Last Time
Harry nodded sleepily, falling into bed with a thump. 'OK, talk to you in the morning, that is if I'm excused from tonights mental training?'
'Heh, sure, you need sleep tonight; but I'm going to be harsh tomorrow!' Harry sighed, going to sleep with out even removing his glasses.
Now
It had been a week since Harry, and Refero, had arrived at the Leaky Cauldron. 'I'm just glad Hagrid sent me that damn book early, I'd feel bad for making the poor man have to stick his hand in that cage...' Harry thought as he walked by Flourish and Blotts, the poor counter worker retrieving a Monster book of Monsters from their cage, he had gotten his stuff on the first day.
'Heh, even I feel sorry for the guy.' Refero snickered in the back of Harry's mind.
'No you don't.'
'True...'
Harry laughed at his teacher's confession, ignoring the stares he received; he was used to them by now. 'Ha! I knew you didn't really feel sorry for the guy!'
'Well, bleh! Hey, I think I sense your girlfriend's energy.
Harry blinked. 'Hermione's here?'
'Stopped denying you like her, heh? Yeah, at the ice cream parlor.'
Blushing, Harry headed for Florean Fortiscue's Ice Cream Parlor. 'Fine! I like her! Now leave me the Hell alone!'
Refero laughed. 'I'll do the best I can seeing how I'm stuck in your head... but only till your dates over!' The echo faded away and Refero didn't speak again.
'Thanks.' Harry mentally yelled after the Hollow Spirit, the voice full of sarcasm. Turning around the corner he saw Hermione sitting at a table out side the ice cream shop, he picked up his pace. "Hey! 'Mione!"
Hermione blinked, turning her head towards the voice because she recognized it. "Harry!" The brunette yelled in joy, jumping to her feet and running to meet the raven haired boy halfway. The two laughed as they collided/hugged. Smiling the two broke apart and headed to Hermione's seat, neither noticing the others light blush.
They talked for a minuets, mainly Hermione explaining the massively overstuffed bag at her seats side, before Fortescue came out to give Hermione her order, who blinked at Harry. "Why, hello there Mr. Potter, this young girl a friend of yours?"
Harry nodded, he had spent most of his free time here and had come to know Mr. Fortescue rather well. "Yes, she is my best friend after all." Hermione blushed a bit at being labeled Harry's best friend, though he, of course, didn't notice the blush. "Put her bill on my tap, would you?" Fortescue nodded, going back inside his shop.
"Harry! You didn't have to do that..." Hermione whispered with half hearted anger.
Harry just laughed. "I know, but I did any way. There's one condition though." She raised a eyebrow. "You share some of that delicious looking banana split with me." Hermione laughed, nodding he acceptance of Harry's demand.
"It is a bit more then I could eat on my own anyway."
They sat in silence for a bit, Harry couldn't help but admit he liked this; just sitting in a comfortable silence eating ice cream. 'Almost like a real date...' Thinking it brought back Refero's earlier comment, which caused a small blush.
"Hey, Harry?"
"Hmm?" Harry cooled off his face before looking up to meet the girl's eyes.
"That was you who called 'Mione', right?"
Harry blushed again. "Yeah, if don't want me to call you that I can-" He was cut off by her giggling. 'She has a cute giggle... bad Harry! This is your BESTFRIEND here, no wrecking that over the fact you have a crush on her!'
"It's fine, for you, to call me 'Mione, though I don't think I'd like it from anyone else." She smiled at him.
"'K, 'Mione." He returned the smile.
They finished up the ice cream, and got up to leave. "I'll take those." Harry said, picking up Hermione's bags before she could. "And don't argue it, I'm just being nice. So, where too?"
Huffing and muttering about guys and their chivalry, rummaged through her purse. "I've still got 10 galleons, I'd like to get myself an owl..."
"There's a magical creature shop just over there." Harry pointed around the bags in his arms, glad once more for Refero workout regime as the bags weren't light. Hermione nodded, fallowing Harry's lead. She went to open the door for her and Harry, but it burst open, Ron chasing what appeared to be Scabbers rushed through the door and down the lane. The two blinked, looked at each other, blinked again, shrugged and went inside. The counter lady was scolding a cat, apparently the cat had thought Scabbers looked tasty; which explained why the rat had ran.
Harry looked around uninterestedly, he already had Hedwig, so he was only here for Hermione. Speaking of Hermione, she seemed to have totally forgotten about getting an owl, for she was walking towards him with the flat faced cat held in her arms. "So much for getting an owl, heh, 'Mione?" He smirked bemusedly.
Hermione huffed, patting her new cat on the head. "Gorgeous, isn't he?"
Harry eyed the cat. "Hn." Was his only reply.
Refero's laughter shot through Harry's mind.'Ha ha, jealous of the cat are we?'
'Go back to what ever hole you were in a minuet ago.' More laughter then silence. "I guess, never been much of a cat person myself. Ms Figg kinda turned me off to them..."
They walked to the Leaky Cauldron, Hermione got the door and two walked in.
"Harry!" Several voices yelled, one a bit more high pitched then the others and closer to him, he was tackled in another hug.
