Sorry, everyone. Major writer's block. It's gone now.
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" Are you sure you didn't see him leave?"
Harry, Ron and Hermione were searching high and low around the cobblestone streets for Derrin, who appeared to have simply vanished from thin air.
"No." Said Ron, who was peering into an allyway. "I wonder where he could've gone?"
Hermione bit her lip. "But why would he just leave? I mean, it makes no sense. No one can see him, he's got nowhere to go. It's just...it makes no sense..." Her voice trailed off as she continued to worry.
After about an hour of searching in vain, Ron said, "There's something wrong here. I don't see why he would just walk off. There's no point. It just doesn't add up. Maybe we should go back to that tattoo parlor and start looking there."
Behind their backs, Harry got a sudden look of contemplation...
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"Who are you?" he asks the figure. Deep down though, he already knows the answer.
The figure laughs. "I thought you would've guessed, but you were always denying my existence." He steps into the light, and he finds himself staring at, himself.
"You know who I am. I'm that voice in your head that you always try to repress, the one that you always fight. After all, how can the famous Harry Potter have a dark side? Well, everyone has one, and you are no exception. This curse has given me the grounds to take over. You're powerless against me."
"That's not true!" he snarls from the floor.
"No? What about your anger against Malfoy every time he makes a snide comment about you or your friends? What about Snape, who does everything in his power to make your life hell, and who gave Voldemort the key to your parents?" On the floor, he clenches his eyes shut. "What about the deatheaters who taunted you in that graveyard, who tortured you in that cell when you were captured? What about Voldemort?" he licks his lips and continues: "He ruined your life, didn't he? He killed your parents, destined you to be raised by the Dursleys. He tried to kill you time and again at Hogwarts and outside. He gave you visions and pains caused by the scar he gave you. He tortured you enough to drive you insane for a while when he captured you. Then he asked you to join him. He had the gall to ask you to become a part of his ranks. After everything he did to you. He's the reason your life is miserable, Harry. He's the reason everyone knows you. The reason you're always in danger, the reason your friends are all in danger. He's the cause."
"SHUT UP!" He screams from the floor. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" He clutches his head in his hands, tears fighting there way out of his clenched eyes.
Still standing in the doorway, he laughs. "I can't leave you alone, Harry. I am a part of you. You can never get away from me, as I can never get away from you. You are a slave to your feelings."
"Why? What do you want from me?" His voice is thin, deflated.
"Your anger. Your passion. Your cooperation. If only for a little while."
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"Harry? C'mon, Harry, wake up. Please wake up."
Derrin sat on the floor next to Harry's comatose body. His friend looked dead but for the slow even breaths causing his lungs to slowly rise and fall, rise and fall.
Derrin had been sitting for over two hours trying to wake him, but he was slowly running out of hope.
The others had most likely discovered him gone, and it wouldn't be long until they came back to the tattoo parlor.
As more of a way to calm himself, Derrin started talking to the shell of Harry.
"I knew something was wrong with the Harry out there. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew something was whacked. I thought I was being stupid because Ron and Hermione didn't seem to notice anything. But I couldn't shake it off, you know? I finally couldn't stand it anymore. I thought I would find something here. So I snuck away from the others. As I got closer, something in my gut made me go faster, until I was sprinting full out. You know the feeling when you're a little kid and you think there are monsters chasing you, so you run like hell and you're still scared? That's what it was like. Bet I broke a few records on speed."
He stared at the wall, and continued: "Heh, you should've seen the look on this woman's face when I ran into her. And her husband, I thought he was going to murder-" He cut off as he thought of what he was saying. His eyes slowly grew rounder as he thought back to the very solid impact with the woman walking out the door of the shop.
He raised a hand to his mouth, speechless.
"What's up with you?" A weak voice asked from the floor.
Derrin nearly jumped out of his skin. He spun around, thoughts of un-ghostlyness vanishing momentarily from his mind as he looked down at me.
I looked back up at him. "Scared you." I mumbled, and slowly tried to sit up.
Derrin stared for a moment, then almost screamed: "HARRY!"
I winced, propping myself up on my elbows. "You don't need to scream it. I'm not deaf."
Derrin dropped down next to me-- for a moment I thought he was going to hug me, but he knelt and stared at me, concerned.
"What happened to you?"
I thought for a second, searching my memory until I was sure.
"Voldemort."
Derrin blanched. "Y-you mean that really really evil guy you were telling me about?"
I nodded. "Yeah. He attacked me when I came in here, and judging by what you were saying, he took on my form."
"What? How?"
I glanced down at my arm. There was a thin cut running down my forearm. I showed it to Derrin. "Polyjuice potion."
A blank look was all I received in answer.
"He took some of my blood, pt it in a potion called the polyjuice potion, and drank it, so he would turn into me." I paused, thinking. I had never heard of blood being used in t e polyjuice potion before, and I wasn't sure what would happen if blood was used.
I looked at Derrin, who was still looking at me like I was speaking in Greek, and asked, "How long have I been out?"
Derrin snapped out of it, then thought for a while. "Ummm, we split up at the market about five hours ago, we found the other you about three hours-"
"Shit." I cut him off.
"What? What's wrong?"
"Polyjuice potion is supposed to only last an hour. By using my blood, Voldemort has been able to retain my image for over three hours. Unless," I looked at my friend. "He didn't have any kind of flask or bottle on him, did he?"
Derrin shook his head. "No."
"Damn. We have to go fast then."
Derrin glanced at me strangely.
"What do you mean?"
I sighed. "You know you're acting really thick right now."
An injured look crossed his face. "I know we need to act fast. I mean, evil wizards walking around posing as my friend isn't good. What I meant, was Where do we go? How do we stop him? I man, you just woke up from a three-and-a-half hour coma."
"Don't worry about that." I said. I thought of a figure with black hair and green eyes hidden behind glasses, asking me for my emotions in order to get revenge.
"I know what to do now."