Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter 9

Having a girlfriend was an extra difficulty Harry hadn't originally expected. It certainly entailed some never-before-received attention… which he definitely liked. However, it also created the problem of having someone to answer to-something he never had to deal with before. Harry was used to doing things alone, without worrying about anyone else looking for him or telling him what to do. A girlfriend was a constraint on his usual free time.

Currently, Harry was running through the halls coming back from Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. His destination was the Great Hall and he had minutes to get there, grab a bite to eat, then meet with Hermione and explain why he was so late; all before their afternoon classes started. Of course, he couldn't tell her the truth so that made the explanation bit much harder to do. Especially, when the truth would have him telling her that he was hours from the completion of the Potential for Becoming Potion.

The Great Hall was practically empty by the time Harry skidded through the doorway. Hermione watched him from over the top of the enormous book she had in her lap. Her gaze never wavered from him as Harry sprinted up the long aisles to the Ravenclaw table.

"Hello, Hermione," he said, tossing her a melt-your-socks grin as he flung himself down onto the bench and grabbed a sandwich from the table. "Sorry I'm late, I lost track of time."

"Where were you?" Hermione asked, handing him a napkin and shutting her library book.

"Owlery," Harry managed after quickly swallowing his bite of his chicken sandwich.

Hermione seemed mollified at this answer and turned around to collect a few other lunch menu items for him while he reached over for the pitcher of pumpkin juice and poured himself a glass. "How's Hedwig doing?" she asked politely.

Luckily for him, Hedwig pestered him often enough for Harry to answer her honestly. "She seems to be doing alright, other than that school owl who continues to bother her. He's doing a terrible job wooing her and all of his efforts are making her crabby."

"So, no little love nest," Hermione replied with a lift of her eyebrow as she handed him Cornish pasties.

Harry gratefully accepted the pasties while he remembered how his owl had pecked loudly and incessantly at his window last night just to get away from the foolish barn owl. Laughing he said, "No, Hedwig's not falling for his posturing."

"Hedwig's a smart girl."

"Mmm," Harry agreed through another bite of his chicken sandwich.

Hermione shook her head at him fondly and started packing up her things for class. Harry stuffed the rest of his sandwich into his mouth and with puffed out cheeks helped Hermione pack her things. Harry watched as Hermione tried repeatedly to stuff the book she'd been reading when he first came into the Great Hall into her bag without any luck.

"Hhre," Harry mumbled, pulling his wand out and casting the shrinking spell silently without really thinking about it.

"Wow," Hermione said, watching the book shrink rapidly before spinning around asked accusingly, "How come you didn't tell me you could do silent magic? We're not suppose to learn how to even attempt silent spells until closer to the holidays in Professor Hobday's class!"

"I--uh--" Harry said, having managed to finish the last bite, hurriedly grabbed his juice and drained it dry.

"Well?" Hermione asked, arms folded over her chest.

Harry scratched his head, then grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "Don't we have to get going? The bell is going to ring."

"Harry James Potter!"

"What do you want me to say, Hermione?" Harry asked irritably, not bothering to look at her as he walked toward the entrance hall.

"The truth would be nice," Hermione muttered darkly, practically jogging to keep up with him.

Harry glanced down at the top of her curly mass of hair. "Does it matter? I've known how to do silent spells for a while."

"Well how did you learn them?"

"Practice."

Hermione let out a frustrated huff and Harry mentally reminded himself never to perform wandless magic in front of her. If she was this upset about silent spell casting then she would blow a gasket if she knew. Not to mention his ability to sometimes combine the two.

She wasn't speaking to him when they got to Potions which suited Harry just fine. His grumpy mood matched Professor Snape's as the greasy man started lecturing on the finer points of poisons and their antidotes, with specific highlights on the Draught of Peace and it's counter potion Draught of Cognizance.

Not a single Hufflepuff blew up their cauldron during the period, which greatly surprised Professor Snape who made a snide comment on the incompetence of Hufflepuffs anyway. Harry kept his head down and continued to work on following the directions he'd modified slightly in his book. Hermione was beside him working just as diligently but following the directions as given by Snape on the board. Had she'd been talking to him, Harry would have pointed out the overly acidic quality of the hellebore when using peppermint would get the same results with a safer acidic level for drinking. Not to mention it improved the taste of the antidotal potion.

Harry sighed and stirred his cauldron six times anti-clockwise before dutifully removing it from the lime-colored flames and setting it to the side. He felt more than saw Hermione turn to frown at him, clearly wondering how he could be nearly finished when she still had a way to go. He started packing up his cauldron kit as he waited for the his Cognizance potion to cool down enough to set under a stasis spell in preparation for their next class where they would have another period to complete the potion.

