Hi people! Sorry about the delay, but, as mentioned at my bio page, I didn't want to upload the chapter before I got a Beta... -And now I got one!! Thank you so much, AmberEyes!

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Ch15: THE BOGGART

"Show us your arm!" said Zacharias suddenly.

Harry jolted back on his feet. "Why?" he demanded, not believing what he had heard.

"Show us your arm," Zacharias repeated, "just to be sure."

Harry looked helplessly at the other DA members, but they provided no help at this point.

"You got nothing to worry about," Hermione said quietly, looking up at him.

Gritting his teeth, Harry started to take of his jumper, so everybody could see that he had no stupid Dark Mark. Harry could practically feel all the girls in the room looking at him, and that left him quite uncomfortable. Some of the girls started to giggle, and Harry, deciding that enough should be enough, took the jumper back on.

He didn't sit down again, however, he was too angry. Too angry to notice that one of the shelves shook slightly, making a small book fall down on the floor. Harry could, however, feel his arm throbbing again, and gritted his teeth. He had to calm down; luckily nobody had noticed anything odd.

Growling to himself and his pathetic attempts to calm down, Harry began to pace back and forth on the floor.

"What do you want for your birthday? An other book?" Ron asked Hermione, with a mocking tone. Hermione scowled, but poked his arm teasingly as if to pretend that it didn't offend her. That seemed so out of character for Harry that he was able to stop his pacing for a moment.

"What about some condoms?" Dean Thomas asked, and rolled over in laughter.

Harry stopped. "What?!"

"Honestly!" Hermione said, with a furious glare on Dean, "condoms for heavens sake! There's plenty of other ways-"

"What do you need condoms for?" Ron asked, and, everybody that had lived long enough in he muggle world to know what it was used for, started to laugh. Ron looked at them questionably, he had probably never heard of muggle preventions. "What?" he asked again.

Nobody bothered to answer him, however, and for that Harry was glad. However, Harry had gotten a new thing to worry about? What in the name of Merlin was he going to give to Hermione on her birthday?

-

-

The following night ended with a new nightmare. This time Harry saw Cedric, Sirius, Hermione, Ron and his parents tied up against a wall, and Harry had to decide which one he wanted to live the most.

Harry woke up before he had made a decision.

Even though it was an ordinary nightmare, Harry still felt exhausted when he got up from bed, as if he hadn't really slept at all.

It was going to be a long Wednesday... One day closer to Halloween, Harry thought for himself and shook his head, self-pity. He had plenty of time to wade in it later.

-

After a rather quick breakfast the trio walked to the first class that day; Defence Against The Dark Arts. Harry wasn't really looking too much forward to it, he had made a complete fool of himself the last time, and he had a feeling that he would do the same again, even though they didn't learn anything new to him.

McClaggan greeted them with a curt nod as they walked into the classroom and found their seats. The bright light in the classroom stung Harry's eyes.

"Morning," McClaggan greeted, in a way that made most of the people in the class on guard, "today we are going to have a little…. Ah, shall we say, interesting lesson…" McClaggan tapped a closet beside him, and it shook slightly. "A boggart! Yes-" he said before anybody could moan their displeasure, "I am aware of that you studied boggart your third year here. However, that is the point in this, and we are not going to practise the counter curse."

McClaggan went over to his desk and grabbed a list over the students with rather large hands. "Mr Longbottom!" he cried, "what is your biggest fear?"

Neville blushed with embarrassment, but spoke loudly and clear: "Professor Snape, sir."

McClaggan raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. "And that is the form your boggart take when you face it?" he asked.

Neville nodded.

McClaggans eyes studied the list once more. "Ms Granger?"

Hermione's head snapped up. "Yes! Uh- my form took McGonagall's shape in our third year, telling me that I failed!"

"Indeed," McClaggan interrupted dryly, and continued to ask the rest of the class what form their boggart would take. He saved Harry until the end.

"Mr Potter?"

"Dementor, sir," Harry said warily. McClaggan smirked.

"All right," he said, "I assume- because I am not going to tell you if you do not- that you are qualified enough and remember the incantation for getting rid of a boggart. However, we are not going to use that today."

Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged some uncertain glances at each other. What were they going to do then?

"Do any of you think that your Boggart is going to be different?" McClaggan asked, eyeing them suspiciously.

Some of the people in the class raised their hands hesitantly, Harry, however, did not. He was still afraid of Dementors, that was one thing that hadn't changed the last time he checked.

