Author's Note:
To TwinstarDragon: I was mainly planning on Harry's relationships developing over time as the story progresses. If you were worried about it being all over the place constantly, then you don't have to worry. As for who he will ultimately end up with, who knows if it will be one girl or multiple? I make a lot of my decisions as the story guides me and so it will probably be a surprise to me as well.
To SilveerKnighT: Dude, take a chill pill. I never said I didn't hate Snape just as much as James. In my mind, they both suck equally hard. James was an entitled asshole who felt he could do whatever he wanted without consequences. Snape was a piece of shit who willingly turned on his only friend for power and so he could feel good about himself. My writing will reflect the idea that they are both trashy.
Additional thanks to Chi Vayne and Firestar Prime for their positive reviews. It is great to see people enjoying the story.
Chapter 2: Someone You Loved
Fire.
Trees.
Pain.
Laughter.
Gnashing teeth.
A sweet smile.
"Why?"
"I wanted to be who you thought I was, at least at the end."
I woke up in a cold sweat as I bolt up the moment my eyes opened. My chest was heaving from my panicked breathing as I tried to calm down and lower my heart rate back down from the triple digits. As i run a hand through my damp hair, an arm winds around my neck as a head rests against my back.
"Another nightmare?" Jo asks as she leans against me. "You were thrashing around right before you woke up. I was worried something was wrong."
"No, just my usual amount of fucked up," I joke. "Same thing as usual. Indecipherable haze of nonsense with the feeling of bittersweet failure. To be honest, not that much different from my normal dreams."
"Can you remember anything from it?" she asks as she rubs my arm.
"Just someone apologizing for something," I tell her. "No clue what it was about. One of them just seemed sorry for not being who the other thought they were."
"Well, I can understand that," she says. "You are nothing like I thought you were either. I thought you were the strongest person I had ever met. I thought you would protect me no matter what. But you let me die instead."
Her arm around me suddenly lost its warmth. I looked down to see her skin was rotting as maggots burrowed in the decaying flesh. My head turns around to see Jo's face was just as bad with her eye sockets hollowed out and her nose missing. It was the face of a corpse long in the grave, but talking like it was still alive.
"Oh, I thought you loved me," she says as she smiles with her teeth bared in a lipless mouth. "But I guess I was just the replacement. Only good enough until you got over sweet little Jasmine. You never did really care about me, did you?"
I try and move away from her, my gaze transfixed in horror. However, the moment I try to move away, she grabs onto my ankle with a vice-like grip. She crawls on top of me and leans in close to my face. I close my eyes but I feel her stop as her mouth was right beside my ear. I could hear the rattle of her ruined lungs as her rotten breath brushes past the edge of the skin.
"I guess you always were a monster after all," she whispers with a dry cackle.
I wake up in my bed in the Hufflepuff dorms as my heart pounded and I couldn't stop myself from hyperventilating in a panic. I lunge for the light as my eyes dart around, but I am alone in my small dorm room. Even with the small illumination, there were no corpses or ghosts tonight. It was all just a dream.
As I try and focus to control my breathing, I can't stop my hands from shaking. I could lie and say it was because of the cold from my sweat, but I know that is just a lie. I am still just as broken as I always was, even if I have been doing my best to hide it. The scars from my past don't just heal so quickly.
I sit up on the edge of the bed and center myself with some deep breaths now that I have managed that little bit of self control again.
In and out.
In and out.
With time, the tremors slowed down before finally stopping. My heart quit pounding in my ears and I wasn't about to fall into a full panic attack. As it stood, it still took longer than I am comfortable admitting.
I can already tell that sleep was ruined for me for the rest of the night. Since I would rather just start the day early, I toss my damp night clothes off into a corner before tossing on a fresh t-shirt and sweats. After slipping on my tennis shoes, I leave my room behind and slip through the rest of the Hufflepuff dorms and out thorugh the Common Room.
The cold castle halls were just what I needed. The air was silent except for the sound of my shoes striking the old stones with each step. I could just be alone with myself and my demons, literal and metaphorical. For a brief time, I could run away from who I was and try to find some peace within myself.
I don't really pay any attention to the corridors or staircases as I run. I just let my path take me wherever it leads. My luck must be decent tonight since I don't encounter any dead ends. However, my peace and my luck ran out sooner rather than later.
As I was apporaching a descending staircase, I heard a voice echoing up from below. "Oh, looks like a student is out and about on the first night," a scratchy voice says. "I hope the headmaster lets me use my chains for once."
I immediately reverse course and go to the other end of the corridor where there was another staircase. Unlike the first one, this staircase had a cat coming up. At least, I think it was with all of the hissing and meowing.
I try to find someplace to hide in the corridor, but any door I find is locked. This soon becomes false when a door appears in my peripheral vision where I remember wall being before. Not one to press my luck more than I already have, I nudge open the door before slipping inside.
