Harry Potter and the Dementors Unleashed: Harry's Sixth Year

     They strode along the corridor after Snape, who, upon hearing that they had finished what he had asked, demanded that they accompany him down to the room to see if they were lying. He glanced back at them to check if they were getting nervous, or, of course, if they were still there. Unfortunately for him they each had a smirk on their faces, and Snape swung open the door and strode inside.

     He stared at the cauldron in the middle of the room. Harry saw his face go white with anger. He turned to them slowly.

     "Potter, dim-witted though you are, I cannot believe you thought you were going to get away with this," he whispered, and pulled out his wand. With a single wave of it, Dobby the house-elf appeared at his side, in the middle of drying off a goblet with a dishtowel. He started when he looked up. He seemed very surprised to be there until he saw Harry.

     "Harry Potter, sir!" he squeaked, ecstatic. "How good it - "

     "Silence!" hissed Snape, and Dobby jumped, dropping the glass with a humongous shatter that echoed off the walls, so that it seemed like Dobby had caused a chain reaction of shattering dishes. Harry winced and Hermione had uttered a soft "Oh!" of surprise. Snape, however, did not flinch. He took two steps toward Dobby, and Harry saw him reach into his cloak.

     "You will tell me, elf, where you have been this afternoon," Snape demanded.

     Dobby looked at Harry. He raised a questioning eyebrow and Harry said loudly, "Tell him the truth, Dobby."

     Dobby paused, eyes wandering between Harry and Snape.

     "THE TRUTH, ELF, OR YOU WILL BE BANISHED FROM THESE GROUNDS!" Snape bellowed, and Dobby jumped.

     "Dobby has been cleaning dishes, sir," Dobby said, his eyes watering.

     "All afternoon you have been cleaning dishes?"

     "Yes, sir, Professor, sir," Dobby bawled, and then stumbled three steps backward as Snape withdrew from his cloak - a simple white cube.

     "Don't!" shouted Hermione, and Harry whirled to face her. Her hands were tugging at her hair and her face was full of alarm and fear. Harry, however, was puzzled, but he knew that this object, like many other things in this world, were not as they appeared. As though it had read his mind, the box slowly began to bend inward, as thought there were some sort of vacuum in it, then went on to make a noise much like a boiling teakettle.

     Dobby shrank back into a corner, wringing his hands fearfully, his face full of terror.

     "Please, sir, Dobby is being truthful, sir, he has been doing dishes, he has, he has! He swears on his life, sir, he swears on his own life! Dobby has been doing dishes!"

     Snape, looking disbelieving and malevolent, threw the item into the air. As Harry stepped back, expecting it to smash once it had hit the floor, Hermione slyly took her wand from Snape's pocket whilst it hovered in midair, slowly turning a dark shade of burgundy. Then Hermione did something so utterly astonishing and seemingly peculiar in the situation they were in that Harry could do nothing but stare: she ran toward the cube, whipped out her wand and plunged it into the heart of the cube as hard as she could. It, to her obvious surprise, only turned darker and whistled twice as loud. She withdrew her wand immediately, a look of desperation on her face. Dobby gasped loudly and scampered away into a corner, tears of fright rolling down his face.

     Harry, acting upon impulse, charged forward and withdrew his wand from Snape's pocket and held it level to the box. Snape whirled to face him but Harry already had his wand fixed on the object and was charging forward.

     "IMPEDIMENTA!" he roared, and a jet of red light shot from his wand, headed straight for the box. It exploded into a thousand shimmering pieces that hovered in the air for a moment, and then disappeared. Harry, thunderstruck, stood stock still and speechless. Snape looked furious.

     "It's expulsion for you, Potter," Snape hissed, looking livid yet triumphant. "You have just destroyed an incredibly old possession of Salazar Slytherin. And I assure you that this will not go well with the headmaster, especially after he - "

     "Dobby didn't do anything!" Hermione interrupted loudly. Her eyes were on Dobby and she looked furious. Snape spun to face her.