For the remainder of the class, Harry jotted down notes in his notebook on the potion making process. He wrote down why he changed what he did in the directions and the results that followed those changes. As Snape was making his last round through the classroom, Hermione cast the stasis charm on her cauldron while Harry collected a vial of his potion and set it aside in his bag as evidence to its current state should somebody wreck it between the end of this class and the start of the next. He could never be too cautious around Snape's vindictiveness and schoolboy grudge.

When the bell rang, Snape dismissed everybody with a sneering comment on their inability to brew even the most uncomplicated potions. Harry just rolled his eyes at the comment and took his and Hermione's cauldrons, clearly labeled with their names, to his desk. Since most students were still casting stasis charms Harry was able to quickly hand them off to Snape and escape before the git could so much as even considering blasting either potion with an evanesco.

"Are you going to talk to me?" Hermione asked him as they walked back to the wide main staircase in the entrance hall; Hermione off to the greenhouses for Professor Sprout's lesson and Harry back to their common room to start Charms homework in the three hours before dinnertime.

"I thought you weren't talking to me," Harry replied placing his hands in his pockets and climbing the marble stairs back up to the ground floor.

Hermione seemed to think about her answer before responding quietly, "How is it you know how to do silent spell-casting, Harry? Is it because you grew up in a wizarding home?"

Harry scoffed and quickly dodged to the right of a quartet of Slytherins making their way down the steps. When he got back to her he said sardonically, "Of course it isn't. You have access to the same stuff I do. If my parents had their way I wouldn't be able to even cast a wingardium leviosa as they would much prefer me to be a squib. If I was a squib then they could disown me like most purebloods disown their squib children."

Hermione gasped and stopped to stare at him horrified. "You're joking, right? Why would your parents want to--why would--"

"Because it would be an acceptable way to get rid of me and not taint their precious Daniel with my attention seeking ways."

"But that's totally barbaric!" Hermione said aghast. "To get rid of a child because they can't perform magic? I thought your mom was a muggleborn, how could she agree to something like that?"

"It's practically a noble tradition in the wizarding world," Harry replied with a shrug. "Or at least among purebloods it is. Why do you think Filch is such a bitter man?"

"Filch is a squib?"

Harry hummed an affirmative stepping to the outside of Hermione so the doors to the castle would be on her left when they came up from the dungeons. "Because I'm not the Potter heir, my parents are content to ignore me, just like everyone else."

"Harry…"

Harry smiled wanly, before waving her off with a mild, "You better get going or you're going to be late with Herbology."

Hermione panicked, her brown eyes widening dramatically and her bushy hair flying every which way as she pressed a kiss to his cheek. In seconds she was running out of the castle. At the sound of the first bell rang he heard her wail in distress and watched in amusement as she doubled her pace. When she was gone from sight he turned and headed up to the Ravenclaw tower.

"Eagle's nest," Harry told the portrait dismissively upon reaching the top of the stairs and climbed through after it opened for him.

Under a tall skinny window, he sat down in a overstuffed chair and stretched his legs out. One of his knees popped and Harry thought the Hogwarts should install a lift like the one in the atrium at the Ministry. Harry believed that's what the school did with indoor plumbing; he was sure the castle had somehow done it by itself. After all how could Salazar have predicted and implanted the muggle technology in his chamber and if he did know why would he?

Cracking his shoulders, Harry planted his feet back on the stone floor and got busy. From his satchel he took out six shrunken books he had borrowed from Madam Pince earlier in the day. He then enlarged them with a wave of his hand and looked at the titles to figure out where he should start. Two of the books were on Goblin security charms--found from somewhere he'd never dreamed of by Hermione. The remaining four security books were on charms, hexes, jinxes, curses, and wards from Egypt, the Middle East, and China.

The topic of security had come as a delightful surprise in Charms. Harry had been expecting Flitwick to go with the topic of wizarding study of the solar system because while sneaking back to his room one night he overheard Flitwick, Sinistra, and Butterworth talking about coinciding their curriculums. Sinistra was planning to discuss enchanted telescopes and models while Butterworth would be going over muggle misinterpretations of wizarding experimentation, better known as Unidentified Flying Objects and related conspiracies.

Today however Flitwick had started the first of several periods devoted to warding and curse breaking. Their homework assignment was to look up and bring to class several spells that they found interesting and wanted to learn. This was perfect because it allowed him to revisit his summer interest that had been literally stomped on by goblins in Gringotts with their utterly confusing trash that they passed off as membership applications and brochures.

Harry opened the first one, Cursebreaking--Go for the Booty! and started reading. As he read, Harry wrote down notes on curses and counter-courses that looked particularly useful. If Flitwick went over them in class Harry would practice warding, cursing, and breaking them on the Chamber of Secrets. Perhaps he'd find out how to open the mouth of Salazar Slytherin's statue, like Voldemort's memory did second year.

