Trickster Chapter Five

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Harry curled up in his compartment, a book out on magical creatures. He looked up, smiling as he saw Neville and Hermoine dump their stuff. "Where's Ron?"

"Not here, couldn't find him. I saw the twins earlier though, they had no idea where he was either."

"Damn, what about his little sister…uh..Ginny? Maybe he's with her?" Harry said, looking thoughtful.

"Oh, let's go look."

The three of them went down the train, searching for Ron or Ginny. They finally spotted her talking to a blonde. "Hey, have you seen Ron?"

The red head shook her head. "The twins just came by asking for him, where is he?"

"Don't know." Harry looked to the blonde, who was staring at him. "Erm…Hi."

"You're Harry Potter." Harry nodded.

"Oh, this is Luna Lovegood, she lives close to us." Ginny said with a slight blush. Harry grinned, going to shake the blonde's hand. "Your dad is the editor of the Quibbler."

She smiled. "Yes. You read it?"

"When I can. I like it, it's very interesting." Harry heard Hermoine snort behind him. Harry ignored it. "Is it true your Dad found the lochness monster?"

"Oh yes, we found it. He took some pictures, but it was much too foggy…"

"Oh, that sucks…well, it was nice meeting you, we've got to go!"

As they went down the corridor, Hermoine rolled her eyes. "Harry, you don't really believe her…" Harry glared at her. "I'll have you know that loch ness are actually pretty common in the Pacific. Just because she's a little…spacey…doesn't mean anything."

At the sorting that night, Ron was still missing. Ginny was sorted into Gryffindor, and Luna was sorted into Ravenclaw. Harry grinned at this. "See, I bet she's plenty smart. Let's be friends with her." Hermoine gave her a dubious look. The twins leant forward. "Hey, no one would expect her to pull off pranks, I bet she could do it…"

Harry chuckled, hiding his grin. "Yeah, maybe."

--

That night, they found out that Ron had taken the flying car to school, and was telling his story to the common room that night, about how he flew into the womping willow, and how he was caught by Snape.

Harry didn't like how the Gryffindors thought of Snape on a whole, but he knew that that was what the man projected to his students, for the sake of his reputation. He didn't have to like it though. Harry read deep into the night, reading one of Flamel's books on Ernest Rutherford's work on transmutation. The man was a muggle, focusing on chemistry and science, but his ideas were so close to alchemy. It was quite interesting. It was near dawn before Harry noticed how late it was, so he just went on to get ready for the day.

Harry's classes were even more mixed up now. He speculated he would be to NEWT level by the end of the year in transfiguration since he'd spent the summer with Minerva. He completely disregarded anything to do with Lockhart, choosing to spend more time on his other subjects. He spent three nights a week in the potions lab with Neville and the others, now joined by Luna and Ginny. He also spent every Friday afternoon with Hagrid in the forbidden forest, and Saturdays with Professor Snape.

He was visiting Pomfrey in the hospital wing, stocking a few of his potions in exchange for use of her healing books. He also had tea a few times with Flitwick and Sinastra. So, by the time Halloween arrived, he was exhausted. He had detention with Lockhart, and was nearly half asleep over the stack of signed pictures of the man.

KILL. BLOOD. RIP. TEAR. KILL

Harry woke right up. "Did you hear that?"

Lockhart frowned. "I don't know what you mean Harry…"

KILL

"Well, great scot, look at the time, we've been here nearly four hours…"

Harry stood as soon as he was dismissed, running out of the classroom. He heard the voice again, he felt terrified for some reason. It sounded like it was coming from the walls…

"Harry!" Hermoine called out as he turned the corner. He put a hand to his chest.

"Damn Hermoine, you scared me…"

KILL

"Did you hear that?" Harry murmured, looking to his friends.

"No Harry…what are you talking about…"

Harry walked forward, following the voice, Ron and Hermoine following him, Neville trailing behind.

He gasped as he turned the corner, staring up at the wall. As luck would have it, all the students were leaving the Great Hall from the Halloween feast.

"You've killed her!" Filch cried, going forward. All the teachers went forward, looking at the stiff cat.

"Enemies of the heir beware? You'll be next mudblo-"

"Mr. Malfoy!" Minerva barked, glaring at him.

"She's not dead. She's been petrified." Dumbledore announced. He frowned. "Everyone to your common rooms…except for you, Mr. Potter."

Harry stayed behind, now all the professors were looking at him.

"Mr. Potter…is there anything you wish to tell me?"

Harry frowned. Why was he being singled out like this?

"No sir. I just came up and saw-"

"You weren't at the feast." Filch said, his eyes narrowed.

Harry's jaw dropped. "I was-"

"He was with me. In detention." Lockhart said, walking up.

"Very well then." Dumbledore said, looking back to the cat. "We've got some mandrakes provided by Professor Sprout, Mrs. Norris will be up in no time, I'm sure…"

--

Harry sighed, following his friends to the Great Hall. There was to be a dueling club, hosted by Lockhart and Snape. He really didn't want to come, but all of his friends did, and Harry did want to see if anything good happened to Lockhart, which was bound to happen.

