Chapter 11

Disclaimer: HP is not mine. Why would you even think that?

Dear Dark Wings,

You have already made known that your intentions are far from pure. Thus, it would be unwise for me to communicate with you. What you offer, I do not need. What is power if all that I desire is within reach? Although I must query as to the significance of the feather u sent me as I am not as well versed in tradition as you are.

An unwilling correspondent,

Harry Potter

Harry signed his name with a flourish and sighed, wondering if he should inform his parents about the mysterious sender. He was pretty sure that his mother would freak out though especially as the person had tried to harm him in the quidditch match before and he didn't believe that to be just a harmless ploy. However, he couldn't quite get past the niggling feeling that this person was not what he seemed. There was something vaguely familiar and deep inside he was very curious. He pondered the thought that they might be someone out there who was just like him.

He had always realized that he was different; more so when he started shedding midnight black feathers. Somewhere deep down he knew that his parents weren't really his. He couldn't remember what had happened in the earlier part of his life. He only had occasional flashes and dreams of a beautiful dark haired woman and silver blue eyes like pools of mercury. He didn't know who they were but he suspected that the lady must have been his mother before he went to the Potter's. His parents had always told him that he was their son, even showing him pictures of a black haired green eyed babe although he had always known instinctively that that was not him. Yet, he could not bear to break his mother's heart as he had seen her gaze at the picture longingly with tears welling up in her eyes.

……

In the midst of schoolwork, quidditch and the letter from Dark Wings he was having far more of the unusual dreams that plagued him earlier. They were more vivid and detailed. He could feel the oppressive darkness chasing him down the hallways, chilling him to the bone and he shivered involuntarily as soft feathers stroked his face as the unseen entity brushed by him. He ran all the way to the third floor corridor, heading towards a heavy oak door and could almost feel sharp knives piercing into his back as he never seemed to be able to outrun the darkness; dark eyes staring into the back of his head like malicious daggers. The door was nondescript, just like most of the doors in the castle, but he could never quite see what was behind it although he did have his suspicions. He always woke up trapped at the door unable to go forward or backwards rattling the frame frantically. Each time he woke to the tingling in the charm around his neck and a throbbing headache. After that he would lapse back into sleep, plagued by imaginary dark shadows and evil whispers.

He couldn't help but feel that the dreams bore ominous warning of something about to happen. He just couldn't put his finger on it and it was rather worrying. After all nothing could get into Hogwarts could it? After all it was one of the safest places in the wizarding world.

……..

Lord Voldemort seemed more alive or happy for some reason or another. He could almost feel the subtle changes in the atmosphere during the latest death eater meeting. They were many plans being laid down but not a mention of the philosopher's stone. He knew his brother-in-law was up to something. They were several more raids planned, some random killings and emissaries bringing news from the demon and vampire clans. A few more meaningless tortures as bad news was conveyed and the meeting was over. He lingered behind though, curious as to the sudden change.

"Have you come across a pot of gold, dear brother? Your mood seems the most jovial I have seen for a while," he commented lightly, careful not to sound to impudent as Lord Voldemort was not adverse to torturing kin, even in his best times.

"What is it to you?" he said curling his claw-like fingers in an elegant yet cruel manner.

"I am just worried about you. You know that so much has changed since 'then'."

"What is done is past," he said with the slightest flicker of nostalgia before it disappeared again. "I have found something of interest as of late; a little Raven, full of curiosity and much potential. It reminds me of things long past."

"How interesting. It must be special to have your notice."

Lord Voldemort looked at his brother-in-law with annoyance and dismissed him with a flick of his wrist. Sometimes, and much too often nowadays he tended to lose himself in the past, in things that he could not have.

He needed to concentrate on more important things, like the Philospher's stone. He had managed to have one of his followers slip into Hogwart's as the DADA professor. Honestly, Quirrel was such a weak man it was amazing that he had managed to get hired by Dumbledore. He wondered about the knack of the man sometimes. On several occasions, he had managed to access the castle by linking into his followers mind. He had scoured the castle in the dark nights searching for the stone and he believed that he was coming close. He believed that Severus knew where the stone was but had yet to tell him. His loyalty had always been partial although he knew that the man was conniving in his own ways and he was sure that Dumbledore would not get much more from him than he did. He would let it go for now.

