Hello there, welcome my friends to the next chapter.
Hope you enjoy now review.
girani4: How can he be Clark from my previous Potter story? That story actually has an happy end (And a sequel in the works).
Now story time.
Alex's bloodshot eyes opened wide when he felt rays of sun shining down on him as he was laying on a large four post bed.
"W-Where the hell am I?" he mumbled as his mouth felt extremely dry. Trying to sit up was a great challenge as his entire body felt heavy and the entire room felt like it was spinning around him.
A loud thud was heard as he rolled down on the floor.
With a lot of effort, not helped by his head feeling like someone with a big hammer was wailing on it, he finally managed to sit up. Rubbing one hand against his pounding forehead.
Moving so he was sitting with his back to his bed, he rubbed his head now with both hands as he tried to remember the events from last night when what sounded like cannon fire to him as the door was opened.
"Hey you." a voice said, "You're finally awake."
"Oh God, not again!" Alex shouted.
"You look terrible, Alexander." the woman's voice said.
"Could you not talk so loud, mum..." Alex groaned, "That would be really great, thanks." as he felt a bottle with a slight foul smell being pressed into his hand.
"Drink tis, it will help." Margaret said, as she helped him drink down the content, it leaving a bitter sour after taste in his mouth.
A few seconds later the pounding in his head lessened but his vision was still blurred. A long, looming shadow quivered in front of him for a moment; he blinked a few times and Margaret come into focus.
"Better?" Margaret asked.
"Better..." Alex said, slumping back against his bed, "What happaned?"
"Well you downed a few bottles of Firewhisky, you got very drunk and during dinner you yelled that you knew Remus is your father." Margaret recounted, "And after that you passed out right at the dinner table."
"Oh, I did." Alex said not remembering any of that.
"That's not even the worst part." Margaret said, "Then you woke up again, took your shirt off and declared Hermione your eternal love and how you would stop being a man whore for her, your words not mine, then you went running around the house until you reached your room and passed out on your bed."
"Oh..." he muttered, rubbing a hand through his hair, "Crap..."
"I'm sorry." Margaret said sadly.
"For what?" Alex said confused, "I made an idiot of myself."
"For keeping your fathers identity a secret..." Margaret said, "I thought I could be enough..."
"What? No, No, no." Alex said quickly as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "You where more than enough. You not only raised me, you had to raise Claire while dealing with losing your twin, losing your friends and having a high position and demanding job at the Ministry. And look how we turned out, we turned out great! Your all a son could want for in a mum."
It was later in the day where Harry was cleaning Hedwig's cage, before he heard a knock.
"Come in." Harry called just as Claire opened the door.
"Hey." she said, hands in her pockets, "You got a minute?"
"Sure, Claire." Harry said sitting on his bed, "For you I got two minutes."
She shook her head in amusement. "Look, about last night." Claire said pacing around, "Your right, I'm dealing with some... things right now. The most evil Dark Lord in history, the same one who wants to kill my boyfriend, has returned to life and it's all my fault."
"Your what?" Harry said confused, "How is Voldemort's return remotely your fault?"
"Because my blood was used in his resurrection, it's now coursing through his veins." she said, looking at him, "He's back because of me! That's why it's my fault."
"Claire, your blood was stolen from you. There was nothing you could have done to prevent it, any blood would have worked." Harry assured her, "And while your incredible, there is nothing special about your blood."
"That's not all. I've been... I've been reading through some of the dark arts books my dad's family has collected." she said suddenly coming to a stop, "There is power in blood, but it isn't a very carefully studied subject because of its dark nature. What if I got some link now to Voldemort? What if he can't die while I'm alive, or what if when his body is destroyed he just can just use mine as a vessel?"
"He would definitely achieve a beauty boost." Harry said before standing up and pulling her into an embrace, "Claire, I know we're both messed up, but I'm here for you."
"You idiot." she said, "I'm suppose to be the one you can lean on."
"I know and I am grateful I can. But you don't have to be strong all the time, just allow yourself to lean on me." Harry said, "Whatever the future holds, we'll face it together."
"Even if I become possessed by Voldemort and decide to take over the Wizarding World?" she said.
"Please, you would have make Voldemort go screaming for his mum if he tried to posses you." Harry said as his forehead touched hers, "Your stronger than you know, Claire."
"Thanks." Claire said, "Because there is enough darkness in my bloodline."
"It's not so bad." Harry said as the two sat down on his bed, "Sirius turned out okay."
"Oh, I'm not talking about the Blacks." Claire said, "I've been reading some history books and back when my great-great-great-grandfather Phineas Nigellus Black was headmaster a member of the Kent family attended, not much older than us, who did many terrible and great things."
"Do I want to know what?" Harry said.
