Supernatural, World's First Cinema

I asked questions of the darkness
And it answered back
I felt it creepin' through my veins
Before it all went black
And I smell fire, the taste of brimstone
It takes control
As I surrender to the beast

They lock their doors
Throw out the key
They hear my call, too scared to breathe
They're terrified
The night begins
I lose control of myself again

After he left the Slytherin Common Room he took off the cloak and put it in his bag. No one was out of bed yet, but light was dawning outside. He straightened his back and swallowed what felt like nine times before he pushed the portrait hole to Gryffindor Tower open.

Hermione and Ginny were already waiting for him, as were several other students who pretended they were in the Common Room at that early hour just hanging around. Lavender was one of them, not removing her eyes from Harry, narrowing and un-narrowing them as she stomped foot to foot. Tom registered that she was going to be a problem soon enough, while Harry kept his overall gaze locked on Hermione, who was trying to speak, unsuccessfully stuttering half sentences and words that Harry didn't want to hear the whole of. Ginny stood up, looking between the two of them, head on a swivel.

"Ginny," Tom finally said, nodding sharply at her before shooting up the stairs to collect his books and supplies.

'This is insane. Why did I think I could do this. Why…'

'You can. Get your things. Get up.'

'And when we need to use magic? We cause a school-wide panic? Did you see Ginny's face just at the mention of it? We cast a Bombarda and rain someone's guts? Huh? What's your solution?' Harry jammed his belongings in his bag, ignored the muttering from Seamus and Neville, and avoided looking at Ron's bed, already occupied by a stranger.

'I do not have a plan on that front. We might need to… Talk to Cassiopeia. In the meantime, we will cast in private.'

He frowned back down the stairs, becoming a glare when he realized Hermione was waiting at the bottom, arms crossed, looking equal parts furious and flabbergasted as she blocked his way. Harry thought that was probably fair. She was closer to the truth than any of them. Still, the rage grew in his gut, half his, nearing the same temperature as the fury reserved for Dumbledore and the Dark Lord. Ginny stood behind her, looking over her shoulder, silent, though her face was loud. Tom shoved past Hermione and she threw her hands up.

"Harry! Harry- what on Earth- how… Explain this to me! Right now!" Her face finally broke, facade receding.

Harry shook his head, conscious of the other students in the Common Room as he rushed out of the portrait hole. They followed him.

"Harry!"

"Hermione…" Ginny was trying to soothe her.

Once again Harry moved to the empty classroom, -aware that this would have to happen at some point, not pleased that it was so soon- chased by a fuming Hermione and a placating Ginny.

He shut them in, gave Ginny a look and she silenced the room, then inside his head he said:

'Please do this. Please.'

"Tell me. Explain it. Ginny says you didn't hurt Ron, but Dumbledore-"

"Enough," Tom spoke softly and held up a hand, "I did not kill Ron. The curse in the hall was unintentional-"

"Who was that? At the trial? Avrom Dermot?" She interrupted him and he narrowed Harry's eyes.

"A court-appointed defence," he deadpanned.

"Who dragged you into and out of the courtroom like a dog?"

"Are we on subject?" Tom bit out.

"You were dressed like- And Dumbledore said that- And the Horcruxes, we need to-"

"Is there something specific you need to ask me, Granger, or are we going to dance around it?"

'Don't call her Granger, what- are you trying to screw this up?'

'You asked me to do this.'

'Yeah, but like, properly.'

"Who were you with? Where did you go? How did you get out of the school, anyway? Why didn't you send word, when people said you killed Ron why didn't you tell us you didn't if you didn't!? How could you do this? To us? To Ginny!" She gestured wildly at Ginny, who stared at the stones, wide-eyed.

"You put a tracking charm on me. Followed me. Reported to the headmaster when you thought I might be behaving in a manner… Not to your standard. You knew," Tom took three slow, stalking steps toward her, close enough to reach out and grab her, "That he was using Legilimency on me every time he laid eyes on my head, and you thought, 'He must not be reading Harry's mind quite right because he has not found anything incriminating,' but you did not think…"

"TO TELL ME!" Harry shouted the last part, vibrating with rage.

'Well done,' Tom thought.

'You made- you started the rant.'

Hermione had ducked out of the room, tears in her eyes, hand over her mouth. Ginny had stayed, though she watched him like he was a bomb.

