Here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord", enjoy!

* Review response:
Naginator, contract will be canceled, though Harry will have nothing to do with that.
obsessivegirl73, Penny is wise, Reishin Amara, The Swordslinger, joseph33759, Orchamus, JPElles, Awsomeness7, twilightnemo, god of all, ElementalMaster16, Grimjowx, ManlyMonk, cdog21, Zarosian Chaos, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Penseln, hmm... read and see. ^_^
Super-Saiyan-3-Vegeta, officially - during the Yule ball. unofficially... possibly before Christmas break ends. Not sure there.
Reccaff, as I said, that possibility of another girl being added will only be discussed. You can have your imagination fill in any of the girls you want, it won't affect the story, 'cause it ends as just Harry/Draconica with a 'free spot'.
raw666, .owered, look at the AN.
SimFlyer, you'll to wait for the fourth year for those.
jafr86, this story is planned to end a little after the end of the fourth year. How many chapters? Don't really know; likely about 20-25.
Akuma-Heika, hopefully I'm not as rusty as I appear to be from your comment... Let's see what you will say about this chapter's one.

* Review response to the 'improper' version of this chapter: Damn, folks, my dinner got burned from your flames =)

* Warning: This chapter contains a reference to extreme violence.

* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form.

"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"powered speech / true prophecies by the seer"
"spells / parseltongue"

This chapter is not beta-read yet.

chapter 42: Breaking up

Even though with the occlumency skills she possessed, Draconica could hide her still flushed face well – her mind was being naughty and kept replaying her latest encounter with her desired one – the young witch couldn't hide the fact that she was somewhat sore down there. Even if her robes were a great help there, a keen eye still could see that she was walking a bit 'funny'.

And it just so happened that she had a friend with such an eye: Daphne saw that she had done something naughty as soon as 'Nica returned to the Slytherin common room. And where was Daphne, Tracey and Astoria were there as well... At least the trio of witches had the decency not to 'interrogate' her in the common and led her to Daphne's room first.

"So? How was it?" The Greengrass heiress asked, like often, being rather blunt and to a point. Draconica, who allowed her mask to slip, blushed with quite a shade of red. The other three girls read this perfectly well: their friend had enjoyed her experience. And now they wanted details... The blond witch glanced at Astoria, who was sitting behind her sister. And much to older witch's annoyance, 'Tori was propping her hands against her shoulders and had her head resting on top of her sister's. Almost like reading her friend's mind, Daphne shook her head. "Do you really think that it's possible to keep something from this little firecracker?" She asked rhetorically, while awkwardly ruffling her younger sister's hair.

"Mhmm..." Draconica breathed out: with how energetic Astoria was, it was really hard to keep things she wanted to know from her. Still, the blond witch wasn't sure that letting the eleven years old girl listen to them discussing sex (and not a normal one at that, but anal) was a good idea. Too bad, her friends weren't giving her a way out:

"So, tell us, how did your little secret meeting with the boy-wonder go?" Tracey prodded. "And we want all of the details." Draconica sighed, but began her tale...

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Meanwhile, Harry was standing just a corner away from where the entrance to the Gryffindor common room was. By now he finally understood all of the implications of what he had done with 'Nica, and now he was frantically thinking of a way to save his ass from the vixens' wrath – there was no way in the Hell that Alicia and Angelina wouldn't tear him apart for him cheating on Katie...

Unfortunately, his mind, mellowed out by the pleasures he had experienced, refused to come up with anything even remotely able to save his sorry ass from the painful torture the girls will undoubtedly put him through. And with the time of curfew approaching inescapably, Harry had no other option but to face his doom. So, after a quick prayer to whatever deity was willing to listen to him – a prayer that there will be enough left from him to bury him properly – he approached the portrait of the 'Fat lady' and naming the password, entered the common room.

Surprisingly enough, Katie wasn't waiting for him in the portrait hole with a frying pan or something similarly heavy in her hands. Not that the brown-haired girl wasn't waiting for him: not a minute after he returned to the common room, the vixen 'appeared' next to him, looking at him pointedly.

While his occlumency skills were enough for him not to grin like an idiot, Harry was still unable to conceal the fact that he had gotten laid, not from his girlfriend at least. Good thing, Katie wasn't going to publicly tear him a new one. Not that she wouldn't do that in private... So, when the witch nodded him to follow her into a quiet corner of the common room, the young Potter just sighed and resigned to his fate. And just as they had arrived to that corner, Katie pushed him roughly against the wall, while glaring at him. Harry, though, didn't fight it as he knew he deserved nothing less for what he had done.

"It was her, wasn't it?" The vixen asked. Even though she didn't name Draconica, the green-eyed wizard had no doubt that his girlfriend was talking about the Slytherin witch... Taking a deep breath, he just nodded: there was no point in trying to lie there – it would only make the things worse for him in the end. "Bastard!" Katie hissed, before slapping him hard, not that he was going to even attempt to defend himself... Then she just turned around and walked away, leaving Harry standing where he was.

