Big Bad Wolf, In This Moment

Once upon a time
There was a nasty, little piggy filled with pride and greed
Once upon a time
There was an evil, little piggy typical disease
You see this little pig is slowly becoming my own worst enemy
You see this evil pig she's a blood, blood, blood sucking part of me

Everywhere I go, you go along with me (she said)
Everything you get, is all because of me (I said)
Everything I do, you do along with me (she said)
No matter where you run, you cannot hide from me

The morning of May third brought with it a wall of anxiety. It was a Saturday, so there were no classes to distract him. Ron was playing chess with Seamus, and when Seamus gave up Harry was sure that he'd find another opponent. Ginny was missing, as she so often was after she'd stolen his cloak for a 'prank'. Hermione was watching him over the top of her book.

He'd been pretending to read also. His mind constantly wandered back to Borgin and Burkes, 11 PM. He'd done a good job at avoiding the reality of it so far but having to delay the spell for two extra days had frayed his nerves, and so, the knowledge was harder to push away. He didn't want to see… Voldemort. Didn't want to talk to him. He'd begrudgingly accepted communicating with the thing in his head out of necessity, but speaking to the Dark Lord was another thing entirely. He still didn't understand why it was happening, but the more he thought about it, the closer the dread became. He felt up to his nose in it.

The day passed achingly slowly, by the time the sun finished setting he felt ready to gnaw his arm off in agitation. Adrenaline had kicked in hours earlier. He'd had to stop bouncing his legs countless times, settling instead for chewing his tongue. He'd gone to bed as soon as he was able, heart hammering as he waited for the others to sleep. Ginny had taken to returning to the Common Room at a late hour. Though Harry was taking the cloak, he was hoping not to run into her. Or Hermione. She'd gone to bed when Harry did, but he was certain she was paying attention.

He just had to hope tonight wasn't the night she followed him on foot.

At ten o'clock he threw the cloak over his head and exited the Tower with his eyes glued to the map. He couldn't see Ginny anywhere. He hoped she wasn't already in the Room of Requirement. He didn't know where she could be otherwise, but he was too preoccupied to question it. His pulse was so loud in his throat that it felt like it was constricting his breathing. It made his face hot as his eyes stayed on the footprints labelled Hermione Granger, still in Gryffindor Tower.

He paced in front of the tapestry with his heart between his ears. The doors appeared and he pushed his way inside, hands shaking with adrenaline. Straight away he could feel the thing in his head tearing Hermione's magic to shreds. He moved through the junk until he recognized the way to the cabinet.

'When I… After I do this- I want my mind. Like before.' Harry told the thing as he raised his wand. It hesitated, then agreed.

He cast Liquida Tenebris. He didn't spend any time watching it, he just pulled it back in while he fought to stay on his feet. Failing that, he fought to stay on his hands and knees as it overcame him.

Once it was over, as he'd requested, he was conscious and not overwhelmed by the effects of the spell. He noticed that the thing in his head was less present and wondered if it was from holding in the magic. He didn't know if that meant he'd be going into this more alone than before. He didn't like that the absence of the voice made him feel vulnerable.

'Here… Just- busy.'

Harry frowned and didn't respond, instead casting a Tempus. He'd used forty minutes getting to the room and casting the spell. He tucked the invisibility cloak and the map into a set of drawers nearby. He still had twenty minutes to burn but decided he couldn't stand there a second longer as he pulled the cabinet open and stepped inside.

He was met with Narcissa in Borgin and Burkes, looking shocked to see him a second time even though she'd obviously been stationed to wait for him. She hesitated, dancing foot to foot for a moment before she extended an arm to him, saying nothing. He took it, and she Apparated them to the same heavily warded house in the middle of nowhere. Narcissa backed away from him and Disapparated with a crack.

There was light inside the small building, but not a lot. His breath was shaky as he crossed the rippling wards and hesitated at the door, listening. He had his wand this time, but he felt no more confident. He heard nothing inside, so he slowly turned the handle, peeking in.

The interior had been repaired and updated. It was sparse, but furnished, a high-backed chair with a desk, three armchairs on the other side of it. Four candelabras lit the room, telling him that someone had to have been here recently to light them. He had his wand raised as he scanned the room. He was alone, the one far door in the room was closed, but he could hear nothing behind it, either.

He noticed an envelope with his initials on it, on the desk, along with a small black box. He opened the letter.

I have arranged for your skills in combat to be appraised.

You will do as bid by your assessor.

Understand that this letter serves to bind these meetings under the Vow.

It wasn't signed, but again, he recognized the handwriting. His assessor? Another Tempus told him that it was eleven on the dot, and his stomach jumped with nerves as he backed into the far side of the room, watching the entrance.

