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mhalachaiOK, this chapter has ZOMG so much info. Don't blink or you'll miss it!
Inevitable Fifty-Seven: Sweeter Than Candy
by Mhalachai
Disclaimer: Laurell K. Hamilton owns all things Anita Blake. J.K. Rowling owns all things Harry Potter. Only the story is my own.
Note: You know, there is no proper way to say "he grabbed his wand" and not start snickering like a 13-year-old. Also, over 9,000 words. Yikes.
Previous parts here.
~~~~~~~
"Come," the silky voice breathed through his head. Obligingly, Harry sat up, and his lips were soon captured in a kiss.
Another set of hands came up to rest on his shoulders. He had a brief glimpse of golden hair, mixed with black curls, before he pulled himself out of the dream, out of sleep, and all the way out of his bed before he came fully awake.
What the fuck was that? Harry stood on the stone floor of the darkened boy's dorm, panting as if he'd just run a marathon. There is no way I'm dreaming about Asher and Jean-Claude both! Not like that!
Harry grabbed his wand and stumbled down the stairs to the common room. He needed to move, to figure this out. The last thing he wanted to do was wake anyone up, especially Ron.
What a brilliant conversation that would be! Harry tried to imagine talking to Ron about his problem. See, it started by me having sex dreams about Nathaniel, that nice wereleopard boyfriend of Anita's, then it progressed to me having sex dreams about Anita's other boyfriends!
Harry paced across the common room, stepping in and out of patches of faint moonlight streaming through the windows. I could understand Nathaniel, and maybe, maybe even Jean-Claude, but Asher? I hate him! He hates me! I mean, the only thing we have in common is--
"Anita!" Harry stopped. He must have been dreaming what she was doing! She'd been in his dreams before, that was the only explanation!
Euphoria at discovering the root of his dreams slowly faded into horrified embarrassment. All those things he'd dreamed had been Anita having sex! With Nathaniel, all those times, and Jean-Claude and Asher!
"I'm going to kill her!" Harry swore, his face so red he thought his head might burst into flames.
"Why?"
Harry nearly jumped out of his skin, letting out a surprised yelp and raising his wand. Ginny, who had been sitting unnoticed in the shadows on one of the couches, scrambled back.
"What's wrong?" she demanded, kicking off her blanket.
"You tell me!" Harry said, lowering his wand instantly. "You snuck up on me!"
Ginny's mouth dropped open. "I was sitting right here, you git! You walked past me twice! What put you in such a right state?"
Harry pushed his hair out of his face, only then realizing that he'd forgotten his glasses up in the dorm. "Just bad dreams."
"What kind of bad dreams?" Ginny asked, sliding back to the couch cushions. "Not real bad dreams? Like with Dad and the snake?"
Harry shook his head vigorously. "Not like that, no. Well, it was real, and kind of bad, but not like, you know, bad."
Ginny raised her eyebrows at him. "You want to talk about it?"
"Absolutely not," Harry said with feeling. "In fact, let's never discuss it again."
"Well, if we're not going to talk about it, you may as well come sit down," Ginny said, rearranging the blanket over her shoulders. "That floor's rather cold."
His head still spinning, Harry obliged. He sat beside Ginny on the couch and let her put the corner of her blanket over his shoulders. Her hand brushed his knee, and he sucked in a hiss of pain.
"What?" Ginny demanded, keeping her voice low in the silent common room.
Harry rubbed his leg gently. "Nothing," he muttered. "Just a mistake in Defence Against the Dark Arts today."
"Yesterday," Ginny said. "It's four in the morning. And what do you mean?"
Harry pulled the blanket around his shoulder a bit tighter. His pajama top was too thin for the air in the common room, although on his other side he could feel the heat from Ginny's body all along his body. "Snape used me for another demonstration in class," he muttered. "I liked it a lot better when he was ignoring me."
"What did he do?" Ginny asked, carefully arranging the blanket over Harry's legs.
Harry shook his head. "It was so stupid. He was demonstrating how a summoning curse like Accio can be used in a fight. He kept summoning objects, and I was conveniently in the path of each and every one."
"I thought the summoning charm was supposed to go around any barrier," Ginny said with a frown.
"That's what I thought too," Harry grumbled. "I got knocked in the head twice. Then he summoned all the books in the room and I couldn't shield them all."
"That's horrible!" Ginny exclaimed. "You should tell McGonagall!"
"Why?" Harry asked tiredly. "If I couldn't block a bunch of bloody books in a room with Snape of all people, then I don't know enough. What it I was in a fight with someone near a bunch of knives? If one of those got summoned toward me, it'd be even more dangerous than a bunch of books."
"So what are you going to do?"
Harry twitched his shoulder, playing with a worn edge of the blanket. "Figure out how to block something like that. Same as with everything else Snape throws at me. Only, maybe for once, I can figure it out before he throws it at me."
"That's a stupid plan."
"Thanks, Ginny, that makes me feel loads better."
"I didn't say you were stupid," Ginny contradicted. "I said you need a better plan."
"I never said it was a good plan," Harry defended himself. "Unless I can break into Snape's office and steal his lesson plan, I'll have... to..."
His voice trailed off as he thought about doing just that. They'd broken into Snape's office before, although he didn't see how he could talk Ron and Hermione into it again, seeing as how Hermione was still twitchy around him.
"You are not going to break into Snape's office!" Ginny said. "At least not today. We're going to Hogsmeade, and I don't fancy having to tell Luna that you've gone and gotten yourself killed by Snape."
"Do you have a better idea?" Harry asked, turning to look at her. His heart leaped in his chest as he realized exactly how close she was to him.
She looked back at him rather uncertainly. "I, um, not really. Maybe we could figure out a way to make you curse-proof."
"I would love that," Harry said. He gave her a weak smile and settled back on the couch, trying to figure out what she had been doing before he came down. There weren't any books in sight, and the fire was out. "So why are you down here?"
Ginny was quiet for so long that Harry wondered if he should ask her again. Finally, she said, "It was easier than waking up everyone else."
"What do you mean?"
Ginny pulled her knees up to her chest, staring off into the distance. "I had a feeling it was going to be another one of those nights."
"Another one of what nights?" Harry pressed. "The kind where you can't sleep?"
"Sort of." Ginny picked at a loose thread on a patch on her pajamas. "More the kind where I start talking in my sleep and waking everyone up."
"Oh."
"Yeah, 'oh'." She tugged on the thread until the patch began to unravel. "Reading all that stuff this week in the library, looking for information on the Horcruxes, just made my head spin. That's all."
"I'm sorry," Harry said tentatively.
Ginny shook her head. "It's not your fault. It's his fault. And reading about all those curses and magical instruments and the bad things they can do... Why can't we ever have to research unicorns to save the world?" She laughed, but it was mixed with the sound of tears.
"I dunno," Harry said, feeling terribly uncomfortable. Was he supposed to ask her what was wrong, or just pretend he didn't see how upset she was? If she'd been a guy, he'd have ignored it; but she wasn't a guy, and he didn't know what to do.
"They never came near me, you know," Ginny whispered.
Harry frowned. "What are you talking about?" he asked.
"The unicorns. In fourth year. All the other girls in class were fawning over the unicorns and the foals, but they wouldn't come near me."
"That doesn't mean anything," Harry said quickly. "In my classes, the girls just rushed them and the unicorns didn't move. If you were hanging back--"
"So it's my fault?" Ginny struggled out from under the blanket and stalked over to the cold fireplace. She knelt down and used her wand to ignite the coals. "It's my fault that the unicorns didn't want to touch me?"
"That's not what I said!" Harry exclaimed quietly. "I meant that maybe something else was happening, and it wasn't you!" He sat on the edge of the couch, taking in the stiff set of Ginny's shoulders, the way her messy hair spilled down her back. "Not you and not Voldemort."
Ginny didn't move. Harry groaned and stood up, crossing the floor to carefully drape the blanket around her.
"Why are you going to kill Anita?" Ginny asked once Harry was once again huddled on the couch.
"Pardon?" Harry asked, startled.
"You said you were going to kill Anita, when you first came down," Ginny reminded him. "Is there a reason?"
Harry pulled his feet up onto the cushions and curled up into a ball to keep warm. "I was just upset," he said in a hurry. "It wasn't anything."
"Right."
Harry stared up at the ceiling. He'd managed to forget about the dream he'd had, in his discussion with Ginny. Now, though, it all came rushing back.
In the last several days, he'd had more dreams about Nathaniel. They weren't bad, just sort of hazy and undefined. Harry knew what the dreams were about, but the details weren't specific. Which makes sense, seeing as how I'm a boy and Anita, well, isn't.
The dreams with Nathaniel hadn't been too bad. Harry had actually talked himself into accepting them as strange figments of his mind, not really meaning that he liked Nathaniel like that. After all, Harry wasn't gay. Even if the dreams weren't that bad.
What was he going to do about it? Harry had spent most of Friday afternoon nursing his bruises from Defence class and writing letters to the people back in St. Louis. He was going to go to the post owl office in Hogsmeade and see if he could send the letters to North America. Should he add a note to Anita's letter? Harry closed his eyes. What a riot that would be! "Also, Anita, can you possibly not have sex between the hours of ten at night and six in the morning, Hogwarts time? I'm having a hard time sleeping as you keep sending me your dreams about sex!"
There wasn't any way he could possibly ask that! For all he knew, it was his fault he kept having the dreams. If he really wanted to stop the dreams, he should use his Occlumency, like he was supposed to in order to stop Voldemort from getting into his head.
If Anita knew I was dreaming about her like that, she'd kill me, Harry thought miserably. And she'd have good reason. What kind of pervert sneaks into other people's dreams?
Harry pressed his hands against his face. Now that he knew the real reason behind his dreams, he felt uncomfortable and dirty.
"Are you going to stay down here until the sun comes up?" Ginny's soft voice interrupted his thoughts.
He lowered his hands. "I don't know." He didn't want to be around anyone right then, especially Ginny, but going back up to the dorm room would put him next to Ron, who'd been waking up at strange hours recently.
In Harry's head, he knew that staying down here wouldn't mean anything, that Ginny couldn't read thoughts, but emotionally he wanted to curl up into a ball somewhere in private and wish he'd never started having those strange dreams.
"I've... I've been thinking about the Horcruxes," Ginny said softly, her voice barely louder than the gentle crackling of the fire.
Harry roused himself and looked over at her. She hadn't pulled the blanket closer, but she had her wand out and aimed at the fireplace, making strange flashes of coloured light pass across her face. "What about them?"
"About how to destroy them," Ginny said. "You said that Dumbledore was sure the diary was destroyed."
Harry had to think hard about that. What had Dumbledore said about the diary? "He said he wanted to know how I destroyed the diary, so we could figure out how to destroy the other Horcruxes. So I guess that's a yes." He dragged himself up into a sitting position, feeling sluggish and slow and like he needed a hot shower to clear his head. "Why?"
"What if the diary wasn't the Horcrux?"
"Of course it was, it all fits, Dumbledore said so." Harry slid off the couch and crawled over to the fireplace next to Ginny. She was changing the colours of the flames idly, from red to blue to green and every colour in between. "What are you talking about?"
Ginny turned the flames a dark green, and lowered her wand. She stared at the fire as emerald shadows and light played over her skin. "What if you didn't destroy the Horcrux, because it was already destroyed?"
"No, it couldn't be, because Tom Riddle was still standing there when I used the Basilisk fang to stab the diary," Harry protested, scooting close to Ginny. "He didn't vanish until after that."
Ginny finally lifted her head, giving Harry a sorrowful, pitying look that almost broke his heart. "That's not what I mean." She reached out to brush a lock of hair off his forehead, the feel of her ice-cold fingers on his skin making him shiver. "What if the part of Voldemort's soul had already moved? Tom said he was putting bits of his soul into me, what if--"
"No!" Harry exclaimed, shooting to his feet. "You are not the Horcrux, the diary was!" He tried to think over the frantic beating of his heart, imagining Ginny lying on the cold ground, just as he'd seen her so many years ago in the Chamber of Secrets, only this time it was real, and this time she was dead. "You're not the Horcrux, so stop thinking that!"
"It would explain a lot," Ginny went on, as if Harry hadn't spoken. "Like why my magic kept getting more powerful, and why I keep having these nightmares--"
"That's not it!" Harry repeated, dropping to his knees in front of her. He grabbed her shoulders, wishing he could just shake her but refusing to do anything more than touching her like she was made of porcelain. He didn't trust himself to remember his strength, not now. "Everyone's magic gets more powerful when you grow up, it's like a rule! The nightmares keep happening because it was a horrible thing that happened to you!"
Ginny was staring at him, eyes wide, but with more fire in her than at any other point since he'd come down those stairs. She clenched her jaw, and Harry suspected she was thinking of some way to contradict him.
"Oh!" he said, and let her go of her arms. "Can you understand or speak Parseltounge?" he asked in the snake language.
Ginny jumped back onto the hearth, putting her hands behind herself to stop a fall. "Don't do that!" she said. "It's creepy!"
"But did you?"
"Did I what?" Ginny pulled herself back a bit and brushed her palms clean of ash.
"Understand me?"
"Of course not! What are you playing at?"
"You understood before with Voldemort, right? So you can't be the Horcrux, because you're not a Parselmouth!"