I lean against the wooden surface and listen to the hallway. The man and the cat finally arrived, but were dismayed to find that I was nowhere in sight. After a minute shaking doors to check, they both leave. Thank God for lazy night guards. If he gave a little more effort, he would have found me.
As I turn from the door, I actually get a good look at the room. It was mostly empty, but the far wall had a bank of windows revealing the castle grounds and a door leading out to a balcony. I find myself drawn out to the sight.
Twisting the handle of the door, I push it open and stand beneath the open sky on the balcony. A warm breeze flowed through the air and let me enjoy the warmth of a Scotland summer night before the inevitable chill of winter. It was a nice change from the cool castle.
My attention was caught on the only thing of note on the balcony, a grand paino with a stool sitting ready. The clouds overhead parted to let slivers of moonlight through and fall on the wood of the instrument. The light seemed to dance over the glossy surface of the polished wood and beckon for a song.
I sit down on the soft leather of the stool and gently press one of the keys. The single clear note told me that whoever left this beauty out here at least kept it tuned. The music stand had no sheet music, so I couldn't just simply play something written. It would have to be from the heart. Almost poetic for a guy who spends his days hiding his.
It was only a moment before I knew what I wanted to play. Or maybe I should say, what I had to play. Some songs just call to you and I couldn't help the feeling that I needed to get this one out.
My fingers rested on the keys before I played the first note.
--
(Jasmine Potter POV)
It was a dream she had seen a thousand times, but it still terrified her to this day. A pair of massive snakes were fighting in a writhing mass in the center of a jagged grey field. One was a pale white snake with crimson eyes while the other was pitch black with yellow eyes. They coiled around one another as they struck with razor sharp fangs at the other repeatedly in the hopes of dominating their opponent.
Like clockwork, the only reason they would pause their deadly struggle was to focus their attention on her. Their horrible eyes would land on her and shake her to her core. Her body was forzen in place from the fear paralyzing her as their focus was drawn completely to her.
As one, they lunged at her with fangs bared to pierce into her flesh. Their attack was only stopped by one thing. Armored gauntlets gripped the serpents around the base of their necks moments before they reached her. The hands belonged to the titanic figure who stood above the giant reptiles. Armor cloaked the being's body with a peculiar duality. While one side of its armor was briliant silver that shone in the darkness, the second half was dark and stained with years of grime and wear. The divergence carried over to the wings that grew from the back of the armor. The light side possessed a feathered wing covered in soft white feathers. In contrast, the dark side produced a bat like wing crafted from smoke and shadow.
Its colossal hands clasped the snakes in a hold that they could not escape. They writhed and hissed but were ultimately impotent against their shared adversary. Any time they managed to try and bite the being, the fangs would harmlessly glance off its armor.
It turned to look at Jasmine like it always did when it appeared in her dreams. Yet again, she saw the piercing eyes that dwelled behind the visor of its helm. Ethereal blue and void black looked out at her before she was cast out of the dream.
Jasmine woke up with a start as she found herself awake in her new bed in the girls dorm of Gryffindor tower. She looks out at the other beds, but the curtains were either drawn shut or the girls were clearly still asleep. With a deep breath, she tries to clear away any fear lingering from the dream. She thought she would have grown out of it by now, but it was like she was still a scared little girl whenever it happened again.
In a bid to clear her mind after the dream, she decided to fly instead of lay in bed. The idea of sleep was soured for the moment so she would rather do something actually productive instead of dreading the possibility the dream would return.
Normally, first year students were not allowed to have brooms of their own. However, when your father was a teacher and a notorious troublemaker even in his old age, the rules are always a little more like guidelines. To this end, he had been able to sneak her Nimbus 2000 racing broom into her trunk after it got to Hogwarts and before it was taken to the dorms. This allowed her to simply pop open her trunk and fish the precious length of wood out.
"Oh, you big beauty," she whispers. "I can't wait to get on top of you and ride you all night long."
Almost like an afterthought, she could practically hear the followup in the back of her mind. 'That's what she said.' It had been years since she heard it our loud, but she couldn't help expecting it all the same. That fact definitely wasn't helped by the man himself deciding to appear out of fucking nowhere without any warning. He was a wizard too apparently! Apparently, that was just another thing he was fucking hiding!
Taking a deep breath to calm her annoyance before she started cursing out loud. No, she didn't want to think about any of that right now. She just wanted to clear her mind and have some fun flying around Hogwarts for the first time.
She sneaked across the floor of the dorm, each step carefully taken to make no sound on the hard stone of the tower floor. With all of the stealth befitting the daughter of a Marauder, she gently unlatched the window and eased it open with the slightest whisper.
At least, until the old metal started creaking halfway through. She winced at the sound and looked back at the other girls to see if the sound had roused any of them from their sleep. Thankfully, they all seemed to still be in dreamland, so she was doing fine. Potter luck for the win!
With a congratulatory fist pump to herself, she mounted her broom and silently took off. She was out of the tower without another sound and soaring through the night air within moments. The thrill of riding on her broom never got old no matter how old she got. It was the same exhilarating rush to defy gravity and rush through the sky with nothing holding you down.
