Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Just Another Perfect Soldier ❯ The Truth of A Memory ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A/N: Eurgh, I've got trouble. I've got so many GW/HP x-over plots in my head, it hurts! It burns, it stings! I'm thinking the sequel to Pretty Little Secrets just may be a one-shot that sums up the future.

Chapter Four: The Truth of A Memory

Harry internally sighed as he followed his 'bodyguards' back to their rooms. Chang Wufei and Duo were obviously a couple. Duo couldn't seem to keep his hands off the Chinese youth (not thatChang was any better!), masking his actions as playful punches, ticklish pokes or 'pretend' sexual innuendos. And that was in between asking Harry a million questions about Hogwarts.

Harry let his mind wander to the other three teens as he answered Duo's excited enquiries. Again, it was obvious that Trowa Barton and Quatre had a relationship, although not as...blatantly excitable as the one shared by ChangWufei and Duo. Heero Yuy seemed to be alone. Unless he had someone back home. Pity, because he was, at least to Harry's mind, the most attractive of the bunch. He just had...something about him. Merlin, Harry was a softie for the strong, silent type! Mee-oow!

Nerves tingled and Harry quickly grabbed the wrist of the hand that suddenly flashed in front of his eyes. Hands tightened warningly as a yelp sounded from Duo's mouth. In shock, Harry let go quickly and took a step back from the long haired American.

Duo briskly rubbed his already bruised wrist while Harry fought to control the urge to hurt his new friend. Slytherin Harry growled in annoyance at being hidden away like a pair of old shoes before mentally sniffing at Duo. He deserved it for startling me.

The world around him began dissolve as five pairs of eyes sought out his own and Harry let himself slip into a foreign memory.

Flashback

He was barely out of breathe as he came upon his last enemy. The wizard was cowering against the opposite wall, sobbing in rage, grief and fear. Blood soaked both of them, as well as the room. The blood of a family. A murdered family.

His wand had stayed tucked in its sheath for this, he barely used the thing now, and a gun dangled from his left hand. It only had one bullet left but that was all that was needed.

“Please! Please, have mercy!”

A single, finely shaped black eyebrow quirked in a parody of amusement.

“Mercy? You want me to give you mercy? Even when I've been spared none?”

The words were spoken, barely above a whisper but they seemed to resonate in the stone room. The man's gasps were echoing as he shook from fear, looking at his executioner.

“You monster! You've killed my family! My wife, my children! You'll be damned forever for this! You have no soul! Your parents would be ashamed of you.”

At those last, faintly uttered words the world tilted on its axis, his vision and mind fuzzy. This was wrong.The gun slipped from horror slack hands to clatter to the floor. Chills of repulsion slithered up his spine. Oh Merlin, what had he done?

The wizard seemed to sense the change in his future killer and put a hand to his forehead in surprise.

“I was right. They are controlling you.I knewHarry Potter would not go dark!”

Nerves tingled in a now familiar way as the shadows moved to the right of the stationary duo. Voldemort and a man dressed what appeared to be a long white lab coat, his mechanical arm making hissing noises as it moved, came into the flickering torch light.

“He still has a ways to go yet, my Lord, but he is taking longer to react to words like this. Soon, he will forget everything that held him to the light. Soon, he will fall into shadows.”

He struggled mentally. Who were they talking about? Who was Harry Potter? The name was familiar, so familiar...NO! YES! Nooo.

His target looked angrily at the most feared Dark Lord to ever be, his hazel eyes flashing in rage.

“You've taken over his mind! You despicable bastards! He is a child, this would destroy him!”

Voldemort laughed cruelly. “That is the point, Mr. Diggory. I'd like you to meet, for his first time out in public, my ultimate weapon.”

Amos Diggory's eyes turned back to Harry who stood stiff and still, indecision written all over his face.

“Harry! Harry, look at me!” The man pleaded, taking a step forward. Immediately Harry took a defensive step back, magic crackling around his lithe form. “Harry, this isn't you! Remember, Hogwarts? Remember Cedric! This man killed Cedric.”