     "Shut up, you silly girl! I promise you, Dumbledore will see this as the last straw, you will both be exp - "

     "Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby squealed, running towards Harry. He glared at Snape. "Harry Potter has done no wrong!" he shouted, but Snape ignored him.

     "Fifty points from Gryffindor House, Potter," he hissed, towering over Harry.

     "WHAT?" Harry bellowed, finding his voice. "Fifty points because you attacked our friend?"

     "I did not attack the elf, Potter; I, for one, do not see a scratch on him," Snape said in a very soft voice, and it was in this moment that Harry realized how far Snape was willing to go to get him expelled. This, however, did not frighten Harry at all; a fresh surge of hate and rage fell upon him and burned inside him.

     "You're disgusting," Harry whispered, and Snape's face went very white. Harry was truly afraid now, because this wasn't his voice - this was someone else's, because his tone had changed and now spoke in something of a high-pitched voice sounding scarily like McGonagall's, and he couldn't stop himself . . . almost like the laughter that had possessed him last year except differently so. The laughter had felt like this, but then he had been unexplainably happy, and now he felt odd, as though he were screaming at Ron or Hermione because he had a bad day. "You are just a disgusting little boy and that's all you'll ever be." Harry's heart pounded in his ears and he clenched his wand as tight as he could. To an outsider that couldn't know what was happening, he must sound rather silly, telling a full grown man that he was a little boy, but to him the experience was terrifying yet somehow pleasureable at the same time - what was he thinking? - and he had an overwhelming sense of power that he had never felt before. He wasn't controlling his thoughts. Someone else seemed to be controlling his mouth.

     "Who told you these things, Potter? Who put these things inside your mind? Who? Who?" Snape had started at a whisper and now his voice rose ever higher and became so loud Harry took a step back, but he continued to spout out insults that made no sense to him but were clearly hurting Snape to a great extent.

     "A disgrace!" he shouted, beginning to pant with the strain of trying to stop. "A pathetic excuse for a wizard!" Snape looked as though he were going mad; his eyes were popping and his face was beet red.

     "SHUT UP, POTTER!" He bellowed. "SHUT - "

     "IDIOT BOY! YOU WILL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING! YOU ARE AND ALWAYS WILL BE JUST A DISGUSTING LITTLE BOY!"

     "SILENCE!" Snape screamed, and Harry found that his legs were finally working correctly and ran, pushing a very anxious Hermione out the door, Dobby at his heels, sniveling and whimpering. They ran out the door and dashed down the hall, flinging open a curtain on the left, listening to Snape's curses follow them down the corridor and seeing green flashes on either side of them that hit the walls and ricocheted ahead of them and continued on down the passageways.

     Harry grabbed the hem of Hermione's robes and dragged her into a nearby empty classroom he had never been in before. Panting and breathing heavily, Hermione clutched at her chest and Harry silenced her with a hand. They both leaned in, listening carefully, Hermione giving him weird looks, obviously curious. A second later Snape entered the hallway, his footsteps echoing.

     "STUPEFY!" they heard him cry, and then there was a loud crack that Harry recognized as the sound Dobby made when he Disapparated. Silence. Snape cursed and strode straight past their hiding spot unknowingly. Harry waited until the footsteps had faded away into nothing, and then changed to a standing position, lending Hermione his hand. She stood up, shaking, and reached for the doorknob.

     "Hold on," Harry whispered, and her hand froze. She raised an eyebrow, but he pulled out the Marauders Map, grinning at her. He looked at it for a moment and watched Snape's dot moving around the Charms corridor. It turned a corner and ran smack into the dot labeled Draco Malfoy. Harry stared in amazement as Snape's dot paused. For a moment neither one moved. Then Snape sped off in the direction it had come and Draco's dot tailed him. They were headed straight for Harry and Hermione's room.

     "Oh, no," moaned Harry as they turned onto their corridor; Harry couldn't open the door without them seeing.

