Touched by Death – Chapter 12
The rumors were getting ridiculous and the entire school knew exactly which Slytherin was friends with the "Harry Potter."
There was more speculation on how Potter managed to become friends with Flint. Even within Slytherin, Flint could be vicious and cruel. The Slytherins could tell something had shifted months ago and now they knew why. Flint had become calmer and more collected, less hesitant to throw out a curse. Course, that never stopped the Slytherin from cursing someone. But they noticed one thing that never changed, his determination to protect those under his charge. And apparently Flint saw Potter as one of his charges. The only Slytherins that complained was Malfoy and Parkinson. It wasn't too much of a surprise, after all everyone knew there was a rivalry between Malfoy and Potter.
Thankfully, the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs never bothered the small Gryffindor. They were terrified of Flint afterall and they didn't want to imagine Flint's wrath if they tried to ask Potter about it.
The worst house about it was Gryffindor.
It didn't take long for Harry to be questioned about the rumors. One thing was for certain, someone caught the idea that this friendship was the reason Gryffindor lost last year.
"You lost on purpose?!" Katie screeched.
"Are you surprised!? Half of this fucking team was attacking me. Settles part of the score, don't it? Gryffindor didn't win the Quidditch Cup or the House Cup. Slytherin did." Harry's comment was practically vengeful.
The Quidditch team was stunned into silence. Though Fred and George were excluded, no doubt pranking some unaware student.
"Why would you do that to Gryffindor?"
"Why not!" Harry hissed out. "What has Gryffindor done to help me? It was a Slytherin that helped and protected me. Oh, how Gryffindor has sunken. There is no bravery anymore, only filled with bloody cowards."
Harry automatically had four wands pointed at him.
The small Gryffindor didn't look impressed. "I wouldn't if I were you. You already have a vicious Head of House on your arse. I hate to think what would happen if you received her wrath once more. After all, there were some precious positions lost. And I have a tracker in something that Marcus gave me. What's worse than a protective Head of House, a protective Snake that will do anything necessary to keep me safe… Just imagine the curses Slytherin would know, all because you lot harmed one of his charges…"
Harry noticed that the grips on their wands had slackened, almost hesitant to do anything. There were looks of disbelief.
The moment was almost opportune when the Head Boy walked in and his eyes immediately narrowed to Harry.
"What is going on here?" the voice was harsh.
"Percy," Harry said with delight. "We were having the most interesting conversation. Apparently, my former team isn't too pleased with me quitting. I almost didn't think I make it out of the Common Room alive. And here I thought it would be Sirius Black killing me. And I already have a worried Slytherin after me, I rather not have the portrait blasted off after all."
Percy made a small hmph noise, slightly amused. "I will take that into deep consideration. I believe Mr. Flint is awaiting your arrival outside the portrait. As he did look indeed irritated. I do believe Professor McGonagall would love to have a word with her team at the present moment."
"Thanks, Perce," Harry's comment sounded genuine as he raced out of Gryffindor Tower.
The Gryffindor rolled his eyes at seeing Marcus' disgruntled looked. "Dare I ask why you literally went to Gryffindor Tower?"
"Because trying to find you is to near impossible," Marcus snapped.
"If you know where to look," Harry commented.
"You do realize that Black has been spotted near Hogwarts," the Slytherin asked.
"Huh? Wonder if he'll try to break into Hogwarts?"
"Its probably why he came out here. Doubtful he broke out to just have a chat with his Godson."
"Don't have to be so vain. Maybe he really is after Pettigrew. But why would Black think he's here?"
"Why don't you ask someone who fucking knows," Marcus shot at Harry.
"Yeah, yeah," Harry muttered. "That'll only happen if I meet the man."
"Obviously," Marcus drawled.
"Sarcasm is not a humbling trait," Harry teased.
"Like I fucking care."
"Your personality is so nice to hear. Must be why the Slytherins are so endeared to you," Harry remarked.
Marcus rolled his eyes, "dumb ass Gryffindors," he muttered.
"Looks like the Gryffindors found out how they lost," Harry said brightly.
"And how did they take that?" Marcus said, curious.
"As well as expected."
Marcus snorted, "not very well, then."
"If you count four wands pointed at me and outnumbered," Harry commented.
If one was to look at Marcus, you may say he looked murderous and that someone may vanish within the night.
