Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from the Harry Potter books and/or movies is not mine.

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A/N: I think my ego has grown slightly. So much positive feedback has me giddy at the moment. Everyone's encouragement and guidance has really helped me out. Special thanks go to those who were kind enough to help me out with understanding my story (You know who you guys are).

Anyways, this will more than likely be the last update until next weekend - I work all week and I'll be too tired and exhausted to write anything until Friday or Saturday. Sorry about that, guys. I've gotten really into this story, so more than likely, I'll be plotting the upcoming chapters in my mind all week.

Thanks to Cherri202, hittocerebattosai, Deep Red, HarbringerLady, Jenniyah, enchantedlight, I-Y-T-Y, KikiLala, The Wandmaker, Lily's Secretkeeper, Kail Ceannai, funkmasterjo, choco-crush, 00mrdragon00, illachi, over-mist, Blaise le poussin masque, Anave Lipad, Lyla Snape, DaughterofDeath, StolenDreamer, Unicorn'sWhisper, and Queen of Monkey Magic for the wonderful reviews!

twoinonegotwoinonegotwoinonegotwoinonegotwoinonegotwoinonego

Preternatural

By: xScenex

Chapter Ten: Two in one Go

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Previously:

"Luna?" he called out to her. She turned around but continued to walk. Harry knew she was listening. "Just so you know… I'll do my best to get your Harry back."

He couldn't see her expression from such a distance. There was a stretch of silence and just as he thought she hadn't heard him, she called out, "I'll be waiting."

And she disappeared into the darkness.

Harry sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. He was slowly learning more, but the more and more he found out about Gaia's Mirror and the world he was in, the more he hated it. Maybe his old life had been better…

Eventually, he set off to the castle, his mind filled with fears and questions. But the night would not be over for Harry.

Because He awaited the boy's return.

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Harry walked slowly up to the front doors of the castle. His mind was now nothing more than a whirlwind of confusion as his mind kept racking up different conclusions to what the Mirror of Gaia was.

Luna's mother's notes had said something about Gaia and Khaos, and Luna herself had told him that Gaia was life and Tantalus was death. They had both been turned into objects… so did that mean that Gaia's Mirror wasn't the only one Voldemort was after? Does that mean that the adults, such as Dumbledore, only knew of one? If Gaia was one, does that mean that Khaos was the other?

Harry scratched at his head slowly, mulling the idea over in his mind. It made a bit of sense, but it was kind of hard to accept in his mind. He wished that Luna was still there with him; he needed someone to speak to about it.

He pushed the doors open enough so that his thin frame could slip through without making too much noise. The castle's interior was dark, as most students had gone up to their dormitories by now for sleep or to finish up late homework assignments.

Harry looked left and right, making sure the coast was clear. He saw no movement through any of the halls, so he started forward, his light footsteps sounding like small clicks through the corridor he turned down.

There were a few torches still lit, but he knew that once Filch came through the hall for his night inspection, they would be turned out. He was lucky to have made it back in before the man had made his rounds.

Sighing tiredly, Harry hurried along the halls. He was now feeling quite tired. His mind was drained from too much thinking and he had a slight headache. But he ignored it, knowing that it wouldn't go away for a while yet, and there was no way he'd go to the nurse for something to help it.

He shook his head as the mere thought of Madam Pomfrey. What had been going on that morning? He had no idea of what was happening with the adults, but he was determined to find out about it.

Harry wondered for a slight moment if the adults thought he was a complete mental case. What Luna had said earlier - 'The adults think you're just having a mental breakdown…' Just having one? Harry snorted with amusement. Was he really that horrible when it came to being himself?

Harry didn't think there was too much wrong with himself. Yeah, he knew he was too skinny and thought too much on the issues at hand. He had a hero complex, sure, but what was to be expected from someone like him? He'd been in the dark most of his life, afraid that horrible things would happen to him and people around him at the slightest thing done wrong. He just couldn't help it.

And what did Sirius think of him now? He hadn't spoken to his Godfather since their argument, and he was worried. Should he send him a letter, apologizing again? Or would it be best to just ride it out until his Godfather came back to see him?

If he wants to, Harry thought bitterly to himself while rubbing his eyes sleepily. He wouldn't blame the man for not coming back. He'd been a real arsehole that morning to the man and it was only natural to hate him. He felt his eyes prickle momentarily at the thought that Sirius hated him. Sirius was all he had family wise to count on, and it was a blow to his exhausted mind to finally think that he would be loathed.

He rubbed angrily at his face then, forcing himself to stop acting childish. So what if Sirius was mad? If he was going to be angry at Harry for that, then let him be. He'd get over it, right?

Right?

