Authors Note: And the Rotten Writer returns again with another update. I want to thank everyone for reading, once again. The favorites, follows, and reviews do much to encourage and motivate me to keep coming up with more chapters for you all to enjoy.

Some have commented on how Harry appears to have forgotten about the chest he went to so much trouble to acquire from Petunia. Please trust me, I haven't forgotten about it, and neither has Harry, honestly. I just planned to reveal more about it in pieces over the course of the upcoming school year. It's going to be the basis that's going to spur some further AU elements of the story as we drift further and further from the cannon storyline. Believe me, I've got plans in place and there is a method to my madness, I swear.

With that said, there's a brief mention of the chest in this chapter but it's next chapter when I'll really go into it some more.

Not a whole lot of other news going on here at the moment so I'll just skip ahead and let you guys get to reading.

Disclaimer: As always, I own not the Harry Pooter franchise or any characters that aren't an original creation of my own. I don't think I've actually used any yet in the story but there may be some popping up in the future, we shall see what we shall see.

Anyway, do, please enjoy chapter 20 of Soul Scars.

Soul Scars Part Two

Darkness Within

By,

Rtnwriter

"What was that?" Harry practically yelled as he and his friends left the Great Hall on Friday morning. His ears were still ringing from the magically amplified voice of one Molly Weasley. He was honestly surprised that it had taken her two days to send the letter, whatever it was, to Ron. Harry had noticed the bright red envelope that had been dropped onto Ron's breakfast plate, and the way everyone in the immediate vicinity had backed away in sudden fear, but the smoking envelope had erupted before he got the chance to ask about it.

"Howler!" Neville said from right beside Harry, also speaking slightly louder than normal. "When you can't contact someone in person or by Floo, a Howler is a great way to yell at them in a way that a simple letter just couldn't convey."

"Well I think it's absolutely horrid," Hermione sniffed. "Airing family issues like that in public and humiliating poor Ronald to boot."

Harry almost hated to admit it, but he was in total agreement with Hermione. He still didn't like Ron much, but no one deserved that kind of humiliation. In general, he felt bad for the majority of the Weasley clan. Ron's thoughtless action had caused some far reaching problems for the family. Harry rather liked the twins and Mister Weasley in particular and he really hoped the whole situation was as serious as it appeared to be.

"Harry," Susan suddenly hissed at him as they were making their way across the Entrance Hall and toward the Grand Staircase that led up into the rest of the school. "Hide."

Without pausing to ask why, he simply did as he was told, yanking his invisibility cloak from his bag and throwing it around himself. A moment later, just as he lifted the hood and vanished completely from view, one of the two primary reasons that he'd started carrying the cloak with him wherever he went came into view.

"Good morning," Gilderoy Lockhart called out cheerfully as he spotted Neville and the girls standing there. He flashed them his most winning smile, his perfectly white teeth seeming to gleam unnaturally in the morning light.

"Good morning, Professor," they chorused back.

"I don't suppose any of you have seen Mister Potter this morning, have you?"

"It's Lord Potter, Professor," Neville corrected him. "And no, we haven't seen him."

"Of course, of course," he said, distractedly waving off the correction, his eyes sweeping the hall as a frown settled over his features. Beneath the cloak Harry frowned as well, wondering how it was that the man still managed to look handsome, despite the severe expression on his face. "That's a pity," he said. "I had promised him a few pointers on dealing with his fans that I know he was looking forward to."

Harry did his best not to snort out a laugh and give himself away.

Lockhart appeared tragically forlorn for a moment before he suddenly brightened and cranked up the wattage on his smile. "Well, when you see him, do let him that I was looking for him, won't you?" Without waiting fora reply he strode past them, his lilac colored robes billowing about him as he walked, almost as impressively as Snape's.

Harry sidled up close to Hermione and muttered, ""I really don't know how he manages to walk around in here," causing her to jump slightly in surprise. "With the size of his ego it's amazing he can get in the front entrance, much less fitting his swollen head through the halls."

"It's really strange trying to talk to you when we can't see you, you know that, right?" Hermione pointed out and he pulled off his cloak, tucking it back into his bag with a sheepish grin as Hermione just rolled her eyes at him.

The constant, unsolicited advice from their Defense Professor was one reason why Harry did his best to avoid the pretentious fop whenever he could. Harder to avoid however was-

"All right, Harry?"

Harry groaned mentally and turned around.

"Hello, Colin," he said, trying not to let his exasperation enter his tone. That was the other reason he'd started carrying the cloak. Colin Creevey was a new first year Gryffindor with a penchant for photography and a serious case of Boy-Who-Lived hero worship. It was because of Colin, and his asking to take Harry's photo and would Harry please sign it once it was developed, that had cause Lockhart to take an even greater interest in him.

Harry was positive that, somehow, Colin had memorized his class schedule because he would pop up, seemingly out of nowhere, six or seven times a day asking, "all right, Harry?" Nothing seemed to give the boy a greater thrill that these simple interactions.

"He's harmless, Harry," Hermione reminded him a minute later when the excitable boy had continued on his way toward his first class of the day.

"I know," he admitted with a frustrated sigh. "It's just frustrating. He doesn't even know me, but he's got this idea in his head about me."

"Just like the Thestrals, right Harry Potter?"

Harry smiled as a welcome voice broke into their conversation and turned to look at Luna, who had walked up behind them as they were talking.

"Hello, Luna," he greeted her. "You're right, very much like the Thestrals. How have you been settling in?" he asked after he shrugged off his annoyance with Colin and his antics.

"I've been doing well enough, I suppose," she said, bobbing her head as she spoke so that her radish earrings bounced and shook. "There appears to be a terrible Wrackspurt infestation at this school, however."

Harry was just about to ask what a Wrackspurt was when Hermione beat him to it.

"Wrackspurts are invisible little creatures that float in through a persons ear and then their brains go all fuzzy," Luna said in her breezy tones, her head cocked to the side and her unfocused gaze peering at the air around Hermione's head. "There are a lot of students with a bad case of Wrackspurts, you see. That's why I got out my earrings," she added, touching the radish dangling from her right ear lightly with one hand. "Radishes act as a Wrackspurt repellant."

Harry shook his head, thinking he might be more confused now than he was before her explanation.

Before anyone could say anything else, though, Luna said, "well, I have to get to class now, please let me know if you come across any Butterbeer corks, won't you? I need five more to make a necklace."

