Harry idle ran the bow along the violin, his eyes half lidded. He ignored the footsteps he heard in favour of playing softly, hauntingly. He heard the footsteps step into the hall he stood in, and pause. He continued to play the melody until he came to the last note, drawing it out as he finished. There was a soft applause and he looked up and smiled at the Bloody Baron, the Grey Lady, Nearly Headless Nick, the Fat Friar, and a few other stray ghosts. Even Peeves was clapping cheerfully. He took a bow and the ghosts drifted off through the wall chatting softly. Harry looked back up to find almost all the school teachers watching with surprised expression. He frowned as he realized he had been playing right in front of the staff room. Flitwick suddenly started grinning and clapping.
"Bravo! Play another!"
He calmed slightly, looking like a child waiting to hear more. Harry couldn't help the smile that twitched to his lips. He raised his violin again and started a merry, quick tune. He smiled softly as he played. After a few minutes he drew the last note and looked up again. Most of the teachers clapped softly except Flitwick who bounced on his heels grinning.
"You're an excellent musician Harry." Dumbledore smiled with twinkling eyes.
Harry bowed his head once and fluidly flipped his violin into his case.
"Why were you playing for the ghosts?" McGonagall asked.
"They asked." Harry said simply picking the case up, and with a last bow, walking off.
.--.
Harry spun Hermione as the tune played softly. She giggled moving with him to the ballroom music. His stereo sat on the coffee table, powered by magic. Blaise was watching idly while reading. He twirled her in a tight circle and took a step to the left. She followed quite gracefully laughing softly and giving a happy smile. Suddenly he twirled her into a chair and Blaise spun in grinning and making Harry switch to the female steps. Harry frowned slightly but went along. After a few more minutes Blaise plopped down in a chair also and Harry smiled just slightly.
"I don't know why you wanted us to learn dancing." Hermione laughed. "But its fun."
"You may use it sometime." Harry said simply swaying slightly to the tune playing.
"I guess." Hermione smiled.
"Actually at any wizard balls you'll use it." Blaise pointed out.
Hermione just rolled her eyes and Harry smirked lightly.
.--.
Harry held the painting out and Lupin slowly grasped it. He paled slightly looking at it. It was picture of him. He was standing beneath a full moon in front of an old gnarled forest, robes hanging from him in a haggard way. His face was raised to the sky and his eyes glowed gold. Small fangs poked from his lips and limp hands had claws. His skin was slightly darker and he had a feral look in his eyes. The moonlight seemed to wrap around him comfortingly as his lips were pulled back in a snarl. A large brown werewolf was hugging him from behind looking docile like a tamed dog. Its ears were tweaked forwards as it nuzzled Lupin's cheek. It was both sides of Lupin, the personalities just switched around. A kind werewolf, a dangerous Lupin. Lupin gripped the canvas in a white knuckled grip. Harry smirked at him and spun on his heel before sweeping from the room, leaving the ashen professor to stare at the painting. At the bottom was the title. 'Repressed Wolf '.
.--.
Harry twirled the knife expertly in his hand. As the door opened he let it fly. He heard a yelp and looked to Blaise who was holding a heart over his hand, the knife right beside his head in the wall.
"I hate it when you do that!" He snarled.
Harry gave a blank stare and before Blaise could blink there was a second knife on the other side of his head.
"Where the hell do you hide all those knives?" He asked, glaring at the three other knives in his right hand, the tip of each between his fingers.
Harry gave a slight twitch of his lips. Suddenly a pop brought the green house elf Dobby. The Malfoy's had freed him after he had ruined a party and he had immediately come to Harry. He set a large slice of triple chocolate cheese cake and a strawberry milkshake on the table beside Harry. Harry threw his legs off the arm of the chair and sat straight, wandlessly summoning his knives back and instantly hiding them away in his clothes. Blaise, who was used to the odd display of magic sat down on the second arm chair and Dobby reappeared with a vanilla milkshake he immediately took. He watched with a disgusted expression as Harry took a large bite of the cake.
