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Harry Potter was starting to think the world was working against him.

Between the point loss he, Ron, and Hermione had suffered for trying to do the right thing for Hagrid's dragon- His professor's words hurting him more than anything the Dursley's had ever managed with their own insults. A point loss he would gladly go through again if it meant Hagrid been happy about the 'safety' of a literal dragon.

"Of all the stupid..." He ignored the somewhat more tolerable Slytherin's words- Even if Malfoy seemed to think he was the better of the two of them when it came to their ideologies on 'muggles.'

Truth be told, he wasn't entirely sure what to make of the Slytherin. On the one hand, Hermione liked him enough to call him a friend so Ron had to be wrong about all SLytherin's been jerks- Not to mention he had saved her from that troll.

On the other hand, the Christmas holidays were a perfectly clear example Ron was perfectly right about a majority of them, Rodrick included given the number of fights the boy had started whether on accident or on purpose.

Still, between that, the detention in the Forbidden Forest, a place even he had to admit he'd somewhat been curious about, and having to deal with Malfoy and his insults for the majority of it-

It was running into the three-headed dog that had almost bit Ron's head off earlier on during the year that really sold it to him that either Hogwarts, or the world itself, wasn't as much of a fan of him as the rest of the tower seemed to be.

"Of all the inane..." Rodrick continued in the face of the slowly approaching beast.

A part of that was somewhat comforting given he wasn't sure how to even deal with his celebrity status, a status he'd gotten for doing something he couldn't even remember.

Something behind him seemed to snap judging by the sound of it- Turning his head slowly, he found Malfoy sprawled over a tree branch of all things, mild curses coming out of his mouth.

"Of all the pointless things to have..."

He stiffened as he watched the beast lower one of its heads as it hunched on its feet, prepared to pounce-

Yet, to his shock, Rodrick hadn't moved a single step- It took him coming almost face to face with the idiot, in an attempt to get him to run, that he finally noticed the look on his face.

He wasn't scared at all.

The boy shrugged off his hands and walked closer to the beast. The action took the three-headed dog by surprise given one of its head's twitches.

Rodrick, for some reason, looked livid.

The strange Slytherin really was out of his mind, wasn't he? He couldn't help the though-

He tensed, practically dropping on his behind as he watched the beast pounce at them, only to somehow have misjudged the distance given the surprise on its face and how high it had actually gone- Instead of biting one of them, their tail was more likely to smack them in their faces-

And yet, neither happened as it promptly crashed into the nearby tree!

It took his brain a moment to process the flash of light that had hit it before the jump, having thought it a trick with the night- A stupid thought in of itself really, and a moment further to realize Rodrick had long since drawn his wand considering it was pointed at the beast and the tree it had crashed into.

"I have just about had it with this utterly ridiculous school!" The dog rose all three of its heads up, shaking the crash off as it seemed to stare at the ground warily, shifting on its feet for a moment, before raising all three of its heads towards them and opening and showing all three very large sets of teeth- A flash of light later, and Harry was staring gobsmacked as he watched those very same teeth transform into flowers.

By the time the dog had noticed, Rodrick had swung his wand in another direction, and the practically featherweight beast found itself flying through the air- For a moment about to crash onto another tree, before all three heads seemed to growl at the same time, before regaining control of its body and landing on all four legs-

Rodrick disappeared from sight the moment it twisted around its heads towards them.

It was telling that it didn't even pay him nor Malfoy any attention as its growls, which were really hard to take seriously given the teeth made of flowers, turned low. Its three heads twitched and turned in different directions warily, searching for his missing classmate.

A flash of light appeared from its right head, a few feet away, startling it for a moment as it made a swipe at it, only to realize too late that its claws had been turned into more of the same flowers! Said flowers bouncing harmlessly off a vague opaque blue field of sorts that disappeared as quickly as it arrived.

Not wasting a beat, he watched as the beast rose on its hind legs and attempted to crush the hidden form with its weight, only for a literal explosion to go off at its chest, one followed by another, and another and another, each blast sending it further and further towards an unharmed tree-

He idly noted how cold the area started to feel as his breath turned visible before him, his skin prickling as his scar seemed to react- Nowhere near as bad as it had during the first feast, in the sense, that it didn't hurt, but rather that...

It felt almost... Comfortable with the changing temperature, with the sudden tenseness that filled the air, the sudden pressure that dropped all around them-

It took him a moment further to notice Malfoy's utterly pale face, the boy's body visibly shaking as he let out a gulp- Their gazes for a moment locked, and at that moment, it felt as if the blonde was asking, or rather judging him for not being as afraid.

And just as the temperature turned almost uncomfortable even for him-

"Bombarda Maxima!" The single voice that rang out practically cut through the air, the tenseness and pressure, and seemed to return the temperature itself back to normal! And with it, came the worst explosion he'd ever seen as the dog was suddenly sent rocketing through the tree behind it.

It wasn't a big explosion. It wasn't a particularly... Scary one.

It just felt wrong.

It felt as if his skin had been pierced from every angle. As if the very breath inside him had turned to ash. As if his very life was been leached.

It felt absolutely dark.

As if the very definition of Dark Magic had slapped him across the face, hard.

If this was what the Dark Art's entailed, then he was definitely understanding why everyone he'd gotten along with seemed to dislike it so much.

But the scary part about it all was...

Bombarda was a spell Hermione had told him about in one of their many attempts at learning together... It was a spell supposedly taught at the castle in the later years which meant it couldn't have been dark...

So what on earth had Rodrick added to it to make it into that?

It was a question he couldn't even ask the boy given the moment he'd turned visible, he'd quickly dropped to the floor, the sound of snoring filling up the silence of the area.

The three headed dog on the other hand seemed to force itself up, clear signs of injury marking its entire form, from branches to scars running down the length of it- But the biggest sign of injury had to be in its head because the moment it took in his sleeping classmates' form, it whimpered, dropped to the ground on its stomach and covered its middle head with its flowery paws, while it's other two heads turned away and made to hide in the gaps between them and the middle one...

And at that moment, Harry Potter felt the title he held weigh down on him harder than ever, because if his classmate ever went, god-forbid, completely into the dark- He certainly had to have the practice for it! Then... Wasn't he expected to deal with him as well?

The foreboding thought wasn't one he wanted to entertain.

Thankfully, Hagrid's sudden appearance broke him away from it, as the giant ran over to the bloody dog and started trying to make it feel better.

"Oh wha''d they do ter yeh!? Yeh were on'y trying ter say hello weren' ya?"

...Maybe having a few screws loose in the head was just part of being magical?

...

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