Harry Potter and the Forest of Shadows

Harry Potter and

the Forest of Shadows

Chapter 20: Stuck in a Room with You

Melany nervously knocked on the door to the fifth year girls' dorm. She wasn't exactly sure what the outcome of the conversation would be, but she was sure of one thing- she needed Ginny Weasley's help.

"Come in. Oh, hi, Melany."

Ginny hurried to make a space on her bed that wasn't covered with weekend assignments and motioned for Melany to sit down. Ginny had talked with her a few times when she was with Harry and Hermione and was growing rather fond of the brunette.

"I wanted to talk to you about something," Melany said slowly, as if choosing her words carefully. "You see, there's this guy..."

"Oooh," Ginny said, grinning. "Who is it?"

"That's the thing. I'm not sure how to tell people without everyone hating me before I have a chance to explain."

"Well...?"

"It's- it's Draco Malfoy."

Ginny looked up at her like she was insane. "And what led you to make this completely irrational judgment?"

"I saw him at first but then we talked last night in the library."

~ "That's a really great picture, Waller."

Melany looked up to see Draco Malfoy. He was staring at a painting she had been working on for the past two weeks or so: a watercolor mosaic of flowers.

"Thanks, Malfoy."

He turned his back to keep walking but she stopped him.

"Are you all right?"

He looked at her, something strange in his eyes. Anger? Sorrow? Worry?

"Why wouldn't I be," he said, smirking slightly.

Melany shrugged. "From all the things I've heard about you I would have thought that you were slightly more sarcastic- sadistic if you will."

He gave a small smile. "People change. For your information I'm fine Waller and I don't need you to check up on me."

"I like the red ones," she said, touching a rose she had just recently added. "It could symbolize so many things. Love, hate, anger. All in one little color."

Malfoy narrowed his eyes in a skeptical sort of way. "Me too."~

"And then he left," Melany finished.

Ginny looked at her. "Well, that certainly doesn't sound like Malfoy. I-I suppose he could have changed. I'm open to change. I suppose I have to be with all the change that's been going on so far this year. I guess he might not be so bad."

"I don't think Hermione would have as much a problem making amends with Draco as Harry would."