"How can you eat that thing? It's so sugary I'm getting a tooth ache just watching you eat it." He asked sounding sick.
Harry just glanced at the boy. He had a sweet tooth and had no problem admitting it. He pulled another knife out though and Blaise held up a hand in surrender as he protected his milkshake with his opposite hand. Ever since Harry and Hermione had introduced him to milkshakes he had been hooked.
"Fine! I won't comment on your eating choices, just put that knife away!"
Harry did put the knife away.
"He's got you whipped." Hermione giggled as she stepped into the common room also.
Blaise just grumbled and Hermione giggled again as Harry took another bite.
.--.
Harry sat silently in the blue sleeping bag as he focused on the magic of the castle. Hogwarts would never let anyone in if they intended to harm any student. Only Quirell had by passed the ward as he wasn't specifically after any students. But Sirius Black had also bypassed the wards. There had been no shock like he would have felt if Black had forced himself through the wards. So the question was, how did he get through the wards? Harry knew it was simply the man hadn't been after any student. But that didn't match up with any story as he had been heading for Gryffindor tower, and many said he was after Harry. The only explanation is he wasn't after Harry, but someone else. Someone who wasn't a student. Someone who had been in Gryffindor Tower. Someone Hogwarts wouldn't protect. But who? Harry's eyes snapped open suddenly and he gave a cruel smirk into the darkness of the great hall.
.--.
"It's not fair!" Hermione screamed looking murderous.
Blaise just smirked, idly swirling the last of his milkshake. Hermione, in the chair opposite of him glared. He slouched slightly in the table chair and looked back at Harry who was absently humming as he pulled the brownies out of the oven and returned to stirring the pot on the stove.
"How can you cook like a pro-chief and I can't even make salad without burning something?!" Hermione hissed.
"Hermione, you don't have anything you can burn with when making a salad." Blaise said slowly.
"Tell that to that brunt lump!" She snarled pointing to the black ashy lump on the counter.
Blaise snickered, trying to hide it in his water as she glared murderously at him. Harry rolled his eyes slightly as he wrapped some of the brownies up gently so he could send them to D with Hedwig.
.--.
Harry set the cards down smirking and the twins across from him cursed loudly. He smirked wider as he pulled over the items put up as winnings. He looked over the potion in the vial idly as the twins dealt again. At that moment a crowd of Gryffindors walked in from dinner. They paused seeing Harry Potter playing Poker in the middle of their common room with the twins who were in only boxers. They were playing strip poker. Winner got to keep what ever had been thrown in the stripped pile. He had to admit the twins had hidden quite a few things in their clothes expertly.
"Umm…what are you doing?" Angelina asked.
"Playing strip poker." George said seriously as he looked at his cards in concentration.
Harry smirked again and gracefully leaned back into the chair back as he tucked a piece of hair behind his ear.
"Why?" She asked.
"Because we're bored." Fred said grabbing a slice of caramel bar from the snack plate.
George followed his example and stuffed a cookie into his mouth Harry rolled his eyes at them and gently bit into a brownie.
"Where'd you get the snacks?" Lee Jordon asked plopping down in a chair and grabbing a brownie also.
"Harry made them." George mumbled through his cookie.
Lee looked at the half eaten cookie suspiciously.
"I heard some Slytherins saying he poisoned all his food."
"And how many Slytherins at his food?" Fred asked.
"Good point." The teen muttered eating the rest of his cookie.
Harry pulled in his other winnings as George and Fred cursed. They stood and made to pull of their boxers grinning full out but Hermione interrupted. She smacked them both at once with a heavy book and glared at all three of them.
"Harry." She said simply. "I think it's time you went to your common room."
Harry shrugged gathered the things from the pile he wanted and dumped the rest on the twins. He stood and gave a lazy wave as he walked off leaving the twins to pull their clothes on and spring on the rest of the sweets.
.--.
End Of Chapter 21.