Confusion swirled in those emerald colored eyes. Who was Cedric? What was a Hogwarts? Why was this man calling him Harry!

The man in the coat smiled evilly. “He doesn't remember what you speak of, Diggory. He's not Harry Potter anymore.”

He was Harry Potter? How? Who was that? Why did this man know him?

“My name is Harry?” his voice was shaky and small, that of a confused child's. Looks of anger filled the faces of Voldemort and that doctor, while hope bloomed on Amos'.

Voldemort looked at his doctor, violent intent shining in his scarlet eyes. “What are the words that control him?”

The doctor took a step forward, his voice commanding.

“Black Emerald, complete your mission or risk failure!”

His back stiffened. Failure was not an option.Harry Potter didn't exist,the mission must be completed. That voice, screaming for him to stop, was ignored as he retrieved his gun without hesitation.

Even as tears blurred his eyesight, he knew he wouldn't miss his target, knew he wouldn't stop. Amos Diggory screamed in fright, begging Harry to fight it.

As a tear slipped down Harry's cheek, he whispered the words “I'm so sorry.” before pulling the trigger.

Flashback

“He's waking up!”

Emerald eyes snapped open at Duo's jubilant cry. It took all of his self-restraint to hold back his magic at the sight of five heads crowded around his upper body.

In a flash, Harry shot up, nearly smacking foreheads with Heero who had almost refused to move away from him. Five pairs of eyes stared at him, two confused, one highly suspicious, one blank and the last, teh closest,burning with some foreign emotion.

Duo was the first to crack a forced grin, holding up his now slightly swollen wrist.

“Man, if you can do that to everyone who scares you, we're going to be out of a job pretty soon.”

Wufei scowled and Harry gasped, before gently pulling the injured wrist closer.

“I didn't...I don't...how could I do that?”

Harry could tell the five were just as shocked as he was by the news.

“You mean, you couldn't break Duo's wrist before your...capture?” Quatre asked in his gentle way, trying to be sympathetic. Duo blinked and helped Harry to his feet, a wide grin on his face.

“Ok, this is majorly weird guys be-cuz the only other person I know that could do this is Heero.” Harry gave the messy haired youth a look. Heero? Yeah, he did seem the type, didn't he? The type to break you wrist and then feel ashamed he didn't break the rest of the bones in your arm as well.

Swallowing as memories of pain-filled cries and gun powder filled his mind, Harry bit his lip before apologizing. Duo just waved it off, in his laid back manner, slightly less excitable than before.

“No sweat, man. You look like someone just ran over your dog, so your obviously sorry and I did scare ya. Shows how much I learned from Heero's 'Touch and Die' days, huh?”

Harry nodded hesitantly, thinking. It was probably best he didn't answer the long-haired teen with a “Good thing I didn't have a gun or you'd be dead.” Trowa was alreadylooking as suspicious as Harry guessed Trowa let himself look and Wufei still had a slight scowl on.

Thy were still in the same corridor as before, the portraits lining the walls chattering excitedly as Harry dusted himself off. Quatre took out his wand and experimentally pointed it at himself.

“Scourgify.”

Dust and lint popped off of the blond's immaculate wear and he grinned in happiness. Harry raised an eyebrow.

“You know magic?”

The other four calmly repeated Quatre's cleaning, Duo nearly bouncing around in glee, flipping his wands about like a gun, pointing it at the portraits and using a thick Texas accent to 'hold 'em up'.

“Just barely. We skimmed through the books this morning awaiting your arrival.”

Amos Diggory's frightened face flashed through Harry's mind as an idea came to him. He just needed a reason to go to the library and here it was. Slytherin Harry grudgingly patted Gryffindor Harry's head for such a good idea, before giving him a mental punch to the arm. No need to get cocky.

Hmm, Chang Wufei and Heero Yuy looked like two guys who would take offense, even innocently given offense, if their abilities were questioned. Trowa Barton seemed like the type as well, but for some reason, Harry knew he suspected something about the Boy-Who-lived, not even Harry knew about himself yet.