"He possessed an ancient form of magic. He would lift people in the air and slam them into rocks until their bones where broken and their organs ruptured. He would disintegrated the flesh, the muscle and the bones right where people stood. He would permanently turn people into chickens so they would die in the forest By the time he used the Killing curse, it was considered a mercy."
"And he was a student!?" Harry said horrified, "What happened to him?"
"Oh, he got away with it." Claire said.
Just as Margaret poked her head through the door, "Sorry to interrupt. But Harry, could you come down to the kitchen? Snape would like a word with you."
He looked around at Claire, "Snape?" Harry asked blankly, "As in Severus Snape, our Potions teacher?"
"The very same." Margaret said, "Now come on."
A minute or two later, Margaret pushed open the kitchen door to find Sirius and Snape both seated at the long kitchen table. A letter lay open on the table in front of Sirius.
Snape looked around at them, his face framed between curtains of greasy black hair, "Good afternoon, Potter." he said as Harry took the seat between Sirius and Margaret, "The Headmaster has sent me to tell you, Potter, that it is his wish for you to study Occlumency this term."
"Occlumency?" Harry said, "Isn't that the magical defense of the mind against external penetration or something?"
"Well, it seems Miss Kent is rubbing off on you." Snape said dryly, "But yes."
"Why do I have to study Occlumency?..." Harry blurted out.
"Because the Headmaster thinks it a good idea." Snape said smoothly, "You will receive private lessons once a week, but you will not tell anybody what you are doing, least of all Dolores Umbridge. You understand?"
"Yeah sure." Harry said, "But who is going to be teaching me?"
Snape raised an eyebrow, "I am." he said.
"Why can't Dumbledore teach Harry?" Sirius asked, "Or Charles?"
"I assure you I did not beg for the job." Snape said silkily, "As for why not Charles... Dumbledore has been worried about his influence over you."
"His influence over me?" Harry said, "What is that suppose to mean?"
"Let's just say, the Headmaster and our Combat Professor haven't been seeing eye-to-eye recently." Snape said as he got to his feet, "I will expect you at six o'clock on Monday evening, Potter. My office. If anybody asks, you are taking extra Potions. Say you want the extra preparations for your O.W.L." he turned to leave, his black travelling cloak billowing behind him.
The kitchen door opened and the entire Weasley family, plus Claire, Alex, Neville and Hermione, came inside, all looking very happy, with Mr. Weasley walking proudly in their midst dressed in a pair of striped pajamas covered by a mackintosh.
"Cured!" he announced brightly to the kitchen at large, "Completely cured!"
"Congratulations. Do not let me disrupt your celebration." Snape said and swept back across the kitchen, passing the Weasley's. At the door he looked back, "Six o'clock, Monday evening, Potter." And he was gone.
Sirius let out a howl, "So... you're cured? That's great news, really great."
That night, the usual group was sitting in Claire's room this time, as Harry told Claire, Alex, Ron, Neville and Hermione about having to take Occlumency lessons with Snape.
"Dumbledore wants to stop you having those dreams about Voldemort." Hermione said at once, "Well, you won't be sorry not to have them any more, will you?"
"Extra lessons with Snape?" Ron said, sounding aghast, "I'd rather have the nightmares!"
"Ron, your the only one who would rather have nightmares than extra lessons from Snape." Hermione said.
"Don't know about that..." Neville admitted, rubbing the back of his head "I think I would pick nightmares as well."
"I agree." Alex said, "While extra lessons with Snape sounds like a nightmare in itself, I rather have nightmares without him in it."
"Your all being rather childish." Hermione said, "At least Claire..."
"Goodbye sleeping forever." she said dryly.
They were to return to Hogwarts on the Knight Bus the following day, escorted once again by Sirius, Margaret, Lupin and Tonks, both of whom were eating breakfast in the kitchen when Harry, Claire, Alex, Ron, Neville and Hermione came down next morning.
The adults seemed to have been mid-way through a whispered conversation as Harry opened the door; all of them looked round hastily and fell silent.
After a hurried breakfast, they all pulled on jackets and scarves against the chilly grey January morning.
"Alex." Lupin said.
"Lupin." Alex said.
A silence followed, as the two looked how Sirius, thrust a badly wrapped package roughly the size of a paperback book into Harry's hands. Sirius gave a wary look at Mrs Weasley, who was trying to persuade the twins to wear hand-knitted mittens.
"So uhm..." Lupin said unsure what to talk about, "So about what happened during Christmas... You are right."
"Of course, I am." Alex said looking at his nails, "When am I not?"
"Yes, it's not often your wrong." Lupin said with a weary smile, "I should have been more like you and disregarded what others might think of me... I know you might not want to, but I would like to be a part of your life..."
"Eh, sure." Alex said with a shrug, "Why not?"
"Really? Just like that?" Lupin said taken aback, "Your so quick to forgive me?"
