Hey hows it going folks? Don't mind me just going to write a little response to my man/women to FCL.
After reading your review I looked everything in the story from that perspective. At this point I completely agree with you. When first writing in high school I never thought of those things, those "off sit" events essentially. I completely understood what you said. Now being older and such I can still look back now and see that I still ave some improvements to make. To be honest I never even thought of the things you mention but now I will. I appreciate people pointing out my flaws, because how do you become better if everyone just says your better? I appreciate your review. I really do, I will try my hardest to broaden these next chapters. If you do remember these next chapters get pretty awesome and I look forward to editing them better. Thanks for the review my friend. I remember way back then you were one of the first to like this story. I'm glad I can bring back some sort of joy to you!
For anyone who reads this don't be afraid to write criticism. It will only make me better.
The tension in the air between Lupin and Link was so high that Harry was almost afraid to even breathe. They had been standing there in silence for who knows how long and both parties were staring daggers at each other. If looks could kill, it would be a messy scene on this bridge, a steady hatred building between the two men.
Harry finally breathed and stepped out from behind Lupin, making the bravest face he could muster up. "Professor… good morning." He said, breaking the tension between the two as Link's eyes turned to him.
"Lupin…what are you doing with my student?" Link growled, looking up from the boy back to Lupin, who kept a frown on his face.
Lupin shrugged a bit, a smirk tugging on his lips. "Trying to find out what you're hiding," he said, not hiding it, "and he's my student as much as yours."
Link's frowned deeper, turning his attention back to Harry. "Potter, get back inside." He ordered in a gruff tone. He didn't need this boy more involved then he already way. Dumbledore had warned him that Potter and his friends could by a bit of a nuisance.
Harry nodded, frightened by the professor's tone, and moved to walk away when a hand shot out in front of him. He looked up at Lupin, who had stopped him but his attention was still on the blonde haired man.
"No Harry," He said calmly, moving his arm back to his side, "Tell me what you were going to say."
Link had to resist the urge to attack this man; he was starting to get on the Hylian's last nerve. Clenching his teeth, Link tried to keep himself somewhat calm. "Stop this Lupin," He growled through his teeth, "I don't want the boy involved anymore then he is now."
That smile finally appeared on Lupin's face, a victorious feeling flowing through him. "So you are hiding something." He said, putting his hands in his pockets.
Link shrugged, causing the smile on Lupin's face slightly slip. "Who doesn't have something to hide?" He asked, giving the man a knowing glaring, "It's natural for everyone to hide something, don't you think?" the last bit was said with a more intense glare from Link.
They stood in silence for a few moments before Link suddenly turned on his heel and walked away, back towards the entrance of the bridge. Watching the professor walk away, guilt washed over Harry. He had almost told Lupin information about Link, information he promised to keep secret. Now he would probably never trust him again and Harry slumped at that thought.
Lupin turned to the boy, seeing the distressed look on his face, and frowned. "Harry I'm sorry I had to put you through that," He apologized, putting his hand on Harry's shoulder.
"But he's hiding something and I need to know what."
Harry looked up to the man and nodded, putting on a fake smile for him. Lupin smiled and let go of his shoulder, pushing the boy forward and telling him to go back to his tower. Harry walked down the bridge and into the castle, that smiling fading as soon as he lost sight of Lupin.
His mind was racing through ideas as to what Lupin wanted to know about the professor. The question seemed out of nowhere to him, neither had much contact with one another beside that one incident with Lupin bringing Harry to class late. But that couldn't be the reason why Lupin wanted information. There had to be something else that Harry just wasn't seeing.
As he was walking through the castle lost in thought, Harry was suddenly grabbed from behind, breaking him out of his thoughts. He was dragged down a side hall and was shoved against a wall, face to face with Link, who didn't look pleased.
"Potter!" He growled, grabbing a fistful of Harry's robe, blue eyes filled with a mixture of emotions, "What the hell do you think you're doing!" Link said pushing the boy harder against the wall.
To say Harry was scared would be an understatement. He was horrified out of his mind; he had never seen the professor this angry before. "Professor I swear I didn't tell him anything!" He pleaded, trying to squirm out of Link's grasp to no avail.