"Harry--"
"You're not the Horcrux, Ginny, so stop saying that!" He braced his hands on the stone, feeling a rough spot cut against his palm. "You're a girl, and you don't have a single part of Voldemort's soul in you."
"You don't know that," she protested faintly.
"I'm right," he said. "You know I am. Think about it!"
"Of course I want you to be right!" Ginny glared at him. "Do you think I want to have to die to make sure Voldemort is stopped?"
"You are not going to die," Harry said. "I'm not going to let you die."
The expression on Ginny's face softened for a moment, then grew hard again. "Don't go making promises you can't keep, Harry. You can't save everyone."
She climbed to her feet and swiftly left the common room, leaving Harry alone in front of the emerald flames. He let out a wavering sigh, then he straightened up.
He might not be able to save everyone, but he was going to try.
*~*
Breakfast was halfway over when Harry made it downstairs. The Great Hall was full of jubilant voices, excitement growing over the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year.
Sitting by herself at the far end of the Gryffindor table, near the teachers' table, was Hermione.
This has gone on long enough. Harry decided. He made his way down the room and slipped into the seat beside Hermione before she even noticed him.
"Harry!" she exclaimed, dropping her spoon into her cereal bowl with a clatter. "You startled me."
"I guess sitting next to a murderer can do that to you," he said under his breath, grabbing a slice of toast off the platter.
Hermione stared at him. "What are you talking about?" she demanded.
"Is there another reason you've been avoiding being around me all week?" Harry asked. He wasn't at all hungry, but he knew what would happen if he didn't eat, so he forced himself to take a bite of toast. It tasted like sawdust in his mouth.
Hermione glared down at her cereal bowl. "You're imagining things," she finally said.
Harry picked up a knife and unhappily spread jam on his toast. "Guess that's so. Just lucky then, that you don't have to spend the day with me. Have fun with Ron in Hogsmeade."
He tried to stand up, but Hermione grabbed hold of his sleeve. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded. Harry was surprised to see the beginnings of unshed tears shining in her eyes.
"I'm not the one doing it!" Harry said. "You have, ever since I told you about the--" He checked himself. "Since I told you about my summer!"
Without a word, Hermione got to her feet, abandoning her breakfast, and pulled Harry down the Hall. They got several odd looks, but Harry didn't care.
Only when they were outside into the courtyard did Hermione let go of his sleeve, turning on her heel to face him.
"Great." Harry had no idea what she was thinking. He only knew that they needed to deal with whatever issue there was between them now, before it became permanent. The thought of losing Hermione, who had always been on his side, hurt more than he wanted to admit. "Now what?"
She crossed her arms over her chest, staring at his Quidditch captain button instead of looking him in the face. "Don't you understand anything?" she demanded.
Harry blinked at her. "Understand what? That you've been avoiding me since I told you I had to kill Bellatrix Lestrange? That every time I've spoken to you since Monday, you've had this holier-than-thou attitude about anything I do? I don't appreciate being made out to be the villain here, Hermione." He took a few steps back. "Fine! Dazzle me with your brilliance! Inform me exactly how I have fallen down in your eyes! Blame me however you want, just tell me!"
"I'm not blaming you!" Hermione shouted. "Why don't you understand?"
"Why don't you just tell me?" Harry demanded. He took a step toward her, but she backed away rapidly. He stopped. She was acting scared of him. Like he'd ever do anything to hurt her!
He stared at her, unable to find anything to say. Hermione had been one of his first friends. She's always believed him, always. He'd never do anything to hurt her, ever. She had to know that.
Right?
He put his hands up. Nothing he done this past week had made a difference. No explanation, no words, nothing. "Fine," he said, concentrating very hard on not letting his voice break. "Sorry I bothered you." He turned away.
He'd only made it four steps before Hermione grabbed his arm and clung tight to him. "Why can't this be simple?" she asked, her hands trembling. "Why can't you just know this so I don't have to say it?"
He extricated himself from her grip, transferring her hands to his. "What's wrong?" he asked again. "It can't be Bellatrix; you did the same thing I did, with Umbridge in fifth year, tricking her into the Forbidden Forest with the centaurs! You knew what they'd do to her! It was only Dumbledore's showing up by accident that saved her life."
"I know that!" Hermione burst out, gripping his hands so hard it hurt. "You did what you had to, Harry, there's no getting around that! You did the right thing!"
"Exactly!" As her words sunk in, Harry frowned. "What?"
Hermione let go of him and balled her hands up in the sleeves of her robes. "Do you know why we can't find any mention of Horcruxes in any books in the library?" she asked.
"No, we're not going to talk about the Horcruxes, we're talking about why you're acting this way," Harry said, not letting himself be distracted.
Hermione, however, was beginning to get that frustrated look Harry knew so well, when he wasn't looking hard enough to see the answer. It was strangely reassuring. "Listen to me. The reason we haven't been able to find anything on Horcruxes is that they're a type of deep magic that they never teach here at Hogwarts. Necromancy."
Harry frowned. "Are you sure?"
"It's the only explanation," Hermione said. "It's playing with souls, with death and murder and evil. It's necromancy, it has to be."
"But necromancy's not evil," Harry protested. "I told you, Anita's a necromancer and she's not evil at all. It's like any other magic; it can be used to help or to harm! Look at what Snape was doing yesterday with the summoning charm in class!"
"Well, then, we'll just look in those books about all the good necromancers for information on Horcruxes," Hermione snapped. "Oh, wait. There are none."
Harry crossed his arms over his chest. "Is there a point to all this, besides insulting a friend of mine?"
"You know the point, Harry. You spent the summer with vampires and a necromancer. You saw her magic. Who's to say you might not try and use it yourself, if things get pushed too far?"
Comprehension finally hit Harry like a blow to the stomach. "You think I'm going to become evil," he breathed. "You think that one day I'm going to have to do something, and that's going to make me evil." He made himself meet her eyes. "Thanks, Hermione. Your faith in me is touching."
"No one ever sets out to become evil, Harry, but--"
"Except Voldemort," Harry interrupted. "Shouldn't forget about him. But since we're so much alike, it's obvious that I'll become like him." Barely contained hurt and pain bubbled up into anger. "God, Hermione, do you know me at all?"
"I know you, Harry, I do!" Hermione said desperately. "It's just that necromancy, more than any other Dark Art, corrupts the wizard, twists them. Some people say that the wizard doesn't use the magic; the magic uses the wizard. There hasn't been a record of any necromancer in the last thousand years who hasn't been corrupted like that!"
"Well, I've got one for you," Harry said flatly. "Anita Blake. She's not evil. She's never going to be evil, so all your books are wrong!"
Hermione let out a small scream of frustration. "What if it was Ron, doing these things?" she demanded. "If you saw him doing things that you worried about? Wouldn't you worry about him?"
"I'd worry, but I wouldn't avoid him and then accuse him of being evil!" Harry exclaimed. "Is this what's been bothering you all week? Why didn't you just say something?"
"It's not all that!" Hermione shouted. Students were beginning to trickle down the steps, looking at them curiously, and she lowered her voice quickly. "It's just... we're not all going to make it."
Feeling as if Hermione has skipped part of the conversation, Harry said, "Make it where?"
Hermione shook her head. "This fight that's coming, with V-Voldemort. Some people are going to die."
"Is that why..." Harry carefully put out his hand, and when she didn't flinch away from his touch, slid his arm around her back. "You're scared you're going to die?"
"Thanks for putting it so bluntly, Harry." In contrast with her tone, Hermione leaned into Harry's chest. "It's not that. Not only that."
"You're worried that Ron's going to get hurt?" Harry guessed.
Hermione sniffled. "Or you. Or so many people."
"Hey." Harry patted her arm. "That's the whole point of the finding out about the Horcruxes, to be able to stop Voldemort, isn't it?"
Hermione looked up at him, her eyes tinged with red. "What if it's not enough?"
"We'll make it be enough." He tried to smile. "We'll find the Horcruxes, I won't go evil, and no one's going to die."
They walked back into the castle, Harry with his arm still around Hermione. They didn't speak, which was just as well, because Harry wasn't exactly sure what to say. He'd spent the week, researching and going to classes, thinking that Hermione was freaked out because he had to kill Bellatrix Lestrange. Not that I might become evil because I tried to raise a zombie once with Anita!
The more he thought about it, as they made their silent way toward the tower, the less sense it made to him. With that frustration and lack of understanding came irritation and something that felt a little too much like anger.
Halfway up the last staircase, passing a steady stream of lower year students pounding down the steps, Harry stopped walking. Hermione's momentum carried her up another step before she realized that Harry was no longer with her.
"What I don't understand," Harry said, as if continuing a conversation, "is why."
Hermione blinked at him. “Why what?"
Harry leaned against the banister, watching Hermione closely. "Why you and Ron don't trust me anymore."
"What are you talking about?" Hermione demanded, retracing her steps until she was close enough to Harry to whisper.
Harry rubbed his forehead, starting to feel the beginning of a headache. He tried to think of the right way to say this, something to appeal to her intelligence and sense of logic, then chucked all that aside and just opened his mouth. "It's this. You and Ron either trust me, or you don't. If you do, then I have to wonder why he keeps wondering if I'm going to be attacking Ginny at any given moment, or why you're so convinced I'm going to turn evil at the drop of a hat."
Hermione turned ashen and her mouth opened, as if she was trying to say something, but nothing came out. Harry waited for a moment, before sighing.
"Look, I'm sorry, but that's how what it looks like to me right now," Harry said after a minute. "I'm sorry."
With that, he walked around Hermione, carefully not to bump into her, and up to the Gryffindor tower, feeling once again as if he'd just lost his best friend. Only this time, it was his fault.
~*~
Harry made his way through the hallways toward the courtyard. One of Ginny's roommates had told him that Ginny would meet him there, after she went to get Luna. I could have picked her up, Harry thought, slightly flustered. The last time he'd gone to Hogsmeade with a girl, things hadn't gone well at all.
But this isn't like that. I know Ginny and Luna pretty well, and we're going as friends. They know what a dork I can be, so I probably don't need to worry about that.
For the third time, Harry patted the inside of his cloak. His letters for Anita and Jason and everyone back in St. Louis were bundled up and tucked into the pocket of the cloak Elsa had given him in London. It was the only decent covering he had, and the weather hung in a gathering gloom outside, threatening to burst into rain at any moment.
And even Neville said the cloak looked nice, Harry thought. He wanted to look good for the girls, but not as if he was trying to look good.
Two small figured barreled into Harry, and he had to brace himself to avoid falling over. He grabbed two handfuls of robes, and pulled the two away from him.
"Hi Harry!" Reece said sheepishly, almost dangling from Harry's fist. The other boy, a short Hufflepuff with brown hair and scared blue eyes, let out a small "meep" and tried to shrink into nothingness.
Harry let the boys go. "If Filch catches you running in here, he'll have you in detention," he warned.
"We won't run," the other boy said quickly.
Harry grinned at the boys. "No, I mean you need to run faster, so as he can't catch you."
Reece burst into laughter. "Are you going out?" he asked. "My mom has a coat like that for the theatre."
Harry frowned dramatically, while the other little Hufflepuff friend stared, scandalized. "Reece!" the boy said.
"What, John? She does!"
"I'm taking some girls to Hogsmeade," Harry said, interrupting their banter.
"Ooh, girls," Reece teased. John seemed mortified by the whole thing, edging closer to his friend and trying to grab his sleeve to pull him away.
"Keep this up and I'll throw you in detention myself," Harry threatened. Reece just rolled his eyes, and finally let John pull him away. "Little brat," Harry muttered fondly under his breath. Was he that bad when he was eleven?
Resuming his trek out of the castle, Harry undid his cloak to make sure the Hufflepuff impact hadn't jarred his Invisibility cloak from its moorings. He knew he needed to bring it, just in case of emergency. Luckily, the thing rolled up neatly and didn't make too noticeable a bulge when the grey cloak was done up.
Hopefully I won't need it, Harry thought grimly as he clattered down the stone steps. All the students who were going to Hogsmeade were milling about, waiting for McGonagall and Filch to let them out of the gates. In the meantime, the wind had picked up, blowing a few dead leaves around the courtyard.
Where are they? Harry craned his neck to see if he could find Ginny and Luna. He walked past several groups of students, huddled together against the wind in their non-descript cloaks. Several people glanced his way, but then looked away just as quickly. I hope I don't have anything on my face.
"Harry!" Ginny called. Harry turned around to see her standing against the wall, waving at him. He smiled widely and waved back, then hurried over. "What took you so long?" she asked when he was at her side.
"I had to find Anita's address," Harry said, breathless. "Where's Luna?"
"Here," came Luna's voice. She joined them, doing up her cloak with trembling fingers as she avoided looking at them.
Ginny frowned. "Is everyone okay?" Harry asked, stepping closer to Luna.
Luna nodded. "I just had to talk to Michael about something. It's all settled now."
The note of cautiously optimistic finality in her voice made Harry wonder. He looked around, finally spotting Michael Corner in a group of boys, staring at the ground and looking rather put-out.
Harry turned to Luna, a question on the tip of his tongue, but the uncharacteristically fierce look in her eyes stopped him. She slipped her arm through his, and he could feel her trembling slightly.
He laid his hand over her arm, then, unable to help himself, bent over and quickly kissed the top of her head. "Good for you," he murmured.
