At Large

Disclaimer: Nothings changed since the last chapter, I still don't own Harry Potter - All the characters, places, etc. are the property of J K Rowling.

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"I need to ask you something." He said quietly.

"I need to tell you something." She said at the same time, equally as quietly.

"You first then." He stepped back and sat down to listen.

"Harry," she still didn't look at him, she couldn't bring herself to see his face as she told him, "I'm the one who took your things…"

Harry's nausea returned with vehemence, he tried to stand but fell back into sitting before he'd managed to drag himself even half way up.

"You're the one who what?" He looked at her with burning, accusation filled eyes. The small hospital room seemed to stretch between them, without moving an inch she was further from him now than she'd ever been and still the gap seemed to increase with every passing second.

"I'm sorry… It wasn't…" Her fingers turned white as she increased her grip on the window ledge.

"You dragged me," he said darkly, "higher than I've ever been only to throw me down lower than before… and I hope it makes you happy." He threw himself to his feet, grabbing the bedpost until he could stand unsupported.

"Wait… I need to explain, please Harry." She stepped forward and caught his arm as he tried to leave. "Please just let me explain… then… then you can hate me all you want."

"Don't touch me!" he pulled himself from her grip and pushed her backwards, where she fell heavily onto the bed with a frightened gasp.

"But…"

"For once just shut up!" He yelled, the sound of his venting anger blocking out anything else she might have to say. A mixture of concussion and disbelief brought him to his knees, he was vaguely aware of a loud popping sound somewhere. When he opened his eyes again the room was filled with downy white feathers. Hermione sat hunched and afraid on the bed clutching at the remains of a singed pillowcase. Struggling to his feat he kicked the door open and stormed out of the infirmary.

"What do you think you're doing! There are people here trying to recover and your noise is not helping!" Madam Pomfrey practically shrieked as he exited.

"You haven't seen sick until you've met Hermione Granger," he managed to spit before slamming the door behind him and disappearing into the school. The pain from a few moments ago echoed in his head.

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Hermione slowly battled with her pulse until it returned to somewhere near normal. She'd never seen anyone, let alone Harry, so enraged. For a long time she sat watching the feathers whirl in circles around her head. One drifted from the room and out of the window, she turned her head slightly to watch the white spec phase into the distance. This, she decided, was how she would remember Hogwarts, because she had the feeling that soon she was sure to be thrown back into the muggle world with no wand, not magic and no friends.

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It was getting late into the evening by the time Harry calmed down enough to recognise his surroundings. His furious rambling had taken him out by the lake, which was reflecting the lengthening shadows like pooled glass. He sank back against a tree and felt the chill from the ground work its way up his legs and into his torso. The good weather seemed to be coming to an abrupt end but he didn't really care, he'd barley had the chance to enjoy it.

As he sat brooding a slight breeze began to run across the ground. He ignored it, too wrapped in his feelings to care. As he sat getting colder and colder the wind increased, as it passed him it dropped something into his lap, a small white feather. He picked it up and studied it; it was battered and broken by the elements. He was about to throw it away but something made him pocket it instead, its sorry state reminded him of his own problems.

A splash from the bank brought him out of his thoughts just in time to receive a sharp blow from an accurately thrown pebble. Feeling he was in for the worst he ducked to one side, avoiding another stone.

He froze behind the tree listening hard. Unlike the corridors there were plenty of opportunities for his attacker to make unwanted noise. Hearing a twig snap to his right Harry seized the moment and lashed out savagely with his hand. He connected with something hard and pointed that crumpled under his blow with a sickening crunch.

"You'll pway fur dat Pwotter." Said a distorted but familiar voice. Before the speaker could fulfil his threat Harry yanked at the air in front of him. His hand came away full of gauzy cloth, which he quickly wrapped up and held fast to his chest. Standing before him was Draco, his nose oozing blood slowly.

"You'd better not have got any blood on my dad's cape." Harry felt his tone take on a menacing edge, his rage form earlier cannoning back.

"You pwunched me!" Shouted Malfoy in confused indignation. Feeling fully justified Harry delivered another blow, this time to the blond boy's stomach. "Howb dware you!" Malfoy straightened and brushed the rabidly congealing blood from his face. He sneezed violently and winced but seemed to regain the full power of speech. "Hit me again Potter and I'll make sure that dirty mudblood tramp gets kicked out within the hour." Draco stepped backwards warily but seemed to be returning to his snide and evil self.

"What did you do to her?!" Harry fought against the urge to pay Draco back in full for his earlier injuries.

"Nothing, I happened to find her wandering the school with your things in tow. The only thing that stopped me from taking her to Professor Snape on the spot was that I thought I could use her for a little revenge… and here we are Potter." Malfoy pulled his wand from beneath his robes and pointed it forwards.

Harry raised his fists again, "prove it."

"Don't think I can't." he risked a condescending smirk. "So here's the deal. You stop playing quiditch as of now and every Sunday you come here after the curfew and I get to beat on you. If not, if your just a second late or even look at a broom funny then I'll have her kicked out right under Dumbledore's nose."

"Why would I care what happen to the thieving little…" A sudden pang of hidden guilt cut him short.

"You must think I'm as stupid as Ron Weasly. Don't think I didn't see that little display in the infirmary. If you really hated her then you wouldn't be here now." Malfoy twirled his wand mockingly. "So, do we have a deal?" Harry felt torn. The choice was clear, Hermione and whatever Malfoy would to him or quiditch.

"Fine… but if you do anything to her, if you even tell her this is happening I'll make you wish you were stuck in Azkaban grovelling for your worthless fathers protection." For a second Malfoy turned a livid red that could have rivalled Vernon's.

"Still infatuated with the mudblood then Potter?"

"No, now I just hate both of you."

