And we're at Hogwarts once more . . .
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Harry Potter: A Flaw in Fate
The Blackest of Nights
IV. She Who Serves
Platform Nine and Three-Quarters appeared as gloomy as ever, what with the thundering clouds and the unending rain. Harry watched as a copy of the Daily Prophet flew through the air. It smacked against the brick wall, falling to the floor. The thin parchment crinkled as countless witches and wizards stepped upon it, each hurrying off as they sent their loved ones off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"Students on board!" yelled a man in scarlet robes. He stood off to the side of the train, waving at them all, "The train will be leaving shortly!"
Harry carefully navigated through the crowd, ducking through the unending sea of doting parents. Many of them were lined up against the windows. Harry watched as a woman with blonde hair leaned forward, kissing a chubby young boy on the forehead. The boy squirmed uncomfortably, waving her off. Harry frowned.
At last, the path cleared, and Harry stepped onto the Hogwarts Express. He carefully made his way down the train, peeking through the glass doors of each compartment as he sought out his two friends. Most of the compartments were full already; students of all ages stared back at him as he made his way down the train. A few compartments were empty. Harry even found a middle-aged man sleeping in a compartment further back along the train.
None of the compartments, however, held either of the two people he sought.
It was only when he neared the very end of the train that Harry finally found someone. Theodore Nott, a Slytherin boy with short hair and fair skin sat with his back to the window, his head buried in a book of some sort. The boy looked up as Harry slid the compartment door open, carefully closing his book with a soft thud.
"I was wondering when you'd arrive." he said, helping Harry push his trunk onto the luggage rack, "At least last year that barmy house-elf had you ahead of schedule."
"Who, Dobby?" said Harry, grinning, "I think I'll stick to my watch."
"Probably for the best." agreed Nott, "I suppose Dobby would be a bit of a safety hazard."
"Only a little."
Theodore chuckled, plopping back into his seat and returning his gaze back to the book in his lap. Harry quickly took the seat opposite him. He glanced out the window, searching for a girl with long, blonde hair and icy blue eyes -
Creak.
Harry turned, watching as the compartment door slid open. Daphne Greengrass stood just outside the compartment door, already adorned in her Hogwarts robes. Her blonde hair was tied up in intricate braids, her face as blank as ever. She forced her trunk onto the luggage rack before slowly turning to face him. The ends of her lips curved upwards.
"Nice to see you've taken my words to heart." she said, smiling, "How are you?"
"Good." Harry murmured, "Diagon Alley was loads better than Privet Drive ever could've been."
"It only gets better, too." noted Daphne, her eyes shining, "We're heading back. Back to Hogwarts."
Back home.
"I had a great summer too, if you must know." Nott muttered.
"I wasn't aware I asked." Daphne sighed, sinking into the seat beside Harry, "Remind me, you're both taking Ancient Runes and Arithmancy as well, right -"
"Daph?"
Harry turned, glancing through the open compartment door. A small girl with long blonde hair stood off to the side. She had soft lips, pale skin, and tired-looking eyes. Harry couldn't help but notice the bags beneath them.
Daphne frowned. She quickly rose from her seat, stepping out of the compartment.
"I'll be back in a moment." she whispered to Harry, "I need to help Astoria find her friends."
Harry nodded, watching as Daphne gently took the girl's miniscule hand in her own. The girl - Astoria, it seemed - stared at Harry with wide eyes, watching him through the compartment glass. Harry smiled kindly, frowning as Daphne led her away.
"She looks ill." muttered Nott slowly, watching alongside Harry as the sisters retreated down the carriage, "There's absolutely no way she isn't."
Harry nodded slowly, his lips refusing to part.
It's Daphne's secret to tell, not mine.
"What subjects are you taking, anyway?" Harry asked eventually, "I'm taking Ancient Runes and Arithmancy."
Nott swore, muttering darkly beneath his breath.
"I forgot our classes were different." he groaned irritably, "I'm taking Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures."
Harry frowned.
"Why?"
