Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.
Thanks to all those who reviewed. So sorry for not updating in so long. Kids were driving me crazy!! Hope you like the chapter. Enjoy!!
Chapter Eleven
Harry watched through narrowed eyes as the Great Hall filled with excited looking students. He still couldn't believe he was doing this. He looked towards the stage and saw Professor June along with the four Aurors, watching the eager students flow into the Hall.
He noticed that the Hall was filled with more students than last year. It seemed that the whole school had showed up! 'Of course, they all want to come and watch me get humiliated!' Harry thought to himself. He had blushed so hard when Professor Dumbledore had announced to the whole school that Harry was going to be helping the Aurors in the Duelling Club. Everyone had turned in their seats to look at him. Damn, he hated it when they did that!
Harry looked over at the main doors again and caught sight of his dad, making his way into the hall. In a flash, Harry was standing before him, blocking him from coming inside.
"Evening, Duelling Assistant!" James greeted with an annoying smile.
"Dad" Harry responded dryly.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Well, I couldn't miss the opportunity to see you, teaching" James purposefully stretched out the last word.
Harry went a little red but kept his eyes fixed on his father before answering.
"I'm sorry then that you won't get the chance."
James' smile slipped of his face and he looked at Harry in confusion.
"What are you talking about? You have to help the Aurors. That is your detention, you don't want to anger McGonagall, trust me" James told him.
"Oh, I don't intend to. I will serve my detention, but you don't get to watch." Harry answered with a smirk firmly in place. It was bad enough that his parents had suggested this awful punishment; he wasn't going to give them the enjoyment of watching!
James looked blankly at his son before shaking his head.
"You can't do that! It's not your decision." he said indignantly.
Harry folded his arms across his chest and gave James a look that clearly said, 'don't try me!'
James saw one of the Aurors walk past them. He recognised him as Liam Ferguson. James called out to him.
"Ferguson! Tell Harry he can't refuse me entry!" James shouted.
The young Auror turned around to look at them. At Harry's trademark glare, Ferguson's face paled considerably.
"I would, but every time he looks at me like that, I go all cold inside!" the young Auror responded before quickly scampering off.
Harry faced his dad again and gave him a triumphant smile. James glared at the Auror's fleeting back before shouting out 'coward' to him. Harry flicked his hand, closing the doors in James' face.
He turned around to face the hall and felt his momentarily happiness slip away. The students were all staring at him, along with the Aurors. Harry saw Tonks trying to hide her smirk, but failing miserably. As soon as Harry had faced the hall, Professor June had taken the stage.
"Welcome, Students! It really is a pleasure to have so many of you attending the club. I suppose we have the Aurors to thank for that." Here Professor June looked directly at Harry. It was blatantly obvious that most of the school had showed up because of Harry and not the Aurors.
At Harry's scowl she continued,
"They have many lessons planned but for today, I would like everyone to practise many of the basic spells. It would be ideal since today is the first lesson."
Harry had already stepped into the shadows, hoping that he wouldn't be mentioned. He figured he could just scare anyone who made the mistake of asking his help. Unfortunately, this was not to be.
"We also have a special helper with us today. Mr Harry Potter was kind enough to help out with the Aurors. He will be assisting them today."
All the heads turned to look at him. Harry just looked at all of them blankly. He spotted the grinning faces of Damien and Ron. Tonks took over from Professor June and Harry heard his name being called up for a demonstration.
With a deep sigh of frustration Harry headed up to the stage.
"Kill me, just kill me now." He muttered as he took the stage.
xxx
Damien was loving this. Harry looked a right picture, trying to restrain himself and not lash out at the Auror who was performing the demonstration. Harry's wand flew to the Auror's hand for the third time. Harry didn't look amused at all. Damien could clearly see that Harry was just itching to retaliate, to actually try and resist the attack, but he was told to just stand there, like an idiot and let the disarming spell hit its target. Damien knew himself that there was no point in that. No attacker was just going to stand there and let you disarm him. But Auror Green wanted to show how the spell reacted and the effect it had on the wand.
