A/N: Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling and her associates. Please support the official release.

Hogwarts Hallway

Professor McGonagall was already well on her way towards Dumbledore's office by the time the first shockwave struck. At first, it started out as nothing more than weak vibrations, barely noticeable as they ran through the ground upon which she walked. But then, they started magnifying in size, until the violent tremors of magical energy reverberated throughout the whole building with intense power, shaking the school of Hogwarts to its very foundations. A series of surprised shouts and screams echoed down the hallway, notifying the Deputy Headmistress that she was indeed not the only one feeling the sudden effects of a vicious onslaught of suppressed magic.

The tremors continued for some time, before stopping just as abruptly as they had started. One moment they were there, and the next... nothing. It was as if someone had flipped a metaphorical off-switch, instantly putting a stop to the mayhem.

Hastily getting to her feet, McGonagall raced down the corridors leading to the Headmaster's Office.

Just what in the seven hells… she thought to herself as she passed groups of students standing around with confused and scared looks on their faces. Many of them had lost their balance and fallen over during the initial wave, and as such, were busy trying to pick up their dropped textbooks and scattered pieces of parchment.

Just as McGonagall was rushing past them, however, yet another shockwave pulsed through the school, causing the ground to quake and small sprinkles of dust to float down from the ceiling. The tremors caught the Professor by complete surprise, and she lost her footing and fell down in a painful heap on the cold, stone floor.

What in Merlin's name is going on here?!

Just as she was getting back to her feet for the second time that afternoon, she spotted the Headmaster rushing down the hallway towards her.

"Albus!" she shouted out, using one hand to support herself against the wall in case another earthquake decided to try knocking her over again.

"Minerva! Come with me, quickly! We don't have a lot of time!" he replied, sending her a quick but firm nod, before turning to face the wall.

"What are you talking about? What is happening?!"

"Something is causing large amounts of magical energy to run rampant through our school," he started, pausing in-between breaths to press what appeared to be completely ordinary slabs of stone in the wall with his index finger. "And we need to figure out just what that "something" is."

"But… But… How are we supposed to find the epicenter of all this? The sheer amount of magical power is overwhelming, I… narrowing it down to one specific location is going to be nigh impossible!"

The Headmaster simply grunted in response, and stood back, apparently finished with… whatever it was he was doing.

Just as Professor McGonagall's patience ran out, and she was going to ask him what in Godric's name he was doing tapping the stones like that, the wall in front of the Headmaster seemed to fold in on itself, opening up to reveal a long, narrow corridor going straight forwards through the concrete.

"After me, if you would," Albus chimed, striding with clear determination into the dark hallway. Minerva could do nothing but nod as she followed him in, jumping ever so slightly as the wall closed behind her again.

"What… is this, Albus?" she asked, struggling to keep up with the old man's brisk pace.

"This is a shortcut, Minerva. I thought you would be able to discern as much yourself."

"Yes, I understood that part, but this "shortcut" does not appear on any map of the castle I've ever seen…"

"Oh my dear Minerva, I thought you'd worked here long enough to know this by now. Hogwarts is, and has always been, full of mysteries. The castle has a will of its own. A heart of stone, filled to the brim with the magical residue of countless spells and other such things. Its secrets are there to be revealed to anyone looking hard enough."

McGonagall could practically hear the twinkle in his eyes as he said that. It annoyed her more than she cared to admit.

"But enough chitchat, we are almost there…"

A couple of minutes later, the duo emerged from the wall in a completely different part of the castle, now standing directly outside the door leading in to the Ravenclaw common room.

Minerva couldn't help but gasp as she noticed the devastation that surrounded them. Huge blocks of stone and granite had been scattered around the hallway, seemingly ripped from the walls and floor. All of the paintings had sustained extensive damage, with large rifts and cuts ruining their rustic beauty. A crooked fissure trailed its way across the large, wooden door that lead in to the common room itself, as if someone had taken a butcher's knife and carved away at the woodwork.

"What in the world…" she breathed, eyes wide with shock.

"It would appear that whatever is causing all of this recently passed through here…" Dumbledore mumbled, bending over to inspect a broken piece of rubble on the ground.