As she flies amongst the towers and castle walls of Hogwarts, she could not help but admire the beauty of the ancient castle. Centuries of wizards had all trained here, including countless generations of Potters. The history and magic ingrained in each block of stone was just proof of why Hogwarts was considered one of the greatest magical schools to ever exist.
As she was flying over one section of the roof, she could hear the sound of a piano come into her range of hearing. While she knew that she shouldn't tempt fate by intentionally going closer to someone when she herself wasn't supposed to be out after curfew, her curiosity would not be suppressed and she felt drawn to the mysterious melody.
Upon cresting the edge of the roof, she saw that there was a man playing a piano on a balcony jutting from the castle wall. He didn't hear her approach from the silence of her approach and he couldn't see her since his back was to her as he looked out towards the Black Lake.
"I'm going under and this time I fear there's no one to save me.
This all or nothing really got a way of driving me crazy.
I need somebody to hear, somebody to know.
Somebody to have.
Somebody to hold.
It's easy to say,
But it's never the same.
I guess I kinda like the way you numbed all the pain.
Now the day bleeds
Into nightfall,
And you're not here to get me through it all.
I let my guard down
And then you pulled the rug.
I was getting kind of used to being someone you loved."
She knew this voice. It was the same voice that she would always hear make 'That's what she said' jokes. The same voice she would always hear break out into a musical number whenever the slightest opening was given or just to mess with her. The voice who would always talk with her every night until suddenly it didn't anymore. The voice that belonged to Harry Winchester, her asshole of an ex-boyfriend.
"I'm going under and this time I fear there's no one to turn to.
This all or nothing way of loving got me sleeping without you.
No, I need somebody to know, somebody to hear.
Somebody to have,
Just to know how it feels.
It's easy to say, but it's never the same.
I guess I kind of like the way you helped me escape.
Now the day bleeds
Into nightfall,
And you're not here to get me through it all.
I let my guard down and then you pulled the rug.
I was getting kind of used to being someone you loved."
As she listened to the song he was playing for an unknown audience, she couldn't help but feel her anger at Harry from starting to fade. Oh, she still fucking hated his guts. Probably more than ever since she realized that he was hiding being a wizard the entire time she knew him.
Yet, despite how hotly her rage might have burned before, she couldn't help but cool at the sound of the song. In a word, it was lonely. It resonated with the sound of someone left behind with no preparation for the reality of being abandoned.
A part of her was happy to hear him suffering. A small part, but a part of her nonetheless. She thought it was fitting that he understood what it felt like. But another part of her, a part that she had buried under a mountain of regret, hurt at the sight of him in pain. It was the part of her that despite everything, still loved him, even if just a little.
She had no idea what happened to him in the past few years, but she could tell that it had torn Harry up. One only had to see the scattered teardops glittering in the moonlight as they fell on the piano keys to understand that.
"And I, tend to close my eyes when it hurts sometimes!
I fall into your arms!
I'll be safe in your sound 'til I come back around.
For now the day bleeds
Into nightfall,
And you're not here to get me through it all.
I let my guard down
And then you pulled the rug.
I was getting used to being someone you loved.
But now the day bleeds into nightfall
And you're not here to get me through it all.
I let my guard down and then you pulled the rug.
I was getting kind of used to being someone you loved.
I let my guard down
And then you pulled the rug.
I was getting kind of used to being someone you loved."
As his hands slowed to a stop and his voice fell silent, Jasmine knew she had seen far more than she should have. If there was one thing her father had taught her, it was to quit while you were ahead. She silently eased her broom away from the roof and retraced her path back to Gryffindor Tower and to her bed.
With no desire to think about what she had seen, Jasmine Potter laid back in bed and let sleep overtake her once more.
--
(Harry Winchester POV)
I slip into the seat beside Draco as students file in for the first potions class of their time at Hogwarts. My blond friend looks at me with a mix of both surprise and resignation.
"To be honest, I was wondering what was taking you so long," Draco says. "I thought you would be here before I was."
"Oh, so you are saying I am getting predictable, am I?" I ask with a smile. "I have to up my game."
"No, you don't," he says as he tries to cut me off from speaking.
I am not deterred in the slightest. "Challenge accepted!"
Draco just sighs. "I don't know what I was expecting when I learned you were coming here too," he says. "It definitely wasn't you getting into a fight with the squid, showing the Sorting Hat the Kingsmen movies, and convincing everyone that you were chosen for Hufflepuff by your similarities to Merlin himself."
"It's not my fault they didn't understand a perfectly executed Kingsmen reference," I retort. "They should watch a movie for once, bunch of uncultured swine."
"Are you trying to pick a fight with most of the castle?" he asks me with an incredulous look on his face.
"Yes," I admit as Draco facepalms.
"How are you even taking this class right now?" he asks in response. "Hufflepuffs take this course with Ravenclaws. This is the time for Gryffindors and Slytherins."