As dinner time rolled around, Harry leisurely put his books away and got up. He heard a few girlish giggles and looked up. Padma, Su, and Rebecca were whispering near the staircase going up to the girls' dormitories as two sixth year girls, Sally Fawcett and Lisa Turpin came down them. Their approach caused more giggling to erupt from the trio and Harry narrowed his eyes in distaste. He took his things and climbed his stairwell to the seventh year boy dorm.

Inside, Cornfoot and Entwhistle were tossing a quaffle back and forth nonchalantly from opposite sides of the circular room. Terry was doing his Transfiguration practice on his bed. Harry watched him try twice to turn the pygmy puff into a metal bird cage without success. On the third attempt the pygmy puff sneezed and changed color to be dark pink. Entwhistle laughed loudly and tossed Terry the quaffle.

"You're so bad at Transfigurations, Terry, it's a wonder you're in Ravenclaw."

"Oy," Terry grumbled, wincing as the red ball smacked him in the chest before he caught it. "At least I didn't mix up SIRIUS with Wezen on the astronomy exam last week!"

Harry tuned them out as he crossed the room quickly to check his bed to see if Serion was there sleeping. The little green snake wasn't there, so Harry left without a word and went downstairs to sit next to Hermione and her group of friends, who did their best to ignore his presence. Hermione greeted him cheerfully and went back to discussing animatedly with Sophie Prachet, a sixth year girl with straight brown hair and dozens of freckles, why taking all twelve offered N.E.W.T. classes was imperative to getting a good job.

Harry slipped her book bag off the bench and sat in the freed up space. Taking his plate, Harry started scooping up shepherd's pie, peas, carrots, and mashed potatoes; all drowned under liberal amounts of butter and gravy. He placed a napkin over one leg and grabbed his utensils and started digging into his dinner.

Hermione grabbed his hand at one point and tried to bring him into the conversation she was having with Sophie and Padma and Terry. It was to no avail. She was getting very angry with their attitude until Harry squeezed her hand gently under the table. She looked over at him and he flashed her a smile which she tentatively returned. In the end, Harry contented himself with just finishing off his second helping of shepherd's pie and holding her hand under the table.

After desert ended, Hermione turned around and straddled the bench, bringing their joined hands out from under the table. "I'm so, so, sorry, Harry. I don't know what their problem is, but they had no right to--"

"Hey," Harry broke in, stabbing the last bite of his custard tart and angling the fork in her direction. "I'm use to it. I don't expect that being your boyfriend is going to get me into any little clubs. They're going to probably wonder why you're with me and someone will try to take the mickey out of you sometime when I'm not around."

Hermione eyed the custard tart dangling so temptingly at the end of the fork. Harry gave it a little shake which made Hermione roll her eyes at him. He shrugged and popped the last mouthful into his mouth and chewed with relish.

"Did you manage to get yours Charms work done?" Hermione asked him, as the food, plates, and dishes suddenly vanished leaving all four house tables clear of all obstructions.

"Yeah, some interesting stuff in the goblin books you found. I was over at Gringotts during the summer looking into their account securities but didn't have much luck. The goblin I talked with was probably laughing at me--"

"Hermione?" interrupted a voice.

Harry looked away from Hermione towards the familiar voice and suppressed a grimace.

"Hi, Daniel," Hermione said, dropping Harry's hand and swinging around on the bench. "What do you want?"

Daniel stood there looking smug and cocky, with his shiny Headboy's badge over his Gryffindor crest on his robes. Daniel had obviously just run his fingers through his hair in an attempt to make it look windblown and cool. Harry turned around on the bench and leaned back against the table to take his brother's appearance in more fully.

"Hermione, I was wondering if you wanted to go patrol the halls with me for the next few hours," Daniel said, throwing Harry an arrogant smirk.

Hermione nodded quickly and said, "Sure. Harry, if you could, would you mind taking my book bag back to the common room and placing it by the entrance?

"Not a problem," Harry replied, watching his brother even as he bent over and picked up her bag, tossing it casually over his shoulder.

Hermione leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, mollifying him somewhat. "I'll see you later tonight."

"Well, we really must be going," Daniel said, offering an arm out to his girlfriend who took it hesitantly looking back at Harry dubiously. "Head duties and all."

Harry glared at his brother as they walked away from him. He stood up from the table and marched after them through the Great Hall doors and quickly sprinted back to Ravenclaw tower to drop off Hermione's book bag and to grab his ritual supplies and a heavy cloak. Now would be the perfect time to execute it as Hermione would be occupied.

In under ten minutes, Harry was hissing in front of the bathroom sink in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and hurrying down the pipe with sticking charms on his shoes. Oorjit and Serion were lounging in the pit that used to be full of vermin bones that they had had Harry clear out with several strong banishing hexes. Myrtle drifted through the stone wall next to the snake door and said hello.