Green held up his wand to the hall before explaining the common mistakes people made.
"Always ensure that you are holding your wand firmly. Many make the mistake of holding their wand loosely and therefore don't manage to stop the attacker from disarming them. Keep a firm grip on your wand."
Harry threw the Auror a very disgruntled look.
"One would think that would be common sense." Harry said loudly. The Auror's face reddened but he didn't say anything. He continued with his speech, ignoring Harry.
Damien and Ron were in silent fits of laughter as Harry's grew more annoyed and irritated by the second. Even Hermione and Ginny couldn't stop smiling at Harry's expression.
"Oh man, this is a moment to capture. I wish I had my camera. Where's Colin when you need him?" Damien said with tears of laughter in his eyes.
Hermione looked around her trying to spot her fellow Gryffindor.
"That's strange." she muttered to herself.
"What's strange?" Ginny asked.
"You would think that Colin would be here with the rest of Gryffindor but I can't see him or Dennis anywhere." She scanned the hall again to see if she could see either of the Creevey brothers.
"They'll be here somewhere. You can't make them out because there are so many people here!" Ginny said after scanning the room as well.
Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment but got distracted as the Auror started asking everyone to form groups of ten. The Aurors and Harry were going to take one group each and go through the correct way to grip your wand. She caught the look on Harry's face and truly felt sorry for her friend. This really was a punishment for him.
xxx
"Try aiming it at me, you might succeed!" Harry snapped at the third year Hufflepuff.
The nervous looking boy shakily aimed his wand at Harry, but the poor boy was trembling so hard that the wand shook in his hand. Harry forced out his breath slowly, in a vain attempt to calm himself. He couldn't understand how he was supposed to help someone who couldn't even hold his wand steady.
Everyone was practising the disarming spell. Simple, but some students were having trouble so Harry had been told to help them. This was one particular student.
"Just hold the wand steady! Why are you shaking?" Harry snapped at him again.
The boy let out a squeak before dropping his wand. He hastily swooped down to pick it up. Harry looked up at the ceiling in annoyance and muttered a few choice words to himself.
The third year that went by the name, George Sutherland, aimed his wand at Harry and tried to steel himself. Harry was asking him to aim at him and perform the disarming hex. It would be a lot easier to concentrate on that particular hex if Harry wasn't looking at him murderously.
"Could…c-could you n-not look at me like t-that." he squeaked out.
Harry only glared at him harder, making the boy take a step back.
"Just say the hex!" Harry hissed at him.
George was so intimidated by Harry that he couldn't take aim. His spell shot out of his wand and went in the opposite direction to Harry. It hit one of the windows. Harry looked angrily over at the Hufflepuff.
"You know what you should do? Try aiming at that window, maybe you might hit me instead!"
"Um Harry! A word please." Professor June called out to him.
Harry closed his eyes, unclenched his fists and went over to her.
"Mr Potter, you have to be patient. You can't teach someone by being angry with them." she explained.
Harry glared at her as well.
"You can't teach them at all! Its hopeless." He shot back.
Professor June smiled back at him.
"I think the problem you're experiencing is more due to the fact that most students would hesitate to hex you. Even if it is only a practise duel."
Harry kept the scowl fixed on his face but did feel a bit better. 'They should be scared of me' he thought with satisfaction.
Professor June left to go to and assist a six year student. Harry stood watching the hall and the mass of students fire the disarming spells. Harry could tell that he wasn't the only one who was having an awful time. Most of the students were looking disappointed that they were going through such basic work. They all expected something more exciting since these were Aurors teaching them.
He spotted George looking at him. As soon as Harry met his eyes, George straightened up right and held out his wand before him, a determined look on his face. He shouted out the spell aiming at Harry. Even before the spell shot out of his wand, Harry knew the spell wasn't going to hit its target. The spell zoomed to his right and hit the stone wall.
Harry sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose warding off the headache that was building behind his eyes.
"How's it going?"
Harry opened his eyes to see Damien standing before him, a wide smile on his face.