Ginny was watching them both curiously, but instead of asking questions, went around to Luna's other side and draped her arm over the other girl's shoulders. "So, what are we going to do today?" she asked brightly. She caught Harry's eye and smiled at him over Luna's head, making his heart skip a beat. That look... what did she know about what was bothering Luna?
"We could go to Madame Puddifoot's tea room," Luna said.
"No way!" Harry exclaimed before he realized that Luna was laughing at him. "No 'romantic' teas. I'd rather go to the Three Broomsticks."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "I've been to one of those tea things," she said with a shudder, as the horde of students slowly queued to leave. "Maybe it's growing up with six brothers, but the whole things just seems so..."
"Girly? Pink?" Harry supplied.
"I was going to suggest contrived," Ginny said.
Luna smiled softly. "I've just never been there. I was always curious. Although Cho Chang was quite unimpressed when you took her there, Harry"
Harry licked his lips, extremely uncomfortable to be talking about Cho now. "I was only fifteen," he protested. "I couldn't read minds. Not hers, anyway. And it's not a romantic place. Any place can be romantic if you're with the right person."
"Just like a place can't be romantic if you're with the wrong person," Ginny said smugly.
"What do you think is romantic?" Luna asked Ginny. The red-heard blushed, refusing to look at Harry, and Harry felt his own face grow a little warm.
"What, Potter, couldn't find anyone to go to Hogsmeade with?" Draco Malfoy's sneering voice came from behind them. Harry spun around. The blond Slytherin, flanked by his cronies Crabbe and Goyle, sneered at Luna and Ginny. "Needing to tag along with the little girls?"
Harry felt himself smiling widely, showing his teeth. His beast came instantly alert, ready and relished the idea of a fight. "I think I'll much prefer the company of my young ladies to yours," he said, nodding at Crabbe and Goyle.
Malfoy flushed in anger at the implication, and he started toward Harry. "You--"
"Wotcher, Harry!" Out of nowhere, someone wearing Auror's robes appeared at Harry's side, stopping Malfoy in his tracks. Tonks gave the boy a vacant smile, but her eyes were alert and bright. "And you, cousin."
Thwarted, Malfoy turned his sneering attention to Tonks. "You're no cousin of mine, Tonks," he spat.
Tonks set her jaw in an expression reminiscent of Sirius Black. "That's Auror Tonks, Malfoy," she said. "Now, run along."
She watched as Malfoy stormed off, Crabbe and Goyle in tow, to butt into the line between some third-year Slytherins. Only then did she turned back to Harry, one dark eyebrow raised under her messy purple hair.
"Hi," Harry said nervously.
"Hi, Tonks," Ginny said sunnily. "What are you doing here?"
The Auror shrugged expressively, almost bumping into a passing Ravenclaw boy. "It's my turn on rotation here at Hogwarts, Auror protection and all that." She spotted Luna watching her from beside Ginny. "Hullo."
"Oh! Tonks, this is Luna Lovegood," Ginny said quickly.
"Lovegood? Your dad have anything to do with the Quibbler?" Tonks asked.
Luna nodded. "He's the editor."
"Right good read, that is," Tonks said. "Now, Harry..."
"What?" Harry said stiffly. "Even if Malfoy is your cousin, I'm not going to--"
Tonks rolled her eyes. "Look, all I was going to say was that if you're going to pick a fight with him, at least have your bleeding wand at hand, all right?" She stepped back. "See you lot in Hogsmeade," she called as she left.
Ginny waved, but once Tonks was out of sights, she turned around to glare at Harry. "Why do you need to pick a fight with Malfoy?"
"Because he's Malfoy!" Harry exclaimed. "I wasn't going to stand around and let him--"
"Oh, stop!" Ginny tossed her hair over her shoulder, stepping next to Luna, who was watching them argue. "I'd do the same thing to him, but it's a bit much. You do know he's not going to forget that."
"Who bloody well cares?" Harry demanded. "And really, if he thinks that little insult was more important than, oh, I don't know, getting his father thrown in Azkaban, he's stupider than I thought."
"I didn't know that he had any Aurors in the family," Luna said, staring off in the direction Tonks had gone. "Seems rather poetic."
"Tonks's mum married a muggle-born wizard, and the family kicked her out," Ginny explained as the line finally started moving again. "Malfoy's mother and Tonks's mum are sisters."
"Oh," Luna said. "So that's why she doesn't trust him."
Harry frowned. "What do you mean?"
Luna blinked up at him. "That Auror, she doesn't trust Draco Malfoy at all. She was watching him very closely."
Harry didn't know what to think. He looked around to where Tonks was chatting with another Auror in the corner of the courtyard. Was it his imagination, or did she glance away as he moved his head?
Something's going on, Harry mused, wondering what he had missed. Something to do with Malfoy, and the Aurors? Or just something Tonks knew about Draco in particular?
His mind racing, Harry didn't really notice as the girls got past Filch and they started out on the road to the wizarding village, until Luna came up next to him and nudged his arm. "Knut for your thoughts."
"Hrm? Oh, sorry." Harry shook his head. "Just thinking."
"We think all week in class," Luna said. "You're supposed to stop thinking now."
"Don't know if I can." He shifted his cloak around so he could take her hand as they walked down the road.
"What are you thinking about?" Luna asked, squeezing her hand tight. "Romantic dinners?" Her eyes strayed to Ginny, who had fallen behind them as she slowed to wrap her scarf more tightly around her neck.
"No way," Harry said with feeling. "I'm here and I'm enjoying this, right now."
Luna gave him a tiny smile, so sweet and real that he was very glad he'd decided to spend the day with Ginny and Luna both. "So am I."
"Good. How did your talk with Michael go?" he asked quietly, making sure Ginny was still behind them. “What did he say?"
"He didn't say much of anything," Luna said, staring down the road. "But I guess that's over, now."
"It is," Harry reassured her. "He won't bother you again."
"What are you two talking about?" Ginny called, running to catch up. She took Luna's other arm and leaned in against her friend. "Talking about me?"
"You wish," Harry said without thinking. Luckily, Ginny started laughing. "You know what I mean."
"What are we going to do today?" Luna asked.
"Let's go for a long walk," Ginny suggested. "I need to walk somewhere with no bloody stairs for a bit!"
A grin slowly spread across Harry's face, and he turned eagerly to the girls. "I've got just the place."
~*~
"Harry?"
Harry closed his eyes momentarily when he heard Hermione's voice. He composed himself and turned away from the display of ice mice in the back of Honeydukes sweet shop. "Hi, Hermione." He looked around. "Where's Ron?"
"Over at the Three Broomsticks," Hermione said awkwardly. "I told him I wanted to get more quills and he decided to go for a drink." She frowned slightly as she took in the state of Harry's cloak. "What happened to you?"
Harry looked down at the mud stain on the hem of the cloak. "Oh, that." He rubbed his neck, embarrassed. "Ginny and Luna and me went over to the Shrieking Shack, and Luna distracted me while Ginny transfigured some branches into a dancing puppet man and they startled me and I sort of fell over," he said in a rush.
Hermione's lips twitched. "I see," she said.
"And I tried to magic the dirt off, but it didn't work," Harry continued. "I'll deal with it when I get back to school."
"Where are Luna and Ginny?" Hermione asked, stepping out of the way of a passing group of hyperactive third-years.
"Oh, at the Three Broomsticks too," Harry said, picking up a handful of candies. "I had to go to the post office and thought I'd come in here and get some candy for Reece." He moved over to the Fizzing Whizbees and picked up a package.
"That's... nice," Hermione said doubtfully. "Why?"
"Because he's in first year and can't leave the school," Harry explained, distracted as he tried to balance his handfuls of candy.
"Right." Exasperated, Hermione took some of the candy from Harry. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
Harry bit his lip as he concentrated very hard on a display of blood-flavored lollipops. "About what?"
"About this morning." Hermione took a deep breath. "What you said..."
"What about it?" Harry asked as he picked up three Blood-Pops.
Hermione fiddled with a candy, not looking at Harry. "I do trust you."
"Oh." Harry slowly picked up another lollipop and laid it on his stack of candy. "Okay."
"So does Ron. He won't say it, but he does. I know it."
Harry swallowed hard. "That means a lot," he said quietly. "Thanks.... for telling me." He took a deep breath. "And about today, I'm sorry I was, you know, like that."
Hermione gave him a shaky smile. "We've got a lot on our minds," she said. "I only worry about you because I care, you know."
"I know." Harry caught a distantly familiar scent, something that reminded him of Anita, and he frowned, trying to figure out what it was. "You know I care about you too, right?"
Hermione nodded. Something about that scent, now gone, sparked a deep anxiety in Harry. He scooped up his candy and started shoving his way through the crowd to the front counter, Hermione on his heels.
Harry dumped the candy on the counter and waited impatiently as a nervous-looking Slytherin girl carefully paid for a Licorice Wand. The older man behind the counter gave the girl her change, then turned to Harry.
"Harry Potter!" the man exclaimed in a voice so loud that Harry winced. Everyone in the shop staring their way now, the man continued happily, "I was hoping you'd be coming in today! The newest member of the Chocolate Frog card family!"
Fuck! Harry had managed to forget that he'd been put on the trading cards during the summer. The last thing he needed now, just when things were getting strange, was to have this attention focused on him! He plastered a smile on his face and made himself stand up straight.
"I do hope you'll let me present you with this token of our congratulations!" the man said, bringing up a large basket packed with all kinds of candy.
"No, I can't--" Harry tried to say.
"Of course you can! It's quite an honour, being put on the cards." He shoved the basket toward Harry, casting a proprietary eye at the crowd behind Harry. Harry snuck a glance to see several Hogwarts students edging toward the large Chocolate Frog display. As they moved, the rest of the shop seemed to clear, and Harry caught a glimpse of a little girl who had previously been hidden, standing by the Acid Pops.
Adrenaline exploded in Harry's body as he locked eyes with the girl. What is Elsa doing here? Harry thought.
Elsa blinked at him, then slowly pushed herself away from the wall and sauntered to the door.
"Shall I just ring these up for you, Mr. Potter?" the clerk asked, drawing Harry's attention back.
"What? Oh sure," Harry said, bringing his attention back to the counter. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Elsa walk past the front window and around the side of the building. I need to know why she's here! What if something's wrong, or something's happened to Anita or Damian?
He swiftly paid the man, not letting himself seem as if he was in any kind of hurry. He dropped his wrapped purchases on top of the large basket, and picked it up with his left hand, just in case he needed to go for his wand with his right. He made his way past the shoppers, now waiting to buy Chocolate Frogs, and was out the door of the shop before he realized that Hermione was still at his elbow. She was looking at him very closely.
Careful, she'll think something's up. "Why don't you head over to the pub?" he suggested lightly. "I just remembered I needed to grab something at Zonko's."
Hermione narrowed her eyes. "You were in an awful hurry to get out of there," she pointed out. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Aw, Hermione, you know how much I hate having a fuss made over me, especially something as dumb as those cards." He shivered and pulled his cloak tighter. "Go on, the wind's picking up. I'll be there in a little bit."
"Okay," Hermione said, hunching down against the wind. "Don't be long." She held her hand out for the candy basket.
"Thanks, I won't be," Harry promised. He watched for a moment as Hermione made her way down the street, before he turned and headed in the direction Elsa had gone.
Maybe she's in the alley? Harry thought, slipping his wand into his hand. Why is she here? I know she went into Diagon Alley with me and Anita, but why--
Harry's speculation was cut off when he felt a sharp pointy object poke itself into his ribs. Concentrating, he could barely make out a small figure in front of him in the shadows.
"You seem to be venturing into dark corners all alone, little boy," Elsa's mocking voice filled his ears as she stepped into the dim daylight. "You're either brave or very, very stupid."
"I'm going to go with brave," Harry said, stepping around her to avoid her wand.
"I'm not," she snapped. "Come, we need to talk."
She held out her hand, but Harry shook his head. "We can talk here."
"Where anyone can see?" Elsa asked mockingly. "What would people say, you dallying with such a child?"
"Stop it!" Harry exclaimed, grossed out by her implication. "We'll talk right here." He pulled out his Invisibility cloak and threw it over his shoulders before stepping against the wall. "Now no one's going to see me with you, happy?"
Elsa hopped up on a box next to Harry and pulled a Blood-Pop out of her pocket. "At least you can use your head at some point." She unwrapped the candy. "Although if I'd wanted to kill you, I'd have done it in the sweet shop and no one would know it was me."
"Right, because little witches always duel in candy stores," Harry snapped. "Why are you here? Is it because of me?"
Elsa drew the lollipop over her tongue with a look of bliss on her face, making Harry feel slightly ill. "Of course it was," she said after a moment. "I wanted to make sure my investment was safe. At least you're wearing that cloak."
"Investment?" Harry demanded. "And what about this cloak?"
The diminutive witch cast her gaze to the sky. "That cloak that I gave you in London, it repels magic," she explained slowly, as if to a slow child. "Such as curses. You're safer when you wear it."
Harry glared at her, although she couldn't see it. "Why are you telling me this now? Wouldn't it have been a slight bit better to know before I left for school?"
Elsa ignored him. "Jean-Claude has been very careful about you, you know. He's made Christoff a handsome offer, in exchange for his protection of you and his little death maker. I am simply here to ensure that you don't get attacked by those revolting Death Eaters on your day out."