They stared after her as the started skipping down the hall again. A moment later, they shook themselves out of their Luna induced stupor and resumed making their own way towards the Charms classroom.

The group had only gone a dozen steps when Daphne noticed that Harry wasn't with them.

"Harry?" she asked stopping to look back at where he was still standing, staring off in the direction that Luna had gone.

He turned and started toward them, a thoughtful frown on his face. "Was she wearing two left shoes?" he asked once he reached them.

Hermione shrugged. "I didn't notice her shoes, but it wouldn't surprise me. Honestly, Wrackspurts?" she shook her head in evident disgust. "She really is a very odd girl."

"Odd doesn't mean bad, or wrong. And it also doesn't account for wearing the wrong shoes," Neville pointed out, glaring at Hermione slightly.

Hermione looked less than convinced, but she let the matter drop as they reached their classroom and headed inside to take their seats.

#####

The rest of Friday passed relatively without incident save for one moment in Charms when Ron Weasley's wand, broken after his run in with the Whomping Willow, shot from his hand as he was attempting to cast the new charm they were learning and struck Professor Flitwick right between the eyes. When class was finally over there was still a large and angry green boil on the tiny professors face, right where the wand had struck him.

In fact, no one in any class wanted to work with, or near, Ron Weasley. Spellotape just wasn't enough to fix the broken wand and even the simplest of spells had a tendency to go dangerously awry.

So, with one thing or another, dodging fans and idiot professors and the like, Harry was thrilled when the weekend finally arrived. On Saturday morning after dressing, he headed downstairs to find the girls waiting for him in the common room. Together, they made their way to the Room of Requirement and spent two hours training. The girls focused on spell practice as Harry spent the first hour on his physical training and he was pleased when he managed half a mile more on his run than he had on the first day.

The second hour he joined the girls in practicing spells before they headed back to the tower at just past seven-thirty in the morning. When the portrait swung open they were met with a blast of sound and found what looked like every single Gryffindor from each year, as well as Professor McGonagall standing around talking quickly or running around in a panic. The noise was such that they couldn't make heads or tails of what any of them were saying.

The prefects and some of the other upper year students appeared to be question the second years, scurrying back and forth from one student to the next. Oliver, the burly sixth year Quidditch Captain was standing in the middle of the round room yelling and waving his arms around while the rest of the Quidditch team appeared to be trying to calm him down.

Through all of that, their Head of House stood and observed with a thoughtful frown on her usually stern face. Harry stepped up next to her and cleared his throat in an attempt to get her attention.

When she didn't seem to be able to hear him, he spoke up, "Professor?" he asked, causing the elderly witch to start and turn toward him. "What's going on?"

Professor McGonagall blinked owlishly at him for a moment before she drew her want and used it to let of a loud boom like a cannon blast that caught the attention of the rest of their House and every single student fell instantly quiet, staring at the five figures standing near the open portrait hole.

"Lord Potter," the professor said into the sudden silence. "This chaos that you just witnessed is the result of several students being found missing from their beds this morning. I don't have to tell you what happened the last time this particular group of students were found missing when most would have expected them to be in bed, asleep. Would you care to explain?"

"You thought we were missing?" he asked.

The professor arched a single brow at him. "You were not in your beds, nor were any of you located in the tower."

"That doesn't automatically mean missing. We were simply elsewhere," he pointed out.

"I tried to tell Oliver, Harry," Neville said as he made his way over to them. "When he tried to wake you up for Quidditch practice this morning and you weren't in bed, he panicked."

Professor McGonagall studied them silently for a few moments before she seemed to come to a decision and turned to face the assembled crowd of students. "All of you, go back about your business. This crisis is over. You five, come with me, please," she added the last to Harry and the others and strode from the room, confident that her cubs would be right behind her.

Five minutes later found them seated in the professors office as she considered them carefully from across her desk. The five students were sitting in simple high backed wooden chairs, Hermione fidgeting slightly in worry that she might be getting in trouble. She didn't think they'd done anything wrong, but who knew what old rules were in place that they might have stepped over. Daphne and Susan were both a picture of calm while Harry and Neville both appeared to be more confused than anything else.

"So," McGonagall said after several minutes of silence. "Who wants to explain to me what happened today?" Minerva liked to think that she could learn from her mistakes and she was doing her best not to jump to conclusions.

The kids all exchanged a series of looks before Harry sighed and cleared his throat. "Do you remember last Halloween when I said I was getting up early in the mornings to practice my spell work?" he asked and she nodded. "Well I still do that, and last year, the same day as that disaster Quidditch game, Hermione, Susan, and Daphne started joining me. Last month I also started an exercise regimen that Healer Gant recommended. So, every morning I spend at least an hour exercising and another hour on spells."

"Oliver came into the dorm at six this morning to wake Harry up," Neville said, jumping into the explanation. "He woke the rest of us when he found the bed was empty and then Katie Bell went to ask them if they knew where he was," he added, motioning to Hermione, Susan, and Daphne.

"And when they were missing as well they panicked and assumed the worst," the professor finished. Neville nodded and she sat back in her chair, considering the situation.

"Well," she said after a few minutes of thought. "I would have to double check the charter in regards to curfew, but I do not believe that you broke any school rules. If I am not mistaken, I do believe that five o'clock is the earliest that students are allowed to leave their dorms. What spells have you been working on, if you don't mind?"

Wordlessly, Harry pulled a folded piece of parchment from his pocket and handed it over. She unfolded it and read through the list, her mouth twitching occasionally at a few of the spells.

"Some of these are very advanced and quite dangerous," she said as she handed the list back.

"Yes, Ma'am," Harry agreed. "We're being very careful with those that could cause greater damage."

"I fail to see how it is possible to be careful with a siege engine spell in an old unused classroom," she said.

"We aren't using a classroom, Professor. We were told about a different room last year and have been using that one since."

Harry practically held his breath as they waited to see what McGonagall would say. Would she try to tell them they couldn't train? Would they be in trouble? Harry was sure he'd checked all the relevant rules but…

"There is nothing in the school charter that forbids students from practicing outside of class or ahead of their year group," she finally admitted, and Harry, for one, breathed a sigh of relief. "However," she went on and he tensed up all over again. "I have to say that I do not like the idea of you practicing some of those spells without qualified supervision."

