And I am back! Yay... now then, let's continue shall we?

Last time on: Black and White


"Hmm, then I believe that since neither of you are responsible for bringing forth an animal that could seriously injure another student, you shall both receive a week's detention and both have 25 points taken off for either of your offenses." Dumbledore stated with a nod. "You shall serve your detentions with Professor Lockhart."

"Wait, what?" Andrew asked wide eyed. "Come on! I'd take Snape or Filch over Lockhart!"

"Professor Snape, Professor Lockhart and Mister Filch, Andrew." Dumbledore admonished with a secretive grin.

Andrew glared at the man, but missed Malfoy's face, fortunately Harry didn't and what he saw sent shivers down his spine. Malfoy wasn't glaring, pouting or looking angry at all, no the little bastard was simply smiling at the two boys... This wouldn't be good.


Chapter 24: A Petrifying Situation

"Kill me please, God above, merciful savior, please take my soul so that I may be with you in heaven..."

"Hmm? What was that Andrew?"

"Nothing, sir. I was simply... thanking whatever deity out there for matching us with you for detention." Andrew replied his face buried in the desk in front of him which was currently littered with a ton of pictures of the Peacock.

"Yes! Of course, I am quite envious of you two. Hearing these stories straight from the most eligible wizard's mouth himself must be quite a spectacular experience!" Lockhart said joyfully as he went back to autographing his pictures.

This was the norm for the past week, the two boys had to serve with the pompous prick, but it was currently the last night of their punishment and after this, they wouldn't be forced to stand this man outside of class ever again. They went back into an uncomfortable silence as Andrew and Harry counted the minutes until their released from their prison.

Of course the two Potters were more than happy in the quiet with only the scratch of the quill on the moving images in front of them, oh yeah; that was their punishment to sign pictures of the man as he let out a massive grin and a wink at the person looking at them. Andrew swore that one of the pictures blew him a kiss. Maybe he was just going cra- nope, it did... He suddenly felt violated.

"Did I ever tell you boys about the time I defeated a mountain troll using nothing but a horse's shoe, a needle and camel wax?"

"No sir." Harry responded naturally, not really paying attention.

"Camel wax?" Andrew asked with a disgusted look on his face.

"Oh! It's phenomenal! Well, I was out in bare-back Australia..."

That's where the two boys shut their brains off and turned back to what they had been doing.

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Nymphadora Tonks; Hufflepuff sixth year, twelfth in her year and all round social butterfly was making her way out of the Infirmary and was headed towards her common room to put her books away before headed to the Great Hall for supper. She skipped slightly as she made her way down the hallway and took a turn towards the moving staircase when she saw something behind her. A shadow to be exact. Suddenly she noticed how isolated she was in the empty hallway as she waited for the steps to move so that she could continue her trek.

Then the obvious silence filled the hall, not a sound was made, the paintings were silent, there were no students and the teachers had all been in the Great Hall. Then it happened, a footstep broke the suffocating quiet, followed by another. She had no idea why her nerves suddenly kicked up, she heard footsteps every day, but for some reason her inane fight\flight instinct kicked in and she felt herself panic. The steps grew louder and louder as a shadow, the same shadow as before appeared around the corner.

The staircase had just shifted back into place and Tonks took off in a run, bugger the common room, she doubted she could handle being alone right now. So she headed to the Great Hall and made her way over to her table and sat in the seat next to her friends.

"Hey, how was Pomfrey's domain?" her friend; Jennifer asked in a teasing tone.

"Honestly Tonks, how did you manage to swing you bag hard enough for it to swing upwards and smack you in the forehead?" Kyle Lester, her boyfriend added with a chuckle

When the young metamorph failed to respond that's when her friends noticed her pitch black hair and her pale expression which was amplified thanks to her abilities.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Kyle asked grabbing her hand in a comforting gesture.

"Tonksie? Tell us, what's wrong?" Jennifer asked with worry in her eyes.

"N-Nothing, probably just... freaking out over nothing." Tonks replied taking a small breath and loading her plate with some food.

"Tonks..."

"Kyle, honestly, I'm alright, don't worry. Just a bit of stupid paranoia." she said cutting him off with a smile and a slight squeeze of his hand.

The two did not look satisfied with the answer but chose to let it lie, once Tonks refused to speak about something, there was little hope of getting it out of her.

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"Finally, it's over..." Harry muttered as they exited the Defense office and made their way to the Great Hall for food.

"I'm pretty sure after doing all of that I've lost more brain cells than what's suggested... wait..."

"Suggested? Who's suggested you lose brain cells?!" Harry asked with a laugh.