     "What is it?" Hermione whispered, but Harry was staring around the room they were in. He had only just realized that he was in Snape's office. How could he have been so stupid?

     "We're in Snape's office," he murmured, and Hermione gasped.

     "Under his desk, hurry!" she mouthed, and Harry dived underneath the oak desk with her just as Snape opened the door.

     "How is your father, Draco?" Snape was asking Malfoy as they came into the room.

     "Fine, sir, still on the run, hiding, you know . . ." Draco's voice trailed off and he looked glumly at the floor.

     "Right, of course," replied Snape, and Harry saw genuine concern in his eyes. If Harry wasn't positive Snape was on their side he would have been extremely worried. He chanced a glance at Hermione. She looked keen to hear what was going on.

     "He's sent us a letter, telling us he was okay," Malfoy said in barely more than a whisper, tears forming in his pale blue eyes, and Harry, even through all his hatred for Malfoy, felt a slight twinge of grief for Malfoy; it was, after all, not truly his fault that his father was an infamous Death Eater . . . but his brief sorrow passed almost instantly. He refused to let his mind wander when the information he had been yearning for was right here in front of his face.

     "I hope he didn't mention anything about his whereabouts, Draco," Snape said, asking the question with his eyes. Malfoy scowled at him.

     "My father isn't stupid, Professor. I would think you, of all people, would know that, having met previously. Despite what people may think, . . . being wanted by the entire wizarding world doesn't make you stupid, or dim-witted, . . . it just means you're clever enough not to have been caught by them just yet." Malfoy was glaring at his shoelaces, and Harry's stomach plummeted when he realized that, had Malfoy looked three inches to the left, he would have seen Harry in his peripheral vision. Harry silently scooted back an inch, and Hermione cast him a warning look. She shook her head ever so slightly and he complied.

     "I didn't mean to . . . insult your father, Draco," Snape said, rather awkwardly. There was a silence, and Hermione suddenly clamped her hand to her face. Harry whipped his head around to look at her. She had her eyes shut tightly and had the apparent look of someone who is trying not to sneeze. Harry grimaced in sudden realization as she tossed her head back and sneezed. Loudly.

     "What the -" Malfoy looked right at them and they both scrambled out from under the table at once, flinging open the door and sprinting down the hallway before either had a chance to assess the situation. Snape's shout of fury came moments later, and instead of slowing down they spun around a corner and straight into Professor McGonagall.

     "Potter? Miss Granger?" she asked and, seeing the urgent and impatient looks on teir faces, ushered them into a classroom. Harry and Hermione both shut the door together.

     "What is it?" McGonagall asked , looking worried, but Harry shook his head as Snape passed their door and continued on down the hallway. "Just... an interesting first day back."

(A/N -- This is the beginning of Chapter 8, Schnoogle rejected it for being "Too short" ....humph.... enjoy!!)

***

The Common Room was empty. Almost.

     "Well, well, well," Seamus said, grinning. There was something weird about his smile though, and Harry didn't trust it.

     The weird thing was, Harry didn't see any other students in the Common Room. Just Seamus.

     Harry and Hermione had just gotten back from their wonderful experience. They hadn't passed a single person in the halls. Sure as Ron's hair was red, they had not seen the last of Snape. They would be forced to see him next Monday, and that's only if they managed to stay out of his path.

     Presently, Harry grinned at Seamus.

     "Glad to have you back, Harry," said Seamus, and he took a large swig from what Harry recognized as a bottle of butterbeer. At that moment Harry realized how hungry he was. He vaguely wondered if Seamus had any more.

     "Glad to be back, Seamus," said Harry, deciding to play along.

     "Where is everybody?" asked Hermione. Harry looked at her. She looked as suspicious as he felt.

     "'Spect they're all at the hourglasses in the Great Hall," said Seamus calmly, slowly standing up. There were seven or eight more bottles on the table, one of which was indeed not butterbeer, but fire whiskey. Hermione gasped.