"Let me talk to Draco, just to make sure it isn't a trick. Then, if everything's okay, he and Hermione can talk. Then we can deal with Harry," Ginny said, a plan already taking form inside her head.

~~~ "He what?"

Hermione stared down at the Gryffindor prefect badge laying between her and Harry on the library table.

"Gave up the badge. Yea, I know," Harry said, looking at the confused face of Hermione. "And he gave up quidditch."

"Something weird is going on here," Hermione said. "Ron always wanted to be in the limelight. Giving it all up... that's just not Ron."

"So all we have to do is figure out why he suddenly hates us, why he doesn't want to play quidditch, and why he would give up a prefect title. Oh, this should be no problem at all."

Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry's sarcasm. "There has to be a logical reason behind this."

"Yea," Harry snapped, "our friend's gone mad."

"Oh, don't yell at me," she said grumpily. "It's not my fault you're in a foul mood. If you would-" Hermione broke off, looking annoyedly over where the small whisper had come from. Melany and Ginny were peeking around the corner of a bookshelf.

"Can we talk to you for a second?" Ginny asked. "Alone." All three girls stared pointedly at Harry.

"Okay, I know when I'm not wanted." He took some of the books Hermione had grabbed off the shelves and walked out of the nook.

Ginny gave him a kiss on his way out. "Thank you," she said, taking his place.

Harry walked off towards the dungeons. After putting it off almost a month, he decided he should probably talk to Snape about Occlumency. He personally felt he would rather let someone cast a cruciatus on him.

With autumn came the inevitable chill that sweeped over the dungeons. Harry shuddered, wondering slightly if it was the draft or the sense of foreboding in his gut. He walked up to Snape's ajar office door and was about to knock but stopped his hand midair at the sound coming from behind it.

"Dammit, do it again!" That was definitely Snape, though his voice sounded more agitated than usual.

"Well, I'm sorry that I can't perform an unforgivable on my very first try," a sarcastic voice retorted. Racking his mind, Harry's eyes widened when he identified the voice as Ron's.

"And I'm sorry that I have to teach a miserable brat how to be a Death Eater in a month. Do it again!"

There were a few harsh whispers of, "Imperio...Imperio..." Harry's hand resting on the wall that had been supporting his weight slipped out of surprise and he fell forward, just barely managing to catch his balance but letting out a muffled "Oof!"

An awkward silence settled in the office and Snape moved forward. Without hesitation Harry flew around the corner, only to have his loud footsteps followed; in a matter of seconds Snape's face, contorted with anger, was staring down at him.

"What are you doing here Potter?" he demanded in a low and dangerous tone through his clenched teeth.

Seeing there was no point to lie, Harry looked defiantly up at him and said, "I was coming to talk to you about Occlumency."

"We will begin practicing eight O'clock Thursday night after you serve your detention for disrupting me just now," he hissed and stalked back to his office.

Harry stood, frozen in anger. The last thing he wanted to do on a Thursday evening was spend detention with Snape and then have Occlumency lessons. Halfway up to the entrance hall he could hear the booming shouts of, "DO IT AGAIN WEASLEY!"

Back in the library, Harry found Melany sitting by herself in a corner, her nose buried in an untitled book.

"Melany?"

Her head snapped up and her eyes widened nervously. "Oh, Harry, I didn't think you'd be back so soon. Lovely." Judging by her tone, Harry would have thought his prescence anything but lovely.

"Where did Ginny and Hermione go?" he asked, deciding to ignore her odd behavior.

"Er- they went... to study."

"Right. Are they in the common room? I need to talk-"

"No!" She said quickly. Harry raised an eyebrow. "I mean, no they wouldn't want to be interrupted."

"You're talking fast," he said suspiciously. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she insisted hastily then added on an unnaturally slowly, "I mean, I'm fine- just fine."

"Okay. Well, I'm going to go and get back to the-"

"No! I-I need help with this transfiguration essay. McGonagall just went over it too fast and I have no idea what I'm doing."

Harry stared down at the beginnings of the practice essay Professor McGonagall had assigned them the other day after spending three detailed lessons on the topic.

"Yea, sure," he said, sitting beside her.

For the next hour he helped her with her essay. He couldn't help but grow more and more suspicious as she started asking him questions about things he had learned back in his first year. He was about to stop and ask, but Hermione and Ginny finally came up and, besides looking rather flushed, had identical, succesful grins on their faces.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, now looking upset and surprised at Harry's prescence. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you."

"Oh. What do you want?"

Deciding to ignore the strange way all three girls were acting, he quickly recounted what had been going in Snape's office. Ginny stared angrily down at the ground; Hermione's face was void of any emotion; Melany was staring ahead with a wondering expression on her face; none of them spoke.

Finally Melany cut through the tense silence. "It's strange," she said in a far-off voice. "I mean someone doesn't just decide to go evil. There has to be a reason..." She held out her hand and a quill from the other side of the table flew into it. She scrubbled a few sentences down and folded the paper. "I'm going to the owlery," she said and walked out.

Harry looked down at the quill. She had done that without a wand. Wandless magic. Something that only a Holder like himself could do. His brow furrowed as he recalled the coversation he had had with Rosy about Holders. They each had a special gift. Daisy was an Elemental, Melany was telekinectic, Harry was supposedly a Healer, Rosy... Rosy was telepathic.

"I have to go," he said quickly.

"Harry, wait," Ginny called after him. "Will you come to the Room of Requirment after dinner. I want to talk to you."

"Talk to me at dinner," he shouted behind his back. He needed to get out of there before Madam Pince caught them yelling across her library.

"I can't. Just meet me there."

"All right. But why can't you? Got anyother boyfriend?"

Ginny laughed "No I.... I have studying to do."

Harry rolled his eyes and raced up to the rooms Rosy was staying in. She was sitting in her mini-kitchen, a cup of coffee in one hand and the latest issue of the Daily Prophet in the other.

"You read that rubbish?" Harry asked, his feeling still cold to the press from last year.

"Much better than it used to be. Once Kammy got into office she fired just about every reporter and editor that worked there."

Kudos to her, he thought. "I need your help," Harry said, sitting across from her.