"Sorry. I'm okay. It's… Under control now. The curse- I don't… Explode by accident anymore," Harry looked away, annoyed, and shamed with himself for losing his temper.

He sat down on the stone, recalled that there were classes soon, and felt immediately heavy.

"Are you okay?" Ginny asked, "Did Dumbledore really- you seem… So different."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize-"

"What time is it?" He asked, interrupting her.

"Har- Harry where's your wand? Why do you keep asking me- Like the silencing charm?"

He was shocked to hear a question that almost felt safe to answer, "Oh. Uh. My- when I- uhh. The spell, that morning in the hall, it broke my magic," he said the last part in a rush, "I can't really cast properly, since."

"Oh, Harry that's terrible! Are- how are you- I mean can you fix it?" She had come to sit in front of him, eyes huge.

"Sort of- I sort of… Fixed it, but it's not exactly ideal."

"What do you mean?"

"Is it alright if I skip that question Gin, it's… What time is it?" He repeated.

She cast a Tempus, and they stood up when they realised it was later than they thought. He followed her out, fighting the frown as he straightened his posture.

Ginny walked quietly with him part of the way and split off to go to her first class. As they walked, they were muttered at, Harry was occasionally jeered at outright, loud in the corridors, but most students were too frightened by the Death Eaters patrolling the castle to speak above a whisper. Tom did most of the heavy lifting when it came to keeping his face clear.

When Ginny left him, she told him that she'd kept all the newspaper clippings from the time he'd spent at the manor, if he wanted them. He told her that he did and that he'd find her on break. He wasn't even sure what he had first. He spotted Neville in the Atrium outside the library and followed him at a distance. When he was without Ginny the other students were braver, muttering at a higher decibel, loud enough to hear. Mostly they whispered him a murderer. Killer. Sometimes monster, which seemed to be Tom's least favourite of the selection.

'Back straight,' Tom thought.

'You keep your back straight. I am.'

He pretended he didn't hear anyone as he moved through the morning crowd, relieved to finally make it to the Charms Classroom and shove his way inside. He sat down, staring at the Death Eater at the front of the room with tunnel vision. Rosier waited in silence for the students to sit then raised both hands.

"My name is Evan Rosier. You lot can call me 'Sir', or 'Mister Rosier'. I've never taught children nothing before, but certainly can't be any harder than my day job," he laughed, and no one joined him.

"Aren't you dead?" Hermione shot from the far side of the room.

"Aw, Hermione Granger, is it?" He laughed again, pulled the left sleeve of his robe up and showed her his Dark Mark up close, -deep black and writhing, taking up his full forearm- face suddenly blank, "News of my death was greatly exaggerated. Do you know who owns this school now, girl? Who owns the Ministry, has their hands on more departments; more people, by the day, falling like dominoes, one by one by one…"

"Hey," Harry growled. Rosier straightened and pulled down his robe sleeve.

"Today, class, we'll be learning some fun charms together," Rosier said, turning back to the students who had fallen gravely silent.

"Harry!"

He knew it was Luna before he turned.

"There you are! I thought it was so strange that you were standing in the hall under your invisibility cloak and not eating dinner," she said as she reached him, "You look different, Harry, like you're all better."

Tom had laughed, shocking him and Harry both by losing his breath in fits of giggles that Luna smiled serenely at. Harry corrected them, awkward, and didn't agree with her. They stood in silence for another moment, Harry frowning, until she gave him a dreamy nod and wandered away. Several people had stopped to watch him laugh and decided that it was in poor taste, sneering at him as he shook off the stares.

'She is- I mean she is funny. That was funny, under the cloak not eating dinner…' Tom thought as though he had to defend himself.

'Sure, hilarious.'

He continued his not-very-sound plan of following Gryffindors in his year to class because he hadn't received or bothered to locate a copy of the class timetable. Hogwarts and his lessons felt stark in contrast to how much had changed. He couldn't seem to muster any focus for them, he felt like he wasn't even really there.

Following a bouncing, enraged Hermione to the Transfiguration classroom perked him up somewhat, he was finally going to lay eyes on Cedrum properly. The man had been elusive and not very social over the two weeks he'd been alone in the castle, and Harry hadn't seen him on the map with anyone other than Avalon and Eris since the second day.