"The vein in my head is about to pop!" Harry replied exasperated.
"Okay" Damien said while grabbing Harry from his arm and pulling him into a corner.
"I think you should call it a day. I don't think Professor McGonagall will appreciate it if you kill a student. Especially since this punishment was because you tried to kill one." Damien said with a quiet chuckle.
"You seem to be enjoying this a bit too much." Harry said to Damien.
Damien threw Harry a cheeky grin before going back to Hermione. Luckily, Harry didn't have to go back to George since Tonks announced the end of the duelling session for that day. The hall emptied except for the Aurors and Harry.
Ron gestured to Harry that they would wait for him outside. Harry waited until Tonks had come down from the stage before erupting.
"What the hell was that? You call that a duelling session? It was a waste of time! You spent the whole session on 'How to hold your Wand' I mean come on! Who doesn't know how to hold a wand? And then going through the disarming spell? I learned that when I was eight! This whole session was pathetic!"
Tonks waited until Harry had finished his rant.
"Finished?" she asked cheekily.
At Harry's glare she continued.
"We had to start off slow. It's a good thing we did since most of the third years couldn't even manage such a simple spell. We have to build up gradually." She explained.
"Well you might want to pick up the pace a little." Harry responded.
Tonks reassured him that it would. Harry left as quickly as he could after that. He needed a hot shower to get this terrible day off him. He found Damien and the rest of his group waiting outside for him.
"Don't say anything. I don't want to talk about this awful day, ever!" he warned as Ron and Damien stifled their smirks.
They walked in silence, Ginny walking next to Harry.
"You did look a picture up on that stage!" Damien blurted out.
"Damy" Harry warned.
"Well, you did. And then your expression when Green explained 'how to grip your wand firmly but not too firmly' was priceless." Damien was laughing whole heartedly by now and Ron and Hermione were also joining in.
"So you honestly think that was a good duelling session?" Harry asked outraged.
"Hell, no! That was bloody awful. But your reactions made it all worth it." Ron laughed.
"I'm glad I amuse you all so much." Harry responded dryly.
They all laughed and even Harry felt his tension ebb away. He shouldn't be all that surprised. This was Hogwarts after all and when the Ministry joined in, it was obvious their teaching curriculum was going to be abysmal.
The group had reached the main hallway and were making their way towards the stairs.
"I just hope they do something worthwhile while I'm there. I don't think I'll survive another session on 'how to hold your wand' and 'how to aim'. If I am to help the Aurors they have to at least teach something decent." said Harry.
"I never thought I would see the day when you would help an Auror." A voice stopped the group before they could start climbing the stairs.
All, except Harry, turned around to see who had spoken. Harry let a smile spread across his face. He didn't need to turn around and see who it was. He could recognise that voice anywhere.
"And I never thought I would hear your sullen tone in Hogwarts again." Harry said as he slowly turned around.
A figure stepped out from the shadows, his usual smirk firmly in place.
"In all fairness, Harry, I was here first."
Draco Malfoy stepped out into the lit hallway and let his grey eyes study his friend. He looked well, a little tired maybe but well.
"Malfoy!" Damien exclaimed in shock.
Draco looked over at Damien and the rest of the Gryffindors.
"Potty, Weasels" he said in form of a greeting. He point blank ignored Hermione.
Harry had stepped away from his brother and friends and went over to his best friend. Both boys stood facing each other, grinning like mad but not saying anything.
"I thought you weren't coming back." Harry asked at last.
Draco shrugged his shoulders.
"I wasn't planning on it but there are some legal problems with Malfoy Manor. Mother had to come back to sort it out. She figured I could come back as well. She's with Dumbledore right now, sorting out when I should come back to finish seventh year."
Damien heard Ron groan next to him. Not having Malfoy at Hogwarts was like a dream come true. Now the Slytherin was back and that could only mean trouble.
"You want to go outside and talk." Malfoy asked Harry.
Harry left with Draco without as much as a backward glance at the group behind him.