"If they cursed you…" Marcus let his threat hang.
"They didn't. Percy and Professor McGonagall sorted them out. And the fact they're probably terrified of you. I can't imagine why," Harry explained.
"I dare say you gained the respect of most of Slytherin House," the prefect remarked.
Harry almost tripped in shock, "say what!? How the hell did I manage that?"
Marcus snorted in amusement, "it's not hard when Slytherin House suddenly finds out that the 'Boy-Who-Lived' guaranteed their victory in the Quidditch and House Cup last year."
Harry looked thoughtful, "that'll probably do it. But that won't stop your house from looking at me in suspicion. I am a Gryffindor after all."
"And I'm a Slytherin…" Marcus retorted as if that answered the question.
Harry rolled his eyes, "whatever. It's not like Gryffindor can accuse me of cheating now. I'm not even on the bloody team, anymore. I'm positive that Gryffindor will lose again with Slytherin in the lead."
Marcus snorted, "most of those bloody rumors were ridiculous. I'm shocked someone actually got the truth. And considering that Slytherin is already in the lead, it won't be hard."
"Well, it's not too hard to believe if someone connected the events together," Harry pointed out.
"Not a Gryffindor though, they aren't that smart," Marcus bit back.
"You be surprised. I believe it was one of the Ravenclaws and course Percy, Fred, and George figured it out."
Marcus looked surprised. "Percy Weasley… a bit pompous for a Head Boy."
The small Gryffindor laughed at that, "True. But it could be worse. But Percy looks at me like I'm his younger brother. So he can be a bit protective, though he tries not to show it. I bet you don't like him because he doesn't like Quidditch."
"That has nothing to do with it," Marcus growled.
Harry didn't believe a word, "and being obsessed with Quidditch does?"
"I am not Oliver Wood!" Marcus snapped.
"Nobody is obsessed as Wood. But you didn't deny that you disliked Percy because he doesn't like Quidditch."
"You're impossible…" Marcus shook his head.
Harry grinned, "and I'm off to Transfiguration."
With nobody around did Harry lean up to peck the Slytherin's lips.
Professor McGonagall was vicious come the Transfiguration lesson. Harry didn't need to know why the Transfiguration professor was in a bad mood. Considering that Percy said she would be speaking his 'former' team. Harry assumed that she spoke with them momentarily after he left the Common Room.
Harry didn't have the chance to look at the hourglass yet, but he wouldn't be surprised to see that Gryffindor was down by one-hundred points or more. No doubt Marcus would be grinning if that happened. Though Harry probably would describe Marcus being more ecstatic about it. The Gryffindor wouldn't be surprised if Slytherin House was trying to get back their winning streak, six or seven years in a row if he remembered correctly. Though if the team was banned from playing for the year, that was a possibility that Harry didn't know anything about.
Harry knew that everyone was keeping their utter attention of Professor McGonagall and her irritated mood was duly noted. Nobody really dared to mess around in her class on a good day, so the notion wasn't in anyone's minds. And it looked like today, McGonagall was covering the lecture about the Felifors charm. There probably wouldn't be a practical demonstration until the next class. But there were no groans when the professor required an essay as homework. The small Gryffindor knew the class wasn't lucky there wasn't more, seeing teachers tended to go haywire the closer exams got.
Harry had begun to dig into his trunk. The school year was already after Yule, a holiday that Marcus had lectured about to him. Apparently, it was a Wizarding tradition to try to become more in tune with magic. It had felt like time was passing by fast and that brought Harry to pull out what he was looking for. It was a worn-out piece of parchment that Fred and George had gifted him before the truth came out about quitting Quidditch. Harry had been too busy to actually look at it and test it out himself. But Fred and George had shown him how to activate and deactivate the map.
It was already late at night and that's when Harry started to believe in Marcus' theory more. There on the map was the name, Peter Pettigrew. The Gryffindor didn't know how Pettigrew could have gotten into Hogwarts. But he wanted to find out, after all its not like Black was really after him. Though the possibility that Pettigrew may want to kill never crossed the 13-year-old's mind.
The after events made Harry want to know if his luck was cursed or if his surname was. Harry never found where Pettigrew was, though they could be because he was looking for a person and not a rat. But Harry wound up coming face to face with his least favorite professor, Professor Snape. The Gryffindor didn't dare to raise up to Snape's taunts, though they weren't as harsh as they use to be. Harry thought maybe he earned some of Snape's respect begrudgingly. Snape was after all gleeful that Slytherin won not only the Quidditch cup, but the House one as well.
