The hairs on the back of Harry's neck stood on end. He looked up from his lunch and glanced around the Great Hall. It was the first day of classes and he was happy to have Hermione and Neville back, even if the castle seemed loud and intrusive compared to the peaceful solitude of the summer months. He had forgotten just how restricting it was when he couldn't let his magic flow freely through the stone and down the corridors without being noticed. Even now, he had the strangest feeling that someone was watching him.
As he looked around, Harry suddenly met the wide blue eyes of a blond girl at the Ravenclaw table. He thought that she may be one of the first years. She had long, yellow-blonde hair and big round eyes that peered hauntingly out of her delicate face. She had a very serious expression on her face as she stared at him.
Then she very slowly and deliberately blinked at him. Like a cat or something.
Weird.
Harry was about to see if Hermione knew who she was when he was blinded by an unexpected camera flash.
"Hello Harry! My name is Colin Creevy! I saw your picture in the paper and I'm so happy that I'm in Gryffindor with you! I hope it's ok that I took your picture, I just want to be able to prove that I met you! Everyone's told me all about how you destroyed You-Know-Who and everything and you've got that wicked scar and I think if I develop the pictures right, they'll actually move!"
A small, brown-haired boy chattered away beside Harry as he tried and failed to keep the expression of exasperated shock off of his face. He was so thrown off balance that he wasn't even able to be angry. Yet. He was working on it.
"It's so amazing here! I didn't know magic was real until I got my letter, never knew what all the weird stuff that happened around me was. My parents couldn't figure it out either and I think that they were really worried about something until my letter showed up and McGonagall came and explained things and she turned into a cat in our living room and once I develop the pictures do you think you could sign one?"
Harry wasn't sure that Colin needed to breathe.
"Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos, Potter?"
Ah yes. There's the anger.
Harry turned to level a cold stare at Malfoy. Apparently, the summer and the crowded Great Hall were enough to allow the blonde to get over the scare Harry had given him last year.
"Sure Draco, do you want one? You can stare at it longingly when the nights get cold and lonely…"
"You're just jealous!" Colin spoke up next to him.
Dammit Colin.
"Of what? His facial disfigurement? Somehow, I don't want to have my face all cut to ribbons just to be special," Malfoy sneered.
Harry knew he shouldn't, but the Slytherin just made it so easy. "I'd be happy to help change that, little dragon," Harry hissed, his voice dripping with malice. "I can think of lots of things that I could do to improve your pretty face."
Malfoy's eyes widened in fear, and he looked like he was about to back up when Harry felt a hand on his shoulder.
"What's all this? Who's giving out signed photos?"
Harry groaned. Clearly this was not his day.
Lockhart stood over him in garish turquoise robes and a matching hat. He smiled his trademark jaunty smile as he took in the group.
"Shouldn't have even asked!" He cried. "Hello again Harry! I was hoping that I would run into you today. Now Mr. Creevy, why don't you get a photo of both of us and we'll both sign it for you. Can't do better than that!"
He wrapped his arm around Harry and pulled him to his feet while Colin fumbled with the camera.
Harry did his best. He really did. But he was pissed at Malfoy, angry at Colin, frustrated by this whole stupid situation and Hermione was looking at Lockhart with this awed and sappy expression and-
He couldn't stop his power from flowing into Lockhart. He felt the wizard's weak, useless spark and his hollow, empty soul and he just wanted this idiotic, infuriating wizard to leave him alone.
Harry felt something snap in his soul. Or maybe it was in Lockhart's, he wasn't sure.
Lockhart suddenly stiffened. "You know what everyone, I'm so sorry but I just realized that I'm running late. The double picture will have to wait. I'll just leave you alone now. See you in class!"
As the professor turned to leave, Harry's stomach clenched as he saw a faint green light leaking from behind Lockhart's eyes. He felt a trace of his own magic in the man's quivering soul, so much weaker than his own. He glanced back at Colin's disappointed expression and noticed that Malfoy had already left.
Then he saw the shocked and horrified look on Hermione's sheet-white face.
What had he done?
…
"You mind-controlled a teacher."
Hermione's horrified whisper seemed to echo in the empty classroom.
"I didn't mean to! I-"
"You can control people with your magic. You can mind-control people. You can mind-control people!"
"I promise I didn't do it on purpose! I just let too much magic leak into his soul, and I wanted him to leave me alone and-"
"YOU TOOK CONTROL OF HIS SOUL?"
