The New Lightning Bolt

Chapter Six

Another Fight

Harry sat on his bed waiting for Ron to fall asleep when Neville, Dean, and Seamus came barging into the room unaware of the fact that people were trying to sleep or, in Harry's case, pretending to sleep. Harry heard Ron shift from his almost unconscious state to peek around his drawn hangings.

"Oy! Ron. What are you doing in bed so early? Come on and wake up," Dean said pulling him out of bed.

"I was almost asleep," Ron said rubbing his eyes.

"You can't honestly say that you were actually tired, can you?" Neville asked.

"I actually wasn't, but Harry wanted to go to bed so I went with him. He is really tired."

Harry pulled back the covers and slid underneath them very carefully to not make a sound. He covered himself up to hide the fact he was still in his school clothes and laid his head down just in time. Seamus had walked over to his bed and pulled the hangings aside just as Harry closed his eyes. He poked Harry. Harry pretending to moan, though no sound came out, rolled his head to the side and scrunched up his face as if having a bad dream.

"Don't do that, Seamus," Ron said. "He's had a rough day."

"Of sleeping in and missing class?" Dean questioned.

"You know what I mean," Ron said exasperated closing Harry's bed hangings. "We'll have fun for tonight and tell him in the morning. What are we going to do?"

"Ever heard of a Super Soaker, Ron?" Seamus asked with a wicked grin. Ron shook his head. "No? Well, have you ever heard of Acromantula?" Ron visibly paled at the mention of a huge spider, but Seamus ignored this and grabbed something off his bed. "This is a Super Soaker and Acromantula is the Slytherin password."

Ron smiled wickedly also. "What does that do?" Ron said pointing at the Super Soaker in his hands.

"It is a water gun. Muggle children have fun with it all the time. All you have to do is pump it like this," he demonstrated for Ron, "and pull this trigger, like this." A stream of water came out of the tip and hit Ron square in the chest soaking his front.

Ron stepped back involuntarily when the water hit him and tripped over the stuff he had pulled from under his bed in search of Harry's glasses earlier. A loud noise came from his fall and Harry sat up and threw the hangings aside to reveal a disheveled Ron spread eagle on the ground and three boys laughing. Ron started to laugh as well.

"Sorry, Harry. We didn't mean to wake you," Neville said clutching Ron's bedpost for support.

"It's alright," Harry said.

"What?" Neville asked. Harry looked at Ron.

"I forgot to tell you that Harry can't talk. You Know Who erased his voice," Ron said getting up from the floor.

"Sorry, mate. When are you going to get it back?" Neville asked a bit scared.

"Two months," Ron answered for Harry.

"Sucks for you," Dean commented.

"So, Harry. Do you want to go have fun with us? It will be a blast. I charmed the guns so they won't run out of water." Seamus asked pointing to the Super Soaker.

Harry shook his head and pulled out his wand and aimed it at the piece of parchment Ron took with him when falling.

Thanks, but no thanks. I think I am going to walk around a bit.

Ron picked up the paper and read it. "Okay, mate. If you want to join us later on just follow the screaming of girls."

Seamus handed a Super Soaker to each of the guys and Harry watched them leave. As soon as he was sure they were really gone he went and crouched by his trunk. He reached inside and grabbed his invisibility cloak. He threw it on and exited the dormitory with some difficulty of having to hop over all the crap. The common room was still full of people so he made extra careful not to bump into any body. He opened the portrait door and slid out, but no one noticed the door opening by itself. He made his way to the room Malfoy was in and slid inside. Draco looked up and raised an eyebrow at the door opening by itself. Harry threw off the cloak.

Fuck, Potter!

What?

Don't scare me like that.

I thought you knew I was coming. You were supposed to be looking into my surroundings, remember?

I quit doing that when you said you were going to come after the Weasel fell asleep. I just forgot you would be under the cloak.

Whatever. Are you ready?