Link looked at him as if he was an idiot and shook his head, a laugh escaping him. Did this kid not understand? "That's not the point! You were going to tell Lupin more than any professor in this castle! Do think theres a reason only Snape and Dumbledore know!" He yelled at his student before harshly throwing him to the ground.
Harry hit the ground the stone floor. He staggered up quickly to try and explain himself. Harry stood there, opening and closing his mouth, not being able to think of anything to say. "Professor-" He was cut off by Link, who was just shaking his head at the boy.
He glared darkly at him, no sense of remorse anywhere on his face. "Excuses will get you nowhere with me Potter." He scoffed, turning away from the boy and walking out of the hall, leaving Harry alone with nothing to say.
Harry slide down the wall and sat there for a while, staring at the wall and thinking about what had happened. What Link said was true and it hurt Harry to know that his professor couldn't trust him anymore. He could tell that underneath the constant frowns, Link was a good person at heart with good intentions. He shook his head, guilt washing over him, and slowly got up.
He made his way back to the tower and entered the common room and looked around. He saw Neville and Ron sitting off to the side of the room, Neville reading The Daily Prophet and Ron leaning back in the chair eating some sort of candy.
Neville looked over his paper and saw Harry walking into the common room. "Hey Harry, where did you run off to this morning?" He asked, startling Harry slightly.
Harry glanced over to him, lost as to what to say. "Uh… nowhere special, just went out for some air." He replied, shrugging a bit. He left it at that and walked towards his room, leaving Neville and Ron confused.
Harry walked up stairs and into his room, shutting the door behind him. He went over to his bed and put his face in the pillow, laying there for about an hour before he had to go to class.
The day went on like it always did, Ron scarfing down food, Hermione cursing Divination under her breath. Harry for the most part was quiet for most of the day. The events of the morning kept rolling around in his head, even during his train with Lupin. It was made worse when Harry started walking to DADA with Lupin by his side, nervous to see the professor.
Lupin took quick notice to Harry's quite mood and became concerned. He stopped the boy outside the room and looked hi in the eye. "Harry is there something wrong?" He asked.
Harry internally sighed; this was not what he wanted to deal with right now. He just wanted to get to class and have the day be over. "No sir, just tired is all." He responded, putting his hand on the door to make a quick exit.
Lupin didn't buy that and put his own hand against the door, staring down at him. "Harry," he said in a concerned tone, "be honest with me. Did anything happen after the professor and I had our little exchange?"
Harry glanced up at Lupin, his expression emotionless, and shook his head. "No, nothing happened sir."
Lupin stayed silent for a moment and sighed, taking his hand off the door. "If you insist then…" He said under his breathe.
Harry turned away and opened the door to the room, quickly taking his seat next to Ron and taking out his book.
The moment the door opened, Link stood up from his desk and walked out of the room, locking eyes with Lupin and closed the door. Immediately, all the students turned their heads and tried to listen in on whatever was going on.
"What's going on? Ron asked, looking at Harry who just sighed a bit.
"Link doesn't like Lupin and Lupin doesn't like Link is the jest," he explained, laying his head against the table, "This morning they had an argument over Link's secret, Lupin had asked me about what Link had told us and Link happen to overhear."
Ron blinked in confusion and scratched his head a bit. "Why do you think he wants to know?" He asked, to which Harry shrugged, "I mean he's only here to teach you, why would he care about another teacher?"
The door opened, causing all the students to turn their heads back around. Link walked into the room and slammed the door as hard as he could have, making Harry wince a bit. He walked back up to his desk and sat down, going back to doing whatever he did at the desk, but a bit angrier than before.
The rest of the class was spent taking notes on defending against other wizards and witches. They were to write down the spells and have most of them memorized by the next class. Harry asked what page he needed to go to and started to take down the notes like all the other students. He had a feeling this feud was going to go on for awhile.
Harry was correct on his prediction, because for the rest of the week it was a stare off between the two men. When Harry would be dropped off, they would glare at each other, at dinner the same routine, and in the hall it felt like they were just going to beat each other. Harry was stuck in the middle of it all, only having Hermione and Ron reassure him things would be ok.
By the end of the week, Link was in a permanent foul mood. He walked into the room and slammed the door shut, sighing deeply, untied his robe, and tossed it to side of the room. He sat down and pulled out a quill, starting his daily routine of grading papers until the wee hours of the night.