Harry was sitting in the library, dark bags under his eyes. He was definitely not feeling the best. His nightmares had been keeping him up for the past week and the accumulated sleep deficit was not going well with him. He hadn't had much of an appetite and had been dozing off at inopportune times. Thus, the three detentions he had gotten this week. Looking at the huge mound of homework he had to complete, he felt none of the usual fervor he had when it came to acquiring knowledge. Homework usually didn't present that much of a problem to him as he kept up well with his studies and he did have extensive knowledge from his readings when he was younger. He was by no means a poor student, rather he did exceptionally well in class, rivaled only by Hermione and Draco. At the moment though, predicting your future from teacups and writing an essay on the complications of transfiguring a smaller object into a larger object was not the most enticing thing to do. He sighed and rubbed his temples, he was getting more of that itch in his scar again. It always seemed to be more prominent when he was tired.

Draco and the other Slytherins' had noticed Harry's recent lack of sleep and enthusiasm and were getting slightly worried about him. They had to admit that he was a great guy to hang out with despite the fact that they had to share him with the Gryffindors'. He was not partial to either and usually made for intelligent conversation flecked with hints of mischief. After all, only he had managed to get away with dousing all the Slytherins' with a bucketful of caramel sauce at the unearthly hour of 6am. They had never been able to trace it back to him although he did have a penchant of pouring copious amounts of caramel on his dessert with a sly smirk after the incident.

After classes that afternoon, they spotted Harry sitting alone at a table in the far corner and marched over to sit down beside him.

"You really should get some sleep, Harry. You look terrible."

"Come on Drake, terrible to you is having your hair gelled 2mm off of its normal axis."

Draco pouted as the other guys started to snicker. "What, Malfoy's happen to have very high standards of appearance. I know it can't be helped with your hair but I make sure that mine is always in perfect condition."

"Anyway, what Draco is trying to say is that we are worried about you. You don't usually put in 10 drops of mermaid tears when you're supposed to put one and you never blow up a cauldron." Blaise said, looking at Harry seriously.

"Something's bothering you."

'Man, this is what I get for hanging out with Slytherins'.' Harry thought with a little smile to himself. They were much too perceptive about certain things. He was glad that his friends cared, but really there wasn't much to tell them.

"It's nothing much guys, just some bad dreams."

"Well they must have been pretty bad to make you this tired and don't think we haven't noticed the silencing charms around your room."

"I'm sorry guys, I don't really want to talk about it. It's nothing big though, honestly." Harry said only to be met by the disbelieving faces of his housemates.

"Well, I have some dreamless sleep if you need it. We Slytherins' always watch out for each another even if you're only half a Slyhterin." Draco said rather pompously.

"Thanks guys." Harry said grateful that they were willing to drop the subject for now.

They all went back to quietly finishing up their respective assignments or discussing house politics. Harry wished that more people would be able to look and see how they really were inside. They weren't that much different from the other houses. It was just the isolation and discrimination that shaped those cold exteriors to protect them from the cruelty of others. They were widely protective of their own and many had had a less than savoury home life. 'If they did not stand together, no one would stand up for them' Harry thought sadly.

Going back to his original thoughts, Harry was pondering over the meaning of his dreams. He had figured out that there was something out there and it was trying to get to the 'Philosopher's stone' which he was pretty sure was behind that door on the third floor. He and Hermione had did more research and found out that Hagrid had retrieved something from Gringott's and the day after the most secure place in the wizarding world other than Hogwart's had been broken into.

He suddenly felt a wave of sharp pain crashing over him. His scar felt like it was going to be ripped out of his head. He gripped his head in pain and bit is lip to stop himself from crying out loud as he doubled over nearly slamming his head into the table just to curb the pain. He vaguely heard scuffling around him and the anxious voice of someone calling his name before his vision blacked out.

AN# Here's another chapter! I just couldn't figure out how to continue after the previous chapter and finally just managed to churn this out. I'm sorry for the long wait, there is gonna be bigger gaps between posting now coz i'm just so busy with uni stuff. In a sense i know what i want to write but when get to it i just can't continue the story, i donno if this makes sense. Thanks for all the reviews guys! They were very useful in encouraging me to keep going with the story! (and if you don't like my story... why bother reviewing?)

Thanks to thuyhy-thuyhy, DestinyEntwinements, Nymoue, GMSRESH, bandgsecuritiyaw, AceZ-Shadow, lily, Yana5, GoddessMoonLady, fudgebaby, sakura13, Storm, Shannyauburn, Ilaaris, Lady Highschoolnerd, Obsidian-Dragon-Phoenix, raven2547, Coiling Death, Tazspaz, Lemo, Dark-Angelic-Goddess, Siri02, wiccan-jessica, bobboky, Silvermane1, SabineballZ.

I think most questions should be answered in this chappie... and about whethre Voldie knows what Harry is, well you'll just have to read and see.