Never Again 6 – Pre Beta (since I don't have one)

Disclamer: Don't own. Don't have a beta(no one has volunteered). I write when the mood strikes me, which so far has turned into one chapter every six months...sorry guys. Well, really last one was the same day but that doesn't count! Lol

Anyway, please forgive my misspelling or any mistakes I make. I am still looking for a beta so if you even wanted to try being one, here is your chance!

I wrote the last two chapters in one day and I have to say I am a bit surprised by myself. I mean, it usually takes me 6 months to write the next chapter. That is, it takes me 6 months to be in the mood to write. 2 chapters in one day is impressive for me. The fact that I am starting this chapter on the same day is kinda scary even though I am not finishing it on the same day. Lol Look out, guys, I am on a writing high. Lol Enjoy!

Chapter 6: Normal Wizards

September 20th

Dear mom and dad,

I am ok and I am alive, I promise. I am sending this through Headmaster Dumbledore with the transatlantic mail, which by the way costs waaaay too much. Why couldn't we live in Britain like normal wizards? Seriously guys!

So far the school is a bit different than I imagined. Not by much, mind you. It's bigger than I thought it would be and much prettier. There are way more people here than I thought there would be but the Headmaster was kind enough to give me my own section of one of the towers. It's secluded and gives me space and the chance to unwind and, you know, let out some steam.

So far my training has payed off. You can let Lin know that I am ok and tell her I say thanks. Yes, I AM keeping up with it. I kind of have to if I don't want to kill someone by accident. The chains have helped. People so far are ignoring me, which as we know is a good thing so I have been good and fallowing orders. Aunt Tracy, on the other hand has been showing off. All of the first week, she was scaring the magic out of all of her students. In my class she even turned red and kicked one of the students out. Everyone is terrified of her, if the gossip in the hallways after the first week are anything to go by. It has worked in her favor somewhat, I have to admit. Everyone is actually doing their work which compared to the rest of the classes I have with them, some of them have real trouble doing as they are told.

There are too many walls here. Too much stone. I kind of wish I was back home, sometimes. I didn't think I would ever miss our land and woods as much as I do now. It's not too bad, of course, since they have the Forbidden Forest here and that helps. Don't worry. I am pretty sure when Dumbledore warned everyone to stay away from it, he didn't really mean me. I mean, I doubt there is anything there scarier than me. Tell Lin to stop rolling her eyes! It's true and she knows it! Besides, the centaurs have been pretty nice so far. I visited them twice. They even showed me the power nod. You have to admit, that's pretty awesome! One of them even offered to teach me some of their language as long as I did a favor for him. Don't worry it's not too dangerous. Nothing more dangerous that I do at home on regular basis. Yes, I know this is not very reassuring but it is all I can tell you. I will be fine. Lin can probably guess what it is.

My lessons are going well. The Headmaster signed me up for the Care of Magical Creatures which seemed that it would be a boring class but I have to admit, the teacher, who is a half giant, sure knows how to make a class like that interesting. We are not doing boring things like taking care of flobberworms, like I thought. Instead, so far we have covered Ashwinders, Glumbumbles and next week we are doing Jobberknolls. I heard some of the other students say that he loves dangerous creatures. I think Dumbledore has a strange sense of humor.

Speaking of the Headmaster's sense of humor, he has informed me that tomorrow, Saturday, I am to attend dinner in the Great Hall. As he put it at our tea yesterday, I am isolating myself too much and need some human contact. It's like he is asking for trouble. So tomorrow, whether I like it or not, I am to sit on a long table in a room full of couple of hundred people and behave myself. His words, not mine. Like it's just acting out, yeah right. Why did I come here again? Oh yeah, because I had to. Damn. Sometimes I hate Great Aunt Elizabeth.

By the way, can you ask Aunt Tracy to PLEASE tone it down? I tried to talk to her about it but she ignored me. I am afraid she will scare someone into trying to hex her and she'll end up hurting them. I know she loves her illusions, but there has to be a limit!

Anyway, tell Lin I love her and tell Jeff I will be back at some point. I hope. Who knows why I was send here. Hopefully he won't be too upset. I love you and if I don't come home soon all of you have to come visit me.