"Because Arithmancy is the study of numbers." said Nott, exasperated, "Numbers -"
"There's more to it than that -"
"Yeah, but you won't learn any more than that for years." Nott pointed out, "Ancient Runes isn't like that. We'll be learning about how to properly use it right away."
"And Care of Magical Creatures?"
Nott shrugged.
"I thought it'd be interesting, I suppose."
"I'm sure you're right." agreed Harry, grinning, "Especially with those biting books you've got to order."
Nott shook his head, standing on his seat as he reached for his trunk. He pulled a book out from within a moment later - it had many eyes, and Harry saw teeth where the pages should have been. A large brown belt was wrapped tightly around it, forcing it shut.
"'The Monster Book of Monsters.'" read Nott irritably, "I'm actually scared to find out who assigned these."
Harry leaned in. Emerald eyes glanced across the soft fur cover before falling to the six beady eyes near the side.
Hagrid would love this thing.
A soft creaking noise pressed against his ears. Harry looked up, watching as Daphne slid the compartment door open before stepping inside. He glanced at her, his lips parted and his eyebrows scrunched together - but she only shook her head, sitting beside him.
Later, then.
Nott yawned, idly turning a page in his book. He pressed a finger to its surface, glancing up at the both of them before turning to Daphne.
"You aren't taking Ancient Runes and Arithmancy too, are you?"
Daphne stared blankly at him.
"Of course I am." she said after a brief moment, "I said so before I left -"
Growl.
Harry and Nott jump in their seats. The Monster Book of Monsters sat by their feet, flexing its jaw threateningly. Though the belt that forced it shut seemed somewhat strained, it did not snap.
Daphne's eyes narrowed.
"What is that?" she asked, glaring at the both of them.
"It's his." said Harry, shoving the book towards Nott with the end of his shoes, "He needs it for his Care of Magical Creatures Class, apparently."
Daphne rolled her eyes, sinking back into her seat.
"I suppose you could've chosen worse." she decided eventually.
"Like?"
"Like Divination."
"But I thought Divination was useful?" said Harry slowly, "Imprecise, I guess - but it's got to be at least a tad bit useful, hasn't it?"
"Not if you aren't a Seer." muttered Nott, "If you aren't, there isn't much of a point. You might learn a thing or two, but you'll never compare to a real Seer."
Maybe.
The British countryside vanished from view as the Hogwarts Express pushed forward, replaced by forests filled with long, dark oak trees. Storm clouds continued to thunder above, and by lunchtime rain was pouring down on the train. Harry watched as a drop of water slid down the window pane, raising his head when a soft rattling noise pressed against his ears.
"Anything from the trolley, dears?"
Harry, Nott and Daphne all clambered to their feet, each removing coins from their pockets. A few moments later their compartment was filled to the brim, flooded with sweets of all sorts.
"I'll never understand how you like these." muttered Nott, raising a Pumpkin Pasty to his eye level as he inspected it carefully, "They barely look edible."
"They're alright." said Harry, taking a bite out of his own, "Chocolate frogs are better, though."
Nott nodded, setting the Pasty aside before tossing a pack of Chocolate Frogs at Harry. The raven-haired boy caught it nimbly, flipping it over as his eyes roamed the writing on its back.
'Product of Honeydukes. Made in Hogsmeade, Britain.'
"What's Honeydukes?" asked Harry curiously, prying the box open. Nott swallowed before turning to him.
"Sweet shop in Hogsmeade." he explained, "Probably the best one in all of Britain."
"They're the ones that make Chocolate Frogs." added Daphne, setting a bowl of soup aside, "I'd been meaning to tell you - you'll be able to see it this year, when we visit."
A dark, cold feeling tightened in Harry's chest. His head slowly raised, latching onto his trunk, which sat above him on the luggage rack.
Daphne watched him carefully. A frown marred her features, and her eyes fell.
"They didn't sign it, did they?" she whispered.
Harry shook his head. Daphne sank back into her seat, looking thoroughly upset.