"Shut u-" Andrew was cut off when the two boys heard something... a voice.

"Masssster! Hungryy! Killl... Killl. Killl!"

The two boys shared a look.

"What's the chance that's a giant hamburger and not some weird dangerous creature?" Andrew asked his brother rhetorically.

"Well, only one way to find out." Harry said before running off and following the voice, Andrew sighed dejectedly and ran off after him.

The voice grew insistent, violent almost and more dangerous, and that's when Andrew noticed something.

"Whoa, someone pissed a small lake..." he commented.

Harry looked around and saw the floor absolutely soaked in water, it was everywhere, almost as if it had been leaking up from the floor.

Stopping the two boys followed the flow of the small river and came across a bathroom, they honestly had never seen before. That's when they saw her, frozen solid with a look of complete horror etched on to her pale face.

Andrew took a few tentative steps forward, ignoring Harry's attempt to stop him. He came close to her and placed a hand on her face gently as if terrified that she'd break.

"Is that...?"

"Penelope." Andrew answered as he stroked her cheek softly. "She's ice cold."

"Andy..." Harry stepped towards his brother and placed a comforting hand on his shoulders. "I know she was your friend."

Andrew didn't respond, he continued looking at Penelope until he saw a faint glimmer in the water. Reaching forward he picked up a small hair pin, decorated with pearl white roses. A gift from her mysterious boyfriend she wouldn't tell them about, or him at least... something about his ability to tease someone to the brink of tears like he had done with Lexi; honestly, it wasn't his fault her forehead looked like an overgrown turnip.

He stood up and inspected the hairclip further until the sound of slapping water pulled him from his musings.

"Oi, what are you two doing here?!"

Quickly shoving the pin in his pocket and ignoring the teeth tear his thigh skin he turned to see Argus Filch quickly marching towards him and his brother, his demon cat; Mrs. Norris following closely, looking positively pissed to have her paws wet from the floor.

"Filch, go get a teacher, we have a situation here." Andrew said, not in the mood for the brooding man.

"What have you done to her, you heathens!" The caretaker accused completely ignoring Andrew.

"Oi, didn't you hear me, you dumb bastard? Go get a teacher or Dumbledore, she's completely frozen!" Andrew yelled, slowly losing his patience with the man.

"What did you just say to me?" Mrs. Norris hissed at the dark skinned boy when the older man demanded took a challenging step towards Andrew.

"Look, Mr. Filch; this is Penelope Clearwater, she's obviously in trouble and we didn't do anything to her, so would you please go get Professor Dumbledore?"

The grumpy man regarded Harry with a critical eye and gave a single nod.

"Aye, I'll go get the Headmaster. Keep an eye on them precious, especially that one." He told his cat while pointing at Andrew, who glared heatedly at the man.

"No need, Argus. I have arrived." Dumbledore stated, seemingly appearing from nowhere.

"Ah, Professor Dumbledore sir, I found these two near this frozen student." Filch said, instantly accusing Harry and Andrew.

"Now you listen here you waste of oxygen..."

"Andrew, that is enough!" Dumbledore said in a firm tone. Andrew cut himself off but didn't lessen his glare on the caretaker.

"Now, Harry, if you would please explain."

"Yes sir, well, Andrew and I had just come out of our detention with Loc- Professor Lockhart when we noticed the..." Harry stopped suddenly and shared a look with Andrew.

"You noticed what, Harry?" Dumbledore pressed.

"The... water. We noticed the flooded floor and followed it to here, we then saw Penelope and well that's when Mr. Filch arrived-"

"And started throwing accusations around like a paranoid cop." Andrew finished, still glaring at the man.

"Well, yeah, that." Harry finished, shooting Andrew a dirty look.

"Hmm, yes I see. That is quite serious. Argus, go to Madam Pomfrey and alert her to a petrified student on their way to the Infirmary." Dumbledore said as he extracted his wand and pointed it to at the Ravenclaw girl and casting a levitation spell on her.

"Yes sir, Professor Dumbledore, sir." Argus said as he hurried towards the healer to relay the Headmaster's message.

Students started pouring into the hallway, seeing the frozen girl and the two Potter boys and immediately the rumor train had left the station. Andrew felt the beginnings of a headache coming on.

"Now then, Harry if you would head up to the Gryffindor common room, and Andrew, if you could accompany me to the medical wing." Dumbledore said as he turned and started walking.

The two boys shared a look before headed off in separate directions.

Once they were alone, Headmaster and student made their way through the halls in silence, very reminiscent of the first night in the castle, only this time; Harry and Ron hadn't stupidly gotten themselves in trouble and they had extra company this time.