And what about Luna? How did she feel about her Harry being gone? He knew that she was accepting with the supernatural, but she was human. How did she bear the feelings of loss?

But she didn't hate him, that was a plus. Sighing heavily, the boy shook his head. Everything would eventually get better. He just had to straighten it all out.

Harry felt a bit doubtful, but decided to stop thinking such things. He needed some sleep before he really did have a breakdown right then and there in the middle of the hall.

The Gryffindor turned a corner, still desperately trying to ignore the small doubts in his mind. He was nearing the Gryffindor tower, and barely noticed when someone stepped out of the shadows in front of him.

After taking a double take, he stopped in his tracks.

"You're out late, Potter," came an icy voice. Harry felt the hair on the back of his neck raise at the voice.

"So are you," he stated stiffly. He tried to peer into the darkness, but the face of the stranger was concealed. The voice was familiar, too familiar for his liking.

"You look a bit pale," the stranger stated in a tone of obviousness. "Maybe you should go see the nurse."

"Malfoy," Harry ground out in hate. The arrogant attitude finally clicked into place.

"What's wrong? Scared the Nurse will give you more potions? You need it, Potter. You're nothing but a mental case here. They should ship you over to St. Mungo's right now, I say."

"I don't give a bloody fuck what you think, Malfoy," Harry growled, feeling a deep stab to his heart. He hated being called that - he was not insane!

The other boy stepped out of the shadows and was mildly surprised, Harry could see. But a spark of mischief came into Malfoy's misty eyes. "Since when did you grow a backbone?"

"Since I got sick of your shit," Harry told the Slytherin, his voice hard.

Malfoy sneered, "You've got a foul mouth, Potter. You better watch what you say."

Harry shook his head. He was cranky, he'd admit that. But he was tired and exhausted, and dealing with Malfoy right before bed wasn't on his top ten to-do list.

"What do you want?" Harry asked with annoyance lining every syllable.

The blonde walked forward a bit. His face was shadowed with the flicking light of a nearby torch. "I want to know what you know, Potter."

He was surprised, to say the least. "What I know?"

"Don't act stupid," Malfoy ground out. "I want to know what you've overheard the teachers talking about. I saw you that night, listening to Dumbledore and that new defense teacher. And you and that Lovegood were talking about something out there. I watched you. I know that you know something."

Harry felt his skin prickle at the thought of Malfoy eavesdropping so easily on him. He thought he had trained himself to keep an eye out for things like that.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he stated calmly.

Malfoy grimaced angrily. He moved forward, grabbing Harry's shoulders with a vice grip. "Don't lie to me. Just because you've gotten more guts, I wont put up with it. Tell me what you know."

Harry's shoulders ached with the grip, but he kept his face straight, although his body tensed. His eyes narrowed and dulled in color.

"No."

Malfoy gave a frustrated yell and slammed Harry back into the wall, efficiently pinning him against it. The Gryffindor felt the cold stone scrape against his back as he was pushed. He hissed in pain as dots of white danced in his eyes and the air in his lungs was forcibly knocked out.

"Potter, I'm giving you one chance - tell me what you heard and what you know, or you'll regret it for the rest of your life!"

"Why should I tell you anything?" Harry uttered as he pressed weakly against Malfoy's chest with his thin hands, trying to shove him away. It was no use though and the boy let his hands drop to his sides after a few moments. He couldn't fight the boy off physically.

The Slytherin's face was twisted angrily. "Well?"

He pulled Harry's body towards his momentarily before slamming him hard against the wall again. This time, Harry let out a cry of distress and struggled against the hold with all the strength he could muster while reaching into his pocket for his wand.

Malfoy noticed this and used his knee to pin the hand against the wall as well. His hands slid down to Harry's upper arms, holding them against his sides so that he couldn't try getting his wand again. Harry continued to struggle for a few more minutes, but the Slytherin's hold only grew tighter.

"Why are you doing this?" Harry felt his body weaken against the other boy's grasp. If he didn't have such a hard grip on Harry, he was sure he would have fallen over. He breathed heavily, almost laboriously from his efforts.

"Potter, I have to know - what did you learn about the mirror?" Draco hissed.

There was a moments silence, the only noise heard being the arduous breathing from the dark haired boy and the sizzling cracks from the torches.

"I don't know much," Harry eventually ground out between breathing.

"But you know something," he whispered, his face inching closer to Harry's. Their eyes locked and Malfoy glared down at the shorter boy. "What have you learned?"

Harry stared up, unsure if he should answer. He couldn't get out of the situation. Would it be best to answer? Or to lie and try to get away? But he knew that Malfoy's family was dark - he couldn't just give information to the enemy.

"I wont tell you," Harry told the other boy. "I wont allow you to win this."

