"Wait a little longer," a sweet melodic voice sang cheerfully from behind him. "Fortune favors you after your charms lesson."
She'd been saying things like that since he left Hermione alone in her suite early yesterday morning. He had a sneaking suspicion she knew about the Horcrux fight, especially when she had said, 'I see that the seven plovers of ill omen have dwindled down to three. You have knocked four out of flight,' but then Luna would talk about pufftails and thwartpogs and he'd be reassured that she was simply speaking nonsense, albeit, disturbingly familiar nonsense. Nevertheless he had steered clear of a confrontation with Daniel or a second one with Hermione or Dumbledore, on the off chance the pretty Ravenclaw was right.
Luna sat down next to him on the couch and pulled out her homework from her book bag. A discrete side glance revealed it was Divination. He mentally snorted as Luna flipped it upside down and began writing from the bottom and building up.
"Luna," he said patiently, placing his quill down beside his Defense Against the Dark Arts essay. "You do realize that what you're writing will be illegible to Professor Trelawney. You're going to be deducted marks."
Luna smiled genially and sucked on the end of her sugar quill. "Is that so? Hmm…well I foresaw full marks if I did it this way. I'm sure Seer Sybil will agree; after all how can one unblock the inner eye if we continually follow routine?"
Harry considered her statement, "Perhaps your reasoning is valid," Harry reluctantly said, shaking his head.
"I only see you when I don't follow routine," she commented absently, scratching at her scroll. "So I must be careful now that we're friends to have a routine I never follow without the absence of routine becoming routine. It's a little tricky, but patterning my behavior after that of the hoofhorn stompers seems to help me navigate all the murky waters. It would be a nightmare trying to find you again. You need me now more than ever. I wouldn't want you to become lost."
Harry arched a brow. "Right. I should leave the hoofhorn stompers to it then. I wouldn't want to get involved, because knowing me I would make me lose myself."
"Don't be silly," Luna said lightly. "You're over by the fireplace."
Out of curiosity Harry looked over by the fireplace and saw, nestled in the darkest corner in the shabbiest of chairs, a huddled figure. He felt his pulse quicken at the sight of her. She must have just come into the common room; because he had missed her earlier.
Hermione was reading for Professor Flitwick. He could tell because she was absentmindedly moving a finger around; mimicking wand movements, a habit he was very familiar with and, at one time, thought endearing.
He missed her. It'd only been a day. Harry had found himself meandering abandoned hallways trying to find excuses to keep staying away from her. It was harder to stay away from her than he had thought it would be.
As he watched her, Hermione glanced up from her pages and their eyes met. A fission of heat passed between them. He blinked and it was gone. She was back to studying and he was back to staring at her with all the bewilderment and befuddlement he'd been experiencing since the locket was destroyed. He was torn and he knew it.
"It's all right," Luna interrupted, placing a light and sympathetic hand on his knee before returning to her scribbling. "You'll find your way back sooner or later."
"Is that so?" he asked bemusedly, returning himself to his own essay about toads, basilisks, and roosters. It was the only thing that could keep his mind occupied long enough to forget his troubles.
Basilisks were highly intriguing to him and he had delved into the researching of them; checking out a dozen or so books from the library. Clearly, the subject held his fascination. Of course having killed one in second year and the ability to become one had a lot to do with his current absorption in the task. Professor Hobday would be hard pressed not to be impressed with the in-depth detail and extra two feet of writing. He still wasn't done!
Luna sighed dreamily, and looked out the window. Harry glanced up from his paragraph to drink in her countenance. She had a far away expression that made him smile briefly before returning to work. N.E.W.T.S. were coming up and the seventh years were finally starting to show signs of stress. He was determined to stay on top of his workload if at all possible.
He glanced up over toward Hermione again. She was going to be severely frazzled and strained under the course load. Not only did she have to do the current projects, essays, tests, and what naught that he had to do, but she had another six classes on top of that and previous work she would be determined to go over again on her own from the start of term.
He glanced down at his bag and saw the copies of his notes he had made. Should he give them to her?
Hermione's shoulders slumped and she closed the book with a dismayed snap. That settled it for Harry, he stood up taking the notes with him and crossed the common room. She glanced up startled, her mouth hanging open. Suddenly Harry felt his nerves twitch.
"You're going to need them," he offered quietly, holding out the packet of pages and duplicate scrolls. "I'm afraid they're not up to my usual standards. I was rather er… distracted at the time."
She took them slowly, her eyes on his and sheepishly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Thank you, Harry," she whispered softly.