"We have Aurors around for that," Harry said, wondering what kind of deal Jean-Claude had made with Christoff, Elsa's vampire master and Master of London.
The girl made a dismissive motion with her hand. "The English Aurors are useless. We had them in the battle against Grindewald and what did they do? Die."
"Battle against Grindewald?" Harry repeated. "Hey, Dumbledore was in that too. Did you know him? Albus Dumbledore?"
Elsa turned her head to look at Harry, her eyes ancient in her forever-young face. "I know Albus Dumbledore," she said in a flat voice, all hint of her previous merriment gone. "Which is another reason why I'm here."
"To see him?" Harry asked.
Elsa sighed. "No. Not to see him." She waved her hand again. "Go, child, go eat your sweets and have your innocent fun with your friends." She examined her lollipop, sticking her lower lip out in a pout. "It never lasts."
"So nothing's wrong?" Harry asked again. "Everyone's safe in St. Louis? And in London?"
"Yes, everyone is safe," Elsa snapped. "In the spirit of co-operation, Christoff sent several of his wererats to America, a show of security. I expect that your succubus is quite safe."
It took an extreme effort, but Harry managed to not respond to the slight against Anita. "Good." His mind raced back to a subject never far away these days, and he blurted out, "Do you know anything about Horcruxes?"
Elsa started up off her box. "What did you say?"
"Do you know anything about Horcruxes?" Harry repeated. "There's this thing...."
As he spoke, the look of horror on Elsa's face changed into a slowly spreading, gleeful smile. "Oh, your Voldemort has been using Horcruxes," she breathed. "What a bad boy."
"Hey, I didn't say--"
"Of course not," Elsa said. "Oh, how deliciously evil!" She giggled. "That explains so much!"
Harry was now kicking himself. "I shouldn't have mentioned it. Never mind, okay?"
Elsa kept laughing. "Oh, boy, you're so completely hopeless." She slid off her crate to the ground. "What is that American phrase? Never try and play a player?" She shook her head and wandered down the alley. "You're doomed!" she called before she vanished around the side of the house.
"Bloody brilliant, Potter," Harry muttered, watching her go. "Dumbledore's going to kill me." As well he should!
Harry trudged down the narrow passage, pulling off his Invisibility cloak as he went. He'd just stowed it in his pocket when a hand came out of nowhere and pushed him back against the wall. He was already going for his wand when he realized that the person who'd grabbed him was Tonks.
She stared steadily at him, no hint of amusement on her face now. Harry stared back for a moment before wrenching himself away from her. He waited for her to speak, to say something, demand something, like everyone tended to do these days, but she was silent.
Finally, he spoke. "I'm meeting Ginny and Luna at the Three Broomsticks. Care to join us?"
Tonks shook her head, changing her hair from purple to dark blue. "I'm still on patrol, until everyone heads back."
Keeping his face as blank as he could make it, Harry stepped back and gave a tiny bow, like he'd done to Christoff in London those weeks ago. "Then I'll see you at the castle," he said, before turning and walking down the street.
Did Tonks see me with Elsa? Harry wondered as he squeezed into the crowded Three Broomsticks pub. So what if she did? It's just another kid, who can tell the difference with a school full of students here today?
Ginny and Luna were sitting with Ron and Hermione by the far wall. Ron hastily brushed some empty sweet wrappers off the table as Harry sat down. "What did you get?" he asked.
Harry glanced at the sweets basket, not surprised to see some gaps in the collection. "Get where?"
"At Zonko's," Hermione reminded him.
"Oh, I never got there," Harry said, pulling up a chair. "I met someone I knew, had a chat. What have you all been up to?"
"Luna was telling us about her trip to Sweden a year ago with her father to find the Crumple-Horned Snorkack," Ginny said with a mischievous grin.
Hermione pursed her lips at the mention of a creature she was convinced didn't exist, which made Ginny grin harder. Harry wondered what they'd been doing in his absence.
"I'd rather hear about how Harry got frightened by a bunch of sticks today?" Ron said, putting his arm around Hermione and grinning at Harry.
"Hey!" Harry protested, but it didn't stop Ginny from beginning the story.
On the outside, everything looked and felt normal, just friends having a drink at the pub before heading back to school. Inside, though, nothing felt normal at all. Elsa's sudden intrusion into Harry's life at Hogwarts cast a severe pall over his mood. She hadn't just shown up to keep an eye on him. But what had she wanted?
Added to the mess with Hermione and Ron, what was going on with Tonks and Draco Malfoy? Harry really hadn't given Malfoy much thought since the beginning of the year; everything else had been so busy.
Harry listened to Ginny's story, laughing in all the right places, but inside he was cold and so very tired. There's too much going on, he thought. Too much magic and too much mystery, none of it simple. I wish... His mind stuttered to a halt while he tried to figure out exactly what he did want.
Ginny ended the story, to everyone else's great amusement. Harry realized he was staring at her when she smiled at him. He made himself smile back, but he didn't really mean it.
Maybe that's my problem, Harry thought. I know what I want.
I just don't know how I'm not going to die in the process.
... to be continued
Inevitable Fifty-Seven: Sweeter Than Candy
by Mhalachai
Disclaimer: Laurell K. Hamilton owns all things Anita Blake. J.K. Rowling owns all things Harry Potter. Only the story is my own.
Note: You know, there is no proper way to say "he grabbed his wand" and not start snickering like a 13-year-old. Also, over 9,000 words. Yikes.
Previous parts here.
"Come," the silky voice breathed through his head. Obligingly, Harry sat up, and his lips were soon captured in a kiss.
Another set of hands came up to rest on his shoulders. He had a brief glimpse of golden hair, mixed with black curls, before he pulled himself out of the dream, out of sleep, and all the way out of his bed before he came fully awake.
What the fuck was that? Harry stood on the stone floor of the darkened boy's dorm, panting as if he'd just run a marathon. There is no way I'm dreaming about Asher and Jean-Claude both! Not like that!
Harry grabbed his wand and stumbled down the stairs to the common room. He needed to move, to figure this out. The last thing he wanted to do was wake anyone up, especially Ron.
What a brilliant conversation that would be! Harry tried to imagine talking to Ron about his problem. See, it started by me having sex dreams about Nathaniel, that nice wereleopard boyfriend of Anita's, then it progressed to me having sex dreams about Anita's other boyfriends!
Harry paced across the common room, stepping in and out of patches of faint moonlight streaming through the windows. I could understand Nathaniel, and maybe, maybe even Jean-Claude, but Asher? I hate him! He hates me! I mean, the only thing we have in common is--
"Anita!" Harry stopped. He must have been dreaming what she was doing! She'd been in his dreams before, that was the only explanation!
Euphoria at discovering the root of his dreams slowly faded into horrified embarrassment. All those things he'd dreamed had been Anita having sex! With Nathaniel, all those times, and Jean-Claude and Asher!
"I'm going to kill her!" Harry swore, his face so red he thought his head might burst into flames.
"Why?"
Harry nearly jumped out of his skin, letting out a surprised yelp and raising his wand. Ginny, who had been sitting unnoticed in the shadows on one of the couches, scrambled back.
"What's wrong?" she demanded, kicking off her blanket.
"You tell me!" Harry said, lowering his wand instantly. "You snuck up on me!"
Ginny's mouth dropped open. "I was sitting right here, you git! You walked past me twice! What put you in such a right state?"
Harry pushed his hair out of his face, only then realizing that he'd forgotten his glasses up in the dorm. "Just bad dreams."
"What kind of bad dreams?" Ginny asked, sliding back to the couch cushions. "Not real bad dreams? Like with Dad and the snake?"
Harry shook his head vigorously. "Not like that, no. Well, it was real, and kind of bad, but not like, you know, bad."
Ginny raised her eyebrows at him. "You want to talk about it?"
"Absolutely not," Harry said with feeling. "In fact, let's never discuss it again."
"Well, if we're not going to talk about it, you may as well come sit down," Ginny said, rearranging the blanket over her shoulders. "That floor's rather cold."
His head still spinning, Harry obliged. He sat beside Ginny on the couch and let her put the corner of her blanket over his shoulders. Her hand brushed his knee, and he sucked in a hiss of pain.
"What?" Ginny demanded, keeping her voice low in the silent common room.
Harry rubbed his leg gently. "Nothing," he muttered. "Just a mistake in Defence Against the Dark Arts today."
"Yesterday," Ginny said. "It's four in the morning. And what do you mean?"
Harry pulled the blanket around his shoulder a bit tighter. His pajama top was too thin for the air in the common room, although on his other side he could feel the heat from Ginny's body all along his body. "Snape used me for another demonstration in class," he muttered. "I liked it a lot better when he was ignoring me."
"What did he do?" Ginny asked, carefully arranging the blanket over Harry's legs.
Harry shook his head. "It was so stupid. He was demonstrating how a summoning curse like Accio can be used in a fight. He kept summoning objects, and I was conveniently in the path of each and every one."
"I thought the summoning charm was supposed to go around any barrier," Ginny said with a frown.
"That's what I thought too," Harry grumbled. "I got knocked in the head twice. Then he summoned all the books in the room and I couldn't shield them all."
"That's horrible!" Ginny exclaimed. "You should tell McGonagall!"
"Why?" Harry asked tiredly. "If I couldn't block a bunch of bloody books in a room with Snape of all people, then I don't know enough. What it I was in a fight with someone near a bunch of knives? If one of those got summoned toward me, it'd be even more dangerous than a bunch of books."
"So what are you going to do?"
Harry twitched his shoulder, playing with a worn edge of the blanket. "Figure out how to block something like that. Same as with everything else Snape throws at me. Only, maybe for once, I can figure it out before he throws it at me."
"That's a stupid plan."
"Thanks, Ginny, that makes me feel loads better."
"I didn't say you were stupid," Ginny contradicted. "I said you need a better plan."
"I never said it was a good plan," Harry defended himself. "Unless I can break into Snape's office and steal his lesson plan, I'll have... to..."
His voice trailed off as he thought about doing just that. They'd broken into Snape's office before, although he didn't see how he could talk Ron and Hermione into it again, seeing as how Hermione was still twitchy around him.
"You are not going to break into Snape's office!" Ginny said. "At least not today. We're going to Hogsmeade, and I don't fancy having to tell Luna that you've gone and gotten yourself killed by Snape."
"Do you have a better idea?" Harry asked, turning to look at her. His heart leaped in his chest as he realized exactly how close she was to him.
She looked back at him rather uncertainly. "I, um, not really. Maybe we could figure out a way to make you curse-proof."
"I would love that," Harry said. He gave her a weak smile and settled back on the couch, trying to figure out what she had been doing before he came down. There weren't any books in sight, and the fire was out. "So why are you down here?"
Ginny was quiet for so long that Harry wondered if he should ask her again. Finally, she said, "It was easier than waking up everyone else."
"What do you mean?"
Ginny pulled her knees up to her chest, staring off into the distance. "I had a feeling it was going to be another one of those nights."
"Another one of what nights?" Harry pressed. "The kind where you can't sleep?"
"Sort of." Ginny picked at a loose thread on a patch on her pajamas. "More the kind where I start talking in my sleep and waking everyone up."
"Oh."
"Yeah, 'oh'." She tugged on the thread until the patch began to unravel. "Reading all that stuff this week in the library, looking for information on the Horcruxes, just made my head spin. That's all."
"I'm sorry," Harry said tentatively.
Ginny shook her head. "It's not your fault. It's his fault. And reading about all those curses and magical instruments and the bad things they can do... Why can't we ever have to research unicorns to save the world?" She laughed, but it was mixed with the sound of tears.
"I dunno," Harry said, feeling terribly uncomfortable. Was he supposed to ask her what was wrong, or just pretend he didn't see how upset she was? If she'd been a guy, he'd have ignored it; but she wasn't a guy, and he didn't know what to do.
"They never came near me, you know," Ginny whispered.
Harry frowned. "What are you talking about?" he asked.
"The unicorns. In fourth year. All the other girls in class were fawning over the unicorns and the foals, but they wouldn't come near me."
"That doesn't mean anything," Harry said quickly. "In my classes, the girls just rushed them and the unicorns didn't move. If you were hanging back--"
"So it's my fault?" Ginny struggled out from under the blanket and stalked over to the cold fireplace. She knelt down and used her wand to ignite the coals. "It's my fault that the unicorns didn't want to touch me?"
"That's not what I said!" Harry exclaimed quietly. "I meant that maybe something else was happening, and it wasn't you!" He sat on the edge of the couch, taking in the stiff set of Ginny's shoulders, the way her messy hair spilled down her back. "Not you and not Voldemort."
Ginny didn't move. Harry groaned and stood up, crossing the floor to carefully drape the blanket around her.
"Why are you going to kill Anita?" Ginny asked once Harry was once again huddled on the couch.
"Pardon?" Harry asked, startled.
"You said you were going to kill Anita, when you first came down," Ginny reminded him. "Is there a reason?"
Harry pulled his feet up onto the cushions and curled up into a ball to keep warm. "I was just upset," he said in a hurry. "It wasn't anything."
"Right."
Harry stared up at the ceiling. He'd managed to forget about the dream he'd had, in his discussion with Ginny. Now, though, it all came rushing back.
In the last several days, he'd had more dreams about Nathaniel. They weren't bad, just sort of hazy and undefined. Harry knew what the dreams were about, but the details weren't specific. Which makes sense, seeing as how I'm a boy and Anita, well, isn't.