"You can forge it though, can't you?" asked Nott slowly, "I doubt they actually check -"
But Harry shook his head once more.
"They'll know." he murmured quietly, "I mean, I did blow up my aunt. Anyone with a brain would know there's no way the Dursleys signed it."
Daphne nodded, her eyes still narrowed. Her fingers wrapped a Chocolate Frog. Harry watched as the frog gasped for air, only to be squished by the girl's tight grasp.
"It's fine." he said eventually, "It's just a village. I can visit on my own, when I'm older -"
The train shook, and the lights flickered. Something cold pressed against the compartment - Harry watched as a thin layer of frost coated the outside of their window. The light above them sparked out, leaving them in total darkness. Harry turned to the other two. They looked just as alarmed as he was.
Lumos.
A bright bead of white light formed at the tip of his wand. Harry raised it slowly, pointing at the glass compartment door. There was frost on it, too - only this layer was much thicker than the one on the window.
"They're people outside." whispered Daphne, her eyes pressed against the window, "I think they're coming in."
Harry turned, wiping his sleeve against the glass before peering out. Something large was indeed standing just outside the front of the train. It was a person, Harry guessed - one adorned in long, dark tattered robes that scraped against the floor beneath him. Harry watched as the train door eerily slid open, permitting him entrance. Slowly he rose from the ground, floating into the Hogwarts Express.
Floating?
"Harry." hissed Daphne, her eyes wide with alarm, "Harry, they're dement -"
But the compartment door slid open before she could finish speaking.
Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the light at the end of Harry's wand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. Harry's eyes darted downward, and what he saw made his stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water -
The creature turned to him, and the coldness slammed against his chest. Harry felt his breath leave him - he raised his wand, pointing it at the monster, but his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he could not see -
The world spun. The train around him disappeared, replaced by the insides of a room he didn't recognize.
"Not Harry," pleaded a voice from before him, "not Harry . . . take me, please . . . not Harry!"
Harry turned. Long white bars of wood obscured much of his view, but he could still make out the back of a woman on her knees. She had long, flowing red hair, and fair skin.
There was another woman, too. She had long black hair, high cheekbones, and soft pale skin. She was older here, her eyes now scarlet - but Harry recognized her at once.
Emily.
He opened his mouth, but no words came out. The cold pressed against his chest - Harry clawed at the white bars of his crib, but no sound was made, and nothing seemed to change -
Lady Voldemort raised her wand, her scarlet eyes glowing with power.
"Stand aside," she said, "You need not die. Stand aside . . ."
But the redheaded woman did not.
"Not Harry! Please . . . have mercy . . . have mercy . . ."
Voldemort slowly raised her wand, pointing it at the woman opposite her. Harry forced his eyes shut, clawing desperately at the bars of the crib -
"Avada Kedavra."
Screams tore through his vision like butter, and the nursery split in two. The orange in his eyelids flashed a bright but sickly green, and cries of pain pressed tightly against his ears, clawing at his heart -
Emily. Mum.
The world went black, and Harry saw nothing once more.
-(xXx)-
"Harry!"
"Harry!"
A soft white glow pressed against his eyelids. Harry opened them slowly. The dull brown ceiling of the Hogwarts Express stared back at him. There were scratches all over it - he hadn't noticed that before - and a thin, jagged crack ran through the side nearest the window.
"One second - your glasses are cracked." said a voice he didn't recognize. A wand blurred before his eyes before resting in front of him, "Oculus Reparo."
The cracks in the ceiling vanished, and the blurred wand suddenly seemed more visible. Harry slowly pushed himself up, looking around. Nott sat off to one side, looking unusually tense. Daphne was kneeling by his side. She helped him up, handing him a chocolate frog.
"Eat it." she told him worriedly, "It'll help."
Harry slowly pried the pack open. He held the chocolate frog in the palm of his hand, watching it with unseeing eyes.
"Your friend's right, you know." said the voice from earlier, "It'll help."