'That went better than I expected...' He thought, really hoping that he will survive the next day, when Angelina and Alicia will learn about his infidelity. Too bad, it didn't look like he will be living even that long: apparently, the two vixens in question saw Katie disappearing into the dorms...

~/ *** \~

Opening his eyes, Harry found himself looking at the white ceiling which unmistakeably belonged to the hospital wing. The strong smell of antiseptics was another reason why he was sure that at the moment he was in the tender care of madam Pomfrey... At least he didn't need to try and recall the reason why he was there: his own stupidity, weak will and hormones were to blame. And Alicia's and Angelina's good wand work.

Still, the young Potter couldn't exactly remember what the girls had done to him, but the dull ache in his both arms – whole arms – suggested that it was really very very far form anything that could be called pleasant... His further self-inspection was interrupted by the arrival of the Hogwarts nurse.

"Mr. Potter, you're awake?" The witch exclaimed. "Thanks Merlin! You gave us quite a scare when you were unconscious for almost three days." So, today was Wednesday, Harry concluded. Not good: Snape would not be pleased with him skipping Potions, unconscious or not. "Now, can you tell us what you did for your housemates to do that to you? I had to fix at least twenty fractures in your right arm alone. And then there was that nasty concussion of the brain. You're lucky you're thick-sculled, Mr. Potter, or I might have had to make you a resident of my ward for the next month."

'Note to self: never ever anger the vixens again. Might not survive it for the second time.' The young Potter thought. "Hm... I broke a promise I made to them." Yes, this was generic enough for madam Pomfrey (or those whom she will tell this) not to uncover the real reason without extra sources of information. The medi-witch looked at him for several long seconds, before deciding not to dig more information out of the teen.

"In that case I will recommend you to keep your promises next time." Harry just nodded. Meanwhile, madam Pomfrey continued: "Now that you've woken up, I think I can release you as soon as I'm sure that you've healed properly." So in a day or two, the green-eyed wizard thought to himself, recalling his previous visits to the hospital wing. Oh well, since he didn't have to go to classes during this time, he had his chance to catch up with his homework in the meantime... Thankfully, someone very kind, likely Hermione, left him the notes about what he had to do.

Harry's guess about Snape turned out to be a correct one, when he read the notes about homework he needed to do. Not only he had to write a feet of parchment about a poison antidote they had been working in the class this past Monday, but he personally had to write another two feet of parchment about skelegro potion just for missing a class... Well, the Potions master was never fare, when it came to him, so the young Potter with a heavy sign began writing, doing his best to ignore the ache in his hand...

~/ *** \~

When Harry was finally released from the Hospital wing – and it happened in the early Thursday afternoon – the green-eyed wizard first headed to the library to return the books the house elves had retrieved from there for him: the standard textbooks he owned had not nearly enough information about the skelegro potion. And since his way there passed near the place where the hourglasses that showed house points were, he stopped there as well.

Judging by the amount of points house Gryffindor had left, Alicia and Angelina had lost at least one hundred and fifty each. Though, most likely, that was not the only punishment they had received: rightful or not, their vengeance for what he did to Katie was far too violent, according to the Hogwarts rules...

The first thing Harry saw when he finally returned to the Gryffindor common room were the glared Alicia and Angelina were sending him. If the looks could kill, he be disintegrated on spot so well that even atoms wouldn't be left from him. Surprisingly enough, Katie didn't appear to be as angry with him as the other two vixens were. Still, with the way she was looking at him, the young Potter knew that approaching his ex-girlfriend right now would be a direct ticket back to the hospital wing. Something he'd rather avoid.

At very least, though, it didn't look like the reason for his (rather violent) break up with Katie became a public knowledge, and the young Potter was very grateful for that. He had enough problems without entire house, if not entire school, ostracizing him for that mistake. He now felt bad about it without that.

Sighing again, Harry headed to the table where Hermione and Neville were working on their History of Magic essays. And surely they wanted to know why he was in the hospital wing for the last four days. The green-eyed wizard gave them the same explanation he had given to madam Pomfrey. The Longbottom heir seemed to buy it, but Hermione, being her usual intelligent and observant self, could tell that there was more to this than Harry was willing to share with them. But since it was his private problem, she didn't question him about this further and, instead, gave him some basic advices about how he could salvage his friendship with the Gryffindor vixens... The young Potter had listened to her, even if he was pretty sure that none of those will work with how deeply he had hurt Katie.

~/ *** \~

The next week was very hard for Harry as the vixen trio was almost constantly sending him death glares whenever they were in the same room. It was so bad that he didn't even dare approaching them to try and beg for their forgiveness, which he wasn't likely to receive anyway. Neither from Katie, whom he had betrayed in the worst manner, nor from Alicia and Angelina, who now were spending every other night for the rest of the school year in detentions with professor McGonnagal.