Seconds later the front door swung inward, and a woman stepped into the room. She was pale, with high, sharp cheekbones. Eyes as black as her hair as black as her robes. She looked him over from head to toe before she smiled wide, revealing a set of fangs.

'Cassiopeia… She did- She wouldn't be here- She… Not after…Not unless-' The thing in his head spiralled, spitting supernova bursts of pain and pleasure as lost its grip on the magic of the spell. Harry promptly passed out.

When he woke up he was in one of the armchairs, head numb. The voice had gone back to holding the magic tight and was quiet, but he could feel its attention split. Cassiopeia sat in the high-backed chair behind the desk, watching him. He sat up higher, eying her warily. He noted that she didn't look older than twenty-five. She must have been turned into a vampire not too long after trying to gouge out the young Dark Lord's eyes.

"Well, I had been about to say that your reputation precedes you. I've been quite curious about the baby who defeated Tom Riddle from the crib," she said, while Harry watched her fangs as she spoke, "Don't worry, I've been beggared not to bite by our… Mutual friend."

'I don't understand. This doesn't make sense,'

"I… Sorry, who are you?" Harry finally asked, his brain fuzzy with the spell the thing was barely containing, and its emotions shot like bolts of electricity into his head. He couldn't say that he knew her, that he'd seen her before in his dreams. That would be violating the Vow. But he could ask her questions.

"My name is Cassiopeia Bearstrom, Harry Potter. I've been asked to examine your capabilities in battle." She squinted her eyes at him as she spoke, tilting her head curiously, as though she was trying to find something in his face. The thing in his head squirmed wildly in response, making him woozy.

"Why?" He asked, squeezing his eyes shut and then opening them again, "Why is any of this happening?" He gestured to the room. She half smiled, her dark eyes glittering in the candlelight.

"Why indeed." She came to stand beside him, her movements so fluid she seemed to float. She offered him a hand and he begrudgingly took it, standing up.

"Are we going to talk or are we going to fight?" She asked, and that was all the warning he got. She flipped him onto his back, using his arm against him.

Harry's wand had been in his hand since he came to, so he shot stuns frantically as he fought away from her, still on his back. She fired hexes wandlessly as she advanced on him, dodging his stuns effortlessly. Unlike his, hers hit, stinging like bees. He threw up a wordless shield as he crawled backwards, struggling to find his feet. She broke the shield with a wave of her hand and sent a second barrage of hexes. He'd been hit in several locations repeatedly, the pain overlapping and doubling, sapping his focus.

It became obvious quickly that he wasn't a match for her, and so he did the only thing that made sense. He cast Liquida Tenebris for the second time that night, the blackness exploding out of his hands and chest, putting a rapid stop to the vampire's onslaught.

Harry could swear he heard her laughing from within it.

He cut the spell off quickly, not willing to push his luck with the voice's strength. He could feel the thing sizzling in his head like a live wire. Cassiopeia stood in the middle of the shredded room, correcting the toppled candlesticks, and relighting them, eyes wide, grin wider.

"Where did you learn that spell?" She asked as Harry finally made it to his feet.

He shrugged one shoulder, panting. She didn't stop smiling as she corrected the remainder of the room wandlessly. She floated over to the desk and picked up the small black box that had been thrown to the ground, tossing it to him. Then she told him to run.

"What?" He'd asked, but she was already chasing him out the front door and through the wards, sending hexes at his feet as he ran.

He sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him, heart pounding with another sudden burst of adrenaline. Though he got the sense she was not moving as fast as she could have, he could still hear her rapidly catching up. He didn't get far, she crashed into his back from behind when he'd almost tripped on a large clump of grass, sending him face-first into soft dirt.

"Alright. Not fast, not skilled. Bit of a one-trick pony if the record serves." She said, standing up and brushing off her robes as Harry spat out earth.

"The Boy Who Lived," she laughed like that was the funniest thing she could have said, doubled over and wheezing till her snorts became quiet, her shoulders heaving with silent laughter until she collapsed to the ground beside him all over again. It took her a moment to recover. Harry used the time to pick the remainder of the plant matter and grit from his teeth, frowning at the vampire in distaste. He'd managed to hang onto the box she'd thrown at him, so he tucked it in his robes.

"Ah, alright, Boy Who Lived. That will do. You're to come here every second Saturday, same time." She stood and offered him a hand, which he didn't take, opting instead to help himself up.

"You're going to run fast every day between now and then, yes? Like your life depends on it. Work up to forty-minute stints. I'll Apparate you back," she said, stepping towards him.

