Reality sux. Life is a void. And because of that, we always feel lyk we are in a dream for most of our lives.
Disclaimer- I do not in any circumstances own Petshop of Horrors or Harry Potter 'cause if I did their world would be in utter chaos that is not done by anyone from the magical world, only by my friends and me.
"………" talking
'………' thoughts
"………" Parseltongue
/……/ mental talk
Chapter Six
Harry hid in the shadows of the doors to the Great Hall as he watched the rest of the students, except the new first years; walk into the Great Hall, chatting happily with their own friends as they told each other about their holidays. He noticed Ron and Hermione looking for him amongst the crowd, causing him to snort softly in contempt as Kai hissed slightly and nudged his cheek. Harry sighed and rubbed the scales under Kai's chin when he caught a strange, yet familiar, scent. Sniffing lightly, like the wolf he was, Harry grinned after analysing the scent. It smelt faintly of another wolf but not a wolf and had a pine and citrus hint to it. It was Remus.
The shadows around him flickered as the other students took no notice; thinking that it was only a trick of the light, causing Harry to curse them for their slowness in his own mind. 'Can they get any slower!' screamed out Harry in frustration in his mind. 'I've met sloths faster than them!' Harry tapped his foot as he leaned on the wall; the shadows silencing whatever noise that his feet would make during his impatience at the other students. When they finally streamed in, and Ron and Hermione had given up trying to find him, he swept through the doors with the rest of the stragglers and sat near the end of the Gryffindor table, hidden among the other years who were slightly shocked that the Harry Potter would sit with them instead of his friends.
Harry merely smiled at them disarmingly, as the McGonagall led in the new first years to be Sorted. Harry listened to the Sorting Hat sing as he mentally gave Kai instructions to go to Remus and Severus to tell them to meet him in the Room of Requirements ten minutes after curfew. He clapped automatically as the new Gryffindors came to sit on their table as Kai slid down discreetly and went to Remus who smelt the scent of a dragon. Remus felt something touch his leg and a voice telling him Harry's message. / Meet Harry in the Room of Requirements ten minutes after curfew, behind the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy on the seventh floor/ said the voice. He gave Kai a mental nod as Kai left and went to Severus. He repeated the same gestures and message to the potions master, who also nodded, before he left to go back to Harry. When the Sorting had finished, four Gryffindors from fourth year looked at him for an explanation as to why he was sitting with them.
"My friends just got together and I thought I'd give them some 'alone time'," explained Harry to the curious youths who nodded in understanding. A girl with black hair and ice blue eyes spoke up. "I know how you feel," she said in a strangely Australian accent. "My older brother use to go all googly eyed when he talked about his girlfriend until he finally, finally, asked her to marry him. It was the worst three years of my life." She shook her head in mock sadness. "I'm Kaitlin by the way," she said as she introduced herself. "Kaitlin Lin. I moved over here 'bout four years ago from Australia with my mum and step-dad." Harry blinked in surprise. "And you still haven't gotten rid of your accent?" asked Harry in surprise. Kaitlin just grinned. "Nope," she chirped. "And damn happy 'bout it. I mean no offense to you Brits or anything but you guys are a wee bit obsessive about gender roles. Apart from that, we go back to Australia during the hols."
The other people there nodded in agreement. "Yeah," said a boy with red/black hair and jade green eyes. He also had an Australian accent. "I gotta agree with sis here, you guys do have a gender role thing. I mean, we got dat back home in Australia, but not as bad as you guys. But we do have some bad stuff in our own history. Oh. I'm Alexis Lin by the way, Kaitlin's younger brother." Harry tilted his head curiously. "Really? Then maybe you guys won't mind letting me borrow some Australian history books do you?" asked Harry as the two siblings looked at each other before shrugging. "We'll owl mum an' see if she'll send it for us," said Alexis as he grabbed a pie from the plate in front of him. Harry smiled at them. "Thanks you two," he said before laughing as Alexis spat out the bite of pie he had into a napkin.
Kaitlin and the other two laughed as well when a boy with black hair and blonde streaks and honey/topaz eyes spoke. "Lemme guess," he said with an American accent as he chuckled. "It's an S'n'K pie?" Alexis nodded with a face of disgust as he drank deeply from his goblet. Harry looked at him curiously. "'S'n'K'?" echoed Harry as the boy explained. "Steak and Kidney," he said before introducing himself. "I'm Jake Corbett by the way. I moved here from America when I was nine. And this lil' blonde is Le Mai Chan from China." A girl with long black hair with blonde streaks and black eyes waved at him before whacking Jake on the head. Jake clutched his head as his eyes watered from the pain. "Maaiii," he whined as he looked at her. "Why did you hit me on the head for?" Le Mai glared at Jake causing him to let out a small squeak. "What have I told you about introducing people for them?" hissed Le Mai as she leaned into Jake causing him to lean back holding his hands open, with multiple sweatdrops. "Umm," started Jake as he racked his memories quickly. "To not do it again or you'll tell the people at the Looney Bin that I thought that I was Jesus? And I claimed to plan world domination? And I wanted to kill Tony Blair, John Howard, George W. Bush, Asama Bin Laden, Britney Spears, Joh-mmphf."