She tapped the surface of her desk a few times as she thought over the situation before she suddenly turned and rose from her seat to walk over to the fireplace. Taking a pinch of Floo powder from a jar on the mantle she called out, "Goblins lair," and threw down the powder. Once it turned green she kneeled down and stuck her head in the fire. "Filius?" she called. "Are you there?"

The five students looked at each other in varying degrees of confusion but none of them had anything to say as their Head of House conducted a brief conversation. When she stepped back from the fireplace it flared green again few seconds later and the diminutive Charms Master stepped through.

"Ah," he said when he stepped from the flames and saw the five of them sitting there before Professor McGonagall's desk. "I do hope there's no trouble?" he asked. "Not with five of my best students here."

Neville flushed brightly at the praise while Hermione seemed to sit up even straighter than usual in her seat. Daphne's face showed nothing, calm as ever, but Harry could feel a glow of satisfaction across their bond while Susan seemed rather ambivalent of the compliment.

"No trouble, exactly," McGonagall said. She quickly explained what happened that morning to Filius great amusement at the thought of the house of Lions running about like chickens with their heads cut off. At the appropriate point in her recounting she motioned for Harry to show Professor Flitwick his list of spells that they were working on learning.

"Hmm…" he hummed as he read through the list.

"As you can see, some of those could be problematic," McGonagall said. "They say that have a place to practice where the spells pose no problems to the school. I was just going to ask to see this training space and if it meets your approval would you be willing to supervise on the days they work on the more advanced spells?"

"What?" Harry blurted out before he could stop himself. He had been certain the professors were going to attempt to dissuade them from their practice

"I was a world renowned Dueling Champion for many years, Lord Potter, if you are concerned at my ability to judge your readiness for the spells in question," Flitwick said.

Harry shook his head. "It's just Harry, please," he said, almost automatically. "I meant, you're not going to try to talk us out of training?" Harry had to admit, he was confused by the direction this conversation had taken. Some of the spells they were planning to work on were quite dangerous.

Flitwick observed them carefully for a moment, his sharp eyes seeming to pierce them individually before returning to Harry. "Minerva explained to me what happened last year with the stone," Flitwick said. "Something the Headmaster felt he did not need to inform the rest of the staff about and something we have been arguing with him about all summer. It is obvious, now, that You-Know-Who is not as dead as we thought and he seems to have a fixation on you. I cannot tell you not to train to defend yourself and still expect my conscience to allow me to sleep at night, however, I also cannot let you try these kinds of spells on your own, either.

"So, let us see this training facility of yours and we shall see what we can agree on from there, shall we?"

Eagerly agreeing, the students lead their professors to the seventh floor where Harry demonstrated how to open the door to the Room by pacing three times in front of the empty stretch of wall. The shock on their faces when the door appeared was enough to cause a smirk to appear on the students faces as Harry pulled the door open and motioned them inside.

Harry had requested the same configuration he'd been using with the girls since the first day of class with the firing range on one side and the physical training set up on the other. Professors Flitwick and McGonagall stared at the room in shock as they entered and in moments Flitwick was away and inspecting the dueling platform and firing range with a critical eye as Harry explained what they knew the room to be capable of with the girls help.

"I've heard of this room before," their Head of House said, still somewhat shocked. "It's a legend around the school but I never thought that it was real. How ever did you discover it?"

Harry flushed and fidgeted nervously for a moment before he answered. "One of the castle's house elves told us about it, actually," he admitted. "I Reductoed a wall in the class room I had been using last year and the elf got mad at me because of the damage and showed us this room so that I wouldn't break things anymore."

The professor blinked once in surprise at that but decided she really didn't want to know any more so quickly moved on before that line of discussion could be followed any further.

"Filius?" she called, turning to her old friend. "What do you think of the space?"

"This room is absolutely perfect for your needs," he said, practically bouncing with glee. "I would be happy to supervise your practice on those days when you intend to work on the most dangerous spells. Will it be all five of you?" he added, eyeing the entire group.

"Nev?" Harry asked. "You've got a new wand. Ready to start practicing with us?"

"Won't I be holding you guys back at this point? You're all so far ahead of me."

"I'm sure you'll catch on just fine, Neville," Susan assured him. "We'll help you and we can keep working on other spells while you're practicing the ones we already know."

Neville glanced at Harry who have his friend a firm nod and an encouraging grin.

"All right," he said after a moments thought. "I'm in."

Flitwick grinned broadly and clapped his hands sharply once. "Excellent," he crowed. "Then I shall see you all tomorrow morning at six o'clock, correct?"

"Yes, Professor, and thank you," Harry said as Neville's eyes widened in the realization of just how early he was going to have to start getting up in the mornings truly hit him.

"Think nothing of it, Lord Potter, I'm looking forward to seeing what you are all capable of."

#####

By the time Harry had managed to impress upon their Charms Professor that he would prefer to be addressed as Harry, and they were otherwise finished with their discussion with the two professors, breakfast was nearly over, so Harry led the way to the kitchens where they asked the house elves for something to tide them over until lunch, which they were only too happy to provide.

"It still feels like taking advantage of their nature, somehow," Hermione muttered, still less then thrilled with the concept of the house elf bond even though it had been thoroughly explained to her.

"And I can agree that some families do treat their house elves horribly, and the fact that there aren't any laws to prevent it is awful, and something we'll look into fixing when we're older," Harry told her as they were making their way toward Gryffindor tower. "But the elves here in the castle, and those at Bones Manor or Longbottom Hall are all treated with respect and courtesy, much like any hired servant would be."

"Except they're not paid," Hermione pointed out.

"Except they are paid," Harry cut her off before she could get going. "They're paid in room and board and in a bond that literally keeps them sane and alive. The laws are the problem, not the bond itself or that house elves serve witches and wizards."

Hermione scowled and tossed her arms over her chest but she couldn't really argue the point. Even if she'd had something further to argue it wouldn't have made much difference because they finally reached the portrait of the fat lady and stepped inside after giving the password to find Oliver Wood standing not far from the entrance, arms crossed over his chest and with a frightful glower on his face.

"Did she kick you off the team?" he demanded before they had all even stepped into the common room.

"What?" Harry asked, bewildered. "No she didn't-"

"So just house points then?" Oliver asked, cutting Harry off. "How many? And how do you intend on earning them back?"