"I try to not dwell too much on the past, I'm having too much fun in the present." Alex said, "I'm not saying I'm forgiving you yet, but I'm willing to give you a chance."
They stepped out into the icy winter air, the door of number twelve slammed shut behind them. They followed Sirius and Lupin down the front steps.
"Come on, the quicker we get on the bus the better." Tonks said, and Claire thought there was nervousness in the glance she threw around the square.
Lupin flung out his right arm and with a loud bang, a violently purple, triple-decker bus had appeared out of thin air in front of them, narrowly avoiding the nearest lamppost, which jumped backwards out of its way.
A thin, pimply, jug-eared youth in a purple uniform leap down on to the pavement and said, "Welcome to the..."
"Yes, yes, we know, thank you." Tonks said swiftly and she shoved Harry forwards towards the steps, past the conductor, who goggled at Harry as he passed.
"Eh it's Harry!"
"Shout his name again, and you won't go home with your balls intact." Claire said menacingly, as she looked over her shoulder.
"I have always wanted to go on this thing." Ron said happily, joining Harry and Claire on board and looking around.
The Knight Bus was crammed with an assortment of mismatched chairs grouped haphazardly around windows.
Some of these appeared to have fallen over when the bus stopped abruptly in Grimmauld Place; a few witches and wizards were still getting to their feet, grumbling, and somebody's shopping bag had slid the length of the bus: an unpleasant mixture of frogspawn, cockroaches and custard creams was scattered all over the floor.
"Looks like we'll have to split up." Tonks said briskly, looking around for empty chairs, "Fred, George and Ginny, if you just take those seats at the back... Me and Remus can stay with you."
Harry, Claire, Alex, Ron, Neville, Hermione, Sirius and Margaret proceeded up to the very top deck, where there were six unoccupied chairs at the very front of the bus and two at the back.
As they handed Stan Shunpike eleven Sickles each, the bus set off again, swaying ominously. It rumbled around Grimmauld Place, driving on and off the pavement, then, with another tremendous BANG, they were all flung backwards; Ron's chair toppled right over.
Harry, who had narrowly avoided falling by seizing a candle bracket, looked out of the window: they were now speeding down what appeared to be a motorway.
The Knight Bus swayed alarmingly, overtaking a line of cars on the inside. Looking towards the front of the bus, Alex saw Hermione cover her eyes with her hands.
"Hermione." Alex said, "If your that nervous, you can hold my hand."
"Not now Alex!" she said.
With a loud bang, chairs slid backwards again as the Knight Bus jumped from the Birmingham motorway to a quiet country lane full of hairpin bends. Swiftly Hermione removed one hand from her eyes and gripped Alex's hand.
From here they moved to a main street in the middle of a busy town, then to a viaduct surrounded by tall hills, then to a windswept road between high-rise flats, each time with a loud bang.
"I've changed my mind..." Ron muttered, picking himself up from the floor for the sixth time, "I never want to ride on this thing again."
"Listen, it's Hogwarts stop after this." Stan said brightly, swaying towards them, "That bossy woman up front that got on with you, she's given us a little tip to move you up the queue. We're just gonna let Madam Marsh off first, though..." There was a retching sound from downstairs, followed by a horrible spattering noise, "...she's not feeling her best."
A few minutes later, the Knight Bus screeched to a halt outside a small pub, which squeezed itself out of the way to avoid a collision. They could hear Stan ushering the unfortunate Madam Marsh out of the bus and the relieved murmurings of her fellow passengers on the second deck.
The bus moved on again, gathering speed, until with a loud bang they were rolling through a snowy Hogsmeade. Flecks of snow hit the large window at the front of the bus.
At last they rolled to a halt outside the gates to Hogwarts. Sirius, Margaret, Lupin and Tonks helped them off the bus with their luggage, then got off to say goodbye.
"Have a good term, okay?" Margaret said placing an arm around Harry, "And Harry, please, if you have some vision, even a most vivid one, do not act rashly, go to the nearest Order member or Charles."
"All right, I will." Harry said.
The next evening, Claire, Alex, Ron, Neville and Hermione were sitting in the library, where they were working on Umbridge's most recent stream of homework as they waited for Harry to return from his Occlumency lesson.
Other students, nearly all of them fifth-years, sat at lamp-lit tables nearby, noses close to books, quills scratching feverishly, while the sky outside the mullioned windows grew steadily blacker.
The only other sound was the slight squeaking of one of Madam Pince's shoes, as the librarian prowled the aisles menacingly, breathing down the necks of those touching her precious books.
Claire woke up from her nap when Harry sat down next to her. "Pancakes?" she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eye, but she looked rather worried when she caught sight of Harry, who was very white and his scar seemed to be showing up more clearly than usual.
"You alright, Harry?" Claire asked concerned.
"Yeah... fine... I dunno." Harry said impatiently, wincing as pain shot through his scar again, "Listen... I have just realized something..."