The seventh-year Slytherins had also gathered outside the classroom. They all watched him, particularly Pansy and Zabini, but they didn't say anything as they waited for the room to open. He stood far enough away from Hermione to make it clear he didn't want to engage, but she seemed to be pretending he wasn't there. He ignored the constant chattering, as though he was inside an aviary, louder and more insistent as the day wore on.

'This is already… Hard,' Harry thought.

'I know.'

The classroom door swung inward, and they were ushered in by Avalon; already inside with Eris, who sat at a desk, both legs crossed on it. Cedrum was at the front of the room gesturing for them to take their seats and take out their books as he nodded at Avalon.

"I'll be a natural at whatever new dark arts they decide to teach, just like my father," Malfoy was boasting for the new students as they took their desks, but the professor heard his whispered bravado.

"Ah! We have an expert! Good, good. I had thought we'd begin today's lesson with theory, but since we have a natural with us, perhaps something more practical? Put away your books and quills children; follow me to the lake," he swept out of the room without any further words, followed by Eris and Avalon, then almost half a minute later by the confused class.

He led them through the castle at a brisk pace, bursting through the main doors and startling the Death Eaters stationed there.

"Now! Introductions are in order, I imagine. I am Cedrum Widrich. I am to be your Transfiguration professor. Now, you, the extra special expert. Yes, you, the blonde. Come here," He shouted over his shoulder at the class as he moved across the grounds and reached the lake. Harry couldn't place his accent, a mix of several. He could only clearly detect American.

"Malfoy. I'm Draco Malfoy," he spat as he crossed the grass, and Cedrum shrugged.

"Okay, great. Step forward. Come, come, to the water's edge now. That's it, that's it, tell me then, how many dead people are there in the lake?" Widrich slapped him hard on the shoulder while he pointed at the water. Malfoy sputtered, turned to look at his fellow Slytherins, then sputtered back at the professor, who said, "Come on, how many dead?"

"No? I thought I heard you say you were quite skilled in the darker arts? Back with the rest. Go," he shoved Malfoy back into the students, "Avalon, Eris," he motioned them forward with a flick of his hand and they both moved immediately.

"It is not wise to assume that you are more skilled based on your blood. There is no rhyme or reason to a gift, and skill comes only with exertion! This is Avalon Delacroix. If you've been to France, you might recognize her name! The most skilled family of Herbologists in the country, isn't that right? No Herbology today," She nodded as he spoke, "And this is Eris Jager, no familial power or ties behind him, a 'half-blood' by any account, raised by a No-Maj baker until… Well, let's just say we aren't making bread!"

"How many dead are in the lake, dear?" He asked Avalon.

"Ninety-seven within my radius, Sir," she told him, rocking on her heels.

"Very good. Bring them up," Cedrum said.

"Yes, Sir," they said.

Avalon was grinning as they both raised their arms high, chanting in the same language Ginny had used. She smiled wider when the students started to realise it wasn't a strange joke, as the water started to roil and bubble. The class began to back away, muttering. Eris frowned the whole time, looking equally bored and irritated.

Pansy screamed first, the rest of the students followed -ear piercing- as gnarled bodies began to emerge; rambling forward and pouring water from their skulls; alongside Avalon and Eris toward the scattering, horrified student body. Harry walked backward slowly; mouth open but not quite shocked enough to scream about it.

Some of them retained clothing; or scraps of blue-white flesh clinging to green bone, but most were shambling naked skeletons, draped in seaweed. Some didn't look human in origin, one was much larger than the rest; with a great set of tusks on its lower jaw; hanging at an angle, connected to its skull only on one side.

The students were gone by that point, sprinted halfway back to the castle, and Cedrum gave Avalon and Eris the command to send the dead back into the water before more than fifty had meandered out.

"Is this… Transfiguration?" Tom asked Cedrum as the skeletons vanished and the students remained far afield.

Cedrum laughed and clapped his knee, "No! It's not Transfiguration! Come, try it."

"Try… Try it? Oh, no, I'm… I can't?" Harry wasn't sure why it came out as a question.

"Vous voyez? c'est ennuyeux. c'est pas impressionnant," Avalon said, and Eris snorted.

'She just called me unimpressive again, didn't she?' Harry wondered.

'And boring.'

