Harry made his way through the empty corridors. It was a bright sunny Saturday morning and Harry was on his way to his DA meeting. He didn't feel like teaching today, he wasn't in the greatest of moods. He ran his fingers between the spaces in the bricks as he walked. He passed an empty classroom and saw McGonagall and Hagrid playing Wizard's Chess.
Sooner than he liked he found himself outside the Room of Requirements. He turned the handle to find the usual people inside waiting for him. He closed the door and made his way to the middle of the room. He pulled out the register and went over the list.
"Ron, Hermione, Luna…your all here," he said placing a check by their names. "When I call your name say `here'."
"Neville?"
"Here"
"Colin and Dennis?"
"Harry?" Hermione said quietly
"Yeah?"
"Their parents pulled them out of school last week, remember?" Hermione informed.
"Oh right," Harry mumbled, crossing their names off the list. "Hannah?"
"Here."
"Ginny?"
"She's sick," said Luna mistily.
"What?" Ron asked.
"I was talking to her this morning and she said she wasn't feeling well…so…she's in bed." Luna added.
"Okay, let's get this over with," said Harry. He stood in the center of the room, and opened his bag. He pulled out a tiny rattling box and placed it on the ground.
He was amused by Hermione's curious glances at the box.
He loved that look in her eyes when she wasn't sure about something.
"What's in the box?" Ron asked.
He pulled his mind away from Hermione. "Oh…um Devilish Pixies…cousin of Cornish Pixies."
Everybody in the room just stared at him in bewilderment except Hermione; she knew exactly what he was talking about, she gasped and stumbled back a few steps.
Harry kneeled down and opened the lid of the box, and revealed the Devilish Pixies, which were in a stasis-like sleep. "See, its okay."
Neville stepped forward, shaking ever so slightly. Hermione's horrific glares at the box made him turn white with anxiety. "W-what are t-they-w-what do they do?"
"They're a Dementors worst nightmare," Hermione whispered. "…And they're banned in Europe."
Neville gulped.
"If they're banned then how did you get a hold of them?" asked Hannah Abbot.
"Hagrid of course," Harry said.
Ron came forward. "What do they do?"
"Many things...but they have telekinetic abilities. They manipulate your mind…much worse than reliving your worst memories from a Dementor. Devilish Pixies use them against you…twisting them. Making you think horrible things happened in your memories when they didn't. " Harry stated.
"…Manipulate your thoughts?" ridiculed Hannah. "…That doesn't sound so horrible!"
"Well it is!" Hermione retorted. "It's far worse to have your memories manipulated then to relive the horrible ones!"
"They also do other things," Harry declared.
Hannah rolled her eyes, and fiercely crossed her arms. She shot Harry a wicked look as if challenging him with her eyes. "Like?" she rolled off her tongue.
"Er…well if they are trained good enough then they can inflict unbearable pain upon you by boiling your blood with a thought!"
The color drained from Neville's face, as let out a tiny whimper.
Harry met his gaze and gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry; these pixies aren't even close to being able to do that. Besides were going to focus on something else today."
Everybody gave each other suspicious looks.
"We're only using the pixies to practice the Cruciatus Curse."
Hermione gasped and dropped her wand. She fell to her knees to retrieve it and gazed up at Harry as he gazed back at her looking puzzled. He disregarded this when she picked up her wand and stood to her full height again.
"Everybody find a corner that's where we'll practice-don't want any of these curses going astray," Harry said his gaze lingering on Hermione.
Everybody scattered about the room to claim a corner for themselves. Hermione dawdled off to the farthest corner to take as her own. Harry kneeled down in the middle of the cold floor and carefully opened the box of Devilish Pixies. He slowly levitated them out the box and with a flick of his wand sent them flying across the room, so each person had one hovering before them.
"When you're ready raise you wand and yell `Crucio', and make sure you mean it, or it won'!" Harry commanded, remembering what Bellatrix Lestrange told him right after she murdered Sirius. The stinging flames burned his insides at the memory of his godfather. His mood drastically turned sour. He huffed and pulled himself up off the cold flagstones. He felt the strong rage brewing with in him. He wanted revenge!
He took a few deep breathes trying to calm the ravenous hatred within, soon to realized he couldn't hear the cries from the rest of the DA. "Why don't I hear any of you shouting curses?" he shouted rather harshly. "Well why?" he added in a sharp tone when nobody dared to respond.
"Er mate?" Ron replied, nervously. "They're still…frozen."
