Author's notes: Just so you know: I. DON'T. HATE. DRACO. I love him! But for purposes for this story, he is as he is here. R&R!!!
==Seishin no Maigo==
Your voice,
echoing in my ear….
-Chapter Two-
"Harry! Pay attention!" Ron hissed, kicking Harry's under their table.
Harry shot straight up. "Huh? Wha?" he stuttered, then clamped his mouth shut at Hermione and Ron's glares. Their professor was looking at them curiously over her book. Harry saw a piece of parchment in front of him with the words: EXPLAIN IN YOUR OWN WORDS WHY MAGICAL CREATURES NEED SPECIAL CARE. Shaking the remainder of his shock off, Harry picked up his quill and tried to write his answer.
It was not easy, especially since Harry found himself staring at the professor. He could not believe it. It was Sarah Williams, sitting right there in front of them. He had not seen her for nearly six years and there she was, attending Hogwarts and even teaching one of his classes. Everything about her was as he remembered. Her hair was in the same bun, her eyes were still dull, her voice was the same low tone that had often cheered him up after being beaten by Dudley and his gang. Relief flooded through him upon seeing her now.
The way Aunt Petunia had went on about the article and from what he had heard about Ron's brothers and father's discussion, he had feared that Sarah had been killed. Now that he could see her with his own eyes, he felt immensely relieved.
Sarah allowed them an hour and a half to complete their essays before she took them up. She stacked them together and sat on her desk in front of them all, skimming through the papers. "Most of you have a fair idea of why you would be needing this class, especially if you intend to own a magical animal," she said after a while. She paused, pulling out four pieces of parchment that had Hermione's unmistakably neat handwriting. "A bit long," Sarah said after scanning it, "but it shows you know what you're saying."
Hermione fidgeted in her seat, trying not to look too pleased.
"Two paragraphs," Sarah said, looking at another sheet, "but lacks any sense, whatsoever." She crumpled the paper in her hand and it erupted into flames. Everyone jumped back in surprise. Sarah opened her hand and bits of ash fell to the floor. "Blaise Zabini, see me after class for your extra homework assignments," she said, not bothering to look up at her.
A few people tried to stop from laughing at the pink tinge on Blaise's face as she seethed in anger.
"What's this?" Sarah suddenly said, putting the rest of the papers down as she read one. "'The proper care for magical creatures would have to be different from that of Muggle creatures for the simple reason that they are magical.'" She looked up, not focusing on the one who had written it but to the whole class and said, "In one simple sentence, this person has summed up the entire reason for this class. It is the only reason magical creatures need certain care: they are magical. Nothing more needs to be said, though you could. For his unique insight, this person has earned Gryffindor five points."
The Gryffindors cheered, though it had only taken a fraction off what Snape had removed last class alone. Next to him, Harry noticed Ron was blushing furiously. "You wrote that?" Harry asked.
"It was all I could think of!" Ron said, sounding half-amazed. "I really didn't know what to put down and just scribbled something on there as she called them up!"
The rest of the class Sarah spent telling them what they would be doing over the year. She mentioned several creatures they had already learned a few things about, but assured them that there were some things that even the experts forget. A few they had no idea what they were. One was what she referred to as a 'Puffbuggle.'
"What's a 'Puffbuggle'?" Hermione asked once she had been called on.
"You'll see. Next class if I can arrange it," Sarah replied. "And since that is all I had planned for today, you are dismissed."
As everyone else gathered their things and left, Harry hung back, telling his friends he'd meet them in the Common Room. He lingered as he slowly put his books in his bag, waiting until Blaise had gotten all her assignments from Sarah and left, angrily muttering as she passed Harry. Hagrid stood and walked over to Sarah, whispering as quietly as he could to her. Harry heard him ask her if she wanted to have tea with him. She nodded, then said something as she glanced at Harry, who quickly looked into his bag. Hagrid chuckled, then exited the room as well.
"Do you need something?" Sarah said, stacking her books together.
"Uh--I...um," Harry fumbled for his words as he placed his bag over his shoulder. "I...hm--Do you remember me?" he suddenly blurted.
Sarah blinked. A strange expression was on her face; it was as if she was able to look confused without really changing anything on her face. He almost smiled. Yes, she was still the same as six years ago. But did she know who he was? Had she forgotten?
"Not right offhand," she said slowly, studying him. To his surprise, she did not stare at his scar.
"My name's Harry," he said. "Harry Potter. I'm Dudley Dursley's cousin. We went to school together six years ago."
