Disclaimer. Not mine. Everything you recognize belongs to J.K.
A/N. Another chapter. I finally found out that I can respond to your reviews, after 10 chapters :/. So I responded to the ones I got from the last chapter, and from now on, I will be responding to new reviews. I really appreciate everyone who took the time to leave me a review, to let me know what they thought on the story so far. I got some tips, and I'm always working on improving my writing and the flow of this story, so every tip I get is helpful.
Enjoy this chapter. Not much is happening in this chapter, but you will be getting a few answers to your questions. But to make up for the lack of action in this chapter, I already have the next chapter set up, so you can expect it this weekend or the beginning of next week.
In darker times – chapter 11
Harry spend the two weeks practicing his spell work. The euphoric feeling he had felt during his lesson with Tom had returned every time he did it right. He had tried to put more power behind his spells, and it was a lot easier now that he knew how it was supposed to feel like. Harry only practiced with weaker spells, to see the effect on the spell if he put more or less power behind it; and he was surprised to see his class work improve dramatically. It was like he finally understood every spell, like he had total control of his magic. He felt its presence even when he wasn't using it, just waiting for him to cast a spell. He had unlocked a power he hadn't known he possessed before, or maybe he had, but he just hadn't realised it was there.
Everyone around him seemed to notice his drastic mood change as well, for everyone asked him why he was so happy all of a sudden. Even his teachers had commented on his improved school work. His essays turned out better as well, now that he understood better what the teachers had been talking about.
The letter he had found on the floor next to Tom's bed had been on his mind as well, but since Tom hadn't acted strangely around him he didn't worry about it a lot. He knew what the letter had been about of course; Tom had asked the Ministry of Magic for any records on Harry Evans. But such record didn't exist, since Harry Evans didn't exist in this world. He didn't exist in any world as far as Harry knew. He had been worried that Tom would dig deeper and find out that it was an alias, and confront him about it. But Tom had done no such thing, to Harry's great relief.
He hadn't had any lessons after his last, Tom had wanted him to practice this first and tell him when he was ready. Harry wanted to try out some more powerful spells first before continuing to his next lesson; he wasn't going to make his last mistake again. He had asked for his lesson when he wasn't ready, and he had had a rough time during that few hours. He would be ready the next time Tom would teach him something new.
Right now Harry was sitting in the library, paging trough a spell book in search of a few interesting spells he could try. He had been doing this for the last couple of days, the spells he already knew where boring him. They weren't strong enough, not interesting enough. And they didn't give him the effect he wanted. Every time Harry had cast a spell, he had felt his magic react, but it was holding back. None of the spells where strong enough to make his magic react like he wanted it too.
He had been using the Room of Requirements to practice his spells; he had asked it to represent a duelling room. The room had reacted like Harry suspected; it had provided him with practicing dummies. The dummies where lifeless, and reacted how any human body would react to his spells. Harry hadn't tested them a lot, he had only cast some mild curses on them, but they had been useful. He had tried a body bind curse on the dummy, and it had fallen to the floor like it was bound in response. Harry had wondered then what would happen to the dummy if he would cast a heavier curse on it. He had cast a stinging hex at it to test it, and the dummy had fallen to the floor again, twisting its arms and legs. That proved Harry's theory about the training dummy, it would react the same as any human body would. It gave him a thrill, he could try every curse and hex on the dummy and no one would get hurt. He wondered if Tom knew about this, but decided he didn't really care. This was something Harry would be doing on his own. He didn't need any help with this.
So right now, Harry was searching through a book on defensive curses, since the Hogwarts library didn't offer any offensive curse books. But Harry wasn't impressed, the stinging curse was one of the 'meaner' spells in this book, and Harry already knew that spell. He wanted something stronger, so he could test the dummy, and his magic.
He closed the book with a sigh and put it back on the pile of books he had already paged through. Vincent, who was writing his potions essay on the other side of the table, looked up at him with a confused look on his face.
"What are you searching for anyway?"
"Nothing in particular." He wondered if he could tell Vincent, since he was from an old pure-blooded family he would definitely know about some darker spells. But he didn't know if Vincent would tell anyone else, especially Tom, about Harry asking about them.
"You should go see the Restricted Section if you are searching for something stronger." Vincent wasn't looking at him, but Harry could see the smirk plastered on his face.
"Who said I was looking for stronger curses?"
Vincent put his quill down, and looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "It's obvious, Harry. You're searching though these books like a maniac, and you get this insane grin on your face every time we're practicing magic in class. I know that feeling, and the other guys do as well, we're purebloods after all. The feeling is getting less isn't it, and that is why you are searching for stronger spells. Because you want to feel it again, and when that isn't working anymore, you will be searching for even stronger spells."
Harry looked down at the table, tracing the wood pattern with his eyes. He felt Vincent's eyes stay on him, waiting for his respond.
Vincent was right, that was exactly the reason Harry was sitting here.
"It's alright, Harry. It's a perfectly normal reaction after you have learned how to feel your magic. You should get one of the books from the restricted section, and try a Dark spell. I learned some from books at home, but I obviously couldn't take them with me to Hogwarts."
"Who taught you how to feel your magic?"
"My father." Vincent rolled his eyes, like it was an obvious answer.
"What about the age restriction for doing magic outside of school?"
"The wards on our house prevent the Ministry from noticing. But I can't do magic outside the wards."