Harry groaned and flicked his wand, brining the pixies out of their stasis state. He heard the sounds of his students gasp as the pixies shot at them trying with all their might to manipulate their thoughts. He wasn't worried; he knew those pixies wouldn't be able to do more than tug the hair on their heads. But they were good practice for the cruciatus curse.
"Concentrate, and be careful where you aim," Harry bellowed out to the room.
He could curse himself for thinking of Bellatrix. Now he was in the foulest of moods that he had been in all year. He still felt the strong rage of hatred for her as he did the moment he saw Sirius fall through the veil. He closed his eyes and it all came rushing back to him. He could see Sirius falling through the veil, which faded, into Dumbledore soaring off the battlements. He saw Malfoy and Snape running towards the gates. He was going to yell-he was going to lose it. He forced his eyes open!
Heavily sweating and panting he looked around and was grateful to see nobody had seemed to notice. He had never confided in anyone that he had been suffering from flashbacks since the night of Dumbledore's funeral. He was now left fuming with rage and feeling emotionally weak.
Kneeling on the cold stone floor again, he glanced around the room. Strong shouts of "Crucio" echoed through the room and followed by the faint cries of the withering pixies after every blast. His eyes crossed the room, and settled on the far corner where Hermione was standing.
She stood facing the corner like a punished schoolgirl. Her head was down; her shoulder slumped by her sides. "What now?" he groaned quietly as he picked himself up off the floor. He ambled over to the far corner to see what was wrong with her. "Something wrong?" he asked roughly.
She didn't look up but continued to look at the ground. "I can't do it Harry…" she said barely above a whisper. Harry had to move in closer just to hear her. His heart was racing-he was standing so close to her! "…I can't inflict pain on somebody else."
Harry exhaled sharply, he was already in the nastiest mood and he didn't want to deal with this at the moment. Hermione still wouldn't look at him. He noticed her Devilish Pixie was wrapping itself in her curls and purring loudly. "Yeah well you're going to have to learn to!" he said harshly. "They're only pixies!"
"These are just baby pixies!" she said louder and firmer. "I can't use the cruciatus curse…I just can't!"
Hermione winced when she heard a pixie squeal followed by, "WICKED!" from Ron.
"Hermione, if you can't do this on a measly pixie then what are you going to do when you have a death eater after you!?" he said, through gritted teeth.
She did not look at him.
"Really, what will you do?" he said louder.
The shouts around the room echoed in his ears.
"WHAT WILL YOU DO THEN HERMIONE?" Harry yelled, not aware of the level of his voice. "BECAUSE IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN YOU KNOW!" He almost sounded mad. "THEY WILL!"
She looked up at him and stared into his eyes, a single tear spilled from her eye. His heart shattered as the tear ran down her cheek. He wished he could take back all he said; he didn't want to hurt her. But he didn't have the time to do anything. Hermione turned and stormed out of the room; she flicked her wand and the all twenty-four pixies followed her out of the room.
Harry was now aware that everybody in the room was staring at him. Feeling ashamed and embarrassed he dismissed them with a wave of his hand.
"What was that about, mate?" Ron asked.
"I don't know."
"See ya at lunch," Ron said, exiting the room.
Harry bent down to retrieve the box that had once carried the pixies, and walked out of the room making his way to his private lessons with Professor Lupin.
>>o<<
The end of the weekend came quickly. Hermione had not spoken to him since the incident, and neither had he tried to talk her. He felt too ashamed and embarrassed. He had been eating his meals in his bedroom while Ron and Hermione ate together in the Great Hall. Classes were sure to pass by much slower now that Hermione wouldn't be sitting next to him.
Harry now sat alone by the table next to the fire. He was beginning his Transfiguration essay that he had been putting off all weekend. Ron lay on the rug in front of the hearth reading one of Harry's many Quidditch books. Hermione was again sitting on the couch reading her advanced Arithmacy book. Her hair was messily pulled up; she was wearing a large yellow hockey jersey which undoubtfully belonged to her father in his youth. Black shorts were just visible under the length of her jersey. She was concentrating hard on her reading.
He watched her longingly. He wanted to touch her to tell her how sorry he was for everything. He wanted to tell her about the horrible flashbacks. But he couldn't…he just couldn't. He was never really good at telling girls things even Hermione, his best friend, the woman who knew him better then he did. He knew he would just make things worse if he tried. For now there was nothing he could do. All he could do was sit and watch from a distance…like he was already doing.
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