"Albus… I… I don't…"

"It's fine, Minerva. Calm down. I understand that you are confused, and I don't blame you for that. I hardly have a clear picture of what is going on myself. But right now, we have to focus. Something… evil… is running rampant in our school. We quite frankly don't have the time to stand around second-guessing everything. Our students are in danger."

Normally, such words would hardly have an effect on a person that was indeed having a panic attack, but absurdly enough, Dumbledore's semi-speech actually worked on her. She could feel her mind clearing up, and her lungs beginning to work properly again. The shock and uncertainty of the situation seemed to ebb off, leaving her feeling hollow, but at the same time oddly motivated.

"O-Okay. I will trust you on this, Albus. Tell me what you need me to do."

Sending her a weak but heartfelt smile in response, the Headmaster started explaining his plan for dealing with the situation to her.

?

"Harry", or whatever wicked thing he now was, flew down the hallways at intense speeds, ripping apart anything in its path. His normal body had dissolved into a thick, smoke-like substance that seemed to reshape its structural form every couple of seconds, like a cloud in constant movement. His thoughts… weren't really thoughts anymore, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. Whatever memories and human connections the wizard known as Harry Potter had possessed before transforming, were long gone now, replaced only by an overwhelming feeling of sadness and anger. He wanted to destroy. To lash out. To decimate. To obliterate.

To kill.

He sought destruction, craved it like a newborn baby craved milk. He felt betrayed, abandoned and deceived all at the same time. The world and everything it brought was nothing but an obstacle now. Something that had to be torn down.

The feeling of absolute power was overwhelming. Nothing could stand in his way. He was everlasting, timeless and eternal. His hatred could never be tamed. His carnage could never be stopped.

At the center of it all, feeding the beast of malice with the energy it needed, stood his animosity of one singular individual: Draco Malfoy.

Just the thought of his name alone infuriated the Obscurus, causing its destructive powers to grow even fiercer. That pathetic excuse of a human being didn't deserve to live. Every breath that worm took was a waste of oxygen.

As the Obscurus worked its way down the corridors, it came upon a single person trapped underneath a fallen wedge of stone. The squirming figure seemed to be bleeding heavily from a wound in his back, the blood coloring the stone underneath him a deep shade of crimson. A brief flash of recognition lit up inside the Obscurus, before disappearing just as quickly. The student was Blaise Zabini, a Third Year Slytherin that usually didn't talk or say much at all. Now, though, the boy seemed downright petrified, staring up at the creature in front of him with a look of pure, unadulterated horror on his face. It was the look of a man who wanted to live, who wanted nothing more than to get out of this nightmare and see his family and friends again.

Harry Potter would not have wished to kill him. The Obscurus didn't care.

Passing over him, the dark mass let out a shriek of satisfaction as it felt the boy being ripped apart inside of it, chunks of flesh, skin and blood mixing with its own smoky substance. Soon enough, not a trace of the poor Slytherin remained, except for a large bloodstain outlining the contours of where his body used to lay.

Blaise Zabini was no longer of this world. And the Obscurus continued on.

Gryffindor Common Room

Ron Weasley let out a wail of panic as he felt the building shake once again, the tremors louder and more violent this time. All around him, students were clinging on to furniture and leaning up against walls as shivers shook the ground with vicious force.

During his years at Hogwarts, Ron had seen and experienced his fair share of oddities. He had sat through the lessons of the wicked Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Quirinus Quirrell, survived the petrification spree of the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, and stood face to face with Dementors. But never had he imagined he'd see a day when the entirety of the school would be shook to its core by magically-induced earthquakes.

This evoked the thought that coming back to Hogwarts next year perhaps wasn't such a good idea after all.

Suddenly, the portrait of the Fat Lady flew open, and in came Professor McGonagall, somehow managing to stay upright despite the massive tremors. She had a stern look on her face, and clutched a wounded girl in her arms. It didn't take long for Ron to recognize who it was.

Ginny.

Letting out a howl of anguish, he completely forgot about his own fear, and abandoned his hiding place underneath the table in order to rush to his sister's aid.

"What happened to her?!" he near-screamed once he came close enough to grab his unconscious sister by the shoulders.

"I found her laying in the hallway. It looks like she was hit in the head by a falling rock, if the bleeding is anything to go by."