As he was grading about the tenth paper, a snickering laugh flowed throughout the room, a laugh he knew too well. He turned around and looked out the window across the room, spotting a Poe soul holding a lantern swaying back and forth. He stood for his seat and grabbed his sword from his scabbard, going over to the window and opening it, glaring at the spirit.
"Heheheh look who it is," it taunted, gleefully swaying back and forth, "It's the great hero of time! How have you been these last few years?"
The Poe was just out of his distance, so Link sadly couldn't kill it with his sword. "What do you want?" Link asked, his voice dripping with annoyance. Could he never catch a break?
"Whoa don't get mad at me," The Poe defended, backing off a bit, "I was sent here by Lord Ganondorf! hehehe! He wants to make sure you stay in the same spot for a while." He flew back towards Link, its mood changing swiftly from defensive to glee.
This made Link's frown deepen, his eyes narrowing slightly. "And why does he want that?"
The creature snickered, making it bounce up and down slightly. "So his phantom can find and kill you of course! And of anyone who gets in the way will be dealt with as well!" The Poe exclaimed, swaying back and forth happily.
Link glared at the spirit "His phantom? You mean that reject of a minion? Does he honestly think that stupid creature can best me?"
The poe stopped moving for a second "hhhmmm you are right…." It said trialing off into some deep thought looking away from Link. For a few silent moments the poe said nothing and Link merely just stared.
The poe spirit suddenly began to move through the air rapidly and laughing gleefully. The noise the poe was making began to annoy Link greatly. "Shut up you stupid spirit!" he yelled
The poe stopped what it was doing to. "Well now that was rude…Why would you interrupt a messenger? I'm only here to deliver good news!" the creature said still out of Link's reach.
Link quickly took out his sword and pointed it at the poe. "All you have said is worthless! You're nothing then a lonely old spirit who can't find rest!" Link said harshly as fire began to envelope his flame "Now tell me something of worth or ill slay you here." The cold dark glare in his eyes made the poe float more alway from him.
The poe stared at the flaming sword before him. It had known Link was well taught in magic but using a sword as an extension of magic was completely insane! The poe started to float farther away "me ummm I'm sorry but I have to get to my other post now…." The poe said frightened. It turned away slowly believeing it was out of ear shot for Link.
"Ugh so much easier watching that women and that brat, then him".
Link heard the statement as clear as day and something in Link snapped at that statement. Link no matter what loved his family and he would never let anything harm them. He clenched his teeth and glared darkly at the Poe. "Harming me is fine," He growled, causing the Poe to stop swaying, "But harming my family" the fire around his blade began to intensify "or any single student on this campus and I'll make sure I send you, Ganondorf and all his minions to hell myself!"
The Poe laughed, taking his threat for nothing. "Ha! Big talk for someone who can't even hit me!" He exclaimed, becoming gleeful once again.
Slowly, a devilish smirk slide onto Link's as he extended his sword arm towards the poe.
Link glared at the poe "Din's Inferno!" Link yelled and without a second fire shot from the sword to the poe in rapid speed. The poe like Dark Link had no time to react. The fires of din engulfed the undead spirit.
"AAAGGGHHHAAAHHHH! PLEASE STOP STOP! SHOW MERCY!" screamed the Poe in anguish as the fires burned him to ashes.
He quickly sheath his blade and watched the ashes whisked into the wind, panting from using so much energy. "Get used to it… I hear hell is just like it…" He said to no one in particular, watching the last of the ashes leave.
He walked slowly over to his desk, careful not to fall, and sat down in his chair, leaning back enough to look at the ceiling. He let his eyes close for a minute, then opened them half-way, thinking about what the Poe said. "It's only going to be a matter of time before it finds me…" he mumbled to himself, closing his eyes again.
Link willed himself to finish up his grading and stretched as he got up from his seat, walking over to his bed and sitting down. He took of his boots and placed them to the side, then taking of his green tunic and chain mail. As soon as his head hit the pillow, Link fell into dreamless sleep, something he hadn't done in a long time.
The next morning, Ron, Hermione, and Harry sat around in the Great Hall, watching some of the professors start to put up decorations as they were eating. This was one time of year that Hogwarts shined more than usual; the decorations that were hung made the school look marvelous.