Miss you and love you,

Diedre

~*~*~

Harry was late for dinner. He wasn't the only one, of course, since Dimitree seemed to fallow him everywhere. The last two weeks had proven that as mysterious as Dimitree was, he was a good distraction from the fact that he had no other friends at the moment. Seamus, Dean, Neville and everyone else was still talking to him, of course, they had no problem with the "reformed Slytherin" as they called him but he missed Ron and Hermione. At the door of the Great Hall, Harry and Dimitree separated heading towards their own tables. Harry headed towards the middle of the table,his usual spot, but stopped a bit confused at the first few seats. There was a girl sitting there. A girl that he now remembered to be in his house, or supposedly was in his house. He remembered her walking out after being sorted and Dumbledore saying that she would be living by herself. That was the last time he had seen her. He was sure she hadn't been in any of his classes, which seemed very impossible, and he had never before seen her in the Great Hall.

The girl was wearing a school cloak and black gloves that covered her hands and extended down her arms until they disappeared in her cloak. Her appearance was as jarring as it had been that first day at the castle, with her white braided hair and pale skin.

Harry was sure he hadn't stared at her for more than a few seconds but she seemed to sense it and turned around, piercing him with her almost reddish eyes. She didn't say a world, and Harry had to admit she seemed a bit creepy. It seemed everyone else felt it as well, leaving the seats around and in front of her empty. The girl looked a bit distraught and nervous as well, he hands making strange, tiny, gestures in front of her. Harry felt silly after a while, just staring at her and in a way she reminded him of himself when he first came here. Everyone kept staring at him, he didn't really had friends having met Ron only a few hours before and still waiting for the other shoe to drop, and everything had seemed strange to him. Without giving it a second thought, Harry sat to her left.

"I'm Harry." he said, extending his hand. The girl's hands paused in her gesturing but instead of shaking his hand in greeting, she just nodded and turned to his meal, ignoring him as if their staring contest had never happened. Harry recognized the hint and turned to his own empty plate, ignoring the not quite whispers over the new development.

After 15 minutes, Harry was almost done eating. He had gotten used to the silence from his meal companion and almost jumped when she unexpectedly spoke.

"Diedre." Her voice was quiet and almost friendly but not quite. Harry felt himself grin. It seemed she could speak and most likely he was the first one she had spoken to, if everyone else's reaction to her was anything to go by.

"Do we have any classes together?" it was a bit funny, really. He didn't want to talk much with other people but he couldn't stop being curious about this girl. Maybe it was because she didn't talk almost at all and the fact that they had been in the school for 2 weeks and this was the first time since the sorting that he saw her . If they did have classes together, and they must have since she was supposed to be in his year, then she was able to go unnoticed by everyone and in a way that was a skill that Harry would have really liked to learn.

"Almost all of them." She murmured and Harry felt triumph and confusion battle for the features of his face. How does one ask a person how they can be so different and unnoticeable at the same time without offending them. He didn't have much time to thing on it, however, when Dimitree grabbed his attention by sitting to the right of Diedre. He leaned in front of her, his hair almost falling into her food, and was just about to say something to Harry when he stopped and stared at her.

She was leaning away from him, as if afraid he would touch her and she looked about ready to fall off of her seat. Dimitree stared at her and she stared back. Harry felt as if there was a very important conversation going on that he was not privy to.

"Um..." The both ignored him. Dimitree was very concentrated at his stare and Diedre seemed uneasy and was avoiding looking at his face.

"Um.." Repeated Harry, at a loss as to what to say. This time there was a reaction, only it was not one Harry expected.

"Excuse me." Was all Dimitree said, his accent stronger than Harry had ever heard it and without even glancing at Harry, he headed out of the Great Hall, very much in a hurry. Harry glanced at Diedre but she was as hard to read as Dimitree when his background was brought up. Within seconds, Diedre was back to paying attention only to her dinner, as if nothing had happened. Apparently the conversation was over.

~*~*~

The next day was a Sunday and Harry made sure he was at breakfast early, ready to corner Dimitree if he had to and ask him what was going on. Dimitree, however, did not show up all through breakfast. Lunch and dinner also passed without him.