"Don't worry about it," he said, Apparating back to Borgin and Burkes alone.

He pushed past a once again startled Narcissa and entered the cabinet, avoiding her questioning eyes. Once back in the Room of Requirement, he turned his attention to the thing in his head.

'Who is that?' Harry insisted. He could feel its resolve and its grip on the remnants of Liquida Tenebris slipping, forcing him unsteadily to his knees.

'She was- She was like… Family.'

'And what did you do to ruin it?' Harry asked, leaning forward so his face was on the cold stone.

It didn't answer him, instead, it washed him in intense grief. Thick and overpowering, it intertwined with the effects of the spell it was letting slip, clouding his head. His own pain came up to join it, apparently not willing to miss a party, until he was sobbing. He yelled into his balled-up fists until his head swam from the lack of oxygen.

"Okay… Okay- stop," Harry gasped, trying to push himself upright under the weight of it. He wasn't sure if he was being punished for asking, but decided he wasn't going to do it again. He could feel the thing in his head struggling to get its emotions and the spell under control, just as Harry was, while he crawled to the set of drawers where he'd left the cloak and the map. The box the vampire had tossed at him fell from his robes as he moved, and he paused to stare at it, bewildered.

The grief subsided slightly, becoming rapt curiosity on the thing's behalf. He sat back and opened the box gingerly, as though it might bite, hands humming with adrenaline. There was a note on the top, which he read first.

This does not belong to you, though it is in your possession.

I trust you know the entire Ministry stock was destroyed the last we visited. I expect it to return to my possession once you are no longer in need.

Under the note was a Time-Turner. His arm shook as he cast a Tempus. He'd been gone from the Common Room for two hours. He took the Time-Turner from the box, noting that it looked different than the Ministry-mandated kind. It was still an hourglass, but with no outer ring, and slightly larger.

'Why is he doing this?' Harry asked. It ignored him like it almost always did when it came to questioning Voldemort. It didn't entertain Harry's ideas, wouldn't confirm or deny suspicions. It kept him firmly in the dark. A Time-Turner was extravagant. He couldn't understand it.

'I know you have theories. Or a theory? I'm sworn not to tell anyone, what's the difference?'

It was frustratingly silent as he forced himself upright, exhausted, putting the chain over his neck. He wandered a little way into the piles of junk, under the cloak, then turned the Time-Turner twice. The room whizzed around him momentarily before he made his way out through the mountains of lost property, careful not to bump into himself.

His hands were still shaking as he collapsed into his bed.

"Cass! Cass! C'mon, stop. Be serious, Cass, be serious for one- oh, no, no, she's doing it."

Harry didn't recognize the hushed but frantic voice coming from the aisle as he tried to read. Three students had been sniggering behind his back for a few minutes now, and he'd had to remind himself several times that he was in the library at Hogwarts, that he couldn't react.

As he decided to remove himself, a Ravenclaw girl, also in her first year, sat down across from him. He recognized her, he knew her name, but they'd never spoken.

"You're the freak who talks to snakes," she said, tone neutral as she watched him curiously. It had only been a few weeks since he'd been outed as a Parselmouth, and he was often reminded.

"Cass!" Someone hissed from the bookshelves behind them before they ran away, two sets of feet stomping out of the library. She didn't seem to notice. Harry made to stand, hands on the book he'd been reading.

"Is it really cool? What do they say?" She asked in a conspiratorial whisper, leaning forward, brown eyes glittering. Harry's hands paused on his books, hesitating in place as he took her in.

"Yes. They tell me all sorts of things," he said, watching her face. She grinned wide, leaning even closer.

"Can you show me?"

"Yes," Harry was unable to resist smiling back.

Harry had to drink a Calming Draught when he woke up. Not for himself. He resisted even thinking about the memory as he took a shaky breath in. It was dawn, orange light slowly filling the room as he pulled his curtains open.

He'd watched Hermione on the map after he'd returned to his bed, and she had indeed left the Common Room in search of him, barely twenty minutes after he'd used the Time-Turner. He hadn't stayed awake to see if she'd found him, instead opting to deal with it all later. He didn't know what to do about her. Deflecting wasn't working, he knew that much. She'd replace the tracking spell, that he'd assumed. Most likely, she'd take it to the headmaster, and his head would be searched for contraband ideas.

'Very annoying actually,' it said, in response to Harry's thoughts.

'What do you suggest we do?' He asked it. There was a brief pause.

'You don't want to know what I suggest we do.'

Harry sighed and finally got up. It was probably right. He probably didn't want to hear what it had to say.

'Probably.' It mocked him as he got dressed.