Hermione sat at the table, silent for most of time. Something was on her mind, but Harry just hadn't asked yet. If she needed to say something, she'd tell them. "Did any of you guys notice a sudden burst of light last night?" She asked, finally coming out of her silence.
Ron shook his head, grabbing some more toast for himself. "Not that I noticed, why?"
The brunette sighed, putting her head in her hand. "Just…I was sleeping and all of a sudden there was this bright light outside the window." She replied, tapping her fingers against the table, thinking.
Harry shrugged a bit at the thought, brushing it off. "Probably either Fred or George, pulling another prank or something."
Ron stopped eating for a moment and looked around the hall, earning a confused look from Harry. He turned back to the black haired boy. "Hey doesn't that Lupin guy come by now to get you Harry?" He asked, swallowing his food.
Now that Harry thought about it, Ron was right. "You know now that you bring it up yeah…" he mumbled. He too glanced around the hall and didn't see Lupin anywhere. He looked up to the professor's table and also took note that Link wasn't there either.
This didn't bother Hermione, who just shrugged at the boys. "I guess he's not here today, which is nice. You get to have a break right?"
Harry turned back to the table and nodded, his mind racing a bit. Something about not seeing the professor today had made him nervous, it brought up a memory from earlier in the week, when they were in Divination.
It had been a somewhat normal that day, Trelawney had them working with tea cups and having it tell the future, or something along those lines from what Harry remembered. She would come around the room and seemed to be looking at many of the predictions the students had, making her happy and the students more confused.
But it was only when she had gotten over to Harry that she became very serious and gave him a horrified expression. "Yours…" she said tremble, giving the cup back to him, "Yours tells of an upcoming danger to one you know…be very cautious Harry, something terrible is going to happen very soon…" She backed up slowly away from him that horrified expression still on her face.
Harry was shook out of his memory by Hermione, who told him that they were going to go to Hagrid's hut. He nodded and got up, walking out with his friends, the memory still nagging him. As the entered the court yard, they were stopped by Lupin who had caught up to the three students.
"Harry I'm sorry I wasn't here this morning, but you can come with me now." He apologized, standing behind the trio.
He internally ground, but Harry agreed and bid his friends goodbye as he walked off with Lupin to their usual practice room.
"Alright Harry sorry again for not getting you earlier, a matter came up that needed my immediate attention." Lupin explained as they walked into the room. He closed the door and turned to Harry, smiling. "But today I have a good feeling."
With that they began the training and Harry was getting the same result as he was numerous times before. Frustrated, he took a deep breathe, calming him, and racked his brain for the best memory he had. It was something small, something he thought wouldn't work, but he gave it a try. He lifted his wand and opened his eyes, that memory the only think in his head.
"Expecto Patronum!" He exclaimed, and watched in awe as light shot out of his wand, creating a barrier in from of him. He was grinning from ear to ear, grateful for that one memory he held dear. Lupin, who smiling proudly at the display, stood up and applauded, walking over to Harry and patted him on the back proudly.
"Very good Harry!" He exclaimed, watching the charm disappear, "Very good, you've just mastered a very advanced spell! Now are you ready to use it."
Harry looked up at him, a bit confused at the statement. "How? We can't just go out a fight a dementor can we?" he asked, tilting his head slightly.
Lupin turned, a playful grin on his face, as he dragged out a chest from the side of the room. "Well that's why I have this" He said, pushing it a few feet away from Harry.
"In this chest is a boggart, which will change into your worst fear as soon as it comes out of this chest," He explained, walking over next to Harry, "I want you to cast that spell as soon as it comes out of the chest ok?"
Harry nodded and prepared himself, holding his wand in front of him.
Lupin walked back over to the chest and knelt to the side of it, holding the lock. "Are you ready?" He asked, looking over at Harry.
He nodded, keeping himself calm. "Yes"
With that Lupin opened the chest and immediately the form of dementor flew out of it. It lingered over Harry for a moment before swooping down to strike at Harry. But Harry was faster and pointed his wand at the creature. "Expecto Patronum!" He screamed, light once again shot out of the wand and at them dementor, causing it to shriek in pain. Harry pressed and advanced on the dementor, forcing it to retreat back into the chest. Lupin immediately closed the chest, locking it, and shot up in joy.
