The Dragonmaster

Chapter Two

Harry was quietly resting on his bed. He could hear the noise coming from the party held in the common room. A lonely tear fell on his cheek followed by a second. Christmas party... It had been six months since he arrived there, six long months... He could hear the laughter, the music, it only made him more depressed. This wasn't the first party he was kept away from, in fact he had never been allowed to come to any parties, ceremonies... The past few months came back to his mind: the humiliations during the lessons...

Flashback

He was in Efillin's lesson, listening and trying to be as discreet as possible while doing his best to imitate the master with his stick. Apparently this wasn't enough as the elf called him to the front.

"Well, let's see if you improved from being hopeless to being really bad."

In a few seconds, Harry was on his back on the floor.

"Well, I have to rephrase my sentence. You're not hopeless, you're way beyond hopeless."

The other students were laughing at him.

Harry was looking at his feet, his cheeks red with shame and embarrassment.

"Go back to try to improve if it's possible. At least be useful and shine the swords in the box."

Silently, under the laughter, Harry walked to the back of the room and started to shine the weapons.

End of Flashback

There has been this time in Nerthor's class too...

Flashback

Harry had been trying for the hundredth time to access the trance in order to reach the spirit plane, which was the goal of this course. Once a student reached the plane, he could meet his spirit guardian and receive advice. The shape of the spirit depended of the personality of the student. It was a common thing among the students to try to guess this shape. Bets were made on that. Harry was aware that the others were joking about what his guardian would be: some said it would be a worm, others a goldfish...

"Human!" snapped the teacher.

Harry winced and sighed. Another lecture, how marvelous!

"I wonder what you are doing here. I've never seen someone less skilled than you! I'm wondering if it doesn't have anything to do with your mind. A three-year old child would be able to enter a simple trance, yet you are unable to do the easiest thing. Well, as teaching you seems to be a lost cause, I'll give you something else to do. Take these quills and copy down these manuscripts. Even you could be able to do this correctly."

As Harry walked slowly to a table, carrying the parchments, he wished with his entire mind that the ground could open and eat him, hiding him from them.

End of the Flashback.

In reality, all his masters weren't teaching him anymore. Each time, after about fifteen minutes, they threw him some snide remarks, pointed out his uneasiness, his clumsiness and gave him other things to do, in general hard and dirty work or boring tasks. Lienhior made him clean the stables, Edevia used him to paint targets, refurnish her wood stocks or make arrows. In Sarwin's class, like in Nerthor's he had to copy thick manuscripts, old and dusty parchments. At least there, he was learning something. He might not be able to use magic or mind power but he knew probably more curses, hexes and theories about these subjects than all the students put together.

Added to this, there were the taunts, the insults,...

"Ignore him, he's just a human."

"Is the little human crying? Oh! Poor little human! Go back where you belong!"

"Weak..."

"Useless..."

"Idiot..."

"Oh! Ignore him, he's too stupid to understand."

"You're a good for nothing!"

"I don't understand why I waste my time with you anyway!..."

"You clumsy fool!"

"You'll never do anything right! You're only a danger and a burden!..."

Danger, burden, these words echoed in his ear. He closed his eyes, preventing more tears to follow the first two.

His thoughts drifted to Hogwarts which was not a good thing since it only increased his feeling of loneliness and coldness.

He hadn't felt that cold before a comment of Xjahl a few days ago...

Flashback

Teneb and Kobalt were quietly discussing at a table in a corner of the dorm. Harry was lying on his bed, lost in his thoughts. The door opened and Xjahl walked to them. Soon they were talking about the upcoming Christmas and what they would probably receive from their families. Then Xjahl spotted Harry and smirked before saying loudly.

"At least we'll get gifts, won't we?"

As Harry hadn't reacted, still thinking deeply and having not heard his comment, Xjahl taunted him.

"Tell me human, what will your friends give you?"

Silence answered him. This time, Harry had heard him but had found quickly that ignoring them was the best way to deal with the taunts.

"Boy am I stupid!" exclaimed the young elf. "You don't have friends, I had forgotten!"

Harry remained expressionless. He had learned to do it after spending two months there. His face was now a cold mask, rarely showing any feelings.

Xjahl seemed disappointed at this lack of reaction and dropped the subject. But he had hit a nerve and his remarks had truly hurt the young boy.

End of the Flashback

His friends... He missed them more than anything else.

They should be partying in the great Hall now. He could picture the icicles, the candles, the trees brought in and decorated by Hagrid, the food, the laughter... Ron and Hermione should be bickering at the Gryffondor table as usual, George and Fred should be plotting another prank or experimenting a new invention on a poor first year... He could see the professors at their table: McGonagall, as strict as ever, Dumbledore with his twinkling blue eyes, Snape, surely scowling... Sirius and Remus were probably on some sort of mission... He would give anything to see them again, even Snape and Malfoy... He pushed these thoughts away. He was only making himself feel more depressed than he already was. He closed his eyes and slowly drifted to sleep; but dreams weren't any better than reality...

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He was walking on the grounds of Hogwarts. The scene was peaceful: blue sky, sun, and birds chirping. Harry could hear the laughter of the Hogwarts' students in the background. He headed for the Quidditch pitch. There, the scenery suddenly changed. Gone were the birds, the sun. The sky was now a dull gray, and thunder could be heard. He looked around, seeing tombstones sprouting everywhere.

"Kill the spare." hissed someone behind him.