"My brothers were able to get me mixed classes," I explain. "I take some classes with you and some with the other badgers. Apparently, I need to spend a minimum amount of time with you everyday since you are my emotional support wizard. As you may not know, I am a delicate flower."
This causes Draco to burst out laughing. "I don't think any kind of delicate flower has a body count like yours," he says between gasping breaths.
"True," I admit right before the class immediately hushes at the arrival of the instructor. For all of his faults, of which I could likely find too many to count, he was not lacking when it came to flair. His cloak billowed behind him like a trail of smoke as he strode into the class with footfalls that seemed to echo on the dungeon floor.
He gave some little spiel about how potions were super awesome and wands were worth jack shit in this class. Then, he decided to pick on a student of his choosing to show how dumb we all were. As it happened, he picked Jasmine.
"Miss Potter," Snape drawls. "Let us see if you inherited your mother's skill with potions or if you are as empty-headed as your father."
Her eyes widened in surprise and worry as she clearly had not read the book ahead of time. However, I was nothing if not kind.
--
(Jasmine Potter POV)
She thought her hate for Harry had died down after last night. That was too quick of a reaction. She had completely forgotten how much of a prat he could be when he wanted to. He was holding up a handwritten cue card from across the classroom. Snape's back was facing him, so the teacher had no way if seeing it like she could.
Five Galleons and I will tell you the answer. One tap for yes. Two taps for no.
Jasmine could feel a vein throbbing as she resisted the impulse to throw something at the boy for his attempts at extortion. However, it seemed like it would be successful since she needed to make a good impression on the first day.
She tapped on the desk once while buying time to get the answer. Harry smiled at his victory before flipping the cue card around.
"The Draught of Living Death, sir," she answers to the displeasure of the batlike teacher.
"Hmph, let us see if it is more than just luck," the greasy git replies. "What is the difference between monkshod and wolfsbane?"
Fuck! Why is he not picking stuff from the first chapter?! Her eyes inevitably glance back in Harry's direction to see him with a new cue card.
Ten more Galleons and you get the second answer.
Oh, that little fucker! She couldn't believe he was extorting her like this! Her hand twitched as it wanted to draw her wand, but she decided to practice some self control.
She tapped the desk again and tried to suppress her violent impulses when the little shit smiled as he flipped the card.
"They are the same plant, sir," she answers as neutrally as possible. "It is also known as Aconite and is a main ingredient to the recent potion developed to assist with werewolf transformations."
"Passable," Snape says. "Final question, what is a bezoar and where can a person find one?"
Oh, my God! Why was he this much of a prick this early in the morning?! How could he expect her to remember this all when they haven't learned it and she was still trying to stay awake?!
Harry once more tempts her with the idea of homicide as he holds up yet another cue card.
Twenty Galleons and the answer is yours!
Her dad used to be an Auror. He would probably know how to get rid of a body and remove the evidence. No one would miss him if he were to disappear. It would probably be worth it.
Mentally shaking her head, she tamped down on the genuinely valid idea of violence. Instead, she just taps the desk one last time to get through this interrogation.
Despite what she had decided, her hand was already reaching for her potion class knife until she consciously forced it to stop. It was such a primal reaction to such a blatant asshole that she literally stuggled not doing it by accident. His stupid smug face was just that aggravating.
"It is a stone found in the stomach of a goat," she says as she tries to hide her internal distress. "It is a common antidote for most poisons. Apothecaries typically care them or you could retrieve one from the source."
Snape seemed to finally sense that her eyes kept traveling behind him, so he whirls around in a flash. For better or worse, Harry had already tossed the cue cards away and was innocently whistling. The only sign that something was out of the ordinary was Draco trying and failing to stifle a massive burst of laughter.
It was clear that Snape had lost any remaining patience he had and wanted to just get done with the class. Instead of pushing the subject, he just moved on with starting the lesson on preparing the Boil Cure potion.
As she watched Draco and Harry fucking around and pretending to be competing in a cooking show, her hand tightened on her knife. She is going to get that asshole back when this is over.
--
(Harry Winchester POV)
I get slammed into the wall of a broom closet as I was in the process of making my way back to the Hufflepuff dorm after Potions. My attacker was soon revealed to be Jasmine Potter with a look of thinly restained rage.
"Oh, are you going to have your wicked way with me?" I ask her. "What would your boyfriend say? What a scandal!"
"Shut up!" she growls as I feel something jabbing into my torso just beneath my ribs.
"Is that your wand or are you just excited to see me?" I question with a grin. "I know I am irresistible. It's a burden, but it is my cross to bear."
"The first time you say anything to me in years is gouging me for money during a class?" Jasmine asks as I can see the deadly look in her eyes. I have fought the Devil himself, but I genuinely wasn't as scared as I am right now. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Well," I say before I grab her wand arm and twist it away from me. I use the opening to slam her face first against the wall for a change as I pin her arm behind her back. "Oh, wow. It's so great to see you, Jasmine. How have things been? Now, I believe I was promised 35 galleons."