McClaggan ordered them all to stand up in a line. Harry was the fourth to go, and was already preparing himself to gather his happiest memories, to not faint in front of the whole class. McClaggan insisted firmly that Ron should be the first to go, so Ron had no choice but to follow his orders.

With a flick of his wand McClaggan opened the closet, and a huge spider came out. Ron raised his wand, ready to defend himself, but McClaggan held up a hand as if telling Ron to just let it be. McClaggan counted to ten, then yelled "NEXT!"

Lavender's boggart was a dark haired boy, telling her that he wanted to break up. Lavender cried out, and Harry snorted silently to himself.

Hermione was next, but her boggart wasn't McGonagall telling her that she had failed… No, the image that appeared was a dead Harry. Then a dead Ron. Then her parents... Harry shivered at the sight of their mangled bodies. Hermione's eyes swelled with tears, and Harry was left with a desperate need to comfort her. Harry didn't even recognise that it was his turn until McClaggan shouted "NEXT!"

Harry furiously tried to find his happy memory again, he had completely forgotten about it when he saw Hermione's boggart.

Harry braced himself for the feeling of cold the Dementor was sure to provide, however, the boggart wasn't a Dementor anymore. It was Voldemort.

The effect of Harry boggart was instant: the people in the classroom panicked and ran away as fast as they could in every direction. Harry, however, was frozen to his spot, unable to move.

"I kill everybody you love, Harry," Voldemort's cold, evil voice clang through the room. Something in Harry clicked, and he lost his head completely.

"STUPEFY! EXPELLIARMUS! IMPEDIMENTA! INCENDIO!"

A huge ball of fire, larger than Harry had ever conjured -even with his lessons with Dumbledore, shot from Harry's wand, and exploded at the boggart with such force that Harry was thrown backwards. An ear-splitting screech filled the room, making the few people that were left drop their wands, so they could hold over their ears instead. For a moment Harry could swear that he saw Voldemort's snake, Nagini again, but as the scream subsided, so did the fog and the snake. Harry opened his eyes, and everything came into focus.

The boggart was gone.

Hermione instantly jumped to his side and pulled him into the most bone-crushing hug Harry had ever received, even from Hagrid.

"You're alright, you're alright! I was so scared… For a second I thought- oh Harry!" Hermione sobbed on his shoulder. Harry patted her shaking back weakly.

"Yeah, I'm okay… Nothing to worry about. It was just a stupid boggart." Harry tried to comfort her as well as himself. Ron limped over to them.

"Bloody hell!" he groaned, rubbing his leg. "That was a nasty boggart!"

Harry rolled his eyes mentally, "Yeah, I've noticed..."

"Everyone!" McClaggan barked. "Come back here! The class is not over yet!"

The students that were close enough to hear him came back hesitantly, holding their wands so hard that their knuckles whitened.

"Who is next?" McClaggan asked, as if nothing had happened.

Nobody dared to answer.

McClaggan sighed angrily, and turned to the closet. The open closet. The boggart was nowhere in sight.

"Mr Potter!" McClaggan barked, "GET UP!"

Alarmed, Harry got up from the floor he was sitting on, and Hermione followed, holding Harry's hand so hard that he was starting to feel numb.

"Yes, professor?" Harry asked, and held his breath for the explosion he knew was coming. Somehow McClaggan reminded him slightly of Vernon, or even Mad-Eye Moody.

"Stay after class."

Harry nodded and mumbled "yes, professor," before sitting down again, on a chair this time. Harry gritted his teeth. Not because Hermione was still holding his hand so hard that he couldn't feel it much anymore, but because this was the second time in the second lesson that he had made a fool of himself. Harry suddenly wondered if Defence was his strong subject after all.

After McClaggan had listed of whom was still present in the class, (not very many), they continued on taking notes from the Stupefy curse. Everyone except from Ron, Harry and Hermione, that was. Harry –because he knew enough of it already, having studied it in fourth grade before the Triwizard tournament, Ron –because he was too lazy, and Hermione, -because she was too busy clinging on Harry's arm.

Harry doubted he would ever get the feeling in his hand back.

The class ended rather quickly for a change, but Harry and Hermione remained on their seats as everybody else got up.

"Uh, see you later, guys," Ron said and got off, eager to get out of the classroom. Harry turned his attention forward again, where McClaggan was looking intently at him.

No wait –he was looking at Hermione.