The silence stretched on for some time as the only sound made was the slapping of their shoes against the castle floor.

'God, please, just let this continue.' Andrew thought desperately.

"Andrew, you showed a disappointing amount of disrespect to another Hogwarts facalty member." Dumbledore said in a reprimanding tone.

'You know... I'm starting to question your existence.' Andrew thought irritated as he looked towards the ceiling.

"Yes sir, I realize that and I apologize, I just don't appreciate someone accusing me of hurting a friend. Mr. Filch didn't even try to hear our side, he just popped up and started accusing Harry and I." Andrew said as he looked ahead of him, refusing to make eye contact.

"Andrew, I know this is a shock, but you must learn to keep calm in situations such as these. While I think it is perfectly healthy to show your emotions, snapping at people you should respect will not help you in the future. Now had you held your tongue with Argus, I have no doubt he would have listened to your story and helped you where he could." Dumbledore informed him.

"Doubt it; it's like the man lives for tormenting kids." Andrew responded.

"Andrew." Dumbledore warned, before sighing. "If you don't mind my asking, how are your Occlumency lessons coming along?"

Not seeing any reason not to answer, Andrew shrugged slightly. "Pretty good, Harry's already gotten his second line of defense; I've just finished with my first."

"Hmm, it would seem as though Harry is quite proficient at the obscure branch of magic."

"Yeah, I suspect I'll get a better hold of Legillimence while he'll struggle slightly." Andrew responded.

"Really? Why do you say that?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"It's always like that, when I'm not great at something Harry usually excels in it and vise versa. In terms of physical strength; I'm slightly stronger than Harry so I suspect he may be slightly stronger than me in magical power. I have perfect recall but have problems making lasting connections with people, Harry on the other hand needs to memorize things like everyone else while he has this insane ability to just draw people in and making them feel safe."

"Hmm, really, I would have pegged you as the social one." Dumbledore said with a small frown.

"Oh, I mean I can speak to people easily, but we aren't friends, I don't hang out with the others because well... I can't see any reason to want to do so." Andrew said with a small frown.

Before they could continue, the two had arrived at the medical wing.

"Ah, I do believe this is where we part. I must say, it was quite interesting talking to you Andrew. Now, please remember what I have said about your emotions, hey?" Dumbledore said peering at the dark skinned boy over his spectacles.

"Yes sir, I will try to rein in my emotions more." Andrew said with a nod of his head.

"Good boy, now, head on up to the common room. I suspect the rumors would have reached there and your friends must be quite curious about what we have been discussing."

"Christ, Hermione's going to grill me... Ahhh..." Andrew groaned as he turned and made his way towards the Gryffindor common room.

Dumbledore smiled as the young man headed off and turned back to the Medical bay. He opened the door and headed in, almost immediately Poppy Pomfrey came rushing out of her office.

"Dumbledore-" She then noticed the frozen girl. "What in Merlin's name? Oh, poor dear, place her in a bed Albus." The school healer collected her wand and started running diagnostics on the student.

"No need for that, Poppy. Miss Clearwater has been petrified, but by what? I do not know." Dumbledore stated in a worried tone.

"Oh Albus, this is terrible."

"Yes, I will go down to see Hagrid in the morning, we'll need some Slug-eating flesh repellent." Dumbledore told the school nurse before turning back to the Ravenclaw girl in the bed.

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Andrew entered the common room and a sudden hush fell over the crowd as the occupants of the turned to face him.

"Err..."

"Andrew over here." the dark skinned boy heard Hermione's voice and turned to see his friends over by the fire-place. And without a second thought he headed towards them.

"What the hell's going on?" He asked once he took his seat beside Harry.

"Well, apparently we're rising Dark Lords." Harry answered looking more than slightly irritated.

"What?"

Hermione took over at this point. "Everyone who saw what happened to Penelope also saw the two of you there, and apparently Andrew, you were on the verge of killing Filch in order to keep your secrets. Don't worry, Harry cleared up what had happened. But yeah, that's how the rumor started. And with the recent happenings with the dueling club and challenging the Slytherins; getting Malfoy in trouble, you guys are being called the two who might overtake You-Know-Who."

Andrew felt a particularly large headache coming along.

"That isn't all." Ron added. "Amongst the Gryffindors you guys are heroes. According to Fred and George the Slytherins are never punished for anything they've done, they've always had Snape there to get them out of it, but you've not only gotten one of them punished, but Malfoy of all people!"

"That was all Andy." Harry said with a small smile.

"The little prick deserved it. He was getting too big for his boots. Anyway... Dumbledore asked about our Occlumency lessons." Andrew told his brother.