Harry nodded. "They're at least better than--"
"Nothing, which is what I have," she murmured, clutching the bundle to her. Her eyes tried to communicate something to him, but he looked away and awkwardly ran his hand through his hair. "He does that a lot," she said, observing him somberly.
"Er?"
"Daniel; running his hand through his hair," she clarified, looking toward the fire. "He tries to make it look more windswept and Quidditch-afied. He thinks it's cool."
Harry pulled his hand down. "Right," he said stiffly. "I'd better be going. I'm glad I could help."
"Harry--" Hermione entreated, looking horrified. She reached out to him.
He looked back at her, his expression full of suppressed anger, and she withdrew. He turned away and walked back to Luna, feeling Hermione's eyes burn into him. He didn't dare look back as fury bubbled through him once more. The low simmering boil that churned under the surface flared to life as he sat back down.
Luna looked at him questionably as he huffed loudly. She touched his knee. "Tomorrow after charms."
"Yeah?" he managed to bite out, feeling ruthless and directed for the first time since yesterday.
"To go after your brother," she stated simply, for perhaps the first time since they had become friends.
He said nothing as he turned her words over in his mind and finally he asked, "How do you know?"
"Because I'm Loony Luna."
"That explains much," he said dryly.
"Yes," she agreed happily, returning to her upside-down mirror writing. "It does."
---
The next day Harry went to the first of his Monday classes, with his completed basilisk essay in hand. The Defense Against the Dark Arts room was in a topsy-turvy uproar once again, bouncing far and wide through the castle. The two months after the start of term were not enough to settle the classroom down. Harry followed his point me spell, up and down through halls and staircases, occasionally taking a side passageway to avoid the gaggle of Slytherins or Ravenclaws frantically looking for the classroom.
Harry was the first to arrive and he set his bag down on the nearest desk and slid into his seat. Professor Hobday was talking quietly to himself up by the blackboard and would write invisible things on it occasionally. Harry took out his scroll and set it down at the edge of his desk. Just then Draco Malfoy and his gang strutted through the double doors talking loudly drawing both his and Professor Hobday's attention.
"Can you believe the look on that filthy mud--" Draco shot Professor Hobday a look before clearing his throat. "Hermione's face back there? I thought she was going to cry!"
The two buffoons with only half of a brain between them guffawed heartily as they sank into their seats on either side of Malfoy. Harry watched him with narrowed eyes, struggling to squash a protective feeling that surged through him at the slimy git's words. Malfoy tilted his chair backwards and crossed his feet on the desk in front of him.
"I bet Daniel's no good in the sack, goodness knows those two were trying to do each other in every broom cupboard in the castle. It's only because they're Heads that they didn't get detention. Royally unfair if you ask me, they should have been tossed out on their rears."
Goyle or was it Crabbe grunted something and Draco laughed maliciously.
"Yeah," he said in his high nasally voice, "I wonder what the next prank on them is going to be. That person should be rewarded for the sheer genius of their work. Special Services to the school for that one. Doing us all a favor he was."
"Why don't you do us all a favor and shut the hell up," Harry drawled.
"Potty," Draco exclaimed unsurprised. "You should know better than to interrupt your betters."
"Hmm," Harry said noncommittally.
"What was that?" Draco demanded, his eye narrowing.
"Nothing," Harry said, taking pause for effect, "Dray."
Draco's face went purple just in time for the class to start. Professor Hobday called those who were in attendance to pay attention. It was quite a pitiful group of them with only a quarter of the classroom filled with students. Stragglers kept coming through the doorway looking sheepish as they slid into their desks.
Hermione came in with one of the groups of Slytherins, a boy held the door open for her. She looked surprised but quickly shuffled past them to one of the open desks. Harry watched her walk by and caught a scent of her light flowery perfume. He closed his eyes against a wash of desire and told himself firmly to forget about it. He needed time and space to sort everything out.
Hobday tapped the board and the invisible writing he wrote earlier appeared. There was a picture of a rooster killing a basilisk, its head thrown back in a crow. Harry stared at the basilisk as it moved and writhed around on the board, perpetually dying. He wondered if that could happen to him. Would he always have to worry about roosters now?
"Today we're going to have a little pop quiz, class. If you all did your research properly for this last essay you should have no problems. Please put your scrolls, parchment, and other belongings away and we'll start."
The class scrambled to do so. Some, like Draco and Hermione, looked green at the thought of this impromptu quiz. Harry grinned, sure that this would be entirely too easy.