"Whatever you have to say, she can hear it too," said Harry quickly. Hermione shot him a grateful look, and loosened her grip on him a little. A little sigh of relief escaped him.

McClaggan raised an eyebrow at Harry, but he didn't seem to complain.

"I do not think that is wise, Mr Potter," he said, not moving at all.

Harry shifted, but said nothing.

"Alright," McClaggan paused for a moment, before saying: "That was a very bad performance on a simple boggart-"

Harry bowed his head in embarrassment half wishing Hermione had left. "I know," he mumbled.

"-But understandable. Speak up!" McClaggan barked.

"Yes!" said Harry loudly. Hermione shot him a glare.

"-Professor." he added, and Hermione gave him a small smile.

"Anyway, the boggart was not what I wanted to talk to you about," McClaggan said.

Harry stared dumbly at him; he had expected some kind of rant. "What then, professor?"

"About Voldemort, and his threat."

"Oh," Harry said and frowned. Great. He almost preferred McClaggan to rant, so he didn't have to think about what might be approaching.

"Dumbledore and I were talking yesterday, and we both agreed on that you should need more practise than you get in class."

Now Harry was listening. "Really?"

"Yes. Every day, precisely six o'clock in the evening. If you are interested, that is."

"Every day, sir?" Harry asked. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. McClaggan gave him a sharp look.

"Yes. E-v-e-r-y d-a-y."

Hermione's grip on Harry tightened again. Harry could feel her hair in his neck, tickling him.

"Alright," Harry answered, and McClaggan nodded.

Harry couldn't help but wonder how he would have time for everything else he had to do: homework, quidditch practise, the DA, Hermione... Harry was even gladder that he hadn't taken the job as a quidditch captain on top of it now.

"Meet me tomorrow," McClaggan said.

Harry agreed, and they were dismissed. Harry rose slowly from his seat with Hermione, who still held on to his hand, just not as hard as before. As soon as they were out from the classroom, Hermione squealed.

"I can't believe it! He's going to tutor you daily! I'm SO jealous!"

Harry grinned. "Watch out then, I'm going to give you a run for your money soon!"

Hermione poked him playfully. "I'm still jealous."

Harry frowned when he remembered why he had to be tutored. "Don't be," he said.

Hermione said nothing, realizing what Harry was just thinking.

-

Transfiguration was okay, they still took notes, but on the bright side McGonagall promised them that they were going to begin with transfiguring animals into other creatures the next lesson, before trying on each other. Then they were going to see which one of the students that had the ability to become an animagus.

The students didn't keep much attention, no matter how interesting the subject was. They were still shaken up from what had happened in their Defence Against the Dark Arts class, some students was still hiding somewhere.

Harry could hardly blame them, but he got a bit annoyed about how fast the rumours were spread, most of the school already knew what had happened, treating him like a was made of fragile glass more than ever before.

-

When Harry and Hermione got back to the Common room, Harry got a surprise that he wouldn't forget easily; Mrs and Mr Weasley were waiting for him. Harry's jaw dropped, but before he had the chance to say anything Mrs Weasley had captured him into a hug.

"My dear, dear, dear," Mrs Weasley chocked out, close to tears. Harry blushed.

"Whoa- Mrs Weasley! What's the matter?"

"What's the matter?" Mrs Weasley cried, ignoring the fact that Harry had called her by her surname. "WHAT'S THE MATTER? What- haven't you heard? Oh, I'm going to kill that old-"

"I've heard about the threat alright... How could I not?" Harry mumbled, realizing why they had came to see him in the first place.

It seemed to take Mrs Weasley a while to take in what Harry had just said. "You've heard?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, from where everybody else did, The Daily Prophet." Hermione piped out, exactly the same time that Ron and Ginny got through the Portrait of the Fat Lady. They stopped dead in their tracks, eyes widening.

"Mum? Dad? What are you doing here?" Ron asked, looking from Molly and Arthur and back to Molly. Molly gave Ron a stern glare.

"To ask how Harry's feeling, of course!"

Harry stifled a groan. No matter how much he liked the feeling that somebody cared, he wanted to go and hide somewhere... It felt like he had stepped into Ron's territory somehow. Ron's ears were red, from what Harry could only suspect to be anger, or worse, jealousy.

Harry steeled himself for Ron's outburst, but, strangely, Ron said nothing. Without giving them a second glance Ron disappeared up to the boys' dormitory, leaving them alone. Harry almost preferred a rant.

