Summary - It seems that Harry had not been the same ever since his seventeen birthday. What could have caused it? Forgot to mention, it's SLASH!
Disclaimer: I do not own this story of Harry Potter, it belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 3: Events covered up
"Urgh.... I can't believe I went and attend Nearly Headless Nick's Halloween party last night. I should have known better since we had attended that in our second year. How are you doing, Ron? Alright there?" whispered Harry.
"mmf.. fine. Look ... ftr... u... self." said Ron while gagging over his contents into the bowl.
"I'm fine now. Though I'm still not that well. I think breakfast would do the trick. I am quite famished."
"Aww... I don't think breakfast looks that good to me. Catch you later when I'm finished here." Gasped Ron and going for second round at the gagging contest.
At the Great Hall.
"Where's Ron?" asked Hermione.
"Not well from last night's gorging on the midnight snacks we filched from the kitchen after that feast at Nick's party."
"Well, you guys wanted to go against my advice. See what happens?" Hermione retorted with her 'I-told-you-so' expression.
"Oh, come on, 'Mione. It is our last year after all. We will never be coming back here as a student anymore. Let's have fun with the ghosts as well as our Hogwarts' Halloween party. We went to two parties, remember? Though the first part of the evening is much better than our second part of it. The midnight snacks crown it all."
"Oh for Merlin's sake! Get a grip there. Reality checks. We are almost an adult. Eh? I still hadn't got an explanation from Ron about that wizards' birthright. Mind if you can get Ron to meet me later in the library. Neville explained a bit but that 'gay' bit was not so clear."
"Oh sure, 'Mione! Just let me finish my breakfast first." Harry combined liver pate with marmalade on his bread and ate that unusual pairing with relish. He continued eating pickled gherkins and mayonnaise in his cereal.
"Are you sure you can eat it like this? Harry, you have been behaving very oddly lately. At the beginning of the term, you barely ate a thing and now, you are eating up odd assortments of food. Are you alright?" Hermione exclaimed.
"Never better, 'Mione. I feel great. I feel a yearning for these 'odd assortments of food' that you said. I don't generally get to combine my food this way at Dursleys', you know."
"Alright, Harry. If you said you are alright, I believe you. Just..., just don't keep doing that, it makes me feel positively ill."
"I try, 'Mione, I try."
Later that night, after Quidditch practice, both Ron and Harry were taking a shower together after a strenuous practice.
"Eh, Harry, what is that mark there, right under your heart?" queried Ron.
"What? I didn't notice that. What is it?" puzzled Harry.
"It looks like a blue circle. It looks new."
"I don't know. I don't any marks on my body." Harry said very quickly.
"Are you sure? Could it be a bruise from the practice?"
"Maybe. I will give it a check later."
"You'd better. You must look after yourself, you know. Should you need any help, you know where we are."
"Yes, I will. Thank you, Ron."
Later, after Ron had left the bathroom, Harry quickly whispered a locking charm which stopped anyone from coming into the room. He looked hard in the mirror, searching for the mark that Ron had said about. It was a bright blue circle, just under his heart, right at the spot he always kissed every night without fail. He looked worried. With another wave of his wand, the concealing charms that he had cast earlier while on Hogwarts Express disappeared. His body was hideous, full of scars that were many and long, though all the wounds had healed. That 'mark' looked to be new and not part of the many cuts and bruises that he got while in the summer holidays, nor did it looked like a bruise.
He reflected back on when he started getting these marks...
The first night back in the Dursleys, he had a nightmare. His lightning bolt mark on his head burned as if on fire. He started to have a dream about Voldermort. He saw Professor Snape hit by Cruciatus curse many times and his heart cried at the sight. He was helpless and all he could do was watched the scenes unfolded before him. He seemed to know that he was Professor Snape even though he was wearing a mask in the dream.
Somehow, Voldermort had started to get very interested in the sight of blood that was inflicted via muggle means. He made Professor Snape picked up the whip to flog the muggle child that his followers had brought in. He laughed a lot when streams of bloods started to flow out of the body and he stepped up to drink the blood even as the terrified child was watching him.
As he drank, he started to have a more humane feature on his face. He was deliriously happy about that and ordered his followers to get more innocents children for his youth regaining campaign. He threw another Cruciatus curse at Professor Snape for not brewing him this potion that he got from another Potions Master that he killed.
Harry woke up from that dream screaming and felt the effects from all the curses and whippings. He felt some liquids flowing from his back. He touched them and his fingers came away with blood, the effect looked quite horrifyingly in the moonlighted night.
That dream was the beginning of the many dreams he will have over the summer holidays. There were a lot of beatings, whippings and curses that came from the dreams. Not even the Occulmency lessons he had learnt from Professor Snape were able to block them. It was as if Voldermort wanted Harry to suffer for stalling his attempts to become the greatest lord over the wizarding world.
As a result, his body is now a big maze of cuts and bruises. Wounds that cannot be healed immediately became scars as the dreams happened every night, his wounds hardly had the time to fully heal before being opened again. Furthermore, he was not allowed to use magic outside school.
He saw Professor Snape a lot in those dreams and his heart cried for him for having to perform such horrendous acts for Voldermort. He felt closer to Professor Snape for what he had to do while spying for Dumbledore. Just before Harry's birthday, Voldermort looked like a human, though his eyes remained blood red.
On the eve of Harry's birthday, he didn't want to have those dreams on that day and tried to stay awake, but somehow, his eyelids drooped right at midnight. When he opened his eyes again, he saw a blinding white ball whirling towards him, he tried to move but it had come straight at his heart. The sensations were full of warmth and love. He couldn't help but feel wonderful at having such feelings.
Only after this event, his mind unconsciously clinging to one person, he no longer had any more dreams about Voldermort. His wounds managed to heal naturally before the school actually opens.
Right when he got on the Hogwarts Express, he quickly cast a concealing charm to cover all his scars and bruises. He didn't want his friends to be worried over these scars.
"Hey! Who locked the rooms? I want to take a shower after falling into the lake. Eww. That was cold! Open up!" Seamus shouted.
"Hang on! I am coming out!" Snapping out of his reverie, Harry quickly shouted back. He quickly cast a concealing charm, and in the process, his 'blue circle' was also concealed.
That night, he came to Harry again. Without any words spoken, he hugged and started touching me desperately and his eyes looked so sad. It was as if it was our last night together. He did the same thing he had done over the weeks and left very quickly after that...
In the morning, in the Great Hall, Professor Dumbledore stood up. Thus making the Great Hall silent in seconds as the headmaster do not stand up at mealtimes except for making an announcement.
"I regret to inform you that Professor Snape will be unable to teach today. All potions classes are suspended for a week until a replacement teacher can come."
Author's note:
Thank you, serena23, DCfern, Velze, I would update as soon as I could.