The confusion left her eyes, replaced by a mixture of anxiety and spite. "Oh," she said. "six years ago." She gathered her books and said coldly, "If you'll excuse me, I'm expected somewhere else."
----------
"What a bitch!"
"Amy! Shhh!"
"She's got a point, Hermione."
"Ron, be serious," Harry said.
"I am serious," Ron said, the homework he was working on forgotten. "She had no right to brush you off like that, Harry. Do you think it was really the same Sarah you knew before?" He added a glance at Amy then a look that said, 'The one my dad talked about?' They had agreed that they would not discuss the matter of the Sarah Williams Ron's father and brothers had mentioned in front of Amy.
"She is the same Sarah I knew, that much I'm sure of," Harry said, scribbling on a piece of parchment. Reading it upside down, Ron saw it was the word 'maybe'.
"How can you be sure?" Amy asked from where she and Hermione were working on their Ancient Runes work.
Harry was quiet for a while. He thought about his answer carefully then he said quietly, "Her eyes. They're the exact same as the last time I saw her. She has a strange habit of not expressing herself with facial expressions, only with her eyes. Never once have I seen her smile." He looked down, feeling embarrassed.
"Never noticed that," Amy said after a while. "Well, it's still doesn't excuse her bitchy attitude towards you--"
"Amy! Please!" Hermione exclaimed. "If anyone heard you talking about a teacher like that--"
"She's not a real teacher, Hermione. I'll worry about that when it happens," she said waving the matter aside. "What I want to know, is what on Earth is a Puffbuggle? I've never heard of one, have you?"
"Not since she mentioned it," Hermione answered. "And I can't recall reading anything about them. Maybe they're a recently discovered species."
"Maybe she was making it up?" Ron suggested. "Why don't we ask Hagrid about her? He seems to know her pretty well."
"We'll have to do it tomorrow," Harry said. "She's with him right now. I heard him asking her over for tea."
----------
Shortly after breakfast, Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way to Hagrid hut. Amy was a bit wary of Hagrid, saying she had had a bad experience with giants before and was still suffering flashbacks (whatever the hell that meant), so she stayed in the Common Room studying until they returned.
Knocking on the door, they heard Hagrid coming to the door and Fang's bark. He pulled open the door and stuck his head out. "Oh!" he said when he saw them. "Yeh three! Just a second. Can't come in, right now," he explained as he carefully stepped out the door and shut it, Fang barking in protest. Then, the large dog started whining pitifully as if he did not want to be left alone in the hut.
"What's going on in there?" Ron asked, trying to peek into a window but there were heavy drapes in the way.
"Nothin'," Hagrid said quickly. "So, how'd yeh like the class? Think she'll do?"
"She seems strict," Hermione said. "But we're not sure what a Puffbuggle is. Do you know, Hagrid?"
"Can't say," was all they got out of Hagrid.
They could not get much out of him about Sarah either so they soon changed the subject. They found it was easier to talk to Hagrid when he was not constantly dodging questions. After spending most of the morning with him, Ron and Harry left to eat lunch as Hermione stayed, saying she wanted to talk to Hagrid about something she had found in their book for the class Sarah taught.
As with their first week, nothing really eventful happened. Not until Wednesday, that is.
They were in the middle of a tricky lesson in Charms class: illuminate a stuffed bear and make it do a handstand at the same time. The reason for it being so tricky was that Professor Flitwick had already charmed the bears to dodge any spell thrown at it. The whole class was soon chasing after the running and jumping dolls while trying not to hit their classmates with the spells.
Harry and Ron ducked a spell Neville had aimed too high as they tried to corner their bear, a scruffy looking black one that constantly turned around and squeaked, "Come on! Catch me!"
"I'll tear you apart, once I do!" Ron swore.
Amy and Hermione were not having better luck. "We never did this at Salem!" Amy grunted after missing their bear and landing on her rear as another one jumped on top of her--being three feet tall, the bear managed to knock her over easily.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," Hermione said with a slight shrug.
Amy pushed the bear off her and got up, fuming. "That's it!" she exclaimed, pointing her wand at their bear. Without hearing Hermione's shout of, "Wait! Stop!" Amy fired the spell.
It struck without any difficulty. Unfortunately it struck Harry.
The whole class erupted into laughter as a bright light shot out of Harry's eyes, mouth, ears, and nostrils while he was forced into a handstand. It took a while to counter the spell since Amy had fumbled a few words and he ended up doing cartwheels around the room as well. Amy was red with embarrassment as they left the class.