     "Seamus, you've been drinking!" she yelped, and ran at him, grabbing the whiskey bottle. She gasped again, louder this time. "You drank this whole thing?"

     The bottle was empty. Harry ignored Hermione's fear and anxious inquiries about the alcohol.

     "Why would everyone be looking at the hourglasses, Seamus?" Harry asked calmly, and Seamus snorted.

     "'Aven't you 'eard?" Seamus asked, and Harry was reminded of Hagrid's accent. "All those damn points you and Hermione lost us blew us to smithereens. We've got -" he hiccupped " - negative points now."

     "But me and Harry only lost fifty points apiece! We couldn't possibly be in negative numbers now, each house starts with two hundred at the beginning of the year, so we'd have - "

     Seamus chuckled darkly. "Fifty points apiece, eh? Do you really think so? Why don't you go and check it for yourself?"

     "Wait," Harry interrupted. "How did everyone find out about this so fast?"

     "I'm glad you asked," said a voice from the shadows, and Harry and Hermione both leaped in the air, whirling around to face an armchair by the fire. Ron was sitting there, an odd expression on his face, as though he didn't know what to think at the moment. Harry grinned.

     "Ron, I didn't see you there," said Hermione, but she seemed to be avoiding Ron's eyes, and Ron's hers. Ron clasped his hands and leaned forward, eyes shining brightly at Harry.

     "Start talking," he said, as Seamus fell back onto the armchair, unconscious.

*~*

     After Harry (with the help of Hermione, who was still acting peculiar) had finished his story - excluding some of the finer details, such as how he noticed the pity in Snape's eyes - there was a long silence. Ron shook his head.

     "Harry, you're an idiot," he said, grinning ear to ear.

     Harry nodded. He was, after all. Ron stared at Harry.

     "Now it's your turn. Why is everyone looking at the hourglasses? What happened?" Harry asked, wanting to know the answer before everyone came back.

     "Well, I suppose Snape must've taken a few more points off when he couldn't find you."

     "How many?" Harry asked, dreading the answer.

     "A couple hundred," Ron mumbled.

     "Aw, great! This stinks!" Harry hollered, throwing his wand across the room and hitting Seamus in the face. He stirred, but they all ignored it, and Harry stood.

     "I'm going to bed," he said curtly, and marched up the staircase to the boys' dormitory. He stopped on the third step, though; because he heard Ron say something to Hermione, and this was the first time either of them had spoken directly to each other all night. He couldn't help himself. He hung back to listen.

     "You said eight o' clock," said Ron, and there was silence.

     "I had detention," said Hermione, obviously offended.

     "You were lying," said Ron. "You told me you'd be out of detention by then."

     "I - how was I supposed to know what was going to happen, Ron?"

     "You were just leading me on," said Ron, obviously hurt. Harry leaned closer to listen.

     "Don't say it like that, it's not like it was a date or anything!"

     "It might as well have been!"

     "What do you mean?"

     "Nothing!"

     "It was not a date, Ron, for God's sake, Seamus was going to be there, too! I was just trying to help you guys with your work!"

     "Seamus was gonna be there?"

     "Yes!"

     "I thought you - that we - that you liked - "

     "Just spit it out, Ron!" Hermione shrieked, and Harry heard her voice wavering. She was crying in her anger and frustration with him.

     "Never mind, okay? Just - just forget it, like you forgot today, all right? I'll see you tomorrow." Harry head Ron stamp toward the staircase and he ran, making as little noise as possible. He swung open the door and flung himself into bed. Seconds later, the dormitory door swung open again. Ron stormed into the room and threw himself onto the bed, letting out a long, shuddering breath. Harry's stomach lurched when he realized Ron was crying too. Harry wished he hadn't heard anything. Hermione didn't go up to their dorm or to her own. Instead, Harry listened to her lie on the couch, sobbing, and he wondered if Ron heard it as well.