"First question: What creature lists the basilisk as its mortal enemy?"
Harry raised his hand lazily with a few other students. Hobday gestured to Terry Boot.
"The spider, sir."
"Excellent. Five points to Ravenclaw. Second question: Give me one difference between the male and female basilisk."
Harry raised his hand again along with half the class. Hobday picked Draco in the back.
"By the red plume on the adult male's head."
"Good. Good. Five points to Slytherin. Now another difference. Miss Davis."
Tracey looked up startled. She sweated for a minute racking her brain. "Uh… by their eye color?" Hobday gave her an encouraging nod as she struggled to finish it. "The females have green eyes and the males yellow?"
"Incorrect, but close. Two points from Slytherin. Miss Li, how about you?"
"The eye color is reversed, sir. The males have green eyes and the female yellow."
"Quite correct. Three points to Ravenclaw. How is the basilisk like a normal snake, Miss Patil?"
"They shed their skin as they grow, Professor."
"Excellent. Well done. Five points to Ravenclaw. Mr. Goyle, tell me, how is a basilisk not unlike a dragon?"
Goyle grunted, shooting a glance at Malfoy before clearing his throat rather noisily. "Tough skin?" he murmured dumbly.
Hobday smiled. "Yes. The skin of a basilisk can deflect a numbered amount of spells. Of course getting basilisk hide to make armor is a bit difficult. Five points to Slytherin. This next one is an easy one. Who is the last person known to have slain a basilisk? I'll give you a hint: it happened right here at Hogwarts five years ago."
Harry raised his hand defiantly, making a coughing noise. Hobday called on him.
"Harry Potter," he growled out, causing the Slytherins to snicker loudly. Draco in particular was having a time of it.
Hobday's expression darkened. "Mr. Potter, you are well aware of the circumstances that happened. It was your brother. Ten points from Ravenclaw."
"Yeah, well, Dan would say it was him wouldn't he? And you'd all believe him too because he farts sunshine and daisies."
"Another ten points from Ravenclaw."
Harry subsided and crossed his arms.
"Moving on, what is the difference between a cockatrice and a basilisk? Miss Granger."
Hermione squeaked. Hobday waited patiently for her to answer as she ran over all her notes in her head. Finally she said, "The basilisk is hatched by a toad on top of a hen's egg."
"When we, wizards, try to breed them yes. How are they hatched in nature?"
"Uh…" Hermione stammered, her eyes starting to shine. "I don't know, sir," she admitted in defeat.
"Well," Hobday said sympathetically. "Two points for Ravenclaw. Anyone else care to have a stab at it?"
Harry raised his hand in the air as several of his house mates hissed at him to put it back down. Hobday sighed and called on him.
"The basilisk is hatched by a cockerel from the egg of a serpent while the cockatrice is hatched from a hen's egg incubated in a female serpent's nest."
"You are correct, Mr. Potter. Five points to Ravenclaw. Last three questions. Who here can tell me two non-magical ways to kill a basilisk?"
Harry raised his hand as did Hermione and Daphne Greengrass. Hobday called on Greengrass.
"The first one you have drawn up on the board, sir. The cries of a rooster is fatal to a basilisk. The other is by holding a mirror up to its gaze."
"Or stabbing it with a sword," Harry muttered under his breath.
"Quite right, Miss Greengrass. Five points to Slytherin. What creature is immune to it's gaze?"
Harry raised his hand as did Rebecca Bradley and Theadore Nott. Hobday called on Bradley.
"The weasel, professor."
"Indeed. Five points for Ravenclaw. Last question, Mr. Nott, tell me, what species of basilisk is extinct?"
Nott looked startled. "There was more than one?"
Hobday raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Mr. Nott. For not doing your research properly, five points from Slytherin. Would anyone like to take a guess?"
Harry raised his hand and Professor Hobday looked around the class for other hands. Harry cleared his throat drawing the professor's attention. Reluctantly, Hobday called on Harry to answer.
"There were two recorded types of basilisks, professor. The first burned everything it approached and the second could kill with its gaze. The first is extinct, while the second one is endangered."
"Correct, Mr. Potter. Five points to Ravenclaw."
The bell rang and class ended with a groan from several students as they turned in their improperly researched essays and received a fresh topic. Apparently Hobday decided to give them all different things to research this time. Harry laughed when Draco got Transylvania, Vampires and Muggle Lore. He could just see the disgusted look on Draco's face when he, a pureblood, had to write four feet on Muggle traditions surrounding Count Dracula. He wondered vaguely if Draco would come to the conclusion that the Count was entirely fictional or not and laughed internally.