Slytherin Harry was back again, urging him on and whispering about secrecy. Gryffindor Harry reluctantly agreed with both, thinking about the need of a plan and to know his enemies...friends.

“I'm just wondering how you can hope to protect me from magical ...enemies without knowing magic yourself?”

True to his assessment of them, Chang Wufei and Heero Yuy stiffened in anger and even Trowa Barton stood a little straighter. Duo's eyes widened as he looked from the face of innocence Harry wore to the steadily flushing faces of his two most short-tempered friends.

Harry continued as his own hackles began to rise. “It's just that you've got five years to learn by Monday. How can you expect to do that?”

Harry heard Quatre's mumble of 'good save' as he grinned brightly at the only trained wizard in their presence.

“The Headmaster told us that we will take a potion that will allow us to remember anything we learn in twenty four hours. We have four days to learn five years of work starting tonight.”

Harry nodded and made a showof thinking about something. They would need the library for this and at least someone who has taken their courses. Someone like him.

“How about we skip the nap. I'm feeling better already and I need to finish some summer homework before I completely forget about it. I highly doubt being captured by Voldemort will get me out of detention from Snape. Probably thinks I planned it just to get out of doing my homework.”

“Who's Snape? Sounds like an infectious disease.” Commented Duo as the group turned around and followed Harry toward the library. Harry nearly growled at Duo's mention of his most hated professor.

“The resident Potions Master and official snarky bastard of Hogwarts. He teaches Potions, obviously, and has an utter loathing of that fact that I breath. Actually took away House points once, because he said I breathed at the wrong interval and messed up the atmosphere of his classroom.”

“Well, what did you do to warrant such attention? The school system wouldn't be so unfair as to allow this type of treatment o continue if you hadn't done something to deserve it.” Wufei reasoned and Harry gave him a rather impressive glare. Almost Heero-like in intensity. Hmm.

“I'll have you know, that...man has hated me since before I even knew him and that my only offense to him was actually being born.” A calming breath made Harry take a paused before explaining. “He hated my father, my godfather and to some extent my mother. He is always getting his sick kicks out of insulting one, two or all three of them. He's pathetic.”

Duo let out a low whistle of awe. “Man, there's one guy who needs a Quat hug.”

Even Slytherin Harry, who had been babbling on about not giving out too much about himself, stopped at that remark.

“A hug?” Harry repeated, not sure whether to be frightened of Duo's logic or laugh like a loon. “He's not exactly the type to...promote affection. Of any kind. If you had to hug him, you won't walk out of his presence with your arms, ever again.”

Duo just gave another grin before swinging his arms over the shoulders of Chang Wufei and Heero Yuy, the latter stiffening up at the touch, his left hand twitching. For a gun? Harry wondered before shaking his head and continuing.

It was odd. Harry could think about Quatre and Duo without the need or formality of their last names while Chang Wufei, Heero Yuy and Trowa Barton seemed to command Harry's respect, even in his mind. Gryffindor Harry called them brave hero types, Slytherin Harry called them sly, cunning allies. Eugh. Somehow, Gryffindor Harry and Slytherin Harry needed to mix together, or they were going to kill each other. Or drive the other insane.

Thatbang ofa gungoing offsounded in Harry's mind and he shivered. They may need to come together, but Slytherin Harry would never be in total control again. Ever.

“Well, neither are these two, or Mister Silent over there, but we've gotten them back to semi-normal, if there is such a thing.” Duo gave a pondering pose as Heero slithered out from under the lanky American's arm, nearly making him fall.

“Let us go to the library already. The more we study now, the less we need to rely on this...potion, to work for us.”

Ohhh, Slytherin Harry was way impressed! Gryffindor Harry too! Looks like he would have to be really sly to get past this one. The thrill of a challenge was intoxicating as Harry gave Heero an approving look and led the way again.