"Yeah right," she says before she hooks a foot around my lower leg and yanks it forward. I lose my footing right before she jumps backwards and body slams me into the other wall. She rams an elbow into my gut and then tries to follow it up with a punch to my nose until I catch the fist before it can connect. "I am a little light on cash at the moment. How about I pay you back with your own teeth? I just need to knock a few out first."
"How about no?" I ask before I send a punch at her.
Personally, I do not condone violence against women. It is something I believe strongly about. Any guy who feels the need to hurt a woman to feel good about himself deserves to have his teeth kicked in. However, that is different from my current situation. This is less like domestic violence and more like therapy. We both have a lot of bottled up emotion about each other and it had to come out somehow. Jasmine chose violence and I was always taught to honor a woman's decisions.
For all that can be said about this fight, it was not pretty. At one point, Jasmine was on my back and had me in a chokehold. When I slammed her into the closet wall, her grip loosened enough so that I could breathe again. However, she quickly followed it by biting me in the neck.
"What are you, a fucking vampire?!" I exclaim as I feel her teeth digging into the flesh of my neck. With a throw, I rip her off of me and send her to the far side of the closet. She slams into the unyielding surface before looking at me with a glare as she stood up.
I am barely prepared for when she immediately sprints at me and tackles me through the broom cloest door. As I am laid out on the cold stone floor with her on top of me, I was amazed that she had enough mass and force to actually manage the attack. But to be honest, it was probably because of some kind of magic bullshit.
My attention is suddenly brought back to reality by the sound of cackling. I turn to see Draco and over a dozen other students all staring in shock at me and Jasmine. Well, Draco wasn't really in shock. He was the source of cackling as he proceeded to take a bunch of photos on his phone. I glanced up at Jasmine and realized why everyone was so catatonic.
From the way we landed, Jasmine was straddling me as I lay on the ground. Both of our clothes and hair were all messed up and I had a distinct bite mark on my neck. For all intents and purposes, it looked like we had both been having a very passionate liason in the closet before falling out.
"Uh, Jasmine?" a voice asks. I focus on him and see it was her boyfriend, the blue haired boy wonder himself. What was his name again? KC? LA? PG? Oh, yeah. It was TJ. "What's going on?"
Jasmine's eyes were wide and a blush had dusted her cheeks as she was hit with embarrassment as she tried to think of what to say. It probably looked really cute to anyone who didn't resent her. To me, however, it was unilaterally hilarious.
"Oh, hey," I say instead. "You must be TJ, Jasmine's boyfriend. Before you ask, yes. This is exactly what it looks like. Jasmine and I haven't seen each other in a long time, so we were getting 'reacquainted'."
Jasmine finally comes to her senses and gets up off of me, kneeing me in the crotch in the process. If I didn't know her, I might have thought it was an accident. However, I could see the tiny quirk at the corner of her lips as she tested the durability of my family jewels. Heh, jokes on her. Angelic grace is the perfect thing to ensure my bloodline doesn't die out with me.
That being said, I was still rolling around in pain as I cupped my innocent nuts after the suffering they were put through. "Oh, my giblets," I gasp. "My grandkids are definitely going to still be feeling that."
"Let's go," Jasmine says as she grabs her wand and confused boyfriend before storming off.
"I hope you got good pictures from that," I tell Draco. "I think I'll want to get one framed."
"Oh, don't worry," he says with a smile. "I was making a video instead. I can't wait to rewatch that in 4K until the end of time."
"My man," I say as I hold up a fist from my position on the floor.
He happily returns the fist bump before pocketing his phone. "Do you need some help getting up?" he asks.
"Definitely," I answer. Draco grabs me by the arm and lifts me up so one of my arms was slung over his shoulders as he supports me.
"So, how did it feel to get your ass kicked by a girl forty pounds lighter than you?" Draco asks with a grin.
"Never change, my friend," I say to him as we make our way away from the gawking crowd still around. "Never change."
"How can you improve upon perfection?" he asks in complete honesty.
I immediately laugh despite the stomach pain from some of Jasmine's body shots. Even if I didn't get my galleons, that was still worth it in the end. Hopefully, I won't have to deal with her again any time soon.
--
(At Herbology)
"Okay, students," Professor Sprout says. "I have already assigned you each a partner to work with for the year. Now, I will not be changing partners even if you ask me. It is a crucial skill to work together despite personal differences. I expect you to be professional and courteous to each other."
I go to my station and hear my partner set their bag down beside me. I glance up to see emerald green eyes looking back at me. Those eyes immediately harden into a glare as they meet mine.
Fuck!
--
(At Charms)
"For those who have completed the spell, you will break off into pairs to help one another with improving your technique and finesse," Professor Flitwick explains. "It is always helpful to get a different perspective with the intricacies of spells. Find out what you each do that works and try and use it to improve on your own skills. Potter, Winchester. You two are the first pair."
As I look across the class at Jasmine giving me a scathing glare, I could feel my day getting worse.
Double fuck!
