The Gemini

Chapter Three

The next morning Harry was greeted by Professor McGonagall.

"The headmaster wants to see you after breakfast, Potter," she told him. Harry nodded glumly. After breakfast he reluctantly made his way to Dumbledore's office.

Dumbledore sat there, watching him gravely.

"Harry," he said quietly as Harry sat down. "I believe you know why I want to talk to you."

Harry said nothing. He could feel Belinda tuning in through their bond in a way that was similar to how he'd contacted her yesterday.

Dumbledore sighed.

"Harry, we are concerned about you," he told the teenager. "We are well aware that you have unusual powers of some kind. First there was your encounter with Voldemort. Now Madam Pomfrey tells me that she found you last night in the hospital being visited by an unknown girl, both of you glowing, before the girl Apparated despite the anti-apparition wards set on this school. It is clear that you are withholding information from us, Harry, and we are worried about you."

Harry looked up from where he had been staring down into his lap, meeting Dumbledore's eyes clearly.

"I can't tell you, Professor," Harry said determinedly.

"Harry -"

Harry experienced a flash of annoyance at the same time as Belinda sent him an indignant blip of emotion.

Harry straightened as something inside deep inside him came closer to the surface.

The look in the green eyes surprised Dumbledore and disturbed him. For a moment the expression on Harry's face looked as though it belonged to someone else.

"No," Harry said firmly and evenly. "This is my business only."

Dumbledore sighed.

"Very well, Harry. A butterbeer?"

Harry nodded in acceptance and Dumbledore poured some out of a flask into two mugs. Harry took a sip and frowned. It tasted different, somehow. He drank some more, and his mind slipped into blankness...

Belinda felt the blankness come over Harry's mind and swore mentally.

They've drugged him! she thought angrily. She forced her mind down their connection to enter Harry's mind. It was a horrifying invasion of his privacy, but she was damned if she was going to let them interrogate him, especially not when he had so much he could let slip. Belinda slipped through his end of the connection, and was abruptly looking at an old man in a spacious, old-fashioned office.

Dumbledore had watched sorrowfully as Harry's eyes went blank and unfocused.

"I'm sorry, Harry," he murmured sadly, "but we can't have you keeping important secrets..."

Quite suddenly Harry's eyes snapped into alertness, blazing green fire. He sat up straight, his face filled with fury.

"What did you give me?" he bellowed at Dumbledore. Dumbledore's eyes widened in shock, then widened further as he noticed the uncharacteristic set of Harry's jaw and the alien expression in his eyes.

"You're not Harry, are you?" he whispered.

"I said, what did you give me?" Harry hissed, ignoring the question. When Dumbledore only stared in horror he stood, preparing to leave the room. Snape entered at just that moment. Harry almost collided with him. The boy looked into Snape's face, and like Dumbledore Snape looked startled before realisation set in. He made to grab Harry but the boy dodged out of the way and stood, glaring at them.

"I can't believe you did that to Harry," he hissed. "He trusted you. Good thing he has me to look after him, seeing as he can't trust his friends or teachers!"

Belinda whirled and ran from the room, so angry that she felt she would give off sparks if she touched anyone. Harry's consciousness had been pushed to the side and now she touched it gently. It was still blank and unaware. Belinda stormed through the hall when a redheaded boy and a girl with thick brown hair came up to her.

"Harry! What's wrong?" asked the girl, alarmed.

Belinda realised that this must be Hermione and Ron.

"Ask Dumbledore," she snarled, and pushed past them. When she was out of sight she teleported to her own bedroom.

Belinda stared down at herself for a moment. Her eyes were wide and unseeing, staring at the ceiling. She shrugged and lay on the bed next to herself and shut her eyes. She dove to the bottom of Harry's mind and wriggled back through their connection, finally resurfacing in her own mind. She blinked at the ceiling and sat up, glancing to her right. Harry lay on the bed next to her, seemingly asleep. She stood on wobbly legs and pulled the sheet over him before leaving the room and locking the door behind her. She felt sorely in need of breakfast.

Harry woke suddenly, feeling groggy and confused. He didn't open his eyes, instead trying to organise his disoriented thoughts. That was odd, he thought he'd gotten up this morning already...

Quite suddenly he remembered drinking butterbeer in Dumbledore's office before his mind had been wiped clear of thought. His eyes snapped open in horrified realisation and he found himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. He sat up and looked around.

He was in a small bedroom, lying on a bed. He was puzzled until he caught sight of a photo with two girls in it. One of them was Belinda. He relaxed a little.

The sound of a key grating in a lock came from the door. He tensed as the door swung open, relaxing again as Belinda entered carrying a bowl of something that smelt good.

"They gave me Veritaserum didn't they?" he croaked.

"I don't know what it was, but I know it was designed to make you answer all their questions," she replied, setting the bowl down on the desk. Her eyes were hard and her lips were set in a thin line.

"I'm sorry, but I had to possess you or you would have blurted everything. I got you out as quick as I can. They know someone took over, but not who. Here, I brought you some stew. It's out of a can, but it shouldn't taste too bad. I microwaved it as soon as I felt you coming to."

Harry grabbed the bowl of stew and began eating hungrily.

"I didn't tell them anything?" he said hopefully through a mouthful. Belinda shook her head, giving him a small smile. He relaxed almost completely.

"Thanks," he sighed. She gave him a friendly look.

