Destiny Trilogy: The War

Chapter 7: The Lion With The Serpent's Tongue

The Slytherin boys stumbled back to their Common Room at about 2 o'clock the next morning, tired and possibly a little drunk. The girls had gone off to bed long ago, with the exception of Pansy Parkinson, who had not been seen since lunch.

"Typical of a Weasley," Thomas Nott was saying. "The whole clan have a reputation of mixing with mudbloods."

"I don't think they should even be considered pure-bloods anymore," Montague agreed. "My father said they've got a squib somewhere in the family."

"Did you see one of the twins with that mudblood Chaser?"

"And to think they made her the Gryffindor Captain."

Crabbe and Goyle stared dumbly, watching the conversation as one would watch a tennis match, since both had neither opinions of their own nor Malfoy to agree to.

They were just about to head off to bed when they noticed a coppery stink coming from the long-dead embers of the fireplace of the Slytherin Common Room.

"Oh yuck, look at this," Blaise Zabini said, staring at the bloody mess in the cooling fireplace. "Some sick person gutted one of the runespoors."

*~*~~*~**~*~*~~*

Harry sat up with a jolt in bed. His dorm-mates were still sleeping peacefully. Good. It seemed like he was finally learning not to scream out loud or everyone had just been too tired from the Ball. He checked the wrist watch Hermione had given him on his birthday and groaned inwardly when he realised he had slept for barely an hour. This was getting ridiculous. He flopped back down and tried to get back to sleep, but after a lot of tossing and turning and fiddling with his covers, he gave up. His adrenaline was still rushing from the nightmare, and there was nothing he could do about it. He quietly got dressed and took out his invisibility cloak, his hand hesitating as he reached for the Marauders' Map. He'd gotten it back at the end of last year when Dumbledore had been going through the possessions of the fake Mad-Eyed Moody. With a sigh, he decided not to bring it. It brought back too many unpleasant memories.

He sneaked out of Gryffindor Tower, hoping he wouldn't bump into Filch or Mrs Norris. He could lie that he was doing Prefect duty, but McGonagall would probably have his head if she found out. The winter wind seemed to have seeped through the stones of the castle walls, stretching icy fingers to grab at him. He drew the invisibility cloak closer to him, thankful that it was rather heavy. Harry made his way up to the Astronomy Tower. The wind was stronger and colder up here. Looking over the dark, menacing depths of the Forbidden Forest, he gave an involuntary shiver. What was happening now outside the save haven Hogwarts provided? He hadn't heard from Sirius and Lupin for a long time.

He sighed and slumped down on the cold stone. It wouldn't do anybody any good to sit and wallow in his own despair, but it seemed to be all he was capable of at the moment. Leaning his head back, the stars burst on his upturned face like ocean spray. His grade-school teacher had once told them a beautiful story that when someone died, their souls would rise to the heavens and turn into a star, looking out for their loved ones. I didn't want you to die for me, Harry thought miserably, closing his eyes.

*~*~~*~**~*~*~~*

Harry woke up around lunch time on Boxing Day, curling up in his sheets and contemplating not getting up at all that day until his stomach protested loudly from the lack of food. He shrugged into a jumper from Mrs. Weasley, this year in emerald green as usual but with a huge 'H' on it. It had made him feel like he actually had a family until the increasingly annoying voice in his head reminded him that he was Harry Potter, not Harry Weasley. He made his way down to the Great Hall feeling very gloomy indeed, hoping his two best friends wouldn't notice anything amiss.

　

He sat down to pick at his toast and rearrange the food on his plate, not really paying attention to the conversation at the table.

"It's silly," Hermione muttered. "Especially at times like these."

"Dumbledore wouldn't have hired her if he thought she wasn't qualified," Ron protested, conveniently forgetting all the remarks about the state of Dumbledore's sanity he'd made when Gilderoy Lockhart had been appointed to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts in their second year.

"You just like her because she's pretty." Hermione huffed.

"And you're just jealous," Ron proclaimed triumphantly.

Harry groaned and felt like smacking his head on the table. They were still squabbling.

"So much for getting them together so that we'd all have some peace and quiet," Fred said wryly.

Harry felt a small pang. Maybe he had wanted them to notice after all.

*~*~~*~**~*~*~~*

Usually a good snowball fight like the one they'd had that afternoon would have left him pleasantly exhausted and quite happy to drop off into a relatively dreamless sleep, but tonight there was an incessant gnawing that refused to go away.

It was kind of peaceful, wandering the darkened corridors of Hogwarts alone in his invisibility cloak. No books to sneak out of the Restricted Section, no adventures into the Forbidden Forest and no death-defying potions-ingredient-stealing missions. And no Ron or Hermione to squeeze under the cloak with him, treading on each others' feet and frantically trying to make as little noise as possible to avoid getting caught.

He'd been avoiding them the whole day--teaming up with the twins instead of Ron in the snowball fight, eating his meals with Ginny, going off to bed early so they would have the Common Room to themselves. And it hurt a bit to realise that they were so lost in each other, they probably hadn't noticed his efforts anyway.

Remembering that he'd planned on going off on his Firebolt early the next morning, Harry moved quietly down towards Gryffindor Tower. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw someone turn a corner. His heart seemed to skip a beat and he cursed himself for not bringing the Marauder's Map along. Crossing his fingers and hoping he'd be able to sneak past whoever it was, he moved stealthily round the corner. Wait a minute...was that Kera? Despite the lack of light and the fact that most of the Hogwarts corridors still looked the same to him after five years, Harry was quite sure that she had been coming from a section of the castle he'd never been in before. Harry considered exploring for a moment, then decided to leave her to her privacy. Anyway it looked close to the direction of the dungeons and Slytherin Common Rooms, and he really didn't need to know what his classmates were getting up to in dark corridors in the middle of the night. He waited in the shadows till he was sure she had gone up to her dormitory before going into the portrait-hole himself.