--
(At Transfiguration)
"Now that some of you managed to tranfigure the matchstick to a needle, it is time for your to try something a touch more difficult," Professor McGonagall says. "I will be forming pairs between houses for you to both try and turn a twig into a steel rod. Ms. Potter, you will work with Mr. Winchester."
As Jasmine slowly turns to level yet another glare at me, I just sigh and slam my face against the desk.
Did I piss off God or something? At least this is the last class of the day. It's not like I will have to work with her at Astronomy tonight. I mean, we have our own telescopes for a reason.
--
(At Astronomy)
"Since you all are just starting out, I decided you should work in pairs," Professor Sinistra tells us. "Most of you probably have only talked to students in your house, so this will be a good opportunity to get to know someone from a dofferent house. You will both be sharing a telescope and filling out the same star chart."
I got a really bad feeling as the professor spoke. It was likely the same feeling as when you are the victim of a drive by. Since I have never been the victim of a drive by myself, the closest comparison I have is when you are surprised by a mariachi band in the subway. Oh, look there is a guy with a guitar. Oh, look there is another guy with a guitar. Oh, look there is a guy with an accordion. Oh, no.
My premonition was proven right within moments when I get to my assigned telescope and find a particularly angry Gryffindor. Her eyes were different from the previous times this has happened. There is a lot of anger, definitely. However, there is also the kind of crazy in her eyes that only comes with sleep deprivation. It is the kind that makes you do things you would never do if your brain was functioning properly.
I am so fucked.
--
(Dumbledore POV)
As he looked down at the two first years, he could frankly say this was a first for him. Decades teaching had given him the belief that nothing could truly surprise him anymore. Outlandish things that he would never have imagined in his youth were commonplace after a while. Yet, despite all of his experiences and knowledge, nothing prepared him for this.
The boy and girl in front of him were clearly just in the middle of a fight. He didn't need to look any further than the boy's black eye and the girl's busted lip. It was also clear from the way that they would occasionally meet each other's gaze for a brief moment where the animosity between them was so dense you could almost cut it with a knife.
With a sigh, he addressed the pair. "Ms. Potter, Mr. Winchester. Does either of you have the slightest idea why you are the first two students from your year to grace my office?"
"We're just built different, I guess," Harry suggested. This only earned him a slap upside the head from the girl. The boy sent a withering glare in return as Albus desperately wished he was anywhere else.
"After your first Potions class, you two were found being intimate in a broom closet," Dumbledore listed from a list that Minerva had compiled for him. "During your first Herbolpgy lesson, Professor Sprout had to stop you two from attacking each other with your trowels. During your first Charms lecture, Professor Flitwick was forced to intervene when you were using the Levitation Charm to throw books at each other. During your first day of Transfiguration, you were found trying to stab each other with transfigured needles. Finally, during your first night of Astronomy, you were both injured by attacking each other with one of the school telescopes."
"Technically, Jasmine was the one attacking me with the telescope," Harry interjected. "I punched her instead."
"Thank you for that clarification, Mr. Winchester," Dumbledore says while he relies on his prodigious will and nigh limitless patience to get him through this. "I must say, I expected more from students whose family serves as Hogwarts faculty."
"I would like to think Dean would be proud of me," Harry admitted. "He always taught me to never be shy about throwing some hands when the moments calls for it."
"My mom would probably have been cheering," Jasmine reluctantly agrees. "She always tells me to never take shit from guys."
Albus Dumbledore, the man who stood against two Dark Lords and never faltered, had to take a deep breath so that he could stay calm. Not even the Marauders were this bad in their prime.
"I know that it is easy to let relationships grow heated, especially when you are so young," Dumbledore tries to say. "However, this is a school. A place of learning. I cannot have you two continue to let spats between lovers disrupt other students."
"Wait a second," Harry says as he holds up his hands. "I think you are a little confused."
"You seriously think we are dating?" Jasmine asks, her face conveying a mixture of surprise and disgust. "Like I would ever date this jackass."
"Says the hoe who was dating someone else before we broke up," Harry retorted.
"It's not like I could just call you up to dump you when you ghosting me was the whole problem!" Jasmine shouts.
"Was I bad about returning texts?" Harry asks. "Definitely. Was this grounds to just move on without a voicemail as a common courtesy? Fuck no!"
"I didn't hear from you for months!" Jasmine exclaims. "You just gave some bland excuse like you always did and proceded to ignore me. I'm sorry for deciding to date someone who actually pays attention to me."
"I had family shit!" Harry shouts back. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you everything, little miss 'Secretly a witch'!"
"Like you have any place to talk!" Jasmine fires back. "Mister 'My family are salesmen'! Apparently, they just happened to also be wizards and you were too! That wasn't important to let me know?"
"We just learned about the whole wizard and wand stuff recently," Harry brushes off. "Any magic we knew before that is a completely different story. So that isn't justification, you cheating bitch!"
"With how much you lie, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't see any girls when you were off doing God knows what most of the year!" Jasmine shouts.