"I didn't lose any house poin-"

"Detention?" Oliver blurted out, drawing the attention of half the common room as his voice grew louder with every other word. "That's the last thing we need right now, Potter!" he snapped. "If you can't keep yourself from breaking the school rules-"

"But I didn't-" Harry tried to interject but Oliver just kept ranting right over him.

"-Then the least you can do is try to get better at not getting caught…"

This continued for several minutes while Harry, Susan, and even Neville tried to get a word in edgewise until, finally, Daphne put two fingers in her mouth and let out an ear piercing whistle that shocked all of them into silence.

"Thank you," she said when they all turned their attention to her. "Now,Wood, if you would shut up for a few seconds and listen to answers instead of running off at the mouth you might learn something," Daphne hissed in a dangerous tone of voice that, along with the angry glare she directed at him, had the much larger sixth year student going pale with fear.

"Thank you, Daphne," Harry said, impressed by how easily she'd cowed Wood. "Oliver, I'm not in any trouble at all. I didn't break any school rules so no lost points, no detentions, nothing."

"Why weren't you in bed this morning?" Oliver asked hesitantly after Harry finished.

"I've been getting up at 5 since last year to do some spell practice in the mornings before breakfast," Harry explained. "Except for the days when we had a morning Quidditch practice."

"We were supposed to have practice today."

Susan looked over at the bulletin board mounted near the portrait hole. "Did you post it on the board?" she asked and Oliver flushed slightly.

"Uhhh… no, I forgot to, actually," he admitted sheepishly.

"Then it's your own fault," Hermione told him a dismissive sniff. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we are going to go get cleaned up."

With that the three girls made their way across the common room and up the stairs to the girls dorm, quickly disappearing from sight.

"They are right scary, Mate," Oliver muttered to Harry who only shrugged.

"Only if you do something stupid to piss them off," he said before turning his attention more fully onto the older student. "Was there anything else you needed? I want to go shower and change too."

"Actually, there were a couple of other things I needed to go over with you real quick…"

#####

"So, after all that fuss he made about you not being available for practice they weren't even able to use the pitch?" Susan asked, aghast at Oliver's behavior.

Harry nodded and quickly swallowed the mouthful of turkey he'd been chewing. "Pretty much," he said. "It looks like Malfoy bought his way onto the Slytherin team as their new Seeker by supplying the entire team with brand new Nimbus 2001 racing brooms."

She made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat and stabbed the food on her plate viciously a couple of times with her fork.

"Yeah, that was about my reaction, too," Harry said with a quiet chuckle at her behavior.

"Incoming ponce at six o'clock," Neville suddenly muttered from across the Gryffindor table where the five of them, plus Hannah and Tracey had been enjoying a peaceful lunch period after the chaotic morning that most of them had had. They'd already filled the Slytherin and Hufflepuff girls in on what'd happened that morning and Harry had really hoped to have a quiet Saturday.

"Heard about the new brooms, did you Scarhead?" Malfoy taunted as he walked up behind Harry who sighed and turned around the face the arrogant Slytherin.

"I beat you on a regular basis, Malfoy," Harry said, ticking off a list of items on his fingers. "I beat you physically on the train in first year. I beat you during our flying lesson last year as well. I regularly beat you in class since I always seem to outperform you during our lessons and so far you've really yet to come out ahead in any of these little altercations that you seem to insist on trying to drag me into. Do you really want me to beat you on the pitch as well?"

Malfoy's sneer twitched for a moment but was quickly back in place. "On the brooms your team is flying you won't have a chance against us," he snapped.

"That might be true," Harry admitted with a nod, ignoring the way Fred and George protested his admission from behind him where they'd been sitting eating their own lunch. "But that just accounts for the rest of the team who have regularly dominated in our matches on those lesser brooms. You'll still be going against me on brooms of similar quality. Skill will be all that matter in that case."

"And at least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way one," said Hermione sharply. "They got in on skill and talent alone."

The smug look that Malfoy had been wearing flickered and finally fell as his cheeks reddened. "What would you know about it. You're nothing but a filthy little mudblood."

There was an immediate uproar by everyone within earshot at the Gyrffindor table. Daphne and Susan both started shouting loudly over each other at Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle practically dove in front of the blond to head off Fred and George who had flung themselves across the table at the Malfoy scion, and from somewhere behind him Harry heard, "You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!" followed by a loud bang.

"What is the meaning off all this?"

Everyone froze as the silky tones voice cut through the general noise and chaos like a hot knife through butter. Harry turned, not even sure when he'd jumped to his feet, to find Professor Snape standing next to Ron Weasley on the other side of the table. Ron was sitting on the floor, groaning and clutching his stomach when he suddenly turned to the side and belched up several fat and glistening slugs.

A moment later there was a bright flash and Harry glared at Colin, who gave him a sheepish look and quickly scurried away before he managed to drag any more unwanted attention to himself.

"The Weasley's and Potter tried to attack us, Professor," Malfoy said before anyone else could speak up.

"That's a lie!" Susan shouted, "Professor he called-"

"I did not ask you for your opinion on this Miss Bones," Snape interrupted her. "Weasley twins, detention with me tonight." He glanced down at Ron. "You and Potter will both be serving a detention as well," he said with a sneer. "Your Head of House will inform you of hat you will be doing tonight immediately following dinner." He made his way around the table and started ushering his Slytherins away from the group of students.

As he ushered them along he looked back over his shoulder, meeting Harry's eyes, "and that will be twenty points from each Gryffindor that was involved in this most cowardly attack."

Harry fumed, wondering what had happened to the somewhat truce he and the potions master seemed to have reached the previous year, his hands shaking with anger before a soft touch against his right hand caught his attention and he looked down to find Hermione pushing his hand down. He had no idea how his wand had come to be in his grip but he flicked his wrist and let it shoot back up his sleeve into his holster as Hermione's touch calmed him.

Eventually he gave her a grateful smile and turned, clambering over the table to step down next to Ron who was still sitting there on the floor belching slugs into his lap. "What happened to Ron?" he asked as he helped the twins drag their little brother to his feet.

"He tried to hex Malfoy," Neville said. "But with his wand the way it is, well…" he trailed off and shrugged.

His wand must have backfired on him, Harry thought.

Together, the twins along with Neville, Harry, Hermione, Susan, and Daphne, escorted Ron to the hospital wing, leaving a trail of slugs in their wake. When they finally entered the wing, Madam Pomfrey came hurrying out of her office, took one look at Harry and let out a deep sigh.