"Well that was rude" Hermione huffed.
The rest silently agreed.
xxx
"So what's this I hear about you helping Aurors? Did hell freeze over?" Draco asked.
Harry couldn't help grin back. Both boys were sitting on the stone steps leading up to the main doors.
"It's McGonagall. She cooked up this evil detention for me." Harry explained.
"What did you do?" Draco asked.
Harry thought about telling him but then changed his mind. He didn't think Draco needed to hear about it. Plus, Harry didn't think he could repeat what Nott said anyway.
"So why are you really here?" Harry asked, changing the topic.
"Like I said, legal stuff." Draco answered.
"Like what?" Harry asked.
Draco went quiet for a moment, figuring out what to say.
"The Ministry's took over the Manor and frozen all our money. They're doing that to try and get to father. Problem is that Malfoy Manor was originally put into mother's name. How it got changed back, no one knows. Even some of the money is mothers but the Ministry has ordered it frozen. Mother's trying to sort it all out. It should all be resolved soon."
Harry thought whether or not he should ask the next question. He decided to go ahead. He was curious himself.
"Have you heard from him?
Draco looked up at Harry before diverting his gaze away. He shook his head. Draco knew Harry was referring to Lucius Malfoy.
"You know it's so weird. When he was with mother, all they did was fight. I was actually a little relieved when we left him. I figured that at least she would be happy now."
Harry watched as Draco's tone deepened and the bitterness he was feeling laced his words.
"But now, after everything, she…she's missing him. Can you believe that? I mean she told him how much she hated him to his face but now that he's gone, she says she loves him. How ridiculous is that! I told her that she has no right to say she loves him or that she is missing him."
Harry watched his best friend carefully.
"And you don't?" he asked.
Draco looked at Harry confused.
"What?"
"Miss him" Harry asked.
Draco looked like he was going to deny it at first but then the hard look in his eyes faded away. He dropped his head and ran a hand through his blond hair.
"I know that it's stupid. I know without a doubt what kind of father he was. I know that if the time came, he would stand back and let me suffer, maybe even kill me if he was ordered to, but…I still can't stop missing him. I mean, how can I care for someone who never cared for me. It's stupid, right?"
"Yeah, right" Harry answered in a quiet voice.
Draco looked over at Harry, wishing he had not just said all that. If anyone could understand how he felt it was Harry. Draco knew that Harry still felt some kind of love for Voldemort. Even after everything that had happened. Draco had been there all those years, when Harry had called Voldemort father. He had seen the extent of Harry's loyalty to him. All of that doesn't just disappear. Draco knew just by looking at Harry that he was suffering, just like he was, without his father.
"So, how's Dumbledore treating you? Still annoying the hell out of you?" Draco asked, hoping to distract Harry.
It seemed to work. Harry looked up at Draco; a fierce look replaced the despair in his eyes.
"He gets worse everyday." Harry answered.
"That sounds like Dumbledore." Draco answered, smiling at the memory of his Headmaster.
xxx
"I can't believe he threw me out! I never thought he would do that." James exclaimed as Lily curled up on her sofa, a mug of hot chocolate in her hands.
"Well, you did have it coming." She said, enjoying her husband's reaction.
"Next time, I'm going to go into the hall before him. He can't chuck me out then, can he?" James plotted.
Lily laughed at her husband's scheming.
"James I needed to talk to you about something. It's important." Lily started. Lily had yet to talk to him about what had happened with Poppy.
James looked at Lily with curiosity.
"What's wrong Lily? That last time you said we had something important to talk about you told me you were pregnant" James' eyes suddenly widened with that thought and he looked at her with shock.
"Are you…?"
"No" Lily curtly answered.
"Oh, got to say I'm relieved. I don't think I can handle anymore offspring." James said, collapsing opposite his wife.
Lily glared at James but decided not to say anything more on that topic. She had already wasted enough time. She should have told James about Harry's sleeping problems long before now. Without anymore hesitation she told James about what Poppy had told her. How she had found the bottles of Dreamless Sleeping potion in his room and what Poppy had said about him coming to see her.