"No problem."
She sat and watched him as he ate. Harry didn't mind. She was familiar and comfortable. When he finished she sighed.

"You'll probably have to go back soon," she told him. He stiffened.

"Not straight away," she said hastily, "you can stay for a while, but the things you need are there. It's a pupil free day for me today, so you can stay with me if you want to, but you have to leave when my parents get home."

He nodded reluctantly.

"Don't trust anyone when you get back," she warned him. He snorted.

"Not likely," he said bitterly. Then:

"How about you show me around?"

Hermione and Ron were sitting on the lawn by the lake, neither saying a word. They didn't know what had happened. Harry had vanished this morning, in a rage about something, and Dumbledore refused to answer their questions.

"He'll be okay," Ron said quietly.

Before Hermione could reply there was a loud bang nearby and Harry stumbled into existence.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed and would have run over to him. But there was something cold and hostile in his expression that made her stop uncertainly.

"Mate, what happened?" Ron asked worriedly. "No one would tell us a thing."

Harry folded his arms, looking angry. It worried Hermione. Harry was a person of hot, impulsive rages. This icy, controlled anger wasn't like him at all.

"Not surprising," Harry said coldly. "I should have guessed Dumbledore wouldn't be particularly keen to let anyone know that he gave The Boy Who Lived Veritaserum."

They gasped, looking horrified. Harry went striding past them without a word.

When Harry entered the Great Hall there was a sudden hush, followed by a buzz of voices whispering to each other. Harry strode straight to the teacher's table, never taking his hard eyes off Dumbledore.

When he stopped in front of the old man he radiated a power and intensity that Dumbledore had never felt before.

"Veritaserum." Harry's voice was cool and well under control. There was an aloofness in his tone that made Dumbeldore's skin crawl.

"You gave me Veritaserum."

There was a sudden silence in the hall. The other teachers looked horrified, all but for Snape who watched Harry with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Albus," began Professor McGonagall, "surely you didn't -"

Harry put up a hand, never taking his eyes from Dumbledore's, and Minerva fell silent.

Albus looked up into those dangerous green eyes and felt sick. What had he unleashed?

"Since you are so desperate to know who the other one is," Harry said in a voice like ice, "I will tell you. She is my sister. It was she who took over when the Veritaserum came into effect. She will always do so. No matter what you do, no matter what happens, she will always be there to take control if someone betrays my trust."

His eyes bored into the headmaster's for another moment, then moved to rest on Snape. Snape didn't show it, but he was startled at the calculating look in Potter's eyes.

"I am not," Harry said, still with unnatural calm, "all my father's son, Professor. You should consider that fact. I was almost sorted into Slytherin, you know."

He turned and strode out of the hall.

Dumbledore's head was spinning, Harry's parting words ringing in his ears. I was almost sorted into Slytherin...

The same words were echoing through Snape's head. When Potter had looked at him, cooler and more calculating than anyone Snape had ever seen (bar one) and spoken those words in that unsettling voice, Snape had experienced a chill. He had seen clearly that he had, indeed, been misjudging Potter for many years. From the look on Dumbledore's face he wasn't the only one. But what really threatened to engulf him was how uncannily like the Dark Lord Potter had behaved for just a moment... Snape and Dumbledore reached for the flagon of Firewhisky at the same time.

Harry lay on his bed, half-rejoicing in, half-regretting his display. But the part of him that usually lay buried had risen up, freezingly enraged, so that he had decided to make Dumbledore regret his actions. At the last moment he had decided to try and unnerve Snape as well. He thought it had worked, despite Snape's inscrutability...

He woke the next morning feeling more subdued, but still full of brooding anger. People avoided him as he came down the stairs into the common room. Hesitantly Ron and Hermione walked over to him, followed by Ginny.

"Harry," Hermione began tentatively, "are you okay?"

"No," snapped Harry, "and I won't be for a while."

"You scared, us mate," Ron said soberly. "You scared everyone. For a moment there, you were acting like..." he gulped and continued. "Like You-Know-Who."

Harry absorbed this but didn't respond. His gaze flickered sideways to Ginny, who was looked pale and tired. Of all the people in Hogwarts, she was of the few who knew how like Riddle he had behaved last night...

"I'm sorry," he told her quietly. She looked at him, startled, then away.

"You were so like him," she almost whispered, "it scared me so much..."

Harry looked at her a moment, filled with emotions he didn't recognise.

"I'm sorry," he repeated sadly. He gave them all a wry grin.

"I wish I could tell you what's going on, what I am, but I can't."

In the Great Hall people stared and him and whispered. Harry ignored them. He felt exhausted, drained. He knew that Belinda felt almost as bad. She was close to falling asleep in class, he felt.

He was leaving the hall when Malfoy barred his way.

"All impressed with ourselves are we, Potter?" he sneered.

Harry felt the familiar spark of anger.

"Get lost," he snapped. Malfoy smirked.

"So who's this sister?" he asked, still sneering. "Everyone knows she wasn't raised by your family. I guess she must be a bastard, then... how low can you get, a bastard mudblood muggle-"

Deadly temper emerged. Harry turned slowly. Malfoy was too inattentive to notice the look in Harry's eyes. Next moment he was slammed backwards into the wall by an unseen force.

"Insult my sister again and you will regret it," Harry said, quiet menace in his voice. Then he left the hall.