Now that Ron had a chance to take a closer look, he noticed that there were streaks of crimson running down Ginny's head, rendering her already fiery hair wet with blood.

"Well?! We've got to do something! Cast a healing spell or...!"

"If you would just calm down, Mr. Weasley, I was just getting to that."

Dumping the unmoving body of Ginevra Weasley into a nearby recliner, McGonagall whipped out her wand and pointed it towards the unconscious girl.

"Ferula!"

Feeling her magic channeling through the wand, she watched as it streamed towards the injury on the student's head, meticulously closing the wound and leaving nothing but a small scar behind.

Exhausted, she cast a quick Tergeo to remove the rest of the blood, and almost fell down into the luckily-placed sofa behind her.

"Ahh… what a day…"

"Are… Are you okay, Professor?" a scared-looking First Year by the name of Miranda Penbrooke asked.

"Yes, yes, I am quite fine… I'm just a tad bit exhausted, you see…"

She was definitely not going to tell them about the four other students she had also had to stop and heal on her way to the common room. No need to cause any more panic than what was already present.

"Can you tell us what is going on out there, Professor?" Dean Thomas frowned, looking out towards the now open portrait-door of the Fat Lady. "We haven't been told anything apart from "stay in your dorms" ever since these tremors started!"

"I…"

Minerva was surprised to find herself seriously considering whether or not to tell the students about the Headmaster's suspicions. After all, it wasn't as if they wouldn't find out on their own soon enough… In the end, though, her inner Professor won the debate. The Headmaster had explicitly told her NOT to tell anyone about it, so she guessed it was better if it remained secret, at least for now.

"We think there might be some sort of natural phenomenon occurring somewhere directly beneath Hogwarts. An earthquake, to be more precise."

She could instantly tell that the students weren't buying it, but she offered no further explanation. It was up to the Headmaster to decide whether or not he wanted to tell everyone the full truth. Until then, the secret would be safe with her.

Godric, I hope you know what you are doing, Albus…

Hermione Granger's head hurt. It hurt bad. Everything around her was a jumble of distorted shapes and colors, her mind struggling to make sense of what her eyes were seeing. Upon attempting to stand up, she found the room to be spinning wildly, and felt a strong urge to throw up creeping its way up her chest. She promptly sat back down again.

It took her a few minutes to regain her normal eyesight, and another two to get her head to stop spinning. Once it did, however, she looked around in confusion at her surroundings, surprised to find herself sitting on the floor in the lower regions of the Hogwarts Dungeons. She had no recollection of going here, her memory a confusing mess of random scenes from the past few days.

How in the world did I end up down here? And why am I so cold?

Looking down at herself, she was beyond shocked to find her usual school attire missing, leaving her in nothing but her undies. Instantly wrapping her arms around her chest in an attempt to preserve some modesty, she looked around to see if she could spot her wand somewhere. Transfigured clothes usually didn't feel all that great to wear, but they were definitely better than no clothes at all, and she was starting to develop a shiver from the chilly temperature.

To her great misery, however, she couldn't seem to find it anywhere.

Great. Cold, half-naked and alone on a stone floor in the Hogwarts Dungeons with a missing wand. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it sounds like a bad hangover story.

Slowly getting up on her feet, she was relieved to find that the headaches were mostly gone now, and that she was able to remain standing for more than a couple of seconds without feeling an incessant need to barf.

That's when she noticed the carnage that surrounded her.

There were huge scrapes across the walls, cleaved into the rock by something that had to be of monstrous size. A small puddle of what appeared to be a black and oily substance rested in the far corner, with a couple of footprints clearly outlined in the middle of it. Shooting a quick look down the corridor, she noticed that the destruction seemed to continue on further down, with bits and pieces of stone and other construction materials scattered about in small piles.

What the actual…

Hermione was starting to feel the opening hints of a panic attack welling up in her core, and quickly fought to regain control of her emotions. It wouldn't do to break down now, not here, and definitely not dressed like this.

On shaky legs, she started on the long walk back to her dorm, confused, scared and alone.

Malfoy Manor

Sitting in his study, Lucius Malfoy suddenly felt a slight shiver creep its way down his spine. The shudder had come out of nowhere, seemingly unprovoked.