He laughed as Lockhart was flown back by a simple spell cast by Snape. Harry grinned at Snape in admiration at the man. He had his formal dueling robes on and he looked very handsome. Harry flushed, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. Bad Harry, thinking about his professor that way!

They were about to pair up people together, but Harry knew he was far above his age group. This was going to end badly, he just knew it. Snape raised a hand. "I think one pair will do just fine. Malfoy."

The blonde boy scrambled up to the platform, and Harry felt a deep foreboding. "How about …Potter!" Harry frowned, getting on the platform at Lockhart's call. Everyone knew Harry was probably much more advanced, this wouldn't be fair…

The duel started off quickly, with Malfoy landing on his bum with a simple disarming spell, much like Lockhart. In a fit of rage, Malfoy cast serpentsorsia.

Harry stepped back minutely. Knockturne people had a thing about snakes…Harry gulped. Snape was about to step forward, but Harry saw the snake approaching a second year Hufflepuff. Harry gasped and spoke

Don't hurt him, don't attack…

He knew by the gasps that something awful had just happened. Snape vanished the snake with an unreadable look on his face. Harry covered his mouth with his hands, guessing what had happened, tears forming in his eyes. He ran off the platform and out of the great hall.

Snape found him a few hours later in the lab, crying.

"Potter." Harry looked up, hastily wiping his tears. "I did it, didn't I? I…I…spoke…and everyone thinks I'm…"

Snape sighed. "Potter…did you know you were a parseltongue?"

"No! I had no idea…I never had to deal with live snakes before…oh Merlin, this is terrible…" Harry murmured, running a hand through his bangs.

"Dumbledore spoke to us already. He…suspects it may just be a transfer from the killing curse…I've never heard of something like that before happening though…"

"But then again, who's survived the killing curse before?" Harry said bitterly, looking down.

He vanished his ruined potion. "I…I just know this is going to cause problems. A lot of the older students didn't like me already because I've shown some of them up, and now…"

Snape sighed. "Well…it's going to be hard. But with the rumor mill like it is at Hogwarts, they'll have something new to talk about in a few weeks."

"I sure hope so."

Harry bit his lip, furrowing his brow. "You don't think…there is any way I could be related to…"

"I don't think so. The Potters have been Gryffindors for years and years…."

"What about my mother?" Harry said quietly.

Snape sighed. "She was a muggleborn, Potter. There's no way it could have been from her side."

Harry looked thoughtful. "But…it wouldn't hurt to check, right?"

Snape's eyes widened. "That is a very dangerous potion, and the Potter Family's formal stance on it…"

"I have to know…I have to know, I cant just go on Dumbledore's word… what if I am related to…"

Snape gulped. "This…you cant do a potion like this alone. We'll brew it together over the holidays, for now…just…research as much as you can."

Harry nodded reluctantly. "Fine…thank you sir."

--

By Christmas break, Harry was hysterical. In private, anyways. There had been more attacks, and Harry was scared to death that one of his friends would be attacked. He had no idea who was causing this, except he knew it wasn't him. He hadnt been having any strange dreams, or black outs, or anything of that nature. He was…terrified.

Harry walked into the lab, seeing Snape make the preparations. He could feel the buzzing of the wards in the classroom, and knew Snape had tried to make this as private as possible, for both of their sakes.

Snape didn't meet his eyes as Harry joined him at the work table and they started on their potion. After it was finished, it was divided into two separate cauldrons, and their blood was added. Snape got out the special parchment they were to use, and the quills. They glanced to each other. Snape could tell the boy was scared, terrified of what he would find. He gave him the tiniest of smiles, and they both drank their potions.

Screams filled the room as they both went to their knees. Snape snatched the papers and quills, and handed one to Harry. They both trembled as the potion went through their system as they scratched out their lineages. This was a borderline dark potion, and it was very painful. It was supposed to work in the blood stream, separating it bit by bit to determine each bit of magical content.

Harry groaned and collapsed finally, finishing his paper. Snape did the same, soon after.

--

Harry woke with a splitting headache, and oddly warm. He opened his eyes slowly, flushing as he saw that he was curled up against Snape. He moved away, seeing the man was still asleep. He looked to his parchment and sighed. "Damn."

Snape woke, sitting up. "Well?"

Harry wordlessly handed the parchment to the Professor.

"We need to hide this."

"Cant we just burn it?"

"No, you know we cant, the spell-"

"Where can we hide it…"

Snape stood slowly, supporting himself on the edge of the table as he looked at his own parchment. He raised a brow, then handed it to Harry.

Harry gaped, and handed it back to the Professor. "Well."

"Well indeed. I'll have to hide mine too."

They ended up hiding the parchments in a warded drawer that Snape kept hidden in his office, that no one knew about except for he. "I think this changes things." Snape said reluctantly.