"I don't even know how I did it, it's not-"
Hermione stared blankly into space and interrupted him with a whisper. "All of those times that you've flooded my soul with magic…"
Harry's face whitened to match hers.
"No no no no it's different I promise, I would know…"
"Would you know, Harry?" Hermione wouldn't look at him. "You just said that you don't know how you did it. You have all of these incredible abilities, but you never stop to think…"
"No. I would know. For better or worse, I felt Lockhart's soul break. Your soul could never break like that. It's too strong, too pure, too powerful and singular to be dominated." Harry rushed through the words as he tried to find the right thing to say to take the horrified look off of her face.
"It's still not right, Harry! It's evil!"
"I… I know. I would take it back in a heartbeat. Wanted to take it back as soon as I saw the light behind Lockhart's eyes." Harry wasn't one hundred percent sure that he believed that, but he knew that what he had done was wrong. He needed to be better. For Hermione if not for himself.
Hermione turned around, facing away from him, and took several deep breaths. "You can't do it again. Not to Lockhart, not to Malfoy, not to anyone. Maybe if you have the opportunity to… dominate… Voldemort, then maybe. But that's it! No one else."
"Absolutely. No breaking people's souls. Got it-"
"Shut up. I… I need some time to process this, Harry." Hermione took another breath. "I promise that you're still stuck with me, and that I'll never leave you alone. But I need some time to think. Please. Just leave."
So, Harry left.
Hermione still sat next to him in Lockhart's class the next period, but she wouldn't meet his eyes. He didn't know how to fix what he'd done, if there even was a way to fix it. Some things couldn't be fixed once they were broken, and he wasn't sure if that applied to Lockhart's soul. He didn't think it applied to his and Hermione's friendship, but she would always know what he could do. She may always wonder if he had broken her without her knowledge.
Harry wasn't listening to Lockhart's irritating monologue at the start of class. Apparently, he hadn't managed to change the empty-headed celebrity that much. He stared down at the quiz as the professor handed it out and resisted the urge to groan.
If he was going to deal with all the trouble that came with mind control, he should at the very least be able to avoid this torture while he was at it. Maybe this was the universe's way of punishing him.
He glanced over at Hermione as she worked away, and then started filling in the stupid quiz.
He tuned Lockhart out again once he finished. He stared off into space and tried not to think too hard about anything until he heard Hermione's name.
"...but Miss Hermione Granger was the only one who knew not only my favorite color but also my secret ambition and my ideal birthday gift! Actually… Full marks! Which one of you is Miss Granger?"
Hermione looked sick as she raised her hand.
"Well done! Very well done. Ten points to Gryffindor!"
Hermione looked down at the desk with a blank expression and the terrible feeling in the pit of Harry's stomach got considerably worse.
"Now!" Lockhart exclaimed, "It is my job to prepare you for the very worst that the magical world has to offer. The most dangerous creatures and threats that go bump in the night. You can never know what you may face in this room. But know that I will be here to protect you. I must ask you not to scream."
Lockhart whipped the cover off of the cage on his desk to reveal a chattering swarm of little blue creatures, about eight inches tall. They squeaked and squabbled chaotically, bouncing and straining against the bars of the cage as the tiny mischievous things buzzed about with non-stop energy.
"Freshly caught Cornish pixies!"
Everyone in the class looked at him with confusion. Ron spoke up from the other side of the classroom, "Well, those aren't actually that dangerous, are they?"
Lockhart grinned his trademark smile. "Let's see what you make of them!" He yelled.
Then he opened the cage.
Harry couldn't help but laugh as all hell broke loose. The pixies tore through the classroom like a wrecking ball, all of the students screaming and running for the door except for Hermione, Neville, and himself. Harry caught sight of Neville beating back two pixies with a heavy textbook as they tried to grab a hold of his ears. Harry leaned back in his chair and let the destruction continue as Lockhart continued to be useless. Harry saw the professor's wand go flying out the window.
"Well, I'll just leave you three to pop them back into their cage, if you could." Lockhart said jauntily, before disappearing through the door himself and slamming it behind him.
Harry just leaned back and looked around with a bemused expression as the pixies continued their rampage.
"Aren't you going to help?" Hermione yelled, casting a freezing charm and catching one pixie while three more danced out of range and blew raspberries at her.
"Naw, Lockhart brought this on himself."