The dreams with Nathaniel hadn't been too bad. Harry had actually talked himself into accepting them as strange figments of his mind, not really meaning that he liked Nathaniel like that. After all, Harry wasn't gay. Even if the dreams weren't that bad.
What was he going to do about it? Harry had spent most of Friday afternoon nursing his bruises from Defence class and writing letters to the people back in St. Louis. He was going to go to the post owl office in Hogsmeade and see if he could send the letters to North America. Should he add a note to Anita's letter? Harry closed his eyes. What a riot that would be! "Also, Anita, can you possibly not have sex between the hours of ten at night and six in the morning, Hogwarts time? I'm having a hard time sleeping as you keep sending me your dreams about sex!"
There wasn't any way he could possibly ask that! For all he knew, it was his fault he kept having the dreams. If he really wanted to stop the dreams, he should use his Occlumency, like he was supposed to in order to stop Voldemort from getting into his head.
If Anita knew I was dreaming about her like that, she'd kill me, Harry thought miserably. And she'd have good reason. What kind of pervert sneaks into other people's dreams?
Harry pressed his hands against his face. Now that he knew the real reason behind his dreams, he felt uncomfortable and dirty.
"Are you going to stay down here until the sun comes up?" Ginny's soft voice interrupted his thoughts.
He lowered his hands. "I don't know." He didn't want to be around anyone right then, especially Ginny, but going back up to the dorm room would put him next to Ron, who'd been waking up at strange hours recently.
In Harry's head, he knew that staying down here wouldn't mean anything, that Ginny couldn't read thoughts, but emotionally he wanted to curl up into a ball somewhere in private and wish he'd never started having those strange dreams.
"I've... I've been thinking about the Horcruxes," Ginny said softly, her voice barely louder than the gentle crackling of the fire.
Harry roused himself and looked over at her. She hadn't pulled the blanket closer, but she had her wand out and aimed at the fireplace, making strange flashes of coloured light pass across her face. "What about them?"
"About how to destroy them," Ginny said. "You said that Dumbledore was sure the diary was destroyed."
Harry had to think hard about that. What had Dumbledore said about the diary? "He said he wanted to know how I destroyed the diary, so we could figure out how to destroy the other Horcruxes. So I guess that's a yes." He dragged himself up into a sitting position, feeling sluggish and slow and like he needed a hot shower to clear his head. "Why?"
"What if the diary wasn't the Horcrux?"
"Of course it was, it all fits, Dumbledore said so." Harry slid off the couch and crawled over to the fireplace next to Ginny. She was changing the colours of the flames idly, from red to blue to green and every colour in between. "What are you talking about?"
Ginny turned the flames a dark green, and lowered her wand. She stared at the fire as emerald shadows and light played over her skin. "What if you didn't destroy the Horcrux, because it was already destroyed?"
"No, it couldn't be, because Tom Riddle was still standing there when I used the Basilisk fang to stab the diary," Harry protested, scooting close to Ginny. "He didn't vanish until after that."
Ginny finally lifted her head, giving Harry a sorrowful, pitying look that almost broke his heart. "That's not what I mean." She reached out to brush a lock of hair off his forehead, the feel of her ice-cold fingers on his skin making him shiver. "What if the part of Voldemort's soul had already moved? Tom said he was putting bits of his soul into me, what if--"
"No!" Harry exclaimed, shooting to his feet. "You are not the Horcrux, the diary was!" He tried to think over the frantic beating of his heart, imagining Ginny lying on the cold ground, just as he'd seen her so many years ago in the Chamber of Secrets, only this time it was real, and this time she was dead. "You're not the Horcrux, so stop thinking that!"
"It would explain a lot," Ginny went on, as if Harry hadn't spoken. "Like why my magic kept getting more powerful, and why I keep having these nightmares--"
"That's not it!" Harry repeated, dropping to his knees in front of her. He grabbed her shoulders, wishing he could just shake her but refusing to do anything more than touching her like she was made of porcelain. He didn't trust himself to remember his strength, not now. "Everyone's magic gets more powerful when you grow up, it's like a rule! The nightmares keep happening because it was a horrible thing that happened to you!"
Ginny was staring at him, eyes wide, but with more fire in her than at any other point since he'd come down those stairs. She clenched her jaw, and Harry suspected she was thinking of some way to contradict him.
"Oh!" he said, and let her go of her arms. "Can you understand or speak Parseltounge?" he asked in the snake language.
Ginny jumped back onto the hearth, putting her hands behind herself to stop a fall. "Don't do that!" she said. "It's creepy!"
"But did you?"
"Did I what?" Ginny pulled herself back a bit and brushed her palms clean of ash.
"Understand me?"
"Of course not! What are you playing at?"
"You understood before with Voldemort, right? So you can't be the Horcrux, because you're not a Parselmouth!"
"Harry--"
"You're not the Horcrux, Ginny, so stop saying that!" He braced his hands on the stone, feeling a rough spot cut against his palm. "You're a girl, and you don't have a single part of Voldemort's soul in you."
"You don't know that," she protested faintly.
"I'm right," he said. "You know I am. Think about it!"
"Of course I want you to be right!" Ginny glared at him. "Do you think I want to have to die to make sure Voldemort is stopped?"
"You are not going to die," Harry said. "I'm not going to let you die."
The expression on Ginny's face softened for a moment, then grew hard again. "Don't go making promises you can't keep, Harry. You can't save everyone."
She climbed to her feet and swiftly left the common room, leaving Harry alone in front of the emerald flames. He let out a wavering sigh, then he straightened up.
He might not be able to save everyone, but he was going to try.
Breakfast was halfway over when Harry made it downstairs. The Great Hall was full of jubilant voices, excitement growing over the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year.
Sitting by herself at the far end of the Gryffindor table, near the teachers' table, was Hermione.
This has gone on long enough. Harry decided. He made his way down the room and slipped into the seat beside Hermione before she even noticed him.
"Harry!" she exclaimed, dropping her spoon into her cereal bowl with a clatter. "You startled me."
"I guess sitting next to a murderer can do that to you," he said under his breath, grabbing a slice of toast off the platter.
Hermione stared at him. "What are you talking about?" she demanded.
"Is there another reason you've been avoiding being around me all week?" Harry asked. He wasn't at all hungry, but he knew what would happen if he didn't eat, so he forced himself to take a bite of toast. It tasted like sawdust in his mouth.
Hermione glared down at her cereal bowl. "You're imagining things," she finally said.
Harry picked up a knife and unhappily spread jam on his toast. "Guess that's so. Just lucky then, that you don't have to spend the day with me. Have fun with Ron in Hogsmeade."
He tried to stand up, but Hermione grabbed hold of his sleeve. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded. Harry was surprised to see the beginnings of unshed tears shining in her eyes.
"I'm not the one doing it!" Harry said. "You have, ever since I told you about the--" He checked himself. "Since I told you about my summer!"
Without a word, Hermione got to her feet, abandoning her breakfast, and pulled Harry down the Hall. They got several odd looks, but Harry didn't care.
Only when they were outside into the courtyard did Hermione let go of his sleeve, turning on her heel to face him.
"Great." Harry had no idea what she was thinking. He only knew that they needed to deal with whatever issue there was between them now, before it became permanent. The thought of losing Hermione, who had always been on his side, hurt more than he wanted to admit. "Now what?"
She crossed her arms over her chest, staring at his Quidditch captain button instead of looking him in the face. "Don't you understand anything?" she demanded.
Harry blinked at her. "Understand what? That you've been avoiding me since I told you I had to kill Bellatrix Lestrange? That every time I've spoken to you since Monday, you've had this holier-than-thou attitude about anything I do? I don't appreciate being made out to be the villain here, Hermione." He took a few steps back. "Fine! Dazzle me with your brilliance! Inform me exactly how I have fallen down in your eyes! Blame me however you want, just tell me!"
"I'm not blaming you!" Hermione shouted. "Why don't you understand?"
"Why don't you just tell me?" Harry demanded. He took a step toward her, but she backed away rapidly. He stopped. She was acting scared of him. Like he'd ever do anything to hurt her!
He stared at her, unable to find anything to say. Hermione had been one of his first friends. She's always believed him, always. He'd never do anything to hurt her, ever. She had to know that.
Right?
He put his hands up. Nothing he done this past week had made a difference. No explanation, no words, nothing. "Fine," he said, concentrating very hard on not letting his voice break. "Sorry I bothered you." He turned away.
He'd only made it four steps before Hermione grabbed his arm and clung tight to him. "Why can't this be simple?" she asked, her hands trembling. "Why can't you just know this so I don't have to say it?"
He extricated himself from her grip, transferring her hands to his. "What's wrong?" he asked again. "It can't be Bellatrix; you did the same thing I did, with Umbridge in fifth year, tricking her into the Forbidden Forest with the centaurs! You knew what they'd do to her! It was only Dumbledore's showing up by accident that saved her life."
"I know that!" Hermione burst out, gripping his hands so hard it hurt. "You did what you had to, Harry, there's no getting around that! You did the right thing!"
"Exactly!" As her words sunk in, Harry frowned. "What?"
Hermione let go of him and balled her hands up in the sleeves of her robes. "Do you know why we can't find any mention of Horcruxes in any books in the library?" she asked.
"No, we're not going to talk about the Horcruxes, we're talking about why you're acting this way," Harry said, not letting himself be distracted.
Hermione, however, was beginning to get that frustrated look Harry knew so well, when he wasn't looking hard enough to see the answer. It was strangely reassuring. "Listen to me. The reason we haven't been able to find anything on Horcruxes is that they're a type of deep magic that they never teach here at Hogwarts. Necromancy."
Harry frowned. "Are you sure?"
"It's the only explanation," Hermione said. "It's playing with souls, with death and murder and evil. It's necromancy, it has to be."
"But necromancy's not evil," Harry protested. "I told you, Anita's a necromancer and she's not evil at all. It's like any other magic; it can be used to help or to harm! Look at what Snape was doing yesterday with the summoning charm in class!"
"Well, then, we'll just look in those books about all the good necromancers for information on Horcruxes," Hermione snapped. "Oh, wait. There are none."
Harry crossed his arms over his chest. "Is there a point to all this, besides insulting a friend of mine?"
"You know the point, Harry. You spent the summer with vampires and a necromancer. You saw her magic. Who's to say you might not try and use it yourself, if things get pushed too far?"
Comprehension finally hit Harry like a blow to the stomach. "You think I'm going to become evil," he breathed. "You think that one day I'm going to have to do something, and that's going to make me evil." He made himself meet her eyes. "Thanks, Hermione. Your faith in me is touching."
"No one ever sets out to become evil, Harry, but--"
"Except Voldemort," Harry interrupted. "Shouldn't forget about him. But since we're so much alike, it's obvious that I'll become like him." Barely contained hurt and pain bubbled up into anger. "God, Hermione, do you know me at all?"
"I know you, Harry, I do!" Hermione said desperately. "It's just that necromancy, more than any other Dark Art, corrupts the wizard, twists them. Some people say that the wizard doesn't use the magic; the magic uses the wizard. There hasn't been a record of any necromancer in the last thousand years who hasn't been corrupted like that!"
"Well, I've got one for you," Harry said flatly. "Anita Blake. She's not evil. She's never going to be evil, so all your books are wrong!"
Hermione let out a small scream of frustration. "What if it was Ron, doing these things?" she demanded. "If you saw him doing things that you worried about? Wouldn't you worry about him?"
"I'd worry, but I wouldn't avoid him and then accuse him of being evil!" Harry exclaimed. "Is this what's been bothering you all week? Why didn't you just say something?"
"It's not all that!" Hermione shouted. Students were beginning to trickle down the steps, looking at them curiously, and she lowered her voice quickly. "It's just... we're not all going to make it."
Feeling as if Hermione has skipped part of the conversation, Harry said, "Make it where?"
Hermione shook her head. "This fight that's coming, with V-Voldemort. Some people are going to die."
"Is that why..." Harry carefully put out his hand, and when she didn't flinch away from his touch, slid his arm around her back. "You're scared you're going to die?"
"Thanks for putting it so bluntly, Harry." In contrast with her tone, Hermione leaned into Harry's chest. "It's not that. Not only that."
"You're worried that Ron's going to get hurt?" Harry guessed.
Hermione sniffled. "Or you. Or so many people."
"Hey." Harry patted her arm. "That's the whole point of the finding out about the Horcruxes, to be able to stop Voldemort, isn't it?"
Hermione looked up at him, her eyes tinged with red. "What if it's not enough?"
"We'll make it be enough." He tried to smile. "We'll find the Horcruxes, I won't go evil, and no one's going to die."
They walked back into the castle, Harry with his arm still around Hermione. They didn't speak, which was just as well, because Harry wasn't exactly sure what to say. He'd spent the week, researching and going to classes, thinking that Hermione was freaked out because he had to kill Bellatrix Lestrange. Not that I might become evil because I tried to raise a zombie once with Anita!
The more he thought about it, as they made their silent way toward the tower, the less sense it made to him. With that frustration and lack of understanding came irritation and something that felt a little too much like anger.
Halfway up the last staircase, passing a steady stream of lower year students pounding down the steps, Harry stopped walking. Hermione's momentum carried her up another step before she realized that Harry was no longer with her.