"Hey, Twins, Mr. Weasley, Ginny." Harry greeted back, looking down at the red head girl with her arms wrapped as far around him as they could get.
"Let us-"
"-Help you out-"
"There, mate." The twins said, each taking one of the bags Harry was carrying. Arms now free, Harry returned the hug.
"How ya doing, Ginny?"
"Good, Harry, you?" She answered shyly.
"Hey, Harry-"
"-mate, where-"
"-do you want these?" The twins asked. "And have you gotten stronger? 'Cuz these things are heavy."
"Their 'Mione's, ask her where her room is. I've been working out this summer, quidditch is only so good." Harry replied.
"'Mione'?" The twins echoed, smirks as identical as they were on their faces. "Exchanging pet name's with Hermione, are we?"
Harry and Hermione blushed. Hermione took her bags from the twins. "Hey, Ginny, want to come with me?" Ginny broke from her hug, a fierce blush on her face like she just realized what she was doing, nodded and followed her friend up the stairs. The twins were about to start teasing Harry again when a much better target came through the door.
"Hello, Harry." Percy greeted stiffly, holding out a hand and acting like this was the first time they met.
'Yeah, definitely a future politician, damn prick.' Harry mentally snorted at Refero's comment.
"Hello, Percy." Harry replied shaking the Head Boy's hand.
"How are you?"
"Better then ever-" Harry was cut off by the twins, who began to make fun of their brothers up tight speech, and walked over to Mr. Weasley. He blinked as he saw the front page of todays Prophet, which Arthur was reading. "They haven't caught him, heh?"
Arthur shook his head, folding and tucking away the newspaper with the insane looking Serious Black on the front page. "Sadly, no, they haven't."
Harry shrugged, sitting down. "I'm sure they'll catch him sooner or later, though he must be a crafty bastard if he managed to escape Azkaban with what I've heard about the place."
Arthur nodded, running a hand through his hair. "Yes, well..." His eyes shifted to make sure Mrs Weasley was out of ear shot. "Harry..."
Aforementioned boy raised an eyebrow. "Those this have anything to do with what you said in McGonagall's office, about needing to talk to me...?"
The red head blinked. "What... ah, yes, I remember now." For some reason he seemed even more nervous. "I've looked into the matter a bit since then, it's not important for another year or two." He waved his hands dismissively. "We'll deal with it when you turn sixteen, k?"
Harry shrugged. "Sure." They sat in silence, Harry with a small grin on his face as he watched the Twins teasing Percy and getting reprimanded by Molly, Arthur with a flustered look on his face like he was arguing with himself. Ron sat down with them and started a talk of quidditch with the other two.
"How are we getting to King's Cross, Mr. Weasley?" Hermione asked, sitting on Harry's open side, Ron had sat between Harry and Arthur, Ginny sat across from Harry on the long table. "Hello, Ron, where've you been?"
Ron through his arms up. "Chasing after Scabbers! I went to get him checked out, he hasn't seemed well since the trip to Egypt, and this bloody crazy cat just attacks him for absolutely no reason! I've been chasing him all over Diagon Alley for the last half hour!"
Harry laughed, sharing a smirk with Hermione. "A cat, you say? Describe this cat to me."
"Flat faced, orange, and massive!"
Harry was quietly laughing to himself, Hermione was also giggling having realized what Harry had been planned. "Would it happen to be the one right behind you?" Harry asked, keeping a overly innocent look on his face.
Ron blinked as he turned around. "AAAAAHHHHH!!!" He yelled as Crookshanks jumped from his hiding place, straight at the chest pocket Scabbers was resting in. Ron jumped to his feet and managed to spin out of the cat's way, Crookshanks landing in Harry's lap and settling down contently, though the felines eyes were still trained on Ron's chest pocket.
'Hahahaha! That was great, Harry.' Refero laughed inside Harry's mind. 'I haven't seen something that funny in years, but maybe that's my own fault for not having contact with others for years?'
'Thanks, and it sounds like it was your own fault.'
'True...'
Around the pup the various people were laughing quietly, the Twins came up to him, clapping him on the back. "That, my dear boy-" "-was brilliant!" Their eyes met, they nodded, and looked back to Harry. "Your good in our book-""-not to say you weren't already-""-but now your in our-" "-prankster good book!"
Ron was red in the face. "What is that thing doing here?!"
Hermione, who had also been laughing quietly, now stood angerly. "That 'thing' happens to be my new pet!"
"Pet?! You actually bought that thing?" Harry sighed as the two settled into one of their famous rows.
"... and he's had twelve years in Azkaban to brood on that." there was silence.
Harry narrowed his eyes, in creasing the grip on his still un-named zanpakutÅ in his left hand. 'So, he's after me, is he?'
'Makes sense he'd want revenge, though.'
Harry opened the door to the pup, causing the two Weasley's to jump in surprise. "Hello, Mr. And Mrs. Weasley." He greeted, stepping into the room.
"Harry." Molly tried to act casual. "What brings you down here this late?" The matriarch smiled. "And I really wish you wouldn't carry such a thing with you." She eyed the sword. "There's no need for a weapon."