Harry turned. A man in shabby robes stood by the compartment door, his wand held aloft. His pale face was framed by greying brown hair, and there were red lines beneath his eyes. He looked very, very tired, and seemed rather ill as well. The man watched him carefully, his amber eyes tracing his every feature. They rose slightly, tracing the thin outline of Harry's scar. The man looked away.
"Eat up." said the man, sliding the compartment door open, "You'll feel better. I need to speak to the driver, if you'll excuse me . . ."
Harry watched as the man in the shabby robes disappeared into the corridor. He felt a cold hand press against his own, and the chocolate frog slipped from his grasp. Daphne raised it to his lips.
"Chocolate's often associated with happy memories." she explained, holding it up as Harry took a slow bite, "Surely you've got a few?"
Harry paused. The cold texture of the chocolate pressed against his lips, and a faint memory twisted the world around him once more.
A woman with light brown hair sat opposite him, her legs sprawled upon the desk that separated them. She tossed a chocolate frog into the air - it spun slightly, glowing orange from the light of the fireplace. Harry caught it nimbly. Sapphire eyes watched on as he carefully pried it open.
"Well?" asked the woman.
"Just a sec."
Harry removed a blue card from the box, quickly turning it over. He groaned, holding it up for the woman to see.
"Agrippa?" she said, laughing, "You've gotten that one before, haven't you?"
"Only a half-dozen times."
Professor Baker chuckled, pulling another chocolate frog out from one of the many drawers of her desk.
"Tell you what," she began, her long fingers slowly opening the pack in her hands, "If you do well next practice - and only if you do well - I'll give you whatever's in here."
Harry straightened up. Emerald orbs traced the outline of the box. They slowly narrowed in disbelief.
"Right." he said, "And how would you know there's anything good in there?"
Professor Baker shrugged, the ends of her lips curving upwards.
"Just a feeling I've got . . ."
The chocolate frog pack sprung open. Harry watched as the frog jumped from Professor Baker's grasp, landing on the desk. His eyes slowly shifted to his teacher; she was smiling, her gaze latched upon the card in her hand. She carefully spun it around in her hands, allowing Harry to see it.
"'Herpo the Foul.'" Harry read aloud, his jaw slack with disbelief, "I haven't got that one."
Professor Baker laughed, her sapphire eyes shining. She rose from her seat, placing the card neatly on a shelf by the window.
"Well, I have." Baker ran a finger against the card's side, "Until, of course, you earn it."
"I'll try."
"You will." she corrected. She moved around the table, resting upon it when she was but a few feet away from him, "Have a bit more faith in yourself."
Harry nodded slowly, the ends of his lips curving upwards.
"I will."
Harry shifted uncomfortably. His head lifted, and his eyes traced the outline of his trunk, which sat neatly on the luggage rack above him.
It's in there, somewhere. I wouldn't have thrown it out.
Harry glanced down. Daphne and Nott both watched him worriedly.
"I'm fine." he assured them, his lips moving in slow-motion, "At least, I will be. What happened?"
"The Dementor came in." said Nott, "It turned to you, and a sort of blurred line connected the two of you. You passed out, and then some sort of silvery-blue light appeared off to the side. It scared the Dementor away. That man - Lupin, I think he said his name was - opened the compartment, and that's when you came back to."
Harry nodded slowly, an odd sensation pressing against the front of his mind. He let it in, and recognition overpowered his senses.
"What did you say his name was?" he asked carefully.
Nott paused.
"Lupin." he said again, "Professor Lupin."
Harry shifted, and a rough, booming voice played in the back of his mind.
"There ain't ever been a group o' troublemakers more infamous than Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew . . ."
Harry frowned, his eyes shifting to the window to his right. Frost coated it, and the snowstorm of ice and rain thundered outside.
-(xXx)-
Crack.
Snow wept from the roofs of countless buildings, water trickling down windows like tears. Bellatrix sneered, sending sheets of sparkling ice flying. There wasn't much of it - only an inch or two - but it was barely September; there shouldn't have been any at all.
"Filthy, floating blankets." Bella hissed, gently cracking her neck, "Always in such a pissy mood."