"Alright. Stay and eat with me and I'll see what I can do for you."

"You cook?" Harry asked as she got up.

"That sounds a bit too much like your godfather. You need to spend less time with him. And no, I don't cook. I was just going to send a message down to the kitchens that I wanted dinner delivered here. So what do you need?"

"You're telepathic, right?"

Rosy frowned as though she didn't like the way this was going. "Yes, that's right."

"Well Ron's been acting weird. You haven't been getting any strange...vibes from him have you."

She looked extremely uncomfortable. "Well, I'm only a minor in telepathy. If I wish I can just sort of...turn the power off. There are so many people here at the school and so many thoughts, it would send me over the edge if I had to listen to all that."

"So you haven't gotten anything from him?"

"Harry, he's probably just annoyed about something. Don't look at me like that! Trust me, I'm sure it's just something that he's going through. He might even be over it in a month or two."

"But-"

"Oh, look, dinner's here."

Harry spent the evening discussing quidditch with Rosy over a supper of lambchops. He was surprisingly disappointed, though, at the lack of information he had been expecting to get. His head slightly aching, he galnced over at the clock and was startled to find it was well past eight.

"I have to go," he said. Ginny would be furious if he was any later than he already was.

He hightailed his way up to the room of requirement where Hermione, Melany, and Ginny were talking in hushed voices.

"What if he doesn't come? Then they won't-"

"Shush! He'll be here."

"At least he better be or I'll- Harry!"

"Is there a flu or something that's going around?" he asked, looking skeptically around at all three girls.

"No," they all said quickly.

"Um, why don't you go into the room," Ginny said, basically shoving him in.

"Sure. You will be coming won't you?"

"Of course, I'll be right in," she said, kissing him and closing the door.

He turned to look at the room, surprised to only find two couches and a table. After a while of just standing there, he went to see what was taking Ginny so long. However, the door wouldn't open. He tried again- nothing. For the next couple of minutes he beat on the door, perhaps trying to break it down or to get somebody from outside to open it. Finally, he gave up and went to slouch on one of the sofas.

After what felt like an eternity, he heard muffled voices from outside. He went again to the door and started knocking, but it seemed the only thing he was doing was bruising his hands. He went to sit, his anger turning towards Ginny, Hermione, and Melany; all three had something to do with this. Just then, the door opened. He was about to shout at whoever it was to leave the door open just when it closed and he found himself face-to-face with Draco Malfoy.

"What are you doing here?" Malfoy exclaimed angrily.

Harry was stunned into silence. Ginny, Hermione, and Melany had locked him in a room with Malfoy. He was going to kill them.

"What are you doing here?" Harry shot back, a look of disgust coming over his face.

"Melany told me to meet her here. What the hell are you doing in here?"

"As tempting as it sounds, Malfoy, the last place I want to be is stuck in a room with you."

"What do you mean 'stuck?'" Malfoy asked, his voice dangerously low.

"By all means, try and open the door." Harry slammed himself down onto the couch, trying to think.

There had to be a way out. And if there wasn't, then somebody would notice he was missing. Sirius, or Remus, or someone would have to come looking for him. He could send a message or something. All he needed was his wand that just happened to be on Rosy's table.

"That's not going to help," Harry yelled at Malfoy who was banging and cursing the door.

"Oh and how would you know? Not like you have the brain capacity to even try to escape."

"Shut it Malfoy. If we're stuck in here, I don't want to have to listen to your loud mouth so just shut up."

"Manners, Potter," he said, his voice oily. Then viciously he added, "Didn't your parents teach you any?"

Harry didn't remember exactly what happened that split-second, but Malfoy was left with a bruise on his cheek. Harry sat down, breathing heavily. Malfoy was glaring at him from beneath his eyebrows as he sat against the far wall, shaking. Never before had Harry hit another person out of anger. That was something his uncle would have done.

"Sorry," he muttered before he could stop himself.

"I don't want your damn apology," Malfoy said, pushing himself to his feet. He was still shaking badly. "Just don't say anything. Think you've already done enough."

"Oh, you're right," Harry said, his anger mounting again. He kept his fists clenched tightly to keep himself from physically lashing out. "Hitting a person is so much worse than running around masked and hooded and killing innocent people. Have a fun Death Eater summer with daddy, Draco?"

"Shut up," Malfoy said quietly. "You don't know anything."

"What? Did you kill your first innocent muggle and found it wasn't as fun as-"

Malfoy launched himself onto Harry and the fell to the floor, wrestling.

"Get...off of me...you physco," Harry grunted, trying to push Malfoy off. However, he was no match for the larger boy.

"Keep your mouth shut!" he yelled right next to Harry's ear, landing a punch in the middle of his stomach.

Harry let out a grunt of pain and flinched back. "Okay, okay, I'll keep my mouth shut, just get off me!"

Finally Malfoy backed off and went to sit on the couch farthest from the door. Harry lay on the ground for the next few minutes, feeling for bruises. He got up and dragged himself onto the couch, glaring at Malfoy.

"Little offensive about summer memories," he muttered, wiping blood away from his busted lip.

Malfoy turned to him, his eyes dark and emotionless. "Yea, well, spending the summer getting nearly beaten to death isn't exactly on my 'happy memories list,'" he said sarcastiacally and turned on his side, his back to Harry.

"Been there, done that," Harry said quietly.

He could swear he heard Malfoy let a little breath of laughter.

It wasn't long until Harry heard Malfoy's breathing slow. Harry himself knew he wouldn't sleep. Instead, he sat thinking for a while.

He started to think about Ron, but that made his head hurt. He then thought about Voldemort and the prophecy; that made his head hurt even worse. But thinking about the amulets and all of the Holders made his brain actually throb. So he stuck to thinking about exams and when he was going to find time to build up a new quidditch team. Maybe if he held tryouts next weekend-

Malfoy moaned. "No, stop. I'm sorry. No! I won't do it, I'm not going to join! Stop, please!"

Harry chucked a pillow at Malfoy who awoke almost immediately. He looked around, panicked, and then realized where he was. And then realized Harry was sitting there. He looked at Harry for a moment.

"You were having a nightmare," Harry said.

"Oh." Malfoy turned again and fell back asleep.

Harry's head throbbed again, this time because of Malfoy. He was going to kill Ginny.