"I'm so sorry, Harry!" she said for the hundredth time.
"It's okay," Harry repeated, massaging his sore shoulder. The last cartwheel he did had resulted in him crashing onto the floor at an odd angle.
By lunchtime, the whole school had heard of the Charms class. Most just thought it was amusing and nothing more. A few thought it was perfect fodder for jokes, mainly Malfoy.
Harry could not put his finger on it, but something about Malfoy was different this year. Maybe it was just that he had grown, now Harry's height if not a little taller. He decided that was it, though he knew it really was not.
As Harry and his friends walked into the Hall, Malfoy called out, "Hey, it's Headlight Eyes!"
"Ignore him," Amy said, though her cheeks tinted pink.
"I am," Harry replied.
He tried to, but it was getting harder and harder to do so as Malfoy continued to make jokes so his Slytherin friends would laugh loudly. Amy and Hermione continued to whisper for him not to listen to Malfoy while Ron had to be physically restrained from going over the punching him.
Finally, Harry had had enough. He stood up from the Gryffindor table, ready to pound Malfoy's laughing face. Then, something happened that made everyone in the Hall stop and stare in shock. No one was more shocked than Malfoy.
Sarah had suddenly risen from her seat unnoticed, crossed the distance between her and Malfoy (she usually ate at the end of the table, away from everyone), grabbed him by the collar of his clothes and hoisted him into the air. She was about three inches shorter than him, yet that did not hinder her from raising him high enough that his feet dangled in the air.
Silence covered the hall as slowly, Sarah lowered him closer to her, their foreheads almost touching. Then she whispered, "Back. Off. Understand?" She did not give him the chance to answer as she dropped him to the floor.
As the occupants in the Hall turned to each other and whispered excitedly, Harry followed Sarah, his eyes seemed to be locked onto her. She walked all the way to the entrance and started to go out when she stopped and turned around. Her eyes narrowed in his direction, open hatred gleaming in them. Her mouth formed the word, "Soon," then she was gone out the entrance. A 'thump' behind him snapped him out of his daze.
Amy had collapsed onto the floor, her hand clutching her heart. She was not breathing.
----------
"Will she be alright?" Harry asked Madam Pomfrey.
"As long as she gets some rest," she said, ushering the three out of the hospital wing. "Don't worry, you'll have to get use to this," she said, and closed the door. The three stood there, not knowing what to do.
"What's wrong with her?" Ron thought out loud. He turned to Hermione. "Do you know?"
Hermione, wringing her hands with worry, said, "She told me she had a weak heart, but she never said anything about this." She let out a long breath. "I hope she'll be okay."
The three visited Amy as often as they could though every time she was still unconscious. Madam Pomfrey assured them that she was fine, but they saw worry in her face as well. Before they knew it, Friday was upon them. With the morning off, Ron and Harry went to visit Amy. As with every other time, she was not awake.
About fifteen minutes before lunch, Harry left the hospital wing to go find Hermione. When she had left for her Ancient Runes class she had said she would meet them there. Since she had yet to show up, Harry went to see if anything had happened.
He was just about to come out of the hole behind the portrait of the fat lady went voices reached his ears. He recognized Malfoy's sneering tone and was shocked to hear Hermione as well. Harry pulled the portrait back just as they two came into his line of vision. This way he could see and hear what was going on but not be seen.
"I said wait, you little--" Malfoy was saying.
"And I said to leave me alone!" Hermione interrupted. Harry was startled to hear the note of panic in her voice and saw her hands trembling as they grasped her books tightly to her chest. "Go away! Or I'll--I'll--"
"Or you'll what?" Malfoy said, eyes glaring around them. "No one's here. What're you going to do? Tell a teacher?" Something in his voice made Harry freeze in his place.
Hermione suddenly made a dash for the portrait but Malfoy roughly grabbed her by the arm and threw her against the wall, her books scattering. He grabbed her by the neck and held her there, face inches from hers. "I didn't say you could leave, mudblood," he snarled.
"L-Let me go!" she gasped, shaking in horror.
Behind the portrait, Harry reached for his wand, a few good hexes coming to mind.
"How many people know about it?" Malfoy said.
Harry stopped, seeing Hermione's face pale. She looked like one of the ghosts.
Malfoy smirked. "Thought so. You didn't say anything, eh?" When she did not respond, he tightened his grip. "Answer me."