"I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but at least I had the common decency to not fuck some K-pop reject before I said goodbye!" Harry exclaims.
"You leave TJ out of this!" Jasmine says as he gets up from her chair to leap at Harry.
"Silence!" Dumbledore exclaims as he slams a fist down on the table. The rush of magic it released slammed down on the two first years and reminded them who they were arguing in front of. Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, and the only man to stand against Grindelwald and Voldemort and live to tell the tale. He tried to be diplomatic and kind, but the soft approach clearly would not suffice with these two.
"I have sat here and listened to enough childish ranting," Dumbledore says. "I will not abide the behavior of you two any longer. If you believe I will allow this to go on for the next seven years, you are greatly mistaken. From now until you both solve whatever lingering problem still plagues you, you will attend detention with Professor McGonagall every night after classes. Do I make myself clear?"
The two try and make an argument for a different decision, but he was out of patience for their behavior. "Do I make myself clear?" he repeats as his magical pressure increases on the two.
"Yes, Headmaster," they both say as they realize he is not giving them a choice. It is an order, plain and simple.
"The two of you would best be going back to your dorms," Dumbledore says. "Your heads of house will be informed of your punishment and they will speak with you accordingly. That will be all."
They nod before they file out of his office silently. Once they leave, he lets out a deep bone weary sigh. He had never seen that level of animosity from a pair of students, even those that had broken up during their time at Hogwarts. If left untended, he would not be surprised if one of them ended up killing the other, either on purpose or accident. He just hoped they worked through it without burning down the school in the process.
As he grabbed a Lemon Drop from his dish of candy, he tried to distract himself with the sweet and hope that his decision did not make things even worse.
--
(Harry Winchester POV)
I was walking away from Dumbledore's office when a voice calls out for me to stop. Turning back, I see that it was TJ, Jasmine's boyfriend.
"Hey, Harry," he says with a smile. "I was hoping we could talk. We never really got properly introduced the last time we met. I am Theodore Tonks Jr., but everyone just calls me TJ."
"You already know my name," I reply. "So, why do you want to talk to me?"
"I just wanted to clear the air between us," he says with that same grin on his face. "After all, you are Jasmine's ex-boyfriend. I don't want anything to be awkward."
"You can knock off the act, TJ," I say. My fight with Jasmine had pissed me off and her boyfriend wasting my time was just making it worse. "We both know you are just pretending right now. There is no one else around for you to act for. It is kind of pointless to keep faking for no reason."
Like I expected, TJ's grin faded to a look of disinterest and boredom. "Oh, well," he says. "Nothing for it. You really are a sharp one, aren't you, Winchester?"
"Not really," I admit. "I can just spot a faker from a mile away. It wasn't that hard to find the snake hiding in a lion's skin."
"I see Draco was spreading his little lies again," he comments. "I will have you know I am every bit the Gryffindor that I claim to be."
"I doubt you are as foolhardy as the rest of your house," I say. "You don't seem the type to act unless you have a plan and a way to guide everything in your favor."
"Say what you will," he replies. "It doesn't really matter to me what a pleb like you thinks."
"Oh, so you are one of those high and mighty pricks," I say. "Nice to know. I always want to find a way to make guys like you fall from grace."
"I really don't care what you do," TJ dismisses before his eyes seem to get colder and emptier. "You just need to stay away from my girlfriend. Jasmine doesn't want anything to do with you anymore. Take the hint before I make you."
His magical pressure presses down on me, but it is a far cry from what Dumbledore managed. Even then, Dumbledore was barely in my list of the top ten most powerful beings I have been threatened by. Compared to the king of the fallen angels, he is a weak child.
Since TJ did me the courtesy of dropping polite appearances, it is only fair that I do the same. I have the feeling that the hidden snake was going to be outclassed though.
--
(Theodore Tonks Jr. POV)
As he looked at Winchester, it was like the world suddnely became darker. The shadows on the walls seemed to stretch and contort to make haunting shapes. Skulls and grasping hands appeared in the writhing sections of darkness. The brown eyes of the boy seemed to darken to black as his gaze became colder and sharper, like a predator looking down on its prey.
The most unsettling part was the magical pressure he felt pushing down on him. It was heavier than anything he had ever experienced before. It surpassed the powerful mages he had ever encountered like his uncle, Sirius. To make it even worse, it wasn't even refined. This was just the raw weight of the other boy's power pressing down.
"Oh, you must not know your place," Winchester says with a smile that looked wrong on his face. It would look more fitting on a wolf. "I guess I have to teach you a simple lesson."
"I am not afraid of you," the boy says as he takes a step forward. "Why would I be? I am stronger than you, smarter than you, and I like to think handsomer than you. I have overcome opponents and threats that would make you piss yourself in terror as you died screaming. What do I have to fear from a weakling like you?"
With another step, he gets so close that TJ has to take a step back in response. The movement made Winchester's grin sharper. "As for Jasmine, if we want to fight and insult each other, I don't give a single fuck about what you think. She is a big girl who can make her own decisions. She doesn't need someone pathetic like you pretending to watch out for her."