Is the library still open?

If it is only you will have to be under the cloak if not then we are going to sneak in there together.

Fine.

Here. You put on the invisibility cloak and walk by me. Since it isn't exactly curfew time yet, I won't get into trouble walking the hallways. Harry could feel that Malfoy was going to mention his scar's supposed privileges and added, Shut up, Malfoy.

Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter made their way down the halls to the library. They passed the spots where they had fought not long before and Draco couldn't help but boast of his victories. Harry was getting really annoyed by the Slytherin's comments so when it came time to open the door to the library Harry couldn't help but stick out his foot. He felt Draco trip over it and then felt a sharp jab to his stomach. He grabbed his stomach and looked around to see if anyone noticed, but every one was too busy doing his or her own thing.

Real mature, Potter.

You wouldn't shut up, Harry though to him rubbing his stomach.

They walked over to the books on spells for hair care when they were interrupted.

"Harry?"

Harry turned around to see Hermione standing in front of him with a piece of parchment in her hands.

"Write to me and tell me why you modified my memory," she said in a stern voice, but Harry could tell she was covering up sadness. He took out his wand and held his head low as if he were sorry.

What should I say?

You told me to stay out of your conversations.

Come on, Malfoy. You're good at making up lies.

I don't lie, Potter.

Yes you do.

When have I ever lied?

When you pretended that you arm was severely hurt because the Hippogriff bit it.

That was pretending, Potter, not lying.

You know what? Fine, I don't care. Just help me "pretend" why I did it.

Why should I help you?

Because I am helping you right now.

I don't need your help, Potter.

"Harry," Hermione said angrily, "tell me. Now."

Harry looked up at Hermione and then to where Draco was standing. Fine. If you don't need my help then give me back my cloak.

Harry knew Draco tried to escape, but Harry was too quick. He tossed his wand aside and threw himself at Draco. He grabbed him and took him down. Hermione just watched in surprise. Harry had jumped Draco and pinned the body to the floor as best he could with out seeing him. He sat on Draco knees that were almost to his chest grabbed his hands above his head with one hand. With his free hand Harry grabbed an end of the invisibility cloak and lifted it to Draco's face to Hermione. Harry flicked his hand at the paper Hermione was holding.

This is why I modified your memory, Hermione. This dumb ass revealed some of your personal information to Ron and I tried to only modify Ron's, but it was too powerful and affected you too.

Liar.

What are you going to do about it? I've got your hands so you can't do magic.

No, but I could do this, Draco thought as he twisted his body so his knee's were moved from there uncomfortable position. This did nothing except put him in a more complicated position.

That did nothing.

Get the fuck off me, Potter.

I think I'll stay a bit longer, Malfoy.

Don't use my own words against me, Potter.

"What happened to your hair, Malfoy?" Hermione asked in a tone that she was more than pissed off.

Draco's face fell. He had forgotten that the main reason he was wearing the invisibility cloak was not to be seen with a Gryffindor, Harry Potter none the less, but to hide his hair.

I forgot. Sorry.

Don't apologize. Just get off me.

Harry let go of his hands and shifted his weight so Malfoy could sit up. Malfoy pushed him the rest of the way and Harry hit a bookcase. Malfoy got up and dusted his robes off and glared at Granger then Potter. Harry got up and grabbed Malfoy's wrist before he could leave. Draco twisted around and looked at Harry, his face not concealing the rage he was in.

Let go.

What about your hair?

Like I said earlier, nothing can control it, but your Saint Potter instincts wouldn't let me rest. So I am going to say this one last time...I don't need your help and let go of me.

Harry let go of his wrist and was greeted with a hard shove. Draco turned away and started walking out the library. Harry hung his head in disappointment, but thought better of it. This was Malfoy he was talking about. He should have never expected anything different. With the newfound anger Harry lifted his head and gave Malfoy's back both fingers.