Le Mai slapped her hand onto Jake's mouth as tics appeared on her head, Kaitlin and Alexis were laughing in the background and Harry was looking on in confused amusement with Nema, Li Tao, Limbo and Kai all laughing at how angry Le Mai was. "Are they always like that?" asked Harry to Alexis and Kaitlin as they watched Le Mai lose her temper even more and start to argue with Jake who retaliated. Alexis and Kaitlin both nodded. "Unfortunately," said Kaitlin with a sigh. "But it makes for great entertainment," chirped Alexis with a happy face. "It's like your own comedy show." Kaitlin nodded with a pensive face. "I gotta agree with that."
The rest of the time was spent laughing at Jake and Le Mai and also getting to know each other more. Harry could feel the eyes of many people on him but he ignored them, only sending out shadows to monitor who was watching him. Remus glanced at him from time to time, but his gaze was that of a worried parent, which made Harry smile and think how ironic it was that he wasn't a child anymore in his own mind, yet still retain it in Remus's. Severus was also glancing at him with curiosity. Harry could see the flickers of slight masked confusion as Severus noted the differences in him. He wasn't a trained spy for nothing. He also saw the not-so discreet glares that Weasley and Granger were directing towards him. 'Don't they know the meaning of the word 'discreet'?' grumbled Harry mentally as he moved his shadow monitor away from them. They weren't worth the extra effort.
He noticed Draco, Blaise Zabini and some other Slytherins were watching him more casually and cautiously. 'Now that,' thought Harry with approval. 'Is discreet. Or it would have been if it weren't for the little changes that I got. Well, mostly little.' He then looked up at the main table and saw McGonagall look at him a few times, each glance full of worried anger and disappointment. Finally, his monitor got to the last person who had their eyes on him and Harry wasn't surprised to see that it was Dumbledore. He saw the flickers of anger in his eyes as everyone else mistook them for his normal twinkle. 'Just you wait old man,' thought Harry as he laughed at the bread roll that hit Jake on the head, compliments of Le Mai. 'You'll get your just deserts soon enough.'
When the feast was over, Harry left the Great Hall quickly and towards Gryffindor Tower. Once he reached a safe distance away from the Hall, he hid in the shadows before shadow-walking to the portrait entrance. He came out again in a small dark niche near the portrait and looked around to see if there were any … unsavoury characters before coming out. He went up to the Fat Lady's portrait, which gave him a deep curtsey. "Good evening my Lord," she said with a smile. Harry returned it. "Good evening Josephine," murmured Harry. "It's good to be back. I hope you don't mind if I go in without the password tonight, I have to get away from Granger and Weasley before they question me about my whereabouts during the summer holidays." The Fat Lady nodded in sympathetic understanding before swinging the door open. "The password is 'Bludgers' my Lord," said the Fat Lady as Harry climbed through the hole. "Thank you Josephine," replied Harry back.
When Harry finally reached the Common Room, he went up to the sixth years' boys' dormitory and claimed the bed nearest to the window. He sat on his bed and let all four of his snakes out onto the bed and shut the curtains tight with a strong shielding, silencing and locking charm around the bed. He crossed his legs as the four snakes arranged themselves into a semi-circle around him. He let down the glamour to reveal what 'Harry' had become over the years; Dark. "You guys know what to do right?" asked Dark to the snakes as he pushed back a strand of hair. Nema, Limbo and Li Tao nodded as they then let Dark place a small bracelet onto their wrists which allowed them to turn invisible at will. "Hmm," remarked Nema in a mock thinking position, as he held his chin. "Get into all the Common Rooms, check out who is a wee bit retarded upstairs enough to join the idiotic hypocrite of a 'Dark Lord', make sure to remember everything about the person, name, naughty hobbies, hates and all, then report back to you. Did I miss anything?" The others laughed at Nema's joke who mock bowed where he sat, but ended up face-forward on the surface on the bed, causing their laughter to double. Even Kai cracked a smile; a very, very, very small smile, which showed how funny it was since Kai didn't exactly smile at anything or anyone. He only ever smiled at Dark when he did something that won Kai's approval. Dark chuckled as he wiped away tears of laughter. "Guess you do know what to do Nema," said Dark with a smile. "But I suggest waiting until morning to infiltrate their rooms okay? We gotta go and meet Moony and Snape later anyway." Kai's ice blue eyes flickered over to Dark. "Then what do we do to pass the time?" asked Kai blankly as Nema got an unholy glint in his eyes. "Let's play poker," said Nema as Limbo smiled and remarked. "So you can lose all your chips again to the rest of us?" Nema slumped as a dagger stabbed him out of no where. "Who will then lose it to Limbo, Kai and Dark?" asked Li Tao looking up innocently as Nema slumped with even more daggers. "Who'll then lose all their chips to Dark, who always wins every game we play?" continued Limbo as Nema merely groaned in defeat.