"I'd say so." Harry murmured, looking down.

--

The attacks stopped for a while, thankfully, after the holidays. Harry used the time to catch up on his school work, not that he was extremely far behind or anything. By March, the professors decided have Harry be tested in NEWT level transfiguration, DADA, Herbology, and COMC, and OWL level in Charms and History of Magic in addition to the others that he was taking his NEWTS in. He would have to go the Ministry during the holidays if he wanted to be tested in Alchemy or in Healing, but Harry was planning on waiting another year before he tried for his OWLS in those, as he wanted more time to study.

After his exams, yet again was he sucked into another 'adventure'. This time, Ginny nearly died, and he wanted to let Hagrid free from Azkaban. Too many innocent people were getting hurt this time, and Harry was getting fed up with some of the bigotry he was facing. He was seriously considering leaving Hogwarts.

And he made his decision as he woke up yet again the infirmarary, with another tugging at his hand. He opened his eyes, glaring at the Headmaster. "This is familiar. You trying to get something from my hand."

"Except this time it's a school relic. Mr. Potter…"

"Sir…" He sighed, looking around at the Professors gathered around his bed. Minerva's eyes were red, she had a hankerchief in her hands. Hagrid was there too, looking worried. Pomfrey was glaring at the Headmaster, and Snape wasn't looking at anyone, instead he was looking down to the floor. Hmm. Safe place to look.

Harry held up the sword in his hands. Gryffindor's sword. Well…it did save his life, after all…speaking of that… "How's Ginny?"

"She's fine, just fine, she's in St. Mungo's right now with her family…"

Harry gasped. "Will she be okay?"

"Yes, Mr. Potter, she'll make a full recovery…." Poppy said quietly.

Harry looked relieved. "And the petrified students will be released soon, the potion is almost finished."

Harry nodded, taking the sticking charm off of his hand and placing it on the bed. He wrapped his arm around his knees, curling up. He didn't realize how all the Professors were looking at him right now.

"Harry…you're very lucky, you nearly died…"

Harry frowned, not answering that.

"Do you know why Lockhart is acting like he was obliviated?"

"Because he was. The idiot accidentally obliviated himself when he was trying to do it to me. He was going to take the credit for everything and not even bother saving Ginny…" Harry murmured, keeping his eyes down.

The hospital wing doors slammed open, revealing Lucius Malfoy and a house elf stumbling behind him. Malfoy looked rather smug about something. "Albus Dumbledore, you've been dismissed by the Hogwarts Board-"

"Not exactly Lucius. When I talked to the board, well, they said they only signed the petition under duress from you…"

Harry droned out the voices, watching the house elf. He pointed to Malfoy, then to the book Dumbledore had in his hands.

Harry cleared his throat. "Sir? May I?" Harry took the book into his hands.

"This was controlling Slytherin's monster. You see, there was some sort of…spirit of some sort, controlling it. Anyhow…I believe this is yours." Harry handed it to Malfoy.

Malfoy thrust the book at his house elf, eyes blazing, He was about to draw his wand, but thought better of it, glancing around. The house elf gasped. "I'm FREE!"

Harry hid a grin at the ecstatic house elf. Malfoy looked furious. "You lost me my elf, boy!"

"Well, maybe you should take better care of them then." Harry quipped back, watching the elf wave a sock around.

All the professors were trying to keep their mirth hidden as Malfoy stormed out of the hospital wing. The house elf bounced on Harry's bed with a wide smile.

"Thank you Harry Potter sir! You are so noble and brave- I've been trying to meet you for ages- but bad things happening…" Harry grinned.

"Well, I'm glad to help you…what's your name?"

"You asked my name sir? Like a true equal! Oh, you is so noble, Harry Potter sir!"

Harry flushed.

"I'm Dobby sir, and I will forever be grateful to you-"

Harry's jaw dropped as the house elf bowed to him before popping off.

He cleared his throat. "So…um, yeah. I'm not coming back to Hogwarts."

"What?!" Minerva cried.

"But you cant-" Hagrid got all teary eyed.

Snape was silent through all this, there was a bit of acceptance in his eyes as he looked away. Poppy frowned. "Well, at least he wont be here all the time, injured, who knows what could happen to him next year."

All the teachers went quiet at that. Dumbledore looked at him tiredly, twinkle dimming. "Are you sure?"

Harry nodded, thinking that Dumbledore was giving up a little too easy on him.

"Very well then. But you must have a safe place to go-"

Harry grinned. "Come on, I have 120 feet worth of Basilisk parts that I can salvage from the chamber of secrets, along with all the shed skins there. I will be more than able to use the money to put up some wards wherever I go."

They all gaped at him as he shrugged. "What? Come on, that stuff is expensive! Since I'm the one that killed it off, might as well, right?"

Dumbledore just shook his head, leaving. McGonnagal had the funniest look on her face, and Snape was trying not to smile.

--