"What I don't understand," Harry said, as if continuing a conversation, "is why."
Hermione blinked at him. “Why what?"
Harry leaned against the banister, watching Hermione closely. "Why you and Ron don't trust me anymore."
"What are you talking about?" Hermione demanded, retracing her steps until she was close enough to Harry to whisper.
Harry rubbed his forehead, starting to feel the beginning of a headache. He tried to think of the right way to say this, something to appeal to her intelligence and sense of logic, then chucked all that aside and just opened his mouth. "It's this. You and Ron either trust me, or you don't. If you do, then I have to wonder why he keeps wondering if I'm going to be attacking Ginny at any given moment, or why you're so convinced I'm going to turn evil at the drop of a hat."
Hermione turned ashen and her mouth opened, as if she was trying to say something, but nothing came out. Harry waited for a moment, before sighing.
"Look, I'm sorry, but that's how what it looks like to me right now," Harry said after a minute. "I'm sorry."
With that, he walked around Hermione, carefully not to bump into her, and up to the Gryffindor tower, feeling once again as if he'd just lost his best friend. Only this time, it was his fault.
Harry made his way through the hallways toward the courtyard. One of Ginny's roommates had told him that Ginny would meet him there, after she went to get Luna. I could have picked her up, Harry thought, slightly flustered. The last time he'd gone to Hogsmeade with a girl, things hadn't gone well at all.
But this isn't like that. I know Ginny and Luna pretty well, and we're going as friends. They know what a dork I can be, so I probably don't need to worry about that.
For the third time, Harry patted the inside of his cloak. His letters for Anita and Jason and everyone back in St. Louis were bundled up and tucked into the pocket of the cloak Elsa had given him in London. It was the only decent covering he had, and the weather hung in a gathering gloom outside, threatening to burst into rain at any moment.
And even Neville said the cloak looked nice, Harry thought. He wanted to look good for the girls, but not as if he was trying to look good.
Two small figured barreled into Harry, and he had to brace himself to avoid falling over. He grabbed two handfuls of robes, and pulled the two away from him.
"Hi Harry!" Reece said sheepishly, almost dangling from Harry's fist. The other boy, a short Hufflepuff with brown hair and scared blue eyes, let out a small "meep" and tried to shrink into nothingness.
Harry let the boys go. "If Filch catches you running in here, he'll have you in detention," he warned.
"We won't run," the other boy said quickly.
Harry grinned at the boys. "No, I mean you need to run faster, so as he can't catch you."
Reece burst into laughter. "Are you going out?" he asked. "My mom has a coat like that for the theatre."
Harry frowned dramatically, while the other little Hufflepuff friend stared, scandalized. "Reece!" the boy said.
"What, John? She does!"
"I'm taking some girls to Hogsmeade," Harry said, interrupting their banter.
"Ooh, girls," Reece teased. John seemed mortified by the whole thing, edging closer to his friend and trying to grab his sleeve to pull him away.
"Keep this up and I'll throw you in detention myself," Harry threatened. Reece just rolled his eyes, and finally let John pull him away. "Little brat," Harry muttered fondly under his breath. Was he that bad when he was eleven?
Resuming his trek out of the castle, Harry undid his cloak to make sure the Hufflepuff impact hadn't jarred his Invisibility cloak from its moorings. He knew he needed to bring it, just in case of emergency. Luckily, the thing rolled up neatly and didn't make too noticeable a bulge when the grey cloak was done up.
Hopefully I won't need it, Harry thought grimly as he clattered down the stone steps. All the students who were going to Hogsmeade were milling about, waiting for McGonagall and Filch to let them out of the gates. In the meantime, the wind had picked up, blowing a few dead leaves around the courtyard.
Where are they? Harry craned his neck to see if he could find Ginny and Luna. He walked past several groups of students, huddled together against the wind in their non-descript cloaks. Several people glanced his way, but then looked away just as quickly. I hope I don't have anything on my face.
"Harry!" Ginny called. Harry turned around to see her standing against the wall, waving at him. He smiled widely and waved back, then hurried over. "What took you so long?" she asked when he was at her side.
"I had to find Anita's address," Harry said, breathless. "Where's Luna?"
"Here," came Luna's voice. She joined them, doing up her cloak with trembling fingers as she avoided looking at them.
Ginny frowned. "Is everyone okay?" Harry asked, stepping closer to Luna.
Luna nodded. "I just had to talk to Michael about something. It's all settled now."
The note of cautiously optimistic finality in her voice made Harry wonder. He looked around, finally spotting Michael Corner in a group of boys, staring at the ground and looking rather put-out.
Harry turned to Luna, a question on the tip of his tongue, but the uncharacteristically fierce look in her eyes stopped him. She slipped her arm through his, and he could feel her trembling slightly.
He laid his hand over her arm, then, unable to help himself, bent over and quickly kissed the top of her head. "Good for you," he murmured.
Ginny was watching them both curiously, but instead of asking questions, went around to Luna's other side and draped her arm over the other girl's shoulders. "So, what are we going to do today?" she asked brightly. She caught Harry's eye and smiled at him over Luna's head, making his heart skip a beat. That look... what did she know about what was bothering Luna?
"We could go to Madame Puddifoot's tea room," Luna said.
"No way!" Harry exclaimed before he realized that Luna was laughing at him. "No 'romantic' teas. I'd rather go to the Three Broomsticks."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "I've been to one of those tea things," she said with a shudder, as the horde of students slowly queued to leave. "Maybe it's growing up with six brothers, but the whole things just seems so..."
"Girly? Pink?" Harry supplied.
"I was going to suggest contrived," Ginny said.
Luna smiled softly. "I've just never been there. I was always curious. Although Cho Chang was quite unimpressed when you took her there, Harry"
Harry licked his lips, extremely uncomfortable to be talking about Cho now. "I was only fifteen," he protested. "I couldn't read minds. Not hers, anyway. And it's not a romantic place. Any place can be romantic if you're with the right person."
"Just like a place can't be romantic if you're with the wrong person," Ginny said smugly.
"What do you think is romantic?" Luna asked Ginny. The red-heard blushed, refusing to look at Harry, and Harry felt his own face grow a little warm.
"What, Potter, couldn't find anyone to go to Hogsmeade with?" Draco Malfoy's sneering voice came from behind them. Harry spun around. The blond Slytherin, flanked by his cronies Crabbe and Goyle, sneered at Luna and Ginny. "Needing to tag along with the little girls?"
Harry felt himself smiling widely, showing his teeth. His beast came instantly alert, ready and relished the idea of a fight. "I think I'll much prefer the company of my young ladies to yours," he said, nodding at Crabbe and Goyle.
Malfoy flushed in anger at the implication, and he started toward Harry. "You--"
"Wotcher, Harry!" Out of nowhere, someone wearing Auror's robes appeared at Harry's side, stopping Malfoy in his tracks. Tonks gave the boy a vacant smile, but her eyes were alert and bright. "And you, cousin."
Thwarted, Malfoy turned his sneering attention to Tonks. "You're no cousin of mine, Tonks," he spat.
Tonks set her jaw in an expression reminiscent of Sirius Black. "That's Auror Tonks, Malfoy," she said. "Now, run along."
She watched as Malfoy stormed off, Crabbe and Goyle in tow, to butt into the line between some third-year Slytherins. Only then did she turned back to Harry, one dark eyebrow raised under her messy purple hair.
"Hi," Harry said nervously.
"Hi, Tonks," Ginny said sunnily. "What are you doing here?"
The Auror shrugged expressively, almost bumping into a passing Ravenclaw boy. "It's my turn on rotation here at Hogwarts, Auror protection and all that." She spotted Luna watching her from beside Ginny. "Hullo."
"Oh! Tonks, this is Luna Lovegood," Ginny said quickly.
"Lovegood? Your dad have anything to do with the Quibbler?" Tonks asked.
Luna nodded. "He's the editor."
"Right good read, that is," Tonks said. "Now, Harry..."
"What?" Harry said stiffly. "Even if Malfoy is your cousin, I'm not going to--"
Tonks rolled her eyes. "Look, all I was going to say was that if you're going to pick a fight with him, at least have your bleeding wand at hand, all right?" She stepped back. "See you lot in Hogsmeade," she called as she left.
Ginny waved, but once Tonks was out of sights, she turned around to glare at Harry. "Why do you need to pick a fight with Malfoy?"
"Because he's Malfoy!" Harry exclaimed. "I wasn't going to stand around and let him--"
"Oh, stop!" Ginny tossed her hair over her shoulder, stepping next to Luna, who was watching them argue. "I'd do the same thing to him, but it's a bit much. You do know he's not going to forget that."
"Who bloody well cares?" Harry demanded. "And really, if he thinks that little insult was more important than, oh, I don't know, getting his father thrown in Azkaban, he's stupider than I thought."
"I didn't know that he had any Aurors in the family," Luna said, staring off in the direction Tonks had gone. "Seems rather poetic."
"Tonks's mum married a muggle-born wizard, and the family kicked her out," Ginny explained as the line finally started moving again. "Malfoy's mother and Tonks's mum are sisters."
"Oh," Luna said. "So that's why she doesn't trust him."
Harry frowned. "What do you mean?"
Luna blinked up at him. "That Auror, she doesn't trust Draco Malfoy at all. She was watching him very closely."
Harry didn't know what to think. He looked around to where Tonks was chatting with another Auror in the corner of the courtyard. Was it his imagination, or did she glance away as he moved his head?
Something's going on, Harry mused, wondering what he had missed. Something to do with Malfoy, and the Aurors? Or just something Tonks knew about Draco in particular?
His mind racing, Harry didn't really notice as the girls got past Filch and they started out on the road to the wizarding village, until Luna came up next to him and nudged his arm. "Knut for your thoughts."
"Hrm? Oh, sorry." Harry shook his head. "Just thinking."
"We think all week in class," Luna said. "You're supposed to stop thinking now."
"Don't know if I can." He shifted his cloak around so he could take her hand as they walked down the road.
"What are you thinking about?" Luna asked, squeezing her hand tight. "Romantic dinners?" Her eyes strayed to Ginny, who had fallen behind them as she slowed to wrap her scarf more tightly around her neck.
"No way," Harry said with feeling. "I'm here and I'm enjoying this, right now."
Luna gave him a tiny smile, so sweet and real that he was very glad he'd decided to spend the day with Ginny and Luna both. "So am I."
"Good. How did your talk with Michael go?" he asked quietly, making sure Ginny was still behind them. “What did he say?"
"He didn't say much of anything," Luna said, staring down the road. "But I guess that's over, now."
"It is," Harry reassured her. "He won't bother you again."
"What are you two talking about?" Ginny called, running to catch up. She took Luna's other arm and leaned in against her friend. "Talking about me?"
"You wish," Harry said without thinking. Luckily, Ginny started laughing. "You know what I mean."
"What are we going to do today?" Luna asked.
"Let's go for a long walk," Ginny suggested. "I need to walk somewhere with no bloody stairs for a bit!"
A grin slowly spread across Harry's face, and he turned eagerly to the girls. "I've got just the place."
"Harry?"
Harry closed his eyes momentarily when he heard Hermione's voice. He composed himself and turned away from the display of ice mice in the back of Honeydukes sweet shop. "Hi, Hermione." He looked around. "Where's Ron?"
"Over at the Three Broomsticks," Hermione said awkwardly. "I told him I wanted to get more quills and he decided to go for a drink." She frowned slightly as she took in the state of Harry's cloak. "What happened to you?"
Harry looked down at the mud stain on the hem of the cloak. "Oh, that." He rubbed his neck, embarrassed. "Ginny and Luna and me went over to the Shrieking Shack, and Luna distracted me while Ginny transfigured some branches into a dancing puppet man and they startled me and I sort of fell over," he said in a rush.
Hermione's lips twitched. "I see," she said.
"And I tried to magic the dirt off, but it didn't work," Harry continued. "I'll deal with it when I get back to school."
"Where are Luna and Ginny?" Hermione asked, stepping out of the way of a passing group of hyperactive third-years.
"Oh, at the Three Broomsticks too," Harry said, picking up a handful of candies. "I had to go to the post office and thought I'd come in here and get some candy for Reece." He moved over to the Fizzing Whizbees and picked up a package.
"That's... nice," Hermione said doubtfully. "Why?"
"Because he's in first year and can't leave the school," Harry explained, distracted as he tried to balance his handfuls of candy.
"Right." Exasperated, Hermione took some of the candy from Harry. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
Harry bit his lip as he concentrated very hard on a display of blood-flavored lollipops. "About what?"
"About this morning." Hermione took a deep breath. "What you said..."
"What about it?" Harry asked as he picked up three Blood-Pops.
Hermione fiddled with a candy, not looking at Harry. "I do trust you."
"Oh." Harry slowly picked up another lollipop and laid it on his stack of candy. "Okay."
"So does Ron. He won't say it, but he does. I know it."
Harry swallowed hard. "That means a lot," he said quietly. "Thanks.... for telling me." He took a deep breath. "And about today, I'm sorry I was, you know, like that."
Hermione gave him a shaky smile. "We've got a lot on our minds," she said. "I only worry about you because I care, you know."
"I know." Harry caught a distantly familiar scent, something that reminded him of Anita, and he frowned, trying to figure out what it was. "You know I care about you too, right?"