"Lord Potter," she said as she walked over, "just what have you managed to do to yourself this time?"

"Oi!" Harry protested to the accompanying snickers from his friends. "I'm not at all injured, Madam Pomfrey, it's Ron here that needs looking at. And whatever happened to calling me Harry? I thought we settled that last Halloween."

"That was before you took up your House Ring," Daphne pointed out. "Now that you have, and you've been outed publicly by the Prophet, it would be presumptuous of Madam Pomfrey to assume such continued familiarity without your permission."

"But she already has my permission," he argued.

"Given before you took up your title."

Harry had a pained look on his face as the twins helped Ron to sit on one of the empty beds and Neville found a trash bin for him.

"Remember formality, Harry," Daphne whispered in his ear as he turned back to face the Mediwitch.

"Madam Pomfrey," Harry said, straightening up to his full height. "Unless there is official reason for my title to be used I would be delighted if you would continue to address me as Harry."

She studied him for a quick moment before her lips quirked into a small smile and she nodded her head once in acknowledgement before turning her attention to Ron. "Now, what seems to be the trouble?" she asked just as Ron belched up another few slugs into the trash bin that Neville had handed him. He look miserable, pale, sweating, and trembling.

"How did it happen?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"He tried to cast a hex and because his wand is broken it backfired on him instead," Neville again supplied to appropriate information since he was the only one to actually see what transpired.

The Mediwitch winced at that as she cast a few diagnostic spells and carefully studied the information provided. Susan was staring intently at the spells, but couldn't make heads or tails of any of it herself.

"Well, unfortunately there's not really much to be done in situations like this but to let it run it's course. Better out than in, I always say." She patted Ron comfortingly on the shoulder and then rounded on the rest of them with a stern glare in place. "The rest of you can stay for a while, but not for too long and you had all better keep the noise down while you're here, am I understood?" she asked sternly and they all nodded rapidly, unwilling to risk the Mediwitch's wrath.

She gave her trademark 'humph,' and headed back to her office, leaving the students to gather together enough chairs for them all to sit around the bed, where they sat and stared at each other in silence for several minutes before Harry sighed and leaned forward in his seat, resting his elbows on his knees with his hands clasped together in front of him, his gaze steady on Ron.

"You know, Ron," he said in a conversational tone of voice. "I really don't much care for it when my entire view of things is shifted on its ear. Which is basically what you've done today."

Most of those assembled gave him similarly confused looks

"After the majority of the crap you pulled last year, insulting me, insulting my friends, and what you said about Daphne… I was pretty bound and determined to want to basically hate your guts from here until doomsday. But then you go and do something like that, attempt to hex Malfoy in Hermione's defense." Harry sighed and shook his head. "So, does anyone want to explain exactly what it was that Malfoy said that was so terrible that it got everyone riled up?"

Ron's face twisted into a scowl and he immediately opened his mouth to answer but had to bury his face in the trash bin as more slugs came up and he waved vaguely to the others in the room for them to explain.

"Harry, you're aware there's a certain portion of our society that looks down on muggles and those first generation witches and wizards born from muggle parents, right?" One of the Weasley twins started and Harry nodded. For simplicities sake Harry dubbed them Twin one and Twin two in his head.

Twin two took up the thread of the explanation then, "well, that name that Malfoy used-"

"Mudblood-" Twin one spat out with an impressive sneer twisting his lips.

"It's a really-"

"offensive term meant for-"

"people like Hermione, here."

"People with muggle parents, Harry," Susan spoke up so they could stop the game of twin pong and Harry turned his focus onto her. "It all goes back to that idea that some people have that having magic makes them better or superior in some way. So, basically he's saying that Hermione is tainted, that her blood is dirty because she's muggleborn."

"Which is absolutely ridiculous," Neville hastened to jump in as Harry's eyes hardened and a few loose objects near them started to rattle. "We all know that, Harry. There isn't a spell that's been invented that Hermione couldn't learn, I'm certain of that. But, people like Malfoy, they're so certain of their own superiority that they can't even imagine the possibility that their view of the world could be wrong."

Harry calmed down again, regarding them each carefully as he considered that. "So, it's a pointless phrase that really has no meaning other than what a certain minority group have assigned to it?" he asked for clarification and the twins blinked before barking out a laugh.

"Yeah-"

"pretty much-"

"oh Seeker our Seeker," they finished in unison causing the assembled group to chuckle quietly for a moment.

"Well, that's another thing we'll have to look at changing when we're older, won't we?" Harry said in and aside to Hermione sitting on his right as he took her hand in his and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"Ummmm… Harrykins?" Twin two spoke up. "How do you think you'll be able to do that?"

Harry shrugged. "It shouldn't be too difficult, really, to make some changes into how the laws are written, not with the powerhouse we have here, right?" He looked around at the sea of blank faces with only Daphne smirking at him in tacit approval. The once Slytherin bound girl loved it when Harry used that cunning that he had lurking inside. It just made her feel all warm inside to watch him play a situation like a fiddle.

"Bones, Longbottom, Greengrass, Potter," Harry said, pointing at the person attached to each name in turn, ending with a finger touching the tip of his own nose. "Four Most Ancient and Noble Houses with some serious political clout, and the ability to garner more if we need to. Abbot is an Ancient line but not noble so her family has less political pull but she still has a seat on the Wizengamont waiting for her in the future. Blaise Zabini and Tracey Davis are friends and while I know House Davis doesn't have a seat they do know a lot of people and House Zabini does have a seat and he agrees with us that the whole pure blood crap is exactly that, crap, and it needs to go in a big way.

"Right now our parents and guardians are running our society, but one day we'll be the ones in charge. We'll be the ones in a position to make laws and enact change in this society. It starts with us, and when we get to that point, we'll be the ones that will drag the wizarding world kicking and screaming into the 20th century."

The majority of them just stared at him in stunned realization while Daphne continued to smirk at him but the twins had both broken out into gleeful grins that sent shivers up and down Harry's spine.

"Seriously, you two, it freaks me out when you do that," he said, leaning away from the two of them.

The entire groups snorted a laugh which resulted in Ron expelling a small slug from his nose to accompanying disgusted reactions from those sitting around the bed before the twins managed to bring the attention back onto themselves.

"Weasley is an Ancient line as well, Harrykins," Twin one pointed out.