"But how did you know I have learned how to feel my magic?"
"It's not a very common thing to learn, since only powerful wizards are able to do it. And only very powerful wizards, which aren't many, can control it."
Harry's head shot up, only to meet the smug smirk on Vincent's face.
"Don't even pretend like Tom isn't teaching you how to control it."
"How did you know that was what Tom was teaching me? Can you control your magic?"
"No, sadly, I can't." Vincent's face turned darker at that, like it was hard for him to admit it.
"That's not a bad thing, right? You said for yourself that very few wizards and witches can control their magic."
"I know, but my father can, and he is disappointed in me because I can't."
"You still didn't answer how you knew about my lessons with Tom." Harry decided to change the topic, since Vincent didn't seem very comfortable discussing this.
"Tom showed interest in you, Harry. He told us to keep our distance from you, and he keeps disappearing with you for several hours on end after which you return exhausted. I am the one who taught Tom how to feel and eventually control his magic. So I figured that he would be the one who was teaching you after I saw the signs of magic addiction on you."
"Addiction? I'm not addicted." Harry was stunned, Vincent teaching Tom? And he had never heard of an addiction to magic before.
"It's not very common, because not many can control their magic enough to get addicted. But I recognized the signs, because my cousin suffered from it. Be careful, Harry. You could easily lose your mind because of it."
"Has Tom ever been addicted?"
"I think he still is, but he keeps the signs covered since I voiced my worries to him last year. He kept disappearing and then that girl died, Myrtle. Tom said he didn't have anything to do with it, and that half-breed giant got expelled, but I never believed he had anything to do with it. I think Tom knows more, but he keeps denying. Things like that happen when you get in to deep, you don't care for anything anymore, not even another human life."
Harry was shocked; Vincent had never talked so openly to him, especially not about Tom. He knew, of course, about Tom being responsible for Myrtle's dead, but he couldn't tell Vincent. Did it really happen because Tom was addicted to his own magic?
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I think you should know, before you get too involved in Tom. I know it goes against everything I ever told you before; I haven't been very nice to you before. But that was a mask; I can't show my real self in Slytherin house, especially not around Tom. And I didn't know if I could trust you before, so I choose to observe you for a while. I don't know how you could be sorted in Slytherin, Harry, because you're not like the rest of us."
"I asked for Slytherin, I had read Hogwarts a History and asked the sorting hat to put me here. I didn't know if it would work, but obviously it did. Why did you suggest me involving myself with Tom if you didn't mean it?"
"Because Tom wanted me to suggest it to you."
"You could have refused."
Vincent laughed at that, it wasn't a happy laugh, more a bit of a desperate laugh.
"You obviously don't know Tom well enough Harry. We aren't on his favourite list, he doesn't accept refusal. Either you listen to him and do as you're told, or you end up as Pascal."
"What about Pascal?"
"Surely you have noticed his fear for Tom? He refused to cast the Cruciatus curse on a muggle last summer. He hasn't told anyone what happened after that, but he has been avoiding Tom ever since. He's obviously afraid of Tom, and knowing Tom, he made Pascal regret his refusal."
"Do you spend your summers with Tom?"
"Only Pascal used to, he lives in London, near the orphanage Tom goes to every summer. I have to leave now; I trust that you won't mention this conversation to anyone?"
"Off course not, thanks for telling me." Harry meant it, he was truly grateful to Vincent for telling him all this. He also realised Vincent would get in trouble over this if Tom found out, and he didn't want that to happen. Vincent smiled at him from where he was crouching next to his book bag.
"Dinner will be served in half an hour, you coming?"
"I'll be there, I'm putting this books away first."
Vincent said his goodbye and left Harry to his thoughts. And Harry had a lot to think about, if all this was true then Tom was already much darker than he had first thought. And why had he never heard about magic addiction before? Not even Hermione had known about it, was it really only something happening to powerful wizards and witches? And if that was true, then why was it happening to him? Harry had never thought of himself as very powerful, of course the prophesy suggested otherwise, but he wasn't above average at his schoolwork. And why hadn't Tom told him magic control was so advanced, he had acted as if it was a common thing to learn.
He got up from the wooden table he was sitting on, picking up the stack of books to put them back on their shelves. He was walking slowly, still lost in thoughts.
Harry had so many new unanswered questions, and on top of that he still had that nagging feeling in the back of his mind telling him to keep searching for more advanced spells. He didn't feel addicted, so he could still practice some more, right? He now knew about the possibility of addiction, so he would be more careful and watch out for any signs of it, so he could stop before it got out of hand.
It was actually a very good idea of Vincent to go looking in the Restricted Section. There would definitely be some darker, more advanced spells, in there. But was he really ready to try Dark magic? He always considered himself a Light wizard, like Professor Dumbledore. But his whole body and mind told him to try it, and he honestly didn't see anything bad in it, it wasn't as if he used it on a human. He would only try it on a training dummy; there was nothing wrong with that right?
Harry was just setting back the last book when he heard the bell signalling dinner was served. He decided to attend to that first and maybe he could go see the Restricted Section that night and pick up some spell books. It wouldn't hurt anyone to read through them, he could always bring them back if he decided the spells where to dark.
But first he had to get trough dinner.
A/N. Thank you again for reading. Let me know what you think, I enjoy getting your reviews.