Ginny didn't seem to know what to say, and after some seconds in silence she settled down in a chair in front of the fire, picking up some of the hats that Hermione had knitted, and looked at it if it was the most interesting thing in the whole world.

Mrs Weasley turned her attention back to Harry, but before she could say anything Harry spoke up.

"Don't worry, I'm alright. Really, I'll manage. Professor McClaggan even offered to give me extra lessons in Defence. Thank you for coming here though, it means a lot to me, more than you can even imagine. But I think you should talk to Ron and Ginny too, after all, your their mother," Harry said emptily, not mine, mine's dead, "-I'll just go for a walk or something," Harry finished and turned to leave.

"You're a part of this family too," he heard Mrs Weasley call after him, and Harry shot her a grateful look. Nonetheless, he left the common room and the people in it.

After walking in the halls aimlessly for a while he decided to go out. He felt bad for the way he had treated Mrs Weasley, after all, she only cared about him...

But they're not my family, Harry reminded himself sadly, as he walked down towards the lake, and sat down exactly at the same spot he had sat down right before the summer started, after Sirius had died.

Harry's throat tightened, he really wished Sirius wasn't gone, but there's was no way around the fact that he would never see his Godfather again.

Some part of him wanted to hate Ron for ruining the chance to feel that he belonged to a family, but for some reason he couldn't. He couldn't blame Ron for feeling that Harry had everything that Ron himself had ever wanted.

"But I didn't want any of it!" Harry said angrily, and tossed a stone into the lake. "I don't want it! I don't need to have a bloody maniac after me, thanks to a damned Prophecy!" He never wanted the same wizard to kill his parents just because of him. Hermione's right... Harry thought to himself. When wasn't she? The prophecy was just like a curse: if the prophecy hadn't been created, none of the horrible things would've happened to him... He would have a normal life.

Oh, what wouldn't he give just to be normal...

Somebody yelling interrupted Harry's train of thought. Harry turned his head, and saw Lavender storming back to the castle with a furious looking Parvati staring after her. Parvati seemed to sense that Harry was looking at her, and started to walk towards him swiftly. She sat down beside him, and for a long time they just sat there, without saying anything.

"What happened?" Harry finally asked.

"With Lav and me?"

Harry nodded.

"Well..." Parvati shifted slightly, "she didn't like how I've changed this term."

"What?" Harry asked, certain that he had heard her wrong. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could Lavender, Parvati's best friend through the whole school be mad at her, when her whole family had died a short time ago? Surely Lavender couldn't ask Parvati to stay the same after such a thing?

Parvati shook her head. "We've fought so much this last days... She doesn't understand..."

"What really happened, Parvati?" Harry asked before Parvati would burst into tears. "Where were you when it happened?"

It took some time for Parvati to start talking. "I was there alright... The whole time. I hid under the bed with Padma when I heard dad call up that they'd found us. The horrible female Death Eater reached under the bed and grabbed her, but obviously she didn't see me... And I didn't dare to move! I was so scared... So pathetic!"

"You're not pathetic," Harry said, in something he hoped was a comforting tone.

Parvati sniffed and looked up at him briefly, before looking down again. "Yes, I am," she insisted, "look at you, you're so brave, so smart and... just good."

Harry shook his head. "No, I'm not... brave. I just do what I have to do, and too dumb to find easier solutions. There's a bunch of people that have died because of me," Harry said bitterly.

Parvati didn't argue, and for that Harry was grateful. Some part of Harry would always blame himself, no matter how many times people told him he was not responsible.

-

-

Harry avoided the Weasley's the rest of the day. Instead he used a lot of time thinking about what he should give to Hermione on her birthday. He didn't find any solution, however, and in frustration he wrote a letter to Lupin and asked him for help.

Hedwig was delighted to have some work to do, and flew off immediately.

Harry watched her until she was completely out of sight before heading back to the common room, praying that Ron had already went to bed.

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No big cliffie this time, but don't worry, you'll get plenty of that! (yeah, I can be pretty evil)

Don't worry about that Parvati thing; just because she and Harry talks doesn't mean that Harry would get together with her instead and break up with Hermione! ;)

I think there's three or four chapters left before Halloween, however, I can't make any promises, because a lot's have to happen before that point. (Okay, maybe not that many chapters, but still, there's stuff that I feel should be there for the story to make sense.)

Also –if you wanna flame me, go ahead. I know I asked you not to, but I've changed my mind. ,

Cheers!