It was when the next professor showed up did Harry's heart begin to sink. He respected Professor Lupin a lot and the professor looked at him with disappointment. It didn't help that Professor Snape took the Marauder's Map right out of his hands, filled with the insults from the Marauders. There was a small part of him that was glad Lupin took the Map from Snape's hands. That was when his Defense professor had him follow him, most likely the DADD classroom.
Harry knew there was probably a lecture coming from his favorite professor. But the lecture itself started to ignite his temper. A temper that he apparently inherited from his mother.
First came the confusion on how Professor Lupin knew it to be a map, even though it saved him from a detention from Professor Snape. No, the part that made Harry mad was one, that Professor Lupin was under the impression that he was in danger of Black. The second was the blow that he was throwing away his parents sacrifices. Most the time Harry didn't know what to feel about his parents, considering he never really knew them.
At the moment Harry didn't think that most people were still under the impression that Black was after him, despite that Marcus and he knew differently.
"I'm not dishonoring my parent's sacrifice and that seems to be a low blow to consider that I would. And how would you know what my parents would think? They're dead! It's not like I can ask what they think of what I'm doing!," Harry snapped.
Professor Lupin was stunned into silence. If there was any response from the Gryffindor, this definitely wasn't it. Of course, it was Remus' fault that Harry didn't know he was one of James' best friends. It was too painful for him to even think about mentioning to Harry that he was one of his dad's best friends. Even despite that Remus had instructed Harry on the Patronus charm, never once did he mention he knew James. And so, the response hit Remus hard and it didn't miss his notice that Harry had Lily's temper.
Harry was glaring at his professor. Even the small attempt of Remus claiming Sirius was after him to murder him, did not faze the Gryffindor.
"Good excuse on that one. That would scare me if Black was actually after me," Harry's sarcasm was heavy.
Harry probably would have felt sorry for his professor if he wasn't so mad. It wasn't hard to miss the stunned blank look Professor Lupin had.
"What? How?!"
Harry's anger minimized for a moment. His professor looked so lost. Maybe his professor knew this Sirius Black and his dad.
"Funny how everyone seems to think Sirius Black is after me and follows Voldemort. But the man despises anything to do with the dark arts. Maybe the real person you should be looking for is Peter Pettigrew," Harry said calmly.
"How could you possibly know that Sirius Black isn't after you?"
"I have my sources, good ones."
Professor Lupin had gained some of his bearings back, "You can't trust the words of a Slytherin. And you should know a dead man cannot return from the dead, Harry. You're confused."
"I'm not confused! And to think I felt sorry for you. I don't know if you knew this Sirius Black or my dad. Apparently not. This is why I don't trust adults. They never believe you! And you know nothing about Slytherins. You're just as prejudice as Gryffindor House. Shows what you know. And for your information it was a Slytherin that saved my life countless of times, not a Gryffindor. A Gryffindor rather sever it." Harry snapped, his anger fuming.
"I know James a lot better than you since I went to school with him and was one of his best friends," Lupin snapped, ignoring the Slytherin comment. Though Lupin silently wondered why Harry said a Gryffindor would rather sever his life than save it.
Harry was taken back and felt hurt. It was like a slap to the face.
Professor Lupin wanted to take his words back. But the damage was already done. "Harry…"
"You can go to fucking hell! And to think I could trust you. You're just like every other fucking Gryffindor in this damn school," Harry didn't even wait to see what his Defense professor would say. He stormed of the classroom, fuming all the way to Gryffindor Tower.
One thing was for sure, Peter Pettigrew was alive and in the castle. And Harry had no way of finding him without the map that he left with Professor Lupin. The young Gryffindor was silently cursing his stupidity for leaving the map with the man. But there was nothing he could do about it right now, hopefully the man wasn't aware how to activate the thing. Though Harry wasn't sure if he really wanted to try find the man. No doubt Marcus would curse him black and blue if he tried, providing the Slytherin hadn't already found out.