“Just how big, exactly, is this library?” asked Chang Wufei, looking, for lack of a better word, grumpy. “For a school with a limited number of students it shouldn't be-”

The Chinese youth stopped as he looked at the double doors guarding the entrance. The heavy oak doors were engraved with the Hogwarts Crest, dragons, elves, phoenixes unicorns and many other mythical creatures danced along the outside, their jeweled eyes twinkling. Up close every individual, glossy hair on the unicorn's coat could be counted, every scale on the green-hided dragon could be felt and the flames surrounding a flock of phoenixes appeared to move and sizzle. What was amazing was that these doors had to be at least three times the hight of Trowa.

Harry grinned, Slytherin Harry smirking out of sight. “Hogwarts has the largest magical and muggle library combined in all of Europe. Only the ones in the States and Australia can compare.”

Duo gave his new wizarding friend a disbelieving look. “Just how do you plan to open those? We'd need to strap Heero to a log and-”

Harry strode forward and the doors opened of their own free will.

Duo blinked before grinning. Again. “Or that could work!”

Chang Wufei almost misted from sight at the split-level library filled with books of every kind. Duo cupped his hands over his mouth, giving Harry a saucy wink before yelling “Echooooo!” and listening to the reply. Something thudded in the distance and an echoy “Maxwell!” sounded back as well, causing Quatre to stifle his snickers with a dainty hand.

Trowa Barton stayed close to his blond lover, taking happiness from his obvious amusement at Duo's antics while Heero Yuy had already walked over to a desk, the one in which he had the best view of the whole library andput back to the wall, and had begun looking for his books. Each movement seemed to be timed perfectly, getting the maximum amount of output from the minimum amount of input from his actions.

Harry let himself stare off in thought, Slytherin Harry slowly sneaking his way out of his padlocked room, sense on high alert. Gryffindor Harry wasn't very far behind, keeping a close eye on the darker side of himself. It wouldn't do to have another incident.

Harry's thoughts were on his five guards. Duo Maxwell was obviously the joker of the lot, that and very sneaky, possessing a raw kind of fighting power you only found on the toughest of streets. He had many masks but his most frequent and strongest was that of the joker. Still, that laughter hid the braided teen's physical and mental power and Harry's mind had already come up with many future consequences of starting a fight with Duo Maxwell.

Chang Wufei was Duo's lover, that was obvious to anyone who could see it. Most likely either a Ravenclaw or a Slytherin would know. Apparently, by his enthusiasm at the library, he was a closet scholar as well as a trained fighter. That sword may not be very subtle but it did it's jobof intimidation beautifully. He also had a short temper and was protective of his family. That told much about him, whether he knew it or not. Harry guessed he'd either lost his family to tragedy or they'd disowned him, either one giving him a fierce need to protect those he considers his. A weakness, whispered Slytherin Harry in glee.

Quatre Winner was the product of a very rich family. If his clothes and posture didn't tell you that, his personality did. Still looks can be deceiving, as First Year had taught Harry, and Quatre may look like a pushover on the outside but inside was pure steel. He was the head of the team, even Heero seemed to unknowingly answer to the blond commander. An empath too. Now that was strange. A soldier to the end but he felt emotions, more so than everyone else.

Trowa Barton was almost like a friendly rival. Still, this guy had threat written all over him once you actually noticed he was in the room. That and he walked like he floated and looked like a piece of carved marble in the emotions department. Still, all that talent had to be earned somewhere. Normal soldiers weren't that quiet and compared to this fighter, Chang Wufei and Quatre sounded like a herd of elephants trying to quietly do the macarena as they walked. His most obvious weakness was the little blond he shadowed.

Heero Yuy was one thing. A walking contradiction. He screamed the essence of a trained killer and yet he was a bodyguard. And to someone Harry knew most still considered a child, even though that was far from the truth. Slytherin Harry hissed in annoyance. Always considered the child...well, not anymore...

Harry blinked and began to glance over the shelves as the others wandered off to get books of their own, two always keeping Harry in view. Heero seemed to shift in his seat to keep him in his vision. A tingle went up Harry's spine as a double flash of two different hands loosely holding a gun whispered across his mind. Heero Yuy was like looking in a mirror, in more ways than one. Not even Slytherin Harry would bet on coming out the victor in a duel with that guy.