With each step Winchester took, he was pushed further back until he found himself against the wall of the corridor. "There is one thing you must remember," Winchester says as he leans in with those dead eyes and the twisted grin. "If you ever even think about hurting Jasmine or ever try to threaten me again, I will make your life a living hell. Do you understand me?"
It was all TJ could do to simply nod in the face of such a clear threat. He had no chance of winning if this came down to a fight.
"Good," Winchester whispers. "Just remember, a snake is nothing to a hunter."
With those parting words, Winchester walked away. As he departed, fhe shadows and darkness faded with the loss of his presence. TJ gasps with a heaving chest after realizing he had been holding his breath the entire time.
He didn't know what different about Winchester, but the boy was definitely not normal. He needed to find something that would give him an edge against the powerful student. After all, no descendant of House Black should ever accept weakness.
--
(Harry Winchester POV)
As I stalked away from blue boy, I heard a chuckle from a nearby alcove. Glancing over, I saw it was Draco with a grin on his face.
"It appears my dear cousin pissed you off," he says. "I thought you might need a little help putting the fake lion in his place."
"Oh, do tell," I say with a dawning grin. Draco could be downright devious at times. I can't wait to see what he comes up with.
"Follow me then," he says as he leads me to another floor of the castle and into an unused classroom.
Inside, I find two people I hadn't seen in years. I guess it's just going to be one of those weeks. Nymphadora Tonks and Sirius Black were waiting for me and Draco to arrive. Safe to say they weren't happy with me for the whole breakup with Jasmine debacle. Voices were raised, tears were shed, hugs were given and all that sappy stuff.
Afterwards, they outlined a plan that was so ingeniously brilliant that it would astonish any lesser mind.
"This is quite the diabolical little plan," I say. "Dare I say, it is downright devilish."
Sirius just gives a wolfish grin. "Of course!" he says with a laugh. "I can't go around pulling punches against my least favorite nephew when doing my favorite nephew asks. Little Teddy could use a little humility."
"It will be great to see him knocked down a peg or two for once," Nymphadora adds. "The high and mighty never expect us to drag them down in the muck with us degenerates."
"What are we waiting for?" Draco asks with a smile that matches my own. "Let's fuck some shit up!"
--
(Next Morning)
As the mail owls descended in the Great Hall, I had my eyes on one specific bird. It carried an envelope down towards the Gryffindor table before it came to a stop in front of TJ who was sitting next to Jasmine. Oh, perfect. We won't have to rely on the rumor mill.
TJ looked at the envelope in confusion since there wasn't any identifiers about who it was from. Come on, let the curiosity overtake you. You can do it.
Shrugging his shoulders, he opens it up and pulls a stack of photos wrapped in a note out. I could see the dawning look of horror as he went through them. Jasmine saw them as well and her face was twisting into a look of anger. She glares at TJ before spitting some kind of insult at him before storming off. The boy himself throws down the photos and runs after her.
If someone were to see the photos, they would find multiple pictures of TJ in bed with a pretty brunette woman along with a note that says, "Thinking of you while you are gone." What Jasmine didn't know is that they were all faked with the help of Nymphadora's shapeshifting and a prostitute that Sirius totally knew platonically. All we had to do was take some suggestive pictures of the two with as much covered as possible. My favorite one was a shot of Nymphadora transformed into the woman with an intentionally pregnant looking stomach with the writing, "Your bun in my oven." With one quick portkey trip that was probably against the rules, and hell on my stomach, we were able to head to London for the night to pull it all off. We got to fuck with TJ and the nice girl who helped us got enough money to put herself through nursing school. All's well that ends well.
Several of the other students try to look at the photos, but they immediately stack themselves back before sliding into the envelope. Said envelope flies through the air before landing between Nymphadora and I. She looks over at me and nods before I give a nod in return. We both reach into our bags and pull out items we brought for this perfect occasion.
Nymphadora blares an airhorn as I get up and spike a football into the ground like I just scored a touchdown. To be honest, I did just get a touchdown in the game of life. Asshole shouldn't have threatened me if he wanted his life to be sunshine and rainbows. Instead, he gets an angry girlfriend while I am doing a celebratory dance following my flawless run all the way into the endzone. The metaphor might be a little convuluted, but my point still stands.
I just wish Dumbledore wasn't giving me so much stink eye from the staff table. Goddamn, let a man dance in peace.
--
Author's Note:
That wraps up the second full chapter of Harry Winchester. Not only do we see some of the emotions Harry has bottled up inside, we also see his ongoing feud with Jasmine, TJ's real personality, and more shenanigans. Apologies if it was a little rushed at the end. I couldn't think of any way to stretch it out that wouldn't just become boring to read.
Feel free to write a review and let me know how I did. I practically run on reviews since they always boost my writing speed. I always try to take the reviews to heart and address any questions at the beginning of the next chapter.
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A pleasure as always,
Titan900
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