led him into the little side room and Harry handed him the parchment.

"From Voldemort" Harry said in a tired, slow voice. "I spoke to him at the station and he told me to give it to you"

Dumbledore frowned at him a moment before unfolding the parchment and scanning the ancient writing.

"Abu Kahim?" he said, more to himself than Harry.

"Good, you can read it." Harry glanced at the pictures watching them from the walls. "What does it say?"

"Dust demon, Abu Kahim lives purely on magical energy. He is blind to wizards and will only absorb magic from the air if a spell is cast. It will them proceed to suck the witch or wizard dry and leave them mostly dead. It is not known how Abu Kahim was killed but the Egyptians have not spoken of him for over two thousand years. All that is known about the Egyptian demons death is that a great force was involved. The force is also unknown."

Dumbledore looked at Harry before tucking the parchment into a pocket inside his robes.

"I suggest you go back to dinner, Harry, I will try and sort this out. Remember to keep your mind blank against the enemy"

Harry nodded glumly and went back to the hall.

Dinner couldn't have gone any slower. By the time Harry made it to the Gryffindor boys dorm he was feeling old and exhausted.

As he changed into his Pyjamas he noticed the glass tequila bottle glistening in the candlelight. Harry glanced at his roommates before tucking the bottle under his pillow and getting into bed.

It didn't take long for his fellows to fall asleep. They were content and full of food. Harry's head still pained him and even though he tried, he couldn't shut his eyes. Carefully he eased the bottle into view and stared at it before opening it quietly and pressing it to his lips.

He drank until he passed out.

Each week for a month Harry's problem got worse.

On the first week it was simply drinking before bed, like he had done a Drew's. Then he started drinking when he woke up. After that he began carrying a small flask around with him to drink between classes. This was also when he became isolated and stopped eating. He wouldn't talk to his friends and would avoid breakfast, lunch and tea all together.

By the fourth week he was skipping classes because he had passed out on his bed.

Hermione would try and talk to him in the hallways but he would brush her off by saying he forgot something. Finally she just gave up.

He had become pale and thin and the muscles he had worked so hard for over the summer were fading away.

On the first Friday of October Harry found himself sitting alone in his Dorm; the flask balancing on his knee and the latest daily prophet in his hand. He didn't read it. He was to smashed to read it but some of the important words popped up at him.

"-Dust demon-", "-Great winds blowing through London-", "-Muggles panicking-", "Magic drained at incredible rates-","-Ministry stumped-" and "-calling for Harry Potter. Is this the work of a madman or a boy desperate for attention?"

There was a knock on the door and Harry quickly tossed the flask into the messy folds of his blankets.

"What?" he asked angrily, watching Claire step into the room. He hadn't spoken to Claire for over a week and he had the impression that she didn't want to talk either, until now.

"I just want to talk to you," She said, sitting beside him and smiling kindly.

"About what?"

But she didn't answer. She'd just spotted the silver flask poking out from beneath his quilt.

Harry noticed this and, with a quick glance at each other, they both lunged for it. Claire, being the sober one, got it firmly in her hand and made a well-calculated dash at the window.

"Don't!" Harry grabbed her wrist with one of his invisible hands and pulled her hand away from the window.

"Let it go!" he stood up slowly as she dropped it deftly into the other hand and tossed it out the window.

"Claire!" Harry ran to the window but all he could do was watch his flask fall with a dainty plop into the lake.

"What the hell did you do that for?" he rounded on his offending girlfriend.

"It was killing you, Harry!" she screamed, not cowering in the least. Most people would back away from Harry when he got angry but today she stood her ground. "You're killing yourself!" she lowered her voice a little and took a step closer to him. "Why would you do that to yourself?"

"Why do you care? No one cares"

"That's really selfish, Harry. Of course people…"

"See that's just it!" he swung around and sent the water jug smashing to the ground. Claire didn't wince. She barely even blinked. "I'm not aloud to be selfish! Everyone else is. And that's just petty selfishness. I hate myself, Claire, like you wouldn't understand!" he smashed Dean's lamp with his fist. "I don't really have any friends. In the end it all comes down to Voldemort." He smashed a window. "I try and do something right and it just blows up in my face! I get a cease-fire with Voldemort and everyone thinks I've turned evil. I go out to have a good time with a mate and people think I have alcoholic problems! I try and help Hermione out of a tight spot and suddenly I'm cheating on my girlfriend! And it doesn't help that some bitch shows up at my house and screws over my whole fucking chance at having a normal life. And instead of killing her, which I was close to doing, I resurrect some demon from the past who nobody knows how to kill!"

He fell down on his hands and knees. "And do you know what the worst part is? If Voldemort and this Demon join together, everyone will expect me to deal with it. And if I cant then the whole bloody world is screwed."

He finally broke down and couldn't say any more. Claire knelt quietly before him and pulled him close. He rested his head on her warm chest and cried.

"I don't think we should see each other anymore, Claire," he said quietly after a long time of just sitting there.

"Why? You told me you loved me," she reminded him.

"I do, Claire. I love you so much and its killing me inside…but I'm dangerously unstable and If you got hurt then I don't know how many innocents will have to face the consequences."

"I'm not letting you break up with me. I knew when we started dating that it could be risky but you're the person I feel safest around. I know you wont hurt me. Its not in your nature."

They sat curled in each other's arms for a short time longer then Claire stood up and brushed herself off.

"Are you coming to dinner?" she asked and Harry crawled across the floor to repair the things that he broke in his rage.

"Later" he promised and she left.

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