*~*~~*~**~*~*~~*

"We're going to kick Malfoy's ass today." Ron said as they stepped into the Great Hall for breakfast.

Ron wasn't playing today despite protests from Alicia that he was really a better player than her. The rest of Gryffindor had already volunteered for "guard duty" like in third year and hopefully they would be able to avoid having one of their team-mates kidnapped or injured again today.

As they walked past the Ravenclaw table, they bumped into Cho, who was just rising to leave.

"Good luck Harry." Cho said, smiling faintly.

Harry felt a lump in his throat. It was the first time she had spoken to him since the end of last year.

"Thanks."

Ron shot a look at Harry but didn't say anything until they got to their own table.

"Do you still like her?"

"...I don't know." Harry mumbled, pretending to be engrossed with buttering his toast.

I don't know anything anymore.

It was a clear day, slightly breezy but not too cold, perfect conditions for playing Quidditch. Ron had chosen to sit nearest to the stairs leading down to the field, with Hermione. Ginny and Gayle had become fast friends and were sitting somewhat higher up.

Malfoy had been made Slytherin captain this year, and he wasn't too happy when Madam Hooch ordered the team captains to shake hands. Before he took off, he sneered at Angelina and made a great show of wiping his hand on his robes, making most of the team, especially Fred, see red.

"I can't wait to wipe that smirk off his face with a bludger," Fred muttered as they all took off.

True to his word, the twins smacked a bludger with the Dopplebeater Defence at Malfoy at the first chance they got, forcing him to swerve crazily all over stadium as it raced after him at twice the speed and twice the force. It also bought Harry some time to look for the Snitch unobstructed.

"Angelina dives and drops the quaffle - Slytherin in possession, the Gryffindor Keeper closing in..."

Kera stopped, frowning as if confused. The quaffle went through the hoop.

The Gryffindors stared at her and exchanged bewildered looks as the Slytherins cheered and jeered. It was the first time she'd ever let a goal in.

"SLYTHERIN SCORES! TEN-ZERO TO SLYTHERIN!"

Malfoy sniggered as he stopped to hover near Harry.

"Looks like we've got the upper hand now, Scarhead."

When this happened a few more times, Angelina signalled for a time out and Ron rushed onto the field.

"What are you playing at?" Ron shouted at Kera as they landed. "Snogging with Malfoy clouding up your brain?"

"Someone's cast a spell of some sort on me or the quaffle." She said, ignoring Ron. "Every time it gets close my vision blurs and I lose concentration."

"How convenient." Alicia muttered.

"If you're trying to say something, then say it." Kera said coldly, turning to face the much taller girl.

Angelina stepped between them.

"Now's not the time to quarrel." She turned to Kera "The quaffle can't have been tampered with. It was in Madam Hooch's office the whole time, and it's checked before every match."

Kera frowned and started checking her robes, ignoring the looks that Ron and Alicia were giving her that clearly said they thought she was just putting on an act. Suddenly, something clicked in Harry's brain.

"Your broom. I saw you lend it to Malfoy the morning after Boxing Day."

"But we've had Quidditch practices after that." Katie pointed out.

"Maybe there's some sort of delayed timing on the spell or he can control it."

"What, like a remote-controlled spell?" Alicia asked incredulously as Angelina and Fred checked Kera's broom. Angelina hissed in disgust and pulled out something that had been entangled in the twigs of Kera's Stardust.

"It's a Confundus charm." She said, holding up a small rectangular object barely the size of an eraser. It was made of some sort of mineral and carved with runic squiggles. "It's probably been rigged with some sort of mind link."

"And just what was he trying to achieve with a stupid stunt like this?" Ron fumed, his anger now directed at the blond head across the pitch.

"He's trying to cause tension among us." Fred said.

"And he nearly succeeded."

Shamefaced, Ron and Alicia apologised to Kera. She nodded curtly.

"Let's resume the game."

*~*~~*~**~*~*~~*

"I'm going to kill Malfoy."

"Do that and Kera will kill you." Harry told Ron as they left the changing room. They'd won the game hundred-eighty-to-fifty.

"You don't seriously think she's going to continue snogging that git after what he did to her."

"No, I meant she's going to kill you for killing him before she gets to him."

"If only she were as good at Transfiguration as she is in Potions," Ron grinned. "We might get to see him turned into a ferret again."

"Maybe if we're in luck she'll poison him instead."

When they passed by one of the empty Transfiguration classrooms now used mainly for storage purposes, they heard two familiar voices quarrelling.

"I thought we were friends." Kera said, her pale eyes flashing.

"Who wants to be friends with a filthy Gryffindor?" Draco sneered, inwardly feeling a bit of a pang. She had called him a friend. Oh well, he thought. You have to make some sacrifices in war.

"Is it really that important to you?"

"Of course. The only reason why we even have to put up with classes with you is probably some foolish whim of Dumbledore's."

"Not that. Winning."

He paused.

"Yes."

Kera threw something in his face and swept out of the room--the charm he'd gotten from Father for Christmas. It hit him squarely between his eyebrows and bounced off. Great. Now if I'm lucky I'll get a stupid scar like Potter. Furiously rubbing the bruise that was already starting to form, he bent down and tried to pick it up from the floor, and frowned when he realised it had broken in two.

[A/N: The Dopplebeater Defence, for those who haven't read Quidditch Through The Ages, is a move where both beaters hit the same bludger at the same time.]