"Is the potion finished?" Harry queried, stepping through the doorway and striding over to the shimmering potion.

"It stopped frothing about thirty minutes ago," Myrtle giggled, watching Harry's derriere as he leaned over the cauldron and filled a flask full of the glowing potion.

Harry put a stopper in the flask and said, "Perfect, that means the potion is at its optimal level of potency."

"So what now, Harry?" Moaning Myrtle asked, wrapping a braid around her index finger and biting the end.

"Now I perform the ritual. The manual says it must take place in a clearing under the rays of a full moon."

Myrtle squealed in terror. "You're going into the Forbidden Forest?"

Harry frowned at her and tucked the flask inside his school robes. "What on earth would you be afraid of in there? You're dead!"

Myrtle shrieked angrily, wailing, "Oh, I see how it is! I'm dead so I can't have any feelings! Mock Myrtle because--"

"Myrtle," Harry inserted, patronizingly. "Myrtle, stop. You of all people should know that despite any fears you have of the forest, none of the creatures could ever harm you because you're a ghost."

She sobbed harder and started to hiccup. Harry wished he could smack her but settled for rolling his eyes and walking back toward the snakes.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Myrtle screeched in obvious disgruntlement.

"To the Forbidden Forest," Harry tossed over his shoulder.

Myrtle flew to catch up with him and swirled around so that she blocked his path. "Alone?" she demanded. "At night? On a full moon? Harry, you mustn't!"

"But I must," Harry replied firmly. "The ritual must be tonight or I will have to rebrew this potion again for next month."

"You'll get killed for sure," Moaning Myrtle wailed before hiccupping to a sudden stop. "If you get killed, Harry," she said perkily, "You can always share my toilet!"

Harry shocked into silence, took a moment to think about the proposition and had to bite back a laugh. Instead he merely nodded his thanks while Serion was chuckled at him in the background. Oorjit hissed at him to be careful of the large spiders and then made a demand for steak served raw the next time Harry came back to the Chamber.

§Good luck,§ Serion called after him, still sniggering at the ghost's proposition.

As Harry disappeared up the flight of stairs he called back with a hiss, §With any luck, I'll be back tonight starting the next potion that will help prep my body for the change.§

Harry disillusioned himself once in the bathroom and checked his reflection out in the mirrors. Satisfied with the results, Harry grabbed his stuff and did the same to it. Without any trouble at all, Harry was able to sneak out of the castle and slip through the grounds into the Forbidden Forest. While walking he tried not to think that Myrtle was right about getting himself killed with the nearly Gryffindor foolishness he was committed to doing.

Harry avoided patches of Devil's Snare and Tripping Vine as he hurried further and further into the woods. Just as he was suspecting that he would never find any clearings at all in the Forbidden Forest, Harry stumbled upon one. It was fairly large and covered with a layer of rainbow-glow flitterbugs that looked nothing less than a richly woven carpet that winked continuously in a myriad of colors.

He took a moment to appreciate the view before stepping forward and startling them all into flight. For a few minutes he was being whipped around on all sides by the flitterbugs, their glowing tail ends lighting up the air like a thousand gems. In the silence and darkness that followed, Harry set himself up in the middle.

He carved six runes in a large circular formation and placed crushed billywig stingers into their seams. Then he stripped down to his boxers and carefully crept into the center of the circle and sat down. From the pamphlet, Harry slowly read the Latin script that would call upon his magic and bring it forth to be enhanced by the moon's power. Next Harry plucked a few hairs from his head and dropped then into the bottled flask before he drowned the contents. Six seconds from finishing the ritual's directions he was conked out, lying haphazardly in the circle.

Harry woke up in the clearing, but the clearing was transformed into a new world. All around him the colors of things were off. The grass was orange and the trees were yellow and red polka dotted. The flitterbugs he saw earlier were talking--talking!-- to each other in heavy Scottish accents.

The elation seemed to be too much for Harry who suddenly felt woozy and nauseous as shiny green bursts of light flitted across his vision. The howling wind died to a low hiss, a calm before the storm. He passed out after a hauntingly familiar burst of unforgivable green flashed before his eyes.

Harry gasped for air, heaving himself up off the ground into a sitting position as his eyes watered and his lungs burned. Getting his bearings, Harry saw that the sky was lighter. It was morning.

"Oh shit," Harry breathed, scrambling to his feet and quickly clearing his mess with a wave of his hand. "Hermione's going to kill me!"

Harry cast the point me spell on his wand and ran like the dickens through the woods. As if sensing his distress, nothing in the forest bothered him. Not even the centaurs, who by now were sure to have noticed his presence.