Monday morning Harry was ready to burst with anger. Dimitree was obviously avoiding him and that pissed him off. He had been the one that kept pushing their friendship and now he suddenly avoided even thought Harry was sure he hadn't done anything at all. It couldn't be the girl since they both new that she didn't come to meals, usually and Sunday was proof of that. When Dimitree didn't show up for any of the classes they shared or any of the other meals, Harry anger turned into worry. Dimitree might have been avoiding him but he also cared about his classes even if he obviously pretended he didn't.

Monday became Tuesday then Wednesday, Thursday and Dimitree was still gone. There was no one he could ask about it. Harry didn't talk to the Slytherins, for obvious reasons, and Ron and Hermione were still avoiding him. Really, he was avoiding them after Ron's comment about Death Eaters and evil Bulgarians on Tuesday. Diedre seemed to be avoiding him as well.

He noticed her, now that he knew she must be there. She always sat in the back, never participating in class and except for the DADA teacher, all the professors seemed to look right over her, as if she didn't exist. The DADA teacher acknowledged her every class with a nod and the first time when she caught him looking, she gave him a very disconcerning smile. After class, if Harry tried to catch her and talk to her, Diedre would be out of the classroom at the speed of light and by the time he reached the door she would have disappeared in the hallways.

By Friday, Harry was worried, but he was also back to being angry. Ron had made another horrible comment the night before and at breakfast the Daily Prophet had brought the news of a raid. There were five dead, a family of muggles, and three aurors in Saint Mungo's. Ron's comments had gotten worse and Harry really didn't want to hear it. It was bad enough that his only friend now was gone without a trace, which he was still angry about the least he could have done was tell him he is going, but now people were suspecting him in Death Eater raids and through him Harry as well. He was back to being pointed at and whispered about as if he was in league with the person who killed all the family he had.

When Dimitree showed up for their first class, Potions, Harry punched him. He didn't mean to really. It just kind of happened. He had been seething over Ron's unending comments and the fact that he was too hard headed to notice that all of his comments were turning people against Harry as well as against Dimitree. When Dimitree had shown up, Harry was so sick of it that he stomped up to him ready to demand an explanation and didn't realize what he was doing until his punch was connecting with Dimitree's face. Harry was small, and thin, but he knew how to through a punch. One had to learn surviving skills like that if one was growing up with Dudley as a cousin. Dimitree didn't fall, or fly backwards, the way Harry had seen people do in the few movies he had seen. Instead he made a few steps backward and touching his nose with his right hand he came away with blood. Within seconds he had used his wand to fix it and was staring at Harry in consideration. Harry was frozen with shock. He had been angry but he didn't think he had been angry enough to wish to hurt one of his friends.

"Detention Mr. Potter and 30 points from Gryffindor for fighting in my classroom." The voice was a good wake up call for Harry. "I would suggest you find a different way to resolve your disagreements that doesn't involve hitting my students." The ugly sneer made Harry's anger make a reappearance but a glance at the look Dimitree was giving him, which wasn't a bad one just blank, was enough to make the anger turn into shame.

"I'm sorry professor." He murmured and turned to go back to his table. Snape, however, didn't seem satisfied.

"It is not only me you should be apologizing to you imbecile, it's not my nose you broke." The words were spat at him but Harry could also detect a cruel humor behind the words as well. Maybe he thought Harry would be even more embarrassed by having to apologize to a Slytherin. Turning around he tried to look as sincere as possible.

"Sorry, Dimitree." He hadn't really meant it, hitting him that is. At least he didn't think he had meant it. The anger had been so blinding that it was like he had lost several moments to it and couldn't remember exactly why he had been angry enough to punch him. Dimitree nodded at him, accepting his apology and then headed past him to their table. Harry fallowed but was still able to hear Snape's snort of contempt.