"Harry," Hermione said shocked while grabbing his extended fingers and forcing them down. "Come here and sit with me."

Harry bent down and picked up his cloak and walked over to his wand. He pocketed it and shoved the cloak underneath his robes giving him a beer belly look. He walked over to the table Hermione was and sat in the chair opposite her.

"First, let's talk about the message you just gave me. I understand you didn't mean to modify my memory, but that is not what I want to discuss...it's the way you gave me the note. How could you have done it with your wand lying a few feet away from you? Can you do wandless magic?" Harry nodded. "Does Dumbledore know?" He nodded again. "Why haven't you told us before?" she said looking at the paper expecting an answer.

Harry took his wand from his robes and raised his wand at the parchment but Hermione grabbed his wand. She took it from him and said, "Tell me from your hand. I want to see what you do." Harry held his hand up and thought of what he wanted to say.

I didn't think that this was a big deal.

"It is a big deal, Harry. Even if you didn't think it was a big deal then why didn't you tell me or Ron?"

I don't know, Hermione.

"Do you think of the spell to get the paper to reveal your thoughts?"

No, but I did think about it when I did the memory charm and when Malfoy and I Stupefied Voldemort.

"That's how you beat him?!" Hermione asked a bit shocked.

Malfoy had my wand too.

"Why?"

I'll tell you later. When we were sending the Death Eaters into the sky we didn't specifically think of any spell. All we did was point our hands at them and guided them to the sky.

"We? You mean Malfoy can do wandless magic too?" Harry nodded. "Then why didn't he hex you when he was right there under your invis--wait...why was he under your invisibility cloak?"

I was helping him find spells to control his hair. He thinks he ruined it.

"Who ruined it?"

Voldemort.

"Why did you even bother helping him? He's a Slytherin and not to mention your worst enemy. It's only his hair."

I really don't know why I did it. Did you know that he pushed me aside and got hit with the spell that was to erase my scar? But he got a permanent hairline swirl? I guess I kind of felt bad for him and I guess I kind of felt obligated to help him too. You know what he calls my want to help? He calls it my Saint Potter duties.

"When did he say that?" Hermione asked. Harry pointed to his head.

We can communicate in here.

"Sorry," she said sympathetically.

I think I am going to go to bed now.

"I'll walk with you," she said grabbing her books and parchment. "I am sorry I screamed at you for modifying my memory." Harry waved a dismissive hand and shrugged. He grabbed his wand from her and pocketed it. They walked to the Gryffindor common room in silence and this gave Harry time to see where Malfoy was. He was in his dormitory pulling off wet clothes. He obviously was a victim of his friend's Super Soaker expedition and he was furious. He ran a hand through his hair, but it did him no good. The right side still stuck up and the left went into his eye. Harry thought that there wouldn't be a spell strong enough to hold his hair down. Maybe his attempt at helping Malfoy was a waste of time.

***

In the morning Harry felt like crap. His head was banging and his eyes felt dried out probably because of the relentless tossing and turning and staring at the ceiling from a night worry of his worst enemy. He couldn't help but feel a tiny bit sorry for Malfoy. This tiny smudge on his conscience was growing and eating him alive. He figured if he didn't fix or at least try his sleeping time would be absent in future nights.

"Harry? Are you awake yet?" Ron asked checking the time. Harry sat up squinting against the light. "Every body is going to freak when they see you with out your glasses."

Ron and Harry threw themselves off their bed hoping to land on a non-cluttered part of the floor. They did and prized themselves for not falling first thing in the morning. The second thing in the morning they did, which comprised of trying to get to their robes. They dressed and headed down to the common room to meet up with Hermione, sporting a couple of new bruises. They talked about Quidditch all the way down the stairs. Actually it was just Ron talking and Harry nodding.

"There you two are. I thought for sure you were eaten up by the swamp monster in your room," Hermione said rolling her eyes.

"Fear not Hermione. We killed that thing a week ago. We just over slept and fell a lot over our stuff."