Still, somewhere deep inside the young Potter hoped beyond hope that the things will look up for him soon and he will at least be able to tell the girls that he was sorry...

It all might have not been as painful for the green-eyed wizard if he'd have gotten something besides memories from that night, but, alas, that wasn't the case: Draconica was still as cold and distant as she was in the past, in no way giving away that there had been something between them...

Unfortunately, it looked like the vixens could hold grudge for the longest time, as only three weeks after that night they began to cool down. Still, for some reason, Harry had problem finding it in himself to approach them. The basilisk he had faced in the Chamber of Secrets the previous year now seemed to be far less scary than the trio of Gryffindor vixens. Especially when they all sat together...

Eventually, though, the young Potter managed to catch the moment when Katie was alone in the common room. While he felt that he was in fault with Alicia and Angelina as well, his ex-girlfriend was the one whom he had hurt the most, and also she was the only one whom he had hurt directly, so he felt that she should be the one for whose he must beg forgiveness first... So, mustering up his Gryffindor courage (which didn't want to be mustered at all as his Slytherin side wanted to live), he carefully approached the brown-haired witch.

"What do you want, Potter?" She asked in a tone as cold as the depth of space when she saw him. "I don't want anything to do with a bastard that you are." She hissed, while almost visible aura of deep hatred flared around her. Harry sighed deeply, while hanging his head, but didn't leave.

"Katie,.." He did his best to ignore the death glare the girl sent him: he really didn't deserve to call her by her name anymore, but addressing her in any other way didn't seem right either. "I know that what I have done to you is unforgivable and that there is nothing that I can do to win back your indulgence... Yet I still beg for your forgiveness." The vixen didn't reply anything and just continued glaring at him. "I know that there is nothing that can repair our relationship, nor I would be worth of that, not anymore, but you at least give me one more chance as your friend?" The young Potter asked after a pause. He was met with a silence that was even worse than any outright denial of his request would be... But after several seconds that to Harry were like an eternity, Katie replied:

"Guess, I can give you one more chance to be my friend, Potter." She said. "But you owe me a lot for this." The green-eyed wizard bowed.

"You're the greatest person ever, Katie. I don't deserve you." He said.

"No, you don't." The vixen told him. "But I'll give you this one chance anyway." Harry bowed to her again. And thanking her one more time, he walked away, feeling very relieved that somehow he managed to salvage at least his friendship with Katie... Absentmindedly, he noted that the feeling of relief he felt at the moment would be worth a very powerful patronus. Maybe even a corporeal one...

Even though he had somewhat repaired his friendship with ex-girlfriend, Harry still needed to say sorry to the other two vixens – after all, he was the reason for their detentions, even if indirectly. And Alicia and Angelina were far less forgiving – the young Potter had to beg to Katie so that she will ask her friends not to curse him into the next year when he would approach them to ask for their forgiveness.

In the end though, after he went to professor McGonnagal and asked her to cancel at least some of the detentions she had given to the two older vixens (and it took him a lot of persuasion and begging to make the transfiguration professor agree to change her mind about those punishments), the girls in question finally gave in and more or less forgave him for hurting Katie. Of course, he still had to 'sponsor' their next trip to Hogsmeade, for all three of them, for this kindness of theirs...

~/ *** \~

Sirius Black was breathing hard as he, in his animagus form, finally climbed onto the stony passage between the mountains, the passage that led into the valley where the Hogsmeade village was. Damn, he was so weak... And so hungry: he hadn't eaten to satiety ever since he had been thrown into Azkaban a little more that twelve years ago... But he had a mission – he had to capture the real traitor, the one who really betrayed the Potters to Voldemort – and nothing in the world was going to stop him. Not hunger, not auror patrols or dementors, not even Magic itself!

Finding himself a secure cave, the only Azkaban escapee in history reverted to his human form, which looked just as dirty and skinny as his beast one, and checked the wand he had stolen from some random wizard when he was traveling through the southern Scotland. Of course, this wand was far from an ideal match for him, but, he supposed, it was good enough for him to stun that traitorous rat and make him revert to his human form... Hopefully, if DMLE 'captured' live Peter Pettigrew, they might actually call off the 'kill on sight' order he was given upon his escape from the infamous Azkaban prison.

And then he will finally get a proper trial, where, of course, it will be discovered that he was innocent. And so he will be able to see his godson once again... He hoped that Harry was a good-looking marauder in training like his father was at his age. Or, maybe, Harry was a clever and charismatic as his mother was?

Sirius shook his head. He had no time for those fantasies at the moment: he was on a mission to expose Peter Pettigrew as the real traitor to the world and he needed to concentrate on his task... But before that, he had to east something, or he might die from hunger before he will have a chance to catch that rat... So, turning back into his animagus form, Sirius Black continued on his way to Hogsmeade in hopes of stealing something eatable from some house there...

That's all, folks!
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