"Dad lost his seat cause there's some expectation of wealth amongst members of the Mont, but he knows a lot of people and the Weasley family is well liked if not in the same circles as a lot of these other families."

"Basically, you can count on the Weasleys to support you when it comes to that," they finished once again together and Harry smiled, pleased to see the number of people he felt he could depend on growing.

"Ron? I was wondering about something," Susan said a few minutes later and took the boy's curious look as permission to continue. "Well… the barrier at Kings Cross was closed when you guys got there, right?" He nodded. "But my aunt was waiting there with an Auror cadet to help people get through, why did you show up in your dad's car?"

Ron flushed and buried his face back in the trash can as the twins burst out laughing.

"Ickle Ronniekins here has a problem with patience," Twin one started up the story.

"We arrived at the station-"

"-with minutes to spare, mind you, 'cause-"

"-you know, we Weasley's can't-"

"-ever be on time anywhere. I think that's-"

"-actually in our family motto."

"So we get there, and our mum and dad-"

"take Perfect Prefect Percy-"

"and ickle Gin-gin onto the platform with-"

"-side-along Apparation-"

"Then they come back and take our illustrious selves-"

"You mean mum practically threw us head first through the solid barrier anyway. Just to test how strong it really was," Twin two corrected twin one.

"Only because you were trying to convince Ronniekins that he was going to miss the train and they'd make him skip meals to make up for the aggravation caused."

"Either way, mum and dad took us across to the platform and hurried us along onto the train, which took another couple of minutes-"

"At which point, dad went back for Ron here-"

"only to find the little bugger had already-"

"scarpered for the car because-"

"we'd succeeded in scaring him-"

"past our wildest dreams."

"That still doesn't explain why my aunt didn't say anything or help?" Susan pointed out after she was reasonably sure she'd unraveled the threads of the story enough to follow along and the twins shared a glance and shrugged.

"No clue," they chimed in eerie unison.

"When we got there, there was no one else around," Twin one informed them.

"Though there was a notice-me-not up, so that's why the parentals-"

"decided it was ok to Apparate with us sprogs in public like they did."

"With how close they were cutting things in getting to the station," Daphne mused aloud, "your Aunt must have decided it was unlikely that anyone else would be showing up."

"She wouldn't just take off until time was officially over though."

"Maybe she was called away? Or something came up that she needed to deal with?" Harry suggested. "There's any number of possible reasons why she might have left the barrier before the end, but I don't know why Tonks wasn't still there at the least."

"So I'm going to guess you ran into Justin on the way out of the station and told him the barrier was closed?" Hermione asked Ron, a calculating look in her eye as he nodded.

"Yeah," he rasped out after wiping his mouth with the back of one hand. "He came up just after mum and dad took the twins so I told him we didn't have time and we ran for the car, figured we could just follow the tracks from the air. And it worked too," he added the last a touch defensively.

"Ron, you guys were in the evening edition of the Prophet. The car was seen flying all across the country on the way up here."

He shrugged. "Well, mostly worked. The invisibility booster cut out before long and the engine started having trouble just before we got here. Thing cut off right over the grounds and that's when we crashed into the Willow. Honestly, it was a good thing we hit the tree, otherwise we'd have plowed nose first into the ground and we'd probably still be in here or at Saint Mungos from our injuries."

They settled into a general discussion after that, those unfamiliar members getting to know the others better, mostly Ron being introduced more officially to the rest of them and getting to know a bit about each other. He was still leary of Tracey and her Slytherin colors, but he made sure to keep his mouth shut, even if he did keep a closer eye on here than he did anyone else, even the twins.

After a few hours of quiet discussion where Madam Pomfrey, surprisingly, left them alone, she came bustling out of her office and shooed them away from the bed for a moment so she could cast another series of diagnostic charms on Ron. Susan stood at her elbow, far enough back that she wasn't in the way, but close enough that she could see the information the charms brought back hovering in the air between the Mediwtich and her patient. After examining the results Madam Pomfrey pronounced that the hex should have run its course and told them all to be about their day.

By the time they made it downstairs they were surprised to discover that Dinner was just being served so they made their way over to the Gryffindor table and when they sat to eat, the three youngest Weasley males joined them, swelling their already large group of seven to a solid ten students groped together.

Tracey and Hannah exchanged a look and sighed, causing Daphne and Susan to glance acres the table at them where they sat on either side of Neville.

"What is it?" Daphne asked.

"Oh, nothing much, really," Hannah said as she served herself from the platters arranged around the table.

"Yeah, we're just starting to realize that our pool of friends is more and more filled with Gryffindors," Tracey said, a teasing grin on her lips. "I'm thinking I need to talk Blaise into joining me over here so I don't feel quite so outnumbered."

"That's a good idea," Harry cut in. "If you think he'd actually join us, by all means. Think we should ask Luna if she wants to sit with us too?" Harry sat up straighter on the bench and craned his neck around, looking for the little blond at the Ravenclaw table but he didn't see her. "She must not have come down yet," he muttered and returned his attention to the table.

"We're going to have to add another table and take it over ourselves at the rate this group of friends is growing,"

Half of them laughed at Ron's comment while the other half already had their mouths full of food and the entire group quickly fell to their meal. That dinner solidified two opinions for Harry that he'd already been contemplating but was pleased to have further evidence to support his theories.

Item one; the twins really were a complete riot and a half as Harry was fairly certain that he spent more time laughing during dinner that night than he actually spent eating. Not that he was complaining. Fred and George seemed to be pathologically incapable of taking anything seriously, but he felt that there was more to the mischievous duo than they liked to let on.

Item two; Ron wasn't actually a malicious berk. He had simply been raised with a certain set of expectations about people and had an unfortunate tendency to speak before he thought. Harry couldn't really blame him for that, but he did make it clear that if Ron wanted to be friends with them then he had better work on engaging his brain a little more. And, Harry reminded him, he still owed Daphne an apology for Halloween the year before.

The entire table was startled when Ron immediately turned to Daphne and issued an honest and sincere sounding apology for his behavior the previous year, sighting frustration and a short temper as the cause of his outburst which in no way excused him, but was at least an explanation.

Daphne studied him carefully for several seconds before giving a curt nod. "I can accept that," she said. "As long as you work on that habit of yours. Just because someone is trying to help you with something, doesn't mean they're lording their knowledge over your head, like they think they're superior to you or something, understood, Weasley?"