James sat in silence as Lily finished. He didn't look as concerned as Lily thought he would.
"James, I think we should talk to Harry about this. We need him to open up." Lily said after a few minutes silence.
James looked up at her.
"How do you think that conversation will go? I'll tell you. We'll ask him if he's okay and he'll respond with 'I'm fine!' then we'll push him to talk and he'll get upset with us and then go in a bad mood where he won't talk to us for days."
Lily stared at James with annoyance.
"So what do you think we should do?" she asked.
"We do nothing." James responded.
Lily stared at him wide eyed.
"We do nothing? James did you understand what I said? Harry's having sleeping problems! He has to take sleeping potions to help him sleep at night. That's not normal! We have to figure out what's bothering him?"
James let out a sigh.
"I know what's bothering him. It's obvious Lily. You know as well, you just don't want to admit it." James said in a defeated voice.
Lily did know. She knew the moment she saw the Dreamless Sleeping potions in Harry's room. She knew that nothing would bother Harry to the point of having nightmares. There was only one plausible explanation. Voldemort. Harry was suffering because of what happened to Voldemort.
Lily put down her cup and looked directly at James.
"You don't think we should talk to him about, about Voldemort"
James couldn't help the shudder that ran down his spine.
"I already told you, it's not going to be of any help. Harry won't talk to us about it" James replied.
"So what do you think we should do?" Lily was adamant about this.
"Look, Lily. Harry isn't like Damien. We can't sit him down and talk to him and expect him to open up. . He needs to sort out his feelings on his own. It's the only way he'll heal. He's not a kid; he hates being treated like one. I know how you feel. I feel the same. I want to help him but if I've learned anything from last year, it's that Harry is a very private person. I don't want him to feel suffocated with attention." James explained.
Lily didn't look very happy but knew that some of what James was saying was right.
"I still think we should tell him that we're here. If he needs us, we're here." Lily said sadly.
"I hate that he doesn't come to us. He'll go to Poppy but he won't come to me. I'm his mother and he treats me like a stranger." Lily added.
James came over and embraced his wife.
"Give him time, Lily. He'll come to us. Once Harry fits in a little better he'll see that we're here for him. Just give him the space he needs." James advised.
Lily nodded her head, still not feeling particularly comforted.
"By the way, what where you doing in Harry's room?" James asked.
"I went to see why he blew me off the night before." Lily answered.
Suddenly a memory made its way to her. She sat up and looked at James.
"Actually I have something else important to talk to you about." She said.
"When I went into Harry's room, he wasn't alone." She started.
"He was with Ginny. They were both, well, they were both on the bed." Lily said, blushing herself at the memory.
James looked at her blankly.
"So?" he asked.
"Kids are always sitting on each others beds. What's the big deal?" he asked.
"I didn't say they were sitting." Lily said with a meaningful look on her face.
James' face immediately heated up as understanding hit home.
"Oh! You mean they were…oh, right."
Lily didn't know James could blush so hard.
"I didn't know that Harry was seeing her." He added.
"What, um, what were they…I mean were they…"
"No! I mean I don't think they've…they better not have…" Lily took a deep breath to calm herself.
"They were kissing when I went in." she explained.
James' expression relaxed.
"Oh, okay, well that's not so bad." James had visibly relaxed.
"You have to talk to him about this." Lily said determinedly.
James looked at her with surprise.
"What have we just been discussing?" he asked incredulously
xxx
Everyone had gone to bed by the time Harry came back to the common room. He walked in to find the common room empty, or so he thought at first glance.
"Well, you both had a lot of catching up to do."
Harry looked over at Damien who was curled up with a blanket on the chair.
"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Harry asked.
"I couldn't sleep until I saw you." his younger brother replied.
With a wave of his hand, Harry reignited the fire and sat down next to Damien.
"When is he coming back to classes?" Damien asked.
"After Christmas break. There's only two weeks left of this semester so it makes sense to wait for the second semester" Harry explained.