Hermione nodded. Something about that scent, now gone, sparked a deep anxiety in Harry. He scooped up his candy and started shoving his way through the crowd to the front counter, Hermione on his heels.
Harry dumped the candy on the counter and waited impatiently as a nervous-looking Slytherin girl carefully paid for a Licorice Wand. The older man behind the counter gave the girl her change, then turned to Harry.
"Harry Potter!" the man exclaimed in a voice so loud that Harry winced. Everyone in the shop staring their way now, the man continued happily, "I was hoping you'd be coming in today! The newest member of the Chocolate Frog card family!"
Fuck! Harry had managed to forget that he'd been put on the trading cards during the summer. The last thing he needed now, just when things were getting strange, was to have this attention focused on him! He plastered a smile on his face and made himself stand up straight.
"I do hope you'll let me present you with this token of our congratulations!" the man said, bringing up a large basket packed with all kinds of candy.
"No, I can't--" Harry tried to say.
"Of course you can! It's quite an honour, being put on the cards." He shoved the basket toward Harry, casting a proprietary eye at the crowd behind Harry. Harry snuck a glance to see several Hogwarts students edging toward the large Chocolate Frog display. As they moved, the rest of the shop seemed to clear, and Harry caught a glimpse of a little girl who had previously been hidden, standing by the Acid Pops.
Adrenaline exploded in Harry's body as he locked eyes with the girl. What is Elsa doing here? Harry thought.
Elsa blinked at him, then slowly pushed herself away from the wall and sauntered to the door.
"Shall I just ring these up for you, Mr. Potter?" the clerk asked, drawing Harry's attention back.
"What? Oh sure," Harry said, bringing his attention back to the counter. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Elsa walk past the front window and around the side of the building. I need to know why she's here! What if something's wrong, or something's happened to Anita or Damian?
He swiftly paid the man, not letting himself seem as if he was in any kind of hurry. He dropped his wrapped purchases on top of the large basket, and picked it up with his left hand, just in case he needed to go for his wand with his right. He made his way past the shoppers, now waiting to buy Chocolate Frogs, and was out the door of the shop before he realized that Hermione was still at his elbow. She was looking at him very closely.
Careful, she'll think something's up. "Why don't you head over to the pub?" he suggested lightly. "I just remembered I needed to grab something at Zonko's."
Hermione narrowed her eyes. "You were in an awful hurry to get out of there," she pointed out. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Aw, Hermione, you know how much I hate having a fuss made over me, especially something as dumb as those cards." He shivered and pulled his cloak tighter. "Go on, the wind's picking up. I'll be there in a little bit."
"Okay," Hermione said, hunching down against the wind. "Don't be long." She held her hand out for the candy basket.
"Thanks, I won't be," Harry promised. He watched for a moment as Hermione made her way down the street, before he turned and headed in the direction Elsa had gone.
Maybe she's in the alley? Harry thought, slipping his wand into his hand. Why is she here? I know she went into Diagon Alley with me and Anita, but why--
Harry's speculation was cut off when he felt a sharp pointy object poke itself into his ribs. Concentrating, he could barely make out a small figure in front of him in the shadows.
"You seem to be venturing into dark corners all alone, little boy," Elsa's mocking voice filled his ears as she stepped into the dim daylight. "You're either brave or very, very stupid."
"I'm going to go with brave," Harry said, stepping around her to avoid her wand.
"I'm not," she snapped. "Come, we need to talk."
She held out her hand, but Harry shook his head. "We can talk here."
"Where anyone can see?" Elsa asked mockingly. "What would people say, you dallying with such a child?"
"Stop it!" Harry exclaimed, grossed out by her implication. "We'll talk right here." He pulled out his Invisibility cloak and threw it over his shoulders before stepping against the wall. "Now no one's going to see me with you, happy?"
Elsa hopped up on a box next to Harry and pulled a Blood-Pop out of her pocket. "At least you can use your head at some point." She unwrapped the candy. "Although if I'd wanted to kill you, I'd have done it in the sweet shop and no one would know it was me."
"Right, because little witches always duel in candy stores," Harry snapped. "Why are you here? Is it because of me?"
Elsa drew the lollipop over her tongue with a look of bliss on her face, making Harry feel slightly ill. "Of course it was," she said after a moment. "I wanted to make sure my investment was safe. At least you're wearing that cloak."
"Investment?" Harry demanded. "And what about this cloak?"
The diminutive witch cast her gaze to the sky. "That cloak that I gave you in London, it repels magic," she explained slowly, as if to a slow child. "Such as curses. You're safer when you wear it."
Harry glared at her, although she couldn't see it. "Why are you telling me this now? Wouldn't it have been a slight bit better to know before I left for school?"
Elsa ignored him. "Jean-Claude has been very careful about you, you know. He's made Christoff a handsome offer, in exchange for his protection of you and his little death maker. I am simply here to ensure that you don't get attacked by those revolting Death Eaters on your day out."
"We have Aurors around for that," Harry said, wondering what kind of deal Jean-Claude had made with Christoff, Elsa's vampire master and Master of London.
The girl made a dismissive motion with her hand. "The English Aurors are useless. We had them in the battle against Grindewald and what did they do? Die."
"Battle against Grindewald?" Harry repeated. "Hey, Dumbledore was in that too. Did you know him? Albus Dumbledore?"
Elsa turned her head to look at Harry, her eyes ancient in her forever-young face. "I know Albus Dumbledore," she said in a flat voice, all hint of her previous merriment gone. "Which is another reason why I'm here."
"To see him?" Harry asked.
Elsa sighed. "No. Not to see him." She waved her hand again. "Go, child, go eat your sweets and have your innocent fun with your friends." She examined her lollipop, sticking her lower lip out in a pout. "It never lasts."
"So nothing's wrong?" Harry asked again. "Everyone's safe in St. Louis? And in London?"
"Yes, everyone is safe," Elsa snapped. "In the spirit of co-operation, Christoff sent several of his wererats to America, a show of security. I expect that your succubus is quite safe."
It took an extreme effort, but Harry managed to not respond to the slight against Anita. "Good." His mind raced back to a subject never far away these days, and he blurted out, "Do you know anything about Horcruxes?"
Elsa started up off her box. "What did you say?"
"Do you know anything about Horcruxes?" Harry repeated. "There's this thing...."
As he spoke, the look of horror on Elsa's face changed into a slowly spreading, gleeful smile. "Oh, your Voldemort has been using Horcruxes," she breathed. "What a bad boy."
"Hey, I didn't say--"
"Of course not," Elsa said. "Oh, how deliciously evil!" She giggled. "That explains so much!"
Harry was now kicking himself. "I shouldn't have mentioned it. Never mind, okay?"
Elsa kept laughing. "Oh, boy, you're so completely hopeless." She slid off her crate to the ground. "What is that American phrase? Never try and play a player?" She shook her head and wandered down the alley. "You're doomed!" she called before she vanished around the side of the house.
"Bloody brilliant, Potter," Harry muttered, watching her go. "Dumbledore's going to kill me." As well he should!
Harry trudged down the narrow passage, pulling off his Invisibility cloak as he went. He'd just stowed it in his pocket when a hand came out of nowhere and pushed him back against the wall. He was already going for his wand when he realized that the person who'd grabbed him was Tonks.
She stared steadily at him, no hint of amusement on her face now. Harry stared back for a moment before wrenching himself away from her. He waited for her to speak, to say something, demand something, like everyone tended to do these days, but she was silent.
Finally, he spoke. "I'm meeting Ginny and Luna at the Three Broomsticks. Care to join us?"
Tonks shook her head, changing her hair from purple to dark blue. "I'm still on patrol, until everyone heads back."
Keeping his face as blank as he could make it, Harry stepped back and gave a tiny bow, like he'd done to Christoff in London those weeks ago. "Then I'll see you at the castle," he said, before turning and walking down the street.
Did Tonks see me with Elsa? Harry wondered as he squeezed into the crowded Three Broomsticks pub. So what if she did? It's just another kid, who can tell the difference with a school full of students here today?
Ginny and Luna were sitting with Ron and Hermione by the far wall. Ron hastily brushed some empty sweet wrappers off the table as Harry sat down. "What did you get?" he asked.
Harry glanced at the sweets basket, not surprised to see some gaps in the collection. "Get where?"
"At Zonko's," Hermione reminded him.
"Oh, I never got there," Harry said, pulling up a chair. "I met someone I knew, had a chat. What have you all been up to?"
"Luna was telling us about her trip to Sweden a year ago with her father to find the Crumple-Horned Snorkack," Ginny said with a mischievous grin.
Hermione pursed her lips at the mention of a creature she was convinced didn't exist, which made Ginny grin harder. Harry wondered what they'd been doing in his absence.
"I'd rather hear about how Harry got frightened by a bunch of sticks today?" Ron said, putting his arm around Hermione and grinning at Harry.
"Hey!" Harry protested, but it didn't stop Ginny from beginning the story.
On the outside, everything looked and felt normal, just friends having a drink at the pub before heading back to school. Inside, though, nothing felt normal at all. Elsa's sudden intrusion into Harry's life at Hogwarts cast a severe pall over his mood. She hadn't just shown up to keep an eye on him. But what had she wanted?
Added to the mess with Hermione and Ron, what was going on with Tonks and Draco Malfoy? Harry really hadn't given Malfoy much thought since the beginning of the year; everything else had been so busy.
Harry listened to Ginny's story, laughing in all the right places, but inside he was cold and so very tired. There's too much going on, he thought. Too much magic and too much mystery, none of it simple. I wish... His mind stuttered to a halt while he tried to figure out exactly what he did want.
Ginny ended the story, to everyone else's great amusement. Harry realized he was staring at her when she smiled at him. He made himself smile back, but he didn't really mean it.
Maybe that's my problem, Harry thought. I know what I want.
I just don't know how I'm not going to die in the process.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 04:25 am (UTC)Harry/Luna/Ginny? Rock on.
Also, gathering gloom! Hee. [deliberate or otherwise]
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Date: 2006-03-22 05:30 am (UTC)Second, it's deliberate, 100%.
Third: Harry and Hermione are having the most problems as she's never really distrusted him before. He sees it as a bit of betrayal. In her mind, her reaction is justified as Harry's in very dangerous territory, and she's terrified that he'll go down the same path as those other wizards. Between the lines, however, is her complete distrust of Anita and what Anita stands for. But is she not saying anything as whenever anyone talks about Anita, Harry's suddenly Anita's biggest cheerleader? Or for other reasons?
Only time will tell.
H/G/L luv!
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 04:30 am (UTC)Much lovage and glompage,
Me
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Date: 2006-03-22 05:32 am (UTC)ANITA: What the hell is this?
JASON: Candy from Harry. Go ahead, try it.
ANITA: *tastes* Blech! This tastes like BLOOD!
JC: Mmm. Do it again.
ANITA: *kills*
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 04:31 am (UTC)ok. what i want to know is what is up with tonks. first, luna (who i always thought knows more than she lets on) implies that tonks is particularly intuitive about malfoy, then she gets all weird about elsa (who really does just look like a little girl, yes?) so what is it that tonks can do? is it tonks at all, showing up randomly like that?
(i always wondered how people recognise her all the time when she changes her hair and nose and everything. she must stick to a base model?)
btw, good chapter :-) i suspect i am missing important bits here and there. also, i want to know what elsa knows about horcruxes. hmmm.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 05:41 am (UTC)how on earth is he dreaming anita, and why
An excellent question, and one I'm sure will be addressed by the mean author at some point.
Tonks -- well, in my little world, Tonks is an Auror, and a bloody good one. She's young. She's in the Order of the Phoenix.
She was also raised by Andromeda Tonks nee Black. A woman who is sister to Bellatrix and Narcissa. A woman who, in my mind, was not the weaker sister.
*insert thunder*
I think in the books, Tonks usually just changed her hair while she's around the others, unless she's in disguise. Not sure though.
Elsa and Horcruxes... we'll see (by now, you should see that my phrase "we'll see" means either I know what's happening and it's a plot point, of I'm complely clueless.)
(no subject)
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From: (Anonymous) - Date: 2006-03-23 03:00 am (UTC) - Expandno subject
Date: 2006-03-22 04:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 05:43 am (UTC)*still loves that hedgehog*
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 05:01 am (UTC)Tonks in Hogsmeade? Could Remus not be far behind? ^_^
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Date: 2006-03-22 05:51 am (UTC)K no. Elsa was actually an accident. She wasn't going to exist at all, until I was three chapters before the London scene and I needed someone to tell Anita the real score about Harry. I have no idea *how* i came up with the idea of a child witch as human servant, but she hit all the right buttons.
Also, maybe one day I'll tell you the fairy tale that Christoff played a part in, in this version of story history. It all has to do with his ability to call rats.
Remus's arrival... let's just say it'll be a suprise. Oh, and a disaster of sorts :)
(no subject)
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Date: 2006-03-22 05:54 am (UTC)Oh my goodness for all the L/H/G love! With all the arms and hands and the closeness and YAY!
I should have realized that Anita had something to do with the dreams, it only makes sense, really. Elsa makes me happy, she's so delightfully mostly-scary and some other random bits thrown in that make people feel wiggy around her. I'm so curious to know what she knows about Horcruxes, now. And dude, Tonks was being eerily freaky-ish...just showing up in the alley with Harry, and being suspicious of Malfoy (though really, who can blame her on that one?)