"No," Hermione managed to say, struggling to breathe.
"So we're the only two that know. Now, you wouldn't want those numbers to increase, would you?"
Tear fell down her cheeks as she shook her head.
"Then you'll do better not to cross me, clear?" he hissed, eyes narrowing. He released her once she nodded and strode off, laughing to himself. Hermione fell to her knees, sobbing.
As soon as Malfoy had gone, Harry burst out from his hiding place. He rushed to Hermione and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. She jerked back, eyes wide at seeing him. "Harry!" she cried. "How--How long--"
"Long enough," he said, glaring the way Malfoy had gone. "Are you alright?" he asked, looking her over in concern.
"Fine. I'm fine," she said hurriedly, gathering her books.
"Bullshit, Hermione." His frank words caused his friend to stare at him in surprise. "What was that bastard harassing you for?" he asked, kneeling down beside her.
"Nothing," she said blankly. "It was nothing, Harry. Forget it." She stood before he could stop her.
Harry ran in front of her. "It was not 'nothing,'" he stated when she refused to look up at him. "What's going on, Hermione?"
When she did look up at him, her eyes seemed to speak volumes of fear and terror. "Please, Harry," was all she said.
The look in her eyes cut him deeply. Harry sighed and stepped aside, allowing her through the hole. When she was gone, Harry cursed darkly and kicked the wall, swearing silently he would make Malfoy pay for whatever he had done to his friend.
Had he but glanced upwards, Harry would have been shocked to see that he was not the only one to have seen the argument. From around one of the corners of the fat lady's frame, two bright, almond-shaped eyes glittered.
----------
Understandably, Hermione did not show up for lunch. Ron asked Harry if he had seen her and Harry simply avoided answering the question. She was already standing outside the door to the dungeon when time for Potions came along. If Harry did not know any better, he would not have thought anything was wrong with her.
At last it was time for Care for Magical Creatures. Everyone had gotten there early, hoping to see the mysterious 'Puffbuggle' they had spent the past week researching to find out what it was. Sarah was sitting on her desk, watching everyone as they came in with her ever blank look.
"Were you able to find anything?" Ron asked Hermione.
"No," she replied. "There was no mention of anything that sounds remotely like 'Puffbuggle' in the books I looked in."
The doors near the front of the room opened and Hagrid came in, carrying a steel box that was only three feet by three feet. He set the box down beside Sarah, who thanked him, then winked at the class and said, "Good luck," before exiting the room.
"For this lesson," Sarah said, catching everyone's attention, "you will learn first hand what to do if you ever come across a magical creature in the wild and you need to either escape it or capture it." She stood and set the box on the floor, hand on the small handle that would open it. Looking up at the class she said, "Everyone stand and push your desks out of the way quickly." After they did so, she turned the handle and opened it.
It happened so fast, no one was quite sure when it happened. All they did was blink and the room was suddenly filled with hundreds, thousands, probably millions of the strange Puffbuggles. They were small, just under a foot in height, and were completely round. They had small feet with no toes and pointy arms with no fingers. A pair of triangular shaped ears perched on top of their body flicked in every direction as the students gasped and yelled in surprise. They had large almond shaped eyes that varied in color. A fluffy tail trailed behind them as they scurried around the students' feet. A small nose could be seen within the fine fur that covered their bodies yet no mouth was visible. Every one of them was a different color. They all were saying different variations of 'fu' which might have been all they could say.
"The first to catch the right one in under ten minutes will receive ten points for their house!" Sarah called over the noise produced by both rushing students and running Puffbuggles as she opened a pocket watch and began to time them.
"I can see why they have 'puff' in their name," Ron said, diving to catch a dark purple one. It evaded his hands and vanished. "Pretty quick, too."
Try as they might, minutes passed and no one was any closer to catching the Puffbuggles than when they started. "Slippery little buggers," Harry said as a green one slipped through his fingers. He stopped, frowning. He stretched out his hand and moved it to the closest one to him. To his amazement, his hand went through the little puffball as if it was not there. Motioning to Hermione and Ron, Harry told them this.
"Then how're we to catch them?" Ron exclaimed.
They stood there, thinking hard for they only had a few minutes left. "Wait!" Hermione suddenly said, her face alert. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Harry said after not hearing thing out of the ordinary.
"Isn't it a little quiet? For having this many students in the room and as many creatures as there are, isn't it too quiet?"
To their amazement she was right. The only notable sounds were the footfalls and the occasional falling bodies of the students.