"Harry that was amazing! Great job!" Lupin praised, walking over to the boy.
Harry smiled sheepishly, embarrassed because of the praise. "Thank you for teaching it to me sir…" He said quietly, earning a laugh from Lupin.
They both left the room and wandered the halls for some time before Lupin had to depart from him. He gave a wave as Lupin walked off, bolting for the court yard. He then went down the side of the hill and over to Hagrid's hut, where Hermione and Ron still were. The three hung out with Hagrid for a while, catching up on some things and Harry was pestered about his training with Lupin that day.
They bid farewell to Hagrid and for the rest of the day hung out in the Gryffindor town, catching up on previous work and playing a bit of wizard's chest. They then went to dinners, where Harry noticed that now Link was present at the table and he had a very angry look on his face. He was confused as to why, but shrugged it off because the professor always seemed to look like that.
After dinner, Ron discovered he misplaced his wand. They looked around the tower and coming up with nothing, concluded it must be at Hagrid's hut. They quickly made their way down there before curfew came into effect.
"We sat one those rocks before we left, so it should be there…" He said, pointing to the rocks that were a bit away from Hagrid's home.
Hermione rubbed her hands together and blew into them, keeping herself from freezing. "Ron can this wait until the morning?" She asked, shivering, "It's freezing out here!"
Ron turned to her and grinned and shook his head, "Hey I'm the whining one in this group!" He joked, making Hermione chuckle a bit.
Moving away from the obvious flirting, Harry walked over to the rock and looked around it. He scanned the area and noticed the wand squished between the rock and the ground, but was still intact. "Hey Ron, I think I found your wand" He said, picking it up and turning to the other two, waving it back and forth.
Ron cheered and ran over to Harry who gave the red head the wand. Ron hugged it a bit and looked it over, smiling. "Sweet it's not broken!" he exclaimed, "Let's get back inside, it's cold out here." said Ron
Hermione rolled her eyes, she had just said that! The two boys walked over to her and they started making their way back to the castle when they heard a voice coming from behind them.
"Leeaaviinng sooo soon…?" the voice hissed, sending shivers up the kids spines.
The three turned towards the forest, where the strange voice had come from. They saw a humanoid-lizard like standing at least 2 feet taller than any of them, walking towards them. It wore a large skeletal type helmet, it wield a long swerving sword and small shield.
The creature moved closer, its tongue darting out from behind its helm. Seemingly smiling at the three young students. "It seems I have missed dinner tonight…" it said, moving closer to them, "and you three look to be a perfect snack to me."
The three immediately pulled out their wands, getting into a defensive pose. The Lizard like creature laughed at this, seeing no threats in the objects the kids were holding.
Harry frowned, flick his wand towards the creature "What in the world are you and what do you want!" He asked in a commanding voice, glaring at the lizard.
The Lizard snickered, cocking his head slightly. "Huh, for humans you sure are dumb. I just said I was going to eat you for dinner!" it exclaimed, then lunged at the unsuspecting Ron, who stepped back in surprise.
"Stupefy!" He exclaimed, the spell hitting the lizards shield, making it stumble back slightly. Ron smirked at that, "Who's the stupid one now?" he shot back, getting back into a defensive pose.
The lizard glared at Ron, who then grabbed a small dagger from its side and threw it at Ron's leg. Startled, Ron moved his leg just in time, the dagger missing it but slicing his pants leg. This caused him to lose his balance and he feel on his butt, stunned.
Hermione ran over to him and knelt next to him. "Ron! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" she asked worriedly, looking over him.
"Stupefy!" Harry exclaimed, his spell flying towards the lizard. He needed to keep it distracted while Hermione check on Ron, so he kept attacking, keeping the lizard at a distance. The only real threat the lizard had was that sword, and if Harry could keep it farther away, they should be fine.
"You little punk!" it screamed, hissing at the boy, "Once I get my hands on you, you'll be begging for mercy!" The lizard dodges his attacks with easy, but wasn't able to get any closer to the boy.
What the lizard didn't notice was that Harry was distracting it from Hermione and Ron, who under the shadows of the night, positioned themselves behind the lizard for an attack. They stood a good distance away from the lizard waiting to make their move.
The lizard dodge Harry's attack once again and smirked, this was too easy. Suddenly, pain ravaged his back as he was flown forward, a few of his bones cracked in the process.