Harry saw Trowa Bartonactuallyleave Quatre's side to follow him down the aisle that held copies of newspapers, magazines and such while ChangWufei was at the very end of the aisle, right where Harry wanted to be. It was slightly irritating how Trowa Bartonnever tried to hide his shadowing of Harry, just walked silently, as if he had a right to be there. Which, technically he did, but Harry was beginning to feel like he had body slaves of some sort. Ones with guns and wands and many ways to hurt people.

Trowa Bartonwas just a shelf section behind Harry as the messy haired wizard fingered through the index card looking for the right date. Beside him, scowling at the paper, ChangWufei leaned against the wall. Harry wondered what he was reading to make him pull such an unattractive face until he caught sight of the front page. Slytherin Harry, who had been oddly silent until now, sneered.

Before his imprisoned , Harry had taken to lining Hedwig's bird cage with that particular newspaper. Apparently Wufei found The Daily Prophet just was sickening as Harry did.

“Don't you have a potions essay to complete?” Came the short question from ChangWufei and Harry felt an eyebrow raise and Trowa Bartonshift behind him. He didn't make a sound but the air moved, almost whispered off of him when he move.

Keeping a stern eye on the boy at his back, Harry turned his attention back to the irritated youth beside him. He was obviously still miffed that Harry had inadvertently hurt his lover. Wow, talk about a grudge, Ronald Weasley eat your heart out.

“That I do, but I can probably finish it using my textbooks and making notes is not an action that'sfrowned upon here.”

Chang didn't say anything but anger still surrounded his form as he almost dismissed Harry's answer.

The Boy-Who-Lived sighed gustily before plucking out the correct card and snapping the case shut.

“Since you and your friends are here, guarding me, I'd figure you know that I was kidnapped about three months ago, no?” Seeing he had caught the two boys' attention, Harry decided to let Slytherin Harry influence this conversation. He could be snooty too, apparently.

Not waiting for a verbal reply, Harry continued, never looking up at his companions but aware of them all the same.

“I assume, no matter how ignorant that is, that you also understand I have no memory of that time and that perhaps the best way for me to get back into the swing of things is to know what has happened in my absence.”

“Not all of those papers are from a magical point of view.” Trowa Barton's calm voice pointed out quietly. Harry shrugged.

“Well, I am a half-blood and Voldemort is trying to destroy all those who are not of pureblood descent or blood-traitors.” Picking up the papers, Harry turned to Chang, letting Gryffindor Harry poke through more. “I am truly sorry for hurting Duo. If you wish to be cross with me then be cross with me, but at least do it about something I can understand.”

Harry had strode gracefully up the aisle about half of the way before Trowa Barton and Chang Wufei decided to try and catch up with him.

At their table, Heero Yuy appeared to be already halfway through the standard texts of their Third Year, a feat Hermione would be impressed by, while Quatre sparred them a sunny smile before becoming further engrossed in a book about wizarding etiquette. Duo was busy making things fly across the table. The violet-eyed boy raised an eyebrow at the pile of newspapers but said nothing as he smiled at Chang.

Harry had taken the next best seat, the one to the left of Heero, Duo on the studying teen's right side while Wufei settled down across from his partner, Trowa and Quatre taking the last two seats next to each other.

There was an uncomfortable silence that filled the whole library for nearly ten minutes, as Harry read the first paper carefully. It was the day after his capture and other than the ads section, that was really all it was about. One idiot even had the gall to say that Harry had blown the house up himself, killing his aunt and cousin before taking off to parts unknown with Sirius Black. Slytherin Harry was unresponsive at his godfather's name but Gryffindor Harry felt a slice of grief at the name, one that seemed to startle Quatre.

The kind hearted blond had learned from Duo's experience and simply spoke to Harry.

“Are you alright?”

Harry nodded and took a deep breath as Slytherin Harry scoffed the words 'Pathetic, Potter.' Harry snorted in disgust at Slytherin Harry. It was like he'd eaten a part of Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape with a little dash of Voldemort to make up his scathing, secretpersonality. New meaning to the words, snakes and snails and puppy dog tails, that's for sure.