"Excellent, seeing as it's Sunday lets begin shall we… Crucio!"

'He wouldn't!?' Harry's world suddenly exploded into pain. The scenic grounds slipped from his vision as he doubled over in agony. Through the blackness he could almost make out the strained blood being forced through the veins in his eyes as they rolled upwards. After what seemed like epochs Harry was allowed to stand and gasp for breath. "Git!"

The pain over-boiled and Harry collapsed again. After a while, perhaps a little longer than before he managed to stand and face Draco again. He braced himself this time but it seemed to make no difference.

"Crucio! Don't worry Potter, this can go on for days before the insanity starts to kick in."

Harry's fingers dug into the soft ground as he fought against the cruel spell. "I swear I'll find some way of getting you back…"

"Idle threats Harry, idle threats." Draco administered a sharp kick to Harry's ribs as he waited for him to recover enough to curse again. "I wonder if the dark lord did this to your mother before killing her? Crucio!" As Harry blacked out his hand closed around the bent and broken feather in his pocket, the only comfort he had in the drawing darkness.

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Hermione sat in the hospital room for a long time. She was sure the matron has seen her at least once but the woman seemed to sense something was wrong and left her alone. The fine weather faded with the day and dark clouds began to gather. Hermione sat with the pillow on her lap. She'd gathered all the remaining feathers into a neat pile with her wand and absently repaired the bedding Harry had destroyed.

What had happened that afternoon had scared her, that she could cause such emotion in Harry as to do magic without a wand was a shocking revelation. She put the pillow aside and left the room cautiously. No one had come to expel her, which meant Harry hadn't told anyone. Did that mean he didn't hate her? 'No', she though to herself, 'I've done enough damage - I owe it to Harry never to get in his way again.'

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Large drops of cold water brought Harry back from where his mind had taken him. It was almost pitch black and raining heavily but the glasses allowed him to see. Thankfully he still had the invisibility cloak clutched close to him; Malfoy must have run into problems prizing it from his unconscious grip. At first he found he couldn't move, his limbs were still burning from the spell and felt like lead. The sky suddenly flashed an eerie purple as a bolt of lightning divided the horizon in two. The storm looked to be in full flow and, as sudden summer storms often did, planned to go on for some time. With an unpleasant squelch Harry pulled himself up from the mud and staggered towards the castle trying to bundle the cloak together as he went.

The hall was empty and the tables pushed up against one of the walls. He pulled the glasses from his face, the green lenses had somehow stayed in tact, and wiped the water from his face as best he could. The room seamed to appear and disappear as the enchanted ceiling mirrored the flashes from outside. Wrapping the cloak around his shoulders Harry set off for the dormitories intent on sleeping for a week.

"Password?" Said the portrait sleepily, not really taking in his condition.

"Rapture," Harry replied feeling none of it. He clambered into the common room and realised that he still had no idea what time it was. He looked at his watch but the rain had rendered it useless. He battled his way up the stairs and peeled off his mud-covered clothing before sinking into his bed and falling asleep immediately.

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"Harry, Harry - Wake up." Ron shook him until he could no longer pretend not to notice.

"What time is it?" Thankfully Harry realised that the after effects of Malfoy's torture no longer racked his body.

"About half-six," Said Ron who was up and dressed.

"Then why are you awake? There's still time for sleeping." Harry tired to gesture to his bed but found that it was entirely too much work.

"I thought we had a quiditch match after lessons today and couldn't sleep," Harry noticed the glum tone in Ron's voice for the first time. "One of the bloody hoops got struck by lightning though, bloody thing's been blown off its feet."

"Thank God" muttered Harry and fell back onto his pillow closing his eyes. Ron looked at him in confusion before heading off to inform the rest of the team.

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The first lesson of the day was transfiguration which, although hard, Harry normally found bearable. He and Ron were the first two people in the room due to their early start. They sat in their normal places and pulled out their books. Hermione entered soon afterwards, she ignored both of them and chose a seat near the front that was normally unoccupied.

"What's that about?" Asked Ron quietly. "She wasn't talking at breakfast either."

"We had an argument." Harry tried to halt the conversation before too many questions were asked.

"Want to talk about it?" Ron's whisper was rather too loud for Harry's liking, he glanced up to see if she'd heard and then said rather audibly:

"Not really, there's not much to say." He opened his book at a random page and pretended to have a sudden interest in basic creature to furniture spells. The room was silent for a few minutes.

"… I still think the Slytherin team vandalised the pitch to stop us from playing. They were probably scared we'd win. All it would take was one good curse and…" Harry turned the page as loudly as possible. He didn't want to get mad at Ron, he needed friends right now but 'Slytherin' and 'curse' were not words he wanted to hear. "Come to think of it Draco looked really happy about something today." Harry turned the page again, this time almost ripping it clean of the book. "I think I'll go and ask Hermione about it, she's smart, she can probably tell me what curse it was and stuff - I'll talk to you later Harry."

"The only thing she knows about curses is how to inflict them on other people." Harry thought out loud.

"What's that mate?"

"Nothing - I'll see you later…" Looking up from his pseudo-reading Harry saw that the rest of the class had entered and were chatting amongst themselves, just as Ron sat down near Hermione McGongal entered and the talking ceased.

"It's nice to see your enthusiasm Mr. Potter but today's lesson will be practical." She waited for Harry to put the book down. "But seeing as though you still do not have your wand special conditions have been arranged. - The headmaster can tell you more than I can, he's expecting you in his office." Gathering his things Harry left the room as the lesson began around him. Ron and Hermione were chatting animatedly; she still looked slightly worried but apart from that appeared to be deep in conversation. He frowned as he made his way through the school, she'd almost completely ruined his school life, he couldn't be jealous? Could he?