"Well, you are the only one who didn't run away, but we've all heard stories about you, haven't we?" Cedrum said, smiling as he motioned for Avalon and Eris to follow him to the students still hovering near the castle. Harry didn't know what he meant by that, but he followed them without another word.

Harry Potter: "Deranged and Deadly"

Potter: Plotter?

There is Nothing to Fear! - Pius Thicknesse

Potter: Murderous Fugitive or Imperioed Hostage? Whereabouts Unknown

Grindelwald Dead: Murdered at Nurmengard

Potter Trial Rescheduled: The Prophet Asks Why?

Potter: Innocent or Guilty?

Potter Cleared on all Charges: Rigged?

Albus Dumbledore Fallen

Albus Dumbledore Remembered

Death, Lies and Dumbledore

Potter's Location Still Unknown After Whirlwind Case: Calls for Retrial Squashed

Dumbledore and Grindelwald- the Truth at Last?

Severus Snape Confirmed as Hogwarts Headmaster

"Oh. I bet these all have… Great… news in them," Harry said, not looking at the smaller words yet. He was glad at least that there were no pictures of him being dragged through the Ministry by the Dark Lord.

He'd found Ginny at lunch on the map, near the library, and they'd walked -both ignoring the undeniably louder judgment of their peers- at first toward the empty classroom, but Tom took them to the Room of Requirement instead, turning it into a small but comfortable sitting room, dark blue, with a teapot on the coffee table. There, Ginny had placed dozens of carefully cut-out articles.

"Did you not see these where you were?"

"Uhh, no."

"Were you a hostage?" She pressed.

Harry's heart was already hammering, 'How much should I tell her? I don't know what to do?'

'You paid the price to tell her. To warn her. How long are you going to avoid it?'

'But we made sure that they'd wait…'

'In the meantime, she is afraid and leaning closer to the Order.'

'As if this won't scare her more, she thinks I'm still some… Hero. I don't want her to join Voldemort either I want her to- I don't know. Go her own way.'

'Why are you telling me? Tell her.'

"Harry?" She pressed, frowning.

"I- was a hostage… But I also- wasn't… Ginny-" he let out a long sigh and wiped his palms on his knees, "This is going to sound crazy. But I need you to listen to me, okay? It's…"

He looked at her for a second to be sure she was indeed listening before he took a breath, "You can't join the Order. Please. I mean, it's safer, not to. If you can get your family out-"

"Harry, what? What does that mean? Why do you keep-"

"The Order… I-" He wracked his brain for something he could say that would make sense, that could make it make sense to her. Without telling her all that he'd done.

"When you told me about Ron- that moment where you… And you thought that it was over, that I wouldn't- couldn't accept you or what you were telling me, that I would point a finger at you, and that you'd go to Azkaban for life…"

"Harry, what's going on?"

"Will you consider what I said? About the Order?"

"I don't understand?"

"Did you see that the laws changed? Around necromancy?"

"I- no? What do you mean?" She seemed genuinely stressed and he tried to reign his rampant thoughts and adrenaline in.

"They changed the laws. It's not illegal, anymore," he watched her face as the information sank in.

She looked down at the table and froze, her eyebrows caught halfway up as her gaze went blank. She gnawed her lip and then looked back at him, her eyes considerably wider.

"Are you sure?" She was whispering.

"Yes. You are free to practice," Tom said. Her eyes had wandered away but snapped back as he spoke.

"Practice? You think I want- I don't… Harry that's not what I- I don't wan't-"

"You do," Tom interrupted her, "And you are incredibly skilled."

"It's… Grotesque. Don't you think it's…" She searched his eyes for a long moment, brows drawn tight together, "What would you think of me if I… Did want- to…"

Harry held up a hand to stop her, "Whatever you choose, Ginny, I'm okay."

"Cedrum Widrich is a powerful necromancer. If you wish, he can teach you," Tom told her without pausing.

By then she'd leaned right forward, staring into his face with intensity, "What happened to you? That morning in the Forest? I thought it must have been the curse or something- but I remember- before- you just changed- and you're still doing it, it's like… Suddenly you're… I don't know-"

Harry didn't answer right away, instead, he picked up an article and pretended to read it, "I don't even know what's happened to me."

(AN: Please excuse me fully forgetting Rosier is dead dead. No, he's not, look at him, that's all I have to say on the matter.)