It seemed that was what Wufei was waiting for. Hmm, he'd been changed now as well. No more a need for the last name.

“What exactly is a pureblood, a half-blood and a blood-traitor?”

The question didn't surprise Harry at all, Wufei was pretty curious. A regular Nancy Drew, it seemed. Even Heero Yuy stopped to listen to this.

“It is a the basic way people's bloodlines are categorized. It's very much like how someone who explain the amount of a certain race they have in their blood. A pureblood is obviously someone with a family lineage that is purely magical. No muggles, half-bloods or muggle-borns. The most fanatical are in danger of in-breeding and creating squibs.”

Harry held up a hand at Duo's opening mouth.

“A squib is a pureblood who has no magical powers. It happens a lot more than people would like the admit. Hogwarts' caretaker is a squib. A half-blood is someone who has one parent who is a pureblood and another who is either a half-blood, a muggle-born or a muggle. I am a half-blood because my father's family were purebloods while my mother was a muggle-born witch.”

“Shewas like us then?” Duo questioned but Harry shrugged.

“It depends. One of my best friends told me there are many muggle-borns who simply do not know about the magic in their family. The Wizarding World is a secret place and sometimes families have to keep themselves secret.”

“Or in some cases they do not know who their real family may be.” Quatre pointed out softly and Harry nodded.

“Or that.” Because ultimately, Harry would have figured himself a muggle-born if not for Hagrid's information on his eleventh birthday.

The room was again engulfed in silence as Harry read his papers, his horror growing. Nearly daily attacks on muggles and wizards and witches alike fought against Harry's capture for the front page. Britain wasn't the only place hit. Parts of France, Italy, Spain and much more of the magical European community had been hit by what the paper called a 'muggle, mechanical monstrosity'. A shadowy picture of something outlined by a torched city, or the setting sun were the only pictures to accompany those stories.

A flash and a tingle later and Harry was looking at the library doors before they had even begun to open. No one had time to question Harry's timing as Draco Malfoy suddenly strutted in, carrying five steaming vials in a test tube tray and wearing a self-important smirk on his pointy face. His eyes held an unholy amount of amusement as he spied Harry among the other five.

Since escaping his father's evil, evil ways in late April, Draco Malfoy had, for lack of a better phrase, 'come out' and has been ridiculously happy with one Blaise Zabini. Since then, the blond menace has propositioned Harry more times than the green-eyed teen cared to remember.

Ignoring the blond's presence seemed like a good idea until Heero subtly leaned closer to Harry, giving him a whiff of his enticing scent as he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

“A threat?”

Harry gripped the edges of his page in annoyance and confusion.

“Only to my sanity.” 'And virginal status.' mocked Slytherin Harry in scorn.

Draco kept his haughty jaunt up as he set the vials, of what Harry now recognized as Wit-Sharpening Potion, down on the table. His smug smile was one of teasing familiarity that set Slytherin Harry on edge.

“Already starting your harem, Harry? I thought you said you didn't swing that way.”

Slytherin Harry fought to be released, to teach this kid some lessons in respecting those who are more powerful them him, but Harry refused. He let that part of him simmer under a sheer clock in his mind, always there but never really seen unless one looked hard enough.

“Piss off, Malfoy. I never said I didn't swing that way, I said I didn't swing that way with you.”

Malfoy smirked, again grading on Harry's nerves.

“Tut, tut. Now that isn't very nice. What would your Gryffindor friends say about your manners, Harry?”

One black eyebrow was raised in cool contemplation.

“The same thing they'd say for your disrespect for my person and opinion. Kindly take your propositions and shove 'em.”

Malfoy unfortunately opened his mouth, probably to continue to annoy Harry when Duo, wonderful, glorious Duo Maxwell decided to butt in.

“I've gotta question for you, Billy Idol. Just who in the hell does your roots?”

The bit of Harry's mind, the snarky, sarcastic, almost evilly cruel part, cackled in amusement at the looks on the faces of everyone at the table. Duo pulled off innocence better than Quatre, who was trying unsuccessfully to hide his laughter. Trowa Barton's one bright green eye was actually a bit wider than usual and the corners of Wufei's mouth twitched.