Harry quickly made his way to Arithmacy. On the way he saw Luna in the halls wearing outlandish updates to the school's uniform. She was sparkly blue with multicolored buttons sewn all over her robes. She waved at him before slipping into a not-so-secret side corridor that went to Transfigurations. He continued avoiding clusters of girls giggling over the new Witch Weekly sporting several pinups of the guys from all four Hogwarts Quidditch teams.
"Hello Harry," Hermione said sidling up behind him. She held her books close to her chest as she fell into step beside him.
"Hermione," he acknowledged with a sidelong glance her way. "How are you doing?"
"Better," she answered before laughing derisively, "but that's not hard to do."
"I'm sorry," he said, putting his hands into his pockets and looking out the castle windows.
"What for?" Hermione asked curiously, "For saving me? For taking a breather? For breaking my heart as much as I was forced to break yours?"
"Well; aren't you?" he demanded, shaking his head angrily. "I've been through hell too, you know."
"I know," she whispered softly. "Just don't forget you're not the only one hurting here. I love you and you love me and this is not something we should be going through alone, not when we have each other."
"I haven't been yours for two months, Hermione," Harry threw over his shoulder.
Hermione pursed her lips together. "Do be sensible, Harry. Being stubborn only hurts us both needlessly."
"There's nothing sensible about this," he argued, turning left abruptly and opening the door to the classroom beckoning her inside.
She breezed past him, her bushy hair brushing lightly against his arm as she did. He pulled back a little and followed her into the room where a few fellow Ravenclaws were already picking Professor Vector's brains for equations on previous N.E.W.T exams.
"Settle down," she called out briskly, ending the impromptu vulture session. Harry slid into the open seat by Hermione at the front. "We have much to go over before the examinations. Last term was mostly about the complexities of time and jumping it with Time Turners. As I've said before you all grasped the concept faster than any of my other N.E.W.T. classes. As such I will be expecting more from you than the others as we go into our last topic of the term before review.
"Open your notebooks and start your notes," Vector said waving her wand casually at the board which flipped and writing started to appear.
A few students groaned and pulled out Omnioculars and used them to zoom in on the writing. Harry cast a copy charm on his quill and directed it at the board and it went off like a muggle rocket zipping across his notebook in a very spirited way. Hermione copied him and soon her own quill was whipping alongside his jotting down the notes word for word.
The lesson picked up about a half hour later as Vector eased them into the mechanics of spell creation. She took a simple feather-light charm and broke it down for them. Harry had to renew the charm on his quill so it could keep up; Hermione started doing her notes by hand. Vector took them through a disarming jinx and a tripping hex before asking them to pull apart for homework a charm, a jinx, a hex and for extra credit, a curse.
Hermione raised her hand and asked if similar spells to the ones demonstrated in class were okay to do or should they try for more difficult spells. Vector merely smiled a twinkle in her eye and shooed them all out of the classroom. Hermione bristled in annoyance at her question being avoided. Harry didn't say anything to her and followed the Ravenclaws heading toward Charms.
When they got to the classroom, Hermione suddenly shifted closer to him. Harry glanced down at her before quickly raising his eyes and seeing Daniel. He felt a boiling anger rise inside him alongside the burning desire to protect Hermione. Harry stayed close to her, but didn't look at her again. His eyes were on Daniel's, who was giving him a dirty look.
"He got off clean," she whispered softly, averting her eyes and stepping up into the purely Ravenclaw stands. The animosity between the two houses was still violent.
"He what?" Harry growled, looking at her. "I had evidence!"
"Shh," she hushed, tucking her hair behind her ear. "He'll hear you."
"Typical," he grumbled, slinging himself into his seat beside her and placing his books on the desk in front of him, forgetting all together that he had wanted any space. "Just bloody typical."
Hermione lowered her voice even further and said, "He told the Headmaster it was clearly a setup and that the locket had been given to him by the Weasley twins. Well they were called in from Diagon Alley and they said quite abashedly that their sister had seen you steal it from Daniel and Ron's room so that the present he was obviously going to give to her you were going to give to me. By then your parents were involved and everything was getting murderous…"
"Why wasn't I called in then?" he asked, keeping an eye on his brother.
"Because James and Lily didn't want you there."
"Perfect," he growled. "What else happened? Did your parents give my mum and dad the old one two?"
She shook her head, "They weren't allowed to come."
Harry gave her a startled look. "Why the bloody hell not? You were nearly…" he lowered his voice drastically and whispered, "raped."