The three students cheered silently for the hit and ran back over to Harry, still standing a good distance from the creature.
"Agh you little brats!" It growled, clawing at the ground in pain, "How could I lose to such pathetic creatures such as you!?"
Harry pointed his wand at the creature, glaring down at it. "Who are you and what are you doing at Hogwarts?" He asked in a demanding tone.
The lizard coughed up some blood as it chuckled a bit. "I was sent here by my master to find a certain man and you boy…" it paused, coughing again. "Have had a lot of contact with him, I can smell him on your body…" He sneered, chuckling darkly.
"Who! Who are you working for?!" Harry exclaimed, gripping the wand tighter.
At this the lizard laughed, blood trailing out its mouth. "Or what you'll kill me?" it scoffed, grinning at the boy, "I bet you don't have the guts to take someone's life boy!"
"He doesn't… but I do."
The trio quickly and the lizard monster turned around at the familiar voice as they watched Link walking down the hill, that fierce glare that was ever present on his face becoming darker by the second.
"Well the hero of time shows himself at last!" the lizard snickered, its own blood starting to form a puddle underneath it.
Link said nothing in response, quickly drawing out his sword as he made his way over to the trio.
The lizard turned his attention to Harry, his grin becoming wider. "Heh listen well boy, you just got yourself involved in something you shouldn't have! I'll make sure that your life becomes a living hell!" It exclaimed, causing Harry's eyes to widen slowly.
Link snarled, brushing past the trio angrily. "Don't you dare threaten my student! Now die!" He yelled, lifting his sword above his head to bring it down on the creature.
"Not before I do this!" the lizard exclaimed and using the last of his strength, grabbing his sword from next to him and stabbing Link deeply in his right shoulder, causing the professor to hiss. But that didn't stop him from bringing down his sword and killing the creature. The lizard withered away in the ground and Link dropped to one knee, dropping his sword as his hissed.
"Professor!" The three students yelled as they came up behind him, kneeling next to him.
"Ugh… that hurt." He said through his clenched teeth, grabbing onto the monster's swords hilt and ripped it from his shoulder, causing him to scream silently from the pain.
Harry and Ron looked at each other and nodded both standing up. They each took one of the professor's arms, Ron being extra careful because he had the right side, and put them around their necks, lifting him up as best they could.
Link looked at both of them, surprised slightly, and then shook his hand smiling weakly. "Good job….you three….I guess…you do pay attention in my class." He mumbled, chuckling.
"You've taught us more then any other teacher before you, so of course we paid attention. But that doesn't matter now; we need to get you back to the castle." Harry said and he and Ron slowly turn themselves around to bring Link back up to the castle.
Link stopped them for a moment and looked to the brunette, who was behind them. "Ms. Granger….if you will be…..so kind and retrieve my sword." He asked quietly, hissing slightly, trying to hide his pain.
She nodded/"Yes professor." She turned from the group and jogged over to the blood stained sword and picked it up. Surprisingly, it wasn't as heavy as she thought it would be. She shook her head and caught up to the slow moving group, heading for the castle.
"Professor what was that thing back there?" Ron asked as they walked up the hill, looking over at their worn out teacher. It was the first time Ron had seen him looking so tired before and that freaked him out more than the stares the professors would give him during class.
"It's a creature…from my country…very skilled and very deadly." Link responded, and then smiled at the boy. "You all did…very good for fighting…it I'm proud-" Link stopped coughing harshly, some blood coming out which brought the mothering nature out of Hermione.
"Professor! You need to save your energy! We can talk about this later." She said in a worried tone, motioning for the boys to pick up the pace a bit as they made it to the top of the hill.
Link smiled weakly and nodded, listening to the younger girl. It was kind of silly, well he thought anyway, but she sort of reminded him of…
The group made there way into the castle where they brought Link into the infirmary. There Madam Pomfrey was shocked at his injuries, directing the two boys to quickly lay him down on a bed as she got her medical supplies together. She directed them to get rid of his robe and whatever else would get in the way. When they did that, Link motioned them to leave, saying that they shouldn't have to worry about him. The Madam agreed and rushed the three out, closing the door right behind them. The three looked at each other and made their way back to the Gryffindor tower, not forgetting this night for a while.