This was such a good chapter, I can't wait for the next one!
(ohh...and Reece! I luff him more and more every time we get to see him. He's so adorable!!)
*icon love*
Date: 2006-03-22 06:03 am (UTC)Pft. Harry? Never.
With all the arms and hands and the closeness and YAY!
Indeed :) I had to put that little dig in about them being Harry's girls, with Draco. Why? Because slamming Draco is fun sometimes. Also, they totally are, in ways we'll soon see. (Although not see, as poor virginal Harry would never *dream* of doing *that*) (unless he's having Anita dreams, then all bets and clothes are off).
Tonks isn't being freaky. She's doing her job, which at this points looks like "keep an eye on Harry". It's the smart thing to do - Death Eaters seem to evil!glomp the boy.
Yes, Reece is love too. Oh so cute, and such a lingering plot point :)
Re: *icon love*
From:Re: *icon love*
From:no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 06:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 04:22 pm (UTC)The Anita dreams thing is either a plot point or a red herring so I could have Harry dreaming of Nathaniel. Mmm. Either way, it's fun.
Thanks!
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 10:07 am (UTC)The thing I'm wondering about is how could Harry get dreams with what Anita is doing in them?
I must say I have missed Elsa so it was nice seeing her again.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 11:02 am (UTC)So much to love, and I know I'm not going to cover everything - Reece (little brat!), Elsa ("You're doooomed!!!") and Elsa backstory with Grindelwald and Dumbledore, Harry and Hermione trying to straighten things out between them, Harry/Ginny/Luna interaction, competant Tonks, typical schoolyard-insults Draco, and Harry finally figuring out his weird dreams (is the explanation of his connection to Anita a near or distant plot revelation?).
Harry's problems with DADA are interesting - is this a result of his not-quite-human status now, or is Snape using some kind of modifier on the Accio spell? Are werewolves not part of the summoning charm's "go around barriers"? Looking forward to seeing where the Snape and Harry Show goes.
Reeeeece! Such a cutie! How many chapters away is the full moon? (and maybe Lupin? *hopes*)
Harry's defence of Anita against the prejudice about necromancers was wonderful, though "she's not evil (and) she's never going to be evil!" made me wince a little, because Hermione had a point, too - evil people generally don't set out to be Evil. I just can't help remembering the Bokor Majeur (and I'm sure I've misspelt that!). It was also interesting to see the melding of Anitaverse canon and convincing Wizarding-lore fanon when Hermione said that the magic of necromancy controls the wizard, not the other way around. How many times have we heard Anita say that her gift isn't something she can just ignore; that if she didn't use it, it would find a way to manifest?
Also, Harry? So a Horcrux. :)
Two spelling catches:
What if I was in a fight with someone near a bunch of knives?
and the two references to Grindewald in the conversation with Elsa should be Grindelwald.
Great stuff! Looking forward to the next chapter.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 06:48 pm (UTC)Yes
Harry's problems with DADA are interesting - is this a result of his not-quite-human status now, or is Snape using some kind of modifier on the Accio spell?
It's a modifier. As much fun as tormenting Harry is, Snape would want to actually be useful to everyone (shocking, I know) and so modified the spell to they can summon the kitchen sink in a fight.
Reeeeece! Such a cutie! How many chapters away is the full moon?
Next chapter!
Harry's defence of Anita against the prejudice about necromancers was wonderful, though "she's not evil (and) she's never going to be evil!" made me wince a little, because Hermione had a point, too - evil people generally don't set out to be Evil. I just can't help remembering the Bokor Majeur (and I'm sure I've misspelt that!).
The thing is, they're both right -- Hermione about the power using the wizard, how there have been no "good" necromancers, worrying about Harry. Harry about how Anita's a good person. However, each is so convinced of their own positions they're not willing to entertain shades of grey.
It was also interesting to see the melding of Anitaverse canon and convincing Wizarding-lore fanon when Hermione said that the magic of necromancy controls the wizard, not the other way around. How many times have we heard Anita say that her gift isn't something she can just ignore; that if she didn't use it, it would find a way to manifest?
I do what I can. No, seriously, I think it's important here to point out that Anita doesn't need an external force for her necromancy like Harry does for his magic (the wand) -- she *is* her magic. Frankly, I think there's more of a danger of Harry's kind of wizard to go power-crazy, because they have to seek out the magic. Anita has it already. (No Anita-Sue power comments, K? I'm ignoring the fact that she gets more powers every book)
Also, Harry? So a Horcrux. :)
I have no idea what you're talking about.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 11:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 04:31 pm (UTC)I love using Elsa and Reece as minor characters, developing them into "people" in the story with their short apperances. It's a great exercise for later making completely new characters in original work format.
I think Tonks really *is* that good, and Harry in the books has only so far seen the goofy facade (the clumsiness and all that). But maybe I'm wrong about Tonks. We'll see.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 12:01 pm (UTC)Bloody brilliant, Potter,/i
And then onward.
H/L/G - yay!!
Ooohh, a 'living reminder' that Dumby makes mistakes. Or at least, left a living enemy. Already dangerous. Go Elsa!
And duh... Nat-dreams are because Nat-dreams are a good thing. JC and Asher dreamers are... er... good things that happen due to mind-link with grandfather's master.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 06:51 pm (UTC)More the first. Elsa's not so much an enemy of Dumbledore's, as she knows more about his fight with Grindelwald than most. Um, yeah. Can't say more.
And duh... Nat-dreams are because Nat-dreams are a good thing. JC and Asher dreamers are... er... good things that happen due to mind-link with grandfather's master.
Except for Harry - Asher. Ew. He really doesn’t like the man. Vamp. Whatever :)
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 12:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 02:17 pm (UTC)How do you manage to move the plot so far in one, ok it is long, chapter without making it feel like it is rushed?? The plot and characters are so rich..
You could have called this chapter "Harry gets a clue" He seems to be thinking pro-actively instead of just reacting to things.
Hermione is going to figure the Reece thing out in about 15 minutes after she sees Harry and Reece interact...
Elsa creeps me out, she gives him a powerful magic item in that cloak, then mocks him for it. It was good that Harry had a feeling something wasn't right before he saw her, he needs to hone that to a razor's point.
What did Luna say to Michael and what will the consequences.. I hope he doesn't get violent. Some boys hold anger towards girls who like other girls.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 06:52 pm (UTC)It's just having the points I need to address in mind when I sit down to write, and letting it flow. It seems to come with practice, too. Months ago I had a harder time doing it.
Elsa creeps me out, she gives him a powerful magic item in that cloak, then mocks him for it. It was good that Harry had a feeling something wasn't right before he saw her, he needs to hone that to a razor's point.
Elsa's just annoyed with Harry's youth. She knows he has to go kill the bad man, is annoyed that he's fallen for the line, and wants him to grow up *now*. She's also not a huge fan of protecting him, no matter what she said Christoff's up to.
What did Luna say to Michael and what will the consequences.. I hope he doesn't get violent.
No violence will occur, but other parts of that storyline are not over yet.
(no subject)
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From:Amazing!
Date: 2006-03-22 05:39 pm (UTC)Ok, first of all, love confrontational Harry, don't know why, so seeing his talk with Hermione was great. Love how it worked out, kind of, in the end.
Second, the Reece scene was so adorable! I'm guessing some of the lollipops were for him, right?
Tonks, hmm...seems much more alert than in the books, but like you said, Harry might just be seeing the goofy side of her. Or maybe it wasn't Tonks at all, but someone else in disguise! Doubtful though, as she did that whole changing her hair thing...
Else was great, I voted for her, I had this feeling she would show up and she did! Oh, she was brilliant and the cloak was very smart. I'm guessing Harry will start wearing it to DADA from now on?
That shy little Slytherin girl paying for her sweets, just a random person? Don't think so! She was paying for the stuff very carefully, like, "I don't know this kind of money so must count it all again" carefully. Or maybe it's just me being paranoid, wouldn't be the first time...
The whole date-thing with Harry, Ginny and Luna was also brilliant. The whole thing was brilliant. Congratulations and thanks again for writing such an amazing story!
Re: Amazing!
Date: 2006-03-22 05:45 pm (UTC)Now, *clears throat* I do believe the first time Harry shared a dream with Anita was when she was dreaming about her mom and Olaf, am I correct? And this was after she was tortured by the Cruciatus. So, my theory is, that when Harry did whatever it was that he did ( Has this been explained already, btw? ), he mixed his magic with Anita's, or something along those lines. This was kind of like what happened between him and Voldemort, when Voldy passed some of his talents, see Parseltongue, to Harry. Because of this link, Harry can see and feel what is going with Voldemort, or could before Voldy found out. SO, because Harry stopped the Cruciatus thingy, he shared some of his magic with Anita, therefore creating a link with her. Because of this, he can see her dreams! Watcha think? Completely off radar?
Oh, and also, when will Edward be making an appearance? And has Olaf joined the DE's, will he be coming?
Re: Amazing!
From:Re: Amazing!
From:Re: Amazing!
From:Re: Amazing!
From:no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 08:04 pm (UTC)First off, the convo with Ginny at the beginning. I don't think Ginny's a Horcrux because I just can't see Harry having to destroy her to save the world. The interaction between the two here was cute...snuggling on the couch together :) Also, Harry and his hero complex promising her that she won't die. She got a little upset about that, but I gess, who can blame her really? It's not really something that he can promise; or can he?
The confrontation with Hermione was very believable. It's good you addressed the whole Umbridge thing for all those curious readers out there :) But it was also perfect because I can really see how there would be angst for Harry concerning her because she's never not trusted him in this way, like avoided him and been scared and stuff. I feel like part of Ron's jackassedness is rubbing off on her.
Anyways, Luna/Harry/Ginny love! They're Harry's girls...though I don't know if he thinks of them that way yet. I am curious about how you're going to work it out the attraction from Ginny to Luna. I know everyone one else is hormonal for each other all around, but what about G/L? And really, Harry is connected to Anita (which I called from the beginning!!) and having sexy dreams...he's really got to get to a few smooches with his "girls" :)
Yay! for minor characters! I love Reece...he's such a cutie! and since the full moon is coming up, I see a little bit of Animagus!Harry and Werewolf!Reece action the next chapter? Also, Tonks is super-observant and I think she knows more than she's letting on...hmmm? Does this have anything to do with her relationship to Remus? or just plain old Auror stuff? And Elsa! She's a great plot device...this all-knowing creepy child throws a wrench into things...I reall feel like she'll play a little bit bigger part later, for exposition if nothing else.
Great chapter overall!! Lots of info covered like you said, but all good! Too bad Harry couldn't enjoy the rest of his Hogmeade's visit with the ladies, but I'm sure they'll be used to cheer him up later in our next downward spiral of doom and gloom :) Happy writing my friend!!! Take care!
♥
no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 10:23 pm (UTC)It's a promise he might not be able to keep, and she knows it. It's sweet and all, but in her mind not feasible.
But it was also perfect because I can really see how there would be angst for Harry concerning her because she's never not trusted him in this way, like avoided him and been scared and stuff.
With Ron, if he's acting like a jackass, well that's his emotional reaction. Hermione is the voice of reason and logic and all that jazz. If she's afraid of him, Harry has to start wondering what's really going on, and if he's really as safe as he thinks he is.
I am curious about how you're going to work it out the attraction from Ginny to Luna.
Yeah, me too. I've got my thinking cap on for that one.
And Elsa! She's a great plot device...this all-knowing creepy child throws a wrench into things...I reall feel like she'll play a little bit bigger part later, for exposition if nothing else.
Elsa love to make trouble, and to know everything. Plus, as she looks 12, she can get into Hogwarts a little easier... oops. Did I just say that?
Great chapter overall!! Lots of info covered like you said, but all good!
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 08:37 pm (UTC)Harry's Anita dreams: reminding me strikingly of when JC Marked Anita and came to her in dreams. Now, with Harry's beast and his vampire blood, this altogether makes my conspiracy-theorist mind say he's two-thirds of a triumvirate with Anita! Bwahahaha.
Uhhh....does Harry not understand that this totally pins him as one? *beats Harry's head against the hearth*
Okay, I changed my mind. Harry's not in a triumvirate with Anita. He's her Horcrux. *cackles evilly* Hermionie would never forgive him!
Is this a mistake, a uncle/Ulfric thing, or Reece implying that Elsa dressed Harry like a poufter? *giggles* I'm betting on the latter.
Can't wait for the next update! *waves a Harry/Nathaniel banner*
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Date: 2006-03-22 09:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2006-03-22 10:26 pm (UTC)*rushes to read the rest*
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Date: 2006-03-22 11:09 pm (UTC):O indeed
Enjoy!
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Date: 2006-03-22 11:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 11:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2006-03-22 11:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-23 02:42 am (UTC)I wonder what Jean Claude gave Cristoff for the protection of Harry?
Elvis memorabilia.
Oh man, can you imagine JC at an Elvis concert??
(no subject)
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From: (Anonymous) - Date: 2006-03-23 05:14 pm (UTC) - ExpandI can't stop reading your stuff!
Date: 2006-03-23 09:10 pm (UTC)I can't stop reading your fanfics. I'm like a junkie!
Whoever sees this post please go to my journal and take a calorie quiz
I have posted there. I need the results for a project I'm doing. Thanks!
Your identity can remain secret!
no subject
Date: 2006-03-24 02:46 pm (UTC)