Huh… Must've been the wind, he thought to himself, returning to his documents.

Streets of London

Sirius Black dashed down the abandoned alleyways of southeast London, the echo of his footsteps only disturbed by the sound of an occasional car whizzing past.

He had been on the run for days now, dodging Aurors and Muggle police officers left and right. He was a wanted man, after all, and there were quite a few professionals out there (who were not affiliated with law enforcement) who specialized in capturing men like him for a bounty check.

His original plan had been to head straight for Grimmauld Place, the Black family's ancestral home, but he had quickly thought the better of it. Several people knew of its existence, after all, and many of those still believed him to be a traitor, so he couldn't risk showing up at a place they probably expected him to go to.

What would you have done in my situation, James… he silently wondered to himself as he stopped to catch a quick breather outside of a neglected and broken-down diner. The memory of his best friend caused painful emotions to tug at his heartstrings, and he immediately removed all trace of James Potter from his mind. He had to keep a clear head from this point on, if he hoped to survive the week. Plus, he had already mourned the loss of his friends for long enough in his cell at Azkaban. No need to bring that with him to the outside.

The crisp air burned in his throat as he gulped down mouthfuls of air, slowly but surely regaining his stamina. Sirius had always hated London. Something about the dank, grimy town just made his nose wrinkle, and put him in a bad mood. It was nothing like the wide-open fields and vast forests that surrounded Hogwarts. Godric, he really missed that place.

I have to keep moving. If I stop, they will catch up to me.

That was the mentality he had been living by the last couple of weeks. It was probably the reason he was still alive, and not locked up in some miserable holding cell underneath the Ministry.

I'll get through this. For Lily. For James.

For my godson.

Slytherin Common Room

Damn that two-faced rat… Draco thought to himself as he clutched the edge of the table with such force it made his knuckles turn white. He never told us Potter was going to go totally fucking ballistic if we messed with his Mudblood friend.

Thinking back to his meeting with the Gryffindor scum outside of their common room, he couldn't help but snicker as he recalled the shocked expression on the ginger's face once they told him about their plan. The young "lion" had been close to pissing himself just at the mention of someone getting beat up.

No spine… no integrity.

It was funny, really. Almost ironic. Ron was the one who had told them to go after Hermione in the first place.

"You don't want to go after Harry directly… He'll just brush you off or make something weird happen with his magic… But if you do something to Hermione instead… I bet he'd take that just as personally."

Yeah, well, turns out he had taken it a little TOO personally. After cleaning up the mess they made with Granger, Draco and his duo of vassals had been about to ascend the staircase leading up to the main floor when they had felt the explosion of power going off right behind them. There was no doubt in their minds of what had happened: Harry had found Hermione's unconscious body.

Fuck. Fuck! If Harry finds us here, we're done for.

Despite his superiority, Draco knew when he was outmatched. There was no way he could measure up to Potter in terms of raw magical power. The boy would destroy him.

A good tactician knows when to retreat, he rationalized, trying to calm himself down as he let go of the table, and headed for his dorm. Nobody is going to blame me if I just go home for a while, especially not after what happened today. They'll likely cancel classes for the next few days anyways, to deal with the reparation of the school.

And who knows, if we're really lucky, maybe Potter will be dragged kicking and screaming to Azkaban for what he has done here.

A/N: Yes, that was a Skyrim reference. To those of you who caught it, congratulations, you are now officially a part of the cool kids club. To those of you who didn't, shame on you.

I really need to set up a schedule for this. It's been a month already since I posted my last chapter, and I've barely had time to think since then. So many tests, hand-ins, presentations, projects and school assignments to do. So. many. But it's finally starting to calm down again. Still have a massive project due in two weeks, but other than that, I'm home free. Expect at least 3 chapters before christmas. Possibly. Maybe. I don't know.

The next chapter will serve as the conclusion to Harry's little "Obscurus outburst". FOR NOW, at least. You'll have to wait and see what I mean by that.

As always, if you enjoyed the read, please be sure to leave a review, and possibly even a follow. It really helps me judge your reactions to a chapter, and motivates me to write more. At least normally. Some of you are mean. But that's okay, I welcome criticism.

And I will see you guys in the next chapter.

-Twisted