Damien nodded his head. He had wanted to talk to Harry about this for a few days now, but Harry was in such a foul mood regarding his detention that Damien had decided to wait. After seeing Draco, Harry seemed to be in a good mood.
"I wanted to ask you something." Damien started.
At Harry's nod he continued.
"I saw you, that day with Nott…"
"As did the rest of Hogwarts." Harry interjected.
Damien shot him a look that said 'shut up'.
"I saw you disapparate." Damien said quickly.
Harry's expression changed to slightly more serious.
"I know that you can't apparate or disapparate whilst inside Hogwarts and yet I saw you with my own eyes." Damien said in confusion.
"How did you do it?" Damien asked, coming to the point.
Harry looked at him intently.
"I don't know" Harry said honestly.
"It was like that day when I found out about Bella. I just wanted to leave Hogwarts and I did. It was just the same, I didn't want to be in Hogwarts and found that the wards couldn't hold me in. I broke past them." Harry said.
Damien seemed satisfied with that answer. He had figured as much. Harry was a powerful wizard. That fateful day in Hogsmeade had showed everyone what Harry was capable of doing. Harry didn't even need a wand anymore. He just carried it around with him as a force of habit.
"Did mum and dad freak out when you told them?" Harry asked.
Damien shook his head.
"I didn't tell them." he explained.
At Harry's questioning look he explained.
"I didn't want to say anything before I talked to you. In any case it's not my place to say anything. It's something you can do. You should be the one to decide if anyone should know about it or not."
Harry looked at his younger brother with pride. It was times like this that Harry thanked the Gods that Damien was his brother. He always put Harry first.
"Thanks" Harry said.
"Where did you go that day? You took a while to come back." Damien didn't tell Harry that he feared Harry wasn't going to come back at all.
Harry took his time answering.
"I went to see Bella."
Damien cursed himself. 'That should have been obvious, you genius' he thought to himself.
"Oh, is she buried in Spain?" Damien asked without being able to stop himself. He found it weird that Harry would apparate all the way to Spain.
"No" Harry simply answered.
Damien didn't push Harry. If he wanted to elaborate he would do so himself.
"She's in Cornwall." Harry said after a few moments.
"Why is she buried there?" Damien asked curiously.
"She used to live there. She's buried next to her husband" Harry's eyes flickered with sorrow.
Damien was taken aback by surprise.
"I didn't know she was a widow. I'm sorry." Damien said at once.
"Were, were you close with him?" Damien asked. Given that he was so close with Bella, he must have been close with her husband too.
Harry had a distant look in his eyes, as if he was bringing back long forgotten memories.
"Rodolphus died eight years ago" Harry answered, his tone a lot harder.
Damien knew just by Harry's different tone that it was a painful subject. Still he couldn't help but ask the next question.
"What happened?"
Harry looked directly over at him, emerald eyes blazing.
"He was killed by Aurors."
xxx
As Damien crept into his bed later on that night, he couldn't help but feel angry on his brother's behalf. Maybe this detention was much crueler than anyone had imagined, working alongside Aurors. He imagined what it would feel like if he had to work alongside Death Eaters.
Damien considered that he still wouldn't know what it would feel like. He had never lost anyone close to him by the hands of a Death Eater. But Harry had lost Rodolphus at the hands of an Auror.
As Damien shifted in his bed uncomfortably he made himself promise that he wouldn't make fun of Harry at the Duel Club. Harry still considered the Aurors, save for his dad and Godfathers, as his enemy. He didn't trust them and now Damien fully understood why. He understood now how hard Harry was trying, just to be in the same room as the Aurors and act somewhat civil towards them. Harry had a lot more patience than he let on.
Damien hoped that the detention passed quickly for Harry and that his brother didn't suffer too much.
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Just a quick note to say: Don't worry this story does have a plot. Please hang in there and I promise that the Great Evil will rear it's head very soon. I know I said a few chapters back that the villian will come soon, but I judged it wrong. I promise the villian will come soon, very soon. Please Review!