He spun around, meeting the red eyes of a smirking Voldemort.

"Harry Potter... The murderer is back?"

Harry took a step backward.

"I'm not a murderer!" he said but his tone wasn't that confident.

"Really?" whispered the Dark Lord. "Then how do you explain that?"

He stepped aside, revealing the body of Cedric, lying on the floor. But it wasn't the body Harry had brought back with him, it was rotten flesh, with hollow holes instead of eyes.

"No... no..." Harry was stepping backward, shaking his head, his eyes fixed on what was remaining of the Hufflepuff seeker.

To his great horror, the body started to get up slowly and shakily. The holes in his face were lit with red fire. He started to stumble towards Harry.

"Harry..."

"Cedric?"

"Why? Why did you kill me?"

"I DIDN'T!"

"Why Harry? Why?"

"No, this is not true!"

"Isn't it?" hissed Voldemort "Are you sure? And what about them?"

More people started to appear: all the families he had seen being tortured and killed through his dreams for the past months.

A young girl, about five-year old, her teddy bear in her arms, was looking at him with a frown.

"Why?"

She was followed by an old man, a young lady, a mother... They circled him, asking him why he had killed them.

Harry put his hands over his ears trying to block their voices, but to no avail.

"Please, stop it, I didn't mean to... I couldn't do anything... I'm sorry... please, stop..." he muttered.

Slowly their figures faded, and once again the scenery changed. He was back at Hogwarts, in the Great Hall to be precise, but the happy atmosphere of the school was gone. He could only feel coldness, a coldness which penetrated every fiber of his body and mind. The whole staff and student body were staring at him. Dumbledore stood up with a grim face.

"Mr. Potter, you're charged of the murder of a fellow student, Cedric Diggory, therefore you are being expelled from this school. You must leave in less than an hour."

Harry wanted to speak, to claim his innocence, but his voice was gone. He heard loud shouts around him.

"Murderer!"

"Traitor!"

The Gryffindors were starring at him with hateful glance. Ron and Hermione looked at him with spite and loathing.

"You're no longer a Gryffindor, you're not worth more than a Death Eater," said Ron.

"We were your friends, and that's how you repay us! You left us at his mercy! Killer!" shouted Hermione, slapping him.

The doors burst opened and Fudge, followed by two Aurors entered.

"Harry Potter, you have been found guilty of the murder of Cedric Diggory and sentenced to be given the Kiss." The Minister announced.

A hooded person entered the room and Harry's mind was filled with the cries of his parents. The Dementor approached him. Harry couldn't move; his feet seemed to be rooted to the floor.

Slowly a skeletal hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer while the other one was lowering the hood a bit. Harry then saw a large black hole instead of the mouth. The hole was dragging him and he fell in it, screaming, spinning in the darkness, words echoing around him:

"Traitor!"

"Liar!"

"Murderer!"

It was like a chant that followed him in the darkness until he felt nothing more...

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

Harry bolted upright on his bed, sweating and breathing heavily. It had been a nightmare... The words were still echoing in his head... "Murderer... Killer..." He felt disgusted with himself. It was true. He had abandoned them when they needed him. And there he was, lying on a bed, doing nothing useful. Too stupid too learn anything, to cowardly to stand up to his fellow students, to weak to be of real help in the fight... a burden, a useless burden who only endangered other people. He only hurt those he was close to... But it would end soon...

This thought surprised him but thinking about it he started to see its advantages... It would solve everything and nobody would miss him. Hermione, Ron, Sirius and all the others at Hogwarts must surely have gotten over his disappearance, and this way he wouldn't endanger them more. The Dursleys would be happy to get rid of him, as would the masters and the riders here. Demenor had forgotten about him. Harry knew this. The leader was so busy he had completely forgot about his young apprentice, not that he wanted a human apprentice or a even normal apprentice, as far as Harry knew. Nobody would miss him... His decision was taken.

Slowly, he got up, put an illusion on the bed with his wands, making it look like he was sleeping. Then he opened one of his drawers and pulled out a knife. He had taken it one night after dinner. It wasn't a big knife, but it was sharp enough for what he had in mind. He took his cloak and wrapped it around his shoulder. Quietly, he sneaked out of the dorm and headed towards the doors. He decided to leave through the door in the kitchen. Nobody would be there at that time. The cooks and their assistants were at a party thrown for them and those who kept the place clean and took care of the people and animals here. Silently he walked and in a few minutes he was outside.

The cold of the night made him shivered and he tightened the cloak around him. He could feel the knife in one of his pockets. He walked slowly, not really knowing where to go. The snow was making his progression difficult, but he didn't give up. He heard the rush of the sea against the cliffs. The Headquarters of the Dragonmasters was situated on an island, lost in the middle of an ocean, and he didn't really know where it was. He made up his mind and he headed for the south side of the island. Once there, he looked at the stars and positioned himself in the exact direction of Hogwarts.

Then in a slow motion, he pulled out the knife and looked at the sharp blade. With determination, he placed it on his left wrist and sliced it in a quick swift stroke. He rapidly sliced his right one too and looked up at the stars. Maybe his parents were waiting for him there. His blood was freely falling on the snow, making a small dark red pool at his feet. He felt weaker and weaker from the blood loss. His mind was drifting away. He fell on his knees; not able to stand up anymore. He finally laid on his back, his eyes fixed on the stars. Slowly his eyelids fell too, obscuring his view and he fell into welcome darkness...

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