Ron nodded rapidly, his mouth stuffed full of food, but thankfully he didn't try to answer verbally. Every girl at the table had already told him off multiple times for speaking with food in his mouth and it looked as if even Ron Weasley could learn a thing or two.

Once they'd all finish eating and the deserts had cleared off of the plates, Harry had been having such a pleasant time with his friends that something rather important completely slipped his mind. Right up until they made to leave the Great Hall and found their Head of House waiting for them.

"Oh," Ron said as he spotted her standing by the doors. "Right, detention."

Shite, Harry thought, but he settled himself with a resigned expression and stepped forward to accept his punishment.

"First, I would like to say that I do not agree with you having detentions tonight," she said after their friends had left and the twins had made their way down to the dungeons for their detention with Snape.

"However, the professors are forbidden from interfering with the judgement made by another member of the faculty outside of extreme circumstances, so I have no choice in the matter. Mister Weasley, you will go to the trophy room where Mister Filch is waiting to get you started on polishing the trophies and awards there. You will not be allowed to use any magic while you work so I'd hurry up and get started if I were you if you want to be done before tomorrow."

Ron groaned but obediently made his way toward the trophy room, his shoulders slumped as he called back a quiet, 'catch you later, Mate," to Harry.

"Lord Potter,-"

"Professor, I'm sorry do you have to use my title? I'm really not comfortable with it."

"I am aware, Lord Potter," she said sternly, glaring at him for cutting her off. "Be thst as it may, the majority of the staff and I have decided that being in a professional setting, it would be professional for us to use your appropriate title. You are, of course, Lord of a Most Ancient and Noble House, and that title should be given the proper respect. Outside of class, or official school matters, some of us may use Mister Potter, or even just your given name, if we're, perhaps, having tea one evening?"

Harry smiled and nodded. "Just tell me when and I'll be there for sure, Professor."

McGonagall's lips almost twitched into a smile, but she kept her composure and gave him a slow nod. "Quite, I will be sure to inform you. As I was saying, however, Lord Potter, unfortunately for you, another member of the staff has specifically requested your assistance tonight."

Harry had, for a moment, been thrilled that the professor wanted to continue their occasional evenings chatting over tea that she'd started the previous year. He'd learned a lot from the aged witch about his parents and their time at school and he had plenty he'd discovered from the chest his mother had left for him that he wanted to discuss with her. But the way she spoke, and the meaningful look that she gave him had a sense of dread growing in the pit of his stomach that was proven more than correct with her next sentence.

#####

"Come… come to me… Let me rip you… Let me tear you… Let me kill you…"

Footsteps clattered loudly through the castle up one flight of stairs and down another before bolting through a secret passageway, darting down a corridor, jerking around a corner.

"Come to me… come… come…. Come…. COME TO ME!"

"Harry?"

"GAH!"

"EEP!"

"Son of a-"

"Harry James Potter, Language!"

"You scared the crap outta me, 'Mione, and you're still going to harp on me about my language?"

"I scared you? What are you doing running around like a lunatic? Look at you you're all sweaty and a mess. What scared you so badly?"

Harry stood, panting, in front of the open portrait hole leading into the Gryffindor common room. Hermione stood in the opening, one hand still clutched to her chest with the other holding the corner of the wall, as if to steady herself as she stared at him, her eyes wide with fright.

She was right, he was sweaty and disheveled and couldn't even think of getting his breath back or his pulse under control.

"Wait," Harry said a minute later after he'd started to calm a bit, "Why do you ask what scared me?"

Hermione blinked, confused by the question and took him by the hand, dragging him behind her into the common room and over to their corner by the fire. She dropped onto the sofa in between Daphne and Susan while Harry nodded a greeting to Neville, sitting drowsily in one of the chairs by the fire and he shrugged out of his robes, tossing them onto the chair.

"We could feel how scared you were," Hermione told him. "We do have a bond, remember?"

He half heartedly glared at her as he loosened his tie and undid the top few buttons of his uniform shirt. "Yes, I'm aware of the bond we share, Hermione, thank you. It's only caused me no end of trouble since I found out about it. Only the fact that it brought the three of you into my life makes it worth it," he muttered the last absently and the three girls stopped before any of them had a chance to snap at him and shared a look.

It was true, the bond, and subsequent furthering of said bond had been a source of difficulty and confusion in all their lives. Hermione doubted Harry even understood what he'd just said there, but he'd managed to incite and then quell an epic level rant, all in two sentences.

"Dammit, Harry, you really drive me crazy sometimes, you know that, right?" Daphne blurted out as she sank back in their seat, her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at Harry, who blinked owlishly back at her.

"What? What'd I do?" he asked, completely bemused by the expressions on the girls faces and the emotions he could sense rolling across the bond they'd just been discussing.

Neville snorted, drawing the bonded quartet's collective gaze to him. "Harry, I'm barely conscious and even I figured that one out," he said, laughing as the confusion on his friends face grew even more apparent. "You just told them that the bond had been nothing but trouble for you. You honestly think they wouldn't find that insulting, or hurtful?" Harry's eyes widened dramatically but before he could blurt out an apology Neville continued. "Then, of course, you immediately followed that up with pointing out that the three of them being a part of your life made all the trouble worth it. I'm pretty sure they don't know whether to slap you or hug you at the moment."

Harry started when a pair of arms drew him into a hug and then relaxed as he caught the scent of honeysuckle and ivory polish, and he relaxed slightly into Susan's hug. It'd taken him a long time to figure out what the second scent was in regards to his red haired bond mate. The name Bones wasn't just for show. Their family magic had a lot to do with bones, and there was a large collection of bone and ivory artifacts at the Boneyard which Susan was in charge of polishing with a special paste on a regular basis.

"You still haven't told us what scared you," Susan pointed out after she released him and went back to sit beside Hermione. Harry groaned and rubbed a hand over his face, shivering as the memory of the voice resurfaced. The girls shivered as well and he eyed them for a moment before shaking his head and moving on.

"I was at my detention, Lockhart actually requested my assistance tonight so I had to do my detention with him."

Neville and the girls winced in sympathy. "What'd he have you doing?" Neville asked.

"Helping to answer his fan mail," Harry groaned and dropped into his usual chair, ignoring the way Daphne huffed and glared at him for how he was now sitting on and wrinkling his robes. "Please, Daphne, I'm too frazzled and exhausted to worry about my posture, or my clothes, or whatever else. I know I need to learn it, and I've been trying, you've seen me trying in class and such, just, for now can we please not make a big deal out of it?"