Harry stared intensely at the Slytherin. His face was set as stone and his eyes were narrowed angrily. They stood, silent, for half a minute more.

Harry's arms throbbed and ached. Harry decided to break the silence, "If you want to know about it, you can't just force it out of me."

"Potter--"

"No, Malfoy," Harry interrupted angrily. He shook a few strands of hair out of his face before continuing. "You can't do this - you can't force someone to do as you want. I wont tell you what I know and you can't make me."

"Oh yeah?"

Harry nodded stubbornly, his jaw set to determination. He was tired of being walked on in this world. He needed to show them that he wasn't a weak boy.

The other boy's eyes were hard with fury, and he pulled back away from Harry roughly. The movement was rough enough to cause the raven haired boy to fall to his knee's before he had time to brace himself.

"I'll find out, Potter," Malfoy whispered venomously. "One way or another, you will tell me."

With those last words, the Slytherin walked away, his school robes scraping against the stone floor. Harry watched him go, utterly lost.

That was one of the oddest run-ins he'd ever had. Malfoy hadn't even tried to curse him! That in itself was unusual.

Shaking his head slowly and propping himself up a bit with his shaky arms, he sighed. He wasn't ever going to get used to the people in this place. Every time he thought he had them figured out, they'd do something that would surprise him.

Minutes later, Harry pulled himself up from the cold floor and continued on his way to the Gryffindor common room, even more fatigued that before. It didn't take him too long to get there without any more incident, and he was grateful when he found that no one else was in the common room.

He paused after the portrait hole closed. Staring up at the boy's staircase, he contemplated about going up there. He'd already had a run-in with Ron and the other boys, and he wasn't sure how they would react towards him now.

Harry decided it would be best for both him, and the others if he slept in the common room that night. He didn't feel like making anyone else angry at him.

The boy made his way over to one of the large armchairs by the roaring fire and settled down on it, covering himself up with his robe. He stared tiredly at the flames, his mind finally settling to a numb silence.

He had no idea of how long he sat there, mesmerized by the fire, but eventually he slipped off to sleep, into the world of dreams.

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A metallic sound echoed around him. It was dark everywhere. His heartbeat quickened as he felt a sense of oddness around him. There was something not right - something in the air just tasted wrong.

He looked around, but saw only black.

"Hello?" he called out, hoping for an answer. None came.

He turned around in fruitless attempts to find anyone or anything. He reached out with shaking hands, desperate to find something solid besides the ground under his feet. There was nothing.

"Someone?"

Click… click… click…

That noise. It sounded distant, yet close at the same time. What was it?

Click… click… click…

He took a small step forward, his feet awkwardly feeling the ground before him in assurance that he wouldn't plunge head first down a hole. He felt the air around him shift to allow him to move. It was an odd feeling, he noted.

He walked slowly for a while, getting nowhere but somewhere at the same time. He was desperate to find out where he was - he didn't like the feeling of black pressure all around him.

Click… click… cli…

The feeling of suffocation enveloped him and he felt a panic rise up into this throat. He shook his head, but felt a cold terror rise up in him. Something was there. That distant noise stopped, and a thud came from somewhere behind him.

He whipped around, eyes wide in the dark.

But he saw nothing.

"Who's there?" his voice echoed out.

A grounding sound, like stone against stone came to his ears. What was it?

"Nguh…"

The hair on his neck rose at the sound. It wasn't a natural, human, or animal sound. He turned heel and fled into the darkness, away from whatever the thing was. He ran and ran, unsure of where he was headed, but only knowing it was away from it.

Then he ran into something, and warm arms encircled him.

"Help!" he cried out in terror.

"Hush," a calm, soothing voice. "It's alright, I'm here now."

He stopped and looked up into the darkness. He couldn't see who it was, but the warmth of the body ensured protection. He didn't want to be let go.

He rested his forehead against what he guessed was the persons chest. He felt affection in his heart, though why, he was uncertain.

"Don't let it get me," he whispered, his heart beating with the mere idea.

"Don't worry, Harry, I wont…"

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A/N: So… this chapter isn't great, but I thought it was alright. It took longer to do, because first of all - I had re-written it because I didn't like it the first time, then my computer crashed again (surprise surprise) but I was smart this time and had it saved onto a disk. Except for it was the first version, so I had to re-do that as well, but it's decent enough (not as great as the first re-write though).

That last bit in the italics is another dream sequence, in case anyone was wondering. It's a bit confusing.

Now in case you're wondering why I left the chapter off at such an awkward place is because I wanted to update, plus I'm stuck on the next part. It's best that I update this part now, so you can read it, instead of waiting another week or so to get it up with what little else I had planned for the rest of the chapter. - Min