"I was going to practice some forms." He pointed at the sword with his free hand. "So that I can use this guy better. No need? I had need of this particular weapon not even two months ago, remember? Besides, wands are weapons too." He now pointed at his holstered wand at his left hip, Refero made him go get one from Olivander on the first day in the Alley.
"So... Black's after me, is he?" Harry asked, his voice not betraying any hint he was scared. "Well, he can't be worse then Voldemort, and I've survived him twice, thrice if you count the time I can't remember." He shrugged at their flabbergasted looks. "Look, I've had a mad man trying to kill me since I was a year old, the fact there's another one shouldn't be that surprising seeing how many followers the first one had." He turned to leave. "Your using the parlor, so I'll practice in my room."
"Wait, Harry!" Mr. Weasley called, Harry looked over his shoulder. "You have to promise me you won't chase after Black."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Why the hell would I chase after a man trying to kill me? I'm not suicidal, thanks." With that he left, the two adult's looking on in shock.
"I need to talk to you guy's, alone." Harry muttered to his friends as the train picked up speed.
"Go away, Ginny." Ron ordered his sister.
"No, Ron, she can come too." Harry said, grabbing Ginny's shoulder before she could storm off. Ron sputtered embarrassedly, Ginny's face went from an angry red to an embarrassed red.
They found a compartment, they deemed it OK since the soul occupant was asleep. Sitting down, Ron looked over at the ragged robed wizard. "Wonder who he is."
"Professor R. J. Lupin." Hermione filled in for the other three, pointing at a battered suit case in the rack above the man's head with that name on it. "Must be the new DADA teacher." Harry nodded, sitting down and telling them about Black.
Refero blinked as he woke from his nap. "What the Hell...?" Looking around he saw ice beginning to creep in from the front door. Refero raised an eyebrow as he stood up on top of the teacher table he had been laying on.
With a burst of speed, pure speed, the Hollow leaped clear across the hall and landed a few inches from where the ice was beginning to spread out from under the large door. "Well, this can't be normal..." He muttered to himself. Touching the ice with a finger to the ice he brought the finger to his mouth and licked it, his eyes widened in surprise. "Well, well, there's a creature in this dimension that feeds of fear, or more like bad memories, like a Hollow, though in a different way..."
Focusing slightly he saw through his hosts eyes. He looked in time to see the gnarled hand retract. "Hn..." While he was scratching his chin in thought, the creature out side drew a slow rattling breath, and the ice that had been moving slowly suddenly burst across the entire Great Hall. "Reminds me of a scene of one of Hitsugaya's fights..." Refero muttered.
The crazy mentality shrugged. "Sorry, Harry, but as sure as I am this shouldn't be here, I don't want to wreck your mind by over killing the ice." A woman's scream pierced the air before the light in the room began to fade. "Tch, I guess the kid fainted... Where've I heard that scream before...?" Refero shrugged as the lights went out.
Harry woke up to one of the most charming things he could think of. "Harry, oh Harry, wake up, please wake up..." Hermione pleaded, face only a few inches from his and the lights behind her head giving her halo of light.
"I'm awake, pretty angel." Harry spoke, in the backwards voice he had only ever heard from Refero, he was just glad only Hermione heard him.
Hermione blinked, a little startled by his voice, before his words sunk in an she backed off, blushing Gryffindor red.
Pushing himself weakly into a sitting position Harry looked around, everyone was shaking, Lupin was walking around checking on them. "Help me over to Ginny, 'Mione, please." Hermione nodded, helping the exhausted boy stand and walk over to Ginny. "Come on, Ginny."
The young girl looked up, pain filled crystal blue meeting tired calming emerald green. "I-I was-s b-back in th-the Chamber, Riddle's v-voice was..."
"Shh." Harry whispered comfortingly. "That's over, the snake's gone, I killed it." A little lie."I did it with this sword." He pointed at the sword at his hip, he had pulled out of his trunk when they had came in since he liked having it's weight on him. "I killed that Riddle as well, Ginny, the Camber is closed and not opening again."
"Well said, Mr Potter." Lupin said, handing him a slap of chocolate.
Harry got into bed with a tired sigh. 'I'm just glad word of my fainting never got out (1), Malfoy would have a hay day if it did. It's bad enough that Lupin had to go an tell Mcgonagall who went and got Pomfrey who's gone and labeled me 'delicate'.'
'Get some sleep, Harry.'
'What, now you think I'm delicate?'
'No, stupid, just 'cuz your at school doesn't mean I'm going to stop teaching you, the sword practice in the real world has to stop, for now, but I'm going to start teaching you Kidou incantations, your control is good enough.'
Harry fell asleep that night with proud grin on his face.
(A/N)Yo! Well, I've gone and gotten into writing this one, so here's chappy three!
Besides the Harem poll, I also want to if you want bad!Dumbles bad!Ron and if you want them bad, how bad you want them(if they have a chance for redemption or not.) I'm also taking suggestions for Harry's zanpakutÅ, I had an idea for it but I lost the thought... :( so, give me your ideas, please!
(1)Neville didn't go to the apartment, so he couldn't spread the word of Harry fainting, and the others didn't tell.
Laters