Hermione placed a hand on Daphne's knee, almost absently, and leaned forward to stare intently at Harry. "Harry, answering fan mail sounds tedious and awful, especially having to deal with that blowhard, but none of that brings us to what scared you."

He nodded and took a deep breath, sitting up a bit straighter and absently pulling his robes out from under him which he laid across the arm of the chair next to him. "Right," he said. "Well just before leaving I heard something. This weird voice, it was the coldest, most disturbing sounding voice I have ever heard. Kept saying 'come to me, let me rip you, let me tear you,' and other stuff like that."

His girls and Neville all wore similar expressions of shock and a bit of fear as he recounted the rest of his mad dash through the halls of the school after leaving Lockhart's office as he attempted to track the voice that he heard.

"I couldn't really tell where it was coming from," he finished. "I mean, I had a general direction that it seemed to be coming from but nothing more. I didn't see anyone, I didn't sense anyone nearby…" he trailed off and shrugged pushing down on the link as he considered the last memory he had of that terrifying voice, how it'd gotten louder so suddenly as if closing in for the kill and he couldn't stop another shudder from running through his frame.

The girls all shivered in unison as well and Hermione gave Harry a half hearted glare.

"Harry," she admonished him. "If you're going to insist on thinking about it could you perhaps dampen the link, just a tad? I know we don't like it when you cut us off but I don't much care for these sudden shivers and chills either. Maybe we could find some sort of… what? Why are you staring at me like that?"

As Hermione spoke Harry's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open until he was gawping at her in complete shock.

"What do you mean, 'dampen the link'?" he asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

The girls exchanged a look while Neville simply observed. It was times like this that the young Longbottom heir almost felt as if he was intruding on something far beyond his understanding, but at the same time, that they were so comfortable openly discussing their bond around him had him feeling honored in the trust they had in him.

"Harry, we had a great deal of trouble last year over you pushing down on the bond, cutting us off from how you're feeling. We'd rather you didn't cut us off, we try not to cut you off, you know? I'm not certain I agree with Hermione actually encouraging you to push down on our bond but-"

"But I was!" Harry blurted out, cutting Daphne off.

Susan blinked and closed her eyes, searching for the link that Daphne had taught her to recognize consciously that connected her to her three bond mates. She could see it in her minds eye, pulsing lines that connected them. She imagined Harry as a simple orb of golden light, as with the aura of his soul that Neville told them about from their sorting and herself and the other girls were represented by their color. Silver for Hermione. A gentle green for Daphne, and a deep auburn for herself.

The line that connected her and the other girls to Harry were thicker than those that connected her to Daphne and Hermione directly.

"Daphne?" she asked without opening her eyes. "Do me a favor and dampen the link for me? Push down your emotions."

Daphne didn't answer but a moment later the line she saw inside her head that connected Daphne to her, Harry, and Hermione all became thinner, shrinking to nearly half it's previous diameter.

"Harry? Now you do it."

"I am," he insisted. "I have been since I was still in Lockhart's office."

"But we've still been feeling your emotions this whole time," Hermione told him.

They fell silent for a time as the four of them considered that information before Harry finally offered a hesitant suggestion. "Do you… do you think this might be the result of what I did after my birthday?" he asked, hesitant to be more detailed in front of Neville, something their friend easily picked up on.

"I think I'm going to head to bed," he said as he stood and picked up the book he had been reading while they waited for Harry to return from his detention.

"Neville, you don't have to go-"

"No, Harry," Neville cut him off. "Look. You four are very open about your bond around me, and I appreciate that, it shows me how much you trust me and how much our friendship means to you. But I don't need to know everything, and I know there's things in your past, Harry, that you're not comfortable with others knowing." He let out a short chuckle. "Hell, I'm sure there's things you're not even comfortable talking with them about, yet," he added with a wave of one hand to indicate the three girls.

"You're not hurting my feelings. I'm positive you'll talk to me when and if you ever feel like it, but unless something comes up that requires me to know, I don't ever need to know, to be your friend. Besides, it's past midnight, and I'm tired, so I'm fine just heading to bed. I'll see you all in the morning for training?" He looked at them expectantly and Harry nodded.

"Six o'clock, unless you want to join me for some physical training as well, in that case I get up at five."

Neville made a face at that and shook his head. "I'll consider it," he said. "But probably not tomorrow. I'd like a little more rest before I try to take on what you were describing." He gave them a wave and with a round of 'goodnights', turned and headed up the stairs to the dorm, leaving the four of them alone in the common room.

"When you forced the bond open further this summer," Daphne started. "We're thinking this is the result? Harry can't close it anymore?"

"Which isn't exactly a bad thing," Hermione added. "But it does raise more questions." She sighed and leaned forward. "We've never found anything really solid on Soul Bonds," she mused, thoughtfully. "I've looked, but we've had other concerns so it hasn't really been a huge focus. I think it's time we really try to find some more solid information on what's happening and what we can expect in the future. There have been some scattered reports of bonded couples exhibiting extra abilities, enhanced magical strength, even sharing thoughts and memories but it's all very muddled."

Harry nodded.

"I think we need to go see Madadam Pomfrey tomorrow, too," Daphne interjected causing the rest of them to turn their attention to her. "Last year she wanted to see us to do some scans and get a baseline for us and the bond itself. We never did make that appointment and it would probably be a good idea if we took care of that as soon as possible "

Harry, Hermione and Susan nodded as Harry stood and picked up his robes. "All right, first thing after breakfast tomorrow morning?" he asked and the girls nodded their agreement.

They all said goodnight and split at the stairs as Harry trudged up to the boys dorm while the girls headed for their own. He changed quickly in the dark into his sleep clothes with the sound of Ron's snores echoing in his ears before he climbed into bed, pulled the curtains closed and cast a silencing charm to block out the noise before he settled down to sleep.

Long into the night he stared up at the darkened canopy as his thoughts whirled around in his head. I really hope I didn't damage our bond, somehow, he thought, just before exhaustion finally caught up with him and he slipped into the land of dreams, his sleep broken by the same visions of horror that had plagued him for nearly a year, now joined by a disembodied voice that he could never find as it hunted the girls that had come to mean more to him than anyone he'd ever known.