"Damn your good luck Dark," pouted Nema as the others laughed again and Dark smirked. "It's just Fate's way of paying me back for all the shit I went through," said Dark as Nema pout became even bigger. "Why don't we improve 'The Plan' some more then?" suggested Limbo with a cheerful smile and his eyes closed in a crescent shape. Li Tao glanced over at the smiling Limbo. "You really need an outlet for your sadism Limbo," muttered Li Tao as he laughed in response. So they spent the rest of the evening refining 'The Plan'. Not even noticing when Weasley came to check on 'Harry' who was 'asleep' in 'his' bed.
A shadowed figure walked quickly through the quiet halls of Hogwarts, his eyes flicking back and forth for any Prefects or patrolling teachers. He carefully, but quickly, made his way to the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy and walked back and forth on the bare wall three times. When a door appeared, he knocked on it three times. "Come in," said a quiet, muffled voice from inside. He opened the door and looked around the room as his nose was assaulted by sweet incense. It was amazingly exotic with deep, red walls and black ebony wood supports. On the floor was bamboo tatami mats that stood out against the dark colours. There were old couches with a small Chinese styled coffee table between two couches and drapes on the corners of the walls. On the coffee table was a Chinese tea set with a blue pattern of a Chinese dragon flying among the clouds against a white background; a large, steaming teapot with seven cups and a plate of assorted sweets from all over the world was placed on the table invitingly. Remus's eyes widened when he saw the chocolates and his mouth watered slightly.
"Aren't you going to sit down Moony?" asked an amused voice from behind him. Remus spun round to meet the mirthful emerald eyes of Harry who stood in the doorway of what looked like a green house filled with plants; wearing the cheongsam that he had bought in Chinatown during the summer holidays with four snakes placed on various parts of his body. Remus stared at Harry in shock before grinning. "Harry!" exclaimed Remus before walking over and pulling him into a hug. When Remus caught scent of a wolf on Harry he pulled back with worried eyes. "You haven't been bitten have you cub?" asked Remus protectively as his wolf side started to emerge by the glow of his amber eyes. Harry merely smiled and said 'no'. Remus frowned. "Then why do you smell like…" began Remus only to be interrupted by someone knocking on the door. Harry turned and told the person to come in. The door opened to reveal Snape who raised an eyebrow at Harry's choice of clothing. "Where in the world did you get that, Potter?" asked Snape bluntly. "Chinatown," replied Harry as he moved out of Remus's hug. "Would you two like to sit down? I do believe it will be a long talk."
Snape's brow rose even higher with that remark as Remus blinked but they both complied with Harry's request. As they sat down, Harry poured them some tea as Nema, Limbo, Li Tao and Kai slithered off him. "I presume that you both received Sirius's letter?" asked Harry as he blew his tea and took a sip. Their eyes snapped towards him as he berated Nema for annoying Kai; again. They both nodded curtly when Harry raised his eyes to meet theirs. An unholy look came upon Harry's face along with a wicked smirk. "Then you'll be happy to hear what I have in store for the Order, Voldemort and the school year won't you?" Interested, they both leaned in and listened to what Harry had to say; their excitement growing with each detailed explanation as it lasted for a long while.
When their talk had finished, Snape had left and it was only Remus and Harry left. They stayed in a companionable silence until Harry spoke up. "Moony," began Harry softly causing Remus to look up. Harry met his gaze with his own serious one. "I need you to do something for me when the 'Final Battle' ends." Remus sighed deeply. "What is it, cub?" asked Remus as he set down his cup. Harry sighed also. "Well…"
To be continued…
Ah hahahahahahahahahaha. Another chappie and another cliffy to keep you all in suspense and for you all to curse me for leaving wondering. Not to worry tho'. I'll update as soon as I can. But until then, ja ne.