Even Heero Yuy, with his unreadable eyes and stoic face gave off an air of amusement.

“Billy..Idol?” Malfoy fumbled with the name, his superior air gone. “What does Billy Idol have to do with my roots?”

Duo raised an eyebrow. “You have never been compared to him? Huh.” A thoughtful look crossed his face before Duo told the blond Slytherin who exactly Billy Idol is. “He's this old-ish English hard rock musician who has this bleached blond hair that look-”

Malfoy cut him off with what could only be called a manly screech.

“Bleach! I do not bleach.”

Grabbing a lock of pure white blond hair, Draco Malfoy flicked it back over his forehead with a flourish. “I'll have you know, all of you, that this is one hundred percent natural!”

Duo made a disbelieving noise while Harry took it upon himself to roll his eyes at the boy's outcry.

With an irritated scoff, Malfoy pushed away from the table he had been causally leaning onand motioned jerkily toward the vials of potion.

“Just take your damn potions, you ill-deserving, bumbling bunch of Neanderthals. I'd rather not spend anymore time with you dunderheads. It's probably catching-”

Malfoy had stalked away without finishing his furious rant while Duo snickered and grabbed a vial.

“Bottoms up, my friends.”

Heero Yuy and Trowa Barton were far more hesitant in simply gulping down the potion. Harry tilted his heada bitto the right.

“It's the correct potion. The armadillo bile gives it a bitter taste and a flowery scent.”

Almost as one both boys gingerly sniffed the concoction before downing it without so much as a grimace. Wufei had screwed up his face, Duo had crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue while Quatre a turned a bit green at the taste.

Duo coughed slightly and looked at Harry, curious. “Armadillo bile? All out of eye of newt, frog's spawn and vulture nut?”

There were two rather loud cries of “Duo!” at this remark while Harry actually wondered about the validity of the statement.

“I've been making potions since I was eleven and we've never had to use the dangly bits of anything once alive so far.”

Duo's expression was one of relief. “Phew! That's good. It would have scarred me for life to know I was drinking a fellow male's dangly bits.”

Quatre still had a green tinge in his pale cheeks. “I think you've alreadyscarred me for life, Duo.”

“What'd I say?”

Harry tuned out their friendly banter at Slytherin Harry's nudge to pay attention to his personalmission. Silence came again at Heero's cut order to get back to work and this time it was peaceful.

It was the story in the paper of July the 13th that nearly stopped Harry's heart. The whole Diggory family had gone missing that night. Mr. and Mrs. Diggory, along with their three daughters, Anna and Amy, twins who were barely six and Ellie, who was ten.

It was shockingly easy to turn the page and pretend like nothing was wrong, to read the rest of the paper and calmly pick up the next. Even reading about finding the bodies of the Diggory family, all killed by one gunshot wound to the head, was just too easy to be right.

Harry had hoped against hope that the now unclear and fuzzy flash was simply another one of Voldemort's ways of torturing him. This, however confirmed it.

Something was wrong with Harry. Something bad, and until he knew what it was, no one could know.

A/N: Gah! I'm unsure how I feel about the last part of this chapter. Harry isn't going to be an innocent little kid in here anymore but you have to understand the power of conditioning, he's been corrupted, in a way. And no it's not MPD, but it was a very interesting idea...Snicker And a flamingly gay Draco is a bit odd, I know. I just always picture him down in his dorm room, painting his toe nails a silvery color while wearing a 'Save A Broom, Ride A Quidditch Play' T-shirt.

Now, I have a plea for help. I've been trying to edit 'Pretty little Secrets' and I've got to chapter ten ready but I really need some help if I'm gonna finish this in the 21st century. Anyone interested in helping? Since I'm a fourth of the way done, someone could take the even chapters and I'll do that odd, sort of thing.

Thanks for reading.

Review: Remember, for every review not written, Harry dumps his boyfriend for Ginny.

S. Tangerine