Thankfully, none of them were nearby. Bellatrix could see a few Dementors out in the distance, though; they were circling Hogsmeade, floating a few dozen feet above the ground.
And master wants me to stay there.
Bellatrix flexed her fingers. The burnt in the cold air, stinging slightly. Slowly they wrapped around something concealed within her robes' pocket. The sweet rush of magic swam through her veins, and Bellatrix felt her eyes roll into the back of her skull.
"Yes, yes, I've missed you too -"
Her wand - dark and curved - hummed in the palm of her hand. Bella giggled as sparks flew from the tip. They singed the snow beneath her, melting it away.
"Don't you worry." muttered Bella softly, her fingers wrapped lovingly around the curved stick, "We'll get to play soon enough. But we've got something better to do now, don't we? We get to see him."
Bellatrix crooned with delight, pressing the wand tightly against her chest. She'd waited a long time for this, she'd dreamt of this moment for more than a decade -
"I couldn't even see him properly in that stupid alley." she muttered irritably before giggling again, "Too dark."
No matter. I'll see him now.
Bellatrix skipped through the snow, cheerfully making her way away from the small, cozy village that was Hogsmeade. Rain poured down from the clouds that thundered above her, but Bellatrix paid no mind. She was far too excited to care.
Eventually, the crying of the sky faded away. Bellatrix frowned, glancing up. Large, thick trees obscured the clouds from view. Their branches shielded her from the rain. Bellatrix watched as water swam down to their trunks, pooling in the dirt by their roots. The place looked rather familiar -
The Forbidden Forest.
Leaves blew in the wind, and Bellatrix heard twigs crackling beneath the paws of something massive -
So many monsters around. I could practice, I could do it again . . . it's been so long -
The rough, loud sound of heavy breathing swirled within her ears. Bellatrix frowned, slowly pressing her wand to her temple.
Master said I couldn't be seen.
"Abscondere."
Her form flickered. Her abnormally pale skin shimmered, eventually becoming a shade similar to the snow-covered soil by her feet. Bellatrix slowly raised a hand - her skin stayed white for a moment, but within seconds it had shifted to the dry brown pattern of the tree beside her. The ends of her lips slipped downwards, and her eyes narrowed.
It's been too long. I'll have to practice more often.
No matter. She'd return herself to what she once was. Not even a twelve-year stint in Azkaban would stop that.
Bellatrix made her way through the forest, forcing herself away from its occupants. Her wand twitched all the while - it wanted it just as much as she did - but Bella knew better.
It's called patience, isn't it? I've waited so long. I can wait a bit longer.
At long last, the forest cleared. Bellatrix watched as a sea of students clambered up the stone steps, making their way towards the grand entrance of Hogwarts school.
Where are you, Potter? Potter, Potter, Potter -
Three young students slowly made their way up the path that led towards the Great Hall. The first was a boy with short, dark hair. In his hands sat a book Bellatrix hadn't ever seen before. There was a girl, too. She was very pretty, with long, braided blonde hair, fair skin and icy blue eyes. Bella watched as she fussed over the third and final student, the girl's shoulder pressing against his as they walked.
Bellatrix's gaze shifted, and something euphoric burnt within her chest.
He had raven-black hair, his emerald eyes hidden behind circular specs. His features were familiar - they looked quite a bit like his father's. The eyes, however, definitely came from his mother.
He didn't look like much. Cute, maybe, in the way most children supposedly were - but nothing else.
But he felt like so much more.
There was something different about him. Something strange, something vexing, something -
Perfect.
Bella was sure it was there. She could sense it, like it was hiding just behind his eyes. It felt so powerful, so beautiful - she'd only ever felt it in one other before -
Master.
Bellatrix sighed, watching with wonder as the boy made his way into the castle. His two friends trailed along, one on either side of him.
"Harry Potter." she whispered, forcing her gaze away, "The boy-who-lived."
Snow fell from the leaves like water on a window pane, and Bella retreated into the forest behind her.