"What was it the professor said?" Ron asked, frowning.
"'The first to catch the right one in--'" Harry stopped, looking over at Sarah. She was still sitting on her desk, watching everyone while glancing at the watch every now and then. No, upon closer inspection, Harry saw she seemed to be watching something. Following her line of sight, Harry focused on what she was watching.
A sky blue Puffbuggle with glittering black eyes was waving it's pointed arm at Sarah. It then ran circles around a dumbfound Seamus who was trying to Freeze a bright yellow one without hitting Neville. Harry shut his eyes, listening intently. He heard a soft pitter-patter. He opened his eyes again, seeing that the sound matched the movements of the sky blue one.
"That's the one," Harry said. He dashed towards it. It looked up at him, then tried to scamper out of the way. Harry managed to snatch it by the tail before it could get away, the motion sending him head over heels. "GOT IT!" he shouted, raising the Puffbuggle over his head as he stopped.
Instantly, all of the other Puffbuggles vanished. Sarah clapped, saying, "Good job! Ten points for Gryffindor!"
The Puffbuggle wiggled out of Harry's grip, landing on his knee. It did sort of a bow, then hopped all the way to Sarah, who held out her hand for it to sit on. As they placed their desks back in order, she said, "This Puffbuggle is named Dercesthai. I call him Derci for short."
Derci bowed towards the students. "Fu fu-fu!" he chirped.
"Puffbuggles," Sarah began as they began to take notes, "are very rare. The reason they've yet been documented on is because no one's had one in their possession long enough to study them. They are generally good-natured and calm, and like playing tricks." At this, Derci nodded--which was odd because he had no neck or even a torso for that matter, just a round body with legs and arms. "The only thing they can say is, as you've guessed, 'fu.' Their main defense is what you just saw: they can project realistic images of other Puffbuggles to confuse anyone it feels threatened by. However, they have a secondary defense. They can change shape."
"Into what?" Ron asked after she called on his hand.
"That's I'm not sure on," Sarah said as Derci hopped around on the desk. "His other form can easily camouflage itself so I can never see it long enough to realize what it is. But this is his 'puff' form."
----------
The whole class enjoyed the lesson Sarah gave on the strange creature and left in high spirits. Just as they were heading to the hospital wing, the three were surprised to see Amy emerging from the doors.
"Amy!" Hermione called, running to her. "Are you alright now?" she asked, seeing that she was standing a bit unsteadily.
"I'm fine," Amy said, smiling weakly. "It was just another attack. I'll be better once I've eaten."
"What was that?" Harry asked when he and Ron got to them.
Amy shrugged. "Sometimes my heart won't work right. Once or twice it stopped but mostly it either beats too fast or erratically. I'll be okay," she assured them as they gave her horrified looks.
They reluctantly nodded and made their way to Gryffindor Tower, slowly since Amy was having a bit of trouble walking. She kept running out of breath and clutching her heart.
Sighing, Harry handed Ron his bag and bent his legs with his back to Amy. "Come on, I'll piggy-back you," he said.
"I can do it," Amy tried to tell him.
"Amy, you'll collapse again if you push yourself too hard," Hermione said gently.
Hesitantly, Amy got on Harry's back and he straightened, locking her legs around his waist with his elbows. She was surprisingly light, even for one of her small build.
"Thanks," she whispered.
"Don't mention it," Harry smiled.
----------
A dark figure hovered over the entrance to Ravenclaw Common Room, late in the night. Its unseen eyes pierced through the painting, past the walls, furniture, stairs, and to the one it was looking for. The figure chuckled darkly to itself as it made its way to its target.
----------
Near midnight, Hermione was tossing in her bed, crying in her sleep. Images poured through her mind, images she tried the whole summer to erase. Pain seared through her from just the memory of it. "Stop," she sobbed. "Please...please stop. Stop!"
Hermione sat bolt upright, sweat mixing with her tears. She covered her mouth and raced out of bed to the bathroom. She made it just in time as the threw up. When she had finished, she flushed the vomit, shaking all over. She sat down, leaning against the wall. She had put a spell over her and her bed so no one would hear her in case this happened, so no one came to investigate as she cried to herself. She sobbed miserably, "Why? Why won't you leave me alone?......Malfoy, why?"
~~~~~
Dercesthai is a greek word meaning "all-seeing one" or something like it.
More answers to come, but questions will accompany them! R&R, please!!!
==Seishin no Maigo==