Once class started, Harry tried to apologize again but Dimitree waved it away. He didn't say anything through out the whole class but Harry didn't feel a horrible as he had since Dimitree didn't look mad. Then again, he didn't look like his mind was on what he was doing at all. He looked so far away that Harry had no idea how he was able to work at their potion at the same time. In fact, by the end of the class, Harry was sure there was something wrong his punch just wasn't part of it. Their potion was perfect. So perfect, in fact, that even Hermione was impressed. Usually their potions were mediocre and Dimitree was paying full attention at those times. Now, only barely paying attention not to cut his fingers off, their potion was so perfect that Snape accused them of cheating. He had no proof, of course, but he didn't really need any. He refused to give them grades for the class, claiming that after the almost useless potions they had done until now there was no way for them to make a perfect one without help. Harry had been furious, even though he partially agreed it was weird, while Dimitree hadn't payed attention to that either. He had just nodded and said that they will try again at detention. Dimitree had walked them right into Snape's claws, which of course had made Snape as smug as can be. Two detentions for Harry in one class and one of them he couldn't even blame solely on Snape.

After class, Harry decided enough was enough. He was going to ask Dimitree to wait while everyone was gone so they could talk but he seemed in the mind of doing exactly that so Harry didn't say anything. When everyone was gone and Snape looked ready to gut them, Harry headed out, fallowed by Dimitree. Outside the door, he almost bumped into Diedre.

"Sorry." He said for the umpteenth time today and was about to drag Dimitree away by the elbow for their conversation when he stopped. Dimitree was again staring at Diedre and then with more grace that Harry had seen in a guy, he dropped on both of his knees, presenting his open hands to Diedre. There was a white crystal in them, or at least it looked a bit like crystal only not as clear and about two inches in diameter. His head was bowed and his hair was hiding his face. He didn't say anything, just stood on his knees, presenting her with the crystal. Harry was confused, but Diedre didn't seemed to be. In fact, she looked pissed. Turning around in fury she started down the hall, the sound of chains hitting each other and echoing off the stone walls. She hadn't gotten very far when Dimitree spoke and looking over Harry saw him still on his knees with his head no longer bowed but turned in her direction. He had a sneer on his face that matched the sneer in his voice.

"This one you have no choice but to accept. The third one you can choose whether to accept but this is out of your hands for now." He seemed very sure of himself, the arrogance that hadn't been present minutes before was now surrounding him like a cloak. Diedre had stopped at his voice and after he was done speaking she was stomping back to them the chains that she obviously wore, but made no sign of under her cloak, were once again echoing in the hallway. She snatched the crystal off Dimitree's hands once she reached him and then turned and stomped off back in the direction she had been heading earlier. Dimitree got up off his knees looking smug and headed after her in a slow and very relaxed pace, as if he had the rest of the day to get to their next lesson.

"What just happened?" Dimitree ignored him and Harry, taking a few longer and faster steps, stopped in front of him, blocking his way. "Dimitree, what did you just do, why were you gone all week and what in the bloody hell was that on Saturday?!" He was angry again and again it caught him off guard. Was he getting angrier easier than he used to, or was he just imagining things?

"On Saturday I remembered something I had to do." He was back to being arrogant but this time there was also disdain in his voice. His eyes accusing Harry, of what he was not yet sure. "This past week I was doing it and today was the result. I don't ask you questions, don't ask ME questions." Apparently the disdain was for Harry himself. In a way he knew he deserved it, really, it was true that he didn't want to be asked questions but seemed to demand them of Dimitree. Taking a deep breath to stop the new wave of unreasonable anger that he could feel coming on, Harry stepped aside.

"Sorry." And again the shame was back, turning all the anger into humiliation. "You're right." Looking up, he saw Dimitree had already started walking past him but his face no longer showed the disdain, only indifference.

"Forget about it." And that, it seemed, was that. For the rest of the day it was like Dimitree was never gone. The teachers did not make any comment about his absence, Diedre was avoiding them even more now than when Harry was alone, and Ron was back to keeping his mouth shut, in front of them at least. The whispers and suspicion only seemed to get stronger with Dimitree's return right after the raid. Dumbledore, however, seemed perfectly in peace with Dimitree's mysterious disappearance so Harry assumed he knew about it and whatever had happened, the two were not connected. He had realized, however, that whatever was the reason for the disappearing act, it had something to do with Diedre. He wasn't going to ask any more question of him, since he didn't want to answer any. That, however, didn't mean that he wouldn't try to find out what was going on by himself. For the first time, the mystery did not involve him directly and he was more inclined to spend time on it without worrying for his own safety. He will found out what the deal was, of that he was completely sure, he was somewhat experienced in solving mysteries and finding out secrets, after all.

~*~*~