And he told them what he had just seen and deduced. "So that weapon Voldemort is after is in the Ministry?" Neville whispered, as Madam Pince swept past, squeaking slightly, "It must be in the Department of Mysteries, it's got to be."
"So what's in the Department of Mysteries?" Harry asked.
"My great-uncle once mentioned that they call the people who work in there 'Unspeakables'." Neville said with a scowl, trying to remember the details, "Because no one really seems to know what they do."
"Weird place to have a weapon." Ron said.
"It's not weird at all, it makes perfect sense." Claire said, as she began to ponder, "But as to what it could be... I guess maybe something that can defeat Harry? Why else would Voldemort want it?"
"I don't think Voldemort needs a specialized weapon to kill me..." Harry said with a grim smile, "He already has the Avada Kadavra."
"Yeah, because that has been working out so well for him! He tried it on you when you were a baby and look how that turned out." Alex said, "You kicked his butt with your pudgy baby leg, on Halloween no less. Hell, we should rename Halloween into Harryween."
A moment of silence followed before all six let out a snicker of laughter. "Okay, I have been wondering for a while now." Harry said with a genuine smile, "What is wrong with you?"
"That is something we're still not sure about." Alex said, "Seriously though, are you sure you are all right?" For Harry had just run both his hands hard over his forehead as though trying to iron it.
"Yeah... Fine..." he said, lowering his hands, which were trembling, "I just feel a bit... I don't like Occlumency much."
"I expect anyone would feel snaky if they'd had their mind attacked over and over again.", Hermione said sympathetically, "Look, let's get back to the common room, we'll be a bit more comfortable there."
But the common room was packed and full of shrieks of laughter and excitement; Fred and George were demonstrating their latest bit of joke shop merchandise.
"Yeah..." Claire remarked dryly, "Much better Hermione."
"Headless Hats!" George shouted, as Fred waved a pointed hat decorated with a fluffy pink feather at the watching students, "Two Galleons each, watch Fred, now!"
Fred swept the hat on to his head, beaming. For a second he merely looked rather stupid; then both hat and head vanished. Several girls screamed, but everyone else was roaring with laughter.
"And off again!" George shouted, and Fred's hand groped for a moment in what seemed to be thin air over his shoulder; then his head reappeared as he swept the pink-feathered hat from it.
"How do those hats work, then?" Hermione said, distracted from her homework and watching Fred and George closely.
"Its obviously some kind of Invisibility Spell." Alex said, as he looked over his note.
"But it's rather clever to have extended the field of invisibility beyond the boundaries of the charmed object." Hermione said, "I'd imagine the charm wouldn't have a very long life though."
"I am going to have to do this tomorrow." Harry muttered, pushing the books he had just taken out of his bag back inside it.
"Well, write it in your homework planner then!" Hermione said encouragingly, "So you don't forget!"
Harry exchanged looks but Alex leaned into his view and gave him a nod that showed he had no choice. He withdrew the planner and opened it tentatively.
"Don't leave it till later, you big second-rater!" chided the book as Harry scribbled down Umbridge's homework. Hermione beamed at it.
"I think I'll go to bed." Harry said, stuffing the homework planner back into his bag and making a mental note to drop it in the fire the first opportunity he got.
They watched Harry walk across the common room, dodging George, who tried to put a Headless Hat on him, and reached the peace and cool of the stone staircase to the boy's dormitories.
Worried about his friend, Alex headed up to the boys dormitory a short while later to check up on Harry. When he came to the door, a loud maniacal laughter could be heard. Quickly entering the dorm, Alex found Harry laying on the floor, facing the ceiling with his eyes closed as the laughter came out of his mouth.
"Harry? Harry!" Alex shouted, rushing over to his friend, but he continued to laugh his wild laugh, so he slapped his friend in the face.
Harry's green eyes shot open, the wild laughter stopped.
"Get the fuck up, Harry." Alex said, "We got a school to burn."
"What?" Harry said as he was helped on his bed by his friend, "Please, don't burn Hogwarts down."
"Fine, but only because you asked." Alex said with a roll of his eyes, "So want to share with the class?"
"He's really happy... Really happy... Something good's happened." Harry mumbled, he was shaking as badly as he had done after the snake attack on Mr. Weasley, "Something he's been hoping for..."
"I think your defenses will be low at the moment, after Snape's been fiddling around with your mind." Alex said trying to reassure his friend, "But it will help in the long run."
Harry nodded and slumped back on his pillows, aching all over from having fallen to the floor so often that evening, his scar still prickling painfully.
And that is, chapter over. Hope you enjoyed.
Many thanks to everyone who reads, favorite, follows or reviews this chapter. If you enjoy my work, don't forget to leave a review and I hope to see you beauties next time.
Mischief Managed.