"Really? Why?"

"Occlumency? What's that?!"

Andrew blinked and made eye contact with Hermione. "Shit..." he muttered before turning to Harry.

"Okay, so he was curious about it, and I told him you were coming along, nicely. Also that I think I'll be better at Legillimency. And to answer your question Mio, I'll lend you the books once Harry and I get done with them. Essentially it's a brand of magic where you protect your mind from people who might try to access your memories." Andrew explained to the girl, hoping to satisfy her outrageous curious.

"Hold on, protect memories...? But why would you want to do that?"

"Last year, when we took on Quirrel, he mentioned to us that he figured out our entire plan by scanning our memories and picking up that we spoke about getting the stone the day before the Quidditch match." Harry responded.

"But like, how? I don't remember having a spell cast on us, last year." Ron asked with furrowed brow.

"Our eyes. The moment we made eye contact with him, or anyone else who's versed in Legillimency we're opening ourselves up to having our memories read. Apparently Dumbledore and Snape are pretty skilled in it, so avoid eye contact with them... until we have our own Occlumency shields."

The four friends sat in silence for a minute before Professor McGonagall entered the tower. Instantly, the room regained its silence; it was extremely rare for Gryffindor Head to make an appearance, reserved only for extreme situations.

"Good evening all." The Scottish teacher greeted before continuing. "As I am sure you have all heard, there has been an incident earlier this evening involving a student from the Ravenclaw house. Ms Clearwater was found outside the girls' lavatory on the third floor today. Now I am sure the rumors you have all heard are... exciting... but I assure you; they are fake. Ms Clearwater is in perfect health will be back to herself in a short time. Now please, do not discuss this matter in bad taste. That is all." With that the Transfiguration Professor left the room.

There was a small beat of silence before the room dissolved into whispered conversations, Harry noticed the eldest Weasley stand from his desk and make his way to the boys' dormitory. He shook it off and turned back to his friends.

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Harry and his brother made their way towards the Charms classroom as they received a note from Flitwick who wanted to properly begin their wand training.

Once they entered the room they were met with a red spell whizzing past their heads. Freezing on the spot the two boys stared wide eyed at their professor who simply grinned at the other two boys.

"Good evening." he greeted cheerfully.

"Hello Professor." Harry greeted back while Andrew continued staring.

"Hmm, well, I was thinking it over and as I once said, your wands have a will of their own and you will have to learn to synchronize with it." Flitwick stated as he walked over to the boys.

"Ah, of course... H-How do we go about doing that exactly?" Andrew asked with a slight stutter.

"Simple. We duel. You must learn to strengthen your bond with your wands."

"Duel?! Sir, at most, we've learnt the Tickling charm..." Harry stated nervously.

"Hmm, yes you are right Harry." Chuckling slightly the tiny man then smiled at the two boys. "Then I suppose, you should be taught a few more spells and charms, hmm? Come on then." He led them off to the back of the classroom where he transfigured a few chairs to targets and pointed at them.

"The first and probably the simplest charm I think you boys will be able to pick up on is the Argumenti Charm." Flitwick said with a smile.

"What spell is that, sir?" Harry asked interested.

"Ah, yes, that would be the water sprouting charm." Flitwick replied in his usual jolly tone.

"Hold on, isn't that a third year charm?" Andrew asked with a frown.

"Yes, if you believe you are unable to perform the spell, Andrew, you are more than welcome to voice your fears."

Glaring slightly at the shorter man, Andrew held his tongue, with a nod the Professor pointed to the targets.

"The incantation is 'Argumenti' and the wand movement is a simple thrust forward." the professor explained. "The task is to hit the target."

"Err... what?" Andrew asked looking at the teacher as if he had lost his mind.

"Is there a problem, Andrew?"

"Uhm, yeah, mainly the fact that we're at least ten meters away from the targets."

"Hmm, just focus the amount of spell power you push through the wand, my boy."

"Sir, what do you mean, spell power?" Harry asked, speaking once again.

"Good question, Harry, you see. A spell can be either extremely weak due to the caster not pushing through enough power to the wand, or it can be overpowered by the caster who pushes through too much power. A good example of this is when someone who is in an extremely stressful situation is able to overpower their opponents. Their emotions are running higher thus the subconscious part of the brain that naturally dampens your magical prowess is lowered and they are able to access a much larger part of their magical abilities." He suddenly looked sullen and turned to the two boys.