Hermione paled and ducked down under the desk to grab her things. She took her time laying them out before her. "Yes, well, Daniel refuted hotly that he'd only ever seen the locket after the Weasley twins had given it to him to send to the pretty girl he fancies. He thought it was their way to help him ask me out and Fred and George got really angry and asked him why he'd ask me out when he had Ginny."
"What'd he say then?" Harry asked as Professor Flitwick called for their attention.
"That Ginny was his number one fan girl, not his girlfriend and clearly her notions of them were what had all the rumormongers yapping about all the time. Daniel denied any attraction to her and said her delusions weren't going to stop him from getting what his mum and dad had--a healthy loving relationship. Then he looked right at me and I got ill," she finished hurriedly, opening her book and delving into it to escape anything Harry might have said.
Harry glared at Daniel who flashed a dark grin his way before leaning over to whisper something to Ron. Ron looked at them and smiled thinly. After that Harry had a hard time concentrating on Flitwick's lecture and chose instead to think up ways of eviscerating Daniel.
The last half-hour they started working on the practical aspects of conjuring which Harry did mindlessly conjuring a mirror, a trunk, and a chair in quick succession. Daniel kept shouting the incantations, his voice laced with frustration and fear. The fear well hidden to anybody who wasn't trying to intimidate the pompous prat, which Harry was doing admirably. His silent countenance doing more to scare the git than open glaring at this point.
Flitwick came around and watched Hermione conjure a small button. He gave her a few pointers and told her to try something bigger. He glanced at Harry for a moment, but Harry didn't wave his wand or try to conjure anything for the tiny professor. As Flitwick went around the classroom helping out Gryffindors and Ravenclaws alike, Harry watched Daniel sweat.
The bell tolled through the corridor, heralding the end of the day for most students. Hermione not being most students gathered her things and after shooting Harry a quick glance ran out of the room as fast as she could. Harry however stayed rooted to the spot, watching his brother and his group of cohorts gather their belongings and laughing uproariously. Only he noticed the strain gathering in Daniel's eyes. He calmly held his wand at his side, waiting for his Head of House to finish talking to Rebecca Bradley and Mandy Brocklehurst.
When the two girls and the professor left was when Harry made his move. He silently hexed his brother who started stammering and sweating profusely.
"What's wrong Daniel?" Ron asked shooing the others away. Seamus and Dean led Lavender and Parvati out of the classroom, all the while shooting the duo questioning glances.
"I'll tell you what's wrong," Harry intoned softly, walking toward them.
Ron glowered at Harry. "Potter," he blustered.
"Weasley," Harry returned mockingly. "Are you my brother's girlfriend or something? Stop hovering and go away."
"What do you want?" Daniel asked, wincing when he tried to scowl.
"Payback," Harry said darkly. "Since Dumbledore's got his head up your arse I'm calling you out for what you did to Hermione."
"Calling me out?" Daniel laughed scornfully, wincing again.
"Yes," he said simply. "You've been a tough bastard to pin down. What were you doing--hiding in your common room sniveling like a little girl?"
"Quidditch," Ron sneered. "We were doing Quidditch, minus the time your little trollop tried to pin Dan down for sexual harassment."
"I'll deal with you later," Harry said firmly to Ron, locking eyes with Daniel. "As for now, however," he said lightly, "it's been a long time coming. I hereby challenge you Daniel Lawrence Potter to a wizarding duel for your transgressions against me and against Hermione. Do you accept by your word and magic or shall you plead guilty now and be done with it?"
Sweat trickled down Daniel's brow. "I decide the location and time," he declared.
"Fine," Harry said tersely.
"Battlements, midnight," Daniel replied swiftly, pulling out his wand. "By my magic and word I accept Harry James Potter's challenge."
A yellow spark cracked from their wands, satisfying Harry who lowered his. "Trying to keep this secret," he stated contemptuously. "How like you."
Ron folded his arms across his chest. "You don't know what you got yourself into, but I'm going to look forward to Dan beating your arse."
"Oh I know exactly what I got into," Harry replied smirking. "The question remains, did Daniel?"
"We'll see about that," Ron declared hotly pulling out his wand. "Not that he needs it, but I, Ronald Billius Weasley, do declare myself by word and magic Daniel Lawerence Potter's second."
A second yellow light cracked between Harry's lowered wand and Ron's. Harry grinned maliciously.
"I won't need a second."
º«««º»»»ºEnd Chapter 33º«««º»»»º