"I heard and so did the rest of the common room. When are you going to clean your room?"

"Why should we? All the jumping and skipping around our possessions not only help wake us up in the morning but provides our daily exercise."

"Well do some more exercise and hurry up then, we'll miss breakfast."

They exited the portrait door and made their way to the Great Hall and sat at their usual spot on the Gryffindor table. Harry got a considerable amount of attention making his way down the aisle. Everywhere he looked people were pointing and him and whispering. He caught some of their words including: glasses...looks better without...and from a first year Hufflepuff he heard himself being called "a piece of man candy." He just blushed wishing he still had his glasses because the rims would have covered up some of the redness. He turned his head to his plate and pushed around the bacon and eggs Hermione had dumped on it. A sudden commotion brought him from his food gazing to the doors. Draco Malfoy walked in with his usual grace that looked oddly familiar to Harry. He had his head held up high with his trademark smirk playing across his lips. He saw the girls looking at his new hair, which Harry had to admit, put a certain edge to his presentation.

"Draco is looking mighty fine," Lavender said.

"Yes, he is," said the girls around her in unison.

Crikey, Harry thought. It's only a stupid hairdo.

Jealous?

No! And get out of my head.

Don't get your panties in a twist, Potter. If it means anything to you, you are getting just as much attention. Look around.

Harry looked around his surroundings more closely and saw girls looking from Malfoy to him and whispering.

Seems we're quite a sight for the female population.

Looks like you are drawing some attention from the guys as well. Look to your left.

Draco did look to his left to see a blushing and slightly drooling Goyle looking at him. He turned his head around fast spraying the person aside of him with a little drool that was hanging.

Gross.

I think it is hilarious.

Yeah? Look to your right.

Harry did and saw Dean look away as if not to be caught looking at him. Dean pretended to look around the Great Hall at something interesting but wouldn't look at Harry.

I think that is hilarious.

Whatever.

You know you really haven't thanked me for getting rid of those glasses.

You didn't get rid of them...they flew off my face.

But who got your eyes fixed?

Voldemort.

Harry saw Malfoy roll his eyes in defeat. The number of girls coming to sit next to him quickly occupied him. He smiled, which sent the girls into a fit of giggles.

Please.

***

The Trio got up once Ron was done stuffing his face and headed to their first class, which was none other that Potions with the Slytherins. How Harry hated Potions. The only reason why he didn't loose his head and hex Snape when he took off outrageous points for silly things was Hermione's constant reminder to stay calm. They walked into the dungeon and took their usual seats in the back. More people started to filter in and the noise level rose. Harry took this period to speak, or rather write, to Ron. He took out a piece of paper and his wand. He pointed it to the paper at which Ron was waiting for words to appear when he noticed Hermione giving him the "You haven't told Ron, yet?" look. He just waved a hand at her and mouthed "Later."

How was the Super Soaker expedition last night?

"It was great. You should have came. The best part was when we got Malfoy. He totally wasn't expecting it and he got really mad and that's when our Super Soakers turned against us. I really don't know what happened. They followed us squirting us all the way to the common room where Hermione stopped them."

"Malfoy probably made them chase after you," Hermione said.

"How? He didn't have his wand out. It was probably one of the other Slytherins hiding behind a couch," Ron explained.

How did you manage not being hexed?

"We just dodged them. Neville got a leg-locking curse on him so we had to drag him back while having water constantly pouring on us. I don't think charming them to never run out of water was a good idea."

Snape walked into the room and it fell silent at once. He closed the door and walked to the front of the classroom with his robes billowing out behind him. He turned to face them and gave every student the look of death except for Malfoy.

"Today we will be making the Veritaserum but in a lesser degree. You will test it on your partner when you complete it. When brewed correctly it will only force the other person to reveal their true commentary. You cannot ask them a question if it does not have anything to do with their opinion."