"If you two learn anything from me, I want you to especially remember this: when you lose the ability to channel your magic and let it run wild... it can cause serious damage. Magic is nothing but raw untamed energy. Emotions are a major factor in bending the will of magic to do what we want it to, but lose control of your emotions and you give that raw energy complete control. I cannot say I am too happy about you two learning Occlumency as I believe we should feel our emotions and not lock them up, but the advantage of learning that obscure branch of magic is the ability to control yourselves in a situation where you would usually lose control of yourselves."

"Theoretically... what would happen if you lost control?" Andrew asked sincerely.

"Well, theoretically... if you were feeling extreme anger your magic would feed off that energy. Growing until it physically manifested itself in a way where it could be in control. Now since it is your magic, it will feed off your desire and target the object of your hatred. It will not stop until all of it is destroyed, and nothing can stop it. Now how does this correlate with 'spell power'? Simple, your wands are the conductors for your magic and have a... shall we say limiter placed on it. Now, with training the limit on your wand gradually increases with the growth of your magical core, but should you lose control you experience an unnatural burst in your energy, which I mentioned earlier. That by itself will overwhelm your wand causing it to explode. And let me tell you, magical backlash from an exploding wand is... not a pleasant thing to experience. Now then, I believe we've covered this topic enough! Go on now, cast the spell." The tiny man said getting back to his jolly attitude from earlier.

The lesson continued and the two boys spent a total of three hours focusing as much magic as they could so as to hit their targets and as one would suspect, the result was lackluster as Harry's distance was 4 meters while Andrew got a solid 5. Flitwick praised them for the remarkable distance and even admitted that he didn't expect them to actually hit their targets. He was still overall pleased with their strengthen and told them that it was impressive for two twelve year olds to achieve such results.

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As the two boys made their way back towards the tower, they heard it again. The whispering, the crawling, the... anger.

"Mudbloodsss mussst diieee... Huunnngryyy... Killl...!" the voice echoed through the boys' minds.

"Again?!"

"Let's go!"

The two boys ran after the sound following it until Andrew had to be grabbed by his brother. He looked up and noticed that they had arrived by the moving stairs and they had to wait for the steps to move back into place so that they could continue. As the steps clicked back into place they took the steps two steps at a time and quickly arrived at the lower level of the castle and ran into someone they hadn't seen in a bit.

"Wotcher guys!" Tonks greeted happily.

"Hey Tonks, we've got to go, sorry!" Harry said as they ran past and Andrew shot her a quick wave.

They continued on their way down the hall and took a left turn. The voice had gone quiet and the boys suddenly felt a chill run down their spines. Running faster they took another turn and froze at what they saw.

"Is that...?"

"I- I think it is..."

"Jesus..." Harry muttered in shock as he stepped closer.

Andrew followed only a step behind as they approached the body and got a better look. Harry looked around and saw that once again this floor had been flooded aswel. "That's a pretty bad leak... Dumbledore should look into it." he heard his brother mutter but with no sarcasm or jokes in his tone.

Harry stopped listening after that as he stared at the frozen cat hanging from it's tail on one of the wall torches... this was obviously set up for someone to find... Something caught the raven-haired boy's eye as he bent down to pick it up. He examined the black book and furrowed his mind in confusion, whose book was this?

"Whoa, is that Mrs. Norris?!"

"AH!" Harry and Andrew screamed simultaneously.

The two boys jumped a foot in the air and turned to see the shocked face of none other than Nymphadora Tonks... Fan-bloody-tastic.

"We have to get out of here before..." Harry was cut off when a voice echoed from behind them.

"Oi! What are you lot doing down there!?" It was Filch.

"Oh... piss off..." Andrew muttered as the caretaker approached them in rushed steps.

"This isn't going to end well..." Tonks muttered nervously.

That was the last thing said as Filch saw the two boys from last time and a sudden frown dawned onto his face, but that look was nothing as he turned away from the three school children and laid his eyes on what was hanging on the torch behind them.


And that's where I'm leaving you! I know good cliffhanger right? I don't like leaving chapters on hangers but, well, it felt right to do it here... (Also this chapter was getting way too long) So please show your love for the story by leaving a review... I don't get money from you doing that but, it helps boost my self-esteem... sooo... thanks!

So... Omake... to be honest, I have no idea what to write about, I haven't been on FF.N in a while and have forgotten some of the better (worst) Harry Potter tropes that plague this website. Also I've had like five people ask me to do an Undertale type of Omake... I haven't... played... Undertale. I know, I know! I'll play it soon I swear, I just don't have enough time to properly enjoy the story, but it's in my Steam Library! I'll play it sometime!

I think I've ranted enough... Nothing in those ANs is something important, but you guys stuck around anyway... thank you... you guys are awesome!

Peace, Love and Respect!

Zak!