Turns out Marcus did hear about Harry wandering the corridors late at night. The Slytherin wasn't too pleased about it, especially when Harry finally told him that he saw Pettigrew on this map he had. That didn't stop Marcus from being automatically intrigued at the idea of there being a map of Hogwarts. The Slytherin wasn't too downhearted that the map was taken by a professor, knowing Harry, he would somehow get it back. Though, Marcus didn't doubt that sometime this year, Harry would be able to talk to this godfather of his.
When Harry finally told Marcus about what happened that night, some of it made sense. Their defense professor looked a bit downhearted and now Marcus understood why. Then of course Marcus' Head of House looked gleeful, no doubt the Potions professor found out a little what Harry said to Lupin. Everyone already knew that Professor Snape didn't like Professor Lupin, though nobody knew why.
Marcus did make it clear to Harry that he didn't want him anywhere near Pettigrew. Marcus may have the inclination that Sirius would never harm Harry, but that didn't apply to Pettigrew. Marcus was fully aware that Sirius was probably never the Potter's secret keeper. That must mean Pettigrew was the culprit. Though Marcus didn't have any evidence to support this. Despite that he had already told Harry all of this already. The older Slytherin didn't regret telling Harry either, seeing as nobody thought to tell the Gryffindor in the first place.
The small Gryffindor wound up wandering the corridors before silently groaning. He had been trying to avoid Hermione and Ron since their last 'discussion.' Harry knew he couldn't avoid them forever, seeing as they attended most of his classes and shared the tower with them. Harry had hoped that he wouldn't have to speak to Ron at all, though.
"What do you want now?" Harry said with a harsh tongue.
Hermione looked taken back and Ron just stood there awkwardly. No doubt Hermione forced Ron to come with her.
"We wanted to talk to you. I heard about what happened in the Common Room earlier and I wanted to let you know I'm sorry," Hermione almost whispered.
"Don't you mean that you wanted to talk to me, I have no interest in talking to Ron and I doubt he wants to see me. After all I'm apparently consorting with Slytherins and he doesn't think I'm a Gryffindor anymore," Harry drawled.
Ron looked like he wanted to retort, but was hushed by an intense glare by Hermione.
"And what could you possibly be sorry about. That maybe you eavesdropped on me without my permission and couldn't let me tell you stuff on my own. Stuff that I may be still trying to sort out with everything going on…" Harry snapped.
"And like you haven't been hiding stuff too!" Ron growled. "We already know that you hid the fact you quit the Quidditch team and Divination. And the fact you are so chummy with a slimy snake. Someone's who probably evil and a death eater!"
"Ron!" Hermione yelled, scandalized.
"You know it's the truth, Hermione! Just like the precious 'Boy-Who-Lived' still can't tell us that he's planning to become a stupid Healer. Everyone knows that James Potter was an Auror. Afraid to follow in your father's footsteps. Or is it because he's dead that you're scared…"
Ron never got to finish what he said, because Harry had his wand out and cursed the Red-head.
"For your information, Weasley," Harry snarled with contempt. "I am not following my precious daddy's footsteps because I am sick of death and the idea that someone is trying to kill me. Maybe I want a career away from that and be able to heal and not harm something. And you say something about that again… those curses won't be the only ones you'll feel. Might want to be careful when eating, I hear it won't be too pleasant of an experience."
Hermione looked beyond shocked and Ron was too busy puking up slugs again to say anything.
Harry looked a little content, he had used a mixture of three curses or charms, technically. One of them was the curse that Ron tried to use against Malfoy last year. The second was the curse that Marcus had used last year, the Defloccatus curse, a curse that made someone's hair fall off. And the last curse was something Marcus had told Harry about. It would make the target feel like anything they ate or drink taste like vinegar. The small Gryffindor still felt outraged about this confrontation, but least he gotten some payback of his own. Harry was slightly curious what Marcus would think, no doubt he would find the entire thing hilarious.
The last thing Harry noticed as he went to dinner was the hourglass for Gryffindor. Half of their points were gone. That had to be over two-hundred points deducted. The raven winced slightly, Professor McGonagall probably was furious when Percy told her. That encounter would probably not be the nicest to witness, seeing most would never want the ire of the Transfiguration professor directed at them. The house of Gryffindor would not be happy. Harry found he didn't really care if Gryffindor lost or not, but Snape looked awfully smug. The Gryffindor couldn't honestly blame the Potions professor. Harry did wonder if Fred and George would find his curses funny or not. Knowing the twins, they probably would find it hilarious and try to outdo his spells.