Do these pants make me look fat, Potter?

Shut up.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Get together in groups of two," Snape barked.

Hermione left her seat to work with Neville and Ron slid into the vacant spot. Harry was just about to pull out the ingredients they needed when Snape spoke to him.

"Mr. Potter. What do you think you are doing?"

"Getting my stuff," Harry mouthed.

"Excuse me?" Snape asked.

"He said he was getting his stuff," said Ron.

"I did not ask you Mr. Weasley. Five Points from Gryffindor."

Ron looked mad. Redness was starting to take over his face and ears matching his hair.

"So did you have something to say, Mr. Potter?"

"No, because he can't speak!" Ron said threw clenched teeth.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor for your tongue, Mr. Weasley," Snape barked. "I know the Famous Harry Potter can't speak."

"Then why are you-"

"Mr. Weasley! Will you see me out side?" Snape said pointing to the door. "While I am discussing matters outside every one will work on their potions." Turning to look at Harry, he continued, "Professor Dumbledore told me to assign you and Mr. Malfoy together on all projects for the rest of the year."

Harry's eyes widened in shock and he glanced over at Malfoy. He was almost through with getting every thing out when he heard the news. He looked up at Harry.

Great.

"Ms. Parkinson you will work with Mr. Weasley over there so I can keep an eye on him. Mr. Malfoy, sit in the back with Mr. Potter. Start your potions now!"

Snape walked out of the classroom after Ron and the door slammed shut. Soon voices could be heard outside the door, but no one dared eavesdrop. Malfoy walked over to Harry.

Move over.

What? Why?

Because I said so.

Why can't you sit in that seat, he asked pointing to the one Ron had just left.

The Mudblood was sitting there earlier and I don't want to dirty up my robes.

Harry stood up and glared at Malfoy. Don't call her a Mudblood.

A little protective of our girlfriend are we?

She's not my girlfriend.

That's right...the other Weasel is.

Harry grabbed the front of Malfoy's robes and Malfoy grabbed the front of Harry's at the same time. They each pulled the other forward so their faces were inches apart. Leave her out of this.

Let go, Potter.

You first.

Every one is staring.

I thought you always wanted attention.

Draco blew the hair out of his left eye and looked into Harry's green ones. I have all the attention I need from the girls, but the guys are starting to freak me out a bit.

Harry looked away and saw all the students standing in a circle around them.

"Don't just stand there, Draco, do something. Say something," Pansy said.

You haven't told anybody that you can't speak, either?

Not yet. They haven't asked.

They haven't noticed the lack of snide remarks and cruel jokes, yet?

They think I am not talking because I want to be alone after being put under the Imperious Curse and forced to stupefy the Dark Lord by you.

What?

They came up with that on their own. They meaning Pansy starting a rumor off of what Dumbledore told the school. She keeps denying his truthful news saying that I am too loyal to even think against the Dark Lord.

Why don't you tell her what Dumbledore said was true?

And risk being shunned from my house?

At least I wouldn't be thought of as the bad guy.

I don't care about you personal problems, Potter.

You will when I wring your neck.

"Come on Harry. What are you waiting for?" Harry heard Seamus shout from his spot in the circle.

"What is going on?" asked Snape. Every one moved back to their cauldron as Snape made his way into the middle of the circle. Malfoy and Harry still had their death grips on each other's robes. "Let go of each other...now!"

They didn't. Their eyes were locked to each other's, unblinkingly, trying to intimidate the other to let go first.

"Let go now or I will make you," Snape said.

Suddenly Snape was lifted off the ground and so were the rest of the students. The desks were hovering to. The class was in surprise and the room was filled with choruses of "What the..."

"Look!" said Hermione pointing to Harry and Draco who were the only things still left on the ground. The class looked at them. White light was glowing around them and was growing bigger and brighter every second. Every one shield their eyes against the light and soon the whole room was filled with it. With an almighty boom the light was gone.