"UGH!" Hermione groaned, glaring at him. "It's the least you could do, given the circumstances!"
"I just-"
"FINE! No, it's FINE." Hermione screamed over the chaos. "If you're just going to sit there with that STUPID grin on your face-"
Harry froze as the temperature in the room plummeted. He felt a singing, soaring presence in his magic and he could see his breath in front of his face. He stared with wide eyes at his best friend as bright blue sparks crackled through her wild hair.
"I'll just…"
Hermione's eyes glowed with blazing, ethereal blue light, the air around her warping and freezing as her magic saturated the room.
"...do it…"
Swirls of brilliant sapphire magic coiled and thundered down Hermione's arm as she threw it out to the side, her hand pointing towards the ruined classroom.
"MYSELF!"
There was an echoing thunderclap, and the room froze as blinding light exploded from Hermione's raised hand in a shockwave. The pixies and the sea of debris and rubble hung still and silent in the aftermath of the detonation, floating eerily in the air as Hermione's magic continued to crackle and spark. Neville also stared at her with wide eyes as she looked down at her hands in wonder.
She looked up and met Harry's eyes, the look of awe and shock mirrored in his own.
"I did it," she whispered. The shock on her face started to disappear and was quickly replaced by joy and excitement.
"I DID IT!" She yelled and threw her arms around Harry. He let his magic flow, and he could feel her own magic brushing against his, potent and beautiful as it twirled and danced with his power. He held her as tightly as he could and unconsciously imbued his body with his magic so that she didn't break him as her arms flooded with power, making her hug far stronger than it had ever been before.
It was several long moments before their magic calmed, the hurricane slowing to a gentle breeze as she eventually relaxed in his arms.
"I'm still mad at you." She whispered into the side of his head. He was still shorter than her.
Harry just chuckled, the tension from before class finally starting to drain out of him. "That's fine." He said with a grin.
Hermione laughed along with him, and both found that they couldn't stop until they were out of breath.
They both jumped when a clang echoed through the room, and they looked up to see Neville closing the door of the now crowded pixie cage.
"What?" He asked, looking back at them with a faux-innocent expression.
Then all of them were laughing. And if there was a slightly manic edge to it, none of them mentioned it.
…
Harry let his magic roam free around him as he wandered the halls, invisible in the darkness. He hadn't stopped taking his midnight walks despite the incident with Fluffy. He enjoyed the solitude of the dark and empty castle, made even more enjoyable by his ability to enter the Dark and drop between floors or jump through walls at will. He was starting to feel like he knew every inch of the castle, every nook and cranny and secret. But he also knew that there would always be more. The ancient castle was an endless treasure trove of magic, and he wanted to see as much of it as he could while he was here.
He smiled to himself as he thought about Hermione. She had been positively giddy since awakening her magic, having to resist doing every little thing with wandless power. She was already thinking of ways to train and manipulate her magic in new and interesting ways that he had never considered, as well as ways to finally beat him in class now that he didn't have as much of an advantage.
"Come to me… Let me rip you… Let me tear you… Let me kill you…"
Harry froze. He had never heard anything like that before. The malevolent, hissing voice echoed deep in the walls and bones of the castle, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere. Nevertheless, he took off running, letting his magic completely loose and trying to feel for the source of the voice.
He thought that he felt… something... moving through the castle's magic. It felt like part of it, yet also not. He couldn't pinpoint it, but he tried to move towards it as he entered the Dark and ran through a wall. He braced himself and jumped straight up, phasing into the Dark once again to pass through the ceiling into the hallways above. He ran, seeking the source of the voice, until…
It was gone. As quickly as it had appeared, the malicious spark within the castle's own soul disappeared. The ancient school once again felt benign and pure, the towering soul of the castle unblemished.
Harry was deeply unsettled. He remembered Dobby's warning and felt that he somewhat understood the elf's concern. Terrible things were indeed at work in Hogwarts this year.
"Did you hear it too?"
Harry just about jumped out of his skin. He whirled around, still invisible, and stared in shock at the thin, fae-looking girl staring at him from down the corridor. It was the first-year girl from the Great Hall, the blond Ravenclaw with the wide eyes. She was wearing a light blue nightgown, and her feet were bare.
Harry was about to reply when he remembered that he was invisible. He was hidden by the Cloak of Invisibility, how did-
"I must admit, Death Walker, you're shorter than I expected."
Harry's brain short-circuited completely.
